by S. H. Jucha
Reiko regarded Alex, who was hiding a grin behind a hand, and she heard Tatia and Renée snickering. “I don’t get it,” Reiko objected.
“Alex told Homsaff to think like Pussiro, if she was challenged,” Renée explained.
“Understood, but why the nonsensical conversation?” Reiko asked.
“Have you done a head count?” Tatia asked Reiko.
“A squad leader and three warriors are missing,” Julien said, to save Reiko time.
Reiko searched the city-ship’s controller feed. “There are four signals that are offline, no video or audio,” she noted. “Where did they go?”
“That’s the question, isn’t it?” Alex remarked. “I imagine the purpose of the Homsaff-Simlan conversation is to appear to Faustus as if the boarding party is stymied. Faustus would consider that our Dischnya are operating in an utterly simplistic manner first trying the port side, then the starboard side, and then both sides. Now the alien entity can see them talking, imagining them trying to figure out the next move.”
“While Hessan and the others try a third approach,” Reiko said, understanding the Dischnya’s subterfuge. “It’s too bad Pussiro didn’t keep written records of his exploits. They would make fascinating reading.”
Alex sent a short, private message to Renée.
Hessan and three warriors waited until the squads were gone before they eased quietly out of the room. They had allowed sufficient time for the human drones to spot the squads, relay the information to Faustus, and the corridors to be jammed.
Clawed feet gripped the hard rubber decking, as Hessan and the warriors hurried to a corridor intersection, crossed halfway to the other side of the ship, and located a large vent in the overhead. They’d left their environment suits, packs, and stun weapons in the room. Hessan carried a small portable comm unit, which he had turned off, and each warrior wore hand weapons on their belts.
Two warriors linked their hands to form a support, and Hessan climbed onto their shoulders, trying not to dig his great claws into their skin. The third warrior passed him a small bag of tools, and Hessan worked to remove the bolts that held the vent cover in place.
When the cover was free, Hessan handed it and the tool bag down. He reached up into the vent opening and pulled his body through it. As soon as Hessan disappeared, the warriors fixed the cover in place and found a place to hide. They stayed close enough to keep an eye on the vent for Hessan’s return.
Hessan crawled silently through the air duct. It was large enough to provide ample room, and the layer of dust facilitated his slithering motion. He was careful to keep his feet elevated, lest the scraping of his claws on metal be heard by the drones.
At each branch, Hessan checked his locator. According to the diagram, one of the main ducts would end over the bridge. Homsaff had told him that the bridge equipment’s heat would require significant circulation.
Reluctantly, Hessan turned on his comm unit, when he knew he’d covered half the distance to the bridge. His sharp hearing enabled him to keep the line volume at its lowest level in hopes that anyone below wouldn’t hear his communication. Homsaff had given him a code word. If he heard it, he was to retreat, at all speed.
Despite his youth and prowess, Hessan spent the better part of an hour squirming through the ducting before he reached the bridge. The main line split into three branches, each one ending in the overhead above the bridge. Hessan eased up to the first vent cover and peered through. He waited for a quarter hour, expecting to see Faustus walk underneath. Moving to the other two vents, Hessan spent the same amount of time at each one in hopes of spotting Faustus.
Frustrated, Hessan crawled back to a section without venting. Quietly, he whispered into his portable comm.
“Homsaff, I monitored the bridge for nearly an hour. There’s been no sign of Faustus,” Hessan reported.
“Any other activity?” Homsaff asked.
“This is the odd part, Homsaff,” Hessan replied. “The bridge panels are lit. Lights on them are winking on and off, and icons are changing colors. But, there are no humans in sight … or aliens, if you were wondering.”
Homsaff was torn between requiring Hessan to remain in place or retreat. Perhaps, I’m not as clever as Pussiro, Homsaff thought, or this alien is a greater adversary than Pussiro ever faced. If so, I’ve found someone who can challenge even the great wasat.
“Dassata, I’ve need of your advice,” Homsaff transmitted.
“We’ve witnessed the blockades of your squads, Homsaff, and we heard Hessan’s report. Where is he?” Alex replied.
“Julien’s plans of the colony ship have been helpful, Dassata, although there appear to be modifications,” Homsaff reported. “I sent Hessan through the air ducts. He was monitoring the bridge from the vents overhead. Is it possible that bridge operators wouldn’t be required on a ship this old?”
Alex glanced toward Julien, who said, “Earth’s colony ships contained sophisticated computer systems that ran many of the basic ship functions of environment controls, power routing, sensor monitoring, and more. However, comms, navigation, main engines and the like would require personnel on bridge duty.”
“Then it’s possible that Faustus could be monitoring this ship from anywhere inside,” Homsaff reasoned. “Do you have suggestions of where the alien might be hiding?”
Alex glanced around the bridge. Not a single individual offered an idea. “I think your first thought might be correct, Homsaff. Faustus could be anywhere,” Alex replied.
“Then we will search the entity out, Dassata. We’ve time, yet,” Homsaff said, ending the call.
