"Time must be different where we were."
I gave them an edited version of what had happened. I left out the fucking and the thing with the travelling body, but I did tell them of Tikana's universe and the bit with the membrane in my perception.
"She said it would take time until I could see the world the way her people did and that I had to keep on practising. She said my mind must learn to assemble the information I am getting into a meaningful picture."
"You are alright then? No strange side effects?"
"None so far. She said everything had gone well."
"That takes a load of my mind," said Jack. "You are one crazy fucker. One of these days you'll take on some shit that'll really hurt you if you keep going like this."
"I'm not buying it," said Juan.
"What aren't you buying, Juan?"
"Your story. I'm not saying you've been lying to us, you wouldn't do that. It's what you're not saying that makes me jumpy. This is all very nice about better understanding between the races, wanting to see the world from their perspective and all that shit. No doubt it will be important in the long run and worth taking a few risks over. But it's not so important right now that you would risk your life and sanity over it; on the spur of the moment as it were. You'd have to have far more compelling reasons to take such a risk. Not only that, something has happened that put you under time pressure. Hence the rush. How am I doing, Franco?"
"You are right, Juan. I haven't spoken about it because I'm not certain I see this correctly. Still, now that you've brought it up I better fill you in.
"For some time I had been wondering how Talla and her people acquired their knowledge and skills. They have no schools, no training facilities, but they all know how to read and write and how to do certain tasks. Feng was with me when I asked Talla how that worked. Talla said it came from the Goddess. The Goddess, she explained, was the sum total of her people's consciousness, past and present. Everything her people had ever done, learned and experienced was vested in her. From that reservoir the Goddess could impart whatever skill or knowledge her people needed whenever she judged it to be necessary. She said the Goddess would approach me at some time and answer my questions.
"I reasoned that, if what Talla had said was true, the Goddess could tell us where the Torgons had hidden their weapons and shuttles and if we trained one of her people to fly a spaceship we could get as many pilots as we needed, virtually overnight. The only question was, would she help us? There was little I could do until the Goddess contacted me. One thing I could arrange and that was Talla's training as a pilot. I did that without delay.
"The Goddess, her name is Tikana by the way, is prepared to help. How far that help will go I don't know yet. I still don't understand what powers she has. When she offered to fuse minds with me I saw the opportunity to find out."
"That explains a few things," said Juan. "What I don't understand is why the rush all of a sudden. You've been patient so far. Why not continue in that vein and take things step by step?"
"It was something Tikana said that make me think we might not have as much time as we thought. She said: 'We must make sure the Torgons will never return to the planet surface. My people would be doomed if that happened. If the Torgons can retrieve their weapons they will take charge again. Only their fear is stopping them, as you know. That will not last forever. If they become desperate enough they will invade again, regardless of the consequences. We must not let it get that far.'
"That's when it hit me. We have no idea how desperate the Torgons are and how close they are to throwing caution into the wind and act. I had a long conversation with Talla later that day. Talla knew all about my meeting with Tikana. She clarified a few things for me. That's when I decided it was my turn to throw caution into the wind and make a move. The rest you know."
"What do you think we should do now? How imminent is a confrontation with the Torgons?"
"I don't think there is an imminent problem. They will wait to get their computer. I don't intend to give it to them."
"Won't that kick them into action?"
"Not if we do it right. Say we have the computer running in about a month. We will then get Al to tell them he wants some further tests to make sure everything is as it should be. He'll suggest they send a team of scientists to Olympus and put the machine through its paces before it gets moved. They'll come at that. When the team gets here we'll start a scam. During the tests their experts will suddenly discover a new avenue of research that promises positive results within weeks. We'll feed the Torgons data that support this, all made up, of course. The reports will show they are getting so close that it doesn't make sense to take the machine to Okton4 and risk months of delays. They'll propose to complete their research here where they have all needed facilities. We then string the Torgons along until we take possession of the weapons. Once we have done that we'll bring them to heel. In the meantime we must give them the impression of imminent victory. A person with a strong conviction that success is around the corner will not do something desperate that is full of dangers. This allows us to control events and gives us the time we need."
"Assuming this works. Say we have arrived on the ground. Now we need time to figure out how to fly the shuttles. Perhaps quite a bit of time. What if they have some small fighters left. They'll attack. The Pygmalion is no match for that."
"We'll not go there in the Pygmalion. Initially I considered infiltration, but things have changed. We'll arrive in the four heavy cruisers we have just scored. I want the Torgons to see us coming. Surely we can organise the fuel we need for a short hop of ten light years."
"These ships are unarmed scrap!"
"The Torgons don't know that. They wouldn't be game to take them on. Two can play at the massive warships with empty hulls game. We'll set them down on the tarmac next to their shuttles to protect our band of thieves. They'll scream and kick and yell, but they'll leave us alone. We'll need to work out a lot more detail to make this convincing, but basically this is my plan."
"Remember when we were about to land on Olympus, Frank?" said Pedro. "At that time you told me you wanted to take over this entire sector and build a civilisation to rival the Federation. I figured you were either off your rocker or pulling my leg. I'm starting to think you were serious. What more, I'm beginning to think you may even pull it off. I can see your plan now. The Feds stay out of this sector because they believe it to be populated and heavily defended. You want keep the illusion going, bluff the Torgons out of the driver seat and take over. Simple as that."
