Star Kitten (57 page)

Kscheeech looked up at her with a broad toothy smile that
gradually faded into a slightly concerned look. “S-ssso uh, just
how many of you made it out, Princess-sss?” Felina lowered her
voice and replied, “About fifteen thousand…” but everyone in the
group heard her. She could hear them murmuring and repeating the
number to each other, while she took another long breath of oxygen
from her breather. Chattering amongst themselves, the mostly Zorg
crew passed the world along: Out of the nearly one hundred thousand
Nausties on the planet when Earth invaded… apparently only a
handful had made it out alive.
However… Felina was responding to his exact question,
thinking he meant “how many were in her group of refugees”. She
didn’t mean the refugees were the only survivors.

The rest of Felina’s scout team along with the Pumalar females
and Star Baby, came out to join Felina and their rescuers. They all
joyfully scurried inside the ship to get out of the withering heat
and get some cool water to drink. Kscheeech also ordered a meal to
be prepared for them! Meanwhile, he and Felina sat together and
talked privately about what had happened the past few weeks, while
Star Baby played with the crew. It turned out, the
Chengshi
had actually returned to
New Australia within a few weeks of hearing on the news that the
Earth commanding general had scrubbed the mission and Earth was
officially abandoning the invasion. Every evening since, they’d
been landing on the surface near the Terminal Loading Bay waiting
for survivors to come out. In the evening heat, right before the
temperatures would plunge; they’d send surface rovers out to scour
the area around the site—including over by the new solar domed
farm. This had gone on for many days, while they waited for signs
of survivors. Each evening they’d explore the old Terminal; and the
wreckage of the Terminal Loading Bay as well. Then, when the area
got too dark and too cold, they’d return to their ship and return
to orbiting the planet.

Many of his crew had
urged him to abandon the task, when they saw the level of
destruction everywhere. And Kscheeech admitted he almost considered
heeding their suggestions at times, especially when it had been
weeks since the Earthers had abandoned their base and no Nausties
had appeared. But… Solomon had given him the order to come back
looking for survivors so that’s what he did—night after night.

Kscheeech went
on to tell Felina all about what he thought she didn’t already
know. He told her about the final battle, the massive explosion
reported in the news, the subsequent eruption of the volcano, and
finally the horrific fireballs exploding up the shafts and tunnels
of New Australia which wiped out over half the Earth Army. It was a
horrifying scene on the news; and his crew had watched it all
unfold onscreen. It seemed to the press like the desperate Naustie
Army had decided to just blow themselves up right along with their
enemies; right down there in the planet’s mine system, using
explosive charges. Perhaps this had triggered a volcanic eruption,
speculated many “experts”. No doubt their “demise” was
“accidental”, it was theorized.

That’s when Felina realized that Kscheeech (as well as the
media… and best of all the Earther commanders) quite possibly had
it all wrong. The whole galaxy must have
thought—
oh my God
could it really be
? Felina smiled broadly and then she laughed—she laughed long
and hard too—joyously and somewhat insanely (until she finally had
to cover her mouth with her paw). This completely unnerved
Kscheeech for a moment. “Princess-sss, what is-sss it? What’s
sss-so funny?” asked Kscheeech with a confused smile. Felina had
suddenly realized that the press had made the logical and quite
very mistaken assumption that the entire planet’s population… all
the Nausties, their army, and most of the Earth Army right along
with it… had perished. “No, Kscheeech! Don’t you get it? The galaxy
thinks we’re
all
dead!
Don’t you see?” she asked, still smiling and cackling like a hyena.
“If they all think we’re dead… then… well… don’t you see what it
means? They’re not coming back, Kscheeech! Never!”

Kscheeech
thought about it for a moment. She was probably right. The Earth
army had left; the planet was clearly uninhabitable now. Earthers
would never try and come back to mine here; not likely for many
years (if ever). Kscheeech could also picture the political fallout
back on Earth from suffering such a decisive defeat and military
disaster at the hands of “barbaric pirates” (as the press
occasionally referred to them). It would mean an overwhelming
backlash toward the same hawkish conservatives who’d urged this
doomed mission from the get-go. No, the Earthers would not be
back.

