by Sid Kar
After the dinner got over, stewards cleared the plates and cups and brought in desserts. They served pastries along with coffee and cigars and replenished the liquor bottles on the table.
“Officers, we will be talking confidential matter over desserts and the stewards will be leaving after the first round of servings, so take as much now, pig out…” Raptor said and the room laughed. The stewards finished serving the desserts and cleared out. The officers sat back relaxed and slowly sipped coffee and puffed cigars. Raptor was still standing and he looked around the room and saw all eyes were fixated on him.
“Earlier, I called this our first victory because I do not take any credit or joy in defeating the ambush and destroying the starship that was very likely one of our own,” Raptor said. Now the room paid apt attention and all the smiles disappeared from the faces and were replaced with grim looks on many. “All of you know that spaceships have multiple fail-safe systems to prevent collisions that automatically kick in. Some of them are specifically designed to prevent a crash against one of our own army starships. That one kicked in during our battle near that star. There were other signs too but this is mechanical evidence and I don’t have to tell you the meaning of it.”
Vice-Commodore Barryett stood up, “Com. Raptor has decided that rules of discussion today are frank and open but the army decorum still applies.” He looked at Tollvyk as he spoke the last words and sat back down.
“Our own army wanted our mission to fail?” Capitan Dorrvyk asked.
“Not our army,” Raptor said, “but a small number of conspirators ensconced inside. Let me remind everyone, accusing other army officers of crime, even speculating thereof, without proper evidence is against army’s rules of discussion no matter how frank. I will not have anyone pointing fingers at particular names. Unless you have evidence, we will refer to them as conspirators.”
“Commodore Raptor, why aren’t we filing a formal complaint with Army Investigations Department or the House of War against the said conspirators?” Tollvyk asked placing emphasis on the last word.
“We don’t know how high up or what parts of army’s chain of command have been infiltrated,” Raptor said.
“Are we going to just let it slide?” Flyptar asked.
“No, capitan Flyptar,” Raptor replied, “Com. Antrar, who was our guest abroad this ship, has decided to investigate the matter further and escalate it to House of War on our behalf. He is retired from army and his fame means he doesn’t have to go through the army hierarchy.”
“Have we heard anything from him yet, Commodore?” Barryett asked.
“Not yet,” Raptor replied, “But I am confident he will send a message as soon as he finds out more.”
“What if he fails? What do we do?” Horyett asked.
Raptor stayed quiet for a few seconds. He had anticipated various questions his officers could ask him but hadn’t expected this one and it stumped him.
“If we are right, then there is one starship missing from one of our fleets,” Raptor said slowly, “one that we destroyed. For all we know it could be from our own Sixth Frontier. People will notice, people will ask questions. There will be inquiry about that. We will have our chance then.”
“Commodore, could there be an innocent explanation for this?” Hedgewyk asked, “I don’t want to believe it. Perhaps someone stole three of our starships?”
“I won’t discount it entirely,” Raptor said, “But that is unlikely. Even theft of one starship would raise alarm across the empire, you are talking about three.”
“We should start asking who could authorize overrides for fail-safes that prevent one starfire spaceship from firing on another,” Tollvyk said, “There are a few in the army hierarchy with that power but in our frontier region only Commander Carvyk…”
“Toll…” Raptor raised his voice.
“I do not speculate on criminal culpability,” Tollvyk protested.
“You are veering close to the borders of army decorum,” Raptor said, “Anyhow, I don’t believe mere speculation on our parts, sitting as we are almost two hundred light years away from Starfire space, will be productive in shedding light on this conspiracy. I called this confidential session because I want everyone to be aware that me and vice-commodore have no intention of letting it slide. But we can’t have the rest of you distracted from your duties. And we certainly can’t have the rest of our ship getting even a whiff of this. It will destroy morale; it may induce panic and can even incite a mutiny.”
The officers were listening to him intently and gravely. Raptor looked across the breadth of the room and firmed up his posture.
“I am continuing the silence order on this matter,” Raptor said, “There will be no talk of it even amongst yourselves. If you believe you know something, or suspect something that will help expose this scheme, you can only approach VC Barryett or myself and then too in private. I want everyone’s mouths shut. Is that clear?”
“Yes sir,” the room echoed.
“Dismissed,” Raptor said.
“Stay behind VC Barryett,” Raptor said when Barryett too got up to leave, “We have to head over to the laboratory to get the examination report on that Nestorian spy Roofus.”
“Oh yes,” Barryett sat back down, “Had forgotten about that for a moment.”
Rest of the officers cleared out of the room while Raptor sat back in his chair relaxed with one leg over the other knee puffing his cigar. Capitan Alvina however stayed behind and looked at him. Capitan Dorrvyk also walked over to him and stood by Alvina. Raptor didn’t like that even after being ordered to disperse they were still going to stick around. He couldn’t have his orders treated nonchalantly but he also wasn’t the type of officer who wouldn’t give his subordinate officers a leeway if something important came up. This better be important, Raptor told himself, or he was going to penalize both of these juniors. The room cleared out and Raptor pushed his cigar into the ash tray and sat up straight.
“What is it Dorrvyk?” Raptor asked the communications officer first.
