The Alliance in Peril

by Peter Lewis Atkinson

  I said, “Alenna, do you think Tyrone has married a girl from River’s birth house, as it would make sense as to Rivers family being here?”

  Alenna replied, “You could be right.” We sat down and waited, River came back over and re-joined us.

  Alenna asked River, “Did you find out why your family is here?”

  River just replied, “No, my mother would not tell me. She just said I should return to my seat and wait. She knows something, but won’t let on.” We did not have to wait long.

  In walked Tyrone with his prime wife holding on to one arm while another girl was holding on to the other.

  River spluttered out under her breath, but loud enough that we could hear, “My sister, it’s my younger sister Bella, she has married Tyrone and she is wearing a deputy wife’s head bangle.” Tyrone introduced her to everyone. By the look on Rivers mother’s face, she knew already. River was one of the first to congratulate her sister. Time for a party. I watched Tyrone as he went to barge in front of those who were already queuing for the food. He happened to glance at me. He could see that I was watching him. He then had second thoughts and decided to join the back of the queue.

  “Did you see that?” said Alenna in surprise, “Tyrone has acquired some manners? His prime wife Kara must be asserting a good influence on him.”

  I just said, “Goes to show, Alkarren girls are such a great influence on their men.” I wasn’t going to tell her it was down to my influence on him as to why he was being so polite.

  As usual, during these get-togethers, all the men either disappeared into a man cave or sat in a corner in the room, though they were constantly watched. We sat in the corner of the room, so we could point out members of our family during our chit-chat. There were four of us: Tyrone and his father Rolf, Milton who is River’s father and me. We were drinking a very fine distilled drink known as, ‘Nectar of the Moon’, though it had nothing to do with the moon. I did like to think it was produced at night by moonlight, out in the woods somewhere. Anyway, it was very strong and we had to watch that Tyrone did not consume too much.

  The conversation turned to the Silka and I asked, “Have any of you noticed that civilian spacecraft construction has been deferred?”

  Milton at once said, “Yes, we went to Relnor to view a galaxy class freighter and there weren’t any on display. We were told that no civilian craft were being built at this time and that there were no plans to start constructing any for the foreseeable future. We were all very disappointed as we now have acquired enough funds to purchase one.”

  I replied, “There were three cargo freighters on display when we purchased ours. I guess we were lucky; the other two must have been the last available. I am almost certain that all the engineers on Relnor are being used to produce military craft. Keep your eyes and ears peeled. I think the alliance has a problem.” I had their attention so I said, “Keep this to yourselves don’t tell your wives at all, we don’t want to worry them unnecessarily.” I begged them to come closer and whispered, “The Silka are almost certain to wage war on the alliance. I have gleaned snippets of information and rumours. Just the other day I was informed that the Silka had intensified its intimidation on the mining colony on Elderring. If you have never heard of Elderring, you are not alone, anyway, it’s close to the trillion frontier.”

  Tyrone never learns his lesson and was so drunk that he started singing. Alkarren men never sing in public. His prime wife came over and tried to stop him as she was feeling ashamed of him. His mother quickly prepared some swamp drizzle which he refused to drink from the cup. I had an idea, I whispered to his mother, “Pour the swamp drizzle into a glass and I will then get him to drink it.”

  His mother poured it into a glass and brought it over and put it down on our table. I said, “A toast to your new wife Bella.” He grabbed the glass not expecting it to be swamp drizzle and drunk it back in one go. You should have seen his face when he became aware of the bitter taste.

  He just said, “Yuck, what was in that?” We did not answer him, we just sniggered to ourselves. Tyrone soon sobered up.

  The next day we had to leave for Mazar with a consignment of rice and a number of more perishable foods. This meant we had to make sure the cargo bay was cool, just five centigrade during the trip. I did ask those who had received the produce if they knew where that small rock pool and waterfall was located on Mazar, but I did not get a positive answer. The one whom I asked seemed a little cagey. This made me think she knew, but would not let on, as if she was keeping its location to herself. I did notice another landmark during my hike, a small low plateau with a tree growing on top. I would ask if anyone knows where that is, maybe next time we visit Mazar. Hopefully, I could find out where it was, then it would be easy enough to find that pool and waterfall.

