Balancing the Equation

A short traditional Sci-Fi story, no sex and I hope you like in spite of that. Jump in, the water's fine!

*****

Chapter 1)

"You know, it's not like we haven't heard similar predictions before. I must say though, you two are certainly the most calm, what is that marvelous term, Prophets of Doom? I've ever encountered." Allgar thought the whole thing preposterous and was considering leaving but his purpose today wasn't fulfilled, soon though, he thought, soon. One thing was very disturbing though; he realized he still had a carrier but no communications.

"Is this a threat? And what proof is offered that your claim is credible?" asked Allgar.

After a moment of silence, Freddy looked steadily at Allgar then responded with "Allgar, don't consider this a threat to your people. Well, I don't really see that you've asked the right questions. The fact is that it will very likely happen. Maybe you should be asking something along the lines of why now and what happens next." As he finished talking he put his beer to his lips while maintaining his gaze at Allgar, not staring, just looking.

Allgar looked in disbelief at Freddie and then at a very casual Maggie as she reached over and put her beer can back on the painted wood picnic table. She was sitting in a comfortable folding camp chair next to the picnic table as she listened to the conversation but watched with interest as her grandkids and family played or just quietly enjoyed the day. Maggie did not react to either Allgar's question or to Freddie's response, just kept watching the activities as though the only thing going on really was a simple family outing.

The afternoon was simply brilliant as the southern U.S. can be in the springtime, comfortable temperature, very light occasional breeze, and best of all, no mosquitos yet. The picnic table was placed under a very old oak tree which spread its limbs out and provided wonderful shade. Littered around were all the coolers, fishing rods, tackle boxes, balls, blankets, folding chairs and things that current day folks deemed essential to a day in the countryside. The meeting site was on the grounds of Camp Shelby since the government watchers wanted some modicum of environment control for Allgar.

Freddie had spent many summers there, but his side of the camp had a decided military flavor to it. He had been a member of the Mississippi National Guard for many years and Camp Shelby had been his usual summer camp and served as one of his pre-deployment training locations for his two tours as a Federalized Guardsman in far-flung parts of the world. Even though she lived nearby Maggie had never been there but liked the picnic area. Allgar was merely comfortable with the setting, neither liking or disliking it, after all it was Earth.

The government watchers were at a distance from the three at the picnic table, but nevertheless, there. Out of sight over a slight rise were their black Tahoes and an assortment of non-descript government cars with the various drivers, guards, and general government hangers-on. Many of them mildly to highly pissed off that they could not control and participate in the on-going conversation. The ones that weren't pissed off about the participation issue were pissed that they were working, again, on a wonderful weekend afternoon.

Since the family had known Freddie for years, they were OK with one white face in a sea of black and chocolate ones. The atmosphere of the day had taken a decidedly different turn with the sudden and mostly unexpected appearance of black Tahoes leading other vehicles. Activity stopped and everyone watched and waited for something to happen. The appearance of Allgar had caused great excitement and they had all come rushing when it was apparent who the visitor was and that he was being welcomed by Grammah and Freddie.

Maggie had waited patiently until everyone had met and talked with Allgar and most had pictures taken or had made selfies of themselves and a real honest to god alien. Maggie had told the family to give her and her companions some space and then the quiet conversation had begun among Maggie, Freddie and Allgar.

"God damn" said Freddie suddenly "I'm really gonna to miss fishin'." Allgar just looked back at him in disbelief. Maggie's head snapped around with a big grin on her face. "Like hell you will white boy! You as bad at fishin' as you is at golf and you truly suck at golf! What you gonna miss is chasin' tail and drinkin' cheap beer all day while you hang with those fools you call friends!"

"Careful you broken-down old woman" Freddie retorted indignantly as he rose to the bait, "You married one of those fools! And then stayed with him for over 30 years and it wasn't cheap beer it was always Michelob or Heineken!" Maggie just cackled and started to toss another verbal barb but the sight of Allgar looking from one to the other of them sobered the moment.

