by Ken Pence
LeiLei and Joel were in the lab as Andrew came up. General Kyger wouldn’t allow LeiLei on the Odin – too disruptive Andrew presumed. Joel had told him she seemed so smart because she had absorbed an enormous number of training disks and that also explained her attraction to other species. Her species were very sexually expressive but the many learning cylinders were why she had no prejudices about other species. Joel had told her they were going to Procyon 2 next and she got excited. She said that was where people in this sector got lamlees. She could explain lamlees but said they were essential to make training machines. She said they were the reason the learning machines were so costly. When he had explained how our learning machines worked – she appeared incredulous. She thought Joel was making fun of her and wouldn’t sleep with him for two days. LeiLei then turned her affections on other male members of the crew and we were all relieved when they made up. There is no virtue without temptation. I was very virtuous.
Procyon
The trip to Procyon was uneventful and fast. We could see a ship above the planet and an enclosure on the surface. LeiLei said her people had never developed the time acceleration effects on a planetary surface and couldn’t travel as fast as we could. She nearly swooned when we showed her the 3D sensor display. I thought she just liked men. She fell in love with the sensor system and wanted to know everything about how it worked. We hadn’t planned to show her so much but she was so appreciative and eager. Men will do damn near anything when they are struggling to be virtuous. We were struggling. She even made friends with a lot of women and we caught them laughing at the men – a gender thing that crosses species I guess.
She said the best she had ever seen was about 300 times light speed. We even got her a MemDex. Joel, later, said the Crown jewels wouldn’t have done any more for him...he was exhausted but very content. It wasn’t long before LeiLei was coming up with creative solutions to problems we had never thought of before. She was damn smart...way smart. Tod had come over from the Odin when were parked off Procyon planning our approach plan. LeiLei said that Procyon had had an old civilization on it and prospectors had found the lamlees several hundred years ago. People found them whenever they found remnants of the Ylee. They must have been an earlier civilization but they were all over the galaxy. She said we’d see what she meant when we got there and, of course, I said, ”Show me one of these damn lamlees you have been talking about.” Guess I pissed her off because she shunned me for a while until I apologized, profusely, and she said they were in all teaching machines.
I said we’d never seen them, and she said that was why we never got our teaching machines to do better than we did. So – we went and got a teaching machine and opened it up. She points to a junction with five wires attached to it and we say, “That’s just a junction. It doesn’t do anything,” and she looks at us in that way that says – you male – you not understand. It is totally demoralizing when she then goes on to show us why all our effort – not part of it -- all of it, has been wasted – because we didn’t see this thing right there in front of us. I grabbed her and apologized. She starts rubbing me and I barely escape with my wife...that is...I started being very virtuous again. Lord that female is... ...disturbing ...okay ...back to the story. We take out that junction and examine it under an electron microscope. Shit. I think that’s the appropriate word. That...lamlee...is some type of DNA construct that figured out what the hell the goofy teaching machine circuitry was TRYING to do and adapted itself. It is so far ahead of us I’m surprised we could detect the damn thing. I show LeiLei and she starts rubbing me again. Lord. I’m not sure I can take this...she is so soft and smells yummy and I’m being virtuous.
I call Joel and Steve and thankfully, LeiLei and Joel disappear but Steve is ecstatic. I am very happy he is male because he gets as excited as LeiLei. He says you know what this means? I say...sort of...and he lets out an exasperated sigh and put on his talking to the retarded tone of voice.
“We can design a circuit and one of these will figure out what we’re trying to do and make it work,” Steve says.
“I say...really?” and he looks at me like I’m retarded.
“Duh,” he says.
I didn’t have a good comeback for that so I said, “We need to get some more of these.”
He said, “Duh. You think...”
