Alcantaran 1: Alien Abduction

by Terry Compton

  "The other thing to consider would be affiliation. I'd like to propose that you affiliate with the Dar Es Salaam Traders. We have a code of ethics and a Charter that lays down the rules for trading. I saw how you operated on the mother ship and I know that you would have no problem following the ethics rules. I didn't see anything here that looked like it would violate any of the Charter rules, so I'm pretty sure we can swing a deal for affiliation. Our scientists would love to study a lot of the things on this ship. They would gladly pay for the privilege of studying, which could help subsidize your trading. Would you consider accepting our help and joining us as an affiliate?" Kota said.

  "Yes, please, do join us. I'll work with Kota on the details and I'm sure we can work something out. We owe you so much for getting Kota out of that mother ship and now we'd like a chance to repay," Zibo declared.

  The trio didn't know what to think. They were busy broadcasting between themselves but didn't want to not answer. They agreed Ron should buy them some time.

  "Wow. We don't know what to say. We're not against joining you but we'd like to see your Charter and your ethic rules. In the back of our minds, we had the idea to use Auntie to open our planets to space trade. We wanted to offer the chance for others on our planets to join us if it looked profitable and possible. We would definitely accept your offer of help finding our planets. We need a few days to think the rest of it over and to even find intelligent questions to ask. We were scheduled to take off day after tomorrow. Could we have that long to formulate some questions and kick this around between us? We are partners, so we need to discuss it," Ron hedged.

  "That would be fine. We don't have a set schedule. We didn't know how long it would take us to catch up. You definitely covered your tracks after leaving the mother ship, so no one had any idea where you had disappeared to. Maybe Zibo and I can take a little vacation here while we wait," Kota responded.

  "One question we have right now is, what would the Charter Alliance do if the Bugs claim that we stole Auntie and they want her back?" Ron asked.

  "They would have to prove that they had found her in space. Then they would have to prove that they were actually trying to get her space worthy or salvaging her. I don't know how much documentation they did with their research but; from what I've seen of their methods, they don't like to share any information," Zibo stated. "If they don't share information, then it's their word against yours. You have the space ship and are flying it, so that won't look good to a court."

  "Well, thanks for the meal and the stories. We need to get back to our ship. Don't forget to make sure everything is secure from the visitors over there," Kota said as he pointed to the other space ship on the viewing screen. "We'll talk some more tomorrow and if you have any questions, we'll try to answer them. I'll bring over copies of the Charter and ethic rules."

  The trio escorted the two Traders to the rear door and waved good-bye. Tik directed Auntie to let them out of the shield. They watched until the two were inside their own shield. Then they headed back to the living quarters for a council of war.

  "Ron, if I had the coordinates for your planet, I could find the path back to mine. If I had my planet's coordinates, I could find your planet, Gus," Tik began eagerly.

  "I'm all for accepting their help locating our planets. The big question right now, is whether we are going to continue trading?" Ron asked.

  Gus agreed, "I vote to accept their help finding our planets. I also like the work we have done so far in this trading business. It feels good to know that we mined that silver ourselves under a lot of pressure and then picked the right planet to trade it off on. I thought we had done pretty well with the trades but from the sounds of Kota and Zibo, they think we did a lot better than that. Can we do it again? How much will we get for this stuff we bought?"

  "That's the big question. I think we need to stick with our original plan. Let's pick another planet, then let's go to Fen Avholog and make what trades we can. Once we're through with the second planet, we can make up our minds. We should be able to tell if we are cut out to be traders by then. Maybe we could do a conditional affiliation while we decide if we want to trade. By the time we get through with the second planet, we should have coordinates for Earth and that could be our next stop," Tik expressed her view.

  Ron said thoughtfully, "I want to see what the Charter says about us taking partners from our planets to establish trade. If Kota's uncle has the trade rights with Earth, where does that leave us? Another question is what does it cost to join the Charter Alliance? How much do you pay? Do you pay per trade? Per year? We need some of these questions answered before I'd vote for even a conditional affiliation."

  "What do you suggest?" Gus asked.

  "Let's finish loading our goods tomorrow. The last of the lumber should be here in the morning. Then let's do our trades with the next two planets and evaluate where we are then. We'll pick the next planet tonight and see if Kota and Zibo can meet us there for a decision. Maybe we could ask Kota to be a personal backup and skip the conditional affiliation for now. Do we still want to do something for Kota? I think he helped us more than we helped him."

  Tik replied, "I say get him a robot chef. It doesn't cost us that much in silver and I agree with you."

  "Go for it. They both really enjoyed the food and kept commenting about it," Gus added.

  "OK, tomorrow while you're loading, I'll go to town and buy a robot. I'll bet the driver's friend can find one on pretty short notice. I might just go into the terminal right now to call the driver to see if he can get in touch with his friend," Ron said.

  "We'll start researching a planet that looks like a likely place to trade for what we have and the projected goods from Fen Avholog," Tik responded.

