Chapter 7 - Inquiry
#7 of Alec's Adventures
All characters places and names are completely fictitious and are not intended to relate to anyone living or dead. Some of the content is of an adult nature and is not intended to be read by anyone under the age of 18.
If this is you, please look elsewhere.
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Leeta was slightly nervous, boarding Harrll's ship, but was determined not to let is show. It was only the second time she'd been in space, the first time had been in the hold of a slaver's ship, something she tried not to think about. Even so, she was determined to learn as much as possible, her curiosity insatiable.
Clinging on to Alec's arm, they boarded together, carrying what luggage they needed. Ferrowll and Grrelt were remaining behind on Earth, continuing their studies of Earth's culture and scientific developments, watching for progress that might lead to the development of star travel.
Once settled into their quarters aboard the ship, they headed to the bridge to watch take-off. Captain Harrll welcomed them to the bridge, smiling proudly at the thought of showing off his ship. Seating them in front of the navigation and engineering consoles, which weren't used in take-off, he ordered the viewscreen activated and the sensors brought on-line.
All that could be seen on the screen was darkness, for they were taking off at night to reduce the risk of detection. As the sensors became active, false-color images began to appear on the screen, reflecting their surroundings. No aircraft were detected nearby, and thanks to their new link to the Internet, they were able to check the latest orbital scans to plot a course that would avoid any orbital debris.
Slowly, the ship began to glide sideways out of the barn, hovering on the gravity drive just a metre off the ground. Pausing in the open, final checks being made, the craft began to rise smoothly and silently into the dark night sky. As they watched the ground diminishing beneath them, disappearing as they entered a layer of cloud, Harrll breathed a sigh of relief as they seemed to have escaped detection so far. Emerging through the tops of the clouds, the air becoming gradually thinner around them, they continued to rise upward, a faint blue halo appearing on the horizon as they approached the dawn, the curvature of the earth beneath them now clearly visible.
As Alec looked on, he heard the captain give the order to break orbit and set course for Lupus. A chill passed through him as he thought about the reasons for the trip. He had grown up on Earth, the sole survivor of a shipwreck that had resulted, amongst other things, in the death of his parents. According to League rules and regulations, any survivors of a shipwreck should destroy themselves in order to prevent any risk of cultural contamination to backward pre-contact planets. His very existence was in direct violation of that law, and he had been called to an inquiry into the crash, it's cause and subsequent actions.
Once en-route to their destination, there wasn't much for the Bridge crew to do. The ship's automatic sensors and alarms would let them know if anything was wrong, the main hazard with star travel seemed to be boredom. Leeta was keen to know more, so buttonholed Pellock, the engineer, to find out more about space travel.
"How long is the journey going to take, from Earth to Lupus," she asked.
"Pellock frowned for a moment, then said "Once we reach deep space, it doesn't take too long, we should get to the area in less than a day. What takes time is getting far enough away to engage the star-drive safely. It will probably take another couple of days before we are far enough away from the sun to engage the drive though, plus at least another week at the other end in normal space to approach Lupus."
Leeta looked a bit puzzled. "But if it takes only a day to travel a thousand light-years, how come it takes up to a week to get there?"
"Perhaps I'd better explain," said Pellock with a smile. "We can't engage the star-drive if we're close to a planet or star because the gravity will affect it. The star-drive is a more sophisticated version of the gravity drive. It creates a separate bubble of space and time around it, effectively separating the ship from the universe, enabling it to travel faster than light, but the presence of a strong gravity field will disrupt it, causing it to collapse. We can engage it much closer to Earth because there's less risk of meeting another ship nearby. When we get to Lupus, however, it's a busy world with a lot of space traffic. If two ships are within half a light year, then their star-drives will interact, causing oscillations that will cause the fields to implode, destroying the ships unless one of them is shut down. When we get close to Lupus, we have to shut down the star-drive far enough away that we won't have interference from other ships, and have to continue our journey on gravity drive.
Leeta looked thoughtful for a moment, before replying. "So if a League ship was anywhere near my homeworld, the slavers couldn't travel to it?"
"Sorry, I'm afraid you misunderstand. They would be able to get there, but it would take them longer. It won't happen though, because space is just so big. There's no way the League could afford to put a ship near every developing world, there just aren't enough qualified spacers in the whole galaxy to place someone in orbit around them, let alone a complete crew."
Alec had been listening to their conversation with interest. He'd known some of the details about space travel, but hadn't really grasped the immensity of the distances involved up until now. Leeta's idea had given him a brief moment of hope as a way of ending the vile trade, but the sheer scale of the galaxy meant that idea was impossible. "Let's get something to eat in the galley, then get some rest. We've got plenty of time to learn more about the ship if the journey is going to take so long,"
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Leeta followed Alec back to their quarters. Because space travel had been around for several centuries, the designers of the vessels had realised how much time was spent en-route and the accommodation was quite luxurious. There was a large comfortable bed, a combined viewscreen/computer terminal on the wall, and the ship's database held an enormous collection of books and films.
