Alien Manifesto (13 page)

“
Old friend,” hissed
Snarth, “it wasss purely chance that I am involved at all. I wasss
just trying to get back sssome profit owed me.”

“
Well, I accept your
explanation. If you say that’s the way it happened, that’s good
enough for me. However, there are others who will not believe you,”
slurred a now very intoxicated Howler. “Watch your back old friend,
watch your back. Unless you come work for me.”

~

“
You know that azsss long
azsss the current executive branch isss in charge I can never come
back to the agency,” hissed an equally intoxicated Snarth, putting
an end to the night’s festivities.

There was a message waiting for Snarth
once he and Rowl returned to the ship. It was from the stealth
master. She was requesting that Snarth contact her at once. Why she
had not contacted him on his personal communicator was a concern,
so Snarth, as intoxicated as he was, signaled for the Stealth
master. She answered immediately.

“
Snarth, you must return at
once,” she mewed. “The main perimeter has been probed twice in the
last few long time units. The sensors are unable to get an accurate
reading. But Human Tom’s nose and mine agree. It is rodents,
possibly mercenaries hired by AArat’s family.”

ssSon of a mud sssucking
newert
cursed Snarth silently. “How many,
do you think?” he hissed.

“
My guess is about a dozen
judging from the scent trails,” growled the stealth
master.

“
ssSecure the perimeter and
I will be there azsss fassst azsss I can,” hissed
Snarth.

Turning to the console at his elbow,
Snarth barked “Captain, to my essstate with the bessst possssible
time.” Within minutes they were under way with no time for a
good-bye to an old friend. “Mud sssucking rodentsss,” hissed Snarth
as he popped a sober up capsule to clear his head; he would need
his wits about him very soon.

Snarth’s ship landed at his estate in
half the time it took him to get to Howler’s headquarters, straight
into the hanger barely pausing, then hard on the reverse thrusters
to burn off all that extra delta V.

~

I was awakened suddenly by the squawk
of the intercom. “Human Tom, something just probed the main
perimeter,” hissed the stealth master.

“
I will be right there,” I
answered as I kissed Tasha good-bye and hurriedly
dressed.

Then I double-timed it to the main
control room. I arrived at the same time as the Irishman to find
the stealth master geared up and ready for action. “I can’t be sure
from here but I think it’s the rodents again,” she purred. Then
looking at me she purred “Feel like going hunting?”

“
Hell yes,” I said; I was
dying to try out my new night vision.

To the Irishman she said, “Wait here
for Snarth’s return. Once we are past the perimeter, arm all
defenses, just in case there are more than I think there are.” The
Irishman nodded his acceptance of the stealth master’s orders. “We
will contact you once we are done so you can deactivate the
perimeter defenses.” Then like a puff of smoke, she disappeared to
begin the hunt.

I have to admit I was a little uneasy
about disobeying Snarth’s orders but with the stealth master’s help
maybe we could end this before Snarth arrived. As we made our way
out of the main gate, I was amazed at how bright and clear my new
night vision was; it was almost as if it were daylight rather than
darkness.

I was struck by a smell that was
almost overpowering as soon as we started around the main
perimeter. I remembered that smell, RODENTS and lots of
them.

The scent trail led into the tropical
swamp just outside the main gate. Then I caught the smell of smoke,
a wood fire burning. My first thought was a trap. I could not
believe anyone would be stupid enough to light a cook fire on a
stealth mission. I was wrong.

After an hour’s creep, we came across
a group of rodents doing what appeared to be cooking dinner over a
small fire. I counted 10 rodents of various species. The biggest
one was only 5 feet tall or so and fat. It was however very well
armed and not to be underestimated.

The stealth master signaled that she
would circle around to the opposite side of the campsite. Then we
would attack. I crept closer to the fire waiting for the stealth
master’s signal to attack. Suddenly one of the rodents went flying
away from the group and landed with a sickening thud, followed by
another and then another.

