The one thing that made Syra uneasy, was the fact the sightings continued for several months.
After a while, the news media started to lose interest. But just as they were abandoning the story, other outlets were not and so Syra had her bots stay low and not leave the ranch until otherwise instructed.
A representative of the local chapter of the MUFON or Mutual Unidentified Flying Object Network folks who investigate sightings had called to ask James if they could stop in to see him and ask a few questions about anything unusual and James agreed.
Afterward, he wondered why he would have done such a damn fool thing like that! But Syra had insisted James do this. He had agreed, so that was good enough for him for the time being.
It was through a lot of discussions before he had reluctantly agreed with Syra that it would be better to let that man inside the ranch than to avoid him. The ranch looked as normal as any other ranch in the area and since it was not planting season, not even his gardens gave away any clues.
With only a few days to prepare for that interview, everyone on James ranch got busy making sure there was nothing there that looked out of the ordinary or was suspicious.
As far as having ranch hands nowhere to be seen, that would be an easy white lie. But if there was anything from Syra that James had learned over the past 12 or so years was lies can quickly get out of hand. Somewhere in his lie, he could trap himself and that he could not afford to do.
It was time for Mr. Blackburn to stop in and James was waiting nervously. This is when Syra had to step in and demand he calm down.
She quickly reminded James that there are no aliens on his property and no one on his property had seen anything out of the ordinary in the skies above Caldiron Ranch!
There was no evidence to prove otherwise, and James was ready to talk to the man.
James knew Syra was right as usual. It may have taken him a bit to calm down, but he did, and he was ready.
Mr. Blackburn called ahead and was at the gate when James walked out there to unlock it.
He also picked up his mail out of the mailbox, pitched his newspaper to his dog and told him to take it to the front door and drop it off. The dog did as he was instructed and then went off chasing a few stray chickens and caused the biggest ruckus Mr. Blackburn had ever seen in his entire life. It was almost comical with those feathers flying around in the air everywhere.
“Oh, not again!” James said.
Mr. Blackburn replied, “Oh, no need to invite me inside Sir, I see you have got your hands full with that frisky dog of yours!”
He had just wanted to meet Mr. Caldiron, give him one of his business cards and ask a few quick questions before he headed on down the road. He had a lot of other ranchers to visit so he had no time to stick around.
Mr. Blackburn had been stopping in and handing out his cards all over the place but had not received any noteworthy reports yet.
As he got back in his car he looked back at James and said, “Now if you see anything unusual over your dark skies at night over your ranch, just call that number and either I’ll be here, or I’ll send another man.”
Mr. Blackburn sped away, and James locked the gate and went back to his front door, picked up the newspaper and went inside.
“Now honey, we don’t have a dog or any chickens, what have you been up too?” Syra asked.
“Well, I didn’t want to lie to the man, or show I was nervous, so I had a few bitrons help me out to distract the man from MUFON!” James replied.
Meanwhile, the bitrons made sure the MUFON man had gone out of sight before changing back to themselves and even scanned the area his car was and made sure there were no electronics or anything else left on Caldiron Ranch property.
As the weeks passed, the sightings got closer to the ranch when suddenly Zee10 received a notice of urgency and called upon James, Syra, and council right away!
All present were confounded as Zee10 explained everything. Their Ellead the explorer bot that left the planet Zhian a very long time ago had been circling Earth waiting for their arrival. He was supposed to self-destruct once his mission was completed but that function failed. He was now running out of resources and feared he would soon crash and be discovered.
The Zhian Council stated Zee10 and Syra must immediately rescue Ellead before he is discovered because he contained technologies Earth was not ready to receive yet. Some countries on Earth, they firmly believed, would abuse Ellead’s powers and use them against mankind.
With the signal getting stronger, Zee10 boarded their transport vehicle and immediately followed the signal. The signal faded in and out but one thing for certain and James and Syra both knew it, Ellead had found James ranch but it was a 5000-acre ranch and they needed to find Ellead fast before he gets tracked back to them!
James and Syra waited patiently to hear back from Zee10 and all were quiet for the longest time.
While they were waiting to hear from Zee10, Syra needed to explain how important Ellead had been to the Zhianites. He had traveled far and wide in space and was a legend when she first heard of him.
Ellead was a planet finder and explorer. He had once explored Earth and sent back visuals and all kinds of information that were enough for the council to decide that was the planet a specially hand-picked Zhian descendant would one day be the chosen one to send on that mission.
It was Ellead’s discoveries of other smaller planets that allowed Zhian to send most of its people to settle in hopes they might survive. They had all gotten split up between several of those planets to save their race of people from their dying planet.
Earth was the last discovery Ellead made as far as they knew before he went offline, and so council claimed he had self-destructed as ordered.
At this point, all Syra could do was pace the floor. If they could save Ellead, there could be so much they could learn from him and this had her in a nervous wreck.
