by Gary Weston
He floated serenely as sharp teeth ate him up, ripping flesh from bones. He smiled sedately as his right arm separated at the shoulder, to be carried away to be eaten. Happy thoughts of his family filled his mind. He would miss them. A dark creature was eating his liver. He didn’t mind too much. More blood mixed with the green. Pretty, he thought. He had a shirt with that pattern of red and green somewhere. He turned his head to watch his right leg being carried away.
Something bit his neck. It didn’t hurt. Not really. His ears went next. He thought he should scream or at least complain, but his voice-box had gone. It didn’t matter. He wouldn’t need it. He couldn’t see anything else, because his eyes had been eaten. At the back of his neck, sharp teeth were severing his spine. There was the slightest sensation of something eating his brain. Then…nothing.
Sam Thorne had watched it all, completely detached. There was nothing remaining of Greg Marlowe. The treat would appease the Masters for the time being. Perhaps. Thorne turned and walked away.
Chapter 192
‘I don’t get it,’ said Raven. ‘Those ships and that satellite haven’t been hauled off to any planet under the Interplanetary Council. That doesn’t leave a whole lot.’
General Millet had no suggestions either. ‘I can only think it is some kind of ransom thing. Expensive hardware and people in exchange for whatever they need.’
D S I Agent Tilly Jordan said, ‘Piracy?’
Millet said, ‘That’s the only thing that makes any sense, but then not a lot. With a tanker full of helium three, they could keep going for many millions of miles.’
Boss said, ‘How many fighters do we have in good order, ready to take off?’
‘Four fully crewed,’ said Millet. ‘We have three more on other planets. Want me to get them back here?’
‘Not much point,’ said Boss. ‘What ever they’re doing, let them keep doing it. Alert them to this situation, however.’
‘Already done. It doesn’t look like we can do a whole lot more, except be ready for what ever the hell is going down.’
Jordan said, ‘Might be a good idea to ground all ships until we know what is going on.’
Millet said, ‘One way of looking at it. But we have eleven freighters between planets as we speak. If anything, we should be sending fighters to escort them in.’
Boss said, ‘Which is precisely what that fighter that went missing was doing, when it vanished. Escorting the tanker.’
‘True,’ said Millet. ‘But now we would be on our guard.’
‘We couldn’t escort everything,’ said Jordan. ‘Not enough ships for that. And don’t forget the commercial people carriers. How many of those are in space right now, I wonder?’
Boss pressed a button on his desk. ‘Miss Saltoe. Do we have a figure on space-liners between planets right now?’
‘One moment, Boss. Just the two. Both coming here from Varlindra. Different commercial companies.’
‘Estimated time of arrival?’
‘Three days and seven days respectively, Boss.’
‘Are they armed?’
‘Negative, Boss.’
‘Thank you, Miss Saltoe. General Millet. Please advise extreme caution to those space-liners. Not that they could do much about pirates attacking them.’
Jordan said, ‘I still can’t believe we are using words like pirates.’
Boss said, ‘If you have better words, Tilly, I’d like to hear them right now.’
‘Sorry. I just came in to remind you I’m in hospital for a few days starting tomorrow. Some work on my voice-box.’
‘I hadn’t forgotten, Tilly. I’ll come and see you if I can get away.’
‘You keep both hands on the wheel, Tagg. I’ll be ok.’
‘Right, you two. Go. Do stuff. Keep me informed. If I don’t see you in the meantime, good luck for tomorrow, Tilly.’
‘Thanks, Boss.’
Chapter 193
Lessons had to be learned. Even Masters had to be guided by experience. They convened.
‘We were over ambitious,’ said one.
‘We were,’ agreed another.
‘Underestimating the humans.’
‘We did. And we should not have been so arrogant. They have an advanced technology. They can build ships to cross the galaxy. Yes. We can probe their minds, inflict pain, control them. But. For our ambitions to be full-filled, we need them to be as much as we can make them dependent on us.’
