Part 4 - Part 10

“Oh, not me… There could be something else around there, inside the ship, that might be more dangerous than radiation… No thank you…”

“Give it to Ukasnek, he’s the security guy…” said Madam Grooni.

“I don’t know how to deal with things I don’t understand…” replied Ukasnek.

“I’ll take the suit…” the Captain said and put it on.

When they arrived at the site they found the ship intact but locked tight.

“The boy must have meant the ship was turned off…” Ukasnek said.

“It could still be booby trapped… and could explode if we touch it,” said Enai.

“Stand back!” the Captain said and followed closely behind Nine as she approached the ship’s hatch.

After Nine knocked on the hull a rumble was heard coming from the inside. The Captain yelled, “GET BACK! GET BACK! GET BACK!”

At that moment Madam Grooni bolted and ran back as fast as she could giving the Captain enough time to speak to the ship’s occupant in King Rodot’s language and tell him to speak to no one because there were people there sent by King Rodot to kill him if he spoke. He then asked the person inside to open the door. After he did, Nine pointed her rifle at him which scared him even more.

When Madam Grooni heard the hatch opening she ran back to be first to speak to the man. He was a small, frail man and probably had never been out of his home world before. Madam Grooni tried to intimidate him with threats but he said nothing.

“He must be mute or something… He has made no effort to communicate with us… in any language… Who is he? What’s he doing here all alone? Maybe he’s a refugee… Or maybe he’s a slave who has escaped… But one thing is for sure… He came here alone…”

“Well, I suppose you’re right. Something isn’t right with this fellow… But he doesn’t seem to be dangerous… What do you suggest we do with him…” asked the Captain.

“I don’t know… Perhaps we can send him back to wherever he came from… Then he won’t be our problem…”

“Well, why don’t we put him in jail…? That might loosen his tongue a little? And maybe he’ll tell us what his name is…” Ukasnek suggested.

“Put him in jail… And the moment he decides to talk… in any language… let me know. I want to interrogate him.”

“Okay.”

While they were escorting the man back into the facility, they ran into Nagol and Captain Rolo and their wives who hadn’t yet heard about the incident that morning. Fearing that someone might ask the wrong question, Captain Orihci turned them away. He told them they’d found this man outside hiding in a ship and were trying to figure out what to do with him. In the meantime I arrived and took Nine and the others with me to the dining area.

“Hey, look Mom… It’s Jess. Good morning Jess… You still don’t recognize me, do you?”

“Good morning everyone… How’s everybody doing today…?” I asked. After we exchanged pleasantries I left Jess with the women and borrowed Nagol and Captain Rolo for a moment to talk to them. When we were alone I told Nagol and Captain Rolo everything that had transpired that morning. When we arrived at the jail, because Madam Grooni was there, Ukasnek had to once again tell the whole story about how we’d found the man. He made sure this story was disconnected from the earlier one when I’d been attacked.

“Just because he can’t talk you can’t put the man in jail! Since when is it illegal to hide in a ship or not talk? What if he has a medical condition and lost his memory… and doesn’t know who he is? What if he can’t hear or speak? Let him go now!” ordered Nagol, giving us a show in front of Madam Grooni.

“But Sir…?” said Captain Orihci.

“No buts… You’re in charge here. He is your responsibility now… Show him some kindness… Bring him to breakfast… he probably hasn’t eaten for days… Look how scrawny he is.”

“Okay I will, but first I’ll have Enai look him over to see if he’s healthy.”

“We’ll see you at breakfast…” said Nagol and we all left for the dining area while Captain Orihci and Enai headed for Enai’s lab where Captain Orihci interrogated the man and discovered that indeed he was the ship’s pilot and that he’d brought the assassins to Nelez. He didn’t want to leave the planet he said, after the assassins failed to return because he knew he would be executed. King Rodot had a reputation for eliminating witnesses. Captain Orihci instructed the man to keep quiet at all times and only speak to him in private and only when spoken to. The man agreed. Enai gave him some work clothes from the lab in case someone recognized the origin of his clothing. He now looked like one of Enai’s associates.

“Ah, you brought one of your associates with you to breakfast… How nice…,” said Amih when Captain Orihci, Enai and the stranger arrived.

But before the Captain had a chance to reply he was distracted by how I looked.

“What’s wrong with you?” he asked in an intense tone of voice. I was feeling ill from Madam Grooni and Ireva stroking Nine’s face and hands and other exposed parts of her skin. I could feel everything…and it made me feel sick.

“I can tell you what’s wrong with him… There’s no shame in telling them what happened…” said Madam Grooni

“What happened?” yelled Amih.

