Unholy Trinity Read online

  Interestingly, the screens went dead for at least five minutes. Then they returned with;

  “We shall agree to your terms. Your commander and others which will be needed for negotiations will be offered a space on our main orbiting planetary station, which shall be rigged out to support your physical requirements. Sadly, due to the differences in our physiology, we cannot currently be physical in the same place, but video and audio equipment shall be installed, and by the time you have arrived Pathfinder, we will be able to achieve direct physical togetherness.

  We will invite your commander and his people in four of your Earth hours.” he said (she presumed it was a he), and that plainly was the end of the communication. Two things struck her. How did they know she was the Pathfinder, and how do they know how long Earth hours are!

  ∆∆∆

  The ship had been ready for Melville for nearly sixteen hours before he was able to leave Earth and be sure that his precise wishes would be followed. There were several updates planned for the next two months to ensure the transfer of power to Councillor Farfax would work. Professor Magnaus’ team had been ready for hours, and there was a sense of palpable relief when he materialised onto the stark, grey and white command deck.

  They would not be travelling by FTLS (Faster than Light Speed). Susan was anxious to get to Thrang as soon as possible, and with her on Gipluk, they could make a connection through time and space and achieve instantaneous space/time shift to a synchronous orbit around Gipluk.

  They both prepared themselves, and created a sort of joined resonance to create ‘beyond space/time connection. They both knew when the time had come, but Melville did all the work. Suddenly, they were orbiting a cloudy green planet and he could sense not only the Giplukians on the planet, but also the resonance caves beneath them. What nobody knew was that I had instigated and made that change. It wasn’t that long ago when I would have shrugged my shoulders and left it up to the other me. What Emily and the others may be upset about (excluding of course Susan), was that increasingly there was no other me, only all-knowing and seeing me. I decided to keep that quiet for now, and suspected my link through Susan when making the jump had made a connection with the resonance caves, and I certainly felt their presence now. It was like they were knitting me together, and the sensation was of rediscovering yourself in a very calm and meditative way.

  “Sir, the Giplukians are hailing us.” the captain said to me and I replied;

  “Open a channel.”

  Facing me was the diminutive female, green humanoid form of chief councillor Oie. She was definitely alien, but I discerned a sense of fierce intelligence from her, mixed with a real feeling of fear. I thought into her head a message which I knew would be translated by her brain;

  “I am honoured to meet you chief councillor. I would be very grateful if I could send my team directly down to the resonance caves, while I meet you and the pathfinder in your offices.”

  “You honour us Zcute. Please transfer your team to the Resonance Caves, the Jixre is impatient to leave.” she replied, and almost as quickly my brain translated for me.

  Within the next second I was in a long meeting room made out of luminescent green, which if you looked at for long, had the power to make your eyes water. Sat at a long smooth aquamarine seat where Oie and Susan. Susan and I embraced and she sent me a secret message which I downloaded and would have to listen to later, and then she materialised on her ship to travel to Thrang and I felt some sadness. I’d just arrived and met her again after so long, and she was now just leaving, like ships that pass in the night.

  ∆∆∆

  Dodds arrived at the Fuhjeworlt a day later and was astonished at how similar to Earth it was. Even the land masses seemed similar. His implant which had been provided at the last minute by Melville’s institute now became a godsend as his comslink suddenly burst into action, and a guttural language similar to German invaded his personal space and several fast, bright red fighter ships buzzed the fleet as they emerged from the FTLS drive.

  He sent the thought to his fleet not to respond to this rather frenetic response, and then communicated to the audio source bombarding his senses;

  “The peoples of Earth come in peace and make tribute to the Father of the World. How would you like us to proceed, may we achieve orbit around your planet? he asked, being grateful to the institute for guidance on how to address the inhabitants of this world. He wished Yvonne was here to help him, but he could feel her presence and she sent him a message of congratulations inside his head. She had been on a matriarchal planet now for over a week and her welcome had been peace and love.

  “Peoples of the Earth, you are now guests of the Father, and your fleet shall remain where they are, and just your ship Dodds will be allowed orbit. Please prepare for the visit for his Excellency the Father of the World in one of your hours where we will discuss our alliance with you. Let food and drink be prepared for the Father and his entourage. We have scanned your ship and your food and alcoholic drink will be satisfactory for our needs.” a rather pompous voice replied.

  Dodds moaned inwardly. He had the sense that this was going to be rather tiresome.

  ∆∆∆

  Professor Magnaus let Tzi do all the talking as he got used to the headset which allowed him to breathe the alien atmosphere. The temperature was a little chilly as he looked around at the wet dripping caves which he knew were over 17 miles down underground the surface of Gipluk.

