by F. E. Arliss
Finally, Jack gasped out, “I’ve got it! This ol’ gal is a dinosaur, just like the three of us,” he gestured at himself and the other two grizzled old mechanics. “On the other hand, she’s small, but by the time we get done dollin’ her up with add-ons, she’s gonna be a real killer. I loved those old vids when I was a kid about the dinosaurs run amok on Earth. The one that got the upgrade and survived was the raptor, Blue. I think we should name ‘er Raptor or Blue.”
“Raptor!” the two other men said in unison.
Violet just rolled her eyes at them, then perked up and said, “Maybe we could get some blue paint or armor for her when we get to Zabados 9! Then she’d be a blue raptor. Perfect!” The three geezers nodded agreement.
They were allotted a landing pad on Zabados 9 three days later. All four of them stared intently at the strange floating outpost. It was run by a species called the Vanguardians, a tall humanoid-looking species with frizzy brownish hair that grew down onto the tops of their backs and pale skin. The station ran like clockwork.
They were met at the pad by an envoy who gave them a long list of rules and helpful hints, advised them to read it in its entirety before leaving the landing bay and chastised them on the poor state of the exterior of their ship. Tsking, he gave them a list of retro-fitters that could help with any upgrades they might need. Turning smartly on his heel, the rest of the group of Vanguardians followed the envoy away without so much as a ‘welcome’ or ‘goodbye’.
“Weeellll, that was a right jovial welcome,” Jack said with a shake of his head. “Let’s go see where we can get a drink, find some food, and wriggle out some information about where we might find what we need.” With that Violet only nodded, lifted a hand in farwell at the three other crew members and headed for a set of hand-pegs that disappeared into the ethers of the station’s repair masts. In seconds she was gone. Jack sighed, then said, “She’ll probably find out more than us in a few minutes than we get after an hour’s worth of drinks and deliberations.”
“Probably!” Bill and Capp, agreed in unison. The men headed for the lift to find a drink. Preferably a darn good one for a change! So far Uzi hadn’t really managed to turn out a decent whiskey. Wine for the upwardly mobile set, sure. Beer for the masses of workers, yes. Whiskey for a connoisseur of fine beverages and excellent conversations, not so much.
Later that evening, the crew of the Raptor met in the tiny beat-up mess back onboard. They all had some interesting tidbits of news. The three geezers had found a source for some of their ‘black market’ goods and Violet had found a salvage yard that had most of what they needed on her list of retrofits. She’d even spied an enormous vat of the new Soclaued armor that was lightweight but practically indestructible. They’d need to ask if it could be tinted blue, she added. The men just stared at her, then slowly nodded, clearly not intent on prioritizing that. She narrowed her eyes on them and set her mouth in a straight line. “Don’t worry girl, we’ll get Raptor all dolled up an’ blue too, if that’s what ya want.”
“I do,” Violet said firmly, then grinned slightly at the old man. “Love you too,” she added, then left laughing, as Jack turned red as a beet and the other two burst into guffaws of mirth.
It took them three weeks to retrofit Raptor with all they could source from the sale of their load of liquified bat shit -- yes really -- that Jack had stored in vats labeled ‘fuel’ in the cargo bay. It was so clever and simple it was genius. Fertilizers were like gold in the dark of space. So it had been a brilliant call to load the guano. They’d gotten an absolute fortune for it. Which was just as well, VIolet thought. The list she’d made of upgrades had been a doozy and the bat shit had afforded them the luxury of all of it, plus some things they hadn’t listed.
Now that Violet knew what their black market load had been and could see what they’d been able to purchase with its sale, she presented a new name for the ship to the geezers. “I think we should name the ship, ‘Bat Out of Hell’,” Violet said breezily. “I think it fits her. Especially since we got her in this great shape by selling bat guano. We’ll call her model a Blue Raptor, but her name will be Bat. When Capp and Ben get the fold-space drive, then it will be even more appropriate. What do you guys think?”