Madam Grooni laughed and said, “He was attacked by a bunch of local hoodlums this morning…”

“That’s not funny… Not funny at all…”

“It was funny alright… It was very funny when he ran outside naked to confront them. His ‘dong’ was hanging out… It was so small,

come to think of it… for such a large man. He thought he’d been attacked by one hoodlum but when he saw that others were coming after him, he ran inside his ship like a little girl… And get this… get this… He called on his girl guards to save him…”

“Is that true?” asked Admiral Aneleh, finding the story a bit embellished.

“Yes it’s all true. But in my defense I didn’t know how many there were…”

All the women laughed.

Ireva said, “Yeah sure…”

“The poor man… No wonder he feels sick,” Amih said in sympathy

The food finally arrived and in all the commotion no one paid attention to the stranger… It was like he wasn’t there and, more importantly, the morning’s attack was downplayed so much that it became a comedy. Also, the connection between the alien ship, its pilot and the attack on me by the assassins was never made, thanks mainly to Madam Grooni who was turning out to be a master of cover ups. As for the alien ship… Ukasnek flew it and hid it among the other ships, between Captain Rolo’s and Captain Orihci’s shuttles.

“Amih please save some food for Delche and Ori. I didn’t see them here this morning… They probably overslept,” I said.

“I will…”

Revelation

After the women had left to get their lunch I sat beside Nine and watched her staring directly at the wall, emotionless. A certain kind of sadness came over me.

Captain Orihci, sitting opposite to me, noticed and said, “Send her back… You can’t help her. It breaks my heart to see her like that…”

“What a great tragedy… And such a beautiful girl…” said Nagol, and Captain Rolo agreed.

“I knew her well you know. Ireva and she used to play together when they were little. They used to run around in my garage constantly asking questions, ‘What’s this, what’s that…’ distracting me from my work… But I loved them. They looked so much alike, sometimes I couldn’t tell them apart…” Ukasnek said.

“That’s because they’re twin sisters…” blurted Captain Orihci.

“No way…”

“Yes, when they were born we gave one to Amih’s sister who couldn’t have children of her own… It was no big deal then… We all lived together anyway. Amih’s sister and her husband were very kind and helpful to us. We were very poor in those days and that was the least we could do for them… They wanted a child so desperately… It made them very happy.”

“Does Ireva know?”

“No and she must never find out… She’ll never forgive us for not telling her, especially her mother. Be quiet now, they’re coming back.”

“What’s wrong with you people? You look like you’re at a funeral… Aaah, are you still brooding about what happened to you this morning big guy? And I see you’re hugging my cousin again… She’ll protect you, don’t worry. Here, I brought her a plateful of food to eat. A big plate for a big girl…”

“Ireva, must you?” asked her mother and handed me the two plates of food she was holding. “Take them to Delche and Ori… After you eat…”

“Thank you… What about you?”

“Ilisa is bringing a plate for me…”

“You know what? Why don’t we all take our food with us and go visit Ori and Delche in the observatory. There’s plenty of space for us there… That way they don’t have to eat alone…” Captain Orihci suggested.

“Good idea,” said Nagol and Amih at the same time.

“Do we have to?” asked Madam Grooni. “I prefer to eat my food sitting down at a table like a civilized person; not standing like a pirate or worse like a farmer.”

“Are you taking her with you Captain Fat?” asked Ireva looking at Nine as we got ready to leave.

I looked at Nine and noticed she had already eaten all her food.

“Okay, I’ll take her off your hands,” I said and went over and grabbed her by the hand. The moment I touched her she gave me the impression that she was still hungry and wanted more food. This made me wonder how often the soldiers were fed and how much food they were given. I thought I should investigate that but not now. Now it was time to get my food. I wanted to get some more food for Nine but my hands were full. I was going to ask Ukasnek to get another plateful but I saw both of his hands were occupied. He was already carrying two plates. So I asked Captain Rolo. He said he’d take care of it. After I got my plateful I looked back and saw Captain Rolo carrying four plates full of food.

When I looked at him he said, “I wasn’t always a Captain you know,” and smiled. I noticed Nagol wasn’t carrying anything. Rolo must have been carrying one plate for himself, one for Nagol and the

two Amih had left on the table for Ori and Delche. I also noticed Enai carrying two plates. So I figured we should have enough food for everyone. I noticed Captain Orihci helping the stranger select his food. I guess he wasn’t familiar with our cuisine.

Delche and Ori were thrilled to see us all there and to meet the stranger Captain Orihci brought with us.

The Captain said something to the stranger and we finally got to hear his voice. It was a young man’s voice. He seemed happy but something was bothering him.

