The starchild compact, p.32
The Starchild Compact, page 32
"What we have just learned, however, trumps all this many times over." The Science Advisor paused for a pregnant moment.
"The Founders have returned! As I speak to you, a Founder spacecraft is arriving in the vicinity of the planet Saturn. We do not know the exact status of the Founder spacecraft at this moment, because signals from Saturn take ninety minutes to reach the Earth. It is a virtual certainty, however, that by now the spacecraft has landed on Iapetus, and that the Founders and our heroic astronauts are meeting one another.
"As more information is forthcoming, we will keep the networks advised so they can pass the information on to you."
Not a mention of the Hebrew connection, Rod thought as he contemplated what he had just heard. That might just be the most direct, honest statement I ever heard come from the White House, he muttered as he commenced scanning the channels to see how the message was impacting the World.
Throughout the Western World, the announcement had very little impact, perhaps because of the Raëlian influence on the general public. The exceptions were the Raëlians themselves. All over the World they crowded into their slab-sided churches to the smell of incense and burning candles, and the unmistakable scent of sexual excitement, as they expressed their religious rapture at the return of the Elohim. The Indians and Chinese took the announcement in stride. Even the Tamil National Liberation Army kept a low profile, holding its new car bomb for whatever came next. The Caliphate orchestrated a large demonstration in Teheran where a straw bag labeled "Founder" was burned in effigy along with a likeness of Jon Stokes. Muslims in Jakarta, seeing the holovision images of the Teheran demonstrations, rioted in sympathy, burning another Founder along with Jon Stokes in effigy, while destroying half the small businesses in the city. Twenty people died during the riot and hundreds more were injured. Muslims in Jammu and Kashmir poured into the streets and beheaded a Hindu and two Christians to show their solidarity with worldwide Islam. There, too, half-a-thousand small businesses were looted and burned along with three major department stores. Thirty-five people perished, not counting the beheading victims.
As Rod watched the unfolding horrors, he wondered aloud what the Founders would think when they realized what their great civilization had become.
#
Alex Jinnah had continued his role with Mission Control, perhaps with even more enthusiasm than when he had two masters – Rod Zakes and the Caliph. Since his expertise and experience lay with communications, Rod had kept him in that role, and so he found himself gently shaking Rod awake to hand him the latest direct communication from the Caliphate. Rod rolled over grumbling his usual mantra about messages always arriving at 2 a.m. and accepted the sheet of paper. Alex was familiar with the words on the message sheet, but wasn't sure what they meant. He was curious to see Rod's reaction.
"What the fuck?" Rod read the words aloud:
For Saeed Esmail:
The Ayatollah Khomeini sends his personal greetings in the name of Allah (may He be praised) along with his prayers for your health and well bring. Allah in His infinite mercy (all thanks to Him) laid this Qur'anic verse on the Ayatollah's heart: Allah hath made lawful for you absolution from your oaths of such a kind, and Allah is your Protector. He is the Knower, the Wise. Qur'an 66,2
The Ayatollah sends.
"Any thoughts on what it means?" Alex asked.
"Yeah, the Caliph has officially released Saeed from his oath of non-Jihad and cooperation."
#
In due course Jon received the message for Saeed. He called Ari, and together they analyzed the possible meaning of the message.
"I think it's pretty straightforward, Jon. The Ayatollah is telling him in no uncertain terms that his oath means nothing."
"You really think so?" Jon was genuinely puzzled by the thought that the Caliph would send such a clear "order" for Saeed to ignore his oath. "Could there be another meaning to the verse? Something that a person steeped in Islam might see preferentially, whereas we just see what to us is the obvious meaning?"
"Good point…let's see what we have: absolution from your oaths. That could be any "oath," right, not just his oath to you? It even could be his original oath to do Jihad."
"But it also says: of such a kind. Is there a contextual meaning for that phrase, Ari?"
"Frankly, I don't know. Don't know the Qur'an that well. Not sure I want to, either." Ari grinned at Jon. "I'm a VASIMR engineer who was formerly an Israeli spook – not an Islamic scholar."
Jon chuckled. "How about we give the message to him, and I tell him in no uncertain terms what will happen should he decide to break his oath – no matter what the Ayatollah has said about it?"
"I like that. I'll just make sure I keep a closer eye on him from now on."
#
Saeed carefully read the Ayatollah's message. What is His Holiness telling me? "…absolution from your oaths of such a kind…" He wrung his hands with worry; he broke out in a cold sweat; his legs felt rubbery. Earlier he had asked Allah for understanding, for a sign, for guidance. And here it was…perhaps. He reread the message, and then once more. Obviously, he had given his oath to Allah when he stowed away…but he had also given his holy oath to the Captain, and when the Captain had handed him the message, he had been completely clear about what would happen to him if he violated this oath.
Saeed sat with crossed legs on the grass outside the door and brought his entire mental capacity to bear on the problem. He drifted off on the wings of prayer, when without notice he was brought back to complete awareness by the sudden arrival of a floater filled with people, people he didn't recognize.
