The Young Dictator Page 9

Jenny couldn’t argue with this.

  “Then it might be safer to land at night,” she said.

  She knew there was no night and day in space, but they had a choice of whether to land on the side of the planet facing Vega, the dayside, or the side facing away, the nightside.

  “Yes, I agree with that,” answered Gran.

  “Do you think Genghis Kan’t will follow us here?”

  “Highly unlikely. It’s impossible to follow anyone through hyperspace and I’m sure he will assume we have gone back to Earth. But this is only a temporary sanctuary for us, Jenny.”

  “Yes, we can’t remain in hiding forever. That would be cowardly. And my destiny is to rule the galaxy. Very well, let’s land on the nightside. On a beach somewhere would be nice…”

  Gran delicately adjusted the controls and the spaceship slowly entered the atmosphere and began glowing as friction heated it up. They dropped rapidly through the clouds and the vessel began rocking and shaking quite violently, but this was normal enough.

  “Turbulence,” muttered Gran. “Nothing to worry about.”

  “Strong winds up here,” said Jenny.

  “Yes, this planet has an agitated atmosphere. Some planets do. Saturn, for instance, has winds of 1000 KPH.”

  Jenny felt sick. She began to wish that she had been born long ago, in the same century as her Gran, before sick existed. Gran had a stomach so strong that she could eat anything, even nettles, without getting pains or indigestion. “Have you been there?” she groaned. And when Gran looked at her with a frown, she added: “Saturn.”

  Gran shook her head. “No, but you don’t need to experience a thing to know about it. Hang on tight, Jenny!”

  They landed with a painful bump on rocky ground.

  “Well, we’re on an isolated beach, but there’s not much sand. Pebbles and shingle mostly,” explained Gran.

  She checked the instruments and announced that the air of this planet was breathable. Then she opened the door with a hiss. Jenny jumped out first and stretched her limbs. She had cramp. The interior of the spaceship was small and narrow and she wondered how Genghis Kan’t endured it, bearing in mind his bulky dimensions.

  “What shall we do now?” asked Jenny. She stood on the shoreline and watched the surging of the dark ocean.

  “Walk to the nearest settlement and take it over,” said Gran, “and then recruit the inhabitants to our cause. We can create our own army that will overthrow the garrisons that Genghis Kan’t has established here. Then we will spread our message to other inhabited planets and foment a rebellion that will precipitate regime change.”

  “What does ‘foment’ mean?” asked Jenny.

  “Stir up trouble,” chuckled Gran.

  “Which way to the nearest settlement, I wonder?”

  Gran pointed. “I think I glimpsed a small collection of buildings in this direction as we were coming down.”

  They began picking their way over the pebbles.

  Progress was slow. It was difficult terrain to cross because the pebbles kept sliding under their feet. “We must be wary of any soldiers that might be about. Only approach beings that look like Boris. We can assume they will be friendly at least,” said Gran.

  Jenny thought she saw a dark shape ahead.

  “Is it dangerous, do you think?” she whispered into Gran’s ear. “It’s so large! Bigger even than an elephant.”

  Gran squinted, then she sniffed the air, nostrils flaring wide, exposing masses of thick white nose hairs. “It’s a building, Jenny, not a living thing at all. We’ve reached the settlement.”

  “Is it inhabited? It might be an abandoned village.”

  Gran said, “No, my girl, I can smell flesh and blood through the walls. There are many beings sleeping inside.”

  “What shall we say to them to introduce ourselves?”

  “Take me to your leader!” cried Gran.

  Jenny burst out laughing, and Gran joined in. It was a very good joke, a bitter jest but funny all the same. For Jenny was about to become their leader, and if they already had one of their own he was going to have to move over fast and make room for her.

  “We can be nice, we can be nasty,” said Gran wisely. “It doesn’t really matter provided we are successful!”

  Crouching, they scurried towards the buildings.

  Genghis Kan’t was in a bad mood.

  He was feeling worried for the first time in ages.

