COLOSSUS: Departure

by Terry Frost

  Before Commodore Jeeves could say anything Jak took a small sip of the liquid and smacked his lips as if discovering the flavor of the liquid.

  He turned to Jeeves and said, “Best damn whiskey I’ve ever had a sip of.”

  “Well, I’m sure of one thing, Colonel, I doubt if they call the liquid whiskey.”

  Hopus came out of the room he had entered and was wearing a handsome (what Earthlings would call a smoking jacket) and a pair of short-legged black pants. The jacket had thin lines of gold running vertically from the shoulders to the bottom of the jacket.

  Sewn onto the collar on the right side were two narrow yellow rectangles connected to each other by a single gold line. Inside the top rectangle was four small yellow dots and framed in the lower rectangle were three black lines that ran at an angle from the top right to the lower left.

  Hopus wore six-inch long forearm covers made of gold and silver and were brilliantly polished. Around his wide neck hung a handsome medallion on a twisted gold chain. If not for the fact that earlier Hopus said he was taking them to meet the Emporer he could have easily been mistaken for the Emporer himself by the way he was dressed.

  For just a split second Jak remained in a trance because just the thought of being on an alien world, looking at this magnificent alien walking out of a room and coming over to where he and Jeeves were sitting was almost an overload of his senses.

  His jacket was partially cinched together by a golden tassel tied in front. Jak thought as he stared at Hopus’s white-haired head and ears combined with his black facial color, how in the God’s name could this be? Jak had never come to terms with the religious ideology of his fellow Humans but did constantly look for signs of the existence of a higher being.

  Hopus took a seat next to Jeeves and seeing he hadn’t poured himself a drink asked, “Do you not want to have a drink among friends?”

  “I very much would like to honor you, Hopus, by joining you and Colonel Hammer in a libation, but since my body won’t tolerate liquids of any kind, I have to most respectfully decline.”

  The alien sat quietly for a second or two as if he was pondering on what the tall blue-green alien had just said, then seemed to accept Jeeves’s answer.

  Hopus then poured himself a drink of the copper liquid and after raising his glass, said to Jak, “We celebrate this day, Colonel, with a taste of Yuklin. Yuklin is the finest elixir in the galaxy and was given as a gift to we’s emperor and to we from Burseg (General) Maalik, Battle Imperial of the world Daak.”

  It seemed as if the raising of a drink in celebration might be a universal custom, and as both took a sip of the elixir, Jak and Jeeves were both trying to come to grips with the knowledge just bestowed on them that there were other intelligent aliens somewhere in the cosmos that had traveled to planet Yopa at one time or another.

  Jak felt a warm sensation flooding through his bloodstream and it was enormously soothing, to say the least.

  “Yes, this is a great day, Hopus. And we are so honored to share this excellent drink with you. Now if I may, could I ask you a few questions?”

  “If you mean inquires, then yes, Colonel Hammer, you go first then we will go next. Then you, then we, then you, then we.”

  “Thank you. What is Hopus’s military rank or position among the Nawi?”

  “We are Field Marshal Hopus, Commander of all Nawi warriors.”

  Jak gave a satisfactory nod then it was Hopus’s turn to question.

  “Why Commodore Jeeves not look same as Colonel Hammer? Is he from a world other than Earth?”

  “No, Commodore Jeeves is from Earth. He just has a different creator than we Humans.” Jak thought it would not sit well with Hopus if he told him Jeeves was basically an extremely advanced machine. He could tell Hopus was thinking hard about what he just told him, but he didn’t comment.

  “What is the name of the beings that live on Daak?”

  “They are known to we as Daakie. How did you come to Yopa? Do Humans have flying ships?”

  “We travel on Starships. Our mothership is just outside of Yopa’s atmosphere.”

  “What name do you give to your mounts, and what is the name of the small animals with the long necks?”

  “Nawi’s mounts are, Weka, and small animals are an important food for Nawi. We named them Loota.

  “Why you leave your world to come to Yopa?”

