Alien Manifesto (19 page)

Seeing my pause at the new cycles, Snarth
clapped his hand down on my shoulder and with his best
tentacle-wiggling grin said “Don’t worry about the ssspeed Tom, it
jussst takesss practice.”

“
I am not worried,” I said; “just
admiring such beautiful things. Remember it wasn’t that long ago
that I had no idea such things existed. Now I am getting ready to
ride one of those on a planet that’s very existence is a state
secret of a state I didn’t even know existed. It makes me wonder
what’s next on this roller coaster ride my life has
become.”

“
You are a trusssted friend and a
talented, well trained member of thisss team or you wouldn’t be
here,” hissed Snarth with one of his best grins. “Try and remember
that and don’t worry about the sssmall ssstuff like riding a bike.
Besidesss I wouldn’t asssk you to go anywhere I wouldn’t go
myssself. After all, I have managed to live several of your
lifetimes and plan on living several more,” he hissed, his grin
getting even bigger if that was possible.

Changing the subject Snarth hissed, “Tom, I
noticed that you haven’t brought Tasssha on board. Are you feeling
all right?” he hissed, again with the out of character fatherly
concern, his hand still on my shoulder.

“
I didn’t know I could bring her
on the mission,” I said.

“
Of courssse you can, my boy,”
hissed Snarth with what I had come to recognize as a leer, “After
all I can’t have you getting frussstrated. It might ssslow you
down. Unlessss you are indeed after the feline massster’sss
affectionsss,” hissed Snarth, his leer growing larger.

Red-faced, I stammered, “She is a feline and I
am human.”

“
What doesss that have to do with
anything?” hissed Snarth, his leer now taking up his whole
face.

“
Everything,” I shot back
hotly.

With a chuckle Snarth said “Then go get
Tasssha my boy, it’sss time to leave.”

~

Watching the human Tom
disappear into the main estate house to find Tasha, Snarth thought
to himself:
I really should not tease the
boy so. However, when he acts like a primitive I cannot help
myself. He will grow out of it if I have anything to say about
it.

The team quickly established a routine during
the week’s travel to the jump point. The mornings were taken up
with physical training, followed by a high calorie lunch and
weapons drill in the afternoon. Even SSlice joined in. However,
SSlice was quite unable to find any mention of security around the
forbidden planet. This worried Snarth increasingly as the team
neared the jump point.

By the time jump point was reached, it was
obvious that a scouting party would have to be attempted before the
jump to the forbidden planet by the main ship. Snarth and SSlice
departed for the forbidden planet in the military style shuttle
Snarth’s ship carried, once the jump point had been reached,
leaving the rest of the team on pins and needles, anxiously waiting
until they returned.

Snarth and Slice were gone two days and with
no word, and the team was getting anxious with only the daily
training routine to distract them. Rowl tried to train us to
exhaustion, giving the rest of the team little time to worry. At
last, a signal from the shuttle was received. Snarth signaled ahead
to have everyone gather in the dining hall for a briefing
immediately upon his return.

Within a few minutes, the shuttle docked and
SSlice and Snarth joined the team in the dining hall. “Well
friendsss, it isss not azsss bad azsss it could be,” hissed Snarth.
“It ssseems the planet isss monitored by an automated, orbiting,
sssensssorsss platform. Even though it iss quite out of date it
isss ssstill very sssophisssticated. ssSSlice and I were able to
gain accessss through a maintenance sssub routine in the
platform’sss operating sssyssstem,” he hissed. “We were able to
insssert a command in the platform’sss operating sssyssstem that
will allow my ssship to enter the planet’sss orbit without being
reported to whatever galactic department overssseesss the forbidden
planet’sss sssecurity,” Snarth hissed. “ssSo we can come and go
azsss we pleassse. Our preliminary ssscansss have located a
sssuitable canyon to hide the ssship in. With itsss camouflage on,
the ship will be invisssible to any ssscansss that platform isss
capable of performing ssshould sssomeone dissscover our
command.”

