A Walk Between Stars

by Tyler Parsons

  I let out a breath, and tried to find something about him I could use. Then it occurred to me.

  “He’s got the biggest quarters I’ve seen so far. Private quarters. He’s just forward of the triple solar panel array. Do you know where that is?”

  “Yes,” Steward said. “That is the Captain’s quarters.”

  The Captain?

  “Oh, is that going to complicate things?”

  “Yes, Tech Four, very much.”

  “Well could you get security to go in there and get that gnarly dagger, he’s as good as caught. Right?” I said. “That thing just screams murder weapon, even if he does manage to get all the blood cleaned off.”

  Silence from Steward. He was probably tilting his head right now.

  “Steward?”

  “Describe the dagger please,” he said.

  I did.

  “That’s not possible,” he said. “It is a…” no translation “blade. It is a forbidden instrument, for a forbidden religion.”

  “Does it by chance have anything to do with Manti Sacrifice?” I asked.

  “Yes.”

  “So…” I let it out slowly, “is that enough evidence against him?”

  “Yes. I think so.”

  “So get security to go in there.”

  “I cannot,” he said. “They cannot move against a commanding officer without the proof in hand.”

  “But you just said it was enough.” I said in exasperation.

  “Yes, it is enough, but only after we posses it. I have not seen these things for myself, and I have told you our laws forbid alien testimony.”

  “Jeez! Again with that?”

  “Do not despair, Tech Four,” Steward said. “I have a plan.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  The Ambassador’s head shot up. He pulled a tablet toward him and tapped it. A Manti appeared on the screen. From my vantage, I could not see who it was.

  A moment later, the Ambassador—or should I call him the Captain now—quickly wrapped the knife back into the blackened cloth. He crossed the room to the corner where a pedestal stood with a stone geometric statue atop it. He lifted the statue, and pushed something beneath it. A compartment opened on the side of the pedestal.

  Secret, secret.

  He gently placed the wrapped package into the compartment and pushed it closed.

  I don’t know what Steward did, but what ever it was, it got the captain’s attention. He left the quarters.

  “Steward?”

  “Yes,” he responded.

  “The captain just left.”

  “Understood,” came the reply.

  “I’m headed to the navigation room. There’s a hidden compartment in the pedestal. You should be able to find a hidden switch to open it under the statue.”

  “Understood,” he repeated.

  I pushed off and headed diagonally around the ship towards the stern.

  A minute later I was at my destination. This was a room I had looked at a couple of times, but until now I hadn’t known what was going on in here. Steward informed me that this was the navigation room.

  Three Manti worked at workstations identical to the ones the secretaries used.

  I managed to beat the captain by several minutes. When he arrived, all of the Manti present straitened in surprise.

  “I’m in,” Steward called over the comms.

  “Great, do you see the statue?”

  “Yes.”

  “Get to it then,” I said.

  Silence.

  I watched the Captain interact with two of the Manti. Since Steward hadn’t deemed fit to inform me about how he got the Captain here, I wasn’t sure what this interaction was about.

  “Tech Four,” Steward called.

  “Yeah?”

  “It’s not here,” he said. If it weren’t for the translator, it may have sounded panicked. “There is nothing resembling a switch or button under the statue. Please restate.”

  “What?” I gasped. “It’s right under the statue. I swear.”

  “No, it is not.”

  I untethered, gave the captain one last look, and pushed off towards the Captain’s quarters.

  I grabbed a pipe and stopped hard as I pulled up to the window. Steward stood facing me, apparently realizing my presence.

  “It’s right…” I started.

  There were two statues. One just to the left of the entry, and one around by the back room.

  “Which statue did you check?” I asked in a hurry. “I didn’t realize there were two.”

  Steward spun around, glancing left to right. He made a strait line to the statue by the entry. He must have been looking under the other.

  “Yes,” I said, “it’s that one, by the door. Sorry.”

  He turned to look over his shoulder as he walked, and said, “Please go back to navigation.”

  Oh yeah!

  I pushed off, and headed back. At about the half way point, Steward called.

  “I’ve got the dagger and the blood.”

  “Good,” I said as I continued to pull myself along.

  “I will now search the back room,” he said. “That was where the crime occurred, correct?”

  “Uh, yeah,” I said. “What do you expect to find?”

  “Unknown,” he answered.

  “Okay.”

  The comm went silent.

  I glided toward the navigation window. I tried to time it so I could snap my harness to the ship as I pulled up to the window, but in my hurry I was floating along faster than anticipated, and at the last moment the clip to my strap caught on my suit near my hip. I hit the ship with only one hand extended, the other struggling to free the clip. My fingers failed to grab purchase, and I rolled, hit the ship with my shoulder, and bounced away.

  I panicked. My instincts were to reach out with both arms, but my body somehow overrode those instructions causing my hand to continue pulling on the clip.

