Chapter II: The Alien Ship

The light was a creamy orange hue, and made everything look alien. Rick looked around, and realized that the interior proportions were strange. Then it dawned on him. "Wow, this is an alien ship," he exclaimed to himself. His suit indicators chimed, indicating that atmospheric pressure was building up in the bay.

Rick heard noises, and saw one of the hexagonal hatchways open. "You are the alien, soft one." He stiffened as the hissing voice came over the suit's comm system. As he watched the hatchway, a long, sectioned leg like that of a huge spider, emerged from the opening. Two more legs followed the first, then an insectoid body about a meter and a half long emerged, then the other three legs appeared. The creature moved along the side of the hanger, then paused, examining its prize.

Rick felt his stomach turning sour, and he tried to shrink down into his suit. His mind told him that the creature was a Garasian, but seeing one live for the first time brought up all of his instinctive fears of bugs. Each leg had four segments for a total length of three meters each and joined the body at the alien's midsection. The head section joined the main body just above the legs. There were two smaller appendages, sectioned into four parts, about one and a half meters long with small, manipulative claws on the ends. The main body was hourglass shaped, with the head section smaller than the abdomen section. It had two eyes, which blinked slowly as it examined Rick, and its mouth mandibles moved back and forth as if in anticipation of a good meal.

Rick felt the vibrations as the garasian climbed over the mechanical tentacles that bound him. He yelped as the creature placed its face up to his helmet. Cold shivers ran down his spine as the creature addressed him. "So, spineless human, why are you here?"

Rick tried to swallow, but his mouth was too dry. He tried to remind himself that this was not a bug, but another member of the starfaring community of the galaxy, and that it wasn't going to eat him. He managed to grab a quick sip from his helmet canteen, then cleared his throat. "Uh, Hello. I'm lieutenant Raygunn of the Stellar Patrol. Welcome to Earth. If you release me, maybe I could assist you with something?"

"Stupid human. I need no assistance." The alien reached over and plucked the thruster pod off his suit and tossed it to one side of the bay. "You won't be needing that. I ask again, why are you here? Answer me!"

Rick felt himself shake as the garasian repositioned itself, and its face returned to his helmet, but now it was upside down to Rick, and drool was slowly falling onto his faceplate. Rick wasn’t sure it improved the view or not. "Uh, routine maintenance of a Comm satellite?" offered Rick.

"You detected my work, then. These satellites need no routine maintenance. What revealed my tampering? Tell me!"

Rick was quiet for a minute as the alien’s comments sunk in. This creature was the source of the malfunctioning. 'Why? The garasians weren't enemies to Earth Sphere. They weren't allies either. However,' thought Rick, 'Stellar Patrol Intelligence believed that the garasians were involved in piracy operations in the unclaimed space between the major governing spheres of this section of the spiral arm of the galaxy. Perhaps they were beginning to get more involved in criminal activities within Earth Sphere.'

The bonds holding Rick shook as the garasian moved towards the cargo deck. It was moving back towards the deck of the cargo bay. "Hey, what are you going to do with me?"

The garasian paused and looked back at Rick. Its pose suggested a sort of grim humor. "I will put you someplace until you're ready to talk to me, earthling."

Rick felt himself move as the garasian directed the tentacles to move him to another hatchway, which opened as he approached. The tentacles released him, and he felt the grip of gravity pulling him into the compartment beyond the hatch. Rick hit the floor and rolled, drawing his M4MP blaster, but he found himself sealed in the small compartment before he could aim at anything. His suit indicators showed that the room was losing atmospheric pressure. He tuned his blaster to form a cutting beam, but a voice broke over his comm beam before he could use it.

"Don't try it, stupid human. The walls in your prison are made to reflect your worthless weapon."

Rick snorted. The M4MP blaster was the latest development from Earth's extensive weapons development program, and was rated both "Most Useful as a Tool" and "Deadliest Sidearm" by Military Consumer’s Reports, and it was UL approved too. He took aim at the hatchway above him and fired. The orange beam lanced out and struck the hatch, rebounded past Rick's head, bounced off the back wall, passed narrowly between his legs, off another wall, passing within a centimeter of his chest, then off the side wall, and finally hitting his blaster, causing it to glow orange. Rick barely let go of it before it turned into a glob of molten metal, which fell to the floor of his prison.

"Stupid earthling. You humans never listen."

Rick, feeling betrayed, glared at the blob of cooling metal. It wasn't supposed to do that. 'Now what am I going to do,' thought Rick. He sat on the floor facing the remains of his M4MP blaster, and cupped the sides of his helmet with his gloves.

The voice of the garasian came over his comm system again. "Are you ready to tell me why you are out here?"

