Chapter 75

As I sat comfortably in my chair thinking of my home and family. The home on the river, my wives, children, Mom my friends, and even Dog seemed to beg me to return. Instead, I was drawn to an area outside of the hull. Questing further I saw that it was not the ship itself but rather the direction. I felt a malignant aura which seemed to be to draw me to one side when looking at the galaxy through the sensors. It was off our projected course but it was too interesting to just pass up. Relying now strictly on feel I slowed down and altered course. A short time later I found devastation here too but of a much more recent nature. The sensors told me that this was just done barely two thousand years ago.

I carefully entered the next system and found many destroyed ships and these happened to be Kadork. There was very little of their enemy found but on a rocky asteroid Harriet's sensors found portions of Thonas craft. The formerly inhabited planet was almost completely destroyed. This was not done with the usual vengeance the Thonas had inflicted on the Tandra in the last big war. We searched in vain for a salvageable computer to give us and indication of what had happened. After a few more hours we just left to check other nearby systems.

A feeling grew in me about the importance of this area and I continued my search. After fourteen more systems, four of which showed former Kadork habitation, we happened upon a derelict ship. The transponder was very weak but we did approach.

My senses quested forth along with the sensors and I knew that nothing lived onboard. We approached closely and Harriet used her tractors to manoeuvre us all around the large hull. The ship type was distinctly Tandra and not Kadork as I expected. This time the craft was non-military. Precise hits by weapons had rendered useless the engines, some hull plates were blown inward.

Harriet sent a few small robotic units over and they did a preliminary survey. This was important for our thermographic sensors indicated the wreck to be less than ten Earth days old.

We could see some of the damage inside but it was very little as if the crew had given up instead of fighting. Rather than repair some power connections an accumulator was taken over and used to directly energize the computer. When it came aware it would not take any of the imperial overrides. The computer itself did not have the same type of programming the other computers had. The AI was either not present or damaged in the fighting.

My mind seemed to flow toward the wreck and enter the computer. It went within the circuits themselves and found many changes to the way the Tandra did things. The computer was much simpler than the ones I knew. We had to attribute it to the fact that it was not a military vessel. Harriet assisted and we worked to copy all of its data. There was a seven woman crew when it left on its voyage. The ship had been carrying processor modules, weapons and other equipment. This was all to go to some Tandra outposts and even some was to trade with other allied races. The ship had been attacked and the sensors damaged from beyond their pickup range. Internal video showed the unmistakable forms of Samutz in their battle suits rounding up the crew. Other clips showed cargo being taken from the holds.

Harriet gave a scan of the vessel and working with the cargo manifest. She deduced that the weapons and the processor modules were taken. The latter were not the same as processor crystals for they were made up of many smaller manufacturable crystals for use in computers. This process had been used many times in Tandra's past but was found to be very inefficient and slow. The computer would have serious limitations and was usually unsuited for a military vessel. The only good news was that there was a sizable Tandra presence in the area.

The data showed that there were thirty seven local empires. They were made up mostly of one to four systems in each grouping but three larger monarchies where around twenty systems. This added up to a hundred and forty eight systems and about five times that in small mining colonies and outposts.

The ship's computer had been ravished as well and the computer damaged. Before the system had shut down there was enough residual power in the computer to give us an indication of which way the Samutz ship had left.

Harriet asked, "What are we going to do now Henry?"

"I think we should follow the Samutz and see where they take us. The ship tells us that there is a lot of trade within the various kingdoms and the unsophisticated races in this area. I am sure we will find a lot more destruction as we proceed. Perhaps even a chance to get some help."

We left, trying to track the Samutz and found the energy trail crossed other old flight paths. None was more recent though and we continued on our quest. Almost seven lights distant we slowed down and came to a large asteroid wandering alone between star systems. Beacons around the large twenty seven kilometre long rock attested it to be an outpost of one of the planets about two and a half lights distant. The data stream confirmed to the outpost's dormant status but it was plain to see that this was not the case.

Energy in many different spectrums emanated from the interior. Rather than approach close, robotic probes were again sent. Our own active sensors would surely cause us to be spotted. Ten minutes later we viewed a rough surface that had an uncomfortable and dangerous feeling about it. On closer examination the probes found many emplaced weapons platforms hidden from all but the closest scrutiny.

"Harriet, I can feel Tandra here and they are all very frightened. We are not close enough to get any thoughts. Can you?"