I went back to planning our expedition. I didn’t know how the other ship we detected would take us looking for lamlees but LeiLei said not to worry. Actually, she said we ought to cut open their guts and piss in them while they were still alive but you get my drift. I like that girl. It wasn’t a real plan but I told it to Admiral Kyger and he said he was glad LeiLei was on our ship and not his because there would be a riot to be with her. He liked her and the Admiral hadn’t talked to her for two minutes since Sirius.
The sensor sweeps showed Procyon 3, at 1.6 AU, was the only habitable possibility here. It had a meager atmosphere. It was a desert world with little water. What water there was -- was centered near the poles. The other ship was centered about 2,500 kilometers from us. Steve and Tod had developed a simulation and showed the lifespan of the planet based on the status of the debris fields and the second sun remnant that was 1/2000th as powerful as Sol – our sun. This was an old world where there had been life in the distant past but it was now gone. The simulation showed that where should have been massive amounts of water eons past and marked the edges of those spots. That is where we’d look for lamlees – not where the other ship was hovering. Geologically there never would have been large bodies of water where the other ship was searching. We concluded the other ship was full of dumb shits. LeiLei liked our simulations...had to be virtuous again.
The ultraviolet was pretty strong but we had the shuttles use ground penetrating radar and this excited LeiLei again. She had never seen ground penetrating radar and that made her excited. Pour some cold water over me... that girl gets excited at the drop of a hat. The indications were pretty strong that there had been an inland sea near our search coordinates and we started scanning for the geological indicators at that point. Whoa... How could we do that? LeiLei had suggested the types of places lamlees had been found before.
The indications from the shuttle scans finally settled on an area north of the equator that had been on the edge of the small inland sea. It had clearly been inhabited eons past. This is when Joel and LeiLei come up with a focused field device that reduces the surface gravity to zilch and when you aim it at something, a projected electrostatic charge makes the lighter elements go flying off into the atmosphere. So here, we are, with two of these devices aboard the shuttles, leaving a 20 km high plume of sand into the atmosphere. We soon hit a settlement – shit – its not a settlement – it’s a huge city buried under the sand. Both shuttles start hovering over the area and releasing a huge column of sand that is shot into the upper atmosphere. The city is being uncovered and it’s large. It looks like a million beings had lived here before and there are twenty story buildings and landing pads for whatever and the like. We uncover some of it and soon it is a vision of lovely crystal buildings made of who knows what. We land and start exploring. There are engravings on buildings and the walls that look similar to Trade language so we, kind of, know what the engravings say.
LeiLei says the lamlees are always found in low buildings of a certain shape. We find a couple of those and enter only to find piles of lamlees. We are rejoicing at what we find when another ship enters atmosphere and demands for us to drop our shields on the shuttles.
We call the Odin and Junior and they are with us in a few seconds.
The alien ship places itself in orbit over the site and demands that we drop shields. They send some type of shuttle down near us. Communication is established with the alien ship. We demand they back off or face destruction and name ourselves. There is a long pause and they back off. We offer to give them specifications of the device that removes sand. They fire at the surface and destroy a building with molecular disruptors – are
you kidding? Those only work if someone is unshielded. We move close to the opposing ship and they look kind of desperate. We offer some of the lamlees to them – we really did hit the mother lode of the damn things. Those rooms were chock full of them...it must have been a transshipment point for them.
The other ship refuses and says we need to turn over all finds to them since they were here first. We explain they can have any more they can find on the planet after we leave. They open fire. We take our lasers and burn through their ship – cutting off the rear 5% of it as an object lesson. They friggin’ attack again. We simply slice their ship’s propulsion unit off next. They demand we turn over all proceeds from the planet. Reminds me of an ancient video where some knight is standing up against King Arthur in his quest for the holy grail – the King keeps slicing off appendages and his assailant won’t give up. It’d be funny if it weren’t such a pathetic. They fire on us again and their shuttle dumps a passenger and fires on us too. We zap the overhead ship again and finally hit something that doesn’t jive with terawatts of laser energy. Their ship becomes a scattering of dust in the upper atmosphere. The scattering of debris makes a gorgeous light show in the bright Procyon sun with many colors. It’s a shame the beings on it were so desperate or hard-headed they had to die but the universe is not a safe place to be.
