"I guess that pretty much confirms what we suspected regarding motive," Jason said out loud to those on the bridge.
"The real question," Admiral Faragon added, "is where are they taking the slaves and how do we disassemble what is obviously a well-established practice. We can't tolerate having our citizens kidnapped and forced into bondage. On the other hand, it would be marvelous if we could find a way to avoid going to war."
Commander Kirkland turned from the First Officer's station he was at to address the Admiral hesitantly. "If I may speak freely, Sir?"
"Always Ken."
"Sir, I understand our priority has to be our citizens, but one of the GCP's founding principles is the acknowledgment that all sentients have certain inalienable rights, and that slavery is fundamentally at odds with a number of these. Having freed our people are we going to be content to allow such a practice to continue even if it no longer involves our citizens?"
The Admiral nodded thoughtfully. "I appreciate your concerns, and rest assured I share them. The problem as I see it comes down to the rights of a society to rule itself as it sees fit versus the rights of an individual within that society. Do we have the right to impose our morality on another group even when we find the actions of that society reprehensible?"
"Sir, that's above my pay grade, but I would counter with another question... At what point does a right become a responsibility?"
***
Cat shuffled forward a few inches. Everyone, to include the Torn Wing's complement of convicts and crew, were now on the Modos ship called the Bluefin. All were prisoners. The Bluefin was a slave transport, but it seemed to be more than that. In many ways, it was apparent that the ship was designed from the 'get go' to process slaves... Slaves of different biological and psychological backgrounds.
Each slave was run through a battery of tests. Some medical, some physical, some psychological. It seemed this ship was designed, in part, to prepare and quantify the newly acquired slaves for something. And if Cat was suspicious, which of course she was, she suspected that 'something' was prepping them for eventual sale.
One of the first things done was to remove all personal possessions. This included clothing, jewelry, and internal commlinks. This last was accomplished by inserting an ultra-thin needle and physically fusing the internal electronics of the links rather than their physical removal. It was obvious their captors had experience doing this because the procedure was almost painless and did not result in significant collateral damage to the surrounding tissues.
Cat had anticipated this contingency. Her ultra-advanced nanites provided a simulated commlink in the correct location. In addition, they cloaked her other enhancements. The Modos surgeon burned out the decoy without ever suspecting the deception. That had been about half an hour ago.
Cat shuffled a few more inches forward. She was slowly being ushered into a circular room with two Hoppers whose names she didn't yet know. In addition, there were several D'lralu, including her cybernetic friend Ben, already in the room. She reached out to Ben with her quantum link. As she had suspected, they were unable to remove or disable it on the cyborg.
'I see they left you your fur,' she said sub-vocally.
'That's more than they left you, it seems. There is something unsettling about seeing one's commanding officer in the buff as it were.'
Before she could respond the lights dimmed and the temperature dropped precipitously. Cat's nanite augmented eyes compensated automatically. It seemed the room was still illuminated, but the frequency of the light had shifted into the ultraviolet. Based on the reaction of everyone, with the exception of the cybernetically enhanced Ben, no one else could see in this light.
Cat pretended to grope out blindly. In addition, she swatted and folded one arm about herself to conserve heat. Her nanites automatically adjusted her heat signature to match that expected of a normal nude human exposed to the cold conditions present in the room. Her body began to shiver. It was all an act. In reality, she could easily survive direct exposure to the vacuum of space, but it was vital that she maintained the facade of being a normal human.
Since Ben was quite obviously a hybrid being, he had no such restriction. He immediately walked over to Cat and folded his first four arms around her and held her body close to his; ostensibly to share warmth.
"Thanks," Cat said out loud while adding through their covert entangled commlink, 'I think this is some type of test.'
'I agree.' Then, verbally, he added "There are clothes on the floor on the opposite side of those Hoppers."
"I can't see. Can you get them for me?"
"Certainly, Commodore."
Cat smiled despite herself. "Ben, it's just Private now."
Playing his predetermined role to the hilt, Ben responded forcefully, "Hogwash. That trial was a sham, and you know it. You were the finest officer in the fleet, and if the Admirals weren't afraid of you and your raw skill, you still would be!"
'I think you may be overacting a tad...'
'Perhaps but aside from the—afraid—part, most of what I just said is true. Besides, how often do I get to see you blush in your birthday suit?'
'My nanites are programmed to a very specific heat profile based on the environment, and that does not include blushing, you lecherous old dog!' Cat said via her internal commlink. Out loud she said, "Thanks, Ben."
The clothing confirmed her suspicions. It was a lightly silvered jumpsuit that fit her form snugly. Embedded within the fibers of the fabric were numerous sensors and, surprisingly, a low power microwave system that Cat suspected, based on an analysis of the frequencies involved, was a pain inducer.
