(C) copyright 2007 by Steven Sharpe
The ship was over one hundred light years from the boundaries of what had once been her home, far out in unexplored space. A place where her crew had hoped that they had learned to be suspicious of anything, even the ordinary. So it was with no small amount of wariness that her captain, Choh Namreh, greeted the report of a tachyon message aimed at them.
"Translate it and get a fix on its point of origin," he ordered the communications officer.
"No need for translation, sir," Deeanne Edik said, "It's broadcast in Basic."
Another surprise.
"Play back the recording."
"Ship," the voice came from the speakers, "we are of the system Nu Eri III and we welcome you to this portion of the galaxy. Please accept our invitation to visit our system. We await your answer."
"The transmitter?" Namreh asked.
"We're too far away for perfect accuracy, sir," sensor officer S'Bath said, "But it appears to be a small ship located near the edge of the Nu Eri III system."
"And the system?"
"The star is a type B giant. That is all we have in our records."
"Very well. Continue scanning."
Namreh swung his chair around.
"Helm, lay in a course for Nu Eri III and execute."
"Another alien intelligence?" said Tarwan, the Segin's second officer.
"Probably," replied the captain, "And perhaps a potential ally."
"Perhaps, sir...but remember Alpha Microscopii..."
"I'll never forget," the captain said quickly.
The RPN Segin was a heavy cruiser. She had originally been designed as a commerce raider, and because of that she was virtually one hundred percent self sufficient. For over two years now, she had roamed through unexplored space in a singlehanded search to find some way of freeing her enslaved home. Now, perhaps they had found one.
The Segin slowly closed in on the unknown ship, her sensors scanning the area continuously. Though the sender of the message had seemed friendly, the memory of the Nixtons of Alpha Microscopii was still very fresh.
"Report, S'Bath," Namreh said, watching the viewer show its broad vista of stars, dominated by the glare of Nu Eri III.
"It's strange, sir," the sensor officer said, "But the ship appears to be a Delta Series medium shuttle."
Namreh glanced at him sharply, as did everyone else on the bridge. S'Bath continued.
"Its size corresponds exactly to that of an RPN medium shuttle, as does its electromagnetic silhouette. Its energy reading indicate an ionic propulsion system and its power readings are identical to that of a shuttle's fusion generator."
"All internal systems functioning?"
"They seem to be."
"Are they scanning us?"
"Hmmm...strange," S'Bath scratched his head, "They just started scanning a second before you asked."
Namreh snorted and watched the tiny dot on the viewer as it grew.
"It looks as if we've found another Pleionese ship which got away," he said, and was immediately answered by a delighted cheer from most of the rest of the bridge crew.
"However," he continued when the roar had died down, "meeting a shuttle out here all alone is suspicious. Helm, keep closing at half lightspeed. Communications, sound orange alert."
"Do we contact them, sir?" Rackleine Jorn, the chief communications officer, asked.
"Not yet. I want to know more about them."
"Captain, I've got a reasonably complete report on Nu Eri III's components."
"Report, then."
"It is a very empty system. It is a young star...too young to form a planetary system. And given the spectral type and size of the star it probably won't be around long enough to form one, anyway. All it has is a cloud of debris and dust. No bodies larger than a few kilometers in diameter."
"Any signs of an artificial environment?"
"Nothing, captain," S'Bath replied "The system is barren."
"Perplexing," Tarwan, the second officer, said for the first time. "I wonder where the shuttle's mother ship is?"
"Increase the magnification on the screen, Roge."
The tiny blip wavered, grew and then cleared again. The blip had become a shuttle, identical to one of the types that the Segin carried. It was painted greyish white and the Pleionese blue oval adorned its hull and both stumpy wings. The number on the hull was 1907. The name above it was RPN Menkhib.
Another cheer. So, another ship had managed to escape the defeat of their civilisation, too.
"This is suspicious," the Hurese second officer said when the noise had abated, "because I believe that the Menkhib was destroyed in the battle of the Pleiades."
Dead silence. Then, Janice Gordon spoke.
"There was a lot of confusion at the time, remember?" she said. "Perhaps this shuttle survived and was assigned to another ship."
They all looked at the first officer, relief visible in their eyes. They desperately wanted to believe in this ship, no matter what.
Namreh finally broke the Segin's silence and called the shuttle, asking them who and where their mother ship was.
