THE EARTH WATCHERS

By Les Aaron


The Empiricon space ship hovered at the outbound perimeter of the Galaxy.
Dragos was sitting at the controls. But his mind was far away.
At that moment, Minos entered and spotted Dragos .

"Dragos, what is the matter, brother. Are you mindful of home?"

"No, that is not it at all, Minos. I am simply depressed."

"And why is that?"

"As you know, we have been coming to the periphery of the Galaxy for the last twenty microcads. We have watched that little blue ball down below and we have learned about it."

"Yes, that is true."

"We have taken what we have learned back to our planetary system. We have ended warfare. We have brought peace. And we live together in harmony. All because of what these earthlings taught us about the power in a piece of what they call 'paper' called the 'Constitution."

"Yes, I don't go all the way back to the first navigation but I remember Quadros telling me about the great adventure that changed our way of life. So, why are you depressed now?"
"Look at the telenavigator, Dragos. We see that these people have been so lulled into apathy that their government has been stolen from them. Most, even now, don't realize what has happened. They are more focused on something called "abs" and repairing their faces to make them look more wholesome and the shape of their buttocks."
"True, Dragos."
"And the young people, are afflicted with little images that come over on something they call the tube. This tube confuses and distorts their thinking. But it is the way the older people keep the younger people quiet." "Yes, we could send them down a supply of Soma; it does the same thing."
"Yes, but that is not the point, Minos. I realize now that their belief system is very fragile.
If they fail to support it, or take it for granted, it will be lost. And it appears that today with the appointment of a false ascendant to their highest office, respect for that piece of 'paper,' the Constitution, and all of the rules and laws of that land have been forfeited."
"But how could that be, Dragos?."
"You remember me telling you about their system of elections where one man is equal to one vote?"
"Yes, I do but does that apply here."
"The pretender, called some sort of plant, has made it possible for his kin to
change the outcome and to have the highest courts appoint him a winner
without having to go through the process of counting each man's vote."

"A travesty, Dragos. We must be on guard that it doesn't happen with us."
"Yes, sadly, we have been warned; now we must return to Empirica and warn the others that we must remain vigilant to the challenges our system could face from within and without."

"It is worse than that, Minos. This son of a former president is without substance, Minos. He places little value on their environment and something they call global warming. As we both know from our scientific studies, failure to respect their environment will have global consequences for all earthlings.

"This child-man does not seem to understand how fragile the balance of their eco-system really is. Remember how our earlier explorers came by and only found cold and ice? Believe it or not, this could happen again, Minos; except this time, man would have to bear the responsibility."

"That would be most unfortunate, Dragos. It would be a shame would it not especially considering that this is the most habitable planet we have discovered in many forays into the universe. Should we preserve this oasis in space and destroy their inhabitants now, sir"

"No, Minos.. They will discover their mistakes. And hopefully their system will be salvaged by men of good faith. Men who will see the error of their ways. Men who will chart a course that will be good for all people. We will return in another 200 earth years and chart their progress, if they still survive. For now, steer a course for the outer reaches and move us up to hyper speeds, Minos."
"Yes, I will take care of that, sir."
"Thank you. I will be in my seating pod if you need me."
Dragos got up heavily as if the weight of the universe were on his shoulders.
He sighed deeply and then turned away from the blue planet. There was much to do before they arrived. He touched all of the sensors on the screen before him and studied the array. Earth faded quickly from the screen. Dragos said a little prayer to the God of all of the Universe before the earth monitor was turned off.
It would be a long trip back, he thought.
THE END