“Many thanks,” Fast Runner said. “My brothers will draw pictures of you tall ones on the wall of our burrow. We will teach our people about your great power.”
“Me too! I will do the same,” Old Mother squeaked hurriedly.
Jane grimaced. “We do not need such stories told about us. Simply say friends from the sky brought you home. Star Traveler, shut off the link.”
“Link shut off,” the AI said.
Bill looked around. They stood halfway up the double line of white globular cells. The warm yellow light of Sol shone down on them. As before they no longer wore tube suits, thank destiny, and it had been two days since they’d left the Market world system. In another day they would arrive at the Ludeen system. Where they would discover which world was Green Land. And be on the lookout for other Collector ships and local satellites. They’d learned during the last break that the Ludeen, while not having spacecraft, did have comlink sats in orbit. And each Mountain city was protected by powerful gas lasers. A carryover from the time when the Ludeen had fought among themselves. Plus planes flew from Mountain to Mountain, carrying tech people, students, emigrants, people like the architect and healer, and specialized foods that were in demand by their world’s leaders. Their tech sounded like something from the early 1950s, Bill thought. If you left out atomic bombs. But at least they’d been able to chat like normal, thanks to the translation ear buds distributed to the Ludeen and other captives by the AI. Jane caught his attention.
“Next group of cells,” she said, leading the way up the central walkway.
“Coming, Captain,” Bill said. He tried not to notice the shape of the woman’s hips and long legs, which were nicely outlined in her tight blue jumpsuit. An officer she was. And off-bounds she was. Or should be. Then again, he’d learned in the SEALs to never say never.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Jane stopped just above the intersection that allowed access to cells on their left and right. The attack by the Mok people had taught the two of them to no longer stand at the intersections of the side walkways with the central walkway. She put the white taser tube down on the metal of the central walkway, leaned it against her leg, glanced back at him, then frowned.
“This is taking too damned long! Star Traveler, who inhabits the cells near to us?”
A low hum sounded. “The cell to your left contains a Slinkeroo. The cell to your right contains a Zipziptoe. Neither species has a fellow captive in this chamber,” the AI said, its tone professor-like, as if the data should be obvious to them.
“And the other cells not yet visited? Name the species in them,” Jane said tightly. Perhaps she’d heard the same tone as Bill.
A quick hum sounded. “Going from closest to more distant, the other six cells contain pairs of people from the Cheelan, Megun and Aelthorp species.”
Jane crossed arms across her chest. “Establish an audio link to all eight cells. Project a holo of me and Bill inside each cell.”
“Link established. Holos projected.”
Jane proceeded to identify herself, her rank, make the offer of freedom from their cell, ask their names and then pose the peacefulness question. “I will hear your responses in order of your closeness to me. Each captive will hear what others say. And see holos of me and each other. Be patient. Slinkeroo captive, respond!”
Static came to his ear buds. Bill aimed his taser tube at the cell to the left. It held the Slinkeroo. Who, he recalled, resembled a walking snake. Words came.
“My community knows me as Time Marker,” the Slinkeroo said in a hissing voice. “On my world I build time keeping devices. Including time markers that track atomic particle changes. I was exploring an old cave when captured by Diligent Taskmaster.” A pause sounded. “My people are mostly peaceful, though we have devices to defend our world from infalling asteroids. I understand about spaceships, which my world of Notter has begun to build. Life elsewhere has been an assumption of my people. I will be peaceful to all.”
Jane nodded quickly. “Bill, open his cell door. Time Marker, you may exit out onto the walkway but do not approach me or any other bioform you see in this chamber.”
“Understood,” the Slinkeroo said. “It has been lonely in this room, though your words earlier that you had expelled our captor were very welcome,” it hissed.
Bill pointed the red cube and pressed Open. The door flashed open and yellow light shone out.
“Bill, focus on the other cell,” Jane said softly.
Before he turned he saw the Slinkeroo exit its cell on four short legs. A black-skinned walking snake it indeed resembled. Its triangular head turned their way. Two blue eyes fixed on them. A fringe of six tentacles circled its neck. The tentacles moved intentionally, making him think of long fingers. Then the most fascinating thing happened.
