Moltation Page 3

  The pseudo jewellers obtained some bettronium fairly easily, albeit very expensively. They soon discovered the need to keep examples in their supplied lead tubes, then also very soon established the amazing property produced when jeterium and bettronium were brought into close proximity. Further experimentation revealed the astounding protective quality of the body-enveloping force field. However they soon realised this was not of great use to the average person because no one knew when it might be advantageous - and having it in regular use was inconvenient. Thus there was no ready market for the two elements.

  It was a simple step to realise a market existed with people at war. Given their background the jewellers were disinclined to offer their knowledge to the controllers of the British Armed Forces, even though they had no idea that had they done so the Secret Service would have pounced upon them. They looked further afield and soon concluded their best opportunity lay in Africa.

  The Mid-African Republic of Blarthio was embroiled in a long-standing civil war between its two main tribes - the Kretlo and the Zhepani. Oil reserves had been discovered, the majority of which was on Zhepani land. Whilst both tribes enjoyed considerable affluence, the Zhepanis had by far the greater share, so the Kretlos fought long and hard to capture more of their enemy’s land and resources. With greater buying facilities the Zhepanis were able to equip themelves with the most modern weapons and usually managed to repulse attacks with considerable bloodshed. The jewellers decided the Kretlos might well supply their crock of gold.

  Richard Blainey contrived to get an audience with their Chief and demonstrate to his amazement the protection offered by bettronium and jeterium in close proximity. Very rapidly the Chief realised how his warriors could overcome the Zhepani army by ignoring all attacks by conventional weapons because even if they faced shelling men would just be blown over some distance and would be unscathed. Conversely the Kretlos could slaughter with impunity at close quarters. Obviously it would not be long before the whole land would be under their control and the Zhepanis could be consigned to history. The Chief agreed a truly monumental payment for pieces of bettronium and jeterium and the jewellers sought as much of both as they could supply. The firm producing small lead tubes was puzzled but delighted to receive unprecedented demand for their product, as was the producer of bettronium. MI5 was soon alert to this unusual sales activity but did not intervene.

  Although they were modern and up-to-date in most aspects of their lives, including weaponry, nevertheless at first individual Kretlos were highly suspicious of their Chief’s demands that they should sew a small black stone low into one trouser leg and a small lead tube near the top of their combat jackets with an opening so the lid of the tube could be flicked open easily. Then they were instructed to bend forward, at which point the strange but not unpleasant membrane covered their flesh. Before standing up again they had to transfer the open lead tube into another small pocket they had prepared for the purpose close to their trouser belts. Then, they were told, their enemies could not hurt or kill them. Long-forgotten tales of voodoo magic surfaced, but, hesitatingly at first the Chief’s assertion was tested, proved, then enjoyed with great abandon. They delighted in charging groups of Zhepanis, automatic rifles spraying death whilst return fire bullets bounced off them uselessly. Soon swathes of Zhepani land were cleared and the Kretlo army captured numerous highly productive oil wells. Blessed total victory seemed close at last.

  The Zhepani experience was absolutely devastating, but naturally they sought an explanation for the sudden phenomena of invincibility enjoyed by their enemies. The first clues came when they captured a Kretlo soldier who, unusually, was lying winded where he had been flung by a shell explosion. Nearby lay a small lead tube which a Zhepani picked up and was about to throw into a nearby pool when one of his colleagues realised the Kretlo was becoming very agitated. So they quizzed the prostrate figure by the simple method of holding his arm beneath a raised machete. The Kretlo then reluctantly revealed the link between the piece of bettronium wedged in the tube and the jeterium sewn into his trouser leg. As soon as the force field enveloped him he jumped to his feet and was impervious to the swinging machete and bullets fired at him as he fled away to safety, holding the lead tube low to be close enough to the jeterium to keep the force field active. Though the Zhepanis were very puzzled, nevertheless the Kretlo secret was out.

  With their resources and influence the Zhepanis soon found Richard Blainey and his source of supply of jeterium and bettonium. Offered a quite staggering sum for each piece, sufficient to make him and his friends multimillionaires for life, Blainey set about satisfying these new customers. The smallest viable amount of each element had long been established; bettronium production could be increased even further. The snag lay in the amount of jeterium that had been discovered. The Watchers agonised about seeding considerably more, but eventually decided to do so. The jewellers’ delight at discovering a fresh deposit was immense. The production of industrial diamonds received a massive boost as these were snapped up to manufacture diamond wheels for cutting jeterium and the making of lead tubes increased again to the delight of the government, albeit with quietly held suspicions.

  After suffering monumental casualties the Zhepani army gradually gained the same moltation protection as their enemies. When this was complete hostilities petered out. For a time both sides tried to catch opponents off-guard, such as when eating and protection was set aside, but this was soon negated by taking meals surreptitiously. Gradually, therefore, the Zhepani/Kretlo war stopped. When it did each tribe controlled equal shares of the land and oil deposits. The Watchers were delighted.

  Chapter 7

  ‘Mutually Assured Protection’ instead of ‘Mutually Assured Destruction’ - MAP not MAD anymore’, the Zennitians concluded. The small group of Watchers congratulated themselves when they convened quietly and unseen in a small rented cottage somewhere in Europe. Its location they kept secret. They continued to speak English because Richard Blainey and his group had been the protagonists in the affair.

  The details of moltation became common knowledge as the world’s media explained the strange events in Blarthio and the cessation of hostilities after years of conflict. Blainey’s group rapidly disappeared. With their exceptional financial resources they were able to do so extremely well. Jeterium deposits dried up. The many pieces of it, together with the bettronium held by the two Blarthio tribes were carefully guarded, very successfully because no one without moltation protection could attempt to steal them. Nations scoured the earth for jeterium to equip their armies. Occasionally, and amazingly, new deposits were found, so very gradually protection spread widely. It seemed to the Zennitians that the world they monitored would become peaceful at last.

  They were shattered, therefore, when one of their group reported a conversation between the Kretlo Chief and the leading general in his army. These two wondered whether moltation could be overcome by nuclear weapons. Despite not having great knowledge of physics they nevertheless concluded that the molecular excitation would be destroyed. The questions, therefore, were whether small enough weapons could be produced and if so where there would be a source.

  ‘What is it with these people?’ exclaimed the Zennitian. ‘Individually they can be so sympathetic and supportive to one another, yet so many of their leaders are prone to resort to war. When will they all agree never to fight because it is utterly inhuman?’

  ‘Let’s call up our transport and come again in a couple of hundred years,’ said another. Perhaps by then they’ll have worked things out!’

  In the early hours of the night their space ship landed unobtrusively and silently. Very soon they were on their way to their peaceful world of Zennitia, where the inhabitants had long ago learned how to be human.

  Also Available