The Alliance in Peril

by Peter Lewis Atkinson

  He said, “Welcome, I am Bob. I am your guide, so please follow me.” He led us to the gate. Next to the gate was a table with hard hats and a rack with high visibility jackets. Bob said, “Please put a hat and jacket on as we are now about to enter the construction site.” We did as instructed.

  I noted that they did not seem to be short of workers at all, we had to dodge past many of them. Everywhere you looked there was a construction worker doing something or other. This was no different when we finally entered the ship. The guide had his work cut out, He made us wait on a number of occasions, as our passage through the corridors and rooms were obstructed by some activity or other. I was interested in seeing the bridge for one thing. Apart from wires dangling from the uncovered conduits it looked well advanced in its construction. All the chairs including the captain’s raised one had plastic sheets covering them. All controls were marked in English, as you would expect. The layout, though differed slightly in places, looked logical. There were two weapon consoles. Most of the weapons on the ship would be controlled from these, but not all. They had included a number of manned gun turrets down each side of the ship, these did not stick out beyond the hull. For this reason, it pointed the way to what I had already assumed and that was this ship did, after all, have an illusion field capability. There were many areas of the ship that I could not be shown. This was not down to being classified. It was simply that so much work was taking place and we might have got in the way. Crew’s quarters were basic, with exception of the captain and his officers. Again there was the officer’s mess that was quite cosy compared with the crews, which resembled a school cafeteria. Next, a room that I have never had the chance to look inside; a fusion reactor room. As these reactors had yet to be powered up, it was still safe to go inside. I could see for myself how it all worked. And like my cargo freighter and the old battlecruiser, drive shafts exited through the walls, I could now see how they were coupled to the plasma turbine. I had always wondered how they protected the rest of the ship from radiation. I could now see, the walls had a thick lining of lead. Not only lead but these walls were thick because they held a radiation absorbing liquid. There was nothing in the manuals that described the workings of the fusion rooms. Did they open one of the rooms on the old battlecruiser to find out? More than probably. I had been left impressed by the time the tour finished. I had one thought though. I hoped they didn’t expect me to pilot the ship for its test flight.

  On return to our cargo ship, I again needed to phone the Prime Minister to make arrangements. First I discussed the ore shipment with Alenna for a date when we could fulfil the order. Once I had these dates, I phoned and told him. Next, he surprised me with another request, only this request was more of a privilege. The Prime Minister said, “We have been trying to come up with names for the new battlecruisers. Normally we would use city names, but when we suggested this we ran into difficulty. We wanted to involve the public as far as naming the ships. There were only four ships but many cities. There had been much resentment for those cities not chosen. We then thought of using names of counties but again that would result in the same problem. There was a petition raised by a member of the public. This petition soon gained ground with more than two million supporters. This is the part you are going to like. The petition was for you to name the four ships. How do you like that?”

  I was indeed surprised. The public must hold me in deep regard. I replied, “I would be honoured to name the ships. Can I have a few hours to come up with the names? On another note, when do you wish me to take the battlecruiser to orbit?”

  The Prime Minister replied, “No rush on naming the new ships. As for piloting the old ship, they will expect your arrival at eleven am tomorrow.”

  It was soon time for our evening meal, there were quite a number of my family members missing. I said to Alenna, “Where have they gone?”

  Alenna replied, “As you know Yarkeli had been keen to find out if her paintings were at all popular. She has gone to the gallery with Minty, Emily, Rachael and Sabrina. I do not expect them to return for another hour at least. As for our Ellie, Jessica and young Rachael, they have taken Jasper along with them to duty-free. They should return soon, but you never know with Ellie, she may want to do something else before returning.”

  I replied, “Fine, I hope they all have a pleasant time. When I have finished my meal, you will find me in my man cave if you want me.”

  I had the job now of coming up with names for those ships. I thought long and hard. Naming the ships is not as easy as it seems. After much deliberation, I came up with four names. I would name the ships after the four principal moons of Jupiter. So we have, the Io, the Europa, the Ganymede and the Callisto. I wondered what other countries had come up with regarding names, well, for instance, the USA went for states, chosen by lots. Why didn’t the UK consider lots, it’s, after all, a very fair way. Anyway to name just a few of the winners, Dakota, California, Carolina and New York. Yarkeli returned from the gallery with beams all over her face.

  I said to her, “How did it go, are your paintings popular?”

  Yarkeli replied, “I am amazed, my pictures are now displayed in a room exclusively for them. I was also interested in watching the crowds file in to see them” Yarkeli whispered, “They have even been more popular than Zitter Bobeck’s sculptures. I was informed by the curator that some members of the royal family had been given a private viewing.”

  I was pleased for Yarkeli, though I made a comment, “Do you know who the guide for the royals happened to be?” I then made a guess and said, “I bet it was Lord Gilbert Pemberton-Smythe in person.”