The stealth master was in the middle
of the group killing anyone she could reach with her claws and
feline blade. As the group scattered in surprise I saw one rodent
on the edge of the fight raise a hand weapon.

Without thinking, I drew my blaster
and fired, cutting him down. That brought my position under fire
from several of the scattered and now concealed rodents. I rolled
into a new position and fired, killing another rodent as it
scurried to a new hiding place trying to escape the stealth master,
forgetting in the excitement of the firefight that I was
cloaked.

Then just as quickly as it started, it
was over. All of the rodents were down, now we had to see if any
were left alive for questioning. As it turned out the leader was
the only one left alive, although very badly wounded by the stealth
master.

“
Who sent you?” spat the
infuriated stealth master as she shook the wounded
leader.

“
AArat,” was the only word
he managed to say before he died.

Later as we piled the bodies into the
pit we had dug, I picked off the rodents’ weapons out of curiosity.
I found one very finely made very large knife. It would have been
considered a sword to the small rodent I found it on. As I hefted
its weight in my hand, I admired its balance and the wickedly sharp
and exotically shaped blade. I decided to keep it, not as a trophy
but as a weapon, replacing the standard military issue dagger I
carried since I was in the S.E.A.L.s.

Seeing the knife caused a hiss of
surprise from the stealth master. Thinking I had overstepped my
boundaries, I offered it to her.

“
That is a feline weapon.
If you like I will train you in its use. Wear it well Human Tom,”
she said to me, declining my offer of the weapon.

Now I have never been much of a knife
man but this blade called to me in an almost spiritual way. So I
put it back in its sheath and fastened it to my belt.

After we finished burying the rodents,
the stealth master and I headed back to the main estate house. We
could both use a bath. Before we approached the main gate, I called
the Irishman to tell him to deactivate the perimeter
defenses.

“
How did it go, your hunt?”
asked the Irishman; so I filled him in with the short version.
“Snarth is on his way back and wants you both in the briefing room
after you are cleaned up. He didn’t seem very happy when I told him
where you two were,” added the Irishman.

The stealth master seemed completely
untroubled by the Irishman’s news. I however had butterflies in my
stomach. I mean after all we had disobeyed Snarth’s orders. I was
nervous about just how he would react.

The Irishman, who had a big smile on
his face, met Snarth. Confused, Snarth asked, “What’sss got you
ssso happy? How many did you kill?”

“
I never got the chance to
fire a shot,” answered the still grinning Irishman. “Tom and the
stealth master surprised a group of rodent mercenaries about two
clicks outside the perimeter. It wasn’t much of a fight,” added the
Irishman.

“
Any other casssualtiesss?”
asked Snarth.

“
No sir just the rodents.
Tom and the stealth master are getting cleaned up” finished the
Irishman.

“
Have them meet me in the
briefing room,” hissed Snarth angrily.

~

Snarth was waiting for me when I
arrived at the briefing room; the stealth master was already there.
I fully expected to be chewed out for not following Snarth’s orders
and I stood at attention, waiting for it. To my surprise it did not
come.

“
Sit down Human Tom,” said
Snarth. “I have gone over the eventsss of thisss evening with the
ssstealth massster and you both acted in my best interessstsss.
ssSo azsss far azsss I am concerned the matter isss over and done
with. I will however, caution you both about being recklessss. You
are both young and I would like to sssee you live a while longer.
You sssee, there are many old warriorsss and many bold warriorsss
but there are no old, bold warriorsss.”

“
Yes sir, it won’t happen
again,” I answered. The feline master remaining silent, busily
cleaning her face and paying absolutely no attention to Snarth’s
lecture at all.

As I wondered what would
happen next the canine master, the Irishman and SSlice, joined us.
A sense of excitement was building in the briefing room.
Were we about to get another mission?
I hoped so. I wanted to put the business on Xarra
behind me finally.

