“Alright.” Nori got out of her harness. “Who’s up for meeting our new neighbors?”
7 - The Space Station
The shuttle’s door opened, revealing the four crew members huddled together.
They disembarked, glancing nervously around them.
Nori’s jaw was clenched as she took in the dark emptiness, and her fingers itched for her missing Disruptor.
“Phew, it sure is hot in here,” Lana said lightly, breaking the tension.
Bulco frowned. “You’re right. Must be at least thirty degrees Celsius in here. That's about ninety for you non-technical types.”
“So, hot and dark. We’re off to a great start!” Lana joked, her voice quivering slightly.
Nori looked at the overly cheerful woman. “You can stay in the shuttle, Lana. It might be safer. You too, Nathan.”
“No,” the shorter woman replied with a surprising amount of heat. “We’ve made it this far, and I’m not staying behind.”
“Then let’s go. Everyone be careful please.”
They stepped away from the shuttle. Their craft’s light extended only several meters before it was swallowed by the oppressive darkness.
Nori moved ahead of the group. “Hello? Anyone here? We got your message.”
There was only silence and darkness.
The four companions exchanged nervous glances. Then, an ominous sound filled the dark void. It was a clicking, fluttering, utterly alien sound.
Lana grabbed Bulco’s hand as her heart beat frantically. The Engineer looked down to the woman at his side but said nothing.
Nori could feel her own heart pounding rapidly, but she stood her ground and called out again. “We’re humans from Earth. We got your message and would like to … err … trade.”
The clicking sound grew nearer and out of the darkness stepped a huge figure. It was over two meters tall and as wide as Bulco. Metal plates and delicate looking contraptions were strapped all over its body. Its head emerged from the shadows last.
Lana screamed.
The creature’s head was a horrid skeletal mask, with long oily braids descending behind him.
Its mouth had two opposing jaws, and when opened, as it was now, it spanned over half its face. It looked down at them, then its jaws extended, releasing the ominous rattling sound, much louder than before.
“It’s going to attack!” Bulco pushed Nori’s aside and charged at the creature.
“No, wait!” Nori yelled, but she was too late.
Bulco had already committed. He drew back his arm holding The Puncher, ready to put his full momentum into the attack.
However, things didn’t happen as he expected.
Before he could make contact, the creature's hand snapped forward, and with its much longer reach, it grabbed the man by his throat. Without a discernible effort, the tall alien lifted the level four Engineer and slammed his back against the shuttle hull.
Nori yelled and charged at the creature from the back. She pivoted on one leg, putting the entire force of her body’s spin into the kick that caught the monster on its back.
A second hand whipped back, found the woman’s throat, and slammed her against the shuttle as well next to Bulco. The two strained against the creature’s hold, but even with their combined strength, they couldn’t make the arms budge. It was like his limbs were made of pure steel.
The creature leaned forward until its face was centimeters from the large man. Bulco looked back at him defiantly, though his face turned ashen. The creature then turned its attention to Nori, its small, beady eyes scrutinized her flushed face, and it leaned in even closer. Its jaws opened, nearly touching the woman’s face.
Nori head-butted it.
The creature’s head snapped back, though its hold on the humans didn’t loosen. It blinked several times, then the clicking sounds came out again, longer and louder than before.
A metal plate on its arm opened and a flexible tube with a thick needle at the end came out of it, moving as it had a life of its own.
“No!” Nori managed to cry chokingly as she doubled her efforts to escape. Her eyes looked everywhere for help and found Lana’s. The younger woman and Nathan cowered fearfully, holding each other. When Nori’s eyes found hers, Lana felt a sudden surge of courage she didn’t know she possessed. She couldn’t just stand there and let her friend get butchered while she did nothing. She looked around and found a metal rod lying on the floor. She grabbed it with both hands and threw it as hard as she could.
The needle-headed snake had nearly reached Nori’s throat when the bar hit the alien’s on its head. It bounced off harmlessly, not hindering it the slightest.
