Cosmic Tales 9: Kingdom

COSMIC TALES 9: KINGDOM

  By

  Richard C. Parr

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  PUBLISHED BY

  Cosmic Tales 9: Kingdom

  Copyright (C) 2015 by Richard C. Parr

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  This particular copy of the eBook series Cosmic Tales is licensed for the enjoyment of everyone. It may be freely distributed to others without conditions. Thank you for supporting the author by downloading and reading this story.

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  Kingdom

  Queen Fanjiboo looked out across the vast copper courtyard to witness the spectacle of the changing of the guard. From her position on the top floor of Bethinda Palace, she could see pod bikes, hover cars, tourist craft and takeaway delivery racers careening and buzzing across the ultramodern metropolis of Bethinda. The city of her birth and the home of her kingdom was an economic and political powerhouse of blustering dogged resolve and competitiveness, and with its sophistication, frequent rain showers of money, banker's asylum and lavish displays of wealth, it lived up to its nickname across the galaxy as the 'capital investment of capitals' and the place where misfortune went to die.

  In came Squib, her trusted and loyal servant, dressed in a brown cloak with his head continuously bowed as a mark of respect and submission to her majesty. He crept towards her with cautious reverence and stood by her side, while outside, the guard on display performed an about turn and was replaced by an identical looking guard. This new guard beginning his duty carried out a perfectly choreographed foot stomp and marched out of the gates to the crowd of tourists and minions.

  "Everything out there is changing," said the queen. "Technology is advancing so quickly it has become far beyond my grasp. I wonder why that is?"

  "Because you're old," said Squib in a gravelly voice.

  "I beg your pardon?"

  "Because this, the institution, is old and traditional. Much out there has changed, though the historic values of her majesty's family have stayed the same."

  "I see," said the queen. "Rather insightful, Squib. Look at what we have given to the world. It is hard to accept that my family's empire is much smaller and insignificant now compared to how it was many years ago."

  "We once governed and were home to a third of the world. Now we are a third world country."

  "Are you feeling all right, Squib? You seem a bit off today. You sound ill. Have you lost weight?"

  "No, I just skipped breakfast this morning."

  The queen turned to face the crowds taking photos of the guard and Squib snatched a small item from her desk, sneaking it into his cloak and fumbling around to try and find a suitable pocket.

  "Well, must be off. If you need anything, give me a buzz, your majesty."

  Squib bowed and retreated, leaving the queen with a sense of unease. Moments later the king entered having returned from his bird shooting trip.

  "Everything all right, queeny?"

  "No, my dear. I fear something is wrong with Squib. He reeked of booze and cigars."

  "Old chap's probably having a rough time. Best cut him some slack and put him on a permanent contract instead of that zero hours one. See if his mood changes."

  Suddenly, two of the queen's top bodyguards entered in an out of breath flurry. The king recoiled at the abrupt interruption to peaceful normality.

  "Your majesty, sir, a ship that looks like a giant silver tampon has illegally landed in the city's park. Worse, Squib did not show up for the mid morning meeting."

  "Nonsense, Barnibab," said the queen. "Squib was in here just a minute ago."

  "My apologies, your majesty, but that simply is not possible because there is more. We searched the premises and found him stripped to his underwear, gagged and tied up in the stables."

  Now all the queen could think about was the putrid stench of contraband and scotch.

  "Then we have an intruder," said the king, holding the queen's arm. "Alert the guards. Lock down the palace. We will sniff this one out. Under no circumstances is anyone else allowed in this room or on this entire floor. Make sure you have that covered, and make that your first priority."

  "Understood, sir," replied the bodyguard.

  "He...he called me...I'm not old," said the queen, fumbling for a tissue. "The cheek. The absolute cheek."

  "My darling you're not old," said the king. "Just a little dusty around the edges. And anyway, don't you worry. We will have this infiltrator brought to justice in no time."

  * * * * *

  "This will be a doddle, he said. Nothing too strenuous, he said."

  Elwood huffed and griped as he uncovered the manhole of electrical wires on the palace roof, unravelling, untangling, fiddling and swapping over wires to various ports, trying to figure out the corresponding functions, dodging fuses and trying to avoid anything resembling a live feed with the potential to turn him into human toast. He carefully soldered a wire, and as he moved a hot needle along a motherboard, he caught his finger and yelped in agony. He mentally cursed Wingclipper for his poor leadership, making the decision that the palace's security should be taken down by manual disabling of its electronics instead of blasting an electrical interference grenade at the gates, an action that could save considerable time and effort.

  "I hope you understand the risk you're willing to take, Phoenix," Elwood said to himself. "If something goes wrong, this time I am not bailing you out."

