Galaxy's End: Book One

by LeRoy Clary

  “Yes.”

  “Do you have any rumors about why that is?” Captain Stone asked.

  “This is a way out there sort of idea, so please remember I’m warning you that it is probably is a lie or misinformation.”

  “Tell me anyhow.”

  “The invaders are aquatic, they say. Fish people. They want to conquer new worlds with lots of oceans to live in. Some say the way they invade a planet is to send eggs on transports that are put into the oceans by other people they pay to do that. Unwitting pawns. Then they wait for a few generations. The invaders are a fish species who live under the water and grow into adults, lay more eggs, and eventually, when there are enough of them, they attack land dwellers from the sea. They are capable of living in the air for a time, like amphibians. I know it sounds silly, but it also has the ring of truth and that’s why I came to you.”

  Captain stone suddenly found it hard to catch her breath as she remembered the gray biological mass in the cargo containers in the hold of the ship that hadn’t been yet identified. It was possibly the eggs of aquatic invaders. Probably. In one cargo container, there could be thousands of fertilized eggs. Hell, there could be millions. Her heart started pounding harder when a louder than normal ping from Bert sounded and startled her so much that she leaped to her feet ready to fight or run.

  Bert’s calm voice held a tinge of fear. “Captain, before you ask, the three destinations listed on the manifests for the cargo containers containing the gel and possibly eggs are all destined for worlds with large oceans.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  Kat

  I was almost finished eating when who should enter the dining room? Lieutenant Anders, of course. The last person I wanted to see on the ship after I’d made such a fool of myself.

  Yes, I’d been thinking a lot about him the last several days and dreading/hoping we’d run into each other. Now that it happened, I didn’t know what to say when his face broke into a wide smile and he strode to my table as if we were the best of friends who hadn’t seen each other in a long time.

  He was beautiful. Large gray/green eyes that looked right through me. I faltered with my first attempt to return his smile. He sat anyhow.

  “I’ve been looking for you.”

  I tilted my head as if in question.

  He said, “We haven’t had much time to talk and we’re going to be shipmates. I can’t associate with my marines. Officers must stand aloof. That only leaves a few people to develop into friends.”

  “So, you’re only here at my table because you have no friends?”

  “No. That’s not what I meant.”

  “That is what you told me.”

  He cleared his throat and said, “I like you. I want to spend time with you.”

  My mouth had a mind of its own. “Your idea is that we become friends. Close friends. And then later you board another ship and go back to your admiral and secret base and leave me wherever we happen to be.”

  He slowly stood and rushed his words. “I think I have some urgent business to attend. Please excuse me.”

  He turned and left; his neck as red as his face had been. The idiot left me sitting alone. What was wrong with him?

  A ping warned that Bert had something to say. “That did not go well.”

  “What I was thinking and what I said were two different things. Should I chase after him and apologize?”

  “You should apologize, but you may wish to wait a day or two. Let him worry over what he thinks he said that was wrong. Then you can let him know that you forgive him.”

  I scrunched up my face, hoping Bert was watching. I said, “You’re twisting my words.”

  “It’s what the females of many species do. You will soon learn and probably become an expert at the skill. Many males will suffer from your words.”

  “Do female diggers do and say things like that to potential mates?”

  “Oh, the stories I could tell if only you were a few years older.” He was chuckling as two pings sounded, which ended our conversation.

  A pair of female passengers, neither human, entered the dining room and sat at another table. They were giggling and talking. Neither could have been older than me. Instead of leaving, I pretended to eat a few more bites and listened.

  They were talking about a remarkably handsome crewman aboard the Dreamer they’d seen. One had made eye contact with him and that had both young women giddy. They were planning another “chance” meeting as if plotting a battle in a war. The meeting had to be “accidental” and yet intimate. The taller of the two was chosen to make the first approach.

  I wondered who the crewman might be. While there were a couple who were nice enough to look at, none were what I’d call handsome. Maybe I’d missed one.

  I hated myself for eavesdropping, but their conversation seemed to relate to my experience, and I hoped to learn something. It was good to hear that others were having the same problems as me. With luck, one might offer insight.

  The shorter one with dark, curly hair said, “I think he works with the engines.”

  “He came aboard with that last group at Roma, then split off.”

  “The captain? He was with her?”

  I wished my species had the ability to close my earflaps and quit listening. They were talking about Bill! My Bill. Not that we were romantic, but I felt protective. My expression must have changed because the girls suddenly noticed me.

  One whispered, “He came on board with her.”

  I knew who “her” was. It was me. I looked up and both avoided meeting my eyes. I stood and tried to stand tall as I walked from the room.

  Outside, I calmed myself. I was not involved with Bill in that way and should be pleased that others considered him good looking. I should be, but it didn’t work that way. They were talking about Bill as if he had no mind of his own. To them, he was just a pretty man to giggle and attempt to meet as if it was accidental.

  Maybe I should tell Bill about the encounter. I swallowed hard. No, maybe I should keep my thoughts to myself.

