by Darrell Bain
Siessina remained awake long after the others, trying to think of a way to convince the aliens to let them initiate the contact protocols. During the wild emotional turmoil of seeing intelligent beings wantonly killing her fellow Freemtinies, she had not even thought about it. And afterward she had been too frightened and busy after the aliens had killed another of them in order to induce them to carry their dead a ways off from camp. Even now she could hear the wild fauna of the planet wanting to come closer and feed from the remains but the aliens had built large fires from native material to keep them away.
She made a vow to try to start the protocols from the imager she was still carrying on her belt the following day, even if it meant her death. After that she was finally able to slip into a very uneasy and restless slumber.
* * * *
Travis actually nodded off during the night flight across the continent but woke up again after a short time. The nap did him good, though. That and a full cup of coffee, rationed or not.
“I'm glad that's something I don't have to give up,” Geraldine Wu said to him after he was properly awake and looked her way.
“It's not going to be easy,” Travis acknowledged, “but I suppose just about all of us have one thing or another we're going to miss when it runs out.”
“Right you are, Captain. I'm certainly going to miss my journals and conversations in other languages. It's been my life's work, you know.” She mused for a moment then brightened. “Of course I'll have a brand new species to converse with, won't I? And my, just think of the advances in semantics that will entail! I'd win a Nobel prize hands down if anyone on earth ever heard about it.”
“Not likely, is it?” He looked over at the diminutive semanticist and linguist. “However, I'm awfully glad you decided to take a vacation at the right moment so far as we're concerned. I know for certain you're the best we have in the way of someone who can learn an alien language quickly.”
“Possibly, Captain. Just remember they are alien and will have alien ways. And what we saw yesterday evening from the satellite certainly isn't going to make my job any easier.” She brushed her hand across her forehead in an attempt to move the threads of black hair that had escaped from their ribbon. “Those poor beings. What a way to meet a new species.” Her vision narrowed to a thin slit between nearly closed lids in a sympathetic expression.
“I can only agree. However, I did think it was a bit peculiar that there was no resistance on their part that we could see and their ship is still sitting there. Surely all of them didn't come out at one time?”
“I agree with you, Captain, it is peculiar. But as I said, aliens will do alien things, at least to our way of thinking.”
He glanced at his watch. “Well, one more hour and those bastards will be getting what's coming to them.” He could have avoided looking at his watch because the troopers were being awakened and given coffee. There was a second cup for him which he greatly appreciated.
It was earlier than the time which Terrell had said they'd be ready. It wouldn't be much past daylight when they reached the convict camp, which could either help or hurt but there was no question of winning. That was written in stone. He didn't mention how he felt initially when the convicts had raided them, apparently only to capture more women. Besides thoroughly castigating himself for not trying a rescue earlier, it had almost driven him to believe the ones who were the first captives must be dead. Then he reconsidered when he thought of the disparity in males to females at the convict camp. Probably they just wanted more. And had obviously wanted to put their tender out of commission so they couldn't take revenge for the raid. Well, they hadn't and now they were dead, or soon would be. He only hoped Sissy would survive her experience without too much emotional turmoil. He knew he would do all he could to comfort her, but he was a man. He couldn't possibly relate to the experience of rape no matter how much he might sympathize.
* * * *
“Listen up, now! We've got fifteen minutes until zero hour.” Lieutenant Brett Freeman spoke loudly from his position near one of the bay exits in order to be heard over the thrusters. “I'll be leading the assault from this side of the bay and First Sergeant Gomez from the other. Before we jump off, everyone take one more look at the photos. It's not going to be much more than an hour past daylight when we hit and there will be shadows. Be careful. We do not want to kill any of our own people. Nor do we want to kill any of the aliens. Those damned convicts have already done enough of that. You will not shoot near an alien unless it is to save your life. If so much as one alien dies in this assault, the soldier who kills it had better have a goddamned good story for the after-mission brief.”
He bared his teeth in something between a grin and a snarl. “On the other hand, convicts are fair game. Every single one of them. If they don't put their hands in the air or hit the deck with their hands behind their heads, then feel free to send them to hell. Clear?”
“Clear, sir!”
Gomez added his own patented fight talk to the troops after the lieutenant was finished then turned the men over to their sergeants.
Maria stayed in her seat as a safety measure but required each of the soldiers under her command to check their equipment and heft their weapons in order to show that they all had the safeties on. When she told them to lock and load and prepare for the assault, she didn't want some fool to put the safety on instead of off as she had seen happen. Once she was satisfied, she glanced at her watch to check the time. She still had a few minutes to think about Jimmy and wonder whether or not he was dead. The fact that their shuttle was being flown suggested either he or Esmeralda had been alive for some time after capture, at the very least. Thinking of Jimmy made her remember that Sandy was on pins and needles, too. She hoped the weapons tech could put her thoughts of the Smith twins aside long enough to do her job. It was the first, and in some ways, the most important task of all. She had to fire the laser cannon if the lieutenant gave the order. She hoped the tender was still parked where it had been the last time they'd gotten some good footage. That had been late the day before, but at the time, the craft was situated where they could come in and land at an angle that, with the position of the alien ship, might prevent the other tender from taking off. In that case the laser wouldn't have to be used at all. It would be close, though. A few feet one way or another might make all the difference in the world. It wouldn't affect their assault, though. Captain Callahan had made sure they had overwhelming strength and the desire to use it. That made her happy. Some convicts were going to be very sorry they ever broke the law in the first place, much less what they'd done since arriving here.
