by S. H. Jucha
“But the gas can get into your nostrils, Mangoth, and affect you,” Jessie contended.
Mangoth stepped toward Jessie. He leaned forward until his snout’s end was directly in front of Jessie’s face.
Every fiber in Jessie’s being screamed for him to shrink away from the horrendous vision of teeth and scales that swam before his eyes. He was staring at Mangoth’s dual nostrils, when two bulbs of tissue from inside the openings folded down and slammed the nostrils closed.
“Impressive,” Jessie managed to say. He watched the nostrils open and the snout recede. A shudder went through him, which the gleam in Mangoth’s eyes told him the alien had witnessed.
Seeking to regain a little dignity, Jessie expressed his final objection, saying, “There are strictures against killing the Colony species.”
“There’s no need to teach me the alliance’s codes, Advisor,” Mangoth declared. To a lesser race, he would have roared his defiance at such an insulting insinuation, but his need was greater than his pride.
Harbour sensed Jessie’s frustration, and she signed to him to cease.
“I want to know the reason that you wish to journey with this team,” Harbour said.
“Will you accompany your humans, Envoy?” Mangoth asked.
“Yes,” Harbour replied.
“Then you will have need of my protection,” Mangoth said.
Harbour detected an element of anxiety from the Crocian. “Now, I would know the real reason,” she said, her voice hard.
“So it’s true! You’re a special human, who’s capable of reading sentients,” Mangoth declared. But his triumphant discovery quickly turned to discomfort. There was no deceiving the envoy. “I seek a mate,” he admitted.
“A mate?” Harbour repeated. To her, aliens not only appeared different but their social norms were difficult to understand.
“Yes, a mate,” Mangoth acknowledged. “I’ve lost four consecutive challenges to win a female. It was my thought that by journeying with your team and supporting your efforts that I would win honor for myself.”
“There are two conditions that you’d have to accept if I were to agree to you joining us,” Harbour said.
“I would hear them,” Mangoth replied anxiously.
“I’m the leader of this exploration team, and Advisor Cinders is my second,” Harbour said.
“Agreed,” Mangoth replied. “And the other?”
“Credit for discoveries of new races, regardless of their status, belongs to the Jatouche,” Harbour replied.
Mangoth’s eyes focused on Jaktook and then on Tacticnok. When he addressed Harbour, he said, “You give the Jatouche the opportunity to accrue great honor. Why?”
“Her Highness displayed courage and acumen when she chose to visit the Gasnarian dome after we had activated it,” Harbour said, which garnered a complimentary nod from Tacticnok. “She has requested her father, His Excellency Rictook, be generous to us when there was no reason to do so.”
Mangoth regarded Tacticnok. “Untypical for the Jatouche,” the enormous scaled alien acknowledged.
“We’re grateful for the assistance of the Jatouche, and we intend to repay them,” Harbour finished. She knew that she hadn’t spoken the entire truth. What she had said to Mangoth is what she wanted the Crocian to communicate to the alliance members.
“Your terms are acceptable,” Mangoth said. He had thought joining the exploration was purely to help his status within his race, but the nascent, yet strong, relationship between the Pyreans and Jatouche intrigued him.
Harbour glanced questioningly at Jessie, who burst out laughing and slapped the alien’s shoulder. “I say we let Mangoth come. The least we can do is to help him get a female.”
Mangoth would have considered the advisor’s strike a challenge, but the human’s words and demeanor implied an attempt at camaraderie. So, he allowed the slight to pass, but not without dropping his jaw and tipping his head toward Jessie. He hoped the close display of his teeth would balance the advisor’s affront.
“My advisor accepts you, Mangoth of the Logar,” Harbour announced. “Therefore, I accept you, but hear me. If you violate Advisor Cinder’s orders or mine, your association with our team will be immediately forfeited.”
“You would strand me on some distant dome?” Mangoth asked.
Harbour snapped her fingers in front of Mangoth’s snout, and announced, “In an instant.”
