Nok looked at Khalil, seated now beside Nuri, but he just shrugged. Nok pondered a moment before turning to face the Moxantan.
»Maybe their bad conscience made them do it?«
The under-leader teetered more erratically and stepped back.
»What does bad conscience mean? Is it a disease? My translation device doesn’t understand this term,« he admitted.
Daralamai smiled cynically.
»It’s a Human emotional expression. I don’t know if your people even feel emotions!«
The Moxantan didn’t seem to know what Nok was talking about. He turned away, grumbling.
›It was Khalil. He penetrated their minds. He forced those three Moxantans to commit suicide,‹ she thought.
Hassan smiled knowingly as if he could read her thoughts.
Nok shivered faintly, ›Impossible, he can’t read my mind …‹
One of her crew members pointed at the central display. The Moxantans didn’t interfere. They allowed them access to the screens and displays and didn’t object if the crew followed the battleship’s actions. The tachyon comm-link was the only thing off limits. Two Moxantans guarded the comm-section to prevent any use of that device.
The fourth Circle battleship was up to something. A hose-like energy field sucked the moon’s debris toward the ship. A cloud of dust and smaller rock debris formed around the Circle battleship, and a dark-red glowing opening in the ship’s hull pulled the dust cloud into the ship. A short while later, another opening spewed pre-formed modules and building segments, which, orchestrated by a ghostly hand, found each other and locked together according to an unknown construction plan.
›Intelligent building blocks!‹ Nok stared, captivated. ›They know exactly which other parts to adhere to. Fascinating! A space station that builds itself.‹
»What you see is the foundation of Circle Fortress Moxa!« one of the invaders shouted euphorically. »Be happy that we’ve chosen your solar system. The fortress will play a vital role in our newly established realm!«
Nok Daralamai smiled sourly.
›This has to be stopped – here. We can’t let the Circle solidify its might in our solar system!‹ she decided bitterly.
Keep an eye on the spindle
Several species of extra-terrestrials from different Circle worlds came down the ramp, staggering, having trouble keeping their balance.
Bondifar lifted his head slowly, risking it to get a better look.
»Holy deep-sea oracle!« he huffed. »Who are all these guys?«
Main, through half closed eyelids, observes the extra-terrestrials wallowing and rolling in the snow and ice, seemingly having the time of their lives.
»The two-legged ones with the short trunks are Moxantans, like the ones occupying Triton Base,« he told them.
Next to emerge was a small group of humanoid beings, all looking alike and holding hands. Even by changing his binoculars to the highest zoom, he wasn’t able to detect differences between the three.
›Clones?‹ he wondered.
Two other beings were like nothing Bondifar could imagine – so alien that he couldn’t find words to describe them. Their bodies consisted of two lumps of meat, held together by strong fiber strands. They almost looked like molecule models.
Main breathed heavily.
»Tiller, you’re the walking data bank. Don’t just carry that thing around, do something with it!«
»On it, Boss,« Hosch acknowledged. He accessed the computer with a soft touch on its sensor pad at the side of his helmet. The holographic interface of his helmet visor reacted to his eye movements and activated the retina scanner. Hosch looked at the beings and winked, feeding his visual reception to the computer which compared his picture to what Nok Daralamai had transmitted to Earth before the base had been taken over. The Results appeared before Hosch’s eyes in mere seconds.
»Moxantans, no doubt. No data on the other beings, though,« he relayed. »But did you guys see that the new arrivals are covered with those, uh, stinger-penguins?«
»Frigonans,« Bondifar corrected him. »These aliens are prickly people. They usually don’t seem to distinguish between friend and foe. I thought the Circle was an alliance or union. Why do they cling to the other beings?«
»They seem to be much attached,« Main said dryly and signaled to Tiller Hosch that he wanted the data transmitted to HQ immediately. He ignored Hosch’s warning glance.
