Thought For The Day

Somebody needs to held accountable for the virus outbreak.

Opinions

The Chinese Communist Party lost more face by lying about the virus outbreak than simply telling the truth.  The Chinese Communist Party is lying about the deaths is their domain.  Gosh, what a surprise.

Those who deny your right to exist are mortal enemies.

Message

To the Chinese Communist Party,

The North Korean State shall cease to exist, the Korean people shall be free.

What you want is irrelevant.

Les Bates

Quote Of The Day

American citizens have to prove their innocence.

-- Senator Dianne Feinstein, D-California

Okay Comrade Feinstein, prove to us that you should not be hanged for treason.

Motivation

Socialism Inaction

Venezuela is out of beer. 

Thanks to Mark Urbin for the link.

A Thought

A problem with The Anointed is that they are the last to suffer the negative consequences of their own insanity.

Seriously

(Thanks it Mark Urbin for the image)

Unfortunately the answer is yes.

This what happens when the other party is allowed to get away with cheating.  There is simply no excuse for this walking piece of excrement to occupy a seat in the United States Senate.

A few years ago I wrote a bit of short fiction depicting the proper disposal of a simular piece of excrement:

From the Unpublished Memoirs of Allen Keller.

November 22, 2008


I had to do an Urquhartcide today.

Al Stein was by his own claim and the opinion of the morally and esthetically dysfunctional members of self-styled intellectual class a comedian. In fact he was a boring old socialist drone with delusions of talent. He was also a political commentator with delusions of credibility. His most recent misadventure prior to standing as a candidate for the U.S. Senate from Minnesota was as a talk show host on the Socialist talk radio network known as Air America.

I recall when Air America -- more properly labeled as Radio Pravda -- started up, the local affiliate put up posters at bus stops proclaiming that it was "talk radio without the lies." Something that could only be achieved by a Socialist radio station by the broadcast of dead silence.

So anyway Comrade Stein ran for the Senate against the incumbent Republican Norm Colman. Norm is a nice guy, but like most Republicans he's too nice. He won but the margin of victory was close enough under state law to mandate a recount.

This was where the problem really became apparent.

Local election officials, all Democrats of course, began reporting misplaced ballots or other forms of counting errors to the state election board. All of these so-called corrections favored Comrade Stein. It was very readily apparent that this senate seat was about to be stolen.

On top of this some of Comrade Stein's supporters were camped out on the front yard of his residence in Minneapolis. This had the effect of severely limiting our other options for solving the problem.

However an opportunity opened up when the owner of a new Italian restaurant, who wasn't terribly fond of Marxists, tipped us off that Comrade Stein had made reservations for Saturday night. I asked the owner to reserve a table for two on the same night.

My companion for the evening was a junior secretary from the local British consulate. She was in fact one of Corder's people, sent here to support JM and I in our plot to "dominate the world." I sat with my back to Comrade Stein and his party.

La Gondola, the new restaurant, had opened in the space formerly occupied by a Tex-Mex eatery on the southeast corner of Seventh Street and Hennepin Avenue in downtown Minneapolis. While waiting for the opportunity to solve the Stein problem I spoke to my dinner companion about the history of the building.

"Right over there," I pointed to the corner of the building on the intersection, "was one of the two Fanny Farmer candy shops I worked at after school."

"What did you do?" She asked.

"Light janitorial stuff." I said. "Two days a week here. Tuesday and I had the choice of working on either Thursday or Saturday. I picked Saturday."

"Well...why Saturday?" She was puzzled.

"I didn't want be dragged up to my family's lake place on the weekends... boring as Hell."

"I didn't know you were that well off?" She was surprised.

"We weren't" I replied.

She looked over to Comrade Stein's table.

"Some of those people are making obscene gestures at us," she said.

"Being a Superior Being means never having to behave like a civilized person." I said. "Marxists are funny that way."

She looked over there again.

"Stein's up. He's going to the rest room," she said.

"If you will excuse me." I said as I stood up.

I removed a stainless steel ball point pen from a pocket and placed it in my left hand as if it were an unlit cigar. Comrade Stein was alone and preening himself when I entered the rest room.

"Al," I said, "we need to talk."

"Fuck off!" He replied.

I ignored it.

"You know," I said, "FU could get pretty rough on his opponents, but there one thing he never did, and that was to fuck with the ballots."

Comrade Stein's image in the mirror glared at me.

"What part of 'Fuck off' did you NOT understand?" He growled.

"Nobody steals an election in this state." I said. "JM's going to appoint a special prosecutor after the inauguration. You will be removed from that seat and Lieutenant Governor Pawlenty will appoint Norm to finish out the term. You can walk away from this and save us all the fuss and bother. All you have to do is concede."

Comrade Stein turned towards me.

"We WILL take the White House!" He snapped. "And we WILL snuff out you FASCISTS once and for all!"

He was referring to the ongoing effort of his party to lawyer their way into the White House. And of course he also referred to the well documented homicidal tendencies of the Left toward those who refuse to submit to their will.

He returned to the image in the rest room mirror.

Of course the basic difference between Comrade Stein and a proper old-school Fascist was the silly uniform. But mentioning that would do no good at this point. I consciously decided to emulate JM's late uncle, Francis Urquhart.

"You may very well think that," I said, "but what you're moving towards is a civil war, and I seriously doubt that the United States Army will obey the orders of a Chicago Marxist who has obviously stolen the election, like the Big Zero. You will lose."

Comrade Stein snarled one more time.

"You're going to a supermax!" Which was the worst type of prison in the United States. "You're going to get raped and die of AIDS you piece of shit!"

It is simply not possible to reason with someone who believes that you have no right to live.

There was one thing that could only be done at this point. I switched the pen from left hand to the right and jabbed the point into Comrade Stein's back. I clicked the stud that would normally extend the ball point for writing but which instead extended a tiny needle into his back.

I pulled the pen out and put it back into my pocket.

Comrade Stein spun around.

"What was that?!" He yelled.

"A nonpersistent neurotoxin." I replied. "It won't show up in the autopsy."

Comrade Stein tried to leave the rest room. With my right arm I stopped him and shoved him back into the wall. The toxin was already weakening him.

"Comrade Lenin once said that the ends justify the means." I spoke softly. "You didn't really believe that we would be any less ruthless?"

