Solbidyum Wars Saga 7: Hunt for the Reduviids (29 page)

“Yes, I noticed it, too,” I said… “Thanks for alerting me, though.  Since A’Lappe never sleeps, I think I’ll contact him now and get the treatment before I go to bed.  That way, the worst effects will be worn off by the time I wake up.”

“I’ll come with you to your study, so we can do it like we did the last time,” Marranalis replied.

“Thank you, Marranalis, I appreciate it.”

I contacted A’Lappe and using a code phrase we had decided on I let him know I needed another treatment.  Marranalis and I went to my study and I used the maintenance tunnels to get to the auxiliary med unit the same way as before.  A’Lappe was there waiting for me; he said he needed to run some quick tests before giving me another treatment.  The tests didn’t take long and I could see by the look on A’Lappe’s face he was not pleased with the results.

“So, what’s the verdict,” I asked him?

“Well, you’re not worse,” he replied, “but there is no sign you are any better, either.  The treatment is retarding the progression and degeneration, but the rejection levels are still the same.”

“So as long as I keep taking the treatments, I’ll be all right?”

“I think so, but it’s possible that later it may get worse,” A’Lappe said, “I can’t be sure.

“I have to tell you, after that first treatment, I was quite ill for a few hours.”

“I’m not surprised; it will probably be like that every time.  I don’t know any way to prevent that.”

“Well, let’s get it over with; at least, I’ll have five good days before I start becoming impaired again.”

My treatment followed pretty much the same pattern as the last time.  I was very sick afterwards and had trouble making it back to my study.  Marranalis covered for me by calling Kala and telling her I was exhausted and had fallen asleep in my study and he didn’t want to wake me.  She said she understood and that I was working too hard and she appreciated him calling her.  After several hours, I awoke feeling terrible but hungry.  Marranalis, who had been sleeping in one of the chairs nearby, woke up and ordered something for us to eat.  As before, I found I had sweated out a lot of the chemicals from the treatment and I smelled terrible.  Fortunately, A’Lappe had shown me the location of one of the access panels in an unoccupied quarter in the aft end of the ship and using the maintenance tunnels; I could go there and shower several times and get a new uniform from the replicator in the room.  By the time I finished bathing and eating, I was starting to feel more normal again.  As before, I drank as much water as I could to flush the chemicals from my body.  I was a bit startled the first time I urinated after the treatment to note my urine was green; I didn’t recall that from the previous treatment, but I may not have actually looked.

By the time Marranalis and I made it back to the
MAXETTE,
it was nearly mid-morning.  I could see Marranalis was tired because of the ordeal during the night, so I told him to go take a nap.  He had his assistant fill me in on events during the night, which thankfully were practically nil.  There was a message from Leader Tonclin saying he’d received my report and it was greatly appreciated, but there was no mention of what decision he had made.  He was scheduled to be speaking before the Senate within the hour and I was nervous wondering what he would say.

At the appointed hour of Tonclin’s address to the Senate, I tuned in, using one of the giant vid screens in the War Room.  A number of other officers also were in the room eagerly watching to see what Leader Tonclin would say.  At the appointed time, the screen displayed Tonclin standing behind a podium in the Senate Chamber, the Federation Logo displayed behind him.

“Senators of the Federation, I am here today to present to you the recommendation of Leaders Pheosa and Maragon and myself on the matter of Syndrop’s and Porporat’s requests to secede from the Federation.  We have thought long and hard on this matter and consulted with numerous agencies within our government; our unanimous thoughts at this time are that we cannot justify or allow either of these two worlds to secede.”  There was a gasping sound around the assembly area and a buzz of whispering that quickly died as Leader Tonclin continued.

“We have analyzed the situation and recognize Syndrop’s and Porporat’s reasons for wishing to secede and their concerns. They are not without merit.  However, we believe that both these worlds and the Federation would be better served by addressing those needs, rather than simply to abandon these two planets to fend for themselves.  History has shown all too clearly what happens to worlds taken over by the Brotherhood and we have seen they show no more mercy to those who surrender willingly than those whom they capture in battle.  We also recognize the serious security and economic threats that face the Federation if these two worlds fall under Brotherhood control.

“It is for the reasons I have stated that it is the recommendation of Leaders Pheosa, Maragon and myself be presented to the peoples of Syndrop and Porporat in hopes that they, likewise, will see its value and agree to these terms.  We also recommend the Federation immediately establish two large military presences, one at Syndrop and the other at Porporat, with over one half million troopers and military personnel to be stationed on each planet, both as staging areas for battle groups in their sector and for protection for their worlds.  These bases will act as section headquarters.  We will assign one carrier ship to each planet along with more frigates and corvettes.  A new starship-sized Cantolla Gate will also be situated between the two worlds, allowing quick access to the area by military ships from all parts of the Federation, should the need arise.  This will provide both increased physical protection for the two worlds, as well as economic growth as there will be a bigger need for civilian support for bases of this size.

“I have already discussed this matter with Fleet Admiral Tibby and he has presented us with plans that show that most of this can be accomplished within a few days without weakening the security of any areas of the Federation; on the contrary, it will actually strengthen us all.”  At this point Leader Tonclin had to pause as some of the Senators stomped their feet as a sign of their approval of the proposal.  “I am seeing to it that all of the Federation Senators receive a copy of Admiral Tibby’s plan. They should be delivered to your personal vids as I speak.  We, the Leaders of the Federation, ask that you look over this plan before you vote on Syndrop’s and Porporat’s request to secede and we further ask that both Syndrop and Porporat reconsider their requests based on the implementation of this plan.

“I thank you.”

And without further comment, he turned and walked off the stage.  There was moderate foot stomping around the Senate; but it clearly was not unanimous and as the cameras panned the Senate Chamber, many senators could be seen engaging in animated discussions.

