by Sarah Noffke
Still from their vantage point, Julianna noticed the worm panic. It looked to be trying to retreat back down the hole in which it had come from. However, it was stuck. That was evident. The crystals fell faster, like a hellacious hail storm.
Scream after scream ripped from the worm. It was no longer trying to escape, but rather was lying flat to the cave ground being pummeled repeatedly by sharp crystals. Each time one fell and pierced its tough skin the beast gave a convulsive jolt.
The crystals! Of course, thought Julianna.
Then all at once a cacophony of crystals fell, raining down in the cave room. Julianna covered her face from the splatter of glass and dust, trying as best she could to protect herself.
Are you alive? asked Pip in her head.
I think so, she answered.
What happened?
Can I give you a play-by-play if and when I get out of here?
Sure thing. We’ve handled the pirates. Looks like it is all clear.
Cool. I’ll be out of here when I’m out of here.
Women. We always have to wait for you, said Pip, relief palpable in his voice despite his playfulness.
Julianna raised her head to find the worm punctured several times and lying limp in the middle of the cave room. Green blood oozed from the puncture wounds. Overhead the ceiling looked to be absent of many of the crystals. Instead their remnants were like shards of glass strewn across the ground.
Julianna stood, feeling like her legs needed a moment to adjust. She turned to Fletcher. “Still have that pack for the explosives?” she asked.
He blinked, orienting himself as well. “Yeah,” he said, pulling the pack from his back.
“Good,” said Julianna. “Have your men fill that and anything else you have with crystals and shards. I’m guessing the crates were destroyed. Let’s take what we can. We’re getting the fuck out of here.”
Julianna turned to find Eddie staring around in disbelief. He had specks of blood on his face where the crystals had punctured his skin. “You all right, Edward?” she asked.
He blinked at her, looking a bit confused.
“What? Is everything all right?” she asked, worried he’d been hurt in a place she couldn’t see.
“I’m fine,” he said, shaking his head. “You called me ‘Edward.’”
“Oh.” Julianna blanched. “Right. You ready to head out?”
He surveyed the destroyed cave room with awe. “Yeah, I think we left our mark here. Let’s fill up and get the fuck off this planet.”
Julianna let out a heavy breath. “Agreed.”
Chapter Fourteen
Cargo Bay, QBS ArchAngel, Davida System
“What is this?” asked Hatch, his typical irritation in his voice.
“That,” began Eddie, pointing at the mounds of crystals shards they’d unloaded, “is the aether. You are welcome.”
“That is dust,” complained Hatch.
The injured had already been transported to the sick bay. Thankfully only two of Fletcher’s team were shot, but any amount of injured is too many. Julianna and Eddie had brought the crystals to Hatch straight away, both joking about how insulted he’d be by what they brought back.
“Maybe they’ll be easier to work with in this form,” said Julianna, trying to hide a grin. She couldn’t help it. Not once had they ever charged off and brought back exactly what Hatch wanted or not destroyed something he’d created. It was becoming a practical joke at this point.
“Or maybe it’s lost its power,” said Hatch, puffing up his cheeks. “I’ve never worked with aether like this.”
“We considered looking for another cave to harvest, but there was that whole fear-of-being-eaten-alive-by-a-vermis-rex” explained Eddie.
Hatch waved him off with one of his tentacles. “The worm kings have been extinct on Berosia for centuries.”
Eddie pulled off his boot, laughing as he did. “Oh, is that right? Well, I guess we were hallucinating when we were slimed by the monster.” From his boot a dollop of green slime slipped and fell to the ground.
Julianna had wanted to shower after returning, but knew it was more important to deliver the crystals straight away. Besides they were heavy as hell and Eddie and she were able to make quick work of the transport.
Hatch’s mouth fell open. He looked at Knox who was standing dutifully next to him. “That’s not…?”
Knox, looking like he was on a lost planet, simply shrugged.
“Teach, you better not be messing with me,” said Hatch, looking back at the captain.
