Once more, she looked back at all the plans Okil had shared with her, all the places he had wanted to take her, and she wished with all her heart that he had brought her here and life had been as simple and as easy as they had dreamed.
Tikki was young, too young for the responsibility that had been thrust upon her. Yet she had to do what was best, not just for her but for all humans. “Come on, Charlie. We are going for a ride in Marin’s cruiser.”
“Are we going to see the jumping fish again?” he asked, coming towards her with teddy and his toys.
“Not today. We are going to meet some more people and then we are going to visit the big tower. Would you like that?”
“Yes.”
He took her hand. So small and warm, and she only hoped that she wasn’t betraying him as they climbed inside Marin’s cruiser.
Chapter Twenty-Seven – Okil
Okil followed Torac to the council chambers. There he found only two other members of the council. Ishk and Lytril were standing apart, waiting for him. Torac dismissed the guards and then shut the doors behind him.
“Okil. You have been behaving very strangely of late and we have become concerned,” Lytril said.
“Concerned?” Okil asked warily.
“Yes. I mean more than usual. You have always had a softness for the humans of Earth, and of course after taking mates ourselves, we can appreciate some of their appeal. However, bringing an extra female to Karal was out of character. You have always gone out of your way to obey our rules.”
Now he understood. Earth must have asked for Tikki back, and the council now knew there was a reason he had taken her and not told the authorities on Earth. “I can explain,” he said.
“I expect you can give us an explanation. Whether it is the truth or not remains to be seen.” The Hier Ruler approached him.
“This female of yours, Tikki Sergeant,” Lytril continued. “We have investigated her background and found she has had dealings with a person whom we were already monitoring.”
“As I said, I can explain.”
“Can you?” The Hier Ruler paced back and forth. “We are led, by the Earth authorities, to believe that Tikki Sergeant is dead. Found in the bottom of a canal.”
So their plan had worked. “Yes. That was my doing. I removed her tag and planted it on another human body to deceive them.”
Torac, Hier Commander, spoke into his communicator and then said to Okil, “Is she at your home?” The Council were going to send guards to arrest her.
“Yes. Yes, she is. But there is something else you need to know first.” He had to explain about Charlie’s presence in his house now before it was too late.
“Before you try to explain what is going on, I wish to present the facts as we see them.” The Hier Ruler began. “A man, Harri, was a known associate of Elissa Sergeant. He was responsible for the death of two of our own. Elissa Sergeant claims to have no prior knowledge of the bomb that exploded at a rally she organised. A rally protesting our presence on Earth.”
“Yes. I am aware of those facts.”
“We have been monitoring this man, Harri. And have grave concerns about his associates. One of those associates is your female, Tikki Sergeant. We believe you tried to destroy some of the surveillance footage from his visit to her apartment the day before she came with you to Karal.”
“No. I viewed the footage, but never tried to destroy it.”
“So, you bought her here, after this Harri had been to see her. I believe he gave her something. A weapon, perhaps?”
“No. He was looking for something.”
“Something Tikki had in her possession?”
Okil stood silent. He was about to share the secret of Charlie with the council. He was about to betray Tikki’s trust. He had no choice: if the Hier Ruler wanted to, he could touch Okil and make him speak the truth. This way was much less painful and much more honest, and honesty was now their only defence.
“Yes.”
“So you admit to treason.”
“No.”
“But you brought a woman here who has plans to wipe out the whole of the Karalian species.”
“No.”
“We accessed the data you were viewing on the sim. We saw you looking at where the President of Earth met with Harri to congratulate him on his successful mission.”
“That is not what happened.” Okil raised his voice. “This Harri threatened Tikki. She was given a child to look after, and the child had the information this man was looking for. It was hidden on a chip. A data chip. I needed to look at it, to see what it was. They were using his parents to create a virus to destroy us.”
“And you had no prior knowledge of this virus? You did not purposely bring it to our planet in order to make way for the people of Earth to move here?” The Hier Ruler stepped in front of him. Holding out his hands. Okil had no choice but to place his hands in those of his leader. The Hier Ruler had the power to read his emotions; it worked like a lie detector test, only this one was one hundred percent foolproof. “They did not offer you an antidote in return for living amongst them here on our planet?”
“No. I had no prior knowledge of the data chip, or the virus,” Okil swore.
“But you are keeping information from us?” the Hier Ruler accused.
“Yes.” Okil gasped. The Hier Ruler was sending waves of unpleasant thoughts through his hands. In his head, Okil could hear the sound of the mothers, their wailing too much for his conscious mind. He had to tell the truth so that it would end. “When I brought Tikki here, I also brought the child that Harri was seeking. It was only this morning that Tikki found the chip.”
“So the child has been in your home all this time despite you knowing the law of Karal?”
More pain; his head would explode from all the pent-up misery it now contained. Okil managed to speak, although his voice was a whisper. “Yes. I hoped to save him. I had no idea why Harri was after him. Tikki asked me to help them and I had to.”
