SODIUM:4 Gravity (15 page)

I quietly sent an audio text to Shepard as the Marine raid got underway. We continued to observe the alien women as their perverse needs were being met. Alerts then popped onto my helmet display. Shepard's power cell was failing. Seconds later she was standing visible in the middle of the room for all the alien humanoids to see.

One of the males was the first to take notice and he immediately let out a series of low grunts. I raised my pulse gun and quickly ended his existence. His tall thin yellow frame slammed hard against a rear wall and he slumped to the floor.

The females next sprang into action first leaping upward and then pushing off the ceiling in Shepard's direction. I blasted the first sending her flipping end-over-end into the far wall. The second female reached Shepard before I could aim and fire off another pulse. Shepard was knocked backward by the humanoid female and the two were soon wrestling on the ground next to me.

I reached down placing my pulse gun next to the head of the alien while aiming away from Shepard. What came next was horrifying and at the same time gratifying. I squeezed the trigger and the pulse exited the end of my weapon. The alien female's head then split apart and what I could only imagine had once been her brains were now splattered on a wall to our side.

I blinked in and turned the weapon towards a now horrified male masseuse. He let out no further sound except for the fast breaths that he now took. I turned on my translator and in the tongue of the squids I told him to not move and to raise his arms above his head. He quickly complied, but with a puzzled look on his face.

I then signaled Command and told them of our dilemma and of the fact that we now had an alien humanoid prisoner. They were then made aware of the fact that Shepard's BGS was no longer under power, she had no weapon and within 48 hours the toxins in her blood would build to the point of bringing about her death.

Command signaled back to hold our position as one of the Marine squads was being diverted to our location. I then walked over to the shaking alien to begin an interrogation of my own. As I raised my pulse gun towards his head he seemed eager to please me.

The room was indeed a massage parlor and the two women had booked it for what would be the equivalent of two Earth hours. The masseurs had twenty minutes of giving pleasure remaining before a ten minute cleanup followed by the next clients. As I listened I looked on in disgust.

I began to quiz the alien about the status of the squids versus his own species. He was soon spilling his guts, answering each question I asked in an attempt to save his own life. I was not impressed with how easily he rolled over on his fellow aliens. I then thought of how many humans would do the same. We all had our limits.

The squids were a species that were considered of a lower intelligence. They were workers and under his interpretation they were slaves. His race housed and fed and provided them with jobs and in turn they submitted to whatever rules were put in place. I said that it sounded like a miserable existence to which the alien gave a puzzled response.

He said it was what they knew, what they did and what they freely accepted. Most species amongst the stars subjugated themselves as a means of survival. It was a widely accepted practice. He went on to say that if our race had merely accepted the superior leadership of the Kurtz we would not be at war.

There were several revelations in his seemingly simple statement. His species were known as the Kurtz and there were other species out there besides the two we were currently at war with.

I then asked of the name for the squids to which I was told "Barhoo". The Barhoos had been in the service of the Kurtz for more than 4,000 Earth years. It was all they knew and they fully accepted their position. I then asked if the Kurtz were in service to anyone to which he went strangely silent. I held the pulse gun to his skull and told him to answer.

He immediately complied while at the same time inferring that he had only hesitated because it was an odd question. The Kurtz were indeed subjects of the Frekkin Empire, just like everyone else. The Frekkin were a supposedly fierce species that controlled 46 star systems within our arm of the Milky Way galaxy.

I was the first alien he had seen outside of the Empire, but he had only been to one colony besides the second planet of Epsilon Eridani, the planet we now called Alvin, not counting the Kurtz homeworld of Toleda.

I had a sudden panic that the aliens had somehow cracked our military communications. I wondered how else they could have known of the name I had given the planet only a year earlier. I then realized that Command had released the name of the planet to the press, giving it a designation aside from the normally cryptic astronomical one. They had no doubt monitored our communications as their fleet approached.

I asked the alien if he had a name. It was Pelm Gurkus. I then asked Pelm how many of his kind were on-board. He replied that Pelm was his primary name, his family name, Gurkus was his given name. He thought for a moment and answered that since the only surviving ships were the mega-ship and the 14 carriers he would place the number at about 1,300.

Each carrier had a Kurtz population of 50, all in the military sect. The mega-ship had a combination of military and civilians and the fleet was commanded by a low level royal family. Ambassador Rial Dorius was the Royal who commanded the fleet.

He then began to lament the war that had been ongoing. The loss of ships would not be looked kindly upon by the next family up the chain. The Horbis’ commanded 12 such mining fleets and the loss of so many ships would likely be the end of the Rial family as a royal line.

What appeared to be a concerned look grew on his face as he thought about a possible change in command. The Rials had been good to him and he had heard stories of other, more difficult families to be subjects of. He did not look forward to the possibility of being sold or traded down to a lower position.

I asked about being a subject and he said that everyone in the fleet belonged to the Rial family. The credits he had received for signing on with them had been spent on elevating his mother to a new position with another family. There was an entire hierarchy under the family structure with the Royals being at or near the top. You were born into your family’s position in life and that was where you stayed unless the head of the family was able to move up a level in the hierarchy. Females were the dominant gender.

I was again floored at how easily the alien gave up information. After pressing him further he confessed that he had joined on with the fleet with thoughts of seeing the Frekkin Empire. Up until their assault on Earth, all he had visited over his 42 Earth years of service were two mining colonies, and of those he had only been able to see one. It was by no means the adventure he sought and it was not the adventure he was promised by the job recruiters on his home world. But the work was good and he had lived a comfortable life.

He then told that everyone was born into freedom. When they reached working age they would commit to a family for a position, with the proceeds going to their family head. Their term for the family head was similar in description to our "governor".

