Steven Gordon 3: The Modloch Empire (28 page)

‘
It is a planet I
would love to study. Unfortunately it would cost me my
life.’

‘
I think this is the
point where we should discuss how much it would cost us not to
admit the Humans.’ Spoke the noble who had challenged the President
earlier.

The Modloch Emperor raised a hand.
‘Emperor Ne´ Langus. You were paying particular attention to that
part of the Human President’s speech.’

‘
I was, as should all
of you. If we don’t admit them, then idiots like the Albany are
going to continue to attack. Do you know the size of their forces
at present Darrick?’

‘
I will not lie Ne´.
Since the war with the Albany, they have tripled the size of their
fighting force. The Humans know about war, and know how to defend
themselves. Only the largest of us now have fleets bigger than
them. Combined we could probably knock them out.’

‘
Yes Darrick, but at
what cost? Especially if they pull back behind the barrier and
react to incursions within their space. It will eventually lead to
an all-out war with the Human race.’

‘
Only if they attack
home planets.’ Jumped in a lesser noble.

‘
That was exactly the
point the President was trying to make,’ growled Ne´. ‘They
wouldn’t think twice about attacking our home planets. My biggest
fear is that we gather a huge fleet to destroy them, and by the
time they are halfway to the planet Earth, the whole damn force is
dead. We would be handing the Humans the whole damn fleet. Then
where would we be? In twice as much shit.’

The lesser noble sniffed, ‘Maybe they
were lying about their sun’s activity.’

‘
No they weren’t.’
Interjected the Modloch Emperor, ‘Gairloch did an intensive study
on their sun. The moment its activity picked up it wiped him and
the remainder of his crew out. I have all the data if anyone wants
to see it. Ne´ is right though. They are a formidable foe and they
have thousands of years’ worth of ground fighting
experience.’

Ne´ looked round the faces. ‘As far as
I am concerned, we either wipe them out here and now, or we take
them on board.’

‘
And if we miss?’ The
Modloch Emperor asked.

‘
Well, they will
never trust us again Darrick. If I was them, I would begin a
systematic eradication of every species on this side of the
barrier. Which of course would lead to us sending a large force to
their world.’

‘
Which could quite
easily end up in their hands.’ The Modloch Emperor finished the
sentence for him.

‘
Exactly.’

‘
Well, you are the
master tactician here Ne´, what do we do?’

‘
Wait!’ Interrupted
Vison. ‘What about a thousand years from now, when the Humans have
colonies and planets this side of the galaxy? How would we stop
them then Ne´?’

‘
Glad you brought it
up. I was going to suggest setting preconditions on the Humans
becoming full members of the galactic family. The condition would
be that they could hold no planet on this side of the great
barrier. Their rewards would be something other than land or the
right to build colonies in captured territory.’

They were silent for a while as they
contemplated this. ‘That is completely unheralded.’ Vison ventured.
‘Do you think they would agree to it?’

‘
If they aren’t lying
about wanting to protect their home world.’ Ne´
answered.

‘
I think they would
grab at the chance.’ The Modloch Emperor mused. ‘They are very
passionate about their planet. I have watched many of their
documentaries. I picked the ones that I thought you would like the
most. They are in the gift you received. It is a rare and beautiful
world. Is there the possibility we could get it special status,
like the planet Braun Veld?’

‘
Why would we want to
do that?’ Ne´ asked.

The Modloch Emperor shrugged, ‘Well why
not?’

‘
Braun Veld is
protected simply because it is of no use to anyone. The soil is too
alkali to grow decent grass. If it had been someone would have
claimed it long ago.’

‘
It is also a tourist
spot, the go to place for mating ceremonies. It isn’t like we could
pop down to Earth and spend a few weeks there.’ Marcus
added.

‘
That’s not what I am
getting at.’ Ne´ answered. ‘If they were given special status it
would mean that all creatures, including the Humans themselves,
would be protected, which means that they wouldn’t have to join the
council or even fight. As Darrick has pointed out, the Humans have
extensive ground fighting capabilities. We don’t.

‘
For more years than
I care to remember we have been fighting a race of meat-eaters that
frequently make incursions into our space. We have bombed their
planets until we are blue in the face and it has made no
difference. My troops are petrified of going on to the ground in
case they are captured and eaten. I bet the Humans wouldn’t be
afraid.’

The Modloch Emperor laughed. ‘They eat
your people because you have killed all of their livestock and have
nothing else left to eat!’

‘
So what! They are
completely carnivorous. We did not start the war. We sent peace
envoys and they ate them. Sent us pictures too. Now they live
underground where we can’t get at them.’

‘
I see your reasoning
Ne´’ The Modloch Emperor was sitting forward in his seat now. ‘Of
course, with a species of meat-eaters as part of the great
federation, they may well also help to bridge the gap between all
of the races. Maybe they could help your enemy restock on domestic
livestock and prevent farther attacks.’

‘
I find this
conversation disgusting. They are meat-eaters and you are
suggesting helping them. This is intolerable.’

Their heads cranked round.

It was the Modloch Emperor who spoke
first.. ‘President San Lo Tae´, you come late into the
discussion.’

‘
I may be one of the
smaller fish in this pool Emperor, but I am mortified by the
direction this conversation is taking. Using a race that should be
our natural enemies to feed our natural enemies? This is simply
intolerable.’

‘
When I heard of the
Humans, I reacted the same way. My initial orders to Gairloch were
to wipe them out. However, he told me how they had offered to make
his last days as comfortable as possible. They didn’t try to kill
him even though Gairloch and his crew were the first aliens they
had ever met. He felt they were genuine. They also told him that
they had vast plains of the blue grass and of how it had been
stolen by the Albany. To Gairloch, who had hunted the pirates
selling the blue grass, it was a curiosity. Would it give us a lead
into who was behind it all?

