Chapter 58
John
Food
It is late at night when the shuttle lands at a large building, the area around it has a very high wire fence. On the outside of the fence the area is surrounded with multiple old tires. At each corner of the fence is a guard house with at least one trooper in each one.
Troopers run over to the shuttle and stand weapons at ready as humans are forced out quickly and then stand in a line with troopers ensuring that they do not try to run away as they are marched towards the large building.
Steven is there at the door reassuring the humans that this is simply an Orientation Center as they are marched forward in single file. What he is familiarizing them too is not said, they are simply asked to remain calm and they will be able to return soon to their homes, family and friends. The humans are then sprayed with a liquid as they are forced inside the warehouse. As they walk through the door someone dressed in a white jacket asks each one that enters, "Name?" Another individual takes a laser and writes something on each of their foreheads in what appears invisible until a blue light is shined on their forehead and the symbols glow. They are taken to another screen with alien symbols and visuals are taken of the individual with the glowing symbol showing.
John is standing with several officers from the Los Angeles ship and twenty-five others from five other ships. This is the third time he has done this with ranking officers from other ships, he will continue to do this until all ranking officers from each ship have gone through the processing plant. The time chosen was scheduled very early in the morning Pacific Time, this way most humans are not up for the day or at least not on the road. As the officers turns back to him he continues speaking, "When the processing plant is finished in three to four months we will actually have the humans brought immediately in by what they call the semi-truck. We will have between two to three of these vehicles deliver the humans and after the processing procedure, we shall ship them by large shuttles to the mothership. They can be stacked in the shuttle one on top of the other and then taken the ship and placed in the storage area. This will speed up the process and the more individuals that are targeted as possible terrorists will be dealt with immediately. All the monitoring we have done in the beginning has given us many names of problem individuals and information to where they may be found if they go into hiding. We have been taking scientists and politicians and forcing those that we can through conversion to do what we want of them. Now, we can begin gathering those noted as future troublemakers and put them in the storage pods. Step-by-step, we hopefully will have more complacent individuals willing to do what is requested of them, but the processing will not end."
"Interesting," Rita says. She is the second-in-command on the Houston ship. Next to her is Sadie her aide.
Kathy the Seattle ship commander is standing silently looking about, "I do not see any Youth Leaders here. I thought you were going to be bringing a few of them into Security."
"What?" Steven stares at her for a moment, "No. They work to much with humans, this may be too much for them. They are not needed anyway."
"Kathy," John says with a smile. "We need their ability to read individuals and the more sensitive type seems more ideal to do this. The work they do is very important." He chuckles, "We know our Youth Leaders look all tough on the outside, but let's face it they are what is the word. . . squishy on the inside. "
She laughs along with others, "That's for sure." Then she frowns, "But why are you bringing them into Security and preparing our Head Security officers and Visitor Friends supervisors to present the names of those Youth Leaders and humans to be placed and trained for this new division."
Steven turns to John first and then Kathy. "Actually, we are working with humans to form a human alliance in forming this new security division. You have been sent the data on this. The objective is to have this happening on all of the ships. Eventually, humans will be doing the much needed security work in regards to human troublemakers and keeping peace. However, we need to learn and adjust as needed so that we have this new and I believe formidable group be devoted to the Regime as our own people. Obviously, humans are going to be more knowledgeable about their own people. Those small things we don't understand are going to be something that shall we say, ring the alarm bells with them. Would you like me to send the information again to you? As for the Youth Leaders, they do their job efficiently. They are quite intelligent, innovative and capable of reading people and manipulating others easily. Best of all we know how dedicated they are to the Regime."
"There is no need to send it again. I will review it one more time and send any further questions or advice that I may have later to you." Kathy smiles, "As for the Youth Leaders their dedication to the Regime is without doubt. Their last bonding was epic, it appears we may never have to have them go through this again. They are so committed, there are regular crew members I wish we could give the bonding to or at least that last one. Another thought would be to have the last bonding done on all younger crew, as I know it only works on minds that have not fully matured. It may be something to consider for all personnel that meet that requirement. This would improve their ability to do as told without hearing later of their questioning what they have been commanded to do. We know that younger individuals tend to be more passionate to whatever cause they are embracing at the time. Again just a thought."
John gives a brief small, "The bonding has been something that exceeded all expectations, especially the last one. I am not sure if we would get the same results even on personnel that met the maturity requirement. You have to remember that the Youth Corp have been undergoing the bonding procedure since the age of sixteen. " He smiles broadly as he points to a door, "Shall we enter. I will show you the rest of the routine that we shall be doing to prepare the humans for the pods. I know that everyone on each ship by now has found the building that fits the recommendations given. Many of you are preparing your own processing plant even now or like this one coming close to finishing. If you have now or later find a more efficient way of doing the process please let us know. The more efficient and secretly from the human population the better."
