Consortium of Planets: Alien Test (16 page)

“Someone raided the armory and many Warriors are missing.”

Aydr’n’s initial thought was that the missing Warriors took something. Then he realized it was Wystl. He yelled again at the scared Warrior.

“Check the prisoners! Report their status to me in the armory – I’ll be there to determine what she stole.”

The Warrior rushed off around the corner and toward the prisoners’ cell. Aydr’n ran toward the armory and tried to think of what Wystl was up to.
How did she get out of her
cell? Are all the prisoners running about freely?

Before Aydr’n reached the armory, the Warrior he had just sent to check on the prisoners interrupted his thoughts. “Captain, they’re gone!”

Aydr’n knew that he was in a game of chimbat with Wystl and tried to anticipate her next move. Suddenly, it came to him and fear gripped his chest like a vise. There was only one way that she could have gotten into the armory and the prisoners out of the cell – she was using another Dimensional Shifter control pad!

He pulled out his pad and double-checked the armory’s walls to be sure. There it was: a slight distortion in the wall’s molecular structure, left by Wystl during her raid. His breathing was already tight, and now both of his stomachs were sinking. He would have to fight a control pad expert. The only chance he had of beating her would be surprise, but first he had to find her.

The bridge crew jumped up as Aydr’n burst through the door and began barking orders. “Scan three-dimensionally a full three-hundred-and-sixty degrees for any Shifter voids moving away from our location. You’re looking for up to five separate anomalies.”

“Sir, there are three holes moving rapidly across the plateau toward the Humans’ craft.”

“Show me,” ordered Adyr’n.

The flat lunar-scape, dotted with craggy peaks in the distance, appeared on the forward monitor. The monitor’s magnification increased and the Humans’ primitive space craft, the
Star Chaser,
came into view. The magnification increased again and three black voids moving quickly toward the craft became clear.

Aydr’n studied the three holes, but which void was Wystl? He had her, but he didn’t. What he really had were three possibilities. If he picked the correct hole and got her, he would crush the Humans next. He had no need to keep them alive – what would he do with them? Ultimately, they would get in his way.

He began to analyze the voids again. He was running out of time before they reached the ship. The holes were moving at about the same rate and were about the same size. Aydr’n knew that the Human male was larger than the females. That included Wystl, but at this distance, he couldn’t see any difference and asked for assistance. “Computer, analyze the size of each void and color-code the smallest.”

Two of the voids glowed red. The third remained black.

“Computer, make the smallest anomaly blue.”

There was a pause. Then both red voids glowed blue.

The computer had done all it could. Either the females were exactly the same size or Wystl had anticipated his attempt and made their membranes the same size. At least he had improved the odds to fifty/fifty. Now it was time to act. He needed to rip away the void on the right or the one on the left and expose who was within, then they would die. There was no code book to help guide his actions with the Shifter pad – only brief training he received long ago.

Dean could see out perfectly. It was like being in an amazing bubble made of impervious glass. Wystl and Beth looked to him like round balls of emptiness, blotting out everything behind them. He imagined that they were probably looking back at him and forward to the
Star Chaser,
just as he was.

Beth watched the two voids move with her toward their goal and was thankful that Earth had passed Wystl’s Test.
I hope we get a chance to choose whether or not we want to join the C.O.P.

W
ystl kept one black eye on the Humans so she wouldn’t fall behind and the other black eye on the small pad’s defensive aspect. She couldn’t believe that Aydr’n hadn’t responded to their escape.

Major Rowl and his wing-man cleared the crater’s lip and dove at the alien ship.

“Captain Aydr’n, two enemy fighters are approaching!”

“Swat them down with the praser canon.”

Sasha looked up to see the two additional fighters that Martle had ordered sweep rapidly toward the aliens.
There are my rescuers!
Lasers and missiles flashed against Aydr’n’s ship but left no damage. They were answered with a huge red spray of light. The fighters glowed for an instant and then disappeared.

Aydr’n pulled the intricately carved short sword from his belt and tossed it into the air. If it landed on the obverse side with the snake looking at him, he would attack the void on the left.

The metal sword was small, but it clanked loudly on the metal floor of the bridge. The snake did not look at him.

Is it a sign? No!
He had no time for superstition. It was just an inanimate metal object that happened to land with the reverse side up. He would attack the right void. His brain throbbed.
But was it the correct void?

