Star Yawns Episode 5. Mirror Image By David & Sabine Williams. Smashwords Edition Copyright 2012 Page 3

  “ I believe we can. I will contact Mr. La Trenne and ask him to take care of that.”

  “ Very good Mr. Sook. Would you like to accompany me, we should go down to sick bay and introduce ourselves to our new guest? Sub-Commander you have the COM.”

  * * * *

  The Doctor was still examining the alien when the Captain and Mr. Sook walked in. The alien was a very large man who was getting along in years. He had a distinct bulb on the end of his nose. He was lying down with his eyes closed and seemed to be very pale.

  “ Is our new guest in good health Doctor?”

  “ Apart from high blood pressure he seems alright.” The Doctor was waving his instrument over the alien’s vital organs.

  “ Are you the one they call ‘The General’?” asked the Captain.

  The alien opened his eyes. “ Do you mean you transported me aboard and you don’t know who I am?”

  “ It wouldn’t be the first time!” muttered the Doctor. The Captain shot him a quelling look and he rolled his eyes.

  The alien continued. “ Yes Captain…I am known as the General. I was once a General of troops during a war on my planet. Now I am retired from military life but people still refer to me as the General. My name is Quistane and I am from a planet called Narwee, it is many light years from here. I am now on a council which rules over the people of our planet.”

  The Captain nodded looking impressed. “ Were we right in thinking you had been abducted by those aliens?”

  “ Yes you were right and I am most grateful that you rescued me from them… They were about to make demands of my planet. We have a policy of non-negotiation. They probably would have ended up killing me.”

  “ What demands?” The Captain and Mr. Sook sat down.

  “ May I have a cup of water, Doctor? I am very dry.”

  The Doctor walked over to his replicator and came back a few moments later with a glass of water, which he handed to the General.

  “ That is better!” the General said after having a drink. “ I was sent by the people of my planet on a mission that has taken me all over the quadrant. We have been away for two years now. We were on our way to Karrool when those Moronite pirates intercepted us. They were using a cloaking device. They must have thought I would be worth something to them if they could ransom me. They beamed aboard our ship and kidnapped me while I was in my cabin. The Captain of my vessel must have noticed what had happened because both ships started to fire at one another.”

  “ The pirate ship was now uncloaked?” asked Mr. Sook.

  “ Yes they had to materialize in order to beam from one ship to the other. The pirate ship took heavy damage from phaser fire. Unfortunately my ship was completely destroyed and everybody on board perished. After this the pirates traveled for only a short distance before their own damage rendered them helpless in space…they could not continue so they stopped so they could make repairs. When your vessel appeared they must have been worried that you were here to rescue me. Which I am very glad you did.”

  The captain thought for moment. “ I’m sorry to tell you that we have come from Karrool and are on our way back to the worm hole.”

  “ I don’t care about going to Karrool now Captain. Now my Captain and crew are dead and the ship destroyed I would like to go back to Narwee.”

  “ Is Narwee anywhere near Marrana? We are going there first.”

  “ Narwee is only a few hours at Warp from Marrana. I will give you the coordinates. You could deliver me first and continue to Marrana afterwards. My government would be very appreciative and it would be to your advantage.”

  “ I don’t seek any monetary value out of this, “ the Captain responded immediately, “ It will be our pleasure to assist you. I think we can arrange this for you, I’m sure Mr. Sook will enter this into our trip destination.”

  Mr. Sook raised one eyebrow. “ This will be another planet we can chart. The more planets we chart, the more we know about the Beta quadrant.”

  “ Captain when you orbit my planet you are welcome to explore if you would like to. It makes for a fine destination for shore leave, ” the General said.

  “ That is something I shall certainly consider General. If the Doctor is happy for you to leave sick bay I will arrange for you to be shown to your quarters. Mr. Sook and I have to go back to the bridge but would you like to have dinner with me tonight at nineteen hundred hours?”

