by Bill Nolan
Crylth grinned at him again. “Don’t worry. I don’t plan to bill you. You’re our guests. My name is Crylth, by the way, not ma’am. Are you sure you don’t want some more to eat? You’re going to need your strength. Cathy is going to be very affectionate later.” Jethro looked startled.
* * * * * * * *
The team at the ranch had the perimeter sensors set up by dark the next night. Everything fed back to a screen in the old ranch house for the time being. Later, when the underground work was done, it would all get set up there. Now that they could work without fear of somebody wandering in on them unannounced, they could really get busy.
They were putting in an underground complex of about 25,000 square feet to start with. That was quite a bit of dirt. Luckily it was a remote area, because they were making a lot of trips to dump all the dirt on an asteroid. They didn’t want to mess up the woods. They were adding a couple of above ground buildings to serve mainly as entrances to the underground areas, but they would be in the same rustic style as the old ranch house, just built of totally different materials.
* * * * * * * *
Robert used the private comm code to call Shotana. “So, Queen of the Galaxy, you want to tell me why your only daughter is half To’Ach’an? We were a little surprised. Just what kind of double game are you playing?”
Shotana was direct, like always with Robert. “She’s your daughter. If you know she’s half To’Ach’an, you already know that. I was a bad girl. I stored some of your semen. Let’s just say that I thought any child of mine would need an edge. This conspiracy against me is getting serious. She may be a young Empress before it’s over.”
“You should have told me, Shotana, or were you saving that in case I refused to take her in? Although members of enemy camps, we have always been straight with each other. If you start lying to me now, I’ll put her outside, daughter or not.”
“No, Robert, you wouldn’t do that. You gave your word to keep her safe, and besides, I’ve never lied to you. All right, maybe I should have told you she was your daughter, but I never told you she wasn't. I know better than to lie to you, Robert. Really I do. Our peoples may not get along, but the two of us aren’t enemies. You’re my best friend, Robert. You and General Aranna are the only friends I have. I hate being Empress. You know that, don’t you? All I ever wanted was to be a regular person, free to do what I wanted to do. Instead, I’m part of a freak show.”
“I always thought there was something freaky about you, Shotana. So, tell me, do you have a plan, or are you just making this up as you go along? We’ve got quite a mess here. The To’Ach’an aren’t supposed to meddle in Empire business, and a lot of our people may think that saving the princess and fathering the heir to the throne could be considered meddling. Does our daughter know?”
Shotana shook her head. “I never told her who her father is. I think she suspects it’s General Aranna. As to a plan, no, I don’t really have much of a plan. It’s more of a feeling. I’ve had this feeling for years that you are the key to the whole puzzle, but I don’t know how. I don’t even know what I want you to do, if anything. This is going to sound crazy, but I feel safe in your presence. I felt that way before, when we first met, and I didn’t feel that way again until the other day on your ship. I hadn’t really noticed the constant fear until I stepped into Shanna and realized that it was suddenly gone.”
“When I left, the fear came back. I feel like something is going to happen, Robert, and I don’t know what it is. I feel like there’s a big, black rock hovering over me, and I don’t know when it will fall and crush me. Something is going to happen, and not just to me. I know your people can sometimes see the future. Does anyone else besides me have a feeling about this?”
Robert didn’t say anything for several seconds, while he considered the implications of what Shotana was telling him. She didn’t have the talents given to some of the To’Ach’an, and if this thing was strong enough for her to sense then it must be an even more powerful current than he had foreseen. “We don’t exactly see the future, Shotana. Some of us can see ‘threads’ that form the weave we call the Universe. A thread may represent a person, or a sun, or even an object without sentience. Sometimes these threads can be seen to be converging toward a point we call a Thorgalt focus.”
“Some threads are stronger than others and control the pattern of the weave, and many of these strong threads seem to be converging on a massive Thorgalt. Time is hard to judge, but it’s believed to be fairly close to us on the time line. Who knows? Sometimes a Thorgalt never quite happens. The threads come close, but never quite converge. It may all come to nothing.”
