Galactic Marshal III
by
Hilltopper
CHAPTER 6
“First off, Tinker thinks you are really a girl. Also, there is no way you could have fathered a child.”
I raised my hackles and pointed to Raylan.
“The proof is right here. Tinker is dead wrong.”
Karen nodded.
“OK, is that why they brought you all the way here?”
“No, that was just a side comment when they told me they knew you were here too.”
“So, what’s up then?”
She sighed.
“I wasn’t given the details but, apparently, their planet is about to under go an extinction event.”
“Shit!”
“Exactly! The new transportation system is an attempt to save their race. They have scouted many planets and plan to place gates on some of them in order to move their people before it is too late.”
“Wow! That still doesn’t answer why they needed this meeting.”
She looked at me hard.
“One of the gates is to be placed on Fledora.”
“Holy shit! So, what do they want from you?”
“Well, as you can imagine, this may not be something the Fledoran council will be in favor of. Tinker wants me to be the go between.”
“Doesn’t Tinker know your history with the council.”
“I did explain that.”
I shook my head.
“When is the gate going to be placed here?”
“I don’t know but soon. I really am clueless how to handle this.”
“Yeah, it is a sticky situation.”
I thought a minute.
“You know, Fledora only has a small amount of the land mass populated. Assuming the gate is place on a different continent, a lot of people could be transported with little if any notice to the Fledoran people.”
Karen nodded.
“That’s true but most of the land mass is pretty desolate.”
The vid chimed suddenly and Mary popped up.
“John, I see you made it.”
“Yes, we went ahead and took off. What is going on down there?”
Mary sighed heavily.
“I was afraid that the council would take charge of Raylan. If that happens, we would not be able to stop them from changing him into a girl.”
“So what do we do? If I land again on the moon, will they try to take him?”
“They might.”
“This really sucks.”
Karen pulled me out of the way.
“Mary, there is something big going on with the aliens. I would like to run it by you. Could you come to the moon and meet us on the ship?”
Mary thought a minute then nodded with a grin.
“Yes, that will work. Look, as long as you stay on the ship, no one from here can bother you. It is like foreign soil. I’ll come up!”
I jumped in.
“Good! We’ll land and wait.”
We disconnected.
“Karen, when do you need to meet again with Tinker?”
She shrugged.
“I don’t know. Tinker will call.”
I nodded.
“Gina, take us back and land.”
Within 10 minutes, we were back on the ground. A message arrived from the council.
“John, we require that you meet before us forth with. You must also bring your child.”
I, of course, did not reply. Karen shook her head.
“Sounds like an inquisition.”
“Yeah, I guess we sit back and wait for Mary.”
About an hour later, Gina announced Mary’s arrival. I told Gina to let her in. When she came in, I showed her the message from the council.”
“They did that behind my back. If you go to that meeting, they will take Raylan from you.”
I nodded.
“I already figured that out. Karen has some interesting news from the aliens that you need to hear.”
Karen told Mary what Tinker had said. Mary sat back in shock.
“This is unbelievable! They actually want to bring some of their people to Fledora?”
Karen nodded.
“I should learn more when they call back but I think it’s more than a want.”
“The council will never agree to it.”
“The aliens want me to talk to the council.”
“You have got to be kidding. Don’t they know you are persona non grata to the council?”
Karen laughed.
“I told them. They, apparently, are pondering things and will get back to me.”
Mary shook her head.
“This is just crazy!”
“Yeah, but they are in a jam. If what they say is true about the extinction, they have no other choice.”
Mary looked at me.
“How do you fit into this?”
I held up my hands.
“I want no part of this. My superiors want me to talk with the aliens but, considering what they told Karen, I think I’ll beg off.”
Mary smiled.
“Good! I think maybe we should take off and discuss this.”
I nodded.
“Gina, put us in a high orbit around Fledora.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
Mary raised her eyes at me. I sighed.
“Don’t ask!”
Our ship took off and we were soon in orbit. We went to the galley and sat down with some food. Mary looked haggard.
“John, if I go to the council, I am bound by law to report this.”
She shook her head.
“I can’t so I guess I’m stuck here just like Raylan.”
