Chapter 66: The Shepherd Prince

While Carina was taking care of Samantha, Lily and I walked over to a small canteen next door to the clinic. The owner, who was very good friends with Carina, led us to an enclosed patio in the rear of the establishment, brought us some great French coffee, and left us alone.

“What did you do to her?” Lily asked. “I’ve never seen anything like it!”

“Wait a minute,” I told her. “You promised to explain about this ... what did you call it?”

“It’s called Astatinium. It’s a bidimensional element so powerful that one drop of Astatinium can power half our planet for 100 of your years. Our home world relies on it to power almost everything.

“About four thousand years ago, one of our ships carrying a cargo of Astatinium bound for my home world crashed on your planet. As our supply of Astatinium dwindled, our leaders decided to try and recover the Astatinium from the crashed spaceship, so about five hundred years ago, my parents were sent to oversee the recovery effort.

“But because the state of your technology at that time did not allow them to conveniently travel and search for it, my parents were patient and did the best they could. My brothers and I were all born on this world as they waited.”

“Wait! How old are you,” I asked.

“I was born in 1811 in Sante Fe, in what was then called the Kingdom of New Mexico. Later my family migrated to the Oregon Territory. We were always having to move about every ten years because people eventually became scared when we didn’t age. Later, we moved to Calgary and then many other places. My parents were always looking for the downed spacecraft.”

“Shit!” I exclaimed. “You’re over 200 years old? I swear, you don’t look a day over 25. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, it’s just that we age differently than you do,” she offered.

“Sorry to interrupt, please continue,” I told her.

“We finally discovered the crash site in the Bahamas some sixty years ago and began excavating. But we were slowed by the lack of proper tools and equipment. We also suffered from frequent interruptions by nosy natives, the local authorities, and tourists. Then, my parents decided to return to our world to get more supplies and the proper tools, leaving me and my brothers to protect the site.

“They were finally able to send back the equipment and supplies, but were unable to make the jump themselves. So as we filled each chest, I would send it back with one of my brothers. I was just about finished with the last chest when those bloody Posani bastards appeared!”

“Posani?”

“The Posani are our mortal enemies. Our nations have been at war for longer than your world has existed,” she explained.

“So what happened?” I asked.

“I suppose that when those first chests of Astatinium reappeared on our world, the Posani got word of it and sent a team to this world to take it. I should have known that could happen and been better prepared!” she said in disgust.

“Hey. You can’t always think of everything,” I told her with a smile.

“That’s true. But then, like an avenging angel, you appeared!” she said, her voice edged with excitement and a gleam in her eye. “In all of our time on this world, I have never seen anything like it! So tell me, how did you do what you did with the Astatinium?” she asked.

“I don’t know. What I did was based on instinct,” I told her. Then I told her my story.

“The pink planet?” she asked. “Why do you call it that?”

“Because every time I have visited it, it seemed to have a pink cast to the sky,” I replied. “Why? Do you know of such a planet?”

Lily hesitated for a long time and then answered.

“I haven’t had the chance to travel like my parents have. I’ll have to ask them the next time we communicate.” I could tell she was not telling me everything.

“How do you communicate with them?” I asked.

“We use a crystal harmonic,” she replied.

“A crystal what?” I asked.

“It’s like a smartphone for calling really long distances. It takes a lot of power, so we don’t do it often,” she explained as she pulled something that resembled a large tube of lipstick from her pocket. “Unfortunately, what I need to power it is in that chest you took from me.” Then she offered me the small tube to look at.

The moment I touched it, it crackled loudly with static. Moments later, a voice could be heard, speaking a language I did not recognize.

“What did you DO?” Lily cried as she grabbed for the tube.

“Lily? Is that you?” the voice asked in English.

“Mother?”

“Do you have the final chest? Are you ready to come home?” the voice asked.

“No, I do not have the chest and no, I am not ready to come home,” Lily replied.

“Then what’s going on,” her mother asked, as her voice faded. “It sounds like your energy cell is fading.”

“I don’t have an energy cell,” Lily told her mother while looking at me appraisingly.

“What do you mean...” her mother started as Lily suddenly reached over and touched the lipstick device to the back of my hand.

“ ... you don’t have an energy cell? How are you able to communicate?” her mother asked, confused.

“I ... I ... ran into some complications. Three Posani jumped our claim and stole the Astatinium.”

There were several questions that she could have asked, based on the importance of the Astatinium, but my respect for her mother soared when she asked her next question.

