The Symbiotic Travelers Ch. 04

The symbiotic Travelers

The American Expansion

BADSAM

It is late Thursday afternoon, January 12, 1815, Zlatex and Yaphet arrived in Alexandria just as the sun was setting on an inflamed reddened sky. They immediately rented a two room studio apartment with a fireplace in a rooming house with an attached combination restaurant and tavern. While they were carrying the wooden chest which contained SAM up the stairs, one of the handles broke off. The trunk tumbled down the stairs and broke open, spilling the bulky Simplified Automatic Mainframe computer processor, its battery pack, the electrical cable which connects them and some blankets and a few articles of their clothing onto the floor.

Upon seeing SAM and the battery, the owner of the establishment asked them what the two black metal boxes were; he had never before seen anything like that.

The quick thinking Julia answered him, "That's just a metal box containing some of my personal things, some jewelry, a journal that I keep of our travels and things like that." She then immediately covered the supercomputer with a blanket and proceeded to carry the large device up the stairs. James picked up the battery pack and electrical wire and followed her up the steps.

When James and Julia went back downstairs to pick up the rest of their clothing and their other trunk, they met the elderly owner coming up the stairs carrying the other smaller chest with their spilled clothing draped over it.

Although the owner said that he was only trying to be helpful, it was obvious that he was more interested in getting a second look at the oversized black metal boxes. One of them had hundreds of tiny holes in one of its sides and several small slots and apertures that looked to him like openings for plug-ins of some kind, obviously for that strange looking cord he saw. He asked James, "The holes I seen in that strongbox, what are the holes for and what's that rope for?"

"They are there to allow the air to filter in and keep our clothing fresh," he answered the inquisitive old man. He then gave Julia a questioning, hopeful glance.

She shrugged her shoulders and added, "It's a new idea we read about in a newspaper we picked up in New Orleans. Some scientist said he did a study and came to the conclusion that if a person airs their clothing, it will keep them smelling fresh and they won't wear out as fast. So, James and I are trying it out. Who knows, maybe he's right and I won't have to buy new dresses nearly as often."

The old man sneered questioningly and handed the chest to James and then went back downstairs.

The next morning, the first thing that the two syngeneic aliens did was to purchase another chest for SAM and lock their computer in it. Finding a trunk that was large enough to hold SAM, the battery pack for it and some of their clothing and blankets took up most of their morning. When they returned to their room, they caught the owner of the rooming house examining and trying to "open" the large black metal box with all the little holes in it.

He told them that he had brought them a cord of firewood and was just looking at the black box. He asked Julia why it didn't have any way to open it, so she could get her jewelry out. She answered him, "You have to have three special kinds of keys to do that. You put them into the three apertures there on the side of the processor... on the side of the box. Then the front slides open."

"What's a processor?" he suspiciously asked her.

"I started to say process, meaning that you have to go through a process to open the box." She looked hopefully at Zlatex. He just shrugged his shoulders. He then said to the old man, "It is very rude and insulting to open another person's luggage without their permission. If you don't mind, I would like to have a little privacy with my wife."

The old man quickly left her room.

When they finally got SAM, the battery box and its cable and some blankets locked away in another chest, they bought a newspaper in order to ascertain if 1815 Alexandria or any other part of Louisiana was preparing for war with any other nation. They were tired of ending up in somebody else's war.

Zlatex is sitting at the table in the apartment they have rented. "I don't see anything in the newspaper that indicates whether or not Louisiana is preparing for war with anybody," he says to Yaphet as she hands him a plate of fried ham slices, baked potato wedges and stewed carrots for his lunch.

"I hope not," Yaphet answers her syngeneic consort. "I don't want you to get shot again. Why can't these Earthlings learn to get along with each other? Herthians learned a long time ago that it is easier and more economical to build a nation than it is to destroy one in war."

War is brutal and barbaric; it's inhumane. It kills innocent people, children and babies. Those who it does not kill, it destroys their lives. It uproots families and tears them apart. It makes orphans of children. It devastates cities and obliterates businesses. It turns green meadowlands, verdant forests and flourishing gardens into desolate wastelands.

It leaves misery and despair in its aftermath. Corruption and garbage are its descendants. Lies and misconception are its children. And each war is more destructive, more atrocious and more repulsive than the preceding war. Nothing good has ever been accomplished through war that mediation and diplomacy couldn't solve without bloodshed.

Those who choose war and violence over negotiation to settle disputes are no better than barbarians and their actions are Neanderthalic. The only true, correct and lasting way to settle disagreements is through calm, peaceful dialogues with those who hold different opinions. Hopefully mankind can see this and act upon it in the future. If mankind does not, if mankind continues to choose violence as a course of action, then it is only a matter of time before mankind brings upon themselves "the power to annihilate all nations," and then does just that.