  Ron went into the terminal and called the driver. The driver was sure his friend could find another robot chef. He would be out first thing in the morning to pick Ron up unless his friend couldn't find anything. It was dark when Ron stepped outside and the few lights around the outside of the space port didn't light up the areas around the space ships very much. As he started to head for Auntie, he thought he saw movement between Auntie and Kota's ship. He didn't see anything as he walked out closer but he asked Auntie if she saw anything. She reported that one of the creatures from the far space ship had tried to get to the personnel door but the shield kept him away. He was currently hiding on the other side of Kota's ship. Ron was fully alert now and watching all around. He made it to the shield with no further movement and headed inside. He walked to the situation room where Gus and Tik were studying several planets. They had them on the view screens and were comparing goods that the Bugs had traded to them and what they traded for. Ron told them what he had seen and what Auntie had reported. Tik was all for going out and teaching the scum a lesson. Ron and Gus calmed her down by saying that they wanted to leave in two days. They pointed out that any kind of inquiry would likely take a week or more and that would leave them here to face more trouble from the other space ship. Tik conceded and said she would let it pass for now.

  They finally decided to go to Aspasia409 for the second planet. It was in the same galaxy as Fen Avholog, so it would change their travel pattern. They were avoiding Bugs but they were becoming more confident about their abilities to protect themselves. It wouldn't be long until they would thumb their noses at the Bugs and go where they wanted, when they wanted. They noticed that Fen Avholog was a jungle planet and the Bugs had traded for a small amount of spices. The Bugs didn't use them and only took them to complete a deal. The spices had been very popular on Aspasia409 but the Bugs hadn't followed through, because they thought it was a fluke. The trio made a note to try for the spices when they traded. Tomorrow they would check their silver stores to see how much they had used and then they would make serious preparations for taking off.

  Chapter 12

  The next morning, Ron left before Kota came over. He wanted to get the robot and surprise them. The driver took him to the robot dealer and the
dealer was delighted to sell another robot. He knew where there was another used model and it would only take about two hours to have it there in his shop. At the moment his shop was bare except for the robots being repaired. Ron decided to go to a different nursery that was just a few minutes away. Maybe he could pick up some more plants for the conservatory before he headed back. They were almost at the nursery when Auntie warned him that he was being followed by two vehicles. Four of the creatures from the last space ship were in the vehicles. Ron was alert but didn't think the creatures would bother him in the crowded nursery; especially, in broad daylight. He walked around and found several different flowers than they had found at the other nursery. He checked with Auntie and she said they would be compatible with the rest of the plants. He bought a couple dozen plants and the driver helped him load them into the vehicle. They started back to the robot dealer's place. On a long empty stretch of road, a vehicle zoomed around them and slammed against the front of their vehicle forcing them to the edge of the road. Two large, ugly-looking creatures jumped out of the vehicle that had just smashed into them. Ron felt Auntie warn him that the other vehicle was right behind and the other two creatures were getting out of the vehicle and they had weapons pointed in his direction.

  Ron quietly told the driver to call the police and to stay down out of sight. He slipped his weapon into his hand and opened the door. He switched on his shield as he stepped out of the door. The large, ugly creature started screaming at him and waving at their vehicle. Suddenly it had a weapon in its hand and pointed it at Ron. It looked like a slightly different version of the stingerray. Ron could hear his driver urgently talking to the police. The ugly creature started advancing toward Ron screaming insults about them wrecking their vehicle. The creature fired its weapon at Ron. Ron's shield took the blast and he didn't feel anything except a push. He returned the fire. His weapon wasn't a stingerray, it was a blaster and it took a chunk out of the creature's shoulder. The creature dropped to the ground and lay there writhing and screaming in pain. Ron whirled to take care of the two behind him. They had rushed forward when their partner fired his weapon and they didn't have time to stop before Ron was aiming at them. The passenger blasted at Ron just as he shot. The creature's shot went wide but Ron's hit the mark. All of his practice was now paying off as the second vehicle's driver leaned on the back of their vehicle to snap a shot at him. The shield did its work again and Ron blasted this one completely off the back of their vehicle. The last ugly creature saw what was happening and jumped into his vehicle. He slammed it into reverse and backed away from their vehicle. He then crammed it into a forward gear and sped away.

  In the distance, Ron could hear the police sirens. He walked over to the two at the rear of their vehicle and saw that they were dead. He left them and their weapons where they lay. He walked toward the first gunman and saw that he was still alive but seriously hurt. He kicked the weapon away from the creature and the creature looked up, clearly expecting Ron to finish him off.

  Ron pointed his blaster at the creature's legs and asked, "Why did you do it and what do you want?"

  The creature started to make a smart remark and Ron aimed at the creature's right knee. The creature stared at Ron's eyes and saw something there that he didn't care to push against.

  The creature answered with a snarl, "You and your mates are worth 50,000 credits each if we captured you. If we could get that ship back to the Challekan Traders, it would be worth a cool million credits."

  Ron asked in a quiet deadly serious voice, "Who is paying for my capture?"

  The creature answered quickly, "I don't know, for sure. My boss told us about the reward and that we could split it. I think it is the Challeka Traders who are offering the reward. I don't know which branch. There are four mother ships and it could be any one of them or all of them. I'm hurt. When are you going to get me some help?"

