The Euclidian: Unforeseen Alliance

by Jay Cannon

  Chapter 27

  The XO gets a backup plan

  “Gafar, this is the XO.”

  “Yes XO, how may I be of service to you.”

  “You’ve been setting aside some special items for the captain and tagging them with his seal to identify them right?”

  “Yes I have.”

  “Well I need you to send a copy of that seal to Malcolm to use for our special project.”

  “Will do XO.”

  “Did you find a large supply of processed gold that was packaged for easy movement?”

  “Yes XO. There is an establishment called BullionVault located in a city called London in the country of England. It has several tons of gold.”

  “I didn’t really need all those details. Just send the coordinates of that place to Malcolm as well.”

  “No problem XO. I’ll take care of that right away.”

  ***

  “Malcolm, you should be receiving the captain’s seal as well as coordinates for a large stockpile of gold from Gafar,” stated the XO. “Place a couple of tons of the gold in an out of the way place in the basement of the resort where the ball was held. Apply the captain’s seal to it and leave. Make sure it’s hard to find. It has to look like it was intentionally hidden.”

  “No problem XO. When will he be in position for me?”

  “He’s going swimming later today. I’ll let you know as soon as that happens and where.”

  “I’ll be ready for him.”

  Chapter 28

  The XO takes Over

  “Attention on the ship! Attention on the ship! This is the XO speaking. Captain Shisal was caught hording several tons of gold for himself and has disappeared on the planet below. I am assuming the role of captain and the first officer will become the XO leaving his role vacant until we return. We will not waste resources going after Shisal, but if his is seen he should be captured or killed on the spot. That is all.”

  “Logistics, this is the captain speaking. Have all of Shisal’s property placed under my ID. I will be moving to his cabin. Have it cleared out within the hour.”

  ***

  “Xiao, did you hear that?” Asked Cobalt.

  “Yes, but what does it mean?”

  “The XO is executing his own private mutiny.”

  “Why should that affect us?”

  “He might decide to have you imprisoned or perform another sweep of the planet to remove more people. It’s hard to say what his intentions are. Do you mind getting your friends to safety and staying with them for a while? I’ll update you as soon as I have more information?”

  “If you say so. If there is any trouble please join me.”

  “I will Xiao,” Cobalt said kissing her. “Now go.”

  “Goodbye Coby,” Xiao said disappearing.

  ***

  “Uan, this is Cobalt, can you meet me on the beach? It’s important.”

  “Sure,” replied Uan. “I’ll see you in front of our camp.”

  A few minutes later they were standing in the warm sun of southern Florida.

  “Uan could you turn off your UCD. We need to chat about something privately.”

  “Cobalt, this sounds out of the ordinary, but I will comply for now. I’m ready. What do you want?”

  “The XO has taken over as captain and indicated that Shisal has disappeared after getting caught trying to hide several tons of gold for himself.”

  “I heard the announcement, but it didn’t make sense to me. The described actions were out of character for the captain. I’m sure that the XO is framing Shisal in order to take the captain’s share of the profits. But what can we do about it?”

  “I’m not sure, but how can you feel safe with the XO in charge? He might refuse to accept the Earthlings onboard the ship. We should try to find the captain if possible and if not get our friends off the ship.”

  “So how do we find the captain?”

  “I believe that my friend Li Xiao placed a tracking beacon on him with hopes of find him later to convince him to return her family.”

  “And how would she be able to do that?”

  “I gave her one of our Beam Machines.”

  “I can’t believe that you could be that irresponsible! Were you deliberately trying to hurt the mission?”

  “What can I say? I fell for her. Anyway, if I hadn’t of we would have no hope of finding Shisal.”

  “We don’t even know if he is still alive.”

  “True, but it’s the only hope we have. I need you to meet with her to see if she can help us.”

  “You want me to do what?! After she publicly humiliated me with that stupid challenge. I don’t want to be anywhere near her again until I am thrashing her in the arena!”

  “If you want to help get Shisal back as captain of the Andrea you need to do this. I have to get back to the ship for a project. You know the XO is vengeful enough to throw our friends in the holding cells just because we were associates of Shisal.”

  “Now you are just being manipulative.”

  “Is that a yes or no?”

  “It’s a reluctant yes!”

  “Great! Here are her coordinates,” Cobalt said sending them to his UCD. There is one tinsy, winsy little thing you need before going there.”

  “What now?”

  “She is with the alien you tried to kill and you have to promise me you won’t harm him or his Earthling friends!”

  “You can’t be serious! Do you know what that little creature did to me?! You might as well ask me to cut off my hand.”

  “You want to find the captain right?”

  “I’ll spare them, but I won’t like it. And I’m not promising I won’t kill them later.”

  “I guess that’s the best I can hope for. I’m off. Good luck with Xiao.”

  “I’ll grab Calvin off the ship and go right away.”

  “Send me an update when you can. I’ll be free in a few hours.”

  “Certainly,” replied Uan as they both vanished to the ship.

  ***

  “Calvin, I need to go to Earth briefly and I want you with me.”

