The Project

Chapter 21

The Project Chapter 21

The centaur was unloading his wagon load of Vulnite at the metal smith's guild forcing the companions to walk into town. As they reached a busy intersection Ailof announced to Alex,

"Here's where we part my friend, it's a shame things didn't go as planned, perhaps another time." Gnam then asked,

"So what are you going to do now Alex?" During the wagon ride, he'd been thinking about that very thing.

"I guess I'll go see Bria's parents and try to explain. After she took off, I was seriously thinking about leaving this place without her, but from what you and the others have told me, I can't in good conscious do that. Bria needs help, and I intend to do everything I can for her."

"Well good luck," replied Gnam.

As he was trudging up the brick paved street, lost in thought, a very muscular dwarf slipped up next to him.

"Alex Russom?" Suddenly startled, Alex jumped as the dwarf now blocked his way.

"Yeah, what do you want?"

"They want to see you up at the palace, as of right now, let's go." Now he knew he was really in trouble, no telling what sort of story Bria had fabricated. It was another few minutes walk to the palace, with the "official" looking dwarf leading the way. He was permitted to go to his room at first to drop all his gear, then escorted to an office door. The dwarf then knocked and stuck his head in. Backing out, he nodded to the door indicating that Alex should enter.

Entering the ornate room he immediately spotted Bria sitting in a chair next to her mother, her red eyes indicated that she had been crying. Her father was sitting behind a large desk, not smiling.

"Sit down there son, we need to talk." He knew he was on the spot now, as he desperately wished he was anywhere else but here.

"According to my daughter," began the king, "you are now refusing to take her with you. On top of that, she's telling us that you told her we were trying to be rid of her, why would you say something like that?" Alex was between a rock and a hard place, and he knew it. It was no use lying especially with someone who could have his head cut off, best just to come clean, tell the truth, and let the chips fall where they may.

"All right, I did tell her that her parents were dumping her, but in a sense, isn't that what your doing. Anyway, after all the pissing and moaning she was doing I certainly didn't want to be cooped up in a spacecraft with her. However, that was before I heard the rest of the story.

"Rest of the story?" Asked the king.

"Yes sir, if you had only explained things a little better the other night. Anyway, I've changed my mind…Again. I want to help," then looking at Bria, he added.

"Yes Bria, even as bitchy as you can be, I kinda like you, your highness, we will go to the ends of the galaxy to find someone who can help her, but I'm going to need Bria to promise that she is strictly a passenger, she takes orders from Arna and I, but mostly Arna." Then came a knock on the door, the queen getting up to see who was there. Alex thought he heard Kelly's vice for a moment, then the queen stepped back to let Kelly enter, before speaking to whoever was out in the hall.

"Kelly!…What?" Exclaimed Alex. Before she could speak the king asked.

"Who is this?"

"Her name is Kelly Parkinson," replied the queen. "Apparently she is with young Alex here, up to now she's been on Deneva, but there are two Golians out in the hall that are requesting that not only her but Alex here accompany them to Fort Kamata."

"Are they in some sort of trouble?" Asked the king.

"I can answer that your highness," said Kelly.

"All they want to do is talk to us, somebody named Zeb Kifire passed the word to them that there were two people from a planet well outside this galaxy that they weren't aware of. They told me that they stopped here first but someone told them that Alex went off with the princess somewhere, but that I was back on Deneva, so they came and got me first."

"Let me talk to them," said the king. His wife opened the door allowing the two Golians to enter.

"What is it you want with these two?" Asked the king.

"Please your highness," replied one of the Golians identifying himself as Gruk Armier, "Anytime someone from outside the galaxy shows up, we want to meet them, find out who they are and what they want. Rest assured, nothing will happen to them, and unless they are intent of galactic conquest, we'll return them safely back here."

"I see," replied the king. "One thing though, my daughter here will be traveling with these two at some point, to various locations around the galaxy seeking medical treatment. I'm told that she will require a travel visa, and as a member of Doradian royalty, a security waiver."

"Yes your highness, that is true, since all these requirements can be taken care of at the fort, she is more than welcome to come with us."

The king than took out a slip of paper from his desk and scribbled something on it. Handing it to Gruk, he said,

"Here. It's midday meal time go down to the palace hospitality room, it's down where you came in, give them this, food and beverages are on the house, I'll send these three along shortly."

"Thank you your highness," replied the Golians.

After they had left, the king sat back and studied Kelly,

"So you are a member of this odd crew as well?"

"I'm sorry your highness," stammered Kelly, "I forgot to curtsey when I entered." She then semi-knelt gaining smiles from the king and queen.

"Well say there," replied the king, "Here's a young lady who remembers her manors."

"Your highness, both Alex and I come from a planet called earth, but where it is located from here I haven't a clue, Arna does however. Anyway, it's just Alex and I, Arna and Garmik who she met on Xindus." The king narrowed his eyes as he studied the two.

"I meant to say something earlier, but you are children are you not?"

"Well we're teenagers," replied Alex, "Both Kelly and I are seventeen going on eighteen, probably around Bria's age."

"And your parents consented to let you wander the stars?"

"Well…Uhh, not exactly your highness," continued Alex

"In other words "runaways" added the queen.

"Umm, basically," said Kelly.

"Sir?" Said Alex, "It's true, we didn't ask our parents permission to head off into space with Arna, but back on earth we don't have space travel like the Golians, or someone like that, we've put people on our moon, and send out unmanned probes, so it's not like we could simply say to them, Mom, dad, I really don't want to go to college, this guy who's ancestors were kidnapped from earth along time ago and came back just to die gave me his female android and spaceship. Guess I'll just go off with her and a friend of mine and roam around the galaxies for a few years." The king sat back in his chair continuing to stare at Alex and Kelly. Slowly a grin formed on his face.

