Arkroid and Atkins just looked at each other.
»Biomass?«
Being a Merinian, Arkroid had a pretty good idea of what the world’s oceans had to offer. But what Scorge wanted to do with biomass was entirely unclear to Arkroid.
»What, exactly, do you mean by biomass?« asked Arkroid.
»Concentrated biomass of aquatic micro-organisms. I have great use for it. On my first visit, I was able to obtain a load, but it is long used up or sold.«
»Plankton and fish and so on?« Arkroid asked again. »I thought you deal with technology?«
Scorge acknowledged with a motion of his tendrils.
»It seems to me that you Humans draw a strict line between technology and biology. Can you even begin to imagine the potential that lies underneath your ocean surfaces?«
»What are you planning to do with all that biomass?«
»For some it’s simply food,« answered Scorge freely. »For others it’s genetic stock substance … and then there are still others who would use its basic cell components for their cellular computers or as biological building blocks. I prefer to eat it.«
»And are there, possibly, others who use our biomass to concoct biological weapons?« Atkins asked.
Arkroid’s head flew around to Atkins.
What’s going on with you, Sammy? he thought.
Scorge faced Atkins directly.
»You’re absolutely correct, my young friend. It is almost a universal law that all things positive also contain the potential for destruction and death. Just look at my ship. The Yax K’uk’Mo’ possesses the means to destroy your beautiful planet; however, I don’t use its potential for destruction. I only want to conduct a fair trade. I assure you, the biomass I trade will not go to weapons-makers.«
»Well then,« Arkroid tried to mediate. »We seem to have a deal, Scorge, but what about contamination? Our plankton and algae will also hold viruses, bacteria, other dangerous substances. Or have you worked that out already?«
»Certainly, my friend,« Scorge assured him. »The biomass will undergo a scrubbing process and then be sent through bio-filters before it gets stored away. That’s why I have asked for such a large amount. Once it has been scrubbed and prepared accordingly, there will be at best 2000 cubic meters left of it. 2000 cubic meters of pristine quality, mind you.«
»Okay then,« Arkroid agreed. »We will prepare the containers with the biomass for you, and notify you when it is ready to be picked up.«
Scorge rustled his tentacles. He seemed very satisfied with this deal.
Impatient
Unbelievable! The results of his scans were astounding. The banned ones had left their planet and settled on their moon! The system shield had been penetrated and partially compromised, resulting in the appearance of a visitor in the system.
The Sleeper trembled in anger. The energy coursing through his body was enough to make him seem to feel his own heartbeat.
I don’t have a heart … or …? he thought.
The Sleeper could barely contain himself. His spirit longed to pursue his mission again. He wanted to judge, to unleash his devastating revenge. He would reinstate the old order and punish the banned ones.
He seethed with impatience for the recharging process to complete, to set him free. His destination was clear!
Execute
»8000 cubic meters! What … is he, nuts?« the defense minister shouted.
Admiral Hayes sat behind his large command desk, which was covered with countless touch sensor fields. A meter tall holographic display towered behind him, displaying a true-scale map of the Solar System, including all colonies, bases and current locations of fleet units.
John Myers, secretary and liaison officer of the Solar Union Senate, presented a thin smile.
»Oh, don’t you doubt that we’ll honor this … Shwakan’s … wishes. We expect incredible things from this deal. Think what we can learn from him, even if he is what he represents himself to be, a traveling trader with only profit in mind. Defense against the Globusters is only the beginning. We need him!«
Hayes slammed his right hand onto his desk, in an area free from sensor fields.
»You’re talking like Arkroid! I find this … this … what’s his name again … uh … Scorge’s … demand outrageous. That’ll cost us an equivalent of a full year’s supply of biomass! How do you want to explain this to the Merinians?«
Myers leaned back in his chair and folded his hands over his stomach to indicate that the admiral’s ranting couldn’t get to him.
