by T. R. Harris
Of the three revolutionary advances the ship offered—jump-drive, laser beam weaponry and super-torpedoes—two had already given them problems and one had limited utility. That was to be expected of a prototype. But since the team was relying on working systems and weapons to achieve their mission objectives, they were keeping their fingers crossed that nothing else broke down or burned up.
Juir was twenty-four thousand light-years away. At a more conservative two light-year jump distance and two minutes of recharge time between jumps, the Vengeance could make it there in just under seventeen days—which was phenomenal in its own right. Even so, they couldn’t get there before the ship carrying Arieel and Sherri arrived. What would they do then, sit around playing poker with the friendly, seven-foot-tall natives?
No, that wasn’t in the cards. They had four months to work their way to the capital of the Expansion, and if the Vengeance could be made to work the way it was designed, Adam and his men could create a heluva lot of chaos along the way. The so-called scorched earth campaign. At least then, even if they failed to rescue the women, they’d have something to show for their effort.
Riyad was in the pilot seat when they neared the Incus star system. It was way the hell out in the middle of nowhere, not only at the far side of the Kidis Frontier, but out toward the end of the minor galactic arm.
This had better be worth it, Adam thought as he watched huge planets of swirling gas slowly slip by. Then he shrugged. What choice did they have? Without the laser weapon working, they were just one small ship with limited firepower—after the torpedoes were spent. And that wouldn’t get them halfway across the Frontier, let alone all the way to Juir.
“As suspected, I’m picking up the signatures of at least a dozen Juirean warships in orbit. There’s another eight under drive, some coming, some going, and this isn’t counting what’s on the surface.”
“Thank you Mister Tarazi for that very informative report,” said Adam. He stood behind his friend, letting his legs stretch for a moment before assuming the co-pilot seat. Riyad was every bit the pilot Adam was, and although it was hard to give up control, he would let Riyad perform the magic tricks this time around, if it came down to a mad scramble for survival. A person could only play the hero so long before needing a break.
“Any challenges, yet?” Adam asked Sergeant Morgan. The young man had set up a separate comm station along the rear bulkhead, going so far as to bolt a seat to the deck—with a harness. He wasn’t anxious for a repeat of his last bumper-car-ride. The bruises hadn’t even begun to heal.
“Nothing, sir. There’s a lot of traffic around the planet. Seems to be the happening place. That’ll play to our advantage. Also the fact that it’s so far from the Union. Hopefully they won’t be expecting us.”
“And the Vengeance won’t show up on any of their surveys,” Riyad added.
The tiny metal orb known as Pogo was now on the bridge, sitting on top of the pilot monitor and blocking Riyad’s view of the forward screen. “Do you mind, Pogo. I can’t see.”
The globe faded away and reappeared on the nav console where Tom Paulson sat. He leaned back in his chair. “Damn, that’s so cool when he does that,” he said. “Like something out of Star Trek. Beam me up, Scotty.”
“Yeah, too bad we can’t adapt that technology to star travel,” Morgan added.
“I can only teleport one hundred feet at a time, and it takes incredible energy to do so.”
“Do you think teleportation is something possible for Humans, if we had enough power?” Adam asked.
“It’s been tried before, and by beings much smarter than you. Living organisms cannot survive the process. My parts can simply be reassembled and they work fine. It’s not the same with cells, neurons and the like.”
“I hate to rain on this parade, but we’re going to have to do our business here the old fashion way, by landing on the planet and going out in public,” said Riyad. “Any idea how we’re going to pull that off?”
Adam nodded to Travis, who stood up and unfolded a long white cloth. “I made this out of a bedsheet.” He placed it over his head and tied a small cord around his neck. “I call it a burqa-for-men.” The garment covered his body from head to toe, all except for a narrow slot left open for his nose and eyes. There were slits on the sides for their arms.
“It looks more like a KKK robe than a burqa,” said Tom Paulson.
Adam snickered. “It does, doesn’t it? Hopefully none of the natives will make the association. With so many new aliens roaming the streets, I’m hoping no one will question the outfit, believing it to be some weird religious garb. Travis sewed up the edges of the opening so it wouldn’t look like he simply cut a couple of eyeholes in a sheet.”
“Which I did.”
“Hey, we’ve all been on too many alien worlds to count to know that alien clothing comes in wondrous varieties. I’m sure we’ll be able to get by wearing these things,” said Adam. “Besides, they’ll conceal a lot of armament. Now Pogo, why don’t you tell the rest of the team where we’re going?”
With mental access to the computer, the ancient device sent a graphic of the planet Incus to the forward screen. “The planet reminds me a lot of your Earth,” he began. “There are huge land masses broken up by vast seas. The native population is over eight billion, with thousands of settlements—cities. I was kept in one called Eniss, which is located here.” A red circle appeared on the map and the image zoomed in. “It’s in the northern hemisphere and is where the main weapons facilities are located.”
“Weapons?” Travis said. “They make weapons here?”
