Part 4 - Part 02

“We should make building the transmitter a priority. We don’t know what will happen to us; especially to Otsiron when the Commission arrives,” said the Captain looking at Enai.

“I think my associates have already started working on that project. I’ll go and tell them to hurry it up. I’ll see you later,” replied Enai and left the lab.

“We should go and see how your wife and daughter are doing… and inspect the reception area,” I said.

Both the Captain and Ukasnek agreed and we left the lab. On the way there we ran into the associate who’d gone looking for cameras. He told us that he’d already installed the camera in the reception

area, modified the database and everything was ready to go. He then left in a hurry, heading for the lab.

“Why did he add a camera to the reception computer?” asked the Captain.

“Because Enai probably told him to…” replied Ukasnek.

“It doesn’t hurt to have a picture of the people looking for their relatives? Does it?” I asked.

“I guess not. It’s better to have one than not to…” replied the Captain.

“There they are,” cried Ukasnek as he waved to Amih and Ireva.

When we arrived Amih introduced us to the two men standing by the machine, whose names my translator botched up. She told us they were ready to assist with the operation that could be started any time now. They even offered to take down contact details and enter them into our computer.

“That’s great,” Captain Orihci said and then looked at me. I looked like I had something to say.

“What now…?” he asked.

“Well, we need the skilled staff to operate the machines and we do intend to run them for as long as possible, day and night; nonstop if necessary right? Wouldn’t it make more sense to have volunteers enter data into the computers, while the skilled staff work in shifts?”

“Of course… We can do that,” replied one of operators. “Perhaps that’s what our supervisors were thinking when they sent us over. It takes one operator to run the machine and the machines were designed to run nonstop.”

Captain Orihci then turned to Amih and said, “Since you’re in charge of running this area, find your volunteers, work out your shifts as you see fit and get this operation going please… And by the

way, keep track of who is doing what and for how long. I intend to pay these people… The moment my appointment as Governor is confirmed I’ll pay them… They deserve it… They need to eat too you know… See you later.”

The moment Captain Orihci finished talking he turned around and headed for the exit. Ukasnek and I waved goodbye and followed.

We heard the operators say, “Thank you Governor Orihci, you’re very kind…”

“I didn’t mean them… But now I guess I have to pay them too…” the Captain said and laughed.

“I’m confused now,” I said. “What do I call you, Captain Orihci, Governor Orihci, Captain Governor Orihci, Governor Captain Orihci, or just Orihci?”

After he laughed out loud he said, “If you weren’t so big and if I didn’t fear you would slap me back, I would have slapped you behind your neck so hard I’d have sent the snot flying out of your snout.”

“Don’t tempt him, he’d do it. When we were young he used to do that to me… for fun… Only he was the one having the fun…” said Ukasnek.

“You can call me whatever you want provided you find one more of those full bottles of rakia. And please, don’t lie to me and tell me you don’t have any. I know you do. You have some stashed inside your ship. Am I right…? For medicinal purposes only, of course,” suggested the Captain, thought for a moment and continued. “For now you can call me Captain Orihci. I like the sound of that… It makes me feel like I’m still a Captain… of something.”

“Then Captain Orihci it is…” I replied and added. “It looks like you’re sliding nicely into your role as ‘the boss’. You even dared to order your wife around…” I said jokingly.

“Well you know, I learn things from you… I do as you do… I fumble my way around, speak loudly and pretend I know what I’m doing,” the Captain replied and laughed out loud.

Then Ukasnek looked at me with a sad face and sarcastically said, “Oh, I’m so sorry…” Then he laughed and said, “No I’m not… I’m happy to sit here and not be the butt of his jokes for once. But I have to admit, you walked into that one all by yourself...”

“All joking aside, let’s go to the lab and get Enai and his associates going on the DNA collection…” the Captain said.

“After that let’s get something to eat,” Ukasnek suggested.

“After that we can go back to your ship and find some of the illusive rakia you’ve been hiding and resume our discussion from this morning. We should also invite Enai. I like him, he’s a good guy,” said the Captain.

“You think he’s a good guy because you know nothing about him… I’ll tell you things about him that will make your skin crawl, but later…” Ukasnek said just as we arrived at the lab.

Captain Orihci went inside by himself. Ukasnek and I stayed outside by the door. Moments later we heard a lot of cheering and yelling. When the Captain came back he said, “Yeah, I do like my new role as ‘the boss’. I never knew how happy people could get when you throw someone else’s money at them… Maybe I’ll turn into a politician some day after all…”

“I’m starting to like you even more…” said Ukasnek.

