Awakening sf-2

by Randolph Lalonde

  Now I'm back under new management, you're back under new management, my boss is again bigger than your boss and I'm looking at you thinking; golly, would he fall for the same trick twice?” He pressed a button on the console and the display took in a view of the bridge.

  “Let's see?” Lucius pointed his sidearm at Ramirez, who was pressed down on his knees by two of Wheeler's men. “I bet this'll hurt you as much as it will him,” he said before shooting Ramirez in the leg.

  He struggled and screamed, just as much in pain as in rage from the looks of it. “Tear these bastards apart Captain!”

  Lucius leaned over and pistol whipped Ramirez. “Quiet! Your Captains are speaking.” He turned back towards the holosensor so he was looking right at Captain Valance and shook his head. “Some people. So, how about it Jonas? I'll let your crew and ship go free if you turn yourself in. I'm sure Regent Galactic will give you a fair trial and a speedy execution.”

  “Where do you want to make the exchange?”

  “Get yourself to Nissa, the third moon around Varman. Contact me when you land. Don't hurry, I'm sure I'll find some way to entertain myself while I wait,” he replied before cutting the communications.

  They stood there quietly for a long moment before Stephanie broke the silence. “You're not actually going to give yourself up.”

  “I need to get close so I can eviscerate that son of a bitch.”

  “I didn't think so,” Frost said with a smile. “What's the plan?”

  “Well, I could get the Aucharians involved and cause a really big mess or I could buy a ship and take care of this my way.”

  “You mean we could take care of this your way,” Stephanie put in, elbowing Frost.

  “She's right, the three of us have a better shot.”

  Stephanie gave him a surprised look.

  “What? I had a lot of time ta think while I was with Nanna. I've served under a lot of Captains. Out of all of 'em I've made the most cash, seen the best ports, gotten out o' the worst scrapes with this one right here. I may not be happy about this whole debt business but I'm stayin' aboard this time.”

  “Great, we're saved,” Stephanie said with a sideways grin.

  “Do y'want me or not?” Frost asked her.

  “Sure, you can come. Why not?” She teased.

  “Well, I think I know a man who can sell us a ship,” Frost replied. “Can't beat that can ye?”

  “Oh I could, but I leave that sort of competition to crew of a lesser pay grade.”

  “You're a piece o' work, you are,” Frost said, shaking his head.

  Jake was thinking during their banter, looking out over the massive city scape all around them. “Frost, contact that friend of yours. We need something cheap and solid for planet hopping.”

  “He could rent ya somethin' if that's the case.”

  “He might not be getting this ship back.”

  “Ah, cheap and solid, aye.”

  The Exile

  Yuelle Varr was a more interesting destination than Alice could have imagined. She had never been to a highly volcanically active planet that had so much water. The Clever Dream had come out of its worm hole only one hundred thousand kilometres away from the planet's atmosphere, an absolutely perfect jump.

  There were no defence or commercial facilities in orbit or in the outer solar system. Two research stations, one in orbit around Yuelle Varr and another closer to the system's yellow sun were the only noticeable man made features in the system that weren't planet bound.

  She guided the ship into an outer orbit and rotated so the transparent section of the cockpit was facing the planet. She could see there were at least two volcanic eruptions taking place on that side. The clouds of dust and steam were massive, covering most of the southern pole. The thin black strips that adorned the planet's surface were the only signs of land.

  “I've seen water planets before, but this is amazing. What information do you have on this place?”

  “The buoy states that this world is owned by a number of private parties. There is a small emergency dock in orbit. The listings include only twenty one thousand eighty four residents in private mansions. Travellers are warned not to approach unless invited.”

  “So there are defences of some kind?”

  “Yes, electromagnetic interplanetary pulse cannons with a range of one quarter light year.”

  “That must have cost twice as much as settling on the planet itself. I've never heard of anything like it. Signal our contact that we're here. I don't think they like people hanging in orbit for too long without announcing themselves.” Alice waited a moment while Lewis made contact with the person Wendy had listed as the recipient.

  “The coordinates are on your station. They didn't send any other message.”

  Alice looked at the coordinates on the cockpit overlay. The marked location was on the twilight line, it would be night in minutes and she was approaching from the dark side of the world. She started her entry sequence.

  Moments later she was skimming the dark, turbulent waters. Racing towards the craggy cliffs ahead. The stone that poked up from beneath the water looked like black, jagged teeth, the cliff ahead was like some upraised clawed hand. “I'm starting to see why they film holomovies here.”

  As she closed on the coordinates she started looking for a launch bay or landing platform and found it after one pass. It was just over two thousand meters above sea level, a spoon like appendage jutting from a massive black stone mansion that emulated the jagged upward jutting features of the mountain it was built on. “Lewis, is there a geological report on this area?”

  “Yes, there is actually.”

  “Does it mention how safe it is? Any active volcanoes nearby?”

  “Tectonic and volcanic activity are well within safeties. I would have told you if it were otherwise.”

