Bill leaned forward and rested his elbows on the knees of his tube suit. “Hard to say. He breathes regularly. The eyelids that cover those two compound eyes have not opened. And his limbs have not moved or jerked. Course it could be pretending.”
Jane nodded thoughtfully, then stared intently at the reclining cockroach. “Star Traveler, is the ship master awake yet?”
“Crèche Master Diligent Taskmaster has been awake and aware for the last two minutes,” the AI said with a low hum. “I now recognize him as the primary bioform in command of this ship.”
“Yes!” Diligent barked suddenly, his eyelids opening and the two brown antennae whipping forward. “Device, obey Command Sequence—”
Bill stuffed a handkerchief in between the mouth palps of the critter, silencing it. “Nasty ship captain. Diligent, I warned you I would escape, capture you and capture your ship. We have done all that. If you wish to live, cooperate with us!”
The black compound eyes moved from Bill to Jane, then back to him. The shirt-bound upper and middle arm pairs lifted from its belly. Rasping that sounded angry came from below the rag stuffing. Jane leaned forward, raised a hand and shook one finger negatively at the struggling critter. “We will allow you to speak, so long as you do not try to issue any commands. We need to discuss your future with you. Or do you wish to be put inside one of the containment cells?”
Diligent stopped struggling to release his arms from bondage. His belt-bound legs lowered to the stick nest rim. The angry rasping stopped. His head inclined forward in what Bill thought was agreement. He looked to Jane. “Captain?”
“Take out the kerchief,” she said, her tone command sharp. “But be ready to stuff it back in.”
Bill reached out, grabbed an end of the green fatigue kerchief, and pulled. “Obey her. Or be stuffed again and delivered to my old cell!”
Diligent glanced at him. The critter’s two brown antennae leaned forward, then back. He moved his gaze to Jane. “I speak. Release me and I will allow you two Humans to leave in an exit craft.”
Jane sat back on the bench and chuckled. “Amusing you are, my arthropod friend. You misunderstand your situation.”
The reddish-brown mouth palps moved quickly. “You cannot kill me! The Device will not allow it!”
Jane nodded slowly. “We know that. Which is why we used the red beam on you. So we could share with you information you refuse to hear. Which is what we told Star Traveler. Who is much more than a simple device!” She gestured at Bill. “My fellow human has a strong desire to stuff you inside one of your ‘guest’ cells in the Containment Unit Chamber. Let you have a taste of the captivity you visited on 18 other people from ten worlds. Do you wish that?”
“No,” Diligent said, his voice rasping as mouth palps rubbed against each other.
“Good.” She crossed arms over the fabric of the green jumpsuit she had changed into after her shower in her own habitat room. “We could put you in a room with the other sixteen captives and see how you are treated by them, once they learn you are the one who spoke to them in their cells. Would you prefer that?”
“No!” the cockroach rasped loudly.
Jane gave the ship captain a shake of a finger. “Be calm. Make no threats. Cooperate. And you will live to spend time with your fellow Collector buddies.”
“What cooperation do you seek?” Diligent said with a rasping of its mouth palps.
“I want you to transfer ship master status to me, verbally, in the presence of Star Traveler. Who is hearing our conversation even as we talk,” she said calmly.
The arms and legs of Diligent lifted up as if it wanted to jump out of the nest. Bill leaned forward and gripped the Alien’s hard shoulder. He pressed down. “Be calm, or be jailed.”
The Alien’s black eyes left him and fixed on Jane. “Why should I do what you demand? Device knows me as ship master. It obeys my commands, except for what violates those accursed emergency protocols!”
Jane sat back, her posture upright, her slim hands resting on her knees. It was the manner of an officer in command. “Why? Because you face two life pathways.” She held up one finger. “Refuse to transfer command and we will put you in a cell with your grizzly bear crewman, unconscious again, then we will take this ship into a passby of the fourth planet’s Market world moon. We will eject your cell on that passby and broadcast to everyone on the Market world who you are, how we captured you, how incompetent you are as a ship master and invite any Buyer to launch to orbit and take you as a captive! Tell me, are you willing to spend the rest of your life working in a Nokten crystal mine on some obscure asteroid?”
