Chapter 16: Panic in Space

Thanks to the course and flight plans the Green Snake and her crew knew exactly when the Explorer Cruiser would be here.

The ship was known as the Green Snake; Captain Coldblood commanding her was feared and known as a ruthless pirate. That he was sponsored by the Kermac was a careful kept secret, not even his crew knew about. Taking on a Union Explorer ship was actually a number too big for even him, and he knew it would stir up the Union hornets like nothing else, but he had his orders and there were two Kermac T Cruisers hiding in the only star system in the strip, to assist him.

His orders were to be the face of the attack, so if the Explorer used it’s cursed faster than light Communication to call for help, the Union would blame pirates and not the Kermac.

His gunner turned. “The package pulled her out of Quasi and disabled her shields but she is still under full power...”

“Don’t squawk your Frutni, Singe her helpless! I want those scientists aboard the sooner the better.”

Captain Coldblood didn’t feel all too cool and confident. All intelligence confirmed that there was no Union Fleet ship close by, a large Kermac maneuver was keeping the Union Fleet attention a thousand light years away, but that didn’t mean he wanted to stick around when a Union destroyer or even a battleship responded to the certain help calls of the Explorer.

He could not understand why his superiors were risking so much, just to get a few Union scientists. Everyone in the Galaxy knew it was better to leave Union Explorers alone. Nothing really made them angrier than attacking one of their “unarmed peaceful explorers”, perhaps with the exception of firing on one of their hospital ships the union supposedly had.

Thanks to their intelligence they knew when the Explorer would be here and they set a trap. Ten Kermac Gravo Mines, set in dual configuration. Both the gravo mines and the technique of using them in tandem were directly copied from the Nul. The only technique known that could disrupt those excellent Union Shields, long enough to bring weapons to bear.

He heard his Scanner operator curse and say. “Damn they are flying directly into the rest of the Mines!”

Coldblood could not stop it; no human reaction was fast enough. The last volley of ship to ship missiles and FTL blasts of his ships weapons were already on their way, and the Union ship hit more mines before he could send the deactivation command.

The Union Ship was tough but the simultaneous explosion of several Gravo Mines and the impact of the shots triggered some sort of cataclysm. The entire lower half of the ship was instantly vaporized in a violent explosion, leaving only a fragmented piece of scrap and the upper half. The Union explorer ship Zheng He was destroyed! Their plan to board her and abduct her crew of scientists was a mute one now, nothing could have survived that.

His scanner operator tried to pick up life signs but then shook his head. “Nothing is alive out there Captain.”

Roy

Roy had spent the last two weeks almost like in a dream state. The woman he had met by the waterfall was clearly exposed too much to fire nettle dust and was a little nuts. Roy humored her and let her believe what she wanted. If she wanted to be called by that old name that was fine with him. She was like other girls, always answering a question with another question instead of simply saying something. She wasn’t there every day; sometimes she didn’t show for days. He had given up asking who she was or where she lived. He was pretty certain she lived in town and was just like him someone who had discovered the jungles from early on.

She was good though, the only person he ever met on Green Hell who could go to places he could and she was real good at disappearing, just in a moment when he didn’t pay much attention. He kept his word though and did not tell anyone of her.

He had only two more days before he had to leave and he felt depressed and I he was in a somber mood as he went to the waterfall, hoping to see her one last time to say good bye.

Partner trotted next to him and also hung his head, not that Partner was really sad about anything but when Roy was in a bad mood then so was Partner.

He was still a good kilometer away from the waterfall when he climbed high into a Tantalus oak to evade the very active strangle veins and the Mortar Toads in this area. Partner would follow or teleport after him, there was nothing they encountered able to stop his black furred friend, but a strangle vein could easily pluck him right off Partner’s back.

Just as he was about to leap to the next branch, he noticed a movement to his side. His hand darted to his new TKU.

Qaroniel, the green haired enigma was crouching on the same branch and she stared right into the frightening muzzle with her big eyes. “You don’t need that. Qaroniel will not harm you.”

He relaxed, put the blaster away and smiled at her. “Sorry Qaro didn’t mean to frighten you but you startled me as usual.”

He still could not tell how old she was, other than she was an adult and older than him. She sat down right between the sharp thorns of the Tantalus Oak branch and said. “You came to say good bye, so I came.”

He made sure nothing dangerous was nearby and then said. “Yes I must be on the shuttle tomorrow afternoon.”

“It is good for the young to leave the nest. You will learn much out there.”

“I know and I also know it is necessary, but that doesn’t mean I need to like it.”

For the first time she actually touched him, putting her hand on his shoulder.” You are afraid of the future and changes, but no matter how far you go you are connected to me, to this world and it will be always your home.”

“You still insist on that you are the planet?” He said with a sad face as he had hoped she would tell him her real name and maybe share her PDD code.

“This world and I are one, Roy. When you were very young you accidently opened the Air Lock of your fortress home and you were out here, yet nothing harmed you, because I was there.”

He suddenly remembered the day when he was just five years old; the memory was vivid and clear.

His parents had left to the Institute and left him behind in his Robo-Crib, not knowing that the used crib someone had given them had a faulty sleep inducer and its child safety protocols had been turned off by the previous family. Martha was way too busy to really care about her own child and never checked. Roy always waited till they were gone and then got up and played by himself, he always had been curious about what lay beyond that thick airlock door.

That day he had watched his mother punch in the simple manual code. Getting the heavy wooden chair from father’s study was more difficult than using it to reach the air lock controls.

Roy remembered how he stumbled outside for the first time. Simply standing there and taking deep breaths and falling in love with this world for the first time.

Now as he remembered her words made sense and at the same time alarmed him. From all the things he knew now about Green Hell, he should have never been able to survive the first times he went out, yet he did. Even though he had this strange sense of impeding danger from the first time he was out, back then he had no idea what to do or how to avoid the many thousand dangers.

He blinked the memories away and looked at her and some understanding begun to trickle into his mind. “How did I survive?”

“I was there Roy, I called you outside. Your parents are knowledge seekers but they seek with blind eyes and with ignorance. I wanted you to become my child, just like your friends, but you became more Roy. You embraced me like no other before; you loved me from the first time you came out.”

He completely forgot everything around him and almost fell of the branch. “You are Green Hell, you are Qaroniel. But how can a woman be a planet?”

“Your people collect much knowledge every day and one day they will find the science and the explanation for what I am. One day you will understand who I am when I reveal myself to you.”

Roy gasped and wiped his dry lips, he was filled with pure amazement. His mind reeled trying to find an explanation that fit with his Union School science knowledge and he could not make it fit. “Are you a God or something like that? I am not that good with the religious stuff.”

“Do not put labels on me; I am not a supernatural imagination of your mind. No, Roy. I am Qaroniel and this world and I am are one. I promise you the day when you understand what I am and how I came to be.”

There were a thousand things he wanted to ask her and then he remembered what a Union Citizen would have to do. “If you are a sentient life form and this planet is yours then we must go to the Assembly and you must tell them if you want us here and all that.”