The Council of Hhearn Trilogy Box Set

by P F Walsh

  The Broadcast services of Lotma had all their broadcast trucks and cameras strategically placed not to miss a single fraction of the service. They had worked all night to be ready. The microphones were all connected and the main feed was being transmitted to Denknish. Tens of millions of Lotma and Denknish eyes were watching.

  “Please come this way Captain Flynn, and bring the Sisters with you. The rest of you party will be seated in the second row behind the planetary leaders.” Said an attendant, as Sean and his party exited their car. Once Sean and the Sisters came into sight from their vehicle the crowd across the street issued a smattering of polite applause, already recognizing them as pivotal in these proceedings. Sean and the Sisters followed the attendant into the Shrine and were walked up to the front where an elevated series of steps led to an inner chamber, now closed, but with a golden door covered with embossed Lotma words and symbols. The attendant pointed to a standing position two steps up, where a small piece of red carpet had been set in place for them. Sean felt conspicuous as though being placed on display but he assumed his military bearing and stood erect with his hands clasped in front as he watched the remaining attendees file in to their seats.

  Once all the attendees were seated there was a pause of the chimes and a few minutes of reflective silence. Then, the chimes began with a note noticeably lower, all in the Shrine stood up as the casket cortege with honor guard slowly passed down the main aisle, When it came abreast of the front pew where the Speaker of the Denknish Assembly was seated next to the Chairman, she was surprised to see the front top half of the casket was covered with the flag of Lotma and the lower top half covered with the flag of Denknish. This was when she knew peace was possible. She reached over and held the hand of the Chairman, a move picked up by the overhead cameras. He gratefully clasped in return. They could hear loud applause coming from the outside of the Shrine as the huge screens outside displayed that act for the crowd.

  Nazzdropa Paklar Chief Priest of the Denknish Shrine of First Faith strode across the floor to the front of the casket. He stopped in front of it, bowed his head and continued on to mount the step of the pulpit. Already at the pulpit was the Lotma Chief Priest.

  Denknish Chief Priest Paklar stood to the microphone. He gathered their eyes all in his as he scanned the seated guests, some wiping tears from their away trying to stay composed, he began with a smooth but strong voice,

  “May all the blessings of the Spirit of The First Faith come upon us this day.” He continued,

  “This day, is a solar of immense sadness and great joy. We are struck low with the weight of deep sadness at the loss of our daughter, (pause) now... the daughter of two worlds, laying before us, who has given her life that we may be brought to the steps of peace. Her heart has been stilled but her hope is now more vibrant and possible than ever before. That is a legacy that is not likely to ever be surpassed.”

  “And yet, within these realms of grief, we find the glowing joy that great sacrifice brings, the prospect of peace. No one person could have done this except Admiral Felicit Andregga. She was the instrument of God who for a very long time, had not found the right person with the courage to touch our hearts, or perhaps our hearts were not yet ready. She was the only one. Given, and then taken, her work now done, and all left behind for us to burnish and nurture. Let us not waste this sacrifice, this spark of genuine hope that has been foretold in the First Faith Scroll.”

  At that point, the priest’s aid wearing white gloves brought the original First Faith Scroll, which the laity of the Lotma Shrine had never seen, to the Lotma Chief Priest at the pulpit. The Lotma Chief Priest put on white gloves and carefully rolled open the scroll until he got the section he wanted. The people of Lotma knew this was extraordinary, the scroll was never read from the pulpit, it had never been to Lotma, and was only read by the few select priests who were devout enough for the privilege. The Denknish Chief Priest spoke,

  “I will now read directly from the Passages of Respite written centuries ago,

  “In the deepness of your despair, the spirit of First Faith will awake and hear your distress. It will send a Majjoo. He will come from the dark with ghosts, for there is much that is unseen in the dark. He will know the ancient words and be admitted, and then he will speak for the dead. Prepare to be judged. Upon the body of peace shall the wounds be healed.”

  The silence was palpable as the understanding of the words swept through the Lotma citizens. No explanation was necessary, the Majjoo had come and he was standing before the assembled mourners alongside the ghosts. Quick intakes of breath and murmurs were heard. The Chief Priests did not have to point to Sean, everyone now knew who he was. The Denknish Chief Priest finished up,

  “He was sent to heal and to judge. We have been judged and found wanting, but the healing was done despite that. We will now be judged by the Majjoo on what we do with what the Spirit of First Faith has given us.”

  The Lotma Chief Priest rolled up the scroll, handed it to the Denknish, assistant priest Then, both Chief Priests stepped down from the pulpit to move in front of Sean and the Sisters and bowed. They then moved to the casket and bowed to it saying together,

  “These proceedings under God’s eyes are finished. Take her to her honored rest.”

  The honor guard returned and moved the casket slightly back toward the rear of the Shrine. Four of the honor guards wearing white gloves removed a temporary metal panel on the floor covering the stairway entrance to the crypt below. Two of the guards descended, then the remaining four began to lift the casket to carry it down, the chimes began their mournful elegy again.

