Part 5 - Part 05

It was decided to have the picnic the day before Ruzha arrived. The date was basically decided by Nagol who, rightly so, said the berries should be picked and processed before Ruzha arrived because we wouldn’t have time after that and if we waited too long the berries would rot. That day was supposed to be more about picking berries and less about having fun at a picnic but Amih changed all that when she went to see the old farmer lady, who insisted on bringing her sons to the event. Amih thought it was a good idea and she wanted her children to be there too. Despite Captain Orihci’s objections, figuring that this would disrupt the work schedule at the food factory, Amih spoke to Haon and Nosam and to the old lady’s sons who agreed to come. While talking with them Amih also asked if they had the ingredients Ilisa required for making cookies and sweets. They had most of what was needed. Enai gave Ilisa access to one of the labs which had an oven and Ilisa, Aneleh and a bunch of young ladies got together and were busy making goodies for the picnic.

When word got around that Amih and the old lady had found their children at the food factory, many of the homeless volunteers who had previously arrived at this facility also wanted to come and speak with Haon and Nosam to see if any of their relatives were among the factory workers. Amih decided to take only two, provided they helped with the berry picking, because there was no room on the bus for more. The two women who were selected to come had made a list with names of the missing people. They would give the list to Haon and Nosam and ask them to look for the missing. There were fourteen names on the list.

When we saw the list we all felt nervous. I felt a sharp pain in my gut.

Captain Orihci said, “I wish you the best of luck… But please prepare yourselves for disappointments… Most of the people in that factory are local farmers…”

Early in the morning on the day of the picnic, before we assembled in front of the facility’s main gate, Amih took Aneleh, Ilisa and

Ireva and the baked goods on her bus and drove them to the farm where the old lady had set up a couple of tables outside her front door. Amih dropped the women and goodies off before she went and got the boys.

When she arrived at the food factory the boys were ready to go. They brought with them a few buckets of food, plates and utensils as well as ingredients for making tea. After she dropped them off at the farm she came back to get us. I decided to bring Nine and Enai’s daughter along. I wanted Nine to be with her family. And I was sure Enai would also appreciate it if I brought his daughter to the picnic. Those were the only super soldiers whose families I knew.

Surprisingly Madam Grooni and even Bibi came along. I don’t know what Madam Grooni’s excuse was but Bibi said, “Now that I have you all here, sometime today I would like to inform you of our progress with the information campaign…”

“We look forward to hearing about it,” Captain Orihci replied.

The moment we arrived at the farm the old lady handed each one of us a basket and told us where to go picking berries. She wanted the berries picked first, before we were distracted by other things.

“My husband shook the berries off the trees yesterday. All you have to do now is pick them. When you fill your basket dump it into the big bin inside the warehouse. There aren’t that many berries left to pick, so we should be done in a couple of hours. We’ll have a late breakfast this morning, served with sweet, hot tea. So get going… The sooner we’re done, the sooner we can eat…”

“She’s a good motivator,” I said to Amih. “You should hire her to work at the facility…”

“Maybe I will…” she replied and left.

“Well ladies…” I said to Nine and Enai’s daughter, “you each have a basket, so do what I do…” and off we went picking berries.

Enai, who was right behind us, asked if he could join us.

“We would be delighted…”

Enai always wanted to be near his daughter but her inability to recognize him made him sad every time. There was a bit of commotion ahead of us and a lot of whispers. We all stopped to watch the old lady’s sons picking berries. They were so fast and good at their job that they put us all to shame. They were picking more berries than all of us combined. I guess they were far more experienced than any of us.

I looked around and saw Madam Grooni warming up to Bibi. She was saying something but he kept ignoring her. We got closer and I sent Nine to pick berries right behind them. She had a better sense of hearing than me so I was able to hear what they were saying. Madam Grooni was asking Bibi, begging him in fact, to give her access to the transmitter but he refused. I spoke to Nagol about this on my way to empty my basket. Nagol was unable to pick berries. He found it very difficult to bend down. We didn’t want him falling but at the same time we didn’t want to rob him of his desire to contribute, so Captain Orihci appointed him supervisor of the operation to make sure everyone worked efficiently and put the berries in the big bin properly.

After he heard what I had to say he said, “You should give her back her communicator and monitor her communications. I’m sure the guy that she’s hoping will rescue her has already forgotten about her by now… It’s about time she found that out… Discuss it with the others and see what they think…”

A little later I saw Nagol talking to Captain Orihci. I went to see what they were talking about and heard Captain Orihci say, “We should, we don’t want either of them to think that we’re holding her prisoner… But I bet you the moment he hears her voice he’ll think it’s a trap…”

“That’s true because that’s how those security types are conditioned to think…” replied Nagol.