The exploration team didn’t expect Mangoth’s response. The massive alien tipped his snout upward and roared. The bellow seemed to shake the air of the dome. When his roar died, he stared hard at Harbour and said, “Despite your bland appearance, Envoy, you’re more akin to Crocians than my fellow citizens would believe. I look forward to our shared experience.”
The team members hoisted their bags and headed to the dome’s lower level to prepare for their journey.
As Mangoth hoisted a pack that molded closely to his back, he whispered to Jessie, “Are all human females as strong-willed as the envoy?”
“No,” Jessie replied.
“That’s unfortunate,” Mangoth said. He waited for the entire team to precede him down the ramp, but two human delegates were fixed in place and staring wide-eyed at him. So, he ignored them and followed the others.
In a third-level room, Jatouche soldiers opened crates and laid out the armored suits and other equipment for the exploration team.
Dottie slowly approached Harbour and said, “Idrian and I don’t want to impede your preparations, Harbour. We’re going to say goodbye now and wish you good luck.” Dottie hesitated, searching for the right words, and continued. “I find this whole alien and alliance thing daunting. How you’ve navigated it, I’ll never know. But, one thing for certain. I’ll be telling every stationer who’ll listen what you’ve accomplished for Pyre.”
Dottie hugged Harbour and then went down the line of Pyreans. At Jaktook, she held out her hand and managed not to recoil at the touch of the padded palm.
Idrian was much more formal and had little to say.
When it was Henry’s turn to say goodbye, Harbour could sense the captain’s regret. She hugged Henry and flooded him with a buoyant emotion. “We each must do what we can, Henry,” she whispered. “You keep an eye on Dottie and Idrian. Keep them out of trouble.”
Soon after the Pyreans’ goodbyes were completed, a soldier led the three humans away.
The Pyreans donned their newly made suits, which incorporated oxygen tanks and carbon-dioxide filters to extend the tank’s time. Jaktook broke out his suit and soldiers helped him into it.
From his pack, Mangoth pulled a flexible bag that neatly fit over his head. He touched a mechanism at the throat and the bag conformed to his head. Essentially, it allowed a personal and unique helmet design. The Crocian strapped a bottle to his chest and attached it by hose to his flex-helmet to test it before he removed the contraption.
“You seem to have come prepared,” Jessie commented to Mangoth.
“It pays to anticipate,” Mangoth remarked.
The Jatouche defensive equipment was uncrated, and Jaktook reviewed the operating characteristics of each piece with everyone, but primarily for Mangoth’s benefit. When the gear was to be shared, Mangoth plucked the mesh roll from the pile. Belatedly, he eyed Harbour, who gave her assent.
Careful, Mangoth thought, do not doubt that this one will leave you stranded if you fail to play your part well.
When the preparations were complete, Tacticnok addressed the group. “I’ve been asked to request this one thing of the team, although I’ll tell you that personally I won’t hold you to it. Master Tiknock hopes you’ll collect a venom specimen and preserve it.”
The Pyreans eyed one another, doubt marking their faces.
“With all due respect, Your Highness,” Jessie replied, “we’d hoped not to get that close.”
“Most understandable,” Tacticnok commented.
“Envoy, we’ve no concept of the Colony dome’s position relati
ve to its star, which means we can’t advise you of your potential arrival time,” Jaktook said. “We have a choice of eating and resting or going now.”
Harbour glanced at the row of faces who were her team members. She could detect their anxiousness. There would be little appetite for food and none for sleep. “We go now,” she said, snatching up her helmet, duffel, and a weapon off the sleeping platform.
Led by the soldiers, Pyreans, Jatouche, and the Crocian trooped out of the dorm room. Lagging behind, Tacticnok slipped her hand into Jaktook’s and squeezed. With no one watching, she nuzzled her cheek against his. “Return to me, Advisor, I’ve need of your counsel for many annuals to come,” she said softly.
Momentarily at a loss for words, Jaktook could do little more than flash his teeth. Then he hurried to catch the team.
On the Rissness deck, preparations for the team’s launch were underway. Soldiers ringed platform number five, the Colony gate. A console operator stood by to cancel the defensive array.
