Robert A.V. Jacobs....Author

Chapter One.. Twilnhump

 

 

Finally the house was rebuilt, and although Harriet loved her relatives dearly she was quite relieved to have the house to herself once more. So farewells were said, and the Weals all returned to 12 Trendal Place. Paul had presided over a remarkable job. The house and furnishings having been replaced to such a high standard, that it would have required an expert to tell that anything had actually happened. Of course replacing all of the personal items that had been lost in the explosion was not possible, but time would take care of that.

 

Today was Daisy’s sixteenth birthday, and as we all know about Daisy’s feeling on the subject of birthdays, we will say no more about it. Well we wouldn’t, if it had not been for the presents. A shuttle was specially prepared to carry them from the Moon. As everyone there had, it seems, decided to buy her one. The gift shops that had been provided in the newly finished third dome to service the two hotels, did a roaring trade, with our friend who runs trains, aeroplanes and record shops etc., selling them at less than cost when he found out who they were for.

 

All seven shuttles now plied regularly between the moon and Branson Field when no military use was required of them, carrying passengers at a fare of roughly the cost of flying between London and New York. The Hotels in Dome three were always full, and as the trip cost the Star Fleet virtually nothing, a very healthy profit was being made, which helped the Moon Base become virtually self sufficient.

 

Some security measures had to be introduced as a precaution, because there is always the threat of terrorist attack. So Branson field had a proper airport terminal, with x-ray checks and a departure gate etc., because wherever there are humans, there are always nut cases. But you knew that anyway, so let’s move along.

 

Daisy sat, and stared at the enormous pile of gifts that she had spent the best part of the day so far unpacking. Soap and Shampoo would never be an issue for her ever again, provided that the stuff didn’t have sell by dates. Though, what she would do with all the fancy cases that they came in, she had no idea. Looking around, she counted thirty six little models of Moon base Daisy, but these were not a problem, as they would be given to St Damien’s, and other local Primary Schools. There were several Moon base diaries, which she really, really had no need for, so she intended to pass those on to her Parents and friends.

 

Ok that’s it then, no more talk about birthdays.

 

******

 

It was decidedly weird, and materialised in the woods just outside of Bishops Ashton. It was very roughly the shape of a human being, but not completely, and anyone who had seen it appear would have rubbed their eyes and looked again. Unfortunately, the second look would prove to be worse than the first. Its head was about the size of a normal head, but the two offset noses and the three very round protruding eyes, gave the lie to that first impression. What was probably the most off putting thing was that its mouth was positioned above its noses and eyes. It had two legs as one would hope to expect, but four arms. Two normal sized primary ones with two battle arms below them, much larger and tucked into his boot tops to stop them flapping around. It did have two ears, one on each side of its head, and for those of you who watch Star Trek they looked remarkably like a Ferengi’s.

 

It was a Crenian, and Crenians were quite nasty creatures. Individually, only their mother could possibly be expected to love them, but with Crenians there was even some doubt about that. They were essentially lonely people, in that when two met, invariably only one walked away, and in some cases none at all. No Crenian had a father as the mothers tended to get very hungry after mating, and like the ‘Praying Mantis’ (http://www.mantisfacts.com/) the father was the nearest thing to a meal that the mother could find.

 

Because of this massive intake of food, a Crenian’s pregnancy only lasted for a relatively short time. In the case of this particular Crenian there was no father at all, so when the baby was due, the mother suffered over a full day of labour pains before giving birth, and then died of starvation. This was convenient for this particular Crenian because, like Daisy, his intelligence was complete at birth, and realising he was hungry, he ate the only thing that he could find, which happened to be his dead mother. Not acceptable in polite society of course, but I did tell you that they were very nasty creatures.

 

Now I have to mention here, before all the mathematicians among you jump all over me, that it was not always like this. There used to be a vast thriving community of Crenians, millions upon millions of them all living in peace, and building a civilisation to be proud of. But then something happened. Perhaps a genetic shift who knows, but the result was that every generation, Crenian Society reduced its numbers by a seriously large chunk. When Twilnhump was born (sorry but that is his name), there was not that many left, and with his powers no one could stand against him, so soon he was alone.

