Paul went through to the rear of the main living quarters to the less formal gardens where a soft breeze kissed his face. There was a new moon and just a handful of stars braved the night to decorate the inky velvet. He had no idea in which direction to look but he stared at the heavens and said silent prayers for those risking all for humanity. He had lost one son out there. Surely life couldn't be so cruel as to take another?
Chapter 93
'Still gaining on us,' said Burns. 'Ok. Shooters. Hit that damn rock with everything we have. NOW!'
Eight fighters and sixteen shooters including Matlock and Belle discharged their cannons at the mother-ship. Only tiny shards were blasted off the surface. Then the alien vessel started to glow and even the bee-sting token shots became useless.
'Some kind of shield stopping our shots,' said Danders.
Patrick said, 'Major. Best to stop shooting and save power.'
Lieutenant Carver came on. 'I wondered when you'd show your side, alien freak.'
'What?'
'Hey, everyone. Meet our alien escort. Like I said all along, they're in on it.'
Burns yelled, 'Carver! Don't make me come over there.'
'Suckered you in, haven't they, Major. To hell with this. I'll take them out myself.'
Captain Anglia said, 'Are you crazy, Carver? I'm captain of this ship and I'm telling you...'
'To hell with you.'
Carver made his way to his forward turret and yelled at the shooter. 'Get the hell out of my way.'
'Stay where you are, shooter,' ordered Anglia.
Carver grabbed the hapless shooter and gave him a smack to the nose which knocked the man out then he climbed into the still warm shooter's seat.
'Can't hurt the mother-ship but I'll sure as hell take you out you green freaks.'
Both Burns and Anglia were yelling at him to get out of the turret, but Carver wasn't listening, busy figuring out the controls of the cannon. He was about to shoot when he heard a familiar voice.
'Carver. This is April. You want to kill me?'
Carver froze. He'd forgotten April Golightly was on the Romulus. 'April. Yeah. That's why they tricked you into going on that ship.'
'No. You couldn't be more wrong. These are our friends, not our enemies.'
Carver wondered what to do then he said, 'Sorry, April. I have to take that ship out.' He squeezed the triggers.
Chapter 94
'I'll take him out,' said Matlock.
'No, Dale,' said Belle. 'Innocent are people on that ship.'
'Belle. It's them or us.'
As if to underscore his point, a blast of cannon fire from Carver nearly ended the Romulus. Danders took them on a zigzagging, barrel-rolling defensive action.
'Major Burns. Call that maniac off or my shooters will destroy that damn ship.'
Burns was almost screaming his orders. 'Carver. Fire that cannon once more and I'll...'
'You'll what, Major? Fire on your own ship? Are you part of the alien plot, too?'
Burns tried Anglia instead. 'Captain. Get Carver out of that turret.'
'We've tried. He's jambed the mechanism. I'll try to take us away from the other ships.'
Carver knew what was going on. 'We'll be at the mercy of the mother-ship.'
Anglia said, 'I'd rather go that way than have my ship responsible for killing humans. Listen to yourself, Carver. You need help. You've had some-kind of breakdown. Come out and we'll get you help back on Earth.'
Carver responded by firing the cannon. Underneath the turret hatch he could hear the engineer working on the mechanism to get him out. Carver had one last chance to hit the Romulus and he swivelled the turret on a maximum swivel to compensate for Anglia's change of course. He squeezed the trigger.
Chapter 95
'He's still firing at us,' said Belle. 'What was that supposed to be?'
From Carver's cannon came a mere fizzle of energy.
'Out of power?' said Matlock.
'No way,' said Belle. 'Let me try something.' She pointed her cannon at the mother-ship just for the hell of it and fired, or at least tried. 'Dead. Yours?'
Matlock also fired at the mother-ship with the same result. 'Same. Liz. Anything wrong our end?'
'A trick of the liens, I'm thinking, Dale. The drones couldn't have done that but the mother-ship has.'
It was the same for all the fleet.
Burns said, 'Captain Anglia. Get back with the fleet. All our cannons are dead.'
'Carver?'
