Alien Alliance (43 page)

Kaz spluttered, “You have to be kidding! Is
she telling the truth?”

“Yes I think so. That’s what’s so scary. And
yet they seem so trusting and so nice. They seem decent but they’re
deadly. I sort of said this to Li. She agrees. She wasn’t offended.
They have a huge peace movement. Everyone seems to agree they
shouldn’t be like this but the planet is overcrowded and using up
its resources. Li says they have to fight to survive. She admits
they are fighting each other. She was ashamed. She says their birth
rate is too high. That China has a one child per family policy and
has had this for decades but the people hate it. And they don’t
adhere to it. Some hide their children.”

“Well that I can understand; the hating that
policy bit and hiding their kids.”

“Li says in china every family can have one
child but if the first child is registered then they have to pay a
hefty penalty to register any subsequent children. It’s an average
year’s wage. Li says, especially in rural areas, if the first child
is a girl, sometimes the family don’t register her. Or worse, she
is killed. Then they have another child. If it’s a boy, they’ll
register him but if it’s a girl they sometimes again won’t. The
unregistered girls are non-people. They’re sometimes not allowed to
be educated or receive health care without being registered.
Especially in the cities. Sometimes they eventually get registered
and sometimes they never do. Some parents manage to save up the
money in time for them to go to school. Some don’t or can’t. Li
says her parents registered her and then adhered to the policy. Her
mother Bella ensured she never had another child.

Li says she’s lucky. A lot of girls are
unwanted and some are sold. A lot means millions. Many millions if
you count other countries with the same attitudes.”

Can we get a few million to come to Petislay
to live?”

“Is not the point, do we want them? We will
have to make sure they don’t outnumber us. Is there any question
which side would win in a fight?”

“No. We’d be beaten. But they could
intermarry with us and solve our population crisis.”

“Would our children inherit their
aggression?”

“Li says the environment is causing it. She
says it’s one of the reasons she would like to look at Petislay.
She says she’d love to live in peace and bring children up with no
wars in the news every night.”

“Mentioning children reminds me. Did you
hear there is a plan to help the smallest children survive no
matter what. If we lose, they are to hide where they are and escape
at night. They are to discard any evidence of sapience and go to
the Cats. The Cats will take them underground and care for them.
Then they have been told it is their mission to expose what has
happened. They have been told they have been chosen to survive and
tell and they must do so if we lose.”

“Yes, I heard that too. Good plan. But this
attitude of Terran men to the women. It really gets to me.”

*

Thoughtfully, they flew in silence for a
hundred miles or so then split up, both heading first for the
northern most cities.

Both glided silently over the cities, timed
for the middle of the long night. They should be hard to spot
despite the moons. They hoped. Nearing the cities, both calculated
it carefully, checking for wind and allowing for drift. Both had
done this type of warfare before but had carefully concealed this
from all but Mathew. They had never used the gas though, just
chemicals and other, non lethal, biological warfare. They timed it
carefully, opening the valve in the cockpit and letting out the
virus. Both successfully dosed their two designated cities and
headed back.

Now relaxed, both found themselves wanting
to sleep and losing concentration. The hours wore on as they fought
to stay low and safe. Both these goals seemed mutually
incompatible! It was with great relief they got back into
communicator range.

“How’d you go?”

“Done.”

“Me too.”

“I’m stuffed.”

“Me too.”

They flew the rest of the way in silence.
Both happy to know the other was there but too tired to talk.
Several times Az felt himself almost going to sleep and jerked
himself awake. How was he going to get through another five nights
of this? Mathew had promised them a night off after the second
parasite drop.

Az brought the plane to a halt and slumped
over the controls, shaking with fatigue. He looked up, then opened
the cockpit door as Li hammered on the side of the plane under his
seat. She leapt up and scrambled in crying nearly hysterically and
tried to get into his lap. He leaned back to give her room.

“Li stop. I’ve had it. I have to sleep.”

He looked into her face and saw the
disbelief, rejection, fear and tears.

