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Even earlier that very morning two shiny silver vehicles pulled up and parked beside the Galactic Traveller. Four men wearing the dark blue uniform of the Mazere space Corp got out of them, approached the freighters airlock, and hammered on its metal door. Two of these men were the promised escorts, Lieutenants Crestor and Pallas and the other two were ordinary crewmembers who were to be the drivers. Also with them was Lantana dressed in her striped tunic that denoted her lowly status. When David opened the airlock door Lantana introduced the two officers and politely told him that her father had put them all at their disposal. The four people from Earth were soon on their way to the capital city of Mazere. They were on a trip around the museums and other noteworthy sights. Both Sarah and David wanted to talk to Lantana, but for her part, she only seemed excited by the coming excursion into the city, there was no sign of her being a revolutionary. Anyway David and Sarah were never alone with Lantana for a moment, and so they had to bide their time.
Their first sight of Plakara was as they travelled through the endless rows of houses that made up the suburbs of the city, but once through them they caught sight of the city centre itself. Glass and steel skyscrapers soared up above them, the clear blue sky being only visible through the gaps between these gleaming monsters. They drove through a gigantic open square, which, Lantana told them, was named, The Plaza of the People. It was so named because of the large building that was covered in white marble and that filled the lower end of the square. For this was the seat of government where the planets politicians made the laws that ruled their ‘glorious planet’. Lantana smiled at her two friends from Earth as she used the adjective but couldn`t say more as the lieutenant and his driver were also there, and they might well report anything said against the ruling elite to the state police, and this could have dire consequences for anyone involved, including anyone present who didn`t report it.
Lantana and Sarah enjoyed each other’s company immensely, and were forever breaking into laughter mixed with high-pitched squeals of glee as they saw something that really amused them. Admiral Stator would have been truly happy himself if he could have seen just how much his daughter was enjoying her day away from home. He may also have felt a little guilty at the gross deception he was about to put into operation.
Their morning went well and as they were walking into the science museum of Mazere, David looked over towards the space headquarters building, a modest building of glass and steel, well modest as skyscrapers go, for it was only twelve storeys tall. He knew what it was following Steve`s hard work the evening before, and so he turned to Lieutenant Crestor and asked an innocent enough question regarding something that caught his eye, it hung next to the set of double doors that allowed access into its interior.
“Lieutenant, what is that large poster about?” Lieutenant Crestor looked across the wide street and on seeing the poster; he told the others just what it advertised.
“That is an advertisement for a tour which tells the story of the Mazeren journey into and around our galaxy. I say, would you be interested in going on the tour, I can arrange to take the three of you on tomorrows tour if you would like to go, I`m afraid it is far too late for today`s tour?”
“Yes please Lieutenant Crestor, it might be interesting to hear about some of your world`s journeys of discovery in our galaxy, and of the people involved in the adventure.”
“Then after you have looked around our science museum I will pick up four tickets for tomorrow`s tour.” Lieutenant Crestor said. He was as pleased as punch to have these two aliens to take around his capital city, and even more pleased as he looked at the excitement in their eyes as they had taken in all of the sights he had shown them earlier that day.
The rest of the day was almost an anti climax, after the lieutenant promised to take them into the space headquarters building the next day, but David and Sarah hid it well as they were shown the other wonders of the alien city. However, it was the wonders of the space headquarters that they were most interested in, and tomorrow would soon come around.
Rescue Mission to the Stars Page 21