I came over to her and hugged her tightly.
“Don’t despair, we’ll work it out. Let’s wait and see what the aliens come back with.”
We agreed to just wait. It was late afternoon when we heard back from them. As usual, they knew we were now in orbit. Karen read their message and looked at Mary and I in surprise.
“They want to dock with us and come aboard----.”
She looked warily at Mary.
“------as their selves.”
I, also, was surprised.
“Uh, do they know Mary is on board?”
Karen nodded.
“Oh boy!”
Mary looked at me with a frown.
“Am I missing something?”
“Well, if they want you to meet them, this is a special occasion. Only Karen and I have seen them.”
“Wow! What does this mean?”
Karen looked hard at Mary.
“I think it means they believe they need your support. They don’t seem to do anything without a reason.”
I nodded.
“That’s for sure. OK, tell them to come ahead.”
About 15 minutes later, Gina informed us that the alien ship was about to dock. We went to the hatch to wait for them to enter our ship. Mary took my hand.
“What should I expect?”
I paused a few seconds.
“I think it best that you just see for yourself.”
Just then, the hatch opened. I held my breathe as Tinker and Bell walked through. Mary’s eyes grew wide.
“Oh my!”
They walked to Mary.
“We are pleased to meet Gina’s mate.”
Mary appeared dumbfounded. Tinker turned to Karen.
“We would like to meet with you in private first.”
Karen nodded and led them to the galley. Mary and I went back to the control room. Raylan was getting restless so Mary picked him up.
“That was definitely not what I expected.”
I laughed.
“I felt the same way when I met them.”
“What was that about ‘Gina’s mate’?”
I blushed.
“I first met them at Prowhiness as Gina. For some reason, they still look at me that way.”
Mary nodded.
“I sort of do too. Is Tinker the male and are they mates?”
I shook my head.
“They don’t have separated genders. I guess you could call them mates. They always are together but I don’t think they have marriage like we do. Karen was with them a lot more than I so she could explain their culture better.”
“Whew, this is astounding!”
“Yeah, it sure is.”
We tried to keep Raylan happy while waiting for them to finish meeting with Karen. He was getting hungry. I thought of something.
“Mary, you haven’t mentioned Carol and I didn’t see her at the house.”
“She is doing great and decided to go home. A friend is living with her.”
“Can she talk yet?”
Mary looked sad.
“No, something is not connecting. I know it is frustrating for her.”
I heard Karen coming and looked at her as she entered.
“Well, it looks like we are the gang of three.”
“Huh?”
“I guess I’ll let them tell you what they want but I will say it is the most important decision we have ever made.”
Karen looked at me.
“Especially for you.”
I didn’t like the sound of that. Karen turned around and headed back to the galley. We, of course, followed her. Once there, we stood facing Tinker and Bell. Mary still looked a little shaky. Tinker spoke up.
“We are used to dealing with a primary and secondary couple. It appears that, in this situation, we need a threesome. I know Karen has told you that our planet is about to undergo a crisis. You also know that the reason thulium was such an issue was because of the development of our gates. They will allow us to move our people off our planet before it is too late. Since we have limited time available, we have picked out planets with low populations so that the impact will be as small as possible. The two in your space are Fledora and Prowhiness. We need you three to help pave the way for us. Therefore, we would like to take you with us to our planet so that you can see the importance.”
We all looked at each other. Tinker continued.
“Before you decide, I have to tell you that the transfer of part of our population to your two planets will happen regardless. It will be up to you as to how easy it will be. We will retire to our ship until morning so that you may talk among yourselves. If you decide to help us, Karen will be the primary. As I said, it is awkward for us to deal with three instead of a pair. Therefore, we don’t want gender to be an issue as it is on your worlds.”
With that, Tinker and Bell nodded and quickly left our ship. We sat in a stunned silence. Suddenly, something hit me.
“I hope Tinker didn’t mean what I think regarding gender.”
Karen and Mary both looked at me sadly.
“Shit!”
Comments
Galactic Marshal III - Chapter 6
So, are there THREE genders for them? WOW! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_Nation_%28TV_series%29 had such a species.
