Alien Manifesto (24 page)

“
Now you tell me,” grumbled
the Irishman under his breath as he retrieved the sober ups for his
friend, each footstep causing a fresh flash of pain through his
skull.

Usually the sober up acted
almost instantly, however it was several minutes before either of
the pair felt any relief. Despite the tonic, the light was still
too bright and the ground unsteady for the pair.
I have to ride like this?
thought the Irishman, glad there would be no canyons to
search before rejoining the team at Snarth’s location.

As they mounted up Rowl said: “I am
sorry my friend, I should have remembered how potent my dad’s
spirits are. I should have put the bottle away rather than finish
it, forgive me.”

“
Nothing to forgive, my
friend, You didn’t pour that turpentine down my throat, as I
recall. I did this to myself,” answered the Irishman.

I and the stealth master were the
first to arrive, finding Snarth pacing around the cave entrance.
Tasha’s glance told me volumes, and I decided to keep my mouth shut
until spoken to. Without even acknowledging the pair of us with his
customary greeting, Snarth continued his pacing, seemingly lost in
his own thoughts. Tasha knew this to be a deception as Snarth
missed nothing and it made her uneasy.

Finally, Snarth stopped his pacing in
front of me and Tasha. With his version of an unhappy scowl Snarth
hissed, “I trussst you two ssslept well,” causing the hair along
Tasha’s back to rise slightly.

“
We will be able to perform
our duties satisfactorily, I assure you,” answered Tasha for the
both of us.

“
ssSatisssfactorily isss
not good enough. I am paying for extraordinary,” hissed the now
fully agitated Snarth.

“
And you shall have it,”
answered Tasha, the hair on her back now standing up all the way,
her tail beginning to twitch rapidly back and forth. Seeing the
stealth master’s growing agitation Snarth relented, satisfied that
he had gotten across his displeasure with being kept
waiting.

Snarth continued his pacing, waiting
for Rowl and the Irishman, growing more agitated by the minute. It
was not long before the bedraggled pair showed up, stopping
Snarth’s pacing. The pair had no sooner dismounted than Snarth
said, “It is about time, you two. What kept you? Never mind, I
think I know. Rowl have you two been at your daddy’s liquor
again?”

“
Not again sir,” answered
the Irishman, “This was the first and last time I drink any of that
turpentine.”

“
It doesss pack a ssserious
punch,” hissed Snarth sympathetically.

Then with a glare, he started in on
the uncomfortable pair. “I expect much more from my employeesss and
even more from my friendsss. I mussst confessss I am very
disssappointed in both of you. If it ever happensss again, you will
both be on a fassst ssship out of my sssight.”

“
It will not happen again
sir,” the pair answered in tandem.

“
Now if the adolessscent
love fessst and the intergalactic drunken celebration, for who
knowsss what, are over, can we pleassse get back to the businessss
at hand? I thought the four of you were to help me find a
treasssure, not have a vacation at my expenssse,” hissed Snarth,
continuing the ass chewing to include all four of the offending
team members.

An uncomfortable silence settled over
the cave entrance. Snarth let his words of displeasure sink in for
several minutes before speaking again. “Now that I have your
compete attention, ssSSlice hasss divided up the remaining
sssectors into sssearch gridsss. I hope we find sssomething or we
will have to recalibrate the bike sssensors and ssstart
over.”

“
That would be
unfortunate,” said SSlice interrupting Snarth’s tirade, “as I am
not sure how long until the sensor platform runs its
self-diagnostic. I think my program will remain undetected but I
cannot be absolutely certain. If it sticks to galactic standard
type protocols then we will be fine. If not we may only have a few
more days at the most.”

“
Then I sssuggest we get
ssstarted. Mount up, keep in clossse contact and good hunting,”
hissed Snarth. “I ssshould let the two of you sssuffer your
ssself-induced ssstupidity,” he hissed to the Irishman and Rowl.
“However, in the interessst of finding the underground city you
will find a couple more sssober upsss in my pack. ssSee to it that
you avail yourssself of them, it will help. Now, all of you, get
the hell out of here before I really lossse my temper,” hissed
Snarth, his agitation still showing.

PART TEN

Enemy at the
Gates

“
My Queen, my queen!” cried
a terrified aide, rousing her quickly from her deep
meditation.

“
What is so important that
you disturb my meditation? Speak quickly or I will feast on you and
all your nest mates.” That threat usually sent her aides scurrying
in terror, yet did not faze this aide.
His
news must be important indeed,
thought the
Queen as she preened her antennae, calming herself.

“
A huge fleet of enemy
warships has entered normal space and surrounded our home. We will
be destroyed,” wailed the hysterical aide. Leaning toward the
console at her elbow the Queen signaled the general in charge of
planetary defenses. “Raise the shields immediately,” she commanded.
“Recall the fleet NOW”

“
My Queen,” said the
planetary defense general, “that order must be given by the fleet
general. I raised the shields at the first sign of enemy ships.
They have not yet started any attack, so we do not yet know their
capabilities. If they use any weapon like we have encountered
elsewhere, any bombardment will be completely useless as long as
the power reserves hold out.”

“
And how long will that
be?” raged the Queen.

“
That depends on the
intensity of the enemy’s weapons. We will not know that until they
begin their attack.”

The Queen’s rage was interrupted by
the arrival of her top generals, possibly saving the planetary
defense general’s life. “I will deal with you later,” hissed the
Queen as she turned her fury to the generals who were cowering
before her, scraping their chest plates on the ground waiting to be
given permission to speak.