There were no other articles of clothing designed for humans so Cat's hair hung free and she went shoeless. The jumpsuit did provide some warmth, but it was still uncomfortably cold. The others in the room continued to grope around randomly. Cat let Ben pull her out of the way of one of the heaviest Hoppers either of them had ever seen.
The frequency of light shifted once again, and Cat heard the D'lralu in the room mutter the Canine race's equivalent of a gasp. Clearly the spectrum was approaching visible frequencies for them. As the frequencies were still beyond the range of an unenhanced human, Cat continued to feign blindness.
Ben commented that it was getting lighter.
"Your eyes must be naturally better than mine," Cat said, between nanite-induced shivers, for the benefit of any Modos listeners. In point of fact, her enhanced vision could see in almost total darkness. They could easily function with little more than the reflected radiant heat of her body.
She kept a hand on Ben's mid-shoulder. It was important that they establish a visual bond in sight of their captors. If the analysis Cat had shared with the Admiralty board was correct, Ben's very survival might depend on the establishment of that bond. As a cyborg, the normal physical deterrents that applied to fully organic slaves might not apply to him. On the other hand, if she could be seen as a potential point of leverage for her friend, then the Modos would feel that both could be controlled.
The frequency of the ambient light shifted yet again. Cat's internal systems informed her that the frequency was finally in a range that normal humans could detect.
"It's getting brighter," Cat said out loud.
The Hoppers and the three D'lralu were milling about the center of the room. It was obvious that the Hoppers were just becoming able to see as well. This was not a surprise to Cat as she knew their visual acuity was roughly equivalent to humans, at least as far as luminosity was concerned.
Cat's ears picked up a subtle change in the sound from the ventilation system. A light mist entered the room. It had a smell that seemed to be an odd cross between an avocado and mint. Her internal Heshe encounter unit did a quick assessment and determined it was an aerosolized form of diphenhydramine. In addition to being an antihistamine, it also was a mild sleeping aid. In the concentrations present it would have little effect on a human other than to clear up a little congestion. The effects
on both the Hoppers and D'lralu were far more pronounced. The Hoppers practically collapsed in place. The D'lralu became markedly agitated, snapping at each other (and in one case drawing blood), before they too collapsed.
A familiar voice filled the round room. It was the synthetic voice she associated with Captain Running Stream.
"Please be so good as to place an appropriate control collar on each of the others."
"No," Cat said calmly.
"Forgive me. I phrased the statement like a request. Understand me when I tell you it was not."
"No," Cat repeated.
"Perhaps I need to make myself clear."
Several dozen circuits, embedded in Cat's jumpsuit, activated. They emitted a microwave pulse that penetrated just deep enough through her skin to stimulate the nerve endings located there. Her nanites blocked the pain centers of her brain. At the same time her AI, which resided in her internal and fully cloaked Heshe encounter unit, calculated the probable effect on a normal human. It sent appropriate simulated responses to various parts of her body. Her muscles spasmed, and she crumpled to the ground in what looked to be complete agony.
The pain emitters stopped. Cat continued the ruse by gasping for breath. Ben reached down to help her up. His eyes were wide despite knowing about Cat's technological advantages.
"I trust I will have your cooperation now," Captain Running Stream continued.
"No," Cat said between clenched teeth. "I will not give you the ability to do this for others."
She began to remove her jumpsuit but the moment her hands touched the fastener her body was ravaged by another round of debilitating agony. This time it did not stop after a moment.
"MAKE IT STOP!" Ben yelled while trying to hold her still.
"Then place the collars on the others," the voice said patiently, as if it were a parent talking to a slow child.
"OK, OK... I'm doing it!" Ben yelled over Cat's very realistic screams. Ben quickly located the clasps on each of the collars and placed one each of the others. As he finished Cat's thrashing subsided.
"Let that be a lesson to you my cybernetic friend. Each of these others I can control directly. Should you disobey me your human friend will suffer greatly. Do we understand each other?"
"Yes."
"I'm sorry... what?"
"Yes…Master."
Chapter Three: Bait Taken...
Cat moved down the chow line with Ben at her side. Earlier in the day they had run into Sassi as they were marched down a hall between the Gym and medical. Sassi had indicated he would try to find them at the quarter day meal. The Modos fed them four times a day at exact quarter day increments.
Although they had been onboard the Modos ship for less than a week, their days had developed a pattern of sorts. They would endure a battery of physical endurance tests followed by a medical review. The Modos were efficient if nothing else. Cat was thankful for her AI, Cal. He kept close tabs on the plethora of fictitious biometric signatures her body supplied for the ever inquisitive Modos med-scanners.