All three old men, nodded. A slow grin spread across Jack’s face. “I love it!” Ben and Capp grinned too.
Bat got Soclaued armor tinted a deep, dark marine blue. She looked fantastic. Ben had gone crazy with parts to make a fold-space drive and was currently tinkering away in the small shuttle bay, laying out the pieces according to the schematics in his brain.
Capp had purchased a series of laser cannons that he had mounted on the top, bottom, forward and aft of Raptor’s frame at the points most reinforced to take the kick of the big guns. He’d mounted great stalactites of charge storage for them on the ceiling of the cargo bay. It was an inventive use of space on the small vessel. Violet had had him drop the frame for the storage units just enough downwards that it formed a shallow running track and workout area in the void.
Violet had spent her time upgrading the interior of the Raptor to include some repairs to the waste-elimination systems, broken head facilities, ripped polyon-upholstery and chipped bunks, tables, and other fittings. She’d also stored as much dried food-synthesizing proteins as possible.
Jack had secreted away several times, once returning with heavy crates of product labeled ‘septic diatomaceous ions’ and another with large cartons stamped ‘mammal fodder’, whatever in the hell that was. Violet doubted that either load was what it was actually labeled.
Their last evening on the outpost, all four headed to dinner at the best restaurant on the station. After fish from a planet called Gateca, whiskey from someplace called Gaiaca and a dessert of black mushroom brownies, all four agreed they’d enjoyed Zabados 9. It had a lot of interesting species, including the very uptight Vanguardians who ran it, They’d met a lot of other interesting species, enjoyed the food, stocked up well on what they’d need for their onward journey to Jun, and even picked up few pointers about the planet that might or might not be true.
In the meantime, they’d head on towards the coordinates for Jun and see what they found on the way. Mostly it looked like uncharted space. Although a few of the old timers at the bar had intimated that there might be several possible species in the ‘void’. One old miner had told them a story about a species that floated in space and looked like an Earth jellyfish known as the Man o’ War. Sounded a little ‘out there’ but who knew? They were open to anything.
Back onboard the newly swanked-out Raptor, Jack grinned at Violet and nodded his head. She slapped the button to start their burn off the Zabados 9 platform and they all settled back to enjoy the ride.
Chapter Eight
UN18G
The small, battered Idolum sloop-ship that brought Ruby from the Temple on Gaiaca to the planet of UN18G hovered in the atmosphere above the barren planet. From space the planet was nothing but a tan ball of nothingness. The High Priestess had told her that it had been devastated and remained mostly barren, so this ugly mud-looking planet was much as she’d expected.
The crew were currently hovering over the coordinates they’d been given and Trupe, the Idolum she’d befriended on her journey from Uzi to Gaiaca, was busy tapping the homing coordinates into Ruby’s landing pod. Trupe had agreed to come on this mission at the persuasion of the High Priestess and had seemed happy to accompany Ruby on the trip. He’d kept her busy during the fold-space flight with stories of Queen Altum Juls and her predecessor, Queen Altum Vis.
Trupe was an excellent storyteller. He regaled her with tales of Idolum generals and their queens, great battles and their outcomes. And frankly, thousands of millennia of history in just a few weeks. Ruby liked stories. In them she met other species, learned about their mannerisms and cataloged those. She retained stories. By the time they got to UN18G, she felt like she had a fairly good basic understanding of the Idolum species and the other races they’d
met through the millenia.
Not much was known about the Osmir, but she wasn’t going down to the surface of UN18G to meet the Osmir. She was going down to try to find the Temple of the Mother, long lost in the mists of war, devastation and time. Ruby knew how they must have felt. The mass poisoning and nuclear war that raged on Earth had killed her home. It was now,too, lost in the mists of time, uninhabitable and dying. The grief was tremendous.
Trupe had carefully packed everything he thought she might need to find the temple. Provisions lined the interior of the pod and Ruby almost had to laugh. She was going to look like a sardine in there. On the other hand, she appreciated Trupe’s diligence in providing for her. The brown mud-ball below did not look inviting.
