War Orphans (The Terra Nova Chronicles)

by Robert Dean Hall

  “I’ve been plugging along. I have a few colonists who tell me they will admit to anything I put in writing except taking part in the massacre of innocent Zunnuki. If I were to have access to military records—”

  “I told you we have to consider everyone as equally guilty.”

  “Buzami’s people will never settle for that.”

  “They will if you can sell it to them.”

  “If I’m going to do that, I have to find somebody who will incriminate Chamberlain. Not even the ex-military will do that. Damn it, Drew, if those people knew failure was an option and some day they might be called upon to take a fall, why won’t any of them surrender themselves up? What are you not telling me?”

  “We shouldn’t be having this conversation,” Wilkes said, then waited for Gupta to respond.

  “Okay. I understand.”

  “I can’t tell you why they aren’t cooperating, Vijay.”

  “Can’t or won’t?”

  “A little of both.”

  “I need to change my tactics then,” Gupta said.

  “What do you propose to do,” Wilkes asked.

  “I want your permission to depose someone still on Earth.”

  “It depends. Who are we talking about?”

  “I want to talk to Madame Taliyah Petrakis-Mills.”

  “I can’t authorize that, Vijay.”

  “Why? If there is anyone who could help me get into Chamberlain’s mind and come up with something to leverage against the rest of the colonists, it would be one of his co-conspirators.”

  “You can look through the transcripts of her trial, but that’s all. You will not contact the woman directly. Is that understood?”

  “Why not?” Gupta didn’t like raising his voice to Wilkes, but this time he felt justified. “Not only are you tying my hands behind my back, but you’re shackling my ankles to the legs of my chair. I can’t work like this.”

  “Then maybe you should step down.”

  “Is that advice from a friend or guidance from a superior,” Gupta asked.

  “It’s whichever will get you focused on why you came, or admit you’ve gotten too close to this and step away so I can accomplish what I was sent here to do.”

  “Do you consider me an impediment?”

  “You’re becoming one, Vijay. There are diplomatic concerns here that override all other priorities.”

  “You keep telling me that, but—”

  “I don’t think you have a grasp of the enormity of this situation,” Wilkes replied.

  “I think you’re the one who can’t see the big picture.”

  “On what do you base that observation?”

  “What happens to our alliance two hundred years from now when some history fanatic starts to question all the inconsistencies we’ll be creating here and finds out Earth and Ekkida actually go way back?”

  “By that time,” Wilkes replied, “nobody should care. We’ll have been allied for so long people shouldn’t be thinking in terms of Terran, Ekkidan or Zunnuki. We’ll all be humans and this will be behind us. The truth will be immaterial.”

  “Why not just tell the truth now, then? How can a couple of centuries make a difference?”

  “Because the truth is much bigger and goes back much farther than you suspect. It has to do with the origins of mankind as a species,” Wilkes replied. “The publics-at-large of Earth and Zunnuki are not nearly mature enough to hear it.”

  “How can that be,” Gupta asked.

  “Because it isn’t very damned flattering.”

  Chapter 42

  Gupta waited for the response from the other end of the tele-link. Two short high-pitched tones in rapid succession indicated that the audio only channel had been accepted. A woman’s voice spoke up and asked Gupta what he wanted. The voice was abrupt and businesslike and put Gupta on the defensive.

  “Pardon the disturbance, but it’s very important that I speak with Madame Taliyah Petrakis-Mills.”

  “About what?”

  The woman’s attitude annoyed Gupta but he had to admit the Petrakis-Mills’ household owed no courtesy to the military or the global government. Even so, he didn’t want to be dismissed by a personal secretary before having the chance to speak with the former chairwoman herself. He fudged his reply.

  “I’m only authorized to discuss that with Madame Petrakis-Mills.” Gupta had no authority. He shouldn’t even be contacting the woman under threat of court-martial. “Please open a video channel,” he requested firmly, trying to take back control of the conversation, “To whom am I speaking?”