"So," Ben said as he shuffled next to her. "Are you going to go with the grey gruel or the pink today?"
Cat smiled. "I was thinking of mixing the two today. After all, diversity is the spice of life."
He chuckled. "I respectfully disagree. The spice of life is cocoa, for surely there is no greater sign of the divine then the presence of chocolate in this universe!"
"And no surer sign we are in hell without it," Cat added.
"You're a cheerful bunch," a familiar voice said from behind them.
As one, the two turned to see Sassi.
The bird-like Ashkelon was preening his low-frequency antenna. There was a thin metallic band around the base. He was being extremely careful not to touch it.
"I take it that silver ring is your control collar."
Sassi chuckled. Until you've seen a giant, silky, moth-like bird laugh you haven't experienced the fullness of life. In the Ashkelon, a chuckle took the form of a head to tail fur ripple that rolled from one end to the other and back.
"OK, I bite," Ben said. "Why are you laughing?"
Sassi calmed down and continued out loud, "It is indeed, as you suspected, a control collar. I made the mistake of touching it once right after they put it on. The pain was debilitating."
"And the memory of this makes you laugh?"
"I believe the humans have a similar condition known as a 'Laughter Stress Response.'"
"Ah..." Ben said, although it was obvious he still didn't understand.
Cat grabbed her tray. The 'slave inductees' as their captors called them were given forty minutes for meal breaks. Despite her earlier conversation with Ben, the food supplied was actually very good. Various animal-based proteins as well as a wide selection of fruits and vegetables were provided. The gruel to which Ben referred to earlier was a slightly fruity synthetic vitamin and enzyme concoction that was specifically tailored to the physiological systems of each species, to aid in the digestion of these foodstuffs. They were the only required item for each of the inductees to consume. The gruel was race specific, but each race had at least two flavor choices. It seemed their captors wanted them well fed.
For Cat, the gruel was superfluous because her Heshe nanites converted any available source material into whatever nutrient her body needed. The idea, however, was to not advertise her enhancements, so she obediently ate the required two teaspoons of gruel with each meal.
The three friends sat at a corner table in what passed for the Modos slave mess hall.
"They are certainly pushing us thru a wide variety of physical tests," Cat said as she chewed on a relatively decent pseudo-hamburger. She tried not to think about what creature might have been the source of the animal protein.
Sassi sipped at a glass of nectar and nibbled on a piece of something that looked like a blue frog leg.
"I think that may be about to change," the Ashkelon said.
Ben nodded for him to continue.
Sassi put the glass down and used a delicate forward pincer to brush the fur around his mouthpart clean.
"They started pulling people from my cohort out of the gym. When they came back, the word was they were given a series of puzzles to solve. Those that solved the puzzles were kept longer."
"Makes sense," Cat said. "Any organization like this would need to have some type of structure to include team leads, etc. It's important we do well on those aptitude tests."
To Ben, via her quantum link, she added 'It may be the only way we can get a chance to see through a viewport.'
Sassi did not have a working quantum link, so she had no secure way to share this thought with him. Like all of the captives, he had an amulet that was the Modos tech equivalent of an encounter unit. It provided a very reasonable bidirectional translation. Cat was under no illusion, however, with regard to their privacy.
They had been on the ship for quite a while at this point, but neither Ben nor Cat had been allowed to see a local star pattern. This was disconcerting.
As per their orders, both Ben and Cat were in regular contact with the GCP via their FTL links. This was possible, it seemed, because the Modos did not have access to FTL communication and so they were not aware that Ben had this capability built into his cybernetic systems. Unfortunately without a star pattern for reference, neither Ben nor Cat could report their location. In addition, the nature of quantum entangled communications meant the signal, available to any encoded receiver instantly, could not be used to triangulate their location.
"Doing well on an aptitude test should be a piece of cake for the famous Hyper-field physicist Dr. Catherine Kimbridge," Ben said with a grin.
"And Sassi was a professional navigational computer before he became a communications officer. Calculating hyperfield jump coordinates in your head has got to be useful for something," Cat offered.
"So the only one of us we need to worry about is our resident puppy dog..." Sassi added as his fur resumed its undulation. "Maybe they'll
just want to see if they can teach him to fetch or roll over."
"I'll roll YOU over," Ben said in mock anger while raising two of his six legs to make-believe strike his friend.
A buzzer sounded, indicating that the meal period had ended.
A 'Bearephant' came into the mess hall. A 'Bearephant' was a massive bear-like animal that had an elephant-like nose that could be used for delicate manipulation. As far as Cat could determine they were not especially intelligent in their own right. However, that is not where the story ended.
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