Serve and Protect

by Douglas Varnell

  Once the gold shipment left the Verron warehouse compound, the other nine trucks were dispersed to various locations across the U.S. and Canada, carrying goods manufactured on Verron. Shortly afterwards a meeting was held in the Verron Tower conference room that included Freightliner, Isuzu, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo and others; as representatives of the trucking industry they were ready to enter into the new age of transportation.

  While transportation history was being made on Earth, the everyday transportation requirements of keeping a country operating that was spread out over four galaxies continued as usual. Paul decided to take Katelyn and Bart away from their surfboards, Tala and Brad off their mountain-bikes and Lydia away from spending every spare moment in a Fighter practicing with 99. There was a load of specially built Fighters and Light Destroyers built for the Lyncardi and two of the new Navy ships ready for delivery to Darsai. It was decided to use an R4 as a delivery vehicle, since it could handle all the ships being delivered and the tractor-beam made offloading much easier than a normal freighter. The rest of the crew was a mix of Androids, some new trainees from Salenzo, Grnardo and Tramlaw and a dozen Lyncardi who had been undergoing flight training on Verron. There was also a platoon of Marines; they were composed of a mix of many Nationals. Katelyn and Tala were thrilled to be getting off planet again and Brad was becoming very familiar with Verron aircraft. Bart was still a bit in awe of the ships, the alien life-forms and the fact that he was traveling at 400 times the speed of light while eating a pizza in the snack bar with a Crimson colored woman, a black and gold android and a Lyncardi. He wondered if he would ever come to see this as normal.

  The ship, passengers and cargo were well-received as they arrived to deliver their precious freight. There had to be a thousand Lyncardi and Sand-People swarming all over the inside of the R4. Some were off-loading their new Fighters and Light Destroyer’s, others were admiring the water-going ships and those Lyncardi onboard had to explain to their friends, who had never left Molnar before, how some planets had so much water that they needed these big ships to cross it. Several of the youngsters believed it was a lie until Queen Tala pulled out a communications device and let them look at some of the scenery of Verron. She soon had such an audience of little Lyncardi that she decided to entrust the unit to one of the older girls and let her show it around Molnar until she could return to get it back. The pride of the four-foot tall teenager was obvious as she strutted off the ship carrying the device, followed by dozens of curious Lyncardi. The most popular video was one of Katelyn and Bart surfing on 20 foot tall waves and the group of Lyncardi on boogie-boards at the beach party.

  This was the first time Katelyn had been to Darsai since the Volvs attack. Brad and Tala looked out over the killing fields where they had been at war with the beasts and were pleased to see the new life that exited there now. The valley of wheat-fields that used to surround the palace no longer exited. Instead there was a city, a large city, filled with hundreds of thousands of people. This city was well designed, with trees, gardens and parks everywhere. Even along the ridge tops that overlooked the valley, there were condominiums and apartment buildings with spectacular views of the valley, the city and the wide river on one side and millions of acres of pristine farmland on the other. Governor General Abarnikov still resided in the palace, but there was now a large government building in the center of the capital city, Tiffanis. A statue of King Darsai, his wife and his sister had been erected on the square so no one would ever forget the history of this great land. Across the square was a statue in honor of the Dark Knight. It was not only a tribute to Prince Hunter, but to all those men in armor who had rescued the planet from the Volvs.

  With Governor General Abarnikov being a former Russian Navy Captain, he was probably more excited than anyone on the planet about the arrival of his two new ships. Most of his original crew from his smuggling days were still on Darsai and had been preparing the crews of Darsai natives for the arrivals of the new vessels. There were an additional 50 men along with the ships to make certain everyone was completely trained on the unique flying ships. When the R4 hovered over the Ishonis River, named after the late King, and began to lower the ships into the river, thousands of wide-eyed on-lookers were everywhere there was a place to stand, observing these sleek 500 foot long ships of the sea. When the local crews climbed aboard with the Governor General leading the way, Brigadier General Katelyn Verron was given the honor of turning over the command to the new Captain. He was Admiral Vicktor Belochkin, a member of the original crew from Russia that now called Darsai home. Beside him was his friend and now Captain of one of the ships, Serge Volkov, who had forfeited his Spetsnaz Commando knife in a fair fight with Tala. He smiled at the little redheaded Colonel and her handsome boyfriend; she was wearing his knife in her boot. In attendance were representatives from Xhondar and the Cyclops militia. Bart now knew he would definitely not get accustomed to these people; a Cyclops in body armor was a terrifying sight to see.

