When they left the restaurant, two men came up to Jerestican and he started chatting with them, they seemed to be old friends. One was very tall and thin, he had a large hat on and it was impossible to make out his facial features as his face was in shadow. The other character was very short, his head quite large in proportion to the rest of his body, he had several scars across his face and looked really rough, as if he'd been in several fights and was not the sort of character that you'd want to upset. He had a very grumpy withdrawn look about him. There was generally an air about him that gave the impression that he could not be trusted.
Ed and Paul took an instant dislike to the smaller of the two characters. The taller one, whilst his face could not be seen, seemed a lot more friendly and trustworthy, although his association with the smaller man, planted seeds of doubt in the boys minds. They were quite horrified when they heard the taller man invite the party to join them.
Jerestican told the boys that these men were the friends of their father's and that he'd seen them after he'd left Jerestican.
They all climbed into a vehicle and were soon zooming away. The vehicle pulled up to a fairly nondescript building. They all got out and went inside.
The building's interior seemed to be some form of warehouse with an office at the end. Lead by the two men, the group headed to the office. Once inside Jerestican introduced the two men as Gerherp and Yestant, both were involved in import and export, hence the warehouse.
Jerestican said they had worked closely with him and Edward, although they weren't in the employ of the Administration they had helped them out of close shaves on many occasions.
Yestant, the taller of the two men, took his hat off and put it on the table. The boys immediately noticed that Yestant has very dark eye sockets, almost as if he had a pair of black eyes from a recent fight. Ed had seen pictures of people with such faces before, he strained to remember where those people had come from, but he couldn't remember the name of the place, but he knew it was quite a far off planetary system.
Both men shook hands with Ed and Paul. Gerherp seemed quite reluctant at first to step forward and shake their hands, it was almost as if he were under threat of some sort of punishment if he didn't shake hands. Whilst Yestant seemed much more enthusiastic, although you would not guess that from the expressionless look on his face, it was more the speed at which he stepped forward and extended his hand in friendship.
Jerestican asked the men, if Edward had indicated to them where he was going next.
Yestant replied, "Yep we'd given him some information about some chemical imports and as a result he said he was minded to visit Genthaed in the Galtoid sector."
Jerestican asked, "Do you know if he actually went there?"
Yestant replied, "Well now, I only know that he booked a flight, as he did it from our office, probably still got the receipt on our system somewhere."
Jerestican then asked, "Could you find that for us, then we can check if he actually boarded the flight?"
Yestant looked at Gerherp and asked if he could dig it out. Gerherp remained rooted to the spot for a while, then he reluctantly walked to a terminal in the corner of the office and started his search for the receipt. Gerherp was obviously a man of few words as even when he delivered an e-Reader to Yestant, he said nothing.
Yestant passed the screen to Jerestican without even pausing to look at it.
Jerestican looked at the screen and nodded, then looked up at Yestant said, "Thanks, is it OK if we borrow this?"
Yestant replied, "Keep it, it was a freeby from one of our exporters. Got dozens of 'em in the corner, dunno what to do with 'em."
Yestant turned to the boys and said, "If yer ever want any cheap flights we can help you out, we've got so many call-ins we probably won't use them in our lifetimes."
Ed and Paul just nodded in acknowledgement and Jerestican asked, "Haven't you got your own space freighter these days?"
Yestant replied, "No need for it now, we're doing so much trade in so many directions we wouldn't have time to make the flights. We sold the freighter a few years back, bought this place on the proceeds."
Jerestican asked, "Do you still get out there?" and pointed towards the sky.
Yestant replied, "Blimey, I spend most of my time out there, Gerherp is the land based part of the partnership, got fed up with our customers picking fights with him."
Ed and Paul couldn't help but feel, that it wasn't surprising that others wanted to pick a fight with him, he was such an objectionable character, moody, slow and so surly.
Jerestican turned to Gerherp and asked if he missed the travel, Gerherp simply waved his hand to indicate he didn't. Then Jerestican turned back to Yestant and thanked him for the information and held up the e-Reader.
Yestant offered them a lift back to Jerestican's place and Jerestican accepted the offer.
They were soon back at the apartment. Jerestican held up the e-Reader and said that he'd do some research and find out if Edward ever did board the flight.
Carina invited Ed and Paul to sit and have a drink. They sat and whilst Carina fetched the drinks there was quite an embarrassing silence. It was Ed who eventually broke the silence when he asked if Carina had ever met Yestant and Gerherp before.
Carina admitted that she knew only a few of her Dad's friends and colleagues but Yestant and Gerherp were not amongst those that she knew.
Paul said, "Gerherp was chatty wasn't he?"
They all laughed.
Carina said, "Gerherp is probably a really nice guy, its just that he's a Reglaxian and their physical looks plus the pheromones that they give out are so objectionable from a human viewpoint."
Ed asked, "Ferry whats?"
Carina replied, "Pheromones, its the personal perfumes that we all emit, we usually have serveral and they change in response to the situation we face. Ever heard of the smell of fear?"
