The Dawn of Day - 7. Chapter 7 - The Dawn of Day

Vasuki joined the others in the cockpit when the Dragon computer had seized full control of the ship.

Many hours went by. Finally, Shesha turned to the others with a glow in his eyes. “The Dragon is implementing a copy of itself on their ship. It’s a rudimentary copy of itself, but we’ll have a highly augmented ship when we reach the drop-out point at the edge of the system.”

“A rudimentary copy of the Dragon computer. Child of the Dragon,” Nahusha said pensively.

“A small child,” Shesha said with a facial expression that could pass as a smile.

“Anyway,” Nahusha said. “Child of the Dragon is a good line to add to the Serpent Songs.”

“A title of a verse rather,” Shesha said.

“I’m hungry,” Vasuki interrupted the pensive moment. He rose from his chair. “I’m looking for a food processor,” he said, walking through the cockpit door. He stopped short and turned back to the others. “What about the prisoners? They need something to eat and drink.”

Nahusha made a quick gesture with his hand. “Get them some food and drink. Shesha, you’ll go with Vasuki. I don’t want the men to stage a desperate act because that’s what warm-blooded creatures love to do in complicated situations.”

Vasuki and Shesha left the cockpit. Nahusha remained sitting in his chair.

“Child of the Dragon,” he said.

“The stars light our infinite kingdom
The fire that ignites the dark
Child of the Dragon
Look down upon our place of refuge”

Nahusha nodded contentedly and then followed the others.

“We must regain control of the ship and fly back to Earth,” Brandon said.

“We can’t go back, even if we get back control of the ship,” Dave said. “How do you think should we return to Earth? I don’t think the ship can jump into the past.”

“The computer saved the route after the gravitational wave hit our ship,” Eric said. “The computer might figure out a reverse course.”

“The computer is under control of the aliens,” Dave said.

“We must get back control of the ship,” Brandon insisted.

“How?” Dave asked. “Who are they anyway? What did they do on the planet?”

“We didn’t detect any artificial signals and we didn’t detect their ship. Maybe it crashed,” Eric said.

“Or others left with the ship and left the three on the planet,” Brandon suggested. “Whatever. I don’t particularly care. I want to know where they take us.”

They were sitting on the floor, staring into the room.

“Is there a food processor in here?” Dave asked. “We need something to drink.”

“No,” Eric replied. “And neither a bathroom. Switch the suit to emergency mode. I already did so. This will solve the latter problem but not the first, I’m sorry.”

“Shit happens,” Dave said drily.

“True,” Brandon said, grimacing.

The light in the room dimmed suddenly. The men exchanged looks.

“Quiet,” Eric said. “Do you sense it, too? The ship’s accelerating.”

“This means they have canceled the pre-programmed course,” Brandon said.

Dave took a deep breath. “They’re damn quick. How did they do it?”

“They’re far more sophisticated than we thought,” Eric said.

“This is bad news,” Brandon said.

“Not exactly,” Eric said thoughtfully. “I’m certain they’ll perform a space jump at the edge of the system. Maybe they know how to perform time jumps, too?”

Dave and Brandon stared at Eric.

“I don’t think they consider us best friends. They won’t help us,” Dave said.

“We must regain control of the ship and force them to do what we want them to do,” Brandon said stubbornly.

The Aryaka found a food processor in the lounge area, pressed random buttons and received several plates with meals and cups filled with liquids. They carried everything to a table, removed their helmets and sniffed at the food and drinks. They ate and drank what they liked and placed the other plates and cups on a tray. The Aryaka went to the captives’ room. Shesha opened the manual lock and commanded the computer to unlock the automatic lock. The door slid open.

The men jumped to their feet. Dave threw himself at Vasuki. Vasuki sent the man back into the room with a single blow of his hand. Dave stumbled and fell to the floor. Brandon and Eric froze and stared at their kidnappers. Shesha placed the tray on the floor. The Aryaka left the room. The door closed and was locked once more.

“Bastards!” Dave shouted, enraged.

“Did you see it?” Brandon asked in shock. “Scaly skin, eyes like slits, they look like serpents in space suits.”

“A reptilian species,” Eric said. He sat down on the floor and took a plate from the tray. “They have no intention to let us starve to death. This is actually good news.”

