The Project

Chapter 41

The Project Chapter 41

Alex was impressed with the Slykhor's ship. The flight deck reminded him of a semi tractor sleeper cab, with the two seats facing a wrap around window. The pilot's seat was on the right with a full console of instruments spread out on front of it as well as the co-pilot's position. Directly behind the seats was a small open space with built-in cabinets a small alcove which Tiag said was the ship's galley. Running lengthwise behind this were two sets of upper and lower bunks on either side of the galley way. Behind them was a small "head" on the left. And a "soni-shower" on the right. Once again the passageway opened up at this point to spread around the turret apparatus which the operator climbed into. Following that was a narrow spiral stairway down to the small cargo area, and the access ramp. There was also a hatch back to the engine room. The basic outline of the ship was circular, with the flight deck and crew area rising above short stubby down turned winglets On these appendages were the plasma cannons Stapkas told him about, along with small booster engines which Stapkas said aided in landings and take-offs.

The cargo area below the control and crew area was only large enough to carry four large shipping containers but were more like lockers. This area reminded him of the inside of a U-Boat with all of the plumbing, wiring conduits, component modules and life-support system. In fact, the more he thought about it the whole ship reminded him of a submarine. Everywhere you looked; there was either an inspection panel, cabinet, module access point, or terminal box.

"Father used this ship until recently," explained Tiag, "As a back-up transport in case his other one was undergoing overhaul, or was otherwise offline."

"It's a rather "interesting" design," observed Alex, "Rather "cozy" don't you think?"

"I'll admit it's a bit crowded," she replied, "but this is a NovaCron 20, it's extremely fast, very good on fuel, excellent reliability record. Parents don't want their children breaking down in dangerous parts of the galaxy, don't you know. For normal travel within the empire the living space isn't too bad, but if we're heading for your planet, and picking up two more passengers, yes, things will get a bit close, but that's the way it goes."

"Will we have enough fuel to get to earth and back?" Asked Alex, "Because there won't be any fueling stations on earth."

"I've got to do the calculations yet," replied Tiag, but like I told you, these ships do great on fuel."

"A regular economy car," muttered Alex,

"Did you say something?"

"Just talking to myself," he replied.

They left Golia with Tiag's assurance that there would be more than enough fuel providing they "top-off," at Fort Kamata. Alex took a bunk until the time came to give it up to Kelly, resigning himself to the idea of sleeping down in the cargo area once Bria came on board. In the meantime, he practiced constantly on the proto-phason turret. Stapkas was skeptical that he could master the turret system, but Alex was surprised to discover that the training mode was practically identical to a video game Wyatt had, and that the pair had played for hours on end.

"Just put on that helmet," explained Stapkas, "And focus the two eyepieces for your vision. Now hit that button to bring up training mode." Alex did as he was told, images of fighter craft suddenly appeared.

"Those guns will center on exactly what you look at," said Stapkas, "Concentrate on the red areas of those targets, that's the weakest points on their hulls. Naturally everyone will have their shields up, but by centering all your attention on those red areas, chances are good that if you can get through their shields you can get a killing shot to a weak point."

Stapkas was amazed at how fast Alex got the hang of things, knocking out three out of six on his first try. Stapkas let him practice in "novice" mode for a couple hours before kicking things up a couple "notches" to "normal" which really started to heat things up. Alex then began to notice that he was becoming totally immersed in the action, the fighters attacking them were real…As real as they could be, every bit of his attention was focused on destroying the attackers, it was the most intense gaming action he had ever experienced. Then suddenly, a ship appeared much larger, and unlike the fighters he destroyed it as well. All of a sudden a sharp pain in his head immediately snapped him out of his concentration.

"Congratulations Alex, you just destroyed a Moriedian private yacht, those people will hunt you to the ends of the universe, too bad We were just starting to like you," came Stapkas's voice over the intercom.

"Oh f**k!" Gasped Alex, "Did I really? It was right in with all those fighters, oh god! What do I do now?"

"Well nothing really," snickered Stapkas, "I threw that in there to bring you back to reality, Tiag has been watching your heart and brain data, we were starting to loose you Alex." He took off the helmet, and got down out of the gunners basket and headed up to the bridge where two concerned faces stared at him.

"You were about ready to "loose it," stated Tiag, "And Stapkas had the training program set to the lowest setting."

