Vast Mantis

by Jim Henderson

  Here Elsbeth activated the tractor/repulsor beam and tried to grab the Trailblazer. It took her a few tries, but she eventually had what appeared to be a solid connection. “Ximon, it looks solid according to these controls.”

  Ximon pulled the Mantis away slowly. To his pleasant surprise, the Trailblazer rose slowly behind them. Ximon wasn’t sure it would have worked if the station had anything like standard gravity, but it seemed to have very little now. It was if the ships had gravity when on the ground, but then next to none as soon as they left contact.

  Ximon then headed away from the base on the coordinates provided. He calculated jump coordinates to Fasa, which would be the logical place to go. However, he wasn’t at all sure what would happen and when.

  As he flew, Mantis reported, “Captain, we are seeing focused light beams sweeping from several of the gun emplacements. They’re not yet targeting along our path.”

  “Right. That means ‘Go Faster.’ Hang on, everyone, speeding up.”

  The beams continued to get evercloser to them as they headed toward a jump point.

  A few minutes later Shao radioed frantically, “We’ve got something else going on here. I felt a tingle like from that EMP and then one of the guys from the Lost Pilgrim bent up like every muscle was contracting, he writhed a bit, sounded like bones snapping, and then went silent. It kind of looked like he was hit by that same crap that hit us. I checked him and he’s still breathing but unconscious. Get us out of here.”

  Ximon spend up further, hoping the tractor beam could withstand this. Raiza gave Shao medical directions.

  Several minutes later, Shao cried again, “Oh, God. There goes another one.” They then what heard what they assumed was her wretching.

  Just then, long before they would have been at safe jump distance from the planet, something happened. One second, Ximon was flying as fast as he could and giving Silas some quick directions on ship operations and then there was silence as a wave of light washed over both ships. Then, they were in jump space. Again, it wasn’t the dark tunnel of jump space that Ximon was used to, it was the darkness with diffused stars that characterized the way the Representative’s people jumped.

  Elsbeth noted, “Ximon, the tractor/repulsor beam just went offline.”

  Ximon didn’t like the confused uncertainty of not knowing what would happen next, especially with what they’d heard just before the jump. “If our last jump of this kind is any indication, we’ve got a couple days. I sure wish I knew what was going on over there. Mantis, do you see any sign of the Trailblazer?”

  “No clear sign and no signals detected. There is a faint suggestion of some black shape moving behind us that could be the Trailblazer, but there is no way to be sure and no way to contact them.”

  “Oh, well. I hope they’re okay over there.”

  Ximon then turned to Raiza. “How should we deal with our guests?”

  “We placed two of them to a room and I’ll put a robe, or something, on each. Mantis is monitoring the rooms for any movement. I’ve got some snacks laid out in the galley and can prepare a meal when they arise. However, if you feel I can safely plan for the timeframe the Representative mentioned, I can have a meal ready then.”

  “Let’s do that, love. Even if they’re not up, we can eat and save them some. The Canids I’ve met have all seemed pretty reasonable. I hope that’s true of these guys.”

  Elsbeth chuckled grimly. “Hopefully we can avoid dog fights in the galley. I need no more shit today.”

  “Yeah, now we just wait and see. I’m going to get some sleep. We probably have a couple days before we even know where we are and whether Trailblazer is there too or went somewhere else.”

  “That would suck. We didn’t really develop detailed plans.”

  “We were under some pressure and I assumed we’d have more time before the jump. Nothing we can do now.”

  Ultimately, the jump went well, at least on the Mantis. When the Canids woke up, they were confused and suspicious, but they appreciated the food and accepted that they were rescued and heading back toward civilization. The hardest thing was convincing them that the Algol was lost but that most of their fellow crewmembers were safe on another ship. It was also very difficult to explain that they weren’t quite sure where they were going, for Ximon simply didn’t know. All he could tell them was that they had been rescued from Ozu and they were heading back toward the Republic.

