…shuttle now flying in sync with Ishbant escort team…
“This is really some advanced piece of technology, Mr. Daniels!” Michael said.
“I agree with you, Michael. It takes autopilot to a whole new level. It must be working with an integrated advanced artificial intelligence system to be able to listen in on the discussion and be able to respond proactively,” Andrews said.
“Maybe we can work on a system like this for some of our new transport systems at GEI,” Richard said.
“That is a great idea, Mr. Daniels. Not just in transportation, but in other fields of endeavor as well, such as office administration, sales and marketing, logistics, and maybe even warfare,” Andrews said.
“Warfare?” Richard repeated. “As tempting as this proposed system might be, I would prefer that GEI concentrate on its deployment for purposes that are peaceful and environmentally friendly. War on Earth should be the last thing on our mind.”
“But it is an inevitable aspect of any form of civilization, race, or community, Mr. Daniels. If we don’t decide to do it, our competitors will simply copy our technology in other peaceful and environmental endeavors and begin to deploy the same technology in missiles, ammunitions, and weapons. And when that happens, we will have no other choice than to join them. And we’ll be too late, so we won’t be able to beat them,” Andrews said.
“Maybe you are right about that, Professor,” Richard said. “I mean, look at where we are right now. Rather than being busy with transforming Dan-X34 into the beautiful and profitable planet I wish it to be, we are looking to hire mercenaries to eradicate the threats to our planet. I think you have a point, Professor. As much as I personally dislike the mere idea or thought of confrontations and wars, it seems to be inevitable. And this is not just speaking with regard to human relations on Earth, but also at a galactic and interplanetary level. Maybe what we will eventually do will be to pioneer the technology, adapt it for military purposes, and then become the sole owners of the military patents.”
Andrews nodded. “By being the sole owners of the military patents, we will effectively become a monopoly that will determine the direction in which the technology can be deployed for any confrontations and wars. That way, we can regulate their use and discourage the need for such wars.”
“Yes. We could even set up a kind of monitoring organization or foundation to ensure compliance with worldwide, interplanetary, and intergalactic peace and conducive relations among all races from all over the universe,” Richard said.
“All from the profits of the technology in this tablet,” Andrews said.
“We’re going down,” Katrina announced suddenly. The shuttle had changed direction and was heading for the ground below.
“Are we still in sync with the escort team?” Andrews asked.
“Yes, Professor,” Michael replied. “Our systems and monitors are confirming this, even though we still do not have any visual on what the escort team looks like but it seems that we are in sync with two escort teams.”
“And each of the teams is still on either of our sides?” Andrews asked.
“Yes, Professor. They are still by our side and we are all heading towards the ground below,” Katrina said.
“This cannot be a suicide mission,” Andrews said as the shuttle sped towards the ground. “There must be a reason why they are heading for the ground.”
As the shuttle sped towards the ground, Richard could see the look of apprehension on his crew members’ faces. Richard knew that they had every right to be worried. At that moment, the shuttle was almost nosediving and heading for a collision with the dry and desolate surface. To make matters worse, they had not gotten any visual sighting of who their escorts were. For anyone who was watching from afar, it would seem as though the shuttle, which had previously been flying horizontally, had suddenly decided to turn vertical and head for the ground beneath it.
As the ground raced towards them, the crew of the shuttle saw that the ground had begun to give way. In a particular spot that had previously been sandy and flat, there now appeared to be a big hole which was expanding rapidly.
The shuttle now raced into the hole in the ground.
“The hole is closing,” Michael said as he glanced behind them.
“And we can now get a visual on our escorts as well,” Katrina said.
Richard and the other crew members looked outside. They could now see the two escorts that were flying by their side.
“Saucers? Are those flying saucers?” Richard asked as he saw the round, flat, spinning objects by their side. They looked like brown, circular, flat, hollow ceramic plates which were revolving on their axis by their side.
“How come we can now see them?” Michael asked.
“Unlike when we were above ground and they appeared to be invisible,” Katrina added.
“They appeared to be invisible or actually were invisible?” Andrews asked. “I think it was a sort of shield that they put on while we were above ground. Maybe just to be sure that they knew who we were.”
“Or a camouflage to protect them from would-be adversaries,” Michael added.
Richard pointed in front of the shuttle. “Some camouflage it is. Look at the environment around us.”
The crew members looked around them. The shuttle and the escort flying saucers were now flying through what was obviously a well-developed expanse of city structures, edifices, and buildings. All around there was activity as other similar flying saucers were flying around.
The buildings were tall, and a lot of them had circular rings and flat surfaces at their top.
“A whole world is existing underground the surface of this Planet Ishbant,” Richard said.
“The planet is an underground planet?” Andrews asked. “This is really marvelous. How are they surviving? Where do they get their oxygen from?”
“This will be a very good case study, Professor,” Katrina said. “I don’t think there is an example like this anywhere. People living underground.”
