Ardulum

by J. S. Fields

  Xouy stared expectantly. The third nodded and spoke loudly in an effort to be heard over the increasingly powerful klaxon. “The Mmnnuggl pod informs us that we will not be permitted to leave the engagement zone. We are warned that attempts at further movement will be met with force.”

  “Right.” Sald clasped hir hands behind hir back. “Guess we watch from here. Third, stop the cutter.” The third entered a swift command into the computer, and the stars in the viewscreen solidified. The battle unfolded in front of them—a mass of weaving ships and biometal flotsam. The Alliance ships spun through the mess of civilian ships and wreckage, trying to reach the Risalians.

  Three hard blasts rocked the cutter in quick succession. “I thought we stopped!” Raek called, fanning smoke from hir face. Xouy and Raek gripped the edge of the wall for support as they both tried to regain balance, the ship now listing decidedly starboard.

  “Crossfire,” another third called out above the din as xe scrambled back into the chair. “One of our skiffs decided to use us for cover. The shots came from one of the Mmnnuggl ships that tracked the skiff.”

  “We’ll be blown to pieces if we just sit here,” Sandid yelled, choking on the smoke. “Our starboard stabilizer is shot. I say we do something, one way or another.”

  “Agreed,” Xouy responded. Behind the Markin, the viewscreen lit up brightly as another Risalian cutter burst apart. “The captains know we’re here, and they know not to give any special consideration to our ship. I don’t think we’d be putting any lives in danger except our own if we engage a Mmnnuggl pod.”

  “We don’t have any weapons, Xouy.” Raek gestured around the bridge. “We’ve got communications, navigation, and a third who speaks Mmnnuggl. Unless you want to do a suicide ramming mission, this ship is useless.”

  Xouy nodded. “We can shield, just like those unarmed ships. We came out here to show solidarity with the Charted Systems inhabitants. I say we follow their lead.”

  Sald nodded in agreement. After a moment of hesitation, Raek and Sandid did the same.

  Xouy smiled. “All right then. Third, take us back into battle. Pick one of our cutters and stay between it and an attacker.”

  The third altered course. The Promise made a tight turn, the force of the movement compounded by the loss of the starboard stabilizer. When the main battlefront was again visible on the viewscreen, Xouy paused, hir plan momentarily forgotten.

  The Risalians were no longer outnumbered. Chartered Systems ships of every type and design littered the immediate space. More poured in through the Callis Wormhole by the second. The space was no longer filled with streaking lines of laser fire. Instead, Mmnnuggl forces flew by, fast and agile, trying to skim between the shielding ships to get a clear shot. With every group of ships that came through the wormhole, the task became more difficult. Systems ships began surrounding the Risalian cutters, creating massive biometal barriers.

  “Which cutter would you like me to block, Markin?” the communications third asked. “None are without at least two shield ships.”

  None of the markin responded. All four stared dumbfounded out the viewscreen. Xouy couldn’t believe what xe was seeing and shook hir head, almost expecting hir vision to clear and the real battlefront to materialize.

  “I didn’t expect this level of response,” xe said slowly, the words dropping from hir mouth.

  “It looks like every ship in the Systems is out there,” Sandid added. “I estimate at least a thousand on the viewscreen alone.”

  “Your orders, Markin?” the third called again.

  Xouy looked to Sald. “Yes, what are we going to do? Have we won?”

  “I don’t know,” Sald responded. “For now, just hold position. If you’re correct and the Mmnnuggl forces are only after the Ardulans, then we’re about to see how badly they want them.”

  Chapter 27: Mmnnuggl Flagship

  If light poured in through this tunnel

  I would look up and know it was you

  Like running water through a swinging gate

  Sweeping through my conscious mind

  Refreshing, refreshing my perceptions

  Honing my rationale

  Forcing an evolution of my senses

  Until all I see is Truth

  —Excerpt from Atalant’s Awakening, published in the Charted Systems, 235 AA

  “We look like two bipeds carrying a suspicious bundle of cloth the size of a chrysalis instead of two bipeds just carrying a chrysalis,” Nicholas whispered as they eased their way down the corridor. The form in the chrysalis kept shifting, and the repeated need to rearrange the tunics slowed their progress.

