Shadows

by Brian Whiting

  Alex stood among those running and screaming in various directions. Somehow his eye caught the spiritualist jogging straight for him. From behind someone grabbed both of Alex’s arms and began dragging him toward the shuttle. He squirmed and tried to resist but not honestly. The guests at the dinner event were now either on one side of the room or the other, and all were watching Alex get grabbed away toward the shuttle.

  Finally there was a response: some of the Humani began firing at the kidnappers. Several of those dragging Alex away fell to his side and he began squirming again, breaking free from them.

  In full view of everyone present, the spiritualist hit Alex over the head. He fell limp onto the ground. Pulling Alex’s body with one hand and firing a stun weapon with the other, he fired into the nearby response team.

  The spiritualist shut the shuttle door and initiated the shuttle’s thruster routine. Within moments they were in the air.

  “Damn, did you have to hit me so hard?” Alex yelled at the spiritualist.

  “I’ve got the coordinates to the Hermes. We will be docking shortly.”

  The shuttle vibrated hard, and Alex was knocked back onto the ground after having just got onto his feet.

  “What was that?” he asked, peering into the cockpit from the floor.

  Suddenly the clouds rushed toward them and within a few moments they were out into space. A tunnel of stars appeared in front of the shuttle, and the pilot was acting like he was going to fly into it.

  “What the hell is that?” Alex asked in a panic from the deck.

  Just as the shuttle looked as if it was about to enter, the tunnel disappeared.

  “Exiting transit, the Hermes is behind us, coming about.”

  Alex started to get onto his feet. The shuttle vibrated hard again, as red bolts of energy zipped past the cockpit.

  “Energy-draining weapons!”

  A small missile appeared coming from the direction of the Hermes and rocketed past the cockpit to whoever was still chasing them.

  “Hermes, special cargo aboard, open cargo bay,” the spiritualist yelled.

  The shuttle curved wide right to get a better entry angle on the cargo bay.

  “That doesn’t look like it’s meant to handle shuttle landings.”

  Instead of trying to stand up and move around, Alex decided to simply stay low and hold onto the back of the pilot’s chair.

  “It’s not, it’s meant for some minor supplies. But we should be able to fit inside anyway.”

  The deceleration thruster began to fire on the shuttle, and its approach speed began to lessen. Red bolts of energy fire zipped past the cockpit; several hit the shuttle itself, and quickly the shuttle went completely dark.

  “I lost all power and control; hold on, we are coming in fast!”

  If Alex could have held the seat tighter, he would have. To make matters worse the direction of the shuttle was drifting off from the center and there was nothing they could do about it as the shuttle quietly entered the small cargo bay. The nose of the shuttle collided with the far wall, which buckled slightly. The cargo door closed and just as it was shutting completely it started to bend a thruster cone at the rear of the craft. The cargo bay still managed to get a good seal and it pressurized.

  “See, we fit!”

  Alex rolled his eyes. They couldn’t exit the shuttle from the rear loading ramp, since the ramp was blocked by the cargo doors. They had to exit a tiny side door, and even that door managed to damage a mechanical swing arm of some kind attached to the ceiling. The moment Alex’s feet touched the decking of the Hermes, he breathed a sigh of relief. Then the ship shuddered slightly.

  Alex followed the spiritualist as they ran toward the bridge and past several dead bodies as they did so. After several corridors they reached the bridge. Alex entered as two people were shouting at each other from two different stations on either side of the bridge.

  “Drop a beti!” said the male on the left.

  “This ship has only three of them!” said a female on the right.

  “Do it!”

  “Beti away!”

  “Get us out of here!” said the male on the left.

  The female had to leave her station and run toward another one. She didn’t even bother sitting down in the chair. She just put in the required commands. Then she seemed to relax.

  “We are away!” She breathed a sigh of relief and smiled at her cohorts.

  “The question is, where are we going now? And you can’t say Earth.” said the male on the left, looking at Alex and the spiritualist.