  Conquering the galaxy had been easy, because no one had fought back against him. Every civilised race on every inhabited planet had forgotten how to defend themselves long ago.

  But now he knew of a planet that was still warlike.

  Earth was that world. The home of Gran and Jenny, both of whom had escaped his clutches! It was embarrassing.

  He didn’t think that his invasion fleet would be defeated. He was sure his troops would conquer Earth easily. And yet there was a nagging doubt inside him, a sense of apprehension.

  He shifted his position on his throne and sighed.

  His favourite pet sat next to him, and even though it sat on the sunken floor and he was on a raised platform, it was much taller than him. Often he threw a piece of food into the air and his pet extended one its heads to snatch it and gobble it up. Sometimes two heads squabbled over the same scrap. Genghis Kan’t usually enjoyed watching when that happened, but today the spectacle didn’t cheer him up.

  He turned to one of his ministers and said, “Any news from the fleet I sent to Earth? Have they reported back?”

  “No, sire,” said the minister with a bow so low that the top of his head scraped the floor and dusted it clean.

  “Why the heck not?” cried Genghis Kan’t.

  “By my calculations they only arrived yesterday. I doubt they’ve had enough time to conquer the planet yet,” said the minister, and his smile was false and full of fear. He bowed again.

  “Bah! It’s only one little world and full of primitives!”

  “Yes, sire. Please be patient, sire.”

  Genghis Kan’t stared intensely at the minister. His fingers twitched as he raised his gun and pointed it in his direction. Then he regained control of himself and lowered the weapon again. He was always struggling with his own anger and it was very exhausting.

  “I suppose you’re right,” he conceded reluctantly.

  “Thank you, sire!” stammered the minister. The other officials in the chamber shivered and swallowed dryly.

  “I hate the responsibility of being a dictator!” groaned Genghis Kan’t, but no one said anything in reply to this statement. Everyone knew he had no intention of giving up the position.

  There was an awkward silence and then the pet monster burped. Three heads burped simultaneously and each burp was different. The result was like music. The monster said, “Pardon!”

  This broke the tension and everyone laughed.

  Paris, France. It had been one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, but it wasn’t picturesque now. For one thing, the Eiffel Tower had been melted by rays from an alien spaceship. The invaders thought it was a weapon of some kind, maybe a missile. They preferred to take no chances. They had melted most of the other monuments too.

  The soldiers of Genghis Kan’t were in control of most of the countries of the world. The governments had surrendered one by one; the armies of Earth were no match for the aliens and resistance had been crushed in a short space of time. The aliens had established garrisons in every city and weird warriors marched through the streets.

  Ordinary humans were allowed to continue their everyday business. It wasn’t part of Genghis Kan’t official policy to exterminate the inhabitants of the solar systems he conquered. On the contrary, he preferred to leave as many beings alive as possible. This made good economic sense. All he wanted was their submission and their taxes.

  Maya Duesing arrived in Paris with her mother just before noon. They had first hitched a lift with a cargo ship across the ocean to the port of Le Havre, and from there th
ey had caught the first train to the capital. Aliens were everywhere, watching the humans to make sure they didn’t intend to cause trouble. The mood was quite menacing.

  The soldiers came from many different planets in the galaxy. Some of them had four, five or six legs; or four, six, eight or ten arms. A few even had more than one head. There were aliens with tails, with wings, eyes on stalks, horns, tusks, tentacles. Some were transparent or even invisible. It was a miracle they could get along together.

  “So Earth has finally been taken over,” sighed Lisa.

  “It had to happen one day,” said Maya.

  “Look at them! I bet they want to turn us into slaves.”

  “Yes, but that’s no reason to feel gloomy yet,” replied Maya. “Nobody with any intelligence needs to endure oppression. I think my idea to fight back is a really good one. Don’t worry…”

  “Thanks, honey,” said Lisa.

  Maya checked her map. “We need to catch the metro.”

  “What’s our destination?”

