The Alliance in Peril: The Chronicles of Jake -- Book 3 (The Chronicles of Jake Trilogy)

by Peter Lewis Atkinson

  The Long Journey

  Back to business. Alenna had surprised me. She had phoned the Prime Minister to arrange collection of the gunship. She reported that it only took two hours from letting him know before two pilots arrived and hastily boarded. They then flew the gunship away. As for our consignment, the bins for the ore were stacked in our warehouse. I wanted to check how good they were. First I looked at the fasteners, normally there are two, and these had three. I then checked the seals on the lid; again normally there was one compression seal, and these had two. My conclusion was very positive. These containers were, without doubt, the best that I had come across. I don’t think they wished to take even the slight chance of contamination from an alien species of insect escaping on Earth. Now the bad part, the locusts. Although other races trade with the Grocka, using insects as payment for the ore, we had not actually delivered any, we had only collected the ore. They tended to hire a specially adapted cargo ship for the purpose. This ship could hover just above the treetops, before dumping its entire load onto the ground. Waiting below would be a thousand or more Grocka. Once the Grand Grocka has had her fill and fallen to sleep, it was then the turn of her subjects to have a chance to engage in a free for all. I had not witnessed this spectacle, but I was told the Grocka got worked up to quite a frenzy, almost fighting each other to eat the juiciest looking insects before the others did. In the end, when they had eaten all they could, they collapsed to the ground where they were, to sleep off their gorging habit. That is why it was so important to have your containers loaded with the ore before the Grocka feast. We would be going straight to Grimda after leaving Earth. The Locusts were due to arrive the day after next. In the meantime, I wanted to delay the loading of the empty containers aboard the cargo freighter, as it was imperative that the locusts were stored at the back, with the ore containers in front of them. Now, we had a whole day to spend doing whatever we wished. As such, the first thing I wanted to get over, was to phone the Prime Minister. I wanted to inform him of the good news, which was that I could now supply Earth with that classified ore that was so critical for star-drive construction. I was given an order straight away. The name of the ore in question was stronilium. As this ore came from Lusiana or Dregg, payment could be made with alliance credits. As which planet I actually acquired it from, I would leave that decision for now as it would be down to which planet we made our next delivery.

  Nearly everyone wanted to do something different on our free day. For example, River was contented to spend the whole time watching TV. Alenna, Jenna and Perri went shopping. Minty and Emily spent the day encouraging the children to spend some time doing art.

  Talking about art, Yarkeli asked me, “Do you think that art gallery that Zitter’s exhibits are in would be willing to display some Lusianian art?”

  Smiling I replied, “Do you mean your art?”

  “Err yes,” replied Yarkeli.

  I said, “I think they would. How many your pictures would you like them to take?”

  Yarkeli did not hesitate with her answer, “Six, I have six. These are the paintings that I had produced during our time on the battlecruiser. I believe, as they are all on the same subject; military, they would make an interesting display. What do you think Jake?”

  I was more than willing to assist Yarkeli in her quest, so replied, “You are very talented. I will contact the curator of the gallery and see what I can do.”

