The Ocoda Chronicles Book 5 Paladonians

by Daniel OConnell

  Hino smiles, shaking Benton’s hand and reports, “General Benton, it is always an honor when you visit us.”

  Benton truly unconcerned says as bluntly as he can, “Professor, can we just cut to the part where you tell me the same old technobabble on how you can’t figure out how to move it again.”

  Hino feeling uncomfortable replies, “Actually, we have had a recent breakthrough, but I fear the repercussions may be significant.”

  Benton grins, asking, “So are you saying you finally figured out how to change the course of the damn thing?”

  Hino alarmed at Benton’s question answers, “Sir, we can change its course, that has never been an issue, it’s just directing it to move in the direction we want. To risk changing this stellar mass course could have major implications that may threaten the timeline. We could inadvertently cause this stellar mass traverse through a populated planetary system.” The risk is far too high to just alter its course.”

  Benton, now annoyed, asks, “So what the hell do mean telling me you’ve made a breakthrough?”

  Hino sighs, stating, “We’ve discovered that with time, and some development, we may be able to move the stellar mass into null space. However, we believe that this may cause multiple adverse reactions within null space, perhaps even preventing phase shifting.”

  Benton grumbles, staring at the Professor, saying, “Professor, let’s try talk to me like I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

  Hino exhales heavily, saying, “We may be able to build a shift field that can move the Black dwarf into null space, but because it possesses such a vast gravitational field, it could become trapped in null space, thus making phase shifting unusable, and also trapping the dwarf star within it.”

  Benton scoffs aloud, saying, “So basically we ain’t got nothing then.”

  Hino shakes his head, saying, “I am sorry General, but I will keep trying.”

  Benton smirks, saying, “Well, it’s Ok Professor, at least you’re moving in the right direction, but one day the Paladonian people will thank us when we can figure out how to move this thing where ever we need at a moment’s notice.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  WHITEFEATHER

  The year is now three hundred and Twenty-six. The Whitefeather moon has now become one of the more populous civilizations, as its vast agricultural and manufacturing industries appeal too many of the new arrivals.

  Today, retired Council leader Rachel Cooley White takes one of her last trips to Earth. Reginald White, her husband of almost two hundred years has been dead for almost thirty years and she knows her time is coming soon. She is easily considered one of the most revered leaders amongst all the Paladonian people, and is often thought of as the kindest and most honest leader of all the Paladonian moons. So when she asks to go on a retrieval mission to Earth, it is accepted with great joy and pride.

  The Whitefeather transport passes through the gateways with no issues, continuing through the Oort cloud, as it activates its hyperdrive for a split second, jumping into low Earth orbit. Cooley approaches the Bridge, asking the Captain, “I understand we are going to North America today, is that correct?”

  The Captain pleased to see Cooley, replies, “Yes Premier Whitefeather. We have several targets to look at. The most attractive to us is the Woodland Indian tribes, which mostly disappeared without a trace around this time, and we’re looking at perhaps bringing as many as two thousand back. We were extremely lucky to win these people when the Rooke’s stepped back from their earlier claim on them. They spent over a year studying these people and had every right to claim them, but to our good luck they stepped back.”

  Cooley smiles, stating, “Well, that was one of the reasons I decided to come, it is not often the Rooke people step back from a claim like this. Moreover, it was Edgar’s constant boasting, about how I don’t get involved in menial tasks like this, I’m so looking forward to see our people in action, if for nothing else, but to just to shut up that old prattling corpse of a man.”

  The Captain concerned, asks, “Excuse me Premier Whitefeather, but are you planning on going down with our retrieval group?”

  Cooley smiles, saying, “Unless you plan on stopping me Captain, I was expecting to shift down.”

  The Captain is very surprised, replying, “No Premier, of course not, but I will have our best guards by your side.”

  Cooley smirks, saying, “Really Captain, what could possibly happen?”

