[It’s Chairman Karnaugh. We understand your concern, Admiral-Inspector. That’s the reason we recently had a High Council Meeting. Let me review the situation here for you. If you will recall, there are several sources in this star system for the elements that we seek: first the 3rd planet which was the only planet that was inhabited by aliens; this satellite circling the gas giant 5th planet; and an asteroid belt between the 4th and 5th planets. Initially we began by exploiting this satellite and established the colony here. At that time the aliens on the 3rd planet had not yet discovered the elements that we wanted. The government of the 3rd planet was spread among many separate and competing political bodies. That was true 3,700 orbits ago and remains true today. Over that time, we have worked to increase the influence of betas. Our elements were discovered by the aliens a little over 200 orbits ago. With our influence, they have begun to find uses for these elements and thus have begun to mine them.]
[It’s Admiral-Inspector. I remember the multiple political entities situation. Haven’t we been able to influence a consolidation into a unified government? We could of course use force to accomplish that.]
[It’s Chairman Karnaugh. Actually, we’re often able to use the diversity of political entities to our advantage. Several consolidations have been attempted but the cost is usually very high and to date all have been ultimately unsuccessful. We could, of course, use force but as you know our quiet method in ultimately much more efficient. We have our primary base of operations in a political entity called the United States. The source of elements that we been tapping recently has been a place called Inner Mongolia. Other potential sources are the United States and Australia.]
[The recent interruption of the shipments to the Home World were cause by two situations. First, we had some machinery failures on the mining machines here at the Ganymede Station and we had difficulty getting repair parts. Second, the only reason that the aliens mine the elements is that they have found uses for them. As demand grew in China for the use of the elements, they restricted the export of any excess and we had difficulty obtaining the quantities that we wanted. To get the repair parts for the mining machines we solved the management issues that created the problem by taking over the company that made the machines and put a beta in charge. As a result, we got the parts we needed and the mines on Ganymede Station are again operating and you will note that in recent dawnings these shipments to the Home World have picked up again.]
[In the long run, we don’t see the situation in Inner Mongolia improving. We will continue to try to obtain shipments from there and we recently got a sizable one. However, we’re planning long term to get shipments from Australia and from the United states. We recently got samples from both of these and here are the assay reports of those samples. Within a few dawnings we will begin to get shipment from these new sources.]
[Longer term we will explore mineral deposits on the floor of the oceans. The aliens are not yet ready to explore the asteroids but are beginning to study the problem. In that regard, we will put betas in place to influence these efforts and move them along. It would be helpful if we could get engineering help from the Home World to help the aliens develop star drives. Can you help with that?]
[It’s Admiral-Inspector. Very impressive Mr. Chairman. It seems that you’ve been busy. I’ll inquire about engineering help with the development of star drive in this star system and I’ll let you know.]
The Admiral-Inspector and the Captain-Inspector put their heads together. Thus, insuring that their thoughts would be completely private. [What do you think, Sebold?]
[I think, Daribeth, that they have things well under control. We need to verify a few things. We need to see those ore samples and take samples back to the Home World with us. I also think we need to see those new mines on the 3rd planet.]
[I agree, Sebold.]
[It’s Admiral-Inspector. Mr. Chairman, we would like to have ore samples from the three new mines on the 3rd planet. We’d also need to see those mines. Can you arrange that?]
[It’s Chairman Karnaugh. We can easily give you the ore samples from the three mines. We have those here on Ganymede Station. A trip to the 3rd planet is problematical. As you know, we’ve taken great pains to keep our existence a secret from the aliens. Would a fly-over of the sites satisfy your needs?]
[It’s Admiral-Inspector. I think a fly-over would do fine. Our ship has cannot-be-seen (CNBS) technology so there is little likelihood of us being detected.]
[It’s Chairman Karnaugh. We could all leave as soon as we get the samples packaged for you. If you could accommodate my whole party on your ship, you could drop us at our Montana base when we’re finished looking at the mine sites. I’m sure you ship would be a more comfortable trip that the one we took on the supply ship to get here.]
