by Karl Morgan
“Center City Main Tube Station,” the guard said. The blue light illuminated his face again. The door of the shuttle opened revealing ten metal seats. “Please board and buckle yourselves in. This is a high security shuttle area so there is no panel inside. Once you are ready, I will activate the shuttle. It will take you to the tube station where some of Lord Balak’s assistants will meet you. They will move you to another tube that will take you to the palace in Pegat City.”
“This isn’t some kind of trick, is it?” Cybil asked.
“One thing you learn on Atar Pa is that Lord Balak never lies,” he responded. “If he said you are now a guest that is the truth. Right now, you are in a secure penal facility. Once you arrive at the tube station, you’ll be outside where people can move around as they please. You won’t see prison guards out there.”
“What’s your name, son?” Darlene asked.
“Bolo Narz, madam ambassador,” he said and blushed a little.
“Thank you Bolo. Please call me Darlene. I hope to see you again under better circumstances,” Darlene replied.
“Thank you, Darlene,” he said. “Have a safe journey, and I hope you return home soon.” They climbed on the shuttle and it darted out of the room.
Chapter 20
Antar Arrak sat on the cold floor in absolute darkness. After he had been separated from his wife, the guards led him down several corridors past multiple security gates with armed soldiers guarding each. They passed through a reinforced steel door into a short corridor with doors along both sides. A door was opened and he was pushed inside. The guard told him to look around and closed the door. Immediately the lights were turned off and he was alone in the dark. He could remember a toilet and sink in the far corner of the ten by eight foot cell, but nothing else. He walked slowly until he could feel the wall and sat down on the floor, which was no simple task at his advanced age. He waited in the blackness for what seemed to be many hours. He wondered about Zina, hoping she was in better conditions than his cell. He could not understand why they had been kidnapped on the greatest day of his daughter’s life. He had retired from politics more than one hundred years ago. He ran a small farm raising vegetables and producing cheese for the first forty of those years, until he became too weak to keep up the pace. His youngest sister and her husband took over for him and Antar and Zina moved to a nearby village. It did not make sense to kidnap an old man and his wife who lived simply in a small town.
The lights turned on suddenly. Antar covered his eyes with his hands to lessen the shock of the brilliant light. After a minute or two, he grew accustomed to the light and opened his eyes. Sitting not two feet in front of him was Wendo Balak who had served in the High Council at the same time as Antar. Two guards stood by the door, which stood open. He did not know why guards were needed. There was no risk of Antar trying to escape. He was old Zu on a planet of Pa. He would stick out like a sore thumb wherever he went. “Wendo, what is the meaning of all this?” Antar asked.
“Antar Arrak, I am pleased to see you too. It amazes me that we are both still alive. I’m almost nine hundred years old now,” Wendo said. “How about you?”
“Nine hundred and fifteen, Wendo. But why am I here and where is Zina?” Antar pressed.
“Zina is fine, Antar. I just spoke with her not an hour ago,” Wendo smiled. “My guards have moved her to more comfortable quarters here for the time being, where she is now waiting for you.” He turned to the guards and said, “Please bring a good chair for my friend here. He is much too old to sit on the cold floor.” One of the guards left. “Antar, I would like us to discuss the Free Society again. I am hopeful you might change your mind about it.”
“You want to talk about the Free Society? Wendo, we both retired so long ago. I became a farmer until I was too weak to continue. Now I live in a small village, tending my garden and reading books of poetry most days. I haven’t thought about the Free Society in a very long time, old friend,” Antar replied.
“Zina seems to have it on the top of her mind, Antar. If you haven’t discussed it, why is she so interested in it?” Wendo asked.
The guard returned with a chair and helped Antar off the floor and onto the chair. “Thank you, young man,” he said to the guard. “You and I argued about the Free Society for many decades when we were on the High Council, Wendo. Once I realized the High Council would never make a decision, I gave up and retired. I think Zina could never let it go though. She thought you ruined my chances to be President of the High Council. Perhaps she was right, but after seeing how ineffective the Council was, I began to realize that I didn’t want any part of it. Moving onto that farm was the most satisfying day of my life, until the day my daughter was born.”
Wendo was looking irate with a flush coming to his cheeks. “Antar, you ruined my chance to be President too! I haven’t forgotten or forgiven you for that.”
Antar put his hand on Wendo’s knee, saying, “Wendo, I am deeply sorry for that. When I was younger I believed all the Society’s problems had a perfect solution. Perhaps I believed only my ideas were good enough. But I was a fool. When I recognized that my presence was part of the cause of their ineffectiveness, I knew I had to get out. Looking back on it now, I wish I would have left a term before you. Maybe the Council could have accomplished something.”
Wendo looked confused. “So you now agree with the idea of the Free Society? You realize it was the right thing to do all along. Is that what you are saying, Antar?”
“No and yes, Wendo. If I were President of the Council today and could make a unilateral decision about how to split the Society, I would not choose the Free Society model. But that situation could never exist,” Antar explained. “Your model is flawed. My model is flawed. There can never be a perfect model when imperfect humans are involved. If I had to choose between the Free Society and the current declining situation where no other options exist, I would strongly support the Free Society. Something needs to be done. If the current mess continues, ultimately the whole thing will fall to pieces.”
