by Mars Dorian
RX studied their body language. Even the middle-aged members of this settlement seemed to face difficulty with his question.
What’s the matter with these savages?
Aida translated the older female’s foreign words.
“She says no one was in charge. And that everyone was in charge.”
“What? Makes no sense.”
RX bit his lips.
“Then what’s their chain of command?”
“She doesn’t know what a chain of command is.”
RX realized he wasn’t winning any war with his way of thinking. He remembered a story from Basic training: when on Mars, do as the Martians do.
Maybe that was the way to progress with these primitives.
RX scanned every single civ in the perimeter. No one, not even the middle-aged ones, carried any discernible weapons, but they all wore armor. An organic tech skin with circuit patterns running through. Maybe to protect them from the environment. Weird fashion sense aside, RX needed to change his tactics.
Very well.
He released the hostage. The young female fell on her knees, breathed in and staggered away like someone who awoke from a slumber. RX returned the M7P into his belt holster, stretched his arms and held up his palms, hoping these savages understood the universal gesture for I Come In Peace.
“I just want to talk, really.”
The crowd sighed and seemed to ease up, even though their awkward stares stayed glued on his form. The older female with the chiseled features pointed her index finger toward some structure in the far distance. Aida played the decoder once again.
“She asks you to join them in their communal hall.”
RX closed his eyes and nodded.
He was finally getting somewhere.
22
RX followed the middle-aged female and her entourage through the wide streets of the settlement. The crowds tailed him in a ten meter distance and studied him like a spiked creature from the space zoo. Granted, he did look different with his pale skin and the icy-blond hair. His Stryker Solutions™ astrogear looked unlike anything they wore, but he was still human.
So what the fuzz?
RX needed to learn more about these humanoids to assess their danger potential. The fact they spoke an entirely different language confused him, considering how huge Aida’s database of colonial dialects was.
“I hope you’re collecting data as we walk.”
“I’m soaking up every tidbit of information.”
“Good. If we make it through the night, we’ll be smarter in the morning.”
He floated his right hand over the pistol holster. The colonists didn’t seem hostile yet, but a soldier always stayed alert. Something about this place—maybe the weird architecture or the humanoid’s behavior—piqued his senses. The elderly female turned around a corner and reached another intersection with an olive-green hexagon building in the center. Judging by its size and style, it seemed to carry a representative function.
“Please, step inside,” Aida said as she translated the female’s words in near real-time. RX traversed the entrance frame and entered a hall with organic seats, chairs and benches placed at the end, colored in earthly tones. Similar to a courtroom of the central command. At least the humanoids had some kind of governance. Three dozen folks from the crowd sat down on their chairs and turned into silent spectators. RX turned his attention back to the older female sitting behind the desk in the center. A random group of folks sat left and right to her and nodded in agreement. RX wondered what they were mumbling about. The female unit in charge opened the conversation. Aida acted as the link.
“Where do you come from?”
RX only shared the necessary information.
“I’m a pilot from a Stryker Solutions™ carrier.”
The members looked at each other with raised eyebrows. The spectators whispered behind RX’s back. He still didn’t understand what the deal was. The female in the center spoke and everyone in the hall shut up.
“Where is that carrier?”
“In space, but I don’t have the coordinates.”
That was true. He had no clue about the carrier’s location since Aida’s connection was cut off from the Stryker network. There was no satellite node within the perimeter to reestablish communication.
“Which space?” the elderly female said.
RX scratched his chin. What kind of question was that?
“Aida, I don’t get it.”
“Looks like they didn’t understand your statement, but maybe that’s still due to translation issues.”
“Space,” RX said, and pointed toward the ceiling of the hall.
“No humans…in space,” the white-bearded man next to the female said.
RX pressed his face. He asked Aida again to make sure she didn’t misrepresent the man’s answer.
“With all due respect, sir, there are many humans in space. About 47 billion. And that’s not even including the rim colonies.”
The second Aida finished her phrasing, the audience ‘oood’ in amazement. Some of them stood up and whistled. The older female behind the desk said something which made every spectator sit down again. Her voice carried authority. She unleashed more wondrous questions, many of which RX couldn’t even understand. He wished Aida would hurry up with the language deciphering. And now his ribcage wound itched because the pain suppressant waned. He bit his lips and forced his attention back to the trial.
“What are they saying?”
“They think you’re confused.”
“Are you serious? They are the ones who don’t understand what I’m saying.”
“It goes both ways. It’s not just a matter of word-for-word translation. They seem to carry a different worldview than you do.”
Ridiculous, RX thought. How could they doubt that he was coming from the orbit? Didn’t they own any spacecraft?
Every time RX thought he’d find clarity, another weird question from the colonists popped up. And now the pain in his ribcage intensified. Taking deep breaths stabbed his side like a tactical knife jab. Aida spoke up.
“The elderly female asks whether you’re okay.”
“Tell her I’m just tired.”
“It does not look convincing if you’re moaning like a dying animal."
