Alien Alliance (6 page)

Mathew was frustrated and his PA’s plan had
not allowed for his team being separated from SETI. He had expected
Sarah to do the work while he used her skills. He had ordered his
team to prepare huge databases in their chosen specialties while
they were on the plane and download them once they reached
Christchurch. Mathew’s team, however, found him difficult to work
for. He did not lead, he pushed and his attitude was hard to
take.

Mathew’s annoying air of superiority covered
a floundering, bewildered child. To be in a situation like this,
that he could neither understand nor handle, was a common problem
for him, fanatically hidden. Of below average intelligence, he had
been privately tutored from day one. He achieved graduation, a
tribute to his well paid, cunning, realistic and remarkably
talented tutors.

Mathew had been taught to have a good memory
and he learned by rote. He often did not understand what he
memorized. Cautious to keep their highly paid and cushy jobs, the
tutors told Mathew few students understood all they learned and
once he graduated, he would never again need most of it. While
there is much truth in that, they avoided telling him that the
whole point of school is not what you learn but to learn how to
learn. Mathew did not understand all the steps. He was ill equipped
for this job and his usual advisers were not here.

But Mathew was not stupid. He had realised
he probably could not find the solutions but thought Sarah probably
could. After all, this was her job and he understood she had spent
over a decade preparing for just this circumstance. He knew what
she had achieved with SETI. That was one bit of research he had
downloaded just before he left Earth, prepared for him by one of
his researchers while he was en route. He was impressed by what she
had accomplished but this was both a gift and a problem. In Sarah,
even from the little he had learnt of her, he saw her obvious
abilities as a threat to his own ambitions. His original intention
had been to delegate the job to her but keep the credit for
himself. His usual tactic was to take over once he finally
understood the problem and its solution and get the credit.

Mathew yearned to do something for himself.
To achieve recognition, preferably for something he did. If need
be, to take the credit for someone else’s achievement. Hopeless at
sport, mediocre at music, too concrete to act and lacking
imagination for the other arts, Mathew had never excelled at
anything despite all the help that a bottomless wallet could
provide.

Now nearly 50, Mathew thought this might be
his last chance to do something significant with his life. And he
so yearned to be known for some real achievement. Mathew’s was a
high-functioning family and the expectations on them were high.
Mathew’s accomplishments had fallen well short and he knew it.

He had leapt at this chance and he and his
PA had put his team together in less than two hours via phone.
While the politicians were still arguing he was organized and
already leaving with his team of yes-men of both sexes. His PA had
had the forethought to contact Christchurch airport and had
organised and paid for a pack each. And his was the only diplomatic
team that made the deadline. Most arrived after the ship had left.
He had intended to use Sarah’s knowledge and the knowledge of her
team to work out what to do next. He assumed she would help. But
they were caught unawares by being separated on the spaceship and
isolated from each other. His team did try to work out some plans
and protocols. After all, they had nothing else to do. He looked in
frustration at the food being served to him; cold reconstituted
muck or fatty canned corned beef. Everything cold, boring, most of
it dehydrated. However he had to admit it had been well planned to
cope with present conditions and it seemed as if someone had put a
lot of thought into the choosing of it it except for taste! Out of
his depth, he continued to worry.

*

But back in economy class, Sarah adapted
much more quickly to the situation. She tended to think fast on her
feet and because she could, she tended to adjust her tactics
according to the situation. Normally, she would have studied the
People she was going to meet. But here she couldn’t. She could not
do any preparation as she lacked the information to do so.
Confident in her abilities, she did not waste time worrying about
what she couldn’t find out. She would play it by air. But this was
not something Mathew could do so he persisted in trying to get his
Team to prepare while they lacked the data with which to do so.