‘
When Gairloch
reached their world, he was amazed by the diversity of the wildlife
and how hard the Humans fought to preserve it. He too was initially
repulsed by them. But I think maybe you should hear Gairloch’s own
words on the matter.’

He reached for a tablet and spent a few
minutes finding the files. When he did the large wall turned into a
screen. Gairloch was reclining on a comfy chair. His face was
etched in pain, yet he had a stupid smile on his face.

‘
My Emperor, my lord,
my beloved brother. The sun’s activity this week has been very low,
but still my crew fall to its deadly neutrons. But what a week! We
travelled to the island of Britain in the northern hemisphere. It
is the season they call autumn. The vegetation prepares for winter.
Look at the colours of the leaves brother.’ Pictures appeared
beside him that enthralled his audience.

‘
This place is so
damn beautiful, but a little cold. I met the British King. He has
the same regal bearing as you do. He introduced me to a horse
called Candy. She is a Clydesdale, the only horse big enough to
carry me, and they have been teaching me how to ride. Today we
galloped across the cut wheat fields. I could not stop laughing. A
whole glorious afternoon riding through virgin woodland. I saw a
golden pheasant. Brother, this bird’s feathers were the colour of
gold! I thought they had painted it. The King laughed so hard he
almost fell off his horse.

‘
Oh brother, I so
wish you could share this experience with me. I feel my words
cannot convey enough feeling to describe it properly. We came
across a farmer shooting crows. I was upset at first. They describe
these crows as vermin that eat their crops, yet they do not
eradicate them. I was confused. The King told me that although they
were vermin, there was no need to eradicate the whole species.
Despite their status as a pest, they had a right to live and breed.
When their numbers become so great that they begin to do extensive
damage to their crops, they go out and shoot a few to bring the
numbers down.

‘
He asked me about
the pests on our world. The strangest thing happened, brother. I
found it hard to tell him that we had wiped out every other species
so we could grow more food for our people. I looked around at the
birds in the sky, the animals in the fields and the horse between
my legs and I choked on the words. I wasn’t sure if he would
understand.

‘
I have spent every
night since wondering about our forefathers. Here there are groups
passionate about their animals. I wonder, were there Modloch like
them? I searched our archives but found no records. Did any single
Modloch stand forth and try to defend the rights of the other
species on our planet before we wiped them out? I had never even
thought about it before.

‘
We accuse these
people of being savages because they eat meat. But because they can
eat meat they do not need every square foot of the planet producing
grass. They preserve the lives of the other species on this planet,
whether those animals are good or bad for them.

‘
When I eventually
answered the King I could see the shock on his face. He did not
accuse. He simply said he was sorry to hear we had to do that. His
eyes were full of sorrow for us. For the first time in my life I
felt like I belonged to a sub-species. Do you know how they control
their numbers? They use birth control and place responsibility on
themselves. I hear there is a country whose population became so
big that the government ordered only one child to be born per
couple. Could our ancestors not have done the same thing and
preserved our worlds as they once were?’

‘
I will leave you now
brother. If I survive another week I will again regale you with
stories of my adventures.’

The screen switched off and all were
silent. The Modloch Emperor got up slowly. ‘I need to change. We
will all meet again tomorrow afternoon.’

CHAPTER 34

Charlie stood with his arms crossed,
staring up at the Bear. ‘I do not have to take your bloody orders
any more. Two years! I’m oot, a civie, privately employed by the
Gordon foundation.’

The Bear roared with laughter and poked
him in the chest. ‘Two years Murison, I can still kick your arse
for the next two years. You will obey my orders.’

‘
Stick yer orders up
yer arse. I will not make an arse of myself while doing the sword
dance, just to make you look bloody good.’

The jocks howled with laughter as an
officer appeared to tell them they were on in two minutes.

The ballroom was seething. Mya had
loved the Chinese dragon dancing and Rannalld had been very
impressed by the monks and their martial arts display. Rannalld
cringed though when the pipes started up, as did many present. Mya
though they were wonderful. ‘Oh! There’s Charlie. What is he
doing?’

Rannalld’s eyes had locked on the large
officer. ‘On the left?’

‘
Charlie? No, he is
on the right. The small one.’

Rannalld could hardly believe his eyes.
‘Are you sure?’

‘
Yes of
course.’

‘
Ladies and
gentlemen, the Scottish sword dance. The origins of this dance are
lost in myth and legend. Most say it was created by the victor of a
battle between two clan chieftains. They agreed to fight each other
to preserve the lives of their clansmen; the winner of the fight
would claim victory over the other clan. When the fight was over
the winner took the two bloodied swords, laid them on the ground
and proceeded to dance round them.

‘
The dance was taken
up by the clansmen and became a part of the Highland tradition. It
is said that if the dance was performed before a battle and the
dancer touched the blades then it was a portent of bad tidings. To
complete the dance without touching the swords was a good omen for
the coming battle.’

The dance began and both dancers
managed to avoid touching the blades. When it was over the dancers
bowed low and left. Rannalld got up. ‘I will be back in a few
minutes Mya.’

The stage was then taken by the United
States Marine Band and the party kicked up a gear. Dancers came on
dressed in 1940s clothing. The guests seemed to love it. The stars
of the show were Lady Jane and Kelly, who stood head and shoulders
above the rest in his uniform.

The two of them had been practicing for
over a week. For Kelly it was a case of remembering the steps while
Jane had to learn from scratch. She objected to being raised off
the ground so their routine had been changed slightly. Still they
moved together like greased lightning.

Almost a world away from the dancers
the Emperor and the British King got their heads together. ‘What do
you think?’ The King asked.