Of Things to Come Chapter 20, a zootopia fanfic

Disclaimer: I do not own Zootopia or any of its characters, they all belong to Disney. Rated M for sexual themes.

Of Things to Come

Chapter 20

Earth - Chinese Military Headquarters – Peking, China – Wednesday, September 30, 1942 1:42 local time.

General Chiang looked at the humans and non-humans gathered from two dozen worlds in three universes and smiled.

"We have only a few months before the moment arrives when we must act," he said and tapped the podium. "Then everyone will see just what type of people the communists are! Now watch." The room darkened and scenes of the deaths of hundreds of people were shown for several minutes. He could tell the audience was as shocked as he'd been the first he'd viewed it. When the lights came up he went back to the podium and for a few moments only looked at the audience. "Now you can see exactly why we must do."

The audience broke up into smaller groups to coordinate their efforts to begin planning for the upcoming military operation on the new Earth.

"So how are things going in China?" Lax asked.

"Most our manpower is going to rebuilding and many men and now some women are volunteering to serve in the rebuilding corps and many people are coming from other countries and other worlds to help."

"And the new army?"

"Your people and the Ris have been most helpful," he said and smiled. "Many of my veterans have gone off world already."

"Our plans on that Earth are taking shape and all the free form robots will soon be in place."

"And no one will discover them?"

"No."

"Excellent!" he said and nodded. "How are you doing it?"

"Alliance technology has helped us to be quite stealthy," Lax said and smiled.

"And the new armor?"

"It will be ready within the month and the army will begin their training to use it," she said and smiled again, "and it will be quite stealthy too."

"There's no problems on the worlds we've chosen to train and assemble our troops."

"My people on our homeworld in that new universe have joined us and even have welcomed us quite enthusiastically."

"Good."

"Everything will ready a week before that day."

Sol Oort cloud – Zootopia III – Rabbit Garden – Judy's Kitchen – Wednesday, April 5, 1989 7:42am EDT.

"Judy, you make the best pancakes I ever ate!" Barbara declared and looked sideways at her husband. "They're even better than mine."

George's expression did change as he popped another piece in his mouth and chewed. He looked at Nick who took a sip of milk and then smiled.

"I myself think Judy makes the best blueberry pancakes in all three universes."

Judy snorted and lightly punched her Fox in the shoulder. He rubbed the spot, fanning injury for a few moments, and then pulled her into his lap and kissed her.

"Not in front of the President!"

"Judy, I've seen people kiss before."

"But I'll bet not a Fox and a bunny," Nick said, earning himself another playful punch.

"Well at least not until the last few days," she said and chuckled.

Barbara leaned and kissed her husband's cheek.

"It's been just like a second honeymoon," Barbara said and winked.

This time they all had a good laugh.

"Was it better than your first one?" Mike asked innocently.

This time everyone in the kitchen broke up. Judy could've sworn one of the Secret Service agents actually smirked.

"God, I needed that!" George said, holding his stomach. "I'll tell you that if I stay here too much longer I'll start getting fat."

"So you ready for today's meeting?" Judy asked.

"At first they were a bit reluctant and several had objections, but in the end they all agreed."

"Good," Judy said and when back to the stove. "Anyone for seconds?"

Sol Oort cloud – Zootopia III – Transport Hub #6 and Conference Room #2438 – Wednesday, April 5, 1989 9:20am EDT.

The twenty people looked around the room until their eyes met the President's and the surprise on their faces made him smile.

"Mr. President, you look..." the Secretary of State began and he held up a restraining hand.

"Congratulations, you just traveled a good chunk of a light year," he said. "You're aboard the Zootopia III, flagship of the Alliance fleet in this galaxy. The crew here is all human, but shortly you will be meeting a number of non-humans. Please follow me and the marines."

After a brief walk they entered a large conference room and bunched up at threshold, the first few of them seeing the non-human representatives.

"Come on," he said and took Elizabeth Dole's hand. "I'm sure they're just as anxious to meet you as you are them."

Judy stood and approached the Secretary of Labor.

"I'm Fleet Admiral Judith Laverne Wilde."

"You're a Rabbit!"

"Judy, you owe me a dollar," George said.

"Why?" Elizabeth asked, looking at the President.

"Judy bet me that someone would call her a bunny first."

Judy flipped him a silver dollar she's picked up on 1942 Earth and George deftly caught it and began to put it into his pocket.

"May I see it?" Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney asked.

"Sure," George said and passed it to him.

He turned it over several times and looked at the date, remembering his coin collection when he was a boy.

"They didn't make silver dollars in 1937," he said and looked at Judy.

"Maybe not on this Earth," she said and smiled at the man's frown. "Let's make ourselves comfortable."

They all took seats across from the larger number of Alliance representatives and Secret Service agents stood against the wall behind them. The Secretary of State sat across from what looked to him like a Cheetah. It extended a hand and after a moment he took it.

"My name's Rex," he said and shook. James Baker felt his claws just dimple his skin and flinched. "We Cheetahs cannot fully retackle their claws so I try to keep mine dulled."

"So you're a cheetah not an alien that looks like one," he said, turning over the hand and examining for few seconds.

"Actually I'm a King Cheetah," he said.

"A King Cheetah?"

He stood and turned.

"As you can see I have stripes," he said and then reseated himself. "At first King Cheetahs were thought to be a separate species and were given the scientific name was Acinonyx Rex. Later they found we weren't a separate species, but there was a gene mutation which caused our stripes. So when I became sentient I took the name Rex which is the Latin word for king." Only then did he notice that everyone was listening. "Up to about a about a year ago I was just an animal with no mind and I, my mates, and my cubs lived with Joan in the Earth garden. Eshu could explain my change much better." He indicated the Mellin.

"What he said is true, but to explain what happened to him and the other Cheetahs on the other two versions of Earth would take quite while and I think we need to talk about other more important things first."

"Believe me," the President said and chuckled, "what Eshu said is quite true. He lost me after the first few minutes."

"Other two versions of Earth," the President's Science Adviser repeated and leaned forward, now very interested.

"Dr. Graham, we were going talk about that a bit later," the President said.

"Maybe we should explain about that first," Judy said, looking at the President's science adviser and then President himself.

"In for a penny, in for a pound," he said and chuckled again.

"We have a very similar idiom on my world too," she said and then sat back in her chair. "The Alliance knows of three versions of Earth in three different and distinct universes, yours being the third. The year on Earth in my universe is 1942, on the second the year is 2976, and on yours it's of course 1989. As far as we can tell their histories are not identical, but extremely similar. On 1942 Earth Hitler died in 1935 and the Germans were well on their way to winning the Second World War. On 2976 Earth there are no major historical differences at least up to this date in 1989 with your Earth. And on your Earth they apparently stopped minting silver dollars in 1935." She looked at Secretary Cheney and flipped him another. "That's the new for this year."

"1942," he said, looking at the coin.

"Fleet Admiral, do you understand how this happened?" Dr. Graham asked.

"The portals are stable rips in space-time from my universe to the other two," Judy said and looked at pad. "One of the rips is apparently natural while the one to this universe was purposely created by Alliance scientists." Judy touched the pad and her internal AI took the information directly from the Zootopia III's main computer. "Our scientists theorize that there are an infinite number of these universes currently and that they're possibly being constantly created. We just don't know yet."

"So why did the Alliance create a gateway to this universe?" the science advisor asked.

"Apparently because they just had to try it," she said and rolled her eyes. "They've been told not to do it again until all the ramifications are studied. The pads before you you may take and study, but each individual's pad will only operate for that particular person." They each picked up the pads and they read their new users DNA and then activated. "As to introductions, Mr. President."

"Please introduce yourselves," the President said, looking at the man beside him.

"Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense."

"James Baker, Secretary of State."

"Dick Thornburgh, Attorney General."

"Clayton Yeutter, Secretary of Agriculture."

"Elizabeth Dole, Secretary of Labor."

"James Watkins, Secretary of Energy."

"Dr. William Graham, President's Science Advisor."

"Dr. Lawrence Mohr, White House doctor."

"Admiral," the President said.

"Fleet Admiral Judith Wilde."

"Rex, civilian observer."

"Eshu, Doctor,"

"James Murphy, Doctor."

