Alcantaran 1: Alien Abduction (42 page)

Auntie reported that the first space ship had sped up and would now land sometime that night.
 
They still didn't know who the new ship was, so they were almost too worried to eat.
 
Dolores was hovering and fussing as she urged them to eat, so they would be ready for action.
 
She did manage to get a laugh out of them when she said she had a new broom and mop and she would gladly defend them if needed.

Tik had finished the hyper-space computations, so after lunch she went to the conservatory to make sure everything in there would be secure for flight by late that afternoon.
 
Gus took the upper level and Ron took the middle level.
 
They checked each room and the cargo bays to ensure that everything was ready for flight.
 
The groceries came and Gus took charge of getting those inside.
 
Ron went to the workshop and fitted four of the larger figures to the bases.
 
They came out looking incredible.
 
He had arranged for the driver to come back to settle up, so he grabbed two of the figures and walked into the terminal.
 
Fu and the driver were standing there chatting when he walked in.
 
He walked over and presented Fu with a small delicate looking bird figure and the driver with a wild-looking four legged animal that looked like it was in motion.

Both of them were flabbergasted and exclaimed, "Ron, you and the others don't owe us anything like this."

Ron told them, "You have went above and beyond while you were working for us and this is a gift for the friendship you have given to us.
 
This is the silver we mined on the asteroid and I poured the figures myself from molds that were on the space ship."

Both men thanked him profusely and then Ron settled up with the driver for his time.
 
He was about to head back out the door when he felt the vibration.
 
He had not felt that before but somehow he knew that he was feeling a space ship land.
 
Fu told him that the ship had maintained radio silence on the way in, so he had no idea who it was.
 
Ron relayed the information to the other two and decided to stay there in the door to see what type of creature would come out of the ship.
 
He didn't think he would be attacked right there in a public place with all kinds of witnesses.

Gus had just sent the last robot inside when he felt the vibrations.
 
He hurried inside and closed all the doors except the small personnel door.
 
He rushed to the cockpit to be able to see the ship as it came in.
 
Tik had already beaten him to the window there.
 
They both watched as the space ship slowly settled to the ground a hundred yards from Auntie.

This space ship was much smaller than Auntie.
 
It would almost have fit in one of the cargo bays.
 
The ship was smaller than the planetary flyers of the Bugs.
 
It had a sleek, fast look.
 
Auntie reported that she could see two live beings on her scanners and one of them was heading to an airlock.
 
The airlock was on the other side of the ship from Auntie, so they had to wait until the being was out and had walked around the end of the space ship before they could see it.

Fu and the driver had been apprehensively watching Ron watch the space ship.
 
When they saw him suddenly rush out the door, they feared the worst.
 
They rushed to the door to see what he was going to do.
 
Ron was running straight at the figure that had come around the corner of the space ship.
 
As they watched, Gus and Tik came running out of Auntie.
 
All three ran up and grabbed the being standing there.
 
At first, Fu and the driver feared for the beings' safety and then they saw that the trio was excitedly greeting the being.
 
They hugged it and shook its hands.
 
Everyone was talking at once, so neither Fu nor the driver could make out anything.
 
They realized that this was a joyous reunion, so they stepped back inside to give the group their privacy.

Ron knew the figure that stepped around the smaller space ship!
 
It was
Kota
.
 
He made it to him first but just barely.
 
Gus and Tik were close behind.
 
Everyone was trying to talk at once.
 
The trio wanted to know how
Kota
had escaped and how had he arrived here.
 
Kota
wanted to know what had happened since they had made their escape.
 
Finally, they decided to go into Auntie to hear all the stories.
 
Tik asked about
Kota
's companion.
 
Kota
gave Tik a strange look before he replied that the pilot was securing the ship and then had to go pay the landing fees.
 
Kota
said they had spotted the space ship from Nodac-Liujia and his pilot didn't trust them.
 
She wanted to seal the ship while they were gone and set the shields.
 
Tik told
Kota
he could invite her over after she was done.
 
He relayed the message over his comm unit as the group headed for Auntie.
 
As they walked, Tik and
Kota
led the way.
 
Ron noted that
Kota
was armed.

As they walked in, the trio made the decision to show
Kota
what they had opened.
 
They would take him through the ship.
 
They walked into the upper cargo bay and
Kota
stopped in his tracks.
 
He was staring at the robots anchored there and the other cargo crowding the space around them.

"Wow.
 
Where did those come from?
 
Were they on the other part of the ship that was locked?"
Kota
asked in wonder.

"No, we just traded for them.
 
Right after we escaped, we found an asteroid and set down on it.
 
We harvested oxygen and water from an ice patch on it and then we found some silver.
 
We mined it and did some trading here," Ron explained.

"That explains why we couldn't find you guys,"
Kota
remarked.

"What do you mean, you couldn't find us?" Ron asked.

"About a week after you escaped, did you spot a space ship cruising toward the super blue-giant star?"
Kota
answered his question with a question.

"Yes, we were on the asteroid and stayed put until it swung around the star away from that ship.
 
We didn't have any idea who it was and we weren't going to take any chances.
 
We got the fuel we needed and took what silver we could in that time and then took off.
 
