The taxi began to move, left the plaza and found an underground highway. After a while, Ramir noticed that the traffic became denser.
So, there’s life down here, he thought relieved. Directly beside him was another taxi hovering in the same direction.
He made eye contact with the passenger inside the other taxi. The person returned his glance … his look was electrifying!
It’s that alien again! That guy from the library. This is not a coincidence! Why is he following me? he thought alarmed.
Ramir decided to solve this riddle.
»Follow the taxi beside us!« he commanded to the auto-pilot.
Instead of following Ramir’s command, the taxi took an exit ramp, leading to the surface. Ramir was startled. His original destination was the shipyard, the stranger’s taxi, however, took a different direction and changed lanes.
»Wrong, wrong, wrong! Turn around and follow the other taxi!«
»The route is outside the valid parameters,« the auto-pilot replied.
Ramir looked at the other vehicle which vanished in the distance.
»Then bring me to the spaceship yard,« he quickly changed his previous command.
The auto-pilot, however, didn’t react and said again, »The route is outside the valid parameters.«
»You are defect,« Ramir said angrily. »I demand that you let me out at the nearest stop!«
»Stopping before we reached the ultimate destination is prohibited,« the auto-pilot replied stubbornly.
Ramir pushed the emergency stop button. Normally, that would have stopped the taxi, but the auto-pilot didn’t respond, instead it accelerated the vehicle.
Nervously, Ramir activated a cushion field for emergency purposes which protected passengers in an accident. It was obvious that the auto-pilot was behaving as erratic as the robot inside the underground station.
This has never happened before! he thought tensely.
This will take a while
The space surveillance was hopelessly overwhelmed. The crew had to rely on the computers to handle the flight corridors. Even that was challenging as the number of ships increased.
»There’re just too many ships over Triton!« the surveillance officer shouted breathlessly. »The Dragon has arrived with an entire fleet. The pilots are having difficulties maintaining their courses.«
Nok knit her eyebrows. The situation seemed to get out of control.
The fleet didn’t maneuver as one unit; it was uncoordinated and lacked central control. Every ship commander tried to find their own course. Some ships tried to land on Triton while others established an orbit. It was getting tight.
»Alright then!« Nok shouted into the room to make herself understood. »Let the already landing ships proceed. Make use of the entire surface. Section it off into quadrants. Ships in orbit remain there until further notice. Direct further out flying ships to land on the other moons or to take orbits around Neptune. Inform the crews on Proteus, Nereid and Larissa. There’s plenty of space for all of them. The tachyon portal and Techno-Center are off limits!«
Nok turned toward the main holo where Scorge was still displayed, trying to catch some falling giant-spores which he then ate with obvious delight.
»Scorge, do these other ship commanders understand our instructions and beacons?« she shouted at him.
Scorge stopped eating for a moment and said, »In the name of the nettle-armored fur larvae of Drogur! Have you skeletal beings not yet developed a universal translation device? It seems to me that nothing has progressed since my last visit. How will you ever reap the benefits of faster-than-light space travel, if …«
»… can we talk about that later?« Nok interrupted impatiently. »Would you be so kind and transfer our signals to the ships out there?« she asked politely.
»Do I look like a cosmic beacon?« he replied puzzled. He pondered for a moment while his tentacles vibrated quickly. »Come to think of it … I could use some fresh bio-mass from Earth. You know what I’m talking about, this green organic stuff which can make oxygen and produces a tingling sensation on my taste buds. I can extract a beautiful gelatin from it which compliments my giant-spores. Hmm … delicious. I want …«
»Okay, granted, granted!« Nok replied hastily. »You can have as much plankton as your tanks can hold. Now, transliterate our signals to the other ships.«
Nok signaled the eagerly waiting space surveillance team to transfer the codes and approach corridors to Scorge’s ship.
