Blue Planet (sci fi, D/s, wife) Chapter Two, part 2 "What would be the point? We don’t have any sort of real authority any more. We haven’t, ever since… they first landed. All we really do is simply keep the wheels greased, so to speak. Myself, the President of the Russian Collective, the various surviving clones of long dead kings and ministers. We are nothing more than middle managers. Our job is to shuffle papers from place to place and see about the distribution of the remaining resources we have been allowed to keep since…. Well…." The President lowered himself until he was sitting on the corner of the desk, his stubby legs dangling over the edge, hands folded in his lap like a properly obedient child. "But" he said quietly, a sly, knowing grin spreading over his lips "that may prove to be all that we need to break this affliction that’s kept us in virtual slavery as a race for centuries now. And with any luck, it may just allow us to fight back, once and for all… to finally make our stand to save this little blue planet from eventual extinction." "And how" Robert said "would you be able to do that." "Well" the President said, his voice hushed but with an edge of excitement as he leaned forward conspiratorially, "we are not the only species, the only planet struggling to throw off the yoke of this horrible oppression and return to our past glories… our past selves. There are others, working quietly, secretly, in the shadows of the galaxy to rid themselves of their chains and return to what they once were. We have information that there is a species, very similar to our own, perhaps even our genetic twin, that has been working for many years to find a cure for the virus that did this to not only us but them as well. To reverse its effects. And we have learned that they have finally managed to work out the coding needed to build just such a virus strain. Unfortunately, their planet lacks many of the basic proteins required to build this new strain. But it so happens that another discontented planet has an environment is rich with them." ‘So why don’t you just get them to send them some, or get them to send you or them the formula?" Robert asked. "Ah" the President beamed with a grin "why don’t we indeed. Because nothing can move around this galaxy… no object, no sub-atomic particle, no tiny broadcast shred of information, without first being cleared by…. them. Anyone who attempts such things not only fails but is punished in ways too hideous to mention. And the formula, the recipe for this new strain is so complex it would take hundreds of hours of compressed transmissions to send from place to place. Long before it was completed the signals would be interrupted and the perpetrators… well…" The President rolled his eyes knowing before fixing on them once more. "At any rate, control of everything that moves throughout the galaxy is firmly in the hands of our oppressors. And on top of that, every single being on any planet within their sphere of influence is genetically registered and marked. Our movements are recorded and watched constantly. And currently our planet is under a travel ban. None of our citizens are allowed to travel to other worlds, and only a very elite few are allowed to visit us. So you see, there is simply no way for us to send our distant ally the genetic material they would need to build a prototype of this wonderful, miraculous cure. There is, however, a way we can go get the formula." "How" Debbie said, her voice a fascinated whisper. The President turned his gaze to her and smiled impishly. "You" he said. There was a long moments silence before anyone spoke. "What" Robert said, his voice dull. "Please, let me explain" the President said patiently. "When we began experimenting with the time technology, we did some secret experiments at very low power settings, moving tiny pieces of organic matter. We discovered we could move living tissue in tact and with no damage. But we also discovered that even that small expenditure of energy was noted by those who are watching us. There was quite a controversy about it at the time. They keep close watch on things like that. That was when we realized that it would require a tremendous flash of energy in order to fulfill the plan we were developing." "What plan" Robert said flatly. "We realized" the President went on "that we would have one single opportunity to move something large… something substantial through a wormhole. After that there would be considerable attention focused on where all that energy was used. So a secret facility was constructed over the last fifty years deep beneath the earth some miles from this very spot, in a place that you would have known as…." "Virginia" the gaunt man said in response to the Presidents tossed glance. "Yes" the President echoed "Virginia. And a way of connecting it directly to this building… this office. Which you already know about." "Fine" Robert said, interrupting the little man "so you took your best shot, yanked us through time and now you can’t do it again for….?" "Ever" the President said, sadly. "You see, it is only a matter of time before one of their ships arrives to investigate the energy surge, and they probe the location where it was registered and discover the facility." "And what happens then" Debbie asked. "Then" the President said with a sigh, "they will destroy it, and all those who were involved in the project will be…. disciplined." "How" Debbie whispered, her eyes wide. "I don’t know" the President said solemnly. "But it will be a small price to pay, whatever it is, if it means our people… our planet is finally freed from this tyranny." Robert and Debbie exchanged a look, the seriousness of the situation slowly sinking into both their thoughts. "Well" Robert said, turning back to the President "I can see what you mean. We used to feel the same way about our freedom… in our day." "Indeed" the President said quietly. "There’s just one thing I still don’t understand" Debbie said. "Why are we here?" The President smiled at her. "You are here" he said, "because we need your help to save this planet from slavery." "Our help… how" Robert said cautiously. "We need for you to travel off-world, meet the courier who will give you the codes for the new strain and take them to where they can be constructed." A silence fell over the room for a long moment as Robert and Debbie turned to look at each other. "Why us" Robert said. "Why pick us?" "Because" the President said quietly "there are certain vital criteria that had to be met if our plan is to succeed." "Such as?" Robert asked. The President gave a sharp, understanding nod and clasped his hands behind his back, turning to pace the surface of the desk. "Such as the fact that we needed someone from before the disease was introduced to this world. Someone whose genetic code was clean. And someone who was, for all intents and purposes, completely unrecorded on any records. We needed someone invisible to all current tracking methods. Also, it was vital that, when we punched open the wormhole