Titan Stand

by Max Jager

  "No sir, the Golians just assumed they were trying to get away, and the ship Navek and Marga's folks were on as well as ours were just targets of opportunity."

  "That's quite possible," replied Sandrek, "We'll have to look into that a little more." Istell Clon then asked him,

  "We understand you are from the planet earth how is it you're way out here, we weren't aware your race was capable of interstellar space travel." He then gave them a much abbreviated version of Greg, Amber, the bequeathing to him of the Nora-Lee, and the trip to Xandrus.

  "Interesting," commented Clon, then Matt asked,

  "Are you familiar with my home world?" Istell gave him a curious grin.

  "We've been there…A very long time ago. Right now however our attention is drawn to dealing with this raider problem." Then Sandrek asked him,

  I'm curious, as an earthling, what would you do in our situation?"

  He thought a moment then replied,

  "I'm not real sure, Agrat and Kreed are dead along with their crew, being a stranger to these parts I'm not really sure what I would do."

  Sandrek smiled, then said,

  "A fair assessment, however we happen to know that Slyr and Freihork have family and friends scattered around the galaxy…Or did have." This last comment caught Matt's attention. If these people were the alien equivalent of the Mafia, they wouldn't rest until everyone who was family or knew Agrat and his crew was dead. Thinking it wise not to pursue any further questioning, he added,

  "Well I hope you guys go after them or who ever is left, I know I would."

  This brought curious stares as Sandrek called the meeting over, announcing that it was time for supper.

  This was the part of space adventuring that Matt didn't car for…Eating strange food. Well the Eabak and a couple things he'd eaten back on Doradus and Denedra were OK, but in forced situations like this where the possibility of insulting someone was simply too great. He knew he was a picky eater, every time they visited his grandparents in Phoenix was always a trial. He loved his grandmother dearly, but the woman simply couldn't cook, mom couldn't either, but he'd built up a sort of immunity to her cooking.

  One of the more arcane skills he was rapidly developing was the ability to carefully look over a spread and take a guess as to what was being served, and what its earthen counterpart was. So far the aliens he'd already met didn't seem to eat a lot of meat, and what they did was passable, most of it remarkably lean and without a lot of fat. Up to now he hadn't been especially fond of veggies, or salads, but that was rapidly changing. Bread, veggies, and salad, if he was careful, no one seemed to notice, and he could usually get enough to eat. What he saw before him was no exception except a couple main dishes that looked to be either a casserole or some sort of meat covered by a sauce or swimming in some weird soupy mix. Stuff like that was trouble waiting to happen. A guy could sink his teeth into something like that realize his mistake and expend every ounce of determination to keep from throwing up, bad business that.

  Fortunately none of his worst case scenarios played out, the meat (something akin to beef) was bland but passable. The veggies were pretty good, in fact they served something that looked like lima beans but actually had flavor, and tasted pretty good. They served a kind of flatbread that was just like sourdough, but in the end, he didn't eat very much because most of the time was spent talking to Holliqua. He learned that she was in the Malhazar equivalent of college, studying for the Foreign Service.

  "Once I graduate," she explained, I plan to apprentice with the Loridian Trading Company in their managerial program." She then lowered her voice to barely a whisper, and said,

  "I can get off this janken rock and see a little of this galaxy."

  "Is the Loridian Company the only employer in this galaxy?" He asked her.

  "No, but it is if you want to get out and see the universe."

  "I take it then that you don't much like it here?"

  "I hate it, I hate my family, I just want to get as far away from Moriedia as soon, and as fast as I can."

  Matt then told her of Zeb Kifire who was doing the job she appeared to be aspiring to.

  "He's just starting out with Loridia and already is in charge of getting manufacturing started back up on Xandrus; ask Gandric over there, he knows more about it than I do." This excited her greatly, and the first chance she got, was off talking to him. Most of the table talk centered around the scourge of the raiders, the failure of the Loridian Company to do anything about them. Matt also learned that Moriedia was primarily an agriculture planet, although there was a large spacecraft refit shop located near Apricullah the capitol of Moriedia.

  "Since we are primarily agriculture oriented," explained Sandrek, "The Cinnab Corporation maintains a manufacturing facility here as well, doing a lot of testing and research."

  Matt then asked about when it was the Malhazars visited earth.

  "Well it was before my parents were born," said Istell Clon. "It was also when Loridia was just starting to expand." She then looked to Tyron Vott for help

  "When was that Tyron, I understand it was big news way back then." Shrugging, he looked at her,

  "Eighty, ninety yarns perhaps it's all in the records if you care to know more."

  "Did anyone ever make contact?" Asked Matt,

  "Not to my knowledge," replied Clon, but again, it was so long ago I can't be sure."

  After dinner, everyone was shown to their rooms, since they didn't require sleep, Amber and Gandric were given a room that had a small library in it as both sought to spend the rest of the night reading. Kaitlyn and Bria were given another room while Matt got his own. Since they would be leaving fairly early in the morning, Matt decided to take a shower before going to bed; he was still drying off as he entered the bedroom from the bath.

