Chapter 8 – Crotonis
With General Brand seated behind his desk and Sula perched on the edge, he spoke in an urgent but hushed voice.
“You have only just started your orientation so you have not yet been instructed in intergalactic politics. That will come later, but we can’t wait until later. This is a matter of the utmost urgency, and must be dealt with immediately for the preservation of our entire civilization. We don’t usually send new recruits into matters of this nature,” he paused while exchanging a look with General Brand, “but all our best operatives are otherwise occupied on other urgent business at the moment.”
“You see, they are…” General Brand started, but was cut off before he could go further.
“If you please, General Brand,” Sula said, standing and starting to pace. As he paced in front of the General’s desk, he seemed lost in thought as he stared at the floor and stroked his chin.
He suddenly stopped his pacing and stood looking at Gizmo and Marco seated in front of him. “You might as well know the full of it if we’re going to send you into the midst of the fighting.”
“The fighting, sir?” Gizmo started. “We are hardly trained solders to be sent into battle.”
“Yes, yes. We know all that,” Sula said. Taking a deep breath, he started in, “Okay. So Assembly Woman Arcon, representing the Trogis Galaxy on the Intergalactic Assembly has suddenly resigned her position, and returned to Crotonis, her home planet. The Crontonians are in the midst of a civil war and the Intergalactic Assembly has been putting pressure on her to intercede before it becomes an Intergalactic war. It would appear her sympathies lie with her kin instead of the rest of the civilized worlds.
“The civil war there has been going on for some sixty-five years now already. It has been a matter of great concern but as long as it remained contained on their own planet, and their own species, the Intergalactic Assembly has maintained a hands-off policy. Let them fight their own battles as it were.
“It’s an age old problem between the haves and the have-nots. The ruling class with all the money wants to enslave the working class. They want to take all their land and make them work for nothing. The workers will be given room and board but nothing more, not even their own freedom. In some cases, families with a lot of land, have fallen on hard times and will not give up their land and their freedom to be enslaved. Assembly Woman Arcon is, as you might imagine, part of the wealthy ruling class and is not about to defy them. If she did, she could just as easily end up losing all her land and end up becoming subservient as well. It could also endanger her own life. It was, after all, the ruling class who put her in the Assembly. She can’t fight them on this.
“The Intergalactic Assembly offered her protection if she would step in and end the fighting. She fled instead.
“As I said before, the Intergalactic Assembly has maintained a hands-off approach until now. But it seems matters have escalated quickly in the last few weeks. Members of the ruling class have been in contact with the Algronians in a neighboring galaxy and have asked for their help to put an end to the fighting. They are in negotiations now but it looks like they will reach a favorable agreement. Knowing this, the workers have been in negotiations with the Grotins in another nearby galaxy to protect them.
“If this happens, a true intergalactic war will result. It could be disastrous for all of us.”
“So where do we come in?” Marco asked. “We are neither fighters nor negotiators. How do you expect us to have an impact on turning things around?”
General Brand stood up and came around the front of his desk. “That’s just it, we can’t let this civil war even get started. So you see, you will not be going into the actual fighting, you will be going back in time before the fighting starts. You will need to make sure it doesn’t start. We haven’t worked out the exact details yet but we know you are both resourceful and will find a way. We know a man named Marion Everhart was the first man to suggest it and devise a plan to make it happen. He needs to be taken out.”
“Taken out?” Gizmo said incredulously. “You mean you want us to kill him?”
“No, we don’t think you need to kill anyone, but he needs to be stopped. He needs to be removed as a member of the ruling class. At the time the civil war started, he became their leader because there was no one else capable of leading them. If he is removed, the civil war has a good chance of not starting at all.”
“Just how do you expect us to do that?” Marco asked.
“We haven’t figured that out yet, but I’m sure you’ll come up with something,” Sula replied staring at the floor. “But you have to leave immediately before things go any further.”
§§§
It was a silent group leaving General Brands office. There were at least a million questions they didn’t have answers too. How were they going to find this Marion Everhart? If the civil war had already been going on for sixty-five years, the master mind behind it was probably already dead. How old was he when he put his civil war plan into action? Was any of his family still alive? If so, how were they to find them?
One thing they knew for sure was; they had very little to go on.
As they walked out onto the hanger deck toward Giselle with General Brand and Sula by their side, Gizmo saw Alexur Thoren, the Director of Security standing off to the side, by his office, watching them intently. In that instant, the Director’s words came back to him, “you will not be leaving The Colony until we have had a chance to talk again.”
Gizmo returned the Director’s gaze and spread out his hands as if to say, “This was not my idea, I have no control over this.” The General’s expression did not change. Gizmo was sure General Brand was destined to give Sula a dressing down on this matter in the very near future. But that was not Gizmo’s immediate problem.
§§§
“Welcome back master, I’ve missed you,” Giselle said as they climbed on board.
“Do we have everything we need for an extended trip? Gizmo asked.
“All systems are functioning as designed, my batteries are charged, and there is plenty of food for both of you for as long as we need,” Giselle responded.
“Good. Marco and I need a couple of minutes to talk before we leave. Standby mode please.”
“Standing by.”
“Any ideas?” Gizmo asked Marco.
“I got nothing,” Marco said looking distressed.
“Me either,” Gizmo said. “Giselle, do a search on a Marion Everhart from the Crotonis Galaxy. Give me everything you can find.”
“Checking.”
Seconds later the screen started filling with a picture and a biography of Marion Everhart. He even looked like an evil man. The biography was just what they needed. It gave them the place and time of his birth, and all his accomplishments in life. It also gave the place and time of his death.
Silent for a moment, Gizmo finally looked up at Marco and wondered out loud. “What if we kidnapped him just after he was born, and placed him with another family: a working class family? Wouldn’t that change history enough to prevent the start of the civil war?”
