Voyage of the Dawn Rider

Chapter 14

Voyage of the Dawn Rider 12.

Doctor Dall soon returned with his son, completely astounded by what he was seeing, once we had him study the data screen, his enthusiasm only increased. "I simply cannot believe this captain," exclaimed doctor Dall. "This is old "Horeb" a very early written language used on Pyrra over a thousand years ago, it's considered a "dead" language, there's probably only five others beside myself who can understand it." The doctor then looked up at me, "Captain, you don't suppose that that language was THE language of these people, given to our ancestors." "I don't know doctor; it would seem to me, if that were the case, then you humans were "dropped" on Pyrra as well." Doctor Dall seemed lost in himself for a moment, then looked at me, "Without realizing it captain, you just stumbled onto one of the greatest philosophical and ideological debates now raging among Academia, on Pyrra. We can find no evidence of human life on Pyrra beyond the last six hundred years, many are very troubled by it, and even though this may only stir things up even more, we must pursue it." "All fine and good doctor," I replied, "but that's going to have to wait, can you read any of this writing, at least enough to give us an idea on what we're doing here?" He had to retrieve one of his reference books, but slowly he was able to decipher the writing. Spanner took a roll of "ninety mile an hour" tape and a marker and labeled all the controls as the doctor figured out their meanings. After awhile, we were able to bring the ship into a high orbit of the planet; the doctor also determined the name of this race, as the "Morda." Once we stabilized the ship and its engines, the doctor returned to the Dawn Rider where he resumed helping Elansa with the two prisoners.

While poking around a couple rooms on the upper deck, Spanner discovered a couple platforms that we guessed were like wheel less carts. They floated about waist high off the floor, and were controlled with a hand held control. We put them to good use collecting the dead bodies of the alien crewmembers. Magiere located a small air lock, which we used to stuff the bodies into and flush them into space. I was a bit surprised when Magiere joined us in hauling out bodies; our little "detail" consisted of myself, Spanner and Lt. Dall. We split up into two teams, Lt. Dall and Magiere, Spanner and I. Before long, the carts were washed with blue. I gave both lieutenant's the lower level since they could dump the bodies at the base of the hanger doors then open them to whisk the "trash" out into space. It was a good thing we had all changed into coveralls before beginning our grisly work, as we became covered in the detritus of the dead. While we were working, I got a buzz on my comm from Magiere, "Captain, we've found something, you'd better get down here right now." Spanner and I followed the comm signal down to an area we hadn't been before , this section of the ship seemed to consist of small chambers or cells. When we came down the corridor, I saw Lt. Dall standing in the corridor, looking at something going on in one of the rooms.

Magiere was sitting next to a slender woman with long reddish colored hair hugging what appeared to be a teenage girl. Both were absolutely filthy and just had some sort of sheet around them. Upon closer examination, I noticed they were both Pyrrians judging from the lack of pointed ears. "What's going on here?" I asked. Magiere looked at me with tears in her eyes, "We found these two in this cell, there is a male Gok in the next cell captain, he's just sitting in there not saying a word. I immediately called Garet requesting his immediate presence. " I believe this girl may be this woman's daughter captain," continued Magiere. "We found them in here both are terrified, Keith has tried talking to them but I think they're traumatized. We need to get them back to the Dawn Rider so Elansa and doctor Dall can examine them." I bent down and tried to comfort them, but the look in both their eyes was that of sheer terror, both said nothing. Garet Leah appeared at the door, "Next cell Garet, there's a Gok in there, see what you can do for him." Spanner went back to the "Rider" to get Elansa and doctor Dall, as well as some paper coveralls for the woman and girl to wear. When Elansa and doctor Dall showed up they were aghast, Elansa immediately placed her hands on the sides of the woman's face, and began to mumble a chant. While all this was going on Garet returned with the Gok. "His name's Brate, captain, he claims he was taken last cycle sometime in the summer, apparently there were several of them he's the only one left." I gave Garet a cold look, "I think I know what became of his companions doctor, let's just leave it at that for now." The Gok said something to Garet, who said, "Brate is very thirsty as well as hungry, he hasn't eaten for several days. Suddenly Elansa screamed, causing all of us to jump. "She's probing her mind," said Garet, that poor woman must have some horrific memories. I think she's trying to bring this woman out of shock." Both Elansa and Dr. Dall then asked the rest of us to leave; we took Brate to the "rider" to get some water as well as something to eat. Lt. Dall gave Brate some water as well as a couple of his rations. I had a hard time believing that for all this Gok must have gone through he seemed rather nonplussed by it all. Gok's had a language all their own, Garet claimed it wasn't exactly Ogre speak, but many of the word structures as well as words themselves were the same, at any rate, he was the only one who could communicate with Brate.

