by Jay Cannon
“When do I need to decide?”
“You should decide right away. You can get indoctrinated and become part of ship’s company.”
“Okay, but I need to let the people back at my apartment know that I am leaving. After your ships have passed through my area I’ll come with you. Just signal me somehow.”
“Our vessels have already cleared your area. We can leave whenever you are ready. Grab whatever you can’t live without in one bag. Most everything you that you will need to survive will be provided for you onboard our ship.”
“I didn’t expect to have to decide so soon. I’m afraid,” said Xiao laying her head against Cobalt’s chest.
“You’ve done a lot of brave things Xiao. Trust me; this won’t be anywhere near as dangerous as any of your prison break escapades. You will have to go through indoctrination, which can be a bit difficult, but I’m sure you will have no problem getting through it.”
“Okay, give me an hour to get everyone situated and I’ll be ready to go. Just meet me in my bedroom when you can.”
“See you then,” Cobalt stated kissing Xiao on the cheek and disappeared in a sparkle of lights.
Li Xiao pushed her transport button and returned to the garage where she left Denise, Pico, Morgan and his mother.
“Hello everyone,” stated Li Yao walking up from the far side of the garage to avoid startling anyone. “We can go back to my apartment now.”
“I thought we had to wait twenty-four hours before going back?” Asked Morgan.
“I assure you it’s safe now,” replied Li Xiao.
“So what did the aliens do exactly?” Asked Denise.
“They are removing people from our planet and placing them in holding cells aboard their ship.”
“What about us?”
“We are safe. We can leave here, see who else is left and work on rebuilding our world.”
“That’s going to be easier said than done,” said Morgan’s mother interjecting.
“Mom, let’s go by my foster mother’s place and see who is left there. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind if you stayed with us.”
“I’d prefer that you stayed in my place for the evening and tomorrow morning I can take you to your foster parent’s place,” stated Li Xiao.
“She’s right Morgan. There’s no reason to rush,” stated Morgan’s mother.
“Then it’s settled. Let’s start our climb up the stairs back to my place.”
“Why don’t you just beam us up?” Asked Morgan smiling.
“I didn’t want make anyone feel uncomfortable, but it’s not a bad idea considering the long walk back up to my place. Everyone give me a hug.”
They hugged Li Xiao and in an instant they were back in her apartment.
“Morgan your mother can sleep in my spare bedroom. Denise, you can sleep on the couch or find an open apartment. Morgan, you and Pico can go to any of the open apartments on the floor as well if you like.”
“If it’s okay with you I would rather sleep in your recliner than be alone in some strange apartment.”
“I’ll second that,” stated Denise.
“Okay with me. I’ll get blankets and pillows for everyone.”
Li Xiao returned shortly to pass out the items. “You should have everything you need to get yourselves comfortable here. There are candles in the kitchen for anyone who needs them. Feel free to eat and drink whatever you can find in the kitchen. I’ll see you all in the morning.”
Li Xiao retired to her bedroom and found Cobalt there waiting for her.
“Cobalt, I apologize, but I just need until morning to make sure my guests get to safety before I leave. I will pack tonight and I should be ready by 11:00 tomorrow morning. Why don’t you spend the night here? I’ll make it worth your while.”
“Xiao, you are such a bad influence. I do have some down time, but I’ll have to leave early. While I’m here I can teach you how to count in Euclidian.”
“Great. We can count strokes.”
“Strokes?”
“Yea, strokes. Get your clothes off and I’ll show you what I mean.”
“Oh.”
“Oh yea,” Xiao replied with a devilish grin.
They both undressed and Xiao mounted Cobalt.
“Okay, you count my strokes up ten in Euclidian and then I will repeat after you.”
“Before we start I want to draw out our number symbols. They are pretty simple.”
“If they are that simple then just draw them below my breasts.”
“I’ll try, but it may be difficult for me to concentrate.”
“Do your best baby.”