  My cabin was directly ahead, and I opened the door. A lot had happened since coming aboard and seeing the room for the first time. It no longer appeared as large, ornate, and wonderful. While the communal areas had been cleaned and repainted, there had not been time to refurbish the whole ship. The worn paint on the cabin floor, the bright metal where feet walked, the small beds, and the faint odor were all unknown in the cabin at the planetoid where Captain Stone and I had stayed.

  That had been new or looked and smelled new in comparison to the Dreamer. I wondered what the Escolta was going to be like. It was not new, but certainly a generation newer than the Dreamer. Captain Stone had described it. I had a mental picture. It might look like what was in my mind. It might be different.

  I fell onto the tiny bed and let my feet hang over the end because it was too short even for me, while a zillion thoughts bounced around inside my head. There hadn’t been time alone to think and analyze all that had occurred since the captain had first stormed into our tent despite several attempts.

  I thought back and remembered the time and place fondly. As long as the wind was not too strong and it didn’t rain, we were happy. We managed to eat enough, clothe ourselves, and most of all we were happy. There were laughter and friendship. We had each other.

  The last year or two had grown harder as we realized we had no futures, like others of our class. We’d watched others gathered up by the police and disappear. There were rumors of work camps and even death camps. As those living in other tents behind buildings or nearby forests came of age, they vanished.

  Nobody hired people like us, and justifiably so. There were plenty of people looking for jobs that had education, experience, or a combination of the two. People without arrest records. People who would show up for work daily.

  In short, people who knew the rules. We were outcasts, rebels, and worse. Most had disgusting names for us, gypsies and city trash being the least offensive. Ev
en then, there was usually a derogatory word or two that came before “gypsies”.

  Bill and I had a long conversation one night about what we could do to improve our lot. The answers were silly, unobtainable, and unrealistic. Finally, we’d asked Bert.

  He’d said, “You didn’t choose the life given to you, Kat. Make the best of it and when you are of age, I may be able to find legitimate work for you.”

  “Really?” I’d burst out, drawing laughs from both. “A real job?”

  Bert had said, “There are certain files I can delete that will hide some of your unfortunate activities. There are also favors owed to me that I can collect. If you two can keep out of serious trouble, things will work out.”

  The humor had fled. There was something serious in his tone.

  Bill figured it out. “Bert, why are you helping us? We’re just kids.”

  He said, “I’m owed favors and I owe them. It’s like a cycle. You’re a favor I owed but have come to cherish being near the two of you.”

  After that, he’d withdrawn and refused to answer our next questions. After that day, he either pretended not to hear or deflected any breach of the subject until we stopped asking. However, the conversation still haunted me. There were layers of meaning behind every word he’d said.

  My thoughts returned to the Escolta. It was large, powerful, and so new that it smelled new, like fresh paint. My mind placed tall spires on it, flags waving merrily as it roared through space. Where and how a spaceship had spires didn’t matter. It was my imagination taking over before sleep. My eyes were closed. Escolta would solve all our problems.

  I had almost drifted off when I had a last thought. I said out loud, “Bert, did Bill ever live on Prager Four?”

  “Not that we know for certain. I do not believe so.”

  “Are we related?”

  “Physically? No. However, there are connections, and you are old enough to understand some of them if you are curious.”

  I paused. Did I want to know those connections tonight? No, I wanted to sleep. If Bert were willing to tell me now, he would do the same tomorrow or the next day. It was not that I was scared of what he was about to say, but it might jar me awake again.

  For the first time in my life, I felt contentment. A warm bed that was only slightly too small, all the food I wanted including ice cream, and new friends. All that and a future with exploration as a bonus. Contentment was the right word. I drifted off with a smile on my lips.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  Captain Stone

  The conversation with Bert and Lila stunned Captain Stone. The idea of a race of aquatic soldiers coming ashore from the seas and slaughtering the land-based residents seemed like an easy way of defeating the residents and capturing a world. The colonists or inhabitants of a planet might have no knowledge of the aggressive invaders that had spawned in their waters until the attack by tens of thousands. Maybe more.

  What Lila had shared dovetailed perfectly with the facts the captain knew. Even Bert seemed convinced the rumors were more than that. They were the truth or close to it. Well, probably the truth was more exact. When the information Lila had shared about her home world and the rumors she had heard when young were added to the information Captain Stone had already acquired, it all seemed to fit neatly together.

  The basic plan of the invaders was simple and genius. Hire the residents of a spaceport to ship containers of fertilized eggs, while telling them it was another substance or nothing at all. Pay them well to put the cargo containers on ships. Have the starships to carry fertilized eggs to water-worlds. Once delivered, more dupes would be hired to deposit the eggs in the local oceans—all without one adult invader setting foot on the target world.

  The eggs would hatch in the water and turn into aggressive aquatic creatures and breed. When the time was right, perhaps after several generations, a coordinated attack from the sea would defeat an unsuspecting population of land dwellers and seize the world.

  As she allowed the ideas to flow, the captain saw it was a long-range plan, perhaps decades if properly carried out. There was no doubt of the outcome. The sea-people would overrun the air breathers and within days control the entire world.

