Guardian Stone 2: Stone and the T-Raptors

by Don Koch

  The post greeting discussions were evoking some skepticism, but mostly relief. They knew clearly that High Command had nothing like what they were seeing here. The sheer scale was holding some spellbound. One former polit suggested that it looked like Acar on steroids. There were similarities with Acar but there were also significant differences that did not have the mark of the Yannar Hegemony. The latter being far more utilitarian. The lodge itself made converts. Several noted that the suggestion of a shower convinced him that this was real and not a story. Many seriously wanted to believe that this was real. When the skeptics met a Glarin or Gar in person, the skepticism faded away. Curt had read his audience correctly and the treatment of these former prisoners was all that many needed to grasp for the straw offered.

  There were two guides for each person, one human and one Glarin or Gar. Partly, this was to gauge how each person would react to another species. Mostly it was to support Curt's statements. By the time each former polit was installed in his quarters, the impact of the events of the day was taking hold. Several wanted to know if the offer to reunite families was real. They were told that all families had been informed of the change in status and that many were currently making arrangements to come as they spoke. All of the families were located on Yannar so complications with contact was limited. The first shuttle was expected in the morning from Yannar. They were told that interviews would start the following day and that arrival of family members would take precedence over anything else scheduled except medical emergencies. From Curt's point of view it was a very gratifying day.

  ### On Station 141 in Felix Orbit –

  December 3 – C Day 460 ###

  The following morning two shuttles arrived from Yannar with the families of about 200 of the former polits. That was all that was needed to excite the whole group. Families were housed with their husbands and given time to reacquaint. Additional shuttles would be arriving throughout the day.

  Curt participated in the interviews where the names were not on both lists. The first of these was with former Major Rian Orpan. Orpan said, "General, before we start I would like to make a statement. I am surprised at the treatment I am receiving from you and I suspect that you may be missing a piece of my history of which I am not proud. I would like to lay that on the table before we start. Twenty years ago, I was a new Polit Second Lieutenant assigned to a cruiser on patrol in the Juster System. My superior was Major Pardo Frill. He was a malicious psychopath who enjoyed the discomfort he could cause with the bridge crew. On one particular day he was having an altercation with the executive officer who called him a pompous ass. Major Frill was livid. He ordered me to draw my firearm and cover the Exec. I did as ordered and being very nervous I did not expect what came next. The Exec took a step toward the Major who backed up quickly right into my side causing the firearm to discharge. The result was that the Exec was killed instantly. The Major insisted in putting me in for a commendation for 'defending his life' and would not take no for an answer. I know it was an accident but he would not let it be stated that way. I know that some of the crew who witnessed the event knew the truth of the situation but the Major ordered me to talk to no one about the incident. I tried to forget about it but how do you do that when you are responsible for taking a man's life. I was shortly promoted, no doubt because of the Major's report, and was transferred. I started looking for ways to make up for this incident. I provided a bit of surreptitious help to some fleet officer or citizen in trouble and a bit more there and after a while I was caught at it and sent here. I have been here for four years. I regret that death more than anything I can say or do. I do not regret the help I have provided others."

  Curt was stunned. He expected to take hours to extract why Orpan was on his list and not on the list from Mack. Curt said, "Well that is the shortest interview I have ever conducted and I never had to say a word."

  Now it was Orpan's turn to be stunned. He said, "What kind of interview was that?"

  Curt smiled and said, "Rian, you are aware that I am a telepath and that I can tell when someone is telling me a lie. What I just heard explains to me why you are on my list and not that of another station. What I just heard was straight out truth, unvarnished straight out truth. How would you like to do some more good. I need someone with a good conscience to help a whole planet. Are you interested?"

  "I don't understand."

  "The whole purpose of the 'interviews' is to give us a read on the individual's character. You managed to do that without all of the work that would normally be involved in extracting that kind of a read. The fact that you provided that kind of information voluntarily says volumes about your character. What we are trying to do is to get 22 planets on track to democratic self-governance. People on the planets needing help are going to want assistance from someone who is not Antoran. We need people from the hegemony who want to provide that kind of help. The training you will need can be provided on any station including this one. You can pick the planet you want to work with. What do you think?"

  "I think I would like to be a part of this. I don't know how my family will feel about this."

  "Well that should be pretty easy then because your wife and kids arrived on a shuttle ten minutes ago and are waiting for you in your quarters. In fact, Kazia will teleport you there now. We can chat later."