  Yarkeli smiled and said, “I don’t know exactly, though you are probably right in your assumption.”

  The next day dawned and it was time to do my bit, taking that huge if not ginormous battlecruiser to orbit. Alenna would stay behind. Instead my wives Jenna and Lumi along with my daughters Ellie, Jessica and Rachael would accompany me. As Ellie did not want to leave Jasper behind, he also came along for the ride. We made our way to where the ship still stood when I last landed it. Only Lumi and I would be travelling on the cruiser, as the purpose of the others would be to rendezvous with us in orbit. Ellie was assigned the position of the pilot to the shuttle, whereas Jenna assumed command as temporary captain. I stood in front of the battlecruiser. I could see they had really gone to town in the refurbishments; it looked almost new. They had even painted the ship’s name on the hull ‘Horizon’ along with a United Nations flag. I was greeted by the ship’s captain and first officers. There were three first officers, which was rather odd. It turned out that they would all take turns of being the captain for a specific time. Apparently, this was part of an agreement where one would be captain for a given time, before handing that position over to next in a rota. It seems that the threat of the Silka was paramount and the nations of Earth were coming together in their goal of defeating the Silka. There were a few exceptions of course, all of which were totalitarian dictatorships. It had been agreed that these should be excluded from any involvement. I was taken along with Lumi directly to the bridge, where a number of other officers and crew were sitting at their stations. I was not the centre of their attention. Lumi was a very beautiful Alkarren, and this had not gone unnoticed by some of the lower ranks who had fixated their gazes upon her. Lumi was not comfortable with this unwarranted attention forced upon her.

  I would be neglecting my care of her if I did not say anything, so I said in a very commanding way, “Pay attention to your station, and keep your eyes on the displays and less on my wife.” Some denied it, but I’m not stupid.

  The British commander backed me up. He gave me the impression that he was a gentleman and kept an eye on these lower ranks and was ready to reprimand them if they even glanced Lumi’s way. The time came for me to take the ship to orbit. I had two pilots watching my every move.
I started the number two fusion reactor. Somebody had already worked out how to start number one. I then spun up all the pods. I was ready, and as I had done previously with this ship, I carefully lifted it off the ground. I did this as evenly as possible, checking that all was well, I very slowly made some headway towards orbit. I had also not forgotten this time, to deploy the stabilisers. I turned round in my pilot’s seat to glance at the captain, who in turn gave me a reassuring nod. I gathered speed and soon made orbit.

  I explained to the two pilots watching, “Just take it easy, and don’t rush anything.” I had done my part. One of the pilots took my seat as soon as I vacated it. I had no reason or wish to stay on board. Ellie had docked the shuttle to an external hatch and all Lumi and I had to do now was go through the airlock and leave.

  So, we were about to exit the bridge when the captain asked, “How does the star-drive work and importantly how do you set the coordinates for the chosen destination?”

  I looked at him before replying, “Engaging the star-drive is easy enough, but you need to enter the coordinates in to…,” I turned and pointed towards the computer console and continued, “That station’s computer, don’t ask me what coordinates, as I have no idea, because that’s not my job, it requires years of training.”

  The captain asked, “Who does know then?”

  I replied, “My wife Jenna. She, without doubt, is one of the best I know.”

  “Could she find time to show us please?” asked the captain.

  I could have said she was back on Earth, but I wanted to show some encouragement, so replied, “Jenna is on the shuttle. I will ask her, but it’s not my decision to accept, it’s hers.”

  Lumi and I made our way to the shuttle. I said to Jenna on arrival, “The captain would like you to show him how entering the coordinates of a destination sort of works. I know you can’t teach them in just five minutes, but just tell them what happens in stages. It will be up to them to do all the calculations required. Are you willing to do this?”

  Jenna sighed and reluctantly replied, “What have you let me into Jake, ok, but I can only give them the basics. I don’t want to spend too long explaining over and over again.”

  I said, “The quicker we can get it over with the sooner we can return to our cargo ship.”

  Lumi stayed on our shuttle. She had enough of being gawked at. Jenna and I made our way to the bridge. Jenna spent longer than she envisaged, but in the end, she had enough and explained it was impossible to do any more with such limited time. We left the battlecruiser circling Earth. I wondered, would they try and star-drive at any time soon? I just hope they had some mathematicians who could give them the correct numbers. I remembered my past warning to Earth. Space is vast, and you may get lost. We had returned to our cargo freighter. I had two last things I wished to accomplish before departing Earth. First, I phoned the Prime Minister to finalise the details regarding the consignment of ore. Second, I wanted to upload the video I had taken of the Grocka during their feeding frenzy, only now I was having second thoughts. Should I really be showing this rather distasteful spectacle? My answer, in the end, was no! It would have been very disrespectful of me. The Grocka can’t help being fixated on their love of eating bugs as they do; it’s in their genetic code. I did not proceed with uploading the video to the internet. Time to leave Earth and return to Alkarr.

