Chapter 8: The Royals

“How was the week?” Brecht asked as they all sat around her table as dinner was served.

“Before we answer, Brecht may I introduce you to Palatal Nulagor who is Jason’s political partner at the War College,” said Razza. “We are looking at lining her up to take some of Philippa’s role. Her father runs one of the Jumo planets, Beeliar.”

“Ah yes Beeliar; I remember it well. I hope your family survived?”

“Yes, thank you for asking Prime Minister. They were saved just in time.”

“Jason, one of my diplomats says he saw a huge statue of you and one of me in the square in the capital. I am in my praying mantis form and it is an excellent likeness, they removed half a million years from my age and gave you a few centuries. You look much older and very serious. He says it looks more like your great grandfather.” Brecht laughed.

Palatal looked startled.

Brecht looked at her. “Child he is incorrigible. Has he been spinning the yarn that he is a nobody from the Kolravian Nebula or from the mythical planet Earth? Or was it lots of people look like me, I have a common face? I expect you also thought you were coming here in a small yacht, shuttle or freighter, not a showy dreadnaught!

“I can see from your face it was all of that. They always tell me son in laws are difficult. In his case he is a black hole for trouble, money and wives. We all love him despite all of that. He is a darling man when he is not scowling” – she snorted.

“Jason, the Uzliumbax Queen has been rebuilt and has had several days rehabilitation. She is anxiously awaiting her Emperor. I suggest you take Philippa with you to meet her. I will make sure all the rest get back to the estate safely. Take Palatal to get the package of upgrades while you are at the hospital. I will call ahead. She might as well learn to fly this weekend.

“Palatal what crystal do you have?” She asked.

“Prime minister, I have a small yellow administrative one I found in a trans-dim room two years ago. It specializes in accounting, law, politics and diplomacy,” replied Palatal.

“We will give you a better broader one. It will be done at the hospital. It will take no time at all. If you are to be with this lot you need to do it on equal terms, not with that ancient outdated stuff.” Brecht offered.

“Prime minister I cannot accept such gifts,” said Palatal.

“Of course, you can my dear. It gives me pleasure to give gifts. Remember Palatal we are all in politics and you are advised not to speak of what you hear and see here.”

“Thank you, prime minister. I am well aware of what I am seeing and hearing and I shall keep everything confidential.”

***

“Queen Omarosa, I am Jason Kargo your Emperor, I am told. This is my Queen Philippa. Please call me Jason.”

“Thank the stars above you are back Emperor. You look both younger and healthier, but your names are different.”

“The return from distant Universes requires as you know a difficult and uncertain process sometimes. We returned to different races and times and without our memories. Finding our way back has been difficult. We were surprised to find you in stasis,” said Jason.

“No-one expected Osman to succeed in the vote. He tried to bully us all without success. The public debate was against the idea but the vote in the end was overwhelmingly positive. I must say, I was surprised but we were sliding down a slippery slope into a society that was uncomfortable.

“We hardly had time to think about the stasis, it was all planned and the process began. Every day we thought you might be back and put an end to the nonsense. Then I awoke paralyzed and heard I had been poisoned and felt sick and horrible, then nothing for some more time, and now I woke up with a new body and told I was in the Collective. The doctors told me you had returned.”

Jason told her what he knew about Osman Ebdelkader and his scheming and the other Kings and Queens.

“I suspected Bibi of being a gambler. She also had shady friends. I am appalled that she sold out the Teokraeus. She was so pleasant and charming; I would never have guessed, Emperor.”

“Please call me Jason. I hate formality, specially the whole Emperor thing.”

“Jason you were always like that, I am Istar.” Said the Queen.

“Istar I will be back in a week to talk to those of you who had been poisoned. The others will remain in stasis. We are investigating what has been happening. Work hard at your rehabilitation.”