  “This was your idea, Nicholas. Little late to change your mind.”

  Nicholas scowled. “Hey! Being handsy bipeds is at least a semiplausible excuse for hauling something this size through a hallway.”

  Neek sniffed as they passed a transparent section of outer wall. The massing ships could be seen clearly, but the faint weave of the cellulose in the panel distorted their appearance. What was missing, however, was the streaking light of laser fire. Ships still moved, but the formation didn’t make sense. Why were the civilian ships in the engagement zone? Why wasn’t anyone firing?

  Neek stopped their progression and set down her end of the chrysalis. Something was wrong, but she couldn’t quite place what it was. “Nicholas,” she said, gesturing to the window. “Come have a look at this.”

  Nicholas gently placed his end on the floor and moved to the clear panel. “We’re moving. We’ve been moving. What’s up?”

  “It’s different this time,” Neek responded. “The ship types are different now, although if that’s because there are more Systems civilian ships or because of where we are on the battlefront, I can’t tell.”

  Nicholas turned from the window and shrugged his shoulders. The movement was tight, almost brittle, and Neek immediately regretted bringing this to the youth’s attention. How much more Nicholas could take without breaking, she wasn’t sure.

  Neek wanted to mitigate her previous words, but was out of practice. Instead, she decided to plow through with the truth. She could get him a therapist later, if they lived. “If we are headed somewhere like the front lines, getting out of this mess without being shot at will be even harder, especially if the civilian ships are cluttering up the space.” She bent back down and picked up her end of the chrysalis. “We don’t have much time. Let’s move.”

  Nicholas nodded silently and picked his end back up. They continued down the empty corridor, hunched over. The rough flooring tore at Neek’s feet. Emn’s chrysalis was heavy, and the stooping put even more strain on Neek’s back. She shifted it slightly in her arms, trying to get a better hold.

  “Docking area is to the left,” Nicholas whispered as they reached a rounded T-junction that shimmered, floor to ceiling, with the black interface paneling. Neek nodded and turned. The two jogged as best they could to the next fork, where Nicholas again motioned that they should turn left.

  The next bend brought them to a more populated area of the ship. The corridor had a long black interface on the right side where twelve spheres were currently attached and lightly bobbing. That left precious little space for them to pass without brushing the wall on the opposite side, which was lit up with little red dots. Neek slowed to a walk and eyed the Mmnnuggls carefully.

  “What do you want to do?” Nicholas whispered under his breath.

  “Just keep walking and try to keep away from the wall and the Mmnnuggls,” she responded. “Maybe they don’t see like we do. If they’re linked up to the ship, it’s possible they’re not even paying attention. If anyone says anything, we’re just on our way to the ship. Decided to hold our clothes instead of wearing them. Since they don’t use textiles, anything we do with garments will be strange. Let’s bank on being too foreign to bother with.”

  Halfway through the corridor, Neek had to shift Emn’s weight again. As she slid her left arm towards the middle of the chrysalis, one
of the tunics unwrapped and fell onto the floor. Green light reflected off the silver casing right onto one of the Mmnnuggls. Before Nicholas could rewrap the chrysalis, the sphere rotated towards them and pulled away from the interface. Its top ear cuff curled, folding the ear effectively in half.

  Neek didn’t waste any time. She set her half of the chrysalis down, tugged the knife from her hair, and plunged the curved metal tip into the mouth opening. The Mmnnuggl screeched and tried to pull back, but caught on the tip of the blade. Neek brought her arm down quickly, keeping a tight hold on the handle. The momentum drove the Mmnnuggl down into the floor, where it split in two, leaking a purple, viscous fluid onto the jagged floor.

  None of the remaining spheres took any notice.

  Neek wiped her blade on her tunic and then picked up her end of the chrysalis, knife still clutched firmly in her hand.

  “Effective,” Nicholas whispered. “Also gross. I thought you wanted to talk your way out of this, not kill beach balls?”

  “If you have any complaints, you can deal with the next one.” Neek’s left hand slid to the top of the chrysalis, and she had to catch it with her hip to keep from dropping it. “Damn it, I can’t keep a solid grip.”

