Steven Gordon 3: The Modloch Empire

by J W Murison

  Steven smiled and placed his hands behind his neck, stretching. ‘That’s the one. How was the last paper you published received?’

  ‘With great aplomb. Now they are singing my praises.’

  ‘That’s good.’

  ‘They are two faced.’

  Steven laughed, ‘Ouch! You haven’t forgiven them then?’

  ‘Not one of them. As Cookie says, they are definitely on my shit list.’

  Steven thought that saying coming from Komoru’s gentle lips was hilarious. ‘It is hard to believe I missed all of that.’

  He spun his seat round to face the wall and it shimmered. She sat on his knee and his arms enfolded her. They watched the world below in silence for a while.

  ‘Do you think it is beautiful?’ Komoru murmured.

  ‘Not really. Yes and no.’

  She laughed, ‘That doesn’t make sense.’

  ‘Doesn’t it?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘It is my first alien planet. That makes it beautiful. Is it a pretty as our Earth? Not even close. Even from here everything is so uniform; that makes it ugly.’

  She nestled farther into his arms, ‘I can see what you are trying to say, but I like it.’

  ‘Would you like to stay there for the rest of your life?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘Because it is ugly. From here it is beautiful. Up close it is so devoid of diversity. Yet there is still beauty.’

  It was Steven’s turn to laugh, ‘It is beautiful, it is ugly. You are making about as much sense as me.’

  A Modloch battlecruiser glided silently past. Steven sighed and Komoru got up. The wall became solid again and Steven turned back to the plans.

  CHAPTER 15

  The King and the Emperor escaped the clutches of Lady Jane and flopped down onto a couch with a sigh of relief. Both had discovered that the other was going to be reviewing the customs of the Croweens. A visiting ruler and an ally of the Empire had accepted the invitation to the feast to be held by the Humans. They had, however, some strange customs. The King had suggested that they shared the chore together. It was a decision the Emperor now regretted.

  ‘That woman has no fear. I haven’t been scolded like that since I was a child.’

  The King laughed, ‘She terrifies me.’

  The Emperor joined his laughter. ‘She needs a mate and children to keep her occupied.’

  ‘You would be surprised by the amount of people that agree with you.’

  ‘No I wouldn’t. It might take that sharp edge of her.’ They laughed again.

  ‘Order her to take a mate. Choose one for her.’

  ‘Do you honestly think that would work?’

  The Emperor thought it over, ‘Maybe not. It might just make her worse.’

  ‘Exactly. We were hoping the brave sergeant Kelly might have made inroads before now.’

  ‘Ah, the hero from another time.’

  ‘That’s right. She at least seems to respect him, if nothing else.’

  ‘How do you know?’

  ‘When she wanted to ask Captain Gordon for a place on his crew, it was Kelly she approached to sponsor her.’

  ‘She must also trust him then.’

  ‘He is an honourable man. She knew he would convey her request.’

  ‘Is he not a commoner?’

  ‘Yes he is.’

  ‘Not good. You could commission him and give him land.’

  ‘No I couldn’t. I am afraid one of my ancestors lost the part of our Empire that he comes from many centuries ago.’

  ‘That makes it worse. Still.’

  ‘Yes. I wonder if we could give them a little nudge.’

  ‘Do their duties keep them apart?’

  ‘Very much so.’

  ‘Gairloch thought much of him. Maybe we could invite him to the function.’

  ‘That’s an idea, but how do we get them together?’

  The Emperor smiled, ‘Oh that’s easy. One of the race that is coming is called the Delaney. They consider it obscene for single women to be unaccompanied.’

  ‘Oh yes, that’s good, I like that. Both of course are very duty orientated. They would accept it. After a stern talking too of course.’

  They both roared at one another’s wit.

  ‘Barley water,’ suggested the Emperor.

  ‘Yours or mine?’ Asked the King.

  ‘Mine, we will keep yours for later.’

