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Chapter Five

  The Planet of Lyre

  The large bulk of the Jeanette slowly settled down onto the barren land that was the space port of Lyre, its engines purred down to a quiet hum and nothing moved around it or near to it. That was until the local customs men came across in a small vehicle to stop to one side of the large hanger door of the space craft, which slowly opened before them and sunk down to rest on the hard ground. Ray was standing just inside of the ship to call a greeting to the two uniformed men, and to ask them where they could unload their cargo of vitally needed goods, now that the embargo by Earth was stopping so many of the vitally important imported goods from getting through to the planet. He sounded like many of the contraband runners, too full of his own importance.

  “What do you have on board there Captain?” The Lyren official called up to Ray, not impressed one little bit by what he saw or heard.

  “Mostly clear Aluminium sheet plus a fair amount of Titanium and a small amount of metallic glass.” The aluminium was from one contraband runner, the titanium from a second and the glass came from yet another, this mixture should avoid any unnecessary complications arising when their ship`s cargo was finally sold.

  The two customs men did a quick tour of the hold of the Jeanette, stopping occasionally to glance inside one crate and then another, but they didn`t look too hard, and they never even looked at the rest of the ship. Suppliers of contraband were a necessary breed of men for the Lyre Federation now, and the customs men had been told not to make life difficult for them, as the goods they brought were needed if the Federation was to win the war against Earth.

  “Ok Captain stay here, when your customer arrives we will direct him to you. See you next trip.” The two customs men left to return to their warm office and another cup of coffee.

  Ray had arranged to sell the cargo to one of his old customers who dealt in such merchandise, along with many other goods, he should be arriving the next day to take possession of the cargo and pay in gold, a payment that was easily convertible into any other currency that a trader like Ray was portraying to be, may require.

  “We had better stay on board tonight and wait for the freedom movement to make contact with us. It would be asking for trouble for the crew of an Earth vessel to go ashore and visit the local bars, the locals may well be a little annoyed with any earthmen that they might encounter at the moment, what with the present troubles between the two planets.” Ray said to the others.

  “Anyway it would be just our luck to run into some of the customers of the bars later on in the trip, and when two of us would then be masquerading as slaves and the other two as state police officers.” Colonel Michaels stated. “Especially when we will need to keep as low a profile as is possible while we are travelling around this delightful planet.”

  “Join the space marines and see the galaxy.” Lieutenant Bragg quipped. The Lieutenant was already becoming a tough veteran Space Marine; he was aged thirty, just six feet tall with an athletic looking build, fair hair and light blue eyes.

  “You have nothing to complain about Charles, I have had to put on so much make up to ensure my safety, but no not to highlight my cute face, no I have to look old and ugly, and with warts and all.” Jean said laughing as she looked at herself in the mirror of a small golden compact that had been a present from her father on her sixteenth birthday.

  “After you have met a few more of this planet`s charming inhabitants you will probably want to add a few more warts.” Harry said quite seriously to Jean.

  When midnight came and went they all decided to turn in and try to get a good night`s sleep. Sleep was elusive for some of them though, Lieutenant Charles Bragg thought about his reasons for being on this enemy planet. He had volunteered for this mission because Colonel Michaels was part of it and Michaels brought success to all things that he touched, he dared when other men calculated the odds, and he acted while other men dithered or awaited orders from command. Michaels` success had brought him to the media attention and the thought of participating with him, Bragg hoped, should increase his own chances of promotion.

  Colonel Ronald Michaels thought about his future, he was soon to leave the space marine corps to contest the post of the Vice Presidency of Earth and all of its colonies. The Archbishop of The Church of the Universe, one Jeremiah Smallwood was a very good friend of the Michaels family and had enjoyed many a dinner at their house. The Archbishop had warned him not to go anywhere near a scandal and to court publicity whenever he could. Michaels had volunteered for this mission as he hoped to win one more coup, one last medal before retiring from the Corps and entering into the political arena, one far more dangerous than the one that he was taking part in now. He intended to take over command of the mission at the first possible opportunity to ensure its success, and his being credited with it.