"RPN Segin. We are alone. Our mother ship, the RPN Coron, was destroyed when she was hit by debris orbiting this star. May we come aboard?"
"We will come alongside. Segin out," Namreh replied, then continued to his bridge crew, "The last we heard of the Coron was that she was in in Sol."
It is probable that they escaped before the Orion Association reached them," Tarwan said.
"I'm not so sure. I knew her captain, and he was as stubborn and loyal as an Albirean rock flyer."
"They'll be aboard in a few minutes, anyway," said Robbie Lewis. "Then, we'll see for ourselves."
"Notify the flight deck that we shall be having visitors," Namreh said, "S'Bath, can you find any kind of metallic debris in the star system?"
"None, sir, though that may be because of the density of rocks and dust in the system."
"Dispatch a contingent of marines to the flight deck, just to be sure." Namreh rose from the captain's chair. "Come, Janice, we have an appointment on the flight deck. Tarwan, you have the con."
The shuttle had just set down on the deck when Namreh and Gordon entered the flight deck control centre. The marines were already there. When the chamber had been pressurized they stepped out onto the deck and walked across to shuttle 1907. They reached the craft just as its hatch slid open.
Framed in the doorway was a man. He looked like a typical human to Namreh, but he was far more handsome than any man that Janice had ever seen.
"Wow," she said under her breath as she took him in.
Namreh glanced sharply at her, then returned his gaze to the man. He immediately noticed a discrepancy about him. He was supposed to be a member of what had been the Royal Pleionese Navy and yet his clothes were nothing like their uniform. He wore a drab green tunic, not unlike a body shirt, and a pair of tight fitting pants. Obviously the outfit was very appealing to Janice. He bore no insignia whatsoever.
He stepped down onto the flight deck and behind him, Namreh saw, was a woman.
She was as beautiful and feminine as the man was handsome and masculine. Namreh slobbered and choked back a gasp. He had never beheld such a perfect female. She smiled at him and he broke out into a sweat.
"SQUAD! PREEESENT ARMS!" That was Sgt Urse Zub, and this was clearly not one of his better days. Evidently the sight of the woman was affecting him, too. His marines drill was downright sloppy.
The man walked forward and stood before Namreh.
"I am Erlile Voltt."
Namreh pulled his eyes away from Voltt's female companion.
"I am Choh Namreh, captain of the RPN Segin. Welcome aboard," he said, and they bowed.
"This is my first officer, Janice Gordon," he continued. Voltt bowed again, took her hand and kissed it. Janice nearly cried out with pleasure.
Voltt's companion stepped forward and introduced herself.
"I am Flarise," she said in a low voice, her eyes on Namreh.
"Choke - choke - gasp," said the captain.
"I was hoping you'd say that," she purred.
"Captain," said Voltt calmly. Evidently he was used to the reactions that Flarise produced in men. "Can we go to a more suitable place - and talk?" he asked in a deep, rich voice.
"Let's go to my cabin," Janice said quickly.
"No. Mine is bigger," said Namreh.
So they went to Namreh's cabin.
When they stepped out of the elevator at deck one, Tarwan was waiting for them.
"Tarwan," Namreh said, stopping, "These are the people from the shuttle - Voltt, and - and - "
His voice trailed off into a long sigh.
"Flarise," the woman said, smiling.
"I am honoured," the Hurese replied, eyeing the pair and then glancing at his tongue tied captain. Namreh was now staring dreamily off into space.
"Sir."
"Er - yes?" Namreh said, snapping back to a reasonable semblance of life.
"Now that we have picked up the shuttle, what should our new course be?"
"Res - er - umm - uh - no. Belay that. Maintain status."
Namreh and the others turned to go. Tarwan paused for a second then set off after them.
"Captain," he said, catching up with them outside the entrance to the bridge. "We are currently drifting in space, which is a rather undesirable position to be in."
"Who says it is?" Namreh smiled sweetly.
"Return to your post, second officer," Janice ordered. "We've got a lot ahead of us."
She winked at Voltt.
Tarwan watched them go, a look of mystification in his eyes. He turned and entered the bridge.
"Are you comfortable?" Namreh drooled over Flarise, curled up on his bed.
"Yes, thank you," she said in her musical voice.
