“And if it is not?” Rallafin asked. “I know Voraster technology, but I cannot guarantee I will be able to do anything with this.”
“Most technology works the same way,” Blake said. “I know it pretty well, and I hoped that you would be able to assist with some technical know-how as well as being some extra hands in fixing whatever we might have to to make it go.”
“Let us begin then,” Rallafin said.
Blake looked at his scanner and adjusted it to look for power readings. He hoped that by scanning for the strongest power source, they might be able to use it to hone in on the engine room. Most ships had multiple communication centers. One was on the bridge, of course, but there was always another in the engine room. He hoped that the engine room would be sufficient for this, and they did not have to search out any of the others.
“Let’s move towards the front a bit to see if there is another way in,” Blake said. “There is a strong power reading further forward. If we can find a way there, we’ll go back in the way I came out.”
“The inside of this ship will be a veritable maze,” Rallafin said. “You realize that?”
“I very much do,” Blake said, “But it is what it is, and we are out of options. I don’t think there is any other way for a message to get to your home world if they won’t let you use your ship.”
“Even so, I don’t think our ship can do it anymore,” Rallafin said. “There wasn’t much left.”
“Well, if Perry had any success,” Blake said, “maybe Faraliv will be released and can have a go at it. Best to follow all of our options.”
“Agreed,” Rallafin said.
“There,” Blake said pointing to a massive crack down the side of the ship. The gap was more than wide enough for both of them to walk through. “We’ll have a time finding our way up from here, but it’s a way in.”
“Good enough for now,” Rallafin said. “I’m ready.”
Blake and Rallafin walked inside the old ship. The minimal lighting inside remained, and the power source was further back from their entry point but quite a distance above them. Their first order of business would be to find some stairs or something they could climb to get up to it. If they were lucky, the infrastructure would be intact enough. Either way, it was going to be a long trek to their goal.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
After leaving the President’s office and narrowly evading capture from Harold Andersoppen, Perry made his way through the city back to Sophie’s barn where the other Voraster awaited. He kept his eyes open for any guards along the route, but it appeared that after the initial chase, they had given up on finding him. He tried not to bring any attention to himself, though, and elected to walk as quickly and as casually as he could through town, cutting as close to the center as possible to decrease the distance, but avoiding that area just in case they were still looking for him.
He crossed into the outer areas of town where Sophie’s house was located and paused to check the area around the house. It was quiet. No movement whatsoever. Satisfied with this, he crossed the street, walked along the edge of the yard until he was even with the side of the barn, and then walked across the front to the main door.
Inside the barn, only the skylights provided any illumination, but it was sufficient. He hung Harold’s jacket on a nail just inside the door and looked around the dim inside of the barn to ensure no one else was here. As it appeared to be empty, he climbed the ladder to see how Tarlen and Orest were doing here all alone.
He found them exactly as he had left them. They indicated that they had been speaking quietly before his entrance into the barn, but stopped just in case he was someone else. He recounted his time with the President as positive but his unexpected run-in with the owner of the barn as negative. They reported that Rallafin had left shortly after they did, and they could only hope that he made it to the Mirificus safely.
“From here,” Perry said, “I plan on heading back to the town square for the announcements from Andersoppen and Rhysman to find out what they have to say about the crash and prisoners. Rhysman was very unwilling to say anything about it, and he was hard to read.”
“Politicians are similar on every planet, it seems,” Tarlen said. “So very inscrutable.”
“Well, we have no other way of finding anything out,” Perry said. “Our next goal is to find a way to release them if my conversation with Rhysman didn’t convince him to do something. I am hopeful in that executions are not something that is done, and Blake very clearly indicated that they would be killed for their crimes.”
“The Unified Planets frown upon any summary executions,” Orest said. “There are very few crimes they deem worthy of capital punishment. Living beings are far more useful than dead ones. If you have never been to the planet of Hruthkan, then it is an experience not soon forgotten.”
“What is significant about Hruthkan?” Perry asked.
“It is the largest of the prison labor planets,” Orest said. “Crimes that one might consider worthy of execution get sent to Hruthkan to allow the convicted to work their sentence out. Spent a year there myself some time ago. Every race in the Unified Planets is there somewhere. You get a real appreciation for others because your closest allies with all be of a species other than your own. Prejudice does not exist there. It cannot. My best friends were a Kursas, a Lycramal, and a Fempiror. Only one of them looked much like you though he was very different. The only language approved is the galactic standard. If you don’t know it, you will learn it. I worked mostly on components for computers. Companies contract through Hruthkan for inexpensive labor. It’s how they make their money. Ingenious in my opinion, but I sure would not want to go back.”
“Did you get paid for your labor?” Perry asked.
“Paid?” Orest laughed. “I committed a crime. It was only petty theft, but I went there to pay for what I had done. I did not deserve to be paid.”
