Alien Backlash

by Maxine Millar

  “We will have to deal with the thefts but there is no time! We need to get some police and maybe use the military in the meantime.” Dai’s eyes gleamed as he had a sudden brilliant idea. “Get back here tonight. We need to do some planning.”

  Later that night, Kudales said with a huge grin, “We could time it for a few days before the fleet arrives, get Sarah to proclaim martial law — and the fact that the evidence has been gathered before time will then be irrelevant.”

  “That’s the idea. Should work and Sarah will like it.”

  “We’ll make it work. It will be popular.”

  “Yes. That’s what I thought. We need to use just our own people for this. No Terrans. This will be fun.” They both chuckled.

  But there was another problem that Dacklorat brought up the next morning, “The Niseyen are unhappy that the Terrans are the ruling government. They feel unrepresented.”

  Dai exploded, “I am disgusted at how soon they have started complaining! The journalists aren’t helping. They delight in stirring up trouble. I suspect they are exaggerating and making a lot of it up then reporting it as fact. I’m sorry some of them came. Most seem negative, disruptive, divisive, and petty. I have seen few newscasts that look balanced since they started fourteen days ago, and to think I was so happy to see them arrive and start up daily newscasts! We have no time for this! We have no time for elections! In fifteen days we will be at war!”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Fourteen days before the fleet was due, Alia announced to Sarah, “Another Niseyen ship has arrived, a military ship rerouted by Dai to Terra from wherever it was meant to patrol. It has refugees from the Mediterranean, from coastal areas that were flooding with the latest storms. They say they have a medical emergency. I’ll put you on to them.”

  Sarah looked into the bridge of a ship filled with just Niseyen. The man looked sick! She listened in growing horror as he said, “We arrived at Terra just after Defiance loaded up and promptly sped off back here. We were asked to get inoculations, which we did, but we decided we shouldn’t wait the fourteen days when we saw the news and realized how bad things were. The nurses were cross with us and told us we shouldn’t go. I’m afraid we had a lot of fatalities.”

  “What? Among your crew?”

  “No. Many of us got very sick but we survived. The passengers died.”

  “How many?”

  “I lost count. I’ll find out”

  “What was the disease?”

  “Cholera.”

  “But there’s a vaccine for that!”

  “We were rescuing them from war and we didn’t know that some had cholera. Neither did they. There was another type of diarrhoea as well and they hadn’t realized.”

  When Sarah got on board she discovered why they had been in such a hurry. Despite what they had told her, nothing really prepared her for what she found.

  Afterwards, in tears, she contacted Dai: “The refugees are in a pitiful state. There was no one on board to co-ordinate, no one to liaise and get them basic supplies. The Cleaners have had to be used. Most had only the clothing they stood up in and some of the children don’t even have that. They did have communication, Universal lessons, entertainment and the films about Torroxell and thank God for that. Dai, they are still sick. We will have to quarantine them all. Find us an island and some supplies.” She paused, fighting the tears. “They tell me that even at that stage, World Health Organization staff were being tipped off by space agencies whenever a spaceship was spotted and luckily the WHO were the first on board. They vaccinated the crew the day they arrived, before they started loading, which was just as well. But the ship left the next day to load. Cholera came aboard with the refugees. Nearly half of them went down with it during the voyage, and a third of the crew. Inoculation needs time to work and there wasn’t enough time for the crew. The Niseyen all survived, the inoculation probably alerting their immune systems just ahead of the bugs which gave them a head start.

  “The refugees were not so lucky. Out of about seven hundred, three hundred have gotten sick and a hundred and seventeen have died. Most were children. They were so overcrowded that quarantine was difficult. They used a hold as a hospital. There was no inoculation on board but it is coming on another ship that has had to be rerouted because of the fleet. Dai, the vaccine would have stopped this.”

  “What about you? Are you in danger?”

  “No, I’m in a Hazmat suit.”

  After a few minutes Dai got back to her. “Here are the coordinates to a fishing village. The doctors here say to quarantine families in a house and ask the Zeobani to deliver food. I’ve asked for volunteers from those who have been inoculated and we’ll bring help with the supplies. Some Okme have volunteered to help as well and the Priskya will provide fish and sea greens daily.”

  Sarah spent the day helping to unload and resettle the passengers into the fishing village. She explained the tragedy to the Priskya who agreed to help by fishing. Then came the appalling revelation as the crew showed her the bodies of the dead which were busy unfreezing in the collapsible holds outside the hull. They needed to be cremated, and fast. The gruesome task was accomplished with the aid of some Okme who were safe from infection and the crew who should not now be at risk.

  Sarah was flown back home, shattered. Dai met her at the airport, concerned at how distressed she had seemed on the phone. He decided she needed a distraction and took her to the main Niseyen restaurant. News of what had happened had quickly spread over the planet. Taking her there was a mistake, he soon realized. The Niseyen crew were quarantined as well and the Niseyen in the restaurant were seriously worried and kept asking Sarah about them and the risk of a disease that could kill so many spreading from the quarantined area.

  The reporters were even worse, badgering Sarah with questions that ranged from the trivial to the ridiculous.

