Alcantaran 1: Alien Abduction

by Terry Compton

  Tik said, "Auntie, please put up the shield when the incoming space ship is a day away. Use the shield to block any probes trying to see how many people are on board or any other useful information. And keep the doors locked."

  Auntie reassured her, "I always do when you're away."

  That night when he was getting ready for bed, Ron looked in the mirror and noticed that he didn't seem to have as much gray in his beard. He knew that he felt better than he had in several years and he actually felt younger. He wondered if the bracelet was doing all this. He asked Auntie if there were other bracelets for Tik and Gus. She answered that there were six more of the bracelets and; with a little modification, they would fit both of them. Ron made a note to get the bracelets in the morning for them to start wearing.

  The next morning the rain was still coming down but it was lighter. The trio decided to leave the shield up just like before. The space port ramp where they were parked was now dry so they could set supplies on the concrete without any fear of them getting wet. The delivery trucks from the grocery wholesaler and the nursery soon started to arrive and the process of loading supplies into Auntie began. Gus activated 10 of the new robots including Tamu, the two Ag workers and the two robots from the mother ship. Tamu directed the 10 and they started carrying food supplies into the lower cargo bay and onto the lower kitchen storage area. Gus used the other four robots to start moving the plants and seeds into the conservatory. With both the middle and lower doors open, the process went much faster. Some of the food supplies were very heavy. Dolores had ordered barrels of different grain flour, so the robots started a circle around the inside rooms to keep the traffic flowing. Ron and Gus knew they would have a lot of food for three people for a year but they had no idea it would be this much. Dolores directed the robots exactly where to put the food in the pantry.

  Gus got the plants and seeds in the conservatory and Tik came in to get the Ag workers started planting. She activated two more of the new Ag workers and had Auntie help her lay out work for all four. They wanted to get as many of the plants in the ground as they could before they had to take off into space. Wherever the catwalk was still in good enough shape to hold the hydroponic tanks, they set things up to start the plants growing in there. There were not enough plants to fill the conservatory but at least they were starting.

  The next morning the trio sat at breakfast and talked over their plans for the day. Things were really shaping up and the last of the things they had ordered should be delivered before noon. Ron said that he wanted to go get the steel for the catwalks and check on the woodworker that Fu had found. Tik didn't want to leave the work going on in the conservatory and Gus felt he should stay to supervise getting the rest of the supplies loaded. After their morning workout with the edged weapons, Ron headed for the terminal building. He chatted with Fu for a few minutes as he waited for the driver and his vehicle. When the driver arrived, he headed to the steel place first. He ordered the steel he needed and set it up for them to deliver that afternoon. Next he headed to the woodworker and checked out the different wood samples. He ordered 100 bases which came in different sizes and shapes to mount the silver figures on. He also ordered two units of wood to be delivered in two days.

  As he was getting ready to leave, he saw a flyer for a big sale at a machinery manufacturer. The manufacturer was just down the road, so Ron headed there. The manufacturer had a large inventory that hadn't sold because of the war. They needed to move it and Ron saw an opportunity for a planet that he remembered studying about on Auntie. He checked out the machinery and bought six of the units to be delivered the next day. Ron figured they had enough things to trade now. Unless they came across some other really good bargain, they were set. He broadcast to let Gus and Tik know what he had done. Gus broadcast back that with all the trade items they had been buying, they needed some more tie down netting and something they could use to anchor them.

  Ron returned to the vehicle and asked the driver if he knew of a place that sold netting to secure a load during transportation. The driver thought he knew a place and called to make sure. The company had some and they were on sale because the military had ordered some and the manufacturer made too many. Ron told him to head for the company.

  When they arrived, Ron went in to check out the netting. He found some that would work very well for what they had bought. The company was overstocked and had a very good deal on the netting. Ron bought all they had and got an even better deal. He was looking around while the salesman checked on delivery and spotted a demonstration of a strange device. The salesman came back and told him it was used as an anchor point on any surface. The military had been interested in it but a competitor had started a rumor that it actually damaged the surface it attached to. The device was a cross between a suction cup and an electro-magnet. It had a lever you flipped and the device wouldn't move. The salesman had a video showing the device being attached to a surface and then vehicles were chained to it. They tried to pull it loose with no success. The video even showed a tracked vehicle similar to a bulldozer pulling on the device and not moving it. The device worked on even non-ferrous material because it actually bonded with the material it was stuck to. The salesman grabbed five of the devices and walked over to the wall. He stuck two of the devices to the wall and climbed up on them. He reached a little higher and placed another one. He climbed up and placed another. As he climbed back down, he easily removed each device. The salesman showed him a scientific study that said the devices didn't damage the surface they were attached to.