  The sea-people might be like amphibians in that they could exist on land and water. A few “trainers” would arrive to educate the warriors and teach them how to construct and use the best weapons. If they were not amphibious, they might wear protective suits filled with seawater while on land. The result was the same.

  Her mind reeled at the implications. Three planets had been targeted this time, maybe many more. How many other cargo pods filled with eggs had been shipped to the human sphere water worlds earlier, maybe even decades ago?

  Lila sat on the edge of the bed and nervously waited, sweat covering her forehead. She looked too scared to speak.

  Captain Stone realized the girl would know, or suspect, more than she had shared, even if she didn’t know the importance of the details. Captain Stone also realized she needed to build trust with the young girl who couldn’t be twenty years old. And she needed to deliver the girl to the admiral of the Bradley Concord where she could answer additional questions.

  The girl had asked for a berth on her ship. The captain hadn’t fully answered.

  With the salvage money, Stone planned to purchase another ship for exploration. That plan hadn’t been altered by the added information. While trade was profitable if done correctly, exploration and discovery were where real wealth lay. New trade routes, products, and useful knowledge could be converted into what some called generational wealth. That simply meant there were enough universal credits to last for generations of offspring.

  Purchased ships normally do not come with crews, so she would need at least five people for an explorer, and depending on the size of the ship, ten. She could split part of her existing crew, but she still needed more bodies, and the girl sitting in front of her had risked her reputation to explain the rumors she’d heard.

  That act showed good judgment. The first part of building trust between them was to hire the girl. She asked, “Did you sign a contract to work on this ship?”

  “Yes. For stewards, the contract can be renewed at each port by both parties, or terminated, by either. We are expendable. If there are fewer passengers on the next trip, one or two of us are left on the ground until we can sign on to another ship.”

  “I see. Well, I plan to buy a second ship. I won’t need any stewards because we do not carry passengers.”

  The expression on the girl went from fear to disappointment.

  Captain Stone continued as if she hadn’t noticed, “However, what I do need are members of my crew who can stand bridge-watches, wield a wrench or weld a seam, and direct cargo handlers while in port. If you can cook a meal for the crew now and then, you’d be even more valuable.”

  “I can’t weld or direct cargo handlers. I haven’t been on the bridge long enough to know the basics, and my cooking is terrible.”

  Stone laughed. “Can you learn?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then, I want you to pack your things. When we reach Heshmat Habitat. You’ll let them know you’re coming with us to the Escolta and I’m sure there will be no problems from the owners of the ship. When we return to the star base, I’ll want you to talk to the admiral and share your information and insights.”

  “That’s wonderful.”

  “How much do you earn as a steward?”

  The answer was minuscule. Stone shook her head and said, “Here’s how it works with me. You’ll be paid what the other new members of my crew earn, which is about ten times what you now get. You’ll also earn a percentage of our profits. And for that, I expect you to work harder than you ever have and to be loyal to me.”

  She nodded her head so fast and so hard she would probably have a headache later. Stone said, “Bert, find the employment records for Lila and make certain we can take her on without incident.”

  A ping sounded and Bert s
aid, “She is accurate that either party can sever the relationship in any port, and the Heshmat Hab certainly qualifies as a port. I’ll tell the others she is now one of us.”

  “Good point,” Captain Stone said. “As acting captain of this ship, I’m officially relieving you of your steward duties and you will not be paid for those services from this time on. Bert, make a note of that in the official log. Then get together with Lila and begin her education for working on my ship. Find a career she can learn. Something she is interested in.”

  Bert pinged. “That will be done. May I suggest you get some rest before we reach port, Captain? You have not slept in some time.”

  Lila leaped to her feet, understanding that she was being dismissed. She reached out and shook the captain’s hand, then rushed out, her face still flushed with excitement.

  Stone began taking off her slippers and getting ready for sleep. Just before dropping off, she asked, “Bert, was I right to hire her?”

  A single, pleasant ping responded. No words were needed. She fell asleep wondering how Bert had managed to incorporate an entire language into a one-syllable ping of sound.

  When she awoke, bathed, and changed clothes, she felt as if a weight had lifted, but ahead were many more immediate problems to face. Fang was piloting the ship masterfully, and Bert informed her that they had received a transmission with the final docking location, and they were nearly in position around Heshmat.

  Representatives of Dreamer’s ship line were in a shuttle and in route to intercept them. She headed for the bridge.

  Instead of greeting her with a friendly smile, Fang gnashed his teeth and said, “A pompous little ass of a bookkeeper is coming aboard in the shuttle. I suggest showing him the airlock then waiting for his replacement.”

  She laughed.

  A short while later, the ship’s engines were shut down, the shuttle arrived. Without asking permission to come aboard, as was traditional, no matter who technically owned the Dreamer, the hatch opened wide and a short representative of a Simian race entered. Not an Earth-monkey, but a no-nonsense member of a race that produced endless detail-oriented members. Most were officious bookkeepers, actuaries, accountants, and inventory specialists. She had run into them before.