  Jean went to sleep almost immediately, as the mental stress of the last week had taken its strain on her body and her mind. Being so exhausted she had quickly fallen asleep, but it was not a deep refreshing sleep, she was troubled by nightmares starring her companions and her brother; they were being hunted down by various uniformed assassins and murdered before her eyes.

  Ray also went off to sleep quite quickly but not before thinking hard about the danger they were about to face for a young woman that they had known for only a very short time, and the fact that somehow she had become so important to him in so short a time, well it surprised even this space hardened man. His sleep was troubled with nightmares as well, his being filled with sadistic monsters torturing Jean, while he was chained against a wall and was forced to watch.

  Harry was used to being in trouble and so he too went quickly to sleep, one which was untroubled by the nightmares that Jean and Ray had to endure, or the desires of the two marines.

  Morning brought with it a cold drenching rain, and they didn`t expect to have any visitors until after it had finished, but they were wrong, for the hoped for contact came halfway through the morning when the rain had slowed to a drizzle for just a moment. They heard a knock on the wall of the freighter, and then two men entered calling out for Ray.

  “Can I help you two gentlemen?” Ray asked hopefully.

  “We are friends of Tom, he said that you had something to give us in return for some help in locating a missing friend of yours.” The first man said.

  He was tall and was dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt, both of good quality, he also had a heavy coat to keep out the rain. This he took off for the moment as his grey eyes looked them all over searchingly, almost as if he were looking for signs of a trap. He was an intelligent man, which Ray Connors could tell from his face, but his eyes also showed a hint of the stress that he had been forced to endure ever since he and his family had decided to assist the slaves, ones who had been forcibly relocated from their own planets. Ray would recognise this look amongst the slaves as he and his small team moved around the planet.

  “My name is Jonas, and my friend here is Carl-Josef.” Carl was similarly attired, and like Jonas, he had the look of an alert and intelligent man, one who took them all in calmly and who waited for Jonas to carry on the conversation. He was a little wary of these people from Earth as they were strangers, he was also a little concerned that they might do something unwise while travelling through Lyre, something that might lead the state police back to Jonas and himself, but he kept this fear hidden from everyone present. Certainly, the state police of Lyre were getting ever more vigilant in their task of searching out subversives and eradicating all the enemies of the state.

  “I am glad to meet you both, yes we have some trinkets for you both that Tom sent along with us, but first tell us about our missing friend. Jean here is his sister and is very worried about him.” Ray said in reply to the first Lyren who looked at Jean for less than an instant and dismissed her as some plain spinster, one who seemed worn down by whatever hardships her life had thrown her way. Never had a man looked at her in such a way, the makeup must be good, Jean thought.

&
nbsp; “He is being kept in a gaol cell in the Wallachia fortress which lies deep within the Carpathian mountain range, to find him you must travel to the centre of the large continental land mass that you are so lucky to be on now. Unfortunately, the fortress is over one thousand miles away from the spaceport, and you will have to travel along some very rough country roads to get there. Roads that will be filled with state police officers all eager to get their hands on some earthmen, and full of people who will gladly sell you to them for the price of a square meal. Unfortunately you cannot use your freighter to get there as no off world ships are allowed to travel anywhere except up into space, this is due to the new security measures that have been set up because of the war against Earth. They fear an attack by the Space Marines of Earth, who they fear more than any other force that Earth may send against them.” Lieutenant Bragg looked across at his colonel and smiled as Colonel Michaels now joined the conversation.

  “Have you arranged for the necessary paperwork to be made out so that we can travel there in relative safety?” Jonas turned to take in Colonel Michaels before answering, what he saw he liked, for he saw an experienced military man and not an adventurer, which is how he saw Ray.

  “You are who?” Jonas asked.

  “I am Colonel Michaels, but if we are going to travel together then please call me Ron, My colleague here and I are both officers in the Space Marine Corps of Earth.” Colonel Michaels said smiling. Ray thought this bold declaration a little foolish for they didn`t yet know whether these two members of the freedom movement were to be trusted and just how far that trust should go. They could easily sacrifice the men from Earth if it furthered their aims. Colonel Michaels though had wanted to impress upon the two freedom fighters that there were two experienced fighting men accompanying Ray and Jean on their quest. He also wanted to try to ensure that the four of them from Earth wouldn`t be dumped along the way as excess cargo if the going got too tough, and the best way to do this would be to show the freedom fighters their worth as fellow warriors.