  As he cut a wire, Elwood noticed a quick surge in activity with the sound of hundreds of footsteps trotting towards the main palace gate. He crept to the edge and peeked over the top, seeing guards assemble in groups with their assault pistols ready and aimed. He retreated to the box and worked at double speed, eyes glazing over and scanning potential leads to the perimeter fence power. He traced a wire to its origin and recognised some of the alien inscription, translating the code into electrical jargon and promptly cutting the wire. A huge surge of power gave out before fizzling away, then Elwood checked to see what had happened. The lights on the perimeter fence had shut off and the gates were malfunctioning, continuously swinging open and closed.

  "I've done it," he exclaimed, right before he felt the cold barrel of an assault pistol dig into the back of his neck, and he immediately flung his hands into the air.

  * * * * *

  The hooded disguised trespasser wandered a corridor and held his cloak close to his face. Passing kitchen staff, maids and porters, he lowered his head to his chest and continued in silence. Turning a corner he looked up ahead and saw a flock of guards enter through a large door with their barrels pointing directly at him. He kept to one side of the corridor close to the wall, passing under giant regal paintings of lineage as they passed in their sets of ten and fifteen. A look to his side revealed special forces leaders scouting every room for a sign of the intruder, and the trespasser performed an about turn, only to perform another one as in the opposite direction he saw two men of identical uniform coming his way. He took a narrow staircase leading underground in the hope that it would lead him closer to an unmanned exit.

  The moisture, dripping sounds and the echo of his feet filled the chamber. He ducked as he descended, avoiding a low ceiling and hanging beams. Barrels of wine and storages of fruits and vegetables piled the room. In the corner a maid was gathering important ingredients for the day's meal when she saw the cloak pass.

  "Squib, how many times have I told you that you are not allowed to be down here...eek!"

  The unusually large pair of hands gagged her and cut her off, and with a muffled mouth, she saw the rugged face of the trespasser and his gleaming eyes. The hotness of her panicked breath almost melted his palm.

  "Don't you dare squeal or shout for help. Tell me the fastest way out of the pala
ce from here."

  The trespasser eased the pressure from his hand.

  "...keep going...up the far stairs...and straight ahead..." she said between breaths before stumbling and resting on the pile of produce.

  "Thanks. I own a ship, by the way. Maybe I'll take you out sometime, if you bring your sister. Toodles."

  He dropped a business card and ran.

  The steps wound up and around, rotating him in a seemingly eternal circular swirl. The lactic acid built up in his thighs and he struggled to keep the pace. At the same time heavy clonking of boots echoed from the ground and he doubled his efforts to keep his speed steady. At the top he beamed in joy when he saw an unmanned exit beyond an archway, but when he crossed into the corridor, a body suddenly slammed against him, sending him toppling and spinning several feet, sliding across the unforgiving carpet and burning a hole in the fabric of his cloak.

  "So, so sorry!" shouted the guard, whose expression transformed from guilt to evil intent upon seeing the foreign face of the trespasser. He aimed his assault rifle and yelled for backup and the trespasser recoiled into a cat belly upward position with surrendering paws.

  "You can't be older than seventeen," said the trespasser. "You're too young to be shooting a rifle. Something smells bad...have you had an accident?"

  "Stop making fun of me!"

  A team of troops crowded the corridor and encompassed the trespasser from all sides, and now the trespasser sat up to attention. The guard leader ushered the quivering rookie back into the group, simultaneously yanking the trespasser from the ground in one dexterous scoop. As he did, the trespasser dropped an item into the guard leader's pocket.

  "With a forceful grip like that I bet you're a powerhouse with the ladies," said the trespasser, prodded forward uncomfortably with the butt of a rifle against his lower back.

  "You will answer to our queen and to the laws of our land for your despicable crime," said the guard leader.

  "And she will prepare a holding cell and a small meal that will come out of your income tax," replied the trespasser, who received a prod so hard it unsteadied him until he collapsed.

  * * * * *

  The queen requested to deal with the two unwanted guests herself, in her throne room, behind closed doors with minimal security. The infiltrators were prodded up stone steps and allowed through into a great chamber, except they could not see where they were. They were positioned over two chairs and commanded to sit down by the courageous and dictatorial voice of the guard leading them, and they instinctively dropped at the same time. With their hands tied behind their back, they wriggled profusely until a feminine voice chimed from the doorway asking for privacy.

  "Phoenix?" said Elwood through his paper bag.

  "Damn it, they got you too," came the reply through another paper bag.

  The bags were ripped off their heads and they both breathed in excessive clean air before looking at one another.

  "You said it would be a quick mission," said Elwood. "Straight in, straight out, back over the security fence and into the ship. Why did you give me the burden of messing with the electrics when we could have used a simpler method? And now this."

  "But I bet you've never been this close to a head of state before," said Wingclipper.

  "I've never been allowed this close to a pair of nutcases before," said the queen.

  "One nutcase," said Elwood.

  "You were right first time, your majesty," said Wingclipper.

  "The pair of you, shut up. Now, one of you can tell me what this is."

