“What is that supposed to mean?” I growled, feeling threatened.
“It means we need your help, Captain Deveroux. It means we need your help, and now you need ours as well.”
CHAPTER 7
“What was that supposed to mean?” Bren demanded.
“I don’t think I like the sound of it whatever it means.” Manuel said.
“In other words, we ain’t getting out of here unless we help them first.” Tanya said, angry. “I don’t like cryptic messages.”
“That remains to be seen.” I said ominously, but there was no answer from the air. They knew I knew what they wanted, but I wasn’t ready to believe we wouldn’t be able to find our way home without their help. The one thing I did know for sure was that I did not want to be turned into any confounded alien. I liked myself the way I was. No way!
“What about getting paid for the Trinium?” Melanie asked “Is that the game?”
“I don’t know.” I lied. “But we’re sure going to find out. Tanya, get over here and get out of that suit. Everyone else shut down and meet here for weapons disbursement.”
I left Bren to shut down the Bridge and opened up the weapons locker. I didn’t truly expect that a show of firepower would have any effect on the Kievors, but it would make me feel better. I had no idea what types of aliens we were going to meet on this Station, either, and wanted to be prepared. Whatever beings we encountered here, they wouldn’t know humans. Our reputation wouldn’t keep us out of trouble here. Here we had no reputation. Fresh meat.
“Shoot first and ask questions later.” I told my crew when they had all been armed.
Tanya was armed to the teeth but her armaments weren’t even visible. Her largest adornment was the annoying self-righteous smirk she always wore.
“You may have gotten us out of the frying pan,” I told her, “but are we out of the fire?”
Words can hardly describe the size of the freighter lying next to Last Chance. I had been raised in a one hundred forty story skyscraper tenement that seemed small compared to this vessel. It was like standing next to a mountain.
“If the Katons were mad before, there is no gauging their fury now.” Manuel, ever serious, said, as he followed my gaze down the length of the massive freighter.
“Don’t think you’re turning me into a space miner now just because you’re the proud new owner of an ore freighter.” Janice said. “I worked as a belt miner and it’s no fun. I’d rather sign up for Infantry Duty than mine again. There is absolutely nothing worse.”
“There’s no reason any of us should ever have to worry about money again.” Melanie said, looking at me to make her point.
“That’s what I’m hoping.” I lied. Getting paid for this ore was not going to be easy. I elongated the story: “I’m worried the Katons have lodged a complaint.”
“The Kievors don’t honor complaints!” Tanya snapped, glaring at me, seeing through my lies immediately. “What are you trying to pull?”
“I’m not trying to pull anything.” I growled back. “All I’m trying to say is that I think it is obvious the Kievors have an ulterior motive. Whatever it is we are about to find out. So save your attitude for them.” They had all heard the Kievor’s cryptic message and had accepted that there were things that they did not know. They just didn’t know that I did.
“You had better not be hiding anything.” Tanya warned me dangerously, looking me levelly in the eyes. She had just risked her life to save the freighter, so she had the right, I supposed, to be interested in getting paid for the Trinium.
“What could I possibly be hiding?” I asked.
She didn’t answer. She wouldn’t continue on until I spilled it but it was obvious by the expression on her face that she knew all was not as it seemed. She didn’t know what wasn’t right, only that something wasn’t. Her expression said ‘Marc beware if you get us screwed!’ I put on my most innocent expression and looked my innocence directly into her eyes. She did not look amused.
I led my little procession, blast rifles at the ready, out into the corridor of the Trade Station proper. The outer, docking level of these Kievor Trade Stations was always the busiest and this one was no exception. Anti-gravity sleds moved products and materials amid a bustle of alien life of all forms. Although I didn’t specifically recognize any of the alien species, Mother Nature had taken similar evolutionary courses here as elsewhere. There were numerous reptiles of all kinds. Bipeds. Fanged carnivores and even a species of bird creature of dubious intelligence, all working in and amongst one another, loading, unloading or moving their products and purchases on the quiet Kievor rented anti-gravity sleds. No one paid us the slightest bit of attention as we traveled first down one corridor and then another, marveling at the prolific nature of life.
The only strange look we got was when we’d tired of investigating and we were waiting for a lift to come and take us down to Level One, and two humanoids walked past us wearing shocked expressions. We were a little shocked ourselves. These humanoids were as close to us in appearance as any alien race I have ever seen, and they were obviously thinking the same thing, except that we had come a very far way and were expecting to see some strange sights, whereas they were probably in or close to their home territory and had probably thought they knew all the alien species. They obviously had not been expecting to see anything like us.
They came to a halt and just stared at us, no more than two meters away. They were a male and a female and appeared as youthful as we did ourselves, but very rugged and muscular. The pair were roughly our own height, the male slightly taller and stronger looking, and of a similar mass and structure. Five fingers, single opposable thumbs, golden hair and yellow eyes, and all the rest of their parts in equivalent places (and, I wondered, noting that the female was about as beautiful a creature as I had ever before laid eyes on, if the parts that weren’t visible were the same as well?). She noticed my interest with an intuition purely animal, and parted full lips to smile at me. The smile revealed canines that would have done a leopard proud, but in no way diminished her beauty. She was absolutely stunning in a primordial, barbaric way, and it was obvious that if she did not feel the same way about me, she at least appreciated my interest in her.