  “Well to answer your question Ron, when we have some of the yellow coloured trinkets that you hopefully brought along with you, we can pay the man who will provide the necessary documents, only then will the documents be given into our hands.”

  “You can take the arms and the gold whenever you wish Jonas; would you like to inspect our cargo?” Ray asked the Lyren.

  “Yes I would like to see it very much Captain.” Jonas replied to Ray`s invitation. Ray took the two men through to the hold of the freighter, and after opening up the secret compartment manufactured by the two men in the employment of Tom Parkinson, he showed the two freedom fighters the large quantity of arms and the solid gold coins that would pay for the struggle against the Lyren government.

  “The people who are supplying us with our travel documents, are they trustworthy Jonas?” Ray enquired, although he could guess the answer and his guess proved correct.

  “They are to be trusted as long as we pay them enough gold, and as long as the state police don`t get around to suspecting them, if they do our friends would probably turn us in very quickly.” Jonas replied cynically.

  “We will be back here later today at around two in the afternoon for the arms, but we will take a little of the gold with us now so that we can pay off some of the Lyren officials, and also to procure the necessary travel documents for your journey to the Carpathian mountains. The rain has started to strengthen so we will leave while the local officials are indoors, goodbye until then.” Jonas said and then taking up some of the gold coins, he and Carl-Josef departed as quietly as they had come.

  Ray looked out of the door and watched the van as it drove across the wet spaceport and then through its gates, after the usual delay while their friends` papers were checked, although it was superficial as none of the guards wished to get soaked. The rain began to come down even harder now so Ray closed the door and turned back to his friends.

  “Why are all of the names of planets and places on them always of Earth origin, why can`t they be completely alien?” Ray demanded again of anyone who could supply him an answer.

  “Because most of the planets near to Earth have been colonised by Earth. Lyre was colonised about two hundred years ago by a right wing bunch who were fed up with the power that the Churches were beginning to enjoy on Earth, so they left Earth to colonise this planet. Once here they proceeded to enslave the natives on nearby planets and loot their mineral wealth. Then they began to force the slave workers to either work on Lyre or on their own world, and all of the wealth that was amassed that way was then shipped back to Lyre.” Colonel Michaels said. “To the Lyren Government the locals on these planets were a backward bunch of people only just out of the Stone Age, and so ready for enslaving by a more advanced and, to their eyes, a deserving culture such as themselves.”

  Colonel Michaels was correct in his summing up of the Lyren people, for their main characteristic of the Lyrens was that they are a people certain of their own destiny and position in the galaxy. They had no feelings at all for any who they considered beneath them, seeing only barbarians or slaves. The people of Lyre came in more or less equal parts; from Germany, Austria, England, France, and the USA, there were also a few people from a host of other western European countries. They chose German as the national language because they all saw Adolf Hitler as a Messiah rather than a demon, and they wanted a society that followed his lead.

  “You are correct about the Lyrens, Ron, for they have nothing at all to endear them to anyone, apart from their own kind. My father only began trading with them because at the time the Federation was going through another recession, and Lyre was the only planet that had any money. Later when the recession was over we just carried on trading with them from habit, until that is they carried out one foul deed too many and we changed locations and began trading with the more pleasant peoples of the galaxy.” Ray said and was lost in memories of his family and their travels for a few moments before continuing.

  “Even back then they only thought of being masters of the universe, and my father began trading with them almost thirty years ago, so you see Earth must have seen this war coming with the government of Lyre long ago but decided to do nothing until now. Harry and I occasionally trade with them so as to keep up our contacts on the planet, just in case another recession turns up, but we mainly trade with the more peaceful colonies of Earth, when we can.”

  “Politicians always like to leave things like a costly war to the next politician, unless of course they are in danger of losing their position, and then a war seems to be a good idea. A bit like our current President who is very unpopular now and had hoped that a humanitarian course would benefit him in the polls early next year. All it got him was a heart attack which is why he is not standing for re-election now.” Colonel Michaels said.

  They turned in early that night, for tomorrow would likely be a long day.