Alcantaran 1: Alien Abduction (50 page)

Gus jumped in, "Maybe the local officials could get word to the national level which could quickly stop their war.
 
Kota
, do you have some official report on the Nodac-Liujia warships that you could show Fu and maybe the police captain?
 
Speaking of which, they will want us to sign the report pretty soon."

"I need to plot some hyper-space jumps for us.
 
As soon as I know about where the warships will come out, I can have something started.
 
All I would need then would be the final position," Tik said.

"
Kota
and
Zibo
, if you could work with some of the locals to warn the national officials, it would be a big help.
 
Gus and I will start right away to find our attackers.
 
We need at least one of them alive to confess, so we'd better leave Tik behind," Ron said with a grin.

Tik gave him the raspberry as she started checking the loads that Auntie had for the rail guns.
 

Kota
said, "Now, if we just had some help from space to take care of our friend out there.
 
Even if someone could keep them busy for a few minutes, we could get into space and keep them from firing into the planet."

Tik quipped, "You mean something like another Nodac-Liujian trader ship crashing into them?"

"That would work but wasn't exactly what I had in mind.
 
A Charter Navy ship would be more along the lines of what I was thinking.
 
Where would you get a Nodac-Liujian trader ship and how would you get it to crash into that one in orbit?"

Ron and Gus looked at one another with a big grin.
 
They had another answer to their dilemma.
 
Gus responded, "Tik always has something up her sleeve.
 
Do you remember those two ships that were sitting here last night?
 
What do you think happened to them?"

"I thought some of the remaining crew got word of what happened and rabbited away before they could get caught,"
Zibo
answered.

"They were empty.
 
Everybody came into town to ambush us.
 
Tik had a hand in flying them out of here and hiding them on some asteroids a little farther out," Ron said.

"How in the world did she do that?
 
None of you left the police station before we did and we all went to supper.
 
When did she have time to get out here?
 
And besides, how did she get back if she flew them out to the asteroids?"
Kota
said in a puzzled voice.

"They didn't say I flew them out there.
 
They just said I had a hand in flying them out of here," Tik replied with a chuckle.

Kota
stammered as he said, "But, but I just don't understand.
 
How did you do it?
 
Did you have help from the locals?"

"I'm afraid those are trade secrets.
 
Maybe one day you will be in the 'need to know' loop and we can tell you.
 
For now just say the Alcantaran ghosts had something to do with it," Tik proclaimed with a sly grin.

Kota
received a message just then and announced that their groceries were on the way, so he and
Zibo
hurried out to start loading them into their space ship.
 
Ron and Gus went to the armory to pick up two stingerray guns.
 
They needed something that would incapacitate rather then kill.
 
Ron felt like a walking arsenal.
 
He had his concealed weapon, the regular weapon in the shoulder holster and now the stingerray.
 
They contacted Auntie by ESP and asked her to check radio traffic between the ship and the planet.
 
She said there had been a few encrypted messages back and forth.
 
Ron asked her to launch several of the remote detectors and to pinpoint the location of those messages here on the planet.
 
Auntie immediately launched the sensors and started searching for the attackers.

Ron and Gus then headed into the terminal to talk to Fu.
 
When they walked up to him, Fu immediately noticed the extra weapons they were carrying.
 
He saw that two of the weapons were stingerrays.
 
Ron and Gus both could see the disapproval written on his face.

"Hello, friend.
 
I'm glad to see you disapprove of these weapons.
 
We do, too, but right now we have to have them.
 
We need to take some of our attackers from last night captive and these do work for that -- as both of us can attest," Ron explained.

"Oh, I didn't mean to be so rude and obvious," Fu said.

"That's all right.
 
We have some bad news and we are going to need your help in a big way.
 
Kota
will fill you in on all the details as soon as he finishes loading his groceries, but we have just learned that three Nodac-Liujia warships are headed this way and they intend to subdue your planet and enslave the population.
 
We have a plan to stop it but we need at least one of our attackers alive.
 
Do you think you could get your police chief out here pretty quickly?
 
We need to discuss some things with him and Kota needs his and your help to notify national authorities but we need to stay here at our space ship to keep checking some things," Ron quickly broke the news.

Fu turned very pale and was visibly shaken.
 
He shakily asked, "What do you need me to do?
 
How can one old space trader and one pleasure craft stop three warships?"

"We'd rather not say right now.
 
Sometimes walls have ears, if you know what I mean.
 
We just need you to get the police chief here as soon as possible.
 
Those warships could be here in five or six days, so we don't have much time to get ready," Ron proclaimed.

"One way or another, I'll have him here in less than an hour," Fu declared.

"The less time the better.
 
When he arrives, bring him to our ship and we will meet there.
 
It's easier to show some of the things we know on our view screens.
 
If we get permission, Gus and I will be leaving to round up our attackers.
 
Kota
and
Zibo
can use our ship to explain in detail what you will be facing," Ron emphasized.

"I'll start right now," Fu said as he returned to his office.

Ron and Gus went to
Kota
's ship to tell him the news.
 
Kota
was scurrying to get the groceries inside so Ron and Gus helped him.
 
In just a short time they had everything inside.
 
