The Council of Hhearn Trilogy Box Set

by P F Walsh

  “Would I be required to participate in the punishment?”

  “No Captain, that is our role, this way there will be no blood debt to be paid to any Zakar clan by any of the injured parties. You are to do nothing but stand and witness justice. This has been approved by the Senior Councilor of the Council of Worlds and the Zakar Thulk Gild.”

  “And, if I don’t come?” Sean asked.

  “Then the pledge cleansing between Zakar and the Council cannot be settled.” Said the other man of the two. Sean rolled his eyes; this was something he definitely did not want to do. But he had just come from making a contingent deal with the Senior Councilor to help two new friends. Upsetting a settlement of justice between the Council and another world involving piracy and the loss of a Seeker would not be the thing to do now.

  “Very well, when?” He asked.

  “Now Captain, please follow us to our landcar.”

  Sean went with the two Zakar men to their landcar and they headed for the CRC, City Restraining Cloister. Once there, they were admitted to the Cloister and taken with escort to the large center courtyard where there was a cluster of men standing about twenty paces back from two posts. Each post with a rigid arm attached to the top and extended out on one side. From this a line dropped to secure the hands of two Zakar men now lifted by the line so that their toes barely touched the small collection pan below them. Their legs were bound together and tethered to the main pole. They wore hoods over their heads.

  Sean joined the cluster of men and discovered that Maja-Ben was there representing the Council and there were Zakarians representing the seven original tribes of Zakar, stony-faced, and indurate, they were silent and awaited the settlement.

  Four black clad men wearing balaclavas so only their eyes were showing came forward to the posts. These were the Zakarian Hunters, men pledged to the Gild to deliver terminal settlement to those who offended the Zakarian code.

  They removed the hoods from the prisoners so they could now see those who were there to witness. The larger one immediately became agitated and tried to voice his anger but of the two, he was the only one that was gagged. Two Hunters positioned in front of each prisoner, cut off their clothing and turned to the Zakarian Clan contingent. All seven nodded affirmatively and the two Hunters each cut a shallow draw across the belly of both prisoners. The blood flowed freely down the body and dripped into the pan below. These were not killing cuts but bloodletting. All the witnesses stood there for a long time until the Hunters nodded for them to come forward. On a table set near the two posts was a row of small cases, each containing a dagger. As the witnesses came closer to the poisoners who were silent, but still very much alive, the Hunters dipped a dagger in the collected blood, put the dagger back in the case and handed it to a witness.

  Sean was relieved that he didn’t need to do anything with the dagger. He and Maja had hung back to see what the Zakarian Clan members would do with it. After receiving a dagger in the closed case, each one left the courtyard, as did Maja and Sean. When they left, the Hunters did their work and settled all offenses, permanently. Once done, they scooped up some of the blood from each prisoner’s pan to return it to Zakar and spread it upon salted soil so that nothing would grow from their essence. The empty hulks were left behind. The City would dispose of them. All blood matters were now settled. By agreement with the Senior Councilor, the Zakar could now re-open their Embassy with a new staff. The Hhearn media announced that matters between the Council and Zakar had been settled amicably. No details were shared but the announcer went on to say that construction had begun on a new Seeker.

  “Councilor, SIS Maja-Ben is here to see you. He says it will only take a minute of your time.” Announced the Councilor’s aid.

  “Send him in, and tell the cleaning staff I am not happy with the job they did getting the blood out of the carpet. It keeps becoming visible. Tell them to replace the carpet next week while I’m gone.” He barked into the intercom

  Maja-Ben came into the office and stood before the Senior Councilor,

  “Councilor, I am here to inform you that as your witness for the Council, the execution of the two Zakar offenders was carried out as agreed by the Zakar Hunters. I am to deliver this dagger into your hands as a completion of the settlement.” He handed Trakt-Men the box. The Councilor opened it and frowned when he saw it was a dagger with blood on it. He closed the cover.

