Alien Manifesto (30 page)

Gathering his fragile courage, SSlice
positioned himself directly above the Queen as she stood writhing
in agony from the team’s blaster hits. SSlice let go of his grip on
the ceiling and dropped onto the Queen, landing on her back just
behind her head and out of the reach of her many arms.

“
This is for the elders,”
screamed SSlice at the top of his lungs as he sank his fangs into
the Queen’s neck between her exoskeleton plates and injected all
his venom into her soft underbody, knowing it might kill him in
doing so. SSlice did not think about his own death. His last
conscious thoughts were of vengeance served and a life debt paid.
The Queen froze almost immediately then tumbled to the ground,
dead, throwing SSlice clear and onto his back.

PART EIGHTEEN

To the Rescue!

“
Rowl, mount up, the others
are in trouble!” yelled the Irishman after receiving Snarth’s
urgent message. Within seconds, the pair was on their cycles and
headed at top speed toward Snarth’s homing signal. It took less
than a minute for the pair to locate the landing site of their
embattled teammates.

With a ferocious growl, Rowl tore over
the open ground and through the doorway leading to the Queen’s
chamber, his blaster rifle at the ready, followed closely by the
Irishman who was covering the rear. They both skidded to a stop as
they saw the Queen fall. Unknown to them the fight was over. It was
not without its casualties for the feline master was down and
SSlice was on his back writhing in agony.

Seeing the pair’s arrival Snarth
hissed, “Irissshman get back to the ssship on the double and ready
the medical bay, we have wounded. Rowl help me with
ssSSlice.”

I had already reached the feline
master. As I reached to check her pulse, my heart in my throat, her
eyes fluttered open. “She’s alive!” I shouted to the
others.

As I gathered her up in my arms, she
let out a scream of pain. “Be careful, my leg is broken,” she
hissed through the pain, “and maybe a rib or two.” I gently lifted
her up and headed as fast as I dared toward my cycle.

Snarth and Rowl were bent
over SSlice who had stopped writhing in pain and was now
limp.
Not Good,
I
told myself as I hurried by. “You will be fine, my love,” I assured
my mate. “We are almost to the cycle and the Irishman has the
medical bay open and ready. Just a couple more minutes and we can
give you something for the pain,” I said as I mounted my cycle,
causing another scream of pain, cursing my clumsiness.

As I carried my mate into the medical
bay after the longest short ride I have ever been on, I watched
anxiously as the surgical mech team swarmed over her. Turning its
attention to me after completing its scans the head surgical mech
said in its metallic version of galactic standard, “This patient
has one broken leg, two broken ribs; some internal bleeding and a
severe burn over twenty percent of her body the like of which I
have never seen before. How did she get it?”

“
Never mind that,” I said
sharply. “Will she survive?” I asked, my heart in my throat and my
pulse pounding in my head.

“
She will require
approximately thirty long time units in the bacta tank after I set
her leg and ribs. I predict a ninety-nine percent chance of a full
recovery without any loss of ability. How did she get the burn?”
the lead surgical mech repeated.

“
She got it from the Queen,
that is all I know,” I answered, frustrated by my lack of an
answer, but relieved that my mate would recover fully.

“
It appears to be a type of
severe cellular disintegration. If she had been exposed to it much
longer she would not have survived,” said the lead surgical mech.
“Now if you will excuse me I must set the patient’s leg and prep
her for the bacta tank.”

“
Tom, what isss the feline
master’sss condition?” hissed Snarth through the communicator,
demanding an answer.

“
She will recover,
according to the surgical mech,” I answered.

“
Excellent, you can believe
what it sssaysss, it isss the bessst money can buy in the entire
galaxy. Now if you would be ssso kind azsss to help Rowl and me get
ssSSlice to the sssurgical bay,” hissed Snarth.