"It is too far for thought. I can feel their emotions though Henry. What are you planing to do?"

"I have no battle suit and few personal weapons. I can't use the energy from the other dimension here or I will destroy the rock and all it contains."

"There will be Samutz there too."

"I think there is too. I will just have to come up with a weapon before we go any further. The one that seems to work the best is my temporal shield. It is just too blunt an instrument though."

"Can you sharpen it then?"

"That is an idea." I began to think of Margaret and how I had to assist her to generate a stronger temporal field. This improvement had been incorporated into the design of Harriet.

My mind worked furiously trying to produce a single purpose computer that could produce a temporal field. This was one of the bottlenecks I had suffered in regards to new missiles. The small ones were too small to project this field. I was coming to an idea when Harriet warned me. A destroyer left the far side of the asteroid and flew off at a military acceleration.

"Henry, there may be thousands of Samutz in that base. That ship was inside."

"If I have my shield up there is no way they can touch me. I just wish that I had a combat suit to give me invisibility and anti-gravity." Jamal had put crystals into my body to give me a personal shield with extra protection on my chest. More had gone in to increase my intelligence and even lasers were placed in my fingers. After my accident they had made me what I was now but some of their original intent was now gone.

Thinking of the shield again brought me back to Margaret's hull. I could see similarities between her body and mine. I visualized some of the crystals I would need and said, "Harriet will you get these for me?"

The crystals appeared and I set them down except one. That one was adapted to form a new shield but I altered it to protect me better. The harmonics would fluctuate very quickly to keep all solid projectiles from hitting me. Massive objects would still kill because of their kinetic energy. I didn't have the inertial compensator to stop that kind of thing. Energy weapons were the same but a massive enough discharge would overload the crystal's capacity to protect.

A second crystal was changed to give me the temporal field similar to what Margaret and Harriet now had. I could generate this field with my mind but the specific crystal would take that task from me. The third and last crystal would be similar but I had no way of controlling the crystal or providing power to it. A fairly simple idea came to me. I made a small circuit in my mind and added an accumulator for power. It was evident that it would do what I needed as long as I did not run it too long. The circuit criteria was transferred to Harriet and she began to make the unit.

The crystals were only a little over a centimetre long. I pushed them under my skin and moved them to where they would reside. Both would be just beneath the metal fabric covering my chest just over my rib cage. I made the connections and tested the more or less standard shield and saw that it worked fine. The other I would only use outside the hull for fear of damaging Harriet.

When Harriet finished with the device I saw that it was the size of a common laser pointer but with no manual button. She said, "It is actuated by your mind only Henry. Do you want to try your improvements now?"

"Yes I do." I set my shield and I was transported outside the hull. The pressors pushed me a distance of a few hundred metres away. My temporal shield was tried first and it appeared to work fine. I took the small device in my hand and energized it. A beam seemed to go out a centimetre and end at the inside of shield. With the temporal shield off and the other shield in its place the energy went out over eight metres. I moved it back and forth and saw that it used a lot of power to function. I shortened the beam to a metre and saw the load to be much reduced.

Harriet pulled me back in when I was done. She said, "It looks like the device works but it still uses a lot of power. My estimates show me that it will last less than six minutes at full power and a little more than four times that at the one metre setting."

Harriet threw me at the rock with her tractors and when the time came I used a small reaction unit to slow me down. There was an artificial gravity generated within the rock and I just had to walk to the other side where the ship had emerged almost two hours ago. On my way I found many camouflaged missile batteries ready to take on attackers.

On the far side I found markers written in Tandra guiding me to one of the many personnel entrances. I did not ask the computer for access but slipped through the dimensions as I had learned to do when I visited the Bintuu queen.

The interior in this section was unilluminated. I cast my senses out and could see a corridor almost three metres wide by two high. Four strips appeared to be worn in the hard floor attesting to a continual flow of equipment over the years. I could also now detect the Tandra mindspeech. There were only nine that I could detect but their minds were deeply agitated and almost incomprehensible. More were further off and in a state of shock. I got glimpses of quick and needless death from a creature that had to be Samutz. The blood was pictured very prominently as the creature ate the Tandra before the astonished survivors.

As with ships, I had to take over the computer first. The problem was that I had no idea where it would be. Up ahead there was a lit corridor and I hurried to it with my senses very alert. Just before the junction I stopped and searched again. I could feel no presence nearby. Along one wall in the illuminated area I found a graphical representation of the base and a statement in Tandra stating 'You are here'.

