Ximon shook his head. “If we can only take a few, we’re definitely going to focus on the ones we were sent to find.”
Silas groaned in frustration. “Thanks, but there are no good options here. Any thoughts? Anyone?”
Euclidia stepped forward. “Captain, I again urge my proposal. If you accept it, then you could select option two, freeing all of the people. Sacrificing me, then, would allow you to get another ship so that all people could, perhaps, be safely hauled.”
Mantis added, “Captain, it may logically be worth considering and I do have a backup of Euclidia. We may be able to do something to save him after all.”
Ximon said almost pleadingly, “But they said one small ship. That sounds like the Lost Pilgrim or the Nyx. I still don’t think we could take that many people in one of them and Mantis.”
Silas said, “Okay, got it.” Then, before anyone could say anything he yelled, “Representative!”
Everyone gasped at the yell and at the appearance of the Representative. Ximon, for one, was a bit taken aback that Silas had decided without more discussion and so quickly proclaimed their readiness to the Representative. But, perhaps, that was what was needed here.
The Representative was back in its three-meter tall form. “Now, now. No need to shout. So, have you finished your” he guffawed “thinking?”
Silas went on quickly. “Yes, we will take your second option to take all of these people. Then, we will leave two crewmembers to get two small ships. We will take the Nyx and the Lost Pilgrim, though if we can trade them for one larger ship, we’ll take the Trailblazer.”
“Interesting! So, which of you is so brave as to stay?”
“Euclidia and Io will stay.”
Euclidia stepped forward and Io rolled up alongside.
“What? These robots? They hardly qualify.”
“You said members of our crew. You did not specify race or chemical construction. Aren’t you yourselves somewhat merged with robots? Are you judging them of less worth? Are you going back on your word?”
The Representative started to say something angry but caught itself and laughed. “Perhaps we were incautious in our statement of terms. We give you some credit for creativity. Nevertheless, we will not be so cheated. We have seen enough of your minds and your interactions to know that you don’t value all your ‘crew’ the same. If you don’t value them all the same, you can hardly expect us to do so. We will give you trade value for these you offer, but not as much.”
The Representative then pointed to Raiza and Peter, “Now, for these we would give you full credit. But for the ones you offer, you may only take the two small ships and sixty of the creatures. Decide quickly and begone quickly.”
Elsbeth said angrily, “But that’s not fair …”
The Representative did then get angry. When he spoke, his voice was much changed – deeper, richer and full of menace and power. “Only childish fools use the word ‘fair’ as if it has some objective meaning. The universe is not fair and anyone who tells you differently is trying to sell you something. And if any definition of ‘fair’ is to apply here, it will be ours. We are not haggling like cloth merchants. Take sixty and begone before we just decide to add all of you to our collection and be done with all of this.
Ximon pulled at Elsbeth’s arm to stop her from continuing the argument. However, she was already chastened and frightened by that tone. She shook, fearing a repeat of their previous punishment. Ximon had rarely seen her so affected.
Ximon quickly stepped in before anyone else could say anything unwise. He managed to get out, “Yes, Representative.”
The Representative was then suddenly calm and returned to its normal bemused and contemptuous tone. “You may take the Trailblazer instead of one small ship as we’d rather have two exhibits than one. It has been a while since we’ve sparred with creatures like you. Give it a few million years and your kind might make for decent dinner company.”
It paused and then motioned. “We leave you now. Choose your sixty creatures quickly and place them on the elevator to take them up. Most will probably wake up in six to twelve hours. You can put them on the Trailblazer, take off with that and Mantis, and then we will see to it that you jump away somewhere.”
Ximon said, “Home? Can you just send us home to Tixaya or something between here and there?”
“Well, that would hardly be a challenge. We’re still deciding, but you can be sure it’ll be exciting.”
Shao muttered, “I’ve really come to hate ‘exciting.’ I’m a big fan of boring now.”
The Representative laughed and said, “Leave quickly and do not attempt to cheat us by taking more creatures than you should, or unfortunate things will occur. Leave the robots who have volunteered to join us on the lift.” Then it disappeared.