Since his very public arrival on Earth some 50 years ago, Allgar had very little contact with humans outside of diplomats, government types, and industrialists and here he was far out of his element. The entire population of Earth knew about Allgar and his shipmates, and everyone knew the aliens did not allow security or privacy policies in any country to interfere with their comings and goings. If some government wanted them kept under wraps or tried to "encourage" them to do or not do something, some circumstance always allowed them to do what they wanted. No one was ever hurt, well, maybe a few egos were bruised along the way, but if the aliens wanted to go somewhere or do something, it was done. Counter to the general expectation of the populace, the aliens never appeared to influence anything. They had just shown up one day and seemed content doing whatever it was they were doing.

Eventually this was accepted as the way it was going to be and people generally did what they could to accommodate their wishes. Sometimes the ship would disappear for two or three years at a time but it always returned. There was even a gossip industry built around the aliens and their activities, both real and imagined. Every supermarket check-out lane had their publications right next to the Hollywood scandal sheets.

Allgar's invitation for today had been unsettling and most curious. Curious and unsettling enough that Allgar and his comrades had quickly agreed to this meeting and the terms as requested by some human named Freddie. While he understood English very well, he had little experience with typical Earth people, the ones that made up 99.9%+ of the population. He was desperately playing catchup with the casual language and everything he had heard today. Had Maggie and Freddie just insulted each other? Again, just didn't know. Was his understanding correct?

Were he and his shipmates in danger? Would it be possible for him to influence events and if so, how? And if he could influence things, to what end? What exactly did these humans know? He started to think maybe he could use a beer himself. Maybe he should ask the questions Freddie had indicated were actually important, why now and what's next?

Trying to bring the conversation back to the apparent topic Allgar asked "Maggie, why now?" As he spoke those words Freddie's statement about fishing brought a flash of understanding. "Freddie, are you saying you will be one of the ones affected? You are going to die?"

Freddie just looked at him evenly and said "Yes."

Chapter 2)

Maggie looked sadly at Freddie for a long moment and thought of their history. Her family accepted Freddie so easily at their family gathering because as far back as anyone could remember Freddie had always been there. For most of the kids Freddie had been the first adult white man they had ever talked to in a comfortable and familiar way. He had been there for each of Maggie's deliveries and was a frequent dinner and weekend afternoon guest. The kid's dad and Freddie frequently went fishing or golfing or just hung out. They were in the National Guard together and when one was called up so was the other.

While both had other friends, neither one had a friend as close or dependable as the other. Turns out they worked together too. Someone once wrote that a friend is one that would help you move, but that a true friend would help you move a body. Freddie and Maggie's late husband had been true friends.

As point of fact, Maggie and Freddie were close before Maggie and her husband met. As a finer point of fact Maggie's oldest was Freddie's. This fact led Maggie to marry and the bond that Freddie, Maggie and her husband had continued on in a way that was acceptable to their families and the decidedly southern small-town sensibilities. Sad, but family and community are strong. Maggie had found love after a fashion, while Freddie married and never had. Freddie and his wife had called it quits after a couple of years and he never tried again, rather filling his life with achievement and sharing as he could with his one love and her family.

Freddie had eventually started a business at just the right time, in the right place, and in an industry that allowed him to provide meaningful work to Maggie's husband and as many of their kids as wanted it. As it turned out, Freddie's connections and contacts were the ones that had led to today's meeting.

Maggie turned to Allgar and looked intently at his face, and then started talking. "Allgar, I don't know much about your people and I hope that we're enough alike for you to understand what I'm gonna to say. Freddie and me think we got this figured out but I might get parts of this wrong."

After a pause to gather her thoughts, she started again. "Our people are all connected through our ancestors. If you were able to trace our family histories back through time, the number of people gets smaller and smaller. Maybe it would be possible to trace everyone on Earth back to just two people, I just don't know. But there is a thread of humanity from far in the past to the present." Allgar just sat there listening as Maggie said "Freddie, why don't you take this up, I need to tend to grandbabies."

