Chapter 9: The Herald Interlude

Technically she was a coach operator and so it was noted on her pay slip from Red Triangle Lines Corporation, and the ship she flew was only a D 180 Long Range Shuttle, but she called it ship and despite the fact that she was the entire crew of the ship, she considered herself a star ship captain. Out here in the Fornax satellite it was not necessary to operate full size Leyland or the truly big MB Space Buses. She never had more than ten passengers and her shuttle had room for 180 individuals. Today she had not a single passenger as she approached Annapurna. Well that was not entirely true; she had four cages of chicks and a transport crate with two goats. The Union Traffic Connection Act of 3200 said that every planet of the Union had to be connected to the rest of the Union via GalNet, Mail and Space Bus and so there was bus service to even the most remote planet. Annapurna most certainly counted as remote. Not that she minded she loved her job; she routinely flew to sixteen of the sixty five colonies here in the Fornax Four Cluster. After Annapurna she would head on to ‘Five Hundred Lakes’ and from there to ‘Greenandblue’. There she would take on twelve passengers, heading back to Fornax Hub Station.

The D 180 dropped out of Quasi Space and Terri pulled the communications sensor head from the ceiling, then she straightened out in her seat and established contact with Annapurna Port. “This is Captain Terri ‘The Redhead’ Finley calling Lazy Al of Annapurna Port. I am coming in with mail, 2000 chicken chicks and two special passengers for Carl. Got anything or anyone going out?”

Lazy Al usually responded right away as she knew the man had a crush on her and she loved to tease him about it. This time it took a few moments and Al responded without activating visuals. “You are permitted to land. You are to unload your freight and everything is perfectly in order here.”

Terri’s neck hair stood up straight, something was not right here. “Why don’t you come on visual? I am wearing the Uniform blouse that is a little too tight, the one you like.”

“Yes there is delight in myself to see you in a garment that does not fit. The visual sensor is damaged.”

“Now she was certain there was something fishy going on. Did he smoke to much of the herbs Carl collected and maybe something else more potent?

“Hey Al, what is Gloria thinking about the fact you are flirting with me all the time?”

There was a pause and then the response came.” Gloria does concern herself with matters of pre mating rituals I am engaging in.”

“I believe that.” Gloria was on the old advertisement poster for Dunmark Nuc Gas, that hung on the wall behind Al. Gloria was a cartoonish space ship. “Whoever talked to her it wasn’t Al.”

She changed channels and called the Ranger station on Fornax Hub and told them that there was something strange going on and she forwarded them the recorded transmission and her explanations. Then she opened the channel to whoever it was and said. “I know you are not Al, and I have alerted the Rangers. Whoever you are you are in trouble Mister.”

“How unfortunate for you then, I must kill you then before your message reaches whoever you called.”

Whoever it was did not know about the Instant communication and therefore was not Union. So there was alien unknown sentient life out here after all. It did not sound very friendly but the Rangers would know how to deal with that. If not there was a Destroyer stationed at Fornax Hub. Thinking about that she called Fornax again and told them about the latest development and maybe it was better to send the Destroyer and the Navy right away.

A small ship appeared coming up from the planet. It was nothing her Computronic could identify. It was however armed, the purpose of the four barrel like extensions on the potato shaped craft were clearly weapons. She reversed course and shifted her engine past Red Line in the hope to reach Quasi Space and Trans light speeds before the Alien could make true on his threat. Her shuttle was not armed and had only standard civilian shields, good enough to deflect micro meteoroids and atmosphere but not to deflect weapon energies.

--””--

Perryton

Jones Port on Perryton was a big city with over 6,000,000 inhabitants. The town was located at the bottom of a massive mountain range and the buildings and constructs hugged the C shaped bay of a turquoise ocean. The dominant architecture style appeared to be Retro Fundamentalism with buildings made of most likely local materials, stone facades of reddish granite and old fashioned square windows. Retro Fundamentalism was void of frills, statues or integrated art. The buildings had straight lines and angles. The tallest building was only about twenty stories tall. No slide way bridges cluttered the skyline, like they did in many other cities. A few buildings where clearly not of human design, like the spherical pinkish gleaming Saresii Meditation Temple or the lemon shaped Wurgus Tech Center.

The streets between the buildings had tree lined slide ways with various speed lanes.

The planets space port was located on the other side of the mountains and connected via tunnels and not visible from the town.

Before we left Commander Letsgo had ordered us to stay together in small groups and not to get in fights with Marines or United Stars Army personnel. The Quarter master transferred our first pay since we joined. Narth was pleasantly surprised to see 12,000 credits on his newly issued Credit strip. I knew a cadet was making 1500 a month. This was quite some money. To me thousand Credits was still a lot of money, the amount of credits on my credit strip was actually beyond my comprehension.

