“WHERE IS THAT BITCH ” - Part 04

We have tried to free ourselves many times but with tragic consequences. It seems that those who have the power to help us are the same ones who want to get rid of us.

Macedonians aren’t the only people on earth who have suffered this way. For example the old races that lived in the new country called Canada, where I lived before I got here, suffered similar tragedies. These tragedies were inflicted by the people who occupied their lands by force and tried to wipe them out. The indigenous people who lived in Canada were slowly wiped out by various means including uprooting, isolation and assimilation. The occupiers wanted them to disappear so they could replace them with people like themselves or with people who would be loyal to them. So, slowly the old races were replaced with immigrants, a mixture of people from all over the earth. They were replaced by people like me who don’t belong there but went there to find a better life. Ironically I was driven out of my home so that someone else could have a better life and in turn someone else was driven out of their home so that I could have a better life. Does that make any sense?”

“It does to me,” replied Delche. “Many ancestors of the outlanders were driven out of the centre zone to make room for the affluent so that they could survive when the next war came.”

“What were your personal reasons for leaving Macedonia?” asked Ori.

“Well, besides my country being occupied by foreign countries, the part of Macedonia I come from underwent a lot of changes which were catastrophic for the Macedonian people. The occupiers first changed our identity and declared that Macedonians didn’t exist. After that the occupiers changed our names and gave us new names similar to their own. Then they changed the names of our cities, towns, villages, lakes, rivers, mountains, etc., so that they too sounded like their own. After that they forced us to learn the occupier’s language and forbade us from speaking Macedonian. And if that wasn’t enough they excluded us from progress. We couldn’t attend higher education, we couldn’t rise up in the military or become members of professional organizations. We weren’t even allowed to build industries. We were literally treated like sub-humans. In other words, there was no bright future for the Macedonians in their own homeland. Our occupiers wanted us to leave and that’s exactly what most of us did. Canada was a favourite destination because it accepted us. Canada accepted us because it needed people like us to build its economy. Canada allowed us to be Macedonians and for that we became loyal citizens. We worked hard for low wages and we were happy,” I replied.

“Why do I get the impression that you weren’t happy living in Canada?” asked Delche.

“Of all people you should know why Delche. We were robbed of everything, including our dignity and had to settle to be grateful for being next to slaves. Canada didn’t take us to improve our lives; Canada took us because it needed our cheap labour. In other words we went from one exploiter to another. We went from being masters of our own destiny to being slaves of someone else’s. What is there to like about that? The illusion that we were Macedonian because we could call ourselves Macedonian? No one in Canada cared who we were and what we called ourselves. Our Macedonian patriotism meant nothing to the average Canadian. Where was the power and prestige of being Macedonian in Canada, a country that didn’t care about anything except for making money? There wasn’t any. And worse than that was the fact that in a generation or two we were completely gone. We intermarried with the other identities and

slowly began to disappear. We became lost souls with no roots. And, as you very well know, nothing survives without its roots.”

“That’s sad,” said Delche. “And I thought we had it bad.”

“Enough talk. I’m getting depressed. It’s time to kill some more brain cells. Delche open another bottle or rakia,” I said and was surprised to hear Ori agreeing with me.

“You know this stuff will not only kill your brain cells but it’ll rot your liver too,” I told Ori.

He looked at me and said, “I don’t care. We should enjoy today because we could be dead tomorrow.”

“I’m happy to say that you’re now one of us kid. More rakia coming up,” said Delche.

“I wasn’t brought up the same way as you guys but you seem to have a connection even though you are from worlds apart,” commented Ori.

“Suffering makes people appreciate one another. Both Delche and I have been wronged in the past and we recognize that in one another. We seem to have a subconscious connection. You are developing one too because you are a good person and can feel for others. You also have a craving for acceptance and would risk your personal comfort to get it,” I explained to Ori.

“Is that why I’ve been feeling so weird?” Ori asked.

“Yes Ori, I’m afraid we have ruined you. You’ll never be the same again. I’m also sorry to say that the more you know the less happy you will be. Eventually you will become cynical like us and will drink rakia all the time to drown your sorrows.”

Ori took a long breath, swore in Macedonian and said, “I don’t care!”

“Wow!” I said. “Who did you learn that word from?”

“You!” he cried. “You didn’t think I was paying attention? I heard you say that word and checked my dictionary.”

