Exodus - 5. Week One: May 29th, 2030

Log May 29th 2030, Chief of Psychiatry and Interior Fleet Relations, 0820 Hours Susan Alan

Human beings have been asking this question for ages, Are we alone?

Late last night, we got an answer. We left Earth in search of a new home away from our humanity, but we found more humanity along the way.

Ben is weighing the options for revealing this mystery to the fleet and I am the one to implement whatever he chooses. No one outside the command council knows this discovery, but word has spread about the pod’s encounter from earlier. There is a profound issue behind this unearthing that tantalizes and frightens. The pod is very advanced technology, which is unlike anything we have seen on earth. The pod is more than a lifeboat; it’s also a time capsule according to John, who was trying to explain the physics behind temporal stasis. The technology is eons away from humanity’s practical application of quantum physics. Yet, we’re still left with the teenage human boy inside the pod.

There is a frightening possibility behind the discovery.

One of the Synod’s assertions was in a singular universe dominated by God’s chosen people, human beings. Being people of science with rational observations, we rejected the assertion along with other assertions that they made concerning people’s sexual predilections.

In the 20th century, there was a group of science fiction writers, who thought that the human form might be the best shape for the alien life. The theory later evolved into a semi-scientific theory called Exogenesis. The concept was taken by the 21st century Christian Synod and made into doctrine in order to prove their case that human beings, specifically their version of human beings, were the chosen people of God in the Universe.

If the Synod is proven right about the dominance of human beings, then people will begin to question their own existence as “perversions of God”. This discovery is more than just a philosophical point of reference on the nature of life, but the very core of our journey comes into question.

With a fleet full of kids, the emotional and psychological damage would be dire.

I got to push those thoughts out of my mind; Billy’s psychological rehabilitation is starting today. If I cannot reach him, then I doubt I can reach anyone else.

(***)

Susan Alan was strangely reflective this particular morning. Unlike Abigail, she had not adjusted to the light deprivation characteristics of deep space travel. On long term space missions, sleep anemia is a common phenomenon due to the lack of natural sunlight, causing the person to experience issues with their sleeping schedules and personal biorhythms. During the early 21st century before the wars began, early astronauts had discovered that a combination of light sensitivity training and brain stimulation during the voyage could fix the issue.

Susan knew she needed some sleep treatments, which is ironic. Her background in psychiatry makes her the principle medical professional to administer these treatments for others, Abigail’s specialty is general practitioner and administrator. While there are many doctors and psychologically trained counselors, there were few psychiatrists. Psychiatry was a field that the Synod had been very stringent on during the purges. Due to the nature of medical and psychological training, Psychiatry became a subdivision of the Synod’s system of indoctrination and conversion for specific groups.

Susan entered her office to pick up some case documents on William Edwards or Billy, as her adoptive son Bobby called him. Izzy came to join her for the session.

Susan was training Izzy, her other adopted son and Bobby’s boyfriend, as her first apprentice. Psychiatry is a difficult field combining the best elements of psychological counseling and medical expertise. In a normal environment it would take someone years of education and experience to master the discipline. Yet, Izzy was not normal.

Izzy had been in Susan’s care since he was freed from a center at age 12 during the middle of his “Convie” training. Many kids rescued from facilities would latch onto their rescuers, but Izzy and others like him were special cases. Many “Convie” kids connected more with their counselors who helped break through to them. Izzy wanted to help others like him after Susan had gotten through the years of conditioning and fear that was instilled in him. Bobby was part of the rehabilitation; his unwavering love for Izzy was central to his successful recovery.

“Mom, you really need to start light therapy; unless you want me to treat all the patients from now on,” Izzy jokingly scolded.

Susan ruffled Izzy’s hair and replied, “I will start some therapy this afternoon. It has been a busy couple of days, but I know I got to get this problem nipped. Now as for letting you treat patients, I think Bobby will get jealous and demand the same favor from Abe. The other boys and girls will also get jealous; I will have to contend with an angry son, an angry mob, and an angry life-partner. I think you can understand how angry doctors can be underneath their “nice” bedside manner.”

Izzy grinned and nodded. The two walked side by side to Billy’s room to face the boy after his initial surgery with Abigail to repair his endocrine system and frontal lobe.

(***)

Exobiology is the hypothetical study of non-terrestrial life, which was advanced during the late 20th century by such luminaries as Carl Sagan. The idea of alien life has been a point of interest for human beings for centuries, but today Gregory Faust will be the first person to examine a possible extra-terrestrial with human features.

To any scientist, finding intelligent life in the universe would be the crowning achievement of their life’s work. Yet, Greg was not “any scientist”. A human teenager being discovered light years away from earth was a frightening idea to him. Does it mean that they can never escape the human cycle of violence and retribution? The question was in his mind when he looked at the most recent scans of the “alien” pod.

