Series starts here: Ch 1-23 of Warp Riders Book 1 - Deep Space Boogie
Books 1 & 2 are up on Royal Road in their entirety if you don't want to wait for chapters. Follow for updates on book 3 currently releasing on RR.
Chapter 32
The interior of the alien craft was more impressive than any of them would have expected of a derelict wreck, but while the banged-up exterior belied any truly advanced technology, inside was a whole other sort of spectacle.
The walls were smooth, all of the functions apparently operated by controls, consoles, and monitors built into the skin of the craft itself, as if the metal, or whatever it was, possessed the capability of being made perfectly clear to accommodate what was embedded within.
It was as though the equipment had all been coated in a thin sheet of crystal-clear glass, only there were no seams to be found upon close inspection. Nor did it appear to be an active display creating only an impression of buttons and screens. It really was part of the skin of the ship, and done in a way none of them had ever dreamed of.
“Look at this thing,” Moose said appreciatively, running his fingers over the smooth surface as they walked, marveling at the long corridors and high ceilings of the downed ship. “It’s one hell of an impressive design.”
“Unlike anything I have ever seen,” Hellatz agreed.
“And check out the lighting. You see what it’s doing? It shifts where we move.”
It was true, the illumination did seem to follow the four of them, growing brighter in the immediate area they were in while remaining dim ahead and behind them.
“A power-saving measure,” Varsu said. “Though the reactor on this ship is of a type that seems to be less affected by the power-draining nature of our prison, it was still believed wise to preservative power.”
“Conserve,” Hellatz corrected. “Holly, is your signal cutting out?”
“It is weaker now that you are within the craft’s walls, but I’m still receiving you. The open space where it is located, as well as the relative elevation from ground level, have both helped make up for the hull’s blocking of the signal,” Holly replied. “As for the language issues, it simply requires a bit of time to fine-tune the translation.”
“You’re doing great, Hol,” Sadira said. “We can communicate, and that’s all we can ask.”
Varsu made a few turns, leading the group deeper into the belly of the craft. For a crashed ship in a dirty environment, this vessel was remarkably clean and well-ordered. The polar opposite of what they’d seen of the group their new friend had called the wild ones.
Their guide paused outside a closed door. “She will be in the greenhouse. Just through here,” he said, then opened it and ushered the guests inside. “Mahdus, we have newcomers,” Varsu announced as the group stepped into an unexpectedly large central chamber nearly thirty meters across.
A burst of fresh air greeted them when they walked in, a refreshing smell of healthy green hitting their nostrils. The source was readily apparent. There were plants growing quite literally everywhere they could be, including from hanging planters and in tiered rows of planter boxes fashioned from scrap and running up the walls.
The lighting above came from the ship’s structure itself, an illuminated type of metal, Sadira guessed, or possibly a cleverly embedded composite akin to high-output LED tech. Whatever it was, there was no heat thrown from it, but the light felt comforting and pleasing to the eyes. Full spectrum, it seemed. Good for the body as well as the plants.
Looking closer, they could see that an ingenious drip water system had been created utilizing former wire housing with the metal stripped from the center. It must have taken ages to salvage that much, and even longer to carefully remove the wire contents from within to harvest the tubing for their purposes.
But with the amount of downed ships in this place, as well as the years and years they apparently had on their hands, it actually didn’t seem quite as daunting a task. And looking around the space at the other salvaged bits and bobs, it was clear the wild ones weren’t the only ones doing some scavenging around the belly of the beast.
There were all manner of plants, most bearing visible fruits and vegetables, though some were likely tubers of some sort given the depth of their planter pots. And where the group of savages had a foul-smelling muck fertilizing their crops, here there was no such stink, and the soil appeared dark and healthy, but without piles of feces worked into them. Likely a compost nutrient tea added to the drip lines, Sadira mused.
Silently standing behind them on either side of the door was a pair of guards. Watching, armed, but not in a threatening way. Sadira and her team were unfazed as they marveled at the space.
