Alien Alliance (55 page)

Kelly was treating the symptoms and hoping
she was right. She had none of the equipment she was used to. Bert
was no better off and he had finally gone to bed, so tired he had
been swaying on his feet. She was the only doctor. She had grabbed
several startled Cats that were uninjured and checked their basic
heart rate, blood pressure and normal mucosal colour to check for
shock, temperature and respiration rate. At least then she knew
what was normal. Everyone was looking to her and she didn’t have a
clue what else to do.

Kaz and Stella went over to the dormitory
area and Kaz headed for her room. But Stella had other ideas.

“I can’t bear to be alone,” she said, “I’m
having awful nightmares too,” and headed to Kaz’s room where she
assumed he was sleeping alone. To her relief there was only one
bed/bag. He was. She got into his bed after kicking her shoes off.
Kaz did likewise and put his arm around her. She snuggled in and
then thought, “Now what?” Li had told her that Petislay girls made
the moves not the boys. Stella knew what she wanted but was
embarrassed and didn’t know how to start. She snuggled into Kaz but
he remained a perfect gentleman. This was not what she wanted! But
Stella was strung out and exhausted. While she was still wondering
how to ‘start something’ she fell asleep.

It was early morning when Stella awoke
abruptly from a nightmare. Her thrashing about had woken Kaz.
Stella cuddled back in to him apologizing. Kaz gently kissed her
forehead. Stella lifted her face up and Kaz got the point and
kissed her properly.

“Kaz,” she said, “I’m sick of war. I want to
go to Petislay with you, Az and Li.”

“Oh,” he said startled. “No problem. You can
go as a refugee. They’ll give you a refugee allowance until you can
get a job or a study allowance.”

“Dimwit!” she thought.

“That’s not what I was thinking. Kaz, if I
said I want to Choose you that would be OK?”

“Heck yes!”

“Then I Choose you.” There, she thought.
Done. Your move.

“I Accept,” said Kaz ritually then grabbed
her and kissed her with a lot more enthusiasm. But then he just
snuggled in.

Damn! Now what? Stella thought that her
mother would not accept this as a marriage unless things went ‘all
the way,’ and she could honestly tell her that. Stella thought
again over what Li had said. Like everyone else in the know, Stella
thought Li and Az were at it every night. Exactly what they were
at, Stella was less sure of and surprisingly, Li wasn’t telling.
But Stella was determined to find out. Exactly how would she get
this point across to Kaz?

“What do you want to do?”

“What?” said Stella blushing, her mind not
in tune with his.

“Do you want to study or work or what?”

“I want children.” Stella said before she
thought it through.

Kaz finally remembered what Az had told him
about who is supposed to make the first moves. “Ah,” he said
hesitantly, “That requires a bit of work on our part. Takes more
than kissing.”

“Then get on with it cos I don’t know what
to do,” she said, again speaking before she thought. She turned
bright red as Kaz laughed. She punched him.

“Oof,” he gasped, still laughing. He decided
not to tell her he didn’t know either.

Stella started smiling. But she was very
embarrassed.

“That didn’t come out right.” she said
slowly.

“No kidding,” Kaz spluttered and got punched
again. “But you still meant it,” he said more seriously.

“Yes. I want children. Lots of them.”

“If it’s any help, me too. But, don’t take
this wrong, but what’s the hurry?”

Head down, Stella explained, too embarrassed
to look at him.

“Oh. So you have Chosen me and you want to
start a family. Now. Did I get that right?”

“Yes.”

“OK. I’ll go slow,” he said neglecting to
explain he’d need to because he’d have to figure things out on the
way. And he did.

The next three days were ghastly. By the
night of the Day of the Battle, all survivors had been flown to one
of four islands and were well guarded by the Priskya. The task had
been exhausting. There were so few fit people to do the job. That
still left a great many dead bodies; on the ships, in the cities
and even outside the cities where some had apparently wandered off
to die.