»Transmit, now! I want HQ to know what they’re up against. The sooner, the better!«
Hosch did as ordered and mumbled, »If the bolide in orbit or one of those robots detect our signal, then we’ll be grilled together at least.
»The aliens are staggering away toward the plain – moving more securely now. They’re walking single file … abandoning the spindle!« Bondifar commented.
»Do you want to know what I think, Boss?« Hosch asked.
Main grinned at Hosch cunningly.
»You know, Tiller, that I treasure your input.«
Hosch growled skeptically, »If we also count the stingers …«
» … Frigonans!« Bondifar corrected him again.
»… then we’re dealing with four different varieties.«
»Varieties? We’re not talking about ice cream, Hosch,« Main scolded with a wry grin.
»Four different peoples, four Circle battleships. Each battleship must house one specific nation. All the Circle nations are gathered here. The fact that three of them are infested by these penguins seems like something Friedberg needs to know – at once!«
Main squinted.
›Tiller is right!‹
The thought almost took him by surprise.
»Okay, report it to HQ. We’ll watch this caravan for a while. If there’re no latecomers, then we’ll take a closer look at the spindle,« Main decided. »Meantime we’ll gather up all the info we can.«
»It’s about time, Boss,« Hosch remarked grudgingly. »I was starting to think that we only came here to take some pretty pictures.«
»Don’t worry, Tiller,« Bondifar replied. »The brass hasn’t told us a darn thing about our mission yet, but Friedberg didn’t send us here to just take pictures in this God forsaken place.«
Main laughed.
»I begin to believe that the rumors that Merinians can swim in the ocean without breathing …«
»That’s not true,« Bondifar objected quickly.
»… and that you underwater dwellers can read,« Main finished. »I’m to tell you the details of our mission as soon as I received a certain signal from HQ.«
»Then our mission is one of those really dark ones? The kind where once you know the truth it’s too late to pull out? Hoo!« Hosch yelled with feigned enthusiasm.
»Exactly, Hosch,« Main replied seriously. »Bondifar, keep an eye on the spindle. Tiller, you keep looking for the young woman. If we have a chance we’ll grab her. Either way, Bondifar is right or we’ll have our hands full!«
Main groped in his side pocket where he had a small cylinder.
›We’ll see within the next few hours …‹
Covert actions
Nok Daralamai watched emotionless as the small holo collapsed. A dull bang came from the door to her quarters. Expecting the worst, she quickly touched a red self-destruct sensor pad on the side of the communication device sitting on the table. She got up and watched the glowing device disintegrate. All that was left of the secret comm-unit was a small pile of molten plastic and metal.
›Damn, now I need a new table!‹ she thought, glancing at the burn mark.
She quickly walked to the washroom and took a damp towel to clean off the ashes from her table, sweeping them into her wastepaper basket. The smell of burnt plastic still lingered in the air, but would dissipate within a short while.
She held her breath, trying to suppress a hacking cough and looked at the door.
Moments later, the airlock-like door to her room burst open and a group of Moxantans entered with raised weapons. They rummaged
through her quarters, searching for something. One of the Moxantans approached her with a threatening stance.
»A radio signal was transmitted from this room!« he snarled at her.
Nok ignored the accusation and replied calmly, »Next time you come into a lady’s room, you knock first.«
He pushed her aside rudely. The shear physicality of these beings was a threat to Humans. Even the lightest contact could bruise a man’s skin.
›This is the first time that one of them has treated me like this!‹
The extraterrestrial noticed the burn mark on Nok’s table.
»You destroyed the communicator, but that won’t make a difference. We intercepted your message and will decode it. We will now punish you for this offense!«
Nok began to perspire. So far the invaders had never maltreated or killed a superior officer of the base. Irritated, she looked around and saw the other Moxantans moving closer and closer, encircling her.
