“I imagine so. I take it that Azortec is supposed to be the good guys.”
Oria chuckled. “I don't think I have ever put it quite that way. Azortec is a Federation of mostly human or human-friendly planets. Most advanced civilizations don't have a problem with like species attacking each other.”
“I guess that statement implies that Earth is not all that advanced.”
“That's what most members of the Azortec Council believe. You have to understand, for most of Azortec's history, they have not known war. Azortec has been in existence for over 100,000 of your years. Only recently, about 450 years ago did they run into the Creytes. A conflict ensued. Azortec has little tolerance for violence or war. Generally, they let the Creytes turn primitive human populated planets into farm planets. In exchange, the Creytes agree not to attack any of the more advanced members of the Azortec Federation. Earth is on the latest Creyte/Azortec exchange list for the Creytes to conquer and convert into a farm planet. My mission is to stop that exchange. Earth is my home, home of my ancestors, and home of their children. The only way to defend Earth is to convince Earth to build and man a fleet of starships with enough power to conquer any attacking Creyte forces.”
Linda continued to be amazed. “So why am I here? I'm only an archeologist.”
“Several reasons, first, my last days as a child on Earth were difficult. I need to get that experience behind me. Second . . .”
“I'd say. I can't even begin to imagine the horrors you went through,” said Linda as she unconsciously stroked Oria’s arm.
“Yes, then I hope you understand why I had to return to my old village. My second reason is I need help. I don't think flying the Hercules over the White House and announcing ‘take me to your chief’, would create an atmosphere of mutual trust and understanding.”
“Putting it that way, I'd agree. You’d be laughed at and they’d put you
in a room with rubber walls, and besides, our government is full of power hungry people.”
“Yes, that is precisely why I want to use a more indirect approach to get their attention. My idea is to attract the attention of the military by wowing them with technology.”
“That shouldn't be too hard to do. I still don’t understand why you are including me in your plans.”
Oria smiled. “Linda, you’re a key part of getting our plan kicked off. You have contacts at the University of Maryland that are influential in defense technology.”
Linda’s eyes popped up as rage overcame her. “All you want to do is use me?”
Linda’s sudden outburst and anger surprised Oria. “Not exactly, but I guess in a sense you’re right.”
Linda shouted back. “YOU KNOW I’M RIGHT! I’m not just some doormat that you can step on.”
Oria wasn’t quite sure how to handle Linda at this point. People were generally less direct in Azortec and did not show anger like a neon light. “Linda, I never thought of you as a doormat. You were included in our plan because I have to come to grips with my past here on the Eastern Shore, and I need help to get to the right people. I don’t have many choices. The future of Earth is at stake!”
Linda calmed down some and replied. “How do I know that you are on the up and up?”
Oria looked puzzled. “Up and up? I’m not quite sure you mean by that phrase.”
Linda rolled her eyes. “You do need help. Up and up, that’s a slang expression meaning that you are telling me the truth and are being completely honest with me.”
“Then you don’t know that I’m on the up and up. However, do you believe that Jack Stone would ask the same question now?”
“No. You certainly have knowledge of our people, at least enough knowledge to convince Jack that you are one of us.”
“Thank you. That being the case, are you willing to introduce me to some of your friends in the scientific community?”
“I’m with you, so what are you doing tonight?”
“I'm listening, but I’m not quite sure what you mean by I’m with you.”
Linda laughed. “That expression means that I am on your team. I’ll help you.”
Oria was pleased that their first debate appeared to be over. “Thanks. I can see that communication is going to be a challenge for me. So what did you have in mind for tonight?”
“I’m going to a small gathering with some of my fellow faculty at the University of Maryland tonight in College Park. We frequently get together and discuss issues of science. This may be a good opportunity to network into other groups of scientists. Why don't you join me?”
“Sounds like a plan. Let's catch dinner here and then we can transport back to your truck and drive to the party.”
“I have another idea, why don't we return to my truck, drive to Laurel, work out, catch something quick to eat, and then drive to the party in College Park. Tonight is a workout night for me.”
“Alright, but what do you mean by a workout night?”
Linda laughed and rolled her eyes. “This is going to be interesting. A workout night means I’m going to go to the gym and work out.”
“Gym, what do you mean by a gym?”
Linda took a deep breath. “It’s a place where one exercises with weights and other workout equipment.”
Oria and Linda transported back to Linda's car and headed to Linda's home in Laurel. It took almost an hour for them to get to Linda's townhouse. When they finally got there, it was 5:30PM. Linda grabbed her gym bag and headed to the Laurel Fitness Club. Oria had his crew provide him with some clothes under Linda's direction.
Linda led Oria into the gym and turned and asked him “Gee, I should have asked, you do work out, don’t you?”
“Yes we have exercise programs. However, I am not overly familiar with your equipment.”
“No problem, you probably wouldn't like my workout. Let me set you up with one of the club's trainers.”
“Hey, George.”
George yelled back “Hi Linda, what, you bring another guest?”
“Of course, somebody has to bring new guests around here. This is my Uncle Oria. Oria, this is George.”
George looked at Oria and said “Good to meet you.”
Oria replied “The pleasure's mine.”
George chuckled and said, “We'll see, I can tell by the way Linda is acting she wants someone to show you the ropes around here.”
Linda interrupted, “Thanks George, do you have time to help Oria now?”
“I believe that can be arranged.”
“All right guys. Oria you’re in good hands and I need to get through my workout.”
George led Oria back to one of the offices. He pulled out one of the club's standard interview forms and started asking Oria the usual health questions required before he could show him around the club.
“Oria, before we get started I need to ask you some basic questions so that we don't kill you or something out there.”
