by J Battle
'They are unlikely to attack again in the near future. We witnessed the destruction of the command ship shortly after we escaped, and in any case, the forces used were not of a sufficient size to support an extended land action.'
Mandy's father breathed a sigh of relief.
'OK; I suppose. My name is Bill, by the way. And this is Mandy.'
'You may use the honorific of Distelle Sublan when you address me.'
'That's very kind of you, I'm sure. Where did you learn to speak English so well?'
'We knew we were coming to this planet, and Sherdling are rightly praised for our language skills.'
'Why were you on their ship?' Mandy had stepped around her father and was pleased to see that she was at least two or three centimeters taller than Sublan.
'To answer your question with due veracity and truth would require more time than our situation allows.'
Mandy stared over his head towards the far end of the corridor.
'Who's that?' she asked.
Sublan turned to follow her gaze.
'It is merely one of my fellow...'
He paused, wondering how Jullie had managed to squeeze his large frame through such a small opening, and why was he waving a gun at them?
He suddenly found himself very much alone as the humans had dashed towards the end of the corridor as soon as they saw the weapon. He was already on his way after them when he heard the deafening sound of an automatic ballistic weapon being discharged in the narrow tunnel.
His much abused tail received rather more bullets than he would have liked before he reached the corner and safety.
**********
When Jashna dived for the planet's surface, he had no intention of actually landing. Being stuck on a heavy planet for the foreseeable future was not part of his plans.
As he fell he saw the nearest ship moving into position just above. Within seconds it would be ready to blow him out of the sky. Judging the moment perfectly, he phased into invisibility and half spread one wing, causing his body to jerk to one side and spin away from danger just as the ship opened fire.
Thinking that the shot had been a success, the craft slowed as it passed him, just before Jashna's simmerglow ripped it apart.
He was able to repeat the process twice more; leaving just one ship searching the middle layers of the atmosphere for him.
As it flew beneath him, he folded his wings and dropped on to the top of the craft, just above its airlock.
The ship immediately flipped over and began a steep, precipitous dive.
Jashna clung to the smooth surface of the narrow ship, in no danger of falling off as the skin of his fingers and thighs bonded on a molecular level with the craft's smooth surface. As he lay face down, he instructed his skin on all exposed surfaces to thicken and harden into a protective heat resistant shell that would save him from what was to come.
As the ship dived and the atmosphere thickened, the temperature began to rise and the nose of the craft began to glow. The ship's pilot was flying a fine line between burning Jashna from his ship and the utter destruction of his craft.
At last he slowed and reduced the angle of descent. Confident that nothing living could have survived such temperatures, he flattened out and then began to climb.
Moments later, the ship was far above the planet's atmosphere and configuring itself for interstellar fight.
Jashna leaned forward and activated the manual door controls.
As the door slid open, he swung inside and immediately blasted the inner door open with his simmerglow. Then he rushed through, ready to deal with any survivors of the blast. There were bodies in the corridor, floating in a mist of red, but he charged past them to the control room.
It was empty, save for one creature, suited for hard space and with one hand on an actual lever.
'Halt, invader, or the ship will be destroyed.'
Jashna halted as instructed at the doorway, but his simmerglow was ready to go.
'You have destroyed our fleet, but you must have a requirement for this ship, or you would not have allowed its survival.’ The Hru-argh tightened his grip on the lever. ‘I too would like to survive.'
Jasha glided into the control room, but kept his distance from the Hru-argh.
'Your assumption has some value, captain, but it is not unlimited. Your ship will save me time, but it is not an absolute requirement.'
'However?'
Jashna held his arms behind his back in a gesture of acceptance.
'It would cause me a measure of inconvenience, so, step away from the control console and your life will be spared.'
'The word of a stranger? Is that sufficient?'
'You have no more.’
'Then the situation demands trust, and I will trust you, and make you my Honored Lord.'
As he spoke, Jashna found himself thinking about the capabilities a Hru-arg's suit must have for dealing with the amount of effluence that the creature would be producing; especially given his rather tense position.
As the creature moved away from the control deck, Jashna stepped forward and stunned him with a quick simmerglow blast. With the Hru-agh’s inert body in his hands, he guided him along the narrow corridor, past his deceased comrades and out through the open airlock into the grasp of cold hard space.
When his friends had joined him, Jashna closed the outer door and began to complete the ships star flight configuration.
He gave no thought for the Hru-argh, or his promise. If the creature had possessed any honor himself, he would have blown up the ship as soon as Jashna was on board, but he had judged his own life too valuable.
Now, his people might well pay the price for his failure. For Jashna would use his ship to return to the Confederation and report on the treachery of the Hru-arg. If the captain had failed to report back, and the Hru-argh thought that their fleet had been destroyed by the seemingly defenseless humans, then that might be considered a benefit as Jashna would have a chance to sow further confusion in their ranks.