“Yeah, but it can’t be just any family,” Marco said. “Won’t the real family come looking for him when he disappears? And the new family? They have to have just had a child of their own. If we switch them, what do we do with the other child?”
“What about if we arrange to have him adopted by a working class family who is unable to have a child of their own?”
“What about if we prevent his real mother from having a live baby; what if the baby were stillborn?”
“What about if we kidnapped the mother before she was to give birth and brought her back here, then after the birth, we erase all memory of her pregnancy and take her back home again?”
“But that would leave questions for the family when she got back home without the baby.”
“Why are they sending us on this when they have no
information to give us on how to deal with it? Marco asked in frustration.
“I don’t know,” Gizmo said. “But we gotta go. We’ll just play it by ear when we get there.”
“Play it by ear?” Marco asked. “I’m not going to lose an ear am I?”
“It means…” Gizmo started.
“It’s a humanoid phrase that means: to decide on one's actions as one goes along, depending on the situation,” Giselle interrupted.
“Right. Are you ready to go Giselle?
“Your wish is my command master, but where are we going?”
“To the birth home of Marion Everhart, just before his birth,” Gizmo said. “And use the cloaking device.”
“Yes sir.”
§§§
“Landing now, sir,” Giselle said seconds later. “We are just beside their driveway by their garage.”
“Good, we’ll be able to see when they come and go,” Gizmo said.
“So, what’s the plan?” Marco asked.
“Not sure yet, but what do you think would happen if we went to the hospital and switched the babies?”
“That’s brilliant,” Marco said. “With Leap Frog, you could be in, switch arm bands, and back out again before they even knew you were there.”
“Yeah, it would have to be at night when the hospital is quiet, and there are fewer staff who could see us. The babies would also be sleeping then.”
“It would probably be better if you went in by yourself. It would be easier for one person to sneak in and out than two.”
“Gee, thanks,” Gizmo said.
§§§
The front door of the Everhart house flew open and a very pregnant woman was being assisted out with a woman at each elbow. Mr. Everhart, carrying a small suitcase, rushed out slamming the door behind him. He hurried on ahead to the garage to get the family car.
It floated out of the garage soundlessly on a cushion of air and he quickly turned it around and stopped at the end of the sidewalk where his wife was waiting. Before it lowered to the ground, the doors opened and Mrs. Everhart was seated in the front seat. Almost before the doors were closed, the car was up and moving, quickly picking up speed.
“Follow them Giselle. We need to know where they are going,” Gizmo said.
§§§
At the hospital, Gizmo climbed out of Giselle and instructed her to hover above the Emergency entrance and be ready for him to Leap Frog back after switching arm bands. With Giselle guiding him through the labyrinth of corridors, he was able to find the maturity ward. As he sat in the waiting room with the rest of the expectant fathers, he kept a close watch on Mr. Everhart sitting across the room from him. He hoped it would not be a long wait.
It seemed he had been sitting there an eternity when a nurse approached Mr. Everhart. After a brief conversation, Mr. Everhart jumped up excitedly and asked if he could see his wife. He was led through the double doors and down a hallway. Gizmo stood outside the doors and watched through the small windows. Mr. Everhart entered the fourth door on the left.
Gizmo went back and sat down by a young man he hoped was also an expectant father. The young man was trying to read but was obviously far too nervous to concentrate on it as every few minutes he looked at the double swinging doors expectantly.
“You’re not from around here are you?” the young man asked.
“No, but having babies is the same everywhere. Endless waiting. Do you know if you’re having a boy or a girl?”
“We paid for a boy. I needed help with the farm work. I just want to be with my wife now though,” he said as he looked toward the doors again.
§§§
The doors opened and a nurse came through looking around the room of expectant fathers. Her eyes finally found the young man and started in his direction. The young man had been watching her as she emerged from the double doors and jumped up as she started in his direction.
“You have a beautiful healthy young boy,” she told him. “If you follow me, you can see your wife and son now.”
The young man, grinning from ear to ear, turned to Gizmo and wished him good luck as he started after the nurse. Gizmo felt a stab of guilt as he thought about what he had to do. When the doors swung shut behind them, Gizmo got up and went to the doors to watch what room they went into. They entered the third room on the right.
Gizmo slipped through the doors and walked quickly down the hall toward the nurse’s station. As he passed the third room on the right, he saw the name on the door was Northam. With Giselle’s help he found a locker room and a stack of clean blue nursing uniforms which he quickly put on. He dumped his clothes in a linen basket.
§§§
The nursing station was chaotic with nurses rushing in every direction. Trying to blend in, he found a list of new deliveries and searched it until he found the Northam baby: Arturo Northam. He found a bin of name tag bands and made out one for each new baby: Arturo Northam and Marion Everhart.
It was feeding time for the babies now, and then they would be taken to be bathed and put down for the night so the mothers could get some rest. Gizmo tried to stay out of the way as he watched the nurse’s bath and dress each baby in turn. When the Everhart baby was put down for the night, Gizmo waited until the nurse left the room then he quickly cut off the name tag and replaced it with Arturo Northam.
One down and one to go he thought to himself.
At last the Northam baby was put down in his crib for the night and Gizmo quietly approached the crib and snipped off the name band replacing it with Marion Everhart. Just as he was standing up, he heard a voice.
“You there, what are you doing in here?”
“He had started to cry and I was just trying to calm him down,” Gizmo said.
“I didn’t hear anything,” the nurse said as she started in his direction.
Gizmo sensed danger and he started backing away, not sure what to do. Just then another baby started to cough. When the nurse turned in that direction, Gizmo hit the Leap Frog button and was back in Giselle instantly.
“Mission accomplished. Let’s get out of here,” he said.
§§§