Kairn’s color rippled which Corb interpreted as “this is unpleasant”.
“Don’t worry Prefect Kairn, you will get used to it.”
“No, I don’t think I will.”
“One million kilometers, Captain. Speedy is already moving away. Course plotted, on your mark.”
“Chief, any reason we can’t fly?”
“Yes, Captain.”
Surprised, Lucinda looked at the Chief for a further explanation.
“There are too many damned people on the bridge.”
The Chief’s comment snapped Lucinda back to reality. Lucinda realized she was watching and not commanding.
“The Chief is right, everyone back to normal duty rotation.”
“Prefect Kairn, please follow me.”
“As you command Enlightened One. May I ask questions as we walk?”
“Yes, please, ask as many questions of anyone here. Also, please call me Corb.”
“You honor me. Corb, what is ‘Speedy’?”
After laughing, Corb responded.
“Speedy is our name for your ship In Speed There Is Victory. Humans often give short names to items. It is common and usually a sign of respect.”
“Ah, I see. I think all militaries are the same in the end. We call your ship, the Jenny, Quanier.”
Kairn realized Corb had no idea what Quanier meant.”
“A Quanier is biting pest found in the sand of Farmore. A Quanier is hard to kill and its sting is painful for days.”
“Prefect Kairn, Quanier is a perfect name for the Jenny.”
Excerpt from Calm of Mind
I’ve got ninety-nine problems,
but this ain’t one…
"...Nobody calls me Lebowski. You got the wrong guy. I'm the Dude, man." – The Big Lebowski
Aboard the Marissa
“Thank you, Senior Prefect Kale, we will ensure our future arrivals comply with your regulations. Shall we adjourn to discuss our visit and the greetings we bring to you from across the galaxy.”
Captain Turner was lamenting the lack of information which led to the Marissa pilots to be confused and violated traffic control instructions. The crew of the Marissa was sure they followed the rules provided but Senior Prefect Kale complained anyway.
“We will meet when the sun rises.”
With that, the main video monitor on the Marissa reverted a view of the horizon of Farmore planet.
“Well, that could have gone better.”
“Don’t worry, Kale is an ass but a decent guy to Corb.”
“Brando, it took us nineteen months to build and install the holding tanks and the collection booms. Another three weeks to reach Jupiter and five more weeks to collect the hydrogen and helium. Seventeen weeks in the slipstream. You would think they would be more grateful.
You guys have been back and forth, between Farmore and Earth three times. Didn’t you give them updates?”
“Of course, we updated them regarding the progress. Put yourself in their place, they could have built the tanks and collection booms in about three weeks. That is what they told me. They complain to me, and Lucinda, about what they considered unnecessary delays but never to Corb. They need us. What they don’t have is the Marissa. Apparently, the Garune are not permitted to own large haulers. Corb says it is because they killed a planet once. Their exploration and mining privileges were revoked.”
“Killed a planet? Revoked? By whom?”
“Corb didn’t say. But, I suspect there is someone else pulling the strings. Someone other than the Ch’en. Someone much more powerful. We have about twenty-nine hours, then Kale will want us to dock and offload the tanks. Kale will probably send Kairn. Farmore has a twenty-eight-hour, thirty-two-minute day. The air is breathable, but everything smells like a birdcage. Also, the gravity is ninety-four percent of Earth, it is easy to get around.
When the offload is complete, I will get Lucinda and Janish to take us to Kaleville. Kairn’s brother owns a nice pub with good food and beer. Well, it is like beer. No, it is more like … you will see.”
“Kaleville?”
“Yeah, there is only one large metropolis and it is in the northern hemisphere. Because there is only one place we would call a city, there does not appear to be a name for the place. So, we called it Kaleville. You know, like Smithville or Louisville.”
“They have bars?”
“Brando, every civilization has gathering places. The Garune call it a ‘second home’ but it is a bar. How are the people? You know what they look like. None are more than five-five, and none weigh more than ninety pounds.
Cassandra is gathering information but there is oral history of the Garune being able to fly once. Their scales are feathers that have condensed over the millennia. Their hearing is unbelievable, and they hate that we speak audibly. Their lips are not pointy like a bird, or a beak like an octopus, but they are hard and very powerful. When they eat, they crush the outer shell of these pods then suck out the meat. It’s disgusting. No one is permitted to pay for anything. No one associated with the Enlightened One. They do not want to upset the Enlightened One.
We have given Kairn’s brother items from Earth. Baseball displays. Photos from several Geographic societies. Religious iconography from all over Earth. He put them on display and the locals line up to get in and see the items.
When Corb is in the bar they pack the place to get a view of the Enlightened One.
Mostly though, they line up to see the Mayan artifacts. Cassandra sits for hours and talks to the locals about Mayan lore. The Mayans are not telling us something.”
“What about the fight?”
“Yeah, there was that. The backup pilot, on the second mission, a snotty little Russian, got into it with a local. A few blocks from Kairn’s brother’s pub. The Russian said he was set-up, but it always takes two. The Garune laws are severe.