They walk inside and remain on a balcony which allows them to observe the work to be done. The humans are guided to a small room and ordered to wait until called. Behind a large wall is a series of very small rooms which have no ceilings so they can observe everything that is happening. In one of the rooms a human is brought in and a trooper orders the human to undress and lay down on a table. Another individual wearing a white coat tells the person that they are here so that they can ensure that their health is good. It sounds friendly, but with a trooper standing next to them the humans demeanor shows their fear of what may be truly happening.
The equipment used is something that no human doctor would be aware of, it scans and enters the data in a computer. They are asked a few questions and then a small medical drone lands on their face and a small amount of liquid is sprayed in their nose. The human immediately falls asleep and then another drone inserts a needle and more readings are done. A drone platform comes forward and the body is rolled on to it. The drone moves to a conveyor belt and the platform hovers in a way that the body slides onto the belt. The body slips into a metal processing box and comes out entombed in a plastic like substance. From there the body is picked up by a larger drone which flies out the door. John points to a large monitor that shows the drone taking the body to their largest shuttle on the ship which is parked just outside the door. A shuttle used to carry large items that cannot be taken apart, but in this case capable of carrying a large number items.
John turns to look at the officers as he speaks. "The body is now loaded into the shuttle and several bodies can be stored one on top of the other and taken to the ship. The pods as you know can keep the body stable for at least seven hours without being hooked up to monitoring equipment to keep them physically and mentally in stable condition. We don't think even with a large number of humans that we hope to process that it will take that amount of time to complete the process, transfer and place them in the pod control center. From there they will be stored until needed, as food on the ship or until they are taken as to be trained as soldiers or as slaves. . . or food for our people at home."
He is still not happy about the idea of making food out of intelligent life forms. It is like telling the Banteen, please eat us as we eat other intelligent life forms. There are animals here on this world that would serve as food such as pigs, cattle and such; no matter how much he talks about it, he does not feel better about this food processing idea. It makes no sense to him. Making humans into food is something he does not support, but Diana is an advocate of this absurd project. Steven had even asked if he could be excused from these introductory meetings as he wanted nothing more to do with them and he would return the favor someday. He could not free Steven from his obligation to this project, even though Steven had said he would be available when the plant was officially running. If this is how Steven feels, then how will his people actually feel about this if the officers working on this project find it offensive. When they return home, will some odd processed food be made from the humans and then try to cover it up by saying that they are eating something altogether different, like another meat from Earth. When his world is able to come truly come back to life, then how will the generations that follow feel about what their forebears have done to another people. He has another thought, will people on his planet such as the Ibrea who refuse to fight become the next food source. If that is possible who would be next, the disabled maybe or improvised elderly. He is still committed to his Leader, but this is wrong and he can't understand why the Great One is supporting Diana's initiative.
Kathy gives John an odd look before asking, "Have you started serving humans as food?" Then she looks to Diana giving her a smile and taps her chin for a moment. "Not only your crew, but have you yourselves partaken of this particular food."
John struggles to answer her, no he has not eaten humans. He has spoken and interacted with humans and finds it difficult to accept them as a food source. He simply shrugs as he never will eat one at least not knowingly.
Diana on the other-hand is smiling, "Yes. I found their meat to be delicious, but then I don't chew food into paste like a Whipelli. It would be better to see how they would find the taste of human meat."
"I agree," Kathy says with a smile and heaves a deep happy sigh. "Perhaps we should serve a couple of them a human for a snack and a few Dahax with fruit wrapped up in the raw human meat and notice how they react once they find out. They may find it. . .deeelicious as well." Both she and Diana are laughing with the others simply and uncomfortably trying to ignore them.
John watches Steven barely holding in his contempt for the two women. Why does Diana want this, when the original plan was that humans would be disposable soldiers and perhaps to do low-level cleaning and such as slaves. Dispose of the troublemakers and that was all, he can't let it go and watching her and Kathy interact so happily about this bothers him greatly. Can't they see that this is not going to go well with their people when they find out the truth especially with the growing unrest that continues on the ships. He shakes his head, yes he is devoted to the Great One and always will be. If the Leader asks them to do this, then he must. However, unrest will only continue unless he can find something to bind them together again and not feed the growing fear and uncertainty of this mission. It feels sometimes like Diana and others like Kathy like the idea of stirring up trouble.
Diana gives him a hard look. "John, what do you think of Kathy's idea."
"Actually, Kathy; Diana has already suggested this idea." John scowls and then replaces it with a more friendly look and signals a trooper to come forward who has just come up from the floor where the humans are currently being processed. He levels a serious stare at the trooper, "Is all going well or have you seen any issues?"
The trooper, Beytlo who unknown to any of the officers is part of the new underground movement, Doing Our Own Thing. He shakes his head and replies, "Nothing to imply there are any problems, so far all is going well." Beytlo steps back, but stays near John awaiting his dismissal.
John didn't need to know how the procedure was going, he needed a moment to cover his disdain for using humans as food. This may not be a democracy, but the need to be political will never go away. "Yes, Diana has wanted to move forward with this idea. I have been holding off on this as once you introduce the meat and then tell them what they are eating they may have a difficult time accepting the food offered to them. What will happen is that we the Depol will eat only rodents and fruit. The Dahax will eat only the tiny lizards and fish they enjoy and again fruit and vegetables; the Whipelli will stop eating altogether on their assigned ship."
