“When we pulled in front of the hotel to pick up the Colonel, there was another transport vehicle there,” Kestar explained. “It was under the employ of Alo Galuz Cozeremi. He insisted on escorting Zheng to the terminal, himself. He wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. To avoid a scene and the risk of bringing the authorities in, we left. We circled around and parked a couple of city blocks away. We waited until Zheng got into the vehicle with Cozeremi and they pulled out. We are following them.”
“Following them,” the aro asked. “Why are you following them?”
Kestar’s reply didn’t come quickly.
The aro was ready to ask if Kestar had heard his question when the nervous ori spoke up.
“I didn’t get a good look at the transport driver,” Kestar said. “But, I got a good look at the carriage hand. I’m certain he is an enforcer.”
“Did you hear Kestar, Barad,” The aro asked. “What is Galuz doing on Ekkida? Did you know he was here?”
“No, I didn’t, Merak,” Jaro replied. “I’m as surprised as you are.”
Aro Non grimaced. “Follow them to the terminal, Kestar, but don’t allow yourself to be spotted,” the aro said. “If that vehicle deviates one meter away from its route, report back to me, immediately.”
“Of course, Aro,” Kester responded.
Aro Non discontinued the link with Kestar. He stood up from behind his desk and started pacing around his office.
“That impatient fool, Galuz will be the undoing of us all, Barad,” he barked.
“Why would the Consortium send an enforcer,” Jaro asked. “What do they intend to do?”
Aro Non remained silent.
“Are you still there, Merak,” Jaro inquired. “What does this mean?”
“It could be nothing,” the aro responded. “Do you have any idea why your cousin is here on Ekkida and how he knew I invited Zheng?”
“I have no idea whatsoever,” Jaro answered. “Maybe he is here on Bureau business?”
“I doubt that,” Aro Non replied. “One of us would have been alerted.”
The aro cursed under his breath and walked to a liquor cabinet in the corner of his office. He pulled out a bottle of strong brandy and poured a large glass. He drank half of it in a large gulp.
“Just how much has Galuz been told, Barad,” he asked. “He appears to have become a loose cannon on deck. I need to know how badly he can hurt us.”
“I haven’t told him anything above what was needed to secure his help,” Jaro said. “He has no idea we have designs against the Consortium, or who else is involved with us.”
Chapter 42
“I would be happy to have a full discussion with you about this, Herb,” Cozeremi said. “But, we don’t really have the time. We are almost to the space terminal…”
“Damn that, Gus,” Zheng spat. “You didn’t come here from Earth just to chit chat. There is something you want from me, so just tell me what it is. I’m not in the mood to negotiate terms or conditions. If you have proof of your allegations, you should show it to me now. My patience is wearing thin.”
“I told you, Herbert. I can ask nothing of you because I have nothing of any real value to offer you,” Cozeremi said. “I can, however, tell you why Non and his followers don’t want the true story of Chamberlain’s Folly to be made public. But to fully understand why, I have to tell you things about the pasts of Earth, Terra Nova and Ekkida you may not be aware of.”
“Try me, Gus,” Zheng replied. “You might find I am aware of a lot more than you think.”
“You don’t know nearly as much as you need to, Herb,” Cozeremi replied. “That is a problem, not only for the Bureau, but also for the Central Government and humanity in general. The things you don’t know for certain and the assumptions you are making are dangerous because they are made out of ignorance.”
“Then take it upon yourself to enlighten me, Gus,” Zheng snapped. “I’m willing to listen.”
The impatience in Zheng’s eyes frustrated Cozeremi. He had information that Zheng needed, but couldn’t be sure Zheng would take it at face value. There was no basis for trust between the two.
“Tell me, Herbert,” Cozeremi asked. “Why are you so damned ready to trust the Ekkidan aristocracy? I can’t think of a group of humans who are more secretive. Did you ever ask yourself what it is they are hiding?”