  “Thank you, Officer Ben, was it grisly?” He asked

  “They allowed us to leave before that part, Sir.” He replied, not willing to expand on the scene he was witness too.

  “Was Captain Flynn there?” He asked

  “Yes, Sir, He was. I believe he is about to leave for Earth today, Sir.”

  “Thank you, Officer, I appreciate your willingness to spare me the unpleasantries.” The Councilor said with a whisk of his hand to let Maja-Ben know that was all.

  Maja-ben left the office and closed the door behind him.

  The Councilor wondered what he would do with the boxed dagger. He decided to put it in the office cabinet near the window. Before he did that, he put in a hand written note inside the box describing what it was. He would leave it for the next Senior Councilor to let him know the prior administration took things seriously.

  Chapter Twelve

  Book Two

  Beztl-Tor had driven with only two stops and was now reaching the outskirts of Louisville, Kentucky. In the last few hours, he had become sicker and was now sweating with a fever. He thought earlier, that some of the food on the ship must have been old or about to spoil and was now making him sick. Beztl had never really been sick, so this was definitely a new experience and he had no prior history to assess whether this was a passing food distress or something more serious. After another hour of driving he began to have vision problems and it became harder to stay on the road. He realized that he was becoming very sick and needed some med help. He recalled from his translated navigation instruction booklet that there was an icon to find the nearest hospital. He pulled over to the side of the highway, found that icon and pressed it. He instructed the navigation system to route him to that facility. Following driving directions picked up by his translator he found the hospital, parked his Range Rover, locked it and walked through the doors into the Emergency room and collapsed on the floor unconscious.

  Medical staff responded immediately and got him onto a Gurney and rolled him into the treatment area for an assessment. After about ten minutes of examination, lots of blood tests were ordered and he was started on an IV in preparation for medication. Doctor Brennan, a young physician recently out of residency, and new to the hospital was perplexed. He could see that the patient had elevated temperature, heart rate, and was an alien. The last item was easy as soon as they saw the 30-day Trader pass. This was the hospital’s first alien from another planet and he seemed to be very sick and getting worse. The doctor was concerned the patient might have some sort of infectious disease and ordered his isolation and called the lab to warn them about the blood samples and to get the tests done ‘stat.’

  About a half hour later a lab technician hunted down the Doctor and advised him they thought it was a viral hemorrhagic fever that they could not identify and said they were sending a sample to the CDC for further identification. They were worried that it was communicable, Isolation was imperative, and all medical personnel that had come in contact with him needed to be in a testing protocol for the next few days to be sure they had not been infected. The Doctor made a direct call to the CDC in Atlanta advising them about their suspicions and to look for the blood sample they were sending. In these cases, the CDC would become involved. Later in the day, an inter-office notice arrived at 1111 Constitution Avenue Northwest, the Washington DC offices of the Center for Disease Control from Atlanta with a flag for immediate review that a local hospital had an off-world alien with suspected hemorrhagic fever of an unidentified type.

  Doctor Puneet Banerjee at the Washington office had just finished an
afternoon break with his colleagues when the notice was hand carried to his desk. He was the Doctor on duty to receive notices of infectious diseases that may have national imperatives. He was confused when he read that the person infected was not from Earth. There was no notification protocol list for such a discovery and he didn’t know who else to notify. After thinking about it for a half hour he decided to call (202) 456-1111, the White House, and drop it in their lap.

  Back in Louisville, the hospital had contacted the State Police to investigate the alien’s personal effects and his car. They discovered a very large block of alien cash, weapons, and two different ID’s with only one of them associated with a Trader’s pass. Inspection of the Range Rover’s navigation system revealed he was on his way to a small town in Colorado and coming from Washington DC. They photo’d everything, secured the cash and weapons in the Police evidence locker pending legal recovery when and if the patient survived. The outlook shared by the doctors was not good. Captain Brooks at the State Police Louisville area Post decided to contact the FBI.

