by Max Jager
"I know what she is snapped Tucker, then glaring at Ilmi, he rudely asked,
"Is old Aldep still running things on Lyskanda?" Ilmi gave him a surprised look.
'Aldep! He's been with his ancestors for ages now, gad! When was the last time you were on Lyskanda?"
"Since Droshalla was a pup I guess, before your time that's for sure." Then quickly changing the subject, he pointed to the spacecraft they were standing in front of.
"Had some uninvited visitors, the kind that can really spoil your centon. That's who I thought you were, some of their friends come looking for them. Well they won't be causing any further trouble; I suspect that by now the Xon have taken care of the bodies. By the way do any of you know where they came from, mighty ugly for sentient beings."
"Those were raiders Tucker, are you telling us that you dispatched them all?" Tucker gave off with a grin then reached over his shoulder producing one hell of a blade that reminded Matt of the Woodsman's Pal axe/machete combination he had stored in the weapons locker aboard ship. Matt also noticed that there was some sort of sidearm on his left hip but hidden by a holster.
"Raiders eh," he replied, "Well I've been dealing with these fellows quite a bit lately. Actually had one land near New Town three ceme ago, poor devils didn't know what hit them."
"You took out two raider crews by yourself?" Exclaimed an astonished Ilmi.
He just grinned at her.
"So where's their ship?" Asked Matt.
Tucker started laughing,
"Well I have a pretty good knowledge of how to fly these spacecraft, and three or four of them are sitting in the middle of a bog about a hundred quans from here. Unfortunately the crews from these two craft gave a pretty good chase and I had only just returned when you showed up. Something has shut down their engines and I can't get them re-started."
"It's a safety device," said Jezang, "You can only leave the engines running for a specified amount of time if you're in cloak mode before they shut down on their own. I noticed that this one is extremely low on fuel and I'm sure the other is too."
"As I started to say," continued Tucker, I set the controls on the ship that landed near New Town for a programmed take-off then jumped off. It took off straight up clean out of sight, who knows where it could be now?"
"Well if it managed to escape the atmosphere all right," observed Amber, "It's probably drifting somewhere in space."
"Well whatever," mumbled Tucker, "Right now I have to figure out what to do with these ships, dump them in the bog like the others I suppose. We can't have others snooping around and spotting them."
Matt then spoke up,
"Tucker, doctor O'Donnell said that you told her this place looked to have been mined at one time but that it appeared to be long before earth people were brought here."
"Well now hold on there, I told her that this site appeared to have been worked long before the Neistra brought the people of New Town here. Have a look around, I think the people that mined this area were human as well. Other than being somewhat shorter, the skeletons you will find here are definitely human. Another tell-tale sign is the fact that only primitive hand tools can be found here. Whoever these people were, the Neistra did not provide them with any modern technology. The structures have mostly fallen into decay but it's possible to compare them with the buildings in New Town. They are much more primitive and were of extremely poor construction."
"Well one thing is certainly possible," said Jezang, "There's a strong possibility that the Ruddorian's might be offering this planet to the raiders as a trade off for the destruction of their home planet. That issue was still up for debate when we left Ruddoria. However I don't believe the appearance of all these raiders is merely a coincidence. I think they are scouting the place out. If, for some reason the Ruddorian's turn this planet over to the raiders this place will be crawling with them in no time. Therefore Tucker, I think you need to come with us. If the raiders show up in numbers, you won't last long. We offered the doctor and her servant a similar offer but she's close to her time and refused us."
"Well that sounds like Summer," replied Tucker, who then looked at Amber.
"Tell me Amber, what do you remember of the early times when we droids were first brought here." She thought for a moment then shook her head.
"Nothing, all I remember is just being here helping people, doing a little of this, a little of that, then Greg took me in.
Since then I've learned an awful lot…Maybe too much. I've learned that like my "sister" here I am a Tharg created by the Sibranthi to function as an assassin, and what Matt calls a "Terminator." Tucker then eyed Jezang,
"Hmm, Imagine, two Tharg together, what if I told you there are two more, Franklin and I." It took a moment for the information to sink in.
"Impossible!" Both Tharg said at the same time.
'No, not impossible," replied Tucker, "However it's a long and rather involved story passed to me by a dying Neistra. He had gone wandering where he shouldn't have and fell down a rocky hillside breaking both his legs as well as suffering internal damage. Jacob and I did everything we could for him but in the end could only make him comfortable while he waited for the end. I suppose he was feeling guilty or something, but ended up telling us the whole story of where we droids came from and why we were brought here. But right now, we need to get rid of these spacecraft."
"Man the shit just keeps getting deeper and deeper," thought Matt. Both Amber and Jezang were also very eager to hear the story but Tucker was very insistent about getting rid of these space craft.
