Alien Manifesto (32 page)

With a gasp of fresh air, my mate
opened her eyes and grabbed me around my neck, holding me very
tight. Our silent embrace lasted several minutes, and as we
reluctantly broke the embrace our eyes locked, sparks
flying.

“
Doc here says you will be
as good as new in a couple of light cycles. Until then you are on
bed rest,” I said.

“
The bones must have time
to strengthen. Your body will require much nutrition,” bleeped the
head surgical mech. “Eat whenever you are hungry for the next three
light cycles. I recommend a protein rich diet,” he
bleeped.

“
Bed rest,” purred my mate:
“My thoughts exactly,” as she grabbed me by the front of my tunic,
drawing me even closer, embracing me, crushing her lips against
mine, causing a painful pounding in my groin.

We retreated to our quarters, only
emerging for an occasional feast. SSlice was holed up in the
control room talking to the ship’s computer and Snarth had
sequestered himself in his quarters having his meals delivered to
his room by servant mech. This is how it had been for three light
cycles, leaving the Irishman and Rowl to run the security of the
ship and stand guard over Snarth’s quarters.

PART TWENTY-TWO

Time to Collect

“
Thisss had better work,
ssSSlice, or I could lossse a valuable member of my team,” hissed
Snarth over his private channel, from the captain’s
quarters.

“
It will, my friend, it
will. Rowl has been betrothed to Kareen since birth and soon he
will not be able to resist the urge to mate. I am sure she will
come. She must be tired of waiting on Rowl by now,” answered SSlice
in his breezy whisper of a voice.

Then Snarth asked the one question
that was on every team member’s mind “Are the jewelsss real or not
ssSSlice?”

“
Every scan I can run from
here has been done. I cannot say with 100% certainly but I would
have to say yes: only a series of specialized scans by a banking
jewel expert can tell for sure,” whispered SSlice.

“
You do know what the
penalty for possssessssion of fraudulent banking jewlesss isss and
I have much to do before I die,” hissed Snarth.

“
Did you get in touch with
ssSniggle?” hissed Snarth after several tense short time units,
changing the subject.

“
I did, and all is forgiven
for only twenty percent,” answered SSlice with his wispy
laugh.

“
ssSniggle has always been
sssuch a good sssport,” hissed Snarth with a grin.

“
I do hope he appreciated
my gift of ssShorty and hisss organization, that isss if hisss
petsss left any identifiable partsss of Shorty,” Snarth hissed with
a chuckle.

“
And what of the feline
master’s pregnancy?” whispered SSlice.

With a grim-edged glint in his eyes,
Snarth hissed, his grin disappearing “Let usss get through the
party firssst. Perhapsss by then we will have a better
underssstanding of the royal hierarchy on the feline home world.
Let’s not poke the feline assssassin’sss nest, ssshall we, that
kind of trouble we do not need,” hissed Snarth. “It will be up to
Human Tom and the feline master azsss to whom they ssshould tell
and when.”

~

“
My love,” said my mate as
we curled up together in one of our brief rest periods between
lovemaking. I stirred, having almost dozed off. “We must talk,” she
mewed. Turning to her, I looked deep into her exotic green eyes,
nearly losing my self-control in another sudden flush of renewed
passion.

As I struggled to restrain myself I
whispered in her ear, “I already know about the babies and I could
not be happier.” With a loud purr, my mate pushed me back down on
the bed, straddling me, and that was the end of my
self-control.

~

As we rested, cuddling once
more after a bout of lovemaking so tender as to move my soul, the
ship’s intercom squawked, destroying the moment. It was the
Irishman, “Wake up you two; Snarth wants us all in the forward
lounge in fifteen short time units.”
We
would have just enough time to bathe, barring any repeat
performances.

“
We will see you then,” I
answered for the both of us as my mate headed for the fresher, her
muscles rippling as she walked, with her best come-hither look on
her furry face. I had better hurry, we only had fifteen short time
units.

