Turning to Alenna and Jenna I said, “Isn’t that typical, of all the parts of the ship that they could go to they had to want to go into my man cave.’’
Jenna gave a little laugh before saying, “You poor thing having to let them and us in.’’
I replied, “What makes you think you two can come in as well?’’
The pair looked at each other before looking at me, at the same time making a disapproving sort of sound and glare. The Relnorians had no idea of what I said. I opened the door and waved the two Relnorians in. They then indicated towards the corner where part of the bulkhead protruded into the room. First they lifted my thinking couch up with ease and put it down across my desk before rolling back the floor covering. Alenna and Jenna in the meantime had snuck in behind us, I just looked at them also with a disapproving glare. One of the Relnorians fell to her knees. At the same time the other one removed a tool from another bag and handed it to her. She then proceeded to unscrew an L shaped inspection plate. This plate went up the wall and across the floor. Its dimensions were about two foot up the wall and again across floor with the width also being about the same. Once the plate was removed the Relnorian started removing what look like insulation, only it was like a puzzle in that it interlocked with the next piece. She handed it to her colleague who meticulously stacked it in very careful way. When they had finished I could see a void along with this large block with pipes and wires coming out of it. This was the regulator attached to the back of the primary thruster. You can only see the cone part from outside. The rest is in the wall and under the floor. She now shone a light on what looked like a part number calling it out at the same time, while her colleague made a note of it. It looked like she was trying to get into the void and do something at the back grunting as she did, before pulling back and standing up. Now the two wanted to leave and Jenna showed them out. After they left I had a closer look. I could now see why she had reached deep into the void for, I could now see that there was a gate valve that she needed to close off.
Alenna said, “Don’t touch anything,’’
I replied, I don’t intend to, I am just having a quick look.’’
I backed away, Alenna and I then sat in the seats and waited. Alenna looked around the room only this time she did not mention about the energy discharge rifles on the wall and I was not going to bring it up.
I wanted to make conversation to distract her and asked, “Do you have any idea of the cost this work will likely come too?’’
She just shook her head and said, “We will have to pay whatever it amounts too, the Relnorian are always fair with their pricing so I don’t expect any shocks.’’
After waiting around half an hour the Relnorians returned with Jenna, one was carrying a new regulator unit that looked quite heavy, though it was hard to tell due to the fact that Relnorians are so strong and can lift heavy objects with ease. They sat it down in the corridor and then returned to the man cave and again the one who was doing the repair dropped to her knees while the other opened her tool bag and handed her a tool. First she removed a bracket that held the wiring loom in place before removing a large multi connecting block. She was then handed a tool that looked like a sort of spanner. She now stretched into the void, her head and arms disappearing from view. There was a hissing sound of gas exscaping, I knew this to be helium due to what happened next. She raised herself out of the void and asked for another tool but instead of a normal deep husky voice that Relnorians have, she now had this high pitched one. Jenna sniggered, I quickly gave her a prod in the ribs and shook my head slightly with a look of disapproval. Although I had also found it very funny and wanted to snigger and laugh too, there was a good reason Alenna and I didn’t. Apart from wanting our cargo ship repaired, if there was one race that I did not wish to insult it would be them. Relnorians are known for having almost no sense of humour at all and I did not want to upset them in any way. Fortunately for Jenna the Relnorian had focuced her attention on her colleague who had chuckled at her; you could see by the expression on her face that she was very annoyed at her for doing this. The pair were silent for a long time after this incident. Each time she needed a different tool she would withdraw from the void and select a tool herself at the same time giving a glare at the other Relnorian, muttering under her breath to herself. Finally with a sharp yank she removed the old regulator assembly then carried it to the corridor, before picking up the new one that they had placed there in the corridor. She now proceeded to fit this new regulator. Relnorians calm down as quickly as they flare up and she was now talking to the other again. Just not talking to each other for a while seems to be punishment enough for them. She now reached down and opened the gate valve. She asked for and was passed a gas detector from her colleague upon which she then started to wave it about within the void to see it she could detect any leak at all. Happy with the results she was then handed the insulation from the pile one piece at a time. She very carefully and methodically replaced it, locking each part in it correct position. Finally refitting the inspection cover. While they did this I slipped out into the corridor to see it I could lift the old regulator. To my surprise I found that I could, well just about, but it was very heavy. Returning to the man cave as they were finishing off. After rolling back the floor covering, they then picked up their tool bags and started to make their way towards the door. I gestured towards the thinking couch resting across my desk. It was heavy and I would struggle to lift it back in position myself. Without any trouble at all the pair lifted it up as if it weighed as little as a feather before restoring it to its original place in the corner. They now wished to return to the bridge where one of them now sat in the pilot’s seat and powered up the ship while the other stood next to her and observed a monitor displaying system performance readouts. When she was ready she moved the direction control first to starboard a few times then to port. You could tell the thrusters on both sides were now working, as when they fired you could feel by the vibration and shudder through the ship. When finally she was fully satisfied with the results she then shut the ship down. The Relnorian got up from the pilots seat before indicating to Alenna that they were now both ready to leave. After collecting the old regulator they exited our ship with Alenna and Jenna following close behind. They all made their way to the service centre reception. Sometime later Alenna and Jenna returned to our ship and came straight to the bridge where a number of us were chatting, Alenna looked a little upset.
