Chronicles of Jake 1: My Return to Planet Earth

by Peter Lewis Atkinson

  I just said, ‘‘Yes I like them and they are only for show.’’ I wasn’t going to tell her I had found the power packs hidden behind a drawer and with the Silka threat I needed to protect my family if the situation arose.

  After our last delivery I asked Alenna if she had found out about the frigates. She showed me a sales leaflet. They were being offered at a knocked down price due to being such an old type, not only that they had a large number of crates filled with spare parts, but for now that’s all I needed to know. When we returned to Alkarr Alenna asked Lara it she would see her on board our ship. When Lara arrived she was taken to the galley. Alenna asked the others to leave as she had some business to discuss with Lara. I was also to stay. I said, ‘‘Rachael should stay too as it concerned her.’’

  As soon as the others had left Rachael said, ‘‘I am not seeing Lara.’’

  I then replied, ‘‘Oh, you have the wrong end of the stick, I know you’re not, besides I know you are seeing someone from the house of Belto. I believe her name is Sarina, please correct me if I am wrong.’’

  Rachael replied, ‘‘How do you know that?’’

  I looked at her and said, ‘‘I am your brother so I know everything, besides it nothing to do with relationships, it about Earth being in danger from the Silka.’’

  I now turned my attention to Lara. Alenna saying to her, ‘‘Lara what do you know about the Silka heading to Earth.’’

  She looked at us replying, ‘‘I cannot tell you anything.’’ We could see that she was nervous and we kept probing her, she then said, ‘‘I am not allowed to tell anybody.’’ She then burst into tears.

  I put my arms around her. She buried her head into my chest. I looked at Alenna and said in English, ‘‘I know and if it’s a good time now, go.’’

  Alenna had been looking for that right moment and took Rachael by the hand to leave. Rachael was a little confused at what was happening but realised as they were leaving. As they departed she gave me a smile and winked at me. I lifted Lara’s chin and kissed her, something she was hardly expecting as protocol would forbid it. She then looked to see what Alenna was going to say, but of course they had left, so she was alone with me which could only mean one thing. Now she just stared back at me; the only thing I said was yes with a nod. She then buried her head again and continued crying; she was happy and sad at the same time.

  This was not the usual marriage when a male would happen to gain a new wife through doing a business deal, but the other way marriage comes about, through an Alliance between houses and now ours had moved up in status. Now as her husband I inquired still further. I needed this information especially as far as the more important point was concerned, asking her if the Alliance was going to intervene and prevent Earth from being annihilated. She just said in a whisper, ‘‘I will only say the alliance will not sit back and let the Silka have a free hand. There are ongoing discussions. Please do not ask any more of me.’’

  I replied, ‘‘Thank you for what you have said.’’ That was enough to tell me the Alliance was at least not going to let Earth be wiped out, but what they were actually going to do I would have to wait and see how it played out for now.

  I informed Alenna and Rachael of the little I knew and that we had to trust Lara to put our case for now. Lara as an official of the government would continue doing what she did, so would not be joining us on our cargo runs but she would live at our residence. We would at least see her between runs. So I was up to seven wives. I wanted to put my foot down now and say, “Enough is enough,” to Alenna, but would she listen? As far as I could see we would not be doing any deals that would facilitate having to accept another wife, so for now I was safe, as long as I was not hijacked that is. My concern continued to be Earth and it had been months since I had discovered any snippets of information. Then one day as we returned to Alkarr after a cargo run Lara said she had some news for me, which in fact turned out to be a summons. I was nervous and inquired what sort of summons. She then told me that we had been summoned to appear in front of the Alliance council and the summons was for her, Alenna and myself and it would be in four days’ time on the planet Bartonna, which was where they always assembled for their meetings.

  Bartonna was within the Relnorians’ own solar system. It was chosen due to the Relnorians’ reluctance to venture far from their home world Relnor. Lara did not look at all that concerned; she knew something but was not letting on. Alenna and I tried to worm it out of her but she kept telling us to wait and see. Alenna did not like having something kept from her. After all she was the prime wife and my subordinate wives should be subservient to her, but on the other hand Lara was a government official and could not divulge certain things even to her family. Alenna was going to have to accept that.

  The time came to leave. The family was to travel with us to Bartonna but they had to stay on the Alkarren Princess in orbit while the three of us would board our shuttle calypso. I would then fly us to the surface. We had been given the coordinates as to where to land and a flight number which we had also to confirm with approach control before entering the so-called forbidden zone. This was an area that had very tight security and strict flight path that one must not deviate from; after all it was where all the top members of the Alliance council gathered.

