Angelika Queen Of Mars

Chapter 42

Chapter 42 Wrappin' Up the Tour

Bob certainly had a vivid imagination, it turned out that the Amulian girl was not naked, but wearing a glittery slip type dress that just gave the impression she wasn't wearing anything. Well naturally he had to go and tell Kaitlan and the next thing I knew, both of them were pestering me to introduce them to the "alien" girl. I spoke to captain Yemock who wasn't very happy about all this, but as I explained to him,

"Look captain, these kids are under a lot of pressure to keep silent about the things they know and see, we trust them. They just want to meet someone their own age who they can relate to; your daughter is in no danger." Hesitatingly he introduced us to his young daughter Mi'Ra. I have to say, Amulian females had an exotic beauty unmatched anywhere, she simply took your breath away. Mi Ra, was also a charmer, and she wanted to meet young Bob, Had his parents seen her and what she was wearing, I severely doubt permission would have been given. However it was a case of,

"Oh, a young Amulian girl, sure son, your mother and I have no objections."

I brought Bob with me when I went over to the shed to talk with her father, who gave Bob the stink eye, but voiced no objections to them just talking; meanwhile we had our own little chat.

"Mi'Ra's mother is a scientist, who works with developing planetary life forms, unfortunately, she was called away on an assignment to one of our off world stations, leaving me with my daughter. She's accompanied me before but usually local work, this time is quite different, I couldn't very well leave her at home. Captain Neshok had no objections to me bringing her."

"Well there your are then," I replied, I know you will be leaving the day after tomorrow, so just stay calm captain, look over there, sure looks like your daughter has made a couple of new friends." The kids were laughing and chattering away, so Yemock couldn't say much,

"Look captain," I added, "Robert and Kaitlan will be going home here shortly, but they'll be back tomorrow, so just let them socialize, they won't hurt anything." While I was there, I spoke with the two Amulians who had been sent to monitor this whole flying saucer escapade. They did not reveal their names, but surprised me with their unusual knowledge, and tech savvy concerning our computers and their operating systems. The computer I had installed in the little "office" here in the shed happened to be a Mac, and I couldn't figure out how they seemed to have no trouble bringing up information on it.

It was getting close to the time Robert and Kaitlan's folks would be leaving, so I escorted the kids back up to the house,

"So how did things go?" I asked. Both responded with nervous laughing,

"Oh I liked Mi' Ra very much," replied Kaitlan, "But she wanted to give me a dress like the one she was wearing, Mom and dad would kill me if they caught me in it, I'd probably get arrested as well."

"She told us she's in some sort of educational program, but it was hard to understand what she was telling us," said Bob.

"For example, it sounds like they give you projects and stuff like that to do, you do them and you're graded on how well you did whatever it was you were supposed to do." It was hard to follow Bob's thought process, but both dejectedly reported how smart she was compared to them.

"She kept asking us questions about earth and our solar system, stars and stuff," added Kaitlan, "We didn't know." Still want to go off and study with people like that?" I asked.

"Oh yes! Absolutely," they both replied, "There's nothing going on here, we want to be the first people from earth to travel to the stars," said Bob.

"Aren't you forgetting your ancestors?" I said with a grin.

"Oh yeah…that's right," he said, "Well I mean here in modern times, you know what I mean."

"Are you two coming back tomorrow?" I asked,

"Probably," replied Kaitlan, "Both of us have a lot of stuff to Finnish up before we leave."

"Well if you do, talk to those two who are poking around the internet, and watching all the news coming out about the saucer, they are using a Mac in there, and don't seem to be having any problem bringing up whatever it is they're looking for, I want to know why." Both agreed to see what they could discover, so now it was just a matter of seeing them and their parents off for the evening.

Since the Giuffrida was still back east, and captain Yemock's tug really didn't have any real places to sleep, Dori and I rolled out a couple of sleeping bags, and slept on the living room floor. Naturally, the Neshok's and Gormeth's wouldn't hear of it, but I told them it was my duty to see to their comfort first. Besides, there was a nice thick carpet on the floor, and we had plenty of pillows. Before we turned in, I had a chance to speak with Carman and Tarsig some more about the men they shot. Both were still upset, especially Tarsig, but I think I finally convinced her that she had done the right thing, and it was best to forget the whole incident. Carman changed the subject by telling me that the number of people coming in off the street had grown, and that she was starting to see a few tourists as well.

"Tarsig usually stays out of sight, but a couple times a couple of the sheriff's deputies came in and saw her."

"So what happened," I asked.

"Thanks to Carman here, I know enough of your language I was able to greet them and look like I'm real busy so they don't bother me." Carman also admitted that she and Tarsig had already done a lot of sight-seeing on their own, as well as a couple pub-crawls. Before I could voice my objections, Carman explained.

