Copyright (c) 2017 by Randall R. Peterson ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
This is a work of fiction. All persons, locations and actions are from the author's imagination or have been used in a fictitious manner.
By
R. Peterson
Keeper and three hundred expedition members, gathering
exotic life forms from across the universe, were enjoying a feast of Maltese
Eels, Gesperian horn-pods and Lembayo water-plant in honor of their cephalopod
navigator’s fifth anniversary of joining the crew. Suddenly brilliant lights the
color of fresh blood flashed throughout the massive dining room and a booming
recording warned of an IMPENDING SECURITY BREECH.
With a
crack of thunder and a tremendous flash of ozone, a giant winged
worm as large as a storage tank materialized on the pad used to return
oversized laborers to work levels. Tables overturned and the crew ran in all directions
to the sound of breaking dishes and shattering glass. Guest of honor Teuth,
dropped three of the Vorboolian cocktails he held in his eight tentacles as the
giant worm wiggled across the domed room and devoured the electrical
circuits in the atmospheric lighting panels with grinding rows of circular
teeth.
Organic
Science Officer Leika burst from the gyroscopic transporter seconds later
brandishing a zookeeper’s diminution gun.
“Don’t do that! You’ll only make her angry,” she yelled as the star ships security
forces attempted to vaporize the monster with blasters. Seconds later Keeper
and his stunned crew watched as Leika reduced the giant to the size of a bug
and then chased after the flying creature and captured it in a bottle.
Male crew
members were already beginning to stagger toward Leika like love-sick zombies.
Leika grinned at Keeper. “Sorry,” she said. “This rare Winged-Kirminas is undergoing second-stage
metamorphous and was scheduled for release in terrarium level six.
That idiotic transfer technician you hired from some slum planet blundered
again.”
“Did you
have your assistants escort the sixteen-ton worm to the transporter room while
you monitored the release from the safety of your lab as I requested?”
Keeper looked stern.
“According
to the biologists on Mateuse 17, only five of this species exist in the entire
universe, despite their formidable shielding. I was only making sure this
specimen came to no harm at the hands of your clumsy crew.” Leika’s eyes were
radiating a soft baby powder blue … but the spines she had in place of hair
looked ready for a fight.
“Leika,
you know the male members of this crew have a hard time functioning while you
are in their work areas,” Keeper scolded. “That Porosities attraction aura you unconsciously
release when you are near men is destructive to their concentration.”
“It’s not
my fault your crew can’t control their sexual responses?” Her emotion-charged
eyes flamed yellow-red.
“I’m sorry
Leika, you are the most brilliant biologist I know, but your insubordination
leaves me no choice but to confine you to quarters … for twenty-four
hours.”
“Twenty-four
hours!” Leika screeched. “You treat me like a child!” She knocked the rest of
the drinks out of Teuth’s tentacles before she kicked over the table Jeff Bland
sat at and stomped toward the gyroport.
“That went
well!” First Officer Jeff Bland commented
as he wiped spilled liquor and half eaten horn-pods from his uniform.
“I’m only
trying to get you to follow the rules,” Keeper called after the tantalizing
crew-member, “… someone on this ship has to be in charge!”
Leika slammed the transporter hatch and
vanished without looking back.
-------2-------
Less
than six hours later, a sleepy First Officer Jeff Bland was summoned to the
ship’s bridge by Navigator Teuth; he met Keeper as they entered the gyroport.
The Captain had received the same message. “It hasn’t been twenty-four hours!”
Jeff looked at his watch. “Don’t tell me Leika has found a way to jimmy the
time-lock on her quarters.”
“This doesn’t sound like Porosities
trouble,” Keeper said. “This sounds like the real stuff!”
“You don’t think that half the things that
go wrong on this ship are not due to that walking sex bomb? I find that hard to
believe!” Jeff said as the transport mechanism began to move. The gyroport
rotated much like a gyroscope, efficiently conveying those inside to any
section of the massive globular spacecraft.
“I find our Organic Science Officer
delightful and entertaining,” Keeper said. “Although I am immune to most of her
more annoying charms.”
“Annoying?” Jeff moaned. “She once
cornered me in a restricted area of engineering level three and forced me to
hand feed her orgasmic grape-pods while splashing around naked in a pool of
fermented Lustarian oil.”
“I warned you of the dangers of this voyage!” Keeper smiled.
Teuth was staring at a distorted communications
hologram when they arrived in the ship’s main control room. A transparent dome
the size of a football stadium covered hundreds of similar areas. “Problems?”