  “ That sounds very nice Captain, I will look forward to it.”

  The Captain turned to leave when the General caught him by the arm. “ Captain you have now made an enemy of those pirates, they are very vindictive so be warned, they will come after you.”

  “ I understand, thankyou.” With that the Captain and Mr. Sook left the sick bay.

  * * * *

 

  “ Sub-Commander are there any signs of any pursuit? ” The Captain said as he stepped off the turbo lift.

  “ I have no evidence that they have come after us. Also we have been able to mask our warp trail so tracking us could prove to be difficult.”

  “ That is good news. Now I want all officers in the conference room in five minutes, we have something of the utmost importance to discuss.”

  Five minutes later all officers apart from Beani-Poohs and Lid-Lidia was seated around the table in the conference room.

  “ I’m not sure if you are all aware of the situation we have regarding Lieutenant Beani-Poohs and Ensign Lid-Lidia. I have just conferred with the Doctor and he has confirmed his earlier findings. It seems that their mirror images were beamed on board from an alternate universe, because of an ion storm that interfered with the transporter. Now we have to find a way to correct this so our real crewmates will be restored to us. Do any of you have any theories on how to fix this problem? Just remember if we get this wrong our two crewmates may not survive the journey back to us.”

  There was a stunned silence as the officers looked at one another.

  “ This is not a joke,” the Captain assured them, “ I need the science officers to work on this… we have to find a way to undo what the transporter did to our crew members.”

  “ Captain I mentioned this to Mr. Base and Mr. La Trenne earlier today, so all three of us have been working on this,” explained Mr. Sook.

  “ Excellent Mr. Sook. Have any of you come up with something that will work?”

  Mr. La Trenne was the first to speak. “ Captain my theory is that we simulate an ion storm and reverse the process that caused this to happen in the first place. We would in effect beam them into nothing and back again.”

  Mr. Base was next. “ Yes Captain, I agree with Mr. La Trenne. Only I think we should beam them onto a planet and not into nothing. We will have to check that the gravity on the planet is similar and the trajectory is the same as on Karrool, only then do I think this will work. At least if we beam them onto a planet we have a chance to retrieve them if this plan does not work.”

  “ I don’t agree with that idea!” protested Mr. La Trenne.

  “ They have to be beamed into nothing. If the conditions are not exactly the same they may perish.”

  Mr. Base was adamant. “ I think you have miscalculated Commander, there is no way that your theory can work. They are human beings after all.”

  “ I am well aware that we are dealing with humans,” Mr. La Trenne snapped back, “ I don’t advocate this idea lightly.”

  The Captain intervened. “ Let’s not get into an argument about this. Clearly we are not ready to do anything as yet, but let’s keep working on the how and why and where. While we are all here does anybody have anything else they would like to discuss?”

  Kazzie-Spockers shifted in her chair and looked uneasy.

  “ Do you have something to add Sub-Commander, or have you just spotted a spider?” The Captain smiled.

  She pretended not to hear what he had said. “ I have given what I am about to say a lot of thought and I do not say this lightly. I realise that we did a good thing b
y rescuing the one they call ‘The General’ today but I am not happy that you put all of our lives in danger. We are in a quadrant that we are only just finding out about and now we will have look around every corner just because you made the decision to rescue an alien who could have turned out to be a criminal.”

  “ I felt that it was the humane thing to do.”

  “ There is a crew on board this ship of more than five hundred and the alien is only one man.”

  “ Are you going to give me the old verse that ‘The needs of the many out weigh the needs of the few’.”

  “ I was thinking along those lines.”

  “ Don’t you know that when you see a little kid in the school yard getting beaten up, you should go and help? No matter how big the other kid is. It is our duty to help the victim no matter who he might be. I stand by my actions.”

  “ Your decision was illogical. I wish to go on record. I am against this action.”