"I…I don't know," stammered Alex, "it was all so real, Christ, I was fighting for my life back there." Tiag looked at her brother who grimaced.

"That training program is completely virtual," commented Stapkas, but it's quite possible it's too intense for human brains." Alex shook his head, it was real man, I felt it, I was actually killing those bastards!"

"Well you were certainly doing that," commented Tiag, "The highest score for a first time trainee in that gunnery program is around 65, you got a 78, very good Alex, however we're just going to have to monitor you a bit closer."

"We might have to shorten the training sessions," added Stapkas, "maybe just train once or twice in a cycle."

"You know," said Alex, "Back on my planet, their just starting to introduce that virtual technology, you wear goggles, and I think something on your head as well."

"Well I certainly hope they take proper precautions," said Stapkas, "But it looks as though our technology is a little on the strong side for you."

During Tiag's sleep cycle, Alex sat in the co-pilot's seat and monitored various instruments.

"For such advanced technology I'm surprised these instruments aren't automatically monitored," remarked Alex. Stapkas reached up and flipped a switch,

"They are now," he commented, "Manual setting gives you something to do, the flight isn't so boring."

"Got any tunes we can listen to?"

"What?" Asked Stapkas,

"Music.' Stapkas reached over and touched a small screen on his right,

"What do you like?" he asked Alex.

"At Neb's they were playing something called "Semuta." Stapkas gave him a strange look.

"Semuta? Only androids and Moriedians like that jaholb, if they were playing it at Neb's it must have been as a request from someone tossing a lot of credits around. Here, listen to this; it's what all us young people on Ruddoria listen to."

The music vaguely resembled the drum music he and Kelly had danced to, but what he was hearing had a more polished quality to it sounding a lot like 1950's beat music. Alex soon found himself tapping his toe, and slapping the armrest to the beat.

"Eh you like that?" Said Stapkas, "Maybe you might like this as well, it's called "Yaka-Dreeg," everybody on Ruddoria listens to it."

The music had almost a distinctive Middle Eastern flavor to it but the singer was really what grabbed his attention. He had no idea what she was singing, but it "haunted" him, right away he knew that from now on, whenever he was to think of his alien experiences, this music would be its soundtrack.

"That's Jezang Trag, that's singing," said Stapkas. "Tiag and I were very fortunate in getting to meet her last yarn, she practically invented that form of music, but when your father is the foreign minister naturally you get to meet a lot of famous people."

"What's that other kind of music you played?" He asked Stapkas.

"It's called "Chanka" but there are a number of variations to it, I happen to like this particular style."

"Sounds a lot like the drum music we heard on Ussen Ommo," replied Alex.

Stapkas gave him a puzzled look,

"That's right; you did tell me you were on that planet, didn't you?"

"Just a minute," said Alex, "I want to show you something." With that, he got up out of his seat, and went back to a locker where he kept his gear, and pulled out the "souvenirs," he'd collected, and returned to his seat. Laying out his "trinkets" for Stapkas to inspect, he described how he came by them. The Ruddorian examined them.

"I might know a place where you can get any possible image data from that camera pulled up, but these tags…I'll have to think about that. As for the batteries, that's an easy one as well, there's any number of business's that manufacture them, it's just a matter of matching the right one." Alex and Stapkas then began a discussion over Ussen Ommo, with the Ruddorian now eager to visit the place.

Alex engaged in two more short practice sessions on the gun turret before Stapkas "pulled the plug," lest the teen become too emotionally involved, but his score began to slowly rise, concerning the two Ruddorians over what the experience could be doing to the earth boy.

"Human brains seem to have a problem sorting fact from fiction, reality from virtual reality,' said Tiag, Stapkas or I can run that training program and never once think that what we're seeing is anything other than simply a training program. In a way I suppose it's a good thing you think you're experience is real as it better focus's your mind on the task at hand, but there is a dangerous trap there as well, and we'll have to watch for that."

Arriving at Fort Kamata, Stapkas went to see about fueling procedures, while Alex and Tiag went to see Deev Mocon. The "fort" was still as busy as Alex remembered it so he was able to direct Tiag to the Oxynian trading office. Suddenly he heard "Alex!" it was Bria just down a connecting passage way waving her hand. Rushing up to him he noticed her giving Tiag a thorough "going over." Stepping out of the flow of traffic, Alex made the introductions.

