To: Inga, Lisa, and Susan, thanks for your help.
The Anne Azel's World web site is now found at
<http://www.jes.com.au/~azel/index.html>
Note To The Reader: All the information used in this story about trends and concerns on our planet is current and accurate data. In the next fifty years, our world will change completely.
Iron Rose Bleeding: Chapter Seventeen
These are the events as we know them.
We recorded them factually and objectively.
And now we report them to you.
"Court?"
Courtney turned to see Tap standing there. "You lied to me. Then you forced your child onto me. It is a form of rape. I have no respect for or trust of you. Please leave."
Tap continued to stand there looking miserable and unsure of herself. "There is going to be war," she finally said, although it was not what she wished to talk to Courtney about. Emotions often make a person approach issues through a back door.
The statement did get Courtney's attention though. She across the room in a second, ready to face Tap down. "You are going to invade Earth aren't you? That's what this is all about. Then you'd better terminate me right now because I will do everything I can to stop you!"
"An invasion of Earth would be foolhardy and unnecessary. The war will be with my brother. Tap against Tap. He greatly out numbers me and he is immensely powerful. I might not survive.
I wished to...to see...I needed..." Tap stopped and turned away.
Before she could get to the door Courtney was there in front of her. "Sit. You are going to answer all my questions and you are going to do it now!"
Anger flashed across Tap's features. "Do not dare to speak to me like that."
"You said you loved me. I am carrying our child. I will not be treated like a concubine. You are way out of line. You came here so sit and explain. I will hear you out but I am warning you right now, at the moment I am your worst enemy."
"I have the power to do whatever I want to you." Tap's eyes were dark with emotion. They had focused on the cleavage showing in the v of Courtney's shirt. Courtney could literally feel the heat and strength radiating from Tap.
"You already have. But you won't go any farther because of the child." Courtney stood her ground, her eyes green fire.
Tap looked up into the intelligent and spirited face of the human that she had come to love. The anger of her frustration with Courtney's attitude disappeared. "The child means the world to me and to my people but that is not why I am here. I wished to see you...in case I die."
"Don't go all melodramatic on me, Tap. You are here to try to pacify me with more of your lies. I have trusted you at least a half dozen times more than I should have. And now look at me, impregnated against my will with your child. Go on, I want to hear you explain this one away."
Tap paled and went strangely still. A muscle in her jaw worked. "I can take you back so that it had never happened like I did with your accident. It would be hard after this time span but I could do this so that my child never existed, if that is what you want, Courtney." Tap's voice was heavy and toneless.
"No!" Courtney snapped and pushed Tap away. "No, no! Don't you dare take this child! I make the decisions about my body not you!" Courtney sobbed finally overcome by the enormity of the events of the last few days.
Tap wrapped Courtney's shaking body close. "I do not want to lose our child. Not now, not ever. I would die for our child, but for you, Courtney, if you asked me, I would give up this right."
"No." The answer came whispered from deep in the folds of Tap's arms. Tap kissed the top of Courtney's head.
"I will not lie to you. The events with my brother forced my hand and I needed to see that my seed would carry on my line if I was to die. But that is not why I chose you. Many would have been honoured to carry my child. I chose you because I love you and I feel that we and our races are meant to live together. I meant to honour you not to violate your sense of self."
"How many of you are on planet Earth? Tell me the truth," Courtney asked. Tap spoke beautifully and sincerely but Courtney was skeptical of believing ever again in this strange, alien woman. She felt as if her whole world had been turned upside down and given a shake.
"A few thousand. My personal household, that is all," Tap stated, feeling the peace of holding Courtney seep through to her soul.
"Your household has a few thousand people. Who the hell are you?" Courtney asked, pulling back far enough to look deep into Tap's eyes.
"I am a Tap. One of those who carries the blood of our ancestors. I am of the ruling family and only my brother has more power. My brother and I have never seen things the same way. Some years ago, I was sent to this out-planet to do research. It was essentially exile. I have used that isolation to my advantage and have found that this planet has strengths that we never gave them credit for. It is not just me that has been attracted sexually to humans. Nearly three quarters of my staff has confessed to such attractions. Several like me have become involved. I have now encouraged others to do so."
Courtney pulled away and paced the floor. After a while she stopped and looked at Tap with grave, serious eyes. "So it is not an invasion it is to be an assimilation. Either way you do mean to take over this planet."
"My people have become so insular and refined that we have lost significant traits that will allow us to grow and flourish as a people. We are a culture that has risen, dominated, and now dies of inner rot. I do not wish that to happen. I see humans as a way to regain the passion we have lost," Tap admitted.
"And what if we do not want your blood? What if we see that as a violation of who and what we are? How do I live with the fact that I and my child have betrayed the world?" Courtney asked, tears rolling down her face as she stood, her arms at her sides and her hands in tight fists.
Tap frowned. "It is the same racism that I must battle with my own people. Courtney, your planet is dying not of old age but by murder. It is a rose alluringly beautiful to off - planet people in its abundance of life and stable climate. But it is a bleeding rose. Without us you are as doomed as we are. I am not asking you to commit treason against this world in accepting my child, I am asking you to help save this world."
