<The third setting is a pretty large intrusion on an individual's free will since telling a lie is an expression of that free will. This setting compels the tagged subject to respond to questions posed by persons with authority to ask including any Solaran, and to do so truthfully. It is an invasion of the subject's will but the subject can be viewed as having relinquished that right by committing criminal acts against others. If a question is asked of a person when this setting is active, that person has no choice but to answer truthfully.>
<The fourth setting acts as armor for the tagged individual. It renders the subject bulletproof, knife proof, acid proof and explosion proof. It does not work for poisons or radiation. It is also not effective against energy weapons. This setting would be particularly useful in protecting witnesses.>
<The fifth setting allows the subject to initiate communication with the Solarans.>
<There was a sixth setting but I could not envision its use by this group, so I discontinued it. In a sense it was a termination device. It would erase all the memories of the subject. A mind wipe. I should point out that this setting can be reengineered to provide some other kind of utility if you decide that something else would be useful. It can be specifically engineered or it can be done generally. There is also a seventh setting that would do the same if you decide to structure a function for it.>
<The computer capacity I have available on this ship is more than all storage capacity on the entire planet. Point of this being that the tags are such an insignificant part of my capacity that you do not need worry about overload. I could tag everyone on the planet and only a minor amount of capacity would be needed. These are gene-imposed changes, they tend to be self tracking.>
Andy picked up as Aston completed the descriptions, "When I learned of this capacity, I realized that our whole approach to capture of the terrorists and the captured criminal cartels had just taken a dramatic shift. This is a game changer. Start with the criminal groups. What if we turn on the first three settings of the tags on ALL of the captured criminals. Then execute a carefully structured interview of all the Capos and then the Lieutenants. Questions like where is all the money, where are all of your vaults, name all officials you have bribed or corrupted, same for police, who are your confederates overseas, describe your organizations in other countries, who have you ordered killed, and the list goes on. Next, do the same with the terrorists, from whom do you take orders, where are they located, who are the specific targets, where are the cells located and so forth. Imagine the impact. It would be devastating to those groups."
"That is pretty profound", noted Gus.
"It gets better, consider what would happen on those containerships if we were to trigger the second setting when they reach the location six miles offshore. None of them could touch a weapon. The clean up would become a matter of just moving things about. Then, after they are in custody and processed, trigger setting three and start asking questions. Make sure that the press is there to record the answers to questions like where are you from, who sent you, why."
Judy said, "Wow, that would be a bombshell. We need to do this."
"I agree, does anyone see a downside."
Fred Larson offered, "Not exactly a downside, but something that has potential for problems of its own. The impact of what we are doing on financial markets could be significant, depending on whose ox is gored. We are going to have to tread carefully with the big money people. They may be just as bad as the cartels. Too many play fast and loose and do not care what the impact of their actions are on other people. We will have to watch for those kinds of impact. We are going to have to deal with the crooked ones."
Jim said, "Another point we do not want to overlook. There are six ships of concern. Two of them have terrorists on board. The other four can't be overlooked. When and where are they bound?"
Aston responded, <There is a small containership due in at Ensenada this morning at about 10 am. It has 100 containers that are suspect. The cargo on that ship appears to be all weapons and munitions. Two days later in the evening there will be two ships in at VeraCruz that have a total of 500 containers with contraband. The day after that we have our fun with the Altamira bound ships and three days after that there are 150 suspect containers due in at Manzanillo. So it seems that most of the heavy stuff is coming in through Gulf ports.>
Jim said "Andy, this is going to prove to be a very valuable tool. There is one particular case that I would like to reach closure on for the benefit of our newest members. I'd like to nail this Mateo Rodriguez. He is a bad piece of work. Can we arrange for a different approach on this case?"
"What do you have in mind?"
"I'd like to clean up Paulo's home town and then take this Rodriguez in for an interview before witnesses, the police and preferably a judge. Let's get that piece in back of us."
"Agreed, let's see if Josè can help us set it up."
Jim contacted Josè and explained what they wanted to do. Josè said it would take about an hour to set it up and he would contact them when all was ready. An hour later Josè told them all was ready. Aston had already identified and tagged the corrupt officials and policemen. So the team went out and captured them and deposited them at Isla Maria Madre. Then they captured Mateo Rodriguez and delivered him to the interrogation room at the police station in Paolo's home-town with the first three tag settings turned on.
The judge along with witnesses and a number of invisible Solarans were in the room with the chief interrogator. The questioning started.
"Are you Mateo Santiago Rodriguez?"
"Si."
"Do you know where you are?"
"This looks like the police station interrogation room."
"Yes it is. Do you know why you are here?"
"No."
"Who do you work for?"
"Capo Alejandro Sánchez."
"What do you do for Señor Sánchez?