  Ron asked how many of the devices they had on hand. The salesman replied that they had 5000 and could get more in about a week. Ron asked how much the devices cost and the salesman told him. Ron told him that was too much. The salesman asked how many he wanted to buy and Ron told him he would want several if the price was right. The salesman excused himself and went back to see his manager. The salesman came back with a more reasonable price. Ron countered with a lower offer and the salesman went back to his manager. When he came back, he said they would accept the offer. Ron said he would take all of the 5000 that they had on hand if they could deliver them and the netting later that day. The salesman said he would have them there by 4:00.

  Ron knew he had bought way too much netting and too many of those devices but he had a hunch they could be good trading material. He told the driver to head back to the space port. As they were headed through the city, Ron spotted a small music store that had a 'going out of business' sign up. He told the driver to stop. The driver came in to see what type of instrument the space traveler would be interested in. Ron looked around and saw strange-looking keyboards, stringed instruments and several different types of horns. The keyboards not only made music but did a laser light show that could be programmed to the music or played as you went through the show. The driver was a musician during his off duty times so he told Ron a little about the different instruments and what they would do. He played for relaxation and once in awhile, he and his friends would do some concerts. The owner came over and Ron asked if he had any videos showing how to play the different instruments. The owner showed him the selection of instructional videos for all of the instruments in the store. Ron asked about replacement strings for the stringed instruments and reeds or other parts for the horns. The owner assured him that he had a sufficient stock for all of them.

  Ron asked how many instruments he had left and the owner said he had almost 300 instruments left. Ron had a feeling that these could turn into trading items or at least eye candy that would impress someone on another planet. He pulled out three of the little trinkets and told the owner he would trade them for all of the instruments with instruction videos and replacement strings, reeds or whatever they needed. The other caveat would be that everything needed to be delivered tomorrow. The owner looked at the silver trinkets and asked for a moment to check something out. Word of the other trinkets had spread and the owner found an ad on the computer offering a huge sum for any of
the trinkets. The owner came back to Ron and quickly accepted the offer. Ron asked if he could give him a reference, showing which video went with which instrument as well as a reference showing which replacements went with which instruments. The store owner said that would be no problem because he already had that on the computer. Ron gave the owner the trinkets and the owner gave him a receipt as he told him that he would have everything delivered by the next afternoon.

  When they were back in the vehicle, the driver asked, "Sir, may I ask why you need so many instruments? Are you planning on some sort of band?"

  "No. I don't play any of your instruments. I may learn some on long flights but my main reason is that they may become trade items on other planets. We are looking for different trade items that we may be able to trade on a regular basis."

  Ron had the driver stop at another store so he could buy some of the video players. He knew that Auntie could soon figure out how to play any of the video formats but they might not have the same capability on other planets where he needed to trade the instruments. They had enough room in the vehicle, so he just loaded up the players right then.

  When Ron got back to the space ship and told his partners what he had bought, they thought he was crazy.

  "Who will be crazy enough to buy an alien instrument? How will they even know what it's supposed to sound like?" Tik asked

  "Well, that's why we're called Traders. We have to convince them that these are valuable commodities. Just look at the trinkets. I traded three of them for almost 300 instruments, parts and instructions. What did they cost us?" Ron replied.

  "Well, I guess that's so. Just don't expect me to be playing any of those things to sell them!" Tik declared.

  "Me either!" Gus agreed.

  "I wouldn't say that if I were you. You haven't even seen what they are. I'll bet Tik would be great on the keyboard that does the laser light show, too," Ron snorted.

  "Laser light show? How does that work?" Tik asked suddenly intrigued.

  "I have no idea but there will be an instructional video with it," Ron replied with a grin.

  The netting and the anchors arrived and Ron had to demonstrate the anchors to the other two. They were commenting that this was something useful and you didn't have to learn to play it. Ron just warned them that they might have to eat their words someday. Gus quickly trained Tamu, as well as the other robots, on the anchors and how to use them. They re-fastened some of their cargo and Gus reported that it was a lot more secure, as well as much faster. Gus asked why they had so much netting and so many anchors. Ron replied that they could be trade items on some planets.

  That night they started making plans for the next planet they wanted to head to. They decided to leave this galaxy to make them harder to track. There were several planets in this galaxy that would be good places to head to for trading but they all wanted to be able to head home without Bugs on their trail. This ship coming in could radio to other ships or to the Bugs and the hunt for them would intensify in a hurry. They finally decided on Fen Avholog in the Pancawarna galaxy as their next stop. Their economy looked like a good match for the robots and machinery Ron had just ordered, so they would be great trade items. They knew that the last of their orders would be delivered in two days, so they planned on leaving the following day. That would be the day the incoming space ship would be landing, so they would try to leave just after it landed. This would tell them if that ship was hunting them or was just coming in for trade.