  Off to Lusiana. Yarkeli always looked forward to going there not just because Pooky would have left her diary for her to read but also because it’s her homeworld. Zilton came in bars just like copper only it was a dark grey colour, zilton was also heavier than copper, but we would not notice this as we used the hover lifts to load. Alenna paid for the zilton in alliance credits, whereas we would be paid on delivery to Earth with pounds sterling. Yarkeli reported to us that Pooky had been confirmed as Captain Porridy’s new number one. Captain Porridy would be taking command of the very next battlecruiser to come off the construction line from Relnor, in just over a months’ time. We only stayed on Lusiana as long as necessary. We hoped to spend some time on Earth. I had promised the children that we would one day visit a heritage steam railway and it was about time I kept that promise. For the time being, it would be kept as a secret. In fact, it was planned that they would only find out when we actually arrived at the attraction.

  The week to reach Earth seemed to take forever, even with the time spent in the hologram room. We eventually arrived and after being challenged we proceeded to our destination, the landing area next to the warehouse we use. We had arrived at an awkward time; it was around two in the morning in the UK. Normally the airport would be closed to traffic at this time due to noise restrictions at night, but luckily for us, our cargo ship wasn’t that noisy and we were given permission to land. Unloading would take place in the morning. Due to the time difference for us, it was early evening. River wasted no time at all in finding some program or other to watch. The programs she chose were not everyone’s cup of tea and she usually watched what she had selected all by herself. The children, on the other hand, tended to watch in groups. For the older ones it was music channels and for the younger ones, it was cartoons or programs made for children. As for me, I liked to catch up on current affairs so it would be the news channel. Now the other wives’ were sometimes horrified regarding some news reports and so sparingly watched the news. Instead, if they watched anything at all, it would be a U rated family film or an educational documentary. The next morning the zilton bars were moved from the cargo bay to the warehouse. I was going to phone the Prime Minister when I had finished to let him know we had arrived with the shipment, but I had a call from him before I could. I guess, he had been informed we had arrived. I now definitely felt like I was being spied on.

  The Prime Minister said, “Good to see you have returned, I hear you have the shipment of zilton.

  I replied, “Yes, I am surprised you know. Do you have some spies watching me?”

  The Prime Minister replied with slight hesitation, “Not you personally, but you must understand it’s the duty of the government to see who is arriving into the UK at the spacecraft port. We have introduced an as light as possible administration regime. The government is informed of all cargo ship arrivals and where possible, what items or goods are coming into the country. The security cameras are there for this monitoring and also to inform of any unauthorised intruders.”

  I had to acce
pt the monitoring, so moved on, saying, “When will the zilton be collected?”

  He replied, “We hope to have it collected tomorrow morning. Is that convenient?”

  I wanted the zilton collected as soon as possible, so I said, “Tomorrow morning will be fine. Is there any news on the containers for the terinium? And I will also need a sample of a few hundred live locusts. I will have to barter with the Grand Grocka next time we visit Grimda. With luck, we can get a deal where Earth supplies a tonne of locusts and receives in return a couple of hundred tonnes of ore. If possible I will try for more, but that will all be down to how tasty the Grocka find the locusts.”

  The Prime Minister said, “Tasty, I can’t imagine locusts being tasty, but then I am not a Grocka. The containers, by the way, are under construction. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you, we have captured two Silka. It was not easy, they had to be darted with a powerful knockout drug. Navy seals from the US with assistance from the Brazilian army, managed to track them down. They were flown to the US and are now under restraint. There are negotiations ongoing between the US government and Brazilian government over the two Silka spacecraft which landed in Brazilian territory. The US wants them and Brazil wants to keep them. We will have to wait for an outcome on that matter.”

  Shocked I replied, “You have captured them? Be careful! Don’t trust them. If you do find a way to communicate with them and you do find out any information about how their society works, please pass it on to the alliance.” With that, the call was ended.

