Drew's Troubles - Omega Colony #02

To all,

Due to a request, I broke out a parallel series about the colonies. I want to show how the individual lives have been affected and how they survive and adapt.

Any aliens, real or imagined in this story are purely a construct of my twisted and warped mind.

I thank everyone so much for reading my stories and hope you continue enjoying them.

***

***

"He will be summoned later and he and the High Grell will discuss this subject further." With that the 'royal' entourage aligned back into place and carried on like nothing had transpired.

"Drew! What was that?" his mother asked staring at him astonished.

"Like you said mother, life with you will not be boring and please learn to call me DB. I promise it will save us so many misunderstandings in the future."

*

Surprisingly, the demand for a meeting arrived mentally early the next morning. Drew was slightly startled and then started to chuckle and then lightly laugh. He sent back a quick 'that will not work, but how about at the arboretum'.

There were many minutes of 'silence' he took to mean confusion and anger of a mere human dictating terms to the High Grell.

The request was sent again, in its original form with its original meeting location. Drew sighed and decided to be even more human.

In high Grell, he sent back a more direct message, "I will not meet in your embassy. I would welcome a discussion with the High Grell Ambassador, but I need to be around living things, so that is why I recommended the arboretum."

The original request came in for the third time. Drew just sent back "No." He then paused and decided to throw out a bit of chum in the water to see if he could get a bite. "But I will be at the arboretum at three o'clock today. If the Ambassador wishes to talk."

Since his meeting with the elder scholar, he had a growing desire to be around living things, especially plants. He visited the arboretum at least once a day and breathed in the smell of fertilized earth and the smell of the individual plants. Several parrots and other small birds had been let loose to flourish in the separate areas, creating an aviary.

As he arrived at the arboretum, he found the main entrance closed and guarded by two dragons. He was confused and turned to walk away when an urgent message was received, "inside." He realized that they had closed off the arboretum just for his meeting. Part of him was enraged that the High Grell had audacity to shut down so popular an attraction for the Grell's own use. But he also felt ashamed because it was his bullheadedness that had created the action.

He walked up to the dragons and simply stated that his presence was expected inside.

DB entered the building through the interlocking vestibule doors. He strode into the lobby to a very irritated High Grell Ambassador waiting on him. The Ambassadors entourage was there too, but they seemed to be giving the highly agitated Ambassador some added room.

DB walked up the Ambassador and bowed to him. As before the Ambassador was not amused when the bow was one of equals. The rest of the Ambassador's staff reacted. This time with emanations of disapproval.

DB then walked right past the Ambassador and entered the segregated section of the Arboretum. He had chosen the Tropical Forest section to walk today. As he passed the interlock set of doors he paused briefly and then sent a message just to the Ambassador.

"I need to be among living things. It is part of the change and sharing you wish to discuss. Please either follow or leave so others can enjoy this marvelous building and what it holds."

DB kept walking and he felt the presence that had caught up to him with its much longer stride and quicker step born of anger.

"Human, no longer tempt my patience," stated the High Grell

DB had stopped walking but had his hands slightly brushing the tops of tropical ferns.

'So, who is he?' asked DB knowing the High Grell would know who he was asking about from the slight visions Drew had shared during their first meeting.

"Human you are here to answer questions, not ask them!" stated through the Grell translator not wanting to share mentally with a mere human.

DB just started slowly walking again. Not responding but leaving a truly angry and befuddled High Grell behind him. DB reached an open area with benches and took one to relax and see what the Grell's next move would be.

The High Grell came into the space and towered over DB's sitting form.

'It is considered rude among my people to tower and crowd a person's space. I believe it's incredibly rude in your people's customs, even one with fancy titles and privilege. You want information and so do I. Can we please make this meeting beneficial to both of us?' when DB finished sending his message, he gestured to a taller bench meant for taller species like the Grell.

The Grell agitatedly settled himself onto the hard bench and just stared.

"So, who is my friend and why does it shock you so, that I met him?"

The High Grell was physically uncomfortable. And DB could see and feel his hesitation to respond.

Drew stood but motioned for the High Grell to stay seated. He walked up and put up his hand.