'Screw him. Lock him in the turret until I can get my hands on him. With luck he'll starve to death before then.'
'Get me out of here,' demanded Carver.
'I've cut him off,' said Anglia. 'Annoying creep. What do we do now, sir?'
Burns could see the screen of his own ship and knew the mother-ship was still closing the gap. He wondered why they hadn't already wiped the fleet out. Then as the huge vessel filled the screen, he knew why. An airlock opened at the front revealing the cavernous interior like the gaping mouth of a predatory shark.
'Looks like we've all been invited for tea.'
* * *
Commander Drakov had soaked for a solid hour in his home sauna as his long suffering wife prepared a hearty meal. Then he had found the strength to wrap himself in his wife's comforting arms and had fallen instantly asleep. A full six hours had flashed by in what seemed like seconds when his alarm call from the command centre came through.
'Drakov. All of them? Vanished? Oh, Dear God. The mother-ship? Alert the ground forces and the emergency services. I'm on my way.'
As he dressed, he made one call. 'Excellency. All contact has been lost with the fleet. Yes. The mother-ship is still heading our way. I suggest you take shelter in the basement with food and water. Don't come out until I come for you. Yes, sir. I'm away now. Yes, sir. Good luck to you too, sir.'
Drakov hung up. He glanced down at his still peacefully sleeping wife and considered waking her. She was as safe where she was as almost anywhere else on endangered Earth. Tempted to kiss her before he went, he wondered if he would ever see her again. Passing the bathroom, he decided to do one last thing. His went to his wife's well organised make-up corner that he was never allowed to touch, picked up one of her lipsticks and wrote "I love you x" on the mirror. He replaced the lipstick in its place, then picked up one of her carefully ironed scented handkerchiefs, closed his eyes and sniffed the perfume and tucked it into his breast pocket, then he left to do what he had to do.
Chapter 96
'Full power away from this thing,' yelled Burns.
'Come on, baby,' urged Danders, her teeth actually gritted.
Patrick's fingers were also digging into the arms of his chair. 'The temperature's rising off the scale. Toby?'
'You wouldn't believe the noises she's making down here. Not a happy ship.'
Danders said, 'Pressure release of the exhaust outlets?'
'Really? Thanks. I'd never have thought of that,' came back the sarcastic reply from Akrins. 'We're shackled to that bloody mother-ship and she isn't letting her grip loose. Liz. Try an inclined shear.'
'Cut the shackles and we'll see what we can do. Temperature is critical.'
'Any eggs you want frying?'
Patrick said, 'Another three minutes and this ship will blow. I know, because I designed her. Major. We're about to cut power to the engines. I suggest you all do the same.'
Burns' ship was less well built or sophisticated compared to the Romulus. The ominous vibrations and warning alarms going off told him that much and he knew the whole fleet suffered the same way. 'All captains, cut power now.'
They couldn't slow down because they couldn't fire the forward thrusters and the fleet would continue across space unheeded, had it not been for the irresistible pull of the alien mother-ship. One by one the fighters were sucked into the ship disguised as a small asteroid. Without the ships captains lifting a finger, they settled onto the solid floor of the mother-ship
as the airlock closed up.
'Well. I could use a pee, anyway,' said Danders.
'We have breathable air outside the ship,' said Patrick. 'Open her up and we'll go meet out hosts. I'll key in the code as we leave.'
'That'll stop them getting in?'
Patrick shrugged and said, 'No. But I'll feel better about it.'
Danders touched the sensor and the airlock servos clunked open. Crestfallen and dejected they assembled on the airlock edge, as did the crews of the other ships. Jumping out all guns blazing hadn't even been considered by Burns or anyone against such superior technology. Seventy armed aliens surrounding them vindicated that decision. It was Toby Akrins who broke the silence.
'It is them. The damn chicken legs.'
Matlock whispered, 'You may want to keep your voice down. The head turkey wants a word.'
