Angelika Queen Of Mars

Chapter 25

Chapter 25 Houseguests

Our guests finished their inspection with,

"Why is it so cold here, is this an ice planet?" I smiled, Carman giggled,

"It might seem that way," I replied, "But it's just winter, three months from now it will be nice and warm…maybe too warm." The male Amulian grunted as I added,

"If you're cold, we can brew up some hot coffee, anybody hungry?" Carman spoke up,

"Tarsig and I made a coffee cake the other day; there are a couple pieces left." She then saw me staring at her,

"What?"

"You and Tarsig made coffee cake?" I asked.

"I'll have you know LT I'm an excellent cook," replied Carman, suddenly getting very defensive.

"There's a lot about me you don't know LT, I learned how to cook when I was twelve, mom and dad worked all the time, I would have starved otherwise."

"Well I certainly apologize Carman," I said. She and Tarsig served the Amulians coffee and the last of their coffee cake which they seemed to enjoy.

Ha'Rok and Jha'Dur were their names, Ha'Rok being the male. Our experience with the Amulians was certainly interesting to say the least. Tarsig was just as fascinated by them as we were, having never seen one. After they ate I took them down to the basement and Moreck's old study. Carman and Tarsig went back to bed for a little while, Kha'mak found a spot in the living room and started in reading the books I gave him. I will say one thing for our guests, and that is that they were quick learners. By noon they could operate the computer, bring up information and use the copier. I only needed to show them how to do something once and they caught right on. Jha'Dur used an Amulian computer to translate the documents they were bringing up while Ha'Rok searched the internet for relevant information.

Both stopped long enough to eat breakfast, which for them consisted of oatmeal bananas and more coffee. Carman and Tarsig headed off to work while I busied myself around the house. Kha'Mak had finished the books I had given him and was eager to talk.

"The author certainly enjoyed making a lot of suppositions concerning robots and androids," he commented.

"You've got to understand that at the time those books were written robots were very crude and primitive," I explained.

"Androids hadn't even been contemplated as yet, that's why Asimov and all his fellow science fiction writers wrote sci-fi, those guys were way ahead of their time," I said.

Kha'Mak could read a regular book in roughly fifteen minutes, and remember everything he read, as well as all the salient points expressed in the book. By the time we were ready to return to Falth, he had read every sci-fi book in Moreck's library. Ha'Rok and Jha'Dur really kept their small noses to the "grindstone," only coming up to eat or take an occasional walk outside.

Through trial and error, we discovered that they loved oatmeal, Malt-O-meal, English muffins, most soups, pizza, any kind of fruit, chow mien, coffee and V8 juice. Carman thought they might like quiche, but she was sadly mistaken. They never said much, so we had no idea on whether our efforts were bearing fruit. Not long afterwards a knock came at the front door Carman went to answer it. I heard her talking to what sounded like a young girl. Investigating, I saw Kaitlan Jessup talking with Carman. Kaitlan was my cousin Belinda's daughter who was sixteen and knew of our "distant" relatives.

"Oh hi Uncle Jake," she chirped when I came into the room.

"Dad thought he saw lights on the other evening when he drove by, mom thought it was you, guess she was right.

"Kaitlan, this is Carman Walsh who used to be in my old unit, she's…" Just then Tarsig and Kha'Mak entered as well. Kaitlan's eyes got big as she immediately spotted Tarsig's eyes.

You are beautiful, are you from Falth?" Tarsig smiled,

"Yes I am, my name is Tarsig Salfrig, Carman is helping me get our business up and running, and you are?" I jumped in and quickly explained the family relationship to her. Kaitlan then quickly turned her attention to Kha'Mak certain that he too was an "alien," but not quite sure what was going on.

"Kaitlan, this is my pilot Kha'Mak, and before you start pestering him, yes he is from Falth as well, however he is a "droid," and no, he isn't even close to anything like certain droid's you've seen in "Star Wars," or Star Trek. Oh one more thing, there are a couple Amulians down in the basement collecting data on "UFO's." Poor Kaitlan was overwhelmed at the thought of so many strange people in this house.

We were all sitting around the kitchen table explaining to the girl what exactly was going on and why I was back here when Jha'Dur suddenly appeared. Kaitlan gasped at her sudden appearance, but I simply stated,

"Don't worry Kaitlan, they don't bite."

"We are having problems," was all the Amulians would say, but like a trooper, Kaitlan volunteered to go see what the problem was.

After the two left Carman, Tarsig, Kha'Mak, and I continued to talk.

"I really want to thank you again LT for thinking of me," said Carman.

"This sort of thing is right up my "alley" Tarsig and I have gotten to be such good friends, she's shown me a lot." Tarsig chuckled,

"I think you have been the better friend Carman," she replied. Then speaking to me, she added,

"Carman has really shown an enthusiasm for the work, made some wonderful suggestions and helped me learn the language better. I've invited her to come to Falth and meet my parents; we'll take in some of Cluria's night life and possibly spend some time at the beaches near Akdor." I smiled to myself wondering if Carman was aware that Falthians generally bathed in the nude much as they do on some of the European beaches. Oh well, she'll find out, not that I should talk, Dori and I enjoyed them as much as anybody.

Carman then asked how things were going as far as my commitments to Branak and his friends.

"Great," I replied, "They have some amazing tech that created the whole training village allowing us to walk around and get the feeling that we were in an actual town."