Ed responded, "Yeah I have, but..."
Carina continued, "Well the Reglaxian's emit a combined fear and aggressive smell, or at least that's how humans read it. Probably reads as friendly to a fellow Reglaxian. That's why humans think he's such an objectionable character and pick fights with him. They think he's aggressive towards them, but he's probably a really nice guy just wishing people would take to him, like Yestant your and my dad obviously have."
Paul said, "No wonder he stays here, the mere sight of him seems to indicate he's up for a bit of a fight."
Ed said, "I feel guilty now, as I illogically took an instant dislike to him. As for Yestant, as he had his face covered and I couldn't see his eyes I thought he was hiding something."
Carina replied, "He was hiding something, his eyes. We humans are used to being able to see people's eyes and use them to confirm someone's sincerity. I forget what race Yestant is from, but his race don't have colours in their eyes, so we cannot use them as a clue, so again we are at a loss regards trusting them."
Ed commented, "It was funny, when he took the hat off, he seemed a lot more friendly, although I still had a sense of mistrust."
Carina said, "That would be the eyes. If you think back to what actually happened and what was said, I think you'll come to the conclusion that they actually wanted to help us."
Paul interjected, "Gerherp was rather reluctant to go to the Galcomnet terminal and check the flight details though."
Carina corrected him with, "No he wasn't, he was going as fast as a Reglaxian can go in our gravity. Where they come from, the gravity is about half ours. Life must be pretty difficult here for Gerherp."
Ed decided that as they felt guilty enough, he'd try and change the conversation, he said, "Let's hope your Dad manages to turn up something about Edward that can help us."
Carina agreed and they sat quietly enjoying their drinks, then Carina put on a musivid and they started chatting about how musivids were made and debating which were the best.
When they decide to go to bed, Ed and Paul managed t
o have a confidential chat, they agreed that they were still unsure about Jerestican, Yestant and Gerherp. Although in terms of the latter two they could see why they had the element of illogical mistrust. They weren't sure what they should do if Jerestican finds that their dad had boarded the flight.
~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 6 - Who to Trust
The next morning, over breakfast Jerestican confirmed that Edward had boarded the flight to Genthaed, he offered to put them back in touch with Yestant, if they wanted to accept his offer of free flights and also fly to Genthaed.
Ed thanked Jerestican and said that they would need to consult their mother, to see what she suggested their next action should be. Then he asked if Jerestican had any idea who Edward would contact when he got to Genthaed?
Jerestican apologised and said he didn't have a clue, there certainly weren't any contacts that he was aware of.
After breakfast Ed contacted his mum and told her that Jerestican had helped them to find that Edward had flown to Genthaed, but they did not know who he'd gone to see. His mum said that there would be no point in going on a "wild goose chase" to another system, let alone planet, on the off chance that they find him. She suggested that unless Jerestican could suggest anyone else to see on Regenis 4, that the two boys come back home.
Ed passed their mum's decision onto Jerestican, in the hope that he could suggest some other lead.
Jerestican said that it would be pointless putting the boys into contact with anyone else, as it was unlikely that Edward had the time to visit anyone else, the flight had been the day after the booking had been made.
Ed and Paul packed their things, thanked Jerestican and Carina for their help and hospitality and informed them that they would be returning home.
Carina took them to the space port and they said their goodbyes.
Carina asked Paul, "You will get in touch won't you?" The tone was quite pleading in nature, so much so that Ed noted especially his brother's reaction.
Paul replied, "Hey of course we'll let you know if we find our Dad. I promise."
Ed noted that Carina seemed a bit disappointed with Paul's response, as if she were expecting more.
Ed thought to to himself, watch this space eh?
As their Transvec was not due in for a couple of hours, Ed and Paul decided to go to one of the caf?s. They sat down and ordered some drinks. Whilst they were waiting, Paul caught sight of someone he thought he recognised, his Dad!
He ran across to the man, tapped him on the shoulder and exclaimed, "Hey Dad".
The man turned round. Paul was startled to see that whilst the man very much looked like his Dad, there were slight differences. The man exclaimed, "Hi Paul, is Ed with you?"
Paul was shocked, this man was quite clearly not his Dad, yet he looked so much like him. Paul was confused as to what was going on, who was this man, could he be trusted, how did he know about Ed?
The man continued, "I've been looking for you both, I heard you'd arrived yesterday and that you were visiting Jerestican Klayfer, but I didn't find you in time to warn you about him."
Paul stuttered, "Just who are you?"
The man replied with a beaming smile across his face, "I am your uncle, your dad's twin brother. I don't know if he ever mentioned me to you, probably not as I'm still working for the company." He winked.
Paul asked, "How do I know you are telling me the truth?"
"Oh so he didn't tell you about me. You can always check with your mum, ask Maria about Richard and mention the third brick by the main statue at the temple of Hesaedesian on the outer rings of Jenks two. She will know about a bracelet of untold value, but of great danger that is hidden at that location. There are only two people who know about this, your mother and me. Ask her for something that will confirm that I know her. To give you a chance to check me out, I will go and return in one hour. I have something I need to do during that time. Mention to no-one else that you have seen me." replied the man and he disappeared into a crowd of people.