Chapter 29
The silent arrival of a floater outside their compound caught the entire crew by surprise. Ari was the first to react. He was aware that Saeed was sitting outside on the grass when the floater arrived. Ari made the connection instantly, and ran out, grabbed Saeed by the arm and quickly walked him into an empty room. Since there were no locks, Ari ordered Saeed to remain inside the room on pain of dire consequences should he disobey. It took all of two minutes, and Ari immediately joined the rest of the crew outside the compound where the Founders had just disembarked from the floater.
There were ten of them, five men and five women, standing in a loose group in front of the floater. The men were dressed in knee-length tunics, and were shod in soft boots. The women wore longer, one-piece tunics tied at the waist, and similar boots, except one, who was dressed like the men. She was a tall, athletic woman with deep copper-bronze skin, long, flowing black hair with deep brown eyes, sporting lithe, firm muscles. She was armed with what looked like a Bowie Knife or short sword, and a holstered device that looked like a handgun of some type. One of the men was similarly armed, a stocky man about Ari's size with swarthy, weathered skin, curly dark hair, and nearly black eyes. The Founders definitely had a Semitic look to them, except for one of the women who looked more like a tall, blond Greek goddess, and one of the men who, while blond and light skinned, was of shorter stature. One man, apparently the leader, stepped out of the group.
Jon approached him. "I am Jon Stock, Captain Jon Stock…" Jon's voice trailed off as the Founders grinned at him. Ari pointed to his link, and Jon blushed while activating his translator. "I am Jon Stock, Captain Jon Stock," he repeated as the translator repeated his words in perfect Founder-Speak, "and these are my crew. We will make individual introductions in a bit, but first, let's establish the basic rules…" He paused, obviously contemplating how to proceed. "…so we all are on the same page, so to speak."
Ari watched his friend's discomfort with amusement. Jon obviously had not thought his way through the process. Would people from a hundred-fifty-thousand years ago shake hands? Would they be stiff and formal? Would they be curious and friendly? Would they be hostile? Surprisingly, Ari realized that the Founders appeared just as befuddled as Jon, and that's when it struck him. They might be from the distant past, but in real-time terms, they had no more experience than Jon or himself – perhaps even less. With that, Ari strode up to the Founders and said in his best Founder-Speak, "I'm Ari Rawlston, and I'm one of your direct descendants. I don't know how you greet people in your culture, but in ours, we grip the right hand like this." He grasped Jon's hand in a firm handshake.
A chuckle passed through the Founders, and, one-by-one each, of them shook Ari's hand, and then Jon's. Following that, Jon went down the ranks, introducing each of his crew members, and again, one-by-one, all the Founders shook all the crew members' hands while generally chatting – through the translators except for those crew members who had developed proficiency in Founder-Speak.
#
Eber was surprised at his own reticence upon first meeting the explorers. He quickly realized, however, that his experience was on par with that of the explorers about his age, but that they would see him through awed eyes because of the Founders' advanced technology and their having moved forward in time so many thousands of years. It was clear to him almost immediately that Captain Jon Stock was a capable leader, and that he had the respect and full support of his people. None of the explorers were armed, which made sense for this kind of mission. He decided that the best thing he could do was to establish a rapport with the Captain, leader-to-leader, so they could decide on how to move forward.
As the two groups mingled, the five Founder women quickly sought out the four female explorers. Since Carmen, Elke, and Michele were fluent in Founder-Speak, the conversations between the women quickly moved into their individual broad areas of expertise. To Eber, it seemed that the women reached an almost immediate rapport. He glanced around for the Captain, and found him deep in conversation with Arpachshad and the short, curly-haired one who seemed to be one of his own kind – Ari, he recalled.
"Captain…" Eber was impressed with the quality of the translators. In fact, the entire Link technology was impressive – more so, he thought, than anything similar from his own culture. "Captain, may I have a moment?"
"Please call me Jon; everyone else does." Jon smiled widely as he turned from his conversation with Ari and Arpachshad.
"Can we talk privately for a few minutes?" Eber turned toward the floater. Jon followed him inside, and Eber shut the door. "I would like to tell you first how wonderful it is to be able to converse with technically competent people. Try to imagine what it was like when we returned from Ectaris to find nothing, no one. As the centuries passed, there really was nothing we had in common with the folk we met. It was really difficult. My father and grandfather finally made the shift, and remained behind. My grandmother wanted to see the future. Of the women, only my mother Persia stayed back, and I suspect it was out of love and respect for my father. Apparently, they are all enmeshed in important ways in your history."
"Yeah, that's true, especially if you're religious."
Eber looked at Jon with open curiosity. "That's one of the things we need to talk about. My people, the people who arrived in your system a hundred-fifty-thousand years ago, were homogenous. We spoke one language, albeit with some variations, we had pretty much mixed up our individual racial stocks, although we still exhibited differences such as that between Ishtar – tall, very light-skinned, blond hair, and oval facial features, and Azurad – shorter, bronze skin, dark hair, and high, prominent cheekbones, or between myself and Lud with his light skin and blond hair. These differences are negligible, however, when compared to the difference between Ginger and Michele, or between Chen and yourself. In the millennia it took for my descendants to crawl back out of the Stone Age, apparently major geographical barriers resulted in distinct racial lines.
