Free A Galaxy Unknown 10: Azula Carver by Thomas DePrima

topside within a few minutes.
    Captain Pwuhvasqu was waiting on the first floor to greet the Azula when the elevator doors opened. "Your Grace, I'm sorry for the confusion. I felt it better that you be in the bunker in case this really was an attack on the palace."
    "You took the correct action, Captain. I'm glad you were able to determine that the shuttle offered no real danger before you found it necessary to destroy it. The freighter captain should have contacted you before the shuttle was even allowed to leave the ship. At a later time we'll have to discuss having planetary security ships in orbit around Obotymot so ships entering orbit can be cleared before the situation escalates to the danger point. Good work, Captain Pwuhvasqu. Carry on."
    "Yes, Your Grace. Thank you."
    ~     ~
    The shuttle touched down on the palace pad about twenty minutes later. Captain Pwuhvasqu and a detail of twenty security people were standing nearby to ensure the safety of the Azula and the palace staff.
    After extending from an opening in the hull, a ramp lowered gently until the furthest end made contact with the ground. Immediately thereafter a hatch opened to reveal a Terran male who filled the opening, literally. He didn't appear particularly large by Terran standards, but he was a giant by the standards on Selax, where the average male stands just three feet, one inch. As he stepped out onto the ramp, Jenetta judged his height to be about five feet eight inches. The stranger walked down the ramp after taking a quick glance at the assembled security and palace staff, and went directly to where Jenetta stood. Most everyone in the known galaxy could identify her in a heartbeat.
    "Mr. Wilkerson?" Jenetta said.
    "Aye, Admiral. I'm Wilkerson."
    Wilkerson appeared to be slightly older than middle-aged, at perhaps eighty or ninety. His hair was prematurely white, and his skin was tanned, which was surprising for someone who had just spent five years in space. At one time, Terran space dwellers used tanning beds to replace the missing effects of the sun in keeping their bodies healthy. But vitamin supplements and special lamps in all the corridors of larger ships had replaced the need for spending time in a tanning bed each week. It appeared that Wilkerson had continued to use a tanning bed.
    "You will always address Her Grace as Azula Carver or Your Grace," Captain Pwuhvasqu said loudly in a threatening manner from a few meters away.
    Wilkerson looked at Captain Pwuhvasqu, then sheepishly back at Jenetta. "I'm sorry, Your Grace."
    "No harm done, Mr. Wilkerson. The Nordakian rules of proper etiquette where the nobility is concerned are quite strict, but I took no offense. If you were a Nordakian, you would have been required to drop to one knee and press your hand against your chest at our meeting. Not being a Nordakian citizen, you are, of course, exempt from that ritual."
    Looking around at the Nordakian males, most of whom stood nearly eight feet all, Wilkerson said, "I feel like I've finally managed to escape from Lilliput only to land in Brobdingnag." This was a reference to the classical tales of travel by Lemuel Gulliver, written by Jonathan Swift and published in 1726.
    "I promise you won't be caged and put on public display here, Mr. Wilkerson," Jenetta said with a smile. "And my people are exceedingly friendly and courteous."
    "At least I won't have to worry about banging my noggin on the overhead a dozen times each day for years."
    "Did you travel all the way here from Taurentlus-Thur in a Selaxian freighter?"
    "Yes. It was the only ship headed this way for over a year, so I had little choice. I knew I couldn't survive five years of travel in a Lilliput environment and remain sane, so I purchased a cargo container and hurriedly outfitted it as a personal living accommodation. I had all the space I needed for living and for a complete lab in which to continue my work. I even had running room for the Jumaka I purchased for you."
    "A