The Dave Brewster Series

by Karl Morgan

  “Very funny, Aria,” Charlie replied. “Count me in too, brother.”

  De-o-Nu shrieked with laughter. “This is a glorious ending to a terrible day, friends. We will train and drink together until the day when we free Dave’s and Loni’s families.”

  “Don’t forget about the ships, De-o-Nu,” Zee said.

  “Ah, yes, I did forget,” he continued. “After the attacks, it has become clear that Tak-Makla needs protection. As long as this Hive is down, the planet is very vulnerable to attack. At Consul Zee’s request, twenty star cruisers will be in orbit here within three days. Ten will be from Greater Gallia and ten from Earth. My ship will lead the overall fleet. Captain Jon Lake on the Nightsky will be my second. Nightsky and Kong-Fa are already here.”

  “Loni dear, I know you’ve been through a lot,” Zee began, “but I still do not understand why my planet was attacked. I was not aware there were such unstable elements within the Society of Humanity. Why would they kill so many and kidnap totally innocent people? Do you know?”

  Loni stood and walked to the bar. She poured the wine out of her glass and filled it with ice. She returned to the table and filled the glass with Gallicean whisky and sat down. She took a long drink. “Zee, our Society is huge with fifty thousand planets and more than a hundred trillion people. We have also been segregated into races. Even though it is a tiny percentage, there are billions who believe we are misguided. They think the Society is too large to be one entity and all races should be encouraged to intermarry. If we continue we way we are, they believe the Society will eventually crumble into new societies based on race.” She took another drink.

  “Is that what you believe, Loni?” Aria asked.

  “I never used to, Aria,” she replied. “Then I met Bill Brewster, who is definitely not a Zu like me. He is so sweet and wonderful to me.” Tears began to roll down her cheeks again. Aria put her arm around Loni’s shoulders. “My family would go insane if they thought I would marry someone who isn’t a Zu, but I feel like I’m falling in love with Bill. Before today, I never thought about the structure of the Society or the dissidents in the Free Society. I knew my job here in The Hive and that was my life. When I grew up on Aranar Zu, I almost never saw other races, except when we’d go skiing.”

  “Now I know why I like you so much, Loni,” De-o-Nu smiled. “You are a beautiful young girl who likes the Brewsters and Gallicean whisky. Brother, your son is a lucky man to have such love.”

  “You are right, brother,” Dave sighed. “But first we need to find him and get these two back together again. I did have a meeting with President Bango and Governor Lonk while I was recovering in the hospital. The Free Society seems to be led by people from the Pa culture, who look like Charlie and me. They believe that our existence proves that humanity can become homogeneous again. They also think since we look like Pa, that race must be the result of the blending of all the races.”

  “That seems unlikely, Dave,” Aria said. “I am the result of that blending, not you.”

  “We told them that too,” he replied. “We know now that Kalideans and Nanda are also humans. I can’t even imagine what would happen if all were blended together. But none of this is about finding the truth. The leaders of the Free Society movement have made their decisions and are looking for any morsel that helps prove their case. Now they have Darlene, Bill and Cybil to prove their point. Loni, I still don’t know why your parents are involved.”

  Loni dropped her head and tears flowed again. She took the glass of whisky and drained it. “I know why,” she began. “My parents are old now and were older than most when I was born. When my father was young, he was a soldier and politician. He was President on Aranar Zu two hundred solar cycles ago. He spent four terms on the High Council for the Society. The founder of the Free Society, Wendo Balak was a Pa who was on the High Council at the same time. Both argued that the Society had become too large to manage. You can imagine the bureaucracy for a civilization with a hundred trillion citizens. Over time, they convinced the Council that plans needed to be made to split into smaller groups, with perhaps a small advisory group to liaise among them. Wendo said the division must be along regions of space. That was the only way to insure security within each territory and avoid racial tensions. My father wanted a split based on races to insure domestic tranquility and best utilization of new planets. The Council argued for decades but could never reach an agreement. Finally, both retired from office and new Councilors were elected. My father came to Aranar Zu and built a large farm where his sister and brother-in-law still make cheese. Wendo moved to Atar Pa and kept working on the Free Society.”

