The Grand Master

by Bill Stenlake

  He counts 12 planets altogether in his line. He is trying to work out which one of these planets will be the one he is making for. It isn’t obvious, as there is no guide on the console. There is no information to tell him the stage of its life that Sonol 22 is in either. From the intensity and the distance of his route around Sonol 22, that would suggest that it is likely for the first few planets the temperatures will be far too hot. It is likely that the distant planets will, if they have ever been warm enough to be inhabited, be too cold. All that is, of course, allowing for the fact that any of them have an atmosphere and be able to sustain any form of life. The fact that GM3 has chosen one of these planets, suggests that there is something about one of them that makes it suitable for him to choose being here.

  Of course one of the things that Spirit is unaware of is; what exactly is Luvus? There is no information regarding Luvus, other than the fact it is to be found on Boristal 7.

  By this time Sonol 22 is all but behind Spirit. He can still make out the curved edged at the corner of the console, but that in itself means that he is many millions of miles past the nearest edge of the star. From the looks of his course which has changed again, after a few more lights on the console came on; it would appear that he is making for either the 5th or the 7th planet. By nature of the name the suggestion is the 7th, but it soon becomes clear to him that marginally his direction is for the 5th one.

  CHAPTER 40 THE GRAND MASTER

  The Grand Master returns to his craft, after he has gained the agreement for them to accompany him. He has left Valpar, Grillech and Posdon to go in front of their people and explain what they are going to do. Well, at least explain to them as much as they want them to know. While he is waiting for them to return, so he can help them design and build the transporter, he sets about designing the weaponry for them and the safeguards he wants to install in them. The discovery of micro air compounders has revolutionised the engines of space craft, but also recently he discovered that the technology has been adapted for weaponry too. This was at the same time as the riots were occurring on Velchitta, but the technology isn’t from there. The technology is at the base of the Guiding Masters. He knows he was not supposed to find it, as it was in one of the areas that they never went. It was only because he was planning his departure that he went to see what he could plunder from the base to help him on his quest. No one tried to stop him, nor did the systems prevent him from gaining access to the information and the data downloads he required to enable him to reproduce similar weapons himself.

  All this makes him think about The Balance, the Guiding Masters and their role and the Universe in general. If it was all that controlled; surely he would not have been able to take all this. Particularly, when his intention is to instigate the exact opposite of what he is supposed to be in charge of protecting.

  He puts all this aside and concentrates on the job in hand. By the very nature of Air Micro Compounders, what is needed as a core is very small. Its capability to expand and develop itself is incredible. It is also very reliable, as long as the base point is ultra-precise. Any deviation or error will be multiplied infinitesimally.

  It is several hours before his work is interrupted by Valpar. He does not go straight back down to them, but finishes the base work for the weapons. He also goes to check on The Keeper. He has now moved his travel pod into a separate area. He has no intention of letting any of Valpar’s men into any contact whatsoever with The Keeper, even if only visual. That is until he is ready to show him off.

  As expected, the meeting with the people of Malis 2 has gone well for Valpar. There is much regret at how they have been left without the real ability to progress after their civil war. This presents an extremely good opportunity to bring their planet back into line with what they perceive the rest of the Universe is capable of. It has to be said that there is a slight undertone of distrust that so few people have been selected to go on the initial mission. There is not enough distrust though, to allow more than the briefest show of concern that the ones left behind might actually end up being even worse off than they are now.

  To this extent one of the unchosen ones decides that, although there is little unified support, he will try to filter off as much information as he is able to. He is distrustful about how much of the truth they have been told. To be more precise he has guessed what in fact happened and that is that they have been given selective information. The way the thirty others were selected leaves a tremendous imbalance in the power structure remaining on Malis 2. The fact that Valpar and both of his deputies are going, raises the question of whether the planet is open to another bout of civil war. Will the mini factions left, vie for power in Valpar’s absence? Millda is this one. He is one of the more skilled ones on the planet, but far from being close to Valpar’s circle. In fact truth be known, he has only been allowed to remain alive and exist on Malis 2 because of his intelligence and abilities.

  The building of the trailer goes well. Because Valpar has restricted the number of helpers to 30, the size of this trailer has been reduced. All that The Grand Master is doing on Malis 2 is building something that will get them to Velchitta. There are not enough skilled technicians here to build something that will be used for more than the one journey, possibly two. Millda notes all this as the build starts. There appears to be little intention of building a craft capable of coming back. It will not hold any more than the thirty three people it is going to take away. Well maybe thirty two, as Valpar is intending to go with The Grand Master.

  Millda is getting a not very good feeling about everything. Part of him thinks that it might not be a good thing for him in particular and the rest of the inhabitants in general, if Valpar were to come back. He thinks that a more powerful Valpar will be a worse Valpar to live under.

  When the trailer is ready, the ones who are going with The Grand Master are taken on board the trailer. Valpar has nominated two people to take over in his absence. In fairness the two are agreed upon by the populous and they could easily have been amongst the ones chosen to go on this mission with The Grand Master.

