“No. You two can’t go,” said Lord Gubbins to Harrick and Clinton.

  The HST leaders were assembled with the Personal Imperial Guards in the large Matter Transmitter Station. The ‘Emperor 1’ which needed to cater for much larger groups had four transmission pad circles of ten pads each. A central control station was in the middle manned by four technicians, one for each pad circle.

  Surprised, Harrick stood stiffly and looked at Lord Gubbins enquiringly. Kluny stood behind Lord Gubbins with a smirk.

  “This is the little hunt of the Emperor. He wishes it to be a personal affair. Just him and a few of his guards are sufficient,” announced the High Chancellor, “You can beam across to your little shuttle over there.”

  Lord Gubbins waved dismissively out the window where the HTI shuttle was positioned beside the ‘Emperor 1’.

  “The Emperor has also declined the offer of my Protectors. They will be on hand in case assistance is required. You can join your little gang.” Lord Gubbins waved as if shooing away a bothersome insect.

  Harrick bowed in respect and joined Captain Mapps.

  “You will be on your own down there, Mapps,” said Harrick earnestly, “Remember! You’re not in Federation space when you are down there. It’s not civilised and the locals do not act like Federation citizens. Your first reactions are probably wrong.”

  Captain Maps nodded sombrely, “We watched your presentation. Go back to your HST. Maybe we’ll call you?”

  Harrick smiled, “Don’t joke about that. We’ll be watching.”

  Harrick signalled to Clinton and they stepped on the transmissions pads. In a moment they disappeared in a shimmer of blue.

  The Emperor glided in on his hover throne and looked around the transmission station, “Ah, excellent! Everyone is here.”

  He had a closer looked and asked Lord Gubbins, “Lord Gubbins. Where are Harrick and Clinton?”

  Lord Gubbins stepped forward and said, “They had to join their famous Hunter Safety Team. It was felt they would be more appropriate to watch over you, my Lord.”

  The Emperor followed the direction of Lord Gubbins’ pointing tentacle and saw the HTI shuttle outside the ‘Emperor 1’s bubble. His smile dropped a little.

  “That’s a pity. I would have so loved to have them join us and give as a little personal tour,” he said.

  Captain Mapps and Sergeant Timms shared a look that conveyed their understanding of the games Lords play.

  “However, my Lord,” said Lord Gubbins, “Allow me to join you. I have had some excellent discussions with my son and can share many of his insights.”

  The Emperor looked over at Lord Gubbins and answered resignedly, “I suppose so.”

  Looking at Lord De’Ath he asked, “Are you going to join us too?”

  Lord De’Ath bowed and said, “I will be staying up her, my Lord, ready to send assistance if required.”

  The Emperor laughed, “That won’t be necessary, I’m sure. This planet is Non Compatible so there is no real danger.”

  The PIGs stayed silent and resolute, while the Chancellor’s Protectors all grinned in agreement.

  Clapping his hands together, the Emperor said aloud, “Let’s go on a little hunt!”

  The PIGs filled three of the transmission pad circles while the Emperor, Lord Gubbins, Captain Maps and Sergeant Timms stood in the fourth.

  “One moment, my Lord,” said Captain Mapps, and directed Muffins to come over.

  Muffins moved quickly across from his transmission circle with a large wheeled container, obviously heavy, and stood beside the Captain.

  The Emperor looked at Captain Mapps waiting for an explanation.

  “My Lord,” said Captain Mapps as Sergeant Timms connected some cables from the wheeled generator to the floating throne, “This is your personal shield. Muffins here is our strongest guard and will be accompanying you on your hunt. Sergeant Timms has a control to ensure your throne is correctly positioned to maintain field integrity. That also allows you the freedom to concentrate on the hunt without bothering about shields and hover controls and so on.”

  The Emperor decided this was a good idea so shook his head in agreement. He turned to Lord Gubbins, “Shall we?”

  Lord Gubbins pointed at the MTS technicians and the hunting party dematerialised in a blue shimmer.

  ****

  “Are you sure this is a good idea?” asked Mayor Karyn’s assistant.

  Mayor Karyn scoffed at her assistant and shooed her away, “It’s a great idea. Didn’t you see the response to my speech? It went viral!”

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  The assistant noted it did go viral and was talked about across the world, but that did not mean it was universally approved. Despite the media controls and work done to counter the conspiracy theorists, the negative comments continued to be entered and just as quickly deleted. The Mayor’s circle of supporters though were very supportive. And as they were the only ones Mayor Karyn actually encountered, she absolutely knew the support was overwhelming.

  “But a gathering in Central Gardens inviting the aliens to visit New York seems a little, um, dangerous?” continued the assistant, poorly hiding her nervousness.

  “Pah!” scoffed the Mayor, “It’s all a show. Everyone knows aliens don’t go to big cities. Never have and never will!”

  “And don’t raise your eyebrows at me, Felicia,” said the Mayor, waggling her finger at her assistant, “Even if a small group of aliens did visit, well, then we would welcome them properly.”

  Felicia tried again, “The aliens have never been known to try much discussion, Ma’am.”

  Mayor Karyn held out her hand to stop Felicia talking, “Shush. This is all academic anyway. We have already sent out the notices and printed the flyers. We have to leave now.”

  Resigned, Felicia followed Mayor Karyn out of the Town Hall offices and into her personal limousine. A few streets later, she tapped the glass separating them from the driver and said, “Stop here and let us out. I want to be seen walking to the park.”