  Now, the curator was very excited at the prospect of displaying the works of Yarkeli, but nothing new could be displayed without the owner of the museum's say-so. That owner was none other than Lord Gilbert Pemberton-Smythe. This meant we would be receiving yet another visit from him. We planned to lay out all the paintings on two office tables in the warehouse so Gilbert, sorry, Lord Gilbert, could cast his eye over them. He was to arrive sometime between five and six pm. Until then we could spend the time how we wished. I wanted to spend this spare time just lounging outside. It was a warm day. I could not sit alone outside, but fortunately, my sister and Sabrina wanted to do the same. So we set up three recliners along with their parasols. I had several containers of a very enjoyable beverage which I had picked up from our last visit to Mazar. Rachael had a large box of crisps plus other goodies, having made a sneaky visit to duty-free. We were now ready to relax, stuffing ourselves with the junk food and my containers of booze. All good things have to come to an end, it was nearing five pm. Minty, Emily and Yarkeli along with myself were to be present during Lord Gilbert’s visitation. We waited by the warehouse doors. It was not long before we could see the same van that had previously called upon us arriving. I could make out Lord Gilbert in the passenger seat. He exited the passenger door and again he was wearing the most eccentric attire. He was wearing a jacket with long tails, pinstripe trousers and as before, a frilly shirt. As for the waistcoat that he was wearing, it could only be described as loud; the colour was a bright purple with a harlequin pattern. Lord Gilbert at once put his top hat on and at the same time I noticed his shoes. They each had this large buckle that somewhat sparkled in the early evening sun. It was a very warm evening. Lord Gilbert must have been boiling in that attire. He stopped to take out a pocket watch. When he opened it, a tune played. After looking at it for a moment he returned it to his waistcoat pocket and proceeded to stroll towards us, with a cane in one hand, swaying as he did.

  Both Minty and Emily could not help sniggering. They had never witnessed such a spectacle. I at once whispered to them both, “Stop it you two, I don’t want to offend him. If you can’t stop, leave.”

  They pulled themselves together but were still smirking to themselves. Lord Gilbert swaggered up to the open doors and said in his posh way, “Good evening my good man, I hear you have some paintings that require my appraisal?” But at that moment he spotted Yarkeli standing just inside and was taken off guard by her appearance. Although he knew of Yarkeli he did not expect to meet her in person. He again removed a frilly handkerchief which was protruding from a top pocket of his jacket, dabbing his brow which now had sweat dripping from it.

  I had to do something. He looked uneasy, so I said, “Lord Gilbert this is Yarkeli. She is the artist of the paintings you are about to view.”

  He looked her up and down before saying, “Oh, err, Good err Evening.”

  I led him towards the two desks where we had laid out the painting. He stood there just staring at them. He reached for a chain that was protruding from the pocket of his waistcoat and pulled on it. On the end of this chain was his monocle. He first wiped it with his frilly handkerchief. Then put it up to his eye. He again looked Yarkeli up and down before turning towards the painting. He then moved closer to have a better look. What is he looking at? I thought. He was both nodding and shaking his head to himself. This gave us absolutely no clue at all to whether he liked the painting or not. He did this to each painting in turn.

  Then he stood back and tapped his chin before pointing at one of the paintings and saying, “I particularly like this painting although the others are just as good.” He again looked at Yarkeli and said to her. “Good, we are willing to display them, next to those sculptures. I will need to have them framed for display. Please roll them carefully and I will send my man with a case to collect them.” He scribbled the details down in his notebook before saying “Good day.” At which point he returned to the van. Almost immediately one of his staff exited the back door with a tubed case and came over to us. He opened the case and I gently popped the paintings inside. After screwing on the end cap he just said, “Thanks, guv,” and left.

  Later that evening I confided to Minty when she was alone, “Don’t say anything to the others, but I think Lord Gilbert would have taken anything that had been produced by an artist that wasn’t human. He knows it will draw many visitors to his gallery. I also think he considers himself the uttermost expert on art. Whether y
ou believe that or not, you must admit his behaviour is very different from the average human.”

  Minty replied, “Yes he is quite odd. “Why does he dress like he does?”

  I tried to explain to her, to the best of my ability saying, “He is what one would describe as a dandy, and this has nothing to do with his sexuality. He is a showman. The description of a dandy dates back a couple of centuries. He puts the way he dresses and the way he behaves and speaks as the uttermost importance to him, a kind of cult behaviour. I have nothing against him. That is just the way he is, and we should accept that”

  Minty replied, “I think most humans are strange, except you and Rachael of course.”

  I chuckled and said, “Thanks for that one Minty.”