  The R4 departed Darsai the next morning. It had been a festive occasion and the two sisters and their boyfriends were treated to a wonderful Russian meal of roasted lamb, red cabbage and potatoes, fresh baked rolls and before the meal a special treat of Caviar. Pyotr, the Russian ships engineer, had the idea of bringing Beluga Sturgeon to Darsai. Now five years later they were producing the finest caviar in the Universe. Beluga caviar sold for a small fortune on Earth and it seems the people who moved to Darsai from Xhondar were now exporting caviar to Xhondar I and II. Tala and Katelyn didn’t really even know what a sturgeon was until the Governor showed them a picture of him beside one that weighed almost a thousand pounds. Exports to Earth were doing very well and the premium Beluga from Darsai was considered even better than the black beluga from the Caspian Sea. Tala thought it was nasty and enjoyed her serving of real escargot instead. Katelyn actually liked the stuff; so did Bart and Brad.

  When it was time to leave, it was decided to proceed across the galaxy that contained Darsai before making their gateway across the huge void of space between there and the Whirlpool Galaxy. It was a beautiful galaxy full of spectacular star clusters and several black-holes. Some of their stars were monsters, over 20 times bigger than the ones around Verron. Katelyn was about to make a gateway across the void, when their sensors detected a faint signal about 500,000 miles away. It wasn’t the normal signature you would get from an antimatter reactor or nuclear reactor, but more like an electronic signature that pulsed sporadically. Tala had Lucy increase the reception strength on their sensors and it was determined to be some kind of signal, which was unusual to have a signal and no ship reactor signature. They moved cautiously in the direction of the transmission to get a closer look at the phenomenon. The R4 had traveled at .5 LS for a short time and that was when they saw it. At first the crew members weren’t sure exactly what it was, but soon realized it was a spaceship in trouble; a lot of trouble.

  With an estimated size of 2000 feet long by 800 feet wide, the ship was nowhere nearly as large as many they had encountered, but it also appeared that at least part of the ship was missing, in particular, the entire rear section where the reactors would normally be located. It was more than obvious the ship was in trouble. Travelling at .4 LS and spinning end-over-end, as it headed into an expanse of space between galaxies, the ship would be in the great void for hundreds of years before it even was close to another galaxy, much less any civilization. Katelyn had Lucy hale the distressed ship in a variety of languages, and though there was a return message, it was so hard to understand it they gave up trying and just decided to rescue the ship and see if they could communicate later. No matter what the outcome, they couldn’t allow a helpless ship to hurl across space with no power and no hope of ever reaching safety.

  Tala maneuvered the big R4 into position and matched the speed of the whirling vessel. The R4 crew opened the massive underside recovery doors and activated the tractor-beam. The first thing they noticed was that the ship they sought began to slowly reduc
e its rate of spin, soon coming to a complete halt. The recovery crew positioned the strange looking ship in what they hoped was the upright position, it was hard to tell the top from the bottom on the oblong spherical shaped vehicle, and began to pull it toward the recovery bay. Katelyn had the Marines suited and armored ready for whatever came out of the thing, even the girls and Bart and Brad where in their body armor. As the damaged ship was entering the bay, it became very clear that there had been a tremendous explosion in the rear section of the ship. It was a tangled mess of metal and wires and numerous sealed hatchways could be seen down the hallways that led into the heart of the ship. After doing test piloting and helping to make ships more user-friendly for the past 7 years, Katelyn and Tala could tell that if it had not been for the design of the ship, the entire thing would have been blown to shreds. As it was, they wondered just how many had survived and just how long they had been drifting through space like they were.