Looking back upon the history of man, for the past ten thousand years, a person can only wonder if this is where God, the Holy Spirit as been slowly guiding mankind to see this. After reading about the many wars that man has brought against his neighbor, it is astonishing that mankind has yet to understand that peaceful discussion is the only way to end all the corruption on earth.

As he takes a sip of tea, Zlatex says, "There's also an article in here about the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, I was reading. Its author says that the Americans seem to want to control the whole of the North American continent."

"That was twelve years ago. What's he doing mentioning it now?" Yaphet answers her counterpart as she sits down at the table with her own plate of food.

President Thomas Jefferson was eager to gain control of the important Mississippi River port of New Orleans. Although Jefferson considered La Nouvelle-Orléans a swampland incapable of residency by civilized people, he knew that the fledging United States needed that port if the new nation was ever going to prosper. No other city in America can say that about itself, no other city can claim that the new government of the United States would not survive without it. Thus, making New Orleans the "Queen of the South."

The main issue for the Americans was ease and unrestricted use of the Mississippi River out to the Gulf of Mexico. Jefferson asked James Monroe and Robert Livingston to go to France and purchase the Isle of Orleans. The two men instead bought the entire Mississippi River's drainage basin, 530,000,000 acres for fifteen million dollars, nearly doubling the size of the thirteen original states.

However, France actually only regulated a small portion of the land, the port of Orleans and the surrounding coastal lands. The vast majority of the acreage was inhabited and controlled by Native American Indians. What the United States actually bought was the right to obtain Indian lands by conquest or treaty, to the exclusion of other European powers.

New Orleans was founded by the French explorer Jean Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville in 1718. France controlled the Louisiana territory from 1682 until it ceded the land to Spain, in the Treaty of Fontainebleau on November 3, 1762.

On October 1, 1800, the Spanish government then yielded the territory back to France when it signed the Treaty of San Ildefonso with Napoleon Bonaparte. This was an effort by Napoleon as part of a broader effort to re-establish French colonial rule in North America.

But New Orleans, i. e., the Isle of Orleans and all of Louisiana ostensibly remained under Spanish control, until 1803. On November 30, 1803, the Spanish governor of Louisiana, Manuel de Salcedo, officially transferred the Louisiana territory to the French representative, Pierre Clément de Laussat. Next, three days after the formal cession of the territory to France on December 17th, in flag raising ceremony in front of the Cabildo on December 20, 1803, in the Place d'Armes, France relinquished the land to William C. C. Claiborne and General James Wilkinson, representing the United States. Hence, La Nouvelle-Orléans and all of Louisiana was under three different flags in three days, extending United States sovereignty to both sides of the Mississippi River.

Zlatex continues, "The author of this article says that the Americans are quickly moving into the territory and colonizing it. They are expanding their towns all the way to both sides of the Mississippi River using flatbed ferries, building roads and bridges, communities and settlements. There is nothing that appears to want to stop the growth of their new nation."

"Well, I believe that is good," Yaphet answers her lover. "Maybe by buying the land and colonizing it they won't have to resort to war in order to get it."

She pauses. Then adds, "As I understand, the only thing these Americans want is to be left alone, to have the freedom to speak their mind, publish their own opinions and worship their own God."

"That's why their ancestors came to the New World, Yaphet. They wanted to escape the religious and political persecutions that their parents and grandparents endured."

"Yes, I know Zlatex. They worship same God that we Hertians do, only differently. Our Hertian God was murdered by the Remans three thousand years ago. While he was on Herth and teaching his philosophy to his disciples, they arrested him for teaching blasphemy and sedition against the empire. They flogged him, wrapped metal barbs around his face and head, bound him to an X shaped cross and then took turns shooting at him with their ballistae, aiming for his heart."

"Tell me again, Yaphet. What is a ballista? I know we studied it in theology class together on Herth. I just don't remember."

"It's similar to a handheld crossbow. Just like their God Jesus Christ, our God Iesus Messiah rose from the dead too. Thus, proving that what he taught was the only way to find true peace and happiness."

"You're correct, Yaphet. God is a logical being and obviously utilizes the scientific method. Let me ask you a question. With all the different religions and churches, do you think that God is trying to see how different living beings worship him? Do you believe that God has his one control religious group that teaches his beliefs and several experimental religious groups that teach a different version of his beliefs?"

"Yes, I do Zlatex. But don't forget that many individuals say and do things in the name of God, when in reality they are not inspired by the Holy Spirit. They are guided by ignorance, arrogance, greed and hate. Also, if God does something that we do not understand, then it's because he is so far above us intellectually."

"So, tell me Yaphet, you're a female. How do you explain the virgin birth?"

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"Well, Zlatex, I believe that God the Father created the universe, gave life to the universe and then his Son "took a swan dive" into the womb of an impeccably pure virgin and impregnated her through sheer willpower, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He did it on Herth three thousand years ago and again on Earth two thousand years ago. On both worlds, God the Son grew up, began teaching his beliefs, was murdered by the reigning politicians and then rose from the dead, proving that only by following his teachings can true peace be established."