  The spiritualist turned to look at Alex. “This ship is not equipped to handle a trek to the center of the galaxy.”

  Alex walked up to one of the control stations; it was all written up in Humani language, which Alex hadn’t had a chance to learn yet. He took a moment to touch the emotions of those in the room with him. They were all excited and very pleased with themselves.

  “You got a star chart?” Alex asked.

  Moments later a 3-D representation of the local stars appeared on the main viewscreen.

  “Center on Earth. OK, and zoom out just a little…. And stop. That one right there. How long will it take to go there?”

  “In this ship, a minute or so!” the spiritualist bragged.

  “I suggest we don’t go directly there. We should go in the opposite direction and swing back around just in case,” the female said.

  “Good idea,” Alex said, stepping deep into the bridge. “I’m Alex.” He extended his hand toward the blue-haired female.

  “I know,” she replied with a hint of sarcasm. “My name is Tulie, and he is Annunen.”

  “And my name is Ra Thor, if anyone is asking,” the spiritualist stated. “I’ve got to fix the battery compartment.”

  “You better hurry, we have company!” Tulie yelled.

  “How did they find us?” Annunen asked in disbelief.

  “Ra Thor, you have to purge the battery system, they are tracking us by the damaged battery array.”

  “On it.” Ra Thor sprinted down the corridor deeper within the ship.

  A red energy bolt shot past the ship as it executed a barrel roll in space then doubled back on itself.

  The lights faded briefly as the ship was hit twice by the energy-reducing bolts.

  With nothing left to do but watch and wait, Alex played back a slow-motion analysis of the red bolt hitting the hull.

  A steel bolt made up of electron deficent anti matter stuck into the hull. Every electron within three hundred feet left its position as it was drawn to the bolt on a sub quantum level of reality. Once the bolt was saturated by electrons, it went inert and became harmless. As long as there was enough of a supply of electrons the ship would continue to function. However, if the wrong electrons or at least enough of them were removed it would drain the ship of power completely.

  Suddenly the ship shook violently.

  “Decompression in the array.”

  Tulie executed a course change and went back to FTL speeds.

  “What was that?” Alex asked startled.

  Tulie checked the sensors to be sure.

  “It was Ra Thor; he fixed the array but he didn’t survive the purge,” Tulie said coldly.

  “What are we going to find at the planet you selected, Alex? We show it’s inhabited by primitives.”

  “The Gothans, and not so primitive anymore,” Alex said. His thoughts still dwelled on Ra Thor.

  Moments later they arrived in orbit over the Gothan homeworld.

  “Scan an area just north of their largest city,” Alex asked.

  The viewscreen blinked as a large city appeared and then dipped below the screen as they scanned the lands north of it.

  “What are we…” Tulie began to ask but then stopped.

  A ship looking very much completed was visible on the viewscreen.

  “We don’t have the manpower to hijack a bigger ship,” Annunen suggested.

  Alex smiled. “We don�
�t have to. We are allies with them, and they built me that ship. The Dauntless. Set us down right next to it.”

  “We have inbound ships!” Annunen said.

  “Open communication, all frequencies.” After a brief pause, Alex continued. “Gs Ho Tae, this is Alex, it’s good to see you. How’s my ship?” Alex spoke in fluent Gothan.

  “Communication is now open, sir.”

  Alex looked at Tulie with obvious irritation.

  “What…I had to set it up, not a miracle worker.”

  Alex repeated his first attempted message. After a couple of brief moments, the comm officer said, “Receiving a response.”

  No one on the bridge understood the message they had received except Alex.

  “Excellent, and you as well,” Alex said in Gothan.

  The two Humani exchanged uneasy glances.

  “All is well, people. We have permission to set down next to our ship. The question is, do we remove the engine for this ship and put it on that one, or do we enlarge this ship?”

  “Either option will pose significant challenges.”