When the Captain saw me he said, “I’ll consult with the others and if they all agree we will give back her communicator and have Enai monitor her transmissions.

When I went back to pick more berries I told Enai what we were planning and he said, “I had a chance to examine her communicator and you won’t believe what I found…”

“Well, don’t keep me in suspense… What did you find?”

“I’ll tell you… I’m just looking for the right words… It’s complicated and ingenious… While she talks on the communicator she can also type a message, an undetectable digital message, which looks like noise on the monitoring instruments unless you’re looking very closely or you know what to look for. It’s ingenious… The one flaw it has is that it retains the text inside the communicator and has to be manually deleted in order to erase it. And from what I saw she hasn’t deleted any of the messages she sent while she was talking to him…”

“Do you still have those messages? Are they still in the communicator?”

“Yes… I’ll copy them the first chance I get…”

“If we have to, can you capture the digital messages with your equipment?”

“Yes, now that I know they exist and what the messages look like. I’ll have to make some modifications to my equipment…”

“Please do it… and let me know when you’re done…” I told Enai and then went back to tell Nagol and Captain Orihci, who was very interested to know, what else Madam Grooni was telling her boss while talking to him.

“Do you think they suspected we were monitoring their conversations…?” asked the Captain.

“They always assume someone is monitoring them, its standard practice in the spy business…” said Nagol.

“But they did reveal a lot of things we didn’t know about them and about this place through their conversations… Why did they do that…?” I asked.

“Two possibilities… One, they wanted us to think that they didn’t know we were monitoring them and two, they became arrogant and sloppy…” said Nagol.

“If they weren’t worried about us spying on their conversations then it makes no sense that she would want to use texts to secretly inform her boss,” I said.

“Now that I think of it that makes perfect sense… They told us things that we would have found out on our own anyway; to give us the impression that they didn’t know we were spying on them… On second thought I would say they were sloppy… Let’s leave it at that and see what’s in the texts…” said Nagol.

“I agree…” said Captain Orihci.

When the floor of the press was fully covered with berries Delche started the processing machine, which started with a big ruckus. Almost everyone ran inside the warehouse to see what was happening. There was nothing to see so Nagol directed them back to picking berries. All the berries were picked in two hours as the old lady had predicted. As each worker emptied their last basket, the old lady offered them a cup of sweet tea.

“This is really good tea, how do you make it?” asked Ilisa and Ireva translated.

“You need to ask Amih’s son Haon about that… he made the tea,” replied the old lady.

“It looks like piss to me… I hope it doesn’t taste like it…” whispered Delche.

“You’ve never had tea have you?” I said.

He didn’t answer but did try it and was impressed.

“Haon, tell them how you make the tea…” said the old lady.

Haon laughed and said, “It’s very simple… You boil a cup of water, you add a few of these leaves, more if you want it stronger, and then mix it. Remove the leaves with your spoon then add a few drops of berry syrup, more if you like it sweeter, and then mix it again. I like mine sweet… That’s it.”

“Where do you get the leaves?” asked Amih.

“An older man at our the factory gets them for us. His friends bring them here and leave them outside. He said they harvest the tea plants in the fall before they dry. They have to be harvested at the right time otherwise the tea will be bitter or will have no taste.”

“Can we get some of those plants for me? I’d like to try and make tea sometimes…” said Ilisa.

“I’ll get you some later today…” replied Hoan.

“I would like to get some too… I want to do an experiment…” said Delche and whispered to me. “I’ll add it to the rakia and make yellow rakia… And if it tastes okay I’ll call it piss rakia…”

“And if you add syrup to it you can call it sweet piss rakia…” I said and laughed.

After we drank our tea the old lady took our cups and gave us each a plate and spoon. Nosam then filled our plates with food from the factory. After we ate the food the old lady took our plates and spoons and gave us each a smaller plate and a fork. Aneleh and Ilisa then gave us each one cookie and a sweet. She gave the leftovers to the old lady who then gave them to her sons to take back to the factory. When we were finished eating the old lady took the boys and the plates and utensils back to the factory. While the bus was

gone Bibi gave us an update on what was going on with the “war of words” as it quickly became known.