“Not being Ekkidan, I never gave it much thought, Gus,” Zheng replied. “What secrets are we talking about?”
“I’m sure you may have wondered, why they demanded that Earth and Terra Nova come directly under the rule of the Central Government,” Cozeremi responded. “But, did you ever ask yourself why the Ekkidan elitists adamantly refused to give up their own planetary government? And, what do they have in the planetary archives they refuse to share with the rest of the League, or even their own people?”
“And, it can’t have escaped you that no non-Ekkidan has ever even been in orbit around Vushmatu,” he added. “Did you know there are fewer than one hundred living Ekkdans who have even set foot on that world?”
Zheng’s expression indicated he had never seriously considered any of those topics and he had no clue as to why they might be pertinent to the subject at hand.
Cozeremi took a heavy breath and frowned. It appeared to Zheng as if Cozeremi had a long story to recount, but didn’t know where to begin to tell it.
“Whatever we discuss here will have to stay private,” Cozeremi finally said after a moment’s contemplation.
“People are telling me that quite often of late,” Zheng said. “I won’t mention this conversation to anyone.”
“Good,” Cozeremi replied. “I’m sorry I don’t have the documentation in my possession I need to prove what I am saying is the truth, but I have seen it and I can tell you it exists. I only ask that if you are genuinely seeking the truth about Chamberlain’s Folly you don’t just stop once you have proven to yourself there was indeed a conspiracy against him and leave it at that. You must promise me you will also seek the documentation that proves what I am saying is true and use it to expose all of the involved parties.”
“I trust you will give me some suggestions on where to find this documentation to back up your claims,” Zheng asked.
“You have most of what you need to get yourself started, already,” Cozeremi replied.
Zheng shot him a puzzled look.
“I know you’ve seen much of what was hidden away in the evidence locker on the Armstrong,” Cozeremi said. “There hasn’t been much that has gone on at the digs or in the Human Studies branch I’m not aware of, or didn’t have a hand in orchestrating, Herb. The people that Lennart reports to as well as those I report to are hopelessly entangled toward the top of our chains of command. There may be compartmentalization, but when you get up high enough on the pyramid, you’ll find that someone has to keep tabs on everyone, or the whole system will fall apart.”
Cozeremi nudged Zheng with his elbow.
“I know what Mahzarhi and Pedersen both sent you,” he added. “It is valuable information and I would have made sure it was fed to you myself when the time was right. As well as, some other information that is still there in the digs. The Armstrong’s crew logs only tell the story from the Earth and Zunnuki perspectives, but even still, I’m looking forward to seeing what you make of the documents.”
He gave Zheng an inquisitive look and asked, “You do intend to publish your findings, don’t you?”
“Of course I do, Gus,” Zheng replied. “It should make interesting bathroom reading. I assume the Bureau will endorse the government publishing house’s intentions to classify it as speculative non-fiction, for reasons of damage control.”
“You’ve been given a lot of freedom to speak your mind in the past, Herb, but there is always the possibility you will go too far and make the wrong people angry,” Cozeremi warned. “If that happens, your findings will not see the light of day. In that case it doesn’t matter how much proof you have.”
/> “And you are about to tell me in whose good graces I need to remain,” Zheng asked. He was certain he was about to be informed he could trust nobody but Cozeremi.
“You will have to figure that out on your own,” Cozeremi said.
Zheng looked at Cozeremi in bewilderment when the man didn’t make any attempt to convince him that Zheng should at least trust him.
“I’m sure that once you delve into this further, you will start to realize that nobody you have talked to about this so far has anything to gain by exposing the real story behind the hijacking of Chamberlain’s mission,” Cozeremi added.
“Except you,” Zheng asked.
“If there was any other way of getting what I want, we would not be talking,” Cozeremi replied.
Zheng smiled at the bluntness of Cozeremi’s answer. Directness was not a character trait that seemed to be valued by most Ekkidans.
“What help could I possibly be to you, Gus,” he asked.