“Because she means more to you than the Karal?”
“I love her,” he sobbed. “But Karal is my home, and I would never hurt my people or my planet.”
“Was your home.” The Hier Ruler abruptly dropped Okil’s hands, turning form him in distaste. “Okil, I will consider what you have told us. And chose your punishment.”
Torac’s communicator beeped and he pressed a button, holding it to his ear to listen. “I see. Thank you.” He looked at Lytril. Okil turned to see the exchange; they both looked worried, a flash of red sparking across Torac’s usually calm exterior.
“Okil, I think we are about to get to the very bottom of this. I only hope you will not lose your neck in the process.”
“I don’t understand.”
“It seems we’re are about to have a human invasion.” And with that the doors of the chamber opened, and five human females and a small human boy stood in the presence of the council. Well, half of it, at least.
Chapter Twenty-Eight – Tikki
Tikki stood nervously in the doorway to the chamber, with Charlie by her side, his hand grasping hers tightly, while teddy was hooked under his other arm. All her fears were met when she saw Okil already here, his face flashing red and green as their eyes met. It appeared their arrival had interrupted something, and that something was not good. Okil was in danger, which meant the five Earth females were too.
“Vanessa,” one of the Karal said, coming towards them. “What is the meaning of this?”
“We have some news that you should hear. Then we have a bargain to make.” Vanessa stood firm with the rest of the human females, and Elissa looked relieved.
“A bargain?” This man, the Hier Ruler, she guessed, looked unhappy, disappointed even. “What kind of bargain?”
“First you need to know that I love you, and this is not about me choosing Earth over the Karal.” Vanessa said, going forward and placing her hands on Lytril’s arm. “I’m asking you to remember your compassion.”
Lytril frowned. “If you are reminding me of my compassion, I can only imagine I am not going to like what you have to say.”
“Oh, I think you might.” Vanessa looked at Elissa, who nodded. “Elissa is going to have a baby girl.”
“What? She was pregnant before she came here?” Lytril accused.
“No. The baby is Marin’s. But the skin on her hands has done something to her DNA, and that has given your species new hope. Which is what we are bargaining for.”
“I don’t understand, stop talking riddles. Tell me what your demands are.” He took a step back from Vanessa. “And what all of this has to do with the boy.”
The Hier Ruler’s cold stare turned on Charlie, who tried to hide behind Tikki. Tikki squeezed his hand and then put a protective arm around him. They shouldn’t have brought him with them, they should have hidden him away somewhere, but if something had happened to them, if they all got detained or sent to the breeding house, then he would be all alone and die from lack of food and water. No, bringing him was the right decision.
“Charlie has nothing to do with this. That is a separate matter for us all to discuss,” Vanessa said.
“So again, I ask for your demands,” Lytril said.
“That you carry on with your search for a new planet for humans.”
“Ahh, so now it becomes clear.” He turned and walked away from Vanessa, who looked as though she were about to cry. She must love her Karalian mate very much, and now she saw him turning from her.
“Torac.” Celia came forward now and went to one of the other Karalians, a huge man, dark in looks, and with the hardened face of a soldier. So this was the Hier Commander, the man who controlled the guards and would be responsible for the warriors who were to travel into space.
“How long have you known?” Torac asked, sounding betrayed.
“We only told Celia this morning,” Elissa said defensively. “I have only just found out. There has been no deceit here. Only shock and confusion.”
“And you knew, Okil?” Torac asked, while Lytril still stood at the back of the chamber in silence.
“Yes,” Okil answered.
“And you chose to keep the information to yourself? And Darl. He knew too?” Torac pressed.
“He wanted to be sure. To come up with answers.”
“This is an act of treason.” Ishk came forward, his face blue with anger.
Evie went to him, touching him, trying to soothe the hot-headed man. “No, it is not. Okil has been acting with a level head. About everything, Ishk. He is the only one who can see these things from both sides.”
“And I cannot?” Ishk stormed.
“No, you act with the head of a Karalian, when you also need to temper it with the heart of a human.” Evie looked at him with pity.
“What does that mean?” Ishk demanded.
Okil answered. “That the knee-jerk reaction of the council will be to take the females you need from Earth and force them to have your children. The council will see it with a narrow view. The search for a new planet, saving humans, will no longer be a viable risk. But you would be wrong.” Okil stood tall and proud, and Tikki’s heart swelled with love for him. This was the hardest thing any person, human or alien, would ever have to do.
“You are turning against us, Okil?” Ishk rounded on him. “It all falls into place. Your knowledge of the child, meetings with the President to seal our doom.”
“That is not true.” Tikki stepped forward. “Okil has always sought out ways to make our planets work together.”
“And yet he stands here with a female and a boy he smuggled onto the planet. While you, Tikki Sergeant, are believed dead on Earth.”
“It would be hard not to see this as a conspiracy between Earth and Okil,” Lytril came back to them, his authority evident as Torac and Ishk stopped their questions. “However, I will allow Okil the chance to explain things.”