Courtney snorted and shook her head. "No Tap, that is not what this is all about. It is about the assimilation of earth. You have been kicked off your planet and you want mine. You forget this is an iron rose bleeding. Humans might be rather stupid, short sighted animals but we are survivors. We will find a way to solve our problems. We don't need a pack of aliens to show us how."
Tap sighed loudly in frustration and worked to keep her temper under control. She was not used to being questioned. She knew in her heart that this was a better way. It allowed for the exchange of ideas and the creative growth of thought but it was very difficult to learn to listen and to deal with those who do not see things as a Tap would.
"Courtney, you have read the reports, your will be facing in the next twenty years many major crises. Rising sea levels will displace billions just as the world populations double, climate and growing seasons will change just when food is needed the most. The air is nearly toxic, the ozone layer is deteriorating, exposing your people to cancers, deserts are growing and fresh water supplies dwindling. The world economy is failing as the gap between the have and have not countries grows, poverty and disease are on an alarming rise, and natural resources, fish, copper, oil to name only a few are running out. You are well past the point of no return. You need us. You are not bleeding you are haemorrhaging to death."
"It would be better to die free than to live on as slaves of some alien race," Courtney stated quietly.
Temper won out. " You are a racist who would die rather than see our bloods mix even though the genetic structure of both of us is now nearly the same. You never loved me. I will always be seen by you as some alien lizard instead of a representative of the noble race from which I come. Perhaps invasion and the eradication of your kind would be a blessing to this universe rather than an atrocity." Tap stood tall and rigid, pale with strain. "I ask again, do you wish never to have carried my child? I will not have my seed hated and looked down on." Tap waited, knowing if she had to reverse time she would do so at great risk, worse the loss would rip at her heart and tear at the fabric of her conscience.
The silence dragged on. "I need to be alone, Tap. Please go," Courtney whispered. Tap turned and left, relieved that at least for the time being their child lived on, yet hurt and angered that Courtney did not return the same feelings for her.
Torgga turned slowly and looked at the nervous official who had brought the message. "What did you say?" he asked slowly in disbelief.
The official swallowed and tried not to show his fear. "The Council has received word from Tay Appala Punra that she will return and address them. They are now forming in the grand hall of the Taporian Council. The Grand Council has requested that you honour them with your presence, Torgga Appala Punra."
"I will be there. Go," Torgga responded and watched with satisfaction as the official scurried from his presence like a scared beetle.
The time is near.
We see a cusp in time.
All is on a knife edge.
"I do not need such warning. I am not so stupid as to underestimate my sister. What is she up to? That is what I need to know! Tell me!"
We do not know.
Nor could we tell.
This is not our role.
"Then leave me. I have no time for riddles." Torgga sneered. "Send me Kaysolna. There are plans to be made."
The Council must approve.
They grow weary and cautious.
Opposing views lead to division.
Torgga smiled coldly. "The Council will support me. I am the supreme Tap. My sister is smart and daring but she has lived with animals for too long. The Council will not support someone who lacks pride and judgement. Go."
Torgga walked over and knelt by the water that flowed through the room. It calmed him and he felt again the great flow of energy that was the soul of his people. They were his people and he would decide what was best for them. They were his to command. The people were the sea and he the tidal force.
"All is ready, Torgga Appala Punra,"said Kaysolna. The officer stood by the door waiting to be acknowledge before entering. The kneeling figure did not respond or move. Kaysolna waited, growing more uneasy by the minute.
Finally, Torgga stood and turned. "My sister must die. She is giving us the opportunity to achieve this goal very easily. She has sent word that she will address the Council. On her way back to her little world so very far away, a shift in the inter-dimensional strings will result in her untimely death. It is regrettable."
Kaysolna smiled. He had waited a long time to prove himself to Torgga Appala Punra. Now was his chance. "I would be honoured to oversee such an unfortunate...accident."
"See that it is done," Torgga responded and saw the smug smile of satisfaction cross Kaysolna's face as he left. Kaysolna had the soul of a maggot. He would be used and then discarded. That was Torgga Appala Punra's way when dealing with those who lacked cultural awareness. Still, however primitive, Kaysolna was, he was so much better than the pathetic animals with whom his sister associated.
Tap lay alone on her mattress. She had thought when she had first come to Earth that to live and work within the limits of a three dimensional existence would be easy. She now knew that this dimension was amazingly complex. Emotions were so much more intense and communication far more difficult a process.
You are determined.
You will not reconsider?
We fear the enemy within.
Tap nodded. "Yes, I do too. Yet I think that this way is better than another. I do not think if my brother destroys me that he will give another thought to this planet. War is seductive. It is life on the edge rather than the humbling existence of daily life. How much more exciting to say you are a warrior than a scribe."
War can not always be avoided.
Some causes are great.
Some honourable and noble.
"I have lived through war. I know the hollowness of victory and I have seen the despair of defeat."
Are you so confident?
Are you so bold?
Are many not better than one?
"I am neither confident nor bold. I feel that this is the right way and now I have nothing to lose."