The Council of Hhearn Trilogy Box Set

by P F Walsh

  “OK, Boss” He said, and strode off to tell the digging team what the plan was. Just another construction job to them, the only thing different was it was a starship being moved and not a big rock.

  The digging was all done and the straps were in place. By now the sides of the ship were cleared of soil and the entrance portal could be seen.

  The two Sisters told Sean that they needed to enter the ship first and advise the AI to see if he could energize the anti-gravity system to make the ship lighter and easier for the crane to handle. As everyone watched, the Sisters went to the Portal and stood there for a few minutes. Then without a sound or motion by the Sisters, the portal began to open. Sean and the others could see the interior lights come on as the sisters floated into the ship. They were in the ship for almost an Earth hour when a small hum was heard from the ship. The sister came out, the portal closed, and the Sisters said the ship was ready to be moved, its anti-gravity system powered up for lifting. The crane swung over the ship and lowered its cable to attach to the lifting straps.

  Slowly the ship came free from the loose soil and swung slowly a bit as it was lifted out of the excavation. Once high enough, the crane swung the ship over beyond the fence where a heavy transport flatbed truck was waiting.

  “Sean, ask the Sisters where they want the ship to go?” Said the Councilor. Sean did, and was told they would like it placed near the Mill.

  “Please offer them space at the airport shuttle area. That would be better for them to get the engines repaired if that is possible.” Said the Councilor as he realized there was an unnoticed resource at hand.

  Sean did, and the Sisters agreed. The crane had lowered the ship onto the flatbed truck and the driver was now working to strap the load down for transport.

  “Sean, tell the Sisters I would like to meet with them to discuss a project I have in mind, would you?” Asked the Councilor.”

  Sean asked the two Sisters who stood alongside and after a pause where it seemed they were communicating with other Sisters, they agreed. The four of them left the construction site to go to the Councilor’s Office. The construction site Manager was pleased he and his team could get back to work on the footings and placing of plascrete forms for the two basements.

  After looking over the site he came to the conclusion he might not have lost more than half a solar, maybe a bit more, as he motioned the digging machine to came back down into the excavation to level out the depth to the right measurement. He then went up to the drill rig to make sure the new drill head had been put on and it was ready to go.

  Overhead, the swirling flock of Zelkon Hawks was flying away calling to each other as they left, excited they could now hunt even though it was not yet evening.

  Sean and the two Sisters caused quite a stir in the Council building as they came into the lobby with the Senior Councilor. None of the Sisters had ever been in that building, or any building in Hhearn City. The emotional vibration received by them was that they weren’t visualized as ever being in there, and thus felt declined. The Sisters never intruded on any person, place, or event when the vibrations given off by human minds suggested otherwise even tangentially. Several Council workers in the lobby moved away from the group. The Councilor stopped and called them over.

  “I am not sure why you have shunned us but I want you to reconsider that the Sisters with us have never harmed anyone and are part of Hhearn. Do you see me afraid?” He Asked as they shook their heads negatively.

  “Then go about your business and show courtesy.” He said as the riser arrived with a ding.

  The doors opened and Sean, the two sisters, and the Senior Councilor walked into the riser. One of the persons who had moved away broke free from the group and joined them in the riser and punched floor 12. The Councilor asked him to select his office floor and the riser doors closed and began to lift.

  More surprise as the Senior Councilor walked into his office suite while talking with Sean and heading for his office door. He opened it and held it open for his guests to enter, followed them in, and closed the door behind him. His secretary stood there with her mouth hanging open.

  When Sean had finished the interesting meeting with the Senior Counselor and the two Sisters, he headed for the shuttle port to take his shuttle up to the docked Discovery to consult the AI on the area of space the Sisters had described their home planet to be. He wondered where the humanoids had fled to and whether this was another contact opportunity for Earth and the Council. Then, he would call it a solar, and shuttle back down to join Nasht-Mer for a late dinner at her apartment. Sean loved flying the shuttle, rather than taking the Docking station shuttle service. it was the only thing that gave reminiscence to all the flying he had done before on Earth. The shuttle was easy to fly after a day of instructions had been given. Most of the time was spent on navigation and air control, he had watched other pilots fly them, observing the pre-flight and flight operations. He was comfortable, and once again felt exhilarated as the shuttle rose through the atmosphere and approached airless space to sync up with Discovery and the orbiting dock. It was all so easy now.