Suddenly, the color code spiked on Wystl’s pad and the subtle warning tone began to warble – Aydr’n was making his move. The dimensional energy flashed toward them from her old ship’s location, but it was too weak to challenge all three of them. As Wystl guessed, Aydr’n didn’t have the skill to take on all three. He would have to settle for one target, but which one?

Before Wystl could react, the energy seized Beth’s membrane like a giant hand and ripped it away, leaving her exposed to the frigid, airless lunar surface. Wystl’s less sophisticated pad wouldn’t allow her to save Beth and react to Aydr’n’s attack at the same time.

To save Dean, she forced herself to ignore Beth’s agony. It was time for Aydr’n and his corrupt Warriors to die. She established an amplified feedback loop so that Aydr’n’s own signal would return to him much stronger and faster. He would have no time to save himself from the same fate he had given Beth.

Dean watched in horror as Beth became visible, fell into a fetal position, and gasped for air. Wystl’s void looked fine.
What the hell was she doing to Beth?
He started to fall on top of Beth with his membrane to save her, but Wystl stepped into his void.

“No, you can’t touch her!” she screamed. “The residual energy will destroy you, too. There is nothing you can do. Aydr’n has already killed her.”

Dean eyes glazed with tears. It was Gretchen all over again.

“There’s plenty I can do. For starters, I can go back and kill
him!”

Aydr’n watched the large forward monitor intently. Had he guessed correctly? The void on the right stopped as the energy seized it and ripped away its membrane. Aydr’n leaped to his feet in horror.

“It’s Human!” he screamed in terror. “Get us out of here!”

Before the scared crew could respond, a vibrating whine seized the ship. Aydr’n felt his body being ripped apart at the atomic level and added to the universe.

Wystl put her hand on Dean’s shoulder to comfort him. “Colonel,” she said gently, “you don’t have to do anything – just watch.” She turned him toward her ship and pointed at it. Suddenly, the ship looked like a metallic cloth being jerked up into the stars.

Dean stood in surprised shock for a long moment, staring up into the glittering dots until Wystl broke his daze. “There, Colonel. He and his crew are gone forever.”

“When can I touch her?” Dean’s tone had become more agitated as he waited impatiently for the lethal energy to dissipate.

“Only a few more minutes and we can collect her body. Colonel, I can take on her appearance. Would you like that? Would that make it easier for you?” She liked this Human and wanted to make him feel better. Before Dean could answer, there – standing a few feet away, sharing his bubble – Wystl had taken on Beth’s appearance.

Dean lost control and cried with anguish. “No! What the hell is wrong with you?! Do you really want to know what I’d like?!”

Wystl faded meekly back to her alien form as Dean continued to yell at her.

“What I’d
like
is to have never brought her on this mission – to have never met you or heard of your Consortia or Consortium or whatever you call yourselves!” He stepped far enough away from Wystl that the membrane began to separate. She barely heard him as he stepped completely out of her bubble. “Now get away from me and leave me alone!”

A few moments later, Wystl touched her head into Dean’s bubble. She was subdued and spoke very softly. “You can collect Beth’s body now.”

Dean had taken the time to cool off and realized that Wystl was only trying to help when she took on Beth’s appearance. She didn’t understand that such a realistic appearance of the dead would be too much of a shock.

“Listen, Wystl, I didn’t mean to snap at you. It’s hard enough losing someone and then immediately being reminded so vividly of them. And her body was still lying there. Well, it was just too much.”

Wystl lit up slightly. “I accept your apology and will try to be more careful of your feelings in the future.”

“Hey!” Dean felt his manhood being misjudged and had to respond. “I am in total control of my feelings! You don’t have to…”

Wystl cocked her head to the right and raised her eyebrows as he tried to explain. He wasn’t sure how to continue. Explaining his feelings was never a strong point.
What am I going to say? You don’t have to
baby me? You don’t have to coddle me?
Nothing that he could think of sounded right. It had always been his job to take care of whoever was with him – not the other way around. The only way out of the situation was to change the subject.

“Wystl, are you rolling your eyes at me?”

“I’m sorry, does it remind you of Beth? I learned it by watching her reaction to some of your statements.”

Dean sagged visibly and gave her a weak smile. “No, it’s okay. When we get to Earth, you should probably take on a Human form again so you don’t scare the natives. I’ll collect Beth’s body. It’s time to get out of here and update my boss.”