  When I told Alenna and the others that Earth was holding two live Silka they were horrified. Alenna said, “They are not near here are they?”

  I give a swift answer, “No, they are not in this country, the US have them.”

  Alenna still worried replied, “What are they going to do with them? They can never set them free.”

  I put my hands up in front of me and said, “I am not sure but I think they want to study and find out about their species. What will they do with them after that? I have absolutely no idea.”

  After speaking to Alenna about our visit to a heritage preservation railway, I needed to book a whole carriage for the day. I asked Rachael to phone and arrange this and also remarked, we would also need to arrange to hire a coach and driver for the same day, to transport us there and back.

  Sometime later Rachael reported back, “I have found a heritage line that is all too willing to accommodate us. We can hire a whole railway coach for the day with unrestricted travel. I also asked about if they had somewhere to eat. They said the restaurant was closed for refurbishment but they did have a fish and chip van that was on hand to provide hot food. As for the cost.” Rachael gritted her teeth and passed me a piece of paper with the cost written down.

  I looked at the cost and said, “Wow, I had no idea of the cost to hire a carriage for the day. Anyway, we can afford it. I will ask Alenna to make payment to the heritage line. What about the coach to take us there, how much is that?” Rachael passed me another piece of paper and I replied, “That’s reasonable so Alenna can pay the coach company as well.

  Alenna was having a busy day. She had a list of items she needed to procure, such as chocolate for the café owner on Alkarr’s moon. Early next day several Lorries came and collected the zilton. Once they had left I had nothing more to do for the day. I had this curiosity regarding Zitter’s sculptures, I was eager to find out how popular they actually were. I needed to go and see for myself, I would take a number of the family with me, art lovers Minty, Emily and Yarkeli. I know taking Yarkeli with me would draw some attention from the public, but she loved art and would be intrigued by what was on display at the gallery. I phoned the gallery to let them know I would be visiting that afternoon. I was to go to the front of the queue on arrival and would be given a guided tour of exhibits by the curator himself. I thought queue, they must be busy if there’s a queue. We travelled to the gallery by taxi. I could observe this queue which stretched along the pavement, some fifty metres or more. We, of course, drew the immediate attention from those queuing. This was especially down to Yarkeli who can’t look inconspicuous, even if she were to try. We had to run the gauntlet of passing those queueing. Not a real problem, but a great number wished to give us various greetings. We were saying hello repeatedly. Finally, we reached the front of the queue.

  One of the museum attendants said, “Hello, I was informed that you would be arriving. Please wait for a second while I contact the curator and inform him that you have arrived.” She now picked up a phone and when finished she said, “The curator will be with you in a moment”

  The curator soon arrived and in an excited manner said, “Welcome, you have come at a very good time we have the privilege of, not one but two exhibitions on display from very talented artists, not including Zitter Bobeck. First, Lottie Ganglepin; we have an excellent display of hers curated during her blue period. Please follow me.” As we followed I wondered, what’s an artist’s blue period? I soon found out. As we entered a room the first thing to strike me, as it was so overwhelming, was a full-size model of a cow. This cow’s main colour was white. It wouldn’t be that striking if it wasn’t for one thing, it had been covered in blue spots. It did look quite odd as if it had some awful strange disease. Other exhibits were no different, two white busts, one with blue feathers in place of hair and the other with blue porcupine quills instead of hair. A picture on the wall, this had just three blue wavy lines. A blue cube suspended from the ceiling at one of its corners. This was covered on all sides with pictures of eyes. The other exhibits were no different. All had something in common, the colour blue. I thought. So that is a blue period, I suppose they could have a red or green period as well. I was not that impressed, I could not see anything that I would regard as unique in its creation. Just sticking blue spots on a cow, does not make a person talented.

