The Black Planet (26 page)

Chapter 57

Steven and Buzz made their way to the interrogation room.  Buzz was sipping on a coffee.  ‘Just heard from De’ Beer.  He has locked up your old friend for a few days as punishment for disobeying orders.  He says not to worry about it.  It is just for show to keep those above him off his back.  Once he has been punished and he accepts the punishment, then they can’t touch him.’  Buzz shrugged.  ‘Hell I don’t understand it; military stuff.  Tapper says it’s OK.’

Steven smiled to himself, ‘after all these years he still recognised me as soon as he saw me.’

‘This was the guy you used to talk about when you came back from your Scottish holidays.’

‘Sure is.’  Steven looked up as though he was searching for the right words, ‘in the village we grew up in, there was a family of nasty shits.  Five brothers, all bullies.  It was one of the reasons my dad sent me to martial arts classes so young.  Thing was I really didn’t need it if Charlie was there.  He always seemed to sense them.  We turned it into a bit of a game I suppose.  I wonder if he kept up the martial arts.’  Steven sighed, ‘I feel so bloody guilty.’

‘Why?’

‘We were close Buzz, you know that.  We used to write once a month to each other.  Charlie liked writing letters for some reason.  I have to admit, it was nicer than email, getting a letter in the post.  Something you could keep and reread over and over again.  I haven’t given him a second thought since Babes changed me back to the way I was.  I had forgotten all about him.  I feel ashamed.  Anyway let’s speak to this Albany and see if Charlie’s instincts are still as good as they used to be.’

‘Well we fed and watered the guy.  He has had a chance to rest as well.’

‘Good.’

Orlath was sitting at the table in his cell on the moon.  Two of Stevens’s men guarded it.  They let him into the cell.  Orlath stood and bowed, ‘Captain Godan.’  He was still having problems pronouncing the R’s.

It was like slamming into a brick wall.  Steven reached out and Orlath took the translation device.  He bowed again, ‘Captain Gordon.’

‘You are?’

‘Orlath Cannies.  I was the human advisor to the fleet.’

‘You speak English?’  Steven got over his shock and sat down opposite, indicating that Orlath should join him.

‘Your words are very hard to pronounce, I probably understand a lot more than I speak.’

‘May I say, you seem very calm?’

‘In fact I am very excited Captain.’

‘Then you must be the only Albany that is.’

‘In fact I am probably the only Albany that is happy.’

Steven sat back, ‘you are going to have to explain all of that to me Orlath.’

‘Then to the beginning captain.’  It took hours for Orlath to relate all his tale.  Steven was fascinated but also mortified by Orlath’s story.  Horrified at parts of it.  When Orlath seemed to be finished Steven took a break.  He found it very hard to accept that Orlath had a human lover.  Babes berated him for his small mindedness and stated that cross racial marriages were often encouraged on many planets. 

When Steven had recovered his composure he returned to the cell and sat down opposite Orlath.  ‘I would like to discuss your mate and your child, if I may Orlath?’

Orlath’s head dropped, ‘must you?’

‘I just wish to clear up a few points.  You said your father murdered both of them and then injected you with the serum.  Why would he do that?’

‘As a gift and also as a punishment captain.  When my father’s team discovered the bridge, it made him famous and of course wealthy.  He was rewarded handsomely.  Yet there was my shame clouding his happiness.  The serum is precious; anyone who had been treated was by necessity involved in the invasion.  I was sent as an expert in human behaviour.’

‘Are you?’

‘I was an expert on our human captives Captain. I have no knowledge of the human race as a whole.’

‘How were they treated?’

‘Like animals.’

‘Did you treat them like that?’

‘No of course not.  I helped improve their conditions.  Helped them join with the mate of their choice.  Brought in food other than the worm meal they were fed.  I wish I hadn’t.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because it increased the birth rate and more died because of me.’

‘Do you have any evidence to support all that you have said?’

Orlath produced a small silver box from his pocket.  ‘I have never shown anyone this captain.  It is private.’