Elsbeth had recovered a bit and grumbled, “Great, now we’ve got to haul a few dozen bodies around and figure out how to get Trailblazer off the ground.”
Silas looked about at all the spinning bodies and groaned. “First we have to decide which to take and which not to.”
Ximon added, “And we’ve got to get moving. He said ‘quick’ repeatedly and I don’t want to find out what happens if we’re too slow.”
Then Mantis cut in. “Silas, as noted earlier, I sent you a prioritized list for choosing which of the people to take. Assuming you find that list reasonable, I’ve updated it to show which seven not to take. It’s on your tablet, unless you have an alternative selection criterion.”
The crew started to get the bodies. Silas picked bodies from Mantis’ list and his own observations. Ximon and Peter then carefully took down the indicated bodies. Once the bodies were down, Elsbeth pulled them onto the strips to send them toward the lift. At the other end of the strips, Raiza and Shao pulled them from the strips to the lift, rode the lift up with them, and then drug them onto the strip heading toward Trailblazer. Finally, Euclidia pulled the bodies from the strip near the ships and placed them in Trailblazer. They would all go help one another if one area got congested or someone got too tired.
It was a tiring, awkward, and sometimes embarrassing process to man-handle so many limp, naked bodies. Ximon was sure that many of the bodies would wind up with bruises, scrapes, or cuts, despite the crew’s best efforts. Nevertheless, they seemed to be making reasonable progress.
As they worked, a tight, powerful light beam was periodically projected down from one of many points in the ‘ceiling’ and sweep along a line of bodies. This seemed to occur about every two to three minutes. Ximon took this as a clear sign that they were being monitored and that ‘the clock was ticking.’ He regularly reminded everyone to hurry.
Silas occasionally struggled to decide which bodies to take and which to leave. After all, the seven that were left might be here forever. Ximon kept nudging him to just use Mantis’ list, go in order, or something, but Silas would not be budged. Understandably, Silas took the responsibility of choosing who would be rescued and who not very seriously.
However, after about ten minutes, when the light beam had swept down several times, the light beam took on an orange hue and shined along a nearby row of six bodies from amongst those they were seeking. When it hit them, the bodies all thudded harshly to the floor. Ximon could imagine broken bones or heavy bruising from that fall.
Ximon urged Silas on. “Silas, I think they’re telling us they’ll pick for us if we don’t hurry up. Just make sure you get the most important ones, but we’ve got to go faster.”
Silas tried to hurry, but the decisions he faced were tough. He literally had to choose to take one man from a ship and leave the shipmate floating next to him, knowing the one would live and the other, essentially, die.
After six or eight more minutes, when the light emerged it was a bright blueish color and hit a row of beings about thirty meters away who were not part of their crews to rescue. These bodies tumbled to the floor, but then rapidly got up and looked around. They were semi-humanoid bipeds, about two meters t
all, thick-chested, and with long snout-like faces. After briefly assessing the situation, they let out a hoot of sorts and ran toward the lift, occasionally descending to all fours as they loped along.
Ximon yelled, “Raiza, Shao, watch out!”
The girls started to try to get the lift to go up, but the creatures were too fast. As it became clear that the creatures would reach the lift too soon, Raiza and Shao scambled off the other side. The creatures then rode the lift up accompanied only by six or seven bodies.
Ximon quickly tried to radio Euclidia but wasn’t sure if the signal got through. He told Silas and Peter to keep working and ran along the strips toward the girls and the lift, Elsbeth close behind. By the time they got to the lift, they had heard from Euclidia.
“Captain, your previous message was broken, but I understood there was an issue. Shortly thereafter, several creatures rushed toward Trailblazer from a nearby ship. I tried to block them, and I think I scared some off. However, I’m afraid two to three got inside Trailblazer. If I go inside to investigate, I’m afraid the others will get on. I need guidance or assistance.”
