Zero Time

by M. P. Swinnerton

  CHAPTER 48

  The weather conditions had become rapidly worse with periods of heavy rain, thunder and lightning, apart from the tornadoes, which regularly disrupted the space travel programs. Many of the top Zelite weathermen had contacted Zon about the deteriorating situation and had requested a meeting of all the scientists and experts in this field. After a long and detailed report had been drawn up and circulated amongst the committee elected to advise on the best solution to the problem, the members called on Zon and asked for his permission to take the action they thought was necessary to clear the atmosphere of this electrical disturbance that was surrounding Planet Zero.

  Zon knew that the plan of setting off an atomic explosion in the space adjoining the planet was not an ideal solution as there were many dangers involved in this action, but so far no other method of solving the problem had been suggested, so he had to finally and reluctantly agree to this massive risk.

  Due to the danger involved, it was decided that all the female Zelites would be evacuated to a safe haven in another insignificant but fortunately nearby planet until the atmosphere was cleared. Accordingly, arrangements were swiftly put in place for them to be transported to Planet Emmet, which was known to be free from pollution, and where plenty of clean water and edible food was available. This particular planet was inhabited by a fairly large and industrious ant colony. They were hymenopterous insects and, as far as was known to the Zelites, there were no rogue colonies of the dangerous, white neuropterous ants on their planet. Contact was made with the Queen Ant, through computerized technology, and an arrangement was made with her to accommodate the female Zelites until it was safe for them to return to Planet Zero. Most of the Zelite women were very reluctant to take this step and leave their partners to the dangers they would be exposed to shortly on Planet Zero, but there was no arguing with Zon. It had been decreed that they should leave and so they had no option but to do what they were told.

  The Litelanders were given the choice to send their females to Planet Emmet, but decided they would run the risk and remain in their vast underground safety shelters that had already been constructed prior to this situation. The underground shelters were pretty strong, and Zon agreed that they would probably be safe enough from any atomic outfall as long as they remained deep down in these shelters until they were advised that it was safe to come out. These shelters had originally been built to withstand the effects of radiation during the period when the Earth (as it was then known) underwent a massive trauma caused by various nations fighting one another and using deadly hydrogen bombs.

  As far as the Outlanders were concerned, Stef discussed the matter with her ministers and it was unanimously agreed that they would all, males and females, remain together on Planet Zero, and nothing would persuade them to change their minds. Stef knew that there was an enormous danger that contamination would deplete their numbers, but she also knew that if they risked sending the Outland women to outer space, it was quite likely that they would die from the effect of exposure to foreign germs and viruses that would quite obviously be rampant on Planet Emmet. The Outlanders made it quite clear to Zon that it was their desire to remain on Planet Zero during the time when the atmosphere clearing and purifying period was taking place. They promised to wear appropriate masks and protective clothing and remain deep underground during the exercise and so it was eventually agreed that they could also remain.

  Everything was arranged for the explosion to take place to clear the atmosphere and Zon warned the Zelite women that as soon as the explosion was set off, there would be no contact with them until the space surrounding Planet Zero was clear of pollution. He assured the women that as soon as was safely possible, he would arrange for them to be returned immediately. No travel could take place during the atomic splitting stage and there would be a gap of a few weeks before any contact at all could be made.

  The Zelite women were a little wary of the strange ant inhabitants of their temporary home, but from the outset it appeared that the ants were doing everything in their power to make them comfortable and welcome. They were provided with ample food and drinking water and their quarters were extremely clean and luxurious. The ants were almost as large as the Zelites and were excessive workaholics. They were forever cleaning and cooking, and appeared to have a very orderly regime to their colony.

  The two very diverse planetary inhabitants communicated through computerized translation machines, and all seemed to be well until one day a distinctly vicious troop of white ants suddenly appeared at the gates of the compound where the Zelite women were lodging. The normal ant guards were ineffective against this ferocious group of marauding white ants, and the defenseless Zelite women stood no chance against the dreadful onslaught. The horrific episode happened so swiftly that the Zelite women were all massacred and eaten by the white ants before the normal hymenopterous ants were able to muster enough forces to beat them off. The Zelite women had desperately endeavored to send distress signals to Planet Zero, but their efforts were useless. The atomic explosion set off to clear the atmosphere surrounding Planet Zero had already taken place and no signals were getting through to Zero. It was some time before Zon received the tragic news from Planet Emmet and, when contact was eventually established between the two planets, he had the sad task of advising the rest of the Zelite men that all their females had been assassinated.

  Zon was devastated. His Zelite female family had been on Planet Emmet for safety's sake and now they were gone, slaughtered so horribly, including Zargaret and Zeileen, his dear mistress Uvella, and his precious darling daughter Zamella, one of the triplets. One blessing was that Zamella's twin brothers, Zamon and Zaul, had remained with their father on Planet Zero during this crisis, and survived.

  A long period of public mourning was ordered and it was with a heavy heart that Zon eventually instructed his Zelite men that they would now have to find partners amongst the few Outland women who would be willing to accept them. There were few Unos left and no other plausible inhabitants on any other attainable planets for them to mingle with. The nearest planet with any semi-acceptable beings on it was Planet Cinque. Chimpanzees that had been classified as quasi-human beings quite a few centuries earlier had inhabited this planet.