  The next morning we awaited the arrival of the locusts. Locusts are an extreme pest on Earth, completely destroying crops and people’s livelihoods. Getting rid of them this way, by letting the Grocka eat them, must be considered a blessing. A large lorry arrived. Two men exited the cab and came over to the warehouse. Alenna, Jenna and I had been hanging about, waiting for their arrival.

  One of the men said, “I have a delivery for you. We have a number of containers on board, which I must confess I have never in my thirty years of transporting items, delivered containers that are full of insects. What are they to be used for?”

  I replied, “Food, they are just food for an alien species.”

  He said, “Food, yuk, who in their right mind would eat insects?”

  I simply replied, “You and I may not, but out there in space, far away is an intelligent species that finds them scrumptiously delicious, so don’t knock it. Humans can be so narrow-minded sometimes.”

  These containers were offloaded, they were cubed shape. They measured around six-foot square. An aluminium frame with wire mesh sides, so the insects could breathe. There were also many layers of mesh internally, all of which were packed with locusts. It was surprising how noisy they were. There must have been many thousands in each container. They had some sort of strange paste as food. Once unloaded, the men left. It was now my job to load them aboard the cargo freighter. I stacked them all against the back wall. I just hoped they would survive the journey to Grimda, which would take just over a week. I then stacked the ore containers in front of them, before closing the cargo bay doors. We had nothing to keep us on Earth so Alenna took the decision for us to leave and travel directly to Grimda. During the trip, I visited the cargo bay to check on the insects, not a pleasant experience. The cargo bay smelt unpleasant and the noise was disconcerting. I did not linger longer than necessary. Now we had to land on Grimda near to where they quarry the ore. No sooner had I started to unload the empty ore containers for filling than we had Grocka starting to arrive. At first, it was a trickle, but by the time I had finished lining up the ore containers adjacent to our loading ramp, the trickle had turned into a torrent. Soon there must have been a couple of thousand of them. The locusts at the back of the cargo hold had been spotted through the open door. Then they knew I was coming with them. Time to close the doors until I had managed to get the ore containers filled. We had to wait until a Grocka official arrived. Can you imagine what it was like to be standing on the ramp with a couple of thousand Grocka staring at you knowing full well we had those locusts on-board. The way they looked I was sure their mouths were watering. Suddenly a gap was starting to form between the gathering Grocka. We could recognise a Grocka we had met on our last visit to Grimda, it was Charka, who we knew could speak Zeln.

  “Welcome,” cried Charka. She now looked towards the cargo bay doors.

  Alenna replied through Jenna, “Would you like to inspect the cargo?”

  Charka was more than willing to, in fact, she was very eager, replying in an excited voice, “Yes please.”

  We opened the door just enough for four of us to slip through. This left Luka and Perri to remain on the ramp. Charka hurried towards the awaiting cages putting her hands on the wire, before sticking her thin tongue out as to taste the air.

  “Are they to your satisfaction?” Alenna asked.

  With a nod of her head and a large grin Charka replied, “Great, I will dispatch my assistant to request the presence of her Excellency the Grand Grocka. Until then we must wait before we can unload them.”

  We were eager to get our ore loaded into the containers so we said to Charka, “In the meantime can you have the ore containers filled then stacked by our ramp?”

  Charka replied, “That is possible. You will be surprised how fast the containers get filled, you just watch.”

  The four of us returned to the awaiting Grocka, Charka spoke to them in their own language and at once they rushed over to a large heap of ore that had been recently mined. Each Grocka picked up serval lumps of ore. In what could only be described as a living conveyor belt the Grocka formed a long line that went from the heap of ore to the containers and back. On the command of Charka, this line of Grocka started to move, slowly at first. They would take the ore that they had picked up with them, before depositing it into the waiting bins. Charka stepped up the pace in three phases. In no time at all the first bin was filled to its brim. This continued until all the bins were full. Charka was right. The Grocka did fill the bins fast. Now they would be expecting their reward. The Grand Grocka arrived in something resembling a sedan chair, which was being supported by four Large Grocka. She did not get out, only opening the window. She did though summon Charka to the window of the sedan chair, where she spoke to her.

