Zein: The Homecoming (4 page)

‘But…’ Tate started to say in rebuttal but it was now Myolon who went for the jugular.

‘Lord Chancellor, the Pod are savage beasts with no empathy to us. They want to remove us from Zein and they are happy to kill our women and children. Why are you defending them? Your father would not hesitate to back this plan.’ Tate felt hostile eyes on him. He was angry that Myolon had brought his late father, Lord Lambert Malacca, into the discussion. That was a low blow.

Irrespective of how he felt, the challenge brought the desired effect in the room. He had no remaining allegiances in the Inner Council on this issue and knew he had lost. Tate stood and with a heavy heart, and after clearing his
throat, stated, ‘I, as Lord Chancellor, accept and uphold your proposal. Proposal to be carried out within the next two termins.’ The chamber went wild, Myolon bowed to Tate and with a satisfied smile sat down and surveyed the impact of his proposal impassively as the excitement rose in the room.

Tate caught Jaida’s eyes and saw her sympathy for his position. He slumped back down on his throne, knowing he had just signed the death warrant for over five million souls. There could be no joy in that.

His mother was running towards him, hands outstretched, glancing back behind her fearfully. The dark brooding figure in red and black was gaining, his hand reaching out and grabbing hold of her shoulder. Photon shots pinged past them indiscriminately from the raging battle around them seeking targets. The disdain on Zylar’s face drove Tyson against the brick wall of the stony faced Ilsid in front of him, his seckle slashing through the air in its lethal arc of death.

Tyson heard her screaming in his head, his magics out of control as he tried to reach his mother. Zylar’s hand held her back as he pushed the device on his wrist and vanished into thin air. Leila screamed one last time as she disappeared from Tyson’s view, leaving him shouting at the top of his lungs, ‘Leave her alone!’

Then he became aware of a growing light and felt a hand on his chest gently shaking him as his nightmare rescuer forced him to open his tired eyes and the face of an angel came into the line of his vision. A loving smile played sensually on her lips. His shout must have been confined to his own dream as there was no worry on his girlfriend’s face.

His eyes flickered awake, forcing the glue like sleep apart. He saw her eyes. Those eyes, those brown soulful eyes, you
could dive into them and swim all day as they lured you in. He blinked, the light dazzling him and his confused brain struggling to understand where he was? ‘Take your time champ,’ said Amelia. ‘Takes a little time to come around.’

Tyson blinked again and the face above him became clearer as the nightmare receded. Amelia leaned forward and kissed him passionately, the warm brush of her lips awakening his memories of the times they had enjoyed before the start of the journey. He smiled. What a few months that had been.

He groaned and sat up feeling a little woozy but began to regain his concentration. Bailey, who was situated next to his capsule, turned to him and rubbed his stomach.
I am starving
. Tyson picked up Baileys silent cry for food and couldn’t help but laugh. There was only one Bailey, thank God!

His friend had not taken long to regain his humour once he and Gemma had been informed by the United States authorities that their parents had been found safe and well. On that fateful day, when the two nuclear weapons had fallen, their parents had decided to take a trip out to Long Island away from New York, but not before they had pushed back their flight home a few days. Through the ensuing firestorm they were rescued and luckily not hurt. When they safely arrived home everyone was overjoyed and the reunion was emotional. They listened incredulously to both their children’s exploits and pride replaced their initial horror.

Tyson hauled his body from the capsule. All around him others on the third deck were awakening from their slumber. The bulk of the crew, soldiers and technical staff had all been asleep for three months which enabled the resources on the
Elanda
to be rationed during their long thirty trillion light year journey from Earth to the Capulus Novus System.

It was in this galaxy that they hoped to find Zein and its surrounding planets. The three months’ duration was a significant change from the horrific two year journey that the Zeinonians took to travel to Earth. The copious amount of zinithium that the authorities on Earth had mined made it possible for the new Expeditionary Force to concertina time and space more effectively.

Tyson let his eyes wander around the bustling deck, following the wide range of people stirring from their enforced deep sleep. There were soldiers from both the Zein Colony and Earth but the third deck also consisted of a large number of civilians and, of course, his friends.

Before they had embarked on their epic journey, it had been an eventful six months since the fall of Zylar’s rule. Earth and Zein had built a formidable new governing body, simply called The Council, which had taken complementary objectives and rules from both the United Nations charter and Zein Council Law.

