Chapter 101 Welcome to the blue star
"What's so funny Mr. Jacks?" She asked unhappily. On her face was a very big frown and her gaze intensely locked on to the man who was laughing at her expense.
Scarlet hated being laughed at because it made her feel stupid, as if she was less.
She clenched her fists resisting the urge to throw her fist out and punch this man across the jaw.
Esong was learning all of Scarlet's expressions slowly over time. He knew that the frown which caused her upper lip to tremble meant she was angry. It was usually accompanied by an angry intense gaze as if she was trying to set you on fire right where you were standing. He also thought that he would not be a very good husband if he did not stand up for his wife right now.
"Apologize to my wife Jacks." He ordered the man.
"Oh come on Esong." Captain Jack's whined.
"Now Jacks." Esong said sternly.
Jack's had known Esong for a long time and he knew when to draw the line because if you went too far, the consequences would be painful.
"I am sorry." He turned to Scarlet and said." My actions are very unbecoming and embarrassing."
"You should be." She said. Then she looked at Esong and said, "Anyway, the roar is of mutated beast called a Sand worm. I have personally never seen it but my teacher said that the ancient people used to write warnings about them. The sand worm prefers deserted places but it travels so it ends up anywhere when it's on the move. When it roars, buildings and entire cities sink into the earth. That's why the earth shakes occur when the space ships belt out that roar. Normally the roar would be negligible but the danger is that sand worms roar to challenge other sand worms to a fight for dominance. Basically every time the space ships roar they are sending out an invitation to any sand worm that could be nearby to come and fight. One sand worm roaring can sink a city so imagine what two sand worms roaring and fighting can do?" She was not one to let go of her grudges easily and she looked at Captain Jacks. "I don't care what you do on your travels but on my planet that roar is forbidden. I will not risk the lives of my people or everything that we are trying to build for anything."
She looked Esong in the eye and said to him, "Whether you believe me or not I believe that you have the duty pass on the warning to other mecha warriors, the emperor, defense ministry or whoever is in charge. And thank you for making him apologize." she pointed at captain Jacks when she said 'him' through clenched teeth and then she left the tower.
"Wow," Jacks said as soon as she was gone, "Your wife packs quite the temper, I don't think she has forgiven me."
"My wife can hold grudges, be careful not to end up on her wrong side or you might not be welcome on the blue star anymore. I saw your name on the list of mecha warriors that want to move here, why?" Esong responded to Jacks with both a warning and a question.
"The capital is not for me Esong, we both know why I am always on the move. Where else can I lay down my roots except for this place?"
"Avoiding your stepmother." Esong said.
"May she be torn apart by a mutated beast someday." Jacks answered and he saluted.
As for Scarlet she drove herself to the communications tent and joined the welcoming comitte. She could see that the immigrants were just as nervous as the original citizens of the blue star about this move. Some of them were clutching their luggage tightly as if it was their last lifeline.
This luggage had to go through a scanner just as it was done at the airport to stop all those that could be bringing contraband to the blue star. It had been set up by Folsom and she was thankful because this too had not crossed her mind. Just because they were moving here did not mean that their intentions were good.
Once one's luggage was declared clear, they would go through a full body scanner, give a sample of blood for DNA storage, a scan of their biometrics and then they would be driven to a new settlement by the simplified transportation mechas. These in this case were provided by Esong when preparations for the immigrants were being made. According to her father they were now using mechas at the construction sites too and the building pace had increased. By October which was now two months away they would be moving into properly constructed buildings and she would be moving into her castle.
The few immigrants who had made it to the new settlement so far were neither happy or unhappy. They had not been expecting anything extravagant because they had been fully briefed on the conditions of the blue star. It was as plain as they had been told, sparsely populated, ugly, no flying vehicles in the sky and no proper houses.
One teenage girl was looking up at the sky and she said "Daddy did you know that the sky could be so clear and blue?"
Her father looked up and replied, "That's because flying vehicles are not allowed on this planet."
"So how do they go around? Is this why you sold our car?" she replied. Her eyes were wide and she was in shock as if the aspect of not having a flying car was unthinkable.
"They walk Sidora,." her mother replied.
"I don't want to walk." the girl whined as if walking was the worst thing that could happen to her.
"Wait until she discovers that we are going to be sleeping in these tents for a while." the wife whispered to her husband and the couple looked at each other with a secretive smile on their faces.
At that moment, a few women that were dressed in similar white cotton pants and t-shirts came over with self driving mechanical large carts and distributed some warm milk in flask cups and oat bread to every one with smiles on their faces.
"Welcome to the blue star." they would say as they handed the refreshments over.
The new immigrants smiled back, happy to feel welcomed and feeling more at ease.
"Daddy, it's really true what you said, there is food on this planet." the girl that had been whining about walking suddenly had a smile on her face. "I am going to take a picture and send it to all my friends that were mocking us for moving here."
Back in the communications tent Scarlet heard the voice of the bracelet?AI?saying, "You are receiving a call from director Adler of the defense.."
"Let it through." she said.