Chapter Twelve

Earth

Virgin Islands

…Jason Gray smiled and waved Mister Anastos off.

"I am sorry. I can't meet with you right now. But I will later," he said softly enough that only the Colonial could hear. "I have a proposal that you and your company may find interesting." Softly: "How much would your company pay for basic schematics of a hyperdrive and subspace communications?"

A minute earlier, Mitsos was mildly drunk. Now, he was stone cold sober. "Is this some kind of trick?" he whispered.

"No, it's not about trickery, it's about profit–and money."

The stunned but now thoughtful Colonial stared at the telecommunication's representative.

"I'll see you later," Gray said. "If you're free, we can meet back here in about three hours and have a late-night snack. Will this be acceptable to you?"

Mitsos nodded slowly, looking around and quietly praying that no one heard this conversation. Visons of jail time being served on an alien planet danced inside his head while competing visions of owning his own private island next to Picon's Linas premiere resort complex.

And up to now, this whole trip was so nice…

New York

Kobollian Embassy

It was day four of Quorum Minority Leader Cornel Minas' stay on the mythical world of the Thirteenth colony, which was an interesting experience in and of itself; but, he still hadn't gotten over his recent experiences on new Picon. If anyone had told him of the dire situation that was playing itself out on that new colony, he would have laughed it off. It was simply unbelievable. The leadership on New Picon had obviously gone insane and the Colonial officials on Earth were in no position to do anything about it at this point. For all the governors' talk about providing stability to the region it was apparent Iblison and his associates were planning a coup. Furthermore, the military showed signs of taking sides. The situation had all the signs of a disaster in the making.

He and Vice-President Willus' departure hadn't come too soon in his opinion. Frankly, Minas believed it a miracle that they were allowed to leave the territory in the first place. President Goesel needed to be informed of the situation as soon as possible and that is exactly what he did, adding his input along with the Vice-President's. At this point, there's nothing that anybody could do as Colonial military support forces were much too far away to be used as an effective deterrent for what seemed to be an upcoming civil war between the new territories. This potentially dangerous situation also interfered with his plans speaking to the leadership of Earth.

Preparing himself for the day's activities, he eagerly started eating breakfast, savoring the familiar yet alien taste of food. Like every other Colonial that visited Earth, the food tasted so similar yet so different and it served to remind him that he was on the world of the Thirteenth Colony, blessed to be among one of the first to set foot on the planet. There had been others to be sure, but he was among the first one hundred to do so. It was a very exciting time, but this wasn't a vacation.

Minas' first three days were spent discussing events in the new territories. Obviously there will have growing pains and nobody wanted a territorial conflict especially one so close to Earth. There was the situation with the Race, the incoming colonists due to begin arriving in force within the next eight months, and the situation with Earth itself. The former President, the Vice-President, the ambassador, and Minas represented the Colonial Leadership in this area of space and as such they were responsible. Makaria sector was a powder keg waiting to explode. Any and every bit of pertinent information on the situation here was sent to the President on Caprica and when he finished reviewing the information sent, it was hoped by everybody that a solution could be found before Earth got dragged into it.

Ambassador Agasha Saltum entered the spacious dining room and sat in his usual chair at the table with his wife Damam. The QL started with is the usual small talk, exchanging pleasantries before he engaged them with the critical discussions of the day that needed to be explored. It was during this time, that most of the most important discussions were held. Ambassador Richard Adar and the Vice-President arrived a few moments later and just in time to add their input while eating.

"I've been here four days and the leader of this world still hasn't come to speak to me or even invited me to come to one of their sessions. I find this most disrespectful," he complained for the third time.

Willus bit down on his tongue in his effort not to snap at the man. "You have to be patient. Remember, you were not invited here as an official representative. This was something that you decided to do at your own recognizance. That is not to say that they won't speak to you about. On the contrary, I believe they will set up an appointment. However, there has been a lot of activity going on that you are not aware of. That activity is taking priority."

"What kind of activity?"

"I think… they're preparing for a major strike. Not against us," Saltum hastily added.

"As Minority Leader, you should have told me what you and President Goesel were planning! The President is abusing his authority by trying to make a private deal with Earth without telling the majority and minority leadership." He looked around at the other people present. "Yes, I understand need for secrecy in such matters, however leaving out the Quorum in this matter may in fact be illegal under our law."