With what seemed to the humans to be a preposterous degree of posturing, one of the aliens, unarmed but flanked by four armed escorts, stepped forward. She was hairless with a mottled skin. The eyes were sunken deep pools inside hollows and the mouth was just a hole full of teeth. Her uniform was of the same plum red the others wore, apart from the ridiculous amount of medals and decoration. Here was an ego itching to be scratched.
'I am...'
'Captain Axistrim Gosdore,' said Belle, specifically to induce confusion and uncertainty into the enemy.
'Well remembered,' said Patrick.
Belle shrugged. 'It's a gift. I've always memorised critters wanting to kill me.'
Gosdore stepped forward then she stared up into Belle's eyes and sniffed her neck. 'You have me at a disadvantage. You appear to know my name, but I don't think we have yet been formally introduced.'
Belle clasped her hands together and made an elaborate bowing gesture. 'Forgive me, Captain. Your legend precedes you. Have you lost weight? You have, haven't you.'
She was an alien, but she was still a female. 'Well. I have been working out a little,' she said, coyly.
'I could tell,' said Belle, pouring on the charm. 'It's your legs. I mean. Sexy or what?'
In truth, the bird-like legs protruded from below the traditional skirt and it would be a rare human who didn't want to baste them in a pre-heated oven and pour gravy over them.
'I always thought my legs were my best feature, actually. The claws of a ninety-year-old I've been told.'
Gosdore suddenly snapped out of it and remembered the human was indeed her enemy. 'Enough! You humans do not know me. Look at you. So weak and delicate. Hardly a worthy enemy at all.'
'Ah!' said Patrick. 'That's just the point. We don't want to be your enemy.'
'SILENCE!' That simple remark from Patrick had really annoyed Gosdore and she paced the steel floor of the hold, her long claws making disconcerting scratching sounds as she strode back and forth. She stopped in front of Patrick, him trying hard not to stare at her head which was made up of three domes, two either side and one smaller at the back. 'I never speak to mere males. You are a male of your species, right?'
'Last time I looked I was.'
'You speak too much.'
Belle said, 'I keep telling him that, but does he listen?'
'Males. Drowning them at birth would be my preferred option.' She turned to one of her armed escorts. 'If he or any other of their males speaks, kill them.'
'But they are useful hostages, captain.'
Gosdore flared up and a buzz ran through the unsettled troops.
'You dare to question me?'
'Of course not, captain.'
Belle said, 'Draxvom Krilltok. Look at you.'
'Look at me?' said Krilltok, nervously. 'Why would anyone look at me?'
Belle continued with her special brand of confusion. 'Are you kidding? If you were not wed to that lady of yours... Trubson?'
'Trabson. So?'
'Well I'd be all over you like a rash if not for her.'
Gosdore said, 'And a rash is just what you would get, mingling with human females. Take the females to the holding pens and kill the males.'
'Hey,' said Burns, having witnessed the peculiar exchange. 'One of you chicken-legs puts a claw on me and I'll eat the bastard.'
'Kill him especially,' said Gosdore. 'Very slowly.'
Krilltok whispered into his captain's ear. 'The more we keep alive, the more they will be worth to us when we get to their planet. I'll have the females put in separate cells to the males.' He looked the hapless humans up and down as they waited for their enemy to decide whether to kill them or not. 'That's if I can tell these ugly animals apart.'
'I tire of this,' said Gosdore with a wave of her sickly looking alien hand. 'Take them away. It would be no loss to us if you kill a few males on your way.'
Armed troops divided the humans into female and human groups and they were led away into the main body of the ship then along a half-mile long corridor until they came to a row of doors that seemed to go on forever. Two doors were opened.
'Females in here,' said Krilltok Males in here. Food and water will be provided.'
Akrins said, 'Spit-roasted chicken would be nice.'
That got a dig in the ribs from Matlock to tell him to shut up.
April said, 'Toby?'
'We'll be ok,' he replied doubting his own words. He was pushed hard in the back and almost fell into the room. The doors clanged shut and a single dim light barely illuminated the steel shell.
Patrick said, 'They give a whole new meaning to the word minimalism.'
Burns said, 'Ok. You and your crew seemed pretty chummy with these aliens. Care to elaborate for the benefit of the rest of us?'