"Point taken son, in a way that's what the queen and I want for Bria here. If…For some reason you are unable to find someone who can heal her, at least she will have had an opportunity to see something of this universe. It's one of the reasons I decided to go ahead with this shuttle project. It's only a matter of time before others of the Ladhas begin to look skyward for their futures." Directing his attention to his daughter, he said.

"Well Bria, you've heard Alex, he certainly sounds committed to Me., are you ready to accept the fact that he and this Arna are in full charge of things?"

Kelly then injected,

"Don't worry Bria, I'm on your side, if he gets out of line, he's got both of us to deal with." Bria looked at Kelly as her sad eyes brightened into a smile.

"I'm sorry mother, father, I was completely out of line, I will accept his terms."

"Very well then, would you two mind going on ahead, we wish to speak to our daughter in private. As Alex and Kelly headed down the hall to his room, he asked Kelly.

"I thought you were on Deneva, what are you doing here?"

"Well I was just hanging around the palace with Fergus…"

"That leprechaun?" Interrupted Alex.

"Yeah, he's pretty cool, anyway these green guys show up and start asking for you. I think that stupid housecarl or whatever he calls himself told them you were on Doradus, but sent them to me. Anyway, I think everyone was getting a little tired of me. They told me to grab my stuff as we'd be going to some fort."

"So did you get things sorted out?" Kelly stopped in her tracks, and put her hands on Alex's shoulders.

"Better than I ever hoped. Oh Alex if the rest of this trip is nothing but heartache and trouble it will have been worth it. They took me to this beautiful glade; it was everything you could ever imagine. I was skeptical about magic before, but I'm a true believer now. Anyway, I just sat under this beautiful tree and talked to the pixies and fairies. The next thing I knew, I was having these awesome dreams. The fairy folk made it all happen."

"Did they spike your water or something?" He asked.

"What? You mean like putting acid or one of those "date r**e" drugs they're always warning girls about," she replied. "No, I don't think so, but I remember a couple of dreams where I was completely naked and…Umm, forget that part. Anyway, I just totally lost track of time. Then one day I just woke up and everyone was gone. I figured the "treatment" was over, so I just got up and left."

"How did you find your way back to the palace?" He asked.

"That's the weird part Alex. I was just walking down this little country lane, and suddenly that Fergus guy appears. He asked me if I was lost, I told him I didn't know, he then said,

"Follow me," and led me back to town. Oh yeah, he told me to tell you that elf who was making that knife for you is done with it, stop by he'd like to see you again."

They went to Alex's room where he packed up all his gear and clothing, then on the way out, ran into Bria and her mother.

"I'm all set to go," announced the princess, "I guess those Golians are still down in the bar so let's go find them and get going." As they walked Alex formally introduced her to Kelly,

"Well maybe this won't be so bad after all," stated Bria. They found the Golians just coming out of the hospitality room where Bria kissed and hugged her mother saying a final goodbye.

"You be sure to stay in touch through the trading company, said her mother as they accompanied the Golians out to the transportation that would take them to the landing field.

The Golian spacecraft looked very similar to the Karla-Ann; however it didn't have a name. It didn't take long once they were strapped in to get airborne, and get into space.

"The trip will take around two cycles, so make yourselves comfortable, said Kleg Juliff, "There are fold-down racks in the cabin back there. I'm afraid there isn't a lot of privacy aboard this ship but that's the way things are on most of our craft."

Both Bria and Kelly were tired, so they elected to head for the cabin to get some sleep. Alex chose to remain and chat with the two Golians.

"You know" he chuckled, "Back on my planet you guys are pretty much what everybody thinks aliens look like."

"Is that so?" replied Gruk.

"By the way, what are "aliens?"

"Well, umm, it's just a term that refers to anyone not born on our planet."

"So we fit your people's ideas of what "aliens" should look like, is that a good or bad thing?" Then Kleg quickly injected,

"Keep in mind that a wrong reply will result in the Golian navy sending a fleet of attack ships to completely destroy your planet." This completely alarmed Alex. Not expecting a reply such as that, he didn't know what to think or do. He scanned the Golians faces for any sign that they were playing a joke on him but he could not tell a thing.

"You wouldn't really do something like that would you?" he nervously asked.

Both Gruk and Kleg could see they really had this being upset, pushing things even further, Kleg added.

"Absolutely, a number of Yeans before I was born, the Diyari ambassador accidentally coughed while old king Prekh was making a speech. It irritated him so much he ordered their planet completely destroyed." Both Golians were expecting more horror from this stranger; however his reaction was something else entirely.

"What the f**k kind of people are you?" Snarled Alex. "You know I told you my people think you guys look like aliens should look. Well they also think all you aliens do is attack other planets and kill innocent people. This is bullshit! Well all I can say is bring it on you'll get as bad as you give. You'd better just keep your f*****g asses in space because if you land we will kill everyone of you, god damn it to hell this is crap!"

Both Gruk and Kleg recoiled in horror, then at each other, then Gruk winced.

"We are very sorry Alex, we were only joking, we Golians are not like that. We apologize most profusely for giving you a false impression of our race."

Alex now felt like an i***t for blowing up like that. He then offered his hand,

"I'm the one that should be apologizing to you for going off on you like that, but my experience with alien races is very limited, but I'm learning." Both Golians took his hand and shook it in turn.