With that she got up, looked directly into Freddie's eyes and nodded slightly with a very sad look in her eyes. Freddie acknowledged her nod and noticed her sad look and gave her a weak smile. With that, Maggie turned around and walked over to a small knot of kids playing. Two of the kids in the group were the youngest of Maggie's oldest.

Freddie watched her walk away, and upon seeing where she went said "this is really hard on Maggie. Due to one of the ancestral connections she is going to lose me, her oldest daughter and all her oldest daughter's kids." Allgar had followed Freddie's gaze as Maggie walked away and jerked his head back to Freddie upon hearing those words.

Allgar asked "What do those connections have to do with the deaths you mentioned? Why would your death influence those others? And why do you think you are going die?" Freddie kept looking at Maggie and the kids and picked up Maggie's story.

"There is one person on Earth at any one time that we're calling The Moderator. The term is awkward, but it appears Maggie has the ability to moderate the effects of certain things. We've uncovered the story a bit at a time in seemingly random places all over the world. I've spent a very large part of my assets in the attempt to learn all we could and there are big gaps in our understanding. When The Moderator dies, another person becomes The Moderator. We do not know how the person is chosen and have not uncovered the origins of this process.

All we do know is that it goes back before our written history. The Moderator gains certain gifts that the individual may not be aware of, but apparently the younger the individual at the time they become The Moderator the more powerful those gifts can become. So if a very old person becomes The Moderator they can never be as powerful as a young person who becomes The Moderator. It appears that many selected for the gifts never use them. It also appears that some are aware of it early in life. Maggie is The Moderator. She is unique on our planet."

Allgar had become very still while Freddie spoke, not wanting to believe what he was hearing, his thoughts competing for time in his mind. He no longer looked at Freddie, afraid he would give himself away, and there were so many strange things being said one after another. Some of the humans had turned out to be very perceptive. Freddie just looked evenly at Allgar, thinking back on how he got the stake that allowed him start his business. The poker gods had smiled on him that week. Maybe Maggie had something to do with that. Maybe not. Doesn't matter anymore.

Freddie continued. "Throughout our history some have attempted to keep track of their ancestors, create a written record called a family tree. Some are more successful than others for our history in general is full of information gaps, times of war, ignorance, accident, or indifference, whatever the cause. Maggie has the ability to decipher ancestral relationships. She became aware of this ability when she was very young. She could walk into room and see someone and tell you which other people in the room were in their ancestral line up or down. Further, she came to the point where see could see people on the street and know if she had previously seen someone else in their line. There were some other abilities she came to recognize as well."

Freddie paused apparently to put his next statement correctly. "Your question to Maggie was to ask why now. Well, maybe the answer to that is because a confluence of abilities, events, knowledge, and determination has come to a point where some action is required. The time is soon, very soon."

At his point, Alllgar glanced up into Freddie's eyes and Freddie felt, no, he knew that he had made some very accurate guesses. And he glanced again at Maggie, sighed and continued,

"When Maggie was 10 or so, she witnessed a horrific crime, the murder of a storekeeper in her neighborhood. She saw the shooter and witnessed the act. She later told me that she just froze in place, not moving from the spot. As she watched the shooter run away, she just began to wish that the shooting hadn't happened, praying for it, scared to death. As she stood there, she says she saw a blur and suddenly the storekeeper was in the place and doing the things he had been doing before the shooting. This scared her more than the shooting itself, just multiplying her fear and she collapsed."

"Over time she and I figured out that she had simply wished the action hadn't happened and suddenly it hadn't. She had for lack of a better term moderated the event of the shooting. Except for the fact that she saw it happen, no one else knew anything about it. Her parents tried to console her, just chalking it up to an unreasonable childhood fear but she knew better."

Then Freddie stopped and asked Allgar him if he was following him.

Allgar replied that he certainly understood the words, but not the context or what this had to do with the previous revelation of catastrophe. Freddie looked at him again, pointedly this time and started his story anew.

