* * * *
It was late in the day. The meeting was delayed as M’bron had an affinity for the cameras. The crowd of reporters and cameramen had grown once the Kan-ji ships landed. Carl and Ravi stood to the side when the hotel staff opened up the lobby to the reporters. M'bron was an impressive figure, over six and a half feet tall. He was handsome; some would say he was pretty. When he spoke, he was elegant, as though educated at one of Earth’s finer universities. His voice was clear with a sing songy quality.
He mesmerized the audience with his witty interviews and spun tales of swashbuckling adventures about searching the galaxy for trade opportunities. He finished with a story of finding Earth… of all its wonders and trading possibilities. He made a special point of mentioning the unprovoked attacks from a renegade Earth organization. Even though Carl knew better, he himself felt sad for the Kan-ji. He actually felt sorry for them, even a little angry and disgusted with Joshua’s team. ‘Wow, this guy’s good.’ he thought as they exited for their meeting.
The conference room was smartly decorated. A large table only half filled it. Elizabeth Savage sat at its head. M'bron sat across from her at the other end. The 5 religious leaders, Cardinal Nolton, Rabbi Levy, Senior Cleric Abdullah, Maharishi Jamar and a Buddhist monk called Sivathinsorn sat across from Joshua, Alec, and Fitzsimmons. Two Kan-ji guards stood behind M'bron while the other two guarded the door. Carl and Ravi were allowed to move about freely to record the meeting.
M'bron was clearly in charge. He began by addressing the religious leaders. “I asked for you because one of my interests is religions. I have been to dozens of worlds and have studied many of their religions. Unlike most other planets, yours has a wide variety of religions that I find very fascinating. M'bron paused as he studied them. “Tell me about this Adam and Eve.”
Rabbi Levy was the first to reply. “They were created by God, in His image.”
“Where?” M'bron prompted him.
“In the garden of Eden.” Cardinal Nolton said opening his Bible.
“Interesting… Just who is your God? What does He represent?”
“He is 'The One' and has gone by many names.” Levy responded.
“Some of the names are Elohim, Jehovah, or Yahweh.” added Nolton.
“So how does your God communicate to you?” M'bron continued his questioning. Carl noticed that the other leaders were being ignored. Glancing at Joshua, he saw him giving a confused look to Alec. Why, in such an important meeting would this M'bron be discussing religion?
“Through prayer or through the Holy Spirit.” replied Nolton.
Rabbi Levy added, “at times Angels are sent as messengers.”
The hairs on the back of Carl’s neck stood up. Angels! M'bron... the Kan-ji... they look like angels, at least what he thought angels should look like.
“Ravi, get close-ups of the Kan-ji faces, even the guards.” Carl whispered. Ravi furrowed his brows and slowly moved around the table shooting everyone, along with the four guards.
Carl sat in one of the spare chairs set against the wall, away from the table. ‘Those outfits they're wearing, almost carnival like, maybe even like clowns. Their clothes take away from their outward appearances, almost like they're hiding their real appearance with those distracting outfits.’ Carl shook his head, almost in disbelief. ‘Am I nuts? What do Angels and all this religious mumbo jumbo have to do with these aliens?’
“I am sorry for boring everyone else here, but I would very much like to hear more. Would I be imposing if I asked you to be my guests on our ship?” M'bron asked the leaders.
“I would be very honored.” said Cleric Abdullah who has been mostly ignored. The other leaders all nodded in agreement. Carl noticed a look of concern on Alec's and Joshua's faces. Alec leaned over to whisper to Joshua. Joshua shook his head. M'bron gave a signal to one of the guards at the door who saluted and led the smiling religious leaders out.
M'bron now turned his attention to Alec and Joshua. “So, which one of you is the inventor of this technology I’ve been hearing about?” M'bron locked eyes with Alec. Carl swore he saw a tinge of anger in his face, on second thought, more like pure hatred.
“That would be me and my daughter, Jessie. Maybe you know her?” The look on Alec equaled M'bron's.
“How would I know your daughter?” M'bron was clearly taken off guard.
“Maybe these names would jog your memory, Sofie? Leland? Jade? Phyllis?” Alec began to stand… Joshua gently grabbed his arm.
“I didn't come here to be at conflict with you. I am very sorry if you cannot find your daughter and your friends. Let me assure you that I know nothing of them or their plight.” M'bron returned to his agenda. “I would like to know more about this new technology of yours. We have much to offer in trade.”
“You know what I would trade for...” Alec started as Joshua held him back again.
“I don't believe we have anything to offer you.” Joshua interrupted Alec… to Alec’s obvious ire.