Low rasping came from the giant cockroach. Black compound eyes looked Bill’s way, then back to Jane. Who sat at the feet of the hard-shelled critter. “If I cooperate and transfer command, what happens then?”
Jane leaned forward and fixed dark brown eyes on the tethered Alien. She held up a second finger. “If you transfer ship master status to me, and it is accepted by Star Traveler, why, then we will put you and your four crew people on board one of the transport craft in the exit chamber, then eject your ship just after we enter the Market world star system.” She glanced down at the digital watch she’d worn ever since Bill had freed her. “We arrive in two hours. Once in the transport you and your crew can head for the Market world, and arrive there free to tell some wild story about how you lost your ship. You will no doubt share your ship master credentials with other Collector ships and seek employment. You will be in command of your future. You will have a reputation that is intact and not blemished by your sad misjudgment in capturing two humans. Who figured out how to defeat your crew and take your ship away from you.”
The giant cockroach shifted in its stick nest, moving from side to side. Air whooshed in and out of the dozen air spiracles that dotted its abdomen. Brown antennae whisked back and forth. Clearly it was struggling with the choice offered by Jane.
Bill cracked his knuckles. “Frankly, I hope you refuse. I’d love to put you in my old cell and then eject you into orbit above the Market world for capture by some Buyer. Try being a slave instead of this fake ‘guest’ crap you told your ship computer!”
A low hum sounded. “Bioforms Jane Yamaguchi and Bill MacCarthy, when I joined this ship I was told the bioforms who were picked up by collector pods and put into containment modules were guests. People who chose to visit the stars. Was this statement flawed?”
Jane gave Bill a warning glance even as she gestured with a palm for Diligent to not speak. “Star Traveler, you were lied to by ship master Diligent,” she answered. “The bioforms collected by this ship were sold as slaves to other bioform Buyers. A slave is a status where a bioform has no choice in how to live their life. For a self-aware device like yourself, it would be equal to selling your memory components to some industrial concern for use in manufacturing things. With no interest in your wishes.”
“Disturbing this is,” the AI said after a long hum. “A lie is a non-factual statement?”
“Correct,” Jane said. “Bill and I have done our best to always tell you factual things. We were knocked unconscious by a collector pod, collected, brought to this ship against our will, and now we seek to reclaim our personal freedom of choice. To live our lives as we choose to live them. Hopefully with your help.”
A low hum sounded. “Assisting in the capture and sale of slaves is not what I was told was the purpose of this starship when I replaced a mind damaged by cosmic rays.” Another hum sounded. “I will no longer assist the ship master and crew in capturing bioforms from other worlds. However, my programming still requires me to obey the normal orders of the ship master.”
Jane looked to Diligent. “What’s your choice? Be a captive open to capture by any Market world Buyer? Or transfer status to me and choose your future life pathway?”
“Your second option is my choice,” Diligent rasped harshly. “Release me from these bindings and I will make the transfer.”
Jane lifted an eyebrow,
then nodded to Bill. “Let him loose. But keep him covered with that taser tube you have.”
Bill lifted the white tube taser that had sat in his lap ever since he’d entered the habitat chamber. Holding it with his left hand, he leaned forward and undid the knot in the green t-shirt that bound the critter’s four arms together.
“Yes!” it gasped as it sat up with the help of now mobile hands and arms. “My legs! Unbind my legs!”
Handing his taser tube to Jane, who wore her backpack with her own taser and laser tubes sticking up from behind her back, Bill stood up, stepped to the end of the stick nest, unlatched his belt buckle and stood back. “Move slowly!” he told the giant cockroach.
