1:4:2 Tarthesis (Part 7)

The white flash of their materialisation caught the locals off guard. The rabble and ruckus died down in an instant. They had only been gone a couple of seconds.

“What’s going on? Arrest them at once!” Woolsly screamed. Arms surrounded them and folded their arms behind their back. A pair of heavy, polymer cuffs went over their wrists and covered their hands, completely encasing their fingers. They were escorted to the town hall, through crowds of jeering onlookers, and sat in a waiting room.
“Wait here.” Wreaves forced them onto a sofa. Wordlessly, he dragged Char into a side room, leaving Lore alone on the sofa. There were three distinct clicks as the doors around them locked. Even though she was only a few meters away, the distance could have been kilometres. Strangely, the tension brought them close to deformation but a fourth click snapped them back to reality.
“Could I tempt you with a cup of tea?” Woolsly entered the room preceded by a tea trolley. “We’ve been awfully poor hosts so you have my apologies. Please, allow me to be the first to make amends for our haste.” Woolsly offered them a biscuit. He sat beside them before realising why they hadn’t attempted to take him up on his offer. “My my, that must have slipped my mind. Let me sort that out for you.” Woolsly produced a key and proceeded to unlock Lore’s shackles. “Now, a biscuit?” He smiled.
“I want to see Char.” Lore spoke softly.
“Do you take sugar?” Woolsly just kept smiling.
“I want to see Char.” Lore repeated, their voice slightly more angry this time.
“Milk?” He deflected again.
“Why can’t I see her?” The softness of their voice was completely gone now.
Woolsly paused for a moment. His face dropped then he reconstituted himself. “You’ll see it in good time. We just have a few questions for it and then it will be free to go.” He lifted a cup and saucer from the trolley, gently placed a biscuit on the side, then handed it to them. “There you go.”
“Thank you.” Lore couldn’t stop the manners falling out their mouth. “I would like to see her now.” Lore emphasised the her.
“You will, in good time.” Woolsly looked to the door then to Lore. “All in good time.”

Her cuffs were forcing her transporter into her wrist. The lights were too bright and the air too cold. Wreaves just paced; he was inspecting her, his face contorted in a permanent grimace as though observing a caged animal. His contempt spoke volumes that his voice refused to. He just paced. The repetition was starting to annoy Char.
“Why am I here?” Char spoke with a subdued smugness.
Wreaves just continued pacing. He waited to talk, not sure if he wanted to. “I will be asking the questions here.”
“Then ask.” She smiled.
“What is the purpose of your visit to Treenam and Tarthesis?” Wreaves took a seat opposite her, pulling a notebook and pen from the wall.
“We came to meet a friend of a friend. She’s going to be looking after our friends.” She didn’t see a point in lying.
“Why Tarthesis?” He scribbled something down in his notebook. Char didn’t recognise the hieroglyphics he was using.
“That was just the location we were given. We were told to come here by another friend. She gave us a date and time so we showed up. Tarthesis just happened to be the planet.”
He continued to put pen to paper. “So you expect me to believe you were told by a friend to meet a friend of a friend on a planet on the edge of the densest nebula in known space… To babysit?”
Char kept smiling. “That about sums it up.”
“And what about your visit to the wild zone? Why go there if you’re only here to meet a babysitter?” Wreaves tapped his pen against the metal table punctuating his point.
“We were told to enjoy everything Tarthesis had to offer so we were just taking you up on that.” She shrugged. “Just following orders.”
“Then in that case, I suppose I should follow my orders.” Wreaves pulled a pistol from a hidden holster. “You are hereby sentenced to death under the ‘Cleaner Tarthesian living’ act.”
“Bit harsh.” Char remained calm even after Wreaves had positioned the gun aimed directly at the centre of her heart.
“Treenam law states that all unaccompanied, armed non-humans must be detained and further you are a wanted criminal of The Protectorate.” A screen on the wall illuminated, showing a wanted poster with an older Char’s face on it. “The authorities have been notified but messages take time to leave the nebula, anything could happen.”
“But I’m wanted alive.” She pointed at the bottom of the poster.
“Dead or alive…” His smarmy grin grew as he tightened his grip on his gun.
“I’m also afraid that you can’t kill me. Not now at least.” She tried to relax her shoulders but found it difficult whilst bound.
“And why’s that?” He rolled his eyes.
“Same reason you can’t kill the natives: I’m the last of my kind and as such, I am protected under Protectorate conservation laws.” She ended her point with a nod.
As she spoke, he started searching the databases. “Planet of origin?”
“Quatarr.” She waited for a moment. “You’ll likely not find it, it was destroyed a fair bit ago.”
“Quatarr. Mining planet of The Protectorate. Currently under the care of the Fifty Second Order of the Military Guild. Current population is human or synthetic, no mention of any population prior to mining operations commencing.” He shook his head.
She sighed. “Then look for my species then. Quatarri.”
He tapped at the keyboard and continued his search. “No… No results.”
“In that case, I’m still protected since I apparently don’t exist. Am I free to go?” Char waggled her cuffs. “And, in case you’re worried, I was accompanied until you separated me from my chaperone.”
Wreaves sighed, producing a key. “You are, for now, free to return to Lore’s custody. You will both be limited to this building until such a time as Mayor Woolsly says otherwise.” He unlocked the shackles then the door. Reluctantly, he opened it and allowed Char to pass through to find Lore and Woolsly enjoying tea together.