Their shuttle stops firing and plows into the pavement we had uncovered at the edge of the city. It hits really hard. The Albert approaches as the Victoria shuttle provides an overwatch as we approach. Two of our guys approach in battle armor. Damn if the side of their ship doesn’t open up and out races a four legged being about three meters tall. It fires on our guys and they cut it in half longwise. They cover the being with weapons as they cautiously move forward. It is inert so they move up to the alien shuttle and check it out. Nothing in it but packed with organic-electronic goo-gear. Much of it had been organic but now, much of that gear was snot colored goo all over the interior. There was a section aft that looked like it was for a creature but it was about the size of an economy Tokyo hotel room – small.
The guys are scoping out the interior when they get a call that some type of being is approaching from their flank. They beat a hasty retreat and set up to cover approach vectors. This fantastic creature approaches...stops...pulls out a small section of fallen device/creature from inside the shuttle and eats it. It then flicks its antennae – turns to one of our guys in battle armor and says, in quite understandable Trade. “I am Shiv. I doubt you can pronounce my real name and title. You have destroyed my transport.”
The being had four legs and two arms(?) ...with grasping pincers and looked closest to a one and a half meter long praying mantis. It had a triangular head and was dun colored – like the sand. Its head was triangular with two multifaceted eyes. It spoke through a box on its chest.
“Will you come with us?” one soldier asked. His partner transmitted their video feed to the Odin and the Junior.
“What will you give me to do so?” said Shiv.
LeiLei was watching and leaned backward and gasped when she saw the image of Shiv. “It’s a Vicvic,” she said.
Everyone turned to her to get her to explain more.
“They are carnivores that will eat any animal. They are aggressive and smart with technology. Their name isn’t one you could pronounce. Their name comes from the sound they make when they talk to other Vivvic.”
“They were with another race that seems half robotic,” Andrew said.
“Show me,” LeiLei said and Andrew backtracked to the views of the robotic creature. “Dubi...Those are Dubi. What are they doing here and why would they be with a Vicvic? Dubi should not be in this sector.”
“Good questions. Did you get that Brad?” he asked with the link to the Odin.
“Let’s question the Vicvic on board the Odin,” Brad said.
LeiLei spoke up. “Do not do that!” she said. “You must get a promise of no harm to your ships or crew before you do anything. They always honor a promise but you must trade them for anything they do. They will only do what they promise and never will do anything for nothing. Forcing them to do anything puts you in their debt and they will take back what you owe – in any way they see fit.”
“Thank you LeiLei. Shuler to ground...name?” said Shuler and the name displayed under the image on the screen. “Peters...Hold what you got. Do not talk or threaten the alien in any way. Hold one.”
“Holding sir,” Peters said and lowered his weapon, as did his partner.
“Peters...I want you to set your comm to talk through to external. Out,” Shuler said and turned to LeiLei’s image on board the Junior – on mute to below. “Would you do us the honors? I do not want a hostile alien on board. Can you word it so we will not have to burn him into a greasy puddle?”
LeiLei laughed. “I will have Steve show me how to link,” she said and ran her tail around Steve’s neck. He was quick to show her how, just to get her to stop petting him. It was disturbing. “Do you wish passage with us?” said LeiLei’s voice through Peter’s external comm speaker.
Shiv was quite curious that this beings voice had changed – not changed...it had been linked with higher authority viewing the scene. The speaker did not vibrate like a normal speaker and had quite a dynamic range. Interesting technologies. “I wish passage,” Shiv said.
“What assurances do we get from you and what service will you provide for us if we do so?” said the voice.
Obviously, they know of my race to word a question so. “I will give the standard assurances that I will not harm anyone or anything on board your vessel and I will obey all orders that do not change my obligation. I will provide technical service with technology with which I am familiar. I have my own food source on board the Dubi shuttle.”
