Altered Children

First Admiral geFramex recently retired due to ill health and age. For eight years, he’d struggled to contain humanity’s insatiable appetite to explore its solar system and likely beyond, what he considered the most dangerous threat to the security and expansion of the Silkar Union. Before resigning as Chief of the Silkar Defense Forces General Staff, he bumped Fondro teReevat from Admiral to First Admiral ahead of more senior admirals, and insured his reassignment from commanding Operation Pacify’s flotilla to the General Staff as its chief.

As a result, Spuvi teDanon was promoted to Sub-Admiral and now commanded the small flotilla assigned to the Jeritha Study Group, as well as the secret Operation Pacify.

The flotilla still consisted of its permanent flagship, the thousand foot long Silkaran assault spacecraft carrier Rostvar Cluster, and its two destroyer escorts. The Jitza Coalition regularly furnished one escort vessel and had strongly supported the resolution to quarantine Earth, which the Silkar Union had introduced eight years before—in 2017. But instead of approving a quarantine, the League of Worlds Executive Council had extended the study group’s mandate to monitor Earth’s sociological and technological progress. The second escort, currently from the Rhelian Alliance, rotated among the other three study group members.

The carrier served as a base for the sixteen shuttles being used for the abduction and return of Human subjects chosen for Operation Pacify. The Silkar Space Defense Service ran the operation surreptitiously, but with the covert aid of the Jitza Coalition.

From the beginning, the flotilla had been stationed along Earth’s solar orbit on the opposite side of the sun from Earth. Humans had established a large manned space platform in Earth orbit and a continuously occupied base on the moon. Additionally, a mission to Mars with four astronauts had recently been successful. Located where it was, the small flotilla was expected to remain hidden from Human observation.

Up to now, the meeting with the Rhelian Alliance’s ambassador to the Silkar Union had been pleasant, short and routine. The Silkaran prime minister, Valarde kaKinon, and her chief adviser, Gaspo kaPakar, sat with the ambassador around the small conference table in the alcove of her office. Each had a steaming cup of her special blend of stimbrew.

The ambassador sat sideways to stretch out his long legs. He placed his cup on the table. “Madam Prime Minister, I must mention something which recently came to our attention.”

Prime Minister kaKinon noted the seriousness in the ambassador’s voice. “Yes, Mr. Ambassador, please continue.”

“A report from the captain of the Rhelian destroyer assigned to the Jeritha Study Group’s naval squadron noted his concern with the number of shuttle missions Admiral teDanon was running to Jeritha. The captain felt it seemed far greater than necessary for the Study Group’s objectives.”

Adviser kaPakar cleared his throat. “Excuse me. Did the captain request an explanation from Admiral teDanon?”

“He discussed the issue with the admiral at a senior officers’ meeting. The captain was satisfied with the admiral’s explanation that the study group could not put additional miniature satellites in orbit around Jeritha because the Jerithans might detect them. The admiral also told him the high number of shuttle runs added to their information gathering capability, and was the only way to be certain of meeting the study group’s objectives.

“According to Admiral teDanon, there was no other way to effectively monitor Jeritha’s sociological progress and the development of their space exploration capabilities.”

“If that is the case,” Prime Minister kaKinon said, “why are you bringing this up?”

The Rhelian ambassador twisted in his seat. “First, my government agrees it would endanger the peace if the Jerithans entered interstellar space and intruded upon our spheres of influence while they remain so immature and violent. That said, the senior analysts in our naval institute looked at the operational plans and the logistics involved. They’re not comfortable with the admiral’s explanation. However, we have no evidence of anything untoward. My government wanted to bring it to your attention.”

He lifted his attaché case from the floor with his prehensile tail, removed a packet from the case and slid it across the table to her. “Here’s a copy of their analysis. If you learn more about it, we would appreciate your passing the information to us.”

“Thank you and your government for your candor,” Prime Minister kaKinon said. “We will look into it and let you know what we uncover. It may take awhile.”

After the ambassador left, the prime minister turned to her chief adviser. “Gaspo, we have had our suspicions about what the study group’s flotilla may be doing. Have our agents turned up anything new?”

“No, nothing. Even Scalpel is not in a position to get to the heart of it. The admiral’s explanation sounds reasonable—on the surface.”

“Hmm . . . meet with First Admiral teReevat and feel him out. Then get back to me.”

Two days later, First Admiral teReevat and Gaspo kaPakar met in the chief adviser’s office.

“May I offer you a drink, Admiral?”

“No thank you. I have a full schedule, so I would rather get right to it.”

“All right. Concern has been expressed about the operations of our spacecraft assigned to the Jeritha Study Group. Specifically regarding what is seen as an unnecessary number of shuttle runs to Jeritha.”

“I read the report from the Rhelian destroyer’s captain. He was satisfied with Admiral teDanon’s explanation.” The admiral glared at Adviser kaPakar. “Why are you not satisfied?”

“The prime minister merely wanted me to get an explanation directly from you and not receive it from a third party. I am sure you can understand that.” Adviser kaPakar’s left eye twitched slightly.

“All I can do is restate what you already know.” The admiral gave a deep sigh. “But, if I must, I will humor you.” Admiral teReevat then repeated Admiral teDanon’s explanation to the Rhelian captain. Finally, he rose and loomed over Adviser kaPakar like a tombstone. “I hope that is sufficient. Anything involving highly technical or tactical details would no doubt be beyond your education and training.”

“Yes, yes, Admiral. Thank you for your time,” he spoke to the admiral’s retreating back. “Damn him,” he murmured under his breath. To no avail, he pressed his left eyelid to quell the twitching.