"Catherine Murphy, representing Alliance artificial intelligence."

"Captain Nicholas Wilde, Captain of the Zootopia III."

"Leader Lax, Fleet Landing operations and ship's Captain."

"John Morris, President of the Human Federation."

"Anna and Yuri Nimchuk, civilian observers."

"I am …," the grey furred person said and whistled with varying tones. "We are known as Explorers."

"General Maria Brooker, Zootopia Militia," the Gazelle said and grinned.

"This meeting is being broadcast in real time throughout the fleet and across the Alliance," the Fleet Admiral said, "and may be viewed by any citizen. We will answer all questions fully and without reservation on any topic you may choose."

The President looked at the members of his cabinet and then indicated any of them may go first.

"Why did you come to Earth?" Secretary Baker asked.

"All the Animals on my planet originally came from Earth at least the 1942 version," Judy said and smiled. "So we think we have a least a vested interest in all the versions of Earth. We've been observing your planet for several months now."

"Some of your people are on Earth now."

"Yes," Judy said and her ears came up, "only a few thousand." She saw a few surprised faces. "You've no global computer networks that are accessible to the average citizen. We do monitor your television and radio transmissions, but from that we can only learn a small percentage of what's actually happening. So we must have humans 'on the ground' to access your print media and just interact with ordinary people. President Morris has provided us with some excellent human scientists, psychologists, sociologists, and historians who have experience working on less developed worlds such as yours. Those are usually first contacts with nonhumans of course."

"The Human Federation has contacted dozens of alien races and now has over 10,000 member worlds, but the Alliance and Explorers have a great deal more experience in such things, but they needed experienced humans to let's say blend in," President Morris said. "Significant changes are soon coming to your world from what we've learned so far."

"What kind of changes?" Secretary Cheney asked.

"What's currently happening in Europe?" he asked rhetorically. "Specifically what's happening in Poland and the other Eastern European countries?"

"It happened on your Earth too."

"Yes, almost a thousand years ago now, but it'll never happen on 1942 Earth."

"Why?"

"The Alliance defeated the Soviet Union, the Japanese Empire, and the British Empire. Then the Germans simply surrendered, seeing the writing on the wall. Of course it helped that Hitler died in 1935 and Albert Speer was the German Führer. Then because of this the attack on Pearl Harbor simply never happened."

"So the war was over before the United States ever got involved," the President said, having already read this.

"Exactly," President Morris said.

"We, the alliance, simply want to help," Judy said.

"How?" Secretary Baker asked.

"Many ways," Judy said and indicated Eshu and James. "First, medicine."

"We can cure any disease in 30th century medicine," James said.

"If you have some disease that hasn't occurred on the other versions of Earth," Eshu said and looked at James, "we have the technology to quickly discover a cure."

"What else?" the Secretary of State asked.

"We will clean out every large asteroid in the inner solar system," Judy said and looked at the President.

"A few days ago Judy took Barbara and I on a tour of this ship – both internally and externally," he said and smiled, remembering the experience. "I watched this ship consume a five mile long asteroid for its mineral deposits and water and that was all done in less than a day."

"Which minerals?" Dr. Graham asked.

"Almost any mineral or element on the periodic table although this far out in solar system heavy metals are somewhat scarcer," Judy said and snapped her fingers. "I'll show you!" She tapped on her pad for a few seconds. "They'll be delivered there in a few minutes." She pointed to a spot on the far side of the room. "To help mine the inner system and then the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and later the Oort cloud we'll need skilled labor."

"Won't you bring your own people?" the Secretary of Labor asked.

"Some, but Earth's here with a large population," she said and smiled. "The people we bring in will train humans."

"How many people?"

"We'll bring in 20,000 mining experts who will initially teach a million humans," Judy said and watched Mrs. Dole's mouth formed an 'O'. "Then those humans will teach more humans once they gain the necessary experience. In coming decades you'll be able to move on to other nearby stars. There are no civilizations within a five thousand light years of Earth currently, but there are a number of habitable planets within that distance."

"How many jobs?" Secretary Dole asked.

"Anyone who wants one and is willing to learn and work," the Admiral said. "In the Alliance everyone has a job."

"I have a question for Catherine," Dr. Graham said and the vixen turned to him and raised an eyebrow. "You said you represented Alliance artificial intelligence."

"Yes."

"Could you explain?"

"I'm what you'd call a cyborg," the vixen said and smiled at the human, "although I'm not living tissue covering a hyperalloy combat chassis." Several of the others across the table chuckled at the familiar reference. "My body is that of a bipedal Red Fox with each cell infiltrated by nanofibers which can repair them at the molecular level. Here let me show you." She stood and walked around the table to stand beside Dr. Graham. Then she placed her hand palm up on the table in front of him. "Your pocketknife." He looked at her in surprise and then retrieved it. "Cut me." He looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "Go ahead." He looked at her again and opened one of the blades. He made a smooth incision across one of her pads and then watched as the blood well up. By that time the others from that side of the table had gathered around to watch. It bled for a minute and then stopped. As they watched the cut began to close and after another thirty seconds it was gone. "The nanofibers and my living brain contain my artificial intelligence."

In the meantime Dr. Graham had taken out his handkerchief and wiped away the remaining blood.

"There's not even a trace of the cut!" he said, examining her hand and then looking at the vixen.

"I also have complete control over them."

"There's here!" the Admiral said, surprising everyone, and went over to retrieve a box, set it on the table, and then opened it. She and her Fox began placing the smaller boxes containing the metals and other minerals on the table. "Have a look."

Their guests chose several boxes each and began removing the lids.

"Copper," Secretary Yeutter said, holding up a shinny bar.

"This kinda heavy, Secretary Watkins said and then removed the lid. "Uranium!" He almost dropped the heavy bar. "What do you use it for?"

"That bar is only the raw metal and has been coated with a substance that blocks its natural low level radiation," she said and winked, "so you're not actually touching the raw metal itself. As for what we use it for well certainly don't use it for weapons or fission reactors. It can be used to make some beautiful glass and that bar would make an interest paperweight. Just keep it. You'll own the first piece of uranium mined off Earth from this solar system at least."

He looked at it for a moment, put it back in the box, and then slipping into a pocket.

"Thank you," he said and smiled.

"You're welcome," she said and looked at the man. "Your title is Secretary of Energy."

"Yes."

"How would you like to stop using oil, coal, and fission reactors?" she asked and noticed Secretary Cheney bouncing a gold bar in one hand.

"Fusion?!" he asked excitedly.

"Yes, we do have them, but I was thinking more of vacuum energy."

"You're successfully tapped it?!" Dr. Graham exclaimed.

"Yes, that's what powers this starship and most of our technology," she said.

"How?"

"That would take an hour to explain and we'd need to bring some of our physicists and some of yours too."

"We'll make that technology available to you, but let's move on to other topics."

The meeting lasted several more hours until they'd broken for lunch.

Sol Oort cloud – Zootopia III – Shuttle Station #1323 – Wednesday, April 5, 1989 12:20pm EDT.

The internal shuttle slowed and then stopped. The crew waiting to enter stepped aside and then came to attention when they saw the Admiral and Captain disembark. Another shuttle came to a stop behind theirs and a larger group disembarked.

"Yuri!"

The man turned to see his friend.

"Yegor!" he said and then hugged the other man. "Illya, Andriy, Oleksiy, Bohdan, and Denys."

He hugged each man in turn.

"Anna," Yegor said, hugging her, and then kissed her cheek.

"Remember that's my wife," he said and frowned.

"Why she married you I'll never know."

"Because she knows I'm not a smelly old Cossack like you!"

Both men laughed and hugged again. Then he noticed female crew coming up the platform to meet them and that not all of them were human.

"I see you've made some friends."

"Well yes."

Yuri smiled and patted his friend on the back.

"Come on."

All the while the others waited and listened to what they thought were the men speaking in Russian. The Secret Service agents thought the same thing and unconsciously moved a bit closer to their protectees. Yuri, Anna, and their friends walked around them to meet the Admiral and Captain.

"Judy, Nick, you remember my comrades," Yuri said, continuing in Ukrainian.

"Of course," she said, now speaking the same language. "How've you guys been?" This continued as Judy and her Fox greeted and hugged each man and their companions. Small talk was exchanged with each couple while the others watched and waited.