  “Great! Another 007 mission?”

  “Not exactly, but it could be dangerous.”

  “Show me your UCD. I’m sending you the coordinates now. Press this command here like I’m doing. Select the coordinates. When you are ready press this command and you will be there.”

  “I’m ready.

  “Then press this command and we should arrive together”

  Chapter 29

  Water

  Water is the key to all life in the universe. In places where it is plentiful it is worth very little. And in places where it is scarce it is the most valuable possession a person can own. Ask anyone stranded in the desert what they would give for a glass of water, even dirty water. A thunderstorm after years of drought can be a godsend.

  It’s not just that water produces life, sustains life and shelters life it is great for cleaning, farming, extinguishing fires, manufacturing, waste removal, ceremonies and dozens of other things. For many planets fresh water is in short supply. Its scarcity causes wars, death and even extinction. For these planets, they would be willing to give up anything to have access to fresh water.

  The Euclidians were well aware of the necessity of water for planets in their system. Since these planets were members of the Intergalactic Alliance of Planets, the Euclidian were not permitted to invade them without provocation. But they were able to sell or barter with them for the precious cargo.

  ***

  A group of people started to congregate on the 520 floating bridge in Bellevue. They watched the enormous vehicle draining Lake Washington of its water, of its vitality. The vehicle would periodically shoot a spray of unneeded water onto the shore covering the shoreline houses in polluted water, undesirable vegetation and dead sea life.

  Angry onlookers on the Medina shore watched as the aliens drain their planet of water. They felt helpless and desperate. How long did they h
ave to live? A small boat took off from shore with three men in it. They were heavily armed and determined to take out the giant vehicle. They approached the vehicle, which was hovering mere inches off the water. When they were just a few meters away they started firing their weapons at the vehicle, a shot gun, automatic rifle and even a grenade launcher. None of them made a dent in the vehicle.

  The unmanned vehicle ignored the attackers and continued draining the lake of its resources. The attackers were undeterred and continued firing upon the vessel until their ammunition was depleted.

  “That’s a horrible mess isn’t it,” a man stated to a woman standing on a dock overlooking Lake Washington.

  “You’re telling me,” the lady responded. “I just opened a new barbershop and thought I was finally going to realize the American dream. Now the only hair I can cut is my own and only using scissors. You know Rudy’s on Bellevue Way?”

  “I really never spent much time on my hair. But if you think you have it bad, I used to be the richest man in the world and was close to extinguishing polio. Now I guess it was all a waste.”

  “Wow, I guess my barbershop wasn’t such a big loss.”

  “Losing a dream is always a big loss. By the way, I’m Bill.”

  “Glad to meet you Bill. I’m Deb.”

  ***

  Morgan got bored sitting around the house and decided to take Pico down to the Potomac to see if there was any sign of life. They walked through their neighborhood enjoying the quiet and hoping to see others walking around. Unfortunately the streets were deserted.

  Memories started to flood through Morgan’s mind; there were always children playing in the yard in front of the blue house, the old lady sitting at the upstairs window at the house across the street, the sprinkler running in the yard at the house on the corner and the little beagle barking at everybody behind the chain-link fence.

  “Pico, this isn’t the neighborhood I remember. It’s different without the people. Let’s walk to the water.”

  Morgan and Pico continued until they reached the banks of the Potomac. There they could see a large alien ship hovering over it pulling water from the river. There were people in small boats attacking the ship, but they were just wasting their time.

  “Pico I have an idea. Let’s go find a garage.”

  Morgan took Pico a couple of blocks away and found some cars at the lower level of a garage.

  “Pico, can you use your shaman ball to take three of those cars out? I’d like to try something.”

  “Sure,” said Pico telepathically pulling out his stone. “Only one at a time though.”

  “That’s fine. Place them on the street near the water.”

  Pico pulled out his shaman ball and slowly levitated each car out one by one. He put a few scratches on them trying to navigate the ramps in the garage.

  “Don’t worry about the scratches and dents. They are going to be a lot more banged up once we’re done with them,” said Morgan.

  After the three cars had been moved near the beach, Morgan and Pico walked over to the waterfront to check on the Euclidian mining ship and it was still there soaking up water.

  “Okay Pico, this is what I want you to do,” started Morgan. “Send each car into the sky as high as you can. Then let them drop as fast as you can on that ship.”

  “Okay, but this is going to take a while.”

  “It will probably be better if you could lift all three cars at once. Otherwise, they might catch on before we can drop all three cars.”

  Pico pulled out his shaman stone and focused on it until he was covered in a bright blue glow. He then focused on lifting the three cars. Morgan watched as the car slowly lifted into the air. You’re doing it Pico!”

  Pico loved to hear the words of encouragement. Morgan watched as the cars disappeared into the clouds. He was tingling all over with anticipation about what was about to happen.

  “How high up do you think they are?” Asked Morgan.

  “They are a little over two miles up. I think that is as far as I can lift them,” stated Pico shaking.