He then alluded that the Frekkin Empire was not always an easy place to make a living. Often it was difficult to even stay alive. From what he had witnessed death came easily out amongst the stars. If you were lucky enough to attach yourself to Royals who kept themselves occupied with a business other than conquest, you could live a long and comfortable life.

As Gurkus thought further of the demise of the Rial family he began to get a sad look on his face. If the Rials were to fall out of royal status it would be disastrous for any who were in their employ. His own position would be diminished, putting pressure on his family’s position. Up until this point in the war he had chosen to not think about the consequences of loss. His sadness began to turn to distress.

I then posed a new question to Gurkus. What would happen to his family status if he was taken prisoner by another species, a perhaps more powerful species? After thinking for a moment, his mood began to change. If he was taken as the spoils of war and then offered a position above what he had with the Rials it could turn the almost certain loss of status that was coming, into a gain. He delighted in the thought of a new position with a powerful species. For him, the decision to cooperate fully was an easy one.

I inquired about the gravity wave weapon to which he replied that the technology aboard the ship was beyond his or any other Kurtz' knowledge. It was not Kurtz technology. The ships and equipment were all provided from above. They were provided by those far enough up the family hierarchies that he had no knowledge of where they had come from. He pondered that perhaps it had come from the Frekkin Empire. It was something that he had never given much thought to as it was not relevant to his or his family’s position in life.

I then asked where on the ship the Royals resided. He hesitated before telling me they were four decks up and three perimeter halls out. The higher up in decks you went, the higher the status of those who resided there.

I then asked about the military. Since most of the ships were automated drones the military sect was cast as one of the lower position sects. They resided on the lowest of the air-decks. Below them and on the outer perimeters of the ship were the Barhoo’s.

The Barhoo’s were low intelligence workers and fell far below any Kurtz in the hierarchies. They were also used frequently in battle as they were voracious breeders, so their populations were easily re-established.

I then asked Gurkus why the other mega-ship was pushing one of the moons of Alvin. He did not have an answer. The door then opened behind us. I blinked out and waited for whoever was coming in. It was an extravagantly dressed female, a direct niece of Rial Dorius.

Shepard made a quick lunge slamming her hard against the wall as the door closed. The Kurtz dignitary went limp in her arms. Gurkus quickly moved over to offer assistance. With his help the niece of Rial Dorius was laid out on the massage table. Gurkus looked frantic.

I blinked in again and a startled Gurkus let out a series of low grunts. The translator told us that the lower Royal was dead. Shepard’s lunge had crushed her midsection as was evidenced by the green blood running from her nostrils. It seemed the Kurtz were fragile beings.

The Marines soon arrived and had Gurkus encased in a transport module. Shepard was given a new power cell and the Marines soon blinked out and were on their way. Command then sent orders for us to find the Royals and to observe. Before leaving I sent a low level gravity pulse into the wall that the door slid into, denting it and thereby making it inoperative.

Following the directions given by Gurkus we then floated up four decks and out three hallways. On each level it was apparent that the Kurtz on that level were of higher status than those of the level below. I wondered what the niece of Rial Dorius had been doing on such a low deck. Gurkus was no longer around to answer.

We then floated into a room that looked somewhat familiar. A tall thin extravagantly dressed Kurtz was sitting in a blue chair gazing into a holo-display. I then realized that the room was familiar because I had been there before. This was the alien being that I had encountered when I had first drifted onto the alien mega-ship before its arrival to Earth.

As we watched I sent a text to Command asking if my video feed could be sent to the Marines who were in possession of Gurkus. I then asked if the video could be shown to Gurkus so that I might ask questions about what I was seeing. Several minutes passed before Gurkus' image appeared on my helmet display.

I texted a question as to who the Kurtz was that was sitting before me. Gurkus replied that it was the sister of Rial Dorius, Rial Mabia. She was second in command of the fleet. They were twin sisters and the governor of the family had been chosen by their mother before her death.

I asked if the two sisters got along to which Gurkus again looked confused. There was no contention within the hierarchy. It was not permitted and had been punishable by death for many millennia. It was a rule that the Kurtz dare not violate as it was viewed as distasteful and if discovered would immediately lower a family’s position.

I then asked Command for permission to blink in and to question Rial Mabia. Permission was granted and within an instant a startled Royal was looking into the end of a pulse gun. Shepard remained unseen.

I then called her by name when asking the first question. I wanted to know why they were invading our planet. Mabia looked around the room wondering where I had come from and then decided it would be wise to answer.

They had come for the Sodium. Sodium was used as the source of energy throughout the Frekkin Empire. It was an extremely valuable commodity. Our planet was rich with the form they needed for mining, Sodium that was dissolved in water. I then asked why they did not mine it from elsewhere as Sodium was a plentiful resource amongst the stars.

She replied that the equipment they had could only be used with Sodium that was dissolved in water. These were the ships they had been provided and the directions they had been given, to mine Sodium from water planets.

I then asked why they had left Alvin and why they were pushing one of its moons towards the planet. She replied with an answer that our scientists had speculated upon when we had witnessed the pushing in action. The Sodium of Alvin had been depleted. Only enough to use as breeding grounds for the Barhoo remained. The submerged Barhoo city would have lifted into space by now and would be on its way to Earth along with the other mega-ship. The ship containing Rial Dorius.

The moon de-orbit was as speculated. As it moved to a lower orbit it would speed up causing it to eventually crash into the other moon. The high Sodium content of the twin moons would then rain down on the seas of Alvin. Within several hundred years the planet’s oceans would once again be rich in the form of Sodium they required for mining.