Even before I had a chance to ask him how it had gone in there, the Captain said, “I made them the same offer I made to those in the reception area and they gladly took it. Also, they are prepared to start the ‘DNA collection process’ immediately and will work shifts… God, money is such a great motivator… They’re also working on the transmitter you asked them to build and think they’ll have it working by tomorrow. They’ll need you to help them test it. I

also invited Enai to our get together on your ship. He’ll be there later. Now let’s go and eat.”

As we walked towards the dining area the Captain seemed distracted. He moved his head to the side from time to time, like he was talking to someone.

“I never saw him bob his head like that before,” I said jokingly to Ukasnek who was walking next to me behind the Captain.

“He does that when he’s deep in thought.”

“Making fun of me again are you?” asked the Captain.

“No Sir!” said Ukasnek… “Just stating the facts…”

In my attempt to gain entry into my ship the Captain couldn’t help but tease me yet again about taking forever to open the hatch. This time he did it to get back at me for the remarks I’d made about him bobbing his head.

“I bet you I can open the hatch on my huge destroyer ten times faster that he can open the hatch on this dinky ship,” he said to Ukasnek

“That joke is getting a bit old and stale...” I complained.

Ukasnek laughed and the Captain slapped him on his neck.

After we’d entered my ship and sat down, the Captain said, “Let Ukasnek look for the rakia. He’s good at that… He’s good at finding things fast...”

After Ukasnek got up to look I said, “No! I’ll look for it myself. Ukasnek can get us some cups… Wash those on the floor… And get some food if you want a snack with your drink.”

I walked over and opened the box with the green stuff the Captain had given us when we visited him on his island home and pulled out a bottle of rakia.

“What the hell?” he said and looked at me. “I didn’t give you any rakia, did I?” Then he smiled slyly and said, “Oh, I get it… You clever bastard, you hid the stuff where you thought I’d never look…”

After we had our laugh I handed the Captain the bottle.

Enai arrived about two hours later. The two were singing a pirate song in their native language. They were trying to teach it to me.

“Ah, you’re here…” I said.

But instead of answering me Enai began to sing along with them.

Surprised, the Captain stopped singing and said, “How’s that possible? No one but us locals speaks our language; never mind knowing that song!?”

“Your best friend, my co-conspirator and former business partner taught it to me. He said it was part of my initiation to becoming a pirate,” replied Enai.

“I guess there’s a lot I don’t know about you… but I’m glad you’re one of us…” said the Captain.

After we had one more drink, the first for Enai, the Captain reached into the box, pulled out another bottle, turned to me and said, “Earlier today when we were having our conversation you said, ‘I won’t allow them to railroad my friends into taking the rap…’ What exactly did you mean by that…? Start a war with the central government?”

“Yes, if those running your central government are that stupid, I will. If they’re like the clown they sent to investigate us… I will. But I don’t think they’re that stupid,” I replied.

“How so?” asked the Captain.

“For starters they have no warships or armies. If they do have armies then how will they get them here? We, on the other hand, have a million well-armed super soldiers and my ship. It’s no destroyer but it has a reputation… It did disable your best ship, didn’t it? And everyone, including you, knows it…” I replied.

“Yeah… You told me that yourself, remember? He outsmarted that shithead aristocrat Captain and sent him into retirement… Who can forget that?” said Ukasnek.

“I don’t know anything about this and I hope you’re not planning to go to war for my sake…” said Enai.

“We’re not going to war… I’d rather surrender than bring death and destruction to anyone. I don’t care about myself. I’m a soldier and prepared to die to save lives… But Otsiron here has a good point. They think he’s crazy…” said the Captain, looked at me, smiled and said, “cunningly crazy with all the power in the world. They also know my destroyer is here. And if they don’t know we’ll make sure they find out.”

“We’re getting ahead of ourselves,” I said. “They’re sending an investigative commission, not the military. They’ll depend on us to tell them what happened here. We will make sure they know all the facts before they write their report. Also included in those facts will be the power we wield here. We’ll make sure they write that down. We will make sure they know we have your ships, mine and the Captain’s under our control. Let’s not forget the fact that we also have the planet Ostikon behind us. I’m a member of the Ostikon war council. They don’t know what kind of power I wield…? Ostikon entrusted me with their most powerful ship. Surely I must wield a lot of power, right? The commission will only know what we tell them. All these things we’re talking about will have to enter their report but not sound like a threat. We’ll need to feed them this information indirectly… Make sure they understand all these things and write them down but not sound like threats.”