“
Recall the fleet at once,”
she ordered, as she began preening her antennae desperately trying
not to lose control and eat those she needed the most.

“
It has already been done,
my Queen,” answered one of the cowering generals. Much calmer now,
the Queen asked “How long before they get here?”

“
As you know, my queen, the
fleet is spread across a vast distance conquering the unbelievers
as you ordered.”

“
How long!” raged the
queen, nearly losing her self-control completely.

“
A small reactionary force
will be here in two days with the remainder of the heavy capital
ships arriving three to four days later. And we do not know how
long the power reserve will last until the enemy begins their
bombardment,” finished the fleet general.

“
How small a reactionary
force?” asked the queen.

“
One super destroyer, ten
heavy cruisers, twenty battle ships and one hundred light
destroyers and various support ships,” answered the general,
beginning to hope that he may live to serve his queen another
day.

“
Will it be enough to
defeat the enemy fleet?” the Queen asked.

“
If this fleet were like
any enemy ships we have encountered, yes, with ease,” answered a
more confident fleet general, now certain he would indeed live to
serve the Queen another day.

“
However, these ships are
of several different alien designs we have never encountered
before,” he continued emboldened. “We do not know what their
capabilities are or where exactly they came from. Preliminary
indications from their arrival trajectories are that they came from
an area we thought to be mostly uninhabited on the border of this
far quadrant,” said the general pointing to a star chart now being
displayed on the chamber’s chart projector. “Possibly even more
important is how they found the home world. We have not lost any
ships in that sector or any sector close to where we think the
aliens have come from,” finished the General.

“
First we must trick the
enemy into revealing the strength of their weapons. We will do this
by opening the shields intermittently and firing on the closest
ships. Once they return fire we can extrapolate their offensive
capabilities and can plan our attack accordingly,” said the newly
emboldened fleet general. “In the meantime we maintain our shield
status and wait for the fleet’s return. Use your plan and all
weapons at your disposal,” Begin at once!” commanded the Queen.
“Fear not, my children, we knew this day would come and we are well
prepared for it. The power of the sun is with us. The unbelievers
will be destroyed. Keep me informed. Now leave me to my
meditation,” commanded the queen, dismissing the entire general
staff.

As the queen slipped deep
into the netherworld of pure consciousness a thought strayed across
her mind just before she lost herself.
What if it were time for her to join the Old
Ones
? The thought so disturbed the Queen
that she was unable to achieve complete disconnection from her
physical self.

Irritated at the
interruption, the Queen’s mind was flooded with many
questions.
What would become of her
children and the empire she had created in the name of the one true
source of life, the sun?

A realization hit the Queen like a
thunderbolt, she must spawn her heir while there was still time,
before the bombardment that was sure to come. Quickly she returned
to her physical body: she had much to do and time was
short.

Too short, it seemed, as
she struggled with an unfamiliar disorientation. “Summon the
General of the army at once,” she bade her aide. “Have him meet me
in the royal mating chamber.”
He would be
her final mate, she realized.

If time permitted, the Queen intended
to spawn her heir then put all of her unborn children into
hibernation until the attack on the home world was over. Many Ones
would die, her fleet would be destroyed, and the enemy would think
they had won. Then she would submerge into the netherworld until it
was time to wake her children and reclaim her empire.

The Queen then hurried toward her
mating chamber, her crystal faintly glowing as she readied her one
special egg, carefully placing in it all of her knowledge and
experience. The Queen could feel the ground shake with the force of
the alien bombardment. She knew she would have just enough
time.

PART ELEVEN

Eureka!!

As Snarth sped toward his rendezvous
with SSlice, so the pair could begin the search of their sector,
his irritation and anger slowly dissipated. He realized that with
the exception of the canine and the Irishman being hung over, the
team was operating at a level of professionalism that would be the
envy of any military commander.

He regretted losing his temper; it was
very rude and unprofessional. He was also happy that Tom and the
feline were finally together. Now maybe they would get serious
about Tom’s training, perhaps even petition for the scars of
attainment. If any human could do it, it would be Tom.

The Irishman would be happy
with the bio-pleasure mech; for some unknown reason that still
baffled Snarth. That only left the canine without a mate. He was a
magnificent specimen, it would only require being in the company of
a willing female canine long enough for love’s arrow to strike,
canines were so uncomplicated.
I will see
to that as soon as we return,
thought
Snarth, then my family will be complete.
Careful, old one, once you start to care about them, you will
lose them to old age if not sooner,
said
Snarth’s conscience, almost destroying his now cheerful
mood.

“
Snarth,” came the excited
whisper like voice of SSlice over the communicator, snapping him
back on mission.

“
Please tell me you have a
return on your scanners,” he answered hopefully.

“
I do and it is huge,”
answered SSlice, “I am sure this is it.”

Changing his communicator to broadcast
on all of the team members’ frequencies Snarth said, “All team
membersss converge on ssSSlice’s coordinates at once. ssSSlice
hasss found the underground city. I repeat, ssSSlice hasss found
the underground city. We have done it, my friendsss. Lassst team to
arrive hasss kp.” With a huge grin on his face, Snarth rolled back
on the bike’s accelerator all the way to full power. He would be on
top of SSlice’s location in minutes, hopefully long before any of
the others.

Much to Snarth’s surprise, he was the
last one to arrive. All of the other team members were already
dismounted and lounging around nonchalantly, waiting. Smelling a
practical joke in the making, Snarth said, “About time you all
ssshowed up. I was getting tired of circling.”

“
Is that so?” woofed the
canine in response. “Seems to me the last one here has kp. Or was
that my imagination?”