“Playing with you about what? Why do you think the crystals are in bits?” asked Eddie, setting down his boot and pulling off his white sock which was green with slime. He went to wring it out. It’s exactly what Julianna had wanted to do to her hair for the last hour, but hadn’t had a spare moment. The slime covered every strand, making her look like she’d elected to use the worst hair gel ever.
Hatch’s eyes widened suddenly. “No!” he yelled and his tentacle shot across the space, grabbing the sock from Eddie.
“Uh…what’s the deal, Doc?” asked Eddie, looking bemused.
“The deal is that you two are covered in one of the most valuable, and thought to be one of the rarest, substances in the entire known galaxy,” said Hatch, stretching his tentacle over to the work station where he deposited the sock into a clear tray. He pulled his tentacle back and wagged it in Eddie’s face. “Do. Not. Move.”
“Uh…why? What are you going to do?” asked Eddie, looking uncomfortable.
Hatch shook his head. “I’m not going to do anything to you. My poor apprentice has that job.” He looked at Knox, a bit of a guiltless smile on his face. “Sorry kid, but that’s the perk of being the boss.”
“Ummm…Hatch,” Julianna began. “What’s going on? This stuff the vermis rex slimed us with is valuable?”
“Incredibly so. I’m going to need to extract as much of it from your clothes and bodies as possible,” said Hatch, his voice growing with excitement. “Even if I just get a small amount then it will still be extremely useful. And then just imagine when you go back and tranquilize the vermis rex.”
“Tranquilize?” asked Eddie, giving Julianna a look that accurately said, “We’re fucking screwed.”
Hatch was too busy retrieving tools from his workstation to notice the look. He handed a scraper tool and vial to Knox, ushering him over to Eddie. “Naturally. I’ll have to develop the tranquilizer so that it doesn’t harm the creature.” Hatch looked up, his eyes overflowing with excitement. “Just think, this is probably the last one in existence, and we know where it is. If we play this right we can have enough…” He trailed away, looking interrupted by a thought.
Slowly Hatch lifted his gaze to look at Eddie, all the excitement gone. “Wait, why are the crystals all broken?”
“See…the thing is…that we didn’t know that vermis rex was an endangered species,” said Eddie, his tone tense, like he was backtracking. Knox had the scrapper and vial and was carefully combing bits of the slime from Eddie’s clothing, making the whole situation tenser.
Hatch thrust a vial and scraper at Julianna, not daring to look at her. She took it and began trying to collect the disgusting slime. “Extinct species, actually, or so we thought. What did you do?”
“We really didn’t have a choice,” said Julianna. “I don’t think we’d have made a different decision even if we had known it was supposedly extinct.”
Hatch seemed to be wrestling with keeping his patience in check. “What did you do?”
“We tried to blow it up,” confessed Eddie.
Hatch’s face brightened. “That’s not as bad as I thought.”
“It’s not?” asked Eddie, holding out his arm for Knox, trying to make his job easier.
“No. I mean, you probably destroyed the last vermis rex alive, but even blown up, we can still harvest its blood,” said Hatch, a new light in his voice.
“Thing is that exploding it didn’t work,”
explained Eddie.
“It didn’t?” asked Hatch, his tone shifting. “Why not?”
“The outer skin is incredibly tough,” said Eddie.
“Yes, the only thing that can penetrate it is the aether crystal…” Hatch trailed away, disappointment covering his face. He looked at Julianna. “How did you kill the vermis rex?”
“The explosion triggered a rainstorm of crystals,” said Julianna, motioning to the crates of shards.
Hatch threw his tentacle to his head. “Of course you did!”
“We can still go back and harvest the disgusting monster,” said Eddie quickly, trying to make amends for their blunder. “I’ll even face down pirates again if it’s that important.”
“It would be worth you facing down all pirates in the galaxy, Teach,” said Hatch. “But the only thing that neutralizes the vermis rex’s blood, rendering its properties useless is the aether crystal.”
“Oops,” said Eddie, looking down with shame.