“I’m not going to tell you everything… It will take all day… I’ll just tell you about some of the more important things that are happening… Every day we have been broadcasting something new about what happened here and how the people have suffered. We did this through interviews and personal stories. After we started broadcasting this kind of information the big networks began calling our stories lies and fabrications, which is what we expected. But, as a result, we have been gaining more and more viewers. People want to hear our side of the story and so they have turned to our network. I’ve also noticed all kinds of small broadcasters repeating our message and telling their loyal viewers not to believe the lies of the mainstream media and start thinking for themselves… In other words, there are people out there who have taken our side and are spreading our message. This is good and we need to keep it up… keep the momentum going… but, at the same time, I don’t know what else I can do from our side to advance the story. I have reached the limit of what I can do and I’ll need help soon…”

“I guess no one told you that we’re bringing in a professional journalist from Ostikon…” said Nagol as Ireva translated.

“I heard that someone is coming tomorrow but I know nothing about it…” he replied.

“Enai, do you have any more of those universal translators?” asked Captain Orihci.

“No but we are building more… We’ll need them for Ruzha and the others arriving here from Ostikon.”

At this point Madam Grooni stepped up and gave up her translator; the one I’d given her before. She gave it to Captain Orihci and he in turn gave it to Bibi and invited him to join us in our meetings.

When the old lady returned from taking the men back to the food factory, she brought two bundles of tea. She gave the big bundle to Ilisa and the smaller one to Delche. She thanked us all for coming to

pick the rest of the berries and for the picnic; signaling that it was time for us to go. She told Amih she would finish processing the berries herself, clean the press and leave the syrup in buckets in the warehouse.

During our ride back Ilisa told everyone that now that she had the tea and, if she could get more of the ingredients for making pastries, she’d be serving cookies and tea in our meetings.

Captain Orihci piped up and said, “I prefer rakia with my cookies… the sweet piss kind Delche is going to make for us…” After everybody had a laugh the Captain said, “Sweeter piss rakia for the ladies, especially for those who aren’t sweet enough, like my daughter Ireva and Madam Grooni…”

“Hey, leave me out of your stupid jokes. I like my rakia just as it is without making it sweet…” objected Ireva.

“That was a nice thing you did today Madam Grooni…” said the Captain and everyone cheered. Madam Grooni stood up, bowed and sat back down again without saying a word.

Before we all got off the bus at the facility, the Captain asked Ukasnek to invite the people in our group, which now included Bibi, to a meeting in the common room an hour before dinner to discuss Ruzha’s arrival and some other things.

When we assembled for the meeting Enai informed us that his people, the former actors who Madam Grooni had brought here, had found a parts supplier that was willing to sell us parts but we’d have to go and pick them up as well as pay with gold. We could only pay with gold they said. This was acceptable to us since that was the only currency we had. The parts supplier told our people that the former owners of this facility had used a credit system before the war but, according to the same supplier, they’d been ripped off by the former buyers. Ireva volunteered to fly there and pick up the parts, but later after Ruzha had arrived.

The next item on the agenda was to take a vote on whether to give Madam Grooni her communicator back or not.

Bibi spoke first, “Before you decide I just want to let you know that Madam Grooni came to me in the grove this morning and asked me to give her access to the transmitter. She didn’t say why she wanted access but, given her reputation, I figured it was for nefarious reasons. I don’t know her personally but I believe she is the cause of our problems with the security services. That’s all I’m going to say for now…”

After Captain Orihci thanked Bibi for coming forward with that information, he called on Ukasnek to give everyone an update on Madam Grooni’s activities.

“According to my people who have been monitoring her activities, Madam Grooni, on her own, doesn’t seem to be a danger to our community. She has been passive and spends most of her time in her room. Giving her back her communicator may open up opportunities for her to conduct clandestine activities of which we may not approve. Anyway, that’s my opinion.”

“She is a member of our community and she hasn’t been charged with any crimes. For the last few days she has been helping members of this group with their work and today she selflessly gave up her translator for the greater good and, as such, deserves to be treated with respect. I think we should give her back her communicator. If she abuses it, we’ll take it back. Does anyone else have anything to say about this before we take a vote?” asked the Captain.

Nagol stood up and said, “Captain Orihci is right, we can’t call ourselves a democracy and hold people hostage; especially since we have no proof that she did anything… Besides she deserves to be free… What happens after that is up to her…”

“Do we have the communicator here?” asked the Captain.

“Yes we do,” replied Ukasnek.

Enai brought the communicator to the front and gave it to Captain Orihci. The Captain then asked, “Those who agree that we should

give Madam Grooni her communicator back, please raise your hand…”

Everyone raised their hand.