“And how are we going to do that?” asked Enai.

“Well, when you describe the current situation with the super soldiers you make sure you tell them that they are all under my control… They obey my every command… They do everything I tell them to do. It’s the truth; you won’t be lying to them. But you have to make sure the commission understands all that. Give them some examples. Tell them what happened when the governor tried to arrest me…” I replied.

“You mentioned my ship. You know I can’t make use of my ship without a properly trained crew, right? How am I going to convince them I have control of my ship?” asked Captain Orihci.

“Well, you don’t have to tell them you have control, all you have to tell them is that you’re preparing to fly your ship. You’re bringing back most of your old crew and recruiting locals to fill the entire supplement,” I replied.

“You’ve done this before haven’t you?” asked Captain Orihci.

“Done what?”

“Bluffed your way out of trouble.”

“Yes, all the time. Bluffing is part of my strategy… for keeping the opponent in check. Wars are won, not only by brute force but also by psychology and cunning. You have to know how your opponent thinks and how he’ll react to certain situations. You just tell him indirectly what you want him to know, while you play dumb.”

“What do I tell them?” asked Ukasnek.

“You don’t tell them anything. You stay clear of the commission. You have a long criminal record. There may still be warrants for your arrest. Don’t take risks, please…” stressed the Captain.

By now we’d drunk the second bottle of rakia and if we continued to talk we’d be opening a third bottle so I said, “I’m feeling kind of tired, I think we should take a break and rest for a while.”

“I agree,” Enai said and added. “I need to go back and see what my associates are doing with that transmitter and make sure they finish it before tomorrow.”

“I’d better go too before my wife and daughter come looking for me. They already think we’re overdoing it with the drinking,” the Captain said.

“I’ll go with the Captain. Good night,” Ukasnek said and they all left.

I decided to spend the night on my ship, so after I closed the hatch I went to bed.

I don’t remember what time I went to sleep but it seemed like moments later that I heard banging on the hull of my ship.

“Who the hell is banging in the middle of the night,” I yelled. When I opened my eyes I saw light. “It’s morning already?” I yelled and punched the hatch open button.

“What do you want?” I yelled.

One of Enai’s associates came in speaking in a language I didn’t understand.

He ran over to my chair, grabbed the translator box, punched the on button and handed it to me. “We ran into a snag with the transmitter and need your assistance immediately.”

“What kind of snag?” I asked while putting on my super soldier uniform. By now he had turned his back to me to give me some privacy, or he was grossed out by my bulky and ugly body.

“Well, everything works but the soldiers aren’t responding. We need to run some tests on you to see what you’re actually sending when you talk to the soldiers. And for that we need to hook you up to the receiver we have set up in the lab. We need to monitor and see what comes out of your brain.”

By the time he’d finished explaining we were in the lab and I was hooked up to a device.

“Now turn on your transmitter and say something to the soldiers.”

So, as per usual, I didn’t bother to go through the commands and started out by thinking of one of my favourite Macedonian songs to which the soldiers were accustomed.

I heard the associate yell, “Holy shit! This can’t be?” and called for the others to come and see.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Data overload…” he said. “I haven’t seen anything like it before. It’s like your brain opened up and spilled its entire contents. So much information… and in 3D.”

The others agreed.

“What does this mean?” I asked.

“We can’t do it…” he replied and Enai shrugged his shoulders.

“What do you mean you can’t do it? You need to do it! Find a way!” I yelled.

“Getting angry at us doesn’t help,” Enai advised.

“I’m sorry my friends, I’m not angry at you… I’m just frustrated…”

“We all sat there scratching our heads when I asked, “Well, how did the big robot do it? Wasn’t he just a computer?”

“No… I guess I never mentioned this to you. The big robot had a human brain that was connected to a computer, a chip and a transmitter. That’s why we can’t do this without a human brain… Besides, we don’t have the knowledge or the tools to do it with… Nor do we want to do it even if we could…” replied Enai.

“What are you telling me then? I’m stuck here for life? I’ll never be able go home to earth or go back to Ostikon? That I will never see my friends in person again…?”

They all looked down and no one said a word.

After a deep sigh and a long pause I asked, “What if we copy what comes out of my brain, digitize it, copy it into the computer, recreate it and play it back through the chip and out the transmitter? Will that work?”