The Council was made up of an Inner Council, which included representatives of the Zein five clans and members of the UN Security Council and the Outer Council which had a rotating membership policy of ten countries from Earth that were randomly selected for twelve month advisory roles. Once the countries had served they would not be selected for the following three years. Once this period was over they would again be placed into the random selection process.

All other Earth and Zein institutions still existed; however, the mandate for The Council covered all space and Earth Zein Colony business.

The dual Chairs of The Council were decided on a yearly basis and selected from the Inner Council members. The first year was in the hands of the United States President and Lord Southgate and the second year
would be in the hands of the new United Kingdom Prime Minister, Charles Hamilton, and Lord Fathom.

At the first meeting of The Council it was unanimously agreed that all focus would be on refitting the powerful and enormous
Elanda
battleship and building two smaller destroyers to act as convoy protection. The Tyther clan, now released from the tyrannical Zylar, applied their ancestors’ knowledge stored in the archives to build the two destroyers. The manufacture of the impressive ships was also supported by the full array of raw materials and skilled tradesmen on Earth. Knowledge and skills were shared to create a formidable team.

The principal objective of the refitting of the
Elanda
and the building of the two destroyers was to free Zein. On Earth “Free Zein” badges were all the rage and people started to wear the different clan coloured tunics. The Blackstone clan blue tunics were, of course, the most favoured due to their place in the stories now circling the world. The tunics of the Fathom clan were not far behind with the Battle for the Core entering folklore for its ferocity and ingenuity. For your children you could even buy plastic seckles to pretend you were a Zein warrior; a favourite at Christmas time for both girls and boys – dolls and swords fading into the past.

Initially the inclusion of the Zeinonians into Earth’s population was welcome, though there remained voices against relaxing immigration rules too far, especially around business and social benefits. It was now common for the strangely attired Zeinonians to be seen walking the streets of the Earth’s tourist sites. They had built up a solid fan base around social media sites and Zeinonian themed parties were all the rage. In return the Zein Inner Council opened up their quadrants to the humans and people flocked to their villages and environmental coded countryside.

Approaching the launch of the Expeditionary Force in full pomp and ceremony, the initial euphoria felt, began to fade on both sides, with the humans the worst. Envy of the aliens’ greater technology and the resulting fear of hidden agendas, created an uneasy alliance.

In relation to the quadrants, you could still look into the sky and see no alien world, as they still kept the Outer Perimeter Walls active, as not to do so would cause issues for the airline businesses and also act as a block to the sun.

The Council passed laws enabling greater mining of zinithium and new mines were opened in Europe and in the Antarctic. The Core settlement was expanded and now was covering nearly double the area for mining that it had before.

In political circles, Victoria Kirk was the surprise winner as she was appointed Head of Zeinonian Support, or as she was quirkily dubbed “Kirk HaZs arrived”. Victoria was the principal contact with the clans, overseeing their integration into the Earth population. She had her work cut out. Charles Hamilton, the British Prime Minister, knew that her family’s long military history including the adversity they had faced in the World Wars and before gave her the natural organising and never-say-die attitude needed. It was an easy appointment, one which Victoria accepted with much humility. She was everywhere, attending memorials for the fallen in the Battle for the Core or the Southern Palace triumph, handing out blankets to the survivors of the New York nuclear blast, meeting and greeting Zeinonians in the different quadrants. She had her own issues to deal with though, the murder of Michael Dunstable; the last British Prime Minister at the hands of Zylar, still haunted her. The Zeinonians took to her forthright and easy manner and she was instrumental in supporting them in the increase in mining substantial amounts of zinithium.

In the United Kingdom and the Ruhr Valley in Germany old mining collieries were reopened, drained and repaired after Tyther and Fathom scientists pointed out, that under the coal, some of which had once driven the Industrial Revolution and two World Wars, was an enormous tonnage of zinithium. Using new techniques and the greater technology of the Zeinonians they had bored new mine shafts and were now bringing up significant tonnage of zinithium, quantities that would have only ever been dreamed about when the coal industry was in its heyday. Everyone was growing rich.