With a smile on his face, Alec reached towards a control panel on the wall above the bed. "One of the things I found out about when looking up the details of the ship is that the rooms have individual gravity control. We're both a bit tired, so how would you like to find out what low gravity is like?"
When Leeta nodded her head, curiously, Alec slid a control halfway along. Leeta bounced up and down on her feet experimentally, her paws leaving the deck and slowly drifting down again. Without warning, she pounced on Alec, pressing him down, purring. "I could get used to this, it's fun," she said with a grin, ears twitching..
Smiling up at her Alec reached out a hand and stroked her cheek gently, as she nuzzled into his palm, licking it with her rough feline tongue, her paws stroking his sides, tugging at his shirt as she pulled it up over his head, throwing it to one side.
Slowly, he reached out and unbuttoned her blouse, sliding it over her shoulders and down her back as his paws caressed her fur clad breasts. As she pressed her eager body against him, he slowly undid her hotpants, then, taking advantage of the low gravity, he lifted her as she shrugged out of them and her panties, before lowering her back down.
Her proud furry breasts pressed against his chest as they kissed eagerly, his strong lupine tongue wrestling with her slender rough feline one. He took hold of her hips in his paws and lifted her into the air, the low gravity making her light enough to hold above him. His arousal rising, his lupine member was beginning to emerge from its sheath. Teasing her with its tip, he held her above him, using it to trace the outline of her lower lips, causing her to gasp with anticipation.
As he held her effortlessly in the air above him, she reached down, her paws gently stroking his chest, gliding down his body, trailing her claws through his fur. One of her hands reached up to rest on his shoulder, holding her upper body in the air while the other paw slid downwards, caressing the furry bulge of his sheath, gently massaging it, causing his member to grow and extend further from his sheath.
He lowered her onto his member, pressing it into her depths as her arms reached around his shoulders, pulling him closer, pressing against his chest. One of his paws reached up to her back, running his claws gently up and down her back, the other stroking her breasts. His rough pawpads brushing across her nipples, making her draw in a sharp breath in eagerness as she ground her hips against him, trying to sink herself deeper onto him. Her paws pressed on his shoulders as she pulled herself closer, sinking onto his chest, her eyes closed in passion.
He continued to thrust into her, his tapered lupine shaft sinking deeper each time. Grasping her hips, he drove into her, holding her against him, pressing his knot into her entrance. She moaned as he pressed it against her lips, stretching them around it as he thrust it deeper, pressing against her clit, pushing her closer to the brink.
Clutching her closer to him as she pressed down on him, he sank it into her, making her gasp as it spread her lips wider, sinking inside, gradually expanding inside her, its pressure inside her lips growing as it swelled inside. He continued to thrust into her, sinking it deeper, the growing pressure pushing her closer to the edge as she thrust back against him harder, gasping and moaning as she tipped over the edge, her toes curling as she came. As her vagina clenched at his knot, he began to cum inside her, filling her with his lupine seed, trapped inside her by his knot, his fertile seed penetrating her depths, trapped by his knot unable to escape.
As they lay together, in the afterglow, he gazed lovingly into her eyes, wishing the moment could last forever. "Tell me, how do you like low-gee," he asked?
As she looked back at him, her green eyes gazing back into his blue ones, a content look on her face, she replied "If low-gee could feel like that every time, and we could spend it together, it would be wonderful."
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As the ship made its final approaches to Lupus, however, Alec was pacing the deck nervously, uncertain of what was going to happen. In theory, he shouldn't even be alive, he should have died along with his parents when the ship crashed. Instead he had grown up on Earth, not knowing his origins, completely in ignorance. He was here for an inquiry into the crash, hoping to find out more about the crash that had killed them, his very existence was against the law and he shouldn't be alive.
Not wanting to worry Leeta needlessly, he deliberately hadn't told her about this aspect of their visit, nor had he said anything further about her presence on Earth. She had come from an as yet unknown planet, growing up in a pre-technical culture, not used to any form of technology. Leeta had even less business being on Earth than he did. For all he knew, they could split up his family, following the rules and sending her to a colony planet or one of the League worlds.
He was even more worried as they exited the ship, greeted by armed guards and officials from the League Exploration and Monitoring Bureaux, who separated him from Leeta and led them in different directions to holding cells.
After spending a miserable night waiting to be summoned, a guard escorted him to the enquiry chamber. There was no public audience, instead there was a panel of five investigators facing him, all of them seeking answers he was unable to give. All he could tell them was what he'd learned from Captain Harrll's crew when they found him.
