by Craig Allen
~~~
I carried Marie outside with me, my legs straining in the heavier gravity. In the four hours it had taken the med-pod to heal her, things had changed.
The rear half of the Kali had crashed in front of a hillside. Though impellers and Daedalus struts had remained mostly intact, she would never fly again. A short distance west was another hill. Farther to the south was a large cliff that connected to a network of hills. The hills formed a sort of valley with hills on the south and west. The Kali rested to the north. To the east was an open plain full of red grass. A small passage between the southern and western hills led to the south.
Giant mammoth-like creatures stood near the cargo bay. An insect-like rider gripped its reddish fur. The mammoths’ legs simply disappeared under them as they lowered their bodies to the ground. The large arm on their backs proceeded to dig into the ground, leaving the excavated dirt in nearby piles. They would dig down a half meter or so, stand, and move to another location, where they started the process all over again.
A third species waddled toward the holes. They had thick amorphous bodies, as if they were made from clay. Appendages grew from their bodies. They used three for legs and two for arms, which stretched out of the center of their chests. A couple of creatures climbed into the hole, while two others stood outside. Those in the hole scooped up dirt and passed it to those outside the hole, who took the dirt in hands shaped like giant spoons. They dumped the dirt into the same piles created by the mammoths.
I carefully laid Marie next to the Kali superstructure. She slept peacefully from the drugs the med-pod had fed her. I wanted her to sleep until we were rescued so she couldn’t see the terrible things happening around her. I shook my head. I was lying to myself. What had happened to her was my fault. I just didn’t want to face her again.
The collection of creatures worked most of the day. The mammoths and spongy creatures dug eight holes in the small sandy valley. They then dug a ninth in the center. That one was wider than the others.
By that point, more frogs had arrived. In addition to the bands of metallic material around their heads, each had its massive fifth limb on top of its body. I wasn’t sure how the arm had gone from their undersides to their backs.
They brought with them more mammoth creatures with insect riders, prodding them forward with their new spears. The mammoths carried a series of globes composed of red-and-purple sticks. The framework rested on top of the mammoths, held in place by thick logs from what might’ve been trees, but what kind of trees, I had no clue.
Many different species of creatures sat inside the globes. They didn’t move at all. When the mammoths lowered themselves to the ground, the frogs pulled open the sides of the globes. The creatures poured out. The frogs prodded at them and pushed them forward. They didn’t protest as they wandered into the encampment and went to work digging holes. Smaller, five-legged creatures the size of rats, covered in steel plates, started tying strips of leather-like material together with twine. The larger ones did manual work, hauling and moving piles of dirt.
Five different species wandered around the camp. Most seemed to have metallic plates attached to their bodies. The plates weren’t artificial—that much, I could tell. The planet must’ve been rich with minerals. However, the plates were too small to be used for defense. I wasn’t sure what they were. The red reeds appeared and disappeared at various times throughout the day. They were like weeds that came and went as they pleased.
A frog lifted me to my feet and gestured toward the nearest pit of creatures. I pointed at Marie, but it nudged me forward. I reached for her, but the creature came between us. Gently, it pushed me toward the pit. I sighed and did as I was told, glancing over my shoulder at her as she lay in a drug-induced sleep. The frog stayed near Marie, curling its large limbs under its body like a cat, holding its spear in its large fifth limb that was on top of its back.
Initially, the creatures in the pit took no notice of me. The rat-sized creatures scurried around inside the hole. They did actually look a bit like rats, but their paws spread out from their sides instead of under them, almost like a spider’s legs. They tore at the ground beneath them until it was nothing but loose dirt, and then they crawled out of the hole, gripping the edges easily.
One of the strange bulbous creatures next to me nudged me, and then it went into the hole. It turned and regarded me. I climbed down after it, being extra careful in the higher gravity. The bulbous creatures in the hole picked up the loose dirt and handed it to those standing around the edge of the hole. I did the same. The dirt easily refracted the sunlight. When the loose dirt was gone, we climbed out again. The rats climbed back in and tilled the dirt.
Marie still slept while a frog stood watch over her. Whenever something tried to approach her, the frog merely waved its metal spear at the intruder, who then backed away as quickly as it could manage.
The rats finished tilling the hole again. I started to climb in, but the blob creatures stopped me. They climbed down, picked up dirt, and handed it to me. The other bulbous creatures carried the dirt easier than I did. I had to let them pile it up on the edge and then take it away in handfuls.
Until sunset, we went on digging in the alien dirt in heavy gravity. All the while, I wondered how I would get Marie out of there.
~~~
I was in the hole when Marie screamed. It carried far in the thick air, and every creature around me froze in place—but not me.
I lunged for the top of the hole, struggling, and failing, to get a grip in the high gravity. One of the blobs moved forward and pushed me out of the hole with two of its pseudopods. The creatures outside the hole scooted aside as I ran past them toward Marie.
The frog creature next to her had given her plenty of room. Marie crawled away from it, her eyes wide. “Matthew!”
