The Circle and Star

by John Foster

  “I thought you said the Soshi were friendly,” said Theo looking over his shoulder at West.

  “I suppose we caught them in a bad mood,” said West looking at the fight developing behind them as they quickly pulled away into the safety of the asteroid belt and wreckage of battle torn ships that had been the earlier location of the battle.

  “West, I’m getting a distress signal from one of the wrecks,” Leda called out.

  The Paradig sped into the mass of giant boulders and asteroids, where blackened and destroyed space ships floated like so much flotsam.

  “Where’s the beacon coming from?” asked West.

  “It’s an odd signal but definitely distress. It may be Soshi,” said Leda looking up from her keyboard.

  “I don’t think we should be doing rescues at a time like this. After all, the Soshi were ready to terminate us with a missile shower,” said Theo.

  “We don’t know that. Arming their weapons and pulling the trigger are quite different,” said West looking over at Theo.

  “We know your friends with the Soshi, Captain but they just tried to kill us. The only reason that whole battery of missiles wasn’t used on us was because of the Sovar ship. It’s probable, that the Sovar ship was trying to protect us,” said Dickens.

  West looked at Dickens skeptically. “I trust the Soshi far more than I do the Sovar. The Soshi are a good people and honorable. We don’t really know why they’re at war with the Sovar other than some territorial dispute but they never gave us cause for any concern,” said West.

  “I think the Captain is right about the Soshi. They’ve never done anything but protect their privacy and have never asked for anything except music,” said Madison looking toward West when she added the last part.

  “It’s my decision and it may help us with the Soshi later on,” said West.

  “Yes, but it may alienate the Sovar at the same time,” said Dickens who was looking grave.

  “Distance?” said West looking at Madison.

  “Two units and closing,” she answered.

  Coming at the wrecked Soshi vessel was another space ship but its occupants had a far more sinister goal. The Nafti scout was closing on the ship with its cloaking device activated hoping to escape any attention that the distress beacon might bring.

  “Bring us about and close on the port side near the bridge.” ordered Zerg, his black robes unmoving as he stood in the command circle of the ship. Bright lights danced at his feet in a steady rhythm of movement. His right arm holding a tall staff mounted with a large crystal. As his eyes moved across the crystal atop it, the ship maneuvered and came close to the Soshi ship. He then flicked an eye and the cloak that had protected them switched off.

  “Report!” said Zerg.

  “Enemy ship closing and fast. Vectoring in from the opposite side of the wreck,” said the human slave who was white skinned.

  Zerg flicked his eye again over the top of the staff and the ship blinked out of sight. The ship hummed with power as the cloaking device drew power to hide itself. “Status?” Zerg called out.

  “Enemy ship is closing on the wreck, apparently going in to respond to the distress call,” said the slave.

  A smile played over Zerg’s hooded face. “Well, it looks like we’ll have some new crew members,” said Zerg and then continued, “Order the capture team to the wreck.”

  “As you order,” said the Slave.

  A crew of six Sovar clones and two of the Saars all dressed in darkened space suits marched to the main ship air locks on the side of the wreck and opened them to the faint glow of space and the nearby ship where some electrical systems still sputtered. Zerg flicked another eye and the view screen changed to infrared light and the space suited crew suddenly lit up as if in full light. They floated over to the ship with the clones entering through an exterior door that they blew open with a small explosive. The two Saars crawled about the outer hull disappearing from sight as they rounded the side of the smoldering wreck.

  A huge Saar appeared at the side of Zerg and formally saluted. “Permission to join the slave team?”

  “No, you will remain here, until needed,” said Zerg.

  “The Saars are dangerous on their own and may damage the humanoid cargo,” said the heavily muscled Saar.

  “Yes, they may but I don’t know how many of the intruders there are and the Saars will keep them busy while our clone team investigates the distress signal. We need bodies and the opportunity to recruit or experiment doesn’t come often,” said Zerg.

  The huge Saar nodded and stood silently waiting.

  “There’s a faint signal coming from what I think is their command bridge,” said Leda.

  “Very good. Close to within 10 meters and we’ll see if there are any Soshi alive in there,” said West.

  “Okay, Captain, how many crew do you want?” asked Theo.

  “I’ll take five, which should do the trick. We’ll enter through the closest entry and then make our way to the bridge. Dickens, Volkum, Madison, myself, and Thomas will go. Arm yourselves with light weapons and small explosives. We’ll probably need to make some of our own entry and exit points as we proceed through the ship. Theo, you have a couple of heavy weapon teams ready to come to our aid if I call for it or you see a need,” said West.

  Later in the main airlock the team members stood ready, Thomas and Madison with the small explosives strapped to their suits and the others with weapons on short tethers within reach.

  “Okay, we’re not gonna spend too much time here, we’ll see if anyone is alive and attempt to rescue them if there are. Look for spacesuits that appear to be usable and bring them along. Keep in constant communication and don’t stray away. We’ll split into two teams, with Thomas, Dickens, and Volkum on one and Madison and myself on another. We’ll head directly down the main corridor to the bridge, you all look for spacesuits that our victims could use assuming they’re alive,” said West.

