Reality Zero

Chapter 9

  Josef looked concerned as he approached Will after breakfast. ‘Good morning, Will. I’m afraid that the rest of the tour has to be postponed or possibly cancelled. Her Majesty has asked that you join her as a matter of urgency.’

  ‘Something I should know about?’

  ‘I’m sorry, Will. I’m afraid that I have simply been tasked with taking you to the Palace. Her Majesty will explain, I’m sure’ replied Josef, ushering Will from the hotel restaurant where he was coming towards the end of an enjoyable breakfast and into the back of a waiting limousine. The doors had barely closed when the car moved swiftly and almost silently to the palace, only stopping once it was in front of the entrance to the main palace building.

  Will was ushered into the Queen’s office. She was, as before, sat behind her desk, with the Prime Minister sat before her. She gestured for Will to take the seat next to the Prime Minister.

  ‘Thank you for coming, Will. Less than an hour ago, Admiral Craven met a Commodore Powell, who said she would like to meet government representatives to discuss a potential solution regarding the reality that constructed the base on Nyx. Having had an initial discussion, the Admiral has requested that we join them in a teleconference. In the circumstances, I felt it might be advantageous that you also attend the discussions, bearing in mind that you brought this base to our attention.’

  ‘Yes, certainly, Ma’am. I’m not sure what I can bring to the meeting but I’ll contribute as much as I can.’

  ‘Good. Thank you’ responded the Queen, turning towards the screen behind her and pressing a button on a remote control in her right hand. The screen sprang to life with an image of a room containing four individuals.

  Two of the people in the room immediately stood up and saluted the Queen. The other two present looked slightly taken aback.

  ‘Your Majesty. Welcome to the meeting. I see that you have the Prime Minister with you and someone I don’t recognise. Please let me introduce you to Commodore Ellie Powell and Captain George VanDelden who are from another reality.’ Ellie and George stood and acknowledged the Queen.

  ‘Thank you, Admiral. Good morning Commodore, Captain. This is Will Hunt. He is the young man who let us know about the base on Nyx and assisted the navy in finding it. I’m surprised your paths haven’t crossed at some stage. Never mind. Commodore, I would like to hear how you feel we may be able to assist.’

  ‘Excuse me, ma’am but I think I know Will. May I check, please?’ interjected Captain VanDelden.

  ‘Certainly, Captain. Please feel free.’

  ‘Hello again, Will’ asked the Captain. ‘I didn’t expect to see you again after you left in the way you did.’

  ‘Sorry about that, Captain. Events conspired against me’ responded Will. Turning to the Queen, he said ‘Your Majesty, Captain VanDelden is the one who transported me and my counterpart in his reality from the base on their version of Nyx that I told you about when we first met.’

  ‘I see, Will. That is most reassuring.’ Turning back to the screen, the Queen said ‘Commodore, you were about to explain how we might help you.’

  ‘Thank you, your Majesty. Although I haven’t met Will, I have heard of him. In fact, his counterpart in our reality, Billy Hunt, is a member of a small team we have put together to investigate the controls that enable the ships to move between realities. As regards our request for assistance, I have been tasked with seeking support, in particular providing crew members for helping us to adequately operate as many ships as we can remove from the hidden bases, so that we can then confront the people who put them there. At present, we have seven ships from four realities. Using the controls in the ships we have access to twelve realities altogether, including our own and what we currently consider to be that of the enemy. This is the first reality where we have positively made contact with the locals. However, we plan to relieve any bases we find of any ships. This means we could be looking at around ten more ships but we won’t know exactly until we visit the bases in the outstanding realities. From our experience, albeit limited as yet, crews take around four days to familiarise themselves with the controls, flying characteristics and weapons systems.’

  ‘Thank you Commodore. I understand that the ship we found was tricky to fly but we only moved it a short distance away from the base. We would certainly appreciate a training programme. In light of your request, I think that the Admiral, the Prime Minister and I need to have a private discussion. Part of that may require us to consider whether Parliamentary approval is required but I hope that won’t be needed. I’m afraid that is one of the consequences of having a democracy. Admiral, could you please arrange for our visitors to have a meal and some privacy themselves, so that we may discuss issues? Thank you.’

  ‘Certainly, your Majesty’ replied the Admiral and cut the link. The Queen then asked her aide Karen to try and contact the leader of the government’s opposition party leader, to bring him into the discussion. Ten minutes later, there was a call from the Admiral. A second call was received a few minutes later with the face of Ben Miller, the leader of the opposition in Parliament looking at them.

  Will wasn’t excluded from the meeting but he wasn’t able to contribute much to the discussion but he did remind the others of what he had seen at the enemy base, prior to his rough treatment by General Gott and his subsequent imprisonment. By the end of the meeting, the Queen and the others had agreed that they would like to provide assistance to Commodore Powell. Having had the situation explained to him, Ben Miller was more than happy to support the initiative and foresaw no problems emanating from his political colleagues. They all saw this as a positive action they could take to get to understand the reason behind the base on Nyx and, they hoped, preclude a more significant military problem later on.

  After they had agreed on their support, the Queen turned to Will ‘Will, in the circumstances, I think it may be useful if you join Admiral Craven and the others on Cantabrigia. While the Admiral will need to arrange for military personnel and associated help, you may be able to help in some way. Would that be of interest to you?’

  ‘It certainly would, your Majesty. After my treatment by General Gott, I’m keen to do what I can to stop him in his tracks.’

  ‘Excellent. We can discuss details later. Meanwhile, I think you need to re-join Josef and complete your tour of the city, before returning to Cantabrigia tomorrow morning. Even though time is clearly limited, I’m sure that there is plenty for the Admiral to discuss and arrange with Commodore Powell. I suspect that arranging the necessary crewmembers and other logistical matters will take a day or two, so I doubt your presence is urgently required. Until these can be sorted out, I doubt that Commodore Powell will be leaving our reality just yet awhile.’

  After the meeting ended, the Admiral recalled Commodore Powell and Captain VanDelden in order to let them know their decision, which necessitated a short delay, as they were still enjoying the meal the Admiral had arranged for them. ‘I’m pleased to inform you that the Queen and her advisers, both political and military, are happy to assist your cause in any way we can. Her Majesty would like me to join you and Will has been asked to assist where possible. If you are happy with this arrangement, we need to arrange for crew etc. to be made available. Will is currently enjoying a tour of the city and will join us in a day or two. Is this acceptable?’

  ‘Yes, thank you, Hannah. That’s all we could have hoped for.’

  The Admiral, Commodore and Captain then discussed what personnel would be required to crew the ships, as well as how they would work together with the crews that were already occupying the captured ships they came in.