AMP Colossus (6 page)

I replied, "Let’s hit the rest of these rooms before we get there. I don’t want any surprises once we enter that bridge."

The remaining rooms were quickly inspected; none were occupied. I had my left hand on the knob and my blaster down by my side.

I spoke. "You ready for this?"

Duane replied, "I am, Sir. Let’s get it going."

I turned the knob and slowly opened the door. It opened into a broad room. Consoles lined the left wall, with three alien crewmen sitting before them. An ornate chair was centered in the room, which looked out over the foredeck through large windows. As I looked around to the right, there were two more crewmen sitting at consoles. I stepped up behind the alien seated in the ornate chair. Duane remained by the door.

I held my blaster up to the temple of the yellow alien, his tail stuck through a hole in the back of his chair. "I presume you are the captain?"

The alien froze. His hand began to slide forward on his chair arm. A quick blow from the butt of my blaster stopped his attempt to press a button on the front of the armrest.

I spoke again. "Not a wise move, my friend."

The alien replied with a line of unknown gibberish. My helmet translator showed a 5 percent confidence rating. I poked the captain and gestured with my hand for him to continue. After several more sentences, the words began to come through.

The captain spoke. "I … … know … who are … … a Colossus vessel!"

As the translator reached 85 percent, the captain’s rants became clear. "I demand to know who you are and what you are doing on my ship! We are under the protection of the Colossus Empire. You are interfering in their affairs and will be severely punished when caught. Turn yourselves in now and you may avoid execution!"

I replied, "I don’t think so, Captain. Which one of these crewmen is your staff officer?"

The captain replied, "Ensign Haluf has that duty station for this voyage."

I again poked the captain with my blaster. "Which one is Haluf?"

The captain pointed.

I turned back to Duane and gestured. "Have him pull up the crew manifest. If he resists, blow a hole in his head."

Duane replied as he moved towards the officer, "Yes, Sir! You heard him, crew manifest, show it!"

The ensign looked at the captain, who nodded in approval. The ore transport had a crew of twelve, including one Colossun guard.

Duane spoke. "Manifest shows these five are shift one and another five make up shift two. The captain there and a Colossun guard round out the total of twelve."

I again poked the captain. "Where are the crew quarters in relation to here?"

The captain replied, "Down the hall, around the corner, second door."

I replied, "OK, Captain, we are going to play a little game of ‘I'm in charge now.’ I want you and your crew to sit in a circle over here with your backs to each other. There will be no talking unless Duane or I ask you a direct question. Understood?"

The captain replied after a poke, "Understood."

As I watched carefully, Duane frisked each of the alien crewmen for anything that could be used as a weapon or to alert the others. Once they had all been checked out, I pointed towards the door.

I spoke. "You want to get the others, or you want to wait here?"

Duane replied, "I'll get 'em, Sir."

Several minutes passed before Duane returned with the crewmen of the second shift. Again, they were each frisked, and then forced down on the floor to form a second circle.

I spoke to the captain. "Where can we find the Colossun?"

The captain replied, "I don't know. He should have been in the crew quarters with the others."

Duane spoke. "He's lying to you, Sir. There were only five bunks in there, none of them three meters long."

I stepped on the captain's spindly fingers with my boot. He let out a yelp.

I spoke as I lifted my boot from his bruised hand. "You were saying, Captain?"

The captain replied, "He is in the next cabin. The third door. I hope he makes you pay for your act of piracy!"

I bent over and leaned in close to the captain. "Now, Captain, I recall hearing you say that you understood the rules. Unfortunately, you have not followed them. So, I am in need of an adequate punishment, a deterrent for the others, if you will."

I stood for several seconds before dialing my blaster to its minimum setting. I took quick aim and fired an ion bolt into the captain's hand.

The captain screamed. "Aiiiiieeeee!!! Arrrrghhh!"

His hand immediately swelled to three times its normal size as the ion charge expanded. The captain would never have use of his hand again, short of getting a prosthetic replacement.

As the captain rolled on the ground in pain, clutching his ruined hand, I spoke to the others. "I hope you are all fast learners. We aren't here to screw around. If you value your lives, and if you want to come out of this with all of your appendages intact and functioning, all you need to do is cooperate. Simple."

I again pointed at the door. "You want the Colossun or should I?"

Duane shook his head as he replied, "I got him, Sir. I'll be back in a minute."

I spoke. "Oh, and if he offers any resistance, smoke him."

Duane nodded as he turned towards the door. Before he could take a step, the doorknob turned and the door swung open. The Colossun fired first.

Vrrrp!