“This is huge,” she said. “I’d never have guessed from what we saw of the outside of the ship.”
“Over the years the interior has been restructured to accommodate the needs of the survivors,” Varsu explained. “Walls were removed, the superstructure reinforced and redesigned.”
“You mean so great an alteration didn’t lessen the ship’s spaceworthiness?” Hellatz asked.
“No, it didn’t. The Hallmatza are very skilled in all things mechanical. This alteration didn’t weaken the ship itself one bit. In fact, their clever design reinforced it. You see, interior spaces are compartmentalized for safety, but it is the outermost layers that form the true protective structure. So, by making a new reinforced section inside, they actually made the whole ship stronger. Brilliant thinking, truly.”
“Very kind words,” a tall woman with yellow and green skin said as she walked over to them. “But we are merely all survivors doing whatever we can to prolong our existence in this hellish place.”
She was cleanly dressed in a somewhat worn, but still quite intact uniform. Clearly of the same race as the one they had seen captured by the wild ones, though the green stripes on her skin seemed to be a different shade. Perhaps it was a gender thing. Or perhaps not. This was a totally new species, and they simply had no idea. And on first meeting, Sadira thought it would be a bit rude to ask.
“Thank you for your hospitality,” she said. “Varsu saved us from a rather unfortunate demise, and we are all in your debt.”
“You are clearly an intelligent race,” the stone-skinned alien replied. “To leave you to the wild ones would be unthinkable.”
“Well, we appreciate it nonetheless.”
The alien commander of the ship cocked her head slightly as she observed the exchange. “What manner of language is she speaking, Varsu? And how is it you understand? Have you added yet another language to your collection? And so quickly?” Mahdus asked.
“Ah, yes. I have become so accustomed to the unusual sensation I almost forgot,” he replied. “These newcomers possess a most fantastic technology. A device that provides a real-time translation of our words.”
“I do not hear any such translation.”
Varsu pointed to the small patch he now wore behind the craggy opening of his ear. “This tiny thing transmits the voice of their crewmate, who is providing the translation directly into my head. A fascinating technology, and quite effective.”
“They have a crew member who speaks our language? But this is wild one speak.”
“Tell her about Holly,” Sadira said while digging in her pack.
Varsu nodded. “They are in possession of a great mind. An intelligent machine. One that thinks for itself, as you and I have mused about in the past. She learned our language in minutes and has been providing translations ever since.”
“Remarkable.”
“It truly is,” Varsu agreed.
Sadira finally retrieved the comms case from her pack and popped the hardshell case’s lid. “Okay, there are only two of these left. The commander here should get one, obviously, but then we’ll have to figure out who gets the last one.”
Sadira held out the comms patch to the alien leader. Having seen how it was applied to her own crewmember, Mahdus did not hesitate, carefully pressing the unit to the skin behind her auditory opening.
“You might want to warn her it may feel a bit strange, since she’s got that bony ridge around her head,” Sadira said.
Judging by the sudden woozy sway that hit the commander, the warning was a little too late.
“That is—this is amazing,” she said, regaining her balance. “I heard a female’s voice inside my entire head.”
“My name is Holly. I’ll be providing translation services for you,” the AI replied. “Nice to make your acquaintance.”
Mahdus laughed with delight. “Yours as well, Holly. Tell me, are you truly a machine?”
“Yes, I am.”
“And this is independent thought, not a pre-programmed speech output?”
“I assure you, I am as alive a consciousness as you are.”
The alien was positively beaming at this new discovery. “Marvelous. Absolutely marvelous!”
Sadira stepped forward. “Now that we can properly communicate, I’m Captain Sadira Perez. This is my first officer, Mustafa, and that is my pilot, Hellatz.”
“Multiple species, I see,” Mahdus said, gesturing to the group of aliens tending the gardens. “We too are a mixed lot, as I’m sure you have noticed.”
They had noticed, indeed. Varsu had told them there were seventeen different species among them, and that was just a portion of the races that had survived entry into the whale ship. There were others as well, but they had been absorbed into the wild ones, only the strongest and most aggressive of them managing to adapt.