Frustrated by his inability to answer their questions, one of the panel stood up, an older person, the white fur on his muzzle competing with the grey. "According to the medical records, when you were found by the follow-up mission the nanites within your body were functioning fully and should have repaired any organic damage to your memory. There should be no lapses, we need to find out why you continued to be alive after the crash. Your very presence on Earth could have given away the existence of alien life. If that happened before a culture had the maturity to cope with it, it could result in anything from panic and economic collapse to a whole planet committing suicide. Take him to be mind probed."
With that, the guard took hold of his arm and marched him from the room. Escorting him deeper into the building, they headed down the stairwell, down towards the basements, deep below the surface. Finally, they reached their destination, a door simply labelled "The Truth". The guard held open the door and pushed him inside, closing it after him.
The room was dimly lit, as though the occupant was unable to cope with brighter lights. A shadowy figure moved forwards, into the light. Alec drew back in surprise, not sure what to make of the creature. It looked a lot like an ant, similar to those of Earth, but many time the size. Its body was over five feet long and it stood as high as his waist. A voice came hissing from the darkness. "Don't worry, I won't harm you, I'm only interested in finding out the truth. I ssee you aren't familiar with my race, we of the Kesh are quite different from other sspecies.
Alec looked back at the creature nervously. "Different, how? They said something about a "Mind probe", whatever that is. I thought there would be some sort of machinery involved."
"There iss no ssuch thing ass an individual Kesh. We evolved a form of telepathy very early in our sspeciess development, sstronger than any other sspeciess in the galaxy. Our mindss merged together, sharing our thoughtss between each other, our mindss becoming one. What one Kesh knowss, all Kesh do, sharing our thoughtss and memoriess between uss. Because of thiss, we are incorruptible, we have become the truthkeeperss of the League. All memberss of the League councilss are required by law to have their mindss examined by uss regularly to ssearch out any form of corruption. It iss impossible to bribe a member of the Kesh because you would have to bribe our entire race, ssomething completely impossible to do, hence the fact we have been chosen for thiss role."
Alec looked back at the creature in surprise. He'd heard about ant colonies, growing up on Earth, but never expected to be speaking to something that looked so much like one. With an ant nest on Earth, all the members worked together, following the commands of the queen, not really able to think independently. Perhaps there was something to their evolution.
"But how can you look for something that doesn't exist?" he asked, somewhat puzzled. My earliest memories are from when I was found wandering on the edges of town at the age of five."
"Thiss isss ssomewhat puzzling," replied the creature. "In theory the nanitess would have repaired any organic damage, meaning you sshould remember, but it may be there iss another reason for your lack of memory. Do not worry, you should not be able to feel a thing ass I look through your mind to locate the information."
Alec sank into the chair warily, sitting there in front of it. Despite what it had said he felt a strange sensation of ghostly fingers drifting through his head as it rummaged through his memories.
"There iss ssomething very sstrange going on here," the creature said, pausing as it searched through his mind. "There sseemss to be ssome ssort of blockage, as though your memoriess have been ssurpressed by an outside force. I'll try to ssee if I can lift it and access your buried memory."
Alec felt a squeezing sensation, as though a steel band was being applied to his head and being compressed. A pounding began as though someone was striking it with a hammer. Suddenly it stopped, and he found himself aboard a ship, similar to Harrll's, with smoke and flames bursting from the control panels in the background, a grey fur clad figure similar to himself seated at a console, looking down at him.
"If you are seeing this memory, then I know that you will have been found by the League and brought back to our home. Our ship has crash-landed on the planet Earth. All of us, including your mother died. I am injured, but still live at the moment. According to the rules, I should ensure that we all perish in the crash and eliminate any trace of our presence on Earth, but I cannot bring myself to kill my own son. According to our studies, the people of earth would look after a small child, but we cannot allow any memory of life offworld, in case something you say would give away your origins. All memory of your earlier life is going to be erased and you will appear amongst them as just another stray child, but with no memory of where you came from. In time, you will learn their language and grow up as an ordinary Earth child, not knowing your heritage unless the League is able to recover you. Please forgive me, for I love you more than I do anything else and cannot see you perish in the crash."
With that, Alec blinked to find himself back in that dimly lit room, tears in his eyes. He had never known his parents, those memories were lost forever to him, but now he had learnt how much they had loved him, risking their names and reputations to ensure his survival. The door opened and accompanied by the guard and the Kesh he was escorted back to the inquiry chamber.
"Well, what have you got to report," asked the senior investigator, addressing the Kesh.
"Thiss hass proved to be a mosst unusual casse," replied the Kesh. "Whilst there iss no organic physical damage, there were ssurpresed and erased memoriess. Hiss early life iss completely nonexistant, gone beyond recovery, but there iss a buried memory from just before the crassh. Hiss father refused to kill hiss own sson, and instead wiped hiss memory sso that he could merge undetected amongst the humanss. It iss my view that he hass no further information about the crash, and the memory of hiss father totally exhoneratess him from any chargess relating to hiss presence on Earth.