“Are you alright, my daughter?” she asked compassionately.

“I’ll be fine, Mother,” she replied. “Fortunately, I was rescued by a Shepherd Prince.”

“A Shepherd Prince?” her mother asked in disbelief. “Are you certain? A real Shepherd Prince? On Earth?”

“I believe it to be so,” Lily told her mother. “However, it is confusing. He captured the three Posani without killing them, took the Astatinium, rescued me and transported me from the Bahamas to France in the blink of an eye, then he saved his friend from Astatinium poisoning.”

“So when can you return to our home?” her mother asked. “Your brothers are yet to arrive.”

“I don’t know. I no longer have the last chest,” she said sadly.

There was a long pause, then her mother asked, “If we can obtain another container, do you think there is enough Astatinium left at the crash site to fill it? And could you do so safely?”

“I fear not. The Posani were literally raking through the scrum and pulling out almost nothing,” she told her. “I would doubt there is enough left to fill a spoon.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it,” I told Lily. “The last chest is yours when you’re ready for it.”

“Really?” she squealed as she dove across the small table at me, wrapping me in a bearhug.

Of course, when she did, she dropped her communicator and lost contact with her mother. It took her another few moments to gather herself while I picked up the chairs and the cups that had fallen. The owner came out to check on us, then went back inside when he saw we had it handled.

Finally, Lily calmed down and we re-established contact with her mother. There was obviously some celebrating on their end as well, and I came to realize just how important this Astatinium was to their world.

After many thanks, we finally disconnected, but before we did, Lily’s mother warned her of the consequences of giving in to her feelings, but in the end, told her to follow her heart. I’m sure there was a lot more to that exchange, but I guessed I would talk about it with her later. We needed to get back to the clinic.

Samantha was sitting up and claiming that she was ready to get back to work when we returned, but Carina wanted her to stay for the night, to observe her. Carina also said she had called Reggie and that everyone in Zurich appeared fine.

I was telling Carina what Lily had said about Astatinium poisoning when her cell phone rang. It was Reggie and he said that the Cécile was under attack. One moment later and I was on the bridge. Lily appeared beside me just moments later.

“Five minutes ago, it began closing on us and then fired a warning shot across our bow. That’s an old naval signal for us to stop,” Captain Alfred said.

I scanned the unknown ship and discovered several things, including that there were only four electronic signatures for people on the whole ship. There was also a single computer identity, but it appeared to be very powerful one. I studied it for a few more minutes and then as I saw the gun turrets began to move, I zapped the computer unit and then the four people.

You could tell that I had disabled it when the turrets suddenly quit moving and the ship’s speed decreased dramatically. We all watched as the old ship slowed and then began wallowing in the waves.

Upon closer examination, the unknown ship appeared to be a British World War II era battlecruiser. It had four twin 15inch guns along with seven twin 4 inch Anti-Aircraft guns plus a slew of others.

“I’d have to look it up to be sure, but it looks a lot like the HMS Hood. Except the Hood was sunk, I think, in the Battle of Denmark Strait back in 1941,” Captain Tony said.

“Should we help them?” I asked.

“No. I’ll radio in a mayday with our location. We’ll let the Navy handle this one,” he said.

“How did you do that?” I asked Lily as we made our way downstairs. I was referring to her teleporting to the Cécile at the same time that I did.

“Actually, our parents taught us to do it when we were young. But it takes a tremendous amount of personal power to go even a short distance. I could never have done what you did. But when I saw what you were doing, I reached out and tagged on to you and you pulled me here,” she explained.

“Is that how you are going to get home?” I asked.

“I was supposed to use a little of the power from the Astatinium in the last trunk to reach my parent’s accelerator. That would have then sent me home,” she supplied.

“And where is this accelerator?” I asked.

“It’s not so much ‘where’ the accelerator is as ‘when’ the accelerator is. Interdimensional travel is all about timing, really,” she replied.

“You’re back!” Rachel squealed and launched herself at me. After we had said our hello’s, I began to fill everyone in on what had happened in Zurich and Cannes. I let Lily explain about our conversation with her mother.

“So everyone’s okay?” asked Monique.

“Yeah. I’ll go and get Samantha tomorrow,” I told her. “But for now, I’m going to bed. I’m bushed!”

Rachel let me sleep in on Friday morning. She said she felt sorry for me, but I found out later she had gotten up early, and was talking to Lily. I swear that girl could smell another girl’s interest in me from halfway around the world.