Wystl detected uneasiness in Dean’s voice when he said the word “boss” but decided to wait and see what the inflection meant.

Dean remembered Gretchen’s face vividly as he looked at Beth one last time and zipped the body bag closed with a heavy heart. He had done this before, but it only got harder with practice – even when the partner only lasted a week.

On the Moon, Beth was surprisingly light to lift. Dean expected her – and actually wanted her – to be heavier, maybe even hurt a little to pick up. Somehow, more weight would have added to her significance. As he boarded the
Star Chaser,
he realized that in his haste to keep his distance from her, he had no idea if she had family or a husband. He really knew nothing about her. Still, no matter what, she was significant to him.

He laid her down gently behind the copilot seat – her seat. Some of the equipment that he had originally talked her into leaving behind when they first arrived was still lying around. She hadn’t put it up because they had been in such hurry to get started. Ironically, they never even got a chance to use the weapons that they had taken, but the mission turned out successful anyway. Once again, he had succeeded and, once again, he had paid a terrible price.

It was time to contact the Sit Room and let them know what had happened. “Sierra Romeo, this is Sierra Charlie, over.”

Martle almost jumped out of his skin. Thank God Forge was alive and Visen wasn’t around so he could talk to Colonel Forge first.

“Sierra Charlie, this is Sierra Romeo. It’s damn good to hear your voice! Save your briefing for after you get back and have a hot shower. The first thing I want you to do after you touch down is report directly to me. I have extraordinary, life-changing information that concerns you. Do you copy? Over.”

Dean was bewildered by the urgency in the voice. It sounded like General Martel on a very bad day.

“Sierra Romeo, copy last transmission.”

Dean didn’t like using names over the radio, but he had to be sure who he was talking to. Sierra Romeo could have been anyone in the Sit’ Room.

“Is this General Martel? Over.”

“Sierra Charlie that is correct. You have your orders, over.”

“Sierra Romeo, I look forward to hearing all about it. Sierra Charlie out.”

Chapter Eleven

Consortia’s violet sun blazed ten degrees above the horizon when Alont’s linker blared to life and woke him up. He climbed out of bed still groggy and glanced around the large room. Only the oversized bed, with its luxurious white linen, stood out – he had no idea where he was. Even before that thought set in, he knew from the sun’s brightness that it was way too late in the day for him to still be sleeping. When his linker came to life again, he grabbed the little device just to shut it up.

“Yes?” he said anxiously as he looked out the large picture windows at the magnificent view of the lake outside. Lakes on Consortia weren’t unusual, but there weren’t many. The few that his planet did have were normally smaller than the one he found himself staring at.

“Alont, it is Reggiald.” Now he remembered.
The University doctor put me up in a safe house of sorts, just outside Consortia City
. “A message probe arrived this morning from Wystl. You were correct – she was in danger.”

“
Was
in danger?” Alont asked hopefully.

“That’s correct, she had to destroy her ship and kill all your Warrior friends, including Aydr’n, to survive. With the help of the Humans, she will be waiting on Earth for her rescue. Oh, and the Humans passed their test. She thinks they are a little rough around the edges, but with some work, they should fit in well with the other planets.”

They are all dead?
Alont wasn’t sure how to react to what the doctor had just told him. He knew that most of the Warriors were simply following their captain and had no idea that he was up to anarchy. They were taught from day one to follow their superiors’ orders, but that meant their superiors had to be trustworthy. Until now, his captain had earned that trust.

“Alont, are you listening?”

“Yes, huh, well…she would know more about the Humans than I would. I do know that they can be resourceful when they get trapped.”

Reggiald wasn’t sure what Alont was talking about. He sounded distant to the doctor and probably wasn’t reacting well to hearing about his colleagues’ deaths. It was time to take the information to the Senate. “Right, that’s understandable, Alont. You stay at the house and I’ll get this information to the Senate and the commandant of the Warrior Caste.”

Alont turned off the device, sat down on the soft bed, and gazed out the window at the distant horizon. He had betrayed his Warriors, his friends. But they were criminals, terrorists, and they were not following lawful orders. Focusing intently on the deep purple lake again, Alont hoped that its calm waters would somehow bring him peace.

