Chapter 706

The amphitheater on the Alien Planet

... Jeff touched the First’s shoulder before very quietly saying, “Go back and tell the others. Caution them to be utterly quiet, because I suspect that sound will be amplified in here.”

“Yes, Captain,” the First Acknowledged before crawling quietly away.

Jeff hadn’t had a reason to do it in a while, and he didn’t have Little One to help, but he knew he could see at a distance far better than a normal person could. As he lay there waiting for the others, he concentrated on his eyes, willing himself to be able to see the Science Team’s bindings. Surely these beings would just use rope and not some mechanical device such as handcuffs.

As he tried to see, his eyes felt odd as his vision blurred in and out to finally stabilize with a much closer-appearing view. Ah, just as I suspected. They’re tied with what appears to be woven grass ropes, but whoever tied those knots knew what he was doing. They will never get loose without help. And judging from the way the ropes are cutting into their arms, their hands will be numb for a while after the ropes are removed, and that probably goes for their legs and feet as well. Which means that there will be some time after they are released when they’ll still be practically helpless, unable to run or defend themselves.

When the General and Kayla arrived, Jeff turned to them to quietly bring them up to date on what little he had discovered.

The General grunted and raised a small pair of binoculars to his eyes. After a couple of moments, he quietly mumbled, “Shit,” before turning back to Jeff. “The bastards have severely beaten my Security team. Somebody is going to pay for that — pay in blood.

“Ship can heal them, Sir, but we are the invaders here, and I’m guessing that the scientists probably did something that was taboo. However, I agree that these beings have gone way past just capturing them, and having the Science Team tied to those poles doesn’t bode well either.”

A few weeks prior, Jeff had assigned First to work with Ship to improve the Miadax language translation device. Jeff knew that the two had made progress, but he had deliberately refrained from asking how things were coming along, simply because he detested being given a job and then having someone in authority constantly wanting an update.

He had seen various stages of the device, and despite his curiosity, had refrained from bugging the First Officer for details. Now though, they were in a different situation and not separated by miles as they had been from the Graex during the space battle.

After turning to the First Officer, Jeff whispered, “How long do you think it will take for your language interpreter to work?”

“Sir, as you know, Ship has been working to improve the language translation software and has enhanced the mental aspect of it to the point that she has already vastly improved upon my home world’s best efforts. She has also shortened the time it takes for the software to learn the language straight from the subject’s mind. Unlike our encounter with the Graex in space, this should work well if we can get within mental range of the subject. Ship thinks the distance might vary between races and individuals, but she is reasonably sure that the device should work once it is within fifty feet of most individuals.

“As was the case with the original language interpreter, understanding the new individual’s language isn’t the only problem. Learning to pronounce the other’s words can take time. It generally takes practice for our tongues to learn how to make the new sounds well enough to be understood. That said, all we need to understand them is for the software to lock on mentally. Oh, yes, and Ship is in the process of further miniaturizing the unit, which, she assures me, will be much smaller than this one,” he said as he took the new translator off his belt and handed it to Jeff.

“No helmet?” Jeff asked.

“No, Sir. This model only requires you to use an earbud,” he said as he handed one to Jeff. “Ship expects the next generation of the unit to be small enough to attach to a collar and will project the subject’s words to you mentally.”

“I assume it projects the interpretation of my voice to whomever I’m talking to,” Jeff responded...

“Indeed, it does — hopefully. Ship says she is continuing to improve the translator and hopes to produce a model with the option of projecting your words mentally or aloud, should that be preferred under the circumstances. Ship finished the latest version that you have there on your belt as we neared the planet.”

Jeff put a hand on the First’s shoulder for a second. “Well done, First. Once again, you have exceeded my expectations.”

Jeff couldn’t see the First’s blush, but he thought there probably was one.

“You only have one of the translators?” the General quietly asked.

“Sorry, Sir, but we only have the one. We have been working on the new translation device since the Captain gave me the assignment. Of course, I did little to nothing other than test each stage of the interpreter as Ship continued to improve on the concept.”

“Then I need to get close enough to talk to them,” Jeff said.

The General spoke almost to himself. “We should have brought a fire team with us. With the combat suits, they could have walked in there and rescued the Science Team with little worry about primitive weapons.”

“It was supposed to be a resupply mission,” Jeff reminded. “The planet wasn’t supposed to have intelligent life.”

“If these beings all live this far underground, our equipment would never have sensed them,” Whitworth agreed. “Still, what they have done to my people pisses me off.”

Jeff came to his feet. “Surely they must have left a guard, but I don’t see one. I’m going down and cut our people loose. If there is any way around it, I don’t want to kill any of the natives. It’s their planet, and we’re the interlopers. Take up firing positions and give me covering fire should I need it but keep your rifles on stun unless circumstances dictate otherwise.”

“Jeff, we don’t know if the stun setting will even work on these ... beings,” Kayla quietly said.

