Chapter 17

Órarduine 7^th year, 9^th month, 23^rd day

It was seven days after the Dutsuz, with the assistance of Wolf TG, had regained control of their ships that they arrived in Sol. The AW cruisers and Spec Ops ships converged on them as they emerged from FTL. There was a brief exchange between Commander Timalta and Commander Egulle, before Iridien marines and Spec Ops teams boarded each of the Dutsuz ships. Their primary purpose was to ensure that there weren’t any more, free Durale on the ships. It was three days before they were certain that all the Durale had been either captured or died. At the request of Commander Timalta, the Durale prisoners were transferred to an Iridien ship for interrogation.

During this time the leaders of the Dutsuz World asked the Iridiens to handle repairing their ships as they weren’t certain how soon they could send repair crews. The delay was attributed to unrest stemming from the events initiated by the Durale on the planets in the Dutsuz World. They reaffirmed Commander Timalta’s role as group commander in a message to both him and the AW task group. The message was also sent to the Iridien Headquarters. In it, they designated Commander Timalta as their representative to the AW joint task group. Once their task group was operational, they were to join the AW group under Commander Egulle’s command, presuming this was acceptable to the Alliance.

The next day Virginia and Doug hosted a live interview with Commander Egulle, Orgaine, Arenta and Seschun. Grand View TV was the primary broadcaster on Earth. They, along with their newspaper partners, distributed the interview through normal channels and over Earth’s Internet. Besides providing Earth’s residents with an opportunity to learn of the Alliance, they were able to claim the first interplanetary broadcast, since both the AW ships and the Órarduine received the broadcast. This was also true for the newspapers, as they distributed copies of the articles to An Clochán and the nearby ships.

The broadcast interview focused on the Alliance of Worlds as a whole. In particular, it covered who they were and why they had decided to visit Sol. During the interview it was noted that those in the AW Task Group were familiar with issues on Earth from watching news broadcasts and other programs. At the end of the interview Commander Egulle indicated that once a number of problems were resolved in their task group they would be visiting Earth. Who and where they would visit had not been decided. Based on the news stories the next day, the interview was well received and appreciated by the audience.

In some areas of Earth, a number of narrow interest groups attempted to stir up fears and unrest regarding the presence of these new aliens. They were not very successful among those who had seen the broadcast. A key factor was the openness and sincerity the viewers saw in the four Iridiens. Still, the fact that the Iridiens did not look human was something some could not accept. This latter group was also antagonistic toward the Órarduine’s presence and actively campaigned for their elimination. Órarduine security did inform the Iridiens of a number of Earth’s Internet sites which took a hostile view of their presence.

Reyonte of the Atewa World contacted Virginia after the broadcast and suggested that they consider doing follow up interviews focusing on each world in the fleet. Both Virginia and Doug thought it was an excellent idea and made arrangements to carry out the additional interviews at one week intervals. As a way of showing their appreciation, the second interview focused on the Atewa World. Lorelei, Earl and others in the Órarduine Communication group assisted with the preparation of these interviews.

It was during this time that the Monque and Atewa Commanders sent four of their androids to An Clochán for evaluation. These were found to be a greater challenge than the Iridien’s androids. It took the Órarduine programmers several days to sort out the best way to resolve the programming issues. On the face of it, there wasn’t a lot of difference between the different groups of androids in terms of programming logic. What they did find was significant differences in the way these android’s control interfaces functioned. It was several days before they realized that the basis for their difficulty was in part due to language differences, including object associations. Once the difficulty was defined, the programmers were able to write routines similar to those they’d used before.

After testing the four androids using the revised programs, they offered the Monque and Atewa Commanders a choice similar to the one that had been offered to the Iridiens. The choice was to either modify their androids program logic, or replace all the programming with something similar to the Iridien androids. Modifying the logic would reduce performance issues. Reprogramming the androids would significantly increase their reliability and solve performance issues. The Órarduine programmers were surprised when Reyonte, the Atewa Commander, and Tuska, the Monque Commander, selected reprogramming with virtually no questions, even though it would take a little longer. Commanders Reyonte and Tuska asked that the androids prime directives be altered so that they were identical to those of the Iridiens. Again, the Órarduine would provide them with the source code for the new programming. As they did with the Iridien androids, each android had access to its source code, including the ability to tune their responses to sensors and servos. In order for a technician to make core changes they needed the permission of the android, a command fob and its unique access code.