I knelt down and held her. She wrapped her arms around me, struggling to get up on legs she no longer had. “I’m here, Marie.”
“Oh, God, Matthew. It… it…”
I sat next to her. She pulled herself into my lap, resting her head on my shoulder. Her whole body shook as she held me tightly. “What do we do?”
“I’m getting us out of here.”
“How?” Her voice shook. Her whole body shook. “How can you get us out of here?”
“I’m working on it.”
The frog gripped its new metal spear. I had no idea how to get us out of there.
~~~
The next day someone new appeared. It was another frog, but this one was nearly twice as massive as any of the others. It strode into the camp as if it owned the place, which it probably did, for all I knew. It swept aside anything in its way, even other frogs. The creature actually stepped on one of the rat creatures. It squealed as the frog’s foot crushed it, but the giant frog didn’t react.
This new frog walked toward us. It had its central limb on the bottom, using it as a foreleg as it pushed off with its back legs. Most of the other frogs hopped from place to place, but the larger one walked, almost like a three-legged dog.
I positioned myself between it and Marie. It hovered over me, regarding me, and then walked past me toward the Kali. One of the other frogs pulled me to my feet and nudged me forward before reaching for Marie.
“No!” She swatted at its massive claw as it reached for her. “No, don’t touch me!”
The larger frog turned around and waited patiently. Or maybe it was furious, and I couldn’t tell.
“I’ve got her.” I knelt and picked her up. She wrapped her arms around me as I carried her.
The larger frog did a sort of backflip. As it jumped, its main legs and side arms rotated until they were on the bottom again. When it landed, its main arm was on top instead of underneath, and its head had turned around one hundred eighty degrees.
The frogs behind me nudged me forward. I followed the larger frog into the ship. Marie grew heavy in my arms. I hadn’t had anything to eat in all the time we’d been on the planet. Periodically, they
had brought me water. It was a vile liquid, but I drank it anyway.
The creature squeezed through the main door. The markings of a plasma torch lined the edges of the doorway. The opening had been widened to be big enough for all of them to get through easily.
I followed the larger frog into the cargo bay. Someone had removed everything that wasn’t bolted down. Where it had all been taken, I had no idea. Frog creatures were lying down on a red sheet that might have been leather. They jumped to their feet as soon as the larger frog entered the cargo bay. They remained perfectly still as he passed them and headed for the factory control room door, which had also been widened by a plasma torch. Inside the control room, a frog sat perched on its back legs with its smaller hands resting on the console. Its main leg was on top of its body.
The larger frog barely fit into the room. Through the window between the cargo bay and the control room, I could see it stare at the frog sitting at the controls. After a few seconds, the creature pushed the red virtual button. A minute later, the aperture opened. I expected it to pull out another spear. Instead, it retrieved something new.
It was a long pole made of the same alloy. On the other end was a scoop like a giant spoon. The larger frog took the implement and held it for a few seconds then released it. The tool clanged on the floor as the larger frog backed out of the room. It turned to all the others that had gathered at the control room entrance. They didn’t move and made no noise.
I was so tired from lack of sleep and lack of food, I had to set Marie down. She propped herself up on her hands and did a double-take at the floor. “What is that?”
I knelt and put my hand on the floor. A slow, steady vibration carried throughout the metal grates of the deck. In all the months I’d served on the Kali, I’d never experienced anything like that. The sensation couldn’t have been coming from the tool he’d just created. It was just a piece of metal. Not even the factories in full operation could cause that effect.
The vibration stopped as though a switch had been thrown. The frogs thumped the floor with their main claws. The larger frog left the cargo bay and went outside, pushing aside anything in its way. When it was gone, the remaining frogs meandered about the cargo bay.
“Did you see what they made?” I asked.
She nodded. “That’s not a part I’ve seen anywhere on the ship.”
“It’s not from one of the standard schematics,” I said. “They must’ve modified one.”
“What?” She scooted closer to me. Her voice sounded rough. She needed water pretty badly. “How?”
“The system is pretty intuitive,” I said. “With the right training, anyone could do it.”
“But who gave them the training?”
“Not me,” I said. “I made the spear for them because…” I trailed off. I could still see it in my mind—that thing taking her legs from her. And the blood… God, all the blood.
She leaned against me. “How could they teach themselves? Are they really that smart?”
I shook my head, hoping they wouldn’t learn anything more.
~~~
They locked us inside the ship overnight by rolling a large rock against the exterior door. I tried pushing it. I would have had an easier time moving Mount Rushmore.
The food dispenser made sandwiches, which we wolfed down quickly. I filled two jugs with water. Marie drank one full jug before going to sleep. I set aside additional water, along with a clean rag to wash ourselves.
I left a blanket over her as I explored what was left of the Kali. All the crates of supplies had disappeared. Even the cargo under the floor grates was gone. I brush my hand over the control panel. Red text flashed in front of me. Please enter password to re-enable.