Comrade Stein tried to speak one more time as I held him to the wall with my right hand.

"Mother...fuck..."

I replied.

"It's not personal Al, it's politics."

Comrade Stein collapsed to the floor and ceased breathing.

It was at this point that I stepped out of the rest room and raised my voice as if I were still a sergeant in the Army.

"Al Stein just collapsed on the floor, someone call nine-one-one!"

All of Comrade Stein's dinner companions, regardless of their gender, entered the Men's rest room while I returned to my table.

Our meal for the evening had not arrived at the table yet. I gestured to our waitress and pulled out a credit card.

"Is there a problem, sir?" She said.

"Apart from the commotion, no." I said as I handed her the credit card. "Could we have the check please?"

Two of Comrade Stein's companions, one of each gender, stumbled out of the Men's rest room. The female was moaning something about Stein being dead. The male stared at me for a moment and then began to look around for something. I placed my right hand on the Glock 36 that I carried concealed in a belt holster, ready to draw on the thug. He grabbed a wine bottle off of one of the tables when two Minneapolis officers entered the restaurant.

The waitress returned to the table with the check and my credit card just as the cops were placing the agitated Marxist goon in handcuffs. I wrote in a substantial tip and then handed the pen to my dinner companion.

"Your pen madame." I said as she accepted the pen and placed it in her purse.

With that gesture the instrument of my latest homicide was placed beyond the reach of the police.

I had to give a statement to the local cops. I said that Al Stein had collapsed when I told him that he would be prosecuted for election fraud.

"Some of his people are saying that you killed him." Said one of the cops.

I replied.

"Only if 'President-March' is a killing word."

I had to explain the reference.

Step Back - Part 37

A very rare Sunday meeting was being held at the KGB headquarters off of Lubyanka Square. Colonel Andrei Taganov, who was not related to the head of the Baikonur launch center, would speak to Chairman Yuri Andropov about the information gained on the mission to the Eagle.

“Quite simply Comrade Chairman, we are fucked.” Said Taganov..

“Fucked?” Said Andropov. “What do you mean?”

Taganov replied.

“The Soviet State will ultimately fail–there is simply no alternative.”

It was at that point Andropov could only stare blankly into space.

What would he tell the Politburo? He thought. And how would they respond? And then what will happen next?

Andropov spoke again

“So what would you suggest as a course of action, Colonel?”

“Comrade Chairman, we should lay out a plan for the peaceful transition to a non-communist society.”

Andropov blinked.

“Are you mad?” He said. “The Politburo will reject it!”

Taganov replied.

“It doesn’t matter what the Politburo believes, the Soviet state will eventually come to an end. How it will end is still an open question. We can see to it that the transition to another social order is peaceful. Or we could do nothing and have open chaos as a result.”

On a clear Sunday morning in Washington a mass prayer service was being held on the Mall. On the live television broadcast Katherine Grant first denounced the Uptimers as being the tools of Satan because of their peacefully meeting with the Soviet delegation aboard the Eagle and for continuing to hold her daughter on board their ship. And then she openly denounced the Nixon Administration for their continued contact with and support of them. The simple idea that the Uptimers were acting in accordance with simple courtesy and the actual facts of reality simply did not cross what passed for her mind and didn’t enter into her rant.

Alice and Judith aboard the Eagle silently watched the live broadcast of the prayer service.

President Nixon also watched the broadcast from the White House. On the ground the President had discussed the continuing issue of Grant and her followers with Commander Macdonald.

“Mister President,” said MacDonald, “we simply will not submit to their demands, and should the United States Government do so, we will pull out and go elsewhere.”

“Where would you go?” Nixon asked.

Without missing a beat Macdonald simply replied.

“Israel.”

Of course they would. Nixon thought.

Across the nation the broadcast was also seen by numerous college students, many of whom were suffering from serious hangovers on this morning. In the living room of a three bedroom apartment in the Dinkytown area adjacent to the main campus of the University of Minnesota seven seriously unkempt and hung over students of both genders and a their guest for breakfast were watching the broadcast as well.

“Can you believe this nonsense?” One of them said with a British accent. “The Uptimers are from the future, of course they’re not going to believe in God, or any other nonsense.”

“They don’t believe in Progress either.” Said another student.

Mark Urquhart, the first student who was a British subject studying Engineering, replied to the second.

“Because it’s not actually a doctrine of Progress, it’s simply a body of excuses to use force on other people.”

And then Mark’s guest for breakfast, his oldest brother, spoke up with a clearly polished Oxford accent.

“Your first president, George Washington, once said something on this point: ‘Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.’”

Francis Urquhart was a junior member of the House of Commons for the Conservative Party. He had come to the United States on party business and decided to drop in on his youngest brother during the trip.

Now everyone in the room waited for his next word.

“The fact is that those who want power will stop at nothing to gain it--even to personally commit the act of murder–so lying for power is not a serious obstacle at all.”

The Americans in the room and his youngest brother all nodded in response.

What Francis Urquhart had not mentioned in the conversation, or even to his own brother, was that there were already two dead bodies buried under his own path to power in Cyprus.

Later in the day Francis would drop in on his sister Mary, who was married to a member of a wealthy American family, Richard Charles March II.

At the ground base in Nevada a letter with an information package that included color photographs was downloaded from the Eagle, printed, and sent by air mail to Diana Spencer, a student presently attending a boarding school in the United Kingdom.

For Francis Urquhart the lunch with his sister and her husband did not go well. The fact was that Richard March, in spite of his inherited wealth, was a true believer in the Progressive cause. In fact the way that Richard consistently looked at Francis gave him the clear impression that he was looked upon as a mortal enemy.

Richard was particularly upset at the Uptimers for their clear rejection of the Progressive cause.

Urquhart replied.

“The thing is Dicky, these people came from the 24th Century. There is no question for them as to what works and what doesn’t. And routinely working in the vacuum of space would very strongly discourage the kind of wishful thinking that you routinely indulge in.”

No one ever addressed march as Dicky, not even his wife. And the truth as stated by Francis was simply too much for him.

For Francis Urquhart the next stop on his visit to America was the Uptimer Base in Nevada on behalf of the Conservative Party.

Photo of the Day

 

A good Communist.

