Intro Chapter 01 . 02 . 03 . 04 . 05 . 06 . 07 . 08 . 09 . 10 . 11 . 12 . 13 . 14 . 15 . 16 . 17 . 18 . 19 . 20 . 21 . 22 . 23 . 24 . 25 . 26 . 27
The setup for this was not easy. The Governor and Rufus had to call in some odd favors to arrange for our transport. They were not big favors in the conventional sense, they were odd -- odd because they were not asked of the people these two usually ask favors of. In normal times that would have caused delay. This project should have been months in the making. But this was a post-world-invasion time; a time of first interstellar contact for these people, a once-in-a-liftime time, and these people knew it. Support was arranged in four days.
Al, Chin and I were each put in our suits and crated up. These crates, and many decoys, were sent on diplomatic courier planes to the diplomatic centers near our targets. We knew when we would arrive, and after we arrived we let ourselves out. For the next day we discretely scouted out our targets. We looked at view points of the sights, we looked at ways in, and we looked at ways out. We also looked at security -- how long would it take the locals to mount a significant response? Chin's ancient monument looked the easiest. It was old, designed for mass public access, and no one seems to have thought of threatening it for hundreds of years.
Al's was going to be a challenge. It was a large rock surrounded by a religious office complex. As we learned the details of the complex, we thought about changing targets because there was so much semi-secure infrastructure around the target, but Al assured us he could handle it.
My target was a large, marble building with a large, marble statue inside. It was surrounded by grass and trees, with no other meaningful buildings within 500 meters. It should have been a cakewalk, but Concordia was a prosperous nation that was feeling civil stress, and this monument was near a popular demonstrating area. The security response would begin within two minutes, and the response would be massive. This wouldn't threaten me so much as it would my disappearing act.
The final, and trickiest thing we do, is patch into the local PA system. Both the ancient monument and the Gontal site have permanent speaker systems that let thousands hear daily announcements. At the Concordia site I will have to due without that luxury, and rely on the suit speakers.
We each knew our areas as well as we could. Rufus had rounded up maps of roads and utilities in these areas, and we studied those. We each had primary and alternate entry and disappearing routes. We were primed, we were pumped, and Chin got to be first.
"Me first?" she said at our last meeting before the event.
"You get to do your thing at sunrise. It will be quite beautiful, and, if you're lucky, no one will see you." I grinned at her.
"Remember, you get to be visible for five minutes at most. Three would be best. You get to give the best part of the speech, too, because you'll have the most time."
"OK."
"When you finish, Al gets to put on his show at roughly noon, local time."
"Good. I've always seen myself as a lunch hour kinda politician. Who can think seriously about politics before lunch, anyway?" said Al.
"Just keep in mind that lunch hour is busy hour. You should be able to talk for about a minute to ninety seconds, then skeedaddle."
"And finally, I'll be making my appearance in Condordia at near sunset. I conclude in about thirty seconds, and then make myself scarce in a hostile nation with half an army of security people on my tail."
"Piece o' cake." said Al.
"I hope so. Are we all set?"
That was two days ago. Now it's time for it to happen. We have radio contact. I call out, "Make it happen."
Chin bounces in to the monument from a nearby hiding place. She arrives just before sunrise, in camo mode, and bounces to the top of the dome. As the sun lights the top of the dome, she pops out of camo mode to become a bright white star on top of a rose-pink dome, and starts talking.
"People of this planet. I am Kull the Conqueror.
"Your leaders may have told you of the great battle they just fought. Your leaders may have told you they have chased all the aliens from your world. Your leaders are liars. I am here.
"Your leaders may have told you that I am evil. They may have told you I will bring death and destruction to your world. Your leaders are liars, and if you let them act on their lies, they will bring about what they prophisize.
"I have not come to bring death and destruction, I have come to this world to bring you into the Interstellar Age -- an age of Golden Prosperity."
"Good Girl!" I say, "You got it all out. Now skeedattle."
Chin pops a flash-smoke grenade, turns camo back on, and bounces away.
"Clear." she announces after she hits the ground behind some nearby shrubbery, bounces over the outer wall, and slips into a nearby wooded grove.
Al is right on queue. He's been in position on one of the nearby roof tops. As Chin gives her speech, he moves to the edge of the roof. On her "clear", he pops his grenade first, drops camo, then bounces down to stand on the rock.
"People of this planet. I, Kull the Conqueror, say you have a golden future in store for you. A future that will take you to the stars." he points up in a wonderful gesture, even hovers a bit as he does so, what a ham, "But, you must embrace that future. If you turn your back on it, the stars will turn their back on you. You will become a lost and forgotten people. Your God will abandon you, for you will have proved yourselves worthless and weak."
He flies back up to the roof top, "Embrace the stars. Embrace them now!" and pops his grenade.
My turn, but I must wait for his clear. I wait... I wait... Ten seconds... thirty seconds....
"Clear." I finally hear forty five seconds later.
My spot to talk is on the statue's head. I've been hiding in a maintenance room in the building, and as Chin started her talk, I moved to hide behind the statue. The Concordia security is impressive -- these folks are reasonably alert -- I won't have an extra minute to spare.
I flash my grenade on the statue head, turn off camo, and look down upon my audience. There are about fifty people in the building, and an equal number that I can see outside.
"People of this planet. Fear Kull the Conqueror! I have technologies you haven't dreamed of.
"Love Kull the Conqueror. I want you to have these technologies to make your lives better. But for me to give you these technologies, YOU MUST EMBRACE THE STARS."
I copy Al's point-and-hover maneuver, and flash my own grenade. I camo and I'm out!
And not a moment too soon, either. Security forces with their projectile weapons are sprinting on to the monument grounds as I exit. Had I delayed another minute, and if they were trigger happy, there would have been a lot of marble chips on the floor that night.
Now came the really hard part. "Kull" had been around this world in 80 seconds, now we all had to stay out of sight and get back to the provincial capital. I bounced out of the monument park and into a nearby large river. It was a delicate bounce because I didn't want to stir up huge chunks of turf as I moved.
Once I was on the river bottom, things got easier. I fast walked to the far side, then two kilometers upriver, and came to an abandoned sewer line. This I followed into a fast growing suburb that had a warehouse. In that warehouse was a crate, which I put myself in, and sealed. Then I waited. The crate was to be expressed shipped back to the province.
Intro Chapter 01 . 02 . 03 . 04 . 05 . 06 . 07 . 08 . 09 . 10 . 11 . 12 . 13 . 14 . 15 . 16 . 17 . 18 . 19 . 20 . 21 . 22 . 23 . 24 . 25 . 26 . 27