  Dai wished he hadn’t brought her here and said, “I’m sorry,we have such good control of our own illnesses that this is not possible on one of our planets. Or it wasn’t until all the problem with drug-resistant bugs.”

  “It’s all too possible on Terra. We have a huge problem with drug-resistant bugs and it’s getting worse each year.”

  “Do you have many illnesses like this?” Dai asked and then looked, amused, as those Niseyen listening and wanting information, got so annoyed with the reporters that they evicted them.

  “Yes,” Sarah smiled as she watched the reporters get thrown out, “We have control of some, have eliminated many, and mostly controlled many others, but the problem is not what we can do, it’s about people or medical facilities being able to afford it, or having enough medical people to treat them or some way to get enough medical supplies to where people are. Distribution, finance, sheer numbers, and disasters are the problem. There are just too many of us! We really need this planet but the amount of people we can move here will be so insignificant. Another huge problem is that the drugs we use for treating bacterial infections have become less and less effective as the bacteria become more and more resistant.”

  Dai was thinking more about how thousands of mainly women and children could be considered an insignificant number. Especially when multiplied by many shiploads. Concerned about the constant questions when he had hoped to distract her, and about the amount of alcohol she was putting away, he decided to take her home. Distracted, Dai didn’t notice they were being followed.

  To his surprise, she invited him in. “Don’t leave me,” she said, swaying. Dai grabbed her to stop her falling. She put her arms around his neck and snuggled in. Slowly she sagged and Dai realized she was out cold. Carefully, he picked her up and looked around, locating the bedroom. Gently he carried her in and put her on the bag. Now what?

  He looked down at her. She was asleep. Well, he should take her shoes off and turn her on her side. Gently he figured out how to remove her shoes having watched other Terrans remove theirs. In the quiet of the apartment, the ripping sound of the Velcro was loud and
woke Sarah up. She smiled sleepily at him. “I’d better go,” he said.

  “Don’t leave me,” she repeated and moved over, making room for him.

  Wondering if he should be doing this, Dai lay down beside her and again Sarah snuggled in to him. Not sure what exactly was going on here, Dai gently kissed her on the forehead and Sarah lifted her face up and ensured they did the job properly.

  After several minutes snuggled closely into his warm body, feeling hot, she unzipped her jacket. Dai got quite another message and removed his. He started to remove her clothing and she co-operated. She murmured what sounded like encouragement. By this time Dai didn’t need any — but she was drunk. He stopped.

  As if in a dream, Sarah felt him remove the rest of his outer clothing. There was a pause then she felt him move next to her. She turned to him, snuggling in again. A few minutes later, hot, she removed her blouse. She yawned as the effects of too much alcohol clobbered her again, turning her lights to dim. She vaguely thought she shouldn’t have drunk so much when she hadn’t a clue what it was she was drinking or how strong it was, but anything was better than remembering the day. Again, the alcohol turned her lights off and she slept, soundly.

  Waking the next morning she blushed as she looked up at Dai. Checking, she noticed they were both still wearing their clothing. “Umm, did we get up to anything we shouldn’t have?”

  “People kept giving you alcohol. You drank a bit much.”

  “Noticed that. I mean us.”

  “No. I wasn’t sure you knew what you were doing but you were definite you wanted me not to leave you alone. You asked me to stay, twice,” he repeated, looking anxious.

  “Yes, I remember that.” She carefully eased herself away. How was she going to get out of this without losing face? “I’m sorry, I made an ass of myself.” She sat up on the edge of the bed having checked that she was decent in a T shirt and trousers. She forgot the difference in dress codes.

  “You were very upset. It’s OK. Nothing happened,” Dai said, sounding regretful.

  Sarah headed for the bathroom, scooping up her bathrobe and putting it on. Dai sighed as he got the message. Clothes going on, not off. Pity. He decided to make himself useful and put the jug on. She loved that bitter stuff called coffee, especially first thing in the morning. He returned to the bedroom via the Cleaner and hurriedly dressed.

  As Sarah apprehensively opened the bathroom door again she smelt the coffee and headed for the kitchen, relieved to see Dai dressed and making one of his favourite drinks, part of the groceries he casually and continually brought in. She sat down and poured out her coffee, adding the precious milk powder. Her stomach rumbled in complaint and she wondered when she had last eaten. Yesterday morning? No wonder the alcohol had pole-axed her! She opened the fridge, took out some goop, grabbed a frying pan, added some dried fruit and fried the goop in patties, rolled it in cinnamon sugar and nibbled it. She automatically and thoughtlessly offered some to Dai.

  He shuddered, knowing exactly what it was that had so casually been put in front of him. Was Sarah not thinking or was this a test? Or an insult? Slave food. Most of his Race would shun it even if starving but not under these circumstances. He tentatively nibbled it. It was hot. He guessed if this was an insult he probably deserved it for sleeping with her. Would this appease her?

  For Niseyen, it was a courtship ritual to eat together alone and for the female to offer the male food. Was this what she meant? He knew so little of her Race’s customs. He had just picked a piece up when there was a knock at the door and Ludmilla and Bert barged in. He had forgotten to lock the door last night! He had intended to just stay to see her safely in.