"This is a matter of utmost secrecy," Adar answered the irritating politician. "A large number of our Quorum reps have an inability to keep their mouths shut when it comes to such sensitive information. Yes, the people have the right to know what the government is doing. We need transparency in government, but we are also charged with the security and safety of the Colonies. That means not telling the Quorum."

"But to come begging to the leadership of Earth for help. Gods! It presents a weakness we dared not show. And now this weakness is out for everyone to see, including Earth's allies. There is a popular saying, 'a small fish in a big pond'. The President knows that there are bigger fish out there, but that doesn't mean that the small fish need to be exposed as small fish. If the Earth people decide to help us, it will confirm that we are indeed weak. This is something we dared not show them before; it's too late now. We could have come up with a better plan than this."

Daman stared at the man. "How can you say that?" she questioned. "The government of Earth already knows exactly what the situation is in relationship to who and what they are. We are weaker than they are… for now. With the things that are running around in this galaxy, we should thank the gods that the Colonies haven't been attacked a long time ago. There is no dishonor in asking for help."

"But there are protocols, ways of doing this so that honor is maintained. These people are the Thirteenth Colony. They have no understanding exactly what this means. We, the Twelve Colonies are responsible for educating them in the proper rules and laws of the government of Kobol. Despite their technology and advances, it's still just one world. They're subject to our laws, which I hasten to add are also their laws. Apparently, you haven't clarified his fact clear to these people. We are not asking for help from these people. We expect help from them because they are a tribe of Kobol, a tribe of Man."

"That's not necessarily true," Ambassador Saltum said. "Even if were true, we cannot expect them to ignore their rules, their laws, or their traditions just to please us."

"Yes, I know the rumors about these people," he waved off. "I don't happen to agree with them. Even if they are not who we think they are, they have a responsibility to help mankind everywhere. That is why I want to talk to them and explain to their place in this galaxy."

"I don't think you'll have the chance, Quorum Leader," Willius told him. "You serve the people of the Colonies, a people you have sworn to protect. If you do anything to endanger my mission, I will hold you personally responsible and bring you up on charges of treason. In case you haven't noticed, the galaxy is a much smaller place now. We faced dangers from multiple enemies," he said while not going into detail of the newest and most dangerous threat that the Colonies had ever faced. The threat was still a closely held secret, so he allowed Minas to speculate on his own. "Asking Earth for assistance is probably the most important job we can do at this moment."

"But, it makes us look weak," he protested. "The fact that we are asking for their help places us in a position of weakness with these locals. That is not how we should present ourselves to them. We need to negotiate from a position of strength.

"And exactly what is our position in the galaxy, what is our strength?" asked Adar. "You don't know these people, you don't know the culture, and now you're making the same assumptions that every one of us has made since we've come to this planet. For the last four days, you been in this embassy listen to the news, listening to our reports and you have absolutely no idea what this world is like."

"I know enough about it."

"You have no idea what this world is and how functions! These are not the Colonies. Earth is unique."

"Quorum leader, it will be in your best interest to actually get out and look at this world with your own eyes," said Ambassador Saltum. "You need a fresh perspective, one which will not cause you to embarrass the Colonies any more than they ready have been. We all recognize the need to present ourselves in the best light however, we've already received several black eyes and we've just about run out of time. I would suggest that you do not look at these people as if they were foreign, primitive, backwater hicks. Who they are and what they have to offer may surprise you."

"You may also want to start thinking about them in terms of being our equals at the very least, not as our inferior. Right now, your beliefs are becoming the minority," Adar said to a very mulish-looking Minas. "This simple realization is the major cause of most of our problems with Earth. We need to treat them with respect, not categorize them as subordinates."

Minas said, "They need to treat us with respect! We'll never create a united government if these people continue to act as if they have no connection to us. I want what is best for our people, for humanity and yes, I admit that this long-term goal may take longer to achieve than I want. But, I am willing to lay the groundwork for it right here, right now."

"You are under the assumption that Earth is the Thirteenth colony," said Adar. "But, the logic is faulty. From the evidence that we've seen, these people are not the Thirteenth Colony. They did not escape from Kobol. All evidence indicates that our people, the Twelve Tribes of Kobol arrived from Earth. This is the parent world."

Minas glared at the former President as well as ambassadors present for a few seconds. Moments later, his face turned a very interesting shade of purple. "You can't believe that!" He almost screamed.

"You've seen the proof that we've sent. Why are you denying it, especially now at such a critical time?"