  At closer inspection, the hull of the ship seemed to be made of some sort of thick rubber and appeared to actually move, almost like it was taking an occasional breath. There was a slight wheezing sound each time it did and the sensors in the ships bay continued to record contaminated air in the bay even after the recovery doors were closed and the ventilation system was once again supplying breathable air quality for the human passengers. The Marines quickly surrounded the entire ship, while Lucy continued to access the communications system and make some sort of link to those, if any survived, inside. The R4’s air sensors recorded elevated levels of methane gas, chlorine gas, sulfuric acid, as well as hydrogen and helium. The closer to the ship the sensors got, the stronger the readings. With those kinds of gas leaks inside that ship, everyone assumed the worst for the passengers. No one could survive for long in an environment like that. Suddenly, without warning, a side access hatch opened just a few feet off the R4s deck. It looked tiny on the side of a ship that stood 10-stories high, but was in fact large enough to drive a car through. The access ramp was lowered to the ground and a bluish-green mist began to drift out the open door. Through the mist walked four creatures that looked like they had just been cast for a modern-day version of Creature from the Black Lagoon or Swamp Thing. Katelyn heard Bart mumble, “If Adrian Barbeau is behind them, I’m outta here.” She had no idea what he was talking about, he realized, and decided he would have to get her to watch the two classic movies with him.

  The four creatures that looked like a cross between and frog and a salamander, had wet slick greenish skin and webbed feet and hands. Their eyes were fish-like and they each wore a small tank on their back with an air-line feeding a small mask over their breathing orifice; or at least what was assumed to be a nose, it was hard to tell. The one in front held a device to his mouth and a guttural gurgling sound came out that actually was audible enough to comprehend as English. The creature informed them, “It took us a while to interpret your communications. By the time we were ready to respond, we were being pulled onto your rescue ship. We thank you for helping us. We had agreed we would be spinning through space until we died; for us that is a very long time.”

  Tala was the first to speak. She stepped closer and asked, “Who are you? Where do you come from? How did you get here?” The four men proceeded onto the floor of the R4 and to within a few feet of their welcoming committee. Their apparent leader spoke, saying, “I am Alkawara, commander of our intergalactic fleet. We are from a planet named Beangagarrie, estimated to be 60 light-years in the direction we just traveled. We were in pursuit of invaders who came to our world and took some of our residents. When we pushed our reactors beyond their capabilities while attempting to reach their superior speeds, our reactors exploded, throwing our ship into a spin. We have been traveling at that same trajectory for 8 of our years. We never caught those who took our relatives, but we soon found their bodies floating in space where they had been thrown from the fleeing ship. Parts of their bodies looked like they had been eaten. Have you ever seen any creatures in your travels that would do such a thing?” Tala muttered, “Volvs.” Katelyn then asked, “Did you get a chance to see these creatures?”

  If it was possible for a Swamp Thing to smile, this one did, saying, “The creatures could not live in our atmosphere and many of them died before they could leave. We have their decomposed bodies on our planet and our ship. Some of them were drifting in space with the other bodies we recovered. We didn’t have time to get but a few as we have no control of our speed or path we are on.” He then described the Volvs to a T. As he talked about their encounter with the Volvs, it was clear that they entered their planet with the intent of harvesting more food, but soon realized they could not survive in the heavy chemical environment on the planet that was layered in dozens of toxic fumes. They had already grabbed a few hundred residents and left the planet with their catch, only to find out that the meat was toxic to them. They threw the Beangagarrie off the ship along with those Volvs that had died after sampling the meat.

  After talking a bit longer, it was explained, that the crew on the ship numbered 300. Fifty of them had died during the reactor explosion; as best as Katelyn, Tala and Brad could figure out, the reactors where a cross between a nuclear and chemical reactor. Fortunately for them, the gas generators, that created the mixture they breathed, continued to function normally all these years. They lived off a fungus that grew on the ships walls and outer hull and required no water; they got all their moisture needs from the fungus and the damp chemicals they breathed. Their skin could handle a wide range of temperatures, and when in their homes, they did not use the vaporizing mist to breath; it tended to mess up the furniture. The rest of the crew exited the big fungus covered ship, each wearing their toxic gas respirators. They allowed the Marines onboard to inspect the ship and no doubt the Marines would have died if not for the body armor survival suites. Several of the men had their names and rank insignias painted on their armor. When they exited the ship, it had been dissolved in the moist warm acid inside the ship, they now understood why the entire ship was made of some sort of acid resistant plastic; no normal metal could endure the corrosive environment. It was decided that it would be best for everyone involved if the Beangagarrie stayed with their ship and the human’s occupied the R4 crew areas outside the recovery bay. That way, those on the alien vessel who wished to walk about inside the bay could do so and the rest of the ship and crew would remain safe from what was keeping their passengers alive.