Lightning flared just above its long, ground-hugging body.
“Shit!” He aimed the taser at the walking snake.
Jane did the same.
“Peace!” hissed the Slinkeroo. “My people, and I, we are able to project electrical charges beyond our body. It is how we obtained food in the jungles on our world. Now, we use it to activate devices we make. I promise not use it against anyone in this ship!”
“Better not,” Jane said sharply. “We humans understand electricity. And how to ground it. While we cannot resist the strong shocks of the red beam that this weapon shoots, many humans can handle strong electric shocks. One of us would knock you out. Or use our . . . pellet-throwing pistols to punch holes in you!” she said, touching her Hi-Power.
The creature’s six neck tentacles flared outward stiffly. “Do not shoot! Your weapons are understood. The need to be peaceful on a ship where other life walks and talks and relates is understood. I am willing to work in return for the freedom of the ship.”
Jane kept her eyes and her taser fixed on the Slinkeroo. “Good. You will be allowed to freely roam this ship, if you are peaceful. Private quarters will be assigned you. Here is a device that will open most doors on this ship,” she said, tossing a red cube its way. “Now, stay there while I speak and meet with the other captives.”
A bobbing of its triangular head imitated the head shake done by humans. Which it had clearly learned just by watching the holos of him and Jane. A fast learner, that one, Bill thought as he turned and aimed his taser at the white cell to the right.
“Star Traveler, allow a response from the Zipziptoe captive,” Jane said.
A guttural moan sounded over his ear buds and in the chamber itself. “So tall you are,” came words that sounded basso profundo. “Strange the life from other worlds. My designation is Long Walker. My work involves visiting distant communities on our world. It is dangerous work, but we Zipziptoe evolved to survive all dangers.” A pause came. “My people do not travel to other worlds, though two of us recently orbited our world of Home. The craft was basic. It had no air and many openings in the craft walls. The vacuum was unpleasant to my comrades, but they returned home safely.”
Jane shook her head, clearly as amazed as Bill that this species could survive vacuum and stellar radiation without protection. “Giant tardigrades they are!” she muttered. “Long Walker, you have seen the holograms of the other captives held in this chamber. Can you be peaceful with them?”
Another long, low moan sounded. “Surely I can. We Zipziptoe know only peace. Our world has enough violence by its nature. None of us seek further violence.”
Jane gestured back at him with her free hand. “Let him out. Long Walker, your door will open. Go out from your cell and stop on the metal walkway that links your cell to where Bill and I stand. Do not approach us or the Slinkeroo whom you will see.”
“Agreed,” came a low moan.
Bill pointed his red cube at the cell and pressed Open. The white cell door zipped up. Brilliant white light shone from inside.
He squinted, but kept his taser aimed at the door. “Damn but that light hurts!”
Jane gave a loud sigh. “Even the reflection
is bright to me. This Zipziptoe world must orbit an F-type star!”
Bill vaguely recalled the F-type stars as being much brighter than Sol and occurring ahead of the G-type stars that were yellow. Like the Sun. He wished he had a pair of sunglasses. What came next was even wilder than the super-bright starlight.
Out of the cell there lumbered an eight-legged, ground-hugging critter who resembled a segmented worm. Each foot had ferocious claws, while the front leg pair were uplifted and the fleshy arm-legs held out. Three fingers and a thumb adorned the end of each arm-leg. The fleshly head most shocked him. It had a circular mouth filled with dagger-like teeth clearly made for latching onto prey and munching. At the top of the wrinkled head were two black eyes. Those eyes looked his way, then to Jane, then beyond her to the walking snake form of the Slinkeroo.
“Remarkable,” came a low bass rumble from the round mouth. “One of you is a normal ground-walker like me. The other two seem unbalanced to me.” The Zipziptoe creature stopped once all of its eight legs were free of the cell door. Bill quickly let go the Open spot. The door slid shut fast, cutting off the superbright light. Normal yellow light shone down on them.
