The Adventures of Alizar: The Beginning (Aizar Book 1)
Page 5
“OK, Liz, why don’t I start going through these and ask questions as I go,” he said, picking up the stock notebook.
[Jane Ceekundah, are you familiar with all of this?]
[John Prymuus, mostly just the highlights. Applebee filled me in on some of it.]
[Jane Ceekundah, well, the first thing I see is that I have a large block of stock in Montana Mining Machines, Inc. Do you know what that is? I don’t know why they’re called Montana Mining Machines because it looks like their only operation is in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania.]
[John Prymuus, that one I am familiar with. About three years ago we bought 100 electric mining machines and shipped them to the Ganymede station. One of my first jobs at the firm was to help negotiate the contract for that purchase. These new machines are much more efficient than the old bio-carbon liquid fueled machines we had been using. Your holdings are just below the SEC reporting threshold of 10%. Several other betas have similar holdings but those stocks are held in street name. We thought it prudent to invest in this company since we had staked so much on the machines we bought. Although we are not participating in the management of the company at present, we effectively own it. These shares are being transferred into your name, making you the largest stock holder of the company.]
[Jane Ceekundah, that’s interesting. Let’s continue to buy shares in this company in my name and make the necessary SEC filings.] He projected as he turned the pages in the notebook. [Here’s another company I’m not familiar with, Polycorp; what do you know about them?]
[John Prymuus, I believe that they have mining operations and a refinery in Mountain Pass, California. Do you have a stock position with that company as well?]
[Jane Ceekundah, yes and it looks like quite a large block of stock. Why don’t you call back to your office and have someone see what other betas hold this stock.]
[Alizar el Shelaman and Jane Ceekundah, do we know where in Salt Lake City the high council meeting is being held?]
[John Prymuus and Jane Ceekundah, yes at the Grand American hotel,] Alizar answered.
[Jane Ceekundah, why don’t you get us some rooms at that hotel and rent us a limo? See if they have a big suite for us. Don’t forget rooms and a car for the crew. Make sure Alizar and Laketa are welcome.]
Walter finishes going through the notebooks and puts them aside with a sigh. He’s pleased to see that his coin collection had been housed in a fine art storage vault in Salt Lake City as he had directed in his will. Maybe there would be time during this trip to visit his collection. He especially wanted to see his collection of slabbed British gold sovereigns. He had an almost complete set from 1817 to 1917. His most valuable was the 1937 gold sovereign minted for Edward VIII.
[Jane Ceekundah, I think we’ve done as much as we can to prepare for the high council meeting. We’ve also been over all of my financial affairs and done all we can do to bring me up to date on that. I’ve always believed that all work and no play makes a beta a very dull fellow. I see this plane is equipped with a bedroom. Perhaps you and I should go there and see if we can release some new souls into the world.]
[John Prymuus, if after just meeting me a few hours ago you literally mean we should make babies, then I think we should get to know each other better first. Furthermore, I believe in the 3rd planet custom of getting married first. On the other hand, if you’re hinting that you want to have sex, then lead the way. Show me this mythical bedroom you’ve been bragging about.]
Liz and Walter depart for the rear cabin bedroom. Alizar and Laketa, lying next to each other on the couch, give each other a look of loving approval.
Chapter 23
(186th dawning of the 3,687th orbit)
3rd Planet
I surveyed the room as People began to file in. Not everyone who was attending the high council meeting would be here. Our ability to link mentally made physical attendance unnecessary. The most obvious long distance attendees would be Jared Coleman/Thomas Adolphus and Moemen Dascur, his companion from the Ganymede Station. And yet here he was along with Sabian Wolfe/John Kaatoe, a mine owner from the Ganymede station. Moemen Dascur had been left behind on the theory a trip to such higher gravity would be too much. Likewise Ku Chang/Paul Eratus and his wife from Inner Mongolia would find it inconvenient to attend in person. Ironically it was easier for the People to get to Salt Lake City from Ganymede than it was from China.
As the room began to fill and when the appointed hour came 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 273 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.]
