"Item #2, Jim, you're up."
"OK, Item #2. We are doing a tag team approach as you can see. Now the fun part begins. Our five pairs of soon to be married Solarans are to have first choice on the condo units that will be theirs at Whale Point. I have parked a bus at the site so we all have an excuse as to how we all got there if we need it. Aston tells me there is no one at the site today, so we can go and look things over and make our choices. We will all transport to the lobby area on the store level so you can see the layout. I will tell you that the views from the upper four floors are essentially the same, just a difference in height depending on the floor you are on. But first a question, how many of you want a unit adjacent to your parents?" Ten hands went up. "Ok, how many parents want to live adjacent to their kids? Remember we did say these units are well sound proofed." Sixteen hands went up amidst the laughter. "Phew, that makes it unanimous. So the kids will choose their units and parents will be on either side. After they make their choice, the Martinez/Mendez family will choose next followed by the Clarks, the O'Malleys, Mizukami-san, and Josè. That is a total of 20 occupied units. We will reserve 6 units for visiting Solarans. Bill, Donna, Maria and I will make those choices. That leaves us with another 22 units to occupy in the first tower as needed."
Aston said, <Now it's my turn for Item 2½. You will find a catalog in each unit with the amenities and furnishings that come with the units. There is a considerable variety of furnishings available, enough to meet all of your tastes. Be sure to select a style with which you will be comfortable. These are all prepaid, so all you have to do is decide what suits your taste and let me know. You will all be pretty busy training your capabilities for some time so this is something that will not add to your distractions. These are all high quality items so don't even worry about costs. Besides, this is something you will earn in the long run. If you have furniture that you wish to keep, that is fine too. The furniture will all be shipped to a location near the manufacturer, unpackaged, checked for damage or flaws and then left there. During the night, we will teleport it to the condo to which it belongs. I will also check for tracking devices and disable and remove those that are found. You can also go to see the furniture first hand before you decide.>
Bill said, "OK, who is ready for a look-see now?"
Bill and Jim gave everyone the grand tour and then the selections began. Andy, Pat, Gus and Barbara all selected condos on the fifth floor to give their friends the opportunity to make sixth floor selections. In short order, all selections were made.
Chapter 16 - Another Day in Paradise
# Juneau #
# Friday, July 8 #
The ship was lively with new Solarans, almost 70 of whom had not yet received any formal training. Andy started off the session with introductions. He then described the training process. “Some of what we have to do is not very glamorous but it does enhance your understanding of the capabilities you have. Whenever you are in action, you should be in your Solaran identity. This will become second nature. Just continue to be careful that you are not seen or photographed while making a transition. We have to be very careful to protect our true identity or we will have no privacy and our non-Solaran family members will be at risk. Governments are going to be trying to find out who we are to leverage their desires. We can’t let that happen. Eventually one of us will make a mistake that they will try to use. If that happens, we may have to take an action that will make us uncomfortable, to dissuade the government from misusing us. Our initial approach will be one of warning followed by disclosure of their action in areas they will not like. Blackmail if you will but our tolerance will be low. More on that later.”
“By now you have tried out a number of the capabilities you were told about. Keep doing that. The more you do, the more proficient you will become. Practice when you can. Aston will also guide you in how to best enhance each of these capabilities. Part of that exercise is to respond to alerts with our more experienced members until you have reached the necessary comfort level. Aston will know what you are capable of at a particular point in time. Listen to what he tells you. Listen to the team leader on a project. Our goal is to get you up to speed as quickly as possible. It took the first group about 2 weeks to reach a useful level of proficiency with their talents. They still have a considerable way to go to reach a level that will be useful against the invaders. We have applied substantial emphasis on team efforts. We expect to continue and seek collaborative efforts when we can. If we receive an alert during this process, some of you will respond with a team leader in charge. This will give you the experience in how we handle things. We expect restraint when dealing with crooks and terrorists. We are not trying to kill or maim. We are trying to prevent the harm they would do and, trust me, we are pretty good at that. Gus is going to give you a rundown on all of our actions to date. Much of that should be a guide to how we react to situations. We are also going to be doing some heavy lifting.” He explained their commitment to building the facility at Isla Maria Magdelena and the reasons for shaping it as a showcase. Left to their own devices, construction would take forever because of the remoteness of the location and the logistics for getting the needed materials and equipment there. "We will have literally thousands of converted containers to transport there and put in place. It will be a good exercise in energy absorption and redirection. The supplies and material needed to build there must all be imported. This will not make us as busy as it sounds, but it is good practice. We have also located a few places where we might practice out of sight. These are unpopulated remote locations so that we will not be observed.”
