The human Marines were now standing in two parallel lines, three deep. The next to emerge from the shuttle was a levitating sphere about the size of a basketball. It floated gracefully down the ramp and proceeded to the head of the column, followed by the Captain and Dr. Tropsha. They strode to the front of the formation behind the robotic drone while Isbjørn emerged, followed by Bear. The bears ambled forward and took the lead positions of the two columns of Marines. Then the whole party fell in behind the Captain and Ludmilla and advanced on the structure in front of them.
The Captain halted the formation 10 meters from the yawning entrance and allowed the drone to continue alone. As it neared the vault’s threshold, the robot halted and announced, “Captain Jack Sutton, Master and Commander of the starship Peggy Sue, and his consort, Lady Ludmilla call upon her Imperial Highness, Queen Tzzztchk, sovereign ruler of all Pzzst.”
From with the shadowed depths of the vault a creature hopped forward. Covered with light brown fur, golden chains hung from its neck, supporting jeweled crests and insignias of rank. It advanced to stand in front of the floating drone. Once facing the robotic emissary, the alien emitted screeching and clicking noises that the Peggy Sue translated as a greeting and welcome from the great Queen Tzzztchk.
“See,” Jack said to Ludmilla over suit-to-suit, “de Belcour was right, we needed a herald. Otherwise I would have lost face having to announce myself to yonder lowly court functionary.”
“It does not surprise me that a French bureaucrat knows all about snobbery and highhanded insults,” Ludmilla retorted. “Besides, how much face can you lose to a hairy cricket wearing a necklace?”
The Herald in front of them did look like a cricket—a cricket a meter and a half tall, covered with sleek, well groomed 10cm long hair. Chitinous barbs protruded beyond the hair on the creature’s four arms and large rear legs. It canted its head to one side as if impatient for an answer, sunlight glinting off of its multifaceted eyes. “I think the harry cricket wants a reply,” Bear advanced.
“I believe you are right, Lieutenant. Peggy Sue, have our herald say something appropriate and ask to see the Queen.” A string of clicks, chirps and buzzing sounds emanated from the drone. The herald bobbed its head and turned, waving two of its arms in an unmistakable “come with me” gesture.
As the Marines marched inside the Queen’s palace following Ludmilla and the Captain, thousands of insect eyes watched from strangely shaped doorways and openings. Lt. Bear said to his squad over the Marine’s comm frequency, “Look sharp guys, we are going to meet the bug queen.”
“You know, LT,” Ronnie Reagan commented. “Since leaving Earth, everything we have met that looks even remotely like an insect has tried to kill us.”
“Great,” said Joey Sanchez. “Now we’re interstellar pest control—except out here the bugs shoot back.”
Chapter 17
Imperial Palace, Pzzst
The Captain’s party moved deeper into the imposing palace, surrounded by arched doorways and ornate balconies. Buttery light filtered in through translucent panels, inserted at seemingly random locations in the high vaulted ceiling. A hundred meters into the structure two smaller barrel vaults intersected the main vault from either side. They too, were lined with misshapen openings and flowing balconies, disappearing into dimly lit distance.
In front of the Earth delegation the main hall continued, its floor rising in a sequence of flat landings. The herald nimbly hopped from level to level, evidently the ascending terrace was the local equivalent of a grand stairway. After climbing roughly ten meters vertically, they came to a set of massive doors towering 20 meters above the landing. Each dark brown panel was three meters wide and covered with intricate carvings.
“Most impressive,” Ludmilla remarked, gazing up at the bas-relief sculpture in front of them. A number of the scenes would have done an Egyptian Pharaoh proud.
“I would guess that this grand hall and the doors are intended to impress the Queen’s visitors,” the Captain replied. “The carvings undoubtedly show her or her predecessors performing great deeds and heroic acts. The archeologists and anthropologists back home will have a field-day with the 3D images we’re transmitting back to the ship.”