“Well, I don’t know. Let’s give it a try and see,” replied Enai. “What gave you that idea?”

“Well, when you watch something on a video screen can you tell if the message is live? No! You can’t really tell. It could have been prerecorded. So what if we prerecord what comes out of my brain and play it back for the soldiers later. Will that work? I’m sure it will, but do we have the technology to do it...? And by that I mean put the message through an analog to digital device, recode it in a computer and play it back through a digital to analog device.

“I know how that works…” Enai said and added. “We do have the technology but I’m not sure how long it will take to cycle the message one million times.”

“Let’s try it and see… What do we have to lose…?” I replied.

By the time I finished talking with Enai, the others had gathered all the equipment they needed to do the experiment and were ready to hook it up. It took them about half an hour to get it all working. In the meantime they had me invite Nine to the lab. When they were ready to test they shoved me in a metal cage and, before closing the metal door, asked me order Nine to sit down. When they opened the door Nine was still standing up.

“What happened?” I asked.

“It worked!’ one of them cried, with excitement in his voice.

“No it didn’t!” I replied.

Enai came over and explained the entire process to me. “We had to place you in a metal box to see if the signal from your transmitter could be blocked and it was. Now we’ll give you a passive antenna, you know the kind that doesn’t have any powered devices in it and we’ll record the signals coming out of your brain through the transmitter resting on your head. But in order for the signal to be pure and clean, not contaminated by other signals or equipment interference, it has to be recorded in a clean environment. That’s why it needs to be done in isolation. That’s why we have to put you in this box.”

“Okay then, let’s do this.”

After they recorded my signal ordering Nine to sit down, they opened the cage door and asked me to turn off my transmitter. Then they played back the signal through the transmitter they were building and Nine obeyed. She sat down.

Everyone was happy that the experiment had worked.

A couple of hours later we finished recording all the necessary routine messages that would be needed to take care of the soldiers in my absence.

A few minutes later Enai, looking sober, gave me the news about the cycle time. “The shortest time for talking to one million soldiers will be six minutes and the longest seventeen minutes but we can slightly shorten those cycles by not transmitting to soldiers that don’t exist in our list.”

“Hey that’s great. Congratulations,” I said and asked if I could dismiss Nine.

Enai smiled, took a deep breath and said, “Yes, yes you can send Nine back. We don’t need her anymore…” He then paused for a moment, “Thank God you’re happy with the cycle time numbers. That worried me a bit.”

“I think stretching out the cycle time instead of sending the commands to all the soldiers at once will somewhat alleviate the bottlenecks, especially the long lines waiting to get through the doors or waiting to get on the exercise machines in the gymnasiums, etc. Also, there’s no need to shorten the cycle times. Leave them as they are. Start with number one, even though there is no soldier associated with that number and end with one million,” I replied.

“In that case, we’ll assemble the equipment and install it in a special booth on top of the facility. We’ll do it right now,” said Enai.

“No. Not above the facility! It won’t be safe there. A passing ship could blow it up. Place the equipment in a secure room inside the facility and put only the transmitting antenna on top. Make sure the antenna is easily replaceable in case it’s destroyed. And make sure you have spare antennas and backup equipment. Store everything in a separate secure room because you never know…” I said when I was interrupted by one of Enai’s associates calling him.

“Thanks for that… and sorry I have to go,” said Enai and left to join the others.

When I realized what time it was I went straight to the dining area to have some food but when I got there the place was closed. “Oh no, not again…” I mumbled to myself and asked. “Where is Ukasnek when you need him?” I decided to go to the reception area and found Ukasnek there. He’d saved a platter of food for me.

Hours later, while standing near the Machine in the reception area having a conversation with Captain Orihci, I suddenly heard a loud voice speaking to me in a language I didn’t understand, followed by a sudden flash of streaming images. They were so intense they made me lose consciousness and I fell to the ground. The flash of images was instantaneous but debilitating. When I regained consciousness I saw people all around looking at me, asking if I was okay. I tried but was unable to respond. Not knowing what to do, Captain Orihci sent Ukasnek to get Enai. I was still on the ground unable to move when Enai arrived.

“What happened?” he asked frantically. No one knew.

When Captain Orihci explained to him what had happened Enai asked him, “When exactly did it happen?” When the Captain gave him the exact time, Enai said, “It was that damned transmitter that did it. It happened the very moment we sent a message to all the super soldiers on our list… I should have known… His number was on the list. It shouldn’t have been there. I forgot to delete it.”

“So what happens now? Can you fix him?” asked the Captain.