"Tiag, this is Bria Valsung, from the planet Doradus, Bria, this is Tiag Slykhor from Ruddoria, her brother Stapkas is getting our ship re-fueled. Are your bags nearby?" He then watched as Tiag smiled, and made a gesture with both her hands, suddenly Bria's expression changed, and she returned the gesture prompting Tiag to bow her head. The whole thing happened very quickly, and neither offered any explanation. Thinking it was some secret greeting he wasn't supposed to know about Alex let it pass.

"We were on our way to the Oxynian office," explained Alex,

"So was I," replied Bria, "I just got a call from Mr. Mocon telling me something's wrong on Deneva, and to get down here."

"I hope it's not Kelly!" he exclaimed. Together, they hurried on to the Oxynian director's office.

Deev Mocon was waiting for them, a concerned look on his face. Looking straight at Alex, he stated,

"Zeb just sent me word from Deneva that you friend Kelly has been taken by someone named Kiggham Stenuck who apparently is some sort of warlord hiding up in the mountains."

"Is he asking for ransom or what?" Gasped Alex. Deev started to speak,

"I…" Suddenly Zeb's face appeared on Mocon's computer screen.

"Alex! Is that you?

"Yeah Mr. Kifire," he replied, "What's going on? A grim looking Golian sighed, then said.

"Earlier today, your friend…Kelly, was taken by persons unknown, although the queen's security people inform me that they were members of a group of outlaws hiding up in the Witchfire Mountains. A ransom note has been received stating that the female will be released unharmed if the boy known as Alex Russom turns over a certain weapon, otherwise he will never see her again."

"So is the queen doing anything about it?" Growled Alex. Suddenly Queen Breca stepped in front of the camera.

"WE…Dear Alex are doing all we can, but Kiggham has an army of spies, it's very hard to make any move against him without him knowing about it. Fortunately, we know where his hide-out is, unfortunately, it's extremely difficult to reach it without being spotted. I am here on our new transport ship with Mr. Kifire, who assures me our communications are secure, and that Stenuck won't be able to find out what we are planning."

"Well that's something I suppose," said Alex, "I'm sorry your highness, for my behavior, I had no call."

"Your apology is noted young sir."

"So he wants my rifle in exchange for Kelly's life, how do I know he can be trusted?"

"Well it might be hard for someone like you coming from another planet to understand, but while Kiggham calls himself a warlord he has honor. Basically, we don't bother him, and up until now, he doesn't bother us. He generally claims certain areas of the Witchfires, demanding tolls and bribes from those who travel through those areas."

"A regular "Robin Hood," mumbled Alex. Stapkas suddenly entered the office stopping in his tracks when he saw the looks on everyone's faces.

"Who is this?" Asked Deev. Alex then made hasty introductions all around, and gave the Ruddorian a quick run-down on the current situation.

The queen was still on the screen, so stepping in front of it he bowed, introduced himself, as well as his sister and made with the arcane hand gestures again. Queen Breca then replied,

"Master Slykhor, it is a pleasure to meet you, is by any chance your mother's name Chani?" Both Ruddorians eyes lit up.

"Why yes it is."

"I met her a long time ago when we were just young girls, but I digress."

"Your highness," said Stapkas, "Would you permit me a moment while I speak to Alex and Mr. Mocon?"

"Why yes, I will wait."

Turning to both of them Stapkas said,

"Let my sister and I become a part of this, my father is quite the diplomat as well as an excellent negotiator, I like to think a lot of it has rubbed off on me, and in fact it is what I intend to make my life's work." Deev looked at Alex who thought a moment, then shrugged,

"Why not, I certainly wouldn't know what to say, all I know is that he's not getting that rifle, there must be another way to get Kelly out of there." Deev then looked at Alex, asking,

"Just out of curiosity, how would you do it Alex?" He looked at the Oxynian rep, then at Stapkas.

"Well since this Stenuck guy would see us coming, I'd fly up into those mountains cloaked. I'll bet with all those sensors, and scanners you've got Stapkas, we could find his hideout easy enough, even if it's in a cave, there would still be activity outside from people watching for someone coming his way. I'd set down right out in front and threaten to blow his whole f*****g mountain up if he didn't produce Kelly."

"Why that's insane!" Gasped Mocon.

"Actually I like the idea," replied Stapkas, "However I think I might be able to come up with some refinements that won't seem so threatening to this Stenuck fellow."