“They respond to our bio presence. You cannot open them.”
“But any living crab can open the doors?”
The crab paused and turned to face her. “If we want the door to open, it opens. If we do not, it does not open.” The crab motioned into the room beyond the door. It gave Hanlon a glimmer of hope. The torture chair was not inside, only a simple shelf that looked like the ones back in the main cell. The room was about six meters on a side and a large console sized for the crabs stood next to one wall. Hanlon stepped inside and sat on the shelf.
The door slid shut, and Hanlon waited impatiently. After a few minutes, the door opened again, and a crab stepped inside the room. It faced her with its eyes flickering back and forth across the room. Hanlon stood and looked at the crab expectantly.
“We know you are in communication with it. We have monitored it creating a communication link with you. As we grow closer, you can speak to it more clearly. What does it tell you?”
Hanlon looked at the crab with complete incomprehension. “I don’t understand. What am I communicating with?”
“You are in communication. We know you speak with it. Tell us what it has told you.”
“What is this ‘it’ you keep referring to? I don’t have communication with anything other than you crabs and my crew.” Hanlon stared at the crab; her mind was reeling from the bizarre assertions the crabs were making.
“You will refer to us as Ulef. The word crab translates as a lower animal form. It is inaccurate.” The unsettling stillness of how the crab stood and waited for a response was irritating. No matter what she said, the crabs gave no outward clues to their thoughts. It made it difficult to understand them.
“Fine. I still don’t know what you’re talking about when you ask me about what I’m in communication with.”
“We can amplify the signal. You will sense the communication more intensely.” The crab stepped behind the console, and its tentacles whipped out from its wrists. The console beeped softly.
Hanlon was suddenly hit with a sense of being on the mountaintop. The feel of cold air rushing over her skin just like her dream washed over her. After a few seconds, the sensations faded.
“You know the communication now, human. What does it say to you?”
Hanlon’s mind refused to accept the obvious conclusion. She’d had that dream since she was a very young child. She literally could not remember a time in her life she had not had the dream. “I don’t know what to say. It’s like a dream I have had for my whole life. There isn’t any communication. Just a feeling.”
“Clarify the feeling,” the crab said.
Hanlon shook her head. “No, not until you answer some of my questions.”
A long moment of silence stretched out while Hanlon waited for the crab to answer. Finally, it said, “Granted.”
Hanlon drew a deep breath but paused before asking. If the crabs, the Ulef as they wanted to be called, were enemies of the Alliance and the Alliance was responsible for nearly destroying humanity, she needed to emphasize that to the crabs while they were willing to listen to her. She sincerely hoped the crabs could be persuaded. “Why do you attack the Alliance?”
The crab stood still for so long that Hanlon was afraid she’d asked something the crab couldn’t answer. When it did speak, the suddenness of the answer startled her. “We need some of the planets they inhabit.”
Hanlon cocked her head at the crab in confusion. “For what?”
“Survival.”
“I don’t understand. Don’t you have a home planet you live on?”
“Denied. Describe your feeling as agreed.”
Hanlon sighed. She had gotten more than she expected already. She gave her head a shake and then said, “I have a sensation of being outside, on a mountaintop with a cold wind blowing around me. I am frightened and comforted at the same time.”
“No voices?” The crab asked.
“No, no voices.” Confusion tinged her tone as she answered. Clearly, the dream had something to do with an outside source the crabs were able to measure and enhance. That suggested a technological source to her dreams. “Where does the signal come from? The one you amplified?”
“You will be told this when we arrive at our destination. The signal is there,” the crab said cryptically.
“Well, I want to know now. I also want you to know that the Alliance is not our ally. They tricked us into fighting you.” Hanlon hoped the crab would listen. If she could head off any more aggression between the crabs and humanity, it would make the universe a lot safer.
“Clarify.”
“Five thousand years ago, the Alliance almost destroyed my race. We didn’t know that until after we’d agreed to help them protect themselves against you. If we had known, we would never have been using their ships or fighting for them.”