 

Step Back - Part 34

Wednesday October 15, 1969
Low Earth Orbit

Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev sat back and waited for the retro-rockets of the Soyuz spacecraft to fire.

What was he going to tell the Politburo? From their perspective this mission was a complete failure.

“The basic problem,” said Evelyn Boatman, “is that the doctrine of Communism is based on a clearly false concept of human life and of reality in general, and as such is absolutely doomed to failure. There is absolutely no other conclusion possible.”

“But what about all the lives sacrificed in the pursuit of the Communist ideal?”

“The fact is that all the suffering and deaths inflicted in the cause of Communism were completely pointless.” Boatman replied. “And in the long run the Communist state, in all manifestations, has to end.”

At this point in time it appeared that burning up on reentry wouldn’t seem to be a bad thing.

The Eagle was back under spin as she coasted back to geosynchronous altitude in the transfer orbit. In his role as the mission commander Boatman sat back at the work station in his quarters and read the various reports from the staff on the ground. That jackass of a county commissioner, a Democrat of course, didn’t get the message the first time and had to properly dealt with. And it appeared that the way things in general were going in the United States the idea of moving out to Ganymede and establishing a permanent base was looking better and better.

Why?

As with the Reds, the self-styled progressives and liberals in the United States believed they had an excuse to use force to obtain their goals on the ground. The idea that their victims had the right to live by their own rational judgement as well as the right to the products of their own thought and labor was simply irrelevant to them. As with the Reds, the Democrats and Progressives in general simply saw common people as things to be used. The control and usage of common people was to be brought about through fraud if possible and by force if necessary.

In The Reformation the practice of using people and otherwise profiting through political force was brought to an abrupt end. From coast to coast in the United States there were mass graves filled with the dead bodies of the Users. There was simply no other option at that time.

In the primary timeline The Reformation was brought about in part because the virtual monopoly on the mass media held by the Users had been broken by the Internet. But at the present time even the military communications system that was constructed for nuclear warfighting which served as the foundation of the Internet simply didn’t exist.

Could the Users be brought down now?

Boatman simply had no idea, but it was now time for dinner.

It was late in the night when Senator Kennedy personally answered the door of his Washington residence. The man he let in was a long standing supporter of the Kennedy Family in the publishing business from decades back.

Geoffrey Warren spoke softly.

“So Ted, what’s the big hush-hush about?”

Kennedy answered.

“Geoff, I’ve just been given a copy of a book that was originally published in the future, and the story that it tells is nothing less than appalling.”

He handed Warren the copy of The Concept Of Government. Warren opened it as Kennedy continued to speak.

“This is the unexpurgated version.” He said. “It covers the extermination of our party in the future and those responsible for it.”

Warren looked up with shock.

“Yes.” Said Kennedy. “Our party will be wiped out and that book names those who will do it.”

“So what do you want me to do?” Said Warren.

“What I want,” said Kennedy, “is for copies of that book to be printed and distributed to our people, and it must be done secretly, can you do it?”

Geoffrey Warren nodded.

“Yes, I can do it.”

“And it must be an exact copy,” said Kennedy, “even the typos must be included.”

Warren open the book to the inside cover and pointed to the number stamped inside.

“Does that include this number?”

“Yes,” Kennedy replied, “it has to mean something.”

“Okay,” said Warren, “I’ll do it.”

In the White House President Nixon read the report on the visit on the Soviet visit to the Eagle. It had essentially gone off without any problems. The mission commander gave his guests a tour of the ship, including the main drive room, along with a brief explanation of the technologies. The Russians even got to view the quantum singularity that was the heart of the ship.

Or at least the visual effects of the gravitational distortion it generated by its very existence.

And then there was the dinner. It was as close to a formal meal that could be served in free fall as the Soyuz spacecraft had been brought aboard and the ship could not be spun for internal gravity as a result.

And at the end the Soviet delegation was told that the Uptimers could do nothing for a invalid social order. Absolutely nothing at all.

What Brezhnev and the rest of the Politburo would think about this could only be guessed.

And then there was the latest incident in Nevada. A dumbass politician, a Democrat of course, tried to put the legal squeeze on the Uptimers. And the Uptimers responded with their usual exercise of deadly force.

One would think that the folks on the other side of the aisle would notice that the Uptimers had a standard response to their nonsense. But then the folks on the other side really weren’t in the habit of actual thought.

Or so it would appear.

Step Back - Part 31

Tuesday, October 14, 1969
Baikonur Cosmodrome, USSR

Mikhail Gorbachev could hear the engines of the first stage fire at about ten seconds from the end of the countdown. At the point of zero the clamps holding the Proton launcher and the Soyuz payload to the pad let go. Gorbachev felt his weight multiply by an order of magnitude as the rocket lifted from the pad.

Aboard the Kite in orbit above the Eastern Hemisphere a sensor operator spoke up.

“Captain, we have a major launch at Baikonur.”

“Let's see.” Lieutenant Siekmann said as he floated from the command seat over to the sensor station.

It was the Proton launcher they had been tracking. At first it only had a standard shroud for an unmanned payload installed on it. Then it had been brought back from the launchpad to the assembly hall. The Proton was then returned to the pad with the payload shroud for a Soyuz orbiter on it.

Now the Soviets were actually launching it.

“Very good.” Siekmann said as the first stage of the Proton dropped off. “Let's continue to track it.”

In discussion it was speculated that the initial payload may have been a weapon. With the launch of a Soyuz it appeared that the Soviets had second thoughts about a hostile act and were now attempting a contact mission.

On the command deck of the Eagle the Soyuz spacecraft was also being tracked.

Judith Grant was also watching the proceedings on the command deck. She was doing so while standing up, having recovered sufficiently enough to do so.

“So who would be aboard it?” She asked.

“Good question.” Evelyn replied. “The command pilot should be Alexi Leonov, he's now the senior cosmonaut since Gagarin died, I have no idea who would be in the second seat.”

“No idea at all?”

“Well it wouldn't be any member of the Politburo. Remember, the Communist leadership as a general rule sees other people as something to be used, not one of them will risk their own necks on a contact mission no matter how desperate the situation on the ground may appear. Under the circumstances they'll send someone up who may be up and coming in their system but is still expendable. At this point I could only guess who it is and the guess would likely be wrong.”