  CHAPTER 16

  Cookie sat down at the table bearing gifts. Tapper’s eyes flew wide. ‘Fancies, nice. I thought we had run out of cream.’ He was referring to the cream buns on the plate.

  Cookie grinned, ‘It isn’t cream sir.’

  Tappers smile faded and his hand hesitated midway to the plate. ‘Oh! Not more of that alien cuisine.’

  ‘I am afraid so. This particular product is called Lala and comes from the sap of the Lala tree.’

  Tapper scowled, ‘Now I think you are talking Lala, Cookie.’

  Cookie laughed at him, ‘I shit you not sir. First developed by a race called the Wolat, who have a more diverse diet than grass. It can be made into a butter, cream and there is even a kind of cream cheese. It is considered a bit of an acquired taste in these parts.’

  ‘You mean only the rich can afford it.’

  ‘No not really sir, the Modloch just don’t seem to like it. On the rare occasions they do eat it, it is normally like this with fruit. Try it.’

  Tapper cautiously took one of the buns and took a bite. His face went through a number of different emotions. ‘It does taste a little barky, but highly acceptable. Nice find Cookie. Yes, I like that.’

  ‘All part of the job sir.’

  ‘Have you found much on the planet that Humans can eat?’

  ‘There isn’t much but grass and a few bland vegetables which were retained for medicinal value a very long time ago and survived the purges. One of them gives very bad gas.’

  Tapper stuffed another cream bun into his face, ‘Yes, I think I tried that one.’

  They both laughed, ‘Any word from the future Lady Dunedin sir?’

  ‘Well!’ he sighed. ‘We were hoping that when she joined the space corps she would be stationed with the fleet on one of the science vessels. Unfortunately she has been assigned to a vessel which is investigating the asteroid belt.’

  ‘That’s bollocks!’

  ‘Maybe, but that’s just the way it goes sometimes. To be truthful, I think she has the best job at the moment. The elements on this planet are very similar to those back home. Everything is already catalogued. Hardly the life of exploration I was hoping for really.’

  ‘Don’t worry sir, you know what it’s like. You have to go through all the normal bullshit before you can go have fun.’

  ‘That is true. How is your love life getting on?’

  ‘Well there is nothing getting on, if you know what I mean. Any and all pleasures shall only be revealed on the wedding night.’

  Tapper laughed, ‘Oh hard luck old man.’

  Cookie smiled and shook his head, ‘Actually I am handling it better than I thought I could. There is a certain comfort to the fact. I used to get paranoid if I was separated from a girlfriend for any length of time. With Mya, it just doesn’t enter my head.’

  ‘Oh! Actually I can see where that is a benefit.’ Tapper leaned forward. ‘I hear the dashing Rannalld has taken quite a fancy to her.’

  The two burst out laughing, and laughed until their sides hurt.

  CHAPTER 17

  Charlie was becoming extremely frustrated with the time everything was taking. It took two days for everything to be rerouted to Earth. You couldn’t just slip onto the internet and Babes had no records of what Charlie had wanted to find out. All the layman advice he had gathered had been conflicting, so when a full copy of the copyright laws arrived he was more than pleased. After another day of research he wrote an email to Steven’s mum explaining his circumstances. She wrote straight back bu
t it was another week by the time she had set everything up.

  It had been a very long fortnight. The Chief had called on him to help remove all of the old generators, which were now coming back from the repair shop. The Chief asked again for help to put the first one back in and Charlie was more than ready to test his theory.

  Babes had made a boiler suit for him and the Chief was impressed by his apparel.

  ‘I like that Charlie, what’s it called?’

  ‘We call them boiler suits. You must have seen them on Earth?’

  ‘I did, I just didn’t want to look stupid by asking.’

  ‘I could ask Babes to make you up a pair. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind.’

  He rubbed his hands together, ‘I would love a pair.’

  The first generator was lugged into place. A number of Modloch had turned up to see if Charlie could replace the nuts as easily as he had removed them. All the nuts and bolts had been swapped for brand new shiny ones. Charlie wrapped a thick towel round the nut and heaved it onto his shoulder. There was a communal groan and a few laughs from the gathered company. More than a few had bet on Charlie not being able to lift the nut by himself. Those that had worked with him already, bet against them. With a great roar of laughter the Chief collected most of the winnings.

