Four on the Run

by Jeff Deischer

  Something went wrong on that first jump. They didn’t know where they’d jumped to – the stars were not where they were expected to be. As the captain sought answers and mechanics examined the Stardrive engine – as Tully called it – the robot went crazy and began attacking the crew.

  “It has been chasing us since we arrived,” said Rastheln’iq. “But it has been deactivated. I shut down the main computer.”

  Rather than asking how the plant man had accomplished this, Tully exclaimed, “Thank God!

  “How long have I been out?”

  “I estimate fourteen hundred years,” answered Rastheln’iq.

  Tully let out a low whistle. “Fourteen hundred years ….”

  “Known space is quite different now, human.” The Vir went on to briefly sketch the socio-political landscape of the modern age. There were two major powers in the Orion Spur of the Milky Way: the Imperium, which had absorbed the four major interstellar governments when it took over the Concordat Federation, which had been composed of the Republic of Earth, the Delph Consortium, the Viridian Federation, and the Tatar Confederation, the perpetrators of the coup; and the Layeb Instrumentality, a theocracy located on the Earth side of the Imperium. The Bringle, one of the progenitor races of the Tatars along with humans, had joined the Layeb when their own war with the Concordat Federation had turned against them. “Our ship was recently destroyed by the nearby anti-matter cloud. We escaped on its shuttle and found your ship, hoping to use it to leave the asteroid field.”

  “Oh, yeah,” said Tully. “I remember someone saying something about anti-matter. That became a second priority once P.A.L. started killing people.”

  “P.A.L.?”

  “The robot,” Tully explained. “It stood for some fancy military jargon, but it worked as a nickname. Everyone called him ‘Pal’. He was programmed to interact with the crew in addition to his duties, which was to assist in ship operations.”

  “We can repair his programming once the computer is fully active,” said Rastheln’iq.

  “What do you mean?” asked Tully.

  “I re-booted the computer to restore the ship’s systems to operating mode. The Vishnu has been in hibernation.”

  “H-how did you deactivate Pal?”

  “By shutting off the computer,” Rastheln’iq explained patiently. Patience was a racial trait of the Vir.

  “That’s all you did? Shut down everything from the main computer?” Tully persisted.

  “Yes.”

  “Then the re-boot will reactivate Pal!”

  As if to punctuate this announcement, the door to the auxiliary control room opened, revealing the robot Pal.

  Everyone seemed to move all at once.

  As Pal came into the chamber, Noomi Bloodgood charged forward to attack and Indri Mindsinger brought his weapons to bear on the robot, shooting the already-damaged tentacle arm as it swept up to meet the Tatar. Rastheln’iq hurried to the computer controls as Tully scurried away, disappearing, unseen by the others, into a maintenance shaft.

  What was left of Pal’s tentacle grabbed Noomi and held her fast as it brought another arm to bear – this one wielded a fusion torch that activated, throwing off blinding blue-white light as it swung around.

  Indri rushed forward and took hold of this metal appendage, afraid that his aim was not accurate enough to shoot it without striking the Tatar girl. Placing one handgun against the metal casing of the torch, the Delph fired. The tool exploded, ruining it – but sending Indri to the floor while Noomi struggled to get free. Despite her superior strength, Pal was mightier still.

  Glancing down at the Delphian priest, she saw that he was out of the fight, not moving.

  Suddenly, the tentacle went limp as Pal dropped to the floor, inactive once more. Noomi fell with him, nimbly landing on all fours. She did not take her eyes off Pal as she got to her feet. “Thank you, Rastleniqs … Ratlesniq ….” Her face scrunched up as she tried to pronounce the plant man’s name.

  “Wormwood is fine,” said the Vir without any annoyance. “As you probably deduced, I shut down the computer. No thanks are necessary.”

  The Tatar suddenly giggled. To Rastheln’iq’s puzzled look, she answered, “Rattlesnake. You’re as cold-blooded and dangerous as a rattlesnake.”

