The Earth Conundrum: Book 1 of the Alliance Conflict Read Online Free PDF Page B

“Earth?”
    “Human world.” He answered. “The humans are different colors than us, so I had to bleach my skin from blue to white to fit in.”
    “No way. You have actually met a real human?” She clearly didn’t believe him.
    “Yes, really.” He responded.
    “Why didn’t they eat you?” the little girl asked.
    Victor answered, “Well, mainly because I look almost human with my white skin. They can’t tell the difference.”
    The girl’s mother apparently doubted Victor as well, for she joined the conversation. She said, “Really, you have met a human? What are they like?”
    He answered with his canned response, “Like us, only much taller and stronger. They aren’t quite as aggressive and un-civilized as they used to be.”
    He looked at the little girl and gave his favorite statement, “I believe that someday, probably in your lifetime, they will be invited into the Alliance.”
    The girl looked at him. She had apparently decided that Victor was lying, because said, “Nuh-uh,” and turned away back toward her mother.
    For some reason, this bothered Victor. He had been unable to convince a 4 year old that he had been to Earth. He had a sudden desire to prove to her he was telling the truth. “Come here” he said and reached into his bag. When she approached, he pulled out a piece of hard candy and gave it her. He gave her a second one for her mother. He had been saving them for someone else, but couldn’t resist.
    “What is it?” she asked.
    “It is human candy. You put it in your mouth and suck on it,” he responded. The import of goods from non-Alliance planets was strictly forbidden, though he was allowed a few personal use items.
    Technically, goods were allowed to be imported provided they could be taxed per a legal trade agreement. So, trade was allowed with the Hiriculans, but not the Humans. However, the Solarians had filed a distribution agreement in absentia with the major Earth studios for the right to re-broadcast movies and television shows.
    Both mother and daughter began quietly sucking on the candy and Victor apprehensively awaited their response. The mother indicated that she had found it interesting, but the girl had been a little blunter, “It is kind of like sucking on a flavored rock.” He told them that perhaps human candy was an acquired taste.
    Victor exited the air tram at the central station and started walking to the main park. It wasn’t far, only a few blocks. He passed the monument to the first settlers and paused for a moment to study it. Solaria wasn’t the home-world of the Solarians. They had emigrated here from another system. The monument showed a picture of the transport ship and had a star chart that showed the location of their home-world. It spoke about the settler’s exodus from the planet just before it had been blasted by radiation.
    There had been several recent attempts to return, but the old hyperspace lanes had become unstable, possibly from the radiation. There had been a couple of attempts to chart a new course, but they had been unsuccessful. When the Solarians joined the Alliance, they formally requested that the Alliance Navy work on plotting a new course back to Old Solaria 4 .
    4 The name of the home-world was lost, so the government ceremoniously named it Old Solaria.
    Victor arrived in the main park and looked around. He doubled back to see if he had been followed. He didn’t think he had, but he wasn’t entirely sure. After all, it was pretty easy to pick out a white figure in a park filled with blue ones. His paranoia was well founded though, because this was his biggest delivery to date. This shipment would make him wealthy, provided he could find a way to launder the money.
    “What do you have for me this time?” a man asked.
    The question had startled Victor. The man had walked up next to Victor without him even knowing it. The man was a shade darker blue then most of the Solarian race and the contrast between his skin and