Prophet of ConFree (The Prophet of ConFree)

by Marshall S. Thomas

  "Yes, it is so," Wester said. "We have alerted our people and have begun an emergency defensive program. We are on a war footing and will remain in that status until the threat is overcome."

  "Rest assured that the Assidic government and people stand by you and will do everything possible to support you. Everything you are about to see is classified at our highest level. We ask that you respect that, and use similar classifications on any correspondence concerning this matter."

  "Certainly," Wester responded.

  Δ

  The general said nothing further in the conference room, but showed us into a very large cargo elevator that shot rapidly downwards. He smiled. "We are inside a mountain now and completely invulnerable. Ah, here we are." The elevator door slid open. We stepped out into a corridor where several A-suited troopers watched over us as we followed the general. It was cold. He stopped at a giant metal wall that led up to a metal roof blazing with lights. Several civilians got up from their posts by the wall.

  "These are the ConFree visitors we spoke about," the general said.

  "Wonderful!" one of them said. He looked like a tech – quivering with anticipation. "Go on in – please." He touched a control and a small metal door slid open. They led us in.

  It was a vast artificial cavern, completely sealed off from the surrounding rock. And there it was, filling the cavern – a huge, dark saucer-shaped starship, seamless, glinting faintly with bands of metallic agate-like colors – orange, black, gold, purple. It was floating freely just above the deck, fluttering very, very faintly as if from a light breeze. But there was no breeze. Labcoat techies were scattered around it.

  "Good lord!" Wester choked. I gasped, stunned, my mouth wide open, staring bug-eyed at the ship. This was no copy, this was no brilliant Assidic weapon, I knew instantly. This was the real thing – a Demon saucer, a Demon interdimensional antigrav spacecraft. The real thing! Deadman!

  Δ

  "How did you do it?" Wester asked, once the shock had worn off. "How did you capture it?" We sat in another conference room, behind a big picture window that gave us a great view of the saucer.

  "It was a combination of alertness and luck," the general said. "The craft was reconning Dajusdevon 5, a planet on one of our outlying stars. Our local defense forces detected it and sent an interceptor with instructions to destroy any hostile aircraft. We didn't know what it was at first. By the time the interceptor arrived, the saucer had landed and sent out a scouting party on foot. Our interceptor fired on it with an antimat. We're not sure exactly what happened but the ship's port was open when the antimat went off. The ship's exterior was undamaged as you can see, but we're not sure about the interior. When our troopers got there, the ship's port was sealed again. But the ship didn't take off. It just floated there, as if waiting for the recon party to return.

  "So what happened to the recon party?" Wester asked.

  "Oh, bad luck. They were captured by the enemy."

  Wester just stared at him, open-mouthed.

  "Would you like to see them?" The general gave him a big smile. He was clearly enjoying himself.

  Δ

  "These are the most disgusting, despicable creatures I have ever seen," Wester declared. We were standing before a large plex cube that enclosed one of the Demons. It was one-way plex and the Demon could not see out, but we could see in. I was kind of glad of that. There were three of the cubes and each contained one Demon.

  I examined the creature closely. It had been stripped of A-suit, helmets, weaponry and associated gear. The Assidics held all that gear in separate labs where it was being exhaustively researched and tested. Invaluable! And the A's had already promised to pass on everything they learned. By this time, we were already referring to the Assidics as the A's.

  The Demon in the cube was certainly disgusting. He did not look particularly formidable with no A-suit. His body was squat, shapeless and ugly, covered with wet filthy tangled reddish-brown fur. Even though he was squatting in a corner, I could estimate his height. He was somewhat under five mikes tall – well under the average human. His two arms were also covered in fur and were not particularly muscular. The hands were webbed and the fingers were tipped with sharp bluish claws. His two legs were squat and more muscular than the arms, but also covered with matted wet fur. The Demon had webbed feet as well, with flattish toes that were almost like claws. The face was a horror – a squashed muzzle with a flat nose of several ridges of flesh. A small triangular mouth opened to reveal a bloody tongue, with two big sharp teeth up front and even sharper teeth in the back of his mouth. His small black eyes were set on each side of his misshapen head. How did he see to the front? His leathery purple ears were outsized and indicated an ancestry in which sound was an important survival trait.

  The most awful thing that creeped me out were the little parasites that crawled all over the creature. They were wriggling dark brown worm-like creatures with lots of little hooks all over their body that they used to attach themselves to the host. They excreted an oily, sludge-like liquid slime that coated the Demons.

  "We've already discovered one way to kill these Demons," the general said. "Remove the parasites and the Demon dies. They have some kind of symbiotic relationship. If the Demon dies, the parasites die. And if the parasites die, or are removed, then the Demon dies. Our scientists are working on the active elements."

  "That's wonderful," Wester said. "Wonderful! So you have a body?"

  "Two bodies. And you will learn everything we do."

  The Demon snarled at us, spitting in rage. It must have sensed that somebody was looking it over.

  "They've got nasty tempers," the general said, "but so do we."

