Alcantaran 1: Alien Abduction (43 page)

Ron and Gus looked startled at the news.
 
Neither one of them had ever considered the name problem.
 
None of the trio was happy at the prospect of searching over a trillion galaxies to find their homes.

"Maybe I can be of help.
 
Let's finish the tour and then we can discuss my solution,"
Kota
said mysteriously.

The trio showed
Kota
and
Zibo
the rest of the middle level and then they went to the lower cargo bay.
 
Kota
was really excited about the boats and airplanes.
 
Ron joked that Gus might have to carry him just like he did Tik with the situation room.
 
When they showed them the room with the smelting pots and the molds,
Kota
was very interested again and asked, "How many molds are there and how many figures have you made?"

Gus told him, "We have made about 250 trinkets and 50 of the silver figures."

Kota
asked, "What do you want for a complete set?"

Tik told him, "We'll gladly give you a set for helping us escape."

He protested and they dropped the subject for the time being.
 
They showed them the lower situation room and the flight deck.
 
Kota
and
Zibo
both had to sit in the pilot's chair and feel the controls.
 
Tik had Auntie put up the flight simulator and they both tried flying Auntie.
 
They were delighted with the experience and thanked the trio.
 
Two rooms they had deliberately skipped were the weapons room and the electronics room.
 
They all agreed that they could tell the
Dar Es Salaam
couple about it later when they knew what
Kota
was up to.

When they went into the galley, Dolores was there and they introduced her.
 
They told her to bring something to drink into their living quarters and to add two places for supper.
 
Dolores was all excited and fell into gibberish twice as she asked about the
Dar Es Salaam
couple's diet and calorie intake.
 
She announced that she had a special recipe that would meet everyone's dietary needs.
 
She wheeled off to the kitchen as the group headed for the trio's living quarters.

They settled on the couches and chairs while Dolores brought drinks.
 
After she left,
Kota
told his story.
 
He had left his cell as soon as it had opened.
 
He was working his way to the repair hangar but kept running into Bugs or crowds of other frightened creatures.
 
It took a lot longer to get there than it normally did.
 
One Bug had tried to stop him and he had smashed its head and took some of its tools and its stingerray.
 
After he had the stingerray, the creatures gave way and let him through.
 
When he got to the passageway for the hangar, one of the Bug's devices alerted him to the radiation.
 
He back-tracked and worked his way to the other side of the repair hangar.
 
There was radiation that way too, so he started checking doors on the same side of the mother ship as the repair hangar.
 
He finally found one that was next to the storeroom where Tik had worked.
 
It was a machine shop and he used some tools to cut a hole into the storeroom.
 
He crawled in and then piled some heavy parts in front of the hole.
 
He worked his way to the hangar but Auntie was already gone.
 
He was in the storeroom when the mother ship jumped to hyper-space.

He was about ready to go back to his cell when a thought struck him.
 
He looked into the hangar and saw his space suit still on the rack.
 
He saw the disabled robots in front of the hangar doors, so he checked for any other doors into the storeroom.
 
He found two and piled parts in front of them to keep them blocked.
 
He returned to his suit and put it on, except for the helmet.
 
He didn't think they would stay in hyper-space for long and he was right.
 
In less than a day, they came out of hyper-space.
 
He put on his helmet and started releasing the tractor beams to the damaged freighter.
 
He flew a fliter to the freighter and landed in the cargo bay.
 
There was still fuel left in the freighter, so he started closing everything up.
 
It took almost a half a day but he got it closed up tight.
 
He had taken one of the Bug's portable shields and he used that to block off the flight deck and some of the rooms close to the nose of the freighter; including a galley close to the cockpit.
 
He started pumping air into the area and pressurized it.
 
Then he released the tractor beams and gave the freighter a shove away from the mother ship.

He just drifted until he could see if the Bugs noticed the freighter was missing.
 
The mother ship picked up speed to make a swing around a star.
 
They were trying to get turned around to make a jump back to where Auntie had left.
 
After the mother ship was gone for a day,
Kota
fired the engines and headed for an inhabited planet in the star's system.
 
He broadcast his message and
Zibo
; who wasn't far away, picked it up.
 
She really lit up the engines getting to his location.
 
He was glad she did because the mother ship had spotted him when he fired his engines and sent a couple of the planetary flyers back.
 
Since the freighter was damaged,
Kota
couldn't push it too fast and the flyers were gaining.
 
He figured he had less than half a day and they would catch up to him.
 
Zibo
popped out of hyper-space between them.
 
He radioed that he was in the damaged freighter and the ships behind were going to make trouble for him.
 
Kota
explained that their ship had some armament that discouraged the Bug ships.
 
When
Zibo
went ripping right at them and announced that she intended to blow them into the next galaxy, the Bug ships turned tail and ran for the mother ship.

Kota
parked the freighter in orbit around the planet and transferred to
Zibo
's space ship.
 