“Okay, first we start with zero pronounced ooo as in boo. It is drawn as a circle, which represents our sun. You place six dots around the circle representing our six planets. Ahh! Could you at least pause for a moment to permit me to finish my drawing?”
“Of course. I’ll just sit here and squeeze while you finish.”
“Good. Now three dots inside the circle represent Euclidia’s three moons.”
“That’s easy. I got it. Now let’s start counting,” Xiao said impatiently sliding down on Cobalt.
“Ooo is zero,” started Cobalt.
“Ooo I like that. More,” said Xiao sliding down on Cobalt once more.
“Er is one.”
“Errrr,” Xiao repeated.
“Ah is two.”
“Ahhhhh.”
“Eu is three representing Euclidia the third planet from our sun.”
“Euuuu.”
“Somehow it sounds better when you say it. Oh is four.”
“Ohhhh.”
“A is five.”
“Aaaaaa,” responded Xiao stroking Cobalt faster.
“E is six”
“Eeeee.”
“Erba is seven.”
“Erbaaa.”
“Ahba is eight.”
“Ahbaaa.”
“Euba is nine.”
“Eubaaa.”
“That’s zero through nine,” gasped Cobalt.
“Let me see if I got it,” said Xiao increasing the speed of her thrusts. “Ooo, er, ah, eu, oh, a, e, erba, ahba, euba. Did I get it right?” Asked Xiao continuing to grind away at Cobalt.
“Yes, yes, that was perfect,” replied Cobalt panting.
“Okay, I’m going to count from zero to nine two more times real fast to make sure I got it down, then I’m going to squeeze that special spot on your neck which sends you into ecstasy. Is that okay with you?”
“Yes, yes,” stated Cobalt, his voice cracking.
“Ooo, er, ah, eu, oh, a, e, erba, ahba, euba. Ooo, er, ah, eu, oh, a, e, erba, ahba, euba,” Xiao repeated, then squeezed Cobalt’s neck causing him to scream out and grab for her.
“Did you enjoy that Coby baby?”
“That was fabulous Xiao.”
Xiao took a shower and then lied down in Cobalt’s arms. As she fell asleep she thought about the fact that she would be sleeping in her bed for the very last time. The next thing she knew she was being awakened by a scream.
“Xiao, who or what is that in the bed with you?” Said Morgan excitedly.
“This is my friend Cobalt. Cobalt, that is Morgan. I saved him and his mother from being killed from some assassin from your ship.”
“Hello Morgan,” Cobalt greeted Morgan.
“So you’re one of the aliens attacking our planet?”
“I wouldn’t call it an attack per se, but we are mining your planet.”
At this point Denise and Morgan’s mother joined Morgan and Pico at the door.
“Are you people still trying to kill my friend Pico?” Asked Morgan pointing to Pico. Pico crossed his arms and gave Cobalt a stern look.
“I would think not as his presence here doesn’t matter anymore. We should be gone in a few days and you’ll probably never here from us again.”
“I guess that’s a bit of good news after a lot of bad.”
“Li Xiao, were ready to go when you are,” stated N
orma.
“Let me get dressed and I’ll be right there,” replied Xiao.
The four left Xiao’s room closing the door behind them.
“Cobalt, I should be back in less than two hours. I’ll just meet you here.”
“Okay, be safe out there. I apologize for angering them and getting you in trouble.”
“It’s to be expected. Their life has been turned upside down.”
Xiao got dressed and went out to meet her guests.
“Is everyone ready to go?” Xiao asked.
“Yes,” they all replied, Pico nodding.
“Morgan, show me where you live on this map,” requested Xiao holding up her transport device to him. “Just use your fingers to move around the map.”
“Wow this has amazing resolution. It’s almost like live video. Is this a new version of Bing or Google maps?”
“Not exactly. It’s something different.”
“There it is right there. Can you take us to the corner? I’d like to get a look at our neighborhood before going into my house.”
“Sure. If everyone’s ready, give me a hug and I’ll get you all to Morgan’s place.”
