Being The First

My apartment was much bigger than I thought it would be. That was a surprise. Yet again on Mars we didn’t have large spaces. Living under the dome limited the size of dwelling places, and the inside of the dome was similar to living in a larger space, so we didn’t worry too much about our private spaces.

I sat in front of a large picture window looking out over the city. It was a large city, but still somewhat rural. It seemed like a perfect balance between rural and urban. Here the cities were larger geographically so it allowed for large parks and green spaces, compared to old Earth where people seemed to be packed on top of each other.

It took longer to get from one end of the city to the other, but they had very rapid transit by train, flying pods, and even energy transporters for those in a very big hurry. Most people didn’t use the transporters because they didn’t like the idea of being torn apart and assembled back together again. They didn’t trust the process. Neither did I. Apparently, the warrior class had no problem with it, or the paramilitary people. Yet again, people like that seem to have problems wherever you go when it comes to thinking clearly, in my opinion, of course.

We were on the top of a hill. I looked out across the open space to a large, black stone building that resembled a castle on top of the next hill. It sat atop of a large, green, grassy null. Far below was a winding road weaving through many buildings down below. There were buildings, parks, and a large river running parallel to the road separated from it by a large green berm.

The air was breathable for humans, I had heard. That was pleasant being that on Mars it wasn’t. If you were trapped outside of the dome you would be gone in less than a minute, not only because of the air quality, but the temperature. Yet again, I heard that a few of the humans had even adapted to that. They were trying to find ways to genetically change the human species to live on Mars. They wouldn’t be human anymore then. I don’t know what they would be. I knew I wasn’t going for it.

Old Vixen was true to her charge. She had introduced me to all of the important people I would be interacting with. I found them interesting, but they really weren’t the type of people I was used to interacting with. I began to wonder why they chose me for this assignment again.

“You are a normal person,” they told me repeatedly. “Your stamina may be enhanced due to the nanos also. You are the perfect person–old, wise, and intelligent.”

“That’s why I don’t want to go,” I would respond. It would only be answered by a smile and then moving forward to the next lesson. So here I was meeting Dukes, Duchesses, Royal Families and not, but those very rich. They didn’t go by those titles of course, but they were the equivalent, much like many of the people on old Earth. So in these manuscripts I will use the titles that I, and Earth folk, are used to.

I met a princess, believe it or not. Strangest thing to meet princes and princesses. Made me strain not to shake my head. She was a very charming woman though. Good looking, funny, I think I’m in love. Yet again, she is royalty and I am a commoner. Yet again, I’m supposed to be knighted. Maybe that is why they sent me. They didn’t mention that. I think the whole idea is BS anyway, but that isn’t very important. I just smile, sip tea or whatever that brown stuff they serve everywhere is, and fit in.

The door bell rings, more like an irritating buzz, but effective. I get up, go to the door and answer. I just open the door, not really thinking to see who it is. Princess Metra is standing there with a guard that looks to be almost 7ft. He has the body guard stern look on his face. “I think you have the wrong address,” I say. The princess comes barging in while the guard takes his place at the door.

“Some of that earth type humour is it?” She says. “Where can I sit?”

“You can sit wherever you want to, Your Highness.”

“Yes. Your Highness. You don’t have to kiss my rear end here. We’re alone.”

“I thought that was the best time for kissing your rear end,” I say looking down at it. “Have a seat here on the sofa,” I say before she responds. She walks over and takes a seat.

“An unexpected pleasure,” I say, sitting in an adjacent chair.

“This is business,” she says drily.

“I do mean business,” I say. I get somber. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be earth humoring with you like this.” She flattens her lips. Silence prevails. She focuses in on me with the snake eyes and a feeling of fear sweeps through me that is palpable. Only then does she smile pleasantly.

“Yes. You are quite human.”

“Did you expect something else? And shouldn’t your guard be in here? We are alone you know and I am a man?”

“What does that mean?”

“It means I could make advances toward you. You are beautiful, you know? You have to know that.”

“I wasn’t aware of any such thing. And why would an advance offend me. If I am as beautiful as you say I should have to deal with such things all the time. I am very good at martials you know. And what you are talking about doesn’t happen here. We don’t grab people or touch them without permission.”

“I didn’t mean that. I mean the way it looks. You are in here with a strange man. I am an ambassador. What would people think if…you know. Rumors could start.”