“Oh God,” he thought, “I’ve stuffed this one
up.” He tried again. “Li you know I love you. You want me I’m
yours. I’ll go anywhere with you. But unless we go to Petislay, we
have to deal with your laws. Kelly tells me if I touch you I’m
breaking your laws.”

“I don’t care! I’m old enough now anyway.
I’m 16. It was my birthday a few days ago. I want you! I Choose
you! I’m coming with you. I can’t stand to be apart! You might have
been dead and I wouldn’t know!”

Az looked her, so tired he could hardly
think. But he’d heard! He forced his brain to work.

“Then come with me tonight. See what I’m
like smelly, bad tempered and tired. You still want me, I accept.
Heck I accept anyway. What am I thinking? We’ll sort out the
details later. Now, we have a war to fight.”

Li looked at him. “It’s OK with you if I
come?”

“Yes. I need someone to help me stay awake.
You come.”

She smiled, “You sure do stink.”

Az looked over and with relief saw Kaz
landing. He dragged himself out of the plane and went off to find
somewhere quiet to sleep. As he saw Simone come running over he
said, “All done. Fill her up please,” and he headed to bed.

Waking up, he dragged himself out of bed and
after the necessary, he went towards the kitchen to be stopped by
Li who was waiting for him. She beckoned. He followed her and found
she had located a tub of sorts. The room looked like a preparation
room for food but she had found a whole lot of water heaters and
had them all going. She quickly partly filled the tub and added
lots of cold water. At least there wasn’t much water in it.

“Get in.”

Very embarrassed, he quickly stripped off
and got in, his back to her. He couldn’t blame her. He stank cooped
up in that cockpit and sweating for hours. Nothing he could do
about it he’d thought. No power, no Cleaners. He hoped someone
would find out how to get the power back on. But what a primitive
way to get clean. These Terrans seemed to love it. It was nicer
this way with just Li doing it. He had been so embarrassed when
three of them had washed him! Using some kind of hard thing that
smelled nice, she sluiced him down with a container of water and
washed his back. He glanced at her. She was enjoying his
embarrassment and grinning from ear to ear! He groaned as she kept
washing his back and she laughed out loud. He had to keep his hands
in front! At least she turned away when he washed his front. She
sluiced him down then motioned to him to get out while she held out
a cloak for him to use for a towel.

“Not bloody likely,” he said. “Turn
around!”

She buckled over with laughter but did so.
He towelled himself down awkwardly getting the principal right but
unsure how to reach his back. Li reached from behind and took the
towel off him, rubbing his back and legs down, still laughing.
Quickly, he grabbed some clothes and put them on thankfully
covering up the biggest erection he’d ever had. Like heck she was
too young! She knew exactly what she was doing! And what effect it
was having on him!

“I’ve found two lots of clothes for you.
Those will get a bit wet so you can put some dry ones on later. How
on earth do you stay clean with all that fur?”

“We have Cleaners!”

“In every home?”

“Yes.”

“But aren’t they really expensive to buy and
run? Helkmid says they are.”

“Well yes but they take seconds and you go
in with your clothes on and get them clean too.”

“This is more fun!”

Az looked at the mischief in her face. Her
face was so full of emotion and so easy to read. That was one
advantage of her being a Terran female. Niseyen females were so
different. What was his mother going to make of her? He realised,
like Li, he had accepted that they were now together. Li looked
more secure, older and more assured. She certainly knew how to
handle him. He doubted any Petislay girl would ever have treated
him like that. Not under any circumstances.

“Life with you is going to be interesting,”
he said.

She smiled at him and took his hand, leading
him to the dining room. At least they liked similar foods and liked
some foods hot. He couldn’t think of any other Race that liked food
hot except for the Zeobani and Okme.

As they entered the dining room, he tried
furtively to slide his hand out of Li’s but she was wasn’t having
it.

As he feared, a few minutes later he saw
Kelly heading their way. Now he was for it. He could read the
expression on her face.

“Stella tells me she and Li are going with
you two tonight.”

This wasn’t what he expected. He thought
quickly, “It’s exhausting flying so many hours without a break. I
nearly went to sleep several times. The girls will keep us awake,
especially on the last bit over the sea on the way home.”