The high Grell matched hands, DB knew in some way this would make the transfer of pictures and emotions easier between them. DB played back his memories in the highest detail he could.

They broke contact and DB faltered and stumbled, only to be caught and steadied by the High Grell. DB made his way back to his bench and seated himself.

The Grell was looking up watching a parrot fly through the treetops.

'Comforting isn't it? Before I met your friend, I would never even have come into the building. But now there is a drive...a need to come here and be by living plants.'

"Life," the High Grell sent out, "that is what you seek, life."

DB just nodded his head and watched the movement of leaves in the artificial breeze.

"You cannot say his name with your vocal cords. Name him what you will, he would not mind. He is the thing of stories and myths in my culture. He was a prophet many thousands of years ago. He taught peace, forgiveness, empathy, and the blending of all things good. He vanished one day never to return to my people." The High Grell paused and looked again for the parrot but it was gone, "Some still say the words but the heart of the issue has long been lost in our society. We are now a people of imperious position, haughty attitude and ignoble desires."

DB could feel how shaken the High Grell was.

"I am not sure why he chose to arise to you. But what you have shown me is real and true. You are new to this, so let me provide warning. There is more he gave you. I do not know what or how it will emerge, but there is more."

The Grell stood up and so did DB.

"I must go back into the cocoon I call life. I must go back and act in the way of my people. I need you to stay close so we can meet again."

"I will be leaving for Cat space soon and need to be there to help my mother. There is something there I was meant to be part of. I have no idea what, but it's like this desire, I must be here." DB paused and looked up at the tall being.

"I will be here each day at three if you wish to meet again. Being immersed in life would do you some good too, I think." DB commented while waving his hands at all the like that surrounded them at that one moment.

***

The transitions to Cat space was not nearly as dramatic as the shorter trip from earth to Mars. Well at least not for DB. He had forgone the drugs every other human took and just enjoyed the ride through the Kaleidoscope.

Within the Kaleidoscope, time and space ceased to have the same meaning.

He was sad that the Grell High scholar did not appear.

He desired to view his new destination on the Cat Home world, so he went there. He dove down deeper, and deeper into the Cat home world. His mother had told him they would be staying in the Omega colony. It was one of two colonies that were wrested out of the hands of the Russian mafia. He decided to see if he could 'surf' the transition wave and skim locations he had started to read about.

The Atlantis continent was beautiful, full of natural scenes and wonders.

Omega, unfortunately, was mostly bland. It had been chosen by many due to its abundance of farmable land. DB was drawn to two locations within Omegas boundaries. The first a shear canyon at the northers most edge of the colony, adjacent to the jungles of the spiders. The other area was the rugged cliffs of the ocean interface.

He swept along the coast looking for a good place for an artificial harbor. He then looked to the adjacent islands for the potential of physical interconnects with the mainland.

He swept up north through the farmlands and had to pause. Herds of cattle grazed. He could already see the devastation to the native chaparral. He could also see the mudding and destruction to the native waterways caused by the overgrazing.

He went farther and found farms of growing plants. Good he thought, food for the colonists but something was wrong. He could see a sickly drain in the soil. His avatar flowed down and felt a leaf, tobacco. Why would they be growing tobacco?

He found fields of marijuana. The stocks not used for hemp but dumped into the creeks after the buds were harvested.

He raised himself up and could see fields of corn. Ok, a grain crop. But he could also see smoke coming from a distance. What were they doing burning crops? He looked to the north, only to see a swath of deforestation leading into the jungle. He found stills boiling down the corn to liquor. They had cut down the large emergent trees from the jungle just to fire stills.

He made it to the beautiful falls that cut through the jungle and spilled over the sheer cliffs. Below the cliffs he found an improvised dam that had flooded the valley. It looked like they were trying to create a hydroelectric project. But DB could see that the dam would fail in a year or two depending on rain.

Short term thinking for short term gains.

Where were the food crops? Where was the husbandry of the land? What happened to Omega?

He popped back into real time, but he had dallied too long in his search of the new colony. The robotic EMT's were already by his side trying to administer accelerants into his body. He grabbed the hypo at the end of the mechanical appendage and bent it.

