“Sir,” I began, “To be honest, I am not really sure, as I have no idea what the cargo might be. My discovery of this ship was quite accidental…and…actually, I have more or less been a captive on this ship, since I seem to have unintentionally activated some primary directive program that has taken over navigation… and I have been trapped in the ship ever since.”
There was a momentary pause as the Captain hesitated, looking dumbfounded by my comment. He turned to a man standing at a console behind him (I presumed another officer), who looked equally befuddled. The Captain turned back to face me. “You are from what planet?”
“Earth.”
Again, the confusion was apparent on his face. He turned to the officer, who now seemed to be looking manically through data on a screen. After a brief pause, the officer announced to the captain, “Sir, the data banks have no reference for a planet by that name. Tibby, please allow us a few moments to access TRITYTE’s guidance program to ascertain the origin of your journey.”
Several moments passed as a number or lights on the console flashed and blinked and several of the smaller screens on the console displayed bits of data that scrolled across the screens so rapidly I could not follow any of it. After a brief period, the displays stopped and the officer spoke to the Captain, “Sir, apparently Earth is a planet quite some distance outside the Federation Territory in one of the un-explored areas.”
The Captain’s confusion appeared to give way to something more like curiosity. “Tibby, how much of the ship have you explored?”
“Ahh, sir, “I began, “I think all of it, though I really didn’t spend much time in what I think may be the engine room or what I assume is the storage room. The really large room in the rear of the ship that has the big door or hatch looks like a cargo hold, but the only thing in there is a piece of equipment and a big box.”
“A big box, you say… please describe it.” He said anxiously.
“Well, Captain Maxette, sir, it’s about as tall as I am and big enough to fit about 8 people inside.” The Captain appeared to be waiting for me to continue with more information, perhaps something to indicate that the container was still secure, so I offered, “…and it has some sort of sealed locking device on it so I don’t know what’s in it. But that’s all that I see in that space.”
The Captain suddenly relaxed and a smile appeared on his face. Until that moment, I hadn’t been aware of how tense he’d been.
“Tibby,” he began, with a tone in his voice that made him seem like a different person than the one who greeted me, “if what I hope is in that box is there, and I have every reason to believe it is, you have just become the luckiest and the richest man in the universe…without a doubt the richest. We will arrive at your location in a few moments to retrieve you, the TRITYTE, and the Solbidyum. This is a day that shall go down in history.” He turned briefly to the side and announced with resounding command, as though dictating an order to someone out of view, “All ships under this command are to remain on restricted communication with the DUSTEN only. All communications from the DUSTEN and its flight wings are hereby restricted to communication with the High Command at the capitol only. Such communications shall be encrypted for delivery only by me or my successor, should I be unable to perform my duties. From now until we reach the capitol all ships are to be at the ready and on full alert. Word of this development must not be disclosed to anyone before we arrive. Anyone attempting to communicate outside these parameters will be subject to court martial, punishable by death under Section 14589-QR-4.”
He then turned back to me, again with his huge, genuine smile and said, “Tibby, I look forward to meeting you very soon. You have no idea just how glorious a moment this is for you and for the Galaxy.”
As I waited for their arrival, I hoped that all of this was going to be as good for me as it sounded, but the commands to his ship and crew left me with a great deal of apprehension. While it was fairly clear that the TRITYTE was name of the ship, I wondered what in the hell Solbidyum was and what made this ship and this Solbidyum so damn important.
