Ancient Astronauts

Unrestrained Ambition

"I'm worried about this kid the Standing woman is having."

"How is that James?" Miriam was at the mirror in their bathroom wiping the small amount of makeup she wore these days off her face, "How is a baby threatening to you?"

"Think about it, Miriam. Hans Agler is a national hero. He's practically got 'hero of' in front of every line on his military record. He rose from Lieutenant to Admiral in only five years. He–"

"He rose to the rank of Admiral in five years during the worst war Earth had ever seen," Miriam cut him off, "Officers were dying almost as fast as enlisted men."

James waved a dismissive hand, "Yes, but he also earned it."

"Sooo," Miriam sighed, patting her somewhat smaller stomach appreciatively, "What's the problem? And how is this related to Alyonna's kid?"

"Rattle off a list of the most violent, insidious men you can think of."

"You're talking about dictators?" Miriam huffed, casting a disbelieving smile across her shoulder at her husband.

"Yes! Precisely," James said, "Look, Bonaparte, Hitler, Stalin, what did they all have in common?"

"They were all popular, dear," Miriam said, undoing the buttons on her blouse.

"Yes, and they all had access. Hans Agler fits that description to a tee. He's charismatic, popular, has access and now–"

"Now he has an heir," Miriam finished for him then added, "Oh and he's in a coma and has been for almost two months, nevermind thirty years or so in the ECR."

James shook his head. He got up from the lounge chair he was sitting in and crossed the room, his footsteps padding softly across the rug. Like most of the other wealthy people who agreed to join the mission at the behest of various interested parties, he'd had the leverage to pack a large house's worth of furnishings, including this antique rug.

He wasn't a young man by any means. Gray was already working its way through his beard and hair. Miriam was ten years younger and was showing signs of her age as well.

She turned to him, brushing a lock of curly dark brown hair over one ear and met James' blue gaze with her brown one, "I've been keeping tabs on Alyonna. She seems like a sweet girl. I'm sure she'll keep him in check if power goes too poorly with him."

James sighed and took her hands, "I hope so for all our sakes, Miriam. The best we can hope for is to guide him to make the right choices."

"And what are those right choices?" Miriam asked, pinching her nose a little, she thought she knew, but was curious to hear it from the horse's mouth.

"First off, he needs to set up property rights and a fiat currency. If we're ever to have hope for a strong economy like we did in the old world–"

"Guff," Miriam threw up her hands, "Two months on a new planet and you're already planning how to best exploit it."

"Babe," James' tone had a downward inflection, "I know how much of your life you put into conservation back on Earth both before and during the war, but can't you see that someone is always going to exploit this planet's resources?"

"Oh I've heard this argument before," she said, raising her voice a little and waving a finger in his face, "Someone's going to exploit it so why not us!?"

"Miriam, it's not like that," anger teased the back of James' voice as he shoved her finger out of his face, "We'll do it just like we did together in the old world, sustainably harvesting the planet's resources. Yeah, some stuff is going to get messed up, but if we can set it up the right way the planet will be able to provide for all, for a thousand years, including its present inhabitants. Something will have to give though, and I don't plan on it being us when the ES refugees start showing up and building their own colonies."