  “That would be because you are covered in Nugel goo.”

  Neek glared. “No,” she shot back, “it’s because the surface is changing again. Don’t you feel how smooth it is?”

  Nicholas pointed to a small pile of white flakes near where the tunic had fallen. “There’s also those. We’re running out of time.”

  Neek cursed, the thumping in her chest an unwelcome addition to her thinned stuk. Time. They were always short on time. The two resumed their jog, and Neek tried desperately to remember her assigned reading on Ardulan metamorphosis. What was the time frame after the scaling? An hour? A day? She fervently hoped it was longer than ten minutes.

  “We’re almost there,” Nicholas huffed when they reached the next junction. “Should be behind those doors up ahead.”

  They approached the round hatch slowly. When they were within an arm span, the door rolled to one side, allowing them access to a docking bay with a mercifully high ceiling. Neek entered first, backing in and trying to minimize the squelching sound her wet feet made on the floor. The small transport pod Llgg had mentioned stood in the center of the small hangar, the boarding ramp lowered. No other ships were in the bay, but pieces of biometal were strewn about the floor, in various stages of decay. A long window stretched across the back of the bay, giving an excellent view of the ships outside. Two Mmnnuggls hovered on an interface just beside the ship and paid neither her nor Nicholas any attention.

  It looked too convenient, but Neek wasn’t going to question it. She stood back up to her full height and nodded towards the ship. “Let’s try walking again,” she whispered. “Nice and slow. Nothing suspicious. Avoid the debris. Board the ship, hide the chrysalis, pull the ramp, engage the engines. Then we can blast the hangar door open and get out of here.”

  Nicholas reached around the chrysalis and grabbed Neek’s right arm, halting her movement. “Neek,” he breathed, “take a look out the window. We’re right in between both sides now.”

  Neek studied the layout. There were more and more Charted Systems crafts as they rotated. A breath later, all she could see were Systems ships, the last Mmnnuggl pod falling off the edge of the screen. If only Systems ships were in view, that meant the Mmnnuggl ships were behind them. That meant… Realization hit. They were leading the attack. Every Risalian would be aiming for this pod. This would be their primary target.

  “Run!” Neek pushed the tunics from the chrysalis to Nicholas, transferred the chrysalis to her arms, and nudged Nicholas forward. She followed Nicholas’s sprint as fast as she could, kicking the debris out of her path. She felt the surface of the chrysalis sloughing in thin sheets as she ran. They couldn’t afford to be cautious anymore.

  As she took the first steps up the boarding ramp, the Llttrin shuddered. The movement was enough to send Neek off-balance. The pilot wobbled on the ramp and lost her footing, sending both herself and the chrysalis crashing to the floor. None of the Mmnnuggls turned to investigate, instead remaining locked to their interfaces.

  The Llttrin shuddered again. Nicholas reached Neek and offered her a hand up, which she took. Another shudder and Emn’s chrysalis rolled back behind the boarding ramp. Hands inadvertently free, Neek tossed her tunic back over her head, securing the knife in a side fold, and glanced out the window. Laser fire had resumed, but it was no longer discriminate. Charted Systems civilian ships began exploding at an alarming rate, bursting into rainbow hues before Neek’s eyes.

  “We missed our window,” she whispered.

  “Jesus, they’re firing on civilians!” Nicholas put his hands on either side of his head. “That’s just not…our ships don’t have any weapons! The Systems civilian ships don’t have any chance of surviving. Neek, we have to do something.”

  Neek shook her head. What could they do other than protect their own lives? At least the Mmnnuggls were too busy coordinating attacks to pay any attention to them. She reached over to wrap an arm around Nicholas, hesitated, and then brought her arm back in. She watched three Terran shuttles disintegrate as a pod cut through them with laser fire. A Minoran galactic liner split in two, each half taking out six nearby Risalian skiffs in its wake. An Oorin mining frigate took three shots from a pod and began to list, inertia pushing it from the engagement zone. A formation of small, unidentified ships followed, peppering it with laser fire until it broke apart.