* * * *
Morehill looked out over his domain and felt as if his power and status was almost complete. Maybe one more raid on the ship, but only if the ferrets couldn't take them home, and that ought to do it. No point in taking chances. That was for later, though. At the moment he had more to think about than another raid. He and Fondez had to get the aliens they had left alive to talking and learn how to operate their ship. In the meantime, he needed to parcel out the new women to keep his people happy. Seven new ones ought to take care of that little item very neatly. In fact, he liked the looks of the tall blond himself and to hell with Sarah. He would hate to give up Esmeralda but he and Fondez had talked it over. He agreed it wouldn't be the best thing politically to have more than one woman at a time so the new blond was next in line. He'd heard her name already. Sissy. It made him laugh.
He gazed over at the cluster of aliens, still tied together by his order. It didn't look as if they had eaten any of the meat he'd given them. All they'd done was drink a little water and turn their big brown eyes on him as if their pleading gaze would make him set them free. Ha! Didn't they know? Brown eyes don't work on brown eyes! Time enough for them a little later. First he needed to find out if any of the people from the ship knew anything about astronomy. He sure as hell didn't and neither did any of the other cons but someone was going to have to work with those
little furry animals before they could get back to earth. He had taken a tour of the ship already. It had been fascinating but not very enlightening. Even what he thought was their control room didn't look like what he thought it should. Of course he had to admit all he knew about ships and control rooms came from games.
That goddamned Fondez hadn't been much help, either. Fucking lawyers and politicians thought they were so smart and he didn't know a fucking thing more than him about the aliens or their ship either, and little more of how to dig the information out of them. Shit, that shouldn't be so hard, he thought, remembering the one he'd shot when they wouldn't carry their own dead away. That sure made them get a move on, didn't it? He should have had them take the bodies way off. Foraging carnivores had begun fighting over the remains and the biggest of them were threatening the camp until he'd had big fires built. Shit, they couldn't be very dumb, not and fly starships. But right now, the women came first. Probably after breakfast. He headed toward where the smells were coming from and wondered what kind of goulash the cooks had come up with this time.
After the meal, which hadn't improved a bit over what they'd been having, he decided to get the new females oriented right away. It promised to be a busy day and he wanted to get that behind him. As a matter of fact, the way things had been going so well was making him horny. That blond might relieve his tension a bit. Nothing like a little loving after a meal to make a man feel better, even if it hadn't been a very good one. He headed in their direction.
* * * *
The laser cannon controls were situated right beside the pilot. Lieutenant Freeman sat directly behind her in order to observe and tell her whether or not to shoot. Sandy was hoping she wouldn't have to. They could always use another tender but if ... She started suddenly and leaned forward.
“Lieutenant Freeman! There's people in my line of fire!”
“I see them, Sandy. Ours or theirs? I can't tell.”
“Wait one.” She glanced at the pilot. “Can you slow it down?”
“No can do. Make up your mind, now!”
Sandy squinted and just as she heard Freeman start to give an order, she saw it. “They're women! I see their hair blowing in the wind! Pull to the side! I can't fire on them!”
“Do it,” Freeman ordered just behind her.
The pilot did his best but he couldn't manage the landing path he'd been set for, the one that would block the other tender so Sandy didn't have to use the laser. He had to veer off slightly or catch what she said was their own people in the heat of his thrust. And now they'd waited too long for her to shoot in any case, at least until they were on the ground. But after they were down and had skidded a short distance to a stop, they were parked in a position where she could use the laser by swiveling it just enough to bring the forward part of the other tender into range. She was ready.
“Stay on the laser!” Freeman yelled to Sandy and popped his harness. He began running past the seats and toward the bays.
Sandy knew he was going to be lucky to make it before the assault. Not that it would matter. Gomez would get it off if he wasn't there in person. Her duty was to stay where she was in case she had to use the laser. She had already decided she'd rather not, even if she saw a chance to use it safely during the fight. It would be better to watch the bastards die or be executed by hanging or a firing squad. And she certainly didn't want to ruin the other tender if she could help it. The convicts were a different matter. A blast from a laser cannon wouldn't even leave them time to even regret their actions before they died.
She never took her gaze from the canopy even as she heard the assault begin and she saw Captain Callahan replace Freeman from the corner of her eye.
