The first alien to step out from the escape pod is dumbfounded as he stares at the reception committee. Cindy, with her free flowing long blond hair, Radclyf, with what is obviously a large weapon and George, who is fully clad in his body suit. They in turn can only stare back at the small furry being standing before them. The alien does not even come up to their chests in height. It is also almost completely covered in fur, or hair. The creatures breathing comes in short rasps as it stares at the three of them with its dark pits for eyes. As the creature starts to make a number of hand gestures, it also makes a series of unintelligible sounds. Cindy and Radclyf turn to each other in bewilderment. George’s earpiece translates the strange noises. His joy at meeting these strange beings turns to sorrow as the words continue to pour from his translator.
“I am Golward, though I expect we will be executed, we surrender to you. Your trick has worked.”
George steps from his body suit and with a saddened expression he spreads his hands in what he hopes is a gesture of peace.
“We have not tricked you, you are safe with us.”
Golward looks at George then swallows hard.
“You have won. We have been fooled.”
“I don’t know who you think we are, but we’re not your enemy.”
Golward puts a hand to his hip where a device rests. He lifts it up then stares at its display.
“What are you then?” He states curiously.
George smiles as it’s obvious the misunderstanding is being resolved.
“We’re humans, from a planet called Earth. Welcome to the starship Terran.”
Golward lifts the device up, then takes a step toward George. Radclyf quickly lifts up a hand, staying Chokichi who lays prone with Golward’s head in his rifles sights. With the device panning up and down George, everyone’s nerves get a little frayed. Golward’s head leans into the device, his brown eyes scanning the small screen.
“You’re not who I thought you were. We must leave, and quickly.”
George looks to Cindy who simply shrugs her shoulders, the aliens words just meaningless gibberish to her. George takes this as a sign to continue.
“This ship is stuck and badly damaged, we can’t go anywhere.”
The creatures body sags, obviously in defeat.
“Then we all die anyway. Our main power source will detonate shortly.”
George turns quickly to Cindy.
“We must get away from this station, or we’re all dead.”
Cindy is thunderstruck. I thought it could not possibly get any worse.
“How?” is her meek reply.
John looks at the growing number of bullet shaped capsules. A few of them start to open up, allowing their passengers to get out. They are congregating in one section, clearly in fear. As his eyes meander around, he his drawn to the open ramp.
“I have it,” he hollers loudly, the furry creatures jump nervously at his voice. “The shuttles will guide us out, the hole is certainly large enough, we just need to twist the Terran back.”
Golward glances at his hip device then stares at George for a few seconds.
“We have little time.”
Edwards pilots one of the Gamin shuttles while John sits at the Terran’s helm. It takes them almost five terse minutes before the ship finally extracts itself from the space station. John is pushing the thrusters harder than ever before, as he follows the directions given to him. Golward’s constant gulping and staring at the device on his hip are all the reminder he needs to hurry. Once the nose is clear, he starts to swing the ship around.
“Edwards get aboard, and hurry.”
“On my…” Begins Golward.
The explosion is beyond anything conceivable. Everyone is thrown to the floor as the ship’s systems fail to cope with the brunt of the blast.
John stares at his console in dread, then shouts loudly. “Secondary shockwave incoming, hold on!”
The powerful shockwave strikes the Terran on her broadside. It hits so hard that those who stood up, are thrown to the floor again.
Edwards stares in alarm as the Terran is pushed into his shuttle. The clang of the two ships colliding reverberates through the shuttle’s hull. He tries to pilot away from the incoming behemoth. He is stunned to see the massive ship begin to roll over. The sight of the Terran tumbling sideways toward him is unbelievable. Even as the maelstrom of energies continue to course all around, Edwards is forced to keep his distance as the ship seems hell bent on crushing his shuttle. Keeping the tumbling ship between himself and the exploding space station taxes his piloting skills to the limit.
Meanwhile on board the Terran, the internal gravity holds people where they are, but the stress to the ship’s weakened hull is incredible. Fortunately, the roll spares the hangar bay’s temporary repairs from the brunt of the unleashed energies. Alarms resound from so many systems that Joe simply shuts them all off. Finally the energies unleashed by the space stations destruction dissipate.
Edwards wipes a layer of sweat from his brow, then taps his console.
“Terran, this is Edwards, you guys ok over there?”
Cindy stares at the bridge crew in disbelief.
“You’re alive!” Cindy is shocked that the tiny Gamin shuttle withstood the series of shockwaves. “Fantastic, get back onboard.”
“Open the view screens, I want to see what’s out there.”
Joe retracts the armor plating while John aligns the ship with the planet. Andrew whistles at the sight. The space station has been completely obliterated, all that remains are small pieces of debris. Joe is surprised that he has to reopen the hangar deck’s ramp, it apparently having shut automatically.
Cindy slumps in her chair despondently while Golward is obviously happy to be alive. George exits his suit and takes a step toward Golward, sighing as he does.
“You have lost your space station and we have lost the means to repair our ship.”
Golward stares up at George, his little brown eyes blinking while he thinks.