Elansa called me requesting help as she was bringing the woman and girl to the "Rider" away from the environment of the alien ship. Lt. Dall carried the girl while Dr. Dall supported the woman as they brought them aboard and into the sick bay. Unfortunately, there was a big problem, both the alien prisoners were secured in the adjoining room, when the woman saw them she let out a wail and attempted to grab the girl who had plans of her own. Without changing her expression, the girl calmly grabbed a scalpel off a nearby table walked over to one of the aliens and slit him belly to brisket before any of us could do a thing. The hapless alien looked down at himself as his guts spilled out of the massive gash. Lt. Dall snatched her up just as she dropped the scalpel, her facial expression never changing… Elansa and the doctor quickly removed the woman with Lt. Dall following with the girl. The other alien upon seeing his fellow crewmember so casually slit open like that clucked and chattered away. Spanner gave out with a low whistle, "By Crom's hammer captain, I've never seen such a stone cold killer like that before." Turning to him, I replied, "I don't even want to think of the reasons that poor girl had for doing something like that." Together we gathered up the dead alien and took him to the pile outside the hanger doors. Elansa had Lt. Dall throw the living alien in a locker we were using as an impromptu jail cell while she returned with the woman and the girl who clung to her. Shortly, Elansa took me aside and said, "Captain, doctor Dall and I will be with this woman and girl most of the night, there's nothing more you can do here, I'll let you know how they're doing later on." The type of job we were doing precluded eating anything, although Spanner's appetite didn't seem to suffer, he grabbed a "potie pie" threw it in the micro, and chomped it down. Lt. Dall and Magiere had returned to work as did Spanner and I once he was finished eating.

Needless to say, all of us gave the vibe shower a real work out, normally it's just a matter of cleansing away the body odor, and once in awhile, a little dirt, however this time it was cleaning us completely of blood and tiny pieces of tissue matter. Well it took a little longer, but that shower came through. The next "morning" I ate a little for breakfast, mainly just a mug of streaming hot tea, while I was sitting at the dining table, trying to prepare for the coming day Elansa came up to me and reported. "Well her name is Alyx, and her daughter's name is Tama, I've got them under sedation and resting but only time will tell." Elansa made herself a cup of tea and sat down looking grim. 'We witches have a…Certain method of getting into other's minds, beyond that I can tell you no more. Suffice to say I was not prepared for what I experienced with this poor woman, she and her daughter have been through pure hell." Taking a sip of tea she continued, "Captain I have never in my whole career had to utilize my skills as much as I did last night, needless to say, I will be making a full report to my guild as soon as we return." Elansa then lowered her voice, "Captain, I wish to be taken off the project of trying to get into these…Creatures minds." I looked at her, Elansa's steely blue eyes staring me right back. "Why is that Elansa," I inquired. "Because captain, after what I now know about these monsters I can no longer safely be trusted around them. I now know why Tama calmly opened up that alien in the manor that she did, I could do it a whole lot easier. As a physician, my duty is to heal and save lives, as to having anything to do with these creatures I can no longer stand by that duty." I finished my tea and reached over and touched her hand, "After what we've just been through, it's now clear to me that our duty is to our home world Elansa, although I have not been witness to the personal horror that you have, I think we're both on the same page, these creatures must be completely and totally eradicated. We have to find where their home world is and completely destroy it Don't ask me how, but we must find a way, maybe the answer is on this ship, maybe it's in the mind of one of these creatures, either way we must find it. I'm betting there's more of those little rats on this ship who are hiding. Elansa, because the nature of this mission has changed, I'm giving you complete authority concerning any prisoners, do with them as you will, but I want answers. Doctor Dall thinks they speak a language the Pyyrians spoke a long time ago, that could be the break we need, I've got him doing further research into it so be sure to stay in touch with him."

We sat there and looked at each other for a moment, then very quietly Elansa said, "Captain, I'm scared, really scared. Being a Faerie witch there isn't much I haven't seen, however I worry that my skills might not be up to the mark, for the first time I can think of, I am unsure, not something you'd ever expect a Faerie witch to admit." I reached back over and gently squeezed her hand. "Stay strong Elansa, we need you, your queen felt you qualified, she has complete faith in you, as do all of us. Providence has seen fit to put all of us together on this ship for a particular mission, even little Nessa has a big role to play." "I understand captain," replied Elansa, however there is something else I must warn you of, and that is I have to walk a very thin line, between the powers of good versus the powers of dark. Witches' training is long and very thorough, but there have been cases of individuals "slipping" and becoming evil, it's rare but it has happened. Should that become the case here, you may have to kill me." I started to protest, but she held up her hand. "No more captain, you or the others may not recognize the signs, but Nessa will, if she comes to you with a warning, do what must be done, believe me captain, it will be the only way, now no more talk of this, I have patients to attend to." "One thing Elansa," I quickly said, "Regardless of what happens, I will always have complete faith in you." Elansa stood and looked wistfully at me, a wan smile on her face, "Thank you captain."

Later that day I became witness to what Elansa was talking about. Lieutenant's Dall and

Starle came across a small group of Morda hiding in a maintenance area, they were apparently armed and nobody was willing to go in after them, and Magiere didn't think a pulse grenade was suitable for the room, Elansa was called for. When Spanner and I got there the Lieutenant's were standing in the corridor Elansa was chanting something, as she stepped into the doorway. Casting her hands towards the back of the room, I saw what looked like wisps of smoke beginning to swirl. Soon the room was full of these wisps, the four aliens began to screech a horrible wail, I watched as they were actually picked up dropping their weapons, as Elansa continued to cast her hands. Suddenly another one darted out from another part of the room, Elansa paused only long enough point at the hapless creature, causing it to be slammed with incredible force against a duct pipe, it's body ripping in half.