Scorge seemed embarrassed.
»I have to ask for your forgiveness. The ship’s climate is adjusted to my needs and as I would find it on my home-planet. I just hope that my ecosphere is acceptable to yours.«
»You live on a planet with higher gravity, Scorge,« remarked Atkins breathlessly.
»Since this was a statement instead of a question, I’ll acknowledge it,« answered Scorge with a hint of humor. »Hexaquotl has a diameter of 14,300 of your standard length units and is, therefore, bigger than Earth. Its gravity is about thirty-five percent higher.«
That’s why the Shwakans didn’t develop legs but walking bands, which are more efficient, Arkroid mused silently.
They continued their walk through a corridor which extended along the vertical axis of the ship. Bulge-like, framed openings led to different rooms and sections of the ship. Atkins and Arkroid were able to glance into some of the rooms, but there was nothing that even remotely resembled anything familiar.
Some of the rooms were closed. The doors didn’t seem metallic, but organic, their surfaces shimmering in different colors under the dimmed light with symbols of an alien language.
»Are you really all alone on this huge ship, Scorge?« Arkroid asked, depressed by the thought. No Human could endure such loneliness.
»Certainly not. I have helpers on board. We might be meeting some of them with a little bit of luck.«
Scorge didn’t seem to want to explain further and Arkroid decided not to ask any more questions at this point.
The further they progressed into the ship, the stranger it became. The dimmed light, the thick water-vapor atmosphere, higher gravity and then the unfamiliar outfitting of the rooms … Arkroid received a foretaste of what was in store for Humanity.
After endless-seeming minutes of walking through the ship, Scorge stopped before a large gate.
»Behind this gate is a storage room with goods for you. Take all the time you need to find what you want. I’ll leave you for a couple of time units to check on my ship. I’ll be back soon. I still have one more question for you, though.«
Arkroid looked at the gate with burning eyes. What was behind that gate? Was it really just a storage room full of junk? How could they assess what purpose these extraterrestrial devices had and how they worked? It seemed like a game to Scorge.
Arkroid felt uncomfortable.
»What’s your question?« asked Atkins.
You’re playing a game of questions and answers with a being that is way older than you and has traveled through cosmic regions we can only dream about, Arkroid thought. Did Scorge have some strategy behind his game? Or was it just plain fun for him?
»Well then, my young friend. I would like to know what this energy signature is that I have detected, coming from the ice continent. Ever since I arrived here, I have heard these signals.«
Atkins looked to Arkroid for help, but Toiber Arkroid just shrugged.
You wanted it this way, young friend, Arkroid mocked inwardly, still looking at Atkins.
Scorge turned around.
»Think about it. Take you time, you can tell me later. I’ll leave you now and be back soon.«
»We’re supposed to stay here, without you?« Atkins asked fearfully.
»Exactly, my young friend.«
»Part of the deal is that you have to open this gate without my help. Okay?« Scorge addressed Arkroid.
With clicking noises, Scorge left and disappeared into a side corridor.
»This is wonderful!« whispered Atkins. »Is this some sort of intelligence test for stone age people on their way to conquer the universe?«
»No doubt, Scorge has a strange sense of humor. Very Human of him, don’t you think, Sammy?«
Atkins inspected the thick gate from all angles.
»So, behind that gate are all the goodies Scorge doesn’t want to tell us anything about. But first we need to solve the opening mechanism. I bet he’s watching us and laughing himself silly.«
»Possibly,« answered Arkroid, pondering. »I think it’s more than just a little game or a practical joke. What did he mean by signature, Sammy?«
»Ice continent,« Atkins repeated. »Sounds like Antarctica.«
Arkroid nodded.
»That’s obvious. But what’s there, other than meter thick ice and dangerous UV-rays?«
Atkins ran his hand through his curly, sweaty hair.