Homsaff recalled Hessan. The three warriors recovered him, while the squads returned to their planning room. When Hessan and the warriors rejoined the team, the squads yipped quietly and appreciatively to the foursome for the successful execution of their assignment.
“This ship is the size of many nests,” Homsaff announced, “but it is still a nest, and we will treat it that way. Our challenge is that we have only three locators, but we need to divide into smaller groups.”
“We can mark as we go,” Simlan volunteered.
Homsaff bared her teeth. “Yes,” she said. “We start with three groups, each group with a squad leader or me. I’ll assign a section of the ship. The leader will assign search areas to two warriors. Each pair is to mark where you travel so that you don’t repeat your path. Squad leaders, when your assigned portion of the ship is finished, we meet again to share more search space.”
“What if Faustus moves, as we search?” Hessan asked.
“Expect the alien to move around,” Homsaff replied. “I don’t think, in the course of fourteen days, Faustus will elude us entirely.”
“What if the alien appears human, as the SADEs do?” a warrior asked.
Homsaff frowned in thought, and Simlan said, “We should work without our helmets, Homsaff. We can hear better, and we can use our noses. The alien won’t smell like a human even if it resembles one.”
“Excellent thinking, Simlan, we will do as you suggest,” Homsaff replied.
The Dischnya stripped out of their environment suits and picked up the gear they would need. Then, Homsaff accessed her locator, carved out portions for the squad leaders, divided the team into three groups, and led them out the door.
“Two hours,” Homsaff whispered to the squad leaders. “Meet here again in two hours.”
The teams searched the upper decks first, finding empty cabins, numerous storage rooms, and many places where access was denied. Warrior pairs searched their assigned areas, passing human drones. None of the blockades formed, which the Dischnya noted with interest.
After the first search window finished, the team reformed. No one reported success.
“Every individual we passed smelled human,” Hessan reported.
“The same for us,” Simlan added.
“We encountered two humans,
who carried a young girl between them,” Homsaff said. “That’s the first child we’ve seen. She was struggling, while they pinned her arms, but, when she saw us, she quieted and stared in horror.”
“Children, that’s what we heard,” Hessan declared to Simlan.
“What?” Homsaff asked.
“We were discussing this subject before you arrived, Homsaff,” Simlan said. “When we searched some of the decks, our warriors heard furtive sounds, the scurrying of small ones. Perhaps the sounds we heard were made by human children.”
“Could you smell something other than human?” Homsaff asked. Her squad leaders shook their heads. “That means children have escaped Faustus’ claws and roam the ship.”
“Should we try to rescue them?” Hessan asked. He was thinking of the new pups that he and his mate would soon possess.
Simlan regarded Hessan with a baleful eye, until the younger squad leader ducked his muzzle.
“Homsaff’s story … the human children will run at the sight of us,” Hessan belatedly admitted.
A thought occurred to Homsaff, and she dug into her small carry pack for her chronometer. The team had been aboard for nine hours. She realized that inside the ship there was little indication of day or night. Undoubtedly, the humans would need to rest, at some point, but when will that be, she wondered.
“Continue the search,” Homsaff said. “Here are your new search areas,” she added, sending new parameters to their locators.
Day after day, imitating the fleet’s chronometer cycle, the boarding party searched the colony ship from the uppermost decks downward. The reports of the group leaders developed a similar theme. Late on the fifth day, the team holed up in an empty storeroom for food and water after another set of fruitless searches.
Homsaff reclined on the floor. Her whiplike tail was wound around a leg. The queens found it uncomfortable to sit on them. While Homsaff’s team rested, her mind dwelt on the numerous searches they’d executed. It wasn’t the lack of success that bothered her. It was the singular discontinuity of the first three efforts from the remainder of their searches.
Suddenly, a thought occurred to her, and she opened a comm call. “Dassata,” she said.
“My mind is teased by what Julien calls an anomaly,” Homsaff said. “Our searches return nearly identical results: human drones, the occasional furtive movement of young ones, empty rooms, and secreted areas.”
“Negative, Dassata. I believe we’ve been deceived,” Homsaff replied.
“For the last four days, we’ve roamed a third of the decks, investigated countless spaces, and not once has a team or a pair of warriors been blocked,” Homsaff replied.
“I think Faustus has already raised a hand,” Homsaff said, referring to the rude gesture a Dischnya pup would display.
“Dassata has his wits about him,” Homsaff said, a snort accompanying her remark.
Alex replied, grinning.
Julien accessed the colony ship’s plans and shared them with Alex.
“No closer than forty-five meters each time, Dassata.”
“And yet no one attended the bridge operations for nearly an hour,” Homsaff mused. “That is another anomaly.”
Alex and Julien waited, while Homsaff considered what she’d learned.
“We’re abandoning the general search of the ship, Dassata. We’ll try a different tactic to reach the bridge and view these quarters Julien mentioned. I’m certain we’ll find Faustus there,” Homsaff said, ending the call.
“A wasat queen,” Julien remarked to Alex. When Alex grinned at him, Julien donned a jaunty hat and whistled an appropriate tune to match.