They paused, taking the nutrients from the green ocean as they waited for the next Master to speak.
‘Suggestions?’
‘Small steps,’ said one. ‘We need to conquer our own planet first.’
‘Interesting. Go on.’
They circled and waited, some remembering the favoured few had eaten human. The desire to farm those human creatures was too deep. But how and what to do.
‘We concentrate on our own planet, first. Build up the supply of humans. Farm them and use them as we see fit. We steal their ships and add their kind to the livestock we already have. Control them with drixolate only if need be, though I doubt that will be necessary. Here on our home planet, the power of our minds will be sufficient. We do however, require more of them. I can hardly remember the last human I tasted.’
Another Master said, ‘That sounds only fair and reasonable. Bring more humans here. Breed them, use them, eat them. Then, when the time is right, turn them against each other so we can take our rightful place as Masters of this galaxy.’
‘We have their satellite. We can force the humans to control it so we may intercept the humans messages. When ready, we can send the humans to ambush more of their own kind and bring them back here. Do we agree?’
‘We agree. We capture more of their kind. One day soon we shall be ready to take over their planets.’
‘Then it is agreed.’
Chapter 194
Freighter captain Karma Casey had long since decided freight was a whole lot less troublesome than humans. Freight didn’t need feeding, didn’t complain about anything, and if left stranded on a landing pad, didn’t usually die on her. She could also play her music as loud as she wanted, dance naked, and let the ship’s computer do the boring bits.
So, she ordered her ships computer to do the boring bits, stripped, stood on the table in the kitchen, played air guitar and had some prehistoric band called the “Rolling Stones” bang out incomprehensible things of which they got no satisfaction from, and danced.
‘I can’t get no…shit.’
‘Captain Casey.’
‘Commander Gordon. Crap. You don’t have visual, do you?’
‘Hrmm. I averted my eyes, Casey. Maybe adjust the camera up a little? Better. That music, by the way?’
Casey said, ‘Yeah. I bought a whole bunch real cheap. You should give them a go one day.’
‘Sorry. Classical Earth music isn’t my thing. Casey. I just want you to be aware of this pirate thing.’
‘Commander. I got a load of engineering hardware here. Not worth a damn to anybody but to the importer.’
Gordon said, ‘Just saying, Casey. The sooner you are home the better. We have had one hell of a game compensating for the loss of that satellite. I’d have called you earlier, if I could have. Boss said we can’t go off with our few fighters looking after you freighters not knowing the full situation.’
‘Tagg, sorry, Boss’s is right. You’d be spread too thin. I’ll be ok.’
Gordon said, ‘I know. I can’t help worrying, right?’
‘Sure. But I’m out here alone. Me and my music. If a pirate comes on my ship I’ll pump up the volume and deafen the sons of bitches. I got some Meatloaf that would pierce their eardrums.’
Gordon said, ‘Meatloaf? You cook as well as dance naked? Jeez. If I weren’t fixed up, I’d be knocking on your door.’
‘My loss, I’m sure. Hey. I can’t get my head around this pirate thing. I never heard of such a thing happening before.’
Gordon said, ‘Before your t
ime as a pilot, but there was a case nearly thirty years ago. Not of this magnitude but it caused a stir at the time. It actually happened on Tryzon, when it was still mining, before it became a tourist destination. Two miners got into a load of bother when drinking and gambling. A fatal combination. At least it was for somebody. They killed a guy with a knife and stole his money. In for a penny…’
‘In for a what?’
‘Just a saying. Anyway, they had to get away off the planet. They hijacked a freighter but were so drunk they accidentally shot the pilot, so couldn’t go anywhere. Ended up a little bit dead in a police shoot-out.’
Casey, busy dressing said, ‘I’ll make sure to watch out for drunken miners with knives.’
‘Casey….’
‘Yeah. Just kidding. I’ll see you in a few days, Commander.’