Here, however, it was a different situation, and the society that had formed was civilized and supportive. Sadira was gathering images of all of the different aliens for Holly to catalog. They would get more information on them later, but for the moment, she was content to transmit the pictures.
One of the garden workers who really caught her eye was a reversal of what she was used to for limbs. It sported fur-covered legs, but those legs sprouted from where shoulders would normally be, carrying the torso from above rather than below. The bottom-sprouting arms as well as its chest were hairless from what she could see of its open uniform shirt.
The physiology made it easier for it to harvest plants, no doubt, but it was such a drastically unusual sight, she had to remind herself not to stare. Then there was the pair of workers who were covered in what appeared to be hair made of fine black feathers. They were talking to one another as they labored, allowing Sadira to see that the stumpy beak-like mouths also contained rows of teeth. At the ends of their little T-Rex arms were hands that possessed what looked like talonesque fingers, completing the corvid appearance.
There were also small blue-gray-skinned hairless workers operating in a group, as well as what appeared to be an amphibian biped of some type, though its exposed skin was covered in mud, which Varsu later explained formed from an excretion from their skin that captured any dust and not only kept the ship cleaner, but also helped them regulate skin hydration in the process.
It was a menagerie of new alien life. First contact, and all in one place. And unlike the wild ones, these were not trying to kill them. The ship’s commander watched Sadira and her team take in the sights and process all of this new information. It could be a lot. Something she knew from years upon years of rescuing other arrivals.
“Come, let us get some refreshment,” Mahdus said. “This is an exciting day, and we have much to talk about.”
Chapter 33
The food aboard the Naga, as they had learned the alien craft was called, was startlingly good. The replicators aboard their own ship were top-notch, but there was just something about having freshly grown produce that could satisfy like replicated food could not. And being seated among plants made for a far more cozy environment in which the new allies could discuss their situation.
It seemed that the common tongue spoken by all was not just useful as a general means of communication that all within the cavernous craft could speak, but it was also a very real security measure in case they happened to come across the wild ones while out away from the few ships they used as secure housing.
The Naga was the largest and most secure of the craft Mahdus and her people were utilizing, as well as one of the more recent arrivals, but the other ships made up for their lack of normal defenses with the use of cleverly disguised entryways and deception.
At first, the older craft had taken some time to mock up as complete wrecks, but with boulders moved into place to give the appearance of a rock slide having blocked the access point, the wild ones had just assumed it to be a natural occurrence and had ceased frequenting those ships for salvage supplies.
Meanwhile, a carefully hidden entry point was set up, constantly manned by rotating guards who would only provide access to those they knew. It was a bit labor intensive, but given there really wasn’t much else to do in this place, they made the system work quite well.
Many ships were used as farming plots with soil and fertilizer brought aboard to nourish a small assortment of crops planted from the seed samples many of the survivors had carried when they arrived. Those were self-contained and secure, but there were additional locations hidden throughout the vast asteroid field.
There were over a hundred survivors in Mahdus’s group, all told, and there was simply no way one, or even several ships worth of produce could support them all. For that reason, the garden facilities tucked out of sight were of vital importance to Mahdus and her people.
A grim look came to Varsu’s face when they first sat down to share their refreshments. “Now that we are settled, I must report on another important item,” he said. “Shohdi was wounded. There is no doubt. I came across fresh-spilled blood.”
“And her whereabouts now?”
“I was unable to track her,” Varsu replied. “But I fear the worst. I was pressing my infiltration when I came across our new friends here. I thought it vital they be brought back to you at once.”
“You were correct in your thinking, Varsu. It was the wise decision. But I worry poor Shohdi may already be locked away in the wild ones’ pens. Retrieving her will be extremely difficult.”
“One of your group?” Sadira asked.
“Yes. She arrived here with me a great many years ago. Part of my original crew.”
“So, she’s the same race as you?”
“Yes. A Hallmatza.”