The computer area crew and food preparation areas were grouped together as well as three bays for shipment of ore mined from this asteroid. I took a circuitous route to avoid detection and headed to the computer area. The areas I passed were quieter now but I was constantly on the lookout for Samutz for I could not detect their thinking. The computer had only a shield over the opening and I simply walked in. The room was small and the computer simple in construction. There was still the five dimensional distortion but it was now very negligible. The computer did not have an AI but did have the capability. On an otherwise unused surface there was an assortment of spare parts. A small crystal did catch my eye.

With my PK ability I brought the small crystal only five centimetres long to me. I held it to me but found I had to lower my shield to do this right. I could detect no immediate danger and did so quickly then started reprogramming the crystal into a processor. When I was done I raised my shield again. I took the device over to the area reserved for it and inserted it into an empty socket.

The crystal glowed even brighter as it became aware of its surroundings and I stepped back because of the amount of brightness. A simple voice said "Computer m436589nmits46119076 reporting."

"Hello computer. How about you taking the name Taluus?"

"Thank you sir. My records show it to be a name of a minor Tandra figure from mythology."

"That is good. How did you know that?"

"I have many pieces of information stored in my system and at one time spoke the stories to the crew."

"I am concerned with the new crew you have. The Samutz are a race we are at war with. They have taken over this station and have taken some Tandra here captive. Will you give me a description of their whereabouts and number?"

A vision of the number and placement of the Samutz then the Tandra was given me. A screen came alive and I was able to look through the video pickups to many of the places. Some devices I found had been damaged and not replaced. The Samutz though were all accounted for. There were a total of eighty three in all. Twenty one were sleeping and a dozen were working-out in a gym. Fifteen were working in another area with knives and other weapons to practice their skills. Three were in a control room apparently on watch. Seventeen were taking classes on some of the Tandra equipment that they had to work with. The teacher in this case was another Samutz and a very frightened Tandra. The remaining ten were overseeing groups of Tandra forced to do work for their capturers.

Five more Samutz were sleeping in out of the way spots and I assumed that they were goldbricking while they should be patrolling. This reminded me of the watch and found that it had another hour and a half to finish.

The Tandra had not been counted because they were termed cargo. I got Taluus to search for them. There was a hundred and four of them still alive. Twenty three were doing as the Samutz demanded. Most of the Tandra were in two stasis chambers and some others had already been killed for food. This last part made me hold my emotions firmly in check. Some were working on various jobs and would be hard to take out without killing innocent Tandra.

There were some tractors that I could use but were in areas that the Samutz were not. Weapons lockers were noted and these would have to be destroyed. Keeping the current placement of enemies in mind I raced to the barracks. Along the way I energized the temporal knife and I noticed it made an odd noise in the air as I ran. The barracks had a locked door apparently the Samutz did not trust their brothers very much. The knife worked quickly and fifteen heads separated from their torsos. Before the blood stopped spurting I went to the control room and Taluus opened the door for me.

My reflexes were as fast as I could make them in a moment had killed two and one had just enough time to run a few steps before I sliced him in two vertically.

On the way to the gym I passed three of the Samutz that were hiding and sleeping. One I had to just spear him through the wall and move the knife to assure me that he would never awaken. Again the door opened ahead of me and then closed. All the other ways of getting out were now secured by Taluus. The lights went out at my order to the AI and I began to work my way among the Samutz combatants. They were not unarmed but had improvised weapons that they used or tried to. The knife continued to make the odd noise as it travelled through the air and body parts of the Samutz.

Some relied on their good hearing to find me. The floor was covered in blood now and a sticky noise could be heard. A bench came at me after being ripped from the floor and I simply ducked as it struck a Samutz behind me. Two made it to their clothes. They took out forty centimetre knives and came at me. Another had the same idea moments later and was mistakenly knifed by his compatriots.

These last ones I took out by cutting off their legs. After they fell I did the same to their heads. All were dead now and I had Taluus turn on the lights. The room looked much like an abattoir. After turning off the knife I went into the cleanser to remove small body parts and blood. I did not want tracks on the deck for me to slip or the enemy to detect my presence.

The seventeen taking classes had broken up and they were all travelling in a group down the hall. I was able to get into a side room on a cross corridor and wait. When they crossed this corridor and continued I left and took off heads as I went. The lone Tandra was second from the end and gave a verbal gasp as I passed him to kill the ones in front of him. Some turned and jumped on me partly from reflex but this also gave their mates a chance to flee. I killed all but three that had fled. One was behind a door and I simply stabbed him and with a flick of the wrist cut him in two.

