by S A Pavli
“Well, you can imagine the furore when the news came out. After ten thousand years, real males now walked the ground again. Hianja Society was bitterly divided between those who wanted the research destroyed and no more males created ever again, and those who wanted their men back. But the latter were a small minority. After thousand of years of propaganda, Males were the devil! The research was destroyed, but not before a large number of males were born. All modern males are from this group. So out of that group, the Kreslatcha movement was born. We are tolerated, even helped, as long as we do not become too big or influential. Kreslatcha are on nearly every planet of the Federation and we keep in touch with each other regularly. We believe our day will come, when the Hianja race will be re-created as it was, whole again. Then we will truly conquer the Galaxy!” he finished with a cry of triumph, holding his mug aloft.
“Well, not all of it I hope,” I added dryly, “Leave some for rest of us.”
Chapter 27
We talked a little more before making our goodbyes. Hrachik and the others were polite, but there was undoubtedly a wall dividing them from Manera, who was quiet and subdued. As our Tanseh lifted we waved to the group who had gathered to see us off, Hrachik and his buddies in the fore. I settled back in my seat thoughtfully, gazing at the countryside sliding by the window.
“They do not seem that bad,” I said thoughtfully, to a withdrawn Manera.
“Look Paul, imagine we had gone to a party thrown by your Nizi, Narzy or whatever they are, friends,” she began.
“Nazi,” I said, “And they would not be friends of mine.”
“But say someone invited you to one of their parties. Would you go?” I began to realise the strength of feeling the Hianja had against that ancient period and those ancient people who were their ancestors. How did they keep that strength of feeling alive I asked myself? Perhaps the Kreslatcha themselves, by their very existence, were a constant reminder of the hated past.
“Let me say one thing though,” I said, “Our Nazi followers are a nasty bunch. They do not just worship what they see as the ‘good’ things associated with Nazism, if there are any, but they actively worship the bad things. They are racist and violent. They attack and beat up individuals because of their race and colour. As far as I can see, the Kreslatcha are harmless. They glamorise all the good things about the ancients and forget about the bad things. Perhaps that is short-sighted of them, but it is not evil.” Manera nodded thoughtfully.
“We do tend to think of what they represent, rather than what they are.”
“Yes,” I replied, “To you they represent the evil past, to me, they are a group of family people living in a way that pleases them and harms nobody. Do you really believe that there is any way in which the Kreslatcha can bring back the past?”
“You heard Hrachik, they can conquer the Galaxy.”
“That was just talk. That old hayseed couldn’t conquer a rabbit if it lay down and surrendered.”
“You could be right,” she agreed with an air of resignation, then with a twinkle added. “What is a rabbit?”
“Ah, it’s a lovely little cuddly animal with big floppy ears,” I said, “A bit like yours,” I added, tweeking her cute triangular earlobe.
“Big floppy ears?” she said enquiringly.
“To go with your six eyes and two heads,” I replied, pretending surprise and horror.
“So Earthman,” she said in an ominous tone, “You have penetrated my telepathic disguise at last. Well, now I have no choice but to eat you.”
“Is there any chance of some sex first?” I asked hopefully. She choked down a laugh.
“Sex is not permitted with one’s food. It is unhygienic.”
“Fussy Fussy!” I muttered with feigned disappointment.
The Tanseh was accelerating into the stratosphere and we settled back for the short journey. Today was my last day on the planet, in the evening we were due back in orbit and tomorrow Alfred and I would start our return journey to Earth in the Lisa Jane. I was sad to be leaving. “Manera?” I asked, “Could I become an honorary Hianja citizen? I don’t fancy going back, I want to stay here. I think I will just send old Alfred back, he doesn’t need me.” she looked at me questioningly, unable to decide whether I was serious or not. I ended her confusion.
“It’s OK, I am just joking.” She sighed and gave me a remonstrative look.
