Oh dear. It has started.
Gliituk wore his trademark long robe of iridescent orange which flowed over his legs like water over a dam.
Wrinkles on his face on either side of his long vertical nose and his mouth verified he was old. From the news blurbs about him, I knew him to be around sixty-four of our Earth years old. I was fifty-one. Mercons aged faster and the average seldom got to sixty.
“I'm sorry for inconvenient way I brought you here,” said Gliituk. “You didn’t let me know you were coming.”
Chapter 9
I took one chair and Ron the other. The fire cackled behind a black screen as I scanned the room. All the comforts of home. Which made me wonder how much of this setting was for our benefit, to make us feel comfortable.
Paintings or holographs of mercons lined the walls. One tall image showed a male in formal attire, complete with a crown and lots of jewels on his clothing. From where I sat I could not make out the name plate below him, not that I would have understood what it said.
The decorations in the room were mostly dark but the walls glowed as usual to give light. I glanced at the nearest of the two windows and saw a random wavy checkered pattern. So our host knew of sensors that could detect tiny vibrations from the voices inside that might reveal conversations. This might also mean his window faced an outside wall where such precautions might be necessary.
In the center of the room rested four chairs, two for Ron and me. Two others were closer to the floor. The ambassador sat in and I wondered who might join us. Each black leather chair had a tall back and two arm rests. The floor consisted of dark wood.
Gliituk raised his glass. “Care for wine? I assure you it is not drugged. I had it purchased for guests. Myself, I prefer local brew made from Durran fruit.”
His voice was higher pitched than mine, but then again, his body was smaller.
I shook my head.
From his chair Ron added, “No, thanks.”
“We scanned both of you before you were brought here. You don't have tracking devices. We'll give you your communicators and weapons back when you return to hotel.”
“Why have we been brought here?” I asked.
“My apologies for mysterious way you were transported. But I did not want you to see path from hotel underground. Let's keep that our little secret, shall we?”
The ambassador spoke our language well, except for the definite articles, but then it would behoove him to learn how to speak the human tongue in his official role.
“You still haven't answered my question,” I said.
Gliituk nodded and took a sip of dark liquid from his glass.
“I had DNA samples taken from both of you. Earlier this week you received invitation to Harper Hotel.”
Ah, the mysterious Deeter.
“Why?” I asked.
“I had suspected you were Bingers, or at least descended from Bingers. DNA tests confirmed that. I had to be sure before I brought you here.”
I had to ask. “Which begs the question again. Why are we here?”
Gliituk stared back into my eyes. “What I'm about to tell you should remain between us.”
A deadly silence ensued. Ron followed my example by keeping quiet.
“Do I have your word on that?” asked the ambassador.
“I don't know yet. Depends on what I learn next,” I replied.
“Fair enough.” Gliituk picked up a tiny bell and rang it. In seconds, I heard a door open opposite the fireplace and a single dark-skinned male mercon entered wearing a long light green robe and matching pants. He took a chair to the right of the ambassador and appeared to be the same height. What I could see of his “shirt” was a dark red.
Gliituk pointed toward the new mercon. “This is Tettar, head of our intelligence service.”
Tettar spoke. “I am concerned about the explosion at the airport. There will be many humans who will blame us mercons.”
The ambassador said, “I think it is in your best interests as Bingers to join us in our investigation. Whatever fallout could land on you as well.”
Tettar added, “What the ambassador is suggesting is that we pool our resources. It must be done carefully, of course. Any hint to the press of our cooperating could harm you as well as us. You are free to move about among the human population. We stand out too much. What we can offer is our resources, limited as they are.”
I noticed the spy chief spoke better English than our host. I had to ask, “What resources?”
Tettar added, “We have several subcontractors who provide us with goods and services. We hear things now and then. If we can pool our networks, we both can learn more.”
Gliituk took another sip of his wine. “Perhaps it would help if we told you little of history of our people. What I’m about to tell you must remain between us.”
“Okay. We agree,” I replied.
Gliituk paused before adding, “We've been to Rossa before. And to Earth.”
Son of a bitch.
My mouth dropped.
I recovered from my shock and added, “In the negotiations of the Alcott-Gortush Treaty, the mercon representative said that mercons had never been to Rossa or to our home world.”
Tettar said, “The negotiators spoke the truth—as they knew it.”
Gliituk spoke next. “Like I said, perhaps it would help if we told you some of lore we have been able to retain over millennia. There is society among us—secret society—that has kept records going far back in history. Have you ever heard of Mattons?”
I shook my head.
Tettar leaned over to his left and whispered something in the ambassador’s ear.
“Mattons have records of many cycles,” added the ambassador. “By cycle, I mean one up and down in volatile tendency to expand and build, then break out in civil war and destroy everything. Survivors picked up pieces and created another cycle of development, followed by yet another civil war.”
I asked, “How many cycles have there been?”
Gliituk took a gulp of wine before responding. “We don't know for sure. At least several hundred. Our records go back only hundred thousand years. After each collapse, both skolanders and bemanders falsely believed that by destroying all history records they could prevent another collapse.”