The next had a chance to put out an alarm but Taluus kept it from alerting the other Samutz. I had just enough time to catch this one before they split up. I ran fast now and the Samutz ran to the control room. There was some weapons there and some possible help. He tried to open the weapon's locker as I rushed in. His muscles heaved and the ceramic broke. When he pulled out the type of distortion weapon I was on him. He smiled for a second as he pulled the trigger only to find it did not work. My knife came up and cut the weapon from his hand taking half of his arm. A back swing removed his head. I now remembered a half forgotten scene in a movie when I saw the hand gasping a hand weapon with the odd sound of the knife in the background.

The weapons training class was my next major objective. On the way I took out the remaining two sleepers as they snoozed comfortably probably with a full stomach of fresh meat. There was only one way to the training centre and an overseer and his group happened to be in the way. I was among them as quick as I could and sliced off the tall Samutz' head.

The three naked Tandra just stood with their mouths open.

"Hello, my name is Henry Buchanan. I am part Tandra and want to get rid of the Samutz for you. Just go back the way I came and hide in a room and be quiet. Try not to warn or get the rest of the Tandra upset. The Samutz watch you carefully and will know something odd is happening."

I left to their head movement that said that they understood but I knew that they did not.

I called Harriet now and told Taluus to interface with her. The visions in my head in a moment got a few times better as Harriet cleaned up the information and sent it to me distortion free.

The weapons class had moved to a range with energy weapons and I knew I had to be very careful now. If any got loose they could kill the Tandra in spite. The weapons in their hands would make a new doorway to the rest of the base.

I too made a new opening and killed seven Samutz before the lights went out. The noise of the sword was what gave me away. I was able to get two more before the energy discharges forced me to deactivate the knife and put up my temporal shield. I was able to grapple with four more and they died almost instantly from the effects of the shield. The last two continued to bath me in energy till I ran my hand through each of them.

"Henry, one of the Samutz has heard the fighting and ran to get weapons."

"Where is he?" I got the graphic of the Samutz and where he was running. I knew there was no working matter transmitter so I had to run myself. I could see that he was running to the control room and gave chase. By taking a better route I was able to cut him off before he made it. From seven metres back I extended the knife and sliced his legs out from under him and he slid the rest of the way to the door.

Four more Samutz died in the coming moments without knowing anything. The remaining four deduced something was happening when the Tandra acted very odd. Their queries to the rest of their cohort went unanswered. They now knew they were in trouble. Two abandoned the Tandra to run for weapons. These I got the soonest. The two had met and continued for their personal weapons. I burst into their room and was bathed in energy. One died from the temporal field of my shield the other continued to fire at me till I caught him in a corner. I destroyed almost all his body and most of the wall.

The remaining two Samutz herded their Tandra charges to opposite ends of the base. The Tandra though proved ones downfall for they slowed him down enough that I was able to take another route and get ahead of him. As he ran he simply cut himself in half as he passed my position.

The Tandra behind him stopped abruptly and two tripped over the body. "You may have heard. I am Henry Buchanan and I have one more Samutz to kill. Get a sled, remove this body and all the rest you find. You may be here for a while and I doubt if you want the stink of corruption to add to your problems."

The last Samutz was in the control room trying to get the equipment to transmit a warning to the rest of his race that could be in the vicinity. Taluus and Harriet were sure to keep this from happening.

The three Tandra with him were forced to try to assist him and one died from a set of claws because she was not quick enough. One more Tandra died before I was able to get to the room and present myself. The remaining Tandra managed to flee to one side leaving the Samutz with only inoperative weapons suitable only as clubs.

The Samutz said in his tongue, "Who are you?"

I replied the same way, "I am the person that has killed billions of your race and will kill even more as time passes. Your race will only survive on isolated planets with no weapon better than a spear. You will not be one of them though," I said as my knife flicked out the full eight metres and severed the Samutz head from its body.

The remaining Tandra hid behind a console and I walked around to see the state she was in. This one was a he and was petrified of me as much as the Samutz that had just killed two of his people. "I am not going to hurt you. I am part Tandra myself." The naked form stayed on the floor and I picked him up gently. I sat him on a flat surface and moved close.