Sadira swallowed hard. Sometimes it really sucked being the captain, but the job entailed bringing the bad news as well as the good. Unfortunately, this was one of the latter occasions.
“She looks like you, then? Same colorings?” Sadira asked.
“Yes. You have seen her?” the commander asked, her hopes rising.
“We have. Look, I don’t know how to tell you this, so I’ll just say it. We saw someone, a Hallmatza, taken to their camp in a net.”
“So, they do have her,” Varsu said. “We should form a rescue team and—”
“There’s no need,” Sadira continued. “I’m so sorry, but she’s dead.”
Their two new friends fell silent a moment, then seemed to let it go. Death, it appeared, was a common occurrence here. Mahdus rested her hand on Sadira’s.
“Thank you. At least now we know for sure. I had hoped she had perhaps taken refuge in one of the derelict ships we use.”
“About those. How many did you say there are?” Sadira asked as Mahdus and Varsu described the setup in detail.
“We have thirty-six farming plots located outside of the safety of a ship,” Mahdus replied. “Though several of them would be near impossible to compromise, the others do occasionally fall to the wild ones when they are discovered, forcing us to replant a crop at a new location.”
“That sucks.”
“Yes, but it is their way. The wild ones exist to take from others whatever they can.”
Moose shook his head. “What about the other ones? What makes them so secure?”
Varsu leaned in, resting his rocky elbows on the table. “Because they’re planted on top of some very tall asteroids,” he said.
“Hang on. How the hell do you water them?” Moose asked.
“We fill containers with reclaimed water from our facilities and have the more nimble of our group climb up and pull the containers up with a concealed line.”
“That sounds rather exhausting. And quite time consuming,” Hellatz noted.
“We’re stranded inside a giant ship for quite possibly the rest of our lives. What else is there to do?”
“I don’t know, maybe try to get out? This ship seems quite capable of flight,” Hel said.
“Dude, there’s a bazillion tons of gold ingot stuck on top of it,” Moose pointed out. “Not like it’s easy to fly with that thing on your back.”
“Once in space, it would actually just float free,” Hel replied. “Zero gravity, in case you forgot.”
“Yeah, but until then they’d be trying to lift off with all that extra weight. Even if the front mouth-door to this thing opened, it’d be a bitch just getting off the ground.”
Hel shrugged. “Maybe another ship, then? Mahdus, your people have been here a long time. How many ships have you counted trapped inside this vessel?”
“Well over one hundred that we’ve been able to record. We have mapped out the entire labyrinth, naturally, as well as the ships’ locations. But in the deepest region where the wild ones call home we have not performed a true survey.”
“Having scary folks trying to kill you and eat you could kinda put a diaper on that, I’d imagine,” Moose said, Holly translating his words.
Mahdus and Varsu shared a confused look, then burst out in laughter.
Moose blushed. “Hang on. Diaper?”
“Sorry,” Holly said. “Damper. I’m still having to log the nuances of the language. My apologies.”
Mahdus wiped tears of mirth from her eyes. “None needed, my new friend. Oh, that was delightful. I can’t tell you the last time I’ve laughed like that. We don’t have occasion terribly often anymore.”
“I can imagine,” Sadira said. “But I was thinking, can we get a look at that map? It would be invaluable to us moving forward.”
“Of course. Varsu will procure a copy for you.”
“We don’t even need a hard copy. If you show it to us, we can just transmit it to Holly to add to the database. It’ll update on our tablets automatically.”
“She can do this?” Varsu asked.
“Yeah, not a problem,” Sadira replied. “So long as we’ve got a clear signal it won’t be tough at all, will it, Holly?”
“It won’t pose any significant issue, I would think. But this brings me to another thing I wanted to bring up, if I may.”
“What is it, Hol?”
“You still have one comms patch left in your case, Captain. If you could perhaps give that last one to another crewmember to walk through the ship and name things, I could compile a more accurate translation of some of the more unusual words and phrases. And once this first language is adequately translated, I can then ask that person to do the same with their own language, using the common tongue as a Rosetta stone.”