  “I know, just checking.”

  She brought the ship down in the middle of the landing platform. In three directions around it ended in a sheer drop, but there was more than enough room for her to land. There were guides painted on the landing platform showing where to access the fuel lines and how to direct a ship into a hangar somewhere below.

  There weren't many lights on in the mansion, and for a moment she was wondering if she'd have to go knock on the door.

  “Instructions from the residents; You are to bring the cargo inside via the upper walkway,” Lewis informed her.

  “That's just at the front of the landing ramp?”

  “I would assume so.”

  “Okay, take control of the cargobot and bring the crates up behind me. I have to see this,” Alice said as she unbuckled, stood up and put on her sidearm and flight jacket.

  The cargobot was an unassuming lifter robot that had six extendible arms, a one meter by one meter pair of track feet that could widen or narrow for more or less stability and manoeuvrability. Its sensor covered round head rotated and scanned the area around it as the robot pulled the closed antigravity sleds with ease.

  The main doors were made of solid stone and opened as she approached, revealing a dimly lit foyer beyond the threshold. It was decorated with black and grey stone statues of bony, scaled water demons in ferocious combat. The various creatures were frozen in place, rending each other with long claws, tearing into one another with exaggerated jaws. The statues were carved deeply into the walls all around her and in the center was a dais for a centrepiece, but it was empty.

  In near silence a cloaked figure descended the long, winding staircase set against one side of the foyer. “I trust the cargo is in good condition?” Said the thing in a raspy, low tone that she could feel in her chest.

  “Everything is as I received it from Wendy.”

  “The salvager. May I see it please?”

  Alice turned and nodded at the cargobot and it carefully moved the cases between her and the creature then opened the nearest one. For the first time she could see some of his features. Its three long fingers were double boned, one was
outside of the skin, the other was inside. It had two opposable thumbs that fit between the three fingers, and they all ended in claws extending from the bare bone.

  It reached into the container and lifted the stasis chamber with one hand and set it down beside the antigravity sled. The chamber weighed over three hundred kilograms and she tried not to show her surprise at the creature's formidable strength. She caught a glimpse of its face and immediately wished she hadn't.

  One side was covered in bone, it looked like these creatures grew a second skull on the outside of their heads. It was complete with carnivorous teeth and razor sharp vertical bones with barbs running from its temple to jawline. The eye on that armoured side was large, and its milky, light yellow pigment caught the light for only a moment.

  The other side of its head was not as well armoured. It looked as though someone or something had broken pieces of its outer skull away and she could see its dark blue and grey skin along with its inner teeth. There was a void where the eye on that side should be and a long scar ran across the skin and bone.

  He was two and a half meters tall, perhaps closer to three and moved with a grace and certainty that was absolutely unnatural by human standards. His joints didn't seem to bend the right way, but arbitrarily turned in whatever direction he needed to move in.

  “You have done very well,” he said as he checked the display panel on the stasis chamber. “These are in perfect condition,” he opened the top of the chamber and plunged his hand inside. A moment later he carefully withdrew an egg the length of her forearm and held it up in her direction. “Did she tell you where she found these?”

  “She didn't.”

  The creature made a deep cooing sound at the egg that she felt more than heard. It wasn't loud, only so low pitched that it had a reverberating resonance in the large stone room. “Your ship is being refuelled. I will give you this story.”

  “Thank you,” Alice said with a slight bow.

  “You will most likely not be paid for your services, Wendy has most likely began running after the warning I sent her. Now for my gift. I am the Zarrix, long ago I was exiled, cast out by my people and denied my place among them for acceptable reasons. I did not wander long. What I had to offer your people when I arrived in your space granted me great wealth by your standards. Here I am left in peace, I have time and privacy so I can find a way back to my people, earn my seat among the tried elders. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, your English is excellent,” Alice responded quietly.

  “The ship is being refuelled with high grade Xetima. His systems are also requesting access to our outer hold so they can load provisions,” Lewis informed her through her cranial communicator.

  “Open the outer hatch, leave the inner one sealed,” she replied mentally.

  “I'll tell you when they finish.”

  Zarrix cooed at the egg one more time and carefully replaced it in the stasis tube. “I was forced to learn your most common tongue. Translators don't understand our languages. I will continue. Years were spent searching for a way for me to use resources gathered here to earn my way back from exile. There was no progress for a very long time. Someone from home, a person who still holds me in high regard, did contact me some time ago.

  They told me that many of your people had visited one of our host worlds. This is an act of damage.” The creature looked up at the ceiling for a moment, making a clicking sound then looked to Alice. It was hard for her to look him in the eye but she tried not to flinch or grimace, Alice was sure he could see a negative reaction even though they were in very dim lighting. “Our host worlds are places of great life we bring many, many hatchlings to before they are at the age of consciousness. We leave them there with nothing, only each other and the resources of that planet. They learn nothing of technology, of speech, of culture or society until their first armour has been torn away and the second has grown in its place. Many years pass. It takes time for our young to reach true conciousness. People like you visited one of our host worlds and stole some of our young, a large act of damage.”