"We have a lot to talk about," Voltt said from Namreh's favourite chair.
"Err, we do," Namreh said, resuming a more normal tone of voice. "How did the Coron escape from Sol?"
"It was not difficult," said Voltt. "It was the only path open to us. Two days before the Orion Association reached Sol we came to the conclusion that it was no use continuing the battle with the Central Field. We decided that there was a better chance of us defeating the enemy if we took to unexplored space. So that is what we did."
"Remarkable. We came to the same conclusion that you did. But I knew your Captain, Konfos, and desertion was the last thing that he would ever do. So why did he suddenly change?"
"He didn't," Voltt said warmly. "Two weeks before we deserted he was transferred. I became captain, then."
"You did? Strange; I was aboard the Coron only a week or so before Sol fell, and Konfos was still in command."
"You must be mistaken, captain," the newcomer said with a smile.
"I - I don't think so..."
"You must be," Voltt said firmly.
"Yes...I guess I am," Namreh sighed, and rubbed his head. He sat down wearily in the bedside chair. "How did the Coron come to be lost?"
"A simple malfunction in our sensors and meteor shield link. Everything read nominal...until a slab of rock hit us. It caused a serious hull breech in the engine room and the reactors went critical."
"Are you the only survivors?" Janice asked, looking up at Voltt from where she sat on the floor at his feet like a faithful puppy.
"Why, no. There are twenty three others, down on the surface of the largest planetoid in the system."
"Planetoid?" repeated Namreh, blinking sleepily. "But our sensors picked up nothing larger than a few meters in diameter."
"Your sensors are obviously malfunctioning, captain. After all, we are alive, yes?" He laughed, and Flarise did likewise.
"Then we had better pick them up," Namreh said, when their laughter had subsided.
"A very good idea. Let us proceed to the bridge, then." Voltt stood up.
"And after, you can take us all on a tour of the Segin and we can meet your crew," Flarise said happily.
"Of course. I'd love to," Namreh said, thinking of all of the interesting things that he would like to show her.
"Tarwan, what's bloody well bugging you?"
The second officer looked up from the captain's chair, where he sat.
"I've spoken to you twice, now, and you've not answered," Arny Chok complained. "So what's up?"
"Nothing important, Mr. Chok," Tarwan answered, wishing that the Alcyonese engineer would shut up and return to the engine room, where he belonged.
"Tell."
Everyone on the bridge was listening, now; there was no hedging away from it.
"I was simply contemplating the implications of these - eh - people being aboard our ship and their effects on Captain Namreh."
"What effects?"
"Well, he appears to have become infatuated with one of them."
Several people snickered.
"Namreh get infatuated with someone? As in fall in love?" giggled Dolis Bolk, one of the helm officers.
At that moment the door connecting the bridge with the briefing room slid open and Namreh, Janice, Voltt and Flarise entered.
The bridge crew gawked, then one by one they took on the same expression which tainted the captain's and Janice's faces. All but Tarwan. He glanced uneasily around the bridge and saw Deeanne looking at him nervously. At least his wife seemed to be unaffected as well.
After introducing the newcomers Namreh said, "Helm, lay in a course for...uh...er...Voltt, where is this planetoid?"
"Never mind. I shall set the course," Voltt said. Bolk and Lewis willingly gave up their seats and Volt manipulated the helm controls. In his hands, the Segin got underway.
"We shall be there in five minutes," he said.
Five minutes later the Segin went into orbit around a small, irregularly shaped world. Two of the cruiser's shuttles were dispatched down to the surface of the airless planetoid, and, just as Voltt had assured them, twenty three men and women were waiting for them.
When the shuttles returned the three senior officers of the Segin were on the flight deck to greet them.
"Oh, zowie!" Namreh exclaimed, as he watched twenty three of the most beautiful men and women that he had ever seen disembark.
"I trust our people will not prove to be any problem to you or your crew?" Voltt asked.
"Of course not," Janice replied.
"What's with her?" Namreh asked, motioning towards a stunning redhead being lowered out of the first shuttle on a stretcher.
Voltt's voice became sombre.
"That is Chare. She was injured in the accident and has remained in a coma ever since."
"A pity," sighed Namreh.
"Precisely what caused her injury?" Tarwan asked politely, looking Voltt in the eye.
"It was shock, we believe."
"Shock? How interesting."
