Alien Backlash

by Maxine Millar

  “Oh yes.”

  “I’ll bet on Mum.”

  “Yes,” he said slowly, “I would too.”

  Dai looked at him, very surprised. “Jesan? I expected your support here.”

  Jesan shook his head. “I’ve been trained to agree with any woman I live with. It makes life so much easier and we’re outnumbered here.” Jesan had summed up Katy very quickly. He thought she was a born leader, very like her Mum, very sure of herself, very determined. He would not want to cross her. He looked at Pumpkin, then his father. Now they were five. This was going to be fun. He was so glad his mother had sent him here and he intended to stay this time. For the first time ever, he was going to refuse to obey his mother. And then he thought about the impact of what he and Aunt Friona had done. He had already had disobeyed her so going back would have been tricky.

  The next morning, three days before the fleet was due, Dai looked in pleasure at his expanded family of five, all in just a few days. Jesan, yawning, just out of his bag, eyes on Katy. Pumpkin, hopeful eyes on Katy. Katy, alert, dressed and on her second coffee — and, coming through the door, Sarah in her bathrobe, hair tousled and hand outstretched for the coffee Katy had made her. She had bought coffee beans to grow the plants to ensure a ready supply.

  Katy pointedly looked around. “Mum, this place needs some work. Human furniture would help. I’m not keen on sleeping on the floor.”

  “Sorry, Katy, I just haven’t found the time.”

  “Can I do it? Free hand? Jesan will help, won’t you?”

  Jesan nodded. “I could do with some storage space. Lots more.” He wondered what he had just been volunteered for and what a “free hand” was.

  Pumpkin interrupted proceedings, meowing and bumping Katy who was trying to make doughnuts. She had been well taught in goop cuisine on the ship. Sarah put her coffee down and went to the fridge. She got out some fish, wrapped it in a little goop and put it in a plate for Pumpkin. Dai looked down in horror at the food, in a plate, on the floor, for an animal and Jesan looked, amused, at his father.

  Pumpkin suspiciously sniffed at it and reversed gear. He sat down rebelliously and glared at Sarah. She pointed at the plate. There was a brief stalemate. Every time he looked at Sarah, she looked at the plate. Pumpkin reluctantly walked back to the plate. He sniffed, delicately nibbled at it, looked at Sarah, nibbled some more, got through to the fish Sarah thought he could probably smell and settled down to deal with it, folding his tail around himself.

  “Well, that solves a problem,” she said. “Well adapted, Pumpkin.”

  Dai looked up at his son, “Jesan, there are several ships leaving today and tomorrow.”

  “I’ve just arrived.”

  “There’s going to be a war.”

  “You’re not going to surrender?”

  “Not a chance,” said Sarah.

  “You think you can beat the Keulfyd? How?”

  “Jesan,” answered Sarah, “we wouldn’t be fighting otherwise. We have beaten them already. And we have tactics and technology unknown in this galaxy.”

  That confirmed Jesan’s information. He asked Katy, “Are you staying?”

  “Of course. The whole ship knew there was going to be a war and voted to come and most of us are staying and fighting.”

  “Then I’m staying,” Jesan declared.

  Dai and Sarah looked at each other. “Told you,” she said, smiling and thinking that Dai was a little ignorant about parenting. She had already noticed Jesan’s intention to stay and wondered how Dai had missed the little signals like his complete unpacking, the extent of what he had brought, wanting extra storage space for things, and his attitude to Katy. He was not going to run away when she was staying!

  Several minutes later, Dai and Sarah, dressed and ready, left the apartment. Sarah called, “Katy, we’ll be late. Get your own dinner.”

  Katy sighed, “Typical.” She looked speculatively at Jesan. “When you’re ready…”

  In quick time she sought out Ludmilla, who Sarah had told her had the master card to enter other apartments. She and Jesan found the directory describing the rooms and headed out. Most of the rooms on the first few floors had been well sorted through but on the tenth they discovered some empty apartments with human-sized furniture and got organized, using Katy’s luggage trolley.