 

The Crenians lived on; sorry the last Crenian lived on the planet Cren which orbited the Star Crenna in a galaxy about three north and one northwest of our own. It was a seriously long way away from us, not that it would matter as we have discovered from Daisy’s own journeys around the universe. But frankly, it would have been a lot better if he had lived in another universe altogether.

 

Twilnhump was getting hungry, very, very hungry. He was definitely not a vegetarian, there were no more Crenians left to eat, and all of the animals had long since been consumed. He was becoming acutely aware, that if he did not find something to eat very soon, in fact before the day was out, he would die. It was not long therefore, before he reasoned that all of those little lights in the sky must have planets full of delectable morsels, designed specifically for him. So, he sat down on that fateful day, brought his considerable mental power to bear, and reached out into space to see what he could find.

 

The Vana admitted to Daisy sometime later, that it must have been rather ashamed that it had planted a seed on Cren when it realised what Crenian society was like, and had sought to forget the incident altogether. So, this information had never been passed to Daisy. During the Vana’s destruction, and following resurrection it had therefore, never been passed back. It was the first time that she had heard an explanation from the Vana which somehow, did not have the ring of truth. Her main objection being the fact that if she hadn’t passed the information back to them, then who had? But she dismissed that thought as being her overly suspicious mind.

 

Peculiar minds have the Crenians, and being a Crenian, so did Twilnhump. Fortunately for him, and perhaps not so fortunate for the Vana, it was unable to sense him because he was so peculiar. But Twilnhump had no such restriction. He was soon able to detect the Vana, and recognised it for what it was. He sensed that it was considerably more powerful than him, so he tiptoed out of its mind, and vowed to avoid it in the future.

 

Still further outward he moved, until suddenly he found a wisp of a mind, which was very much like his own. Mistakenly, he thought it was another Crenian. Admittedly he was so hungry by now that it never occurred to him that it was most unlikely, so he eagerly gathered all of his power, channelled it just right, and Launched.

 

******

 

Daisy had decided that today, she would be whispering into the Prime Ministers ear. She would make sure that he could not see her of course, but she did like to give little hints now and then. Today she was going to plant the seed of a new Royal Yacht for the Queen, and reinstatement of the Queen’s Flight.

 

For those of you who are too young to remember, the Queens Flight was the Queens own personal aircraft. I mean come on, what other country makes their head of state travel in commercial aircraft, especially if that head of state is royalty. And to Daisy’s mind the added value that Her Majesty gives to the United Kingdom, makes the restoration of these things on her Diamond Jubilee a small price to pay indeed. Well after all, Daisy was a patriot, and very, very definitely a royalist.

 

Bruce meanwhile, being as nosey as all dogs, was running around the room sniffing at all the gifts, then he would pause, sneeze, and then run around again.

 

“Something is making me sneeze,” he thought.

 

“It’s the soap and shampoo you ninny,” snorted Daisy, “makes me want to sneeze as well, that’s why I am not daft enough to run around sniffing it.”

 

“Why are you crabby Daisy?” asked Bruce, nuzzling her ear.

 

“Sorry Bruce didn’t mean to be, but something is not right, and I can’t put my finger on it,” Daisy sighed, “and,” she continued, “I have to ask mum what a Twilnhump is.”

 

“What does one look like, and can I eat it?” asked Bruce.

 

“I think the question should be: can it eat you?” Daisy replied. “And to answer your other question, I’ve no idea.”

 

Amy came bouncing back in from the bathroom, and said,

 

“I heard that. What Twilnhump? Where did that come from?”

 

“I don’t know,” answered Daisy, “it keeps popping into my head, don’t know where from. It appears to be associated with somewhere called Cren. And I’ve no idea about that either. But please don’t be so enthusiastic. I really don’t do mornings.”

 

“You don’t do mornings. You don’t do rain. What exactly do you do?”

 

Daisy grinned,

 

“Breakfast,” she said, “and tea, lots of tea, so shall we go and get some?”

 

A little later over breakfast, and after at least two cups of tea had passed her lips, Daisy asked her mother whether she knew what a Twilnhump was, and where was somewhere called Cren.

 

“Never heard of it,” said Marjorie, emphatically, “What about you George?”

 

“Nope,” said George, “certainly doesn’t sound like anything on this Earth.”