The Priskya had informed Mathew, in absolute
disgust, of the conditions on the prison islands and the shocking
conduct of the prisoners. The sick were being pretty much left to
look after themselves. They were dying in large numbers but a lot
of them were dying also due to neglect. The medical supplies had
been delivered to them but many were not being used. Some of the
sick had not received their ‘cures’. A few medical staff were still
working but many were sick. The main problem was that few of the
able bodied were helping.

A very appalled senior Priskya had ordered
them to attend to their sick and assured them if they had taken the
cures, they would be safe as the sick would no longer be
infectious. But that was another problem. She reported back to
Sarah, “There was no orderly distribution of the various cures. The
able bodied generally snatched at least one dose each. Many of the
sick did not get any at all. I was ignored!” She was indignant and
angry.

In total, just over 520 had reached the
various islands alive. There were injured from the battle among
them. Over the next few days, as they died, their bodies were
unceremoniously dumped into the sea by the prisoners for the
Priskya to deal with. Mindful of future potential allegations,
Mathew organized for the Priskya to transport people over to take
photos of the neglect and the dumped bodies. The cameras here were
varied, but Tue found one that was like a combination of a digital
and a Polaroid. You could choose which photos you wanted, then
print them out from the camera. It was Mahmoud who figured out how
to use these cameras. The Priskya and Human helpers, each day,
dragged the bodies out to sea. There were going to be few survivors
at this rate.

Once the bodies had all been disposed of
from the cities, a rest day and talk fest was organized. The awful
cleanup had taken three days due to the shortage of fit personnel.
So many were dead or injured. Finally, the Cats had joined in. They
dragged the bodies out to and into the planes. They hated the job
but saw the condition of the Terrans and decided they would have to
help and it didn’t matter if they were seen now. On the third day,
Kaz, Az and some helpers having finally completed the city Tasha,
turned up at one of the other three cities to find the bodies all
piled up waiting to be loaded. It was the same with the next two
cities. The other three cities were completed within that day and
the appalling task was over. The children could now return.

The Healer Machines had been going flat out,
both in this city and in some others due to the extra 78 Okme that
had been on the starships. One good result of this was that people
and Cats came out of the Healers, not needing a hospital. This was
the military application. The injured tie up a lot of personnel and
equipment. The military switch being applied meant they came out of
the machine able to basically look after themselves. In a
convalescent state of walking wounded so to speak. Just as well, or
the Terrans would have been able to do very little except nurse the
injured; there were so many. The Cats were unable to nurse
themselves so this combination seriously overtaxed the few medical
personnel at first. But everyone helped.

The Priskya had never known the concept of
medical care until the Ridianit arrived and set up medical
facilities. But there was a difference here. The Ridianit would not
consider putting Cats or Priskya in a medical facility. The Terrans
automatically treated them and on a priority basis. Those that
could wait, waited, regardless of Race.

The talk fest started on the fourth day
after the battle. By this time, there were no critical patients
left and the Healers were now working on the lesser injuries and re
treatment. Those seriously injured where permanent injury would
have resulted, were put back into the Healers and the Healers ran a
full course. These included Anne, Simone, Tue and many of the Cats.
Helkmid assured them all that they would heal fully. Better than
new in fact. He warned them it would take a lot of time. Months in
Simone’s case. Most of the patients and all of the convalescents
made it to the talks. The children had by now returned and went
too.

Mathew got up and demanded silence. He got
it. “We have so many problems to solve yesterday. Security is, I
believe, number one. The Priskya are now incredibly vulnerable to
another attack. They have told me that we can move as many Humans
as we can into the empty cities whenever we like. It will have to
be as soon as possible. Az, these ships will take 10,000 you said.
I assume that means 15,000 if we strip them down and take the
planes out? We could move one shipload at a time in and put 1000
into each city to care for the city and the surrounding farms.
That’s urgent or the buildings will quickly start to deteriorate.
We can work this out on the voyage as to who we bring.”