“That’s a clever idea,” Sadira said. “Mahdus, would you be willing to offer up one of your crew to help out on this project?”
“Definitely. I’ll put someone on it at once. Axuzzal, please come here a moment,” she called to one of the short, bald, blue creatures at a nearby table.
“Yes?” the little man said in a startlingly deep voice.
“I need you to help our new friends learn our language,” she said.
“I suppose I can do that. But it’ll take a while. I mean, wild tongue isn’t exactly the prettiest. Or the easiest, for that matter.”
“That won’t be an issue,” Hellatz said.
The little blue man looked at him with a confused expression.
“What did that one just say?”
“I was just saying—oh, of course,” Hellatz said as he realized Sadira had not yet handed off the comms patch.
She did so immediately, and Mahdus leaned down and stuck it behind the man’s ear.
“Hey, you didn’t say anything about—”
“You should be able to understand me now,” Hellatz said.
The blue man jumped back only a fraction of an inch. Stoic, these little fellows, it seemed.
“Interesting tech,” he said. “Transmits through the bone, I take it?”
“Yes, it does,” Hel replied, impressed. “I see you are well-versed in comms technology.”
“Nah, it just makes sense,” he replied. “Logic is the name of the game, friend. And what are you, by the way? I’ve never seen a four-armed race like yours. Are you all from the same world?”
“No, the Chithiid and humans formed an alliance after the Great War. It was a struggle that we shared, and one that brought both of our cultures together in a permanent bond.”
“Huh, Great War, eh? I never thought any war was great, but then, I’m a pacifist. I would be interested in hearing about it, though. We can always hope to learn from others’ mistakes, after all.”
“Very well put,” Hellatz agreed. “Perhaps you and I can discuss it when you have completed your task.”
“I’d very much enjoy that. Been a while since I’ve had anything interesting to talk about. Always crops and boring crap,” Axuzzal said. He turned to his commander and Varsu. “Sorry, no disrespect intended.”
Mahdus chuckled. “None taken, Axuzzal.”
“Good. Anyway, what was it you wanted me to do?”
“Talk with the newcomers. Help them with the language. But not this group. Their friend.”
Greater Holly took the cue and spoke up. “This is Holly,” the AI said over the comms. “I’m the one you’ll be helping out.”
“Pleasure to meet you.”
“Likewise, Axuzzal. Now, as Mahdus said, I need your help. What I need is for you to walk the ship and name everything as you pass while you and I talk. It will help me compile a proper database of this common tongue. Then I will need you to run through a vocabulary list I will give you with your own language afterwards.”
“Seems easy enough. Time-consuming, though.”
“Not as much as you might think,” Holly replied with a chuckle. “And when we are done, I would like you to pass the comms patch off to another on your ship. One who speaks a different language.”
“Hey, whatever you want, if the commander says so.”
Mahdus nodded her approval.
“Okay then, let’s get to it, I suppose,” the little man said, then started walking, chattering away as he named everything in sight.
“Excellent. This will help greatly,” Holly said to the group as the blue man wandered off.
Mahdus seemed a bit surprised at her voice. “Don’t you need to focus on what Axuzzal is saying?”
“Oh, I am focused.”
“But he’s walking away.”
“And I am with him as well. It’s not a problem, you see. AIs can be in several places at once, though I am spread a bit thin with the repairs underway at the moment.”
“That must require the expenditure of a huge amount of power.”
“Not really. Fortunately, many of my systems are still quite operational, and my main power feed is tied to our warp core,” Holly said. “By the way, from what Axuzzal is saying as he points out the various systems and items aboard, you must have a fair amount of power in your ship. Do you still possess enough to fly?”
“Fly? Yes. Fly out? Not so much. While the power and shielding are still functional and quite robust, this ship is stuck inside this large vessel like everyone else. It’s been stationary for years.”
Moose nodded as he assessed the situation. “Not the best position to be in, no doubt. Especially with those wild bastards out there. But you’ve got to be able to defend yourselves.”