  There were six Canids, four male and two females, ranging in color from white, to gray, to brown, to black. Ximon had a hard time keeping them straight, but their names were Khaghzga, Raghzi, Ghaekekh, Zoungtar, Dzuenga, and Zotarg. They shuffled themselves around between the rooms that the crew had put them in. Two of them were a couple and two others disliked each other.

  The Canids were fairly affable and, being engineers and mechanics, were more than willing to help Elsbeth and Peter fix some of the minor things damaged in the last EMP blast. They were also good company, telling all manner of engaging stories. One of the males told of a vicious fight to secure a mate, while one of the females told of violently driving off a would-be mate. Several told of fights they’d been involved in and showed scars. One told of epically dangerous drive repairs to save ships on the brink of destruction. Elsbeth loved the latter stories.

  Knowing that Silas would need the information, Ximon found time to interview each of them on what had happened leading up to their capture. The stories were incredibly similar and ended with them feeling some kind of strange surge and then waking up what turned out to be months later on Mantis.

  Other than taking care of the Canids, the crew mainly just rested. Ximon was still sore and had periodic headaches. Raiza had some minor memory loss and some degradation in her training routines. Elsbeth, too, complained of headaches and general aches all over and Ximon assumed that Peter had issues similar to Raiza’s. Mantis seemed fine but was continuing diagnostics and fine-tuning on herself.

  The other thing that particularly struck Ximon during this jump was the vividness and strangeness of his dreams. There were many and they were odd, but three stuck out most.

  First, he dreamed that he returned to his and Raiza’s cabin to find Raiza and Peter having sex. Raiza looked up, not in alarm or surprise, but in contempt, saying, “You’re not a robot – you wouldn’t understand.” They then blithely continued their sex though he was standing right there. He awoke screaming, “Don’t leave me!” When he realized where he really was, he pulled Raiza tightly to him and fell back into a fitful sleep.

  Second, he dreamed that a massive fleet of the Kremniy Republic, which must have included every ship the Republic had, was headed for Ozu. The fleet was almost surreal in that it had pennants flying and horns blowing, almost as if it were some ancient naval fleet of old. As the fleet crossed jump space toward Ozu, large parts of it were pushed off in vastly different destinations by a giant ghostly hand, crashing into suns or appearing on the doorstep of unfriendly empires. When the small remainder of the fleet appeared at Ozu, it was literally sliced to pieces by gun emplacements there. When Ximon awoke and realized this was but a dream, he took it as a serious warning of what might happen if anyone tried to attack the Shebatha.

  Third, he dreamed that he was walking about on a planet that had obviously been afflicted by some calamity. Destruction was everywhere and the few people he saw were shadows of humanity, gaunt, covered with sores, and seemingly near death. Though he never heard it said, somehow Ximon knew this planet was Jeqarnius. He woke up disheartened by the destruction he had seen, but glad it wasn’t real. Out of curiosity, he checked the location of Jeqarnius because he wasn’t quite sure. He hoped to never get anywhere near it.

  Chapter Thirteen: Homeward Bound

  They came out of jump with a brief flash. Ximon quickly scanned for potential collisions while Mantis checked their location. Trailblazer was dangerously close – just a few dozen kilometers away.

  Ximon hailed them urgently with video. “Trailblazer, this
is Mantis. What’s your status? Are you ok?”

  An unfamiliar voice came on, accompanied by an image of a vaguely familiar man about Ximon’s age in a KSF uniform. “Mantis, this is Captain Christopher of the Trailblazer. We are doing well, though pretty crowded. Thanks again for the rescue. I understand I was turning on a spit like a hog.”

  “Yes, you all were and a naked hog at that. That’s not best for anyone. How are Silas and Shao?”

  “They’re fine. They got us up to speed and have interrogated the whole crew. We captured those stray creatures that got on here, but one of them died and one is injured. We lost one of those you rescued as well – apparently had a heart attack while writhing about. Our medical officer is treating another.”

  “Wow! I’m glad you’re generally ok. Your captors were royal jerks. Any idea what caused their attacks?”