"Look Jake, both of us are very aware of the need for precautions and we're very careful, believe me, but sometimes girls just gotta have a little fun…Ya know." I trusted her, and let the matter drop, both were doing a damn good job, so I said no more. After Dori and I had crawled into our sleeping bag, we snuggled, and recounted the day's events.

"Kaitlan told me she received a top grade for a story she wrote about Grocyra."

"How did she pull that one off?" I asked.

"I've been telling her all about my home world, Queen Angelika, and Sharla, she just changed some of the names and wrote what she called science fiction, but it's not really.

Anyway, her story was the best one."

Tomorrow, we would all be heading for Devil's Tower, with Dori handling things at the store. Tomorrow evening the Giuffrida was due back and would be leaving for home in another couple of days, along with a couple of the Bickford kids, Kaitlan, and Bob would be on that ship as well. Dori and I woke to the sound of the TV; Tarsig poked her head into the room and let us know coffee was on, and breakfast in the making. Naturally it was the news so we lay there and watched for a few minutes. The situation in the Middle East took top billing, but the saucer story was still right behind. I had instructed captain Yemock to leave a box of Martian core samples on the saucers seat, along with my note, apparently the media had just now learned of this, and were reporting that scientists were thrilled with the samples and that preliminary findings revealed the possibility of water on the planet. The media were also obsessed with the possibility that there might be US citizens aiding and abetting queen Angelika, along with their usual wild speculations as to who they might be.

I knew it would eventually come to this, so I never included catch words such as; aliens, mars, outer space, as well as a number of space-related terms that the NSA might be scanning in their massive phone tapping scheme. This made it difficult to talk to the Bickfords back east, but we had worked out a simple code that used innocuous words to relay information. Robarik, along with his charges were due back around eleven tonight, so things were moving along nicely. Along with coffee, simple pancakes had become a big hit with my Falthian friends, Moreck, and Tarsig couldn't get enough of them Moreck's dad, and captain Neshok loved them as well, especially when pecans were added. We left around nine-thirty, dropping Dori off at the shop.

We took the northern loop up through Belle Fourche, and Aladdin, stopping at Devil's Tower trading post for more souvenir's, my guests getting a kick out of the Close Encounters of the Third Kind related ones, depicting the little alien's from the movie, which incidentally was one of the two DVD's on tap for tonight. As with so many human tourists, Devils Tower awed and amazed, with everybody taking the hike completely around the base of the monument. The Gormeth's, and the Neshok's all studied the pictures in the visitor center, but Carman and I quietly described to them the captions, as well as the story behind the tower. At one point, we were all watching some climbers working their way up the rocky wall, when Mr. Gormeth focused his camera on them. Taking it in hand I swore I could make out the sweat on the lead climbers face, it was though the guy was standing right in front of me, incredible. After our visit, we stopped at a nearby restaurant for lunch.

As we were eating, Mr. Gormeth expressed an interest in returning here to earth for another visit, at a later date, and began asking Carman and I how easy it would be to see some other countries.

"For us, not too hard," explained Carman, "For you…Impossible. You would need passports, you couldn't just show up someplace and go from there, somewhere along the line, they'd demand to see your passport, and when they discovered your's wasn't stamped you'd be arrested." Feeling like a smart-ass, I grinned and added,

"We could do it all strictly by spacecraft, even better, one that looked like a flying saucer. You could just come down and buzz over places like the Eiffel Tower, or the pyramids or maybe the Great Wall of China take pictures with that amazing camera of yours, and be off. Course, we'd have to be cloaked at all times, or otherwise we'd be attacked and shot at." The moment I uttered those words, it hit me.

That was why earth could never be given superior technology, although I'm sure earth ships suddenly appearing over Cluria would be attacked as well, the panic and hysteria created by a real flying saucer, or any alien spacecraft for that matter, would speak volumes about our world. Once we returned to Deadwood, I stopped and picked up Dori, but not before Moreck and Tarsig had an opportunity to show his parents the modest little building that was where all that coffee coming to Falth started out. After looking at our little operation, Mr. Gormeth stood before his son, and Tarsig, and said,

"I was truly blind Moreck, you and Tarsig here have begun something truly remarkable. I am speaking of your inter-galactic trade venture. You found an item in high demand going beyond our world to obtain, and you are becoming wealthy because of it." I then took the opportunity to tell Moreck's father how many centuries ago traders here on earth traveled clear across the known world to obtain spices, and cloth, overcoming immense danger to bring these treasures back to European civilization. He then looked at me and smiled,

"Perhaps Moreck is on the cusp of something great, perhaps both of you are, I will be talking to some of my friends concerning the possibilities of a limited trade with your planet, we shall speak of this again at another time."