“
Now get some ressst, we jump in 8
long time unitsss.”

With a whine as they spun down, the repulser
lifts brought the main ship to a perfect landing in the canyon
Snarth had spotted on his scouting mission to the forbidden planet.
Now the hunt for the biggest treasure the galaxy had ever seen
began in earnest.

I am not sure what exactly I expected to see
as I stepped out of the ship and into the open atmosphere of the
forbidden planet for the first time. While beautiful, I was let
down by the lack of ruins near the canyon.

Hadn’t the Ones waged an intergalactic war
from here? Weren’t they defeated by force? I guess I expected to
see more destruction. Instead, I saw a few ruins in the distance,
which were of an industrial nature, no cities. Perhaps tomorrow, at
the beginning of the light cycle when the team headed out on the
bikes for the first time, I would see more evidence of
war.

In the morning, Snarth assigned search areas
and broke the team up into three groups. I would search with the
stealth master, the Irishman and the canine master were paired as
always, and finally Snarth and SSlice.

“
What exactly is it we are
searching for?” I asked at the morning briefing.

“
The Ones lived underground so we
are looking for subterranean chambers or cities,” answered SSlice.
“I am not as concerned with finding the temple of the sun as I am
the Queen’s chambers,” he added.

“
Ok, you have all got your
sssearch gridsss, keep your patternsss tight,” Snarth hissed.
“Report anything sssignificant you find immediately. Keep in
conssstant contact with your partner. Remember the underground city
will be massssive and hopefully not too ssseverely damaged,” hissed
Snarth. “Above all elssse remember where we are.”

With a closing of his helmet visor, he
accelerated his cycle straight up the cliff wall then off the lip
of the canyon into the valley below, followed closely by
SSlice.

As I looked straight up to the canyon ridge I
wondered how in the hell I was going to get this cycle up there. I
should have known my Earth upbringing was showing as the feline
master, the Irishman and the canine master all followed Snarth’s
example and disappeared over the canyon’s rim, leaving me astride
my cycle and unsure how to proceed. Snarth’s voice sounded in my
earpiece, “Tom, let the cycle do the work, just hold on and point
it where you want to go and pull back on the
accelerator.”

Drawing a deep breath, I pointed the cycle at
the wall of the canyon and twisted the accelerator. I was amazed at
how fast this cycle accelerated mere inches from the canyon wall. I
overshot and flew past the canyon lip and into open air. As the
ground rushed up to meet me I almost panicked before I remembered
to roll back on the accelerator, saving myself from a nasty
landing, then coasting to a stop, my knees shaking.

I looked around for the Stealth master only to
find her right behind me. I expected some teasing but all she said
was, “Not so much acceleration to start. Take it easy until you get
the feel of the cycle.” To demonstrate, she slowly pulled back on
her accelerator. Taking her advice to heart, I soon joined her and
our search was under way.

After a couple of hours, the fear subsided as
I realized I was not going to fall out of the sky. Finally, I began
to relax and enjoy the ride. This planet was beautiful on such a
perfect day, the sun was shining, but it was not too hot, with a
beautiful, cloudless, blue sky. It was stunning. Just miles and
miles of thick vegetative growth similar to the trees back
home.

The Stealth master and I covered
most of the first day’s search grid without any returns on the
cycle scans, just lots of trees and rocks. I had not seen any life
forms larger than insects and I was curious as to why, so I asked
SSlice via communicator.

“
This planet was under siege for
quite some time and the Ones ate every living thing before their
mass suicide. No one really knows why. The leading theory is that
the Queen was killed and the rest of the Ones just lost the will to
live without her. I’m not even sure the army that defeated the Ones
even searched for the Queen’s body. They were just glad the Ones
were dead and not concerned with how,” was his answer. That posed
as many questions as it answered.

