by James Rosone
Captain Hopper leaned forward. “Hosni, one of the other Sumerians, Hadad—he mentioned that each year, the Zodarks would demand tribute from the Sumerians. Hadad believes the Zodarks took those tributes and ate them. All the other Sumerians we’ve talked with have the same belief. Is there any truth to that?”
Hosni didn’t speak right away. He looked like he was trying to figure out how he should respond. “I don’t mean to contradict what Hadad has told you, but my experience with the Zodarks is that it’s not true. I believe that is a myth they perpetuate with my people, but I have not personally seen that happen. That is not to say it doesn’t, but I have not seen it.”
“Then what do you believe is done with the tributes?” Hopper inquired.
“I cannot say for certain. I have also heard that there are other worlds the Zodarks control that are populated by Sumerians who are not slaves—people who actually fight alongside the Zodarks. I never asked my master about this, so I cannot say for sure if that is true or, again, another myth they allow to circulate.”
It was evident by the way the Sumerian talked about his master that he had a positive emotional connection to him, even if he had been his slave. Despite further probing, Hosni wouldn’t speak ill of his former master; instead, it came across like he might have had a good relationship with him.
Captain Hopper caught on to the Sumerian’s demeanor. Stockholm syndrome, he thought.
Hopper decided to change the subject. “Tell you what, Hosni—I’d like to have you work with one of our programmers and help us visually program in what a Zodark military rifle looks like, how it works, and what it sounds like when it’s fired. We’ll try and build this into our virtual reality simulators and iterate the process with your help until we can recreate its likeness. Then I’d like you to help us understand how their soldiers fight, what tactics they use, things like that. I’m sure the spacers, the fleet sailors who operate our warships, will ask you for similar help with understanding their ship’s weapons and defensive capabilities.”
Captain Hopper reached over and took the Sumerian’s hands in his own. Looking the young man in the eyes, he added, “You’re with us now, Hosni. If you want, we’ll make you a soldier, just like us, and you can help us protect our home world from the Zodarks—and if we’re lucky, we may be able to one day liberate your own home world of Sumer.”
The young man, no older than late twenties, beamed with pride. Tears formed in his eyes. “I’d love nothing more than to help you, Captain. I cannot wait to see a world without Zodarks. To live free of slavery is something I never thought possible. To know there is an entire planet full of free people…it’s almost more than I can imagine.”
The rest of the journey back to Sol was spent creating a realistic representation of the Zodark military, from their ground force to their space force. The soldiers and sailors interviewed and worked with the Sumerians to recreate as best as possible the type of enemy they would soon be fighting.
The small intelligence unit on the Voyager spent the trip questioning and interrogating the ten Zodarks relentlessly. The questioning started out easy. Then it got tougher as the prisoners realized they were being transported to a system outside their race’s control. Hunger also became a problem. Being flesh-eaters, they did not take well to the dietary restrictions that were suddenly placed on them.
*******
RNS Voyager—Brig
Halsey stood in front of the reinforced plexiglass wall separating her from the Zodark inside. T’Tock’s legs and arms were shackled to the floor, limiting his ability to move about the room. When he had become violent and started pounding on the see-through wall and attempted to attack the guards, they’d had to restrain him.
T’Tock walked as far as the restraints would let him as he approached her. “My people are going to find your planet, and then we are going to destroy it,” he growled, his hot breath momentarily fogging the window separating the two of them.
Halsey looked at him. “Your people will never find Earth, and one day, we’re going to liberate the Sumerian people from you.”
T’Tock let out a guttural howling scream of frustration. He fought with all his strength against the constraints holding him back. His muscles flexed with tension as he tried to break free before giving in to the reality of his own bondage.
“It doesn’t feel good to be a prisoner—a slave to someone else, does it?” Halsey said, almost taunting him.
T’Tock looked at her with fire in his eyes as he raged again against his restraints.
Walking up behind her, one of the masters-at-arms said, “I’m not sure it’s such a good idea to get him so worked up. At some point, we have to feed him.”
Halsey turned to see the head of security standing next to her. She blushed briefly, realizing he was right, of course.
“Sorry about that, Chief. I sometimes think about what they did to Ambassador Chapman and her assistant. I guess I like to rub it in a bit that he is now our prisoner and not the other way around.”
The chief smiled. “I’m not saying it’s not fun to toy with them, Admiral. I think we all like to do that a bit. There’s just so much we don’t know about them. I wish they weren’t so violent toward us.”
Just then, one of the scientists who had been studying the Zodarks came in. He signaled for her to join him.
“What do you have for me, Khalid?” she asked as she approached him.
Khalid and two other researchers had been studying the Zodarks’ psychology and biology, trying to gain a better understanding of the Zodark bodies and how their minds might think based on social interactions.
“Admiral, wouldn’t it be better to talk in the lab instead of here?”
Khalid was visibly nervous around the Zodarks. He’d spent most of his time examining some of the dead ones they had brought back with them and virtual scans of the live ones.
“They’re locked up, Khalid. Nothing to be afraid of. Tell me what more you’ve unraveled about our guests.” Halsey walked over to one of the guard stations and took a seat.