Pointing at Ori and Delche, the Captain told him these were the guys who’d spotted his ship and led us to find him.

We were all hungry. We’d been through a lot of activities that morning so we all started eating. We had to sit Nine at a table. I was afraid she would drop her plate.

I spotted Nagol looking at the stranger. He watched him for a long time. He could see the worry in his face. How he recognized that, I don’t know. Finally, after we finished eating he said something to Captain Orihci.

“Our new friend doesn’t seem to be content. There is some worry on his face. Is he all right?”

“Of course he is. He just doesn’t know us yet. It’s understandable…,” replied the Captain.

But Nagol wasn’t going to let it go. “Are you all right, son?” he asked, looking at the stranger and leaving no choice for the Captain but to translate.

After the man answered the Captain said, “Something is worrying him… That woman, the tall one with the fancy dress… He wanted to know what she was doing here and why were we friendly with her…”

“I think he’s talking about Madam Grooni,” interrupted Ukasnek.

“What about her?” asked Nagol.

At that point the stranger wanted to tell us something. The Captain translated. He talked for a long time and told us many things. One of the more important things he told us was that he knew of Madam Grooni. He said he didn’t recognize the woman at first, but then when he saw her dress more closely he recognized it. It was a unique dress. He remembered it was given to her as a gift by King Rodot for ‘services rendered’. But he didn’t know what those ‘services’ were. The stranger was at the ceremony when she was given a medal, all sorts of gifts and, of course, that dress. The stranger’s comrades in the resistance movement told him she was a bad woman who worked for Rodot’s henchmen and was not to be trusted. From what he was told, she wasn’t even from the Galaxy Trader planets. She was an outsider. He couldn’t tell us where she was from… He didn’t know.

“That woman is full of surprises… What next?” said Nagol.

“Maybe we should check her DNA?” suggested Enai.

“Maybe we should…” Captain Orihci replied. “But what difference would that make anyway?”

“Well, I think we should continue as usual and see what more we can learn about her plans for us and for this place,” I said.

“We could use the company and maybe a drink or two… if you guys have the time…” said Delche.

“I’ll take Nine back to her cage and come back…”

“Cage…?” asked Nagol.

“Some call it ‘station’ some ‘barracks’… I don’t know what to call it,” I replied.

“I understand…”

“I’ll take the empty plates back and bring us a platter of meat… if there’s any left,” said Ukasnek.

“We are confident you will find some. Somehow you always manage to…” said Captain Orihci and laughed.

“I’ll go get the rakia…” said Enai and left in a hurry.

“I’ve never seen a man work so hard before… Now if he had a bit more sense of humour he would be a perfect man…” said Nagol and smiled.

“I heard that!” said Enai and everyone laughed.

After I got Nine back to her station I left her with a bunch of mental images of nature and a clear blue sky.

When I returned Captain Orihci was exchanging stories about hardship, with our new friend and translating them for the others. Both Ukasnek and Enai had returned and were waiting for me so that we could toast our new friend. His worry was gone and he looked happy. I assumed because the Captain had told him that we were no friends of Madam Grooni.

“Captain, you haven’t told us what it was like being kidnapped by those idiots who held you and Ukasnek captive in their ship for an entire day. You know who I’m talking about… when you and Ukasnek were gagged all that time and you couldn’t breathe...”

“Yeah, I’ll never forget that… And come to think of it, it was so stupid… They accomplished nothing. And how could they? The entire ship inside was gutted… It had no instrumentation, no navigation, no sensor array… They were flying blind…”

“What do you suppose they were trying to accomplish? Do you think it was a distraction for something else?”

“Sometimes the most obvious answer is the right one… They were simply stupid people… We shouldn’t have let them go,” said Ukasnek.

“Otsiron might be right. Perhaps someone was trying to distract him from concentrating on the mission… That would be my guess…” said Nagol.

“I think Ukasnek is right… Things aren’t always connected… They were probably space hoodlums looking for a big score…” said Captain Rolo.

“No, I still have to agree with Otsiron… Ask yourselves how was it possible that they didn’t see a million soldiers assembling outside their ship firing their weapons… How was it that they didn’t post guards, given the dangerous situation they were in? Were they all deaf, blind, stupid and trusting… all at the same time? I’m sure they were there to distract us or something. Except Otsiron spoiled their plans and they fled prematurely… Like he always says, ‘there is no profit in death’…” added Nagol.

“But as I said at the time, they wanted to meet with Otsiron… None of this makes any sense…” said Enai.

“So is this what you do all day? Solve problems?” asked our new friend.