“Antar, I am not certain how to reply. I have been angry for a long time. My people have been working to convince more planets to join our coalition. It has been slow, but progress occurs every day. We probably can rely on the support of five hundred planets right now. Unfortunately, they are spread throughout the Society, and they represent only one percent of the total,” Wendo replied.
“I apologize again for your anger, old friend. Some days I wish I still had the fire to do things like that. Being President of Aranar Zu and on the High Council were wonderful days. Now, I like being a humble retiree living far from the spotlight,” Antar said.
“Would you consider adding your voice to mine on this?” Wendo asked. “If we both speak positively about the Free Society, perhaps we can make real change happen now in our golden years.”
“I don’t think it will do any good, Wendo. It’s been so long since I’ve been in the public eye. I doubt anyone remembers me anymore. But if I do this for you, can we put the old animosity behind us?” Antar asked.
“Of course, old friend. I think you have more strength in the Zu community than you think. Please, will you and Zina come to my palace in Pegat City? I am holding a celebration tomorrow night, and that would be an excellent opportunity to showcase our new alliance,” Wendo replied.
“There is the issue of the kidnapping to be considered, Wendo,” Antar stated. “I’m not sure how that can been turned into a positive.”
“True. Hopefully, Councilors Jeebo and Arnar can come up with a solution,” Wendo said. “Kidnapping you and Zina was their idea. Thanks to the incompetence of General Zilma, I’m now being blamed for the shooting of Admiral Brewster and kidnapping his family. I don’t know why, but the Free Society is also being blamed for attacks on two other systems.”
“Friend, I will gladly speak favorably about the Free Society, but those other issues are over my head,” Antar said.
“Let us leave this place together,
Antar,” Wendo said. “My shuttle will take us to Pegat City much quicker than tubes. I will have a suite of rooms prepared for you and Zina. After you both freshen up, perhaps we can dine with my granddaughter and the Councilors and pass that assignment on to them.”
“Speaking of Admiral Brewster, whatever happened to the Brewster family, Wendo?” Antar asked.
“They are already on their way to Pegat City. I have set aside a wing of my palace for them. Somehow, we must get them to support whatever story we come up with,” Wendo replied.
Antar put his arm on Wendo’s shoulder. “That will be a difficult job, old friend.”
Chapter 21
Arto Umbly was delighted to help out the tekkan Hive while Loni Arrak visited her family and received an award for finding the lost human tribe from Earth 47. Arto had rarely meet non-Zu humans, no less a completely alien culture. He had been briefed about tekkans by Chief Engineer Lina Aderal of Hive 1008 who joined him on this mission. He was a bit shocked when he met a tekkan face to face though.
Arto and Lina jumped directly into the office of Chief Engineer Nit Valasan, at the base of The Hive. Nit greeted them warmly and offered them some food and drink. One by one, the engineers who worked behind the scenes of The Hive came in and were introduced to the two who would take Loni’s place for a few days. After shaking more than a hundred insect-like hands and learning their names and faces, he began to view them more as coworkers than tall translucent spiders. The control panels were refreshingly similar to those on human Hives so his confidence in his ability to handle this assignment rose.
After the meet and greet session and a leisurely lunch, the three Chief Engineers took a tour of the power systems of The Hive. The huge towers of computer banks and HVAC equipment were modeled after human Hives. The control panels were similar to others he had seen, but were modified to allow the tekkans to use more than two arms and hands. As with all engineers working in Hives, Arto had been taught about the building of the Tak-Makla Hive many generations ago. The friendship between the cultures continued to the current day. The tekkan Hive was a crucial tool to help mankind stretch back into this galaxy. It formed an anchor point for Universal Power in the galaxy so other Hives could pinpoint jumping locations. While planets were being settled, the Hive was an important reference marker between this galaxy and the home galaxy. The value of The Hive had declined in recent years since other human Hives were now online, but the bonds of friendship and trade remained as strong as ever.
After the tour, Nit took the human engineers to the Earth 47 Ambassador’s residence on the surface. That site had become a comfortable and convenient gathering spot for non-tekkans who visited the planet. One wing of the mansion was set aside for Ambassador Brewster and her close associates. The rest of the residence was open for others. Before he left for his home, Nit told them he would return at 0700 tomorrow to put them to work in The Hive. Kally Karsen welcomed them to the embassy and showed them their rooms. He invited them to share dinner with the other guests in the residence in one hour.
An hour later, Kally led Arto and Lina into the library of the residence. Already in the room were three humans and one tekkan having cocktails and conversing happily. Kally introduced the two engineers to Charlie and Aria Watson, Mencius the Kalidean and High Consul Zee Gongaleg.
“My dear friends,” Zee said, “it is wonderful that you have come to take Loni Arrak’s place for a few days. I must warn you that you have big shoes to fill. She has been the rock of our Hive for many years. Lina, I heard you were running the Hive on Hive 1008 when the Donnaki attacked it with their new weapon system. That must have been a frightful experience.”
“Yes, Consul, it was shocking they could have developed such a weapon system,” she replied. “The technology we found seemed far beyond their level of development.”
