On Lyre, Jonas contacted the five earth people almost as soon as he received their message, he told them to stop off at the small village of Rouen, and to visit the local newspaper offices where the proprietor Mr Luther Van Peters would show them to a safe place to rest. He would contact them again when he had something to tell them, but they should know that unknown to the public on Lyre, the space fleet of Earth had destroyed most of the Lyren space fleet, and almost certainly liberated the enslaved planet in the Malan system. This information excited everyone, but Ray Connors brought everyone back down to Earth.
“This war with Earth will inflame the Lyrens against anyone suspected of being from Earth; we should be on our guard at all times. We should also try to get to the space port sooner rather than later, or we will be forced to stay on Lyre until help arrives, because all the ships that are not Lyren will be fleeing the coming war en masse. Harry will be forced to leave with them, because to stay would bring too much suspicion down upon the Jeanette, especially as our ship is from Earth.” No one argued with his summing up of the situation.
“We will have to consider all the other alternatives, if there are any that is, as soon as we can get some more information, but I for one would prefer to leave this planet, because it will be a long siege before the space fleet of Earth finally arrives to take us off this planet.” Colonel Michaels stated.
“But can you really besiege a planet that has enough of its own food and fuel, and without the necessity to import from the other planets of the Lyre Federation?” Peter Summers asked. “For it to really work the siege would have to be in unison with the enslaved peoples being supplied with weapons, and their rising to throw off the yolk of slavery, which would mean a sea of blood. That, or Earth would have to launch strikes against the farms and industry of Lyre, which as we are talking about a whole planet doesn`t appear to be practical even with enough ground forces to ensure a victory, and that would also bring about a sea of blood on both sides.”
“Well I cannot see Earth committing enough land forces to defeat the large Lyren nation and its armed forces, so it will have to be the slaves who free themselves.” Lieutenant Charles Bragg said. Jean was much more awake now and joined the discussion.
“You are missing one other alternative, the Lyren authorities could be persuaded to free the slaves and return them to their planets; this could be in unison with allowing those slaves who wish to stay on Lyre to do so, but as free men, and paid for their efforts. It would be much as happened in the old United States of America back in nineteenth century Earth; they went to war there to free the slaves. It is a very compelling alternative, given the other bloody options that you have outlined.”
The four men looked at her in amazement, for she could well have been foretelling the future of this planet, and for one who was not yet twenty years of age it was an impressive insight and it also showed that she wasn`t just a pretty face.
Jean then turned to her brother and began to tell him the full story of her adventures, and of the bravery of their companions. Of the time Ray had miraculously saved her by boarding a Lyren starship and taking her to safety while the ship was in deep space by stealing one of the ship`s shuttles, and how his strong arm had caught her as she plunged down the hillside that rose up before the Wallachia Fortress. She told him how Ray and the Colonel had rescued a maiden in distress who was about to be raped by two Lyren state policeman inside of their own headquarters building, and how Charles had similarly rescued a young woman from a similar fate from a local slave. Lastly of how the four men who were all strangers two weeks ago had volunteered to help her come to Lyre and rescue him, of how they had slipped into the fortress and stolen him away from his cold damp cell.
They reached the village of Rouen late in the afternoon, after another short stop where they ate some of the bread and cheese that Cassandra had given to them for their long journey to the spaceport. It was five o`clock in the afternoon and the lights of the building were now on as the sun had set one hour ago, they had been travelling for nearly fourteen hours along snow filled roads with the ever constant fear that they would be caught and returned to the Wallachia Fortress. The feared military roadblocks never materialised, nor did any further military convoys, so their luck appeared to be holding.
“There is the newspaper publisher`s office over on the left; it is the office that is just after the large inn.” Jean exclaimed excitedly, she was much more awake than the others were following her sleep during the long drive. The others were almost exhausted because of the short time they had been able to sleep, that and the cold and finally the stress of their situation.