Unbeknownst to Faust, the pod and its inhabitant were also learning about them. In comparison to the pod’s complex computer algorithms, the science ship’s databases were easily hacked. The inhabitant of the pod was learning the history of humanity, scientific advances, and the people that had found him. The boy was debating the issues and ramifications of revelation that it would have on these exiles. There was sympathy from this child along with a profound sense of anger. In the pod’s meticulous information gathering, a few sets of genetic markers aroused the boy’s interests. Yes, he had found the perfect way to reveal himself to the exiles.

(***)

“I heard the thing was yellow colored and had four eyes,” one boy, age 16, said.

“I heard the thing had ten tentacles and could spit acid,” his boyfriend, age 17, said.

“You’re both wrong. It was pink and only had 3 eyes, 6 tentacles, and can spit out fire,” said a 16 year old girl who entered the conversation.

In the small room a heated debate began about the pod’s inhabitant. The instructing technician had arrived to the scene of wild excited screaming and innocent bickering. Eli Wallace had entered the room and all the discussion stopped.

“I see you kids are excited about everything happening; I bet you guys can’t wait for your rotation with the science ship in a week” Eli commented. To be honest, Eli was intrigued by this discovery as well.

The kids knew Eli, the fleet’s designer, from his long white hair and tired looking expressionless smile. They looked up to him like a surrogate grandfather who shares his wisdom freely to anyone that meets him.

Eli looked around reassuringly and began his introductions, “Okay, I am going to start you kids off with your rotation in “advanced industrial design”. You’re all chosen to come here because you’re smart and love the idea of creating things. Back in my day, we would have considered this rotation as something between “shop” class and an “advanced engineering” course. You’re going to get both the hands on experience of constructing models and developing final products utilizing advanced computer programs for our nanites. All of you will contribute to the fleet through helping me design and construct our new ships. Don’t worry if you can’t get this the first time around.”

The “advanced industrial design” rotation is split into distinct teams of three members. After Eli entered his access voice authorization, the computer systems came to life and three dimensional representations of hulls, equipments, and raw materials began to appear. These were not displayed on standard screen interfaces, but true holographic projection with a scale model for three dimensional representations. The members of the “advanced industrial design” rotation teams began manipulating the objects with specially designed sensor gloves that manipulated the images in front of them. The teams of three are each assigned to specific ships, which must meet the desires of the users and the design specification of all ships in the fleet. In the early 21st century a concept of user-design and customization began the steps towards this melding of human/computer interface.

Holographic design came into development in the early 21st century, but the concept was thought up during the late 20th century. Science fiction such as the Star Trek: The Next Generation, Babylon 5, Andromeda, and other media had depicted three dimensional computer representations of object that can interact with the real world. Volumetric holographic interface technology application began in 2005 when computer researchers started analyzing the applicability of a 360* degrees display for various uses. The early studies increased the efficiency of design and implementation while maintaining an aesthetic beauty for the designers of various objects. Through this process the pre-war era saw many advances in optics, computer modeling, and several new forms of wireless interfaces for the designers.

During the war the US government and her allies shifted from the technological design approach of holographic models to a mass industrial platform through nano-technology, which increased the speed of production and lowered the necessary factory workers. Standardization of equipment and war manufacturing were the mainstay of the new era, where aesthetics and technological innovation began taking a backseat to output. While other major conglomerates began firing their existing staffs of holographic designers and engineers, Benjamin Cross had seen the potential for such technology and maintained Eli Wallace’s services. As the war dragged onward, Eli was taken underground and became a key designer of “Project Exodus”.

Prior to leaving on this journey, Eli had learned that he was in the final stages of Burkitt’s lymphoma. It had already metastasized and entered his blood stream. In the late 20th century Burkitt’s lymphoma was discovered to have correspondence with HIV infection. In 2020’s the cure for HIV and AIDS was finally developed, but the researchers could not fix the pre-existing issues with immune-compromised patients. The lymphoma was a key issue because the malignant cells were a byproduct of immune-deficiency and it was not possible to eliminate them all. Eli did not notice the oncoming disease until it was too late.

It would be a shocking revelation to anyone, but Eli took it with his stoicism.

Eli had been ready for death long ago. The cure for AIDS and HIV was a godsend to Eli and his partner, who had been living with the disease for decades. In their youths, Eli and his partner were engaged in many risky activities, including having sexual intercourse with multiple partners and drug use. The cure only extended his partner’s life for a few years; he died during the initial phase in the Middle Eastern conflict as a combat engineer with the US forces.

Eli smiled as these teenagers began their first tutorial into a world of unlimited possibilities and dreams that may at last come true.

(***)

“Bob, what you are asking for is impossible,” Andy Anderson-Carlson told his colleague.

“I only need a small ship and it would benefit the fleet as a whole,” Robert Graham responded.

“Yeah, but what if the others want ships, too? We can’t just orbit around this rock and strip mine it for everyone to have a ship. You got to just live with the space that we give you,” Andy asserted.

