Alien Manifesto (11 page)

By now, my new sense of smell was
beginning to make itself known. I never knew there were so many
smells. From the orchid blooms’ sweet smell in the serenity garden,
to the smell of the tropical swamp, dank and moldy just outside the
main security perimeter.

I have to admit the hearing
enhancement was the most amazing. I could hear the stealth master’s
purr from the hallway through the closed doors of her quarters. My
favorite time to listen was outside at night in the moonlight with
the exotic animal noises. I never realized how much I missed in my
normal state.

The next day Snarth called the team
into the briefing room in the afternoon after training. It had
begun. The headline on the inter galaxy news was about the
corruption in the Galactic senate and the possible involvement of
the Cult of Eli. Almost as if on cue SSlice’s alarm on AArat’s nest
went off, he was on the move.

“
Human Tom, are you ready
for thisss?” hissed Snarth with his arm around my shoulder, in an
almost fatherly concern, completely out of his pleasure-seeking,
devil may care attitude.

“
Yes sir I am,” I
answered.

“
Are all the
modificationsss functioning properly?” he asked.

“
Yes sir,” I answered
again.

Snarth peered at my face, apparently
seeing the answer he was looking for. “Well done Human Tom, well
done,” he said as he clapped me on the shoulder, again completely
out of character.

“
You know where he is
headed don’t you?” I asked Snarth.

“
sSSlice and I are almossst
posssitive that he isss heading for hisss home planet Xarra,”
hissed Snarth. “There he will be protected by hisss family and
hisss government. ssStrangers rarely go to Xarra,” he added. “It
isss populated almossst exclusssively by rodentsss and they don’t
like outsssidersss. It will be impossssible to blend in to the
local population. I hope you like being cloaked azsss you will
probably have to ssstay that way your entire time there,” said
Snarth with his version of a wry smile “That isss the only way you
will remain undetected. Fortunately Xarra isss a relatively low
tech world ssso electronic sssurveillance isss limited mossstly to
the major ssspace portsss. Once you and the feline massster get on
the planet your chancesss of detection go down to minimal. You
ssshould be able to move around at will. While you are on the
planet you two are on your own. The ressst of the team and I will
be ssstanding by for your extraction.

“
When you locate AArat,
move on him quickly,” Snarth hissed. “Remember, you mussst reveal
yourssself before you kill him and claim vengeance if there are any
witnessssesss. That will keep the galactic sssecurity mechsss out
of it. Thisss will be the mossst dangerousss missssion you have
ever been on. You will probably have to fight your way out of
AArat’sss hiding place azsss he will be fiercely guarded by hisss
family,” he said. “Try to ssstun if you can, only kill azsss a
lassst resssort azsss they will claim vengeance on you if you do
kill any of hisss family,” hissed Snarth, warning me. “You don’t
want to ssspend the next few yearsss watching your back for bounty
huntersss.”

“
I will be dropping you off
at the main ssspace port on Alto Prime. It isss clossse to Xarra
and regular trade ssshuttlesss travel between the two,” Snarth
hissed. “There you will be able to sssteal aboard a trade vessssel
or persssonnel transssport to Xarra, hopefully undetected. I have
provided you with the bessst training money can buy. I have no
doubt you will be sssuccessssful on your hunt,” he finished.
Was that sentiment from Snarth,
again
, I wondered?

I was also wondering just what I was
in for on Xarra. Aside from the normal mission jitters as the
shuttle left for Alto Prime’s spaceport, I felt confident. The
feline stealth master was one of the best. She considered me her
equal before my enhancements. AArat was a dead man, or rodent or
whatever he was, of that I was sure. I was however only hopeful
that I would return in one piece if we had to fight our way out of
AArat’s family “nest.”

The spaceport at Alto Prime was an
engineering wonder, filled with every kind of creature and
spacecraft imaginable. I did not however see any humanoids, or
felines for that matter. The sounds and smells were overwhelming,
almost painful.

The feline master seeing my grimace
said, “Xarra will not be so loud but the smell will be
worse.”

“
Worse, how can that be?” I
grumbled.

“
The rodents of Xarra
practice very little sanitation and no personal hygiene,” she
mewed. “Prepare yourself Human Tom, we must not falter or we may
die a regrettable death,” purred the feline master, repeating a
stealth mantra.

“
A regrettable death you
say. I think any way I die will be regrettable,” I answered
her.

“
A death without honor is a
regrettable death. There is no honor in killing rodents or being
killed by them. They are not even good to eat. I suspect we will
kill more than a few very soon.”

“
Let’s hope not,” I
responded.

The feline master’s head snapped
around and she spat “Tell me now while there is still time to abort
if you can’t go through with this.”

I returned her piercing yellow-eyed
glare with my best 1000-yard stare and said, “I will kill whoever I
have to in order to complete this mission. This is not my first
pony ride.” An uncomfortable silence ensued between us for the trip
through the spaceport.

“
Master, we have picked up
a tail,” I quipped to break the silence.

“
Yes, I see it,” the feline
master said, ignoring my attempt at humor. “We will have to cloak
sooner than expected. It is too early in the mission for killing,”
she hissed. “We will lead him away from our destination. Then we
will cloak and circle around.”

“
Don’t we want to find out
who he is working for, Master?” I asked.

“
That is not important,”
she replied. “We must get away undetected. If we question him we
will have to kill him to protect our mission. If we simply lose
him, he will be blamed with incompetence and it will be of no
consequence to our mission.”

“
Yes Master,” I answered,
deferring to her expertise.

The feline master headed into a bar of
some sort that was crowded and had strange music blaring painfully
in my ears. Most importantly for us it was dimly lit, unlike the
bright light that flooded every corner of the space station’s open
areas. After we had made our way to a thinly populated corner, the
feline master gave the signal to cloak. From now on, we would be
communicating in text through our wrist communicators.