  “ Your objection is duly noted for the record, Sub-Commander. Now if we are finished, we can adjourn. Dismissed.”

  The Captain stood up and walked out of the room.

  * * * *

  It was just before nineteen hundred hours when the Captain escorted Beani-Poohs and Lid-Lidia in to the newly named ‘Launching Pad’. They noticed a sign with this name on it hanging near the kitchen. As they seated themselves Mesetta saw them and walked quickly towards them.

  “ You three are in for a treat tonight, Accqua has outdone herself with the meal she has prepared for you.”

  “ Thankyou Mesetta that sounds very nice,” the Captain replied “ I don’t know if anybody told you that we will be having another guest here tonight. He will be joining us shortly.”

  Mesetta smiled. “ This is no problem for us, we can cope no matter how many people come to eat.”

  After saying this he quickly walked back to the kitchen.

  “ He certainly is a happy man,” observed Beani-Poohs “ I hope I’m as happy when I’ve been married as long as he has.”

  She looked around. “ I like the fact that she’s happy too, they’re a lovely couple.”

  The Captain looked at her. She was his Beani-Poohs…yet she wasn’t. How was he supposed to respond to this comment? How could he reassure her that everything was going to be all right, when he didn’t know if it could be…. When this was not the woman he had been keeping company with? And yet, here she sat with him…

  As yet he had not told both women the Doctor’s final and complete findings. There would be time for that later. They were both so tense he wanted them to have a relaxing time before the axe fell.

  “ It’s quite busy in here isn’t it? Looks like its becoming as popular as they claimed.” Lid-Lidia took a drink of water with her left hand, the Captain noticed.

  In the kitchen Mesetta was telling Accqua that the Captain was going to have a guest at his table. He was just looking through the small window when the General walked in.

  He recoiled, then had another look.

  “ Accqua you will never guess who just walked in. It’s General Quistane, what is he doing here?” He couldn’t take his eyes from the alien.

  Accqua became very still. Then she turned towards him and forced herself to look through the window. “ Oh no! No! I can not believe it! How did he find us?”

  “ I do not know but he did. How long has it been? Years…and we have both changed. Perhaps he will not recognise us. He might not be looking for us, he might be here for some other reason entirely.”

  “ Mesetta you do not believe that do you?

  “ No not really.”

  “ It has been ten years at least since we left Narwee but I think he will know you.”

  “ Are you sure?”

  “ No I am not sure but you have not changed that much in ten years.”

  “Perhaps…but our clothes are different…and we are not those people anymore. We have changed in the ways that really matter, and our royal tattoo’s have been removed.”

  He turned toward her and they embraced fiercely, a little desperately. After a few moments she pulled away a little.

  “ Mesetta we are here to work in the kitchen. The Captain and the others do not know about what happened on our planet. So you must go on with your work just like you would any other day. You must serve Quistane the same as everybody else or he will be suspicious. It is a great gamble but we must do it.”

  “ I will do it darling, but it will not be easy.” His eyes wore a serious and worried expression.

  “ No my darling, it will not.” She fiddled with his collar and then put a hand gently to his cheek. His eyes closed and then opened and he focused on her kindly face.

  “ My darling Life Partner,” he said with deep emotion, “ what would my life have been without you beside me? Our marriage was arranged and yet I fell in love with you. It was a miracle to have found you in my life.”

  She smiled mistily at him. “ My darling ‘husband’ as the earth people call it… the day I met you, on the day of our betrothal, was the happiest of my life. In the years that have followed I have been very happy and blessed.”

  “ In spite of everything?” he looked solemn.

  “ Especially in spite of it,” she assured him. “ I have deep respect for you darling. You have made me proud to be your wife.”

  “ Is that an Earth title also?”

  “ Yes, husband and wife. It means life partner.”

  “ I like it.”

  “ So do I.”

  “ Well…. I suppose it is time to face him…”

  She nodded. “ Yes. It is time. I know you will succeed darling. Keep your cool.”

