Chapter 6 “The Outpost”
Joe took the delegation back to the viewing platform. The spaceship would go by Jupiter before entering the wormhole, which he could create anywhere in this system. The Outpost acted like an antennae for a gravity wells. They all filed into the viewing room, where large “lazyboy” type looking chairs were scattered haphazardly around.
“It’ll take about an hour please sit and enjoy yourselves.” Joe went to the podium and tapped on it, the ship took off and Mars got smaller in the window. The viewing platform turned in the direction of forward movement. Joe pointed at a bright dot in the center. “That’s Jupiter and we will be flying right by it.” Everyone was fascinated, even Dr. Becker was enjoying herself. The place had a party like atmosphere.
Steve got up to hit the bathroom before the show began. Joe pointed to a door behind him, and Steve walked over to it. He opened the door and could not believe what he was seeing. The bathroom was the size of small closet with a hole in the center. Something you would expect in a third world country on Earth.
“This is the bathroom, are you sure?” Steve winced in disbelief as he held the door open.
Joe looked over his shoulder, “Yea, that it.” He turned back settling into his chair.
You’ve got to be kidding me? Were on a spaceship traveling to Pluto and this is how they go to the bathroom? Steve thought to himself, when in Rome. He squatted and did the best he could. The first thing we’ll teach them is how to build a proper bathroom.
Jupiter got bigger in the window and soon all the gaseous swirls on the surface and moons came into focus. The great red spot could be seen and then it really looked like the Jupiter they were all familiar with.
The room became animated as Steve pointed and named all the moons, which looked like specks of light circling the planet. Someone said it reminded them of Christmas lights as they zoomed by. The platform rotated keeping Jupiter in view as it slowly shrank in the distance. Joe reminded them they needed to be asleep for the jump to Pluto. Everyone got comfortable as the smoky mist slowly engulfed the room. Bill tried to fight it and stay awake but it was lights out as soon as he inhaled the cloud.
Sometime later as the mists effects wore off, the group lay in their chairs shaking off the grogginess. One by one they slowly rose to their feet. Joe called out to follow him. Yawning and stretching, each member reluctantly got up and headed in the direction of his voice.
Making their way through a series of corridors and finally through a huge set of double doors, which was big enough to fit a semi-truck through. The ships auto pilot had landed them in the main dock of the Outpost. They walked onto the landing platform and were stunned at the enormous scale of the place. Tall as it was wide, it could easily fit an Earth sky scraper inside. It had the shape of a semicircular fan with hundreds of doors circling the rim.
“Welcome to the Outpost.” Stan extended his hand trying to be as diplomatic as possible. “I am the director here. Please, anything you need, we will provide.” The greetings went all around the room. The people on the Outpost were all very knowledgeable about Earth’s customs.
Dr. Zanagar shook Stan’s hand “Are you a freeformed human like Joe?” Dr. Zanagar quickly realized it was a rude question to ask by the look on Stan’s face. He looked around hoping he had not offended anyone.
Stan leaned in and whispered. “That is considered to be impolite to ask someone that. No need for apologies, I guess Joe did not properly brief you on our customs. Yes, I am like Joe, but much smarter.” Stan grinned trying to make light of the situation.
Dr. Zanagar gave a forced laugh then quickly added, “I am terribly sorry, I didn’t know.”
Stan just shook his head and replied. “Don’t worry about it.” He turned to the rest of the group, “Everyone, please follow me.” Stan leaned toward Dr. Zanagar and said in almost a whisper, “Freeformed humans are not offended but the dampened or regular humans as they like to call themselves really hate being asked that. I think deep down inside they have some kind of complex about it.”
The group made their way down a long corridor and into a room which had a large table where they would be eating dinner. The food was fresh and very good, similar to a five star restaurant on Earth. The conversations were very polite and diplomatic at first as Stan tried to behave himself. As the night progressed the wine flowed freely while Joe passed, he knew how Stan could get. Stan could not hide his agitation at Earth being contacted, especially with all the wine in him. He began talking about the homeworlds and Joe tried to shut him up.