  “Alex, I have reviewed the database on this ship, specifically the engine schematics. I believe it will be wise to attach this ship to the bottom of the Dauntless; if done properly this ship will act like a large propulsion system,” Symboli said in Alex’s headset.

  To keep Symboli a secret he decided to pass the suggestion off as his own.

  “You know what, how about we just attach this ship to the bottom of that one? That will take far less time, and it should work.”

  “Yeah, it’s possible, I’ll look into it as soon as I can get a look at the other ship,” Annunen said.

  Alex knew that Symboli had already checked to see if they would be compatible in that regard, but there was no way to convince Annunen that Alex already had that answer without revealing it’s existance. So he decided to let things play out. He didn’t want this ship to be anywhere near the Humani where they might be able to find them prepping to leave for Alex’s destination. So it was imperative that they get this conjoined ship functional as soon as possible.

  Chapter 21

  Friends in need

  Alex walked across the open shipyard with Annunen and Tulie hot on his heels both wearing EVA suits, Alex didn’t need one on this planet. He could hear Gs Ho Tae barking orders to some of gis people. As he approached he wondered if Gs Ho Tae was simply putting on a good show for the intergalactic leaders.

  “Annunen, Tulie, meet Gs Ho Tae, military leader of the Gothans and life friend of the UEF.”

  “Of Alex specifically, but yes, I feel pleased to meet friends of Alex.” Gs Ho Tae spoke in gis native tongue, but the translation came from the translating tablet the Gothans carried with them.

  “You have built the ship quickly!” Alex said in Gothan, with genuine surprise.

  “When you leave out the engine components it beats for a quicker build. Did you bring the engine assembly with you?”

  “You’re looking at it.”

  Gs Ho Tae looked between Alex’s legs toward the small ship behind the giants.

  “Are we removing the…engine from that ship?” Gs Ho Tae asked nervously.

  “We have a plan to attach that ship to the bottom of the one you built. Use it like an exterior ported engine assembly.”

  “I assume you already know that it would work?” Gs Ho Tae said, looking down at gis smaller tablet.

  “I am certain,” Alex responded.

  Annenun and Tulie looked at each other with pointed concern.

  “Very well. Let’s tour your ship, shall we?” Gs Ho Tae and a few others stepped onto what looked to Alex like small electric mopeds, which meant that they didn’t have to sprint to keep with the human stride. They zipped up the long ramp into the ship making sure they were still within normal conversation range of gis esteemed guests.

  Alex watched as Tulie, from within her environmental suit, gazed over the horizon at the various sized buildings mostly made out of a combination of rock and steel. They observed movement on many of them. Gothan citizens had lined the tops of many buildings so they might be the first few to gaze upon the friendly predators of the deep.

  “As you’ll notice, the compartment for the engine assembly is completely missing, as are thrusters and everything else.” Gs Hoe Tae said as they passed the enlarged cargo bay the walls of which were linned with cargo straps.

  “Is the hull made out of rock?” Tulie asked from behind as she passed the threshold into the ship.

  “No, we added a layer of rock to the outer hull for appearances. It was too unnatural before.”

  Alex was surprised to see a miniature-sized forklift moving down the corridor, sized perfectly for the Gothans. He was going to ask about it, but Gs Ho Tae continued speaking.

  “We kept to the specifications you provided us. The instructions you gave made it very easy to follow. In fact we have altered our method of industry to model off your ways. Our society continues to benefit from our collaboration. Here is the ship’s fabricator.”

  “How long until you complete the ship?”

  “Except for the engines, it’s functional now. You can leave tonight.”

  Alex continued on the tour; in fact, it went exactly as he pictured it until he reached the crew quarters. It was obvious to everyone on the tour that something was not right. Alex immediately guessed at what had happened, but he kept his suspicion to himself. Instead he looked at Gs Ho Tae but said nothing, just stared down at him.

  “We did make one small change as you see. Crew quarters two beta two was repurposed.”