  The other three interviews took longer but each resulted in clearing the interviewees. All three indicated that they would like to return to Yannar and were willing to help there if needed. They were each billeted as a warrant officer 1. Orpan reported back to Curt a few hours indicating they would go where needed. Curt indicated that they would be housed on a station orbiting the planet where they would be working and he would be ranked as a warrant officer 4.

  ### On Station 141 in Felix Orbit –

  December 4 – C Day 461 ###

  Other interviews went well and only 24 did not pass muster. They were told that they would be returned to their home planets to resume life there. Another 267 wished to be returned to their home planets and this wish was granted with available shuttles. This left 916 persons available for assignments. They were pretty much evenly distributed among the planets in need. All but 5 of the prisoners were reunited with their families. In each of the 5 cases, they had either met with disaster or were unwilling to be reunited. Curt delivered a complete record of all of the interviews, his decisions and a packet of 942 warrant officer postings that were confirmed by Hank thirty minutes after receipt along with a commendation for the station's effort and result.

  Curt then ordered up the records on the remaining prisoners at Felix for review. These were the dregs of society and very few were polits. Those that had been polits had been the worst known cases that were too much for even High Command's tastes.

  Chapter 31: Status Report Earth/Felix

  On Station 19 in Earth Orbit –

  December 8 – C Day 465

  Phillip Montand of Station 19 in Earth Orbit reported to Hank concerning the progress of the latest Earth Upgrade program. They had completed four session of upgrade providing training for 1.6 billion persons from Earth. Slightly over 980 million persons had applied for the Basic training and nearly 620 million had applied for advanced training. The number of persons applying for station billets amounted to 225 million and almost 330 million applying for colony postings. The number of applicants desiring return to Earth was holding at about 65.3% of the applicants, while the return rate for persons with advanced training was over 80%. This suggested that people of Earth were becoming more comfortable about their future than they had in the past. The continuing interest in life aboard a station was encouraging since there would be a considerable number of Type 2B stations being built in the coming months. The fact that new high speeds were available allowed for more distant exploration and potential colony locations.

  ### On Station 141 in Felix Orbit ###

  In reviewing the records of Rian Orpan, Curt discovered that Rian's children had birthdate
s the same week as his own children and that gave him an idea. He discussed the idea with his wife Eleanor and she wholeheartedly agreed. In fact she took over the project. His idea was to have a Birthday Picnic at the base of their Mt. Bigger. Eleanor told him to make the invitation to the Orpans for 2 o'clock while she and Kazia would take care of the rest. Curt knew better than to resist a tsunami, so he did as instructed. At 2 o'clock, Kazia teleported the group to the designated spot to find a table with four decorated and wrapped boxes on it along with place settings for eight, At a separate side table sat a large birthday cake with four names in frosting on top with four lit candles on top. Curt explained, "In our culture, celebrating your birthday is a big deal. When we are young it is typical to have a party. Some have big parties with lots of people and some have smaller ones with a few friends. This week there will be four birthdays in this group. Gust was 11 years old two days ago, Jane is 11 today, Anya will be 9 in 4 days and Chris will be 9 in 5 days. So, as Commander of this station, I officially declare that for this year, all four of those birthdays are today. The first thing we do is that the birthday boy or girl blows out the birthday candle signifying that another year has passed and hoping the next one will be a good one. Before you do that, it is customary to make a birthday wish. You should tell no one the wish until it has become true, but usually, when it does, it is then ok to tell. OK, do each of you have a wish in your head?" They all nodded agreement and it was obvious that they were all being caught up in the event. "OK, hold that thought. Now let us go to the cake. Do you see your name on the cake?" Again agreement and each stood in front of their name without being told. "On the count of three, you should blow out your candle. One --- Two --- Three." There was a brief flurry of puffs and all candles were blown out. Eleanor removed the candles and cleaned off the icing then put each candle in its own small box with the birthday child's name written on each. Curt went on, "These candles are not playthings, they are a keepsake to remember this day. On birthdays, it is traditional to receive a gift. That is what the boxes are about. It is also typical to share ones good fortune. We have brought some Earth and Yannar games so that you children may teach each other and play together. After we have done that for a while we will have some ice cream and cake. Does that sound like a plan or what?" The children were really into the spirit of the day by this time so it needed no further direction.

  Rian was blinking back the tears with happiness, "I had not thought to see the children so happy and engaged again. Thank you Curt." Aber went over to Curt and hugged him saying, "Thank you. Can you tell us where we will be assigned?"