SSLICE! I had forgotten he
was injured. I cursed myself for my memory lapse as I hurried to
the cargo ramp to help Snarth, Rowl and the Irishman get SSlice
into the surgical bay. It proved a daunting task.
Even with four of us it was awkward, I mean just
how do you get an eight-foot long, eight-legged, three hundred
pound spider in a normal sized door when he is being carried by
four large beings, without causing more injury?
We finally managed it, none too delicately, unfortunately for
SSlice.

By the time we got SSlice to the
surgical bay, the feline master was already in the bacta tank, her
leg and ribs set, allowing the surgical mechs’ complete attention
to be focused on SSlice. After a quick scan, the lead surgical mech
turned to Snarth and bleeped in its metallic galactic standard,
“This spinner has bitten something?”

“
Yesss,” Snarth
answered.

“
I can locate no injuries
except some bruising from transporting him to the surgical bay,”
bleeped the mech.

“
He will recover fully; his
body is regenerating its venom. I have given him the proper
medications to aid in his recovery. All he needs is sleep,” bleeped
the surgical mech. “Now if you will excuse me I have patients to
attend to. I will notify you when their condition changes,” bleeped
the mech, dismissing Snarth in his own ship.

“
I will have to ssspeak to
ssSSlice about that mech’sss persssonality program,” hissed Snarth
as he, I, Rowl and the Irishman headed to the forward lounge to
wait for news about the wounded team members’ recovery.

“
I guess now we wait,” said
Rowl as he lounged on a dining couch.

“
For now yesss,” hissed
Snarth, “I want to find out what the Queen wasss guarding. Azsss
sssoon azsss ssSSlice isss able, we will form a sssearch grid and
try and locate something to make this trip profitable.”

“
What do you think she was
guarding?” And what about the attack on the ship?” asked the
Irishman.

“
Azsss for the attack on
the ssship, I think with the Queen dead we have ssseen the last of
her aidesss. Azsss to what the Queen wasss guarding, I can only
hope it isss treasssure and not a horde of young One warriorsss
jussst waiting to grow up and caussse trouble,” hissed Snarth
ironically.

“
With the Queen dead, any
hatchlings would have also died, like last time, wouldn’t they?” I
asked.

“
Let usss hope ssso Human
Tom, let usss hope ssso,” lamented Snarth as he admired the
optimism of youth, regretting silently the loss of both his youth
and his optimism.

“
Until then, how about a
couple of games of cards?” asked the Irishman as he produced a rook
deck. “Me and Rowl against Snarth and Tom. Losers get to go down
the dark, scary passageway first.”

“
You’re on,” hissed Snarth,
who badly needed the distraction, as did I.

After three hands into the first game
and with both scores in the negative, the Irishman said, “Enough of
this playing around, I am going to moon.”

“
Hah, not if I can help
it,” I scoffed.

“
You are on your own,
partner, no help here, I am one card from a misdeal,” growled
Rowl.

“
Now that isss what I like
to hear from acrossss the table,” hissed Snarth with a huge
tentacle-wiggling grin.

“
Green is trump,” said the
Irishman as he led the green twelve.

With a grin, I played the bird,
followed by Rowl who played the green five.

“
Sorry partner, that is the
only green I have,” Rowl said apologetically.

“
It only getsss worssse old
friend,” hissed Snarth as he played the green ten, sealing the
Irishman’s fate.

“
Why is it Snarth, that you
always have the ten of my trump,” complained the
Irishman.

“
Jussst lucky I guessss,”
hissed Snarth with another of his huge grins.

“
Whose deal is it? asked
the Irishman.

Before Snarth could answer, SSlice
entered the forward lounge.

“
Well if it isssn’t the
hero of the forbidden planet, the Queen ssslayer himssself,” hissed
Snarth in a warm greeting. “How are you feeling, old
friend?”

“
I am feeling much better
thank you,” answered SSlice.

“
You had us all worried,”
woofed Rowl.

“
What happened to you?” I
asked.