M'bron got up and walked to the windows where he watched the religious leaders being led to one of the ships. He turned to one of his guards standing behind his chair and nodded. The guard casually unsheathed his sword and pointed it at Fitzsimmons. Without warning, a lightning bolt shot out of it hitting Fitzsimmons square in his chest. Fitzsimmons, with a look of surprise, flew back out of his chair, hitting the wall behind him where he collapsed, dead. Joshua reflexively put himself between the guard and Alec. Elizabeth looked startled, but not shocked as she settled back in her chair. Carl could feel the statically charged air as his hairs stood on end. All the while Ravi quietly kept filming.
“I believe you do Mr. Wells, he is sitting next to you. Now, I think our meeting is over. You will come with us.”
The door opened and four more brightly dressed guards walked in seeming to catch M’bron by surprise. They were followed by a woman and another Kan-ji dressed in black, similar to M’bron.
“Olivia?” Alec said looking at the woman.
“Hello Alec.” Carl saw the woman look coldly at Alec. Alec stood, his mouth hanging open.
“Donel! What is the meaning of this?” M’bron confronted him.
Carl watched in fascination. This was definitely not part of M’bron’s plans. He moved next to Ravi who continued filming.
Carl and the rest of the humans in the room watched the new Kan-ji in black talk with M’bron in their native language. It was difficult for Carl to tell the differences in their voices; they sounded so much alike.
“M’bron, you seem to have underestimated my talents.” Lieutenant Donel said, no longer afraid of his commander.
“Lieutenant, you have gone too far.” M’bron’s voice lowered an octave.
Carl thought M’bron growled as he saw him give a hand signal to his guards. He felt the tension as M’bron’s guards stood motionless, ignoring him. At a nod from Donel, the guards all moved to stand next to him and the woman Olivia.
M’bron’s face turned red and he was visibly shaking as he reached for his sword. Before he could pull it from the scabbard, Donel reached for his ornately carved gun and fired. The blast was deafening as a fireball erupted from the guns barrel. It expanded until it was the size of a softball. And as it struck M’bron, it threw him backwards leaving blood welling from a fist sized hole in his chest.
Olivia calmly turned to Alec. “Alec. I’ve been wondering where you’ve ended up.”
“I... I... don’t get it. You’ve been with us the entire time. What do you need from me? You’ve had access to everything.” Alec looked confused.
“So what if I have a box full of your blankets. I needed you’re plans. Your partner was the only one who knew the keys to manufacturing.” Olivia said calmly.
Alec shook his head then looked up at her as though he had a revelation. “Jessie in the storeroom, that weird hole during our test flight and the helicopter exploding... that was you.” He said.
If it wasn’t for th
at bumbling idiot Eugene…” Olivia started to say until she had her own look of revelation. “Eugene? It was him!”
Carl looked back to Alec, who was also looking confused. “Eugene?” Alec looked at Joshua who just shrugged with his own look of non-understanding.
Olivia quickly got herself, and her stare, under control. “It doesn’t matter now. We now have both you and Jessie.”
“Jessie! You have Jessie. Is she OK?” Alec stood. Joshua tried holding him back but Alec shook free.
“With this man and his daughter, we own his technology. We need nothing more.” She smiled at Donel. Carl noticed him watching... no, studying their conversation. The new Kan-ji leader turned and talked to his guards in his sing-songy language. One of them left and the other two pointed their sabers at Alec and Joshua. Just as he thought he and Ravi were going to be let go, one of the guards pointed his sword menacingly at him and barked something. He then pointed at Ravi… who took the hint and lowered his camera.
“You’ll be coming with us.” Olivia told them.
“You have me. Let Jessie go. You’ve been like a second mother to her. She loved you.” Alec pleaded.
His comment seemed to shake her. “We’ll have to renew our relationship once we corral her.”
“What? You don’t have her? You can’t find her.” Alec’s demeanor improved.
“We may not, but Captain Donel has his men scouring the ship. It will only be a matter of time. She has nowhere to go. Soon we will have her, the crew and your ship.” She turned ready to leave.
“That means you don’t have the Doppelganger.” Joshua’s eyes widened at her slip.
“Of course not, you’ve…” said Elizabeth who had been sitting quietly the entire time, and by the look on her face, she was wishing she would have remained silent.
Donel stepped in. “Enough has been said. But in return, we have learned much. What information they may have gleaned from you will not matter.” He gave Olivia a small bow and put his arm out for her to take. She grabbed hold of it and they walked out the door.
Alec, Joshua, Carl and Ravi were ushered out after them, leaving Elizabeth behind to clean up the mess. They were taken to one of the two remaining transport ships. The news crews had cleared a path for them. To Carl's surprise, he heard them cheer at their detainment.
‘I can understand why we're considered the bad guys.’ Carl thought remembering how he felt after hearing M’bron’s stories. He looked over at Ravi who gave him a thin smile glancing downward at his camera. Carl looked seeing it still running.