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?” yelled the Captain.

There was a stir in the crowd that had gathered all around me.

“I’ve seen this before… with soldiers whose brain wasn’t completely erased. That’s why we had to erase many functions of their brains… To stop this from happening...” replied Enai.

“So, what will happen to him?” asked the Captain.

“According to our findings he’ll die. Right now he’s in a coma. We need to wake him up or he’ll die. But how? In the past we tried everything but nothing worked,” replied Enai.

“I know what to do,” said Ukasnek.

The Captain and Enai looked at each other.

“I’m out of options, let him do what he thinks will help. What do we have to lose?”

The Captain agreed and said, “Go ahead!”

“First, get everyone out of here because I don’t know what will happen.” After everyone was gone he reached into my uniform pocket, pulled out a vial of fire water and squeezed it into my mouth. About twenty seconds later I jumped up like a wild animal

after it had been tranquilized and given the antidote. Everyone stood back while I struggled to get up and regain my balance.

“What happened?” I asked. At that point everyone looking on from the distance came back yelling and cheering.

“Hey, you’re alive again. Welcome back from the dead. Now I have to declare you immortal…” said the Captain jokingly in a loud voice. He didn’t know that I could hear and see them and that only my body was paralyzed. The other soldiers in my situation probably died of thirst, starvation, or neglect. Enai’s diagnosis was wrong. I wasn’t in a coma, my body was completely paralyzed but my mind was still working. The fire water must have given me the necessary boost of energy to snap me out of my paralysis.

After Enai explained everything about what had happened to me, he asked for my soldier number so that he could remove it from the list.

“Whisper it to me. No one must know your number! Your number and what happened here must remain a secret. I’m going to take care of this right now,” and then he left.

While Enai was gone I asked one of his associates why this hadn’t happened to me earlier, when I heard my own voice… when I first made contact with the soldiers.

“You didn’t know how to fully use the power of your chip then. Also you hadn’t yet bonded with the super soldiers or developed the capability to send them images. It was the images that knocked you out. They were so fast and so intense that they sapped every gram of energy from your body. While your brain was trying to process them at the same time it was running every function in your body. In the beginning we didn’t think it was possible for a soldier to bond with another soldier… never mind one soldier with every soldier. We also thought it was impossible for a soldier to send images and memories to other soldiers like you do In fact, according to our analysis, you have way better contact with the soldiers than the big robot ever did. The soldiers are much happier now than they have ever been. We had no sickness and no odd behaviour. I know that because we regularly monitor their health. Also, since you’re the

only one with the capability of sending images and have turned off the ability to send information to yourself, we didn’t think you were in danger…” he concluded, paused for a moment and continued. “Who am I kidding? There are so many things taking place and so fast, we cut corners. We simply forgot… But I’m happy that we didn’t kill you.”

When Enai came back, he, Captain Orihci and Ukasnek escorted me to my room in the facility and Enai gave me an injection.

“Sleep now and recuperate, you have a long day tomorrow. The people from Ostikon are coming to deliver the Machines and I want you to be in ship shape.”

“Yes doctor!” I said jokingly, removed my uniform and went to bed.

A surprise visit

Sometime later I felt a small hand slapping my face gently and a voice saying, “Wake up, wake up. It’s your doctor ordering you to wake up.”

Suddenly, I grabbed the hand that was slapping me by the wrist and asked, “Where am I? What time is it? What are you doing here? Is there a problem?”

After I opened my eyes I said, “Oh, it’s you Enai, what can I do for you?”

“You can let go of my wrist. You’re breaking it!”

“Oh, I’m sorry…”

I looked around and saw Captain Orihci and Ukasnek looking at me.

“Good morning gentlemen, what brings you all here?”

“What morning? It’s mid-afternoon already…” replied Captain Orihci.

“You mean to tell me I slept through to the next day past noon? What did you give me Enai, a horse tranquilizer?”

“I don’t know what a horse is but I guess the dosage of the sedative I gave you was too strong. I’m sorry about that. I’m still experimenting with the dosage for soldiers.”

I jumped out of bed suddenly and said, “Shit! Did I miss the arrival of the ship from Ostikon?”

“Sir, please cover yourself…! You haven’t missed anything. I made a mistake with the date. I’m sorry about that too. The ship is arriving tomorrow, not today. When I realized that, I decided to let you sleep as long as you wanted so that you’d fully recuperate. But when I saw you weren’t getting up on your own, we came to see how you were doing.”