“Well, even if it doesn’t knock them out, it should certainly rattle their teeth — if they have teeth, that is,” Jeff joked.

Their conversation over as far as Jeff was concerned, he came to his feet, and so did Kayla.

“What are you doing?” he asked, knowing exactly what his wife was planning.

“I’m going with you, of course,” she said as she brought her rifle into position. (The rifle was on a sling and hung pointing mostly downward, but with an easy movement, it could be fully into her hands and ready to fire.)

“No, you’re not.” Before she could start to argue, he quickly went on, “Look, Baby, from the looks of things, they appear to be primitive people. I can protect myself with my TK, but I would be much slower in protecting you if they threw a spear or shot an arrow at you. Besides, you have a much better firing position up here. You have cover in addition to having an overall view of the area. With the way you shoot, you could take out any of the aliens with ease. Think about it. You can protect me much better from up here.”

“I still think I’m right,” she muttered under her breath.

“But that does not go for me,” the First Officer emphatically stated as he interrupted. “I do not have a rifle, and I would not dare fire my pistol at the aliens from this distance. My doing so would certainly put you in danger, Sir. With Kayla and General Whitworth having rifles and the knowledge to use them properly from up here, I would be of more use if I went with you. Trust me on this,” he said, deliberately using one of Jeff’s expressions, “I am good with a handgun.”

While the quiet discussion was going on, the General had found a position where he could see everything and use his pulse rifle at its best advantage.

“Here,” he said as he grabbed Kayla’s hand to pull her down beside him. “Get set up for covering fire if your husband needs it, and let him do what he does best.”

The First Officer followed the Prime down the steps that separated the rows of seats into sections, both of the men crouching down and moving slowly, but no longer crawling and trying to be invisible to anyone watching the area. Jeff would be amazed if the aliens didn’t have someone watching, but he wanted to put the confrontation off until he could free the team and their security.

The seating of the arena stopped some ten feet above the floor, which was a hard-packed snow-white sand. The sand helped lighten the glow from the walls, as did the seats that were cut into those same walls. The whole area reminded Jeff of the Roman Colosseum, where Gladiators and others fought tigers and lions before crowds of spectators. The only entrance that Jeff could see was behind and to the left of the stakes where the Science Team was tied.

“I seriously doubt that these beings would leave their prisoners alone without some type of surveillance,” Jeff quietly said just before he dropped to the floor of the vast arena, the First Officer right behind him.

“What now,” the First asked as his eyes searched the area behind the captives.

“They’re going to notice us sooner or later, so we might as well act as if we own the place,” the Prime said as he started off, the First Officer beside him stride for stride.

Amazing Jeff, they were almost to the Science Team, all of whom had noticed him and were trying to direct his attention to the entrance, when two of the aliens burst through and into the amphitheater/arena itself. One grabbed the other’s arm, and after a quick word, one of the aliens bolted for the doorway. Jeff assumed that he was going for help.

The alien was strikingly humanoid in form, around five and a half feet tall, but with orange-tinted skin, his face (it seemed to be male) somewhat flatter with eyes more widely spaced than a human and the nose somewhat flatter also. The mouth was similar to a human’s, as were the ears. All had thick, dark hair that hung halfway down their backs.

The remaining alien waited, and only a moment later, a dozen aliens carrying spears burst onto the scene, followed a moment later by another alien wearing more elaborate dress. The first group, warriors, Jeff assumed, wore only minimal clothing — some type of girdle-like garment around the lower part of their bodies with crisscrossed straps of some material — probably leather — across their upper bodies. Only one wore a headdress consisting mainly of interwoven feathers, if Jeff were correct.

“Don’t kill them if you can help it,” Jeff instructed First.

The leader — well, the one with the headdress — screamed out something, and two of the warriors launched their spears. The First stepped aside, drew and fired before the spear even reached him. The warrior screamed, grabbed his shoulder and collapsed. Jeff, at the same time, swatted the spear aimed at him aside with his TK and hit the warrior in his chest with an invisible fist. The being went over backward and lay writhing on the ground desperately trying to catch his breath.

Jeff took the translator from his belt and spoke into it only seconds after the warrior hit the arena floor. “Stop,” the Prime snarled out. “We came to collect our people. Let us do that, and we will leave.”

It was evident that the translator worked, because the aliens jerked in unison. “We wish you no harm, or we would have killed all of you already. Now, let us retrieve our people, and we will not bother you again,” Jeff snarled out.

“They must die,” the one with the elaborate headdress yelled. “They have violated our (static from the translator), and they must die.”

“We have brought gifts to appease your deities,” Jeff yelled back.

Jeff slipped the pouch from his back and extracted a mirror some ten inches in diameter with a golden handle. The whole thing was gaudy, but at the same time, useful if you wanted to look at yourself.

Jeff moved forward a step and held the mirror out. After a moment of thought, the alien with the headdress motioned for one of his underlings to retrieve the mirror.