However reassured he feels about the situation, he still takes no chances and sends out half a dozen androids to secure the launch pad initially and then the two Guiding Masters. Once they have been seated and are under guard he sends down another six androids to go through the parts of the base he is aware of, to search for whoever or whatever else might be here. Ten androids disappear from view leaving two to guard GM6 and GM7. Up to this point he has not spoken a word and neither have they. There seems to be no effort on anyone’s part to do so as yet. It is as if all this has been expected, which as far as the Guiding Masters go it has been. This has been expected long before they had felt the base move ever so slightly, as it started to try to escape. They had really been expecting GM3 as they still call him, to return and take over the base. O had told them to expect as much, but for them to do nothing to impede him should he be right.
It slightly puzzles them that they could have inventions to make the craft go so fast, but the base itself is unable to do that. The reason is quite simple in that the structure would be unable to stand up to the forces an Air Micro Compounder Engine would put on the base. After all, the base has been around for a very long time, long before these super-efficient, super-fast engines were discovered or invented. Like the events that have gone on before with The Watcher and The Keeper, the important areas do not appear to have been sufficiently designed to carry through the promise of their position in the Universe. Is it promise or is it threat or is it deterrent? Deterrent is the probably the most apt description and so far when tested, it has failed to deliver.
The androids keep in touch with the Grand Master throughout their search. They are only interested in discovering if there is anything on board that might stop them taking over. With over half the search of known areas complete, there is absolutely nothing for The Grand Master to be concerned about. He decides now is the right time to see if the two on the launch pad are aware of what he might find. Still being cautious, he speaks to them using the tannoy system.
‘GM6 and GM7, I take it you expected me to be back. I need to know a couple of important things from you. I am watching you for your responses to my questions.’
They do not reply but he sees them both nod.
‘Has there been a replacement for me arrived here on the base?’
There is no hesitation when they both shake their heads.
‘You can verbalise your responses. I can pick them up easily.’
‘No, you have not been replaced’ GM6 says.
‘Is there a replacement on the way?’
‘No there is not’ she replies immediately.
‘So I would be right in saying that you are the only Guiding Masters on the base?’ he asks, making sure that he has left no option out.
‘That is correct’ she again replies ‘there is only GM7 and myself on board. That is unless you are including O?’
‘This O. I have never seen him. Tell me, have you?’
‘Not until today.’
‘Where is he on board? Is he in one of the areas that are not on my program?’
‘I do not know exactly what your program shows you, but if it helps we were not aware of the area O is in until he led us there today.’
‘I will need a complete map of the base, so that I can get my androids to find him and bring him out.’
‘O is not a person. O is a system in the heart of the base. If you allow me, I will send you the complete map of the base. O has told me to do this.’ She stops at that point expecting GM3 to challenge her with a question, but he does not. She smiles and then continues ‘he told me you would not question this and it appears he is correct. He tells me to tell you that the map is complete. If you get your androids to search the craft as per this map they will be able to calculate that there is no space unaccounted for in the map.’
‘That is providing of course that the map in itself is correct and has not been disguised in any way to hoodwink me.’
‘O tells me that he has not done that. He says that you have already discovered that the deterrents that have been broadcast were exactly that. He says that the whole Universe was based on there never being any challenge to the deterrent. It has survived through all time up until now.’
CHAPTER 62 THE BADDIES
Grillech, once he has destroyed every weapon set against him, communicates with the inhabitants. He sends his message using as many channels as possible, making sure that it goes to every quarter of the planet and as far as possible into every home. He lays out in no uncertain terms what he is doing here, why he has come and more importantly what he expects to happen now that he is here. He instructs that each government must respond that they will comply with his orders within three hours, or he will systematically destroy their buildings and factories. Two areas are defiant but Grillech is actually rather pleased they are, as it gives him the opportunity to demonstrate his total authority over them. He does not total destroy these areas, but does sufficient for the white flag to be raised almost immediately. He doesn’t really want to decimate these two areas, as they hold the most wealth of minerals on the planet. It is probably in that knowledge that the answer lies, as to why they tried to resist.
Grillech is still reluctant to land, even when all resistance has been guaranteed to cease. He selects the most technologically advanced area as his first place to land. He is concerned that even though his firepower is dominant, his numbers are severely lacking. He desperately wants to increase the numbers of androids he has at his disposal. 100 million people less a few, is still quite a lot to maintain control over.
Warily the people approach Grillech as he lands. His three attack craft are controlling the skies. There is little other than fear in the eyes of the people. There is also some relief when they see that Grillech is human like they are.
