Skylar Holmes: The Last Hope

6. WE DO CASUAL TOO

"Because as the only shapeshifter on the Faraway, if they conclude a theft explains their missing property, you, being a shapeshifter, will be the number one suspect as the dirty rotten thief who stole their teleportation devices. And as two lots of these devices were possibly stolen, and as I'm bonded to you, that would make the pair of us prime suspects."

"Oh, deary me." Piron stroked his chin glumly, perhaps realising that the successful heist had maybe opened a Pandora's Box of future problems.

"Anyway, we won't worry about the possibility of being prime suspects for now, Piron, as the shuttlecraft's mobile camera has started to move. It'll be controlled from the Bridge, I reckon. It'll be one of those floating metallic ball cameras. Ah yes, there it is in the reflection of the shuttlecraft window. See it?" Skylar pointed at the floating camera's reflection on the shuttlecraft's video feed window on the bottom left-hand corner of her computer pad's touch screen. "Size of a cricket ball, I'd say."

"What's a cricket ball when it's at home?"

"Never mind. Think instead of a metallic orange. Here comes the first view of the visiting aliens."

The shuttlecraft's video feed showed the relayed images from the shuttlecraft's mobile camera as it moved and panned about the twelve alien guests. When any of the aliens could see they were the focus of the camera, they would smile, give a friendly wave and make a friendly remark or two. The green-skinned ambassadors had four nostrils and tiny ears, but apart from that, they were reasonably human looking. The light-blue-skinned ambassadors, had eyes like cats, small noses and pointed ears, and they were reasonably human looking too. And as Flight Officer Zingbar had claimed, the dark-skinned ambassadors were indistinguishable from humans.

The lead ambassador of the dark-skinned aliens introduced herself as Prime Ambassador Pator. Unlike her three ambassadorial colleagues, she wore a turban-like hat and a face veil, which she explained was the attire for her particular leading ambassadorial role. She spoke in a friendly enough manner and assured anyone watching the media stream that under her veil she looked as human as her compatriots.

"You'll soon see my face, Captain Rosberg," she said. "It is my race's custom to reveal it to you, your head of security and your lead medical officer in private before any formal meetings take place. I can meet with you shortly after arrival. Would that be possible?"

"Sure. And to all of you, we the crew of the starship Faraway, look forward to seeing you," said Captain Rosberg cheerfully. "Your property trunks are awaiting you in our Main Cargo Bay. I will escort you with my Second in Command Lieutenant William Holder to view them immediately on docking. They are open as you requested and we appreciated your openness to allow us to examine the goods as a show of trust. Only I and my head of security briefly checked the contents of the trunks. We did not check in any detail the contents against the manifest list you gave us or remove any of the contents of the individual boxes in the trunks as a show of our trust to you. However, we did keep the Main Cargo Bay locked. And under security camera surveillance, not that any member of our crew would dare to attempt entry to the Main Cargo Bay. That is not our way."

"Very good, Captain Rosberg," said the green-skinned female who had been the first alien voice Skylar and Piron had heard. She was Chief Ambassador Holeen and she was the leading ambassador for the twelve visiting aliens. "We look forward to checking one or two important boxes, not because we fear anything untoward, but because we wish to take their contents for our personal use."

"Ah, you refer to your teleportation bracelets and their associated location finder pads, do you?"

"Yes, Captain Rosberg."

"Well, Chief Ambassador Holeen, since you have been checked out on Zetum you will be welcome to use your teleportation bracelets at your discretion as is your prerogative."

"Thank you, Captain. That is very kind of you." The alien female gave the human female a broad smile. "I hope your roving camera sphere gave you a good initial impression of us visiting ambassadors. Our dark-skinned ambassadorial colleagues are physically indistinguishable from your kind, of that there is no doubt. Their race goes by the name of the Trikmun. And us green-skinned ambassadors and my blue-skinned ambassadorial colleagues albeit with slightly different facial features are nonetheless not too unlike your kind in appearance."

"And can you tell us a little more of your race and the blue-skinned race?" asked Captain Rosberg in a reassuring diplomatic tone.

"Certainly, Captain. My green-skinned race is called the Lataboss. We are the most populous race in the Girol Coalition numbering over 800 billion people. But I must emphasise that all members of the Girol Coalition have equal importance and status. The Girol Coalition Inner Core simply honoured me with the position of leading this ambassadorial mission. Perhaps it's because I'm the oldest and most experienced ambassador among us twelve. And as for my blue-skinned ambassadorial colleagues, they are the Koolet peoples. They number over 700 billion people. So almost as numerous as us Lataboss."

"How numerous are the dark-skinned Trikmun?"

"Just over 100 billion people. Smaller than us Lataboss and the Koolet in number. But I think my Koolet ambassadorial colleagues will agree that the quality of the Trikmun race is slightly higher on average than ours. Luckily, our greater numbers mean that we can produce people with talents that can match the talents of their best people. Prime Ambassador Pator is almost certainly the most talented of us ambassadors."

"I see," said Captain Rosberg. "And just like any great team, it is the most experienced who often takes charge. I can identify with that. I have a science officer, Chief Science Officer Lee Zang, standing close to me here on my Bridge whose intelligence makes a mere simpleton out of me. Of course, there are so many attributes that make up a person that it is not so simple to ascertain the best person for any particular role."

"Agreed," said Chief Ambassador Holeen with a deep respectful nod. "Well, Captain, we shall look forward to meeting you and your crew. Goodbye for now." Chief Ambassador Holeen produced her broadest smile yet.

"Yes. Goodbye for now. See you all when you dock, Chief Ambassador Holeen." Captain Rosberg smiled.

The camera maneuvered back to its usual static position to show once again the head and shoulders of Flight Officer Zingbar.

"We'll be docking with the Faraway in around twenty-eight minutes, Captain. Typical slowcoach planetary orbital regulations, I'm afraid."

"Roger that, over and out, Zingbar." Captain Rosberg stepped back a few paces.

The camera feed on the shuttlecraft switched off.

The Bridge camera feed switched off a second or two later.

Skylar looked away from the blank video feeds on her computer pad screen and looked at Piron.

"I'm not sure I'm buying all this casual friendly business, are you? There's something that doesn't add up, but I don't know what. What say you, Piron?"

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I hope you enjoyed this last Chapter of the novel-opening-chapters sample. I welcome any votes, comments or constructive criticisms (style, spelling, grammar and punctuation errors).

T. J. P. CAMPBELL.