Chapter 18
Andreas had always kept the gravity on The Darkside at 1/6th of a G, ensuring that there was always a proper up and down and that inanimate objects still moved in a mostly predictable way; with the added bonus that it was nice and easy on his bloated body. Now, he was going to subject his body to something a little more extreme; 1.8 G.
Even a fit and healthy person would soon find himself in difficulty under that unforgiving, crushing force and that was certainly not an accurate description of Andreas. But he was a clever man; on his goods days he was a very clever man, and it was on one of those good days that he had chosen the specifications for his body suit. The body suit was thin enough for him to wear in comfort inside his ship and, with the addition of a helmet, breathing and waste disposal systems, it was perfectly acceptable for external work.
There were times when Andreas needed to be on one of the space stations which, for purely sentimental reasons, kept their gravity at 1G. So he had his body suit fitted with the latest support features to enable him to go about his business interests in such locations in reasonable comfort.
Given that he was orbiting around a planet with a gravity of 1.8G, and as he was such a clever guy, it was hardly surprising that his body suit was specced for just such a place.
He wouldn’t like it; he wouldn’t be at all comfortable; but he would be able to get around.
When Angel’s Kiss landed with such a gentle touch on the surface of TCE, Andreas took a moment to gather himself before he unfastened his restraints. In theory, he’d be fine, but this was practice.
He watched Iron struggling with the catch on his own restraints.
‘Pull it towards you!’ He snapped, despairingly, trying not to think that this person was the one and only repository for his DNA; so far anyway.
‘Thanks, man.’ Iron pushed himself from his seat, and immediately fell over as his right ankle buckled.
‘For heaven’s sake, get up, Boy.’
&nbs
p; ‘Sorry, man. That hurts.’
‘Don’t call me…’
‘Sorry…Dad.’
‘Son.’
‘Yes?’
‘Help me out of this seat, will you? I think I’m stuck.’
‘Yes, m…’
**********
Dan tried not to think too much about how soon their oxygen would run out, but he was fairly sure it wouldn't last another day. Then symptoms similar to altitude sickness would probably kick in and their ability to function would rapidly deteriorate. Unless the aliens could help them in some way; maybe they could help them to reach the human settlements at the North Pole?
When they'd found themselves alone, they'd finished their meager meal and then he’d interrogated his implant to see what translation programs he had that could work with the recording of the aliens' speech.
He was more than a little disappointed with the results. It seemed that their speech wasn't language at all. There were only three distinct sounds, with no patterns or variations, and no way that they could be a conduit for information. They were just random noise.
But the creatures were definitely communicating with each other; that one fact was clear to him, if nothing else. But how? Could it be body language? They were certainly waving their tentacles a great deal, and they had enough of them.
If that was the case, how was he going to communicate with them, with just his two arms? Maybe he could use his fingers and toes?
When he explained what he’d learned to Helen, she shrugged and said, ‘maybe they’re just animals, then. At least that would mean that you haven’t embarrassed the human race with your diplomatic failings.’
‘No, they’re definitely intelligent; we just have to find a way to talk to them.’
Sitting beside the sleighs was not going to get them very far, so he slung his backpack over his shoulders, grabbed his crutches and set off after the aliens.
Helen shook her head, gathered her stuff together and followed him.
After a couple of strides he stopped. Which way had they gone? His back had been turned when they left, so there was no way he could be sure.
‘Which way did they go?’ he asked, when Helen joined him.
‘I wasn’t watching.’
He looked towards the direction the river flowed from; to the south if his bearings were right. Did they go that way?
He looked the other way. Maybe that was the way?
‘Let’s just go that way for a bit,’ suggested Helen, ’if we don’t find them, then we can turn back and follow the flow of the water. What do you think?’
‘Can’t hurt; it’s a plan at least.’
They set off and, ten minutes later, they found them.
Dan was panting from the effort and he was feeling a little lightheaded as he had only taken a couple of squirts from his oxygen cylinder; trying to make it last. There was already the beginning of a headache rumbling deep inside his head.
Helen looked worse than he felt.
There was an extra alien there, apparently conversing with the original three. It was the proud owner of six legs, three central columns loosely wrapped around each other, and a flat horizontal disc shaped head.
'Look,' said Helen, 'over there in the corner.'
Dan looked over there in the corner and found a latticework of glowing crystal, a little like a shopping trolley, with narrow pointed spines in the place of wheels. Resting within was a cluster of the hairy fruit they'd seen earlier.
'That's what made the lines we saw.' Helen whispered.
When it noticed the arrival of the humans, the new alien left its companions and shuffled up to Dan. There was some prodding, and a sucking noise that suggested that the creature was sniffing him. Then it reached over with three tentacles and took one of the crutches from him.
It held the light grey metal rod above its head for a second, then lowered it to touch the ground. With its tentacles wrapped around the crutch, it began a poor imitation of Dan's crutch-work, hampered considerably by its lack of an armpit.
A jolly five minutes passed in which each of the aliens made an attempt to display its prowess with the crutch, with mostly inept results.
Despite all the fun before him, Dan remembered to take a suck at his oxygen bottle.