"Is that all?"

"No, Zlatex. You know that the universe is going to continue to expand into the nothingness from which God created it, right?"

"Yes, Earthlings haven't discovered that yet. I'm sure they will someday. But go on, Yaphet. Don't stop now, you're on a roll."

"A future astronomer or astrophysicist here on Earth will discover that someday. Just like Georges Lemaîtra and his counterpart proposed it centuries ago in the year 2427 on Herth and then Edwin Hubbla and his equivalent confirmed it a few years later when they proved that the recessional velocity of a galaxy increases with farther distance away from us."

"That's right, Yaphet. I remember studying that in our science class when we were in high school on Herth."

"Anyway, it seems to me that once this universe becomes void eons from now, God is going to do it all again. I believe that God is going to create another universe. In fact, God may have already done it numerous other times, and the present universe is just one of many universes that God has created, given life to it and then lived among the beings there, teaching his beliefs."

"Yaphet, do you believe that God actually created and then later fertilized a perfectly spotless virgin on each of the worlds he created and then rose from the dead on each of them?"

"Yes, I do Zlatex. Do you believe it, and do you believe God created other universes?"

"Of course, Yaphet. I'm not so arrogant and self-centered to believe that we are the only beings that God has created."

"Thank you, Zlatex. But do you believe God made an impeccably unblemished virgin - Christians call her Mary - and then impregnated her?"

"Now that you've explained it, yes, I do. But tell me, Yaphet, what makes Mary so special?"

"I'm not sure, Zlatex. I will explain it this way. We are all made of trillions of cells, right?"

"Yes, that's something else Earthlings have yet to discover. But go on."

"Well, if you were to make a collage of all the children of God, it would be composed of trillions of pictures, with each pic being a different person. But if you were to make a collage of the Virgin Mary, each picture would be of her. Now do you understand?"

"Yes, but why do you think God creates universes, gives life to them and then goes among them to teach his beliefs?"

"I believe that God creates life because he wants to share his joy with that life. But can we change the subject? What are you going to do about work?"

"I don't know. Do you think the old man might want some help managing the restaurant and bar downstairs?" Zlatex answers his counterpart.

"Sure, and he might let me sing like I've done before. Why don't you ask him?"

The owner and manager didn't hire Julia to sing, but he did employ James to help out in the kitchen. But after three weeks, James found easier work at a higher pay as a printer's apprentice and typesetter of the Alexandria local newspaper. The managing editor of the Wednesday, Friday, Sunday paper met James while eating at the bistro. While talking to James, he discovered that he could fluently read and write English, French, Spanish and some Latin. He told James that he could use someone as fluent as James because many of his readers could read Spanish and others English.

He told the editor that his parents were French and Julia's were Spanish, but they grew up in colonial America, speaking and learning English. James didn't tell him that he acquired this ability living among the colonists since 1766, almost half a century ago. Both he and Yaphet still looked as though they were twenty-three years old. Nor did he tell him at that time that his symbiotic equivalent was also able to read, write and speak three of the languages; they didn't speak Latin except what they learned going to mass on Sundays. He did this because, as he and his consort have learned, many wives at this time were subject to their husbands. Zlatex didn't want the editor to know that the two of them only practiced this type of relationship in public. But when they were alone, they considered themselves to be equal to each other and treated each other as equals.

Once he started working as an apprentice typesetter, as an afterthought, he told the editor that his wife could also speak the three languages but was only partially able to read or write them. As an extraterrestrial traveler coming from a scientifically advanced, technologically developed planet, living among early 19th century Earthlings, he didn't want to give the newspaper manager too much insight into their superior knowledge. The two syngeneic beings continued to maintain their anonymity because they still didn't know how Earthlings would react to discovering an alien living among themselves.

He not only taught James how to set type for printing, but he also gave him his own column to write. He just had to write it in English and Spanish. Further, he frequently told James what to write. James didn't mind that. He was happy to learn how to set typography and operate a newspaper printing press. The experience would help him get other, better jobs in the future.

Yaphet was overjoyed that he got a job for the newspaper. Meanwhile, she started a garden of potatoes, carrots, green beans and tomatoes. Together, they also raised a few chickens. What they didn't eat themselves, Julia would sell in the local market.

One morning, while in the marketplace selling some of her vegetables, she met an elderly lady selling wicker baskets she had woven. Julia asked her to teach her how to do it; for payment, she gave the woman some potatoes, carrots and green beans. The old woman was happy to teach her how to make the rattan baskets. She said that she was getting older and was looking for someone to help her make and sell them in the market. Besides, she was contemplating moving to Saint Augustine to live with her daughter and grandchildren. Julia could take her spot in the local market once she learned how to make the handbaskets.

