TIME : April 16, 2016 2:00 P.M. (14:00)
PLACE : Glunzet
The planet Glunzet, named after the Triax explorer who discovered it, was remarkably similar to the way Earth was about a million years ago. It was about the same size and the same distance away from the sun, its day and year were about the same, and, most importantly, it encompassed a wide variety of climates from desert to arctic to mountainous to swampy. With its wide variety of climates came a wide variety of plants and animals to inhabit them. Birds sang cheerfully overhead. Insects, not caring what the birds were doing as long as they weren't eating them, buzzed from flower to flower feeling that life in general was going pretty well for them. Fish jumped in and out of the water performing for their unseen audience.
Even man got into the act. The humans there were fairly primitive, but they had still managed to spread to almost all parts of their planet. Only the extremely hostile climates were still uninhabited by human beings. Most of the people were natives and had no idea that there was life on other planets, but they were not the ones concerning M.W.G.D. (Milky Way Galaxy Defense). Glunzet was located near the edge of the same spiral arm Earth was in putting a good distance between it and the planets capable of interstellar travel. The planet had been practically undisturbed since its initial discovery. Unfortunately, that was about to change.
A small party from Altair 7 had landed on the planet with one purpose and one purpose only, to capture the four M.W.G.D. officers from Earth who had sabotaged their attack fleet just before they launched an attack on Altair 3. Their names were Peter, Hank, Linda, and Lisa. The Ruler promised to reward them heavily if they could do it. They knew that all previous attempts to defeat those four had failed, but they were confident that this time things were going to be different. This time they would use the innocent people of Glunzet as bait and exploit M.W.G.D.'s main weakness, they were required to protect all intelligent lifeforms no matter how primitive they might be.
TIME : 4:05 P.M. (16:05)
PLACE : M.W.G.D. Headquarters
Peter had been working hard all day. M.W.G.D. had been flooded with reports of suspicious activities coming from all parts of the galaxy. Most of them turned out to be either false alarms or matters that could be handled better by the police or military of that particular region of the galaxy, but they had to sort through every single one of them to make sure it was something that could be handled without them.
There had been an unusually high number of false alarms that day with no apparent connection between them except that all of them wasted the time of the M.W.G.D. receptionists who had to deal with them. Peter was certain that the Ruler had told his people to send M.W.G.D. false alarms from as many parts of the galaxy as possible so they would be unprepared to handle a real emergency, and he knew one was coming up sometime in the near future.
He was disappointed that everyone was too busy to celebrate his birthday. He had originally planned to take it easy, but the rest of the universe refused to cooperate. Being alone in his office investigating false alarms was not exactly how he had planned to spend the day.
There was a knock at the door. Peter looked up greatful for the interruption.
"Come in!" he yelled to whoever was at the door.
It was Detrina. She had been hard at work too and didn't have a chance to talk to Peter all day even though her office was less than twenty meters away from his. Peter felt that Detrina's entry was a good excuse for him to take a short break, but Detrina obviously had something else in store for him. He could tell from her grim expression that she didn't come in for fun and games.
"Shawn wants to see you in the main lobby," she explained.
"What does he want this time?" groaned Peter and then realized that part of what Detrina had said didn't make sense. "And why does he want me to meet him in the lobby?"
"He didn't say," Detrina replied. "He just said it was urgent."
On any other day, Peter wouldn't know what to expect, but today was different. Today was his birthday which could only mean one thing, there was a surprise party waiting for him in the lobby. He must have been wrong about Detrina not being there for fun and games.
"O.K., Detrina, lead the way," he said.
"Happy birthday," smiled Detrina as if she had just remembered, but Peter knew better.
The more Detrina tried to act casual about the whole thing, the more confident Peter was that he was right The whole thing smelled like some sort of set up. Detrina never could fool him. They walked quickly to the main lobby. After all, Shawn said it was urgent.
Shawn was alone in the main lobby which was unusual for that time of day. He invited them to sit down which they did. They were just started to get comfortable when Linda, Lisa, Hank and a dozen other people that Peter worked with on a regular basis walked into the room while singing "Happy Birthday" in almost perfect unison.
"I knew it!" Peter declared smugly.
"I knew you knew it," confessed Shawn. "but that's not important. The important thing is you don't know what the presents are."
Peter watched as every single one of them placed a small package on the floor in the center of the lobby. Shawn got up and handed Peter one of the packages.
"Open mine first," he insisted.
Since Shawn was in charge of M.W.G.D., he felt it best to do as he said. He would get to all the presents eventually. The order wasn't important to him. Peter ripped open the present and discovered it was a picture frame with two good sized pictures inside. The first one was a group picture of Peter, Hank, Linda, and Lisa. He could tell that it had been taken a long time ago by the rank on their brand new M.W.G.D. uniforms and their energetic young faces. The one below it was a picture of Peter alone. The youthful face staring back at him was still unaware of what lay ahead of him in his many years at M.W.G.D. It was like going back through time.
