SODIUM:6 Defiance

by Arseneault, Stephen

  I had Mika pilot the Jacques towards the Ogle ships. Hershen and I then slipped out the back and began our half hour drift towards our nemesis. With luck, we would arrive undetected where we would begin our reign of terror. I was eager to get in the fight.

  Two hours after the beginning of the raid the small Ogle ships were departing the atmosphere. As they docked with the larger ones we silently drifted aboard the fourth of the five Ogle vessels. We dropped our shielding to the minimum invisible setting allowing us to interact with the ships gravity. When we came to rest we were in a storage room.

  In an instant the Ogle ships split apart and vanished one by one. The ship we had invaded shuddered and our helmet sensors quickly lost all perspective. We were moving under whatever mechanism the Ogle employed, but we had no idea to where.

  We began a systematic search of their ship. We began by doing a micro-burst in the direction of the port where the smaller ships had docked. We passed through numerous bulkheads, hangars and storage compartments before coming into the docking bay where our fellow humans were being unloaded. A quick count placed the number of abductees at 18.

  The Ogle troops that surrounded them looked formidable, but slightly smaller in frame than me. As we watched it became apparent that the humans did not seem to be afraid. I found it strange that they seemed altogether defiant. They were captive aboard an alien vessel and outgunned, and yet they showed no fear. I had a sudden rush of pride in my people as they faced almost certain death from the species that held them captive, they were humans and they were standing strong.

  Seconds later an Ogle guard got in close to one of the captives. It screamed some high pitched obscenity at the human and then reached out and slapped its face. The Ogle was not prepared for the reaction. The human, who had no doubt spent many years in his BGS, returned an uppercut punch to the cat-like creature. His fist, first breaking through the skin under the jaw, and then pushing upwards into the cat's brain. The Ogle trooper dropped to the hangar floor... dead.

  A blaster weapon was quickly turned on the human, blowing him backwards into another Ogle guard, both fell to the floor. As a last gesture of defiance the human reached out and grasped the fallen Ogle's windpipe before the next shot severed his arm. But it was too late for the fallen Ogle as the human had accomplished his task.

  A static box was then placed around the remaining 17 captives as an Ogle commander screeched orders. His troopers moved back from the box and took up defensive positions. I found it curious that the captives showed little emotion during the assault. They each maintained their stance in a defiant manner, as if ready to defend themselves should they be attacked. I could only imagine what use the Ogle had in store for them as being captive was neither a mental or physical picnic.

  For five days Hershen and I waited and watched. We took the time to explore the surroundings with the hopes of gaining some advantage. Our raid aboard the Ogle ship now seemed like a decision that was made in haste. But it was a decision we had to live with. On the sixth day we were rewarded with new insights into the Ogle's plans.

  When the Ogle ships came to a stop they were in orbit around the planet DaCuban. The human captives were once again loaded onto the smaller Ogle transport. Hershen and I took the opportunity to micro-burst aboard the smaller ship with them. Minutes later we were setting down on the surface just in front of the great doors.

  A second Ogle transport was parked and waiting when we arrived. We drifted just outside the ship and took up a position on the surface with a full field of view. The doors of the second ship opened and a parade of beings that had been captured from the Frekkin began to emerge. They were pushed and prodded into their specific locations on the surface before the great doors.

  As each being stretched out and touched the crystal before them the great doors began to slide back. When the human clone was forced down upon the human crystal it began to glow, but the doors did not move. An Ogle officer strode over to the human, aimed a weapon at its head and then gestured for it to rise. The Ogle then began to move its arms in a manner that could only be interpreted to mean "move back."

  My clone stepped backwards until the Ogle stopped it just short of the cliff's edge. The first of the human captives was then brought forth from the second transport. She, like the others, was pushed and prodded into position over the human figure. She was then turned towards my clone by the screeching Ogle officer. After a short rant, a bolt of energy was released from his weapon; it struck my clone square in the chest. I winced as the ribcage of my exact replica blew open as it fell backwards over the cliff's edge.

  The second human was then forced to kneel and touch the human crystal. Again the crystal glowed, but the great doors did not move. The Ogle officer went into a wild rant, raising the human to her feet and then pushing her backwards towards the cliff's edge. The cycle was then repeated until only four humans remained.

  The Ogle forced them as a group to kneel and touch the crystal and again the door did not move. I again winced as the four captives were summarily executed. The remaining species were loaded back onto the Ogle transport as the officer stamped around on the surface, bristling his fur and screeching at his troopers.

  I was unsure of why the great doors had not moved for the human captives. I had guessed that the doors had not moved for my clone or I because of my changed DNA. But these were humans, taken directly from Earth. I wondered why they were unable to command the alien artifact. Had our DNA somehow evolved to the point of not being recognized? I was unsure of how to interpret what I had just seen.

  As the Ogle officer moved towards his ship, Hershen and I took the opportunity to slip aboard with him. The doors closed and the Ogle transport rocketed back through the atmosphere to dock with its mother-ship. The giant Ogle vessel then shuddered and in the blink of an eye we were again moving through space at far above light speed.

