Free Alien Manifesto by T.W. Embry Page A

of
work anymore,” hissed Snarth angrily.
    “ That’s jussst what I told
him, brother,” hissed Snarg. “I don’t blame you, not after the way
they treated you after your lassst mission. But AArat told me to
tell you that he knowsss you have been recruiting from Earth. And
he wantsss to remind you how sssevere the penalty for that isss,”
said Snarg.
    “ Tell AArat I can pay any
fine he can legally dream up,” hissed Snarth, angrier than I had
ever seen him.
    “ Dear brother, he isssn’t
going to levy any fine, not thisss time. AArat intendsss to have
you jailed then confissscate all of your property. I am here to
intercede on your behalf,” said Snarg with a flourish of hands and
tentacles, then a bow.
    “ You sssee, there isss a
very sssimple way out of all thisss messss. It would ssseem that
AArat is a believer in the Cult of Eli. He wantsss the artifact,
and he wantsss you to give it to him.”
    “ I haven’t got it anymore,”
said Snarth very carefully maintaining a neutral
posture.
    “ Be that azsss it may,
AArat thinksss you do, or at the very leassst know where it isss,”
sniffed Snarg with distaste. “If you give AArat the artifact he
will make the evidence he hasss againssst you
disssappear.”
    “ I sssaid I don’t have it
anymore,” hissed Snarth quietly.
    “ Then I ssssuggest, dear
brother, that you find it again. What isss making my nossse itch
ssso?” said Snarg, holding a cloth to his nose, his eyes watering.
“Do you have a feline massster here ssSnarth? You know I am
terribly allergic.”
    Finally, Snarth gave the signal to
decloak and all the team did so at the same instant, already in a
defensive posture around Snarth.
    “ ssSo it’sss true,” said
Snarg as he slowly sized me up.
    “ He isss an orphan, no one
will missss him,” answered Snarth.
    “ What of the one guarding
the door?” said Snarg
    “ He isss an orphan also,
brother.”
    “ ssSnarth, I am not here to
judge, just verify the factsss. So what ssshall I tell AArat?”
asked Snarg.
    “ Tell him I do know where
the artifact isss. But I cannot, on my honor, tell him itsss
location,” answered Snarth, his devil may care attitude
returning.
    “ Well ssSnarth, for your
sssake I hope whoever you sssold it to will sssell it back. AArat
isss not one to take no for an anssswer. Watch your back, brother.
Well thisss hasss all been fun but I really mussst go, duty
callsss.”
    “ I will walk you out
ssSnarg…brother.” Snarth hissed reproachingly, not wanting his
brother’s visit to end on a sour note, again.
    “ That’sss all right, I know
the way. It hasss been a pleasssure to meet you all.” Then he
turned and strode back across the courtyard toward his waiting
shuttle.
    “ All right everyone, get
cleaned up; training ssstartsss at 0400,” hissed Snarth
loudly.
    ~
    Later in the solitude of
his meditation garden, Snarth pondered on his current
predicament. I must tread lightly on the
slippery slope AArat has forced me onto, he thought. I know that he will be
watching me, tracking my movements, eavesdropping on my
communications to see if he can find out whom I sold the artifact
to. Then he could jail me and get the artifact in the same play. I
should have killed him when I had the chance, thought Snarth regretfully.
    AArat has obviously
forgotten that I saved his life on that last mission I did for the
Galactic Council, after he fumbled it up. It is just my bad luck
that he has managed to worm his way back into the leadership of the
intelligence service.
    I wonder how many people
he had to blackmail to get there. Surely he has enemies by now, I
just need to find out who they are and use them to my advantage. If
he is truly a believer of Eli then that in itself is enough to get
him thrown out of the service. However, that depends on who his
allies are and if they themselves are believers of Eli.
    It would be impossible to
say until he found out how deeply the Cult of Eli had penetrated
the Galactic Council,