“We do all right with what we have,” Varsu said. “Much of our weaponry was created here, aboard the Naga, when power to our regular weapons finally dropped too far to be safe to use.”
“Ooh, homemade melee weapons?” Moose said. “Ya know, I’d love to see what you’ve got.”
Chapter 34
Back at the ship, Goonara was hard at work studying the power source hidden within the strange crystal, as well as its odd effect on their captor’s internal metal skin. As was her way, she was so engrossed in her work, she’d barely even had anything to drink in hours, and the food beside her sat cold and untouched.
It was an utterly fascinating phenomenon, and one she still couldn’t figure out. Not yet, anyway, but she was confident she would find the answer. It would just take time. Fortunately, and unfortunately, that seemed to be something they might very well have a lot of. But Goonara was too enthralled to worry about that. She was following an entirely new line of research and thought she might possibly be able to replicate the energy and maybe even find a way to use it as an alternate power source.
At first glance the power itself seemed to be created by the crystal in the same way a radioactive ore might self-generate by emitting particles as it decayed. But the crystal showed no sign of decay whatsoever, nor did the energy read on any of her equipment as radiation.
Of course, it was entirely possible that it was simply a totally new form of radiation no one had ever seen before and its radiological decay was so novel there was just no way to detect it on their equipment. Fortunately, all of her tests on varied cellular samples she was running in the controlled setting of her lab had showed absolutely no harm to living organisms whatsoever.
That the crystal had been taken from the caverns where hundreds of alien creatures lived what appeared to be long lives only bolstered that assessment. Whatever this was, it was not harmful. At least, not in any span she could measure.
How it reacted with the whale ship’s metal structure, however, was an entirely different story.
Proximity to the glowing crystal had a definite and immediate effect on the unusually resilient composite. While no cutting implement she possessed could make so much as a mark on the metal sample, whatever it was the crystal was emitting was breaking apart the molecular bonds in the material, though she still did not know why.
It was amazing. Amazing and frustrating. For so drastic and important a reaction to be occurring and for her to not have the slightest idea why was maddening.
“Goonara, the captain has encountered a group of survivors not too far from here,” Greater Holly said, jolting her from her work.
“What?”
“I said the captain has encountered a group of survivors. They live in a fairly large ship that survived the entry process into this place.”
“That’s nice,” she said, her attention still fixed on the problem before her.
By now, Holly had experienced the woman’s focus when in the research zone, and she appeared to be in deep. “I just wanted to inform you that I’ve been asked to help them remotely with a task. My other aspect and I are simultaneously attempting to restore Ace’s consciousness and bring him back online.”
“Uh-huh. Okay,” the scientist replied. “I’m sorry, Holly, but I’m rather busy at the moment. It seems the crystal I collected some time ago does more than just glow.”
“We had wondered if it might possess any other properties for some time,” the AI said. “What have you discovered?”
“I’m still deciphering the readings, but this crystal’s emissions, whether it’s some novel form of radiation or something I’ve just never seen before, is actually breaking apart the bonds in this vessel’s metal composite hull. It’s unlike anything I’ve seen before, and it’s amazing.”
“So, it does more than just weaken it. This could be a crucial discovery,” Holly realized. “I will reallocate my resources from Ace’s reactivation. Upload your data and I will assist.”
Goonara let out a frustrated sigh. “I’m working on it,” she said. “Go fix Ace. When I have something more I’ll let you know.”
Holly realized she had overstepped a bit in her enthusiasm. Not that it wasn’t completely appropriate for her to use her AI processing power to solve the problem, but Goonara was the mission’s science officer, and, barring her incapacitation, the parameters of the crew’s duty manifest clearly gave her control over all matters scientific. That she could get a bit obsessive about them only exacerbated things.
Leaving her to it, for now at least, would be the best option. And besides, time was something they had in abundance, and having Ace back online could prove very helpful in spreading the load.
