by TM Toombs
“Looks like the inside of Cleopatra’s bedroom,” Eshan whispered to Kolass. He was rewarded with an elbow to his ribs.
Matriarch Ne-Lin lowered herself onto a long, overstuffed sofa and pointed to a matching chair to her right. Eshan quickly took the offered seat and waited. A server appeared with a tray holding three silver mugs and placed it on the low table between them. Kolass stood to Eshan’s right with his hands clasped behind his back.
“My daughter told me that she wanted you to take her place as Emissary. Those chosen at birth to be Emissary are very special in our culture. To be handed that responsibility is not something to be taken lightly. Do you understand, Eshan Wallace?” Ne-Lin reached for a mug and held it out. Kolass stepped forward and took the mug then handed it to Eshan. He resumed his place next to Eshan.
“I don’t pretend to think I am worthy of such a stately position. I told her as much. But it was her wish and she insisted.” Truth was, Eshan hadn't really thought beyond getting off Charon and back to earth. Hadn't even considered what all he would have to do as Emissary. It wasn't like he'd wanted this job. He hadn't wanted to be marooned on Charon either or have Anna die or ... he swallowed back his regrets and disappointments. He took a small sip of the sweet thick beverage, glancing at Ne-Lin over the rim. She appeared to be contemplating his words as she stared into her own mug.
She suddenly looked up and stared intently into Eshan’s face with her dark, pink eyes. “I would have every right to have you killed for your actions that resulted in my daughter’s death. I still consider that a viable option. But I am not like the war mongering Matriarchs of old. I prefer to weigh all the facts before passing judgment.”
Eshan’s hand began to shake, threatening to spill the contents of his mug down his front. Kolass calmly took the mug from him and set it on the table. “Mother, while Eshan Wallace may be partially responsible for Emissary’s death, it was not intentional, therefore, it does not fall under the Retribution Laws.”
Ne-Lin glared at Kolass, then her expression softened as she turned to Eshan. “My anger stems from the mother in me. Have you ever lost a loved one, Eshan Wallace?”
Eshan swallowed hard and nodded. “Recently. Anna. I had just asked her to marry me when she was killed by a distracted driver.” Eshan’s eyes glistened as he swallowed memories of that night.
“Then you can understand all that I’m feeling,” Ne-Lin said quietly as she looked hard into his eyes. “If you were in my position, what would you do?”
He cleared his throat as he stared at the floor, thinking. His heart ached for Anna and he realized that it also truly ached for Ne-Paw as well. His life meant nothing now except as a reflection of the love he'd lost and of the peaceful Annunak he'd killed. He couldn't bring either of them back. He slowly raised his head and met her gaze, “I would approve of the substitution knowing that the new Emissary would have to live the rest of his life with the consequences of his actions. I would hope that he learned from his mistakes and use those lessons to make the universe a better place.”
Ne-Lin sat back and slowly smiled at him. “That is the life mission of an Emissary. Not only is it their duty to negotiate between two or more entities, but to take the lessons of past mistakes and use them to create new paths moving forward.”
She sat her mug down on the table and stood. “I approve. Record this in the Book of Emissaries that Emissary Eshan Wallace represents the House of Ne.” Kolass bowed and quickly left the room. Ne-Lin held out her hand to Eshan.
“Walk with me, my son. We have much to discuss before you meet with the Heads of State on your planet.” Eshan stood and took her hand. He wasn’t expecting it to be so warm and comforting, like a hug from his grandmother when he’d fallen and skinned his knee. He could feel the subtle movement of the colors under her skin, almost like an undercurrent. The faint electrical buzz from her hand ran up his arm and shoulder then through the side of his neck. It hit his brain like a shot of good whiskey. Any fear or unease he harbored deep in his mind was washed away with her touch.
“There is one thing,” he hesitated.
“And that would be?”
“There was another ship. A supply ship. If it gets back to Earth before us, we could be walking into a very hostile situation.”
She nodded. “That has already been taken care of. We captured it before it could warn your governments. The pilot is safe in his ship. He’ll be released once we reach Earth and have indicated our intentions as peaceful.”
