Showing posts with label Stupid Televangelist Tricks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stupid Televangelist Tricks. Show all posts
Thursday, May 07, 2020
Thought For The Day
There's more to The Right than that idiot Kenneth Copeland. But some people refuse to understand this.
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Step Back - Part 29
Monday October 13. 1969
On the mess deck of the Eagle Alice and Judith were having breakfast. Judith spoke.
“Alice, could I ask you a personal question?”
“You can ask.”
“Are you a lesbian?”
Doctor Alice Boatman looked up from her breakfast. She clearly did not expect this question. But then a friendly visit from the Spanish Inquisition would have seemed more likely to her.
She gave Judith the straight answer.
“I’ve tried it, but I would rather do normal sexual intercourse.”
“Oh.” Said Judith.
Now Alice had her own question.
“So what brought up the question?”
“Um...I tried it myself.”
“Was it a summer camp or a boarding school?” Asked Alice.
“Summer camp.” Said Judith.
It was at this time that Evelyn appeared at the table with his usual breakfast of four scrambled eggs, sausage, hash browned potatoes, which was all covered with cheese sauce, and a glass of chocolate milk.
“Did I miss anything?” He asked.
Alice gave the straight answer.
“An intimate conversation about girl stuff.”
Evelyn raised an eyebrow as he sat down. He then spoke again.
“Have you touched on why you’re not married yet?”
“Dad! You know why!”
Judith had to ask the next question.
“Alice, why not?”
Alice closed her eyes for a moment before calmly answering the question.
“There were only about a million men in the Alpha Centauri system altogether, and most of them were the wrong age or already married.”
The Evelyn spoke.
“This touches on why we mounted the rescue expedition to begin with. The fact of the matter is that the more functioning minds there are in a society the better off everyone in that society is in general. We didn’t come here out of altruism but out of a selfish desire to improve our own condition in the long run.”
“The more the merrier?” Said Judith.
“That’s one way to put it.” Evelyn replied.
A thought suddenly came to Alice’s mind.
“Remember what the dormouse said, feed your head...”
On that afternoon an Aeroflot passenger jet transport touched down at the Vienna airport. It carried a delegation from North Vietnam.
The rulers of the remnant of the Communist state in the north had decided to throw in the towel. Virtually the entire apparatus of the Communist State had been incinerated by the Uptimers from orbit. And there was no means by which they could continue the war of aggression against the Republic of Vietnam in the south. The only course of action open to the Communists was to seek peace on any terms.
In New York City the United Nations General Assembly continued their refusal to accept a delegation from the Republic of Biafra.
On Mars a mixed group of uptimers and American Astronauts walked up to the rim of Valles Marineris, the Great Canyon of Mars. The Americans were originally trained and equipped for walking on the Moon. But the spaceship Owl and her landers were available and the adapters were fabricated to allow the recharging of the life support systems of the suits from the Uptimer systems.
One of the Americans spoke to another.
“Jim, this is astounding!”
Jim Lovell looked out across the canyon. He had never thought that this day would have come. The appearance of the Uptimers was a surprise. The history files they brought back had been a shock to everyone at NASA. Lovell had personally watched as the service module that had been allocated to the Apollo 13 mission was taken apart for examination. And he was there when the faulty wiring in the fuel cell system that would have failed was exposed to the full view of everyone.
Now he was walking on the planet Mars. But he wasn’t simply playing a tourist. One of the goals of the mission was to confirm the history files on the physical resources of the red planet. The resources had been discovered and developed by colonists in the original timeline. They were here to perform a survey to verify those records.
There was much work to be done.
In Dallas within the headquarters of the former William Grant Ministries his widow Katherine was in a deep state of rage.
“How dare they!” She shouted. “How dare they mock our Lord Jesus Christ!”
On the table in the boardroom was the latest issue of The New Yorker magazine. It was open to a page with a cartoon. The cartoon depicted a terrestrial human having a conversation with what would eventually become known as a Gray Alien. The alien was speaking to the human.
“Oh yes. Jesus came to us too, we gave him some candy and he comes back to us every couple of weeks. Why, what did you guys do?”
To the Reverend George Muller it was clear to him that if the Widow Grant didn’t calm down she would blow a blood vessel in the brain.
He spoke calmly.
“Katherine, they are not mocking our Lord Jesus Christ, they are mocking mere mortal men, and honestly most men these days could use a good mocking.”
The Widow Grant spun to face Reverend Muller. With the whites of her eyes fully visible as she responded.
“How can you say that?”
Muller calmly replied.
“Because it’s the truth.”
The Widow Grant stared at him silently. Again Muller spoke.
“In this case what The New Yorker did was to reprint a cartoon that originated a bit over fifty years from now on the original timeline.”
The Widow Grant was livid. She shouted back at Muller.
“You believe the lies of the creations of Satan?”
Muller gently shook his head before calmly replying.
“Katherine, only God may create life and matter, and the fallen angel has no power except that which WE grant to him.”
With full fury the Widow Grant pointed to the door and shouted.
“GET OUT!”
On the mess deck of the Eagle Alice and Judith were having breakfast. Judith spoke.
“Alice, could I ask you a personal question?”
“You can ask.”
“Are you a lesbian?”
Doctor Alice Boatman looked up from her breakfast. She clearly did not expect this question. But then a friendly visit from the Spanish Inquisition would have seemed more likely to her.
She gave Judith the straight answer.
“I’ve tried it, but I would rather do normal sexual intercourse.”
“Oh.” Said Judith.
Now Alice had her own question.
“So what brought up the question?”
“Um...I tried it myself.”
“Was it a summer camp or a boarding school?” Asked Alice.
“Summer camp.” Said Judith.
It was at this time that Evelyn appeared at the table with his usual breakfast of four scrambled eggs, sausage, hash browned potatoes, which was all covered with cheese sauce, and a glass of chocolate milk.
“Did I miss anything?” He asked.
Alice gave the straight answer.
“An intimate conversation about girl stuff.”
Evelyn raised an eyebrow as he sat down. He then spoke again.
“Have you touched on why you’re not married yet?”
“Dad! You know why!”
Judith had to ask the next question.
“Alice, why not?”
Alice closed her eyes for a moment before calmly answering the question.
“There were only about a million men in the Alpha Centauri system altogether, and most of them were the wrong age or already married.”
The Evelyn spoke.
“This touches on why we mounted the rescue expedition to begin with. The fact of the matter is that the more functioning minds there are in a society the better off everyone in that society is in general. We didn’t come here out of altruism but out of a selfish desire to improve our own condition in the long run.”
“The more the merrier?” Said Judith.
“That’s one way to put it.” Evelyn replied.
A thought suddenly came to Alice’s mind.
“Remember what the dormouse said, feed your head...”
On that afternoon an Aeroflot passenger jet transport touched down at the Vienna airport. It carried a delegation from North Vietnam.
The rulers of the remnant of the Communist state in the north had decided to throw in the towel. Virtually the entire apparatus of the Communist State had been incinerated by the Uptimers from orbit. And there was no means by which they could continue the war of aggression against the Republic of Vietnam in the south. The only course of action open to the Communists was to seek peace on any terms.
In New York City the United Nations General Assembly continued their refusal to accept a delegation from the Republic of Biafra.
On Mars a mixed group of uptimers and American Astronauts walked up to the rim of Valles Marineris, the Great Canyon of Mars. The Americans were originally trained and equipped for walking on the Moon. But the spaceship Owl and her landers were available and the adapters were fabricated to allow the recharging of the life support systems of the suits from the Uptimer systems.
One of the Americans spoke to another.
“Jim, this is astounding!”
Jim Lovell looked out across the canyon. He had never thought that this day would have come. The appearance of the Uptimers was a surprise. The history files they brought back had been a shock to everyone at NASA. Lovell had personally watched as the service module that had been allocated to the Apollo 13 mission was taken apart for examination. And he was there when the faulty wiring in the fuel cell system that would have failed was exposed to the full view of everyone.
Now he was walking on the planet Mars. But he wasn’t simply playing a tourist. One of the goals of the mission was to confirm the history files on the physical resources of the red planet. The resources had been discovered and developed by colonists in the original timeline. They were here to perform a survey to verify those records.
There was much work to be done.
In Dallas within the headquarters of the former William Grant Ministries his widow Katherine was in a deep state of rage.
“How dare they!” She shouted. “How dare they mock our Lord Jesus Christ!”
On the table in the boardroom was the latest issue of The New Yorker magazine. It was open to a page with a cartoon. The cartoon depicted a terrestrial human having a conversation with what would eventually become known as a Gray Alien. The alien was speaking to the human.