»Electromagnetic waves? Are you kidding me?« Scorge responded indignantly. »That’s an offense to my sensors and receivers. Don’t you have communication links with greater bandwidth?«
Nok looked irritated for a moment then she said, »Certainly. How about a tachyon channel? Would that help?« she grinned at Scorge.
She snapped her fingers. The comm-officer understood.
Scorge screamed excitedly. »That’s what I call a signal! Your instruction can still be received in the center of Zoscoor!«
»We take that as a compliment,« Nok replied. Moments later, the main holo displayed a much less chaotic behavior by the alien ship commanders. Large contingents began landing maneuvers on Triton while other ships followed orders to maintain waiting orbits. It seemed as if most of the fleet had arrived, although, there were still the occasional entry signatures within the Neptune Sector from latecomers. It was like a miracle that there hadn’t been any collisions yet.
»Commander!« the space surveillance officer hollered and activated a tactical sub-holo. »One of the Dragon convoy’s ships is losing altitude and approaches Triton on an acute angle. The vector doesn’t look good.«
A cigar-shaped ship appeared on the holo which was leaving the convoy.
»Are they landing?« Nok asked.
»No, it’s going to crash!« Nexus Tor explained who had been in the comm-loop. His face appeared on the holo where Scorge’s picture had been moments ago. »They seem to have technical problems; they aren’t answering our calls …«
Nok grimaced.
»Why are you leading these ships so close to Triton if they can’t stabilize?« she interrupted.
»Because they might have plunged into the gas giant. I wanted to make sure that the visitors are not being subjected to Neptune’s strong gravitational field. These crews made it here just in time. Most of their propulsion systems are wrecked,« Nexus Tor replied calmly. »Not all of these ships adhere to the same design standards. Some of them are plain patch work.«
Nok knit her eyebrows. The alien ship fell faster and faster toward Triton’s surface. The ship’s angle was getting steeper.
»The ship will crash!« alarmed the scanner officer. »Suggest to send a rescue team to the predicted crash area.«
Just before the crash, the pilot was able to pull up the ship up. It, nevertheless, razed a crater wall which made its defense shield flare up. The section of the crater wall vaporized and displayed a round edge where the ship had penetrated the hard rock. The ship raced toward a tall rock formation at the other side of the crater and smashed into it. The energy field prevented the worst for the crew and burned a tunnel into the rock. The causing friction stopped the ship’s forward movement. It had penetrated the rock by two thirds of its length.
»There we go. The Fronites made quite a great landing,« Scorge rejoiced.
Nok was worried but also relieved. She looked at Scorge, not understanding his comment.
»What? You call that a great landing, Scorge?«
»I’ve seen worse, believe me,« Scorge replied gurgling. »Each of their landings resemble controlled crashes.«
»Landing?« Nok was horrified. »The ship sticks out by about two thirds in the rock!«
»Yepp, this was a master landing. Most of the time, only a small number of the crews survive. Which doesn’t make much of a dent due to their high rate of reproduction,« Scorge clarified and changed the subject. »When can I pick up the bio mass?«
Nok looked at the holo where a rescue team app
eared on the way to the crash site. Then she shook her head in disbelief.
»My God, my base has turned into a nuthouse.
Another call from the scanner officer caught her attention and interrupted her conversation with Scorge.
»Ma’am, numerous, unknown ships appeared behind Neptune and are plunging into the atmosphere,« the scanner officer advised.
»Project the images on the main holo; make use of the satellite network, especially Proteus,« Nok commanded.
Moments later, the command central crew witnessed a small fleet of boomerang-like, colorful ships fly directly toward the white spot inside Neptune’s atmosphere.
Nok was speechless for a moment then she said hectically to Scorge, »Tell them to take a different route. Whatever happened to these people, there’s no need to commit suicide!«
Scorge slouched on his cushion and caught a falling spore with his mouth. Everyone could hear the mashing sounds with which he ate the spore.
»What colors?« he asked between a couple of slurps.