  Hershen and I settled in a little used storage locker. It was the first day in six that I had been able to see or verbally communicate with my friend. The small proximity sensor in our suits was the only way each of us had known the other was still there. When I had moved, Hershen followed after. It was a routine we were both familiar with.

  As we sat we immediately began our discussions. Why had the captured humans failed to move the great doors? And why had the Ogle abandoned their assault of our planet when it was there, shield broken and ready to be destroyed? We came up with many theories, but none took hold. After several hours of confused discussion the decision was made to begin a full exploration of the Ogle vessel.

  If the Ogle ships were headed back to Earth, and if we could uncover vulnerability, Earth might have a chance at survival. When the sixth day of flight had come and gone it became apparent that Earth was not our next destination. We continued to push on with our exploration of the Ogle vessel. We took many chances as we jumped from room to room, but the Ogle troops seemed secure on their ship and our transgressions went unnoticed.

  The interior of the Ogle vessel was jet black. All rooms were arranged with open spaces between them. A narrow plastic-like bar that stretched from one room to another was all that was available for walking. Numerous bars went across to the next room as well as down to the rooms below.

  The Ogle were nimble creatures with fantastic balance. When two Ogle encountered each other on a bar, one would simply hop over the other as if it was not there. I was reminded of the stray cats that had at one time walked the fence-tops of my Grandfather's farm. They moved about as if walking on solid ground.

  As we moved from room to room we came across a mess-hall for the Ogle troops. A disgusting pink paste was extruded onto a conveyor belt of sorts and the Ogle soldiers took turns pushing each other out of the way to get their share of the meal. When a cat was satisfied it moved away from the line, curled up and took a nap. Other than the constant den of screeches and howls by those plying for food, the Ogle took on a more friendly appearance when fed.

  Our next stop was a weapons bay
where a glowing blue tube filled one wall. It was a particle beam, constantly running, constantly at the ready. I wondered what havoc a well-placed gravity pulse might do to the surrounding ship. It was a suicide move that Hershen and I would store away for possible future use.

  The next large room we entered was quickly determined to be a mating room. Hundreds of cats were engaged in behavior that on one hand had me wanting to blush while on the other to bust out laughing. I had a strong urge to turn a garden hose on the lot of them. Hershen then pointed out that the Ogle were the only species besides humans that mated the old fashioned way. It was not however, a commonality that would bring our species closer together.

  On the 14th day the Ogle ship again shuddered as it came to a stop. We micro-burst our way to the nearest exterior bulkhead and then slipped into the empty space beyond. There, fully in our view, was the Ogle home world. I quickly took a scan of the surrounding stars and within seconds my helmet computer gave an estimate of 1982 light years from Earth, smack in the middle of the M25 open star cluster.

  The Ogle world was black with millions if not billions of tiny surface lights glowing. It had a yellow sun that was similar in size to that of Earth's own. Hundreds of stations dotted the space surrounding the Ogle planet and hundreds of the large Ogle ships were docked at them. It was a force that could easily destroy any fleet that Earth could muster.

  The five Ogle ships then separated and docked with the nearest station. We slowly drifted aboard and began to poke around. The stations were immense and we could only guess that each contained hundreds of millions of Ogle citizens. Other than the feeding frenzy we had been witness to on our journey, the Ogle seemed to be a much disciplined species. We had yet to see a single argument begin or a single disciplinary action taken. Everyone knew their place and how to do their job.

  As we slowly moved from room to room our helmet computers quickly chimed up a message. They had gathered enough information from our journey to make an informed attempt at understanding the Ogle language. I gave the mental command to start the translations and was soon rewarded with our first interpretation of a conversation between two Ogle.

  An Ogle officer was commanding an underling on any number of tasks to be accomplished during his shift. It was a long list and I had to reason that the Ogle had good memory. The officer spoke the list once and then turned and strode off. The soldier then proceeded to head off to accomplish his first task.

  We continued our spy mission and soon landed in a room full of diplomats. The discussion was about the DaCuban doors and several heated, but respectful discussions ensued. The Ogle scientists were baffled as to why the human captives had not worked to open the doors. It was evident, from the carvings, that we were indeed the species in question.

  One of the scientists then made a statement about how the DNA of the captives had mapped almost exactly to that of the human stolen from the Frekkin. A big red light then began to flash in my head. The captives had somehow been injected with my improved DNA. I reasoned that during our last ten years of captivity, Earth must have conducted an enormous genetic experiment on all humans. They now all had my super-DNA.

  As the discussion continued, the topic turned to the Frekkin. They were an annoyance and a distraction to the Ogle. They needed to be dealt with but the Ogle military had been unable to track down their location, they were constantly on the move. Four probes had come in contact with the massive spinning Frekkin matrix and four times the Frekkin had immediately fled from the area. Thousands of new probes were being dispatched to the far corners of our arm of the Milky Way. The Ogle diplomats demanded satisfaction.

  When the topic reached that of Earth there seemed to be no clear plan of how to proceed. They reasoned that Earth could easily be destroyed, but then questioned if the humans held the secret to the DaCuban doors. I was waiting for an answer when one of the diplomats stood and adjourned the discussion for another day. Without further word the 36 attendees rose and exited from the room.