"Because it goes against everything that we know," he blurted out. He couldn't believe it. They were all against him. Didn't they understand what the stakes were? This goes against the word of the sacred scrolls."

"This is coming from a devout atheist?" mused the vice President. He could tell that Minas was shocked by his admission. "You haven't been privy to all of the intelligence we've gathered. And, you're right. When the truth comes out there will be repercussions however we'll survive it.

"If what you're saying is true."

"It is."

"Then it is even more important for us to deal with them from a position of strength," he said in a surprisingly calm manner. "I'm not a fool, I understand what's at stake here." He began rubbing his forehead in frustration. "I have to think about this. I still need to sit down and talk to members of Earth's government, which is my right as Quorum Minority Leader, so that if nothing else we don't wind up going to war with one another. The problems at Makaria sector is worse than we imagine. War might break out at any time. And, you're right; we do not want Earth to be pulled into this. Like everyone here, I am here to represent the interests of the Colonies. In two days, I do have a private meeting with a Senator Robert Kinsey Jr. It may not be what I want but it will have to do for now." At this several people in the room let out an audible moan. The QT smirked. "I understand that he has a very negative opinion about Earth associating with, and here he made air quotes with his fingers, 'aliens'." Should be interesting to hear his opinion on the subject. If what you're saying is true, then it is more important than ever that we unite because we are not the elder brothers and sisters of the Earth. We are, and I can't believe I'm saying this, Earth's children."

"I understand hearing this news is difficult," Saltum stated. He remembered how he felt when he first came to grips with this utterly incredible history. "More importantly, you haven't had any real time to acclimate to these truths. I can only imagine what you think right now. I had a year to think about it to prove to myself that this wasn't some trap designed to create doubt in our people. I don't expect you to take this all at face value but you need to know what you're dealing with on this planet. This is not Picon, Caprica, Gemenon, or any of the other Colonies. We have to walk carefully and see things as they are here and not how we think they should be."

Minas still looked angry, but everyone could tell w was working through it, trying to understand and reconcile things.

Ambassador Saltum hid the smirk threatening to break out his face. The man was very egotistical and had aspirations to run for the Presidency in three years. His political ambitions and self-serving attitude would not allow him to screw this up. Already he could see the man's mind adjusting to the new reality.

Earth–Virgin Islands

It was late evening when Dr. Mitsos Anastos arrived at the small restaurant situated less than a half a kilometer from the ocean. Earth's sun was beginning to sink below the horizon. The entire scene looked surreal as the stars begin to shine and the ocean's color begin turning from a dark blue to a beautiful sparklingly black, the rising moon reflected off the ocean giving it a surreal look. It was as beautiful as anything he's ever seen in his life. Even in the distance, he could still hear the waves lapping against the shore. There were still dozens of people walking along the shore some of them still even playing and swimming in the water. He smiled at the beauty of it all but had little desire go anywhere near the ocean let alone do any frolicking in it at evening and that revelation caused him to smile once more. Ironically, Stella wasn't the only one to be affected by that movie. 'Jaws' had really affected him a lot more than he originally thought. What was amazing to him was that the Earth people didn't care, and apparently neither did some of the other representatives from other worlds. They just continued to enjoy themselves. Of course, the people of the Race, the Lizardians were terrified of the Pacific Ocean and coming from a desert world, he could readily understand why.

Watching the scenes being played out in front of him, he did feel a small step of envy watching the couples walking to and from the beach promenade a few accompanied by their children, completely oblivious to anything, but their own personal lives. It was something that, now that he was older, he wished he could've made time for. But his job in his career had consumed his life and he idly wondered if it wasn't already too late for him to make the change.

This trip to Earth had changed him a lot more than he had expected. When he returned home, he wondered if he was just going to continue being the engineer that everybody expected him to be, or was he going to reevaluate his life because if nothing else, this trip had shown him that life was short. It was exciting but, short.

And dangerous.

He had agreed to this meeting. Now that it was just about time, he wasn't sure if he could go through with it. The temptation was strong very strong, but the possibility of going to jail for eternity plus ten years made him shiver at his core.

Precisely at seven-thirty PM, Jason Gray walked through the door and made straight for him. The two men shook hands and Mr. Gray said down and ordered a couple of drinks. Both men exchanged quick pleasantries before Mr. Gray began quietly speaking to him in earnest.

"I'm glad you were able to make it, Mr. Anastos," Jason began. "I wasn't sure if you would make it. From the look on your face earlier, it seemed like I had picked the wrong person to speak to."