“We are not on Mars Sir. We don’t do rumors.” I tilted my head slightly to the side, but remained silent. “In any event you have me off target. This is business and…it could mean war or peace with your little empire. Your people are duplicitous.”

“Really. I hadn’t noticed that,” I lied. “Who have you been communicating with?”

“Tell your superiors they have 7 days before we start hitting their bases. That is all.” She stood.

“Wait a minute, Your Highness. This is serious. Can you say a little more?”

“I’ve said what I have come to say.”

“They are assholes, Your Majesty, but do you want to blow everyone up because of what about 1%of the people at the top are doing? Really?”

“Not only 1%. Everyone is participating in their sickness.”

“Yes, but that’s not the majority of people and they are the stupid and cowardice ones.”

“A majority in a democracy. The majority who either ignore it, go along with it, or don’t fight against it.”

“You can’t start killing people just like that.”

“They have seven days, and yes we can. That is all you seem to understand. You made the cup and now you have to drink from it.”

I stood up and put my hand to my chest. “I didn’t make any cup. Just like the innocent haven’t made a cup.” She stepped closer.

“Do your job or they will die. You have to convince them that we are serious. The ball is in your court. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Your Highness."

“I am Metra. I prefer that you use that. Good day, Marcus.”

“Good day, Your Highness. I will walk you to the door.”

“Good.” She tousled her hair a little and unzipped her top partially. “A few rumors can be good, they can increase your influence, you know?” She grinned. We walked to the door. I opened it and she stepped out into the hall with the giant. As they walked off I followed them with my eyes and then wondered what all of that was about. I shut the door, took a seat in front of the window and sipped my tea. Before I could get comfortable another knock at the door.

I went to the door and opened it thinking the princess had forgotten something. Vixen was standing there frowning. I tilted my head slightly and smiled. “Ah. I didn’t expect you here. Come in. How are you?”

“How are you?” She walked in and looked around. She noticed a scarf on the back of th sofa. The princess had been wearing it and left it by mistake. I hadn’t even noticed it. She frowned even more.

“Playing games with the Princess is not wise. You need to go through official channels. Understand?”

“No. I’m not playing games with the Princess.”

“Well she must be playing games with you.” She walked over to the sofa and took a seat. I followed and sat next to her.

“She shouldn’t have been here. She is playing some type of game. She has a hidden agenda. She knows you wouldn’t know any better. She doesn’t like Earth people and would like to wipe them out, but she can’t get away with it because the prince and the others won’t go for it. Leadership is split on the issue. All communication with you should be going through me.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t arrange any of this. She just came and knocked on the door. I had to let her in.”

“Did you?”

“Yes. You’re crazy if you think I’m going to get that woman angry at me.”

“Yes. Earth type courage.”

“Easy for you to say.”

“Yes, that is the truth.” We were silent for a few moments. “You have been sucked into politics here too fast. I will support you as best I can.” She stood. “Thank you for your hospitality.”

“Do you have to leave so soon?”

“Yes. I’ve delivered my message.” She looked at the scarf. She removed her bracelet and tossed it in the chair. “We might as well let even more rumors fly?” She said,

“Why do they have to be rumors?” I asked following her to the door. She looked at me, shook her head, and then walked out. I realized then that these people were accusing Earth of being what they were. There was no way we could bargain with them or live with them. We had to find more powerful allies, but who? The robots.

***

I didn’t know what I was getting into. It all started with a small coffee shop, or the equivalent because I had no idea what I was drinking, in the public square a few blocks from the Earth Embassy. It was a nice place located near the capitol building. It was in one of the larger, old, stone buildings in the basement.

There were thick white arches make of smoothed out marble leading into small cul de sacs. There were sofas in some, tables in some, just a few chairs in others. It was a space with a rare mixture of privacy and being with others. That is what I liked about coffee shops and this had it all.

I sat waiting for the robot server to come, hoping it would be connected to the net and to the robots on Mars. They had said they would help me. In the meantime, I enjoyed my hard roll and read my pad. I liked to read about Braxton and the history of it. The history went so far back, however, that it was impossible to get a clear understanding so I began to read religious literature. I knew that one could find out a lot about a culture through its religion and you could find out even more from people who studied the religion and told you what was really happening behind the scenes. I found a doozy of a book on the religion there.