“Oh yes. Jesus came to us too, we gave him some candy and he comes back to us every couple of weeks. Why, what did you guys do?”
To the Reverend George Muller it was clear to him that if the Widow Grant didn’t calm down she would blow a blood vessel in the brain.
He spoke calmly.
“Katherine, they are not mocking our Lord Jesus Christ, they are mocking mere mortal men, and honestly most men these days could use a good mocking.”
The Widow Grant spun to face Reverend Muller. With the whites of her eyes fully visible as she responded.
“How can you say that?”
Muller calmly replied.
“Because it’s the truth.”
The Widow Grant stared at him silently. Again Muller spoke.
“In this case what The New Yorker did was to reprint a cartoon that originated a bit over fifty years from now on the original timeline.”
The Widow Grant was livid. She shouted back at Muller.
“You believe the lies of the creations of Satan?”
Muller gently shook his head before calmly replying.
“Katherine, only God may create life and matter, and the fallen angel has no power except that which WE grant to him.”
With full fury the Widow Grant pointed to the door and shouted.
“GET OUT!”
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
Step Back - Part 28
October 12, 1969 8 PM Eastern Time
Dan Rather sat back in his New York City residence. He was still quietly fuming. When the proposal was made to send Mike Wallace up to the starship Eagle he objected on the grounds that he was younger and healthier and therefore he should go up.
“No Dan,” said Wallace, “apparently your counterpart on the original timeline had committed a serious breach of ethics and as a result the Uptimers want nothing to do with you here and now.”
From Rather’s perspective Wallace had pitched several softballs to the Uptimers. They were clearly enemies of Progress and fully deserved to have been ripped a new one on the air.
The thought that Rather would have been sent out an airlock did not occur to him.
In Huntsville Werner Von Braun and several members of his NASA team had also watched the broadcast.
He spoke up.
“Boatman never mentioned the fact that the design for the Integral was based on his own Master’s thesis at Cal Tech.”
“Why should he?” Said John Linden. “He actually designed and built all of the other starships. And let’s face it, he was virtually standing on some tall shoulders while doing so.”
“John,” Werner replied, “we’re not in the Reich anymore, there’s no need to kiss anyone’s ass here.”
“But the truth is the truth.” Linden replied.
“Yes, it is.”
Werner Von Braun quietly wondered when his friend Evelyn Boatman would ever get around to writing a doctoral thesis on starship design. He seriously wanted to read it.
In the White House President Nixon had also watched the broadcast with his family.
In his opinion Boatman was clearly a master of political spin. At no point were the natives of Eden mentioned or any word of their fate. And the story of Alice Boatman’s existence aboard the Integral would silence all but the most insane critics of her actions in Dallas. There was no question that the Reverend Grant had asked for it. But sometimes a nose has to be rubbed into a pile of excrement before someone got the point.
The rest of the First Family simply sat back in silence.
Across the nation’s capital Senator Edward Kennedy sat back on the sofa alone with a shot glass and an open bottle of Jack Daniel’s whiskey.
He was fully appalled at the news of a future where people acted without any guidance from their betters, or to act without any other social restraint.
He thought, and then he took another slug from the shot glass.
Something absolutely must be done to stop these monsters.
In the city of Minneapolis former Vice President Humphrey had also watched the broadcast.
How can they live with themselves? He thought. How could they act on their own and abandon the Human Race? How could they show absolutely no remorse for their actions? How could they be so selfish?
In his Minneapolis apartment Thomas Archer, professor of English Literature at the University of Minnesota, switched off his television set.
Those liars! He thought. Those absolute fucking liars!
How can I promote Peace and Social Justice when it was possible to freely contradict me? And how dare that lying fascist bitch say that she was raped as a little girl by a Progressive leader?
It was now clear to him.
The so-called freedom of speech is in fact the freedom to lie, and it has to be stopped once and for all!
In campus dormitories across the nation the empty spaces between the ears of the drones of the student collective were filled with the same set of notions.
Everything about them is wrong! They have technology without restraint. They have power without restraint! They can do anything to anyone they want! They are the enemies of Peace and Progress! They must be stopped! They must be stopped by any means possible! They must be stopped!
Doctor Mark Goldman was doing rounds on his shift in the Emergency Room of Parkland Hospital. A nurse suddenly walked up and spoke to him.
“Doctor, have you seen tonight’s 60 Minutes broadcast?”
“No--why”
“They interviewed Doctor Boatman aboard the Eagle. I understand her now, I understand why she shot Reverend Grant.”
Doctor Goldman nodded.
Katherine Grant had watched the broadcast with several senior staff members of her late husband’s ministry.
She had reached a point of absolute anger beyond anything she had ever experienced. A black rage had taken over her consciousness and it left her fully blocked from any light of truth.
As far as Katherine was concerned there was absolutely no question that the Boatman family and their crew were the creations and the servants of Satan. And there was no absolutely question that they had pulled her daughter into their web of lies and condemned her to eternal damnation.
Judith was gone.
It was not the fact that she was aboard the starship whose reality she fully denied. It was the fact that she had fully renounced faith in God and path of eternal salvation. Judith had fully renounced the Lord Jesus Christ.
And there was no going back.
And it all began with Ayn Rand.
That godless Russian Jewish whore Ayn Rand!
Something had to be done. Something had to be done before more helpless souls would be lost to that whore and her lies.
With that thought her ministry formally began.
In their own home in California Robert and Virginia Heinlein had also watched the broadcast.
What could be said about what he saw tonight?
“Well done, Son.”
Dan Rather sat back in his New York City residence. He was still quietly fuming. When the proposal was made to send Mike Wallace up to the starship Eagle he objected on the grounds that he was younger and healthier and therefore he should go up.
“No Dan,” said Wallace, “apparently your counterpart on the original timeline had committed a serious breach of ethics and as a result the Uptimers want nothing to do with you here and now.”
From Rather’s perspective Wallace had pitched several softballs to the Uptimers. They were clearly enemies of Progress and fully deserved to have been ripped a new one on the air.
The thought that Rather would have been sent out an airlock did not occur to him.
In Huntsville Werner Von Braun and several members of his NASA team had also watched the broadcast.
He spoke up.
“Boatman never mentioned the fact that the design for the Integral was based on his own Master’s thesis at Cal Tech.”
“Why should he?” Said John Linden. “He actually designed and built all of the other starships. And let’s face it, he was virtually standing on some tall shoulders while doing so.”
“John,” Werner replied, “we’re not in the Reich anymore, there’s no need to kiss anyone’s ass here.”
“But the truth is the truth.” Linden replied.
“Yes, it is.”
Werner Von Braun quietly wondered when his friend Evelyn Boatman would ever get around to writing a doctoral thesis on starship design. He seriously wanted to read it.
In the White House President Nixon had also watched the broadcast with his family.
In his opinion Boatman was clearly a master of political spin. At no point were the natives of Eden mentioned or any word of their fate. And the story of Alice Boatman’s existence aboard the Integral would silence all but the most insane critics of her actions in Dallas. There was no question that the Reverend Grant had asked for it. But sometimes a nose has to be rubbed into a pile of excrement before someone got the point.
The rest of the First Family simply sat back in silence.
Across the nation’s capital Senator Edward Kennedy sat back on the sofa alone with a shot glass and an open bottle of Jack Daniel’s whiskey.
He was fully appalled at the news of a future where people acted without any guidance from their betters, or to act without any other social restraint.
He thought, and then he took another slug from the shot glass.
Something absolutely must be done to stop these monsters.
In the city of Minneapolis former Vice President Humphrey had also watched the broadcast.
How can they live with themselves? He thought. How could they act on their own and abandon the Human Race? How could they show absolutely no remorse for their actions? How could they be so selfish?
In his Minneapolis apartment Thomas Archer, professor of English Literature at the University of Minnesota, switched off his television set.
Those liars! He thought. Those absolute fucking liars!
How can I promote Peace and Social Justice when it was possible to freely contradict me? And how dare that lying fascist bitch say that she was raped as a little girl by a Progressive leader?
It was now clear to him.
The so-called freedom of speech is in fact the freedom to lie, and it has to be stopped once and for all!
In campus dormitories across the nation the empty spaces between the ears of the drones of the student collective were filled with the same set of notions.
Everything about them is wrong! They have technology without restraint. They have power without restraint! They can do anything to anyone they want! They are the enemies of Peace and Progress! They must be stopped! They must be stopped by any means possible! They must be stopped!
Doctor Mark Goldman was doing rounds on his shift in the Emergency Room of Parkland Hospital. A nurse suddenly walked up and spoke to him.
“Doctor, have you seen tonight’s 60 Minutes broadcast?”