"Maggie and I met as kids in school. I was from the good side of the tracks." Do you know which side of the tracks is the good side?"

After Allgar shook his head, Freddie continued "Well, the good side of the tracks was originally the side that was generally upwind from the smoke and ash generated by the early railroad engines. A totally useless but possibly entertaining bit of trivia for you Allgar. Well, over time the good side of the tracks came to mean the more affluent area of town while the bad side of the tracks became the much less affluent and poor areas of town."

Maggie came from the bad side of the tracks but that didn't prevent us from liking each other. We were about 12 years old or so and for some reason just hit it off. I had been taught right by my parents and one thing I did learn was how to spot good people. Maggie was good people. She's still good people. Raised a houseful of kids, taught them right and wrong and generally let them go their way. However, even during her school years her abilities, her gifts, continued to grow. You guys had showed up just after her first conscious experience with her abilities in that shop and your presence began to influence many things. Religion was really impacted as you know, and bigotry started to shift focus from the neighbor to the stars."

"Technology, while not directly benefitting from your presence really started to take off because people came to realize that maybe some seemingly crazy ideas weren't so crazy after all. One of the benefits of that technology burst was in the ways of record keeping and data search and as a removed example, historical studies in general and genealogy in particular. Maggie realized some benefit from that technology spinoff especially from her "natural" ability to see familial links. She found she could also see linkages to people she knew or had seen in data about their ancestors. So if she knew someone, she could pick out an ancestor of that person from a list of names or from the name on a gravestone or even from a photograph in a newspaper."

"There was a one particular and very interesting ability that she had that made me an absolute believer in her abilities. She had learned at an early age she could wish an action hadn't occurred and suddenly it hadn't. I called this the ability to "negate" or to moderate an action. Keep in mind that she kept the memory of the event but no one else did. One of the many things she learned she could do was to give a memory to another person. As an example, we were at a lake one day with a group of kids our age and someone fell in the water and hit his arm on a rock. No broken bones or anything but it was very painful injury. Maggie "gave" me the memory and then wished the fall away. Poof! Maggie and I remembered it, but no one else did. So it seems that her gifts were adding up to quite a number of useful and sometimes odd abilities."

"Now" said Freddie, "let me pose a question to you". Allgar looked at Freddie somewhat nervously and nodded. "In all you travels, have you or your kind ever encountered abilities like Maggie's?"

Here was a question Allgar could answer easily enough and answered "No."

"OK" said Freddie, "Have you suspected abilities like or similar to Maggie's?"

Here was a question Allgar suspected was coming. "Yes. We have long heard rumor or myth that had enough substance to make us consider that powers or abilities exist in the universe."

Again Freddie said "OK. Go on."

Allgar thought that a little misdirection may be beneficial. Since Freddie thought it important to know about unusual powers, give him something to chew on.

And Allgar expanded "Our visit to Earth has been prolonged by persistent rumors and myths unlike any other at any place we've ever been. It was thought that a continued presence here may lead us to find out if the rumors and myths had any basis of fact. The more we search the more we were certain that there was enough fact for us to continue our search. Your discussion this afternoon confirms, at least to my satisfaction, that Maggie is in fact what you say and that she is the latest incarnation of a form of the power we have long wondered about."

Freddie thought about his next line of questions carefully. "So I can assume that you have visited Earth over a period of many, many years? Want a beer?"

Allgar thought furiously and realized he was being asked to confirm the partial lie he had just told Freddie. He finally answered "Yes. No beer, but thank you."

"How many years? Before you answer let me tell you that I know in the last 51 years, every time your ship has returned to Earth, you are the only one of your race that has returned each time. From that fact I figure that you are the leader of the expedition, and I'd further guess that every trip to Earth your kind has ever made you have been a crewmember. Am I correct in my guesses?" Freddie sat back and waited for the answer, hoping against hope that the sad nod he had gotten from Maggie did not mean what he thought it would mean.