GENESIS - THE BEGINNING. Book 1

CHAPTER 8 ... Address To The World

"Look Say, this is a draft. An outline of what the boys with ink on their fingers are going to play with. But I can guarantee you; you are going to blow the socks off every human being on this planet."

"And this..." he tapped the page, "This thing about sending out unmanned craft? Thousands of them? Hell, I only sent out five of the god things and we couldn't find any volunteers that were willing to take extended leave from loved ones that could stretch into hundreds of years."

"We are going to make you into the caring father, Say. The caring and loving father that feels for his people and not willing to place one of them in an untenable situation."

"Untenable?"

"In so many words."

"What if somebody notices the time discrepancy? I sent out those five Drone Seekers four years ago and only one had the ability to get close to the speed of light."

" I have contacted NASA and sorted out that small discrepancy. What the public don't know can't hurt them, and I've notified all the other space licensed countries, the Kremlin, China, Germany, Libya and Angola, and all the others that they should have answers ready that fall in line with our views. The layman on the street knows jack-shit about the specifics of space Say', it's those science fiction writers and other space buffs that we have to worry about. Then we have the World Wide Web where anybody with practical understanding can get answers to some difficult questions that could trip us up. That's why we have to do it this way. Have Joe public excited about the prospect of having living breathing family out there somewhere. Excitement, elation or joy, call it what you will. I promise you this Say...," he bent his willowy body forward. "That it won't be many weeks and they will force you to make plans to 'go and visit our kin."

"I don't want to go and 'visit our kin', as you put it Blondie. I want to give them a black eye and a bleeding nose if I have to and according to what they owe us, I most probably will have to. But I think I understand what you're getting at." Sayed said, deep in thought. "The world isn't going to be happy if I build an armada of warships, now will they? What you are proposing is that we build up their hopes and dreams and then pull the carpet from under their feet." He looked at the ceiling and nodded. "And our friend there?" he pointed at the Polrob.

"I'm sure we can find a place for him in the scheme of things," Blondie said. "We have to plan this well or we lose more than our jobs and creditability. Leave it to me and the spin doctors."

"Just don't take too long. We're at a disadvantage here because we're working on a time limit."

"A few weeks Say'. A few weeks is all it's going to take. Just one thing. I suggest we notify all the planetarium occupied planets, all fifty four of them. They are to send us warships or alternatively, war material. By the time they arrive, earth will be gearing up for production and training."

"They aren't going to like that one bit. They may want to have these materials, equipment and personnel deducted from their overall debt. I'm inclined to follow through and allow it, come to think of it. The logistics of this thing is bound to be huge." He pointed a finger at his friend, "Make them sweat for it. No freebees. We're only going to have one shot at this and I want to overwhelm the Galactic Empire with a show of force so large that they'll shit in their pants and lay belly up and beg for forgiveness and give the other planetarium planets an idea of what will happen should they also come up with funny ideas of not paying."

The Presidential Office called in its tame press and dropped a bomb in their laps. Within hours the world was in uproar.

From Russia to Spain to Africa, people rushed to Church to give thanks. Hundreds of thousands had impromptu parties and organized or disorganized gatherings took place. Electronic newspapers and social tabloids had page after page devoted to the Phoenix and its five-million crew members. Talk show hosts brought in acclaimed specialists from all over the world on subjects ranging from longevity in space to light-speed travel to the expansion of the universe. Interpol arrested members of the Light-of-the-Phoenix cult that came into existence from out of nowhere. Thirteen thousand members were 'courted' and sentenced to six months hard labour for attempting to sacrifice a young woman and a donkey.