  “ I always have haven’t I?”

  “ Yes.”

  Mesetta loaded four meals onto a tray and walked straight to the Captains table. The whole time he was there unloading the tray he never looked at the General.

  The General only glanced at him once but there was no recognition in his eyes. Mesetta could not tell if the General knew him at all.

  The Captain noticed that Mesetta looked a little preoccupied.

  “ This meal looks and smells terrific,” the Captain said to Mesetta.

  “ Please meet the General, who we managed to rescue from pirates today.”

  Mesetta nodded politely but didn’t smile.

  “ Mesetta this is General Quistane from the planet Narwee. That is a neighboring planet to your own, Marrana.”

  The General looked Mesetta over. “ So you’re from Marrana? With your features I would have thought you would be from Narwee?”

  Mesetta remained calm. “ You can never tell about these things.” He walked back to the kitchen.

  Mesetta was still not sure if the General had recognised him. He and his life partner whispered together in the kitchen and worried about what would happen after the meal. He assured her that he was sure the General had not recognised him at all. After all, he would not have expected him to be a cook.

  After they had finished eating the General looked at the Captain, “ I never informed you of my mission Captain.”

  “ I had considered it was none of my business, but I would be interested to hear about it if you want to tell me.”

  “ Yes I would be interested too,” said Lid-Lidia

  “ Before I tell you about my mission I what to tell about my planet. Narwee is a planet that is largely covered by water. There is only one very large landmass. On my planet we used to have an Emperor. The title on my planet passes from father to son and sometimes to daughter. The line is ancient, over several centuries...”

  There was a clatter of dishes from the kitchen then silence. The General resumed: “ About fifteen years ago the Emperor we had was a very good man, he and his Empress made some very good changes in the lives of their people. They were greatly loved. I was privileged to serve in the palace. I was an advisor…”

  The General paused briefly.

  “ There are always people who are not happy with how
things are done and it doesn’t matter how good life is, they want change. They want equality. They want the riches… as inconceivable as it may seem, those disloyal to the Emperor on Narwee caused a revolt. There was a civil war, which lasted for years. People had to choose sides or die….”

  “ What a shame, if the Emperor was as good as you say,” remarked Beani-Poohs.

  “ Some share your view. However I was not one of them. I was part of this rebellion and as a result I was made a General and had the privilege of commanding many troops. I make no apology for this, I wanted to be on the winning side. The war dragged on for a few years and eventually we were able to build a siege wall around the city and the Emperor was trapped within. He held out for a long time but people started to starve and the Emperor made the decision to surrender. He didn’t like to see his subjects suffering.”

  “ You sound like you have great respect for this man,” noted the Captain neutrally.

  The General smiled. Somehow he no longer looked as inoffensive as he had before. There was something chilling and dangerous in that smile.

  “ I did, and I still do. It was a sad day for me when we took him and his Empress into custody. I have always felt bad that it had to come to that. I understood that they had no choice, they were royalty and were limited in what to do to solve the situation. But I had no choice either. I had to act against them.”

  The General paused, aware that he had a rapt audience now. People from other tables had stopped talking and were eavesdropping shamelessly. The room was suddenly very quiet.

  “ You could have stayed loyal to him,” Lid-Lidia said bluntly.

  The General turned that smile onto her, “ I could have but so much more was at stake than who was to rule the planet.

  I might mention at this point about the wealth of my planet. The Emperor had started a system years before where actual money was eliminated and computerized credits made available. It was vital that whoever ruled had this wealth at hand, otherwise they really had nothing to speak of. The Emperor was clever enough to have a vast wealth converted onto a computer program that only he and a few others knew the encryption to. Anyway, as I said before the Emperor and his Empress surrendered and were imprisoned.”

  The Captain was staring at the General as he paused to sip from his drink. It was now slowly funneling into his brain that he had rescued a very dangerous man.