Alien Backlash Read online

  Sarah fetched the solar lights from her balcony and distributed them around the now not-so-dark apartment. She had never bothered to look for the right-sized furniture and none of this was comfortable, never having been designed for a human but for something of a substantially different size and shape. Very large Avians or something the size of a Keulfyd, probably. The two “lounge suites” were padded benches. Big enough for a double bed but with the back in the wrong place for a bed. She reminded herself to get something more comfortable.

  In the bedroom, the bed/bag was huge but it was comfortable. She still woke up cold, though, from just using cloaks as blankets. When the power was on, the floor was heated and the bag more comfortable. She sighed. If she took the time to fix at least the bedding, she would sleep better and thus function better.

  She decided to have a shower. Con and Akira had designed one from an outlet of water in the bathroom which had an adjustable temperature. She filled a spray tank that held up to ten gallons. She pressed the battery-powered switch that built up the pressure in the tank and picked up the sprayer that looked like a weed sprayer. She wet herself, turned it off, soaped herself and rinsed off, carefully checking the remaining water level: it paid not to run out of water. Soap, shampoo and conditioner were carefully rationed. The kids had found out where the American Delegation had been staying and removed all their possessions including shampoo, but it wouldn’t last forever. Of course the shower did flood the bathroom which had been designed to contain just a toilet — but for a very large creature. Luckily, spills had been catered for and there was a drain which was adequate for a shower.

  Sarah had only just got to sleep when she was disturbed by Mahmoud yelling for her to come quickly and get to the communicator he and Akira had set up in the office next to the mess hall.

  “Yes?” She looked at Kaz, who was grinning from ear to ear.

  “The Defense System is here!! They want to put it up now! They need a senior Priskya to authorize it. Please get one. I think you need Pickdaa. She said she would stay nearby.”

  Sarah got dressed, found a trolley and laboriously pushed it down to the sea, recruiting Mayling and Mahmoud to go ahead. By the time she got there, Mahmoud had, as usual, run well ahead, rung the bell, got a Priskya child to swim down to find Pickdaa and was running back to help her. Mahmoud, aged fifteen going on thirty, did everything at full speed. Sarah would have loved some of his energy. The three of them got the trolley down the ramp into the water and opened it, filling it with fresh seawater while Mayling attached the pulleys. They switched it on to start the oxygenator then waited. At least the water wasn’t too cold. Within a few minutes, the youngster swam back and Sarah’s Translator informed them that Pickdaa was on her way.

  “I can’t stop expecting them to sound like dolphins since they look so much like them,” muttered Mahmoud.

  “Yeah, me too. Oh, here she comes.” Sarah angled the trolley as Pickdaa eased herself into the sub, which the three of them attached back to the trolley. Mayling switched on the motor to pull the very heavy trolley, now containing a very large fish and a lot of water, back up the ramp.

  A half hour later, Sarah arrived with Pickdaa in her sub. Glancing up, she saw Kelly was on one screen while a creature that looked like a shrub was on one of the others. Through its Translator the shrub identified itself as Odekips or something that sounded like that. The voice sounded Human, as all voices sounded like the Race they were addressing. She waved to Kelly who waved back. Pickdaa carefully activated her Translator and said to the shrub, “I am Pickdaa. Your reference number is 74382946378. Perhaps you might tell me how it is that the Keulfyd attack was timed for just before the Defense System arrived. Is someone in your organization informing the Keulfyd? The Terrans do not believe that the identity of the planet attackers is not known. I have considered this. I agree. What do you have to say on this matter?”

  Sarah was amused. She glanced up at Kelly and they shared a smile. Good for Pickdaa.

  Odekips was startled to be challenged — and by a fish! It felt very uncomfortable but also somewhat guilty. “We too think it is more than coincidence.” It paused in thought. “However, we have been here ten days. We stayed. We sought to find out what had happened to the planet and yourselves. When we saw what looked like a Keulfyd ship depart with no ID, we moved to challenge and attack.”

  Kelly said, “This did appear the case, Pickdaa. He moved in to attack us.”

  “Still, I think you owe us,” insisted Pickdaa

  There was a long pause. “I cannot dispute this. I will communicate with my company but I will suggest one option that I can do now. Your planet is now in chaos?”

  “It is.”

  “Our original agreement was to set up this system and run it for three months in order to teach the Ridianit to run it. Would it be acceptable if we ran the system for a year instead and assisted with the prisoners? At no extra charge.”

  “That would help. The Terrans are delegated to run the Defense System after that. You will teach them. The Ridianit who were in charge are dead. In the meantime we are having problems with the prisoners.”

  “That is bad. We will have this system operating within a day. You have my word. You will then be safe. I am mindful that we will all be at extreme risk until this is done, so we will start immediately.”

  The screen went blank, as did Kelly’s. Sarah would have liked a word with her but figured she was busy.