As the Captain finished speaking, I saw a larger ship appear on screen. Since my points of reference were rather skewed in the vacuum of space, I could not clearly understand the size of this massive craft moving toward me. I had expected to see a larger vessel approach, after speaking with the Captain, but nothing I had ever experienced or heard of prepared me for staggering height and breadth of this ship. I was nearly in shock at the sight of it. “That thing has to be the size of a small city…! It’s close to a half a kilometer in height and at least kilometer and a half in length! There must be thousands of personnel aboard a ship of that size!” I couldn’t help exclaiming my astonishment out loud. I was nearly in shock at the sight I was seeing on the screen. Lights on the console began flashing and things were obviously taking place and I assumed that either the larger ship had somehow taken control over my ship or that orders had been given to the ship for docking with the TRITYTE… Whichever it was, we were moving toward a section of the ship where there appeared to be a rather large opening. Some of the smaller ships that were escorting me broke off from their positions and seemed to form a corridor through which my ship would move. I was wondering if this was for my protection (from what I had no idea) or if it was to prevent me from escaping (as if I knew how). In any case it didn’t matter because I was pretty sure I wasn’t going anywhere but into that bigger ship. During this time the communication link with the DUSTEN was still active and it suddenly occurred that I had not mentioned the body of the man in the infirmary. I felt it better that I say something before I was taken onboard the TRITYTE about the body.
“Ahh, Captain…” I began, “there is a mummified body onboard this ship that I think you should know about.”
The captain had been sitting in his chair and was still turned facing away from me having just finished giving orders to someone. He turned rapidly to look at me through the screen and said, “a mummified body? Do you know anything about it or how the person died?”
“Well Sir,” I began, “I asked the ship about it and it said it was the thief who had taken the ship and that he had died after being injected with some sort of poison from a bite from something on my planet. I suspect it was a Coral Snake but not sure, but if that’s what it was it should not have killed him, only made him real sick.”
“Interesting,” the captain replied “it’s quite possible as you said, people who have evolved or are native to a planet are generally more immune to venoms and stings from creatures native to the world they grew up on than are aliens to that environment. We are accessing and downloading all your ships records now to analyze them and to find what has been happening since the TRITYTE was taken centuries ago. This is something that stories will be told about for many generations to come.”
“About that Sir, could you enlighten me on just what DID happen and what is happening now?” I asked “I am afraid I am at a total loss as to just what really is happening.”
The captain laughed a bit and replied, “I think we both have lots of questions, you will soon be aboard the DUSTEN, once you are and things are secure and you have been provided accommodations and an opportunity to refresh, we will get together for a debriefing and explain what is happening. We will also answer your questions as best we can, I think you are in for the surprise of your life,” the captain chuckled “Yes, indeed the surprise of your life!”
All this time of course the TRITYTE was moving closer to the DUSTEN, the door on the side of the DUSTEN now appeared to be big enough to put an Aircraft carrier from Earth through and I was overwhelmed by the scale of things inside as we entered. The hold itself was immense and to the right and left appeared to be levels like shelves with what had to be hundreds of ships of all sizes. This was not a ship, this was a MOTHER SHIP, or the mother of all ships. I could not comprehend the time it must have taken to construct this monstrosity. The small craft in the squadrons that had surrounded me were like fle
as on an elephant next to this behemoth. As the ship entered the hanger bay, I do not know what else to call it, though it seemed to be much more than a hanger bay, I noted there looked to be smaller hangers within the main one; and it was to one of these smaller hangers that the TRITYTE was moved to. The ship was barely inside and landed before the door to the smaller hanger was closed. Moments later I could hear hissing sounds and I could see by the controls on the Console that the airlock on my ship had been activated. Seconds later an armed man in a uniform and wearing what I suspected was some sort of body armor entered and politely said, “Thibodaux Renwalt, I’m Lieutenant Reidecor, please come with me… I am here to escort you off the TRITYTE and assume guard over it, and may I say sir it is a real honor to meet you.”
We headed down the corridor to the main air lock and then turned to exit down a ramp that extended away from the ship. On both sides of the ramp troops stood at the ready looking in all directions fully armed and prepared for action. I was a bit dismayed by all the security and commented on it to the Lieutenant asking why all the security only to get the response “I’m afraid sir that for the moment that information is restricted, perhaps the Captain will explain it to you, but I am not authorized to comment at this time.” I was beginning to wonder if “That information is restricted” was the standard answer to every question in the Federation.