"You speak Russian?" The President asked.

"Actually, we were speaking Ukrainian," she said, turning toward the man, "but I can speak Russian too among others."

"Russian!" Yegor bellowed, having learned some English and other languages in the time he'd been on the Zootopia III. "If I speak Russian I hope my tongue catches fire." Judy began translating. "As far as I'm concerned all the Russians may burn in hell!" He took a step toward the President. "Do you know what they did to my people?!"

The President unconsciously took a step back. A Secret Service agent stepped forward and the President put a hand on him, restraining the man.

"I'd like to hear what he has to say."

Yegor listened to Judy's translation and was surprised that this important American would want to take time to listen to an ordinary person like him. Some of his anger cooled.

"But Mr. President..." he began and the President raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, sir," he said and the President looked back at the Ukrainian.

"Actually sir not much," he said and Yegor looked at the man's face. He could tell the American was being sincere. "All I remember is Stalin caused a mass starvation in Ukraine in the early 1930's."

"Come," Yegor said and put an arm across the President's shoulders, "let me tell you about the Holodomor."

Sol Oort cloud – Zootopia III – Mess Hall #228 – Wednesday, April 5, 1989 15:52pm EDT.

It'd been the most interesting lunch he'd had in a long time and then again the most disturbing too. First Yegor told him his story about those times and then the other Ukrainian men followed. During that time he noticed some of the men make calls and other people began to show up in ones and twos and a few times in larger groups. Later Anna took over translating from Judy so she could eat. Also, as time passed other crew came over and sat nearby just to listen. Before he knew it three hours had passed and he'd hardly eaten anything himself, having been engrossed in their stories. He looked at his plate and thinking of what he's heard pushed it away. How could someone do those sort things to another person?

"George, you want me to get you something else?" Barbara asked.

"When did you get here?" he asked, surprised.

"About two hours ago," she said and smiled. "First, Nick called me and then Judy did. I didn't want to interrupt."

He looked at the Fox and Rabbit and they shrugged and then smiled.

"And you heard?"

"Yes," she said and sighed. "The same thing happened here too, didn't it?"

"Yes," Yuri said.

"And it still continues, but now it's just hidden better," Barbara said.

"Isn't there anything we do about it?" the President said.

"Ask Judy," Yuri said and grinned.

The Rabbit only smiled.

Washington, D. C. – White House Oval Office – Saturday, April 15, 1989 1:24 pm EDT.

Officially the Gulag system had been closed by the MVD order Number 020 of January 25, 1960, but everyone still knew it still existed with just a different name. The Soviet government thought they could keep quiet until the US government released some very detailed pictures of the camps a day or two earlier and then same ones now. The President smiled and then there was a knock.

"Come."

James Baker, Dick Thornburgh, CIA Director William Webster, and Vice President Quayle entered and took their seats. The President looked at them and smiled.

"So how are things in Moscow?"

"Sir, they're absolutely losing their minds," James said and chuckled. "You know those pictures that 'came from an anonymous source' really pissed them off."

"Too bad," he said and chuckled.

"So have we heard from them officially?"

"Well not in so many words."

"What are they going to say?" the President asked and shrugged. "That we swooped down and hauled away half million people. What about the media? I've seen some of it of course."

"Just their usual BS," Dan said and smiled. "You know the talking heads making shit up. On another topic everyone's wondering why you're taking so long to get well."

"We'll let it go for another week and then I'll speak to the nation."

"You know once make your announcement they're going to figure it out."

"You think we couldn't have stopped Judy once she got the idea in her head?"

"No, but we did sorta put there, didn't we."

"About China," Director Webster began.

"When it rains it pours."

"Hu Yaobang died today and now there are students and ordinary citizens gathering on Tiananmen Square."

"What do you think going to happen?"

"There's going to an eruption and the government's going crush it."

"A revolution?"

"If only part the army joins the people, then..."

"It'll be one God awful bloody mess," The President finished. "And how do you think Fleet Admiral Wilde will react to seeing thousand or tens of thousands of people being massacred?"

"I've read what she did to the Soviets on the 1942 Earth," the Vice President said, "and I think she immediately invade to save as many people as possible and bring in any force necessary to do the job."

"She'll squash China like a bug."

"And if the Russians intervene," Director Webster said.

"We'll see the end of communism on our world too."

Earth - Chinese Military Headquarters – Peking, China – Saturday, October 10, 1942

General Chiang read the reports from the new Earth and smiled. Admiral Wilde was making their plans simpler and she doesn't even know it... yet. He wondered why she didn't just clean out every concentration camp on the planet especially the ones in China. She must be like a fighter pilot who was too focused on his target and forgets about everything around him. He either flies into the ground, get shot down one of the enemy planes, or ground fire. He'd just have to send a note to Lax to make a few suggestions.

Then he focused on his other problem: getting China back up and functioning. This included the new Siberian provinces and the Pacific Islands. People were still coming to China from other counties, mainly the United States, volunteering to help. President Roosevelt had even offered to send some military engineers. With state China was in he wouldn't refuse anyone's help except the Russians and Japanese."

"Even President Gandhi had sent a few thousand people to help which he'd really appreciated even though India was still in the process of rebuilding itself too. Five more of the desalination plants had come on line and pipe lines throughout the country were nearly seventy percent complete. The factories the Japanese had built were reopening and new ones were under construction too. As the Human Federation had told them oil had been discovered in Siberia and more Rabbits had arrived. All in all things were going better now than he'd expected.

Washington, D. C. – White House Oval Office – Saturday, April 22, 1989 11:32 pm EDT.

The knock came sooner than he'd expected and he sat forward in his chair.

"Come."

As they had a week earlier James Baker, Dick Thornburgh, William Webster, and Dan Quayle entered and took their seats. The President looked at them and smiled.

"So more disappearances?"

"In every communist country in the world plus every tin horn dictator to boot," James said and smiled.

The president leaned back, laughed, and clapped his hands.

"I kinda wondered why she didn't do this the first time around," the Vice President said.

"We only did talk only about Soviet Union," he said and looked Director Thornburgh. "So what are the Russians thinking?"

"They certainly don't think it was us," he said and leaned toward the President. "Just think if we could fly into their country undetected and just take half a million people away without leaving a trace. Who knows what we might take next."

The President laughed again.

"You have to wonder what she'll do next," Dan said.

"So tell me about China."

"It was Hu Yaobang funeral today and yesterday 100,000 people marched on Tiananmen Square and ignored orders that the Square was closed off for the funeral," Director Thornburgh said. "The funeral itself took place inside the Great Hall and was attended by the Party leadership. General Secretary Zhao Ziyang delivered the eulogy and it was all broadcast live to the students. The funeral seemed a bit rushed and only lasted 40 minutes. The students in the square wept."

"Your estimate of what's going to happen."

"What I told you a week ago hasn't changed."

"I think the Admiral will be shocked at what she sees and hit them hard," the President said. "I suspect having all their concentration camps cleaned out has unnerved them as much as the Russians."

"No doubt," James said. "Can't we talk to her?"

"Just what should I say?" he asked. "Just watch tens of thousands of people get murdered and don't do anything about it. That certainly won't fly with her."

"Can we speak to someone else?"

"The Alliance isn't like our country," he said and tapped the disk with each work. "Because of its size its extremely decentralized and here in this galaxy what she says goes."

Sol Oort cloud – Zootopia III – Admiral's Office – Saturday, April 22, 1989 13:44 pm EDT.

The influx of over a two and half million people put a bit of a strain on the Zootopia III's infrastructure. Fortunately they'd had time to prepare both times and the starship was still configured much as it had been for the war on 1942 Earth. Also not all the internal spaces within the starship had been build out so they were able to construct four new Earth based gardens large enough to handle all the new people. Since they also knew that a large portion of these people would not be in the best of health after being in concentration and labor camps for any length of time doctors and other healthcare workers had been brought in from the Human Federation and the closest Explorers worlds.

"Eshu, how are they doing?" she asked, fearing the answer.

"No matter what we do a small percentage of them are going to die," he said matter-of-factly. "The human body can only take so much abuse. There are just too many things failing at the same time. I could only save some of these people by growing them an entire new body."