Jason and Philippa collected Palatal and they returned to the Estate. Palatal was hopping from foot to foot and grinning like a banshee as she waited for them then burst forth. “I can change myself into an orc, a Gromelix and a stick like insect a ‘paying vampis’ or some such. I am dying to learn to fly. I have a huge awesome new crystal and I have no headache. Thank you both so much. Philippa your mother is awesome. I am so excited I hope I can sleep. How long to the morning?”

“Soon enough Palatal, soon enough,” said Philippa smiling broadly.

***

“Jason joined Brecht Chatzke for breakfast with the same group as the week before.

Jason set between Zafa Nefu and Nara Pela. Andrea and Linda sat giggling at the other side of table with the intelligence people.

“Thomas will be joining us after breakfast. He is at the hospital visiting the Queen. He has two others with him part of the new internal intelligence group he has constituted in support of our operations,” said Ouma Chatzke. We also have Arthur who is our AI responsible for forensic accounting who will be reporting.

Jason saw Sinefu looking at him intently. He smiled. She smiled back at him, then blushed.

“Everything is laid out on the buffet table, please help yourselves,” said Brecht.

Jason stood up to help himself and waved off his eager potential assistants. He smiled at them. When he returned to his seat, he found Anissa placing a cup of coffee the table for him. He smiled at her. “Thank you, Anissa.”

“Jason you will enjoy Uzliumbax food very much. It will definitely suit you. The quality of the food is outstanding. Even at this early stage they are producing a surplus of food and have sent several AI chefs to demonstrate the cooking methods. They are only cooking for our people and for all the teams doing the investigations, but they did agree to send a few here. Today we will eat Uzliumbax food including this breakfast,” said Osgood.

“That is excellent,” said Jason. “I hope we don’t get poisoned!”

“It will take ten thousand years to have a significant effect. If the components form a poison our medical machines will remove it. The team from the Warriors tell us the poison is different than the one that was used on them, but it has a similar effect. They said their own poison was difficult to detect because it is a multi-component poison. It appeared in small amounts in different foods and only when certain foods were combined does the poison manifest itself. They expect a similar or more complex poison on the Uzliumbax planets.”

Jason ate what he thought was an oat porridge, but found it had a nutty flavor along with what he was sure was honey. It had fruit sprinkled on the top that he could not identify. He enjoyed it very much. The hot food tasted very much like Mexican flavors. Some of it was spicy and hot.

“Osgood, I agree with you fully, I enjoyed the food very much.”

Jason recognized Thomas entering the room with another person who he could not identify with several individuals following them.

Osgood introduced Arthur and the two intelligence AI generals.

A very refined silver haired woman entered the room uncertainly.

“I would like to introduce Adm. Marcella Arsenia to you all. She is also a very unusual individual in the Armed Forces. She is a Reverend Mother. She works in the political division of intelligence. She suggested she could be of some assistance. She is of the original group who were worshipers of the old religion. They have managed to assure autonomy for the old religion as long as they do not spread it or compete with the official religion. Her order is greatly respected, and she is one of the oldest known Destroyers. Today she wishes to observe but says she will comment when appropriate. She is working with Thomas on the strategies of reunification of the peoples. She predicted the prophecies were beginning to be fulfilled and ensured she was on our ship.” Zafa introduced her to each member of the group.

The Reverend Mother looked at Jason intently and smiled. He felt a caress in his mind. He had never felt anything like it. He was sure he recognized her from somewhere. She was so familiar.

“Jason I will come to you tonight. You must ask all of your women who are currently available to be there as well as both of your groups. I have much to tell you all and all of you have to make some preparations of what needs to be done to make you less vulnerable. I am older than any of your people. I was old before the Uzliumbax moved from Bekta Delta. You are not ready yet to know how you know me but know me you do. We have much to teach you again later, but this is not the time,” she said.

“Thomas would you like to lead the discussion?” Ouma Chatzke asked.

“Thank you, Prime Minister, for giving me the opportunity to address this illustrious group. Emperor, it is my honor to represent you in this inquiry into the events that occurred while you were away. Before I begin, I would like to thank all the allies who have helped and participated in our investigations. I believe Jacques will be here shortly to present what has been found by the Warriors.

