*
Prior to this, Kaz and Az had been discussing the same topic in the mess, Translators off so they could puzzle this out without eavesdroppers. Neither wanted the subjects of their worries to hear their views. They sat by themselves.
“I get the impression she’s never fought before, or never killed before,” said Az. “How did Stella and Kelly react?”
“They were pretty upset. Both of them threw up, Stella first. After the fight was finished though. They both stripped off too. They had blood all over themselves. The blood mattered more than taking their clothes off!”
“Did they take all their clothes off?!”
“Pretty much. Down to the little stuff they wear underneath. You know?”
“Yeah I’ve seen the washing on the line. Figured out where it goes. Did you feel sick?”
“Yeah.”
“Me too. The smell was unbelievable. Especially in the plane I flew. Mathew said he’ll get someone to clean it up. I added to it a few times.”
“Yeah. Me too. There was nothing to clean it up with. Oh God it stank.”
They sat in silence for a while, thinking.
“I can’t figure out why they learnt that stuff. I mean Kelly’s a doctor!”
“Yes but they didn’t like using it. At least they didn’t think it meant nothing. I didn’t like Ali’s reaction. I bet he’d done that before. He was too casual. He knew how to plan too. Knew what to anticipate. Anyone in your team know that?”
“No, inexperience was our problem. We didn’t plan it well. I wonder if Li knew that. Or knew that we didn’t know. What happened with your Team? How did you get them?”
Ali planned a lot of it. Kelly helped and me a bit. Kelly said she and Stella would get the pilots. Said they were used to fighting together. That shook me. The rest of us jumped the guards. Ali came up with the same method as Li. He nagged and nagged me to describe the armour; where it was, what its weakness was, how it was designed, what it was made of, what weapons it was designed against etc. He knew what to ask. Just as well. We were ready. It was well planned. Kelly and Stella got on the back plane as soon as the guards got out. They were underneath the plane as it stopped. Then they went to the front one. The pilots were too busy gaping out the window to lock the door. I don’t think they knew the plane behind them had been hit. But I told Kelly and Stella how the emergency door opener worked. Did Li know?”
“No. Just one more thing to add to the list I didn’t think of. I guess the door wasn’t locked. I don’t know. It was a shambles. We didn’t anticipate weapons in the cockpit. I didn’t think about the plane itself having weapons. But the pilots would have had to start the planes up and turn them to shoot us.”
“Why didn’t they?”
“Li didn’t give them any time. And I guess they were as unprepared as we were.”
A few minutes later the objects of their discussion came in, picked up some food and headed their way. Stealthily, both turned their Translators back on. Az moved and gestured Li to sit beside him which she shyly did. He put his arm around her.
“Li, we’d have been dead without you. What a fiasco. But why didn’t you tell me? You had special training of some kind? Why Li?” He meant why did she have the training but Li misunderstood.
“I didn’t think you’d like me any more if you knew what I knew.”
“Who taught you that?”
“My grandfather and my grandmother.”
“Why?’
So softly Li explained. Both Az and Kaz were horrified at what had happened to her great grandmother. Li added she’d never fought before.
“Yes I thought you hadn’t.” He turned to Stella and Kelly. “Why did you learn to fight? And what’s this about fighting together.”
So Kelly explained about Stella’s father, the problem being an army brat and part Indian, the Karate lessons and the extra lessons together.
“But why would they teach a doctor to fight?”
“Az, in the army everyone is taught to fight. It doesn’t matter what their job is. Also the hospitals are close to the fighting so we can get the wounded to us quickly. Sometimes, the hospitals are over run.”
“But do you mean they’d attack a hospital?”
“Oh yes! And what happened to Li’s great grandmother is not going to happen to me!”
“You mean it could? That’s appalling! And your own Race too!”
“Yes it is appalling. But I have been attacked. And I killed him. And I vomited then too.”
“Mum! You didn’t tell me that!”