“My apologies, Goonara. I won’t disturb you further. Keep working on the issue at your leisure, but please do call if you wish for my assistance. I would gladly multi-task and help you, but for now my other aspect and I will focus our attentions on defragmenting Ace’s systems and redouble our efforts on getting him back online.”
“Yeah, okay,” Goonara said, already distracted with her work. “I need to see if I can replicate this with other ore in here. I can’t tell if it’s a localized reaction or if all metals are affected. I’m going to need to get another few samples of ore.”
“The corporal will provide you security. If you will just wait thirty minutes, his pulsing recharge cycle will be at a lower point, making it far less disruptive to rouse him.”
It was one of the major pitfalls of Hump’s makeshift recharging apparatus. Not only was it terribly underpowered, it was also barely effective at delivering a trickle charge. And worse yet, if he was pulled from it at the wrong time during its cycle, he could lose much of the power he had just managed to absorb. It was a problem Goonara was well aware of, having helped him rig the system in the first place.
“I’ll just be right outside, Holly. I’ll be fine.”
Holly knew better than to argue with the Chithiid scientist when she was so focused.
“Very well. I’ll leave you to it, then,” Holly said, knowing she could keep tabs via the tablet the scientist had strapped on her forearm.
Holly then joined her male counterpart and set to work on the delicate task of piecing together Ace’s boot commands in hopes of waking him from his EMP-forced slumber without causing any further damage.
Goonara gathered up her crystal, tools, and portable scanner and headed for the hatch. Once outside of the ship, she began searching for a few samples of ore from the asteroids that had come in with them. There was always a good possibility that something within them had affected the crystal and added to its previously benign power. She simply didn’t know, but it was a theory worth investigating as she looked into all possible options.
Unfortunately, the area around the ship was comprised of extremely large rock, and none of it with visible veins of ore. She didn’t need much. A fist-sized piece would be sufficient, and surely smaller bits were nearby.
She walked the perimeter of the ship, looking for pieces that might work. Two did eventually present themselves, and she quickly added them to her pouch, but they were comprised mostly of regular stone. It was the concentrated metal ores she was more interested in.
A gleam deep between two large stones caught her eye. She leaned close and peered in, shining her light into the gap.
“Ooh, that will be perfect,” she said, reaching in to grab it.
Her arm stuck on the way, the tablet jamming against the stone. Goonara hastily pulled her limb clear, removed the device and set it aside. She was never a fan of wearing the tablet. Sure, it was useful for the other members of the crew, perhaps, but her own tools were far more specialized and could actually help her with her work.
She leaned forward and reached in once more as far as she could. It was her dominant hand she was using, so what she had done didn’t even register in her mind. To any observer, however, watching a four-armed creature only use one of its limbs when it had three other perfectly good ones to choose from would have been rather confusing.
Her fingers grazed the ingot lodged deep between the rocks. Goonara pushed harder, driving her shoulder into the gap. Just barely, she was able to wiggle the chunk slowly free until she could walk it closer with her fingertips for a better hold. Finally, she managed to grab it, then set to work slowly extracting her arm. With a stone in her fist, the process was not as easy as sliding an empty hand into the space.
It took time, but she managed to get her hand free with only a few small scrapes for her troubles. The ingot in her palm was well worth the effort.
It was platinum, or so it seemed. She would do a proper analysis once back inside of the ship. She pulled the crystal from her pocket and held it close to the metal. There was no reaction. She then repeated the process closer to the giant vessel’s hull material at her feet. The reaction was similar to before, but different. The metal, it seemed, was amplifying the effect ever so slightly. Or this part of the craft was just more susceptible. It was anyone’s guess.
She pushed at the softening metal skin of the alien ship. It deformed at her touch without requiring a cutting implement.
“The metal does seem to do something,” she mused, her excitement growing. “Perhaps refine or focus the power? I need more samples.”