Voltt's and Tarwan's eyes locked momentarily. Voltt's gaze suddenly became hard and cruel; then he looked away and his expression became warm again.
"Who is on the bridge?" he asked Janice.
"Why - " she paused, and looked at Tarwan. "You're still on bridge watch, aren't you?"
"Yes. I will return to my post."
The green skinned Hurese saluted stiffly and left.
"Now, captain, may Chare be sent to your sick bay?"
"Of course," Namreh said, and ordered the crewmen carrying her to take her there.
Then, the four returned to Namreh's cabin.
"What is our destination now, captain?" Voltt asked, when they were inside and seated.
"I was intending to resume our old course and go to OC I 2391."
"You wish to visit that open cluster?" Voltt said with distaste. "Whatever for?"
"We intend to set up a base there for our operations against the Orion Association."
"Why must you continue to battle the Association?"
"What?" Namreh said, looking at Voltt with a mixture of surprise and confusion. "To win back our homes - and the - the - "
"They are too strong, Choh," Flarise said gently. "You could never beat them."
"Those Mintakans cannot last forever, my dear," Namreh said slowly, as if fighting some sort of battle within himself. "And we intend to hasten their demise."
"But they are so big, and you are so small," she persisted. "If and when they fall, your contribution will have been negligible."
For a second Namreh looked as if he was going to argue. But the woman's smile melted him.
"Yes...of course you are right," he mumbled in a defeated tone.
"But - but - what do we do, then?" Janice asked confusedly, her eyes filling with tears.
"You have a good, fast ship," Voltt said, "And there is an entire universe out there waiting to be explored."
"A universe..." Namreh repeated.
"Yes, Choh," Flarise said, her large eyes aglow, "Billions of stars and planets...just waiting for the curious."
"But our people...our homes..."
"Your people are your crew; the Segin is your home," Voltt said.
"This is true."
"It's all waiting, Choh; and me, too," Flarise added in a low voice.
"There is so much to see," Namreh said slowly. "Where should we go first?"
"How about the Large Magellanic Cloud?" Voltt suggested quickly.
"Very well." Namreh stood up and went over to the wall intercom.
"Bridge here," said Deeanne Edik.
"Plot a course for the Large Magellanic Cloud, Jump factor 16 and execute."
Tarwan's face appeared on the screen.
"Where, sir?"
"EG LMC, the Large Magellanic Cloud."
"Are you sure that you wish that to be our destination?"
"Of course."
"Sir, do you realise that EG LMC is over 160,000 light years away, and at Jump factor 16 it the journey will take...over twenty seven years?"
"You have your orders, second officer," Voltt said, and Namreh nodded.
"Very well." Tarwan signed off.
"I find our new course to be...disturbing," Tarwan commented, once the heavy cruiser was underway.
"Why?" asked S'Bath in a reasoning tone, "We're going to the Large Magellanic Cloud. What's so strange about that?"
"It's 160,000 light years away."
"So?" said Rackleine. "Haven't you ever wanted to go exploring?"
"We are in unexplored space right now. Besides, what about our fight with the Orion Association?"
"It was a lost battle, sir," Tavar said. "There was no way we could win."
Tarwan looked at the faces of the bridge crew.
"This is a mystery," he said, "And I intend to get to the bottom of it."
"What mystery?" asked a new voice. Tarwan turned and saw Dr. Brick Peeple, the Segin's surgeon, standing in the doorway with two of the new arrivals.
"I was merely thinking aloud, doctor."
"Oh!" He turned back to the women. "This, my dears, is the bridge. It is the ship's nerve centre. From here, the Segin and her 790 crew members are controlled."
"Ohhh," said the first girl.
"Ahhh," said the second girl.
Peeple gazed earnestly at the latter.
"I love the way you say 'ah'." She giggled at him. "How about going to my cabin and practicing a little?"
"Sounds interesting," she said, laughing.
Arm in arm they left the bridge.
Robbie Lewis stood and bounded over to the remaining girl.
"How about you and me going down to the optical sensing room and taking a look at all this unexplored territory we're in?" she asked.
"Okay," the woman said agreeably.
They headed for the door.
"Lewis!" said Tarwan. "Where are you going?"
"Can't you guess?"
"Return to your post!"
Lewis smiled as the door slid open.