Before the team entered the weapon’s emplacement, Jaktook had a final instruction. “It’s imperative that we adopt the habit of ascending and descending the platforms together. We don’t want to take the chance of being separated by the Colony’s ability, or any other race’s ability for that matter, to signal a far platform’s operation.”
When everyone nodded, Jaktook said, “Ready, Your Highness.”
Tacticnok signaled a commander, who ordered the soldiers on alert and the canceling of the weapons emplacement. In turn, the commander signaled Tacticnok when all was ready.
“Take your places,” Jaktook said, and the team, consisting of Harbour, Jessie, Devon, Aurelia, Jaktook, Kractik, and Mangoth, surrounded the platform. “Ascend,” Jaktook ordered.
The team stepped onto the platform, while Jaktook and Kractik, who were loaded with suits and gear, chose to hop with both legs. Instantly, the console operator engaged the gate and sent the team toward a meeting with the insidious Colony species.
-20-
The Colony
The platform’s slash of light dimmed, and the exploration team came face-to-face with the Colony species. The daunting scene froze the explorers in place.
The Colony members were shocked too. They appeared as still life, while they regarded the interlopers. Two huge individuals, red and black, were nearly five meters long. Three meters of their length were on the deck, and two were hoisted in the air. The heads ended in large pincers and contained multifaceted eyes. With strident hisses, they broke from their reverie and raced toward the exploration team on their numerous pairs of legs.
“Fear,” Harbour yelled, grabbing Aurelia’s hand.
The empaths didn’t need to delve into their psyches to generate the required emotion. The entities scuttling toward them provided all the motivation they needed. It was fortunate that the empaths’ position on the platform kept the other team members clear of their targets. Otherwise, their team members would have been curled on the platform, mewling in despair.
When the empaths’ power hit the two red and black, alien sentients, they screeched and abruptly halted. But they didn’t retreat. It created a mental stalemate. The empaths pushed fear into the minds of the Colony species, and the red-blacks hissed their frustration and struggled against the emotional pressure.
The exploration team took advantage of the momentary lull in the action to examine their surroundings.
“Five platforms, and we’re in the central one,” Jaktook noted, which was as expected. This data had been recorded in the archives by the journeys of the first Jatouche to visit this dome before the Colony achieved space travel. He knew that one of the most important aspects of their exploration was to map the gates and their connections.
“Why are crates on that far platform?” Devon asked.
“Not good,” Mangoth supplied.
A second Colony species, smaller than the two, red-black giants and entirely gray, were unmoving, as they observed the new arrivals. Several were on the platform that Devon had pointed out. Others had been moving crates from the ramp toward that platform, and two individuals hovered over the console.
Jessie realized Harbour and Aurelia were fully engrossed in holding the red-black sentients at bay. It fell to him to make the call. The smaller, gray sentients pushing the crates toward platform number one worried him.
“Kractik, we want to go through gate one,” Jessie ordered. “Mangoth, protect her. Harbour and Aurelia, focus only on these two monsters. The rest of us have to clear platform one of any of the gray entities. Everybody stay out of the empaths’ paths. Now go.”
Kractik slung her bag over her shoulder and yipped in surprise, when Mangoth snatched her up. He wouldn’t be as quick as her, but his actions assured her safety.
Mangoth’s meaty backhand cleared several of the smaller Colony species out of the way, including the two at the console. During the entire time, Mangoth never set Kractik down. He merely leaned her over the console’s station number one.
Despite Kractik’s initial astonishment at being carried, she appreciated not having her feet on the deck among the Colony species. The gray entities, with their segmented bodies, many pairs of legs, and dark eyes, could loom high above her to say nothing of the dominant red-black pair.
Harbour and Aurelia could sense the ferocious animosity that poured off the red-blacks that they had stopped. As the anger of the huge sentients grew, the empaths felt their persuasion lose ground, and Harbour mentally urged the others to hurry.