‘You’d better.’
Chapter 195
With two fighters to command, Captain Thorne was sent on another mission. With the new satellite tuned in, it was possible to follow the space traffic and find more victims. Like Thorne, the others chosen had been carefully selected. Disobey the Masters and unspeakable things would happen to their families. Children were considered the most prized delicacy of all the humans, so tender and succulent.
The last of the seasons tourists from Tryzon had packed their bags and were on the space-liner for home. The ships captain, Mabel Syrup, had been warned about the pirates, had demanded a D S I military escort and been denied, then she had been offered a bonus by her company to fly anyway, and was on her way home with two hundred and sixty in “cattle class” eighty in the “professional class”, and thirty in “top class”. Three hundred and seventy hard to please people, just wanting to get home after a hard few weeks of skiing.
Syrup didn’t get skiing. You went up a slippery slope, you went down a slippery slope. Up down, up down. And paid for the privilege. After two weeks of binge drinking and “trying out” the the local men and two local women, she was glad to be heading home.
It wasn’t hard. Key in the flight-plan, let the computer do the boring bits and smile at the punters. That last part was the hardest. If she tried hard, she could possibly think of good things to say about the punters. Even those poor wannabes in cattle class. They went without beans, or chocolate or something, just to be on the piste for their holidays. All Syrup wanted to do was get home, but the two fighter class ships in her path had other ideas.
They had appeared from nowhere, blasting laser cannon fire all around the ship, not quite hitting it. Syrup tried to call D S I command, but her screen was suddenly filled with the fixed expression of Captain Thorne.
‘Captain Syrup. Us destroying your ship and all on board would be counter productive. Touch your radio again and you will all die. Is that understood?’
‘Who the hell are you and why are you doing this? I’ve just a bunch of tourists on here.’
Thorne said, ‘We know. Follow us. Deviate, and you will die.’
‘You’ve kind of a one track mind when it comes to us dying, but I’ll not put it to the test.’
‘Very wise,’ said Thorne.
Following one ship, Syrup matched its speed, knowing the other fighter was right behind her.
Chapter 196
‘It must be compulsory,’ said Joy Dainty.
‘What is?’ asked Raven.
‘Pacing up and down. You never did that until you became Boss.’
Raven sipped his beer, sat down, got back up again and paced some more. ‘Three hundred and seventy nine people including the crew. Missing. No radio communication, nothing. This is starting to look big.’
‘Pirates.’
‘That depends on your definition of pirates. In the olden days, back on Earth, they roamed the seven seas, plundering and raiding.’
‘You’ve been googling.’
‘I’ve been what?’
Joy shrugged. ‘No idea where that came from. But you have been researching pirates. You don’t think we have pirate problems?’
Raven said, ‘Where’s the gain? No ransom demands for the ship or people. I mean, where the hell are they even going to land? Every planet with decent landing facilities are on high alert. They can’t stay in space indefinitely.’
Joy drank her third glass of water that hour and rubbed her belly with the vitamin A oil. She didn’t have any signs of stretch marks, so something she was doing seemed to be working.
‘Of course they can’t. That would be silly. So. They aren’t going to a planet under Interplanetary Council control. But any planet they use has to have air so they can breathe, right?’
‘Makes sense.’
‘Food for them to eat.’
‘I guess.’
‘Got many planets like that in commuting distance?’
‘Dunno. I could google it.’
‘You could what?’
Raven shrugged. ‘No idea. Commander Gordon would know.’
Raven called Gordon. ‘Commander. Boss. Sorry about the late hour. Anything from the ship?’
‘Nothing. I would have called you right away if there had been.’
‘Of course. How many planets could we get to where we could survive, but not anything under Council control?’
‘Hmm. Eight. Maybe nine. They’ve all been explored.’
Raven said, ‘All of them?’
‘At one time or another. Is this conversation going anywhere, Boss?’