On our first night away from the ship, the
stealth master and I lounged around the small campfire at the
entrance to a large cave we had found. “Are you sure a fire is
wise?” I asked the feline master, edgy from the memory of our hunt
of the rodent mercenaries. They had made the same mistake,
overconfidence. It made me nervous.

“
Will you relax, Tom? Come, sit
beside me and have some Belgian ale,” purred the feline master,
holding a tankard of ale in my direction.

Where had she
gotten that,
I wondered.
No
harm in
sharing ale together, we have done
it many times before
. In silence, we enjoyed sharing
the fire for a short time.

“
Why haven’t you tried to bed me?”
purred the feline master; making me very uncomfortable and suddenly
very warm.

Stammering, I answered “I didn’t think you
were interested, for one. And I am human and you’re
feline.”

With a laugh the feline master asked, “What
does that have to do with anything?” The laugh burned my ears,
deepening my embarrassment at being such a primitive, and at the
same time exciting me wildly.

“
I know you know I am attracted to
you. I know you smell my musk.” With a blinding movement, she was
on top of me, pinning me down to the ground. Her breath was hot and
rapid on my neck, her purring loud, lusty and exciting; savage. I
responded with equal passion, not as an Earthman but as any
civilized male of the Galaxy would.

In the morning as we lay cuddled in the
sleeping furs I asked “What about the canine master?”

“
I was just trying to make you
jealous, nothing happened between us,” teased the
feline.

“
What am I going to call you now?
I mean, I can’t keep calling you master,” I asked.

With a good stretch and a loud purr the feline
answered, “I doubt you can pronounce my name, as most non-felines
can’t. What do you call that pleasure mech of yours?”

“
Her name is Tasha. But I can’t
call you that!” I stammered, embarrassment coloring my
cheeks.

This only seemed to encourage the feline, for
with a wide grin she said “Well now, Tasha it is, until you call me
wife,” the feline’s purring was louder still as she started
breaking down the camp.

Stunned, I thought to myself
as I stowed the sleeping furs on my cycle,
What have I gotten myself into now? Damn Snarth’s hide! It is
all his fault I am in this mess. I do not know exactly how but it
has to be his fault. If I had parents, I can just imagine the
conversation, “Hi mom, dad this is my wife Tasha. I named her after
a pleasure mech I own because you probably can’t pronounce her real
name. No human can.” Now that would be a family party to remember;
if I had parents and a family or even a party to go to. Which I do
not, I am an orphan. I was raised by the state with the minimum of
effort and cost and with the maximum amount of discipline. So who
is left to object on my side? It only mattered that the passion we
shared was real. We will sort out the rest later.

The search of the second day’s grid offered
little change of scenery at first but mountains were nearing,
rising at a steady pace, their white peaks visible in the distance.
My confidence on the cycle continued to improve as well as my
riding skill. Each valley or ravine had to be scanned for an
entrance to the underground city and the twists and turns came
easier and easier.

As the mountains fell behind us, the terrain
gave way to an area of rushing streams and large lakes. This slowed
our progress as the density of the water affected the ground
penetrating sensors’ range. Finally, the feline, now known to me as
Tasha, signaled for a lunch break. She could not have picked a more
idyllic setting. She parked her cycle beside a stream under a large
growth of native vegetation that resembled a huge oak tree, giving
us shade from the now intense sunlight.

After satisfying herself that no danger lurked
anywhere near, the feline began to unpack lunch from a variety of
containers, making me wonder how she had gotten so much food into
such a small space. As I spread the sleeping furs down in the soft
green grass beside the stream, Tasha the feline joined me. We
quietly ate the lunch she had prepared, both enjoying the quiet
beauty around us.

Later as we lounged after
having shared the last of the Belgian ale, I felt my eyes growing
heavy and the thought of a nap seemed so appealing, when a sudden
realization popped into my mind.
She had
planned this whole thing!