Keeper asked.
“We received an encrypted message from Mateuse
17, but the data was scrambled before our computers could decode it.” Teuth’s
eight tentacles were busy moving through the light beams under the image attempting
to find out why.
“A problem with technical engineering,”
Jeff suggested.
“No,” Teuth said. “All our transcribers
appear to be working correctly. Our messages are being jammed by something from
a distance.”
The
words were barely out of the former sea creature’s mouth when alarms once again
sounded throughout the ship. “POSSIBLE HOSTILE FORCES APPROACHING!”
“Take us up to max light speed until we
find out what we’re dealing with,” Keeper ordered.
Moments
later, Helmsman Dorg, a species of Canidae who resembled Earth foxes, barked
his report. “We are at maximum speed and the unidentified craft is still closing
fast!”
“Can we obtain reverse light?”
“Negative! The erratic orbits of the stars
in the approaching galaxy prohibit any kind of time heightened travel.”
“Identification!” Keeper commanded.
Teuth
was the first to report. “It appears to be a very large A class Hammurabi vessel
possibly from one of the troseddu
systems. Mateuse 17 has no diplomatic relations with that part of the universe
and considers the authorities there outlaws!”
“Hammurabi? I’ve never heard of them.”
Jeff was amazed, it was one of the few times he had seen worry on the ship’s captains face.
“The Hammurabi
are a small family in the business of mining planets for exotic minerals and
gems.” Keeper said. “They need millions of workers for the hundreds of worlds
they deplete and they use ruthless tactics to maximize profits.”
“That sounds like Wal Mart back on Earth,” Jeff suggested. “Do these people have medical and retirement plans?”
“I’m afraid what we have pursuing us is a
massive slave ship,” Keeper said,
“and there are no benefits ….
the Hammurabi work all of their laborers
to death.”
“Aren’t we going to put up a fight?” Jeff
demanded.
“That’s not possible,” Keeper said. “The
reason Mateuse 17 doesn’t interfere with their disgusting human rights
violations is because they are so powerful. When you control half the wealth of
this part of the universe you can buy the best weapons and protection.”
“What are we going to do?” Jeff covered
his ears to block out the repeating alarms.
“We’re going to run,” Keeper said. “Teuth,
guide us into the dancing sisters in
G sector at max speed,” he ordered.
“We’re in deep trouble and you want to go
to a party,” Jeff moaned.
“The Dancing Sisters are a series of star systems that orbit
each other with erratic trajectories that routinely hit and miss … scattering
planet debris and clouds of hydrogen gas in random patterns.”
“Sounds like the inner-city in Chicago each time the Cubs
lose!” Jeff moaned as the ship changed course drastically and massive G forces
slid him across the floor.
Keeper held tight to
Teuth’s holographic projection mount. “Sorry,” he yelled at his young friend.
“But I’m afraid we’re in for a wild ride!”
-------3-------
A
dozen M43 stars had begun to circle each other as they were drawn into a
massive black hole. Each of the red giants held hundreds of planets and other
astrophysical bodies in wildly fluctuating orbits that resembled a crowded
skating rink with half the people moving in one direction and the other half
going the opposite way. There were bound to be collisions. Planets exploded
from direct contact while gravity from other near-misses siphoned off huge
chunks of matter and gasses as big as continents. The resulting cataclysm was like
a doorway into hell.
“Will
you be able to navigate through this?” Jeff screamed at Teuth as the Centurion
entered the star clusters at near the speed of light. The massive gravitational pull of the black
hole was bending light inside the spacecraft and Keeper, Bland and Teuth
appeared as distorted images in a carnival funhouse … long and lean one moment
and short and fat the next.
“There
is no way to tell,” Teuth yelled. His voice sounded a mile away one moment and
so close the next you could hear all six rows of teeth tattle in his head. “The
laws of physics cease to exist once we move past the event horizon!” Burning
spheres of molten rock hurled past the transparent dome. Jeff Bland took control
of the ship and veered to the left, just as two moon-sized objects collided
head-on and exploded less than a million miles away directly ahead. Chunks of
matter, some as large as buildings, struck the outer shields and sent the alarm
systems shrieking about impending disaster. First Officer bland guided the huge
spacecraft through several near misses but the almost collisions were getting
closer.
“Twenty
seconds before we reach the event horizon … and then there will be no escape …
for anyone!” Teuth’s tone suggested he was speaking at a funeral.
