Jack's Righteous Gig

Too soon, the Gate Terminal came into view as did the office complex tucked into the beautiful forested park. All buildings on Chuuruthia were lovingly integrated with their natural settings. Altaria did this as well but not to such an extreme degree. When Jack first moved to this planet, he often found himself hunting for the entrances to the office buildings.

The Altarian Trade Commission office was nearby, but he was officially on vacation, so he wasn't allowed to visit.

He jogged into the Gate Terminal and walked up to the agent at the counter. The female Chuuruthian at the terminal was new and young, as well. She was obviously stuck with a midweek overnight shift. It was one of the Tik's unbreakable rules. The personal Gates at the Terminals must be manned by live personnel. No automation or remote access allowed.

She looked pretty tired, but she livened up when he showed up.

"Mr. Danner! You're up early!" she said brightly.

"Just getting a jump on the day, and please call me Jack," he replied with a smile.

She preened as her whiskers trembled. "Destination?"

"Altaria, to visit the Queen," he replied.

"Ah, send her my regards," the young female teased.

Jack's smile widened. "I certainly will if you tell me your name."

The clerk's eyes went wide, and her jaw dropped open as Jack waited. Finally, she realized he seriously wanted her name. "Miccali," she squeaked out of her tight throat. She tapped some keys on her console. "Gate 1."

"Thank you, Miccali. I'll pass along your good wishes to the Queen when I see her. Have a lovely day!" Jack said with a wave as he turned to leave.

He smiled all the way to the Gate and passed through the mirror surface onto Altaria. He never stopped appreciating just how incredible this technology was.

He approached the agent's desk and was pleased to see a male Altarian working there. Likely working the unpopular overnight shift as well, but working none-the-less! The clerk's face split with a wide and thrilled grin.

"Ambassador Danner!" he exclaimed.

Jack gave him a surprised look. "I'm not-"

"You will always be Ambassador to us! You opened our eyes to our self-imposed inequality and showed the way for us to regain our dignity and purpose. We were meant to stand beside our females, not wallow in self-indulgence. We thank you for that!" the male gushed.

"Oh! Well, thanks!" Jack mumbled.

"I'm Thesson," the clerk said, thrusting a hand towards Jack, who gripped and shook as the male's smile widened. "I want you to know that we are behind young Alexander's efforts to revoke that law which banished you from living on Altarian soil. We've learned the Queen is unofficially behind our cause as well."

Jack smiled. His banishment had been going on for twelve years, yet these guys still held out hope.

"We want you reinstated to your rightful role as Ambassador as well!" Thesson asserted.

Jack grinned. "That's really nice of you... guys. How many are in your group?" he asked curiously.

"At last count, we were just four members away from ten thousand!" Thesson said with a thrilled smile.

Jack paused in surprise. He'd been expecting maybe twenty to thirty members, not ten thousand! "That's amazing! And you've all joined the workforce?"

Thesson nodded bashfully. "We don't have the training to take on positions of higher authority, but we're trying to be supportive members of society."

"That's awesome! Really! Anything you can do to make the lives of those around you a little better, that's what it's about! I'm very impressed and proud of all of you!" Jack gushed and vigorously shook Thesson's hand once more. The male looked so happy. Tears were coming to his eyes, so Jack released his grip. "I'm here to see the Queen, and I'll be sure to let her know how impressed I am with you and the group- does it have a name?"

"STAMPEDE, Stand Tall Altarian Males, Professional Employment Delivers Equality," Thesson said with pride.

Jack froze as his first impulse was to burst into laughter. Thesson didn't deserve the disrespect that laughter might imply. He called upon his rusty Ambassador skill set to bring an expression of pride to his face. "Queen Elissa is likely already aware of your efforts, but I'll definitely lend my backing to the group."

Thesson's eyes were visibly glassy now. "Th-th-thank you, Ambassador Danner! That means so much!"

Jack nodded, and with a wave, moved towards the exit before Thesson completely lost his composure.

He stepped outside and took a deep breath of the fresh air. He loved Altaria and missed living here. Dawn was arriving, and Jack smiled at the idea of being able to enjoy the magical time of day twice in one day. As the two planets had identical size and spin rates, the Chuuruthian Gate Terminal he'd entered was purposefully built where it was to closely match the time of day at the Altarian capital's Gate Terminal.