The new creature looked up at the chamber’s ceiling lights. “Dim those are. But it is to be expected. A different world. A different star. And yet, you . . . Humans seem to enjoy distant traveling as much as I do.”
“We do,” Bill responded so Jane would not have her attention diverted from the unmoving Slinkeroo. “We occupy every part of our world, except for the oceans of salty water that cover two-thirds of Earth. But we have traveled deep in those oceans in vessels we call submarines.”
The Zipziptoe’s two black eyes fixed on him. “Our world has no open water. Except for the hot springs from which our people once came, according to our Recorders.” It went silent a moment, then moaned again. “We obtain water from shadowed ravines and from underground sources. The digging of deep wells by powered devices gave our people a chance to multiply. Now, many females lay eggs each year. Unlike distant times when survival was all that mattered.”
Bill kept his taser tube fixed on the creature. “The device I hold shoots a red beam like the one that allowed Diligent Taskmaster to capture you. She and I hold them for our protection. Until we see that peaceful action follows peaceful talk.”
Low moaning came in short bursts. Laughter? The black eyes blinked quickly. “Peaceful action is all I know. It is how I convince fellow Zipziptoes to share their family history with me. I am preparing a Recording that will include every family of our world, and their distant ancestors. Surely it will educate the newly hatched ones.”
Bill shook his head. An Alien genealogist stood before them. Albeit one from a world where natural disasters were the source of violence. “Stay where you are, Long Walker. Cooperate and you will have a new Recording to share with your people when we return you to your home world.”
The black eyes blinked again. “An eventual return home is welcome. But this star traveling you must do to return other captives to their homes, it appeals to me. Perhaps I can assist you?”
“Possibly,” Jane called from where she still covered the Slinkeroo. “Bill, toss him a red cube. Then let’s move back to the next pair of cells. I think they contain the Cheelan people.”
Bill tossed a cube to the walking worm, then stepped back along the central walkway, allowing Jane room to back pedal his way. “Do we keep them covered? Or switch to covering the new cells.”
“The new cells,” she said, coming to a stop just beyond the next intersection of cell walkways. “Star Traveler, allow the two Cheelan to speak now. What is your response to my offer and peace question?”
“Peacefulness is accepted,” barked one Cheelan. “My clan name is Purposeful Guide. I am male. My work involves the direction of an orbital complex above our world. The complex monitors the extremes of weather, ocean currents and food growth so our people will not go hungry,” he barked hurriedly. “We Cheelan have visited our two nearby moons and a water planet lying near our world. Which we call Vibrant. The presence of other life among the stars has been accepted by all Cheelan, but with great debate on the shapes, nature and intentions of that life.”
“Enough!” barked another Cheelan. “Guides talk endlessly. My clan calls me Wind Swift. I am a doer. My life work involves the search for and mining of ores needed to support the devices used by such as Purposeful Guide. My gender is female, though I have yet to bond with a male and begin a family. I too promise peacefulness to the strange lifeforms captured by that horrible bug!”
Bill grinned to himself. It was nice to know other folks saw the cockroach form of Diligent Taskmaster as repulsive. While the forms of the captives they’d met so far were strange, even exotic, he could class them as being reptiles, mammals, avians or just animal, like with the Zipziptoe. He thought none of the remaining captives were insect-like.
Jane looked his way, gave him a thumbs-up, then looked back to the cell on the left. At which she aimed her white tube. She also pointed her red cube at it. “Purposeful Guide, your cell door is now open. Come out onto the walkway, but stop there. Do not approach me, Bill or the other bioforms you will see.”
Yellow light shone from within the left side cell. A two-footed shape suddenly filled the oval doorway. That form stepped out onto the side walkway, saw them, looked up at the chamber’s ceiling lights, then fixed back on them. “I arrive. Peacefulness is promised. Like the Zipziptoe and Slinkeroo people, I offer to work in payment for my freedom.”