“In other words we came to see if you were dead or if Enai had killed you for sure this time…” Ukasnek said with a serious look on his face.

Captain Orihci broke into laughter. It was contagious and we all started laughing.

“That’s the best joke I’ve ever heard you tell…” the Captain told Ukasnek.

“Now get the hell out of my room,” I yelled, “so I can get dressed… Wait for me outside.”

When I stepped outside I said, “Shit! What about the soldiers… They must be going berserk by now?”

“Don’t worry about them. We put the system online yesterday and it works. They all think you’re alive and well, even if you aren’t,” explained Enai.

“I never knew you to be a joker Enai.”

“Because you don’t know him as well as you think,” said Ukasnek.

“Don’t you think I would have woken you if the device hadn’t worked? You know we would have been up to our eyebrows in shit if it didn’t,” replied Enai.

The Captain started laughing again and said, “It feels like we’re reaching a new low… we’re acting like teenagers… Let’s go and inspect the labs and see how things are going there.”

“I’m hungry, how about we eat something first?”

“We saved you plenty. It’s in the cooler in the lab,” replied Ukasnek.

While walking in silence to the lab, Captain Orihci broke out into laughter again.

“Okay, okay… It wasn’t that funny…” protested Ukasnek.

“Up to our eyebrows in shit… Try and picture that… One million soldiers each the size of a small hippo dumping all at once…” chuckled the Captain.

We all broke into laughter again.

“I wonder if those idiot associates of mine were dipping into the laughing gas again and forgot to turn it off. I never knew adults could laugh at silly things like that?” Enai muttered.

“I don’t see anyone else but us laughing out here?” I said, while still laughing.

“That’s because they haven’t heard my joke,” laughed Enai.

We stopped laughing when we arrived at the lab. The moment Enai’s associate, in charge of calling the soldiers, saw us he shook his head and said, “It’s so sad. According to their DNA every one of the soldiers I’ve called in is a local; mostly males, young men. Such a tragedy…”

We weren’t laughing anymore. We all felt a great sadness overcome us.

“What in God’s name are we going to tell the people…?” asked Captain Orihci. “Will they understand…? How many mothers are we going to upset when we tell them?”

He was probably thinking of his own wife.

“We’ll tell them the truth… exactly what happened… and that their sons and daughters are alive… That’s the most important part,” I replied as I thought of the anguish this would cause Amih because of her sons.

At that very moment Ireva entered the lab looking for her father.

“What’s wrong with all of you? You look like you’re at a funeral.”

Nobody wanted to speak.

When Ireva looked at Ukasnek he broke down and told her about the DNA discovery.

“Why are you so surprised?” Looking at me she said, “You’ve known this all along. You evacuated practically all the young men from Ostikon before they were turned into super soldiers and then you destroyed the rest when you bombed the facility. So naturally everyone who remained had to be a local or from the other Galaxy Trader planets that were raided by the robots. Practically every local who was abducted here was turned into a super soldier. You know that… your girlfriend Nine who is my cousin Jess is local, you know that right?”

“Yes, you’re right. There were no more than a few thousand locals who weren’t turned into super soldiers. When they were rescued some went home and many remained here. They are our helpers,” I replied.

“Now come with me and I’ll show you what we’ve done in the reception area…” ordered Ireva.

“You misunderstood us. We aren’t sad because the super soldiers are locals… We’re sad because of the pain we’ll bring to the relatives when we tell them their children are super soldiers… This includes your mother,” Captain Orihci said after a long silence.

“It will be no surprise to her. My mother already knows they were super soldiers. The question for her is, ‘are they alive or dead?’ You’re forgetting many were killed during the initial attack when the big robot was destroyed.”

“How do you know all this?” I asked.

“I’ve been asking questions and doing my own investigation. I ask questions and people tell me their stories. Now be quiet and smile,

my mother is looking at us. There’s no point in bringing her down too… with your nonsense.”

Amih was excited to tell us that they’d started taking DNA, pictures and contact information.

“All the people who made inquiries were locals and they all volunteered to help here or in the fields. Ireva started conducting interviews to get the people’s stories. Some have been here since before the facility was built and some even helped to build it. It was Ireva’s idea to collect their stories. One thing you didn’t ask us to do is prepare a clinic and a jail. We found space for both but we have no doctors or policemen.”

Somewhat surprised, Captain Orihci looked around and said, “Ukasnek, I appoint you police commissioner. You’re now responsible for law and order in the facility. I’ll ask Enai to find us a doctor or two.”