In contrast to Mathew’s Team, Sarah kept
people occupied and in activities aimed at distracting and amusing
them. She organised this so subtly, that people often did not
realise they were being kept occupied in order to stop them
worrying. The children helped a lot simply by being children and
adults tried to act in ways that would not alarm them. The days
were spent in talks, games, discussions and the occasional
argument. There were a few, who felt claustrophobic and were
suffering from the confinement. Most were very philosophical but
annoyed at not being able to wander around the ship or look out.
Curiosity was in a state of constant frustration. They had all
decided to call themselves Terrans as Earthling sounded stupid.

One day, Edkajil and the other Alien
linguists came in. They seemed startled to be questioned as to why
the confinement.

Edkajil answered, “We cannot let you wander
the ship. It has secrets. You must not know. You must not see. It
is not permitted. You are passengers. It is expected you stay here.
No Aliens are allowed to wander.”

“But we want to know where Torroxell is and
how the ship is moved through space. What is the power source?”
Asked Miyuki in frustration.

“Not allowed to know this!” Answered one of
the other Linguists. Obviously uncomfortable, they soon left.

*

About seven weeks after the journey began,
they returned. “We here to tell you we will be at Torroxell in a
few days. We will plug a Translator in to the accommodation
building. You will then be able to speak to other People. Your
Translator will update and add your language in.” They left soon
after, obviously still uncomfortable and refusing to answer a
myriad of other questions.

The Diplomats did not fare even as well as
this. Mathew was furious to be locked in. There were Cleaners but
no other facilities. No hot food or hot water. No explanations, no
information and no visits from the linguists. Used to travelling
first class, this was totally unacceptable but he couldn’t even
complain. When Edkajil finally turned up just before the landing,
it was an anticlimax and he was gone before Mathew thought to
question or complain.

For all of them, after just under two months
Earth time, their arrival at Torroxell was an anti-climax. They
couldn’t see anything because it was dark. The frustrated
scientists and astronomers had no idea of the location of Torroxell
or the propulsion system of the spaceship nor was there anyone to
answer their numerous questions. Sarah instructed everyone to take
a lot of concentrated food with them just in case as they had no
money. And to add to all their other frustrations, they were not
met by anyone but at least they were now finally all together.

Edkajil ushered them into a large building
saying, “You will be contacted in a day or so. Rooms are nice, much
bigger, you are all together now, it is middle of night,” and he
left.

Several ‘Hotel staff’ (?), showed them into
rooms on two floors of the building, they sorted themselves out and
most curled up into the ‘mattresses’ and slept in sheer relief at
finally knowing where they were.

*

In Helkmid’s lab, the communicator buzzed.
He touched his connector.

“New species, just arrived, at lobby now,
seventh floor, this building.”

“Thank you. I come,” the Okme replied.

*

Donny, among others, had been unable to
sleep. He gave up after an hour or two and got up. He wandered
around the building, noticing that it had ramps instead of stairs.
It looked like he wasn’t the only one who couldn’t sleep. Dan was
patiently sitting in the lobby on something that Donny assumed
functioned as a chair. Obviously designed for a much larger
species. It could almost be used as a bed for a rhino.

“Has any one contacted us yet?” Asked Donny
going over to Dan.

“No. Sarah has decided that one of us will
stay here to wait.”

“What did Mathew say about that?”

“I think she forgot to tell him,” said Dan
with a grin. “Can’t sleep?”

“No,” he chuckled. “Poor Mahmoud had a heck
of a time getting his little sisters to sleep. Last I saw he was
making up bedtime stories.” They both laughed. Mahmoud had a vivid
imagination and a lot of experience in that task. It wasn’t only
the children who listened. He had the true storyteller’s art of
pitching a story at two levels; one for children and one for
adults.

Helkmid walked into the lobby. The Person
who had contacted him pointed to Dan and Donny and Helkmid looked
at them, a little startled. They did look unlike any People he had
seen before. The one sitting down had sparse black hair, or fur,
only on its head, was black skinned, black eyed and both of them
were clothed. The other one was even smaller, with cream coloured
hair, golden brown skin and blue eyes. Both were thin and hairless
apart from the hair or fur on their head, or any other hair was
hidden by their clothes. Their colouring was in stark contrast.
Very unusual. He wondered if they were the same gender or
different. And how many genders they had. Were they in fact the
same Race? Possibly. Other than colour and size they were both
identical with two ambulation limbs, two manipulating limbs, two
eyes, one mouth, head at the top, they obviously walked upright,
just one opposable thumb on each manipulating limb, the one
standing was looking at him; well that was a good start.