The inside of the transport was darkly elegant. It was ornately decorated with carved wooden chairs and silk trim. It reminded Carl of one of those old-time private train cars. The ride was rough and like Joshua’s transport, it didn’t have seatbelts. But unlike Joshua’s transports, they were needed. The powerful rocket engines tossed and jerked the ship with each maneuver. Fortunately the ride lasted only a few minutes, ending with them rising into an opening in the bottom of the giant ship.
They were met by a small squadron of guards. Carl first thought it was for them, but it just turned out to be an honor guard for their new Captain Donel. After some pomp and circumstance, Donel and Olivia were escorted away, leaving them alone with a small contingent of not-so angel looking guards. Blue strings of lighting dancing over their swords. One of the guards touched Alec with one and he crumpled to the floor. Joshua stepped up to push the guard away and got the same treatment. Carl and Ravi raised their hands and stepped back while Alec and Joshua helped each other back to their feet.
“That was like getting tasered.” Alec said shaking his arms trying to get feeling back.
One of the guards growled at him and pointed to the far end of the football field sized hanger deck. Alec and Joshua leaned on each other trying to keep ahead of the prodding electric swords.
The hanger was filled with dozens of parked ships of all sizes and shapes. They followed a yellow lined path that tracked along the hanger’s wall. Their footsteps echoing on the metal deck.
“Eugene?” Alec said under his voice as another Kan-ji guard walked up from between two large ships.
Their guards barked at them and they stopped. The new Kan-ji guard walked past Alec and Joshua and began a conversation with their guards.
“Hey, meatheads.” Carl heard another voice come from behind them. He turned and saw a human, well built, semi curly hair, dressed in some coveralls... waving at them. The guards turned and raised their swords. Everything then happened at once; Alec pushed Joshua back against the wall… and following his lead, Carl did the same with Ravi. And just in time as the new guard turned on the other four with a speed he had never seen before. He first disarmed the two nearest to him and by the time the other human reached them, the last two guards were on the ground, disarmed and unconscious.
“Clay!” Alec hugged the curly haired newcomer.
“It’s good to see, you… but how?” Joshua said shaking his hand.
“It’s all thanks to Eugene.” Clay said turning to Eugene as he returned from hiding the unconscious guards underneath one of the large parked transports.
“Hi Meester Matteeson.” Eugene grinned at them. “I worree you in trouble.”
“We ran into Eugene yesterday before you got here. He told us what their intentions were… and was adamant about making sure you were safe.” Clay slapped Eugene on the back.
“We owe you so much…. but just who are you.” A stunned Alec asked Eugene. “Olivia… she had some kind of revelation about you.”
Carl now realized that this must be the ‘Eugene’ that woman, Olivia, mentioned… and whatever she figured out about him was definitely and underestimation.
“I am Kan-ji.” Eugene admitted the obvious. “I... my friends believe... we believe what you believe.”
“What?” Alec asked.
“We need to get out of here. We can talk later.” Clay interrupted. “The ship’s waiting.”
Joshua stepped to the side putting his headset on. Carl was amazed at the arrogance of these Kan-ji… as they didn’t even search them for weapons or communications.
“Ship? Where?”
Clay answered Alec’s question by pointing to an empty corner at the far side of the hanger.
“Oh.”
They followed Eugene and as they neared the wall, the cloaked transports door opened, eerily exposing the ships inside.
“Stan!” Alec’s exclamation startled Carl. An unkempt gray-haired man floated out of the shuttles open door.
“What the heck?” Alec said. Carl really didn’t think much of seeing a flying man after being exposed to all of Alec’s gadgets over the past twenty-four hours. As Stan touched down, he noticed the shimmering of the cloaking field under his feet. Stan reached forward and the shimmering was replaced a small elegantly carved wooden platform.
“Cloaked.” Alec walked up to it, examining its controls.
“Yup.” Stand grinned as he stepped off. “Eugene wanted me to make a couple of tweaks to the platform. I added the cloaking.”
Carl felt Joshua grab his arm. “Come on.” He said leading him and Ravi into the ship. Carl sat in the first row so he could still see and hear Alec’s conversation with Stan.
“Nice” Alec was telling Stan. Then as though realizing what Stan had meant, he looked at Eugene. “You’re not coming back with us?”
“No, I go back to Seeker sheep.” Eugene said. “I find Jessie and Sofie.”
Alec thought a second. “Then I’ll go with you.”
“No, you must go back. It not safe for you, I cannot protect you there.” Eugene said.
Alec stood silent for a moment, then nodded and grabbed Eugene’s hand. “Then come back when you find them. You’ll always be welcome with us.”
Chapter 25 ~ The First Ship Section
Alec's Dream Page 53