  As soon as we had landed an escort was waiting for us and we had to go through several security checks, including being scanned for weapons, then finally we had to wait outside the council chamber until called. We were very tense by now, but eventually the time came and we were escorted in and instructed to sit on the seats in front of the members of the council. The council was seated on raised seats in a half moon formation so they could look down on us. I did feel very nervous at this point and could also see Alenna was uncomfortable with the situation, while Lara on the other hand was taking it in her stride and wasn’t at all perplexed by the situation. The council chairwoman after welcoming us spoke direct to me. ‘‘So you are the human who resides on Alkarr,’’ she said. ‘‘We have been keeping a close eye on you from the moment you arrived there. We were unsure of how you would interact with Alkarrens at first, but you have proved you can be trusted and especially we thank you for your assistance in the evacuation of Alto.’’ She turned her attention to all of us, ‘‘Now down to the topic in hand. As you know the Silka are predicted to invade earth. We have had many discussions on the matter and have reached the conclusion that the Alliance will not stand back and take no action. Although Earth is a long way off from ever being contacted let alone being invited to join the alliance, but due to the grave situation we have decided in our wisdom to make first contact with Earth and invite the peoples of earth to join the alliance with a very special probational membership.’’ She then went on to some details saying, ‘‘Three things will not be allowed the first, Earth will not get star drive technology so humans will be confined to their solar system unless we deem otherwise. Second any human men other than yourself will not be permitted to step foot on Alkarr and finally earth will not have access to advanced weaponry.’’ She then said to my amazement, ‘‘We have decided that you Jake along with Lara will be our emissaries to initiate first contact with earth.’’ Then she explained, ‘‘As we believe it will be more acceptable coming from another human, we will leave it to you how you will announce your presence, but the welcome speech to be made in the presence of the leaders of the nations of Earth has been prepared.’’

  She then handed Lara the encoded speech. Lara and I were both given our own personal access codes. We were instructed not to read the speech in advance, only in front of the leaders of Earth. Both access codes would be required at the time to open it. Some instructions regarding Earth selecting an ambassador were also provided. We were now to leave and prepare for our trip to Earth. I gave a respectful bow to the council and thanked them for giving me the honour o
f initiating first contact before leaving.

  Chapter 8

  First Contact

  We gathered all the family together in the galley to tell them our news. For a number of the family members it would be there first time that they were going to Earth. For this special trip we were all going. If all went well, they would all step foot on Earth. Rachael was ecstatic as she wanted to see our aunt, uncle and her cousin Mandy; after all, she was brought up from the age of twelve by them and they were the nearest thing to having parents. However, she was going to miss her friend Sarina, as we were expected to be away for at least a month. I couldn’t see why she could not have accompanied Rachael on the trip, but Alenna said no. Due to protocol there was a problem. I could see where she was coming from so I did not push the matter.

  Almost as soon as we had arrived back on Alkarr to prepare for our trip to Earth, then Alenna was starting to get a lot of other houses wanting to make an appointment to see her. News had got out that the Alliance was contacting Earth. As our house was pulling the strings nobody wanted to miss out on any opportunity of doing lucrative business with Earth. Alenna was loving the attention but at this time had to give her apologies as she was not seeing anyone until after our return. After all, we were not quite sure how Earth was going to react about the existence of others in the universe let alone becoming a member of the Alliance.

  I asked Alenna to make sure those old frigates were still available. Also, we had to make arrangements for some of the contracts we needed to fulfil. That was easy. We sorted these by sub-contracting them to Lumi and Alenna's family. As family they would of course be first in line after us for any business coming from trading with Earth. Alenna now said, jokingly I hope, ‘‘Oh Jake expect another ten to twenty wives.’’

  I looked at her and said, ‘‘You have got to be kidding, no way, as any business that comes from this will not facilitate any more wives as you will be dictating the contract, I warn you now that I can be very awkward and you have never seen me be very awkward so don't.’’

  We loaded all the things we needed for our trip. The wives spent the day before we left with their mothers and family. I spent it with Perri’s family as I had to ferry her to the moon. I did inform her family that there may be some opportunity to sell some of their serviceable scrap transport vehicles they had to Earth, as it may have been scrap to them, but to Earth it could very well be the latest transport, especially those hover lifts as there would be a great demand for them. It was time to leave, next stop Earth. We were soon in star drive. As the trip took around a week and as the cargo deck was empty, a good way to pass time was with sporting activities. We had ten adults and fifteen children on board, so it was easy to make up teams, although some of the children were too young to join in. I had been thinking how I was going to make contact with Earth, and after some thought I had come up with a daring plan.

  I would hijack the TV channels for long enough to broadcast my message. I was going to do my message live but on reflection I decided to record the broadcast so we did not make any mistakes. I also had an idea up my sleeve to draw attention to us before I cut in with my broadcast. This was going to be one or if not the biggest events in recorded history for Earth and I needed to get it right without scaring people too much. We spent two days recording and re-recording our message, plus adding subtitles for a few languages such as Spanish, French, Russian and Chinese, which was incidentally the hardest one to do. The rest would have to make do with English as I couldn’t do all languages.

  That done, one of the first things that needed to happen after entering orbit was for Rachael to go to Earth as she had a job to do. The moment we came out of star drive it could be observed that the UK was still in darkness; as it was early August it would not be that long before dawn. I briefed Rachael on her mission. Alenna, Perri, Rachael and I boarded Calypso and headed for the surface. Our planned destination was a park near to our aunt and uncle’s flat where we were to drop off Rachael. Due to it being early I did not expect many people about just the odd jogger or dog walker, but sure enough there were a few early risers. I chose a spot that was open and safely away from those people so we could not be seen due to the illusion field. We made a quick landing where Rachael disembarked, but as she exited the illusion field I could see two people, one of which was pointing towards her. I called her on the communicator and warned her that she may have been spotted, to them she would seemed to have appeared out of thin air. She then went in the opposite direction to where they were and to my relief they did not follow her.

