The Treasure of Altaraus

By Philip R Benge

On the far off world of Mazere, clues to the whereabouts of the treasures of Atlantis are discovered by Professor Halliard of the Museum for Ancient Alien Civilisations. Whom else can he turn to for help in finding it other than David Charlton? Unfortunately there are also two other people searching for it, and both will happily kill to obtain it. David Charlton finds that he is once again in danger of losing his life as he searches the galaxy for the planet Altaraus, and a way to stay alive.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Philip R Benge
• Release date: Feb 17, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311504104

Philip R Benge

Like most of the world, I had to work hard to pay my mortgage and all the other bills, which meant that I only had the time and the energy to write some short stories. I finally found the time and the energy to write some full length Science Fiction stories.

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The Treasure of Altaraus

A Story

by

Philip R Benge

Smashwords Edition

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Published by

Philip R Benge on Smashwords

The Treasure of Altaraus

Copyright Philip R Benge 2014

Cover Art Copyright Philip R Benge 2014

Thank you for downloading this eBook. You are welcome to share it with your friends. This book may be reproduced, copied and distributed for non-commercial purposes, provided the book remains in its complete original form, with the exception of quotes used in reviews.

Your support and respect for the property of this author is appreciated.

This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

The Treasure of Altaraus

Contents

Chapter One: A New Beginning

Chapter Two: A Peace Treaty

Chapter Three: Secrets from the Past

Chapter Four: Between a Brick and a Hard Place

Chapter Five: A New Quest

Chapter Six: On the Treasure Trail

Chapter Seven: Return to New Mars

Chapter Eight: The Gateway of Tomorrow

Chapter Nine: The End Game

Other Books by the Author

Chapter One

A New Beginning

Almost the whole of Mazere celebrated when Lantana Stator was elected president of Mazere. She was the mysterious Action against Tyranny, a mysterious figure who had kept the public aware of the many things that the previous right wing ultra-conservative government had wished to keep secret. She had championed the cause of the Non-Citizens of Mazere, a part of the population who had had few rights, except to work in the toxic factories and live in the equally toxic and squalid little industrial towns with no right to vote. She had instigated the protest marches that finally caused the government to resign amid an attempted coup by the military. In the end, though, her coup had prevailed, not the military one. The government had been overthrown by the people, and by Lantana Stator, a woman who wanted democracy for all of her people, and justice for all other worlds that they encountered.

David Charlton for one was very happy to see her at the helm of the new government of Mazere. He was the captain of the Galactic Traveller, an aging space freighter belonging to his father. His reason for being on Mazere in the first place was that he had been searching for his father, he had gone missing in that region of space while on a voyage of discovery aboard the starship Blazer Explorer. Unknown to him at the time, his father’s starship had been attacked, and the crew imprisoned, by the authorities of Mazere. The authorities had wanted this whole sector of space kept exclusively for their own people. To ensure this end they had sought to keep all other space faring worlds well away from Mazere, and through any means possible to them, including the destabilization of the planet’s governments.

David had been falsely accused of murder and mayhem, even of fermenting unrest on the planet by Admiral Stator, the father of Lantana, and who had known nothing about his daughter`s other life as a revolutionary. By doing so, Admiral Stator hoped to take over the government by way of a military coup, when the expected violence that he had been stoking, erupted upon the streets of Mazere. The ruling government though, had always been one-step ahead of the military coup, and had arrested him and his fellow conspirators as soon as they attempted to seize power. Unfortunately, for them, they found his daughter at the head of millions of their citizens storming the government building and demanding that the present administration stand down for a truly democratic one.

One of the first actions taken by Lantana, as president of Mazere, was to go on television and set the record straight regarding her friends from Earth. Captain Charlton and his crew were not guilty of anything more than rescuing his parents and friends from a secret government prison on Mazere, where they had been illegally imprisoned. The military had been behind the actions leading up to the unrest, not Captain Charlton or Sarah Jane Hardin who were innocent victims of the military’s Machiavellian plot to destabilise the planet and seize power for their own grandiose reasons.

David Charlton was resting now after living through so much danger to himself, and to those that he cared for. He was having breakfast with his new wife, Sarah Jane Hardin. Sarah, as with most women at the latter end of the twenty second century, had decided to retain her own name. They were in their hotel suite on the top floor of a small family run hotel in central Plakara, the capital city of the planet of Mazere. With them at the hotel were Richard and Patricia Charlton, David’s parents. They would all have preferred to return to Earth, and never to hear the name of the planet ever again, but they had not. The reason why they did not do so was Lantana Stator, for she had asked David and Sarah to stay for a while and act as her personal consultants. So, with their hands bound, David’s father and mother had also decided to remain on Mazere as they were loath to leave their son, having only just got him back after two long and very eventful years.