“There is plenty out there.”
George is about to tell him they have no way to collect the debris when he gets a tingling in his spine. Suddenly he grins like a child.
“Who wants to go for a drive?” He says clapping his hands to his thighs. “I am so stupid.”
Everyone on the bridge is just staring at George, mystified. His eyes blaze with excitement as he explains.
“The vehicle we found on the moon is a mining unit. It scoops up raw materials and converts them just like our suits, but on a larger scale.”
Joe turns to George frowning, then asks what is on everyone’s mind.
“How exactly do we drive it in space?”
George grins as he looks down at Golward.
“Why, we strap escape pods to it. They can be our thrusters. I am sure they have fuel, or whatever they use, left in them.”
Golward nods in excitement as well.
“Yes, yes, that will work.”
At the looks of confusion George realizes he is still the only one who can understand Golward, so he translates.
“It will work.”
Cindy stares at George with a creased brow. She looks at the small furry being with a mixture of sorry and amazement.
Golward notices her gaze, then asks bluntly.
“Your ship it is of Gamin design, how did you come to possess it?”
Cindy looks at George who is stunned by them knowing the Gamin. He replies slowly.
“They left it behind, we completed it and here we are.”
“Very well, we have traded with the Gamin, and for that we have been doomed.”
Cindy can’t stand it any longer and pointedly asks George something that has been bothering her.
“How is it you can understand them? And don’t tell me it’s the suit.”
“I have a translator, perhaps with Golward’s help we can make more.”
Golward makes an odd gesture while addressing George.
“W
e have spare scanners, like this one, and will instruct you on their use.”
Cindy smiles at Golward politely, she has no idea what the furry creature just said. George has a translator!
George looks at the offered device while replying.
“Thank you so much.”
Cindy, George, Joe, and Golward head to the hangar deck, leaving John, Andrew, and a rather quiet Peter on the bridge. Radclyf follows after giving curt hand signals to his men. Hayato and his forces are unseen and elsewhere on the ship.
Golward joins his people and after a short discussion, a few of them head to different escape pods. They retrieve a number of the devices then they spend a few minutes tapping away at the panels. Every now and then, one or more of them glances at Cindy’s bridge crew, making her feel a little nervous.
Finally, Golward approaches Cindy. He hands her a palm sized device, along with its shoulder strap that has been adjusted to its maximum length. He then beckons for her to lean forward. As she does, she spots a small device in his hand. She recoils as he tries to approach her with it. Golward makes an odd gesture while putting his hands down.
“It’s a just a transceiver. All Kord have them implanted at birth.”
George can see that Cindy is understandably not going to allow herself to have some alien implant, so he reluctantly steps forward and removes his earpiece.
“I will try to make more of these.”
Golward looks at it for a few seconds, says something unintelligible, then walks off. George is shocked when he can’t understand the words. Cindy looks at George while staring at the earpiece.
“You say try, why are you doubtful?”
“I will have to dismantle this one to examine it.”
Cindy’s eyes widen as she realizes the risk.
“No don’t, I would rather not risk us losing our only translator.”
She looks at her crew, and then at the aliens, while deliberating the pros and cons to what she is considering. Making up her mind, she walks with determination up to the group of aliens.
“If I have insulted you, I apologize. I know you have just lost a great deal of your friends and family, indeed perhaps everything.”
She crouches down and leans her head toward Golward. He presses a small device behind her ear, then waits. A sharp pain shoots through her ear as the miniscule implant is injected. Cindy is stunned to hear his gravelly words.
“The device draws power from your body and will interface with just about any translation unit.”
Cindy’s jaw drops as she instantly understands him.
“Thank you again. Is there anything we can do for you?”
Golward looks back at his people before replying.
“We have a few colonies that none have visited. This was our home, and our trading post. A great many Kord have died today.” He stops talking then walks away, clearly in distress.
Cindy watches him walk away then leaves them to watch George and Joe work. The attachment of a few escape pods to the mining vehicle goes quite smoothly. Golward comes back over and hands George a hip device.
“This will control the pods remotely.”
George grins as he looks at the contraption before him. The mining vehicle rests on its tracks with a pod attached to each side and two on top.
“Maneuvering will be a difficult, but manageable,” he proudly says, “so who gets to drive?”
Edwards has been watching with interest, but as the question hangs in the air he walks away.
“You won’t catch me in that contraption.”
Cindy smiles. As John has said, he plays it safe.
One of the contractors steps forward, Cindy can’t recall his name.
“I will take it for a whirl, just tell me what you want me to do.”
In no time at all, the ground vehicle is ‘driving’ through space, collecting the mist and debris left behind. The hours turn to days, as the task of collecting the debris turns into quite a chore. As the pods run out of fuel, others are installed. The crew takes turns collecting the remnants of the space station. As the converted material is brought on board, George and Olaf are able to craft hull plates, just as they both did back on Earth during the Gamin occupation. The Kord for their part, stay to themselves, until the day they discover the zero-g room. It seems they enjoy the room a lot, which gives Hayato some peace of mind. His men have been discretely protecting GUS and reactor control. Radclyf’s men have been more obvious in their duties as they patrol the corridors with weapons at the ready.