As it turned out, my mate and I were
only five minutes late to Snarth’s briefing in the forward
lounge.

“
Nice of you to join usss,
you two,” hissed Snarth, half in jest, half in
disapproval.

“
It won’t happen again
Sir,” I said, standing at attention out of reflex.

“
ssSee to it that it doesss
not. Take your ssseatsss and let’sss get ssstarted,” hissed Snarth,
unable to hide his annoyance at being kept waiting.

“
Now that I have
everyone’sss undivided attention,” Snarth hissed, “ssSSlice tellsss
me that the banking jewelsss are authentic azsss far azsss we can
tell. An expert will have to certify them before we sssell them of
courssse. I have decided to use ssseveral different third partiesss
to sssell them to the highessst bidder,” he hissed. “That may give
usss sssome time before anyone connectsss the dotsss and
dissscoversss what we really found.”

“
I estimate we will be able
to sell approximately sixty seven percent of the crystals in the
first chamber before any disruption in the credit market is felt
and an investigation into the source is started,” whispered SSlice.
“If we were to dump the two additional chambers’ crystals onto the
open market, the entire galactic financial system would collapse as
the value of banking jewels plummets,” he whispered. “We must be
very, very careful my friends. We will undoubtedly make some very
powerful beings uneasy and that makes them very dangerous,” said
SSlice, whispering his warning.

“
Uneasssy to sssay the
leassst,” hissed Snarth, “-outright ssscared isss more like what
the galactic government will be. Unlessss we unload them very
ssslowly, sssay one hundred at a time, we will be dissscovered
quickly,” he hissed. “That meansss you may all have to wait on your
own private essstate planetsss for a little while. If we all agree,
I will take care of all the necessssary arrangementsss.”

“
I am good with that,” I
said.

“
Me too,” purred the feline
master.

“
Us too,” said the
Irishman, after a quick glance at and nod from his friend
Rowl.

“
It isss agreed then,
hissed Snarth. The four of usss will bring one hundred cryssstals
for each team member back to the ssship. Then we will ssseal the
chamber and head for home. ssSSlice: get the ssship ready for
take-off. Massster feline, you are on bed ressst,” hissed Snarth,
holding up his hand to stop any protest, “by doctor’sss ordersss,
not mine. You all have your ordersss: now move out.”

In our parting embrace the feline
master purred softly into my ear, “Tom, I have something very
important to tell you and it cannot wait any longer. We must speak
of it tonight. Come back to me safely my love.”

“
Something more important
than your brother the king or the twins?” I asked her.

“
Yes,” she mewed in
answer.

Puzzled, I gave her one last quick
peck on the lips, “Nothing can keep me from coming back, not your
brother or any the of Queen’s leftover bag of tricks. I have too
much to live for now.”

Hearing that, Snarth grinned hugely
inwardly. “I will bring him back, Massster Feline,” Snarth hissed.
“After all, Uncle ssSnarth hasss a training ground for young onesss
to build and I am not doing it alone, that’s for
sssure.”

~

As I climbed on my cycle,
my thoughts were on the future, not on the mission, and that was a
first for me.
Would being a father dull my
edge, cause me to withdraw rather than go for the kill? My thoughts
drifted back to something Snarth had said not long ago. How did it
go? Oh yeah; there are old warriors and there are bold warriors but
no old, bold warriors.

~

After the short trip back to the ledge
leading into the Queen's chamber, the team was happy to see the
door wide open. As we dismounted under the cover of the hovering
Irishman’s blasters, the team cloaked and secured the landing site
so the Irishman could join the party.

Rowl and I were on point while the
Irishman did what he did best; guard our retreat. Peering inside
the Queen’s chamber for the first time since our battle with the
Queen gave me the jitters. I half expected a horde of the Queen’s
aides or worse, One warriors, to come swarming out of hiding and
into the main chamber to guard the dead queen’s body, claiming a
bloody vengeance on all of us.

