Chapter 4
Alvar strode off of the shuttle, with an enormous smile, beaming heroic greatness.
“That’s right, I saved her.” Alvar muttered to himself, but he began to think; “From what? What exactly did I save her from?”
Alvar returned to the shuttle and pulled Galio out by the arm, Galio would serve as an excellent scapegoat. Alvar’s look towards Lalia told her that she was expected to follow.
“I’ll be right there. I need to update my lab staff of CLERGY 5.” She lied.
Alvar turned his head and led Galio into the hall towards the ship’s bridge, where Latarr waits. Lalia needed to think fast, she didn’t know how long she had until the creature would wake, but the maintenance team would most likely check and replace the survey suits when she left. Lalia made a quick glance around the hanger, a hanger worker was heading towards the shuttle, and she had to hide the creature carefully should it wake. She surveyed the hanger one last time and made a gutsy move; she reentered the shuttle and grabbed a holofoil. The holofoil reacted to the heat from her fingers as she typed furiously on it, a small holographic image of text appeared at the top of the sheet, she tore the frame around the holofoil face, allowing her to bend the flexible screen. She laid the holofoil over the survey suit’s tube. It would have to do.
Lalia confidently marched away from the shuttle;
“That might have been a stupid mistake, but now it is out of my hands.” She thought helplessly, “Hopefully Galio’s trial had not yet begin, he wouldn’t be able to defend himself, and he would likely be branded with the stigma and forced to live on CLERGY 6.”
Lalia briskly walked down the hall towards the bridge, the urgency on her pretty face enough for the bridge’s guards to recognize her status. Lalia Tarrus was still a powerful female Callos, she didn’t officially have clearance but no guard would deny the former wife of the Admiral. The large metal doors swung open for Lalia and she found herself in the brightly lit bridge; consoles with busy Callos typing lined the bow-shaped windows and the breezeway the Admiral usually strutted while thinking.
“The Admiral is in the Council Chambers, Doctor Tarrus.” A young Callos technician explained. Lalia recognized the young cadet.
“Thank you. Would you page him for me please? Tell him to expect me.” She asked.
“Yes, he is already expecting you. The trial will not begin without your presence.” He assured her.
Lalia was led by two of the bridge guards down to the far end of the hall from the bridge back past the hanger, the door to the hanger was closed, and she was unable to tell whether her plan had succeeded. She would know soon enough. The guards brought her to a platform, rushing air held the platform in place, once the guard waved his hand the heat sensitive sensor decreased the air pressure lowering the platform several floors until the Council Chamber was visible. Through the glass tube Lalia could see an enormous garden, gleaming crystal arches and walls separated the many diverse alien gardens in the chamber. A glass gazebo placed at the center of the garden provided both a religious sanctuary and judicial headquarters; the Admiral, Alvar, and Galio were waiting for Lalia.
The Admiral saw Lalia approaching and turned to face the projections of the five captains; he excused himself for a moment. The hologram of Doctor Melric followed;
“Yes sir?” He asked the Admiral.
“Lalia disobeyed direct protocol; she risked her life.” The Admiral began, anger rising in his voice.
“She must have done it for attention, yes.” Melric agreed.
“But she chose the wrong time to seek attention, she visited that planet.” Admiral Latarr said sadly.
“Right. Which means she needs to be contained until we know what she knows.” Melric assured the Admiral, “As long as Alvar doesn’t inform the other captains of what really happened, we can keep the whole situation to ourselves.”
The Admiral nodded his head in understanding and returned to the gazebo, he turned to face Lalia as she approached.
Lalia walked on the crystal paved bridge across the stream to the gazebo. Holograms of each of the six CLERGY vessel captains sat in a semi-circle as the Convoy’s Council. Each of Convoy’s captains served on the Council, the Council was the governing board of the Convoy. The elder Callos often whispered that the concept behind the captains was seeped in the old tradition; most of the old tradition had been erased, all but the memories of it; many Callos still frequented the Council Chamber to meditate.
