Before Zak could respond Giraffe put her hand on his arm to stop him and nodded for him to take a chair. Giraffe looked at the high council members as she continued towards the front of the room. She stopped at the head of the long table and then turned to the large picture of Kniagina the leader of the first high council. The woman that she strongly resembled. The hall had gone quiet, a most unusual thing for this powerful group. Giraffe stepped up on the dais and stood beside the ornamental chair, turned and looked at the stunned group with a calmness that was almost eerie.
“Am I Kniagina? It is possible that I am a descendant I suppose. Although it is not important to me nor should it be to you. I am from a planet called earth, one hundred twenty light years out on the Sagittarius arm of this galaxy, this is true. In your history, the linage of the Kniagina disappeared without a trace, despite exhaustive searches over the centuries. In earth history there is hard evidence of a superior race that seem to appeared from nowhere and, after a time disappeared without any trace. There were no searches for them on record, they just were gone. This brings us to the gateway which has made it possible to be here now. This gateway, most likely has always existed. This is the reason I must address you all. The inhabitants of earth are not ready for contact and, you are not ready for contact.” There was murmuring among the council and questions started coming at her. “Who are you to tell us..” “You are no Kniagina..” “Zak put a stop to this charade or....” Giraffe sat down in the ceremonial chair and raising her voice but still remaining calm,
“Silence!” This brought a total silence to the great hall. “I will first explain my reasoning and then we can discuss this matter as civilized beings. Earth has just barely become space fairing and the bulk still believe that they are alone in the universe. In the short time that a select few were made aware of the existence of aliens. From this there were several attempts to deny and destroy or take Zak and the ship. There were attempts to destroy the gateway with crude nuclear weapons. Earth humans are not all like this, most are in fact industrious, family oriented beings with an innate curiosity towards betterment in general. There also is a deep seated aggressiveness which may take much to provoke but has driven them to almost destroy themselves more than once. This is not unlike your own history. In the few cases where they have gotten advanced technology some in power have deemed to withhold it in order to remain in control but that is not so uncommon. What is a danger to you is that in every case your own technology has been vastly and easily improved by earth born. Earth humans have a superior passion for understanding. There is too much risk to you and your cultures to unleash this much, at this time. I propose that the gateway be guarded on both ends and remain closed until earth has evolved the emotional control and the core worlds have curbed their lust for dominance. Only then should there be integration into the greater galaxy.”
The head of the high counsel then spoke, “You are, I think, much like the Kniagina, and for one so young, you have given us much to consider.” Another added, “Yes, there is much to consider so you must be our guest for at least a fortnight discuss this. Also we should provide you with a proper ship so that Zak can get back to his, ah, travels about the fringe worlds.” Giraffe was still sitting in the ornate chair on the dais and responded, “Respected council, do not try to placate me, I am well aware that Zak as well as Jings and others are your agents. That is the reason that I have brought this proposal to Cyrillium and not elsewhere. As far as the ship, she is named Panther and it is, as I was recently reminded, my ship so I do not require another.” A text came in from Panther that the ship had been surrounded by heavy armored vehicles.. The head of council stated, “McCord you have no rights to that ship, it is Cyrillium property and you are here as a guest, but that could easily change.” This is what Giraffe was waiting for, the power play. Zak, Hicks and Panther all told her it would come and she was prepared.
“I have come to you with a simple proposal, guard the gateway, if you wish to debate this further that is your choice. I have presented my argument and now I will take my leave.” She stood up from the ornate chair and added, “This chair does not fit well, Zak, I know that your mother serves this council and as such you may wish to stay. In that case, thank you for your time and knowledge.” As Giraffe moved to leave the doors opened and a dozen guards move in. “I do not believe that we said you could go, we are the power of the Cyrillium worlds and you can not just dismiss us that easily. You are no longer a guest, guards take her to a detention cell and also her crew.” This from the head of council, there was spittle coming from his mouth. Zak stood and moved towards Giraffe while saying, “I think that you are making a big mistake and even more if you think that the people of earth could be treated in such a disrespectful manner.” He was now standing next to Giraffe when council head said. “Take Zak with her …..”
There was a big commotion outside the hall as Admiral Byrd walked in,“Guards stop now! My apologies McCord, my behemoth is a bit slower than your 'simple' container ship.” The council now knew that there was nothing simple about Panther or Giraffe. But they still had no idea of either's true capabilities. The Admiral went on, “I would be happy to escort you to your ship and perhaps at some point we can get together for discussion on the gateway.” Admiral Byrd had been ordered to the home planet when Giraffe had refused an escort. He had been listening in on the whole conversation, courtesy of a feed from Panther. Because of this his intervention was well timed, he and his marine guards followed them out of the hall. The guards held circle as they moved to the Panther. Past all the guns, the Admirals guards posted themselves just outside the docking tube as the others went in. The high council was quiet, contemplating as to just how one woman, Kniagina perhaps, had gracefully outfoxed them. Giraffe led the Admiral to the galley where Junes and Hart were already sitting. “Have a seat and let's get you a piece of Marx's latest creation, we understand there is no chocolate on the core worlds.” As the Admiral sat Junes kept looking at him uncomfortably. Giraffe brought back a plate of chocolate cake and tea. “Byrd, enjoy, and would you put Junes at ease, I know she is your inside person just as Hart represents his worlds and Uhr and Dihr represent theirs.” Junes and Hart were nodding in relief just as were Uhr and Dihr who were listening in from aft. Professor Hicks was the first to suspect early on and both Panther and Giraffe decided to let things play out. Now the time had come. “Zak is the high councils man inside, that became clear when Panther revealed that his mother was on council. You Cyrillium people have an interesting duality in your government Admiral.” Giraffe paused and then followed with, “I suspect Admiral, that you carry as much weight as the council, that is why you are here. And I really appreciate it,” Byrd had to ask, "Exactly how did you know I would be here McCord?" Giraffe responded, "Call me Giraffe everyone else does and to answer your question, I did not.” Then she added, “But a wise and very logical person observed that people follow patterns of behavior and if presented with stimuli in a certain way will respond in a highly predictable manner." Byrd pondered this and then asked, "Where will you be going from here now that your presence has been felt.” "I think we have to go back to the other side for a bit. I fear there are troubles coming and after that I would like to do a bit of exploring." Giraffe speculated and there were nods of approval from those present, Byrd finished his chocolate cake and exclaimed, "Tell your Marx that I must have the formula for this, it is truly, 'out of this world'. Ah, could I hitch a ride back up to my behemoth?" Giraffe smiled and said, "Panther, make it so." After the Admirals guards loaded they lifted off quickly. As Byrd was ready to move back to his ship he asked one more question of Giraffe, “Would I be wrong in assuming that this little ship probably has me outgunned?” Giraffe did not answer. Panther did, “Admiral Byrd, pray you never have to find out.”
Word traveled throughout the known worlds of Panther and Giraffe and the incidents at Edahni. The collection of dead ships out past it, near the gray nebula were a cause of great speculation. Most
were rumors of rumors and some was the stuff that legends are made of. Especially that of a woman with fiery red hair and emerald eyes and of Kniagina. But no one could say anything for sure. Another rumor had started one hundred twenty light years away on the planet earth. There was a colony on Mars and they found diamonds just laying around to be picked up along with gold nuggets the size of your fist. On the planet called earth, one hundred twenty light years from the core, the race for space had just begun.
THE END
Panther and Giraffe Page 18