»There are supposed to be UV resistant plants along the coastlines of Antarctica. Didn’t you know? The scientists assume that the seeds had been preserved under the eternal ice layers. Global warming melted the ice, enabling them to germinate after millions of years.«
Preserved under the ice …, Arkroid thought.
»How do we open this bloody gate, Sammy?«
Atkins felt with his fingers over the gate’s surface.
»Is there no doorknob or something like it?«
Arkroid just smiled.
»Don’t think in Human terms, think like a Shwakan, Sammy!«
Atkins frowned.
»For that, I lack some tentacles, Toiber.«
»That’s it, Sammy. Let’s inspect the gate again, but this time from a different perspective. I have an idea.«
64 Containers
Information flew back and forth between Admiral Hayes and his advisors: data, questions, formulas, theories. Toiber Arkroid and Sammy Atkins had been inside Scorge’s ship for over an hour. All attempts to contact them had failed since they had first entered.
The signals reported by Triton Base had been confirmed by Luna SETI and relayed to Hayes. Triton was 10 times more sensitive than the older antenna array on Luna, yet Luna too received the alien signals without a problem.
The large command holo was still displaying the Pyramidship – as it was now called officially – docked to the orbital station and connected via the flex tunnel. The last reception from Arkroid hinted that the connection tunnel was at least partly organic; the Shwakan supposedly had salvaged it from an abandoned spaceship in the Orion Nebula and easily integrated it into his ship’s systems. If that wasn’t enough to send the science and tech people scrambling, then Arkroid’s report that Scorge had found the technology 1,600 lightyears from Earth did. Scorge must have traveled incredible distances.
Which means, Hayes thought, that organic technology is commonplace in the galaxy, or else that our cosmic junk trader is a genius with unfamiliar technologies.
Hayes believed both scenarios to be true – which would make Scorge a valuable ally.
»I’d like to know what’s going on in that ship,« remarked one of Hayes’ scientific staff members. »Is Arkroid even qualified to conduct a diplomatic mission?«
»Don’t doubt it. I had my reservations at first too, but I’ve changed my mind. You have to have a hell of respect for this guy. Would you dare to enter an alien spaceship and trust Scorge with your life, with no idea of what to expect?«
Embarrassed, the scientist looked at his shoes.
»Damn right,« Hayes added. »Arkroid is the man for the job! Trust me – and trust him!«
A message from another control center reached Hayes.
»Admiral, 64 special containers of biomass are being set up at Crete Spaceport, harvested from four different submarine cities. Most of it comes from Agua City. The Merinians volunteered to supply biomass for Arkroid’s mission.«
Hayes smiled.
»No wonder! Merinians stick together like a school of fish, and Arkroid’s one of them! Contact the Pyramidship and let them know where to pick up the biomass. I want to see how Scorge is going to manage the transport of our 64 containers.«
Just physical effects
Suddenly, sirens wailed across Crete spaceport’s landing fields. Technicians and workers began to run for safety. Panic prevailed as spaceport officials admitted they didn’t know the reason for the evac-alert.
Disinformation gave rise to fear. Some workers rumored that the alien had changed his mind and was about to attack the spac
eport. Spaceport security had their hands full trying to calm the workers, staff, and passengers.
Curious people had gathered with their cameras at the perimeter fences and public areas hours before, waiting for a spectacle. Many even speculated that Scorge would show up with his ship over Crete.
Even these people were struck with fear when they heard the sirens wailing. Many of them hastily retreated from the spaceport proper and returned to their vehicles.
Suddenly screams of excitement went through the spectators and everybody looked to the sky.
The panic was unfounded. No energy beam came from the sky and no army of robots descended onto the spaceport area. Instead, a blue shining energy curtain enveloped the containers. The air was rustling with static discharges. The smell of ozone penetrated the area while the color of the faint energy field increased.
Astonished screams sounded together with spontaneous applause.