“I don’t know anything about the law and besides I’m a criminal, you said it yourself…”

Captain Orihci interrupted him and explained, “You’re all I have and I trust you to make the right call when it comes to crime. Use your common sense… Now go and find some volunteers to help you…”

After that Ireva took us on a tour of the accommodations area and we met some of the people she’d interviewed. We heard the problems they were facing, which gave us a better perspective of what life was like in the facility for the civilians and those working the fields. Captain Orihci appointed Ireva as the official investigator.

“Congratulations my dear, from now on you are our official investigative journalist and student of history. And you will be paid…”

We all felt like laughing but no one dared. Not only because we feared Ireva’s wrath but also because Captain Orihci was serious.

We spent the rest of the day roaming the facility and talking to people.

The next day I woke up early in the morning and went straight to the communications tower. There was a written message for me which, of course, I couldn’t read so I handed it back to the person who had given it to me and asked him to read it.

He gave me a strange look and read it out loud, “We’ve been contacted by the Ostikon ship. It will arrive early this morning…”

“What time?”

He said he didn’t know but it could be anytime now.

“Call them back and find out.”

Moments later he said the ship would arrive in approximately a half hour.

I quickly went to the lab and found Enai there.

“Enai don’t you ever sleep?”

“Not well. What can I do for you?”

I told him I was going outside to welcome the ship coming from Ostikon that was due to arrive in less than half an hour.

“Going alone? Ah, that might not be a good idea… I don’t think you are the best person to welcome them.”

“Why not? They know me…”

“Look at yourself… The best person would be Ireva. She’s been to their planet and knows a bit more about their culture and protocol, and she also speaks their language…”

“Okay then, go get her and Captain Orihci and meet me outside… Also bring some help to carry the machines back here,” I said and left.

About fifteen minutes later Captain Orihci, Ireva, Ukasnek, Enai, Amih and about ten others showed up.

I was about to jokingly ask how was it possible to wake that many people so quickly and have them ready, especially the women, in such a short time. But I decided not to when I realized they must have already been awake and prepared for this. Ireva and Amih were looking spiffy and Captain Orihci was wearing his military uniform.

“Wow!” I said, “Are we expecting royalty to arrive?”

“It was Ireva’s idea…” replied the Captain.

“I know a bit about their habits. They respect well dressed people.”

“Why are you all standing there looking so nervous?” I asked.

Only Ireva answered.

“I’ll get to speak their language again and perhaps… I’m hoping that Velika and Dafina might be there. You never know?”

For the next ten minutes or so we watched Ireva pace back and forth, biting her thumbnail and mumbling in a language no one there understood.

“She’s probably practicing her welcoming speech,” Amih said, trying to explain her odd behaviour.

“She must love and respect those people. I’ve never seen her so nervous before,” the Captain commented.

“That’s my girl… I’m proud of her…” said Ukasnek.

“There they are!” someone yelled.

They’d appeared from behind us. We were looking in the wrong direction. Ireva raised both arms, made some arm motions and pointed in front of where we were standing.

“Those are Ostikon hand signals. How does she know them?” I asked.

“They’re our signals too. I taught them to her. She used to help me land my ship in tight places. She’s a pilot too you know… unofficially,” Ukasnek said proudly.

I looked at the ship very carefully and if it wasn’t for the Macedonian star painted on its underside, I would have said this wasn’t an Ostikon ship. It must be a new model. They’d been working on building a new fleet since before Princess Vieria died. She’d wanted to revamp the military.

After the ship landed and turned off its engines we all dashed towards the ship’s rear and watched a large hatch open and turn into a ramp. Two middle aged women, dressed in white military uniforms with Macedonian symbols on them, stepped outside. Ireva spoke to them in the Ostikon language and they responded. Then six young women and six young men side by side in pairs, dressed in the same kind of uniform, stepped outside and waved at the small crowd gathering behind us. Following them were two older men also dressed in military uniforms. One of them said something to the two women standing at the bottom of the ramp and they followed the others, who were being escorted by Ireva and her mother past the cheering crowd and into the facility. The two older men stayed behind. The one who spoke kept looking into the crowd. I was curious to know what he was looking for so I went closer. I instantly recognized them. It was Delche and Ori.

“Delche, Ori,” I yelled in Macedonian.

“Otsiron is that you? I can hear you but I can’t see you anywhere. Where are you?” Delche yelled as Ori stepped forward to look for me.