After that, for several months Yaphet made different types of wicker baskets and sold them in the market along with any vegetables she had. Then the secretary of the newspaper quit. She got married and her new husband didn't want her working outside their home. James reminded his boss that his wife could read and write English and Spanish. The editor asked Julia to come in for an interview and to give him a sample of her reading and writing talents. He then hired her too.

It is February 26, 1819, James and Julia have been working at the newspaper for four years. James has just learned about the Spanish Cession of 1819, whereby Spain ceded East and West Florida. Also known as the Adam-Onís Treaty, the agreement solidified American control over the southeastern portion of the country and certified peaceful relations with Spain. But most important, it paved the way for westward expansion of the growing nation. However, Spain retained sovereignty over its remaining territories in the Americas, including New Mexico, California, and the rest of the western lands.

Spain's foothold in Florida was weak in the years following the American independence, and there were numerous boundary disputes between the two nations. After years of negotiations, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams achieved a diplomatic triumph with the signing of the Florida Purchase Treaty on February 22, 1819, which officially made Florida an American territory.

Working at the newspaper, Julia and James already knew about the treaty made at London on October 20, 1818, in the British Cession of northern Dakota and Minnesota. This was the Anglo-American Convention of 1818. This accord resolved a long standing boundary issue between England and the United States. The two nations agreed to a borderline along the 49th north parallel. They chose this boundary because a straight-line border would be easier to survey than the pre-existing boundaries based on geographical landmarks. The treaty marked Great Britain's last permanent major loss of territory in North America and the first significant cession of American territory to a foreign power by the United States.

The British ceded all of Ruper's Land south of the 49th parallel and east of the Continental Divide, including all of the Red River Colony south of that latitude, while the United States ceded the northernmost edge of the Missouri Territory north of the 49th parallel, acreage that the U. S. obtained in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803.

The Anglo-American Convention of 1818 demonstrated the willingness of both governments to resolve disputes through negotiation rather than conflict, and to continue their relative peace and cooperation. Thus, establishing the stage for future compromises and treaties between them. But above all, the convention avoided military conflicts and cemented their commitment to diplomacy, that helped to stabilize the region.

Zlatex knew that the Americans were expanding their country westward. He also figured that New Spain, which was just across the Sabine River from Alexandria - a stone's throw away from the city - could easily become part of that expansion. The people living there would then become citizens of the United States.

James asked his editor if he could write an article about the United States Constitution and how that document was written. He said that he knew a lot about how it was written. He also told him that he should seriously consider it, because with the American expansion, it would only be a matter of time before New Spain would become part of the new nation. He said that it would be in the best interest of his readers if they knew something about what could become the law that someday governs them.

The editor agreed, not only for those reasons but also because he was interested in learning how the document was created. James then began to write about how the United States Constitution was written.

By 1786, the shortcomings in the Articles of Confederation that were written soon after the American Revolution, had become apparent. These were mainly in its lack of central authority over both domestic and foreign commerce. Congress endorsed a plan to draft a new Constitution.

On May 25, 1787, the Constitutional Convention convened at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. On September 17, 1787, after several months of debate, moderated by convention president George Washington, the new U. S. Constitution was written. This law created a strong federal government with an intricate system of checks and balances between the three branches of government, the executive, the legislative and the judicial. It was signed by 38 of the 41 delegates present at the conclusion of the convention. As dictated by Article VII, the document would not become binding until it was ratified by at least nine of the thirteen states.

The executive branch of the U. S. government checks the judicial branch through judicial nominations and appointments and through pardons. It checks the legislative branch through vetoes of bills and through executive orders.

The legislative branch of the U. S. government checks the executive branch through impeachment proceedings and by overriding vetoes with the concurrence of two-thirds of congress. It checks the judicial branch through impeachment proceedings and by passing legislation.

The judicial branch of the U. S. government checks the executive branch through judicial review and by declaring presidential actions as unconstitutional. It checks the legislative branch through judicial review and it interprets the laws passed by congress.

Beginning on December 7, five states, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, New Jersey and Pennsylvania ratified it in quick succession. However, other states, particularly Massachusetts, opposed the document, because it failed to reserve undelegated powers to the states and it lacked constitutional protections of basic political rights, such as freedom of the press, speech and religion. In February 1788, a compromise was reached whereby Massachusetts and the other objecting states agreed to ratify the document with the assurance that amendments that protected individual freedoms would be immediately proposed.

The Constitution was then narrowly ratified in Massachusetts, followed by Maryland and South Carolina. On June 21, 1788, New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the document. The states successively agreed that the new government under the U. S. Constitution would begin on March 4, 1789. The following June, Virginia ratified the Constitution, and then New York in July.

On September 25, 1789, the first Congress of the United States adopted twelve amendments to the U. S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and sent them to the states for ratification. Ten of these amendments were ratified in 1791.