"Do not inject me with any medications unless I request them." Drew cautioned with a calm but overly stern voice.

"Drew, you were in a comatose state again, we have already docked, and they were trying to help," Adrian noted.

"My apologies to all for the scare, I was too wrapped up in my 'meditation' to hear or know what was happening. I also apologize for my mishandling of the medical instrument" Drew looked down at the crushed instrument still in his hand.

"And please call me DB mother. It's going to be quite confusing when we meet our long-lost cousin as it is. We do not need to add to the inevitable confusion when he and I meet.

As they gathered their belongings and exited the hatch, Adrian touched Drews arm and tried to get his attention.

"OK...damn it, 'DB' what is going on with you and your 'meditation' it scares the hell out of me when you go comatose," his mom commented.

They exited off the companionway and into the ramshackle housing area for arrivals. Drew had heard that they used cobbled together older ships as a temporary space hub, but he was shocked at the unorthodox and dilapidated transit area.

"Mother, we need to get down to the surface and look at Omega. There is something terribly wrong."

"DB, how would you know that? Something to do with your 'meditation'?"

"Yes Mother, my meditation."

"Well it will have to wait. We are going to meeting with our cousin Drew. I gather something is happening with Omega and a few other colonies, or we would not be here."

"OK mother we will see what comes out of meeting Lord Drew"

***

DB stepped off the transport and sent a message to his cousin "we are here."

As DB and his mother entered the room, DB immediately knew the other players. His cousin Lord Drew, Target, warrior and Drew's mate, and Eddie, Drew's scholar.

"Can you just communicate to me mentally or can you do it to others?" Drew asked DB mentally.

DB nodded, and broadcast, 'good morning to you all. With a beautiful sunset outside, I am happy to be here with my mother to honor my long distant cousin for all the changes he has brought to my life.'

Several of the attendees gasped. DB's could feel the shock come from his mother.

"For the benefit of everyone, I recommend we use spoken communication. Some of us get grumpy when we hold conversations, she cannot be part of," commented Drew.

"Yes, no kidding. Please let everyone at the table participate," commented Target.

"So, DB, please tell us how a very young earth human became a Grell scholar and how you communicate the way you do?" Drew asked.

"Something happened on the transition from Earth to Mars. It's a short jump but my meds did not work," DB paused because he could feel the unease in Drew.

"Please go on, I do not do Transitions easily and the thought of going through without meds brings back painful memories." Drew commented.

"I found myself talking to an interesting creature, as it turns out, a High Grell scholar. This Being pointed out how life came to be spread throughout the galaxy. We had a brief talk, I believe more of a pep-talk to get me past my biases, and then I woke up." DB paused trying to think how to give a short version of his change.

"Days had passed and I awoke in a hospital on Mars. I knew I had the ability to communicate differently, but I kept it hidden. Well I tried to keep it hidden until I saw the High Grell Ambassador and said 'hi'."

At this point Adrian, his mom commented, "Said Hi! You say like it was nothing. I almost died on the spot."

Drew started to laugh, and then he could not stop...finally he settled down.

"My apologies to you all. I have met the oh, so, High Grell Ambassador when we tackled the Roach issue. He is such an asshole. He was forced by circumstances to talk to my dad, Kay, Tiffany, and me. You would have thought we were all dipped in animal excrement. He could not get away from us or the situation faster." Drew just stared at the table thinking of Kay and better days with Tiffany.

"My sorrows for your losses." DB commented.

Drews head shot up and he asked, "So what else can you do with the changes wrought into you?"

"I am trying to learn to shield my mind, but it is not always easy. Your pain was heavily broadcast"

Drew talked to Eddie and started a mental conversation then caught the disapproving eyes of Target. Drew shifted to verbal communication.

"Eddie, do you think you could help him? You taught me." Drew commented and DB was extremely interested to spend more time with the Scholar.

"If he is not averse to my help, I would gladly work with him." Eddie looked at DB. DB was thrilled with the idea of getting help. He had been winging the changes for too long by himself.