  "You're getting cold, get in here." He about jumped out of his skin when he realized Holliqua was sitting up in his bead her breasts on full display. Clad only in his underwear, Matt gasped, and reached down to cover himself. Holliqua started to snicker,

  "Oh quit fooling around, you've got nothing I haven's seen before."

  "What the hell are you doing in here?" He croaked.

  "I find you very attractive, and I've been waiting all evening for this moment, now get in here." Having no choice but to obey her, Matt slid in next to her, a moment later; she pulled him to her never letting up.

  By the time dawn was nearing he had lost count of how many times they had made love. Holliqua was a regular "Energizer rabbit," just "going," and "going," and "going." Matt was amazed by her eagerness and possibly desperation to try literally everything.

  "You aren't by any chance a circus acrobat are you?" He asked after their latest bout of love making.

  "What's a circus?" She asked,

  "Never mind, but you've worn me out."

  Holliqua merely snickered as he felt her hands slither down his chest down below his waist.

  "Oh god!" He thought, "Here she goes again. At some point, he must have fallen asleep because when he awoke, she was gone. Shortly afterwards a knock came at the door,

  "Breakfast is being served in the dining room sir. Matt glanced at his watch which told him he had roughly a half hour to get dressed and grab something to eat before they had to leave. As fast as he was he only managed to grab a couple scone-like breakfast pastries along with a couple sips of something that tasted like warm swamp water. The servant informed him that everyone was waiting on him. As he raced down the hall to the ship Holliqua stepped out from around the corner smiling. Planting a big kiss on his lips, she said,

  "You were incredible Matt; if I never see you again I will always remember you." All he could think of was the shuttle leaving without him. Trying to break free of her grasp wasn't working,

  "One more thing, I overheard Navek and Marga laughing about how they poisoned the minds of your friends, they thought it a big joke, I will see that they are properly punished for it. Now you had better hurry Matt, and thanks agai
n for a wonderful night."

  Once again he was trying to operate on information "overload." Racing down the hall he was trying to concentrate on getting to the shuttle while at the same time digesting the information just received from Holliqua.

  "Woke up, fell out of bed, dragged a comb across my head. Found my way downstairs, and drank a cup, looking up I noticed I was late. Found my coat, grabbed my hat, made the bus in seconds flat."

  Fully expecting a snide comment from Bria or Kaitlyn, he was surprised when they said nothing, and in fact looked like they had been crying. No one said a word as the shuttle took them back to the landing area. Matt used the time to ponder all that Holliqua had told him, especially the part about those fucking kids doing something to Kaitlyn and Bria. Could it be that that's why they had been so nasty to him? Carefully thinking back to everything Navek had said to him and that stupid smirk that damn Marga was always wearing it all started to make sense.

  "Yeah, sure, everyone said these people were expert telepaths, yep, no doubt about it now, those kids were fucking with him by putting ugly thoughts in Kaitlyn and Bria's heads, well fuck them!"

  He kept thinking whether he should say anything to the girls, but then decided to take a "wait and see," approach. After they had gotten back aboard the Nora-Lee, Matt headed for his bunk to work on his Golian reading skills. As he was studying and munching on a protein bar Bria and Kaitlyn stepped from around the corner. In a very "small" and apologetic voice, Kaitlyn said.

  "Uhh Matt, could we talk to you?" Without looking up from his notebook he replied.

  "Come to finish me off or beat me up again?" He thought he heard sniffling from someone who had been crying.

  "No, we want to apologize, oh Matt we're so sorry for the way we've been treating you, we don't know what got into us oh god we feel so bad about all of this."

  "Well what do I do now?" He wondered. "If I tell them those kids were fucking with their minds they might decide their behavior wasn't really their fault after all, who knows what would happen then? I'll have to tell them I guess…Just not right now, eventually." He then let them grovel a bit before grudgingly accepting their apologies. Slowly their attitudes improved to the point before they agreed to return the kids to their home world, prompting Matt to feel that he had made the right decision not to tell them about what really happened.

  Later they stopped at a large space station owned by the Loridian Company that was orbiting over a planet named "Skart" which translated to "Shit." Matt asked one of the fueling crew why the planet carried that name.

  "Because that's what it is. Scrappers use it as a temporary repository for all the space junk they accumulate before selling it to one of the smelters. The fueler introduced himself as a Ruddorian; Matt observed that they seemed to be rather tall; this guy was over six feet. He had light brown skin very short greenish hair and reddish-brown eyes. He told Matt his name was Claymog and wanted to know all about Matt and where he came from. When he was told, he replied,

  "I was talking to a couple of Urelians who came through here a few yarns ago, they were telling me about the same place, apparently they or someone they knew had been there." Matt grimaced and shook his head in disgust.

  "So what did they think about it?" The Ruddorian studied him for a moment then slowly replied,

  "I'd better not say, it wasn't very nice, they said people attacked them and tried to kill them."