“You mean to tell me your dictionary has swear words?”

“Yes, under the heading of words to say to Macedonians to piss them off.”

“Wow, you’re cynical and you swear too,” said Delche and gave us each a cup of rakia.

“What should we toast to?” asked Delche.

“How about to our friendship?” I suggested.

Ori and I both said, “To our friendship.”

Delche said, “To Ori becoming a cynical person just like us.”

Delche felt his stomach burning from the rakia and decided to open another jar of meat.

“Ah, the crappy meat... Why didn’t we bring some real meat? We could have had real meat,” complained Delche.

Just then we received a call from the shuttle captain.

“What does she want?” I asked Ori.

“She says there’s a ship showing on her sensors coming our way. We should investigate.”

“And why didn’t we see it on our sensors?” I asked.

“Two reasons,” replied Ori, “one it’s beyond our sensor range and two we are drunk and don’t care.”

“How can it be beyond our sensor range?”

“Because the sensors on our ship are a thousand years old. The shuttle has better sensors.”

“Tell your girlfriend we’re going to investigate,” I told Ori.

“Yes sir!” he replied and saluted.

When Ori was finished talking to the captain he gave me the thumbs up and I disengaged our ship and flew right past the shuttle and into deep space. Moments later we spotted the blip on our sensors and went towards it. Our ship’s computer couldn’t tell us what it was so we had to fly closer to identify it. One thing we knew was that it was big and slow moving.

Moments later a voice came over the speakers. The language was not familiar to Ori.

Ori responded and asked the caller to repeat. A different voice came on and said something.

“It’s the galaxy traders. I think it’s one of their destroyers and they want to have an audience with the crew of the little ship that sent their senior captain packing. Listen to them laughing. They sound like they’re all drunk,” exclaimed Ori.

“Our kind of people!” said Delche.

Ori put them on speaker and the man on the other side said something.

Ori translated. “The man said that they are opening their bay for us to go into their ship and visit them. They’re inviting us to celebrate with them. Apparently today is some sort of holiday.”

We sat there in silence looking at one another.

“This calls for a unanimous vote,” I said and voted that we go.

Delche hesitated but also said we should go.

Ori disagreed and pointed out the fact that we had damaged their destroyer and they could be looking for revenge.

Ori was right so I had to think of something to convince him and myself that we were doing the right thing so I said, “Ori, given what we did to their destroyer do you think they would attempt to try and fight us again? You, yourself told me the captain was convinced that our attack on his ship was honourable because we were trying to defend ourselves. So, unless they are evil they wouldn’t dishonour themselves and attack us by using a cowardly deception. They are professional soldiers. Plus, if we run we not only jeopardize Asora’s mission to open trade with these people, but also prove to them that we are cowards and that we only care for ourselves. Come on what do you say? You trusted me before in worse situations and here you are still alive.”

He hesitantly said, “Okay.”

Delche looked at me and said, “You should have been the politician, not my wife.”

“You know I hate politics…” I replied.

Moments later we arrived, slowed down, entered through the bay and landed inside the hangar. Many of the crew with drinking glasses in their hands ran down to greet us. Delche grabbed two bottles of rakia. We came out and my guards followed.

Only one person in the bunch spoke a language that Delche and Ori understood. There was a lot of commotion and many were asking questions. The translator asked Delche something and Delche pointed at me. A couple of big guys came over and were ready to grab me. I told my guards to stand down. The crewmen were quite impressed with how well I handled my women. Delche told them that they were my personal guards and followed my every instruction. They all cracked up laughing. Delche then told them that they were machines. There was disappointment in their voices. The two big guys grabbed me by my legs and raised me up high. There were loud cheers coming from everywhere. Another man came over and handed me an elegant looking cup with a green liquid in it. I

accepted it and took a drink. It tasted much lighter compared to our rakia and it was sweet.

Delche opened one of the bottles. Everyone wanted to know what it was. Delche said it was rakia, poured some into their cups and motioned for them to drink it. No one did. He then asked the two men to lower me and he poured some in my glass. As soon as I drank some they all drank. It tasted superb as a mix. After that everyone wanted more. Delche gave them the two bottles and told them that they were a gift from the crew of the little ship and suggested they drink only a little at a time and share it.

