Alien Caller (72 page)

David turned to
see the Mentan some yards behind him, standing strategically
between him and the door. Ready to run, but with nowhere to run to
on his dead ship. He had no need. David had no feelings towards
him. None at all. He neither felt anger for what he’d done, nor
sorrow for his pitiful condition, and it was clear Dimock had done
a lot of work on him. He was bleeding badly, his green blood
covering every square inch of his body. There were large gashes
along all of his tentacles and burn marks too. Several of his
tentacles were also missing their tips, a result of torture no
doubt, and he also had a few missing eyes as well. But then
considering what he had done, what he had nearly achieved, it
seemed only fair.

David ignored
him. He was a safe enough distance from the acid corruption that
was eating the last of his nemesis in front of him, and breathing
through his respirator. And it wasn't as if he could do him any
harm. Let the Leinians and his own people deal with him he figured.
What happened to him was completely unimportant. His evil work was
done, his career ruined by his own hand, and his people disgraced
by him. Trellin would not be about to cause mankind any more harm
for a long time to come.

As David had no
interest in the Mentan at all, he simply nodded to the disgraced
scientist and walked over to the nearest steel bulkhead, exactly as
planned. Ejecting the empty clip from his gun, and then making sure
the chamber was empty, he turned the gun into a hammer, and began
tapping out a message in Morse code. It was a prearranged
message.

“Victory.”

As he tapped,
he noticed the Mentan behind him, presumably staring at him as if
he was mad and no doubt wondering what insanity the human barbarian
was engaging in. After all, sound couldn’t travel in space. But
with his communicators and translator a burnt out wreck, he
couldn’t ask. No doubt he considered that David was simply insane.
What he didn’t realize of course was that every tap he made formed
a minor vibration in the metal of the ship’s hull. A minute
distortion, which the Leinians with a precisely calibrated laser,
could measure from their ship. Primitive human spying technology,
showing up even that of the most advanced space faring races. There
was something quite pleasing in that.

In a few
minutes he gave up his tapping. He was certain that his allies
would have heard, and were preparing their shuttle for docking with
the wreck. It would take time. So instead he sheathed his empty gun
in its steel pocket, and sat down on one of the ungainly backless
chairs and let the emotions of the day wash over him. The Mentan,
at first still scared he was going to attack, backed away some
more. But it slowly realized that David had no such intent and did
likewise.

As they waited,
David finally found the presence of mind to study his prisoner from
his new perspective as both his custodian and rescuer. Trellin even
to his eyes appeared to be in a strange mood. Some of its tentacles
writhed stiffly as though it was stretching, while others played
continually with its empty holsters. Looking for instruments,
weapons, that wouldn’t work even if it had them.

Was it speaking
he wondered? Pleading like most criminals when caught? Perhaps
protesting its innocence or demanding a lawyer. Could it be calling
him even more obscene names, and planning vengeance upon his
people? Or was it just in pain from its wounds, asking for help? He
had no way of knowing and no way of responding. But then he didn’t
really care. Instead he just sat there and waited, while it had to
do the same.

It was a long
twenty minutes.

Finally, after
an eternity while he watched Dimock’s corpse turn into a puddle of
foul slime which slowly began seeping down through the growing
holes in the steel floor to the deck below, he heard the sound he’d
been waiting for. The clank of metal on metal as another shuttle
docked with the ship.

In short order several Leinians
came through the door
way
,
all
like him fully suited up. But unlike his, their suits had power. He
could see their faces as the light from their instrument panels
reflected off them. And he could see their power as the servos
helped them to move in the heavy suits. They practically bounded
whereas he could hardly stand even without gravity, as the
adrenaline had finally worn off.

Several of them
wearing the white stripes of medics moved toward the Mentan. The
others came directly for him and Dimock. But they stopped when he
held up his hand. And then they saw the puddle that had once been a
man. David made sure they didn’t get any closer.

Touching
helmets with who he thought was the leader, David told them what
he’d done to it and to stay away from the corpse. The last thing he
wanted was for anyone else to be hurt. Instead he told them to stop
staring at it and take him and Trellin and get back on board the
shuttle for the return trip. There was nothing more to do here.
Except of course for the vessel’s destruction. They did just that,
leading him back through the corridor to the small docking door in
the outer hull where their shuttle stood ready.

Stripping down
to his underwear, he threw the space suit and guns into the main
room of the ship, and grabbed at the small air bottle the others
had brought with them just for the purpose. With even faint traces
of the molecular acid wafting through the air, he could have
irritated his lung linings for days by breathing in the vapours.
Then, just before he shut the inner hatch David set and tossed the
incendiary device he’d made them bring for him. It would have been
detected on his shuttle when he’d arrived, but now with the ship so
badly crippled, computers down and sensors off line, they could
have carried a nuke on board the second shuttle without
problem.

Two minutes
later, as the shuttle cleared the Mentan’s ship, he watched through
the view screen as the ship slowly turned orange. A mere echo of
the true inferno that was being unleashed inside it. Once it had
cooled, something that was likely to take weeks rather than days,
he knew that there would be nothing other than slag inside the
ship, only its reinforced superstructure and hull remaining
intact.

There were many
reasons for doing it, not least of which that the ship now
technically belonged to the Earth. It was after all a conquered
attacking vessel, and he, an Earthman, had defeated it in Earth
space. But there was no way he could ever have allowed such
advanced weapons and other technology to be given to them. World
war three would have been a picnic by comparison with what his
people could do with Mentan technology. And war would be inevitable
as the different countries all fought over their share of the
spoils.