[It’s Admiral-Inspector. I see no need to delay our departure. Our ship can easily take your whole party with us for a 3rd planet tour.]
Chapter 28
(212th dawning of the 3,687th orbit)
Ganymede Station
“I am so pissed off,” Deneshi Gunuskey declared, slamming her beer down on the table. Beer foam slopped over the lip of the glass and added to the wetness of the table. “My husband and three others in jail for just going to see the Chairman. What the hell, are we second class citizens? You go to jail for just walking into the chairman’s office. And who the hell are those gray skinned visitors that are with the chairman? You know, like the ones that come in the space ships and never speak. That’s got to be more unwelcome news for us.”
“So OK, Deneshi, what do you want to do about it? Or are you just another miner in the Twelfth Moon Bar crying in your beer?” Tony Nolte asked.
“We need to take over. Why should the same few families own all the mines? I, for one, would like to know where those supply ships go.”
“How do you propose we find out about that?”
“Well, someone could go over to the space port and go on board the ship when the robots were loading it, hide out until it took off, get off when it landed and then they’d know. They could then just get back on and come back here with it and they could tell us who the suppliers are. Maybe they could help us take over this place.”
“I could do that, Deneshi,” Tony speculated. Tony was on Deneshi’s crew in the mines and always followed her around like a little puppy.
“OK, Tony, why don’t you, if you think you’ve got the nerve?”
Chapter 29
(212th dawning of the 3,687th orbit)
3rd Planet
[It’s Chairman Karnaugh. Your ship certainly has better accommodations than the supply ship. There is only a small compartment with about six passenger chairs. The rest of the ship is taken up with cargo space.]
[It’s Admiral-Inspector. I had forgotten how much of this 3rd planet is covered in water. What is the area we’re over now?]
[It’s Chairman Karnaugh. This continent is what the aliens call Australia. Below us you see one of the open pit mines which you can see is well developed. As we move east, you’ll see the other Australian operation. You can see that it’s not as well developed. If you’ll remember, the assays for both these mines are quite rich in the minerals we seek. The large water areas also present an opportunity. The bed of these seas is literally covered with minerals that the aliens are just learning to exploit.]
[It’s Admiral-Inspector. Interesting. Did you say you interacted with one of the deltas while investigating this sea bed mining? I remember during the original expeditionary mission the role that the deltas would play in the exploitation of this star system was not clear. It was just felt that since so much of the 3rd planet was covered with water that a water-based creation was advisable.]
[It’s Chairman Karnaugh. That’s correct. Until now, the deltas haven’t had any role in our development of this system. Perhaps that will change in the near future. As we move north and east you’ll see we’re over a political entity that the aliens call the United States of America
or the United States, for short. You’ll see the mines we talked about near the western shore just as the land becomes mountainous.]
[It’s Admiral-Inspector. I see that. This mine is more developed than the other two.]
[It’s Chairman Karnaugh. It is. Operation of this mine was stopped for some time because of economic developments. We’ve just recently taken over the ownership here. Just a little north and east from here is our Montana space port. You can land there and we’ll depart. Thank you for visiting us.]
[It’s Admiral-Inspector. I’m sure you were overjoyed to see us. Thank you for your candor. Alizar, it was good to see you again after all these lives. Keep the supply flowing to the Home World and we won’t have to come back again.]
Chapter 30
(215th dawning of the 3,687th orbit)
3rd Planet
[Jared Coleman, it’s Captain Moozoog. I’ve got a problem.]
[Captain Moozoog, it’s Jared. Where are you and what’s the problem?]
[Jared, it’s Moozoog. I’m at the Montana space port. We’ve just started to unload and we found a body of an alien in the passenger compartment. It looks like he got in the ship when we were loading on Ganymede Station. He sat down and since the compartment was pressurized he didn’t put on his helmet. He must have been asleep when I depressurized that space because he tried to get his helmet on but he didn’t make it. What would you like us to do?]