He grinned and
hissed with delight at the thought of all this for a few brief
moments, nodding and chuckling right along with Felina. But, then
an even darker thought slowly came over him. What about all the
immense loss of life? Was Felina implying they were all going to
STAY? So far, Kscheeech only knew of these survivors and no one
else. To him, it looked like (in the news), that the Naustie army
had also perished in the volcano. He understood what Felina was
saying, yes. But what would it matter if everyone else in the
galaxy thought every soul on the planet was killed? With hardly any
Nausties left, what was the use of staying and trying to exist
here? How could they expect to rebuild the planet with only this
handful of survivors; and less than two thousand crewmen combined,
from the whole Naustie merchant fleet?

With a
dismissive grin he said, “Well, that’s-sss all well and good;
Princess-sss. But we need to get the ressst of the fleet down here
to evacuate what’s-sss left of our population.” He bowed his head
and blinked his eyes respectfully as he continued, “And we must
honor the dead… now that all our brave warriors-sss have
sss-sacrificed to s-sssave us-sss.” That’s where Felina finally
corrected him. “Oh no, Kscheeech, they’re not dead my old friend.
They’re still down there. Don’t you get it? The army is still down
there. We just have to go back and get them!” Kscheeech looked at
her long and hard like she was insane. She just giggled and nodded
enthusiastically.

As
Star Baby came over to jump up into her lap, Felina explained to
Kscheeech that the detonation of explosions was designed to occur
so that it blew the Earthers
up
the mine shafts and tunnels
from whence they came
. The Naustie Army, by way of comparison, was
well protected at least a mile away from the magma chamber and
had
dug-in
via the creation of
cave-ins so that the gases and fallout from the eruption would not
harm them. “In fact,” she explained, “the army is likely still down
there, feverishly tunneling out right now as we speak!” Kscheeech
looked at her sadly… she couldn’t possibly believe what she’d just
said. Or if she actually did, she must not really understand
physics and geology. Kscheeech thought long and hard about
explaining to her just how unlikely a rescue could be, but he just
couldn’t bring himself to do it—not with Felina’s adorable daughter
looking up at him smiling.

“
Well, my Princess-sss… if you think they’re down there; then
we’d better go find them,” he said, halfway just consoling her and
the other half just flat-out placating her. No, he couldn’t imagine
being able to tunnel down up to ten miles through simmering hot
lava, just to find what was likely going to be nothing more than
20,000 dead bodies. Even if Felina
was
right, and they’d survived the blast; they couldn’t
have survived the noxious gases emitted from the volcano. Even if
they survived the gases; they’d likely have run out of air by now
and suffocated. If they had breather units they could live for a
while, yes. However, how would they have enough food to eat and how
would they ration it? They’d have no way of knowing if the refugees
ever made it to the surface. They likely didn’t even know that the
Earther army had withdrawn!

Above
everything else, even if Kscheeech, the refugees, and all the crews
from all the Naustie fleet started digging and reopening tunnels
immediately, it could be weeks before they reached any Naustie
warriors… and surely they’d all be dead by then. However: Kscheeech
had greatly underestimated Felina. He’d underestimated Nicky
Ciancio too… and he had completely underestimated the stubborn
determination of the Porko tunnelers among the refugees. They had
all survived so much together, in the bloody war with Earth. So
much death; all around them every day. Yet they’d lived through it
all together. And they were far stronger than Kscheeech could have
imagined. He was about to learn this lesson too!

