“I accept your heartfelt compliment, Sargent,” I reply with a small shake of my head. “Your confidence gives me strength.”
“It’s why I’m here,” he replies.
I take a few deep breaths before standing again. I glance at the medical team standing in the hallway. “Any volunteers to scan our friends there or do I pick someone?” A tentative hand goes up. It’s Ryder, one of the newest members of the team. He’s a recent academy grad and a new addition to my command, which means he’s young and probably eager to impress. He’s also tall, which might make the whole process a little easier. “All right, come on over,” I tell him. I move back to the middle of the room and stand with my arms extended straight out from my shoulders. “I want you to run a scan on me,” I tell him, “So we can show them what’s going to happen. You got that?”
Ryder nods vigorously, his bright red hair bouncing as he does. His hands are shaking as he runs the scanner up and down my body slowly. “Adult human female, aged 51,” he starts to say.
“Ryder,” I interrupt. “I don’t need a report on me. I will need reports on them. Just the basics.”
“Right,” he says, nodding again. He takes a deep breath and lets it out. “Okay. Ready,” he takes a step forward and then two steps back as one of them growls softly.
“It’s okay,” I say in what I hope is a soothing voice. I beckon towards the trio. This time, it is the smallest one that steps forward first. It faces me, mimicking my posture as Ryder begins to slowly scan the creature. His hands are trembling so muchthat I’m worried he’s going to drop the scanner, but a moment later Ryder comes to stand next to me and holds up the scanner.
“Unknown species, so the results are pretty limited. Similar physiology to humans with the exception of two hearts. It’s got something implanted at the base of its skull – the scanner is calling it a neurological disruption device, but I don’t know what that is.”
“A fucking motivator?” Curran barks. “No wonder they were so pissed.”
“No shit,” I mutter. “Okay, let’s see if we can get contestants number two and three to participate.” The tallest one comes forward and submits to the same process. This one has an older model translation chip which appears to be functioning at about half capacity. The third one refuses to submit to the process at all, baring its teeth at me and then at its companions, but the fact that I got two out of three scanned is still valuable.
“That’s good enough,” I say to Ryder, when it’s clear the third is not going to participate. “You can stand down.” I turn to Curran. “What’s the status on the rest of the crew and cargo?”
“All other flora and fauna contained and isolated. Crew is in holding cells. It’s just these three left,” he replies. I nod thoughtfully. “Let’s see if we can coax them onto our ship.”
“And put them where? I have a feeling they aren’t going to like the idea of a holding cell, but I don’t think we want them roaming around either.” Curran asks. “Commander,” he adds belatedly.
“No, that’s a good point,” I say thoughtfully. I bite my lip as I think for a moment. “We’re set up for towing, right? Got the airlock stabilized and cables secured?”
“Correct.”
“What if we just leave them on board this vessel until we get back to the station? Hopefully by then that old translation chip will catch up at least a little and we’ll be able to communicate.”
“That guy, Alek, can communicate with them.”
I shake my head. “I’m leaving that as a last resort. He’s an unknown entity, and I’d feel much more comfortable if I could communicate directly.
“So you’re just going to let them loose on a luxury vessel where they were prisoners for who knows how long?”
I shrug. “Honestly, it feels like they probably deserve a little freedom and to let off a little steam.”
“I’ll be sure to remind you of this sentimentality about letting off steam when I request my next leave,” Curran says with a chuckle.
“You’ve got a point. Get an engineer onboard to disable any potentially dangerous onboard equipment first.”
“It was one fucking time,” Curran mutters under his breath at me as he stalks away.
Chapter Eight: Davix
We follow the new creatures as they retreat through the hallways until we reach a large, cylindrical chamber. There, the creatures file through until only the leader creature is left. It says some words which Zann doesn't understand and then seals a transparent door at one end. At first, I think that we are being abandoned, but a few hours later the leader creature brings others to clean up what is left of Lianov. I am grateful that we don't have to live with the stench of his remains. And the cleaning is not the last we see of the new creatures either. Several times a day, the leader creature returns to open the door and sit and talk. Sometimes it attempts to talk to one of us, but other times it appears to just talk to itself or to a flat, rectangular device that it holds in its hands. I do not understand its behavior. Zann is the only one of us with a hope of understanding it and he doesn’t, but it chatters away incessantly anyway. Zann and Krish often sit and watch it and listen to it, but I am less interested in the creature than in my newfound freedom.
I take a good bit of time to explore the ship. There is an abundance of edible food, but since we do not know what will happen next, we have been cautious about consuming too much at once. Still, it is a welcome feeling to have my belly somewhat full, and I can feel myself recovering from the long,slow starvation. It is also a welcome feeling to have freedom of movement for the first time since our capture. We found a way to completely remove our chains – the device that the creatures used to cut the chains was taken away with them. The skin on my wrists and ankles is healing slowly, and I run and climb throughout the ship to restore and rebuild my muscles. In one chamber, I find a series of knobs and buttons that cause water to spray from many places in the chamber. After my initial surprise, I have delighted in its use and the feeling of water against my skin even though the blood of the Lianov creature has long since been washed away.
Zann, Krish, and I have also taken the opportunity to sleep and rest when possible. I do not trust the new creatures, and Zann agrees that it is safest for at least one of us to always be awake. Unfortunately, sometimes my turn to be awake coincides with when the leader creature opens the transparent door and sits. At least it does not chatter as much when Zann is not here. It glances at me from where I glare at it at the opposite end of the chamber. Although its appearance is strange to me, I am growing more accustomed to it. While some of the new creatures closely resemble Alek in size and shape, the leader creature and some of the others are different.
To start, the leader is a tiny thing. It barely reaches Krish’s shoulders. It is also oddly shaped. It is rounded above and below its midpoint, with prominent lumps on its chest. Instead of horns, it has long fur on the top of its head – something I failed to notice initially – which is often tied into a tail or knotted at the back of its head. It is otherwise much like us as far as I can tell.It is always hidden under coverings, though I have learned this is true for most of the creatures we have encountered since our capture. It also has an odd but not unpleasant scent that differs ever so slightly from the other creatures.
Although I do not trust it, I must admit a grudging respect for it. I am not sure what I expected to see when I grabbed its head and forced it to meet my eyes. What I did see was fear and determination. That is proof that it is not stupid, for it would be stupid not to fear us after what we did to the Lianov creature. But the determination was unexpected and although I am generally uninterested in the creature, I can respect its courage.
“Davix.”