Eshan smiled. “Thank you. Jerry is a good guy and I’d hate to see him get hurt.”
She patted the top of his hand with her other hand, the jolt making him momentarily dizzy. Smiling, she led him out of the room and into a wonderfully amazing conservatory.
The floor to ceiling windows allowed them to gaze out at the brightly shining stars as the ship silently glided past. Eshan’s mouth dropped as the massive window filled with the spectacular view of the glowing blue of Neptune.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Mother sighed, next to him. Eshan could only nod. She took him by the elbow and led him over to a pair of plush settees. His eyes only returned to hers after the last of Neptune faded from view.
Looking around for the first time since he walked into the room, he noticed the array of strange and unusual plants. Tall, palm like trees hung heavy with fuzzy, peach hued fruit graced the corner behind their seats. Next to the palm, a low row of silver and grey ferns provided a backdrop to petite flowers in a dazzling array of colors. The perfumes gently floating on the air reminded him of warm spring times hiking Hatcher Pass, the air kissed with the scent of lupine, forget-me-not and subalpine daisies. Mother followed his gaze.
“My favorite plants from the region on the home world where I was raised. They remind me of peaceful times.”
Eshan turned to look at her, she appeared to be gazing into nothingness, a serine smile etched on her delicate face.
“If I may, ah, Mother?” Eshan hesitated.
She smiled. "Yes, you may call me mother, as I will call you son."
Eshan nodded and looked out at the tiny blue spot in the black space spread before them where Earth awaited. “I may have a plan to get us to Earth safely.”
Chapter 12
Eshan, Bax and Kolass entered the large bay of the mother ship. In front of them stood the cargo ship that had deposited Eshan on Charon months ago. A lifetime ago. Eshan hesitated, staring at the small ship surrounded by the sleeker Annunak ships. Some looked like fighters with odd protrusions which he assumed were some sort of weapon. Others were bulkier, with multiple open hatches that looked like personnel craft. Crews scurried in, under, and around the various ships. Except for the Earth ship. Everyone seemed to be giving it a wide berth.
Bax cleared his throat as Kolass shifted impatiently off to his side. Eshan took a deep breath and crossed the distance to the cargo ship, stopping in front of the cockpit so that he was sure Jerry could see him. He pointed at the ship’s cargo hold, hoping that Jerry would open the gangway for him. He walked over to the closed cargo hatch and pressed the intercom. It buzzed.
“Eshan, I’m not going to let you in,” Jerry’s voice came through the small speaker.
“Jerry,” Eshan spoke into the mic as he held the ‘talk’ button. “We can do this the easy way where you just let us in. Or we can do it the fun way, which involves my buddy, Bax here, tearing your ship apart piece by piece.” Eshan took his finger off the button and grinned at Bax. Kolass rolled his eyes as Bax began to run his fingers along the edge of the hatchway, examining the material and construction.
“Please, Eshan, if I let you in, it would be considered an act of treason. I have a family to think about.”
“Jerry, if you don’t open up, you’ll be committing an act far worse than treason. You’ll be killing millions of humans.”
“Bullshit.”
“Hear me out, Jerry.” Eshan explained the situation between the Zeta Greys and the Annunak. He concluded with how t
hey needed Jerry and his ship in order to get to Earth to deliver the message about this situation to the One World Government before it was too late. When he was finished, he released the talk button. After a minute, Eshan turned to look at Kolass and shrugged.
“I guess it’s your turn, Bax.” Just as Eshan moved away from the hatch to let Bax attempt to break in, the door hissed and opened. Jerry’s small frame appeared, a mixed expression of doubt and fear played on his face.
“Eshan, if you’re lying to me…” Jerry frowned.
Eshan held out his hand to Jerry. As Jerry accepted the handshake, Eshan smiled at him. “I wouldn’t lie to you. Especially about something so important. And I think I have a way to keep you and your family safe.”
“You think?” Jerry looked ready to tuck tail and run back into the ship.
