by Max Jager
Everyone looked relieved as Matt added.
"Not that it's any of my business, but I take it Jezang is some sort of special agent?"
"I'm not sure what you mean by "special agent" replied Mrs. Slykhor, "Let's just say she's very special to us. However the fact that you were running around with her alter-being has surprised us all." This reminded him,
"Amber, what are you doing here, I thought you and Gandric were out helping Drok?"
"We are, but when Rekton contacted me, this took immediate priority. At any rate, our job is almost finished, the construction of the purifiers is on schedule, Drok and a team of fellow Xindusians are back on Ussen Ommo mapping things out."
He then looked at Jezang,
"So what about you Jezang, gonna hang with Amber for awhile?" Shaking her head, she replied.
"Well actually I was going to accompany Rekton on the expedition he's putting together to visit your world."
"You didn't think I forgot about that did you?" Chuckled the Golian. "You are still our first choice for a guide."
"Well…I…"
"Don't forget," injected Slavek, Tiag and I are in on this as well!" Matt looked over at them and wondered.
"What are they up to now?" Although he had previously told Rekton he would be glad to go, the recent situation put a cloud over everything.
"Who's going, and what exactly do you expect to find or accomplish once we get there?" He asked.
"This "expedition" as you call it is being financed by the Loridian Trading Company," stated Mrs. Slykhor. "However the Golians as well as Ruddoria are also contributing to it."
"Your aren't planning to invade us?" Kaitlyn suddenly blurted out. This brought glares and dirty looks for which caused her to shrink back.
"I'm very disappointed in you Kaitlyn," said Mrs. Slykhor as she shook her head. However Kaitlyn stood her ground,
"Well, why else would you want to check us out, I'm pretty sure we don't have anything the Loridian Company wants."
"My dear," calmly replied Mrs. Slykhor, "Why do you assume we want anything?" The Loridian Trading Company is a lot more than just commercial commerce. It's knowledge, as well, even thought your world may be very far away and as you say nothing to offer us that doesn't mean we have no desire to travel there."
Matt smiled to himself at the way Slavek's mother put Kaitlyn in her place. Although he had wondered the same thing. Kaitlyn immediately apologized which Mrs. Slykhor accepted. Matt then spoke up.
"You know, ever since we have arrived here in the Golian Empire, I've been running into all sorts of people who tell me they have visited earth…"
"Let me guess," injected Rekton "They all complain of being attacked."
"Damn straight!" replied Matt, "So why do you want to go there?" Rekton looked over at the ambassador then back to Matt.
"There just seems to be something quite intriguing about the place. We don't always get shot at when we go there," added Rekton, "Over the yeans a number of races here in the empire have visited there and many have made peaceful contact. Believe it or not there are several humans on your planet who keep them informed on what's happening there. This is a closely guarded secret, so please don't repeat it to anyone. As to who they are. I have no idea; I only stumbled across this information accidentally."
"So who else is in on this little junket?" Asked Matt.
"Well me, you, Slavek, Tiag! How about you," asked Rekton.
"No. Kaitlyn and I have been talking; she wants to explore Ruddoria so I'm going to show her around." This surprised Matt,
"So you're sitting this one out Kaitlyn?"
"Yeah," she replied,
"I don't know, maybe it's just too soon, maybe when we go back to pick up Bria, just not right now."
"Suit yourself," replied Matt, "Since she and Tiag are out who else Rekton?"
"I am!" Suddenly announced Jezang. Rekton looked at her then to Matt.
"You know Jezang," he said, "After all we've just been through, I would think you would prefer to lay low for awhile." Jezang glared at him,
"It wasn't my fault those raiders got the drop on me Rekton, I told you they had some sort of device that disabled my sensory bank."
"I understand that," he replied, "I wasn't implying anything, don't get so worked up. If you want to go, then fine, but everyone who is going is putting up something for fuel and food."
"Don't worry about me, I'll pay my share," she snapped.
"Ahem…Well…All right then," muttered Rekton, "As I was saying, Roikas is sending his personal advisor and representative Vasta Tramik, and one of my long time friends Orlak Klo'ax will also be coming."
"Who are they?" asked Matt,
"Roikas is my husband and the Ruddorian foreign minister," injected Mrs. Slykhor, "When we leave here shortly for Ruddoria, you will meet him."
"Orlak is an Lyskandan," added Rekton, "We've been friends for a very long time; I think you'll like him. Orlak was a captain in the Lyskandan navy; there isn't anything he can't fly. He's literally been everywhere except earth."
"You will like him," added Slavek, "He's been everywhere, done everything, much like that Han Solo fellow you were telling me about."
"Well this should be interesting," he thought. "People like Jezang Rekton and now this guy Orlak, maybe we can really start some shit?"