Rick glared up at the hatchway, and noticed the small lens set in the panel above the hatch. "Why don't you tell me why you're invading Earth space and tapping into our communication satellites?"

"I do this because I need information."

The garasian's answer surprised him. He stood up and faced the lens. "What information?"

"I cannot tell you."

"Then how do you expect me to answer your questions when you can't tell me what you want?" snapped Rick.

"You will answer my questions, or die, human."

Rick felt a cold chill go down his spine and settle into his stomach like a lead weight. This was his first assignment. He couldn't die!

"What are you doing here?" asked the garasian.

Rick felt panic start to rise, then remembered that he was a Stellar Patrol Officer, and despite how he personally felt, honor of the patrol came first. He took a quick sip from his helmet canteen, and then a deep breath. "My name is Rick Raygunn. My rank is Lieutenant in the Stellar Patrol. My serial number is NCC-2001-007-42-D."

"Very well. We will see if you will be more willing to talk once you are breathing the last air in your suit," stated the garasian.

Rick remained standing, staring at the lens, waiting for the garasian to say something else. Finally he kicked the cool glob of metal lying on the floor, and it bounced off the wall. He sat down in the middle of the floor again, and tried to think of what to do next. He checked his air supply, and saw that it was good for only two more hours. He looked all over his cell, seeking any way that he might be able to escape, but except for the small air intakes and the lens, the room was featureless.

He cautiously checked his utility belt to see if there was anything there he could use to escape with. All that his suit belt contained were two lengths of 25 meter cable, two stick-on hooks, a two foot roll of selfstick Velcro, and a space suit repair kit, which had a cylinder of 5 minute air and three self-adhesive patches. In another pocket he had his emergency collapsible space helmet.

Finding nothing caused him to sulk. It was too bad that the blaster failed to work. He never heard of anything that could deflect a M4MP blaster bolt. However, not much was known about the garasians. They were a spider-like race that practiced anonymity, and tended to avoid formal contact with other races. Their sphere was off limits to free traders, and those that ventured in never returned. They breathed a combination of gases similar to humans, but the high carbon-dioxide level and high levels of other, normally trace amounts of gases, made their air poison to earthers.

Rick thought hard. The garasian said it wanted information, and the information had something to do with tapping into the academy communication beams. Did that mean that it was looking for something from the school, or something that the school was going to be told about? Was there some way he could find out what the garasian was looking for? Well, he was from the academy, and he didn't know what might concern the garasian. Then an idea came to him. The garasian didn't have to know that Rick didn't know.

Rick stood up and faced the lens. "Excuse me, but if you kill me, then you won't find out what you need to know."

There was a moment of quiet, and Rick could hear his own heart pounding away, afraid that the garasian wouldn't take the bait. Then he heard the comm system crackle as it received an incoming transmission.

"How do I know that you have the information I need?" asked the harsh, clacking voice.

Rick swallowed nervously, crossing his fingers in hopes that this would work. "I was sent out here from the academy, because we thought you might be looking for it."

There was another moment of silence during which Rick's stomach began doing flip-flops.

"Then tell me what I need to know, earther."

'Ah,' thought Rick. 'I've moved up from a stupid earthling to earther. That was a good sign.' "I'm not about to discuss it while my air is used up. If you want to know, then let me out of here so we can meet in more agreeable surroundings." There it was. Now either it would let him out or let him die.

There was yet another quiet moment, then his suit registered an increase in atmospheric pressure in the chamber. Rick restrained himself from dancing around the room in joy. 'I gotta act cool,' he thought, 'otherwise the garasian might suspect a trick.'

When the pressure was almost earth-normal, the hatchway opened and the gravity shifted, throwing him off balance and crashing into the floor (which was a wall a second ago). Rick picked himself off the new floor. 'Either the ship started accelerating, or the garasians had a flexible gravity control system,' he thought. Rick ran a test on his suit systems and everything checked out okay. He walked to the hatchway and looked out into the cargo bay of the garasian's ship. It occurred to him that he might be the only human alive to have seen the inside of a garasian ship. The trick would be to remain alive.

"Proceed forward, earther. Come to the second hatch on the left. It will be fitted with an atmosphere that is suitable for your fragile form."

Rick looked around and spotted the hatch. It opened as he approached it, and once he entered the room, the door closed and his suit sensors detected the air becoming human compatible. When the sensor beeped approval, Rick removed his helmet and looked around the room. There was a small desk and chair, about child sized, facing a large mirrored panel that reflected his movements in the room. Rick placed his helmet on the small desk, and faced the mirrored panel.

The mirror faded and the garasian was staring back at him from the other side of the panel. The air there looked hazy and foggy, making the alien hard to see. When the garasian spoke, the sound came from speakers in the room.

"Well, human, what do you have to tell me?"