  “This is Elizabeth Mills-Andrews. I handle my grandmother’s personal and business affairs. I’m fully authorized to speak for her.”

  There was a short pause while the video channel opened up. The rendered window it produced on Gupta’s tablet revealed a stunning brunette who appeared to be in her mid-thirties and quite annoyed.

  “Please identify yourself,” Mills-Andrews demanded, “and tell me what business you think it is you have with my grandmother.”

  Gupta softened his stance. “I’m General Vijendra Jaimini Gupta with the Combined Earth Forces Judge Advocate General Division. It’s vitally important that I talk to Madame Petrakis-Mills regarding John Edward Chamberlain and what she knows about—”

  “Stop right there, General. My grandmother has nothing to say about Chamberlain or what you bastards did to him or our family.” Her hand moved toward the locator to switch it off when someone out of sight of the camera asked who she was speaking to.

  Gupta saw the audio portion of the link go mute. The video portion then went blank. After ten seconds or so, Gupta wondered if he should just disconnect and was ready to close the link when the audio and video channels were opened again and he could see a very old woman sitting in a wheelchair.

  “I’m Taliyah Petrakis-Mills,” the woman said. “You must forgive Libby. She can only see what she feels my family has lost due to this unfortunate situation. She has no idea what everyone has gained from it.”

  “I should probably not say this, Madame Chairwoman,” Gupta admitted, “but, after dealing with the prosecution of those who left Earth with John Chamberlain, I can fully understand her frustration.”

  “That is kind of you, General. You did say, ‘General,’ did you not?”

  “Yes Madame. I would have liked to talk to you in person, but I am with the First Fleet Forward Command on Zunnuki.”

  “Zunnuki,” Petrakis asked. “My communication with John ended before he arrived there. He did make it there, didn’t he?”

  “Yes, he did, Madame. I would like to be able to tell you his time here was pleasant, but I have learned otherwise.”

  “I understand, General. Please tell me, what is the Consolidated Government accusing him of now?”

  “I can’t get into too many details about an ongoing investigation, Madame,” Gupta answered, “but, I can tell you he and those who traveled here with him are being charged with war crimes in connection with the massacre of innocent natives of this world.”

  “John was not capable of that type of violence, General,” Petrakis answered. “There has never been a more compassionate soul. You’re probably talking about Dennis Yuen and William Black Bear. I can’t say the same for them.”

  “Why do you say that, Madame?”

  “Because I knew all three of them,” Petrakis said. “It was my husband and I who found evidence Dennis and Billy were part of a plot to take over John’s ship. We tried to warn him, but we were too late.”

  “That part of the story is coming to light, Madame,” Gupta replied, “but, I would not expect the full truth to be told any time soon. I believe there is an active effort to suppress it.”

  “Of course there is, General. I know exactly why and it infuriates me that John will never be seen as the great man he was.”

  “I’m afraid there isn’t anything I can do to help that situation, Madame.”

  “Then what is it you want from me,
General,” Petrakis asked. “I won’t be a party to any further destruction of John Chamberlain’s character. I’ve kept quiet about what I know for all these years just as the Consolidated Government demanded, but I will speak out publicly if you bastards accuse him of murder.”

  “I don’t believe Chamberlain is guilty of the crimes he is accused of, Madame,” Gupta answered, “but I don’t know how to clear him without embarrassing a lot of people. Some of them are not even from our planet. If I knew more about what the man was doing before he left Earth, I might be able to find something that will enable me to absolve him of guilt in this matter and still allow the others to save face.”

  “Helping criminals, especially those in evil bureaucracies, is none of my concern, General Gupta,” Petrakis retorted. “Now, please tell me the exact reason you called me and what it is you want from me. I told the investigators everything I know when they tried me as one of John’s accomplices.”

  “If I were to tell you some things I’ve heard from other sources,” Gupta asked, “would you be willing to either confirm or deny?”