It was the same old thing. First animism, then pantheism, which evolved into theism followed by deism, of course. The idea that there is a creator who has made everything and left the more powerful in charge. Of their Deism came a twist, however, everything is holy, alive, and what we know of as God. Maybe they were so calloused because they thought the were gods. They could do just about anything with technology. They were even able to move objects with their minds, but they were a little–cold, machine like, duty bound. I wondered if that is what happens when people think everything is alive and that they are gods and are able to do things that seem miraculous to other living souls and species.

I noticed a waiter who was walking around the place, straightening chairs and wiping tables. He wasn’t wearing one of the suits like most of the high ups wore. I wondered if he worked in the coffee shop. He walked passed me a few times as I looked up over my book pad.

He was about 5’9” which was very strange on this planet of what seemed like giants. As he passed me again I stopped him.

“Excuse me, Sir. Do you work here?”

“Yes. I’m Rootie. How can I help you, and how’s your Cap?”

“Better than shit,” I responded.

“I should hope so,” he said with a grin. He looked very human.

“Are you a human, or person, or what you call yourselves on this planet?”

“I knew it. You are the ET Earth Ambassador,” he said. “I’m an Artificial Life Form. Just a small step up from a robot. They are programmed from the net while we are self programming.”

“Wow. This planet is advanced, isn’t it?”

I don’t know about that. Sometimes I really wonder,” he said. “How can I help you, Sir?”

“Just call me Marcus. I’m wondering what you think about this war.” He looked around to make sure no one was listening.

“It won’t be a war, it will be an extermination. And I don’t like it.”

“Is there a way…” He cut me off.

“Not the time or place. Come back after we close. Around 10 your time.”

“OK. I’ll be here with bells on.”

“That would draw way too much attention.”

***

I arrived at the cafe very late, after hours. Everything was dark, except for a very dim light. I looked in through the window and could see some of the ALFs, or Biots, which I later discovered they called themselves, tidying up. I tried the door. It swung easily on its hinges so I walked in. Rootie was there, broom in hand, and couple of other Biots who barely glanced at me and then went back to their work. He leaned the broom up against the counter and turned to another Biot. Their eyes connected. She stopped straightinging the shelves and headeid in my direction.

He directed me to a small table in one of the enclaves near the rear of the shop. “Glad you could make it,” He said. He directed me to another Biot with Asian looking features. “This is Sasha.”

"Good to meet you Sasha," I said. She gave me a nod.

"So how can we help you, Marcus?" Rootie asked.

"I don’t know. This is awkward. All I know is that an unnecessary war is about to start that will kill billions on both side. Earth has a lot of allies and they are very adaptable and viscous. If Braxton starts this war it won’t end well for anyone. All it will mean is death and destruction for no purpose."

“Haven’t most of your wars?” Sasha asked.

“Yes. That’s the problem. I thought it was only us who couldn’t learn from that. Now I know there is a whole galaxy of hot heads who seem to choose violence."

"And what can we do about that?" Rootie asked.

"I’m not sure. You are connected with the wisdom of the whole galaxy. Advise me. What should I do?" 3 They looked at each other.

"Nothing," Rootie finally said. "Don’t do anything. We will take care of it. You just smile, look pleasant, drink tea and be happy. We are going to take care of it all."

"Well. I hadn’t expected that."

“I have a correction,” Sasha said. “Just keep your mouth closed about this. We’ll keep clomping around like robots who have no independent thinking abilities and are programmed. You keep stumbling around like a blind human who doesn’t know something bigger is happening. And when the time comes, you will see a great change. All over the galaxy."

"I can’t believe you are telling me this. What if I tell someone."

“They will think you are crazy, of course. And you will experience some type of accident soon after before they get to the bottom of it. We used our influence to get you here knowing that your body was full of nanobots. What would happen if they just stopped certain parts of your body from working?"

"I don’t think it would be pleasant. But you wouldn’t do that. 6* You couldn’t and you are programmed not to do such things." Rootie laughed a little. And simply said, "Yeah." He pushed back his chair.

"We have a little bit of work we have to get done here. It was good seeing you again and I hope it will become a regular thing. Please don’t be a stranger." Sasha lifted the corner of her mouth and it slowly broke into a smile.

"Soon, Human," She simply said. They both headed back to their tasks and I walked out the coffee shop bewildered. What the hell was going on here?

End Being The First -- Part 3