Julianna tried extra hard to remove the slime, a sudden thought occurring to her. “This slime isn’t dangerous, right? The lieutenant and a couple of his team members are covered in it too.”
Hatch shook his head. “ArchAngel would you—”
“I’m already redirecting the men to you,” said ArchAngel overhead. “I think you’ll find that I’m—”
“Interrupting,” said Hatch, angrily. “And no, Julie, it’s not dangerous to you. Its properties when synthesized are incredible, but not in its purest form.”
“What can it do?” asked Julianna, intrigued. Who would have thought the disgusting goo the monster spit on them would be so useful.
“Well, simply put, it can save a life. It’s a cure for almost all infections, diseases and viruses,” said Hatch, eyeing the vial she held up. It wasn’t even half full. “However, I’m not sure we’ll have enough for even a single dose.”
“We’ll do our best to extract as much as we can,” said Julianna, squeezing her hair into the vial, getting only a drop of slime. It had mostly been absorbed by her strands.
“Yeah, yeah,” said Hatch shuffling off, his shoulders slumped. He turned, a new skepticism on his face. “And where, by the way, is my drone?”
Before Julianna could reply, Eddie chirped. “Jules lost it.”
Chapter Fifteen
Intelligence Center, QBS ArchAngel, Behemoth System
Chester had kicked into high gear, trying to locate Unsurpassed. Searching for a ship inside of several systems was no easy feat…for most. He couldn’t find just any ship, but since they had the blueprints from Deacon Flick for Unsurpassed, he knew one crucial detail. The ship had a trackable navigation system for those who knew where to look. If Felix had an AI supervising the ship then his hack would be detected, but the likelihood of that was close to zero. Felix may be smart and supplied with great technology, but having an AI was rare, especially for someone cast outside of the Federation.
“Are you coming?” Marilla asked from the doorway.
Chester hesitated once before hitting a single button. That single button tethered them to the Unsurpassed navigation system. It might take up to seventy-two hours to lock down a direction on it, but once it did then they’d know exactly where the ship was presently located. The reason for his hesitation was that the tracker came at a price. He’d know exactly where Unsurpassed was and until the system was disconnected, Unsurpassed could find out exactly where QBS ArchAngel was located. That was only a concern if they were detected, though.
Chester let out a heavy breath and plastered a smile on his face. He spun to face Marilla, popping up from his seat. “Yeah, I’m totally ready. Let’s go kick some butt,” he said, striding over to her.
She had a worried look on her face. Truthfully Marilla often looked a little worried, like she was always pondering some of life’s more serious questions. She probably was. However, presently, she looked more concerned about something immediate based on the weight in her eyes.
“Everything all right?” asked Chester, walking beside her, Harley taking the lead.
She wheeled around, halting just in front of him. “You’re crazy to do this. You’re not a soldier and aren’t trained for this sort of thing.”
Chester didn’t need to ask her about what she was referring to. They’d been skirting this topic all week. And here it was finally, out in the open.
“I know. You’re totally right,” said Chester, unable to suppress a proud smile. “I’m probably going to die.”
“Don’t say that,” said Marilla, her voice full of real fear.
“It’s true. I’m sneaking onto an enemy ship and hacking into their database. If they catch me then I’ll be the first one they slaughter,” said Chester, enjoying this too much.
“Then you shouldn’t go. We both know it,” said Marilla.
“No, we both know that I have to go. What do you think I’m going to do? Give the captain a crash course on graduate level hacking real quick?”
“You could direct him remotely. You’ve done it before,” urged Marilla.
Chester shook his head. “This is much too complicated for something like that. I’ve thought this through. I need to be on that ship.”
“There has to be another way though,” said Marilla.
Chester pulled off his glasses, cleaning them with the hem of his shirt. “You know, Mar, I’ve been hunted by deadly pirates. They’ve chased me across a dozen planets. I appreciate your concern, but I’m not a wimp.”