She cleared her throat before she said, »Circle General Destroyer will not allow this! We surrendered and are now Circle Servants. I’m the commander of this base!«
»You are overestimating your position. You are as dispensable as any other biped. That’s how Circle General Mindbreaker sees it! You have not surrendered the treasure and it seems to us as if you don’t even know where it is. You Humans are not important. This base no longer belongs to you – it is ours now! In a short while we will have removed the security features of your main computer frame and then you are no longer needed!«
As the alien approached, Nok could see a strange looking collar held in one of his trunks.
»This collar will make you obey us,« he threatened. »Put it on! Now!«
The three centimeter wide, rusty-brown collar had several needle sharp stingers, facing inward toward the center. It was clear to her that the device would surely gouge her neck.
»What is this thing?« she asked worriedly.
»It is a present from Circle General Mindbreaker, one of his tools. You and your officers will all wear this necklace to guarantee your loyalty!«
»Forget it! Neither I, nor anyone of my officers will wear this contraption, you would have to shoot us!« Nok declared defiantly.
»You all heard it – the Commander has made her choice!« the Moxantan snarled and raised his weapon.
›Shoot, you bastard! Make it fast at least, since you want to kill us anyway!‹ she thought dismayed.
Nok closed her eyes, her hands trembling, however, instead of being shot, strong trunks pulled her down.
»We didn’t ask for your agreement or permission. This was an order!«
Nok screamed as several trunks pinned her to the floor. She was unable to move or resist. All she could do was scream.
Nok watched the Moxantan leader holding the collar before her eyes. Suddenly, he twitched and stopped his advance. Just then, a wave of nausea washed over her.
»What …?« she mumbled and saw the person standing inside the open airlock to her room
›Hassan Khalil!‹
»Forgive me, Commander, but I cannot allow these individuals to break into your quarters and treat you this way,« he remarked dryly.
Seconds later, Nuri Jawa appeared behind Hassan and cautiously looked into the room.
»Their eyes look vacant!« she whispered in disbelief. »They’re not moving? They can’t move, can they?«
Hassan nodded.
»I established a temporal field, it’s easier to escape this way,« he explained.
Nok wiped the pearls of cold sweat from her forehead.
»I thought it was over. I’ve never felt so much fear in my life.«
Hassan looked at her with understanding.
»No, don’t get me wrong … I’m not afraid of dying; I feared that my willingness to resist could have vanished or suppressed with that collar around my neck. They want me to become their mannequin. This humiliation is cruel.«
With fiery eyes, she glanced at Khalil.
»Thank you, Hassan.«
It was the first time that Nok Daralamai had thanked him since he had arrived on Triton.
»I established a temporal fold to protect us. Thanks to the field, our time is significantly faster than the real time on Triton. I can’t maintain it for very long. It takes a lot of concentration and mental energy. It is, however, an extra-ordinary experience.«
Nok smiled simply and nodded.
»After this attack on me, I cannot return to command central. The Moxantans would arrest me immediately and put that collar on me, maybe worse …«
»We’re not quite sure about that,« Nuri confuted. »Hassan and I have correlated our data and observations, and found that these particular Moxantans are answering to Circle General Mindbreaker. All the other Moxantans are under the control of Circle General Destroyer. I detected differences in their auras and assume that this small group of Moxantans is being manipulated ...«
»… shunted by the other Moxantans,« Hassan quickly added. »There’s a lot of tension between these two groups. This is very strange.«
Nok pointed at the wastepaper basket and glanced at the motionless standing Moxantans.
»Friedberg doesn’t think that the invaders will leave again. The Frigonans are building a base in Greenland and transporting more and more materials to the location. The Union Government suggested to form some sort of underground resistance before it’s too late. Most importantly, we need to protect the octahedron data,« Nok clarified.
»Hmm … but we can’t fight the enemy openly,« doubted Nuri. »The Circle ships will reduce the Solar System to ashes.«
Nok smiled oddly.
»It doesn’t need to be brute force, if you want to answer a threat. We have other means at our disposal.«
»For example ...?« Hassan inquired.