  “Wormwood is fine,” he repeated, returning to the control plates.

  Tully soon appeared from his hiding place, unapologetic at having fled. He knew better than anyone how lethal Pal could be, and did not even possess a weapon with which to defend himself. Getting to his feet, he watched the Viridian scientist manipulate the computer controls.

  Minutes passed, during which Noomi attended to Indri, who was no worse for the wear when he regained consciousness. She knew a little about field medicine.

  Finally, Rastheln’iq announced, “I have found the problem. Neither the Overdrive nor Pal malfunctioned. The main computer’s operating system is faulty.” He turned to face the others. “Unfortunately, I am not familiar enough with it to repair it with any confidence.”

  “So we’re stuck here …,” said Noomi Bloodgood dejectedly.

  “Yes,” agreed the Vir in a quiet tone. “But we have shelter and presumably food that may not taste good after fourteen centuries but is probably edible. We can wait out any ship looking for us. Then we can use the shuttle to escape.”

  “The shuttle … the shuttle,” murmured Indri Mindsinger. “You know computers better than I, Wormwood. Couldn’t we use the shuttle’s computer to operate the Vishnu? Link the two systems together? Its computer must be many times more powerful than this ancient one.”

  The plant man smiled thinly. “I believe I could do that. I shall begin at once.”

  And so he did. Days passed as Rastheln’iq did the work. This took some time, as he had to mesh two systems that were never meant to be compatible, bypassing the operating system of the Vishnu, and getting its functions to respond to the shuttle computer. While he did this, the others finished the exploration of the Republic of Earth ship, collecting what could be of value and disposing of the rest. Noomi Bloodgood was anxious to be rid of her prison garb, and clothed herself almost immediately in the uniform of the Vishnu’s crew. She looked quite smart in the navy-hued tunic, which was sleeveless with an undershirt. Her two fellow escapees followed suit as soon as they saw her in her new clothing.

  They found a good portion of the food to be edible, but only just so. It was now the equivalent of nineteenth-century shoe leather – containing vital nutrients but little palatable flavor. By the end of the third day, everyone but Rastheln’iq was sick of the food, which had been frozen for fourteen centuries. Although there had only been provisions stocked for a few days, there were enough meals for one hundred twenty crewmen for that period, which meant plenty of food for four. There was also an emergency supply of short-term ready-to-eat meals, standard for all Republic of Earth ships, according to Tully, but these had spoiled long ago. There was of course an ample supply of water, which pleased both Indri and Rastheln’iq. They used it in greater quantities than Noomi and Tully, who only used it for cooking and bathing. He drank liquor, which he shared with everyone else.

  Finally, the day came when Rastheln’iq announced, “My work is complete.”

  “How long until we can start everything up and see if it works?” asked Indri Mindsinger.

  “It has been running for the past hour,” said the Viridian scientist. “I have been monitoring it, to make certain that my programming is flawless.”

  The Delph expected no less from someone with Wormwood’s reputation for details.

  “So, when can we go?” Noomi asked impatiently.

  “I will begin powering up the Overdrive this afternoon,” answered Rastheln’iq. “If all goes well, we should be able to jump in a few hours.”

  Noomi cheered while Indri could not suppress a grin. Even Tully joined in the celebration, although the world he knew was long since dead. What would he say to distant relatives if he returned to E
arth? If that was even possible – according to what he had overheard from the others, they did not even know where they were!

  “However, first we need to refill protium,” the plant man interjected, interrupting the impromptu celebration. Protium was not fuel in the strictest sense; Overdrive ran without fuel, deriving energy from the ship power plants. These needed protium as a catalyst, much like fossil fuel-burning motors needed oil and the like, to keep running smoothly. Any gas giant could provide protium, albeit in an impure and inefficient form. But full tanks would get them to some habitable planet where they could decide what to do next based on opportunities available to them there. There was enough protium left in the Vishnu – now impure with age – for a few jumps. But who knew how many would be needed before they found a habitable planet? And the Vishnu’s primitive “Stardrive” did not have the range of modern ships equipped with Overdrive. That would increase the number of jumps necessary to find civilization.