Cindy runs a hand through her hair as she looks at various reports. The outer hull is literally flailed away in places, while numerous internal decks are impassable due to buckled and broken deck plates. Hydroponics is flooded from broken pipe work, adding to their issues as the plants start to die off. Bringing up a deck plan of the ship, an idea springs to mind.
“Joe, could we remove the gravity plating from the sections we’re not using and install it where we need to?”
He sits back in his chair as he considers her idea.
“Well it would weaken the ship’s internal structure meaning we would be unable to land this ship.” He turns to Cindy grinning, “we can’t anyway, so what’s the difference?”
The days drag on as the crew gets to work dismantling unused sections allowing George, Olaf, and Patrick to install gravity plating in the remaining areas. Little by little, members of the Kord stop playing in the zero-g room and begin to add their efforts to the repairs.
The next phase of the repairs finds all three American shuttles in space. Each shuttle has either George, Olaf, or Patrick attached to a swing arm. The trio sets massive armor sections into place, these are made to Gamin specifications and are much more than just sheets of metal. The amount of resources obtained from the destroyed space station amazes everyone. Between this and the dismantling of many levels gives the crew a renewed hope. Another week goes by, and though there is still a lot to do, it is clear that the ship will be fully space worthy again. Slowly the list of things to be done shrinks until there is nothing left to repair. During this time Cindy has the medics check on her implant, and as there seems to be no issues, she seeks other volunteers. None of the main crew is interested, but unexpectedly most of the bridge crew obtain the implants. Edwards of course refrains, as does George who has no need for one.
Golward makes his way to the bridge, his fur covered body becoming a common sight throughout the ship. His dark eyes almost glinting as he hands Cindy a small device.
“This is where we need to go.”
Cindy hands the small unit to Andrew. He and Joe are able to transfer the data to their consoles and are not surprised to find a star chart. It not only shows the location of a world, but also includes a list of planets to stop at along the way. The two men are quite impressed, the flight plan takes into account their limited energy reserves.
Golward glances at each of the bridge crew as he seems to be waiting for something. Cindy gets up from her command chair and walks to the two men.
“How far out of the way is it?”
Andrew turns to her approvingly.
“Add a week to our trip tops, we would still be heading away from the galactic core, just not directly home either.”
Cindy gazes at Golward with sympathy.
“Of course we will take you there. We will test the main engines in the morning.”
Golward seems to almost skip as he wordlessly leaves the bridge. Joe and Andrew study the star charts in depth as they plan their journey home. John yawns, then leaves the bridge. The stress of the last few weeks is wearing everybody down. Cindy leans back and closes her eyes. I hope everything goes well, we need a break from this run of bad luck.
Jump
Cindy enters the bridge fully refreshed, she was not woken up on this momentous day, a pleasant change. Golward sits off to one side staring out the forward view. Mercifully his devastated home world is not visible, just the distant stars that sparkle and glow at them. Cindy
sits down in her chair then with a smile touches its small console.
“Today we continue our journey. We will be dropping off our new friends as we head for home ourselves. Stay alert and report anything out of the ordinary. Cindy out.”
Turning her attention to John she smiles again.
“Let’s take her out slowly.”
Commander John focuses his attention on his console.
“Engaging thrusters.”
As the Terran pulls away from the planet, John makes sure that it does not appear on the forward view. Golward has said little about his world. The swirling grey mists remind John of the planet where they found the damaged Gamin ship. As the ship builds speed the crew begin to relax.
John’s hands deftly run across his console while he relays his actions.
“Engaging sub-light engines, minimal power.” The stars seem to jump at them as the ship builds speed. After spending a few seconds monitoring the ship’s systems, he continues on. “Building to fifty percent of light speed.”
As they move further away from the planet Golward stands, places his hands in front of him with his palms up. Lifting his head he gazes at the ceiling and mutters so quietly that none can discern his words.
John glances to Cindy who shakes her head slowly from side to side. Not being sure what to do, he just waits. A few minutes later the short, hair-covered alien ceases what he was doing. He turns to Cindy his dark eyes glistening, his furry cheeks damp.
“Gratitude, we can leave now.”
Everyone on the bridge feels for Golward. Based on the little they have learned these last few weeks, his planet had a population of over ten billion, and there have been no survivors. Cindy feels a deep sadness creeping up on her.
“Punch it,” she says, her voice shaky, as she points to the view ahead of them.
Everyone tenses up as John engages the main drive. If their repairs have been successful the view will shift into a mesmerizing cascade of beautiful colors. If not, well, they may never know. John grins fearlessly, even as his mind races through the many disaster scenarios that could befall them.
“Engaging main drive!”
Within seconds, the bland white stars blur as the Terran breaks the light barrier. Cindy relaxes as the forward view shows the beautiful color spectrum that she enjoys so much.
Discovery (Terran Chronicles) Page 23