Grillech discovers in their first meeting that these people are hardier than he first thought. He also sees that while they are technologically minded and geared up for his needs, there is also a fighter element to their make-up which will suit his needs. He arranges for a factory to be set up for the construction of more androids. The leaders of the people are willing to cooperate and after a few days come to see Grillech with a proposition which he finds interesting and a solution to one of his problems. The Cotons, as they are called, propose to Grillech that they help him with their takeover of the rest of the planet. They will provide the army to help him rule, in return for inflated status and a cut of the wealth this will all bring. Grillech decides that this will make him almost unbeatable, not only on this planet but give him the real strength to conquer more. In his thoughts he is also thinking that this may make him more powerful than Posdon and Valpar. Dare he also think this could drive him to be more powerful than The Grand Master?
- - -
Posdon is on the final approach to Zalofa 7 when he is targeted by the defences of the planet. Worse than that, there appear to be craft coming towards him from outer space too. The information he has been given has led him to believe that there is no interaction between Zalofa 7 and Zalofa 7B, even though they are only 2 million or so miles apart. This is obviously not the case. There are many craft on their way from that direction and as many being sent from the surface to intercept him.
As the ones from Zalofa 7 approach, they make a semi-circle defence in front of Posdon but do not open fire. The craft on their way from Zalofa 7B stop on their journey too and form a line of defence many hundreds of thousands of miles away. After a few minutes stand-off, communication is opened between them. Posdon has taken the decision not to send out his attack craft, until such time as he knows how aggressive they are going to be at his approach to their planet.
The communications are guarded but cordial. Posdon decides that his best course of attack is to be cordial too. He does not announce his intentions, as he deems it more likely to provoke fear at this stage. The Zalofa 7 craft escort Posdon down to the main population area of this, a largely unpopulated planet. There is no visible wat
er here and the ground looks to be mainly rock covered. This could make an out and out assault very hard to accomplish.
As he follows the craft in he notices that the craft from Zalofa 7B have continued on their journey towards their sister planet. Posdon is not quite sure what to make of this action, but again holds judgement on doing anything about it for now.
Once they have landed on the ground he stays in his craft. He decides to send three of his men out as a delegation to meet these people. He promises them an extra share, if they succeed in getting their goal achieved successfully. The greed in their eyes easily overshadows the reality of what they are being asked to do. Posdon is not sending any androids with them, as he feels it will elevate the concerns unnecessarily.
The three are met outside the craft and are swiftly whisked away on some form of hover transport. Posdon can see that his craft is very much the focus of attention from the defence forces. He once again holds himself back, other than issue a brief android delivered warning that the craft should not be touched, as the shell carries a huge electro-magnetic current which would be fatal to the touch. It appears to be sufficient for the time being, but it does not deter them from bringing more personnel and weaponry to guard over them as they sit there on the ground.
CHAPTER 63 RICARDO
Tim pulls out onto the main road and carries along the coast road for a while, before trekking across country roads to meet up with the other car a few miles east of Swindon at Joe’s farm. They set about their plans with Joe initially and in the following days, with some others he thinks will be helpful to the cause. As the plans progress, so does the size of their band of followers. Franz believes that he can coordinate something to happen on mainland Europe, if he has some actions he can show off from England. The general consensus is that it is long past time that things changed. He says there will be millions of people who will get involved, particularly in those countries that have been hardest hit by the austerity measures since the world depression of the naughties (2000 -2010).
He says there is real disgust at the way billions of Euros, Dollars, GBP and all the other currencies have just disappeared in overspending. This was money spent on what? The world seems to have so little to show for where this money has been spent. Generations will have to pay dearly in austerity measures before this debt is repaid.
Franz says that if they can manage to combine this and link it in to austerity, they will almost certainly succeed. There seems to be precious little talk about what they are trying to achieve beyond the chaos. Not one person suggests trying to take over. Ricardo is amazed that no one brings this subject up. He doesn’t want to do so himself, because he thinks that that might change the impetus and overall keenness that everyone has shown so far.
Joe has some fast vehicles and also a collection of dodgy registration plates. Between everyone who has gathered, there are enough vehicles and enough people and weapons to go around their targets.
If Ricardo has any concerns, they are funnily enough around the weapon issue. He now has the air micro compounder laser pistol in his possession. He isn’t aware of what it is, but they have established that only Ricardo can use it. Whenever anyone else picks it up to try to use it, nothing happens. Ricardo has fired it on the range on Joe’s farm. The target virtually disintegrates on impact. He has only used it a couple of times. They have all looked at it to see if it has to be recharged or reloaded, but there isn’t a clue to be found about that. Ricardo has a feeling in his bones that he won’t need to recharge it somehow. What he is concerned about, is the way the others talk about their weapons. Also the way they love letting off their weapons on the range. There seems to be a blood-thirstiness about them that may prevent the chaos growing to his desired extent.