  Several moments later, the retrieval group shifts down near four man made mounds. They remained cloaked and, begin scanning the populace for viable candidates. The process is long and boring, as Cooley quickly becomes uninterested and starts wandering around the area by herself. Nevertheless, she is closely followed by two guards. She is shocked when she sees an older man who is surrounded by several children, he is far away from everyone else, and what surprises Cooley so much about this man is that he bears an uncanny resemblance to her late husband Reggie. So much so, that Cooley forgets everything, as she immediately uncloaks and approaches him. The man, seeing her appear out of thin air stops what he is doing and quickly sends away all the children. He grabs his spear looking all around, while he cautiously watches Cooley approach.

  Cooley, unconcerned at the man’s spear, waves the two guards away as she slowly removes her cloak, and lays it out on the field grass, about ten yards away from the man. She sits and waves at the man, saying, “I know you don’t understand me, but I’d love to sit and chat with you.”

  The man is taken aback at seeing Cooley, who is dressed in fine clothing the likes of which he has never seen before. He studies her, as her appearance is obviously nonthreatening to him, as he watches her, patting the ground beside her, asking the man to sit with her.

  Cooley’s guards are stunned, as they don’t know how to react. Nevertheless, they do what they must to protect her, stunning the man with their weaponry. The man collapses unconscious as Cooley, who is still sitting down lowers and shakes her head in disgust, saying, “Why did you two do that for? Ok, off with you both, go play bodyguard for someone else.”

  The guards, unaccustomed to Cooley’s demeanor don’t know what to do as Cooley gets up and walks over to the man saying once again to her guards, “Go get lost or something.”

  The guards are confused as they walk far away, but keep their eyes on Cooley. Cooley pulls out her scanner to check out the man and is very saddened to discover he is dying from a lung infection. She is even more saddened to discover that he cannot be brought to Paladonian system as his D.N.A. shows as being a subject of discovery some eighteen hundred years from now in one of the burial mound.

  Annoyed, she grabs the man and looks over at her guards, which still haven’t left. She smiles every so quaintly, as she puts her shifting cloak on and callously waves at her guards as she shifts away carrying the man out of sight of everyone.

  She pulls out her translator, laying it out beside her, waiting for the man to wake. After several minutes, he stirs slowly, opening his eyes, and is taken aback seeing Cooley sitting right next to him. She smiles once again, saying in words that he can now understand, asking, “I’m Rachel, luv, what's your name?”

  The man is startled at Cooley. He stands up looking for a weapon to protect himself.

  Cooley just giggles as she picks up a rock and offers it to him, saying, “Well, if you’re afraid of me that much you can use this rock to beat me with, if I scare you too much.”

  The elderly man is beyond overwhelmed, yet despite all the insanity that has taken place in the past few minutes, Cooley seems to create a feeling of security for him. He grins, sitting back down, asking, “How do you know my language? What are you wearing, and what are all these flashing things you have?”

  Cooley grins, saying, “Well, I don’t know your language luv, but this flashing box does, and it lets us talk.” Cooley holds up the translator box as she continues, “May I ask what your name is luv?”

  The old man is very confused, but
no longer concerned, stares at Cooley and her attire, answering, “I am called Etue.”

  Cooley reaches out her hand in a sign of friendship, saying, “My name is Rachel, and it’s a pleasure to meet you Etue.”

  Etue still confused, but a bit more relaxed asks, “Why are you here, what is it that you want from me?”

  Cooley sighs, saying, “I’m sorry luv, but that’s a lot to explain. However, if you will listen to me for a bit I’ll try to explain what little I can. You see we’re from very far away, and we have come to save people that would have died before they should have.”

  Etue becomes concerned by Rachel’s statement. He reflects a moment, thinking how in his youth he would have been terrified at such a statement. However, with age comes wisdom, and Etue is more curious than afraid. He asks, “How do you know who will die and who will live?”

  Cooley grimly smiles, as she shakes her head, answering, “That’s another part of my story that might be a lot for you to believe, but I come from another time.”

