»They know that they can’t break through, but they keep trying. That’s illogical,« 40028 commented.
Nexus Tor grinned.
»They’re testing our mental endurance. The generals have known for quite some time who is responsible for the mental field. They’re trying to destabilize and distract my team. They’re hoping to find a weak spot.«
»You won’t have a chance, if the mental field collapses,« 40028 warned. »I’m impressed that you resort only to these humane measures and do not choose brutal force.«
A new wave of attackers rolled against the HOT defense line, but this time the advance was stopped even earlier. The buffer zone had been extended closer toward the ship.
»Seems that Hassan Khalil was successful,« Tor assumed. »The attacks are desperate moves!«
»Oh yes, he was successful,« a voice said behind Nexus Tor who suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder.
»Uh … there you are again. You need to tell me how you do that, next time around,« Tor replied.
»I sent the Original Spark to a safe place. The generals can no longer make use of it. The situation should ease soon. I could not find out, however, where the generals obtained the spark, I didn’t have enough time for that,« Hassan regretted.
Tor took a deep breath and sighed.
»What would be a safe place? It’s not so easy to put an Original Spark into a pocket and then nonchalantly leave an enemy ship,« Tor teased.
»I transferred it into a higher tachyon continuum, unreachable for the generals.«
40028 ascended and stopped right before Hassan’s eyes.
»This is an incalculable risk! Nobody knows when and where the spark may re-enter normal space. It may even warp tachyon space!« the Techno-Cleric scolded Hassan.
Khalil swallowed hard.
»Well … we had to get rid of this problem; there’s always some risk. When the spark returns, we’ll need to deal with it again.«
»It is not known what may occur when it re-appears. The spark is not subjected to time and space. It can re-enter anywhere and anytime … also in the past! I’ll take some measurements to see if the local space-time continuum is affected,« 40028 suggested.
A warning interrupted the conversation.
»The attackers are retreating. The woman is there again. She is making signals!«
Tor nodded satisfied.
»Seems, that negotiations will start soon.«
He turned around, but Hassan Khalil was gone.
We want proof
Nok Daralamai was relieved to hear that the Trox had calmed down. Without resistance, they were collected and dropped off in the sick bay where a quarantine section had been established.
»We were lucky. This could’ve developed into a major disaster for us,« Nok commented.
Nuri Jawa looked sad.
»The Trox are not responsible for their actions. The Circle people caused all that,« Nok added.
Nok received the damage reports as well as information about twenty-two dead crew members and thirty-four wounded.
»There’s a curse on this base! Every time we overcome the losses and rebuild the damaged sections, the next catastrophe comes around. The outer sector is supposed to be the contact region with alien civilizations. Well … that’s what they told me before I came here. I actually imagined meeting extra-terrestrials who are friendly, who want to exchange knowledge and trade with us. How naive! Extra-terrestrial reality is totally different. This place is a constant battlefield of sorts.«
Nuri Jawa nodded sympathetically.
»There must be friendly extra-terrestrials out there, other than the Shwakans or Progonauts! The Milky Way is so vast that nobody can really explore it. Even though, we’ve had some bad experiences, I’m certain that your dream will come true.«
Nok smiled thinly.
»It’s always good to have a cosmo-psychologist around,« she replied sarcastically. »Let’s focus on the Circle unit. I need Tor’s status report.«
»The Dragon provided us with up-to-date video footage, Commander,« a comm-officer announced. »Hassan Khalil took the Original Spark out of the picture so-to-speak. Currently, the invaders are running against the HOT’s defensive lines, to no avail, though.«
»What do you mean by: out of the picture, Lieutenant?« Nok inquired. »Does the spark have a delete button? Explain!«
Some female crew members giggled mutedly.
»The Original Spark was removed from our continuum,« the lieutenant tried to explain what he didn’t even remotely understand.
»Okay, okay,« Nok waved him away. »Establish a comm-link to Nexus Tor then.«
Before the link was activated, the long range scanners issued an alert.
The central display turned red and expanded to the show the affected sectors. Four red balls were visible inside the holo.
Nok’s face became rigid.
»Reports!« she bellowed into the room.
The scanner officer needed a couple of moments to manifest his findings.
»Commander, there’re strong energy emissions at a remote outer sector, belonging to the Oort Cloud. They occurred beyond our actual sensor range. If we can detect the emissions then they were extremely strong!«
»The Circle battleships!« Nok hissed. »They’re coming to demonstrate their might! God be with us!«
»Uh … from what we know … their propulsion systems, even when applied to execute small tachyon leaps, won’t create such an energy flow. The positions of the detected emissions were relatively close by each other but definitely separate incidents with a potential of several thousand nuclear warheads. I might be wrong, but it seems to me that the Circle battleships were destroyed!«
»A deception!« Nok argued. »That’s just another one of their tricks! Now, I really need a comm-link to Nexus Tor!«
As soon as the connection established, she saw, instead of Nexus Tor, Uma Boos and Circle General Executioner.
Nok held her breath and stared at the dangerous enemies.