They radioed the Charter Alliance Navy and reported the kidnappings to them.
 
The Navy quickly came to the area but the mother ship had already jumped into hyper-space.
 
They gave chase; but so far,
Kota
and
Zibo
hadn't heard what the Navy had found.
 
Kota
and
Zibo
were claiming the damaged freighter as salvage.
 
They had checked and, with some help from the Dar Es Salaam Traders, it could be repaired.
 
For a portion of the profits for the next few years, the Traders would repair the freighter and set them up in business.
 
There was still enough freight on the freighter to help pay for a lot of the repairs but they were going to use most of that for operating capital.

The trio from Auntie congratulated
Kota
and
Zibo
on their good fortune.
 
Ron then told them the story of getting the water, oxygen and the silver.
 
He explained about making the ingots and figures and of their experiences with the driver and the Fu family.
 
Kota
was nodding in approval and chuckling.
 
When they told about Dolores attacking the thugs, they all laughed again.
 
The trio was still holding back on some of the discoveries they had made on Auntie.
 
They wanted to hear what
Kota
had to say and they were wondering if they would be able to keep Auntie.

Dolores came to announce that supper was ready and the group headed to the galley.
 
As they were walking down the passageway, the aroma of the food permeated the air.
 
The trio knew they would have a fabulous meal and they could see
Kota
and
Zibo
were starting to get that idea.
 
The meal was all that Dolores said it would be and she fussed to make sure everybody had plenty to drink and eat.
 
Kota
and
Zibo
were really impressed at her expertise and dedication.
 
They commented on this several times during the meal.
 
Gus was the first to broadcast the idea of buying a chef for them as a present.
 
Ron and Tik both thought it would be a good idea.
 
They had a wonderful evening telling stories and enjoying the meal.
 
During the meal, Auntie privately alerted the trio to the fact that the other space ship had landed and was parked about 400 yards from them.
 
Ron told her to announce it over the speakers, so their guests would know also.

When they were through eating, they moved back to the living quarters.
 
Tik walked to a computer station and told Auntie to put the outside view up on the screens.
 
Dolores brought them an after-dinner tea.
 
It was a special herbal tea that really topped off the meal.
 
Kota
got a thoughtful look and started telling the real reason they were there.

Kota
said, "When you broadcast the message, we had several Traders alerted to keep a lookout for you.
 
We were able to triangulate where you had broadcast from and we hot-footed it here.
 
Let me ask a few questions and then, like I mentioned before, I might have a solution to some of your problems.
 
First, I noticed that you had a pretty good selection of merchandise to trade.
 
Did you pick it for a certain planet or did you just get a good buy?"

"Some of it was for the next planet we picked.
 
We are looking at going to Fen Avholog in the Pancawarna galaxy.
 
We thought about visiting some of the planets in this galaxy but we are still in the escape mode.
 
We will not go back to the Bugs!" Ron answered determinedly.

"I can understand that.
 
Do you plan to trade independently or would you affiliate with an established group?
 
What will you do for back-up if you run into trouble with the Bugs or even local groups on a planet?"
Kota
asked.

"We didn't even know that you could affiliate with a group.
 
We were just trying to trade to make sure we had food.
 
We were set pretty good for water and air, so we thought we would try trading.
 
We want to get back to our home planets but we kind of like this space travel and we have enjoyed trading on this planet.
 
If things are a little tighter, can we still make good trades?
 
That is the question we still need answered," Ron voiced the trio's concerns and needs.

"I was sent here to see if you wanted to sell Auntie and get a ride back to your home planets.
 
Now that I've talked to you and felt your passion for her, I have my answer.
 
You won't sell unless you completely fall on your face and can't find any other way to earn money with Auntie.
 
I'm not authorized to offer you a deal but I think
Zibo
and I can twist enough arms to pull it off.
 
My uncle was on Earth not very long ago and now has exclusive trade rights for most of the goods from there.
 
I can get the coordinates from him for Ron's planet.
 
We could pass information about your planets and galaxies around to the Trader Alliance.
 
They would be able to narrow down Gus' and Tik's planets, which would help you find your planets a lot quicker."

"The other thing to consider would be affiliation.
 
I'd like to propose that you affiliate with the Dar Es Salaam Traders.
 
We have a code of ethics and a Charter that lays down the rules for trading.
 
I saw how you operated on the mother ship and I know that you would have no problem following the ethics rules.
 
I didn't see anything here that looked like it would violate any of the Charter rules, so I'm pretty sure we can swing a deal for affiliation.
 
Our scientists would love to study a lot of the things on this ship.
 
They would gladly pay for the privilege of studying, which could help subsidize your trading.
 
Would you consider accepting our help and joining us as an affiliate?"
Kota
said.

"Yes, please, do join us.
 
I'll work with
Kota
on the details and I'm sure we can work something out.
 
We owe you so much for getting
Kota
out of that mother ship and now we'd like a chance to repay,"
Zibo
declared.