Robert didn’t believe it would come to nothing, and neither did Shotana. Both knew, in different ways, that a crisis point was approaching. What Robert didn’t tell her was that he saw her thread converging on the Thorgalt, but he didn’t see it emerge. As for his own thread, and those of his friends, the weave was still forming. Sometimes he saw their lines ending, and sometimes he saw them emerge. Plus, he could see some extremely strong threads that he couldn’t identify. He sensed a huge battle approaching, and the outcome of that battle could not be seen. Not yet.
* * * * * * * *
Jonu stopped in to see Robert a few days later. “Where’s Miko?”
Robert shrugged. “Keeping track of Miko isn’t my job. Have you asked Shanna?”
Jonu leaned over the desk. “Robert, it’s me, Jonu. Of course I asked Shanna, and she gave me the same kind of evasive crap I just got from you. ‘It’s not my job!’ I notice you avoided saying you didn’t know where he was. Let’s try this again. Where’s Miko?”
Robert stood up. “I can’t tell you. He’s on a special assignment. Yes, I know where he is, and so does Shanna. His chosen knows he is doing something special, but not where or what. We should be able to tell everybody what’s going on in a few weeks, maybe sooner.”
* * * * * * * * *
The business plan was fairly simple. There was a lot of product on hand. Shanna is huge, and the storage areas were crammed full. In addition, a jump ship can extend her jump field and take a lot of smaller ships with her when she jumps. Shanna had brought about 5,000,000 aircars with her, and many of them were also packed with phones and power boxes. The phones were about the size of a large smart phone, and the power supply boxes were about two feet square and 18” high.
The To’Ach’an recruited some mail-order catalog merchants to sell the phones and power boxes. They also got a large chain of independent hardware dealers to agree to sell the power boxes. Local electricians were kept busy connecting the power boxes to the circuit panel in the buyer’s home. It was as simple as disconnecting the wires coming from the power company and attaching the leads from the power box. It took about 30 minutes.
The big push on phones came when they signed up a very large fast food chain. Phones were simple. They had a tutorial built in, and even if you didn’t understand that, you just had to ask the phone how to do what you wanted. Selling them was as easy as selling hamburgers.
As soon as the new owner activated the phone, it would ask him some questions, such as name, occupation, places he had lived or attended school, relative’s names, and a few more. If you wanted to call somebody, you just told the phone to connect you with John Smith, or whatever the name was.
If you had called John before, the phone would know which John Smith to connect with, but if you hadn’t, the phone would ask you for more information until it had enough to decide which John Smith you wanted. The one thing the phones would not let you do was to start calling a bunch of people you didn’t know. Telemarketing was just not possible on these phones.
In addition to the phone functions, they performed pretty much all of the functions of any other smart phone. Their touch screen was amazing, and their data speed was about 70 times 4G. They could be tethered to a computer and would allow the computer to use them as a data connection.
The aircars were a bit more complex, since pe
ople had to be tested and then trained to interact with them. Only about 25% of Earth people were mentally able to bond with an intelligent aircar. To be compatible, you had to be able to relate to the aircar as an intelligent being that was your equal. Most people were simply not able to think of them in that way. For example, many religious groups could not think of them as equal to a human because they believed the aircars had no souls.
The testing only took about five minutes, while the training took about a half day. They quickly discovered that one of the best bets for sales locations was farmers. They had the space needed to park the cars of the customers and deliver the aircars, and so all that was needed was a place to hold the training classes. Any space large enough for an aircar and about 20 people was large enough. If you put a heater and some folding chairs in a barn, you were all set.
It was remarkable how much progress was made in only three months. At the end of that time, the shock of contact had worn off, and conditions on Earth were settling down. Other news was back at the top of the news broadcasts, and above the fold in the newspapers. To support operations on Earth, the Shanna Company had bought properties all over the world and most of these had buildings already installed.