[High council meeting, I am Walter Karnaugh/John Prymuus XLIX. I am recently awakened. Alizar is my companion. I have attended 217 high council meetings. Is there anyone here who has attended more? If not, as is our custom, I will take on the burden of Chairman of the High Council. Alizar, with the formalities out of the way let’s see who else is in this meeting.]
Each of the attendees went through the formal ritual of introducing themselves to the meeting. For telepathic people this formality is necessary. While each person’s thoughts have their own voice and mental image, it is necessary in meetings and other large gatherings to announce who you are and who you are addressing.
Council chairman from Ganymede, Jared Coleman/Thomas Adolphus LIX
Moemen Dascur LXXIII – his companion, from Ganymede
Sabian Wolfe/John Kaatoe XXXVIII – Mine owner on Ganymede station
Elizabeth “Liz” Mosby/Jane Ceekundah XXXII, a lawyer with law firm of Woodward, Woodward and Leumond and her companion Laketa Godeswanger XLIX.
Claude Applebee/Paul Acacius LIX – Managing Partner in the law firm of Woodward, Woodward and Leumond from his office in Philadelphia
Dan Baldwin/Dick Draakoe XXVII – Sheriff and Coroner in Felix County Montana and his companion Nirpaul Hassan LXXXIX.
David Carson/David Cletus XXII – Station manager and supervisor of the Felix County space station and warehouse compound and his companion Marc-Andre Blenheim from his office in Montana
Inner Mongolia Agent, Ku Chang/Paul Eratus XXXIV, his wife, Meng Li/Jane Alcanda XL and their companions from their home in Inner Mongolia
Marus Dithnar CCII from Reading, PA
With the introductions all out of the way I asked the Ganymede Council Chairman to bring us up to date on his situation since he was the one who had called for a high council meeting.
[High council meeting, I am Jared Coleman/Thomas Adolphus. I believe that we’re at a critical point. We have several problems that are preventing us from filling our shipping quotas. The first issue is that we are experiencing a number of machine breakdowns of the new mining machines that we ordered three years ago. We’ve ordered replacement part but these have not reached us in a timely manner. This puts us behind in the production that we expect from the mines on Ganymede. We use the same machines to mine for water on Ganymede. Getting behind there puts the viability of the station in danger. We have 300,000 aliens working on the Ganymede station and their life style is in danger. A revolt among these aliens would compound our problems. The other issue is that we have not been getting the planned mineral and/or metal shipments from the third planet. Not shipping to the Home World could have the gravest consequences. I have reason to believe that our star system has come under investigation by the Inspector General.]
[High council meeting, I am Alizar el Shelamus. I would like us to now hear from Sabian Wolfe/John Kaatoe who is a mine owner on the Ganymede station.]
[High council meeting, I am Sabian Wolfe/John Kaatoe, as the good Alizar has told you, I am a mine owner on the Ganymede station. The situation could very quickly become critical. The 300,000 aliens that live and work on Ganymede station believe that they live in a free society. They work at jobs they have chosen. Most jobs are paid
on an incentive basis. When something interferes with those jobs their pay is affected. The current situation where machines are breaking down and can’t be repaired because we can’t get replacement parts causes them to lose pay. In the system we have set up you go to prison if you can’t pay for the essentials of life, like air and water. Thousands of workers see themselves in danger and will revolt if we don’t handle the situation. We are already hearing grumblings. Unrest among our captured alien population could add another dangerous dimension to our present circumstances. This business needs to be resolved quickly.]
[High council meeting, I am Alizar el Shelamus. Our agent in Inner Mongolia needs to report on the situation there.]
[High council meeting, I am Ku Chang/Paul Eratus. The situation in Inner Mongolia becomes more untenable every day. As you may know, the market for the mineral and metals that we seek is chaotic because of mostly political factors. Because of the downward price pressures and government imposed artificial production limits, I am forced to deal often with criminal elements that are operating wildcat mining operations. If I offer too much, they suspect that I am spying for the state police and won’t deal with me. Likewise if I offer too little, they won’t deal with me. Because of these factors I am often not able to meet the quotas that we have established. There are mining operations in Australia and untapped reserves in Brazil that I believe we ought to think about using that would be easier and more reliable for our purposes. We can get into more detail if you want but that pretty much sums up the situation. Now I’d like to introduce my wife who has a concern she’s like to voice.]
