Sharp teeth
Shug-har had no scruples about placing the poison cartridges into the memory-knot interfaces. Within seconds, the agent would kill millions of the microscopic lifeforms which had accumulated inside these memory knots to form a homogenous organism.
Shug-har didn’t care about what he was doing and what it could mean to the Myzellans and the Myzel. He was solely interested in destroying parts of the Myzel memory to prevent further information exchange with those humanoids.
Let those Myzellans spend another hundred-thousand years replacing the destroyed information, he thought callously.
Shug-har had placed twenty poison cartridges and would discharge them at he same time. He swam fast as an arrow through the ocean, using all his stealth abilities. He enjoyed swimming in this unknown ocean, avoiding the reef cities. He wanted to make sure that the Myzellans didn’t see him. As soon as the fuse timer for the poison cartridges had expired, the affected memory knots died immediately. The internal glow disappeared and large, darkened gaps appeared inside the Myzel’s network. Many more sections died off due to the lack of communication and the exchange of nutrition between memory knots.
Shug-har triumphed inwardly, certain that his attack would cause even more problems for the Myzellan civilization. The Guild would appreciate his work, and no Myzellan would ever find out who had carried out the attack.
Cautiously, he swam toward the planetary lift. Suddenly, he sensed electric fields homing in on him from several directions. His fine senses where overwhelmed within seconds. Shug-har was stunned and tried to shake off the increasing numbness of his electromagnetic senses. No good! He swam faster, trying to avoid leaving current traces behind him. He didn’t want anybody following him, but it didn’t take long until he was again the focal point of intense electromagnetic fields, growing stronger and stronger, all but paralyzing him. He felt panic for the first time in his life. This was the first time on Coip-Pertyl for him, and not knowing the ocean in which he swam perhaps he had been too careless and underwater hunters were after him now.
A slim dark shadow suddenly passed him, causing him to retract his tentacles as an instinctive defense. He formed a ball while his eight eyes looked in all directions. He could, however, not swim very well in this defensive body position; he wasn’t able to flee.
The situation was very dangerous for him. A second shadow approached fast – and passed him. Shug-har’s skin turned red in panic and fear. The attackers were much faster and agile. They possessed an organic, electromagnetic detection system that could find him anywhere! Shug-har tinted the water around him, but he doubted that it would help him in this situation. His hunters didn’t need eyes to find him in the depth of the ocean.
Suddenly, he noticed another shadow, which slowly began to circle around him – now there were three hunters after him. Shug-har cursed for not having brought along a weapon. He had been too confident about his mission. He regretted that he hadn’t informed himself more about the Myzel, because it seemed not to be as defenseless as he had assumed. His hunters might be in direct contact with the Myzel.
The hunters drew their circles closer and closer. Shug-har was confronted with fast and dangerous ocean predators, who watched him with ice-cold eyes.
He now realized that he had to pay for the attack on the Myzel with his life. He resigned himself to his fate. He could not swim away, they had him pinned down. He willed his heartbeat to stop and died within seconds. He never felt the sharp teeth tearing him apart.
Exhaustion
»You have to leave us now,« Gnorrbarrt said regretfully. »The Myzel has caught the assassin and punished him. He came from Lottruun and disturbed the peace of our world, and he has paid the penalty.
»Who was it?« Arkroid asked in depression.
Punished probably means executed! he thought.
»It was Shug-har, the Octavian. We never trusted him, but as a liaison between us and the Guild, he was allowed to enter Lottruun’s wet zones. You should leave Lottruun at once and be very careful. It may be that the Guild is somehow connected to your enemies.«
Suddenly, Arkroid felt heavy and tired. He had difficulty concentrating.
»What’s going on with me?« he asked. »I can hardly keep my eyes open, I’m dead tired!«
»Mental contact with the Myzel causes a state of exhaustion,« Gnorrbarrt remarked. »You will both fall asleep for a while, but I’ll make sure that you are transported to Lottruun.«
Arkroid kept fighting his tiredness, but then he closed his eyes and fell asleep.
A new destination
»Toiber … how are you?«
As he awoke, he looked into Pi’s eyes. Vasina was lying beside him, also awakening.
Lazily, Arkroid straightened.
»Are we back onboard the ship?« he asked.
»That we are,« Pi acknowledged. »The Myzellans literally dropped you off at one of the interview nooks and disappeared again – hope you don’t have any bruises? What happened down there? You were on the moon, right?«
Arkroid looked around but couldn’t see Scorge.
»Where is our Shwakan?«
»In his refuge, readying the ship for lift off,« Pi replied.
»Tell him to hurry up. I think we’ll be having some real bad problems soon.«
As Pi walked over to the comm-device, Arkroid looked at Vasina.
»How do you feel? Is everything okay?« he inquired.
Vasina nodded, a Human custom she’d picked up.
»You came all the way down to Coip-Pertyl to look for me? Why did you do that?«
»You still don’t seem to know us, Vasina. We don’t abandon our friends! I didn’t know that you had a deal with the Myzellans.«
Vasina looked sad.
»I hope the Myzel will get well enough again to be able to repair the dead memory knots,« she said in a tired voice. »It’s a remarkable Intelligence. I’ve never met such a lifeform in my entire life.«
»Coming from you, Vasina, that’s something,« Arkroid remarked dryly.
»What are you trying to say, Arkroid?« she frowned.
»I mean your experience. A million years. What do we Humans know about the universe?«
At that moment Scorge activated the holo displays, and they saw the Yax K’uk’Mo’ leaving Lottruun behind.