With no fanfare or warning, Ed and Jane appeared amidst the group in their Solaran uniforms and then assumed their normal appearance. Ed addressed Andy, “Wow Andy, you were absolutely correct. Jane and I were able to give all of the nuclear material a nudge to take it to the Sun. When we tried to return to the ship, we could not locate it. So Jane suggested that this was a good time to try out the new toy you and Aston came up with. It worked perfectly, I am happy to say. Aston is still trying to figure out why we had that problem and he has an idea about it. We could still make out Earth with our enhanced vision and that was not an easy search. Preliminarily, he thinks that our action with the materials also changed our orbital velocity and took us off course in the direction of the Sun. We are going to have to be pretty careful about that in the future.”
“Why don’t you and Jane update the group on the nature of your project, and what happened along with any cautions that come to mind while it is hot in your memory.”
“Good idea.” He then proceeded to give the group a full explanation of what was done, the concerns that arose while planning and the response to the problems that arose.
Gus then started his critique of the various operations to date, the issues encountered and how they were addressed. After about an hour he noted that it was time to get out and do some actual field-testing. They were about to teleport to a field location when Aston interrupted saying, <Alert, alert. Terrorist incident underway in Nice, France. Everybody transport to the coordinates I have given you. This will build a wall around these people. It is too late to move them out. There are eight of them. > They arrived in place just as the eight terrorists self detonated. The Solarans fully blocked the blast and absorbed the energy. Aston advised, < We have another group with the same modus operandi in Stuttgart, Germany.> Again the group teleported and formed a Solaran wall around the terrorists just as their bombs went off. Again no one was injured.
<Andy, I have another group approaching a major market place in Jerusalem with the same apparent intent. This time we can reach them before they detonate. Again there are eight. Everyone has their coordinates, you have time to disarm them. Suggest you go to semi-visible. >
This time they were able to disarm the terrorists and form a wall around each until the police arrived. Andy explained to the officer in charge, Captain Adam Keller that this was the third incident in as many minutes. He in
dicated that that the individuals had been tagged and the truth setting was engaged. He asked Captain Keller for help in determining the source for this particular round of events and the officer indicated that he had been instructed to provide whatever assistance he could because Solaran activities had already saved a substantial number of lives in his country. Andy asked for contact information so that he could check back in with them from time to time. Andy asked if he would be willing to be tagged for communications purposes and the Captain responded that he would be happy to do that. Aston tagged him with the communications function and that was tested. He told the Captain Keller that when he had something to let Aston know and he would be heard.
Later back at the ship, the entire group critiqued the days events. Jim noted that the way the events were organized clearly suggested common threads and likely common leadership. Andy then contacted the Israeli officer, Captain Keller to see if there were any further developments. Keller noted that in several of the interviews one name had come up as having issued the orders for the attacks. His name was Hadi Mustafa and his purported residence was in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia. Captain Keller indicated that the Israeli Intelligence Service, Mossad had prepared a file on the individual and had it waiting for the Solarans to pick up.
<Andy, do not touch the file he would give you. Use your telekinesis to turn the pages. The pages have been tainted with tracking nanites. It looks like the Israelis would also like to gain control of Solaran capabilities. I can fry most of these things but am not yet sure that can I catch them all. This is a bit annoying.>
Andy teleported to the Captains office and had Aston turn on the truth setting for the Captains tag. <Captain, please respond mentally, are you aware that the file you have prepared for me has tracking nanites embedded?>
<No sir, I was not.>
<Captain, have you read this file to affirm that what you heard is correctly represented in the file?>
<No sir, I have not.>
<Captain, have you touched the file, however briefly?>
<No sir, I have not. A Mossad agent brought the file in, laid it on that table and told me not to touch it. What is this all about?>
<Captain, you need to get out of this office immediately. I will explain shortly. Is there a way to view that table from outside of this room?>
<Yes there is. This room is sometimes used as an interrogation room so it can be viewed from an adjacent room.>
<Is there a way to seal the room?>
<Yes there is, from the adjacent room.>
<Aston turn off the truth setting.>
<Aston, get ready to start frying nanites. OK Captain, lets go to the other room.>
<OK Captain, if you would please seal that room. Aston, when I open that file start frying the nanites. See if you can determine if that is a directional transmit and if so where is the receiver.>
<Got it boss.>
Using telekinesis it was easy to open the file. As he did, little sparks flashed with some frequency. As Andy turned each page, more sparks would fly. Aston indicated when each page had been copied into his memory. When the process was finished, Andy said, <Thanks Aston. Captain that file is about someone named Husam Hassan. Do you know anything about him?>
<No sir, I do not.>
