„Hi", Brett grinned and waved to the audience. „I'm Brett Bates and I haven't had a drink in five days … Oh, right. Wrong meeting."
Hesitant laughter erupted from the audience. Jason's gaze met Mera's and they both had to look away to hide their grin. Diane looked annoyed. The alien councillors blinked confused and the human politicians exchanged puzzled looks.
"I was ten years old when my mom, my big brother Jason and I moved to ORCA", Brett continued somewhat more serious. "Man, I can hardly remember my life before that. It was exciting – a research facility down at the bottom of the ocean, new people, new friends – and certainly a lot of opportunity for mischief. I guess, you already figured that I'm the real troublemaker of the family. If there's a big red glowing button with a sign which reads in bright letters DO NOT PUSH, you can be sure I push. So to nobody's surprise, I got in trouble before I'd completely unpacked my suitcase. With a few friends, I played a trick on a new kid on ORCA. She didn't take it so well and somehow I ended up in the middle of the ocean in a boat. I had no idea where I was or how to get back and there was a storm coming. Luckily, I got on an island. Thirsty, hungry and really, really stupid, I grabbed the first thing I found: some angry red berries. I fell asleep and the next thing I knew, a strange girl made me drink a weird tasting potion. And this is how I met Neri. She saved my life back then, for the first but not the last time. And suddenly, one adventure came after the other. We were running and infiltrating institutions, searching for alien technology and Neri's sister Mera, saving the world a few times, saving each other's necks a few more and everything while trying to keep a low profile at the same time because no one could ever find out about the girls. The last eight years have been quite a ride and I loved it."
Brett smiled and seemed lost in thought for a second. "I don't really know what to say here", he went on. "To tell you about every single mission would take a lot of time and you already know about the big stuff. So I guess, what you need to know is that even as a kid I knew how important it was to help Neri. Maybe I didn't always get the big picture and in retro-perspective, looking back – man, we were really lucky to get out of these situations the way we did! But I'd do it all over again."
"Dr Maya Grey, political science, Oxford University", elder women introduced herself when Brett didn't speak on. "You said, Neri … sorry, the Royal Highness,... I'm not sure about the protocol here."
"Just Neri", Neri said loudly with a friendly smile and Dr Grey nodded, smiling back before turning back to Brett.
"You said, Neri saved your life a few times", Dr Grey said. "You must have been in quite some dangerous situations. Were you never scared? Did you never have any doubts that it was too much for a bunch of kids to handle? As a mother, I would have never let my children getting involved in such matters."
"We kept it from Mom a lot", Brett replied. "Sure, she figured something was going on but we always kept the grown-ups in the dark as long as we could for the very same reason you just gave. They would have tried to stop us but we couldn't let that happen. We had to do it, you know? Also, I always trusted Jason and Neri to get me out and they did. They would never let anything happen to us younger kids in the group. Actually, they wouldn't have to save me if I had just followed Jason orders. But I … I'm not really good dealing with authority and more than once I thought I knew better and went off to play the hero. So, my bad. Also, there was nothing the grown-ups could have done to help us. We couldn't tell the authorities and we had to keep the girls a secret, so we had to keep the circle as small as possible. There was simply no way to involve Mom or anyone else. We had to do it ourselves and I think, it was actually one of the reasons we succeeded in the end. We were underestimated and got away with a lot. Most people, we dealt with weren't really bad. Just curious and ambitious maybe. They wouldn't hurt us. So I was never really scared – not until we met Malakat. Despite the several opinions in this room -" he shot a quick look at the councillors - "the man's pure evil. Calculating, power-hungry, ruthless until the point where he went over corpses to achieve his goals. He always seemed one step ahead of us. It came to no surprise when we found out he had been responsible for the alleged death of Shalamorn and the creation of the Red Virus."
"Sara Price, University of Adelaide", another woman in the audience said and rose from her chair. "I still don't understand how these two are connected. Why couldn't Malakat just take over? As I understand he was already in a position of power. Why the Red Virus?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Brett responded. "Malakat was limited by the laws of their society. The only way he could rise above even further was by establishing a new world order, something he certainly could never pull off on the Oceanplanet. He needed a new world, a new planet."
"Nothing less but world domination," Dr Svenson nodded. "But why did he poison Earth as well? Was there some kind of blackmailing plan to get Earths population to bend? Let them take over in exchange for the cure?"
"Malakat didn't release the Red Virus on Earth. That was his accomplice, Shersheba", Brett explained after giving Jason a short side glance. "Also, he didn't have a cure at this time. His plan was to get access to the sunken pyramid, a very powerful computer. He promised Shersheba to create a cure with it – no, wait! Shersheba didn't know at the time that he had created the virus."
Many heads were turned in the audience as the scientists exchanged puzzled looks. Brett looked over to Jason.
"Sorry", Brett said quickly, "I guess, my brother can explain it better. He was more involved in all this. Jase?"
Halfway through the last sentence, Jason had already taken a few steps towards Brett. "Thank you so far, Brett", he said when he approached him and taking the stage. "I am Jason Bates and I serve as an adviser for Queen Shalamorn and her daughters. As to continue my brother's report, Malakat never intended to create a cure in the first place. His goal was to get control over the pyramid, to drown Earth's population and to take over. The remaining humans should serve as slaves. Shersheba was never in this quest for power but for finding a way to help her people. Malakat had convinced her that gaining power over the pyramid and dominate Earth was the only way for the Ocean People to survive. The fact that Malakat was responsible for the Red Virus came as a shock to her. She told us he bragged about it and that he had been confident that with the power of the pyramid he would be able to create a cure. But finding it too soon would make Earth's domination obsolete. Shersheba finally released the virus on Earth to force Malakat to develop a countermeasure as he had promised."
"Dr Kyra Skatski, University of Prague. I thought the cure was based on antibodies found in a whale's blood?"
Jason nodded. "Yes, it was. Malakat wasn't able to create a cure because the virus mutated too fast. He had lost control."
"You keep emphasizing Malakat's role in the events", Svenson said, "but you also seem almost protective about this Shersheba although her crimes are just as severe."
"Shersheba switched sides", Jason replied. "You have to understand that Malakat raised and brainwashed her, used her and her authority. In the matriarchal society, Shersheba was the leader, the one in charge and Malakat lead her on while taking over step by step. She didn't see it coming and when she finally saw truth it was almost too late. She committed crimes under his influence and she paid a high price for that. She will stand trial just as Malakat. But Shersheba was also the one who turned thing around in the end. She saved a lot of lives, Neri's and mine included. She took the cure and brought it to the Ocean Planet, away from Malakat's grasp. She forced her way into Malakat's secret chambers, freed Queen Shalamorn from her prison and gave her the cure."
"Righting a wrong doesn't make her innocent."
"Of course not but we owe her to take that into consideration at the trial."
"Could you please explain what trial you're exactly talking about?" Dr Skatski asked.
Jason nodded and took a deep breath before speaking on.