"You're on report!"
Lewis and the other woman left, laughing.
"Open disobedience of orders and desertion of post are crimes punishable under the Mutiny Doctrine," Tarwan said evenly, staring at the closed door.
"What was wrong with her actions?" Rackleine asked.
"Shut up."
"There are times when instant action is the only course to take," S'Bath said.
"Shut up!"
"Lucky woman," sighed Chok.
"SHUT UP!" Tarwan yelled, glaring at the engineer.
"Why fight it?" said Tavar. "Those women are irresistible."
The second officer left the bridge before he exploded. Back inside, all of the crew but Deeanne started to laugh.
Tarwan stormed down the halls of the Segin in a cold fury, oblivious to the crowds of seemingly hypnotised people drifting all around him. Within minutes he was knocking at Captain Namreh's door.
By naval designation the second officer of a ship was in charge of the ship's crew. However, any serious offence committed by a crew member had to be reported to a senior officer, either the captain or the commander.
"Who is it?" called Namreh, in response to Tarwan's persistent knocking.
"Tarwan!"
"Come back later! I'm in bed!"
Tarwan heard a feminine giggle from within.
Disgusted, he went next door and called on Janice Gordon.
"Come back later! I'm in bed!"
Feeling hopeless, he returned to the bridge, taking a short cut through the briefing room. On entering the Segin's nerve centre he stopped dead, appalled.
Sprawled across the captain's chair was Rackleine Jorn, her dress lying on the floor, being caressed by one of the Coron's male survivors. In front of the view screen were Chok, S'Bath and Tavar, all trying to make love to a naked girl who was lying on the deck, and none were succeeding.
Tarwan turned and walked away.
"Is everyone on this ship insane?" he wondered. "Or is it just me?"
"No, it's not just you, dear. I've been wondering the same thing."
Tarwan looked up into Deeanne's eyes and he felt better. They were in their cabin; their only private retreat on a ship gone mad.
"But why?" Deeanne asked, as she cradled her mate's head in her lap.
"Obviously, Voltt and his friends are at the base of it"
"But why do they affect our people as they do? It's as if they were...irresistible to everyone but us."
"So, why is that?" asked Tarwan.
"We must learn more about these people."
"A direct confrontation?"
"Not until we're ready. Let's try to piece together all that we know about them."
"Very well," Tarwan said. "They are survivors from the light cruiser Coron, which was lost when it was struck by a meteoroid in Nu Eri III."
"How can we be sure that they are not lying?"
"We can't. In fact, I can almost sense that they are lying. Also, they do not wear RPN uniforms; they speak Basic, not Pleionese; and S'Bath never did pick up the remains of the Coron on his sensors."
"So, who can they be?"
"Almost anyone. They could be Mintakans, though I see no trace of their characteristic ridge of flesh at the back of their necks." He paused. "I feel that they are of a race that our people have never had contact with before."
"But then how do they know so much about us?"
Tarwan thought for a moment.
"Perhaps they have had contact with our people - the crew of the Coron."
"Maybe they destroyed the ship and then took on the identities of her crew members."
"Perhaps so. But unfortunately this is all guesswork. We should base our knowledge on known facts."
"Where do we get these facts?"
"I would like to go down to the flight deck and inspect their shuttle. Meanwhile, you, perhaps, could go out and find one of their men and feign infatuation. You might be able to gain a little information from him."
So that is what they did.
The flight deck was deserted when Tarwan reached it. This suited him, for now he could inspect the shuttle in peace.
The shuttle was parked in the staging and service area, off the main deck, along with two of its counterparts from the Segin. In its new paint and different letterings it stood out.
First, Tarwan walked around the outside of it, inspecting the exterior closely. He found nothing suspicious.
He went inside.
The interior was immaculate. Everything was in its regulation place. In the cockpit he pressed several buttons; they all responded. Then, he went to the rear of the cabin, opened the engine service hatch and inspected the reactor and drive.
He left the shuttle then, feeling perplexed. He had found nothing...but he was sure that he had discovered something. Then, he stopped, and looked back at the Coron's shuttle.
Its condition was too good to be true.
He went back and compared it to the Segin's shuttle parked next to it. Shuttle 1815's paint was faded, pitted and scratched. Shuttle 1907's finish was untouched. Tarwan noticed that there were not even any scorch marks caused by the frictional heat of entering a planet's atmosphere.