  Charka then returned to speak to us, “Please unload the crates holding the locusts.” She then pointed to where she wished us to stack them in a row.

  We did this, but could not help being deterred by all those Grocka that had their stare fixated on us. Luka and Perri now wanted to be excused and Alenna allowed them to return to the ship’s living quarters. What would happen if they could not contain themselves any longer and they all made a dash for the crates? Luckily they held their ground. After we had finished unloading we stood well back. I had my pod ready to record what was about to happen. First, two assistants of the Grand Grocka opened one of the crates and filled a bag full of the insects. This bag was then taken to the Grand Grocka who at once started to feast on its contents, stuffing them into her large mouth, a handful at a time. Still, the other Grocka waited. The bag was soon empty, so it was again refilled. By the time the Grand Grocka had almost finished the second bag, she was beginning to nod off. Now the other Grocka had turned their attention towards her. Finally, her head dropped, at that moment Charka checked on her; she had dozed off. Charka only said one word. That word was more than enough. What happened next could only be described as a free for all. I would not have believed it if I had not witnessed it in person. They surged towards the crates almost ripping the doors off in their hurry to get at the insects. They had virtually no respect for each other, walking over those that had been knocked over in the process. They ripped the trays from their mounts, flinging them to one side. The Grockas’ primitive instinct had taken over and were actually shoving & pushing each other in their feeding frenzy. Alenna and Jenna were horrified at their behaviour. I was just a little flabbergasted. I had never witnessed anything like it in my entire life. It was not long before a number had taken their fill and were looking very bloated. They started to drop like flies, nodding off where they fell, soon, there was not even one Grocka standing.

  I said to Alenna and Jenna, “I don’t know what to say, other than let’s get the ore on board and leave.”

  Alenna replied, “Yes, it’s time we left. I thought the Grocka were a placid species, but what I have just witnessed has changed my mind about them.”

  Loading the ore was simple enough as the bins were next to the ramp. I had to take back the empty crates, unfortunately, they were now surrounded
by Grocka that had fallen fast asleep around them. We had used a hover lift to unload them. I would need to set the hover lift down before I could pick up a crate, but there was no room. I stepped over a number of Grocka to reach the first crate. For some reason or other, I tried to lift a crate. To my surprise, I found I could. After all, the crates were now empty and were also made of light aluminium. Between Alenna, Jenna and myself, we managed to step over the fallen Grocka with the crates, though we did occasionally step on a limb or two with no response from the Grocka concerned. Soon we had repeated the operation and had all the crates stored on the cargo deck. We collected all the trays that had been discarded in the feeding frenzy. Taking one last look at the Grocka, you could be mistaken for thinking they were all dead. I then closed the cargo bay doors. One last thing I had to do was to inspect each of the ore containers, in turn, to make sure they had all been satisfactorily sealed. Once we had passed through the airlock, we were also glad to take off our protection suits; it was so stuffy having to wear them. We could now leave Grimda. After exposing our cargo bay to the vacuum of space to decontaminate it, we returned to Alkarr.

  The arrival was fine. All the wives wanted to see their mother’s, not surprising as we have been away for almost a month. I would be going to the moon tomorrow. I wanted to catch up on the latest gossip regarding the Silka. I went onto the men only forum. Another house had reported going to Kelder. Pirates came to mind but that was not what they reported. On coming out of star-drive they were at once challenged by a battlecruiser. Some information had been gathered from a reliable source, that there had been a few skirmishes with a Silka craft. This type of craft had not been witnessed before. It was a little larger than an alliance gunship and it was fast, faster than anything seen previously. It had, during a skirmish, destroyed a communication satellite. I thought it would not have been at all hard to do so. You only have to bump into one and that would do enough damage to put it out of commission. I personally think the Silka are gathering information and these skirmishes are a way of testing the alliance defences.