Sighing in frustration, Khalid took a seat next to her. “Admiral, as you know, we’ve been examining the anatomy of the Zodark body and their physical aspects to try and gain a better understanding of them. What we’ve discovered when looking at their brain is fascinating. Aside from their frontal cortex being extremely large, it’s also very active. We believe this has led them to be an incredibly intelligent species. It also means that they require significantly less sleep than a human being.”
Nodding as she took in the information, Halsey went on to ask, “Is there something we can use against them? Something that can give us a competitive edge, maybe?”
Khalid paused for a moment. “That is a tough question, Admiral. Their lung structure is unique and allows them to live in a variety of atmospheres. They have a third lung that acts like a filtering machine. Air is breathed in, and then their body appears to change its composition to meet whatever their true oxygen requirement is before the air is drawn into the next pair of lungs.”
Halsey held a hand up. “Whoa, they have three lungs? How is that even possible?”
Khalid shrugged. “There is much we do not understand about their physical structures, Admiral. It’s not like we have a Zodark doctor to help explain it to us. Pretend the atmosphere on New Eden had a higher percentage of carbon than it did. In order for us to breathe it, we’d need to wear a mask that helped to filter out the carbon. This additional lung they have essentially performs that function organically.”
Halsey thought about that for a moment before moving on. “So, what experiment are you looking to run today?” she asked.
Khalid smiled. “Today, we’re going to introduce contrast dye into T’Tock’s water and food. We want to see how it circulates through his body. This will aid us in determining what pathogens they might be susceptible to based on their digestive systems and circulatory systems.”
“Are you guys looking into designing a biowea
pon to use on them?” Halsey inquired, concerned.
He shook his head. “Not exactly. Right now, we’re looking to learn more about how their bodies work. In this case, it’ll help us identify how they break down proteins and circulate them throughout the body. I’m not a virologist, but this would be the first step in developing a biological or nerve weapon we could use against them if we were ever asked to create one.”
Just then, one of Khalid’s assistants walked into the brig carrying a tray of food. He brought it over to their station. “Hello, Admiral, Khalid. I’ve got the stuff. We’re ready to begin if you are.”
One of the guards walked over to them. “Is this the special food you said you wanted us to feed him?”
Khalid turned to the guard. “It is—just take it to him like you would any other meal.”
The guard nodded. He turned and called out to a couple of his fellow comrades to come over.
“OK, guys. This is the stuff. We’re going to rock, paper, scissor it to see who gets to take it in.”
The other two guards grumbled but didn’t disagree. No one liked going into the room to bring the Zodarks their meals. Most of the time, they could slide it under the trap at the bottom of the door, but only if the Zodark wasn’t in restraints. If it was, then it couldn’t reach the trap to get its food. Then someone was required to go into the room and place it within reach.
To the chagrin of the admiral, she watched as the three masters-at-arms each held a hand out and went through the process of determining who would end up taking T’Tock his meal.
“Ah, man. I had to do it last time,” complained the guard who’d been beaten.
“Sorry, man, scissors beats paper every time,” one of his comrades chided.
“Whatever, just give me the damn food,” the guard shot back.
“Come on, Dave. It’s not so bad, we got your six,” the chief said as he walked over with a wide smile on his face.
“Don’t mind us, Admiral. We try to make it equitable with who has to go in and feed them. So far, none of them have lashed out or attacked any of my guys. They’re just scary-looking,” the chief petty officer said reassuringly.
Halsey laughed at the scene unfolding before her. “It’s OK, Chief. I actually enjoy the banter. It’s nice to see. I’m just going to stand over here with Khalid and try to stay out of everyone’s way.”
Looking at the room containing T’Tock, Halsey saw he had calmed down a bit. He had repositioned himself on the far side of the room and looked almost like he was in a meditative state.
The MA walked up to the door as one of his comrades unlocked it and held it open for him. “Go on, Dave. You’ll be fine. We’re right here if you need us,” his friend offered encouragingly.
Dave cautiously crept his way into the room holding T’Tock, trying not to say anything or make any noise if at all possible. He obviously just wanted to take the tray in and get out of there.
T’Tock continued sitting against the wall on the far side of the room. He had just enough slack to stand if he chose, but in that moment, he was frozen, his third eye open while his other two remained shut.
Is he paying attention or zoned out? Halsey wondered. She had an eerie feeling he was just waiting to pounce.
Dave never took his eyes off T’Tock. He was practically trembling with fear just being in the same room as this monster, the leader of the captured Zodarks. When he was about three meters away from T’Tock, Dave bent down to place the tray on the floor.
T’Tock suddenly opened his two other eyes and looked at Admiral Halsey through the plexiglass wall. Then he let out a guttural howl and lunged at Dave with a lightning speed no one had expected from such a large creature.
Before anyone could react, T’Tock had sprung like a coiled snake. The restraints holding his feet and the zip ties on his hands snapped like they weren’t even there. His long arms lashed out at Dave, knocking him to the floor. In the flash of an eye, two of his four hands had dug their talon-like fingernails into Dave’s legs and yanked his body toward him.
