Escape 3: Defeat the Aliens (3 page)

CHAPTER TWO

Thirty hours later our five ships orbited above Notter, not far from the ball and ring shape of its orbital station. Lacking gravity plates like those in all Collector ships, the station spun so its inhabitants could enjoy centrifugal gravity in the outer ring. The central globe had openings at the north and south poles for entry by local spaceships. The
Blue Sky
, at a thousand feet long, was far too big to enter the station’s docking tunnel. Anyway, Jane wished to go directly to the Hall of Silver Scales. Which was why the two of us, with Chester and Time Marker, were seated in a transport being piloted by Builder of Joy. It was nice to once more fly through the white clouds of a world, a place where people lived. Walking snakes people, that is. Bill looked at the man-size holo that filled the aisle between the rows of bench-seats that filled the cargohold of the transport. In the holo was a beautiful world of blue oceans, green forests and purple mountains. Actually, the northernmost continent now filled the holo as they descended quickly on the ship’s Magfield drive. Using a spacedrive that interacted directly with the world’s magnetic field made for well-controlled landings. And this time they didn’t have to worry about someone down below shooting an anti-comet laser at them. An hour of talking with the Prime Elder as we passed the world’s large moon had gone a long way toward ensuring a positive reception by their crewmate’s kin.

Seated opposite, Time Marker swung his snake-like head toward me and Jane. The yellow electrical nimbus that always enveloped his body had shrunk greatly. Clearly he was pleased to be home. He fixed blue eyes on Jane. “Ship captain, my parents and clan leader will be in the hall. I wish to see them after our talk with the Prime Elder and our council. Will you and your mate come with me? I wish them to know the . . . people who saved me from forced labor,” he hissed.

Jane squeezed his left hand. Which he felt even through the memory fabric of the tube suits they each wore. Wearing a suit whenever we left the ship was a habit we’d all grown used too. Even Time Marker, whose low-slung body had stretched the flexible fabric in ways that amazed Bill.

“Sure, Time Marker,” Jane said over the suit comlink that connected all of us with each other. Including Builder, whose suited form was visible in the forward piloting bubble of the transport. “Bill and I, we would love to meet your relatives.”

Their crewmate looked aside at the holo. A long curving peninsula now filled it, a landform that reminded Bill of the southern tip of South America. But this landscape pointed north. The silver sheen of a large city filled the tip of the peninsula. It was the site of this world’s planetary government. While cold due to its far northern location, the peninsula tip nearly touched the adjacent continent. Kind of the way Alaska nearly linked with Siberia. It had been the site of the first trade empire built by the walking snake people, millennia ago, long before they’d invented aircraft.

“It has been nearly a year since I was captured by that terrible insect,” hissed our friend. “Seeing my world, seeing the Eastern Ocean that I once sailed in a small craft, it enlivens my spirit.”

Jane’s helmeted head was also focused on the holo. “Time Marker, where is the cave that you were exploring when you were captured by a pod? Is it on this continent, or another one?”

“This one,” their friend hissed low. Two of his neck fringe tentacles, which had protruded through the suit fabric along with his short legs, now gestured at the lower end of the holo. “In the center of the continent is a range of mountains similar to the Rocky Mountains and Andes of your Earth. I was exploring a cave reputed to contain the remains of our earliest ancestors. Like you Humans, we Slinkeroo evolved from primitive reptilian forms to people with awareness. This cave held fossil remains from two million years ago, according to those Slinkeroo who study such things. I was curious and wished to explore a cave that had been the earliest home of our people.”

Their friend’s words were soft-toned. Or so Bill heard them that way, thanks to the ear buds he wore. They too were a standard part of the tube suits. He and Jane had worn such suits after their escape from their cells. Wearing suits had activated Star Traveler’s emergency programming. Now, it was second nature for them, for nearby Chester, for everyone on their five ships to wear them whenever they moved outside a ship. He leaned forward. “Time Marker, were there dangerous animals in these high mountains? Did you have a weapon with you?”