They all hugged Xiao and she transported them to the corner a few houses from Morgan’s foster parent’s house.
“How are you able to transport people around the way you do? Do you have some sort of magic powers?” Norma asked.
“No, I was given this transport device by Cobalt,” said Li Xiao holding up her device. “It lets me jump from place to place anywhere on the planet instantaneously.”
“You mean the guy from the ship that is attacking our planet gave it to you?” Morgan stated with disdain.
“Yes, that’s the one. When I first met Cobalt I didn’t know he was an alien. I certainly didn’t know they were going to invade us. Let’s take a look around your neighborhood to make sure everything is okay.”
The five of them started their tour around Morgan’s neighborhood.
The walk was quite eerie. It was a warm sunny day, but no one could be seen anywhere. There were no cars on the street. Even the birds were missing from the morning sky. If there was anyone left in the neighborhood they were staying hidden. When they arrived at the Johnson house there was no sign of life.
“Morgan, wait before you go in. Let me do a quick scan of the place to make sure everything is okay,” requested Xiao using her device to look through the house. “It’s all clear Morgan. Unfortunately there is no sign of your foster family there.”
“Thanks Xiao. We should be fine for now,” stated Morgan. “The grocery store down the street has plenty of canned food and water. Hopefully enough good people are left here to form a small, safe government.”
“I guess this is where we say goodbye then. I’m going to join Cobalt on his ship. If I’m lucky I’ll be able to reunite with my family, who were captured and placed in a cell there. Best of luck to all of you,” Xiao ended giving each one of them a hug. She then pulled out her transport device and disappeared.
***
“Give me an update!” Shouted Captain Shisal.
“Captain, the mining is progressing according to schedule. We have three thousand, one hundred twenty mining vehicles out across their planet. They have a wealth of minerals here,” replied the logistics officer, “though we are focusing our efforts on minerals identified by the Marketing Guild inventory of valuable inventories. Every available person has manned scanners and we are transporting as much of the processed goods as possible. These civilized societies make it a lot easier to collect what we need. They also have some simple things that we never thought of like Slinkys, hula hoops, pogo sticks, chewing gum and Velcro.”
“Marvelous stuff logistics,” replied the captain. “Make sure I get a sample of each one of those set aside for me.”
“Aye, aye captain.”
“Now tell me about the exotic animals you found.”
“There are a lot to choose from captain. Each part of the planet has its own variety of animals. I would suggest visiting one of their so called zoos to get an idea of what you might like from each area and then we can set aside as many of the animals as you need. Images of the major zoos and their inhabitants are in the logistics inventory under animals.”
“Got it. I’ll get back to you with what I want after I have visited the places of interest to me. How much longer are we going to be here?”
“It will take a few more days to fill the stores captain.”
“You will be leaving enough to keep the planet stable and livable right?”
“Aye, captain, there will be little danger to the inhabitants who will be left behind.”
“Okay, keep me posted.”
“XO, let’s setup a ball for the crew. We can have it at the place where we have setup camp. Feel free to go ahead start scheduling shore leave in rotating shifts.
“Aye, aye captain,” replied the XO.
“Operations, what was the result of our sweep of the planet’s population?” Asked the captain.
“We have close to six billion people onboard captain. There are spots of unrest in some of the confinement areas where we have placed a large majority of military personnel or prisoners. We are using Ossies to resolve those issues. The general anxiety that is normally experienced by the captives has generally been assuaged by presenting them with video entertainment. So far we have only lost a few thousand people.”
“Why don’t we just anesthetize them?”
“We can never get the mixture of the gas just right. We tend to lose about 1% of our cargo whenever we attempt to gas people. That would take our losses to around sixty million, which amounts to a lot of credits.”
“Okay, scratch that idea. Just do what is necessary to keep the captives pacified without losing too many of them.”
“The video entertainment is a brilliant idea that seems to be working the best.”
“Really? I find that pretty fascinating.”
