TWO
“I’d like to call this council meeting to order,” said JJ as he lightly tapped the gavel his father hand made for his mother on the sound block. “I’d hoped my father would return in time to join us, but apparently, he won’t be here. I’d like the record to formally note that since our last meeting, Toño DeJesus and my father have left Azsuram. They live now on Exeter, in the worldship fleet.”
“The human worldship fleet,” added Dolirca.
JJ turned to look at her. “Does that actually matter, sis? You say human like it’s some form of disease.”
“First off, please do not refer to me as sis in the formal setting of a Council of Elders meeting. My name is Dolirca, in case you forgot. Second, I say human worldship fleet because it is just that. It has absolutely nothing to do with the proud sons and daughters of Kaljax. Third, I say their species name like it is a disease because it will be soon. They are, at this very moment, rushing toward our homeland with the intent of forcing it from our hands. If that’s not a disease, then I’d like for you to tell me what it is.”
“Yeah, sis, but how do you really feel about life? I’m sure there might be one person present who’d conceivably like to hear it.”
Scattered chuckles registered in the large crowd.
“Mock me at your peril, brother. Many of my concerns are shared by my supporters in this room.”
“Ya think I should be scared, or maybe I should just skip straight to groveling for your blessed mercy? Hmm?”
“Play the fool like the human android who imprisoned our mother as his sex slave. I personally think the matter of the humans is far too important to joke about.”
“Dolirca, you’re the joke, not the humans. They are our future co-inhabitants of Azsuram, and we will welcome them on their arrival. You know, don’t you, that not a single person alive today will be alive when they arrive? No one’s grandkids will be alive when they arrive. As to the matter of our mother and father, I will have that turd of hate you just coughed up stricken from the record. No one deserves to hear such a vulgar lie. Let the record reflect that if you say such a thing again, I will put you over my knee and spank you.”
“You are the council chair, for the time being, and can corrupt the record however you like. We all know you’re a pet to your human handlers. But, the day will come…”
“When you shut up and let us proceed with this routine meeting?” JJ finished her sentence for her.
Dolirca stood, and her Toe guards did likewise. “I don’t have to sit here and be insulted.” She stormed out, and the Toe followed her.
“Thank Tralmore and the Holy Veils. And no, sis, you can leave and be insulted by us. It’s more fun that way.”
It took awhile for the laughter to die down. Only when the room was still did a handful of citizens make a show of packing up and leaving.
Once they had left, JJ spoke with a straight face. “Let the secretary record that the Dolirca Coalition is heard from and has silently and thankfully left the building.”
Walking home from the meeting, Challaria put her arm around her brood-mate’s waist and asked, “JJ, do you think it’s smart to make fun of your sister like that? I mean, yes, she’s nuts. But she does have a right to speak.”
“My pop used to call it the difference between liberty versus license. Free speech versus false speech. Sure, she can speak. But the minute she crosses the line she so loves to cross, the stupidity of her remarks must be pointed out.”
“I think she’s gathering more followers. They could become a problem. Maybe you should try and appease them rather than alienate them.”
“I’m the leader now that mom is dead and dad is gone. I must protect my people. It isn't hard to panic a herd into heinous acts with unchecked hate and bald-faced lies. They must be challenged. It’s not like Dolirca’s going to change or hate me any less no matter what I do.”
“She certainly does have strong feelings about her uncle, doesn’t she?”
“I half expect to wake up some morning with one of her Toe chewing on my face.”
“Don’t even say that. She may be crazy, and those bears may be way too loyal, but let’s not start the rumor that any of them are dangerous.” She smiled nervously at JJ.
“I’m not sure it’s all that farfetched. I wish it was. Unfortunately, I suspect my little niece is capable of some major badness.”
“You’re just being dramatic. She’s not a threat to anything except the concept of public decency.”
He kissed her forehead. “Let’s hope you’re right.”
THREE
The most pressing issue was when the Berrillians would attack again. No one doubted that they would. It was only a question of when. What would be their counterstrategy to the unknown force of ours that caused them to lose so decisively in the last attack? That led to a lot of discussions between the UN, the military types, and yours truly. I still hadn’t told anyone about the quantum decoupler, though many suspected I was withholding information on a secret weapon. The cool thing about being the only one with a cube was that nobody was anxious to piss me off by pressing the issue.
“Does your vortex detect any warp signatures?” asked Fleet Admiral Katashi Matsumoto. Though he was getting a bit long in the tooth, he was still an imposing man. He reminded me of a Japanese actor from long ago, Toshiro Mifune. Dude had a real badass look going.
“No, last I checked, there were none. I make it a point to ask Manly every few days.”
“We detect none either,” Toño said. “Jon, at what range do you think the vortex manipulator can detect those signatures?”
“I’m not too sure. He says that warp space is harder to interpret than normal space. I think I pinned him down to having a reliable range of three of four light years. Past that, it would be blind luck to pick up a signal.”
“And, in our estimate, what is the maximal cruising speed that the Berrillian fleet can maintain?” asked Katashi.