“This is how we manage to get ahead of our enemies and survive…” said Nagol. “What is your name, by the way?”

“You can call me Tolo for short. My full name is difficult to pronounce. I too belong to a secret group that solves problems. We call ourselves the resistance and struggle against Rodot’s tyranny.”

“We now have a Rolo and a Tolo…” said Ukasnek and laughed out loud.

“I knew someone was going to say that…” said Captain Rolo and added. “Ukasnek you missed the most important point in that sentence…”

“Bah, I’ve heard them all… What do you think I’ve been doing all my life? I am the resistance… And I struggle against everyone’s

tyranny… But the question is, ‘what have I accomplished?’… It’s all a waste of time…”

“Your friend is right… You need a good plan and the means to carry it out in order to succeed. But before you do that you need to survive… And how would you survive without resisting and being smart about it… Like you guys here…” said Tolo.

“You’re very wise my friend, for a young man. You’ll be a good addition to our secret group but you’ll have to go through an initiation first.”

“Thank you…”

“Now have a drink of this stuff… very slowly… and tell us what you think…”

After he took a sip he made a face and said, “Very good. What is it?”

“RAKIA!” yelled Delche and one by one we all welcomed him to our group and told him our names, where we came from, what language(s) we spoke and what our rank or position was when we were active in the various services.

“Oh my, oh my… you’re not just ordinary people…” he said and casually put his drink to the side. I watched Nagol watching his every move.

When Tolo asked Delche and Ori what they were doing in the observatory, I answered. My friends found it odd that I would interject in something I knew nothing about but they didn’t intervene. They stood back and listened. They knew my instincts were working and trusted them.

“They are creating a new course for students. Some of the farm children here don’t know much about the outside world and, hell, some have never even been to school. So my friends here volunteered to teach them, because they care… Hell, who am I kidding…? They were bored stiff from having nothing to do. So

Madam Grooni, you know the tall woman with the fancy dress, suggested they do this. But you have to agree it will be good for the children.”

“Ah, that’s great…”

“What about you, Mr. Nagol. What do you do here…?”

“Well, I’m supposed to be here on a diplomatic mission from Ostikon… but… between you and me… I’m on vacation here with my wife and my friend Rolo and his wife. This big fellow here…”

“So you’re not really a resistance group are you? This is like a big game to you to keep you from being bored…”

“Something like that…”

“Well, it’s not all fun and games all the time… We do have to feed and exercise the soldiers and pay the workers…But we do get the chance to get drunk once in a while…” said Captain Orihci.

“That’s nice…” said Tolo, shook his head and squeezed his lips together.

“So what do you say? Do you want to join us? It will be a lot of fun…” said Captain Orihci.

“But we do have to tell Madam Grooni that you’ve got your voice back… We have no choice about that… If we don’t she’ll bore us to death with her stupid stories,” said Ukasnek.

“Okay I understand, but please don’t tell her what I said about her. In fact, don’t tell her anything except that I’m afraid that if I talk King Rodot will kill me. Or just tell her I told you my name and nothing else… And please, don’t leave me alone with her…”

“Okay… no problem…”

The moment we went to see Madam Grooni in the common room, Tolo became that timid man we’d initially met. He refused to speak

to her. This angered her and she ordered the Captain to make him speak.

“I can’t make him speak… You make him speak…” the Captain yelled.

“I don’t speak his language…”

“How do you know you don’t speak his language when he hasn’t spoken a word to you yet?”

“I assumed… Leave him here with me and I’ll make him speak…”

“And how did you know I can speak his language?” asked the Captain.

“You just told me he spoke to you… Why would you tell me he spoke to you if you didn’t understand what he said?”

“You have a point Madam Grooni and I apologize for speaking out of turn. Would you have any idea where he is from and what he’s doing here?”

“No and no… Now get him out of here.”

“Can we assign him quarters? I don’t know what to do with him?”

“Sure, sure do whatever you want…”

“Thank you, I hope to see you at lunch…” said the Captain and we left for the reception area where we met Ireva, Amih, Aneleh and Ilisa chatting.

“We have another customer for you dear,” said Captain Orihci to Amih.

“Oh, I thought he was one of Enai’s men?”

“No he isn’t… He’s a newcomer. He just arrived this morning. Find him quarters and remember… He doesn’t speak any of our languages…”

“Oh? What’s his name?”

“Tolo…”

After everyone laughed Captain Rolo said, “Not this again…”

All this time I was watching Nagol watch Tolo, with great interest. After the women took him away Nagol said, “Who wants to make a bet that he does speak our language perfectly…”

“How can you tell?” asked Captain Orihci.