  “A suburb called Sèvres. It’s about 6 miles from the city centre. I’ll be glad to get away from these melted buildings. They look just like sweets that have been left out in the sun.”

  “That gives me a yucky feeling too,” said Lisa. She reached into the pocket of her jacket and pulled out a lollipop that had been there for a long time. It was covered in fluff.

  They found a flight of steps that led into the ground. The Paris system of underground trains is cheaper than networks in many other European cities such as London. Lisa and Maya found the right platform and caught a train headed in the right direction.

  When they arrived in Sèvres, they got out and climbed the steps back to the surface. Maya said, “We are looking for a large building called the Pavillon de Breteuil. Here it is.” She pointed at the map and Lisa peered over her shoulder and then nodded.

  “Lead on, honey!” she cried.

  They walked to the gates of the building.

  It was very ornate, like a palace, with lots of doors and windows and chimneys poking out of the roof.

  A sentry at the gates shouted, “Halt!”

  Maya said in French, “We are here to visit the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, which is based in this building.” She smiled up at the guard, who pulled his moustache.

  “I see,” he replied, “but what is your business?”

  “It’s for a school project.”

  “Ah, in that case, please feel free to go inside!”

  “Great. By the way, nice epaulettes!” Maya pointed at the decorations on the shoulders of his uniform.

  “They are made from celery,” said the guard. For some strange reason he was extremely proud of this fact.

  He saluted as Lisa and Maya passed through the iron gates and walked up the driveway to the main entrance. Another guard greeted them at the door and Maya repeated what she had told the first guard and he offered to guide them down the corridors.

  They followed him until they reached a green door.

  “Just through here,” he said.

  They thanked him and he strolled back to the main entrance. Lisa and Maya glanced at each other, nodded at the same time and knocked on the door. A muffled voice on the other side called, “Come in!” So they did. A man with a very long beard confronted them. He looked very old indeed, but his bright blue eyes were young.

  “May I help you?” he enquired in a hoarse voice.

  “Yes,” said Maya. “We want you to show us the kilogram.” She gave him a smile, but he only frowned back.

  “I don’t get many visitors,” he said, “and until today no one has ever asked to be shown the kilogram.”

  “I’m pleased to be the first!” announced Maya.

  The old man pulled his beard. “This is a very unusual request. Why do you want to see it? For what reason?”

  “It’s a vital part of my school project,” explained Maya. “We have to do a project on science and I decided to write about the IPK, or to give it the full name: the international prototype kilogram. Most people aren’t even aware of its existence, you see.”

  “Ah!” The old man was suddenly very happy.

  “Yes,” continued Maya. “It’s a little known fact that the IPK is a real object and that it forms the basis for all the other kilograms in the world. It’s made from a platinum-iridium alloy and it is stored in a vault in this Bureau. The IPK is the kilogram and its weight is the official weight of all kilograms that anyone ever uses.”

  “That’s right! That’s right!” chuckled the old man.

  “So may we inspect it now?”

  He clapped his hands and ushered them down another corridor. His beard was so long that he kept tripping over it, but his enthusiasm stopped him from being irritated with himself.

  “I have worked here for over seventy years!” he panted.

  “Don’t you want to retire?” asked Lisa.

  “No, no, no! Weights and measures are all I know; they are my life! I love kilograms and all other metric units! Litres, centimetres, hectares! It would be a personal tragedy if I retired.”

  Lisa said, “I was amazed when my daughter told me that there was a real object that defined how much a kilogram should weigh. I thought she was joking at first. Imagine that!”

  The old man nodded sadly. “People don’t know about the work that is done in this Bureau. Here we keep safe all the original standards of metric measurement. Everything depends on us. And that’s another reason why I can’t retire. I’m also used as the official definition of an ‘old man’. So if I were replaced with someone younger the definition would change too. It would be a dreadful catastrophe.”

  “All catastrophes are dreadful, surely?”