“Then make something up. I don’t want them to know that I’m vulnerable.”
“I think it’s too late for that, RX.”
He tried to get up but the pain choked his breath. He fell down next to his chair and cringed. The audience behind whispered again.
This situation was the worst.
Here he was, surrounded by regressive humanoids, with no chance to connect to Stryker or even the US Corps. RX wanted to excuse himself, but the painkiller effect vanished. The ache choked his intestines like steel pillars pinching a liver. Aida’s alarming voice sounded.
“RX, are you okay? I’m afraid I can’t call medical aid.”
RX’s head hit the desk. Blood droplets dribbled from his lips. The strange language of the spectators and members muddled into a cacophony until both sound and vision tuned out.
“Aida, I think I’m going…offline.”
23
Out of the darkness, into the light of…wherever he stayed now.
RX opened his eyes without Aida’s boot-up sequence, which meant he had slept like a civilian. Strange, and yet refreshing. He carefully moved up from the bed and surveyed his room. Crevices divided the wall in front of him and allowed the amber sunrays to slip through. The crevices morphed into the square shape of a window that let the sun flood the room. RX noticed that he lay in some kind of organic bed. It wrapped around him, depending on which position he rolled.
Interesting.
But then the shock kicked in.
He was without his astrogear and helmet. Which meant he breathed the local air.
No way.
Perspiration increased.
He coughed as the bitter taste lingered on his tongu
e. He jumped from the bed and searched the room for his helmet.
It wasn’t there.
Or anywhere.
RX touched his ribcage and realized that the pain became tolerable. It was covered with greenish, sticky bandages. Pretty primitive, but at least it reduced the ache. He wondered whether these humanoids did something to his bones. Time to ask one. RX left the bedroom and peeked into the neighboring chambers. No one was there. A strange feeling of isolation washed over him.
Something was missing.
Or someone…special.
“Aida?”
No answer.
“Aida, can you hear me?”
He touched the implant behind his ears. The linker was missing.
“Durafftwarey.”
A young female unit with cosmic-black braids wrapped in a skin-tight tech tunic entered the living room. RX recognized her—she was the one he held hostage at the intersection yesterday.
Was she out for revenge?
By instinct, RX assessed the perimeter. The humanoids took his pistol, but the space was tight and the female seemed unarmed. Maybe he could KO her with his basic CQC skills. She just needed to get closer to him.
“Durafftwareyyy,” the female said, at least that’s what it sounded like.
RX spoke to her although he knew it was hopeless.
“I don’t understand you.”
“Durafftwareyyyyyy.”
Yeah, because stretching words fostered the understanding.
It was time to stick it back to her.
“I don’t understand the words that are coming out of your mouth,” RX said in melodramatic slomo.
He pretended to speak to a brain damaged five year old with space radiation issues. The female unit nodded and left the room. RX stretched his limbs carefully. The pain still existed, but he could manage now. He moved up and faced the female in what seemed to be an adjacent space to the living room. The female held the missing linker in her hand and presented it like a gift. Now that was unexpected. RX thanked her and followed up the gesture with a bow, which caused her to chuckle. He slid the linker into his implant and reconnected with his favorite entity.
“Aida, are you there?”
“Yes, RX. It’s good to see you’re alive.”
“It’s good to hear your voice. Can you help me decipher what this female says?”
“Your command is my call.”
“Pleasure…service…good.”
Pause.
“Food…want.”
She pointed toward the round-shaped table. Trays with brownish objects and water awaited him. Looked like an invitation to breakfast, but maybe she wanted to poison him. Maybe she mixed some kind of truth serum into the food to squeeze out more information. But what could he possibly reveal? Pilots were given minimum intel and his last mission ended in a catastrophe.
He was of no strategic use.
RX sat down in front of his plate, lowered his nose and tried to smell something suspicious, but with no nose amplification, that was impossible.
“I wish I had a scanner with me.”
“I don’t think it’s poisoned,” Aida said.
The obvious thing was to ask whether the food was corrupted, but that was a tad too obvious. He decided to wait for the female to start the meal. He even pushed his plate toward her direction, pointed his finger at the brown, wobbly pieces and then at her mouth. She somehow understood the gesture, pierced his piece with a fork-like tool and nabbed at it. The female unit roared a satisfying noise. RX’s stomach perked up. He picked up his own piece and chewed carefully. The substance melted on his tongue and stimulated his palate…for the worse. He spat the mushed mass back onto his plate. It tasted vaguely like meat, but much more bitter and intense.
Disgusting wasn’t the right word, but it was the first that came to mind.
“You…no…like?”
Puking it out didn’t seem obvious enough, so RX told her that he wasn’t hungry. The young female grabbed his plate and guzzled whatever she served him. At least someone enjoyed this abomination of taste. She looked up from her brown food mess.
“Where…come…from?”
He leaned back and pointed toward the ceiling.
“I’m from space.”
Aida translated.
The young female looked puzzled. RX realized he had to treat her and the other colonists like children, making progress one stupid step at a time.