Jack knew he had a few hours before his meeting with Elissa, so he picked a direction and began to jog. He missed this too. Altaria had the most awesome path system! He jogged then picked up his pace until he fell into his comfortable rhythm once more. The path flew by under his feet as he enjoyed the scenery and the cool morning air. There was almost no one on the pathway, so for a bit, it felt like he had the planet to himself.

Soon enough, he heard the tell-tale buzz of groundskeepers working on the lush parkland he was running through. Coming around a corner, he spotted a group of seven Altarians working on a section of the garden. Two female workers were operating the heavier equipment as five males planted, trimmed, and gathered the trimmings. They all turned to watch as he approached, so he decided to stop to say hello. He was seriously interested in getting an impression of the new dynamic of an Altarian mixed-gender workforce.

He noted the males were all looking to the females who were likely to be senior in level. One female appeared to be much older than the other workers, so Jack slowed his run to a jog, then a walk, and stopped before her. She eyed his horns then looked him in the eye.

"Are you the one who killed my GowGow tree?" she asserted.

Jack's eyebrows rose. He remembered the event, but he had no idea anyone claimed the tree and held a grudge for its demise.

"Years ago, I accidentally knocked one down. I was running and had to leap off the trail to avoid hitting some... pedestrians. I collided with the tree instead. I'm terribly sorry, but it was an accident," he admitted.

The old female glanced at her male coworkers. "Maybe you should have hit the pedestrians instead." With a sniff, she went back to work.

The younger female was a lovely chocolate brown with cream-colored spots. She beamed an excited smile at Jack, so he smiled back. "Don't mind Wawnsa. She only likes plants. I'm Teelie," she said. Jack nodded and shook her hand. "This is my squad. Drann, Gretz, Hallison, Yuuta, and Jerrn." Each of the males excitedly stepped forward to shake his hand.

"It's great to see you guys working on the gardens! I'm very impressed!" Jack said, encouragingly. Teelie gave them a fond smile.

"We don't see you too often on Altaria anymore," she said.

Jack shrugged. "I broke an Altarian law, and my punishment was to never live on Altarian soil again. I'm following both the rule and the spirit of that law. I was asked to ensure the people knew I was no longer living here. That means no daily appearances. I restrict my visits to special occasions. That's the way it's been for twelve years, and I guess that's the way it will have to be for the rest of my life. Don't get me wrong. I love Altaria, and I can't get enough of running through these beautiful gardens and paths. I miss living here, and I miss the people too. Chuuruthia is amazing, and the people there are charming, but I fell in love with Altaria first. It will always hold a special place in my heart."

"Do you regret breaking the law?" Yuuta asked.

Jack looked to the young male's earnest expression and shook his head slowly. "No. I regret the necessity, but that wasn't in my control. Not only was my family at risk, but Altaria was too. I had to defend both. That meant stepping outside of the diplomatic arena. That lost me the honor of being Altaria's Ambassador. While I only played a token role in the revolution on Phem Kalos, my... interference with another planet's governing while being Ambassador broke Altarian law. When I returned to Altaria, I came back to face justice and accepted the judgment." He saw the next question on their lips. "Yes, I'd do it again."

They all smiled at him, so he felt at ease with asking them a question. "How did you fellas end up becoming a squad?"

It was Drann's turn to speak. "We applied for jobs with the Altarian Labor Minister. They've had to open a new office to find work for males like us. As we have no formal training nor the required scholastic record, we could only get maintenance work. I've heard others had success in more technical jobs because they got training before they applied. We're learning on the job."

"How do you like the work?" Jack asked.

Jerrn sighed. "I'm so tired by the end of the day, but I feel a strange sense of satisfaction when I look at the work we've done."

Jack grinned at him. "I had a landscaping job when I lived on Earth. It's hard work, but it's also an art. You're creating beauty."

Some of the males blinked at him then looked around. Soon they were all wearing satisfied smiles.