“I’m not Amazon. I can’t give you a 100 percent money back guarantee. But I will do everything in my power to see that you and your family aren’t implicated in anything. If all goes as planned, no one will ever know that we were on your ship. But you should trust me, OK?”
Jerry studied Eshan for a moment, then looked at Kolass. When his eyes fell on Bax, he took a small step back. “You got some interesting friends there, Eshan.”
“Jerry, I’d like you to meet Bax and Kolass.” Eshan pointed at each of the Annunak as he named them.
Jerry stuck out his hand and shook hands with each of them. “Nice to meet you, both, I think.”
Bax grunted at Jerry. Kolass smiled politely. Eshan slapped Jerry on the back. “Shall we get this party on the road?”
“Do I have a choice?” Jerry grimaced at Eshan.
“Not really. But the sooner we get going, the better. After you, Captain.”
Jerry led the way to the cramped cockpit, made all the smaller by Bax's bulk. Eshan sat in the co-pilot's chair. Bax and Kolass were left to sit on the floor, filling the space behind the two chairs.
“This is a most uncomfortable means of travel,” Bax growled.
“This isn’t a passenger ship. It’s meant to ferry cargo short distances within our solar system. Sorry it’s not very comfortable,” Jerry quipped as he prepared his ship for travel.
“Bax, don’t insult a man’s ship,” Eshan scowled at Bax. “That’s like insulting his mate.”
“My apologies, Captain Jerry. I did not mean to offend your ship or you.”
“It’s already forgotten. Now, can someone tell me how we get out of the belly of this thing and back out into space?”
Eshan displayed a pale blue band on his wrist. “Like this.” He touched it with his other hand and spoke towards it. “This is Emissary. The Earth ship is ready for launch.”
“Earth ship, proceed slowly to the end of the launch bay. Your proximity to the bay doors will trigger their opening. Safe journey.” The cockpit speakers fell silent. Jerry looked at Eshan who nodded back.
“Here we go,” Jerry nudged the altitude lifter, raising the ship. He pushed a set of red buttons on the panel to his left. The ship rumbled as the landing gear retracted. Grabbing the yoke, he turned the ship towards the launch bay doors. He pushed the throttle levers forward and the ship responded by slowly edging toward the gargantuan metal doors. As they approached, they began to slide open. Jerry eased back on the throttle, waiting until the doors were completely open and then pushed them forward again. The ship floated past the doors and out into open space. He checked his displays, making sure they had completely cleared the mother ship, then gave the ship more throttle. He set a course for Earth and turned on his autopilot.
“We have a little under eight hours until we get to Earth. Want to tell me what I'm getting myself into when we get there?"
"Nope."
Jerry stared at Eshan. "Meaning you just don't want to share or you haven't figured it out yet?"
Eshan kept his eyes on the screen of black space. Said nothing.
Jerry sighed. "Great. Well, I’m going to go make myself a sandwich.” Jerry pushed himself out of his chair, stepped over the sprawled legs behind his chair and disappeared out of the cockpit.
“Do you trust him?” Kolass asked as soon as he was sure Jerry was out of earshot.
“It’s a little late to be asking that, don’t you think? Besides, what choice do we have this late in the game? Your ship is dead in the water, so to speak.”
"Have you figured—"
Eshan stood up abruptly, stretched, “A sandwich sounds pretty good.”
Eshan headed out of the cockpit, leaving Bax and Kolass to do whatever Annunak do when left alone.
Seven hours later, Eshan dropped into the co-pilot’s seat and glanced over at Jerry who sat alone in the darkened cockpit. His taunt features were illuminated by only the display screen in front of him. “How’s it going, Jerry?”
“Just great,” Jerry threw the words at Eshan without looking in his direction. “So, do you even have a plan?”
“Yeah, I want you to have an emergency and land at Reagan National Airport just outside of DC.” Eshan waited for Jerry’s reaction.
Jerry turned his chair to face him. “Are you insane?”
“A couple of months ago, I was gut punched, abandoned on a shitty ass moon about as far away from Earth as a human can get, invaded by ‘hostile’ aliens, and then promoted from nobody to Emissary of those same aliens. I think insane would be boring at this point in my life.