Paul quickly got back to Ed and quietly told him what had happened.
Ed and Paul debated what was the best thing to do, after all this could be some form of trap and the man could easily not be who or what he said it was. Ed suggested that they get as far away from the port as possible, hide somewhere and catch a later Transvec. Paul said that he thought the man was genuine, he said he could not believe how much he was like their father, he really believed he'd seen their father until he got right up close to the man.
Ed pointed out that if the people they are dealing with are that desperate they could find someone who was similar build and look to their father and make them up with some form of mask. Paul suggested that he find a quiet spot and contact their mother as the man had suggested, meanwhile Ed could wait and keep an eye out for any strange activity in-case it was some form of trap.
He added, that if Paul returned and found Ed gone, he should hide himself away somewhere secure and at some later stage get himself safely home, but NOT on the Transvec they were planning to travel on.
Paul contacted his mum as Ed had suggested. When he told her what had happened and passed the message on that the man had given her, she was shocked. She confirmed that it was highly likely that this man was their uncle Richard. She told Paul to ask him how many rings make six, and added that he should be able to answer within a count of ten. She said that if he takes longer than that, he's an imposter and operating on voice link and someone would be feeding him the answers. The answer should be 23. She told Paul to then ask him for the explanation and contact her to check if he is right. Finally Paul should ask him how many knights have visited the restored palace of five?
Paul was relieved to see Ed still sitting in the caf?. He gave Ed the thumbs up sign, he also looked relieved.
An hour seemed a long time to wait for the man's return, especially as he was a couple of minutes late.
He sat down beside Paul and asked if he had any questions for him. Paul studied his eyes carefully as he asked the first question. The reply was almost an instantaneous "23".
He smiled as Paul said, "Mum also asked, how many knights have visited the restored palace of five?"
The man smiled again and said, "Trust Maria to throw in a catch question, the answer has to be none, as they never restored the palace of five."
Paul contacted his Mum and confirmed that this man had given the correct replies, she asked for an explanation of the first answer.
The man smiled again and said, "Tell her the sixth planet of Klesti has 23 rings and she'd know all about the twenty third as it nearly holed our craft."
Paul's mum reassuringly said, "That's your uncle Richard, still got his sense of humour and I'd recognise his voice anywhere, put him onto me."
Paul patched the communication to Richard's comms device.
"Hello Maria, Edward got himself into a scrape again I see....... Nice sensible boys you have here, shame I haven't been able to meet them before....... yes of course I'll take care of them...... I'll pass you back." Richard nodded to Paul's comms device and patched the communication back to him.
Maria said, "You can trust your uncle Richard to take care of you from now on, do as he suggests, it'll almost be like having your dad with you."
The three had something to eat whilst they carefully discussed what the boys had discovered to-date.
Richard said, "Well we can trust Yestant and Gerherp, but not Jerestican, his daughter doesn't know what he's up to, but I wouldn't trust her as she will be loyal to her dad, only natural. We must get you two to the Galtoid sector."
"Surely that's too dangerous, Jerestican will have alerted whoever is working on Genthaed." remarked Ed.
"Absolutely, that's precisely why you're not going to Genthaed, instead I'm sending you to Jedhaed. It's the nearest safe planet to Genthaed. I'll meet you there once I've established where your dad has been taken. By the way he was kidn
apped, he didn't go to Genthaed of his own free will. The information about the chemicals that he was investigating was planted on our friends Gerherp and Yestant, without them knowing the significance of it. The trail was deliberately set to Genthaed, but in fact your dad should have followed up some more leads on Regenis 4. We discovered the factory soon after you had, you need to pick your friends wisely, some kid inadvertently tipped us off that something was happening near where you live. Some academy equipment went missing and when it turned up again, it had small traces of chemicals on it. We found out who had "borrowed" the equipment and he squealed like a small animal captured in a corner."
Ed was relieved that the informant had been Elcesior and not Jenny.
Richard passed some electronic documentation to Ed and Paul through their communicators. Then he said, "I have passed to you your e-tickets and your new identities, you Ed are now Wesley Heffner and you Paul are Jack Gestner, you know each other from the Hesadian Academy, where you are currently studying. you're archaeologists interested in the temples of Jedhaed. I've also patched some reading materials to you for your flight, the password is Jedhaed. I believe in keeping it simple. Your flight departs in 30 minutes from gate 23. The flight is straight through. Talk to no-one about me or your mission and just behave as if you are archaeologists. There will be funds and accommodation waiting for you. One of our agents will keep an eye on you, but will only make contact if you get into trouble. The secret pass phrase is in your reading materials, part of which will destroy itself six hours into your flight, so I suggest you start your reading early. Good luck and I'll see you at Jedhaed. You had best get off now to gate 23 and check in ."