“Skolanders? Bemanders?” I asked.
Gliituk nodded to Tettar, who explained. “The skolanders are the more conservative political group. Both the ambassador and I are skolanders. The bemanders are the more liberal party.”
“And which party is Picka'tor?” I asked.
“A skolander,” replied Tettar. “He's also the head of the Mattons.”
“Are both of you Mattons?” I asked.
The ambassador nodded.
From the Net, I had learned Picka'tor was the current head of the mercon government on Ensam. After the Alcott-Gortush Treaty, the mercons remaining after the nuclear holocaust on Durr numbered fifty thousand. They approached the United Earth Federation to negotiate a place to live. The dessert island continent of Braco in the southern hemisphere had only a few hundred humans living on the eastern side of the island. They were moved elsewhere and the mercons moved in.
Gliituk added, “That is something we hope you will keep to yourself. If bemanders learned we three were Mattons, there could be another uproar, maybe even collapse of our government. It could mean civil war. Not all mercons are happy with treaty. Few still live on Triina, moon orbiting Durr. Conditions are touchy right now among us. It wouldn't take much to set off another war between us. That's major reason why you have to keep this secret.”
I glanced at Ron who took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, while he looked at me with raised eyebrows. My sentiments exactly.
“You've given us a lot to digest. I must discuss this with my team and my boss back on Earth.”
“So you report to the CIA?” asked Tettar.
“Not exactly.” I had to smile. Apparently there were holes in their intelligence sources.
Either that or they were playing with me to see what they could learn.
I debated what I should reveal but thought telling even a little about Ron and me would make for more cooperation. At least as long as we were held here. You gotta be nice when you're captured in the hope of gaining release.
“No. I report to the head of the Binger Intelligence Service.”
What the hell. He’d been open with me. Might as well go all the way.
“I'm only its head here on Rossa. You mentioned that mercons had visited Rossa and even Earth.”
Gliituk glanced at Tettar. Maybe my admitting I was head of BIS was news to them or was just confirmed. From their faces I could not be sure. Dang. I wish I knew more about their expressions.
Gliituk spoke next. “During high point in one cycle we had space travel and visited Earth. At that time, we believed we were First Race of intelligent people in our galaxy. That was conceit since we had explored only tiny fraction of galaxy. Mercons visited Earth about three hundred thousand years ago but saw only primitive animals. No technology.
“We left observation post that reported on a powerful volcano in Indonesia. We thought primitive bipedal creatures would be wiped out. After six revolutions around your local stellar object, cloud cover parted enough to show lots of snow covering planet. Over time, oceans thawed and ice broke up. We were,” he turned toward Tettar, “what’s the word?”
“Happy,” said Tettar.
“Yes, happy to find some of our ancestors still alive.
“A group of scientists of Mattons Society inseminated some of early bipedal creatures to alter their DNA. Perhaps your Dr. Bing would have been a great student of theirs. These early experiments later became modern humans.”
Ah, so he knew of Dr. Bing. Wait a minute! What did he say? That humans were descended from mercons?
“During later up cycle, we developed space travel again and visited Rossa. We tried to inseminate napes with fragments of our DNA to stimulate their development. Virus later altered that DNA to keep them from evolving as fast as humans. So we have been keeping eye on humans for long time.”
“Off and on,” I added.
“Agreed. For tens of thousands of years, no mercons visited Earth or Rossa. We experienced many cycles. Humanity and napes continued to evolve. Later, some robot space ships from your Earth encountered some of our military outposts. Durr-Earth war resulted. Rest is history.”
Like most mercons, he preferred to call the war with his home planet first.
Tettar spoke, “We were very surprised to see how well the humans fought. Some Mattons suspect humans are going to succeed better than we will. Especially the Bingers. You can imagine our surprise when we learned that humans had established a colony on Rossa.”
“Humans and mercons have much to learn from each other,” said Gliituk.
“Like I said,” I added. “You've given us a lot to think about.”
“We understand. There is no hurry,” said Gliituk. “Please do me honor of keeping what we've told you away from your government and press.”
I nodded. “We can do that for a while. Can we go now?”
The two mercons exchanged looks and Gliituk answered, “Yes. Tettar will accompany you to tunnel. Your communicators and weapons are in room where you left them in box. Tettar will give you password.”
All four of us stood and Gliituk added, “I'm glad we had this little talk. Perhaps we can avoid another war.”
With total disaster for the mercons. Humans now numbered in the billions, mostly on the home planet. To the best of my knowledge, after their nuclear holocaust, their population came to maybe fifty thousand. During the war, humans outnumbered the residents of Durr but now the ratio was much, much higher. Another war might exterminate the remaining mercons. Poof. No more mercons.
I extended my right hand and met Gliituk's. His skin was warm and dry. Our upper thumbs crossed, but I felt something odd as his lower “thumb” wrapped around my four fingers.
Next I shook with Tettar. I saw Ron shake hands with Tettar and Gliituk. Tettar then walked out the door we came in.