I whispered in her ear, “What’s wrong? You look like you have had a big shock, was it the cost of the repair, well tell me how much did it come to?’’
She then whispered in my ear, “The invoice for the repair came to a lot more than I thought it would be, three and a half thousand Alliance credits.’’
I now spoke out loud, “Is that all!! I expected around five thousand credits at least. I would consider that we have got of lightly with that amount.’’
Alenna curiously said, “How would you know what to expect regarding the cost?’’
I replied, “I do talk to a number of other males whose families run cargo ships on the male only forum and it may surprise you that I do get to know quite a lot about what things cost.’’
“You mean men know about those things. Only the prime wife should know about business details,’’ said Alenna in a surprised way.
I now explained, “Men may not do the business part of any deal but that does not stop us from finding out or even hearing about business deals. I don’t see what your problem is with that.’’
Alenna did not speak any further on the subject but was eager for us to set off for Molk. I was relieved that I could now turn the ship in any direction with ease. We were soon on our way to Molk and should arrive on time. We go to Molk regularly it is so much like Earth in that if a human was placed there without knowing, they would not think or gue
ss that they were on another world until the night time that is. There are three moons in the night sky. On a few occasions we have found it very windy at the landing site though not enough to stop us landing. As soon as we arrived into orbit I could see at the designated landing zone that there was a storm or an intensity that I had never witnessed before blowing on Molk, with wind speeds above one hundred mph and gusts even higher.
“I can’t land. Look at that storm blowing. We will have to wait until it subsides,’’ I explained to the family.
“Please don’t even try,’’ Replied Alenna.
I agreed with Alenna saying, “I would be irresponsible if I did. The wind shear must be off the scale; I will definitely wait.’’
After a few hours the storm had cleared the landing area so we were ready to descend to the planet surface. There had been considerable damage sustained to the cargo port including roofs that had been blown off a couple of warehouse buildings. The one that stored our cargo consignment was largely intact with only minor damage due to a palm tree that had been blown down and had grazed a corner of the building. With all that had happened we still had not been late arriving; in fact we had arrived within the allotted time. The weather had improved and the sun was shining, by the time we had loaded the cargo. The wind had completely gone with barely a breeze being felt.
As we had some time to spare Alenna said, “We should all go to the beach for an hour or two.”
This beach is just a fifteen minute walk from the port. We often go to this beach when we get the chance. This beach is just a small cove with cliffs either side that have a maximum height of about one hundred feet. To one side there is small river that enters the sea and next to this is the harbour wall and jetty where a number of fishing vessels are moored. The beach is small around two hundred yards long but is sandy with palm trees on both sides of the path which gently slopes and meanders down to this beach. As you can guess the children were excited about going to the beach having been confined to our cargo ship since we had left Alto and were itching to get out. All the children had grabbed what they needed for the beach, buckets, spades and beach balls. We expected to just sit on the beach and let the children play, along with throwing stones into the sea as they always tend to do. As we approached Alenna shouted, “Oh no!!!’’ We could see a large fishing vessel had broken from its mooring during the storm and had then washed up on the beach. It looked precariously perched as if it could topple over at any moment and to add insult to injury the beach was covered in slimy seaweed, about a foot deep in places, which by now due to the result of the sun beating down on it, had begun to smell quite unpleasant. I would describe the smell as similar to that of stale cat urine. The children who had run ahead were holding their noses and complaining about the smell. I did not want my children anywhere near the ship or the beach and took the decision to warn Alenna.
I pointed towards the boat and said, “Alenna, that fishing vessel does not look at all safe!! It looks as if it could roll over at any time, I don’t think we should stay here.’’
Alenna would not knowingly allow the children to be put in any danger so she said, “Sorry everyone we have to return to our ship. Perhaps we can visit the beach on our next run here.’