"Essentially yes. Except for one thing. Once we take possession of the shuttles we'll have more fire power than anyone else in this neck of the woods. We won't need to bluff. What aids us in this whole scenario is that the Torgons don't officially exist. Neither does the human colony on Okton4. As far as the Federation is concerned Talla's people run the show and use a few human intermediaries as negotiators. Talla's people are the key to take over this entire sector. I have known this for a while.
"Take the following scenario. If tomorrow a delegation of Oktonians, perhaps headed by Talla, were to turn up in the spaceport and offer the Federation a better deal, such as lifting the ban on women and extraterrestrials and allowing their own to take up employment with the Federation, maybe even allowing limited access to the mainland. There is really no one who could stop it. The humans have pretended for two centuries to be the servants of the Oktonians. Any objection on their part would reek of rebellion. The Federation would be forced to side with Talla's people if a conflict developed. They, and only they, are the legitimate government of this entire sector, recognised by interstellar treaty. It must have been very tempting for the Torgons at the time to get the dumb faeries to front for their scam. They were easily controlled. Now this decision is going to bite them in the arse big time."
"Look fellows," said Juan, "lets break it up. I am told that in half an hour's time the first draft beer will be on tap. I don't know about you guys, but I want to be there when it happens."
"Good idea," said Feng. "Let's be off then."
***
Over the next two weeks I tried to get a grip on the area Tikana had opened up in my mind. Gradually the apparent randomness of colours sounds and feelings coagulated into perceivable patterns. The world as I knew it was still there, but flooded with other things that appeared as flows, concentrations of energy, subtle vibrations and darkness where there shouldn't be any. If that was the way Talla's people saw reality, no wonder they had trouble perceiving the world as we did. I had no idea what these things meant. I tried to call Tikana without success. I told Talla about my dilemma.
"The Goddess will not come to you now," she said. "You must discover her within first. The darkness you speak of is your connection with her. You resent the darkness and are trying to get rid of it. This is what is stopping you. Embrace it, immerse yourself in it, love it without reservation, for it is the Goddess. Your perception will follow and your union will be complete. You must be patient. It will take time."
I tried to get her to explain what some of the other things meant I was experiencing. To that she said that once my perception had merged with that of the Goddess there would be no need for explanations. I would simply know. Anything she might say now would only add to my confusion.
There was nothing further I could learn here. I went to see Feng, George and Al to see how they were getting on with the assembly of the supercomputer. I was told that assembly was almost complete and the first tests could commence in a matter of days. This was far too soon for me. I needed to stall. It meant I had to reveal at least some of my plan to Al and George. I suggested we go to the pub, have a bite to eat and discuss what needed to be done over a few beers.
The pub wasn't very busy at this time of day. We had no trouble finding a quiet corner where we could talk.
"Tell me Al, what does your brother actually do?" I said when we had settled down, "you can speak freely, everyone at this table knows about the Torgon scam."
"My brother is in charge of external affairs."
"What does that entail, Al?"
"Essentially everything that deals with the outside world. Our export and import trade, the port authorities, the faerie workers in the spaceport, the negotiators, liaison with the Federation and the traders. All that is part of his portfolio. He also deals directly with the Torgons. His department is autonomous and senior to the mainland government. All his people are stationed in the spaceport, they are only allowed to travel to the mainland on rare occasions when it is necessary. The Torgons had insisted on this arrangement. It isolates the mainland government from external influences."
"How does your brother feel about the Torgons?"
"He hates them with a passion. By the same token he realises that he has to do their bidding for the time being if our people are to survive. For years he has been collecting intelligence about the Torgons for the day when an opportunity arises to free us from that curse.
"Most of my people believe they can maintain the status quo indefinitely. They would not support a rebellion. My brother knows that this is an unrealistic expectation and that the day of reckoning must come. He and a small group around him are preparing for the inevitable confrontation as best they can."
"Thanks Al, I think we need to talk to your brother as soon as possible. Now let me tell you what I have in mind:
"In my estimation the Torgons are getting desperate. They are running out of options. There is not much they can do from where they are, but they still have heavily armed shuttles and a host of weaponry stashed away. If they reach a point of no return they will claim those weapons and let loose; whatever the consequences. I intend to deprive them of that opportunity. Without their weapons they have to come to the negotiating table and we can work out a programme of orderly evacuation. They will have to drop their dreams of conquest and settle for survival."
I then told them how I intended to stop them from claiming their weapons by using our newly acquired heavy cruisers.
"They don't know they are facing empty hulls. Our job is to convince the Torgons they are up against a massive force. They will not be expecting us to pull the same stunt they have used against the Federation. The key point to my plan is to evacuate the Torgons, leave their huge ships where they are, man them with our people and keep the bluff going. This is the only way to stop the Federation from taking over. This way we can claim the entire sector and give the humans on Okton4 and Talla's people the freedom they deserve.
"I need time to put everything in place. We need to stall."
I next explained what I had in mind with the computer and the false information I intended to feed the Torgons to keep them at bay until we were ready to move.
"This has a chance," said Al. "The beauty of it is that it will not be a rebellion by my people, for which they might have contingency plans. It will be an attack by renegade forces from elsewhere. I doubt they are prepared for something of that nature."
