Alcantaran 1: Alien Abduction (30 page)

Ron was excited the more he read about the voorwarp units.
 
He pressed the button and the side of the comm console opened.
 
Inside were 20 or 30 objects about the size of a baseball.
 
He gingerly picked one up and saw that the shelving it sat on actually kept it charged up.
 
He hadn't read far enough to find out how long they lasted or how they got their energy so he wasn't sure this one was live and ready to go.
 
He read on down about how to activate the unit.
 
The computer said to hold the unit in your open palm and then press on the slight indentation on the top of the unit.

Ron laid the unit in his palm and pushed on the indentation.
 
The unit rolled up his arm and before he could move, he saw a piece come off.
 
He felt something gently slap his head behind his ear.
 
At the same time, he felt something crawl down his back and suddenly there was a warm spot right between the shoulder blades.
 
He felt behind his ear and thought he could feel a slight bump but there didn't seem to be anything foreign there.
 
He walked over to the computer camera and turned his head so the camera was looking at his ear.
 
He directed the computer to display the camera image on the view screens.
 
He couldn't see anything behind his ear!
 
He directed the computer to zoom in closer and he still couldn't see anything.
 
It looked just like normal skin behind his ear.
 
Ron quickly peeled his shirt back and had the computer look at his back.
 
He knew where he had felt something warm but there was nothing showing there.
 
Ron couldn't reach back there to feel, although he tried.
 
He was trying different contortions to reach the area when he heard something coming down the passageway.
 
The sound was so slight that he was surprised he heard it.
 
Just then the door opened and in walked Tik and Gus.

They both stopped and stared.
 
Ron turned red and pulled his shirt back up as he straightened up.

"Umm…I'll bet you're wondering what I'm doing," Ron started lamely.

"Oh no, we expect to see humans doing all kinds of weird things," Tik said mischievously.
 
"Go ahead and continue your gyrations.
 
Don't let us stop you."

"I felt something on my back and I didn't see anything on the view screens so I was trying to touch it," Ron said as he thought 'SHIELD'.
 
"Can you see if you can spot anything or feel anything?"

Tik started to walk over closer and when she was about three feet from Ron, she ran into the shield.
 
It stopped her dead in her tracks.

"What in the world did you just do?" Tik exclaimed.
 
She reached out to try to touch Ron and again ran into the shield.

Gus had been watching with interest and decided to try his luck.
 
When he got within three feet of Ron, he felt the shield.
 
He reached out and pushed.
 
Ron didn't move.
 
Gus gave a huge shove and still Ron didn't move.

"Is that some kind of shield?
 
Where is the unit that generates it?" Gus asked with an intense curiosity.

Ron thought 'SHIELD OFF' and replied, "I found a personal voorwarp unit and was checking it out when it attached itself to me.
 
Can you see anything on my back right there between my shoulder blades?
 
How about right behind my right ear?"

Tik approached cautiously this time and reached out to touch his back.
 
She stared intently at his back for a couple of minutes and then turned her attention to his ear.
 
She moved her finger over the skin behind his ear.
 
Finally she said, "There's nothing there.
 
I can't see anything nor feel anything.
 
What do these voorwarp units look like?"

Ron pulled his shirt back up and walked over to the console.
 
He removed a unit and silently handed it to her.
 
She turned the unit over and carefully inspected the unit.

"There is nothing like this back there.
 
If you have something like this on your back, it has to be on the inside," Tik declared firmly.

"I don't know because I can't see or feel it but I know I can think about a shield now and it's there.
 
I just put that thing in the palm of my hand and touched the indentation on the top of it.
 
The next thing I knew I felt something behind my ear and sliding down the neck of my shirt.
 
Then I felt something warm between my shoulder blades." Ron declared just as firmly.
 
"Why don't you try it, if you don't believe me?"

Tik hesitated and Ron said, "Ah, you do believe some of it then and you're afraid.
 
You want to use me as the guinea pig first, huh?"

"I am not afraid.
 
I just don't think there's anything there.
 
Where did you say to touch?" Tik declared in a snit.

"Right there on that indentation," Ron answered.

Tik touched the indentation and the unit rolled quickly up her arm.
 
She was almost quick enough to jump out from under it but not quite.
 
It slapped behind her ear and rolled down her back.
 