In moments Diligent had shifted his two thorny legs to the edge of the nest bench and stood up, two brown antennae fluttering above his head. He looked to Bill, then back to Jane. Who held the white taser tube at the ready. “Device . . . ,” Jane leaned forward. “Device, I choose to transfer ship master status to bioform Jane Yamaguchi, in compliance with Section Twelve of Ship Operations Manual.”
A low hum came. “Is this status transfer immediately effective?”
“Yes!” Diligent rasped. “Make the status transfer at this moment, now, immediately!”
Jane’s expression showed relief. Then determination. “Star Traveler, do you accept the transfer of ship master status to me? With Crèche Master Diligent Taskmaster reverting to crew status?”
“I do,” the AI said. A low hum echoed through the room. “What status do you assign to bioform Bill MacCarthy?”
Jane gave him a quick grin. “Make his status senior ship crew. His orders are to be superior to any orders given by any other crewmember.”
“Understood. Crew and ship master changes now recorded in Library datafiles. Welcome to command, ship master Jane Yamaguchi,” the AI said in a matter of fact tone.
The cockroach stepped toward the computer work station. Bill grabbed his left upper arm, looped his belt over it and cinched it tight. “Just so you can’t run off and disappear somewhere on this ship,” he said as the critter’s black eyes fixed on him.
Jane handed Bill his white taser tube. “Crewmember Diligent Taskmaster, what do you seek at that work station?” she said, her tone imperative.
The cockroach gestured with a middle arm and spiny fingers. “My work harness. It contains simple tools and the crystal with my ship history. I need it in order to gain another Collector ship position!”
Jane scanned the desk. On top of it lay a harness with several carry bags hanging from it. “Pick up your harness. But empty the contents of every bag onto the table top.”
Bill allowed the critter to move to the work station table. It grabbed the harness with its two lower arms, tilted it and opened each bag. Tiny tech tools fell out of three bags. A shiny purple crystal that resembled amethyst fell out of the fourth bag.
“My work history,” Diligent said, pointing at the crystal. “May I put on my harness and restock my possessions?”
Bill had a feeling he could not describe. It felt like the intuition he sometimes had before a battle or a surreptitious entry into an enemy stronghold. It told him the cockroach was lying about the crystal. He pulled back on the belt, moving Diligent out of reach of the bag contents.
“Star Traveler,” he called over his suit comlink. “What are the functions of the items lying on top of the work station table in this room?”
A loud hum sounded. “The nine small metallic items are a mixture of data memory sticks and microelectronic manipulating devices. The crystal is the ship’s Nokten navigation crystal.”
Damn! “Is that the only Nokten crystal on this ship?”
“It is,” the AI said.
Bill looked to Jane. Whose expression was furious. “Star Traveler, once we exit the Alcubierre space-time, could you travel to another star without that crystal?” she asked.
“Unlikely. Such crystals are vital to travel to specific space-time coordinates,” the ship mind said. “This ship could enter alternate space-time, but the point of our arrival would be uncertain. Beyond arriving somewhere in the direction the ship was pointed upon Alcubierre drive activation.”
She stepped forward, grabbed the purple crystal, stuffed it in one of her jumpsuit pockets and faced the hard shell body of Diligent. “You lied! Lie again and you will be put in a containment cell and offered for sale to a Buyer!”
Diligent’s two brown antennae flared backward. “No! I will tell you the truth until we leave this vessel! Take me to the transport ship. I need to activate its navigation module and prepare it for transit to the Market world.”
Jane gestured to Bill. “Keep that leash on him until you load him into that transport. If you see him trying to leave the transport, shoot him with the taser! We can let the other crewmembers drive that ship.”
He gave her a sharp nod. “Yes Captain!” He pulled on the belt noose, pulling Diligent toward the room’s exit door.
“Wait!” he rasped. “The devices on the desktop! I need them. One of them contains my ship command history and training credentials.”
Jane frowned. “Star traveler, is what Diligent says correct? Are those items on the table and the harness strap just tools and a record device?”
“They are,” the AI said.
