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Star Colonizers, 2151-2160

Tom Ball

    Cast of spacecraft, “Deep Explorer.”
    Admiral Wang, a Chinese woman. Colonel Buddha, an Indian. He was considered the finest scientist on the ship. And the Major, she was a white American, a cyborg specializing in engineering.
    There were 3 captains and there were also 2 Lieutenant cyborgs and 2 Ensign cyborgs. The cyborgs appeared with a transparent visor. All of the cyborgs worked in engineering. And there was one Lieutenant Hologram. And four other Lieutenants and 6 other ensigns along with 60 ordinary crew men and 40 children under 12. One of the lieutenants was a doctor and one was a love counsellor.
    They appeared in the green and white uniform.
    The ship had antimatter engines. Speed: 2 light years/hour. Shape: a flying saucer.
    Admiral: “We are currently 4 000 light years from Earth. Earth’s moon gigantic telescope had detected life forms on the approaching planetary system, the Lazarus star.”
    Ensign Berry: “Two ships are approaching fast. They’ve fired weapons.”
    Admiral: “We are under attack, fire nuclear weapons. Ensign Berry, enable deflector shields. Turn the ship invisible. All hands to tactical stations. What is the range?”
    Ensign Berry: “Range 300 000 km and closing. Two ships.”
    (The ship shakes)
    Colonel: “Direct hit on both ships. Both are destroyed.”
    Admiral: “Any escape pods?”
    Ensign: “No survivors.”
    Admiral: “Damage report?”
    Captain A, “No damage just some turbulence from their weapons. Shields are holding. And some personal defensive auras are at greatly reduced power.”
    Admiral: “Resume course.”
    Admiral’s journal: After the altercation with two alien ships, we landed a team of 10 on Vegas planet in the Lazarus star system. We had detected life signs on what we had previously believed was an uninhabited planet.
     The colonel led the party along with a captain and two lieutenants. I stayed on the ship, watching the results of the bio scan. And I reflected we had now encountered at least three different types of aliens in our voyage so far including the mysterious two ships. It seemed it was just a matter of time before we encountered an opponent with superior weaponry to us.
    Colonel (on the surface), “We heard loud shouting and are going to investigate.”
    Bridge ensign, Berry: “Maintain contact with the ship.”
    The party encountered a group of 20 creatures dancing round a fire. In the middle of the fire is a creature burnt to a crisp. The fire is in the middle of a settlement of flat roofed homes made of stone without mortar. They were apparently very primitive. They all had six arms and six hands and moved swiftly. Their heads were the size of an apple. They were covered in hair.
    Colonel: “Hail them.”
    Old creature with white hair: “You are disturbing our sacrifice to me. Now that you are here however you must partake of the flesh of the sacrifice.”
    We switched to MRT; the colonel read “Under no circumstances be part of their sacrifice.”
    Colonel: “We are bringing you offerings. We have some rifles and some pretty beads to give you as a gift.”
    And he mind read, “We are not giving them any additional ammunition so they probably won’t be able to do much with these ordinary rifles.”
    (They tried out the guns and were very impressed, oohing and aahing). And the colonel read these creatures’ minds and determined that they were benevolent.
    Colonel “How many people live on this planet?”
    Old creature, “I am not sure. Certainly, many thousands.”
    We all partook of the stimulating drink of these people, who called themselves “Lazarians”.
    The whole time we were there our MRT worked also with the admiral directly in case of trouble.
    It was getting dark, so we decided to return to the ship. We told the Lazarians we’d be back the next day.

#

    Back on board, the landing party were all suffering from a virus which was turning them into various exotic animals. They were quarantined in the hospital. But the doctor quickly isolated the virus and produced cures for all 10 of the landing party. Some of them said, “They felt different, felt more violent and free.”

#

    And then suddenly, the bridge was boarded by 10 “police” who opened fire on the crew, who were protected by a defensive aura, so none were killed but a few were wounded. All 10 of these police were gunned down. One had only been seriously wounded and he said, “They were the “Guardians of the planet,” and we had interfered with the “people” on the surface.”
    These guardians had beautiful facial skin, but their faces lacked noses and ears and they were mostly covered in hair. After the fire fight we figured they were the same creatures who had piloted those two ships we destroyed.
    We found their bio signs disguised and hidden beneath the surface everywhere on Vegas...
    They had a number of fighter jets and teleport keys everywhere, so they could try and board our ship again. So, we moved off a few million km from the planet, outside of their teleport range. We had virtually infinite speed and distance for our teleporters.
    The admiral announced, “Because of these hostile ‘police’ we won’t try and colonize the planet. I want to colonize a virgin land, without any inhabitants if possible. A land with a breathable atmosphere.