Patrick sat on the hard cold floor with his back to the wall. 'Make yourself comfortable. This could take awhile.'
Thirty five men sat around him, waiting to hear the story. 'I expect Jazz is telling the same thing to the women. We've made no secret of us having contact with a similar bunch of aliens in our dimension. That's important to stress. Our experience of humans from your Earth has taught us that some things are similar but not identical to what we knew on our Earth. You, Major Burns, are a general in charge of the World Space Authority. A very important man.'
'You told me that already. Your point?'
Patrick said, 'I'm just saying it seems to be the same thing with the aliens. Same but different. Captain Axistrim Gosdore was in charge before as this one is here. She is one tough individual.'
Matlock said, 'Also not a big fan of males either Human or their own. Their females barely tolerate their males. You can imagine how much less they like us.'
'Ok,' said Ford Anglia. 'Men need to be careful around them. I get that. But how did you resolve the situation and get away?'
Patrick said, 'That was mostly down to Jazz and Liz. Being female, they at least were listened to. Once we established why the aliens were pissed off with us, which was landing a probe on Spero, my name for their planet, by the way. Spero was their original home planet. A sudden climate change melted their ice-caps flooding much of the planet, killing off millions of their people. They had no choice but to take all the survivors to another planet but Spero is like one huge graveyard to them. A sacred place.'
Burns said, 'A place we violated by sending a probe.'
Anglia said, 'We've ruled that planet out. Not enough of a land mass to make it viable to colonise.'
'They didn't know that,' said Patrick. 'They also didn't trust us. They knew we humans were busy killing each other in yet another war. They decided it was easier to help us destroy our Earth completely so we wouldn't be a threat to them.'
Burns sighed and said, 'Human nature doesn't seem to change much regardless of which universe we come from.'
Akrins said, 'The thing is, we were able to persuade them we would leave Spero and them alone. They agreed to give us another chance and stopped the attack on our Earth.'
'So,' said Anglia, 'We could try reasoning with them.'
Patrick shrugged and said, 'We can try.'
Liz Danders and Jazz Belle
were indeed telling much the same thing to the twenty-three other women.
'At least they may listen to a woman,' said Belle.
April said, 'Can you ask them not to hurt Toby?'
Belle shared a look with Danders and smiled at Golightly when she said, 'The least we say to them the better. Oh, don't worry. When I get the opportunity I will be trying to make peace with them. But please everybody. Don't do anything to annoy them. We're alive and we'll try to keep it that way.'
Chapter 97
'Your Excellency,' said Drakov. 'I really think you should stay in the basement of the castle.'
Paul Davron said, 'Driving me nuts being there on my own. I promise to go there when we're nearer the time. I just needed to...Any sign of our people?'
'I would have called if we had heard anything, sir. It looks like the mother-ship was once a huge lump of space rock they hollowed out to use as a ship. That is clever and quite an achievement. No weapons we have either on the fleet or even here on Earth is likely to destroy that ship. At least not before it takes us out.'
'Could that mother-ship actually land on Earth?'
'More than likely, sir. The friction of our atmosphere wouldn't do much damage to it if they slow it right down. But my guess is that they wouldn't land the mother-ship at least to begin with. Their way is to use those unmanned-drones to come down and take out our weapons before they landed their mother-ship.'
Paul nodded. 'It does seem to be their way of doing things.'
'Sir. It doesn't look good for our fleet. I think we should assume the worse and hope for the best.'
'I'm assuming nothing until I know for sure, Commander. I can see you're all very busy here. I promise from now on I'll stay in the castle. Good luck.'
'Thank you, sir. You also.'
Chapter 98
'You are wrong,' said Captain Axistrim Gosdore. 'But you are also a male so that's normal for a male.'
Draxvom Krilltok, ships security officer, persisted. 'Alien physiology is an interest of mine. I'd take a degree in it if we males were allowed to go to university.'
'Educated ignoramuses we can do without. But nothing wrong with having a hobby, I suppose. Continue.'
'Well. I was struck by the similarity. They must be related.'