Lalia approached the Council, avoiding eye contact with the Admiral.
Admiral Latarr began the procedure;
“Attention Council. Today, our Convoy adverted disaster by navigating around an unusual supernova. I broadcast this to each of our vessels. Yet, Doctor Lalia Tarrus and her lab assistant Galio Forrt took a shuttle and flew towards the supernova for attention seeking purposes, I can only presume.” The Admiral faced Lalia for confirmation, Lalia was unsure whether Alvar had explained that this was the cover story, or whether the Admiral was convinced this was the truth. Regardless Lalia nodded her head in agreement to the dissatisfaction of the renowned Council members. The Admiral continued;
“Doctor Tarrus was then instructed by my brother; rescue Captain Alvar Tarr, to return her shuttle back to the Convoy.” At this, Alvar straightened and put on his best smile. A few of the Council rolled their eyes they, too, knew that Alvar was a foolish sycophant to his brother.
Galio then asked sheepishly; “That is isn’t how I remember it Admiral?”
Lalia noted the fear in the Admiral’s eyes as he turned to face Galio;
“I am sorry?” the Admiral asked, “Did you say something? Does my account have error?”
Galio replied, even quieter this time; “Admiral, if we were intercepted in space, how is it then that Alvar boarded our vessel. Neither shuttles are capable of inter-vessel boarding in space.”
The Admiral’s neck grew darker as blood filled his temple; a vein bulged slightly on his forehead. But the color subsided with a sigh.
“I have made a mistake. No, that is right. According to Alvar’s account, there was a pursuit. Galio was holding Doctor Lalia Tarrus hostage.” Doctor Melric tried to recover, his eyes drifted over each of the other holographic projections.
Admiral Latarr nodded in agreement:
“I had misspoken, yes. Doctor Tarrus was a political hostage.”
Alvar’s jaw dropped, he couldn’t believe the praise he would receive.
Lalia called the Admiral on his lie;
“No. That’s not what happened. I forced Galio to pilot for me...”
The Admiral cut her off, with a curt glance to shut her up:
“Poor Doctor Lalia is sympathizing with her captor. Galio Forrt kidnapped her with the intentions of using her to blackmail me. Because we had been at one time married, he sought to use her…”
Lalia moved towards the Admiral, but the two guards who escorted her held her back:
“No! Don’t do this!” She screamed.
“Alvar’s quick thinking saved her life; he then ensured she returned safely to CLERGY 1.” The Admiral finished.
The Council members began to chatter amongst themselves; the former bride of the Admiral had been taken hostage by her crazed assistant. The stupid brother managed to save her life and apprehend the fiend. The Council was electric, this was not good news, but it was a break from the monotony. The captain of CLERGY 6, Elioc Barras, wasn’t as thrilled as the others; his vessel was dedicated to those whose ancestors broke the laws of the Convoy, as well as the living criminals and threats to society.
Lalia tried to talk the Admiral out of condemning Galio:
“Don’t do this. Galio did nothing wrong. I forced him to take me to the supernova; we landed our shuttle on the planet. It hadn’t blown up.”
The Admiral wouldn’t hear it:
“I forward the motion to have Galio Forrt arrested and deported to CLERGY 6. I want him to be placed in isolation,” Lalia interrupted;
“No, Galio is innocent. We landed on a planet out there where the supernova is.”
“I believe Doctor Lalia Tarrus should be given psychiatric treatment to bring her back to full mental health” Doctor Melric added.
Lalia was then grabbed by the crook of her arms by the guards; Alvar looked at her with contempt and disgust. She pleaded,
“Don’t do this. I don’t need hospitalization. I need a fair trial!”
The Admiral continued addressing the Council without interruption from Lalia as she was dragged away screaming. Galio’s head slumped down in shame as he quietly left behind the struggling Lalia.