  “Revenge is an excellent motive, and we must move quickly now to save their lives,” De-o-Nu said. “But are we certain that the attack here was led by humans? I must tell you the fleet that attacked the Nom-Kat-La system was not human. Our people are still sifting through debris to determine who was behind it. It would be foolish to assume all the attacks were coordinated this soon.”

  Chapter 18

  The midday sun baked the desolate landscape surrounding The Hive on Atar Pa. The Hive was located in the center of the vast Pegat Desert that filled the interior of the continent of the same name. The lush coastline with its large cities was thousands of miles away. That distance was filled with rocky mountain ranges, broad expanses of white sand and little else. The life that could survive in the Pegat Desert clung to the first few mountain ranges and valleys that separated this wasteland from the coastal areas. Those mountains were far from this spot and the flat sand stretched to the horizon in every direction. The mile wide opening at the top of The Hive was covered with a mirror-like glass dome to prevent the frequent sand storms was damaging the upper floors, and to repel the temperature extremes common to the area. It was noon now and the temperature was already over one hundred ten degrees.

  The bottom level of The Hive was almost two hundred miles below the surface. Outside The Hive, Center City had been built underground to house the billions of agents and their support staff. An enormous network of tubes connected the area to the cities on the Pegat coast. Ten miles north of The Hive, a smaller silver dome marked the landing platform for the space port that served the area. Dozens of shuttles flew in and out of the port daily taking people and goods to other continents and into space. With no bad weather in the forecast, the dome was half open. The opening moved with the sun to keep the bright light out of the port.

  A small war ship approached the port slowly and dropped through the opening to land on the designated spot. Dozens of armed guards rushed out to the ship to provide security. The landing ramp descended and several guards stepped off the ship and saluted the troops on the ground. Another group of guards came out of the ship with the Brewsters and the Arraks. They were followed by Councilors Arnar and Jeebo, General Zilma and Serena Vanatee. The prisoners were escorted toward a heavy metal door which opened as they approached. The rest entered the tall glass doors of the terminal building.

  “My friends, welcome home,” said Wendo Balak. Wendo was an old man now, even more grizzled by his years of self-imposed exile on Atar Pa and unending struggle to build the Free Society.

  “Lord Balak, this is a pleasant surprise,” Arnar said. “I hadn’t expected to see you until we arrived at the capital.”

  “When you told me you had my old friend Antar Arrak, I took my shuttle here. That man has bedeviled me for my entire career. Now it is time to pay him back for what he has done,” Wendo replied.

  “It was my pleasure to do so,” Arnar said. “I must inform you we were not able to get all the targets.”

  “Yes, Arnar, I know. Serena here sent me a message when your ship left orbit over Aranar Zu,” Wendo said. “Serena, how are you my dear?”

  “Very well, Grandfather,” she replied. “The operation went smoothly until Admiral Brewster started asking questions. Zilma here was forced to stun him.”

  “I’m sorry, Lord Balak,” Audy said. “The time was very sho
rt and I had to act quickly.”

  Wendo continued, “It seems more like panic than haste, General. Our plans were put in serious jeopardy by your actions. While I do not regret taking the Arraks, it was our plan to invite the Brewsters as guests. Now we will be branded a planet of madmen, who go about the galaxy kidnapping innocents at will. What can we do with you now, Zilma?” Wendo motioned to a nearby guard, saying, “Guard, take General Zilma out of my sight and find a place for him in the brig!” The guard led Zilma away. “This kind of incompetence will be the death of us all.”

  “Lord Balak, I heard that attacks on the Hive on Tak-Makla and on planets in another system are being blamed on the Free Society,” Arnar said. “Now what will we do? If we don’t act soon, fleets of cruisers will come here to make us pay.”