"If we can force anyone it will be the Dahax to eat the human as food." He nods his head to the entire group, "However, I am happy to hear from any of you that may have already proceeded with this introduction. As I recently said in our last conference this decision has been left up to you." He turns his to Kathy, "Which is likely why you are asking as you have not made this introduction on your own ship." Kathy does not reply.
Diana gives him another hard stare, "I have suggested that we simply force them all to consume this meal. By all, I mean the Whipelli as well; they are not immune to this directive. What they are ordered to do; is what they will do."
John fights to keep his composure, lately Diana has been presenting herself in away that makes it appear she is in charge of certain things and it is happening more and more. He finds this difficult as it also makes others uncomfortable. This is a woman that one needs to keep their eye on; if she comes into power things will change and it will not be good. However, letting her be the one taking charge won't be a bad idea, he suspects repercussions and she would be the one responsible.
Rita looks at Diana showing her teeth, "Once you do this and send word on how it goes on your ship." She shrugs, "Then we will be more than happy to follow your lead."
"I see," Diana says, looking somewhat nervous as her eyes move to John for a moment. "Then, I will send word shortly." She turns to John, "Would you mind if I take charge of this. . .little venture?"
There is nothing he can do, word has come down from the Leader that this is the food item for the ships and for home. Diana has made certain of this directive, but it appears maybe she walked into more than she expected. Why can't it just be farm animals? "Diana will officially be taking charge of this portion of the human food processing, the actual eating of humans by ship personnel."
"Good. . .good." Diana is smiling, but her smile looks somewhat forced as she nods her head first to Rita and then to Kathy. She then turns to the rest, "I will be sending the reaction to all ships. I expect all will be fine as the reality is that they are simply humans and nothing more."
"Okay. . .one final question." Kathy levels a hard gaze, " When you accomplish this goal, I want to know exactly how you get our people to eat a life form they have formed friendships with. Yes, the Youth Corp, but I especially mean the Whipelli, they have the word of Macald. Macald is; words first, fist second, weapons last. Their religion of peace has been very daunting at times during their training for the mission. They believe only god can tell them to fight, however killing really isn't a problem for them. They certainly kept invaders away from their claimed lands and only until a toxic chemical was used were they forced to join the government at the time. Unfortunately, I don't think they will accept eating humans as they are going to be looking at the word of Macald, since humans can speak, fight and innovate. Even with their complete devotion to Our Great Leader," Kathy rolls her eyes, "They are still one with their religion. The comments about the Dahax, I truly believe they are the only ones left that can be forced into this." She smiles for a moment, "If they are the only ones in the end that you can get to do this willingly. . ." Kathy looks around and with a shrug before staring directly at Diana, "How do you force the others?"
Diana says nothing for sometime, "Trust me. They all will. The Whipelli are bonded to the Leader and will give last their breath to him. The Dahax like to eat and if we take away the rodents the rest of the ship will need to do as ordered."
"We'll see," Kathy says as she walks away from Diana to tour the ground floor of the processing plant, now devoid of humans.
Sadie says something quietly to Rita and then walks to where Martin has been standing very quietly the whole time. He and Sadie leave together and the others begin to go down as well.
John grabs Diana's hand for a moment to stop her. "Be careful of this. You think that no one cares, but they do. The Whipelli are very manipulative, they will get of out of doing this. Our people even if you take away the rodents will eat nothing, but fruit and vegetables. It will be the Dahax and only the Dahax forced into eating human meat."
"I will trick them all into eating human meat and then tell them. They will see there is no difference and won't care."
John shakes his head, "They will care. You will cause more issues. Take some time and figure it out. You are a very smart woman, but take care what you do and say as this investment is on you."
"You are going to find out how easy it is to get the crew to do exactly what you want of them, it matters not their species. They will eat the human meat or find out what will happen if they disobey." Diana gives him a smug smile and turns away from him to join the others.
He sighs deeply, Diana is one of the Leaders lovers and she acts as though she is above them all. What were to happen if he was ordered home and Diana won the assignment as Supreme Commander. Her cruelty is becoming obvious. It will not just be the humans who will need to be fearful, it is their own people trapped on these ships and unable to escape her wrath.
The trooper standing next to them has been completely ignored as though he had not even been there, but then troopers know to keep their mouths closed and not pass on what they have heard. The conversation he has overheard has not been the first one. He was picked out for tonight due to having been favored for this kind of duty. Beytlo doesn't even turn his head, he remains standing rigidly as usual until the officers have left. Then he turns his head slowly and catches two other troopers as they are leaving. He nods his head to them and they to him. He turns his head slowly where Diana and Kathy had been standing and shows his teeth. Another brings up his hand as though he is holding a gun and pulls the trigger. They nod to each other with the quiet anger evident on their Dahax faces, to officers on the ships they are only troopers and of no real value, easily replaced.