“I think we should wrap things up now. These people have had a long journey and need some rest.” Joe shifted in his chair wanting to leave.
Dr. Zanagar noticed Stan was getting drunk. Hoping that some important information might be revealed, he refilled everyone’s glass.
“You think Joe did you guys a favor.” Stan laughed, slurring his words. “The homeworlds are so messed up. Between the linies and the pervers, I don’t know what the hell is going on.”
Joe cringed as he rubbed his forehead. “Now’s not the time to get into this.”
Stan got up and grabbed a bottle of wine as he started to walk out of the room. He turned and pointed at Joe. “You brought them here, I didn’t.”
He took a drink right out of the bottle. “Do you think you are going to walk straight into the council and have their blessing? When’s the last time you were even there? The place has gotten worse. Many of the council members have even joined the linies.” Stan took another swig.
“I don’t give a crap, do what you want Joe, go ahead and save humanity.” He was sarcastically waving his arms spilling wine all over the place. “I’m going to go get laid.” He lumbered out of the room, the silence was deafening.
“Sorry about that, Stan and I don’t always agree, but I guess that requires an explanation.” Joe’s face was flush with embarrassment.
“You are doing this on your own? Why?” Dr. Becker turned to Joe.
“Well, like he said, to save humanity. Not just on Earth, but everywhere.” Joe shifted uncomfortably in his chair fighting for the right words.
“Well, I’m not going to bullshit you guys.” Joe let out a big sigh. He knew they would see some things they might consider disturbing on the Outpost.
“Humans are sexual creatures. We all have that drive, and it’s something we can’t turn it off. Some seek the pleasure of drugs to change the way they feel. These drives can consume us, consume our souls. I don’t mean to preach and I’ll be the first to admit that I’m no saint. I too have been consumed by this drive but I am not a victim. I did it by choice, a poor choice, a bad choice call it what you want. There was a period on the homeworlds where I spent most of my time on the islands.” Joe paused in reflection. “Ahhh, the islands.” Joe could not hide the grin, “These islands, well actually a series of islands are where sex and drugs are free and easy. Pleasuring of the senses, the external senses that is, not the inner soul.” Joe paused looking down. He had an inner conflict with those memories.
“I have not been entirely honest with you. I have been alive longer than you can possibly imagine. My life’s force, or my soul if you will, has been transferred from one body to another. I have done this dozens of times.” Joe looked away obviously ashamed.
“Originally I was born a freeformed human on Earth. I was taken off planet and I grew up on the homeworlds. You see there are no infants on the homeworlds. All human reproduction occurs on the colonies.”
“Wait a minute, you mean you steal babies from the colonies?” Dr. Becker interrupted. Joe leaned back in his chair running his hands through his hair realizing he had just opened a can of worms.
“Ah, no not babies. This is going to sound really bad but, it’s usually children between the ages of 10 to 15 that are taken for transferring.” Joe could see the entire group had a look of shock and disgust. “I’m not going to sugar coat this. I’ll tell it to you straight. The good the bad
and the ugly. You’re eventually going to learn more about this of course.” There was an awkward silence and Joe sheepishly tried to continue. “Ah, like I was saying, I later returned to Earth to live amongst the people and learn about their cultures. I became an expert on Earth. At least that’s what I thought.” He paused for a moment rubbing his chin. “Unfortunately, I’ve been directly involved in altering Earth’s history. Most of the stuff you wouldn’t know about. We’d help certain cultures and not others. Even killing certain people we deemed a threat, people we thought had become too powerful. I’m very ashamed of some of the things I’ve done. I thought I was doing the right thing.” Joe paused as he looked around the room.
The group was so disgusted they could not even look at him.
“How does the saying go? ‘The road to hell is paved with the best intentions’?” An awkward silence lingered.
Steve’s face held a bleak pale expression as he clutched the table as not to fall out of his chair. Dr. Becker and Dr. Zanagar kept glancing up at each other with grave and pained looks on their faces. Tom could not hide his anger. His eyes were wide with fury.