The needle plunged into the woman’s throat.
After several seconds, it withdrew with an audible suction sound. Nori’s struggling ceased immediately, and her body became limp.
Bulco thrashed wildly and somehow managed to slightly push the hand that held him and yelled: “You’ll pay for this, you bastard.”
The creature let go of the limp woman’s body and grabbed the man with both arms. The metallic tube came out again and plunged into the man’s thick neck without hesitation.
Bulco’s thrashing weakened, and he too was released to slide limply to the floor.
The creature whirled around to face the two remaining humans. Lana and Nathan looked fearfully at each other and stepped away, but the creature seemed content to stand its ground.
Lana’s voice quivered as she looked at it. “We came in peace after receiving your message, but it was just a lure to get us here, wasn’t it?”
The creature just stood there, eyeing her up and down with obvious interest.
The dark-haired woman gulped and gathered her courage. “Well, it’s not going to work. You might be stronger than us and have all this alien technology to support you, but we’re humans. You don’t mess with us and get away with it.”
The creature took a threatening step forward and his two jaws opened, emitting the ominous death-rattle sound.
Lana paled but stood her ground. She held up her hand and the creature stopped to look at it. “I’m not finished yet. As I’ve said, we might be weaker than you, but we have something that you don’t.”
The creature looked at her expectantly.
Lana smiled at him. “The numbers to create a distraction.”
The creature whirled back on its feet, just in time to meet Bulco’s fist. The Puncher discharged and hit the alien’s chest with enough force to punch through a brick wall. The monster was hurled off its feet and his huge bulk was thrown five meters away, skidding on the floor.
Bulco grabbed the metal bar Lana threw earlier. “Nice one, girl. Come on, we have to take it out while it’s down.” He took a step toward the creature that seemed to be dazed. More clicking sounds came out of it.
“Stop!” A voice came from behind him, and the Engineer froze with his makeshift weapon hovering above the creature’s head.
Nori came slowly back to her feet. “Don’t attack it. We’ve made a mistake.”
She staggered toward the now alert creature and knelt beside it. “We are truly sorry, Mr. Alzigo. It was a huge misunderstanding. Will you accept my apology?”
Lana’s eyes widened as she heard the woman call the creature by its name. She narrowed her eyes as she focused on him.
Alzigo, Exhar, level 8
The creature’s jaws opened and more clicking came out. Lana could have sworn they sounded complaintive.
Nori nodded. “I know, it’s our fault. We’ve never met an alien … I mean we never met someone outside of our own species before. We are truly sorry. How can we compensate you?”
The clicking continued and Bulco took a step back. “Holy hell. It talks!”
Lana and Nathan exchanged glances. “You can understand what it’s saying?”
Nori nodded. “The thing he injected us with somehow made us able to understand him.” She stopped and listened to the next bout of chittering. “He’s of
fering to inject you and Nathan as well so we can all communicate. I think you should do it.
Lana blanched, and Nathan paled visibly. “You … you mean with that ... that … snaking needle thing?”
“Yes, but now that I think of it, it didn’t hurt a bit.”
“She’s right.” Bulco nodded. “Didn’t feel a thing.”
The creature, Alzigo, rose to his feet and looked at the two students expectantly.
Lana swallowed hard. “Alright, just … just be gentle, please.” She felt a little ridiculous telling a huge, nightmarish-looking alien to be gentle with her, but she couldn’t help it.
To her surprise, the creature nodded and approached her slowly. He reached a hand toward her neck and the tube extended out of it. Lana gritted her teeth, expecting pain, but to her surprise, all she felt was a slight pressure against her skin.
Suddenly she felt woozy and her vision swam. She dropped heavily to the floor and struggled to maintain consciousness as unknown signs and symbols sped across her view.
She was vaguely aware of Nathan dropping to the floor next to her.
After several moments, the dizziness passed, and Lana had to squint to reorient herself.
Nori offered her hand, helping her up. “That was interesting,” she said. “I took a close look at the process. As soon as his needle reached your neck, a small hole opened on its own and the needle just slid inside.