“No--why”
“They interviewed Doctor Boatman aboard the Eagle. I understand her now, I understand why she shot Reverend Grant.”
Doctor Goldman nodded.
Katherine Grant had watched the broadcast with several senior staff members of her late husband’s ministry.
She had reached a point of absolute anger beyond anything she had ever experienced. A black rage had taken over her consciousness and it left her fully blocked from any light of truth.
As far as Katherine was concerned there was absolutely no question that the Boatman family and their crew were the creations and the servants of Satan. And there was no absolutely question that they had pulled her daughter into their web of lies and condemned her to eternal damnation.
Judith was gone.
It was not the fact that she was aboard the starship whose reality she fully denied. It was the fact that she had fully renounced faith in God and path of eternal salvation. Judith had fully renounced the Lord Jesus Christ.
And there was no going back.
And it all began with Ayn Rand.
That godless Russian Jewish whore Ayn Rand!
Something had to be done. Something had to be done before more helpless souls would be lost to that whore and her lies.
With that thought her ministry formally began.
In their own home in California Robert and Virginia Heinlein had also watched the broadcast.
What could be said about what he saw tonight?
“Well done, Son.”
Monday, October 13, 2014
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.”
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.”
Thursday, October 02, 2014
Step Back - Part 20
It was a quiet Saturday morning at the Nevada Base as Harry Barnes fired up his personal laptop computer. It had been issued one by the Uptimers for his own use from the stockpile they brought along for the mission to the Solar System.
At first he checked the base network for news. Seeing that the Soviets had decided not to launch a first strike on the United States, and that the first of the prisoners of war rescued from North Vietnam were returning to their families here in the mainland, he brought up the word processor program. For the first draft of the paper he decided to use Times New Roman instead of the Courier New font.
To understand the actions of the Uptimers requires knowledge of the nature and purpose of Government. In both cases, the action against the police in Minneapolis and the execution of William Grant in Dallas, the individuals from Uptime were responding to the failure of the local police agencies. Although the Uptimers had agreed to follow the laws of the United States in both cases the local agencies that upheld those laws were clearly not functioning.
In both cases the Uptimers had found themselves in a practical state of anarchy.
In Minneapolis the failure began when the patrol officers were not informed of the visit of Mission Commander Evelyn Boatman to several high technology firms in the Twin Cities area and of his specific physical condition. This was inexcusable as the Saint Paul Police Department had informed their patrol officers of the visit without any difficulty. The second point of failure was the overtly hostile and unprofessional attitude taken with respect to Commander Boatman and his escort from NASA which was followed by a physical assault.
Under the circumstances Commander Boatman had no choice but to use deadly force to protect himself.
The third point of failure was during the mission by the Uptimers to retrieve Commander Boatman from the city. The Federal Authorities had ordered the Minneapolis Police to stand down as the Commander and his NASA escort boarded the lander sent to retrieve them. But a police marksman had taken it upon himself to shoot Commander Boatman in the back with a scoped rifle. With their commander down the squad of Rangers proceeded to clear the area of the landing zone of apparent hostiles.
The summary execution of the televangelist William Grant in the city of Dallas was again a response to the failure of the function of local government.
Judith Grant, the daughter of the televangelist, was brought into the Emergency Room of Parkland Hospital with severe injuries inflicted by her father in a beating. When the doctor who treated her requested the arrest of the assailant the policeman present refused because of Grant's local political connections. When the doctor informed the policeman that Judith could die of her injuries the officer responded by saying that an innocent man would be found and prosecuted for the crime.
The circumstances of the incident were far more disgusting. Judith had been beaten to a pulp for possessing a paperback copy of Atlas Shrugged. And what the policeman actually told Doctor Goldman in the ER was disgusting beyond belief.
Doctor Barnes continued to write.
The ER Physician had called upon the Uptimers for assistance and the Chief Medical Officer, Doctor Alice Boatman had arrived at Parkland Hospital by lander and upon consulting with the ER Physician the decision was made to transfer Judith to the starship Eagle for further treatment. It was at this time that the televangelist William Grant had entered the ER and physically blocked the transfer of the patient.
The Dallas police officers present refused to remove the physically and now verbally abusive father from the path of the Uptimers, it was at this point that Doctor Boatman used her personal weapon to perform a Saigon Special on William Grant.
As the Objectivist representative to the Uptimers Doctor Barnes had been made aware of the Doctor Boatman's personal background and the appalling circumstances of her early life. That she had grown up to be a fully rational woman was nothing short of amazing. That she had calmly treated her encounter with the televangelist as a clinical problem, such as the removal of a cancerous tumor, was in some respects frightening.
Harry then sat back and thought. The next part of the article would place the actions of the Uptimers in context.
The future colonists of Alpha Centauri properly hold that the use of retaliatory force must be placed under objective control and thus delegated to government in a rational society. But in both cases the local government had failed to carry out this function. As a result of this failure the Uptimers hold that the authority and responsibility to act with force reverts back to the individual. As an example they cite the actions of General Loan during the Tet Offensive in Vietnam.
The situation on this day in Saigon was pure chaos. No one on the ground could have been sure that there would be a functioning government on the next day. Into this situation a Viet Cong terrorist had been captured after he murdered the family of a National Police officer. General Loan as the commander of the National Police had no idea if the terrorist could ever be prosecuted and punished for his actions. So in the absence of a clearly functional authority he personally carried out the judgment and execution of the murderer.
It was no secret on the base that the Uptimers view General Loan as a hero.
At this point Doctor Barnes sent the document to the printer.
At first he checked the base network for news. Seeing that the Soviets had decided not to launch a first strike on the United States, and that the first of the prisoners of war rescued from North Vietnam were returning to their families here in the mainland, he brought up the word processor program. For the first draft of the paper he decided to use Times New Roman instead of the Courier New font.
To understand the actions of the Uptimers requires knowledge of the nature and purpose of Government. In both cases, the action against the police in Minneapolis and the execution of William Grant in Dallas, the individuals from Uptime were responding to the failure of the local police agencies. Although the Uptimers had agreed to follow the laws of the United States in both cases the local agencies that upheld those laws were clearly not functioning.
In both cases the Uptimers had found themselves in a practical state of anarchy.
In Minneapolis the failure began when the patrol officers were not informed of the visit of Mission Commander Evelyn Boatman to several high technology firms in the Twin Cities area and of his specific physical condition. This was inexcusable as the Saint Paul Police Department had informed their patrol officers of the visit without any difficulty. The second point of failure was the overtly hostile and unprofessional attitude taken with respect to Commander Boatman and his escort from NASA which was followed by a physical assault.
Under the circumstances Commander Boatman had no choice but to use deadly force to protect himself.
The third point of failure was during the mission by the Uptimers to retrieve Commander Boatman from the city. The Federal Authorities had ordered the Minneapolis Police to stand down as the Commander and his NASA escort boarded the lander sent to retrieve them. But a police marksman had taken it upon himself to shoot Commander Boatman in the back with a scoped rifle. With their commander down the squad of Rangers proceeded to clear the area of the landing zone of apparent hostiles.
The summary execution of the televangelist William Grant in the city of Dallas was again a response to the failure of the function of local government.
Judith Grant, the daughter of the televangelist, was brought into the Emergency Room of Parkland Hospital with severe injuries inflicted by her father in a beating. When the doctor who treated her requested the arrest of the assailant the policeman present refused because of Grant's local political connections. When the doctor informed the policeman that Judith could die of her injuries the officer responded by saying that an innocent man would be found and prosecuted for the crime.
The circumstances of the incident were far more disgusting. Judith had been beaten to a pulp for possessing a paperback copy of Atlas Shrugged. And what the policeman actually told Doctor Goldman in the ER was disgusting beyond belief.
Doctor Barnes continued to write.
The ER Physician had called upon the Uptimers for assistance and the Chief Medical Officer, Doctor Alice Boatman had arrived at Parkland Hospital by lander and upon consulting with the ER Physician the decision was made to transfer Judith to the starship Eagle for further treatment. It was at this time that the televangelist William Grant had entered the ER and physically blocked the transfer of the patient.
The Dallas police officers present refused to remove the physically and now verbally abusive father from the path of the Uptimers, it was at this point that Doctor Boatman used her personal weapon to perform a Saigon Special on William Grant.
As the Objectivist representative to the Uptimers Doctor Barnes had been made aware of the Doctor Boatman's personal background and the appalling circumstances of her early life. That she had grown up to be a fully rational woman was nothing short of amazing. That she had calmly treated her encounter with the televangelist as a clinical problem, such as the removal of a cancerous tumor, was in some respects frightening.
Harry then sat back and thought. The next part of the article would place the actions of the Uptimers in context.