The gravity bolt from his pulser impacted Duane in the chest where he stood. As the gravity field expanded, Duane was thrown violently backwards into the bridge view-port glass. I raised my blaster and fired.

The minimal ion bolt impacted the Colossun on his gun arm. He turned to fire at me and pulled the trigger before I could react. Nothing happened.

I dropped to my knee, flipped up the dial on my blaster, and cut loose with a full ion charge.

Pzzzt!

The Colossun froze. A light smoke began to emanate from under his battle suit. I glanced in Duane's direction.

I spoke. "Duane! You alive?"

Several seconds passed before I received a weak and pained response. "Yes... Sir."

The Colossun remained frozen and smoldering. I stepped over to Duane and offered a hand as I kept an eye on the rest of the crew.

I spoke. "That was a full charge. I don't think whoever is under that suit survived."

Duane rested with his blaster turned towards the captain and crew as I moved in to inspect the Colossun.

I spoke. "Man, these guys are monsters. This one smells an awful lot like burnt electronics."

I looked over his battle suit until I found a latch for the breastplate. I depressed the latch, and the plate slightly lifted on the Colossun's left side. Several seconds later, the right latch was clicked and the heavy breastplate fell to the floor. The Colossun was an android.

Duane spoke. "Whoa, Sir. I would have picked them as live beings every time if asked."

I turned back to the captain; although still nursing his hand, his focus was on the Colossun. It appeared the alien crew was as stunned by the discovery as we were.

I spoke. "Captain, I take it by your expression that you thought the Colossuns were beings like you and me?"

The captain was still in too much pain to respond.

The first officer raised his hand and spoke. "We have only ever seen them in their gear. This would explain their heartless and ruthless behavior. It is their programming. They cannot be reasoned or negotiated with."

I replied, "So, no one has ever fought one and figured this out?"

Ensign Wallie Haluf replied, "When the Colossuns first came upon us, we were slaughtered by the millions. Our primitive weapons had little effect on their armor. Their weapons were terrifying to our people. Our planet fell to them within days of their arrival. We have been in their service ever since."

I poked around at the mechanisms of the failed android before talking to the ensign. "How long have you been slaves?"

The ensign replied, "For seven centuries we have done their bidding. I am a fifteenth-generation first officer. I suppose I am now the first to break the tradition."

I tilted my head slightly as I replied to the ensign, "Maybe I can offer you a continuance of employment. Would you be interested in piloting this transport for the Human race? Cooperation could go a long way in determining your fate, and the fate of this crew."

The ensign looked at the captain before answering. "Captain, I feel we should accept this offer. We are at the mercy of this species. If the Colossuns recover this ship, we are likely to be executed. Perhaps this is a solution that will allow us to live."

I spoke. "If you join with us now, I will personally guarantee your freedom when we have achieved what we need to achieve. Name a planet you would like to be released on, and I will make that happen. Or, if you wish to work in our employ as free men, we can make that happen too."

The captain looked down at his damaged hand and then back at me with a scowl. "It is not as if we have a choice in the matter. Take my ship; take my crew. I am of no use in my condition. Wallie, the bridge is yours to command."

I spoke. "Wallie, your first order of business is to get this ship turned in the right direction. Next, I want you to work with Duane to show him your communications system. If any attempt is made to broadcast a message to the Colossus Empire, you and your entire crew will be immediately executed. Play nice, and you will be rewarded."

The ore hauler was soon turned in the direction of the Grid. Wallie passed Duane off to his comm officer. After several minutes at a console, Duane turned towards me.

Duane spoke. "Sir, I think we have a problem."

I replied, "Does that problem have anything to do with our speed?"

Duane replied, "I would guess it does, Sir. Their comm system is RF; are their engines sub-light?"

I replied, "Yes, they are. Our trip back to the Grid will take four months. I'm thinking we need a better solution."

After several minutes of back and forth, Duane offered a possible fix for our dilemma. "It may be possible to patch our helmet comm into an amplifier of sorts. Something to boost the signal level. If it works, we could cut our comm turnaround down to less than a day."

I replied, "I take it you might know how to do that? It's a bit out of my league."

Duane removed his helmet and looked inside. "The power pack for the transmitter sits here. If Wallie has tools on this barge, I may be able to tap into the ship's power. I'll have to be careful, though. If I try to put too much power through there, I'll burn up that transmitter and lose the use of the comm in the helmet. Here, you better give me your helmet, Sir."

I replied, "What? I'm not giving you my helmet! Use your own!"

Duane chuckled.

I spoke. "Now you are just trying to get on my good side, aren't you. I've got my eye on you, Duane. You are slowly coming out of your shell."