“That is also hard to estimate. I personally feel their practical limit is three or three and a half times the speed of light,” responded Toño.
“So I can count on a minimum of a year’s warning when they next attack?” asked the admiral.
“It’s hard to be certain, but that’s my best guess,” replied Toño.
“I concur,” added Carlos. “If all our ducks line up properly, a two-year alert is probably as much as we can hope for.”
“Jon, we’ve discussed this before. What are the chances that your ship can make random flights into deep space to try and detect warp signatures at a greater distance?” asked Katashi.
We had discussed that option before. It was stupid. We had no idea where the Berrillians would be coming from. I could make all the probing attempts I wanted, but randomly choosing a path anywhere near where they’d be was inconceivable. There was too much real estate out there.
“If I spent all my time doing that, I believe I’d waste all my time.” It was the most tactful way I could respond.
“But if you made a few recognizance missions every now and then, you might get lucky. You’d buy us valuable intelligence if you located them when they were farther away.”
“I have to side with Jon on this matter, Admiral,” responded Toño. “It would be unfair to ask one man to burden himself so greatly for such an unlikely chance of a useful outcome.”
“I would feel better if you did, General Ryan,” replied Katashi. “But I am willing to make allowances for a person’s time and devotion to their personal interests.”
In other words, if you want to be a selfish baby and put your needs in front of the defenseless masses you swore to protect, I can’t stop you. Would if I could, but I can’t. Once again, he and I didn’t see eye to eye.
After the meeting broke up, I sought out Toño. Carlos and he were scurrying away so fast I barely caught them.
“You know, if I didn’t know better, I’d swear you two were newlyweds, running off together all the time. What gives? Is
there a nasty rumor I’d love to start just below the surface?”
“That’s horrible,” replied Carlos. “I’m a married man with a family.”
“You wouldn’t be the first with a big secret. Come on, you can tell Dr. Jon. I would never betray your dirty secret. Well, not until I found a computer terminal.”
“We’re working on a project together that is both stimulating and nearing an important breakthrough,” said Toño sternly.
“That’ll make a really lame rumor. I’ll have to embellish it somehow. Hey, I heard you bought a chicken suit online.” I bobbed my eyebrows. “That might be the key element.”
“If it will shut you up and let us get back to work, I’ll tell you,” said Toño. “But please keep it to yourself. I don’t want others to pressure us for results, if you know what I mean?”
“I won’t breathe a word of it to the big mean admiral,” I replied, drawing an X over my lips with my fingers.
“You’re very challenging not to dislike,” said Carlos. He knew me pretty well, didn’t he?
“We have finally made some headway in understanding the Berrillian technology we obtained on Azsuram.”
“Wow,” I remarked. “That is big.”
“It will be when we can fully reproduce it. We’re close, Jon, very close,” said Toño. His excitement was palpable.
“What element of their tech are we talking about here?”
“All of it, really,” responded Carlos. “It’s mostly a matter of understanding their computer language and breaking their code. Once we achieve that, the tech itself will be easy to decipher.”
“So, you’re only trying to hack their computers?”
Toño got that irritated look on his face he reserved exclusively for me. “To understand how an alien brain conceives a computer language and attempts to hide its meaning is very tough. It took me six months to determine that they did not use a binary code like we do. For some reason, they chose to program in a quaternion system.”
“That employs four symbols, not our two,” added Carlos.
“I know what quaternion means,” I lied. Not sure why I lied, but it felt like I needed to.
“In any case, that part is behind us. Since I returned, Carlos has provided keen insights that have allowed us to understand their programing and unlock the code. Now we’re reading the information. Some was corrupted in the crash, but I think we’re going to be able to duplicate their gravity wave devise.”
I whistled. “Nice.”
“Aren’t you going to ask? I know it’s killing you,” remarked Toño.
“Oh, yeah, what’s your favorite color, Doc?”
He balled up his fists and shut his eyes.
“And, any idea when you’ll have a working model of the gravity machine?”
“No. Don’t ask again. We’ll tell you as soon as there’s something to tell.”
“Works for me. What about the color? Your birthday’s coming up, and I want to get you two matching tutus to wear around the lab.”
“Go. Please go now,” responded Toño. Dude was having trouble not smiling. I almost had him. Try, try again was on my side. Oh yes, it was.
FOUR
“My lady, I fully understand your anger, but surely what you suggest is treason.” Zantral had trouble saying those words, but she felt it was her duty to be honest with her mistress.
Dolirca stiffened. One edged closer to Zantral while Two drew toward her master. Dolirca forced herself to relax. “Thank you for your candor, my friend. As much as your words wound me, I must thank you for them.”
“I wouldn’t say such an affront if I wasn’t so committed to your ascension.” Zantral bowed deeply. Both Toe then relaxed back to their neutral stance.
“I can assure you my thoughts and words are not treasonous. They can’t be. I speak for all Azsuram, all Kaljaxians for that matter. My uncle and his puppets cannot be allowed to muddy my mother’s prescient vision for this new land. I will collapse the false structure they have beguiled the people into making and lead them to the true fulfillment of the promise that is Azsuram.”