Kota
said his new robot would store everything from there.
 
He and
Zibo
followed Ron and Gus to Auntie.
 
They were just headed up the steps when Fu and the police chief came out the terminal door.
 
Gus led
Kota
and
Zibo
down to the situation room while Ron waited for the two locals.
 
He led them up to the upper galley and then they took the secret elevator down to the situation room.
 
Ron wanted to keep the two from seeing any more of the ship than they had to.

When they walked into the room, Tik had the pictures of the warships along with the armament data on the view screens.
 
She had found some comfortable chairs for everyone and they all sat down.
 
Kota
did a brief explanation of the situation.
 
He didn't mention that the trio had taken Auntie to escape the Bugs but just said the Bugs had issues with them.
 
Ron explained they needed a confession from their attackers before they could take care of the warships.
 
He asked for the police chief's permission to hunt them down and bring them in.
 
The police chief gladly gave them the permission.
 
He said he would call the station and alert all of his policemen to that fact, too.
 
Ron and Gus excused themselves to take off immediately.
 
Auntie had two likely locations already and they wanted to look them over.
 
Kota
,
Zibo
and Tik explained the rest of the idea about ending the war and uniting Europaische again.
 
They made plans for bringing this idea to pass.

Ron and Gus went to the upper cargo bay to pull the fliter out.
 
Ron jumped in the pilot's seat and Gus climbed on the back.
 
They flew out of Auntie and headed out of town.
 
Both locations Auntie had found were in isolated areas not too far from the city.
 
When they were close to the first site, Ron took the fliter down to tree top level.
 
Auntie warned that they were very close, so Ron slowed to a crawl and actually dropped down to where he was brushing through the trees.
 
Finally, Ron could just barely see a house through the branches.
 
Gus stood up so he could see, too.
 
They studied the grounds and the house; and before long, they spotted two Europaischen guards.
 
They were almost hidden in some shrubbery.
 
Peering closely, Ron and Gus spotted the stingerrays that they carried.
 
The guards were facing toward two roads that approached the house.
 
Ron saw a faint track that led away from the back of the house.
 
Ron and Gus used ESP to discuss an attack plan.
 
They decided to use the stingerrays to take out the two in the shrubs and then to land in the back.
 
They would slip up on the house to see how many were in the house.

Auntie interrupted to tell them she could check with the remote sensors and could also pinpoint where everyone was at.
 
She reported four more creatures inside the house.
 
She thought they were all Europaischens.
 
They were all together in a large room in the front of the house where they appeared to be watching a TV or something.
 
Ron and Gus made their move.
 
They got ready and both fired at the same time.
 
Both guards just slumped slightly where they sat, now unconscious.
 
Ron flew to the rear of the house and quietly landed.
 
They rushed to the rear of the house.
 
Auntie reported the four were still sitting in the front room.

Gus slipped up to the back door and stealthily tried it.
 
It was unlocked, so he slowly and quietly opened it.
 
He slipped inside and Ron followed.
 
They found the door that led to the front room where the four were sitting.
 
Gus silently opened the door and they both sprang through.
 
They zapped the four with the stingerrays before any of them could even move.
 
Ron and Gus moved through the rest of the house checking to make sure no one had found a way to avoid Auntie's sensors.
 
There was nobody else in the house but they found quite a cache of weapons and communication gear.
 
Gus went outside and hauled the two guards into the house while Ron started tying up the four inside.
 
When they had everybody securely tied, Ron picked up a couple of stingerrays to supplement their weapons.
 
Ron told Auntie to let the police chief know where the house was located and what they had found.
 
He told her to advise him to get here quickly and quietly.
 
If they hid in the house, they might capture other citizens who were involved with this conspiracy.
 
Then they hurried to the fliter and headed for the second location.

They used the same approach again and were studying the layout when Auntie reported the police had arrived at the first house.
 
They had quickly loaded up the six unconscious citizens and were headed to jail with them.
 
They had left a contingent of policemen to see who would show up in their trap.

Ron saw at least four ways of escape from this house.
 
The three roads coming in were guarded by two guards each and there was another one on the path.
 
Ron guessed that with this many guards, there had to be at least one of their attackers in the house.
 
Auntie confirmed that she had spotted two Nodac-Liujians and six more Europaischens.
 
They were in three different rooms throughout the house.

Gus quipped, "We need one of those invisibility cloaks now.
 
It would be a lot easier to sneak up on the guards outside and might give us a better chance inside."

Auntie answered, "But you do have invisibility cloaks.
 
You can set your shields to make you invisible.
 
When you turn it on, just think 'invisible'.
 
The shield bends the light around you, making you invisible."

Ron and Gus both tried it at the same time and were amazed to see the other one disappear.
 
Ron backed the fliter away from the house and set it down 400 yards away.
 
They decided that Gus would take care of two of the sets of guards in front and Ron would get the other set, plus the one in the rear.
 
They quietly worked their way to the road.
 
They knew they would make less noise walking down the middle of the road and besides, the guards couldn't see them.
 
Ron and Gus quickly took care of the guards and made their way to the back door.
 
Auntie warned them that one of the Europaischens was in that room.