by Ira Tabankin
The Emperor sat at the head of the massive royal table. He was surrounded by hundreds of minor royals. The Emperor had listened to arguing and debates for over three hours when he’d finally had enough. He took a small side arm out from his balloon sleeved golden blouse and he fired out of the window to shut them up. “Stop it! We have no choice, either we complete the project the overlords have given us, or they’ll strike at us again. The last time we crossed them, they destroyed a moon, this time they might destroy one of our planets. We have to find a way to increase production of the ships.”
One of the dukes shook his head, “Sire, not only is our production slowing, we’ve recently lost six of our newest ships…”
“What? Why wasn’t I told we lost six ships?”
“Sire, it was in your evening report.”
“What happened?”
“Sire, we really don’t know. They didn’t return from their mission to system Beta-Mark 121.”
“What’s in that backward system that could destroy our ships? We were told the design of our ships were second only to the overlords.”
The Duke tried to hide his smile, “Sire, it appears they were wrong.”
“Are you ready to tell the overlords they were wrong when they arrive?”
“Sire, when are they arriving? Years from now?”
“According to their last message, they will arrive for a prebattle meeting in one nine-day period. I’m sure their commander will be happy to hear your story.”
Every duke began to sweat and shake and the one who’d spoken to the Emperor said, “In one nine-day period?”
“Yes, and I’m very pleased you’ve agreed to meet with them and tell them what happened to our ships.”
The other Neanderthals in the giant room all stared at the Emperor who said, “If there is nothing else, I want to see a plan how we’re going to increase production and answers as to what happened to our missing six ships in two rotations or some of you will be working the mines with the slaves as slaves.” The Emperor walked out of the room and into his private study where there were two small gray aliens with exceptionally large black eyes, two small holes for their noses and a small mouth waiting for him. Their heads were oversized in comparison of their body’s overall dimensions.
The small gray aliens didn’t verbally speak. They communicated mentally to each other and through an AI to other races. “Sire, per your orders, we have collected a number of the beings from the planets you sent us to. The most promising are those from a system in a backward corner of the galaxy. This system is so far away from the normal shipping routes we literally had an exceedingly difficult time locating it. We ran our usual tests and collected the core DNA from each species we discovered. The ones that call themselves humans were remarkably interesting. We would like to call your attention to their genetic strands
“We are displaying your genetic strands on the left.” A model of the royal Ngzt’s DNA appeared in full 3D and rotated in front of the Emperor and the gray aliens. On the right-hand side is the human strands. Notice in some areas are they remarkably similar. What we found amazing and we’ve never found it in any other species from any other planet is if we look inside at the genetic strands of these humans, there is some of YOUR material in their strands.
“Next, here are images of these beings called humans. As you can see, they share many of the same physical characteristics as your people.”
The Emperor walked around the rotating 3D model of the genetic strands and the images of the humans. “It is true, these humans and my people are somehow related. I need to know more about their home world and them.”
“Ah, we thought so. We brought a gift, one which we collected at great risk to ourselves. We’ve brought you two of these humans, one male and one female. They are both in good health, we did not harm them.”
“I know you. Did you do anything to them?”
“Sire, on the soul of my daughters, we did nothing except to collect them and place them in suspension so they would be fresh for whatever you would like to do to them.”
“Excellent. Have them brought to the lower level where I’ll decide when to question them. How long have they been awake?”
“Sire, they are not yet awake. They are still sleeping inside their tubes…”
“Stupid little creatures, I should destroy your worlds. Wake and care for them before you leave. I will honor my agreement and pay your bonus, that’s assuming these two are unharmed. In order to tell if they are truly unharmed, you shall be my guests.”
Four guards silently appeared. They escorted the grays to a holding cell until the Emperor decided what to do with them. After the grays were gone, the Emperor called his CoS “I want these humans, what a funny name, examined by our best scientists and medical staff. I want to know everything about them and how they are similar and how they’re different from us. I want to know how we’re related to them and I want the information within two rotations.”
“Sire, they are still sleeping, they must be woken, allowed time for their brains to fully function before we can being the questioning…”
“Would you like to take their place in the truth tube?”
“No, sire! I will get right on it. Do you really believe we’re somehow related to these simple-minded beasts? Look at them, look at how small their skulls are and how weak they appear. I don’t see how we could be related to them.”
“It has been thousands upon thousands of rotations since the Overlords took us from our home world. Anything is possible in such time. In all of our searches, we’ve never come into contact with another species which has any of our genetic material and now the grays locate these humans. I don’t care how stupid they are or how ugly, they may hold the key which unlocks our past. Do not permanently harm them. Collect cells from them so our scientists can determine if they are truly related. I do not trust the grays. I want to hear the results of the tests from our own people.”