Joe took a deep breath before he continued.
“Do you believe in redemption?” Joe stood up asking the group. “Making amends? Doing the right thing? Sounds cliché but that’s what I am trying to do. You know humans on the homeworlds have fallen. Half are killing themselves with this cult like religion, the other half are killing their souls in seeking external pleasures. Earth humans have changed over time, but not because of anything we did. You did it all by yourselves. Now, your past is filled with violence, but it’s your ability to grow and change. I believe all humans could also achieve the growth you have experienced. We all can change.”
Everyone seemed frozen, deep in thought. The etched painful look on their faces said it all. Dr. Zanagar and Dr. Becker looked at each other and nodded as if agreeing to give Joe the benefit of the doubt. Steve wiped his sweaty palms on his pants, he didn’t know what to think. Tom and Bill could not hide the suspicion on their faces.
Joe took a deep breath knowing he had lost their trust. He turned and walked toward the door, stopping just in front of it. He looked back at the group and motioned for them to follow. Dr. Becker and Dr. Zanagar quietly got up and followed, with Steve close behind. Tom stopped at the door and glared at Joe, he could not help himself.
Silently the entire party walked down a long corridor. Hoping to change the subject and lighten the mood Joe headed to the Outpost’s main control center.
As they walked Joe began explaining a few things, “Well, I won’t get into too much detail but there are a few things you should be aware of. Stan mentioned the ‘linies’. It’s sort of a religion on the homeworlds. There are none here, well none that I am aware of anyway. You’ll get a kick out of them when you go to the homeworlds.” Joe stopped and turned, he had to choose his words carefully on the next subject.
“It’s important you understand the state this society is in. Pleasuring of the external senses or more frankly taking drugs and having sex are very prevalent on this Outpost as well as the homeworlds. It’s almost like the summer of love and all the hippies of the late 60’s and early 70’s ended up here.” Joe laughed trying to make a joke. Nobody laughed.
Joe shrugged of his lame attempt at humor and continued. “Okay, come on. The entire planet of Pluto is actually a giant Outpost. There two main domes, or cities. It’s all underground, near the center of the planet where it’s warm. Light is programmed to go on and off coming from the dome to mimic the sun. About 20,000 people live here, less than 2000 actually work monitoring Earth. They’re not really monitoring Earth, but the space in and around the solar system. The Outpost is more for Earths’ protection, making sure no random asteroids or other large objects get in that could destroy or disrupt the solar system.” Joe stopped when several people showed up and greeted them like old friends.
He turned to the Earth group and explained they would be their guides, making sure they didn’t get lost. The guides said that Stan had given them full instructions.
“Now don’t worry they are not government minder or anything like that, you are free to roam anywhere you want.” Joe looked over at Bill and Tom.
Dr. Zanagar inquired about what languages were spoken here. The guides explained that basic communication is implanted in all humans. The languages that develop on each colony are somewhat similar, making communication possible between all humans.
The party walked into a large room with big windows that over looked the entire city. The two domes ran into each other like mountains sitting side by side. The layout of the cities was constructed in a circular pattern. The control area, as it was called, stood on one of the outer rings. The buildings got smaller as they went toward the center. It reminded Bill of a third world capital, kind of dirty and run down. Even though the city looked big there were no people to be seen, no movement. The place looked abandoned.
“Where is everyone?” Bill inquired to one of the guides.
“They’re all inside or at the city center, which we call the circle.” the guide replied.
“How do people get around?” Steve was leaning on the glass looking off to the right.
“The transportation system is all underground,” the guide answered.
“What about money? Do we need some money to use here?” Steve pulled away from the glass.
The guide looked at them, puzzled.
“How do we get food or something to drink? How do we use the transportation system?” Dr. Zanagar said like he was asking a child.
“Well, you just ask for it,” the guide shrugged his shoulders. He walked over to what looked like an ATM machine and mumbled something they could not make out. Instantly a drawer popped out filled with an odorless smoke. It cleared, revealing a glass of water and a bag of what looked like chips. The guide grabbed them, took a drink and a handful of the chips. He offered them to the group and Bill quickly took some. He threw them into his mouth.