Without a greeting, Uma Boos opened the dialogue, »You infected my people with a genetic bomb, but that wasn’t good enough as it seems. We just received reports that you destroyed our battle ships! You will bear the consequences of our next step. We will destroy our ship and annihilate this moon along with it!«
Nok Daralamai threw her hair back, then focused with an ice-cold stare on Uma Boos.
»You forgot to mention that we were only defending ourselves! On the other hand, I’d be more than happy if I possessed a weapon that could endanger your battleships. If so, many things would have developed differently, I can assure you that! Your accusation that we destroyed your ships is utter nonsense! It occurred far beyond our operational range. Forget your accusations, they won’t stick!«
Much to Nok’s surprise, Uma Boos or better the Frigonan inside her dead body, seemed insecure and irritated, while Circle General Executioner was bouncing up and down.
»Humans can never defeat our ships,« he snarled. »One of their allies did this! We will avenge our dead!«
»My people don’t rage wars!« 40028 intervened. »There must be another reason for the destruction of your ships. I don’t mind mediating between the Circle people and Humans.«
The general ignored 40028’s suggestion.
»Your ships would have detected our units and reacted accordingly. It’s more likely that they destroyed each other. Regardless, let’s talk about our current situation. We can still negotiate with you and the remaining Circle unit to find a compromise,« Nexus Tor’s calm voice sounded via the comm-link.
»We don’t negotiate! You belong to these duo-peds who hurt my people by means of your perverted mental emissions! We’ve never encountered this in the entire cosmos. You are monsters!« General Executioner yelled.
»Hybrids are not monsters, but Humans like us!« Nok interceded. »Monsters would have killed each and everyone on board your ship. Instead, we were trying to negotiate … our patience is running thin!«
>
»We could’ve de-populated your worlds, but we came with a small ship to eradicate our differences,« Uma Boos replied.
»Something’s moving,« Nuri Jawa whispered to Nok. »They would’ve never gone this far, if the generals had another joker up their sleeves.«
Nok understood and said, »Your ships were positioned beyond the Dimensional Shield and would not have come back! At the first sign of aggression by these ships, we would’ve activated the Cuckoo-Gene! In other words: We had no motive to attack your ships, even if it were possible.«
»Why don’t we talk about your motives to attack this moon,« Hassan Khalil suggested. »The reason is quite clear. You came to obtain relevant gene data. You cannot return to your home-worlds because it would cause a pandemic on all your planets. To get to the data, you sent us two dead people!«
Nok whirled around.
Hassan had re-materialized behind her … and had brought somebody else with him!
Even hardened officers smirked, disgusted as they saw the man. The man was a shadow of himself. On his flight through the tunnel, much of his skin tissue had peeled off so only a couple of muscle strands held his body together, on his arms and legs bare bones were visible.
Hassan pointed at the man’s head. Hair-fine strands extended from his fingertips, entering the horribly, defaced skull.
»His name was Huan Berga! Actually, the Moxantans gave me a hint without knowing. Inside the brain of this dead man lives a Frigonan embryo! Although, the being is not much bigger than a Human thumb, it is able to control a Human body for a while by means of chemical secretions which establish connections to the synapses. The dead body can even function under space conditions.«
Hassan retracted his techno-pods which caused the body to collapse on the floor.
»You killed two of our young!« Uma Boos screamed.
»You killed two of our men!« Nok replied harshly. »Not to mention the sneak attack, involving an Original Spark! That alone would be reason enough to kill you all!«
The people inside the command central held their breath. Nok was walking a fine line. She talked to the Frigonans and Moxantans in a language they understood. Nevertheless, Uma Boos’ capturer could still decide to destroy the small ship and the moon along with it. Nok’s gut feeling told her that the Circle people would not go that far just to make a point, if their own lives were in danger. They were conquerors; they were used to being victorious … not dying.
»… instead, we want to make a suggestion, since we don’t believe in revenge.«
»Give us all the details concerning the gene implantation and maybe this moon will orbit this gas planet tomorrow,« Uma Boos demanded.
Nok ignored the threat. She had the feeling that she probably would never get to a real phase of negotiations.
»We will give you just one virus, capable of removing the Cuckoo-Gene from your different DNAs. We expect from you that you leave this solar system once and for all!«
»The virus can completely remove the gene? Totally?« Uma Boss was pessimistic. »We want proof!«
Nok disregarded the request.
»After you get cured, we will have no mercy, if you should decide to return here. Our worlds are off limits to you. We can always re-introduce the virus to your DNAs. You are not welcome in this solar system!«
After a couple of minutes of silence, General Executioner said, »We will retreat to discuss this offer!«
He turned around and bounced back to the ship’s hangar, followed by large groups of Frigonans. Uma Boss looked back and smiled into the camera. Her smile looked more like a diabolical grimace.
Nok Daralamai followed the dead body with her eyes. A group of medical researchers had placed the man on a gurney and transported him to the sick bay for further examination.
»I would never have thought this was possible,« she admitted.
»You mean that Frigonans used Human dead bodies?« Hassan asked.
»No, even as perverted as it is. I meant, that we were able to reach a stale mate with the Circle people.«
Khalil nodded.
»Thanks to the HOT. The Tactic-Master was correct with his decisions.«
»He wasn’t able to predict the attack with the spark, though!« Nok replied.