“It seems that this civilization spends a lot of time on it.”
“So who thought of this idea?”
“Officer Kristi captain.”
“See to it that she gets a bonus.”
“Aye, aye captain.”
“That’s all Operations. Logistics, I’m looking to make a trip down to the planet to visit some of its zoos. What’s the security situation?”
“At this point you would be in more danger from the animals than the humans on the planet. The few that are left are staying out of sight. Your personal shield should protect you from any projectile-based weapons, though there is little danger that anyone will be attacking you.
“Fine. Have Phoebe and a security detail to meet me in transporter room one.”
“Aye, aye captain.”
“XO, you have the bridge.”
“I have the bridge,” the XO replied standing with the other bridge officers as the captain walked off.
Chapter 21
Commander Filo prepares Attack
“Hi Yoyo, this is Jesmino. I’ve been having a few discussions with Euclidians down here and I think there is something you should know about the Alphas.”
“What do you mean?” Asked Yoyo.
“The Alphas are a pretty brutal species,” started Jesmino. ”They have a culture of attacking nations and taking them over, typically killing or enslaving all of the inhabitants and taking all of their resources. When the Euclidians visited their planet to institute formal relations with them, the Alphas pretended to befriend them while learning their weaknesses. One day out of the blue while most of the Euclidian ships were out on missions the Alphas attacked the Euclidian killing millions of their people. Years later the Euclidian launched a counter attack destroying the Alpha planet. For now there is a tenuous peace between the two peoples.”
***
Commander Filo decided that it was time to execute his plan to attack the Euclidian. He knew how to use the ship’s controls to open a space portal. He convinced Yoyo to persuade the s
hip’s captain to let him have a shuttle for a short mission. An Alpha ship will be cloaked and waiting to beam him out to safety at just the right moment. He will have to leave poor Yoyo behind as a casualty of war.
“Yoyo, let’s climb onboard the shuttle. The captain said we could use it and I don’t want to wait around for people to get suspicious,” stated Commander Filo.
“How long will we be gone?” Asked Yoyo.
“Hopefully only a few hours,” Commander Filo smiled to himself. He was about to fulfill the last part of his dream. With the four captains that attacked his planet dead, for the most part he could attack their planet. The Euclidian used their dimensional space drive to destroy his home planet. Now he was going to use the same technology to damage theirs. The shuttle didn’t have enough power to destroy Euclidia, but it should cause significant damage from earthquakes and the like. He was hoping to kill a few million people with his stunt.
“So what are we doing out here commander?”
“Just running some experiments,” he replied.
Yoyo wasn’t convinced with his answer so she took off her glasses and asked him again.
“Commander, look at me and tell me the truth about why we are out here in the middle of space with the Euclidian planet coming at us?”
“Yoyo, in a moment you will be able to witness the pinnacle of my revenge against the Euclidian. I had the four captains of the ships that attacked our planet killed. Well almost four. The fourth one will be dead soon. He’s still on a mission somewhere, but that XO we met is going to take care of him for me. Now I’m going to open up a space portal and rip through their planet.”
“Commander Filo, this is Alpha ship Lansing, come in.”
“This is Commander Filo. I am eighty thousand kilometers from Euclidia in the center of its orbital path.”
“We have you on our sensors commander and will rendezvous with your ship in seven minutes.”
“Roger that. Did you hear that Yoyo? In a few minutes my ship will be here to cloak us. Less than an hour after that, the planet Euclidian will be just in front of us in all its glory. I will open a dimensional portal, we will be beamed away by my ship and we can watch the portal tear through their planet from a safe distance. If we are lucky it might even destroy it. The security measures, onboard the resource ship, were just too extreme to bypass unnoticed. On this shuttle though, it was much easier; especially with your power of persuasion over the crew. And with my ship’s cloaking system we will be well hidden from the Euclidian’s silly space monitors. The name Kenyon Filo will go down in history as the Alpha that carried out retribution against the Euclidians for their attack.”