Scrapyard Ship 3 Space Vengeance (10 page)

Expressions of disbelief were followed by low murmurs. This was all about instilling some semblance of hope. Jason maintained an expression of confidence, while in truth, he had no illusions that defeat by the returning Craing fleet wasn’t possibly imminent. He raised a hand. “Hold on, everyone. Let me bring you up to speed: first, about the race of people who call themselves the Caldurians, and then about an alien being simply known as the interchange.”

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Traveler awakened groggy and feeling strange. He opened his eyes and was relieved that the pain at the back of his head was gone. But something was not right. Perhaps the blow to his skull had made his brain dysfunctional. Certainly hearing voices and seeing brightly-colored images flash before his eyes meant only one thing: he’d gone crazy. He’d witnessed crazy rhinos before. It would be far better to end his life now than to go through life, dishonored, as a crazy one.

Looking around, he knew where he was. This was Medical on board The Lilly. He tried to sit up, but a small hand on his chest pushed him back down.

“
Take it easy, Traveler,” Dira said calmly. “You will feel disoriented for a while, and no doubt you want to know what’s going on in your head.”

“
I have gone mad. I choose not to live like this. You must let me—”

“
Hold on. You’re not mad. What you are feeling is totally normal. Your injuries have been healed by the device you are lying in. It’s called a MediPod.”

“
And the pictures and sounds in my mind?”

Dira hesitated. “To make you well, your body required the introduction of nanites into your system. Other procedures, ones that will enhance your capabilities for communications and thought processes, were also added. Others on board, including myself, have these same additions.”

Traveler listened carefully. Dira stood back and he slowly sat up. He realized the pictures in his head were not arbitrary. He was beginning to understand their meaning. He also felt a heightened level of strength throughout his body.

“
I feel what you call nanites. I am stronger now. I am smarter now.”

Dira shrugged, then nodded. “Yes, you are.”

“
Then I approve of these changes to my body.”

“
Good. Over time the systems in your head, we call them nano-devices or nano-tech, will guide you to better understand how to use their functionality. It will take time, so be patient. Do you understand?”

“
I understand.”

“
Good.”

“
When will the others, the other rhino-warriors, begin this process?”

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Brian was less concerned with his nakedness than with the cold. The cold, and his pounding, aching, head. And there was something wrong with his internal nano-devices. Repeatedly, a countdown timer had appeared. Apparently, something was going to happen in the next few days. He didn’t want to think about that right now. And the pain emanating from his open, oozing eye socket was worse than ever.

They’d left him alone for several hours in the dark dungeon below Stalls’ fortress. When they’d come for him, a part of him hoped his death would be quick; he hated pain. Let others play the hero. He knew his limitations. But they had other plans for him. Two of Stalls’ men released his bonds and dragged him up the stone stairs and out to a waiting hover ship. More like a cart. By the looks of things—some dried blood, several errant bone chips—he was keenly aware others had taken this same joyless ride. An hour or so later, they reached a shoreline—perhaps of an ocean or large lake. They secured him to another pole. Again, someone mentioned hoppers. The two men seemed to be in a hurry. Perhaps that was why they’d only secured his hands and not his feet. At least this way, with his arms wrapped around the pole, he could turn and see what was around him. What the fuck is a hopper? The tide was coming in and small waves lapped several yards from his feet. In the early morning dawn, more and more of the beach became visible. Squinting his solitary eye, Brian could see other poles off in the distance. And there, past several empty poles, was a figure tied to another one, and by the looks of him or her, the body was long dead.

“
Shit!” He closed his eyes, unable to believe Stalls had turned on him like this. He’d certainly made their relationship worth Stalls’ while. The business he’d brought him with the Craing was highly profitable. Truth was, Brian knew perfectly well why things had turned out badly. Jason. Jason had humiliated Stalls in front of his own men. No, it was more than that. It was that woman, Nan. Jason’s ex-wife. Stalls wanted her for himself. Brian had learned long ago that love and business don’t mix.

Movement. Brian jerked his head and then spun his body around the pole. Subtle, but there was definitely movement close by, off to his left. There it was again, near where the lapping waves met the sand. They all seemed to arrive at once, as if an early morning bugle call had summoned the troops forth to assemble.

“
Holy mother of God! Get the hell away from me!” Brian screamed, while repeatedly kicking out with his bare feet at the approaching monstrosity. Wet and bulbous, the thing moved toward him backward, propelled by four crab-like legs covered with hundreds of knife-like spikes. It seemed to have trouble moving. He saw why. Hanging down from its belly was a large translucent sack. Inside it were four bright orange balls, which jostled around as the creature repositioned itself. Brian figured they were probably eggs.

“
Terrific, soon there’ll be four more of these fucking things.”

Brian heard a series of rapid clicking sounds and something else. Actually, he did hear something else—talking. Two more of the eight-foot-long, crablike creatures emerged from beneath the sand. With their arrival, more clicking, and more talking. Crap, his nano-tech was deciphering their clicks. From the sound of things, they were hungry. They were looking at him. They were portioning out his body—Good God, they were deciding who would get what to eat!

“
Get back!” he yelled, kicking sand in their direction.

The three crab creatures then turned and were facing him—maneuvering to get in closer. Large rubber band-like mouths gaped, each with a series of tiny fine teeth. Rows and rows of teeth. Brian pulled back against his bonds and looked behind him for anything that could help.