Tarwan went inside the Segin's shuttle and compared its interior to that of 1907's. This one was obviously well worn. The builder's plate in the cabin said that it had been constructed in 2083, two years after 1907 had been built. So, whay was the other shuttle - the older ship - in such good shape? It should have been in much worse condition; the Menkhib had been a much larger ship than the Segin, but still had carried only twelve shuttles as opposed to the Segin's ten. And, if 1907 was an orphan...
He returned to his cabin, feeling more perplexed than ever.
Deeanne was there already, sitting in a chair, nursing a drink.
"Well?" Tarwan said, sitting down.
Nothing," she said. "There was an orgy on the bridge but no one even noticed me. The officer's mess was empty and so were the kitchens. I finally ended up in the recreation room. There were Jam and Scud, talking to one of the girls. I tried to talk to her but she wasn't interested and she left with the men."
Tarwan nodded, and told her of his findings.
Then, he sighed.
"It's as if they control everyone but us," Deeanne said.
Tarwan stared at her, and suddenly he knew.
"They're sensitives," he said.
She nodded, after a moment's thought.
"Of course...but then why can't we sense their mind controls over the rest of the crew?"
"If they were sufficiently powerful..?" Tarwan said. "They would have to be a ten on the Nodus scale."
"At least. And there may be something about their powers which prevents them from controlling other sensitives, like us." She paused. "I wonder if they know that we're not under their control?"
"I believe that they are bit suspicious of me," the Hurese said, recalling Voltt's piercing look on the flight deck.
"Then we had better act before they do."
"How? There are only two of us against twenty five of them and 788 of our crew."
"We are sensitives, even if our mental capabilities do not match theirs."
"Yes..." Tarwan said thoughtfully. "And I wish to correct myself: there are only twenty four of them active; one is in a coma in sick bay."
"Why?"
"Voltt said it was shock, but I have my doubts. I do, however, think that a visit to sick bay may be in order, at this point."
The outer office and dispensary of sick bay, usually manned by a nurse, was empty. But again, Tarwan felt glad of this. He turned left and entered the inner region of the complex. Inside the door he paused and let his eyes adjust to the yellowy dimness. You're getting too used to these blue lights, he thought to himself. Remember, you were born under an orange sun. He wondered what his native world of Hura was like now, under Orion occupation. Then, he heard a feminine giggle and a masculine laugh, coming from the storage room to his left. He headed for sick bay ward one.
There were two people in the ward. Doctor Drick Peeple, Brick's brother, was standing by the door at attention, a silly smile on his lips. Tarwan passed his hand in front of the doctor's eyes. No reaction. Peeple had become a statue.
Tarwan turned and saw the room's other occupant, lying on a bed. He walked over to her.
Chare was still seemingly asleep. As he watched her beautiful breasts rising and falling he wondered what she really was. She did not look ill; her skin was a pinkish colour, her lips were sensuously red. What role do you play in this drama? he asked her silently. He looked up at the bodily functions monitor and seeing that it was not on, activated it.
The unit over the head of the bed hummed. The heart rate, blood pressure, nervous system, muscle tension, digestion and temperature indicators did not move. Only one did.
The mental activity indicator shot to its highest reading and stayed there.
Tarwan gawked at it for a moment. Then, everything clicked into place.
Virtually all of her energy was going into radiating psionic waves. It was controlling the crew, making them but mindless slaves. His eyes fixed on her rising and falling breasts again. The monitor showed her respiration to be zero. He felt for a heartbeat and found one. The monitor said that there was none. He looked at her other readings. Her water content was zero, as was her salinity reading. Her overall body density was slightly greater than that of the Segin's own atmosphere. According to the monitor she had no muscles.
It was probably right.
This girl, he realised, as well as all her companions, was just an illusion. Created and placed in their minds by Chare, to disguise their real physical beings.
What were they really like?
Tarwan cautiously probed her mind and came up against a mental block, like a wall. After testing its strength he realised that these creatures must possess more mental powers than he had ever known could exist. Tarwan was a comparatively weak psionic. Deeanne was only slightly stronger. What could they do against these people?
For starters, Tarwan knew that he would have to kill Chare.
Suddenly he jerked upright, as his mind seemed to explode in a blast of red.