With Gandric's assistance, they were able to override the shutdown systems and re-start the engines. There was just enough fuel left to fly them to the bog so with Gandric flying the Nora-Lee, Amber flying one of the raider ships, and Jezang the other, they made a beeline for the bog Tucker spoke of. Before abandoning the craft in one of the dreariest places anyone had ever seen, they looted the raider craft of weapons food, spare parts and anything they could carry.
"Eventually they will sink from their own weight," said Tucker, leave the hatches open."
As they were preparing to leave, Jezang asked Tucker,
"Doctor O'Donnell said that you and a human named Jacob thought these Neistra might have lived on a large island, do you suppose you could show us where it is?" Tucker looked at her and shrugged.
"Sure, Amber set your course for due west by north west. The moment your scanner picks up the inland sea, slow down." Speaking again to Jezang, he added.
"Jacob got it into his head that we needed to find where they lived. I don't know if he had mischief on his mind or not, he never said. We thought the Neistra only lived a short distance away, but how wrong we were. It took us well over two geem's to hike to the inland sea which was also a surprise. Anyway old Jacob couldn't see a thing as we stood looking out over the horizon of the lake. However because of my advanced vision I could. Couldn't see anything during the day, but at night I could make out lights, and even hear sounds of civilization coming over the water. Jacob was all for walking the perimeter of the lake but I didn't think it was such a good idea, so we headed home."
"Well there's the inland sea," said Amber, "What do you want to do now?"
Chapter 93
Titan Stand Chapter 93
"Just as a precaution," said Jezang, Take us up high but low enough so the scanner can get a really good reading." The sea was immense, as was the island.
"The closest that island is to any part of the shore is at least ten quans, pretty amazing that you could see that far even at night Tucker," observed Amber.
"I told you that all I could really detect was lights as well as a glow over the island indicating a city of some sort. As for the sounds, well they carry farther than you realize."
Once they were over the island the scanner began to detect life forms but not the two legged kind.
"There appears to be two or three forms of animal life down there," Observed Tucker. Oh look! Structures, and lots
of them, but the tree cover is so thick, you can't really get a good look." Suddenly a large round pad appeared with thick vegetation completely surrounding it.
"No poison or chemical readings," said Gandric, "But just to be on the safe side, Matt, you and Ilmi remain aboard one of us will go out and check."
Setting down in the middle of the plaza everyone geared up. Jezang and Tucker went out to check.
"Atmosphere checks out," came Jezang's voice, "No sign of immediate threats."
Everything they were watching on the scanner was just what Jezang was seeing; all androids eyes could act as cameras. While Tucker carried a Geltron rifle, Jezang carried the RPD machine which had become her favorite weapon.
As she and Tucker cautiously moved around the area, they offered commentary on everything they saw. Coming up to a faded red sign with equally faded white letters, Tucker said.
"It's written in Neistrian, which I can read, but not their numbers which these appear to be."
"I know some of their numbers," replied Amber, but those don't appear to be anything like that. Maybe they are some sort of numeric code. Anyway, what does the sign say?"
"Spoonak…Robec, We have solved the problem…Oh the Joy! We can now return home…When you read this we will have already departed. I will wait and meet you at…"
"Then it's just two lines of these strange symbols," said Tucker.
"I'm guessing they are coordinates of some kind," observed Jezang, "Possibly some small planet or asteroid on the way to this home of theirs wherever that might be."
"I'm assuming Spoonak, and Robec are the names of two of their people who were exploring elsewhere and hadn't returned by the time these people were ready to leave," said Tucker.
"You know I saw a bunch of papers in that tool building with the same sort of symbols on them. Do you suppose these are navigational coordinates?"
"Look at the big picture for a moment. This stone is essentially a sign telling these other crews who are obviously exploring elsewhere that everyone here has left and these are the coordinates they took." Then he became bolder, by tossing another possibility onto the fire.
"It's strange that none of you have ever heard or seen these people in this galaxy," he exclaimed.
"Could it be that maybe these people came here accidentally, maybe by a worm hole, black hole, or a parallel universe who knows? But they found this planet and stayed until they were able to figure out how they got here and re-trace their steps. Why else give the coordinates? If they just passing through from another galaxy wouldn't everyone know the way home? I also think they built this city thinking they were here for good, and then someone got smart and figured out their mistake. Why else is that phrase "Oh the joy!" in there? Let's face it, someone figured out how to get home so rather than wait, they just erected a sign for the other groups who were out somewhere else."
"The question is," added Matt, "Were they exploring out in space…Or wandering around on this planet somewhere?"
