Lokians 1: Beyond the End of the World (12 page)

“
Most intriguing…right, well, anyway, I
suppose they’re just cubicle jockeys, eh?”

O’Hara chuckled and shook his head, amused.
Then, both he and Nandesrikahl heard a ruckus. Becker and Imes were
arguing, which was nothing new. From the snippets they gleaned,
Imes had started exercising in front of her again, something he
often did to try and elicit a romantic liaison, and instead of
taking it in good fun, Becker exploded.

“
You two need to settle down,” Franklin
said.

“
Hey, this isn’t your business,” Imes
retorted pointing his finger.

“
Both of you need to shut up, and I
swear,” Becker screamed. “Oh good, Captain, settle
this!”

“
Nothing to settle, really, Captain,”
Adams interjected. “They–”

“
Whoa! I won’t have either one of you
telling me how to run my crew,” O’Hara barked. “Now, all of you
shut it, and get over whatever stupid squabble you have with each
other.”

Becker and Imes both winced before stomping
off in opposite directions.

“
They just need to fuck,” Zakowski
said, laughing uproariously at his own comment.

Swain and Day shook their heads,
giggling.

“
Alright, I know tensions are up, and
I’m sure everyone’s anxious as I am to see what’s aboard that
vessel, and certainly, we’re all freaking about leaving our ship
and flying for light years with aliens, but we need to get some
rest,” the captain stated.

“
Are we maintaining communications with
Eon while we’re gone?” Swain inquired.

“
Yes, as a matter of fact we are.
The…
agents
, here, told me they’d send reports. Besides, if
the admiral can open a channel with the ambassador then we can use
that same channel,” O’Hara answered.

“
Good enough for me,” Swain
sang.

The Thewlian ship arrived shortly thereafter.
Fitzpatrick had been the first to spot it, and she called everyone
over. When it landed, everyone snatched their equipment. Quickly,
they jogged over to the extended platform. The bay door was raised,
and the ambassador motioned for them to make their way inside.
Cautiously, they all stepped aboard, their boots clanking as they
walked.

“
I’m glad to see you all here. We will
make introductions soon. For now, follow me.”

The loading zone had a few vehicles, chairs
and tables, everything a traveling ship carried. There were six,
massive, cylindrical elevators all in a row at the center of the
spacious zone. Phoenix Crew was escorted aboard two of the
elevators. The ride took them up two levels then the doors to both
elevators slid alongside the inside of the car to an open position.
The Humans observed the narrow, but rather high corridor before
them. Innumerable, tall, oval doors, which turned on hinges and
opened into rooms, revealed Thewls, who eyed the Humans.

The design of both the doors and rooms were
rather primitive. Each room had two, long beds alongside one wall,
two foot lockers, and a large, steel dresser. Each crewmember was
instructed to share time and space with a Thewl in order to better
understand each other. Captain O’Hara called his crew together for
a last recommendation.

“
Alright, we’re guests here, so, as
long as you’re up and about, I want you to explore and interact
with our new friends. For now, I want Swain to learn as much as
possible about how everything here works. I want Nandesrikahl to
learn about the languages and culture. Zakowski, find sickbay and
see what they know about medicine. DeReaux, see if they have small
arms. Martinez, check on their explosives and electrical devices.
Ask every question, but don’t be abrasive. We’ve been invited to
learn what we can, so let’s see what’s out there. Day and I will go
to the bridge. Adams and Franklin, see what you can learn about
their history.”

After a salute, the crew broke off to learn
whatever there was to know. Imes and Becker also split up. Since
neither had been given explicit orders, Imes joined Martinez while
Becker joined Nandesrikahl. Fitzpatrick teamed up with DeReaux and
everyone was off. It was a seven hour trip from what the ambassador
called the Explorer to the Thewlian Carrier vessel, so everyone had
some time to mix and mingle.