»Not your department, or mine. The Maritime Economy Department will solve that problem. You’re well aware that we have enough biomass in our depots to sustain the population for several weeks in emergencies. So … the harvesting isn’t the headache, it’s the 64 transport containers. How do we get them into orbit? The cargo glider fleet hasn’t got that kind of capacity, and a door-to-door shuttle scheme is totally out of the question, at least within anything like a reasonable time.«
Hayes frowned.
»You want to allow the stranger to land on Earth, don’t you?«
The secretary nodded.
»Unless you have a better idea,« admitted Myers.
Before Hayes could answer, the holographic map behind him turned to red and a special marker began flashing.
»What’s that?« Myers jumped out of his seat.
Quickly, Hayes turned around and stared as if hypnotized at the flashing symbol for a heartbeat. Then his fingers flew across some of the sensor pads on his desk.
»That is an alarm from Triton Base. That’s where the marker is on the map. Just hope to God we don’t have to deal with more Globusters!«
A second display holo formed and Hayes found himself looking directly into the eyes of a ministry comm-officer.
»Admiral, Triton sends a Phase Red message. The coded message will appear on your terminal. Please use your code key.«
Hayes acknowledged, waving Myers to sit down again.
The admiral’s office transformed into a super modern data central. Hidden virtual displays lit up and officers entered the room to quietly occupy terminals that had swung out from the walls.
»A Phase Red message – highest priority. Decoding will take a couple of minutes. Day isn’t taking any chances.«
Myles could feel the almost physical threat almost in the room.
What if this is the prelude to a massive Globuster attack? he thought. What if Scorge was a ruse?
Hayes waited for the decoding process to complete and acknowledged the reception. Without further delay, Donald Day’s face appeared on a holo. His expression was serious, and it was obvious that he hadn’t slept for a while.
»Triton Base Commander Day reporting. This message was sent 5 hours ago, GMT. The alien spacecraft will have reached Earth in the meantime. All of us on Triton hope the craft doesn’t pose a threat to Earth. This message has a different subject.«
Hayes listened anxiously. His hands were tightening around his armrests, showing white knuckles. He expected the worst.
»The IRS has issued the highest state of alert, an hour ago Triton time,« Day continued. »We have received IRS confirmed signals from several distant solar systems, which are, without a doubt, of intelligent origin. They are all originating from the Eridanus Constellation with very strong signals from Achernar, the Cursar, and Acamar Systems. Especially distinct signals were received from Epsilon Eridanus, a yellow sun like ours and only 10.5 lightyears away, one of the closest to us. The IRS’ neuronal computer is hopelessly overwhelmed by the flood of data. We were able to determine with certainty that with Quaoar’s destruction, a solar system enveloping radio-absorption shield was torn open. We believe it must have been set up and maintained by the Globusters.
I refer you to my report on Globuster installations in the Kuiper Belt. Since the alien spacecraft has entered our system from the direction of Eridanus, it can safely be assumed that there is a direct correlation between the gap in the Globus
ter shield and the sudden appearance of this ship.
»Our results suggest that the Globustermatrix enveloping our solar system has redundancies. It could close again any moment as other Globuster outposts take up the slack, but unless they act to permanently seal the gap, it will re-open after a particular time, and we can align our antennae again. The Globusters would have to shift another Kuiper Belt object into position to close it permanently. That would give us plenty of notice, of course, though what we could do about it I don’t know.«
Day glanced briefly down.
»Consider this. The Solar System was shielded from the universe by the Globusters and we never knew it. They wanted us to believe that we were the only ones in a vastly huge and empty cosmos. Suddenly we know that couldn’t be further from the truth!
»Why did the Globusters want us to think we were alone? Why were we under quarantine? The answer to that is the most critical facing Humanity. I agree with Commander Ivanova: the Globusters don’t seem intelligent enough to be behind this. They’re soldiers, doing a job for somebody else. IRS data transfer follows. Day out!«
Day’s image faded, replaced by the IRS’ Symbol to indicate a data stream transfer.
