Space Trader (Galactic Axia Adventure) (29 page)

“I find your appearance a bit unsettling as well,” Piaffè replied. “To me you look like some hugely overgrown primate from one of our worlds. Sadly, it is a primate that shows neither intelligence nor understanding. Rest assured, I will not hold that comparison against you. I am here to help you as instructed by the Horicon, Ert.”

“That is what we understand,” Ian said for both men.

“You received the instructions?”

“Yes, we did,” Ian again answered.

“Is your companion deaf and mute?” Piaffè asked. “It has not spoken.”

“He is just rather new to space travel,” Ian explained. “I think you are the first non-human he’s met. Except for the Red-tails, of course.”

“A most savage and horrible species!” Piaffè spat. “And thus we must hurry! It is only a matter of time before they detect you.”

“But we have the Optiveil,” Lyyle said, finally coming to life.

“That is true,” Piaffè observed. “But do not trust it. It is not perfect. Even now your veil is starting to leak.”

“That can’t be!” Lyyle said defensively. “It never did that on Vogel!”

“I am only stating what I observed. I have far better sensing equipment than the red scourge. However, they may stumble upon you by accident. We must make haste to escape this place.”

So began the frantic adaptation of making the two ships act as one. This turned out to be more than merely hooking them together to let the repulsion field of the
Cahill Express
cover them both. The challenge was to make the
Express
‘seem’ to be the size of the Jibbah ship so they could go together through the small wormhole that brought Piaffè here. Ian and Lyyle were daunted by the task.

But to their surprise, Piaffè turned out to be quite the little technician. His small size allowed him to enter into some of the equipment on the
Express
where the humans could not reach. There Piaffè adjusted settings and attached shunts according to Ert’s detailed instruction. Above him Ian and Lyyle double-checked compatibility with ship systems. They had almost completed the task when the long-range sensor alarm sounded.

“What is it?” Lyyle and Piaffè said almost as one. Ian leaped into the control chair and flipped on the sensor enhancers.

“Red-tail!” he spat. “Several of them are coming in fast!”

“It is as I feared,” Piaffè said as he quickly prepared to leave. “They have found us. We must move now!”

“But they can’t see us!” Lyyle protested.

“Only for a time,” Piaffè replied as he entered the airlock. “They know something is here. Eventually, they will stumble into you. Then it is over.”

“Powering up systems now,” Ian said as he ran through the new checklist provided by Ert. “Get over there, little guy. We’re going to have to try this cold turkey!”

“I do not understand what a below normal temperature land fowl has to do with our situation,” Piaffè said now through a room speaker. The airlock cycled and soon showed the little Jibbah had exited the
Express
safely.

“I am ready,” came the report from Piaffè now safely in his own little ship. “Move us into range,” he ordered Ian. “I will do the final alignment.

“They’re getting close!” Lyyle called from where he was watching the detector screen. “And they’re going to be between us and that wormhole in a minute!”

“Plenty of time,” Ian said with a coolness he did not really feel. Maneuvering the coupled ships close to the entrance, he then neutralized his controls so Piaffè could finish the final fine-tuning. Suddenly, an energy bolt seared open space not far away.

“The effect of the wormhole is backlighting us,” Piaffè reported as he coaxed the huge human ship and his own into the mouth of the wormhole. Another blast shot out, this time a bit closer.

“Why aren’t they hitting us?” Lyyle asked. Ian didn’t answer. He was charging his main heat rays just in case.

“Because of the gravitational distortions of the wormhole,” Piaffè answered.

“Here we go,” Ian reported from the control chair. Through the glassite windows on the front of the
Express,
they saw the wonderful yet horrible maw of the wormhole through which Piaffè was leading them.

∞∞∞

Moving silently on its appointed rounds, the patroller
Midnight
completed yet another circuit of its quadrant. Inside, the young captain chaffed at the dullness of his routine. He had signed up for adventure, not this tedium! Flying a groove in space, even though it was near the capital planet of Shalimar, was far from his dreams of glory.