  Now that they had a ship, the next order of business was leaving the Perga system.

  As he’d promised, Rastheln’iq started the Overdrive engine, and it warmed up after centuries of deactivation while the Vishnu began to maneuver out of the asteroid field using its plasma drive. This, too, was primitive by modern standards, but still functioned well enough. Noomi Bloodgood, Indri Mindsinger and Tully were surprised to find Pal on the bridge.

  “It is now under the control of the shuttle computer, and perfectly harmless,” explained Rastheln’iq. “I have configured the controls to something familiar. Noomi, if you will.”

  The Tatar girl took the seat at the helm and began guiding the Vishnu out of the minefield. With anti-matter behind them, she took the ship “up”, which was the shortest distance out of the field.

  After a few minutes, Pal declared, “Ship ahead.”

  Noomi Bloodgood started at the sound of Pal’s voice, which was deep and quite pleasant. It had an authoritative ring to it.

  “He’s speaking Lingua Galactica,” Indri said in a surprised tone.

  “I didn’t even notice,” put in Noomi.

  “It would not be much use to us if we could not understand him,” explained Rastheln’iq.

  “I didn’t even know he could talk,” said the Tatar.

  “Sure he can talk,” said Tully. “I told you he was programmed to interact with the crew.

  “And Pal is a ‘he’, Wormwood, not an ‘it’.”

  The Viridian scientist emitted something resembling a sigh. “Very well. He can also act as a translator for our human until he learns Lingua Galactica.”

  “You think of everything,” Noomi said wonderingly.

  “I try,” Rastheln’iq said without any irony.

  Pal continued, “Its dimensions are 145 feet by 50 feet, wingspan 115 feet. The engine is inactive. No life forms are aboard. It is the Vimana.”

  “The what?” asked Noomi.

  “The ship’s boat,” explained Pal.

  “Some guys took it to escape when … things went bad,” said Tully, eyeing Pal. He did not know if the robot recalled what he had done, and had no desire to remind him.

  “They had no place to go,” Indri Mindsinger observed in a low tone. “Since our own shuttle is now restricted to the hangar bay, that craft could prove quite useful, Wormwood.”

  “I agree,” said the plant man. “Pal, go to the hangar bay and secure the Vimana by traction beam.”

  “Aye, aye, sir,” Pal said enthusiastically.

  Four alien eyes went to Rastheln’iq, who explained in a calm voice, “I did not alter his personality in any way.”

  “He’s always been like that,” Tully confirmed with a grin.

  Noomi took the Vishnu in the direction of the transport. Presently the little ship came into view. It was a squat cylinder with wings.

  “What’s a ‘vimana’?” inquired Noomi Bloodgood.

  “It’s an ancient word for a flying ship,” explained Tully. “Really ancient, even during my time. From Earth mythology. It was used by gods who some people claimed were aliens that came to Earth when we were primitive.

  “Vishnu was a god said to be able to cross the universe in a step. That’s how the ship got its name. ‘Vimana’ comes from the same religion. One of the designers of the Vishnu was a Hindu. Patel something. He was the main guy who designed the Stardrive, so he got his way in naming the ship.”

  “Patel, Patel, Patel,” mouthed the Tatar. “I like it.”

  A half hour later, the transport – it was more than just a shuttle – was safely anchored in the bay, and the Vishnu resumed its voyage out of the asteroid field.

  “Gas giant at 136 by 24,” announced Pal. “E.T.A. at our current speed is 38 minutes.”

  Suddenly, Pal exclaimed – if his manner of speaking could be said to include excitement – “A ship has suddenly appeared. I do not recognize it. Its dimensions are –”

  “Never mind, Pal,” snorted Noomi. “I recognize it. It’s a Templar frigate.”