  Ludmilla looked at two guilty looking people, one in a bathrobe, both mussed from sleeping and in her mind 2+2=5. She saw what they were eating! Together! She smiled, said, “Well, about time,” and helped herself to coffee. Bert grinned and did likewise.

  Sarah watched two days’ supply of her precious, rationed coffee and milk powder go down two opportunistic throats and figured that under the circumstances this was the least of her problems. “He just stayed with me because I was drunk. That’s all.” It sounded unconvincing to her too. “I’ll just be a minute.” She headed off for the bedroom.

  Bert smiled. “Then why are you both blushing?” he called after her. Not often he caught Sarah out.

  Dai was struggling to figure out what this meant. She hadn’t ordered him to leave, hadn’t dismissed him and she hadn’t vehemently denied Ludmilla’s assumption. That meant she accepted it was a courtship! At last! He had finally got to first base.

  He figured if appeasement was needed, he had better finish this goop up. It didn’t taste too bad. Not as bad as he had imagined. He heard the sound of water and shuddered as he realized she was washing — in water! Another thing he couldn’t understand.

  He munched away sharing the leftovers with the others. Helkmid had told him there was enough goop, in dried form, to feed millions for years. Helkmid had also told him it was the base ingredient for most of the restaurant food. He had trouble with that statement and wondered if he was being naive. He noticed the Terrans liked this goop thinned down with water and wrapped around fish. And these things were called doughnuts. They were made up in the Terran restaurant for snacks.

  That was becoming a problem. Separate restaurants for Terrans and Niseyen. It was the case in all the cities. There were not enough Okme for a restaurant so Okme ate with either but more often with the Terrans. The Okme liked the price. Free. Sarah told him the Okme had their priorities right. But the segregation was causing problems, tensions and misunderstandings. The problem was that most of the Terrans had no money. None at all. So they could not buy food and had to eat what was in the Terran restaurants and free.

  Sarah emerged a few minutes later, looking her usual tidy self and not for the first time Dai marveled at her speed. It had taken Leasan at least two hours to prepare for being seen in public.

  Thirteen days before the fleet was due, De Arc left for Terra, with a legal Niseyen crew and another large ship in tow. Seeing her go, Helene remaining as Captain, Sarah realized she had lost count of the ships in transit, but she would bet Dai knew. She then realized it would all be in the air-traffic control logs. She had forgotten that at least some things were being done right! She headed over there and bumped into Dai on the way. He had more of that scrumptious food for her and another drink for her to try. He seemed determined to stop her drinking water, at least in public. She checked the logs and found the population on Torroxell was up to 260,000 Niseyen, 29,000 Okme and 95,000 Terrans with the biggest ships yet to come. But the numbers of Niseyen were greater, both here and incoming.

  The next morning, Big Ali reported to Sarah. “I’ve made preparations to defend any potential ground assault using the Kepi caves as strongholds and also using, as hiding places, the underwater entrance caves that were going to be used to keep some of the children safe if the original war for Torroxell had been lost. I’m thinking of the many conversations we had with Mathew and that data relating to guerrilla warfare that he sent us. The Kepi caves are huge. Dai assures me the Keulfyd will not venture underground. They are quite claustrophobic as are most Races, it seems. The bugs down there also terrify them.”

  “Bugs?”

  “The beautiful glow bugs. They’re a type of beetle. We’ve spread them out so they cover a much larger area. The kids are feeding them heaps so they are multiplying. They eat goop and insects and plants. They aren’t shy like glow worms back on earth. They shine more brightly when they hear the kids because, we think, they associate them with food.

  “We got Odie underground. He was not happy but Mahmoud persuaded him to come and one of the Okme kids came as well. She told us Okme don’t go into caves but an invasion just might persuade them. Her words, not mine! The Cats have no problem. The caves are huge and the Kepi have put in doors so we can block them off all over the network. Gas won’t work. We have shifted huge amounts of the
dehydrated goop down there. The kids have been told every time you go down there you must take something with you. The Kittens are stocking them for us too and there are a lot of them.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  When the alarm went off Kumenoprix jumped in shock. He remembered why he’d set it. He wolfed down the last of the food and headed for the control room. Again he was one of the last there and there was no room for him. People were crowding out.

  “What’s happening?”

  “They say they’re busy. We have to get out and go away.” Worried and disgruntled, but conceding the point, they crowded into the passengers lounge that was never intended to accommodate sixteen frightened and grumpy Okme.

  “What’s going on?” he asked a man who had been in the control room.

  “The Loridsyl ships are decelerating but the Keulfyd ship is still at full speed. It will soon be in firing range but the Loridsyl aren’t close enough to fire back. The shield on this ship, at maximum, will deflect only if they fire at extreme range.”

  “Like where they are now?”

  “Yes.”

  A few minutes later the ship was rocked by an explosion, and then another. There were screams and yells. “Calm down!” one of the women said. “That was a near-miss.”

  “How do you know that?” asked another woman.