Genetic Drift Read Online Free Page B

longer alone. 
    All of the countries in the world, through the United Nations, provided supplies for this endeavor.  The planetary defense system was state-of-the-art and able to intercept incoming threats without human intervention.  No single country had complete control of the system to eliminate the potential of it starting a war.
    As the years went by, the thrill of receiving alien communications waned.  Support for the defense system also receded with funding only providing for bare boned operations.  It was deemed too expensive to perform maintenance runs.  Some units maintained a link with other units but did not have communications with the ground to report system status.  Each unit contained a missile battery of two and engineers claimed the missiles were ten times stronger than a volcanic eruption.  Periodically, two missiles would fire into space due to communications failure.  Luckily, there were still active cells without any failures.
    This spacecraft came to Earth on the same vector as the signal received five years ago, just as predicted.  General Hawkins knew that the defense system would have to work if anything happened contrary to peace and goodwill. 
    “Sir, the spacecraft has established an orbit about 150,000 miles out.  We are maintaining a watch and will inform you of any status changes,” Collins reported.
    The General sat at his desk and listened over his intercom in silence.  He would occasionally glance at the Main Display hoping for any type of positive action, that the aliens would show that they had come in peace.  He knew that the longer the spacecraft sat out in space, the less friendly their actions would be.  The phone rang.
    “Mr. Secretary,” the General said as he put the phone to his ear.
    Staff Sergeant Collins watched as the goliath ship came into focus.  Its metallic gray hull perfectly reflected the sun with the blackness of space behind it.  Collins switched cameras and a different aspect of the image displayed on his screen and the Main Display.  The hull was shaped like a three-dimensional trapezoid.  It showed no wear on its smooth surface and no openings to launch attacks.  There was no command station or physical bridge that he could see.  He looked at the rear of the spacecraft and saw no signs of propulsion.  “Could it be unmanned?” he thought.  He copied his screen and put the pictures in a file at his station.
    “So, what’s going on?” a man stood behind him.  He knew that voice and turned around.  He was glad to see his relief had arrived.
    “Man, you won’t believe what just happened,” Collins said.
     
    * * *
     
    In the days that followed, governments started to inform their citizens that the alien life was right on their doorstep.  The word spread through news outlets and it was met with much fanfare.  There were parties to watch the spacecraft’s silhouette pass in front of the Moon’s illuminated face.  The spacecraft maintained its orbit for a month through all the phases of the Moon.  There were no responses to the many attempts to communicate with the craft. 

DAY 275
    HAPPY PAWS MEDICAL CLINIC
    CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA
     
    Rho felt a heartbeat, felt the rise and fall of the vessel’s chest, felt the movement of the human’s body.  Rho had failed and understood that it couldn’t control its host.  The human’s mind was too intertwined with its body, too complex.  Rho conceded that it shared its life with this human, one body for two beings.  The human still controlled her conscious and her basic life functions.  But Rho now knew that it needed her.
    “Human, wake up,” Rho called out, “I need you to wake up.”
    “Why are you calling me?  What do you want?” she responded to its plea.
    “You and I are one.  You must wake for us to live.”
    “Okay, okay, I think I am ready,” she told the voice in her head.
    Finally, Rho would be able to intake the stimulus that it yearned for.  Sight,