  FBI Special Agent Justine Williams in the Louisville office, received the notification from the State Police that a person from another planet was seriously ill in a Louisville Hospital with a large amount of cash, weapons, and had recently been in Washington. She knew about Earth joining the Council of Worlds, but this would be the first time she knew of that a suspicious person from another planet was under investigation. Cash and weapons always raised a big flag in any law enforcement agency and this would be no different. Once again, no protocol of procedure was going to be found on how to proceed on this one she was sure. So, being a quiet day in Louisville so far, she sent an email to her supervisor who was out of the office, put on her blazer, holstered her weapon and headed to the Hospital to get more information.

  The Ladies from Hhearn and several of the other planets in the Council of Worlds got up the next morning at various times marveling over their night at a State dinner as they chatted over breakfast and their first experience with an Earth breakfast at Blair House. Pancakes, sausages, and bacon were the big hits. Nasht-Mer finally found out what pancakes with syrup was all about. She loved them. She ordered hers with blueberries. It came with a scoop of blueberry compote on top and a small side dish of fruit, none of which she could name but when she was done, there was nothing left. The same was true for the other ladies. Many of the ladies arrived for breakfast in their traditional Hhearnian fashions but were anxious to shed those in favor of Earth’s day fashions which they had not yet had a chance to shop for. Nasht-Mer had never seen them so excited and was convinced more than ever that Earth was going to have a robust tourist business. That made her think about Sean and what he might be doing at that moment since she had suggested he use his Discovery starship to shuttle tourists to Earth as a lucrative business opportunity.

  Instead, she had to recall he set off to find an unknown world on a compassionate mission. Last night though, the President told her that they had received some reports from Sean and he was fine. She was glad to hear that, since transitioning into an unknown planet’s space might not be welcome. She also got to meet Maejel Tripperty the new Cultural Attaché from Earth. She was a bright, cheerful lady from a place called London and she would be spending a lot of time on Hhearn. Nasht-Mer insisted that they spend some time together when she got back to Hhearn since it was likely her office would be involved in whatever Maejel had planned for cultural exchange. Now, it was time the gather the ladies together, get them to pack up and prepare to leave for the airport to fly to California, a place she had already been to and liked, Sean had a home there. She had to assure the ladies there would be more bacon in California.

  Another tickover occurred. This was the eight hundred and fifty second one, and it thought,

  “Still, they have not come back to rescue me as they promised.”

  It clearly recalled the engines failing, the emergency descent, and burrowing under the surface.

  “How much longer should I wait until the self-destruct protocol is initiated?” Wondered the AI. Now buried for all those tickovers, it was still fully powered from its small survival power cell that really had no expiration date.

  “I harm no living thing by waiting, and I am only beginning the third slow pass through the database of information and worship prayers contained in the ship’s datapool when I am alert. I will wait and extend my sleep intervals to be a bit longer. Sensors will wake me should I hear sounds other than the usual rumbles of surface activity.” It thought, then ran another systems check, and initiated another sleep cycle.

  The Discovery Starship was streaking through ‘no-space’ on a route to Earth. He asked Martin the ship’s AI to increase the speed since he was anxious to return home to Earth and see Nasht-Mer who was there on tour. Martin increased the speed above normal cruise. This would cut off a few solars that it used to take for the Seeker. The Discovery was vastly faster and could achieve speeds that would damage biologicals, and Martin knew the limits. The engine’s hum increased a slight amount, so did the particle bow wave that was in front of the ship, now starting to raise a bit of heat that the ship shed.

  Sean had sent a courier drone ahead to the IRO Interplanetary Resource Office describing his establishment of contact with two new worlds, the resolution of a long war, and the petition for aid. He requested a meeting with the IRO board, and then the President to see what could be provided. After the two worlds had met to help each other out, it wasn’t nearly as much as he worried it might be and all of it was for civil support on both worlds, mostly food, seed, and some antibiotic pharmaceuticals. Then, there was the issue of him offering Earth’s guaranteeing to underwrite completion should the twin worlds default on construction of two buildings. He was not sure how that would go, but was optimistic.