“I guess it’s unanimous… Thank you for your understanding…Ukasnek, go and get Madam Grooni and bring her here…”

While Ukasnek was out getting Madam Grooni, Aneleh, Ilisa, Amih and Ireva served us sweet tea and cookies.

When Ukasnek and Madam Grooni came back, Madam Grooni said, “What’s so important that you had to drag me here…?”

“On top of helping members of this community with their chores, this morning you did a noble thing and gave up your translator for the greater good of this community and, as such, we have decided to restore all your rights as a citizen of this planet… Including returning your communicator… You’re free to use it and call whoever you want…, Okay?” asked the Captain.

“But you’ll be monitoring my calls, right?”

“You’ll be treated the same as everyone… You have my word…” said Ukasnek.

After she grabbed the device from Captain Orihchi’s hand she asked, “Can I go now?”

“Of course…” replied the Captain and she bolted out of the room.

The next item on the agenda was to discuss what to do the next day to prepare for Ruzha’s arrival. But other than preparing accommodations for her, which Amih and Ireva had already organized, there was nothing else to discuss.

“Ruzha might be a celebrity but she is an easy person to get along with…” said Ilisa.

“I suggest we ask Ireva to accompany Ruzha during her first few days until she acclimatizes to the environment here… Take her around and show her what we do. The reason I recommend Ireva is because she speaks the Ostikon language and she has the energy to do that. You will find that Ruzha is very dynamic in what she does and, believe me, she will quickly tire you out…” I said.

“If I’m correct, she used to be your girlfriend right?” replied Ireva.

“And how would you know that?”

“Remember the first time we met, on that water planet where we were hiding? I spent an entire night with Vel and Daf in your ship discussing your love life… And Ruzha was at the top of the list…”

“That is ancient history… I still think you’re the best candidate for that job…” I said.

“Oh, I get it… You think ‘why would a gorgeous woman like Ruzha would want a fat slob like you’, is that it?”

“Ireva, stop that… What has gotten into you?” yelled Amih.

“He should be the one escorting her…” replied Ireva.

“What makes you say that?” asked Amih.

“I met Ruzha when I attended school in Ostikon and she told me exactly how she felt about him…” replied Ireva.

“Ireva, stop being difficult… Do you want the job or not…?” asked Captain Orihci.

“I’d be honoured to be her escort… but.”

“No buts… you’re it,” replied Captain Orihci. Before he went on to the next item of discussion, Madam Grooni burst into the common room and demanded to be moved to the food factory so that, as she put it, she could serve her penance for the wrongs she had done in the past.

But before anyone had a chance to say anything, Captain Orihci said, “Ukasnek will take you there after he makes arrangements for your accommodation.”

“No, I want to go now…” she demanded and threw her communicator at Captain Orihci.

“Okay then… meeting adjourned… “Otsiron and Ukasnek please fly her there right now. Thank you…”

There was a worried look on Madam Grooni’s face when I got up from my seat and looked at her. She was probably wondering if I was going to snap her neck or throw her off my ship.

After we left the common room on the way to my ship she said, “This was your doing… wasn’t it…? You knew exactly what was going to happen when you handed me my communicator… You’re not human… I don’t know what you are… but you’re not human.”

“Dear Madam Grooni, you seem to cause your own problems but like to blame them on others… What is it with you…?” I asked.

“No one but you survived the super soldier transformation with your memory intact… No one but you has telepathic powers… No one but you can drink fire water and live to tell about it… What else do you want me to say…? That you won every battle you fought with this antiquated ship, even against the mightiest ships in the galaxy? And that you’re capable of blowing up planets with your mind…? And now you want to tell me that you’re a normal human being?”

“Lady, you can believe whatever you like…It wasn’t too long ago when you called me an idiot… Have you changed your mind?”

“You like to torment me… That’s why you haven’t killed me… yet… right?”

“Your boyfriend, for whom you mutilated yourself, dumped you… didn’t he? That’s why you’re so sour… And you want to blame me for that too… How much longer will it take for you to figure out that

your boyfriend doesn’t care about you? He never did. He used you like he uses everyone else. He’s a professional liar and user… He lies to everyone, including you.”

“That’s not true… He loves me… You don’t know anything about him…”

“Do you think that a man who loves you would have allowed you to mutilate yourself like you did? Tell me what does he love more, you or his cause…?”

“Me, obviously…!”