»Covert actions, deception, needle prick tactics, the list is long,« Nok counted on her fingers. »Look, We need to act swiftly. Follow me, I know a place where we can talk undisturbed.«
I have a strange feeling
Protected by his team mates, Tiller Hosch crawled toward the black spindle and gave Bondifar and Main a thumbs up. They followed him and took position to the left and right of the ramp.
»I can’t detect any activity inside the spindle,« Hosch reported, lifting his motion detector briefly.
Main switched his helmet visor to maximum magnification and watched the column of extraterrestrials and robots walking further and further away from the spindle.
»They have abandoned this thing,« Bondifar concluded.
»Tzz … who’s going to steal it … us?« Hosch joked, but kept an eye on his instruments. »The hull has cooled down to surrounding temperature. I can’t measure any radiation with my instruments. The hatch or airlock is open, well, what else can I say … Let’s go and take a look.«
Main hesitated for a moment, waiting to see if a signal would come in from Friedberg.
›On the other hand, this is a golden opportunity,‹ Main thought.
»Tiller! You and me. Bondifar, you cover our asses, clear?« he commanded.
»Clear as mud, Boss!« Bondifar acknowledged with disappointment in his voice.
Hosch’s face turned gray.
Main slapped Hosch on the shoulder.
»Let’s go!« he beckoned him and stepped on the ramp. His boots found a solid grip as he slowly advanced with his weapon pulled while Hosch kept scanning the area to be ready for surprises.
As they arrived at the spindle entrance on top of the ramp, Main stopped and pondered for a moment.
›Hmm … no energy field, appears freely accessible; which doesn’t mean, they don’t have proximity sensors or intruder alarms!‹
Tiller Hosch slipped by Main and directed his equipment toward the airlock.
»No optical security system, laser barriers etc., not even microwave intrusion detection systems,« he announced. »There’re no movements, at least, I can’t detect any.«
»Is that possible? What do y
ou think?« Main inquired mutedly. »Don’t they expect us to take a look? Strange, really strange.«
»I don’t know what to think,« Hosch replied as he stepped into the spindle. »Maybe they just don’t give a shit, or there’s nothing here for us to take other than a couple of pictures.«
»Well, we’ll see,« Main responded and followed Hosch.
They advanced slowly and searched for occupants who might have stayed behind. Green light pulsed throughout the spindle. Hosch detected that the temperature inside the spindle was far lower than outside.
»This is a walk-in freezer!« he chuckled.
»A bit more precise, please.«
»Ahem … minus forty-six degrees Centigrade! There’s no doubt in my mind that this is their preferred temperature,« Hosch replied quickly.
»Whatever … what else is there?« Main demanded dryly and slowly turned around his axis, taking in the simple yet functional interior of the spindle.
»There’re different restraining systems and handle bars attached to the walls. Just look at the indentations and coves, they’re all cushioned and have handles, as well as belts and clasps,« said Hosch.
Sawyer Main seemed clueless.
»I don’t know. The impact was enormous and I think that these belts and handles are not the only restraining systems they used. They must employ some sort of shock absorption system, energy fields perhaps?«
Tiller Hosch looked at the smooth, polished floor, which seemed almost metallic. It was covered with different symbols consisting of engraved circles and lines. Hosch recorded the symbols and then turned his attention toward the spindle’s interior.
Above the indentations and coves, he saw bare energy conduits leading toward the upper section, forming a conical, dome-like cap.
»The conductors are live,« Tiller commented. »That’s where the green light comes from. The energy is flowing upward!«
Main nervously wiped his helmet visor and watched the energy conduits, which pulsated ever so slightly, pushing the energy upward.
»Where is this energy generated? Is there a reactor or fuel cell? What’s the purpose?« Main inquired searching the space.
NEBULAR Collection 4 - Second Reserve: Episodes 17 - 21 Page 29