Ahh, now he knew what the pirates were referring to when they spoke of the hoppers. Hundreds of them appeared, jumping ten, twenty feet in the air. They came from the dunes behind and were making their way towards the crabs. Breakfast time.

A hopper landed atop one of the craps directly in front of Brian. Man-like with two arms and two thick legs, it was green and scaly. With three thick fingers, each with long, extended talons, it ripped and pried at the crustacean’s back plates. Brian grimaced as the hopper drove a hand beneath the shell and pulled out a handful of wet white meat and brought it up to his mouth.

“
That’s truly disgusting,” he said, but he spoke aloud in a foreign language: the language the hoppers spoke. Aided by NanoCom, Brian was used to the nano-tech in his head utilizing this capability, but the hopper certainly wasn’t. It stopped chewing and looked over at Brian.

“
How do you speak our language?”

Not sure honesty would be in his best interest, Brian hesitated before answering. “I have a device in my head that lets me talk to other species.”

“
Your own kind has turned against you. Why do they do such a thing?”

“
They only look like my species. They are not.”

“
It insults us, leaving these imprisoned carcasses here as if we would feast on them. For the most part, we leave them for the shells to eat.” The hopper gestured toward the crabs, which were quickly scurrying backwards toward the shoreline. Then the hopper did something unexpected. He reached in and brought out another handful of meat, stopped, and held it out to Brian.

“
You will eat.”

Brian’s eyes went to the still-twitching crab held securely beneath the hopper’s muscular thighs. He hadn’t eaten in days. How different could this be from regular crabmeat, or even lobster for that matter?

Brian nodded and let the hopper place a large chunk of the white meat into his mouth. It was surprisingly good. He didn’t hesitate for the second mouthful.

“
Thank you,” Brian said. “Why did you—”

“
Eat,” the hopper said.

“
One more thing. Can you help me get off this pole?” For the first time in years, Brian wanted to go home. Back to Earth.

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Ricket requested a private meeting with Jason and the admiral. In itself, that wasn’t unusual, but its location made Jason curious. Ricket wanted to meet on the far side of the moon. Jason had almost forgotten about the crippled Craing Dreadnaught—the principal massive warship that took point in a fleet of five hundred. For a short while it had been placed in high orbit around Earth and used as a base for their fleet and for training exercises in space. But it was a battered, war-torn vessel. Several chunks had dislodged and careened into other ships. Then another even larger section broke off and headed directly toward Earth, but fortunately it splashed down somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. Deemed too dangerous to be allowed to maintain orbit around Earth, the Dreadnaught was hauled away by several of the larger battle cruisers and placed in its current orbit around the moon.

They picked up the admiral at the outpost and flew The Lilly over to the moon. Once the Dreadnaught was within sight, they phase-shifted into the mammoth ship’s primary corridor, which ran the length of the vessel. Once close to the Dreadnaught’s bridge, they headed to The Lilly’s armory on Deck 2, where they readied themselves.

“
So what is this thing?” the admiral asked with a furrowed brow. Orion continued to secure a phase-shift belt around his midsection.

“
The belts will transport us to the Dreadnaught’s bridge,” Jason replied. “But we can walk, if you’d prefer. Probably take us fifteen or twenty minutes by foot.”

“
No, I’ll give this a try,” the admiral replied with a shrug. “Hell, it’s not like this is the first time you’ve used them, right?”

“
Right. We couldn’t have made it across HAB 12 without them.”

Not wanting to suit up into combat suits, they each were fitted with a wristband interface. One by one, Ricket double-checked each of their phase-shift coordinates.

“
We are ready,” Ricket said.

“
Sure you don’t want me to join you, Cap?” Orion asked, looking uneasy that they were leaving without a security detail.

“
We’ll be fine. There’s no one on board—it’s a deserted ship. But you can phase-shift over if we run into any kind of trouble, that work?” Jason replied.

With Ricket’s help, the first one to phase-shift over was the admiral; Jason went next, then Ricket.

The Dreadnaught’s sprawling command center was eerily quiet. The three of them stood near the officer’s section of the bridge. Jason looked out at the rows of unmanned stations.

“
It’s like a ghost ship.”

“
And that’s what I wanted to speak with you about, Captain,” Ricket said. “I am not convinced the Craing crewmembers, even working alongside our own people, can be fully trusted.”

Ricket walked over to the command chair, sat down, and accessed a small viewing screen and interface device. “This isn’t common knowledge. I discovered it purely by accident.”

“
What’s with all the secrecy, Ricket? What’s going on?” the admiral asked.

The largest of the display screens mounted on the bulkhead came alive.

“
What is that?” Jason asked.

The image on the display was barely visible. Ricket keyed something else in and overhead lights came on. It was a ship’s hold of immense proportions. Stacks and stacks of mechanical equipment filled the screen and faded into the distance.

“
Build and repair tractor drones,” Ricket said. “These were not listed on the ship’s inventory database.”

“
So what? What’s a build and repair tractor drone and why is this significant?” Jason asked.

Ricket looked over at Jason, then walked toward the display. “Captain, these are the types of mechanical tractor drones that were used to build this Dreadnaught in the first place, as well as all the other vessels within the Craing fleet. Depending on whether or not they have the necessary programming, they could repair this vessel. And with the right materials, they could build others.”