The lake was the only surface water for a thousand kilometers in any direction. The surrounding vegetation looked like a green garden in the otherwise orange-and-red desert.  Thousands of cycles ago, Alont was told that the entire plant was green and lush, but they began to break the water down to make hydrogen power. They never dreamed that they would use up such an abundant resource, and in a few generations, almost all the surface water was gone.

The University Searchers had found a species that knew how to reverse the damage, but the vast quantities of materials that were necessary to change Consortia back to its original glory had to come from other worlds. It was slow going, but Alont had seen good progress when he arrived on his shuttle from Earth and the air did seem sweeter to his lungs. Earth had many resources, including water that the C.O.P. could take advantage of.
Was that why they passed the Test?

Hunched over his computer, Dev’kall was finally able to work on tasks that he had assigned himself. It wouldn’t look good if everyone was ready while he was scurrying around playing catch-up. Outside his window, a long, black Warrior transport pulled up to the curb. The five nebula flags flying above its roof told him it was Ban’yr. As if on cue, he stepped out of the Warrior vehicle in a full dress uniform: purple trimmed in gold. He appeared ready for the next Senate Ball.

Dev’kall almost tripped trying to get to the door. “Commandant, are you crazy? If anyone sees you…”

Ban’yr stepped in and cut him off. “We have a problem. The University had one of their Searchers off testing a species somewhere and the captain assigned to her decided to mutiny. He was recruited by a Warrior for Change the night before he left on his mission, cycles ago. The captain sent a message back with a courier to the Warrior who recruited him. The courier made it to the spaceport, and then all hell broke loose when he got tired of waiting in the processing line. When I went to review the port’s security record to see what happened, an initial copy had already been picked up by a University scientist.”

“Commandant, have you reviewed the record yet?”

“Yes, the security cameras show Fe’ton and two body guards pulling one of my Warriors, named Alont out of a pile of debris. He was the captain’s courier. The four of them talked quickly and then headed out of the receiving building and toward the transport that Alont arrived on. They were in the transport briefly. Then Alont stepped out and the transport launched with Fe’ton and his guards still on board. The transport’s trajectory indicates that it went into a black hole.”

Ban’yr took a breath and Dev’kall jumped in. “By the stars of Trinity, he killed Fe’ton! If that scientist has the message and the port record…we need to move up our time table! We don’t even know what your captain said in his message.”

Ban’yr nodded and cautiously agreed. “Yes, I’ll alert my Chn-maa contact that it has begun.”

“I’ll post-note all the leaders and try to find out what the scientist knows,” Dev’kall added.

“Don’t bother contacting him.” Ban’yr’s eyes and nose flared as he spoke. “He already called me to set up a meeting about it. I’ll know what he knows soon enough, and then you’ll know, too.”

Dev’kall wondered why he took so long to mention that he was meeting with the scientist, but he decided to revisit that question later.

“Commandant, when will your Chn-maa fleet be ready to show to the Senate?”

“The fleet will be in Chn-maa hands next rotation.”

Dev’kall understood that the Chn-maa weren’t actually going to have the fleet. Ban’yr was speaking figuratively, but it still scared Dev’kall. He needed reassurance. “Are you sure that it is wise to put them on two of our four quadrant fleets? That would put Chn-maa on five thousand ships. Wouldn’t part of one fleet be a great enough threat to convince the Senate?”

“Dev’kall, you still don’t think that I can control them. And no,
part
of a fleet might not be enough. We need to scare the green slime off those groutin.”

“It’s just so easy to believe the propaganda against the Chn-maa that we’ve heard since we were fledglings, Ban’yr. We both know that if the prasers hadn’t worked, the outcome at Trinity would have been completely different.”

Ban’yr felt his patience with Dev’kall’s concerns growing thin but kept his voice steady. “What is your point, Consul?”

“The Chn-maa may be at the bottom of our society and uneducated, but the party line is wrong – they are not stupid! What if they have a way to take control of your warships and know how to operate them? Isn’t that why the security at your star stations is so strong? So that no one can get the universal entry code to your ships from the manufacturer and gain unauthorized access?”

“Dev’kall, they would need much more than an access code to take a warship! There will only be one Chn-maa on each ship among a few thousand Warriors. We only need one Chn-maa to fool the ship’s crew sensors into telling the Senate that the entire crew is Chn-maa.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to keep questioning your plan. It’s them I don’t trust, not you.”