“What do you think will happen now?” I heard Captain Mareoparen’s voice coming from nearby.  I turned to see that he was in a seat behind me.  I’m sorry, Captain; I didn’t see you come in.  I don’t know; I hope the Senate will go along with our proposal.”

“Frankly, Admiral, I don’t know how you do it.  I know you and Marranalis were up most of the night putting this proposal together.  Everyone was expecting the Leaders to allow the planets to secede; but somehow you managed to put this together and change their minds at the last minute.  I am honored to serve under you, Admiral.”

“Don’t get too positive too soon,” I said. “The Senate still has to approve the plan and not all of them seemed enthusiastic about it.”

“Give them time to look it over, Admiral,” in the end, I’m betting 65% or more of them will vote for it.”

I sighed, “I hope you are right, Captain, because if you aren’t, our job is going to become a lot bigger and our jobs much harder.  So what brings you to the War Room?  You usually stay on the bridge.”

“Marranalis asked me to drop by in case you needed any assistance.  He said you had commanded him to go take a nap.”

I grinned, “Yeah, I guess I did.  I grabbed a nap last night while he finished writing up our proposal and I felt it unfair for him to go so long without sleep.  Marranalis is a good man and I don’t want to burn him out.”

“And, what about you, Admiral?  You’re a good man also, but you continue to push yourself to the maximum.  You have the rest of us worried that you will burn out and then what will we do?”

I didn’t know how to answer, so I simply said, “I’ll try and not push myself so hard, Captain.  Thank you.”

At noon, I slipped back to the
NEW ORLEANS,
hoping that I might have a nice lunch with Kala to make up for the disastrous breakfast event earlier.  I used the shower in my personal suite aboard the
MAXETTE
, a room I hardly ever used and changed my uniform there, as I was still producing some of the chemical smell from my treatment.  It was going to be difficult trying to hide it over the course of time.  I knew at some point in time I would have to tell Kala about my condition, but I wasn’t ready to do so at the moment.

When I arrived at the suite, Kala wasn’t there; instead I found a sad-looking Lunnie sitting sullenly at the table with a Medusa-like mop of purple, green and yellow hair.  She was eating something while an ever so contrite Reide kept running around asking her if there was something he could do for her.

“NO!” Lunnie huffed, “you’ve done quite enough already.  Now go away!”

“Hi kids,” I said as I walked into the room.

“Hi Dad,” they both said in unison.

“Where is your mother?”

“She went with Jenira to work out,” Lunnie answered.

I found it difficult not to stare at Lunnie’s hair; it was hard not to grin, as she looked like she was wearing a clown’s wig.  Dr. Danjuma had told Lunnie that she would have to wait several hours before they could dye her hair back to its natural color.  Apparently they needed to make sure her scalp hadn’t been damaged by Reidecor’s tinkering and to allow some conditioner they put on her hair to take effect.

I went to the food synthesizer and punched in an order for a noodle dish that I liked.  Kala had once told me it was based on a recipe from the planet Pinop and in its natural form the noodles were made from the nodules of seaweed that washed up on the beaches there.  The nodules were cut open to harvest the seeds, which the villagers dried in the sun and ground into flour that became the main ingredient in the noodles.  Of course, none of that happened with the dish produced by the synthesizer.  I had asked A’Lappe once how the synthesizer was programed to be able to exactly duplicate the foods it replicated.  He said that samples of the foods desired were broken down molecularly and the data stored in the computer’s memory.  When you wished, the dish replicated organic materials and assembled them to exact same molecular configurations to produce the dish.  I noticed that while the machine seemed to be able to produce the exact tastes, it was not always able to duplicate the same shapes and textures that nature did.  However, in the case of the noodles, I could not tell the difference.  I took my bowl of noodles from the dispenser and went and sat down next to Lunnie.

“Dad, why do boys have to be such jerks,” she asked me?  Before I could answer she added, “Were you a jerk when you were a boy?”

“I don’t know, I guess I probably was,” I answered after I swallowed the noodles in my mouth.

“Did you mess things up like Reide?  Like when he made your clothing replicator make everything pink?”

I swallowed some more noodles and said, “Well, we didn’t have clothing replicators when I grew up, but I did take my grandfather’s lawn mower apart one time.”

“What’s a lawn mower?”  Lunnie asked.  Behind her, I saw Reide stick his head around the corner.  He obviously had been listening on the other side the wall.

“It’s a device they had back on Earth that was used to trim grass so it didn’t get too long in people's yards.  You know how the grass is short about the estate?  Well, unlike the grass we have at the estate that only grows that high, back on Earth the grass grew to be knee high if you didn’t keep cutting it all the time to keep it short.  To do that we had these machines we called lawn mowers and once a week we would need to get them out and cut the grass short.”

“Once a week!” Reide said as he came the rest of the way into the room.  That must have been a lot of work.”

I laughed, “Well, I certainly thought it was back then.  However, to be honest with you, I would much rather be mowing grass than doing the job I have to do now.”

“Dad, why do you have to do what you do now?  You have lots of money.  You shouldn’t have to do anything.”

“So you think rich people shouldn’t have to work?  Only poor people should work?”

“Well, no, but you have more than anyone else in the universe has and you work harder than anyone else does.”

“Back on Earth when I was there, they had a religion called Christianity and in their holy book they had a saying that went something like “to whom much is given much is expected,” so I guess you can say because I have more than anyone else, a lot more is expected of me than others.”

“That doesn’t make sense, Dad,” Lunnie said.

“Yes it does,” Reide interjected,” how can you expect someone who has nothing to give more than someone who has everything?"

“That’s not what it means, Reide!”  Lunnie responded.

“Yes it is…,” Reide replied.  I was about to say something when the door opened and Kala entered.