Mitsos couldn't help but he looked around somewhat nervously trying to see if anybody was observing him on this man. "I have to admit this was a little concerning," he said. "It's not every day I receive such interesting offers.

Jason's smile was one of understanding. "I understand perfectly. If you weren't concerned, I'd be worried about you and what you might do. This is a very important conversation. The possibilities of reward a great, but the possibilities of us all going to jail for a very long time is just as great. So, I appreciate your discretion in this." He took a sip of his drink and then paused for a moment as he gathered his thoughts. "I won't waste your time." He placed his small cellular phone on the table in front of them. "This is an amazing little thing," he said. "It allows me to understand your language, a miracle in itself. Caprican Standard; this is not any local Earth languages. This is an alien language developed on a world thousands of light years away from us, yet this little device allows me to speak to and understand you as easily as if I'm speaking to my own mother. If you look at it closely, you'll see that is not much bigger than the palm of my hand. The reason why it's still so big in the first place is if we made them any smaller, we would be forced to use the device in voice control mode only. Our hands would be too big to properly manipulate it. We've found that people don't yet feel completely comfortable using voice control only.

"Think about it. With this small computer-like device, we can tell the time, we can tell exactly where we are at any given moment, it can monitor our blood pressure, it can detect my heart rate and tell me if I were having a heart attack and call the hospital at the same time.

It can aide us with our financial needs. It can remind us when we have meetings and show us how to get there. With this little device, you can compose letters and memos. It can interface with mainframes and other devices across the world. Multitasking is made easy with this small device.

It can play movies, games and other entertainments in high definition. They can track our family members. It can do that and much more, but we can use as a telephone to talk to a person anywhere on this planet. Not only that, this device can allow for conversation both, video and audio, in real-time and can reach from here to the planet Mars and back. It has security features that people who would kill for only ten years earlier. It has full access to the Internet. Obviously, it can translate any of several thousand Terran languages and, we're adding alliance, Colonial and Race dialects and their various sub-tongues. A one hour charge gives you ninety-six hours of continual usage. I've just touched on the things this small device can do. In short, it can do just about anything that we wanted to do. All of this and more can be placed into the palms of every single Colonial in the Cyrannus system for a small monthly fee."

Mitsos simply nodded his head in agreement. "It is a marvelous device. You do realize however that we have something very like this. It may not be as small and able to multitask as efficiently as yours but they do work quite nicely."

"I understand perfectly. I am not trying to insult you, but the smart devices that you have are bulky and they are least twenty to twenty-five years out of date as compared to what we have here on Earth. Now I understand that because of the AI threat many of your sciences were purposely held back and one of the greatest technologies affected was your computer sciences. Theoretically from what I understand, your people should be about twenty to thirty years ahead of us in computer technology. But instead, you're about twenty years behind us at the very least and losing ground quickly. What AT&T, and a few other telecommunications companies are offering is a way for you and your people to catch up and step up to the modern world of computers and telecommunications." Jason paused enough to take another sip of his whiskey. "Think about this. With the devices that we have and using satellite technology we could connect your twelve worlds in a way that has never been done before. You could use a small telephone device like this that I'm holding in my hand and speak to another person on another world instantly with no time delay."

Mitsos nearly went into shock. This man was implying the use of faster than light communication's technology. His people had acquired subspace comms from the Cylons after the victory but it was still an infant science and only the military special branches and certain diplomatic units had access to the precious systems. What this man was offering was nothing less than a revolutionary change for every single person in the Colonies. He continued listening to the Terran.

"You can watch entertainment instantly transmitted to any part of your planetary system. You could communicate in real time and perfect clarity, and not worry about transmission delay. How much is that worth?"

Doctor Anastos didn't say anything. He didn't have to.

"This is what we are offering, but we also understand that being a foreign conglomerate breaking into a new market can be difficult. Local markets would feel threatened and they can easily pressure the Colonial government to place sanctions that could effectively keep us from legitimately entering a market and be competitive. If that happens, the entire telecommunications technology will be slowed to the point that it would take decades for you to catch up to where we are now. It may be that you may never catch up just because a few companies were uncomfortable with the competition. What we would like from you and your company is for you to put in a good word for us." The smiling man now lowered his voice even more so that Mitsos had to strain to hear. "We are very interested in getting a foot into the door, Doctor. It would be even better if your company sponsored us. The rewards could be significant for everyone concerned. And, for this consideration we will be willing to give you the schematics of a first-generation hyperdrive. The maximum speed is only thirty times the speed of light but as you well know the strategic capabilities of our FTL far outweighs the ability to jump from point A to point B. I will admit that instantaneous travel has its good points but it has also limited how far you can travel. What I'm offering you now will give you the ability to break those limits. As you continue to study it, your understanding of the drive will open up entire new areas of space that had been previously denied your people."