Devon was first to gain platform one. Three of the grays attacked him. The first clamped down on his upper right arm with its pincers, trying to pierce the Pyrean’s armored suit. Devon could feel the enormous pressure on his arm, and he reflexively punched the entity between its faceted eyes. The pincers opened, and the gray slithered off the platform.
Jessie caught the tail of one gray who had targeted Devon. He yanked on it and was surprised to have the creature curl on itself and attack him. The gray didn’t get an opportunity to sink its pincers into Jessie, who delivered a booted kick to its head. Immediately, Jessie dragged the inert form off the platform.
The third gray had pinned Devon to the deck, and its pincers were stabbing again and again, seeking a vulnerable opening. Jaktook saw his opportunity, and he swung his bag of defensive weaponry against the entity’s head. The gray was stunned long enough for Devon to free an arm and smack it hard. He felt the entity’s weight slide off him and rose to see Jessie pulling it free.
“Ready,” Kractik yelled.
Unfortunately, the exploration team was in a slight conundrum. Harbour and Aurelia were transfixed on the red-blacks. Mangoth was swatting attacking grays, who were trying to regain control of the console. He’d placed Kractik on his shoulders so that he had both arms free. And Jessie and Devon were defending the platform, kicking at any grays who attempted to slither aboard.
Jaktook stood on platform one’s pile of crates and yelled out the grays’ positions when they tried to outflank the Pyreans. Hurriedly, he unpacked one of his weapons. It was the audio generator.
Master Tiknock had argued that the upraised Colony species would still possess aspects of their early predecessors, common insects. His research had shown that certain audio frequencies debilitated insects and caused them to scurry away.
Jaktook activated the generator’s compact power source, pointed it at the red-black entities, and pulled the trigger. Ear-splitting screeches issued from the two entities and they curled into tight balls.
Jessie saw the red-blacks fall, and he yelled, “Now, Kractik.”
Mangoth backhanded one and then another gray. Then he swung Kractik over the console. The little Jatouche tapped the programmed icon, and Mangoth tucked her under an arm. He waddled as quickly to the platform as he could move his bulk.
Harbour and Aurelia leapt off their platform, but a gray intercepted them. The women launched kicks, which bowled the entity over. They made platform one just ahead of Mangoth a
nd Kractik.
“Behind us,” Jaktook yelled. A gray was partially on and off the platform, which activated the dome’s safety features. If Kractik’s countdown finished and the platform wasn’t cleared, the program would have to be reset. Jaktook chose to pull his generator off the red-blacks and direct it at the gray. The entity recoiled, as if struck, and fell to the deck.
Moments later, the platform’s blue light shot upwards and the exploration team was launched to an unknown destination.
* * * *
“Oh, for the love of Pyre,” Devon moaned, when the light faded.
The team found themselves on gate three of a three-platform dome, and they were surrounded by a horde of grays, who were prepared to unload the crates from the Colony dome.
“Jaktook, the audio generator,” Jessie yelled.
Jaktook slung the device off his shoulder, but the team stood in the firing path. Jessie chose not to utter a warning to Jaktook, as he snatched up the Jatouche and hoisted him high overhead. Jessie turned in a circle, while Jaktook directed the weapon’s cone at the grays, who were attacking them from all sides.
A few judicious kicks and punches from the team kept some of them at bay until the audio frequencies of Jaktook’s device struck them. Soon, the entire deck of grays was curled in tight balls on the deck. Thankfully, not a single, giant red-black was among them.
“What now?” Mangoth asked. He still carried Kractik under his arm. “Stay, go back, or go forward?” he added.
Jessie was intrigued by the Colony transporting crates to this dome. It’s why he’d chosen this particular direction, while they were in the Colony’s dome. The crates had signified that the gate didn’t lead to an alliance member.
“We stay,” Jessie said sharply. “We need to know why the Colony is moving equipment here.”
“Should we hide in a dorm room?” Jaktook asked from above Jessie’s head. He continued to direct the generator’s output at the entities on the deck.
“We could be trapped there,” Devon replied. “I don’t recommend that course of action.”