Just before the interview with the Atewa was broadcast, the Órarduine offered to host a conference for the Alliance of Worlds representatives and select governments from Earth. The meeting would be held at An Clochán. The initial plan was to invite about twenty-five Earth governments. Due to logistical issues each delegation would be limited to twenty people of the invited country’s choice. Sarah’s Clan suggested to the AW Task Group Commanders that they put together a list of which nations on Earth they wanted to attend. From that list, they would work together to finalize the attendees.

While the AW TG Commanders worked out who to invite the Órarduine Security and Communications groups scoped out an outline for the conference itinerary, agenda, reception, logistics and security. In addition, the Communications group composed a formal invitation and an information package to go with the invitation. The Alliance of Worlds group and the Órarduine, together, finalized the conference with very few changes made to any of the proposals.

Sarah’s Clan asked their friends in Grand View for recommendations on the make-up of a media contingent. The goal was to have two media persons from each invited country who would function as representatives of their countries news media.

Three days before beginning to deliver invitations, the Órarduine Communications departments contacted the Foreign Office of each country they intended to invite. They advised each one of their intent, and a time frame for when they wanted to deliver the invitation to their head of state. It was clearly indicated that it would only take ten to fifteen minutes to deliver the invitation. If there were questions regarding the invitation or conference, the couriers could stay for up to an hour. Arrangements were made with the Foreign Office in each country for the delivery. After the Órarduine’s call, most countries called back using contact information obtained from their security agencies. The call back was to ensure that the request was authentic, several countries asked for more information on the conference.

The Iridiens, Atewa, and Monque, in conjunction with the Órarduine, selected 22 countries to invite. The Órarduine included a few special friends. Although not active in the planning, Dutsuz Commander Timalta was familiar with the plans. It was agreed that after all the invitations were delivered, the four groups would jointly hold a news conference announcing the event. At this time, Virginia, Doug, Lorelei and Earl would also extend invitations to the reporters and columnists selected.

Everyone expected that there would be one or two countries added to the list, but there was quite a bit of concern about having a little over 500 visitors at An Clochán. Other concerns centered on security and how to manage it. Every one recognized the potential for AW members, or more likely the Órarduine, to be targets of an incident. They were certain that some attendees in each delegation would be spies. There was also concern about conflict between some delegations, as several were not on friendly terms. To address these concerns, they decided on a two part strategy. First, a significant number of Iridien Special Ops and Órarduine Security Team members would be roaming An Clochán during the conference. The second part was to employ biometrics to track everybody. In order to have sufficient resources for the tracking, the AIs on the Dóchas class ships would link with Breacadh. The ship’s AIs would then manage all routine activities at An Clochán. Also, the number of Órarduine bots working in the An Clochán’s Security Center would be doubled, along with adding several Security Teams on standby in tac suits. EMT teams would be on alert in various areas of the habitat. Practice drills on handling emergencies were scheduled to be held once the conference reception area was setup. Cruisers would be on alert in case a delegation had to suddenly return to Earth.

On the day they began delivery of the invitations, eight Badb cruisers met over the North Atlantic at flight level 1500 (150,000 feet). Each cloaked cruiser was under the command of an Órarduine Command Staff. Their plan was to travel west as they delivered the invitations. They would pause over a country while the invitations were delivered. They planned on moving as a single group, except for the deliveries to the Americas and Eastern Europe where they would split into two groups. In each country, the delivery would be made by a different delegation of four Órarduine. They had considered operating uncloaked, but decided it would create too much turmoil.

Once on station over the North Atlantic, the delegation from Siobhan’s Clan departed their cruiser in a scout ship and moved to a position over Dublin, Ireland. A delegation from Sarah’s Clan, also using a scout ship, moved to a position over London, England. Their plan was to begin deliveries with Ireland and England and then move west so that all the invitations would be delivered in the morning.

Sarah said, “Is everyone ready?”

“Yea,” came the response from all the Command Staffs.

“I hope all of this effort turns out to be worth it,” said Kathryn. “We’ve invested a lot of time in this when we could have been doing other things. Don’t take my comment wrong, I think this is the right thing to do, but...”

“I think I would rather plan a tactical operation than something like this,” added Rusty which was followed by several chuckles.

“Okay,” said Aoife, “Siobhan, it is time.”

“Affirmative.”

With that, the scout ship over Ireland began its cloaked descent while monitoring surrounding air traffic. Siobhan guided the ship down into a “No Parking” place in front of the Prime Minister’s office. Looking around, they assessed their surroundings before stepping out. Once they had passed through the ship’s door and taken a few steps, they became visible. The group walked quickly toward the office entrance in their ceremonial robes. They were halfway there when former President Elaine Shonnesy came out it accompanied by the current President and Prime Minister.