It is for this reason that Ricardo slowly manages to get himself given the job of coordinator, on the day they are going to start their assault on society. The intention is to initially go for inner city areas first. They have decided on Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff and London. Their first foray will be a very quick disruption and based on the results of that, they will decide the next move. If they start to get more support, then they will immediately escalate and push for Europe too.
They have their communications set up, with back-ups ready to use when the initial set is ditched on site after the first foray.
They set off on the first foray shortly after dawn. Their intention is for everyone to be in their respective places ready to start the assault shortly after dark. Ricardo is safely stowed away in an area which will make him hard to pinpoint exactly at the time the communications are coming through and hopefully after too. There isn’t anyone around to see him where he is.
The action starts with the use of sniper rifles smashing shop windows and bank windows. One quick round and then they move on to the next area. They attack public buildings this time, again restricting themselves to smashing windows and more importantly setting off alarms. Then in each city, they move systematically to further three or four areas, attacking the windows of offices, banks and in the end any window that comes into their sights as long as it is commercial. A cacophony of alarms and sirens fills the air in these cities up and down the country. All the teams have long withdrawn and reported in their accomplishments. As far as they are aware there have been no casualties, but they have no iron clad way of confirming that their bullets have not hit anyone.
There are varying differences to the reaction in the different cities. Generally though, there are so many alarms going off that neither the alarm security companies nor the police can adequately even come close to coping with the situation. That is noted very quickly by the opportunists and the streets are soon running with looters and the underclasses, out to see if they can forage something as a payback for their poverty.
The night becomes more violent in some places as police strive to regain control of the situation, but there is little to keep the people fuelled. Most of the retail premises have learned their lessons of the past riots and have installed much more effective grills and shutters. These are way more resistant to attack, as they have been built for purpose this time.
The meeting the next day at Joe’s farm is in a mixed mood. There is euphoria of actually going out and committing these acts and there is the disappointment that they have fizzled out. Now they need to step up a gear with their efforts.
CHAPTER 64 THE WATCHER PARLANTTE
‘My belief is that there could only be one boy child per generation. What you are saying to me is that is that George here was born to a male line of The Keeper?’
‘That is exactly what I am saying. I can also tell you that George is an only child as was his father, the child born to the other twin.’
‘So I am not an Earth person then?’ George asks in a slightly shocked voice. Cassie has turns to look at her boyfriend. Her look is something to behold. She is looking at him very strangely.
‘To all intents and purposes you are an earth human. It would appear though, that you have the same traits as The Keeper. You are born of the male family and it shouldn’t have been able to happen.’
‘That is why I picked George up on my sensors before GM3 and Algreb landed. But why did I not pick up the brother and sister.’
‘Very simply they were not activated until after you had all left Earth to come back here.’
‘So if there is only one child per generation, how did one member manage to have two? That is what you are saying isn’t it?’ Cassie asks.
‘It is exactly what I am saying’ he says ‘it has never happened before. There is something in the male make up that they find their partner and become a family unit, then have a single child. It would seem the only explanation that is feasible is that the sisters were identical twins and for some unknown reasons decided to swop for one date. They swopped for more than the date, as they obviously slept with each other and that twin became pregnant. It must have been they were identical twins that
allowed this to happen, that he was then able to have a child with the other sister a few years later. Both sisters died relatively young, but I think that is not connected. What all this means is that George and the Keeper are cousins or step-brothers. That is why George is here today. I think that Cassie is very close to George and they will get married.’
‘And that I will have a single child, a boy.’ Cassie interjects smiling, now that she understands.
‘So I am here for a definite reason and purpose?’ George asks.
‘Yes, but we are not sure exactly what at this stage. We are also fairly sure that somehow they are not aware of you, because they believe they have The Keeper. We could possibly go down the path again of thinking that some outside influence has had a hand in creating this situation. There is no point wasting time pursuing this as we can’t prove anything, yet.’
The Wise Soul returns to the table shaking his head as he does so. He spends a few minutes filling everyone in with what they have been doing. The net result, though, is that they are no wiser as to where the original plan has originated from. George is then asked if he minds going now to see if they can find anything more about him. He agrees to do so, but insists on Cassie going with him.
The others go over what they have just been discussing about George. It all makes sense and the identical twin scenario is the only answer to why something like that could have happened. The conversation then turns to the more pressing matter in hand. What can they do to find where The Keeper is and then plan a way to get him back?
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