Rick turned his back on the alien, to hide his fidgeting and trying to stall while he thought of something to say. His fingers rapped on the desk top, and he wondered where it came from. "Hey," Rick turned to face the garasian. "Where did you get this chair and desk? It looks like something that was lost when a colony ship got pirated near the border."

The garasian made an odd noise like a can being opened. "We got it from a trader."

"Who?"

"I do not know. It was assigned to this vessel."

"Are you lying to me?"

"Why would I need to lie to you, human? Now that I have answered your useless questions, you will answer mine. What made you come out here to the satellite?"

"Because you were tampering with it. There was a power fluctuation in the beam. I was assigned to investigate. Now, why are you tampering with our communications?" Rick wanted to keep on the offensive, to keep the garasian from probing too deeply, and maybe get some answers in the meantime.

The garasian stayed silent for a few minutes. Rick watched it for any reaction, but it remained motionless on the other side of the glass. If the garasian realized what he was trying, then Rick knew he would have to go something desperate. Rick casually picked up his helmet, and held it by its base. Finally, Rick heard the click as the intercom came on. "If my activities have been detected, then I will not discover the information I need here. You must be disposed of." With that, there was a hiss, and Rick felt the air in the room becoming thin. "Farewell, human."

As the panel between Rick and the garasian began to turn opaque, Rick suddenly threw his helmet at the window, and grabbed for his emergency pouch. The helmet smashed into the panel, causing it to shatter in a thousand pieces. Rick slipped the emergency helmet over his head and leaped for the garasian. Obviously stunned by his sudden actions, the garasian didn't move as Rick jumped at it. "Gotcha, you six-legged fiend," yelled Rick.

Rick fell onto the motionless body, and felt the garasian collapse under his denser body. Rick reached for the nearest leg in an attempt to place the alien in a space-jujitsu lock, and dropped it in shock as it came apart from the body with an audible "pop".

"What the hell?" exclaimed Rick. 'I thought they were tougher than this,' he thought to himself. He bent down to look at the broken leg. The cloudy air made it difficult to see everything, but after carefully examining the end of the leg, Rick realized that not only it wasn’t bleeding, it had a plastic ball joint on the end. He slapped his helmet with his hand. "Cripes. It's a dummy."

He heard a faint laugh from the other room. The misty air in the chamber with the false garasian was being sucked out through the broken window as the other room was being drained of air. Rick glanced around the room and spotted his helmet. He dug himself clear of the dummy, and picked up his helmet. After shaking pieces of glass out of it, he took a deep breath, pulled off his emergency helmet, and placed his heavy-duty helmet on and sealed the neck ring. It was a standard emergency procedure and only took him a few seconds. He made sure that it was working properly, took a deep breath, then replaced his emergency collapsible helmet back into its special pocket.

The air was still being drawn out of the room. He watched the smoky tendrils of gas being pulled through the broken glass and being sucked into small air vents in the other room. He looked around the room for another means of escape. There was a hexagonal hatchway in the wall behind the flattened dummy. Rick walked over to it, kicking the dummy as he passed it, and noticed a small panel located by the right-hand point of the hatch.

He pressed the panel, and greenish-yellow lights flashed on in the room. A metal shield slid over the broken window, and Rick's sensors noticed a rise in the atmospheric pressure. When it reached eighty percent of earth standard, the hatchway slid open. 'Hmph. Must be their native pressure,' thought Rick. He instinctively reached for his blaster, and as his fingers curled around air, he remembered that his M4MP blaster was a molten blob somewhere else in the ship. "Blast it," said Rick.

The hatchway revealed an open ship interior. Beams and crossbeams formed a metal web that acted as supports for the ship's hull. The interior was about 7 meters in diameter, and appeared to run the length of the ship. It came to a large hatchway about 10 meters as he looked up, and extended at least 100 meters beneath him. The odd, creamy orange glow that he had seen before illuminated the chamber. Rick moved cautiously forward. When he passed over the threshold, he found himself in zero gravity. The transition caught him off guard, and he found himself freefloating in the center chamber of the ship. 'Gee, thanks for the warning,' thought Rick.

Rick grabbed the nearest crossbeam before he drifted away. He wasn't a stranger to freefall, so he didn't panic. He steadied himself, and looked around. He thought about which direction he should head in. The end of the corridor was only 10 meters away, and probably opened into either the engine deck or the control deck. 'Either one would be just as good,' thought Rick. 'Both should have an airlock.' Rick pulled out one of his cables, and attached a hook to one end. He made a practiced toss, wrapping the hook around the one of the crossbeams five meters in front of him. He gave a gentle tug, and pulled himself over to the nearest stanchion. He unwrapped the hook and prepped the cable for another toss when the hatchway in front of him opened, to reveal a garasian pointing a rifle at him.

To Be Continued...