Silence reigned in the admiral’s office.
Everyone looked to the admiral for the next decision.
Hayes slowly leaned back into his seat, looked at his hands for a couple of seconds, then looked up again and said, »Myers, inform the Union Senate. Arkroid can do as he pleases. He’ll be informed of Day’s report. We seem to have no other options, so allow this Scorge to land on Earth. Maybe he’ll answer some of these damned riddles. Arkroid is right. We need all the help we can get.«
He turned to his officers.
»What has transpired in this room is Top Secret until the Union Senate decides to release it to the general public. Is that clear? The IRS data packages are to be transferred immediately to appropriate Union science labs.« When no one moved, he took a deep breath and shouted, »Execute!«
The atmosphere in the room became hectic and suddenly Admiral Hayes had the impression that Humanity was at the threshold of a new era.
Think like a Shwakan
Arkroid’s hand trembled slightly as he heard the message from Fleet Headquarters in his earpiece. He received a pared down version of Day’s message, reduced to essentials: state of alert, interstellar signals, Globuster shield. Arkroid absorbed the facts in less than a minute. He felt his mouth go dry.
That’s unbelievable, Arkroid tried to control his thoughts while he was on his way to the docking bay airlock together with Atkins and Scorge.
Can’t we finish this mission first before we deal with the Globusters?
»I’ve just been informed that the requested biomass will be made available to you on the island of Crete, close to my underwater home. There were no problems,« he said to Scorge.
Arkroid knew he was exaggerating. Certainly, there must have been problems securing this large a quantity of biomass.
»I can see that our trade relationship will be profitable for both of us,« Scorge acknowledged, happy and amused.
Our Shwakan buddy is happy as a pig in shit. What a strange being. How many other races and beings are out there? Arkroid thought.
A team of technicians with two spacesuits for Arkroid and Atkins waited for them by the airlock.
The techies displayed great self-control.
»Oh, no, that’s not necessary,« Scorge addressed the technicians. »My guests won’t need those bulky suits. The atmosphere on board the Yax K’uk’Mo’ is suitable … although I would advise you to dress casually. I’m feeling a bit cold aboard your station.«
Arkroid blinked at Atkins and took off his uniform jacket.
»Scorge, I trust you, as much as you did us on our station.«
Arkroid dismissed the technicians and ordered them to return to their airlock control booth.
He’s an intriguing character, but I think we can trust him, Arkroid thought.
Atkins hesitated but then followed Arkroid. Slowly he also took off his uniform jacket.
»I hope you know what you’re doing,« he said to Arkroid.
Then both men were standing before the airlock in their shirtsleeves, looking at Scorge.
Scorge reached into one of his skin folds and produced two small, gold plates. He attached them to Arkroid’s and Atkins’ chests.
»What is that?« Atkins asked.
»I assume these are our Kardashs?« Arkroid asked. »Am I right?«
The Shwakan made a squishing noise.
»That’s correct, Arkroid. The Kardash will prevent our different biospheres from mixing. You can enter my ship without contamination and move about freely. Nothing will happen to you. The biofilter will prevent bacteria and all your other little critters from entering my ship.«
Arkroid signaled the technicians to open the inner airlock door. The outer airlock door was still closed, but a green rotating light indicated that the airlock chamber could be entered.
Scorge quickly crawled inside the airlock chamber, while Atkins and Arkroid followed him silently. Once inside, the heavy airlock door closed with a hissing, thumping sound. After the adjustment phase, Atkins and Arkroid were subjected to a subtropical climate as soon as the airlock doors opened.
»You’ve got it nice and warm here, Scorge,« Arkroid remarked with a smirk.
»… with a high humidity content in the air; almost like our tropical rainforests,« Atkins butted in, breaking out in sweat.
»The air’s oxygen content is about twenty-five percent higher, though,« added Arkroid.