  “We want two matching sets of those four big brown chairs,” she pointed, “those smaller benches for beds and the storage units.” She opened one. “Oh, it’s full.” Realizing the significance of that she shrugged. “Take it all. We’ll sort through it. Some of it might fit.” She started on another storage unit.

  Jesan was aghast. Was she going to wear second-hand clothing? That had belonged to the dead? He remembered Sarah talking about Terra running out of resources but surely no Terran would wear second-hand clothing! The poorest Niseyen wouldn’t do that!

  Katy noticed the clothes storage units were adjustable and, she assumed, were all for clothing. Some were like open shelving and some were cupboards. There were no drawers. Over the next few hours she and Jesan distributed the storage units throughout the apartment, putting two big ones in the area designated “kitchen.” It was poorly equipped, with a tiny work surface, a huge cooker stolen from a restaurant, a fridge too small and designed for drinks only, and there was no sink. No sink! All it had was a water container and a bucket. Katy put the coffee-maker, herbs and spices into the shelving unit, and said, “ Now we need another fridge for food.”

  Jesan nodded, wondering what a fridge was and when she would run out of energy. He had an hour ago. He couldn’t remember ever working this hard. By now it was lunchtime and he was hungry. A disgusted Pumpkin had been locked in the bathroom while they worked, as he kept getting underfoot while they were moving furniture in and out. Occasional indignant complaints came from the bathroom. He was even more vociferous when Katy finally let him out.

  Jesan decided it was time he made a decision so he took Katy to the Niseyen restaurant for lunch. Today she was dressed in Terran clothes but they were black and covered by her mother’s cloak. She looked Niseyen. Katy looked at the menu but said she didn’t know what the food was: “This will have to be your choice.” Jesan was impressed that she could read Universal.

  Katy looked around in fascination. By this time she knew not to make eye contact with men and not to return their smiles. She could clearly see the unease, the attention to her. She could almost smell the fear, could see it in their faces, hear it in their voices. Well, she could do something about that. She looked up at the media screen where the fleet was visible. “Poor bastards.”

  “What?” said a man near her in shock.

  “They don’t know what they’ve taken on,” said Katy.

  “What do you know about it?” asked another.

  “I just arrived yesterday. My mother tried to persuade me to go back to Terra on Defiance but when I asked her if I was in any real danger she said no, probably not. So I’m staying. So’s he,” she said, pointing to Jesan who had just arrived with their food and drink.

  “And who is your mother?”

  “The President. She should know, don’t you think? She’s already won one war against those arrogant idiots and this time she’s much better prepared. I’d bet on my mother.”

  The man looked at Jesan. “Who are you?”

  “The Vice President’s precious only child,” Jesan answered tongue-in-check.

  “Can’t you get transport out?”

  “Leave? Before all the fun starts? I wouldn’t miss this for anything!”

  Another man came. “So they are going to surrender?”

  “No,” Jesan said emphatically. “We’re going to fight and I’m staying because I know that we can win. The main Terran military equipment and personnel didn’t arrive in time but some other Terran technology did and it will be a huge shock to the Keulfyd. I can’t see how they could counter it. It’s brilliant! There’s a part of it that the Keulfyd cannot even understand. They don’
t have the information. And they can’t get it because part of it will be chosen at the last minute.”

  Katy surreptitiously watched as that information got passed around. What was he talking about? She’d have to do some judicious questioning later. She added casually, “Those Keulfyd think they are the hunters. They’re wrong. My mother is the hunter and they’ll find themselves the hunted. She took over a huge organization on Terra that was going under. She turned it around. She says it’s all attitude. Attitude counts more than ability and equipment. Attitude will make a way.” She smiled at the man nearest to her. “Terrans are alphas. So are you. It’s in your genes.”

  “Are you sure she’s not going to surrender?”

  “Certain.”

  There was some muttering between several men before one asked, “What does Terra have in the way of technology that can beat the Keulfyd?”