Swain’s job was likely the most difficult. He
found the ship didn’t contain very much in the way of comfort or
technology, until the engineering deck, and the bridge. He was
shown the zero-gravity generator, which powered and propelled the
vessel. The generator employed a large, magnetic sphere of
Element-115 encased in a hollow, larger sphere of Element-115 with
opposing, magnetic charges. A gyroscopic room was built around the
hollow sphere with other, crescent shaped bars also made of
Element-115.

The bars maneuvered around the spherical room
by arms connected to the walls. The movement of the magnetic arms
caused the hollow sphere to spin, and because the interior ball was
being pulled equally from every angle as the hollow sphere rotated
around it, it gave off an electric discharge harnessed by the
Element-115. An accumulated discharge given off by the contraption,
harnessed enough speed and a powerful enough magnetic field to
actually lift the ship from the ground.

The only obstacle was getting the arms
started, which required power from a Uranium generator. Once they
were engaged, there was always power being generated and diverted
to other areas including communications, life support, and anything
else.

The zero-gravity generator provided movement,
but not coalescence. The Explorer was a scout ship set to dock with
a larger vessel, the Carrier, so, while the shuttle didn’t have the
ability to bend space-time fabric, it was necessary to board the
Carrier. Once Swain was told that the Carrier housed numerous
Explorers, and various other vessels, he grew curious about its
technology.

****

DeReaux and Fitzpatrick were shown twin,
telescopic cannons. They were located on either side of the ship.
Panels fanned back into the hull, creating an opening, allowing two
turrets to protrude through the hull. The action kept the ship
pressurized, and since the cannons were inside turrets mounted to a
hydraulic beam, a partition between the ship’s inner and outer hull
created a firewall. The cannons were powered by the zero-gravity
generator and fired ionized, super heated Helium-4.

The gas was highly compactable, and very
little was required to emit a high frequency, energy burst, or
plasma charge, allowing the ship to carry huge quantities in little
space. One drawback to the plasma cannons was the delay involved in
firing. Because each cannon used a canister of H-4, there was no
simple way to eject and replace each one. The canisters were
removed by hand and stored in chambers within the turrets. Each
turret only held six, at which point they had to be retracted.

While the weapon’s destructive abilities were
prominent, DeReaux and Fitzpatrick were unimpressed with the
design, it was a hindrance in battle, but Thewls stated it was a
scouting vessel. The Explorer was never intended for extended,
combat situations; it was designed to blow something to smithereens
as quickly as possible, and then flee to safety.

****

Zakowski meandered about the ship, enduring
stares from statuesque aliens. After ten or so minutes of walking
around, he finally asked someone for directions to sickbay. A Thewl
woman introduced herself as Il-Ahner and personally escorted him.
They went up two floors by way of auxiliary stairs then crossed a
corridor shining with a soft, blue radiance. The woman motioned
with a long fingered hand for Zakowski to proceed beyond a
threshold.

“
Oh, thank you. I would’ve wandered for
hours,” he said and laughed uncomfortably.

There was no door blocking the entrance to
the recovery room, so he strolled right on in. Many beds were
empty, but two Thewls were receiving treatment for injuries.
Zakowski observed the standard routines employed by the aliens.
They didn’t seem in anyway different from Human nurses and doctors,
excepting their specialty in Thewlian anatomy.

“
Uh excuse me? Can I get someone to
show me some medical equipment?” Zakowski asked a nurse at a
counter by the far end of the room.

The Thewl looked up, saying “You must be the
Human medic. We were told to help you,” she turned to another,
adding, “go find Rala.”

The other Thewl nodded perfunctorily and
walked away.

“
Gee, thank you for your time,”
Zakowski replied.

Shortly thereafter, two Thewls came to the
counter, and Rala introduced himself. He was shorter than most of
his compatriots, yet towered over any Human.

“
Glad to meet you, Rala. I’m Earl
Zakowski. They call me Zak, and I was hoping to get a rundown of
the equipment used, and the techniques you guys employ.”

