ROMULUS (The Innerworld Affairs Series, Book 1) (14 page)

"It was my belief that since the Mackenzies got their wealth from Mother Earth, we should find ways to pay her back. I wanted to donate the bulk of our funds to agencies and individuals who wanted to work toward rehabilitating our environment. Eventually, I got my way.

"Our planet is dying and not enough people care enough to make it a priority. Sometimes I would get so frustrated, I wanted to chuck the whole thing. Then I would read about another once-beautiful lake being destroyed or another animal facing extinction and I'd be ready to spit fire again."

Watching the woman as she spoke, Rom could certainly believe that. He was overwhelmed by the glow that lit her eyes now that she was on familiar ground. Under that cool exterior beat a passionate heart. He hadn't analyzed his reasons yet but it was essential that she feel just as passionate about his world.

"Did you know we've created enough garbage to bury ourselves? Mountain-high landfills of trash spoil the countryside. Our tropical rain forests are being destroyed. Our oceans and rivers are being polluted so badly that our descendants may never see fish in their natural habitat. And the ozone layer— Oh my, it seems I never leave my soapbox far behind. I realize you're not very interested in all this, but I—"

"Hold on there. You couldn't be more wrong. The condition of Outerworld and the planet's atmosphere is of vital importance to me, to all of us."

"But yesterday you said you couldn't help with those problems."

"We can't. But that doesn't mean we're indifferent. You see, we must be able to pass through the doorways to conduct our business with Norona. At one time accidents such as you had on the boat were rare. The contaminants in Outerworld's air and water have a direct effect on Earth's magnetic fields. The worse the pollution gets, the more often vessels and aircraft in those fields go undetected. But that's not the only problem. In some places, the contamination is seeping below the ocean floor, into the crust. We have begun to find signs of deterioration in our tunnels. If the conditions in Outerworld aren't corrected, we could eventually end up being sealed off from the rest of the universe."

Aster's eyes widened in clear surprise. "But if cleaning up the planet is so important to your world, why haven't you made yourselves known? With your technology and knowledge, you could probably restore everything—even the ozone layer—and instruct everyone on how to keep it that way."

He was rapidly losing his patience in spite of his attraction to her. "I already told you, it's against our laws to interfere with Outerworld civilization unless the planet is facing imminent destruction. If you ever get around to researching our history, you'll understand better. It has been our hope that the people of Earth will learn how to take care of their home without our stepping in." His thoughts flew to the oncoming asteroid and realized that, if the emissary was not found soon, they may have no choice about interfering.

Aster huffed. "That's a ridiculous law. You could do so much good."

"And it could be construed as some sort of alien invasion bent on taking over your planet. We could also start a worldwide panic. Imagine how the people on the surface would react to our presence."

She pondered that for a moment. "Some would welcome you. But you're right about the fear factor. Way too many movies done on that theme."

"Exactly. Terrans were never as trusting after the Trojan horse incident."

She grimaced and took another moment before replying. "All right. I'll concede your point for the moment. Aliens making themselves known and telling us what to do might be a problem. So, why not pass the information on secretly, say... to a well-known environmentalist, who—"

"No!" The sharpness of his voice even stunned himself and he continued in a quieter tone. "You don't understand what's involved."

"
I
don't understand? You're the thickheaded one at this table. You say you were impressed with my work. If I don't get back there, all my efforts could go down the drain. I left half a dozen viable research applications on my desk that might be rejected now. If you can't see your way clear to revealing any secrets, at least let me go back to continue my work. There are several trustees on the Board who will jump on my absence to put a stop to the grants I was establishing."

He clenched his fists to keep from reaching across the table and shaking her.

"I would never tell anyone about your world."

How was she able to scramble his brain so badly that he couldn't even repeat the standard responses. What the drek was wrong with him?

"Damn it! This is important!" She paused and took a slow, calming breath. "Okay, look, let me go back, say for one month, long enough to secure the future of the foundation and ensure that the focus remains on saving the planet. Then you can bring me back. You could send Oona with me. What do you say?"

Romulus struggled against the unreasonable urge to give her whatever she wanted, just to make her smile again. Her emotional begging caused the most peculiar wrenching in his chest. Ordering his mind to get control of his body, he found his voice again. "Let me ask you a question. Why doesn't your government enforce more clean-up programs?"

"Which government? In the United States, the businesses that cause the majority of the pollution have much stronger lobbies than the people trying to save the planet. In other countries, sometimes mere survival is more than they can handle. I have always thought the only way Earth will be spared is with a worldwide environmental police force, but that's a dream that stands very little chance of happening in my lifetime."

"What about your United Nations?"

"The U. N. actively concerns itself with military aggression of one country against another, but environmental issues have pretty much gotten
outsourced
to other global organizations or committees, such as the U. N. Environmental Programme which has made great strides in research and analysis, but basically have no power. There was one group created with enforcement in mind, but they couldn't even convince the United States or China to join them."

It would be easier for Rom to disagree with her if she made no sense but her reasoning was valid, her conclusions irrefutable. A unified effort by all the governments of Outerworld was the only answer and she had worked long and hard to create a plan that might go a long way to get such a unification off the ground. And yet, Rom had no choice but to refuse her request to go back, no matter how important her work was. "Tell me about your family."

Aster blinked in surprise. She had at least expected a response to her comments so that she could continue the debate. But perhaps he lacked the conviction of his earlier words. Perhaps she was making progress with his rational mind. As if his changing the subject was acceptable, she responded to his question. "Cherry's like a sister to me and she's here. I was an only child but I don't remember my parents. My grandmother raised me and she died last year."