“
My meeting with Howler
went very well,” hissed Snarth, “I believe the trouble with the
Cult of Eli isss behind usss. Now we can get back to the
busssinessss of making a profit inssstead of revenge. ssSince
ssSniggle has ssseen fit to interfere with my busssinessss
enterprisssesss, he will be the firssst one we raid. ssSSlice hasss
brought to my attention that ssSniggle isss in possssessssion of a
document. Thisss document isss in fact a map. Azsss legend hasss
it, one that will lead to the treasssure vaultsss of the
Onesss.”

Seeing the stunned expressions on the
faces of my team members only added to the confusion I felt. “Who
are the Ones?” I asked aloud without thinking.

“
You don’t know the legend
of the Ones?” asked the feline master in disbelief.

“
He isss from Earth and
they were ssspared the wrath of the Onesss ssso he would not know
of the legendsss,” hissed Snarth.

“
How about you, Irishman;
do you know the legends?” asked the feline master.

“
Only what Rowl has told
me. I thought they were just a legend,” answered the
Irishman.

“
No, the stories are true,”
answered SSlice. “I have seen the ancient texts describing the
final battle that ended the Ones’ rule over all known time and
space. They were the most feared race in the galaxy. Their empire
was vast, encompassing hundreds of thousands of civilized planets.
It is written that the Ones ruled even time itself,” he whispered.
“But they could not overcome the biological necessity of
hibernation any more than they could change their merciless
nature.”

“
Sniggle has a map to this
treasure vault?” I asked SSlice, shaking my head in disbelief.
“Back on earth you can buy as many treasure maps as you can afford
and each one is just as fake as the next. Snarth, how do you know
this isn’t just bait for a trap?”

“
Becaussse I don’t think
ssSniggle knowsss what he hasss, at leassst not yet,” hissed
Snarth. “You sssee thisss map isss written in a language ssSniggle
couldn’t decipher in two lifetimesss. In fact, there are only about
three maybe four people in the galaxy who can. And ssSSlice isss
one of them,” he hissed. “I know through my contactsss that
ssSniggle hasss ssspent a consssiderable fortune trying to decipher
what could be a dessscription of the planet where the treasssure
vaultsss were kept sssecret.”

“
I know thisss becaussse it
isss written in the language of the Onesss and probably only one of
a dozen or ssso documentsss known to have sssurvived the final
battle,” Snarth hissed. “That in itssself makesss thisss document
very, very valuable. I would venture a guessss that it isss
ssSniggle’sss mossst prized possssessssion. We are going to sssteal
it. Who’sss with me?” hissed Snarth with his best tentacle-wiggling
grin.

The first to answer was Rowl. “Are you
sure that is such a good idea? If you thought dealing with the Cult
of Eli was a problem, then can you imagine what finding a treasure
of that size will be like?” he growled.

Snarth’s grin only got larger in
response. “ssSo Rowl, you’re in?” hissed Snarth.

“
Count me in too” said the
Irishman, answering for both of them.

“
That’sss two, how about
you Human Tom?” hissed Snarth.

“
I still think it’s a
fool’s errand, but count me in,” I answered.

“
That’sss three,” hissed
Snarth with a huge grin. “How about you ssSSlice, want sssome
payback?” he hissed. “Your people sssuffered under the Onesss, now
it’sss time for sssome payback,” hissed Snarth, goading
SSlice.

“
As long as I don’t have to
do any combat, I detest violence,” answered SSlice almost
reluctantly.

“
That leavesss only you,
massster feline,” hissed Snarth. “I know that wealth isss not
important to you or your people. But think of the knowledge thossse
vaultsss might contain. You might find thossse answersss your
father wasss looking for.”

The feline master was completely
engrossed in sharpening her claws, completely uninterested in the
whole matter. Pausing, she said, “I do not yearn for the answers
that my father spent his life searching for. But I have a life debt
to Human Tom and I promised to teach him how to use that feline
blade he is so fond of. Besides, someone has to keep you all from
getting killed by being so loud,” purred the feline
master.