In November 1789, North Carolina became the twelfth state to ratify the U. S. Constitution. Rhode Island, which opposed federal control of currency and was critical of compromise on the issue of slavery, resisted ratifying the Constitution until the U. S. government threatened to sever commercial relations with the state. On May 29, 1790, Rhode Island voted by two votes to ratify the document, and the last of the original thirteen colonies joined the United States. Thus, the U. S. Constitution is the first and oldest written statute ever produced by mankind. It is the beacon and guiding light by which many other nations around the world direct their governments.

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It needs to be noted that the Iroquois Confederacy of Native American Indians provided a starting point for the U. S. Constitution. It was in no way an exact model for that written document, but it did provide something that the philosophers Montesquieu, John Locke and others couldn't. That was a real life example of some of the political concepts the framers of the Constitution were interested in adopting for their new government.

The Iroquois Confederacy dates back several centuries, to when the "Great Peacemaker" founded it by uniting five nations, the Cayuga, the Mohawk, the Oneida, the Onondaga and the Seneca. Then around 1722, the Tuscarora nation joined the Iroquois.

The framers of the U. S. Constitution cited the Iroquois and the other Native American Indian governments as examples of an early form of federalism. Things like marriage, divorce, birthrights, private ownership of possessions and other local matters were taken care of in each individual village. Such things were not something that the native governments or the chiefs collectively had to contend with. Each tribe would have its own issues to solve, but the Iroquois Confederacy was about unification through mutual defense, and it conducted all national and foreign affairs.

When George Washington became the first U. S. president in 1789, the capital of the United States was in New York. When he was re-elected for his second term in 1792, the capital had moved to Philadelphia. The city remained the capital of the United States for ten years. As per the Residence Act of July 16, 1790, President Washington issued an edict that stipulated that the site be officially designated on January 24, 1791. The Act provided for the national capital and permanent seat of government to be established at a site along the Potomac River. It was named that same year Washington District of Columbia, in honor the first president and Christopher Columbus.

The construction period lasted for ten years, and the government worked from Philadelphia until May 15, 1800, when it was moved to Washington D. C. Construction on the Presidential Mansion, the President's official residence, began on October 13, 1792, and was completed on November 1, 1800. Thomas Jefferson was the President at that time.

On August 24, 1814, the British burned the Presidential Mansion after the Battle of Bladensburg, Maryland in the War of 1812. Much of the interior of the building was gutted and the exterior was severely scorched. During the subsequent restoration, the building was painted white to cover the fire damage. This contributed to its iconic appearance and eventually led to the President's residence being nicknamed the White House.

Of course, Zlatex and Yaphet recorded all this information into SAM. Each morning or in the evening before the sun set, after making sure the door of wherever they were living at the time was closed and securely locked, they would remove the processor from its trunk. Then upon placing the solar powered rechargeable battery pack near a window in the sunlight and connecting the central processing unit to it with the electrical cord, they would record any new information into the memory of the computer, using their personal mobile communicators.

When they are traveling, they hang blankets around their wagon and silently type the data into SAM after making sure no one can interrupt them or perceive what they are doing. This included not only statistics about the Earthlings, their behaviors, their beliefs and their habitats, but also info about the flora, the fauna and the geology of the area. They are following the advice of SAM and inputting everything they learn, because the more facts it has, then the more it will be able to help them.

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It is Tuesday January 26, 1836, Yaphet and Zlatex have been living in San Antonio for a little over five years, not far from the Alamo mission. Because they do not age and did not want anyone to discover that they are syngeneic aliens, after living in Alexandria, Louisiana for fifteen years, they decided to move out before anyone noticed that they were not getting old. They did not want anyone to learn that they have been on Earth since 1766; yet they still look like they are only 23 years old.

So, they bought a new four wheeled farmer's wagon and mule, packed all their belongings into their two chests, including SAM, the Simplified Automatic Mainframe computer, loaded it all onto their cart and headed west. They rented a little two room cottage on the outskirts of San Antonio. It already had a bed, chest of drawers and a writing desk in the bedroom and a small couch and chair in the large living area across from the fireplace. The hearth also served as a place from which to cook. A table with four chairs surrounding it was off to one side. Yaphet and Zlatex only had to supply their own blankets, pots, pans and cooking and eating utensils.

James got another job writing for a local newspaper in San Antonio. He told the managing editor that he and his wife, Julia were from New York and that he learned how to set type and operate a printing press as an apprentice there. He gave him the same story that he had given to the editor of the Alexandria newspaper, that he could fluently read and write Spanish, French and English.

He also showed him a few newspaper clippings of articles that he wrote, minus the Alexandria newspaper's headline. The managing editor hired James to write about news articles that he would give to him.

At this time, Julia stays home to "keep house," and makes and sells wicker baskets that she sells from their home. However, she occasionally goes to the nearby Alamo mission to help out the Roman Catholic nuns teach the children their arithmetic and grammar.