"With the kind of spacecraft they had," said Tucker, "They wouldn't have needed to do any walking. Well, Jezang let us continue our mission." Everybody on board the Nora-Lee watched as the two droids resumed their recon moving slowly from building to building. Everyone was like the one before, empty and deserted. Most still had furniture in them, and the buildings whose doors hung open were all filled with sand, dust and debris. Matt asked both of them to be on the lookout for any "loot" they might find in the desks or cabinets. As for Tucker and Jezang, they were on the look-out for any type of device that could a data storage record. Entering their sixth building, they struck pay dirt. In a locker, they found a small rifle, and a pistol along with a holster. In one of the three desks in the room they found an actual book that showed no signs of age. Jezang threw all the treasures into a "decon" bag. When you had all you wanted in one, you simply sealed it then crushed the packet found inside every bag. It was guaranteed to decontaminate anything in the bag.
In another building they found more notebooks, and a knife.
"So far we have seen nothing to indicate that anyone is still living here," observed Jezang, "We've also been observing the buildings themselves and though they all have a "temporary" look to them, we see no signs of any leaking through the roofs and the doors whenever they have been closed have all held up well, only the windows seemed to have lost their transparency." As they moved deeper into the settlement Tucker suddenly exclaimed.
"Hold on, I think we've got something here. Looks like one, possibly two small spacecraft sitting on the ground." Everyone on the ship watched closely as Jezang and Tucker cautiously moved around what was now clearly visible as two medium spacecraft.
"They appear to be locked," said Jezang, "And judging by the overgrowth, and debris scattered around these craft haven't flown in a very long time." Moments later, Tucker announced,
"I think we've got some sort of control or flight building here, going in now."
Matt and the others watched as both androids were forced to break open the door stepping into a room filled with electrical equipment.
"It appears we might have a transmitter here," announced Jezang, "It certainly looks like one, Tucker is studying the writing. It also looks like we've got a couple computers in here as well."
"There are what can only be numbers on these indicators," said Tucker, "So it must be those symbols out on that sign are numeric symbols. This transmitter appears to have been powered by a battery, I…"
"Wait a moment," said Jezang, "I've got an idea.
"What are you two going to do?" Asked Gandric.
"Together Tucker and I can power this transmitter long enough to record any message it might have contained, it's worth a try anyway." While they were setting things up, Matt asked Amber,
"Won't that drain their power?"
"Not for short periods of time, and it won't take but a moment to record, comes in handy at times."
"There is some sort of message," said Tucker, "Also looks like there may be some sort of data chips here as well. I think we've seen pretty much everything, on our way back."
Before entering the main part of the ship, both Jezang and Tucker stood in the small airlock chamber while they went through the "decon" process just to be sure.
"I think we'd better contact the authorities back on Ruddoria," said Jezang, "as for that abandoned settlement down there, someone else will have to give it a better go-through." Meanwhile Tucker was starting to go through everything they had collected.
"Could I have that knife?" Asked Matt, "It seems I've been collecting them lately."
Tucker looked at him and shrugged,
"Kind of thought you might like it," as he handed Matt the short fixed blade knife.
"I used to see the Neistra carry these once in awhile. In fact that fellow Jacob and I tried to save had one, I think I've still got it somewhere. Notice there's no sharp point so as not to put a hole in your life support suit. let me have it, and I'll show you something." Handing it back, Matt watched as Tucker held the knife by the blade and pressed a spot on the edge of the handle. Suddenly, what looked like a screwdriver blade popped up with a tiny square head with a half cut across it.
"I only discovered it by accident," observed Tucker, I'm not sure, but I think it's an adjustment tool. For the life support suit, and possible some sort of adjustment for their weapons as well. Wait a moment, let's take a look here."
Grabbing the small rifle, the android began to examine it.
"Here we go," he exclaimed as the bit fit into a socket hole on the weapon's receiver.
"Take down tool," replied Matt. They quickly found two similar socket holes on the pistol as well.
"Here Matt," said Tucker, I understand you're pretty handy with weapons, take them, their yours but hang on to them at some point the authorities may want to examine them." Tucker then started sorting through the books and notebooks trying to read what was in them.
Meanwhile Amber had assumed a high orbit over the planet s
o they could contact Ruddoria. It didn't take long for Jezang to get in contact with Vasta Tramik, Roikas Slykhor's personal assistant and explain the situation.
"Well in case you haven't heard," explained Tramik,
"Tumar-Ju, as well as the old mining station on Keltrin 7 has been given to the raiders. It appears that the Khufrian's are getting off with just a slap on the wrist provided they relinquish the whole planet which they seem more than eager to do. The situation you have just described on Z'ha'dum is very troubling, please let me speak with the foreign minister we will get right back with you."
No one knew what to make of the situation except that the Khufrian's were getting off to easily. While they waited, both Amber and Tucker poured through the documents but because their knowledge of the Neistrian written language was limited, it was tough going.