  Alex looked at the walls of the corridor. Where there should have been an entry door to some standard quarters for two, he saw eight bolt holes drilled into a wall of rock.

  “Instead of two crew members, we reasoned you would appreciate an additional eight for a total of ten.”

  “Eight Gothans,” Alex said out loud.

  “Not only will you benefit from having more crew, you will also save in resources—food and water—as we consume far less, despite the increase in crew number. Do you approve?”

  Alex produced a fake cough which was the learned but never discussed signal to Symboli that he wanted its input on the matter. “Alex, Gs Ho Tae is correct, in that you will save resources and have increased crew. However, in the event of an emergency, translators might not be available. In addition, I foresee a problem in social structure where they operate solely on standing among peers using a point system, which cannot function with just eight. Finally, you will need to reconfigure some of the spaces to accommodate Gothan-sized emergency suits, equipment, and facilities. It’s possible, but I cannot predict the social consequences after a prolonged deployment in deep space.”

  To everyone around Alex, watching him, it seemed as though he froze in place to think about some deep problem. Gothans and Humani alike began to eye each other, wondering if something was wrong.

  “You brought up some good merits, Gs Ho Tae. However, have you considered the lack of facilities designed for the crew of your size? Or how about emergency equipment, tools, and where to put them?”

  “We have.” Gs Ho Tae sent a file to Alex’s datapad. “There are the additions we would like to make.”

  Alex looked at a wireframe schematic of the conjoined ship. All the added parts were in green. Alex clicked on the largest grouping of green. The screen brought him to the cargo section of the ship. It appeared the Gothans wanted to turn the twenty-four-foot ceiling height into a nineteen-foot-ceiling-height cargo bay. New construction would be done solely on the ceiling and would include rooms for fitness, congregation, and communal bathing.

  Alex then moved the ship and clicked on the bridge. This section was less intrusive, a small three-foot ledge curved in a semicircle around the room between the wall and ceiling. Control stations were added along with poles and harnesses.

  Alex lowered his datapad. “I think some revisions might be in order. Your ships do not have g
ravity on them, while ours do. Would you like to be on your feet for eight- to twelve-hour shifts?”

  “I failed to hit that jite.”

  Alex looked at Gs Ho Tae with confusion.

  “Sorry, it’s an expression. It means, ‘I didn’t think about that.’”

  Alex nodded in understanding, but didn’t really.

  “We will need to separate food stocks. We know nothing of their anatomy, if they get injured,” Symboli said. “However, there are some limited benefits. It would depend on how long you want to stick around for these additions to be constructed.”

  “How long will this take?” Alex asked Gs Ho Tae.

  “Three days.”

  “Alex, we could make the modifications while en route. That way we can get underway as soon as the ships are joined,” Annunen stated.

  “I think I like that option better. Load your supplies. We leave the moment the ships are structurally joined.”

  For all Alex knew, Gs Ho Tae was likely grinning fiercely, but Alex looked at gis face and could perceive no expression due to his Gothan anatomy.

  “Oh, we anticipated your response; our quarters are already fully loaded.”

  “Excellent. Select your crew, make final checks, and let me know when the ships are ready.”

  Gs Ho Tae turned and sped off on all fours, leaving the motorized scooter in the corridor. Alex noticed they only ran on all fours when they were really trying to get somewhere fast.

  After the tour, Alex stopped at the edge of the tarmac, looking at the odd, slow-moving wiggle grass and then to the border of the forest beyond. He closed his mind and tried to sense the emotions of the forest. Of course there was nothing, until there wasn’t.

  “Alex,” Tulie said, startling him. “Why do you stare at the mundane?”

  “Tulie, take a stroll through the forest, and you’ll discover there’s nothing mundane about it.”

  Without a thought Tulie began walking toward the forest.

  “Tulie, don’t!” Alex shouted. “It’s very dangerous in there.”

  Tulie was now standing on the wiggle grass looking back at Alex. “How is it that you don’t require an environmental suit? By now you should be incapacitated.”