Read The Archer's Paradox - The Travis Fletcher Chronicles for Free Online Page B

terrible war, only ten per cent of the population survived and many of those died later from genetic mutations caused by the weapons we used on each other. Our beautiful planets were turned into uninhabitable wastelands, and worse. A few saw what was happening and hid books, equipment, information, specimens of plants and animal DNA in secure bunkers. When it was all over, the survivors found these caches and began rebuilding the world. Now, more than two thousand years later, we are once again travelling the stars, we have conquered most diseases and there has never been another war.”
    That all sounds very Utopian, Travis acknowledged, so what’s the problem ?
    “A genetic mutation that is dormant in all our kind has started to become active, making us sterile. As each new generation is born, a higher percentage is born sterile. Our race will no longer produce children within five hundred years and we will die.”
    Five hundred years is a long time, surely if you can fix me you can find a cure in that time.
    “It is a very short time for a race that is only two thousand years old, and the mutation is irreversible. We know because we created it.”
     
    Travis was perturbed by the man’s candour and the seemingly off hand way he described the imminent demise of his race. There was no hint of bitterness aimed at the legacy that had been bequeathed to them, just a deep and lasting sadness as the inevitable played out. Travis thought briefly about Earth’s flirtation with atomic weapons; no one had thought about the long term effects of these devices: radiation burns, cancer, sterility, and genetic mutations. Suddenly it all seemed oddly familiar and uncomfortably close to home. There, but for the grace of God, go I, he thought, if indeed there is a God, which he seriously doubted.
    So why me? It seems a long way to come to find a cure.
    “Before the war, we watched your civilisations evolve. We had a special interest in this planet because it was so close to our own and we wanted to explore our own origins. We have documents that show the very birth of the human species and your DNA is very close to ours. A simple operation will take a sample from your body that will then be used to modify the defective genes of our people.”
    Travis paused, turning the conversation over in his mind. I need to think about this . He stalled. This was huge. Impossible and huge. So far you’ve shown no evidence of what you tell me except for a couple of kooky names, weird haircuts and some very disturbing contact lenses .
    Wingu Kanzul nodded. “You have three days, for that is when they plan to turn off these machines.” Without a farewell they turned in unison and headed for the door. As they left his field of vision Travis felt something he could not define. It seemed to hang over, rather than emanate from, Xnuk Ek’. There was something missing, something that should be said, something important, and it bothered her.
     
    “Good morning, Mr Fletcher.” It was the turn of Nurse ‘Kylie’ today. Nurse ‘Kylie’ was slim with an outrageous perm that was the current fashion. Travis imagined her in a night club wearing a spangled nurse’s uniform, fishnet stockings and huge shoulder pads. Today was different; Nurse ‘Kylie’ was not her usual perky self. She usually hummed the latest chart hits as she worked, but today she was quiet and looked upset. Did she know what was going to happen to him or was it something outside work? Travis was frustrated; he needed to know but could not ask. She busied round checking his drips and so on.
     
    Travis had not had a good night; his mind had been turning over and dissecting every aspect of the previous day’s events. He had been intrigued by his visitor’s mention of a natural telepathic ability. Was this why he had made such a good salesman? He did seem to have an uncanny ability to predict a client’s reaction and even write deals that astounded his colleagues. Then there was the