  “Yes, that was very bad news,” Balak replied. “I do not regret our actions on Aranar Zu, but I do not understand how we can be blamed for those other actions. We must protest this most strenuously! However, with Zilma’s foolishness, no one will believe us now. Our Hive here needs to help find the culprits for the other attacks. We must also determine how to turn the kidnapping of the Brewsters into a simple mistake.”

  “Grandfather, to find those responsible, we need to complete the second Hive. There are many planets in the Free Society,” Serena said. “Certainly there are factories to make parts for our new Hive.”

  “Yes, but that will take time, Serena. Now that the Society is blaming us for attacks in two systems and kidnapping, I doubt time is on our side,” Wendo replied. “Once these stories spread through the Society, we may lose many friends, making our task even more difficult.”

  “Fate does seem to be aligned against us, Grandfather,” she said. “You seem a bit tired, are you well?”

  “I am tired, Granddaughter, but I will be fine. I think we should share a meal now and then visit my old friend and our other guests. You may all join me for dinner tomorrow in Pegat City for a small celebration of these events,” Wendo concluded.

  Chapter 19

  “So Mom, where do you think we are?” Cybil asked.

  “I don’t know for certain, sweetheart, but that woman Serena claimed to be from a planet called Atar Pa,” Darlene replied. “All the people we’ve seen here look like Pa to me.”

  They Brewsters were in a large room with a heavy metal door at one end. The walls were cold stone with no seams. Bright artificial lights were built into the ceiling and made everything look sterile and lifeless. There were three sets of double bunk beds and several small metal chairs scattered about the space. A small pair of dividers offered slight privacy for the toilet and sink on the wall opposite the door. After their group left the ship, guards hurried them into a prison-like facility. Antar Arrak was separated from the rest and taken away. Zina Arrak and the Brewsters were led to this room and the door was locked behind them. They had been waiting here for three or four hours with no other contacts.

  Bill sat on one of the beds next to Zina, who had been crying since her husband was forcibly taken from her. His arm was around her shoulders for comfort. “Zina, I’m sure we’ll get out of here soon,” he said calmly.

  “Thank you, Bill,” she cried. “Antar is convinced this is the work of the Free Society. If he is correct, there is little hope for any of us.” Hearing Zina speak for the first time, Cybil and Darlene came to join them. “Most citizens of the Society know that it has become too large and unwieldy to be managed. At some point it will begin to collapse under its own bureaucratic weight. When Antar was on the High Council, he made suggestions on how to peacefully break the Society into smaller pieces. The founder of the Free Society disagreed and kept the Council from making any decision that was not his own. Ultimately, the Council gave up and my husband retired.”

  “Has the Society begun to fracture yet?” Darlene asked. “I haven’t heard about this Free Society or any unrest.”

  Zina stood and begin to walk back and forth slowly. “There is always unrest in a Society of fifty thousand human worlds. A few planets declare independence from the Society each year. Fortunately, the lack of trade and insecurity always cause them to return after they get that extra taste of freedom out of their mouths.”

  “Isn’t the Free Society a collection of worlds that are independent?” Bill asked.

  “Oh no! The Free Society is a state of mind and an opinion about how the Society should change for all planets,” she replied. “There are a few hundred worlds that believe in those ambitions, like this one. The people here work behind the scenes to change public opinion and governmental policies in that direction. For the ideals of the Free Society to work, all the planets have to accept it, or the High Council has to impose it. The Free Society requires all the planets in a region to become a separate federation. Unless the leaders of the Free Society have control of all the planets in a region, they could never do it on their own. That is why Antar’s idea was always superior.”

  “What is his idea?” Cybil asked.

  “The Society of Humanity should break based on our races. For example, all Zu planets would form one federation, no matter where they were located. The other races would do the same. Since all the federations would be intermingled in space, the Society would maintain responsibility for defense and trade negotiations,” Zina replied.

  “Segregation by race seems extreme to people from the twenty-first, Zina,” Darlene said. “Our Earth has dealt with those issues for all time.”