“That sounds reasonable.”
“First, how old are you?”
“I don't know exactly. My family didn't keep any birth records.”
George gulped. “Well, you look like you're at least 30.”
Oria replied, “That's a safe bet.”
George wrote something on the form and then asked a series of questions about diabetes, heart disease, etc. Oria said he knew of no family history of such diseases and that his doctor certifies that he is healthy. George then took Oria's blood pressure. When he completed the readings, he looked at Oria and said, “Remarkable, your blood pressure is 110 over 60 with a resting pulse of 40. You must be in pretty good shape.”
“I do alright.”
“Let’s measure your height, weight, and we'll measure your body fat. Why don't you step over to the scale?”
Oria stood on the scale, which had one of the new electrical systems to measure body fat percentage. He weighed in at just over 400 pounds with 8% body fat. Oria stood about 5' 9” and looked like he could not possibly weight over 220 pounds. George was dumb founded. He looked at Oria and said, “This can't be possible. There is no way you can weigh that much for your size. I'll have to get the scales checked. Let's get started in the weight room. I'm going to show you some of the basic exercises after we warm up.”
Oria started thinking his trip to the gym was probably a bad idea. He knew that the early Azortec experiments on his body had significantly altered his body’s biomechanics and his DNA. Oria's skeletal structures were much denser and had much higher iron, magnesium, and zinc content. The experiments had also left him with much denser muscles and a tough outer skin. Azortec made these changes hoping to create super-humans for use in battle against the Creytes.
George led Oria over to the stretching mats, showed Oria several stretching exercises, and asked him to do a bunch of sit-ups. When they completed the warm-up phase, George led Oria over to the bench presses. Someone was already there using one of the bench presses to perform curls. George looking at Oria said, “Let’s start with some bench presses. I’ll put some weight on the bar and you can get started.” George thought Oria was strong, so he grabbed a 45 lb. plate and put one on each side of the 45 lb. bar. As George was putting on the plates, one of the other trainers yelled for him to get the phone. George asked Oria to hold tight for a minute while he answered the phone.
Oria knew that he and Linda were on a tight schedule. He watched the other person using the bench press to perform curls with the bar and
a 25 lb. plate on each side. Oria decided to do the same exercise with the weights George had placed on the bar. He walked up to the back of the bench press, lifted the bar over the vertical supports, and started to do some curls. He quickly fired off 12 curls and realized that the bar was much too light for him to get a good workout. It was becoming apparent to Oria that it would be very easy to draw attention to himself just on his physical strength alone. He quickly decided that he’d have to take care not to reveal his true strength and avoid becoming a circus freak.
As George got off the phone, he saw Oria out of the corner of his eyes completing his set of curls. He chuckled to himself and thought, Linda was right, even though this guy is strong, he sure doesn't know his way around a gym. George knew that he was going to have to use more weight before he started Oria on his chest workout.
George returned to Oria and said, “Hey man, I see you're pretty anxious to get started. You just completed the wrong exercise for this equipment. We do curls in a different section of the gym. Here, we normally do an exercise called a bench press.”
George then lay down on the bench and fired off several reps. He explained to Oria the purpose of the exercise and explained the techniques while he pumped out several sets. Oria watched and smiled. On Earth, just like on his ship, people frequently used exercise equipment incorrectly. Oria admired George's excellent form.
When George got up from the bench, he looked at Oria and said, “Ok, it's your turn. I know this will be light for you, just work on your form. I'll put some more weight on it when you complete a set of, let say 15.”
Oria
lay down on the bench and slid his head up under the bar. He grasped the bar at what appeared to be grip markings. He lifted the weight off the rack and slowly raised and positioned it over his chest. He slowly lowered the weight flexing his muscles the whole way down. He then lifted it back up to the raised position. Oria repeated this procedure for 15 reps and returned the bar to the upright holders.
When Oria rose from the bench, George said, “Cool, we have one more thing to do before you start your next set. Watch me stretch my chest muscles and then you do it.”
Oria replied “Ok.” and proceeded to stretch his chest muscles. While Oria stretched, George placed another 45-pound plate on each side. He knew from watching Oria do 135-pound curls and then a bench press, Oria should have no problem with 225 pounds.
Oria again returned to the bench and fired off another set of reps with 225 pounds. As he expected, George saw Oria had no problem with this weight. Oria flexed his muscles through the entire set and tried to make it look like he was struggling with the weight. He was a better strong man than he was an actor. George saw right through him.
“Ok, you look pretty pathetic Oria. Did Linda put you up to this? I can tell you've done a fair amount of lifting before. How about letting me drop another two plates on each side?”
Oria smiled and replied, “Yeah, you're right. Linda put me up for this.” He was glad George thought this idea up. It would probably get him out of the current predicament.
Unfortunately, for Oria, he thought wrong. George had grabbed another two plates for each side of the bar. There was 405 pounds sitting on the bench. George then looked at him and said “Ok wise guy, let's see you lift this. Just so you know, I can press this.” George then popped on the bench and pressed the bar 2 times. He got up, shot a look at Oria, and said “Your turn.”
Oria saw that this was not leading in a very good direction. A crowd was starting to form around them in the gym. If Oria stopped now, Linda would look bad. If he continued, he could jeopardize his mission. Oria decided that he could probably get away with matching or beating George by one rep. So, he slipped on the bench and grabbed the bar. He lifted it off much as he did earlier. He slowly lowered it to his chest and pushed it back up grimacing through the entire motion. When he was preparing to rack the bar after his third rep, George was yelling at him “Come on, one more rep, are you a wimp, you have another one in you.”