[High council meeting, I am Meng Li/Jane Alcanda. In China the one child policy has meant that when a child is born with deformities or with a serious illness, families will abandon these children. In the larger metropolitan areas there are places where these children can be dropped off and will be taken to orphanages. In the less densely populated areas, like where we live, these unfortunates are just taken into the woods and abandoned. If we could get them to the Ganymede station, their medical situation could be treated and they could live useful lives. I’m not sure how we would go about collecting and transporting them but I’m sure we could work something out.]
[High council meeting, I am Thomas Adolphus, the Ganymede station council chairman. Jane Alcanda brings up an interesting point. What she observes is true. The diseases and deformities of those unfortunates could be easily fixed on Ganymede. It is also very important that we continue to import new infants to the Ganymede station. With our small population and even smaller gene pool, we need to continue to add to our bio-diversity. I do, however, see serious logistical problems with what she proposes.]
[High council meeting, I am Walter Karnaugh/John Prymuus. All we have discussed are interesting points. Please accept my apology for what is going to be a long speech. What Jared Coleman/Thomas Adolphus told us addresses the central issue. The situation is critical. We all owe all our live and our allegiance to the Home World. We are all, after all, the People. We know that the preferred method of exploitation of a planet is the quiet method. We infiltrate slowly over thousands of orbits. The aliens do not know we are here and we take great pains to be sure they don’t learn of our presence. The minerals and metals we deliver to the Home World are critical to its existence. Now that our efforts here are beginning to show progress, they must continue. If we don’t meet our quota, there will be consequences. If we don’t produce, we will get visitors from the Home World. They will then decide if we have a stable situation here. The third planet in this star system is rich in the minerals we seek. The asteroid belt between the forth and the fifth planets also holds much future promise. The aliens here will eventually discover how to exploit that resource. If the visitors from the Home World decide that we don’t have a stable situation and that the situation can’t be rectified, they may decide that other methods need to be employed. Those methods involve extreme force. In theory we don’t care what methods are required. As I said, our allegiance is to the Home World and to the People. However, all our lives have been here. We have lived and worked here for thousands of orbits. In a sense we’ve gone native. We don’t want to see the extreme force methods at work. None of us! Therefore we must find solutions to these problems and in a timely manner. I suggest that we think about these issues overdark and meet again at the next dawning.]
[High council meeting, I am Alizar el Shelamus. It is proposed that we adjourn until the next dawning. The issues before us are: (1) we are not meeting our planned quotas of metal and minerals from the 3rd planet, (2) we are not meeting our planned quotas of metal and minerals from the Ganymede station, (3) we are not getting repair parts needed to keep the machinery running on Ganymede station, (4) we have an opportunity to increase the alien population on Ganymede station by rescuing the abandoned infants in Inner Mongolia, and finally (5) we are concerned that a failure to solve these problem will cause the Home World to force a violent solution on us and the aliens of the 3rd planet. Without objection I order us adjourned until the 10th hour of the next dawning.]
Walter didn’t get up immediately. He sat for a moment in thought. [Thomas Adolphus, it is John Prymuus. Why don’t you and John Kaatoe join us for diner in the Presidential suite? Is there anything special you’d like for dinner?]
[John Prymuus, it’s Thomas. That’s a great idea. As for diner anything but rabbit or fish. I was looking forward to a steak!]
[Thomas Adolphus, Steak it is. See you about the 18th hour.]
Chapter 24
(186th dawning of the 3,687th orbit)
3rd Planet
Sabian Wolfe looked around the room. The Presidential suite was indeed presidential. The 200 square meters of living space would house a large family on Ganymede. All the furnishings were elegant. A livered butler had let them into the suite. Jared Coleman entered the room and walked to the bar to help himself to a drink. The libations here were much more varied than they were used to on Ganymede. It was almost a full dawning since they had arrived on the 3rd planet. Fortunately they had started to teach their muscles to grow stronger before they left Ganymede. Otherwise the crushing weight of the 3rd planet gravity would be unbearable.