  For a moment, she imagined herself out there, in a settee, weaving in and out of the fray, exploding Mmnnuggl ships. It was a ridiculous notion, because settees didn’t have weapons, but at least she could fly one. Even if they got onto the gifted Mmnnuggl pod in front of them, what guarantee was there that she could fly it? For that matter, what guarantee was there that it had weapons either?

  “Nicholas,” Neek began. She understood all too well the desire to act. “We’ll never make it through that much fire, especially in a ship I’ve never flown before.”

  “I’d rather be blown up than drugged and hauled to another system,” Nicholas hissed. “I’m sure Emn would feel the same way. Let’s take our chances. You’re supposed to be the reckless one, remember?”

  “You don’t understand the first thing about what is going on out there, do you?” Neek glared at the youth, stuk streaming from her fingers. “I’m not taking Emn on a suicide run. We will die if we leave this ship now, and Emn is in no place to cellulose us back into existence.” She gestured around the bay. “This space is defensible. There might be another break in fire we can take advantage of. We need to be patient. For the time being, we are trapped.”

  Without waiting for a response, Neek turned back to the window. Nicholas moved to her side and stared as well. Laser fire filled the darkness of space, illuminating the void in the brilliant flashes. Four Alusian luxury liners broke apart when a small Mmnnuggl pod rolled across their surfaces, depositing bombs in its wake. With their minimal shielding, they disintegrated immediately. A formation of Terran shuttles scattered as two large Mmnnuggl pods corralled them on either end. Two additional ships that Neek didn’t recognize caught the shuttles as they fled, destroying each in turn.

  “This is a nightmare,” Neek whispered.

  “It’s a slaughter,” Nicholas said simply, his voice flat.

  “It is the only way to end the threat,” another voice said behind them.

  Nicholas and Neek swung around to find the two Mmnnuggls from the interface only a couple of meters away, hovering halfway between the floor and ceiling.

  “You are not authorized to remove the altered Ardulan from this ship,” the second one said.

  “Security has been contacted,” the first added.

  Neek brandished the knife. “You want a threat?” The ship shuddered again.

  The first Mmnnuggl tipped itself slightly to its left, both ears folding in half. �
��You are not a threat. The construct threatens unaltered species. There is a threat of interbreeding. There is a threat of mutation. You risk angering the Gods by challenging their edict.”

  Neek stepped forward and swung the knife wide, trying to back the Mmnnuggls off. “How are you not angering your Gods right now?” she demanded. “Those ships are unarmed. You are killing civilians whose only desire is to protect their homes and families.”

  The second Mmnnuggl floated closer to Neek and stopped just out of arm’s reach. “You are Neek,” it said, the tone relaying confusion. “You approve of the use of Ardulans as weapons? Of their captivity and alteration?”

  “Of course not,” she spat angrily. “But these people you’re killing, they don’t share my culture. All they know is that the Risalians have kept us safe.”

  “Even if some did know how the Risalians managed the peace,” Nicholas said, “how could they be forced to choose between a people they’ve never met over peace and prosperity for their children? Kind of a cruel thing to ask of a sentient.”

  “The decision is not yours to make, Terran Nicholas,” Captain Llgg said as she entered the hangar and floated over to the other Mmnnuggls. “The Alliance has chosen to end the suffering of the altered Ardulans. The Risalians will have to maintain their peace another way. We Mmnnuggls will protect the galaxy from those that threaten it.”

  “You’re not protecting the galaxy by slaughtering thousands of beings!” Neek yelled. Her mouth felt parched. Dehydration wasn’t surprising, given her excessive stuk production and the stupid wicking tunic. “Are you completely insane? What can you possibly hope to gain from all this?”

  The captain remained silent, bobbing up and down gently in the quiet bay.

  Neek looked back over her shoulder and stifled a scream as ship after ship exploded, the empty space between the two forces now heavily littered with wreckage. She watched the Risalian cutters attempt to maneuver into shield positions for the Charted Systems ships while the smaller Risalian skiffs peppered the Alliance fleet with ineffectual laser blasts. Even when the unarmed ships ceased blocking and attempted to flee, they were shot down, the Alliance exterminating everything in its path. Ship wreckage clogged the viewscreen, most of it from familiar crafts.