“Captain Constantine, you must not shirk your duty. You are a Captain in Earth’s Space Exploration Service, a proud and prestigious position. Earth is relying on you.”
“Christ!” I gasped, “You’re not working for that old bastard Crozier are you?” Crozier, that is Admiral Crozier, was the glorious leader of the SES, my boss and the scourge of all Scouts. He contemptuously dismissed us as all as drop-outs and misfits, maintaining that that if it was up to him we would all be replaced by robots.
“Who is that old bastard Crozier?” she asked.
“My boss, the head of the SES,” I explained. “And you are right, if I do not return, he will personally come out here and tear my bollocks off.”
“No problem, all are respected here,” she remarked slyly.
“True, but I would prefer to remain here without having major surgery,” I replied, “Anyway, given a world full of females, being deprived of your testicles would seem to be your worst nightmare!”
“So that is why you want to remain?” she said accusingly. “A world full of females is it? Are you planning to work your way through the female population of Mesaroyat?”
“Ah, if I could but live that long,” I smirked,, earning myself a sharp elbow in the ribs.
Chapter 28
I awoke with the cold early morning light streaming through the broad high windows of the apartment. Next to me on the huge bed, Manera still slept. She was lying on her side, her back to me. My eyes wondered over her curves, the tiny waist exaggerated the smooth rise of jutting hip and curved thigh. It reminded me of an ancient painting, Renaissance, Rembrant was it? No, some other artist. It was a woman lying on a bed with her back to the viewer, waist hips and bottom challenging the eye with their sensual curves. How amazing I thought, parallel evolution creating a Renaissance painting lying on my bed one thousand light years from Earth.
The Renaissance painting stirred and turned over. She smiled gently and snuggled into her pillow. It was our last day together and my feelings were heavy, confused. The previous evening had been a formal event, the Guardian Council giving me a send-off. A few speeches by some worthies and a final rousing speech by Kemato. I had replied, hoping for a long and fruitful relationship between our two species. God I am becoming a right politician I thought. Maybe I will take up a new career when I return to Earth. Get elected to the United Nations Council, maybe Earth President. The first man to make contact with Aliens? It would be a pushover. Manera poked me languidly in the ribs.
“What are you thinking?” she asked. Why do women always ask that I wondered. You could be in a daze, thinking about your next meal or fancying a beer, and they ask, ‘A penny for your thoughts?’ You can’t say, ‘I was considering the competing merits of Guinness and Best Bitter.’ That is somehow inadequate. I realised I had been asked a question and stirred my brain into action.
“Umm, how beautiful you are?” I suggested hopefully. She smiled indulgently.
“I am beginning to discover that Earthmen are always evasive when it comes to personal questions,” she replied. “As if they always have something to hide.”
“We usually do have something to hide,” I grinned, “Mostly our own shallowness when it comes to personal relations!”
“You are being too hard on your sex,” she replied, “I think human males have too many expectations heaped upon their shoulders, mostly by themselves. It is OK not to be a hero or a great Lover.” I gave a growl of feigned anger.
“What do you mean woman, not a great Lover? Not a Hero?” I cried with indignation. She shrieked as I rolled over and straddled her, pinning h
er to the bed. She upended me and we crashed to the softly padded floor rolling and wrestling with mock ferocity. I allowed her to pin me down and straddle me with her powerful thighs. Her head came down, dark hair tumbling down to cover my face.
“Do you surrender Earthman?” she growled.
“Never!” I cried theatrically, “Do your worst, have your way with me, but I will never surrender.”
“I will turn you into my sexual slave!” she cried fiercely.
“I will suffer bravely, for my people!” I exclaimed. She paused thoughtfully as if considering her options.
“I cannot allow such a brave individual to suffer,” she said, “You are free Earthman.”
“Er, well er, no rush,” I wheedled, “I don’t mind a bit of suffering, honest. That sexual slave bit didn’t sound too bad,” I continued, “I could put up with that.”