"Can you?"

"Yes, but for some not quickly enough for all of them and we simply don't have the all the equipment we'd need to do it."

"We are bringing in more as fast as possible."

"And still some of them will die."

Judy sighed.

"We can only do what we can do."

"What of the people who done this to them?"

"They've been sent to the prisons constructed on the moon in my universe and will be tried later."

"Good," he said and smiled. "Judy, you did a good thing rescuing these people."

"Thank you," she said and looked at him. "It wasn't just me."

"You know a lot of the crew have volunteered to help."

"They're the real heroes."

"I wonder if we could get some help from this Earth."

Judy's ears came up and she smiled.

Earth – Nevada – Area 51 – Monday, April 24, 1989 1:22 am EDT.

Dr. Mohr thought that the Fleet Admiral had a strange sense of humor as they waited in the desert. They actually were several miles from any above ground structure or any prying eyes. Over a thousand doctors, nurses, corpsman, etc. waited under large well camouflaged tents. He leaned back and took a sip of water.

"Dr. Lawrence Mohr," a voice said and an armored figure just appeared before him.

He startled as did several others sitting nearby.

"Yes," he said, finding his voice after a few seconds.

"Please follow me," he said, turning and beginning to stride away.

"Wait a second!" he shouted and the armored figure stopped and turned back to him.

He put on his jacket and hurried toward him, only assuming it was male from the voice. Then he heard others picking up their things and following.

"Where are we going?"

"To our transport."

"But I didn't hear anything land."

"You wouldn't," he said with a tinge of humor in his voice. "Please follow me."

He turned, flicked his helmet light, and walked into the desert. Other people caught up and looked at him.

"What do we do?" someone asked.

"Follow him obviously," Dr. Mohr said and as several flashlights came on.

After about a mile the armored figure stopped and waited for the group to catch up.

"Now what?" he asked.

"Watch."

They heard a hum and then light appeared out of the darkness as the transport's ramp lowered. Lawrence saw a large cargo bay filled with seats.

"Please find a seat and we'll provide instructions once everyone is aboard," he said and walked up the ramp.

People began to bunch around him like they were waiting for him to make the first move. He turned and started up the ramp and after a few seconds they followed. He found a seat on the first row and started to put his bag under it, but found a box and noticed boxed under other seats too. He moved it and replaced it with his bag. Then lifted it and then sat with it in his lap. With nothing better to do he opened it and immediately recognized the food packages. Then he wondered what kinda food aliens ate and smiled. He'd eaten quite well while he was on the starship. Judy was a damn good cook!

He read the instructions on the first package and soon it began to warm. Sitting it aside and looked at the next one and it contain bread. He opened this one and then several others. Soon he was eating a chicken sandwich with cheese, pickles, and lettuce. After he'd eaten half it the sound of the ramp closing filled the cargo bay and he turned to watch as apparently did everyone else. When it clanged shut he turned back to see two people standing at the front of the room which he recognized.

"I'm Anna Nimchuk and this is my husband Yuri," she said and placed a hand on his arm, "and I see most of you found the boxes under your seats." Some of the others were eating too. "As you may have guessed this isn't an airplane." Several people began to ask questions and she held up a hand, quieting them. "This is a spaceship, but well technically it's a starship." Again several questions came from the crowd and as before she quieted them. "As you may've heard a large number of people have disappeared from prison camps all over the world. Yes, we're the ones who took them." As before more questions erupted from the audience and this time it took a bit long to quiet them. "As you may have surmised these people are not in the best of health and that's why you're here. In a short time we shall leave and rendezvous with our main ship. You and many others will be treating them, but not all the people you'll be working with will be human." This time there was total silence. "Now sit back, buckle yourselves in, and we'll be there in less than an hour."

Washington, D. C. – White House Oval Office – Saturday, April 24, 1989 10:30 am EDT.

The President sat behind the Resolute Desk and watched as the person behind the TV camera counted down. Then the red light came on and he took a deep breath.

"My fellow Americans," he began and smiled at the thought of what people must be thinking, seeing his much younger self, "today we've arrived at turning point in human history. Last month on March 31 myself and the First Lady were contacted by a civilization from outside our solar system and we spend a week aboard their starship. Barbara was accidently injured that day and though the efforts of one of their doctors her life was saved, but in the course of her treatment it spread to me as you can see my body was also regenerated."

"They're known as the Alliance and from their name you may have already guessed they're not just one species, but a great many and one of those species is humans. They're current spread over five million galaxies with an average of a billion Earthlike worlds in each. I know you are asking yourselves how humans can be part of the Alliance. Well, they're also currently in three distinct and separate universes and in each has a planet Earth with humans. In the universe that is directly connects to ours it is the year 1942 and on the other Earth it's 2976."

"Before I go any farther I like to tell you that at the end of this speech we will broadcast pictures and some short movies that were taken aboard their ship. Over the last week or so Barbara and I have recorded some voiceovers of our impressions to go along with them. We did and saw some extremely interesting things while we were there and I think you'll find them as interesting as we did." He grinned. "It will last about sixty-five minutes so I'll keep this speech short and let the movies and pictures speak for us. So get your VCRs ready."

"Now as you may have guessed on 1942 Earth World War II was currently underway when they found it and with the Alliance's help that war was quickly ended, but there were differences. Hitler was killed in 1935 and Albert Speer was Germany's Führer who was apparently in the process of ridding Germany of the Nazi party. Also Germany was in the process of winning the Second World War."

"On 2976 Earth history has proceeded much as it has on our Earth with again some minor differences at least up to the current date." George wondered how many people had already caught to the significance of the dating systems on the other two worlds and this one. "The Human Federation is currently spread out over ten thousand worlds in their version of the Milky Way. I've met with their President, John Morris, and we've had some interesting discussions on how we all can work together. Delegations from the Alliance, Human Federation, and 1942 Earth would like to come to our planet to meet with leaders of other countries via the United Nations."

"As I said this speech would be short and the pictures and movie will begin in two minutes. Also there will be a press conference at 10am tomorrow morning. Thank you letting me speak to and good night."

The President was then replaced with a digital clock which began to count down.

Moscow, USSR – Kremlin – Office of the President – Saturday, April 24, 1989 5:37 pm.

Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, was absolutely stunned as where the other men around him. He watched for a moment as the clock reached 0:02, then 0:01, and the scene showed a meadow and fields in the distance. This must be one of the short movies, he thought as the grass swayed in the light breeze.

"The pictures are starting!" one of the Politburo members said unnecessarily.

Then the American President and the First Lady walked into the picture.

"This is the Rabbit Garden," he began and put an arm around his wife, "and you'll see why it's called that in a moment. It is 50 miles long, 30 miles wide, and a mile high and is one of over 60 aboard this starship."

The camera panned around a bit and then up. At first it only looked like blue sky and clouds, but then they noticed the perches and resting on those were the largest living things they'd ever seen. One of them seemingly looked directly into the camera, spread its wings, and leapt. It circled around the other perches for a few seconds and roared and then three others joined it, two of them much smaller. They drifted down and soon landed before the camera.

"These of course are Dragons," he said and walked over and scratched the largest one under its chin. Barbara followed and then handed him a pad. "Good flying today?"

They heard the translation from the pad.

"Yes," the Dragon said and one of the smaller ones stepped beside its parent. "When will we be able to fly on your world?"

"In a month or so," he said and the smaller one came forward. "Good flying today?"

"Yes!" it said and bounced from one pair of legs to the other. "We went to another garden and I carried my first passenger!"

"Be careful!" the larger Dragon said. "They are small and fragile."

"Yes father."

"Come, walk with us," the President said and turned and walked past the camera. As it followed him a field came into view with figures working in the field. When they got to the edge of the field the camera focused in on the workers. "Now you'll see why they call this the Rabbit Garden." Dozens of Rabbits were working in cabbage field along with humans, Mellin, and several other Animals. "The people that are taller with longer tails are Mellin."

"George! Barbara!" a woman called and came open, first hugging him and then the First Lady. "We are just getting ready to break for lunch. I made Kapusta and Holubtsi and the Rabbits and Mellin made salads and other vegetables."

General Secretary Gorbachev, being half Ukrainian himself, immediately recognized cabbage soup and cabbage rolls, remembering all the times his mother had made them. They must be from one of the other two versions Earth, he thought.

