Dawn arose and my precious Keesha was still fast asleep. She wasn’t sleeping well in the hospital and was waking up every few hours. She was uncomfortable all day and as morning gave way to evening the day dragged on. She’ll be glad to get home and get some quality rest. The next morning, she was a little grumpy, due to her lack of sleep and mild pain. As we talked, she gradually cheered up a little. The doctor came in at about 8:00 AM and asked Keesha if she was ready to go home. “Yes, let me out of here. I want to go home and sleep in my own bed.” The doctor said, “That’s fine,” and gave her his final instructions, and gave her a couple of prescriptions to have filled. The nursing and administrative staff finished up the discharge paperwork and we were on our way home. I carried Keesha strait up to bed when we got home and tucked her in, promising to wake her for lunch.
Keesha’s mother called from the school she taught at during her lunch break to see how Keesha was doing. She told us about the schools finally reopened. It was the first day that the kids resumed their classes after the alien attack. The attack was all they could talk about, and the news media could speak of nothing else either. They had no idea why the attacks had ceased or where the aliens had gone. They kept looking for a second wave of attacks that would never come. But, the nations of the world were united in new solidarity. They had a common enemy. I wasn’t about to wreck that by telling them of the extermination of that common enemy. Their fear could in time unite the planet into the United Countries of Earth. Wouldn’t that be amazing?
Three days had past and Keesha was gingerly up and about, being careful not to open her surgical incision. She still hadn’t recovered enough to be her old bubbly, bright-eyed self, but she was recovering well. As we sat and watched the news at the end of the day, the news anchor had some breaking news. The alien fleet of ships had been spotted by a newly completed observatory in Chile. It appeared to them that the fleet was stationary and appeared dead in space. There where outbreaks of panic for the next couple of days, due to wild theories and speculations that played havoc with people’s imaginations. The turmoil in every city burdened local law enforcement. The remaining militaries of the world were mobilized and everyone prepared for the worst. Keesha and I knew everything was fine, so we went about our business as usual as she recovered from her surgery.
Finally, the day came for Keesha’s last doctor appointment, so I took her to the doctor. Everything went well at the doctor’s office and he said that Keesha was healing very well. After that, I took her out to dinner to celebrate. She was still pretty sore but was quickly returning to her old self.
The next morning, I received a call from Commander Mattraya. “My King, the personnel are trained and the ships are ready. We have your quarters prepared and we await your arrival for departure.” “Wait a minute,” I said, “I never said that I was going with you.” “My King, I assumed that you would now want to rule. My people have extended an invitation to you to rule from your palace on Tetra. “My Palace?” I questioned. “Yes, we have prepared a palace for you and your family and invite you to rule the galaxy from our world.” I was astonished. And thought to myself, [I have a Palace on another world? I was expected to rule the galaxy?] I was so caught up in caring for my precious Keesha and my planet, it never dawned on me that I might be expected to rule anyone or anything. “Commander, I’m sure your fleet is anxious to leave, but I need time to think about your proposition.” “Are you willing to wait for a reply?” “Yes, my King, for as long as you need. Every being of every race on every planet in our segment of the galaxy wants you to rule because they believe only you can ensure peace. Take as much time as you need.”
Keesha and I had just finished breakfast when the call from Commander Mattraya came through. Keesha heard everything. My precious bundle of joy just sat there with her mouth agape, speechless. Half smiling, my brow raised and I said, “Well what do you think precious? Do you want to be the queen of my kingdom on a faraway world, and help me rule the galaxy?” She sat there motionless, speechless for a moment with her mouth still agape.
Then she spoke. “Will I get to come back to visit my Mom?” I broke out into hysterical laughter and fell off my chair. “David! Quit that!” She shouted. Her arms were folded in front of her, with a pouting half smile, as she looked down at me. I pushed myself up, leaning, on one hand, looking up at her and said, “You are so precious! Sweetheart…you can take her with us if she wants to go, and if she doesn’t want to go; of course, we can visit her. I love you; I’d never keep you from your Mom. We’ll come back to visit both of our families.” She smiled, and then gasped, “I’ve got to go call Mom.” “No,” I said. “You stay there…I’ll bring the phone to you.” She was still tender from the surgery.