#

    Lieutenant McCauley was a love counsellor, she made sure everyone on board had at least one lover. Often, she offered herself or one of her two girls and two guys; all four of her love assistants were regular crew.
    There was one lesbian couple and one homosexual couple on board.
    Admiral: “Lieutenant McCauley, my marriage is on the rocks. My husband says I am too busy with the business of flying the ship.”
    Lieutenant M.: “Why don’t you consider delegating more work to your crew?”
    Admiral: “To be honest, I love another more than I love my husband. He is Captain Cubbins. Even though my husband and I have had 2 children together.”
    Lieutenant M: “Perhaps you could try a trial separation?”
    Admiral: “I am afraid it would be the end of the relationship. I guess he and I are doomed.”
    Lieutenant M.: “Perhaps you could try an open relationship, so your husband could get more loving.”
    Admiral: “The thought occurred to me, but I am glad to hear it from you. You know us better than almost anyone else. But I’d like to use the sperm bank to get famous Admiral Stetter’s sperm and have a child.”

#

    The doctor’s 13-year-old daughter was complaining...
    Daughter: “I don’t like to play with the other kids. They always cheat and fight. And Danny always wants to kiss me. I hate him.”
    Dr. “The universe isn’t perfect. You have to learn to get along with your peers. I’ll tell Danny’s mom to have her son not kiss you.
    Daughter: “And I am having aural hallucinations.”
    Dr. Your health checks out right. Let me know if the hallucinations reoccur. It’s probably nothing.”
    Daughter: “Thanks mom!”
    But the doctor did some checking and found one of the cadets had built a MRT (mind reading technology) radio which could penetrate the invisible helms and was in the heads of his 4 love interests.
    He was called before the admiral.
    Admiral: “We’ve discovered you’ve been in the heads of 4 girls illicitly. I have personally interviewed the four girls and they all point the finger at you. What do you have to say in your own defence?” Cadet R. “Nothing ma’am. Sorry ma’am.”
    Admiral: “I hereby confine you to prison, solitary confinement, until you can be brought back to Earth...”

#

    Admiral to Earth: “We’re getting faint brain waves from Nexus 14, a star system, 18 light years away.”
    Station Earth (orbiting Earth): “Go ahead and change course for Nexus 14.”
    Upon arrival in orbit, we determined that the local denizens lived in globular homes. And the local dwellers resembled humanoids and had two arms and two legs and a long neck and a large triangular face and a big head.
    Admiral: “Colonel assemble a landing party of 10 yourself included.”
    Colonel, “Yes ma’am.”
    So, the Colonel along with Captain Ruse and Lieutenants Fargo and Yakut and Ensign Carey and four male crew men all armed to the teeth with their defensive aura around them as if they were angels.
    Colonel: “We used MRT translators to communicate directly with a group of 4 creatures outside one of their houses. It turned out they had four sexes all of which could interbreed.”
    They were good people and shared their food with us which were very agreeable.
    They were called the Platinas and their society revolved around platinum. They mined it and melted it down. They offered us platinum in exchange for some of our technology. And they gave us platinum statues of ourselves as gifts. Their planet was very rich in platinum.
    We gave them Earth TV and radio and they were very pleased. The platinum might be useful to us in future alien encounters.
    Their population was 1 million scattered over three continents. They were not that fertile and so didn’t have many children.
    We mind read them and determined they were agreeable to our presence.
    But there were also some low intelligence animals, that bore an uncanny resemblance to Earth animals such as deer and wolves.
    And there were also a number of “dopplegangers” who copied other life beings and lived their lives while killing the original. They took over Lieutenant Berlin. So, we quarantined the Lieutenant and we killed off the dopplegangers. There were many thousands, but we figured we had them all. The Lieutenant made a full recovery.
    The Platina lifespan was only 20 but they were fully grown at the age of 2.
    So, we told them, “We wanted to build a small settlement on their planet.” They said, “Certainly and they were interested in our space technology.”
    Ensign Carey was quite taken with one of these creatures. The colonel said, “You are quite the pervert.” Ensign C.: “All love is good. I am traveling with our ship to find new loves.”
    Anyway, Captain Ruse was to lead the colony. Lieutenants Fargo and Yakut were to be his assistants. Also, Ensign Ganesh and Ensign Hsu. And 10 regular crewmen, were to help them. Seven men and seven women and lots of sperm and egg banks. The 14 agreed in an unanimous vote to outlaw marriage.
    We helped them build a nuclear reactor which took 2 months with only a skeleton crew on board “The Deep Explorer.”
    And we also built houses for the colonists made out of local plants and bricks. The goal of the settlement was to be an outpost of humanity and they were to construct space going ships and have numerous offspring from their sperm and egg banks.
    We decided this, our ship’s first colony, would be called “Prometheusville.” We also gave them a giant deflector shield that would deflect all weapons into space.