‘Just thinking aloud. Have a chart made up of every planet a human being has set foot on and I’ll see you in my office in the morning. Goodnight, Commander.’
‘Goodnight, Boss.’
Chapter 197
Commander Felix Gordon pointed to the wall-screen in Boss’s office.
‘Blue highlighted planets are habitable by humans without life-support. We are here, there is Foregone, now released for colonisation by the Council, just a small settlement at the moment. There is Varlindra. There is Graggonia. They wouldn’t tolerate human pirates and neither would the Varlindrans. Here is Tryzon. Too well populated not to notice shady goings on like pirates coming and going. That skyliner ship disappeared three days after leaving there. Here’s Nyzon five. You know more about that place than I do.’
Boss said, ‘Cold. I wouldn’t mind a social visit one day. See if the locals have forgiven us yet. Any humans like pirates up to no good would end up very dead, I’m thinking.’
‘Ok. You know the others. Mars, etcetera. All well populated and under Interplanetary Council control. We can discount all of those. The red highlighted planets are one’s explored by humans, but the atmospheres mean we stay away from them for colonising. The Varlindrans might terraform those one day.
‘They were ultimately responsible for terraforming Mars. That turned out well in the end. Foregone would have been my best guess, but the commander on the base there says there has been no sign of pirate activity or any unauthorised ships landing there.’
Gordon said, ‘I’m thinking it has to be one of these green planets. Habitable but as yet uncolonised. Three are within a reasonable distance to where the ships were hijacked. We could send a couple of well armed fighters to check them out, Boss. Getting around all of them would take a couple of months.’
Boss nodded. ‘I think we should. But give the pirates another two days to make their demands. In the meantime, get hold of General Millet and have two fighter class battleships ready to go. Orders to destroy anything even smelling suspicious.’
‘General Millet and I have already had informal discussions about that, anticipating your decision for them to take off. He has his best crews ready for action.’
‘Excellent. We’ll still give the pirates two days, unless another ship is taken in the meantime. If that happens, we take off immediately.’
‘Right, Boss. I’ll get organising things.’
Chapter 198
General Millet addressed his troops in the ships huge hanger. ‘Listen up. That includes you, Shorty. We have no idea what the hel
l we are up against. We have no idea if they are even human. In two days time, we are doing a two month swoop around to three planets. We probably won’t land on any of them, or if we do, it will only be just to take on fresh water and whatever fruit we can find. We see anything like a ship, assume it’s hostile. By that I don’t mean shoot the crap out of it, but be ready to do so on my command. Shooters. You got that?’
‘Yes, sir,’ came the chorus. All five shooters were young women, deemed mentally and psychologically more suitable than men for the job. They had been selected and trained by the best of the best, Gagonjet Singh. She had a proud line of ancestor’s who were top shooters, including the legendary Aasa Singh, her grandmother, who was a pioneer on Mars, a hundred and fifty years before.
Millet said, ‘Right. There is a possibility we could be away sooner, if we get a demand from the pirates. Be prepared for that happening. Otherwise, go spend the time with your families until we take off. Any questions? Yes, Shorty.’
Captain Vickie Armstrong, D S I beer drinking and one armed wrestling champion, otherwise know as Shorty asked, ‘Sir. What if they aren’t human? How will we communicate?’
‘Good question, Shorty. I’ll send you over to them to confuse the hell out of them. Ok. Go home, people.’
Everyone filed out of the hanger talking in low tones about the upcoming mission. Everyone except General Millet and Shorty Armstrong. ‘
Shorty said, ‘Bit of a dodgy one this, Frank.’ She only ever called Millet Frank when they were alone. ‘Usually we have some idea what we are up against.’
Millet said, ‘It’s a long shot actually running into anything out there. A shot in the dark. We have two good ships ready to go. That leaves just two here and the ground laser cannon for defence. We’d stand a better chance if the pirates start banging the table and holding their hands out.’