  Charlie, unaware of what was happening, climbed up the ladder on the inside and lifted the nut into position. He tightened most of it by hand, then finished it off with the spanner which he had suspended from his shoulder by a strap. Sliding down and out, he was surprised by the din.

  The teams set to reconnecting the generator while Charlie and the Chief moved onto the next one.

  It was at their dinner break that Charlie was going to set his plan in motion. Most of the Modloch seemed to be in a good mood now and all treated Charlie with a growing respect. The young ones were playing their music again. Charlie took out the old fashioned boom box that Babes had made for him. Of course some were curious and much hilarity ensued when Charlie told them what it was. The young were almost rolling around on the floor at the size of the thing. Charlie took out a thermos and some sandwiches to eat.

  ‘Go on then Charlie, let’s hear what you Humans call music on your antique.’

  The others switched their music off and Charlie felt nervous as he switched it on. If they hated it then everything he had done, all the work, the research, was worth jack shit! If there was ever a time for prayer then it must be now, he thought, as he touched the play button. His guts tightened as the first bars of ‘In The Mood’ began to play and they burst out laughing. He was almost about to fall back into despair, but the laughing began to peter out. Alien ears started to twitch as they absorbed far more than Charlie could hear. Heads began to bob and feet to tap. Charlie felt a sudden release in tension.

  They almost bopped to ‘American Patrol’ but when ‘Moonlight Serenade’ and then ‘Moonlight Becomes You’ came on they howled in a strange way. It was one of the weirdest experiences of Charlie’s life.

  He switched the player off and the howl of protests almost deafened him.

  ‘Get back to work, the lot of you.’

  Some were asking Charlie where they could get a copy but the Chief chased them away. He regarded Charlie with cool eyes, ‘What are you up to Charlie?’

  Charlie tried to look innocent. ‘What do you mean, Chief?’

  ‘Don’t come your Human crap with me Charlie. I can tell you are up to something by that stupid grin on your face.’

  Charlie took a sip of coffee, ‘Are you aware of the problems we are having getting money?’

  ‘You mean the Human race, your position in the universe, that kind of thing?’

  ‘Aye.’

  ‘Of course I am, do you think I’m stupid?’

  ‘No I don’t.’

  ‘You do it through trade. You want to come into the great alliance? You have to be sponsored by about six or seven other races. You trade with them, and they give you the financial backing you need to go through the process.’

  ‘Aye, that as may be Chief, but I bet they don’t also have a bloody great battle fleet to look after while they are going through the process.’

  ‘True enough.’

  ‘What we have for trade they won’t accept.’

  ‘You mean like fire diamonds and that kind of shit?’

  ‘Aye, and the Emperor is already selling grass from the seeds we sent him. That leaves us a wee bit short of leverage.’

  The Chief shrugged, ‘You should have been a bit more careful then, shouldn’t you? I told your people a long time ago to blow this ship up and negotiate your way into the alliance. They knew better though. Let’s cross the barrier with a bloody great war fleet and give the city ship to the Emperor, they said. Hasn’t that been a shit load of fun?’

  ‘Nothing to do with me. People a lot bloody smarter than me made that decision.’

  ‘Way I see it, they are going to pay for that decision sooner or later.’

  Charlie detected a certain note in the Chief’s voice, ‘Like I said, out of my hands Chief.’

  ‘Right, but what’s all this about?’ You’re at it.’

  Charlie held up his hands in surrender. ‘You got me. Did you like the music?’

  ‘Stop playing games Charlie.’

  ‘I can assure you, I’m not playing games. Did you enjoy it?’

  ‘It was amazing. Why didn’t I hear any of that when I was on Earth?’

  ‘Different era. Remember Kelly?’

  ‘Right, the hero out of time, a sergeant like you.’