  “Okay, let them drop on the ship and let’s see what happens.”

  One after the other Pico let the cars drop with blinding speed. The first one hit on the top of the Euclidian mining ship near one end with a big explosion. A cheer came up from the people in the boats and on the shore thinking it was an attack from the U.S. military.

  The ship stopped what it was doing and appeared to be trying to repair itself. Then the second car hit the ship in the middle and other end of the ship with more force than the first one. Giant fireballs came from the spots where the cars hit. Sparks flew into high into the air from the holes that the cars made in the ship. The ship shuddered and then fell into the water. An even louder cheer came from the onlookers.

  “You did it Pico!” Said Morgan hugging Pico tightly. “You destroyed their ship. We need to figure out how to get more of them. Do you think you could teach me how to do what you do with your shaman stone?”

  “I can try. Look the ship is sinking.”

  “Yea and the people in the water are starting to throw things at it. Wow, it just disappeared. And look, there’s another one, plus some sort of escort ship. I bet it’s there to protect their mining ship. Now that we know they can be hurt let’s build a plan around it. I don’t think we will have any more success today.”

  “That sounds like a smart decision.”

  ***

  Morgan and Pico arrived back at his foster parent’s place excited and anxious. Morgan waved at his house guests and went to the basement to have some private time with Pico.

  “Pico, I feel we made great progress today. You did an amazing job taking out that alien ship. I feel we could make better progress if I could be of more assistance somehow. I feel so powerless letting you do everything. I don’t want to sit on the sidelines anymore watching you make all the effort. I want to be in the game. Teach me to do what you do.”

  “I’m not sure I can,” replied Pico. “I will teach you how I connect to my shaman stone. Since we are still connected you will be able to see what I see. The rest is up to you.”

  “I will make this happen Pico. The world depends on it. Please teach me what you know.”

  “Okay, focus on what I am doing. I relax my mind and feel the vibrations from my stone. I pull those vibrations in and direct them back out at the stone. You can see the blue glow of the stone intensify as I connect with it. Now I pull in the magnified vibration and focus on what I want to accomplish. For example, lifting that chair. I don’t try to lift the chair with my mind. I see the chair rising and it does. Now you try to connect with my stone.”

  Morgan took the ball from Pico and tried to focus on its vibration the way Pico did. He worked on breathing in as a way to feel the vibration from Pico’s stone. Morgan could feel himself connecting to the stone.

  “Morgan, you are doing great. The stone is starting to glow. Now try to lift the chair.”

  Morgan focused his energy on the chair. The chair vibrated, but did not rise. Morgan tried harder, but eventually lost his connection with the stone.

  “Morgan, keep my stone and continue to practice. I feel that overtime you will be able to perfect your connection with the stone.

  Chapter 30

  Phoebe

  Phoebe was a species of Delta that evolved in the northern hemisphere of the planet Delta. The area had an arid climate and was full of thick jungle. Three months out of the year the place where Phoebe lived was engulfed in total darkness. The jungle was full of life and its inhabitants evolved to hunt in the lowlight conditions. They had acute sight, hearing and a heightened ability to feel the presence of a nearby creature. It’s as if they could feel the electrons being thrown off an objects body in their direction.

  In the darkness of the jungle a Delta male from the island of Arubia would wait in silence next to a tree looking and listening for its prey. A knife, staff or bow and arrows served as his weapons. They would kil
l animals large and small to take back to the village as food. The Arubians of Delta mostly cooked their food. They accompanied the meat with fruit and vegetables gathered by the women.

  The island of Arubia was isolated from the other inhabited lands of the planet by vast amounts of water. The southern edge of the island consisted of a huge desert, which further isolated the jungle inhabitants from discovery by early explorers. As the Delta civilizations advanced they were eventually able to find the lost tribes of Arubia who descended from the same humanoid species thousands of years before. While the Arubians were the same species they were taller, smarter, stronger and faster than their civilized counterparts. The slower, weaker, less bright Arubians were eaten by predators or killed during tribal disputes. The Arubians also did not tolerate those who were unable or unwilling to give back to the tribe. While brutal, they felt that culling nonproductive members of their tribes was important to the long-term sustainability of the tribe.

  The Arubians eventually assimilated into the larger Delta cities. They became the military soldiers, athletes and park rangers.

  Phoebe grew up in the jungles of Arubia, but moved to one of its early cities of the island where her parents decided she needed an education. Phoebe and her brothers enjoyed going back to the jungle during their time off.

  Phoebe would often close her eyes at night, strip naked and walk through the forest with her arms stretched out so she could get in touch with everything around her; the trees, plants, insects and animals. Every pore on her body would tingle as she reached out with her senses pushing herself to not miss anything. She would pause on occasion, lift her head and catch a drop falling from the forest canopy. She respected life, but was not afraid to snuff it out when warranted. Her pet peeve was mosquitos, taking her blood and not giving anything in return. In moments of weakness her pet peeve would drive her to take out her sword and slice through those pesky bête noir blindfolded. That way she felt she was at least giving them a fair chance.