A Galaxy Unknown 10: Azula Carver (8 page)

"You're always welcome here, Christa. I appreciate your concern and how tirelessly you've worked to help the citizens of my planet get back on their feet. Goodbye."

After Christa had left the office, Madu, deep in thought, walked slowly back to her desk. When she had taken her seat, she tapped a button on the com unit and said, "Tell Minister Sltuvyck I must see him immediately."

Five minutes later, Sltuvyck was seated in her office, facing her desk.

"Commander Carver was just here. She knows we've been negotiating with TGP."

"It's not illegal to negotiate with companies from off world."

"You fool! Don't you understand? She knows we've promised to share the cloning process data and the metallurgy information on Wlabisnk-320."

"She couldn't. Only you and the cabinet members know about that deal."

"I tell you, she knows. I know she knows."

"Did she say she knew?"

"It's not so much what she said as what she didn't say, and what she hinted at. She knows. I
know
she knows."

Sltuvyck began to fidget nervously in his chair. "She couldn't possibly know."

"I'll remind you of those words as they place the noose around your neck."

Sltuvyck blanched as he thought about the penalty for sedition. He knew Madu's intuition was uncanny. "What do we do?"

"I have to think," Madu said as she began pacing around the office. "I have to think."

~ August 27
^th
, 2288 ~

"Your Grace," the butler said as he entered her main office on the third floor, "a shuttle has entered the atmosphere. It appears to be headed this way. They haven't acknowledged any of the hails by our security forces, so security requests permission to shoot it down."

"Does the ship appear to be armed?"

"No, Your Grace. But it could be a remotely controlled ship with a large explosive device. The head of security strongly suggests you and the family go down to the emergency bunker immediately."

"Sound the evacuation alarm. I want
everyone
in the bunker."

"Yes, Your Grace," the butler said, then raced from the room. A couple of seconds later the emergency alarm began sounding throughout the palace.

Jenetta ran to where she expected to find the kids playing with the Jumakas, but they weren't there. She made it down to the first floor in twenty seconds and ran to the open courtyard in the center of the palace. The Jumakas and the children were there, along with her mother and two sisters-in-law. They were standing with bewildered expressions on their faces because they didn't know what the alarm meant.

"We must go down to the bunker immediately," Jenetta yelled over the sound of the alarm. "There's a possible threat headed this way."

"What kind of threat?" her mother asked.

"Not now, Mama. Just follow me."

Regina and Marisa picked up their children, and the group raced to an elevator. The Jumakas naturally followed along.

While the alarm was sounding, the button that sent the elevators plummeting to the underground bunker would work for anyone. As the doors opened at the bottom of the shaft to reveal an empty corridor, Jenetta stepped out and turned to her left. She had never been down here before, but her palace on Quesann was modeled after her palace here, and she assumed the bunker was almost an exact duplicate as well.

The enormous bunker was already crowded with staff members who had headed there as soon as the alarm sounded. As the last of the staff entered the bunker behind Jenetta, the massive door was closed and the room sealed. They were now safe from almost any attack on the surface.

The main room resembled a large lounge, and there was adequate seating to accommodate all, but everyone stood around, listening for any sound from the surface despite the fact that they were too far down to hear anything short of a nuclear explosion.

Finally, the phone rang, startling some of the staff who were straining to hear any sound from above. The butler answered the phone, nodded as the other person spoke, then hung up the device. He walked to where Jenetta was standing.

"Your Grace, Captain Pwuhvasqu, the chief of security, says all is secure. They were able to make contact with the Selaxian freighter that launched the shuttle. It appears the shuttle had a problem with its communication equipment as it entered the atmosphere. It doesn't present any danger."

"A Selaxian freighter? They're an awful long way from home. Who's in the shuttle?"

"The pilot is supposed to be a Terran named Wilkerson. M.A. Wilkerson to be precise. That's all Captain Pwuhvasqu was able to tell me at this time."

"Okay," Jenetta said loudly so everyone in the bunker could hear, "the crises is over. We can return topside."