»It looks like Northern Lights,« some people suggested. »Unbelievable,« was all some of them could find to say about the phenomenon. The media was also present and transmitted the pictures around the globe, to Mars and the Moon.
Then suddenly the containers lifted off the ground as if moved by ghost hands, and ascended into the sky.
Murmuring went through the crowds. At first it went slowly then the containers picked up speed. Accurately lined up, the containers disappeared behind the clouds.
This was a perfect surprise to everyone. Nobody had expected such a demonstration of technological prowess.
Admiral Hayes, who witnessed the events from his command central, paled and was utterly speechless. He wasn’t the only one, though.
»How does he do that?« the admiral whispered as he watched the pictures transmitted from the orbital station.
The containers were arranged like pearls on a string, each of them measuring 5 meters along the edges with a capacity of 125 cubic meters.
After leaving Earth’s atmosphere, they flew straight toward the Shwakan Pyramidship, where they disappeared behind massive airlock gates one after another. The transport field extinguished after all of the containers had been loaded.
»I think it’s some sort of combined physical effect,« speculated somebody from among Hayes’ scientific advisors. »First, he eliminated the gravitational pull on the containers … just neutralized Earth’s gravity around the containers, then he transported the containers with a second, polarized energy field into his ship. Yes … yes … that’s how he did it.«
»That’s how he did it, eh?« Hayes barked at the scientist. »The Shwakan just transported several thousand tons of sheer weight into orbit, with his so-called physical effects!«
The scientists looked at each other. All they could do was speculate how it could have been done; how it was technically achieved was way beyond their grasp.
Hayes cleared his throat.
»Okay then, Scorge has picked up his biomass. Now it’s our turn, and we’ll see what we get in return for it.«
A strange energy matrix
Atkins felt with both hands across the gate and tried to find the opening mechanism.
»The gate has a rough surface and feels warm to the touch. I don’t believe it’s made of metal,« he said.
Arkroid looked around. He was tempted to go into the other, adjacent rooms and snoop around, but he controlled his urge; it could be viewed by Scorge as a betrayal. That was a risk Arkroid didn’t want to take.
»Everything around here feels warm,« Arkroid joked. »We’ll be a couple of pounds lighter when we return to the station. Special technology is essential in this humid environment. Our computers would have probably failed already.«
Atkins was sweating bullets.
»It’s like a sauna in here. We should have taken the suits along, at least we would have had our own climate environment and …«
»… and our communication and freedom of movement would be more difficult and restricted. Besides, Scorge might have not liked the idea, because it would show distrust,« Arkroid interrupted.
»So, what’s with that gate? Have you discovered its secret yet?«
Atkins shook his head.
»I can’t find the damn opening mechanism. The only differences in the gate’s surface are these ten circular indentations on both sides,« Atkins explained and pointed at the indentations.
Suddenly, Arkroid smiled knowingly.
»Put your fingers in those indentations! We both have to do it together to open the gate. The sensor contacts are too far away from each other for Humans to reach them on both sides at the same time.«
»Sensor contacts?« Atkins asked surprised.
»Sensors or something like that,« Arkroid answered, convinced.
They had to stretch their arms fully to cover all the sensor pads; but as soon as they had touched all the pads simultaneously, the gate opened with a grinding sound, and a wave of warm, humid vapor air filled the corridor. As soon as the fog settled they could see into a large, dark room.
Their shirts were sticking to their bodies and sweat was literally flowing from their foreheads, dripping onto their chests.
»I almost missed this fog,« Atkins mocked and frowned. »How did you know?«
»Easy,« Arkroid pretended. »These are sensor pads for Shwakan tentacles. They just extend them and touch the pads. Observation is the key to understanding how certain things work around here. Just like us, they create their environments ergonomically. We just follow different criteria than the Shwakans.«
As soon as Arkroid finished his sentence the large room in front of them lit up dimly in a colorless light.