“Not just living, but thriving very well,” Michael added. “Imagine the level of intelligence and advanced technology that they have to deploy to dwell here successfully.”
“We can get all those answers once we get to meet with their rulers,” Richard said. “We have not even seen any of them to know how close their resemblance is to human beings.”
“Or how they communicate as well,” Andrews said. “Considering what was happening while we were above ground.”
At that moment, they all saw that the shuttle was now flying through some huge loops into an open space. The other saucers had equally taken the same route and were now landing on top of what looked like landing pads. The shuttle came to rest on another pad as well.
“No one needs to be told that we all need to get on our headgear and oxygen purification suits,” Andrews said as he pressed a button. The headgear was released from behind the seat in front of his. Andrews picked it up and wore it over his head.
As he did so, he saw that the other crew members were also putting on theirs. Once they had all put on their headgear and cinched them with their space suits, Katrina opened the shuttle’s doors and they all came down.
Outside, they could see how big the entire city was. It was very expansive and beautiful, with tall skyscrapers all around and lots of flying saucers moving from one destination to the other.
Richard saw that the two flying saucers were parked close to their shuttle.
A door opened on the side of each saucer and slid downwards towards the ground like an escalator. And then some beings emerged from each saucer.
They had very large heads which were as large as pumpkins. The large size of their heads contrasted sharply with their very thin bodies.
“Almost like someone stuck a pencil into a piece of orange,” Richard whispered to Andrews.
Andrews nodded as the beings alighted from their saucers and began to walk towards them. There were six of them, and they moved slowly and
gradually towards the crew members of the shuttle.
Each of the beings was wearing a silver-white outfit on their body. They wore gloves and boots of the same color and were carrying some sort of guns or weapons.
Their large heads were light blue in color and had two eyes, a nose, a mouth, and two ears. There was no hair on their heads. Their eyes were very large and looked like huge saucers that appeared to roll and revolve independently of each other.
When they got close to the shuttle’s crew members, the six beings looked at them with their large eyes. Six pairs of large eyes were revolving and watching them closely.
One of the big-headed beings stepped forward. He brought out a tiny button from his pocket and clipped it on one of his ears. It looked like a clip-on earring, except that he had only put it on one of his ears, not both.
The being pressed a tiny knob on the earring and then looked up.
“People of Planet Earth, we welcome you once again to our planet Ishbant,” the being said without moving its lips.
Richard was surprised.
“Mental communication interface?” Andrews said loudly.
The being looked at the professor and nodded. “That was an accurate guess, Earth man. We use these to communicate with visitors who are from dimensions that are different from ours.”
“Thank you for welcoming us to your planet,” Richard said. “We wish to meet your leaders.”
“You will accompany us to the supreme command, which is not too far from here,” the being said.
At that moment, the ground seemed to shift. From it arose a type of escalator which began to move towards the structures ahead of them. It resembled some form of conveyor belt which was moving into one of the buildings not too far from where they were standing.
“You can get on board the beltway,” the being said, again without moving his mouth.
The other crew members hesitated. The beings saw this.
“It is perfectly safe for you,” the being said. “You just climb on it and it moves you easily towards our central command.”
Two of the beings had already climbed on the belt and were being taken towards the building.
“Well, you all heard what our hosts said,” Richard said. “Let us climb onto the belt if we want to get to their central command.”
Michael was the first to climb on it, followed by Katrina, Andrews, and Richard. When they were now standing on the belt, it was moving towards the building. The other beings had also climbed onto the belt as well.
“This is amazing,” Richard said as they were being ferried towards the building. “Considering its size, it is unbelievably noiseless, and resilient enough to carry our weight effortlessly.”
“This is really an advanced technology for conveyor belts,” Andrews said. “I wonder what kind of material was used to make it.”
“I am more interested in finding out if they will really be of assistance to us,” Richard said.
“Considering the level of technology that they have displayed to us so far, I have no doubt that they are capable of handling those giants,” Andrews said.
“I hope so,” Richard replied.
The conveyor belt carried them into a building and they soon alighted from it. Inside, they were surrounded by pure-white walls and contrasting black chairs. On the walls were several large-screen monitors on which were displayed several parts of the planet above.
“An underground monitoring system,” Richard said as they saw various images of the world on top of them.
“Those are very advanced surveillance systems that you are looking at. The best in the universe at the moment,” the being added. “Please sit and feel comfortable while we contact our supreme commander.”
Richard nodded and motioned for his crew members to be seated. “I think we are in the right place, Professor. Everything about them is just very advanced.”
“I just cannot understand the kind of technology that they are using to accomplish their communication interface with us, Professor,” Michael said.
“Maybe that is why it is so advanced, Michael. We are not supposed to understand it at all,” the professor said.