We zigzagged for a few days to mask our trail before we jumped here.
 
Do you know what ship that was?" Ron answered.

"Yes, that was a
Dar Es Salaam
ship.
 
They picked up the signal you sent and they were investigating.
 
They weren't too far away, so they got there pretty quickly.
 
They saw the trace of the mother ship and a short trail from that trail.
 
Then your trace disappeared.
 
When you attached onto the asteroid, you were moving a lot faster and they didn't even think to check it out,"
Kota
replied.

"Well, how did you get off the mother ship and then get here in that ship?" Gus asked.

"That's a long story and my pilot is through with her precautions.
 
She'll be here in just a couple of minutes and I'd like to show her some of the ship if it's alright with you guys.
 
I would suggest that you lock Auntie and set shields.
 
Those creatures in that incoming ship are not the best of neighbors and I would highly suggest that you take precautions,"
Kota
stated firmly.

"Oh, the precautions are already taken care of.
 
As soon as your pilot joins us, our shield will go up and only we three or an Alcantaran will be able to get in.
 
If you don't believe that, just ask a Bug about getting through Auntie's shield.
 
They tried for years with no success," Tik asserted.

"We'd be glad to show you and your pilot around.
 
We've opened a lot more since the last time you were on board," Ron declared.

In just a short time, they heard a voice ask, "Permission to come aboard?"

"Come ahead.
 
We're in the cargo bay here," Ron answered.

A tall creature that looked just like
Kota
; except that she was a few inches shorter and a shade darker purple, walked up to the group.
 
She was looking around as she walked and Ron could see that she was staring in disbelief at all of the robots and other trade goods stacked on the cargo bay deck.

Kota
grinned as he put his arm around her and announced, "This is the best pilot in the
Dar Es Salaam
fleet.
 
Meet
Zibo
ao Te Kinabula.
 
Zibo
, this is Tik Michi, Ron Calvin, and Gusissi Ugde Ghaolh."

Tik caught on right away, "Is that Mrs. Kinabula?"

"Yes, she is my wife,"
Kota
said with a shy grin.

"Were you married when we were on the mother ship?" Tik asked.

"Yes, we had only been married a short time when the Bugs kidnapped me.
 
She has been on a mission to find me ever since.
 
The Dar Es Salaam Traders backed her and provided that space ship.
 
She had found some clues that the Bugs might have kidnapped me and she had been tracking and building a case when she got the message you sent.
 
But I'm getting ahead of myself in the story…."
Kota
responded.

"Why don't we take you on the tour and then go to a comfortable place to catch up on all the stories.
 
You guys can join us for supper.
 
Do you know if your systems will handle the local food?" Ron invited.

"Yes, we checked as we came in and our database says that we can eat most of it.
 
If there is something that will bother us, we'll just skip that part,"
Kota
accepted the invitation.

The trio led them on a tour of Auntie.
 
They only opened a few of the doors to give them an idea of what was in them.
 
They went to the middle cargo bay where both
Kota
and
Zibo
were totally amazed.
 
When they showed them the conservatory,
Kota
got very excited.

"What did you do with all of the dead plants that were in here?"

"Well, you're standing on a lot of it.
 
Those Ag workers ground it up and worked it back into the soil.
 
We had to add some composted material to get bacteria back into the soil.
 
Everything had been shut down so long that it was sterile in here," Tik stated.
 
She watched
Kota
's face fall in disappointment.
 
"However, we did take samples of everything and put them into a sealed room until we can find someone who might be interested in them."

Kota
's face immediately brightened as he eagerly exclaimed, "I know where that somebody is.
 
Our scientists would love to get their hands on that stuff.
 
Any of the other relics that you would be willing to part with, would be a great help also.
 
What are you going to do with all of this stuff and with Auntie?"

The trio looked at each other and broadcast the go ahead to Tik who said, "We bought all of this to use for trade.
 
We want to find our home planets as soon as possible but we also want to see if we can work trades.
 
So far, with the little silver we mined, we think we have done pretty well….."

"Pretty well!
 
You have done incredible.
 
We have experienced Traders that would be hard pressed to even come close to what you have done,"
Zibo
exclaimed.

Kota
agreed and asked, "If you feel confident and are going to become Traders, where will you trade?"

"We only have the next planet picked out.
 
We haven't really decided where we'll trade.
 
We like the people here and would like to see them on a regular basis but we still want to get to our home planets before we really decide," Tik continued.

"You said you had another planet picked out.
 
Will that be before or after you visit your home planets?"
Zibo
asked.

"Well, we were going to the other planet first.
 
We were still trying to make sure the Bugs won't find us or threaten our planets.
 
We don't want any more kidnap victims from our planets; especially, and we'd like to stop all of the kidnapping," Tik answered.
 
"There's one other problem that Ron and Gus don't know yet.
 
I've been doing some computer work, trying to find the route back to our planets and I've run into a problem.
 
When I look for the galaxy Melpomene, the Milky Way or the Coddington's Nebula galaxy, I'm not finding them.
 
Those are the local names we know them by but they are called something else in the Bug's database.
 
It's going to take some time for me to retrace their path and put a time line to it so I can figure out what they call our galaxies.
 
Once I have a name and location, I can plot a flight path."