“I want you to prove that my ancestor was wronged, pure and simple,” Cozeremi replied. “The whole upper chamber was involved and all of them carry an equal amount of blame, but only Zhereveldonne suffered any consequences. He gave up his office and my family’s seat in the House of Peers voluntarily to appease opposition in the upper chamber that was about to make it public our Ekkidan intelligence agency was feeding technology to Earth.”
“Why would that be an issue,” Zheng asked. “I don’t understand why the people of Ekkida weren’t told about Earth in the first place. And, why not just have open relations between the two planets? So what if Earth was technologically and sociologically backwards in comparison with Ekkida? If you were going to give them technology anyway, why not do it in the open?” He threw up his arms in frustration.
“That is a prime example of how keeping information from the public can hurt an official’s, or a government’s credibility,” Zheng grumbled.
“Slow down, Herb” Cozeremi said.
He held up his hand to urge Zheng to give him time to explain the story which was much more complicated than the impatient Historian could have guessed.
“It’s important for you to know why the Ekkidan government couldn’t reveal what was going on or have normalized diplomatic relations with the Earth before the advent of their consolidated government,” Cozeremi explained. “I don’t have all the details, but I’ll share what I know.”
The transport vehicle left the busy highway and turned onto the drive that led to the front of the terminal. Cozeremi looked at Zheng and said, “We need to finish this conversation before I return to Chicago and you leave for the Academy.”
Zheng agreed and the two stepped out of the vehicle when it stopped in front of the terminal entrance.
As Zheng retrieved his duffel from the cargo space in the rear of the car, Cozeremi told him, “I don’t think there are any areas in the terminal that are private enough for this conversation. You can either join me on my shuttle or I’ll join you on Non’s. I need to make a call first.”
“I’ll meet you on Non’s shuttle in thirty minutes,” Zheng said. “I have some shopping to do before I leave.”
Cozeremi smiled and told the driver that his services would no longer be required. He turned and followed Zheng into the terminal.
****
Half an hour later, Zheng met up with Cozeremi at a hot beverage kiosk located near the doors to the tarmac where the shuttles were being readied.
Zheng purchased a coffee that was guaranteed by the vendor to be made from Columbian beans, although not grown on Earth.
Cozeremi ordered a hot tea and the vendor handed him a disposable cup filled with hot water and a pair of teabags.
“These aren’t as good as they are on Earth,” Zheng said, as he and Cozeremi walked toward Non’s diplomatic shuttle. “But, they are much more acceptable than that sludge the locals drink,”
“I must agree with you there,” Cozeremi said as they entered the craft. “Even in my younger days before I left Ekkida for government service on Earth, I seldom drank the tea.”
Zheng smiled and took a long drink from his beverage. “What can you tell me about Ekkida’s dealings with Earth,” he asked. “Why couldn’t the two planets just normalize relations and move on from there?”
“With whom would Ekkida have been able to normalize diplomatic relations, Herb,” Cozeremi asked in return. “There was nobody on Earth at the time that could legally represent the whole planet. There were over one hundred separate national governments and most of them were at war with one another. We had nobody to talk to.”
“What was the purpose of the covert negotiations with the superpower governments,” Zheng asked.
“Ekkida couldn’t just sit back and allow Earth to destroy itself,” Cozeremi said. “But, we could ill afford to let them develop superluminal travel on their own. They would have been beholden to no one, or worse yet, beholden to the saurians. We couldn’t allow that. It was determined we would spoon-feed them technology in a manner that would keep the balance of power among their larger governments and allow them to progress at a rate we could manage.”
“So you are saying the saurians had contacted Earth also,” Zheng asked. “Do you have proof of that?”
Cozeremi shook his head, and said, “Not in documented form. If I did, we would not be talking. I would have published this myself and gotten my family seat in the upper chamber restored.”