I looked up, and the alien crewmen who surrounded us had confused looks on their faces.

I spoke. "What are you looking at? Get back to work!"

With the help of Wallie, Duane soon had his amplifier rigged. Our first attempt at reconnecting with the Grid was made over the faster-than-light comm system of our helmets. It would take hours for the comm to reach the Grid and hours for it to return.

With possibly months of time on our hands, I took on the task of asking questions of Wallie about himself and his people. They called themselves the Tribuk. Their world was only four light-years’ distance from the Colossus home world, Colos. The entire Colossus Empire only encompassed nine star systems, with the most distant one being eleven light-years from Colos. It was hardly a large empire by any of the standards that we had known. But the Colossuns and their android army ruled it without tolerance for error.

I spoke. "What is the name of your home planet?"

Wallie replied, "Garrok. I have only been there once. Well, not really there, we were in orbit. My entire life has been spent on this ship and one other."

I sat in a chair at the console beside him. "Yeah, we kind of know that feeling. We live on this giant space station we call the Grid. We don't know how we got there or where we are originally from, but we have called it home for about a thousand years now. I was working on a home planet for us, but we had to leave it behind. There are lots of hostile races out there beyond this space. Many are much more powerful than what we've seen of the Colossuns."

Wallie replied, "I am sorry for the misplacement of your home, Don Grange. I'm sure that is a troubling situation. Our history only begins on Garrok six hundred years ago. We have no past either. From birth we are trained as ship crews, so that is what we do."

I had a sudden chill as I realized I had not revealed my name to Wallie. I stood and stepped back with my blaster at the ready.

I spoke with an angry expression. "OK, how did you know my name? Neither Duane nor I have spoken it since we got here!"

Wallie cautiously pointed to my battle suit. "Is that not your name on your chest?"

I looked down to see the embroidered stitching on the left chest of my battle suit. Duane shook his head and began to chuckle.

I returned to my seat by Wallie and spoke. "Hmm. Yeah, I suppose that is my name. I didn't realize it was on there. OK, just disregard that threat back there."

Wallie thought and then replied, "Was that an attempt at humor, Don Grange? My people do have an understanding of humor, although yours seems strange."

One of the other aliens then spoke to the one seated next to him. "Just disregard that threat back there."

His voice was an exact match for mine.

Wallie spoke. "Gelford, please do not mimic the alien before he has an understanding of our cultural norms."

I looked over at the alien and spoke with my most sarcastic-sounding tone. "Gelford? What kind of a name is that?"

Gelford looked confused as the alien sitting next to him began to snicker with a wheezing giggle.

Wallie spoke. "That is enough!"

Duane placed his hand on my shoulder. "Looks like you are in for a fun ride, Mr. Grange."

As it turned out, the Tribuk were not all that different from Humans in their intellect and reasoning. They showed cultural traits similar to our own, including fear, loathing, and humor. They also showed a level of curiosity that was as inquisitive as ours. They liked to be informed and had many questions for us regarding Humans.

Once the questioning began to break down into normal conversation, the thought crossed my mind that we had an ore transport full of materials and I was unsure of what those were.

Wallie pulled up the cargo manifest on a monitor for us to review. "We have iron, manganese, aluminum, tungsten, gold, silver, and copper, as well as sixteen other minerals."

I pointed to a cargo hold that displayed in red. "What is in there?"

Wallie replied, "We don’t know. The Colossuns load and unload that section in private. We are not allowed in there during transport."

I turned my eyes from Wallie to the screen as I spoke. "I’m sure you are just as curious as I am. Let’s go have a look. Duane! The bridge is yours for a few minutes. We are going to go check out some of the cargo."

Duane nodded in acceptance.

As we walked along the corridors, Wallie gave me the guided tour. "The environmental scrubbers are in there, and the mech lab is there."

I cut in, "The mech lab?"

Wallie replied, "Yes, the mechanical room: tools, repair equipment, the normal gear required for maintenance on a ship this size."

Wallie continued, "I noticed you eating something from your pack back there. Where do you get your food? Not really where, but what is your food? I ask that as we pass our sustenance lab. Our diet is high in shellfish and sea grasses."

I replied, "We have some of that too, also, meats from herd animals, poultry from birds, fish, and a wide assortment of plants, nuts, berries, and such. Really just about anything we can put salt on."

Wallie replied, "Yes, salt, the spice of life, we call it. I find our similarities quite interesting, Mr. Grange. Perhaps our peoples would get along well."

We stopped when we came to the door to the Colossun cargo hold.

I spoke. "We as a species can get along with just about anyone. But make no mistake; we still have those who pursue avenues of wealth and power. Those who will step on whoever they can to get what they want."