When Siobhan’s delegation reached them Siobhan said, “Good morning. It is good to see you again Elaine,” and gave her a hug.

Ms. Shonnesy then introduced the new President and the Prime Minister to the Órarduine delegation. Once the introductions were complete Elaine greeted the others. Indicating that he had a few questions, the President invited everyone to his office. They spent nearly an hour discussing the significance of the visitors from Alliance of Worlds and other recent events. They assured him that the impression of the visitors gained from the interviews was accurate. They then discussed other events in which they knew the Irish leaders were interested.

As Siobhan’s delegation was entering the Irish Presidents office, Sarah’s delegation landed in the car park outside No. 10 Downing Street. Their arrival procedure was identical to the one used in Ireland. They checked the area for activity and stepped out of the cloaked ship wearing their ceremonial robes. The Prime Minister’s Secretary opened the door as they walked to the entrance. Quietly, behind them, a security detail blocked all access to the immediate area. They had previously met the new Prime Minister, Prime Minister Thomas, when she was a member of The House of Commons. She had been part of a delegation that visited them several years earlier. Today the topics they covered were similar to those that Siobhan was discussing with the Irish. PM Thomas did ask them a lot of questions about their move and what their new planet looked like. Sarah’s delegation offered to show them the 3D images of A-Celia, once the conference was over as they didn’t want to detract from the purpose of the conference. PM Thomas accepted their proposal.

With the completion of the first deliveries, the eight Command Staffs followed the sun west around the Earth. They took turns delivering the invitations so that everyone was in at least one delegation. With the deliveries so spread out they had time to relax together, besides getting some rest.

In their free time, and utilizing their special telepathic link, the eight clans took the opportunity to discuss the ‘what and how’ of establishing a settlement on A-Celia, along with its organization, economic basis and governance. They were all very familiar with the forms of government on Earth and the one used by the Connemare. They knew that there were groups in their family occasionally having similar discussions. The Alliance of Worlds brought examples of governmental and economic styles that differed from those seen on Earth. All of them wanted to become familiar with those before their family discussions on the topic. One difference between them and the people in all the examples was their telepathy and openness. It was clear that their ability to communicate telepathically would significantly affect the style of government they chose as well as its success. It would also impact on how the economy functioned. During their discussions Erin said that she thought there were ideas in some Earth science fiction novels that they should look at, even though they had never actually been tried.

They were all aware of the impact their ideas would have on the family as a whole. The eight clans were well respected for their openness and willingness to implement what the family as a whole thought were the best solutions to issues. It was clear to them that their family may want the current style of governance to continue. If that was what the family wanted then it would continue for a limited time. All of them suspected that the dynamics of their family of clans would change after they settled on A-Celia. This was mostly due to the fact that everyone would have more freedom to move about and pursue more diverse interests.

The next invitations were delivered to Argentina and Brazil, and an hour later to Canada, the US, and Chile. All of these deliveries were more formal than those to Ireland and England. In particular, the reception by the new US administration was considerably cooler toward them and their presence than President Ryan had been. The Órarduine had had only limited interaction with the other governments in the Americas.

It was while they were coasting across the Pacific that Kathryn noted the vertical distribution of the invitees. Their next stops were Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. The delegation from Maureen’s Clan spent several hours with the Australian Prime Minister. They talked about events that had happened since they were last in Australia with the Beyond the Stars choirs. Again, the Prime Minister had several questions about the conference and reception. Crystal assured him that the primary purpose was to meet and become acquainted with the members from the Alliance of Worlds.

Next they delivered invitations to Singapore and China. In Beijing, when Keriann landed their scout ship on the plaza in front of the Chinese President’s office, they noticed that the area was closely monitored. Before their delegation stepped out she instructed the ship’s AI to shift its position once they were out of the ship. Keriann, Brigid, Oriel and Caitlyn stepped through the ships door and started toward the entrance. They were several steps away from the ship when they became visible. Each was wearing their long purple ceremonial robes. These robes were made of a fine silk-like material. With each step the rippling fabric appeared to change from transparent to translucent, as well as changing from a dark rich purple to having almost no color. Although no one was close, their sudden appearance startled those monitoring the plaza. As they moved toward the entrance, the four Órarduine carefully scanned the area. There wasn’t any indication of danger, but they wanted to be sure that those monitoring their movements did only that. Their spouses had linked with them, augmenting their abilities while on the ground.

When they neared the doors, two guards opened them and saluted as they passed. Keriann’s delegation returned the salute. Waiting inside was the President, along with some members of the Central Committee. President Tau bowed and said, “Welcome to China.”