»We’re leaving Lottruun,« Scorge announced. »I have received some disturbing scanner echoes, possibly Rexa ships, closing in fast from different directions. We’re still too slow and I might have to risk an emergency start, but by the time they reach us, we’ll be gone.«
»That’s no coincidence, Scorge! Gnorrbarrt warned us. He thinks that the Guild is cooperating with the Dark Brotherhood, maybe even allied!« Arkroid shouted into the room.
»Who said that?« Scorge inquired loudly.
»The Myzellan who interviewed me!« Arkroid shouted back
A moment later, new alarming scanner echoes appeared.
»The Rexas slipped briefly into the tachyon trail and shortened the distance to 500,000 kilometers! We’ll be in their range within seconds – and the Yax K’uk’Mo’ is still too slow!
Arkroid jumped from his seat.
Now it’s getting serious!
Three Rexa ships opened fire at the Yax K’uk’Mo’ at the same time – and missed!
The attack on the Yax K’uk’Mo’ caused panic reactions on other ships docked at Lottruun. Ships flying in a waiting pattern scattered in panic. Space around Coip-Pertyl was suddenly a dangerous, uncontrollable place.
»They’re blatantly disregarding the peace agreements in the free trade zone! The Guild will hunt them down for that!« Scorge raged.
»Don’t you get it, Scorge? The Guild and the pirates are working together!« Arkroid shouted at Scorge.
The Yax K’uk’Mo’s defense shields took the first hits, which pushed the ship from its escape path.
»Using plasma weapons in the moon’s vicinity! If they hit an orbital platform, it’ll turn into a ca
tastrophe!« Scorge screamed and put full power to his drives.
»Switch to the tachyon trail and get us out of here! NOW! Why haven’t you?« Vasina yelled horrified as the ship was hit again by series of plasma salvos.
»We have to escape Coip-Pertyl’s gravitational field first!« Scorge replied loudly.
The holos showed three Rexa destroyers slowly closing in on the Yax K’uk’Mo’.
»We’re not getting out of this alive,« Vasina hissed. »Arkroid, Pi … get closer to me, quick! If the ship explodes then I’ll try to save us all with my defense shield!«
Arkroid looked, eyes wide. He hadn’t realized the situation was that serious.
»Come on, damnit, we only have seconds!« Vasina urged as she positioned her shield.
Suddenly, they heard a triumphant Shwakan battle cry from Scorge while a second pyramid ship entered the battle stage..
»It’s the Pot’Let’Urg! Smorge has just lowered his disguise shield and is approaching from the other side at high speed!«
The appearance of a ship built like the Yax K’uk’Mo’ confounded the Rexas. They didn’t know which ship to attack. That allowed the seconds Scorge needed to gain a safe distance from Coip-Pertyl. Scorge cheered and leaped his ship into the tachyon trail. The Pot’Let’Urg, with Smorge at the helm, did the same and fled the scene.
Arkroid sighed and fell back in his seat. He had had enough of dangerous situations for today.
»We made it!« announced Scorge via the intercom. »Nobody can beat a flying trader!«
»This time you should thank your brother, because without him, your ship would now be an expanding gas cloud,« Pi replied dryly.
»His brother?« Vasina asked amusedly. »He’s got a brother?«
»That slimy sand weasel saved us? Huh!« Scorge raged. »The situation was under control the whole time! Another moment and those damn pirates would have gotten a taste of the Yax K’uk’Mo’s fire power!«
»Rri …ight!« Pi commented mockingly.
Vasina got out of her seat and reached into the left leg pocket of her suit. Relieved, she pulled out her Jamal-Comb and replaced it in her hair. Then she froze … and slowly reached into the right leg pocket on the other side – and pulled out a second, absolutely identical Jamal-Comb!
»Great universe … this is … this is,« she stuttered.
»… the second comb, which was deposited on Coip-Pertyl under Myzellan custody! They gave you the comb in exchange for your services,« Arkroid remarked in a muted voice.
Vasina took both Jamal-Combs and held them before her eyes for a closer look. As soon as the two combs came nearer to each other, they began to emit a light-blue, combined aura around themselves. The closer they came, the stronger the aura.
»They’re reacting!« Vasina whispered fascinated.
»That means that both combs are real?« Pi asked, who hadn’t been convinced that the comb, obtained from the Myzellans, was genuine.
»No doubt!« Vasina acknowledged.
»Did you find out more about the Jamal-Comb from the Myzellans?« Arkroid asked, inspecting both combs.
»Only that they’re very old, older than the Progonaut culture. The Genorantans already knew of them,« Vasina whispered back.
»I’d like to know where the other three combs are … and how they’d react when placed together,« Pi responded mysteriously.
»What are you saying, Pi?« Vasina asked perplexed.
»Well … they’re already reacting to each other … who knows what happens when all of them …,«
Scorge interrupted Pi’s speculations.
»Are there any suggestions where we want to fly next?« he asked.
Arkroid and Vasina answered at the same time with a definite »YES!«
They looked at each other for a moment, Arkroid grinning.
»We received a clue from the Myzellans that we need to follow up on. Vasina can give you the destination coordinates. She understands galactic navigation better than me,« Arkroid replied while Vasina told Scorge the new coordinates. The new destination was now determined.
End
… but the adventure continues.
NEBULAR Collection 3 (Episode 12 - 16)
Morgotradon
Masthead
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NEBULAR Collection 2 - The Expedition: NEBULAR Episodes 6 - 11 Page 39