"None of it was real, yet it all seemed so real, by the way I need you to order some gear for us, stuff we had to turn in, I've got some catalogs around we can look at." Kaitlan then emerged from the basement informing us that she was able to help the Amulians with their problem.

"So what did you think of them?" I asked.

"Um, they sure don't say much," she replied, "Once you get used to the way they look they're all right. Why do they want all that UFO stuff Uncle Jake?"

I gave her the short version of what I was told which seemed to satisfy her. Kaitlan really didn't know much about the whole UFO controversy or project Blue Book and only a vague idea of the concept of "Flying saucers," so it wasn't long before her mind was onto another topic.

While the Amulian's were downloading all manor of data pertaining to UFO's and project Bluebook, Kha' Mak went on a reading jag stopping only long enough to walk around outside. Once I went with him covering a lot of ground, or snow covered ground I should say. At one point we were near the edge of the property near the small creek when he stopped, looked at the snow covered ground and stated,

"I detect a lot of metal buried here." Then without further comment, began walking again. Kaitlan and Carman really didn't know what to make of him other than being impressed that basically a machine could function, and make decisions on its own.

Since Tarsig would be returning to Falth with me, Kaitlan was asked if she was interested in helping Carman. This would be a part-time job, basically stopping by for an hour or so right after school, on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday afternoons. Kaitlan's parents OK'ed the offer even stopping by to speak with Carman and I, as well as Tarsig.

They even met Kha'Mak never realizing he was an android, and totally unaware that there were even more "aliens," down in the basement. Finally the day came when Ha'Rok informed me that he and Jha'Dur were finished with their task.

"Sure you got everything?" I asked, "This UFO thing is huge, there's probably even more out there I'm unawares of."

"That young Kagorian female was quite helpful; Jha'Dur and I feel that we have more than enough data for our purposes. Thank you, you have truly been most helpful, we will be leaving now. We do have a request to ask of you."

"By all means," I replied.

"Jha' Dur and I wish to return sometime when the climate is more favorable, whould this be possible?" I grinned,

"Ha'Rok, you and Jha' Dur here are more than welcome to return, in another three or four alyt's it will be nice and warm outside, the trees and flowers will all be out, you come back then OK?" Being Amulians, they gave no warm goodbyes or thank you's, simply walking out to their spacecraft lugging a large satchel of documents. We could only hear their ship ascend into the heavens as they were in cloaking mode; however I saw a quick flash of light shoot into space.

I waited another two days until all the equipment Carman had ordered arrived before leaving as well. Along with two twenty-five pound bags of coffee, as well as a couple five pound canisters of Folgers, on top of the gear I was taking back room was at a premium.

Tarsig and I "Carved" out places to sit as well as a spot to sleep taking turns as we made our return to Falth.

"I really like Carman," she explained, "She's very enthusiastic about our little venture, and I'm so glad you hired her." Tarsig then snickered,

"When things settle down and are running smoothly I'm bringing her to Falth. Cluria has an incredible nightlife, I'll get some of my friends and we'll take in some incredible places. Then I want her to meet my parents. Oh Jake, all this is so much more than Moreck and I dared hope when we talked about setting up a little import operation."

"Well Tarsig," I replied, Carman and I are more than happy to help. I promise that once this training village is up and running, I'll be able to devote more time to this." She smiled and softly replied,

"Don't worry about it Jake, even though you're involved in this other thing, you are always around to answer questions, or help, you've got a good entrepreneurial spirit." Kha'Mak and I also spent considerable time discussing all that he had read, especially the large amount of science fiction he read.

One thing I did was sort out truth from fiction, many of the books he read were published back in the fifties and sixties, things seen as futuristic back then had since become reality, or more precisely had become reality in the Falthian universe long before they were speculated on here on earth. Then he told me something quite interesting.

"One of the books I read was called "Deathworld Trilogy," said Kha'Mak, "There is an actual planet called Dalazon 3 that is…or was exactly like Pyrrus, however the people in the book went to a lot more trouble than the Falthian mining engineers did when it came time to subdue the vicious plant and animal life on the planet." I had never read the book so I wasn't familiar with the story, but Kha'Mak gave me a brief synopsis of the book and all the trouble the various characters had in trying to exist on Pyrrus.

"I read an article about Dalazon 3 perhaps two dorns ago which described the first attempts to mine the planet more than thirty dorns ago, but unlike the book there were no "grubbers" or beings living on the planet at the time. Through the use of special frequency emitters, the hostile plant and animal life was subdued to a point that mining operations could be set up. However, like the book, a period of time is required by all that go there to train in safety and defensive practices. If you are looking for a place with a high ratio of droids, Dalazon 3 is the place."

Kha'Mak claimed that he now had a better understanding of we Kagorians, our fears and weakness's, as well as our strengths through all that he read.

"Perhaps one una your people will stop writing about all the "what if's," and actually get out into space." One of the problems I faced with another woman on board was the fact that Tarsig was not modest. Claiming that she couldn't sleep while wearing any sort of clothing, Tarsig would casually toss off all her clothes before taking her turn on the sleep shift. Dori would not be very happy were she to be made aware of this situation, but there was really nothing I could do. Tarsig's remarkable physique really made for quite a "floor show," as well as a lot of improper thoughts.

Finally we were preparing to land near Cluria and I could spend time with my wife, the trip was almost over, but I kept thinking about the training village and if my guys had all done their jobs properly.