"Zlatex, I may not be here when you get home from the newspaper later this today," Yaphet says to her extraterrestrial consort as they are eating breakfast together. "The nuns are teaching the children about the Holy Trinity, but they said that it's a mystery. I didn't say anything at the time but..."

"It's been a while since you've explained it to me," Zlatex interrupts her. "Be a doll and describe it to me again. Help me better understand it."

"Well, everything you perceive with your five senses while you are awake in this physical world, you also have when you dream. That is, you feel, hear, see, smell taste and perceive things in this world, and you feel, hear, see, smell, taste and perceive the same things when you dream. You follow me so far?"

"Yes, I do."

"In that sense, there are two of you; the person you are in the physical world, and you are another person in your dreams. Then everything you love and believe, all your thoughts, your likes, your dislikes, your hopes and aspirations, your trusts and fears, that can be seen as your spirit."

"That's cool. Please continue," Zlatex asks.

"Your spirit is with your physical body for a little while. Then when you go to sleep, your spirit is with your dream body. Hence, there are three of you, made to the image and likeness of God, your head, your body and your spirit. Do you understand, Zlatex."

"Yes, I believe that is an excellent way of illustrating the trinity of God. Besides teaching the children their arithmetic and grammar, is that what you're going to explain to the nuns later today at the Alamo?"

"Yes," Yaphet answers her lover.

The Alamo is an historic Spanish mission founded by Roman Catholic missionaries in San Antonio. Originally named the Misión San Antonio de Valero, it was one of the earliest presidio missions in Mexican Texas. The Spanish built it to convert Native American Indians to Catholicism. But the mission was abandoned after it was secularized in 1793. Ten years later, it was converted into a garrisoned fortress, housing the Second Flying Company of San Carlon de Parras military unit. It was these men who gave the mission the name Alamo.

After the Siege of Béxar, the Mexican General Martin Perfecto de Cos surrendered the fort to the Texan Army in December 1835, during the Texas Revolution for independence from Mexico. The Siege of Béxar was an early campaign of the Texas Revolution, whereby a volunteer Texan Army defeated Mexican forces at San Antonio de Béxar.

A relatively small number of Texan soldiers then occupied the compound for several months. These defenders were later killed at the Battle of the Alamo in 1836.

"I have some bad news for us, Yaphet," Zlatex informs his traveling consort as he comes home from work at the newspaper Tuesday afternoon. "It appears as though we may have gotten ourselves involved in another war. A news report came in today that many Texans want independence from Mexico. They are talking about forming their own government, just like the thirteen original colonists did in 1776."

"Do you think we should move again, Zlatex. We've only been here for a few years?"

"Let's wait and see what happens. Working at the newspaper, we usually get notified of upcoming events rather early. I think we are safe for now. Maybe there won't be a war; maybe they'll negotiate a peaceful independence. But if anything happens that might get either of us involved in their war, we'll just move."

"That sounds great, Zlatex. I'll continue to help the nuns at the mission teach the children. If we have to move, where do you think we should go?"

"I think we should go to California, Yaphet. From what I have heard, many Americans are going there. They want to establish their nation from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, from sea to sea. But let's just stay here for the time being. I don't believe we should move until we have to."

"I agree with you on that Zlatex. But if the people of Texas go to war with Spain because they want their own independence, I want us to move away from the Alamo and out of San Antonio immediately."

On September 27, 1821, Mexico gained its independence from Spain. Soon after that, Texas declared its independence from Mexico as an independent nation, the Republic of Texas. On March 2, 1836, Texans signed the Texas Declaration of Independence, establishing the Republic of Texas. However, just as Great Britain did years earlier, the Mexican government did not recognize the new nation.

After the early Texan victory at the Siege of Béxar, General Santa Anna took personal command to suppress the rebellion. His goal was to restore Mexican control over Texas.

The conflict started on October 2, 1835, with the Battle of Gonzales over the ownership of a cannon. A number of Texan settlers, who had possession of the cannon, began an early morning assault against some Mexican troops, who wanted their cannon. After a brief encounter, the outnumbered Mexican soldiers retreated to San Antonio. The skirmish is considered to be the first military conflict of the Texas Revolution, in its struggle for independence from Mexico.

The Siege of Béxar started two months later.

After that, General Santa Anna commanded his army into Texas, encountering several smaller battles and preparing for a larger confrontation.

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It is February 20, 1836, General Antonio López de Santa Anna has formed an army to again make Texas part of the Mexican nation. He sent an emissary to the Alamo mission asking the residents and soldiers stationed there to surrender the garrison. He warned them that no quarter would be given to those who refused to leave.