  On Denknish the viewership of the funeral on Lotma was the largest in the planet’s history. The pollsters were not even certain they could estimate that high. It was riveting and the other channels were barren of viewers. Nothing was more important than this broadcast.

  In a private estate in rural Denknish a small gathering of wealthy men had been watching silently as each minute went by. No one said a word as it played out. Now that the casket was being lowered into the crypt in the floor of the Shrine, one man made an angry move.

  General Tommar threw his drink at the vid. It missed and broke against the wall alongside the vid cabinet. No one said anything until Milronn Dubmist the host and a member of the Assembly got up and said,

  “I’ll get you another drink General.” He went to the bar at the back, picked up an ice pick and returning, jammed it up behind the General’s head into his brain. The General slumped over quite dead. The man then said to the rest of the group,

  “Let’s start planning on reconstruction bids for the orbital ship assembly structure we lost, that can be rebuilt now that shooting has stopped. We can also see if we can open the Lotma market to some of our drugs. We’ll have to convert our munitions factories to consumer goods but the munition machines are pretty well worn out anyway. I’ll have somebody drop the General off alongside the road somewhere, we don’t need him anymore, do we?”

  Negative assent filled the room and they got up to make themselves another drink while the General sat there quite undisturbed by the slight.

  Three solars had passed since the funeral of Admiral Andregga but this was the first solar that the Chairman of the Lotma Presidium and the Speaker of the Denknish Assembly had scheduled a meeting. The Chairman thought it was best to allow a few solars to transpire while both parties could see if the cessation of hostile actions was holding. The Speaker, agreed and she, her security guard, and her honor guard spent their solars in Menkth House. This was a huge mansion owned many decades ago by a wealthy industrialist who remained unmarried without heirs and left his home and wealth to the planet of Lotma. She spent her time reading some of the historical books about Lotma history that were on the guest house shelves. Lotma had an interesting history full of bigger than life figures in its history. Many wars had traversed across her soil as founding families from different areas of the planet clashed. She noticed on all the available books she lo
oked through there was no history beyond a few hundred annuals. So, where did the Lotmas come from?

  The Chairman spent his first two solars in seclusion except for insisting on an early morning report on the status of hostilities and asking did anyone know what the Speaker was doing? The third solar he called his inner cabinet specialists together and demanded a list of the most critical items needed on Lotma excluding military needs. Their list was long and was topped by the lack of medical supplies and empty pharmaceutical shelves. That was the solar he found out that the Lotma Honor Guard had been having breakfast with the Denknish honor guard and then were practicing the Denknish Deliverance of Honor protocol. The Lotma lieutenant was not satisfied with their execution of this solemn military rite.

  That was when the Chairman knew earnest pursuits of peace must move forward. He recalled that some 10 annuals ago, they had captured a Denknish Ship’s Captain and imprisoned him. He had spent all of his solars working in the Lotma military hospital. He was assigned menial but important tasks of helping with physical therapy and reading to the injured Lotma servicemen and women. The Chairman was told he had never complained and passed away peacefully one night all alone in his cell. “Perhaps we need to think about returning this Captain to Denknish?” He thought as he reached for his comm to set up a meeting with the Speaker in the morning.

  Sean and his party had decided to spend their days and night aboard the Discovery and try to maintain a third, neutral party image as he waited for the other two to come to terms and meet. He was sure it would happen and had great hopes it would result in continuation of cessation of hostilities. He was also uncomfortable with the crowds of Lotmas who came by the ship, bowed and seemed to mumble a quick prayer and leave.

  Sean was not ready to become some sort of demigod. He had to admit he was as stunned as the rest of the congregation when the Chief Priest read from the Passages of Respite. And then, there was the voices in his head from the Sisters who said, “He speaks truth.” He would be glad to leave and get back to his Mate without bearing some kind of mystical burden. He was still not quite used to getting called “Your Grace” while at Nasht-Mer’s estate. Then in a surge of antipathy to get this out of his head, sang out,

  “Can’t a guy get a decent hamburger in this place?” to the surprise of Doris and Rooky who were having lunch and had no idea what prompted his outburst.

  The morning of the fourth solar, anticipating the meeting the Chairman had called for, Speaker Nool spent quite a bit longer than usual getting herself dressed and paying precise attention to her hair, makeup, and scent. In a flash of realization, she thought,

  “What am I doing? This is a state meeting not a date!”

  Nevertheless, a bit conflicted, she continued until all was as perfect as she could make it. She examined herself in the tall mirror. She was wearing a form fitting bodycon dress, scoop neck, in dark blue with a neck scarf. Above her left breast she pinned on the Star of the Speaker of the Assembly of Denknish, her emblem of authority in state matters. She was undecided on her shoes and chose a mid-heel black shoe in the event some walking was in store. As she looked at her image, she had to admit she looked better than any meeting she had attended in a long time. But, being an erudite politician, she suspected news cameras might be about and Denknish citizens watching as well as her whole Assembly.

  “Best to be prepared.” She thought, and walked out of her room to travel with her guards to the meeting. The State limousine and police escort with blinking lights all over it traveled through the City to the Presidium building. Some Lotmas waved to her car as she went by. The limousine turned and rolled down a ramp leading under the Presidium building to allow the group to leave their transport in a secure location. They walked to a riser and rose to the third floor and a large meeting room. Her honor guard stayed outside but her security guard entered with her.