“
By twosss to the
treasssure chamber, Human Tom you take point, Rowl back him up,
move out,” ordered Snarth as we made our way into the Queen’s
chamber. I felt a flush of hate and revulsion as I passed the
queen’s decomposing body.

There was still no sign of any of the
queen’s aides or warriors, much to my relief. I suddenly realized I
was way too keyed up and overly anxious for such a simple mission.
Then it dawned on me that I may have already had my edge dulled by
my new responsibilities, and that bothered me. Shrugging off my bad
thoughts, I focused my attention on the mission and just what was
in the long hallway I was leading the team down.

With a sputtering hiss and a bright
flash, Snarth lit the flares to illuminate the passageway that led
to the treasure chamber. We arrived at the chamber without incident
and Snarth opened the door under the cover of my blaster
rifle.

Rowl had point and the Irishman the
retreat. Flares had been deployed at the entrance and as far down
the hallway as the launcher’s limited range allowed. We would see
anything coming from either direction, giving us enough warning to
engage whatever came.

The sight of a room filled with neat
stacks of the most beautiful blue jewels I had ever seen awed me
once again. “How much are they worth?” I breathed out
loud.

“
If we could get market
price, one thousssand of these jewlesss would buy an Earth sssized
planet. However, we will not get market price as we have to sssplit
with the third party tradersss and deal through unofficial
channelsss,” lamented Snarth.

“
Human Tom, take one of the
bagsss we brought and put azsss many jewelsss in it azsss you can
carry and ssstill fight,” hissed Snarth. As I opened the bag and
lifted the first jewel, I was surprised as to how heavy they were;
much more than they looked, about ten pounds each.

At that weight, we would be making
several trips in order to get the six hundred we needed for our
first haul. “At thisss weight we may have to sssettle for fifty
jewels each. I am not sssure my ssship will carry the weight of
sssix hundred jewels. ssShe wasss built for comfort not cargo,”
hissed Snarth as he started filling his own bag.

I had twenty-five jewels in my bag
when I stopped filling it. I could easily swing the bag over my
shoulder and still use the blaster rifle. “Twenty five seems about
the right weight,” I said to Snarth.

“
That meansss three tripsss
back to the ssship”, Snarth hissed. “Get a move on, I want to be
finissshed by the dark cycle.”

“
Yes sir,” I answered as I
started filling the second bag.

Snarth paused in his efforts and
hissed into the communicator, “Rowl, report.”

“
All clear sir,” came
Rowl’s immediate answer.

“
Irishman, report,” hissed
Snarth again.

“
All clear here sir,” came
the Irishman’s immediate answer. This seemed to settle Snarth’s
sudden anxiety and he began filling his second bag, “Too damn’
quiet if you asssk me,” he hissed half under his breath.

By the time we got back to the cycles
my bag seemed like it weighed five hundred pounds rather than two
hundred and fifty. Rowl and Snarth were equally winded but the
Irishman struggled the most. He had refused enhancements by the
doctor and I am sure he was regretting it right now.

“
Ok Snarth,” he said
through ragged breaths as he arrived at the cycles, “I give up, you
win, call your doctor when we get back.” Snarth just nodded, too
wise and winded to say I told you so.

As I loaded the huge bag of crystals
on my bike, I heard Snarth hiss, “Next trip we bring the bikesss
all the way to the treasssure room one at a time, that hallway isss
big enough if we back them in or out.”

“
Or turn them around in the
treasure chamber,” added the Irishman, his breath having returned.
The next two trips went much, much more easily, needless to say.
After which we sealed both the chamber and the entrance to the
Queen’s chamber.

PART
TWENTY-THREE

A Test to Take

After the crystals had been stored in
the cargo hold and the ship was headed back to Snarth’s estate, I
was soaking my tired muscles in the hot tub while my mate gave me a
very thorough scrubbing. As I reached for her she shied away,
confusing me. Her giving me a bath was usually a prelude to very
passionate lovemaking.