The Project

Chapter 24

The Project Chapter 24

The raiders were still bunched together as Alex opened up filling the bridge with an incredible noise. Two were down by his own hand, while the other two met their end hit by Kelly's shotgun fire. As soon as he was sure all four raiders were down, Alex jumped up and shouted,

"GRUK! GET THEIR GUNS, FOLLOW ME, KELLY, THROW ME THAT SHOTGUN!" operating on 100% adrenalin, he caught the gun as she tossed it to him along with the bandolier. He threw the AR back at her, as he charged forward shoving shells into the magazine.

"GRUK! ON ME," pushing through the open airlock doors, Alex had the shotgun at port arms searching desperately for targets. Suddenly a figure appeared in front of him. Without thinking, he began pulling the trigger. The first blast was low, catching whoever in the upper legs pitching him backward. Out of the corner of his eye, Alex became aware of another figure starting to point something at him.

Swing the shotgun upward; he held the trigger down racking the slide. Everything began happening at once, sparks smoke, someone screaming, something exploding in front of him, causing Alex to fall backwards into the arms of Gruk, who suddenly turned and shot another raider who popped up out of nowhere. He became aware that Gruk was shouting something at him but the gunfire had deafened him. The room was now filled with a very sour smelling fog, as Gruk dragged him back through the airlock. Everybody was shouting, and pointing, Kleg was closing the airlock door, just as Alex slipped and fell backwards. Everything was happening all at once, he was on sensory overload. As he attempted to get up, Alex slipped again, thinking to himself,

"What the f**k! Why can't I stand up?" Looking down, he saw the reason; the whole floor was covered in blue, just like someone had kicked over a can of blue paint. At this point, the ale, and everything he had eaten today decided to check out, and came up with a vengeance. Alex slipped again but this time the lights just went out.

Slowly he became aware of the light, blurred images, and strange voices.

"Am I dreaming, where am I?" He wondered. Then things seemed to go black again, now he was back home standing next to his mother as his father knelt next to their dog who had been hit by a car.

"What the f**k? He thought how did mom and dad get here, since when did we have a dog, mom hates dogs." Even so, he felt an incredible sadness. Then images of Bria, Gideon, Kelly and Arna floated through his mind. Slowly a soft light reappeared, followed by unfamiliar faces, and what sounded like Kelly and Bria.

"This is crazy," He thought.

Eventually he opened his eyes and began to examine his surroundings. It was obvious he was in a bed, there was some sort of band wrapped around his right wrist and he could hear beeping noises. Next to his bed he could see Kelly and Bria slumped into chairs apparently asleep.

"What the hell?" He wondered, "Did I get shot or something? He tried to remember the last thing he had done,

"I know I shot someone, then something blew up, how did all that blue paint get there? No, that wasn't paint, what the hell did I slip on?" He began to move prompting Kelly to wake with a start.

"Alex, you're awake!" This woke Bria, who squealed with delight.

"Kelly, Bria?" Where am I?"

"We are back at Fort Kamata," replied Bria, you are in the infirmary."

"Did I get shot or something?" He asked.

'No, thank god," exclaimed Kelly, but you are a hero."

"A hero? What happened?"

"You killed Agrat Slyr, and Kreed Freihork," replied Bria.

"Who the hell are they?" He asked.

"Notorious raiders," exclaimed Deev Mocon, as he stepped into the room followed by Gruk and Kleg. Shaking his head, Deev said,

"Incredible, simply incredible, I've read Gruk's initial report twice and I still don't believe it."

"So tell me already, what happened?" Gruk then spoke up.

"All I can say is that those weapons of yours sure leave a bloody awful mess. You and the young lady here managed to kill all four raiders the first go-round, one of them being Kreed Freihork. Then you charged right into Agrat's ship with me right behind you. I shot one raider; while you took down two more with that thing you call a shotgun, one of them being Agrat himself. Took off one leg, causing him to bleed out before we could get back to him."

