Alien Manifesto Page 8

  “When you locate AArat, move on him quickly,” Snarth hissed. “Remember, you mussst reveal yourssself before you kill him and claim vengeance if there are any witnessssesss. That will keep the galactic sssecurity mechsss out of it. Thisss will be the mossst dangerousss missssion you have ever been on. You will probably have to fight your way out of AArat’sss hiding place azsss he will be fiercely guarded by hisss family,” he said. “Try to ssstun if you can, only kill azsss a lassst resssort azsss they will claim vengeance on you if you do kill any of hisss family,” hissed Snarth, warning me. “You don’t want to ssspend the next few yearsss watching your back for bounty huntersss.”

  “I will be dropping you off at the main ssspace port on Alto Prime. It isss clossse to Xarra and regular trade ssshuttlesss travel between the two,” Snarth hissed. “There you will be able to sssteal aboard a trade vessssel or persssonnel transssport to Xarra, hopefully undetected. I have provided you with the bessst training money can buy. I have no doubt you will be sssuccessssful on your hunt,” he finished. Was that sentiment from Snarth, again, I wondered?

  I was also wondering just what I was in for on Xarra. Aside from the normal mission jitters as the shuttle left for Alto Prime’s spaceport, I felt confident. The feline stealth master was one of the best. She considered me her equal before my enhancements. AArat was a dead man, or rodent or whatever he was, of that I was sure. I was however only hopeful that I would return in one piece if we had to fight our way out of AArat’s family “nest.”

  The spaceport at Alto Prime was an engineering wonder, filled with every kind of creature and spacecraft imaginable. I did not however see any humanoids, or felines for that matter. The sounds and smells were overwhelming, almost painful.

  The feline master seeing my grimace said, “Xarra will not be so loud but the smell will be worse.”

  “Worse, how can that be?” I grumbled.

  “The rodents of Xarra practice very little sanitation and no personal hygiene,” she mewed. “Prepare yourself Human Tom, we must not falter or we may die a regrettable death,” purred the feline master, repeating a stealth mantra.

  “A regrettable death you say. I think any way I die will be regrettable,” I answered her.

  “A death without honor is a regrettable death. There is no honor in killing rodents or being killed by them. They are not even good to eat. I suspect we will kill more than a few very soon.”

  “Let’s hope not,” I responded.

  The feline master’s head snapped around and she spat “Tell me now while there is still time to abort if you can’t go through with this.”

  I returned her piercing yellow-eyed glare with my best 1000-yard stare and said, “I will kill whoever I have to in order to complete this mission. This is not my first pony ride.” An uncomfortable silence ensued between us for the trip through the spaceport.

  “Master, we have picked up a tail,” I quipped to break the silence.

  “Yes, I see it,” the feline master said, ignoring my attempt at humor. “We will have to cloak sooner than expected. It is too early in the mission for killing,” she hissed. “We will lead him away from our destination. Then we will cloak and circle around.”

  “Don’t we want to find out who he is working for, Master?” I asked.

  “That is not important,” she replied. “We must get away undetected. If we question him we will have to kill him to protect our mission. If we simply lose him, he will be blamed with incompetence and it will be of no consequence to our mission.”

  “Yes Master,” I answered, deferring to her expertise.

  The feline master headed into a bar of some sort that was crowded and had strange music blaring painfully in my ears. Most importantly for us it was dimly lit, unlike the bright light that flooded every corner of the space station’s open areas. After we had made our way to a thinly populated corner, the feline master gave the signal to cloak. From now on, we would be communicating in text through our wrist communicators.

  With no difficulty, we lost our tail and circled back around to the docks looking for a freighter on which to stow away. On the way out, I had a good look at our tail; it was a squat, furry rodent wearing dark goggles. It sniffed the air as we passed but we remained undetected.

  Several hours passed before the feline master chose a dingy looking freighter crewed by rodents. Their manifest indicated they were accepting cargo to Xarra. We were in luck; they would be departing very soon.

  As we crept onboard, I was nearly floored by the smell. “Control yourself,” came the urgent message from the feline master as she noticed me nearly gagging. Soon the wave of nausea passed and the intensity of the smell abated.

  “Xarra will be worse,” signaled the feline master.

  “I will be fine,” I signaled back, embarrassed by my second instance of weakness.

  “Not weakness, you are just adjusting to your implants,” scrawled across my pad as if the feline master was reading my mind, again.

  With a clang and a hiss, the main hatch closed, the repulser lifts whining as they spun up. We were past the point of no return. We were underway, undetected. I only hoped that if the ship folded space I would not pass out again. I need not have worried; this shuttle was only capable of sub-light speeds.

  As a result, our journey would last almost two days according to what I overheard from the somewhat chatty crew. At least they spoke galactic standard so I could understand what they said. For the next several hours, I was regaled with the most disgusting jokes I have ever heard, and hoped to never hear again.

  Once we were out of Alto Prime’s gravity well, the pilot set the autopilot. Then the entire crew commenced to doing the same very disgusting things they were joking about earlier to each other. I tried my best to ignore the squeaks and squeals of the mating rodents by meditating, as I knew the feline master was by the rhythm of her breathing.