  “Our world is not the same as it was. Earth has warmed, which caused the ice to melt and now there is no land for our people to live on.”

  Hopus and Jak continued to sip on the Yuklin as they conversed and Jak felt like he couldn’t finish his cup and decided to stop drinking. He knew what it felt like to drink a little too much and didn’t want to lose his ability to function properly. But the drink didn’t have much of an effect on Hopus so he tipped the cup up and finished it.

  “Colonel Hammer, we have time for one question for Hopus, then we must go see the Emporer.”

  “Did the Daakonian general bring the energy rope to you for a gift, and what is the name of the energy rope?”

  “Ah yes, the “cho-ka”. We’s Emporer Nulashin trade gemstones with the Daakie for cho-ka,” Hopus said as he gestured towards the gemstones under the table’s translucent top.

  “Field Marshal Hopus, our First Contact protocol forbids us to speak to your Emporer before our Supreme Admiral. We are not worthy of such an honor for the first visit to your Supreme Emporer,” Jeeves said.

  “Jeeves is right, Hopus. We are bound by our protocols, and it would be disrespectful to our Supreme Admiral,” Jak said.

  “Hopus is learning you Humans are a thoughtful species and Nawi is fortunate to call you friend. You speak with Supreme Admiral and we will speak to Emporer Nulashin.”

  “Hopus, would you mind if I stayed on Yopa while you both speak to your superiors?”

  “Welcome, Commodore Jeeves. Hopus assign beautiful daughter to show you our Yopa.”

  “Thank you, Field Marshal.”

  They stood up from the table and Hopus motioned for Jeeves to follow him. Hopus and Jeeves exited quickly and Hammer just stood for a minute, thinking well, keep the cow from jumping over the moon. You're in deep sheepdip when I see you again. You know damn well you should have cleared your staying here with me before suggesting it.

  Wait a minute. Is this his way of showing BioSciences and Chief of BioSciences Tally Wei that he has become totally self-reliant? We were all informed that he would get to a point where he basically learned he had become confident in his ability to command and survive any situation that comes his way.

  ****

  Sitting at a conference table just to the left of Admiral Allen’s Ready Room was the Admiral, General Dubois, Rear Admiral Petrov, Chief Medical Officer Victoria Stavens, Chief of BioSciences Tally Wei, Colonel Hammer, and Captains Slain and Sokolov of the USC Striker and Perseus.

  The first twenty minutes of the meeting was spent talking about the conversation Admiral Allen had with his immediate staff in regard to the discovery of intelligent life on the planet they were orbiting.

  When asked how did they react, Allen said, “They were extremely rejoiceful, as many of you were if I remember correctly. And being the professionals they are, they held back on their reactions that I’m positive would have been more animated if not informed personally by their admiral.

  The people at the table had a ton of questions for Jak and he tried to answer them as best as he could without being trite about it. The majority found the knowledge of their First Contact with intelligent life were aliens of a canine persuasion was profound. Jak knew the meeting would have lasted longer if he didn’t get the topic moved away from what the Nawi was like, to the next topic, which was when could he get Admiral Allen to commit to a meeting with Hopus and his Supreme Emperor.

  Addressing Allen, Jak said, “Sir, I would love to sit here and continue debriefing everyone on my few short hours of contact with the Nawi, but we must move on to preparing you to meet with
their emperor.”

  “Yes, Colonel Hammer you are correct. We should be ready for the time when we hear from Commodore Jeeves about the expected time of my visit. Now before I dismiss this meeting are there any specific questions from any of you regarding only my meeting with the Nawi’s leader?”

  “I only have one question and that is who will be accompanying you to the meeting, Admiral?” asked General Dubois.

  “We don’t want to overwhelm the emperor so I’ll keep my entourage to a minimum. You, Colonel Hammer, Commodore Jeeves, and at the counseling of Doctor Stavens, a civilian member of the USC, Doctor Moran Piner will be coming with us as well.”

  Doctor Piner was an Empath, meaning she had the ability to read Humans and a wide range of animal emotions. Something Doctor Stavens felt might be a useful tool when meeting with the alien emperor.

