The Project

Chapter 29

The Project Chapter 29

At the moment, everybody was sitting around waiting to eat. Alex had given up and had begun to talk with Holliqua when the family counselor came up to him.

"We'd like to ask you some questions, would you mind stepping into my office please."

Suddenly a chill went down his back, it might has well bee a couple of detectives showing up at his house while he was all alone and asking,

"Alex would you mind coming downtown with us, we've got a few questions to ask you." Entering the small office, where Uncle Sarmek was sitting behind a very modernistic desk, while Istell Clon and Tyreik Vott sat down on either side of him. Sarmek began by thanking Alex,

"First off we want to thank you for "dealing" with those raiders that was a very brave thing you did."

"Well sir, began Alex,

"I didn't want to be taken captive or see my friends either so I figured what the hell! Go for it." Sarmek nodded, in agreement.

"We've read the report that came in from the Golians, however they didn't mention where Slyr and his crew came from, do you know?" He thought a moment then replied,

"They told me it was some prison planet called Derto Eenn, out in the Amm Krye sector or something like that."

"We know where it's at," remarked Vott. "Was there any mention at where they thought these raiders were going?" Alex shook his head,

"No sir, the Golians just assumed they were trying to get away, and the ship Navek and Marga's folks were on as well as ours were just targets of opportunity."

"That's quite possible," replied Sarmek, "We'll have to look into that a little more." Istell Clon then asked him,

"We understand you are from the planet earth how is it you're way out here, we weren't aware your race was capable of interstellar space travel." He then gave them a much abbreviated version of Gideon, Arna, the bequeathing to him of the Karla-Ann, and the trip to Xindus.

"Interesting," commented Clon, then Alex asked,

"Are you familiar with my home world?" Istell gave him a curious grin.

"We've been there…A very long time ago. Right now however our attention is drawn to dealing with this raider problem." Then Sarmek asked him,

I'm curious, as an earthling, what would you do in our situation?"

He thought a moment then replied,

"I'm not real sure, Agrat and Kreed are dead along with their crew, being a stranger to these parts I'm not really sure what I would do."

Sarmek smiled, then said,

"A fair assessment, however we happen to know that Slyr and Freihork have family and friends scattered around the galaxy…Or did have." This last comment caught Alex's attention. If these people were the alien equivalent of the Mafia, they wouldn't rest until everyone who was family or knew Agrat and his crew was dead. Thinking it wise not to pursue any further questioning, he added,

"Well I hope you guys go after them or who ever is left, I know I would."

This brought curious stares as Sarmek called the meeting over, announcing that it was time for supper.

This was the part of space adventuring that Alex didn't car for…Eating strange food. Well the Eabak and a couple things he'd eaten back on Doradus and Deneva were OK, but in forced situations like this where the possibility of insulting someone was simply too great. He knew he was a picky eater, every time they visited his grandparents in Phoenix was always a trial. He loved his grandmother dearly, but the woman simply couldn't cook, mom couldn't either, but he'd built up a sort of immunity to her cooking.

One of the more arcane skills he was rapidly developing was the ability to carefully look over a spread and take a guess as to what was being served, and what its earthen counterpart was. So far the aliens he'd already met didn't seem to eat a lot of meat, and what they did was passable, most of it remarkably lean and without a lot of fat. Up to now he hadn't been especially fond of veggies, or salads, but that was rapidly changing. Bread, veggies, and salad, if he was careful, no one seemed to notice, and he could usually get enough to eat. What he saw before him was no exception except a couple main dishes that looked to be either a casserole or some sort of meat covered by a sauce or swimming in some weird soupy mix. Stuff like that was trouble waiting to happen. A guy could sink his teeth into something like that realize his mistake and expend every ounce of determination to keep from throwing up, bad business that.

Fortunately none of his worst case scenarios played out, the meat (something akin to beef) was bland but passable. The veggies were pretty good, in fact they served something that looked like lima beans but actually had flavor, and tasted pretty good. They served a kind of flatbread that was just like sourdough, but in the end, he didn't eat very much because most of the time was spent talking to Holliqua. He learned that she was in the Moriedian equivalent of college, studying for the Foreign Service.

"Once I graduate," she explained, I plan to apprentice with the Oxynian Trading Company in their managerial program." She then lowered her voice to barely a whisper, and said,

"I can get off this janken rock and see a little of this galaxy."

"Is the Oxynian Company the only employer in this galaxy?" He asked her.

"No, but it is if you want to get out and see the universe."

"I take it then that you don't much like it here?"

"I hate it, I hate my family, I just want to get as far away from Moriedia as soon, and as fast as I can."

Alex then told her of Zeb Kifire who was doing the job she appeared to be aspiring to.

"He's just starting out with Oxynia and already is in charge of getting manufacturing started back up on Xindus; ask Garmik over there, he knows more about it than I do." This excited her greatly, and the first chance she got, was off talking to him. Most of the table talk centered around the scourge of the raiders, the failure of the Oxynian Company to do anything about them. Alex also learned that Moriedia was primarily an agriculture planet, although there was a large spacecraft refit shop located near Apricullah the capitol of Moriedia.

"Since we are primarily agriculture oriented," explained Sarmek, "The Cinnab Corporation maintains a manufacturing facility here as well, doing a lot of testing and research."

Alex then asked about when it was the Moriedians visited earth.

"Well it was before my parents were born," said Istell Clon. "It was also when Oxynia was just starting to expand." She then looked to Tyreik Vott for help

"When was that Tyreik, I understand it was big news way back then." Shrugging, he looked at her,

"Eighty, ninety yarns perhaps it's all in the records if you care to know more."