Just as Captain Barbar was about to check in with his control commander, his attention was distracted by a flash of light far out in front of his ship. He double-checked his forward sensor array to verify that a transit tube was indeed forming in space within easy striking distance of Shalimar.

While he watched, the space around the point where he’d seen the flash began to swirl in a cosmic cloud of light. Then to his surprise it disgorged two vessels, one very small and almost invisible to his sensors. The other was an old freighter.

Fully expecting the tube to release a fleet of Red-tail invaders, Captain Barbar mashed down on the mic switch.

“Patroller
Midnight
calling in a full alert for sector 23F-47!” he all but yelled into the mic. “Unknown bogies appearing from what looks to be another transit tube!”

“We detect it too!” returned the terse reply from his commander back at the mothership. “Vectoring help as we speak. Hold your distance and keep reporting. Don’t engage until reinforcements arrive!”

Captain Barbar bristled at the subtle rebuke.

“Acknowledged,” he replied through clenched teeth.
Like I would really attack a Red-tail fleet alone!

Backing his patroller away from the unidentified objects, Barbar performed another sensor sweep to confirm what his eyes were telling him. To his surprise, there now only appeared to be one object!

Confused, he swung his optical magnifier into place and squinted into the eyepiece. All he could see was what appeared to be a civilian freighter several times the size of his own one-man patroller. There was no sign of the second object he’d seen ever so briefly.

At least I thought I saw it
, he told himself.

Resisting temptation, Barbar held position and prepared to photograph the unidentified ship. Just as he looked through the lens, he saw the mystery ship shimmer and disappear! Shocked, he performed another sensor sweep and it likewise showed nothing!

“Patroller
Midnight,
report,” his comm barked. “What is the status of those objects?”

“Patroller
Midnight
reporting,” Captain Barber replied as he continued both visual and sensor sweeps. “Situation unknown. And it’s not a Red-tail fleet. It was just two bogies. One was an old freighter, and I have no idea what the other one was. And now they’ve disappeared!”

“Please repeat,” his commander said. “You said they disappeared?”

“That is correct,” the captain responded reluctantly.

“Which direction did they go?” his commander asked. “I’ve got ships converging from several different directions.”

“I didn’t say they left, sir. I said they disappeared. One second they were there, the next they vanished right in front of my eyes.”

“Explain yourself,” his commander sternly ordered.

“The first object disappeared almost immediately after the flash,” Captain Barbar reported. “The second ship, which looked like an old freighter, that I also observed very briefly, shimmered then dropped off of my scope. I was looking right at it when it vanished.”

While this exchange was happening, Ian and Lyyle were listening in.

“Think we should tell them?” Ian asked from the control chair. “Otherwise that captain is gonna have nightmares tonight.”

“Probably,” Lyyle admitted. “Right now I’m just happy we made it through that wormhole! Using the combined effect of that little ship’s slipstream coupled with our repulsion field did the trick!”

“You think they saw our little friend?” Ian asked.

“He says he did, but I don’t think he’s sure,” Lyyle said. “As I said, that hull shape and surface make it almost impossible to see. I knew where to look and I still lost him for a while.”

“Well, we have company coming,” Ian said with a glance at the detector screen. “And some of it is mighty fast!”

Just then two little ships shaped like flattened ovals hove into view. Shortly afterwards, several other larger ships appeared, including a freighter painted Mica blue with an Imperial star on its side. Ian let out a low whistle.

“What’s that ship?” Lyyle asked.

“That’s something I never thought I’d see,” Ian said. “That is the private ship of Empress Ane herself.”

“What about those two little ships flitting about?” Lyyle asked. “Boy, can they move! They make the bigger ships look like slugs!”

“I read about those two in a magazine a while back,” Ian answered. “The pink one is called
Baby
and is usually seen with the Empress’ ship the
Mary Belle
. The little blue one is called Mee. It’s the same class as
Baby
. That’s about I know about them except to say they’re a special class of vessel.”

Lyyle watched the antics of the little ships and saw how they’d hover around the
Mary Belle
for a minute then disappear in a flash of light before returning just a quickly to her side.