Behind the Captain, Bear and Isbjørn were making a different assessment of the monumental architecture confronting them. “All those twisted openings along the stairs would be a great place to hide ambushers,” Bear said to his mate.
“And with all the irregular balconies and side openings along the hallway, fighting our way out would be like running down the middle of a target range,” Isbjørn agreed. “I hope the Captain’s right and these creatures only have spears and crossbows.”
“I’m glad we’re all wearing armor, babe. Even if Jack and Ludmilla are not wearing heavy power suits, they shouldn’t be vulnerable to spears and arrows.”
“Still, if the fur flies we need to get them into the middle of the formation and make tracks for the shuttle.”
“Roger that,” he replied. “Look, the door is opening.”
Bear’s observation was correct, the gigantic carved doors were slowly opening inward. Once they reached a full open position the Pzzst herald took two hops into the chamber, bowed and began screeching and buzzing—no doubt announcing the Queen’s guests had arrived. Again the herald motioned the Earthlings forward and then quickly moved to one side.
If the hallway and balconies coming in were empty, this chamber was stuffed to overflowing with hundreds of natives. Many were adorned with chains and sashes, indications of their rank and position in the court. Others wore cuirasses, some solid metal, most lamellar. Those wearing the lamellar armor were evidently guards and leaned on two and a half meter halberds. Resembling the polearms of 15
th
century Swiss pikemen, each consisted of
an axe blade topped with a spike mounted on a long shaft.
The individuals wearing the solid breastplates, some inlaid and all highly polished, bore the swords of officers. From either side of the center aisle they stared at the Captain’s party with large unblinking compound eyes.
The aisle, the only open space in the room, provided a clear path to the foot of a raised dais 30 meters away. A stepped platform 1.5 meters high held a large individual laying in a carved, alabaster cradle—the Ktchzz equivalent of a throne. Balconies ringed the chamber, festooned with bright cloth and garlands of flowers. Having been announced, Jack and Ludmilla marched down the aisle to the throne side-by-side.
The Queen herself was an impressive specimen, more than two meters in length with hair of pure white. Well positioned shafts of light illuminated the throne, glinting off the Queen’s multifaceted silver eyes and sparkling jewels that adorned her person. Extending in front of her chest lay a pointed shaft, its needle tip drooped slightly downward in front of a cluster of spikes that would not have been out of place on the head of a Medieval mace. Where exoskeleton was left uncovered by hair and jewels the chitin was also white, giving Jack an impression of advanced age.
Halting four meters in front of the monarch, Jack bent at the waist in a shallow but respectful bow while Ludmilla managed a surprisingly graceful curtsy—even the light armor limited their range of movement. There had been discussion prior to the mission whether Jack and Ludmilla should bow before the alien monarch. In the end it was decided that being respectful before an alien head of state was probably the best course of action.
The Queen’s twin antennae dipped briefly and the ruler of all Pzzst addressed her guests with a cacophonous burst of noise that almost overwhelmed the visitors’ suit microphones.
Shuttle Two, Grand Plaza, Imperial Palace
After a quarter hour of exchanging meaningless pleasantries, the alien queen finally got around to asking about the diplomats. The Captain informed the Queen that members of the diplomatic estate were waiting to meet Her Majesty’s ministers to negotiate a memorandum of understanding and friendship. With the Queen’s permission, Jack called the second party of Earthlings waiting aboard their shuttle in the courtyard.
“The Queen would like you to come to the palace,” Jack told Jean-Jacques de Belcour. “You will be met at the entrance by a herald who will take you to meet her ministers.”
“Very good, Captain, we shall be there shortly,” the Frenchman replied, still a bit miffed at not being in the first party. Turning to his assembled group—Sally Li, Kim Lawson and Skip Tanner—he assumed command of the diplomatic phase of the mission. “We need to proceed to the entrance of the palace, where we will be met by an escort. Follow my lead and do not address the natives directly, use the robot drone to translate.”
Sally rolled her eyes and said, “yes, Jean-Jacques. Some of us have done this before, you know.”