“Wait,” the crab said and then stepped out of the room.
Hanlon watched the door expectantly for several minutes. So far, she had been far more successful in engaging the crabs this time compared to her previous attempts. She wondered why. She still didn’t know the slightest thing about crab society, hierarchy, beliefs. The only things she knew for sure about them was that they craved material resources and were willing to kill others to take their resources from them.
Her musings were interrupted by the door opening. Two crabs stepped inside. One stepped back behind the control panel, and the other waited just inside the door. She wasn’t sure which crab spoke next, but the language the crab used was remarkably more animated.
“Greetings. Refer to me as Tolon. I am the leader of the Ulef aboard this vessel. This one has informed me you are not a collaborator with the Alliance of Five Species. Is this true?”
Hanlon tried to keep the shock from her face at the difference in how the two crabs spoke. Tolon was the first crab who had given her a name to use. Rather than directly answer the question, Hanlon decided to try to get more information. “Why are you the first crab I’ve met with a name?”
“We are the Ulef, not crab. Among all of us here, I am the only one to have earned a name. The rest struggle in obscurity to find distinguishment to gain a name. Now, I have answered your question. You will answer mine.”
The implications of the short explanation suggested a variety of possible societal developments to Hanlon. The level of sophistication of verbal interactions Tolon exhibited was also dramatically higher than she’d observed in the other crabs -Ulef- she’d interacted with so far. Giving a slight shrug of her shoulders, she said, “As I told the other Ulef when we first encountered the Alliance, we were unaware of the past humanity has with them. Once we learned that they had once attempted to destroy our species, we sought to extricate ourselves from the Alliance as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, we had already committed ourselves against your forces in three places. Is it possible to end hostilities between us and work towards peace?”
Tolon said, “Your assertions are uncertain with the information the Ulef have at this time. Will you allow a scan of your brain so we may know you speak truthfully?”
“What guarantee do I have that you speak the truth, Tolon?”
“None. However, you are captive, and I am captor. The balance of power rests with me. You may proceed with the illusion of consent, or I can incapacitate you and force you into the exact position I propose. Choose.”
That about summed up the situation, Hanlon decided. She nodded curtly at the Ulef by the door and said, “Fine.”
The Ulef by the door rotated in place, its four spindly legs tapping as they made mincing steps. Hanlon followed and, after a moment, they were back into the featureless white passages near the cells where the rest of her crew was being held. Tolon stopped at a door and motioned inside as it opened. Inside was the torture chair. Hanlon stopped in the doorway and took a backward step.
“You will not be made to feel pain or restrained. Sit on the chair.”
Hanlon stood, transfixed by the sight of the chair. When she s
till didn’t enter the room, she felt the second Ulef’s tentacles wrapping around her arms.
“Okay, okay. Let me go. I’ll sit in it.” She forced unwilling legs to carry her forward once she was released. She approached the chair. Her heart was thumping in her chest. Gingerly, she rested a hand on the side of the chair before taking a deep breath. She turned and settled into the chair. True to their word, the Ulef didn’t restrain her, and she experienced no pain.
“Speak of the agreement you have with the Alliance of Five Races,” Tolon said.
“As I told you, we were unaware that the Alliance had attempted to destroy humanity five thousand years ago. Once we learned of this history, we elected to leave the Alliance. By the time we knew this, we had already committed to attacking the Ulef in three different star systems. I am sure my government would prefer to find a peaceful arrangement with your species rather than continue hostilities.”
“You have no reason to maintain loyalty with the Alliance of five races,” Tolon asked.
“No. They told us of their desire to end the Alliance with our species before we were captured.”
“We will consider your words. Return to your crew and wait for our decision,” Tolon opened the door and moved outside.
Within a few minutes, Hanlon was back in the large cell shared by the rest of her crew. Watkins came to her at the door and said, “Captain, are you okay?”