  “That is the one failing of the plan and why the Council could never agree to it,” Zina said. “Antar recognized that but felt it was a bit different. On your world, all the races lived on the same planet. They were competing with each other. One race might think it was better than another. Here we are talking about entire planets. The Society has identified fifty different types of habitable planets. Each of our fifty races is specialized for one of those types. These races were not manufactured in a laboratory. They evolved naturally over generations. When we left Non-Ti, all humans were homogeneous. Some humans inhabited the first cold weather planet and over thousands of generations became Zu. Others found large hot planets with rich atmospheres and became Pa.”

  “So, it’s evolutionary change,” Bill said. “You’re not saying one race is better, they are just better suited to a particular environment.”

  “You can teach your husband’s lies well,” a voice said on the other side of the room. They turned to see Wendo Balak, Serena Vanatee and ten armed guards just inside the door. “Antar spent much of his political career holding the Society together in spite of itself. We need the Free Society to allow a controlled dissolution before civil war and chaos does the job for us.”

  “Where is my husband, Wendo?” Zina demanded.

  “Don’t worry, Zina, he is safe for now,” Wendo smirked. “I just want to chat with him in private first. Then I will return him to you.”

  “Sir, I am Darlene Webster, an ambassador from Earth,” Darlene said. “I demand that you release us immediately.”

  “Please accept my apology, madam ambassador,” Wendo replied. “I am Wendo Balak, President of the Free Society. I am shocked that my guards put you in this cell. They had specific orders to move you and your children to a wing of my palace in Pegat City, where you will be my guests.”

  “Mr. President, what we want to do is leave this place,” she demanded.

  “I’m afraid we cannot do that yet,” Wendo replied. “The foolishness of General Zilma and some unrelated attacks on other systems have put us in a very difficult situation. It was our intention to invite your family here to show our people that the Pa species is a natural state for humanity. Now, we need you and the Arraks to keep the Society at bay while we utilize the Hive on this planet in order to ascertain who made those attacks on the other systems. Be assured we will give you and your children full access to Atar Pa while you are here. However, you cannot leave or contact anyone off this planet until I say so. We also require you to attend certain functions t
o be held in your honor.”

  “You are holding functions to honor your prisoners?” Bill asked.

  “Don’t be insolent son,” Wendo snapped. “You are our guests and we will treat you well if you behave. The people of Aranar Zu were honored by your presence, and the Pa here will be thrilled to see their Pa ancestors.”

  “Your man shot my husband,” Darlene interrupted. “You want me to be nice after that! You must be insane.”

  “Madam, please believe me. General Zilma’s actions were wrong, and I have arrested him already. Thankfully, your husband was only stunned. My agents tell me that he and Loni have already returned safety to Tak-Makla. If you accept my hospitality now, in two days I will allow you to enter our Hive and see them for yourselves,” Wendo replied. “As soon as it is feasible, I will release you all with our sincerest apologies.”

  “I don’t know whether I believe him or not, but take the offer, Darlene,” Zina said. “You have no choice anyway. I’ll take care of Antar here.”

  “Aren’t the Arraks going with us?” Bill asked.

  Wendo smiled, “Not right now. I need to discuss the Free Society with Antar again. If I can convince him to join our cause, then we will all be together soon,” Wendo said.

  “I don’t want to leave you here, Zina,” Bill said.

  “Don’t be stupid, Bill. Get out of this place. It doesn’t matter what happens to Antar or me. Don’t worry about us. As long as I have Antar by my side, I will be happy,” Zina smiled as a few tears slipped down her cheeks.

  A group of guards led the Brewsters out of the room. As they left Bill looked back and saw Wendo and Serena sit next to Zina. One of the remaining two guards closed the door. After walking down a long corridor for ten minutes, they stopped at a door. The lead guard touched a small panel and a blue light illuminated his face. The door opened and the group entered a small tube room. Another guard with a large laser rifle stood inside. The shuttle in the room was much different from those on Tak-Makla or Hive 1008. It was metal with only small slit windows. The guard tapped a panel, which said, “Destination.”