“Are you sure?” she said reluctantly, trying hard to restrain her laughter.
“Oh yes, but if you carry on sitting on my equipment any longer I will be hard pushed to put up with anything.” I groaned, and she made a sympathetic face and rolled off my protesting equipment.
“We’d better get ready,” she smiled. “The security team will be here soon.” We showered and got dressed and were having a small breakfast when the doorbell chimed. It was the leader of our security team.
“Captain, we are ready to depart for orbital rendezvous,”
“We will be ready in a few minutes.”
“Yes Captain, I will be waiting outside your door with the escort team,” she replied and the screen went blank.
The security team were waiting outside our apartment, the robots lurking at the ends of the corridors. We exchanged greetings with them and were led down the corridor, across the alcove and into a waiting lift which took us to the roof. The bright sunlight greeted our exit onto the roof and lit up the silvery curves of the large Tanseh that awaited us. Safely inside the ship, we strapped in and with its usual smooth almost silent acceleration the Tanseh swooped into the air and shot upwards at tremendous speed.
The blackness of Space soon appeared and the star studded vastness settled my nerves with its familiarity. Space seemed to enclose and comfort, like a vast womb. In the distance a small spidery shape appeared, and rapidly expanded into a huge silvery skeleton rib cage, inside of which fireflies flittered back and forth between plump bugs who were connected to the skeleton by umbilical cords, cables and metal arms. This was the Orbital Service and Repair Yard where Lisa Jane had been secreted away for repair. And there was Lisa Jane, looking wonderfully familiar, and now fully restored with her squat Hyperspace doughnut at the end of her long needle nose. I realised that I had ignored Alfred over the last few days, as we had both concentrated on our respective duties, he repairing the ship, and me being a tourist! I clicked on my communicator and essayed a greeting.
“Alfred, have you enjoyed your holiday?” There was a crackle before we heard Alfred’s warm and pompous baritone.
“It’s not quite the Riviera up here Paul, but one makes the best of it.”
“The Lisa Jane’s got her nose back, and pretty she looks too,” I remarked conversationally.
“Hardly pretty,” he responded, “but fully functional; in fact, I believe the Hianja Hyperspace Drive is more efficient and compact than ours.”
“Very generous of them to hand us improved technology.”
“As a matter of fact, I think they tried very hard to degrade their technology to match ours but this is the best they could do; or the worst they could do, I suppose,” he added.
“We are ready to go then?” I asked reluctantly.
“Yes, we are taking on supplies,” he continued. “Since you have been augmenting your food supplies with Hianja food, we have an adequate store for the return trip, but I am topping up to maximum with local supplies just to cover any emergency.”
“God forbid more emergencies,” I exclaimed fervently. The Hianja Orbital Repair Yard had expanded to fill the screen and our Tanseh was slowly edging towards the dock holding the Lisa Jane. It was at that point that I became aware of some agitated activity amongst my Hianja companions. The pilot of the Tanseh, Manera and Sar-Neeta were conversing in an animated way. Manera turned towards me and I could see wide eyed shock on her face.
“Manera, what is happening?” I asked, leaving my seat and moving towards her. Before she could speak, Alfred’s voice cut in.
“Paul, five ships have dropped out of Hyperspace. I am afraid it is the Dissidents. It seems that they have demanded that the authorities here hand the Lisa Jane and its crew over to them,” Manera came over and took my hand. Alfred was connected into the Hianja comms network, so she could also hear what he had just said. I looked at her thoughtfully.
“Or what?” I asked.
“Or they will destroy the Lisa Jane and every vessel in or near this Yard. It seems that they have been waiting to get us both together in the same place before acting.”
“Can we make a break for it Alfred?” I asked.
“I am doing some calculations,” he replied, “But it does not look good. Their ships are much faster than the Lisa Jane. Even if we made it to the 3 million mile mark and went into Hyperspace, there is no reason why they could not follow us. Their weapons are just as effective in Hyperspace.”
