Angelika Queen Of Mars

Chapter 26

Chapter 26 Multi-tasking

I can't remember working as hard as I did after returning to Falth; even in the marines I was never this busy. Between working with Moreck and Tarsig, trips to the new training site near Yedor-rus and meetings with Robarik Draaka I was worn to a frazzle. Dori was a godsend, helping out everywhere she could. For this I denied her practically nothing. However it was love she craved and by god that girl could dish it out, another factor wearing me out. The training village project was moving right along, Jeff, Gerry Ethan and I were amazed at how quickly the Falthians moved on a project like this. Branak Narshu explained that many top officers were as concerned as he and his partners were over lapses in training. It didn't hurt that Branak was a master salesman and simply knew the right people to talk to.

My team was spending all their time now out at the training site, the Falthians had small pre-fab structures that were self contained that Jeff and the other guys lived in.

"These things sure have a conex box beat all to hell," stated Gerry, referring to the shipping containers we lived in back in Afghanistan. They would equip them with an air conditioner and cots very crude compared to these little huts. Each hut was designed for four men, with complete climate control, very comfortable beds waterless showers, and small kitchen areas. There was the equivalent of a tavern about five clicks away at Yedor-rus we would frequent along with the crews working on the village.

I wasn't the only one busting my ass, my guys were putting in twelve to fourteen shon days, Jeff remarking that we needed to get one or two more people on the team as he and the others were worn out.

I had made him team leader and volunteering a pay cut as I wasn't able to devote the sort of time to the project I felt was needed. Jeff and I talked about the possibility of bringing in one or two more men but we couldn't think of anyone in our old unit who might be interested, on top of that, he couldn't spare the time to return to earth to look for someone. For now any plans involving a trip back to earth would have to wait as we really needed a decent spacecraft. Kha'Mak had an alyt to go on his previous contract and then would be joining our little team. Dori was talking to members of the old Giuffrida crew about leasing it for our purposes. General Zennor was fine with it, Rek offered to handle engineering duties whenever he could get away from his work at Andara. Sharla was trying to get a message to Angelika who was still out in deep space.

As if all that wasn't taking up my time, Robarik Draaka had organized a number of descendants of the original group of "earthlings," who had come to Falth all those dorns ago. The time was also approaching when he would be returning to earth with me to collect any kids who were interested in furthering their education here on Falth at the university. Robarik had also lined up several families who had offered to take in anyone interested in the university, so at least that part of things was pretty much covered. By now Dori and I were completely immersed in Falthian society, we were full citizens and learning more of the language every una. I scarcely thought of myself as a United States citizen anymore, however I still retained a sort of duel citizenship as determined by Falthian citizenship laws, although I doubted the U.S. would agree.

As far as Moreck and Tarsig's coffee business was going they had everything sold not long after I arrived back on Falth and were looking to get another shipment from earth. Dori and I also attended a dinner party given by Moreck's parents which bears going into a little detail about. Tarsig's parents were also in attendance, with what I learned water was a "fence mending," effort. According to their children both sets of parents were very wealthy and influential. I wasn't familiar enough with Falthian society, its classes, and mores to look at these people and say,

"These people certainly have a lot of money and power," their home was certainly impressive but surprisingly not large or overly pretentious.

Moreck pointed out to me the expensive art work as well as certain pieces of furniture that looked nice but didn't impress me. Moreck's father was named Drosig, his mother, Herka. Since Nuelians can live up to 150 dorns both Moreck and Tarsig's parents seemed quite young by appearance. Moreck's mother was very beautiful, especially since she wore a very revealing dress showing off her breasts that would put a Playboy centerfold to shame. I spent most of my time trying not to stare, or let Dori catch me staring. I thought perhaps she wore this outfit to impress or tease me but Moreck told me it was for Tarsig and her parents, although Tarsig's mother wore a dress which wasn't as revealing was akin to some of the things female movie stars show up to awards ceremonies in.

All in all things seemed to go quite well; I was inundated with questions concerning earth and the United States as well as everything in between. Early in the dinner conversation I caught onto a point of contention between both sets of parents and their children. With all their power and wealth the parents were unable to secure travel permits to earth, or Kagor as they called it, yet their children had no problem. Of course Moreck's permit was very restricted, yet he was permitted unlimited travel to earth. As previously mentioned, I was not up on the finer points of Falthian society but I could tell family "politics" were playing out before me.

When I questioned both Moreck and Tarsig about it he explained,

"Oh yes, that party was my parents way of apologizing to me, that they were sorry for doubting my efforts, but it's the fact that Tarsig and I can travel to Kagor and they can't that has impressed them the most. My father will be watching this operation very closely, he's very proud of me and in fact told me so, he's also offered to secure a ship for us as well, but I told him that I appreciated his effort but needed to be out on my own. I didn't talk with Tarsig's folks all that much her father seemed rather stand-offish but by the end of the evening had warmed up; probably due to the amount of liquor he had to drink. In the end Moreck and Tarsig both breathed sighs of relief, the evening had gone off quite well, they felt that their folks had more or less given their approval, basically a big weight off their shoulders.