“Tastes like corn chips, pretty good.” Bill crunched away.
The group had been informed they would not be meeting with Joe for another 24 hours. Dr. Becker and Dr. Zanagar wanted to see the main control room. Steve and Bill wanted to check out the city, Tom agreed.
Dr. Becker and Dr. Zanagar were brought to the operations center. Looking through a long window they could see an oval room about the size of a basketball court. A series of large haphazardly placed screens filled the walls like an art gallery with several showing a close up of Earth. Three long conference tables sat in the center where a beehive of activity danced about. The guide pointed out what each of the screens showed and what sector of space around the solar system they were responsible for. They could see Joe in the center talking with a bunch of people. He looked very busy and did not even notice them.
“Can we go down there?” Dr. Becker leaned against the glass itching to find out what was going on down there.
“No, we’re not allowed. Besides there’s kind of a crisis right now,” the guide casually replied.
“What’s going on?” Dr. Zanagar turned toward the guide.
“We seemed to have lost contact with the homeworlds.” The guide seemed unconcerned as they walked along.
“Is that a common occurrence?” Dr. Zanagar, being a type-A personality, really wished he could go down there and get involved. It was a perfect opportunity for him to study people’s reactions.
“No, not really, but Joe’s here so we all feel better.” The guide continued, seemingly disinterested in anything around her.
Dr. Becker and Dr. Zanagar could see a worried look on Joe’s face as he stared into a glass like globe that appeared to be something similar to a computer screen.
“Don’t worry, everything will be OK.” The guide bumped into the doorframe and fell down. When they helped her up and looked closer at her face, she looked high. She just laughed and said to follow her. Puzzled, Dr. Becker and Dr. Zan
agar glanced worriedly at each other. Dr. Zanagar followed the guide but Dr. Becker took another look down at the control room. The chaos reminded her of a night club in full swing. The center swirling with activity while others remained on the sideline. She took a closer look and it appeared that a few people sitting off in the corner were just looking off into the distance, clearly drugged.
Dr. Becker caught up with Dr. Zanagar and whispered into his ear, “Some of these people look high.”
Dr. Zanagar turned toward her “I know, this guide can barely walk straight.”
They followed her into an elevator and the doors closed. The guide very casually pulled out what looked like an asthma inhaler and put it up to her nose. She inhaled deeply then let out a big sigh, “Would you like some?”
“What is it?” Dr. Zanagar inquired.
“It’s reen.” She replied with an inebriated smile on her face.
“What’s it do?” Dr. Becker asked.
“It makes you wonderful.” The elevator doors opened and the guided stumbled out. Dr. Becker and Dr. Zanagar looked disturbed at the casual drug use, even though Joe had warned them about it.
Following a separate guide, Steve, Bill and Tom went to the center of the city which had a large open circular area known as the circles. The climate control made it t-shirt weather. Steve was amazed at the engineering feat of it all, making him realize how far from home they really were.
As they entered the city, tables and benches littered the place, people sat haphazardly around looking off into different directions. As the guide led them through the maze toward music playing off in the distance, Steve and Bill were dumbfounded at the condition of the people. Some were asleep or passed out on the benches, others looked high. The guide walked by, not even giving them a second glance.
Steve could not help but notice that the people wore basically the same thing. They had on what looked like tight fitting sweats, almost a complete body suit. As they came near to what looked like an open air club where the music was playing they could see people staring into these small hand held boxes. Light illuminated their eyes as they gazed deeply into the cubes.
“What are these things?” Tom picked one of them up.
“They give you a pleasant feeling.” replied the guide.
Tom looked into the box and instantly felt a feeling of wellness wash over him like a warm shower. The light felt cleansing and he felt himself beginning to float. The magnetic pull grabbed him as all his worries were washed away. As he moved the box a tunnel of light appeared that moved with him, it felt wonderful. Tom felt a bump and then a jolt as the light began to fade and he fought to regain his focus. He didn’t want it to end and a horrible feeling erupted in his mind. Suddenly the box was knocked from his hands. Steve and Bill were trying to get him to put it down but he wouldn’t. Tom tried to reach for the box, but he came to his senses.