  Δ

  Back in the observation post overlooking the alien ship, Ambassador Wester was talking the situation over with the general. We had long since informed Wester of Bird's background in spaceflight engineering and Bird was chatting it up with the Assidic techs who were working on trying to understand and gain entry into the alien ship.

  "So you caught the recon team outside their ship," Wester said. I was sitting at one end of the table, staying out of the way. Ambassador Burke was beside Wester, but not saying much.

  "Yes. There was quite a firefight. They have formidable weapons, including an effective individual force field, and their plasma blasts killed several of our men. Then we blasted them with tacstars, and that worked. It didn't penetrate their force fields but it shorted them out somehow. We recovered four of them, unconscious and undamaged inside their suits."

  "How did you get the ship here?"

  "We loaded it on a star transport and brought it here, and housed it inside this special-design installation. We can work fast when necessary."

  Wester stood up. "General, on the behalf of the people of the Confederation of Free Worlds and on the behalf of the Director of the Confederation of Free Worlds, I wish to thank the Assidic Confederation and people for your extraordinary success against this formidable threat to our galaxy." Wester formally saluted.

  The general shot to his feet and returned the salute.

  "And I also wish to inform you that we will do everything in our power to assist you in the task of countering this threat," Wester continued. "I have a very long list of requests – things that we need from you, but I first wish to ask you what ConFree can do for you."

  "Two things," the general said, resuming his seat. "First, send us every scientist you have who can possibly assist us, working together with our team here on this ship and on these aliens and their defensive and offensive weapons. Send us your finest minds. Together, we will counter and defeat these foul creatures."

  "Absolutely! The Director of ConFree will have that request before the day is out, and I will have her positive response as soon as it is ready."

  "And – the second thing – we are very concerned about whatever security violation we committed to allow you to learn about our possession of this alien ship."

  "Security violation?"
Wester was puzzled. "There was no security violation. We knew nothing about this ship until you showed it to us. We had no idea."

  "Please, Excellency. It is of supreme importance that we learn how we slipped up. We must cooperate closely. We don't mind that you found out but we must learn how, so we can plug the leak."

  "General, I pledge to you, by all that is holy, that the ship you showed us was an absolute surprise to us. Why do you assume that we knew about it in advance?"

  "Excellency. We are not stupid."

  "What do you mean?"

  "You arrive here with ConFree's foremost spaceflight engineer, disguised as an aircar driver and a member of your security staff, and you claim no advance knowledge of this alien ship? Come, Excellency, how can there be trust if there is no honesty?"

  Chapter 8

  AGATE

  FLASH COSMIC SECRET AGATE XA FOR DIRECTOR CONFREE.

  WARNING: UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO THIS DOCUMENT SUBJECTS THE READER TO ARREST AND PROSECUTION FOR HIGH TREASON.

  TO: XA DIRECTOR CONFREE

  CITE: AGATE 001

  FM: AMB JAMES WESTER

  SUBJ: AGATE

  TEXT:

  1. Hello Tara. Well the mission has so far been successful because, unlike some past missions you sent me on, I am not submitting my report from a hospital bed. My thanks. Now, I've calmed down enough to send you this cover message to the more detailed account that will follow. Please sit down before you read this. What follows is bare bones. You will get all the details, don't fear.

  2. I met with General Aran, Commanding General of the Assidic armed forces. He was most cooperative. He did not at first tell us what it was all about, but, better yet, he showed us. Here it is: The A's have captured an intact IDAG starcraft. I've seen it. They have captured three live Demons and have two Demon bodies as well. I've seen them, too. The Assidics have all the defensive and offensive weapons that the Demons were carrying – A-suits, forcefield shielding, plasma weaponry, etc. One big problem is the spacecraft is sealed and they cannot get inside. Luckily one of my security staff is a spaceflight engineer and he's already working with the A scientists and techs on that.

  3. What the A's need from us is for us to send them ASAP our top spaceflight engineers and any other scientists who can help us get into, understand and exploit the ship and all its secrets. You'll want experts on Dimension X as well, if there are any, and theoreticians who may give us hints about how an interdimensional antigrav starcraft should work. I send separately a list of scientists recommended by Ken Matheson the head of Matheson Engineering. We also need life science types who can examine these Demons, living and dead, and determine how to most efficiently kill them. And language experts and so forth to work out how to communicate with them should we wish to do that instead of killing them. That might be critical. Please send everyone who may be able to help. Obviously they should not be told where they are going, or exactly why, just that their services are needed by the people of ConFree.

  4. This is a gift from God. We owe the A's everything for this one. They are handing us these items on a golden platter and if we cannot work out how to counter the Demons with all these resources, it will be our own damned fault. I recommend a formal military alliance to cement our ties, but that's up to you and the Council. The A's are showing complete cooperation and giving us total access. I recommend we in turn give them everything, repeat everything, they may ask for.

  5. The A's asked for this to be held at the highest classification level. I've opened Project AGATE. If you want to add Dragon to the exclusive access list that may be useful. Otherwise, just you and me. I recommend a permanent delegation be established here now, completely separate from the Embassy, for liaison and research activity with the Assidic military related to Project AGATE. They can be housed on-site and the general has already approved.