“They won’t kill us as long as they think they might need us,” Dave said, seizing a cup. He emptied it in one gulp. “God-damned bastards, space pirates, serpents who have captured our ship. They’ll kill us as soon as they have figured out the computer system.”

The others didn’t reply and focused on their meals instead.

Two days went by. The Aryaka brought them food and drink once a day.

“The computer found that a gravitational wave swept their ship through space,” Shesha said on the third day. “We’ll reach the drop-out point soon. Implementation of the Child is complete.”

“What kind of gravitational wave?” Nahusha asked, turning his eyes away from a screen.

“I don’t know whether it was a natural or an artificial wave,” Shesha said. “The latter most likely. It occurred in their star system and carried the ship away. The ship’s gravitational beam was weak in comparison.”

“The ship can’t ride a beam?” Nahusha asked. “This is dangerous.”

“The ship won’t ride a weak beam. The Dragon has improved the ship’s systems considerably,” Shesha said.

“What about the hardware?” Nahusha asked. “Will it stand a far jump through space?”

“It sure will,” Shesha said. “The ship jumped 4.2 standards from their star system to the Sin system in less than two minutes.”

“This was a damn strong gravitational wave,” Nahusha said. “This could have been disastrous to their home system. Think of the possible time effects. When did it happen? Perhaps the ship comes from their past or their future.”

“A couple of days ago, according to ship time,” Shesha said. “I can’t say how much time has passed in their star system, neither do I know if their ship moved into their past or their future. Time, by all means, is relative.”

“Whatever,” Nahusha said with a dismissive gesture of his hand. “Are we able to balance time dilation or will we arrive thousands of years in Kunjara’s future? That’s not the plan.”

“This was the first thing the Dragon computer implemented after seizing control of the ship,” Shesha said. “The ship will travel on a straight, flat and directed beam, space dimension only, no time side effects. The Child can handle this.”

“That’s definitely the most important system improvement,” Nahusha said.

“What will we do about them?” Vasuki asked, pointing down the corridor. “We better throw them out over the planet as soon as we know we’re able to land the ship.”

“Yes,” Nahusha said. “That’s probably the best we can do. I’ve not been to Kunjara for a while. I don’t think things have changed a lot. Our implants don’t work, unfortunately, and we can’t do a research in the database. We’ll land the ship in Patha and move on to Dharana. We’ll talk to the Elder. I have no doubt he will help us to get a ship. Kunjara’s only loosely allied with Izanami. The planet’s a trading place, an outpost in space in the outbound regions of the galaxy. The Aryaka on Kunjara never broke with Aryaka traditions.”

“Maybe they did while we were on this rotten planet,” Vasuki said.

Nahusha shook his head. “Only a few months went by since the Izanami squad threw us out on the planet. I don’t expect a major change on Kunjara. What do you think?” he asked, turning to Shesha.

Shesha shook his head. “There’s another problem, though. Dharana is an Aryaka place, but there are many more species operating in Patha. Kunjara’s a trading place. The spaceport will be crowded with many different species. How will we explain the simple ship? Many will think we captured it. Security controls were lax last time I was on Kunjara, but you’ll never know. The antique-looking ship will attract unwanted attention.”

“Kunjara’s a trading place and we have a ship full of cargo,” Nahusha said.

“Shesha’s right,” Vasuki said. “No Aryaka crew will ever fly an antique cargo freighter. We’ll never pass as traders.”

There was a silence.

“They are the traders and we’re security crew,” Nahusha said, jerking his head at the unpleasant thought. “No one will ask questions if we pretend we’re security crew.”

“Throw them out over the planet,” Vasuki said. “That’s the simplest solution.”

“But not necessarily a clever one,” Shesha said. “Kunjara’s only a stop-over for us. Our destination is the Aryaka space hub close to the galactic center. We’ll get an Aryaka ship on Kunjara and off we go. How long will it take? A day or two? We can’t afford unwanted attention.”

“And how do you think you’ll get the captives to co-operate?” Vasuki asked. “They’ll try to regain control of the ship.”

“They can’t,” Shesha said. “The Child won’t listen to their commands. They’re entirely dependent on us.”