Nok was becoming impatient.
With a raised voice the replied, »They are trying to commit suicide and you ask me about the ship colors?«
A burp indicated that Scorge seemed to have finished his meal. He retracted his tentacles and chided, »Either, you’re lucky and the Phooks don’t like your gas planet or they like it a lot and you have new neighbors in your solar system. Normally they don’t create a lot of conflicts, however, sometimes …«
»… my patience has limits, Scorge,« she answered dangerously calm, which caused Scorge to whistle nervously, sounds he didn’t make too often.
»You’re a female! I knew it! I think that your and our females have a lot in common. I and my brothers have loads and loads of them on our ships and they behave dominant just like you, believe me. I barely had time to fly my ship.«
Nok just wanted to reply harshly as she caught a signal from Nuri Jawa to tone it down. Instead, she said with clenched teeth and a fake smile, »Are you bullshitting me?«
Gurgling sounds came from Scorge, he seemed to be amused while ten ships plunged into Neptune’s high-pressure atmosphere.
»As you can see, there is no terrestrial bull around, and I have a clean ship,« he gurgled and waved his tentacles around to insure that he was alone inside his domicile. »I wouldn’t know what to do with bullshit.«
»You can use it as fertilizer for your plants!« Nok yelled. »These ships are doomed!«
Seconds later the Phook ships disappeared from the holo. »They’re probably smashed to pulp already. Why did they do that? Nobody can rescue them …«
»It’s high time that you Humans expand your horizon and look outside the box,« he remarked. It seemed as if his universal translation device had problems translating some of his words, a staccato of gurgling sounds came from the device until it caught up.
»The Phooks live inside gas giants. They love it there and usually don’t care about oxygen worlds. You probably won’t see them again for the next hundred years. It takes a long time to colonize a gas giant like Neptune. Was there a blue ship among them?«
»Yes,« she replied shortly.
»Well, congratulations then!« Scorge squeaked happily. »A Phook queen has arrived. I hope you can spare a couple of moons. The Phooks need raw materials to build their floating cities.«
Nok drew a deep breath and looked at Nuri. »We may run into a problem, I’ll probably need your assistance.«
»Rescue team has arrived at the crash site,« the team leader reported while another holo established.
Nok turned toward the holo. It had never been that hectic inside the command central.
»This seems to be a freighter,« the team leader reported surprised. »Everywhere around the ships are objects strewn about which look like medicine balls. We’re counting about one hundred of them. Some have rolled into the Davis Crater and are about two hundred meters below us. I have no other explanation than that these balls came from this ship.«
»What can you tell me about the crew? Are there any survivors?« Nok inquired.
»So far we have not detected any signs of life. We’ll try to enter the ship. The energy shield is no longer active as I can tell.«
The officer kicked some balls to the side and signaled his team to proceed.
»It would help to know how these people look like,« he requested.
Nok asked Scorge who was in the process of landing the Yax K’uk’Mo’ at the position which the Circle ship Reusus had leveled several days ago.
»The Fronites are small built people; their spacesuits resemble air-filled spheres made of a leather-like bio substance,« he replied.
Nok’s eyes widened, her cheeks twitched.
»Collect these balls with utmost caution and bring them to the base. Do not forget a single one of them. You are personally responsible for them all. If one of your team members thinks that he can play kick-ball with them then I will do the same to him. Do you understand?«
»Fully understood, Ma’am,« the team leader acknowledged insecurely.
At this moment the Yax K’uk’Mo’ landed. More than four thousand spaceships left the orbit and began descending on Triton, among them a couple of Shwakan ships.
»Establish a list of the different ship types,« she told the OIC. »Use the space surveillance system if need be. I want to know how many different people we’re dealing with.«
»That will take a while, Ma’am,« the officer replied, »We’re hopelessly overwhelmed.«
»You can say that again,« Nok nodded at him and watched the holos. A new era in Human history had begun.