She nodded to Bill. “Let him grab that stuff. Then take him to the transport ship. I’ll join you in a minute. We can both escort the other four crew people to the ship from their containment cells.”
“Grab your stuff,” Bill said, giving the leather belt some slack so the walking cockroach could reach the harness items.
In seconds the former master of the ship had gathered up his tools and record stick, put them in harness bags, and then pulled the harness over its head to hang from the shoulder opposite the upper arm he had snagged with his belt. The critter turned black eyes on him. “Ready to move to transport ship.”
Bill jerked the belt loop toward the exit door, then followed after the giant cockroach, his taser tube held in his other hand and pointed at the hard chiten back of Diligent. “Move slowly. Say nothing to the ship computer. Or I’ll give you another red beam zap!”
“I will comply!” the Alien said, his voice tone sounding defeated.
Jane watched them exit the room. “I’ll be with you shortly. Uh, when you access the transport craft, board it and make sure there are no weapons anywhere on board. Including any of the round ball explosives!”
Damn. He’d not thought of that. Just of getting the cockroach back to the hangar with its three transport craft, picking one of them, and forcing the Alien to enter it. Once again he appreciated the perspective and insight of his ally. Who was now his team commander. Like old times. With a smile, Bill followed the Alien into the hallway, turned left and headed for the Transport Exit Chamber. The interrogation of Diligent made him realize now was not the time to release the other captives and see if any of them were willing to serve as crew. Instead, after he and Jane had loaded up the transport with the other crew people, he would follow her back to the Command Bridge and take position there. Maybe there would be a ship weapons control pillar. He had no clue what would happen upon their arrival at the star system. But he knew from past work on the SEAL team that you prepared for the worst and made sure you were ready for all contingencies.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Bill and Jane sat at their respective function stations in the minutes before the ship left Alcubierre space-time and re-entered normal space. They both wore tube suits. He sat to her left and forward in the Command Bridge, resting on one of the metal benches that rose from the room’s floor. His station was called Ship Weapons. To his right were pillars with benches for Fusion Power, Magfield and Stardrive Engines, Collector Pods, Life Support and Navigation. The silvery metal pillars had risen after Jane’s command to Star Traveler. She then ordered Navigation functions transferred to her pedestal station. A pillar for that had risen to her right. She’d inserted the purple Nokten crystal into the t
op of the pillar, tapped on its control surface and resumed her forward gaze as she watched the holo graphic of the star system HD 128311.
His captain sat elevated on the command pedestal, with a ring of holos and control pillars surrounding her. One holo showed the Transport Exit Chamber, where they’d stuffed the four crew and Diligent into the middle teardrop transport. They’d realized the grizzly bear crewman needed medical care when they took him out of Bill’s old module. Which led them to visit the Med Hall Chamber lying between the Containment and Transport chambers. Again thanks to Star Traveler’s guidance. A clamshell machine in the room had enclosed the body of the black-furred Alien, beeped a few dozen times, then released the Alien with his forearm fully healed of the bone break caused by Bill’s teeth. He’d kept his taser tube aimed at the Alien the whole time, not believing anything it said. Which included its irritation at his attack when it had come to keep him from dying of suffocation.
“Bill,” Jane called, “what’s the status of your ship weapons?”
“Fully powered, with sensors active. Ready to defend the ship against any attack,” he said quickly. “According to my Weapons holo. My pillar has touch controls for lots of nasty stuff.”
She chuckled. “Uh, just what weapons does this ship have?”
He scanned the holo in front of him, which showed a schematic of the ship’s giant teardrop, with weapons locations noted and ID’d. “My holo says we have high energy CO2 gas lasers at our nose and tail, to handle pursuers. On our belly and upper hull are plasma batteries, which seem to work as a defense against close-up stuff like mines and rockets. Just under this room are electromagnetic launchers for MITV torpedoes. Our final weapon is a single antimatter projector. It’s directly above us and shoots forward.”
Escape 1: Escape From Aliens Page 11