  “I didn't know anything about that, I'm sorry.”

  “I do not smell them on you. Innocence or guilt is not in question,” he said as he brought his deadly hands together and scraped the bone segments together then slowly drew them apart. It was some kind of gesture, she decided to try and remember it. “I continue. My people were furious but did not go after them at first. They had to destroy all life on the host world so it could grow back pure. Once that had been done and the first grieving had been observed my people went in search of their lost children.

  Much time had passed by your people's thinking and they had taken what is most important. The computer storage you have returned to me has all of our essence and the work they did with it inside. From us they created another kind of life, a kind dreamed about by your ancestors. Do you understand?” He asked quietly.

  “They modified your essence, your DNA so it became something else?”

  “Yes, you call it dee en ay. I had forgotten. I continue. These eggs are not bred by us. They are the result of human meddling. I have seen what they brought to be and I can not help but be amazed. Your race activated sleeping aspects in our people, twisted them just enough and created a new species. In your society it was a triumph for a short time, they were going to sell them. My people heard of this and went into space. They hunted them down and destroyed the laboratories. They killed everyone they found there and returned home when grief was fully satisfied. I thought the matter was done and in my lonely home I was relieved. Years passed. Your employer found a ship with these things,” he gestured to the stasis pod and the crates between them. “A group of humans managed to salvage all materials left from human meddling and their ship failed. I outbid all and demanded she come here with them. She knew it was dangerous for her ship. Your failure lies between my home and hers.”

  “You mean the Eden system.” Alice pointed out. It was true, without a wormhole generator anyone who wanted to journey safely around it would have to travel much longer.

  “Yes, your failure with machines. She hired you and you brought it all to me. My place among my people will be restored. There are some powerful Edxians who did not find grief satisfied. They see your people as a plague, as mere mammals for breeding and food. You have a word for this,” he looked up and made that hollow clicking again.

  She didn't want to say it, the thought was appalling, terrifying. “Cattle,” Alice managed quietly.

  “Yes, you are cattle to them. I understand this, your kind are soft, succulent, but also have value while living. I continue. My purpose is to present these things to my people and they will decide that grief was not satisfied completely. I will be restored after presenting this evidence and will rejoin my family. Many of my people will go to fight, either to satisfy grief or to gather cattle and return home. That story, fuel, information and food are my gifts and thanks. You have done better than I expected. Your people are often clumsy.”

  “Thank you. I appreciate everything you've given me and wish you luck.”

  Zarrix stared at her for a moment, opening and closing his hands with a long scraping sound. “What is luck?” It sounded more like a statement than a question.

  “It's good fortune, finding or accomplishing something with very little effort.”

  “I understand. Thank you.”

  “I'll go back to my ship and leave as soon as I can. Thank you again,” she said clearly and politely. From the way he spoke about humans she didn't want to turn her back on him. It sounded like she could easily become part of his diet, but she did turn away and started walking towards the large double doors.

  “Stop,” he said calmly.

  Her heart sank and she tried not to appear terrified as she looked at him.

  “You are respectful. I smell fear but see none. Of humans I've met you are one of the few who deserve what I can give,” he stated, holding one hand up and pointing a single clawed thumb at the c
eiling. “If you have family near Ara Enormis you should gather them and find other stars. You must run human. People of your kind will call our need for satisfaction war. You will retaliate and more grief will be observed, satisfied.”

  “Thank you, I will take your advice,” Alice said before turning and walking straight out of the mansion. The cargobot was right behind her.

  A Poor Cell

  Finn kept a constant watch, looking out the small porthole in the ceiling of the bunk room. He had been fishing for a fine electromagnetic adjuster in his footlocker when the ship was hijacked and was sealed in with Price and Ramirez. Sometime later their captors had taken the gruff boarder then returned him hours later with a hole in his leg. Price and Finn decided then that they couldn't wait for the Captain to save the ship.

  “What do they want?” Asked Finn as Price dug through his bunk drawers for something.

  “They want the Captain. Some guy named Lucius Wheeler, he knows all about him from before the Samson. The bastard made Captain watch him shoot me then just left me there lying on the bridge. It's like he forgot about me completely while he went on with his business.” Ramirez's resilience was astounding, he wasn't complaining, he was angry. It was more of an impassioned accounting of wrong doing than whining about his condition.

  “I'm sorry,” Agameg said sympathetically.

  “Not like you could do anything. Gave Ashley something to think about other than worrying about how to get us free. She's a bright girl, but there's no way she could hatch an escape plan with Wheeler staring at her.”

  “So he's a bounty hunter?”

  “He works for Regent Galactic. They fixed him up with a skeleton crew and sent him off on his ship, the Triton. I could swear I heard Burke's voice on Wheeler's comm for a minute. If I ever get my hands on that little bastard I'll finish what Captain started.”