"Of course, Anna," he said and followed her to where tables had been setup.

A large kettle was hanging over a fire pit, being tended by Mellin and a Rabbit. They each picked up a bowl and stood in line as the soup was being ladled out by the Mellin and the cabbage rolls were being served by Anna herself. Once everyone was seated Anna spoke grace first in Ukrainian and then English. Then a third voice said it in Zootopian.

"General Brooker," the President said and waved. The Gazelle and a man took the seats across from them. "Nice to see you again."

"This is my husband Hans," she said and patted his arm, "and please call me Maria."

"Just call me George and this is my wife Barbara."

Hans stood.

"Commander Hans Brooker," he said shook the President's hand and then kissed the First Lady's.

The President smiled and then sat and tried the soup.

"This is wonderful!"

"Certainly better than anything we had in the Red Army," Yuri said and then took a bite of Holubtsi.

"Or the army," Hans said.

"You're German."

"Yes."

"Were you in Ukraine?"

"I'm with the Human Federation."

"I was!" a man said from another table and they motioned him over. "I was with Army Group Center under Colonel-General Hoepner. When we went through Ukraine we surrounded several Soviet armies and Ukrainian turned on the Russians and then surrendered."

"I was there!" Yuri said.

"How'd end up here?"

"Anna's a Federation Marine and she rescued me from Dachau when they cleaned out all the other concentration camps all over the world and we ended up here," he said and looked at the man. "Why haven't we met before?"

"We," he said and point to several others, "were living in the Africa garden and we heard that you needed some help over here and volunteered."

"How'd you end up on the Zootopia III?"

"As I said we were with Army Group Center and we were close to Moscow," he said and shrugged. "I was with a unit scouting ahead and we were captured by the Alliance. They brought us here and then the war ended. Did you hear what the Alliance did to the Red Army?"

"Yes."

"That idiot Timoshenko attacked the Alliance and well after that there was practically no Red Army left."

"And you stayed."

"Had nothing to go home to after the British bombed Hamburg back in 39."

"Oh."

"Mr. President, didn't you fight in the war?" Maria asked.

"I was in Pacific fighting the Japanese and flew a TBF Avenger. It's a torpedo bomber. Well..."

The President spoke for another five minutes about is experiences during World War Two and then that particular video ended. General Secretary Gorbachev had stopped listening when the Ukrainians and Germans had finished and thought about the prison camp disappearances.

Beijing, People's Republic of China – Great Hall of the People – Sunday, April 25, 1989 12:20 am China local time.

Deng Xiaoping, Paramount Leader of the People's Republic of China, simply didn't have the time to listen to the American President's speech. He was working his best on trying to keep the People's Republic of China from simply flying apart. Millions of people were out in the streets across the country and occupying Tiananmen Square itself! And worse all someone had freed all the people in the reeducation camps across the country and apparently the rest of the world too and the information had somehow had become public knowledge! He continued read reports from the army and few minute later knock came.

"Enter!" he said a bit too loudly and a guard opened the door and one of his aides entered. "Is there a problem?"

"Sir, the American President has started his speech."

"I'm busy!"

"Sir, we think you might be interested in what he's saying."

She studied the man and knew he was scared, but he thought he saw something the man's eye. He stood and pointed to the television. The man went and turned it on. Subtitle scrolled across the bottom.

"The Alliance and from their name you may have already guessed they're not just one species, but a great many and one of those species is humans. They're current spread over five million galaxies with an average of a billion Earthlike worlds in each. I know you're asking yourselves how humans can be part of the Alliance. Well, they are also currently in three distinct and separate universes and in each has a planet Earth with humans. In the universe that is directly connects to ours it is the year 1942 and on the other Earth it's 2976."

He read and watched rest of the speech and then sat back for the pictures and some short movies filmed aboard the Alliance starship. For several minutes afterward he just stared at blank screen.

"Sir?" the aid asked.

"Please leave me," he said and sighed. "I need to think."

The man left and first thing that came to mind was disappearing prisoners.

Earth – various communist countries – Saturday, April 24, 1989 10:30 am – 11:40 am EDT.

Around the world by now virtually every television and radio was tuned to the President's speech. Of course in most communists countries the only the people watching were those in power or at least they thought they were. The Alliance had attached devices on the transmission towers that overrode the original television and radio signals to replace them with President's speech. Over the radio the President's voice was mimicked to be in the specific language of each country.

Of course it had been Nick's idea or as he said it 'I'm sure EVERYONE in EVERY country on Earth would like to listen to George and Barbara's experiences with us.' Judy wholeheartedly agreed and within a few hours the Zootopia III's AIs were manufacturing the necessary devices. Soon enough they were on their way to Earth and less than a day later attaching themselves to the transmission towers.

In the Soviet Union when the American President's speech began coming over their televisions and radios most people though it was just another aspect of General Secretary Gorbachev's policy of glasnost, 'openness.' As the speech progressed and then short movies and pictures were shown they weren't so sure, but by the time it had ended they were sure someone had made a mistake either accidently or purposefully. Either way that someone was now in deep deep trouble.

In the People's Republic of China the government found out sooner that the President's speech was going out live and tried their level best to stop it. By the time someone thought of cutting power to the transmission towers the speech was nearly over, but even after they did the broadcast continued. The devices of course ran on vacuum energy and they had enough power to continue without any external power source. When the speech ended the devices simply detached themselves and flew away, keeping this technology out of unwanted hands.

In some other more hard line communist counties they went as far as to topple some broadcast towers, but it was then far too late and in the long run self defeating, letting their citizens assume what they heard was most lightly the truth.

Earth - Chinese Military Headquarters – Peking, China – Saturday, October 20, 1942 3:22 local time.

General Chiang had to laugh aloud when received his daily report which included a detail operations plan explaining what the Alliance had been done during the American President's speech. He'd guessed that it had been Captain Wilde's idea when he'd read the title and was impressed that the Admiral had accepted the idea, planned, and implemented it so quickly. Of course the best part was that it had worked perfectly. He had to keep in mind that she was extremely intelligent and they had to be careful that she didn't discover their plans.

Lax reported that everything and everyone was almost in place. Their people they'd planted Tiananmen Square and around the country reported in daily and even helped better organize the 'spontaneous' popular demonstrations. They were easily intercepting and decoding communications and orders from the government and People's Liberation Army in China and now in Russia too. Also, listening devices had been planted in every government and military office in Beijing and Moscow. He had to assume the Alliance was also.

Within a month his new army and his German allies would soon move to the new universe by Lax's people to continue training on newly prepared worlds. With the things that the Alliance and his people were doing Earth history might be altered from what had happened on the 2976 Earth so they must be ready with less than a day's notice.

Washington, D. C. – White House press room – Saturday, April 25, 1989 9:53 am EDT.

"Mr. President," Dan said and then smiled, "the Congressional Leadership is pissed that you didn't let them know ahead of time and of course the members of our party understand why you didn't."

"Because the only way that bunch could keep a secret was if they were dead," the President said and smiled. "If I'd have done that they wanted they would've leaked that I said I met with alien's and have obviously lost my mind."

"Then George, maybe you should have," Barbara said.

"Then wouldn't they've looked..." Dan said and stopped, looking for the appropriate word.

"Stupid," Barbara said.

They laughed and several seconds later one of the Presidential aides came over.

"Mr. President the Press Secretary is almost finished."

"Thank you."

They followed the man to the edge of the stage, waiting just out of sight.

"The President and the First Lady of the United States of America," Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater said and then stepped aside.

The President with the First Lady on his arm walked to the podium and looked over the crowd of reporters and smiled.

"Mr. President!" a hundred reporters said simultaneously and the President held up a hand, waiting until they quieted.

"As you see the First Lady is with me today and she too will be answering questions," the President began, "but for today let's show a bit of decorum." He looked over the crowd and every nodded. "Good. Barbara."

She looked out over the sea of faces and then settled on a female reporter. The woman stood, gave her name, and identified the organization she worked for.

"Madam First Lady..."

"Please just call me Barbara."

The reporter smiled.

"Barbara, how were injured?" the reporter asked and the First Lady look to her husband.

