by Henry Vogel
“B-b-but this isn’t an emergency.” Tarl, the former Admin, babbled.
With his free hand, Sko reached down and began unbuckling the belt holding the Admin’s laser and holster. “Mutineers are among us once again and you claim there is no emergency?”
Around us, the crowd jeered at Tarl and cheered when Sko held aloft the belt of office. Motioning with the blaster, Sko said, “You heard the Captain, Tarl. You’re banished.”
Shocked at his sudden turn of fortune, Tarl stumbled through the crowd. The villagers showed just how much they loved the man by shoving him and tripping him. Cheers rose again as Tarl passed beyond the edge of the village. He broke into a run when a few of the older children, to the delight of their elders, hurled stones at him.
Solemnly, Sko made to hand me the Admin’s belt of office. I waved him off.
“Keep it, Sko.”
“I cannot, Captain. Only the Admin may keep this belt.”
That’s one of the things I find most appealing about Sko. He isn’t the subtle type, always being honest and candid in his dealings. In simple terms, he’s a lousy politician. But in a time of crisis, Sko has the potential to be a great leader.
I put my hands on my hips and cocked an eyebrow at Sko. He stared at me for a couple of seconds before he figured it out.
“You want me to be the Admin, Captain?”
The villagers surrounding us laughed and their laughter was full of good humor. The villagers appeared pleased with my decision.
“I won’t order you to take the position, Sko, but I hope you will.”
Sko looked around at the smiling villagers. “As you wish, my Captain.”
Amidst cheers, Sko buckled the belt around his waist.
Many of the villagers—the fathers of the children taken in previous Crew culls foremost among them—asked me to lead them to the ‘lighted room’ where the servants came from. “With your wisdom to guide us and your weapons to fight with, how can we fail?”
I knew dozens of ways such an expedition could fail. At the top of the list was charging off without planning, preparation, and proper rest. Apparently Sko knew that, as well.
“My friends, I want to find the lighted room as much as all of you. I want to take the cull to the servants and the mutineer masters.” Cheers broke out at Sko’s pronouncement, which he stilled with raised hands. “But I also know we will fail in our quest if we let today’s small success go to our heads.” Lowering his hands, Sko let his shoulders droop. “Besides, I am hungry and tired. No doubt the Captain is as well.”
As if by the power of suggestion, my stomach rumbled and I found myself barely able to hold my head up. “Sko and I got much less sleep last night than we needed.”
A couple of the young women snickered at my comment. Sko blushed, drawing laughter from many of the other villagers. Did his red face mean Sko entertained impure thoughts about his Captain? God knows, I’d entertained a few lusty ones about him after our short battle with the Fringers last night.
A hunch told me to play to the crowd. I linked arms with Sko, flashed my best wicked smile, and said, “He’s too modest to say anything, but Sko was amazing last night.”
That brought a roar of laughter from everyone, including the Louie and the fathers ready to rush off to the lighted room. To my amazement, Sko’s blush deepened as he turned a surprised look on me.
“Amazing at killing Fringers, that is.” I got a lot of blank looks and quickly realized my problem. “Fringers are a mutineer tribe. And they are another reason we can’t just charge off in search of the lighted room. Even without the men Sko and I killed last night, there may be as many as ten Fringers—mutineers—left. And they’re all armed with weapons like mine.”
That last bit had the desired effect. Men pulled their women and children closer while turning their heads to look in the direction Sko and I had come from. The Louie touched fingers to his neck, just where an officer wears his rank insignia—just where I wear mine.
He called, “Captain protect us!”
The rest of the villagers followed the Louie’s lead, obviously intoning a deeply ingrained religious request. In their place, I’d have called ‘God protect us’ or something similar. The difference is that God never stood before me when I said that. As the Captain, on the other hand, I stood right in front of these villagers.
