When the transport’s hatch opened a man with pale skin and blue black hair exited first. He was hesitant, scanning his surroundings before nodding yes and motioning the others to exit. Another taller, man with the same coloring followed him closely, while two women, a tall one with purple hair appeared to be helping a small, auburn haired one exit last.
I came forward first and motioned for Peter to come with me. I didn't want to frighten them but their tail was closing on us fast. "I'm the captain of the Waylay, Jason Singer; this is my brother who is also our ships doctor, Peter. What is wrong with your friend there?"
"She hasn't been feeling well for the last few days, and she is getting weaker," said the purple woman.
"May I take you to the med suite to run a few tests?" Asked Pete, showing he knew how to talk to a patient and win their trust.
The darker girl went willingly to him, saying, “My name is Bree. Thank you. Can you get space sickness?"
Ell stepped forward saying, “The ship that is in pursuit is hailing us, saying that we have taken on a ship carrying stolen cargo. No mention of slaves."
"I have two options for you folks. I can put you into our vault, or if you are healthy enough we can put you into our cryo lockup. If we get searched I want it to seem like everything is on the up and up. My choice would be the vault; cryo can have some nasty side effects when we pull you out." I explained.
"I would rather be awake for whatever is about to happen," said the taller of the two men.
"Thank you. We understand that you are not a part of this. The vault sounds like the best option," said the shorter man.
"Follow me, this way." Ell motioned. There was a collective intake of breath from the new arrivals at the sight of the center cryo chambers swinging out; the seemingly solid wall behind opening up to reveal the large vault.
"You can contact me with this comm link but please only use it in case of emergency. We will have you out of here as quickly as possible." Ell told the first man.
"Thank you again." He replied.
The Waylay Vault -Day 356- Natasha Hastings
As the door to the vault closed behind us my unease grew. Damian took advantage of the room to pace, while Kendric stood by the door, in concentration.
"What do you sense, Kendric?' I asked, knowing that he must have gotten an impression of our hosts.
Damian's head jerked up and he abruptly stopped, "Why would you ask him that?" He demanded.
"He has the gift of reading people. Mine is sensing the gifts others possess." I replied. “You have heightened senses, stronger than most others of our kind.”
"They are slightly on edge, but it seems to be focused on our safety and the expectation of a confrontation with our pursuer. I didn't read any negative feelings about us.” Kendric said. "I hope to sense something of our pursuer, but I do better when I can see the person."
"And when there aren't distractions?" I asked ruefully. "I'll leave you be then."
"Thank you. I will share any impressions I receive." He said and returned my smile. Damian started pacing again, but more slowly, calmly.
The Waylay Med Suite -Day 356- Bree Reiter
The doctor helped me to the med suite. Since leaving Fell, I had felt odd. At first I just thought it was nervousness due to the unknowns and changes I had experienced in the past week and a half. Living on Fell seemed like a lifetime ago. Damian made me nervous because it was obvious he distrusted me. I was comfortable with Natasha now, for which I was grateful. Then there was Kendric. He was always kind, but I felt like he could see into my very being. I always felt a little giddy when he singled me out to talk. In my nervousness, I had bombarded him with questions, but he didn't seem to mind.
"How long have you felt unwell?" The doctor asked. His name was Peter, I reminded myself.
"I've felt nervous ever since deciding to leave Fell, but in the last few days I have felt like something has completely drained me. My imagination seems to have run wild too. I keep thinking I know things about the others that I can't possibly know." I replied.
Peter had been scanning me, and now looked concerned. "Have you had any contact with Teragene?" He asked.
I immediately thought of what Kendric had said about it causing mutation and disease. "I don't know. How does one get exposed?"
"I doubt Fell has any mines, what ships and worlds have you been on?” He asked.
"Natasha and I stowed away on a Mondragon Industries ship. We got off when they landed on Wyatt, and that is where Damian and Kendric found us. Not a very long list." I said, attempting some levity.
"Mondragon Industries, I think they deal with some Teragene suppliers. Where did you hide onboard? Were there any containers with a symbol of a double circle with a cross running through it?" Peter asked, still looking grave.
"We were in a crawl space, next to the main cargo hold. Yes, there were crates with that symbol… they were strange and looked like rings of DNA." I replied. Was the cargo that the ship was carrying Teragene? I asked myself.
"Crawl spaces aren't generally shielded as well as living quarters are on large cargo haulers and that is the symbol for raw Teragene ore. I’m sorry to say, but you have been exposed to Teragene radiation. Fortunately, it looks like it was at low levels, but how long were you there? ", Peter asked.
"It was about a week." I said, wondering how bad it really was.
Peter nodded, "I should be able to stop the damage, but you may have lingering effects that I can't predict."
He held my gaze, and I knew he was concerned by what those effects could be. "You mean I could mutate." I stated, oddly with a sense of calm.
"I can already see some genetic alterations. But hopefully it will be minor." He replied as he turned to gather items for treatment.
I couldn't help but see the humor of the situation. Natasha said mutations depended on what your DNA is mixed with. "Maybe I'll grow taller, since I was surrounded by tall people." I said as he gave me an injection.
