“The universe at large has been less than kind to us in the past,” continued Shé’vah. “We have no desire to immerse ourselves in it any more than we must. Our self-imposed exile serves our purposes well. Our needs are few now. We threaten no one and seek to avoid threats from others.”
“But if I might ask a question?” said Lu. “Our duties are many and our time is limited,”
Shé’vah cut Lu off. “Please, retire to your new accommodations and we will speak with you later. You have the freedom of our Citadel.”
Shé’vah pressed a small button in front of her, and the guard reentered.
“Sho’loh,” Shé’vah addressed the guard, “return our guest’s property and escort them to their new quarters. Make sure that all their needs are met.”
Sho’loh bowed, picked up the two F.R.B.s and indicated that Lu and Kirk should follow him.
Kirk sank into the large, over-stuffed chair and examined the tray of food that sat on the table before him. He quickly slid the large bowl of Spleeh away, and began to taste the other delicacies that had been delivered to their new quarters.
Lu paced impatiently across the floor.
“Sit down. Eat,” Kirk said. “I don’t know what this blue thing is, but it tastes pretty good. It would be even better with a splash of Tabasco. Tastes kinda like chicken.”
Lu glanced over at what Kirk was eating and shook her head.
“I’m allergic to ronta colon.”
Kirk spat the mouthful of ronta out, and stared accusingly at Lu. She stopped pacing.
“What?” she asked.
“I’m eating a ronta’s asshole?”
Lu nodded absently.
“Then why does it taste like chicken?”
“F.R.B.,” she said. “You’ll probably find that pretty much every protein-based food you eat that’s new to you will taste like chicken. Earth chicken hopefully and not Kenturk chicken. It’s the F.R.B. interpreting for you.”
“So you’re saying that if I tell Casio to quit interfering, I’ll be able to get the real taste?”
Lu nodded again.
“Casio, cut the taste translation.”
Less than five minutes later, Kirk emerged from the bathroom wiping his mouth and looking very pale. He glanced balefully at the food tray and caught himself before he could vomit again.
“That yellowish-orange one that looks like corn,” he said. “How can that taste like cat-poop smells?”
Lu carefully picked up the tray and walked it across to what Kirk assumed was a waste container, and dropped the contents and tray in it. “I warned you it’d be better to leave the F.R.B. on all the time,” she said.
Kirk sank into the chair again and decided that maybe escape wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
“None of this makes any sense,” Lu said.
“What doesn’t?” asked Kirk. “The fact that
Enonians apparently have no taste-buds, or something else?”
“Sarge,” Lu said, “are you sure when you recalibrated after the jump that we didn’t jump in time?”
“I have double checked, ma’am,” her F.R.B. replied. “I have also compared against Casio’s readings and we are both certain that we only moved through space. Time and Potential remained consistent.”
“What’s the problem here anyway?” asked Kirk.
“Enon was destroyed approximately 2000 years ago, at the outset of the Prion War.”
“You mean the entire planet was destroyed, or the Enonian civilization?”
“Both really,” said Lu. “The Enonians were a highly advanced culture who had amassed a great wealth, both financially and culturally. When the Prions launched their initial attack, Enon was their first target. History has it that the Enonians refused to surrender and as a sign of his power, the Lord High Grand Provost of Prio ordered that the entire planet be destroyed, demonstrating, to the rest of the universe, his power and ruthlessness.”
“What about the legend of the lost moon?”
Casio asked.
“What legend?” asked Kirk.
“It’s a story told to children across the universe. There was a rumor that a small colony of Enonians escaped the assault and set off to find some ancient ancestors that had been lost millennia before. A lost tribe or something like that. Some claim that the survivors managed to propel a moon away before their home world was destroyed. I’ve heard stories from drunken freighter captains that talk about seeing the lost fleet, but I always assumed it was one too many string snaps messing with their heads.”
“Ma’am, I have just managed to access the internal computer’s mainframe,” Sarge interrupted.
“What took so long?” asked Lu.
“Well, partly it was the fact that the mainframe is a composite of many smaller computer systems. It is as if there are many systems, all linked, all communicating and working side-by-side yet independently. It was difficult to analyze the system and get a coherent overview.”
“Why would they do that?” Lu asked.
“An interesting point is that they appear to be in the process of loading on supplies at this time.”
Sarge said.
Lu snapped to attention. “I thought you said we weren’t near any inhabited systems?”
“That is correct, ma’am.”
Casio chimed in. “If anyone is interested, I’m picking up an energy spike. I just increased the proximity sweep and found it. It’s about 2.7 miles away.”
“Is it a stringer powering up?” Lu asked.
“I’d have to say that it does appear to be just that,”
Casio answered.
“What’s a stringer?” Asked Kirk.
“Casio, fill him in. This could be our way home. I’m going to try and contact the Council.” Lu leapt across the room and sat down in front of a small screen and began to access the communication channels.