Being the Captain gave me great power over these people. It also gave me great responsibility for them. I suppose I could just order them to protect themselves and go about my own business. But I’d just deposed a village Admin who would have done exactly that and I damned well wasn’t about to take up where Tarl had left off.
“Sko, pick three or four of the steadiest, most accurate bow shots in the village. I’m going to teach all of you how to handle the blasters and what to expect if the Fringers reach the village.”
After a couple of hours, the people Sko selected—three men and one woman—handled the blasters as well as possible with a fighter pilot like me serving as their weapons instructor. They knew how to interpret the status indicators, swap out power packs, and could aim well enough to hit a target at ten meters. Leaving Sko to discuss defense tactics with the four, I finally had the time to search the disabled robots for the device they used to open the doors.
Two of the three doors I’d seen had contact plates next to them and I remembered seeing the Fringers using a piece of a droid to operate the elevator door. Hoping for the same, I started my examination with the robot’s arms and found what I wanted on the second arm I checked. I had no tools, so resorted to shooting the joint below the contact device until it broke free.
Somehow, I kept my eyes open through most of a feast in honor of Sko and me. I fell asleep near the end, waking briefly as Sko lifted me in his strong arms and carried me to a hut and laid me on a pallet.
I hung onto his arm when he tried to stand up. “Stay with me, Sko. I don’t want to sleep alone tonight.”
Sko smiled and gently pulled his arm free. “By Your command, Captain. I’ll sleep at the door to insure no one disturbs your rest.”
“Thanks,” I muttered before sleep claimed me again.
When I awoke, bright morning sunlight—well, simulated sunlight, anyway—streamed into the hut through small imperfections in the hut walls, the door, and even the coarse weave curtains hanging over the windows. Sko sat cross-legged at the door, watching me.
I smiled raggedly at him. “Good morning, Sko.”
Instantly, a knock sounded at the door and the Louie called, “Are you awake, Captain?”
Before I knew what was happening, Sko and I found ourselves sitting at a table with the Louie while village women piled food before us. The Louie plied me with questions about my plans and what to expect if the Fringers came.
“Don’t fight the Fringers unless it’s absolutely necessary, Louie. Each of them will have a blaster while the village only has two. The Fringers aren’t used to forests, so retreat into the trees if you can. If the Fringers catch anyone in the village before they can get away, tell them everything they want to know about me—they’ll probably refer to me as ‘the Fed’ or ‘the pilot’ or something similar— including where Sko and I are going.” The Louie opened his mouth to protest but stopped when he met my eyes. “That’s an order, Louie. Do not let anyone in this village die in an attempt to protect me from those men.”
Clearly not happy with my instructions, the Louie nodded his acceptance just the same. Then Sko and I gathered our supplies, including a blaster and half a dozen power packs each, and set off following the robot tracks.
Three hours later, the tracks ended at a pile of large boulders. After a careful inspection, we found the minute seam marking the edge of the door. I pulled out the piece of robotic arm and tapped it around to the right of the door. After the fourth tap, the door slid aside, revealing a large lighted room.
The contact plate inside the elevator wasn’t camouflaged, so I touched the robotic arm to it. With a soft whoosh,
the door closed and the elevator began its descent.
CHAPTER FIVE
What Lies Below
Sko glanced around the elevator nervously. “The lighted room moves, Captain.”
I covered my own nervousness concerning our eventual destination with a smile and a nod. “The room is called an elevator. There’s nothing to fear from it.”
“If the room moves, what will we find when the door opens?”
I shrugged. “Wherever it is the servants come from, I guess.”
Sko cocked his head to one side, regarding me with penetrating brown eyes. “You are not as I expected the Captain to be.”
Uh oh. I didn’t want to get into a theological discussion with Sko, but I wasn’t going to avoid one, either. After all Sko had done for me, he deserved reasonable answers. Besides, the man was too intelligent and observant to be put off the trail by platitudes.
“What do you mean, Sko?”
“The Louie taught us that the Captain is all-seeing and all-knowing. You are neither.” Sko’s tone wasn’t challenging, merely thoughtful.
