by T. W. Embry
“ssSatisssfactorily isss not good enough. I am paying for extraordinary,” hissed the now fully agitated Snarth.
“And you shall have it,” answered Tasha, the hair on her back now standing up all the way, her tail beginning to twitch rapidly back and forth. Seeing the stealth master’s growing agitation Snarth relented, satisfied that he had gotten across his displeasure with being kept waiting.
Snarth continued his pacing, waiting for Rowl and the Irishman, growing more agitated by the minute. It was not long before the bedraggled pair showed up, stopping Snarth’s pacing. The pair had no sooner dismounted than Snarth said, “It is about time, you two. What kept you? Never mind, I think I know. Rowl have you two been at your daddy’s liquor again?”
“Not again sir,” answered the Irishman, “This was the first and last time I drink any of that turpentine.”
“It doesss pack a ssserious punch,” hissed Snarth sympathetically.
Then with a glare, he started in on the uncomfortable pair. “I expect much more from my employeesss and even more from my friendsss. I mussst confessss I am very disssappointed in both of you. If it ever happensss again, you will both be on a fassst ssship out of my sssight.”
“It will not happen again sir,” the pair answered in tandem.
“Now if the adolessscent love fessst and the intergalactic drunken celebration, for who knowsss what, are over, can we pleassse get back to the businessss at hand? I thought the four of you were to help me find a treasssure, not have a vacation at my expenssse,” hissed Snarth, continuing the ass chewing to include all four of the offending team members.
An uncomfortable silence settled over the cave entrance. Snarth let his words of displeasure sink in for several minutes before speaking again. “Now that I have your compete attention, ssSSlice hasss divided up the remaining sssectors into sssearch gridsss. I hope we find sssomething or we will have to recalibrate the bike sssensors and ssstart over.”
“That would be unfortunate,” said SSlice interrupting Snarth’s tirade, “as I am not sure how long until the sensor platform runs its self-diagnostic. I think my program will remain undetected but I cannot be absolutely certain. If it sticks to galactic standard type protocols then we will be fine. If not we may only have a few more days at the most.”
“Then I sssuggest we get ssstarted. Mount up, keep in clossse contact and good hunting,” hissed Snarth. “I ssshould let the two of you sssuffer your ssself-induced ssstupidity,” he hissed to the Irishman and Rowl. “However, in the interessst of finding the underground city you will find a couple more sssober upsss in my pack. ssSee to it that you avail yourssself of them, it will help. Now, all of you, get the hell out of here before I really lossse my temper,” hissed Snarth, his agitation still showing.
PART TEN
Enemy at the Gates
“My Queen, my queen!” cried a terrified aide, rousing her quickly from her deep meditation.
“What is so important that you disturb my meditation? Speak quickly or I will feast on you and all your nest mates.” That threat usually sent her aides scurrying in terror, yet did not faze this aide. His news must be important indeed, thought the Queen as she preened her antennae, calming herself.
“A huge fleet of enemy warships has entered normal space and surrounded our home. We will be destroyed,” wailed the hysterical aide. Leaning toward the console at her elbow the Queen signaled the general in charge of planetary defenses. “Raise the shields immediately,” she commanded. “Recall the fleet NOW”
“My Queen,” said the planetary defense general, “that order must be given by the fleet general. I raised the shields at the first sign of enemy ships. They have not yet started any attack, so we do not yet know their capabilities. If they use any weapon like we have encountered elsewhere, any bombardment will be completely useless as long as the power reserves hold out.”
“And how long will that be?” raged the Queen.
“That depends on the intensity of the enemy’s weapons. We will not know that until they begin their attack.”
The Queen’s rage was interrupted by the arrival of her top generals, possibly saving the planetary defense general’s life. “I will deal with you later,” hissed the Queen as she turned her fury to the generals who were cowering before her, scraping their chest plates on the ground waiting to be given permission to speak.
“Recall the fleet at once,” she ordered, as she began preening her antennae desperately trying not to lose control and eat those she needed the most.
“It has already been done, my Queen,” answered one of the cowering generals. Much calmer now, the Queen asked “How long before they get here?”
“As you know, my queen, the fleet is spread across a vast distance conquering the unbelievers as you ordered.”
“How long!” raged the queen, nearly losing her self-control completely.
“A small reactionary force will be here in two days with the remainder of the heavy capital ships arriving three to four days later. And we do not know how long the power reserve will last until the enemy begins their bombardment,” finished the fleet general.
“How small a reactionary force?” asked the queen.
“One super destroyer, ten heavy cruisers, twenty battle ships and one hundred light destroyers and various support ships,” answered the general, beginning to hope that he may live to serve his queen another day.
“Will it be enough to defeat the enemy fleet?” the Queen asked.
“If this fleet were like any enemy ships we have encountered, yes, with ease,” answered a more confident fleet general, now certain he would indeed live to serve the Queen another day.
“However, these ships are of several different alien designs we have never encountered before,” he continued emboldened. “We do not know what their capabilities are or where exactly they came from. Preliminary indications from their arrival trajectories are that they came from an area we thought to be mostly uninhabited on the border of this far quadrant,” said the general pointing to a star chart now being displayed on the chamber’s chart projector. “Possibly even more important is how they found the home world. We have not lost any ships in that sector or any sector close to where we think the aliens have come from,” finished the General.