As we went down the ramp I turned and looked back at the TRITYTE, until this moment I had no real idea what the outside of the ship looked like. All I had seen of the outside was a small portion of the ship. However, now that I was able to see it in its entirety I was a bit surprised as it looked nothing like what I had expected. It had smooth lines and blended curves, and other than the hatch opening in the side that we were exiting from, I saw no indications of any doors or windows save for a small bowl shaped indentation in the hull, that I recognized as the object that caught my foot and started this whole adventure. Over all, the ship resembled some sort of symmetrical blob and not much more… the color of the ship over all was a dark tarnished brass if the ship were sitting in a field of dead grass from a distance one might think it was little more than a grass covered hill in the field. I could see nothing about it that justified all the fuss being made about it. When I was aboard the TRITYTE I tended to think of the ship as being fairly large but somehow seeing it here in this hanger inside the DUSTEN made it seem quite small and almost insignificant.
As we walked away from the ship I could see another person approaching us with four fully armed and ready troopers, there was no mistaking, even from the distance that this person was clearly female and the closer she got the more attractive she became. It was not that she was outstandingly beautiful, though she certainly could have held her own in any beauty competition, but rather in the way she carried herself. She emitted an air of confidence that conveyed a relaxed composure that gave you the feeling that she was at home in any situation and was better prepared to deal with anything that happened than anyone else. My first thought on seeing her was that of a cheetah, something in the way she moved that indicated both grace and speed. She was about 1.7m by Earth measurements, which put the top of her head about my eye height, I being 1.83m tall. She had a light olive complexion long black hair that cascaded past her shoulders and the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen, (she could have been Hispanic, Native American, Italian, Middle Eastern of any number of other races or nationalities on Earth, but yet there was something about her that told you she was none of these… )It took me a minute to realize that her eyes were a light blue grey, an unnatural color for anyone on Earth. Even if they had been a standard shade of blue, like one found on Earth, it still would have appeared unnatural as one seldom finds darker complexioned persons on Earth with black hair and blue eyes, (though I do understand that the Basks people in Spain arte dark haired and darker complexioned with blue eyes.) The Lieutenant with me stiffened in a posture that I assumed to position of attention that this society used when encountering a higher ranking officer and addressed the woman before us. “Major, I present you with Thibodaux Renwalt as ordered.” Then he turned to me and said, “This is Major Kalana, she will see to you from here.” He then turned and walked back to the troops about the TRITYTE.
“Tibby it is a great pleasure to meet you” Major Kalana began, “I understand you prefer to be called Tibby, is that correct?”
“Yes ma’am,” I replied, “either that or Tib, both are fine with me. Most of my closer friends just call me Tib.”
“Well in that case, if you do not object I will just call you Tib, and you may call me Kala, I hate being called Major.” She said with a smile. “Do you have any personal possessions onboard the TRITYTE that you require?”
“No ma’am… Ahh I mean Kala,” I stuttered… “I’m afraid I was not able to bring any personal positions with me other than those I am wearing.”
“Ahh … interesting,” she said giving me a quick look over. Then she continued. “You must forgive me Tib if I seem overly curious at times… my specialty is that of a cultural attaché for dealing with the many planets, cultures and local government’s though out the Federation and outlying areas. You of course are a new opportunity for me as we have no indications of ever having had contact with your planet before, so please excuse me if I say or do something that might offend you. I will also be available to inform and guide you on elements of society and protocol on this ship and later when we make planet fall at the Capitol. I suspect that things may seem a bit strange to you, but on the whole most of the planets and cultures within the Federation are very forgiving of indiscretions of protocol or social faux pas. Now let me show you to your accommodation and get you settled.” She said as led me to the back of the hanger area with two of the troops preceding us and two falling in to our rear.
“Excuse me Kala, but am I a prisoner or being held for some crime or something?” Kala stopped and looked at me strangely for a moment and then said.