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The freighter Galactic Traveller had departed from the planet Mazere two days previously and without its captain. It was now on course for Earth. In temporary command was Alan Lee, and along with him were Steve Ryan, Christopher Anderson and Millicent McIntosh on the bridge, with Jimmy Fielding and Tony Miles in engineering. They had all had a happy farewell, having seen their friends David Charlton and Sarah Jane Hardin marry. However, after an exhausting and very dangerous time they all wanted to return home to Earth, especially Alan, Chris and Millicent, who were all survivors from the ill-fated Blazer Explorer.

Steve Ryan was spending an hour going through some old video logs; it showed their approach to a planet he had named New Mars. While watching the video he suddenly saw something that would change the lives of so many people. There on the viewing screen was the faint outline of a town, long buried beneath the sands of the slowly dying planet. He had not noticed it previously, as then he had been looking for signs of a crashed starship, the Blazer Explorer, but now it screamed out for his attention.

Chris, look at this video here of the Galactic Traveller’s approach to the planet New Mars. Christopher Anderson got up from his seat and walked across the bridge to see what Steve was looking at; when he saw it, he called over to Alan Lee.

Alan this is incredible, you should come and have a look at this video.

Chris took over the controls of the freighter allowing Alan Lee to look at the video; he was joined by Millicent McIntosh who could not contain her excitement, for to see this first sign of a long dead civilisation was to her something amazing.

Oh, gosh Steve, how on earth did you miss this the first time round? Millicent cried out reprovingly, Steve smiled at her and explained.

Because sweet Millicent, I was too engrossed at the time in looking for you and the rest of your crew to see the faint outlines shown on the video. Millicent blushed as she met Steve’s smile, but then she smiled as well.

And I thank you sweet Sir, both for your bravery and for your diligence in doing just that. Millicent said giving him a small curtsy.

You are right Chris, this is amazing. Steve, will you get the site’s co-ordinates and attach them to the video, and then send them back to David, and hopefully it will annoy the Mazerens, being in debt once again to him. Alan said with a wicked smile upon his face.

Thankfully, the flight home was uneventful, although a little boring, they had originally planned to land at the space port of Mars, the home base of the freighter, but they were diverted by John Blazer, David Charlton’s godfather. He asked them instead to return to Earth, and to land in front the Blazer Space hanger at the spaceport of Washington DC. John Blazer had arranged a welcome home party, for he wanted to show just how much he valued each one of them.

There was one other reason for getting the freighter to Washington, John Blazer could see that there would be a significant increase in the number of people wanting to travel either to Mazere or to Phlox. Therefore, he had also decided that the Galactic Traveller needed extra cabins so that they could cash in on what would soon become a profitable line of business. He had Blazer Space put in four cabin pods; his firm were now manufacturing them for other freighters who were also looking to increase their own profits, but on more local runs. There would be no invoice waiting for the Charlton family when they returned home, this was his way of repaying them, in part, for all that they had gone through on his behalf.

Chapter Two

A Peace Treaty

As soon as they got the message from Steve Ryan, David and Sarah went along to speak with Lantana Stator; however, she was far too busy at that time to worry about an archaeological find. She referred them to Professor Halliard of the Archaeological Museum for Ancient Alien Civilisations.

One hour later Professor Halliard, the curator of the museum, rose to greet them as they were shown into his office in the museum.

Captain Charlton, Ms Hardin, President Stator sent me a message to say that you would be calling, you have something of interest to show me I gather? Professor Halliard looked to be nearing retirement age, however, he was still handsome, and his eyes had lost none of their sharpness.

That is correct Professor, I have a recording here that shows the outlines of what might be a long dead town beneath the sands of the planet that you call Canopus, it was taken when my ship went into orbit around it at the initial meeting between our two worlds. David said offering a small computer memory stick to Professor Halliard. The device had been provided by the Mazeren communications officer that had brought the message to them.

Professor Halliard immediately plugged the device into his computer and the recording began to run. He quickly turned into a young boy as he watched the recording, his excitement overcoming his natural reserve as he realised just what he might be seeing.

This is fantastic; it must be from the ancients’ civilisation, it is only the third such town ever found, if only I had the funds available to go there this minute with an archaeological team. Professor Halliard turned from his computer screen to look up at David and Sarah.

The new president, someone that you are partly responsible for bringing to power my friends, he added tongue in cheek, has frozen all government funding until her new government is formed. Then we will still have to wait for her new ministers to go over all existing expenses before any new money will be made available, especially for a project as large as this promises to be. The professor stopped for a moment, seemingly stunned. Oh my! I might be retired by then. David and Sarah smiled their apologies to the man before them who visibly deflated and turned into a very sad man. Neither of them understood the importance of this find, although they were soon destined to do just that.