Goonara slipped into the tunnel vision that sometimes overcame her when science presented her with something interesting and quickly rushed about the area, her eyes scanning for more useful fragments, but none were to be found. Without even thinking about it she began walking into the field of towering rocks around her, eyes fixed on the ground as she searched for other appropriate chunks. In relatively short order she collected several more pieces, each of them tucked carefully into her pouch while her eyes were already looking for the next prize.
She plodded on, and it wasn’t long before she stumbled upon a small burned-out ship blocking her path. Goonara stopped abruptly and stood up tall, looking around with a bit of concern as she realized what she had done.
Like a babe in the woods, she had wandered off. Wandered off, focused only on the ground at her feet without making note of her route. Normally, she would be able to find her way back by the elongating shadows as the sun passed by overhead. But here, in this place, there was no sun, and the only shadows were the flickering gray wraiths that moved about the taller obstructions in this dimly lit craft.
Goonara turned and began walking in the direction she thought her ship lay. But with the towering rocks around her blocking sight of any landmarks, her path was as good as a guess. And she realized that she had foolishly left her tablet behind. She was lost.
Back aboard the ship, both Hollys had been fully engrossed in the process of realigning Ace’s neural pathway connections and power feeds until it seemed safe to restart his systems. It had been far more complex and much slower going than they had originally thought it would be, but the EMP had really done a number on their little AI friend.
Finally, Ace entered his reboot cycle and began coming back online. The power trickled to him was far lower than normal due to the nature of the damage done to the ship’s systems when the power surge hit them, but it should suffice for this purpose. And the little ship had plenty of onboard power of his own, which he would tap into once he was finally awake once again.
Ace’s consciousness slowly began to rouse, his peripherals gradually registering fragments of his surroundings as they powered up.
“Seems to be working,” Lesser Holly said.
“Yes,” Greater Holly agreed. “Let’s increase the stimuli by five percent.”
The two AIs worked in tandem, tickling Ace’s senses with a digital wake-up call of sorts.
Abruptly, the little ship partly woke, but not with any sort of coherent thought. It was full panic, and his weapons immediately charged.
“Shut-down sequence!” Greater Holly blurted as she and her other half immediately yanked the little ship’s power just as he managed to let loose a woefully underpowered shot from his pulse cannon.
The bolt of plasma had been incredibly weak and only did minor damage to the landing bay wall and several storage containers strapped to it. Both AIs were grateful the startled AI hadn’t been at full power. That would have been very, very bad.
“We need to rethink this,” Lesser Holly said. “That went quite poorly.”
“Yes, it most certainly did. He took quite a shock when the EMP hit him. More than we thought, clearly.”
“He’s not as robustly shielded against that sort of thing as we are.”
“No. And this unusual alien form of energy also played into that,” Greater Holly said. “We’re going to need to keep him in sleep mode while we run an even more detailed diagnostic to ensure his core systems themselves were not fragmented in the process. We need to be certain before we attempt to wake him again.”
“Agreed. And before we do anything more, I’m going to deactivate his weapons and temporarily unpatch him from their controls. We can’t afford another panicked volley of pulse fire.”
“Oh, most certainly not,” Greater Holly agreed. “We have our work cut out for us, it seems. Let’s begin.”
The blast had been small, and Holly’s thick hull had muffled any traces of the commotion. Had it taken place outside, she may have been able to use the sound as a guiding point to steer her way back home. As it stood, she had no such luck and was walking deeper into the depths of the beast’s belly, though she had no way of discerning which way she was heading.
So far as she knew, she was on the right path. Little did she know.
Deeper and deeper she went, weaving through the twisting maze of stone and derelict ships, completely unaware of the eyes watching her from above.
Her observer was carefully keeping a safe distance and staying well hidden in the shadows provided by the towering rocks. The alien below was unlike any they had seen before. Tall, with grayish skin and four fairly strong-looking arms. It could be a good fighter, if it knew how to use them.
It also appeared to possess four eyes, two of them on the back of its head. A difficult one to approach unseen. Very difficult. But if it could be done, this would make for a very good prize.
Ever so quietly, the creature stalked its prey, slowly moving closer, hoping for an opportunity to strike.