  “I’m sorry but that’s a military secret and we can’t tell you,” she said.

  Jesan was amused. If there was one thing he had learned early on in his life it was to keep secrets and not to rat on people. Particularly his parents. His mother often tried to pump him about his father but he was an expert at pretending ignorance and never managing to remember to find things for illegal acquisition, or find out information she wanted. He had listened carefully over the last few days and heard the talk and rumours flying about invincible Terran technology. He had also overheard the discussions about the Cats and knew they were involved too. He noticed the attitude-change in the restaurant as people moved from table to table passing on what he and Katy had said.

  Katy too noticed the shift in attitude as she idly ate her artificial meal, over-processed mush, colored, flavored and shaped to look like real food. She made a mental note to take Jesan to the Terran restaurant for dinner. She smiled to herself. Her mother had tasked her with quietly informing the Niseyen that the children of the President and Vice President were staying, to give some hope and confidence to the Niseyen who badly needed it. Jesan had gone one better with his talk of secret Terran technology being the reason for their confidence. Katy wondered if Dai had given him similar instructions or if he had followed her lead.

  Two days before the fleet was due, Defiance loaded a small amount of supplies including fish and fresh vegetables, took on board some people of all Races who had decided to flee, and left for Terra at full speed. On board were also some who had escorted refugees and been promised a return trip. Steve was still the Captain. He had decided he had found his third career. Sarah was pleased to see them leave the planet. She was focused on keeping these huge people carriers working. But she wondered where it would take its next load to. A Niseyen planet?

  She talked to Steve after Defiance left and he could sit down for a minute and rest. “I’m curious as to your passengers,” she said. “I’m told you have Zeobani, Niseyen, and Okme on board.”

  “Many are escaping the war but some of these are Terra’s first intergalactic tourists,” Steve exclaimed in delight. “They’ve just figured out they have no spending money because we aren’t connected to the galaxy banking system. Oh, what a hoot. So now all of them are trying to figure out what they can sell via internet auction before they reach Earth so they have some spending money. They will have no trouble selling different technology, and anything from another planet will have a rarity value anyway. We’re going to have to try to organize some type of intergalactic banking system, but in the meantime barter via internet auctions will do nicely. Anyway, what did you want to talk about?”

  “I want different colonists next time,” she said. “I want high-tech and highly qualified, heavy on medical specialists, hospitality, and education. But all specialties. Ones who can learn to run all the infrastructures, because I don’t want Niseyen taking all the top jobs. The self-employed too. We are at risk of becoming slum-dwellers and second-class citizens compared to the Niseyen. No refugees unless they fit those criteria. We need more psychologists and social workers, too, because of trauma. Mathew recommends we get miners and all involved in that industry. We can’t rely on Terra for raw materials.”

  “OK. I heard the grumbles about the Niseyen hogging all the expensive real estate.”

  “Yes, they are a greedy bunch. But now we have some time to think, I’ll make things more explicit and take numbers of children into account which will get some of these bigger apartments re-allocated at a later date. To the fury of the present occupiers. Honestly, the gall of some people! There will be some screams when I start registering ownership. Little penalties like forfeiture of ownership for those trying to claim apartments under multiple aliases. Also for vandalism. One bastard was ordered to vacate two of the three apartments he had taken over and he smashed one up! Some of them will end up with nothing by the time I’m finished!

  “I’m still working on the criteria. I’m thinking two years labour earns a freehold bedsit, three a one-bedroom, four a two-bedroom etcetera, and that is per adult. A couple can earn twice as fast. Making ‘adult’ at fourteen, as per Niseyen law, will advantage the Terrans. The Niseyen simply cannot comprehend how many children we have.” They both laughed. “I’ll take into account those who fight, as it looks like a lot of the Niseyen are going to go hide. It’s a bit sad. I don’t know why some of them came. Katy says they seem to think we can’t win. Apparently many thought we would simply surrender and they had no trouble with the idea of the Keulfyd taking over the world as benign rulers. Benign? Idiots! Like a crocodile looking after the lambs.”