“
Sure,” Rala replied with a pinkish
face. “I can walk you through most of the areas. We haven’t had any
battles, so no one is in surgery, but I’ll be glad to show you some
vids. You can study the information at your leisure”

Towards the back of sickbay, Zakowski was
shown a handful of surgical instruments and first-aid supplies. At
the conclusion of the sickbay orientation, he attempted to make his
way back to quarters, but again became discombobulated, resulting
in a need for directions.

Meanwhile, Martinez and Imes found themselves
in the mess hall adjacent the recreational quarters. A handful of
Thewls were eating. Martinez approached one of the men.

“
Hey, greetings, good to meet ya’. I’m
Martinez. You can call me Marty. This here’s Imes. How you guys
doin’?”

“
Greetings, Martinez, Imes. I am
Un-It,” The Thewl said. “This is Rettor; and that’s
Isf-Ero.”

Martinez glanced at them, forgot all their
weird names immediately then smiled, and said, “Our Cap’ wants us
to hang out with you guys, so we can all get to know each other.
All right if we sit and eat with ya’?”

The Thewls nodded and Imes sat down while
Martinez went to get some food. The cook handed him two, large
plates with enormous silverware. The forks and knives were similar
to Earth utensils. When he made it back, Marty set the plates down
in front of Imes, who was having difficulty sitting at the high
tables. The difference in size made the little things, like eating
lunch, uncomfortable. Marty laughed as he went through his pack to
grab Human utensils for himself and Imes.

“
So, you guys been on this ship long,”
Imes asked.

“
I have. I was on this ship before we
abandoned our home world, but Un-It and Rettor came aboard only
years ago,” Isf-Ero replied.

The other two Thewls nodded in
conjunction.

“
You guys been on any missions lately,”
Martinez asked.

“
Not recently, well not one that
required leaving the ship. This last mission was to make contact
with your people on Eon. Before that, I was just doing exploration
work,” Un-It said.

“
I was working on the colony we
established, but my knowledge of other races and cultures seemed
pertinent, so I volunteered for this mission,” Isf-Ero
added.

“
That’s really something,” Imes smiled.
“I can’t imagine knowing about different races. We have so many
cultural differences back on Earth. Being colony, raised I’ve never
even had the chance to see those differences…do most races have
different cultures within their regions?”

“
As a matter of fact, many of them do,”
Isf-Ero replied.

“
One sec,” Imes said with a frown. He
turned to his comm. and added, “hey, Nandy, get your butt down to
mess hall. There’s a guy here specializes in alien
cultures.”

“
Be there shortly,” Nandesrikahl
replied.

“
Mind waiting for our friend,” Martinez
asked.

The Thewls didn’t mind at all. It was
difficult for the Humans to get a sense of how the aliens felt,
since they didn’t smile, or blink, or sigh, or anything, but their
colors kept changing. Eventually, Nandesrikahl found his way to
them, and they resumed recounting.

“
As I was telling your friend,” the
Thewl started. “The Yvlekesh, for example, have different cultures
because they have many colonies, wherein many people are separated
from the main population on their home world.”

“
Like us,” Nandesrikahl
smiled.

“
In our case, we lost cultural
differences after we united to fight the Lokian threat. Before
then, we did have different subcultures,” Isf-Ero explained as his
complexion lost some color.

“
I see. That’s not unlike our colonial
men and women behaving slightly different than our Earth
counterparts,” Nandesrikahl added. “Colloquialisms, and what
not….”

They passed the hours with lively
conversations regarding everything from dancing to art and
languages. Imes and Martinez never had the opportunity to talk
rifles or sidearms, but had a blast anyway.

****

Becker had wandered away from Nandesrikahl
after Imes called him. She didn’t feel like expending the energy
required to make what she thought were fake, new friends. After
walking around on her own for a bit, just looking at the aliens,
the lights, the strange panels with incomprehensible glyphs along
the walls, she grew tired, and retired to her room, which she
shared with a bridge officer. She was glad her Thewl roommate
wasn’t around.