“First we must trick the enemy into revealing the strength of their weapons. We will do this by opening the shields intermittently and firing on the closest ships. Once they return fire we can extrapolate their offensive capabilities and can plan our attack accordingly,” said the newly emboldened fleet general. “In the meantime we maintain our shield status and wait for the fleet’s return. Use your plan and all weapons at your disposal,” Begin at once!” commanded the Queen. “Fear not, my children, we knew this day would come and we are well prepared for it. The power of the sun is with us. The unbelievers will be destroyed. Keep me informed. Now leave me to my meditation,” commanded the queen, dismissing the entire general staff.
As the queen slipped deep into the netherworld of pure consciousness a thought strayed across her mind just before she lost herself. What if it were time for her to join the Old Ones? The thought so disturbed the Queen that she was unable to achieve complete disconnection from her physical self.
Irritated at the interruption, the Queen’s mind was flooded with many questions. What would become of her children and the empire she had created in the name of the one true source of life, the sun?
A realization hit the Queen like a thunderbolt, she must spawn her heir while there was still time, before the bombardment that was sure to come. Quickly she returned to her physical body: she had much to do and time was short.
Too short, it seemed, as she struggled with an unfamiliar disorientation. “Summon the General of the army at once,” she bade her aide. “Have him meet me in the royal mating chamber.” He would be her final mate, she realized.
If time permitted, the Queen intended to spawn her heir then put all of her unborn children into hibernation until the
attack on the home world was over. Many Ones would die, her fleet would be destroyed, and the enemy would think they had won. Then she would submerge into the netherworld until it was time to wake her children and reclaim her empire.
The Queen then hurried toward her mating chamber, her crystal faintly glowing as she readied her one special egg, carefully placing in it all of her knowledge and experience. The Queen could feel the ground shake with the force of the alien bombardment. She knew she would have just enough time.
PART ELEVEN
Eureka!!
As Snarth sped toward his rendezvous with SSlice, so the pair could begin the search of their sector, his irritation and anger slowly dissipated. He realized that with the exception of the canine and the Irishman being hung over, the team was operating at a level of professionalism that would be the envy of any military commander.
He regretted losing his temper; it was very rude and unprofessional. He was also happy that Tom and the feline were finally together. Now maybe they would get serious about Tom’s training, perhaps even petition for the scars of attainment. If any human could do it, it would be Tom.
The Irishman would be happy with the bio-pleasure mech; for some unknown reason that still baffled Snarth. That only left the canine without a mate. He was a magnificent specimen, it would only require being in the company of a willing female canine long enough for love’s arrow to strike, canines were so uncomplicated. I will see to that as soon as we return, thought Snarth, then my family will be complete. Careful, old one, once you start to care about them, you will lose them to old age if not sooner, said Snarth’s conscience, almost destroying his now cheerful mood.
“Snarth,” came the excited whisper like voice of SSlice over the communicator, snapping him back on mission.
“Please tell me you have a return on your scanners,” he answered hopefully.
“I do and it is huge,” answered SSlice, “I am sure this is it.”
Changing his communicator to broadcast on all of the team members’ frequencies Snarth said, “All team membersss converge on ssSSlice’s coordinates at once. ssSSlice hasss found the underground city. I repeat, ssSSlice hasss found the underground city. We have done it, my friendsss. Lassst team to arrive hasss kp.” With a huge grin on his face, Snarth rolled back on the bike’s accelerator all the way to full power. He would be on top of SSlice’s location in minutes, hopefully long before any of the others.
Much to Snarth’s surprise, he was the last one to arrive. All of the other team members were already dismounted and lounging around nonchalantly, waiting. Smelling a practical joke in the making, Snarth said, “About time you all ssshowed up. I was getting tired of circling.”
“Is that so?” woofed the canine in response. “Seems to me the last one here has kp. Or was that my imagination?”
“No, I heard it too,” purred the feline in agreement.
“Me too,” chimed in the Irishman.
Seeing that the entire joke rested on me, I hesitated, then answered, “I thought I heard that too, or was it just a bunch of static?”
Looking around, his hands on his hips, Snarth considered his answer. Knowing it would be useless to try and wiggle out of kp, scowling as only he could he said "Ok ha ha ha. Very funny. ssSSlice, I sssee your handiwork all over thisss. Jussst remember, I have a long memory, lotsss of money and lotsss of time to get even,” he hissed.
“Challenge accepted,” whispered an amused SSlice, the rest of the team struggling to keep a straight face.
“Azsss for the ressst of you, mount up, we have an entrance to find,” Snarth hissed. It occurred to Snarth that the reason they found the lost city in the last search quadrant may not be an act of chance after all. I will speak to SSlice about it later. I know that spinners play elaborate practical jokes but he must have his reasons for the delay, Snarth mused as the others headed for what appeared to be a large opening in a huge cliff face, following SSlice’s readings.