I wasn't sure what to make of this, there were so many things that could go wrong with this idea, but when the time came, I'd hear him out, and, be ready with reasons why his idea might not be so good. On the way home, our guests all proclaimed their visit a success, and although they only visited a very tiny part of the United States, they all felt the trip had been worthwhile. When we arrived home, everybody was there, my folks, my grandparents, everybody from the Blessing clan, including the two kids, Richard, and Anna. Cars were parked everywhere, the backyard was full of people,

"s**t!" I thought, "Everybody is going to be pestering the Amulians, pissing them off, but as it turned out, that wasn't the case.

Entering the house, everyone just seemed to be standing around talking to each other, but once our guests were spotted, they became the center of the conversation. I was eager to find out what the situation with the Amulians was, so I located Dale and his wife Belinda who were talking to Kate and Colin Blessing.

After greeting everyone, I asked,

"I hope no one's bothering the Amulians who are all holed up in the shed out there."

"Not that we're aware of," replied Colin,

"There's a guy who looks like "Ming the Merciless," and a couple others wandering around here." Just then, Robert came rushing up wearing a grim expression.

"Mr. Gandrigg, you gotta come, hurry, that Yemock fellow is looking for you."

All I could think of was that someone had said or done something to offend one of the Amulians and I would have to spend all my time "mending fences."

Instead, I was met by an equally grim looking Yemock, who said.

"Mt daughter, Mi'Ra is missing; I don't know where she's gone!" This was all I needed, remaining calm, I asked,

"When was the last time you saw her, where was she?"

"Earlier, before what you call noon, she was walking out by those trees out there."

I looked to where he was pointing, and my heart sank, out past the far wood line things got pretty rocky, hills, ravines, washout's, lots of loose rock, and a stream. It was also where Carman told me she and Tarsig burned and buried the remains of the home invaders.

"Look captain," I stated, "Your daughter probably just lost track of time, and now that's it's dark, can't see her way back here, I've got plenty of family here who will help me find her, don't worry." This didn't seem to satisfy him,

"How about my ship, it's got twin pod lamps that will illuminate everything." Of this I had no doubt, the lights he was speaking of were Amulian versions of Xenon spotlights, he'd used them on Mars, and anyone watching the planet through a telescope from here on earth probably wondered what those tiny lights were.

"That's what I'm afraid of captain," I replied, you turn those things on around here and everyone in this whole area will be calling in UFO sightings, someone will put two and two together, and start snooping around."

"Then I will simply hover the trees and locate her with my ship's scanner." It was a good idea, but again, more potential problems.

"That might work, but I'm afraid your engine noise would draw attention as well." Yemock gave me a disgusted look,

"You earther's, I will hover above your forest, and locate my daughter, you be ready on the ground to lead her to safety, here, take these comm's we can communicate with them."

Seeing that he was bound and determined to do this, I alerted the others causing an immediate alarm and concern, but once I got everyone settled down, we formed three teams. Captain Neshok ended up flying Yemock's tug, with Yemock with my dad and me, Owlsek with Robert and Kaitlan, Bob being an eagle scout with a merit badge in first aid. Sarmak would accompany Dale and Colin, each team received one of the small comm devices, I had a set of night vision goggles and a hand held night vision device I gave to Dale. Robert had to settle for a large jacklight I had out in my shed. When I asked Yemock if he had similar equipment, he just grinned, and shook his head,

"We don't need that sort of thing, let's get moving."

Watching captain Neshok take off, I worried about the noise the tug was making until the ship leveled out and suddenly became quiet. Standing next to me, Yemock seemed to read my thoughts, (and no doubt was.)

"Sometimes, recovery work requires complete silence."

"This was strange," I thought, was Neshok or Yemock involved in "repo" work?" Captain Neshok reported that the whole area was full of life sign indicators, and that it would take a little time to pinpoint animal from human and Amulian. Meanwhile we headed right down the middle, Robert went left and Dale headed for the right side of the property.

About half an hour later, Captain Neshok thought he had located Mi'Ra, but indicated that the signature wasn't strong, this worried Yemock greatly. Robert reported that he was the closest, and would follow Neshok's directions getting there; we started that way as well. Even though my night vision goggles allowed me to see I had to be careful as they tended to distort depth, and my dad could only rely on me. To my amazement, Yemock moved right along, apparently the Amulians could see like cats at night, something I hadn't known before. Ten minutes later Robert reported he had found Mi'Ra, but she had broken her leg in a fall, While Kaitlan got a fire started, he would splint Mi'Ra's leg.

By the time we arrived, Robert and Owlsek were preparing a stretcher, while Kaitlan was trying to keep Mi'Ra warm.