  Chapter Two

  The next morning Sarah looked around at the eager faces. Everyone looked invigorated and raring to go. Everyone was on time for the meeting and by now all of them knew the Shield was going up. Sarah assumed that, like her, they were all feeling so much safer. Sarah and Mahmoud chaired a loosely termed meeting of the Survivor’s Ministry to which all were invited. This government over-the-breakfast-table organization did have some things to recommend it, Sarah thought, like speedy delegation, shared knowledge and suggestions. She watched, amused, as Mahmoud quickly took over. “Everyone shut up. You kids shut up or get out!” There was silence. No kid wanted to miss out on anything. He consulted his list.

  “One. Bea and Bella, find something to make a noticeboard out of for our daily agenda in here. It has to be big. We need something to write on it with. For now it just has to work. We can improve on it as we go. Look through the lecture theatres. Designated jobs are to be written on it.

  “Two. Sarah and I have decided we will not land at the city which has five hundred in it. Too risky. The Cats have been delegated to find out what Races they are.

  “Three. Today, all the pilots are to fly to different cities the Cats have chosen where People need help or there are Zeobani or Niseyen. We need two pilots for each plane and a Translator if a Cat is going with you. We have Mayling and Miyuki who can fly one plane and Akira and me to fly the other. Con and Nial, when they are well enough to fly, will each teach two others to fly. Bert says they should both be recovered enough to fly in about two weeks for Nial and four weeks for Con. I’ve got two Cats ready to go and Harsha to translate. Ali and Karl are coming with me as guards. Miyuki, what did you organize?”

  “We don’t need a translator, and Julia and Rani are our guards.”

  They left the room and everyone looked at Sarah. She stood up with her notebook. “Ilse and Alan, can you ask the Priskya if they can help by doing some daily fishing for us? Your job is to collect the fish every afternoon, please. Also, is there seaweed we can eat? I’m craving greens! Any seafood. Alan, you made a big mistake in telling me what a good fisherman you were. I assume that means you know how to gut fish and can teach Ilse?”

  Alan groaned, but good-naturedly.

  Sarah laughed at him. “I have another job for you in the evenings Alan. Can you teach everyone to drive the cars? Once all the adults are competent, can you then teach all the children, please.” There was a shocked silence followed by a cheer from all the children. Sarah held up a hand for silence. “I have made an executive decision.
All children will be granted car licenses once they are competent but will lose them if they are irresponsible or crash. All adults should really learn to fly as well. Again, the trained pilots will grant licenses and you will lose it if you crash from a stupid cause. Like running out of petrol or not looking where you are going.” There were some snickers.

  “Ludmilla, Bert, and Sally are our full-time medical staff and I understand Pieter has been helping too. Does anyone want to volunteer as cook? I don’t know about the rest of you but I’m heartily sick of ‘add water and stir’ food.” She looked around hopefully.

  Sally stood up. “Pieter and I are quite good cooks. We could take it in turns. The Okme have taken over a good deal of the nursing, leaving us free to do other things. They are entirely in charge of the Cats except for one Terran translator a shift. We could do with at least one apprentice chef a day, though.”

  To everyone’s surprise, Alan raised his hand. “I’ve never learnt to cook. I’d quite like to.”

  Sarah continued, “Ali and Alia, can you two please go and look for food. Can you read the labels?”

  “Yes, Li taught us.”

  “Excellent. Once you’ve fetched in some food, go and see the Cats and see what fresh food we can get from the forest. Can you two be my permanently assigned food-gatherers? Tomorrow, you two could ask the Priskya if there is any edible seaweed or sea plants. We could see if we can eat it. Ask Ludmilla to help. Remind the Priskya we can eat anything the Niseyen can. Sally, I had the idea of using the goop as a fritter base, fish batter and for doughnuts. Could you see if that’s possible? Now, does everyone have a job?”

  There was a chorus of “Yes” as people straggled out. A few minutes later, Sarah heard the planes leaving.

  Bea and Bella were the first to finish their designated jobs. Both aged six, Bella was Indian and Bea was Dutch. Luckily, both spoke English which was a great help with communication. Bella’s parents, Rani and Ali, had been on a one-year sabbatical at Otago University in New Zealand when the opportunity came to travel to another planet. Bea’s family of Julia, Karl and her sister Ilse had been in New Zealand on an extended holiday, visiting relatives. A lot of Dutch people had settled in New Zealand.

  The two girls had conferred: “There are all those lecture theatres. Let’s go look.” Bea agreed so up the skyscrapers they went. Three hours later, two tired but very pleased little girls pushed a screen on wheels into the mess. They showed their find to Sarah. “Special pen things are used to write on it. We experimented and found that pushing this lever wipes out the message.” They demonstrated. The pens were very large but useable if you held them in a fist. All then had a lot of fun experimenting. Sarah found that one pen, which looked different, did not rub out.

  Just what she wanted! She happily set up headings and job assignments. “Excellent, thank you. You two have the rest of the day off.”

  The girls headed off to explore. Bella said, “Let’s go see the Cats. Maybe they’ll tell us what we can eat from the forest and grasslands.”

  “Yes, I’m sick of goop. It looks and tastes just like baby food but without the flavor.” They skidded to a halt when they saw Alan. “Can you teach us to drive?” asked Bea eagerly.