After that they took us up to a beautiful mess hall in which there were several long tables. Each table had plates filled with various delicious looking foods including well-prepared meats and pastries. They invited us to join them later during their celebration.

Moments later one of their officers came and informed us that the shuttle was calling, probably looking for us.

I asked Ori to go with me to the ship to find out what they wanted.

When I tried to leave, our hosts were in an uproar and refused to let us go. I had to assure them that we were coming back after we took care of an urgent matter.

When Ori opened the channel he explained to the shuttle what we were doing. Suddenly a woman came on whose voice I didn’t recognize and started talking nonstop. Ori interrupted her and told her to please slow down, he couldn’t translate that fast.

“Ori give me the gist, what does she want? I’m too drunk to follow what she’s saying anyway.”

“Basically she’s pissed off with you for boarding the destroyer without her authorization and that by doing so you probably jeopardized her mission.”

I immediately got angry and was about to tell her where to go but instead I took my time and said, “This was an opportunity for us to

get to know the traders and for them to know us. We were invited to join their celebration. Today, it appears is some sort of holiday which they wanted to share with us. It would have been very rude for us to refuse. This would be a golden opportunity for you to come and meet the ship’s captain and share a meal with him and his crew. I’m sure the traders will see this as a gesture of respect and goodwill. The captain knows you’re here, what kind of message will he get if you decline his invitation…”

“We’ll get back to you,” interrupted the shuttle captain.

At that point I asked Ori to stay there and mind the ship while waiting for the shuttle to call back. I then ran back to Delche with my guards following me and asked him to ask the translator who the captain was. I told Delche that I had just lied to the ambassador and told her that the captain knew she was here and wanted to meet with her.

When we found him, I asked him through Delche and through his translator, “How would you like to meet the first ambassador to your galaxy from the planet Ostikon? How would you like to be the first person to make contact with her during this historic moment?”

He didn’t have to think much before he said, “I would love to.”

“Why not invite her yourself,” I suggested.

Delche gave his translator the shuttle’s call number and we all went to the bridge to make the call.

When they were done Delche turned to me and whispered, “They’re coming.”

The translator said something to Delche and Delche told me, “The captain is inviting us to sit with him at his table, but I don’t want to, I’d prefer to stay with the crew.”

“Okay then, go get a bottle of rakia, give it to the captain, thank him for the invite and tell him we’ve already been invited by his crew to sit with them.”

When Delche came back he said, “The captain was quite impressed by your decline. He felt it was noble of you, not many people would have declined. He also said he was looking forward to meeting the ambassador. Also, Ori is quite upset with you for leaving him there. He’s still waiting for the shuttle to call back.”

“Didn’t you tell him the shuttle is coming here?” I asked.

“No.”

“Let’s go and talk to Ori and let him know what’s happening.”

On the way there we noticed the crew was forming two lines and each crewman was holding a beautiful flower.

“I guess they’re preparing to welcome the Ambassador. I hope she likes flowers,” I said.

“The love of flowers is universal,” replied Delche.

Ori didn’t look as upset as Delche had implied but was happy to hear the shuttle was coming onto the ship.

“I guess Ori will get to meet his girlfriend after all,” Delche said loudly.

“It’s sad, not only do we not know the ambassador’s name but we don’t even know what she looks like. The same goes for the shuttle captain and the other people in the shuttle. Look at the difference between these people and your people,” I said.

There was a commotion outside and we came out of our ship to see what was going on. The shuttle was spotted coming into the bay.

I looked at Ori and Delche and said, “We look like pirates. Let’s get back inside and quickly change into our formal uniforms and be the first to meet the ambassador and escort her through the welcome line.”

I got no objections.

By the time the shuttle docked in the hangar we were already dressed and ready to go.

We were the first in line in front of the shuttle when the door was flung open. Two women dressed in military uniforms stepped out first and took their positions one to the left and the other to the right of the shuttle door. An older woman dressed in black was followed by two younger women dressed in white and red.

The older woman stepped forward, looked at my badge and then at my face and said something. Ori replied. She bowed slightly and I bowed back. I then stepped in front of her and began to walk towards the welcome line. My guards, who now also wore their formal uniforms with the Macedonian colours, followed behind me side by side. Delche and Ori followed behind my guards side by side. The ambassador followed them alone and after her she was followed by her two aides side by side, who then were followed by the shuttle captain and her crew person. After we reached the welcome line each of the women took a flower from the destroyer’s crew. The old woman, or ambassador, took a flower from the captain who was standing at the end of the line with his translator beside him.

