Chapter 14

I quickly described North America from my universe to all. Janna moved us to hover over the area though it was still day. We were high and could see night approach from the Atlantic Ocean or whatever it was called. As the land darkened, a bright light was shown into the sky.

We came in and landed in an area outlined by lights. Timmo said, “Let’s get some rest. Shields stay up. We are in Britisher area?” He looked at me and I nodded. “We know that they aren’t trustworthy.”

We all went to our beds. In the morning, we woke, had breakfast, and looked around.

Milla said, “This is a warmer area and lower in altitude than before.”

I sad, “True. In my universe, it was an older city on this continent. The land is low not rising much as it rises from east to west away from the ocean. Depending upon the season, it will be warm to hot and damp.”

Milla said, “Temperature readings show it to be warm and humid.”

I said, “This world has many body taboos. Wear the longer tunics with the pants. I know it won’t be as comfortable but it will help prevent a scene.”

Timmo said, “Three of us will go out. Janna, you and I will represent us while Josh will continue to represent us and translate both words and meanings.” We all nodded.

Janna looked at Milla and said, “Keep us shielded personally.” Milla nodded.

The three of us went to the door which opened. We stepped out onto another smooth ground area. I said, “I think they are using sports fields for us to land. This time, we may be going to another location for the meeting.”

Janna said, “It won’t matter. Our shields will hold and we will be in touch with Liberty. We will also broadcast the meeting over all the world.”

Timmo and I just nodded.

We were met by three military men. That I could determine by their bearing. I had no idea of their ranks. We stood together waiting.

One of the men said, “I am General-Major Johan Smit of the Royal German Army.”

The next said, “I am General Jacques L’Clerque of the Free French Army.”

The third said, “I am General George Lee of Her Majesty’s Carolina Cavaliers.”

The first said, “We are here to welcome you to Charleston and convey you, if you’re willing, to the meeting place.”

I said, “I am Josh Donaldson, originally from another universe. I am here as spokesman and translator. Timmo is our leader and Janna is one of his advisors and a scientist. We thought the meeting might occur elsewhere. We are ready.”

We were waved forward. The Frenchman offered his arm to Janna but she seemed not to see it. The six of us walked along to a large vehicle where we were waved inside politely. We rode in a moderately quiet, smooth ride. The vehicles of this place were behind my universe in vehicles. After ten minutes, we arrived at a large building. We exited and entered the building. I noticed that it had air conditioning though it wasn’t doing much more than keeping up. We entered a large room with a large round table. The three of us were shown to places at the table.

There was a placard in front of us. I looked at it and asked, “General Lee, what does it say?”

“It says New Wales.”

“Hand it to me.” He didn’t look happy but handed it to me. I folded it over backwards and wrote in our language, “Comfort.” I replaced the placard. General Lee was not pleased. I decided that I didn’t care. He wasn’t wearing a sidearm.

We sat down at the table behind the placard. It was quiet for a long moment. I said, “Gentlemen, this meeting shall be conducted in British simply because I know that language as do my teammates. No one knows our language. We are able to translate in real time for the world broadcast that we have begun.”

It remained quiet. I decided to fill the silence. Timmo nodded in agreement. “The purpose of this meeting is to attempt to determine a way to stop the hostilities initiated by the Britishers against my people. We didn’t start this war but have been met by hostility in a continual way since contact was begun. As Britisher contingents have found, we are able to protect ourselves from harm. We have attempted to minimize harm to the aggressors. We look forward to hearing some useful ideas. There are many uninhabited worlds in the universe. There is no reason to continually try to take over our world. As we have warned the Britishers, one solution is to explode this planet. We don’t want to exercise that option and hope you folks can develop a solution with which we can both live.”

That got the attention of the people around the table. I also noticed that Janna was the only female at the table. There were a few sitting behind it. I figured that women’s rights hadn’t taken effect here yet.

Charles Mason then said, “We have rights to New Wales pursuant to an agreement executed by all the nations represented in this room.”

I think he was about to say more but I interrupted. “Mason, there is no New Wales. The name of our planet in British is Comfort. You and Britain need to let go of that hallucination before it is, literally, the death of you. If this meeting is to continue, all references to our planet will be that chosen by our peoples, not imposed by barbaric savages.” Mason was red-faced but said nothing more.

Another gentlemen said, “I am Omar, prince of the eastern empire located in Constantinople. We would like to discuss these other planets. We are quite willing to grant what you have proven able to be, that is an independent world.”

Others around the table, the Spanish, German, the Italian, the French, the Chinese, the Japanese, The Ethiopians, and the Incas, all nodded. Only the Britishers did not look happy. Timmo nodded at me and I said, “We note that the Britishers are not in agreement with the rest of you. Obviously, that means our world will remain at war with an enemy whose aims are to suppress and oppress a free people. If we take the Britisher attitude, we should bomb the British isles along with their possessions. We can do that from our ship in its current position. Mason, what is with your people that you don’t want to let us live free? You haven’t won yet. I’ve seen no reason to think that situation will change.”