Ellead knew the planet Zhian before anyone he had ever heard of was born.
Inside him, there were visuals of early Zhian, how and why the planet Zhian started to worsen and when it would become virtually inhabitable.
He even had visuals of Earth and any other planets they would only know once they can find out what he has learned in his explorations!
That was the moment James realized just how important it was to save Ellead.
Then the call came in everyone was waiting on. All the citizens were listening in and had been waiting as patiently as they could. Everyone was very anxious.
Zee10 called Syra on her private channel and from that moment on, all communications were between him and Syra and James.
“Landing, Ellead attached to the underside, releasing him now,” Zee10 said and he went on to say, “Setting up a disguise.” The transmission ended.
From all appearances, Ellead was housed in a large chicken house of all things, thought Syra.
Zee10 had to put his transport vehicle back in shroud mode once he released Ellead and put the vehicle in storage. Which was done quite efficiently thought Syra as she watched Zee10 quickly set up shop to save Ellead.
James and Syra went outside and approved of the disguise but were quite surprised Zee10 had dreamed that one up. All they needed was an all-clear from Zee10 before approaching or going inside.
Once inside, Syra and James could not believe what they were looking at. Ellead was older than time itself they thought, and from many lightyears away.
Yet, seeing the lights on Ellead pulsating slower and slower did not look good for him at all thought Syra. She just could not watch him shut down knowing he held so much inside of him they needed to know.
Zee10 called upon several of his bots he had reserved in storage on James’ ranch to consult how they could save Ellead.
Once inside Elleads complex circuitry, Zee10 knew right away why he did not self-destruct! That section was removed from him and he had been reprogramed.
Ellead had a mystery box in the self-destruct compartment
which once they could access it, they would find out why it was placed there and what it held inside it.
There was no reason for this that anyone could figure and so they began to look for other causes of him shutting down. His crystals should have lasted nearly forever at Zee10’s calculations.
When Zee10 looked at Elleads power crystals, he was not running on full power. Someone had not properly prepared him for the long journey.
They had removed one of his power crystals which would have caused him to weigh less and travel farther. Thus, assuring he would make it to Earth and validate its existence. But obviously to self-destruct was not part of the plan.
Once inside the hidden compartment, he found hundreds of the rare blue crystals thought to have been extinct eons ago from the planet Zhian.
Zee10 looked at Syra and said, “If the council had those rare blue crystals back when Ellead first left on his expedition, they could have perhaps saved Zhian,” he also concluded, “Whoever put them inside him assured the destruction of Zhian!”
Syra knew the history behind the rare blue crystals. The Zhian planet stabilizers began to fail and when there were no more rare blue crystals left on the planet to stabilize it, the future of the planet took a downturn.
This was the reason Zhianites moved into the towers up in the sky. The surface would one day in the future become too uncertain without the rare blue crystals to stabilize it.
At that moment, they were placed in Syra’s possession and she hauled them to her home and placed them in a secured location immediately.
In private James had suggested to Syra to never tell anyone the location of those rare blue crystals. It was vital because the person who stole them and placed them inside Ellead could still exist in the Core systems inside the council in the Zhian Sphere.
This frightened Syra to no end, and for the very first time, she questioned the likeness of those beings controlling the Zhian Sphere.
“If there is a thief inside the council or the ships Core, we’ll find them, and they will be dealt with,” Syra said.
Syra explained to James that to even try to access the Core systems had only two options that she knew of.
“Then, how would anyone access it?” James asked.
“The Core was designed to be accessed by a Zhian of authority or high-ranking bot,’” Syra also went on to say, “But someone could possibly remove that section of the core com system and isolate it without council knowing.”
It was decided at that moment that there would be no mention of the rare blue crystals and they would wait for the thief to present him or herself!
Meanwhile, Zee10 worked around the clock to save Ellead. Slowly, Zee10 pulled crystals and replaced them with new ones that were of much higher quality than Ellead had had before.
Finally, his power systems were slowly recovering, and he would soon be able to communicate any information he had including the visuals.
Syra was more than determined to find out how Ellead had those rare blue crystals aboard him. Hopefully, he would be able to tell them something.
Zee10 tactfully removed Elleads tracking systems making it impossible for the council to locate him or communicate with him once he fully recovers. He would remind himself later to tell Syra about this. Right now, Ellead was the most important thing the citizens had, he held secrets vital to their survival!
The council had contacted Syra urgently requesting a progress report on Elleads odds of survival.
Syra and James rushed into Syra’s com room to take the call. James remained silent as usual unless spoken to and awaited the official call.
When the Zhian Council came online, they immediately ask Syra for a full and complete report on the well-being of Ellead. There was a moment of Silence before Syra could answer.
“I apologize council, I do not have any good news,” Syra also added, “Ellead is not able to recover from the power loss and is shutting down permanently, he will be scrapped out for parts!”
There was a long moment of silence that made Syra feel very uncomfortable.