I didn’t get a chance to find out just how interested she might be in me because the male noted the way we were looking at one another just as intuitively. He barked an order at her and they immediately moved off, but not without a backward glance cast my way as she went. I winked at her.
“Don’t you just wish that human women were as obedient?” Tanya taunted me.
The lift dinged its arrival as it opened, cutting off whatever remark I was getting ready to retort (I seldom had to think such bantering through, something always seemed to come out of my mouth, and that not always a good thing). I smiled at her in my ease, letting her know she had won no points. After all, the beautiful alien girl had practically thrown herself on me! It was my moment! We got on the lift and the lift departed before I could even indicate where we wanted to go. They knew where we wanted to go.
We all kind of held our collective breaths as we rode down through the Station and then started following the green arrows once we arrived on Level One. They brought us to a door which looked like any other door to be found on this Level. It slid open as we approached.
“Come in please.” Said the same mechanized voice that we had heard in the air aboard Last Chance as we approached the door. I had time to wonder if we were going to be dealing with a robot. If so, it would be a first.
We walked in. The office was the same as any other Kievor office I had ever been in. It could have been the same office, if I had not known better. There were six chairs in front of the Kievor’s desk today.
The Kievor looked the same as every other Kievor I had ever dealt with. If this was a different being, and I had no doubt that it was, I could not see those differences, if differences there were. The only difference between this Kievor and any other Kievo
r I had ever dealt with was that this one had a metal disk strapped to its throat, which began issuing words once I had made myself comfortable.
“No Kievor here speaks any of the human languages. Sorry. You will have to tolerate our translator, please. We hope this does not inconvenience you.”
“Do we have a choice!” Tanya grouched, but the Kievor ignored her, its eye turned directly onto me. Maybe Kievors did not let their women have free reign, either, yet somehow I did not think that was it.
“It’s no problem.” I said, ignoring Tanya too.
“Good.” The Kievor went on through the translator, somehow activating it without actually making any sounds or even moving its mouth or throat. It was a bit disconcerting. The Kievor went on; “If we had ever imagined the need for human linguists we would have been better prepared, but here on One we are an unimaginably long distance from human territory, and we did not anticipate that the need would ever arise. I do not anticipate you will be pleased when you find out how far that is.”
The Kievor paused to give me a chance to interrupt, but the fewer interruptions I offered the faster it would get to the meat. Anyway, if they could get us here, they could get us back. Of course, there would be the cost. That was the meat I was waiting for. The Kievor went on;
“The wormhole we used to shunt you here is a one way ride.” It lied to me. “There was a time when we could access these wormholes and travel anywhere we wanted, but, unfortunately, an unknown entity has been destroying them. We are in an undeclared war with unknown parties. We think the wormhole openings are being destroyed to cut us off from one another. To alienate us one from one another. As yet we have been unable to determine who is behind these attacks, or determine their purpose.
“You’re saying there is no way to return?” Bren demanded, alarmed. “You’re saying we’re trapped?”
“There are no wormhole openings in this sector of space. That is correct.” The Kievor said. “That is not to say that you are trapped, however. There are wormhole openings elsewhere, so it is just a matter of getting to them, accessing them, and making the return journey home.”
“How long without accessing any of these wormholes of yours?” I asked. The game was clear to me now and I did not need to actually hear the Kievor’s answer to know the gist of what it was going to say.
“I’m afraid,” said the Kievor, “that at your present level of technology, it would be completely out of the question. The distance involved . . .” It left the thought hanging.
“So you’re blackmailing me?” I said, but the translator must not have been able to comprehend the term because the Kievor did not respond. I explained myself more fully. “You are going to force me to do this thing for you. Is that it?”
“No!” The Kievor seemed alarmed. “We do not force beings to do anything they do not wish to do.” Then a slightly different tone crept into the mechanized voice. “We also do not give our technology away.”
“I have plenty of Credits.” I argued ridiculously. “I’ll buy the technology. Or were you planning to change the going rate for Trinium?”
“No. Not at all. We will honor the going price for your Trinium.” I definitely heard the change in tone on that word. “Your account has already been credited with eight hundred forty-seven billion Credits, and change. We do not wish to haggle and this is our top offer. We hope this is acceptable.” It wasn’t really a question nor could I find the strength to argue.
“You won’t sell your technology?” I said. That was the game, of course.
“No.” Just that.
“What is it they want from you?” Melanie asked. “Did you already know about this?”
“Yes I already knew about it, and turned it down once before.” I swore. “They want me to spy for them.”
“That doesn’t sound too terrible.” Manuel said.