The future colonists of Alpha Centauri properly hold that the use of retaliatory force must be placed under objective control and thus delegated to government in a rational society. But in both cases the local government had failed to carry out this function. As a result of this failure the Uptimers hold that the authority and responsibility to act with force reverts back to the individual. As an example they cite the actions of General Loan during the Tet Offensive in Vietnam.
The situation on this day in Saigon was pure chaos. No one on the ground could have been sure that there would be a functioning government on the next day. Into this situation a Viet Cong terrorist had been captured after he murdered the family of a National Police officer. General Loan as the commander of the National Police had no idea if the terrorist could ever be prosecuted and punished for his actions. So in the absence of a clearly functional authority he personally carried out the judgment and execution of the murderer.
It was no secret on the base that the Uptimers view General Loan as a hero.
At this point Doctor Barnes sent the document to the printer.
Wednesday, October 01, 2014
Step Back - Part 19
In the surface base at Area 51 Benny Netanyahu had discovered
netsurfing. In this case it was only the surface base network that he
accessed from a workstation but the output was very illuminating.
The uptimers bad brought back a number of text and video files on the topic of the destruction of Jerusalem. This time he would click on the link labeled “Sonya Newman From Jerusalem.”
The widescreen image from a television network called Fox News appeared on the workstation screen. It was the local midnight and Sonya Newman was reporting live from Jerusalem.
Miss Newman’s hair was a little more frizzed than usual and she clearly appeared to be afraid of something on the air. But she was trying to do her job.
Benny would later read that after the Final Election the management at Fox News would give her a choice of assignments outside of the United States. In part this was to allow her to get away from escalating level of violence being carried out by followers of former President Null against those who were perceived to be opponents of his continued and now illegal occupancy of the White House.
Miss Newman had no idea what was going on apart from the local civil defense sirens sounding off. She had said that she and her camera crew were about to go down to a shelter when someone off camera shouted something. The camera shifted off of Sunny to something in the sky.
The view from the Fox News camera in Jerusalem showed three of the reentry vehicles dropping down on the city.
Miss Newman tried to describe what she saw. It was almost a play by play account as the locally based anti-missile battery tried to intercept the incoming warheads.
The first two warheads were killed on live television. The interceptor missiles failed to hit the third warhead.
Sonya Newman of Fox News made one final comment.
“One of the them got through.”
The was a very brief flash of light from the last warhead before the loss of the video signal from Jerusalem.
Benjamin Netanyahu sat back and thought about what he had seen.
In the Forbidden City of Peking General Tsien, the current head of the State Security Service, was admitted into the office of the Great Helmsman.
“Comrade Chairman,” he said, “I’m here to report on the operation to terminate the anti-communist author Ayn Rand.”
“And how is it going?” Asked Chairman Mao.
“It isn’t, Comrade Chairman.”
Mao blinked. To report such a failure was a very rare event, which was quickly followed by the order to execute the man who failed.
“Why not?” Said Mao.
“The man I assigned the task to has committed suicide with his service pistol, and he did leave a note.”
Mao shook his head and then spoke again.
“So?”
“Comrade Chairman, he said that the task was impossible.”
Mao raised his voice in reply.
“No task is impossible! And there is no excuse for failure! You will assign another man to the task! And the task will be completed!”
“Of course, Comrade Chairman.” Said General Tsien.
He had read the suicide note and came to agree with every point. If they could not find a way to perform the task in a deniable fashion there would be a blowback. Although the American government would be outraged they would likely refrain from performing a retaliatory action. But the Star People would retaliate for the termination of Rand. And they would very likely do so by removing the city of Peking from the face of the Earth with a thermonuclear weapon.
Upon return to his own office General Tsien made a decision. He would assign the most incompetent and politically foolish man in the relevant bureau to the task. Yes, the man assigned to the task would fail, and as a result General Tsien would keep his head.
In Dallas a late meeting was held at the headquarters of the William Grant Ministries. In the absence of her husband Katherine Grant, the widow of the Reverend William Grant chaired the meeting. She listened as a man from Nevada spoke to the group.
“We’ve found as a result of discussions with some of our parishioners that the Chief Medical Officer, Doctor Alice Boatman, is a lesbian.”
Mrs. Grant had heard the term before. But someone at the table hadn’t.
“A what?”
“A female homosexual.” The man from Nevada replied.
“A Sodomite,” said Katherine Grant, “a sinner beyond ordinary sin. And now those sinners have my daughter to do whatever they wish with her.”
She looked at each man and woman at the table in turn.
“And they must pay the ultimate penalty for their sins!”
At the end it was decided that Mrs. Grant would personally speak to President Nixon on the matter. And he would be made to understand the full consequences of his continued cooperation with the Uptimers.
In Pahrump, Nevada, outside of the Uptime base at Area 51, British Agent John Cross had finished his long cross country drive and checked into a motel for the night. He was clearly tried from the drive and had no time for extracurricular nonsense.
In Carson City, Nevada the two Soviet intelligence officers had encountered and clearly recognized the other as Soviet Officers. As a result they had a short discussion. Each had come to Carson City because it was the center of the state government and the equivalent Federal operations. And in discovering that each was also an effective card player they hatched a scheme to raise some extracurricular funds. They would use part of their operational funds as a stake in the locally held poker tournaments. Working as team they would move from venue to venue, never winning more than three hands at each location.
The GRU officer watched as his KGB counterpart cleaned out another table full of suckers. It was clear that as in warfare losses at poker, especially at Texas Hold ‘Em were inevitable. The trick as in warfare was to limit the effect of the losses.
The French intelligence officer was cooling his heels in the Las Vegas drunk tank. Drinking, even wine, did not mix with driving in this state.
Barbarians, he thought.
The uptimers bad brought back a number of text and video files on the topic of the destruction of Jerusalem. This time he would click on the link labeled “Sonya Newman From Jerusalem.”
The widescreen image from a television network called Fox News appeared on the workstation screen. It was the local midnight and Sonya Newman was reporting live from Jerusalem.
Miss Newman’s hair was a little more frizzed than usual and she clearly appeared to be afraid of something on the air. But she was trying to do her job.
Benny would later read that after the Final Election the management at Fox News would give her a choice of assignments outside of the United States. In part this was to allow her to get away from escalating level of violence being carried out by followers of former President Null against those who were perceived to be opponents of his continued and now illegal occupancy of the White House.
Miss Newman had no idea what was going on apart from the local civil defense sirens sounding off. She had said that she and her camera crew were about to go down to a shelter when someone off camera shouted something. The camera shifted off of Sunny to something in the sky.
The view from the Fox News camera in Jerusalem showed three of the reentry vehicles dropping down on the city.
Miss Newman tried to describe what she saw. It was almost a play by play account as the locally based anti-missile battery tried to intercept the incoming warheads.
The first two warheads were killed on live television. The interceptor missiles failed to hit the third warhead.
Sonya Newman of Fox News made one final comment.
“One of the them got through.”
The was a very brief flash of light from the last warhead before the loss of the video signal from Jerusalem.
Benjamin Netanyahu sat back and thought about what he had seen.
In the Forbidden City of Peking General Tsien, the current head of the State Security Service, was admitted into the office of the Great Helmsman.
“Comrade Chairman,” he said, “I’m here to report on the operation to terminate the anti-communist author Ayn Rand.”
“And how is it going?” Asked Chairman Mao.
“It isn’t, Comrade Chairman.”
Mao blinked. To report such a failure was a very rare event, which was quickly followed by the order to execute the man who failed.
“Why not?” Said Mao.
“The man I assigned the task to has committed suicide with his service pistol, and he did leave a note.”
Mao shook his head and then spoke again.
“So?”
“Comrade Chairman, he said that the task was impossible.”
Mao raised his voice in reply.
“No task is impossible! And there is no excuse for failure! You will assign another man to the task! And the task will be completed!”
“Of course, Comrade Chairman.” Said General Tsien.
He had read the suicide note and came to agree with every point. If they could not find a way to perform the task in a deniable fashion there would be a blowback. Although the American government would be outraged they would likely refrain from performing a retaliatory action. But the Star People would retaliate for the termination of Rand. And they would very likely do so by removing the city of Peking from the face of the Earth with a thermonuclear weapon.
Upon return to his own office General Tsien made a decision. He would assign the most incompetent and politically foolish man in the relevant bureau to the task. Yes, the man assigned to the task would fail, and as a result General Tsien would keep his head.
In Dallas a late meeting was held at the headquarters of the William Grant Ministries. In the absence of her husband Katherine Grant, the widow of the Reverend William Grant chaired the meeting. She listened as a man from Nevada spoke to the group.