“Yes, sire. I will get right on it. What are your orders with respect to the grays?”
“Keep them in their rooms pending our findings. If they truly discovered our home world then I’ll reward them, right before we kill them to keep the secret. If they lied, then they will die very painfully and very slowly.”
The two humans who had been abducted from Earth by the grays slowly woke up terrified. They realized they were naked and in some sort of giant test tube and they had a full head mask on, one which they were breathing through. The test tube was filled with a strange yellow gel that covered every square inch of their bodies. Each had a breathing tube which went down their throats like a ventilator. They couldn’t move yet they weren’t restrained. When they saw a large blue coated Neanderthal approach their tubes, they wanted to scream but due to the tube down their throats they couldn’t.
Slowly they felt the gel evaporating from their bodies and the inside of the tube felt warm. The warmth melted any remaining gel from their bodies. They were confused as their last thoughts had been, they were walking along a road when a strange light appeared above them and then they woke up naked inside the tubes. They seemed to remember something had been done to their bodies, but they couldn’t remember what.
The blue coated Neanderthal spoke something in a very strange language the humans couldn’t understand. A pale orange light appeared above them and then they heard in English the translation, “Welcome to your new home, you may call me Tigone, I am what you would call a cross between a medical doctor and a scientist.”
The human male asked, “Where are we? Why are we here? What are you going to do to us?”
“So many questions from the naked animal. I am not sure you are intelligent enough to understand the answers to your questions, so I’ll simply tell you. You have been brought here so we can determine if we’re related and how so. Our emperor has ordered me to find out the answers to the questions which have plagued my people since the dawn of our history.”
“Are you Neanderthals?”
“Very good. So, you recognize my species, we will have to discuss how you know that bit of information later. I believe we’re going to have a very long discussion. I want to first explain that every answer you give me must be the full truth. If you attempt to lie or deceive me, the machine will know, and it will automatically punish you. The punishment can be very painful. It is applied directly into what I hope are the pain area of your brain. I can also provide an extremely high level of pleasure for the correct answers. I believe a little demonstration is in order, so you know firsthand the reward and punishment. We designed this system based on what the race who abducted your kind told us about you.
“First, the pleasure…”
Both the male and female built towards massive climaxes, “We were told your race does anything it can to reach a sexual release. I am extending the period of what you call a climax. I understand you will greatly enjoy this.” Both humans felt their bodies building towards their climax, only they hung on the edge without release. They panted they screamed they begged for release. The Neanderthal studied them. The lab’s AIs recorded every aspect of their reactions. Finally, the Neanderthal smiled, “I will give you what you want most.” Both humans had a shattering climax which sapped their strength. “Now for the unpleasant part, the pain.” Both humans screamed as they felt pain unlike anything they’d ever experienced. Their bodies shook, they cried, they screamed, and begged. It felt like their sexual organs were bring burned by an open flame. The woman felt the fire inside her womb while the man felt his testicles and penis were being held over an open flame. Both cried and begged. Five minutes later, the Neanderthal stopped the pain and returned to the pleasure setting.
“I think we understand each other now, don’t you?”
Both humans managed to squeak out the words, “Yes.”
“Excellent, then let us begin…”
Chapter 17
Tigone kneeled on his right knee in front of his Emperor, “Sire, I have, as directed questioned the samples the grays brought us. I was frankly amazed. Sire, I believe we found our lost home.”
The Emperor sat up on his throne, he motioned Tigone to approach him. Four bright blue robbed royal guards exposed their weapons as the empire’s leading scientist approached the Emperor, who said, “Tell me what you’ve learned.”
“Sire, these creatures who call themselves humans have stories of our people…”
“They have stories of us. Of our people? Are some of us living among them? Hurry and tell me!”
“Sire, they told me what little they knew, but the male recognized me. He asked me if I was a Neanderthal…”
“He recognized our people. This is a major event. This is the clearest signal we’ve received in thousands of years. What is the name of their home world?”
“They call it Earth.”
“Earth, what does that translate to in our language?”
Tigone whispered into the Emperor’s right ear, “Terra.”
The Emperor quickly stood up. He almost knocked over Tigone. His guards thought something was wrong, so they aimed their weapons at the scientist. The Emperor raised his right hand. “Do NOT touch or harm him. He has provided me with the most important information in over five-thousand rotations He is a hero of the race! I am going to award him our highest honor. You will guard him with your own lives. I want him protected as you protect me.”