Locked? I double-checked. It definitely was locked, but I hadn’t locked it. That meant they had locked it—with my access codes. How did they—
I swore. That day they bit Marie’s legs off—the frog present must have seen me enter my access codes. It may have had to try a few times to get it right, but it figured out the sequence. So the frogs had access to everything I had access to.
I sat and entered my access code. The display flared to life. According to the logs, they had made more of the spears and giant spoons. I checked the reserves. They were about half full. They still had plenty of material.
I accessed the recipes—what we called the files—that told the factory how to build parts and put them together. I had access to only certain recipes. Weapons, armor, and even enviro-suits were beyond my lowly clearance. Only command staff could access those, and I was short on officers. But that also meant the frogs wouldn’t have access, either.
I tried to delete recipes, but I failed. Only the chief engineer or an officer could delete those files. I tried changing my access codes, but that didn’t work, either. Again, I needed the chief to do that. I could run things and change things, but I couldn’t eliminate them. I couldn’t even change my own access code.
On a lark, I tried accessing the bridge-sat. With my meager access codes, the system wouldn’t even confirm the existence of the bridge-sat, though I was sure we had launched one.
I logged off and sat on the floor. I could maybe sabotage the reactors and blow us all to hell. I stood and looked through the window into the cargo bay. Marie’s form rose and fell with her breathing while she slept.
They had left us in there alone. Either they had no idea the damage I could cause, or they believed I wouldn’t do anything. God help me, they were right. I wouldn’t do anything that would hurt her. And as long as I gave them what they wanted, they wouldn’t hurt her, either.
~~~
In the morning, the frogs rolled the rock aside. They didn’t pull me to my feet. They simply waited patiently for me to pick up Marie before guiding me to the control room.
I gingerly set Marie on the control room floor. One frog entered while the other two stood just outside the entryway. The frog with us reached for the console and logged on with one of its smaller hands. A list of recipes appeared before me. I didn’t recognize most of them. One resembled the spoon shovels. Others were simple steel rods, and still others were fiber cables of a specific length. Some of the objects in the recipes were familiar but not quite what I remembered. They had modified existing recipes for other purposes.
“What’s this?” I asked.
The frog pulled up a recipe and pressed the button. The factory spun and spit out one of the spoons. It handed me a piece of the red leathery material. Familiar shapes had been drawn on it. Each one looked like one of the items in the recipes they had put in the console. Next to each item was a number written in English.
The frog thumped the console and then the sheet of leather. It then started to back out of the control room. Before it left, it thumped the large dent in the floor grate, and then waved its claw at Marie. It left, leaving the two other frogs behind to guard us.
“What did it want?” Marie’s voice quivered.
I showed her the piece of leather. She examined it. “They know English now? How did they learn all this so quickly?”
I shook my head. All I could do was run through the list. I knew what the frog meant when it had gestured toward Marie and then the broken floor. Either I made the parts, or they would hurt her. I calmly stood at the controls and ran the recipes.
They owned me, for as long as they wanted.
~~~
After creating them, I removed the objects from the aperture and set them outside. The two guards carried them out of the cargo bay then returned to wait for the next.
I looked over the recipes carefully in between jobs. If I waited too long, they appeared to get suspicious. They based the new recipe on the recipe I had created for the hook-spears. That meant they were flawed. The alloys would decay before long.
I pored over the other recipes. I couldn’t erase them, but I could change the steps. It seemed strange to me that some engineering rear-echelon asshole would allow me to alter recipes but not delete them, bu
t that was the case. I thanked God for that small favor and went to work.
I changed steps, making things more brittle. I made sure the alloys didn’t harden properly. I changed recipes so anything with moving parts was misaligned and wouldn’t function as efficiently. Every day, they gave me a new list, and every day, I created them even as I altered the existing recipes. I’d bolted the chairs into the floor once more so Marie could sit next to me. Together, we sabotaged as much as we thought we could get away with.
And in the meantime, I had a plan. Every so often, I created something of my own. I created a fling coil, followed by a firing chamber. I couldn’t create a coil gun, but I could make the parts and stash them under the deck plates. At night, I could tinker them together and have my own coil rifle.
It didn’t go as well as I’d hoped.
On the third day, a frog stormed in. It flipped one of the floor grates up and pulled out the coil and firing chamber. It shoved them in my face.
I shook my head. “What…?”
It tossed them aside and reached for Marie. It lifted her into the air, over its mouth opening.
“No! God, no!” I pushed aside the open floor grate and picked up the pieces. “Take them. Take them!”
It dropped Marie. She landed on what was left of her legs and caught herself as she fell to the deck. The frog hovered over me, holding its metal spear. It pointed at the spear then at the controls. It snatched the coil rifle parts from me and stormed out.
I waited until it was gone, and then I put the floor grate back in place.
Marie pulled herself across the deck toward the chair. “Matthew, can we keep doing this?”
“As long as we have to.” I helped her into the chair. “Until the rescue gets here.”
“Babe, that could take months, if ever.”
“Hey.” I took her hand. “They won’t leave us here. When they get the buoy, they’ll track the course back here.”