Jack felt the itch to get back to his run. "It was great talking to you. I'm going to be speaking with the Queen later today, and I'll be sure to let her know how impressed I was with the team!" He waved as they cheered, and then he was underway once more.

The path rushed by under the pounding of his feet as he let them guide him. His appointment with Elissa wasn't for some time yet, so he just enjoyed himself.

More people were out on the path system, and he had to keep his eyes open for those who weren't paying attention. More than a few Altarians waved happily at him, and he had to stop for one group of students who begged him for a photo. He picked up his pace after that, and fewer people tried to stop him.

When he finally became aware of his surroundings again, he realized he was close to Aaros' family home. She'd been renting it out to a family of Harruushans. Namely, Dann and Juul's family. He turned to run by the house to see if anyone was home. He knew they had a restaurant here on Altaria, which was more popular than the one they'd operated in Ghan, the capital city on Harruusha. He wasn't sure if they would have already headed off to work.

Dann wanted to get their mother off a planet that consumed its inhabitants with its barrage of energy from their sun. So far, this experiment was showing promising results. The matriarch was still going strong five years longer than what she could have expected on Harruusha.

Harruushan couples who conceived children on Altaria and its colony worlds were delighted to discover their litters were smaller, with a new range of two to four kits. None of the litters reached the previous maximum of ten kits. The extra energy of their home planet's sun seemed to enable the higher birthrate, but the normal levels of energy from the suns above their new homes had an immediate and beneficial impact.

Dann and Juul were still working as Harruushan Diplomats, and still working on finding additional planets willing to take the remaining population from Harruusha. After seeing how well the Harruushans blended into Altarian society, Queen Elissa accepted close to fifty million refugees who were spread out amongst dozens of planets of the Altarian Empire. More were planned, but there were almost 3 billion more on Harruusha who needed to find new homes. It was slow going, but the results they were experiencing on the Altarian planets made it easier to sell the idea of accepting refugees. Where their birthrate on the home planet frightened off prospective hosts, now that threat was eased.

Jack also knew the Tik were working on finding suitable planets for them by scouring their records and ramping up their scans for gravity wells in space.

The race of mechanical beings was also working on a proposal to repurpose the Allsa Komanae homeworld and Allsa One to house the races the Allsa Komanae displaced or otherwise harmed.

To date, these two planets remained off-limits to the Tik and everyone not on the research teams. There was more than a little suspicion amongst the other members of the Gate Network that the research team had completed their work years ago but were maintaining exclusive access for their own purposes.

Jack jogged up to the front door of the home and pressed the button to announce himself. Moments later, the little screen next to the door lit up with an image of Juul. She was home, at least.

"Eeeeeee!" she squealed excitedly, and the screen went dark.

Jack blinked at the screen and wondered if he should press the button again. Suddenly, the front door flew open, and Juul leaped out to crush herself against his body. She nuzzled his neck then kissed him almost feverishly.

"Juul! I'm all sweaty from running!" he managed when he pulled back from the kiss. He recalled her visit to his place a week ago with her brother. Juul had been extra affectionate that night, as well.

"I like it!" she giggled, green eyes flashing with delight. She kissed Jack's forehead as she was taller than him.

Dann arrived and smiled at Jack. "Sorry about my clingy sister. Is, uh, Diana isn't here, is she?"

Jack barely managed to contain a snort. "No, she's at home. I just came to Altaria as I have an appointment with the Queen. I had some time, so I thought I'd go for a run. Then I happened to find myself in your neighborhood."

Juul made an odd surprised sound, and her smile dropped away, and she stiffly stepped back from Jack. Dann looked to her cautiously. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she said tersely, then looked past Jack to see a taxi landing in the driveway. "Our ride. We have to go."

Jack's eyebrows went up at Juul's abrupt mood change. He looked to Dann, but the brother was being dragged away by his sister. The tall Harruushan flashed Jack an apologetic smile as he was pulled into the taxi. It rose and accelerated away at high velocity. Odd!

Abandoned at the front door, Jack watched the siblings disappear then turned to face a smaller version of Dann standing in the doorway. Maybe a brother or cousin. Jack was about to say hello when the door closed.

Such a weird encounter. He'd have to speak to Juul when she returned to see if it was anything he said or did.