“Yes,” Pogo confirmed. “That is why I came to be found. The natives have been trying to compete with the Maris-Kliss and Xan-fi companies. Yet since they lack the raw materials to produce enough devices to meet the demand, they have gone off-planet searching for such. It was during one of these mining operation that I was found embedded in an ancient fragment of the Aris homeworld—the beings who created me. The Incus currently have the largest economy in the Frontier, yet it’s very small compared to the major worlds of the Expansion. They hoped to change that by learning the secrets of my power-accumulating abilities to power a new line of portable energy weapons. They were unsuccessful.”
“That looks like a really big city,” Tom pointed out. “I assume its serviced by several spaceports. Once we land, where do we go?”
“The scientific laboratories where I was held and studied are located here.” The image zoomed in and moved to the west. “This is the main research facility for the Incus government. Unlike the other two major weapons manufacturers in the galaxy, this one is solely government-owned.”
“And what about the laser circuits?” Paulson asked. “I’m assuming they have the facilities to make what we need in the complex?”
“That’s correct.”
“So what’s the plan, sir,” Travis asked Adam.
“Pogo suggests we show up at the gates offering to return him to the Incus. They’ll be so excited that they won’t question who we are, just that we returned their precious little energy-maker to them. Once inside, he’ll teleport to a building where the boards can be made. At that point we’ll see if he can do it himself, through computer manipulation, or if we’ll need to draft some local talent for the job.”
“By drafting I assume you mean the twisting of alien arms?” Riyad said, a gleam in his eyes.
“Don’t worry, buddy. If it comes down to that, I’ll let you do the honors.”
“Gee, thanks, daddy.”
“On a serious note,” Adam began. “The Incus are sophisticated enough to use visual communications and remote sensing, so when the time comes to be cleared for landing, be sure you’re wearing your KKK outfits. Now everyone get ready. We’re about an hour out, and once we land, I want to spend the time necessary to get the job done. No sightseeing excursions or unnecessary fraternizing with the locals.”
“That depends on how hot the natives are, now doesn’t it
, Mister Cain?” said Travis.
“Maybe to a young stud like you,” Adam replied. “Ah, to be twenty-six again.”
“I’m twenty-seven, sir.”
“Well then…never mind. You’re over-the-hill.”
11
The Vengeance was about to land on a planet over eight thousand light-years from Earth and swarming with seven-foot-tall aliens sworn to kill every Human they encountered. Yet still the ship’s bridge was filled with the sound of riotous laughter.
It was obvious they simply had sheets draped over them, much like a child’s first Halloween ghost costume, before discovering they could guilt their parents into spending money on future outfits—if they truly loved them. Now the men couldn’t look at each other without bursting into hysterics. They looked silly, but hopefully silly enough to make it past inquiring alien eyes.
When the control authority eventually made contact, Adam took the lead during the link, believing himself to be the most mature of the group. The fact that the Incus had faces resembling Shar-Pei dogs didn’t help. When both Travis and Riyad let loose with involuntary snickers, the serious-looking alien questioned the sound.
“It is a prayer, recited in our ancient tongue.”
“The translation is unavailable,” said the creature on the screen.
“Yes, that is because the language of our gods is spoken only for blessings.” Adam let loose with a loud cackle as a demonstration. “I have just blessed you and your offspring, hoping for health and prosperity.”
The native blinked several times before responding; he cackled back. “I hope I pronounced it correctly. I wished to return the blessing.”
“You did well. You honor us.”
More laughter came from behind Adam.
“Please convey to your crew my thanks for their blessings, as well.”
“I shall. Now may we land?”
“Of course. Eniss Field Number Three, northwest side, as you requested. Landing beacons will be transmitted. Enjoy your stay on Incus.”
“May the gods bring good fortune to you and yours. Farewell.”
Adam couldn’t break the link fast enough.
“Dammit, what are you guys trying to do, get us all killed?”
“Forgive us, oh Great Maharishi,” Riyad said from the co-pilot seat.
“Prepare for landing,” Adam barked. “Riyad, take over. And by the way, smartass, I got your Great Maharishi right here!”
The team had melted down several of the gold items from Panur’s palace and now carried small stacks of ingots of the precious metal, which they hoped would have value on the planet. Since none of them had any Juirean credits, they hoped to exchange some of the ingots for transport to their destination—which Pogo said was the main research facility of what translated to Advanced Plasma Objects, or APO.
The atmosphere of Incus was tolerable without facemasks, and the surface gravity was about point-eight of Earth, just slightly above Juirean-Standard.
The Humans would deploy in two teams, with Adam and Riyad taking Pogo to Applied Plasma Objects while Paulson and Travis followed in another transport and took up defensive positions outside the facility, as backup in case something went wrong. They were linked with throat mics and ear-speakers, hidden under the white-sheet disguises they wore.
Emerging from the Vengeance into the warm starshine of Incus, the prospect of something going wrong suddenly doubled, if not trebled. There were Juireans everywhere.
The spaceport was huge; it had to be to support Eniss’s population of over four million, and this was just one of five such facilities placed at strategic locations surrounding the city. There were dozens of Juirean-style craft in port, some designed for war, others for commerce. During the brief walk to a bank of moving sidewalks leading to the ground transports, Adam spotted several Juirean Guards among the crowd, as well as hundreds of Tech-Class mane-heads, their hair yellow-tinted and tied into long pony-tails dangling down their backs.