“As a matter of fact, I am.” All of the captives jumped up and gathered around the two officers. Hanlon addressed the gathered crew, “I think we may be able to come to a truce with the crabs, the Ulef as they prefer to be called. We will call them that from now on. That’s an order. We will continue to work on our hand to hand combat skills, but no one will attack any Ulef without my direct order. I hope to know more soon, and I will brief you then. Right now, I need to talk to Lieutenant Watkins.
As she pulled Watkins aside, he whistled appreciatively and said, “That’s a remarkable breakthrough, Captain. I hope we can get them to agree to some kind of ceasefire. How did you get them talking?”
“I like to think it was my stunning good looks that won them over,” Hanlon said with a wink. She ostentatiously patted her hair, pantomiming a primping beauty queen quite effectively. She chuckled with Watkins, and then her expression sobered. “Right now, I need to tell you something, but I want you to keep it between us for the moment.”
Watkins nodded and waited attentively. Hanlon continued, “Things changed when a named Ulef came to me and started speaking. He called himself Tolon.” Hanlon detailed the conversation she’s had with the Ulef leader. “Something near their planet is sending a signal that I can somehow hear,” Hanlon told Watkins about her dreams and the sensations from them the Ulef had been able to enhance.
“Wait, that doesn’t make sense. Why would the crabs, excuse me, the Ulef, have something that only you, among everyone here can sense?”
“I’m not sure, Kiran. I wonder if it’s something from our past. From what we’ve been able to determine, the Alliance thought they’d wiped us out. Maybe there are a lot of lost human relics we can recover.”
“Maybe,” Watkins said. “I wonder what, after five thousand years, what could possibly be left.” He shrugged and leaned against the wall.
“Well, at least one thing is left,” Hanlon said. She looked over the rest of the crew, sitting in various clusters. “How did the first hand to hand class go?”
Watkins smiled broadly, “Pretty good, ma’am. We have a couple of really solid experts among the engine room crew. Not what you’d expect from a bunch of engineering nerds, but I’m happy about it all the same. Zinda really took to it.” His expression clouded. “Too well, actually. I’m worried about her, ma’am. The way she stares at the crabs, err, the Ulef, sorry, every time one is in her line of sight.” He shrugged and looked across the room where Kelper sat, alone as was usual for her.
“I’ve talked to her about it a couple of times. I know she’s deliberately keeping the rest of the crew at arm’s length, but what else can we do? Until we get out of this, I don’t think we can expect her to come too far out of her shell.”
“I know, ma’am,” Watkins said. “I guess we all just feel so helpless. I want to do something, anything, but our options are so limited here.” He sighed and continued, “At least you got the Ulef talking a bit. I hope we can convince them we don’t need to be enemies.”
Hanlon nodded. “I hope the same thing. It’s almost like the galaxy is filled with enemies. I wonder what our ancient ancestors did to make the Alliance want them dead so badly that they threw the idea of a diplomatic solution out completely. Surely, even bitter enemies get tired of killing one another after a while.”
“I know. Look how quickly tensions between Ebrim and Karn dropped once we started talking again instead of shooting. I know a lot of people don’t fully accept it yet, but the world government has already gone a long way to addressing many of the old arguments on both sides.”
Hanlon smiled and shook her head slightly. “I wish your ideals were more widespread, Kiran. A lot of people have had a really hard time accepting it. Not, mind you, that it hasn’t been a certain amount of fun watching people struggle with it from time to time.”
“There is really no other choice is there, is there? Especially now that we’ve encountered all these aliens. We have to be united as a people if we’re going to survive.”
Hanon left and lay down on one of the shelves in the room. The long day, combined with the sudden breakthrough in communications with the Ulef had left her emotionally drained and tired. Without a day/night cycle to keep them grounded, the crew tended to sleep whenever they felt like it. Hanlon wondered just how much time had actually passed since they’d been taken captive.
