The Voting Species (7 page)

‘
I mention
body shapes because these strangers are accepted as natives, who
just happen to be less well fed!’ Denton and Tubary couldn’t quite
grin at each other.

‘What’s the bad?’ interrupted the
Professor.

‘
The bad is,
even if we could find them amongst the natives, they’re accepted
not only by them but also by human Cyanese society, who allow them
to have armies at their disposal.’

‘Why do they need armies?’ asked the
Professor.

‘
To hire them
to the Cyanese Government.’

‘
What are
their total forces?’ asked Tubary.

‘
About ten
times larger than the one our natives used at the lab.’

‘Two hundred thousand!’ exclaimed Denton.

Mick continued, ‘The aim is to spread them
anywhere over the planet when required!’

‘What do they use, spears?’

‘
When
necessary, many are issued with lightning sticks, laser
rifles!’

‘Ironic,’ started Tubary, ‘we’ve been looking
for humans that are likely to stir up natives, but it’s the natives
who are keeping their own under control, albeit with the help of
Boss’s renegades and the Cyan government! The law change should
calm those particular stirrings.’

‘
Maybe an
almighty protection racket,’ said the Professor, ‘but our most
pressing problem is to stop what is their most heinous of rackets.
Where can they be found?’

‘The nearest army tribe lives four days march
into the sunset is how our natives put it,’

‘Did they ever have any contact with these
strangers and any of their armies?’

‘There was always an uneasy truce, they’d no
idea of the link between them and the guards. ’

The
Professor’s encrypted
report was answered
promptly. ‘Bronski is on his way,’ stated Tubary, ‘we’re to meet
him in space!’

In the midst
of the Cyan equatorial jungle,
forty
seven tribal chiefs representing two hundred thousand warriors met
with their ten security leaders along with Elena. A large tree hewn
lodge protected them from the worst of the jungle heat. They all
availed themselves of the rough tables and chairs placed in a large
square formation. Carlton, Elena and the rest of their species sat
at the head table. Carlton nodded at the tribal spokesman who sat
across the square and opposite him. ‘Further to recent events, we
the security leaders advise that there is now no need for you to
use force against the Cyanese Government. Therefore we recommend
that you use a political approach that is right for your
people.’

Contrary to
his warrior like appearance, the man clad in his tan coloured hides
responded with the aplomb of a statesman. ‘We agree, and are
prepared to offer you leadership of our tribes even though we have
gained our first step to freedom.’

‘
We will not
be continuing as your leaders after today.’ Mumbles from around the
square followed Carlton’s words.

‘Why shun our offer?’

‘
There will
be many more steps for you to take, there are many prejudices for
you to overcome.’

‘
We know, we
can vote you into a position where you can continue collecting your
platinum.’

The ten and Elena looked at each other,
they’d forgotten that the minds of people they’d exploited for so
long were set free along with their bodies. ‘You can lead us in
politics as well as business,’ the spokesman advised.

Elena was
tempted into an indiscretion. ‘I have heard rumours from Earth,
Senator Goring will probably be removed from office soon, there is
a strong chance you will get a fairer Senator.’

The spokesman’s thoughtful look eased into
one of resignation. ‘What will people such as yourselves do to earn
more platinum?’

Carlton hesitated. ‘We will be continuing our
search for medicines, we will be setting up a new Laboratory here
in the jungle. This will help all our people.’

The willowy
eleven were alone again, the six
bribed
Cyan Government scientists had been excluded from their
deliberations.

Carlton restarted, ‘Further to the law change
we need to thrash out a few details regarding our plans. We are
agreed on our objectives, we need to agree on how we attain those
objectives. Opinions please.’

One of the ten opened, ‘The options are to
complete our research here in the jungle or back on our own
planet.

Another added, ‘We would have more protection
from a favoured tribe if we stayed here. Our own planet would
however take us out of the clutches of the military. They have no
jurisdiction there.’

‘For how long?’ asked a third.

Carlton thought out loud, ‘Are the military
showing any interest in us?’ He looked at Elena.

‘There’s no evidence they are.’

‘It has to be remembered that we are guilty
of nothing, human law says we are an unclassified species, whatever
we do is seen as aliens fighting amongst themselves. This will not
be the case should our species be classified as people.’

‘What are your suggestions Carlton?’ prodded
Elena, ignoring the others who had all started their offerings.

Carlton
thought while the others quietened. ‘We will need to vote at this
stage by a show of hands, the first proposition needs to be: We
will complete our epigenetics research to get the weapon we need,
whether our activities eventually become a crime or not.’ They all
agreed by raising their hands.

‘By unanimous decision we continue our
research. The next vote is: Do we stay here?’ All hands rose again.
‘Carried unanimously.’

‘We need to make a contingency plan should
the military ever get too close.!’ suggested one of the ten.

Another continued, ‘We use trusted security
guards from the native Cyanese to surround our new lab. Should the
military make an approach from the sky we surrender and plead
guilty,’ he grinned, ‘to not breaking the law. We then set up again
somewhere else.’

Carlton took
back the lead, ‘If we hear of any reclassification of our species
we still complete our research. In the unlikely event we are caught
we would be entitled to a trial, if convicted we would escape from
the Penal Colony almost immediately! We then complete any research
on our own planet which is beyond the law, then proceed to
controlling it.’

Another thought was voiced, ‘What if our
planet joins the Federation?’

Carlton
thought awhile, and then grinned. ‘Before or after Federation we
will have the means to persuade our people independence is best!
With epigenetics we will switch our people to our way of thinking
when we need to, without them losing intelligence! There’s no
antidote for such an ancient and targeted poison!’ As insurance we
will build the strongest army in the Galaxy from our own
people.