  ‘That’s the one. These are his music discs. They were from his time, almost a hundred years ago.’

  The Chief frowned, ‘Why is that significant? More to the point, what has it got to do with me?’

  ‘Do you know anything about the music business?’

  ‘Not a bloody clue.’

  Charlie grinned, ‘Turns out artists don’t need an alliance.’

  The frown deepened, ‘Young Gallus mentioned something about that the other week, didn’t he?’

  ‘He did that. He was right. What you need is a bona fide music company that has a license from its department of foreign affairs to trade off world.’

  ‘So?’

  ‘The artist goes to the company, the company then approaches another music company from inside the great alliance. They make a deal, the inside company sets up bank accounts for the company. Once the company has an account set up it can then distribute funds to whomever it wants: traveling executives, managers, artists, you know that kind of shit.’

  ‘You are thinking of setting up a company?’

  ‘Already done it.’

  ‘Right.’ The Chief’s mind began to race, ‘You have permission for your office of foreign affairs?’

  ‘Signed, sealed and delivered.’

  ‘What is it you are missing then?’

  ‘We need a patron.’

  The Chief sat back and scratched his muzzle, ‘Not so easy. I don’t really know any rich people.’

  Charlie shook his head, ‘You can be such a dick at times. Why would we need a rich person when we have you?’

  The Chief froze mid-scratch, ‘I couldn’t be a patron. I don’t know much about it, but you have to be a person of privilege and power.’

  ‘You are an officer in the imperial fleet.’

  He laughed, ‘A bloody engineer! Hardly qualifies. Nowhere near high enough in rank Charlie.’

  ‘Ah ha, you’re forgetting that you were an ambassador to Earth.’

  ‘No!’

  ‘A real ambassador, as decreed by the Emperor. It doesn’t matter if the world in question doesn’t belong to the your wee galactic family. I checked.’

  The Chief felt a rush of anger, ‘Is this why you have been hanging about the past few weeks?’

  ‘Stop being a dick Chief, it was your guys that gave me the idea in the first bloody place.’

  He shook his head, ‘I am sorry Charlie, that wasn’t warranted
. Your right, I should have known better.’ He reached out and placed a hand over Charlie’s. ‘That was just the old soldier in me speaking. You saved my life, and I count you as one of my true friends. Even if you are a freak. Forgive me?’

  Charlie laughed out loud, the sudden tension he had felt slipping away. ‘No problems. I would have probably thought the same.’

  ‘Two old soldiers eh!’ The Chief held up a colossal mug and Charlie knocked his small one against it. ‘Right Charlie, go through everything. Explain it all to me.’

  Eventually the Chief agreed to help and began to make enquiries. It took a few days to get results but he managed to arrange an appointment for them both the following week. In the meantime, Charlie helped them refit the generators as they arrived back from the workshops.

  CHAPTER 18

  Komoru was striding back and forth in front of Steven’s desk waiting for him to finish reading the plans. He eventually sat back and pushed them away as if they were poison. ‘Wow.’

  ‘We are not endorsing those plans.’

  ‘No we are not, but they are brilliant.’

  She scowled at him coldly, ‘They certainly are not.’

  ‘I mean from a tactical point of view.’

  ‘I know what you mean. It is a recipe for disaster. Knock out the Modloch fleet, capture the planet, attack the other Modloch fleets and bombard their planets from orbit?’

  ‘It is audacious, but it is a brilliant plan. The details are amazing.’

  ‘We would have every race on this side of the barrier against us.’

  ‘Of course we would, that’s why we can’t endorse it, and we will say that. The ramifications of this plan would most likely lead to the destruction of the Human race, but they are still brilliant. These two should receive some recognition for that.’

  ‘Who are they?’

  ‘Both Chinese, a General Han and Admiral Chen.’

  ‘Are you going to recommend them to Baxter?’

  ‘I certainly am.’

  ‘I don’t like it.’

  Steven sighed, ‘I know, but they are very talented. We cannot afford to ignore this kind of talent.’