Wallie replied, "Yes, unfortunately those seem to be universal traits."

The door to the Colossun cargo hold was locked. We stepped away to a near corner. I set my blaster for an adequate power level, and the door was soon blown from its hinges. I turned to see Wallie curled up on the floor holding his ears.

I spoke. "Aw, crap! Sorry about that. This suit and helmet take care of most of the noise and concussion from those blasts. I’ve gotten used to pulling the trigger and then storming in. I’ll give you a minute to recover."

Wallie rose to his feet and motioned towards the door. "Please go in, Mr. Grange. I will be fine, but I may have trouble hearing you for a bit."

We entered the hold and began to inspect the large red containers that it held. They were each almost eight meters in height, three meters wide, and twelve meters long. The hold held fifty-two such containers.

I spoke. "It definitely opens on this end. This looks like an electronic lock. I can hit it with an ion bolt and see if it releases that handle."

As I raised my blaster, Wallie replied, "Please let me move to a safe distance, Mr. Grange. My body cannot take another beating like the last."

I replied, "Oh, sorry about that. I have the setting on minimal now. Just want to take out that lock. You are safe to stand right there."

I took aim and pulled the trigger.

Pzzzt!

The electronic symbol on the lock display faded, and a faint click could be heard. I reached up and placed my hand on the handle and pulled. The handle slowly moved towards me as the hard lock slid free. A slight noise could be heard as the pressure inside the previously sealed container equalized with that of the hold.

I flipped on my helmet lights as I looked inside. "Whoa. I think we have a small army of those Colossun androids. I count… ninety-six in this container. Add these up, and that is almost five thousand of these beasts."

Wallie looked into the container, and his eyes grew wide. "They have power, Mr. Grange! They are active!"

At that moment the first of the Colossun soldiers stepped forward. I jumped back while attempting to close the container door. My reaction time was too slow. As I pushed on the large door, the Colossun pushed hard back, sending me sprawling backwards onto the floor. In a moment of panic I dropped my blaster. The Colossun was quickly on me.

As I stood, a back fist came sweeping across, striking me in the helmet and again sending me reeling. I slammed hard into the side of another container before regaining my composure. My blaster lay at the foot of the giant Colossun android.

In an act of ultimate courage, something that I do not think I would have done, Wallie dove at the feet of the Colossun, slapping my blaster in my direction. I reached down, grabbing the blaster by the handgrip while flipping the energy setting to full. Before I could aim and fire, the Colossun had Wallie in his grip.

A screaming Wallie was raised into the air by his right leg. As he squirmed and struggled for his freedom, the Colossun brought him over his head and then slung him hard back down into the floor.

I raised my blaster in anger and fired a full charge into the torso of the Colossun. The monster came to a stop as his breastplate shot away from his body and his circuits sizzled and smoked. A second bolt was fired as a second Colossun emerged from the container, but the others kept coming.

The androids sprinted around the container out of sight. I got a glimpse of one as he leapt upward onto one of the containers. It then occurred to me that I could adjust the simulated gravity setting of my battle suit. I turned and pushed hard with my legs in an attempt to get on top of the containers. My jump, while impressive by Human standards, was well short of the container top. As I fell back to the floor, three Colossuns rounded the corner and charged.

Pzzzt! Pzzzt!

Two stopped dead in their tracks, but the third rammed into me at a full run. I slammed hard into the container behind me. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the Colossun who had jumped onto the containers was joining the fight.

Pzzzt!

The third Colossun ceased to move. Before I could fire on the fourth, a balled fist came sweeping across, again knocking my blaster from my grip. I was soon raised over the Colossun’s head and slammed hard to the ground. Again, my hybrid battle suit offered protection, but there was still only so much the Human body could take.

I reached out for my weapon, which lay on the floor only a meter away. The Colossun grabbed me by the leg and again had me raised over his head. I wasn’t sure if I could take another blow and remain conscious.

Again I hit the deck hard. After a short bounce, I stretched my hand out one last time. My blaster was not to be had. The Colossun again lifted me high without effort.

Pzzzt!

Duane had joined the fight!

I wiggled my way loose from the Colossun’s grip, grabbed my weapon, and blasted the next Colossun as he came out of the container. I struggled to run after the trauma of the repeated slams. When I reached the container door, I attempted to push it closed. I was thrown back as another Colossun emerged.

Pzzzt!

On a second attempt, the container was closed and the latch thrown. The Colossuns inside began to beat on the door, but the container would hold. Six other Colossun soldiers had escaped.

Duane stepped up and fired upon an android as it came up behind me.

Pzzzt!