by T. R. Harris
Along its inner rim lay The Fringe, a cluster of some thirty-seven stars of various classifications and supporting twelve habitable planets, ranging from the heavy rock giant of K’ly to the wispy and gaseous Dimloe, with its four-meter tall inhabitants known for their grotesque cannibalistic rituals.
Along the outer edge of The Void lay the Barrier, a dense, diaphanous cloud of pre-stellar gas, aglow in brilliant hues of red, green and orange. Though beautiful to behold, the Barrier was just that, the defining line between the civilized galaxy that reached to the Core and beyond, and the Far Arm, with its untold millions of unexplored systems stretching all the way to the very edge of the galaxy. Unable to be pierced by conventional scanners or optical telescopes, much of what lay beyond the Barrier was nothing more than rumor, myth or supposition.
The Void restricted the outward migration of civilization into the Far Arm, keeping that region of space a mystery to all but the most daring or foolhardy.
Along this frontier territory of the Juirean Expansion was where the true galactic pioneers plied their craft, made up of merchants, miners and entrepreneurs, along with some of the most vile criminals who had ever existed. Life in The Fringe Worlds was not easy, but for some, it was all they knew.
The Fringe was where Kaylor and Jym eked out their meager living, hauling strings of often forbidden cargo from one port to the next, staying mindful of the ever-changing political climate of each individual world in The Fringe.
Case in point: Silean Smokesticks. The Sileans prided themselves for the smoothness and strength of the herb that went into their ’sticks, which made them a valuable and cherished commodity to the Rigorians, who used them in many of their religious ceremonies—or so they claimed. If this were true, then the lizard-like Rigorians were some of the most religious beings in the galaxy, consuming smokesticks like candy. The problem was that to get from Silea to Rigor meant crossing Li’Polan space, where being caught selling any kind of intoxicant carried with it an uncontestable sentence of death.
So to avoid Li’Polan space, hard-working traders like Kaylor and Jym were often forced to endure a three-week-long transit of The Void, having to go so far out of their way that after each trip Kaylor swore it would be his last. And yet ’sticks were worth a small fortune on Rigor….
********
Having prepped and deployed the drones, Kaylor pulled the FS-475 far enough away from the range barrier so he could get a running start toward the pirates. The plan was to build up a pretty good head of steam, then go dark and coast in the rest of the way undetected. Then as they grew closer, he would fire up the wells and surprise the pirates. As Kaylor explained to a still-skeptical Jym, he didn’t want the pirates to have too much time to build up the courage to confront his phantom fleet. By dropping in at the last minute, he was hoping for a spontaneous reaction and an instinctive flight to safety.
At the right moment, Kaylor dissolved the well and went dark.
At this range, they were too far out to see the pirates visually, but the overlapping circles on the view screen began to creep ever closer to the left edge of the screen. The timing would be a judgment call. If they fired up too soon, the pirates might have time to analyze their gravity signatures and see through the ruse, yet if they waited too long, then the pirates might feel they had little choice but to stay and fight. So as the distance closed – and the tension in the pilothouse grew thicker – Kaylor began to have second thoughts about his entire plan….
In a few minutes they had closed to within extreme visual range and Kaylor and Jym got their first real look at their targets. In the center was a large disk-shaped ship, clearly ten times or more the size of the three oblong-shaped pirate ships surrounding it. One of the pirates had attached an umbilical to the large ship while the other two lay out at a distance, like wild beasts waiting patiently for their turn at the carcass.
There were burn marks along the hull of the target ship, with one prominent line running up and across a bulging pilot dome at the center of the disk. The ship had very few viewports along the fuselage, yet the ones that were present still had light shining from them. Kaylor tried to keep his imagination from conjuring up visions of what must be going on aboard the large ship. He knew pirates did not take prisoners; there was just no money in ransom in The Fringe since life here was so cheap. So it was only the hardware they were after. Soft-flesh creatures were just an obstacle to an end, and Kaylor was letting the killing go on for longer than necessary … for his own selfish goals. Oh well….
Finally, it was now or never. Either he was going to do this or not. About then, a strange calm descended over Kaylor—a resignation of sorts—and he engaged the wells.
The effect was almost instantaneous. Immediately, the two outer pirate ships fired up their back-wells and streaked off in the opposite direction from Kaylor’s line of approach. A few moments later, the umbilical tore away from the third pirate ship, and it began a wide sweep behind the large ship using its chemical drive.
But then the unexpected happened: The pirate ship continued its sweep, and ended up facing Kaylor and his phantom fleet, just sitting there.
“He’s not leaving!” Jym shouted the obvious.
Kaylor was staring so intently at the pirate ship on the screen that he almost felt as if he and the pirate captain were looking directly into each other’s eyes, daring the other to act. Yet neither wavered.
As the seconds passed, Jym began to fidget, glancing from his screen, then to Kaylor and back again, repeatedly. And still Kaylor stared.
Finally Jym had had enough. He reached for his own pilot stick, determined to change course if Kaylor wouldn’t—
Just then the pirate ship moved, and for an instant, both Kaylor and Jym stopped breathing … as the pirate came straight for them. Then at the last moment, the ship turned about, activated its gravity drive and bolted away in the opposite direction, disappearing visually as it sank into its own event horizon.