“By watching his facial expressions… and how he reacted to our conversation... He paid close attention to everything we said and his facial expressions changed from time to time like he understood what we were saying.”

“What gave him away, Sir?” I asked.

“A couple of things; one, initially he appeared to be shy and timid and then, all of a sudden, he took over our conversation and started asking all kinds of questions… A timid person would keep to themself…”

“And the other?” asked Enai.

“Well, why would Rodot send a timid person here, who in fact knew Madam Grooni…, to lead an important mission like this and especially if he was part of a resistance movement. Rodot isn’t stupid. He didn’t become king because he’s stupid. He would have vetted his people; especially his pilots… and he would have sent the best and most loyal. Tolo had to be the leader of the assassins… Otherwise it makes no sense…”

“You have a point…”

“But there may be more… Why didn’t he leave? Why let us capture him? Why give us all that information about Madam Grooni?”

“What do you figure he’s up to?” asked Captain Rolo.

“It was as if he knew his mission to assassinate Otsiron was going to fail… Who would want his mission to fail?”

“Madam Grooni and her superiors?” suggested Ukasnek.

“No, not Madam Grooni… He wanted her out of the way and was probably hoping we would arrest her…” answered Enai.

“Gentlemen, all this is a distraction… I’m certain Tolo works for the Galaxy Trader intelligence service and he’s here to deliver something… But the bosses upstairs don’t want Madam Grooni to know,” said Nagol.

“But why?” asked Ukasnek.

“Because they want to bury all evidence and eliminate all witnesses, including Madam Grooni,” I said.

“Yes my boy. And how are they going to do that with one million armed soldiers pointing their guns at them…?”

“By blindsiding us with something… An explosion or a massive disruptor… Just before they send the destroyers to slice up this planet… And what better place to store such a thing than in his ship…” I said.

“You’ve got it! But all this has to be confirmed…” said Nagol.

“And that’s what we will do… If only we knew what we’re looking for… The door to his ship is wide open… we can get in and look around,” said Ukasnek.

“The ship could be booby trapped,” said Captain Rolo.

“Not a problem… If it’s a bomb we can detect it without going inside… If it’s a disruptor we’ll find it the moment it’s activated…” said Enai.

“Enai, you might as well start scanning for unusual frequencies and disruptor signals. Set your monitoring device to auto detect and see what comes up…” said Captain Orihci.

“I’ll do it right now…” said Enai and left.

Just as Enai left the ladies came back.

“Are you guys still here? Don’t you have somewhere to go…? Or something to drink…?” asked Ireva sarcastically.

“I could ask you the same thing…” replied Captain Orihci.

“What a nice man that fellow… You know, he was eyeing your daughter,” said Amih.

“And was she eyeing him?” asked her father.

“That scrawny guy…? Never… he’s not my type!”

“Who’s your type, this big guy here?”

“No…! No…! Heavens no…! Besides he’s too short for me… and he’s also fat! He’s perfect for Jess.”

“Well, if you squeeze him tight and make him scrawny like you then he’ll be twice your height…”

“Dad, I’m not talking to you any more…”

“Just go get him and bring him to lunch later and I’ll leave you alone. Deal?”

“Deal…”

After we left the dining area we headed to the observatory to bring Delche and Ori up to date on what had transpired.

“I guess we have to watch two wolves now… I wonder what the Madam will talk about with her boss tonight… I’m sure it’ll be interesting. I’d love to know what the connection between her and Tolo is,” said Nagol.

“You’re loving this… aren’t you Sir?” I said.

“Yes I am… Now I will have stories of my own to tell my granddaughter…”

“But isn’t she a little old for this kind of stuff?”

“Are you kidding me? Are you?”

“I guess not…”

After we brought Delche and Ori up to date I asked Enai if we should assemble in the big lab at midnight and listen to Madam Grooni’s report to her superior, live.

“No, absolutely not… We could blow our cover… I’ll listen to it and contact you if there is anything urgent. Ukasnek put a tail on Tolo and see what he does and where he goes. He has no gadgets on him so he’ll have to go to his ship or to the tower if he needs to make a call,” said Enai.

“I’ll do that right now…” replied Ukasnek and left.

“Delche and Ori, you should come to lunch with us today and make up some cockamamie story and let everyone know how you’re doing, before you know who starts to suspect something…” I said.

“Okay but what if the beeper goes off in front of everyone… what do we tell them?” asked Delche.

“I don’t know?”

“Give it to me, I’ll tell them someone is messing with my shuttle… and the alarm went off…” said Captain Rolo.