  Zon had thought the answer would be to encourage partnerships with the chimp females, but the few liaisons that had already taken place had not been happy ones, and although the female chimps were quite prepared to accept the Zelite males, most Zelite males were rather repulsed by these hairy quasi-humans. It seemed, therefore, that the answer to their problem was most clearly not on Planet Cinque.

  Thank goodness that Stef and her elders had remained staunch in their stubbornness to remain on Planet Zero when the atomic cleansing explosions had taken place, for it now seemed that the only answer to the problem was to give the Outlanders the same status as the Zelites and allow free partnerships between the two diverse races.

  CHAPTER 49

  Zon eventually admitted to Stef how he had managed to endow her with the longevity gene, but Stef had still not forgiven him for her forced acceptance of this. They still enjoyed fantastic sex together, but a widening gap was looming between the pair of them regarding the liberty Zon had taken in forcing this situation on her. Quite often they would sit down together to have a meaningful talk about the reason for Zon's action, but normally Stef would end up losing her temper and throwing whatever was near at hand at Zon. He, on the other hand, seemed to somehow sadistically enjoy his solution of ending the arguments by painfully slapping her.

  Eventually Stef decided not to argue with him any more about what had happened. It had become apparent to her that she was continually getting the worst of it by trying to make him arrange for her to have a reversion operation that would enable her to age gracefully and, in her own tradition considered natural, as she had always wished. The Outland woman knew that she could not persuade Zon to do something that would be detrimental to himself and she acknowledged that, apa
rt from this fundamental disagreement, he was otherwise a wonderful husband and father.

  She did, however, believe that if Zon no longer found her attractive, he might reject her and take another partner and then allow her to revert back to her normal mortal state. Stef had tried many ways to divert Zon's need for her to some other female. She even asked the GM maid to go and make love to him and, that took a lot of nail-biting, jealousy-ridden courage on Stef's part, knowing full well that this GM maid was extremely adept at pleasing Zon. But Zon guessed what Stef was up to and refused the GM maid's tempting attention seeking. He was not to be deterred from his need for Stef and this plan did not work out, in common with all the other schemes that Stef endeavored to try on Zon.

  In the end Stef gave up trying to divert his attention to other females and decided to try and make him jealous instead. She flirted outrageously with as many Zelites as possible, even with his brothers, until one day an idea started growing in her mind. She finally turned the idea into an outrageous plan to coerce the GM man, Zon's best friend Zenith, into making love to her.

  Stef had known for some time that Zon and Zenith were pretty close and she often had doubts in her mind about the true intimacy of these two men, but had always brushed aside the feeling, as she knew that Zon was, it seemed, completely satisfied with his desire for her. However, the idea suddenly came to her that if she managed to persuade Zenith to become her lover, she could really get at Zon and perhaps then he would change his mind and finally allow her to revert to her original genes.

  It was some time before she managed to finally corner Zenith at a time when she was away from Zon and visiting her parents in Outland, and she heard on the grapevine that Zenith was in an area close by, inspecting the perimeter fences of a storage facility that was having problems with soil erosion. Stef took her private transporter out to where she had learned that Zenith was, and making a plausible excuse that she had also been having qualms about the soil erosion problems, she gave him no suspicions about why she was there. After a few technical discussions regarding the erosion, Stef smiled sweetly at Zenith and then courteously asked him if he would mind visiting her at her quarters in Outland as she had something very important to discuss with him. Zenith, dubious about her motives, at first refused as he guessed the woman could be dangerous for him, but eventually curiosity got the better of him and he agreed to meet her the next afternoon in her own quarters.

  The little white-painted cottage-style houses in Outland were quite alien to Zenith, but they were also quite intriguing. He was bemused at the pretty little baskets of flowers hanging over the porches of some of the doors and he was fascinated by the color scheme variation between each property. “They certainly kept the town interesting visually,” Zenith thought. He was feeling quite affable when he finally reached Stef's quarters and it was not long before he was sitting comfortably on a soft sofa next to Stef, who had plied him with lots of their local palatable and extremely potent wine. The effect of the alcoholic beverage on Zenith was quite earth shattering and he felt himself drifting into a pleasurable, almost faint-like, state. He felt silly and giggly, but he also felt quite euphoric and happy. He was floating on a sea of madness but really enjoying it. Never in his life had Zenith experienced such a rapturous feeling.

  Stef, recognizing that she had succeeded in intoxicating the GM male, decided to make her play for him. She gently ran her fingers along his leg, from his knee along his thigh and massaged his upper leg muscles tenderly but expertly, watching for the reaction that she was hoping for from Zenith. This was not long in coming, and before she knew it, Zenith was undressing her and almost slobbering with desire for her. The Outland woman was quite keen to get the act over and done with. She had no feelings for this man, but knew she had to let Zenith take her completely so that she could flaunt about this act to Zon. It was, she felt, the only way she could hurt Zon and get her revenge for what he had done to her.

