"Opolawn," Prawmitoos interrupted. The little regally marked Gray stepped between Anson and the Lumpeyin emperor. "Have you discussed your interaction and influence changes with the Arbitrators?" His head was about knee-high to Opolawn but the little alien didn't seem afraid.
Opolawn seethed and glared downward at the little Gray. "Do not threaten me, Prawmitoos. You know as well as I do that the creatures in the probatur claustrum are not protected by the treaty."
"Probatur claustrum?" Anson asked. I could tell he was trying to translate it in his head.
Mike, what does that mean?
Probatur is a Teytoonise word for test or examine and claustrum can mean pen, cell, prison. I would say the best combination would be test cell or examining cell.
Examining cage, perhaps?
Yes, that is probably good, Steven. I understand your approach now. Perhaps "test tube" would be a better interpretation.
Test tube. We've been right all along about being lab rats!
"Probatur claustrum." I turned to Anson. "Test tube or lab rat cage!" Anson understood it immediately and said that it paralleled Latin perfectly. I had Mike teach me Latin real quick.
"So, that is what the quarantined zones are, test tubes," Jim said through clenched teeth.
"Enough of this. We have come to talk, not fight," Prawmitoos interjected.
"Very well, runt," Opolawn said. "We can retire to my temple for refreshments and entertainment, and we will hear your requests. Then perhaps I will kill you all." He laughed again.
Prawmitoos said nothing but he stared right through Opolawn with his huge black eyes. I caressed the golf ball in my pocket and was looking forward to wiping this temple right off the top of this goddamned alien mountain. And I was thinking that killing the emperor would be a good thing. I could tell that Anson had already made up his mind about killing Opolawn. I had only known Anson for a couple months or so, but I had yet to find him wrong on anything of importance.
CHAPTER 25
Opolawn lifted us with a warp field and flew us into his temple. We passed through a great hall that was larger than any stadium on Earth and then floated into a terrace about two hundred meters up on one of the giant columns. He set us down on the patio, which had one of the most amazing views that I had ever seen. The terrace overlooked the ocean many kilometers away at the base of the mountain chain. The sun was setting and shining in all sorts of reds, violets, and blues. It was magnificent, and Opolawn stood there for a moment taking it in.
"The universe can be quite beautiful at times," he said. "And sometimes it can be quite vile," he commented as he turned to Prawmitoos. It was obvious that Opolawn and Prawmitoos had a history and that it was bad . . . very bad. None of us had the nerve to pry.
"Help yourselves to anything you desire, Earthlings." He motioned and the room was filled with dancing naked aliens, both male and female, and there was a table in the middle of the room with nearly every type of food and beverage imaginable.
"No thanks," I muttered.
"Let's get down to business," Tabitha said.
"Very well, General. Why are you here?" Opolawn sat on a large fur-covered chaise lounge. Several naked aliens of both sexes doted over him, bringing him fruits and juices and fanning him.
"I want you to hand over the control device for the picophage that infects many of Earth's citizens," she said.
"Aha! How do you know about this picophage, as you call it?" Opolawn boomed.
"Simple," Anson answered. "Us monkeys figured out how to detect it, Al!" Anson continued to display his anger and disgust for this alien and he purposefully dumbed up his retort even more with his extreme redneck drawl. I would have to find out what this Albert Einstein stuff was all about—but not now.
"Really? Is this true, Prawmitoos? They had no help from you?"
"I only told them that there was a picophage," Prawmitoos said in a flat voice. "They came to me knowing that they were infected with something. When my soldiers tried to stop them these monkeys overpowered them, rather easily I might add."
"If that is so, Prawmitoos, then I should have attacked The Species ages ago. I find it hard to believe that mere monkeys could offer any sort of real fight. Really, Prawmitoos, you never cease to disappoint me," Opolawn taunted the Gray.
"Enough," Tabitha said. "Will you give us the control device or not?"
"What do you think you will do with this so-called control device if I give it to you?"
"We will keep it until the last of the humans with the picophage die of old age, and then we will destroy it. If we have it, at least then we will know you are not controlling us. Even if you can enter our dreams, you still can't control us when we are awake without the picophage and its controller." Tabitha stood strong and fast and seemed completely fearless.
"You think so, do you? It is your dreams that you are afraid of. It is your dreams that make you fear these miniscule Gray bugs," he said.
That's it, Mike! I thought. He implanted the alien abduction memories in us!
That makes a lot of sense, Steven.
I have no idea what to do with that information, but I know it's right, I thought.
"If I give you the controller, Prawmitoos and the rest of The Species will eat you alive." Opolawn laughed.
"The Grays have agreed not to attack us and to leave us alone if we can prove that you are not controlling us," I told him.
Opolawn laughed for several seconds. "And you silly monkeys believed him, did you? I'm sure he argued with Feyibi on your behalf too, didn't he?"
"Yes, so?" Jim asked.
"You've been duped. You monkeys aren't as smart as you think you are. Not yet, at least. You are nothing but trained lab animals, as you have discovered. Prawmitoos didn't tell you about the other countless species that they have destroyed, and under false pretenses I am sure."
"That is enough, Opolawn," Prawmitoos said.
"I don't answer to you, bug. I will say what I please," Opolawn continued. "Did he happen to mention how he committed genocide on the Thuans and the creatures of Thweh? I guess not. What about Eyivaes? Did he explain where they are? And what of Aa?" Opolawn pushed away a Lumpeyin girl who was offering him some sort of bright green round fruit.
"Ah, Opolawn," Prawmitoos squeaked. "You act as though you were perfect in the eyes of these Earthlings, and that you yourself have not committed your share of unspeakable atrocities to countless races as well."
"Opolawn, you are claiming that these Grays killed off no telling how many other E.T.s in the Teytoonise side of the galaxy?" Anson asked and shook his head.
"That is correct, my little monkey. You humans have duped yourselves into the belief that evil was in the heart of humanity. Well, I have a lesson for you. Evil is alive and well in the universe." He sneered at Prawmitoos and it seemed as though sparks would fly between the two of them.
Opolawn continued, "You have been ignorant of the great evils of this galaxy for far too long to travel across the galaxy and make demands of me. And you are very foolish if you think that the Grays, as you call them, want anything for you but death. The sole intent of The Species hive is to populate the universe and devour all that stands in its way—and I literally mean devour. Several species that have survived have only survived because the picophage means death to the Grays. You owe your survival this long to me! The only reason the Teytoonis ever had interest in you monkeys is because they knew that your infection might lead them to a means of attacking us, the Lumpeyins." Opolawn stood three meters tall and thumped his chest. "WE ARE THE TRUE PROTECTORS OF THIS GALAXY!" His voice boomed through the chamber and it appeared that fire danced around the periphery of his body. Perhaps this was my imagination but that is what it looked like.