Keriann bowed before saying, “It is a pleasure to be here.” She then introduced their delegation before saying, “We came today to present you with an invitation to meet those from Alliance of Worlds. We are hosting a conference and reception for them at An Clochán on Mars. We hope you and a delegation from your country will be able to attend.”

“We are most honored that you would travel here specifically to deliver an invitation. We would be most honored if you could join us for tea?”

“We are honored to join you for tea.”

This meeting between Keriann’s delegation and the Chinese was very similar to the meetings the Órarduine had with other delegations when delivering the invitations. Like the Irish and English, the Chinese were very interested in the group from Alliance of Worlds, but just as interested in where the Órarduine were moving to. They talked about A-Celia for some time. Caitlyn told them that they planned on giving a presentation about their new home to several countries after the conference. She asked if they would like to stay for the presentation. Brigid noted they were waiting till after the conference so as not to detract from its purpose, which was to meet the members of the Alliance of Worlds.

When the Órarduine delegation exited the President’s office building with him, they smiled on seeing people looking around the plaza. It looked innocent, but to them it was clear that they were looking for their ship. Caitlyn looked at Keriann and smiled.

Caitlyn said to their scout ship’s AI, “Turn off your cloaking and then move a little closer to us.”

“Affirmative. Shields up. Cloaking off.”

When the cloaking was turned off, the ship suddenly appeared in the air some 10 meters above the plaza near where it had initially landed. Its sudden appearance caused a murmur from those in the plaza. The ship then slowly moved toward the Órarduine delegation as it descended. It was absolutely quiet. As it neared the ground, the people moved back to give it room. The Órarduine delegation had intended to say good-bye to the Chinese while the ship was landing but they decided not to because many in the group were fascinated by the ship.

After the ship landed Keriann said, “President Tau, again, it has been a pleasure to meet with you. We are looking forward to seeing you at An Clochán in four weeks’ time.” As they said their goodbyes the crowd on the plaza grew in size and formed a large semi-circle around the ship. The Órarduine delegation walked to it. At the door, they turned and bowed to the Chinese leaders before entering. The door closed then the ship slowly rose some 20 meters before vanishing. Until the ship vanished from view, no one on the plaza had moved or said a word. While many photos were taken, the scout ship appeared in none of them. The photos did show the Órarduine delegation with President Tau and the Central Committee members. There were also many photos of the delegation walking across the plaza.

“That was interesting,” said Keriann.

“When the ship became visible,” said the ships AI, “it drew a lot of people toward the plaza.”

“It certainly did,” added Brigid. “The additional people gathering around the ship appeared to irritate those who had been looking around the plaza earlier.”

“From our perspective,” said Molly, “it was an interesting visit. This puts us just past the halfway point.”

“Yes and the next four should also be very interesting,” added Jackie.

“Based on the information we just received,” said Tiff, “the Indian and Pakistani deliveries will be very formal. Saudi Arabia has given us new coordinates. These are for a courtyard inside the palace. Israeli Mossad has asked that we meet their Prime Minister on an air base outside Tel Aviv.”

“Sounds to me like the Israelis want to see what they can discover about our ships.”

“Well the Mossad said they have reliable information that suicide bombers intend to strike around the Prime Ministers’ office at the time of the delivery.”

“Let’s backup a minute. Don’t we have intelligence that there could be a problem in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey?”

“Yes. We presume they know, but only the Israelis have requested any changes.”

“It is early morning there. Too bad there isn’t enough time for our Security Teams to derail these attacks as those bombs will kill or maim a lot of people.”

“A couple of Security Teams were working on something last week to minimize the chance of any deliveries being disrupted. There weren’t any issues so we didn’t delve into it.”

Siobhan said, “Good. So for the Israeli delivery, let’s do this. At the coordinates we make a vertical descent in our cruiser from FL980, after advising Israeli ATC of our presence, and initiate the transponder. When we reach FL310, we turn off cloaking and continue our descent to FL10. Shortly after reaching FL10, our delegation exits the cruiser in an uncloaked scout ship and the delivery proceeds as we have been doing.”

“Will shields be up?”

“Yes. We will also be monitoring our surroundings.”

“You realize that our deliveries to Russia, Turkey and the Ukraine will be underway before you finish in Israel.”

“Yes. Considering the new intelligence information, we should travel in pairs for Israel, Russia and Turkey. I don’t know that we will need any assistance, but it is nice to have extra resources readily available.”

“It’s time to get in position for our deliveries to India and Pakistan,” said Sarah.

