The Alliance in Peril Read online

  I walked into the galley. Isabell and Honey were both dressed and ready to go. My meal was shoved in front of me. I was expected to eat it quickly.

  I said, “Perri, I am not going to hurry, I will eat it at my own pace. If I eat too quick I may end up with indigestion, so be patient.”

  No sooner had I finished than Perri dragged me off to the cargo port. She was not even going to bother with the cleaning up. The bowl and utensils lay where I had used them. In her hurry to set off she was leaving the cleaning for others to do later. We arrived at the port and I hovered the shuttle out of its bay. The journey to the moon was uneventful, as usual. We spent the time entertaining the children.

  During the journey, Perri mentioned, “Oh, mother would like to take us for a meal at the café in the town centre. You don’t have a problem with that do you Jake?”

  I replied, “No, I would like to go to that cafe’ again. Do you think the owner would like to try a chocolate oat biscuit?”

  Perri said, “Probably, but we don’t have any, do we?

  “Don’t be so sure,” I said smiling. I went to a locker and took out one of the chocolate biscuit packs I had stowed away.

  On seeing the packet of biscuits both Isabell and Honey screamed with delight. Isabell said, “Can we have a biscuit, please dad?” I then smiled and opened the pack before giving everyone including myself two each.

  After they finished eating them, I could tell they wanted more so I said, “I will save the rest of the packet for later.”

  Isabell was not going to let me get away without some begging on both her and her sister’s behalf saying, “Please can we have one more dad?”

  Although I do not like denying the children their requests I do have to say no sometimes, so I just said, “No girls, it will spoil your lunch. You can have another later.”

  Isabell thought I was an easy touch and persisted with asking, “Please dad, just one more.”

  I looked at Perri, she shook her head. I was a little more forceful saying, “I have said no, so if you want to have one later don’t go on asking. No is no.” Honey shed some tears. That did make me feel like the villain, denying a little girl a biscuit, but on the other hand, it would spoil her lunch if I gave in to her demands.

  We arrived at the moon and were greeted by both Perri’s mother and Lidier and taken to their residence.

  Perri’s mother took the children off to see their aunts and cousins, while Perri and I had a word with Lidier. I said to Lidier, “Zitter says hello and hoped you were well and business was good, I think she misses seeing you.”

  Lidier replied, “That is nice of her, I miss seeing her. I see you managed to get the replacement pods as Helena has contacted me regarding their installation. She also mentioned that you have finished your part in the process.”

  I said, “Yes it was not easy, but it’s done. There was a fault with a batch of regulators made over thirty-five years ago. The Relnorians are issuing a recall of cargo ships fitted with that batch as a matter of urgency. Helena will have to take her cargo ship to Relnor to have the other distribution regulator replaced when you have finished your part. Now, have you had anything interesting in for scrapping?”

  Lidier replied in a somewhat confusing way, by saying, “Yes and no.”

  Puzzled I asked further, “Yes and no, what is it? it can’t be both, can it?”

  Lidier explained, “We had the first delivery of some more transport shuttles and were due to receive the second part of the batch when we had a strange message and request. They wanted to buy back the shuttles that they had already delivered and to cancel the scrapping of the rest. As this came from a government department we had to oblige and they soon collected those that they had already delivered. I inquired into the reason for this, and the only reason given was that their delivery of new replacement shuttles had been deferred.”

  I replied, “There goes that statement again, deferred. To me, that means put on hold indefinitely. Something is up. Zitter has had a similar thing happen to her. Another odd thing, we flew over the sales area on Relnor and they had little or nothing on display; something very strange is happening. Perhaps I should ask my wife Lara if she knows anything.”

  It was time for that meal at the café, I was hungry so was eager for us to make our way there.

  We sat on a table outside the café. The sun was shining through the dome from above, glinting and creating a rainbow effect on the fountain opposite.

  We placed our order and while we waited I said to the children, “If you eat everything, then you can both have a chocolate biscuit after.” The children did, so I was a man of my word and produced the packet of biscuits, but first, we needed to summon the café owner.

  When she arrived (her name was Tilly, by the way) I said to her, “Regarding your oatcakes, would you like to try a similar product that is available on Earth? They are known as chocolate oat biscuits.”

  “You have something like my legendary oatcakes on Earth? I must see and try one,” replied Tilly.

  I handed her a biscuit. At the same time, I gave Perri, her mother and the children one each. Perri’s mother and the café owner had not tried one before and as always with Alkarrens they have to inspect anything new before they eat it. First giving it a good look over, then they smelt it, followed by breaking the biscuit in two before finally nibbling a small bit. Like all Alkarrens who have tried a chocolate biscuit, they showed no difference in their response and very soon gobbled it down. I had five left. There were six of us, so I went without, which was not a problem. Anyway, I had another pack back on the shuttle.

  Tilly eagerly said, “Delicious, where can I obtain this chocolate and is it available on Alkarr?”