"Those pictures were taken shortly after you joined M.W.G.D.," Shawn explained. "I was going through some of my old stuff and stumbled upon those pictures. I figured they would make a good present so I simply bought a nice picture frame for them."
"Thanks," said Peter putting the picture frame aside and searching for his next present.
"How about yours?" Peter suggested to Detrina.
"I'm saving mine for last," Detrina replied.
That was what Peter wanted to hear. If she was saving hers for last, he knew it had to be something big. He rummaged through the presents and picked one at random.
"That's mine," Lisa informed him.
He was just about to open it when an alarm sounded. Most of the crowd returned to whatever it was they normally did disappointed that Peter's surprise party was so rudely interrupted leaving only Peter, Hank, Linda, Lisa, Detrina, and Shawn in the room. They were the ones who normally handled such emergencies, birthday or no birthday.
"It had to happen," sighed Detrina.
"You sound more disappointed than I am," Peter remarked.
"I had plans for tonight," Detrina told him. "I was going to take you to the new Earth exhibit at the Terni Museum. It was going to be a surprise, but it looks like I'll have to cancel our reservations."
Both of them had been working at M.W.G.D. long enough to know that the sound of an alarm was usually followed by Shawn sending them to a planet thousands of light years away on some important mission, yet Peter remained confident. He was going to enjoy his thirty-third birthday no matter what happened.
"Report," Shawn ordered to whoever had sounded the alarm.
"The Ruler's troops are enslaving the people of Glunzet," the M.W.G.D. soldiers reported.
"Why does the Ruler always pick on the primitive planets?" Shawn muttered to himself.
"Perhaps he's afraid of the rest of us."
The young soldier knew he wasn't supposed to hear Shawn's last comment, but he felt compelled to respond anyway.
"Is there anyone else in the area?" Shawn inquired.
"The nearest M.W.G.D. base is over five hundred light years away," answered the M.W.G.D. soldier after a slight pause to look up the necessary information. "There are no planets capable of interstellar travel anywhere near Glunzet."
"I am sending part of my staff to investigate immediately," Shawn assured him. "They should be there in a little over twenty-four hours."
"Thank you," the soldier replied. "Over and out."
"Where are we going?" asked Hank knowing they were the ones Shawn called "part of his staff"
"The planet Glunzet," answered Shawn. "a distant planet located on the outskirts of our galaxy."
"Strange name for a planet," Linda cut in.
"Strange person who discovered it," added Detrina remembering what she had learned about Triax history.
"It is over a thousand light years away and I promised you would arrive in slightly over twenty-four hours," Shawn continued as if he had never been interrupted. "That means you have thirty minutes, at the most, to prepare for your journey."
As the others started to leave, Shawn turned apologetically to Peter.
"I'm sorry this had to happen on your birthday," he said softly.
Peter looked first at Shawn, then at Detrina and Lisa who had stayed to wait for him.
"I'm quite all right," he announced to anyone who could hear him. "Things like this have happened on everyone else's birthday. It was bound to happen to me sooner or later."
He smiled meekly and looked into Detrina's eyes.
"When this mission is over, I'll be glad to look at the Earth exhibit on Terni with you," he stated confidently. "It's not going anywhere. Perhaps it will even be less crowded when we return."
"But we'll miss its grand opening," argued Detrina.
"That's life," sighed Peter. "We can learn to live without it."
"You can still open my present," Lisa insisted picking up the present Peter had set down when the alarm first sounded.
"Is it something edible," guessed Peter. "That I might be willing to share with you on our way to Glunzet out of the goodness of my heart."
"It's candy for Altair 3," confirmed Lisa.
"That stuff's pretty expensive!" exclaimed Peter.
"You're worth it. I settle for nothing less than the very best," Lisa declared.
"How sweet of you," blushed Peter trying to make it sound funny. "I hope you never change. No matter how rich you get you never forget the poor people."
He popped a piece of candy into his mouth and gave a piece to Lisa, Detrina, and Shawn. The candy was worth every penny. It was sweet like most candy, but the favor lasted a long time. Peter felt completely satisfied after eating just one piece.
"Hank! Linda!" Peter called out. He knew they would like Lisa's present.
TIME : 4:15 P.M. (16:15)
PLACE : Glunzet
"Did they fall for our trap?" an Altair 7 commander asked the soldier who had sent M.W.G.D. the alarm.
"None of them are the slightest bit suspicious," he reported. "Everything is going according to plan."
"Will he send Peter, Hank, Linda, and Lisa?" demanded the Altair 7 commander. "It would be a major disappointment if he sends someone else."
"I'm positive he's sending the ones you want," the soldier replied. "They're the only ones with a high enough rank to handle a mission this important. They will be completely and totally on their own."
Copyright MCMXCI, MCMXCIX