The captain escorted the ambassador and her two lovely aides to his table and the rest of us veered off to the crew table to sit with them. As it turned out, only by accident, Ori sat beside the shuttle crew person, a woman perhaps a little older than Ori. Delche sat beside the shuttle captain, a woman about his age. I sat beside Delche on one side and Ori on the other. My guards, looking lovely in their uniforms, stood behind me. Facing me on the opposite side was the captain’s table. The ambassador sat next to the captain. His interpreter sat in front of the captain and the ambassador’s assistants, who apparently spoke the same language as the captain, sat on each side of the interpreter.

Before dinner the destroyer’s captain made a speech during which he introduced the ambassador and his senior officers. The ambassador then introduced the rest of us starting with me and

ending with the shuttle crew person. She didn’t introduce my guards. When she introduced me there was a lot of cheering from the destroyer crew. The captain of the shuttle made a comment to Delche.

“It’s most interesting that they would cheer him, who nearly destroyed one of their mightiest ships,” she said.

“These people are soldiers from a culture that admires what our captain did. With his courage and cunning he managed to outwit their most experienced captain and disabled his ship. That means something to them. They also admire him for not destroying their ship, which he could have done if he wanted. Our captain showed admirable respect for life and for fellow soldiers. These people recognize that as a sign of honour. We can learn a lot from them,” Delche explained.

Delche told me later that, after that she didn’t say a single word to him until it was time to leave.

We spent four hours on the destroyer and had a great time. After the ambassador boarded the shuttle, the destroyer captain came down to personally inspect our ship. Delche gave him a tour and two more bottles of rakia to share with his officers. The captain gave us a case of twelve large bottles of his green stuff and several boxes of their sweet baked goods. Before we left we had a drink with the captain and his interpreter. We mixed rakia with their green stuff, which the captain referred to as a symbol of the merging of our two worlds and we toasted our friendship.

When we began to close the ship’s door we were cheered by the crew.

Moments later we caught up to the shuttle and locked onto it.

We were all tired and nobody felt like talking. We went to bed.

Many hours later I woke up on my own. Delche and Ori were quietly tapping on their panels.

“How long was I asleep?”

“Long,” replied Delche loudly.

Ori didn’t say anything.

“I had a good time yesterday on the destroyer. The traders seem like good people. We should have no problem establishing relations with them.”

I got no response.

“Okay guys, what’s the problem? Do you want to talk about it?” I said.

Ori spoke first and said, “I would’ve had a nice time if I wasn’t sitting with the shuttle’s second lieutenant.”

“What? That pretty young woman? I thought you’d be pleased,” I said.

“I was until she started talking, talking down to me like I was some sort of commoner, even though I outranked her.”

“You mean like some sort of outlander,” interrupted Delche.

“Why do you even care? Obviously the problem is with her, not you,” I said.

“It’s not that. People from far away who don’t know anything about me accepted me but my own people have a hard time doing it. Look at the ambassador, she is ungrateful, they’re all ungrateful. We nearly died a couple of days ago to save them and they can’t even stomach looking at us,” Ori replied.

“And what’s eating you?” I asked Delche.

“The same thing, exactly the same thing! I thought I was over it. I thought I was over being upset by how they treat us, but I guess I’m not.”

We sat there in silence for a while and then I remembered what Vos had told me a long time ago about the people of the middle zone and how arrogant, selfish and uncaring they had become.

“Well,” I said, “Vos warned me about this a long time ago and the more I learn about your society the more I appreciate Vos’s wisdom. He said those who care will forget their own troubles and try and help those who have lost their way. You have to decide for yourselves what that means.”

“The worst thing about these people is that they didn’t earn their positions or the respect of the people; they were all appointed. Patronage appointments, they were all appointed by their rat friends,” added Ori.

I looked at Delche and said, “Well, what do you have to say?”

“You know me; I’d rather not say or I might regret it later. And you are right, the more you know them the more you despise them. What kind of world do we live in?”

“That’s why we’re here, to help your wife and her supporters fix it. It’s not easy fixing it, it’s not a machine you can fix in a few days, many generations will have to pass before the disease in them is cured. This requires patience and care and most of all persistence. Today we and this ship are the key to starting that change. I wonder if Vos knew what he had unleashed when he gave me his badge. I wonder how things would have been if Vos had given his badge to his niece Anelia or worse, if the rats had got a hold of it?” I asked.