“Damn, we can’t allow them to stop us at this point,” I swore. I remembered the previous time we had fought a space battle. Lisa Jane and Epsilon had taken on and destroyed one of their ships, but could we take on five? Then I remembered that we had exhausted our stock of missiles. I slumped back in my seat in despair.
Chapter 29
It was just a few minutes before our ship was boarded. Their boarding party consisted of a dozen armed individuals headed by a tough looking female who introduced herself as Captain Fremtak.
“The Earthman will come with me,” she said shortly. Manera stepped forward.
“I must go with him,” she said. Fremtak scowled.
“I have orders to bring the Earthman only…” she began.
“The Earthman does not speak Hianjese. You will need me to translate,” said Manera firmly.
“I have heard him speak Hianjese,” replied Fremtak, waving her pistol threateningly at Manera.
“Those words were written for him,” she said hastily. “I should know, I wrote them. Contact your leaders and tell them that I must go with him,” I was trying to make eye contact with her, but she refused to look in my direction. Fremtak growled in anger, but did speak into her communicator. The conversation lasted just a few moments and then she nodded at Manera.
“All right, just you and the Earthman. Come now,” Manera turned and now her eyes met mine with a triumphant gleam in them. As we were herded off, I hissed at her in English.
“Manera, there was no need…”
“You are going nowhere without me Earthman. Unless it is on your little Starship going home,” she interrupted firmly. We were herded through an airlock and onto a docked Tanseh, which lost no time in disconnecting from our ship.
It was just a minute’s journey to our new home, a large Hianja starship similar to the Tanu. There were a number of blisters and protrusions on its hull, some were obviously missile batteries. They looked new but somewhat makeshift against the polished and perfectly finished surface of the starship. The ship’s docking bays were in the rear end, the same as the Tanu, and our Tanseh slid smoothly in, the first hint of artificial gravity beginning as we came within a few metres of the ship and intensifying quickly up to what appeared to be just less than an Earth gravity.
The Tanseh slotted neatly into a docking bay and there was no need to make an airlock connection as we had with the Lisa Jane. The doors slid open and we stepped out onto the starship, straight into the arms of our welcoming committee, a dozen armed Hianja. Fremrak strode forward and spoke quietly to one of the guards, who appeared to be their leader, then addressed her remarks to Manera.
“Tell the Earthman t
hat we will take him to our leaders now. He and you will not be harmed, they just wish to talk. Make sure he understands that, any violence will be punished.”
“He is not a fool,” scowled Manera, turning to me.
“I will translate word for word for now on Paul, just in case they have acquired a language compiler and understand English.”
“I understand,” I replied nodding. We followed Fremrak as she walked ahead, with guards all around us. They were being more than a little paranoid I thought. We arrived at the central foyer of the ship and boarded an elevator and I noted that Fremrak selected the sixth floor as the destination. Exiting from the elevator we were directed into a large opulently furnished room with large picture windows showing the star studded blackness of Space, with the planet Mesaroyat a small blue ball floating in the velvet blackness. Standing in the centre of the room were three figures, and I immediately recognised one of them.
“Manera, Captain Constantine, welcome to the starship Semtrik Lode,” said Guardian Malanisa with a motherly smile.
“Welcome!” exclaimed Manera vehemently, “You point guns at us and them make us welcome. What kind of hypocrisy is this?”
“Manera, unfortunately, it was the only way to get the Captain here,” replied Malanisa.
“Guardian Malanisa, I must protest strongly at being kidnapped at gun point,” said Manera formally. “Your actions are illegal and I demand that you release us immediately.”
“Patience Manera, we wish to discuss things with the Captain. Then we shall see what actions will be taken,” replied Malanisa smoothly. She was a cool one I thought.
“If you wanted to discuss things with the Captain, you only needed to ask,” said Manera.