“We must make clear to them that co-operation is their only chance for survival,” Nahusha said. “I really don’t care if they stay on Kunjara or somehow find a way to get back to their planet. They can do whatever they want as soon as we have a new ship.”

“There’s a major problem,” Vasuki said. “Communication. We can’t talk to them.”

“Just a minor problem,” Shesha said. “The Dragon was able to read their system and re-configure it. The Dragon can also figure out their language. We could program a language tool.”

“We’ll lose contact with the Dragon in short,” Nahusha said.

“The Child is also capable of deciphering their language,” Shesha said.

“Okay,” Nahusha said. “I don’t like the situation, but I’m confident we can handle it.”

“Arrival at drop-out point in five minutes according to the onboard clock. That’s 2.78 SSE, small standard units,” Shesha said.

“Engage the gravitational drive,” Nahusha commanded.

The Aryaka turned to the console. They were meanwhile acquainted with the screens and controls. The Dragon computer had provided them with fail-safe instructions.

The captives were staring into the room.

“Can you sense it, too?” Eric asked suddenly. “The gravitational drive is engaging. I sense the typical humming of the engine room.”

“Space jump,” Brandon said. “We’re going somewhere far.”

“Our fate is sealed. We’ll never return to Earth,” Dave said.

The ship traveled on a gravitational beam. The Dragon had improved the system, but the beam was still weak compared to a beam from a sophisticated Aryaka ship. The Child developed a translation tool by comparing and referencing Aryaka texts from the Dragon and texts found on the computer of the captured ship. The Aryaka had meanwhile learned that the species named itself humans. The Child started with mathematical texts, proceeded to texts about physics and chemistry, then compared other science texts and finally analyzed other recordings. It took the Child almost half a day, but it developed a suitable software in the end. Shesha installed it on a gadget they had found in the cockpit, a small tablet with a screen. Two keyboards appeared on the screen, one on top for typing the Aryaka language, one on the bottom for typing the human language. One window showed the typed text and another window showed the translation.

“It would be way simpler with the implants,” Nahusha said as he studied the tool.

“Our implants are deactivated and the humans don’t have implants. The Dragon computer found no communication lines from the ship’s computer to any implants of theirs,” Shesha said.

“That’s an example of the difficulties you face when operating in the backwater regions of the galaxy,” Nahusha said. “It’s tiring at times. Okay, get one man out and take him to the room with the food processor. Let’s see how he reacts to this.”

“Not the one shouting, hitting his fists against the door and jumping at me every time I bring the food,” Vasuki said.

Nahusha was thinking. “The dark-haired,” he said. “He’s the captain. He has the look in his eyes.”

The Aryaka went to the captive’s room. The door slid open and Dave jumped to his feet. Vasuki entered, shoved Dave aside and grabbed Eric by the arm. He dragged him out of the room, ignoring the men’s protests and shouting. Vasuki shoved Eric into the lounge area, pushed him on a chair and placed his hands hard on Eric’s shoulders. Eric looked wildly between the Aryaka, his heart racing fast. Nahusha and Shesha sat down. Shesha typed on the keyboard. Eric gazed at the gadget, his thoughts running wild. Shesha pushed the tablet to him. Eric stared at it, then saw the text, finally bowed forward and read it.

We’re Aryaka. On way to Kunjara, a trade planet. We want to offer you a deal. Your survival depends on accepting it.

Eric raised his eyes and met the aliens’ cold looks. Everything about them was alien, their bold heads with the pale scaly skin, the almond eyes that narrowed to slits, the choppy movements of their heads when a situation got challenging. He had seen the snapping of Vasuki’s head every time Dave had thrown himself at him. The alien had dealt a blow that threw Dave back into the room. And he had hissed something in an unknown language. The tone of his voice alone was threatening.

Eric looked back at the text. They tried at least to talk to him. He pulled the tablet closer and studied it. Shesha pointed at the keyboard at the bottom. Eric typed.

Why do you call it a deal? We don’t have a true choice. Dead or alive. Nothing in between.

The Aryaka read his reply and exchanged looks. Nahusha seized the keyboard.

You sure have a choice. You’ll either co-operate and survive or you don’t co-operate and we’ll throw you out over the planet Kunjara.

Eric read the text. It was plain clear. He typed:

What do you want?