Alizar and Laketa entered followed by Walter and Liz, [Dinner Guests, Jane Ceekundah, Thomas Adolphus, John Kaatoe, Alizar el Shelaman, and Laketa Godeswanger warmest greetings to you all. It is John Prymuus.]
There followed a chorus of, [Dinner guests, I greet you all]
[Dinner guests, does everyone have a drink? Alizar, what can I get for you? Laketa?]
[Dinner guests, Alizar. I’ll have a beer if we have one, John.]
[Dinner guests, Laketa. I also, if I may.]
[Dinner guests, John. Two beers coming up. Dinner will be served shortly. I’ve ordered fillet mignon with all the trimmings. Jane, what are you drinking?]
[Dinner guests, John, I’d like to find out if the skills you learned in a previous life included making a dry martini.]
[Dinner guests, coming up, two dry martinis, just like Mother taught me to make.]
Walter served the drinks and sat down with his own martini. [Dinner guests, let’s have dinner and then we can discuss this dawning’s events.]
The butler entered the living room, “Mr. Karnaugh, the dinner is ready. Would you like me to uncork the wine?”
“Yes, James, please do uncork the wine. I think we’ll come in now and you can start to serve the dinner.”
[Dinner guests, we can go into dinner now.]
As they all filed into the dining room, if the butler thought it was strange that he had been asked to set six places for dinner for four people and two cats or if he thought it strange that no one spoke, he kept those thoughts to himself.
When everyone was seated, Walter said, “James, you can serve now.”
When all had been served, he said, “I’ll taste the wine now, James, if you please.” Presented with the wine bottle, he read, “Ah, Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley, I see. This shou
ld do nicely.” He took a sip from the proffered glass. ‘Very nice, James. You may pour. Saucers, I believe for our furry friends.”
James places two elegant silver boats on the table. “These are the salad dressings, a nice blue cheese and a ranch dressing.” Walter helped himself to the blue cheese dressing and put some on Alizar’s salad.
[Dinner guests, Alizar. John will you cut my meat?], thought Alizar as he attached his salad.
[Dinner guests, certainly my friend.]
[Dinner guests, it’s Thomas. This is a wonderful meal. We have a large variety of vegetables on Ganymede but our meats are limited to fish and rabbit.]
[Dinner guests, it is John Prymuus: For desert I’ve ordered a favorite of mine, carrot cake and coffee ice cream. If that doesn’t suit your fancy, I’m sure James can find whatever you’d like.]
“You may serve the desert now, James.”
When all had finished and coffee was being served, Walter asked, [Dinner guests, how do you think the meeting went today?]
[Dinner guests, It is Thomas. I’m not sure we fully conveyed the urgency of the situation. Let me tell you about a visit I had just a few dawnings ago. One of the supply ship captains, Captain Moozoog, came to my office. He came in just as you were leaving, John Kaatoe. He told me that he was arrested on his last trip back to the Home World. He was questioned for several dawnings about our star system. I didn’t mention that at the meeting but perhaps I should have.]
[Dinner guests, it’s Alizar. Ours is a strange situation. The Home World has conquered thousands of star systems. Their method is subtle but very effective. They don’t come with armies. They plant invasive species. Species invented and developed just for that star system. We are that invasive species. We collect the metals that the Home World wants and needs. We don’t need any overseers. We can’t help ourselves. It’s in our DNA. We’re like a bee hive. The Home World can wait thousands of orbits for the hive to produce honey. But once the hive starts producing, if the production falls off, the farmer will want to know why. Someone besides the supply ship captains will come to investigate. From the rumor we have heard, we know this will be someone from the Inspector General’s office. They will decide if the hive can be made productive again. If not, they will clean out the hive and plant a new species of honey bee in the hive. But this won’t matter to us because we will all be dead. Aliens, alphas, betas, gammas and deltas alike. All will be dead.]