  Ron just walked back to his vehicle to check on his driver.

  The driver was pale and his eyes were about the size of saucers. He excitedly said, "I've never seen anything like it. You don't even see anything like this in the drama videos. I don't know how they missed you. You were just standing there so calm. I notice you didn't miss any of them. Are they all dead?"

  "No. The one to the front is badly wounded. Are you all right? They didn't hurt you did they?" Ron asked matter of factly.

  "I'm fine. Wait until I tell Fu and my friends. They'll never believe this. You knew they were going to shoot. Why didn't you shoot first?" the driver asked, almost in shock as the reality set in.

  "On my planet, we believe in giving even the bad men a chance. They made their choice and now will live with the consequences," Ron said quietly. "I'm sorry you were involved in this. Will your vehicle still move and function?"

  The driver jumped out to check his vehicle and, at the same time, tried to avoid looking at the ugly creature lying on the ground. There was only minor cosmetic damage to the front of his vehicle, so he moved back to the driver's seat. The first police car slid to a stop and two policemen jumped out. Ron told them the creature in front was wounded and needed attention. One of the policemen rushed over and then went back to the patrol car for a first aid kit. He told his partner to call for an ambulance as he rushed back to administer first aid. The ugly creature was very defiant but too weak to protest for long. The other policeman checked out the other two creatures. He noted the stingerrays in their hands.

  Three other police cars pulled up and started directing traffic. One policeman took Ron's driver to a squad car and started asking questions. The driver started excitedly telling about Ron standing there and the ugly creature firing at him and missing. He told about the others firing at Ron and then Ron returning their fire.

  Another policeman took Ron's statement but strangely didn't ask about Ron's weapon. Ron had already hidden it away again. The ambulance arrived during Ron's statement and hauled the ugly creature off to the hospital. When Ron and the driver finished their statements, the policemen stood together out of earshot. They were comparing stories and deciding what to do. Ron was thinking about this attack and the thugs who had attacked them at the restaurant earlier. He wondered if it was really a simple robbery or if they were trying to earn a big reward, too. Ron broadcast to Auntie and asked if she had recorded the shoot out. She replied that she had. Ron asked if she could tap into the banker's or some other computer in the terminal and send a copy anonymously. She replied that it would be a piece of cake. Ron told her not to use Fu's or any of his employees' computers but send a copy of the shoot out to the police station.

  Shortly there was a call over a squad car radio and one of the group of policemen went to answer it. After a short conversation, he walked back to the group. One of the group came over to Ron.

  The policeman said, "We just got an anonymous email with a video of this whole shoot out. It happened just as you and the driver said. Would you know anything about where it came from?"

  "I've been right here and as your man over there can attest, I haven't even touched a phone. How could I know anything about it?" Ron answered matter-of-factly.

  The policeman, who had been watching, nodded his agreement and the other policeman just shook his head as he returned to the group. After another 20 minutes of discussion, the policeman came back to Ron and asked if Ron had ever seen any of the ugly creatures before. Ron told him he had never even laid eyes on any of that race. He had no idea where they came from, unless they were from the last space ship that had landed yesterday. Ron told him that the first space ship was manned by a close friend and they had been together last night, so he didn't know who or what was in the other ship. He asked if the ugly creature was from their planet and the policeman replied that it wasn't. The policeman asked how long he would be on planet. Ron told him they planned on leaving the next day. The policeman told him that they would need him to come to the station in the morning to finish the paper work and they might have to delay a day until they finished their inv
estigation. Ron said that could be arranged and asked if the policeman could tell his driver where they needed him to be in the morning. He explained that it would be much easier if he wasn't trying to explain addresses and directions to the driver. The policeman grinned and agreed as he walked over to the driver. Shortly, the policeman and the driver came back over to Ron and told them they were free to go. Ron asked if it was alright to stop at the robot dealers to pick up his purchase and the policeman told him he was free to travel anywhere he liked.

  Once they were in the vehicle and on the road, Ron's adrenaline wore off and he started to shake. The driver was so excited, he was still talking a mile a minute and didn't notice. By the time they reached the dealer, Ron's nerves were steadier. He went in and concluded his business. The dealer wheeled out another robot that looked similar to Dolores but with subtle little differences. Ron and the driver loaded the robot onto the back of the vehicle and headed for the space port. They arrived with no more incidents and drove to the rear of the space ship where they unloaded the robot. Ron took it into Auntie, so they could make sure it was full of fuel. He called for Gus to bring some help to carry in the flowers that he had bought. Gus asked how many plants he had bought and when Ron told him two dozen, Gus said he would just bring a grav-sled.

  While he was waiting for Gus, Ron and the driver unloaded the flowers and Ron started to pay the driver. The driver didn't want to take any pay but Ron insisted and he paid for the damage to the vehicle as well. The driver thanked him and left with a promise to be back in the morning to take him to the police station.

  "Well, well. We've been here slaving away getting ready to leave and what have you been up to? I didn't know it would take so long to buy a few flowers and a robot. Did they have to grow the flowers or make the robot?" Gus joked with a chuckle.