  The limousine and the Mayor and Felicia stepped out. Her security detail of four very large men in suits caught up with her in moments. They had been walking from the Town Hall and keeping pace with the slow moving limousine. New York traffic meant walking was more efficient, especially if you looked like you meant business.

  “Not too close, Leroy,” said Karyn to her head security guard, “Just keep people away enough so they can be seen in the videos, but not too close they can touch me, OK?”

  Leroy nodded, “As always, Ma’am.”

  About one hundred people had gathered to see what was happening around the Obelisk in Central Park in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was mid morning of a working day and there were a smattering of tourists curiously wandering across, joining the paid supporters cheering on the Mayor. Some locals sat on benches eating a morning snack or jogged around the paths of Central Park, idly wondering what all the commotion was, before continuing on their way.

  “And I promise!” shouted Mayor Karyn, “That New York will do what New York does best!”

  The crowd cheered, before realising the Mayor hadn’t made her point yet and stopped.

  “New York will show aliens the true meaning of American hospitality!”

  The crowd cheered, and some yelled, “Welcome to the aliens” and “No one’s an alien!” among other slogans.

  The shouts of support died as they heard an ominous thump from the direction of the nearby Great Lawn and the softball fields. A number of people rushed past the gathering.

  “What’s happening?” Mayor Karyn said away from the microphone to Leroy.

  Leroy was talking to his men over his intercom system and replied, “Looks like some aliens have taken up your offer. They are coming this way.”

  Leroy pointed towards the trees separating the Obelix and the Great Lawn.

  Huge bright orange clad aliens led the way, bearing guns and grim expressions. They had tusks poking out from their helmets and their steps indicated great weight. Behind them trees were pushed aside by a bubble of force.

  Mayor Karyn gulped as her reckless statements had come to fruition.

  Felicia pulled at her sleeve, “Let’s go! Run!”

  Mayor Karyn looked at her supporters, paid and others, and at the cameras pointed at her and the aliens.

  “No,” she said, I’ll never get re-elected if I run now. It’s too late.”

  Mayor Karyn stepped down from the temporary podium and walked towards the huge orange armoured aliens. Felicia hid behind the flimsy partition of the podium, while Leroy and another security guard walked beside the Mayor.

  The nervous crowd gathered behind the Mayor, almost everyone holding up a phone or camera to record this historic moment.

  The leading alien held up a fist and the alien party paused. A number of the aliens fanned out, pushing back some of the humans and a bubble containing a different alien, sitting on some sort of hovering fancy chair, came forward. It stopped and all eyes focussed on Mayor Karyn.

  She gulped and then stood tall, if a little shakily.

  “Welcome!” she said loudly, “Welcome to New York!”

  ****

  “This is nice,” said the Emperor as they rematerialised on Dirt. They were in some sort of field, surrounded by trees. Behind the trees were buildings, some large, some tall. Dirtlings were scattered throughout and within moments they ran in all directions, away from the suddenly appearing visitors.

  “Oh look,” said the Emperor, “A tall pointy thing. Let’s see what that is.”

  Lord Gubbins looked around in disgust. These pitiful Dirtlings were running away, just like when you stepped on an insect nest. How dare they harm his son. He put on a fake smile and answered, “Yes, my Lord.”

  Sergeant Timms directed the Emperor’s throne forward and Muffins pushed the heavy generator. Muffins and the Emperor were covered by the bubble of the shield. On contact with the ground, the shield stopped. It was not able to extend into physical objects that had no momentum.

  As they moved forwards, tree branches were pushed aside and some broke, falling on the escorting guards, falling harmlessly on their helmets. “Don’t shoot unless you have to,” said Captain Mapps over the Guards’ private communication network. Let the Emperor make the first move, and stay defensive. We are not on a little hunt. We protect the Emperor.”

  “Roohah!” said the guards in unison as they moved forward and out, providing a secure barrier of flesh.

  “Sir, we have some Dirtlings blocking our way,” said the lead guard.

  Captain Mapps stepped forward and not detecting any weapons on the Dirtlings or obvious aggressive intent, moved his guards aside and let the Emperor move forward.

  “Halt!” said the Emperor as he saw the awaiting Dirtlings.

  Muffins stopped in unison with Sergeant Timms controlled stop of the hover chair. Sergeant Timms gave Muffins a quick look of approval. Their training was working.

  “What is going on?” asked the Emperor.

  “These Dirtlings are blocking our way,” said Lord Gubbins.

  “I think they want to talk,” quickly added Captain Mapps, looking at the Dirtling in front of the crowd. He sized up the two large dirtlings either side of the main Dirtling and privately pointed them out to the two lead guards.

  “Talk?” asked the Emperor, “What for? They have nothing worth saying.”

  “They are Non Compatible! Of course they have nothing to say!” said Lord Gubbins forcefully.

  “It sounds like ‘Welcome to New York’,” insisted Captain Mapps quickly.

  “This is so stupid,” said the Emperor, “I’m here for a little hunt. Drop the shield.”

  ****

  “Welcome to New York!” Mayor Karyn repeated after there was only what seemed like a conversation between the alien in the flying chair, a huge Orange tusked alien and what looked like a blue octopus in a fancy robe.

  Leroy and his fellow security guard, Jenkins, were nervous as they noticed the two large orange guards raise their guns at each of them.

  “I have a bad feeling about this.” Leroy said to Jenkins, gripping the hand gun in his pocket holster firmly, “Get ready.”

  The bubble surrounding the seated alien disappeared and the central creature raised a gun and fired. Mayor Karyn was thrown back into the crowd, hit by a solid blast of energy to her shoulder. The crowd panicked and ran.