"I've got you now, greenie," Voltt said from the doorway.
Another blast. Tarwan fell to his knees, his mind reeling. His consciousness was slipping. Must warn Deeanne...danger...danger...
He passed out.
After an eternity he woke up. His head pounded and he wanted to sleep, but he had to resist it. He opened his eyes and looked around.
The Segin's second officer was strapped into a stretcher under a large, bulky looking apparatus which bore an initial resemblance to sick bay's cellular analyzer. He was in one of the therapy rooms; just which one he did not know. Standing at the foot of the stretcher were Voltt and Flarise, smiling smiles which bore no warmth.
"You are in trouble, Tarwan," Voltt said.
Tarwan nodded as he tested his bonds without success.
"It's no use," Voltt said as he and Flarise walked up to the bedside. "We have you under total control."
"Physically, if not mentally," Tarwan replied.
"We could control your mind too, if we so desired."
"I have a mind block..."
"Which we could break easily, though it would reduce you to a drivelling idiot if we did so."
"I would not be of much use to you in that condition."
"You are of no use to us anyway. As soon as the girl is brought in we shall exterminate you both."
"The captain will not like that."
Voltt sneered. "We run the ship now."
"An outright confession," Tarwan observed. "Who are you?"
"An ancient enemy of of your species and superior beings to yourselves in every respect. For instance, our recorded history covers a span of nearly 60,000 years. How long does yours go back?"
Tarwan attempted to shrug. "Hura's history goes back approximately 3400 years. But the length of one's history is hardly a measure of a specie's superiority."
"How little you know," Voltt said.
"Are there only twenty five of you remaining in your civilisation?"
"No," Flarise said scornfully. "Why do you think we are travelling to the Large Magellanic Cloud?"
"That is our home," Voltt added. "We were separated from the rest of our people many millennia ago."
"So you are not of the First Galactic Empire?"
"Of course not!" Voltt snorted. "Our kind destroyed their empire tens of thousands of years ago. Ah, but of course, you have a similar bodily form to theirs. No doubt your people are the poor remnants of their shattered empire?"
"That is the common belief. But tell me, if you are so all powerful then why were you stranded in Nu Eri III?"
"I do not know," Volt said shortly, signalling that the conversation was coming to a close. "It was a long time ago. But we are no longer stranded; we are going home and no problems stand before us, except for the girl."
Deeanne must still be free, Tarwan thought. There is still hope.
"She is still free? With your powers I would have thought that you would have found her easily." Tarwan paused. "Perhaps your powers are not so great as we imagined."
"You will soon learn the extent of our powers," Voltt said ominously. "We will find her the same way that we found you."
"And that was..?"
"You stood out simply because you failed to be influenced by our powers."
"I supposed that to be the case."
"It was so easy to gain control of your people," Flarise said, smiling sexily. "Your desires are so primitive; we took everything we knew from your own minds."
"Sex has always been the achilles heel of humanity," Tarwan admitted. "But she knows you for what you are and she has taken flight. You will not find her."
"And what are we?" Flarise asked softly.
"Little more than clouds of gas, probably held together by a weak electromagnetic field."
Her expression turned wooden.
"And you are little more than a bag of water, infiltrated by various chemical impurities," she sneered, then spat on him.
The sputum landed on his blue tunic and sat there. Tarwan stared at it, and concentrated. Slowly it started to fade, to lose substance.
Flarise glanced at Voltt as the spittle vanished.
"An interesting display," he said to Tarwan. "Are you going to attempt the same feat with us?"
"That would not be possible," Tarwan replied. "The spit was pure illusion; you are not. Under those concocted bodies of yours - somewhere - there is a real body of some sort with a non-illusionary structure."
"You exercise much control for someone with powers as meagre as yours," Voltt said. "The girl is lasting much longer; I take it that she is a more powerful psionic?"
Tarwan nodded.
"What are you going to do with the ship, once all opposition is squelched?"
"We shall keep the crew on to run the ship. Once we reach home..."
He shrugged.
"And me?"
"I do not know," Voltt said slowly, then his face brightened. "Your Doctor Peeple told me that this machine is a cellular stimulator." He eyed the unit curiously. "I wonder what it does..?"