“Lady, stop arguing… you’re giving me a headache…” protested Ukasnek.

“I’m not doing anything to you…”

“My dear Livè, he allowed you to turn into Madam Grooni to serve his purpose, not because he loves you but because he found you to be a useful fool. You can’t fault me for your own blindness and mistakes… Would you hazard a guess as to how many women your boyfriend is courting at this moment? You’ll never escape his clutches until you face that reality… And if you think I don’t care about you… Guess again…”

“Why would you care about me…? I’ve done nothing but make your life miserable…”

“My dear Livè, what you do reflects on you… What I do reflects on me… I think you have potential to do good… that’s why I think you’re worth saving. Now let’s go inside the factory and see what the boys have to say…”

After I opened the hatch, Ukasnek escorted Madam Grooni to the front door of the food factory. After knocking several times someone came out. When the person saw me he went inside and got Haon.

“Welcome, what can I do for you?” he asked.

After Ukasnek explained the situation Haon was more than glad to take Madam Grooni in.

“We’d be happy to have you as part of our crew…” he said to her.

I took Haon to the side and again told him who this woman was and how capable she was of doing harm.

“We all know exactly who she is and what she’s capable of doing so after we go inside we’ll read her the riot act and then it will be up to her to find peace in this hellhole or suffer endlessly until she expires. It may sound strange to you, but how one lives here depends on how they accept their circumstances… Don’t worry we’ll help her find her way.”

“You have to be careful with her; she was trained to be deceptive…” I said.

Haon smiled at me, took Madam Grooni by her arm and escorted her inside the factory.

“God help them…” said Ukasnek. “I feel sorry for them but at least she’s out of my hands…”

Ruzha arrives

Early the next morning, even before the sun had risen, we were outside the facility looking up at the northeastern sky, waiting for Ruzha’s ship to arrive. The area in front of the facility’s main gate was filling with more people with every passing moment.

“Isn’t this exciting? A celebrity like Ruzha is coming to our humble planet,” I heard Amih say in the presence of Ireva, Aneleh and Ilisa. No one said a word as they kept scanning the morning sky. Ilisa, her adopted mother, looked more nervous than excited. Ilisa was a kind but private person. She was always courteous. Even though I was credited for discovering Ruzha and sending her on this path, it was Ilisa’s hard work, perseverance, encouragement and love that had elevated her to fame. Not only was Ruzha good at what she did but she was also humble and never let her fame get in the way of loving and respecting the common people. She was regarded as a champion of the common people in Ostikon and from what it looked like from the big gathering, she was also known on this planet… Or maybe she was just a curiosity here.

“There it is…” whispered Ireva, who had the eyes of a hawk, while holding onto her father’s hand tightly.

“It’s just a star…” replied Captain Orihci.

“Stars don’t move Dad…”

“You’re right; it’s getting bigger and brighter…”

The moment Ireva pointed her finger towards the sky there was a great gasp from the crowd and everyone went silent.

“I don’t know why I’m getting so nervous…” said Delche who was standing beside me.

“It’s mass psychosis…” I said which made Ori, who also stood beside me, laugh.

“Aren’t you nervous…?” asked Enai, who was standing behind me, after he tapped my shoulder.

“No…” I said, “Not while I’m hiding behind this big crowd.”

“I’m nervous and I don’t even know the woman… It must be mass psychosis…” Enai said jokingly, which made Ori laugh again.

By now we could see the outline of the ship and the silence gave away to whispers, which quickly turned to loud screams of joy.

Ireva made her hand signals and directed the ship to land. It thumped the ground gently and hissed as the hatch began to slowly open. The crowd in the back rushed forward to take their first glimpse of the celebrity from Ostikon. Two birds flew out before the hatch had fully opened. They turned out to be two flying cameras. The first two people to step out were the ship’s crew. I could tell by their uniforms. They descended to the bottom of the hatch and stopped. Then they stood at the bottom of the ramp and made space for the beautiful lady dressed in a white velvet dress with red and yellow patterns to pass. She smiled at Ireva who ran to embrace her. The crowd was going wild cheering. Ruzha was followed by two older men and four young ladies. The next person to greet her was Captain Orihci followed by Nagol, Aneleh, Ilisa and Rolo. At this point Ruzha looked around the crowd and focused her eyes on me, Delche and Ori and smiled at us from the distance.