  The queen raised a blown up photograph to their faces.

  "Looks like a screwdriver with herpes," said Elwood.

  "That's the ship," said Wingclipper.

  "And with a ship that accommodating it means that you are not here alone," said the queen. "Which means you have outside support and communication, and to penetrate the palace's security you were planning a snatch, grab and flee mission. I suspected your peculiar behaviour earlier - head hanging low, a voice affected by excessive partying and recreational tobacco, your effort to leave my company in a hasty manner. Which means you wanted to grab hold of something fast and leave as quickly as possible. So the item you were looking for could have been in this very room..."

  The queen motioned a finger to her desk and noticed the absence of a treasured object. She walked over and opened each individual drawer to ensure it was missing.

  "Did you take it?" whispered Elwood.

  "Not now," said Wingclipper, closing his eyes and shaking his head. Then he said, "It's in a safe place."

  "Next time you can cut the wires and I'll do the sneaking around."

  The queen closed the final drawer and sat opposite her two prisoners. She ordered a guard to come and stand Wingclipper to his feet, then the guard proceeded to pick Wingclipper up with military strength and ease, turning out his pockets and shaking him like a maraca until he was satisfied that nothing was being concealed.

  "Tell me where the key is," said the queen.

  "I really don't know. You should take more care in remembering where you put things. Are you getting old?"

  "You came in, stole the key from my desk and hid it somewhere. It was right here. Don't think I'm daft."

  "I don't think you are daft, your majesty," said Wingclipper. "Maybe your duties are so intense and the timetable you keep is restrictive and stressful to the point where you misplace the occasional item. You lose track of appointments, ambassadors and delegates you are due to see, which planet they have travelled from, and it begins to get on top of you. It becomes a heavy burden."

  "No offense," said Elwood, "but I have seen people your age on my planet, and regardless of background, expertise or intelligence, they cannot fathom modern technology. They are keyboard finger tappers. I mean, really. It takes them an hour to type a sentence. You are experiencing one of those moments now."

  "Right," said Wingclipper. "This is a live feed of geriatric misplacement. I bet you cannot even remember what you are searching for."

  The queen scowled, hunched her spine and bore her teeth. With the glare of demonic ruin, she said in a low voice, "You two are one word away from receiving a severe interrogation followed by facing the most gruesome, horrific torture method known in the galaxy."

  Elwood and Wingclipper exchanged a glance and a smirk before the queen gestured to her guard.

  * * * * *

  The guard leader who had successfully bashed into Wingclipper and walloped him to the ground stood outside the palace awaiting further orders from his superior. The pandemonium had relaxed since the two trespassers had been brought to her majesty, and now the remainder of the mission involved protecting the disabled electric perimeter fence and sheltering the palace entrances from further potential incursion. He lit a smoke and inhaled deep enough to satisfy that long lingering craving, receiving an immediate rush and rapid onset of pleasant fleeting thoughts and ideas. As he took a deep drag, drowning out the emotional torment of the unexpected interruption to the day's calm, he felt a strange presence, like a change in the atmosphere that only he could detect. He felt it take place behind him, and looking around the corner, he saw nothing except the malfunctioning opening and closing of the gates. He shrugged off his apparent silliness, laughing off the disruption to his break and returning to gazing beyond the fence to the proletariat spectators waiting for the next guard change.

  But then the feeling came again, and this time it was more profound and real. He stubbed out the smoke and went to investigate. Looking at the palace walls and in a full circle, he performed a visual sweep, still unable to detect what was disquieting him. Then, looking to the ground, he saw a blur of hands and feet, a creature leap from his leg to his waist, cling to his uniform, bury its hands deep into his pocket and make off with an important object. This sequence of events happened so quickly that the guard had little time to note a clear description of the creature, except for feeling the removal of that jingling item from his pocket, seeing
a monkey-like tail flee and watching it disappear into the palace.

  Captivated, the guard followed the creature inside and scoured the hallway for a sign of the critter. A chirp came from a set of stairs and the guard noticed a thin tail ascend, bobbing to and fro. He called out to the other guards who noticed the creature reach speeds much faster than they could hope to achieve. Without hesitation and realising they were going to lose the chase, the guard leader radioed for backup.

  * * * * *

  Another guard's distress caught the attention of his commanding officer who raced over to see what the fuss was about. The two were in a park with a pond and waterside wildlife eating scraps of food nearby. Something moved to disturb them and they flocked together in a desperate evacuation, landing on the other side of the pond. While this was happening, the guard showed the problem to his commanding officer, who withdrew his pistol and tapped at the air. For some reason, neither of them could advance, and the harder they pushed, the harder they were repelled.

  "I don't know what is happening," said the guard. "You try to walk forward but something won't allow it."

  "Could be an invisible energy field blocking our access," said the commanding officer. "Something is not right. I will notify the palace security to come and assess the situation. Stay here and look out for more clues."