"How has this worked out for your culture?"
"Not very well up until recent times," Jon answered. "Even today we carry tensions between us – not with my crew," he added hastily, "but back home. That's something you will need to understand completely before you make any personal appearances on Earth." Jon sat quietly for a few moments. "This is especially true for you and your family. My biologist and physician – Michele and Carmen – have looked at the matter extensively. They have tried to explain it to me, but let's face it, I'm a Naval Officer – mostly spaceships now. I have to rely on my experts for such information."
Eber grinned at Jon. "I, too, am a generalist, which probably is why I command our family." The translator was a bit unsure of the word command; it qualified it by adding lead.
"Anyway," Jon continued, "the survivors from your original expedition apparently got an extra dose of DNA strands somehow linked to the local fauna that gave them immunity from whatever it was that killed everyone else. It is manifested today in Earth's population as a characteristic in the blood we call the Rh factor. You and your family don't have this factor; we call you Rh-negative. Your direct descendants don't have it, and neither do most of your indirect descendants. What happens when Rh-positive and Rh-negative people have offspring together is beyond my understanding.
"My point is, we have a racial branch we call Semite. You belong to it, Ari belongs to it, as does another crew member you have not yet met – I'll get to that a bit later. Semites around the world can trace their ancestry back to Noah…truly! Whether the ancestry is real or not, I don't know, but they certainly believe it is. One branch within the Semites see themselves as distinct and separate, and for at least the last twenty-five hundred years have called themselves Jews. For reasons that don't matter here, Jews have been hated by most of the world for a very long time. They speak a language we call Hebrew that is obviously a corrupted and simplified version of your own language, which we call Founder-Speak.
"Our world right now is divided into three major groups and one less important one. The first of these is the Euro-American group, consisting of North and South America, Europe including Russia, Australia and New Zealand, and Israel, right in the middle of the Caliphate. Most people would consider the United States as the leader of this group, although many in Russia might disagree. The point is that this group is relatively cohesive, and unlikely to go to war within the group. The second group is Asia, which includes China, Japan, India, the countries of Southeast Asia, and several smaller states bordering Russia, Europe, and the third group, the Persian Caliphate, which I'll discuss in a moment. The fourth group consists of the African states south of the Sahara Desert, led by South Africa. For many reasons, this fourth group plays a smaller role on the world stage. The Persian Caliphate – the third group – came into being several decades ago. It consists of all the states on the eastern and southern sides of the Mediterranean, north to Russia, and east to India. Unlike the rest of the world which is modern and relatively sophisticated, the Caliphate is a bizarre blend of medieval theology called Islam, militant extremism, and modern weaponry – and probably half its citizens are Semites. The Islamic holy book is the Qur'an, whose historical parts have much in common with the holy writings of the Jews.
"Their leader, the Ayatollah Khomeini, arranged to put a stowaway aboard our spacecraft. His job was to sabotage the mission. It was only by good fortune that we found him. I decided to keep him alive, and have been using him as an additional crew member. I assigned him to Ari, who speaks his native language and is well-trained in personal combat.
"In simple terms, the Caliphate is a primitive, hate-driven theocracy, armed to the teeth with nuclear weapons…"
"Nuclear weapons, even," Eber commented with considerable astonishment.
"Yes, with nukes…standing against the rest of the world. Furthermore, several states in Southeast Asia are predominately Muslim – a term that describes believers in Islam – as is a significant part of India. To top it off, the Jewish homeland, Israel, is a tiny country that sits on the eastern shore of the Med, surrounded by the Caliphate. The Caliph who rules the Caliphate with an iron hand has sworn to wipe Israel off the face of the Earth.
"The rest of the world also has nuclear arms, but by agreement, they are regulated, inspected, and controlled, insofar as this is possible – except for the Caliphate and Israel. The United States – the U.S. – is closely allied with Israel, which is the only reason the Caliph has not carried out his threat." Jon leaned forward, almost into Eber's personal comfort zone, causing Eber to pull back somewhat internally, while being careful not to give an outward indication.
"You see, Eber, the world does not know about what we call the Hebrew connection. Except for several highly placed individuals in my government, the U.S. government, nobody knows that the modern Israelis, the modern Jews, are your direct descendants." Jon leaned back and spread his hands across his knees. "This is a problem, Eber, a big problem."
Eber sat still, contemplating what he had just heard. Reduced to its essence, his direct descendants were on the verge of total annihilation at the hands of a maniacal religious dictator, and his presence and his family's would probably be the factor that tipped the scale. "So, what do you suggest?" he asked at last.
#
Saeed had reviewed several options for continuing his Jihad. If he could just find the materials for a bomb, then he could take out most, if not all, the Founders with one well-placed suicide attack. That would not happen, however, because the accursed Israeli kept his leash very short. The only explosives were topside with the landers, and there were no guns or similar weapons. Poison might be possible, but unrealistic. That left sabotage, and that did not appear feasible in Iapetus, but might just be possible aboard the spacecraft.