"Oh one thing I forgot to mention," added Rekton. "Orlak has graciously offered the use of his ship. It's a re-fitted Darkstar fighter transport, top of the line plasma line engines, stealth flight abilities, but best of all its very comfortable."
He was still ticked off from being set up but Matt knew he didn't have a whole lot of choices.
"What the fuck! Maybe this "Magical mystery tour" might turn out to be fun after all.
Chapter 62
Titan Stand Chapter 62
As the meeting was breaking up Matt approached Amber,
"I miss you Amber, how's Gandric doing?"
"Busy, very busy, but he's also very happy, the people of Xandrus now have hope. Not only that, others are also taking notice, the times ahead look very bright indeed."
"That's great," he replied, "As soon as this little adventure back to earth is finished, we need to get back together. You know I still haven't been to Z'ha'dum yet." Amber smiled and chirped,
"I haven't forgotten you or Kaitlyn, things are just about in place and others are ready to take over." Matt thought a moment, then said,
"You know Amber I would have no objections if Jezang joined our crew…"
She gave him a curious look then replied,
"Neither would I, after all, she is a sister, however she works for the Ruddorians, still…"
"Well I'll talk to her and Rekton about it anyway," he replied.
He was also curious as to what Kaitlyn was up to, or had been talked into, but it wasn't like she hadn't gone with him before.
"So you're going to hang with Tiag?" He asked her.
"Yeah," replied Kaitlyn, "Look Matt, nothing against you, but I told you I was looking to go my own way. Tiag say's she has friends she'd like me to meet, and she was telling me about this…Well, anyway, we're going to be busy. Besides that I really like her mom, so you guys go and terrorize earth, make 'em think they are about to be invaded by flying saucers or something." Matt gave her a puzzled look wondering where she picked up all this weird shit He then told Slavek and Rekton he still needed to get all his gear off Slavek's ship so Jezang went with him to help carry his now growing luggage ensemble.
As they headed towards the landing area, he turned to her and said,
"I told Amber I wouldn't mind if you joined our crew." Jezang looked at him with surprise,
"Amber would not mind this?"
"No, not at all, she told me you two were sisters. Anyway two Tharg would be better than one, we'd be one tough outfit." She then looked at him,
"You do not hate us?"
"No, why would I hate you. Look, I already told you Amber explained it all to me, yo
u guys can't help what you are, you certainly haven't done anything to hurt Kaitlyn or me. I don't know what you are, or were doing for the Ruddorians, but it's none of my business, I just think you and Amber, oh and Gandric too, are just the most incredible people I've ever met." She said no more but Matt noticed she didn't scowl so much anymore.
The trip to Ruddoria was made aboard the ambassador's personal spacecraft. Matt didn't get much of a chance to talk with Kaitlyn, as she spent all of the time playing some game with Tiag and her mother. He ended up sitting around bullshitting with Slavek, Rekton, Orlak, and Jezang. Basically, it was a question and answer session as the aliens kept quizzing him about earth.
"Does you planet have dangerous animals?" Asked Orlak.
"Sure, lots of them," replied Matt, "People hunt them for sport." Orlak's ears suddenly perked up at this news.
"Tell me more about them," he asked.
Matt then described brown and grizzly bears, lions, tigers, cape buffalo and rhino's.
"Before you get any ideas," he added, "you can't go out and just shoot these animals. The states and countries they live in regulate their hunting, as well as when you can hunt them. Somehow, I don't think a "non-resident" license is going to cut it for you." The Lyskandan continued to quiz him on the subject of large and dangerous animals until Matt said.
"All the really big and dangerous animals are all in Africa, you try and land there for some hunting you're gonna draw a lot of attention, probably too much. Grizzles and brown bears can be found in Alaska, not so many people up there. Then, if it's not winter, and they are all in hibernation, someplace up in the Brooks Range we might find some."
This excited Orlak who was all in favor of landing there and trying his luck while Matt tried to warn him about how fast and powerful these animals really were. Then Orlak asked,
"How about that unusual weapon of yours, would that bring down one of these bears?" Matt gave him an incredulous look and laughed.
"Not on your life, the caliber was designed to kill people, some people hunt deer with it but no, it's too light. By the way, what were you going to shoot them with anyway?"
"It's aboard the ship we'll be taking, I'll be happy to show it to you."
Matt also spent time talking to Rekton inquiring about Grak and Karlt.
"Actually they really wanted to go, but Loridia is keeping them pretty busy. When I last spoke to them, they were running an expedited shipment out to Tau Saggatari. Unfortunately, it's one of those places way out on the rim takes forever to get there but the pay is good."
By Matt's reckoning, the trip took just over 48 hours or two days to reach Ruddoria. He spent the time just sitting around talking with either Slavek or Rekton, and occasionally Orlak Klo'ax. Most of the time Orlak was off by himself reading. His "book" reminded Matt of a Kindle, however in Orlak's case; it looked like a piece of black glass roughly six by ten inches when it was just laying on a table. When the Lyskandan was reading there appeared to be a screen with characters on it. The Lyskandan's also appeared to read right to left further confusing him.
