by J.P Jackson
*
They followed Mesha passed torchlight emanating from the rowdy temple. Villagers socialized outside their huts, picking at scant bowls of fish and boiled barley as they wondered what was transpiring within the temple.
Bull lay on a makeshift straw mattress near the fire, arm wrapped in a clean sling. He was half asleep, then suddenly wide awake when Yellow Jack, the one responsible for his miserable condition, entered his hut. When he saw that Taylor accompanied the alien, he relaxed slightly, but remained apprehensive.
Mesha attended a pot of stew simmering over the fire, periodically glancing toward her husband, as if gauging his feelings toward her guests.
"Jack,” Taylor said, sitting close to Bull. “I need you to translate my words. I want you to tell this man how grateful I am. Tell him I won't forget all he has done for me.”
A solemn-faced Jack remained quiet.
"Jack you tell Bull that his wife and unborn child are safe. Tell them they have a bright future.”
Jack crossed his thin arms. “Ham Taylor you cannot promise that, thus I will not translate it.”
"Look, prick!” Taylor wobbled when he stood. “These people saved my life, sheltered and fed me and I haven't been able to say one word of thanks...”
Dizziness overtook him and he dropped to the floor. Mesha covered her mouth in shock and Bull grimaced, unable to help as Jack assisted Taylor to his feet.
"What happened?” he asked. “Did some cunt push me?”
"It will get worse, Ham Taylor. Much worse. You need to get that parasite out of your head, you could die at any moment.”
Jack set Taylor on the straw next to Bull, and the giant took his hand. Taylor smiled back and waited for the dizziness to abate.
Yellow Jack spoke with Mesha, after which she cordially bowed her head. Jack then moved to the far wall and scratched his finger into the dry clay.
"I was a lead engineer,” he began, using his sharp talon like a pencil, sweeping over the wall.
Jack went at a frenzied pace, detailing every chamber, corridor, and vent in the mothership. “The ship is 5.3 miles long. It has 800 compartments, two engine rooms and one docking bay. Learn this map well Ham Taylor.”
"What powers the engines?”
Jack nodded. "The first is a fusion based propulsion system capable of interstellar travel. The second engine creates a time dilation field that works in tandem with the first. Enough power to take the mothership back to Nido, where Apophis will receive a hero's welcome.”
"Like Caesar returning from Gaul,” Taylor mumbled, regaining his equilibrium. “Only this time Caesar won't make it back to Rome. How do we obtain our shuttle?” he pondered aloud. “I could surrender myself to you Jack? You can personally drag me to interrogation.”
Yellow Jack halted his drawing to snicker.
"Apophis would see through such a charade. I will get you to the ship, Ham Taylor, but I cannot escort you to interrogation. Certain doors on board have security mechanisms that only trusted Pride members can deactivate, that includes all routes to interrogation.”
"Is there a back door? A set of stairs?”
Taylor growled at his ever present migraine while Bull watched Jack, absolutely engrossed to see his dreams of revolution taking shape on his wall. After stirring the pot and tasting her stew, Mesha asked Jack's help to remove it from the fire.
"The only option you have,” Jack continued, lifting the pot; “is a hatch on the ship's underbelly.” He pointed back to the wall. “This is your way inside.”
The hatch was 30 feet from the rear docking ramp, accessible only by a group of hanging metal bars.
Taylor snorted. “Let me get this straight, you want me to swing across monkey bars thousands of feet in the sky, in the freezing cold, then you want me to somehow open a hatch with only one arm? Jack there's at least 17 different ways for me to die here. None of 'em good.”
"Ham Taylor you have said many times in the past that there is always a way. This is our way.”
Taylor grumbled. “Okay. What other miracles do you expect of me?”
"Open the hatch and you will enter the bilges.” Jack turned to the muddy print and used his finger to outline Taylor's precise route. “From there you will find an unmanned path through two tanks which will lead you to the interrogation chamber. Finding the ark I will leave to your good wits.”
"I'll find the ark, but what's in the tanks?”
"Waste,” Jack returned, and Taylor choked.
"Shit tanks? Fuck you!”
"This is where you will plant the baubles. Place them sporadically to avoid discovery. When enough time has passed and when I believe you have succeeded in touching the ark and traversing time, I will detonate the bombs and save your planet. It is imperative,” Jack stressed, “that we destroy the ship before the ark reaches Earth. Otherwise our chances of success are extremely remote.”
Taylor's slow nod turned to a shake of the head. “This sounds...impossible. You think we can pull this off?”
Jack remained ominously quiet while Mesha distributed supper. She filled their bowls then invited the others outside to take their fill. Yellow Jack stirred the weak broth and sparse vegetables. With no interest in the food, and unwilling to frighten every worker who came to eat, he excused himself and went off to take the night air.
When alone in the dark, Jack gazed up at the twinkling stars, his large eyes filled with grief. He focused on Sirius, the brightest star in the sky. Somewhere in it's faraway light was Nido. Destroying the ship would crush any hope Jack had of seeing his home and family again.
Rambunctious cheers from the temple tore Jack from his thoughts. The sound irked him, the greed, the sloth, the corruption. A hot streak ran up his back as he marched between the huts and the torches, fingers clenched as he approached the statues of Apophis and Aquinas.
The smell of spiced lamb insulted his senses. He stormed through the fire lit narrow corridor, entering an open courtyard dedicated to gluttony, depravity, and the God Apophis. The temple was full of priests, who used it to indulge all their perverted passions.
Long pillars framed a sunken pool in the centre of the courtyard, the water was steaming hot and inside the pool, priests bathed themselves or had boys satisfy them around the periphery. Jack stomped his foot cracking the tiled floor. Men stopped bathing, eating or fucking to stare at the incensed Jackanine.
Jack yelled in their ancient tongue, gesticulating between the children, the food and the men's naked bodies. One nearby priest laughed and Jack picked him up and threw him into a stone pillar, breaking the man's back. The priests began to cower and with his whole body shaking, Jack left the temple, taking the children with him.