“Well, now you know why I was so quick to teach you.”
At this point Mahmoud came over with Donny and an embarrassed Li heard Az describe in glowing terms, how she’d saved the day. The boys were impressed and admiring. Li started to feel better. Mahmoud had learnt karate too and also some additional stuff from his father. “I’m brown belt in karate. What are you?” he asked Li.
“I’ve never been graded. I was taught by myself. I’ve only ever fought with my grandparents. Till today.”
“I’m officially blue,” said Stella, “but I gave up competition fighting and still kept learning. I wouldn’t be brown yet though. The girls fought OK but some of the boys fought dirty when I beat them. And one tried to get me later. From behind. Mum dropped him,” she said proudly.
Slowly, everyone headed for other places until only Az, Kaz and Li were left. By now it was well into night time. Kaz yawned, and said,
“I’m off. See you tomorrow.”
Li stood up too, Az following as she headed out the door. Once outside in the dark, he took her hand.
“I was so scared you wouldn’t like me any more,” Li said softly.
Az put his arms around her, gently lifted her chin up and kissed her. Li clung to him and passionately kissed him back, standing on his feet and on tip toe. But after a few minutes, Li heard Kelly calling for her.
“Damn,” she said. “She insists on checking up on me and tucking me in with Stella.”
Az chuckled, “Think anyone will tell her who you’ve been sleeping with lately?”
“No. Bet they wont dare!” She smiled and headed off to Kelly who took her to Stella and kissed the two girls goodnight.
After she left, the two started talking; Kaz and Az being the main topics of conversation.
Stella was grumbling, “If I’d encouraged a Terran boy like I have Kaz, he’d had had my knickers off by now. Kaz is too much of a bloody gentleman.”
“I had that problem with Az. Try sleeping with him. He’ll probably get the point. Az did,” said Li with a wicked grin and waited for the spluttering reaction.
“You never did! How? The others would have stopped you. You never did!”
“Did so. For the last several nights. Problem was Helene or Jolene usually slept on the other side. Think they were scared of Mum.”
“Shit! Hope no one tells Mum. Did you get up to anything?”
“Just kissing. When the others were asleep. I really like him. I think I love him. I don’t know what to do.”
“I guess I’m not thinking that far ahead. We could all be dead soon. I don’t want to die a virgin.”
“Yeah, me too. But what if we win? What then?”
“Well I guess we stay here. We won’t be able to get off the planet. The only spaceships that aren’t disabled are those Keulfyd monsters and I don’t think we can fly them! We’ll just have to make the best of it. We need to grab the best blokes while the others are occupied with this bloody war. And there’s not enough guys to go around.”
“Yeah, guess so. We’re not the only ones with that idea though. I noticed Dan and Helene seemed to be gone at the same time. Jolene noticed too. I heard her talking to Mayling.”
“Really? Dan’s cute but he’s too old for us. He’s bloody good looking though! Yummy body too. Oh, I forgot to tell you. Mahmoud figured out how to calculate time and years. Between Petislay and Earth and Torroxell. Az is 26, nearly 27 and Kaz is 25. And I
like Kaz way ahead of all the others.”
“Not Mahmoud or Donny?”
“Donny’s too gentle for me. I’d boss him around. Kaz won’t let me. And I wouldn’t want to anyway. Mahmoud’s nice but I think he’s way cleverer than me. He talks over my head sometimes. I’m not used to that. And they’re both too young for me. Kaz’s just right. I think we’d make real cute babies.”
“Is that possible?”
“Yeah, Mum and Helkmid said so. I overheard.”
“Aren’t you going to have to wait though? In China, I can get married when I turn 16 which I soon will be. The marriage age was much younger until a few years ago. What about America?”