  We lifted off and returned to the Alkarren Princess. As for Rachael’s mission, she had to buy a cheap mobile phone, charge and activate it making sure she had its number, before finally packing it up and then sending it to the prime minister of Great Britain by special delivery to arrive by nine o’clock the next morning. It was not long before I heard from her that she was at our aunt and uncle’s flat and they wanted to know where she had been for years and why we had not contacted them. I asked rachael to let me talk to our aunt. I then informed my aunt that she was to watch the six o’clock evening news. I told her that she would see me and all would become clear, but Rachael could not say anything until then. My aunt scolded me saying I had better have a good reason and that they had been frantic with what had become of us both. I finished by saying sorry but that it had not been possible to make contact until now.

  It was early afternoon before I heard from Rachael again and that she was ready to be collected from the park. This time Luka came with Alenna and me in Calypso. We made our way to the park to collect her. However, there was a problem—a big problem. It was a hot day and the park was packed with people having a lazy afternoon enjoying the sunshine. I could not find a space to land, but then I noticed the tennis courts. They were not in use for some reason or other and as I hovered above I could also see they did not even have the nets in place. I thought it may be possible to land there. I asked Rachael if it was possible for her to gain access to the tennis courts. She replied that the gate was locked but there was a hole in the wire fence large enough for her to squeeze through. The shuttle would just fit with a little to spare so pinpoint landing was required.

  I lowered the shuttle being careful not catch the fence, and just as I touched down, I called Rachael to wriggle through the hole and get on board. As she was getting through the wire the park warden who had spotted her, shouted at her, "What are you doing in there!'' He ran up to the wire but Rachael wasn’t hanging about to reply to him and quickly jumped on board. He stopped dead as he would now have been close enough to see the shuttle. He stood there stunned staring at us, but before he could come to his senses and think of taking a picture with his phone camera (that’s if he had one with him), I was lifting off and was soon out of sight and sound of him. Rachael said that was close and wondered if he would tell people what he had witnessed. However, without any evidence I was confident no one would believe him.

  As soon as we had returned to the Alkarren Princess we made preparation to cut into as many satellites that broadcast TV channels as possible. It did not matter which channel anyone was watching, if it came from the satellites we had targeted they would receive our broadcast. It was about two hours before our broadcast, at this point my idea to bring attention to us would come into effect. Under our cargo ship there were two lights. These were really bright on full power and from our position in orbit we would be second only to the moon in brightness on a clear night. As we were about to pass over into the night side of Earth during an orbit, I turned the lights on. Now I had made my presence known. It was going to be interesting to see what the TV reports would make of it. In fact, it took only twenty minutes before the first reference to the lights in the sky and speculation to what they were seeing was abound. A supernova; well, that did not make sense as the lights were moving. An alien attack? Alien yes, but no attack.

&
nbsp; After a short while it was making top news spots on most networks. I was enjoying teasing them so first I turned the lights to maximum output, then off, then on again, but all too soon we passed into the daylight side of the planet and at that point I decided that was enough and turned them off. I positioned the ship in a stationary position above the North Pole where we could access most satellites. All was ready. I waited until the news at six had just started in the UK. The main headlines were about the lights in the sky. I cut in with my broadcast. First, they would have just seen me. I started my speech, ‘‘Please do not be alarmed, I am speaking to you from the object which you have detected orbiting earth. You are not alone in the universe; in fact there are many different beings from numerous worlds. If I look human that’s because I am one of only two humans who live on another world.’’ Rachael now appears in view and I introduce her as the other human. I now say why I am here by saying, ‘‘I have been given the privilege of inviting earth to become a probational member of the Alliance of independent words which consists of seven full members and a few probational members. To this aim I have a speech to make at the United Nations prepared by the Alliance council. So that you can make contact with me to discuss protocol, I have sent the prime minister of Great Britain a communication device by post which he should receive by nine am tomorrow morning. It is clearly marked. I hope he will accept being appointed spokesperson for Earth and in doing so will liaise with other world leaders. I will contact him at ten am tomorrow.’’ To try and make a relaxed atmosphere I needed to show we were just a family by saying, ‘‘Now you probably would like to meet some aliens. On board I have my family who are Alkarrens from a planet called Alkarr who look like us apart from some small variation, such as their eyes, hands and feet.’’ At this time I was not going to mention they had tails, so I first introduce’ my wives. All the wives now come into the view and wave, followed by our children, all now appeared into view with the older daughters carrying the youngest ones. I now say, ‘‘Oh if that’s not alien enough for you, well on board we have two Lusianians. They are very friendly, please do not be deterred by their appearance. Here’s Pooky and here’s her mother Yarkeli.’’ Each one appears into view in turn. I reinforced my comment saying. ‘‘Do not be frightened of them, they may look different but they act just like us humans. They think the same and have the same emotions.’’