As the sedative took effect, I pictured myself being stretched into a taller version of myself.
The Waylay -Day 356- Jason Singer
As the door closed we could hear one of the men saying, "You have plenty of room to pace in here Damian."
Not long after we got everyone into their places, the pursuing ship hailed us again. "This is your final notice. We have evidence to believe that you are transporting stolen cargo. Allow us to board and inspect your ship, or we will be forced to submit formal charges against you to Fenix."
"This is Jason Singer; exactly what cargo do you assume we are carrying? The only thing stolen on this ship is covered by the warrants I'm under contract with." I hoped this guy realized he was dealing with someone that he couldn’t scare with his threats.
"There was part of my Teragene shipment that went missing and I have tracked the suspected thief all the way from Fell, to Wyatt, and now to your ship."
"We tracked down a short range shuttle that our bounty stole for his escape. I'm sorry to tell you but it had been set on autopilot with only a stowaway on board. It looks like we are both out of luck this time." I informed him.
"I would like to take you at your word, but I would be a fool to do so." The pursuer said.
"I'm willing to give you a look around my ship if that will satisfy you." Once he said he was looking for Teragene I knew he wouldn't give up easily.
"My ship has a dead man’s airlock. It will be the most expedient manner of boarding your ship." I glanced over to Ell. She nodded her head yes, so I assumed that she would be able to insure that his airlock wouldn't blow a giant hole in the side of my ship.
Ell had also taken a reading of the ship earlier, confirming that it belonged to Mondragon Industries. It was heavily armed, which wouldn't prove to be a problem with Ell's abilities. However, being brought up with formal criminal charges with Fenix is something we both would prefer to avoid. Though Ell and I knew the truth about Fenix being corrupt, no more than glorified mercenaries, they
were still generally viewed as the military order and peace keeping force that was originally setup by the leaders on Old Earth. Fenix had peacekeeping oversight of all thirteen colonized sectors of the known universe, and being on their most wanted list wasn't the greatest idea. So if we wanted to keep a low profile as bounty hunters, we would need to get through this ordeal and move on.
"I would appreciate it if you were extremely careful with my ship, but you have nothing to fear from me or my crew. I will meet you at the starboard airlock." I said signing off. "Make sure he can't hurt my baby." I told Ell as I started to make my way to the airlock.
Her patronizing, "Yes, dear." floated after me.
Once the indicator light turned green to show that we had a proper seal I opened the hatch. When I first looked down the transparent airlock tunnel it was to see a tall man with a rifle, with other armed men flanking him. The taller man in the middle sidestepped, yielding to a nobly dressed man. I assumed this new man was about my size when standing up to his full height. He had a thinner build than me. He looked almost soft, as if he was trying to be either nonthreatening or to make a smaller target of himself, by the roll of his shoulder. It made me question if this was the man that I had spoken with over the comm. I decided I would take a step out into the tunnel and get a look at the setup of his dead man’s seal, which the tunnel gave a clear view of. As I turned my back on him I was glad that I could see his reflection if he made a move towards me. I didn't feel like making this any easier for him by being the first one to break the silence. I gave myself plenty of time to inspect the explosives that had been temporarily sealed to the side of my ship. He must have had a monitor on his person to keep the explosives from going off, unless his vitals failed. I was sure Ell could bypass that if need be, for all I knew she already had, but I didn't feel like testing it if I didn't have to. I slowly turned back to him taking in the view of standing in the blackness of space with nothing visible between us and all that black.
"Captain Jason Singer, I presume." He said after I made eye contact with him again. I nodded an affirmative, noticing a slight scar that ran through his eyebrow. "For formalities sake, I'm Neil Allister, Executive Officer and Owner of Mondragon Industries. It's humorous to think that we corresponded about personal matters less than a month ago, and here I am to search your ship. I regret that our first formal introductions were not in different circumstances."
"I'm letting you take a look around. But dead man’s switch or not, you don't want to test me." I warned him. If he was Echo's uncle he should know that we had no need for his Teragene. Neil nodded slightly, with a hint of amusement at my comments.
"Do you have a reader with you to track the source?" I asked. He brought his gloved hands out of his pockets producing a small reader in his left. "Then follow me. I will show you where the ship is and where the stowaway is being treated." I said.
"Treated?" It seemed as if he understood that I wasn't going to give anything extra away, and was adopting the same maneuver.
"She appeared to be ill. Our doctor is treating her now." I informed him.
As Neil passed the explosives at the end of the airlock, he paused then issued a rhetorical question, "A cautious man could be a shrewd one... or a paranoid one, I know which one I am, but I wonder which you truly are...”
I wondered to myself if this pretentious snob would always be so long winded. I almost responded, but told myself that this would all be over sooner if I saved my breath.
As we were walking side by side from the airlock, we turned the corner to where Mark was acting as sentry at the entrance of the docking bay. Mark greeted us with an apt quote to lighten the mood, "When envoys are sent with compliments in their mouths, it is a sign that the enemy wishes for a truce." He followed it up with a warm smile.