I smiled ruefully. “Could a mutiny succeed against an all-seeing, all-knowing Captain?”
“I asked that same question to the Louie when I was a boy. His response was a slap and a lecture against questioning the holy Regulations.” A grin split Sko’s face. “Would the Louie do the same if he heard you ask that question?”
I grinned in return before a serious expression settled over my face. “I’m a woman, Sko, as human as you or anyone else in your village.”
Sko’s face reddened again, though he didn’t turn his gaze away from me. “Your clothing fits very tightly, Captain. Any man with eyes can see that you’re a woman.”
To my amazement, I felt heat in my own face. In my line of work, I get—and, to be fair, give—far more graphic comments daily and have never blushed. Why had this man’s disarming and downright gentlemanly comment triggered one?
“I’m also a captain.”
“But you’re not the Captain, are you?”
“No, I’m not.” I kept my eyes locked on Sko’s. “Unless I miss my guess, your Captain has been dead for hundreds of years. Even if the mutineers didn’t kill him, he’d have died of old age a long time ago.”
“Are you a descendant of the Captain? Or maybe of an Officer? Did you find the Captain’s bars and decide to make yourself the Captain?” Had Tarl, the deposed Admin, or even the kindly Louie, asked such questions, their tone of voice would have been accusatory. Sko’s tone was simply curious.
“No to all of your questions, Sko. I earned my captain’s bars in the Federation Navy, though I doubt those words mean anything to you.”
“Is Federation Navy a village somewhere else in the ship?”
I shook my head. “What do you know of the universe beyond the confines of the ship?”
“The ship is all and all is the ship,” Sko recited. “So we are taught.”
That’s the answer I had expected. This next bit of explanation wasn’t going to be easy. I was saved from diving into it immediately when the elevator ground to a halt.
“We’ll talk more about that later.” Lifting my blaster, I took up position to the left of the door.
Sko took up position opposite me. “You may not be the Captain, but you are my Captain. I will follow where you lead.” With a grin, Sko lowered his gaze to my hips, waggled his eyebrows, and blushed furiously. “Gladly, even.”
Rolling my eyes, I said, “Just make sure you think with the brain above your shoulders rather than the one between your legs.”
Then the door slid open and the time for joking was over.
I leaned out from the wall and peered through the door. A large, dimly lit room lay on the other side of the door. All along the walls, lights blinked around hulking, shadowy forms. On the other side of the door, Sko followed my example. His eyes widened and he flattened himself against the elevator wall.
“What is it?” I whispered.
“Servants. More than I can count, all lined up along a wall.”
I peered through the door again and, armed with Sko’s information, readily discerned a long, orderly row of robotic outlines. Despite the light streaming out of the elevator, none of the ones in my line of sight were active.
“Sko, have any of the servants moved?”
Sko took another, longer look, before shaking his head. “They’re just standing against the wall, Captain.”
Casting caution to the winds, I stepped through the elevator door. All around me, robots of several makes—including many identical to the ones we’d blasted in the village—stood still as statues inside shallow alcoves around the room.
“You can call me Nancy, Sko. There’s no need for you to use my rank any more.”
Sko joined me, eying his village’s enemies with caution. “I cannot use your given name, Captain. You must remain the Captain to everyone else we meet. If I call you ‘Nancy’ when we’re around others, it could lead to the truth about you coming out and that might ruin your plans.”
I approached the closest robot. “You don’t even know what my plans are, Sko. How do you know I’m not planning something evil?”
“Your actions speak for you, Captain, and they are not the actions of an evil person. Besides, I have looked into your eyes. You are a good person.” He joined me, examining the robot in its alcove. “What are these servants doing? Why do they not attack?”
“It looks like they’re recharging.” At Sko’s blank look, I added, “Think of it as the servants feeding, if that helps. Oh, and these things are called robots where I come from. I might slip up and use that word in an emergency and don’t want you to be confused.”