  “Why are we looking for space suits Chief?” asked Volkum.

  “Just in case any survivors don’t have access to them. If we find any crew, then we’ll have the environmental suits that they’ll need.”

  The door opened and they lifted slowly into the space between the two ships. Small jets on their suits propelled them noiselessly towards the hulk. The main door of the Soshi ship was solidly sealed but surprisingly opened when Madison touched the main control panel on the side of the door. “Thought I’d try the easy way first,” said Madison.

  West shook his head and chuckled a bit and then half the team entered the airlock and closed the door while the rest waited outside peering in through the view port in the door. In the dark interior, nothing could be seen except for a few emergency lights and flickering of sputtering sparks dancing about some of the damaged panels on the side of the main corridor.

  West held out his pistol, which was a laser weapon and had no recoil. Recoil in space could send him spiraling into the solar system as a new UFO and that was something he wished to avoid. “Show time,” West said and Madison punched the interior door toggle and it slid open part way. Repeated toggling failed to open it farther. West put his shoulder to it and shoved which slowly widened the gap. Eventually, he was able to slide it open enough to pass through.

  “Theo would never have made it,” said West as he struggled through.

  “I heard that!” said Theo over the suit intercom.

  “Sometimes these things are too efficient,” said West looking towards Madison.

  Madison smiled and pushed West into the corridor. At his feet, there was a small hole about the size of human head and he could see stars through it. He lifted his head and he could see the hole passed entirely through the ship.

  “Okay you guys can come through, there’s no pressure in here or atmosphere,” said West to the team waiting outside. The outer door opened and the others crowded through.

  West and the others activated their helmet lights and the area was suddenly illuminated. Cables
hanging from the ceiling and walls snaked in and out giving movement that caught the eye. An occasional spark brightened an area and then fizzled out, sputtering.

  “Single file,” said West. The passage was littered with debris and the floor was buckled from the explosions that had rocked it in the battle.

  “Paradig? Is there any activity from the engines?” asked West.

  “Hold. No, nothing but we’re seeing a power surge from the opposite end of the ship. Can’t make out what it is but a lot of energy is being generated, but it keeps fading in and out,” said Theo.

  “Okay, if it changes, let us know. Out.”

  The rescue team continued to make their way down the corridor. West figured the ship was about 300 meters long and they had entered it on the tail end where the engines were located. The bridge on the Soshi ships was generally similar to earth ships and the distress signal appeared to be coming from that area which had the highest protection.

  As they made their way, West noticed what appeared to be a laboratory with crew quarters. “Madison, take Dickens and check that set of rooms, one of them looks like a laboratory and Dickens check to see if there are any space suits in there. We’ll leave markers of our direction if we lose radio contact,” said West turning to look at Dickens and Madison.

  Madison turned to West and said, “I think I would be more useful at the bridge in the event that we can access it. We can always return to this section if Dickens finds anything useful. Thomas can be my stand-in and he knows what to look for.” She gave Thomas a reassuring pat on the back as she was speaking to West.

  “Okay, I’ll go with that,” said West and turned to Dickens and Thomas and said, “You guys go ahead on your own and check the crew quarters first for spacesuits and then turn and go into the laboratory.”

  “Aye,” said Dickens and he and Thomas turned off and entered into a large room with capsules evenly arranged along one wall except where obvious damage had tossed them about. A large hole in the ceiling led to inky black space and Dickens could see the body of a Soshi impaled on a needle-sharp section of the hull near the ceiling. The suction of the decompression had jerked the body upward into the jagged edges of the hole where it now floated.

  Thomas stared and Dickens noticing said “Come on, you’ll see more of that before we’re done today,” and walked slowly to the cabinets lining the wall and started to pull them open and check them. Thomas moved to the other side, pulling out a hand light, and started to search among the debris and scorched equipment along the other wall.

  Near the jagged hole on the outside was a furtive movement, a clawed hand encased in a jet-black contour hugging material grabbed the edge of the hole and started to slowly pull itself down into the compartment below. The dim outline of another creature behind it crouched and waited its turn. The two men below were unaware of the intruders approaching from above. Thomas who was closest to the gaping hole, noticed that the light around him on the reflective surface of the floor was winking and he instinctively looked up to see a leering face full of fangs looking directly at him from a foot away dangling from the ceiling. It had a fitted face mask and had long talons grasping a strut in the ceiling. The creature grabbed Thomas by the throat and pulled him towards its hideous face as it licked it lips and chewed noiselessly within its helmet. Thomas tried to yell, but the creature had too strong a grip around his throat and couldn’t make a sound but he raised his hands to pull off the grip of the monster but his arms were easily warded off by the other arm of the powerful creature who playfully swung Thomas as if he were a mere toy. Thomas felt himself losing consciousness Out of desperation, he could only propel the hand light towards where he hoped Dickens would see it, then he lost consciousness, and his body went limp. The creature pulled Thomas up to his face plate and saw the man turning blue and then remembered he was to take prisoners and this one wasn’t for food yet. He drooled. Querg didn’t often get meat, just the paste and cardboard that he and the others ate. He briefly considered taking a bite out of the man he held but he knew that the Boss Saar would know and punish Querg severely. The other Saar, Sever, touched his leg in question and Querg pulled the body of Thomas possessively to him and thrusting his head towards Sever and snarled with teeth and salvia bubbling around the face plate. Sever recoiled, snarled back, and reached out and grabbed Thomas’s limp leg and gave a tentative pull. Querg pulled back still grasping Thomas by the neck and they struggled in a noiseless tug of war.