After Ruzha was introduced to the people in the front rows she introduced the others in her entourage. I was surprised to hear that all four young ladies spoke the Galaxy Trader language and served as translators for the newcomers. Ruzha locked her arm around Ireva’s and took her around through the crowd, touching people’s hands as they stuck their arms out. When they had finished, Ruzha went back to Nagol, Aneleh, Ilisa and Rolo and, after a short conversation, came to see us. She greeted us in Macedonian starting with Ori, Delche and myself.

“It’s nice to see you again…” I said. She smiled.

“I’m surprised you recognized me in my massive, dark uniform…” I said and laughed.

She ignored my remark. It was obvious that she knew about my transformation into a super soldier and had probably seen photographs of me.

She looked at each one of us individually and began to cry. She gave us each a hug and gave me a kiss.

I looked at Ireva and she said, “She still loves you, you know… even though you look like a beast…” She said this out loud knowing that Ruzha didn’t speak Galaxy Trader and hadn’t yet been issued a universal translator. I smiled but didn’t say anything.

Moments later, just as everyone was going inside, Ireva took Ruzha by the arm and joined the others. Ori, Delche and I decided to stay behind. We kept looking at each other.

Delche was the first to speak, “I remember her from when she was a little girl. She has grown into a very beautiful woman…”

Our reminiscence was interrupted when Captain Orihci and a young man suddenly ran towards us looking serious.

“What’s wrong, what happened?” I asked.

“We just received a distress call from King Rodot…” replied Captain Orihci. He was interrupted by Delche who asked, “Who is King Rodot?”

“I’ll tell you later…, let Captain Orihci finish…” I said to Delche.

“King Rodot just called us asking for your help. Specifically your help… It seems one of the planets in his sector was attacked by an alien ship and it’s indiscriminately destroying everything…” said Captain Orihci.

“Rodot needs your help. He wants you to take your ship and destroy the intruder before he destroys the planet. He wants you to go as soon as possible!” said the young man looking concerned.

“You’ve got to be kidding! King Rodot wanted to kill me, now he needs my help? How do I know it’s not a trick?” I asked.

“He was serious and sounded very distressed when he made the call. He said his people had thrown everything they had at the intruder but without success. They couldn’t repel him. He said they need you and your powerful ship. He said that you are the only person he can think of who has the kind of power needed to drive the intruder out…I think he was genuine…” replied the young man.

“In any case, it would be good public relations if you go there. It should take you a day or two at most. If you’re not back in a couple of days I’ll come and rescue you,” said Captain Orihci and laughed.

“Yeah right… How are you going to rescue me…?” I asked jokingly.

“I’ll get my ship up in the air and come after you…” he said and laughed again.

“You have no crew nor the technical ability. How will you raise your ship from the graveyard?”

“I’ll find a way… It’s about time I do that…” said the Captain and walked away.

“You go back to your post while I tend to Ruzha and her crew…” I heard the Captain say before he disappeared inside the facility.

“Well gentlemen, I have no crew for this mission, would you like to be my crew… again? It will be like old times…”

“I don’t know about that… It’s been a long time for me…I haven’t been in a ship for a long time…” said Ori.

“No problem Captain, we’ll follow you, we’ll be your crew just like the old times…” said Delche and laughed.

“Anyway, how far is this King Rodot from here and do you know how to get there?” asked Delche.

“I have no idea… We’ll have to get the coordinates and all other information from the young man who was here,” I replied.

“Is the ship ready for flight?” asked Ori.

“Yes, I have provisions for about a month… I had it stocked up a while ago…” I said.

“I assume you also have rakia… We’ll need it… especially if it turns out to be a boring mission…” said Delche.

“Yes, yes, now go get your uniforms and meet me at the ship,” I said and left for my quarters.

I was the first to arrive at the ship. Moment’s later Ori arrived. He was alone.

“Where is Delche?” I asked.

“Delche went to get some maps and the coordinates from that sector…”

Moments later Captain Orihci, Ukasnek and Enai came to my ship.

“You’re not planning on leaving right now are you?” asked Captain Orihci.

“Yes we are. Ori and Delche are coming with me. The sooner we get this over the better.”

“Too bad this happened just when Ruzha arrived…” said Ukasnek.

“Please apologize to Ruzha for me for not being there…” I said.

“Well, good luck with the mission and be careful…” said Enai.

After that the three left and went back to the facility.

“You all think this mission is going to be a walk in the park… Hmm, I don’t think so… It never is… When your enemy calls on you to help him, he never has your interests in mind.”