“Lina, do you have any idea how they developed it?” Aria asked. “Does the Society of Humanity have similar weapons?”
“No, but we will soon,” Lina said. “If we want to continue growth in this galaxy, we need to be able to face those weapons as some point. At least they don’t seem to have Hive technology since they were unable to stop my agents from jumping their crews off the ships. I shudder to think what an enemy would do if they could jump a ball of plasma like that onto a planet full of people.”
“We have worked on similar devices in the past,” Mencius remarked. “We were never able to create a stable plasma ball and ultimately had to cancel the project. Fortunately our alliance was able to stop the Predaxians with normal weaponry.”
“Mencius, I was not aware of any Opa systems in this galaxy,” Arto said.
Mencius laughed, “Well, I wasn’t aware that I was an Opa. I am from the Kalidean Federation which covers ten thousand planets in this galaxy. What exactly is an Opa?”
Arto blushed, and continued, “I didn’t mean to offend you sir. The Opa are one of the fifty species of humans in the Society of Humanity. You look exactly like them.”
“Please don’t be concerned, and do call me Mencius. My friend, Dave Brewster has told me that humanity came to this galaxy long ago and established planets,” Mencius continued. “If Kalidus was originally populated by Opa from your galaxy, we will need to correct a lot of our history records. How many Opa worlds are there in the Society?”
“Around five hundred, Mencius,” Lina replied. “They are one of the smallest groups in our galaxy. If your culture has ten thousand, the Opa have gone from bottom to top in the few minutes I’ve known you.”
Kally interrupted the group and asked them to follow him to the dining room as dinner was to be served momentarily. The group rose and headed out of the room. After the last person left, Kally returned to close the door. For a moment, he thought he saw some movement, but when he looked again, the room was empty. He closed the door and walked away with his guests.
Three maklans appeared on the ceiling of the room. They were quite different from the other species known, with slightly green glass-like skin and bright blue eyes. They had two sets of legs that had developed into arms with hands and opposable thumbs. One set of legs was heavy and long to allow them to stand on two feet. Their bodies were elongated and three feet in length. They had large dragon-fly double wings which shimmered in the light in a range of hues. They moved together until they were touching each other in a tight circle.
“Okay team, give me your reports,” Awl Porto thought.
“Captain, we have managed to relocate our devices into The Hive,” Ensign Eel Valak reported. “We will be ready at the appointed hour.”
“Captain, I have heard that our fleet is approaching the valakar system. They should launch their attack on schedule,” Lieutenant Oul Zeel said. “Our ship is fully shielded and will be ready to jump us out five seconds before detonation.”
“Eel, how many troops do we have in The Hive at this time?” Awl thought.
“Nearly two thousand sir. It will take another three hours before we are ready to act,” Eel replied. “Most of our troops will evacuate one hour before detonation.”
“That’s great news! It looks like we will be right on time.” Awl looked around the room quickly. “I keep getting the feeling we are being watched. How about you two?”
“Don’t worry, Captain, it’s just a case of nerves,” Eel said. “We’ll be off this world soon and headed back to Maklakar space. We’ll all be sleeping in our own beds in a few days. We should all get medals for this mission! By deactivating this Hive, we can keep these maklans from surpassing our technology.”
“I know. I was raised to remember Paxran too. When those traitors destroyed our society, we learned our military and technology were the only things that could keep us safe from others in our species. We all saw the video of that planet this Hive destroyed. Even our plasma bombs can’t compete with weaponry like that!” Awl thought.
“Captain, I’m getting that funny feeling about being watched too,” Oul said. “We’d better get out of here just in cas
e!” The three maklans glowed brightly and disappeared.
The ribbons of light from Bill and Cybil Brewster spun around each other in the room. A third from Serena Vanatee pulsed nearby. “You saw all that right?” Serena said.
“So, the Maklakar were behind the bombing on Tak-Makla?” Bill asked. “I thought they were wiped out long ago.”
“Apparently some survived and built new worlds. It looks like their military technology is far beyond ours,” Serena replied. “I think we need to see the whole event though. Follow me and we’ll go a few hours forward.” Their lights twisted about each other and fell into a black tunnel. After a few minutes of blackness, they reappeared deep inside The Hive.
The clock on Nit Valasan’s desk read 0330. The door flew open and Nit, Lina and Arto entered the room. “I’m sorry for interrupting your sleep, but I have been getting odd readings from the core since around midnight,” Nit began. “The power levels are jumping around all over the place. I’ve called in some agents to help check things out. I’ve never seen readings like these before.”
“Wow!” Lina agreed. “The Hive is in sleep mode, isn’t it?”
“Of course, Lina. At this hour only the maintenance crew is here. Let me contact their supervisor to get a report,” Nit replied. He pushed a button on his control panel to summon the shift leader. After a minute with no response, he pressed the contact again.
“This looks like a power imbalance to me,” Arto said. “They are very rare and usually occur when other systems are accidentally tied into The Hive’s grid. I’ll go check it out.” Arto ran out the door into the darkened maze of machines.
“We may be forced to take The Hive offline, Nit,” Lina said.
