“Now you’re scaring me,” Calvin said. He glanced at the Ssselipsssiss and saw them gesturing at each other in some kind of sign language. He couldn’t read their expressions, but he didn’t have to; he was confident he knew what they were thinking, because he was thinking it himself.
“I need you to focus,” Calvin said. “Can you do that?”
“Yes,” Farhome said. “I can do that. Or not. Actually, I’m pretty sure I can pull all of me together…unless I fail.”
“Damn it!” Calvin exclaimed. “We may only get one shot at this. Are you with us or not?”
Farhome took a deep breath before speaking; Calvin couldn’t tell if he was gathering his thoughts or his personalities.
“Yes,” Farhome repeated, “I can do it.” His voice sounded more normal and more…fuller, somehow.
“Great,” Calvin said. “So how are you going to get us to the grate?” He wasn’t ready to put all their lives in the hands of a crazy man without a little more info.
“Well, I can’t actually do that,” Farhome said.
“Wait; I thought you said you could,” Calvin said. He noticed the Ssselipsssiss were gesturing at each other again. Not good.
“I can’t do it,” Farhome explained, “but Max can.”
“Who’s Max, dammit?” Calvin asked, tired of playing games.
“Maximus is the 10-foot version of me,” Farhome replied. “He can climb the stack of boxes next to the vent, then lean over and grab hold of the grate. After that, one of the Ssselipsssiss can climb over me like a bridge and open it. I would recommend Paxton, as he’s the reconnaissance operative. Once he has the grate open, we all go in. Piece of biscuit.”
“Hmm…” Calvin said, trying to picture it in his head; “that might work.”
“Excuse me,” Burkuri interjected, “but we don’t understand what the crazy man is saying. Who is this ‘Max’ person? How is he going to bridge a 10-foot gap?”
“Just like you five are more than you first seemed, Farhome is too,” Calvin said. “He has the ability to stretch himself and become 10 feet tall.”
“How does he do that?”
“I’m not really sure,” Calvin admitted. “Every time I’ve been around him when he’s done it, someone’s been trying to kill me…including Farhome himself, one time.”
“But I thought you were friends!” Burkuri protested.
“Our relationship is…complicated,” Calvin replied. Farhome just smiled beatifically. Calvin put his hands up to forestall any further questions. “Don’t worry about it; just accept that he can actually do it.”
Burkuri didn’t say anything, which Calvin was willing to take as concurrence.
“Okay,” Calvin continued after a moment; “here’s the plan. When we think the hangar is clear, we’ll run to the crates by the wall. Farhome will grow and lean over to the grate. When he’s in place, Paxton will cross over him, remove the cover and go inside. Then the rest of us will follow. Any questions?”
“I have a question,” Paxton said. “Before we go, would you like me to surveil the hangar?”
“You can do that?” Calvin asked. “Without being seen?”
“Of course,” Paxton replied; “I’m the recon expert, remember?”
Paxton dug into his pack for a moment and pulled out a box. He opened it up and removed what looked like a six-inch-long salamander.
“Is that a robot?” Calvin asked.
“No, it’s a live risst,” Paxton replied. “They are native to my planet. Even if the Jotunn see it, they will just think it crawled into the shuttle when it was on the planet. There is a small transmitter and muscle control interface in the risst. Don’t worry about the Jotunn intercepting the transmission; it is so low power it can’t be traced beyond about 10 feet.”
He carried the creature to the back of the cargo bay and set it on the deck. It scampered to the ramp and then slowly slithered down.
“Now we do what all good reconnaissance people do,” Paxton said.
“What’s that?” Calvin asked.
“We wait.”
Chapter Ten
Cargo Bay, Jotunn Shuttle, Sssellississ Orbit, December 13, 2021
The group had to hide two more times over the next three hours as Jotunn ground crew inspected the shuttle and made minor repairs. Shortly after the repair crews left, the lights in the cargo bay dimmed, signifying “night” had fallen for the ship.
“Okay, the lights just went out in the maintenance spaces,” Paxton noted. He had been keeping one of the lizard’s eyes on the door where the ground maintenance personnel had gone.