Judith nodded. Evelyn then spoke again.

“But the fun part will be the question of how do they get back down?”

“Doesn't the Soyuz have a heat shield?”

“Yes, but it was designed for reentry from a low orbit. A reentry from this altitude would have more energy to bleed off and would require a heavier heat shield.”

Judith nodded in thought and then spoke.

“So if they are using their standard heat shield the Russians would need a ride home?”

“Yes.” Evelyn smiled as he replied.

President Nixon was notified of the launch. He was also told that the Uptimers had the situation under control.

Both men had remained in their pressure suits during the flight to high orbit. Gorbachev patiently waited and kept his hands to himself as the Soyuz approached the Eagle. He had no idea how to read the gauges aboard the spacecraft and touched nothing because he wanted to avoid a fatal foul up.

“Damn...” Said Leonov. “There was just a jump in neutron readings, then it’s gone.”

“What does it mean?” Said Gorbachev.

“No idea, it could be natural.” Said Leonov. “But I would seriously reconsider any plans for fatherhood.”

Suddenly an unfamiliar voice in Russian spoke over the ground to space communications channel.

“Soyuz spacecraft, this is the starship Eagle, do you copy?’

Leonov answered.

“Yes Eagle, we copy.”

“Very good, as we do not have a docking port that is compatible with the Soyuz we wish to bring you aboard through one of our landing craft airlocks, will that be a problem?”

Leonov turned to look at Gorbachev. Gorbachev looked back and shook his head.

“No, Eagle” Said Leonov. “That will not be a problem.”

On the command deck Boatman turned to Captain Sterling.

“Right, do it as we planned.”

In the mission control center in Moscow the Mission Director listened as Leonov sent a progress report on the contact with the Uptimers. But then a mid-level Party Man who was sent to supervise the mission suddenly jumped up and shouted.

“No!” He shouted. “No! Stop the docking! It is forbidden to surrender state secrets!”

“What state secrets?” Said the Mission Director.

“The Soyuz spacecraft! It’s at the front line of Soviet technology!”

The Mission Director and others in the room shook their heads.

“There has already been a discussion on this. The Star People are from the 24th Century, to them the Soyuz is a historic relic, and there are no state secrets to preserve.”

A KGB Colonel in uniform in the mission control center then spoke.

“Comrade, They are using Thermonuclear Fusion as the power source for their auxiliary generators. And their primary power plant uses the effects of a frozen star at the microscopic level to generate thrust and power.”

The Colonel was assigned to the project to understand the Uptimers and had read the translated transcript of the 60 Minutes broadcast. He then asked a friend at Moscow University to explain the concept of the Quantum Singularity.

“You may as well classify the plans for an old winter sleigh.” He said. “In any case, perhaps you should take a break from the stress of this situation.”

The way the Colonel had phrased it was an order and not a suggestion. The Party Man looked at the two junior KGB officers who had just stood up behind the Colonel.

“Perhaps, I should.” The party man replied.

Step Back - Part 27

October 12, 1969

It had been a relatively quiet week across the United States and around the world. The Mafia as well as the Teamsters and other unions continued to be frustrated in their efforts to infiltrate the Uptimer base in Nevada. And at the Baikonur Cosmodrome a Proton rocket with a Soyuz capsule as a payload was rolled out of the assembly hall to the launch pad as Colonel Leonov and Comrade Gorbachev watched.

In New York Mr. Black reported to The Committee of his failure to infiltrate the Uptimer base and to suborn a Uptimer or any employee on the base. As a result he would never seen alive by anyone again.

At 7 PM Eastern Time on Sunday in many living rooms and commercial lodgings across the United States millions of people sat down and waited in anticipation of that week’s broadcast of the 60 Minutes program on the CBS Network. With some interruptions for commercial breaks the program would begin with the history of the settlement of the Alpha Centauri system on the original timeline. For this broadcast Mike Wallace had interviewed Evelyn Boatman and others aboard the Eagle.

“How did your journey begin?” Said Wallace.

Boatman answered.

“From my perspective it began with two meetings at Cal Tech. The first was at the astronomy department which owned the Niven Deep Space Observatory, this was an automated platform which has built by our family firm.”

“Can you describe the platform?”

“Yes,” said Boatman, “The mission of the NDSO, which was named for science fiction author Larry Niven, was to detect and observe neutron stars. Which are stars that have burned out and collapsed into a mass of pure neutrons. It was at the meeting that Doctor Bob Petrov, the head of the project, told me that one of their objects, which was designated Niven-69, was on a course that took it through the Solar System.”

“Was it expected to hit anything?” Wallace asked.

It had been a long time since anyone had asked Evelyn Boatman that question.

“Mike, Niven-69 was what we call a neutron star, this is a dead star and it was roughly the mass of our sun. It simply doesn’t have to hit anything. The gravitational effect alone would have altered the orbits of every planet in the Solar System, including the Earth. The Earth would have been shifted from the life zone of the Sun to an orbit that was either too close or too far to support life. And the neutron star could have caused some of the planets to be ejected from the system entirely.”

“So did it eject the Earth?”

“I have no idea Mike, we had already left the Solar System long before the passage of the object.”

“So what happened next at Cal Tech?”

“I brought Bob Petrov to my next meeting at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The big project at the JPL was the Daedalus, an automated sublight probe that was originally proposed by the British Interstellar Society in 1975.”

“1975?” Said Wallace.

“Yes,” Boatman replied, “on the original timeline. As proposed the mission was to Barnard's Star, which was at the time believed to have some planetary bodies.”

“And did it?”

“We would eventually perform a test flight with the FTL Drive on the Eagle to Barnard's Star. All we found there was a small gas giant planet in the Neptune/Uranus class and some airless rocks.”

“So what happened at the JPL?”

“Our original target for the Daedalus was the Sirius system. After Bob and told the committee at JPL about Niven-69 they immediately decided to send the Daedalus to Alpha Centauri to find habitable planets.”

“And the Daedalus found two?”

“Yes, there was Eden, in orbit around Alpha Centauri A. And also Zion, which was orbiting Alpha Centauri B.”

At this point the digital images of the planets had been transferred to film for the program.

Wallace asked the next question.

