by Dan Kelly
As the suns of Proton clear the horizon and the Queen is calling the meeting to order, her assistant rushes into the conference room and hands her a piece of paper which she urges the Queen to read immediately. After doing so, the Queen looks up with the fiercest look on her countenance that any of them has ever seen. “Gentlemen, apparently the region immediately surrounding Castle Capella is not the only target for those bent on polluting Proton’s water supply. Five water bottling plants in five different cities a thousand miles south of here have reported security computer meltdowns and unauthorized and unnoticed access by parties unknown who managed to contaminate the distribution tanks holding the water for bottling. Fortunately, routine manual monitoring procedures were in place and the break-ins were discovered shortly after they occurred. Unfortunately, 143 cases were shipped to distributors and most of these were purchased by the consuming public.
“So far, 236 cases of crippling intestinal infection have been reported by hospitals in or near these cities. The bottling companies have shut down production and put out a recall to all the distributors, businesses and households in these areas, using every communication medium available to them. Gentlemen, we’ve got to nab these culprits and the mastermind behind them as quickly as possible. This has top priority. If they are not stopped, the planet Proton will be at their mercy.
“Ok, this think tank is now in session. What are we going to do? Director Drummel, you first. We need ideas. Don’t rationalize over whether they are good or not. Let all of us examine them for their intrinsic merit. Synergism is absolutely the name of the game here. One idea will lead to another and that to another, etc., until we arrive at a solution to rid our planet of this treachery.”
Director Drummel is deep in thought and for a few moments doesn’t respond. He begins by saying, “We obviously have a fivefold problem here. First, how do we increase protection of our current water supply, both above ground and beneath, to eliminate or at least greatly reduce these incidents? Second, how are the people doing this being recruited? Third, how can we disrupt this process or, even better, bring it to a halt? Fourth, how do we find out who is behind all of this and fifth, how do we capture all of these villains and put them out of business? I believe this accurately describes the challenge before us. Does anyone disagree or have anything to add?”
They all respond by grimly shaking their heads.
There is quiet for a moment and then Security Chief Shandul speaks up. “I have some ideas regarding the protection issue. It is imperative that we get out a top secret alert to all of the community and regional leaders throughout the planet to inform them about this threat as soon as possible. We can use the highly secured and encrypted communication system that we use in times of war. This communiqué should include a description of the danger, our plan to address the situation, instructions as to what we want them to do and it must stress the importance of keeping all of this under wraps. We don’t want to start a panic or warn our enemies about what we are attempting to do. As for what we want these leaders to do, they must first identify all of the sources of water in their areas, including reservoirs, wells, lakes, ponds, rivers, streams, holding tanks, swamp lands, water used for irrigation, etc. Then, they must arrange for increased security around these sources and ensure that all security systems and procedures are in place and working flawlessly. If funds are needed to implement this strategy, the Royal Treasury must be willing to accommodate them.”
Commander Caitlin interjects with some thoughts of his own. “Our ground troops can assist the community and regional leaders by helping to patrol the perimeters of their water sources and our air force can fly reconnaissance over these sources as well. Our spacecraft can fly invisibly, soundlessly and quickly without anyone having any idea that they’re in the vicinity.”
“Ok”, Director Drummel says. “We now have some good ideas regarding clandestinely getting the word out and vastly improving the protection of our planet’s water supply. The next step is to figure out how and where the people doing these terrible things are being recruited and, of course, come up with a way to seriously hinder the process or stop it completely.
“From what we’ve learned from the men captured at the lake so far, they all were born and raised on Proton and were willing to take considerable risk of getting caught because they were being paid a great deal of money to do so. I believe it is highly likely that all of the people being recruited are Protonese because they know the geography, language, customs and traditions; they look like everybody else and will be able to move about without drawing attention to themselves or arousing any suspicions. Money being the primary motivation, I think it’s safe to assume these recruits don’t have much of it. It’s also quite apparent to me that they don’t have very high social mores or moral attitudes either since they are willing to undertake such underhanded tasks.
“Therefore, I think it’s reasonable to conclude that people who are former convicts, mercenaries or former mercenaries, gang members, members of disreputable unions and social organizations, etc. as well as those people who are outspoken critics of Queen Quasar, all of these organizations and people represent fertile territory for recruitment efforts. They should be put under intense surveillance. Where appropriate, we should attempt to infiltrate these suspect organizations with the hope of gathering relevant and up-to-the-minute intelligence pertaining to what our enemy is planning to do. Whenever we uncover a plot and are able to apprehend the culprits, we must do
so swiftly. Where apprehension is impossible, we must annihilate the perpetrators. The mastermind behind these attacks on our planet must know in no uncertain terms that we mean business. Those involved must know without a doubt that we will act with no compunction and do everything in our power to bring them to justice.” All express their concurrence with what the Director has said by nodding their heads.