  Curt was surprised and it showed. He said, "You have decided to join us, this is great. I was hoping you would and part of that is that I have been reassigned to Vast. First we will be delivering warrant officers to their new postings. We are then to go to Feron to pick up supplies that are to be delivered to Vast. These are materials that have been removed from the various planets in the hegemony that will hopefully help them get past the current turmoil. I have need of an officer that has some understanding of Vast and some empathy with their people. It is where you were stationed when High Command caught on to what you were up to. Interested? It would mean that you will be stuck with this station for a while."

  Rian said, "That would be amazing. That would be a dream come true. I like those people. It will be great to work with them."

  "Well Major, you will need these." He said handing a set of Major rank tabs to Aber, "You can pin them on him when he is next in uniform." At that point he was distracted by something the children were doing that startled and amazed him, he held up his hand to signal the others as to what was happening. He said to Kazia,

  The children were playing a board game, but the individual game pieces were being played about two feet above the material board on a holographic board. The children were all in the same sitting posture they were in at the start of the game but also two feet above the grass. The adults watched in amazement for about 15 minutes when the game dissolved and the children slowly settled back to the grass and broke rapport.

  Curt said in a clear voice, "Who is ready for ice cream and cake." The children all ran to the table and took their places at the table. They were clearly having a grand time. Nonchalantly, he asked the children, "how did you guys figure out how to play that game the way you did?"

  Gust said, "I heard Jane ask in my head, how can we make this more interesting. Then I heard Chris in my head say maybe we can play it in the air. Then I heard Anya say that might be fun and she moved the board up in the air. Then one thing kind of led to another and we were all doing it and we were all in each others mind."

  Jane said, "It all felt kind of natural and it kind of just happened. Its not a problem is it?"

  "No, it's not a problem sweetie. It's more of a surprise. It is unusual to see this talent in people so young. In fact, I have never heard of this ability before age 15. Do you guys want to do this again?" They all agreed that they did. "Well, fact is I want that too, but I do not want you harmed by it. The best way to assure that is to provide you with the tools you need that will prevent anyone or anything from harming you. Does that make sense to you?" Again agreement. "Hey, where is the ice cream and cake?" Everyone laughed. The treats were served and Curt said, "Hey this is pretty good ice cream."

  "Dad. You are worried for us but you are not telling us what we can't do. That's a lot different than most parents. Can you lay out a course of action for us and let us see how it fits where we think we are going. You know that in another 7 or 8 years, I will be married to Gust and a few years after that Anya will be married to Chris. So we have time to learn a lot by then."

  The adults all seemed to be holding their breath at the announcement but Curt went on, "Somehow that is not as much of a surprise as the rest of the events of today. I agree with you. I will lay out a training regimen and have you look it over and tell me where you think you need more of a focus and what needs to be reinforced. I think the very first thing will be to get you some decent shielding ability. For now, Kazia will be providing external shields. Your sleep teacher machines will get you started tonight. Fair enough?"

  Gust responded, "That sounds reasonable. While we are at this we heard something while we were all together that we think you should know. We heard someone down there mind talking, at least it seemed like mind talking but may have been something else. The person sending was someone called Gox. He was talking with someone about something called Saba. We only caught a glimpse but that is why we stopped the game when we did. That was all we caught but he is definitely not a nice guy and the Saba were far scarier. We thought you should know."

  "Thanks Gust. Thanks kids. Hey, this is supposed to be a birthday party. I'll be back in a few minutes. Rian, there is something I want to show you." They walked for about 5 minutes and then stopped to sit on a rock for a short chat. "I wanted you to know that all of that was unexpected. Those kids are amazing and I am a bit scared for them. To have that kind of talent develop that early is pretty much unique. It is usually a post puberty thing. That last little bit is also scary since our stations have been on alert for the past week concerning Saba. We have little information about Saba. We have their coordinates from the Starkiller that High Command was going to send their way but little more. Now here we have four preteen kids giving us our first lead in over a week. Can you tell me anything about this Gox character."

  "Indeed, that whole episode today was a shock and I was happy that you handled the whole thing so smoothly. The kids were very open due to your reaction and remained relaxed. The mention
of Gox gave me the shivers. He is a particularly evil person. His full name is Goxor Parth. He was placed here by the High Councilor himself. Story was that he tried to pull a coup. It was never clear why the High Councilor let him live. I did what I could to avoid contact with him down there. The idea that he is telepathic is a bit scary."