"As for what else I can do, I have no idea. I am new to this but somehow it feels like I have been doing this my whole life." DB smiled when he thought of the next discussion.

"As for the High Grell ambassador, once I had said 'hi'" he looked at his mom for comment, but she rolled her eyes and looked away.

"So, once I said Hi, he asked me to meet. During that meeting I shared with him my memories of meeting the high Grell scholar. He decided that since one of the 'ancient ones,' that is my best translation, found me to share, I should be kept close for study. I am sure by now he knows I skipped town and where I am. He said he would provide me with the title of Grell scholar."

Eddie jumped in, "He did more than that. He sent word that you are on Grell business as a scholar to the Cat parcel of space. You are to be afforded all comforts and honors as an Ambassador and representative of the Elders."

DB heard the gasps at the table. His mom was the loudest in his mind.

"Well bless his little heart." DB commented. He heard more gasps at his belittling of the title of Ambassador that had been bestowed him.

"My apologies, but..." DB paused trying to find deeper longer words to express his feelings.

"Oh, fuck it! Oops, sorry. I am trying to be all formal and grown up with my explanations, but I give up." He paused for only a moment and then tried to be as open and honest as he could.

"The being that I met, shared some of his knowledge and...peace with me. I know that if he met his descendants he would be saddened and disappointed. Maybe that is why he contacted me and not them. He called me a child of the stars. Maybe that is what is needed, beings of little experience but open mind, able to absorb the changes that are coming."

DB paused for a second thinking over his own words. "The important titles, the entourage, the attitude of the modern Grell is nothing like the being I met. The sad part is, that after the Ambassador and I met again, he admitted that his culture was just a shell...no, a cocoon, of what it was and should be."

There was a ruffling and then a calliope of sound as Goldies and Kitten rushed into the room. Goldie rushed to say hello to all of people she knew. Kitten loped directly to DB, put her paws on the arm rest and stuck her face in his from the side.

DB was a bit shocked to see a full-sized puma loping directly to him. he had heard never to meet the predator eye to eye, so he stayed looking forward. He then heard in his mind 'new friend?" from the puma! He just started to laugh with her nose in his ear and the whiskers tickling.

He heard his mother shriek as a three-foot, black, furry spider climbed on top of the large conference table. The mini mouse ears making little difference to his mother's reaction. DB picked up immediately that the new addition was the ambassador for the spiders. He felt the Mini-mouse ears were a nice touch.

DB then he heard the most beautiful voice, in and out of his head, and saw a vision of loveliness.

"Papa, why did I get these odd messages on my Pad..."

The room flooded with emotions from two directions. DB could feel her attraction to him, and he was not hiding his to her.

"Oh, dear god," His cousin commented. Target just started to laugh and tear up.

Kitten just licked the entire side of DB's head, and he 'heard' her say 'new family.'

DB could do nothing but stare into the lovely eyes of Cara. She stared back with equal intensity.

"Well I guess I need to do the introductions." Commented Lord Drew of the Pride

***

'Well it's been a fascinating week' thought DB. He sat back at his motel desk in the hotel room in Sydney the Cat Capital. He was trying to focus, but all he could think of was Cara, his distant cousin's adopted daughter. He was trying to focus on important things, but his mind continued to drift back to the first time their eyes met.

He tried again to buckle down and do what his mother taught him to do when he was a child, write lists and then prioritize. In the span of his arrival, there had been an insurrection at the governor's first annual meeting. That series of meetings and seminars had been put off for three months waiting for all of this to settle down.

The Omega, and he presumed the Gamma colony were in serious trouble for the coming winter. They had planted cash crops. It is what his mother called 'sin' crops. Dope, tobacco, moonshine, beef cattle in number well beyond what the native vegetation could sustain, and who knows what else.

Four colonies were now under control of the provisional government. Two of the colonies were holding their own governors and deputy governors for adjudication. The other two sets of governors and deputy governors for Omega and Gamma, were given life sentences due to the charges of murder. He had been there to see the final sentencing and delivery at the penal colony. There was another person, a Reginal someone that he would have to ask about later.