»Do you see this, Toiber?«
»Yes, I do, Sammy.«
The room was at least thirty meters high and deep. The walls were covered with shelves reaching all the way to the ceiling. They were filled with all kinds of strange looking devices and goods.
»There it is!« remarked Atkins. »It really seems that Scorge has all the technological junk of the universe collected in this room.«
»You’ve heard it said, Sammy, everything is relative,« Arkroid whispered, »remember what Scorge said: ‘One man’s junk is the other one’s treasure’. Don’t forget, this is alien technology! Regardless of whether it still works or not, they would rip this stuff out of your hands on Earth. All of this comes from different worlds. Our scientists would have a cross section of various technologies from around the galaxy to work with. Some people would sell their souls to the Devil to rummage through this depot for a couple of months.«
Atkins hadn’t evaluated it from that perspective yet. He just nodded and walked toward a table, upon which, a blue shimmering object had been placed.
»Look at this, Toiber, I bet this was just recently acquired. Even the packaging is still on the table. It looks like an oversized butterfly cocoon, or something similar.«
Arkroid came around the table and looked at it from all sides.
»It doesn’t look at all like a technical device,« he said.
»But it is!« a voice sounded from the gate, making the two men twitch.
Scorge moved smoothly through the opened gate which closed behind him again.
»You’ve mastered the little test, I see.«
Arkroid nodded.
»The gate, you mean? Huh, that wasn’t a problem at all. We’re wondering, though, what this might be?«
Scorge came swiftly closer, sounding like a hen sitting on her eggs.
»I can’t pronounce the name of that device, so I assume you can’t either. The Kra’ap use it. They are insectoids and involve themselves in tough ritual fights, especially when both Kra’apas moons eclipse over each other. Then they fight and injuries are a regular occurrence. This sarcophagus can heal the wounds to their quinine shells. This device is, however, totally useless to Humans; possibly even deadly. I advise you not to try it out.«
Unconsciously, Atkins stepped back from the table.
»Not to worry, young friend,« Scorge attempted to calm Atki
ns. »The sarcophagus can only be opened through telepathy. You don’t have the biological preconditioning.«
Arkroid cleared his throat.
»As you can see, Scorge, we need your help to select the right things for us.«
»First the answer to my question,« Scorge insisted.
»We discussed the signature, but we still don’t know what you’re referring to,« replied Arkroid.
Scorge raised one of his tentacles.
»There’s a strange energy matrix underneath the ice on the South Pole of your planet. The matrix is atypical of your technological development. At first I thought that you were hiding something from me, but now I believe that you people honestly don’t know what I’m talking about. You’re reaching for the stars but don’t know your own world.«
Scorge had a hard time holding on to himself and Arkroid wasn’t sure if Scorge was angry or merely amused.
»We really don’t know anything about this matrix. Could it be a natural phenomenon, related to Earth’s magnetic field?«
This time, Scorge laughed out loud and for a long while. At least Arkroid interpreted it this way.
»You really don’t know! I’m sure you’ll discover the secret soon!«
No resistance
The Sleeper had achieved maximum charge and began to extend his ‘feelers’ into space. He was tensed and felt ready for optimum performance.
A nice feeling! This power, this cosmic might!
He was searching for a suitable target body, a being, which for a short time, would serve as a substitute body for his spirit. He longed to free his body from this prison.
Prison? thought the Sleeper, amused.
He realized that there was no prison for him, neither for his spirit nor his body! At the same moment, the charging process reached the critical level and he sensed how his soul separated from his body.
This is not a body, it’s a machine!
Fractions of a second later he possessed eyes again after countless years – and he saw through them! Only then did he recognize the breathing biological body he had transferred to.
The Sleeper needed a couple of seconds to orient himself, because of the poor lighting. Obviously, his host body had problems with this light. It also perspired heavily. The Sleeper ran the host’s hand through his sweaty hair. It was humid and warm.
NEBULAR Collection 1 - The Triton Base: Episodes 1 - 5 Page 21