When the Gods Aren't Gods: Book Two of The Theogony Read Free Page A

had just led a platoon that helped repulse a Chinese invasion of Seattle and Tacoma. The aliens told him that their communications link back to their home world had stopped working, and they needed help to find out what had happened. Believing that a hostile race was responsible for the outage, they had tried to find an alternate route to their home world rather than face a presumably superior force.
    President Jacobs had agreed to furnish a crew for the aliens’ space ship, as well as a platoon of soldiers and the personnel needed to man the ship’s six fighters. He had also recruited some of the United States’ allies in the recently completed war to go along on the mission. The aliens had asked to have Calvin lead both the platoon and the fighter squadron but would not say why; most assumed that it was because he had led a number of successful operations during the war, but no one was sure. The aliens had so far refused to give the United States most of their advanced technology, saying that their society had rules that forbid technology transfer unless the world had a unified planetary government.
    Although the mission had not been successful in reaching the Psiclopes ’ home world or bringing back a replicator big enough to build battle fleet-sized space ships, they had returned with a Class 2 replicator that could build fighter-sized craft, as well as new laser technology. The Earth was stronger, but not strong enough.
    President Jacobs ’ list of things to do included little things like forming a world government, getting politicians to rewrite centuries-old documents and stopping an alien invasion without the tools and technology necessary to do so. Oh, yeah, he also had to win an election in order to remain president, too, which involved campaigning, kissing babies and holding fundraisers...all of which took away time from doing the really important things.
    “This is not a working session,” continued the vice president. “If we tr y to solve every issue that we have at the moment, we’d be here for weeks.” The president heard other lengths of time mentioned around the table. ‘Years’ was the most common, followed by ‘decades, if ever.’ “Just give a progress report and note any issues that require presidential decisions.” He looked around the large table to ensure that everyone understood. “OK,” he said, looking to the woman at his left, “first up is State.”
    As the person tasked with setting up the new world government, the president knew that the Secretary of State, Isabel Maggiano, had a lot that she was working on. “For those of you that haven’t heard yet, the Vella Gulf just returned from its trip to Epsilon Eridani.” The president knew that the ship had been badly damaged in a fight with an alien battlecruiser on its first mission, and that the quick trip to Epsilon Eridani had been taken as a ‘shakedown cruise’ to see how well its repairs would hold. “Its commanding officer said that it performed well on the journey. What you may not have heard is that the Epsilon Eridanians have formed a world government of their own and have petitioned for entry into the ‘Terran Alliance.’”
    The secretary smiled wryly at the variety of comments she heard. “Apparently it is easier to form a government when there are only two nations that have to agree. Ambassador Flowers has been very busy. Not only did he get them to work out their differences, but also he helped them establish a unified government. Similar to the way we call our planet ‘Terra,’ they are now calling their planet ‘Domus,’ which is the Latin word for ‘home.’ Ambassador Flowers was able to keep them from sending their ambassador to the Terran world government this time, but he said that the next time the Vella Gulf comes through, we should be prepared to receive her. Hopefully, there will actually be a Terran world government by then.”
    Maggiano shook her head. “Maybe this will help push things