‘When do we part company with the scientists,
and how?’ asked Elena.

The ten
thought awhile, one offered, ‘We’ve got what we wanted from them so
far, we now know epigenetics. They’re useful until we complete our
research; we should be able to bribe…or blackmail them into staying
while we need them… then!’ he shrugged his shoulders.

Carlton finished, ‘We lose them in
space…they’re only humans anyway, a lower form of life!’

As one, the other ten gave an impassive
nod!

THE ART OF THE STATE

The speck
appearing from over the curved horizon slowly became the giant ship
that was Captain Bronski’s charge. Its every detail unfolded in the
sunlight as it opened its enormous airlock to engulf the
Prospector. Denton thought how much it looked like the open jaws of
a shark slowly moving through the ocean of space to devour its
prey. He shuddered as the closing doors completed its bite, then
felt relief as the scene changed to more like being inside a fish
tank.

‘
Good
afternoon Prospector, please wait a few moments while the air
pressure normalizes.’

They all took
in the display of multiple blinking lights of all colours, spread
around the walls of what was the warship’s docking depot. ‘You may
alight from your ship ladies and gentlemen, please ensure your
computer database is left active.’

They moved down their ramp into the genial
welcome of Captain Bronski and his other black clad personnel. His
standard size contrasted with his tall athletic visitors, brown
eyes in a round face, under plenty of black hair, sparkled as
greetings were exchanged. It was obvious from his initial niceties
that he had been kept well informed of the Prospector Sixteen’s
progress.

‘We’ll be over the target by the time we get
to the bridge.’

‘May I ask why you didn’t eat us down on the
planet.’ asked Denton.

‘
Eyes are an
excellent invention, but such a nuisance when a ship our size is
trying to make a stealthier entrance.’

‘I see, I think!’

They seemed
to have moved through a labyrinth by the time they’d reached the
large control panel on the spacious bridge. The Captain led them
all towards two fresh faced young men sitting before an ominous
array of icons. The battleship sunk into the atmosphere before
hovering, now teasing those below to shun the cover of their dense
lush jungle.

‘
Now ladies
and gentlemen, before we start, I have to make it quite clear that
a message from the Admiral says the warriors are not a classified
species yet. Therefore, anything they do to their own cannot be
considered a crime, we are cleared to help them, but the final
decision is theirs.’

The gravity
of the statement weighed the sixteen down immediately, the Captain
stared hard at them all to ensure they understood. The humans
looked at the warriors who reverted to their own language, they
spoke for just a few seconds before nodding back.

‘Ready,’ the Captain started, turning to the
young men sitting with their backs towards the sixteen, ‘set up a
cannon.’

Unperturbed
by their audience,
they started, ‘Link to Prospector’s database.’

‘Check.’

‘Open scan.’

‘Check.’

‘
Human and
alien DNA detected.’

‘Check.’

‘
Genomes
identified, six human organisms, eleven alien organisms.

‘Check.’

‘They all appear to be surrendering
Captain!’

‘
Ignore the
humans,’ ordered the Captain.

‘
Cannon
locked onto alien species.’

‘Check.’

‘
What for
your people Boss?’ asked the Captain. ‘Stun or kill?’

‘Captain, there’s an emergency flag on the
alien file, one is our agent, only ten are criminals.’

‘Kill the ten,’ Boss ordered calmly.

The
Prospector humans were jolted, the Captain saw the pain in all the
warriors’ eyes. ‘Are you sure?’

‘Yes, all twelve of us agree.’

‘Wait a moment Captain,’ Denton urged.

A few seconds
passed. ‘Captain, emergency confirmation received from our
agent.’

‘That’s all,’ Denton stated.

The Captain
looked at Boss, who was now impassive, then turned to his young men
and sighed. ‘Kill the ten alien criminals…Fire.’

‘Fire.’

‘Check.’

After a few
solemn moments, the Captain spoke again, ‘We can go down to the
surface now and scare off any native onlookers, then pick up the
scientists…and of course the bodies. Then say hello to our
agent.’

The four were silenced by the tears in their
warrior friends’ eyes. It took a while before Denton dared whisper,
‘Is that it?’

‘It appears to be so Alan, I’d love to know
the logic behind the warriors’ decision.’

‘
Me too,’
echoed the other two Prospector crew.

The Captain counselled, ‘You’ll probably need
to see the results of your work, it’s psychological, we all get
detached from the real world when we fight through technology.’

On land now,
they all saw the bodies being checked by the warriors, as if not
trusting human technology. Less traumatic were the six human
prisoners being marched to their cells.

‘What’s Senator Goring’s part in all this?’
asked Denton of his academic mentor.

‘
There’s no
evidence linking him to this crime, but he’s wanted for questioning
about other matters, that’s straight from the military.
’

‘What’ve they got on him?’

‘Evidence supplied by their agent, who’s
around somewhere.’

Boss beckoned
his human friends to assemble around him, happier now his gruesome
tally had been completed. ‘This was our thinking, there was no
vengeance, only pity for them, greater was our responsibility to
protect our species from DNA irregularities! We have no penal
establishment on our planet, should humans let us use their penal
colony our criminals would easily escape, so we had no choice.’ The
four of them could only look at Boss and say nothing.

Bushes were
gently pushed aside, as Elena like no other woman could, seemed to
materialize like a heavenly visitation dressed in a tight grey
uniform. She could only release the one platinum melting word,
‘Hello,’ before those expressive eyes flashed the concern that she
was surrounded by more than mere humans, and even worse, four of
them were female.

All male eyes
of both species were fixed on this vision, the four ladies’ eyes
showed a different spell had been cast, they turned to Boss and one
of them spoke so that all around could hear.