“This is our chance,” Calvin said. “We need to hurry before the next shift gets here.”
The group ran down the shuttle’s ramp and over to the boxes stacked near the vent. Paxton grabbed his lizard as he passed.
“Maximus,” Farhome said, and he grew to nearly 10 feet tall. He began climbing the seven-foot-tall crates by himself while the rest of the group helped each other up.
Farhome held up his hands, and the group watched as his fingers elongated and thinned. He judged the distance he had to cover and leaned over, sliding his fingers through the gaps in the ventilation grating to get a grip.
“I’ve got it,” Farhome whispered. “Go!”
Calvin lifted Paxton, who climbed the Aesir like a tree and opened the clips holding the grate closed.
“Got it,” Paxton reported.
“Just a second,” Farhome said. He readjusted his grip. “Go!”
Paxton opened the screen and climbed in. Reyl climbed the Aesir next. He had barely made it into the shaft when he turned and started gesturing to Burkuri, who was standing next to Calvin.
“Paxton says he’s not alone in the shaft,” she translated.
“What?” Calvin asked. “What does he mean he’s not alone?”
“He said something just ate his risst. He didn’t get a good look—” she paused, then added, “A big bug just walked up and is looking at him. He says you better get up there…now!”
“On my way!” Syrusss stepped aside so Calvin could climb up next, and gave him a boost onto Farhome’s shoulders. Calvin slipped inside the vent and crawled forward. Like everything else on the ship, the shaft was oversized, nearly four feet high and wide, so he could almost crouch and duck walk, but decided it was easier to crawl.
He was brought up short as he reached Paxton, and the…creature…watching him. It wasn’t just a ‘big bug;’ it was an enormous bug! It had 10 legs, stood over three feet high and was at least three feet wide. From what Calvin could see, it was probably five feet long. The most disturbing part wasn’t its size, but the fact that it looked like a giant cockroach, with four massive, jagged-edged mandibles surrounding an enormous mouth. Calvin’s whole arm would fit inside it with room to spare. The bug blocked the passageway; there was no getting past it.
“No…sudden…moves,” Paxton whispered. “It reacts poorly to them. It ate the risst when it tried to run.” He was sitting to the side of the passage, and Calvin had to move carefully so he didn’t kneel on Paxton’s tail as he passed. Calvin sat down next to Paxton.
“What’s going on?” he asked out of the corner of his mouth, keeping both eyes on the bug.
“Nothing, since I sat down and put my pistol away,” Paxton said. “You may not believe this, but I think it’s intelligent.”
“Why do you say that?”
“It keeps motioning to me, but has neither tried to attack, nor flee. If it ran, it could easily get away from me, but it hasn’t. The fact it’s just watching us tells me it can think.”
“Have you tried to talk to it?”
“Yes, but it didn’t react to anything I said.”
The creature tapped the floor of the shaft several times with a front leg. Calvin looked at the bug’s foot and saw it was more like a talon; two sharp claws extended from both the front and back of its two front legs. Calvin sensed impatience from the creature; he knew he needed to do something bef
ore it made up its mind to attack.
“Maybe it doesn’t speak Ssselipsssiss,” Calvin said. “Have you tried any other languages?”
“No,” Paxton replied. “I would try Jotunn, since this is a Jotunn ship, but I don’t know any.”
“I have a full download,” Calvin said. “Let me try.”
Calvin slid forward a little, and the creature backed up an equal amount, raising its front claws and clicking them in apparent warning.
“See?” Paxton asked. “You need to move slowly.”
Calvin put both hands up, slowly, and the creature put its claws down.
“Do you understand me?” Calvin asked in Jotunn. The question had an obvious effect as the creature started clacking its mandibles and bobbing up and down.
“I think you’re onto something, sir,” Paxton said. “Wait…I’ve got just the—” He pulled his pack off his back.
Faster than Calvin would have thought possible, the alien creature reached up to its back with its front claws and pulled out two objects from under its carapace.