The walking snake shook his head from side to side, imitating the human behavior pattern he’d learned from close watching of Bill and Jane. “No, there were no large predators near the cave I explored. Just flying avians, small insects and squishy things that emerged from the soil. It was quite different from the jungles in which our ancestors lived, hunted, died and grew plentiful.” Their crewmate gestured at the revolvers on his and Jane’s waists. “We have not needed pellet-shooting devices like those you wear. Electricity serves as a fine defense, when needed.”

Across from them Chester lifted sandy brown eyebrows. “Were you Slinkeroo always able to project electrical charges?”

Time Marker looked away from the holo, which now showed tall steel towers, domes and elevated walkways connecting all parts of the capital city. While ground level roads curved and twisted between the high buildings, there were few transports on the roads. But thousands and thousands of black-skinned Slinkeroo moved about on the walkways and ground routes. It was midday, so perhaps these different people were going to lunch. Or heading home. Or doing whatever walking snakes liked to do in the middle of the day.

“We were,” Time Marker hissed. “It has been our nature since before we made images on cave walls, long before we produced written records. Projecting charges was how we shocked small animals into senselessness. So we could eat them.” Their friend blinked slowly. “Now, in our modern society, everyone uses their charges to control electrical devices. Including the cesium-based atomic clocks that I used to make. My devices helped regulate our world’s broadcast power grid and the time signal sent out from our central Marker Hall. Your U.S. Naval Observatory does the same.”

Chester looked intensely curious. His gray eyes glanced at Bill and Jane, then looked to Time Marker. “That’s amazing. You have enough fine control to turn stuff off and on? To interact directly with this transport’s control panel?”

“We do. I do,” their friend hissed. “All Slinkeroo do. Look! We are arriving at the hall!”

The holo was now filled by a silvery steel spire as tall as the Empire State building. Projecting from the upper portion of the skyscraper was an oblong sheet of metal. Two small helicopter-like craft sat at the end that attached to the spire’s vertical walls. Which left plenty of room for their hundred foot long transport to set down.

“Landing,” chittered Builder of Joy over the suit comlink. “Traffic control for the hall has indicated this location for our landing.”

“Perfect,” Jane said, standing as the movement of the transport ended and the holo showed them stationary on the landing pad. “Builder, stay here. While I do not expect any danger from these people, I do wish to ensure access to our way off this planet.”

“Understood,” the flying squirrel said, his tone elevated. “Flying through this world’s atmosphere was most enjoyable! I am eager to do more!”

Jane chuckled, her serious expression becoming relaxed. A half smile filled her face as she stood in front of Time Marker. It was good to see her being relaxed after the deadly fight on the Market world. Bill moved quickly to be the first at the transport’s inner airlock hatch. He was security for them all. And no SEAL ever let any teammate enter a danger zone without first checking it out. Behind them came a loud sound.

“Ahhh!” hissed Time Marker.

Bill glanced over his shoulder, looking past Chester and Jane to where their crewmate stood in the aisle. Their buddy had shed the tube suit he’d been wearing. The yellow nimbus that always glowed about him was no longer contained. It had grown outward to a foot deep. He’d always been fascinated by the miniature lightning display that the nimbus created. It was as much a part of the walking snake as breathing was to him and Jane. Clearly their friend had felt constrained by the tube suit, which now lay on the bench he’d been seated on.

Chester grinned. “Captain, do we keep on our suits?”

The blue eyes of Time Marker looked up. “Captain, my world has the same air as does Earth. It is safe to breath it. As I breathed the air on the ship.”

“I’m sure it is safe air,” Jane murmured over the comlink they all shared. “Perhaps we should leave our suits here. Our hosts might think we do not trust them if we wore them inside. And our earbuds can pick up the automatic translation of Slinkeroo speech that Star Traveler is doing for us. The
Blue Sky
is close enough so we should not hear much delay in speech and the translation we hear. The throat comlink disks we each wear will keep us in link with everyone else.” She touched the front seam of her tube suit, causing it to open.