  “If I am able,” Petrakis replied, “and, if it doesn’t incriminate either John or myself.”

  “I understand completely,” Gupta said.

  “Then you may proceed, General.”

  “Was Chamberlain in contact with any aliens before he left the Earth?”

  “He was aware of alien civilizations that fed technology to the various territorial governments,” Petrakis replied. “He was unaware of the origin of the aliens and he was never allowed to interact with them. His research facilities were used to develop those technologies for use by the militaries of those territorial governments.”

  “Did Chamberlain know before he left Earth that this planet was inhabited?”

  “The short answer to that question is, ‘I don’t believe he did.’”

  Gupta smiled. “Would you mind sharing the long answer with me?”

  “John told Bryce McLeod, Dmitri Sotravits and me there were three planets he planned to survey before selecting one. He was looking for an uninhabited planet to settle. If he found intelligent life on any of the three, he would have gone to one of the other two.”

  “What would he have done if he found all three inhabited,” Gupta asked.

  “John was an ambitious man, General, but he wouldn’t intentionally cause harm to anyone. I’m sure he would have either looked for some sort of diplomatic solution to enable him to stay on the world that offered the best hope for his colonists to flourish or he would have found a way to get to a fourth world.”

  “By taking the greenhouse, Chamberlain did harm people, Madame,” Gupta said. “The Earth needed the food grown in that facility.”

  “The Earth also needed the technology John forced the territorial governments reveal.” The look on Petrakis’ face was one of conviction. “You wouldn’t be four light years away from me right now without McLeod effect hyper-shielding and we wouldn’t be having this conversation without McLeod/Sotravits hyper-channel technology.”

  “That technology would have been introduced sooner or later,” Gupta said. He fully realized after talking with Artie, he was now indeed playing ‘Devil’s advocate’. “What you, McLeod and Sotravits did was to release classified military technology to the public. That is espionage.”

  “Yes, it is, General,” Petrakis said. “I would do it all over again, too. That technology was never going to be given to the public. Whoever Dennis Yuen was conspiring with meant to use it to enslave the Earth.”

  “That makes you sound a bit paranoid, Madame.” Gupta studied the tele-link screen to gauge Petrakis’ reaction.

  “Paranoia isn’t a luxury in this day and age, General. It’s a necessity. You should watch your own back. You’re asking some dangerous questions.”

  “What makes you say that, Madame?” Gupta tried to sound amused by the comment, but he knew she was correct.

  “When John left, he opened the door for a regime change on this planet. It diverted the course our civilization had been on since before the time of Christ; maybe even since before the dynasties of Mesopotamia and Egypt. Those who held power before the neo-Marxists and neo-Maoists took over are angry about that and they plan to regain control by whatever means necessary. It was them and their counterparts from the world that sent Earth all that technology who supported Dennis Yuen.”

  “Surely you don’t mean bankers and capitalists are about to revolt, Madame. There are none left.” It was becoming more difficult for Gupta to keep up his charade. He was a student of the Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations as well as the ancient Vedic Hindus. There was only one group Petrakis-Mills could be talking about. Gupta now believed her to be paranoid to the point of delusion, if not imbalance. If he were to use anything she told him, it would have to be verified by another human. If Gupta were to admit his corroboration of what she told him was coming from a thinking computer, he would also sound insane.

  “You know exactly who I’m talking about, General. I see how pale you’ve become.”

  “You must be mistaken, Madame.”

  “Let me see both of your hands, General.”

  “Whatever for, Madame?”

  “Are you wearing any signet rings, General?”

  “No, Madame. I’m not.”

  “I didn’t believe so, but wanted to be certain. I have a warning for you. You should refuse to take at face value the word of anyone who does.”

  Chapter 43

  Gupta spent most of the day after speaking with Taliyah Petrakis-Mills shut away in his apartment with a bottle of Scotch he brought back with him to Alummari after his last visit to the Armstrong.