“Of course, you will. But speaking too boldly or before your political base is more secure could put your designs in jeopardy.”
“Zantral, my child,” she said stroking Zantral's cheek with the back of her hand, “could I put in peril the rising of the sun tomorrow or the coming of winter? No. The blessed will come to pass. I will shepherd in a new, nurturing era on Azsuram. I will build a monument befitting my mother and tear down the all vestiges of the agent of Brathos, Jon Ryan. What Davdiad bids cannot be corrupted.”
Dolirca turned to a Toe. “One, will you remind Zantral what happens if one doubts the will of Davdiad.”
“No, my lady!”
One seized Zantral’s arm and bit into it deeply. She started tearing at the flesh.
“Enough, my pet,” shouted Dolirca.
One released the arm and stood as if she had not just committed a horrific act.
“There, there, sweet Zantral,” purred Dolirca as she held the mangled arm up. “Let’s get you to the doctor. This injury from your fall from a tree must be tended to promptly or you might bleed to death. I couldn’t live with myself if you were gone.” She began wrapping Zantral’s arm in a towel.
“You say you fell from a tree?” asked an incredulous Tomton-Bray. He was the physician on duty that afternoon. He was among the last batch of Kaljaxians to relocate to Azsuram.
“Yes,” Dolirca answered for her mute friend.
“This looks more like an animal bite than blunt trauma.”
“It was a very tall tree,” replied Dolirca.
“Zantral, did the fall effect your speech? When I ask you a question, Dolirca responds. I’m wondering why that is.”
“I’m f…fine, sir,” Zantral managed.
“She’s traumatized, you fool. I am her friend, and I speak for her because she is shaken. Please worry more about your job and less about challenging a member of the ruling family of Azsuram.”
He stared at Dolirca long and hard. “I was not aware there was a ruling family on Azsuram. I hear we’re all equals in the eyes of the council.”
“Please summon another physician. You are clearly more interested in polemics and politics than the healing arts.”
“I’m the only one on duty. Unless your friend here would like to wait ten hours for my relief, I suggest you hold that whip of a tongue of yours, your royal holiness.”
“That is unacceptable. I demand to see your supervisor immediately.”
“You’re looking at him, sweet cake. It’s just the receptionist, my aide, and me. You’re welcome to complain to both, though, if it suits your divine whim.”
“Your insolence and unprofessionalism will be brought up at the next council meeting. I promise you that.”
“And I promise I could not care less. Now, take your two mobile carpets and leave the room and let me do my job. Otherwise, take care of your friend here by yourself in the Palace of Azsuram. In case you’re uncertain, it’s located in your insane mind. Make a right turn past your massive ego. Mind you don’t bump your head on your low intelligence level. I don’t want another patient.”
The Toe, who accompanied Dolirca everywhere, growled menacingly, and Two inched toward Tomton-Bray.
“Ah, now I’m beginning to see what tree Zantral fell from. A walking furry one,” said Tomton-Bray with a wicked smile. He also reached into his waistband and produced a rail pistol. “Never know when an ungrateful patient will get physical. A word to the wise: I don’t do veterinary work. If I shoot them, they stay dead.”
“You will pay for this,” replied Dolirca. “I shall see that smile ground off your face.”
“No, you will pay on your way out the door. When you come to the realization that you need major psychiatric help, please seek treatment elsewhere. I’m not nearly smart enough to cure you.”
Dolirca gave the doctor a look that fell short of killing, but not by much, and s
he stormed out of the office.
“I’ll get my assistant to witness your consent to treatment, then I’ll patch up your bite wounds.”
Zantral lowered her head and nodded.
FIVE
Anganctus strode on his hind legs along a catwalk. His view of the space dockyard was expansive. He towered over the group of pentapeds who groveled in tow. They were Leck technicians working for the Faxel. Most reluctant workers, to say the least. Leck was one of the many worlds conquered by the Faxel for the expressed purpose of enslaving the able-bodied population to build the Berrillian war machines. The rest of the population, the majority in most cases, were consumed. All served the Faxel as best they could.
“Your production is of adequate quality, but much too slow. If you cannot build ships-of-the-line faster, you will be sent to the packing house and replaced with more motivated servant. Is that clear, Monrove?”
The lead scientist for that shipyard bowed nervously. “Yes, lord. If we fail you, we deserve to die.”
“No, Monrove, you already deserve to die. What is in question is whether it will be of old age in the ground or of roasting in an oven.”
“Of course, highest. It is as you so kindly say.”
“So, what are the specific plans you have to increase production? You have three shifts working around the clock, and all bays are occupied with ships under construction.”
“I will see to it that more dockyards are built.”
“That is much too slow. It takes too long to fabricate an entire dockyard. Tell me, Monrove, have I eaten all your children yet?”
“N…no, sir. I have two remaining. I beg mercy…”
“The Faxel don’t know mercy, and I do not tolerate simpering beggars. You will meet my demands, or you will wish you had.”
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