“The war with the saurians was cold at that time and the agreed-upon borders were more or less stable,” Cozeremi explained. “The big problem was that both human and saurian territories were being slowly infiltrated by the silicoids. The Ekkidans and saurians both knew they would eventually need the people of Earth to join the war against the silicoids. But, with the hostilities still brewing between them, both sides wanted an exclusive alliance.”
Cozeremi drank some of his tea and asked, “Did you pick up any sweetener? I forgot to ask for any.”
Zheng handed him a couple of sweetener tablets in a sealed packet. “The vendor handed these to me, but I never use it,” he said.
Cozeremi thanked him, opened the packet and put the tablets in his tea.
“I must say,” Cozeremi continued. “The sheer number of people on Earth at the time would have made them a formidable fighting force. That is, if it would have been possible to get them to eschew their petty tribal wars. I find it hard to believe they almost quintupled their population in one hundred and fifty years with so much of that going on.”
“Where does Terra Nova fit into all of this, Gus,” Zheng asked. “And, what about Chamberlain?”
“Earth was overpopulated,” Cozeremi explained. “They actually had plenty of land to spread out on, but too few resources to feed, clothe and shelter everyone. They couldn’t bring their population growth under control and the regional governments spent ludicrous amounts of time and resources fighting amongst themselves. Luckily the Ekkidans held enough influence over them to prevent any global thermonuclear catastrophes, although they weren’t able to prevent the few limited low-yield exchanges that happened between smaller territories.”
He swirled the tea in his cup to further mix the sweetener before taking another drink.
“Each of the super powers asked for technology that would enable them to dominate the other,” he continued. “Each lamented about wanting a world free of the other. Each wanted the means to move to another world. Both promised to do things the right way if given a fresh start.”
“Ekkida knew Zunnuki was there and it was habitable and they certainly weren’t going to give them Vushmatu. Ekkida thought the Zunnuki people had destroyed themselves. Who could have known what really happened and that those twenty, nearly deserted cities we saw from orbit were only the surface machinery for the metropolises they built beneath the surface?”
“So Ekkida fed each superpower on Earth superluminal travel technology,” Zheng asked. “And didn’t tell either they also had dealings with the other side?”
“Of course,” Cozeremi answered unapologetically. “What else would there have been to do?”
He set his tea cup down and wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead. He pulled his suit jacket from his shoulders and slowly pulled his arms from the sleeves. He was beginning to look uncomfortable.
“And, because they were spending so much time trying to keep the other in check,” he said as he looked at his chronometer. “The progress of developing the technology we were giving them was painfully slow.”
“Then they did something that gave Ekkida hope,” Cozeremi added. He looked at Zheng as if the development was a shock, “They formed the CEG.”
“Both super powers at the time recognized it as the supreme governing body of Earth,” he said. “But, each kept their national governments, and militaries, and both still wanted to keep their clandestine relationships with Ekkida. The Ekkidans tried to convince them to allow normalized relations through the CEG, but both refused to abide.”
“When Chamberlain came along with his plan to leave Earth, neither side was within twenty years of building a superluminal colony ship,” Cozeremi explained. “So, Ekkida decided it might help things along to put a military force that represented both superpowers on his ship.”
“And they took over the Ark during the voyage,” Zheng asked.
“Yes,” Cozeremi replied. “Ekkida gave it’s operatives on the Ark strategic and tactical guidance. It was their mission to subdue Zunnuki and occupy the planet until reinforcements from Earth could get there. Ekkida told those on the Ark how to convert their civilian shuttles into military craft, upgrade their defensive weaponry and how to breed the cats…”
“The gene-splicing technology the Terrans used to create the felines came from Ekkida,” Zheng asked.
Zheng then thought to himself, as Cozeremi nodded to confirm, it probably wasn’t a stretch to believe the Terrans didn’t come up with the idea themselves. Evidence showed the Ekkidans were not looking for an original thinker when they placed Dennis Yuen in command of the Ark.
Chamberlain's Folly (The Terra Nova Chronicles) Page 40