They'd known this question was going to come up first and they agreed there was nothing else to do, but tell the truth. George smiled and she turned back to the reporter.

"One of our Secret Service agents fired his pistol and I was hit by a ricochet," she said and a moment later every reporter in the room was posed to shout a question. This time Barbara raised a hand, stopping them. "Judy first appeared us in a hologram in her armor. The man simply made a mistake. After that Eshu, he's my doctor, and his wife appeared and he carried me to his hospital. George, the White House doctor, and some Secret Service agents followed."

The woman looked if she had another question and Barbara nodded.

"Barbara, how do feel?"

She looked at the other woman for a moment and smiled.

"Oh pretty much like I did about thirty-five years ago," she said and the room broke into laughter. She could help laughing herself and eventually everyone quieted. "Eshu told me that after my surgery that I had other minor problems and he just went ahead and cured them too."

"and your..."

"Rejuvenation."

"Yes."

"Well he just thought my body would heal faster if it was younger."

The reporter sat and she picked another female reporter.

"Tell us about Captain Wilde."

Barbara grinned.

"Nick's quite the gentleman or should I say gentlefox."

Several laughs came from the crowd, mostly the female reporters.

"You like him."

"Oh yes," she said and smiled again, remembering. "He's a great conversationalist and when he carried me everywhere he was so careful. He just a bit over eight feet tall and I think he's quite handsome."

Sol Oort cloud – Zootopia III – Rabbit Garden – Master Bedroom – Saturday, April 25, 1989 10:06 am.

"It seems you've made an admirer," Judy said, watching Barbara pick another female reporter.

"I was just being nice to her," he said and gave his bunny a wink.

"Sure you were," she said and poked her Fox in the ribs. "You turn on that old Nick Wilde charm and the human females just have to run their fingers through your fur and tell you how handsome you are."

"Jealous?"

"You horny old Fox!" she said and swatted him.

"Complaining Fluff?" he asked and then they wrestled around a bit with Judy eventually ending up on top. "So now what?" She kissed him and soon enough their clothes ended up scattered around the room. "It's been a while since we've had time to be ALONE."

"So?"

He laughed and took her in his arms and then his bunny laid her head back. He licked tender flesh. Then he carefully took her throat in his jaws and his bunny moaned in pleasure. Then he gently squeezed.

"Nick!" she cried and felt the growl starting to build in his chest.

Then he felt his bunny's hand on the back of his head, pulling him closer. He squeezed just a bit harder and held it. A moment later her back arched, lifting them both off the bed, and he growled menacingly. Then he released her and they collapsed together, breathing hard.

"That was wonderful!" she said and then ran her fingers through his fur. "Is this was the human females do?"

"Sometimes, but I'd must rather have my cute little bunny do it," he said and she gave him the eye. "I've always thought you were cute."

He smiled and then she did too.

"I love you Nicholas Wilde."

"I've loved you from that moment under the bridge."

"Me too."

"Fluff, you're such a romantic."

They both laughed and then they made love. Much later they fell asleep in each other arms and their dreams were as always identical at least since they had their AIs.

Sol Oort cloud – Zootopia III – Captain's gig – Tuesday, May 16, 1989 9:36 am EDT.

Several weeks passed as a diplomatic whirlwind swept the planet and eventually an invitation was extended for Alliance representatives to visit and address the United Nations.

"We could've taken the short cut," Nick said and smiled at the look on his bunny's face.

"No thank you!" she said as they stepped aboard the captain's gig.

"It's just a wormhole," Anne said and smiled.

"I've used it several times," Sofia said, "and so has Nick."

"I'd rather ride a Dragon," Mike added.

Judy sighed and marched toward the flight deck. She took to copilot's seat, her Fox took the pilot's, Catherine the Weapons officer's position, and Sofia the navigator's. The others found their way to the passenger cabins they'd been assigned. Catherine out of habit connected herself to ship computer system and greeted her fellow AI. The ship's AI went through various checklists, started the engines, and unclamped from the Zootopia III's hull, drifting away on thrusters.

"Captain Wilde," the ship is yours.

"I have the ship," the Fox said, putting his hands on the controls.

Nick swung the ship around and gave power to the main engines. After five minutes they were one hundred and twenty thousand miles from the Zootopia III and still accelerating to match Earth's velocity.

"We'll be ready to jump in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...," Sofia said and the ship flashed out of existence, reentering real space less than a second later. "We are currently in the Earth's orbital path and it's currently 510,812 miles behind us."

"Beginning deceleration," Nick said, swinging the ship around and giving more power to the engines."

"The Earth will catch up to us in seven hours and forty minutes," Catherine said.

"What no seconds?" Nick said and Catherine gave him the finger.

"You're more like mom every day," Nick said and smiled. "The ship is yours."

Nick stood.

"I have the ship," the ship's AI said.

"So what are you going do for the next seven hours and thirty-nine minutes," Sofia said and smiled at Nick.

"Oh I'm sure we'll find something interesting," he said and winked at his bunny whose ears abruptly turned a cherry red.

Earth – Captain's gig – Tuesday, May 16, 1989 5:16 pm EDT.

On time the Earth caught up with them and with bit of thrust they achieved orbit. Since the meeting was 10am the next morning it was decided to remain in obit and start their decent the next day at 5am New York time. Everyone could have simply slept through the deorbit burn, but since theirs was the first Alliance ship to 'officially' land on this Earth the passengers were awake and in the observation bubble. Of course since their entry into the atmosphere was powered there was no fiery trail left behind the ship. As they flew into the thicker parts of the Earth's atmosphere the ships wings extended and for all practical purposes the starship became an aircraft, traveling at mach five.

When they reached the eastern coast of the United States they'd slowed to mach one and they were soon joined several Air Force jet fighters as they approached New York City. When they were fifty miles from their destination the ship had came to stop and hovered. Then several things happened at once. The main engines were covered and sealed, the wings retracted, and the gig settled into the Atlantic Ocean. Then it became a large ocean going ship propelled by its magnetohydrodynamic engine.

The engine itself had no moving parts and of course used the ubiquitous vacuum energy for its power source. An electric current was passed through the seawater in the presence of an intense magnetic field, which interacts with the magnetic field of the current through the water. Functionally, the seawater was then the moving, conductive part of an electric motor. Pushing the water out the back accelerated the ship itself forward. Soon enough the ship was moving at a sedate fifty knots.

Within an hour they slowed and passed under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and entered New York harbor proper. There they were met by several hundred ships all of varying sizes which were much smaller than the gig itself. They slowed and then stopped as they neared the Statue of Liberty and then after a few minutes continued. The ship entered the East River passing first under the Brooklyn Bridge, then the Manhattan Bridge, and lastly the Williamsburg Bridge. They had to lower the ship in the water, it being just a bit too tall for any of the three. As they came around a bend in the East River the UN Building glinted in the sun and the gig came to rest beside a newly constructed dock adjacent to the building.

Five minutes later a side hatch opened and Fleet Admiral and Captain Wilde were first to set foot on this version of Earth 'officially.' They stepped toward the greeting party.

"Mr. President, Barbara, thank you for letting us come and visit," she said and took his hand.

"You certainly do know how to make an entrance," the First Lady said, looking at last ship.

"Thank you," Nick said and Judy snorted.

Other greetings were made to officials from other Alliance worlds and the other two versions of Earth. After a few minutes the group walked toward the United Nation Building. Of course all this was shown on television across most of the world and across the entire Alliance in all three universes.

Unnamed Assembly World – Nationalist Chinese Military Headquarters – Tuesday, May 16, 1989 8:36 pm EDT.

General Chiang watched with interest as the Fleet Admiral and the Alliance dignitaries entered the United Nation Building. Later he listened to speeches they made and none of them mentioned the real problem: ridding their world of communism and the other minor dictators. He'd sent his wife, Soong Mei-ling, as his official representative to this meeting as he had during the war. It was something at which she'd become quite accomplished and she willing agreed to do. Of course she'd ask for aid and volunteers to help in the rebuilding of their China and to speak to the leaders of various countries to as the Americas say 'get the lay of the land.'