Ron watched as both spots disappeared under her fur.
 
Tik was wriggling around trying to see her back but she couldn't.
 
She remembered Ron standing in from of the computer camera and she rushed over there.
 
The camera showed her back on the viewing screens and all she saw was fur.
 
She rushed back to Ron and demanded he look under her fur to see if he could see anything.
 
Ron parted the fur and there was nothing.
 
He moved her fur behind her ear and it was the same.

Ron projected a thought, "Think SHIELD."
 
Tik jumped but Ron could see her concentrate.
 
He reached out and felt her shield.

"You didn't speak those words, did you?" Tik said.

"Nope.
 
That's supposed to be one of the benefits of these voorwarp units.
 
The ESP is clearer and reaches farther.
 
Gus, I sent a thought for her to think SHIELD and her shield is up.
 
To turn it off, just think 'shield off'," Ron said.

Gus asked, "How did you find those things?
 
What all will they do and how do you get them off?"

"I haven't read that far yet.
 
I was looking around and saw this button.
 
I asked the computer what it was and Auntie told me it was the voorwarp storage.
 
Here, read for yourself to see what they can do." Ron replied.

Gus and Tik crowded around the monitor to read about the units.
 
They quickly scanned the material until they came to the part that told how to take the units off.
 
It said to think 'back to storage' then 'confirm back to storage'.

Ron said, "Tik, let me check something and then I want you to check me."
 
He pulled out his healer and scanned behind her ear and on her back.
 
The healer unit didn't show anything.
 
Ron handed the unit to Tik and she did the same on him with the same results.

"Gus, do you want to try one? I'm curious how these things work on creatures so different.
 
You have a completely different make-up physically than either Tik or me.
 
I wonder if these units will work with you." Ron said.

Gus took a unit and held it in his palm.
 
He touched the indentation and the same thing happened that had happened to the other two.
 
Gus' skin was the texture of sandstone but the unit still disappeared on his skin.
 
Ron and Tik both studied his back closely and could not find anything.
 
Ron scanned him with the healer and it showed nothing again.

They experimented with ESP and found they could even think like a Sandghost if they were directing thoughts to Gus or they though like a human when they directed thoughts to Ron.
 
It was the same for Tik.

"Wow, these things will give you a definite advantage when it comes to trade.
 
We would understand the culture and I'll bet we can sense intentions in other beings.
 
We are going to have to research these some more.
 
Do you think we can even learn a fraction of 1 % of what's in Auntie's computer?
 
Ever time we find one thing, it leads to a hundred other questions," Ron reflected.

"Speaking of that, that's what we were coming to talk to you about.
 
Are we going to keep trading or sell Auntie and go home?" Gus said.

"What did you two decide?" Ron asked.

"We're interested but Tik would like to see how a few trades come out.
 
We have a little silver.
 
What else can we use for trade?
 
Do we trade some of the Alcantaran relics?" Gus replied.

"I'm against trading any relics.
 
We might trade away the key to unlock the next level in Auntie's computer," Tik declared.
 
"Maybe we can find another asteroid or something and mine some more metals."

"I feel in my gut that unless we are trying to sell Auntie, we shouldn't mention anything about this being an Alcantaran ship.
 
If anyone finds out about the relics we have on board, I think we will have treasure hunters looking for ways to take Auntie away from us.
 
Having Bugs that might be tracking us is bad enough; I don't want anybody or anything else chasing us." Ron stated.
 
"I'd vote to do as Tik suggested.
 
Let's try a few trades to see if we have what it takes and then make our decision."

Tik and Gus agreed and they sat down to discuss what they needed to do in the next nine days to get ready for Europaische.
 
They listed the things for Auntie to place into memory.
 
They needed to smelt the silver down and make small ingots.
 
Tik needed to check out the weapons system on Auntie to see what weapons they had.
 
She also needed to see what personal weapons the people on Europaische carried.
 
Did they wear them openly and what were the rules?
 
Ron would try to select some small, easily concealed weapons that they could carry.
 
If the Europaischens carried swords, they would see about carrying swords but they would still carry some type of pistol.
 
They were all too cautious to trust the other beings when they didn't know anything about them.
 
There were other things but they decided they would do them as they had time.