But if he was
honest, the real reason for his actions was to make sure that not
even a cell of Dimock survived. It had to burn for much the same
reason as he had shed his blood spattered suit and left it inside
the destroyed ship’s airlock. It wasn’t that it was too heavy
without its power functions, or that he was worried some of the
acid might have spilled on him as he claimed. He just had
nightmares of new Dimocks being cloned from any of his DNA remains
that had splashed on it. Later he’d have to speak with the Leinian
scientists and make sure that they never saved a single cell of his
from their surgeries. Every single specimen of him that they had,
had to be destroyed. And then the same had to be done by his
people's scientists. The ones who had created Dimock. Before they
went to trial.

One of the
officers came through into the tiny cabin of the shuttle he was
standing in, and David looked up, startled.

“Your people
are waiting.” He pointed at the rear wall of the shuttle, just
before turning around and returning somewhat quickly to the safety
of the shuttle's tiny bridge.

Worried, David
turned to the rear wall of the shuttle which the officer had
indicated, to see it was no longer a blank steel wall. It had
become some sort of screen. And on that screen it had a display of
the assembled heads of the Earth showing. More faces and leaders
than he had ever imagined existed, and many of them people he
didn’t even recognize. But then he’d expected to have to report
back to them if he won. He’d even prepared a short speech. It was
just that he’d forgotten all about it in his relief. And he hadn't
considered that he'd have to give the speech in his underwear,
while bleeding heavily down one leg.

“Ladies and
gentlemen, the crisis is over. Permanently. Dimock is dead, the
ship he captured is destroyed, his hostage is alive and being cared
for by the Leinians, before he’s sent away to face trial for his
crimes. Tell your people that. Stop the panic.” That was important.
He couldn't imagine how frightened the people were down below, but
he knew it had to be bad.

“And then, when
they’ve had the time to catch their breath again, tell them this.
The Leinians are our friends. They came to Earth five years ago to
assess how far away we were from space flight, and how we would
adapt to meeting the other races out here. They’ve been studying us
ever since, but only in the most highly ethical way. They are good
people, decent people, and I'm proud to call them friends.”

“They are also
human, - or, we are Leinian. And this I know will be hard for many
to accept. But their ancestors and ours were once one people,
thirty or forty thousand years ago. Biologically we are one
species. We can have children together. I know this without the
possibility of doubt. My mate and wife Cyrea, is Leinian and our
first daughter is due any day now.”

“The ancient
Mentan’s played with the DNA of both our races, and probably all
the other creatures that walked our worlds. They played God as it
were, and for that crime they are even now suffering terrible
shame. But on the other hand we truly can know we are not alone.
Tell your people that. We are not alone. That we have actual
brothers and sisters among the stars. Family who truly belong
there. Not because of their technology, not because of their
humanity, but because of their fundamental decency.”

“Tell them also
that we do not yet belong there. We are not ready for meeting any
other peoples, to walk among them as equals. Not when we cannot yet
deal properly even with our own. How can we expect to be dealt with
as one people when we are not one? If we cannot speak openly and
freely among ourselves, how should others know how to speak with
us? Why should they trust us when we cannot trust ourselves?”

“These are all
questions we as human beings must answer before we can leave our
home world behind and embrace life among the stars. And they are
questions that only we can answer. No one else can do it for
us.”

“In the
meantime at least every man, woman and child, should know one
thing. If we are ever to have any hope of reaching the stars, of
our children or grandchildren setting foot on new worlds, we must
first set our own world in order. No more wars. No more hunger. No
more poverty. No more division between people, between races or
religions. No more prejudice. No more secrecy. No more murder. No
more destruction of our own world around us through pollution and
greed. These have to be our goals for the next century at least,
and we will be judged on them.”

“We cannot
leave our world until we are one people. One peaceful and tolerant
people. One people ready and willing to stand side by side with all
others in peace.”

“The Leinians
will be staying on Earth for that time with your permission.
Staying as our guests, and granting us the wisdom of their counsel.
If we are to reach the stars and help our people I would suggest we
should grant their request.”

“They have said
that they will set up an embassy, and will expect to be granted all
the rights and freedoms of any diplomat. But unlike any others,
they will only deal with the United Nations. No individual, no
organization and no country will be negotiated with separately.
This is their word as they have given it to me.”

“Nor will they
grant us any technology. Not without first having assessed very
carefully its likely effects on all the people of Earth. Both its
potential for causing harm or helping us. And if and when they do
grant us any help it will be to the world as a whole and never to
an individual, a country or a group. Nor will they allow their
wealth to affect ours. There are things that they might wish to buy
from us, and their currency will be mineral wealth and perhaps some
surgeries for those too ill for our medical science to treat. But
they will not buy so much as to affect the economies of the world
at all, and in time when we are ready, they will give fair
recompense for any technological advances we may have made, as they
allow us greater access to space.”

“No more do
they have any concern or comment with regard to our religions. None
of them. All religions are accepted by the Leinians, provided they
do not permit the harming of others. Any others. They are secular
and the law is the law.”

“There will
also be at least one new rule to learn from this very day. Genetic
re-engineering of people and animals, the same human technology
that rebuilt Dimock and nearly destroyed us all, is banned. It's
too dangerous, and all the other societies that have flirted with
it, have suffered tremendously. Those that survived.” He was clear
on that. The Leinians hadn't wanted to put it in to the speech, but
David had insisted on it.