"I am one of his enforcers."
"Are you answering these questions of your own free will?"
"Si." By now Mateo was sweating profusely.
"Have some water Señor Rodriguez."
"Gracias."
"Señor Rodriguez, please tell me what are your duties as an enforcer for Señor Sánchez?
"I threaten, hurt or terminate whoever Señor Sánchez tells me to."
"How long have you been so employed, Señor Rodriguez?"
"For ten years."
"Please explain what you mean by terminate?"
"That means I kill anyone he tells me to kill."
"Si."
"Please tell me the names."
Rodriguez proceeded to name the persons he had killed.
"Señor Rodriguez, you claim to have killed Councilman Diego Garcia, but our records indicate that Paulo Martinez was convicted in absentia for that event. Would you please explain?"
"Councilman Diego Garcia was not satisfied with the payments that Capo Sanchez was making to him so I was told to terminate him. I did as I was ordered to do. I also saw the Martinez kid coming to see what was going on, so I hit him from behind, wiped the gun of my prints and put the gun in his hand. I then left the scene. The police must have arrived after he woke up and ran. The gun with his prints were enough. The Capo liked that I had turned the attention to someone else."
"So you are saying that Paulo Martinez did not kill Councilman Diego Garcia and that you did?"
"That is correct?"
"Señor Rodriguez, in what other murders did you use this technique?"
Rodriguez then listed 10 cases where similar methods had been used and described the scenario for each.
"Señor Rodriguez, are you aware of the likely results for the answers you have given me tonight?"
"Si, I will be in prison for the rest of my life which will probably be very short."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because I have told you too much to be permitted to live much longer."
The judge muttered, "¡Dios mío! We must correct these miscarriages of justice. I want him in protective custody until we can repair the damage he has done. That will be done by morning. I want those falsely imprisoned in my chambers by this evening. I have much to do."
<Aston, please also activate setting four for this one until the judge has finished. Also do a tag for settings one, four and five for the judge. He may be in danger and there is no sense taking a chance that he isn't. It is a bit disconcerting to listen to someone so blithely confess to so many murders. Josè this one needs to get to your newspapers.>
They continued to pull in more criminals for the rest of the night. At 6 am Andy said, "There is one more thing we need to do before we take a break and then visit Ensenada. Jim, Maria and Pat, would you join me for a little visit to Josè's parents? Lets split the rest into groups to visit the parents of the others wrongly jailed and ease their worries." They went to the Martinez household and assumed an appearance of tourists and knocked on their door. "Señor Martinez, we have some good news to discuss with you and Señora Martinez. May we come in."
"Si, please come in."
Señora Martinez joined them with a somewhat puzzled expression. Andy explained, "Señor, Señora, the four of us are not what we appear to be. We have assumed this appearance so at not to frighten you or to draw unwanted attention to you. We bring you good news. May we show you our true form and then we will return to this and explain?" With agreement, Andy changed to his Solaran uniform appearance followed by Pat, Marie and Jim. They then all returned to their disguised appearance. "Señor, Señora, do you know what we are?"
"Señor, everybody is somebody. We bring you good news. Your son is alive and well. He has been afraid to contact you because it would endanger you. Early this morning the criminal who did the murder that your son was accused of, confessed to the crime before witnesses and a judge. He did this to 10 other persons as well, so there are likely to be newspaper people asking many questions. You can refuse to see them if you wish, but be prepared for them to ask many questions, some with a lack of propriety. They can be obnoxious in their efforts to prepare a story for print. Do not let them disturb your peace of mind. Your son's name will be cleared by this evening. He is married to a fine lady and they have a four year old daughter who is a cute as any child I have seen and she will melt your heart. We will make arrangements for you to see them as soon as we can. Many believe he is dead, killed in a shooting about five years ago. Let them continue to believe that. Be assured that he is well and under our protection. He is a good man. We would ask that you not tell others that he is alive. He will explain all when you see him. Can you do this?"
"Oh, si, si Señor. This news is wonderful. We do not socialize much and have very few friends since Josè was accused of this terrible crime. Just knowing he is well is all we need. To see him again would be a dream."
"There is one more thing to think on. We know of people in the United States who would be willing to sponsor the two of you for citizenship. In this way you would be closer to your family. Unfortunately, the climate would be different than you are used to so it would be an adjustment. Think on this. We will be in touch soon to arrange some time between you and your son and his family. If any of your neighbors ask about this visit, merely tell them that we are from the same Oregon town where your nephew resides and are looking to market some of your curios. That should satisfy them."