  “I hope Azir won’t mind that I didn’t wait to share it with him.”

  There was a pounding on the door.

  “If this is the maid service, please come back in the morning,” Gupta said in alcohol slurred Zunnuki.

  “Please open up, my friend.” It was Buzami. He pounded once again and yelled through the door. “When I couldn’t find you in your office, I began to worry. Is there something happening I need to know about?”

  Gupta walked to the door and opened it. He turned and walked back toward the bed without saying anything. He sat down and fell back. “Damn. The room isn’t spinning yet. I need more to drink.”

  “What’s upsetting you, Vijay? I’ve never seen you in this shape.”

  “I’m beginning to learn things I don’t believe I want to know.”

  “Is what you’re learning changing your world view perhaps even more than discovering there are other civilizations besides your own in the universe?”

  “You might say that.” Gupta reached for the bottle of Scotch and handed it to Buzami. “The clean glasses are over there.” He pointed to a table with an ice bucket and a tray of tumblers. “I don’t have any ice. Sorry.”

  Buzami looked at the bottle, then walked to the table to grab a tumbler. He poured most of what was left of the Scotch into the tumbler and sat down in the chair next to Gupta’s desk. Gupta reached for the bottle, but Buzami acted as if he didn’t notice and set the bottle down on the desk.

  Buzami lightly sniffed the contents of the tumbler, then tasted it and smiled. “This must be Scotch. Very good.”

  “I’m sorry I started without you. I promise to bring a bottle just for you the next time I go to the ship.”

  “That would be appreciated.” Buzami took another drink and set the tumbler down. “Is whatever has you in this state something you can share with me?”

  Gupta laughed. He was still lying on his back on the bed so Buzami couldn’t see that, even with the laughing, his expression remained dark. “I would love to discuss what is bothering me with you, Azir, but I don’t want to risk upsetting you.”

  “Then I’ll throw out some topics and you can stop me when we get to the one bothering you most.” Buzami took another long sip of the Scotch then grabbed the bottle and poured what was left into the glass. “I’m sure Wilk
es has told you my government fully understands this is an occupation.”

  “It’s been discussed. Why lead with that?”

  “Because I want you to realize it frees me and some of my associates to seek an agenda outside the bounds of the treaty.”

  Gupta grabbed the edge of the mattress with both hands and attempted to pull himself up into a sitting position. When it was clear he would fail, Buzami walked over to help.

  “At the risk of sounding like a plebe, what agenda, and who exactly is putting it forth?”

  “Those of us with the real power to get things done in my government,” Buzami answered. “We understand the treaty is a formality. It puts a public face on this that looks friendly and helpful to my people.”

  “I don’t follow you, Azir. Perhaps I’m more drunk than I thought.”

  “I’m sure you must have realized by now my people have been under martial law since the solar event that chased us underground centuries ago.”

  “I’m sorry, Azir. That must have gone over my head. All of your governors are civilians—”

  “Who happen to be ex-military. In the two hundred years since we left the surface, we’ve learned the art of compromise to keep the more vociferous of our governmental critics pacified.” Buzami turned up the Scotch and finished it. “Those critics are the ones who have convinced the de facto civilian leadership to pull out of the talks. They are afraid we intend to install a strong dictatorship with your help. Their fears are nonsense of course, but we can’t deny their assertions that life on Zunnuki will never be the same and we are about to become truly a new Earth — for the second time, if our sacred writ is to be taken as anything other than myth. I’m sure you’ve learned enough of my language to figure out the name we gave this place comes from the ancient term - Su’u’nu Ki - which means New World or Second Home? We found it particularly amusing that your colonists chose to call it Terra Nova when they arrived.”

  Gupta reached for the bottle and Buzami handed it to him, even though it was empty. Gupta frowned and set it on the bed beside him. “If you’ve resigned yourself to your fate, why do your people really care what Earth does about the colonists as long as it enables you to save your planet?”