“This time we will do it properly,” he sniffed.
“If things get testy for some reason, remember that only Mr. Tanner and myself are armed,” added Chief Morgan. The SEAL was wearing light armor much like the Captain and Dr. Tropsha, but the young midshipman was wearing a standard spacesuit with a flechette pistol on his waist.
“I still object to you bringing weapons along on this mission,” de Belcour opined. “But the Captain has left me no choice.”
“Don’t worry, Mr. Tanner’s weapon is holstered and mine strapped to my utility pack,” Morgan replied. “They will probably not even know we are armed.”
Unless things go sideways,
the Chief added to himself,
then we may all be sorry we aren’t more heavily armed.
As the party trooped down the shuttle’s rear ramp Chief Morgan said to his two fellow SEALs, “I don’t care what that stuffed frog says, if I call mayday, you and the Gyrenes come on the double.”
“Count on it, Chief” replied Bud Jones, with Phil Kowalski nodding in agreement.
* * * * *
After being greeted by another herald, the party of diplomats was led down one of the side hallways where the crossing arches met the main vault. “The side vaults connecting with the central hall forming a cross shaped floor plan is reminiscent of a Medieval cathedral,” Jean-Jacques mused as they were escorted deeper into the bowels of the Imperial Palace. “Perhaps architectural aesthetics could provide some common ground between our species.”
“There are only so many ways to arrange basic structural features, Jean-Jacques,” replied Sally. “Particularly with primitive materials and construction techniques. I wouldn’t make too much of the similarities.”
“This place doesn’t remind me of a cathedral,” said Skip. “More like a termite mound or an ant colony.”
“You are judging them using Earth prejudices,” Kim said, loyally coming to the Frenchman’s defense. “Jean-Jacques is more experienced at this type of thing than the rest of us, we should listen to him.”
“Thank you, Kim,” Jean-Jacques replied. “Please, let us all maintain our composure in front of our hosts. Ah, it looks like we have arrived at our destination.” The herald leading their party stopped before a set of massive doors, not nearly as wide or tall as the ones to the royal audience chamber but impressive nonetheless.
As the doors swung open the herald motioned them forward while simultaneously backing out of the way. Ahead lay a large, well lit chamber containing a crowd of chittering natives. A number of the
Ktchzz were noticeably larger than the rest, towering a good half a meter above their companions. The larger Ktchzz were also noticeably lighter in color than the smaller natives, with light blond, almost white hair.
“The big ones sort of look like the Queen, don’t you think?” observed Sally as they entered the chamber. Prior to their own departure for the palace, the diplomats had been viewing live video from the Captain’s party. “Maybe these are related to her.”
“
Bien sûr,
they may be princesses,” said Jean-Jacques, straitening his back unconsciously. The UN diplomat strode forward into the chamber of waiting aliens.
Supercilious twit,
thought Chief Morgan as he brought up the rear.
The skin on the back of my neck is crawling and that usually means we are about to step in it.
Throne Room, Imperial Palace
“So it is true that your ship can travel among the stars, to other worlds far away?” the Peggy Sue translated Queen Tzzztchk’s question. The Queen’s attendants seemed to be hanging on every word of the conversation.
“Yes, your Majesty. The Peggy Sue does, indeed, carry us between stars. Our mission is to visit worlds like yours, seeking new friends and allies,” Jack replied. While his words were translated he said to his officers, “Is it only me, or does her highness seem awfully curious about our ship and its capabilities?”
“I think that I would be also, if strange aliens came to call,” said Ludmilla, playing devil’s advocate as scientists are taught.
As the strangeness and initial tension of the encounter eased, the party examined their surroundings more closely. This was easier for the Marines, since they were wearing combat helmets that concealed their heads. Combined with their suits’ built-in cameras they could scan their environment while standing as still as statues. Ludmilla and Jack both had suits with clear bubble helmets, revealing their faces and head movements to the crowd of assembled Ktchzz.