“Are you able to access his power sources and storage compartment?” The council asked.
“Negative, that area seems to have been damaged sometime in his past by possibly space debris,” Syra went on to say, “It may be why he never self-destructed. He had lost that section a long time ago.”
Another long silence by the council and then they signed off.
After some time neither Syra nor James spoke until they went outside and sat down under a shade tree and just looked at each other baffled.
“Syra, honey did you just tell a little white lie?” James asked her.
“I guess I did, I’m not sure why but having the council sign off so quickly worries me!” Syra replied.
The next day Syra checked on Ellead’s well-being. He was slowly charging but was not ready to communicate. If Zee10 had not found him when he did, he would have expired within days of Earths time.
Ellead was ancient and from the days far before Zee10 was created. To save Ellead the ancient explorer, was like saving a god, Zee10 analyzed, and shared those thoughts with Syra that very day!
No Zhianite could explain the feelings they felt for the next month as Zee10 worked tirelessly to save something from the Zhianites past so very long ago.
It was not until during the next maintenance on the core, Zee10 sent a direct order to his maintenance bot to have council be moved to a safe storage compartment which has always routinely been done while work was being performed on the Zhian Spheres central core.
This was routine, and the council thought nothing of it.
When the maintenance was done, the bot was quietly instructed to place a shield around the lockbox storage compartment and only Zee10 could unlock it.
The Zhian Council would still have access to the com systems should it awaken, but it was never a common thing for the council to order any part of the ship to do anything anyway. However, their words always mattered in decision making.
Now that the council was told Ellead was gone, they went back into temporary shutdown mode to save power and was not aware of any of the changes taking place around them aboard the Zhian Sphere.
During the maintenance downtime, the Zhian Council was literally disconnected and remained asleep frozen in time in the South Pole.
What this did, was give Zee10 and Syra time to figure out who might have literally changed the course of history for the planet Zhian and are most likely inside council waiting to carry out their next sinister plan, but not today, not on Zee10’s watch.
Zee10 informed Syra that he had disconnected Ellead’s tracking system and should council awaken they would not know Ellead survived or even where his parts that were repurposed had gone!
Ellead continued to recover day by day and Syra slowly adjusted to not having to wait for the council to confirm any decisions about her people she may need to make.
“Syra honey, why do you suppose the Zhian Council boarded your vessel without your permission in the first place?” James asked inquisitively.
“I’m not really sure, this went against our protocol,” Syra replied.
“Well when Ellead is finally functioning properly, he should be able to reveal many secrets of Zhian one would think!” James said.
Zee10 informed Syra that the mystery of the will of the council remains until the truth is revealed from Ellead, but that allowing the council any control of her people or her vessel could be detrimental to their agenda. He agreed fully with Syra and James assessment.
Zee10 suggested Syra and James take full charge of the Zhianites. That they always keep the council locked away and separated from the Zhian Sphere’s com until a whole lot more is known about the past.
Now that the entire Zhian Council and Zerk were in the lockbox separated from the Core of the com systems and a shield was placed around them, they would not be able to influence machine nor Zhianite. They would remain silent indefinitely, or at such time Syra c
hooses to set them free and how.
Each day that passed, Zee10 and Syra hoped for Ellead’s full recovery and things were finally now taking a turn for the better.
Syra was not sure if it was the disconnect from the council that did it, the resupply of power to him or both. But either way, she was grateful they would soon have Ellead back with them and fully functional.
A meeting was held on the ranch with all resident’s present. Zee10 and Zyra took turns explaining and informing every one of the new changes now taking place.
Each family must make decisions based on the good of its household. Zee10 would be there for anything they may need, and Syra would have the ultimate final say for the good of all citizens should the need arise.
In so many words, they had performed a coup and the Zhian Council was never even aware it had taken place.
Syra explained to her people, that the council was resting but never told the residents it was against the will of council to ever be shut out.
James’ residents quickly adjusted to making decisions for their own families and life returned to normal on the ranch for a time.
Ellead had been rescued and was nearly expired when Zee10 found him; he had become a ward of Zee10 and would soon be fully functional.
Zee10 oversaw all bots of Zhian in any shape or form, intelligent or drone, and they fell under his command and he was protective of them all.
He would not have made the decisions he had made over the last few earth weeks if things would have been any different. If it had not been for the fact that he felt like the father of all bots, and it was his duty to care for them, things would have been different.
Another few weeks had passed and Ellead was now fully charged and would be operational soon.
Zee10 needed to download the latest software so Ellead would be up-to-date on all that he should know.
Syra and James were present for Elleads awakening and it was one of the most exciting days Zee10 had seen since he had been on Earth.
Pulsating lights of blue and white chased around and around Elleads large frame. He was the size of an Earth bus, yet he had been rendered to nearly a pile of junk in recent times.
The Chronicles of Syra Omnibus Page 12