Then the outer airlock door opened fully and Scorge moved outside. The men looked at each other and followed Scorge as he quickly crawled through the flexible connection tunnel. Arkroid and Atkins walked cautiously toward Scorge’s ship. Both remembered having the feeling that the flex tunnel seemed biological when they first saw it. Arkroid couldn’t shake the impression of being inside a living organism.
The flex tunnel possessed standard gravity and felt soft under their boots, like walking on a mattress.
Faster than expected, Scorge reached the end of the tunnel and entered his ship. He stopped, turned around and watched the two Humans as they cautiously moved through the tunnel.
Arkroid knew that this gesture wasn’t really necessary since the Shwakan possessed a visual field of 360 degrees. Scorge probably wanted to demonstrate that he was fully paying attention to his visitors.
Scorge’s tentacles were pulsating. It seemed to Arkroid as if Scorge wanted to fan fresh air to cool himself.
No wonder, it’s like a greenhouse in here! Arkroid thought.
»A really great invention, this flex tunnel,« Scorge commented. »I integrated the tunnel with my old airlock, that’s why you can already feel my ship’s climate conditions although we’re actually still outside the ship. I salvaged it from a ship that was drifting in space, close to the Great Nebula. I think you call it the Orion Nebula. The crew had abandoned ship. Needless to say I took what I could use, which by the way, is legitimate according to galactic laws.«
Galactic laws, Arkroid thought.
He leaned with one hand against the tunnel wall for support, but quickly pulled his hand back. The tunnel walls were covered with pulsating, fine down.
»Is this tunnel organic?« he called out in surprise.
Atkins couldn’t resist touching the down covered tunnel wall too.
»Organic, self-cleaning and self-healing,« Scorge answered shortly. »It’s very practical and an excellent concept. I’ve never had problems with it.«
Arkroid and Atkins looked at each other.
Self-cleaning … sure! Arkroid thought.
»Jeez, Toiber, the Orion Nebula is 1,600 lightyears away from here,« Atkins whispered in awe.
»I know, Sammy, I know …«
Arkroid made up his mind not to be surprised anymore, just to absorb as much information as possible while he was onboard this ship.
> Although the ship looked like a Mayan pyramid from the outside, the interior was entirely different.
As the men entered the ship, they immediately felt the strangeness.
»This is just part of the airlock chamber, as you would probably call it. For me it’s just a transfer room,« explained Scorge. »You probably noticed a slight resistance when you entered the ship? That’s caused by an isolation shield, a precautionary measure, just in case we had a loss of pressure. The shield is strong enough to keep and maintain the pressure inside the ship. Don’t worry, that’s never happened so far!«
Arkroid had already heard of a similar technology. The Globustercave’s energy shield on Quaoar! The entrance had been sealed by a similar protection.
Is there a connection or is it just a related technology? he pondered.
Scorge led his visitors into his ship. Arkroid and Atkins felt they were entering an entirely different world.
Actually, it is a different world, thought Arkroid. A spaceship conceptualized and constructed by alien beings according to totally new and different ideas.
The illumination inside the ship was dimmed. It wasn’t a problem for Arkroid’s sensitive eyes. Atkins had a little more difficulty with it. The air was good, hot and humid.
Arkroid checked his multi-function wrist unit and read 35 degrees Celsius, relative humidity: 98 percent!
The floor had a rough coating with fine, wave-like grooves. After a short while, Arkroid understood that the floor texture was optimized for Scorge’s physique, providing an excellent grip for Scorge’s walking bands.
Both men discovered that immediately as Scorge led them at a startlingly high speed. The Shwakan moved faster than he did on board the orbital station.
The Yax K’uk’Mo’s interior had absolutely nothing in common with Solar Union Ships.
That was to be expected, Arkroid thought, fascinated.
Both men jogged after Scorge and Arkroid noticed a slight increase in gravity. He began to breathe heavier as a result and had to ask Scorge to stop for a moment.
NEBULAR Collection 1 - The Triton Base: Episodes 1 - 5 Page 20