“What are you trying to tell me Ori? That we shouldn’t go? I’ve never run away from a challenge… you know that… We need to do this… It’s in our nature. It’s the honourable thing to do…”

“I see you also have doubts… I can hear it in your voice…”

“I wouldn’t be human if I didn’t. Look Ori, we’ll go there, make our presence known and if the task is too big we’ll turn around and come back… it’s that simple…”

“I wish I could believe that…”

“What are you two arguing about?” asked Delche as he walked inside the ship and took his seat.

We didn’t say anything.

“Look if you two want to argue, go outside. I have a lot of work to do before we leave,” Delche said and started entering information in the ship’s navigation computer.

In the meantime I ran diagnostics and took inventory of how much fuel and ammunition we had left, while Ori tested the communications channels and sent a message to Airam to let her know that we were going on a mission.

Off on a mission

“The navigation computer has been programmed for our destination so you can proceed when you’re ready, Captain,” said Delche, looking at me.

“Anything you want to say to your daughter?” asked Ori, looking at Delche.

“Nope! Not yet, I don’t want her to worry…” replied Delche.

I immediately powered up the ship’s engines and we were off towards our destination.

“How long is it going to take us to get there?” I asked.

“Depends on our speed Captain, it’ll take about seven hours at maximum speed,” replied Delche.

After the autopilot was engaged I slowly pushed the stick all the way forward giving us maximum speed.

“So, do you still want to know who King Rodot is?” I asked.

“No!”

“Nope.”

“Neither one of you wants to know?”

“Nope!” replied Delche.

“Why not?”

“If I die I want it to be a surprise… Captain,” replied Delche.

“Same here…” said Ori.

“Okay then, I’m not going to tell you… and what’s with this ‘Captain’ all of a sudden?”

“When I wear the uniform I want things to be formal between me and my superior officer,” said Delche as he burst out laughing.

“Why are you laughing?” I asked.

“Why? Why? Because you didn’t hear a thing Captain Orihci said to you… You are going against a machine that is slicing a planet and you act like you’re going to a picnic. That’s why!” replied Delche.

“My sentiments exactly!” added Ori.

“It seems to me they scrambled your brain when they turned you into this mass and you can no longer think straight; risking our lives for a person who wants to kill you!”

“Like I said to Captain Orihci, if the fire is too hot we’ll turn around and leave…”

“Yeah, that’s what you say now but I know you better…” said Ori.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’ll never give up until you win or die… That’s what it means!” replied Ori.

“What, suddenly you’ve turned chicken?” I asked.

“I don’t know what that means but if you think I’m thinking only of myself, you’re wrong!” said Ori.

“Let’s change the subject, you two are giving me a headache!” said Delche, reaching for a bottle of rakia and cups. “Here, have a drink and both of you shut up…”

We flew in silence. It seemed like hours had passed. All this time something was bothering me… None of the information we were given made any sense. No matter how I looked at things, no matter how I analyzed it, I ended up thinking that this was a trap and we were going to be killed. And, given how Ori and Delche were

acting, I had the feeling they felt the same way. Why was that? I had no answers. Perhaps it was true or perhaps it was just battle jitters. In any case there was going to be a battle one way or another.

“Captain, we just received a message from the tower, Ruzha sent us her regards. She’s wishing us victory and a safe and speedy journey. She also wants us to hurry back… She has big plans for us… and… from now on, to call her Ambassador Ruzha. She was appointed Ambassador to the planet Nelez by the Ostikon government…” said Ori.

“That’s nice… Congratulations!” I yelled out loud

“No doubt on your endorsement…” said Delche.

“Delche, believe me I had nothing to do with it. You know she’s not only popular but also capable. You know she was an officer in the Ostikon military and served with your wife in the Ostikon government…” I replied.

“Does that mean she will be our boss…?” asked Ori.

“No one is going to be our boss, not her and not my wife… we are free men… and we will be freer after we get killed…” said Delche.

I didn’t say anything and we went back to being silent. Delche poured us another drink. After that they looked busy staring at their equipment and I stared out the window into outer space.

“We’re here Captain, the planet ahead is our destination,” announced Delche, breaking my trance.

After our ship stopped I said, “Let’s circle around the planet and look for that big ship.”

Just as I was about to say that there was nothing here, one of our sensors started squeaking.

We immediately looked to our left and there it was.

“It’s huge…” said Ori.

“Is that a laser under it?” asked Delche.

“I don’t know… I’ve never seen a laser before…” I replied.

“Don’t tell me it’s using a laser from this height… That’s impossible! Do you know how well the laser has to be focused? Never mind the distortion and amount of energy required to run it...? I’ve never seen anything like it…” said Delche.