"Did anyone ever make contact?" Asked Alex,

"Not to my knowledge," replied Clon, but again, it was so long ago I can't be sure."

After dinner, everyone was shown to their rooms, since they didn't require sleep, Arna and Garmik were given a room that had a small library in it as both sought to spend the rest of the night reading. Kelly and Bria were given another room while Alex got his own. Since they would be leaving fairly early in the morning, Alex decided to take a shower before going to bed; he was still drying off as he entered the bedroom from the bath.

"You're getting cold, get in here." He about jumped out of his skin when he realized Holliqua was sitting up in his bead her breasts on full display. Clad only in his underwear, Alex gasped, and reached down to cover himself. Holliqua started to snicker,

"Oh quit fooling around, you've got nothing I haven's seen before."

"What the hell are you doing in here?" He croaked.

"I find you very attractive, and I've been waiting all evening for this moment, now get in here." Having no choice but to obey her, Alex slid in next to her, a moment later; she pulled him to her never letting up.

By the time dawn was nearing he had lost count of how many times they had made love. Holliqua was a regular "Energizer rabbit," just "going," and "going," and "going." Alex was amazed by her eagerness and possibly desperation to try literally everything.

"You aren't by any chance a circus acrobat are you?" He asked after their latest bout of love making.

"What's a circus?" She asked,

"Never mind, but you've worn me out."

Holliqua merely snickered as he felt her hands slither down his chest down below his waist.

"Oh god!" He thought, "Here she goes again. At some point, he must have fallen asleep because when he awoke, she was gone. Shortly afterwards a knock came at the door,

"Breakfast is being served in the dining room sir. Alex glanced at his watch which told him he had roughly a half hour to get dressed and grab something to eat before they had to leave. As fast as he was he only managed to grab a couple scone-like breakfast pastries along with a couple sips of something that tasted like warm swamp water. The servant informed him that everyone was waiting on him. As he raced down the hall to the ship Holliqua stepped out from around the corner smiling. Planting a big kiss on his lips, she said,

"You were incredible Alex; if I never see you again I will always remember you." All he could think of was the shuttle leaving without him. Trying to break free of her grasp wasn't working,

"One more thing, I overheard Navek and Marga laughing about how they poisoned the minds of your friends, they thought it a big joke, I will see that they are properly punished for it. Now you had better hurry Alex, and thanks again for a wonderful night."

Once again he was trying to operate on information "overload." Racing down the hall he was trying to concentrate on getting to the shuttle while at the same time digesting the information just received from Holliqua.

"Woke up, fell out of bed, dragged a comb across my head. Found my way downstairs, and drank a cup, looking up I noticed I was late. Found my coat, grabbed my hat, made the bus in seconds flat."

Fully expecting a snide comment from Bria or Kelly, he was surprised when they said nothing, and in fact looked like they had been crying. No one said a word as the shuttle took them back to the landing area. Alex used the time to ponder all that Holliqua had told him, especially the part about those f*****g kids doing something to Kelly and Bria. Could it be that that's why they had been so nasty to him? Carefully thinking back to everything Navek had said to him and that stupid smirk that damn Marga was always wearing it all started to make sense.

"Yeah, sure, everyone said these people were expert telepaths, yep, no doubt about it now, those kids were f*****g with him by putting ugly thoughts in Kelly and Bria's heads, well f**k them!"

He kept thinking whether he should say anything to the girls, but then decided to take a "wait and see," approach. After they had gotten back aboard the Karla-Ann, Alex headed for his bunk to work on his Golian reading skills. As he was studying and munching on a protein bar Bria and Kelly stepped from around the corner. In a very "small" and apologetic voice, Kelly said.

"Uhh Alex, could we talk to you?" Without looking up from his notebook he replied.

"Come to finish me off or beat me up again?" He thought he heard sniffling from someone who had been crying.

"No, we want to apologize, oh Alex we're so sorry for the way we've been treating you, we don't know what got into us oh god we feel so bad about all of this."

"Well what do I do now?" He wondered. "If I tell them those kids were f*****g with their minds they might decide their behavior wasn't really their fault after all, who knows what would happen then? I'll have to tell them I guess…Just not right now, eventually." He then let them grovel a bit before grudgingly accepting their apologies. Slowly their attitudes improved to the point before they agreed to return the kids to their home world, prompting Alex to feel that he had made the right decision not to tell them about what really happened.

Later they stopped at a large space station owned by the Oxynian Company that was orbiting over a planet named "Skart" which translated to "Shit." Alex asked one of the fueling crew why the planet carried that name.

"Because that's what it is. Scrappers use it as a temporary repository for all the space junk they accumulate before selling it to one of the smelters. The fueler introduced himself as a Ruddorian; Alex observed that they seemed to be rather tall; this guy was over six feet. He had light brown skin very short greenish hair and reddish-brown eyes. He told Alex his name was Claymog and wanted to know all about Alex and where he came from. When he was told, he replied,

"I was talking to a couple of Urelians who came through here a few yarns ago, they were telling me about the same place, apparently they or someone they knew had been there." Alex grimaced and shook his head in disgust.

"So what did they think about it?" The Ruddorian studied him for a moment then slowly replied,

"I'd better not say, it wasn't very nice, they said people attacked them and tried to kill them."

The Karla-Ann was now fueled and it was time to go, Alex said goodbye, as he wondered just how many races had visited earth over the years.

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