It was indeed the entrance they were looking for, a huge tunnel leading down into the bowels of an extinct volcano. It was obviously not a natural cave. The angles were far too precise to be naturally occurring.
Snarth signaled for the team to land on the massive ledge that jutted out from the entrance. “Make camp here. I am going back to the ssship and bring it here. Ordinarily I would jussst call the mech captain but thisss isss a tight fit and I want to land the ssship myself,” Snarth hissed.
“Now that is what I call cheating,” said Rowl, “Using the ship to get out of kp. Although I must admit I like a nice soft bed over the cold hard ground any night,” he added hastily seeing Snarth’s grimace of annoyance.
“Rowl, you and the Irissshman mount up and sssee how far in we can take the bikesss. ssStay in conssstant contact with each other. Do not take any chancesss and report back immediately if you find anything,” Snarth ordered.
“Yes sir,” the pair answered in unison, Rowl already regretting his earlier comment.
“Massster feline, you and Tom will stay here at camp in ressserve, jussst in cassse Rowl and the Irissshman need ressscuing,” Snarth added. Seeing the angry glare from his friend, Rowl was now doubly regretting his comment, knowing it would be hours before his friend would even speak to him. “ssSSlice, you will come with me, I want to be sssure it isss sssafe to move the ssship,” said Snarth as he mounted his cycle and put on his helmet.
~
They were almost back to the ship when Snarth finally broke the long silence between him and SSlice. “How sssure are you about your disssruption of the sssensor platform ssscansss?” Snarth hissed.
“I will not be 100% certain until I access the platform’s main computer. I have to do that from the ship. However I am quite sure we have not been detected as of yet. Before we try to move the ship, I want to rerun the subroutine again just to be absolutely certain. Now is not the time for mistakes,” SSlice whispered in typical spinner fashion.
“ssSo tell me, how long did you know the entrance wasss in the lassst quadrant?” Snarth hissed at SSlice.
“I strongly suspected it after the first day. I was not certain until the beginning of the second day,” answered SSlice unapologetically.
“I am sssure you had your reasonsss for the delay in telling me. Now if you would be ssso kind azsss to explain it to me I would be ever ssso grateful,” Snarth hissed sarcastically.
“As old as you are, Snarth, I am amazed at how obtuse you are when it comes to social dynamics, especially when it is right in front of your face,” SSlice began.
“What are you talking about?” hissed Snarth, demanding an answer, puzzled by SSlice’s cryptic answer.
“I am of course talking about the team. The delay was necessary to cement the budding relationship between Human Tom and the feline master and the team’s commitment to each other in place,” whispered SSlice. “Or did you intend to just send them on their way with an enormous fortune and no guidance? Finding anyone they could truly trust will be impossible once word of their fortune gets out. You and I both know it will get out, bringing hordes of beings that want something for nothing and think they are entitled to it or worse.”
SSlice’s words put a fine point on some private thoughts that had been worrying Snarth for quite some time. “You are right, old friend, and you are a much wissser being than I am. I am thankful I have your friendssship and guidance,” hissed a humbled Snarth.
“Not just my friendship but the friendship of all the spinners,” whispered SSlice “After all it was your unrelenting quest for the truth about the spinners that saved my world from destruction by the Galactic fleet after the Ones were defeated. A debt we can never repay.”
“No repayment isss necessssary,” Snarth hissed. “Azsss far azsss I am concerned, that debt hasss been repaid many timesss over, my friend.”
That is for we spinners to decide, thought SSlice to himself as they arrived at the ship.
“ssSSlice, run your sssubroutine while I bring the ssship’s main enginess
s online. Let me know what you find out right away. I want to be back at the entrance before the dark cycle,” hissed Snarth as the pair boarded the ship.
Snarth busied himself on the bridge, running a systems check in preparation for bringing the main engines on line for the short trip to the entrance of the underground city. There were no entries in the ship’s security log.
However, main engine plasma was down almost thirty percent for some unknown reason. There was still more than enough to get back into space and for the return trip to Snarth’s estate. Snarth was concerned, for thirty percent was a lot of power to lose. He ran a more detailed systems check, trying to find the cause.
Despite his best efforts, Snarth was unable to come up with a reasonable explanation for the power loss. The ship’s main computer said it was a series of small power drains that had increased in frequency and severity, then stopped just as mysteriously as they had begun. However, that was impossible as all of the ship’s systems had been on standby with the exception of the security systems and the cloaking device. Neither of which would have drained that much power. Perplexed Snarth called SSlice to the bridge to see if he could find out where the power drain was coming from.
“The good news is that we have remained undetected and my subroutine is working perfectly,” explained an equally perplexed SSlice. “The bad news is that the power drain is external and not a ship’s malfunction. To make it even clearer I do not have a clue as to the cause. I suggest we move the ship to the entrance and set up a sensor perimeter around the ship as a precaution,” SSlice suggested.
“What are you thinking?” demanded Snarth impatiently.
“I cannot be sure, but we may be in great danger if what I think is happening is actually what is happening,” whispered SSlice with a typically cryptic spinner answer.
Hearing SSlice’s warning Snarth immediately got on the com link to the rest of his team. “Team 1, report,” he hissed into the com-link.