  “Yes, but some are worse than others. Look, we’ve arrived.” The old man pointed at a glass cabinet. Inside the cabinet on a shelf was a round piece of metal the size of a golf ball.

  “That’s the kilogram, is it?” asked Maya. She was impressed.

  “The one and only,” replied the old man.

  “May I touch it?” she wondered.

  “Oh dear no! What if you dropped it? Nobody is ever allowed to hold it, not even me. It’s very precious.”

  “But it’s for my school project,” said Maya.

  The old man tugged his beard.

  “In that case, I suppose it won’t hurt if you do. But only for a moment, you understand? It mustn’t be damaged.”

  Maya smiled and waited while the old man fumbled in his pockets for the key to the cabinet. At last he found it and unlocked the glass. “Reach in and touch if, if you must,” he said.

  Maya continued smiling. Then suddenly she lunged.

  She had a metal rasp in her hand.

  She had kept this concealed up her sleeve.

  But now it was out. And she attacked the metal of the sacred kilogram with the rough tool, breaking off large flakes of metal that drifted through the air. The old man went very pale.

  Then he screamed, but his scream was peculiar.

  “What are you doing? Stop!”

  Maya turned to Lisa. “That’s enough, I think.”

  “Let’s run, honey,” said Lisa.

  They both hurried back along the corridor. Maya dropped the rasp and it clattered onto the floor. The old man stared at the damaged kilogram in disbelief and clutched his ancient head.

  Jenny and Gran crouched in the corner of the hut and sipped the herbal tea that was brought to them by their host. Firelight flickered over their faces as the burning logs spluttered.

  The entire community of the settlement was present in the hut and it was very cramped, but Gran insisted on speaking to all of them together. It would save time, she explained, and then she gulped the hot liquid and smacked her lips and said stridently:

  “We thank you for making us welcome in your village! Although you look very peculiar to us, we are willing to tolerate your appearance and in return you ought to listen carefully to what I have to say. That’s
only fair, isn’t it? Besides, I have something extremely important to tell you! It concerns your liberty and your future!”

  The truth is that the aliens didn’t look so odd to Jenny because Boris had also been scaly with five eyes and a detachable mouth that dangled on a string, but she didn’t say anything to put Gran off. Gran was getting very emotional now, shaking her fists.

  “You are all Vegans,” she continued, “and thus pacifists. You hate the idea of war and you prefer to be gentle all the time. So you were easy for Genghis Kan’t to conquer and control.”

  The aliens in the hut nodded in agreement. Only an hour before, Gran and Jenny had knocked on the door and the owner of the dwelling opened it and invited them inside. He was surprised to see them, because very few visitors ever came to this remote region of this continent, but he had made them feel welcome. His name was unpronounceable to them and it was necessary to call him Albert instead.

  Gran had told him to summon all his neighbours to listen to a speech she intended to give. He had done that and now Gran was bellowing and roaring at them, her dreadful eyes rolling.

  “I bet you didn’t put up any resistance at all, did you?” she cried, and in reply they shook their heads meekly, mouths swinging. Gran regarded them critically and added: “My point is that pacifism is all very well, but it won’t help to make you free if you are living as slaves! Genghis Kan’t is a bully, a tyrant with no style at all.”

  Albert interrupted her nervously. “But that’s how our character is. We don’t have a violent bone in our bodies.”

  Gran turned a withering look on him. “Well, it’s about time you grew some, my lad. And I can show you how!”

  Albert was astonished. “To grow new bones? Really? Can I grow an extra spine? I’ve always wanted two.”

  “No, you lilac imbecile!” hissed Gran. “It was just a figure of speech! I can teach you how to fight, how to attack, plunder, destroy the garrisons that Genghis Kan’t has established here. That’s what I meant. You don’t have guns but I can show you how to make spears, swords, axes. Then I will lead you into battle against the enemy!”

  There were anxious murmurings amongst the audience. They weren’t convinced yet by Gran’s speech. The truth is that most of them were very scared of the consequences of rebellion.