Donny looked up as a tall, grey coloured,
bipedal Alien came in that looked humanoid, at least in shape. It
had a Translator on and wore a loose white cloak. After a pause, it
came over to Donny. It indicated its Translator and Donny,
remembering what he had been told, adjusted it, turning a switch to
the new symbol on it that meant English.

“Are you one of new People, just
arrived?”

“Yes. Are you one of the People who invited
us here?”

“No. I am Helkmid, an Okme. But come with
me,” and Donny, as ever curious, did.

He was led into a lift, up many floors and
into a long narrowish room with things like huge coffins in it. The
Alien asked him to sit up on a large kind of raised bed and ran a
scanner (?) over him then asked,

“Can I take a bit of your blood?”

Donny held out his arm and the Alien took a
small amount.

“Why do you want my blood?” he asked.

“Compare for Healer.”

“What is Healer?”

“Machine that fixes.” Helkmid took some of
Donny’s blood and turned to put it into an analyser. As he did so,
Donny saw his cloak catch on a drawer. Impatiently, he removed the
cloak. It was all he was wearing. Donny looked, fascinated. He (?)
was skinny, grey all over, had no hair, anywhere, had various
bulges all over him and no apparent sex organs. His hands were
skinny and he had two thumbs on each hand making six digits. Donny
checked his feet. No shoes. No toes. His foot was flat and semi
circular. He muttered to himself as he put tiny bits of Donny’s
blood into various vials. Several minutes passed.

“I’m Donny,” he said. “Are you a
doctor?”

Helkmid turned, startled, looking as if he
had forgotten Donny was there. He had. He was used to his patients
being unconscious. “Yes. I am Helkmid. I am doctor. What are
you?”

“I am Terran. I don’t have a job yet. I
haven’t decided what I want to be. My parents are a Biologist and a
Diplomat.”

“Are you a child?” he looked even more
startled.

Donny thought hard and tried to be accurate.
“Very young adult, not yet independent.”

“I am sorry. I did not realise that. Is it
permitted that I take your blood and examine you?”

“Well I don’t mind so long as I get to ask
questions. Is that fair enough?”

“That is fair. How old are you?”

Donny thought. He held up ten fingers. “This
is a normal lifespan, with this being zero,” he pointed to the
little finger on his left hand. “I am here,” and he pointed to a
space between his ring and middle finger on his left hand.”

“Are you adult size yet?”

“No, most of it though. I should get a bit
taller.”

“Is your brain fully developed?”

“I think so but the contents aren’t.” He had
suspected Helkmid was laughing before. Now he was sure!

“Are you old enough to reproduce?”

“Yes,” said Donny blushing, “But I haven’t
tried to yet.”

Oh. Well that was a relief. That legally
made him an adult so he hadn’t broken any laws, though maybe he had
broken customs. It depended on the parent’s attitudes and beliefs.
Helkmid placed him in a machine that travelled over him and then
another that he travelled through, describing what they did. Donny
named one as an X ray machine and the other as a Cat scanner.

“Are you in good health?”

“Yes.”

“You have broken a bone in your leg.”

“Well yes but that was a while ago. I
thought it was healed.”

“Not quite. The muscles still need some work
to be restored to their full function.”

Helkmid was by now very intrigued. This
little creature didn’t seem to mind that Helkmid had been absent
minded as usual but had then committed a serious social error in
removing the clothes he so hated to wear. This creature Donny
ignored that. He was also very polite and friendly. Helkmid was not
used to being treated as an equal by a clothed Terrestrial. And so
curious! The questions continued.