“You haven’t heard the best part.” I said.
“What’s the best part?” Tanya asked, a sly look in her eyes like she was just about to get to watch me suffer cruelly, even though she couldn’t know what it was all about, she could see me squirming on the end of the hook. I was caught, pure and simple.
“They want to change me into an alien. Literally change me into an alien. Right down to the atomic level. I would be one of these aliens!”
“What kind of alien?” Tanya asked eagerly, a self-satisfied look writ plainly on her face.
“A biped similar to humans.” The Kievor said. “The differences would be minimal, and of course we would return you to your original state once you had completed your mission. Also, there is the matter of the additional two million Credits to be considered. We will give you the technology you need to get home once you have done what we ask, as a measure of our gratitude. Now, do you need time to consider our proposal?”
“Hell yeah I need time to think about it!” I nearly screamed. “If this isn’t forcing someone to do something they don’t want to do then I don’t know what in the hell you do call it!” I stood up to go. There was certainly no reason to rush my decision. Hell, what did they have in human space they didn’t have here, anyway?
“Wait please.” The Kievor said and stood up as well, behind its desk, dwarfing us. “There is much you do not know. We do not fear merely for ourselves. If it were just us, we could gather and depart. As far as you have come from human space, the Universe is still limitless. Still expanding. We could go and find new territory to dwell within in peace. Find a new place to set up our Empire. Let them have all the territory they need. But we have formed alliances and partnerships with millions of races. We feel an obligation to those races. When the Kievor give their word, we keep it, or do everything in our power to attempt to do so. The Kievors have never before broken their word, and we do not wish to start doing so now.
“Yet we are not warlike. We do not wish to precipitate war. We do not wish to engage in war at all. But the race with which I refer is bent on expansion, domination and extinction of all other races. They had already been expanding for many thousands of years when we first met them and they have not slowed down since. They are expanding rapidly and they are not far from human space.
“This is the biped in question.” The Kievor said and nodded to the ever present painting hanging behind every desk of every office of every Kievor Trade Station I had ever been in. The painting of the mountainous planet washed by red sunshine (and now I knew of what system it represented) and which changed as I looked at it; the new image which appeared there was of a member or the same species of biped which we had just encountered in the corridor so far above Level One, that we had seen when we were entering the lift to descend here. I think we all gasped when we saw it.
“You let them on your Station!” Tanya snapped, jumping to her feet as if she expected them to come crashing through the doorway into the office at that very second. Her face was a mask of fury. The real Tanya showing herself in an unguarded moment.
“We don’t take sides. We are neutral.” The Kievor said by way of explanation.
“But you said they have been destroying the worm holes!” Janice said. “Why would you allow them aboard your ship?”
“We are a Trading race, and it is only speculation. We do not know for sure that it is they doing it. We only guess as much. We know of no other races with the technological ability, but we do not know it for certain.” The Kievor sat back down as if with a great weariness, obviously feigned. “We only suspect, and it is not a direct attack against us personally. The destruction of the wormholes in no way deters our escape, should that become necessary, though we do not know that they know that. We know little of what they know.”
“How are the wormholes being destroyed?” Bren asked.
“Technically, we do not know that the worm holes are destroyed. We only know that we can’t get near them to find out. Their entrances are blocked by black holes.”
“Black holes!” I exclaimed. “You don’t think they made these black holes?”
“That
’s exactly what we think.” The Kievor said. “We think they’re using Trinium to make gravitational engines. Given enough energy a Trinium particle wave producer could create the mass necessary to form a black hole. We still have to devise a method to counteract these black holes, but that is why we are buying up all the Trinium. We do not yet possess the technology necessary but we are working on it. That is why we need your help?”
“How have these aliens responded to your buying Trinium?” Tanya asked.
“They are called the Alartaw,” the Kievor said, “and they have made no response at all. They’re not selling us Trinium. That I can tell you. Or buying it, for that matter. They haven’t acknowledged our move at all.” The Kievor looked around at all of us in turn, then went on. “The Alartaw are following a pattern that was only interrupted by their meeting us, we hypothesize. Uncertain of our abilities and unsure of our motives, they have settled in to study and observe us, but their activation of these black holes at the entrances of the worm holes they know we use can only lead us to believe that they are preparing to launch an offensive against us. They have already annihilated or nearly annihilated thousands of other races. There can be no confusion as to their motives. They do not wish to subjugate. Utter destruction is all they desire.”
“How far from human space are these Alartaw now?” Manuel asked, always the pragmatist.
The Kievor looked uncomfortable, as if regretful this question had been asked, but answered truthfully; “Far yet, but their eventual arrival is inevitable, unless they are stopped.
“We have been secretly advising all sentient races within this and other affected Sectors to join together for mutual protection, but we fear that it is too late and in vain. The Alartaw are highly organized, technologically advanced, and highly aggressive. We may not even be able to escape them, and if we cannot escape them, no one will.”
Chronicles of a Space Mercenary Page 17