“Fine, but I will need section 3A to myself to experiment with,” Robert demanded.

“Done,” Andy said in an exasperated tone.

It had been going like this for hours. John, Andy, and Greg were constantly surrounded by their colleagues, each vying for space on the new ships. Scientists are the most demanding people in the world when you give them a blank check and an undefined purpose.

After this latest encounter with the staff Andy headed toward the sequestered research lab with the “alien” pod. Greg was inspecting the scans.

“So, is our teenage space boy still asleep?” Andy asked sarcastically.

“The sleeping beauty is still soundly in stasis,” Greg replied.

“You know this pod is a marvel of ingenuity; I am not sure how long it has been on that rock, but its power supplies seem to remain constant. The stasis field holding the kid inside is perfectly balanced on a spatial and temporal level to give him near ageless properties inside the field. Even the material from the pod’s casing is so intricate; it can prevent damaging ionized radiation from entering the pod, but allow our electromagnetic scans to penetrate. When can we wake him up? I can’t wait to meet his folk,” Andy said.

“Well, we don’t even know if his people are nearby or the circumstances that he was left on the planet. Maybe, he carries a deadly disease and his people abandoned him on that rock, so they wouldn’t catch it. There’s also the issue of his human features. To the best of our knowledge, human beings evolved on earth and never ventured out this far in space. There are a lot of issues surrounding this kid’s awakening. We shouldn’t run the risk of waking him up yet,” Greg cautioned.

“Yeah, but it would be nice to ask him a few questions like what ever happened to Elvis?” Andy spoke with a wide grin appearing.

“He died on a toilet seat about 60 years ago, give it a break,” Greg responded with a sardonic sense of humor.

“Maybe that’s what they want you to believe,” Andy spoke point to the pod.

“Well, I’ll ask the kid what happened to Amelia Earhart, the Egyptian Pyramids, the Bermuda Triangle, and all the other mysteries that people have thought was due to extra-terrestrials or some kind of paranormal phenomenon,” Greg responded and Andy gave a hearty laugh that broke the cold silence of the room.

Andy saw something of interest in the corner of his eye, “Hey Greg, what is that energy transmission coming from the pod?”

Greg looked the EM relay that was set up to detect the pod’s energy output, “It looks like the same energy transmission that we detected earlier in orbit.”

“No, I think that’s a patterned oscillating frequency, not random energy,” Andy looked deep at the displays and thought about what the frequency looked like.

“Are you kidding me?” Greg looked at Andy, who was now in his research mode, “You’re not. Damn, I should have noticed.”

“It’s not your fault; these EM sensors were meant for research purposes of tracking cosmic rays, so they are really sensitive. We just put this together for the pod last night when it arrived here. Wow, he’s really transmitting,” Andy said excitedly.

“Is there any way we can reply?” Greg asked.

Andy quickly activated his computer terminal and began inspecting the frequency wave oscillations, then found a startling secret. He remembered why the frequency oscillations had caught his eye; it was the standard data transmission throughout the fleet.

“Oh shit! The pod’s been accessing our systems. He’s using our integrated scanning equipment to get into our databanks” Andy said without a hint of humor.

The display quickly flickered with a message, “Fear not, I am a friend”

Andy was now speechless and Greg looked on in amazement at the pod.

(***)

Being a leader is not easy, nor is it a simple task. While Benjamin Cross may seem like he had everything under control, he was also in the depths of despair. Some leaders during their times of sadness would use alcohol to mitigate their pain, others use opiates, and some would use both. Ben had neither outlet at the moment so he threw himself into his work. It would take the sting of defeat out of his mind.

Leaving Earth and leaving everyone behind was the hardest thing that Ben had ever done. Yet, he knew it was better that they had left. Years ago, he had truly thought about the use of biological weapons in their guerrilla war against the Synod. It was projected that the weapons would not be enough to win any war because the long term picture was already against their people. Yes, they had rescued a few thousand from the centers and deprogrammed a few “convies”, but the number game was always against them. Quite frankly for every kid and teenager saved there were hundreds executed per day with the homosexual gene marker. If they were not executed then they were conditioned, castrated, and lobotomized slaves of the Synod. There was no way to win this war; it would’ve been a lost cause if they didn’t leave.

The emotional strain was felt heaviest by Ben, who was trapped in secrecy and had to maintain his ties to the Government that was exterminating his people. There were points that he wanted to just give up and literally take a bullet in order to end this hopeless feeling. When Jeff died, Ben had been struck with guilt for not getting his partner immunized against the oncoming purges faster. Jeff was tortured into revealing all the names of the homosexuals that he knew and suspected by the Synod. Ben and the others were saved by Gregory Faust’s inhibitor, which proved to the authorities that they were normal heterosexual human beings. Ben’s despair was made worse, because he would never properly give his lover a funeral as the Synod destroyed all traces of his existence after their failed conversion experiments.