Lana felt a shiver run through her. “My neck did what?”
More clicking sounds followed, and to Lana’s surprise, she could clearly make out the creature’s intended words.
“That is a standard connection port, Miss. Every Infused race has them, though not everyone has them on their neck. My brother once told me of a race of sentient blobs. He had quite an experience trying to find their ports. Though, my brother does tend to over-dramatize his stories.”
Lana blinked in astonishment. The creature’s urbane speech was so different from its feral appearance, it was distracting. “I’m ... err … I’m sure it was … err… interesting,” she said awkwardly. “So … you injected us with something that translates your language?”
He nodded. “A basic language pack. Not as efficient as a full translation implant, but it will do for now.”
She frowned. “Wait, then how come your message was in English?”
“It wasn’t. Every ship’s standard communication module is capable of multi-language translation.”
“Handy.”
He nodded. “Quite.”
“Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and this place?” Nori said. “As I already said, it's our first time meeting an alien.”
“Of course,” he replied. “However, the shuttle bay is hardly the place to conduct a proper introduction. Follow me, I’ll show you to the main deck.” He took a step toward the darkness.
Nori hesitated and exchanged a look with Bulco. The large man pressed his lips tightly, and his eyes narrowed in suspicion, trying to penetrate the oppressive darkness.
Lana took over. “That’s very hospitable of you,” she said, getting a bit of her cheer back into her voice. “But my friends and I can’t see very well in darkness, can I bother you for a little bit of light?”
Bulco wiped the sweat from his neck. “And a little less heat,” he grumbled.
Alzigo smacked his head in a very human-like manner. “Of course, forgive me. I’ve been alone on the station for so long, I forgot others might have a problem adjusting to my people’s natural climate.” He raised his right hand and a small light console appeared above a metal plate. His long fingers tapped a few keys and bright lights turned on all around them. Lana felt a touch of gentle refreshing wind that made the oppressive heat more bearable.
“There,” the alien said. “Better?”
“Much.” Lana smiled at him.
Alzigo led them through the large docking chamber. It opened into a wide corridor that extended to the sides.
“This is the main docking tube,” he said proudly. “It can easily accommodate up to fifty freighter-sized ships, and the dock at the end can even accommodate full-sized cruisers.”
“So it is a space station?” Lana asked.
“Of course, I already told you that when I welcomed you aboard, just before you attacked me. Ah … I guess you didn’t understand me back then, did you?”
“Err … sorry about that.” Nori shifted uncomfortably.
“No need to apologize, again; no harm was done.” The large alien waved his hands placidly. “Yes, this is my space station. It took me quite a few years to accumulate the capital and investors required to purchase it. My brother has a bigger one and his supports a very successful mining colony. He's the pride of my family, really. But I’ll show them who’s the more accomplished sibling. As the first station on a newly Infused planet, I’m bound to make a fortune.”
Lana looked down to hide her smirk. The horrifying-looking alien was turning out to be a bit of a chatterbox.
“Here we are,” he announced.
They had reached a massive door at the end of the tube that was as wide as the corridor. Alzigo waved his hand. The door split into four parts that withdrew into walls, revealing a huge open space beyond them.
The station’s main deck was one giant sphere, easily half a kilometer in diameter. The space was divided into levels by round walkways and promenades, surrounding a hollow center.
“I’m planning on shops, hotels, and other services to fill up this space.” Alzigo gestured around them. “But for now, there’s only my residence and shop. Follow me, I’ll show you around.”
“Wait, are you the only person living here?” Nori frowned. “How is this possible? Don’t you need a crew to run the place, make sure everything keeps working?”
“You are correct, Miss. A station this size usually requires several dozen maintenance personnel, but in my haste to be the first to make it here, I had to compromise. Ah, here we are.”
