The Whisper of Damkina Part 70

April 1st, 2019  |  Published in Whisper of Damkina  |  4 Comments

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It seemed like hours before they heard anything more but Amanpreet guessed that it was only half an hour. Prima was pacing nervously and it was only with effort that Amanpreet stopped herself from joining her. Eventually the console beeped and Niobe mashed the button hard in her eagerness to answer it.

Commander Aw was smiling when she appeared on screen which was a good sign. Indeed the first words out of her mouth were:

“We got him!”

“Is he okay?” Prima hurried over to stand behind Niobe. “Can I see him?”

“He is, just a little bruised and shaken up.” She shook her head. “We’ll send someone to escort you. We have to question his abductors to find out what they were thinking but from the evidence we found it seems someone is spreading lies about your people.”

“Lies?” Prima asked.

“Yes, they had … well propaganda I’d guess you call it… in their possession. Someone is claiming that your people and the Coronans are behind the attacks on the planets and there is no enemy out there.”

Prima gave a surprised trill. “But we were barely hatched and the Coronans were attacked…”

“I know,” Commander Aw said. “But people will believe the strangest things, especially when they are scared.” She hesitated. “They also think you are behind the Vaia mess which is even more ridiculous. They seem to think it’s a plan to destabilise us so you can conquer us. We need to weed this out and figure out where it’s coming from.” She smiled reassuringly. “For now we’ll send you some extra security we trust and you can come to the infirmary safely.”

“Thank you!” Prima said.

“We’ll come with you too,” Amanpreet said after the call had ended. “I think there’s safety in numbers.”

“Thank you,” Prima said again. She still seemed a little dejected. “I don’t like people thinking badly of us.”

“No one likes being though badly of.” Amanpreet offered Prima her hand as their escort arrived. “But you can’t please everyone.”

***

Merit was being examined by a doctor when they arrived at the infirmary. He waved at them reassuringly as they came in.

“I’m fine! I’m fine!” He said quickly. “Those people just wanted to question me. They had some strange ideas but I could have talked the around.”

“Don’t bet on it,” Amanpreet said. “We humans can be very stubborn when we get ideas in our heads. Did you get any idea where they were getting this propaganda from?”

“No, unfortunately, but they were very twitchy. They knew they didn’t have long before I was missed. I don’t think they expected it to be quite so soon though,” he said. “I suspect they didn’t understand that Prima would sense I was missing.”

Prima in the meantime turned to the doctor. “Is he really okay?”

“He is,” the doctor said. “Thanks to the information your computer gave us on your biology we we able to run a full diagnostic screen. Including checking for infections in case his attackers were trying to be clever. He’s got a few scrapes but he’s otherwise fine.”

“Thank goodness!” she said. “Maybe I should have brought some Warriors with me but I didn’t think that would be politic.”

“You should have done,” Councillor Krna said. “My people and the Tkin rarely need them but a security detail is an accepted thing.”

“Are the Coronans okay?” Prima said. “I was too busy worrying about Merit to think earlier but these people might go after them as well.”

“They are,” Councillor Krna said. “I sent extra security I knew was trustworthy as soon as we learned this had happened.” She scrunched her feathered tentacles into tight balls. “I have every faith that Commander Aw will get to the bottom of this. She is very good at her job after all. But until then we will make sure you are protected.”

“Thank you,” Prima said.

“For now let me me escort you back to your chambers.”

***

“What about my statement?” Kayla asked as they all walked back.

“A good question,” Councillor Krna made a thoughtful noise and turned to one of the Tkin with her. “Would you mind staying in the human section a little longer to take Kayla’s statement?”

“Not at all,” it replied. “Environment suits are uncomfortable but not so much I can’t tolerate wearing mine a little longer for this.”

“Ah! Good! Edan will take your statement then if that is okay.”

“That’s fine,” Kayla said. “But both these things are symptoms of the same thing, you know. People are panicking and that’s not good. What are we going to do?”

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4 Responses to “The Whisper of Damkina Part 70”

  1. Marc Bellon says:

    I had not the occasion to congratulate you on your recent expanded activities. Three texts per week seems an awful lot to me.

    Since in replies to other persons, you said you would like to have corrections proposed, I add the misprint I have seen.

    “though” instead of ” thought” at the end of the first part.
    “the around” instead of “them around” two paragraphs later.
    A repeated “we” in the response of the doctor.

  2. Targetdrone says:

    Yay, update.. and good thing merit isnt too badly hurt!

  3. torvawk says:

    Becca,

    I agree. It is good to see life has settled down enough for you to be comfortable getting back into the rhythm of things again. We do appreciate your work.

    Even during your lull in activity, I still kept checking for your update and even re-read Haventon again.

    Thank you for all your hard work.

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