#

     It was big news in the interspace TV program. The program was called, “Trojan Testament.”
    There were other interspace TV programs such as games and sports and video games and virtual reality shows. Writers, movie stars, and criminals all made for popular shows. They helped kill the time of the long voyages/ colony building.
    Gossip was a problem on board the ship, but it couldn’t be helped. Many were bored. And seven crew men wrote gossip about the ship for the “Trojan Testament.”

#

    The “Deep Explorer” left them with teary-eyed goodbyes and a promise to return soon.

#

    Admiral’s log: Then we made a detour to investigate a black hole, Magnus III.
    We fired a nuclear weapon into the black hole causing it to collapse into a super giant sun. It was formed with a colorful explosion, but we were many light years away.
    Some talked of time travel within black holes; it was just a matter of your speed they said.
    But Earth dogma stated that all science fiction was true except time travel. Anyway, we didn’t learn much from the former black hole.

#

    Admiral’s log continued...
    Then we orbited a small volcanic moon with life signs in the Johnson star system. We observed them and determined they were Molten Magma people. We tried to communicate with them from onboard our ship. They said, “They wanted to be left alone.”
    We asked them, “If they would mind us building a settlement on their planet?” They said, “Go away.”
    We copied their brains for further study. And we left. We were headed for Alpha VI planet which had an Earth-like atmosphere and no apparent life signs. But after our affair with the “Guardian police,” we didn’t assume anything about life spans from space.

#

    And cabin fever was taking its toll. The colonel informed me, “Two crew men got in a fight and one was killed by a laser which blew his head off, killing him.”
    But we had a clone of the victim in cryogenics, updated to last week and so he took over the dead crewman’s duties. All our crew had clones to be used in colonization eventually.
    The murderer was subject to brain changes so that he would never be violent again and was kept in the ship’s jail until we could bring him back to Earth. The jail was cold, and the food was bad, and he was in solitary with nothing to do all day.

#

    Meanwhile the chief scientist had an announcement. “He had developed invisible helmets which could be worn all the time to protect the crew against unauthorized MRT (mind reading technology). But as admiral, I demanded to use MRT with all the crew, one at a time, once a month. It was one-way communication; the crew couldn’t read my thoughts while theirs’ was being read. My MRT was powerful and short range and so could penetrate the invisible helms and fully read their minds.

#

    And we had some bad news. Earth’s colony on Zeus IV asteroid had been obliterated by a nuclear explosion during research on a new space drive. The radioactivity was too high to try a new base there. The asteroid was rich in uranium and other radioactive elements. And they had been experimenting with creating new elements.

#

    Meanwhile the chef was offering food that was spiced all wrong and some crew men were vomiting. It was determined that a malfunction in the automatic production machine (APM) had caused it. This was a relief to all.
    There was only one restaurant, but the fare was highly varied, and it was open 24 hours. There was also a bar open 24 hours, so that those on different shifts could eat and drink.
    Major Nicholson was talking to her latest love..., Lieutenant Borges. The Major was a cyborg. She had a visor which was blank and transparent while she talked with the Lieutenant.
    Major: “I still don’t want to break up with Lieutenant Query...”
    Lieutenant B.: “Why don’t we just carry on as we have been?”
    Major: “It is not fair to Lieutenant Query. He is so devoted to me.”
    Lieutenant B.: “But you love me more so why don’t you break up with him then?”
    Major: “But we have a child and have been through a lot. I guess we will just have to see what the future brings.”
    Lieutenant B: “Anyway, how was your day?”
    Major: “We are having some problems with the engines overheating down in engineering, but we have added a coolant.”
    Lieutenant B.: “On the bridge, people are talking about which worlds should be colonized. I think they are too picky. Let’s just settle the worlds with a breathable atmosphere and continue from there.”
    On the speaker phone: “This is the admiral. Weapons are being fired at our ship; all hands to their tactical stations...”

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