“Good cover…” said Captain Orihci.

“So that now everyone is up to speed let’s take a break so that I can rest for a while. See you at lunch,” said Nagol and he and Captain Rolo left.

“I’ll go too… See how my girls are doing… I’ll see you at lunch…” said Captain Orihci and left.

“Man, it’s like being inside a wasp’s nest… You never know when you’re going to be attacked and by whom. And it never ends…” complained Delche.

“Not too long ago Delche, you were complaining life wasn’t worth living because you were too bored and depressed… All you do now is complain that life is too exciting… Come to think of it, I’m no better… perhaps even worse… What happened to the good old days when our job was to go out and blow up things…? Remember the day we blew up half the Karon fleet? Lucky you weren’t there Delche… I wonder how many Barkons we killed that day? I still think about it… I wait for judgment day over that…” said Ori.

Siblings and rivals

On our way to the dining area Delche, Ori and I ran into Enai.

“Anything new?” I asked.

“Nothing so far… I’ve been thinking about what Tolo said about Madam Grooni. I mean about where she’s from and I’m curious to find out. I want to get something from her and test her DNA… Will you help me?”

“Of course…”

“We should get a strand of hair from her. That’s the easiest thing to get without being noticed.”

“Can you get DNA from a hair?

“Of course…”

“How are you going to get a hair…? I’m sure someone as careful as her doesn’t shed hair… Or worse, she takes inventory of her hair every day… What are you going to do to distract her, kiss her or something…?” asked Delche.

“Maybe he can kiss her and when she’s distracted… and mad as hell… Enai can pull off a hair or two,” said Ori jokingly and laughed.

“That’s a good idea!” I said, but they thought I was joking.

When we reached the dining area Enai and I made sure that we sat beside Madam Grooni, one on each side of her. When Captain Orihci arrived he made sure Tolo and Madam Grooni were far apart from each other with plenty of space between them. The way those two behaved towards each another the Captain suspected they might lunge at one another. Madam Grooni was sitting at the end of the table and was visible to everyone. Sometime after everyone had sat down I looked at Ori staring at me and he started laughing.

“What are you laughing about now? What prank is Captain Fat going to pull this time that makes you laugh?” Ireva asked Ori.

Ori began to laugh even harder. Everyone suspected something was going down because Ori hardly ever spoke, never mind laugh in front of everyone. Enai was sitting on Madam Grooni’s left and I was to the right. I had a smirk on my face, I couldn’t help it. When Madam Grooni looked at me she knew something was going down. She never took her eyes off me as I innocently looked around. Then, just as I got closer to her, I grabbed her by the back of her head and gave her a big kiss on the mouth. She let out a short scream. When I let go of her she remained motionless. She was stunned… She kept staring at me with her mouth fully open; not believing what had just happened.

“Oh, ho, ho, ho, ho…Now I’ve seen everything…” exclaimed Ireva and started clapping her hands.

I stood up and left my chair… expecting Madam Grooni to retaliate with blows... I watched visible emotional changes on her face starting with shock, disbelief, anger and finally a smile.

By this time everyone was clapping their hands. When the clapping stopped Ilisa said, “That’s nice… It shows respect… In his tradition kissing a woman on her lips like that is the highest honour a man can pay her… so they tell me… Anyway, that’s what he told me a long time ago.”

“No, no, no, no… That’s not right… You see he got stung this morning… caught with his pants down like a coward and now he wants to demonstrate to his buddies that he’s not a coward, but a brave and daring macho man…”

“Ireva, stop that. Why must you be like that? Stop it. Didn’t you hear what Ilisa said?”

At that moment I took a couple of steps towards Ireva. She jumped out of her chair and was ready to bolt. But instead of chasing her I bent down and kissed her mother on the lips.

She immediately looked at her husband who said, “Hey, hey?” and smiled at her.

Being surprised Amih said, “Why did you do that?”

“I have much respect for you because you always stand up for me. You’re my hero.”

Her face turned red but luckily for her something else happened.

At precisely noon, something unexpected happened. Both Enai and I simultaneously fell to the floor and began to shake uncontrollably. The incident lasted less than about three seconds but it was very painful. Everyone thought it was part of the act and when they saw us stop shaking they were sure it was part of another prank. Enai and I looked at each other. We recognized what it was. The disruptor had been momentarily activated. We were certain of it. Hopefully Enai had captured it on his monitoring machine.

No one bothered to ask what we were doing. They were distracted by the arrival of the food.

