On Being The First

After my brief recess and some travel around the provinces it was time to return to work. Everyone had come to the meeting space early, as usual, to get the best seat and score the most points with the leadership. Raspy was at the head of a long table, Vixen, my counterpart was sitting to the left of her and surprisingly, the only open seat left was to her right. That was surprising. I looked at my usual seat way at the other end in the corner and noted that someone was sitting there. I frowned as I made my way to my new seat.

Raspy smiled and patted the seat next to her. “I saved this one just for you,” she said. I saw a brief look of surprise on all of the faces around the table that quickly disappeared. I sat.

“Thank you, Raspy.”

“My pleasure,” She responded. “Do you have a report?”

“In fact I do. I’ve done two things. The first is to travel to many parts of the province to learn about the people and the culture and the second, while traveling, was to be in contact with Earth leadership to convey your wishes and desires. They would like to create a team that would come in order for more discussion."

“Good,” Vixen said. “We look forward to that.”

“Anything else, Marcus?” Vixen asked. Vixen’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“There is a bit more detail. Should I explain it here or in a separate meeting with you and Vixen.”

“I think that would be appropriate just for the sake of time,” Raspy responded. “Vixen and I can debrief the rest of our squad later.” She turned her attention to the rest of the people. “As you may have noticed, the King has decided to soften our approach to the attainment of goods and necessary services with the Earth people. We are working on better ways. How do the Earth people say it? You can attract more flies with honey than with vinegar.”

I know this is a new approach for many of us, but it is time for us to grow as a people, I would say.”

“And the King agrees with this?” Came from the person sitting in my usual seat.

“Total agreement. In fact, he is pushing the idea.”

“Really?” Vixen asked. “What happened to him?”

“The Princess Metra,” She responded. “It seems that the princess has been exploring better ways to interact with our neighbors and allies. She can be somewhat determined if you understand what I am saying.”

“I understand completely,” Vixen said.

“Well then. Let's get on with the routine agenda and we will have time for questions afterward.” There was consensus around the table as they moved down the list. I was only there to observe. I found the way that they worked fascinating. I was totally lost during these meetings at first, but now that Raspy had told me about the mind reading, I could understand what was happening more fully.

***

It was around 6. We had set up a dinner meeting where we would discuss the actions I was taking and the conversations that I was having with the Earth government and the reflections that I had on the culture of the people I had met exploring the province. Some of the commanders and military heads were actually interested. Vixen, the ambassador, and Raspy, as the head General of military forces, would be there, and possibly the Princess Metra, who was eventually to be Queen.

It amazed me that a place like this, a whole planet, even an Empire, would have a monarch. Yet again, I guess it was easier to get things done that way, depending on the monarch. If the monarch was a thief or crook who didn’t care about the people, things would be disastrous, but from what I had heard and seen, this one seemed to be a good one. I didn’t know what to expect from the princess. She seemed a little guarded, if you know what I mean.

“The doorbell rang. Only Raspy was standing there with her two guards. She waved them off and entered. “The others will arrive later,” she said. I motioned to the open chair. She sat on the sofa instead. She was a very ornery person.

“Yes,” She said, having read my mind. “Come sit. You may sit in the chair. It reminds me too much of a throne.”

“I don’t know if I should sit in it then,” I said moving toward it. I plopped down. It was comfortable. There was an awkward moment of silence. She grinned.

“What?” she asked.

“Nothing,” I said, looking more serious.

“Good.” She began to smile again. “Stop making me smile. I can read your thoughts.”

“I can’t make you do anything.”

“You just remember that.”

"I'd love to try to though."

"Maybe a little later." The door bell buzzed.

***

There had been a complete turnaround. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing at this meeting. They were talking about working with Earth, supplying its needs, helping revitalize the planet with no strings attached. What had happened to them?

“We have a new policy,” Vixen said. “We have many resources that are just sitting there like potential energy that could be shared to make this world and all of the worlds better. We can see that Earth has a lot of potential and we want to nurture it instead of destroy it. With the new administration in charge of the most powerful countries we see this as a possibility.”

As you may know, the Earth has been under siege by a vast minority of extremists all joined together to bring about mutual destruction so that a savior would come from the heavens and save only them leaving others to be tormented or something. Perhaps you can explain it better, Marcus.”

“I don’t even like to think about it,” I responded. “One of the reasons I left the Earth along with many others was that it became overrun by maniacs. A maniac and several religious fanatics in the early 21st century devastated the whole planet. They caused religious wars, race wars, gender wars, sexual orientation wars, whatever differences they could find in people were used to weaponize them against each other as the small group reaped the benefits. They used superstitious, false religious beliefs to drive their hatred, anger and greed and about 1/3 of the people fell for it.”

It was a time of shame on Earth that still leaves a trace. After many wars and never ending wars causing the failure of the economic system and every system that humans had depended on for survival, the ETs stepped in. But as soon as they left the religious fanatics and haters who had gone underground began to rise up again. The Earth is still struggling against them and the leadership, in order to avoid total chaos and destruction, has its hands tied and are catering to them. This is causing lack of satisfaction and anger from everyone…especially the people who are sane. The present administration…”

“Has just been changed,” Vixen said, jumping in. That was a surprise to me. “Now we can do business with honorable, sane leadership. More than that, they have allowed us to serve as security personnel to make sure that those who are mentally ill will never be allowed in power again. All of those people have been moved to one separate continent in the south with minimal technological capabilities where they can sit, stew and hate all they would like and they have been warned that they will be destroyed if they try to reach out to and attack others, or develop advanced technology.” She turned to me.

“So we haven’t softened our stance, we have applied it in the right direction. We have removed the evil doers, as you would call them, from the decent people who have been used, throughout history, as human shields by these people. If they rise up, they will be finished.”

“What do you mean by finished?” I asked. Everyone around the table started to grin.

“You know us,” Raspy said. “You know what we mean by finished. When you have cancer what do you do with it? Isolate it, maybe, but eventually it forces you to destroy it. That is what we mean.”

“Yes, it is harsh, but very practical,” the princess said. I had forgotten that they could read my mind.

“Yes, we can,” Vixen said. “And you’ve been thinking the very same thing for a long time. That is why we feel free to talk about this with you. We have nothing to hide and you, of course, may share this with your leaders.”

“Who might make sure that you won’t get carried away with this occupation, if I may use that word?” I asked.

“Not an occupation, an invitation,” Raspy said. “We do not occupy planets. By the time we leave your people will have learned to sort out the cancer cells from the healthy ones. For now we will help because we can read minds, as you call it. We can begin the sorting process quite easily.”

“I like this,” Princess Metra said. “I like the way that we are really working together and using our power to create a bright future instead of destroying violent futures and pasts.” People around the table nodded. I must agree. It really sounded good.

“So what next?” I asked.

“You report to your superiors. Tell them it is a go, and then we will start preparing a group to live among humans on planet Earth.”

***