When he opened the box a light appeared.  Steven suddenly realised he was looking at a photograph album.  There were literally dozens of pictures from Orlath’s life.  Despite the disgust Steven was feeling he soon found himself absorbed in this person’s life.  She had been given as a pet when Steven judged she was about six or seven.  To begin with his skin crawled but then Steven began to see it.  Two children laughing and playing together.  Two lonely children.  The girl was quite pretty and blond.  Steven even smiled when she rode on Orlath’s back.

‘My mother used to ask me which of us was the pet when she caught us playing like this.  But it was Barbra’s favourite game and I couldn’t resist her laughter.’  Orlath admitted.

As they grew older and more mature Steven noticed how much closer they became.  There were pictures of them sitting having picnics together in an alien landscape.  Then there was the picture of her in bed, the look in her eyes was unmistakable to Steven.  It made him shudder inside but he hid it.  Then came pictures off collage and pictures of his wedding.  Orlath stopped the picture show and explained it all.  How his mate was chosen from the lower ranks and how she then scorned him and accused him of being a pervert because he wished to mate more than twice a year.

‘When Barbra and I first came together, I adapted to her needs,’ Orlath confessed.  ‘Of course I was aware my species only went into rut twice a year but Barbra wasn’t aware of that, nor did she seem to understand when I tried to explain it to her.  So if Barbra wanted to then I accommodated her.  I didn’t realise that it would change me as well.  My experiences with my wife were horrible by comparison.  I mistakenly thought she would adapt to what I considered normal.  Instead I faced ridicule, embarrassment and of course being branded as a sexual deviant.  Something very rarer in our society captain.’

It took Orlath a few moments to gather himself.  ‘There is another album concerning my work, I presume you wish to see them?’

‘Yes of course.’

The pictures were a revelation to Steven.  From picture of dark stinking cells, with emaciated people to eventually groups of laughing people with Orlath in the middle.  Orlath suddenly grabbed the box from the table.  ‘Can we continue this later Captain?  I find these pictures extreme upsetting.’

Steven stood, ‘how about a short break?’

‘Thank you.’

Steven took a short break himself while still struggling with what he had found out.  What Orlath didn’t know was Steven had Babes upload all of the pictures on his device.  He had been worried that Orlath was hiding something.  He hadn’t, though.  Steven sat with a fresh coffee as Babes played the rest of the pictures through his mind.  What Steven began to notice was that there wasn’t a single picture of Orlath with one of his own race after his wife had left him.  There was also voice recordings on the device.  These he hadn’t shown Steven as they were highly private.  By the time he had finished watching them Steven was far more sympathetic to the Albany male.

When they resumed Orlath told Steven the names of the prisoners.  There wasn’t a single one he didn’t remember the name of and it impressed Steven who wrote them down.  By the end of the interview Orlath felt like an empty vessel.

He sat and regarded Steven, ‘your people must eradicate my race Captain.’

‘Isn’t that a little drastic?’

Orlath shook his head in a very human manner, ‘no it isn’t.  You don’t understand just how valuable your solar system is.  My people will not stop.  As yet your race isn’t considered a sentient race.  When my universe discovers just how valuable it is, it will become a target for every sentient race.  My people will build another fleet, bigger than the first.  They will learn your battle tactics.  We have many planets captain, you only have one and we will come back.’

‘The emperor of the Modloch race has offered us a treaty if we win this fight against you.’  Steven argued.

Orlath shook his head, ‘that will do you little good Captain, not unless you are recognised as a sentient race by universal decree.  You can have as many trade agreements as you wish but, those are not unlawful.  The eradication of an entire sentient species is.  Wars between sentient races are not uncommon, but they are normally over disputed territories.  For example if our races shared a border and there was a planet there that we decided to terraform and colonise.  If your race objected as you had plans of your own then we would most likely go to war.  The war would be fought in space.  The winner would claim the planet.  These wars are considered lawful.  You could remove the enemy’s people but you could not slaughter them; that is against the law.  There are few meat eating races in our universe.  None are considered sentient.  Many races have eradicated whole planets of life and recolonized them.  That is not unlawful.  Of course very few of those planets had an indigenous race with industrial capabilities, but some did.  Many races had commercial treaties with those planets.  Those races have to petition the universal council for compensation and most have had it granted.  If the invading race does not want to pay then the aggrieved race have the right to declare war and fight for possession if they feel they are strong enough.  More often than not it is one of the races who have a trade agreement with the planet that invades in the first place.’