Gus brought up the conservatory and what they should do with it.
 
He told about Tik's suggestion to start with plants from Europaische.
 
Gus asked about getting rid of the dead material that was already in there.
 
Ron said that somewhere on Auntie the Alcantarans probably had a chipper/shredder.
 
They could use the dead material to enrich the soil that was already in there.
 
They decided to keep the voorwarp units on for now and concluded their meeting when Ron mentioned he was getting hungry.
 
They all went to the upper galley.
 
After they ate, they headed to bed again, ready for a new day and a new challenge.

The next morning Ron and Gus headed for the middle cargo bay to see about melting silver and making small bars out of it.
 
They opened the door and looked at the pile of silver under the netting.

"How in the world are we going to smelt that?
 
Will it stink up the rest of the ship?" Gus asked.
 
"Once we get it melted, how do we make bars?"

"We can use the miners to melt it, just like we did to mine it.
 
We just need something to hold it while we melt it.
 
Too bad we don't have some gnomes to melt it down and pour it into molds for us." Ron answered.

"We do have someone that could hold it and pour.
 
We have those robots we took from the Bugs." Gus declared excitedly.

"Yeah and we could set up a shield for them to work in.
 
That would capture any smells or toxic gases that might be given off.
 
You haven't refueled the robots yet, have you?" Ron joined in the excitement.

Gus shook his head no and Ron continued, "Why don't you go refuel them and I'll go look in the machine shop to see if there is something we can use for molds and something to melt the silver in."

Ron was headed for the machine shop when a thought struck him.
 
Why not ask Auntie's computer if there were any melting pots or molds on board.
 
Ron headed for a terminal and posed his questions.
 
Auntie answered him with a door number where molds and melting equipment were stored.
 
Ron headed to the room and opened it up.
 
He stepped inside and saw rows of shelves with items neatly and securely stored.
 
There were labels showing what shelf and row the items were on.
 
Ron found a smelting pot that was almost three feet in diameter.
 
It looked like pictures he had seen of a witch's cauldron.
 
There was a heat source on it but he saw that it had no fuel for the heat.
 
There was a shelf area on the bottom near the front of the pot to slide molds into and a lever to open a valve to allow liquid metal to fill the mold.
 
This could be a lot handier than what they had planned.
 
He looked on the shelves above the pot and saw stacks of several different sizes of ingot molds.
 
He also saw some other molds that he reached up to check out.
 
There were five different ones that were small figures of alien animals.
 
There were five more of exotic alien birds.
 
None of the figures would be more than four inches high when they were done but they sure were interesting.
 
All of the figures came complete with a mount to stick into a base that would hold the figures.
 
Ron remembered
Kota
talking about having 'eye candy' to help grease the wheels of trade on a lot of planets.
 
Ron figured these were some of the 'eye candy'.
 
If the ship had all of this equipment, they must have done the same thing they just did.
 
Maybe they even had a supply of gold or silver already on board.
 
Ron found some more molds that would make a hollow core statue.
 
It looked like there would be two halves and they would have to be soldered or welded together.
 
He didn't want to take the time to do anything like that now, so he left them where they were.
 
Ron found fifteen tiny molds of exotic birds and animals that looked like they would make bracelet charms or trinkets.
 
They were incredibly detailed for such small molds.
 
He added 15 of the molds to the pile.
 
He saw that he wasn't going to be able to carry all of this himself so he looked for something to put it in.
 
He spotted a smaller version of the Bug's grav-sled.
 
He went over to it and saw that it was dead.
 
No power.
 
There was a lot of helpful equipment in this ship but it was going to be a pain in the butt until they had more of it fueled up.
 
Ron grabbed the grav-sled and pulled it out the door.
 
He slowly moved it to the fueling station and hooked it up.
 
He charged it up and then turned it on.
 
It moved much easier now.
 
He returned to the storeroom and pushed the grav-sled next to the smelting pot.
 
He had to work at it but he finally got it loaded on the grav-sled.
 
He piled a bunch of the molds in the pot and headed to the fueling station again.
 
He was about finished with the fueling when Gus sent a thought asking if he had gotten lost or just fell asleep.
 
Ron sent back the thought that he had to work a lot harder getting his items than Gus did.
 
He finished fueling and moved his items up to the middle cargo bay.