“A Stringer,” Casio said, “is a large freight ship with the ability to create a breech in the fabric of space, through which it can connect to another point in space, effectively making a short cut.”
“A wormhole you mean?”
“That would be an adequate way of describing it. The breech is very unstable, and as soon as it’s opened, what is commonly referred to as String is shot through, which links both the start and end point of the journey, and acts to retain the integrity of the breech.”
“You’re telling me that they shoot string down this hole?”
“It isn’t the kind of string you would wrap a parcel in.” Casio sounded exasperated. “I will recommend some further reading on Cosmology when we arrive on Sevres Prime.”
“Okay, so the string is in there, then what?”
“The string has an elastic nature, and the tension in it maintains the breech. Once the ship enters the breech, the field that created the rip collapses and the string snaps through to the other end. The ship rides this inertial wave, ahead of the collapsing breech to its desired location. All very basic.”
“Why don’t they just use Hyper Luminal Jumps?” Asked Kirk.
“You must have noticed that both the departure and arrival chambers were heavily shielded. The force of the energy release that slows the tachyons must be contained. Once you start to increase the mass of the object you wish to move, the energy release also grows proportionately. Anything much beyond the largest life-form would create too large an energy release and could potentially lay waste to half a planet. Maybe more. Stringers are slower, mostly because they take so long to create the power to cause a breech, but not that much slower.”
“So you think that Lu is gonna try and get us a ride on this stringer?”
“That would be my plan,” said Casio. “At least as far as the nearest Hyper Luminal Jump station.”
&nbs
p; “Damn!” shouted Lu, as she punched the communication controls. “They’ve shut me out! Sarge? Can you get a signal to the freighter?”
“Negative, ma’am. They are shielding this compartment. I am finding it more difficult to even take any sensor readings beyond the confines of these quarters.”
“Casio?”
“I’m having the same problems.”
“They don’t want us to talk to that freighter,” said Lu.
“But why?”
The communications screen flickered to life and Shé’vah looked out at them.
“Why are you blocking us?” Lu demanded.
“We apologize for any inconvenience. You are still free to move around our home, but communication with the String freighter is, I am afraid, forbidden.”
Shé’vah sounded genuinely sorry.
“Why?” asked Kirk.
“We told you. We now guard our privacy very fastidiously. Were you to leave here, word would spread of our existence. We have no desire to suffer as our forbearers did.”
“But we know you are trading with that stringer. They must know about you,” said Lu.
“Captain Sitee is being well compensated for his silence.”
“Captain Sitee?” asked Lu. “Dexter Sitee?”
“That is correct. Now, if you will excuse me, I have urgent matters which require my attention. As soon as the String freighter has departed, all your liberties will be returned. I am reliably informed that the ship is almost at full power and will be able to depart within the hour. We are sure you will come to enjoy your new home as much as we will enjoy entertaining you as our guests.”
The screen blipped off.
Lu spun to face Kirk. “We have to get on board that freighter.” Kirk recognized the expression on her face. Somewhere, and sometime soon, a door was about to take some serious damage.
“Are you sure this is going to work?” Kirk was worried.
“Ninety-nine percent certain,” Lu answered.
“But not one hundred percent?”
“If it makes you feel any better, I’m one hundred percent sure this will work.”
“Do you really mean that?” Kirk asked, beginning to feel a little better.
“No.” Lu smiled. “I’d say we have a fifty-fifty chance of pulling this off.”
Kirk sagged.
“Ready?” Lu asked.
“No,” Kirk replied.
“Good, let’s do it.”
They slipped out of their quarters and checked the hallway. It was clear of any Enonians.
“Okay,” said Lu, turning to Kirk. “We switch the F.R.B.s to Forced Active mode, and use it to disguise ourselves as Enonians. Just don’t tell anyone we did this. Technically the F.R.B. should only be used to allow for easier transition between races. This is an infringement of several planets’ and systems’ laws. If anyone asks later, they let us go. Okay?”
Kirk nodded.
“We should know if it works or not as soon as we meet one,” said Lu. “If we pass that test, odds will be on our side.”
“Won’t they know that we’re missing?”
“I’m guessing they’ve been seriously monitoring the room they gave us, but once we’re out, it will take them a while to find us again, and hopefully the F.R.B.s can cover us from their sensor sweeps for long enough. Let’s do it before someone comes along.”
Kirk looked down the hallways again as Lu commanded Sarge to go Active. When he turned back he leapt from the ground and staggered backwards.
“Argh!” he screamed.
“What is it?” Asked the giant beetle with Lu’s voice.
“Lu?” asked the shaken Kirk.
“Yes?” she replied. “Casio? Go active, will you, before this idiot gets us caught.”
For a moment, there seemed to be a shimmering before Kirk’s eyes, then things returned to normal.
“They’re bugs?” Kirk could barely contain his disgust.
“You didn’t know?”
“How would I?”