  Tzi clearly was enjoying the experience of communicating with an alien race, and he looked at her sleek, shapely form with longing. It had not been possible to continue their relationship onboard the ship, while waiting for Melville, and they were both anxious to relax together with some down time. Firstly though, they had to establish how, when and where they could begin their experiments with the resonance technology. He certainly sensed tremendous power, and feeling of excitement for the project filled him with a sense of anticipation.

  Eventually they were told the caves would be available for them in 16 hours, and habitats designed to his specifications had been arranged for them, and food and drink had been stored for them in their quarters. Of course Tzi translated, and it was with a sense of joyous anticipation that Mark ordered his team to their habitats, and Tzi and he entered theirs.

  The habitat theme was simplicity, with a good attempt at a bed, chairs and a food and drink dispensing area. There was only one colour, being an intense, clean white, with a complete absence of noise and no sharp edges anywhere. The entire habitat was smoothly contoured and antiseptic in its feel. Once the door closed, they lasted 30 seconds before they were clawing at each other, roughly taking each other’s clothes off, while trying to keep contact with tongue on tongue, and mouth on mouth. The question was, what would they have thought if they realised they were being observed and recorded by the Giplukians who looked on in dismay and extreme horror.

  Chapter Four - A Sprat to Catch a Mackerel

  Susan’s journey to Thrang took her two days before she and the fleet emerged out of FTLS. They were confronted with a huge fleet of sleek white ships and a grey misty planet surrounded by huge, revolving orbiting stations. Although she should have been relieved to have seen evidence of such a show of force by an ally, she couldn’t shake off a feeling of vague unease about the situation.

  Her vid comslink popped up and a figure as before in icy grey appeared and a voice appeared in her head;

  “Welcome Pathfinder, we have arranged for our physical presences to be together in this joyous day for our two peoples. We have your commander in position, please come now and join him.”

  Susan ingested this and felt Mad Dog’s position down on the planet. What she couldn’t do was enter his head and communicate with him which she found very suspicious. She also realised that this may be because of the extreme measures they had gone to so they could exist together in the same place.

  “Is there a problem Pathfinder?” the alien said over the comslink, and Susan
sent a private thought message to the commander of her fleet and disappeared, reappearing a second later next to Mad Dog.

  She knew something was wrong immediately because she was cut off from everyone, and she couldn’t move at all. Both Mad Dog and her were caught in a beam which meant she was completely isolated and could not connect even to her own powers. She adjusted her vision and looked up, and was greeted with a sight from Hell. Its body seemed disconnected and in pieces, with multiple heads looking at her from odd angles, with a large amount of red burning eyes which seemed to burn into her soul. It spoke;

  “Let me introduce myself Susan, my name is Phi, and I rule the Darknet. I can feel your power, but we have learnt from our limited experience with Melville, and have managed to disconnect you from it. You have nothing to fear. I think you humans have a saying... let me see... That’s it! You are my sprat to catch a mackerel. Very clever of you to warn your fleet though. That was clever. Yes we had plans for your ships and crew. Never mind, we have you, and that is the main thing.” it said, and she could feel enough to realise this was serious trouble. The entity gave off pure evil, and she began to worry about Melville. It was alright saving the fleet, she should have been onboard as well, but when she thought about it, she couldn’t have left Mad Dog there. She closed her eyes and waited.

  ∆∆∆

  Melville was interrupted up by his comslink, it was Oie.

  “What is the meaning of this?! This is sacrilege!” she shouted indignantly in her own language, while I translated.

  “I’m sorry, I have no idea what you mean, what has happened?” I asked, completely flummoxed by this interruption to my thoughts.

  Your team, the male and the female, in the same room... they are naked and engaging in Trouj! In the resonance caves!! It is strictly forbidden for us, never mind uninitiated aliens!! This is outrageous... sacrilege, and the perpetrators have been arrested and I’m afraid, they must be punished!”

  “Just wait a second, how was this discovered?” I asked, just beginning to become impatient with her.

  “All visitors are monitored when they are invited into the caves, it is standard procedure, it is a matter of respect!” she said indignantly.

  “Perhaps, with the greatest of respect, it would have been good to have told us this?” I said, barely being able to keep my temper.

  “You are the guests here, and it is therefore your responsibility to behave accordingly!” she said, and I knew this was getting us nowhere.

  “What punishment are we talking about councillor?” I asked, and she gave me a strange look.

  “Death is the punishment, and it will be carried out within the hour!” she said to my complete disbelief.

  I knew I couldn’t leave Professor Magnaus and Tzi to their fate, I sensed their presence and materialised them onto my ship orbiting the planet and faced Oie.

  “You have been demanding my presence for some time, saying that our destinies are entwined, yet I sense great fear in you chief councillor Oie. You have incarcerated members of our team for activities which are perfectly acceptable in our culture within the privacy of their habitat, and purposely kept us in the dark, which has led to this unfortunate occurrence. Please tell me why you are so fearful of our presence here?” I said, my frustration not being entirely hidden in my question.