Jeff and Ben’s relationship was a secret because Ben did not want to be open about his sexuality. Some of their close friends thought that Ben was paranoid for his observations during a time of unparalleled technological growth and a sharp decline in anti-homosexual sentiment. Ben could see the historic currents changing even in the greatest era of progress. The religious extremist throughout the world were circling their wagons and engaging in more extreme measures to maintain their influence. It was inevitable that their resurgence would occur. When word came about the Islamic Alliance’s declaration of War and Christian Synod’s rise to prominence, Ben was vindicated and he helped his friends go into hiding.

Today, Ben had finished his work early; there were no reports to go over, no directive to give, and no issue to be resolved. He sat their contemplating his despair again and began remembering the times with Jeff. A weary soul lost in thought is most open to unimaginable dreams. Whereas the common man would have imagination of better times yet to come, a depressed man may have insights on things past yet to be revealed.

“Hello, Ben,” a disembodied voice began to say.

“Who are you? What do you want?” Ben asked.

“I’m an image of your past, a mystery of your present, and a key to your future,” the voice said.

Ben started focusing his mind and realized where they were. It was his old summer house in Ogunquit, Maine. Jeff’s firm was hosting a fundraiser. There were dozens of guests invited due to their influence and large wallets. Among them Ben noticed a young man with the cutest bored expression ever.

“No, this…this is where I met Jeff. He’s standing right there, bored out of his mind. I remember going to him and trying to start up small talk. I was so nervous. Jeff had that kind of power over me; he made me lower my defenses. I remember this first meeting and our first conversation with each other. It wasn’t the most romantic experience we ever had, but it was simply beautiful. This can’t be real; no, he’s been dead for years,” Ben said with tears trickling down his face.

“A dream is merely another form of reality,” the voice said

(20 years ago: Ogunquit, Maine)

Sometimes things that happen years ago seem like it might have happened yesterday. Ogunquit, Maine is a relatively small summer vacationing area. The beach front is nestled between two very long stone cliffs where many summer homes were built. The day was an idyllic as the tide had receded exposing the golden beaches. While some will say it bears no comparison to the Californian promise of endless beaches, they don’t understand the simple beauty that such an area holds within the New England rocky coastline.

In one of those summer homes, a fundraising party had begun. It was a standard political fundraiser with the usual cocktails and a “genuine” New England Clam bake motif. You would see several types of men and women at these fundraising events: the tweed wearing men with ties are usually quite well off and young, but they are unbearable to talk to due to their Ivy League mentalities. The female counterparts to these Ivy League men are the dress-for-success women with little to no skin showing above the neck; usually, they are neo-feminists with an attitude to match. The non-classic sports jacket and Michael Kors’ shirt wearing men are what you would consider as the majority professional class, who are interesting, but they are not what one would call “well off”. The female counterparts are wonderful listeners but they lack the experience to conduct good conversations.

Among the men in the crowd was a singular Ralph Lauren polo-shirt wearing man with high-end khaki pants. Most of the guest would snide at anyone else with such a disrespect for clothing etiquette, except this man was levels above them in wealth, which offered him the “chic” label of dress for formal events.

“Why did I let Barney talk me into coming here?” the young Benjamin Cross said under his breath. Having taken his young company public in 2005 and capitalizing on the falling markets and market turmoil in 2007-2009, Benjamin Cross had been remarkably rewarded by the bad fortune of others. He knew that his money and presence were quite impressive to everyone at the event, which his host had hoped would generate a few million dollars to his congressional bid.

Among the cluster of socialites and professionals, a man caught Ben’s eyes. He had what you would consider the boy-next-door type of look behind the Club Room suit and tie ensemble. Ben might be a captain of industry but he was quite lacking in the romantic arena. He knew from a very young age that he was gay but he just could not commit to any relationship, nor engage in the wild reverie that many young gay men engage in. It wasn’t the sex that drives his mentality; there was something that he was seeking in his partner. Ben was experienced sexually but he just didn’t strive for it, unless the guy caught his eye for some reason.

Well, the young man caught his attention and he tried to approach him. Jeff was just beginning his career as a political consultant. Although Jeff had a Harvard degree in law, which sounds amazing to the uninitiated, his position was possibly the lowest at the party. A law degree from Harvard according to some is worth “about as much as paper it was printed on”, especially in this day and age when there are a thousand lawyers on unemployment. Also, Jeff was not one of those established Harvard graduates that were also present; he did not get his position through patronage or family connections. All in all, he was an aberration at the party as the occasional friend from college would “speak” to him, more as an excuse to get out of a conversation with another equally wealthy and boring guest.

“Hey, some party, right?” Ben tried to say, but Jeff did not believe that Benjamin Cross was speaking to him.

Ben thought about it again then he looked at Jeff’s name tag, “Jeff Alan, reality calling Jeff Alan!”

Jeff was mortified that he did not respond to one of the most powerful and influential men at the event, which was his first assignment, “I….umm…..Nice to meet you Mr. Cross”.

