The Curanian Dominance: The Linda Eccles Series - Volume Three

by Robert Woodard

  “Linda, Peggy, it is good to have you home again,” Ron said while smiling.

  “Yes, we have been anxiously awaiting word of your adventure ever since your ship docked,” Julian said.

  Linda shook hands with them both before taking a seat. Peggy did the same. When they were all settled, Linda said, “I think we scared the pants off Earth Traffic Control when we announced our arrival. It was quite apparent they couldn’t detect us. The whole time I was sitting out there waiting instructions to enter the traffic lane, I feared another ship would drop right on top of us.”

  “They didn’t know what to do with you, either,” Ron said. “I got a call asking for where to put the Brontum after they got word you have arrived. I hope it wasn’t too inconvenient being housed at the secondary station. With all the ships currently harboring here waiting for when they can commence transporting goods again, moorage is tight.”

  “It wasn’t bad. We had to wait a while for a shuttle ride, but other than that, it was tolerable,” Linda responded.

  “So, we are all dying to know what you learned from the Kuracks,” Julian said.

  “The planet was deserted,” Peggy said. “We could not find any sign of Kuracks activity anywhere. Linda even had the TR17 do a flyby around the planet’s surface to scan for activity, but it came back empty. We spent most of our time going through a few buildings and taking readings with our enviro-scanner. I’ll link the data into the main computer once I get back to the lab.”

  “Do you have any idea what happened to them?” Ron interrupted.

  “Not a clue,” Peggy answered while shaking her head. “We did notice that none of their ships were anywhere to be found, but whether that means they migrated off the planet is unsupported at this time. The buildings are comprised of the same material and technology at the Brontum, so we couldn’t even get a feel for when they may have been last occupied.”

  When Peggy looked over at her, Linda suspected she was checking to see if Linda had anything to add. Linda said, “We did leave them a message that we were there and to make contact with us if they ever return.”

  “What did you do, leave them your ePersonal contact info?” Ron asked with heavy sarcasm.

  “Something like that,” Linda responded.

  “It still sounds like it was one big wasted trip to me,” Ron said.

  “Not necessarily,” Julian said, causing Ron to look over at him. “Hopefully, the readings they took will give us some clues about them. The trip also proved that the Brontum can be flown by humans. Will that not help solidify your cause?”

  “What do you mean?” Linda interrupted.

  “We have a plan to deal with the Curanians, and we will be using the Brontum to get us where we need to go. You don’t need to know any more than that,” Ron said.

  Linda wasn’t sure she liked that answer. As annoying as the TR17 had been, she had no desire to see it becoming some military tool. Although, she realized that there wasn’t much she could do about it. The Brontum was the property of the Governments, or was it? “I think Peggy and I have a right to know what you’re planning to do with the Brontum.”

  “No, I think not. It’s a military and Governments affair. Neither of you have a need-to-know in that regard,” Ron replied.

  The fires of her temper began to burn. Linda replied, “Oh, really. May I remind you both that by Maritime Law the Brontum falls under salvage rights. Since the Brontum was discovered by Peggy’s science team, and was extracted using the science ship, it is not the property of the military or the Governments, but is, in fact, property of those that discovered it. The ship belongs to Peggy more than anyone else.”

  “I think the Governments would argue with you on that point, Captain Eccles,” Ron responded. “The science team is fully funded by the Governments.”

  “Perhaps, but I’m betting we can keep it tied up in the courts for years. Many a person has fought and won their salvage rights under that very law. The Auspicious went to Kracks on a good-will mission. The fact that the ship was discovered by the archeologist was purely coincidental. Good luck arguing that it belongs to the military and should be used for military purposes.” Linda gave Ron a sneer to enforce her belief that she was standing on solid ground.

  Ron stared at her for a few seconds before sighing. “All right, Linda, what is it you want?”

  “Just to know how you are planning to use the Brontum,” Linda answered.

  “I agree,” Peggy chimed in. “I don’t want the TR17 used to support some hair-brained scheme that might destroy or damage that amazing ship in any way.”

  Linda cocked her head to one side slightly and gave Ron another smile. Having Peggy’s support helped her cause, since it could be argued that Peggy owned the ship. Ron looked over at Julian. Receiving a shrug in reply, Ron looked at Peggy and then Linda before sighing again.

  “Alright, but it never leaves this office, is that understood?” After getting a nod from them both, he said, “We are going to send a sniper to the Curanian planet. We need the Brontum to get him there and back safely. It is our only hope to land the sniper on their planet without detection. That’s all we need it for.”

  “Who is the sniper going after?” Linda asked.

  “The Curanian Supreme. We plan on toppling their command structure by taking her out.”

  Linda felt her mouth fall open. She looked over at Peggy, who seemed equally stunned. Linda looked back at Ron, and asked, “How did you find out about that, and what makes you think it will work?”

  “We’ve been in communication with the captive Curanians. They have been very helpful in outlining what we need to know,” Ron answered.

  “How do you know you can trust them?” Peggy asked.

  “Call it a hunch, but they seem to be as interested in taking out their Supreme as we are.”