T’Tock swiftly straddled Dave, plunging his teeth into his neck and upper chest. His rows of pointy canines sank deep into the soft human flesh, slicing through bone and muscle like a knife through a plate of pâté. Blood gushed and sprayed the wall, and then it began to pool on the floor around Dave. The guard desperately tried to scream for help before he fell silent moments after the violent attack.
A handful of guards rushed into the cell, attempting to taser T’Tock into submission and rescue their friend. They hit the brute with multiple darts.
T’Tock howled in rage and flicked the electrodes off his body like they were nothing more than annoying horseflies. He then dove for the remaining guards. His arms flayed about as he pounded, punched, and smashed the guards’ bodies relentlessly.
One of T’Tock’s hands slashed at one of the guard’s chests, his talons slicing right through the man’s ribs as he sought to grab at something. When T’Tock retracted his hand from the man’s chest, he held the guard’s still-beating heart, covered in blood.
T’Tock backhanded several of the guards who had charged him, throwing their bodies against the wall. He turned his head and looked at Admiral Halsey, anger burning in his eyes as the hand that held the human heart moved closer to his blood-covered face. T’Tock devoured the organ in a single bite and then returned his attention to the remaining humans in the room, looking for more to kill and eat.
The chief in charge of the guard force hit the emergency button on the side of the wall, sounding an alarm. Seconds later, Halsey ordered the general quarters alarm and called out for more help to the brig.
The chief grabbed for his extendable baton he carried when in the brig. Then he rushed forward fearlessly and attacked T’Tock with it. He whacked him across the side of his head with a hard thwack that drew bluish blood.
T’Tock stumbled briefly from the hit. One of his hands moved up to block the chief from hitting him again. Bluish liquid continued to run down the side of T’Tock’s head and face from where the chief had hit him. One of T’Tock’s other free hands reached out at the guard and managed to grab the man’s arm in midswing, breaking the bones with an audible snap before tossing him across the room into the wall. The chief screamed out in agony.
Then T’Tock looked at the door leading out of the room and ran right for it.
Admiral Halsey was in absolute disbelief. The attack had happened so fast. T’Tock was going through the guards like they didn’t even matter. She had barely been able to respond, but when she saw him rush toward the now-unguarded door, she knew she had to get out of there before she was also torn to shreds.
She grabbed Khalid by the arm and pushed him out the door of the brig with her. “Run, Khalid, we need to get out of there!” she blurted out, panic in her voice.
Racing down the hallway, she used her neurolink to alert the security detachment on the ship to the prison break. A Zodark is about to be roaming the deck! she warned.
The flashing GQ lights and the blaring warning klaxon only added to the surreal scene that was unfolding around them as they ran down the corridor for their very lives. Halsey turned to look behind her when she heard a noise. Suddenly, the door to the brig violently burst open and clattered across the floor as it was ripped off its hinges. T’Tock let out a primordial scream that echoed down the hall as he raced after them or anyone else that might be in his path.
“I’m coming for you, Admiral!” T’Tock roared, feet pounding on the floor after her.
Oh God, don’t let me get eaten by that beast, she thought selfishly as she ran ahead of Khalid.
Rounding the next corner as quickly as she could, she saw several Republic Army soldiers moving toward her, their rifles at the low ready. She saw the look of uncertainty and fear written on their faces as the Zodark beast let out another of his guttural howls, his feet pounding on the floor as he sought to close the distance between them.
“Set your blasters to kill!
It’s right behind us,” she managed to say through ragged scared breaths as she raced past them. She stopped maybe four and a half meters behind them as she turned around to watch her soldiers kill that psychotic animal.
One of the soldiers turned his head slightly to look at her. “We got this, Admiral,” he said confidently.
Emerging around the corner moments later, the nearly three-meter-tall four-armed bluish beast named T’Tock saw them and let out another screeching animal shriek as he charged right at them. In seconds, he was practically on top of them.
The first soldier, the one who’d told Halsey they had this, opened fire with his blaster, hitting one of the left arms of the Zodark as he tried to dodge the incoming fire from the guards. The blaster sheered the arm right off the beast, severing it from his body, and the limb fell to the floor with a sickening thud.
Bluish liquid sprayed the nearby wall as T’Tock let out another ear-piercing scream before his body bulldozed into the soldier who had just shot him. Two of his three remaining arms grabbed the soldier who had managed to hit him and ripped the man’s head clean off his body. His third arm thrashed at the other soldier, clawing the man’s face and torso with his talons before the soldier could fire his blaster.
The soldier fell to the floor as his blaster was ripped from his hands by the sheer force of the hit. T’Tock reached down for the soldier’s blaster and attempted to figure out how to use one of his captors’ weapons against them.
Admiral Abigail Halsey fell backward, tripping over one of the bulkheads as she backed up in horror. She landed squarely on her duff, then looked up in horror at T’Tock as he steadily moved toward her. Hate, anger, and pain filled his eyes as his pupils narrowed at her. Blood dripped from around his mouth and from his talon-like fingers.