“But if they are suggesting inflicting capital punishment,” Tarlen said, “they are asking for trouble. They have no authority to put someone from another planet to death for any crime on their world, regardless of what it was. The laws for trials and sentencing are very strict. If they try to circumvent that with members of the Unified Planets, they will have a higher authority to answer to. We sentenced our own to death for their attack here many years ago instead of sending them to Hruthkan or another labor world. That was our prerogative. It is not theirs.”
“I’ll remember that,” Perry said. “I better be going.”
“Take care, my friend,” Tarlen said.
“I will,” Perry said. “Hopefully, you won’t be hiding in here much longer.”
Perry walked back to the ladder and checked the ground level before climbing back down. He left the jacket hanging from the nail as he peeped out the door. The coast remained clear, so he walked back out to the road and headed back to the center of town. He stayed off the main roadways and preferred to work his way around the heart to what would be the back of the crowd. He wanted to hear what was going on and did not want to have a scene erupt in case he was recognized.
When he arrived, there was already a substantial crowd, and he wondered if this was related to the festival, or if there were always announcements around this time. From what he gathered, this was a society without any kind of in home service to disseminate news, so gathering together once a day would make sense for them. Families could send one person out every day to listen to Rhysman, or his people give some news of the day, and then move on. The news of the day was a crash interrupting their festival and the existence of despised aliens who had once killed their loved ones. It was enough to bring them all out.
Perry waited at the back of the crowd as it grew leading into the appointed announcement time. He overheard a lot of conversations revolving about speculation of what happened. Feelings were split over what whether it was an accident or a direct attack. Each side ranged from quiet to aggressive, and at least one fight broke out over the reasons for the V
oraster crash. Perry knew he had to stay out of all of these because whatever he said would be viewed as his opinion, and no one was willing to listen to anyone on that. Whatever their leaders said would solidify the people, and if they said what he thought they would say, the public opinion would not end well for them.
Eventually, Andersoppen and Rhysman emerged from the town hall and stepped onto the stage. They were met with applause to which they waved appropriately. Rhysman was the first to the microphone.
“My fellow colonists,” Rhysman said. “Yesterday, during the opening remarks of our centennial festival, we witnessed a spacecraft falling from the sky. This craft landed forcefully next to our beloved Terraformer but caused no damage.” The crowd murmured with relief at this. “From this spacecraft there emerged five individuals from a neighboring planet of the Voraster race. The species is the same one that caused death and destruction on our planet when it was in its infancy. At that time, they promised to let us be. They signed a treaty with us making this pledge to our sovereignty of this world and that they had no say in its life or existence. Yesterday, this treaty was broken. They landed on our soil once more and nearly killed us all through the destruction of our lifeblood.
“Furthermore, after we had detained these criminals along with one of our own who had stepped out of line to question our authority to detain them, they orchestrated an escape from our detention facility during which we were able to recapture two of them and one of the local conspirators. My friends, we must stand together on these things, and work through them as one. If you know of someone who has aided these invaders, please let us know. We will work through it together if you will let us. To give you more on this, I give you the head of the Mirificus Society, Harold Andersoppen.”
Modest applause welcome Andersoppen to the microphone. Janecia stepped up next to Perry as he watched.
“I see you survived the barn all right,” Janecia said.
“Was your husband too upset that you were out so late?” Perry asked.
“No, not really,” Janecia said. “I let him know what was going on before and explained some of it when I got home.”
“He won’t report you, will he?” Perry asked.
“No,” Janecia chuckled.
“I’m looking forward to what your dad has to say up there,” Perry said.
“Ah, you found that out, did you?” Janecia said with a bit of a blush.
“Your mother enlightened us,” Perry said. “She was surprised we didn’t know that we were being taken to the home of the man who wants to capture us.”
“I didn’t want to worry you that it might have been some kind of ruse,” Janecia said.
“I can understand that,” Perry said.
“Everything going all right today?” Janecia asked.
“So far,” Perry said. “No one’s been caught anyway that I know of. I’m not encouraged by the announcements so far.”
“My friends and family,” Harold began. “We are under attack. High above us, Voraster ships are waiting for their moment to come down and take away everything we hold dear. This accident was truly an accident, but only in so much as it revealed them to us too soon. It was only an accident because it missed the target. They sought to destroy us by destroying our Terraformer, the machine that feeds this planet and keeps it alive. We all know how important it is to us. We all know what would happen if it were destroyed. The Vorasters know too. They targeted it first.
“We captured them immediately and forbade them from contacting their people to prevent them from reporting what they knew or that they failed. But some of our own citizens turned traitor, and under the control of the Vorasters, they willfully disobeyed our laws and tried to rescue them and let them communicate with their people to murder us. The traitors are no better than the invaders. They could be standing next to you right now, and they must be turned in to protect us from this threat against our very existence. The security of you all is what concerns me more than anything else. My group keeps the Terraformer in operation and ensures you wake up every day to breathable air and useable water. It is the most important work in the world and means everything to me.”