"Corporate espionage is nothing new," the doctor replied. "But this a dangerous gamble. I can see your company trying to get a foot in the door into our Colonial Economy. And I admit to the possibilities would revolutionize the Colonies as I know it." Now Mitsos nearly glared at the man. "However, I have a problem and that problem is accepting what amounts to the very dangerous bribe. Offering these hyperspace schematics to me is nothing less than a betrayal to your world."

"Nonsense," the man scoffed. "What I'm offering you is not under military jurisdiction. These schematics are from a civilian source." He let than sink in. "Now, does that change your thoughts in any way?"

"Somewhat," he admitted. "But I have a question. What is your motivation in doing this?"

Mr. Gray smiled. "I'm doing it for the greater good of my company and portfolio. This incentive that we are discussing is my fee. The schematics are yours for five hundred million in gold. I'm taking a terrible risk here and I want to make sure that I'm probably compensated for. If anything happens to me the conglomerate will disavow any knowledge of this deal, or the schematics, or our discussion here."

There was a long period of silence as the Colonial thought things over, weighing the odds. "What you're offering is critical to the survival of my people," he finally said. "Otherwise, I would never even consider something like this. I'll need look at the schematics. I'll need to take it home and have my people study the schematics to determine its viability. The last thing I need is a fake. I have no problems whatsoever concerning having your conglomerate, as you say, put it a foot into the door. I've seen what this device and others can do. I must say I am thoroughly impressed. And you're right, it could revolutionize the colonies as we know it. But as much as I want to hyperdrive system, I want proof that it works. Would you be willing to wait until we confirm its viability, maybe even build a prototype, before you're paid?"

Jason Gray laughed. "Actually, yes. I am willing to wait and I can be paid through the conglomerate, if we get that foot in the door. All we need is a chance to show what we can do."

"This is not a military item, I will consider it. I'll talk to my people and get back to you."

"Oh, just to make things clear. The hyperdrive system is just one technology. There are other technologies just as important. For example, your scanners need to be fast enough to be able to allow you to respond properly at the speed you be traveling. You need better inertia dampening technology than you already have. You also need something else that we've just developed, deflection technology. You need to be able to push objects out of the way before you ship hits an object it won't like at those speeds. At the speeds that you will be traveling, the damage could be catastrophic. All our ships are being outfitted with this form of shielding technology. So, I have no reason to try to cheat you on this deal. We have so many other opportunities to work together. Need I say that we might want to keep this agreement between just the two of us for the time being?"

Mitsos understood. It looked like the Phone Company was holding the winning hand for now. This was only a small offering of what they had to give. With only the hyperdrive, it would still take years to properly utilize the technology.

"Then I think we can do business." The man nodded and shook Mitsos' hand.

Approximately twenty-two miles above, a dedicated IOA satellite recorded every word that was said. Thermal imaging and sensors captured every moment that the two men made.

"Did you believe he would go for it?"

"The bait was too good to resist," the Secretary of Defense responded. "But it was touch and go for a moment. I'm surprised that he didn't just jump at the opportunity. He has a tiny bit of ethics floating around inside almost ruined everything."

"But it's always better when you believe that you've gotten something over on someone. They've wanted the hyperdrive for so long. We give it to them and they can develop it on their own. If nothing else, it will be a boost to their ego, and we get the Phone Company–what they want minus the weapons tech of course. Once they get in and start showing the truth about Earth to the Colonials, then they'll figure things out that much quicker. And, Mr. Gray will get paid for helping do our job for us."

"If we decide to officially deny their request, Vice-President Willius won't be overly disappointed because he'd still have what he wanted. If Mister Anastos' corporate CEOs accept the deal, then we can offer the same deal to the Race without being accused of being biased. Besides, we really do need both for what is coming."

All in all, it is not a bad deal thought the President as he exited the room.

Discuss quorum Minority rep Cornel Minas on Earth in New York.

(())

Elosha Gaye? Ambassador Agasha Saltum and Daman (wife). NEW YORK

Kobollian Embassy, Richard Adar-ambassador