  “Any further questions?”

  No one had any more questions at the moment so Allen dismissed the meeting and while doing so asked Doctor Stavens to stay behind.

  When all had left the meeting except Allen and Stavens, Allen asked, “What type of gift should I bring with me to give to the Nawi’s Supreme Emperor?”

  “Well, sir, Colonel Hammer did say Field Marshal Hopus and Emperor Nulashin placed a high value on the elixir he called Yuklin. Maybe Emperor Nulashin would enjoy a decanter of the admiral’s finest Scotch whiskey.”

  “Excellent idea, Victoria. I’ll take a bottle of Glenfiddich 50-year-old single malt with me. That would be a great gift,” he said, then thought I’m sure the emperor wouldn’t have a clue to the value placed on a single credit, but that is a gift that cost the USC about 20,000 of them. Of course, I still have my case of The Balvenie 50-year-old single malt worth 38,000 per bottle that no alien is going to get as a gift. I will, however, pour a glass with some alien leader in the future if I think he or she is worthy.

  Chapter 9

  The general population aboard Colossus had no idea what the giant ship’s commanders were up to but several of them were getting suspicious that something important was going on down on the planet they had been orbiting for over two days now.

  As back on Earth, the place to pick up on the gossip or rumor mill was in one of the three bars located in the middle of the ship. One of the bars most frequented by the ship’s vendors was called “Murf’s.” The bars' proprietor was a portly older man named Otis Murphy. Otis stood at a whopping 5’5” tall and was as big around as he was tall.

  When he was only fourteen he was caught in a lightning storm running through a field of corn while trying to get to his home near the small town of Carlinville, Illinois. He was struck by lightning but didn’t die. He laid knocked out in a cornfield for nearly eight hours before he finally woke up.

  Otis’s clothes had been singed and he had a half-dollar size hole blown out of his shirt just below his front shirt pocket and had a terrible headache. His family had been frantically searching for the boy after the storm subsided but had no luck finding him.

  After searching for him for three hours his mother insisted the boy’s father call the local magistrate to start a search to look for him. If it hadn’t been for the fact the area had gone through a tremendously powerful lightning storm the magistrate would have told Mrs. Murphy that their standard procedure was to not look for a missing person for at least twenty-four hours because most of the people showed up within that amount of time.

  They looked for Otis until the early morning hours, then called off the search. The magistrate told the frantic mother and father they would begin the search again when it was daylight. Around 6:00 a.m. the next morning Otis’s mother was lying on their living room couch still awake as she hadn’t slept a wink when she heard their front screen door open.

  She quickly jumped up and off the couch and when the door opened she saw her young Otis standing in the doorway with his brown hair standing on end. If his hair standing up wasn’t enough of a sight, then the two three-inch-wide strips of gray hair running from front to back on his head were something else to behold.

  For years to come and until he finally grew up and left Carlinville he had to endure many nicknames from kids through Junior High and High School, but the only name that took was “Flash.” The name Flash was hurtful in two ways. One, he was a fat kid and two, he sure couldn’t run fast.

  Late in the day, a group of vendors who had closed their business for the day was sitting at their usual round table located further to the rear of the bar. There were no square or rectangle walls in the bar as the inner walls and ceiling were round.

  Seated at the table was Justin Baker, the owner of a laser tag apparel and supply shop. Also at the table was Calvin and Maggie Goosen, brother and sister that owned a breakfast deli, and last but not least, Dallas Cupin, the owner and master brewer of a spirits store that sold his specially brewed ale’s of which he proudly sold over eighteen varieties.

  Murf’s Bar was slow that night so Otis came over to the table and asked Justin to move to the seat to his right so he could watch the bar while joining in on his patron’s conversations. Justin moved as requested but gave a slightly audible grunt as he rolled his eyes at Otis. Otis just ignored the grunt and took his seat.

  Dallas said, “I tell you all right now that the illustrious commanders of Colossus have discovered something important on that planet. Why else would we still be here? During this whole trip, they have never spent more than an orbit or two or maybe up to four orbits while checking out the planets for life.”

