Best Intentions

As the world hovers on the brink of disaster, one man is about to be given enough power to affect the lives of everyone on Earth. A huge artificially intelligent starship suffers an accident killing the crew and sending it off course. It ends up outside the solar system. The ship makes its way to Earth where one of its survey craft brings aboard an injured human. Using advanced medical technology the computer heals his injuries, after which the human (Mark Richards) and the computer speak. It tells Mark it is lost and has almost no chance to replace its point of origin, and about the species that created the ship. A species Mark comes to believe is altruistic and not at all warlike. Mark asks the machine to use the technology it has to help humanity and correct the environmental damage done to the Earth. Due to a logic error, the computer gives Mark full control of the ship. His first attempt ends in disaster and Mark decides to seek the help of the U.S. government. However all they want is control of the ship and its technology. My story is about Mark’s efforts to aid humanity behind the scenes at first, and then openly later, while avoiding the pitfalls of having almost unlimited power, while avoiding assassination attempts, a greedy shortsighted government and international suspicion of his motives.