»No, he couldn’t. Batu is not a medium. He cannot see into the future. He reacts to changing situations and plans accordingly.«
»… and you were his joker,« Nok smiled and reached out to shake Hassan’s hand. »I think, I need to ask you for forgiveness. You did a damn good job, Hassan.«
»Thanks, but the job is not done yet. I’m still thinking about the four exploded Circle battle ships. Why should they turn against each other?«
»We know about their relationships among each other. The Circle generals are on board the unit that crashed-landed on Triton. Maybe they were conflicts brewing, which escalated while their leaders where here on Triton,« Nok speculated.
»Maybe, maybe not,« Hassan responded. »Regardless, you should probably verify the occurrence and dispatch some probes. This sudden change, although in our favor, seems rather strange to me!«
Nok agreed with a nod.
»We’ll do that. With a little luck, this Circle problem is soon history.«
In fear of Hybrids
Nexus Tor’s team established the comm-link from the tunnel. Uma Boos and the general were visible.
Nok had a great deal of respect for Tor’s men and women who were still holding their position, knowing that the Circle generals could still change their minds and destroy their ship.
»We want proof!« Uma Boos scraped here feet on the ground to emphasize her demand.
A group of Frigonans had come with her, quickly climbing up and down on her body.
»If you want us to leave this system, then we want guarantees!«
»There’re no guarantees … just our word,« Nok replied coolly.
»We’ll give you a sealed test tube with the virus. If you release the agent then your people will be cured in a short time.«
It wasn’t obvious if Uma Boos was wavering. Nok knew from Hassan that the woman has been dead for a long time already. The Frigonans inside her weren’t able to produce real emotions in her face, except for an odd ugly smile.
Nok stepped closer toward the holo camera.
»If you accept our offer then we expect you to leave this system within two hours of our time. Your escape vector will point away from this moon toward the outer sectors!«
»Huh, you’re afraid!« Uma Boos accused.
»Yes, you fear our vengeance and our weapons,« the Moxantan general snarled convinced.
Nok and Juri exchanged glances. Nuri faintly shook her head. At this moment in time, Nok could not show any signs of weakness.
»You interpret wrong,« Nok replied sternly. »Maybe it helps you to know that even if you get cured, our Hybrids can still unleash a raging storm of destruction as soon as you fly over my base!«
While Uma Boos just stared at the camera, the general was jumping and bouncing up and down … he was obviously nervous. It was a smart move to use the HOT as leverage.
»We accept!« the general announced.
Regained Freedom
The Circle ship retreated and slowly gained altitude.
At that moment, Nok felt as if somebody had pulled a stinger from her soul. Not flying over Triton Base, the ship vanished from the Neptune space sector within seconds. It was not clear if the Circle generals were flying to the Oort Cloud to find out more about the fate of their battle ships.
40028 praised the HOT and Nok to have solved this problem without resorting to extreme violence and to have chosen a moral solution.
Maybe he’s right, Nok thought. There seem to be always choices, even if the situation looks bleak. We were successful and can be happy about our newly regained freedom. I just hope that it’ll last …
28 - The fourth key
Written by Thomas Rabenstein
Frogamian pelt lice
A strong dusty wind was blowing across the rocky desert plain.
Vasina and Maya were trying to remove the seed capsules which were clinging to their hair with fine cleat-like barbs. Herimos took a deep breath of dry air and looked toward the East from where yellowish clouds drifted toward their location.
»That could develop into a bad sand storm!« he warned. »This is not going to be a nice day. We should’ve stayed inside the Library.«
Klori’Tar croaked.
»No thanks, I really don’t want to be there longer than necessary. Even as a far-travelled Klorian, I’m intimidated, I’m croakless. A mountain which is actually a spaceship with only one crew member who can glance into the future …«
»You’re right,« Voit acknowledged with a smile and slapped the Klorian on the shoulder. Klori’Tar moaned and slumped under this friendly gesture.
»Do you want to break my cartilage skeleton, you Klotz?« he croaked in pain.
Voit stepped back and stared at the extra-terrestrial.
»Huh, there’s nothing wrong with your skeleton, you’re not made of sugar! Remember, I’d be able to taste it.«
»Taste?« Klori’Tar moved away, horrified. »Don’t you dare touch me with your wet taste muscle!«
Ivanova and Vasina looked at each other and broke out in laughter. Even the usually well poised shield-bearer was briefly struggling with his composure. Only Maya Ivanova’s replication didn’t show any emotions, a frozen, ambiguous look on her face.
Li Pai, carrying Paafnas on his shoulders, arrived together with Arkroid at the tachyon portal. He was worried about Arkroid, who seemed withdrawn. Arkroid had become very silent after the Kokradian had given him information about their probable future.
»Are you okay?« Pi asked and rearranged Paafnas’ position who was licking over his eyeballs, removing the dust from his big eyes.
Arkroid momentarily looked at Pi and shook his head.
»If everything would be okay, then we would be on Earth together with our families and friends,« he replied dryly.
NEBULAR Collection 6 - The Great Tremor: Episodes 27 - 30 Page 10