Jenetta and her family, including the three Jumakas, were naturally accorded sole use of the first elevator to rise to the main floor of the palace. The spacious, high-speed elevators would have the entire palace staff topside within a few minutes.

Captain Pwuhvasqu was waiting on the first floor to greet the Azula when the elevator doors opened. "Your Grace, I'm sorry for the confusion. I felt it better that you be in the bunker in case this really was an attack on the palace."

"You took the correct action, Captain. I'm glad you were able to determine that the shuttle offered no real danger before you found it necessary to destroy it. The freighter captain should have contacted you before the shuttle was even allowed to leave the ship. At a later time we'll have to discuss having planetary security ships in orbit around Obotymot so ships entering orbit can be cleared before the situation escalates to the danger point. Good work, Captain Pwuhvasqu. Carry on."

"Yes, Your Grace. Thank you."

~     ~

The shuttle touched down on the palace pad about twenty minutes later. Captain Pwuhvasqu and a detail of twenty security people were standing nearby to ensure the safety of the Azula and the palace staff.

After extending from an opening in the hull, a ramp lowered gently until the furthest end made contact with the ground. Immediately thereafter a hatch opened to reveal a Terran male who filled the opening, literally. He didn't appear particularly large by Terran standards, but he was a giant by the standards on Selax, where the average male stands just three feet, one inch. As he stepped out onto the ramp, Jenetta judged his height to be about five feet eight inches. The stranger walked down the ramp after taking a quick glance at the assembled security and palace staff, and went directly to where Jenetta stood. Most everyone in the known galaxy could identify her in a heartbeat.

"Mr. Wilkerson?" Jenetta said.

"Aye, Admiral. I'm Wilkerson."

Wilkerson appeared to be slightly older than middle-aged, at perhaps eighty or ninety. His hair was prematurely white, and his skin was tanned, which was surprising for someone who had just spent five years in space. At one time, Terran space dwellers used tanning beds to replace the missing effects of the sun in keeping their bodies healthy. But vitamin supplements and special lamps in all the corridors of larger ships had replaced the need for spending time in a tanning bed each week. It appeared that Wilkerson had continued to use a tanning bed.

"You will always address Her Grace as Azula Carver or Your Grace," Captain Pwuhvasqu said loudly in a threatening manner from a few meters away.

Wilkerson looked at Captain Pwuhvasqu, then sheepishly back at Jenetta. "I'm sorry, Your Grace."

"No harm done, Mr. Wilkerson. The Nordakian rules of proper etiquette where the nobility is concerned are quite strict, but I took no offense. If you were a Nordakian, you would have been required to drop to one knee and press your hand against your chest at our meeting. Not being a Nordakian citizen, you are, of course, exempt from that ritual."

Looking around at the Nordakian males, most of whom stood nearly eight feet all, Wilkerson said, "I feel like I've finally managed to escape from Lilliput only to land in Brobdingnag." This was a reference to the classical tales of travel by Lemuel Gulliver, written by Jonathan Swift and published in 1726.

"I promise you won't be caged and put on public display here, Mr. Wilkerson," Jenetta said with a smile. "And my people are exceedingly friendly and courteous."

"At least I won't have to worry about banging my noggin on the overhead a dozen times each day for years."

"Did you travel all the way here from Taurentlus-Thur in a Selaxian freighter?"

"Yes. It was the only ship headed this way for over a year, so I had little choice. I knew I couldn't survive five years of travel in a Lilliput environment and remain sane, so I purchased a cargo container and hurriedly outfitted it as a personal living accommodation. I had all the space I needed for living and for a complete lab in which to continue my work. I even had running room for the Jumaka I purchased for you."

"A Jumaka? For me?"

As Jenetta uttered the words, Cayla, Tayna, and Thor, who were standing by her sides, raised their heads and looked at her briefly before returning their attention to Wilkerson.