Shanna had made two trips for more goods, and also to set up some freight hulls she could push. With these in service, Shanna no longer had to haul the main part of the freight. More people were also brought over, and these To’Ach’an and Tovena were getting things in order on Earth. At the end of the three months, the Shanna Company had about 1,000 of their people on Earth, and had recruited about 50 new Tovena from Earth residents.
Three of these were Jeth, Cathy, and their new daughter, named Crylth Catherine. Jeth was a natural with plants, and the To’Ach’an were buying and shipping plants of all kinds. Jonu was amazed at the prices the plants were bringing in Galactic markets.
Roses were a perfect example. These plants were native to Earth, and had never been seen anywhere else. They were getting 50 zarigs each for the rose bushes, which was about 2000 US dollars. Robert told Jonu to look up the tulip craze to get some historical perspective. The profit was immense. They sold a phone for $250, used that to buy about 50 rose bushes ($5 each at wholesale), and resold the 50 bushes for about $100,000 US. Since the phone only cost them about $16 US dollars to start with, they were making a lot of money.
As Earth’s residents got used to the visitors, it was much easier for the To’Ach’an and Tovena to act in a more normal way. They could shop or go to restaurants without attracting a crowd. Kamci, Tovey, and Letha did some shopping at Metrocenter in Phoenix, and then stopped for a late dinner at a nearby restaurant. Laurni was on duty, and couldn’t come along. They were having a great time, and all were progressing well with their education. Tovey wanted to get involved in the retailing, while Kamci was enjoying her business classes under Jonu. Letha and Laurni hadn’t settled on anything yet.
* * * * * * * * *
Maria Sanchez was trying to get through another night, and lately they were all bad. A week ago she had missed the quota Jake set for her, and he had beaten her badly. He seemed to be getting less concerned about whether he left marks. Tonight she was already way behind, and she was standing in an alley, scared.
Sometimes she tried to remember what her life had been like before Jake, but it was getting harder. She remembered she had dreamed about being a doctor. That made her laugh, and laughing made her ribs hurt. She just couldn’t face another beating. She decided it was time to use the gun she had stolen.
She had spent weeks trying to decide whether to use it on herself or Jake. The deciding factor was her fear of Jake. What if she missed? No, it would be better to just use the gun on herself and finally escape.
She had actually put the barrel of the gun into her mouth before she realized she couldn’t do it. She thought she didn’t have the courage to pull the trigger. In reality, she just wasn’t a quitter. That’s when she decided to steal the money to give Jake. She walked out of the alley and into the first business she found. There was only one customer near the cash register, so she just walked up, pointed the gun at the cashier, and said, “Give me all the money.”
The cashier’s eyes got very wide when he saw the gun. He opened the register and took out the bills. He held them out to Maria, and as she reached for them, the man next to her, who had been paying when she came in, grabbed the arm with the gun in it with both hands, and shouted, “Drop the gun!”
Maria tried to wrench her arm loose, and kicked at the man at the same time. They spun around and fell, and as they did, the gun went off.
Tovey had been sitting in the booth facing the cashier, with Kamci and Letha facing the other way. When Tovey saw the gun she hissed, “Gun! Get down!” and dove out of the booth onto the floor. Kamci was right behind her, but Letha had been sitting on the inside, and had to wait a brief moment for Kamci to get clear. It was too late. As she heard the gun go off, Letha felt the bullet hit her.
Tovey went to auto as her training kicked in. It was like everything had snapped into slow motion. She was no To’Ach’an warrior, and she well knew it, but everybody in Shanna trained in combat. She could almost hear Kysandra’s voice in her head, repeating the steps. First, take cover if possible. OK, she was already on the floor. Second, observe the entire situation. OK, she had already looked around, and there didn’t seem to be any other threats. (Yes, Ky, I remembered to check six.) Third, eliminate the threat, if possible.
Her body decided it was possible. It was only about 15 feet to where the two were struggling for the gun. She covered it in three bounds, moving crouched low, and struck the woman with the heel of her hand, just where Ky had shown her. The woman went limp, and the man grabbed for the gun.