Narth held up his Credit strip and glanced at the number.” I have monetary means.”

“You never had any money before?”

He shook his head. “Our society does not trade and had prior to me virtually no contact with other Union members. The Narth representative on Pluribus does not earn any money with his posting. So yes I am the richest Narth there is.”

“Narth I have more money than I understand and it is all yours if you need it. I have very little needs for it.”

“I observed that humans and also many non humanoids value the amassing of wealth a great deal and they pursue much way to gain more. Why is it you do not?”

“I got food, clothing, friends and it looks like I do have a career in the Navy so what do I really need more? The one thing I want I can’t buy with money.”

“Seeing the amount of Credits available to you, I think you could purchase a private space ship.”

I simply looked at him. “That would not be the same.”

Olia was quite displeased and complained that this was barely enough for a few decent shoes and a new outfit and she wanted to go to a bank terminal to get more money.

We all wore our Dress uniforms. Navy black with large green bands on the sleeves, indicating to everyone we were just green first year cadets and not real officers. Except Narth who was exempt from regular Navy Dress code. He wore a black robe with a green stripe on his long sleeves. I knew him well enough now to notice even he was in better mood than usual despite the mask.

And as usual I was never sure if he actually spoke to me or if I heard his voice in my mind directly. “It pleases me that you are able to detect my mood. Having any kind of mood is still new to me and I am thrilled that our friendship developed in such a way that you can detect it.”

The star port was a busy class B. As we landed I watched in awe as towering Octo-bots, some over thousand meters tall, serviced space ships, swarms of cargo drones lifting containers and freight in dazzling speeds through the air. I wished I could have lingered and watched some more. Few things fascinated me more than watching spaceport activity but our transport had touched down and the platform we landed on, lowered the D 100 Long Range Shuttle below the surface. Moments later we debarked and rode a slide-way to the terminal.

A security checkpoint manned by a robot and a local uniformed officer checked our CITI and allowed us access.

The terminal was as busy as the star port itself. Beings from all over the galaxy moved in any conceivable direction, robots of every design carried out errands, vended food, drinks and provided a host of other services. One side of the terminal had the usual chain stores and restaurants one could find in any mall or star port: Mc Donald’s, Arthur’s Swine and Dine, Harold’s Mercantile, Seven Eleven, Pizza House, Wuerg Exotics and a Hoechst Drug and Pharmacy.

And there where uniforms everywhere. The white of Medical, the light blue of Science Corps, Marines in midnight blue, Orbital Attack Infantry in green, Navy personnel in black. And in between maroon dressed Explorer crews and the purple of Military Police.

A group of young marines plowed through the crowds as if they owned the place. There was no one stupid enough to challenge them either. Two cadets form our group joined other Navy personnel in a line before a Tattoo parlor. A dozen army cadets proudly displaying their OAI patches held a noisy eating contest at Swine and Dine.

“What a zoo.” Owar remarked, with a disapproving tone in his voice.

“I am sure you can still catch the transport back to Camp Idyllic.” Wintsun suggested with a crocked smile.

Owar spread his arms.” I was just saying, look at all that.”

“What’s wrong with it?” Galmy wanted to know. “I am starving for civilization and action. I think I could party around the clock.”

Owar stretched his arms. “I am going over there to the Holiday Inn portel, get me a room and sleep till Sunday. That’s what I am going to do.”

“Are you serious?” I asked.

“Yep.”

Sure enough he went straight to the guest counter and asked the attending robot for a room and two minutes later he held a key card, glanced at it and said: “I am in room 453. I haven’t slept enough since I joined this circus. Would you guys mind checking on me before you leave?”

As it was his habit, Limbur scratched his bald head. “Sure we will. I think his idea isn’t all that bad, but I first need to find me the best All you can eat buffet in town.”

With one friend left we boarded a maglev train that connected the Space Port with Jones Port the capitol city of the planet.

The ride only took a few minutes and we left the train at the down town stop and emerged on shopping and amusement area, just as busy as the star port and again uniforms as far as one could see.

After quizzing an info bot we found our way to the water front and a sea food-all you can eat restaurant. The prices where astronomic but Limbur insisted on inviting us all. To my utter delight I found Tyranno Fin steak on the menu. It was not as good as I remembered it but I still enjoyed a taste of home so far away. I also tried the local fish and it wasn’t bad at all.

Narth passed small morsels under his hood. He never really ate. He just sampled foods. I asked him:” Do Narth eat? I mean consume food the way humans do?”

“We once did, but we found the process of consuming solid foods and passing waste products very inefficient and quite disgusting, but as you know I am trying to learn more about the way humans and other beings live. So I sample small amounts to analyze them. I must say we Narth lost a lot in the process. I learned from you that eating is much more than nourishment but a social event. Associated with flavors and textures it provides pleasure. Experience pleasure is probably the greatest loss”