  Linda stared at Ron after he answered. Could the solution to the Curanian problem be that simple? The question made her wonder if the Curanians had a dictatorship that begged relief. Her objections to their using the Brontum began to melt away. This sounded like a good cause, especially if it freed the Curanians from their destructive ways.

  “I retract my objections to the use of the Brontum,” Linda said. She then looked over at Peggy, before adding, “And you have my word that I will not disclose what you just told me.”

  Julian stood up, and said, “I’m dying to see those readings, Peggy. Let’s get down to your lab and start pouring over that data.”

  When Peggy and Julian left, Ron said, “Can you stick around for a few minutes, Linda. I have something I want to discuss with you.”

  That last thing Linda wanted was to get involved in any more hair-brained military operations. As much as they kept conning her into helping them, she felt she might as well join the service and get military pay for it. Giving him a wary frown, she slowly sat back down.

  “Admiral Litton speaks highly of your level-headedness and professionalism. I’d like to tap into that by seeing if you would be willing to continue to pilot the TR17 on this upcoming mission. All we would need you to do is direct TR17 to get the Brontum to the Curanian planet, land upon the surface in a secluded location, and then wait to extract our man back out. You would never have to leave the ship.”

  Linda realized that even if she was stupid enough to go, the TR17 may not. It’s one thing to tell it to return to its home planet, but quite another to tell it to go somewhere else entirely. With that thought in mind, she responded, “Has it occurred to you that the TR17 might not accept the command to take the Brontum where you want it to go?”

  “What makes you think it won’t?”

  “The TR17 seems to be mission oriented. From what I can tell it follows a set pattern of logic in how it interprets and then follows directives. It’s possible that it will not see the logic behind taking the Brontum there. It might decide that the Brontum has no logical need to be flown from Earth to the Curanian planet. If it refuses, what then?”

  “Fro
m what I understand that device is nothing more than a command control. I can’t imagine it refusing your orders,” Ron said. He narrowed his eyes slightly in what Linda took as suspicion over whether she was being truthful or not.

  “Look, Admiral, this device was created by those with high intelligent. They programmed it to have the ability for limited reasoning. It may not be at the same level of human thought, but it reasons, nonetheless. I suspect it will weigh the request to be directed to an unknown location against its primary mission as defined by its makers. If the two conflict, we lose, plain and simple.”

  Ron gave out a frustrated sigh. Combing his hand through his dyed brown hair, he responded, “Philip warned me that whenever he deals with you, he gets a headache. I see why now. So, what do you suggest I do about this problem with the TR17?”

  Leaning back and staring through the window behind Ron, the question caught her by surprise. She only intended to point out the problem they may face. She surely didn’t expect Ron to turn it around on her by asking for a solution. What could she do about it? Linda didn’t think there was much she could do. It the device refused to participate in the Admiral’s plan the ship wasn’t moving. The devise was logical, so maybe she could reason with it. The only way to know for sure seemed to be to ask it up front before she climbed aboard and told it to go.

  Did I just think that? Linda frowned at the thought that her subconscious had told her conscious they would be aboard that ship when it departed again. What was the matter with her that she couldn’t ever seem to say no? No seems like a perfectly good response, so why couldn’t she use it?

  Returning her thoughts to the problem with the TR17, she supposed the only way to know for sure how it would respond was to ask it. The device seemed quite happy telling her whether it would comply or not.

  “I suppose I could ask it and see what it says?” Linda said as she brought her eyes back to Ron’s face.

  “Okay, then. Go ask it and let’s get that over with.” Ron waved her off with a quick flick of his fingers. As she rose, Linda noticed him lean his head to one side. “Does this mean you will go if the TR17 is willing?”

  “Yes, but only to ensure that the Brontum comes back in one piece. I feel a responsibility to make sure that it doesn’t become a martyr over another military lost-cause.”

  Linda couldn’t help herself. She felt her eyes narrow in suspicion that they might not be telling her the entire truth of the mission. She hated the thought of finding that out once they arrived, and it became too late for her to do anything about it. While the TR17 might not understand treachery, Linda sure did. She would be damn if she allowed these Admirals to take advantage of a trusting alien device. Besides, she was probably safer sitting inside that ship, even on a hostile alien planet, then she would be sitting in her own hover-car with some of the drivers she had encountered so far.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  The day couldn’t have been more perfect. Kold looked up into the sky where the two suns align to shine down on the planet. It marked the beginning of the blossom season, and it was the only time in their rotational cycle that the two suns crossed paths. The normally frigid early-season temperature had climbed to become quite comfortable.

  The round observation square where she stood resided at the very top of the Supreme Complex. Only a Supreme was allowed access the square, and she enjoyed the moment of quiet as she reflected on her speech to her loyal subjects. The transparent walls and domed ceiling gave her an unrestricted 360-degree view of the complex surroundings. She had been watching her subjects migrating onto the grounds all morning.