[Moozoog, it’s Jared. Thanks for letting me know about this. Once again, you’ve proved to be my friend. I assume you’re in contact with the people at the space station. Have them strip the body and bring all the effects back here to me. If you can, take an image of the body so I can identify it. I’ll contact them and tell them what to do with the body.]
[Dan Baldwin, it’s Jared Coleman. Are you at the space station?]
[Jared Coleman, It’s Dan Baldwin. Yes, I take it you’ve learned about our body on the supply ship. What would you like us to do?]
[Dan, it’s Jared. I just heard from Captain Moozoog. I’d like you to dispose of the body there and return the personal effects to me. I’d like an image to identify the person.]
[Jared, it’s Dan. We can do that. I’ll have our gamma friend carry the body into the wilderness and dump it in an out of the way place. It will soon disappear. If it’s ever found, it will just be a mystery. One which I’ll be called upon to investigate. You’ll need to figure out how this individual got on the ship at the Ganymede Station and tighten up the security there. We can’t make this a regular occurrence.]
[Dan, it’s Jared. Thanks. I’ll look into the security at the space port. I knew I could count on you.]
Chapter 31
(212th dawning of the 3,687th orbit)
3rd Planet
As our plane sped eastward from Montana, we thought that we should convene an immediate high council meeting and report on the latest news, so I announced, [High Council Meeting, I am Alizar el Shelamus XCVII. I am a mathematical philosopher and am in my 97th life. I am the companion to Walter Karnaugh/John Prymuus XLIX. I have attended 274 High Council Meetings. Is there anyone here who has attended more? If not, as is our custom, I will take on the burden of meeting moderator. I’d first like to introduce Moozooka. Moozooka is a delta who recently saved my life.]
[High Council Meeting, It’s Moozooka. It’s so nice to finally be invited to a high council meeting.]
[High Council Meeting, next, I call on Walter Karnaugh to report on our meeting with the Inspector General’s office.]
[High Council Meeting, I am Walter Karnaugh. We have just concluded our meeting with Admiral-Inspector Daribeth Wootelbom. We gave her a presentation on the state of our plans to stabilize deliveries to the Home World. We then took her on a tour of 3rd planet mining operations. We believe that we satisfied her that everything is under control and that there is no need for any other action from the Home World.]
[High Council Meeting, it’s Jared Coleman. One issue, very fortunately, that did not come up was the unrest in the alien population on Ganymede Station. We just had someone try to stowaway on the supply ship. Unfortunately, they weren’t discovered until the ship landed in Montana where it was discovered that the person was dead. The ship that the person stowed away on could have just as easily been one headed for the Home World. We really dodged a bullet on this one. I’m also getting rumors of further unrest. If word of this gets back to the Home World, we’ll get another visit from the Admiral-Inspector. The level of Home World concerned can be measured by the high ranking of the inspector that they sent to investigate. The fact that Alizar remembered this particular individual from the original expeditionary mission didn’t hurt at all. If our friend the Captain of the supply ship is questioned by the Inspector General’s Office, he’ll probably tell them about the body he found. Although, maybe not. He’s implicated in disposing of the body. The Inspector General might take the view that he should have called them and not me. Besides all that I have four miners in jail because they tried to disrupt our meeting yesterdawning.]
[High Council Meeting, It’s Walter Karnaugh. Jared, you’ll have to keep an eye on that situation. That could be our undoing. Two other issues I’d like to address before we adjourn. First, we need a sales company to distribute the output from Polycorp and to cover our reason for buying rare earth metals and minerals. Claude, would you look into setting that up. We’ll need appropriate warehouse space north of Denver in the I25 corridor, perhaps either in Fort Collins or Loveland. Let’s see if we can find a beta with metals sales experience to manage that business. The second thing I’d like to bring up is the tailings on Ganymede. Jared, we have 3,700 orbits of tailings from our operations on Ganymede. I’d like you to assay them and see what else we could extract that we could move through our new sales company. We need to generate revenue to support our shipments to the Home World. Would you look into that for us?]
