Chapter 12 –The Game becomes Reality?

When Gareth and Geraint joined us we sat down and Sir Lionel asked me to relate my five and a bit years since I fled the house. I spoke about Griff and I getting away and his audacious plan for us to live as man and wife until we ended in Aberystwyth and Merilyn being born. I told them that he had made a wonderful husband and it was a blow when he didn’t come home. I said that I did not want them to know where I now lived until we had put Melehan to bed.

I looked at Hector and asked “Was that you in the attic with the rifle?” and he looked startled. “How did you know?” he asked and I said “That is one of the things that have happened since Merilyn was born. Whatever triggered my female side also triggered the DNA strings of my namesake that had remained down the ages. I have gained a few odd powers; one of them being that I can see the laser beams and electrical waves. Others have been shown to Gwen and Lance. Merilyn has similar powers but can also tune into radio waves if they are close enough.”

Gareth said “Was that you messing with Melehans’ life when you burned his house down?” I nodded and he went on “And his townhouse and mistress?” I nodded again and Sir Lionel looked as if a bird had just shat on his shoulder and he said “And the outrage at the Parliament?” I nodded again and he whispered “Whitehall?” and I said “Look, yes I did these things but it was all aimed to flush Melehan into the open. He did try to kill us already so I thought that I had a good reason to act. He already has shown his hand with the AA crowd and their marches. I’ll have you know that they were planning to attack Kensington Palace last Saturday and were going to be supplied with Molotov Cocktails until I put a stop to it.”

“He tried to kill you, did he? Where and when?” I looked at Gwen and then Sir Lionel and the rest of the team finally heard about Bodmin Moor. His face was white when Gwen and Lance finished the story and he sat back in his chair. “So that is why you two have been so insistent about our security. I could never have been able to keep a normal face when I have spoken to Melehan if I had known how far he was going. A Gazelle, you say?” Lance looked at him and said “It sure was, in full attack mode on quiet rotors and the heat sensors on. They had us bang to rights.”

Gareth chuckled and said “So you are the aliens, then?” Merilyn laughed prettily and said “Did you see the films of the lights last weekend; that was just Mummy and me having fun.” Sir Lionel looked sternly at her and said “Now, young lady, that is not fun; that is creating a panic among the people.” I said “Don’t worry; I have a plan which will finish the ‘alien invasion’ in its tracks once we have sorted out the immediate problem.” Geraint said “Show us then, what can you do?” I looked at Merilyn and said “Little ones, darling, I would not want to see this house burn down.”

We manifested a half a dozen balls of energy and had them play chasee around the room. The others looked on in amazement until I said “All mine, now, sweetheart” and took control of them to bring them to a stop in the middle of the room. I then brought them together and made them go from blue to white. I then concentrated hard and formed the ball into something that looked like the plush aliens I had seen at the shop. I got it to rotate slowly, waving one arm and then made it disappear with a pop. Merilyn broke into giggles and hugged me, saying “Mummy that is soooo good. I will have to practice that one.” I then levitated Gareth and his chair and sent them on a trip around the room before I brought him back and lowered him again.

.Sir Lionel then got serious. “What do we do now, I suppose you want to kill Melehan and get it over with. You know that I cannot condone murder.” I said “No, I will not murder him, although I could do it easily enough; a ball of energy in his car would look like a terrorist bomb and no-one would be the wiser. What I want to do is stop his activities before he gets to be the Minister of Defence and uses the military to take over the country. That is something I would do murder to stop.” Gwen said “So how do we stop him, put him in jail, get him committed to a nut-house, get him to learn the folly of his ways?”

“You got it in one, Gwen. We are going to show him that he is powerless once we have isolated him. He and his kind are only powerful when they have others doing their bidding. He may have the family trait of being a sneaky, cheating, bastard but he is an educated person. I think that knowing that he has no friends would break him.” The others nodded and Sir Lionel asked “So how do we go about this?” I then explained some of my plan, leaving out some of the more deadly detail so as not to upset them.