Carefully crawling into the pod to place herself into the sculpted foam insert that outlined her body, Ruby tried not to crush anything along the sides. They’d made the foam insert almost a week ago and making it had actually been pretty fun. Trupe had sprayed an enormous flat pancake of the stuff, then after timing it to harden only to a certain degree, he’d picked her up under the shoulders and upper thighs and laid her gently on the semi-solid surface of the quivering mass.
Ruby had marveled at how easily he’d taken her weight, as if she was nothing more than a feather. His gentleness had been another surprise. Once she was laying on the quivering bed of foam, she began to laugh and almost couldn’t stop. It felt like some sort of ride at an amusement park. Trupe had to be fairly stern with her to get her to stop giggling long enough to insert the small breather and allow him to spray the rest of the jello-like foam over her inert body.
The most difficult part was getting her out of the form. During extraction she’d gotten a bit claustrophobic and when Trupe finally cut the top part of the giant mold away from her body, she’d practically leapt into his arms. Frankly, she wasn’t crazy about getting back into the thing, glass-topped pod or not.
“Remember, the pod has plenty of oxygen and you have plenty of room to move. This is not the foam mold we made several weeks ago. This is a nanite-infused replica that can shrink and expand on your demand. It will free you. All you have to do is ask,” Trupe reminded her for the third time. He did it any time he saw that look of trepidation flit across her face.
Ruby thought how quickly he’d learned her moods. It was weird having someone be as aware of her feelings as Daniel had been. She often had to turn away from Trupe in order to regain her composure if she was feeling things she didn’t want him to comprehend. It all seemed a little invasive somehow, though she was aware it was not his intent to make her uncomfortable.
It was time. Trupe gently lowered the upper mold over her recumbent figure and tapped the quivering mass together, urging the nanites to bond and encase her. As they did, Ruby calmed herself with breathing exercises and focused on controlling the nanites. Urging them to give her more space, she was surprised when the clinging substance withdrew to several inches from her body. Grinning ecstatically at Trupe, she said, “Oh thank Mother! They stopped gripping me!”
“Told you,” Trupe said smugly, his whirring Idolum speech making the statement sound even more snotty. “Though the closer around you the mold is, the safer you are from damage.”
“If my arms where free, I’d smack you for that tone,” Ruby threatened him with a snarky face and thrust out tongue.
“You have very bad manners,” Trupe returned, baring his many jagged teeth in a parody of a grin.
“Seriously? That’s your smile? You look like you’re going to chew nails,” Ruby returned pithily, then said, “I’m just joking, you know? ‘Cause I’m scared a bit.”
“I know. I am aware that humans have a strange sense of humor and that you rely on me to understand you. I am fine with that,” Trupe added solemnly. “I am at your disposal, my princess.”
“I’m not a princess,” Ruby protested, glaring at him with disdain.
“Oh, but you are a princess. Just not in the way it means to your people. My understanding of your people is that ‘princess’ means spoiled, demanding, and selfish. I mean ‘princess’ in the way it has always been...one of impeccable behavior and worthy of respect,” Trupe said, holding her gaze earnestly.
“Well, I don’t know about the impeccable behavior part,” Ruby argued, more subdued now. “But thank you for the respect. You have mine as well.”
Trupe only nodded, then proceeded to finish strapping the pod for its final jettison. “Do you feel comfortable enough?” he asked. “Do you remember your instructions?”
“Yes. And yes,” Ruby replied, though her voice quavered a bit. “I’m a little worried and scared, but I’m good to go. Slap that firing pad, man! And get me on my way before I change my mind,” she demanded querulously.
Trupe simply grinned at her and said, “See you in a few, Princess,” then slapped the eject button just as she’d demanded. Ruby’s eyes widened in surprise and then she was gone. Trupe grinned, then sobered. He hoped everything would go well. He’d become attached to the earnest little human.