  Millda has managed to download the plans for the building of the trailer. Even as he is doing so, he knows that they can easily be improved upon. What he doesn’t find out until after they have left the planet is that the plan files have sub files with details of Air Micro Compounder engines. He can’t help but wonder if he has been allowed intentionally to get hold of these files. Maybe it had been The Grand Master’s idea all along that those who remained would also be given the technology to leave the planet.

  CHAPTER 41 THE BADDIES

  The journey from Malis 2 to Velchitta is a very short one for the occupants of the trailer, or so that is the way it appeared to be for them. Because of the fact they are in the trailer and The Grand Master is in the main craft, he is unable to bring them out of the travel pods before their landing on Velchitta. That is not an ideal situation, but one that is unavoidable in the circumstances.

  Velchitta is ready for their arrival, but as The Watcher before him the welcoming committee is in the form of the Valca, the head of the army. As The Grand Master has announced his intention of arrival prior to getting there, this time Valca does not have to deal with an assault on the launch area. Things are not good on Velchitta, but they haven’t deteriorated to the degree of trying to take over a craft belonging to one of the Guiding Masters. The Grand Master wastes little time in bringing out his crew from the travel pods. He tells them all, except for Valpar, to remain on the transport trailer while they go to see how the land lies.

  It does not take them long to work out that their best form of attack is to use Valca as their way to overpower the community, without having to have unnecessary bloodshed. They take Valca back to the launch pad, where they find that Valpar’s men have already established control. Valca is no fool and can see that he is at a disadvantage, not by numbers but by the fact that Valpar’s men have far superior weaponry. They get Valca to summon his officers at first an
d then a while later they bring his troops. With the army basically disabled, their job of declaring their rule over the planet is over before it has really started.

  Velchitta has been in its history a mainly peaceful planet, so although the people are unhappy at what has happened, they do not really have the heart to resist. Even when they are directed to turn their efforts to building spacecraft and are kept in barracks whilst this is being done, there are very few who put up any resistance. A few of the army try to resist, but they are dealt with in no uncertain manner. Their lifeless bodies are strung up as a warning to the others; that the rules on Velchitta are there to be obeyed. The rest of the army, including Valca, Neca & Balci are all disarmed and they are set to work along with the rest of the population.

  Alongside the building of spacecraft, The Grand Master sets up a production line building androids like the ones he has protecting Luvus. He has the only access to the electronic systems that control them. He builds far more of these androids than he will need purely here on Velchitta.

  When they have 3 spacecraft ready The Grand Master allocates one each to Valpar, Grillech and Posdon. None of the three of them wants to stay on Velchitta. They want to go out into the Universe to conquer more civilisations and suck them dry of their wealth. They allocate 6 of their number to stay on Velchitta along with twenty of the androids. The Grand Master has set the taxes he expects to reap and the minerals he has set for them to mine each quarter. He has dictated that any shortfall will result in severe punishment, including death, for those who fail to make their quotas. Any sniff of uprising will not be tolerated. The 6 who are staying have a specially built residence and observation tower. The androids continually patrol the occupied areas, though the people have been allowed to go back to their homes. The androids have exceptional visual powers and as their weapons have actually been built as an integrated part of their arms, there is no opportunity for them to be disarmed. Anyone who gets in the way of the pellets they fire is immediately disintegrated. There is no half way with their weapons. You cannot get a graze or a flesh wound. If it touches you it is totally destructive.

  Valpar, Grillech and Posdon decide that they need a name for their quest. Maybe it is a sign of their relatively low intellect that the best they can come up with is ‘The Baddies’. They are over the moon with it, as they think that its simplicity states what they are: Bad people.

  The Grand Master at this stage decides that it is time to show his generals that he does indeed have The Keeper. At first he takes Valpar, Grillech and Posdon and parades The Keeper to them. He has had The Keeper brought out of his travel pod. Not only is he shackled to restrict his movement, but the shackles have been attached to two androids. Like the androids they are going to leave on Velchitta, these androids have integrated weaponry. Once he has shown off The Keeper to these three, he takes him to the tower, to show him off to the people of Velchitta. They, of all people, know who he is. They, like most others, may not know how easy it was for him to be captured. That doesn’t matter as they believe that The Keeper of the Balance has lived amongst them and their planet is special. Now The Keeper has been captured and the Balance of the Universe is set to change. With The Keeper being held by The Grand Master, there is nothing to stop The Baddies from achieving their goal of Universal dominance. On top of that, it appears the Guiding Masters are powerless to do anything about it.

  With this display completed, the four craft prepare for departure to their intended destinations.

  CHAPTER 42 RICARDO

  Ricardo sits down on the vacant chair at the table. The landlady gets up to make him a mug of coffee. The three young men are still smiling at him. It is then he notices the pile of cash on the table, in the middle. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that this is his cash sitting on the table. The landlady puts the mug of coffee in front of him and resumes her place at the table.