The arrival of their dessert spared her from explaining a source of embarrassment. Her childhood melted into a haze. She knew she was born in a commune in Oregon and that the teenage boy who had fathered her had taken off for Canada before she was born and never returned as far as anyone could determine. Her grandmother was his mother but he had rejected her and her vast fortune. Aster had no recollection of ever taking a bath or owning a pair of shoes for the first eight years of her life.

One day, her grandmother took her away. Her mother, far off on a hallucinogenic trip, never objected, then or afterward. Aster was immediately scrubbed to within an inch of her life and forced to wear frilly dresses and polished shoes that hurt her toes. A private tutor badgered her all day long. The only people to talk to in the huge mansion were the servants and they weren't permitted to play with her. The loneliness was worse than the unfamiliar rules and severe discipline. She learned quickly that if she obeyed each command, or better, if she could anticipate the order, she rarely experienced the weight of her grandmother's hand or the sting of her teacher's paddle. So she strove to be perfect enough to please everyone.

Upon her grandmother's death, she had inherited everything. The real irony was now that Aster would be presumed dead it would all go to the woman her grandmother had hated so much—Aster's mother. If she was alive. And if they could track her down. If not, where would all that money go?

When she set her fork on her empty plate, Romulus asked quietly, "Was there a man in your life?"

"I was engaged to be married. He was murdered six months ago." She looked away.

Warning bells clanged in Rom's brain. No wonder she was as skittish as a newborn colt. During her extended silence, he had clearly felt that she was remembering another tragedy. It didn't bode well for him that he was experiencing such strong empathy with her. Although he knew all the reasons not to spend time with a new arrival, the reasons why he needed to get to know this one were piling up.

The logical part of his mind demanded he return to his office and leave her and her grief to someone more capable, to run from her convincing arguments that tempted him—a chief administrator—to break a primary law. His emotional side argued that all she needed was tender loving care, something he suddenly felt very capable of offering. He could help her overcome her losses, make her understand his point of view. But it would take time, his mind told him, something he could not afford as a nominee for the governorship. By concentrating on his high hopes for his political future, his logical side won the brief skirmish.

From the frown on Romulus's face, Aster surmised either her persistence had seriously annoyed him or her gloominess had depressed him as well. She decided to help him escape from her. "It was very kind of you to spend so much time with me but I know I'm keeping you from your work."

"I'm afraid you're right. I do need to get back to my office. I'll walk you out to the lobby first." This time he kept a good distance between them as they walked.

When they reached the front entrance, Romulus wished her good luck in her new job and walked away without so much as a parting handshake.

Faced with a free afternoon, Aster took a stroll down the lilac-edged sidewalk to the library. Romulus's comments about Innerworld's stand on noninterference convinced her to learn a little more about this world, so she settled in at an available vidcom.

To find the origins of Innerworld, Aster had to go back about twelve thousand years to the planet of Norona. She quickly learned that a fuel shortage had threatened to undermine their entire civilization. For centuries, expeditions had searched the galaxies for a new source of the energy needed to keep their planet from returning to a primitive age, but to no avail.

When the rare, dust-like substance, volterrin, was discovered inside the planet Earth in unlimited quantities, the people had rejoiced. It was estimated that the amount of Earth's volterrin was sufficient to power Norona indefinitely without affecting the donor planet. The fact that Earth was populated with
homo sapiens
, like themselves, was an unexpected dividend.

Fascinated, Aster read on. At the same time the Noronian energy crisis had peaked, a revolt sprang up, mounted by a small group of malcontents who wanted to return to the simpler ways of life, before technology and volterrin. It was decided that since that was their wish, the rebels would be sent to Earth where civilization was extremely primitive and would be scattered among the humans on the surface. Thus, when Noronian spaceships were outfitted to carry several thousand people to colonize the center of the valuable planet, the rebels were on board.

No one could have foreseen the catastrophe the Noronians had unleashed. During the long years the Innerworlders occupied themselves constructing a world to duplicate their own, the rebels in Outerworld thrived uncontrolled. With their superior mental abilities and knowledge, they allowed Earth's simplistic people to believe they were gods and the budding civilization regressed to barbarism and depravity.

The mythological gods of Greece and Rome were as human as their lowly subjects, but with their advanced mental abilities, they had no trouble inspiring awe in the Terrans. One of the cruelest Egyptian leaders was an extraterrestrial rebel who was mad with power and considered his subjects mere beasts of burdens. Without restraints, evil grew until it could no longer be reversed.

Something had to be done and the decision of the ruling Tribunal on Norona was extreme but successful. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and catastrophic floods were purposefully triggered and civilization had to begin again with hand-picked survivors, but without hindrance from the Noronian intruders. Earth's peasants who were saved did not comprehend the truth and so the memories of those gods and their temples lived on through the surviving worshipers.

Aster devoured the information as fast as it appeared on the screen. The inflexible part of her mind voiced doubts, but proof of the truth of what she had read was that she was here, in Innerworld, and the world she knew was no longer accessible to her.

She scrolled to the next paragraph and read on. After the "natural" disasters, the Tribunal had dictated that the future of the planet Earth must be carefully monitored so that such corrective measures would never again be necessary and that Norona's stability would be insured. As Outerworld civilization developed, it became essential to place Noronian emissaries in strategic locations on Earth, living quietly, but prepared to intervene subtly if their host planet or its natives appeared to be threatened.