“So once the public announcement of the existence of Niven-69 and the expected effects of its passage was made you went to work on designing the ships that would save Humanity?”

“Well, we would save some people, yes.” Said Boatman. “The first concept was called Exodus, it would use a derivative of the fusion pulse propulsion system used on the Daedalus. The. Daedalus had used two stages to reach twenty percent of the speed of light. On the Exodus the first stage would go to ten percent of lightspeed and the second stage would bring the ship back to zero. Most of the passengers would be carried in hibernation. Which was developed as a means to slow biological functions and save supplies during long trips to the outer parts of the Solar System. The expected operational ratio was nine years in hibernation and one year out during the length of the voyage. But as time passed new technologies were developed and incorporated into the design.”

“Such as?”

“The first was cryostasis, in this a person is cryogenically frozen and revived at the destination. This used radically less mass for life support and allowed a radical redesign to carry more passegers on the ship. The second technology was recorporation. Here a sample of genetic material is taken and the memories of the person are recorded. The person is than recreated at the destination. By trading off a small number of people in cryostasis for recorporation we were able to recreate a radically larger number of people at Alpha Centauri. Ultimately five units of the Exodus class were built and launched.”

“But that wasn’t all?”

“No, there was a radical advance in the technology of propulsion, the Quantum Singularity Drive.”

“Can you explain it?”

Boatman shook his head.

“I would be hard pressed to explain it to anyone with less than a current Masters degree in Physics. It’s that advanced.”

“Could it be described as magic?”

“Mister Wallace, there’s no such thing as magic, but there are some advanced concepts that require a high level of knowledge to fully understand.”

Wallace nodded and Boatman continued.

“Only two ships were completed with the drive, the Eagle, which was the prototype for the system, and the Mayflower. The other ships that were laid down were destroyed before completion.”

“Why?”

“We were rudely interrupted, the central government on Earth decided that they were to be complete control of all emigration from the Solar System. As a result all shipbuilding facilities not under their control were destroyed.”

“That’s insane!” Said Wallace.

“Yes,” Boatman replied, “so was Communism. On the original timeline Communist regimes had run up a body count of not less than a hundred million human lives. Apparently the rulers on the Earth didn’t care who lived or died as long as they were in command.”

Mike Wallace would ask another question.

“But there was one more ship that departed from the Solar System?”

“Yes, , there was. There were some indications that it had another name originally, but it arrived at Eden as the Integral. It was built to carry 10,000 live passengers but it only arrived with a bit over 2,000 aboard. When it arrived there was a fully communist society in place, a virtual gulag.”

“A gulag?” Said Wallace.

“I forgot,” Boatman replied, “that term is not in common usage at this time. A gulag is a slave labor camp established and run by the Soviet state.”

The next segment began with an digital image of the starship Integral.

This vessel had used the Orion nuclear fission pulse drive and it arrived roughly fifty standard years after the arrival of the five units of the Exodus class.

Mike Wallace began by introducing his next guest, Doctor Alice Boatman.

“Doctor Boatman, you were born aboard the Integral?”

“Yes.”

“Can you describe it?”

“How does one describe a prison surrounded by hard vacuum? And it was worse than a mere prison. No one aboard had a name, everyone had an alpha-numeric designation tattooed on their forearm at birth. There was one exception, he was known as the Core of Humanity. He apparently led the overthrow of the original commanders of the ship and established the Communist system aboard. He then used the cryostasis system installed for extreme medical emergencies to preserve himself until arrival at Alpha Centauri.”

“What was your role aboard the ship?”

“I was initially used for labor within the ship. But when I was twelve standard years old the ship had arrived at Eden in the Alpha Centauri system and I was to be used as an object of sexual gratification for the Core.”

“What happened to him?”

“The Core was put to death upon arrival by a real government for rape and other crimes.”

“So you were adopted by Evelyn Boatman and his wife Doctor Cheryl Boatman, can you describe the experience?”

Alice sat back and thought, and then she answered.

“Up to that point I was not actually living as a person, I was an object to be used. And suddenly I was rescued by real soldiers and brought to a wondrous land, on the ground I was being taught how to be an actual person. To perceive and think and live as a fully human being. And I was eventually asked to choose a name for myself. MY OWN SELF! Under the wondrous circumstances I chose the name of Alice.”

Wallace nodded his head again and then asked another question.

“So how did your experience on the Integral influence your actions on the ground in Dallas?”

“With regard to William Grant?”

“Yes.”

Doctor Boatman thought for another moment.

“It didn’t”

Wallace was apparently surprised to hear that.

“It didn’t?”

“Correct.”

“Can you explain?”

“Yes,”said Doctor Boatman, “everyone in the field of medicine has encounters with irrational individuals. That’s simply unavoidable, and when it happens we must dispassionately treat such behavior as if it were another disorder, such as a cancerous tumor. William Grant was a very seriously irrational man. He saw himself as being exempt from the rational standards of law and personal conduct. At Parkland Hospital he physically blocked the transfer of a severely injured patient from transfer to the Eagle where she would have received advanced treatment.”

“Even though the patient was his daughter?”

“Yes,” said Doctor Boatman, “as he caused the injuries the notion of parental consent was already out the airlock. The individual was clearly insane, he saw other people such as his daughter as objects to be used. In this case it was a form of spiritual gratification instead of physical gratification as in the case of The Core. He beat Judith because she was actively thinking for herself. He was demonstrating his insanity by physically blocking egress and emitting an absolutely vile degree of verbal abuse. I asked the police officer present to remove Grant from the path of egress. When the officer refused to do so it had become clear that there was no functional government in place. We hold that in the absence of a functional government the authority to act with force reverts back to the individual. In order to treat the patient aboard this ship I shot Grant on the spot.”

The final interview fo the broadcast was with Judith Grant.

“Why did your father beat you?”

“Because I had an actually functioning rational mind.”

Step Back - Part 26

On Sunday afternoon after the worship service at his church John Huhn sat in prayer within the tiny office within his home. In this he asked God for guidance about the people who claimed to have come from the future,

From his own view as a True Christian their claim had to be a lie, and this was the first of their lies. They openly declared that there was no God nor had his son Jesus Christ ever lived. They also claimed that the child who led them was an ancient man reborn.