Being the most-technologically advanced society in the Frontier, the Juireans found Incus more to their liking, closer to Juir than the other worlds in the Kidis arm. As they walked across the tarmac, Adam was already identifying targets for the time they got the laser weapon operational again. If they were successful, he couldn’t leave this many prime targets just sitting here. That was not what a scorched earth campaign was all about.
The other thing that caught the team’s attention were the natives. As the transmission with the landing pilot had revealed, they did indeed have faces resembling Shar-Pei dogs. But what the Humans hadn’t realized was the rest of their body was shaped like a huge yellow worm, making them some of the strangest looking aliens Adam had ever seen.
For locomotion, the Incus used thick legs at the lower part of the s-shaped body to scurry about, a comical type of balancing act considering their odd shape. They appeared to always be trying to keep from falling over. The remainder of the body curved over the center point and rose up along a five-foot long torso from which two stubby arms projected. Above the main torso was a wrinkled neck and the sad-looking dog-face. They wore clothing of a simple design, since from what Adam could see their body-type didn’t vary much, only by size, depending upon age; however females were distinguished from the males by a series of bumps in the clothing and running along the main torso, ostensibly concealing teats.
He thought of the comment Travis Morgan had made concerning fraternization with the locals. There was probably nothing to worry about from the young, hormone-raging Human, at least not here on Incus. He pitied the poor man if he ever traveled to Formil, where the extremely voluptuous and sensual Arieel Bol was considered average.
But Adam’s main focus was on the Juireans. He wondered how entrenched they’d become in Incus affairs?
At the public transport vehicles, Adam produced an ingot of gold and got a positive response—in fact more than positive. He handed the slab of metal to the driver, regretting they hadn’t made the bars a little smaller. He got the impression the Incus native would now be their friend for life, knowing the aliens were this generous when negotiating for a simple drive into town.
Travis and Paulson followed in a second vehicle.
12
Advanced Plasma Objects was a huge complex, comprised of dozens of buildings surrounded by a high security wall. The cab let Adam and Riyad off at the front gate, where the driver insisted on waiting for their return, even if it took all day.
At the security shack, Adam tensed. Two Juirean Guards were seated at the back of the room, a set of small white cubes being tossed on the table between them. They didn’t look up when the pair of creatures in white sheets approached the window.
Adam and Riyad had their tactical gear and weapons hidden under the sheets, while Adam carried Pogo in a pouch on his utility belt.
“Forgive us, we are seeking the attention of Dacus Zoffis,” Adam said, repeating the name Pogo had given him. He had been the main research scientist trying to unlock the secrets of the orb’s energy capturing panels.
The Incus guards frowned—or what Adam took as frowns considering the already wrinkled faces of the aliens. “Is Zoffis expecting you? Walk-up visitors are not allowed.”
Continuing with his religious-like speak, Adam said: “We are here to return an item he lost, an item of incredible importance.”
He grimaced as the Juireans looked up from their game. An item of incredible importance had piqued their curiosity.
“What is this item?” asked the native guard. The Juireans stepped up to the window.
“It would not be of significance to you, yet it will be to Dacus Zoffis.”
“To justify contact, I will have to know what to tell him.”
“It is an orb of ancient origin.”
The guard continued to frown—maybe. “That does not sound like something that would interest our lead technician.”
“He will know the meaning. He will also be terribly upset to learn we were not able to gain entrance.�
��
“Who are you?”
“We are members of a religious sect tasked with the preservation of the ancient orb. We are the Guardians of the Galaxy.”
Adam looked at Riyad, and through the narrow slit in the sheet, saw his eyes narrow.
“We demand to see this object,” said one of the Juireans.
Through a side slit in the sheet, Adam revealed his right arm with Pogo held in his hand.
“What is it?” asked the Juirean.
“As said, it is an object of ancient design, which has significance to the researchers working here. A simple link to Dacus Zoffis will confirm this.”
The native guard looked to the Juirean. This was not good; he was asking for permission. Somewhere within the vast complex, Pogo had to manufacture several intricate electrical circuit boards. Success or failure would depend on how locked-down the facilities were by the Juireans.
“Call the researcher,” said the Juirean. “I am curious to learn of his reaction.”
As the link was made, the face of the native changed abruptly. His previously wrinkled skin now stretched out in shock; Adam could hear a voice coming through the guard’s earpiece, although it was too garbled for a translation. The native guard muttered several acknowledgements before cutting the link.
“Zoffis will be here immediately,’ he said. He turned to Juireans. “Zoffis said we are not to let these beings leave.”
The mane-heads took this to mean Adam and Riyad should be restrained and prevented from leaving. They rushed through the doorway, drawing flash weapons. The Humans raised their hands.
“Calm down; we’re not trying to leave,” Adam announced, lapsing momentarily back into Human-speak. Catching himself, he continued. “We have come voluntarily to return the sacred object.” Then under his breath, he whispered into his comm, “Stand-down.”
There was a tall communication tower along the wall of the compound where the second team had taken up residency. Travis would have a scope on them—or more preciously—on the Juireans, ready to take them out if the situation escalated.