that we do so at the precise moment and location where we knew someone would be located. Someone who fit the profile we required. We looked through all the surviving records we could find from your time and a hundred years before and after it. We were able to track down many individual pieces of information that might have fit what we required, but one or another vital piece was always missing, rendering the rest utterly useless. Only in your single case did we know with absolute certainly that you would be exactly where you were, exactly when you were." "How" Robert said, his voice thick with surprise. "Oh" the President said, waving a dismissive hand "it was a chore but we did it. We found a fragment of a data file on an old computer disk from an ancient machine in a collapsed ruin of a building that turned out to have been what you would call a hotel." "The Hilton" Robert said, his voice almost an amazed whisper. "Yes" the President said. "And that data fragment, once cleaned and translated told us the precise day you arrived there, and the precise time the vehicle you traveled in arrived. We also managed to find the original blueprints for the building, so we cross-referenced that with a topographical map and ran an extensive computer program to determine exactly where, in relative space, that room would be in relation to where the other end of the wormhole was being created. Once we had the first piece of data it took over fifteen years to assemble to proper program and prepare to make our single possible attempt. Fortunately, it was completely successful." "So" Robert said slowly, trying to piece together all the information "let me get this straight. You picked us because…. we were the only people you managed to exactly locate at a given time on a given day in a given place from a time a couple of hundred years ago?" "Precisely" the President said with a sharp nod. Robert absorbed this, nodding slowly, thoughtfully, then looked the little man in the eye. "Suppose we say we won’t do it." The little President cocked an eyebrow, threw a quick glance out of the corner of his eye toward the gaunt man and lowered his gaze, embarrassed. "I’m afraid" he said quietly, "you don’t have any choice." "What do you mean" Robert said quickly, his suspicion returning. "Because" the President said "we can not return you to your own time." "What" Robert hissed, his eyes widening in surprise. The President looked up at him, his brow now creased with worry. "As I told you, it took tremendous energy to get you here. And we have never experimented with the process in reverse. By the time we finished any such experiments we would long since have been… prevented by… well…." He shrugged, apologetically. "However" he quickly added "we can arrange to get you back, once the mission is completed." "How" Robert said, his voice flat and hard. "The planet to which you will be taking the code. We have managed, over the last century, to send them, in tiny bits and pieces, enough data for them to build their own temporal generator. And we understand that they are working on the process necessary to return you to your own time, once your task is completed." "So what you’re saying" Robert said flatly "is we have to do what you want, or we’re stuck here for good." The President smiled sheepishly. "I’m afraid that is the gist of it, yes." Robert was beginning to grow angry. He slowly rose to his feet so he was now at eye level to where the President stood before him on the surface of the desk. "So what if we don’t care" Robert said loudly, suddenly feeling the rage building up in him at the unfairness of it all. "You know what you did? We were just about to… to… We were…. " He sputtered a moment, fighting the urge to reveal exactly what it was that had been interrupted, finally blowing out a tight, exasperated breath. "Well anyway, what if we say we won’t do it and we’ll just stay here from now on." The President gave him a sad smile. "I’m afraid" he said quietly "that if you do that, you won’t last very long." "Meaning" Robert said quietly, already dreading the possible answers. "Meaning" the President continued "you would very quickly be discovered to be a non-person, with no record, no monitoring, no history, and you would be…. well, believe me, it would not be pleasant." Robert glared at the little man who stood before him on the desktop, hands folded before him like some stubborn, unmoving little poodle. "I ought to knock you on your ass" Robert growled at him. "Robert, no." Surprised at the sadness rather than surprise in her tone, Robert turned to Debbie, his face falling open in surprise. "He’s right" she said quietly. "We need to do this." "Why?" Robert said, his voice loud and groping. "Because" she said, patiently, slowly "he needs our help. And this is our planet. Our home." Robert clamped his jaw tight and stared at her, barely able to believe what he had just heard. But the look in her eye as she fixed on him quickly told him that she was absolutely right. Even if they had no other choice, and having that decision taken from him angered him, Robert suddenly realized that, despite the unfair way in which they had been thrust into this situation, they had an obligation, as humans if nothing else, to do something that might possibly help save their entire race. The silence was deep and profound, but at last Roberts jaw relaxed and he slowly nodded that he understood and that she was absolutely correct. "Oh all right" he said, his tone that of a sulking child. "What do we have to do." The little President clapped his hands together in utter glee. "I knew we could count of you" he bellowed in delight, hustling quickly over to hop down into the chair and then the floor, bustling around the desk to stand close by the sofa. "It’s really very simple" he said quickly, excitedly. "As I told you, only certain visitors are allowed to travel to and from our planet. Last month two of them arrived here. A very wealthy, very important lady and her man slave. Unfortunately they met with a rather serious… accident." "What do you mean, accident" Robert said, his tone cautious. "A fatal one, I’m afraid" the President said, a cruel grin spreading over his lips, which he quickly surprised before continuing. "At any rate, we will slip you into their identities and you will then be able to travel to the rendezvous with the courier with no one being the wiser." "I thought you said everyone was.. you know… monitored… Recorded" Robert said. "Oh, all the subjugated races are" the President said hastily. "Not the ruling race. They wouldn’t stand for that." "Ruling race" Debbie repeated. "So this woman was…?" "One of our oppressors, yes." the President said with a solemn nod. "What kind of people are these" Debbie said, slowly, cautiously. The President appeared startled for a moment. "Oh" he said. "I thought I’d made that clear. They are the warrior class of a militaristic, aggressive, xenophobic, matriarchy." "Matriarchy" Robert said slowly. "Yes" the President said, his expression blank. "Women."