The immediate reaction from the aliens was the tossing to one side of the crutch and for all of them to gather closely around him and poke at the hard cold bottle with a selection of their tentacles, making high pitched but apparently random noises as they did so.
Very carefully, so as not to cause offence, Dan pulled the bottle away from them and packed it into his bag; that was the last thing he wanted to lose.
When he looked up, he was hardly surprised to find that they were alone again, and this time they'd taken his crutch.
‘Still think they’re intelligent?’
Making no response, he began to follow them; Helen alongside him. The canal was on their right, flowing in the opposite direction to their steps. On their left, the rough tan rock of the tunnel curved above their head, climbing to unseen heights above the canal.
Within seconds they could hear the aliens squealing, possibly with delight that the humans were right behind them, or perhaps with annoyance that they wouldn't leave them alone. Or maybe just because it was a sound they liked to make.
Working on the principle that the first was the correct interpretation, Dan carried on, awkward with his one crutch and noisy with his wheezing chest; he hoped that they weren't planning a long journey.
Chapter 19
When Sublan disappeared through the circular hatch, Jullie stepped forward to block access to the team of small Sherdling that was about to follow him.
'You are required to assist with the search of the above ground area. Our august leader will be supported by this dedicated person. Go now.'
The three hesitated for a moment, but Jullie was far too imposing an individual for them to even consider disobeying him. Without a word, they shuffled out of the ruins and began to look for seniors to give them their instructions.
Jullie called one of his loyal supporters to him and carefully accepted the weapon from him. The lifeboats had been stocked with a small number of basic ballistic weapons, and Jullie had made sure that they were all secured by his own supporters. He would have preferred energy weapons, but he was happy enough that only those Sherdling with the wisdom to follow his word would be armed.
After a quick look around to ensure that he was not being observed, he squeezed the top third of his body through the hatch, gun first, and looked for his target. As soon as he spotted Sublan some way down the corridor, he began to fire. Holding the heavy weapon one handed as he hung upside down was not really conducive to accuracy, but he was sure he'd hit his target.
There was an awkward moment as he tried to withdraw, when it appeared that he might be stuck, but his eager supporter was there to drag him out by the tail.
After taking a few moments to regain his dignity, in which there was considerable glaring at his helper as if it was all his fault anyway, Jullie passed him the gun.
'Hide this whilst I bring the bad news of our glorious leader's untimely demise to the people. Prepare yourself for sadness, Dellinay. There will be sadness and remorse, and it is such a shame that we have not the time to gnaw on the fabric of his life. What do you say, Dellinay?'
Dellinay looked up at him and adjusted his grip on the heavy weapon.
'Grieve dulls my mind, your Lordship, and loss threatens to devour me.'
'But...?'
'But...?'
Jullie lashed his tail from side to side.
'But...' Dellinay began slowly, 'we are not lost, we will survive and prosper, if we can find...'
'We have already found...'
'Yes, we will survive and prosper because we have already found someone who can...'
'Lead us to a future...'
'Lead us to a future...as good as...'
'Better than...'
'Lead us to a future that is even better than the dream that Sublan wanted to take us to.'
'Dellinay, it is hard to believe, but your thoughts exactly match mine.'
'Thank you, Sir.'
As Dellinay slipped away, Jullie stood for a while, to savor the moment. He hadn't expected it to be this easy and, to be honest, his plans were not yet fully in place. But how could he have resisted the temptation to act when Sublan put himself in such a vulnerable position?
The task before him now was to make that precipitous act bear fruit, and he was absolutely certain that there was no Sherdling alive who was better able to take on that responsibility.
As he left the ruins behind him, he covered his eyes with his paws and lowed the first bars of the elegiac masterpiece, The Loss of Hope and Dignity, in a deep mournful tone that echoed across the decimated settlement.
**********
The presumed deceased Sublan was very much alive and, if not exactly unharmed, was in no danger of meeting that expectation.
'Are you the possessor of a mirror?' he asked, twisting his head around as far as possible, ‘and is it in the same locality as your body, currently?
Mandy hesitated for a moment; perhaps there was an error in translation. It seemed such a strange request from an alien. When it turned its head back to gaze upon her, she decided that some response was required.
'Err, no,’ was the best that she could do.
'Consequences fail to cling to that negative,' Sublan responded obliquely, 'it seems that only one option remains to this Sherdling as the harm would appear to be not conducent to remedy and indignity must be embraced.'
Many glanced at her father, but he just shook his head and pulled a face. Sublan wasn't making any more sense to him.
They watched as the alien bent and twisted its upper body, its long mouth dropping open and its eyes squeezed shut. Mandy stepped a couple of paces back, fearful that it was either going to explode or defecate.
In the end, there was no more than a gentle thud as Sublan's tale detached itself from his body and collapsed to the ground. He turned to examine the damage done to his tail, firstly from Bill’s gun, and then from Jullie's. His rich, purple blood was still seeping from the many wounds, but that would soon stop.