"There was one called Amid of Maltos who lead a revolt on an Altherian Cruiser and captured the vessel. He returned the vessel to Maltos, where he was chastised for insubordination. There he discovered that his own government was profiting from the market. It was his vision for freedom that united the commoners and lead them to the revolt against the government to gain liberty for his star system."
Lord
Kaschlin Ruhual, "Mutant War Memoirs"
Chronicles
of the Visitor, 2382 TS
CHAPTER VI
The alien was kept sealed inside of the PDU in the ICI (Intensive Care Isolation) area for eight hours before he was transferred to a stable unit in a private cell. Though his vitals had been stabilized, he was still very weak and light headed. He seemed to respond most favorable to Neila’s presence, so at the insistence of the Chief Medic, she was temporarily assigned to assist in his recovery and orientation.
Communication with the alien was of paramount concern to both the alien and the team. While the master complex CPU which controls the language banks and relays to the tempanotacts worn by the Terra populace, was capable of learning basic syntax and adapting new vocabulary to known languages, it was not designed to discern gibberish. It was agreed that Neila’s first order of business was to record simple word associations with known objects and actions for the language techs to manually load into the system. She enlisted the aid of specialized techs from programming, communication, language and calculus. Four hours after the last recording was made, the team returned to the alien’s cell with a small pair of ancient clip-on style earbobs worn by original migrants over two thousand years before. The alien eyed them skeptically until Neila took one from the presenting techs had and clipped it onto his earlobe. He squirmed in feeble resistance while the device was being applied, but as soon as he recognized her soothing words of assurance in his own language his face seemed to light up with relief. He grinned at the team and offered an affirmative nod to all.
“The program is not complete, of course,” one tech explained. “We only had the most rudimentary interpretations to work with. It will learn slowly at first and may sound a little garbled.” The alien suddenly frowned and reached for the appliance. “Like that, I guess,” the tech chuckled.
“Vleckt,” the alien grinned at him, which all assumed meant, garbled. “My thanks,” he finally said. “You’ve done well for me and I am grateful.” His voice had a deep resonant sound to it, almost brogue-like in nature.
“You are welcomed,” Neila told him. “Do you understand that we have never encountered a sentient being from another part of the universe?”
“Yes, I do understand. I have made contact with many such as you. Though never with so little ceremony, I will confess to you.”
“Do you have a name we can call you,” she asked?
“Yes. I’m called Bedall Ruhual, son of Kaschlin Ruhual, Lord of Ammos, ruling clan for Callibos, and Alliance Prefect.
“Bedall. We are honored to know you,” she said graciously. “I am called...”
“Neila,” he surprised her by saying. “And you are called Bill,” he said to the technician who had presented with the appliance.
“That’s right,” Bill confirmed. Bedall continued putting names on all of the faces in the room until he was sure no one had been left out.
“What is an Alliance Prefect,” someone asked when he had finish?
“The Prefect is the
highest officiate in the
“What is Ammos,” another asked.
“Ammos is an inhabited cluster of the Callibos quadrant. We are mostly human clans, but there are many other clans in Callibos.”
“Why are you here,” Neila
asked cautiously? Her work and familiarity with political agendas contributed
to the sudden leery aspects of this
“Only to observe your progress.” He seemed to sense the suspicious tone of the question and be attempting to ease it by prefacing the answer with “Only.”
David had slipped into
the cell unnoticed and remained near the opened portal to eavesdrop. He eyed
his patient’s status during the battery of question quietly, watching for any
sign of stressful fatigue. Like Neila, the words “
“In my lifespan there
were two and one before the
“Edict?”
“Yes. It is the First
Edict forbidding contact before a determination is made. The
“You need rest, now,” David told him.
“Yes,” Bedall agreed, “I’m slow to recover from this.”
“Slow?” Neila said with amazement, “You’ve only been conscious for a few hours. We haven’t even fed you yet.”
“I suppose that is true,” he conceded.
“We’ll talk again when you are stronger,” she told him.
“You will come back after I rest, then,” he asked her.
“I must report your progress to the Council. They will be anxious to speak with you before you return to Callibos.”
“Yes, of course. I understand. But you will come back after that?”
She sensed urgency in his question, as if he a commitment from her was required. “I will if I can, but I can’t promise it.”
He laid his head back and let it sink into the soft pillow. “Tomorrow, then,” he sighed.
“Tomorrow,” she gave in.
The hopper seemed to
take forever to load and depart for her
A wave of fatigue enveloped her suddenly, and she realized she hadn’t slept in more than a day. She laid her head back against the seat and let herself drift into sleep.
She awoke to the gentle thump of the hopper alighting on the docking bay of her satellite. The rest had refreshed her energy level. She hurriedly made her way to her quarters to find her telecom announcing calls she’d missed. John had called for her eight times during her absence.