In Russia, it was a delegation from Siobhan’s Clan that delivered the invitation. Prime Minister Kovalenko and the President, along with several Central Committee Members, were waiting for them when they stepped out of their scout ship. After introductions, Prime Minister Kovalenko invited Siobhan’s group to join him in his office. In his office, Kendra presented him with the invitation. Once the invitation had been passed over, Casidhe handed the Prime Minister’s assistant the package containing the agenda, itinerary and other conference information. Prime Minister Kovalenko thanked them for personally delivering the invitation and assured them that he was looking forward to visiting Mars again. The Russians asked about the Iridiens, Monque, Atewa and Dutsuz. Many of their questions seemed to key off of information from the live interviews that Virginia and Doug had hosted.

Siobhan’s delegation had been there a little over an hour when Keira indicated that they needed to be on their way. The Prime Minister asked them how their plans for moving to A-Celia were coming along. Melissa gave them a thumbnail sketch of their plans. She noted that a detailed presentation on A-Celia was to be given to several other countries on the day after the conference. He and his team were welcome to stay for the presentation but she pointed out that it would add a day to their stay on Mars. The Prime Minister told them that he was very interested in seeing their plans and wouldn’t mind staying an extra day.

When the Órarduine delegation stepped outside with the Russians, they saw a large crowd gathered around their ship. After saying good-bye, they headed toward it. They were about half way there when two young people slipped out of the crowd and ran toward them. They looked very tired and seemed a bit unsure of themselves but clearly intent on meeting them. Both were wearing minimal clothing for the very cool weather. Their clothes looked well worn. Almost immediately several security guards were moving to intercept the teenagers. Casidhe said, “Stop. Leave them be!” The three guards stopped on hearing the unspoken command. They watched nervously as the four Órarduine turned and walked toward the young people. The crowd quietly moved back, distancing themselves from the pair.

When the young people reached the Órarduine, they looked up as the Órarduine were nearly 25 cm taller. Keira said in Russian, “Hello, my name is Keira,” as she offered her hand. She then introduced Casidhe, Kendra and Melissa. After shaking hands she asked, “Can we help you with something?”

The two teenagers were speechless. They had never expected to get this far, but their dreams during the last week had been so compelling. So compelling that they had decided to risk everything and try to fulfill them.

Behind the Órarduine Prime Minister Kovalenko, the President and several others moved toward the group. They were embarrassed that these young people were delaying the Órarduine’s departure. The PM was surprised when the security guards suddenly halted after initially moving to intercept the children. Now, they just watched rather than forcing the young people back into the crowd. The Órarduine could see the children’s eyes getting bigger and sensed the Prime Minister and his group approaching.

When Casidhe looked around, she saw that they and the security people were edgy. She caught the Prime Minister’s eye and shook her head slightly as she said, “Prime Minister Kovalenko, please wait before you approach. The children are not a threat but are very nervous. They have traveled a long way to meet us. They feel they must ask us something and we would like to hear them out.” The Prime Minister was surprised to hear Casidhe talking to him as if she was whispering in his ear while she was so far away. When he stopped moving, the rest of his group did as well. “Thank you.” The crowd was very quiet. It was so quiet that he could hear the Órarduine and the children talking.

The girl softly said, “It looks like we are in trouble now,” as she glanced at the three security guards.

“They are just following their instructions. They will not bother you since you are with us. Why did you come here to meet us?”

The boy and girl looked at each other for a moment before the boy said, “For many weeks, both of us have had the same dream. In the dream we were among many people like you. We flew with you in space ships to visit other worlds. After each dream, our desire to meet you was stronger.”

The girl continued with, “Seven days ago, our dreams changed dramatically. In these we saw ourselves coming here to meet the four of you. The dream almost seemed as if we were being given instructions on how to get here in time to meet you. You are the people that the dreams showed us meeting.”

“Are you saying it was the four of us were portrayed in your dreams?”

“Yes,” replied the young man.

“Where are your parents?”

“They died a long time ago. Our fathers and mothers were killed in separate accidents several months after our fathers returned from service. Our fathers were in a special military unit. We are not brother and sister, but in some respects we feel like, and act like, twins. After the accidents both of us were sent to live in a boarding school which is a two day train journey from here. The school is where we met.”

“What happened in your dream after you met us?”

“We left with you.”

“Oh, you did, did you?” said Melissa with a smile. “There is more to this, isn’t there?”

The boy and girl both nodded their heads in agreement. They were tightly gripping each other’s hands. Their uncertainty was growing by the minute but they drew their strength from the vividness of their dreams and each other.