Steven was frowning as he tried to absorb what Orlath was saying.  ‘You seem to know a lot about it.’

Orlath gave a very small shrug, ‘I studied political science when I was at university.  Universal political science.’

‘So you are saying that we are at risk from the Modloch race?’

‘You are at risk from every race captain.  The universe will soon know of you.  They will also know why my race covets your solar system.  They will know they can make a serum from your people that will enable them to live in your universe and return without fear.  Not only return but return rich beyond their wildest dreams.  As a non-sentient race you could launch a war against my people.  Eradicate our planets and leave before a universal force is gathered against you.  They can’t follow you back through the barrier.  You can build your defences against invasion, keeping an eye on what is happening.  Strike if you perceive a threat of any kind.  Once you deal with my people the only real threat you face is from the Modloch Empire.  The rest of the universe would be too busy fighting over what was left of ours to bother you for a very long time.  I have little doubt that the Modloch emperor would within a few years launch a strategic attack against your planet with biological weapons.  How they would then recover the resources from you solar system is beyond me.  I am sure they would find away though.’

Alarm bells began to ring in Stevens head.  They had a Modloch that could and had survived in their solar system.  The emperor could quite easily order an entire planet of his people to uproot and move to Earth to exploit it and Earths solar system.

‘What if we were recognised as a sentient race?’

‘No one would be allowed to attack your home planet.  If they did a universal force would be directed against the perpetrator and their worlds destroyed without mercy.  Not even the Modloch Empire could withstand such a force.  Their worlds would be shared out amongst those who fought in proportion to the resources they put in.’

‘Has this universal force ever been deployed?’

‘Only twice in thousands of years.  Both times against non-sentient races.  They were eradicated fully.  Not a single member of either species survive.’

‘So what is to stop this universal force coming after us?’

‘It simply can’t cross the barrier Captain.  Of course Universal war will be declared against your planet but there is little they can do about it.  The barrier would be patrolled after that of course, but that’s about all they could do.  No one would be allowed to trade with you either.’

‘How do you gain recognition as a sentient race?’

Orlath made some very strange noises and Steven realised he was laughing.  ‘I have never heard of a meat eating race even being considered as sentient.  For anyone else there is a number of ways.’

‘You believe we are a sentient race don’t you.’

Orlath became serious again, ‘yes Captain, of course I do.  I wouldn’t have mated with an animal.’

‘Exactly.  What if we made you part of the human race, would that count for anything?’

Orlath sat up sharply, ‘why would you do that Captain.  I am your enemy?’

‘You aren’t Orlath.’

‘If it wasn’t for me then you would not be facing this invasion.’

‘We have a world council Orlath.  I could ask for special dispensation and make you a member of the human race.  Your mate was human and the child she conceived was half human.’

Orlath leaned forward his mind racing.  ‘I am a member of a sentient race.  To change my race I would normally have to approach the department of foreign affairs of my chosen world who would then liaise with the department of foreign affairs from my planet of origin. It is normally a mere formality.  Our foreign department would then have to inform the department of immigration within the universal council.  They in turn would inform all planets and races including the race I was joining of my change of citizenship.  However if the applicant believes that there may be prejudice against him from his home planet he can apply straight to the department of universal foreign affairs via the foreign department of the world he wished to join.  He would have to site his reasons for by passing the normal protocols.  Only the most serious cases are ever even considered.  It would also have to be accompanied by a covering letter from the head of the world council from the race I wished to join.’