“How’s our visitor,” he answered her call.
“Weak, but recovering
quickly. We successfully adapted a chip. It needs more work, but it’s
functional. His name is Bedall Ruhual. He’s an observer for some sort of
extra-galactic
“Did you say
“Yes. He didn’t go into much detail. There wasn’t time, and I didn’t feel qualified to interrogate him on the spot,” she excused. “He did mention that he was preparing a report of our progress.”
“So, we’re being watched. What else?”
“This
“I’d like to, but I have a meeting with the Council. Which reminds me, you need to transmit your report as soon as you can. Tonight if possible. They’ll want names, ranks and clearance of everyone present. They haven’t issued a security yet, but the fewer people who know details now, the better.”
“Yes, I assumed as much when I put the team together. No one was lower than a twelve except me. That information is already in the system. I’ll transmit tonight’s update in about a few minutes.”
“How do feel about sticking with him tomorrow?”
“Well, he did insist I come back. I wasn’t sure how the Council would take it. My clearance was reduced to a nine when I assigned, if you’ll remember.”
“We can upgrade that.”
“Don’t be so sure. I’m not one of the Council’s favorite bio-chemist,” she reminded him.
“No, but your mine. Besides, you’re not in Research anymore: you’re Security. Just plan on it. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
John met David Sinclair outdid the council chamber armed with Neila’s updated reports. They spoke briefly about the alien before the doors to the chamber slid open. A slender young man in a blue and white robe stepped through it and escorted them to Councilmen. The circular chamber enclosed a large table of the same shape. Nine elderly senators, representing the nine Star City Satellites, were seated around the table. Blue piping and sleeve insignias on their white robes identified their individual Star Cities. Wiley Roslin of Star City V was the first to initiate the discussion. “Dave, John,” he greeted them, “thank you for coming on such short notice and please allow me to commend both of you on the extraordinary work you’ve accomplished thus far. Your discretion is most appreciated. This session is quite informal. The Council expects your reports to be incomplete, however, we are anxious for your impression of the alien’s disposition.”
“Thank you, Senator,” John replied. “The unknown disposition is Security’s primary concern. Benevolence is unconfirmed, and there is the populace reaction to be considered.”
“You’ve done a marvelous job of containing the incident.” Wiley gave him a reassuring smile before turning his attention to the medic. “David, I understand this creature is humanoid in appearance. Are you able to determine if it is truly a human life form?”
David cleared his throat, “Yes. According to the instrument readings, anyway. There are some minor physiological discrepancies which would be in keeping with environmental development and evolution.”
“What sort of discrepancies do you mean?”
“There is far less O2 and a higher mineral concentration. The body temperature is cooler, also. Mentally, he seems quite intelligent, cooperative, and even helpful with his recovery. A team was assembled to establish verbal communication. A rudimentary language base has been assimilated into the data banks. I think John has more information on this than I do.”
John gave David a questioning glance before taking the cue. “Neila Winters assembled and headed up the team. Without getting into much detail, they managed to come up with a list of words to program in, …”
“Excuse me, John,” Owen Marshall of Star City III interrupted, “Did you say Neila Winters is heading the team?”
“Yes, sir. She initially spotted the UFO and dispatched the squadron.”
“Dispatch warrants a level nine clearance,” Carl McPherson of Star City VI interjected. “How is it that a dispatcher would be assigned to head such a delicate operation?”
“Neila Winters was already involved because of her dispatch duties. That and her experience with various biological life forms background in Earth Research at the Institute made her the best qualified security officer to handle this type of situation.”
Carl McPherson was the newest member of the Senior Senate, having only recently completed the fifteen-year probationary period to achieve the tenure required for highest security access. Only Senior Senators have the superior clearance. He was also the one who insisted on the reassignment of Neila, and the reduction of her clearance. “I fail to see how that qualifies her to handle something as delicate in nature as a possible alien invasion.”
David suddenly jumped to defend John’s decision, “Owen, I requested the assignment. The alien responds to her. His vital signs stabilize, his alert level increases; I decided it would be in the best interest of my patient to have her there.”
“I see. You said, ‘He responds to her.’ I assume you’ve determined the gender of the beast, then,” Owen asked delicately?
John did not like the sound of the implication in that question. “She assembled experts in communications, linguistics and programming. She and her team successfully achieved their objective. She has obtained the Aliens name, his origins and his purpose. Whatever the physiological motives are, she was able to use them to her advantage.”
“I quite agree with the decision, John. You said communications have been established,” Wiley asked in an attempt to change the focus of the conversation. “What information about the alien can you tell us today?”
“According to Neila’s report, he indicated that we were being monitored for developmental potentials.” John went over specific aspects of the narrative Neila had provided him and conclude with the malfunction that interrupted the alien’s mission. The meeting was ended on a positive note.