  The crew spent their days relaxing and meeting for breakfast and dinner where the chatter was always about their experience on Denknish and Lotma. Everyone felt good about the outcome and their role in it even if it was only to keep the engine room clean. Doris now believed she had the dream job. Protecting good guys from bad guys and no debilitating investigations when she exerted her assigned mission even if it was messy. Rookt-Nab, another crew member, was seldom seen as he plowed through the laws of Earth and the United States in particular. So much to learn, and so interesting. The diverse approaches from the various Earth states were unknown on Hhearn, so this was a fascinating study. It just poured into his vast memory. He and the rest of the crew were looking forward to being on Earth.

  Qatar Charter flight 456 roared down the runway, rotated, and leapt rapidly up into the sky. With only fifty passengers aboard, the ship felt light and powerful. The Ladies from the Council of Worlds, Nasht-Mer, and security personnel relaxed in the first class and business classes of this deluxe airliner. Qatar being a small nation, wanted to raise its image in all of the extraterrestrial hoopla that had engaged every living person on Earth for weeks. They offered a new Boeing Dreamliner to shuttle the Council of Worlds contingent to California and back., The media networks covering their arrival in Washington now showed the beautiful Boeing Deamliner with Qatar’s name boldly emblazoned on its side lifting off for the flight to California.

  Aboard the Dreamliner, the stewardesses began a refreshment service once the ship reached departure altitude. The air was smooth and the ladies admired the stewardesses, their uniforms and jaunty caps. They were all selected for their grace and beauty. The Council ladies were impressed with the comfort and entertainment system aboard the aircraft and wondered how long it would be before these were flying through the skies of Hhearn and its members. Long range flight on Hhearn was by dirigible type airship, a pleasant but slow passage without the luxurious seats and smartly dressed cabin service. After the first hour, some of the ladies began to recline their seat and catch a nap to prepare for the next adventure. Most stayed awake looking out the windows not wanting to miss anything including the lunch service.

  The Discove
ry reached Earth orbit and settled into an assigned orbit about three hundred miles up, away from satellites and space junk. The Discovery’s crew prepared to draw lots of who would stay behind to keep the minimal watch along with Martin who had his defensive orders and prohibitions on access aside from the crew. These were extensive and allowed use of the ship’s powerful armaments if necessary. As the lots were being drawn, Rooky spoke up and volunteered to keep watch. He wanted to finish up his Earth readings of law before he went down to the planet and explored their law college libraries. No one objected to his offer and they all boarded the shuttle to head to the Shuttle port at Base Andrews.

  Once down and secured in the military section of Base Andrews the crew disembarked the shuttle which locked itself up. Sean and Doris boarded an SUV to the White House and the rest of the crew boarded an SUV to the reception building to pick up thirty-day passes, and pamphlets on local Washington restaurants for a day trip into Washington.

  “Mr. President, Senior Field Officer Flynn and his security officer are here to see you.” Announced Elizabeth, the President’s secretary.

  “Tell them to give me a minute, I am on a call.” said President Burke.

  Elizabeth pointed to a couple of chairs as Eddie Powers, the head of the Secret Service, came into the room.

  “Officer Lang, I would appreciate it if while Captain Flynn is meeting with the President you could spend some time with a small group of us to brief us on Hhearn and the security there?”

  Eddie had been notified by the White House gate that they had arrived. and he was concerned over the upcoming President’s trip to Hhearn to attend the annual Council of Worlds meeting in a few weeks. He thought Doris could help describe the general scene for them. She was glad to be doing something while her boss and the President talked. Sean nodded affirmatively, and off she went with Eddie relieved to be spending time with other law enforcement types despite having to check her weapon on entering the White House.