“We’ve found as a result of discussions with some of our parishioners that the Chief Medical Officer, Doctor Alice Boatman, is a lesbian.”
Mrs. Grant had heard the term before. But someone at the table hadn’t.
“A what?”
“A female homosexual.” The man from Nevada replied.
“A Sodomite,” said Katherine Grant, “a sinner beyond ordinary sin. And now those sinners have my daughter to do whatever they wish with her.”
She looked at each man and woman at the table in turn.
“And they must pay the ultimate penalty for their sins!”
At the end it was decided that Mrs. Grant would personally speak to President Nixon on the matter. And he would be made to understand the full consequences of his continued cooperation with the Uptimers.
In Pahrump, Nevada, outside of the Uptime base at Area 51, British Agent John Cross had finished his long cross country drive and checked into a motel for the night. He was clearly tried from the drive and had no time for extracurricular nonsense.
In Carson City, Nevada the two Soviet intelligence officers had encountered and clearly recognized the other as Soviet Officers. As a result they had a short discussion. Each had come to Carson City because it was the center of the state government and the equivalent Federal operations. And in discovering that each was also an effective card player they hatched a scheme to raise some extracurricular funds. They would use part of their operational funds as a stake in the locally held poker tournaments. Working as team they would move from venue to venue, never winning more than three hands at each location.
The GRU officer watched as his KGB counterpart cleaned out another table full of suckers. It was clear that as in warfare losses at poker, especially at Texas Hold ‘Em were inevitable. The trick as in warfare was to limit the effect of the losses.
The French intelligence officer was cooling his heels in the Las Vegas drunk tank. Drinking, even wine, did not mix with driving in this state.
Barbarians, he thought.
Monday, September 15, 2014
Step Back, Part 13
Doctor Alice Boatman was working in her office at the ground base when the phone rang.
“Hello?” She said.
“Doctor Boatman?”
“Yes.”
“This is Doctor Mark Goldman, we met at the conference in New York and I’m calling about a patient that was just brought into Parkland Hospital.”
“Is she stable?”
“For the moment yes, but it’s entirely possible that she will eventually succumb to her injuries. And there’s also a political factor.”
“Which is?”
“The injuries were the result of her being severely beaten by her father, William Grant, and the Dallas police are reluctant to act on the case.”
An emotional button had just been pressed for her. Alice firmly reminded herself to remain calm.
She replied.
“There are several procedures we’ve developed in the last five centuries that could help, but in the absolute worst case we could do a RC.”
“RC?”
“Recorporation, it’s an annoying procedure to go through, but it’s clearly better than dying. We’ll need a blood sample and we’ll have to do a memory scan on the patient. Fortunately we do have a portable kit for that.”
“How soon can you come here?”
“We can come right away, but you’ll need to have the local police clear an area for the lander to set down on.”
“Okay, we can do that. Thank you Doctor Boatman.”
Thank you, Doctor Goldman, she thought.
For this mission she would take two assistants and a four man security team in a medivac lander. And the alert squad of Rangers would come along in their own lander just in case there was a serious security problem on site.
Larry Travis was a field producer in the news department of the NBC Television affiliate in Dallas. On the job at this station he had personally witnessed the shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby. He was now called into an office by the head the of the news department.
The department head spoke.
“Larry, one of those landing craft from the time traveling starship just set down at Parkland Hospital. Take a reporter and a film crew and find out what’s going on there.”
“Yes sir.” He replied.
As he left the office another field producer stepped inside.
“Jack,” said the Department Head, “the police scanner has just picked up a call about the daughter of the Reverend William Grant gone missing, I want you to work on it.”
In the Parkland ER Doctor Goldman updated Doctor Boatman on the condition of the patient as they performed another examination.
“There were numerous broken ribs and some broken bones in the arms and legs as a result of falling from the second floor. And some internal injuries, but she appears to have stabilized for the moment.”
“Getting her into free fall or just lower spin gravity aboard the Eagle would help her recover faster.” She replied. “It would also get her away from the monster who did this.”
“Yes.” Doctor Goldman replied.
Judith’s eyes flickered.
Alice spoke to her.
“Can you hear me?”
Judith could barely reply.
“Yes.”
“I’m Doctor Alice Boatman from the starship Eagle, we’re taking you up to the ship where we have better facilities and you’ll heal faster. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have any other questions?” Said Doctor Boatman.
“I don’t know what to believe.” Said Judith.
Doctor Goldman replied to her.
“Well, if there’s a God and he is just, then he won’t care how you worshiped him were but will welcome you because of how you lived. Now if there wasn’t a God, then you will go, but you will be remembered as a good person.”
Judith smiled.
“Okay Judith,” said Doctor Boatman, “we’re going to prep for transit to the Eagle. Okay?”
“Yes.”
Judith went back to sleep.
In the corridor Travis and his crew had set up their film camera and audio tape recorder when the Uptimers began to move their patient. It was here that the hospital administrator stopped them.
The administrator wanted to speak to Doctor Boatman but directed himself to the male field medic.
“Doctor Boatman, I’m sorry but I can’t allow you to take this patient from here.”
Boatman directly replied.
“You’re the administrator?”
“Yes.”
“You act like one.”
Alice had mentally stopped herself from saying the word moron.
The administrator spoke again.
“You don’t have parental permission.”
Doctor Boatman calmly replied.
“The father had beaten the girl into a bloody pulp. His claim to parental right is null and void.”
It was at this moment that there was a commotion at the end of the corridor. The Reverend William Grant had entered the Emergency Room of Parkland Hospital. He immediately saw the group of Uptimers with his daughter on the gurney and strode towards them.
Travis spoke to his crew.
“We are getting this?”
“Yes boss.”
Grant had reached the group at the other end of the corridor. He spoke up with a strong voice.
“Who dares to take my daughter from me?”
“Doctor Alice Boatman of the starship Eagle.”
“You will return her to me!” Said Grant.
“I don’t take orders from witch doctors.” Doctor Boatman replied. “Get out of the way.”
Petty Officer Third Class Elizabeth Murphy stepped forward to block Grant.
But Grant shouted.
“I don’t take orders from whores!”
For Alice Boatman a mental button had been pushed.
Every member of the Eagle Expedition was fully aware of the doctor’s background. They knew that she had been born aboard the last sublight starship that had departed from Earth. And they were fully aware of what happened to her on that ship when she was twelve standard years old.
The Integral was the last sublight starship to leave the Solar System and it was also the most primitive. It was propelled by the Orion nuclear fission drive and was configured to carry twenty thousand people for three generations to Alpha Centauri. Unfortunately it was manned by people who firmly believed in the doctrine of Communism and as a result of ideological actions and simple idiocy the number of souls aboard was reduced to a bit over 2,000 at the end of the journey.
The ideological leader of the this space going clusterfuck also had himself carried in cryostasis for the bulk of the journey with special arrangements made for his arrival. One of them was to have a twelve year old girl available for his use for sexual gratification.
Upon arrival at Alpha Centauri he was put to death for his numerous crimes, including the repeated rapes of the girl.
The girl had been given an alphanumeric designation on the ship. On the ground she was adopted by Evelyn and Cheryl Boatman and chose the name of Alice.
She would grow up to have a normal life. But one of the consequences of her being used as a instrument of sexual gratification was that she would never enter into a mature relationship with a man.
For the rest of her lives Petty Officer Murphy would swear that she heard a mechanical click when Doctor Boatman’s eyes shifted towards Grant. And that the temperature of the corridor seemed to have clearly shifted downwards.
Murphy briefly turned away from the scene and with her left hand shifted the microphone closer to her mouth. She then softly but firmly spoke into the mike.
“Team Leader to Control, we need the Rangers on the ground and inside right now!”
Larry Travis was watching the scene from down the hall. He spoke to the cameraman.
“Are you getting this?”
“Yes.”
Alice Boatman reminded herself that she was facing a problem with a clearly rational solution, very much like the surgical removal of a cancerous tumor. With absolute clinical calmness she responded to the overt insult.
“What did you say?”
William Grant replied with the full fury of the righteous.
“You are a harlot! A whore of the devil! And only through renouncing Satan and bowing to our Lord Jesus Christ can you be saved!”
Doctor Boatman calmly turned to the nearest cop and calmly spoke.
“This man is clearly irrational, and he is a clear danger to himself and to others, he must be taken into custody.”
The Dallas cop was clearly frightened by this situation with a political factor. With a shaken voice he replied.
“I can’t do that Ma’am.”
“Then there is no law.” Doctor Boatman responded with a clearly calm voice.
This is it, thought Murphy.
Incredibly Grant raised his voice further and shouted.
“That’s right you whore of Satan, there’s only the law of God!”