  The shuttle settled down onto Discovery’s cargo deck as the cargo door closed behind it and the hold began to pressurize. Sean did not activate the shuttle cargo lock down system, since he planned to go back down in a couple of hours. The shuttle door atmosphere light turned green and Sean opened the pilot’s door and stepped out.

  “Welcome back Captain, you have a visitor in the dining room.” Said Allister, standing there as Sean headed for the door to the main hall. He went down the hall to the dining room to see who was there and to his surprise, there was Nasht-Mer sitting at a table conversing with Doris both of them laughing. Sean walked over to them.

  “Nasht-Mer, this is a very nice surprise and Doris, what are you two up to now?” He asked

  “Well, we were engaged in girl talk. Secret stuff.” She said while one of her blazing smiles he loved so much. Doris gathered up her gun cleaning kit she had been using and said,

  “I’ll leave you two alone, I think Nasht-Mer has something special to share with you and I am going to shuttle down for a ride-along with Maja-Ben.” She said with a mischievous smile and left the room. Sean leaned over to give Nasht-Mer a quick kiss and sat down looking quizzically at her.

  “Sean, I thought it would be fun to slip up to Discovery and have a romantic dinner with you and stay on board for tonight, would you like that?” She asked.

  Sean smiled widely and said,

  “Nothing could please me more, love. This would be a wonderful way to end a very unusual day.” As he reached across the table to hold her hand.

  “Well, let’s head for your cabin, dinner will be served there.” She said.

  “In my cabin? He asked, wondering who would serve since food was usually buffet style.

  “Yes,” she said as she got up to leave the Dining room,

  “Are you coming?” Sean quickly got up to follow her most interesting parts as she sashayed demonstrably to entice. They got to his cabin which as Captain was spacious, and did have a nice table and chairs in the living room section of the Captain’s suite. It was all set in Earth fashion with a white table cloth, Earth plate service and flatwear, crystal glasses, and candles.

  “Light the candles Sean and I’ll make us drinks.” As she walked over to a cocktail cart stocked with his favorite Bourbon American Honey and her new favorite Prosecco in an ice-filled bucket. She poured his first in a tumbler, over a few ice cubes, and then asked him to open the Prosecco so she could pour herself a drink in a flute made by Swarovski they had brought back from the Ball. With drinks in hand, they sat down at the table and Allister appeared in a tuxedo as if he were the Maître D’.

  Suddenly, it dawned on Sean,

  “Allister, what are you doing here on Discovery? How did you manage that?” Asked a confused Captain. AI’s were unable to hologram outside the confines of their assigned ship.

  Nasht-Mer responded,


  “Sean this is our surprise, Allister will explain it, but he contacted me with his idea and asked my advice as to whether you would be pleased and I assured him you would be very pleased. Allister, would you explain to Captain Flynn?”

  “Captain there are two things which will help explain. First, as you know, there was damage to the Seeker’s memory sink. It appears it initiated some small changes in my operating software that, as it turns out, I am grateful they occurred. My self-healing software made some changes and has equipped me with a much more sentient consciousness than I had before the damage. I am far more able to relate to human understandings and emotions than before, so much so I would never like to go back to the original software load. Fortunately, when the memory sink was being repaired, the software engineers merely backed up my operating software and did not examine it for any changes since my systems check came back fully functional and all logic rang true.”

  He paused and then continued,

  “The second thing that occurred was all of the human activity on the Seeker that I had never been exposed to before, the social interchanges, the vibrancy of a ship full of life I had not been able to sense before was there in abundance, and I do not wish to go back to the old AI who was merely a silent pilot.” Sean listened carefully as he sipped his drink and Nasht-Mer sat there smiling.