Queen Quasar likes what she has been hearing. She knows she has the best advisors and strategists that can be found anywhere. She is very proud of all of them, but everything that has been suggested so far, although prudent and necessary, is not sufficient to also nail to the wall the instigator of all this mayhem as quickly as possible. She airs her thoughts to these men and then adds, “In addition to what you’ve suggested so far, perhaps we can accelerate matters by coming up with something so tempting, so challenging, so unexpected yet with a time frame so demanding, so short that it would require the direct participation and leadership of the person behind all of these attacks. Do any of you have any ideas about how we might do this?”
“You mean set a trap?” asks Chief Shandul.
“Exactly.” says the Queen. There is a prolonged silence in the room, as all of them are deep in thought, but no one can come up with anything.
Suddenly, the Queen stands up, begins walking around the conference table and says, “I’ve got the answer. For some time now, I’ve suspected that our arch enemy Emperor Eclipse is behind our present dilemma, in fact, I’m almost certain of it. No one hates us more, especially me, than he does. Let’s devise a plan that uses me as the bait. The obvious purpose of all these attacks is to create so much unrest in the general populace that the people of the realm will rise up and revolt against the monarchy. The pollutants being used do not kill. They just temporarily maim. The emperor is after me, gentleman. He wants to ruin me so much that he would take almost any risk to accomplish this if the right set of circumstances presents itself. Well, what do you think?”
They all begin to talk at once, but Chief Shandul is finally given the floor. “Your Majesty, I must protest. This is far too dangerous for you to consider. Proton would be lost without you as its ruler.”
Both the Director and Commander shouted out their agreement, but the Queen waves their protests aside saying, “If we don’t stop the Emperor soon, Proton might be lost anyway. If there are no better ideas, let’s get on with it.
“What kind of trap would be sufficiently tempting, allow for perfect timing and be able to e
xecute inescapable ensnarement so rapidly that the Emperor will be taken completely by surprise? Think, gentlemen, think!”
Once again it’s eerily quiet. To come up with a plan that will work yet ensure the Queen’s safety is no mean task. If anything should go wrong, the Queen could find herself in a very perilous
situation. Commander Caitlin breaks the silence with a look of shocked revelation on his face. “Your Highness, I have an inkling of an idea, but it may just be enough to get our creative juices flowing. I believe we can flesh it out and come up with something that will work.”
“Well, let’s hear it then, Commander. We’re all ears.”
The Commander pauses for a second and then proceeds. “Your Highness, in just five days from today the annual global celebration of your coronation will take place and there will be much pageantry, much pomp and circumstance, to everyone’s delight. In communities all over the planet, your subjects will be reveling and giving thanks to you for being such a powerful, effective and benevolent ruler. There will also be throngs of people in the fields surrounding the castle along with the attendant excitement.
“Security forces will be beefed up for the event as times such as these require security measures much stronger than usual and everyone knows this. There has never been a breach of this security. Now, what if something should happen say two days before the celebration, something serious enough to require the transfer of a good portion of the security forces elsewhere? Would this scenario provide sufficient temptation to cause Emperor Eclipse to attempt a kidnapping or perhaps an assassination?
“The Emperor would only have two days to come up with a plan of his own and, hopefully, because he would be rushed it would contain flaws serious enough to allow us to catch him in the act and lock him away forever. The crowds would provide an appealing cover for him and his accomplices to freely move about, but I don’t think he would have more than one or two accomplices. The more people involved, the more likely something could go wrong. The Emperor is not stupid and is a very cautious person, but if we do this right he could be fooled.
“You like to mingle with your people and you would do so, but you would be surrounded by our best security personnel. This is normal behavior for you at these events and would also help to convince the Emperor that everything is as it should be.
“After you mingle with your subjects, you would climb up onto the dais and sit on your throne surrounded by your court. This is something that you also do every year. There will be much food, refreshments and entertainment and you will remain on the dais for several hours before retiring to your quarters. This is what happens every year. It’s part of the tradition. The best time for Emperor Eclipse to make his move will be while you are sitting on your throne on the dais.