“Don’t you have an auto-pilot?”

“Not at that height. Auto won’t engage under
5000 feet and won’t do that unless the terrain is flat. We have to
fly the whole way manually.”

“Oh. Can’t you find someone else to go with
you? It’s risky to take the girls.”

“I know but they volunteered. Someone has to
go with us or we wont last the distance.”

“What if I go with you instead?”

“You could come too. But Li would be much
more chatty and that’s the whole point. She sure can talk. I need
her to keep me alert.”

He could see that Kelly didn’t want this but
couldn’t think of an excuse to stop it. She could see the sense in
it, as he explained it. There were also a lot of interested and
amused eavesdroppers.

Very unhappy, she finally went away. A bit
later he saw Kaz come in with Stella and Donny. They came over, Kaz
somewhat behind as he loaded up his plate with food.

“Mathew has decided we are to take two
Terran pilots with us each mission. They’ll fly the easy bits
giving you a rest,” said Stella who had been concerned and gone to
talk to Mathew. Mathew had immediately got the point, although not
a pilot himself. Stella had also been busy with something else. She
impatiently waited for Az to finish his food. As Kaz came over, Az
noticed to his great amusement that he also had had a bath.

“Switch off,” he said quietly and turned off
his Translator as Kaz complied. “Eyes front. Li’s Chosen me,” and
he switched his Translator back on. He didn’t care about the
massive social custom breach that he had just committed. No one had
noticed except Li and Stella. Kaz smiled widely his eyes dancing.
Az was betting Stella knew. Looks like she hadn’t told Kaz
though.

Finally Az finished his meal and was dragged
off towards his plane by Stella and Li. They followed him in as he
looked in astonishment. Someone had removed what must have been an
added bulkhead and opened up the aircraft. He could walk from the
cockpit into the cabin and it had been cleaned out, seats put in, a
bag to lie down on and cupboards. He checked. Everything was done
properly and attached to the plane. This was hours of work. It
looked balanced too. There were food and water containers in the
cupboards, utensils and cups and plates. He was a little sad it
wouldn’t be just him and Li but this was much better and safer. He
could rest.

“Con knows how to build motor homes. Con,
Akira and Nial did all this today with help from a few others.
They’ve been flat out. There’s a loo but no bathroom yet. They’ll
start on that tomorrow. Some others did Kaz’s plane with Con
supervising.”

Az looked behind a cloak and saw what was
rather obviously a sort of loo. Well the girls weren’t equipped to
use the cockpit one. He had been wondering what to do about
that.

He automatically started his checks
externally. Everything looked good. The tanks were full. He had
slept so long that it was nearly time to leave again. Tonight would
be very different. And so it was. But Az laid out the conditions
before they left.

“This is a war and this plane a weapon. You
all do as I say. No mucking about in the cockpit. Keep quiet and
don’t distract me while we’re over land. No noise or distractions
from the cabin either, especially while we’re over land. Everyone
behaves. If I don’t like the way you fly you get out of the
cockpit.”

“Yes sir,” was the chorus as they all got
in. The atmosphere was very different but they all jumped to it
when he gave orders. The flight didn’t seem so long. He navigated,
occasionally checking while first Helene and then Nial took turns
flying over the water. Li behaved very well to his relief. She got
food and drinks, generally helped and was silent, as were the
others, for the hours when he flew over the land ‘on the deck’ as
the Terrans put it. They behaved like military. Actually, better
than most. Az found this unsettling. They were civilians but they
acted more military than most of the soldiers he had fought
with.

Again, he glided over two cities, a repeat
dose for the biggest city, releasing the virus, then turned towards
home. As he reached the sea, he turned over the plane to his two
co-pilots and went in to the cabin. Li served him food and drink
and they talked quietly. With the others within earshot, they were
very discrete. Az decided to lie down and went quickly and
unintentionally to sleep. Some time later Li shook him awake.
Hearing an alarming tone in Helene’s voice, he was instantly up and
in the cockpit before he realised he had moved. Helene pointed to a
light that was flashing,