I was the first to get my plate filled and sat next to Madam Grooni. Before she stood up to get her plate she smiled and tapped me on the back a couple of times. Ireva shook her head in disbelief. After Madam Grooni left Enai gave me the thumbs up, which meant he’d gotten the hairs. The rest of the afternoon was uneventful. Madam Grooni asked how Delche and Ori were doing with their project and if they were enjoying themselves being useful and serving their community. Tolo kept to himself and not once did he ask Captain Orihci to translate what was being said. Nagol too was quiet and never said a word about why I’d kissed Madam Grooni. He suspected we were up to something. One thing that Nagol did, however, was keep an eye on Tolo. Madam Grooni was also quiet which was very unusual for her.

Later I overheard Aneleh tell Ilisa, “She acted like she’d never been kissed by a man before.”

After we ate our lunch Enai went to his lab and checked his machine. The disruptor had indeed been fired for precisely one second. Apparently it only affected me and Enai. In Enai’s estimation it wasn’t on long enough to affect the soldiers. He figured it was only a test to make sure the device worked properly but short enough for us not to notice. It would be interesting to find out who would report the test results to their superior… Madam Grooni, Tolo, or someone else. In any case Enai found out that the disruptor was located inside Tolo’s ship and had been activated from outer space. We made sure everyone in our secret group knew about this and were alerted to take precautions.

After supper that evening I told Enai I would sleep in my ship with my short range sensors on to keep an eye on Tolo’s ship; just in case he tried something. Ori and Delche made sure they were seen walking to their quarters but later in the evening they went back to the observatory and watched the sky. They figured this was a critical time and wanted to be there in case something developed. I, on the other hand, was worried about being isolated from my soldiers by the disruptor and tried different means of communicating with them, but had no success. The only ones I could communicate with without the transmitter were Enai and Nine. It was, however, very difficult to communicate with Nine without my transmitter. This worried me a lot.

The seconds ticked away very slowly as we headed for midnight. I couldn’t sleep. The only thing that kept me calm was that perhaps nothing would happen until those on the other side heard about the results of the disruptor test. And that wouldn’t be until midnight or later. Once they were sure the test worked, at the first sign of the destroyers appearing, I was prepared to power up my ship and blow up Tolo’s with the disruptor in it. But what if they fired up the disruptor before I had a chance to blow it up? That worried me…We needed to find another way of blowing up Tolo’s ship without my or Enai’s involvement. Captain Orihci, Ukasnek and Captain Rolo came to mind. If the disruptor was activated early, they would have to destroy Tolo’s ship with their shuttle guns. But what if Tolo’s ship had shields… and they activated when the disruptor activated…? The firepower in the shuttles wouldn’t be sufficient to destroy the ship. There had to be another way. I figured we could

repair one of the facility’s large defensive cannons… but that would take time and attract attention. I didn’t know what to do.

I must have fallen asleep sometime during the night because the next thing I remember seeing was light shining inside my ship and hearing Ukasnek pounding on the ship’s hull with his fist and yelling.

“Wake up you lazy louse…! Are you dead in there? Maybe he is… He couldn’t still be sleeping with all this racket?”

“Okay, okay… Stop pounding… You’ll dent my ship…”

“What the hell…? It’s breakfast time… I could be eating my delicious breakfast… but instead I have to chase after you…!”

“Sorry…”

“I’m leaving now…”

I decided to contact Enai and see what had happened over night.

“Enai are you there…? Calling Enai…”

“Stop that… Stop saying ‘calling Enai’, you sound ridiculous.”

“Where are you?”

“I’m at breakfast with the others. We’re all here waiting for you, wondering where you are…”

“Did we get what we expected?”

“What do you mean?”

“Did Madam Grooni or Tolo contact their superiors?”

“Only Madam Grooni… I have it all. We’ll listen to it after breakfast in the usual place with the usual people. Now get moving and get over here fast.”

What the hell is going on I wondered. Why can’t they eat without me? Then the moment I appeared in the dining area and got my plate, Ireva stood up and said, “Madam Grooni is here, Captain Orihci is here, his wife Amih is here, I’m here, Ukasnek is here, Nagol, Aneleh, Rolo, Ilisa, Delche, Ori, Enai and Tolo are here. Hmm, I wonder who’s missing…? Oh yeah, Captain Fat is missing…”

“So, what’s the big deal…?” I asked.

“What’s the big deal…? My father has an important announcement to make…”

At that point Captain Orihci stood up and said, “As of last night the DNA testing program was completed. Every single soldier has been tested and catalogued. What we need to do now is begin testing against the relatives… Who wants to go first?”

All of a sudden Amih began to cry… She was scared… Afraid of what she might find… Not just about her sons but also about her daughter Jess. Ireva was sure to take the test herself and find out that Jess wasn’t her cousin but her twin sister.