“You, however, would not be sitting on your throne. What everyone would be seeing would be a moving, state-of-the-art hologram of Your Highness. We have developed this art form to such a degree that we can put a special camera on you and you would perform all of the normal movements associated with talking, eating, gesturing, etc. and the hologram will project these movements. You would actually be in the castle’s Royal Theater sitting on a set that is a perfect duplicate of the dais your subjects will be seeing. Your court would be instructed to interact with the image as though it was you sitting there.”
The Commander, who has been sitting on the edge of his chair while sharing his thoughts with the others, sits back and stops talking. The rest of the group is completely stunned. Queen Quasar finally says, “Well, that’s some inkling.” Her comment eases the tension that has been steadily building for some time now and everyone chuckles.
Chief Shandul then suggests, “To give the impression that the temporary reassignment of a significant number of the Queen’s security force has taken place, many of the security people could dress like the typical reveler instead of wearing the easily recognizable uniform of the Queen’s security force.”
Queen Quasar, weighing what the Chief has just said says, “Ok, that should work, but now for the key question. What kind of a ruse can we use that would convince the Emperor that the transfer of so many security people was appropriate?”
Director Drummel comes up with a great idea. “What if we were to leak to the news media that there has been a serious explosion at the site of our Institute of Inter-Galactic Science in Vlandor and that a significant number of the Queen’s security forces will be assigned to temporarily help with the security at the institute? The institute houses and serves as a repository for countless discoveries made throughout the universe, most of which have not yet been subjected to investigative analysis and many are priceless. The vaults deep in the bowels of the institute also contain most of the precious metals and stones of the monarchy. It is a monolithic structure and highly treasured by the people of Proton. It’s sheer size requires a large security force and it would be logical to assume that the effectiveness of the security force had been put in jeopardy because of the explosion. We could scramble all communications going into and coming out of the institute to prevent the media as well as the Emperor and any of his people from finding out that it’s all a hoax. We could give the people at the institute advanced warning of the disruption in communications for a few days by telling them that it will be caused by a highly secretive update of the planet’s alert system.”
The Queen say, “I like it. How about the rest of you?” As she looks around the conference table, she can see the tension melting away from their faces and their overall bearing. They all like it and say so. “Alright then, we now have a plan and I believe it’s a good one. I’ll leave you to flesh it out, to determine who will do what, when they’ll do it and how they’ll do it. Oh, one more thing. We must station lookouts at all ground transportation stations, airports and spaceports and alert all shore patrols to be on the lookout for any unidentified craft in their areas. The Emperor’s description should be distributed to all of the lookouts. If the Emperor is spotted, he must not to be approached. He’s got to be caught in the act of doing his horrendous deed. We’ll reconvene tomorrow morning at sunrise so you can brief me on the final strategies and tactics. Thank you all for a job well done.” She rises and leaves the room.
Chapter 9
As the Queen leaves the conference room, she begins to debate with herself whether or not to include the Power Pack in her scheme. “After all, they are just kids, but they are very special kids and their powers could come in handy. They could circulate through the crowds looking for anything or anybody that appears suspicious. As long as they stay off the dais, they shouldn’t be in any danger.” She decides to clue them in and enlist their support.
She summons Head Butler Barker to her office and instructs him to round up the Pack and have them assemble in the Royal Theater. Fifteen minutes later, they’re all gathered around the Queen at center stage. Gracie leans over and whispers in Pulsar’s ear, “What’s up?”
“I don’t know. I hope none of us has fouled up again. I’m tired of being a kitchen mechanic and sure don’t want to have to do any other chores.” After the disastrous spacecraft competition, Pulsar was relegated to the Royal Kitchen to keep him out of trouble and he’s been up to his armpits in soapy dishwater washing dishes, pots and pans and huge heavy caldrons. His hands look like the shriveled prunes from the planet Earth.
The Queen softly claps her hands to get their attention and then tells them what’s going on and what she wants them to do. “Each of you will be assigned an area to patrol as unobtrusively as possible. You will have some preparation to do before the celebration.”
“Your Highness, does this mean we don’t have to do chores anymore?” Artie asks. Artie has been mucking gargan stalls and he would trade chores with Pulsar in an instant. His job really stinks.
The Queen gazes at them with a blank stare for what seems an eternity to the Pack and then she breaks out in a smile and says, “Ok, you scalawags, you’re off the hook.”
A huge “Hooray!�
� bursts from the Pack and everyone starts to talk at once.
The next morning, Queen Quasar meets with the Chief, Director and Commander to review the details of the final strategies and tactics. She can find no weak points, approves the plan and gives her go ahead. She also tells her advisors of her decision to include the Pack in the surveillance part of the plan.