Homsaff led the boarding party back to the first room, which they’d originally used for staging. When the search days had resulted in no more confrontation with the human drones, the squad leaders had acquiesced to Homsaff, who chose to walk in front of the team.
“We need to search the bow of the ship, specifically the bridge and the officers’ quarters,” Homsaff declared forcefully. “I’m sure that Faustus resides there.”
Homsaff highlighted the target area on her locator, which appeared on Simlan and Hessan’s devices. The warriors crowded around the three leaders to study the small images.
“There is a danger if we repeat our last foray to the bridge by sending Hessan and a few others through the same vent,” Simlan posited. “There is a possibility that, while the rest of us occupy the attention of the controlled humans, Hessan and his team confront Faustus, who might possess superior armament to ours?”
“You make a good point, Simlan,” Homsaff replied. “It speaks to the need to put more warriors through the air ducts.”
“How many warriors, Homsaff, do you think we’d need to put into the corridors to attract Faustus’ blockades?” Hessan asked.
“Another good question,” Homsaff replied. Her jaw dropped, displaying her sharp teeth, and her long tongue extended from her mouth to loll down one side — the equivalent of Dischnya laughter.
The warriors quietly chortled and yipped. Their leader had an idea, and that meant action, no more laborious and desultory searching.
“Simlan, Hessan, you will take three warriors each and lead them down the corridors,” Homsaff ordered.
Simlan recognized Homsaff was choosing to lead the assault on the bridge via the air ducts, and he opened his mouth to object, but Homsaff hand signaled him. Her hand, palm down, swept to the side, indicating to him that he should hold his tongue.
“The remainder of the warriors will accompany me through the ducting,” Homsaff stated, “and I will not lead this group.” When Homsaff finished, Simlan tipped his head in acknowledgment.
“Will four warriors be enough to attract the attention of a sufficient number of human drones to free the area you need to search?” Hessan asked.
Homsaff’s razor-edged teeth gleamed, as she opened her jaw, and the warriors imitated her. A few years ago, these mannerisms would have been taken as challenges.
“Simlan and you won’t play passive roles, as we did the first three times,” Homsaff said, focusing intently on the younger squad leader. “You will intimidate, and you will challenge.”
“Provocation,” Simlan acknowledged.
“Including stunning them?” Hessan questioned.
“Not at first, but eventually,” Homsaff replied. “Start small and slow. Work your way up, stare, push, shove, and then stun.”
“Are we attempting to break through?” Simlan asked.
“Negative. You’re trying to attract the most attention you can,” Homsaff replied.
The warriors, who would confront the drones, donned their suits. They wanted to appear as they did before, and they wanted some protection, during their confrontations.
The majority of the warriors eschewed their suits but retained their portable comm units. Homsaff checked her locator on her forearm. The warriors, who would accompany Homsaff, picked up small packs, which carried water and food for two days. They strapped them to their waists and shoved the packs to the small of their backs.
Homsaff’s tail stood erect, with its tapered end in a curl. It was a sign of a queen in an excited or agitated sta
te, depending on the circumstances.
Simlan and Hessan’s teams helped the others through the same vent as before. They tracked Homsaff’s locator signal, waiting until it stopped near the bridge before they split and set off along the port and starboard corridors that led to the bridge.
Each squad leader took his time, ensuring that drones witnessed their approach. As expected they were met with a small wall of humans. The warriors tried to gently push their way through. With their greater strength, the humans were unable to keep them from penetrating their blockade. Each side was nearly through their blocks when drones by the tens began showing up.
The warriors retreated until they were clear of the humans. More drones accumulated to bolster the blockades, and the warriors started shoving and pushing again, attracting more defenders against their actions.
“I believe we have as many in our blockade as we did the first time,” Simlan said over the comm. This time, he was careful to speak in Dischnya, in case he was overheard by the alien.
“Go,” Homsaff whispered softly, tapping the calf of the warrior in front of her. The signal was passed up the line to the warrior, who had the view through the vent grill into the bridge below.
Unfortunately for the team, the bolts to remove the grill weren’t accessible from within the vent. The front warrior wiggled around until his massive hocked-legs were poised over the vent cover. When he received the double tap on his back, he kicked down with all his strength. There was a bang. The cover bent slightly, but it held. He kicked out three times before the metal cover tore loose and fell to the deck.
Warrior after warrior squirmed to the opening and dropped through. When Homsaff landed, she eyed the mangled cover. It was still attached to its mounting frame. The warrior had kicked the entire structure free. She chortled quietly, and then she gazed around. It was as Hessan had described. The panels were active, icons were changing, and readouts were in motion.
“Search,” Homsaff hissed, pointing to the two exits off each end of the bridge.
The warriors fanned out, but two stayed with her. Simlan and Hessan had insisted on that precaution, and Homsaff had accepted it rather than start an argument she wasn’t sure she could win. Although she was a queen, only one warrior in the team belonged to her nest. For a young Dischnya, Homsaff was challenged in many ways to walk between the worlds of the Dischnya and the Omnians.