Tovey could still hear Kysandra in her head, reciting the To’Ach’an view. “If you don’t know and trust him, then don’t trust him. It’s simple. All unknowns are potential threats. Don’t let them develop.” Tovey’s right hand snapped sideways and broke the man’s wrist. Her left hand scooped up the gun, and her body automatically moved to cover the room with the pellet gun that had now appeared in her right hand.
Kamci saw Letha get hit, and slapped her e-beacon. As it popped, she shouted, “Gunfight! Letha’s hit! Med, Med, Med.” The man at the table next to their booth had stood, and took a step toward her. Kamci put him on the floor, hard. Her pellet gun was suddenly in her hand, and she scanned for more threats, but didn’t find any. Kamci wanted to help Letha, but she too could hear Kysandra in her head. “You can’t help anybody if you’re dead. Make SURE to take care of business first.”
About two seconds later, Tovey and Kamci spoke the To’Ach’an word for “Secure!” at the same time. The e-beacon beeped twice. Help would arrive very, very soon. Kamci dropped down to check Letha. She wasn’t breathing, and Kamci saw why. The bullet had come in through the upper middle of her back, right through the spine, and exited at the base of her throat. There was nothing Kamci could do but hold her.
The closest response team had been over New Mexico. Their skipper came in at full drive, and they were in the restaurant just shy of two minutes after Kamci slapped her e-beacon. Thirty seconds later, Letha was sealed in a stasis bag. The team loaded everybody either involved or nearby into the skipper and ran for Shanna. They were on the ground less than five minutes.
It was close. Crylth and Podara thought at first that they could save Letha, but the damage was bad – much worse than it had looked from the outside. In the end, they couldn’t save her. Clone and transplant was the only option. Twenty-four days later, Letha woke up in a brand new body. She looked pretty much the same. After all, they were still her genes.
The day after that, Maria woke up. The last thing she remembered was a woman appearing out of nowhere, and then nothing. She had no idea how long she had been unconscious. She was in a very plain room, rosy gray in color, with no corners. It was oval, and the ceiling and floor sort of curved into the walls. It was like being inside an egg. Sh
e was lying on a pad in the middle of the room. There were two chairs in the room, but nothing else.
Maria got up carefully, expecting to feel the pain in her ribs, but it was gone. She looked at herself. There were no bruises. She could tell because she was barefoot all over. She felt fine. Then a part of the wall in the middle of one side slid back, and a man walked into the room. He sat down on one of the chairs, facing the back.
“Hello, Maria, how are you feeling?”
Maria sensed that something wasn’t right. The man didn’t look like a cop, and this didn’t look like any jail she had ever heard about. She wondered if she had been killed, and this was the afterlife. “Where am I? Am I dead?”
The man shook his head. “No, Maria, that’s not an acceptable answer. I asked you how you were feeling. Let’s try it again. Hello, Maria, how are you feeling?”
The man had not raised his voice, but Maria was suddenly terrified. Men had made her afraid before, lots of times, but never anything like this. “I feel fine, thank you. May I ask a question?” She smiled her most submissive smile. A lot of men had liked that one.
Robert waited until the smile faded before answering. “No, you may not. You may answer any question put to you, without hesitation or lying. If you do not comply perfectly, the result will be more unpleasant than you can imagine, and I assume you can imagine quite a lot.”
“First, I am the closest Tocal, and the other party has agreed for me to decide. You must now either agree for me to decide or pick another Tocal. You must do one of these two things right now.”
As the silence lengthened, Maria realized he was waiting for her to speak. She was so scared it took her three tries to get her voice working, and she didn’t even know why she was so terrorized. He had not raised his voice, and had made no gesture that was threatening. “Please, I don’t know what you want me to do. I don’t even know what a Tocal is. What do you want me to do? Please, tell me, and I’ll do it. I’ll do anything you tell me to do, I promise.”