  The Nora-Lee was now fueled and it was time to go, Matt said goodbye, as he wondered just how many races had visited earth over the years.

  LYRICS Sony/ATV Music publishing LLC Universal music publishing group

  Chapter 30

  Titan Stand Chapter 30

  Amber informed Matt, Kaitlyn and Bria that she had checked the Loridian jobs listings and found one requiring the transport of an Loridian field rep from Grieshah Gra, to Ussen Ommo.

  "This will really work for us," explained Amber. "Ussen Ommo is practically a neighbor to Z'ha'dum, Greg and I were actually on that…Planet. Why Loridia is sending anyone there is beyond me, however it works out perfectly for us, as all fuel costs are reimbursed, or in other words, we're paying no fuel costs from Moriedia to Z'ha'dum."

  "Is there payment for anything else?" Asked Matt.

  "Unfortunately not a lot," replied Amber, probably just enough to purchase food supplies, maybe a little more, but the fuel is the most important thing at this point."

  Even though Bria and Kaitlyn had suddenly become their old selves again, Matt chose to spend much of his spare time lounging on his bunk working on his reading skills, and thinking about Holliqua, and her strange family. He also made the decision not to say anything to Bria or Kaitlyn about what "the little monsters" as he started to call Navek and Marga, had done to their minds.

  "They're back to their old selves," He mused, "Even Bria seems better natured, rather than spoil things; I think it best that I just keep my mouth shut."

  When he wasn't in his bunk, Matt was taking instruction in flying the Nora-Lee from Amber. Kaitlyn was involved as well, and while one of them would sit in the co-pilot's seat, Amber would go over every aspect of the ship's operation then present problems in navigation or instrument recognition. Both kids soon discovered that she could be a real taskmaster, but as she was constantly stressing,

  "Although much of the time we are flying on auto control, you must know how to set it up, and how to fly this ship manually which is more often than you would imagine." For three to four hours in a twenty hour period, they would practice and study.

  As busy as Amber kept him, Matt also found time to observe Gandric as he ran a daily diagnostic on the ships engines, as well as the power system. He learned about pentavalent nitrogen, synthetigrav, nanofibers, protophason amplifiers, and the neutronic jump drive. Gandric was also a patient teacher. To Matt, Amber reminded him of his sixth grade teacher, Mrs. Wheaton who assigned homework when no other teacher did. Gandric on the other hand, took time to actually show him what was what, and define unfamiliar words. Matt knew of course he would never truly understand the mechanics and technology involved but it never hurt to have a working knowledge of it.

  During one session, Matt asked Amber more about Ussen Ommo and why she didn't sound very enthusiastic about her visit.

  "Greg and I were having problems with the auto navigational programming and needed a place to land and shut down the whole system. We didn't know it at the time, but there was a terrible war fought there almost two hundred yarns there were hardly any survivors left, the whole planet was and for all I know still is one massive battlefield. When we get there, you'll see what I mean."

  "Why would the Loridian Company want to have anything to do with a place like that?" Asked Matt,

  "I have no idea, the fact that they are offering to cover our fuel costs is enough for me."

  Matt, Kaitlyn, and Bria slowly regained their friendship, but both girls were constantly questioning the reasons why they had picked on Matt so much. Bria was especially concerned about the fact that she had actually punched him in the face. He knew the reason but had made the decision to remain silent, still their anxiety over the situation made him nervous. So it was back to games of poker and tonk, even Amber and Gandric got into the games although they always seemed to win every time they played. Finally reaching Grieshah Gra, Amber actually let Matt set down. He came in a little too fast, and landed off center of the landing circle, but Amber thought it passable for the first time.

  Grieshah Gra was a mixed industrial planet home to a branch of Dy Meda University, supported in part by the Loridian Trading Company. The landing area was incredibly huge; Matt compared it to the Denver airport, and thought this place was three times as large. Spacecraft of all types and sizes were either coming in, or already on the ground. Since they weren't transporting or hauling anything the Nora-Lee was directed to the very southern part of the field, closest to the city.

  "That's Betalok," said Amber, "They prefer to think of themselves as an admini
strative center rather than a capitol, but it's basically the same thing." The area in which they landed was reserved for passenger transports and private spacecraft. Upon exiting their ship, a robotic shuttle picked them up and delivered them to the security gate where they swiped their identa-cards. Since they were here on Loridian business, Amber indicated as such when they were asked the reason for their visit.

  Directed to the Loridian building, they went to the office of Airron Deegom, the Loridian representative. It appeared to be a rather large office, rather unkempt looking, and judging by the way the office personnel were running around, quite busy. When the director was pointed out, Amber commented that he appeared to be a Lyskandan. Matt saw a humanoid character, who appeared to be bald, average skin color, but with a bony crown-like structure towards the back of his head. He also had a pronounced brow and piercing blue eyes. At the moment, he was studying data on a large screen, and speaking into a headset not unlike the one Matt wore.