  The clip tore free, and I started waving my arms and legs around frantically as I spun slowly away from the ship. I glanced off of one of the fins, but in reaching for it, there was nothing to grab. It was wider than my arm span, and flat.

  My foot hit something and a moment later felt a pressure on the top of my boot indicating my foot was lodged under something. I came to a stop.

  Holy crap. That was close.

  I looked over my situation, and sure enough, I was towards the end of the fin, with very few hand holds between myself and the edge of the inertial negation field.

  I slowly climbed back towards the ship.

  The Captain wasn’t there.

  I gave a panicked glance around the navigation room, but he really wasn’t there. I pushed off, full speed back to his quarters.

  “Steward,” I called into my comms.

  No response.

  “Steward,” I called again. “The Captain isn’t here. He’s on his way back. Get out. Get out now!”

  Still no response.

  I pulled, faster, and faster, clearing the edge of the ship, and started to slow down about five meters out from the window.

  This time I timed it right.

  The Captain was back in his quarters. He headed to the back room.

  I looked frantically around, but could see no sign of Steward.

  “Steward?” I called for the third time.

  Nothing.

  The Captain exited the back area. He was walking a bit odd. No, wait—it wasn’t the Captain. It was Steward. He was… sneaking?

  Somehow he had hidden back there, and managed to get past the Captain.

  Once he was clear, he ran in a scuttling manner to the entry. The door opened and closed as he exited.

  Oh jeez, that was close.

  “Steward.”

  “Yes Tech Four,” he finally responded. “I am fine. I was unable to answer earlier. My apologies.”

  I laughed out loud.

  “You bet, buddy.”

  “I must hide this. Then I will meet you at the
rec-room,” he said.

  “Good.” I smiled.

  I was glad that was over with. I watched the room for a moment longer before heading over to the rec-room.

  The Captain reemerged. As he cleared the back door, he stopped and stood extremely still. He slowly reached out and hefted the statue there. He held it in his hands, then slowly placed it back down on the pedestal. He turned it ever so slightly.

  Steward must have moved it out of place.

  The Captain jerked his head, and in that same scuttling run, made his way quickly over to the other statue.

  Shoot!

  He lifted the statue, tapped the switch, and froze in place as the compartment dropped open—empty.

  He threw the statue to the floor, spun, and scanned the room. He scuttled into the back room. A moment later he scuttled back out. He was frantic, knocking things about, kicking beanbags, and throwing objects.

  Eventually, he calmed down and moved to the table, collapsing against it.

  That’s right, I thought. We’ve got ya buddy.

  He lifted his head, and reached for the tablet on the table. He tapped at it, until an image of his quarters appeared. It was from an internal angle, different from the view I was used to, but I could tell it was his quarters. He tapped some more, and slid his pincers across the face.

  There on the screen, small though it may be, was Steward, moving through the room.

  The Captain watched, as Steward searched the room. The video culminated as Steward found the blackened package, hid in the back room, to eventually emerge again skulking to the exit.

  “Steward,” I opened the channel. “He knows. He just reviewed video footage of you in the room…”

  I stopped mid sentence. The captain was no longer looking at the tablet. He was standing, looking out the window. The image frozen on the tablet was of Steward standing in roughly the same spot, facing the window.

  I held extremely still.

  The captain, swiped at the tablet, and just like that, the exterior lights on the ship lit up like the noonday sun. My shadows were gone. I stood, feeling naked to his scrutiny.

  “Steward,” I said. “He knows I helped. He’s looking right at me.”

  “Not good,” Steward replied.

  I waved at the Captain, then thought better of it, and flipped him off instead.

  When I reached the rec-room four Manti had a hold of Steward, walking him briskly out of the room.

  As they pulled him away, he stared straight at me. He held his arm out towards me, wriggling his pincers as if to grasp me.

  Wait… He wasn’t just wriggling, I realized. He was only moving four digits. I recognized the motion. It was touch talk for water.

  The door closed, and he was gone.

  “Water?” I said, puzzled.

  Had I seen that right? Was it a coincidence that he moved those four digits, or was it a message?

  I checked my suit readout. I had plenty of water.

  I headed back to my alcove to think this through. As far as I could see it, I was screwed.

  Water?

  A thought occurred to me. I adjusted my course and pulled along to the air lock instead. Once there, I pressed my face up to the port window. There were two large containers inside. I tried the handle and it turned freely, opening the door.

  In addition to the two large water canisters there was a large stack of ration bars.

  Thank you Steward!

  Judging from the size of the canisters, there had to be four or five months worth of water for me. And at least six months worth of ration bars.

  It took me two trips to move the canisters to my alcove. When I went back for the food bars, I scooped up almost half the pile, and revealed the blackened cloth bundle from the Captain’s room hidden there.

  And Steward comes through again.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  That night I awoke to my comms.

  “Terran,” came the translation.

  “Terran,” it repeated.