It
didn’t take but five more days for the rest of the refugees to
arrive at the wreckage of the Terminal Loading Bay; and when they
all saw what had happened to their home planet; indeed many were
heartbroken, crestfallen, and wept openly. Kscheeech saw their
reactions and initially prepared his crew to take on passengers for
evacuation, as was the original plan. Yet many more though were
actually downright furious. One look into Nicky’s eyes—and that
cold deadly gaze he was famous for—was enough to get a sense for
what he and most everyone else felt inside. There was no way in
hell were they going to give up now. Exhausted or not, the Nausties
were going to stay. No, there’d be no evacuation to Frabrak 3 for a
“new life.” That was one order from Solomon that was going to be
respectfully
disregarded
.

“
Nah… We ain’t
leavin’,” muttered Nicky as he toured the burned-out ruins of the
Old Terminal Building. “Ain’t no way,” he just kept repeating. His
loyal Porko tunneling teams snorted in agreement when he passed by
them repeatedly muttering this. Angry Zorgs hissed with
indignation. Spleefs glared about looking at the wreckage with
fiery red eyes. Female humans even reiterated and repeated Nicky’s
words. They looked at their babies and children, and said things
like, “Nope. We are not leaving. Not without your father.” Nicky
just kept on muttering, stalking around the ruins and the edge of
the big crater which had once been the terminal loading bay. People
and creatures heard him snarling those words “we ain’t leavin’,”
over and over again. They looked about, and the scene enraged them
further. No… the refugees were not about to abandon their home now.
This was THEIR planet!

Kscheeech realized it was no use suggesting that they board
his ship for Frabrak 3. Instead he ordered his crew to bring out
food and fresh water for the refugees; then he ordered his own
officers to help clean out the hospital facilities and surface
barracks left behind by the Earthers. These could be used for the
refugees to turn into temporary housing. The officers rolled their
eyes and smirked sarcastically; but then flew into action before
Kscheeech could say another word about it! These buildings left
behind by the Earther invaders were air-conditioned and powered by
solar energy panels so they could run almost indefinitely on the
planet surface. Living arrangements Kscheeech knew would be quite
crowded; but it was still a vast improvement versus living in the
dark tunnels below the surface the last few weeks. The Earthers had
even left behind massive fresh water tanks to provide facilities
with running water!
What a blessing
that
was for
mothers with children.

Finally, Kscheeech ordered his communications officer to send
a short range message to the remaining fleet up in orbit around New
Australia. It simply said, “
Evacuation cancelled.
Clear to land at Terminal Loading Bay. We’re
staying.
”

With that, the
refugees made their decision as a people. They would set the Porko
tunneling teams back to work digging down into the bowels of New
Australia. They’d start immediately, using any equipment they could
find. Kscheeech didn’t argue the point any further about the
futility of this. Frankly, they were all so determined. It would
have done no good to reason with them. Besides, even if they found
ONE family member alive; they’d have considered it a moral victory.
Nicky stood in the middle of a crowd that first day digging began
and addressed his brave Porko tunnelers. Never a man of many words;
and always blunt to the point, Nicky merely shouted, “Okay, yeah.
So we know what’s at stake heuh. We gaht brave soll-juhs down dayuh
and dey need owuh help. You Piggies, STAHT DIGGIN!” And to that,
the assembled crowd cheered with pride and delight.

Everyone found
a way to pitch in too. Females joined the support teams which kept
the tunnelers fed and hydrated. Zorgs from the ships joined right
in as well, aiding Spleef detection teams as they opened up pockets
of caves and caverns searching for survivors. Pumalar females
joined teams of rock handlers who would gently ferry out small
stones whenever Spleefs smelled a body. There were cave-ins
everywhere. Areas were unrecognizable at times; even to those who
were from those regions of the planet. Sometimes it looked like
they were digging down into hell itself to try and rescue their
loved ones. Body after body would be recovered. Usually it would be
merely an Earther soldier which would be discarded into a heap of
rubble. Often it was just parts of bodies. But occasionally a
Naustie body would be found; and everyone would fall silent out of
respect. It was grueling work; and crews worked night and day,
rotating in relief shifts as often as possible. But it was so
exhausting and demoralizing. So many bodies. So much
death!