They were going at it full-on. The Russian, Parelov was his name, was small and feisty but the Garune was twice as fast. Parelov was getting sliced up by the Garune’s feathers. Every time he got close enough to punch the Garune, the Garune’s feathers turned hard, like scales, and cut Parelov’s hands.
He was a mess when Corb teleported in to stop the fight. Corb still won’t say how he knew it was happening. Corb teleported right between them. When he appeared, the whole Garune audience fell to their knees and put the foreheads on the deck. Parelov was bleeding so badly, after telling everyone to wait, Corb grabbed Parelov and put him in the sickbay aboard the Jenny. The Chief, Michelle, and NT helped while Doc sewed Pavelov up. He needed plastic surgery back on Earth to clean up his face.
Corb went back, everyone was exactly where he left them ten minutes before. He went to the guy in the fight and made him stand up. Kairn landed in one of their hover vehicles and came over to where they were standing.
Corb saved the guy’s life. Garune law would have put the guy to death, on the spot. There is no greater violation here than to disrupt the harmony. The fight was so vicious it qualified for a death sentence.
Corb told Kairn there was more to be learned from teaching the children the correct ways of harmony. Kairn said the fighter would be punished but not put to death. Corb promised to speak with the children. The children are humans. The rest of the sentients in this part of the galaxy think of humans as children.”
“Whoa. That’s harsh.”
“Look at it from their position Brando. We have been interstellar capable for about three years. They have been interstellar capable for millennia. Yeah, we are children in their eyes.”
“That’s okay, children are often underestimated.”
“Yes, Brando, I have a feeling these children are full of surprises. Have you heard the rumor about the nanobots and the artificial intelligence?”
About the Author
Fortunately, in secondary school, my interest in reading was sparked. A close friend and an instructor, who took interest in a boy he later called “The rebel without a clue.”, were i
nstrumental in my learning the value of a good book. Both peaked my interest in reading. My lifelong friend inspired me to read J.R.R. Tolkien and I became addicted to the fantasy genre. The instructor required I read interesting historical novels for academic credit. Frank Norris, Leon Uris, and Ken Follett are inspirations and fuel my love of history.
Born to a military family, it was only logical that I follow the military tradition. However, after four years of “yes sirs” and scraping the wax off floors I decided there must be more fun in a corporate career.
Thirty plus years of work experiences across the globe; the corporate career landed me in Colorado where I live with my wife and I can be close to my children and grandchildren.
Contact Ruairí
Website:
http://ruairiducantlin.com
Comments:
http://forum.ruairiducantlin.com
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/RCDucantlin
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/RCDucantlin
LinkedIn:
www.linkedin.com/in/RCDucantlin
Books by Ruairí
Summitate Trilogy
Biomass
Dominion
Connections
The Carina Team Series
Time is an Illusion
Calm of Mind – December 2018
Max and the Dream Time Series
The Find
The Everwhen
The Tontine
The Lost Years
The Price of Love
End Notes
* * *
[1] MI5 & MI6 – The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6, is the foreign intelligence service of the government of the United Kingdom.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_Intelligence_Service
[2] Alcubierre Warp – The Alcubierre drive or Alcubierre warp drive (is a speculative idea based on a solution of Einstein's field equations in general relativity. Proposed by Mexican theoretical physicist Miguel Alcubierre. A spacecraft could achieve apparent faster-than-light travel if a configurable energy-density field lower than that of vacuum (that is, negative mass) could be created.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcubierre_drive
[3] Göbekli Tepe is Turkish for "Potbelly Hill" and is an archaeological site in the Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. The site is thought to be of a social or ritual nature dating back to the 10th–8th millennium BCE. Initially belonging to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A, era.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6bekli_Tepe
[4] Pumapunku – Pumapunku or Puma Punku is part of a large temple complex that is part of the Tiwanaku Site near Tiwanaku, in western Bolivia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumapunku
[5] Tai chi – A Chinese martial art practiced for both its defense training and its health benefits. The term refers to a philosophy of the forces of yin and yang.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tai_chi
[6] Carina Constellation – Carina is a constellation in the southern sky. Its name is Latin for the keel of a ship. Carina contains Canopus, a white-hued supergiant that is the second brightest star in the night sky. Eta Carinae is the most prominent variable star in Carina; with a mass of approximately 100 solar masses and 4 million times as bright as the Sun.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carina_(constellation)
[7] Superior Orders – Superior orders are a plea in a court of law that a person, whether a member of the military, law enforcement, a firefighting force, or the civilian population, not be held guilty for actions which were ordered by a superior officer. The superior orders plea is often regarded as the complement to command responsibility.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superior_orders
[8] Pablum – Pablum is a mixed cereal made from a mixture of ground and precooked wheat (farina), oatmeal, yellow corn meal, bone meal, dried brewer's yeast, and powdered alfalfa leaf, fortified with reduced iron. Pablum is palatable and easily digested without causing side effects like diarrhea or constipation. It is also unlikely to cause allergic reactions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablum
Time is an Illusion_The Ptolemy Expedition Page 20
