Deadenders
By
UCSBdad
Disclaimer: Castle reached a dead end with Season 8, but it's going strong here. Rating: K Time: The far future.
"What?" Castle yelled. "How do you know about that? It's a secret."
Charlie laughed.
"Do you think Blondie and I are stupid or something? The incoming ships give Alphaville Control the names and home planets of all newcomers. Customs lists anything they're bringing in. There seem to be a lot of books and computer files on the Thiskaddian language. A little checking and we find that the expedition has brought in a lot of Thiskaddian language experts. So, there's Ancient script and Thiskaddian script out there."
"Have you told anyone?" Castle demanded.
"Hey, Blondie! Have we told anyone that we're translating Ancient out here?"
Alexis came out from the back room.
"Well, we sent all the news orgs we could think of the news. It's gone out on two ships, so probably no more than fifty or so planets know about it."
"Fifty planets!" Rick screamed. "What have you done?"
To his surprise, both Charlie and Alexis laughed.
"We're not stupid, Rick." Alexis said. "We know what would happen if anyone found out what's really happening here. Not just a possible war, but there are dozens of crazy groups out there than think the Ancients are gods or something. We haven't told anyone, and we won't."
"You should have seen your face, though." Charlie said. "In fact, I can show it to you."
She played a hologram of Rick yelling which caused both Charlie and Alexis to laugh.
"You are so easy, Castle." Charlie said.
"Not funny, Alexis."
"Actually, I'm calling myself Blondie now. I'm even thinking of dyeing my hair blonde."
"She'll look great as a blonde. Here, I'll put up a holo and show you."
Suddenly Alexis' red hair appeared a golden blonde, then platinum blonde and finally an almost white blonde.
"She looks great as a blonde," Charlie said, "but she looks best like this." The hologram covered Alexis' entire body, or rather uncovered it. It made her look nude, but with longer legs and bigger boobs.
"That's enough, Charlie." Alexis said and the holo disappeared.
"If you two comedians are done, I'm headed for Miss Meredith's for some dinner."
"Kate Beckett is holding a table for you."
"And how do you know that?"
"The security cameras. She's told several men who wanted to sit with her that she's waiting for Rick Castle."
"Charlie, you should respect people's privacy."
"I can't. My job is to gather and collate all information. All!"
"Can't you do something, Alexis…Er, Blondie?"
"Probably not. Charlie is a sentient computer, after all. How would you like it if someone cut off your brain's access to certain information?"
"Think about it, at least." Castle said as he left.
He found Kate sitting at a table by herself.
"Hey, thanks for saving me a seat. It's pretty crowded in here."
"Oh, it's not that crowded." Kate replied. "No one wanted to sit here."
Rick thought about mentioning what he'd learned from Charlie but decided not to.
"Have you ordered yet?" He asked.
"I'm not sure what some of the things on the menu are. They've changed it since we were here last."
Castle looked at the menu.
"Oh! One of my favorites. They have nachos."
"What are they?"
"There's a picture of nachos on the menu and a list of the ingredients. Try it. It's good."
"What kind of a drink would go with them?"
"A margarita. I think you had one when Reynolds and Wells joined us back on Aotearoa."
"I'll have one then."
Both Rick and Kate enjoyed the meal. They were just finishing their second margaritas when Martha Rodgers came out to perform. This time she was wearing a short, low cut crimson dress. She looked spectacular. So much so that Rick wondered what she was using to look that good.
She began to sing and play the piano.
"Oh, my love, my darling,
"I've hungered for your touch,
"A long, lonely time,
"Time goes by so slowly,
"And time can do so much,
"Are you still mine."
"I don't think I've ever heard this song before." Rick said.
"Almost all of the songs written in the last fifty years were military songs. Now that the war's over, people are sick of them." Kate replied. "Martha's found songs from hundreds of years in the past. People love them."
They listened for a moment or two.
"Can you dance, Rick?"
"Of course, I can dance."
She grabbed his hand and led him onto the dance floor. Rick found that Kate Beckett fit very nicely against him. After several songs, he checked his watch.
"I should leave. Montgomery wants me to write a short report about the attack by the mountain clans to send to Earth."
"I suppose I should leave as well."
When they go to the door of Miss Meredith's, Kate stopped.
"I wasn't completely honest with you earlier. I was holding the table for you."
"I know."
"You knew? How?"
Rick explained about Charlie and her eavesdropping.
"I'll have to be careful in the future. Are there any security cameras here?" She asked.
"No."
Kate gave him a brief kiss on the lips and then walked away.
Rick sighed and regrettably walked over to Montgomery's office to write his report.
They flew back to the ranch the next morning. Rick gave everyone the bad news that neither Hunt nor Montgomery thought anyone would help them with the gunrunning.
"We should know what's going on up in the mountains." Strelkov said. "Can we send the chopper up there to look around?"
"We could." Kate replied. "But would we see anything useful? We have no idea where the ships are landing the guns or when. I can't keep the helicopter up there 24/7."