  Navigator Angoona helped Lucy get access to their ships unusually designed computer system. The memory portion of the system was a big glob of gel with incredible storage and processing power. Once Lucy understood how the system operated, she was soon communicating with it to determine where exactly Beangagarrie was located. Fortunately, it was on the opposite side of the same galaxy as Darsai. It was determined that the Volvs had visited Beangagarrie prior to Darsai. It had taken them several years to locate and travel to their next target.

  After Lucy was able to decipher the trajectories and speeds of the Beangagarrie ship, the group of rescuers re-charted their course for the not too distant planet, at least it was in the same galaxy, so not too distant is a relative term. With the speeds the R4 was capable of, the 300 light-year trip was handled at normal flight speeds without a gateway. It was actually a pretty interesting and informative flight. Alkawara and Angoona joined Katelyn, Tala, Brad and Bart on the bridge and acted as tour guides through the wide variety of planets and stars they passed through. The Beangagarrie had at one time or another explored the majority of planets within 50 light years of their home and even discovered two other inhabitable planets where they occasionally harvested foods. Before any of the others could get excited, Katelyn reminded them, it was inhabitable for them, not humans. She then was informed that there was at least one other planet they had found that had the same poisonous atmosphere as the human ship. Not wanting to get their hopes up, Tala asked, “Exactly where is that other planet and will we be going near it on the way to yours.�
� Angoona studied the calculated route carefully and was amazed when Lucy placed a holographic image of the surrounding suns and planets right in the middle of the control room. He looked closely at the perfectly reproduced image and pointed to a small planet that was going to be passed on their starboard side in about an hour. Katelyn asked, “Would you and your crew mind it we took a slight detour, to at least launch some exploration drones. It will not delay you and we have no intentions of stopping there, but I can retrieve my drones on our return and determine if the planet is suitable for our race to inhabit.”

  The ship flew within 50,000 miles of the small planet’s surface and released ten whitematter-powered exploration drones. The drones could operate for years as they recorded data and sent feedback to Lucy. By the time they passed back this way, they would know if it was worth a closer look or not. The little blue ball was about the size of Mercury and appeared to have a radius of approximately 2000 miles and had at least two continents and large oceans. Beyond that observation, there was not much else to see or learn without further investigation. The exploration drones had discovered others with similar appearance, only to find poisonous waters, un-breathable atmosphere and in the case of Paradise, very unfriendly life-forms. Who knew what may await them on this little ball.

  In a few hours, the R4 approached what Lucy and previous explorers from Xhondar had labeled a gas-giant, assuming it to have no solid mass, just super dense gas forming a giant ball of densely compressed gasses in the nearby stars orbit. They also didn’t look much closer because it was too far away from the star to have temperatures compatible with humans. Katelyn noted, “We’ve been by this before on our way to that planet where we found nothing but bugs. It was disgusting. I swear a bug can live anywhere. I’m surprised we didn’t find the mother of all cockroaches there.” Bart smiled; he knew how much Katelyn hated bugs. The worst part about working with her on their missions into the forests and jungles of South and Central America was her constant complaining about the insects that were everywhere. He was surprised she didn’t test a planet buster on the place she was talking about. Then Alkawara added to her disgust, by saying, “You must be talking about Wxini, we often go there to harvest food. The crawling creatures that inhabit the planet leave heavy layers of very nutritious fungus everywhere they go. It has become a major source of our diet on Beangagarrie.” Katelyn almost got sick at the thought, “Bug droppings! These things eat bug droppings!” Tala was smiling at the obvious disgust on her sister’s face and asked, “Perhaps my sister and I could sample some of your foods when we visit your home.” Katelyn left the room; Bart and Brad where smiling but accused Tala of being cruel to her sister. Tala laughed and informed them, “You weren’t there when she put the snake in my bed.” Brad had the good sense to speak softly to Bart, saying, “I don’t know about you, but I’m staying out of this.”