Ximon, Elsbeth, Shao, and Raiza quickly grabbed all the waiting bodies and took the lift up with them. They dragged bodies onto the strips and ran toward Trailblazer. Ximon could see three of the creatures crouching by a strange, nearby ship, apparently plotting their attack. He took Elsbeth and Raiza and left Euclidia and Shao to guard the Trailblazer’s entrance.
When they entered the ship, all the lights were on and they saw no sign of the creatures. Being familiar with KSF ships, Ximon and Elsbeth soon found a ship’s locker and got it open. They quickly saw that all the powered weapons were dead, as they had supposed, from EMP bursts like those that had hit Mantis. However, they quickly grabbed three old-fashioned, slugthrower pistols and one shotgun. They then quickly searched the ship and sealed off some sections until they were pretty sure that the creatures must be in the hold. Unfortunately, they couldn’t take the time to search further right now.
Ximon left Elsbeth with a pistol to guard the bridge, watch for the creatures, and do what pre-flight she could. He left Shao with a shotgun at the entrance to the Trailblazer, backing up Elsbeth and covering Euclidia, who Ximon put back to work loading the bodies into the ship.
Ximon then took Raiza and the remaining weapons back to the lift. As they approached it, Ximon got two messages from Silas.
The first said, “What’s going on up there? We’ve got the last bodies down and are dragging them to the strip.”
Ximon replied with, “Heading your way.”
Less than thirty seconds later, Silas’ second message said, “Damn light. What the Hell? Arggh ….” and then cut out. After that, they heard broken, confused messages from Silas’ and Peter’s communicators. It sounded like they were in a fight.
Ximon and Raiza rushed up the lift and could see Silas and Peter fighting something in the distance. As they raced toward the conflict, they saw a confused melee. Silas was fighting a large creature that tried to get at the bodies that Peter was still trying to drag. When not dragging bodies, Peter tried to protect himself and, occasionally, Silas. The creature they faced was almost three meters tall and moved like an ape, jumping, running on all fours, and so forth. However, it didn’t otherwise resemble an ape – it was covered in what appeared to be greenish feathers and its head was decidedly birdlike. Silas kept landing punches and kicks on it, but the thing was clearly tough and resilient, and Silas seemed to be covered in no small amount of blood. Ximon and Raiza raced as fast as they could, but before they got there, the thing savagely bit Silas’ shoulder and got him pinned. Peter moved in that direction but was some distance away.
The creature reared up to put more force into a bite or peck directed at Silas’ face. Ximon emptied the clip of the pistol he carried at the thing’s head. He wasn’t a fabulous shot but hit the thing at least twice. It screeched horribly and spouted bluish blood in great spouts as it thrashed about and fell next to Silas.
“About damn time, Ximon. Let’s get these bodies and get out of here. I think the Representative is playing with us using those weird lights and I don’t want to find the next setting.”
“Ok, Raiza, give Silas your pistol and help him to the lift. I’ll help Peter with these. Come on Peter. Just throw them on there.”
They were soon done and caught up to Silas and Raiza just as they got on the lift. Shao reported shooting at a couple other creatures near the Trailblazer but said they then ran off.
They got to the Trailblazer and sorted the last bodies. They sent six bodies, Canids from the Algol, on toward Mantis so Trailblazer wasn’t too crowded. Canids were bipedal humanoids descended from canine stock. They had a reputation for occasional, honor-related violence, but Ximon had typically found them pretty reasonable.
Then they quickly exchanged updates.
Elsbeth said, “I’ve got the cargo bay sealed off. If those creatures are in there, they’re staying there.”
Silas said, “So, how do we get off the ground now? I doubt we can fire up the Trailblazer without help and we can’t sit around until these guys wake up.”
Mantis chimed in, “Captain, there may be an answer, I just received a message from the Representative. It reads as follows:
‘Out of the kindness of our hearts, we put a little something on your ship. It should prove useful and help you get off the ground. The humor involved in playing with you almost compensated for the annoyance. May we never see you again, for we will destroy you if we do.’”
Ximon ran toward Mantis. “Great. Elsbeth, come with. Let’s see what this is. Raiza, try to patch Silas up a bit.”