Standing beside the inner airlock hatch, Bill did the same. He rebelted his Federal Ordnance .45 to his waist, checked to be sure his woodland camo NWU Type III outfit was clean, then checked out Chester and Jane. Like him they each wore green and brown NWUs in the MARPAT pattern. The outfits had been picked up on their return to Earth. Unlike earlier BDUs, these outfits were NIR-compliant fabric. As a result, his and Jane and Chester’s infrared signatures would be the same as any surrounding landscape. While he did not expect any threat from the Slinkeroo people, still, he always prepared for the worst possible outcome. Which was why he carried a red tube laser inside his shirt and against his spine. Just in case. And each of them carried semi-autos on their waist. On a world where people could project disabling electrical charges, he felt they were entitled to carry personal weapons. A fact that had been conveyed during Jane’s talks with the Prime Elder. As the three of them began moving toward him, he turned, touched the Open patch on the side of the hatch, and stepped into the bedroom-size airlock. His companions joined him. He reached out and touched the Operate patch beside the outer hatch. Behind them the inner hatch closed. Upon its hiss-thump, the outer hatch slid to one side. Bright yellow-white sunlight blazed in.

He blinked and wished he had sunglasses. The discomfort was slight. Glancing out he saw the loading ramp had lowered to contact with the landing pad. Near its end stood a four-legged Slinkeroo, its black skin hide showing a line of red tattoos. It looked up.

“Welcome to the Hall of Silver Scales,” hissed the greeter. “I am known as Swift Lightning. The Prime Elder sent me to guide you to the chamber where the Council of Seven awaits you.”

Bill walked slowly down the gray metal ramp, his peripheral vision registering nine flying craft flitting among the tops of the skyscrapers. This place was as big and congested as New York City. Or Hong Kong. A light wind ruffled his short hair. His four day old beard did not insulate his chin from the chilly coldness of the place. Sunny it might be, but it felt like Oslo in the summer, recalling a brief visit there by a few of his Team Seven members. Keeping his hands free, he waved.

“Thank you for your help,” he spoke, then heard his words translated by a shoulder tab into the hissing speech of the Slinkeroo. He reached the end of the rampway. He moved to the left, not wishing to be too close to the greeter, whose own yellow nimbus reached out two feet from its skin.

The critter’s neck fringe of six tentacles stretched out, then curled at their tips. Blue eyes scanned him, then looked beyond to where Jane, Chester and Time Marker were descending the ramp. “So high above the ground are you Humans,” hissed Swift Lightning. “Yes! Our wandering clansman returns home!”

Bill watched as his crewmate rushed up to the greeter and laid his triangular head alongside the greeter’s head. Their electrical nimbuses briefly became one at that point. His crewmate sighed, then stepped away, breaking nimbus contact.

“So good to feel the charge of another Slinkeroo!” Time Marker hissed.

Jane stepped forward. “I am Captain Jane Yamaguchi, leader of our group. I admire the red marks on your skin, Swift Lightning. Do they have a special meaning?”

Their greeter blinked blue eyes, then turned and headed for a triangular door that lay ahead of them, where the landing pad met the spire’s wall. “They do. They indicate my clan, my education level and my work assignment.”

He followed after their crewmate, who had scampered ahead to lead the way, his four-legged gait causing a sideways swaying of his sinuous body. Behind him Jane and Chester followed. Bill looked up at the hundred feet of silvery steel wall that stretched above the pad, noticing the round windows that dotted the wall. Clusters of windows indicated there were at least ten more floors above them. As their greeter neared the closed entry door, a yellow streak of lightning speared out and touched the right side of the entry door. It landed at a spot colored pale red. Clearly the opening control. The metal door hissed to one side. A well-lighted hallway stretched before them. In the distance other Slinkeroo moved along the wide hallway, some of them turning into side hallways. A few stopped before triangular doors, spat out a thin lightning bolt, then entered the room beyond. The air smelled of electricity. Enough to make the hair on the back of his neck rise up.

“Thank you,” Jane said as she moved ahead of Bill to walk along the left side of their greeter. “I look forward to meeting your Council of Seven and its Prime Elder. Uh, did you lose many people to the collector pods sent down by the Collector ship?”