Bill saw a kangaroo-like Alien covered in silver scales. It had two arms with long scaly fingers adorning each hand, two strongly muscled legs, a yellow abdomen, red eyes and a thick tail that served as a third balance point. Reptilian it looked. It rested its four-fingered hands on a fabric skirt that reached to its knees. The head looked horse-like. The mouth, which had opened to speak, contained canines up front and molars to the back. His memory supplied the word omnivore. Which meant it would eat most anything. Like humans. The two red eyes blinked.
“Thank you, Purposeful Guide,” Jane said, keeping her taser aimed at the newly released captive. “Your offer is appreciated. Stay where you are until I speak to everyone now residing in a cell.” She tossed him a red cube, which he caught so quickly his hand was a blur. “That device opens most doors on this ship. Use it to find a habitat room you like and to obtain food in the Food Chamber.” She gestured back at him. “Bill?”
He turned away from the first Cheelan captive and aimed his taser at the right side cell. “Covered.” Pointing his red cube at the oval cell door, he pressed Open. The door slid up quickly. Yellow light glowed within, then a horse-like head appeared from one side, looking out.
“Safe it is?”
Jane held a new red cube she’d pulled from a pocket of her jumpsuit. “Wind Swift, it is safe. Come out and stand on the walkway in front of you. Wait there while Bill and I speak with, then release other people held captive.”
The female Cheelan bounded out, landed on the walkway, then leaned back on her long, thick tail so it braced her as she looked up and around. She also wore a fabric skirt. “So large a space! And the gravity feels just like that at home.” Wind Swift lowered her red eyes and fixed on Jane. “I thank you for my freedom. It was lonely in there. Like you humans and the other people gathered here, we Cheelan are social folks. Solitary confinement is reserved for our few criminals.”
Bill liked the shine of the silvery scales that covered the two Cheelan, except for the yellow scales on their abdomen. He thought they looked alert, smart, active and the kind of folks he could hang with. But did they like booze?
Jane tossed her cube to the female Cheelan. “Wind Swift, this device opens most doors on this ship, as you heard earlier. Be peaceful to us and to others, and you will have the freedom of the ship.”
“Understood,” the kangaroo-like Alien said as she quickly caught the cube.
Bill had already started walking back along the central walkw
ay when Jane gestured to him to do so. They were getting closer to the giant airlock door that lay at the upship end of the chamber. There were only four more cells to visit, two on each side of the walkway. He stopped just above the spot where the next pair of side walkways intersected the central one. Jane did the same, the back of her jumpsuit facing him. He turned, aimed his taser tube left and fixed it on the left side cell.
“Megun people,” she said loudly, “you have heard my conversations with other captives. Peaceful behavior will gain you the freedom of this ship, until we reach your home star. What is your response?”
A scratching sound echoed over his ear buds. And sounded within the Containment chamber. “Peaceful behavior is promised,” came low-toned words from the cell on their left. “Release from this cell is desired. My name is Learned Escape. I am male. My work involves the teaching of young Megun the skills of survival on our world.” A pause came. “Our world of Harken is mostly jungle filled with large, very dangerous creatures. We Megun have a world culture. And we have launched spaceships that have visited all worlds of our star system. Still, life is fragile on Harken. Hence the work I do.”
Another scratching sound came from the rightside cell. “What the male told you is accurate,” said the other captive. “But it is only part of our Megun story. My mother named me Bright Sparkle. I am female. I too promise peaceful behavior. My work involves the building and management of fusion power plants. Large or small, like those on our spaceships. I was captured while surveying a remote jungle plateau for the building of a broadcast power facility. Like other captives, I offer to work in payment for freedom to roam this strange ship. Which should have been detected by our orbital stations. But was not. I am curious to learn how that could happen.”
Jane looked back at him, a smile on her face. Clearly the female Megun was someone like his Captain. A woman who had achieved much in a male-dominated world. He gave her a thumbs-up and pulled out a red cube. She already held one in her other hand. She turned back and pointed it at the left side white cell. The cell door slid up in a blink. Yellow light shone within.
Escape 1: Escape From Aliens Page 17
