Prophet of ConFree (The Prophet of ConFree) (24 page)

"Just a moment," the Prof said. "You said the unidentified ship was about 500 K away when these eruptions hit the inside of your ship."

"Yes sir."

"I see. Please continue."

"Well, things got very quiet for awhile. All I could hear was the crackling of flames and there was this horrible stench, which was evidently from burning body parts and piss and crap. A river of blood leaked into the little cavity where I was hiding. I believe I was in shock, going in and out of consciousness. Then I heard them."

"Heard who?"

"Them! The creatures that boarded our ship and attacked us!"

"One moment please. Was the ship still 500 K away?"

"Yes. The last I saw of it – about one frac before the first bang – it was still there."

"And how did these – creatures – get inside your ship?"

"I don't know. Presumably they somehow approached us without our noticing anything and then they blew out the hatches."

"Did the ship decompress?"

"No."

"Were your hatches sealed and locked before this happened?"

"Of course they were – I told you that."

"Did these creatures enter through the hatches?"

"Is there any other way to enter a ship?"

"Did you seal and lock the hatches after the invaders left the ship?"

"Seal and lock the hatches…" He looked at the Prof in astonishment. "There was only me left alive and I was unconscious by then. No, I didn't seal and lock the hatches."

"Please continue with your most interesting account."

The pirate stared vaguely off into the distance, touched his gel-caked face, and continued his account in a low voice. "I heard them coming. There was a scratching – a lot of scratching. Then they entered the bridge. They stood there awhile, as if looking around. I was terrified and didn’t make a sound. There was a little slit between the ledge and the topmost container where I could see out – and hopefully they could not see in because of the shadows. So I got only glimpses. I saw dark, oily blue metal, flickering hotly with a strange green light. The light was filling the bridge, and I could hear or feel some kind of electric charge. As they moved around, I decided the blue metal was their armor – alien A-suits – and the flickering green light was some kind of force field. That's what I thought. At first, I saw individual details of the armor – a kind of squat chest plate with strange devices attached to it. Then I noted what might have been armor around their arms – again with complex devices attached to the armor and that green flickering running up and down. I couldn't see any legs because my view was blocked but I saw enough to decide that these were short, stocky creatures wearing bulky armor and their arms seemed small in comparison to their bodies. That was my impression." He sucked in his breath.

"How tall were they – your best guess?"

"Maybe two-thirds the height of an average human."

"Thank you. Go on, please."

"This raspy chirping sound was echoing around the bridge. It was the creatures, communicating with each other. That's what I believe it was. It was creepy – almost insect-like. I was paralyzed with fear. Then I got a fairly good view of one of the helmets. And they were wearing helmets, probably armored, with faceplates. Again, these things were very complex, with metallic devices like hoses or tubes stuck to them. And they were dirty – oily and dirty. I had the impression of filth – I don't know, maybe that was only because they had walked through that plasma storm from their weapons. Dark, dirty armor and dark dirty helmets enclosing their heads. Yes – it sure seemed to me they were bipedal although I saw no feet and I had the impression they had two arms and a head.

"The helmets had faceplates that were glowing with yellow light. It kind of burned through the green light that was encasing their armor. I only had a brief view of one of the helmets and I didn't dare look in – I was afraid they might spot me." He shuddered. "They were dirty, filthy, diseased. A creature from Hell. A beast, a devil, a demon."

"What happened next?"

"Lots of chittering and chirping. Then they left the bridge. I heard the screaming when they opened the cargo compartment and dragged out the girls. They were terrified – and I didn't blame them."

"So they took your captives? How many were there?"

"Thirty-two girls. Poor things. I guess they hadn't blasted the cargo compartment because it sounded like there were a lot of hysterical girls still alive. Anyway, that's the last I heard. There was some banging and thumping, and then silence. Then the tension either hit me or left me, I don't know, but I passed out. And that's all I remember. Can you tell me what happened to my companions?"

"I think you've already guessed," the Prof said. "All dead. Sorry – you were the only survivor."