Simultaneous cries of victory erupted in the pilothouse — of victory and relief.
Collapsing into his chair, Kaylor closed his eyes momentarily, the pounding of his heart seeming to drown out all other sounds around him. The ruse had worked, but barely. As he sat there, Kaylor tried to imagine what madness the pirate captain could have been thinking? He knew that three pirate ships, working in unison, were a formidable force, yet not against seven warships – even imaginary ones. Whoever that captain was, he was either a reckless fool or a ruthless bastard. Either way, that was way too close for Kaylor’s liking.
********
The pirate ships were off-screen before Kaylor and Jym powered down and slipped in next to the stricken ship, but they knew they were still lurking in the area. Kaylor’s immediate plan was to attach an umbilical of his own and go aboard the ship for a quick survey and to see if anyone was left alive, including any abandoned pirates. Then they would attach grapples to the big ship and pull it away before the pirates worked up the courage to come back. There would be plenty of time for treasure hunting on the way to Nimor, where they would register the salvage and make the salvage all official.
Jym opened the outer viewport shield so he and Kaylor could get their first look at the huge ship in natural light. The ship was huge, easily five or six times the mass of Kaylor’s muleship, yet the configuration was all wrong. Very few ships were disk-shaped and it had only a few nodes interrupting the smoothness of its shiny hull. It was a beautiful ship, and Kaylor was literally salivating thinking of what riches it held inside.
And so it was with an almost childlike enthusiasm that Kaylor suited up and began the trek through the umbilical, and into what he had already began to refer to as his retirement.
Chapter 2
Even though the scans indicated that there was an atmosphere and gravity aboard the ship, Kaylor nevertheless wore an environment suit as he crossed the umbilical. There was a working airlock on the other side, and once he was safely through, he raised the visor on his helmet an
d took in a deep gulp of air. There was a strong trace of ozone, along with the distinctive scent of burning flesh. Even though the smell was offensive, he keep the visor open so he could hear better, cautious of any threats that might still linger within the ship.
He found himself in a wide corridor that curved off in either direction following the gentle circumference of the ship. Proceeding carefully, he soon came upon two dead Jakreans, their gray flesh burned in several spots, gray tunics stained with blood. He wasn’t surprised to find Jakreans aboard; after all, they were the workhorses of the galaxy; semi-intelligent beings who followed orders and had no imagination of their own. Kaylor was sure he’d find several more, just like these, during his survey.
Next he came upon a wide window set in the wall to his right. On the other side was a vast room lined with row upon row of what appeared to be hiberpods. He’d never seen so many pods in one room. Curious, he entered through an open doorway and found three more dead Jakreans, along with another being, this one taller and dressed all in silver. Its head was large, with a long sloping forehead and a crest of long white hair. The creature had been shot in the back and had fallen on its side. Red blood pooled under the creature, and there was a laser weapon still in the dead grasp of the creature. Looks like he at least tried to put up a fight….
Moving closer to the pods, Kaylor noticed that they were all occupied by creatures still hooked to the fluid tubes, yet oddly, each one he could see had a small, bloody puncture wound at its temple.
All the canopies on the pods were open and a quick count of the rows put the total pods at eighty. Moving quickly past the dead silver creature, Kaylor confirmed that each of the creatures in the pods had the same wound to their temples—the distinctive type of wound indicative of a laser weapon, such as the one held by the dead silver being.
All the creatures in the pods had been executed.
But that didn’t make any sense; the creatures in the pods were all primes, mostly male, well-muscled and about average height. Kaylor didn’t recognize the species, but that wasn’t unusual. With over eight-thousand known primes in the Juirean Expansion, he wasn’t expected to be up on every one of them. Yet these creatures had been intentionally killed, and not by the pirates, but rather by the apparent owners of the ship.
“Are you seeing this?” Kaylor asked through his communit.
Jym answered immediately. “This is strange. Those hiberpods are some of the most advanced and expensive I’ve ever seen. You do not transport just anyone in them, and then turn around and kill them all. But you better get moving, Kaylor. The pirates won’t stay gone for long.”
Jym was right. Once they got the grapples on and slipped into a well, he’d have plenty of time to come back for a more thorough accounting.
He left the pod room and proceeded further down the corridor, passing three more dead Jakreans and two more of the silver creatures. Everything was silent. There was no indication that anyone else was aboard the ship—at least no one left alive.
After a while, Kaylor came upon a wide stairway on his left leading toward the center of the ship. Logically, this would lead to the bridge.
The command center was situated in the central dome area he’d seen from outside. All the control consoles were located along the outer wall, and opposite them was a large central bank of equipment modules and computers towering about twelve feet high. Kaylor could clearly see where one of the blasts from the pirates’ flash weapons had penetrated the command dome, slashing through a section of the consoles before being contained by sealing foam. The room was airtight now, and even some of the electronics still functioned.