  “You had no right to steal the prisoners!” she shouted, obviously she had been informed, but I shouted louder;

  “Answer the question! What is going on here?!!” I shouted, and she dismissed her staff. When we were alone, and I could tell our conversation was private, she looked at me for a very long time and said;

  “Every Giplukian knows the story of the Zcute. It is part of our history, our very culture. What is not commonly known is that there is in fact a prophecy about your coming which predicts the end of all that we know, and even who we are. You bring disaster and change everything forever. We have worked so hard to be the storytellers, yet now the stories will be lost forever!”

  I sat there and looked at her, and then said;

  “That’s exactly what I bring, and you are the first to truly realise it. But it is only through change that we can achieve the rebirth. It must be very difficult to listen to if this is at odds with all you hold dear, but what I bring is the truth, and nothing is lost. Whatever story has been told, it will remain part of us forever. What I bring is our true destiny. All the stories told will be remembered. They will become part of the whole and enrich us and be an integral part of who we are meant to be! You are wrong to worry! You saw an opportunity to stop me sitting in the resonance seat and claiming my right of joining. You know full well that is the prophecy, but you must also realise the prophecy must come true. Your monitoring of our staff was designed to capture evidence of disrespect. I bet you couldn’t believe your luck when you actually caught the male and female of our species actually copulating! Then the plan was there for you. Am I not right chief councillor Oie?!” I asked, looking deep into her soul.

  The sight of a Giplukian crying is a lamentable sight, but one which cleansed the way between us. She sobbed her apologies and admitted everything.

  We were interrupted by an urgent call from deep space, it was Susan’s commander of her fleet. I felt for her presence immediately, and realised she did not exist anywhere where I could sense her.

  After listening to the commander. It seems she had realised she was entering a Thrang trap, but still went down to rescue Mad Dog, which was typical of her.

  Chief councillor Oie listened to it all as I shared the communication with her. She looked worried and said;

  “This is a trap, and you cannot go there until you have achieved unification. We must prepare immediately!”

  “In this instance chief councillor, I think you’re right. I’m moving all available fleets back to here. I’ll have to leave Dodds where he is, but other members of the hand will need to be with me when we arrive at Thrang. This is a huge trap by the Darknet, and we have no choice but to walk right into it. Chief Councillor, please arrange for my unification for tomorrow night at midnight, the fleets generally will be either here or nearby, and timing will be crucial. Just one thing, what can I expect from the ceremony?” I asked, almost dreading what she would say.

  “Only the holiest of us has ever experienced it, the last one being 118 years ago, but I’m afraid it will be immensely painful, and those who have endured it, tell us that they have died and been reborn.” I looked at her and nodded, it’s about what I was expecting.

  “In the meantime, will you allow professor Magnaus and a small team not including Tzi of course, to examine and carry out some experiments prior to my ceremony, it could be crucial to the war effort?”

  She looked at me, and after almost too long, she nodded her head. Before continuing with my meditation, after sending orders to the fleets, I downloaded Susan’s message to me. I had forgotten earlier and it had just occurred to me that she had sent me this. I listened to her voice with a pang of love and concern. She was warning me that there was something going on with Oie, and I should be on my guard. Of course she was right, as she always was, but I couldn’t help but listen to her voice, over and over again inside my head, as if this would be my last memory of her.

  ∆∆∆

  Dodds waited in the meeting room adorned with fruit, drink and a diverse buffet in trepidation. He had been listening to the broadcasts down on the planet, and it was clear that this was a backward, warlike society run by a despot who called himself ‘The Father of the World’.

  His looked at the crew in the meeting room with apprehension, and they all knew we were in for a challenging evening. The thought entered his head from the helmsman that the ‘Father’s’ party, had docked and they were being escorted to our position in the meeting room now.

  A further tense five minutes went by when he heard a commotion outside their room and ran through to see a humanoid very similar to us, dressed in an odd tight-fitting outfit of black leather and feather
s with his hand around ensign Pak’s neck, and the sight of him turning blue.

  Dodd’s immediately materialised ensign Pak to the medical bay. The whole of the ‘Father’s’ party looked at him in awe.

  “Wke hast du dask gemmkacht? he heard the Father said to him, and translated it immediately as ‘How did you do that?’

  He spoke directly into all their minds;

  “I did that. The man you were strangling meant no offence, and I used my power to move him directly to our medical bay. On our ship, my rules apply, and violence to my crew is strictly forbidden. Can we now put this behind us, offer you refreshments and discuss our alliance?” I said, with the crew looking on as they were all attuned to my thoughts.

  Two of them moved towards him, but the one he was sure now was the ‘Father’ stopped them and said;

  “No, his magic is powerful and we must abide by his laws on his ship.” which my implant was now translating instantly.