The Paramount Leader of the People's Republic of China, Deng Xiaoping, wasn't there, being quite busy trying to keep control of China. The reports from the several thousand people they'd smuggled into that country were quite encouraging. It looked like control of the country was slipping out of the Communist Party's hands faster than the history books he'd been given indicated. He'd had people check other sources of that history just to make sure he'd been given a 'complete and unaltered' version. Another difference and a more hopeful one was that a growing number of lower level members of the People's Liberation Army had begun to join the protesters in cities across the country. If even a small part of the army splintered it would make things a great deal simpler when it came time to act.

He idly wondered if their might be a way to speed up this process or possibly encourage parts of the People's Liberation Army to declare themselves in support of the protesters. That would mean getting someone inside the army. He decided that it would better to just work from bottom up, getting the lower ranked soldiers to defect to the protestors. This might require sending more people, but he did have more than enough trained people from the Human Federation and their China. He'd need to send a message to Lax as soon as possible. His pad came easily to hand and he wondered how he'd ever got anything done without it.

New York City – Soviet Consulate – Wednesday, May 17, 1989 8:16 pm EDT.

Mikhail Gorbachev sat eating his breakfast and thinking about yesterday's meeting. The previous day he'd briefly met the Fleet Admiral, the President of the Human Federation, and number of others from the Alliance. The Admiral had been somewhat cool toward him and that in itself worried him. Of course all the Soviets she'd met before were lead by that madman Stalin and that would most likely put off anyone toward the Soviet peoples. The speeches had been of interest too with the prospect of exploring the galaxy and all the new technologies that would go with it. He also knew some of the people in his government might try to exploit those technologies to gain some advantages here on Earth. He was positive that the Alliance would have safeguards in place to preclude this and what was given could just a easily be taken away. Then some punitive action would follow which he was positive that the Soviet peoples would regret. Today he would have a private meeting with her and that he was sure would be interesting.

As he rode in his official car he looked at the city and the people on the streets. The crowds did remind him somewhat of Moscow, but the city itself was a great many modern buildings with new ones going up here and there. When they'd pulled up to the UN building he was quick ushered inside where he was greeted by several UN officials. Then he and his party was taken to a large conference room where the Admiral and a number of other Alliance officials waited. He also noted armored marines by the doors and at the back of the room.

"General Secretary Gorbachev," she said in Russian, coming to him and taking his hand. He thought it was an interesting feeling taking a furred hand and looking into the eyes of a Rabbit who was actually taller than he was. "Please have a seat."

"Thank you," he said and sat across from her. "You speak Russian well."

"For starters I'm going to tell you only the truth for this entire meeting," she said in Ukrainian and smiled. "Ask me anything and I'll tell you anything and everything I know about the subject, but I also ask you to return favor and do the same."

"As you wish," he said in same language, "but could we speak Russian?"

"Certainly," she said, switching back to that language, and sat back. "You go first."

"What happened to the people in the camps?"

"My people took them all and they're currently aboard my ship."

The man beside him shot to his feet.

"They're all Soviet citizens!" the man blurted out.

He stared at the man until he sat and then looked away.

"Mostly they're people whose only crime is to simply disagree with your government or some corrupt lower level government officials," she said and leaned toward the man. "I've seen personally see concentration camps and Gulags before and a few here too. Gentlemen, we did precisely the same thing on the 1942 Earth. Let me show you a video." A screen descended from the ceiling and then screen lit up showing a man working in a field. "Recognize him?"

Of course everyone in the Soviet delegation recognized Joseph Stalin.

"Yes, of course" General Secretary Gorbachev said.

"He will spend the rest of his life there, but he will not be mistreated or harmed in any way," she said, looking into Gorbachev's eyes. "With our medicine he will live a long and healthy life." General Secretary Gorbachev got the point as did all the others. "Now General Secretary Gorbachev I've read about your glasnost policy and it's a step in the right direction, but it's only one single step."

"I agree."

"Good," she said and smiled. "Now let's talk about how we may work together."

1989 Earth Universe – Milky Way Galaxy – Perseus Arm – Star System 101,276,709 – Wednesday, May 24, 1989 7:47pm

Regardless of what was happening on Earth the survey of the Milky Way in this universe proceeded. Probe 12784 dropped out of FTL, signaled that it had successful reentered normal space, checked that it was in the correct start system, and immediately activated its sensors and begun taking readings. This star was a yellow dwarf much like the one in the Zootopia system and within an hour eleven planets were found of which one was in the goldilocks zone. The other planets were either uninhabitable rocks or gas giants. There were also three asteroid belts and the ubiquitous Oort cloud. All in all it was typical of what was found around this type of star.

Of course there were tens of thousands of asteroids outside of the three belts in their own orbits about the central star. Probe 12784 released thousands of in-system probes to deal with the detailed survey in the outer system while it proceeded to the inner system to examine the rocky worlds there. After it had found Zootopia it had been upgraded so that now it was the size of a human aircraft carrier. After calculating the orbits of those planets it entered FTL for a few microseconds on reentered normal space a five light seconds ahead of the single planet in the goldilocks zone. Its sensors showed that the planet emanated none of the electromagnetic radiation which would signify an advanced civilization, but there could possibly be one at a lower level.

Probe 12784 decelerated, waiting for the appropriate time, and when the planet caught up and entered orbit. As it had many times before it turned its sensors toward the planet and collected data on each orbit. No clusters of light were found that would indicate cities, but as it passed over the dark side it did find small fires. Some were clustered together while others were solitary. It could indicate some form of intelligent life and it released probes which would enter the atmosphere and proceed to the locations of a few of those fires. Of course that would take time and it decided to see what the outer system probes had found so far.

The most interesting discovery beside three newly found planets inside the Oort cloud was a brown dwarf star beyond it and possibly in orbit of the system's central star. Now the organics most likely would send designated pure science vessel to study this system in more depth. It then directed several probes to orbit the newly discovered star and study it and its surroundings. Then it went back to its study of this life bearing world and the other three rocky planets in the inner system.

It still waited for the first probe to reach its designated target on the planet's surface when an alert came in from one of its probes in the outer system. Data flowed into it memory of a ship adrift between the ninth and tenth planets. It scanned image and then compare to all the ones in it memory. The ship matched none of them.

It directed three more probes in the vicinity to the ship and thought about going itself. When Probe 12784 sent its next report the organics would now definitely send a ship, it thought.

Beijing, People's Republic of China – Great Hall of the People – Monday, May 29, 1989 1:13 pm local time.

Now Deng Xiaoping was very worried. Until recently only the people were in the streets demonstrating against the government, but now parts of the People's Liberation Army stationed in and around the major cities were joining them. It had begun with only the lower ranked non-commissioned officers, but now the junior and middle ranked officers were joining them too. In one city the soldiers revolted and killed their senior officers. Then they took control of the city, executed the communist party officials, and setup their own ruling council with local protest leaders. When the soldiers in a nearby city were ordered to attack they revolted too and did exactly the same thing. Then those two groups of soldiers joined forces and talked the soldiers in a third city into joining them. It was like a spreading cancer!

It seemed to him like they were being helped from the outside. If it were being done by these aliens, the Alliance, they were 'well and truly screwed' as the Americans would say. He'd had a meeting with his senior general to discuss what was to be done about this crisis in the short term and what to do so it never happens again. When they spoke of the short term solutions one of the generals actually suggested that they destroy one of the rebel cities with a nuclear weapon! He almost took one of guards' rifles and shot the man himself, but had his guards do as an object lesson to the others. That man had been too stupid to be an officer in People's Liberation Army. After that more sensible suggestions were made.

He had do something regardless if the demonstrators were getting help or not or he wouldn't be the paramount of China for long either way. There were units of the People's Liberation Army stationed in isolated parts of China that the rank and file most likely had never heard of the ongoing demonstrations. They'd need to be brought into the cities to suppress the people and restore order. He informed his generals to come up with a plan and do it quickly. Fortunately there were dedicated and loyal units of the army close enough to Beijing to be brought in quickly and clear Tiananmen Square and hopefully that object lesson would deter the other demonstrations from going any farther. He sent out the necessary orders.

Unnamed Assembly World – Chinese Military Headquarters – Monday, May 29, 1989 2:01 pm.