“I apologize and I was going to wait,” Dorrvyk said, “but I overheard you and VC Barryett that you will be gone for a while. Happens that I just received official communiques from both the Regional Star Commander’s office and the House of War. We are to standby for new orders.”
“Now that I needed to hear,” Raptor said and Barryett nodded his head. “Bring them to us at once if we don’t return. Messages from our superiors are always urgent. Dismissed Dorrvyk.”
“Thank you, sir,” Dorrvyk saluted him and left the room. Raptor looked at Alvina. She was slightly nervous and her fingers were twitching. This was not good. He hoped he didn’t have to punish her because his desire for her had not reduced a bit.
“What is it, Capitan Alvina?” Raptor asked.
“It is about that ambush during our transit and Commander Carvyk…” Alvina began to speak anxiously.
“I told you there will be no talk of it,” Raptor said.
“You said we can’t talk about it except with you and VC Barryett,” Alvina protested fearfully.
“She is right about that, Com Raptor,” Barryett nodded his head.
“You know something that the rest of us don’t?” Raptor asked her.
“It could be nothing, but it could be something,” Alvina said and looked at Barryett.
“I can leave and go on ahead…” Barryett said getting up.
“No, I will talk to Capitan Alvina later,” Raptor said to her, “Schedule a visit to my personal quarters later in the day.”
“Yes sir,” Alvina saluted her and left the room.
Raptor and Barryett got up and fetched a hovercraft outside and programmed it to their destination. The hovercraft flew for a few minutes and then came to a stop in front of a hallway that was patrolled by over a dozen armed starship guards. They saluted Raptor and Barryett and stood aside. They came to a thick metallic door and Raptor slid his card and entered his code and it opened. There was a second
thick, metallic door that he opened likewise. This was the ‘Chemical Weapons Section’ of the Starship and thus had the requisite security and very restricted access. The walls and the two doors of this section were made of special metal alloys that were plated with solidified inert elements to prevent any chemicals from seeping out into the rest of the starship during an accident.
The staff of this section, almost all chemists and chemical engineers, were watching the controls and monitors that displayed the state of all the different chemicals stored therein.
In front of them, in a large vat that was fifteen feet tall and eight feet wide, was Nestorian spy Roofus Bolfus, floating in a thick, green liquid upto his neck and a blue gas filled up the rest of the vat. There were displays and reading panels on either side of the vat and a chemist each was monitoring them. The front of the vat was translucent and Raptor and Barryett stood in front of it.
“Com, VC,” an officer walked upto them and handed Raptor a metallic card, “I have prepared a thorough examination report if you want to peruse it later.”
“Colonel Aurvyk,” Raptor said, “I hope it is in Starfirian, because I can’t read chemistry,” he chuckled, “took just one or two courses in college.”
“I took none,” Barryett chimed in with a grin.
“Don’t worry sirs,” Aurvyk laughed, “I have simplified as much as I can.”
Colonel Aurvyk Tokar was the chief chemist of Starship Conquistador and the head of the chemical weapons section. He was older but still a thick, solid man with a slightly protruding belly, albeit of below average height and kept a beard only on his chin.
“Can he hear us?” Raptor asked Aurvyk.
“No, but he can if you want. I can turn on the channel.”
“No,” Raptor said, “Leave it off for now.”
“Has he been cleaned?” Barryett asked.
“Yes we have thoroughly decontaminated him,” Aurvyk said.
“Then why is he still in the Okra Juice?” Raptor asked.
Aurvyk laughed. The rest of the army called it that because it was dark green and tasted similar to fried okra. It was the first line of defense for soldiers who had been attacked with chemical weapons to be submerged in because it neutralized the largest number of and most common dangerous chemicals.
“The Diphthe-Octo-Mar-Alkyine not only heals but also soothes,” Aurvyk said, “It will accelerate his body’s recovery from the shock of alien molecules.”
“Alright, give me a quick summary of what Mercurians did to him?” Raptor said.
“They put his body through a large number of micro-experiments involving thousands of chemicals in minute quantities,” Aurvyk said, “some of whom aren’t even listed on our index records of all known chemicals.”
“But did you get them out?” Raptor asked.
“All of them,” Aurvyk said, “I am not surprised Nestorians handed him over to us. Fortunately, we have a perfect knowledge of Nestorian biology so our micro-machines could identify all alien chemicals and suction them and transport them out. We will have to send them to Army workshop for thorough analysis.”
“Colonel, what do you think those experiments were for?” Barryett asked, “use in invasion?”
“Certainly, but this is much larger than that,” Aurvyk replied, “They wouldn’t need to do so many for that. Their chemist told him he was lucky to be one of the latter ones so they knew enough to save him, the earlier Nestorian abductees were not that lucky.”
“Told him?” Barryett widened his eyes in surprise.
“Yes,” Aurvyk said, “One unexpected benefit is that the Mercurians adjusted the micro-translators in his ears to understand their language. Our electronics section has examined those and now we can talk to Mercurians too.”
“We should let Col. Tollvyk make the introductions,” Barryett jested and Raptor laughed and commented, “Then we will never have any peace.”