  Alan looked around for a smaller car. Torroxell cars came in four sizes, not for different engine sizes but for different-sized occupants. The children would fit “small.” Alan loved children, having children and grandchildren of his own. He had a problem, though. He couldn’t fit into the car that was the right size for the girls so he had to teach them in the next size up. He drove them out to a park and set up some boxes. First, he just taught them to start and stop. When they had that sorted, he taught them to turn. The cars were automatic and very easy to drive. He ran out of energy well before the girls did and promised them another lesson in the right-sized car tomorrow.

  When the planes arrived back that night, they brought with them two traumatized Zeobani and one Niseyen man. Much fuss was made of them as they welcomed them and tried to reassure them. All were relieved that at least some survivors had been rescued.

  But the good spirits resulting evaporated later that evening as several People saw a ship leaving at full speed. Sarah yelled for a roll call, worried that one of the children had been up to mischief. But thirty minutes later, they were all astonished to discover that Anne was the only one missing.

  Sarah was stumped. “Anne’s not a pilot. In fact, she doesn’t like flying — she gets air-sick. This makes no sense. It can’t be her on that ship.”

  “Then where is she?” asked Akira. “She’s too badly injured to get far.” Akira and Anne had struck up a friendship while recuperating from their injuries.

  “She must have gone somewhere.”

  “She wouldn’t. She’s the city leader here and way too responsible to wander off.”

  It was Harsha who solved the mystery the next day. She came to Sarah and said, “I searched the boat that carried out the goop to the prisoners on the island. It looked like something large hid on the boat. Whatever it was, it left things untidy in its hidey hole where the catch is usually stored. And it was large, maybe Keulfyd size? There are also signs it was in one of the many empty apartment blocks. When I told the other kids what I thought, we all searched all the apartment blocks near the airport. It was untidy. It had had a meal and not cleaned the mess up. Everyone emphatically denied making the mess and it was fresh. We thought it might be an escaped prisoner.”

  Horrified, Sarah reported all this to the Loridsyl. They had seen the ship leave but did not know whether it should have been stopped. She dealt with that problem first: “From now on all flights must be authorized by me, both air and space, coming and going. There should be no flights into space anyway, unless authorized well in advance.”

  Kasjeindid was more than a little embarrassed. The Terrans had not thought to communicate with the Loridsyl regarding air and space flights but it knew that was its’ job and it should have thought to mention this and clarify instructions. Again, the Loridsyl had failed in their duty. Luckily, the Terrans did not blame them. Very luckily! Under the circumstances, all space traffic should have automatically come under the supervision of the Loridsyl. Kasjeindid had once again been remiss in its duty. It did not help that it felt in continual panic mode! It would have to get itself under control!

  “We will organize an Air Traffic Control station in one of the Keulfyd Flying Fortresses for now. We will teach the Terrans,” announced one of the Loridsyl and within a day it was done. Ali and Alia took up their new duties, the Loridsyl more than a little startled to find they would have to teach children.

  “Don’t complain,” Kasjeindid said to the indignant Air Traffic Controller. “In the circumstances, we got away with this lightly.”

  Later, the Controller said thoughtfully, “These children are somewhat smarter than the adults of some Races I have had to teach. They are also highly motivated to learn, determined to succeed and quick learners. Old enough to want to be in an adult role and too young to be frightened of the responsibility.”

  Kasjeindid commented, “I was relieved at the Terrans’ reaction. Our own lack of anticipation that a prisoner would try to escape was a serious oversight that may have had very bad consequences. It should not have happened. There have been so many things to think about, so many things that we have had to do, and a task that we were woefully unprepared for. All unanticipated! We did not come prepared for this! And the constant worries we now have for our own survival.”

  The Controller was sympathetic. Kasjeindid was a worrier at the best of times and this was not the best of times. But there were compensations. “You’ll look back on this fondly. Just keep thinking that under these circumstances our pay now includes an extra hazard bonus.”

  Small consolation, thought Kasjeindid. Being rich would be good. Being alive to spend it would be even better.

  “Just keep adding it up every time you start to worry. We are now earning our original six months’
pay, at five times the rate. Now probably extend that another ten months, plus the hazard pay, no expenses and nowhere to spend it. Think about it! In actual terms, I guess, equivalent to nearly seven years’ pay in a year and a half.” It looked up at Kasjeindid who did not comment. Some people could not get their priorities right, it thought. The Controller loved credit. And spending it.

  Kasjeindid said, “There may be other survivors with the knowledge and expertise to fix a ship and take off. I must find out what Sarah wants to do about this. Does she want them shot down?”

  But when Kasjeindid asked Sarah later she said, “Communicate with them. Tell them to land or you will shoot them down because they are stealing a ship. Tell them they may leave but not in a stolen ship.”

  “And if they do not obey?”

  “Let them go. Enough have died. I don’t want to be responsible for any more deaths.”

  While Kasjeindid was astonished at this, it did understand the concept of bluff. It assumed if there were are any more attempted escapes, the escapees would land. A shot in front of them would encourage obedience. The Loridsyl were excellent shots. Kasjeindid decided that is what they would do. Bluff, but with a bit of extra persuasion thrown in.