Making the Galaxy Great

“Curry? What’s that mean?” Jason whispered.

McCauley’s eyes grew wide. “Not what. Who. Kuh-Re. He’s the Marjan Special Envoy.”

A Marjan? Jason felt his entire body sinking into the oval rug. The shit hole they were in was getting deeper and deeper.

“I’ve never even seen him,” McCauley added.

The group of soldiers behind Jason and McCauley parted and a slender alien with grayish skin and a large head shaped like an inverted pear, and a tiny, almost imperceptible chin and deep lidless eyes, stepped forward. He was not quite five feet tall and wore a very plain rust-colored top that almost looked like something Jason would have worn to a toga party in college, over a pair of loose-fitting pants in the same color that extended down to the tops of his small silver shoes. He had no ears that Jason could see; just curved slits on each side of his head.

“Excuse me please,” he said. His voice was similar to an Yrrean’s, yet even more airy and ethereal. His words, rather than projecting, seemed to float on the air like falling leaves. “I am sorry to interrupt.”

The guy from the NSA stepped forward, hand extended. “Mr. . . . Kuh-Re, it is my—”

“Just Kuh-Re,” said Kuh-Re, bowing slightly. Then he turned toward McCauley, ignoring the guy from the NSA. “Agent McCauley, I request the pleasure of making your acquaintance. I am Kuh-Re.” He touched one hand to his forehead and bowed slightly.

“Ya mun ba’a,” said McCauley. “I return your greeting.” She lifted both cuffed hands to her forehead and bowed.

“Most interesting,” muttered Kuh-Re, seemingly to himself. Then he turned his huge gray eyes toward Jason. “And you must be Mr. Fleming. I request the pleasure of making your acquaintance, as well. I have heard much about you.”

Jason swallowed hard. Much? About me? What has he heard? Tentatively, he lifted his cuffed hands to his forehead. “I . . . umm, return your greeting.”

Kuh-Re held out his own hands, as if appealing to the entire group. “Will someone please be so good as to explain to me what has happened? Perhaps I can assist, before we have an interplanetary incident, as Mr. Brown was about to warn us.”

The NSA guy, now revealed to be Mr. Brown, said: “We certainly appreciate that, Kuh-Re. But this matter is something we need to resolve—”

“My . . . mandate . . . is to monitor all situations that involve interactions between the known worlds,” said Kuh-Re calmly. “It seems that this situation qualifies. So perhaps if Agent McCauley will explain, I can determine how I can help.”

Silence fell like soft felt over the entire group — soldiers, aliens, bureaucrats and prisoners. McCauley took a deep breath and launched into her explanation for a second time. When she’d finished, Kuh-Re nodded and pointed a long, slender hand at the holo-device. Somehow, Jason hadn’t noticed until that moment that Kuh-Re had six fingers on each hand.

“May I see the replay device?” he asked.

Ambassador K’pana handed the device to Kuh-Re. Jason thought the ambassador’s hand trembled slightly.

“This is Marjan technology,” Kuh-Re said. “And I believe there may be capabilities that can assist us in verifying the truth. Our technologists may have imbedded . . . additional features of which Yrreans and humans are not aware.”

“An Easter egg,” Jason said. He wasn’t aware he’d spoken aloud until Kuh-Re turned his pear-shaped head.

“Ah! One of your amusing terms that appears to mean one thing but implies something else entirely. Your English language is a most delightful, intricate puzzle. So, as you say, there may be an Easter egg in the recording devices, one which will allow us to see the individual who was wearing the device, as well as what he or she saw.”

Jason glanced at the two Yrreans and was certain the ambassador flinched.

Kuh-Re activated the device and the controls appeared. With two of his six fingers moving together, he rapidly tapped several icons until suddenly an image appeared. The entire room gasped as they looked at the neck and chin of an Yrrean. It was L’harra.

“This is not real!” exclaimed Ambassador K’pana. “Kuh-Re, someone has fabricated this. Just listen to the voice and you will hear the agent over there.”

“I believe even the humans have technology to analyze voice recordings, so we can confirm whether the voice is genuine,” said Kuh-Re calmly. “But before we do that, I request that we view the evidence Agent McCauley has brought with her.”

How does he know all of this? wondered Jason. He just got here.

A nervous man in black handed McCauley’s device to Kuh-Re, who quickly brought up the recording. It was set where she and Jason had left off watching it, during the encounter with the Yrrean shuttle.

“You’re touching my boob.”

“Accident.”

“Liar.”

The tension that had been pressing against the very walls of the room exploded into laughter. Jason’s embarrassment was exacerbated by the fact that his hands were still cuffed, making him feel defenseless.

“You, umm, need to go back a bit,” he said.

Kuh-Re nodded. “Yes, I see that. This portion of the recording is not . . . relevant, though it is quite informative.”

The Marjan quickly scanned back to the beginning of the recording, and Jason relived the moments when McCauley encountered the dead Haku and Russians, escaped a Haku droid and nearly shot a deer. And then on to the gun battle with the two Yrreans from the shuttle.

At that point, Ambassador K’pana interrupted. “These two agents are murderers! They may not have murdered the Haku or the two humans, but they murdered two Yrreans.”

“I can also speak Yrrean,” said Kuh-Re. “And although my ears may appear . . . deficient, I was able to hear the Yrrean on the recording tell her companion that they must eliminate the humans.”

“And it’s also clear they knew about what L’harra was doing,” said the Colonel. She pointed to Gerald. “Soldier, release my two agents. Mr. Brown, I assume you’ll talk to your bosses in DC about this? They may want to go ahead and sign that deal with the Haku now.”

“Mr. Brown,” said Ambassador K’pana, “whatever personal . . . agenda may have motivated L’harra’s actions, I assure you my government knew nothing of this.”

“Hey, what about the refugees?” Jason blurted out. “They weren’t involved in this scheme. So if you make a deal with the Haku, what happens to them?”

As soon as the words left his mouth, he realized he may have made a huge mistake.