  She felt the man shuddering with delight as he completed his act and smiled to herself that she had managed to do the one thing that she knew would really distress the great Zon. After Stef had managed to extricate herself from Zenith's embrace, she excused herself and left him to sleep himself sober. She had been clever enough to switch on the security vision camera that swept her bedroom every few seconds, and knew she had the evidence to back up her claim that Zenith had made love to her.

  When Zenith finally sobered up and began to realize the seriousness of what had happened, he was mortified and could not believe that he had been so stupid as to allow that female to persuade him into doing what he had done. The GM man gathered his wits together and, with a heavy heart, decided to come clean and confess to his buddy that he had done such a stupid and idiotic thing. He got up and dressed and discreetly slunk out of Stef's condo. He knew that she would have been long gone and must be laughing at the fact that she had been able to take him so easily.

  When he returned to Santa Barbara to speak with Zon, he found that his friend had already left for Liteland to visit his sons, so Zenith decided to put off his confession until he could speak with Zon face to face.

  CHAPTER 50

  During the time that Stef had tricked Zenith into being with her, Zon was away visiting his sons trying to deal with the ever-increasing problems occurring in the specific Liteland area, which was under his son Zarn's control. He was disappointed in his son's rapidly diminishing control over his Litelander groups and had to visit Liteland continually to ensure that Zarn and Natasha were ruling their territory in a fit and just manner.

  The two leaders of Liteland, Ston and Zarn, had agreed to divide the territory into two separate areas, as Zarn was forever trying to undermine Ston's authority. Ston was still the main leader, but, after consultation with his father, he had decided to allow his stepbrother a chance to prove his capabilities without too much interference from Ston.

  Zon had received many complaints from the Liteland people that Zarn was not interested in trying to improve the situation in his area of Liteland. There were plenty of golden opportunities to make life very comfortable for the population there, but it appeared that Zarn and Natasha were more interested in dancing and having parties with their own particular small band of reprobates than they were in governing the Liteland area under Zarn's control. It seemed that everything was going pear-shaped for Zon!

  After his last visit to try and control his son, Zon sent a message to Stef, asking her to meet him at her place in Outland. He told her he was missing her.

  Stef was already there when he arrived and he was surprised and a little disappointed to see that she had not taken much trouble to prepare herself for him. Normally Stef went to great lengths to make herself as beautiful as possible for their liaisons, but this time she wore no make-up and it looked as though she had not even bothered to comb her gorgeous hair. It was all askew and untidy. However, he presumed she had been too busy organizing the safety procedures for the Outland people to think about herself, and he soon forgot his initial surprise at finding her like this. He needed her badly. He had been without her for a few weeks now and even without make-up and beautiful clothes, she was still the most gorgeous woman he knew and he pulled her towards him, kissing her passionately.

  For the first time since they had been lovers, Zon felt a strange sense of revulsion on Stef's part. “Where was the spark of fire that he always lit when he touched Stef?” She was cold as ice to him and he withdrew from her, horrified at what was happening. “What's the matter, honey?” Zon enquired.

  The woman shrugged her shoulders belligerently and curtly asked him to accompany her to the film-viewing room. After viewing the security video depicting Stef and Zenith together, the realization of what Stef had done soon dawned on Zon. He pushed her aside and ran towards the exit of the building towards the sky-scanning area, tears unashamedly flowing copiously down his distraught face. Pausing, to dejectedly rest for a moment on the viewing bench, Zon placed his head in his hands and covered his fa
ce.

  As he held his head in his hands, Zon heard a massive crack and roar like thunder breaking from the sky above him. It sounded like a million wild horses racing towards him. The noise was so deafening that he glanced upwards just in time to hear a booming voice ridiculing him. “You, Zon, mighty leader of the Planet Zero! Ha! What has become of you now, eh?” This gruesome, horrible, grim, spine-chilling, abominable, loathsome, odious sound could only come from one sickening source, and Zon raised his eyes fearfully to confirm what he already guessed.

  Zon gazed in disgust at what he saw. It was Ottovio, the General of the foul warriors of Planet Otto. This fearful apparition was indeed a most horrific spectacle. The ‘creature’, for Zon was reluctant to call it a human being, was covered in a garish, tarnished gold material from head to toe. Its face appeared from an opening at the top of the outfit. It had tubes and bottles hanging from its side. The grimacing leer of Ottovio sent shudders down Zon's spine.

  As the Planet Leader stared in horror at this apparition of malevolence, the bestial creature mockingly enticed him, saying, “Come now, Zon, join me. This is your only escape now. Join me. Together we can become joint masters of the universe, masters of everything and everyone. All you have to do is say yes to me!”

  As he clasped his hands over his ears to try and block out this cacophony of noise emanating from the putrid creature's mouth, cajoling and wheedling him, Zon yelled at it to go away and leave him in peace.

  When he eventually opened his eyes, the apparition before him had converted itself into Zenith, his old friend. This apparition looked like Zenith, but still had the voice of the evil general from Planet Otto. Zon was aware that the Ottos had devised a method of transforming themselves into other people, so he forced himself to realize that this was not his friend, Zenith, but instead it was just the foul Ottovio.