The Voting Species by John Pearce Page B

the
Commander did the same from under his slicked down black
hair.
    ‘ Thank you,
that will be all,’ said the Admiral coolly. ‘Coffee
Senators?’
    ‘ Yes,’ hissed
Senator Cantrell, the Leader of the Senate, a large dark haired man
who wore the usual grey business suit, but felt his office allowed
him the latitude of wearing a dark red polo neck shirt. The other
two were no less conventional but wore different shades of tan
suits, the slim sandy haired Senator Goring choosing the lighter
one with a mustard shirt. His legal adviser Mr Stanford, short and
rotund, making a safer statement with a darker tan suit and a dark
green shirt.
    ‘Please sit down gentleman,’ the Admiral
continued, ‘I understand you have concerns about security on
Cyan.’
    Senators Cantrell and Goring shuffled into
the chairs to his left while Stanford sat next to the Commander,
both to his right.
    Cantrell was
the Senator for Earth, but allowed Goring to start the complaint.
‘Our research lab was attacked yesterday by a group of hooligans
calling themselves health researchers. There has been no interest
shown by the military despite several complaints made to this base
directly from the Cyan Government.’
    ‘Anything new on this Commander?’ the Admiral
asked.
    ‘ No Admiral,
as you are aware, we tried to get inputs from reliable witnesses by
way of encrypted quantums. We received the most incredible account
of what appeared to be a confrontation between aliens and guards
who were concealing an unlicensed nuclear project.’
    ‘The application went in an hour ago,’ rasped
Stanford, ‘CY589834.’
    ‘Better late than never Mr Stanford,’ the
Admiral said, ‘now at least we’ve something solid to go on. As this
matter appears to have wider implications than just hooliganism,
somebody senior’s account of what happened would be most
welcome.’
    Senator Goring continued robustly, ‘Cyan
funded guards were ambushed by a health research group, most of the
guards were shot with twelve injured.’
    ‘How many attackers?’
    The Senator hesitated. ‘At least seven, three
humans were around somewhere.’
    ‘How many guards?’
    ‘About twenty.’
    The Admiral
made the point of looking at the Commander incredulously. ‘There
must have been a glitch in the quantum, our information says one
hundred and twenty.’ Then he looked back at the Senator. ‘Not very
proficient your guards!’
    ‘The attackers were aliens, the like of which
had never been seen before.’
    ‘ With or
without intelligence?’
    ‘This isn’t funny Admiral, first they used
bows and arrows, injuring twelve guards, and then they shot the
others with laser rifles.’
    ‘ What makes
you think they were aliens? Were they scanned?’
    ‘ They must
have been aliens, they used bows and arrows.’
    ‘They sound like intelligent aliens to
me.’
    ‘ Are you
taking this seriously Admiral?’
    ‘ You must
forgive me Senator, but I’ve already had
feedback from Cyanese witnesses. How many guards were
killed?’
    The Senator hesitated again. ‘None, the
rifles were obviously set on stun.’
    ‘Is there anything else you wish to add
Senators? Mr Stanford?’
    ‘Yes,’ interrupted Senator Cantrell
pompously, ‘an expensive gunship was destroyed, its engine was
blown apart by a laser cannon.’
    ‘Ah, you must have some form of evidence from
detecting this ship, I assume it was a ship.’
    Now it was
Senator Cantrell’s turn to hesitate. ‘Er…no evidence, it must have
been a ship, what else could it have been.’
    The Admiral
looked around the boardroom thoughtfully before clasping his hands
together. He glanced at the Commander who was now struggling to
contain his faint smile. ‘If I understand you correctly gentlemen,
you now wish me to spend a significant amount of my ever decreasing
budget on hunting down and capturing three humans and at least
seven aliens. A tough enough job finding humans, with all aliens
looking alike I suggest that finding them in