Okil stepped forward, placing his hands in Lytril’s and making direct eye contact with him.
“I had chosen Tikki as my woman. When I travelled to Earth to meet with the President, I visited her beforehand, and she told me that she could no longer come to Karal because of the child she had been asked to care for.”
“And then you met with the President of Earth?”
“Yes. We discussed the ships he wanted the Karal to give to Earth so that they could explore space and find a new planet. As stated in my report, I told him that our technology is not available to them.”
“You did not conspire with him to bring a virus to Karal? He did not offer you an antidote for the virus, so that you could rule here?”
“No,” Okil said, his voice firm, his tone adamant.
“And the boy?”
“Tikki was visited by Harri. He knew she had the child. At the time we did not know why he wanted Charlie so much.”
“And now you do?”
“His parents were involved in the making of the virus. He was being held as leverage over his parents.”
“And it never occurred to you, Okil, that this boy may be the carrier of such a virus.”
“He went through decon’; it would have been discovered.”
“At least you did not completely lose your loyalty to Karal.”
“My loyalty will always be to Karal.”
“And now the female child.”
“Darl thinks it is to do with our DNA being passed to Elissa during the reconstruction of her skin. He never looked for the gender of the child before because he had no idea something like this is even possible.”
“And he wanted to be sure? It was not because he was scared of the consequences?”
Okil shook his head. “He needed to be sure. But also we were both concerned that to allow the human race to die out because we may no longer need females from another species is wrong.”
“Why? Because you are so fond of them?”
“Because we cannot be sure of our future. What if the daughters born now are not fertile? The prime for our next generation is a hundred Earth years away. What if we have let the human race slip from existence and we find we needed them after all?”
Lytril loosed Okil, who rubbed his hands as if they had been burned. His attention switched back to Vanessa. “And your bargain?”
“Lytril, I love you. You know that. And I hope that you love me.” Her voice wavered as though at this moment she was no longer sure.
“I do, Vanessa. As much as I feel capable of love.”
“Then know that we want the same thing. Please, find a home for humans, another planet. At least send out the deep space missions as planned.” She took a deep breath. “In return, Elissa has suggested that any human female who comes to Karal is asked to have two children. Or more, the choice is yours. But one of those children will be a boy, and the second will be a girl, if you can make it work. I’m no scientist and you have to consider that what happened with Elissa is a pure fluke. That re-creating the same circumstances may be difficult or even impossible.”
“I will assemble the Hier Council and we will discuss this. I make no promises,” Lytril turned to walk away, but Tikki couldn’t let this go, not yet.
“Wait. What about Charlie?”
“The boy?” Lytril turned his full force on her, the colours which he had controlled so well finally coming to the surface of his skin. “I will have him sent back to Earth. Think yourself lucky you are not returning there too.”
“No. I want to go. If he goes, then I will have to go to look after him. He has no one else.”
“Once a female come to Karal, she does not return. You entered that bargain when you came here. Especially when the Earth President made enquiries and was assured you were not on the cruiser.” He saw the shock on her face. “Yes. They are hunting you, Tikki Sergeant.”
“Then they must be hunting Charlie too. They will know he has been here.” Lytril did not answer. “At least find his parents, Return him to them. They must be worried sick.”
“His parents
,” Lytril said. “Do you know who they are?”
“No. But surely with your technology you can find out.”
“He has a tag?”
“No.” She shook her head. “It was removed so that he couldn’t be traced.”
“Tell me, boy, do you know anything about your parents? Their names or where they live?”
“My mom is called Sollu and my dad is called Treva. We used to live in a small house in a town called Farrowhampton.”
“Can you remember your surname, Charlie…?” Tikki asked.
“I’m not supposed to say,” Charlie answered. “I shouldn’t have told you anything.” He turned and buried his face into Tikki’s legs.
“It’s OK, we want to get you home to your mom and dad. Isn’t that right?” She looked up at Lytril, but his expression was unreadable, and she was no longer sure that was what the Hier Ruler wanted. For him it might be better if the whole family were dead.
“Charlie Jameson.”
It was too late now. If the Hier Council wanted to get rid of the threat to Karal entirely, then they had all the information they needed to kill that threat.
“Thank you, Charlie,” Tikki said and then stood up.
“You may all go.” The Hier Commander dismissed them all.
Chapter Twenty-Nine – Okil
“And you don’t think it’s weird at all?” Tikki asked as Okil prepared to go to Earth.
“Why would I?” he asked. “The Hier Council unanimously voted to continue with the deep space missions; although there is no guarantee they will create a colony. But now is not the time to argue that fact. Wait until they have found a planet.”
“And you think it’s perfectly natural for the council to allow Charlie’s parents to come and live here?” she asked for the hundredth time. “I never expected them to change their minds about human males coming to Karal.”
“Nothing the Hier Council does is ever perfectly natural,” he said smiling and kissing her. “I am just pleased they have made an exception. Of course it is safer for them to come and live here than for them to be allowed to live on Earth.”
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