“I guess we better make ourselves known,” Lyyle said. “They’re giving that scout captain a pretty rough time.”

“Do it,” Ian said. “Obviously, they can’t see us. Might as well face the music.”

∞∞∞

Not far away from the action, the little Jibbah ship floated undetected by any of the other ships present. Piaffè was amused by their antics, especially the two little ships flying around. Then the
Cahill Express
shimmered into view when Lyyle deactivated the Optiveil system. Piaffè saw the other ships react at their sudden appearance and then converge on the
Express
from all directions.

While this was going on, the little blue ship stopped and moved directly toward the Jibbah ship. Piaffè prepared to flee but he knew his ship could never outrun the incredibly fast little ship. Then the little ship stopped directly in front of him.

“Who are you?” the little blue ship asked in what sounded like a whisper. Piaffè was surprised to hear the question in his own language.

“I am Piaffè,” Piaffè said cautiously.

“Are you hiding?”

“Yes.”

“Oh goody!” the little blue ship said. “I like to play hide and seek!”

“Well, don’t tell anyone I’m here,” Piaffè said. “It is not safe for me.”

“Ok,” the little blue ship replied. “I’ll keep your secret.”

“Thank you,” Piaffè said, relieved that he may have found a friend. Then a thought struck him. “What is your name?”

“My name is Mee,” the little ship said. “Do you want to play?”

“I have to go see a friend,” Piaffè said. “He is on a planet you call Mica.”

“Oh, you mean Ert!” Mee said happily. “He’s my friend too! He told me how to find you and how to say your words.”

Piaffè was startled. “He taught you how to speak my language?”

“Sure,” the little ship said. “It’s easy for me. But my friend Bobby can’t do it yet.”

“Bobby? What is a Bobby?”

“He is my captain,” Mee said. “He is inside me now.”

Piaffè looked and saw a young human waving at him.

“Do you want a ride to go see our friend?” Mee asked. “I can get you there real quick!”

“That would be nice,” Piaffè answered. “Just don’t let those other ships see me. Ert said it is important that I not be seen.”

“I can do that easy,” Mee replied.

The little ship drew close with its grappling arms extended toward the Jibbah ship.

“Let me hide you in my arms,” Mee added as the arms took the little Jibbah scout in a mechanical embrace.

“Bobby is telling my mommy that we are going on a trip!” Mee continued. “She says it’s alright, but she wants my big sister to go with us.”

Piaffè couldn’t imagine how a ship could have both a mother and sister, but he was aware there were many things he didn’t know about these strange bipedal creatures.

Without warning, the little pick ship appeared beside her brother. She looked at the Ovid ship in her brother’s arms.

“Should I even ask?” she said.

“Only if you can catch me!”

Instantly, the two ships were off in a flash. As they accelerated many thousands of times faster than the Jibbah ship could go on its own, Piaffè wondered how he would explain this to his elders when he returned home from this mission.

∞∞∞

Back on the
Cahill Express,
two friends looked at each other when they saw the two little ships flash away. “Well, there they go,” Lyyle said. He turned back to his console.

“And here we go as well,” Ian said when he received a signal on the comm. “Looks like Ert’s handiwork again. They want us to go with them to the Ebilizer Institute. I think we finally have someone interested in the Optiveil.”

“It’s about time,” Lyyle stated.

Ian advanced the throttle. “I told you we should have gone there in the first place.”

Out through the front windows, Ian saw the other ships form a protective ring around the imperial ship.

“I just never figured we’d have a royal escort!”

Chapter Thirty

The door to the lab clicked shut and immediately the lights came up. The tired man blinked his tired eyes and then headed for the coat tree in the corner.

“Good morning, my friend,” Professor Angle said as he took off his coat. “You’re up early this morning.”

Stepping over to the brewing stand on a sideboard, he was surprised to see the teapot already hot and his cup filled and steeping. “And I see you made tea for me! How did you do it?”

“A little trick I picked up recently,” Ert replied. “A new friend developed the process and I borrowed his technique.”

“Thank him for me,” the professor said. He took his cup of steeping tea and returned to his desk.