The building shook before Char could comment. Outside and in, sirens blared as the early warning system sounded in response to the ship piercing Tarthesis’ atmosphere at speed and stopping on a penny. There would have been pandemonium on the streets if it hadn’t been for the law enforcement officers corralling the civilian population into their nearest building or, if the situation warranted it, the lower floors of the police station.
“You have ten minutes to begin evacuation. After that time has elapsed, we will begin our operation. In line with local and Protectorate wide ordinances, your land will be returned to the native population. There will be no further warnings until the time has fully elapsed.” All the clocks on Tarthesis set themselves to ten minutes and began counting down and all eyes in the room fell onto Lore.
They sat there, awkwardly absorbing their stares. “There’s a relatively simple explanation for this but it’s a little bit out there so I doubt you’d believe me.”
“What’s that then?” Wreaves was again, close to losing his patience.
“I’m a clone. They’re the original. I haven’t a clue what they’re planning but I’d recommend doing what they’re telling you to do. If you can’t, we’ve got room on our ship, we could evacuate you quite easily.”
“We aren’t leaving.” Woolsly set his drink down.
“We aren’t?” Wreaves eyes had been bolted on the countdown clock but they snapped to Woolsly after his remark.
“We aren’t.” Woolsly repeated. His voice was strangely calm. “Lore is an honourable individual and I doubt they would attack a colony and a defenceless one at that.”
Lore squirmed in their seat. Char looked between Woolsly and Wreaves awkwardly. “I wouldn’t bank on that.” Char sounded worried. “They’ve breached your atmosphere and that ship is likely carrying warheads enough to level every settlement on Tarthesis.”
“Sir, we’ve got to begin. Our ship is still operational, we could have the town emptied and heading back to The Protectorate in less than the time we’ve got left.” Wreaves watched as Woolsly shook his head. “Then die here, I’m saving our people.” Wreaves started walking towards the stairs. “This is Treenam two calling all settlements. We’re beginning evacuation efforts now. Looking to co-ordinate.” He spoke into his communicator. “Treenam two to all active officers: Begin evacuation plans immediately.”
“Why?” Lore couldn’t believe what they had seen.
“I will not leave this town! I worked too hard and too long to see it fall to the natives! The sweat on my brow is mine and mine alone; I will not just hand it over!” He stood and tossed the tea trolley across the room, shattering almost all of the cups and saucers, spreading tea and biscuits in its wake.
“I’m sorry but we can’t just sit here.” Lore got up and ran to the stairs, Char not too far behind. “We’ll save you a seat.”