  Later that evening, Sarah saw four Cats coming through the door each with a stunned looking child in tow. Three sat down and one walked purposefully over to Sarah. It had Ilse as its translator. Ilse said, “This is—”

  “Kls’d*f^kov,” the Cat said, using recognisable speech plus a guttural growl, a hiss and another sound. Indrawn breath?

  Ilse continued, “I am to speak for her.” Sarah nodded. “I am now the leader of my People. We have had many talks and much disruption. We are painfully aware that had we fought the last time, there were enough of us to overcome and destroy the Keulfyd because they did not know of our abilities nor our presence. We massively outnumbered them. Had we fought, we would now own the land entirely as we did before the Ridianit came. Our decision cost us our part of the planet the second time. The first time we lost it by hoping to hide our telepathy, aware of its danger, and being fooled by the Ridianit. This was stupid. We should never have trusted those we did not understand and could not properly communicate with. We thought we were going to get technology for free and get our planet developed for us, just by renting it to the Ridianit for five hundred years. Sounded like a bargain to us. We did not understand lying and deception. We did not understand false accountancy, showing how the Ridianit could make a tidy profit and still develop the planet. We now believe they had no intention of handing it back to the Priskya after five hundred years — and what could we and the Priskya have done?

  “They did not know about our sentience but chose to try to annihilate us anyway. The Priskya protested and were ignored. We were equally guilty with the Priskya as they showed us all the information regarding the Ridianit treaty. They were unsure but we convinced them we could get rid of the Ridianit if they proved to be mistaken. Never did we consider that they were lying. The Priskya do not lie and we had forgotten the possibility. We underestimated them and overestimated ourselves. We did not fight back. We should have, but our leaders were immobilized by indecision. We have paid dearly. We have lost millions of our people. By our hesitation again we almost lost our planet once more but at least we contributed enough with Intel to secure a share of it. Some of us disobeyed orders and fought with you. Very few. This will not happen a third time. I and these others have convinced our people that we will fight, openly and declared. We are ready to take our place as telepathic sentient beings and Treaty partners of this world.”

  Sarah sat, stunned. First things first. “I apologize but I cannot pronounce your name. May I call y
ou Chris?”

  “You may.”

  “How many of you are there?”

  “Adding us up is not a concept we use. I will have to find out.”

  Sarah wondered if that was evasion or truth. “Thousands, millions or billions?”

  “Millions.”

  “Who fights? Just females, just males or all?”

  “All adults except those pregnant or with the very young.” She looked at Ilse. “Normally one this age would not fight but they can. We will need to think about that.”

  Sarah thought about how to be tactful. “Are you telling me you can do more than use weapons? And do you know military tactics?”

  “Yes. We are getting that organized.”

  Ilse said, “They want to use Mum and Dad because they can talk to them.”

  Sarah decided to confess all just in case. “I trust you are aware of the role some of your people promised to play in the battle. It is crucial and we were counting on them to run the communications network as we assume the Keulfyd will open with a cyber battle and wipe out our current networks. We discovered you also have deflection shooters and we were counting on your people as weapons specialists. Very few of ours can do this and none that we have found yet on this planet. Not at these speeds.”

  “Yes, we knew about our young, what they were up to. That was one of the causes of immense disputes within our People. Many thought they should never have promised this. I disagreed. I also encouraged those who have been training in the simulators.”

  Sarah breathed a sigh of relief. She was well aware the volunteers had been defying their leaders and that simulators had disappeared and who had taken them. “I think we should keep the majority of you secret a little longer. A secret weapon to be used if it comes to a ground war and doesn’t look good for us. You would help us best by being kept in reserve. A complication they will not anticipate and therefore not plan for. It is best if they continue to underestimate Torroxell. If we warn them, if you declare now, they could simply gas or bomb us all from space instead. But you can make a huge contribution in communications and weapons. A vital one.”