  Ron had inspected Auntie before they left the mother ship but he wanted to check things again. He remembered that the engine lining looked like it needed redoing. He wanted to check the next day to see if it had any further wear. They decided to have Dolores pick up another two-week supply of fresh fruits and vegetables in two days. They were getting used to good food and wanted to prolong it as much as possible. Gus would supervise loading the rest of the goods that would be arriving and Tik would start programming for the hyper-jump. They were going to fly by the remote detector and, as soon as they had it aboard, they were going to jump to hyper-space. If she had any spare time, she would continue with the conservatory.

  They all had to go to the conservatory to see the changes that were happening. Trees, shrubs and bushes were scattered over about half of the floor space. New plants were growing in the hydroponic tanks and the stacks of compost sacks were disappearing into the soil. In a few weeks, there would be grass and flowers. Hopefully in about the same time frame, there would be some fresh vegetables from the hydroponics. They went to the lower level for weapons practice.

  The next morning Ron called their driver and sent Dolores with him to the grocery wholesaler to buy the fresh fruits and vegetables. He gave her money and told her to get them delivered as soon as possible but no later than noon the next day. Tik was busy on the computer, plotting their course for Fen Avholog and Gus was outside working on the first delivery. The machinery that Ron had bought was heavier and bulkier than anything they had loaded before, so it was taking longer to get everything aboard. They were using the new anchor points and double-netting everything to make sure it didn't move during flight. After Ron was through with Dolores, he pulled out a small grav-sled and flew up to both engine exhausts. He carefully inspected the liners and saw that there was very little deterioration from their last flight. He would still feel more comfortable when they got new liners. He checked with Auntie to see what the tolerance was and she replied that as long as they didn't do a maximum burn for a long period of time, they were fine. Ron had just landed and was headed toward Gus to see how he was progressing when the alarm came.

  Auntie and the remote detector had picked up the space ship at the same time. This ship had come out of hyper-space a lot closer to Europaische. It was even closer than the first space ship they had been tracking for the past few days. Auntie said at the speed this new ship was traveling, it would arrive on the planet late that afternoon. She said this ship was on a mission because it was really taking a chance jumping out of hyper-drive this close to the planet.

  The trio was electrified. They knew that this new ship had something to do with them, but what? Tik was about through with her computations and couldn't make them happen any faster but Ron and Gus could hurry up the process of loading and they jumped in with a passion. Ron had Auntie relay to Dolores that they had to have the fresh fruits and vegetables within two hours or not at all. The only thing that was missing was the shipment of wood and the wooden bases. However; if they had to, Ron would arrange with Fu to store them here on the space port and they could pick them up later. Ron asked Auntie to see if she could catch Dolores and the driver before they passed the wood manufacturer. She did and he had her relay his request to pick up four of the wooden bases he had requested.

  Dolores came back with the bases and reported that the fresh food would be delivered that afternoon. She rushed off to the galley to get everything ready for the delivery and to prepare lunch for them. Gus was loading the last of the machinery and was getting the robots to secure everything when Dolores called for lunch. Ron and Gus met Tik at the galley to eat and plan.

  Auntie reported that the first space ship had sped up and would now land sometime that night. They still didn't know who the new ship was, so they were almost too worried to eat. Dolores was hovering and fussing as she urged them to eat, so they would be ready for action. She did manage to get a laugh out of them when she said she had a new broom and mop and she would gladly defend them if needed.

  Tik had finished the hyper-space computations, so after lunch she went to the conservatory to make sure everything in there would be secure for flight by late that afternoon. Gus took the upper level and Ron took the middle level. They checked each room and the cargo bays to ensure that everything was ready for flight. The groceries came and Gus took charge of getting those inside. Ron went to the workshop and fitted four of the larger figures to the bases. They came out looking incredible. He had arranged for the driver to come back to settle up,
so he grabbed two of the figures and walked into the terminal. Fu and the driver were standing there chatting when he walked in. He walked over and presented Fu with a small delicate looking bird figure and the driver with a wild-looking four legged animal that looked like it was in motion.

  Both of them were flabbergasted and exclaimed, "Ron, you and the others don't owe us anything like this."

  Ron told them, "You have went above and beyond while you were working for us and this is a gift for the friendship you have given to us. This is the silver we mined on the asteroid and I poured the figures myself from molds that were on the space ship."

  Both men thanked him profusely and then Ron settled up with the driver for his time. He was about to head back out the door when he felt the vibration. He had not felt that before but somehow he knew that he was feeling a space ship land. Fu told him that the ship had maintained radio silence on the way in, so he had no idea who it was. Ron relayed the information to the other two and decided to stay there in the door to see what type of creature would come out of the ship. He didn't think he would be attacked right there in a public place with all kinds of witnesses.

  Gus had just sent the last robot inside when he felt the vibrations. He hurried inside and closed all the doors except the small personnel door. He rushed to the cockpit to be able to see the ship as it came in. Tik had already beaten him to the window there. They both watched as the space ship slowly settled to the ground a hundred yards from Auntie.