  “No, not yet,” I replied. “If you would like to buy some I am sure I could get some from Earth. I do come to the moon regularly so will be able to deliver it in person.”

  “I would like that, but sorry I don’t feel comfortable doing a deal with you,” sighed Tilly.

  I replied, “Don’t’ be sorry, I know I can’t do any business with an Alkarren, so here,” and I gave her Jenna’s contact number so she could contact and do business with Alenna.

  So soon it was time to return to Alkarr. Now we were leaving the next day to go to see the Flitten and after that, we would proceed straight to Earth. In our warehouse were all the goods which we would be delivering to the Flitten and to Earth. I expected to help load this consignment, but it had already been done by the time I had returned from the moon. I now had some free time, during which I also wanted to have a word with Lara.

  I found a moment where I could speak to her alone so I asked her, “Lara, why is there a shortage of civilian spacecraft of all types? When I flew over the sales area on Relnor, there were hardly any spacecraft at all on display.”

  Lara gave me an awkward look, this changed to one of a dismissive manner. She replied, “I do not know what you are on about. I know nothing about spacecraft. It’s not my business to know.” Lara tried to leave, but I was not letting her get off the hook that easily.

  Before she made her escape I said, “Stop Lara, you’re not walking away from me without giving some explanation. Something is up and I need to know?”

  Lara turned around and said, “Why do you need to know? Surely it is not of interest to you. After all, you have already acquired a new ship. Why would you want any more civilian craft?”

  “It does affect me,” I replied with a slightly rattled voice. “I don’t have any need at this time for new spacecraft myself, but it has a knock-on effect and we have possibly lost out on two shipments of used transport shuttles and the possible purchase of some old gunships. I keep hearing the reason as deferred.”

 
Lara looked at me and said, “Look I can’t give you any information.” She hesitated before saying, “Other more important things need to be constructed so that is the reason for the deferred statement.” Lara quickly left the room, I was left to assess what was more important.

  Lara was good at withholding government information, so I would not be able to glean anything more from her for now. The only thing I could come up with that could be considered more important would be military spacecraft construction. Why would they need to put their entire effort into constructing military spacecraft? The Silka was the only thing I could conclude. Was there something happening regarding the Silka that was being kept from us? I had questions but with no one to give answers, I went on the male-only forum to express my concerns. Others had noticed the absence of any new spacecraft, and there were many conspiracy theories as to why. We left for our delivery to the Flitten the following morning. Nothing out of the ordinary to report there. We soon continued on to Earth.

  Arriving at Earth I was challenged by one of the remaining frigates and was allowed to pass, making my way to the port and being granted to permission to land. Almost as soon as landed, I received a message from the Prime Minister requesting a meeting, it was arranged for later in the day. Alenna was busy contacting those who had ordered goods, we unloaded them into the warehouse ready for collection. I needed to open an account on Earth as from now on we needed to be paid in pounds sterling, I could not keep taking all that gold from Earth they would need it themselves. Before we went to a bank I needed to call up that art gallery as a matter of urgency, Alenna wanted the new sculpture off the ship.

  I phoned the gallery. I gave my name and asked to be put through to the curator, which swiftly happened. He spoke in a very excited way saying, “Jake, good to hear from you. I am amazed at the number of visitors passing through our doors, many times our usual number, all coming to see the sculpture you kindly loaned to us.”

  I replied, “That is good news, I will let Zitter Bobeck know. She will be thrilled that her creation is appreciated on Earth. I have also got some good news for you. I have another of her handiworks on board, and would you like to display this as well?”

  He almost screamed in reply, “Yes, we would be very happy to display another of her sculptures. When can we collect it?”

  I thought for a second or two before saying, “This evening would be fine, around seven to half past.”

  He replied, “If Lord Gilbert is not available, I will come in person.”

  “Good,” I said, “I will write down all the details and what it represents along with a short story of which may be of some interest to the public.”

  That was one thing out of the way. Now we had to go to a bank to open an account. I thought this might be difficult. After all, we do not have a permanent address on Earth. Anyway, we went to a large high street bank. We stood in a queue, Alenna found this very odd. Queuing with men and women on Alkarr, well, that would just not happen. Only women queue on Alkarr; men are kept out of the way. We stood there for just thirty seconds before an assistant manager came up to us. We were invited to follow him to a side office. We must have been recognised and thought of important enough to be singled out for special treatment.

  He introduced himself then asked, “What can we do for you?”

  Alenna said, “We would like to open an account please.”

  “That would be great,” he replied before saying, “I will get the branch manager.” He lifted the phone and spoke to the manager before putting it back down. He said, “The manager will be here in a moment.” He then asked humbly, “Out of curiosity on my part, why did you choose our branch?”

  I said, “That is easy. ‘A’ because it is near the cargo port and ‘B’ because I already have a personal account with your bank which I no longer use. It is empty and may have been closed by now. Anyway, we need an account associated with our house name.”