“I will begin with the easier part of the work that has been undertaken.

“Together with the allies we have developed a method of ascertaining very quickly if key individuals have been poisoned. Those poisoned, have been sent to the allies to be rebuilt and rehabilitated. The new facilities at Porquenta and Mars are able to process one hundred thousand people per week. This will expand within four months to forty-million every five days. I would like to thank Ouma Chatzke for all the help that she has given us in coordinating sufficient medical personnel to undertake the task. We are now able to supply sufficient personnel to operate all of the forty-million medical pods. We appreciate the assistance that we have received from all the allies in saving people who are the intellectual foundation of the Uzliumbax people. We are delighted to discover every single one of them will be able to be rebuilt. This work is occurring on four hundred planets concurrently and will be extended to five hundred planets within two weeks.

“I would also like to thank the allies for their assistance in speeding up the process of removal of our people from stasis. Twenty percent of our population is being brought out of stasis. The process of bringing an individual out of stasis along with the necessary rehabilitation takes two months. We have been carefully reabsorbing all of the old AIs, that were deactivated due to our concerns about loyalty. This has meant we have built forty-billion AIs to substitute for their functions since the commencement of activation began. Twenty-billion further AIs per planet have been constructed in high security complexes to replace the AIs on each planet. We are sending AI lecturers to all the allies to help with the educational upgrades.

“We have commenced revenue producing activities to ensure the financial viability of the Uzliumbax Empire. We will discuss this further with the Emperor and Empresses. We understand Empress Philippa is in charge of operations for the Emperor.

“Following the decontamination of our programming we have constituted an internal intelligence group that is working together with our allies. We are undertaking investigation and selected operations on behalf of the Uzliumbax Empire and our Emperor.

“We have assumed control of all the government departments and the Armed Forces to reduce the risk of any possible attempts to provoke a Civil War or a coup d’état against the Emperor.

“We have worked together with the allies who have investigated the plot against our Emperor and we have further investigated the elaborate scheme to frame him on his return. I would like to ask Arthur to discuss some of the financial information that has been discovered by the combined teams.”

Arthur stood up and looked at his audience before concentrating his gaze on Jason.

“Our Emperor owned a substantial share of the Empire at the time he left to embark upon research in other universes. His Association was the wealthiest by a long way in the Uzliumbax Empire. We have discovered embezzlement of his assets by the Destroyers over a long time. Assets have disappeared, and we believe they have been redirected to the Destroyers. Superficially, it appears the Emperor himself has embezzled the money from his own Association. All of this activity was directed by Osman and his cronies. We have recovered ninety percent of the assets stolen by Osman over nine hundred thousand years. Queen BibiNana embezzled Uzliumbax money wherever she could. Less of it has been returned as we believe it was either directed into criminal activities or gambled away. We have also traced her associates and their criminal activities. The courts have ruled them serious criminals and they will remain in stasis.

“The financial situation of the Uzliumbax people is highly satisfactory as is that of your own Association Emperor. We continue to trace criminal activity and embezzlement through the banking systems. I will now hand back to Thomas.”

He sat down and Thomas continued.

“We are also able to prove Queen BibiNana revealed the location of the Teokraeus planet and also sold out the Teokraeus throughout the Empire, while criminal syndicates did the work of rounding up the Teokraeus for her and the Destroyers. The family of King Emisum Abi-Sare is being held along with the Teokraeus and we have every reason to believe they are in Bekta Delta on one of the core planets.

“The prosecutorial team were provided with the information which they have taken through the courts. King Osman Abdelkader and Queen BibiNana Kullahati Wukrat have been found guilty of treason and have been sentenced to remain in stasis forevermore.

“The remaining Royal group who were poisoned and the one whose family is held hostage, are all recovering, as are the scientists, doctors, academics and other intellectuals.