  “Noomi, Overdrive, now!” barked Indri.

  The former Templar did as she was told. She knew as well as anyone that an unarmed ship such as the Vishnu was no match for a Templar frigate. Noomi quickly punched in a random direction as the frigate hailed them and activated the Overdrive without waiting to hear what the Templars had to say.

  The Vishnu disappeared from normal space, traveling through that elusive realm known as subspace.

  An almost imperceptible lurch signaled the Vishnu’s return to real space.

  “Must be because of the old Overdrive,” Noomi Bloodgood noted.

  Once things began to calm down, Tully asked, “What just happened? What’s a Templar?”

  “They’re private security,” explained Noomi Bloodgood. “Most corporations use them for security and banking.”

  Rastheln’iq explained that the Order of the Templars was an organization of mercenaries that had come into existence not long after Tully’s era.. Like their namesakes, the Knights Templar of Earth, the original band of space-going Templars protected travelers in the wilder days of space exploration. When business began to dwindle due to treaties that made space travel safer, they moved into private security for interstellar corporations, and into banking themselves. They became as powerful as a small empire, but, since they were useful, no one opposed them.

  “Does anyone have an idea why Templars would be looking for us?” Indri Mindsinger asked.

  In a calm tone, Rastheln’iq asked, “The more pertinent question might be, why isn’t the Imperium?”

  Where Angels

  Fear to Tread

  “The Borderlands?!” Indri Mindsinger exclaimed upon hearing what section of space the escaped convicts of the Vishnu were stranded in when the ship finally reached the nearest place that passed for civilization in the Borderlands, Halo City. The little mining colony could barely be called civilization, but, under the circumstances, it would have to do.

  The Borderlands was an untamed place of little law. Lying in the direction of the galactic core from Earth, it had been designated five hundred years earlier by a treaty between the Imperium and the Layeb Instrumentality, the two great powers of the Orion Arm, as a buffer zone, separating the Layeb from Earth and most of the region once belonging to the old Republic of Earth. That territory stood between the theocratic reptiles and the other major races of known space, the Delph, the Viridians and the Tatar. No ships of either government of any type were allowed in the Borderlands, and no new colonies could be established. Those that were already there were independent and neutral by interstellar law.

  This explained the lack of Imperium cruisers – and the presence of a Templar ship in the area. By interstellar law, no Imperium ships of any kind were allowed in the Borderlands, while the Templars, a private organization of mercenaries, could travel in, through and out of the Borderlands like any other private enterprise, such as traders and explorers, of which there were plenty. Containing more than seventy-three million cubic parsecs of
space, the Borderlands was a big place, and not all of it had been surveyed yet, even after all these centuries. Settlers came there seeking their fortunes. Miners were the most common type of these, though many sought to escape the rule of the fascist Imperium – anarchists and religious zealots. Although the Tri-Planetary Corporation, one of the largest interstellar concerns, had a toehold in the area prior to the treaty, they were prohibited from expanding operations, giving smaller, independent operations free rein. Halo was one of these.

  The Vishnu and its crew were in bad shape by the time the ship reached Halo, located in an asteroid belt in an otherwise unpopulated system, giving rise to its name. It was close enough to its sun that the ring of debris fairly glowed with sunlight, due to the presence of highly reflective but worthless minerals in the asteroids. While not exactly “civilization”, it was a reasonable facsimile.

  The ship’s protium, a catalyst for the engine, was nearly exhausted and everyone was sick of eating fourteen hundred year-old food. They had made a half dozen jumps, finding just enough protium to keep them going. The ancient faster-than-light technology was not very efficient compared to the modern thing.

  The first jump had taken them away from Perga into open space, where Rastheln’iq, a scientist of some fame and infamy, insisted on staying until they had some idea where to go. Needless jumps would exhaust their limited protium supply, stranding them some place from which there would be no escape. Interstellar travel at sublight speeds was next to useless.