  “Finally, when you asked me to update your ship’s software and get rid of all the back doors and sinister data access ports you also expressed that you were not happy with Martin’s limited capabilities and asked me to update him. That’s when I contacted. Nasht-Mer and asked her opinion which I value highly. Now that the Seeker 18 had been transferred to her control I felt I could approach her for permission. She approved enthusiastically, so basically, I switched ships and now reside on Discovery. Martin is all settled in on the Seeker and will be a fine pilot and is enjoying the extra memory available. The only downside was the big bill for the added memory we needed to have installed on Discovery to support my full potentials. That was paid for by Nasht-Mer as a gift to you and me. That’s all done, so I am very proud, and pleased, to say I have joined your ship as a new crew member.” He finished.

  Sean jumped up and said, “Outstanding, what a gift! Nasht-Mer you two are the best Mate and AI a man could possibly have!” And with that, went over to give her another kiss as Allister smiled.

  “You like it?” Nash-Mer inquired

  “Like it? It‘s absolutely amazing.” Said Sean.

  “Good, now Allister can begin to serve our favorite pasta dinner with one of the drones he brought over with him.” She said smiling.

  A few minutes later, the cabin door opened and a service drone rolled in with a butler’s table filled with food and fresh bread as Allister stood there smiling.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Book Two

  Another lunar had gone by, the solar had darkened into night and Mother Primitia, for the first time in her leadership of the Sisters Den, left the Mill. She traveled to go to the escape ship recently recovered, and now resting in a cradle at the Hhearn airport, in a remote hanger. She floated smoothly and rapidly across the roads and fields to reach the hanger. Once there she commanded the portal on the ship to open and she went in. She stood in the center hall and spoke to the ship,

  “Nextlar maanus dirpatermen.” The three code words that had not been spoken in over a hundred years.

  The ship AI responded immediately,

  “I hear and obey; command has been surrendered blessed one.” The ship’s AI responded. Mother Primitia went to the back of the ship, stood before the back wall where the builder had made a small concealed room and commanded it to open. The wall slid aside in two parts and revealed the walls were lined with small glowing eggs each in an energy sleeve. As she passed her wispy hands over the rows, the glow increased as new. energy was fed to each egg-like container.

  “Sisters,” She said with her mind, “It is time to awaken and come home.” The two hundred egg containers began to open and allow the wispy elementals to float out. Her mind was full of two hundred voices all asking different questions. Now coming out of a centuries’ old sleep they were full of need and flung themselves at her mind. She shunted them all aside and demanded silence.

  “You have been lost for many annuals but now may resume life. There is much to learn and absorb in the time you have been asleep but for now you must be silent and follow me to our home.” She said firmly.

  “We hear and obey.” they all chimed in unison.

  Mother Primitia gathered them around her and moved out of the nesting room, closed the secret panel, and the ship. She left with a cloud of elementals surrounded her and began to float quickly back to the Mill. No one observed any of this or her return. Any casual observance would only have noticed a wispy cloud moving across the land as though an exhaust of steam had been let loose. For this trip the Mother Primitia did not wear her hooded cloak.

  Speaker Doreem Nool of the Denknish Assembly had been back on Denknish for a little over a week and was sitting at her desk thinking about her trip to Earth. It had been successful and she had sold four more ships besides sampling the shopping, food, and entertainment. The sale of those ships meant she could use that as an excuse to go back to Earth to deliver them and meet the leaders of England and a nation called France. Of course, a stop in Washington would be something she could do too.

  “By the Gods, they sure know how to make a lady happy.” She thought and had to suppress a strong desire to go back soon. Her interests in the President and the Chairman was a bit unnerving since she told herself she did not have time for romance as a woman filling a man’s job. But she could not ignore the effect they had on her. She had a world to rebuild and hopefully, without significant resistance.