After they returned to the ship, Andy related the results of the morning activities to Paulo and the meeting with his parents. He was excited with the report and responded with heartfelt thanks. They then rested and at the appropriate time went to the ship at Ensenada. The crew was tagged and setting three was used to determine what was known concerning the contraband they carried. The crew was not aware that they carried contraband so the tags were removed. They identified the containers that were at issue and decided to follow their movements. They also looked at the manifests to determine where the containers were loaded and who was the dispatching party. They transported the contents to the appropriate sites and replaced the contents with an equivalent weight of dirt. Three of the containers contained dirty bomb materials. These were attached to an asteroid heading toward the sun whose trajectory indicated that it would be pulled into the sun. The emptied containers were fitted with tracking devices to see where they would lead. The Mexican Army was tracking those containers. A signal device was affixed to the doors to the containers so that when opened, the Solarans would know. The customs officials charged with examining the contents of the containers did not open any of the containers with contraband. They merely replaced the seal on the containers with seals indicating that the contents had been examined. They were tagged for later questioning. Everyone except the General and the Mendezes was present on the ship.
Jeff said, "The progress we have made in the last few days has been amazing and I think necessary but there is one thing I would like to discuss because it makes me uncomfortable. I do not want to see this take us down a path we will not like later. So I think discussion and awareness of the issue is probably a good idea. Because of the tools we have available to us we can know with certainty that someone is guilty of a crime or not. In a sense we become judges and can force someone to tell us that which he would never in a million years tell us voluntarily. It is a kind of self-incrimination instrument that could easily be abused. I am, of course, referring to the third setting on our tag system. We have to be absolutely careful this is not used for political purposes. We do not want to become instruments of mind control. I am for the continued use of this tool but with the awareness that we could slide into misuse without even realizing it was happening. I think that a criminal who has murdered others has earned a sentence of permanent truthfulness as uncomfortable as it makes me feel. People do change and I am not sure that this approach will recognize when we should reconsider such a sentence. Are we doing the right thing, long term?"
Andy said, "Jeff that is a really reasonable concern and I have to admit that it gives me qualms. I guess the problem we have is that the criminal element down there has taken such an upper hand that this may be the only response we can take to save a lot of people who are otherwise subject to the machinations of the Capos."
Jim added, "I am in law enforcement and I have to say I like this capability. I can see the concerns you both express and I applaud you both for that concern. When we all started this process a few days ago, we were aware that Aston was going to be our reminder when we were abusing the powers we are using. The one suggestion that I would add is that we ask Aston to keep an eye on how we use this feature to let us know when we might be close to stepping over the edge. This is an area that we might abuse without realizing we have gone too far. We certainly do not leave the setting in place unless the subject person has been convicted of murder or is an accomplice in a murder and even then there should be a time limit. The prison system in Mexico is not up to handling the influx of criminal we are providing, and is essentially controlled by the cartels. This has to change. That control has to be discontinued."
Aston finally added, <The fact that you have discussed this issue with these concerns tells me that you have an understanding of the potential abuse that can result in the settings available to you with the tag system. At times you will be walking a tight-rope with the use of the tag setting. It is a good thing to question the propriety of the tools you have available. Be assured that if you are edging into abuse, I will question the course of action you intend. I think that this would be a good item for monthly discussion and review of status.>
# An hour later #
Andy contacted General Clark asking, <General, I am the Solaran Commander, do you have a minute?>
<Yes I do. >
Andy appeared at his home, <General, earlier today, you asked if we had a means whereby you could communicate with Solarans when you obse
rve an injustice. It happens that we do have a means to do this. Part of the tagging system we typically use to track persons of interest has a feature that allows the tagged subject to communicate with us directly. It means that you have to have one of our tags to access the communication setting. If used, we will always know where you are located. This would annoy some people and is in a sense an infringement on your right to privacy. For us this means you will have to willingly accept such a tag. This is not a bad thing necessarily except that this is usually something we use for tracking criminals, terrorists or persons under our direct protection. If this does not bother you, we can tag you and activate the communication setting. If you have additional questions, I would be happy to try to answer them. Communications would be mental which means they will not be overheard.>
<How is this done and is it harmful to me? Will I be confused with the criminals you tag? How does it work?>
<The tag is a genetic marker that tunes our ship directly into your genetic makeup. It does no harm to the subject individual. There is no way that it will confuse you with the criminals and others we track. The communications setting essentially puts you in direct contact with our ship, Aston, say hello to General Clark.>
<Hello General Clark, hope you are having a nice day.>
Startled, Clark responded, <Yes I am, thank you.>
<This form of communication does not mean that we are listening to your thoughts or taking things from your mind. That is not one of the tag capabilities. You have to direct the thoughts you want us to hear to us. Your brain will automatically adjust to how to do this and you have just made the link by responding to Aston even though the tag has not been made yet. Easiest way to do this is to just address Aston when you wish to talk. He is very good at multitasking.>