“Well, for a start,” said Lu. “There are around a third of a million varieties of beetle on your planet alone. You think with numbers like that, the odds on other planets having bugs is going to be in issue? Or that they would be the dominant species on many other worlds? Trust me, there are far more bugs in the universe than humanoids.”
“But bugs?” Kirk shivered involuntarily.
“Quiet!” ordered Lu. “Sounds like someone is coming this way. I guess we get to see if our disguise works.”
Kirk edged back against the wall of the corridor.
Around a corner, perhaps twenty yards away, he saw two Enonians come walking towards them. paid him or Lu any attention and soon passed out of sight.
“I guess it worked,” said Lu. Pride sounded in her voice, but Kirk wasn’t sure if wavering mandibles could really convey emotions in a way he could relate to.
“Come on,” said Lu. “The loading bays are this way.”
Lu set off.
“Now I know why I always felt that there were more eyes looking at me,” said Kirk as he reluctantly followed. “They had those multifaceted bug eyes, not regular ones.” He shuddered again, and picked up his pace.
The last thing he wanted was to lose Lu now.
Chapter Nine
The loading bays were a hive of activity, a description that sent a shiver down Kirk’s spine remembering what the Enonians really looked like. The majority of the work had been done, and now it was a case of stowing goods for later movement.
Kirk was amazed to see that at regular intervals along the hull of the ship there were openings that revealed the stars and space beyond.
He leaned closer to Lu. “Why aren’t they all being sucked out into space. I thought it was a vacuum out there?”
“It is,” Lu whispered. “You see those large cylinder shaped things that sit above and below the bay entrances?”
She pointed, and Kirk nodded.
“They’re generating a very strong, but focused magnetic field. It’s effectively creating an opposing force to the suction of the vacuum beyond. Equal, yet opposite, and therefore cancels it out. A ship can pass through it, but a person couldn’t just walk through it. You’d bounce off.”
She carefully scanned the bay below them and seemed to settle on a course of action.
She turned to face him. “Okay, here’s the plan. We take one of the loaders down there and make a run for it, straight through the magnetic shielding and head for the stringer. Hopefully, they’ll be caught off guard long enough for us to get to the freighter, and if it’s as close to a departure as they said, they’ll have no time to get us back.”
“That’s it?” Kirk was surprised. “Steal a Loader and make a dash for freedom?”
There was a loud siren wail from the ceiling of the loading bay, followed by the voice of Shé’vah. “Attention Special Agent Pillah and Pangaean Kirk Deighton. Please return to your quarters immediately. All personnel, lock down all exits from the Citadel.”
The siren returned. Lu looked at Kirk. “If you have a better plan, I can’t think of a more appropriate time for you to share it. If not,” she shouted above the siren, “follow me!”
Lu leapt up and started sprinting towards the nearest loader.
By the time Kirk pulled himself up the side of the loader, Lu was inside and warming up the engines.
As Kirk slid into the seat beside her, he wasn’t at all surprised to see that the controls looked like those of an old panel van his uncle had once loaned him to move house.
Lu quickly checked all the readouts and nodded. Without taking her eyes from the controls she explained to Kirk. “The loader is basically a set of powerful hydrogen engines connected to those claws you see st
icking out front. They stick a cockpit on for a pilot, but there are some automated ones. The basic idea is that it flies to a stringer, picks up a cargo container and ships it off. This should have enough juice to get us to the freighter.”
“What do you mean? We got from Earth to Titan in the swooper. How come this can’t get from here to that freighter?” asked Kirk.
“Both vehicles are hydrogen powered, but the swooper has an almost limitless range because of its fuel intake system,” said Lu.
“Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe,” Casio added. “The stuff is literally everywhere.”
“The swooper is designed to have a very small fuel tank, used for an initial takeoff, then once in motion, it sucks in additional fuel as it travels,” Lu said.
“Very efficient,” said Casio. “Loaders however, aren’t expected to travel far, so they tend to have a larger fuel tank and a slower, less efficient intake system.”
“Put simply, you’re telling me this loader is not designed for us to make an effective run for it,”
Kirk said.
“I’m not hearing any better suggestions coming from you.” Lu looked up. “They’re closing the doors. Time to move.”
The loader lurched up and forward, and Kirk was thrown back into the seat, not at all reassured by the fact that his seat seemed to be considerably ripped up and repaired with duct tape.
The Loader was a lot nosier than the Swooper had been and Kirk wondered at what point his ears would start to bleed.
“Cas?” He shouted. “Can you filter the noise down a little?”
Suddenly the noise level dropped to a muffled whine.
“Thanks, Cas.”
The outer hull doors were almost completely closed as the Loader swept forward.
“Brace yourself,” Lu shouted as she grasped the worn steering wheel tightly. The loader’s claws slammed into the doors with a bone-jarring crash. Kirk closed his eyes, convinced the sound of grinding metal was the last thing he would ever hear. He felt the loader hit resistance in its relentless push for freedom. He was vaguely aware of Lu shouting something about the Enonians having increased the magnetic field, and that she was going to have to push the engines to overload.
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