"And it's the only helicopter we have." Rick added. "We need it for a lot of other things. And if we lost it, we'd be in big trouble. I don't see how we can get any information from the mountains."
As it happened, the answer to their problem arrived the next day.
"Halloo! Ka Sals. It's I, Prinsloo the Peddler. Open your gate and allow me to sell to you the wonderful things I have."
Prinsloo was riding his own horse and leading three pack horses, fully laden.
The gate was opened, and Prinsloo rode on in. He immediately began unpacking those things he thought the Castles would want.
"Ah, Mr. Ka Sal. Look at the fine rug I found for you. Look at the colors. Look at the fine weaving. Imagine how it will look in front of your fireplace? I know you want it. I can see you want it. Only five hundred rounds of 7mm rifle ammunition."
Mike Castle frowned.
"Did you say five hundred rounds? That's way too much. I'd say two hundred founds would be a fair price."
Prinsloo looked shocked.
"Two hundred rounds? Impossible. I'm barely making a profit at five hundred. I think five hundred is very fair. More than fair. Almost a giveaway."
The two argued for more than twenty minutes. Finally, Mike changed the subject.
"Prinsloo, have you ever heard of the Great Prophet of the mountain clans?"
"No. Why do you ask?"
"There might be a way for you to get five hundred rounds of ammo for the rug. Perhaps twice that."
"Tell me more."
Mike told him about the raid on the Jacobson's ranch and what the dying clansman had said.
"What?" Prinsloo said. "Chase away the humans? Absurd. You are members of our clans. You are our friends. You have done so much for us. Idiotic."
"We need to know more about them." Mike said. "You trade with the mountain clans, right? Can you go there and find out what's happening? For a thousand rounds of 7mm ammunition."
"A thousand rounds? I shall do it."
Prinsloo, minus the rug, left the next day with three hundred round of rifle ammunition. The mountain clans would most certainly want ammunition if nothing else. He stopped at two ranches that were on his normal schedule, plus he stopped with a group of nomadic Ka Raras as he would have normally.
He entered the mountains and had gotten through the foothills when he was stopped by five Ka Raras, all quite well armed.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?" Shouted one.
"You know me. I'm Prinsloo the Peddler. I've been coming here for years. You," he pointed at a male in the back, "know me Arsol. You bought a fine blanket for your mother from me."
"Silence!" Screamed the first male. "What do you have?"
Prinsloo began to list the items he had. When he told them of the ammo he had, the first male yelled.
"You have ammunition. You must hand it over. It belongs to the Great Prophet.
"It belongs to me." Cried Prinsloo.
"Give it to us or we'll kill you and take it from your dead body."
"What's this about, Little Brother."
Unnoticed by all, three more males had arrived. These had blue scarves around their necks.
"Older Brother, this male is a peddler and deals with the hated humans. He has ammunition which should go to the Great Prophet. Then he should be shot."
"Is he not one of us? A Ka Rara?" Asked the leader of the newcomers.
"He deals with the evil humans and has ammunition, Older Brother. That's all we need to know."
"I ask you again, Younger Brother. Is he one of us? A Ka Rara?"
"Yes, Older Brother."
"And has not the Great Prophet said that we will all be one when the humans are driven off?"
"Yes, but…"
"Do you disagree with the Great Prophet?" The male said coldly.
"Of course not. Never. Never would I do such a thing, Older Brother."
"The Great Prophet will speak again in three days. I will take this peddler to the place of speaking so he may hear the Great Prophet himself."
It took another day for them to reach the place where the Great Prophet would speak. The place was a natural amphitheater deep in the mountains. Prinsloo thought there were perhaps two hundred males there to hear the Great Prophet. When he talked to the males there, he discovered that the females and children would be talked to by a female disciple of the Great Prophet.
In the meantime, Prinsloo managed to sell a few things. The fact that the Ka Raras with blue scarves had allowed him to keep his goods seemed to indicate that his contacts with humans wasn't being held against him.
The blue scarves themselves seemed to have several functions. They were first and foremost the enforcers of the Great Prophet's will. They also served as the civil service of the Great Prophet. Every day the Ka Rara were fed by blue scarves. Everyone got a generous bowl of food and their name was written down so that they would know who had been fed and how many needed to be fed. Lasty, some blue scarves acted as acolytes of the Great Prophet, writing down his every word and repeating them to the waiting Ka Raras.
Finally, the great day came when the Great Prophet would speak.
The day began with the beating of drums. Withing the confines of the natural amphitheater the dozen or so large drums drowned out every other sound. Then, large horns, carved from the horns of mountain skippers sounded, adding to the din.
Then the music stopped, and the Great Prophet appeared. He was not walking as one might expect, nor was he mounted on a horse. He rode in a large motor vehicle.
Prinsloo jumped up on a large rock to see better. What he saw shocked him. Driving the vehicle was a tall, furry frog-like alien. Prinsloo recognized him from pictures he'd seen. He was a Took. Worse, riding behind the Great Prophet and his driver were two lumpy, green skinned aliens. These were Xanks.
TBC