  “Yeah, I have to agree. I heard there was a group of engineers that loaded up on a shuttle and went down. Anybody else hear the same thing?” asked Calvin.

  “Chewy stopped by for the admiral’s breakfast this morning and told me he overheard Ensign Wolski talking to another ensign in Command say something about Battledogs,” Maggie said.

  “Chewy? You mean the gossip king of Colossus? That little book runner doesn’t have anything else to do but conjure up bullshit stories. I wouldn’t believe a damn thing that runt says. Battledogs my ass,” commented Otis.

  “I’m not so sure it's bullshit, Otis. Think about it will you? I don’t think Chewy is smart enough or inventive enough to come up with a cool name like Battledogs,” Calvin said.

  “Your probably right, Calvin. He probably picked the name up from a science fiction book he had read at one time or another,” Justin said.

  “I’m thinking that if Command has discovered something down there we will find out soon enough. I’m going to call it a day since there isn’t anything going on in this boring watering hole,” Dallas said as he cut his eyes over to Otis.

  Otis stood and said, “Awful early for you to be calling it a day, Dallas. I had better not catch you hanging out in one of those two dives on down the way. If I do I’ll stop giving you discounted drinks.”

  The others at the table looked at Otis and all together said, “discounted drinks.” Otis smiled.

  ****

  Hopus had Commodore Jeeves follow him up to the Grand Room on the second level of the pound. The Nawi used the Grand Room for celebrations, important Nawi citizen’s business, and as a place to entertain visiting dignitaries from other systems.

  Standing on each side of the large gold flecked doors were two Nawi warriors and each had one arm down to their side and the other held a long spear with a sharp stone on the end. The two guards saw their Field Marshal approach and quickly opened the doors, which swung to the interior of the Grand Room.

  The room was bustling with activity and Jeeves quickly formed the opinion they were preparing for an important visitor and he presumed the visitor was going to be Admiral Allen and his entourage.

  Placed in the middle of the room was a beautifully etched long table with handsomely ornate chairs for a couple dozen attendees. At the far end of the table stood a white-furred female Nawi that wore a gemstone encrusted tiara.

  Jeeves instantly knew she was regal and was dressed as a Nawi of upper status among the canine aliens.
A short sleeve elegant purple and white smock trimmed in gold covered her to just above the knees with a wide silver belt around her waistline.

  She was talking to two females dressed, as many other workers were, with light purple blouses that had the popular bluish-green stitching around the end of the short sleeves, neckline, and bottom of the blouses, common of Nawi subordinates.

  On their feet was a type of slip-on foot cover or shoe that laced up to just below their knees. The laces were the same color as the stitching of their blouses. All had the common short, tan colored fur and consistent black color painted flesh that made up their mouths and noses.

  The workers were placing emerald vases on the long table. As soon as the vases were placed on the table another Nawi inserted an arrangement of some type of multi-colored flowers into them.

  Located exactly halfway down the long table was a magnificent chair, taller and wider than the others at the table. It was a handsome black onyx chair with gold etching and several precious stones set into the frame.

  Directly across the table from the special chair was an open space without a chair. Why there wasn’t a chair placed in the space was anybody’s guess.

  The regal female’s eyes were looking down at a reference chart and when she looked up and saw Hopus she let out an excited yip and walked quickly toward him. She came up to him and speaking as she bowed her head said, “We are pleased you are back from the hunt, father.”

  She raised her head to look at her father and Hopus reached for her right hand then spoke.

  “We are pleased to see you this day, Mita. We wish to introduce you to, Commodore Jeeves. He is a visitor from the world Earth.”

  “I am very pleased to meet you, Mita.”

  “We are pleased to meet you, Commodore.”

  Mita turned to her father and asked, “What can we do for you this day, father?”

  “We wish for you to show our guest around our world. We see you are close to having preparations complete for a meeting between Supreme Emporer Nulashin and Supreme Admiral Allen.”