"So what was that explosion?" Asked Alex.

"You hit the life support control panel; electricity and pure oxygen don't mix too well. That triggered the ships fire suppression system, which was when I got you out of there, and back to our ship."

"All I can remember is that I couldn't stand up I kept slipping on something," replied Alex. Gruk and Kleg looked at him with grim expressions.

"You were slipping on blood; the ships floor was covered with it."

"Is that what all that blue stuff was?" He asked, both Gruk and Kleg nodded,

"Agrat and his companions were members of the Diyari race," replied Gruk, "Their blood is blue."

Slowly Alex began to absorb the reality of what had gone down, a sick feeling growing in his stomach. Then Deev spoke.

"You told us earlier what would happen to anyone trying to invade your planet, from what I saw on those ships, and the things Gruk and Kleg have told me it's very apparent that you earthlings are not to be trifled with."

"So what about the ship?" asked Alex, "And what about the raider ship?"

"We got both back here," said Gruk, Kleg flew our ship, and because it was heavily damaged, I managed to get Agrat's craft back here in one piece."

Alex then began to check himself over,

"Did I get shot or something, why am I in here?"

"You received facial burns and a blow to your head when you fell," said Deev, however a little anti-onc cream and your good as new. The doctors simply wanted to place you under observation for a little while."

"So can we leave now?" He asked.

"I'm afraid not," said Deev, you're free to leave the infirmary, but I'm afraid you have to remain until the authorities conclude their investigation, they are going to want to ask you questions about what you did, as well as those weapons of yours."

"Am I in any trouble?" Asked Alex rather nervously. Deev chuckled,

"Young fellow, you are a hero, on top of that, there is a considerable bounty being offered for both Agrat and Kreed, and by rights of salvage Agrat's ship is up for grabs as well. I have other duties to attend to, so I will speak with you later Alex." After Deev had left, Alex sat up and looked at Gruk and Kleg.

"Look you guys if there's any reward coming on those raiders, I want to share it with you, oh and as far as I'm concerned, that ship is yours."

"Well thank you,' said Gruk, but all it's good for is salvage. In its present configuration, it will simply show up on everyone's scanners as a raider ship. There is a scrap dealer here on the planet, why don't you talk to him and see what he will give you for it, and use the credits to upgrade the ship you already have."

"Are you sure?" asked Alex, "I want to do right by you two; you have certainly done so much for the three of us."

"Well I'm not sure what that might have been," said Gruk, "But whatever you wish to share from the bounties will be more than enough."

After Alex was released from the infirmary, lodging was in order, but because Fort Kamata was over crowded with people coming off freighters, and transport ships, the main hostelry was full. However Deev was able to get the three of them a small room with the Golian equivalent of a queen size bed. Kelly remarked that she had been homes back on earth that had closets larger than this.

"Well since Gruk's ship is getting cleaned and serviced, we can't sleep there," remarked Alex. "A Motel 6 this ain't, but at least there is a tiny sonic shower and a toilet here." Sitting at a small table, while Bria and Kelly sat on the bed, Alex said,

"Thanks a lot Kelly…You know…Back on the ship, I'm glad you managed to get those other two."

"Man, I was so f*****g scared, but I was even more scared of what would happen to us if they took us prisoner."

"Well you tow would have probably ended up as slaves somewhere," added Bria, "Once they found out my father was a king, I would have been ransomed."

"Is slavery legal in this galaxy?" Asked Alex.

"It's not legal with Oxynia," she replied, "Although S'ika Jasend told me once that there are illegal mines in out of the way planets worked by slaves."

"That was really brave of you," said Kelly. Alex stared at her,

"You think so? I was so scared, I convinced myself it was just a video game."

"Yeah," she added, "But the way you charged ahead like that it was so cool." He grimaced, and shrugged.

"I remember reading a book or something once about all those people who stopped those terrorists from crashing their plane into the White House or wherever it was going, as well as something about your best chance to prevent being captured is acting right away. The longer you wait the better chance your captors have of preventing you from escaping."