“Don’t move!” Calvin ordered in Ssselipsssiss, his eyes focused on the muzzle of the pistol pointed at his face from less than two feet away.
Paxton looked up and froze; a second pistol was aimed at him. He slowly withdrew his hands from his pack and held them out to show they were empty.
“Let’s try to move really slowly,” Calvin suggested.
“Sorry,” the Ssselipsssiss said; “I got excited and forgot.”
“Well, I think we’ve confirmed its intelligence, if nothing else,” Calvin noted.
“I think it answered you when you spoke to it,” Paxton said. “I have a language analysis device in my pack. That is what I was trying to get.”
“I didn’t hear it say anything.”
“It was extremely high-frequency,” Paxton replied; “it might be above what Terrans can hear.” After a couple of seconds, he added, “Maybe you could ask it to lower its weapons so I can get my equipment out…it might help.”
Calvin switched to Jotunn. “My friend has a machine in his pack which will help us communicate with you. If you would lower your weapons, he will slowly get it out. We mean you no harm and are only trying to hide from the giants.”
Calvin couldn’t tell if his words were understood; the giant bug didn’t move, and it was impossible to tell where its multi-faceted eyes were looking. After a moment, though, it lowered its weapons.
“Slowly get out your equipment,” Calvin said. “And I do mean slowly. My friends would never let me hear the end of it if I got shot by a giant roach.”
Bridge, TSS Vella Gulf, 83 Leonis System, December 14, 2021
“I’ve got stargate emergence,” the Defensive Systems Officer (DSO) announced.
“Which stargate?” Captain Sheppard asked.
“The stargate that leads toward home, sir,” the DSO replied. “The ship is cruiser-sized, but I don’t recognize—”
“Sir, we’re being hailed by a ship calling itself the TSS Remurn,” the comms officer said.
“Must be a Domus ship,” Captain Sheppard said. “On screen.”
His guess was confirmed as the front view screen switched to the image of a Kuji, one of the allied races from the planet Domus, wearing a Terran Federation captain’s uniform. Reptilian, the race looked like six-foot-tall tyrannosaurus rexes. Captain Sheppard could see several other Kuji behind him, as well as a few of the humanoid race that was also indigenous to Domus.
“Greetings,” the Kuji said. “I’m Captain Skadolisses of the Remurn. We are on a diplomatic voyage to Archonis.”
“Greetings,” the CO replied. “I’m Captain Sheppard of the Vella Gulf. What’s happening on Archonis?”
“I’m carrying the new ambassador,” Captain Skadolisses replied. “The Federation is hoping to get them involved in the war.”
“Good luck with that,” Captain Sheppard said. “I’ve been there, and the Archons can be…difficult…to negotiate with.”
“So I’ve heard. Happily, I don’t have to bargain with them; I just have to transport the ambassador so she can talk to them.”
“Hey sir,” Night said in a stage whisper from the right of the CO. “Do you suppose they might have a few troops they can loan us? I’m down 12, and if we’re going to go behind enemy lines, I’d feel better with a full platoon.”
“I wouldn’t mind a few crews either, if they had them,” added Commander Sarah ‘Lights’ Brighton, the acting CO of the space fighter squadron. “I’m down five and a shuttle.”
“I do not have an air wing like you do,” Captain Skadolisses said, overhearing the requests; “I only have two shuttles and a handful of pilots. I can probably spare a couple of crews and a few of my ground troops, but I need to keep the shuttles for my diplomatic mission.”
“I understand completely,” Captain Sheppard replied. “We’ll take whatever you can spare. We intend to go up the Ssselipsssiss star chain looking for the Shaitan home world.”
“I will send you what I can. I also have a few Terrans aboard functioning as trainers; I can return them to you as well. Good luck and safe journey!”
Chapter Eleven
Ducts, Jotunn Ship, Sssellississ Orbit, December 13, 2021
Calvin looked at his watch and unplugged from the Ssselipsssiss translation box. It had taken a couple of hours for Paxton to fashion a plug that would fit into the upload/download jack in the back of Calvin’s neck, and then another 30 minutes to download all the Jotunn language in his implants. They had been at it for more than three hours since then and were finally starting to make some real progress.