Although Moreck and I had become good friends Dori and Tarsig had really gotten "thick as thieves." Every so often they would slip off together for a Falthian version of "girl's night out," all my spare time was consumed by meetings and dealings with my guys as well as Branak and his people. Dori on the other hand had really thrown herself into the coffee operation so naturally she and Tarsig really became close. When I asked her where they went on their outings all I'd get would be a giggle and the admission that Tarsig knew some pretty wicked places. When I spoke to Moreck about it he would get defensive and just say,

"If you're worried for Dori's safety it isn't necessary, Tarsig may seem wild and reckless at times but she's savvy and doesn't take chances. She took me to a couple of her favorite places once, all I will say is that I was very uncomfortable, one place makes you take your clothes off before you can enter." Thinking they might be gay bars I explained to Moreck who simply laughed.

"Tarsig and I are business partners not lovers," he explained, "When we agreed to form this business we also agreed not to become personally involved, our main focus is the successful operation of this company, so we stay focused on our goal. It was about all I could get out of him, Tarsig wasn't much better,

"Dori and I go to places where we can have fun, she is in no danger, we don't follow men home, and your wife isn't engaged in anything detrimental to your marriage, so please ask no more questions." All she did was pique my curiosity forcing me to ask around. Eventually I learned that there was a district in Cluria filled with nothing but shows and drinking establishments catering to offbeat tastes.

I had read a book once about life in Havana back before Castro took over. Nurses and teachers used to fly in to take in these "s*x shows" some of the more prominent night clubs used to stage, what Dori and Tarsig were seeing sounded very similar. Besides walking the wild side, Tarsig was taking my wife to some rather upscale clothing shops. What she was buying wasn't cheap but due to the fact that I couldn't be with her as much as I liked I kept my mouth shut. I had to admit Tarsig made sure Dori was well dressed and always looked great. As advanced as Falth was leather was still highly valued and appreciated, Thigh length black leather boots, tight black leather pants with cargo pockets and a red leather short wasted jacket along with red or grey tank tops. I remember seeing old sci-fi movies showing alien women wearing things of a similar nature. I used to ask myself,

"Would alien women really wear clothes like that? Well it certainly seems that they do.

Sharla still wasn't able to get word to Angelika so she and Rek made the decision to let us use the Giuffrida making it "official" by their coming along. We set a date when both Sharla and Rek could take a couple relfa's off, it was a little later than Moreck liked but that couldn't be helped. Robarik and his son Jarnak would also be on board along with Temmik Tergis a descendant of Gitel and Weeko Tergis who was interested in doing some research of his own; it looked like another full ship.

Then only two una's before departure I got a summons from the foreign office, again Jeff, Gerry Ethan and I had to stop what we were doing to see what was up. We were ushered into a small meeting room where the foreign minister as well as the Amulian ambassador was waiting. Instead of the expected ass-chewing Mr. Torrick the foreign minister stated,

"Mr. Gandrigg, Ambassador Skamma has something to say to you as well as your friends, since his language is hard to understand even with a Transnanno injection I will translate." The Ambassador then began to speak,

"Citizen Gandrigg as well as others gathered here, I wish to offer my apology for doubting your original intentions. Citizen Gandrigg, I have heard nothing but kind words from our investigators who spoke warmly of your assistance and treatment. They also spoke of a young Kagorian female who helped them immensely; I have a small present they wish to give her in return for her help. From all that my investigators were able to uncover it would seem that the spacecraft we sold to a certain race was terribly misused

By them causing unwanted attention to be cast in our direction.

We have taken steps to see that this doesn't happen again, but it has come to my attention you were familiar with the Arfrem FFZ. For all your efforts we will see that you receive one of the first models. Please, where should it be delivered to?" All I could think of was the small landing field at Akdor where the Giuffrida was kept. The Ambassador promised us that the craft would be delivered there sometime in the next two Relfa's, no doubt while I was gone, Jeff promised to sign for it and make sure it was secured, and so we inherited an Amulian spaceship sight unseen. After the Ambassador departed the foreign minister smiled at me,

"Well Mr. Gandrigg, I don't know what you did but it certainly must have been special, The Amulians have never apologized or even admitted anything such as Ambassador Skamma just has, then to offer you one of their spacecraft is simply beyond belief. Believe me, your efforts will be the talk at many gatherings and meetings to come, what exactly was it you did that brought this response?"

I shrugged, thought a moment then replied,

"Sir, all I did was to make sure the investigators were comfortable, showed them how to operate the computer, how to print out anything they needed to copy, and made sure they had something to eat. I also made sure they were left alone other than myself or one of my relatives offering them help when they asked for it, call it diplomacy or whatever you want, I call it just plain American hospitality." The Foreign Minister thanked us and as we were walking to the monorail station Jeff observed,

"I wonder what this thing will look like; do you suppose Kha'Mak could fly it? Wow, our own spaceship!" When asked about it Kha'Mak had never heard of the Arfrem,

"Probably their own designation," he said, "I will be very interested in seeing this craft when we return." As for the Giuffrida, Kha'Mak certainly approved, over the course of the whole voyage he and Rek got to be very good friends the fact of him being a "droid" not mattering to Rek in the least. In fact, Rek knew of a program at Andara offering just the sort of engineering program Kha'Mak was looking for, a basic fundamentals program training pilots in engineering basics so they could spot trouble before the problem got worse, preventative maintenance along with certain servicing techniques.

As for me, other than Dori, Robarik's son Jarnak would be the one I would be spending a lot of time with.