He shook his head and said, “What the hell did you do that for?” Tom sounded disappointed.
“You’ve been looking into that thing for several minutes. We couldn’t get it away from you.” Bill picked up the box and held it away from Tom.
“Several minutes? It seemed like only seconds,” Tom rubbed the back of his neck in shock.
“What’s it like?” Steve asked as he picked one up, contemplating looking into it.
“It’s like nothing I’d ever experienced before, kind of like dropping acid.” Tom froze, not meaning to let that slip out.
“You’ve dropped acid? You don’t look like the type.” Bill glanced over at Tom who had a mischievous smiling.
“You’re not the only one that had a wild a crazy youth.” Tom grabbed the box out of Bills hands.
Steve noticed many people either staring into the flickering boxes of light or slumped over passed out as music blared from what appeared to be a busy dance club you would find on Earth.
“What do you call these things?” Steve held the box at arm’s length so as not to be affected by it.
“They are called pental cubes, or boxes. You look into them and eventually you’ll fall asleep.” The guide turned and walked into the area where the music was playing.
There were no doors, reminding Steve of a Las Vegas casino. The loud music rhythmically pulsated. They could feel it pounding on their chests as they walked in. Different shades of blue colored lights flashed in rhythm to the music as the people on the dance floor swayed back and forth as if in a trance. Others looked like they were meditating, their feet stuck to the ground, their bodies slowly moving to the rhythm.
Tom and Steve watched in amusement at the dance floor as Bill went straight for the bar. He pointed to what everyone else was having and the bartender nodded as he placed a green tea colored liquid with ice in it. Bill grabbed it and took a sip. The familiar taste of alcohol filled his mouth. Grinning from ear to ear he raised his glass to the bartender. He turned to walk away but the bartender grabbed his arm and pointed to a small pad on the bar. Bill stared at the pad for a moment and shrugged his shoulders. Having never met anyone who did not know how to register their print he looked at Bill with disbelief. He took his thumb and motioned to press down on the pad. Bill finally understood and pressed the pad.
The bartender noticed his strange clothes as he walked away and did a double take. He watch Bill approach two other people similarly dressed. What the hell, they’re wearing Earth clothes!
The elevator door opened and Dr. Becker and Dr. Zanagar walked out onto the viewing platform. The whole dome city came into view as they approached the edge. A gentle breeze washed across their faces feeling like a warm summer mid-afternoon on Earth. As they looked closer they noticed there were no roads, just buildings. The buildings were not tall, no more than 6 stories, and every building basically looked the same. Five rings of buildings emanated out from the center getting taller as they went out. The guide pointed out that people lived in the outer most rings. The very center was for entertainment.
“What kind of entertainment?” Dr. Zanagar inquired as he glanced over at the guide.
“Drugs, dancing, and sex.” the guide replied very casually.
Dr. Zanagar and Dr. Becker were shocked at what they had seen so far. Joe said that humanity had lost its way and that was an understatement. This place left them depressed. Everyone they talked to was either high or oblivious to the situation around them. They thought they were going to engage in an intellectual conversation about human achievement and see scientific breakthroughs that would dazzle them. These people did nothing. Machines gave them everything, food, water and even drugs. They hadn’t gone forward, they’d gone backwards. A society needs to grow and adapt to the changes around them. Earth’s history show’s if a civilization stagnates, their sure to perish. The situation was much more desperate than they had ever realized, even on the brink of disaster if nothing was done.
Dr. Becker and Dr. Zanagar were overwhelmed with disbelief at the sorry state of humanity. They didn’t want to hear any more or be around these people, they just wanted to go to their rooms. Dr. Becker could not contain her anger at Joe. She felt deceived even lied to. No more being diplomatic or nice, she was going to get in his face and demand some answers.