In most cases Ben would have just made small talk and end it there as Jeff’s nervousness was apparent to him. Perhaps it was the uneventful event, which wasn’t due to any faults of Jeff; Ben just wanted to talk to a regular human being.

“Hey, don’t worry; it’s almost impossible for people not to notice me. You actually paid me a compliment for being inconspicuous,” Ben said with an assuring tone. Jeff was quite scared of the man in front of him and he did not know how to respond. It took all his years of mock court room training, which he had basically left behind as no law firms were hiring, to come up with a simple reply.

“Thank you for noticing,” Jeff said with a little sparkle of sweat on his brow. Ben should have taken that response and left but he felt compelled to push for something. Most guys are nervous with initiating first contact but something in Ben was stirring him to push Jeff.

“Well, you must know everything about me, but how about you, dude?” Ben asked in his most congenial manner with a forced tone. Even though Ben was only 25 years old, he had been accustomed for the last 4 years in the corporate world to speak in rather monotone authoritative speech of a 40 year old executive.

“Well, I just started working for Gray and Roberts. I guess you can tell that I am kind of new to all this…” Jeff began as some other guest called out, “Benny!”

Ben had to make an abrupt turnaround to speak to an elderly financial analyst. Jeff, being less tensed, took a good look at Benjamin Cross, who he thought was quite cute. Ben was what you would call the attractive geek, which was a rather new concept in modern culture. The young Benjamin Cross was tall and lanky with a pair of horn rimmed eyeglasses. His hair style was pulled back with gel but he still carried the computer club image.

Jeff thought that was the end of Ben’s interest in him, so he decided to head out a bit early feigning a headache. In reality, Jeff felt completely embarrassed over his behavior with Ben and he just wanted to avoid the horrendous atmosphere of the stuffy elites at the party. Jeff’s senior manager allowed him to leave early and he headed out toward the parking area. Ogunquit was usually very busy around the summer with a sizable vacationing population, including a few gay and lesbian couples. Jeff had to park in the public parking lot on the beach, which was a distance off. The sun was starting to set.

As Jeff left the residence and reached on the dirt road, a voice shouted out behind him, “Hey wait, Jeff.”

It was Ben, who surprised Jeff with his tenacity, “Mr. Cross, I am heading home at the moment. Sorry for not acknowledging you earlier,” Jeff replied, hoping to appease Ben.

Ben was kind of bewildered by the response but he played along to spend time with this man, “Umm...well, I was getting bored in there. Tell you what; I’ll forgive your earlier indiscretion if you would grab some clams with me.”

Jeff was shocked, he thought, “Was Benjamin Cross asking me out?”

Jeff had to accept the invitation and Ben got him where he wanted him. It was their unofficial date.

The memory playback began to fizzle.

(Back on the Present in Benjamin Cross’ mind)

“Why did you do that to me? I don’t want to see my dead husband like that again. Why did you have to remind me, bastard?” Ben cursed the voice.

“It is through our love that all things come into focus. We understood that once,” said the voice.

Ben tried to regain his composure and began analyzing who he was speaking to, “If I was a betting man I’d assume you are connected to that alien kid on the science ship. You’re using a type of telepathy on me as a way to communicate. I can understand.”

“Our belief in that fictional ideal of telepathy demonstrates our open quality of thought; although real telepathy does exist between certain beings, I am not a telepathic representation of the child. We are connected, but we are separate entities,” said the voice.

Ben realizes the elementary figure of speech then asked, “You’re me?”

“According to the human philosopher, Immanuel Kant, reality or identity is established through precedent. If you ascribe to that belief, then we think the proper reply is that “you’re me” rather than I am you as our core consciousness precedes our physical representation,” the voice replied in the words of Ben’s old college philosophy professor, which still gives him headaches.

“So, I’m going crazy now? My mind is torturing me with images of Jeff and I am hearing voices’ Susan is going to enjoy this,” Ben said sarcastically.

“We doubt that we can be injured mentally in such a way even if the universe itself is destroyed. No, we are not a disturbance of emotional frailties,” said the voice.

“Then what in the hell are you? Please don’t say you are me again because last time I checked I never appeared as an unseen omniscient voice,” Ben said.

“We are not omniscient but we are very close to such a status. We are neither God nor any other deity that you know but we have existed throughout the universe and beyond. We are not a party to the boy in your science vessel but we contributed directly to where he is today. We are not timeless but we are very old. That is what we are,” said the voice.

“Are you currently in my body for your own purposes?” Ben asked hoping the voice was not as bad as he imagine.

“No, we are not. We’ve been here since the beginning and will be here without an end. Also, you should not worry about your state of mind; we would never harm you or anyone we care for. It might be easier to explain everything simply as knowledge and experiences gathered through many lifetimes,” said the voice.

“Why now? Why are you speaking to me now?” Ben asked with a more relaxed tone. Part of him still feared this could be some extraterrestrial entity but he was hoping that it was telling the truth.