  It was frustrating, being so close to learning the possible fate of Earth, but the Ogle did not seem pressed for time. We continued to move from room to room until we found a small cubby-hole locker where we could discuss our findings. Hershen was the first to shake his head in discontent. He had no answers.

  With little to speculate upon we turned our efforts back towards our investigation of the Ogle through our drifting. We entered a room in close proximity to the mess-hall that we had seen earlier. The Ogle workers in the room were removing small skinned animals from large drums and tossing them into a meat grinder, the other end of which fed the mess-hall with its conveyer of pink paste.

  We then moved to the next room where hundreds of workers were busy removing what appeared to be fur before a machine then deboned the small animal carcass. The small steak sized slab of meat was then thrown into one of the large drums and wheeled off towards a freezer. When we drifted into the next room we got a view of who the Ogle really were... they were cannibals! It only took seconds to reason that this behavior likely accounted for their madness.

  The room was a birthing room with litter after litter of Ogle being delivered. When each newborn cat emerged it was graded for color. Those that were a complete jet black were placed gently on a cart and wheeled out of the room. The remaining, kittens of various color, were man handled, spun to snap their tender necks and then thrown into a barrel where they would eventually be taken to be skinned and deboned.

  It was an immediate realization by both Hershen and I that the Ogle were a species who could never be reasoned with. They were savages, even if being so in a somewhat orderly civilized fashion. They were mad with contempt for everyone but themselves. I knew the lowly Meche were only a patsy being used for their dirty biding. I had no doubt the Meche would be wiped from the galaxy when the Ogle determined it was time. Hershen and I, now disgusted, made our way back to the cubby-hole locker to ponder our next move. We were a long way from home.

  Chapter 11

  After a lengthy discussion about the Ogle's cannibalistic nature, we returned to our exploration. Our first point of interest was an immense power room. The Ogle power-stream consisted of several levels of both fusion and fission. A small reactor fused Hydrogen into Helium. The Helium was then bound to Beryllium where the two atoms were first split and then again fused into Lithium. Lithium then became the fuel for their main fusion reaction.

  The ship was also lined with many particle accelerator rings. Their power process yielded spare neutrons which were then magnetically bound and injected into the rings. Hershen would later speculate that perhaps their particle weapons had a limited life before their stored supply of neutrons would run out. It was something I would ask our scientists back home about... if we ever made it home.

  We next stumbled upon the ships arsenal. Row after row of blaster weapons were spread out like a sea before us. The blasters were packaged eight to a case. The cases were set next to a system of rails that went out of the walls, ceiling and floor of the large room in nearly every direction. Again our speculation was that if the need arose, the weapons would be sent to all parts of the ship in a matter of seconds. There would be no assault against an unarmed crew unless the weapons room was first put out of commission.

  Our exploration continued as we moved into a long oval shaped room. Once inside, we encountered a new creature. There were hundreds of this new species that resembled a flesh colored blob. The animal was the size of approximately one meter cubed with four beady eyes that surrounded a long snout.

  The Ogle were lined up around each of the creatures, purring and rubbing against them almost continuously. The creatures in turned stroked the cat's backs with their long snout. It was a strange sight which nearly turned deadly for us.

  All at once, every flesh colored snout in the room moved from a cat's back and aimed directly at us, their noses sniffing in the air as if sensing our presence. The cats all turned and looked in our direction, we slowly moved back out of the room. Ev
en if the Ogle themselves were clueless to our presence, their pets, if that is what they were, could pick us out in an instant.

  As we continued to move about, the ship put off the tell-tale shudder of jumping to light speed. We were once again on the move. As luck would have it, our next exploration took us onto the ships bridge.

  The ships bridge was shaped like a long wide tunnel heading from a high point on the center of the ship's outer hull, to a point just before where the massive accelerator rings led into one giant neutron feed at the nose of the ship. As the room progressed forward and downward it was stationed off in tiers with hundreds of Ogle sitting at workstations and screeching commands. Cats leaped from one level to the next in a continuous parade of moving animals.

  As we peered down across the tiers my eyes became fixed on one particular Ogle. It sat, centered in the room, with one of the flesh colored creatures plopped down on either side of it. The cat wore a silver top of sorts that covered only its shoulders. Red tassels hung from either shoulder. I quickly reasoned it to be the ships commander since no other Ogle we had seen had decoration or clothing of any type.

  As we stood staring the two flesh colored creatures again gave up their caressing duties and aimed their snouts up the long expanse of the bridge towards Hershen and I, we beat a hasty retreat. The cubbyhole we had used several times before again became our sanctuary.

  Hershen was first to begin our discussion. The energy packs built into our BGS suits were empty and the spares we carried on our belts were getting dangerously low on Sodium. We had less than two weeks of energy left, and the two week estimate was with little or no activity. Our free explorations had come to an end.

  I used the gyroscopes built into my suit to determine the ships direction. Calculations soon told us that we were heading towards Earth. Our thoughts of discussing the explorations quickly turned to those of defense of home. Could we take down the Ogle ship from within?