The Council agreed to the terms proposed by the Admiral; Galio would be deported to CLERGY 6, Lalia would receive psychiatric treatment, and Alvar would receive a hero’s honor. Each of the six holograms turned to static and petered out; Alvar was dumbstruck and meekly followed his brother. The Admiral walked over to an exhausted and exasperated Lalia, still held back by two guards.
“I don’t understand why you are fighting this. I just made your life easier; I just protected you from a life aboard CLERGY 6. You get all the attention and sympathy you want, and no one needs to know about your little trip to the planet. Your captor-sympathy-syndrome will protect the integrity of your alibi and the charges against Galio.” He explained.
“You’re a tyrant! Why can’t people know there was a planet?” Lalia hissed.
Coolly the Admiral explained; “Because it would disrupt order. Such an event is not calculatable; this would drastically alter our people’s course. We are not explorers, nor are we scientists. Our soul purpose is to reach Phlasia intact. I don’t want you to jumpstart an era of question asking when we are on the brink of reaching Phlasia!” The Admiral spat.
Sobbing Lalia asked; “What happens when we reach Phlasia? We harvest, and then we leave. What is the point? Why not try something different.”
“Because, quite frankly my dear, I would become obsolete.” He admitted.
Lalia looked at the Admiral, her face contorted in a mixture of disgust and sympathy.
“The Admiral was hiding this simply to maintain his status, he was a tyrant!” She realized.
She calmed herself and tried to comfort him in a last ditch effort;
“Tovar Latarr will never be obsolete. You could lead us after Phlasia. But lead us in a new direction; to discovery.”
Phlasia was simultaneously a planet and a deity to the Callos. The Convoy has historically made a pilgrimage every two-hundred years to reap the bountiful harvest of the planet, yet the Callos never stay on Phlasia, their people believe that they are unworthy of the provision of Phlasia. Each of the Convoy ships lower an enormous tube with special lining which transports harvested material on the planet’s surface to the interior of the vessel in orbit. Once the harvest and celebration ritual is finished, the pilgrims utilized the slipstream rupture near the planet to be jettisoned zillions of miles away to begin the pilgrimage over again, leaving the glittering purple hazed planet to centuries of isolation.
Admiral Latarr’s ancestors were the only Convoy members to know the precise location of Phlasia, offering them the highest social status. Of course none of his ancestors had ever abused their birthrights to this knowledge; who were they to withhold information about their deity? The Admiral’s one goal in life was to sustain the Convoy until they reached Phlasia for harvest; their people had flourished in the past few centuries and required additional supplies. The Admiral’s father had designed ingenious harvesting tools, the Admiral would be the provider to his people and he desired nothing more, except a female.
The Admiral’s status afforded him first choice among the female Convoy members, he chose the most eligible Lalia Tarrus. Yet, to his misfortune she was infertile; a condition that was relatively unknown. He risked humiliated, and more importantly the extinction of the knowledge Phlasia’s location. Though he loved Lalia more than his ancestors ever loved their brides (he knew this because he had his ancestor’s thoughts), he had to, for the sake of the Convoy and Callos people, leave her.
Though Lalia had been trained by some of the best minds in the Convoy, her scholastic efforts were in vain. No Convoy member would respect a female doctor, especially because she was infertile and would be unable to transmit her knowledge to a child. Every child born to a Callos was born with the combined knowledge of its parents; but a marriage to Lalia would end this chain.
The Admiral was quiet for a few seconds, but then responded sternly, his voice was cold and precise. He had come up with an idea:
“No. I will not be obsolete. When we reach Phlasia I will initiate an era of discovery unlike any before. Everything will be different; I will be the ambassador to the future.”
Lalia began to cry: “Tovar, you’re scaring me. What are you talking about?”
The Admiral addressed the guards; “Take her away. She needs care. I need to have a discussion with the technicians on level four.”
Lalia was dragged away. The Admiral stood in the garden; he would not pray to Phlasia, Phlasia needed a god of its own.