At this point and without emotion Alice Boatman drew the gauss pistol from her holster, aimed it with both hands, and shot William Grant in the head. There was no report of a gunpowder weapon, only the supersonic crack of the round and the sound of impact.
It was like shooting a shriek back home on Eden.
“Hello?” She said.
“Doctor Boatman?”
“Yes.”
“This is Doctor Mark Goldman, we met at the conference in New York and I’m calling about a patient that was just brought into Parkland Hospital.”
“Is she stable?”
“For the moment yes, but it’s entirely possible that she will eventually succumb to her injuries. And there’s also a political factor.”
“Which is?”
“The injuries were the result of her being severely beaten by her father, William Grant, and the Dallas police are reluctant to act on the case.”
An emotional button had just been pressed for her. Alice firmly reminded herself to remain calm.
She replied.
“There are several procedures we’ve developed in the last five centuries that could help, but in the absolute worst case we could do a RC.”
“RC?”
“Recorporation, it’s an annoying procedure to go through, but it’s clearly better than dying. We’ll need a blood sample and we’ll have to do a memory scan on the patient. Fortunately we do have a portable kit for that.”
“How soon can you come here?”
“We can come right away, but you’ll need to have the local police clear an area for the lander to set down on.”
“Okay, we can do that. Thank you Doctor Boatman.”
Thank you, Doctor Goldman, she thought.
For this mission she would take two assistants and a four man security team in a medivac lander. And the alert squad of Rangers would come along in their own lander just in case there was a serious security problem on site.
Larry Travis was a field producer in the news department of the NBC Television affiliate in Dallas. On the job at this station he had personally witnessed the shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby. He was now called into an office by the head the of the news department.
The department head spoke.
“Larry, one of those landing craft from the time traveling starship just set down at Parkland Hospital. Take a reporter and a film crew and find out what’s going on there.”
“Yes sir.” He replied.
As he left the office another field producer stepped inside.
“Jack,” said the Department Head, “the police scanner has just picked up a call about the daughter of the Reverend William Grant gone missing, I want you to work on it.”
In the Parkland ER Doctor Goldman updated Doctor Boatman on the condition of the patient as they performed another examination.
“There were numerous broken ribs and some broken bones in the arms and legs as a result of falling from the second floor. And some internal injuries, but she appears to have stabilized for the moment.”
“Getting her into free fall or just lower spin gravity aboard the Eagle would help her recover faster.” She replied. “It would also get her away from the monster who did this.”
“Yes.” Doctor Goldman replied.
Judith’s eyes flickered.
Alice spoke to her.
“Can you hear me?”
Judith could barely reply.
“Yes.”
“I’m Doctor Alice Boatman from the starship Eagle, we’re taking you up to the ship where we have better facilities and you’ll heal faster. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have any other questions?” Said Doctor Boatman.
“I don’t know what to believe.” Said Judith.
Doctor Goldman replied to her.
“Well, if there’s a God and he is just, then he won’t care how you worshiped him were but will welcome you because of how you lived. Now if there wasn’t a God, then you will go, but you will be remembered as a good person.”
Judith smiled.
“Okay Judith,” said Doctor Boatman, “we’re going to prep for transit to the Eagle. Okay?”
“Yes.”
Judith went back to sleep.
In the corridor Travis and his crew had set up their film camera and audio tape recorder when the Uptimers began to move their patient. It was here that the hospital administrator stopped them.
The administrator wanted to speak to Doctor Boatman but directed himself to the male field medic.
“Doctor Boatman, I’m sorry but I can’t allow you to take this patient from here.”
Boatman directly replied.
“You’re the administrator?”
“Yes.”
“You act like one.”
Alice had mentally stopped herself from saying the word moron.
The administrator spoke again.
“You don’t have parental permission.”
Doctor Boatman calmly replied.
“The father had beaten the girl into a bloody pulp. His claim to parental right is null and void.”
It was at this moment that there was a commotion at the end of the corridor. The Reverend William Grant had entered the Emergency Room of Parkland Hospital. He immediately saw the group of Uptimers with his daughter on the gurney and strode towards them.
Travis spoke to his crew.
“We are getting this?”
“Yes boss.”
Grant had reached the group at the other end of the corridor. He spoke up with a strong voice.
“Who dares to take my daughter from me?”
“Doctor Alice Boatman of the starship Eagle.”
“You will return her to me!” Said Grant.
“I don’t take orders from witch doctors.” Doctor Boatman replied. “Get out of the way.”
Petty Officer Third Class Elizabeth Murphy stepped forward to block Grant.
But Grant shouted.
“I don’t take orders from whores!”
For Alice Boatman a mental button had been pushed.
Every member of the Eagle Expedition was fully aware of the doctor’s background. They knew that she had been born aboard the last sublight starship that had departed from Earth. And they were fully aware of what happened to her on that ship when she was twelve standard years old.
The Integral was the last sublight starship to leave the Solar System and it was also the most primitive. It was propelled by the Orion nuclear fission drive and was configured to carry twenty thousand people for three generations to Alpha Centauri. Unfortunately it was manned by people who firmly believed in the doctrine of Communism and as a result of ideological actions and simple idiocy the number of souls aboard was reduced to a bit over 2,000 at the end of the journey.
The ideological leader of the this space going clusterfuck also had himself carried in cryostasis for the bulk of the journey with special arrangements made for his arrival. One of them was to have a twelve year old girl available for his use for sexual gratification.
Upon arrival at Alpha Centauri he was put to death for his numerous crimes, including the repeated rapes of the girl.
The girl had been given an alphanumeric designation on the ship. On the ground she was adopted by Evelyn and Cheryl Boatman and chose the name of Alice.
She would grow up to have a normal life. But one of the consequences of her being used as a instrument of sexual gratification was that she would never enter into a mature relationship with a man.
For the rest of her lives Petty Officer Murphy would swear that she heard a mechanical click when Doctor Boatman’s eyes shifted towards Grant. And that the temperature of the corridor seemed to have clearly shifted downwards.
Murphy briefly turned away from the scene and with her left hand shifted the microphone closer to her mouth. She then softly but firmly spoke into the mike.
“Team Leader to Control, we need the Rangers on the ground and inside right now!”
Larry Travis was watching the scene from down the hall. He spoke to the cameraman.
“Are you getting this?”
“Yes.”
Alice Boatman reminded herself that she was facing a problem with a clearly rational solution, very much like the surgical removal of a cancerous tumor. With absolute clinical calmness she responded to the overt insult.
“What did you say?”
William Grant replied with the full fury of the righteous.
“You are a harlot! A whore of the devil! And only through renouncing Satan and bowing to our Lord Jesus Christ can you be saved!”
Doctor Boatman calmly turned to the nearest cop and calmly spoke.
“This man is clearly irrational, and he is a clear danger to himself and to others, he must be taken into custody.”
The Dallas cop was clearly frightened by this situation with a political factor. With a shaken voice he replied.
“I can’t do that Ma’am.”
“Then there is no law.” Doctor Boatman responded with a clearly calm voice.
This is it, thought Murphy.
Incredibly Grant raised his voice further and shouted.
“That’s right you whore of Satan, there’s only the law of God!”
At this point and without emotion Alice Boatman drew the gauss pistol from her holster, aimed it with both hands, and shot William Grant in the head. There was no report of a gunpowder weapon, only the supersonic crack of the round and the sound of impact.
It was like shooting a shriek back home on Eden.
Sunday, September 14, 2014
Step Back, Part 12
On Wednesday afternoon a police cruiser pulled up to the ER entrance of Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas. One of the officers rushed inside to get a gurney while the driver went back to extract the victim from the car. The teenage girl had been severely beaten and then received further injuries from dropping from the second storey window to escape the family home.
It was on the street that the officers first saw the girl and from there taken her to the hospital.
Mark Goldman was the doctor on duty when the girl was brought in. As he worked on her injuries she briefly regained consciousness. He used the opportunity to speak to her.
“I’m Doctor Goldman, you are at Parkland Hospital. Who did this to you?”
“Father,” she replied.
“Who is your father?”
“William Grant.”
Goldman was not surprised. To him it wold take a very serious mental disconnection to preach any form of religion on an advanced technological medium such as television. The beating of his own daughter to a bloody pulp was clearly not a surprise to the doctor.
“Do yo know why did he beat you?”
“He found my copy...of...Atlas Shrugged.”
After she had returned home after school for the day Judith Grant has spoken with her father. He absolutely had to read his latest sermon to Judith and his other children.
Judith had learned the hard way to not criticize her father to his face. But the obvious disconnection from reality was too much even for her this time.