As the door closed behind the admiral, Adviser kaPakar switched off the recording system, and also transmitted the recording directly to the prime minister’s monitor. He walked to the door between their two offices and knocked. She had been expecting his immediate report and invited him to enter. They sat on one of the two facing sofas near the front of her desk.

Prime Minister kaKinon shook her head. “I have been told a stern look from you can turn opponents to mush, but the admiral’s glower can turn one to stone. I wish we could reassign him to a picket ship at the far reaches of the league’s territory. Your impression?”

“I believe he was not completely truthful, partly because he was so dismissive and careful in what he said. But that is more a feeling than anything substantive.”

Prime Minister kaKinon sighed. “He has replaced too many senior officers with those loyal to him. I do not like it. Nor do I trust him.”

“It is regretful they have so much discretionary funds available,” her adviser said. “It gives them too much freedom to operate beyond our control.”

“If they are interfering in Jerithan affairs there could be trouble from the league,” the prime minister muttered. “How can the general staff be so oblivious to the possible ramifications?”

“They understand them as well as we do,” Adviser kaPakar grumbled. “Sanctions if we are lucky. If their violations are too egregious, the league could take military action.”

“Please see what else you can find out . . . as quietly as possible.” Prime Minister kaKinon tapped a forefinger on her adviser’s arm to emphasize each word. “We. Must. Be. Careful.”

They both stood. Adviser kaPakar drifted toward the door to his office. At the door he stopped and turned back to face the prime minister. “I will put out feelers, and fill you in as soon as I get anything.” After her adviser shut the door behind him, the prime minister rose and gazed out the window at the darkening sky.

I wonder what the problem is, Admiral teDanon thought as he made his way to the testing room set up in one of the holds of the Rostvar Cluster. Well, I will find out soon enough. Fortunately, we have kept knowledge of our real purpose here limited to those who are part of Operation Pacify. Quite manageable actually—even with a hundred potential leaks. Was a little delicate in that senior officers meeting. Glad I dispelled the Rhelian captain’s concern over how many shuttle flights we run to Jeritha.

Admiral teDanon entered the testing room and marched over to the senior medical officer, who wore a lab coat with his medical insignia on the collar and a stethoscope around his neck. He was one of many dedicated officers on a six year duty rotation. Melker geWaxted had been promoted and made medical chief a year ago when he replaced Pomel kaBether because of the latter’s ‘lack of commitment’. “What is the problem, Commander?”

The medical officer stepped away from supervising the examination of the Human children presently occupying six of the twelve examination tables in the compartment. “We just completed an examination of 180 of the 264 subjects in the study group for this phase. A condition that was once merely disturbing has now become more serious and could severely impact the operation, depending on how it progresses.”

“Yes, I am listening,” Admiral teDanon said.

“It has been over three and a half years since the first phase of the examination and testing, when the subjects were four Jerithan years old. At that time, Commander kaBether reported that some of them were not as susceptible to the anesthetics as they should have been.”

“Yes, I remember. Go on.”

“Recently, the number of these young Jerithan subjects not responding fully to the drugs has jumped to seventy-two percent. In fact, they are highly resistant to the drugs. It requires a greater amount of anesthesia than it should to put them under and keep them unconscious at the depth we want for our examinations.”

“Can you increase the dosage?”

Commander geWaxted thought for a few seconds before answering. “It would be dangerous to the subjects to increase it more than we already have. And it could compromise the mission’s results by adversely affecting their physiological and psychological stability.”

Operation Pacify’s commanding officer prompted his medical officer. “Is this problem affecting the mission at the dosages being used now . . . and if it is, how so?”

“No, it is not causing serious difficulties at this time,” the medical officer admitted. “And it is not delaying our work. The interesting thing is, the problem is symptomatic of most subjects in the study group, but is not present in a significant degree in the control group.”

“Is that it then?”

“Yes, sir.

“Well, keep close watch on it.” The admiral began to turn away.

The commander handed Admiral teDanon a summary of their latest progress report. “It is all detailed in my report, which has been posted to the system.”

Admiral teDanon flipped through the report’s pages. “Have you developed a hypothesis about this condition among the children?”

“No, not yet,” Commander geWaxted replied. “The subjects are all approaching or barely into the eighth year since their birth. It is too early to know what the patterns mean in terms of their development. We will continue our current procedures, but monitor this situation closely, and look for other anomalies.”

Admiral teDanon told the medical officer to continue with his work and walked to the hatch. He stopped and turned back. “Oh, by the way, one final question, Commander. Any problems with the new four-phase biotronic locator?”

“No, sir. It works much like the older two-phased model used to track the subjects’ mothers before they gave birth. But it is much more efficient. We inject the nanobots which build the device in the brains of each of the study group subjects just before we release them to be returned to their homes. We track them from the time they leave here until they reach Jeritha’s atmosphere. If there are no problems by then, there should not be any.”

“And if there are problems, what then?” The admiral’s voice was raspier than usual.

The medical officer crossed his arms. “If there are, we would bring the subject with the defective device back here to either fix the problem or terminate the subject. But it has not happened yet, and I do not expect it to.”

Terminate! Admiral teDanon thought. His mind recoiled. What an antiseptic way to say “kill”. He left the testing room and returned to his quarters. The admiral sat at his desk in the soft glow of the barely sunlit moon visible through the view port. Well, he thought, what is causing this anomaly? What other unintended consequences will we run into? Subjects! These Jerithan children are not so different from our own young ones. Are we doing the right thing? Those tests to be performed on them in the next phase. I am not as sure about them as I once was. Can we justify them?

The admiral put his head in his hands. Can I do this . . . see the mission through? I hope I will not falter in my duty. He turned on his desk light and skimmed the report summary, then accessed and reviewed the full report on his computer.