"Just come up with something that makes enough sense for them to allow you land there. I'll hide with my guys in the cargo bay and after you get off, we'll leave."
Jerry shook his head. Finally, he turned back to his console, spent a couple minutes inserting new coordinates and adjusting dials. He turned back to Eshan. “What do you plan on doing after we land at Reagan?”
“I think the less you know, the better. That whole ‘plausible deniability’ thing.” Eshan rubbed his neck and looked back as Kolass entered the cockpit. “Hey, where’s Bax?”
“He’s in the galley, eating something called Spam. He appears to be obsessed with it. He’s devoured three tins of it so far.” Kolass reclaimed his spot on the floor of the cockpit.
“He’s gonna hate himself later.” Eshan laughed and shook his head.
Jerry suddenly turned and looked at Eshan with a look of urgent concern, “Where’s your kitten?”
“Princess? Ah, she’s fine. She’s in my quarters on board the mother ship. She even made a new friend. A Targon thing,” Eshan said as he leaned over and rubbed the calves of his legs.
“It’s a Targo,” Kolass corrected. “They are like your spirit animals on Earth and are highly respected. That she hasn’t eaten Princess is surprising to me.”
Before Eshan could voice his concern for the safety of his cat, the cockpit speakers crackled, “Transport 5-Delta-8, confirm?”
Jerry gave Eshan a sideways look before keying the mic and responding, “Roger, command, this is Transport 5-Delta-8.”
“Captain Reitz, we show you off course for Palin International Space Port.”
“Roger, command, I have an emergency and I’m requesting permission to land at Reagan National, over.”
“Captain, we don’t see Lieutenant Rodgers on our screens and he’s not answering our hails. Do you have a visual on him?”
“Negative, command. He reported that he was having engine issues and was heading home.” A fine sheen of sweat broke out on Jerry’s forehead.
“Transport 5-Delta-8, what is the nature of your emergency?”
“Medical,” Jerry snapped. “I’m going to land this thing at Reagan National with or without your permission. Reitz out.”
Seconds ticked by as Eshan stared at Jerry, then quietly asked, “What now?” Jerry shrugged.
“Transport 5-Delta-8, continue on course to Reagan International. Emergency responders are standing by. Command out.” The speakers hissed and then went silent.
“Do they suspect anything?” Eshan asked.
Jerry turned to him. “How should I know?
I’m not in the habit of smuggling hostile aliens onto my home planet. And one thing's no lie—I feel sick over this whole thing.”
“I wish there was another way, Jerry but--” Eshan started.
“Save your apologies for someone else. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a ship to land.”
Eshan buckled himself in as Earth's blue and green surface grew nearer in the screen. The ship had zeroed in on the target area and smoothly and quickly descended until they were close enough to see busy freeways with dots of moving vehicles like blood cells careening through the living veins of the nation’s capital. Jerry brought the cargo ship in for a landing at the crisscross field of runways. Off to their right, Eshan could make out the flashing lights of the emergency vehicles. The feeling of dread swept over him as he was instantly back at Anna’s side, reliving her last moments.
“Eshan,” someone called his name and nudged him.
“Sorry, I spaced off for a minute,” Eshan found Kolass standing next to him.
“We’ve landed. We need to hide now. Bax is waiting in the cargo hold.” Kolass started for the door, turning back to make sure Eshan was following.
“Jerry, I know I can’t ask you to lie about us, but could you at least not volunteer any information?” Eshan asked as he rose out of his chair.
“I’m not making any promises, Eshan. But whatever you’re doing, it all better be worth it. Now get out of my cockpit before someone sees you.” Jerry turned away from him and looked out the cockpit canopy, watching the approaching emergency vehicles.
Eshan ran down the hall and entered the cargo hold. He looked around for Kolass and Bax. Not seeing them, he began to look behind the nearest stack of crates. A hand reached out and grasped him, causing him to yelp. The strong hand pulled him behind a large metal container.
“A simple ‘over here’ would have worked,” Eshan hissed as he knelt next to his companions.