“We were always present. Remember the first time we developed a computer algorithm, the first time we crafted the equations for a continuous anti-matter/matter generator, which we passed on to Andrew Carlson in college as his discovery, or other first times of miraculous knowledge? We drew upon our experiences and knowledge, which other’s called “Genius”,” said the voice.

Ben finally understood the voice, “Let’s get this straight. You are some kind of genetic memory component or reincarnated soul inside me, whatever is closer to “our” definition. Yeah, it makes a little more sense, but there are so many questions that I don’t know where to begin,” Ben said.

“Patience is needed, but be warned an enemy shall soon befall all we hold dear. A struggle unlike what you have ever seen before shall be unleashed upon the cosmos. At its conclusion everything will change,” said the voice.

Ben was struck by this knowledge of more struggle and death, “If you really are me then you know I am tired of war and death. Is there no way that we can stop fighting? If you really are a portion of me then you couldn’t know for certain that this ancient enemy is still around. How can I know you are telling me the truth, with so many questions?”

“For the answer to what is asked, we are not merely one entity, but we are one being. You are that being. We possess infinite senses and infinite minds connected by the infinite lines of existence. There are many questions and many answers yet to be revealed. Our conversations now are meant to prepare us for the coming struggles. We will guide our loved ones to higher ground with the aid of our knowledge and experiences….” said the voice.

Ben was about to question further when the sound of his communicator echoed in his office. He felt strangely perturbed by what he had heard and what he must prepare his people for.

Ben answered the call with a sad tone, “Who is it?”

“Ben, there’s been a major incident. A dead body was found on board an industrial ship. We might have a murder on our hands,” said Brett.

Ben was shaken.

(***)

“No, no, no...I am not one of you!” Billy replied as he vomited from the disorientation after surgery. Medicine, no matter how advanced, will leave a patient disoriented after surgery; especially, if the surgery is to repair your brain.

“Listen to us, we’re here to help you,” Izzy responded.

“No, no one has ever helped me; no one will ever help me except myself. You might have done something to my mind but my soul is still pure,” Billy retorted, then spat at Izzy.

“Billy, why do you believe we mean you harm?” Susan asked.

“You can’t fool me, you carpet-muncher,” Billy replied in wrath.

Billy does not know what to feel except for the anger that he was taught. Emotions are a fickle thing in the evolution of human instincts. The emotion of hate was derived from our ancestor’s desire to combat fear; if you can hate something that is different from what you know or understand, you can combat the infinite possibilities of the unknown.

“If you’re referring to my sexuality then you are correct in assuming that I am a homosexual. Billy, have we done anything to you that would make you feel like we would harm you?” Susan calmly replied to the hateful words.

“You’re very existence brings about disaster; you are an abomination against God,” Billy replied.

“Then, why did God make us? According to the Synod’s logic, if God truly did hate the fact that there were homosexuals in existence, then why did he make us?” Izzy asked.

Billy paused for a moment; he couldn’t find an answer and tried to reject the notion from his mind, “No, No, No…you’re trying to deceive me with your words; I won’t hear more of this blasphemy.”

Susan smiled at Izzy; Billy was starting to come around slowly. One of the first rules of Deprogramming is questioning the motives behind the programmer. There are many levels to this questioning process as the individual must begin to reason out his own thoughts from the original program in stages. The most troubling with the Synod’s attempts at mental conditioning came from the surgical lobotomies that are performed on the reasoning centers of the frontal lobe. In order to convert without resistance the Synod combined its physical therapy sessions with this advanced form of brain surgery. This idea is not new; during the 20th century the National Socialist Party of Germany experimented on enemy troops with similar, albeit crude, surgical methods.

While the deprogramming process had begun, Susan and Izzy knew that Billy would be undergoing severe bouts of depression soon. The surgery had repaired Billy’s reasoning centers and he would soon begin to question what is truly right and wrong. Izzy went through a similar ordeal when he began his deprogramming, but he had the support of his future boyfriend to sort through the emotional minefield. Many other boys and girls were not so lucky; even after the deprogramming, the emotional strain from the years of psychological treatment and guilt over the “convies’ past actions resulted in suicidal tendencies.

“Well, what do you want to hear?” Susan asked tenderly.

“I want to hear everyone’s screams of terror, moments before your death,” Billy replied.

“Wouldn’t you die as well?” Susan asked.

“God will protect me,” Billy said.

“Will God give you food when you are hungry? Will he give you warmth when you are cold? Will he give you companionship when you are alone?” Izzy asked.

“He will give unto me what I deserve. If I should die as he deems me an abomination, then I shall die,” Billy said.

“If you die as a result of God’s judgment against what you are then would he still allow you to go to heaven? Under those ideas you would be equally damned as us,” Izzy knowingly asked.

Billy couldn’t think of a response as he couldn’t fathom such a reality, “I don’t know.”