Many settlers of the new, self-proclaimed Republic of Texas fled eastward toward the United States. Zlatex and Yaphet loaded up their farmer's wagon and went north. They didn't want to follow those going east, they had just come from that direction. Nor did they want to go west or south; they were afraid that they would run into Santa Anna and his army.

At that time, approximately one hundred Texans were garrisoned in the Alamo mission, along with about a hundred additional reinforcements led by the two commanders Colonel William B. Travis and the American Colonel James "Santiago" Bowie; Jim having arrived earlier on January 19th with about thirty men. On February 3, Davy Crockett arrived with numerous Tennessean sharp shooters.

When Mexican troops began arriving on February 23, Colonel Travis started sending out couriers with pleas for assistance, provisions and munitions. In February 1836, during Santa Anna's siege of the Alamo, Travis wrote his famous "Victory or Death letter." The letter did not gain the reinforcements he desperately needed, but it later motivated the Texan army and helped to rally support in America for the cause of Texas independence.

During the Mexican siege of the Alamo, the "Victory or Death" letter that Travis wrote is considered one of the most notable documents in United States history. When Travis and the defenders were defeated, killed, and burned by Santa Anna, it made them historical martyrs. It became a rallying call for the cause of Texan independence from Mexico. His resistance and the battle cry of "Remember the Alamo" are considered one of the most notable last stands in history.

Santa Anna led his army to San Antonio de Béxar, arriving on February 23, 1836. He immediately initiated the siege of the Alamo, where the Texan Army troops were stationed. As the Mexican Army had approached San Antonio, several of the Alamo defenders brought their families into the Alamo to keep them safe. During the thirteen days of the siege, Colonel Travis sent several couriers to the acting Texas government asking for reinforcements, provisions, and ammunition.

The actual Battle of the Alamo started on the evening of February 23 when troops from Antonio López de Santa Anna fired artillery batteries into the fort. Santa Anna and his army continued the siege of the Alamo on February 24. It ended thirteen days later on March 6, 1836.

During the day on February 24, Jim Bowie collapsed from illness, leaving Colonel Travis in sole command of the garrison. Two doctors, including the fort surgeon, were unable to diagnose his illness. He died in his bed while defending himself against the Mexican soldiers.

After fending off two attacks, the Texans were unable to repel a third assault. As Mexican soldiers scaled the walls, most of the Texan defenders withdrew into interior buildings. Those who were unable to reach these points were executed by the Mexican army on the orders of Santa Anna.

When the Battle of the Alamo ended at approximately 6:30 a. m. on March 6, 1836, fewer than fifty of the almost 260 Texans who had occupied the Alamo Mission in San Antonio were alive. Both Colonel Travis and Davy Crockett were also killed in the battle. Santa Anna ordered the execution of the few remaining Texans. He then demanded that their bodies be stacked and burned in funeral pyres, including those of Bowie, Crockett and Travis.

The Alamo conflict was a small part of the Texas Revolution. It was also the first step in the attempt by the Mexican President Antonio López de Santa Anna to retake the region of Texas from after the insurgent army of Texan settlers, native Tejanos, and expansionists from the United States, men who had forced the Mexican troops out of the Alamo the previous year.

The fall of the Alamo became a call for Texan independence, leading to the victory at San Jacinto. Led by General Sam Houston and motivated by a desire for revenge for the merciless murder of the Alamo defenders, as well as their wish to preserve a border open to immigration and the importation and the practice of slavery, on April 21, 1836, the Texans defeated Santa Anna and the Mexican Army at the Battle of San Jacinto.

However, the two symbiotic beings left San Antonio before the hostilities began the evening of February 21. After traveling for thirteen days, they arrived near a tiny village located in the middle of nowhere, just a remote stretch of land with a few houses. It was a small settlement; one of which was also a general store. They parked their cart near the store and stayed overnight. Then while Yaphet laid down some blankets under and around their wagon, James purchased two live chickens, a basket of potatoes, a sack of flour, some beef jerky, dried apples and peaches and a large bowl of ham hocks and beans along with some ground tea leaves from the store. After they ate their meal, they entered what they learned that day into SAM. Next, they stowed their provisions and crawled under the blankets, stripped down and united sexually until morning.

As soon as the sun came up, the alien counterparts hitched up the mule to their cart and continued north on the only road. Twenty-nine days later they stopped at a Native American Indian trading post near the banks of the Trinity River. They had intended to stay just long enough to load up some more supplies for their journey to California. But the elderly owner of the store said he was expecting some more supplies to arrive "any day." The two travelers decided to stay.

Luckily, the supply wagon came the next day. James and Julia purchased enough supplies for the next leg of their journey. Then, just as they were leaving the trading post, the rear axle of their wagon broke. The owner of the trading post said he could get them another one, but it would take a couple of weeks to arrive. They knew that there was nothing they could do. They asked him to order another shaft and then set up camp near the trading post. The axle finally arrived ten months later, on December 22nd.