"Yes. You told me in one of our communications back in 2282 that you had two females but no way to impregnate them. So I purchased a male for you before I left Taurentlus-Thur. It was extremely difficult to get an export license for him because the government has placed a complete ban on Jumaka exports. I was only able to get him off the planet because I told the authorities he was for Admiral Jenetta Carver, who already owned two females but no male. As soon as they heard he was for you, they agreed immediately. They had heard the stories about you and your Jumakas. And— the fact that you are one of the most powerful persons in Space Command didn't hurt. They said that once I delivered the animal, you would have to contact them so they know you actually received him. If you don't, I can never return there."

"Who do I contact?"

"I have all the information in my computer files. I'll dig it up and bring it to you." Looking around, he asked, "Uh, where should I have the tug place my container?"

"You can stay in the palace while you're here."

"Thank you, but the lab in my cargo container is all set up for my work. I have a large collection of recordings I've tried to use to learn the language of the Jumakas, but I couldn't seem to make any headway with the Jumaka I purchased. He appears to be a very healthy male. He just won't talk to me, even though he seems to understand everything I say."

"Do you keep him caged?"

"The freighter captain insisted on that, but I let him out every day to run in the exercise area of my container, and his cage is not small. I tried to make him understand that I was only following the orders of the ship's captain, but I don't know if he understood. However, he always went back into the cage when I told him to."

Turning towards Captain Pwuhvasqu, Jenetta said, "Captain, is there an area on the palace grounds where a cargo container wouldn't look too much out of place?"

"At the very rear of the grounds, Your Grace, there's a heavily treed area just inside the palace walls where a full-sized cargo container should be completely hidden from the palace. In fact, it should only be visible from directly above. "

"Good. Would you make arrangements for Mr. Wilkerson's cargo container to be placed there?"

"Of course, Your Grace."

"There, Mr. Wilkerson. You're all set. I'd very much like to meet the Jumaka you've brought as soon as you're settled."

"Of course, Your Grace. And I'd very much like to become acquainted with your present Jumakas. They all appear very healthy. Um, when did you acquire the third Jumaka?"

"He was a gift from the Hudeerac government. They had him in a zoo, and he was not being treated well."

"Him?"

"Yes."

"Then have the females been impregnated?"

"Not yet. At least not before we arrived here. I've given them permission to do whatever nature motivates them to do now that we're here on my estate."

"Marvelous. I'm delighted I'll be here to record the entire event. If there is to be an event. I've been studying them for fifteen years, and we still know so little about them. In the wild, it's virtually impossible to study them. Whenever I set up an observation post, they always seemed to learn I was there and would melt off into the jungle."

"I contacted you because you were reputed to be the foremost expert on Jumakas, and you stated that you were trying to develop an interface so we could communicate. Have you made any progress in that area?"

"I've developed several prototypes, but I haven't been able to get any Jumaka to talk for me."

"How does it work?"

"It's like the microphone that undersea divers or astronauts used to wear," Wilkerson said as he put his hand to his throat, spreading his thumb and forefinger as wide apart as possible and placing the area between them against his throat. "It wraps around the neck and picks up the sounds made in the larynx. I've built a translation device, but without knowing what the sounds mean, collecting them has been almost pointless."

"My girls and Thor are very intelligent. I'm sure I'll be able to convince them to work with you."

"That would be wonderful."

"I'm willing to bet they'll be as enthused about being able to communicate with us as we are about communicating with them."

~     ~     ~

"Today's meeting will come to order," Chairwoman Gladsworth said as she pounded the decorative gravel once on the sounding-block.

Once all council members were seated and the room was silent, she said, "Councilwoman Overgaard has a report to make regarding her investigation into the whereabouts of Lower Council Chairman Arthur Strauss. We'll start with that report today. Councilwoman Overgaard?"

"Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. As I reported previously, we've gone back to the very beginning and started our investigation anew, hoping to find a lead we might have previously missed. This time we began by investigating all normal business Chairman Strauss was involved with when he disappeared and everything
unusual
he had been involved with during the previous five annuals. Perhaps the most unusual situation was his involvement with Mikel Arneu, who had used his position to transform himself into a woman named Nicole Ravenau, ostensibly to better hide from Space Command."