  The curator said, “If you are ready we will continue to the next room.” We followed. There was a large sign hanging over the door which read ‘Misery.’ The curator then said, “This room holds the works of Herbert Sprocket. His works depict society in decline, things that have been forgotten. The best way to describe his works are portraits of decay.” There were many photographs of half-demolished terraced houses and run down abandoned factories. Also more poignant physical items such as a very old bike that was leaning against a wall. It was rusty and its saddle had almost disappeared through dampness and rot. The tyres were flat and perished. Another item, an old toilet, took centre stage and was mounted on a plinth. Its bowl was cracked and stained. As for the old wooden seat, this was broken and hanging off. The length of one wall was taken up by a huge mural of a rusting old steam locomotive, long forgotten and left to decay where it lay. The jungle greenery had encroached on it and was slowly swallowing it up. There were pictures of people suffering hardship and poverty, their clothes were in tatters.

  Minty said, “I could see some artistic merits of what Lottie Ganglepin had produced, but this, it’s so depressing!” She turned to the curator and said, “We have seen enough in here, can we please move on?” We were taken to the first-floor gallery. This was a very large room. Oil paintings hung on the walls. The paintings were more to my taste, consisting of landscapes, objects and people. Some were by famous artists. The curator pointed out the name of the artist each time we stopped to look at a picture.

  Minty looking at one painting, then commented, “Oh, see how the artist has captured the light and it seems to stand out as if it’s…” Minty paused for a moment before continuing, “I was going to say 3D but the best way to describe it was to say the pictures had depth.”

  We spent quite some time viewing and commenting on the paintings. When we had seen enough we were shown into several side rooms which held more modern art. In one were abstract works of art. Yarkeli found them to her taste. Minty, Emily and I were not so
impressed. Blobs and strange shapes of people and objects were definitely not to our taste, though we did not hurry to leave straight away. To be fair to Yarkeli, we stayed until she was ready to move on. So far we had not encountered many other people in the rooms we had been shown into. After we were taken down a different flight of stairs to where we came up, things changed. In fact, we could not leave the bottom step of the stairs. People were filing into a room. This room looked very crowded from our viewpoint.

  I asked the curator, “What’s in there that is so interesting?”

  He replied, “That is where we have the sculptures by Zitter Bobeck on display. We have never displayed anything that has been so popular. Every day crowds file in to see her two works.”

  I smiled and said, “Next time I see Zitter I will let her know that she is regarded as a famous artist on Earth. She will be so ecstatic. She has had no luck up to now in getting her art displayed on her homeworld”

  The curator took this opportunity to ask, “Our gallery is more than willing to display other works by her, so please let Zitter know that, next time you see her.”

  After taking a snapshot of the crowds jostling to get into the room, we needed to leave. We had to push against the flow. Minty and Emily hated this as they brushed up close to some men. Yarkeli on the other hand almost became separated from us. Luckily I noticed and shouted in Alkarren to Yarkeli, so she was aware of where we were. Finally, she was able to squeeze her way through the crowd. We were all quite relieved after being ushered into a side room that had an exit to the street. We thanked the curator as we left, for sparing some of his time to show us around. After hailing a taxi we returned to the cargo freighter.

  We would be going to the heritage railway in the morning. Only the adults were aware of this. The next day dawned. Alenna just told the children that we were going on a mystery journey and would be stopping off for a visit, telling them what they needed to wear and when to be ready. A number of the daughters were, of course, dying to know more about this mystery tour and were trying to find out by whatever means they could. Asking those that they thought would be most likely to give the game away, including me. They did this quite subtly at first, by asking simple questions like, how far are we travelling? Will we be inside or outside? Do we get to ride on something? I’m not daft, I knew it was a ploy. If I was to give them an answer they may get a clue, I said nothing other than wait and see. They moved up apace with their questioning by guessing where we were going. Are we going to the seaside? Are we going to a Museum? Are we going to a concert? They even asked if we were going to an art gallery, knowing full well I went to one the day before. No matter how much they tried, I did not give the game away. In the end, they gave up on me and moved to another adult to see if they could glean any clues from her. By the time we were ready to leave, the daughters were no wiser to where we were going. Our coach arrived. This was the first time we would have been on a journey out of the city on a coach. The secret didn’t last until we actually reached our destination as the girls observed road signs informing of the distance to the heritage line.