She never did answer my question but was talking at length about it to her mother, so I assumed that she was still thinking about it, or just getting her Mom’s opinion about it. I’m sure she’ll tell me when she’s through talking to her mom. When she got off the phone (2 hours later) she told me that her mother wanted to stay here. She couldn’t leave her job. She loved teaching and loved her students. She also didn’t want to leave her home here on Earth. She said, “I was born here and I want to live and eventually die here.” And, while she didn’t want Keesha and me to leave, she felt it would be best if it meant a lasting peace for the whole galaxy. Keesha agreed with her mother and told her she would visit her as often as possible and would call too…if it was possible. Keesha said with a smile, “When do we leave?”
I reminded her that we needed to make arrangements for our bills and our house and cars so that when we did come back to visit, we’d still have our beautiful home and all of our stuff. “I’ll get on my cell phone to our lawyer and you get back on the phone with your Mom. Ask her if she would watch our house and accept power of attorney so she can access our accounts and pay our bills.” “Okay, I’m on it,” she said, as she hit the speed dial number for her Mom’s cell phone. I just shook my head and smiled, then went to the foyer side table to retrieve my cell phone. I conveyed my wishes to my lawyer and he said he could have the paperwork ready for signature by the end of the day and instructed me to bring my mother-in-law when we came in to sign everything. “That sounds great, we’ll be there about 5:30 PM to read and sign everything.” “I’ll see you then Mr. Riley,” he said.
I walked back into the kitchen and asked, “Is it okay with your Mom?” “Yeah,” she said cupping her hand over the receiver. “Tell her we need her to meet us at the lawyer’s office at 5:30 or she needs to be over here at about 5:00 so we can ride over together.” She nodded yes and immediately started telling her Mom what I said. “She’ll be over at 5:00 to ride with us.” “Okay precious, I’ll call Commander Mattraya to tell her our decision, and then we need to start packing.” “Okay,” she said cupping her hand over the receiver again. I walked into the family room and called Kindra on the communications device that she provided. I explained that we had some last-minute arrangements to make and then we’d be ready to go. I also explained that I had my own ship and that I would rendezvous with them in space prior to our departure for her home world. I told her that I’d be in communication with her constantly during our transit to the rendezvous, and to look for a small ship with a winged quadruped painted on each side. She had no idea what a horse was, much less the mythical critter Pegasus, so “winged quadruped” was the only way I could describe it. The name Pegasus was written beneath the painting on both sides, but Kindra could only understand and speak English, she wasn’t able to read it yet. She said, “Take as long as you need, my King. I look forward to our rendezvous and meeting your wife.” “Thanks, Kindra, we’ll see you in a few hours.”
Keesha was still on the phone with her Mom…typical…. I went upstairs and pulled our luggage out of the closet and sat them on the bed. I decided to only load up the essentials (underwear, socks and some of my favorite cloths) because I thought that acquiring and wearing clothing like the people of Tetra would probably be more acceptable and politically correct.
Unconscious in the hospital, Bob reflected: “Political correctness is killing our great nation.”
But what if their cloths are to strange for my taste? “I better take most of my stuff,” I said aloud, as I continued to pack. When I was through, I grabbed the bags I packed and carried them downstairs. I walked past Keesha…still on the phone, and plopped the bags down at the back door. I turned around looked over at Keesha and dictatorially glared at her. “Okay, okay…Mom, I have to go pack now, we’ll talk more in a little bit.” As her Mom was saying her goodbyes to her, she looked over at me and stuck her tongue out at me defiantly. “You’re so precious,” I said as she put the phone down, “Want me to help you pack?” Without answering my question, she said, “You shouldn’t have rushed me off the phone. I don’t know when I’ll get to talk to her again.” I looked down at my watch and playfully said “in about 2 hours.” She slapped me on the chest (hard), then playfully sneered at me as I cuddled her up in my arms. “I know you’ll miss her, but I promise we’ll visit as often as you like and Pegasus has all the power necessary for you to call your Mom anytime, from half a galaxy away, okay?” She squeezed me tight, looked up and kissed me, then playfully said, “Okay, my King. Come help me pack.”