“Yes, this whole thing is slowly beginning to sink in. I still feel like I’m dreaming, like this is some sort of game and anytime now I’ll wake up and find things the way they were before,” said Delche.

“So, do you guys want to annoy our guests on the shuttle? Do you want to give them a dose of their own medicine?” I asked.

Both Delche and Ori look at me. There was revenge in their eyes.

Delche asked, “What do you have in mind?’

“How about I fire an energy flash on the side of the shuttle? Not to hit it but to scare them. They won’t know where it came from. Then when they order us to investigate we’ll refuse. We’ll say that we will help them only if the ambassador asks politely. No, no, only if the ambassador begs. How does that sound?” I asked.

They both almost jumped out of their seats laughing.

Ori said, “That won’t work.”

“Why not!?”

“Because they’ll know who fired the shot and won’t order us to help them.”

“What do you suppose they’ll do?” I asked.

Ori laughed out loud and said, “They’ll probably crap their pants first and then start calling Vieria to report us. But that won’t help either because it’ll take hours to get a message to our planet. Are you serious, are you going to do it?” Ori asked.

Delche piped up and said, “No he won’t, he’s just messing with you.”

“How about we contact the shuttle and tell them that we have some of the green drink and ask them if they want some?” I asked.

Knowing that I was messing with him, Ori lost interest in playing the game.

“If I had it my way and if I’d known that they were like that I would have abandoned them to the pirates,” said Delche. “Anyway, I’m getting tired of talking about them. Let’s focus on something else. Now perhaps you can appreciate why I drink so much.”

No one felt like talking or eating. We had skipped breakfast that day. No one felt like eating our food after we had had a taste of the food on the destroyer.

The next few days passed without incident. We received no communication from the shuttle and we never bothered to call them. None of us seemed happy with the people in the shuttle but that’s how it was.

The day after we got a call from the shuttle, the captain said she had spotted two ships in the distance and ordered us to investigate.

Delche said, “We’re entering galaxy trader space and they are probably scout ships patrolling the perimeter. How are we going to communicate with them if they contact us, we have no interpreter. I hardly think the entire galaxy was informed of our arrival and they probably won’t know who we are. What if they order us to stop and we don’t, surely they will fire on us…”

“I get your point, a little extreme but valid,” I interrupted and asked Ori to contact the shuttle and have one of the ambassador’s aides who speaks their language contact the ships and let them know who we are and why we’re here.

Ori did that and was told to stand by.

A few minutes later the shuttle captain got back to us and told us to go back home, our services were no longer required.

“You mean to tell me we’re fired?” I asked.

“It looks that way!” replied Ori.

“Call them back and ask for clarification!” I said to Ori.

“Armed ships aren’t allowed to enter beyond this point,” was the shuttle captain’s reply.

And that was that.

We were all upset with what had happened but what could we do?

When you’re a soldier you follow orders and you don’t ask questions.

* * *

And this is the end of Otsi’s story. This is what my friend Riki told me before he left. He didn’t tell me where he was going but I suspect he had some unfinished business somewhere beyond earth. He didn’t tell me what had happened to the ship or his friends either.

Perhaps some day he will return and tell us more. At his request I have included the police report that described his disappearance here on earth.

* * *

Missing person’s report

According to the Ontario police, Riki was reported missing by his parents when he didn’t call from Kanata several days after he was expected to arrive there.

According to the police report, Riki was traced to have entered Algonquin Park where the search was concentrated. After several days of searching, Riki’s belongings were found, including his wallet and bicycle, in the bushes in a secluded place where he had pitched his tent.

There were no signs of a struggle and no body was found. Police believe there are three possible scenarios associated with his disappearance. The most unlikely is that he was ambushed, killed and carried off by a large animal, most likely a bear. This is an unlikely scenario because no trace of torn clothing or blood was found.

The second and most likely scenario is that he was kidnapped, probably lured by a female and then abducted by her accomplice or accomplices and taken far away.

The third scenario is that he disappeared on his own and made it look like he had been kidnapped.

Without a body, the police couldn’t rule the incident a homicide so, for now, they have simply ruled it a disappearance.