“Accepted,” LeiLei said after getting the okay from Captain Shuler on the conferencing video feed.
“Why are you with the Dubi? What is their mission? All the details?” LeiLei asked.
“For technical details of your speaker system?” Shiv said.
LeiLei looked to Andrew who nodded – she looked doubtful until he said okay – a very popular word. She said, “Accepted.”
Shiv went into the Dubi shuttle, with Peter’s/LeiLei’s permission, and quickly disconnected a tall, extremely heavy looking device that Shiv operated briefly. It produced small orange grub-like things which Shiv ate. The beings watching Shiv did not flinch or make sound – interesting – Shiv thought they must be carnivores or at least, omnivores.
Shiv stopped, tilted his head from side to side and then asked Peters, ”What about other valuables aboard the Dubi ship?”
LeiLei heard this and started literally hopping around like she had won a game show quiz. She said, to the people around her on the Junior, but not to ground, “I know this. I know this. I thought I would never get to use it. Can I say it?” they all looked at her and explained. The others on the conference – indicated okay. “Peters,” LeiLei said on a separate band that circumvented the outside Rimloff speaker. “Do this toward Shiv and say these words...yourself,” she said and made sure he knew the words and the gestures.
Peters said, “You’re sure?”
“Yes,” LeiLei said.
Peters slung his rifle out of the way and went up fairly close to the alien.
Shiv thought this was highly unusual. Most beings are much too afraid to come very close since Vicvic forward arms had extremely sharp hooks on the ends and Vicvic mandibles could cut through the neck of almost any creature. The being’s head was hidden from view but as it approached its helmet of gold disappeared and Shiv could see it’s flat face. There was intelligence or foolishness behind that face but Shiv was curious to ascertain which. The front of the being’s clear helmet slid up and the being reached out and touched its hands to the Vivvic forward claws – in the Rite of Kinship. How could it know the Rite of Kinship when the Vicvic had never heard of this species before? “Our profit is your profit. We will defend you with our
lives. Our path and your path are joined. What would you have us do...Kin?” the being said in clearly understandable Trade.
Shiv was staggered. The Rite of Kinship had never before happened like this between such dissimilar species. Was it acceptable in Trade? It must be and Shiv repeated the required phrases – in the Vivvic language – not through the translator.
The alien speech was shrill and did sound like vic-vic vic – screech. It was worse than listening to chalk on a blackboard – whatever a blackboard was supposed to be but LeiLei seemed thrilled.
“The Vivvic has accepted. I knew it. I knew it. Tell it this...”she related a couple of phrases to Peters.
Peters turned to Shiv and said, “What now kin - brother? Tell us how to increase our profit.”
Shuler ordered the Victoria to pick up their people and Shiv rocked back on his two back feet in surprise when an Earth shuttle appeared near them. It used a camouflage system even better than the Vicvic ability to blend with surroundings. Shiv realized that the right decision had been made. When mentioned, the alien soldiers should strip the ship of any goods and valuables. They aided in removing a small container of lamlee and data modules and other equipment. Shiv felt more convinced than ever that the decision to join them had been correctly decided. Shiv was further astounded when their shuttle already had a huge supply of lamlee. Shiv knew it had been acquired before the pact had been made but realized it was more likely now to get to keep a share of the Dubi material.
Shiv asked the name of the being and it said its name was Peters. Shiv asked what species and the being said it was human – from Earth. Shiv did not want to insult the beings since the Vivvic had never heard of them. Shiv asked if the main Dubi ship was giving them trouble. They replied that they had tried to save it but the Dubi had kept attacking and they had been forced to destroy it. Shiv indicated that had been a good idea. Shiv asked Peters how they had found an uncovered city full of lamlee. Peters told him they had simulated the evolution of the planet that indicated where there had been large bodies of water in the extreme past, used ground penetrating radar to confirm the location and then a device that removed all the sand.