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Months flew by, with President Lantana Stator working an eighteen-hour day to reshape the government of Mazere into one that represented all of its people, and not just the middle and upper classes. The day came though when she could sit back and smile, the first part of her work was completed, now for phase 2. Phase 2 was about formalising peaceful relations with the people on the planet Phlox and cementing those already agreed, albeit informally, with the people of planet Earth. Earth and Mazere of course, had already exchanged ambassadors and so it would be an easier task than the one regarding the planet Phlox. With this in mind, and unknown to David and Sarah, Lantana decided that her two friends were necessary to ensure the success of phase 2, and so she broached the subject in the grounds of the presidential palace.

David, Sarah, I have told you of my desire to form a federation of our two planets and that of the people of Phlox. To do this I will need your assistance. Lantana stopped for a moment to look at her two friends, and seeing the interest in their eyes she continued.

I am about to inform your ambassador that I am appointing the two of you as my special representatives to the planet Phlox, for my agents on Phlox tell me that we three have taken on the persona of heroes there. We alone are credited with having taken on the previous government of Mazere and beaten it. This was no exaggeration on her part, and Lantana knew she could use this feeling to the advantage of all the peoples of the known galaxy.

David and Sarah stood there stunned by her words, they could hardly be considered diplomats, and Ambassador Kennedy of Earth would have used a much different word to describe them, one with colourful adjectives before it. Lantana smiled as she looked at her friends’ stunned faces and waved their attempts of disbelief away.

I need the two of you, the people of Phlox wouldn’t even speak to any Mazeren diplomats, and in fact they might even be tempted to shoot them. Lantana said partly in jest and partly because it just might be true.

Now listen to me before you refuse, I want you to open negotiations on my behalf with the many governments on the planet Phlox. The first item on your agenda will be to get these governments to agree to the exchange of ambassadors with Earth and Mazere. This alone will take a lot of hard work on your part, especially as Phlox is nowhere near to forming a unified planetary government. In fact, they are even further away than Earth is on this matter. The second item on your agenda is in regard to the forming of a loose federation of planets, of which all would be equal partners. Lantana felt that the security of all the peoples of the three worlds would be best served in this manner. She then added. As my special ambassadors, you would both be paid a fee, one better than you could ever expect to earn carrying cargo aboard your freighter, so you would not lose out, financially.

Please think the matter over, and then let me know if you will agree to go to Phlox as my special representatives.

David and Sarah knew that this task would take very different skills from piloting a starship across the galaxy. It would be hard work dealing with politicians and often be unrewarding, it would also take them many months, and the chances of success would always be in doubt. They tried to ridicule the very idea of them taking on this role but after much talk between them, they began to take the idea seriously. The next thing they did was to discuss the matter with Richard and Patricia Charlton, before they finally agreed to go to Phlox. However, while they were both just a little daunted by what the task entailed, they were proud to be special representatives of President Lantana Stator.

At one time, Ambassador Jules Kennedy of the planet Earth had detested the Charlton clan, but during the last few months, he had made it up with them, and now was almost a friend, almost. When, President Lantana had told him of her decision to honour the two youngest members of the clan in such a way, his first instinct had been to dismiss the idea as absurd. However, on thinking the matter through, he soon realised why President Stator had chosen them as her envoys, and he saw that there was a good chance that they might even succeed. Even so, being inexperienced in political matters meant that there was also a chance that they might fail. On spending a little more time on the idea, he concluded that if they did succeed, then anyone connected with the mission would also succeed, and with this in mind, he called on President Stator with a suggestion.

Madam President, I believe that the success of your diplomatic mission to Phlox stands a better chance of success if I was to accompany it, but only as a special advisor to your two special representatives. They will need someone to steer them through the many political minefields that they are bound to meet during the negotiations.

Lantana thought about the idea for only a moment before agreeing to it, for she also knew that politicians could not be treated as normal people, no they were in truth a race apart. She then smiled, for she saw that on this diplomatic mission there would be more special people than ordinary ones, and from the planet Earth, not Mazere.

Thank you, Ambassador Kennedy, for your suggestion, and yes, I too believe that your inclusion in the mission would be of a great help to us.

Ambassador Kennedy smiled at President Stator, for he saw a real chance of advancement for him, should the mission be a success.

Thank you, Madam President, and I believe that with the three of us going to Phlox as a team, failure is now, not an option.

Lantana returned his smile while striving to hold back her laughter at his pompous words.

"Ambassador, will you also do one more thing for me, will you also extend my felicitations to your own government, and to the