The next day temperatures drop and a rare heavy snowfall for this part of Texas makes the only road away from the trading post impassable through the sludge. They both decide to spend another few days with the owner of the trading post and his Native American Indian wife.

It is early morning December 25, 1836. The two aliens are snuggled naked beneath their blankets under their cart. Yaphet's ass is red and stinging from the spanking Zlatex has administered to her as a form of foreplay. He is deep inside his consort; she is moaning softly. Suddenly, the trading post manager's wife interrupts their love making. She wants to know if they would like to have Christmas dinner with her and her white man husband.

The four celebrated the Christmas meal, consisting of roast piglet, baked macaroni and cheese and corn on the cob, smothered with real butter. After, they sat in front of the fireplace recounting stories of their travels with the trading post owner and his Native American Indian wife. Suddenly, he cried out, clutched his heart and grimaced. Then he fell to the floor.

James and Julia helped the Native American Indian woman bury him that afternoon. Then she packed up some of her belongings and returned to her Caddo tribe. James asked her what she wanted to do with the trading post. She answered that it belonged to them now; it was theirs if they wanted it.

Later that evening, the two syngeneic equivalents talked it over between themselves. They knew that they were stuck here, maybe even until the Spring thaw. Rarely did anyone ever come by and those that did, didn't stay very long. The trading post owner told them that they were the only two visitors he had in the last two weeks. Besides, most of his customers were Native American Indians, many of whom couldn't speak English or Spanish. They reasoned that this isolated cabin was perfect. They could stay here without anybody noticing that they did not age.

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It is Sunday May 1, 1859, the symbiotic beings have been managing the trading post for twenty-three years. It's the longest time that they have stayed in any one place since arriving on Earth from the planet Herth in 1766. The area around them has grown into a small township. Settlers have moved in and built homes, farms and various businesses, including a local biweekly newspaper. The trading post that James and Julia manage has developed into a general store, selling everything from dry goods, flour, rice, beef jerky, licorice, rock candy and candid fruits, blankets, pots, pans and hardware to an occasional chicken or piglet that someone has traded for something. Yaphet has continued to weave baskets, which they also sell.

In 1849, the U. S. Army named the town that developed around the trading post Fort Worth.

James frequently buys a newspaper so that they can catch up on the news of the day. Over the years, they have learned that Oregon was annexed by the United States in a treaty between the United States and the United Kingdom that was signed on June 15, 1846. The Oregon Treaty brought an end to the Oregon boundary disagreement, disputed lands near the 49th north parallel. It settled competing American and British claims to the Oregon Territory; an area that had been jointly occupied by both Great Britain and the United States for several years.

Prior to this, the Oregon Territory was an organized incorporated region of the United States from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Oregon.

Yaphet and Zlatex have also learned about treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which was signed on February 2, 1848, ending the war between Mexico and the United States. By its terms, Mexico ceded California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, much of Arizona and Colorado, along with parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Wyoming. Mexico also relinquished all claims to Texas and recognized the Rio Grande River as the southern boundary of the United States.

After the thirteen original states signed the Constitution in 1787 and thus formed one united government, twenty more states were admitted into the Union, Vermont on March 4, 1791, Kentucky on June 1, 1792, Tennessee on June 1, 1796, Ohio on March 1, 1803, Louisiana on April 30, 1812, Indiana on December 11, 1816, Mississippi on December 10, 1817, Illinois on December 3, 1818, Alabama on December 14, 1819, Maine on March 5, 1820, Missouri on August 10,1821, Arkansas on June 15, 1836, Michigan on January 26, 1837, Florida on March 3, 1845, Texas on December 29, 1845, Iowa on December 28, 1846, Wisconsin on May 29, 1848, California on September 9, 1850, Minnesota on May 11, 1858 and Oregon on February 14, 1859.

The United States has become a world player and rapidly becoming the world's foremost power. This is mainly due to the U. S. Constitution and in particular the Bill of Rights, which gives individual rights to the people. The citizens in return support the government. There is nothing that appears to be able to stop the growth of this new nation.

It is Monday May 2nd, Zlatex and Yaphet have decided to move again. One of their customers commented this morning how lovely Julia looks; the woman said that she couldn't get over how Julia has retained her youthful appearance. She told Julia that she didn't look like a woman in her early forties; she said that she didn't look a day over thirty. Julia answered her by stating that she daily washes her face with plain water and doesn't let anything bother her.

The next day James contacted a retired army colonel who was living in a Fort Worth boarding house. He had told him earlier that he was looking for something in which to invest his savings. He said that each month for the past ten to twelve years, he had been putting part of his pay into the bank. Now that he is retired, he is thinking about moving back east. He added that if he moves, he will miss living here in Fort Worth.

After discussing it with Yaphet, they have decided to ask the colonel if he wanted to buy the general store. If not, then they will just pack up SAM and their belongings and leave.

To be continued...