The being returned almost immediately. But this time around he came back with two more of his kind. The newcomers had equally large heads but they wore yellow suits and did not carry any weapons. They also had earrings on each of their left ears.
“Visitors from Planet Earth, you are welcome to Planet Ishbant,” one of the newcomers said without moving his mouth. “My name is Erboun, and I am the commanding officer of our planet’s elite combatants. I understand that you require our assistance.”
Richard stood up. “Yes indeed, Erboun. I am Richard, and these are my colleagues.”
“Welcome to Ishbant, Richard. How can we be of service to you?” Erboun asked.
“My planet is under siege and I just need to get a solution as quickly as possible. I need to hire armies and mercenaries,” Richard said.
“Well, actually, we do not deny the fact that we have some of the most advanced means of weaponry and ammunition that exists anywhere in the universe. However, we always endeavor not to go into direct confrontation with other planets. Rather, we rent our services and technological capabilities to deal with invaders and illegal occupants,” Erboun said.
Richard smiled. “That is wonderful, Erboun. I mean, your attitude of approaching such issues with a conscience. Other people would have deployed such skills and expertise for evil purposes, you know? Like annexing other planets, and so on and so forth.”
“We have no intention of using our powers and capabilities to promote any interplanetary aggression. Ours is simply defense and protection, as a way of assisting those in need, and those who are being unjustly colonized or invaded,” Erboun said.
“Can you give me an idea of how strong you are?” Richard asked.
“Strength is a relative term, Richard. On Ishbant we focus more on specific solutions to specific problems. Our capabilities are not one solution that fits all problems. They are tailor-made to address specific threats. I need you to give me an idea of a particular situation, perhaps the one that you are presently facing. That way, I can give you a summary of the specific solutions that we will deploy to address that particular threat,” Erboun said.
“Have you heard of the Tarvians?” Richard asked.
“The Tarvians? Do you mean the giant invaders?” Erboun asked.
“Yes, the giants,” Richard said. “They took over my planet, and I need to get them out.”
“That is a very simple problem,” Erboun said.
Richard looked around at the excited faces of his crew members. “Did you say the Tarvians is a simple problem? They destroyed all my facilities and structures as if they were crushing sandcastles on a beach!”
Erboun nodded. “They did all that to intimidate you. Trust me, Richard, the Tarvians are a simple problem to us. Do you know why? It is because we have dealt with them on a couple of occasions in the past. And on each one of those occasions, we were able to defeat them and chase them away.”
“You have defeated them before?” Richard repeated.
Erboun nodded. “Yes, on both occasions. The Tarvians are always fond of invading planets that seem to have an overabundance of minerals and other vital resources. They come, smash things up a bit, frighten away the original inhabitants, and then occupy the planet and treat it as their own. Typical way that pirates will behave.”
“This is wonderful! How do you normally defeat them?” Richard asked.
“We normally deploy our commandos. And by making use of their unique tracking and location skills, they are able to spot them wherever they might be hiding on the host planet. Once they are located, we deploy any of our available demobilizing laser beams, which are designed to incapacitate any creature that has the mass size and molecular structures of the giant Tarvians,” Erboun said.
Richard clapped his hands. “This is wonderful! What more do I need to ask? You ha
ve the solution for me.”
“Thank you for your commendation, Richard. How many of the Tarvians are we looking at taking down?” Erboun asked.
“There were seven at the beginning, but last time we checked there were thirty,” Richard said.
“Thirty? It appears that you are not too sure,” Erboun said.
“We actually had to run away when we had the chance. But our surveillance cameras picked out thirty of them,” Richard said.
“Those must have been their advance party. There will be many more on your planet,” Erboun said.
Richard shook his head. “More? I don’t understand. We saw thirty of them.”
Erboun shook his big head. “The minimum number of Tarvians in any invasion team is at least fifty.”
“Fifty?” Richard repeated. “What would they need fifty for when just two or three can accomplish enough damage and carnage like we witnessed?”
“Well, mainly to quell any external threats to their purposes. But I assure you, there were at least fifty. And they would have been in hiding. They are good masters of camouflage, hiding, and disguise,” Erboun said.
“My goodness, these giants are monsters!” Richard said.
“Monsters that are ruthless at their trade. But you don’t have to worry, Richard. My commandoes can easily deal with them,” Erboun said. “No matter where they might be hiding on your planet, we are going to find them and incapacitate them.”
“Hiding? You mean there could still be more in hiding?” Richard asked.
“But of course they are. Where do you think they would go?” Erboun asked.
“I thought there would not be any more of them apart from the ones we saw when we were coming here,” Richard said.
“See? They will still be there assessing your planet and documenting what is available on it. And that will normally take them about a week to complete,” Erboun said.
“But we passed through the planet on our way here. We had to go through my planet’s gate to connect to your world, Erboun. We did see them guarding the gates; we accounted for thirty through our system’s surveillance and monitors,” Richard said.
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