Neil stopped in his tracks, turned looking at Mark, "I see that you've read The Art of War, by Sun Tzu." Neil then added, "If your opponent is of choleric temper..." pausing with a hint of a smirk, and then continued “... irritate him." Neil slightly bowed sarcastically towards Mark. I could tell that Mark was biting his tongue, which I was thankful for, even though I knew Mark would have been able to fire back at him with a witty quote. Neil then looked up toward the catwalk above where Mark was standing. Neil appeared to be amused to see that Aria stood guard above. I wasn’t sure if his amusement was from her style of dress or the overabundance of weapons that she was obviously carrying. After a moment Neil turned back towards me, "shall we continue?"
I lead him directly to the transport ship. He picked up some Teragene signatures from it but hardly enough to follow through space. I escorted him from the transport ship past the vault, hidden behind the cryo bay and to the medical suite. His scanner didn't show any spikes, it maintained a constant low level hum.
The Waylay -Day 356- Neil Allister
Having taken several readings of the Waylay's docking area, I was coming close to believing there was no stolen Teragene onboard. Even though I was familiar with the Waylay's Banshee class design, and knew that there were several modifications that could be made to hide cargo, I decided not to press the captain any further on secrets that he could have been concealing deeper in his ship.
As we began to move on towards the medical suite where the stowaway was being 'treated' as Captain Singer put it, I mused to myself about what I had observed thus far of the ship’s crew.
Jason appeared to be a strong man on the exterior, with formal military training. I was perplexed as to why he would have chosen to be a bounty hunter. Was the money just better, did he like to be in control as a captain, or was he running from something? Though he seems to be a man of few words, I hope that with time, and in the right circumstances that I might get to know him better.
Then there were the two guards that we passed on the way to the docking bay. What prompted the shorter stocky man to quote The Art of War? Did he always quote things when he was nervous? Or was he just trying to look smart in front of me? I always found such gestures from similar characters to be amusing and wondered if I would encounter him again. As for the woman on the catwalk above him, what on Old Earth was she wearing? Was she trying to look like a ‘Cog head?’
Just as I had finished my thoughts, we reached the med suite. Captain Singer signaled to his medical officer to come our way. He was attending a girl who was lying down on a treatment table, on her side facing away from us. As the medical officer approached us, I immediately noted his resemblance to the captain; Cousins perhaps? Captain Singer and I quietly ascertained the girl's current state from the medical officer, who was introduced to me as Peter. It seemed that the girl could use a while longer to wake up naturally.
The captain quickly asked me if I would like some refreshments and signaled me to follow him. He didn't seem too eager for my visit to the med suite to take any longer than necessary.
After following the captain down the hall, we entered a lift. After ascending a level, we stepped out of the lift into a Y-shaped hallway. I was surprised to see an ornate cage door at the intersection of the hall, which must have been fall protection for the open shaft, with a pole running through the middle of it. That was definitely not a standard modification.
We reached a quaint room that looked to be redecorated as a library. Standing there was a woman, she was on the shorter side, but had obvious curves hidden under the plain clothes she was wearing. Oddly, she had put blue highlights into her dark curls… no respectable woman back on Fell would make herself look more like a Hybrid; but it did make her blue eyes look striking.
Jason offered me a seat, but I declined. Then he asked if I preferred ale or wine, both selections recently acquired from New Ireland. I chose the wine. Captain Singer followed with what I assumed was his usual brevity "I'll be right back with it." The Captain gave the woman a look as though they had just exchanged a shared understanding, and then left the room.
After a long silence, similar to the one that I was so graciously greeted with in the airlock, I forma
lly introduced myself to the lady; just as before I listed my name, rank, and holdings.
Her only response was, "I'm Ell" with a slightly raised eyebrow.
The lack of propriety on this bounty ship did not surprise me, but upon learning the woman's identity, I had expected at least a degree more of respect from her. I choose to overlook this, assuming it had been her upbringing or the association of this crew that she was now with.
I responded with a bow, "So you are Echo's aunt, and thus my distant relation through marriage." She confirmed with a nod and I continued, "Tell me, did you know my sister Lydia personally or for long, before her passing?"
Ell again briefly responded, "I lived with Lydia and my brother William for the first year of their marriage."
Just as I was about to inquire what kind of mother Lydia had been, Captain Singer returned with wine, glasses, and a covered dish. After pouring the drinks, he handed me a glass in an indelicate fashion. I breathed in the aroma, sipped it, and noted the vintage and year and said, "My compliments to the kitchen." I looked at both Ell and the captain, continuing to try to make conversation "How do both of you know each other?"
"We are from the same planet and have been married for five years," was the captain’s short reply.
Once he had finished his oh so enlightening explanation, the captain turned towards the dish saying, "Our cook Gabriel has prepared one of his specialties."
For a moment I was intrigued and believed that the crew which had been on edge and standoffish, were actually showing signs of warming towards me. Jason quickly lifted the cover and the smell of the dish filled the room. I maintained my composure but felt repulsed and insulted all at once. The captain responded with an appreciative smile "This is crab cake hush puppies, one of Gabe's favorites from home."
Alpha Dawn: Book one of the Teragene Chronicles Page 15