When they got to Mantis, they stepped onto the ship carefully, afraid of some strange trap. Mantis signaled them with messages like a treasure hunt, “This way” and “Over here.” The messages led them to a small control panel near the sensor operator position.
Mantis then read another message from the Representative. “‘Since you are primitives, we will explain. It’s a focused tractor/repulsor beam. It should allow you to grab the Trailblazer and pull it straight into space. Even you should be able to operate it.’”
Elsbeth said, “Sounds cool. I hope it doesn’t blow us up.”
Mantis read one final message from the Representative. “It most likely won’t. Follow the coordinates given exactly and leave here.”
Elsbeth laughed.
Ximon also found a large, ornate tube of some kind on his seat. It was approximately eight centimeters in diameter and thirty to forty-long, made of a wood-like ceramic material. It bore a large, incredibly detailed seal that Ximon would have to examine under a magnifier. Attached to it was a note in formal, cursive script which read, “Take me to your leaders.” Ximon had to laugh as he assumed this was both an actual order and a reference to an ancient catchphrase for alien encounters.
Ximon and Elsbeth ran back and briefed everyone. They decided that someone had to go on the Trailblazer to ensure it got going safely.
Silas, now wearing a large, awkward bandage, said, “Ximon, I will go. I have orders from the KSF for Captain Christopher but want to issue them directly. I will also need to take statements from all those people. I’ll grab my gear from Mantis.”
Shao tugged at Silas’s arm to pause him. “Ximon, I would like to go with him if you don’t object. He’ll need a hand, especially with those creatures on there.”
Ximon was a bit confused but started thinking it through. It made sense. “Sure, grab as much of your gear as you want. Silas, we’ll need to keep in touch as we go, in particular as soon as we come out wherever we do.”
“Sure.” He and Shao ran to get their stuff. But then Silas stopped and ran back to slap Io on the head. He gruffly said, “Goodbye, little guy” but Ximon could see a tear in his eye before Silas ran off.
Ximon turned to Euclidia and Io, who stood shoulder to shoulder. It took Ximon a minute to get his emotions under control enough to speak. “What you’re doing
here is one of the most ‘human’ things I have ever seen. Your sacrifice will save many lives. There’s, obviously, no way I can thank you enough.”
Euclidia nodded in recognition. “It is simply the logical thing to do, but it is also an honor. All I would ask is that you remember me.”
That choked Ximon up further, “No doubt of that.” He then found a line from an ancient poem that seemed to fit, “You’re a better man than I am Gunga Din.” He then touched Io lightly, “You too, Io.”
Raiza and Peter simply stood in front of Euclidia, nodded slowly, and headed toward Mantis. Ximon was sure they exchanged a whole conversation.
Elsbeth came across as gruff but wiped a tear away. “Seems a shame to have gone to all that trouble to have fixed you.” She laughed nervously and awkwardly. “Thanks for this.” Then she patted him and Io on the shoulder.
Euclidia and Io, of course, both accepted their fates stoically and went toward the lift.
Euclidia turned and waved lightly, “Farewell, crew of the Mantis. Thank you for saving me and for allowing me this service.” Then he turned and trudged on.
The last the crew saw of the two of them, they were headed down the lift. Ximon choked back a sob of loss and regret.
The crew finished situating the bodies in Mantis. Then Ximon contacted Trailblazer on the radio. “Silas, are you guys good over there?”
“Yes, though I don’t know how much we can activate. The computer is cooperating with us, but I think we’re limited in what we can do.”
“Okay, we’ll try this tractor beam thing. Sit tight.”
Ximon felt a little strange taking off without Shao on the bridge, but Elsbeth sat at the Sensor Operator position to work the tractor beam and Raiza sat in the co-pilot seat, with Peter in a jump seat behind.
The coordinates the Representatives had provided directed them to take off straight through what would be the roof. It looked clear from beneath, though it had looked solid from outside. Ximon lifted Mantis off slowly in case there was some mistake, but they rose straight through where the roof would have been. Ximon then pulled Mantis over to just above the Trailblazer.
Vast Mantis Page 19