“Is
the Hammurabi vessel still pursuing?” Keeper was considering his options … die
or be taken captive.”
“They
have reversed their engines,” Teuth’s sigh of relief was audible as was all
those crowded into the control-room
“Maintain
speed but stay just outside the event threshold,” Keeper ordered. “Hopefully we can put a bottomless pit between the us and
the slavers.”
“Our
propulsion systems have all shut down and we are being pulled backward!” Teuth
reported.
“A
tractor beam!” Jeff groaned. “ Didn’t you say these people could buy anything?”
“Looks
like our new towing friends have just
pulled us out of disaster,” Keeper said. “And I can imagine what their price is
going to be.”
“I
hope it’s not hot,” Jeff moaned. “In the mine where they put us to work … I
hope it’s not too warm.”
-------4-------
Keeper tried several times to get Leika to
leave her quarters. She kept insisting with great indignation that her time wasn’t up. “We have problems,” Keeper told her. Hundreds of aliens
resembling scorpions with Verulian lasers clutched in their pincher hands had
already taken control of the ship.
“More than before? I thought your quota of
blunders would go down once I was
confined to quarters!” Leika was still furious when she entered the bridge. “What
the hell is going on here?” A Scorpinion guard, with a twenty-thousand volt
electric tail arched over its scaly back, knocked her to the ground and then locked
her arms in restraints.
“These
creatures are tough fighters, but where is the brains behind their enterprise?”
Jeff Bland asked Keeper as they lay bound together on the floor of the
Centurion.
As
if in response to his question, a large sphere of swirling energy appeared in
the air several feet above the control room floor. With an ear-shattering bang,
a dark haired scowling woman appeared in the midst of the captives. She was
richly dressed and had a long crooked nose hovering over layered necklaces of priceless
gems, obviously placed there to distract from her dermic shortcomings. “I am
Nora Hammurabi … and with the unfortunate demise of my brother Richard … I am
now the supreme leader of all eighteen Troseddu
systems.”
“The
Hammurabi are notorious for killing other family members and seizing power,” Teuth
whispered to Keeper.
“I
hope you will enjoy working with my company.” The ugly matriarch went on.
“Like
a fish enjoys being fried,” Jeff whispered to a worried Teuth.
Helmsman
Dorg who was restrained on the floor next to Officer Bland, unfortunately made
a barking laugh. Nora was furious and had two Scorpinions lift him off the floor. “No one laughs at the
Queen,” she said. With the wave of her hand, the small fox-like crewmember was
thrust into the air by millions of volts of electricity and fried alive before
the crew’s eyes. “I think you will find me extremely charitable,” Nora said. “But
I will not tolerate subordination. Each of you individuals will receive compensation
based on the work that you perform … as your work diminishes … so will your
rewards.”
“She
plans to starve us to death,” Jeff whispered to Keeper, “and if we work real
hard she’ll make the misery last.”
“I
vow the loyalty of my subjects,” Nora told them. “Now as soon as you all have sworn
allegiance to me … your new lives will begin.”
The
crew members were forced one by one to kneel before the Queen and swear
fidelity. Nora was not only ugly, but ruthless and cruel. A twitch of an eye or
any deviation from complete subjugation was dealt with by a painful death.
Random crew members were brutally murdered to put fear into others. Jeff Bland
moaned when a cursing Leika was dragged before the woman.
“You’re a Porosities aren’t you?”
Nora smiled. “Your charm and beauty are legendary throughout the galaxy …
almost a match for my own.”
Leika
snorted a laugh. “You could place anyone next to a pig like you and they would
look wonderful! Where did you get those ears … off from a Nuebarion weasel?”
Nora’s
piercing scream made even the Scorpinion guards try to cover their ears. The
captives on the floor moan in agony.
“Death is too quick for someone like
you!” Nora was twisting in rage as her guards lifted Leika from the floor. “For
some time I’ve been considering a public event that will show my workers just how
unwise it is to challenge my authority! Bring her along.” Nora told her guards. “This special
event may take days to prepare … the rest of you will start work immediately.”
“Didn’t
I tell you Leika finds trouble wherever she goes?” A distraught Jeff Bland trying
to make light of the situation as he whispered to Keeper. He was hoping for a
positive response as they were marched into the slave ship
To
his horror Keeper hung his head and choked on the words …
“I’m
going to miss her too.”
TO
BE CONTINUED …
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