  Finally, the crew went to sleep or passed out from exhaustion. I did not know or care which as long as their antics were finished. Taking advantage of the crew’s sleep, I ate some of the rations I carried. I had learned long ago in the S.E.A.L.s to eat when you can because you never know when the chance will come again. My new nose told me that the feline master had followed my example.

  “I will take the first watch,” the feline master signaled. “Try and get some sleep. I will wake you in 4 hours.” I signaled my acceptance, set my alarm and fell instantly asleep. Another trick I had learned in the S.E.A.L.s.

  I awoke at the first vibration from my wrist pad. I opened my eyes without moving, taking in my surroundings before I even moved a muscle. All was well. The planet Xarra loomed closer through the forward view screen.

  “We will be planet side in 6 hours, wake me in 4,” signaled the feline master.

  “Yes Master,” I signaled back. Her breathing slowed almost immediately, giving new meaning to the term catnap.

  For the next 4 hours, I watched as the crew and the feline master slept. As I waited, a message came in from Snarth: it simply said “Report.” As I finished tapping out an answer and sent it, an alarm sounded in the cockpit. Damn, how could I be so stupid? This ship has an alarm with an information sensor, one that detects any stray signals. I had just set it off. Or, so I thought. I felt a paw on my arm telling me to hold steady.

  Then the cockpit speaker erupted in a language I did not understand. The crew began scurrying around and I realized it must be the port authority demanding confirmation of the ship’s transponder signal and demanding a destination and cargo manifest. A seemingly heated exchange between the pilot and what must be spaceport control ensued. It just so happened that the speaker sounded just as I was relaying a message to Snarth. I relaxed and the feline master withdrew her paw. We had remained undetected.

  The repulser lifts had finished their spin down whine, followed by a heavy jolt as the ship settled onto its landing struts. We were safely on Xarra. The rodent pilot was clumsy and I was thankful to be off the shuttle soon.

 
As the flurry of landing activity subsided, the feline master and I began to see the chance for our exit. The rodents were using portable repulser lifts to move the larger crates of cargo and we would simply follow one down the ramp.

  “Move down the ramp behind the next load and do not get too close to the rodents. They have a very sharp sense of smell and we haven’t bathed today,” signaled the feline master.

  “Yes master,” I acknowledged as I maneuvered into position to begin my exit.

  We need not have worried; the rodents were focused on unloading the ship. Our exit was easy and we remained undetected. At the top of the ramp, I found myself on my knees gagging, nearly vomiting at the first smell of the rodents’ home planet.

  The stench was so strong it seemed to be a living force crashing into my mind like a wave of pain. It astounded me and I nearly gagged again. Holy shit and I thought the shuttle was bad! This smell was one hundred times worse; I was nearly overcome, my breath taken away.

  I felt the feline master urgently pulling me to my feet; another load of cargo was headed toward the ramp threatening to run me over. I gathered my strength and my composure, and we headed down the ramp and toward the edge of the landing field. AArat’s family compound was not far away, about two clicks.

  As luck would have it, the compound was on the edge of the very town we had arrived in. This is going too well I thought to myself. As we made our way out of the city, I was amazed at how crudely the buildings were constructed, and disgusted at the open sewer running through the middle of the muddy streets. Animal drawn carts were everywhere and the streets were littered with the droppings of many species. That explains some of the smell. Disease must run rampant here. How do they survive much less stand it?

  The crowds of rodents had thinned to almost nothing; we had the street to ourselves. “Only two clicks to the compound,” said the feline master, snapping me back on mission. “We are almost there,” and she slowed to a trot. Now was not the time to get careless. “I have signaled Snarth our position and he and the rest of the team are in position for extraction. This shouldn’t take long,” the feline master continued.

  “Master, how will we tell which one is AArat? They all look the same to me.”

  “He will be the biggest one. That is the way of rodents, the biggest one is always the one in charge,” she answered.

  How much is bigger I wondered. All the rodents I had seen so far on this planet were about 4 feet tall and squat, furry, fat but well-armed. I had seen a picture of AArat but I could not see any way to distinguish one rodent from another of the same species.

  The feline master slowed to a cautious walk. I could see the compound. We were close. It was a series of crudely built huts surrounded by a five-foot earthen wall. So far, this had been a piece of cake. I could not believe that the head of a galactic intelligence agency would hide in such an indefensible environment.

  “Master,” I signaled: “Are you sure this is the place?”

  “Do not underestimate AArat. The appearance of easy prey is just an illusion, a trap in itself. There will be sophisticated electronic surveillance to deal with,” signaled the feline master. “See, there on the corner of that closest building is an antenna. I believe there are blasters guarding the wall and pressure sensors on the ground around the fence. We must circle the compound and locate the escape tunnel’s entrance.”

  As we made our way around the earthen wall, I could see nothing that resembled an escape route from the compound. “Are you sure there is an escape tunnel Master?” I questioned.

  “We must widen our circle,” signaled the feline master. “There will be one, for that is the way of rodents.” At last, we located the escape entrance. It was located in a small abandoned building about 1/4 of a click away from the main compound.