May Your Light Forever Shine
May Your Light Forever Shine
Rather Serious Misread...
...I think, Stan.
The aliens say that they "normally deal with" a primary and secondary couple (Actually, that statement is ambiguous; presumably they mean one couple with dominant and subservient ("primary and secondary") members -- which is what they thought they were getting in Karen and Gina, with Karen the primary. But they could literally mean two couples, one primary and one secondary.)
In any case, the "threesome" that they need, for whatever purpose, doesn't seem to be members of Tinker's species at all -- they're Mary, Karen and John/Gina -- and the aliens consider all three of them female.
There are plenty of tri-sexed aliens in SF tales, going back, I think, to the 1930's, but Tinker's species isn't among them. We don't even know if they have two sexes; Tinker and her associate are most likely the same sex, since they've objected to Karen pairing with a male.
Eric
Gina's backkkkkkkk :)
It was a matter of time anyway. Apparently Karen, John/Gina, Mary will have to be ambassadors plenpotentiary and deal with the matter of what is essentially an invasion. And they thought having men on the planet is going to be awkward.
Kim
Men are from Mars, women are from Fledora
And Aliens are from Disney tales... That's one fine mess the universe has gotten our heroes into.
I do wonder what the nature of said extinction event is, and - why didn't the civilisation that had more than a couple millenia on us in terms of space travels create colonies in the other planetary systems? Because those would have been primary locations to transport their homeworld population to.
Faraway
Big Closet Top Shelf
Where you can fool around like you want to and most you get is some bemused good ribbing!
Faraway
Big Closet Top Shelf
Where you can fool around like you want to and most you get is some bemused good ribbing!
John or Gina
Awwwww. I knew John would become Gina again but I had no idea it would be like this. Poor John. But maybe he'll grow to like it. Stranger things have happened.
Thanks for another chapter of this nice story. I love the pacing, and the aliens. The aliens sure know how to spice up everyone's lives.
And kudos!
- Terry
What Happens to Raylan Now?
There's nothing but the AI to take care of him if they leave him on the ship, which doesn't seem like much of an option. Ditto shooting him off somewhere in a lifeboat.
If Raylan's sent back to Fledora, the council's likely to find out and would certainly hold him as leverage and presumably change him to female.
If the aliens allow him on board -- no certainty -- they're liable to decide "gender is an issue" unless THEY make him female. Since we don't know -- and may never know -- how the aliens reproduce (unintelligent drones on the home planet?) or raise children, we don't know how awkward Raylan's presence, male or otherwise, would be there. If youngsters are a rarity or even nonexistent for them, I could see a male baby's demands for attention being mistaken for a "gender issue" by aliens unfamiliar with the concept of child care.
Anyway, there's a lot of welcome new information here. No clue yet as to why "we need a threesome here" -- I'd have thought they were planning to split up the trio when they got to the home planet in order to show them everything more quickly, but with their insistence on working though a primary I'm not sure that's possible. I suppose it could be nothing more than their needing Mary on board, since she's on the council, Karen can't negotiate with them and Gina/John, whom they consider a "secondary", would be outmatched.
Tinker's information is awfully good, knowing first that John was on board and then that Mary was coming. I was wondering -- I sometimes get paranoid when it comes to story plots here -- if the aliens have a contact on Fledora, or even on the council itself, who could be forcing the issue, but that would mean they know more about the situation there, with Karen and such, than they're letting on.
One thing, though: Tinker seems to be in full agreement with Fledora's policy that including male humans is counterproductive. Could that conservative council leader be working for them? Probably not -- Occam's Razor would say that Tinker wouldn't be going through the motions with Karen and now Mary if the aliens already had council access.
Actually, though, council negotiation would be the logical answer for them as far as Fledora is concerned. Since all the aliens are apparently, by human definition, female and they're willing to settle for the less desirable (for humans) part of the planet, immigration would seem possible, if security arrangements and payment terms could be worked out. The aliens are asking for a whole lot, of course -- the space AND the thulium -- so it'd cost them plenty. On the other hand, they're in the old Viking trade position: if you don't sell it to us, we'll invade and take it anyway.
Looking forward to seeing it work out.
Eric