  Christopher shrugged his shoulders. “I was hoping you’d know. Our only guess was some kind of attack from our captors.”

  “Anything is possible, though I can’t see why.”

  At that point, Mantis cut in. “Captain, I have a theory if I may advance it.”

  Ximon said, “Of course. Please do.”

  “Captain, Captain Christopher, I believe it was indeed an attack by the Representative. You will recall that he said, ‘Do not attempt to cheat us by taking more creatures than you should, or unfortunate things will occur.’ While it was not intentional on our part, we did leave with more creatures on board than we were authorized – we had several stowaways.”

  Christoper looked shock, “They certainly can’t hold that against us!”

  Ximon shook his head, “Actually, they can do about anything they wish, and they are not the understanding or forgiving type. That does seem like the best explanation I can think of. Thanks for mentioning that Mantis.”

  Ximon then stared intently at the screen and his eyes momentarily glazed over with him deep in thought. “You look familiar. Were we in some virtual command course together years back?”

  “I thought you looked familiar. Yeah, I think it was Scout Staff College, probably 10 years ago.”

  “Well, good to see a vaguely familiar face.”

  “Okay, let us check our status further and then get back in touch.” They cut the connection.

  Mantis said, “Captain, we are in the Jeqarnius System.”

  Ximon’s head jerked up in shock and alarm at the mention of the name. “What!?”

  “Captain, the Jeqarnius System, located in the Verravroge Sector, near the intersection with the Qurusetia and 359 Sectors.”

  “Impossible!”

  “I have verified with three-star fixes and the calculations appear sound. I can repeat with four or five-star fixes if it will allay your concerns.”

  Elsbeth, who was sitting in the co-pilot seat, had her brow furrowed in a quizzical expression and said, “Ximon, what the hell?”

  “I can’t believe this. I had a nightmare about Jeqarnius yesterday. I woke up and had to check where it was at, didn’t I, Raiza?”

  “Yes, you did. It was uncharacteristic behavior in the middle of the night.”

  Elsbeth made a surprised expression. “That’s freaky. I’ve been having weird dreams, but I haven’t taken them seriously. Perhaps I should, though that’s a scary thought. None of them left me happy or horny.”

  Peter added, “You have made odd exclamations and flailed around in your sleep several times since our encounter with the Representative.”

  “Since he fried our brains, you mean?”

  “Yes, I believe we refer to the same event.”

  Ximon just shook his head. “Anyway, so we’re in the Jeqarnius System. Tell us about it, Mantis.”

  “Captain, it has seven planets, no gas giants, and no asteroid belts. Only Jeqarnius-3 has free-standing water.”

  “That’s what I was afraid of. In my dream we had to land.” He paused, “Okay, I’ll get back to Trailblazer.”

  Ximon coordinated with Christopher as they headed for Jeqarnius-3 together – ETA seven hours. Christopher was emphatic that he had to go on ahead of Mantis since he had a higher jump range and had to get back to base as fast as they could. They would head for the Scout Base at Xalanan, while Mantis would head toward Tixaya. Trailblazer would leave messages for Mantis along the way where it could. It was possible some of the other ships’ crews might choose to disembark along the way.

  Ximon also coordinated with Silas. Silas was tempted to go ahead with Trailblazer, but he had to get to Tixaya, so he and Shao decided to transfer back over to Mantis. Therefore, the ships briefly docked and exchange pleasantries, information, and a few passengers. An older, human couple from the Horus and a human female from the Nyx wanted to get back to Tixaya and Silas had explained that Robatham Associates would take care of them. This allowed several of the Canids to transfer over to Trailblazer. The Canids would all have liked to join the rest of the crew of the Algol, but there simply wasn’t enough room. Silas sent messages ahead with Trailblazer, requesting guidance and insight on what he, and the crew of the Mantis, were allowed to say, per the contract, about the whole affair.

  Trailblazer wasn’t streamlined enough to enter an atmosphere, so it would have to send a shuttle and pinnace down to get it fuel. Ximon and Christopher arranged for them to go down with Mantis, but they would split up from there.