“Consul, I understand your concern, but I’ve taken every precaution. You have nothing to worry about. They may not be stupid, but they
are
uneducated and that makes them dependent on what we tell them. Now, Dev’kall, I must get to my next appointment. I’ll let you know what the scientist has to say.”

Washington D.C.:

Dean and Wystl sat with General Martel around his desk in a small office adjacent to the Sit Room’s main auditorium. Tired and drained, Dean finished his report and gratefully accepted the cup of coffee from Martle. He hoped the caffeine would give him a much needed energy boost.

Wystl had taken on the slightly altered but still impressive appearance of Dean’s favorite supermodel. When Martle offered her a cup, she wrinkled her perfectly straight nose and turned down the smelly, dark brown liquid.

“Colonel, that’s an amazing story. And…Ms. Wystl?”

“Wystl is fine, General.” Her now red, very lush, human lips parted into a dazzling smile. “I’ve never been one for pomp and circumstance. The only title I have is Searcher."

Martle knew that she was an alien and glad that she was on their side, especially since she could shape shift so well. “I do have to complement our new friend’s choice of Human.” Then he grew serious and switched his focus to Dean. “Well, Colonel, like I said, I have vital information to share with you. Please listen to this.”

The general turned on his tape of the chancellor’s earlier admission to wanting to kill Dean. As the colonel listened, he realized that he didn’t need his coffee for energy. Renewed vigor swelled deep inside as the venomous words poured out of the chancellor’s mouth. Not only had he tried to kill Dean, but he had also set up and succeeded in the death of many of Dean’s partners over the years. The most painful loss was Gretchen. As the recording ended, Martle and Wystl watched Dean sit frozen in thought, waiting for his response. Wystl now understood why Dean sounded strange when he had said the word “boss” before. On some level, he must have known that the chancellor was after him.

Dean’s thoughts spun out of control as twenty years of pain and loss spilled across his mind. His heart raced as the fragile defenses that he had been using to get through each day began to collapse. Those defenses weren’t necessary anymore. He knew who was responsible and what he had to do: right the wrong that had been committed. Still, he didn’t understand where the general was coming from.

After a long moment, Dean’s angry voice came out ice cold. “Why did you play this for me? You know that I will kill him for what he did to my partners. General, you are sworn to defend him against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Now you’ve created his worst nightmare!”

“Colonel, I have many reasons to let you know the truth about him. Reasons that range from saving the world to saving me. You need to know that the man is a menace to us all.”

Dean’s mind raced. He didn’t immediately respond. Martle could see Dean’s struggle and softened his tone. “Colonel Forge, it’s a fine line, but I never actually swore allegiance to him. The last thing I swore to defend was the Constitution of the United States of America and that’s exactly what I am doing.” Then he asked the most important question of his forty years in the military. “Have you heard of the Network, Colonel?”

“Yes, sir, they’re a bunch of terrorists that want to bring down the world order, Visen and the Corps included.”

“Well, that’s not exactly true. They are fine with world order and the Corps. What they don’t like is the amount of power that Visen wields.”

Dean snorted unconvinced under his breath as the general continued.

“We all need to answer to someone. Uncontrolled power is a slippery slope for anyone, especially someone like Visen. The Network’s goal is not only to maintain the united world government that Visen has created, but also to take control out of his hands and make it more of a consensus.”

As Martle talked, Wystl became curious. “General, will you not have a single person that can negotiate for Earth?”

“Wystl, at this point, Visen is still in charge and would no doubt negotiate for Earth, but there are a great many of us that would prefer to appoint a negotiator. A congress would represent and approve tentative agreements for the entire globe.”

Wystl listened and nodded thoughtfully. “Yes, it would seem that both of our worlds are in turmoil.”

Dean needed to confirm what he was hearing. “Sir, you sound like you are part of the Network.”

“I’m not part of it. I
head
the Network. I want you to join it and help us bring down Visen.”

Dean wasn’t listening. He was only waiting for the general to finish speaking. He had already made up his mind to go rogue and get Visen as soon as he could. “General, didn’t you hear me? I don’t intend to bring him down – I’m going to kill him. I’m done being told what to do by someone else. I’m not joining anything. In fact, I’m resigning. Besides, who’s to say you don’t just want the power for yourself?”