  A set of stairs off to her right led down to the balcony she would use when she made her appearance. The large glass doors leading out to the balcony were open, and a gentle breeze worked its way up the stairs and tickled her skin with is slightly cool touch. Looking across the rear grounds to the complex, she could just see the back edge of the crowd, with many more still filtering in behind them. The thought of all those feet stomping on her perfect lawn gave her pause, but she knew if couldn’t be helped. It was the one time of the year when her subjects were allowed to step onto the complex property without being limited to the walkways.

  Kold looked down at her flowing dress. The bottom of the dress danced slowly from the draft coming up the stairs. The ultra-thin sheets of fabric that combined to make up the dress had taken hundreds of ticks to make. Many of those ticks had her standing before a mirror as her dedicated servants tugged, shifted and straightened the cloth to get it just right.

  The suns shining down onto the room radiated off the fabric, just as she had intended. Each layer of the thin material added a different color to the dress. They all represented a specific color of the blossoms that had sprung to life with the mixture of the early-season rains and extra sunshine.

  The first layer that tickled her skin provided the darkest of the color spectrums, and each subsequent layer grew lighter. In the mirror, the dress gave off a rainbow of colors, and as she walked the color shifted with the movement of the fabric. Now, standing before the rays of the two suns it practically showered the room with radiance.

  “How could my subject not admire me in such beauty?”

  The loud report of a chime echoed as it rang throughout the complex grounds. It signaled the beginning of the Supreme Blossom Celebration. There would be four more such rings before she would make her appearance on the balcony to the cheers of her subjects. As was custom, they would be invited to walk the grounds to admire and take in the fragrant smells of the wide variety of blossoms. This would continue throughout the day until five more rings would signal the end of the celebration at second sundown.

  Once Kold finished her speech, she would descend to the grounds to walk among her subjects. She would be joined by her servants carrying flowered baskets to begin handing out gifts. Trying to come up with gifts to be handed out had tasked Kold severely. She hoped she had chosen well.

  Her chefs had been busy combining sweets into swirled confections for the kids. While still pliable, the long, thick ropes of sweets were wrapped around a thin tube. A small section on the bottom of the tube had been left unwrapped to provide the kids with a handhold as they licked on the hardened treats that would last for a long time. Kold could remember her mother making the delicacy when she was little, before she was whisked away to be the next Supreme. She hoped the kids below would enjoy them as much as she did as a child.

  A slight shiver struck Kold. At first, she thought it was the breeze coming up the stairs, but then she realized it was a shutter from her childhood memory. Something about that candy had triggered it. Much of her memory of her childhood, and her mother, had vanished with time due to her having been taking into the fold of the former Supreme at such a young age. She had been broken down, reformed into what was needed for a future Supreme, and then flooded with lessons that gave her all the knowledge she needed to take over. But something associated with that candy had stirred her. She wondered what it was.

  Shaking off the thought, she returned to thinking over the adult gifts she had selected, and all thanks to the information she gleamed from Plon. With the help of a local print shop, and in complete secrecy, she had scrolls made that released their love ones from space service for one full season. All her subjects would have at least one family member serving aboard a ship, as was required by law, so it was a gift from which everyone would benefit. She could only guess how her subjects would respond to the gift, but she felt it had to be with elation. To have a loved one home for such a long duration of time would be priceless.

  The full season would give Kold plenty of time to figure out how to address the change her subjects wanted. Change was coming whether she embraced it or not, so she figured getting behind it was the only way for her to guide it in the direction she thought best for her people. Smiling, she felt that what was best for her people typically meant what was best for her.

  The striking of the heavy bell signaled the second chime
. Looking out at the grounds, she could see that the end of the crowd now flowed well back of the balcony. Speakers hidden in the trees at the edges of the boundaries to the grounds would help radiate her voice to all her subjects present on this special day. The third striking of the bell rang out.

  Kold slowly made her way to the stairs. Pulling up her dress with both hands, she descended the stairs. Reaching the landing at the bottom, she let go of the dress. Servants who had been waiting her arrival quickly worked over the material to smooth out any wrinkles and straighten any sections that had been pulled out of place. The breeze was slightly stronger on the landing, and she could feel it gently swaying her long hair back and forth behind her.

  The fourth strike of the bell caused her to move forward to the inner edge of the balcony. Still out of sight, she was now positioned to take her place before those who came to see her in person. The crowd would be large. Kold felt a tightening of nervousness take control of her. So much was at stake this very day. She had to get her message across.

  Off to her right, she could see the large drum that would eventually hold the names of all the girls who would turn eight when it was her time to select a successor. The drum remained empty for she would not be selecting the future Supreme this season. Being selected for Supreme was an honor that any family could be most proud, and the system gave every family the same chance, if they had a daughter of the right age.

  Kold wasn’t so sure the honor was all that great for the girl selected. Just like Kold, she would be sterilized against having children of her own, as a Supreme had to consider all her subjects her children, with no one more important than the other. Long ago, it was determined that the temptation to hold one’s own children over those of anyone else’s was too great a temptation, even for a Supreme.

  Sadness overcame her as she looked at the empty drum that one day would hold the names of hundreds of young daughters. She would never get to feel that link between mother and daughter. She would never receive the love she had felt from her mother and returned as her daughter. Somehow it didn’t seem fair. Once again, the reminder of her as a child made her shiver.