When I finally made my way to the coffee pot on the bridge, I learned that we were passing the Turks and Caicos Islands on our port side, headed to the small island of Grand Turk where we were going to be stopping at Cockburn Town to reprovision later this afternoon. That explained why everyone was dressed and why they sent me back to my room to put on clothes.

As we pulled into the long pier in front of Jack’s Shack Beach Bar & Grill, I noticed five men standing by the fuel pump. One of them was my dad.

I tossed him the forward line and he held it until I could jump over to the pier and show him how to tie it off, while Anna and Fleur took care of the aft lines. Then he hugged me but didn’t say a word.

The next person I noticed was Admiral Bouchard. I was surprised but quickly grasped him and hugged him also as I tried to remember how long it had been. I finally figured out I had last seen him in Fort Lauderdale as we finished our trans-Atlantic crossing the first week of June, over a month ago.

Before I could ask him what he was doing here, he straightened and said, “Alex, may I present my soon-to-be-former-boss and Commander of the Charles de Gaulle French Naval Task Force, Admiral Thomas-Augustin de Gasparin. Tom, I’d like you to meet one of the finest young sailors I have ever had the pleasure to sail with, Alex Masters, of Marietta, Georgia and Cannes, France.”

I noticed that Captain Alfred and Captain Tony had both come to attention on the bridge wing, their arms locked in a salute.

“At ease,” the Admiral told them as he returned their salute, then turning to me he offered his hand.

“Bonjour,” he said as he shook my hand firmly. “How do you do?”

“It is an honor to meet you, Sir,” I told him formally.

“If what I have heard is true, then the honor is all mine,” Admiral Tom said with a warm smile.

I could see immediately why so many men would chose to follow a man like this. He exuded confidence and poise.

“And Alex, I’d like to introduce you to Lord Birney. He says you two have spoken over the telephone a couple of times,” Admiral Craig said.

“A pleasure to finally meet the person behind the voice and the extraordinary deeds,” Lord Birney said smoothly. He was not as awe inspiring as Admiral de Gasparin, yet he carried himself with an undisguised dignity.

“I hope we can talk later,” he said, putting off all my sudden questions.

As Admiral Craig approached the steps to the Cécile, he stopped and saluted Captain Alfred and Captain Tony. “Permission to come aboard?”

“Permission granted,” I answered for them. “And welcome to my home.” Then I led my dad, Admirals Craig and Tom and Lord Birney into the salon. I found out later the fifth man was one of Reggie’s agents but was never introduced to him. Of course there was another round of less formal introductions as Captain Alfred and Captain Tony shook hands and introduced their families. I made sure to introduce Rachel and Jana as well. But I skipped Lily on purpose.

“May I call you Alex?” Lord Birney asked.

“Of course,” I told him.

“Would it be possible to impose on you some more and ask you to take us out?” he asked. “No more than a couple of kilometers should be fine.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Rachel thought to me as she rose and headed to the bridge. Charlotte and Marta went with her.

Captain Alfred looked at me with a grin. “Don’t look at me. It was your girlfriend’s idea to teach them all how to sail the Cécile. They’re actually pretty good.”

I was fine with it. Actually I was very pleased that they even showed any interest in sailing the large yacht. Now, if I could just figure out what Lord Birney was up to.

It didn’t take the teens but a few minutes to have us a few miles off shore. Once we were out to sea, they were all dismissed, leaving only the adults and myself in the salon.

“It’s your nickel,” I told Lord Birney.

“What I am about to tell you is covered by His Majesty’s Official Secrets Act. You may not reveal anything that is said this afternoon to anyone, anytime, anywhere without facing serious prosecution. You may chose to leave now if this offends you.”

“I don’t think so!” I said quickly. “We’re not playing that game. You can take your ‘official Secrets Act’ and leave, or I’ll just toss you overboard now!”

“I beg your pardon!” Lord Birney said stiffly. I don’t think that anyone had ever stood up to his bullying before.

“Look, this is my boat and I did not invite you here so you could wave your British Secrets Act under our noses and have us make ludicrous promises about never revealing what you choose to tell us,” I said. “Tell us or leave, but don’t ever pull that shit on me again!”

I think maybe Lord Birney figured out that he had just made a big mistake!

“I think maybe ... I have used that phrase a little too often,” he started. “First of all, my name is not Lord Birney. That name is a pseudonym for whoever currently heads a little known British Investigatory Tribunal, charged with investigating reports of alien contact,” Lord Birney started. “We report only to His Majesty or his designate.