"I have alsso examined hiss memoriess of all hiss interactionss with memberss of the rescue crew, plus hiss behaviour ssubsequent to their departure and hiss interactionss with the rescued sslave Leeta. There iss no evidence of any undue influence and he doess have genuine feelings for her. I undersstand that the resscue sservicess have concernss about people exercising undue influence on vulnerable personss, but hiss behaviour with her has been honourable and beyond reproach. It would be cruel to sseparate them and would cause unneccessary ssuffering and pain. I recommend that they continue to be allowed to live together. Furthermore, it iss the judgement of the Kessh that hiss actions and presence on Earth are esssential to preseving the ssecret of our existance. I also recommend he be ssubmitted to diplomatic training. Having grown up on the planet, he is perfectly placed to represent the League when they finally are ready for contact with uss."
The inquiry panel seemed a little bit upset on hearing this. Firstly they would not be able to get any more information about the crash, and secondly someone who shouldn't even be in existence was going to be sent back to the planet, and even going to be given the reward of a much-prized job. Despite their personal feelings, there was nothing they could do. Whilst the Kesh had no official authority in the League beyond being guardians of the truth, what one Kesh knew all of them knew. If one of them gave any advice about something, it was based on the combined memories and wisdom of all the Kesh people. If they ventured an opinion about something, even if it made no sense to other people, they were generally proven to be correct and it was very unwise to ignore their advice.
As they all filed out of the room, the Kesh approached Alec, wanting to speak to him privately. "Your father was unusual for your race, ass he had ssome modest telepathic abilites, which he used to block and erase your memories. I know that you were able to detect my examination of you, which meanss that you have ssome latent telepathic abilities. With sstudy, you could develop those talentss, learning to examining the thoughtss of otherss, which would be a useful talent for a diplomat."
Rather surprised at this, Alec agreed. He had felt something, though didn't understand exactly what it was when he had been examined. If he had a new talent, he wanted to know all about it, and accompanied the Kesh to a neighbouring building.
"Here iss one of our teaching laboratoriess," the Kesh said, escorting him into a large room filled with elaborate machines beyond his comprehension. The Kesh helped him onto a couch, surrounded by equipment, and went to a console beside it. "Thiss might be sslightly painful, but it will not lasst," it said, pressing some buttons. A strange violet glow began to shine as the instruments pointing at the bench began to operate.
Alec began to feel a squeezing sensation again, pressing down on his head. Just as it began to become unbearable, it seemed to diminish, but he still felt a ticklish sensation inside his head. Thoughts began to form inside his mind. "Do not worry, the machines have been controlling your natural inhibitions about your talent. Because you haven't really come to terms with your abilities, you have unconsciously been surpressing your talent. Now that you have become aware of them, with practice you will become able to control them, choosing whether to detect thoughts aimed your way or to block off contact with other minds."
With some surprise, he turned to look at the Kesh. "Your voice in my mind is completely different from your speaking voice. How come I can't hear the lisp in my mind?"
"That's an easy one to explain," the thought came. "Our species evolved to use telepathy. Our mouthparts aren't really designed for speech, so it always sounds a bit strange but when talking mind to mind, as we are at the moment, our thoughts come across clearly. I have unlocked your abilities, but they will only improve further with time and practice, but your latent abilities are quite strong. In time you will become a powerful telepath, almost as good as us."
Alec had a lot to think about. He had discovered that his father had sacrificed a lot in order that he would continue to survive, and that he could continue to live on Earth, along with Leeta. He couldn't wait to give her the good news.
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Grrelt looked up as the doorbell rang. She wasn't surprised because the perimiter sensors had detected some people approaching as soon as they had entered the farm. "Time to disappear," she said to Ferrowll, motioning to the back door. Ferrowll nodded and shifted to canine form, disappearing into the woods out the back. Best to have someone in reserve, just in case something unexpected happened.
She opened the door, to be confronted by a man wearing a suit, accompanied by some people in police uniforms. "Hello, can I help you?" she asked.
"Hello Ma'am, I'm here from the immigration service. We're here to examine your paperwork to check for irregularities. We find no birth record of your existence and no evidence of how you came into the country. I'm afraid we are going to have to take you to a detention centre as an illegal alien until we can clear things up."
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Well, it looks as if Alec is going to be able to continue living on Earth, and Leeta is still going to be part of his family, but what is going to happen with the Immigration service?
After all, technically Ferrowll and Grrelt are illegal aliens, just from a bit further away than the immigration service think they are.
Deporting them back to their home country may be a bit more difficult than they realise though.