  Mantis provided a scan of the planet. “Captain, the planet is 0.9 astronomical units from the sun, with a diameter of 11,000 kilometers and has one moon. Its surface is 40% liquid water and has an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere. I also detect a substantially high level of radioactivity.”

  That all matched Ximon’s dream far too closely. The whole thing made Ximon anxious.

  Since Shao had settled back in, Ximon had her do full scans as they went down to skim from a sizable lake.

  As they descended, Mantis reported, “Captain, we are getting a distress call, estimated at 900 kilometers away at heading 033.”

  “Oh, Lord, no! Play it!”

  “Mayday, mayday. Calling any ships or stations. We are in distress. People very ill and dying. Need any available assistance. Mayday.”

  “Try to reply.”

  “No response.”

  “Okay, we’ll check it out after we skim.”

  They skimmed and said farewell to the Trailblazer and her shuttles. Then they headed for that distress call, trying to raise the senders as they went, but to no avail. As they neared it, Mantis reported that it appeared to be coming from a sizable city, or the outskirts thereof. Eventually, they isolated the signal to a town on the other side of the mountain from the blasted city. It appeared that the city had been destroyed by nuclear weapons or some combination of conventional and nuclear weapons. The town appeared largely unscathed.

  They did low surveys over the town and continued trying to contact the senders of the message, but still got no answer.

  Elsbeth said, “Ximon, we don’t have to go down there. They’re not responding. Perhaps you should heed your nightmare and we should get out of here.”

  “I think my nightmare is what’s making me have to investigate.”

  Shao looked confused. “Nightmare?”

  “I had a weird nightmare about this system a couple days ago.”

  “Weird. How did we do in that?”

  “It was confusing. I’ve got to check this out. I’d appreciate backup but will go alone if I have to.”

  Elsbeth groaned and rolled her eyes, “Shut up, Ximon. Me and Peter will go suit up.” Then, before Raiza could speak up, “and we’ll wear rad liners.”

  The signal originated from a large building on the outskirts of town with sizeable fields around it. Ximon set Mantis down in a field a few hundred meters from the building.

  He went and joined them in getting ready. He, Silas, Elsbeth, Raiza, and Peter would all go to investigate. They all wore vacc suits and rad liners, and all brought weapons. Raiza wore a large medical kit as a backpack.

  As they final
ized preparations, Raiza brought up a map showing radiation levels. “Though we’re wearing vacc suits and rad liners, we should limit our exposure and we must do a thorough decontamination when we return.”

  Ximon signaled to rally. “Okay, let’s go. We’ll go in that main door and investigate from there. Stay sharp, stay together, and keep moving. Oh, and keep video rolling.”

  The doors were locked, but they busted them open. Inside was what appeared to be a school gymnasium or eating room. The room was dark, except for the light coming through the doors as all the windows had been covered with wood, mats, or desks. They started looking about the room. Then they saw the bodies. There were about 20 dead – men, women, and children. They weren’t human – their faces were too long and their shoulders too narrow. However, they were definitely a related race. All had what appeared to be severe radiation burns and were laid out as if someone had been giving them medical attention.

  Raiza examined them closely and took DNA samples. “It is hard to judge with unknown species, but I would guess these have been dead for 30 to 60 days.”

  The crew continued on into the building and found several more dead in various rooms. Finally, in a small basement, they found the last of the bodies – a dozen dead. These appeared to have been the last to die, but Raiza guessed it had still been several weeks. The crew continued to triangulate the signal and followed it to an office where they found a transmitter. The school had apparently had a radio station and the transmitter was theirs. The distress call was a recording running on a loop, powered by a large bank of batteries that the people had cobbled together.

  Ximon pounded his fist repeatedly on the radio controls until it stopped transmitting. “Dammit, why send us here to see this?”

  They quickly surveyed a few nearby buildings but found only more corpses. Most of them had been severely injured and had been dead for longer than those in the school. Some animals had apparently feasted on some of the bodies as small, or large, bites were missing.