You just let her go
The taxi stopped in front of the library, the place, where Ramir was supposed to be for his studies. Numerous chots walked over the plaza facing the library, but didn’t pay attention to him. Most of them didn’t even look in his direction as he stepped out of the taxi. The vehicle accelerated and drove away toward one of the commuter-tubes.
Ramir ran his hand through his long and black hair.
Why did the taxi drop me off here?
Suddenly, the plaza with the busy students seemed strange to him. He felt like an observer, looking at a painting whose colors seemed strange.
Who directed the taxi to the library?
Ramir shook his head and walked across the plaza.
Perhaps, I could just go in there and continue my lesson plan, as I’m supposed to, he thought depressed.
It’s better like that, young Chot, Ramir thought to have heard a voice in his mind. He quickly turned around, but there was nobody.
The Mentors, Ramir thought, they’re monitoring my thoughts!
»Ramir!« somebody called his name at the same moment as he walked up the stairs to the library.
He looked around and saw Skinna, waving at him. He dashed up the steps through a group of students who were involved in a vivid discussion.
Skinna greeted him with open arms.
»I’m glad that you decided to follow the right path,« she said happily. »This is your place, you belong here.«
»Skinna, I know you really mean well, but today, strange things happened to …«
Ramir looked at her startled.
»What are you doing here? You’ve never visited me at the library before?«
Suddenly, a light wind blew through Skinna’s long, black hair. She looked at him with her golden eyes.
She’s so beautiful. I always wished to have a woman like that, he thought while a cold shower ran down his spine. This situation was eerie. Why is she not talking to me, why just these looks?
As if she had read his mind she said, »I was worried after our dispute yesterday. I was looking for you. I want to ask you for forgiveness.«
»How did you know that I came here? Kalmot is a big city,« Ramir replied skeptically and a tad distanced.
Skinna didn’t want or couldn’t understand his doubts and said, »You are here and we met. I’ve heard that some cosmic civilizations
call this luck and are happy about such an occasion. You seem to think differently, though.«
Ramir pushed her away softly.
»Who are you really, Skinna? Are you with them?«
Skinna’s eyes widened, then she squinted.
»I always tried to be like you wanted me to. Now, that’s not enough anymore! You don’t trust me, although, I’ve lived with you for a long time and share your bed. What changed you? With whom am I supposed to be? Who is them? I don’t know you anymore.«
Insecure, he looked at his feet.
»I don’t understand myself,« he admitted. Then, he remembered the events from the early morning. »I saw this alien again, and I had that voice in my head … again.«
»Are you hearing voices?« she said worriedly and looked around to see if other students had overheard their conversation.
»I believe the voices came from the Mentors,« he replied louder.
Skinna twitched.
»Ramir, what are you doing? They’ll declare you insane. Maybe they’ll strip you of your chot status and send you to a clinic.«
Ramir shook his head vigorously.
»Nobody cares about what I have to say.«
Demonstratively, he stepped before the library portal, opened his arms and yelled from the top of his lungs, »The Mentors are monitoring your minds! None of you has free will!«
Skinna looked at him horrified. She couldn’t understand what her partner had just done.
He looked down the steps onto the plaza filled with hundreds of students who didn’t waste a thought on disrupting their conversations or studies.
»See?« he said loud enough for Skinna and everybody else around them to hear. »They ignore me! I think, I’m surrounded by supernumeraries.«
»So, I’m an extra, as well as all the other people we know? Well, I can help you. You don’t need to worry anymore about that. I won’t bother you any longer with my presence.«
Quickly, Skinna turned around and ran down the steps without looking back.
Ramir stood in place, surprised. His thoughts raced for a couple of moments, he couldn’t decide. He asked himself, if he should run after her or just let her go, but then he turned toward the portal.
NEBULAR Collection 6 - The Great Tremor: Episodes 27 - 30 Page 23