  He asked for my old account which I gave him. Then looked it up and said, “It is still open. What would you like me to do with it and is this address we have still current?”

  I replied, “The address has not been current for many years, as for the account, close it, as I will never need to use it again.”

  The manager arrived and after introducing himself took over from his assistant, Again he asked, “How can I help you?”

  Alenna again said, “We wish to open an account with your bank please.”

  He opened a drawer and took out a form which he filled in as we answered the questions that he asked. I gave our address as the warehouse we use. It did have a letterbox on the door to the side office, though I had never used the office and it remained empty, I did have a key. It was done. We now had an account on Earth. We could now take payments direct into our account, which would make any transactions we did on Earth much easier. We returned to the port and waited. Minty was given full details about any cargo collections in case Alenna was not present when they were collected and paid for.

  The time had come to go and see the Prime Minister. We took a taxi. Alenna, Jenna and I were at once allowed to proceed through the gates to Downing Street after being dropped off by the taxi. Every police officer we encountered did not attempt to challenge us, only directing us to where we should go. We were again shown into a large room, only this time there were several high ranking military officers sitting at the table along with the Prime Minister.

  The Prime Minister stood up to greet us, only shaking my hand. He then invited us to take a seat. Now the bombardment of questions proceeded.

  First, the Prime Minister explained, “The United Nations has almost unanimously concluded that we cannot rely on the alliance entirely to protect Earth. The amount of governments whose citizens are now demanding protection is quite alarming. There have been riots in some countries. This demand for protection is more dominantly coming from those countries that have experienced first-hand the devastation inflicted by the Silka.”

  Several items were placed on the table before us, “What are these made from?” One of the officers said in a very demanding way.

  The Prime Minister held his palm towards him as if he should calm down before turning to me saying, “Can you please help in identifying what these are minerals and metals are? Our scientists say they can’t be found on Earth.”

  I scanned the items with my pid, pointing at each in turn, “This is zilton, this is terinium, and as for this, that is classified.”

  The Prime Minister then shoved in front of me some blueprints and said, “We found these in the database on the gunship that the US now own. We need to know what this mineral is.” He had his finger on the casing of which looked like, Oh no! I thought, they have the details of an early battlecruiser, not only that but how a star-drive works. I was overcome with fear, I had inevitably provided Earth with star-drive technology. Why did I not check the database on the gunship? I could now face being hauled in front of the alliance council if they ever found out.

  A little shaken I replied, “If you require zilton or terinium I can help, but not with the other. It’s just not available to anyone. The mines where it is quarried are guarded and inaccessible.”

  The Prime Minister said, “Ok, how do we get hold of the other two?”

  There is not a problem in obtaining these, so I said, “That is easy, the zilton can be acquired from a number of sources and the terinium comes from Grimda. You can pay for the zilton with gold or platinum, but you can also now pay with pounds sterling. This will surprise you, the inhabitants of Grimda who are known as the Grocka, they do not have any need for gold or almost anything else other than… Bugs. They live a simple life. But don’t think they are a push-over, they are intelligent. Their only export is this mineral called terinium. They live in round mud huts, quite large e
nough to hold up to thirty Grocka. These mud huts have a frame of wood which supports the mud dome and mixed into the mud is this mineral terinium, it has extraordinary thermal properties. Grimda is a moon of a large planet. The planet has a tilt that is extreme, one pole points almost towards its host star. Grimda’s orbit is only barely eclipsed by its planet for two weeks of its year. This is the moon’s cold season. In the slight shadow of the planet, the temperature can plunge from the mean forties down to just below ten centigrade, the Grocka seal themselves into their huts during this cold period. They use to gorge themselves on bugs and fall asleep in a heap together for extra warmth, but now they just gorged themselves, as they now have fusion reactors to provide power for heat and lighting. Their only light before the advent of fusion power was to use insects which glowed with natural fluorescence. The Grocka only require bugs as payment. They love to try new bugs that are not indigenous to their moon. I suggest locusts as we already know they can be eaten by a number of species on Earth, from lizards to monkeys, and humans in some parts of the world will roast and eat them. The Grocka prefer to eat their food live. I can see by your faces, you find that repugnant. You probably don’t know, but a few Alkarrens eat a giant grasshopper known as a hooper, these are roasted and taste just like chicken. Please don’t turn your nose up, many species eat things which we would not dream of doing so. Now to transport. Grimda is an awful world, nothing but bugs. You will need to supply ore bins. These must be airtight as they will be full of nasty insects that can both bite as well as sting. They will need to be opened in a quarantined area then decontaminated before the ore can be ground to dust. I will provide details of what is needed.”

  One military officer that would not accept I could not supply the other mineral said, “Fine, but we still need this other mineral. Can’t you get it for us?”

  I shook my head. At the same time, I said, “It is impossible, there is no way I can obtain any. You will have to come up with an alternative.” I wanted to ask a question so I took the opportunity before they asked for anything further, “What has happened regarding those four remaining Silka?”