That started an argument as to what type of
people should come. Some favoured military, others settlers, but
Sarah objected to that,

“Now hold on. If you bring settlers in they
will want to be permanent. We need people who will see this as an
adventure and they will have to be self supporting but with free
accommodation, free goop, free power and free water that shouldn’t
be hard. They also must be prepared to fight for this planet.”

That started another debate. Sarah listened
as they argued and complained. No-one was listening to anyone else
but it was mostly good natured. A thought flashed into her mind and
she gasped with the implications. She got to her feet thinking
furiously as she did. Patiently, thinking it through, she waited at
the front of the room until Mathew paused in his oration.

She quickly stepped up beside him and said,
"Hold it! Everybody's forgotten to take a few things into account.
Does anyone know how much fuel these ships take, where’s the fuel
gauge, how much is in them, how far will that will take us and what
it is? How do we make it? How much have we got?

She looked around at a room full of shocked,
embarrassed and startled faces She grinned. "I thought not." She
realized she now had the floor. She looked at Mathew and
laughed.

"And you Mathew have also forgotten
something as important; communication! Since the Keulfyd like most
races, have their own separate interplanetary and inter ship
communication system, the ships can only talk to each other or
their home planets, not Earth, Torroxell or Petislay. That'll cause
enormous logistical problems. But how's this for solving all our
problems at one go?" She paused, thinking furiously.

"First, Az and Kaz, you need to fill one
ship with fuel, if possible, and fly it to Petislay. You are the
only ones we can trust to send. The Niseyen need to know they have
another planet. It would be nice to organise a treaty with them.
Looking to the future, maybe a merger? On Torroxell at least.

The prisoners are a security risk and still
pose a danger. They need to be dealt with. Maybe by your people?
Then there’s fuel. Your people can hopefully fill the tank. We need
as much as we can bargain for. At least enough carried back to fuel
all the ships up from here to Petislay or Earth and back. Better
still the skills, equipment, ingredients etc to make our own fuel
if that is possible. If your people are as eager as you say to get
rid of this Keulfyd faction then they will probably fall over
themselves to help. And the trip there should give you some idea
about the range of these ships". She smiled mischievously. "It
would be handy to know how far they go on a tank".

Az replied, “We don’t known that and we have
so far been unable to find the equivalent of a fuel gauge. We are
used to flying small planes and the set-up in these huge ships is
different. But we are convinced that between the two of us we can
navigate and pilot one to Petislay.”

Sarah nodded, "At the same time, Mathew, you
need to take another ship home, with the same goal. And get people
to bring food, seeds, plants, food animals etc. I don’t know if our
animals could eat the grassy stuff here. Maybe bring concentrates
or grass seed. What I wouldn't give for a steak or even a boiled
egg! While you travel, we can be thinking up what we need and
adding to your shopping list. My main point here is that with a
ship here, at Earth and on Petislay, we have a fast communication
system between all three."

"Az and Kaz, your planet is closer and you
can probably come back first with fuel and the first load,
hopefully, of some military types to be a deterrent to another
attack and some who know how to run the security system. If it
arrives and if your people like the idea. So many ifs. We need
technical experts. People will can run the infrastructure. Terra
can supply the labourers. Then we take some of the remaining ships
and start to ferry your people and their supplies back. By that
time, Mathew should be coming back with the first load of Terran
volunteers and supplies.

I agree with you Az that your people and the
Priskya should be our first priority. Your people need to know who
the planet attackers are. This knowledge will be dangerous until it
is shared. And there is the danger of the Keulfyd trying to silence
us all. I’m very mindful of Helkmid’s allegations. If he is right
and your people find out, who knows what could happen?

But the risk to the Priskya, to Torroxell
right now, is awful. Someone could attack them again while they are
vulnerable. The Defence Shield may help if it gets here and gets
operational quick enough. I hope they weren’t one of the ships that
was warned off. The Priskya tell me they paid for that Defence
Shield.”