“
When a spinner injects all
of its venom they pass out from fluid loss. Very similar to when a
human loses too much blood,” SSlice whispered. “I am fine
now.

“
Human Tom, the surgical
mech says the feline master will require an additional ten long
time units in the bacta tank. It seems that the burns the Queen
gave her are proving difficult to regenerate. He is confident she
will recover fully, this is just a minor setback. He still predicts
a ninety nine percent chance,” said SSlice.

“
That isss great newsss,”
said Snarth loudly trying to distract me from my misery.

“
Hear, hear,” echoed the
Irishman and Rowl.

Seeing through Snarth’s efforts,
SSlice said, “While I was up on the ceiling of the Queen’s chamber
I did a few scans. I will put them up on the main viewer,” thinking
that a mystery might distract his human friend further. “The
limited range of the hand held scanner I was using is quite
evident, as you can see,” SSlice continued.

“
Of particular interest is
this area of uniformly spaced ‘chambers’ for lack of a better term,
here,” SSlice whispered, pointing to an area not far from the
Queen’s chamber. Just down the passageway that the feline master
discovered. “That is where I think we should start looking.
Whatever is there is important to the Queen, or it would not be so
close to her chamber,” concluded SSlice.

“
Ok my friendsss,” hissed
Snarth, “we ssstart exploring where ssSSlice sssuggessstsss at
firssst light. That givesss you about sssix long time unitsss of
rack time, I sssuggest you ussse it. Human Tom you will begin the
sssearch with the team but I want you back on the ssship when the
feline massster comesss out of the bacta tank. You have your
ordersss, dismissssed,” hissed Snarth, putting an end to the rook
game.

After a fitful sleep, I woke to the
chime of the 0600 alarm. After I bathed and dressed for the day’s
hunt, I made my way down to the mess hall for a quick bite and a
cup of wakeup before I checked on my mate’s condition for the
fiftieth time.

I was not surprised to find all of the
other team members doing the same. “Good morning all,” I said in
greeting as I poured my first cup of wakeup and grabbed two of the
breakfast sandwiches that the mech chef had prepared. After
finishing one sandwich in two bites, I headed for the medical bay,
eating the other on the way.

When I arrived, the first thing I saw
was that my mate was still in the bacta tank being scanned by the
surgical mech. I patiently waited until the mech had finished its
scan before I spoke.

“
How is she Doc?” I asked
the mech.

“
Her bones have healed
completely and I have made progress in the regeneration of her
burns,” bleeped the mech. “I estimate her treatment in the bacta
tank will last at least another six long time units. Then all that
is left to heal is the regrowing of her fur where she was burned. I
anticipate no scarring, loss of fur or loss of ability, with proper
rehabilitation training,” bleeped the lead surgical
mech.

“
Please contact me if there
is any change and when she is due to come out of the bacta tank,” I
said.

“
You are her mate?” bleeped
the lead surgical mech unexpectedly.

“
Yes I am,” I answered,
dreading his answer.

“
That explains the child,”
bleeped the mech without any emotion in its flat clinical metallic
version of galactic standard.

“
CHILD? What child?” I
spluttered, caught completely off guard.

“
Your mate is with child.
Did you not know?” bleeped the surgical mech.

“
How is that possible? I am
human and she is feline,” I asked, my mind reeling trying to get a
grip on what was happening.

“
It is a highly unusual
pregnancy,” bleeped the head surgical mech. “Your DNA and that of
the felines are quite different. However, the base pairs of
chromosomes are apparently quite compatible. It is also unusual in
the fact that there are only two fetuses. Most feline pregnancies
have four or more. In this case, it would seem to be only twins,”
bleeped the head surgical mech.

“
TWINS,” I slurred as my
head began to swim, and I went down hitting the deck with a
bounce.

It was several minutes later when I
came to, smelling a familiar yet awful smell. It was Snarth waving
another one of those foul ampules under my nose as he tried to
bring me back around.