He moved to one of the consoles and began a quick survey of the control units he could see. They were magnificent, some of the most sophisticated he’d ever seen. Then turning his attention to the equipment bank behind him, Kaylor was equally impressed by the navigation and life support units he saw. This was the mother lode. Not only were there salvageable units here, but they were also probably the most expensive he’d ever seen, and he hadn’t even been to the generator room yet.
And there was the computer core—the single most valuable piece of equipment aboard the ship—besides the massive gravity generators. The cores of interstellar command computers were some of the most sophisticated pieces of equipment to be found anywhere, and with a thriving black market adept at reprogramming them for subsequent resale at astounding rates. Normally, the core would have been the first treasure removed from the ship, so it was a miracle that this one was still here. And unlike the bulky and impossible-to-remove gravity generators, the core was something he could easily haul back to his ship.
Moving to the equipment bank, Kaylor flicked the four securing latches at each corner of the three-foot-square module. He grabbed the two side handles of the core and pulled the unit from its rack. Instantly, he noticed that the three steady orange lights in the equipment bank above the core suddenly turned yellow and began to oscillate from right to left. Before he could ponder why, he was interrupted—
“Kaylor!” It was Jym on the communit.
“Yes, I know, I better hurry up—”
“No, that’s not it.”
“Pirates?”
“No. You’re not going to believe this, but I just started detecting gamma signatures.”
Kaylor was stunned by the comment. “Strong?”
“Yes. I think the source is right there in the room with you.”
Kaylor couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Why would they have a nuclear device onboard?”
“It could be a self-destruct of some kind,” Jym offered.
“Can you pinpoint the source?” Having let the computer core fall to the deck with a metal-on-metal thud, Kaylor frantically scanned the room, looking for any kind of unit that looked like a self-destruct control. Seeing none, he was about grab the core and head for the exit when Jym spoke again.
“The source is about four feet in front of you, somewhere in the equipment bank. And Kaylor, the signal’s getting stronger.”
Directly in front of him was the recess opening left by the computer’s central core. Bending down, Kaylor inserted himself into the gap and turned on his helmet light. In the back of the opening was a rectangular box with a control panel with a lighted display – and on the display was a counter, methodically clicking down numbers…
Kaylor knew Jym could see this, too. “What do you make of this?”
“I’ll run it through the Library,” Jym said, and in a moment he came back on the line. “It’s a self-destruct all right. A timer is counting down. At zero we’re nothing but a cloud of radioactive debris.”
“How long do we have? Can we get out of range in time?” Kaylor gritted his teeth in anger. He was so close to the big score, and now it looked as though he’d have to abandon the salvage.
“Oh no!” Jym screamed in his ear.
“What’s wrong?”
“At the pace of the countdown, the device will activate in less than seven minutes.”
Kaylor was stunned. It would take him at least five minutes just to get back to his ship. Even Jym would need at least seven minutes or more just to charge up the generators to get away on his own. Escape seemed impossible.
As the sense of resignation once again descended on Kaylor, he simply stated, “Then we’ll have to disarm it.”
There was a moment’s silence on the comm-line before Jym came back on. “I’m scanning to see if there are any instructions in the Library for disarming such a device. Give me a moment.”
“A moment’s all we have.”
Less than thirty seconds later, Jym came back on the line. “I’ve got something. The controls appear to be a simple degradation program. It says that if we can reverse the contacts, the process should be reversed, adding time instead of subtracting it.”
Could it really be that simple? Kaylor didn’t ponder the question long. Instead he inserted himself further into the opening until he was only inches from the c
ontrol panel. Then pulling a small tool kit from a utility pocket in his environment suit, he took out a motorized screw extractor and set to work removing the outer panel to the timing device. The work went quickly, and soon he was looking into the guts of the control unit. There were wires and connectors and several circuit boards. “Which one is the timer?”
“It says to follow the leads from the display panel.”
“It’s right here in front.”
Removing a gripping tool from the kit, Kaylor reached into the unit, past the maze of wires and to the circuit board beyond. Positioning the gripper, he was just about to lock down on the board when he suddenly felt a painful clamping on both of his ankles—and he was violently yanked out of the opening!
He flew across the room, landing hard on top of the command console, shocked and dazed, his ribs burning. As he regained his senses, Kaylor found he was face-to-face with one of the primes from the hiberpods, naked except for a sheet wrapped around its lower torso. But this creature definitely was not dead. Instead, it glared at him, clenching its fists and baring its teeth in a sign of open challenge.
And then it charged!
Raising his arm in defense, Kaylor did so just in time to block the strike from the insane creature. Instantly, Kaylor let out a high-pitched scream, as he felt his arm break from the incredible impact. Intense fire-like pain coursed through his arm, before the suit could inject a pain killer, bringing with it at least a bearable degree of relief.
But the creature wasn’t done. The crazed beast grabbed Kaylor by his environment suit and threw him off the console, sending him once again flying across the room. Even in his pain-filled stupor, Kaylor was amazed at the strength of this creature!
Landing hard on the floor with another spasm of pain, this time in his right shoulder, Kaylor rolled to his right and managed to pull his MK-17 as he did so. He pointed it at his attacker, who hesitated, staring at the weapon. But when no bolt came forth, the creature pounced again.