  The room was filled with a large group of people including several military officers. The Chairman sat in the middle of the long conference table and all stood when she was announced with her full title. She walked directly to the Chairman and gently struck hands with a smile. The Chairman caught a whiff of her exotic perfume as she nodded to all the others in the room thinking,

  “So, they plan to overwhelm me with this big group? We shall see about that.” She smiled to herself and found her chair opposite the Chairman with her security officer standing behind her. Every man in the room was watching her move, the Lotma female Presidium members frowned.

  Before the Chairman could begin the meeting, she began,

  “Gentlemen and Ladies, this will be the first meeting between Denknish and Lotma since...does anyone know how long it has been?” She looked about the room, someone popped up and said

  “One hundred and fifty-two annuals Madam Speaker.”

  “Thank you.” She said, “Then we should get on with it shouldn’t we, we have been waiting for this a long time. Let’s not waste any more time.

  Our two worlds have suffered greatly, and as near as I can tell from my reports, relatively equally. So, let’s not begin by pretending that all is well and the fatted calf has yet to be slain for a feast. I am generally advised that between our two worlds we have enough aggregate resources to overcome shortages and share what the other doesn’t have. I exclude at least in these preliminary meetings, military resources. Mr. Chairman, what are your immediate needs?” She looked at him as she asked.

  The Chairman was still recovering from her smooth seizure of the meeting’s impetus and was now faced with the age old ‘put up or shut up.’

  “Nicely done.” He thought, “She is a force, and a damned fine looking one.” He reached for his folder and took out a sheet filled with a long list in double columns.

  “Our greatest need right now Madam Speaker is pharmaceuticals and medical supplies. Here is a list of what we no longer have.” he said as he passed her the paper. At that a General stood up yelling,

  “You can’t tell her all that. That’s a State secret!”

  The Speaker slowly turned and looked at him with her ‘drop dead and freeze’ stare and said icily,

  “My dear General, the war is over. Didn’t you get the report?”

  There was silence in the room for about half a unit as the general nonplused, slowly sat down. She passed the paper back to the Chairman and said,

  “Done.”

  “Done?” the Chairman said.

  “Done.” She said. “See how easy this is going to be Mr. Chairman?”

  “Now let’s have one from my side.” as she reached for a paper list handed to her by her security officer. The meeting went on like that for three hours before they decided to break for lunch. It was remarkable that seventy-five percent could be satisfied by one side or the other to relive the shortages.

  While they were having lunch, Speaker Nool told the Chairman that she had a promise of support from Planet Earth if the two parties could come together and share.

  “We just did that Mr. Chairman, now we can turn to our new friend and ask for some help in rebuilding.” The Chairman had never met anyone like her, “She just took charge and got it done. All these decades and we never knew how easy it would be to make peace. Remarkable.” he thought. As the solar came to a close with each of them bearing a list of resource agreements all signed off by both, she reached into her large bag and drew out a sheaf of papers and laid them on the table with a long pause.

  “Mr. Chairman, I suspect you are left with an impression that I have caused all of this to happen. You would be wrong. I want to make sure that everyone in this room understands and believes that all this was made possible by Admiral Felicit Andregga. Make no mistake about that! This is what she wanted to happen, and it is. I now offer to you the formal documents of peace and the permanent cessation of hostilities between our two worlds. These need to be signed today.” She finished and sat back.

  The same objecting General went to stand up and was pulled back down by a Presidium Member before he co
uld say anything and told to shut up.

  Thoughts and memories raced through the Chairman’s head of his daughter, her smile, her mischievous nature, and her accomplishments as an Admiral. No question this was the biggest. How painfully he wished she could be here to see this happen. He reached for the documents, opened them, his eyes canvassed the room for objection, and seeing none began to sign.

  Chapter Nine

  Book Two

  Sean and Doris were walking toward the dining area when Martin appeared.

  “Captain, I think you will want to hear this.” He said.

  The sounds of bells ringing filled the hall.

  “What is that Martin?” Sean asked.

  “That, Captain are the bells of Lotma ringing because they signed the peace agreement formally. The centuries old war is over.”

  Sean and Doris looked at each other with smiles.

  Doris thought, “That is really good news we can go back to Hhearn soon, and I only had to shoot one person.”

  Maejel Tripperty lately of Twickenham, England an affluent suburb southwest of London, was preparing for a dinner date with a Mr. John Lewis. Theirs was a chance meeting while she was on public tour of the White House. They had broken away from the group and he was sharing a delightful history of the White House as they walked along. While listening closely, she was still wondering why the security in this house of all places allowed people to walk around looking at the rooms. While he talked, she came to the conclusion that he must be with the Secret Service to have such access. Thus, when he asked her for a dinner date, she felt quite safe in accepting. She was staying in the Washington Hilton, not too far from everything she wanted to see. She looked in the mirror satisfied that she looked desirable but not too willing, and was excited to see this interesting man with exemplary manners (for an American).