There was no question these were lies. Clearly these people were the servants of Satan, the first liar himself. And Huhn had also watched the Saturday broadcast of The First Line. The host Bill Burke and his guest Katherine Grant were clearly good and True Christians. Their account of the murder of the Reverend William Grant and kidnapping of his daughter Judith struck him to the depths of his very soul.

How could a True Christian respond to these lies? And what was to be done in the long run?

Huhn continued to sit in prayer.

Obviously the lies and their true source had to be exposed. Although there was a drafting board in his office he decided to use a sketchbook to do the initial draft of the next small comic book in the series for distribution to other True Christians.

In the Oval Office President Richard Nixon was seriously wishing that he could take the day off, or better yet, most of the year off. But he couldn’t. Many of the Sunday editorials in newspapers from the New York Times on down were calling for the destruction of the Uptimer ship, the seizure of their ground base in Nevada, and the prosecution of their leaders for various crimes.

Were they serious? And how were these miracles to be performed? The various editorial writers clearly didn’t say.

Morons, he thought.

That afternoon Doctor Boatman did rounds in the sick bay aboard the Eagle. In particular she wanted to check up on Miss Grant. Shortly into their conversation Judith touched on a topic that was uncomfortable.

“Alice?”

“Yes?”

“I just read about what happened to you on the Integral.”

Alice nodded with a slight frown.

“And now Burke and my mother are claiming that I’m being used the same way aboard the Eagle, that’s wrong!”

“Yes, it is.” Said Alice.

“So what can be done about it?”

To Alice Boatman the answer was obvious.

“The answer to a lie is to shine the light of truth upon it.”

“Yes.” Said Judith.

The process required to reveal the relevant facts suddenly became clear to her.

“Judith,” said Alice, “I know someone who’s a friend of Mike Wallace at CBS News, would you be willing to speak to him about what happened to you?”

“Yes?”

“Okay,” said Alice, “I’ll arrange it right away. Now try to get some rest, okay?”

“Okay.”

With that Alice went straight to the command deck. Captain Sterling was on watch when she arrived.

“Denny,” she said, “I need a favor, I need to make a phone call to New York.”

It was clear to him that Doctor Boatman had stated this as a fact and not as a request.

“Who to?” He asked.

“Ayn Rand.”

It was clear that the doctor was dead serious.

“Yes, go ahead.” He replied.

Alice walked over to the communications station on the command deck, spoke to the petty officer on duty and made the necessary connections. The first was a digital microwave link to the ground station at Arlington. The next was the analog telephone link to New York. As the line rang Alice picked up the connected receiver.

A woman with a clear Russian accent answered.

“Miss Rand? This is Doctor Boatman aboard the Eagle, we met at the meeting in New York.”

“Yes, Evelyn’s daughter. How are you?”

“Good.” Alice replied. “Miss Rand, have you seen this week’s broadcast of The First Line?”

“I normally avoid that trash, but someone gave me a tip on it.” Rand replied. “It was appalling.”

“Well yes, it was,” said Alice, “Miss Grant and I were discussing the contents of that program and we want to respond to it.”

“We?” Said Rand.

“Yes,” said Alice, “I want to specifically respond to the charge that children are subjected to sexual abuse by Uptimers. And I believe I must clearly state how we deal with those who do engage in such conduct.”

“Something happened?” Rand asked.

“Yes,” said Alice, “Did Harry Barnes say anything about what happened to me aboard the starship Integral?’

“Doctor Barnes did say that something horrible had occurred,” Rand replied, “but he didn’t go into detail on it.”

“I don’t blame him,” said Alice, “It was Communist leadership behavior, just like Mao.”

Although Alice couldn’t see it over a phone line Ayn Rand had raised both eyebrows upon hearing this. She had read the Uptimer’s history report on Mao’s personal conduct and was not at all surprised at his depravity.

Ayn Rand asked the next question.

“So how can I help?”

“Miss Rand, I believe that you know Mike Wallace at CBS News, if you could forward him our contact number we should be able to arrange an interview and sort this mess out.”

Rand nodded.

“Yes, I can do that.”

Thank you.”

Several phone calls later the interview was arranged. A lander would be sent to Kennedy Airport to pick up Wallace and his crew and bring them to the Eagle.

Step Back - Part 25

The broadcast of The First Line on that week would be digitally recorded aboard the Eagle and played for the mission commander and his staff. Judith Grant would also be present for the staff meeting.

Doctor Alice Boatman was the first to speak after the end of the program.

“‘Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?’”

“I’m sorry,” said Judith, “I don’t understand.”

“The quote was a reference to a historic conflict between secular and church authority,” said Doctor Boatman, “specifically between King Henry the Second and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket. It was alleged that the King had ordered the murder of Becket to resolve the conflict.”

Judith was speechless.

“Don’t worry,” said Evelyn, “the incident wasn’t covered in secular schools in the United States at this time either.”

“But why did it happen?” Said Judith.

“That is a good question,” said Evelyn, “King Henry saw the English branch of the Church as an asset of the state and had appointed Becket, who up to that point was his friend, to run it as such. But Becket subsequently saw himself as an actual servant of God, and saw himself and the church as being above the state, including King Henry. Thus the conflict and the subsequent outcome. So what happened in Dallas? Here we have William Grant, the Servant of God who was apparently untouchable by the law. He chose to physically block a medical evacuation to this ship and prevent us from saving a life. The act was simply intolerable and the response to it was simply obvious.”

Everyone at the table nodded in agreement.

A thought came to Judith’s mind. Her Uptimer hosts were consistently thinking and speaking in principles. That some of these people were personally involved in the incident simply did not matter to them.

These were clearly the children of Reason, she thought.

Boatman continued.

“Now Burke does declare that a homicide had occurred but presents it as an absolutely depraved act of murder. That he lied about this should not be a surprise. When Atlas Shrugged was published he printed a review in his own Conservative magazine, which was written by a former Communist, had denounced it as a work of propaganda that called for the extermination of Christians.”

“That’s wrong,” said Judith, “I just read Atlas Shrugged and Rand said no such thing!”

“Correct,” said Evelyn, “ the truth is completely irrelevant to them, what does matter is belief in and submission to the witch doctor, thus their twisting of the facts or outright lying. To those who value power above all else nothing matters, not the truth or the life of another person, not even of their own child. And had you died as a result of his actions without an adverse legal consequence it would have demonstrated his power over the secular authorities. ”

Judith nodded.