Then, he and Flarise froze. Even through the soundproofed walls Tarwan could hear the piercing scream. At the same time, Voltt's and Flarise's bodies suddenly vanished, to be replaced by two swirling pink clouds of gas. A second later their bodies returned, and looks of terror flooded over their faces.
"Chare!" they cried, and headed for the door, leaving Tarwan alone in the room.
He waited for a split second, before commencing to struggle against his bonds. But they were too strong.
"It is no use trying to escape, second officer," Voltt said, as he and Flarise reentered. He sounded very tired.
"May I ask what has happened?" Tarwan said.
"Miss Edik has done away with Eliss," he said slowly. "Pushed her out through the first deck air lock."
"Permit me to offer my condolences," Tarwan said dryly.
Flarise screamed at him, "You are glad!"
The slap across his face would have stung had he not been prepared for it. As it was, he did not feel it.
"Do not bother, Flarise," Voltt said, sounding almost resigned, "He knows that our forms are immaterial. We cannot physically hurt him."
"You are correct, gaseous one," Tarwan said.
"The name of our race is Feknar."
"Excuse me," Tarwan replied in the same dry tone. "Anyway, you will not be able to stop Deeanne. She will destroy you all, one by one, unless you leave the Segin."
"That is not possible, Tarwan. We are as much a prisoner of yours, as you are of ours."
"You have your shuttle - "
"That is as much an illusion as we are."
"It is no more than a metal tank with a pair of short range rockets strapped to its sides," Flarise said, having calmed down a bit.
"We can give you a shuttle - "
"We are going to the Large Magellanic Cloud, greenie."
"No, we are not," Tarwan replied with equal firmness.
As he spoke there was another shriek, and Flarise and Voltt became but wispy clouds of pink gas again.
But this time, they stayed that way.
"What is it?" said the voice of Flarise in Tarwan's mind. With a shock he realised that they were communicating telepathically. Then, the thought occurred to him that perhaps they had been doing this all along with him, if their so-called human forms had always been illusionary. "Why has Chare not reverted us?"
"I do not know, but I fear the worst," Voltt replied. "Let us go and find out."
Tarwan watched them float across the room, like puffs of coloured smoke, to the door. There, they stopped.
"Why does it not open?" That was Flarise.
"Why - our bodies are not dense enough any longer to trigger the photo beam!" Voltt mentally exclaimed.
"Then how do we get out? How do we open it?"
"We do not. We are trapped."
"What has happened to Chare?" Flarise asked again, the tone of her thoughts bordering on panic.
"I fear the worst, Flarise. I suspect that Edik has got to her."
"Got - ? We've got to get out! We can use the greenie!"
"We cannot unstrap him in this form."
"Then one of us must revert!"
"Yes, but the energy drain! To change one's body requires so much energy that one of us would go into a coma!" Voltt's thoughts were approaching the edge of hysteria as well.
"We must do something!" Flarise paused. "Wait - the wind!"
Tarwan felt the breeze as well, then, and he knew what was causing it. Someone had increased the circulation rate of the ventilation system.
"We are being sucked in! We must revert or we are done for!"
They were drifting; slowly being drawn towards the stale air intake grating.
"To revert would mean that we would be totally helpless and at the mercy of these creatures. No!" Voltt's mental roar of defiance reverberated through Tarwan's brain.
As he finished the pink cloud that he was drifted through the vent grille and was gone. Flarise followed a second later.
Tarwan sighed with relief. He wondered what sort of an end Deeanne had arranged for them.
As if on cue the door slid open and his mate stepped in. Slung over her shoulder was a flamer. On seeing him she threw off the weapon and unstrapped him. Free, they embraced. Then, she told him that the Segin and her crew were free again.
"As soon as I received your warning," she said, "I took a stunner and fled. I decided to hide in the first deck air lock, only it was already occupied by Chok and a girl. So I dragged him out, sealed the chamber and forced open the outer door. Then I headed for the marine armoury, where I got my flamer. After that I came here."
"You burned Chare?" Tarwan asked.
"She, and the rest of the ward," Deeanne admitted ruefully. "And I increased the ventilator speed, too, and activated the emergency life support purge system. So our friends are done for, dear."
"All I hope," her mate said as they headed for the door, "Is that we never meet up with their kind again."
"Space is so big, Tarwan. Eventually our people will have travelled through most of it. We'll probably meet them again.
"Or something worse."