“We began to work using the past experience of the Collective: we searched for and discovered Destroyer AIs in many government departments. All were shut down as the Uzliumbax entered stasis. We have decontaminated all government departments and are moving through the military. The War Colleges as you would expect have many renegade AIs and staff. Unlike our Collective friends many of the staff are traitors rather than implanted Destroyers. There are several teams of Destroyers who were on the staff of Osman Ebdelkader and scattered through his departments.

“We are in the fortunate position to have not encountered any significant opposition so far. The rogue AIs were activated while detached from broader networks and identified. None of those criminals who were recovering from stasis were in any position to resist. Most of them were still in stasis. We have devoted five days of our Empire wide manufacture to create intelligence AIs to be able to do the same exercise on every planet along with the help of the allies.

“Following the intelligence exercise, we will decide how they are used further. Our scientists and academics and top people have been identified and we are moving swiftly to rebuild and rehabilitate them. Porquenta and Mars have facilities as you have been informed. Venus and Sophia are building facilities to help the process with the Uzliumbax and later the recovery of the Safion. Our allies have proposed they spend three months with them assisting them with teaching and education programs before they move to your planets, Emperor. Porquenta and Mars will take care of those that are rehabilitated on those planets and will then accommodate scientists and academics until they have sufficient staff for the universities, research and development. They will all be joined by their families who will be taken out of stasis soon. We are scheduling them for early removal from stasis. As Venus and Sophia come online we will build more facilities. We are beginning to suspect many bodies will have to be rebuilt. Many who are coming out of stasis are not doing as well as we had hoped.

“Those who have major responsibilities to the Uzliumbax planets during the phase of awakening will be returned as soon as possible.

“Emperor, I propose after extensive conversations, that we act on your behalf to inform all our people of your return and provide the opportunity to interact and discuss their concerns very much as the mothers of your children do with Porquenta. We can commence the information and interaction as soon as possible on your behalf and answer inquiries and questions. The people are anxious for news and to hear from the Emperor. We suggest you do a preliminary broadcast this weekend and we will, with your permission, take it from there. The media are beginning to demand more information. They are much more obnoxious than the media in the Collective.” Thomas said.

“Thomas that is an excellent idea. I will be happy to do a broadcast and I will ask my AI to provide an updated background of my life appropriate for dissemination.” Jason agreed.

“Emperor, I would suggest you keep the Kings and Queens with you on Porquenta. Doing that will allow you to continue your studies and they will be out of danger. We will stabilize the situation soon but we need to exercise due care. The gate from the Collective will be operational in one month. We have our own gates which we are overhauling and we will install gates from Ethora and the main planets to Porquenta and Mars. Each of our planets has many gates. We are working to make them interoperable with the Collective design. I will now hand over to Osgood.” He said, sitting back down.

“Thank you very much Thomas, excellent work is being done. Thank you also Arthur, I feel much more confident knowing what is happening. Thomas, do we know who has been meddling with the medical AIs and are we able to remove the poison with our own medical pods in the Empire?” Jason asked.

“Osgood will speak to those points. The Warriors are working in that area,” said Thomas and he indicated to Osgood to speak.

“Brecht, Jason, ladies and gentlemen, we have been greatly assisted in our endeavors by Thomas and his colleagues who have rapidly risen to the challenge.

“Jason, this crisis in your empire has presented a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to clean up crime and to remove pernicious influences from within your society. With the resources we have at our disposal, we are all able to move very quickly and are doing so. Philippa’s team have been auditing your companies and assets and are actively involved in consolidating your control over your Association. The Association is equivalent to a house in the Cassius Empire. You have a very diverse set of holdings on nearly every planet of the Uzliumbax Empire. Philippa is actively pursuing all of your assets to ensure they are properly in your hands and she is ensuring all your staff are loyal. She is beginning to work with them. She tells me, Osmond had the greatest difficulty stealing your assets, but he did, little bit by little bit over a very long time. She was delighted to find she can add the Uzliumbax administrative resources to help her. We found that one of your administrators was a Destroyer and seven were members of criminal syndicates.