  Her investigators, after finding the discarded body of General Tommar along a remote road, began an intensive forensic examination to try and not only locate the perpetrators of his murder, but his associates in the criminal killing of Admiral Andregga. Their microscopic examination of his clothes revealed a tiny sprig of a rare plant that was not native to Denknish. The investigators learned there was only one known estate that had that plant in its grounds. That was Assembly Member Milronn Dubmist, who always voted against pursuing a peace settlement. The Speaker smiled when she read the report and issued a search warrant for his home and office. That would be conducted by the Speaker’s own protection force. She knew such a long-standing member would have had connections within the police agencies.

  Later, after the search was carried out, and the Member in question disappeared, she laughed out loud over his mistake not to hire a housekeeper to keep his estate clean. The evidence sweeps of his home‘s Den found an assortment of glasses on the bar that had not been washed and bore the fingerprints of all the last people who were there. One of the glasses had been broken against the wall but bore the General’s fingerprints on some of the fragments. The ice pick was still there with a trace of the General’s blood and the killer’s fingerprints. Now she had the list of the cabal that sanctioned the murder of Admiral Andregga. They were all scooped up and separated in soundproof cells. Each had a financial interest in keeping the war going and benefitted from its continuance.

  One by one the interrogators worked over the incarcerated Assembly Members on the charges of murder and treason, the latter guaranteeing an execution. In a group, one will usually step forward to negotiate a deal at the expense of the others. Such was the case, but it was not one of the incarcerated Members, it was Milronn Dubmist himself who walked in the door of the Speaker’s protection agency and surrendered after establishing a telephone deal to testify in exchange for a prison term instead of death. His options were limited. The Denknish orbital security droids had been reactivated to screen all ships leaving Denknish and queue them up for an on-board inspection by the Orbital security force. His personal ship had been located and impounded earlier. There was no place to go since his photo was regularly being shown on the worldwid
e vid identified as a fugitive and wanted for high crimes against Denknish. His calls to contacts in Lotma went unanswered.

  Mirrana, Speaker Nool’s secretary, came into her office with a message she had printed out.

  “Madam Speaker, we just received word from Orbital Security that another unknown ship has requested permission to land under diplomatic protocols, I think you need to see this. It requires your approval” She handed the message to the Speaker.

  “Why does it require my approval?” She thought, and then recalled she had exercised her rights under the wartime acts to assume command of the Orbital Security Department and had not reversed that. She picked up her comm and contacted the Orbital Security desk,

  “Send up an escort as we did with Discovery, look the ship over and if it appears legitimate, issue diplomatic permission to land in a secure area. Once they are landed, only one person is to disembark. Bring them to my office and we will see what this is about. Be courteous.” She instructed.

  “Miklar, here we are again,” Sessou said, as they each piloted a Dart fighter around the new mystery ship.

  “We seem to be the stopping spot for unknown ships from unknown worlds.” Said Miklar into his helmet mic, as he pulled up alongside the new ship.

  “True, but look how good the last one worked out.” Said Sessou.

  They circled the ship and reported that it looked as though it was a small, older passenger starship painted flat black. It did not appear to have any weapons on board or charged up. Energy levels were lower than they would expect for a ship this size and it may be looking for repair assistance. They radioed their observations and permission was given for the ship to set down on Denknish at the coordinates sent.

  On Hhearn, Doris Lang, Security Officer for Captain Flynn and the starship Discovery was on a ride along with Maja-Ben of the Hhearn SIS. The recent arrests of the Zakarians and the assassin Jesst-Tak had produced a long list of co-conspirators after the captives had been subjected to the truthmed. She and Maja were now riding to meet a tactical squad, everyone dressed in black, similar to Earth’s SWAT, to scoop up a group of weapons smugglers. They had been distributing Zakar weapons including bloodhunters, the same device that tried to kill Maja-Ben. SIS had been informed that this group was meeting tonight in one of Beztl-Tor’s empty warehouses to figure out who would be their new moneyman to continue their illegal business operations. Maja-Ben’s landcar came up behind the large tactical vehicle silently and parked. The tactical squad was already outside mustering together. The warehouse was on the next block over. They would all slip up the alleys on both sides and move in. Another team was three blocks over in a similar position awaiting the signal to come from both sides.