This never ending supply of the powerful raw material brought about a considerable leap in the Earth’s technology – previous deserts were dusted with the zinithium and within weeks flowing grasslands appeared. The Sahara became a rich land for farming and Africa was one part of the world that saw an immediate impact on its quality of life due to food shortages becoming a thing of the past. Plentiful food was not the only success as medical enhancements leapt forward. It was a unique moment in Earth history when cancer was eradicated, as a new X-ray like scanner pumped zinithium into the body killing the diseased cells with very few side effects. On the days leading to the launch of the Expeditionary Task Force the Zeinonians had started on enhancing humans’ ability to travel by teleporting. This was not a straightforward task with the huge volumes of people – they had started with small groups and hoped to increase numbers with time.

Tyson looked at the still half a sleep and slightly stunned faces of some of the previously sedated civilians, who had been nominated for the journey. Some of the greatest minds from all fields were on this ship. There were biologists, civil engineers, physicists and geologists to name but a few of the professions supporting the quest.
Chosen from a wish list of the Inner Council the majority had put away their fear of the unknown to have a chance to see a new galaxy and alter mankind’s destiny.

Someone slapped Tyson on the back. ‘Hey, dreamer how are you?’ It was Hechkle and beside him was a grinning Bronstorm. Tyson’s face lit up and he gave them both a firm handshake and a manly clasp around their shoulders.

‘See you have put a bit of weight on, big fella,’ said Bailey to Hechkle.

The giant of a man leaned forward as if to hit him and Bailey briefly flinched, at which point Hechkle roared with laughter and good naturedly rubbed his still very firm stomach and said, ‘Well Bailey, I am like you, I needs my food, boy.’

‘Look at that?’ said Gemma, pointing out into space, ‘Hi Tyson,’ she added with a long appraising look at him. Amelia saw the look and hooked her arm protectively around his as they joined her. Gemma just shrugged her shoulders and turned her attention back to what had caught her attention. Separating them from space was the floor to ceiling of specially toughened glass. The vision gave them a wonderful, clear view of their surroundings outside the ship.

They stared out in amazement at one of the ships providing escort duties, which since they had entered their cubicles prior to launch, they hadn’t seen in all its glory. The ship was a quarter the size of the
Elanda
, with its beautiful sleek hull making its serene way though the cloak of blackness that surrounded it. The ship name,
Manhattan
, glistened in black italics on the side of the silver hulk named in honour of the New Yorkers who had lost their lives. They could only guess how impressive the much larger
Elanda
looked to those on the
Manhattan
. The other ship which flanked them on the other side and was hidden from their view was named
Brooklyn
.

Behind the ship the depths of space stared back at them, deep, never ending and mysterious. The friends looked out in awe, slightly intimidated by what they saw. None of them could have expected to experience what they were seeing now with their own eyes. The noise around them grew as more of the third deck personnel sleepily awoke from their slumber. On the third deck there were more civilians than soldiers, the expedition’s army resources mainly on the lower floors.

Tyson saw the expedition’s leading scientist, Dr Walter Moore stretch and fumble around for his glasses, which were resting on the bedside cabinet next to his cubicle, before clumsily climbing from his capsule. Walter had spent many hours with the small group of companions prior to the journey as he pieced together the cultural and scientific differences of the two species. He saw Tyson and waved. Tyson, who had taken an instinctive liking to the clumsy, spaced out but highly intelligent scientist, waved back.

Walter’s gaze rested on the famed scientists and experts he had helped handpick as they pulled their protesting bodies from the capsules. He saw the nervous glances of his fellow colleagues towards the Zeinonians, adding to his discomfort. Before they had entered the hyper-sleep he had detected the distrust, envy and downright dislike towards the aliens from some of the greatest minds on Earth. Walter had gone out of his way to convince them that the Zeinonians would share their knowledge and he thought judging by the medical and farming advances they had demonstrated that this had largely been done. He was wrong. The memory of the destruction of New York still rested in the minds of even the most advanced minds. Walter sighed as he flexed his limbs, helping the circulation in his legs. He had much work to do to make the different species work effectively together.

Kabel and the rest of the group had nicknamed him Boff, short for boffin. Walter, who rarely had been part of any group, even at school, took it all in his stride. He was one human who welcomed the friendship of the Zeinonians; they made him feel special and part of their world.

On each of the decks, they had not used the full capacity of sleeping capsules. On the third deck, over two thousand people were just coming out of their hyper-sleep. On the other dormitory floors, where the bulk of the forces rested, there were between one thousand and three thousand people per deck. The other floors carried the bulk of the Expeditionary Task Force with a mixture of Zeinonian warriors from each clan and a multi-national force gleaned from around the world, although the bulk of the soldiers came from the United States and Russia.