“It varies. Most states are 18 but some are 16. New Zealand it’s 16. It’s still 16 in Britain too. I’ll be 16 soon. But this isn’t Terra. We can make our own rules here. Most of the Arab states don’t have a set age. Any time you want to or your parents arrange it for. Imagine having to marry someone you don’t know! Imagine having to sleep with them! Yuk!”
“Yeah. Mahmoud says there is a lot of pressure in India to set a marriage age but far too much resistance from the population. Az said Niseyen can marry at 14 but it’s rare. Most Niseyen think that’s too young but it is legal. And the girl doesn’t need her parent’s permission. Whenever the girl Chooses. Most girls marry young. Some while they’re still at school. It’s acceptable. Just like it is in college for us.”
“So, how are we going to work this out with the Niseyen? Well maybe not us but there will be contact in the future.”
“Same way as on Earth. You have to accept the rules of the country you go to but they have to accept yours too. Mum reckoned once China set it at age 16 that half the world had a set age. Most are 16 or less. Isn’t America and Canada the only countries that are age 18?”
“Yeah. Still, Mum should be OK. I grew up in a lot of different cultures not only in army bases but in some boarding schools too. I got used to a lot of cultural differences. I wonder if any Niseyen will come here to see if any of their People survived. Someone should come here.”
“I hope it’s not the Keulfyd. I guess now the Ridianit are gone, Torroxell will be ruled by the Priskya again.”
“Yeah, if we win.”
“We have to win.”
“Mathew’s still worrying that they’ll try to wipe the Priskya out. Did Kaz overhear anything?”
“No. He said no one said anything in front of them in their own language. They didn’t even know who owned them.”
“That’s gross. Being owned. It’s so wrong.” She was silent, thinking for a few minutes, then realised Li was asleep. Huh. Stella wished she could get to sleep so easily.
Payback
The next day was spent flat out, cleaning up the planes, getting loads of fuel and hiding it, getting and hiding stores of food, and getting a lot of supplies for the Kepis too. Ali came back, frustrated and angry. The Kepis wouldn’t help, wouldn’t fight and thought all the Terran preparation was a waste of time. They were grateful for the food though. Kaz and Mahmoud helped them with some of their communications equipment which had broken down. They were grateful for that too.
The next morning, the 21st day of the War, the timetable was firmed up. The Keulfyd virus was ready to go and needed to be released two nights from now.
The Priskya informed Mathew that the Keulfyd force was still based in only six otherwise empty cities as the grim task of emptying the cities of the dead was nearing completion (except for those resisting and the survivors). The bad news was that these six cities were spread out over the Northern Hemisphere, were hours of flight time away and the virus had to be delivered on the night’s of the 23rd and the 24th day. This was to allow for those who were infected to pass the virus onto the spaceships, three of which had remained in orbit.
The Keulfyd, according to Az and Kaz, worked in shifts of varying hours or days according to their jobs and status. The higher their status, the shorter their shift on the ground. But it wouldn’t take many to spread the virus onto the ships in orbit. As Helkmid explained,
“The purpose of the Checkers, which are at the entrance to all worlds and spaceships, is to determine if a Person is carrying a pathogen, parasite, poison or such. But the limitation of this system is twofold. First, in this case, the pathogen must be programmed into the Checker. The Checker must know it. All known People have what you call beneficial bacteria or similar organisms that live in them and are necessary, in a symbiotic relationship. Others are what we call passengers but cause no harm. Still others have parasites; some harmful, some not. Some external parasites can be seen because they are of detectable size. This virus is of course internal and probably too small for the checkers to sense. It is unlikely to be programmed in. However this is not crucial because secondly, in this case, the pathogen must be at a concentration sufficient to be detectable.
So even if the pathogen is programmed in, it will still get onto the ships. If it is not programmed in, it will get on in greater numbers. The best outcome, is if the sick are taken onto the ship to be looked after. That would be stupid but a gift for us! The Keulfyd are not good at taking precautions. Their barrier technique is shoddy, the doctors being some of the worst offenders.