“Ahh the guards and the ship escorts…. we forget you do not know the significance of the ship you arrived in nor the complications it creates for you and its safe transport to the Capitol. To answer your question, no, you are not a prisoner, nor are you in any legal trouble... the escort ships and these troopers are for your protection just as the ones surrounding the ship are there to protect the ship. Until we reach the Capitol and are able to make your status regarding the ship officially, you as well as this ship and all aboard are in potential danger. I must ask that other than for a few officers on this ship that the Captain or I introduce you to, that you do not speak of where you are from nor mention the TRITYTE in anyway. This is most important for the time being, we will explain it to you in full very shortly. In the meantime please be assured you are not in any trouble with our government nor are you a prisoner, but it is necessary for us to protect you for the moment and for you to keep secret the existence of the TRITYTE and especially its cargo. While I cannot tell you at this moment how important this is, let it suffice to say that at the moment for anyone who has knowledge of you, the TRITYTE , or its cargo being here, passing on information about it to anyone outside of official channels could result in their death. It is that critical and serious, all of this will be explained to you very shortly. I apologize that I cannot tell you more at this moment.”
By this time we had reached the far wall and at a nod from Kala one of the two guards standing by a door tuned and opened it for us and we entered a small compartment with seats. Kala took a seat and indicated that I do so also. Two of the troopers also took seats but the other two attached themselves the end walls of the room by lines and eyelets so that they were both facing the door from both ends with weapons drawn. Again I was having a very uneasy feeling and wondered if the ship was safe or if there were mutineers running about and the ship under siege. Kala watched me and must have assessed my feelings as she smiled and said, “No Tib, the ship is not under siege, nor is there a mutiny going on… but if knowledge of the TRITYTE or its cargo or of
you in relationship to the TRITYTE and we could be. These men are here to protect you as well as the ship and its cargo at all costs, the order of importance is the cargo first, the ship second and you third… all the rest of us are expendable until all issues regarding you the ship and the cargo are resolved at the Capitol. Oh, and one thing more Tib, if no one else has told you, you are the luckiest man in the entire universe, though at the moment you do not understand that, but soon you will. I envy you Tib… and so will every other person in the galaxy once the news of all this breaks.” As she was saying all of this I detected that the room had started to move, it was then that I noticed a small console in front of one of the seated troopers and realized we were in some sort of transport pod.
It took a few minutes for our transport to reach its destination, I had no idea where we went from or to and had no idea if we were in the middle of the DUSTEN, the top or the bottom of it, for all I knew we might have left the DUSTEN altogether. But when the door opened and we disembarked into what seemed to be a very well decorated and furnished lobby area and people streaming about I felt we still were on the ship, Above the lobby area there appeared to be a skylight that showed a dark sky above, but just a bit below the Skylight there were numerous lights that emitted light at a daylight level, lighting the lobby area below. With the two troopers still preceding us and two following we moved down a long and wide corridor a short way and then stopped at a door on one side. Kala walked to a small panel by the door frame and placed the palm of her hand against a plate and muttered some phrase I didn’t understand then stepped back. The door opened and we went through.
Once we were through we found ourselves inside yet another corridor, this one smaller and for the most part empty of people. There appeared to be a receptionist sitting at a desk in a small alcove to the side. Kala approached the woman sitting there and spoke to her briefly. The woman glanced at me then nodded as Kala spoke; Kala then turned to me and asked me to come over to the reception desk. The lady behind the desk asked me to press my right hand on a plate by her desk and to say my name. I was then asked to provide a password that only I would know. Both the lady and Kala walked away from the desk until I had done so and then returned when I was finished. I was then asked to provide a “distressed” word to use in case of an emergency where someone may be trying to force me to use my password in a compromised situation. In both cases I used words in English from earth that it was unlikely anyone here would know. My password was catfish my favorite food, and the distress word was alligator. Both creatures I would have found in the swamp back home and both words I would easily remember.
Solbidyum Wars Saga Book 1: Battle of the New Orleans Page 4