As for the females, all seemed to be obsessed with what Matt took for colored dice.
Slavek claimed the game was practically a national pastime on Ruddoria, especially with the females. He tried explaining it to Matt but it not only sounded confusing, but rather boring. From what he could tell, the tiny cubes resembled miniature Rubik's cubes that constantly changed colors. A player would place three small pyramids in front of him. One was red, one was a light blue and one was purple. Then you scooped up a handful of these cubes that were in a pile in the middle of the table and simply dropped them in front of you. When they hit the table the cubes would all change colors, and the numbers on them would change as well. If more than three cubes turned red you forfeited your next turn, if more than four turned purple you got another chance. Matt wasn't clear what happened if any of the cubes turned light blue. There was also something about the changing numbers coming to a certain total. By then he grew bored, and walked away.
He had hoped to talk some more with Kaitlyn but she was too busy playing the game and wasn't paying him any attention, even Jezang was involved with the game so he couldn't talk to her either. To make matters worse, the flight crew wouldn't let him up on the bridge,
"It's nothing against you, government policy, sorry." In the end it was just sitting around with Slavek and Rekton talking about earth. At one point the conversation turned to dangerous places. Although he had previously tried to explain that there were countries that were very bad for your health. When he mentioned that there were countries in the middle east currently involved in fighting a war and trying to land in a war zone like that might get them all killed. Matt tried his best to describe in detail the combatants, what they were trying to achieve and roughly the type of weapons they were using. He was sure that after hearing his descriptions no one would be interested in traveling there. Instead, not only Rekton, but Orlak Klo'ax, and even Slavek to a lesser degree all became rather excited.
"Hey! Hold on guys," exclaimed Matt, people are trying to kill each other, this is no bullshit!" Orlak dismissed his concern,
"What about fighter craft, who has those? Asked Rekton. Matt wasn't up on his fighters and other than rockets and mini-guns so wasn't sure what Rekton was referring to. Orlak then asked,
"You've no doubt seen a few fighter craft since you've been here, what we're asking is a comparison between the two." Matt racked his brain trying to remember how fast jet fighters flew, but he knew practically nothing about Russian fighters, or what the Syrians or Iranians had. In the end, Orlak and Rekton simply laughed,
"The ship we will be traveling on has full cloaking capabilities, as well as excellent force shields no problem for us.
As the conversation progressed, small details were revealed, as well as Matt coming to realize that all those who were planning on traveling to earth (with the possible exception of Slavek) were rogues and adventurers. While no one came right out and said it, he gathered that with the exception of the occasional raider attack, life here in the Loridian Empire was pretty staid. These guys wanted to go someplace where they could get shot at but possibly do some shooting of their own, why else was Orlak so interested in very large and dangerous wild animals. They also asked him about items of value and what earthlings would accept in payment.
"Gold, diamonds, rare metals, like that stuff that's metal but as thin as paper, he replied. No doubt about it, these guys were up to something. He was in a bind though, he could change his mind and refuse to go but turning all these powerful people down might affect his ability to return home, or at the very least put him on the outs with them. Rekton promised him respectable payment for his help so there was that. He finally had to admit it was the thrill involved, after describing the type of weaponry they might encounter, no one seemed particularly worried about being shot down or not being able to defend the ship.
While Orlak and Rekton were talking, Matt happened to glance over to Jezang who was playing that silly game with Kaitlyn and the others at a nearby table.
"Damn! Why didn't I think of that before?" He thought to himself.
As soon as there was a break in the conversation, he asked no one in particular.
"Do you guys have large robots, I mean really big ones." Everyone gave him puzzled looks.
"What do you mean by large robots?" Asked Rekton.
"You know," he attempted to explain, "Great big ones that resemble people and walk around on two legs." Rekton looked at Orlak and shrugged,
"Do you know what he's talking about?" Then Slavek jumped into the conversation.
"You're talking about those robots in those movies you showed me on your computer aren't you?"
"Yeah!" Exclaimed Matt, "Something like that Gort in "Day the earth stood still." Slavek grinned, and shook his head then turned to the others.
"He's talking about robots that are three or four times our size, shuffle around and shoot plasma death beams
out of their eyes."
Both Rekton and Orlak laughed, then Orlak replied.
"In all my travels the only thing I've ever seen that resemble artificial life are androids like Jezang over there but they've all been normal size as they should be. I can think of no reason for any sort of entity robot, android or otherwise to be that large, to what purpose would it serve?" Matt now realized he had really "stepped" into it, but soldiered on.
"I was thinking in terms as some sort of weapon, or possibly as a walking weapons system with someone inside."