“Well, why would god want to damn someone due to their attributes, only to make exception for others? It seems like a lot of trouble. If he could create the universe, then why create a bunch of people that he dislikes and want to eliminate altogether?” Izzy pushed with his questions.

Doubt is the first step to real knowledge and truth. A good bit of doubt is necessary for faith in order to curb the advances of certain people trying to manipulate the ideals of faith. Some might believe that doubt destroys faith. If faith were real to begin with then doubt merely reinforces what is true faith versus what is “learned faith”. No one can learn to have faith; they merely emulate such ideas until they can discover for themselves what they believe. True faith is and will always be inside you.

Billy is learning the difference now between what he learned and what he believes. May faith sustain him through the revelations that he comes to after all has been said and done.

(***)

The scene was chaotic and there were stares of suspicion among all the individuals, who were told to stay in place until security forces could be brought aboard to investigate.

Myrden Saks, a former CID officer, had just arrived with a contingent of security forces from the transport. He assembled testimony and evidence from the ship. There was no surveillance of the incident as it had occurred within the victim’s quarters.

Myrden pieced together some of the background information before arriving on the ship from the fleet database. The victim, 16 year old Miguel Santos, was living with his boyfriend Patrick Quinn at the time. Miguel was classified as a bisexual under the coding system of sexual predilection established by the Synod during the purges.

Bisexuality is inherent in most human beings to different degrees based on the gay genes expression. The Synod sought to limit the influence of the gay gene on the general population through categorizing the gene expression.

By the year 2030 genetic sciences were able to determine probabilistically the outcome of genetic traits through inference of variances in population. It was due to this groundbreaking discovery that a new system of categorizing sexual preferences begun. The heterosexual population had 0.3 and below genetic expressions with 0 being a non-expressive individual. The other end of the spectrum would be a “rare” genetic expression of 1, which exhibits only homosexual tendencies. Most of the population in the fleet belongs to the 0.8 and above segment with predilections towards same sex relations, who were the most hunted within the population. Bisexuals above the 0.5 threshold and below 0.69 were considered malleable through genetic treatment, which was capable of reducing the expressive nature of the gay gene by 0.4.

Miguel was a 0.7, beyond what is considered salvageable by the Synod without deep psychological and medical conditioning. He was rescued from a Synod facility with other adolescent youths.

It is an odd double standard that the Synod played with their beliefs in science. When it was applicable to bury contradicting theories like evolution and genetic variance, they would spread such ideas to followers. Yet, when it suits their needs; they would use advanced sciences and technologies to further their own designs on unifying mankind towards their vision.

With the line of commentary and testimony, Myrden started conjecturing about the crime. He believes it was a homicide due to a lover’s quarrel and he talked to the man in charge of the ship.

Myrden spoke to Eli, who was Miguel’s instructor and in charge of industrial ship, “You’re telling me that the victim had left class with a female colleague who you suspect was a secret lover.”

Eli spoke up with a sullen note, “Listen Myrden, Miguel was a fine boy; I know he never meant to hurt Patrick, but things happened. He told me that Patrick knew about his relationship with Karen which was a point of contention, but I don’t believe Patrick could have killed him over it. Patrick would have rather died than hurt Miguel. Also, I know Karen is a nice girl even if she’s a bit possessive. I chose everyone for the advanced engineering training; I know these kids. They aren’t murders, Dammit.”

“Eli, I am doing my job and I know you love these kids. Yet, we both know that things like this could happen when you mix passion and tension together. I’ve told my guys to hold both Patrick and Karen for questioning. We will find the person behind this,” Myrden said.

Myrden and Eli have had many disagreements throughout the years in the underground. It stems from their different approaches towards life. Eli never changed his free spirited attitude towards life and believed that everyone should aim for satisfaction in the way they lived. Myrden was a practical and strict man who believes that there must always be a reason behind every action.

“Then, what will happen? Will we put one of them out of the airlock, once you find them guilty? We never thought something like this would ever happen so soon,” Eli said.

“I don’t know; it’ll probably be Ben’s call. I don’t envy him for making the decision. I’ll try to be impartial but once word spread that Miguel was killed we’ll have trouble. Everyone has been through hell on earth due to the heterosexual population and this incident might incite sentiments against the bisexuals in our populations as a kind of outlet for their anger,” Myrden lamented.

Even before the departure from earth there was serious consideration for leaving the entire population of bisexuals with a genetic expression of 0.6-0.7 on earth due to the fears that it might not go too well with predominant homosexually aligned population. Greg and Brett were outspoken on this idea as Susan and Abigail were very strong opponents. Ben eventually sided with his Abigail after he deliberated, while John and Andrew abstained.

“I hope not. What you are describing is the beginnings of a new kind of bigotry. Are we going to start judging people based on their gay genetic expression? Isn’t that the reason we left earth in the first place?” Eli said

“People have short memory spans; they forget or try to cope with what happened to them through copying their victimizers. Eli, I’m giving you this warning; you have to keep the peace among these kids. No matter what the outcome we can’t let things repeat. As Ben said last night, “we will no longer follow the trend to turn victims into victimizers”, we have to do better for our people,” Myrden replied.