I picked up his chin and saw that he was very beautiful like all his race but the symmetry was even more prevalent now. He was indeed beautiful even among the Tandra. I looked within his mind to a deeper level and saw that he was just as beautiful inside as out. "I will not hurt you," I repeated as I held him to me.

Tandra males are much more like human females that I had spent fifty years getting used to. This group of Tandra were not as pushy or demanding as their female counterparts. In a way I felt closer to some males because of his.

His attitude slowly changed great sobs came from his body and his arms came around me. In another minute he was holding me as tight to him as he could. I held his head to my chest and said, "What is your name Sweetie?"

After repeating myself a few times he said, "I am Dola. The Zomma killed my family."

"Well they won't kill you now. I know them as Samutz not Zomma. I have been killing a lot of them recently." I pulled Dola's face back a bit and gave him a small kiss on the lips that he seemed to need and then said, "We have the base to clean up. If you can help me do this I would be happy." He only hung tightly to me. I knew now that he was about twenty five Earth years old but this made him the equivalent of about fifteen or sixteen in terms of Human growth and development. Being a male of this age, he was much closer to what some Human girls would be like.

I backed up with him almost attached to me. He reluctantly stood by himself but would not release one of my hands. It had been quite a while since my last release and I was tempted to take him now. I knew he wanted me to. This was more of a way for him to instinctually find a protector than for love to flourish. From many past experiences I knew that if I allowed myself to continue I would not feel right when Dola went back to the people that loved him. In any case I had to get some Samutz bodies disposed of and some Tandra taken back to their people.

The base did have a way of verbally broadcasting messages and I used this medium to tell all the Tandra that they were now free. I asked them to meet me in a large cafeteria to eat find clothing and discuss their future. I was not sure how many would actually make it to the meeting.

Taluus showed me where some grav sleds were and I took two and made Dola use his other hand to pull one. We went back to the control room and took out all the Samutz bodies and his sled took the two Tandra. An unused stasis chamber held my cargo while the meat locker took Dola's. I tried my best to not look at the surroundings but my feelings leaked out badly and Dola come over to me to give me some support. He was almost petrified with fear himself.

Once outside the room we both left again to pick up more Samutz. On the way I would find hiding Tandra take them out into the hall and give them orders to go to the cafeteria. They were all a sorry lot of naked individuals. They were kept in this state to keep them from secreting weapons I guess. They were dirty and some had splattered blood still on them from when they were originally captured. Their minds told me that they had mostly been taken during the last three weeks while three others had been with the Samutz for up to a year.

Harriet kept tabs on the Tandra. When a few made it to the cafeteria she gave them an update on what we had been trying to do. This was kept short and did not go into how I had killed billions of the Samutz or destroyed Thonas planets. It did though tell them the need to have a strong central authority to fight their old enemies. Apparently their ancient history was not stressed in their education and they felt that I was unduly fighting the Thonas. The acts of Samutz I knew would be unbelieved by the general population. Only these few would be able to give witness to the contrary. If the Tandra in these systems were similar to Humans the truth would not be believed at all.

Harriet sent some of the first group out with orders to retrieve bodies while Dola and I went to the hidden areas to get the hard to find bodies before they started to smell too bad. On two occasions I had to order single petrified Tandra to follow us because they would not be able to function on their own. When the job was finally done I got all the awake Tandra in one smaller room to discuss their future.

There were twenty one present now and it did not look like they had done much for themselves. Some had arms in slings but all were still naked and looked very bad. Even food had remained mostly uneaten when Harriet and Taluus had served them. Dola sat at my feet and hugged my leg as I began to speak. "Hello again. I can see that none of you have significantly recovered from your capture. We are now going to get you cleaned fed and then looked at medically."

The response was apathetic at best. I led them all to a large shower room and helped get them cleaned. No water had been used but it did help them to look better. A hand unit served as comb and brush and I had them do each other's hair. Some seemed to come to some small enjoyment as the hair on their heads and backs was put in place. Some were taken to the latrine and I demanded that they do what was needed. They seemed to need someone to guide them as if they were frightened children.

All this time I was in their minds trying to see how these Tandra were any different from the ones I knew. What I found was the fact that these Tandra had not gone into stasis after the great exodus but had continued as a society. Over the years different political views had separated the various groups into the monarchies that now governed this area of the galaxy. This was mainly done by peaceful means. A central governing body had not worked out well. Each of the groups tried to get their views accepted and would not usually back down from any stance made. They appeared to be at least as foolish as Humans where.