“Well, it seems to be managing… So what do you guys want to do now?” I asked.

“The least we can do is talk to it…” replied Delche.

“Well Ori? Talk to it… on every channel in every language we have in our database,” I said.

Ori opened all channels and fired up the universal translator.

“What should I say to them?” asked Ori.

“Tell them hello from the little ship parked beside them. I don’t know… Think of something…”

A couple of minutes later Ori looked at me and said, “I got no reply Captain.”

“Let’s get a little closer… Talk to them again…”

“Still no reply, Captain.”

“How about we fire some plasma over it?”

“I wouldn’t do that Captain!” advised Ori but I fired one of the guns anyway.

“Still no response… Captain…”

“How in Mother Nature’s name can we get its attention?” I asked.

“Fire at it and see what happens…” advised Delche.

“Is that okay with you Ori?” I asked.

“Since when does it matter to you what I say?” was Ori’s response.

I fired at it but the ship absorbed the energy. I fired at it again and again it absorbed the plasma.

“Still no response Captain…”

“It’s like a mosquito biting an elephant… Not only that… we are feeding the beast each time we shoot at it… It looks like it is capable of absorbing energy,” I said.

“I don’t know what that means but I agree with you about the energy…” said Ori.

“I wonder how it would react if we fired a torpedo at it…” asked Delche.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you. It might fire back. We don’t know how it will react…” said Ori sounding concerned.

“Look at it. It has no doors or windows. It looks like an unmanned vehicle… like a drone,” said Delche.

“You’re right. Could it be an exploration drone looking for minerals and precious metals deep down in the planet?” I asked.

“It could be. And from the looks of it, it’s not slicing the planet; it’s boring holes in it. I haven’t seen the laser move at all. It just fires straight down, the entire ship moves slightly forward and fires again,” said Delche.

“Should I fire that torpedo? Maybe that will get its attention...” I asked.

“Sure, why not… but you’ll be wasting a torpedo… I bet you it will assume a moving rock or an asteroid hit it and won’t react…” replied Delche.

“Here goes…” I said and pushed the button.

“It’s a direct hit… Still no response Captain,” said Ori.

“I told you… It’s not only reinforced with a hard alloy surface, it has some sort of energy shield. The torpedo didn’t even touch its surface,” replied Delche.

“There is nothing more we can do. Let’s get the hell out of here…” said Ori.

“Not yet!” I said. “Let’s get in front of it and have a closer look at the laser. We should be careful not to get in its way.”

“It sounds good to me. And let’s take some pictures of it. Maybe someone in Nelez will recognize the ship and tell us what it is,” said Delche.

I flew the ship all around the object and took pictures. Then I stopped ahead of it and left some distance between us and it, in case it decided to jerk forward.

“What now?” asked Ori.

“Well, we came here to stop this thing… and we haven’t done that… so far,” I said. “Think of something, anything that we can do to stop it from doing what it’s doing,” I added.

“I’m surprised King Rodot’s ships haven’t arrived to assist us. I’m sure they know we’re here. They must have seen as by now?” said Ori.

“I’m sure they have and I bet you King Rodot is laughing his ass off looking at us fumbling around like the fools we are…” said Delche.

“What happens if I fire a torpedo at the laser?” I asked.

“The laser will instantly vaporize the torpedo…” replied Delche.

“What if I aim it at the lens where the laser comes out?” I asked.

“I can’t even imagine the complexity of what’s inside there, let alone know what will happen…” replied Delche.

“Should I do it?” I asked.

“Yes!” replied Delche.

“You know my answer… but then since when did you ever listen to me. If nothing happens can we go back to Nelez?” said Ori.

I flew the ship under the massive drone and fired a torpedo at the opening where the laser beam came out.

There was a huge flash of light that blinded me and I felt excruciating pain all over my body.

Recovering

I opened my eyes. The pain was gone but all I could see was white. I quickly realized that I was lying on my back in a bed, looking up at a white ceiling. I was naked but covered with a white sheet.

I turned my head and looked around. It was a large room but no one was there. I tried to speak but my throat was so dry no sound came out. I tried to cough but that too was a problem.

I must have made some sound because a man rushed in and started talking to me. He was wearing white clothes from top to bottom. I didn’t understand what he was saying. I tried talking but I couldn’t get any words out. He rushed out of the room and brought back a vessel with some sort of liquid. He handed it to me and made a motion with his hand. I didn’t understand what he meant.