“Father,” she said, “the Uptimers are just normal people doing what they see as right with what they have. And reality is real, Father.”
He was shocked to hear a voice of dissent. Then the state of anger at his oldest daughter rose within him.
That shock and anger was clearly in his voice as he spoke in return to her.
“What did you say?”
Judith could see her father’s anger, but she would speak what was clearly the truth.
“Reality is real, things and people are what they are. A is A.”
Grant recognized the last sentence and the literary work it came from. In full rage he stuck Judith in the face with his open right hand. As she fell to the floor he looked to his other children. They were clearly frightened of him now.
Good, he thought.
“Go to your rooms!” He shouted the command.
As his other children scattered in fear to their rooms he reached down picked up Judith from the floor.
“Where is it?” He shouted in a state of full rage. “Where is that filth?”
“Atlas Shrugged?”
“Yes! Where is it?”
There was no point in lying, She answered the question.
“In my room.”
In a full rage he dragged her by the hair to her room and bodily pushed her inside. He then followed.
“Now!” He shouted. “Where is it?”
There was no point in hiding it. It was simply a material object, and one that could be replaced. It was her own life that was precious and it was something that could no longer be lived in the shadow of a monster. At this time, right now, that she decided to leave. To run away from this nightmare.
She opened a dresser drawer where she kept some of her underwear and pulled out an aging paperback copy of the book.
He suddenly grabbed it from her hands and shouted.
“This! You dare to defile this house of The Lord with this filth!”
He raided his voice further.
“Rand is Satan’s whore, and you are no better than one yourself!”
He started beating her. He would eventually beat her unconscious. When she regained consciousness she found that the door to her room was wedged shut.
She decided at this time to go out of the window.
In the ER Doctor Goldman now stopped and looked down at Judith for a moment. William Grant was generally known to have major connections to the political establishment in Dallas. As a result he could very well get away with beating Judith, even if she had eventually died.
Doctor Goldman spoke to Judith.
“I promise that he will not harm you ever again.”
The girl smiled.
“I have some other things to do.” He said.
“Yes.” She replied.
Doctor Goldman steeped out into the hall and immediately saw one of the cops who brought Judith Grant to Parkland Hospital. He walked up to him and spoke.
“Officer, William Grant has committed a felony assault on his daughter Judith. He has to brought in.”
“Can’t do it.” The officer replied.
“Why not?”
“Reverend Grant is politically connected and is untouchable.”
That was wrong thought Doctor Goldman.
“And what if his daughter dies?” He replied. “Then you’ll have a murder to deal with?”
The policeman shook his head and answered.
“Then I guess we’ll have to find a nigger to fry for it.”
Doctor Goldman stared for a moment.
“Never mind.” He said.
There was something else he could do.
Goldman returned to a small office just off of the ER. He opened his desk and brought out a notebook. He recently attended a conference of Objectivists in New York City. The CMO from the Eagle was one of the speakers at the conference. And he wrote down a contact number.
He picked up the receiver of the desk phone and dialed zero.
“Hello, operator? I need to make a long distance call to Nevada.”
It was on the street that the officers first saw the girl and from there taken her to the hospital.
Mark Goldman was the doctor on duty when the girl was brought in. As he worked on her injuries she briefly regained consciousness. He used the opportunity to speak to her.
“I’m Doctor Goldman, you are at Parkland Hospital. Who did this to you?”
“Father,” she replied.
“Who is your father?”
“William Grant.”
Goldman was not surprised. To him it wold take a very serious mental disconnection to preach any form of religion on an advanced technological medium such as television. The beating of his own daughter to a bloody pulp was clearly not a surprise to the doctor.
“Do yo know why did he beat you?”
“He found my copy...of...Atlas Shrugged.”
After she had returned home after school for the day Judith Grant has spoken with her father. He absolutely had to read his latest sermon to Judith and his other children.
Judith had learned the hard way to not criticize her father to his face. But the obvious disconnection from reality was too much even for her this time.
“Father,” she said, “the Uptimers are just normal people doing what they see as right with what they have. And reality is real, Father.”
He was shocked to hear a voice of dissent. Then the state of anger at his oldest daughter rose within him.
That shock and anger was clearly in his voice as he spoke in return to her.
“What did you say?”
Judith could see her father’s anger, but she would speak what was clearly the truth.
“Reality is real, things and people are what they are. A is A.”
Grant recognized the last sentence and the literary work it came from. In full rage he stuck Judith in the face with his open right hand. As she fell to the floor he looked to his other children. They were clearly frightened of him now.
Good, he thought.
“Go to your rooms!” He shouted the command.
As his other children scattered in fear to their rooms he reached down picked up Judith from the floor.
“Where is it?” He shouted in a state of full rage. “Where is that filth?”
“Atlas Shrugged?”
“Yes! Where is it?”
There was no point in lying, She answered the question.
“In my room.”
In a full rage he dragged her by the hair to her room and bodily pushed her inside. He then followed.
“Now!” He shouted. “Where is it?”
There was no point in hiding it. It was simply a material object, and one that could be replaced. It was her own life that was precious and it was something that could no longer be lived in the shadow of a monster. At this time, right now, that she decided to leave. To run away from this nightmare.
She opened a dresser drawer where she kept some of her underwear and pulled out an aging paperback copy of the book.
He suddenly grabbed it from her hands and shouted.
“This! You dare to defile this house of The Lord with this filth!”
He raided his voice further.
“Rand is Satan’s whore, and you are no better than one yourself!”
He started beating her. He would eventually beat her unconscious. When she regained consciousness she found that the door to her room was wedged shut.
She decided at this time to go out of the window.
In the ER Doctor Goldman now stopped and looked down at Judith for a moment. William Grant was generally known to have major connections to the political establishment in Dallas. As a result he could very well get away with beating Judith, even if she had eventually died.
Doctor Goldman spoke to Judith.
“I promise that he will not harm you ever again.”
The girl smiled.
“I have some other things to do.” He said.
“Yes.” She replied.
Doctor Goldman steeped out into the hall and immediately saw one of the cops who brought Judith Grant to Parkland Hospital. He walked up to him and spoke.
“Officer, William Grant has committed a felony assault on his daughter Judith. He has to brought in.”
“Can’t do it.” The officer replied.
“Why not?”
“Reverend Grant is politically connected and is untouchable.”
That was wrong thought Doctor Goldman.
“And what if his daughter dies?” He replied. “Then you’ll have a murder to deal with?”
The policeman shook his head and answered.
“Then I guess we’ll have to find a nigger to fry for it.”
Doctor Goldman stared for a moment.
“Never mind.” He said.
There was something else he could do.
Goldman returned to a small office just off of the ER. He opened his desk and brought out a notebook. He recently attended a conference of Objectivists in New York City. The CMO from the Eagle was one of the speakers at the conference. And he wrote down a contact number.
He picked up the receiver of the desk phone and dialed zero.
“Hello, operator? I need to make a long distance call to Nevada.”
Friday, August 29, 2014
Step Back, Part Three
It was Friday afternoon in Washington.
At his desk John Edgar Hoover was immersed in thought. The people from the future had brought back disturbing information about how far his agency would descend into the darkness before the Federal Government would be overthrown in the event known as The Reformation. Of particular interest was the incident recorded in their history as the Waco Massacre. Although another agency initiated the incident it would be the bureau that would carry out what uptime historians called the greatest act of mass murder in American history.
So how can it be stopped?
The answer to the question may lie with a man identified by the Uptimers as a future occupant of the office of president, William Jefferson Clinton. His name as well has wife’s was on the list of those person who would bring about the collapse of the republic and provoke The Reformation. The question of what to do with these people had been discussed with Hoover and President Nixon by Commander Boatman.
“One could carry out a dirty war, essentially a discrete campaign of assassination, but it would ultimately be revealed to public view and thus bring about a negative political blowback.”
“It would be wrong.” Nixon replied.
“No Mister President,” said Boatman, “it would not be wrong, to terminate a Red or even a mere traitor is a necessary homicide. But by the present cultural standards it would be impractical. This is something that will have to changed in the long run.”
Hoover had then asked a question.
“So what would you suggest that we do with these people?”
Boatman had nodded before he replied.
“Something that could be described as a clean war is in order. Place these people under surveillance and arrest them when they do something that can prosecuted as a crime. You should do this to destroy their future political credibility.”
Hoover sat back in his chair and thought. In the historic context the original ATF operation against the Branch Davidian residence was unnecessary. As a licensed firearms dealer was living on site a pair of ATF agents in a government issue sedan could have visited the residence for an inspection. And if actually taking David Koresh into custody was necessary he could have been placed under arrest while on his morning exercise run.