They reached a building complex on the other side of the empty promenade. It was a single metal block, about ten meters across, reaching twenty meters high, all the way to the platform above. The tall alien opened the door and showed them inside. A pile of junk littered the room, reaching up to their shoulders. Alzigo paid no attention and stepped on the bits of metal, cords, and other alien-looking junk. At the middle of the pile was a shallow crater, lined with what looked like aluminum foil. Alzigo stepped into the crater and sat down, lying against the elevated ground. “Please, join me.”
The four companions exchanged bewildered looks. Nori descended to the alien nest and tested the aluminum layer. She sat down and looked up at her friends with surprise. “It’s soft!”
“Of course it is,” Alzigo said, his jaws parting slightly. “As do most enlightened species, the Exhar enjoy life’s comforts.”
The others entered the crater and sat down, leaning against the sides. Lana bounced her hand on the silvery substance, finding it both supple and springy.
“So, now that we are all comfortable, I would like to once again welcome you to my space station,” Alzigo said. He seemed very relaxed sitting down. One of his jaws hung loosely open. “I wonder if you’d be willing to answer something that has me quite perplexed?”
Lana looked around at her companions. “Of course, we’ll tell you what we can.”
“That is good. I’ve been orbiting and observing your planet for the past 150 of your solar days, and during that time I detected no signs of communication of any kind. Your entire planet seems dark and unresponsive. I’ve broadcasted my welcome message since coming here, but so far you are the first Sollings to come and visit. Why is that?”
Lana frowned. “Sollings?”
“Your star system is listed as the Sol system, so that would make you Sollings, would it not?”
“Oh. No, we’re humans. Our planet is called Earth. Sol is the name of our system’s star.”
“Ah, I should make a note to update my message then, thank you for l
etting me know. So can you please enlighten me as to the reason why no one else has come or responded to my communications?”
“Well …” Lana looked questionably at Nori. The woman nodded, motioning her to proceed. “Everyone is mostly struggling to survive. Our technology has stopped working, so we can’t communicate with each other, much less with a space station. And even if we could, we don’t have the means to reach this high in the atmosphere.”
“What?” The alien sat up abruptly, startling them. Bulco eyed him cautiously, his Puncher at the ready.
“I was told your race has space flight capability!” the alien exclaimed. “And what is this nonsense about surviving? Your technology should have gone through the transition period to becoming Tec-based. Why would you say such things? Is this some sort of weird, human sense of humor?”
Nori stood up and stared unflinchingly at the riled-up giant. “She is telling the truth. Our race is capable of space flight, yes, but it was pretty much the pinnacle of our technology. This is not something the average person can achieve on his own. We’ve only sent a few manned vessels to the nearby planets.” She paused and eyed their bewildered host as he digested the information. Nori continued. “She was also not lying about our struggle to survive. Whatever happened to us, this infusion thing, it caused a lot of people and animals to mutate into horrible monsters that are called Warped. They kill indiscriminately and until now, we had no way of fighting back. Our civilization as a whole is ruined, our governments crumbled, and those of us who survived managed that by hiding in fortified shelters. It is a hard existence for us down there, so I’m sorry if it’s not the lucrative business opportunity that you had envisioned.”
The tall alien stared back at her for a few moments, then slowly dropped back to a sitting position. “Please forgive my outburst, Miss,” he said in a much more subdued voice. “I have invested every piTec I had saved, collected every favor I was owed, just so I could be the first to reach your planet. But this is no excuse. What you say is most peculiar.” He shook his head and rubbed his boney forehead. “Newly Infused worlds usually go through a natural, gradual transition period. The population is slowly acclimated to Tec and learns how to adjust their technology accordingly. Warped are sadly unavoidable, but the process is slow enough to counter it and in those rare occasions when a Warped is created, the inhabitants’ technology has advanced enough to take them down before they feed and evolve too much. I have heard tales of planets who, like yours, were Infused abruptly, and the horror it caused. But like everyone else, I thought it was just rumors and stories. I am truly sorry. This was probably a most horrifying ordeal. You have my deepest sympathy.”
Earth Force (Relict Legacy Book 1) Page 9
