The Slug Invasion
By Matthew Pelly
Copyright 2013 Matthew Pelly
License Notes
Chapter: Prologue - The next phase
The Slug
Rapidly soaring through the cosmos, the ship spun with all external identifiers off. We did, after all, contain some precious cargo. We had the representation of Humanity, perhaps the greatest Slug warrior, and the first and only reformed Cyborg. Precious cargo indeed.
This time, I kept a watch on the sensors; the last time I had entrusted that to someone else, things had gone very badly indeed. Although, in hindsight, it was the best thing to ever happen to me, I'd rather not be attacked again.
We flew towards Slug-controlled space, closer towards the centre of the galaxy than Earth's location, where stars and planets were in greater abundance. Luckily, Earth was behind our controlled space, so we wouldn't have to pass any Cyborg territory to get there. The chances of getting caught would be slim, but machines are nothing if not persistent when it comes to boring, repetitive tasks such as randomly scanning their domain for intruders. Well, that, and building cars.
Although the trip would only last a maximum of several weeks, boredom reigned supreme. For the most part, Frank, Carmen and Rosetta played rock-paper-scissors with each other, ever since I had casually suggested the game, and constantly tried to rope others into joining them. Boy and I quietly discussed how we were going to go about things upon our return to Slugenis; waltzing in there with two different alien species, one of them our mortal enemy, did not seem like a good idea. Phill sat down disconsolately in a corner, occasionally adding a remark to a conversation that he was not a part of. And Ethan either ran around the inside of the cylinder, playing with the centrifugal gravity, or stared at the forward screen, trying to make sense of it.
Of course, the seven of us also spent a great deal of time deep in conversation; there were still many things about our three cultures and worlds that had yet to be explained. And we ran through the events of the previous weeks several times together, trying to deduce how exactly everything had come to pass, and how we could have arranged for things to have gone better. Whenever the subject broached the death of William and Jason, Ethan's mood would always degrade. While I felt something similar, I still had enough Slug in me to be happy for the deceased. As for Ethan, however, it seemed that he would never fully understand the way that Slugs viewed death. What he didn't know was that, apart from me and perhaps Boy, no Slug would ever fully understand the way that Humans viewed death.
And so the next phase of our journey continued on like this. Despite the dangers, I found myself excitably looking forward to our arrival at Slugenis; I almost couldn't wait to show Ethan the way that our Empire is run, and the other intricacies of our culture that just couldn't be properly explained with words. Undoubtedly, it would be very different to how he imagines it; apart from recent events, his only other exposure to non-Human nations has been movies and other fictional works. And every one of these shares the same flaw; it was made to be experienced - and understood - by Humans. Unfortunately, the real world was not made to be experienced or to be understood by Humans.
It was thinking about our return to Slugenis that caused me to consider everything that could go wrong. We could be refused entry, we could be outcast, we could even be attacked... No, that wouldn't happen; they wouldn't fulfil what they assume to be my greatest dream. Instead, they would banish us. In that case, my course of action is clear. I would make the others tell them that they'd been held hostage the entire time, so that they could return to the Empire. Ethan, Phill and I would go back to Earth, assuming, of course, that they don't try to kill Phill. That would be a disappointing outcome.
That is also assuming, also of course, that the others agree to lie to save themselves. Lying does not lose Honour, unless it jeopardises the war effort, but it isn't celebrated either. I wasn't sure what they would do, but I had a feeling that Boy would side with me, as he always has, from the beginning. So, assuming that the Slugs banish us and try to kill Phill, and that none of us agrees to lie and place the blame on me, Phill - and, by extension, us - would probably be killed before we could turn around and get away. I doubted that such a situation would ever eventuate, but there was a slim possibility. Knowing that my friend was under attack, I would have to fight back. And that, that would certainly be a glory-less fight, one that would most definitely end in my death.