Many children were now starting to cry as they were disappointed and upset. I was also upset, not at being unable to stay, but because my children were upset, I hate my children being sad and joined in with comforting them, along with the other adults. Well at least all family had experienced some fresh air and exercise walking to the beach then back to the ship. We had soon returned and boarded our cargo ship and at once started to prepare for our return to Alkarr.
Chapter 4
Good News. Bad News.
Having returned to Alkarr Alenna announced that we could have three days’ rest before our next run. Lara was not at our residence as she was away on official business, but should hopefully have returned by the time we left again. Alenna had been getting regular requests by other houses for appointments to see her. This was since we had returned from Earth after making first contact. She now had a steady trickle of prime wives arriving at our residence each time we were there, to discuss what they could trade or offer to sell to Earth. Alenna was gradually compiling a long list of goods and services and was intending to act as an agent for them. She would then be listing everything on our website next time we went to Earth. The wives were eager to go and visit their mothers. They soon started disappearing one by one. Even Rachael my sister had also gone to visit Sabrina. This left just four adults Yarkeli, Pooky who I now respect as an adult, Perri, myself and two children. Perri would need someone to take her and the children to see her mother and family on the moon. Unfortunately I could not ask Pooky to take her there this time, as Perri had been assigned to be my chaperon. It was going to have to be me. The round trip to the moon takes about six hours by shuttle and allowing for time there. We would not be back on Alkarr until the next morning. Now Perri mother’s house had a lot of scrap public transport shuttles as mentioned before. I was to be shown around their scrap yard on the moon which involved going outside the habitation dome so I needed to wear an environmental suit. I would be accompanied by Lidier and Perri. Although there is an atmosphere this would of course be toxic for an Alkarren or Human to breathe, being mostly of carbon dioxide. The scrap yard covered a large area. Piles of cut up space craft of various types were awaiting to be melted down into their basic metals. A line of transport shuttles could be observed. These are not designed to travel into space though like a helicopter would fly within the atmosphere between their departure and destination zones, taking off and landing vertically. I have been on public transport like these many times. The only similarity to our shuttle calypso is that they are powered the very same way with fusion reactors and anti-gravity pods though the passenger cabin cannot be pressurised and are usually flown below two thousand feet. I had a look inside a few of them and was surprised at the excellent condition they were in. It now made me wonder why they were ever replaced. I made list of the items and how much Lidier would like to obtain for them. I also took photographs of everything that could be sold to Earth including a number of hover lifts and a few commercial delivery shuttles which although these were a little tatty and bashed about, they could still be a viable sale. I would on return to Alkarr hand over this list to Alenna, as Lidier instructed me. We made our way towards the habitation dome. I stopped outside. I had not up to now been this close to the outside wall as we normally docked at the airlock. I walked a few yards of the circumference of the dome and I happened to glance down to where it met the ground, I was taken back. There against the wall was a plant growing.
“What’s this growing here? I asked.
“Nothing grows on the moon, what are you talking about?’’ replied Lidier.
“Look!!!’’ I proclaimed, pointing at the protruding vegetation that was almost hidden between the wall and a storage bin.
“Oh my, what is it?’’ proclaimed Lidier.
I looked closely at the plant and in doing so I recognised it saying, “Why it’s a Plenngy. Have you collected anything from Lusiana lately?’’
“We did have delivered to us a pair of Dregg cargo ships a while back,’’ explained Lidier.
“Well it looks as if a seed has found its way here. I know that it does rain and snow at times but even so the moon is a very dry place and the ground in this region would not even hold a bit moisture for long due to the heat of the sun.’’
I could now see how the plant managed to get just enough moisture to grow. The Plenngy is native to Lusiana and are the only plant that grow away from the poles. Lusiana although a hot dry world still has much more water than the moon. Think of a cactus with grooves that could channel condensation that forms on the plant from mist direct to its roots and you would not be far o
ut of how it looks. It only grows in dry places; too much water would kill it. The Plenngy had obtained enough moisture from the small amount of condensation from mist that had condensed on the roof during the cold nights. The roof sloped at an angle and some of this moisture had dripped off the roof and down onto the plant.
I gave Lidier a little more information about the Plenngy. “If it does grow to the point that it flowers, I do not know enough about it to confirm one way or the other. If you could obtain any viable seeds, it may require pollination.’’ I imagined the moon covered in them.
Lidier said, “I have always wanted a garden, I wonder if anything else would now grow on the moon. I would probably need to water whatever I planted though.’’
Chronicles of Jake 2: The Invasion Begins Page 4