An excerpt from 'Attack on Planet Falrus' by Joanna Monigatti

Today, I thought i would simply share another excerpt from 'Attack on Planet Falrus' with you.

This is an excerpt from Chapter Nine:

Enjoy!

And be sure to go find the book an Amazon. Get ready for the Book 2 in the Trilogy which will be out this Spring/Summer season!

Commander Bonzok could not believe his bad luck. Up to this point, his future had looked so bright. Frustration and an­ger engulfed him as he stood trembling in the warm room. He glanced at his watch. It was now four a.m. The President would be here any minute now. He was in the control tower at Fort Jugush. This was where the attack on Planet Falrus was going to be launched from, if ever there was going to be one. By the look of things, he wasn't so sure anymore. He was standing in a room full of security nucleovision screens. Out of a hundred screens, only two had clear images on them. The rest were either blank, or showed the interiors of incinerators.

The security guys were trying their best to get the screens sorted out. They were feverishly working at the controls. They had been here all night, the poor chaps, no doubt dragged out of their warm beds by the duty guard from last night.

Commander Bonzok went into the next room. Same story here too. No pictures to be seen on the screens. It was a sad sight. Six years of planning had gone into this operation. Six years of solid, hard work down the drain.

A door to his left opened abruptly and he froze, presuming it was The President storming in unannounced, but it was only the director of Wave Signalling and Detection.

Commander Bonzok let out an audible sigh.

“What is it, Froniket?”

“I have to inform you,” Froniket said in his usual stiff voice. “We have finally lost all hope of visual contact with Falrus using nucleomagnetic wave pulses,” he declared.

Commander Bonzok glared at him.

“What? What do you mean, ‘lost all visual contact'?” He had trouble breathing.

“I mean that our pulses are no longer getting through and our previous continuous waves are not reaching their target anymore. Our line is dead, as they say.”

The fat man looked as if he were going to explode. He had to make a real effort not to grab Froniket by the shoulders and scream at him. In a shaky voice he managed to say, “Well, do you have an explanation for this loss of contact?”

“Yes.” Commander Froniket replied gravely.

“Well, let's hear it.”

“The Falrusians have constructed an artificial ozone layer along Line Desimak. Not only is it a visual shield, it also pre­vents heat and any form of matter getting through to their solar system. This is the first of its kind ever built. The only other ozone layers I have heard of are the one surrounding Earth in the Second Galaxy and that over our half of the galaxy, which was destroyed in the Big Bang. Even so, this ozone block as it is sometimes called, is one up on the natural ones. It is direction-sensitive. It blocks our pulses and waves, but is capable of letting through those from Falrus coming the other way, should they decide to send any. I never thought the Falrusians had such advanced technology. At the moment, only sound energy from us can get through, but ever since they discovered that sound too can be blocked by the ozone block from a Dr. Suvannas' research, they have begun developing a sound-block as well. All this I was able to pick up from our cameras, until they too began to fail.”

“Can we build our own ozone-block?” Commander Bonzok asked.

“I'm afraid not.” Commander Froniket looked worried.

“Our sun is too small to sustain an ozone layer. Not enough solar energy is generated. If only we could replace so­lar energy with nuclear energy from atoms! Unfortunately, that's not possible. We would have to tap Falrus' solar energy to build our own ozone-block.”

“Hmm,” Commander Bonzok grunted. “Errr, Froniket?” he said, looking up at his tall colleague.

“Yes?” Commander Froniket responded, almost at attention, which happened to be his natural pose.

“Give me some space!”

“Yes. As you wish.” He marched out of the room, closing the door quietly behind him.

Commander Bonzok's mind was racing. All was not lost, at least not yet. This situation was what contingency plans were designed for. And he sill had a few of those tucked up his sleeve. He was thankful for his highly organized brain. Another person with a seemingly watertight plan like his would have sat back on his laurels and relaxed. Not him. He was a natural pes­simist. That was the key to his success. That was why he was second-in-command of the Districts.

No! These Falrusians were not going to get in his way! He'd put them in their place, right next to the District people. He’d...

He was still thinking about what he'd like to do to the Falrusians when The President's arrival was announced through the intercom. He was at attention when The President breezed into the room with his usual entourage of guards. The President waved his guards away as he indicated that he wanted to be alone with Commander Bonzok. They left noiselessly, closing the door behind them.

“You wanted to see me sir,” Commander Bonzok said, still standing at attention.

“Sit down,” The President snapped.

Commander Bonzok decided to opt for the ‘lamb to the slaughter' approach. It might help his case, he decided.

“If you don't mind, sir, I should like to stand.”

The President was not impressed by this show of humility.

“I said, sit down!” he bellowed, snarling. Commander Bonzok was suddenly more than happy to oblige. He was not one for standing for long periods anyway. And this meeting could potentially go on for hours. He sat down at the desk in the centre of the room, opposite The President.

“Listen carefully to what I have to say, Bonzok,” The President addressed him, regarding him intently.

“After I have had my say, you can have yours.” His voice now was almost gentle. Commander Bonzok knew it was a bad sign. He swallowed hard.

“I am rudely awakened at two this morning by Com­mander Folsikan who says there is trouble at the Jugush. Nucleomagnetic interaction is dwindling. The nucleovision cam­eras are misbehaving and most of all, the exchange program is failing. I say to myself, no, this is all a mistake. Commander Bonzok is on the job. He is an expert, a professional. This may be a temporary setback, but so what? We all have those from time to time. I shall let my competent officers deal with it.

I go back to bed. I even start to dream again. Then an hour and a half later, I get called again, this time by Commander Srik at the Erjana Base. The newly constructed nucleomagnetic war missiles would not get through Falrus' new ozone-block, for it contains a nucleosensitive repellent! That's when I really get mad. I say to myself, what is Commander Bonzok doing to sort out this mess? I ring your office thinking you would be there sorting things out. Silly me! You are in bed! I can hardly believe what my brain is conveying to me, so I call you out here to hear your side of the story. So, here you are. Tell me your side of the story.”

The President managed a wry smile.

“Defend your miserable self, Bonzok, because believe me, I am more than a little peeved here. I get hauled out of bed, I expect everyone else who works for me to be out of bed too. It's just the way it's supposed to be.”

Commander Bonzok cleared his throat to kill time, while his brain creaked under the strain of fast thinking. There were so many things going against him, he didn't know which one to tackle first. After a quick debate with himself, he decided to

start with what he felt was the worst of the bunch, the nucleovision screens.

“About the faulty pictures on the nucleovision screens sir,” he began.

For more on Planet Falrus and african folktales, do check out Storyplanet Youtube.

All my love,

Joanna