[High Council Meeting, it’s Claude Applebee. I’ll take care of setting up the sales company. What name do you want on that company?]
[High Council Meeting, it’s Walter Karnaugh. Let’s Call it Jupiter Sales, Inc. and let’s make it a subsidiary of Polycorp.]
[High Council Meeting, it’s Jared Coleman. I’ll look into the assay of our tailings. And I’ll look into setting up refining operations to extract whatever element we find that looks promising in the assay. Wait a minute, there’s some kind of commotion in my outer office. Moemen are you out there? What’s going on?]
[High Council Meeting, it’s Moemen Dascur. There’s a group of miners here trying to break into your office. Cynthia is trying to block your door with her body and she’s screaming! They’ve beaten her about the head and they’re coming in! Look out, Jared!]
[High Council Meeting, it’s Jared. It’s that troublemaking woman, Deneshi Gunuskey. She’s demanding that I release her husband from jail. She’s swinging a miner’s pick. She’s not going to stop…]
[High Council Meeting, it’s Moemen Dascur. She hit Jared in the head. There’s blood everywhere. Jared has been killed!]
List of Characters from the beginning
Omegas:
Ensign Sebold Wacahoota LXXXIV – a junior officer on the original expeditionary ship. And later Captain-Inspector Sebold Wacahoota CXXIV
Ensign Daribeth Wootelbom LXXVIII – another junior officer on the original expeditionary ship. And later Admiral-Inspector Daribeth Wootelbom CXVIII
Chief Biologist on the original expeditionary ship.
Captain of the original expeditionary ship.
Captain Moozoog – Captain and pilot of one of the supply ships
Alphas:
Alizar el Shelamus XCVII – Our hero. A mathematical philosopher, companion to Walter Karnaugh/John Prymuus XLIX, discoverer of Shelamus’ Law and moderator of the high council meeting
Elith Alimay Botarus LIII – She-who-released-the-soul of Alizar el Shelamus XCVII
Warus ben Shuster CCCLIII – Another mathematical philosopher
; Narithe Qarus Marithus II
Marus Dithnar CCII – A renowned recaller and the greatest pathfinder in all the lives. He is a good friend of Alizar.
Alicona Del Oleetheonus XI – a black furred she-Person. An apprentice temporal recorder.
Laketa Godeswanger XLIX – A tabby colored she-Person who is the companion to Elizabeth “Liz” Mosby/Jane Ceekundah XXXII
Malusian Del Ronilus LXXVI – He is snow white with just a touch of black fur on his forehead. Malusian was a watcher.
Roelien Lanvus Careenus XXXVII. She is a hunter.
Lindelon Byn Athanna LXXVII - Lindelon is a temporal recorder.
Nirpaul Hassan LXXXIX – Companion to Don Baldwin/Dick Draakoe XXVII the sheriff of Felix County.
Moemen Dascur LXXIII – Companion to Jared Coleman/Thomas Adolphus LIX – Council Chairman on Ganymede station
Marc-Andre Blenheim – Companion to David Carson/David Cletus XXII
Betas:
John Quaker/Paul Riparian LII – Water mine foreman on Ganymede station
Walter Karnaugh/John Prymuus XLIX – He-alien awakened by Alizar. Chairman of the high council.
Claude Applebee/Paul Acacius LIX – Managing Partner in the law firm of Woodward, Woodward and Leumond
Elizabeth “Liz” Mosby/Jane Ceekundah XXXII – Associate lawyer in the law firm of Woodward, Woodward and Leumond
Sabian Wolfe/John Kaatoe XXXVIII – Mine owner on Ganymede station
Jared Coleman/Thomas Adolphus LIX – Council Chairman on Ganymede station
Ku Chang/Paul Eratus XXXIV – Agent for the People in Inner Mongolia
Alizar and the Crisis: An Alizar Adventure (The Adventures of Alizar Book 2) Page 7