“I’ll do my best to remember, Captain.” He considered the robot before us for a few seconds. “If these…robots…are eating, can we cut off their food somehow and starve them?”
“That’s a good question, Sko, and a good idea, too. You go to the left and I’ll go to the right. Look for anything different than these charging alcoves—including a door. Call if you find anything.”
We worked our way around the room and I began despairing of finding any way out of the room, much less a control panel for the charging units. We found both of them opposite the elevator. The charging station control proved dead simple, a lever with three positions. The lever was in the up position with a steadily blinking green light next to it. I pulled the lever down to the middle position and the green light went out. When I pulled it down to the lowest position, a red light began blinking.
“What does the red light mean, Captain?”
“Unless I miss my guess, the robots’ batteries are discharging.” Again Sko gave me a blank look. “For want of a better word, it’s unfeeding the robots. When it’s done, the robots won’t be able to do anything at all.”
“If you say so, Captain.”
Behind us, the elevator door suddenly whooshed shut, throwing us into deeper darkness. I was surprised the door stayed open as long as it had and didn’t worry. Then I heard machinery behind the door engage, followed by the soft rumble of the elevator ascending.
Someone or something had summoned the elevator. Whether it was other robots returning from a cull or the Fringers, it boded ill for Sko and me.
When the elevator door closed, it cut off our primary source of light and plunged the robotic charging room into near darkness. The only illumination came from the blinking red lights at each charging station.
In the soft glow of those lights, Sko glanced nervously between me and the closed elevator door. “Is the lighted room gone, Captain?”
“The elevator? Yeah, it’s gone.” Belatedly, I realized Sko—a man with no technological experience—was worried the elevator wouldn’t return. “It’ll be back, Sko, and I wish I knew who or what will be in it.”
“Should we go through this door?” Sko motioned to the door opposite the elevator. “Perhaps we will find a safe place to hide beyond it.”
“We’ll d
o that as a last resort. If we run into trouble out there,” I jerked a thumb at the door, “I’d really like to have a clear path back to the elevator.”
“Then we stand our ground and fight whatever returns in the li- elevator?”
I grabbed Sko by the hand and led him across to a side wall. The third alcove I checked held one of the treaded robots like the ones from the village. Ducking under its arms, I slipped between the robot and the alcove wall and into the space behind the robot. As I’d expected the long base for the treads left about half a meter of space behind the robot.
“Can you get back here, Sko? There’s enough room to hide both of us.”
I need not have asked, as Sko squeezed in next to me before I finished speaking. Without a word, he extended his right arm around the side of the robot, the blaster held in his right hand. He tested his aim in several direction. Chagrinned I hadn’t thought of that, I followed his example on my side of the robot. We both had a wide range of motion, but a much narrower arc for aimed fire.
“You’re the hunter, Sko. What do you suggest we do?”
“Can you shoot left handed, Captain?”
My eyebrows rose at the unexpected question, but Sko wasn’t a garrulous man. Assuming he had a good reason to ask, I replied, “If I have to, though I won’t be nearly as accurate.”
“You are more skilled with these blasters, so I will shoot left-handed.” I felt Sko turn to face me. “Turn to face me, Captain. The robot’s body will fully cover us while letting us fire around it if we have to.”
I turned to face Sko, my body pressing against his, absorbing the heat from his body. His breath blew across my forehead and through my hair and his scent permeated every breath I took. Primitive desires I keep buried while onboard my assigned carrier, the Phoenix, clawed their way to the surface, drawn there by this primitive man.
My breath caught as Sko’s right arm looped around me, drawing me more tightly against him. Almost of its own volition, my left arm wrapped around Sko as we pivoted in the tight space. Once our positions were reversed, I sensed rather than saw his head tilt down toward me. I tilted my head up to meet him, our faces so close our lips brushed lightly. We stayed like that for a few seconds before common sense took over.