  6. By the way, the A's have a very efficient and secure method of rapidly constructing very large blastproof underground shelters. I've asked for details and have been promised same. I'll forward the result when I receive it.

  7. Please see AGATE 002, coming at you separately, with details.

  Love & kisses, Wester.

  FLASH COSMIC SECRET AGATE XA ONLY FOR DIRECTOR CONFREE

  Δ

  "Do you believe this?" I asked the Professor. The general had approved Wester's request to transfer the whole squad to the site as the core of a new Legion presence. We were all chowing down in the Assidic cafeteria.

  "Prophet, it is simply remarkable. Almost unbelievable. Bird has drafted me to assist him in this project. I am so excited about this. Our Assidic friends have accomplished a miracle here. Now it's up to us to help them exploit the ship and the prisoners."

  Ambassador Wester managed to convince General Aran that Bird was not a spy, and there was no security leak. The general was not easy to convince but he finally believed us after listening to Bird's life story in detail. Bird is a likable guy and he is now fast friends with the general, who sent him back to work on the ship with the Assidic techs.

  "Have some of that green stuff, it's pretty good," Smiley said. The Assidic native food was different, quite spicy, but tasty. There was plenty of non-spicy stuff as well, so we were all happy.

  "Look at him," Bees said, glancing over at Saka. He was at a separate table, full of Assidic officers and techs and even a couple of uniformed Assidic girls. "He's in his glory." The A's were evidently fascinated with Saka. They were all grinning it up and chatting happily with him. The girls seemed to be worshipping him. They couldn't take their eyes off him.

  "Looks like those girls are in love," I said.

  "Don't laugh," Ice said. "I've already received a marriage proposal, and it's my first day here."

  "You're kidding!" Arie exclaimed. "Did you elbow him in the throat and kick his feet out from under him like last time?"

  "Very funny. He didn't grab me by the ass, he got down on one knee and asked for my hand in marriage. There's a difference."

  "Wow! When did this happen?"

  "About an hour ago. You missed it. It was so sweet. He was a young officer, surrounded by his friends. He approached me and handed me a bouquet of flowers, then he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him in this really flowery language. I told him that I could not marry him because I was already engaged to someone else. He was crushed. I felt so sorry for him."

  "Are you really engaged to someone else?"

  "Yes. I'm engaged to the ConFree Legion."

  "This is good duty," Scout said. "Doggie, will we be staying here long? Any word?"

  "Get set for a long stay," Doggie replied. "Word is the Wasp is departing tomorrow, and Wester will be staying here. So will we. And all of CAT 3 will be joining us – all five squads. Of course, they could recall us at any time, but I'd say this project is tops on ConFree's Things To Do Today list. As long as Ambassador Wester is here, I guess we'll be here, too."

  Δ

  And that was the beginning of Site 888, also known as Site S – for Sajerdhavana. The place is famous now but in those days nobody had even heard of it. In the beginning, people arrived there but never left. Security was so high that we didn't even reveal what planet 888 was on until after people arrived. It was a cosmic secret installation that rapidly became the galaxy's foremost research center for cutting-edge science, but the science was not shared with anyone who was not part of the project. It was also an open-ended assignment. You didn't leave until the mission was over – that was understood. You could send starlinks but they were heavily censored. Nobody outside Site 888 knew about the project, and we didn't want the word to get out. They sent so many brilliant, highly renowned civvie scientists there that Wester had some problems keeping them happy. But most of them were fascinated by the work and threw themselves into it with great eagerness. The A's did all they could to keep everyone happy. The living conditions were pretty good. So we didn’t have too many problems, even with civvie scientists. We made sure they understood that it was a
ll for the people of ConFree. We showed them action shots of an Omni city being attacked and erased by the Demons. It was quite graphic. Good motivational material.

  Δ

  "I'm encouraged by the progress. It's slow, but steady," Prof declared. We were sitting in airglide chairs in front of one of the Demon cubes. By now, we had little segments of the cube plex surface that were two-way. The Demon inside could see out a narrow portal to view us. We made sure he couldn't see what was happening with his adjacent comrades, and we turned the viewport on and off at our will, but we wanted him to see who he was dealing with. He was dealing with a good guy, of course – the Professor. The good guy had one bad guy assistant – me, and one neutral observer/sex object – Kimmie. Kimmie was a language development guru from the University of the Confederacy. She was a cute, slender little honey with short blonde hair and so wrapped up in her specialty that she appeared to be inexperienced in dealing with real people. She was under siege from flocks of handsome young Assidic officers who wanted to marry her, and she was unsure what to do. The A's liked blondes, that was certain.

  "We're getting there," Kimmie said. "I run these audios constantly, and all associations are noted and the vocab grows every day." The brainscans were on as well as the audio and video, as we showed our captives various items to stimulate thought and speech. To encourage speech, we interacted with them and gave them rewards. Silence on their part was actively discouraged.

  "Sex you rearend," our autotrans said, in a metallic voice. Dewey had just screeched at us, and that was the closest translation we had at present for the noises he produced. I figured it was his way of saying screw you up the ass. Those had actually been his first understandable words to us, a few weeks ago, and no parents could have been prouder of their baby's first words than us on that occasion.