  He picks the mug up and takes a sip of the steaming hot drink. While he is doing that, one of the men speaks to him.

  ‘That’s a fair pile of cash on the table here’ he opens with.

  Ricardo nods and waits to see what is coming at him next.

  ‘This is just a portion of what you have stashed away up in your room.’

  ‘It was in my room’ Ricardo can’t help himself but answer this point ‘what were you doing messing around in my stuff in my room?’

  ‘Mum here was worried about you. She said you looked tired when you arrived and then you disappeared early the next morning. Then she doesn’t see you for a couple of days and your room hasn’t been used. Then there would be the bit about your car. The registration number you gave her when you arrived, is the same one that was shown on the news lying in the ditch; after it has been blown apart and killed all those soldiers.’ He stops to see what Ricardo is going to say about that now.

  Ricardo continues to sip his coffee while he filters through things in his head. The first thought he has, is why these people have not turned him in. If they know his car was involved in the fight, then they know he must have been too. So why haven’t they turned him in? They could have taken more of the money than they did. They could have taken all the money and turned him in. But they haven’t done that and he isn’t sure why that is. He isn’t sure why he is sitting here, but he guesses that they are going to tell him soon. He also guesses they won’t tell him until he gives them at least a little bit of an answer.

  ‘I had to bring my money in cash. I didn’t want it in my bank account and I thought I might need it quickly available. It was my car that was blown up. The army came round the corner and started firing at me.’

  ‘I think I know a little more about that situation. I am a soldier. That is not exactly the word of what happened that is going round the base. You arrived and tried to stop the soldiers getting to the mound, where a spaceship or something like that was arriving. You were joined by someone from that spaceship, to help you trying to hold off the soldiers. The weapons he brought were very interesting and the one you used was very powerful, the way it took out your vehicle.’

  Ricardo puts his empty mug down on the table and nods. He looks at the man who has been talking and waits for him to continue.

  ‘It looks like you knew the spaceship was coming. It looks like you came all the way across from the USA, just to do what you did. It looks to us that you know these people. It looks to us that these people have paid you very well; very well indeed.’

  Ricardo doesn’t like to tell them how he has come across this money. He is starting to think along the lines, that these may be useful people to have along for a while. They might even make it easier for him to avoid detection and recapture. He is still a little too close to the heart of the matter for his comfort. It is interesting what they are saying though, about him being known to the people in the space craft, because he knows he has been drawn here by them. He worked that much out while he was lying in his bed in hospital. He is now also wondering if any of what went on at the gas station was arranged by these aliens too. After all he woke up in the back room at the gas station without remembering how he got there. The door was locked from the inside and his boss didn’t know how he got in. Then there is the guy he looks so alike, whose passport and cards he has borrowed. Maybe these guys are right. Maybe they will make things possible. Maybe they arranged it for him to escape and now they have brought these people here to help him.

  ‘I have some friends who can be quite disruptive.’ Ricardo’s thoughts are interrupted by the man speaking again. ‘What is it they are trying to achieve here on Earth? Do you know where they are from?’

  ‘I guess they are trying to create chaos’ Ricardo says in reply, but not really knowing why he is saying what he is. ‘They are trying to change the balance’ he continues ‘up to now everything has been set up in a pre-arranged order, with a balance of good and evil. If something tips too far against the good, they have a mechanism to restore the balance. The people who brought me here want to change that.
They came to get back The Keeper. He is the one, so they say; who keeps the balance in the whole Universe. They have now taken him away from where he was living in disguise, here on Earth. He was brought here many generations ago to keep him out of the way of harm. My people have now found him and taken him prisoner. There is nothing now in the Universe that can stop The Grand Master from taking over the world.’

  CHAPTER 43 THE WATCHER

  The craft is landed with probably the most gentle landing that The Watcher has experienced. If the systems had not indicated the fact that the craft was now in contact with the landing area, he would not have guessed they were down. These signals are followed by a request for them to open the doors. The Watcher does not obey straight away, as he takes a quick poll of his crew to get their opinions. The decision is unanimous, on the basis that they will be powerless to take off unless they are released from control. It will only inflame the situation if they become awkward at this stage.

  The Watcher releases the doors so they can disembark. Before they can do so, the craft is boarded by four people. The Watcher is surprised to see that none of these four are armed. Not even in the way that the androids can be armed. These people are so obviously human, unless the people of Parlantte have made an exceptional jump in technology in this area.

  The four do not announce who they are, but instead walk up to The Watcher and ask him to escort them round the craft. One of them remains in the main area with everyone else. They make The Watcher open every door and every storage area. Once they have completed this, they refer to a hand held device which confirms that every space has been inspected. This is all done in silence, except for The Watcher saying which area it is he is showing them every time. It isn’t they who speak at the end, but the device they are holding.