“Commodore, we are done with him here. We can release him at once upon your command,” Aurvyk said.
“I take it that he has been questioned?” Raptor asked.
“Chief Detective Hartar was here talking to him an hour ago,” Aurvyk said, “We had taken him out of the vat for the talk.”
“Did Hartar sign off on the questioning?” Raptor asked.
“Yes, and Hartar told me he believed the Nestorian wasn’t hiding anything from us,” Aurvyk said, “He will be giving you the report directly.”
“Alright, let me speak to him,” Raptor said.
One of the technicians near the vat flicked on the audio switch on the panel.
“How are you feeling spy man?” Raptor said.
“Better,” Roofus replied, “I am grateful to you for the treatment.”
“Courtesy of your protection contract with Starfire Empire,” Raptor said, “Please remind your new chancellor of this.”
“I will,” Roofus said. He wasn’t going to say anything like that to the Chancellor, but he wasn’t going to refuse the Commodore either.
“We are going to release you,” Raptor said.
“Commodore, I have one final request,” Roofus said startling them.
“Shoot,” Raptor replied.
“I would like a copy of your report on our Republican Guard Nolfus Berrum’s death,” Roofus said.
“Why not,” Raptor said, “your government should have officially asked for it, I have received no request to sign off on the release. You can pick up a copy from my Col. Jarvyk who is still down on Nestor. I will transmit him an order to release it to your care.”
“Much obliged,” Roofus said.
Raptor pointed with his finger to the audio and the technician turned it off.
“Cut him loose,” Raptor turned to Aurvyk, “Have a few of your starship guards escort him to his transport shuttle. The bay officer can call me for confirmation.”
“I will take care of it,” Aurvyk replied and saluted both Raptor and Barryett who turned around and walked out of that section and hitched ride back to the command room on their hovercraft.
Chapter 10: Purple Planet
Antrar was reading news on the large display screen when his gravitron scanner started beeping. He was coming in on to his destination. He looked out from his front windows and saw the planet his spaceship was cruising towards. He had arrived close enough that it looked the size of a big watermelon, was rocky, striated and purple. Pure purple that had given it its name: Purplex.
Red, blue, green, brown, white and black planets were common in the galaxy and one could find a large number of planets of other colors and shades. However, purple planets were rare and Purplex was one of those rare ones. Antrar wondered why that was so, he was told the reason for their rarity in the army training but now had forgotten it.
The news interested him more. He hadn’t received any messages from Raptor and they had decided to keep it that way unless absolutely necessary to avoid possible interception, but apparently he had won a major victory against the unknown aliens who were harassing Nestorians and had installed a new chancellor after defeating a coup. The Imperial Capital was in a simultaneous state of euphoria and turmoil. Commodore Raptor was being hailed as a hero by many at the same time as being denounced a buffoon by others. The latter for appointing a man who was a sworn opponent of Starfirian Empire and its Aristocratic form of government.
Antrar laughed and turned off the news and took control of the spaceship by turning off the ‘Machine Flight’ option. He had been sent the current address for Yarwyk Gyte by the Army’s records department. Yarwyk had decided to settle on Purplex since right after his retirement from the Army and had lived here ever since.
Antrar flew his spaceship down to one of the spaceports of Purplex, once again signed off with a fake name and rented an airship. It took him about an hour of flying to reach Yarwyk’s home and he parked his airship in the field in front. He walked over to the house and saw that even the grass on this planet was purple.
Yarwyk’s home was a large,
rectangular box with a smaller second floor whose rooms were unevenly but craftily built on top of the first floor. The bottom floor walls were purple and the top floor rooms were painted black from outside. The aforementioned purple grass surrounded the house in the exact same rectangular pattern and then there was purple dirt stretching in all directions till the neighboring homes that were at least half a mile away on each side. There was however a small pathway made of white stones that had been polished to create a flat, smooth texture.
Antrar walked over this path and rang the bell to the house. He waited a couple more minutes and then rang again.
A minute later an old man in his early seventies, wearing a black bathrobe with velvety texture and pattern of red diamonds thereon with light brown trousers, opened the door and was taken aback nearly pulling back his steps.
“Commodore Antrar, is that really you?” he said squinting his eyes.
“It is me, Commander Yarwyk,” Antrar smiled.
“Come on in,” Yarwyk replied. He slowly walked backed in and headed towards the living room when Antrar interrupted him, “If you don’t mind, can we sit outside on the porch. This planet has an amazing atmosphere and color.” More than that however, Antrar wanted to make sure that he wasn’t followed.
“Sure,” Yarwyk said, “follow me.” Yarwyk walked up the stairs and Antrar followed him. There was a small terrace on the second floor with a couple of chairs and a small round table in the middle. Yarwyk pointed to one of the chair with his fingers and returned inside to retrieve a whiskey bottle and a plate of snacks.
“You could have given me a heads up,” Yarwyk said as he took the chair opposite from Antrar, “Corina goes out shopping with her friends every Wednesday and has lunch with them. She would have liked to see you too.”
“Actually, I am glad I caught you alone, say hello to her for me,” Antrar said, “It’s been a long time but unfortunately this is not a social visit.”