  Etue eye’s go wide, but then looks down at the flashing box. He smiles for a moment, and then begins to cough, saying, “It is very hard to believe, but so is a box that lets us understand each other. May I ask why you chose me to talk to?”

  Cooley takes in a deep breath, saying, “You look a lot like my husband, and I miss him dearly. I just wanted to talk to you.”

  Etue, now feeling safe, looks out across the field, asking, “You say you’ve come to save people that died before they should have. What people have you come to save this day?”

  Cooley saddened as she now knows what happened to these people answers, “Your tribe died, and most of the bodies were burnt, however, my history states that some were buried in the mounds, and in my time they discovered that a lung infection had wiped out this and several other villages.”

  Etue coughs again covering his mouth as this time blood appears on his hand. Concerned once more he asks, “Do you save me, or do I die?”

  Cooley, now crying says, “I can’t save you Etue.”

  Etue saddened replies, “I knew my time was coming sooner than I wanted, but I have lived a long life. Rachel, may I ask that you save as many of my people as you can.”

  Cooley, sobbing, says, “We will Etue.”

  Etue coughs again, as a lot more blood comes up. He holds his arm around his chest, asking, “How long before I die?”

  Cooley pulls out her scanner, she looks over the data and states, “I’m sorry Etue, not long.”

  Etue saddened asks, “Can you cure my people from this infection?”

  Cooley weakly smiles, stating, “Yes, I can even cure you, but if I did then I would change history, and everyone we have saved would die.”

  Etue looks out over the burial mounds, stating, “I have known I was sick for some time. My family has already prepared for my passing.”

  Cooley notices on her scanner, multiple energy readings from all around, as her people begin shifting Etue’s people to their ship, which is in planetary orbit. She tells him with a sadness in her heart, “My people are taking your people now. All that will remain are a few, which we cannot take with us.”

  Etue stands up and continues too coughs more. He looks out at the stars, asking, “Do you come from the stars?”

  Cooley stands up next to Etue and says, “I was born about fifteen hundred years from now, here on Earth, but I live out there.” She points to a cluster of stars.”

  “I see.” Etue looks long and hard at Cooley, stating, “In my younger days I would have asked if you’re a god, but in my old age, I’ve learned not to believe in gods that allow so much pain come to us.”

  Cooley smiles, saying, “Everyone believes in something greater than what they know. It is the hope of something more than just this existence that makes us human. You must never stop believing in something better Etue, your journey continues on and you will never truly die so long as you are remembered, and I will remember you.”

  Etue shakes his head and asks, “With all my people gone who will bury me?”

  Cooley, now deeply saddened, says, “My people will put you and the others to their final rest.”

  Etue begins coughing uncontrollably and drops to his knees as Cooley reaches over and holds onto him. He says, “I will miss my…” Etue then passes, as Rachel sobs uncontrollably.

  A few moments later, several guards shift near her, as one of them states, “We have taken everyone from all the surrounding villages. We don’t know why, but this one seems to be the only one that could not be saved. Our data files show this village and the adjoining ones were all burnt, it makes no sense how this one’s body was able to be buried.”

  Cooley confused asks, “What do you mean?”

  The security guard replies, “Well Premier Whitefeather, we know that we saved everyone from this disease. It would make no sense to leave just one man behind.”

  Cooley annoyed shakes her head, saying, “Not everything has to make sense.” Cooley holds Etue in her arms and shifts to the burial mound, placing his body down as gently as possible. She stares at his face for a moment longer. Finally, she heads back to their ship.

  Several weeks go by as Cooley continues with her life back on Whitefeather, when one day the Captain of the ship she was on comes to her home. He greets her, saying, “Premier Whitefeather, may I have a moment of your time.”

  Cooley warmly greets the Captain, saying, “Please come in luv, and sit down.”

  The Captain humbled by Cooley, sadly reports, “This will only take a minute. I just wanted to let you know we discovered that our data files had been infected by a computer virus of unknown origin.”