A silent nod from Eli was the last response as Myrden left the room to question the two suspects.

(***)

The day was progressing towards its end as everyone had revelations or duties that must be attended. Susan and Izzy had to aid Billy, who was coming to terms rather faster than expected. Andy, John, and Greg were in the laboratory communicating with the human teenager in the alien pod. Ben was trying to come to terms with what he had just learned about himself and his people’s destiny. Brett had kept up communications with Myrden to keep track of the investigation and weighing the options available. Eli was welcoming back his adopted son Brian from the surface mining operation and instructing everyone on his ships to remain calm.

It may seem like Abigail was the only one not caught up in the torrent of events, but she will soon be caught into a mystery that will turn her years of medical training upside down. Greg had called her to come to the laboratory immediately on the next transport. She left one of the senior attending physicians in charge. Bobby had pleaded to watch her examination of the “alien”. She felt confident that he could be trusted with secrecy, so she took him along as an assistant on the next transport.

While the fleet orbited the rogue planet the scheduled transports were running throughout the fleet. It was a fact of necessity that transport ships were needed during this journey to resupply and personnel shifts but the administrative dynamics were developed through Brett and the experienced military pilots. It’s an odd arrangement; part of the education rotation is military training, which includes basic piloting skills, so the kids had flight lessons and did a service for the community. Some of the kids were trained earlier on the moon base for space flight, so they became the first round of pilots. Others were trained on the spot through simulators and “on-sight” training serving as co-pilots. Above all else, all of these transports could operate on auto-pilot, so if any mistakes were made there would be redundancy systems.

James Tolstoy the 2nd most seasoned space pilot next to Brett was in charge of the space fighter division and, as it so happened, the entire transportation system within the fleet. Many consider him a very strict man with military experience and many years of flight experience using both the traditional fighter and the hybrid atmospheric strike craft that had been developed during the Middle Eastern war. He designed the training program and was on board the transport vessel heading for a meeting with one of the physicists on a prospective new fighter project being developed.

“Dang, Sammy need to let his inertia take hold of the ship after the initial thrust,” James said to his fellow passengers, who were looking for Abigail to comment as she was the best person to handle one of James’ tantrums.

“James, Sammy is doing fine. No one likes a backseat driver,” Abigail chided.

“Yeah, he’s a fine boy Abe, but if he can just let the initial thrust work instead of making course corrections ever two seconds, we’d get there faster,” James replied as his weightless body was restrained against the chair in obvious discomfort.

“Let me guess, your seat restraints are rubbing you the wrong way?” Abigail observed James’ reactions.

“Well, yeah, these transport ships weren’t made for comfort; I know. Couldn’t we design something that doesn’t cause you to get scrapes?” James countered.

“Yeah, you got to talk to Eli’s people about redesigning these things, but you should’ve remembered not to wear that outfit. If you just wore something heavier it would have reduced the scrape,” Abe said.

“Argh ! Well, I’ll talk to Sammy before he makes another run and try to get the kids to at least reduce the course corrections, so guys like me who wants to look a little professional won’t get scrape marks,” James said and everyone else remained silent for the rest of the trip.

Sammy, aged 14, and his co-pilot Zach, aged 13, were both well aware that James was onboard. It was a little joke that they had devised for their commanding officer and instructor after a rather dull and boring tutorial the day before on flight operations and course corrections that James mandated even for experience flyers. After their transport landed the two boys gave each other high fives for a joke well done.

Abigail headed toward the laboratory with Bobby following behind with a smirk. He went up to her as they had reached quiet corridor.

“I can’t wait to see it, I mean “him”,” Bobby told Abigail in a near whisper.

Abigail couldn’t pass up the oncoming joke, “Izzy is going to get jealous if he finds out that you are seeing another “boy”.”

Bobby broke out a laugh, but he caught himself before it could be loudly heard.

“Don’t worry, I’ll just forgo my bachelor’s party to make it up to him,” Bobby replied softly.

The door to the lab was heavily guarded by four security team members who smiled at Abigail and Bobby as they entered. They were equally anxious to find out what was inside the “alien” pod as well but they held back their excitement.

Abigail entered the room and immediately asked the question that has been on her mind.

“So why did you guys call me here? I thought Greg could handle most of your biology issues,” Abigail looked around the room. Andy and John were both conversing in the corner with someone, while Greg approached Abigail.

“Well, he…umm it…umm wants you to do a check up,” Greg said with a tone of unease.

“I thought you had said “it” was a boy,” Abigail said with questioning look.

“I am not a male by your standards; although I am human, as you would call our species. Today, I need to make sure my body is still operational and my memory is sufficient for what lies ahead,” the androgynous teenager said.