  I assumed this was the Captain, despite sounding like Steward; thanks to the translator.

  “Yes,” I responded. “I’m here.”

  “Come to the port Terran.”

  I figured I might as well see what he wanted. I stretched, then exited the alcove and moved to the port.

  The Captain was there, looking through the port window.

  “Tell me Terran. Did your friend indicate where he had hidden that which he stole?”

  “What have you done with him?” I demanded as I slapped my gloved hand to the window.

  He jumped slightly.

  “He has been secured,” the captain said. “I have commanded that no one is allowed to contact you. No more food or water. No assistance of any kind.”

  He tilted his head, then said, “But if you help me recover my property I will lift this ban. And we will continue our arrangement to carry you safely to your people.” He paused. “Don’t help me, and you will suffocate and die out there.”

  “I’ll be fine,” I said, thinking of my new water reserves.

  “You doubt my sincerity?” he said. “You believe I will not keep my word to you?”

  “Well, I wouldn’t bet on it.”

  “Nothing you could say, or bare witness to could harm me Terran. It is the law of my people. I am protected from your alien testimony. Just so long as I regain my possessions. I have no reason to not continue our arrangement. It is the logic of the matter”

  That followed precisely what Steward had told me.

  “And Steward?” I asked. “He could bare testimony, right?”

  “Correct.”

  “So the only thing keeping him alive is the whereabouts of your package.” I stated.

  “Again, correct.”

  “In that case, I have no clue where he hid it.” I said.

  “You would endanger yourself over this?” he asked credulously through the translator.

  “Bite it!” I said through gritted teeth. “I’ll take my chances out here.”

  “Are you positive?” he asked.

  Then he tapped something against the glass. It was my carbon dioxide filter replacement.

  Crap.

  I looked at my arm tablet. I had silenced the scrubber alarm when I’d given Steward one of the filters. I pulled it up, and it showed that I had less than a third of one percent on my current filter. I’d be dead in six hours tops.

  Figures.

  I turned without saying another word and left him at the window.

  I would rather die than let that bastard kill Steward and go free.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  For well over an hour I sat in my alcove and tossed the dice. It wasn’t much as far as a man’s last moments go, but I didn’t have much else. I decided against having a last meal. If I was dying, I’d rather not go through the hell of eating one more time.

  The anger pushed up inside me. What could I do? I felt helpless. I WAS helpless.

  But then I thought, if I couldn’t save myself, I could at least force a confrontation and make it difficult for the Captain to ignore me.

  I pushed out of my alcove and headed for the Captain’s quarters.

  When I got there I pushed right up to the window, and pounded my fist hard several times. The solid hull (including the windows) transferred very little vibration, but a hard enough whack and he would hear it.

  He looked up. Good. I got his attention.

  I moved over to the solar panel array two meters away, pulled out my laser torch, and started cutting into the hull at the base of the panels. The external lights came on again. I looked over my shoulder and the captain was watching me intently. I turned my body to give him a better view.

  Thirty seconds later I was through the hull, and the cable leading from the array was visible. I cut through the cable.

  I turned and smiled at the Captain. It was anti-climactic. Nothing happened. But I wasn’t expecting anything. These panels fed batteries, so taking it out would not hurt an
ything right away.

  This would be a war of attrition.

  I held my torch up to the window, tapped it, then pointed up to let him know I was headed to the other side of the ship. There were four other sets of panels and I intended to lay waste to them all.

  With a big grin, I kicked off.

  After taking down all the solar arrays on the ship, I started in on other systems. Nothing life threatening, I had no intentions of harming the crew. But I’d damn well annoy them.

  I would not be ignored.

  I passed over a heat exchanger, and thought better of it. These could go to the engine core, which would be bad. I could, however, blind them. So I systematically disabled anything that even remotely looked like a sensor or antenna.

  “Terran!” the translation practically squawked in my headset. “Cease immediately.”

  Quite honestly, I was surprised they hadn’t stopped the ship at this point. We continued to careen through space.

  “No!” I yelled. “I’m a dead man anyway, so you want me to stop, you’re gonna have to kill me sooner. Simpler said than done though, I assure you.”

  I turned back to my destructive rampage.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  An hour later, I had taken out every power collector, listening or scanning device, and a dozen instruments I never figured out what they did.

  “Terran,” my comm squawked again, “You have given us no choice.”

  No choice, eh. I gotta see this.

  I pulled myself over to the airlock, and sure enough the captain was on the far side with several other Manti. They were putting helmets on.

  These creatures had me out numbered and out limbed. They had four legs each, and twenty-two pincer-like fingers. If they came at me in force I was gone.

  I opened the channel back up.

  “Captain,” I started, and one of the heads bobbed up. “You know that thing you’re looking for?” I took a dramatic pause. “I’ve got it. If any of your soldier boys come out here, I’ll make sure they see it first. Tell me, will they be able to testify if they’ve held the murder weapon in their hands?”