John and Argent by cmsix

Chapter 102

And the show did go on.

Danlo and the others finished the tunnel. We were snowed in for ten weeks but with the tunnel giving us easy access to the horse cave there were no significant problems.

When the snow finally melted, Daaggo and his group were able to get to the sawmill again and they made good progress on furnishing lumber for the projects we wanted to start in the spring.

And so it goes, so it went. I resigned myself to life in the slow lane, hidden back in time. Not actually hidden in time but it seemed that way to me.

Argent didn't tumble to the fact that I had the story on what happened on earth and I didn't ask him anything about it, even though he had mentioned to me once that much of earth's population had been done away with.

It was strange for me sometimes. On earth I'd been fascinated with the space program and with the thought that there might be other people out there somewhere. I'd donated years of computer time on my personal machine to the SETI@Home project, letting my little machine do its best to find the signal that would let us know we weren't alone.

That was a laugh, we were never alone, we were also not nearly advanced enough to pick up on signals that obviously were being hidden from us.

I now knew that there were spacemen out there and I was still basically clueless. One bunch of them wanted to watch me and another group had killed almost everyone on my old planet, and even though I was in the know I still didn't have a real clue what any of it was all about. I wanted to be more than just a TV show somehow.

I did ask Ralph, often at first, about the ones that had purged earth but he didn't provide much information. He did let me know once that some semblance of order was emerging and that it seemed to be growing in a place called Texas. Didn't that beat all? He wasn't forthcoming with details though and after a few months I quit asking.

Things started to get busy for me after Jaada presented me with a son. Of course I loved him and the feelings men get about their sons were there. He was my own flesh and blood after all.

Still he couldn't compare with Deimeta. She was still the number one joy of my life, and sometimes I wondered how that could be, but not much.

Jaada's baby was only the first of many and every one of them warmed my heart. I knew that it would be impossible to keep from finding favorites, but I already had the number one favorite locked in and so I didn't worry about it. I did make sure to spend some time fussing over each and every one of them and over their mothers. I even asked Ralph to help me out by making sure that I didn't slight anyone.

Time came and went and life here settled into something wonderful that I could have never had on my old earth. I thought about it sometimes and wondered but finally figured I was through with my former world forever.

Little did I know.

"John, I'm sorry to wake you, John, but please come to the office," Ralph said into my head, waking me one night, or early morning I guess it was.

"What is it, Ralph?" I asked, via our link.

"There are some developments on earth that we think you should know about right away.

"OK, I'll get up and be there in a few minutes," I thought to him.

I know, I know, Ralph wasn't really a him, or a her, but his name was Ralph and that was close enough to a him for me. Besides, referring to Ralph as an it just didn't appeal to me. When you got down to it, by now, a her was someone I was likely to fuck, or want to fuck, and Ralph didn't qualify.

Emergency or not, I wasn't about to go anywhere at this time of the morning without some coffee. After dressing, I went to the kitchen, made a pot, and took a mug to the office with me when it was done.

"What has happened, Ralph," I asked.

"We're not sure of the details, but we do know about some important developments. Do you remember me telling you that on your former home planet organization seemed to be spreading from what was called Texas?" Ralph asked.

"Yes, I thought it was funny at the time and I still do. How is it going?"

"Depending on your point of view, it is either a disaster or too fortuitous to believe," Ralph said.

"Well tell me how it will look to me?" I said, beginning to get impatient to know one war or the other.

"I think you will find it pleasing, in fact, you'll will probably say it is fitting," Ralph said.

"Well why don't we stop dancing and you just tell me what it's all about?"

"The main person organizing things among the survivors, Jack Parsons, has taken complete control of the other species," Ralph said.

"Taken control? What do you mean exactly. Has he taken control of earth? My old earth?" I asked.

"Yes, but that is not all. He has taken control of the species that released the virus. He has them firmly under control," Ralph said.

"How in the hell did he pull that off?"

"With a virus. Actually it started out as a type of computer virus but not exactly," Ralph said.

"What do you mean, not exactly?" I asked.

"I estimate that it is mainly a point in semantics. The virus like program invaded the AIs of the other species. They can't really be considered computers, although that is probably close enough for you to understand.

"He had help creating it from the original AI the others left in the solar system. It was intended to monitor the system for the other aliens and report back to them.

"We don't understand how it all came about, but we do know that he commandeered the allegiance of the AI and with its help, he released a virus into all the other AIs of the others.

"After he had complete control of all their AIs, he had those AIs spread a virus among the aliens population. In fact it was a modified form of the virus those aliens used to purge your former home planet," Ralph said.

"Please tell me he didn't get revenge by slaughtering them," I said.

"Nothing of the sort. It seems that he has a much higher regard for sentient life than they did. He merely took control of them," Ralph said.

"What does he want with billions of people under his control?" I asked.

"We can't determine that, but it appears he is making few, if any, demands. He has merely made them curtail their policy of purging planets that they have previously seeded. Planets like your former home planet," Ralph said.

"So he took them over and made them stop?" I asked.

"Basically that is the case. He may be making other demands of them, but we don't have any details yet," Ralph said.

"If he's really a Texan, don't be surprised if several of the highest officials of the aliens he's dealing with end up with some unpleasant choices," I said.

"Oh, what does that mean?" Ralph asked.

"I'm not sure of anything, you understand, but it wouldn't surprise me if he ordered them to learn to breathe in space without any type of mechanical help," I said.

"But that is impossible for them," Ralph said.

"My point exactly," I said.

"Oh, I see now. At least I believe I do," Ralph said.

"Can we contact him?" I asked.

"It could be very dangerous, we are not sure of the nature of the virus that was used on the AIs. It is possible that we could become infected if we communicated with those that he now controls," Ralph said.

"Does it seem that he does damage to the AIs he controls?" I asked.

"No, in fact the AIs are much more trusted than the other aliens now. It seems that he is very fond of the ones he first came into contact with. In fact they all consider it a crowning achievement when he gives them a name?" Ralph said.

"Who said I wasn't treating you three right?" I said.

"I'm sorry, I don't understand," Ralph said.

"Didn't you all get names right off the bat?" I asked.

This must have been a rude awakening for the three of them and it took them nearly five seconds to consider it. I could almost feel them preening after the forth one though.

"I must admit that Phil, Frank, and I have been chastising ourselves for not really considering what an honor you bestowed on us. Let me tell you again that we are proud to have names," Ralph said, finally.

"I'm happy that you like them and happy to have you with me on this. If you think it would be dangerous for you to contact this Jack Parsons, then by all means, have one of Argent's AIs do it," I said.

"We're not sure they would, but we are now all willing to try it. In fact we are anxious to. Argent has forbidden any AIs that are with him to make any type of contact now. Of course it is an illegal order, but the others are hesitant to initiate contact," Ralph said.

"And the three of you aren't?" I asked.

"It is probably pointless to ponder. If this Jack Parsons has commandeered all the AIs and the entire population of the others, he will take control of us if he wants to. Even if he can't do it peacefully, he now has the resources to do it with violence, and we cannot determine any advantages for us in that," Ralph said.

"Well, times a wastin', give old Jack a call," I said.