We stayed at Camelot for a week with Merilyn being accepted into the family, almost like a favourite grand-daughter. She got to spend time with all of the ‘Round Table’ while I spoke to Sir Lionel about our time-table. That Saturday night we sat quietly in the drawing room while the others watched and recreated the glowing balls of energy over Dozmary Pool again. The Sunday TV news had a big section on it; someone had set up cameras and it seemed that quite a crowd had been camping there in expectation of seeing the aliens.

After that the two of us were treated with a great deal of deference, everyone realising just how powerful we were. Sir Lionel confessed that if Merilyn really had been the second coming of the Messiah it would have been less scary. We went back to Camelford on the Sunday and the rest set about putting the other parts of the plan into action

It took three weeks before Melehan took Sir Lionel seriously enough to agree to a meeting. I insisted that it would be at the intersection of the two main paths in the park to the south of the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich. The others thought I was crazy at it was against all military tactics, being open and overlooked. They didn’t know that the downsides were an integral part of my plan to show Melehan just how alone he was. In the meantime Merilyn had started school but I picked her up on Saturdays so we could put on a little light show on Saturday evenings, now the days were drawing in. We did one on Bodmin Moor but also added other places, our chosen meeting place being one. Merilyn and I had become good enough to conduct the shows separately, so having two running a long way apart. Merilyn would do Bodmin while I would pick a place I had been and could imagine. One night I put the lights over Hyde Park and had a ball of energy hover over Buckingham Palace before heading ‘into space’. The next Saturday was Greenwich and after that was over Hyde Park again. That would ensure that the night of our meeting would be among a throng of hopeful alien watchers. The papers were full of it, the TV was full of it and a number of erudite professors (who were also full of it) gave a number of theories.

That Saturday we went into London and I parked the Volvo on Maze Hill, locking it and getting into Gwens new Jaguar to go with her for a meal. In the evening we joined a crowd of people on the ferry down the Thames, all getting off at the Greenwich Jetty and walking up towards the open ground I had chosen. We had Gwen and Lance with us, Sir Lionel and the others having arrived separately. Merilyn and I walked to the front of the Maritime Museum Café and I could see a large number of people sitting out on the grass and, very clearly, two gentlemen who did not fit the assembled crowd, standing at the intersection of the two paths. As we strolled out onto the grass we looked for the laser beams and, sure enough, we spotted them.

There was one originating from the top of the Maritime Museum, another from the roof of the café. I half expected others to be among the trees either side of the park but even the most novice sniper would know that with the crowd around there would be no chance of getting clear after the kill shot. I stopped and looked around me, manifesting very small balls of energy at the origin of the beams. The beams went out and I said to Merilyn “Do a twirl for me, dear, and see if you can spot more.” She reported that we were clear and there was no radio chatter. We stayed where we were and put the show on at Bodmin, as usual. At the culmination of it there, instead of shooting off into the clouds, we had what we could now shape as a disc, head to London at a very quick pace, arriving over our heads ten minutes later, much to the awe of the assembled crowd. If no-one believed in aliens before, they would now.

We made the disc move to the south to hover over Blackheath as we strolled up to Sir Lionel and Melehan, who were gazing at the sight before them. “Hello, Sir Lionel” I said and he smiled and gestured towards Melehan. “My dear, I would like you to finally meet Melehan, an absolute shit who holds himself in great esteem and thinks that he would be the next ruler of this great land.” Melehan was totally surprised at this and looked like he had swallowed something nasty. “When I am the ruler, Lionel, you will be the first one up against the wall. Now, who is this woman?” I smiled sweetly at him and said “Why, I used to be Arthur Prendergast. You know; the one that you pushed poor Jack and his cronies into using as a rallying cry to hide your true intentions. I am here, Melehan, to make you see the error of your ways.”

Marianne G © 2021