Calvin turned around to address the rest of his group and found them staring in rapt attention. He didn’t know how they did it; he would have been bored long before now if he’d been the one watching. He slid over to where the group was waiting.
“What’s the creepie crawlie saying?” Farhome asked.
“Careful,” Calvin cautioned, his voice low. “They’re very smart and have been picking up our language almost as fast as I could pick up theirs with the translation box.”
“They?”
“Yeah, you can’t see them, but there is a big group just around the next bend in the duct. If we’d done anything aggressive, they would have overrun us.”
“How big a group?”
“No idea. It’s dark back there, and they’re moving around a lot. I got the feeling there were a lot of them.”
“Like 10 or 12?”
“No,” Calvin said. “Hundreds. The ducts are their home, and there is apparently a whole colony here.”
“Ewww!” Farhome exclaimed. “That’s nasty.”
“Yeah. Happily, they’re intelligent and decided to talk to us first.”
“First? Before what?”
“Before they ate us,” Calvin explained.
Farhome sat up, bumping his head on the ceiling. “Wait!” he screeched. “They were going to eat us?” He peered at the oversized insectoid talking with Paxton. “Do you suppose they’d want to eat all of me, or would they be happy with just Minimus?”
“I don’t think they’ve decided what to do with us yet, but there are an awful lot of them; if they make up their minds to do it, I think they’ll eat all of you.”
“Over my dead bodies.”
“I don’t think it matters. They’re scavengers; they’ll eat you dead or alive.”
“More to the point,” Burkuri interjected, “what are you doing to keep them from eating us?”
“We’re still trying to translate enough words so we can communicate. Their speech is too high-pitched for me to even hear most of it; I’m relying on Paxton’s box to capture what Zeeelbit is saying and translate it for me.”
“That’s a handy box,” Farhome said. “What is it?”
“It’s an interrogation tool,” Burkuri answered. “After it has learned the nuances of a race’s speech, it can also determine with a good degree of accuracy whether the subject is lying or
not. If we had a power source, it could also be used for stimulating the subject.”
“Stimulating the subject?” Calvin asked.
“Yes,” Burkuri said. “There are leads that can deliver an electrical shock to whoever is being interrogated. Depending on the race, it can be set high enough to kill, if desired.”
“Nice kids you’ve got there,” Farhome said, looking at Calvin.
Calvin ignored him and continued, “So far we’ve learned the creatures live here in the ducts. The Jotunn generally ignore them unless too many get caught out in the open, in which case the giants try to kill them.”
“Do they fight back?” Reyl asked.
“I asked the same question,” Calvin replied. “The answer was ‘no;’ they don’t fight back.”
“Why not?” Burkuri asked.
“Because they realize that no matter what happens, they lose. If they become big enough nuisances that the Jotunn decided to exterminate them, they’d all be dead. If they were to fight back and kill all the Jotunn, they would eventually starve to death after they ate all the bodies. It would take a while, but they can’t fly the ship. They’d lose either way.”
“So, they just live here in the ducts?” Burkuri asked. “How do they get food and water?”
“They clean up whatever the Jotunn leave out or spill. Apparently, the Jotunn don’t ever clean up after themselves, so there is a lot to eat.”
“That makes sense,” Farhome said. “The Jotunn are warriors; cleaning is beneath them. They probably allow the bugs to live in the ducts in some sort of weird symbiotic arrangement so they don’t have to clean up after themselves. As long as the bugs don’t make pests of themselves, they’re happy to have them aboard to do the menial work.” He giggled. “I made a pun.”
“That must be it,” Calvin agreed, ignoring Farhome’s last comment. “I wondered why the Jotunn didn’t kill them off.”
“So the bugs are happy here?” Burkuri asked.
“No, they’re not,” Paxton said, joining the group. “Zeeelbit says they’d like to get off the ship. They have some racial memory of being on a green planet. He said they won’t kill us if we can get them off this ship and onto a planet.”
The Dark Star War (Codex Regius Book 3) Page 7