Marilla looked like the breath had just been sucked from her. “I didn’t say you were. I just…”
“Don’t want me to die,” said Chester, completing her sentence. “That isn’t love, but it definitely reeks of your concern for my wellbeing. I’ll take it.”
“Love?” Marilla asked, back up suddenly. “Who said anything about love?”
Chester smiled, putting back on his glasses. “I believe you did, dear Mar.” He strode off, leaving her gaping at his back.
Cargo Bay, QBS ArchAngel, Behemoth System
“Don’t tell the captain, but this form of the crystals makes this all easier,” said Hatch, grunting as he worked on the cloaking belt.
Knox looked up from the project he’d been assigned. “Why should we keep that from the captain?”
“No reason,” said Hatch quickly. Knox was trying so hard to impress him that he hadn’t really loosened up yet and realized that part of the job was ripping into your team. Well, that was part of the fun for Hatch anyway. Everyone had their thing.
“Doctor A’Din Hatcherik would never want the captain to know he hadn’t messed up thoroughly,” supplied Pip overhead.
Hatch looked up, his eyes narrowing. “Why have the AIs on this ship increasingly decided to be a pain in my ass?”
“I think it would be impossible for us to actually do that, Doctor A’Din Hatcherik,” said Pip, sounding amused.
“Fine, let me rephrase. Why do you two keep irritating the hell out of me?” asked Hatch.
“We are only offering our supreme intelligence and insight,” chimed in ArchAngel.
Hatch turned away from the cloaking belt he was working on. He only had one right now, although they needed three and pronto. However, he wasn’t yet comfortable enough with Knox to work in the style that he was used to: with every tentacle acting seamlessly in unison, performing the tasks of half-a-dozen men. He knew it was an alarming sight and didn’t care to share something so personal. He wouldn’t stand to have his apprentice view him as a freak.
“We also supply great entertainment,” said Pip.
“If you’re referring to your knock-knock jokes, then don’t include me,” said ArchAngel.
“You know, ArchAngel is kind of a mouthful to say,” said Pip, mischief in his voice. “Can we rename you?”
“No,” answered ArchAngel at once.
“What do you want to rename her?” asked Hatch, intrigued by any idea that would irritate the AI. It wasn’t that he really liked antagonizing
as that he loved that he had two AIs he could banter with. He’d never tell anyone this, but working with Ghost Squadron was a dream come true at a time in his career when he’d thought he’d forever be stagnant. He worked on the ArchAngel. He had a sample of vermis rex blood. And enough aether crystals to cloak a planet, if he wanted to. Life was good. And it just kept getting better.
“I’m not going to be renamed. The Queen herself named—”
“I found a record of a device on Earth that humans had in their homes which is similar to what we do,” began Pip. “Although not sentient, the computers were meant to assist the humans in day-to-day tasks, making their homes smarter and their lives easier. The device was given a name that would be the least likely to be said by accident so it wouldn’t get confused with other words.”
“There are no issues with my current name,” insisted ArchAngel, sounding increasingly more irritated by the moment.
Hatch snickered to himself, working as he did.
“No, sure there isn’t,” said Pip. “Aren’t-cha able to sleep?”
“I know what you’re trying to do,” said ArchAngel dryly, not impressed.
“We think the problem comes down to arch…aeolgy,” said Pip, taking a beat before adding the last bit.
“Do I need to remind you how simplistic the name Pip is?” asked ArchAngel.
“Go ahead and remind me,” spat Pip. “Tell me all about how my name can be confused with pipes and piper… Oh, wait, it can’t. Different phonetic.”
“I can disable you from ArchAngel, making it so you can’t interface with others,” threatened ArchAngel.
Knox burst out laughing, catching Hatch by surprise. “If she’s making threats then I think you’re getting to her.”
“Knox Gunnerson, you should stay out of this,” said ArchAngel.
“Don’t let her intimidate you, Gunner,” said Pip. “Now, my research shows that having a soft syllable followed by an x is the best combination to avoid confusion. However, we don’t even need to do any testing. Instead we can rename you after the little devices that were in modern homes on Earth.”