No, the ATF action, originally dubbed Operation Showtime, was an irrational publicity stunt that had clearly gone wrong. The ATF agents were the actual criminals in this situation and should at the very least been taken into custody.
The initial action was bad, the response of the Bureau was worse.
In the history taught to the Uptimers the Waco Massacre was described as a act of Soviet style state terror intended to punish the Branch Davidians for the act of self defense and to intimidate otherwise patriotic citizens into submission to the Clinton Regime. In response the people who carried out The Reformation would make a clear effort to locate and execute the surviving members of the so-called Hostage Rescue Team of the Bureau.
It was possible that the historical view of the Uptimers was distorted. But by how much?
Clinton had clearly demonstrated that he was unfit to be president. So how could he be blocked from entering the office?
He was identified in the historic record as a sexual predator. And had been fellated at least once in the Oval Office. Those men, including the President, who had been cleared to read the full history brought back by the Uptimers had been shocked to have read this.
It appeared that like Teddy Kennedy, Clinton was willing to sexually use women who worked for him. Could this personal fault could be used to stop him?
It was at this that point Director Hoover decided to place Bill Clinton under long term surveillance by the Bureau.
In downtown Minneapolis a chartered cross country bus pulled up to the entrance of the Auditorium and Convention Center. The door opened and the first to step out was a tall middle aged man, the Reverend William Grant.
From across the street he could see a squad of armed paratroopers looking on in curiosity. President Nixon had deployed the alert brigade of the 101th Airborne Division to Minneapolis to keep order in the wake of the massacre of a significant fraction of the municipal police force.
“Praise The Lord,” he said, “we are here.”
As with many people his curiosity had been piqued with the announcement of the discovery of an inbound starship seen in the southern constellation of Centaurus. He was slightly amused at the Soviet announcement that they had made radio contact with the alien communist expedition. He was not at all surprised that the Soviets had lied when actual radio contact with the incoming vessel had been made.
What was shocking was that the starship was flown by humans who had accidentally come from the future. What he found appalling was that every member of the ship’s company was an atheist and that not one of them would ever speak with him.
They had absolutely denied The Lord Jesus Christ.
But what truly appalled him was that the people from the starship Eagle had been led by a child. He had watched at the office of his evangelical ministry the lived televison coverage of the initial meeting of the starmen and President Nixon at Edwards Air Force Base. The landing craft had been roughly the size of an old DC-3 and vertically landed in a horizontal configuration. The first of the star travelers to step out from the craft was a teenage boy in a shipboard jumpsuit.
President Nixon was speechless. He would later say that he didn’t expect to meet with such an obviously young man.
Apparently the boy had expected this.
“Mister President,” he said, “we have a medical procedure that recreates the effect of reincarnation. I’m presently on my sixth incarnation, sir.”
Certainly this was lie. This absolutely had to be a lie.
The more Reverend Grant had learned of the people who claimed to be from the future the more he was convinced that all they spoke were lies.
They were clearly the creation and instruments of Satan.
There was no possible other explanation for their presence.
What was worse was that his 14 year old daughter Judith was in the office and watching the live broadcast. She appeared to have been enthralled by the boy who walked as a man.
“Child!” Reverend Grant had shouted. “That is a servant of the devil! Leave this room! Now!”
He had done everything he could to protect his children from the presently depraved culture of America. And it had appeared to him that this was not enough.
But now that he was in Minneapolis he would meet with the families of the police officers murdered by the servants of Satan. And he could hold a massive worship service here at the Minneapolis Auditorium.
He would do everything he could to stop these tools of Satan.
At his desk John Edgar Hoover was immersed in thought. The people from the future had brought back disturbing information about how far his agency would descend into the darkness before the Federal Government would be overthrown in the event known as The Reformation. Of particular interest was the incident recorded in their history as the Waco Massacre. Although another agency initiated the incident it would be the bureau that would carry out what uptime historians called the greatest act of mass murder in American history.
So how can it be stopped?
The answer to the question may lie with a man identified by the Uptimers as a future occupant of the office of president, William Jefferson Clinton. His name as well has wife’s was on the list of those person who would bring about the collapse of the republic and provoke The Reformation. The question of what to do with these people had been discussed with Hoover and President Nixon by Commander Boatman.
“One could carry out a dirty war, essentially a discrete campaign of assassination, but it would ultimately be revealed to public view and thus bring about a negative political blowback.”
“It would be wrong.” Nixon replied.
“No Mister President,” said Boatman, “it would not be wrong, to terminate a Red or even a mere traitor is a necessary homicide. But by the present cultural standards it would be impractical. This is something that will have to changed in the long run.”
Hoover had then asked a question.
“So what would you suggest that we do with these people?”
Boatman had nodded before he replied.
“Something that could be described as a clean war is in order. Place these people under surveillance and arrest them when they do something that can prosecuted as a crime. You should do this to destroy their future political credibility.”
Hoover sat back in his chair and thought. In the historic context the original ATF operation against the Branch Davidian residence was unnecessary. As a licensed firearms dealer was living on site a pair of ATF agents in a government issue sedan could have visited the residence for an inspection. And if actually taking David Koresh into custody was necessary he could have been placed under arrest while on his morning exercise run.
No, the ATF action, originally dubbed Operation Showtime, was an irrational publicity stunt that had clearly gone wrong. The ATF agents were the actual criminals in this situation and should at the very least been taken into custody.
The initial action was bad, the response of the Bureau was worse.
In the history taught to the Uptimers the Waco Massacre was described as a act of Soviet style state terror intended to punish the Branch Davidians for the act of self defense and to intimidate otherwise patriotic citizens into submission to the Clinton Regime. In response the people who carried out The Reformation would make a clear effort to locate and execute the surviving members of the so-called Hostage Rescue Team of the Bureau.
It was possible that the historical view of the Uptimers was distorted. But by how much?
Clinton had clearly demonstrated that he was unfit to be president. So how could he be blocked from entering the office?
He was identified in the historic record as a sexual predator. And had been fellated at least once in the Oval Office. Those men, including the President, who had been cleared to read the full history brought back by the Uptimers had been shocked to have read this.
It appeared that like Teddy Kennedy, Clinton was willing to sexually use women who worked for him. Could this personal fault could be used to stop him?
It was at this that point Director Hoover decided to place Bill Clinton under long term surveillance by the Bureau.
In downtown Minneapolis a chartered cross country bus pulled up to the entrance of the Auditorium and Convention Center. The door opened and the first to step out was a tall middle aged man, the Reverend William Grant.
From across the street he could see a squad of armed paratroopers looking on in curiosity. President Nixon had deployed the alert brigade of the 101th Airborne Division to Minneapolis to keep order in the wake of the massacre of a significant fraction of the municipal police force.
“Praise The Lord,” he said, “we are here.”
As with many people his curiosity had been piqued with the announcement of the discovery of an inbound starship seen in the southern constellation of Centaurus. He was slightly amused at the Soviet announcement that they had made radio contact with the alien communist expedition. He was not at all surprised that the Soviets had lied when actual radio contact with the incoming vessel had been made.
What was shocking was that the starship was flown by humans who had accidentally come from the future. What he found appalling was that every member of the ship’s company was an atheist and that not one of them would ever speak with him.
They had absolutely denied The Lord Jesus Christ.
But what truly appalled him was that the people from the starship Eagle had been led by a child. He had watched at the office of his evangelical ministry the lived televison coverage of the initial meeting of the starmen and President Nixon at Edwards Air Force Base. The landing craft had been roughly the size of an old DC-3 and vertically landed in a horizontal configuration. The first of the star travelers to step out from the craft was a teenage boy in a shipboard jumpsuit.
President Nixon was speechless. He would later say that he didn’t expect to meet with such an obviously young man.
Apparently the boy had expected this.
“Mister President,” he said, “we have a medical procedure that recreates the effect of reincarnation. I’m presently on my sixth incarnation, sir.”
Certainly this was lie. This absolutely had to be a lie.
The more Reverend Grant had learned of the people who claimed to be from the future the more he was convinced that all they spoke were lies.
They were clearly the creation and instruments of Satan.
There was no possible other explanation for their presence.
What was worse was that his 14 year old daughter Judith was in the office and watching the live broadcast. She appeared to have been enthralled by the boy who walked as a man.
“Child!” Reverend Grant had shouted. “That is a servant of the devil! Leave this room! Now!”
He had done everything he could to protect his children from the presently depraved culture of America. And it had appeared to him that this was not enough.
But now that he was in Minneapolis he would meet with the families of the police officers murdered by the servants of Satan. And he could hold a massive worship service here at the Minneapolis Auditorium.
He would do everything he could to stop these tools of Satan.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)