  The hand light that Thomas had futilely pushed towards Dickens moved slowly through the airless void of the room, slowly rotating the light in a circle as it headed to an area not far from Dickens. Dickens concentrating on all the strange items he was encountering in the cabinets at first didn’t pay much attention to the pulsing of the light as it made its way toward him. He was dimly aware of it but as it approached it also grew in intensity and he suddenly grew curious as to why Thomas was fiddling with his light and coming towards him. Loath to put down the items, he became irritated and turned to see what Thomas was doing. As he turned his attitude changed from irritation to puzzlement as he saw that it was a hand light slowly spiraling toward him in the cold darkness. He then saw that the helmet light on Thomas was frantically moving near the ceiling and at first couldn’t make out why Thomas was floating near the roof of the chamber. He then saw with horror that Thomas was being pulled in some gruesome tug of war by two humanoids with long arms and long curving claws encased in some type of black form fitting spacesuit. The creatures hadn’t seen him so he moved backwards not taking his eyes off the two battling for Thomas’s body. Dickens was certain Thomas was dead since he didn’t appear to be moving although his suit didn’t appear to be ripped. Bumping into some kind of seating fixture, Dickens turned to see his movement backwards was at an end with nowhere to go but sideways. He sought the entrance that he and Thomas had used and noticed a dull light on a panel next to the door and thought with some hope that he might be able to close it after leaving the room. He moved slowly but unfastening his weapon, hoping that the creatures in their greedy game wouldn’t notice him. He briefly pondered that he might succeed in wounding one creature and possibly the second in their current state of concentration and free Thomas but decided that the odds weren’t sufficiently in his favor to warrant the risk. Sorry Thomas he thought to himself. He dimmed the light of his helmet and moved away.

  Querg and Sever continued to pull at Thomas when Querg raised an arm and sideswiped Sever who lost his grip on Thomas’s leg and spun backward. Sever quickly recovered and running along the exposed framework of the ceiling was going to attack Querg when Querg pointed to where second spaceman had been and hissed at him, “Get your own food!”

  Sever stopped and growled not remembering what the words meant, then looked in the direction that Querg was pointing and saw the faint helmet light of the second creature moving slowly towards the entrance to the room. Understanding what was meant, he leaped suddenly forward across the space towards Dickens who suddenly realized that he was about to be attacked. Querg in the meantime raced for the hole in the ceiling and dragged Thomas with him. Thomas’s boot caught on a piece of the jagged hole and Querg pulled viciously trying to dislodge the earthman. Querg was dimly aware that if Thomas’s suit was punctured, the thing might die. He stopped pulling on the helmet and reached down and gently pulled Thomas’s foot free and then patted Thomas on the helmet gently mewling as he did so in a faintly maternal gesture. He peered into Thomas’s helmet but couldn’t tell if it was alive or not. He glanced back into the room below and saw Sever gliding towards the other human and involuntarily licked his lips when he realized that the other human might be killed and that Sever would get to eat him all by himself not realizing the difficulties of eating with a space helmet on. Querg put Thomas down on the hull surface and patted him again on the helmet and letting go of the unconscious man he started to move back to hole in the hull but he noticed that Thomas’s body started to float away from the hull and he relucta
ntly went back to it and started to drag it back to the mother ship.

  West, Madison, and Volkum moved cautiously down the corridor seeking a way around the ripped and torn parts and pieces of the corridor. West realized that the way they were going was blocked. He looked to his left and saw the closest door was different from the others and appeared to be armored. He pushed at the button next to the door but it wouldn’t open or respond. Madison in the meantime had moved farther down the corridor and was inspecting a tangled mass of corridor siding and cables.

  “West and Volkum, here’s an entrance to that room,” said Madison.

  West and Volkum squeezed along the crushed walls of the corridor and found Madison looking through a gaping hole in the wall. West could see from the light in his hand it was some type of monitoring room where there were long desks and row upon row of small view screens flickering as transient power surged from an unknown source. Several dead Soshi, still in space suits and heads bowed, sat silently in their seats still buckled in.

  “What do we have here?” said West as they entered the room. It was obvious from the structural supports that crisscrossed the room that the area had been reinforced and armored. West briefly considered that it might be the bridge but realized there were no helm controls but just row upon row of monitors.

  Madison was bending over one of the Soshi and said, “They’ve been shredded by something exploding,” and then looking up she could see a huge hole to space that had been partially melted away.

  Volkum moved off to another set of monitors and was looking at the images they were still transmitting. “These images seem to be different parts of the ship and most of the lights on the panels in front of the monitors were flashing red while the green and yellow lights were dull,” said Volkum.

  “I know what this place is, it’s the damage control center,” said West moving down the line of monitors.