General Chiang laughed as Deng Xiaoping had one of he'd stupid generals shot. He hoped there were more like him since it would make things so much easier. Then he watched and listened to Deng Xiaoping and his band of criminals make their plans to kill thousands or maybe tens of thousands of Chinese citizens just for disagreeing with their totally corrupt government. He was surprised that he didn't hear the word 'liquidate' which was the communists' favorite euphemism for murder. He also remembered this man Deng Xiaoping from his China who now sat in cell or worked in a field beside Mao Zedong in their prison on the Moon. Someday he'd have to visit that place, he thought.

Then he took up his pad and made copies of the conversations. He knew that everything heard by all the listening devices they'd installed across China were being saved elsewhere, but he wanted to make sure he had his own personal copies too. Then he thought about Judy and how she would react when the communist's plans were implemented. Of course he'd be one step ahead of her and the people of this Earth would see what kind of monsters these communists were.

Then there were the Russians. What would they do? Regardless if they intervened or not they'd made contingency plans and the Russians would get exactly what was coming to them. He sat back in his chair and smiled.

Washington, D. C. – White House – Oval Office – Thursday, June 1, 1989 9:23 am EDT.

The President's pad pinged once and lit, showing the message 'accept call?' He knew it was Judy and was glad to take a little break. He tapped the screen.

"Hello Judy," he said and smiled. "How are things going?"

"Fairly well George," she said and leaned a bit closer to the screen. "The galactic survey is going well. We are finding new habitual worlds and few new civilizations. Life itself is abundant, but intelligent life is somewhat rare. That brings me to the reason for this call. One of our probes found something interesting and we're bringing it to Earth."

"Why?" he said unconsciously, waving a hand. "Sorry."

"No problem," she said and chuckled. "Beware of Greeks bearing gifts?"

George laughed.

"I trust you!"

"Apparently that isn't true of everyone."

"I know some people have gone in hiding, thinking the aliens are going invade Earth," he said and sighed. "I think they've watched 'War of the Worlds' too many times!"

"That's one of my favor movies and books," she said, seeing the surprise on his face. "I liked Alien too. I don't think the Explorers ever found anything like that I hope. Anyway, that probe found a derelict starship and we're bringing it here to study with help of human scientists. It'll be here tomorrow, but we won't start our investigations for a week."

"What could we do to help?"

"A different perspective maybe?"

"I guess that's possible."

"I'm going to speak to General Secretary Gorbachev next."

"And get the humans working together."

"You got in one," she said and winked. "Now I want to talk about China." She saw his expression change, "but I'd like to speak to both you and General Secretary Gorbachev at the same time."

"If he'll agree I have no problem."

"I'll see and call you back either way."

"OK."

Moscow, USSR – Kremlin – Office of the General Secretary – Thursday, June 1, 1989 4:34 pm local time.

The General Secretary's pad pinged once and lit, showing the message 'accept call?' He knew it was the Admiral and sighed, having a good idea why she might want to speak to him. He tapped the screen.

"Admiral Wilde," he said.

"General Secretary Gorbachev, would you have time to talk?" she asked is Russian.

"Certainly."

"During the survey of a star on the other side of the galaxy one our probes discovered a derelict starship and we are bringing it to Earth," she said and tried not to smile. "We would like scientists from various countries to join us in the investigation of this ship.

"What type of people would you need?"

"Scientists in all the physical sciences," she said and tapped her pad. "I'll just sent you a list." She heard his pad ping and saw a message on hers that the message had been successfully delivered. Then another that the same message was delivered to President Bush's too. "It'll be here tomorrow, but we won't begin our investigations for about a week. Would that be enough time?"

"It should be."

"Good," she said. "Now there is something else I need to speak to you about."

"China."

"Yes sir, and I'd like to involve President Bush in our discussion too if that is acceptable."

"It would, but I need about ten minutes to make arrangements.

"Then I shall call you back then."

"Thank you."

Judy broke the connection and called the American President.

"He agreed and I'll call him back in nine and half minutes with you."

"That'll give me time to make some arrangements."

"General Secretary Gorbachev said pretty much the same thing," she said and smiled. "Call you back in nine minutes."

She broke to connection and then went back to looking at the report on the derelict starship from Probe 12784. It was currently towing it's discover here and as she'd said it would arrive tomorrow. She sent copies of the report to the President and General Secretary's pads and sat back in her chair and shut her eyes. A minute later her pad beeped and she sighed and thought that an Admiral's work was never done. She looked at the countdown to meeting time and hit accept without noticing who it was.

"Judy."

"Catherine," she said surprised. "Nick is on the bridge, but..."

"I've already spoken to him and I can't wait to see you two."

"You're coming here!"

"I'll be there tomorrow."

"Great, but I have a meeting with the President of the United States and General Secretary of the Soviet Union in a couple of minutes."

"You look worried," she said and unconsciously brought her pad closer until her face filled the screen. "Is there anything I can do?" Judy glanced at the countdown and then transferred the information on the current situation on Earth directly to Catherine's internal AI. The vixen went still for a time and then her eyebrows went up. "How can I help?"

"Would you like to join us?"

"Yes, I think I would."

"Just wait and I bring you in. OK?"

"Sure."

Judy called George and then General Secretary Gorbachev and screen on each pad split, each showing the other two participants.

"Gentlemen, I'd like to speak one language," she said and smiled. "English or Russian?"

"Russian," President Bush said in deference to his counterpart.

"Now there's another person I'd like to bring in on our discussion if neither of you wouldn't mind – she's the leader of my homeworld," she said and both men agreed. "This is Catherine Ann Clawhauser," the screens split into three, "She led the revolution that freed our world from its oppressive government and is currently on her way here. Catherine this is President Bush."

Judy touched her pad and the President's picture blinked for a moment.

"Mr. President."

"and General Secretary Gorbachev."

"Mr. General Secretary."

"What's your title?" General Secretary Gorbachev asked.

"Chief Executive," she said and smiled, "but please just call me Catherine."

Then to Judy's surprise General Secretary Gorbachev smiled.

"Then Catherine please call me Mikhail," he said and his smile returned.

"And may I call you George?" the vixen asked and her eyes twinkled.

George blushed, opened his mouth, hesitated for a moment, and then found his voice.

"Certainly... of course... sure," he said and the vixen smiled.

"So I see from what Judy has sent me you're having a problem with China," the vixen said. "My daughter and I have had a bit of experience with China on the 1942 Earth."

"I have a video to show you of a meeting in Beijing between the Deng Xiaoping and his military leaders and I must warn you that it's... how shall I say this... shows just what kind of people we must deal with. Each pad's AI will add subtitles and video will be also downloaded to your pads for later replay."

She started the video and it ran for thirty minutes. Neither George nor Mikhail had ever seen a person murdered in cold blood, but in the course of her life Catherine had seen death up close and personal, having participated in the revolution and in her own self-defense several times. When the video ended the pads again split into three, showing each of the participants. Judy thought both men look shaken and Catherine only stoic.

"I've dealt with people like this before," Catherine said and smiled. "They all now live on a small island a thousand miles from anything. So what are we going to do about them?"

"When they implement their plans I'll stop them," the Admiral said.

"And I'll help," the vixen said and grinned. "I know a star system between the Milky Way and the Lesser Magellanic Cloud that'll suit them just fine."

Both leaders looked alarmed.

"Judy!" President Bush said.

"Admiral, you can't!" General Secretary Gorbachev nearly shouted.

"I can, I will, and I've done it before," she stated. "I won't just watch while thousands of people murdered by these megalomaniacs and do nothing. I was hoping you wouldn't either."

"Judy, you'll start a war and they have nuclear weapons!"

"And I know exactly where all of them are and they'll be no threat whatsoever."

That bought both leaders up short.

"Those men have already waited too long and boxed themselves into a corner," Catherine said. "If they do nothing they know the Chinese people will rise up and destroy them. So as you humans say they're like a wounded animal with no choice, but to try to survive."

"If we talk to them," President Bush began.

"They've already declared martial land and the people now sense that the government is in trouble which it is and think they have the advantage," the vixen said, her ears coming forward. "Of course they just might, but great many people will die either way if we do nothing."

"We're damn if we do and damned if we don't," President Bush said and sat back in his chair.

Just outside the door Dawn, Catherine's daughter, had ten minutes before hacked her mother's pad and now sent everything to her good friend General Chiang.