The Keulfyd are not careful as a Race. They are risk takers. If they were careful, they would have a quarantine entry system. This is where a detailed machine analysis is done, including blood, urine, faeces, breath and skin sample tests at each entry. That would catch this virus. The Keulfyd do not have such a system. They cannot. They have slaves and no one will bother to test them. Some of the slaves are Keulfyd who have broken laws or upset someone so any disease could get on board. The logistics are impossible. Their own system will now work against them. Fitting isn’t it?”
The delivery mechanism was easy; the gas spraying system already on the planes. Helkmid explained that Kaz and Az just had to spray over the city.
“The virus is encapsulated but it has a soft shell. It will survive for about a day and a night. In this time, it could be inhaled, ingested or get in through a wound or mucous membrane. One per Keulfyd would be enough. All will not be infected but all will be affected!”
Mathew, Helkmid and Simone worked out the schedule;
Day 23 and 24, Keulfyd virus, Kaz and Az by plane via the spray system
Day 25 and 26, Keulfyd virus and the Trydshell and Opodskell virus again via plane and the spray system.
Day 27 and 28, the parasites.
Day 29 the shellfish toxin. To be picked up by the pilots themselves. Worryingly, this brilliant plan seemed now to be in jeopardy as the pilots were spread out and possibly too far apart.
The parasites were proving the greatest problem. As Helkmid said,
“They cannot be dropped. They will not survive impact. They must somehow be released on the ground.”
Landing the planes would be risky at night. They would have to be landed somewhere away from the city. There was much discussion with all aware of the problem and thinking of solutions.
Ilse came up with the winner, “Land on the night of the 26th after delivering the virus. Land far enough away not to be detected. Maybe on the 25th. Drop some people off. They’ll have to walk in. Pick them up at the same place on 28th.”
“Now how do we get into the city past their detectors?” asked Li.
“Could I do it?” asked Bea to a shocked silence. “Am I small enough not to set the alarms off?”
“Is she?” asked Mathew of Kaz and Az.
Az and Kaz had thought this through since Bella had first asked the question and had come to a conclusion.
“The detectors allow for small animals. That there are very few here is irrelevant. It is the way they are built. And there are the balloons. She is a lot smaller than the smallest of the slaves and attacking force. Most of the slaves are a lot bigger than us. I don’t know but I think she would not be detected.”
“The alarms are audible aren’t they? She would have time to run away???
? asked Ilse, watching the looks on her parents face with amusement.
“Me too,” said Bella who was even smaller than Bea.
Bea didn’t know what to feel. She had expected to be ticked off but they were considering this! She was frightened but excited too.
Julia had her head in her hands. She quailed at the potential for danger but had seen Kelly talked down by Mathew. She knew her little Bea was in danger everywhere. He was right. And Bea might be only six years old but she was precocious, determined, stubborn and full of initiative as she had just demonstrated. She was also brave; being the youngest child, with two working parents, she had had to be all of these!
“If she does this we go with her,” said Julia looking at Karl.
“Agreed,” said Mathew.
Rani looked near tears. Her Ali was back again with the Kepis. One of the few here with military experience, he was still trying to help them to organise a defence and to hide and camouflage themselves since they still refused to fight. Now her little Yogabala was supposed to be a guerrilla fighter. This was crazy but no one else seemed to think so.
“Well,” said Mathew, “Now we just have the counter attack to organise and that is relatively simple.” He smiled. “My spies have managed to get some more weapons and are on their way here with them. I don’t know what they are but I presume Kaz and Az can teach us how to use them and we can practice. Our collection is growing what with the haul from the planes and now this. We don’t have many but we will get more from the armouries. One condition though. None of the infiltrators spreading the diseases are allowed weapons. The whole point of this tactic is that the Keulfyd do not know they are actually under attack until the last moment possible. Also, if you have no weapons, you will be a lot more careful. The only safe way out is not to be caught.”