We followed him and when we got to the tunnel, Tettar added, “Please give some thought to our request. It will mean a lot to us. The password to the box with your weapons is Rossa21.”
We shook hands again. I climbed down into the front seat as Ron took the second car. The rail cars now faced in the opposite direction.
Soon after we sat, the rail cars moved. At least we could travel the rail without our limbs anchored.
When we stopped, a panel slid open to show an empty room. We got out. In one corner of the room rested a gray box with a keypad.
I pressed the pad with the password from Tettar and heard a click. I pried open the box to see our comms and weapons. We put them on and went through the door with the rug over it.
I said, “The questions are, why did the mercon ambassador provide so much information and ask us to help him?”
“They are frightened of the rumors that the mercons are behind the explosion at the airport.”
“Could be. And maybe this is a chance to enlarge their network among humans by getting us to work for them. Which means I have to find a way to get them to work for us.”
Ron said, “That's why you get paid the big bucks.”
“Will you cut that out?” As the son of my boss, Ron seldom missed a chance to show his jealousy of my having been selected station chief on Rossa over him.
#
Ben Portal listened to the recording from his eavesdropping device embedded in the rug in the small room next door. “So they went to the mercon embassy and met the ambassador. Ash will love this.”
He waited for ten minutes after Jake and Ron passed by his room 41 in the basement before he slipped out.
Chapter 10
Zanuck, Gliituk's personal assistant, came into the room wearing a purple gown that flowed onto the floor behind her. On her head rested a purple double-pointed hat in the same color preferred by her husband, Picka’tor. She raised her head and sniffed several times. Her larger than human nostrils wavered as she tested the air. In the mercon language, she said, “Humans have been here.”
Gliituk smiled. He had noticed their odor too, but as an ambassador he avoided commenting on it while they were here. He responded in his native tongue, “Right, as usual. If you will excuse us for a few minutes, we have issues to discuss.”
After Zanuck closed the door behind her, Tettar said, “She will report that to her husband, you know.”
“Of course. That's why we need to talk about our little meeting and I need to send a report to Picka'tor first.”
He reached over to a black box on his desk and pressed a button.
“Gondaroo, remove the two tall guest chairs in my office and have them cleaned.”
He leaned back in his chair, relieved that this new position helped with the pain. For the ambassador had nyteen, a condition most humans would describe as spinal arthritis. Gliituk didn't know how much longer he’d live.
“What do you think our two humans will do next?”
Tettar replied, “It's difficult to tell. I wish I knew more about human expressions and body language, but I think they'll help us.”
“Do you think they suspect our other motives?”
“No. I don't think so.”
“What can you tell me about the bemanders on Ensam?”
He referred to the eastern part of Braco his fellow mercons called their new home. A tall mountain range on the west coast of Braco prevented rain clouds from getting to the desert in the middle of the island. In the east, another smaller and older mountain range rose from the desert. Called the Merco Mountains, it separated the human side from Ensam, home of those mercons who managed to escape the radiation on Durr. On the western side of the Merco Mountains lay Braco Lake, fed by the Sabine River. The lake provided much of the drinking water for Ensam, pumped over the Merco Mountains.
Very few mercons settled in the moun
tains because it was too cold. Normal temperatures there were forty to sixty degrees cooler than on the desert. The temperatures on Ensam were more moderate.
The largest city in Ensam was Stavros, at the eastern end of the Braco Railroad. That rail line went from the western end of the island in the village of Telmot, where some humans and Bingers lived, through Campbell where only humans lived.
Tettar replied, “Near as I can tell, the bemanders have stockpiled personal weapons. Nothing major that would be detected by the roving human inspectors. There is a lot of resentment about the Gortush-Alcott Treaty.”
“Have they heard about the explosion?”
“Most have. They're frightened that the humans may act against us.”
Gliituk said, “Which is one more reason why we need to connect with humans.”
He took another sip of his wine and stared at his chief of intelligence.
“What about our own weapons?”
Tettar grinned in return.
#
After he dropped me at my apartment, Ron made off to the house he shared with Tosten.
When I got inside, my robocat Tut rested at the top of the stairs. His head tilted to the left indicating no one had entered my place in my absence. Monk was nowhere in sight. Probably sleeping on my bed.
The first thing I usually do when returning home is scan my apartment for any bugs. Tut indicated I had no visitors. So I went first to my kitchen and ordered my AutoCook to make coffee. With that in hand, I went into my office, where I repeated my scan for eavesdroppers. We spies can be so paranoid.
I tagged my team for a virtual meeting. I gave a report on our meeting with the mercon ambassador and their head of intelligence, Tettar. Despite Gliituk's request to keep everything as a secret, I told my team all we had heard. Since Tettar was a spy chief himself, I thought he would understand.
Leanna inquired of Gliituk's and Tettar's reactions but I expected that from my favorite profiler.
Her hubby Vincent popped a question, “So, if the mercons go through cycles of development and bust, they are now in another cycle of development.”
Humans Only: A Jake Dani Novel (Jake Dani/Mike Shapeck Book 2) Page 6