She closed her eyes and tried to relax enough to fall asleep. Just as she was relaxed enough to drift off, she heard a tiny, thin sound in the back of her head somewhere. It wasn’t quite a voice. The sudden awareness made her eyes spring back open. She cast about her to see if anyone had been close enough to say anything. As usual, the crew had given her a respectful distance to sleep in. She shook off the odd feeling and once more relaxed to sleep.
This time as she was drifting off, the heard something more clearly, but she couldn’t be sure if it was part of a dream or something she actually heard.
Direct link connection attempted. Signal return threshold below tolerance. Link will be attempted in six hours. That had to be part of a dream, didn’t it? She wondered just as the oblivion of sleep overtook her.
Chapter 6
Damocles was still in orbit of the unnamed gas giant. A full load of drones was nearly complete from the manufacturing ring, and remaining repairs had been completed. Kri, Taylor, and Hultz had passed the time by attempting to replicate the numbers from Loki’s jump. It had been a frustrating and unproductive few hours.
Kri was ready to call the meeting to a close. “We’ve been at this for a long time. We still don’t have a clue as to how she managed to make such a jump. I know we’re all running on fumes. Let’s all get some sleep and come at this again in the morning.
“The problem isn’t the distance, it’s the mass,” Hultz said for what seemed like the hundredth time.
“We know,” Taylor said, again.
“We’re talking ourselves in circles. Bed. Now,” Kri said.
Moments later, Kri was sound asleep in his cabin. An indeterminate period of time later, a sharp alarm pierced his consciousness. He sat up, rubbing gummy eyes and said, “Silence alarm, computer.”
The alarm stopped, but the strobing red light at his desk continued to throb. Kri tapped the bulkhead by his bed and saw he’d been asleep for less than an hour. Cursing softly, he pulled a shirt on and seated himself at the desk. He punched the accept key, and Taylor’s face appeared on the display.
“What can I do for you, Exec?”
“Sir, Commander Dowd was making good use of his time while we were brainstorming. He has a theo
ry on how Simmons made the long jump.”
“Didn’t I tell you to go to bed, Commander?” Her expression showed fierce determination. “Nevermind. Let’s hear it.”
“She combined a point to point drive and a faster than light system from the Alliance. The Alliance system uses a mass nullification field to allow it to travel in a way that seems faster than light compared to the surrounding universe.”
“I’m familiar with the concept, Commander,” Kri said irritably. “Field interference would make it impossible to implement unless the nullification field was very exactly configured. If the nullification field and the jump ring intersected or even came close to intersecting, it would result in a rather spectacular explosion. I don’t think it would work.”
“Well, the theoretical model accounts for the sensor results we have from Simmons’ jump, sir. Somehow she figured out how to do it. I was thinking it might be how the crabs were sent from Xalcek to Lashmere, too.”
Kri sighed and said, “Damn genius woman.”
“Sir?” Taylor asked, her tone confused.
“Never mind, Exec. Dowd may be right, but I can barely think. Let’s get some sleep, and we can continue this conversation in the morning.”
“Aye, sir,” Taylor said. The screen went blank.
The bridge was exactly as he’d left it, several hours earlier. Kri stepped out of the lift and waited as Taylor stood from the command chair.
“Good morning, sir. I have some additional theoretical information.” The executive officer’s voice was brisk.
Kri held up a hand, stopping Taylor nearly mid-sentence. “Wait a moment, Exec. What’s the status of Damocles?”
Taylor paused for a few seconds, organizing her thoughts before responding. “We have a full complement of drones and all of our battle damage has been repaired.”
“Very good. Now, continue your brief about this theoretical model you’ve been using to explain Loki’s movements.”
Taylor nodded, her face set in an expression of calm patience. “First, the cooldown of such a system, when used, would be proportionally longer. Not ten times, but much longer than a single jump at our maximum range. In essence, if we can get back on her tail and find a way to reduce our cooldown time, we can actually intercept her without replicating the super long range jumps she seems able to make. Hultz also came up with an idea on tracking her jumps. I’ll let him explain this part to you, sir.” Taylor motioned to the tactical officer.
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