With no difficulty, we lost our tail
and circled back around to the docks looking for a freighter on
which to stow away. On the way out, I had a good look at our tail;
it was a squat, furry rodent wearing dark goggles. It sniffed the
air as we passed but we remained undetected.

Several hours passed before the feline
master chose a dingy looking freighter crewed by rodents. Their
manifest indicated they were accepting cargo to Xarra. We were in
luck; they would be departing very soon.

As we crept onboard, I was nearly
floored by the smell. “Control yourself,” came the urgent message
from the feline master as she noticed me nearly gagging. Soon the
wave of nausea passed and the intensity of the smell
abated.

“
Xarra will be worse,”
signaled the feline master.

“
I will be fine,” I
signaled back, embarrassed by my second instance of
weakness.

“
Not weakness, you are just
adjusting to your implants,” scrawled across my pad as if the
feline master was reading my mind, again.

With a clang and a hiss, the main
hatch closed, the repulser lifts whining as they spun up. We were
past the point of no return. We were underway, undetected. I only
hoped that if the ship folded space I would not pass out again. I
need not have worried; this shuttle was only capable of sub-light
speeds.

As a result, our journey would last
almost two days according to what I overheard from the somewhat
chatty crew. At least they spoke galactic standard so I could
understand what they said. For the next several hours, I was
regaled with the most disgusting jokes I have ever heard, and hoped
to never hear again.

Once we were out of Alto Prime’s
gravity well, the pilot set the autopilot. Then the entire crew
commenced to doing the same very disgusting things they were joking
about earlier to each other. I tried my best to ignore the squeaks
and squeals of the mating rodents by meditating, as I knew the
feline master was by the rhythm of her breathing.

Finally, the crew went to sleep or
passed out from exhaustion. I did not know or care which as long as
their antics were finished. Taking advantage of the crew’s sleep, I
ate some of the rations I carried. I had learned long ago in the
S.E.A.L.s to eat when you can because you never know when the
chance will come again. My new nose told me that the feline master
had followed my example.

“
I will take the first
watch,” the feline master signaled. “Try and get some sleep. I will
wake you in 4 hours.” I signaled my acceptance, set my alarm and
fell instantly asleep. Another trick I had learned in the
S.E.A.L.s.

I awoke at the first vibration from my
wrist pad. I opened my eyes without moving, taking in my
surroundings before I even moved a muscle. All was well. The planet
Xarra loomed closer through the forward view screen.

“
We will be planet side in
6 hours, wake me in 4,” signaled the feline master.

“
Yes Master,” I signaled
back. Her breathing slowed almost immediately, giving new meaning
to the term catnap.

For the next 4 hours, I
watched as the crew and the feline master slept. As I waited, a
message came in from Snarth: it simply said “Report.” As I finished
tapping out an answer and sent it, an alarm sounded in the
cockpit.
Damn, how could I be so
stupid?
This ship has an alarm with an
information sensor, one that detects any stray signals. I had just
set it off.
Or, so I thought. I felt a paw
on my arm telling me to hold steady.

Then the cockpit speaker erupted in a
language I did not understand. The crew began scurrying around and
I realized it must be the port authority demanding confirmation of
the ship’s transponder signal and demanding a destination and cargo
manifest. A seemingly heated exchange between the pilot and what
must be spaceport control ensued. It just so happened that the
speaker sounded just as I was relaying a message to Snarth. I
relaxed and the feline master withdrew her paw. We had remained
undetected.

The repulser lifts had finished their
spin down whine, followed by a heavy jolt as the ship settled onto
its landing struts. We were safely on Xarra. The rodent pilot was
clumsy and I was thankful to be off the shuttle soon.

As the flurry of landing activity
subsided, the feline master and I began to see the chance for our
exit. The rodents were using portable repulser lifts to move the
larger crates of cargo and we would simply follow one down the
ramp.

“
Move down the ramp behind
the next load and do not get too close to the rodents. They have a
very sharp sense of smell and we haven’t bathed today,” signaled
the feline master.

“
Yes master,” I
acknowledged as I maneuvered into position to begin my
exit.

We need not have worried; the rodents
were focused on unloading the ship. Our exit was easy and we
remained undetected. At the top of the ramp, I found myself on my
knees gagging, nearly vomiting at the first smell of the rodents’
home planet.

The stench was so strong it
seemed to be a living force crashing into my mind like a wave of
pain. It astounded me and I nearly gagged again.
Holy shit and I thought the shuttle was
bad!
This smell was one hundred times
worse; I was nearly overcome, my breath taken away.

I felt the feline master urgently
pulling me to my feet; another load of cargo was headed toward the
ramp threatening to run me over. I gathered my strength and my
composure, and we headed down the ramp and toward the edge of the
landing field. AArat’s family compound was not far away, about two
clicks.

As luck would have it, the
compound was on the edge of the very town we had arrived in.
This is going too well
I
thought to myself. As we made our way out of the city, I was amazed
at how crudely the buildings were constructed, and disgusted at the
open sewer running through the middle of the muddy streets. Animal
drawn carts were everywhere and the streets were littered with the
droppings of many species.
That explains
some of the smell. Disease must run rampant here. How do they
survive much less stand it?

The crowds of rodents had thinned to
almost nothing; we had the street to ourselves. “Only two clicks to
the compound,” said the feline master, snapping me back on mission.
“We are almost there,” and she slowed to a trot. Now was not the
time to get careless. “I have signaled Snarth our position and he
and the rest of the team are in position for extraction. This
shouldn’t take long,” the feline master continued.