Δ

"This may be the most important report I ever write," the Prof said. We were in the lounge, sipping dox, just the two of us. Prof did that to relax. He said it helped him concentrate his mind. "I'll address this to immediate Director ConFree, Commanding General ConFree Legion, Director Galactic Information, and info all commands. Of course the Wasp will decide whether to follow my suggestions. But this may be the first factual information we have on the inhabitants of these saucer craft."

"He was telling the truth, that's for sure." I said.

"Now, let's discuss the entry hatches."

"They were sealed and locked and undamaged when we arrived," I said.

"Correct. So, however these creatures arrived, they did not blow away the entry hatches. All hatches were intact, until we blew away the main hatch ourselves."

"Which means they did not damage the hatches either arriving or leaving."

"So how did they enter the ship?" Prof asked.

"Presumably not through the entry hatches."

"They didn't seem reluctant to do damage to the ship. Why so reluctant to damage the hatches?"

'They didn't need them. They got in another way," I said.

"How? There was no breach of the hull other than our antimat torpedo, which happened later."

"Good question. Their ship was 500 K away. How did they get in, and how did they leave?" I asked.

"Even if they could open the hatches without inflicting damage, the ship would have decompressed unless they installed a secure temposeal, like we did. But without a ship…"

"And they took thirty-two female captives with them when they left. If they didn't use any of the hatches, how did they do that? And what do they want with female captives anyway? Are they slavers, too?"

"They could have moved their ship up and docked with the Linda Lee after they took it over," the Prof said. "And used the main hatch to exit. That's no problem. But if that was the case, the main hatch would have been unlocked when we got there. Sealed and closed from the outside, maybe, but unlocked. The hatch does not lock from outside. Only from inside."

"And they took all thirty-two girls."

"Sure looks like it. The cargo compartment was not damaged in the raid. So all thirty-two captives likely survived."

"Good lord, have mercy," I said.

"So how did they get in the ship?"

"Teleportation? Vac-active holos?"

"From what he said, these creatures seemed distressingly real and ugly and dirty. Probably with very bad breath. And with force fields. Holos don't need force fields. No, they weren't holos. Teleportation? Well, nobody's done that yet. I think we'd best rule that out."

"Well, isn't it senseless to speculate? If they're so advanced, so far ahead of us, why should a ship's hatch give them any problems? They probably just ignored it, and entered the ship through some method we can't even imagine."

"You may be right," Prof replied.

"What can we say about the weaponry?" I asked.

"The forensics team confirmed it was a plasma blast, but it was combined with something else – an initial highly-focused shock wave that blasted apart whatever it encountered. I'll note their conclusions in my report."

"What are you going to call these creatures?"

"I don't know. Beasts? Demons? Something like that. But there's one thing sure."

"What's that?"

"They're not benevolent."

Δ

Δ

I watched calmly out the armored plex as Bird guided
Ruthie
down towards the target. The Phantom's blunt wings and fuselage were flickering red hot as we cut through the night air, dropping from the vac like a brick. What a view! Drusweaven was a beautiful world, glowing in golden sunlight along one horizon, cast in inky black in the other direction, where we were headed. The plan was to show up unannounced at 0430 in the pit of the night, invisible and invincible. It was an extensive slaver hideout, almost like a small town, very well camfaxed. They even had a small starport, with underground shelters for all their starjacked spacecraft. Our assault force was overwhelming. Outside the plex, I could see the faint red glow from several other Phantoms, which were by themselves quite invisible. All five CATs were participating, 250 men, the
Wasp
's entire Legion complement. It was going to be a big party. The target was in the Gassies, but piracy was not a big problem in the Gassies so they didn't have routine piracy patrols there. I guess that's why they assigned the
Wasp
to do the raid. The
Wasp
was getting a reputation for being an enthusiastic and effective anti-slavery instrument, and we were closest. Maybe that's what did it.

We had thoroughly eyemoted the entire installation. We knew everything. We knew exactly where the pirates were, where most of their captives were, where the duty reaction team was. We were ready. It was dark outside.
Ruthie
was spiraling down along with twenty-five other Phantoms, and each ship, each squad, had its own targets and objectives. It looked like overkill to me, but that was fine. Overkill was good. These bastards had hidden from the civilized world far too long, and now it was payback time.