Chapter 13: Porquenta and the Allies

“I liked the Ghouls,” said Andrea. “They were delightful to speak to and very friendly. Every single one I spoke to apologized for their behavior and told the same story of recalling previous wonderful times with your people, Jason.

“Finally, you are accepting your role as an Emperor. Your major opposition comes from Lisirra, yet she is always close to you and touches you whenever she can. The Ghouls had no hesitation in ratifying Ixal as their Queen, and you Jason as the Emperor of old.”

“It all went much faster than I thought. They can operate independently or like the Una. Ixal in Una mode can communicate with billions and hold another conversation at the same time. I thought we would need to be there for two or three days for Ixal to establish control. Not so, it all happened in hours.

“I think Lisirra will change. She has powerful people giving her feedback. She does have issues, I have no doubt she has a lot to sort out. I think her attitude to me is aberration. She is attracted to me but can’t accept it. She found a method to keep a distance. If she believes me she draws closer to me than she can tolerate. She needs time and she is going nowhere else,” said Jason.

“I agree, she is a complex young lady. You may be right about her need to distance herself from someone she is attracted to. I wish she improves quickly. She is such a pain so much of the time,” said Linda. “I also did enjoy the Ghouls.”

“Strangely enough I am beginning to accept the possibility that I was an Emperor,” said Jason. “I could see no reason to argue with the Ghouls about something I know nothing about. I am pleased the Ghouls will ally themselves with us.

“Lisirra bugs me. I find her attractive but she is such hard work. I am sure she has more complex reasons for doing what she does than she has told us. She has a very strange personality that takes a lot of getting used to.

“I am more tolerant of her because of her critical role in the battle and her future critical role. The Zaos provide us with important intelligence and there is more to her work for her father she has not told us either. She knows the Schlogg well. I wonder how that happened. She helped us avoid casualties and she saved my life when we both fought the Queen. I don’t care she objects to all I do, and she is downright oppositional at worst. The fact that she is continuing to stick to us like glue indicates to me she is very much along a for the ride. I like her when she is not obnoxious, and I certainly respect her abilities.

“I also like having Ixal around. She is positive and energetic and a breath of fresh air, despite her awful experiences with her mother. She has plenty of reasons to have been awful yet she is a delight.

“The biggest surprise to all of us including the Ghouls was finding how many of them there were. There were huge storage vaults underground filled with Ghouls in stasis on every one of their twenty planets. I was also surprised how many ships they had mothballed. They simply did not have enough Ghouls in reasonable condition to fly them and maintain them.

“I thought we could easily accommodate all of the Ghouls on Porquenta, Mars and Venus until I discovered how many of them there were. We simply don’t have enough planets for all of them to return to our universe. We can accommodate twenty billion of them on each planet. That will certainly help us get going. Porquenta thinks he can find another five planets in the short term,” said Jason. “The other alternative is to move the Ghoul planets, I suppose,” said Jason. “How is Philippa going?”

“Philippa sounds excited and enthusiastic. She says she receives a Porquenta’s broadcast every day. She says she feels as well supported and she thinks Porquenta’s approach is very interesting. She’s spending most of her time in the palace on Porquenta. Porquenta built an administrative center for her where she can coordinate our business interests from one location with ease. Her sisters visit regularly. The gates have made an enormous difference. Porquenta was devastated when I told him what happened to his originators. He said he was pleased to be told their name which had been suppressed from him. He said when he heard who his originators were it opened new functions in him. All of the planetary AIs are very distressed. Nuswa is grieving the most as she remembers the most about the Safion and had centuries of contact with them.

“I was concerned about the necessary mass compensation for breaching the rule in relation to the movement of the Ghoul population progressively into our universe and galaxy. Porquenta believes he has a solution and he wants to discuss it when we meet with the allies. He says he has a diabolical new plan, but he is not sure if his desire for revenge has overcome his good sense. He suspects he is unbalanced at present.

“How late are we for the meeting?” Jason asked.

“We are part of a day late. We will arrive in the late afternoon of the first day of meetings,” said Andrea.

“I suggest we go and test the Warhammer. We have a couple of hours before we get there. The whole Ghoul problem was solved so quickly, I cannot believe it.”

“Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to welcome you all to the second day of our meeting of leaders of the alliance,” said Ouma(Brecht) Chatzke the chairman. We welcome the representatives of our two new allies, Lisirra Chamadar Crown Princess of the Zaos and Ixal Kabal Queen of the Ghouls. We welcomed our Una friends from Universe Bekta 9 yesterday, the planet Lopis. We welcome Jason Kargo back into the fold. He has returned to us after becoming an Emperor of the Ghouls. Who ever would have thought something like that would happen?” Brecht asked.

Many in the audience grinned broadly. Lynas Parayekt Queen of the Tyrannosauruses laughed loudly and clapped her hands. She looked lovely in her human form in a lushly textured gown with an egg sized pearl necklace.

“We hope you have recovered from carrying a castle, a cruiser and Lisirra around for a day. Jason, it never ceases to amaze me what strange situations arise when you are involved.”

Everyone laughed except Jason who shifted awkwardly in his seat.

“I am told you were surprised you were tired after destroying an entire fleet using your powers,” said Ouma Chatzke grinning. The group laughed loudly and several hooted and cheered.