<Captain, one of the concerns that the Solarans have is that governments with whom we come in contact will try to determine where we are from and try to use that information to further their own aims and goals. This hampers our ability to offer the kinds of protection we have been doing. Essentially they are jeopardizing the delivery of the kind of help we have been providing. Today, we probably saved several hundred lives. I would like to ask you to report this to your own police intelligence agency. Meanwhile, I am going to pay a little visit to your prime minister. I thank you for the help you have provided. I think your intelligence people should insist that whoever initiated this should be made to clean it up. I believe that the nanites have all been fried, but if I were you, I would not reenter that room until I was sure that all of the nanites were destroyed. My ship tells me that those things may be hazardous to humans, so there is a host of new questions to be asked. We will leave this communication path open to you. If we find out anything, I will let you know. Talk to you later.>
<Aston, please turn on the armor for Captain Keller's tag.>
<Done boss, good thinking.>
From there, Andy went to the Prime Ministers office in invisible mode. <Aston, please tag the Prime Minister with the truth setting.> <Prime Minister, I am the Solaran Commander, may I have a few minutes of your time? Please respond mentally, I will hear you.>
<Certainly, Thank you for what you have done, not only today but on several other occasions as well. What can I do for you?>
Andy then explained in detail what had occurred since they stopped the three attacks earlier in the day. He explained what Captain Keller had told him and the difference in the materials provided by someone else purportedly Mossad. <Prime Minister, was this action taken on your orders?>
<No, It was not and I am appalled that someone has undertaken such a course of action.>
<Aston, remove the truth setting, trigger the armor and communications settings.>
<Done.>
<Prime Minister, my suspicion is that someone in your intelligence community or under the guise of your intelligence community may be behind this latest round of attacks. We have vetted the Captain. He is not knowingly culpable with whoever set this up. Whoever did this has access to some pretty heavy duty nanotechnology. We did not anticipate this kind of attack on Solarans and are not pleased. May I suggest a course of action?>
<I would be pleased if you would. This is mind-boggling. This represents traitorous action and it cannot be tolerated.>
<Do you have someone in your Shin Bet that is good at uncovering this sort of thing and is someone that you really trust?>
<Yes, I do. That would be Moshe Eppstein.>
<How quickly can you bring him here?>
<He is currently in the building, should take about 5 minutes. I will call for him now.>
The Prime Minister pressed an intercom button and said, "Miss Rosen, please page Moshe Eppstein and ask him to report to my office right away. It’s important."
"Yes sir."
In five minutes, Miss Rosen called on the intercom to say, "Mr. Eppstein is here sir."
"Thank you Miss Rosen, send him in."
Andy faded to invisible and said, <Aston, tag him, truth setting.>
<Done.>
"Moshe, I will get right to the point, you know about the capture the Solarans made today of those attempted suicide bombers correct?"
"Yes sir, I do."
"Are you aware of any attempt to place nanotech tracers or other harmful devices on any Solarans investigating the incident?"
"No sir, I am not. That would be more than a little counterproductive."
<Aston, take off the truth setting and turn on armor and communications.>
<Moshe, please do not speak out loud, merely respond mentally and both the Prime Minister and I will hear you.> As he said this he slowly assumed a visible condition.
<Moshe, this is the Solaran Commander. He has an interesting story to tell. Commander.>
Andy then proceeded to tell the full story of what had occurred and his suspicions. He then explained that he had invaded their privacy with several questions that they were unable to answer except truthfully. This assured that the Prime Minister, Captain Keller and Moshe were what they represented. He explained that each had been tagged and would be able to communicate with the Solaran ship. He also noted that the armor setting had been activated making them bulletproof, bombproof and knife proof.
The Prime Minister ordered Moshe to find out what was behind this and report to him and the Solarans. He suggested that Captain Keller was being reassigned effective immediately.
<Prime Minister, would you mind if I brought Captain Keller here now?>
<Good idea.>
; <Pat would you bring Captain Keller here please. Ask him to bring his prisoner interviews as well.>
Two minutes later, Pat showed up with Captain Keller and his files.
<Major Keller, I am pleased to meet you. Call that a field promotion. I hope you do not mind, but I am reassigning you to work with Colonel Moshe Eppstein of Shin Bet. We believe that the person you dealt with earlier today was not with Mossad as represented. I have asked Colonel Eppstein to look into this quickly and get to the bottom of this. The Commander here has provided you with an additional tool so you can work with some freedom. Miss Rosen is preparing credentials for the both of you to give you carte blanche access to whatever you need to see. The Solarans have offered to help you. They have provided you with some invaluable tools. I want whoever is behind this clearly identified and neutralized. I don't mean killed, I mean unable to again order people killed. The Commander will brief you on how they are willing to help you. Please do not abuse their generosity. >
<When you have your credentials, go to the parking garage below this building and to the Colonel's car and we will transport that wherever you wish to go. Another question, do you have a secure place where we might transfer those prisoners? I do not want to lose them just yet.>
<But Commander, those prisoners were ordered transferred an hour ago.>