  After a few leisurely days spent on Alkarr, Alenna announced that we had to go to three planets, one after the other. The first, to visit was Relnor, our cargo freighter was due for its service and check over. I would return those ore containers at the same time. It was costing more than Alenna gave all the younger children as an allowance. I would rather double the children’s allowance than pay for the hire of containers. It was of course not my jurisdiction in what the children have as an allowance, it was Alenna’s. She did not believe in spoiling them. Alenna gave them what she thought was appropriate for their age, which is probably quite sensible on her part. The oldest three daughters had commitments and receive a generous allowance. I must say, Jasper was the perfect son-in-law, always willing to assist with loading and unloading. I just could not imagine a son-in-law like Tyrone.

  At Relnor, we allowed two days for our freighter to be serviced. Some of the work they did was to oil and lubricate all moving parts. I always thought this work was essential. The Relnorians were thorough in their endeavours to ensure the ship was in top condition and performance. I sort of thought the ship performed better after a service, but this might be just psychological on my part. Next port of call, Dregg. It turned out we needed to collect a gunship and ferry it to Molk, our third point of call. Alenna was far too secretive regarding contacts for my liking. I wished she would give us all more information in advance. After loading the gunship I wanted to inform Zitter Bobeck that she was regarded as a famous sculptor on Earth.

  I called her up, “Zitter its Jake, your friendly human, how are you?”

  Zitter replied, “Jake my favourite human! I am fine, how are you?”

  In return, I said, “I am well thank you. I wanted to let you know that your sculptures are much appreciated on Earth. They see you as a well-regarded artist.”

  Zitter was excited and asked, “Why don’t you come and see me, I wish to know more?”

  I replied, “Ok, but I am not looking to purchase anything at this time.”

  I left the zone where we had loaded the gunship. Instead of going to orbit as the rest of the family envisaged I just performed a short hop and landed next to Zitter’s scrap yard.

  Alenna said, “What are you doing?” Alenna looked out of the bridge window and said, “This is Zitter’s place. You did not ask me if you could come here.”

  I replied, “I am the captain, I don’t have to ask your permission. After all, you don’t let me know in advance about cargo runs, why I should tell you about my plans?” I had Alenna just where I wanted, if she was more forthcoming perhaps I would have discussed it with her first.

  Alenna now quite annoyed said, “What do you want with Zitter? I doubt that she has anything worthy to pass on to Earth.”

  I replied, “Don’t worry I am not seeing her for business. I just wish to tell her in person about how popular her sculptures are. You don’t have to come with me, I can go with Jenna.”

  Alenna, tutted before saying, “You won’t get rid of me that easily, I’m coming with you.”

  Alenna, Jenna and I made our way along the rough track towards her scrap yard. The gates, as last time, were ajar. I popped my head around to see. Zitter was a short distance away and spotted me. She smiled and said, “Don’t be shy Jake, come and give Zitter a hug.”

  Alenna and Jenna were still hidden behind the gate. On hearing that Zitter wanted to give me a hug, the pair giggled, Alenna whispered, “You only have yourself to blame Jake.”

  On no! I thought. Why does she have this necessity to want to hug me? It reminds me of my aunt. I suppose it is marginally better than receiving a hug from a Relnorian, but then I can’t see a Relnorian giving any other race a hug. Perhaps Zitter thinks of me as some sort of pet? I held my breath and gritted my teeth while I endured her embrace. I was glad when she, at last, let go of me, I doubt if I could have held my breath for very much longer. Now it was my time to snigger, she gave Alenna and Jenna a short hug also.

  Zitter now excitedly asked, “Please tell me all about how Earth sees me? I am not so appreciated here on Dregg, as you well know.”

  I now told Zitter the whole story of how I decided that I should not keep the delights of her sculpture to myself, but instead, should share them with the people of my planet. A little fib, the reason was, of course, Alenna did not like them, but hey, it was going so well. She was so excited when I informed her that her two sculptures were displayed in a
room exclusively.

  Zitter said, “You must take two more of my Sculptures. Follow me” I looked towards Alenna. She rolled her eyes. To be fair, all my wives were not over-enthusiastic about Zitter’s art. I like to think I was neutral on the subject. I neither liked nor disliked her sculptures. Perhaps her art is not that great after all and Lord Gilbert is only interested in the number of visitors going through his gallery doors and not the quality of the exhibits themselves. I will probably never know. Zitter selected two of her works.

  I pointed towards the first one and said, “What does it represent and does it have a name?”