Boatman continued.

“And now Burke is openly calling for the legal suppression of Atlas Shrugged and other works of Objectivist literature regardless of the truth. And for the seizure of our assets both in space and on the ground.”

“And what happens if they get their wish?” Said Judith.

“We will respond with deadly force.” Said Boatman. “And with nuclear force.”

Everyone else at the table nodded.

It was after the local sunset when the chartered Aeroflot flight landed at Baikonur. A very tired and unshaven Mikhail Gorbachev stepped off the airplane and was met by two men on the ground. The first was clearly a civilian and the second was a senior Air Force officer.

The civilian spoke.

“Comrade Gorbachev, welcome to Baikonur! I’m Administrator Ivan Taganov and this is General Alexi Leonov.”

Gorbachev’s eye widened as he reached out his hand.

“I’m honored.” He said as he shook hands. And then he spoke again.

“So what do I have to do to prepare?”

“Not much,” said General Leonov, “as a passenger you will need to be fitted for a pressure suit and go up in an airplane for simulated zero gravity training, but that’s it.”

“Nothing else?” Said Gorbachev.

“You should have your personal will updated,” said Taganov, “the Proton launcher is not currently man-rated.”

“Oh...”

Neither Taganov or Leonov would at this point mention the failure of the first attempted launch of the extremely complex N-1 rocket that was designed by Sergei Korolev for lunar missions.

It was Sunday afternoon in the Bronx when two gentlemen of Sicilian descent would meet with an older gentleman in a bar.

The first of the pair spoke.

“So what do you want, Boss?”

The Mob Captain opened a folder and took out a newspaper photograph.

“Those people from the future are somehow blocking our every effort to get in on their thing. This is clearly unacceptable and we are sending them a message. We got orders from upstairs to take out this bitch, she’s running their office in Washington and it should be a simple job.”

The Mob Captain handed the folder to the two gentlemen

“Okay, Boss.” the first replied and the second nodded.

Evelyn Boatman wasn’t able to sleep, he went outside his cabin for a walk and the think.

It was obvious that things on the ground were getting out of hand. Even though there was no ethical issue with the summary execution of the Teamsters goon, a virtual nest of shrieks had been stirred out.

We went up the Command Deck and spoke to the officer of the watch, Lieutenant Krier.

“Jeff, I’ve decided to recall Commander Keller back to the Eagle for the time being. And want Commander MacDonald to down to take her place.”

Lieutenant Commander Alan MacDonald was the chief engineer. This was to be a temporary assignment until the entire mess was properly cleaned up.

“Yes, sir.” Krier replied.

STEP BACK, Part 5

It was at this time that the Defense Minister, Marshall of the Soviet Union Andrei Grechko, spoke up.

“Comrades, seven years ago the Americans conducted a nuclear weapon test in outer space over the Pacific Ocean. The electromagnetic pulse given off by the weapon killed roughly one third of the satellites in orbit at the time. I now believe that we can do the same to the starship.”

“You can hit it and destroy it?” Asked the Industry Minister.

“No.” Grechko replied. “We only need to place a nuclear weapon in close proximity to the vessel. The electromagnetic pulse will render its command and control systems inert.”

“How do you plan to do this?” Brezhnev said.

“The Proton rocket can launch a six ton payload to that altitude. And we should be able to assemble a weapon within that mass using existing components.”

Brezhnev looked around the room before speaking again.

“Are there any objections?”

Gorbachev did think of an objection. What if the Star People had intercepted the weapon or it otherwise failed? What would stop them from retaliating in kind?

But given his present situation he decided to remain silent.

Seeing that there were no objections Brezhnev spoke again.

“Comrade Grechko, you will proceed with this operation.”

He then looked down to Gorbachev.

“Comrade Gorbachev, you will go directly to the United States and directly speak to the leader of the Star People. Make him an offer that he will accept to come over to the Soviet side.”

“Yes, Comrade General Secretary.” Gorbachev replied.

How the Hell was he supposed to do that? He thought.

On Saturday evening in a mass meeting was being held, William Grant stood before the multitude assembled within the Minneapolis Auditorium. Deliberated seated in the front rows of the audience were the widows and orphaned children of the Minneapolis police officers killed by the Uptimers.

He looked upon the assembled multitude and spoke.

“My friends, I normally come to you to bring the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ, but that is not my mission for this evening. On the Thursday of this week a great crime was committed. Police officers of this great city were brutally and systemically hunted down and murdered. Why?”

Grant paused and looked out again at the assembled audience.

“These men were murdered for simply doing their duty to this great community. Those who committed these murders claimed to have traveled backwards in time, an act that is a simply violation of God's law. They also claim that there is no God and that he did not send his son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, to teach us the truth and to ultimately die for our sins. In speaking these falsehoods they deceived themselves and now are attempting to deceive us. But we will not be deceived, we will hold to God's truth, and we will ultimately prevail.”

In a three story building on the corner of Ninth Street and LaSalle Avenue in downtown Minneapolis a meeting was being held in the news department of WCCO Television. The station was an affiliate of the CBS Television Network but on this evening they were, even on a very short notice, broadcasting the William Grant Crusade. And as with the normal broadcasts of the Crusade program the station was videotaping the normal network programming for broadcast at a later time.

“Can you believe this shit?” Someone said in the back of the room.

The CBS Network in New York had originally declined to broadcast the Uptimer version of the events, including the video of the initial encounter between Boatman and the local cops. But when WTCN, an independent station, had broadcast the encounter on their news program and WCCO had to quickly follow suit.

As a result it was also a damned good thing that the 101 st Airborne Division was now policing the city instead of the MPD.

On the monitor of the broadcast Grant continued to speak.

“So who are these depraved beings who murder good men at will and with apparent impunity? These beings are clearly the servants of Satan...”

Roger Allen, the head of the News department switched off the monitor.

“This has to be a breach of our contract with the network.” He said.

Dave Moore, who normally read the local evening news during the week spoke up.

“So what do we do?”

“Damned if I know, Dave.” Roger replied. “I will be damned if I know. What the Hell was Boatman doing here in the first place?”

A reporter spoke up.