We finished packing and I took the bags down to the cavern and stowed them in our ship. Keesha stayed in the house waiting for her mother. When I got back to the house, Keesha and her mother were sitting in the family room talking. “Hi Mom,” I said as I walked over and gave her a big hug. She returned my greeting, and a few minutes later we left for my lawyer’s office. He had all the papers ready and it took no time at all to complete the legal chores. We drove back home and then began to explain the accounts and bills to Mrs. Campbell as she took notes and asked questions. We called our bank and explained what we were doing earlier in the day. She was all set. Before we left, as Keesha said goodbye to her Mom, I called my Mom and told her that we were leaving on an extended trip that had to be kept confidential. I would be able to call and visit her, but I couldn’t tell her where I was going. My mother had always trusted me and my judgment, so she didn’t question me about anything. She just wished me well and asked me to keep in touch and visit sometime. I lovingly agreed and said goodbye. “Keesha! …time to go precious!” “But David…The Commander said for us to take all the time we needed.” “I know precious, and if you need more time, take it, but please remember that there are over 12,000 crew members on 50 ships waiting to go home.” She stood up and punched me in the arm, “David!” Then she hugged me and sheepishly said, “Okay.” She looked over at her mother and they said their goodbyes. We handed her the house keys gave her another big hug, and then walked out the back door, and then down the gently sloping hillside to the cavern entrance. We then made our way through the entry tunnel into the cavern and boarded our ship.
“David, I know this is probably a stupid question because you always think of everything, but…how do we get the ship out of the cavern?” I smiled, chuckled and said, “Remember the transporter device I showed you.” “That thing can transport this whole ship?” she said with surprise. “Of course, sweetheart…it has the power to transport this ship to about the midway point between Earth and the Moon’s orbit. Transporting us into a high orbit around Earth will be easy.” I said, as I busily prepared the controls for our departure. I walked over to the copilot seat where she was sitting, dropped to one knee in front of her, gave her a big hug and a tender gentle kiss, then buckled her into her seat. I went back to my seat and buckled in too and then activated the transporter.
I located the fleet with my sensors and steered a course for our rendezvous. While in route, I contacted Commander Mattraya and told her we were on our way. “We have you on our sensors, my King.” We arrived moments later and made sure that the fleet was ready. Hence, we were prepared and I instructed Commander Mattraya to take point and lead the way. We proceeded slowly out of the solar system gradually increasing speed until reaching the maximum velocity of our slowest vessel. We were on our way. The voyage would take several weeks and we all would be stopping at each planet of the three species aboard for celebrations, and political hob-knobbing. Our fleet would dwindle twice prior to our final voyage to Tetra. Our first stop was Lutumus, the home world of the Lutians.
After two weeks of uneventful interstellar travel, we arrived at Lutumus. It was just as I remembered it, or as Sway remembered it. Having the memories of other beings can really confuse your semantics. Oh well, as I was saying, Lutumus is beautiful. The cities are clustered around the shores of the oceans and large lakes, with vast expanses of swampy rainforests covering most of their habitable continents. It is a very moist and humid planet with slightly higher atmospheric oxygen content than Earth. Actually, it is much like Earth was in its Paleozoic Era.
Unconscious in the hospital, Bob reflected: “There is no such thing as a Paleozoic Era. It’s a made-up word to describe a purported long period of time associated with a geologic formation.”
The Lutiains were kind and genital creatures that averaged about my height but were very thin with leathery wrinkled skin that was very light, like that of a pale Caucasian, unlike my lightly tanned Caucasian skin. They had no hair or other keratinous tissues (hair, nails or claws), and were primarily vegetarians that supplemented their diet with small amounts of fish and crustaceans. They were used by the Zet as servants due to their passive docile nature. They greeted us with a warm, reverent, conservative feast. I discussed my expectations and philosophies with the leaders of their world while Keesha, with her keen intellect, good nature and flare for rhetoric, learned as much as she could about their people while sharing our culture with them. She was amazing (as usual). Kindra acted as an interpreter for Keesha, while I spoke their language fluently due to the knowledge I possessed from Sway. We accepted their hospitality and their invitation to spend the night. The next day we bid farewell and departed. Our next stop was Duxducis, the home world of the Dux, pronounced just like the web footed, feathered critters of Earth (ducks).