“I need to get back to my ship.”
If they had no clue about space, they surely wouldn’t understand what an APEX was.
“I translated it as a vehicle that moves through the air,” Aida said.
Those savages at least knew how to drive tire-based vehicles. The female unit finished her meal and licked her full lips. She stood up, grabbed his hand and led him around the house. The interior design looked like a traditional chamber except the set pieces all seemed connected to the structure. The female maneuvered around the furniture and walked straight into the wall. It created an opening the size of her silhouette. RX followed her and saw the wall closing behind him. He had to admit, it was much more impressive than the gate mechanism from the carrier. He was curious about this adaptable technology, but getting to his APEX was the priority.
Outside the house, the female unit dashed off but RX cringed after three steps. The pain still tortured him. He produced a loud noise and pointed toward his ribcage, even saying ‘ouch ouchie’. The female stopped in her tracks and grinned, maybe because of schadenfreude. Before RX could follow up with a primitive gesture, a triangle-shaped vehicle curved around the corner and halted a meter next to them.
Talk about service.
The young female stepped into the front and took RX to the hangar hall where the APEX was stored. He leaped out the second the vessel stopped and approached the gates. The beam damage had already been repaired and not a single scratch remained. RX followed the female unit into the hall and saw at least ten humanoids with heavy gear, trying to cut through his APEX.
The sight infuriated RX.
“Hey you bastards, stop it.”
He didn’t know why it pissed him off, considering their tech wasn’t strong enough to damage the hull. But trying to take apart his baby felt like dismantling his own body.
“Aida, tell them to stop the welding and cutting. Tell them to get off my machine.”
She spoke the words, but the workers answered with confused expressions.
RX marched toward the rear of his APEX and addressed the tall man with the circular cutter rotating in his hand. RX raised his voice and hoped the savage would pick up on his aggression. Violence was an interplanetary language after all.
“I’m the pilot of this craft. It belongs to me.”
He stretched the ‘belongs to me’ part and hoped Aida did the same. The workers ‘oood’ and shrugged. RX started to believe they lacked a serious amount of brain matter.
Time to get visual.
He pulled off his tunic and pointed at the Stryker Solutions™ logo that was embedded into his chest. He directed his finger at the rear of his APEX where the same logo shone in its glorious silver font. RX spoke in broken English to clarify the point.
“Stryker logo on craft, Stryker logo on me. We belong twogether.”
Well, technically the APEX belonged to Stryker, like himself, but that was a step too far ahead for these savages. Baby steps through syrup, remember.
“Get it?”
Judging by their contorted faces, they didn’t. RX was ready to uppercut his face and then continue with theirs.
“Tell me what I’m doing wrong here, Aida.”
“It looks like these humanoids don’t understand concepts like spacefaring humans and private property. Couple that with my lack of proper deciphering, and we’re lost in translation.”
An inconvenient truth.
RX watched the workers adjusting their working gear. They went back to work as usual, i.e. desperately trying to take apart his precious APEX.<
br />
“Can I make a suggestion?”
“Yes, please.”
“I’d suggest to scan yourself in the cockpit and measure your injury. The habitants seem to leave you alone, you should accept their offer and rest till you’re back in full health. Meanwhile, we’ll interact with the populace until I collect enough sound samples to fully translate their language. Then you’ll be able to communicate and explain your position without misunderstandings.”
If Aida had a human body, RX would hug her into a coma.
“You’re incredible.”
“I’m glad you noticed.”
“That’s how we do it.”
RX waved away the workers. Aida remote-opened the cockpit. RX climbed inside and let her scan his body.
“Mmm,” she said.
“How bad is it?”
“I’m detecting a bacteria-based substance in your bloodstream, similar to a biogel.”
RX swallowed hard.
“What? Do you think it’s dangerous?”
“So far, the bacteria hasn’t caused any damage. But don’t worry, your narnites are already dismantling it.”
“How long will the healing take?”
“According to its current progress, about a week,” Aida said.
Finally some good news, although a week seemed like eternity in this vomit-inducing settlement. So far, the habitants left him alone, so they didn’t pose an imminent threat.
Yet.
RX climbed out the cockpit and let Aida close it. He pushed two thumbs up at the workers.
“I’m sorry you’re going to break all your tools. Actually, I’m not. Stupidity deserves punishment.”
“Do you want me to translate that?”
“Don’t bother, they wouldn’t understand anyways.”
RX left the hall with the female unit and reentered the triangular vehicle. Returned to the house structure he slept in and found out he wasn’t the only one.
24
RX counted three adult civilians and ten half-sized offspring units in the young woman’s house.
“Is that your team?”
She shook her head.
“Peers? Superiors?”
Aida translated.
“She doesn’t understand you.”
RX frowned. Walked through the living room and opened the wall door to the chamber he slept in. A naked man and woman rubbed on each other and unleashed moans of pleasure. They sounded like pre-colonization savages and behaved like wild animals. RX turned to the young woman.