* * * *
Sissy stared back at the big convict standing in front of the women and eyeing them with ill-disguised lasciviousness. As if they were things, not persons. She was trying desperately not to let her fear show. She knew what was going to happen and had made up her mind to resist no matter what. She wanted desperately to tell him and every other con that a rescue was on the way but she hadn't dared for fear they might shoot the tender down before it even landed. That's if it was still in condition to fly. She was sure she'd heard the convicts’ bow gun fire on that first run. Just in case their own was still flyable, she had passed whispered words to the other captives to keep quiet about the proposed rescue and in the meantime she intended to defy their captors with all her strength. Then all her grim resolutions went tumbling down in tatters after the convict in front of the group began to speak.
“Listen up, bitches. No matter what you might have heard, you ain't gonna be gang raped.”
She saw how he smirked as he saw glimmers of hope beginning to appear on their faces. He looked as if he were taking the greatest pleasure in dispelling it as he continued.
“On the other hand, you gotta know we didn't take a chance on getting killed by bringing you back here because we wanted better cooks and bottle washers, so let me give you a primer on how we organize things around this place.” He went on to tell them how they would be parceled out among the cons, then showed his teeth in a grin as he saw signs of resistance burgeoning in a few of them and her in particular.
“And just in case any of you have a notion of playing like iron women, it won't work. Know why? Because we still have some of your men. And if you don't play along, the first thing we'll do is take one of them out and let you watch us execute him. I think one of the fucking army twins this time. Hell, one of them is an extra anyway.”
Once he saw he had them cowed, Sissy was startled to be singled out.
“Now all that's gonna take place tonight. Right now though, I'm feeling a wee bit horny.” He pointed a finger at her. “You, Blondie. You come with me and I'll be the first to break you in.”
She quailed at first but then made herself lift her chin and stare hatefully at him. He might be able to force her into submission with threats of executing others but there was no way she was going to do it gracefully.
He started toward her but a sound made him stop and look around. At first she couldn't believe it, and she noticed he couldn't either. He refused to look toward the sky but before long, the matter was no longer in doubt. The sound of a tender in flight was far too familiar to mistake, especially as close as this one was. An adrenalin rush made her body tremble. The rescue was on!
* * * *
That's the tender! Esmeralda suddenly realized. They really are coming! She took in the people around her with a swift glance. The new captives had been herded together with the old on Crag's order. She had heard him and Fondez arguing about it, with Fondez insisting the best way to integrate the new women into the group was to put them with the old captives overnight, intimating they could probably convince the new women to submit easier than he could. He had won the argument and now all of them were staring at the sky with anxious eyes. She looked back around and found the guard. He was standing with his mouth hanging open unable to believe what he was hearing.
“Tom! Jerry! Dale!” she called to the army men in hearing distance, not caring whether she drew the attention of the guards or not.
They tore their eyes from the sky and looked at her. Get ready, she mouthed silently and smiled with satisfaction when all three tilted their heads in slight but definite nods. They would act when she was ready. She hadn't bothered Sillers with her attention. She was too far gone in self-pity.
“Don't start nothing, bitch. I don't care if you are a favorite with Crag,” the guard snarled.
Esmeralda knew he wouldn't dare shoot her for fear of what Crag might do to him but she could see how inflamed his emotions were. There was no telling what else he might do.
From the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of Morehill. He was running full-tilt toward their tender. No, goddamn it, no you don't! she muttered to herself.
“Watch him!” she yelled at the twins and took off running after the convict leader, zigzagging back and forth to make a difficult target in c
ase the guard did lose his head and try to shoot her. It slowed her down and she was handicapped even further by the tricky maneuver it took to get her little holdout pistol from its hiding place while running but nevertheless she kept pace with Morehill. She knew it was going to be close but she had to stop him from getting the tender into the air or his hands on the bow gun, and the only way to do that was to keep him from running inside and closing the hatch in her face. Even not closing it wouldn't stop him. Alarms would sound but he could take off with the hatches open. She ran harder, going all out in an effort to overtake him but even as she did, she knew it wasn't going to be enough. She realized she wasn't going to make it in time.
* * * *
“These sophants are mad! Mad!” Siessina said excitedly, a state her people rarely allowed themselves but the situation unfolding in front of her was not possible to understand. She knew she was letting her emotions run away from her but she found she couldn't force them down.
“They are fighting with one another, which is truly insane,” Crimaakai agreed with equally zealous excitement and confusion.
Siessina could blame neither Crimaakai or herself or any other of her race for thinking the beings were crazed. While she conceded it might be barely possible for them to be inimitable toward another intelligent species, there was no way she or anyone else could possibly understand how they could fight so viciously among themselves. Yet that was exactly what they were doing. Another aircraft had appeared suddenly and from it swarmed more of the aliens all clad the same way and all bearing even more formidable personal weapons. They blazed and thundered as the outnumbered ones holding them captive fought against the invaders. Then just as suddenly, one of them turned its weapon in their direction and began firing it wildly. Crimaakai's head exploded in gore and she collapsed in a lifeless heap. More of her people fell from slugs thrown with great force from the barrels of their weapons. Tied as they were to each other, there was absolutely nothing they could do but die in place. Some fell to the earth and cowered with hands wrapped around themselves. Others tried to run in different directions even though they were bound together, and that caused more to fall. She believed they were all going to be slaughtered and prepared herself to meet the Great Sextant.