The guards bowed their heads. They let their weapons fall to their sides as additional robed guards entered to guard the scientist. The Emperor asked Tigone to join him for lunch and then he wanted to see the humans. “Did you keep them alive?”
“Of course, I did. I thought you might want to see and question them yourself. They have not been harmed. All of the questionings were performed by neuron stimulation. They felt extreme pain without being harmed. The male did complain that during his pleasure reward, the pleasure was harming him. I don’t understand why, but I can report they are more fragile then we, and neither is a warrior. They are soft and their muscles are weak. Their atmosphere is almost identical to ours, but theirs has some additional CO2 in it, and their skin appears to be sensitive to infrared radiation. I almost wonder if they are really native to their own home world or they were transplanted there as we were here, or if they were modified from something else way back in their evolution. I discovered faint images of others buried in the DNA, I need additional samples before I can tell you with any degree of certainty about their full DNA.”
The Emperor stopped in mid-step, “I wonder if the Overlords didn’t plant them on the planet when they removed us.”
“Sire, I thought about this and even asked the planetary AI to investigate it. His answer shocked me. I believe it will shock you too.”
The Emperor smiled, “Please do not keep me in suspense. Tell me what our AI said.”
“The AI sorted through what the humans said. Since none were scientists, we had to take most of what they told us as hearsay. Both humans had heard of us, but neither had any hard data. This is, however, the first time any species knew of us, let alone recognized us. There is one other point that also points to these humans. Their system is where our six ships disappeared.” Tigone saw his Emperor’s face darken, “Sire, please allow me to finish.”
“Continue.”
“I learned that based on what these humans know, they couldn’t have possibly been behind the loss of our ships. While they’ve managed to land on their moon, they have no warships. They have only one small, almost childlike space station, no colonies, and no space cities. As I just said, please remember, they couldn’t have been responsible for the loss of our ships. There must be another species in their system, one they don’t know about.”
“The grays couldn’t, nor would they dare risk upsetting us by attacking our ships. Their ships can’t stand up against one of our ships, let alone a two-ship flight. Who else is in that system?”
“Sire, I would like permission to send the experimental ship to gather intelligence from the human system.”
“Are you sure it will not be captured by anyone? The Overlords do not know we have the ship. We built it in case we ever needed it against the Overlords. We know their systems can’t detect the ship if it’s moving at low power levels. Have you solved the problems that its masking must fall in order to fire its weapons?”
“No, yet, we are working on the issue. Since the mission would be a pure intelligence-gathering mission, we shouldn’t have to open fire on anything, and thus, we might learn what happened to our ships and the military status of the humans.”
“If I give you permission to carry out this mission, you must realize that you can’t risk the loss of that ship because we only have a small number of them. They are extremely expensive. Each of those small ships’ costs more than eight of our battlecruisers. If the Overlords ever realized we developed such a ship under their noses, the price we’d all have to pay would be more than we could afford. I will give you my answer after I see the humans.”
The Emperor and Tigone were followed by six robed guards, they took a shuttle to the underground lab where the two humans were strapped to questioning tables. The man yelled, “Why are you doing this to us? What do you want from us?”
The Emperor laughed. He turned to Tigone, “can you make the male stop talking?”
“Yes, sire, very easily.” A moment later, the man stopped speaking and his body bowed as pain shot through him. Tigone said, “I told you never to speak unless spoken to. Maybe a few minutes of pain will remind you.”
The female shook from fear. The Emperor shook his head, “They are so pale and look so weak. They are much smaller than us. The emperor walked to the male. He pushed in his stomach and felt his arms. “I don’t think he could carry our weapons. How did this species evolve to control a planetary system? Look at his eyes, they are full of fear and suffering. Cut his pain. I want to see how he responds to stimuli.”
The male slumped on the table. His body was covered in perspiratio
n. “Increase his pleasure level to 10, I want to see his response. The grays spoke of their sexual experiments, but I want to see how he responds. Maybe we can mate him with our slaves to create a new race which wouldn’t be a threat, they’d require less brain surgery to control.”
The man’s lower body began jerking within the extraordinarily little space he could move. “He may do. Have you gotten everything you need from him?”
“Yes, he is drained of all of his memories. We removed everything we thought was of value.”
“Excellent, bring in one of the female slaves. Let’s see if he can impregnate her. Keep him impregnating different ones. Maybe we will be lucky. After all, he’s not much use for anything else. He doesn’t have enough meat on his bones to make a decent lunch. When he’s unable to perform, you may have what’s left of him to use as you wish, that includes bringing his body home to feed your partner.”