Realizing what was going on, to distract and without thinking the Captain said, “How about we start with Madam Grooni?”

Madam Grooni almost choked on her food when she heard that and said, “What?”

“Just joking… Testing is voluntary… Only those looking for their loved ones need to be tested. Enai, please make an announcement over the PA and direct the people who want to be tested to the machine in the reception area. Nagol, you may want to inform the Ostikon government about this and ask them what they want us to do with their machines… you know what I mean… Now let’s finish our breakfast and go and congratulate the DNA testing crew for doing a fine job.

“How about we throw them a party?” suggested Amih, forgetting her own troubles.

“Okay then, you ladies go and prepare for a party while we go and see what to do about securing the machines,” said Captain Orihci.

Without being asked or told, Madam Grooni and Tolo both left alone and went their separate ways and disappeared.

I looked at Ukasnek and he shook his head giving me a positive signal that he had his men shadowing them.

We quickly disbursed as a group and visited the labs in smaller groups. I went with the Ostikon crowd and visited the Ostikon crew who seemed very happy that they were staying here. The others visited the Galaxy Trader group who had also requested to stay here on Nelez and the Captain granted them their wish with Enai’s consent.

“They will be able to work together with the Ostikon crowd,” said Enai, which made them happy.

When we were finished visiting we instructed both groups to clean the machines and prepare them for storage and after that report to the reception area. In the meantime we congregated in the new lab to hear what was in the recording.

“When Enai made sure we were all there he locked the lab door and turned off the lights.

“We can’t use this lab for too much longer. I promised it to the Ostikon crew. Maybe both crews can work here. It’s big enough…,” he said and went to turn on the machine.

After about three seconds of silence a male voice was heard speaking, the same male voice we’d heard the last time, followed by Madam Grooni’s voice.

“Right on time… I like it when my agents are punctual… What do you have for me today…?”

“Good day to you too Sir… I hope you realize it’s the middle of the night here and I’m sacrificing my sleep for you. But I think it’s worth it… I have a lot of juicy bits for you tonight.”

“Start with the assassins… I assume they failed…? Our target was too much for them… as expected?”

“Are you kidding me? He turned out to be a coward… More of a coward than I expected.”

“What do you mean?”

“What I mean is he had his guards kill those idiots while he hid in his ship!”

“You mean he was expecting them?”

“No! He was completely clueless about what was happening. In fact he was so clueless he came out naked to see who was knocking on his hatch. I saw him. I watched the whole thing from a window inside the place.”

“You’re confusing me now… First you said he was hiding inside his ship and now you tell me he came outside naked… Which is it?”

At this point Madam Grooni started all over again and explained everything that had happened from the start to the end. She then told him how we’d discovered the ship and the pilot. She emphasized that we’d never made the connection between the assassins and the ship and that she was able to convince us that the assassins were local hoodlums. She also told her boss that Tolo never said a word about who he really is and left us thinking he’s just a refugee or something.

“In what language did he speak to them?”

“In King Rodot’s language… It appears Captain Orihci speaks that language.”

“And they never questioned that?”

“No! Why should they? They don’t know that the assassins were Rodot’s people. Nobody heard them talking, at least not Captain Orihci. And I already told you they think the assassins were local hoodlums.”

“Okay, okay… anything else to report?”

“No, not really…”

“Nothing?! What are you people doing there? What about Tolo’s ship? What happened to it?”

“They parked it in the junk pile with the other ships. They didn’t even close its hatch.”

“Did anyone go inside and look around?”

“No! Why? Is there anything special about that ship I should know?”

“Of course not! It’s just an ordinary run of the mill ship. We made sure of that so no one suspects anything.”

“Tell me, why did you send Tolo here? What’s his mission and why him? You know how I despise him. He is a nasty piece of crap trying to outdo me at every opportunity. I will wring his scrawny neck if he gets in my way… You know he can’t be trusted…”

“You should know… he’s your little brother… You’re both made from the same cloth… Except he is smarter and more devious than you…”

“He probably wants to bump me off and take my place in the agency…”

“Never mind him… Tell me more… anything else?”

“What? You want me to tell you that he kissed me today…?”

“Who kissed you…?”

“Our target kissed me on my lips… and I liked it. Are you jealous?”

“Should I be?”

“No silly. It was part of a game he was playing trying to prove to the others that he’s tough and fearless… after he’d crapped himself earlier that morning…”

“So what happened next?”

“Nothing, except he and that criminal Enai tried to pull another stunt on me.”

“What kind of stunt?”