“The big guy in front of you wearing black…” I said and grabbed Delche’s arm.

“What the hell?” he yelled and tried to free himself.

“Look at his face…” said Ori in Macedonian.

“What have you done to yourself,” yelled Delche, looking horrified.

“I did what I had to do. This is the price I paid for ending the war and freeing your people,” I said and gave him a big hug. I could see tears running down Delche’s cheeks. Then I went and hugged Ori who was already tearing up.

“It’s nice to see you guys… What the hell are you doing here?”

At this point the two women, Delche had asked to go with the others, came back. The first one gave me a snarky look; like I was some kind of beast.

“Have some respect… This is Otsiron. He sacrificed himself to save your asses and you look at him like he’s some kind of beast? Besides he’s still your boss…” said Delche and Ori translated for me.

The women instantly smiled and saluted.

“What do you want? I told you to go inside. What are you doing back here?” Delche asked them and Ori again translated.

“We need to go back immediately. Those are our orders, so please open the crate and unload the machines,” the woman with the snarky look explained.

I assumed that she was the Captain.

“I told you before and I’m telling you again, we can’t open the crate before it’s inspected by the Galaxy Trader Customs Authority,” Delche barked and told me in Macedonian that he wanted to get rid

of them because, in addition to the machines, he was transporting rakia which was illegal to transport on an Ostikon ship.

Suddenly Captain Orihci came to the front, stuck his arm out and said loudly, “I’m the customs agent you’re looking for.”

My universal translator translated that into Macedonian, which both Delche and Ori understood. Ori translated for the two women.

Delche was so surprised that he was speechless. After a moment of silence, while looking at the speaking box, he asked, “What the hell is that?”

“A universal translator,” replied Captain Orihci. “I can’t inspect the crate here. So why don’t we remove it from the ship and take it inside the facility. I’ll inspect it in there. Let the ladies go.”

He told Ori to translate for the ladies and thank them for their service and wish them a safe trip back.

After that I called my friend Nine and a couple of other super soldiers and we pushed the crate out of the ship, down the ramp and placed it on the grass. The moment the crate was out of the ship the two women closed the hatch and took off without saying goodbye.

“I hate their superior attitude…” said Delche, and Ori agreed.

“Now that they’re gone why don’t you introduce us to all these bright faces looking at us,” said Delche.

“I don’t know any of the people back there; they’re spectators. They work in the facility and came out to welcome you. But these guys here to my right are Enai’s associates and this is Enai. He’s our chief scientist, cook and bottle washer.”

Enai looked confused.

Delche stepped in and said, “This guy, always with the jokes, even in the company of strangers.”

“It’s nice to meet you Enai, and your associates.”

“It’s nice to meet you too,” Enai said smiling.

Then I turned to my left, pointed to Ukasnek and said, “This is Ukasnek, the best and most clever pirate I know and, as of yesterday, our police commissioner.”

Ukasnek must have liked what I said about him because he had a huge smile on his face.

“At your service,” he said and bowed.

Before introducing Captain Orihci, I asked Ukasnek to disburse the crowd and send the people back in.

Finally I got to Captain Orihci and said, “This man is not only our customs agent, he’s the Governor of this planet and your old rakia partner Captain Orihci; Captain of the Galaxy Trader 2nd Destroyer.”

When Delche heard that he lunged forward, grabbed the Captain, raised him off his feet Macedonian style and gave him a big hug. Delche then introduced Ori and told the Captain that they were my old crew who’d flown the ship parked behind us.

“This is really you, ‘the rakia king’, my old partner…” asked the Captain looking like he was at a loss for words.

“Are you going to be here long?” I asked Delche and Ori.

Delche looked at me as if I was joking.

“You just saw our ship leave. We’re stranded here for as long as you can tolerate us,” Ori said.

“Okay then, let’s unpack the crate and get the machines inside. Enai and his associates are waiting. They have a lot of work to do.”

“No, no one touches the crate. I’ll have to unpack it myself. There are fragile things in there that are very important. I’m the only who

knows where they are,” said Delche, walked over to the crate and started cutting the straps holding it together. “I sealed each box myself and labeled it ‘inspected’. After I packed the crate inside the ship, during the night mind you, I bribed a custom’s official to seal it and inform the authorities to let us fly it here.”

“Will you need the super soldiers to carry the boxes or should I dismiss them?”

“Dismiss them… And you come over here and help me sort the boxes.”

“Did the customs guy in Ostikon know you were shipping rakia?” I asked.