  “I will raise the alarm at the opposite side of the main compound; you wait here until AArat tries to make his escape. Then uncloak and kill him. Be cautious: AArat is well trained. Show no mercy and nothing fancy,” said the feline master.

  “How will you hold off all of his relatives?” I asked.

  “With these.” She opened her paw and I saw a dozen or so small round pellets.

  “What are they?” I asked.

  “Concentrated feline essence, it will panic even the bravest rodent.” I could feel her grin behind her cloak and I heard her purr with pleasure. So it might not be a blood bath after all; and a great weight lifted from my shoulders.

  As I chose my ambush site, the feline master circled around to the entrance of the rodent compound and deliberately triggered the alarm. This brought a horde of rodents rushing from different buildings to zealously guard their home. Then the feline master let loose her feline bombs.

  Slowly at first then all at once panic ensued behind the earthen wall as rodents fled in every direction. One even triggered the protective blasters and got itself vaporized. This caused even greater panic.

  Then I heard a muffled scrambling headed in my direction from underground and I readied myself. I did not have to wait long. The biggest rat I had ever seen emerged from the escape hatch. He was at least six feet tall and easily weighed 300 pounds. His long sharp teeth jutted out from the front of his mouth, he had a panicked look in his eyes.

  That must be AArat. I uncloaked and jumped down off the roof of the building behind him, landing with a soft thud. AArat whirled and fired his blaster at the sound. It went wide. I did not hesitate: I drew my blaster and fired out of reflex from the hip, hitting him squarely in the chest, knocking him flat on his back. I waited tensed and held steady, ready to fire again if necessary, I did not know how much force the rat could take before it killed him. I wanted to make sure he was dead. Then just to be sure I fired my blaster again, hitting AArat right between his now dull and glazing eyes.

  Dead men tell no tales, or rats, or whatever he was.

  Then with my usual flourish, I holstered my blaster, cloaked, and went to find the feline master. The mission was over. Now all we had to do was get off this nasty planet. Then I could finally take a bath and eat some decent food. Besides, I missed Tasha. I know she is just a pleasure bio-mech, but a man has his needs and I am a long way from home.

  ~

  “Snarth,” called SSlice from the cockpit of the orbiting shuttle. “I just received a call for retrieval from Human Tom and the feline master. They report that AArat is dead and that secrecy was maintained.”

  “ssSend them extraction coordinatesss azsss clossse to them azsss we can get,” ordered Snarth with his best tentacle wiggling grin.

  When the shuttle landed 20 minutes later, both myself and the feline master were waiting. The shuttle landing and pickup went unobserved, the crew relaxing once the feline master and I were onboard. Wisely, no one commented on our odor. Within minutes, we were in space and setting coordinates for the jump home, the mission seemingly a complete success.

  “ssSSlice, keep monitoring your sssensorsss: we aren’t home yet.”

  “Yes sir,” answered SSlice. “We have two planetary defense fighters on an intercept course.”

  “How long till we fold ssspace,” hissed Snarth.

  “Two minutes till we round the equator and have a straight flight path,” answered SSlice.

  “How long until thossse fightersss intercept usss?” Snarth hissed urgently.

  “One minute to firing range,” called SSlice.

  “ssSon of a mud-sssucking newert,” muttered Snarth. “Reconfigure jump at a ninety degree angle away from our computed flight path. We don’t want them following usss home,” ordered Snarth. “Take usss out two short time unitsss then compute and execute a courssse to my essstate.”

  “Already done sir,” answered SSlice.

  “Then get usss out of here!” hissed Snarth loudly.

  Later at Snarth’s estate, after a much needed scrubbing by Tasha, I headed to the dining hall to join the team in celebrating a successful mission. Drink flowed freely, followed by many alien delicacies, some of whic
h I tried, some I could not stomach and politely declined. Then it was time for a fine smoke and some more of my favorite, Snarth’s famous Belgian abbey ale.

  As I lay sprawled out on the dining couch finishing the last of my smoke with the feline master curled up beside me and purring softly in my ear, Snarth stood to make an announcement.

  “ssSSlice hasss just informed me azsss to who hasss taken over the intelligence ssservice. And I couldn’t be more pleasssed. It isss my old friend and comrade, Howler.”

  “Howler?” growled the canine master Rowl. “I haven’t seen that old rascal in years.”

  “Nor have I,” said Snarth. “And I think a visssit isss long overdue. Rowl, you will accompany me in the morning to sssee him. Massster feline, you will be in charge of training until I return. I ssshould only be gone a couple of light cyclesss. I am sssure when Howler hearsss my concernsss about the Cult of Eli, he will finisssh what we ssstarted and dessstroy them once and for all. Now get sssome sssleep everyone, training ssstartsss at 0400.”

  ~

  After a short jump in his private yacht and a very long wait in Howler’s outer office Snarth began to wonder if his old friend might not want to see him after all. Even Rowl, whose patience was second to only the feline master’s, was getting uneasy. Finally, an administrative mech ushered them into Howler’s office.

  The office was a sparsely appointed room, not unlike the one they had just spent an afternoon waiting in. “Howler always was a man of simple tastes,” commented Rowl as they entered.