Chapter Nine
Unity
Ruby spit jelly-like nanite-foam from her mouth. Damn! That crap tastes awful, she thought to herself. Plus, she was pretty sure it wasn’t supposed to disintegrate like that. Yuck! Commanding the nanites to withdraw from her form, she began groping for the pod’s sensor readouts. Everything looked safe, as all the ‘go’ buttons blinked green at her from the console. Searching for the opening tab, then finding it, she pushed it hard and was surprised when the canopy Trupe had secured aboard the Idolum sloop, sprang open like the lid of an old jack-in-the box toy from Earth.
Pushing more of the heavy jelly off her form, she looked around, making sure to keep the breather in her mouth at all times. A swirl of gritty dust slapped the side of her face. Thank Mother that Trupe had forced her to wear the goggles she’d protested, and the nanite body-armour he’d had custom-fitted to her. She’d thought he was going overboard a bit, but now she could see the wisdom of the whole get-up. It felt like that sandy-dirt could scrub the skin right off her body if she was exposed to it too long.
Quickly she pulled the thin, skin-like hood up over her head and fastened the grippers around the goggles she already wore. The nanite armor shrank instantly to fit. The roar of the wind died down in her ears. Yep! That Trupe was worth his weight in gold. Did gold even matter anymore? She’d have to ask.
Another strange thought dawned in her head. She’d only really been a vestige of her former-self with Trupe. She’d felt safe to tease him, sass him and generally abuse him with back-talk. The rest of the time she was just so sad she didn’t talk to anyone much at all. That was strange. Why did she trust him? It was a question to contemplate later. Now she needed to consult the tablet on her wrist, load her pack onto her back, and try to find this temple.
Clambering from the slightly tilted pod, Ruby took stock of her surroundings. The pod had landed gently on the plateau the High Priestess had pinpointed from the archives as the location of the temple. So far, all Ruby could see was swirling dust and barren brown dirt. She needed to find high ground and get a look around. That had been Trupe’s advice and she was taking it.
Finding the highest mound of rocks on the plateau, Ruby headed towards it. The suit cut down on the discomfort of the atmosphere quite a bit, but the wind still pushed and pulled at her as she made her way slowly up the rocks towards her targeted lookout point.
Ruby had always hated wind. It was like fighting with an unseen assailant. The ground beneath her feet felt hard and ungiving and the rocks seemed sharp and unfriendly, gouging her at the most odd times. They really seemed to not want intruders on their surfaces. ‘Stop!’ Ruby chided herself. She was giving them characteristics that they did not have.
Even as she impressed the thought onto her mind, she felt the rocks change almost imperceptibly. The hard points seemed to vanish and easier step-holds seemed to appear. Now that was more like it, Ruby grinned. She just needed to keep positive!
> Finally, pulling herself up the last bit to the top of the plateau, Ruby stopped to gasp a few deep breaths. Then, pulling the breather aside a fraction of an inch, she stuffed the end of her hydration tube into her mouth and drew a large, refreshing swallow of water.
As she savored the liquid in her parched throat, her eyes roamed over the landscape in each direction. Wishing the wind would die down, Ruby turned once more in the direction of her pod. As she did so, a break in the mass of air-borne dust disintegrated before her eyes and the pod came into view. From up here it looked so tiny. She could hardly believe it had gotten here in one piece.
Busy marveling over that fact, it took Ruby several seconds to realize that the wind had indeed died completely. The horizon took on a crystal clarity that had Ruby gaping like a dying fish. In the distance, a slight haze of green appeared to be plant-life. Beyond that, a jagged mountain of rocky protrusions rose to disappear into the clouds.
It was the temple! Excitement filled her soul with purpose and she set off for the jagged peak in the distance with a spring in her step. Twelve hours later, the mountain seemed to have not moved an inch closer to her. Sinking to the ground, she pulled a silk-thin, nanite-regulated bivy-sack over her body, pushed the automated self-protection system button that Trupe had shown her, and sank onto a patch of rock-free ground. In seconds she was fast asleep.