After 10 days of travel, we reached Duxducis. They greeted us with gifts and a sort of parade/street celebration in their capital city that continued for hours. Their architecture and art rivaled that of Earth. While the party continued, we adjourned to the Counselor Prime’s mansion for a feast, and as with the Lutians, I discussed my expectations and philosophies. Keesha was directly involved with the discussion on this world, because unlike the Lutians, the Dux treated both genders equally and there were both male and female members in their Grand Council. They were an advanced species and the best navigators in the known galaxy. Most of the known celestial systems in our region of the galaxy were first charted and explored by the Dux. They were also a docile species and were used by the Zet as navigators, as I’m sure you already suspected. They were pug faced with rounded ears that drooped at the tips and they were covered with a downy-like fur (like puppies). They were bipedal and were also slender and could easily be classified as mammals. They had dexterous six fingered hands with finger nails much like ours. They averaged a little shorter than Keesha’s height. We had a great time with them, and Keesha again proved herself to be a gracious diplomat and representative of Earth. I was overwhelmed with pride in her.
That evening I cuddled her in my arms and told her how proud I was of her and how proud Earth should be of her and with a tired, humble but proud voice she thanked me, and we fell asleep in each other’s arms. As I drifted off to sleep, I thought (tomorrow we depart for our new home; Tetra, the home world of the Tetrians and the seat of power for an empire that I still hadn’t named). This would be the longest of our journeys. Tetra is more than four Earth weeks away.
Keesha and I were still keeping Earth time to maintain a sense of home and normalcy. There was no standard time due to the difference of each planet’s unique orbit around their sun, and rotation around their planet’s axis. Luckily, the differences in time on Tetra will be minimal and will match our circadian rhythms almost as well as Earth time. Translated into our time, each day on Tetra is 23 hours and 52 minutes long with each year lasting 372 days. We should have no problem whatsoever adapting to that.
We charted our course and set sail for Tetra. Other than Pegasus, we were now a fleet of five ships carrying a total of 1,123 personnel. Five crews of linguistics experts whose primary shipboard training was in communication and communication equipment repair. They had done well up until then and were very bright people, so I was sure that they’d do fine.
One week into the trip one of the ships main engines failed and the parts necessary to correct the problem were not available. We had to abandon it. Kindra divided the crew of the disabled ship into four equal groups and we transferred the groups to the four remaining ships. Kindra had learned to take the initiative during our voyage because I forced her to. “I put you in charge of this fleet Kindra. I know you can manage it and make sound decisions. Trust yourself, because I trust you completely.” I only had to tell her that a couple of times before she became an outstanding Fleet Commander that her officers and crew respected trusted and admired. The ships were built to hold 300 personnel, so the additional crewmembers were only a mild inconvenience. We pressed on toward our goal and only lost 5 hours of transit time.
Three weeks later we arrived at Tetra. They instructed us to land in the Imperial courtyard of Emperor Sonkei. Keesha and I met with Emperor Sonkei soon thereafter and he graciously welcomed us to his world. He thanked us and gave us gifts, then took us to our palace in his Imperial shuttle. We talked for a while then he, his wives, sixteen children, and his entourage departed. They had a huge celebration planned for tomorrow and would be back to pick us up in the morning. I didn’t like leaving Pegasus and being dependent on his shuttle, but I decided to be gracious today and then over the next few days, if things didn’t seem right to me, I could always become more assertive. Diplomacy first, I always say.
Keesha and I went to our lavishly ornate bedchamber, and the servant had already run us a bath in our huge lavish bathroom reminiscent of the bathhouses of Earth’s Roman Empire, but much softer of line, ornate and cozy. We asked the servants to leave our bedchamber and bath and wake us in the morning. They complied and we washed ourselves with the scented oils and soaps provided. We discussed in awe this huge palace bath and bedchamber and wondered what other wonders this home away from home had in store for us. Then we got out of the tub, dried and slipped into bed. We made love for the first time on an alien world and then we cuddled up in each other’s arms, briefly discussing the day and speculating about tomorrow, and then finally fell asleep in each other’s arms.