“To this end, I give the co-conspirators an ultimatum. You will turn yourselves in. I know there are at least three others out there: two men and a woman. There are also three Vorasters out there somewhere. I will have these three traitors here within the hour or the prisoners will be executed one at a time.”
The crowd reacted with a surprised murmuring among themselves. Even the President sat up and took notice.
“He can’t do that,” Perry said.
“He’s pretty all powerful here,” Janecia said. “If he wants to, he can.”
“I found out recently that if he kills the Voraster here, he risks retribution through the United Planets,” Perry said. “He could get us all into hot water with them.”
“The United who?” Janecia asked.
“There is a galactic governing body to which both the Voraster home world and Earth belong,” Perry said. “It’s been known by different names over the eons, but right now, it is the Unified Planets. It is against their laws for a planet to try and convict a species from another world. If he executes the Voraster, not only will that create a problem for him personally, but it could get Earth into trouble as well.”
“Oh no,” Janecia said.
“I suspect the President knows this,” Perry said. “He looks pretty concerned with this declaration.”
Behind the stage, a man in his fifties appeared. He gestured desperately to anyone who would pay attention. Harold walked over to him. Suddenly, Harold looked scared.
“What’s that all about, I wonder?” Perry asked, pointing to the man behind the stage. Janecia looked.
“That’s Oliver Harper,” Janecia said. “He’s a scientist that works on the Terraformer.”
“Ah, Blake went out there with him,” Perry said. “I guess something happened.”
Harold hastily left the stage, and the President looked at him, confused. He looked to the crowd.
“That is all for now,” Rhysman said awkwardly. “We will resume the festivities in two hours, at noon. Thank you.” He rushed off the stage and took off after Andersoppen. Perry looked after them, and then looked to the town hall.
“So we have less than an hour to either break them free again,” Perry said, “or finish this mess to the point that they won’t kill the prisoners.”
“They’re going to be fine until my father returns,” Janecia said. “We have at least that long.”
“Where are they headed, you think?” Perry asked.
“I’d guess out to the Terraformer,” Janecia said. “Oliver looked pretty distressed.”
“Blake probably found something out there, and Oliver was compelled to let Harold know about it,” Perry said. “I already know that’s in good hands. I doubt we could get anyone out the way we did before. Any other ideas?”
Janecia looked at the town hall. They knew there had to be guards on the roof, guards in the hallway outside the room, both front and back, and it seemed probable that there would even be guards inside the cell. Their options were incredibly limited.
“Would he execute them in front of everyone?” Perry asked. “Or would he do it out of sight?”
“We’ve never executed anyone,” Janecia said.
“Ever?”
“Ever.”
“I wonder if he would be brazen enough to bring them out here to parade them in front of everyone to bring us forward,” Perry pondered. “Does he strike you as theatrical enough?”
“I heard that story of what happened to his grandparents many times growing up,” Janecia said. “All of those tellings were laced with hate and anger. It stuck with me, but fortunately, my mother was a bit more sane about it. He would have had no balance for it. I think he’d do it.”
“It’s a stupid idea, but it’s all we have,” Perry said. “We’ll have to make our own show of it. I think having hi
s daughter in the mix will throw him for a loop.”
“I have a family,” Janecia said.
“I know,” Perry said. “Right now, we’re all strangers to him. He doesn’t care about any of us. You mean the world to him. Will he follow through when he finds out the traitor is the little girl who is closest to his heart? How willing are you to act for the side of what’s right?”
“I don’t know if I can,” Janecia said.
“Right now, you’re all we’ve got,” Perry said. “I think you’re the only person he’ll listen to, and as such, there’s a lot you should know.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Using Blake’s scanner as a homing beacon for the ship’s power supply, Blake and Rallafin struggled to find a path through the wreck of the Mirificus to its source. The floors were originally elegantly carpeted in red down the center of the halls with a gold design along the edge of the red and brown along the walls. The walls once resembled elegant wood paneling though today, most of the wood had fallen away to reveal the metallic panels beneath. Lighting that was recessed over their heads either hung down or was non-existent.
They occasionally found stairwells, but rarely did they ascend very far forcing them to traverse rickety floors with missing sections. Blake was grateful Rallafin was with him for at one step, the floor gave way entirely, and Rallafin was able to prevent Blake from dropping to the floor below. They continually zigzagged the infrastructure trying to find a stairway or some path upwards which occasionally led to climbing collapsed floors as well.
When they reached the level where the power source was, they were blocked by debris. Blake and Rallafin put their strength together to shift the load and move the pieces out of the way granting them access to what had to be the central engine room.
Unlike the rest of the ship which varied in brightness, the engine room was consistently dim but lit well enough to see. It traversed what appeared to be three levels, and a cylindrical glowing core formed the centerpiece of them all passing all the way from the bottom of the central shaft of the forty foot diameter room to the top. Only a railing stopped them from reaching it.
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