“Apparently he was here to speak with several technology firms about adopting their technology.”

“So what was he doing at the White Castle?” Dave asked.

“According to one manager for a local firm I spoke to Boatman apparently fell in love with the sliders when he went to college in California.”

“They have White Castles in California?” Dave asked again.

“Apparently in Twenty-one-twenty Anno Domini they will.”

Dave nodded.

Roger spoke again.

“Apparently the network dropped the ball on this one, and we should have done a better job covering this story ourselves. From now on we will report the facts on this story regardless of whose toes we end up stepping on. Is that clear?”

Everyone in the room spoke or nodded in agreement.

“Now let’s get to work.”

In the family home outside of Dallas, Texas, Judith Grant sat in the living room with her family and watched her father on his broadcast from Minneapolis.

“So who are these depraved beings who murder good men at will and with apparent impunity? These beings are clearly the servants of Satan, sent here to deceive us and turn us from the path of righteousness.”

Without permission Judith had seen the independent television news coverage of the initial incident between the leader of the Uptimers and the Minneapolis Police. And the police in this incident were clearly not acting in the proper manner.

Why would her father lie about this? She privately thought to herself.

She continued to sit and watch the broadcast.

At the Uptimer base in Nevada Evelyn Boatman sat up in his hospital bed and also watched the broadcast. Normally he would have preferred to read a transcript. Those who claimed to have knowledge were very annoying to those in actual possession of same. And man on the screen strongly reminded Boatman of an evangelist on the original timeline who claimed that passage of destructive effects of Niven 69 were God’s punishment of humanity for their collective sins.

What a moron. He had thought at the time.

He had another thought. If Grant continued to be a problem he would have to dealt with. Just as the aboriginal natives of the planet Eden were.

Step Back Part Four

Saturday September 20, 1969

At a rare Saturday morning meeting of the Soviet Politburo a film was shown.  It was a 16 millimeter film produced by the U.S. Government of an interview with Mission Commander Evelyn Boatman.  The intended audience were the heads of allied governments along with diplomatic and miliary leaders with top secret clearance.

The KGB had stolen a copy.

For this showing the live accurate and translation of the Standard English dialog was provided by two field grade KGB officers reading from a prepared script.

The officer reading for Boatman was in fact the second man selected for the task.  The first had visibly flinched upon reading through the script for the first time and ultimately would refuse the assignment.

“There is simply no way around it, the fact is that Soviet Communism is based on a purely false concept of human life and is thus doomed to failure.”

The members of the Politburo sat silently as the historic image of the red banner of the Soviet Union being lowered from the Kremlin for the last time was projected on the screen.

Boatman had spoken again.

“Although the Soviet state had been quietly dismantled in the original timeline we cannot be certain of that this will occur in the current timeline.”

When the film ended and the lights came up the Minister for Agriculture spoke.

“How could this child be in command of the Star People?”

Star People was the term adopted by the Soviets for the crew of the starship Eagle. 

Yuri Andropov, the Chairman of the KGB, responded.

“Comrade Minister, The Star People claim to be able to medically reproduce a fully functional mind in a new body.  As a result Boatman himself claims to over two centuries old.”

The Minister for Industry spoke up.

“Don’t they know that Communism is the greatest and final form of social organization?  How could they not know this?  How could they be so blind?”

Andropov answered.

“The Star People are claiming that they have a capitalist society under a minimum state.  And they are also claiming that their political doctrine is based on the works of Ayn Rand.”

The minister’s eyes widened and he shouted out his response.

“Rosenbaum--that lying cunt?  She knows nothing!”

The Industry Minister had used Rand’s given surname.  Andropov again replied.

“Boatman and several other Star People have met with Rand and her inner circle in New York.  And they are now actively promoting her philosophy of Objectivism within the United States.”

“Why do they bother with her?”  Said the Industry Minister.  “That cunt was discredited when the affair with her head disciple was exposed!”

It was at this time that Leonid Brezhnev, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, spoke up.

“Comrades, let us stick to main topic, what can we do about this potential future?”

Most of the members silently sat up and nodded.  Brezhnev then spoke again.

“Mikhail Gorbachev, step forward.”

Gorbachev had been brought directly from his apartment in Moscow with only a brief amount of time to dress himself.  As a result his appearance before the Politburo was shoddy and unshaven.  He then was seated to the side of the room as the film was shown to the committee.

As a result he now saw himself as a dead man standing.

Brezhnev spoke.

“So Gorbachev, what do you have to say for yourself?”

As he saw himself as effectively dead there was no point in attempting to deceive anyone.  He answered honestly.

“What can I say comrades?”

The Minister for Agriculture spoke in return.

“What can you say?  What can you say?  What kind of policies are Openness and Restructuring?”

Gorbachev looked directly at the Agriculture Minister before replying.

“Comrade minister, you speak of events that have not happened, nor as a result of the appearance of the Star People will they ever happen.”

“Explain.”  Said Brezhnev.

“The appearance of the Star People has already altered the chain of events.  What they have told the Americans about the future has altered how they will act in the future.  And changes in how the Americans act will result in changes in how the Soviet Union will respond.  The future described by Boatman is already dead.”

“Nonsense.”  The Minister of Industry replied.  “Boatman and his people are lying!”

The Minister of Science spoke up.

“I must strongly disagree.  The Star People have brought back data on astronomy that they have shared with the Americans, who in turn have shared it with astronomers worldwide including ours.  This includes data on the dead star designated Niven Sixty-Nine.  Several of our radio telescopes have now confirmed the existence of the dead star.”

Everyone in the room stared at the minister.  Brezhnev spoke up.

“What does that mean?”

“In the late Twenty Second century this object will pass through the inner solar system and will radically alter the orbits of the planets, including the Earth.”

Another minister spoke up up.

“Will it hit anything?”

“That’s unknown.”

Andropov then spoke.

“According to the little information we have the intended mission of the Eagle was to assess the damage done by the object and to rescue any survivors found in the Solar System.  The Eagle was originally constructed as a ship that traveled below the speed of light.  When a faster than light drive was developed it was installed in the ship and successfully flown on two missions to nearby stars before the mission to Earth was attempted.  Their passage backwards in time was not expected.”

Another minister spoke up.

“So what do we do now?”

No one had an answer.