  Cooley confused asks. “What do you mean your data files were infected?”

  The Captain exhales a long-winded breath, as he reluctantly reports, “We are unable to verify who planted the virus, but that man you met on the Earth could have been saved. Someone purposely tampered with our D.N.A. scanner program, causing it to give a false reading on him, and him alone.”

  Cooley quickly by this becomes angered, asking, “Captain, who do you believe is responsible?”

  The Captain can see the rage in Cooley’s eyes, replying, “We did a great deal of investigating on who may be responsible, regrettably, all we have are guesses, which my best guess is the Rookes. Our data shows that the Rookes sent in dozens of scouts to that location a year earlier. We have also analyzed this computer virus as best we can, but we can’t say with complete certainty if the Rookes created it. One other issue that works into my theory is that we had a run in with a Rooke retrieval agent a few weeks earlier. His ship was supposedly unable to retrieve him so we let him on board our ship. Supposedly, he was claiming to have cloaking issues. It is possible that he could have planted a computer virus at this time.”

  Cooley very angered says to the Captain, “I want you to take me to Council Edgars on Rooke now.”

  The Captain shakes his head in agreement, saying, “Yes Premier Whitefeather, I expected that you would want to see him. However, Council Edgar is near death.”

  Cooley clearly enraged, and perhaps not thinking properly says as she walks out the door leading the Captain, “Well you better hurry and get me there so I can help him along to his death sooner.”

  Three hours later, Cooley arrives on the moon called Rooke. She is greeted by several armed security guards all of whom are pointing weapons at her as she gets off the ship. Cursing the guards, she says, “You better get me to that ass before he dies, or there will be bloody hell to pay!”

  The guards are completely aware of who Cooley is, and quickly contact central command. A few moments later, they are given orders to allow her access to Edgar. A hovercraft pulls up, as Cooley gets on board as the Captain then attempts to get on board, but a Guard yells, “Only the Whitefeather may come.”

  Cooley looks to the Captain, saying, “I’ll be fine Captain. They are not stupid enough to do anything that could involve Caleb cutting off their technology.”<
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  The Guards take Cooley through the city, as this is her first time ever laying foot on this world. She is astonished at the overall beauty of the city. After fifteen minutes, the hovercraft arrives at the city center, which encircles the Palace. Cooley steps out of the vehicle and is escorted through several security checkpoints. Finally, she reaches an outer chamber, and sees two young men waiting for her. The first stands, introducing himself, “I am Edgar, first-born, and the heir apparent. This is my brother Marcus. We are honored that you have come to pay your respects to our father.”

  Cooley unconcerned about the two boys asks, “I’m just here to see your father. Respects are not on the menu.”

  Edgar, the first-born smirks, replying, “Father, said you’d be here soon. Please enter right through here.” He then gestures to the door before him.

  Cooley infuriated storms into the room, where she sees Edgar, lying on his deathbed. He looks over seeing Cooley enter and smiles, saying, “Have you come to say goodbye?”

  Cooley enraged, asks, “Why did you let that man die? What purpose did it give you to allow him to die needlessly?”

  Edgar gives an evil grin, saying, “Needlessly, no, I wouldn’t say needlessly. My children helped plan this for the past few years when the man was noticed by our scouts. I must say his resemblance to Reggie is uncanny. My people worked for months on creating the program to corrupt your D.N.A. scanners, and then I made sure that you would personally be part of the recovery team. I paid quite a penny to have people close to you pressure you into going on this mission. Nevertheless, it was quite enjoyable for me to watch you suffer as you have for the final days of my life.”

  Cooley angered, asks, “What did I ever do to you?”

  Edgar coughs, continually while he speaks, “You have the love of the people. Even amongst my own people, your name is revered. In all the years we have all lived, you have not once ever been to my home, or invited me to your home. Even now when there is only but a handful of the original survivors left, you have never tried to be my friend. I will be dead by nightfall and I wanted to be sure my last act was one that brought you pain.”