Jack walked out to the pathway and began again but adjusted his course to take him back towards the core of the city. He still had time, but his visit with Juul made him feel a little off. He just wanted to meet with Elissa and maybe talk it over with her. Perhaps she would see him early.

Then he wanted to go back home to his family.

The run back to the Queen's office building didn't take too long, though the route was much busier with the morning commute. He heard a lot of excited chatter and calls of support as he wove his way through them.

He entered the grounds through the guarded side entrance after he showed his ID. He thought it funny to need ID when his horns were enough of a give-away.

When he exited the side corridor into the central courtyard, he saw a large group of young Altarians on the other side of a large fence. They were chanting something but exploded into cheers as Jack slowed to look at them. He'd never seen so many male Altarians in one place! The majority was still female, but this was a lot of males!

He waved, and the noise increased. He couldn't get over how loud they were. Turning back towards the steps leading into the building, he climbed to the landing and smiled at several stern-faced security officers, guarding the doors. He thought he heard something familiar, so he turned back to the gates and froze as he could now see thousands of young Altarians filling a sizeable outdoor space beyond the fence. He stood in shock as he spotted his sons Alex and Max and his daughter Gwen in the front row. He rushed down the steps and crossed the short distance to speak with them through the bars.

"What's all this?" he asked Alex, who was grinning widely.

"You couldn't have timed your speech better!" the young male grinned.

He shook his head then dipped forward to kiss Gwen's cheek through the bars and shook the hands of his sons. "What speech?"

"You spoke to some gardeners this morning. One of them recorded your words and sent the recording to several news outlets. It's gone viral! I took advantage of the upswell of interest in your case, and Max and Gwen sent out old school flash mob invitations to several popular message boards." He gestured to the huge crowd behind them. "I submitted my bill to the court demanding they institute a period of limitation on the penalty for the law you broke. Ten years. If we can't get the law removed from the books, we can at least demand an adjustment of its term."

"I'll keep my fingers crossed for that!" Jack said with a grin.

He glanced at the doorway and saw Elissa's secretary, Marina, gesturing to him with a cross look on her face. Uh oh. He smiled at his kids. "It was great seeing you three. Are you coming to the barbeque party this weekend?"

"Yes!" they all chimed in with smiles.

"Great! See you then!" Jack turned and rushed back to the stairs and climbed to the top. He stopped to look back at the crowd who roared another cheer. He waved to them and blew them a kiss. The volume increased, and Jack laughed happily. Altarians could always surprise him. Typically such a quiet and civil group, there was hidden passion there.

He went inside, and the secretary took one look at his sweaty body and pushed him towards the washrooms. He closed the door, stripped out of his running gear, and took a quick shower. Once he was dry, he slipped on his clean clothes from the backpack and stuffed his running gear inside. He slipped on his sandals from the bag and left the washroom to follow the secretary to see Elissa.

"Will she be able to see me early?" Jack asked.

"Early? You're her only appointment this morning due to your interview!" the female griped.

Jack gave her a cautious look. "Interview?"

"Your little radio stunt with that group of Stampeders! Then Alexander followed up by submitting his bill, and Elissa's children spread the news of it on every social media channel. Everyone is talking about it! There's talk of a general strike if the bill doesn't get accepted. Now the Queen has to cancel her meetings and deal with this!" the female exclaimed.

"Oh."

Marina sent him an exasperated look. "Yes, oh." She ushered him into the large corner office and shut the door behind herself.

Elissa was speaking to someone, so Jack remained quiet. Something Marina just said finally trickled into his brain. She said Stampeders when referring to the groundskeepers. They hadn't mentioned affiliation with the group, but he supposed one or more of them must have been, maybe all of them. As Marina was aware of their name, it seemed they were having some impact on society.

Thinking a little deeper on this, he realized that if the bill managed to pass, these Stampeders could claim to have made it possible, being the instigators. That would give them even more clout in society. The name would have gravitas! He wondered if Alexander was a member of the group! And Max!

"Never a dull moment, but that's what I've come to expect from the man I love."

Jack came back to the moment at the sound of Elissa's voice. He smiled at her as she came around her desk to get a hug.