"Well all I know is that you are a real hero."

"I agree," added Bria, "When I tell my father what you did, he will probably give you a big reward or something." Alex then looked around the tiny room and said,

"There's no TV in here!"

"Crap! You're right," said Kelly,

"What's a TV?" Asked Bria

"Never mind," replied Alex, "So what are we going to do about the sleeping arrangement?"

"Well I don't know about you guys," announced Kelly, "But I'm tired, wake me in the morning, oh and I get first call on the shower."

"That sounds like a good idea," added Bria, who promptly lay down next to Kelly.

"Turn off the light Alex," mumbled Kelly,

"Where am I going to sleep?" he pleaded.

""We won't bite," replied Bria.

He went into the adjoining bathroom and took a sonic shower, as well as changing his underwear. When he came back out both Bria and Kelly were sound asleep. Carefully sliding in next to Bria, and trying his best to cover himself with just a snatch of the blanket, Alex tried his best to sleep. Since there were no "days" as such on the planet Fort Kamata was located on, everyone slept in cycles, and not always at the same time. There was a sort of intercom in the room that was connected to the office where they had checked in. Deev had used his authority to rent the room for the three but only for the equivalent of seven hours. Unlike "god-fearing" earthmen, planetary "days" varied, so a room rented merely to sleep in for seven hours or "milacentons" was considered very generous. So at exactly one milacenton before the seven hour period was up, the intercom squawked to life alerting them that they had one milacenton left.

There wasn't any time to gradually wake up; it was strictly jumping out of bed, both Kelly and Bria grabbing showers of five minutes each scrambling back into their clothes while Alex got all their gear re-packed. As they left, two aliens dressed in bulky flight gear and of an unknown race along with an android maid, were standing outside waiting for the room to be cleaned.

On a hunch, Bria decided to check at the hostelry for the possibility of available rooms. They were in luck, it was still early, and crews were checking out. Two rooms were open, one with two beds. Using her Oxynian credit card, Bria was able to get the room for four cycles, or days, the fact that she was a member of a royal family got them a nice little discount as well, something they all appreciated. Alex contacted Deev's office only to be told that the officials he needed to speak with were not here yet, so he and his friends spent the rest of the cycle exploring various sections of Fort Kamata that were not off limits. They found the scrap broker who turned out to be a female. She was a member of the Vaeon race, which meant that she had very light greenish skin, even lighter than the Golians, Pointed elf-like ears which caused to Bria to ask her if she was an elf.

"I am not familiar with that race," she replied, "Do they offend you?"

"Oh no," Bria quickly replied, "I'm not well traveled, and to date, the only races I know of with pointed ears are elves and pixies." This seemed to intrigue the woman who's name was Sung'Rir. Besides having pointed ears, she was completely bald, and according to her, a trait both sexes shared. Her eyes were yellow, and cat-like, but her facial features were normal.

Alex explained his situation and that he was considered a legal claimant to the raider ship, but that due to its configuration could not be flown safely in normal space lanes.

"I could have told you that," said Sung'Rir, I or one of my people would have to inspect it. What class is it?" Alex remembered Gruk telling him it was a class four craft.

"Class four?" Well without actually inspecting the craft, I could give you twelve thousand credits, but mind you that's sight unseen," stated Sung'Rir.

"Well I've got to wait until the Golians look it over, and then sign off on it, hopefully that won't be too long."

"Well you know where I can be found replied the scrap dealer.

Before they left the scrap office, Alex noticed several signs and posters on the walls. Just as similar signs and posters back on earth were often printed in English Spanish, and sometimes French, these appeared to be similarly printed in various alien languages, unfortunately, Alex couldn't read any of them. On top of that, he and Kelly's translators were still giving them problems.

"You know guys," he said to Kelly and Bria, "Before we get too far in this galaxy we are going to have to learn to read all over again.