The Hidden Treasure of Darfor

  ***

  Fifty five minutes later, Zeeree declared, ‘Transmission from Antorii ground control. We’re now clear to begin our descent pattern.’

  ‘About damn time,’ grumbled Saleek irritably.

  ‘Getting a little impatient, are we?’ asked Zeeree.

  ‘Just anxious to unload this cargo and be done with the whole deal,’ explained Saleek as he leaned back in the pilot’s chair and exhaled loudly.

  ‘I thought you said it would be a breeze?’ said Patrick, noticing Saleek’s sudden nervousness.

  ‘It usually is...well, some of the time...’ came the reply. ‘I’m sure it’s nothing. It’ll be fine.’

  ‘Saleek,’ Patrick said with a certain steeliness to his gaze, ‘the last time you were acting like this, we wound up getting shot at by mercenaries working for a crime lord. Please tell me this isn’t going to happen again as soon as we get planetside.’

  ‘I’m sure it’s nothing,’ repeated Saleek, as if he was trying to convince himself as well as Patrick, ‘but the delay with getting permission to land has been bugging me. Antorii ground controllers are usually so efficient and there isn’t much traffic today either.’ He gestured to the main view screen, which showed only two other craft in orbit just ahead of them, atop a background of jet black space with a crescent of silver-blue in the corner.

  ‘It might be nothing. Maybe one of the ships on the surface has broken down and needs to be moved before anyone else can land,’ suggested Patrick.

  ‘Yeah, I guess,’ replied Saleek, who did not look entirely convinced. ‘Zeeree? Anything unusual on coms?’

  ‘I have monitored one thousand, eight hundred and fifty two separate communication channels over the last hour. None have been suspicious. Most are just routine – the usual mundane conversations that occur on any planet,’ reported Zeeree, slight hints of boredom creeping into her voice as she spoke.

  ‘I guess we really got no choice. We gotta do this deal – we need the credits to buy food and fuel,’ said Saleek. ‘OK, let’s do this. Zeeree, land the ship.’

  ‘Activating thrusters. Beginning descent,’ said Zeeree as the ship began to arc downwards through the atmosphere, the resulting friction generating massive amounts of heat and leaving a trail in Antorii Two’s sky.

  The ship made it to the spaceport without incident and hovered for a few seconds about five metres from the ground, directly over the designated landing bay. The craft’s landing struts suddenly extended with a hiss as various mechanisms activated and the ship slowly but steadily descended until the struts made contact with the charcoal-coloured tarmac of the landing bay. As Saleek began to shut down the main engines and give a few final commands to Zeeree, Patrick thought about how smooth this particular landing had been, and how relatively rough the takeoff had been from Nexus One.

  I hope the next takeoff is as smooth as this landing, the human mused.

  ‘Everything OK?’ he asked.

  ‘No issues so far, apart from the delay in gettin’ here,’ replied Saleek as he flicked several switches and turned off pieces of equipment throughout the ship.

  Whines could be heard all over the craft and even in the cockpit as various systems turned off and processes were shut down. The landing struts creaked ever so slightly as the thrusters powered down and the entire weight of the ship rested on several spindly metal legs which jutted out from beneath the main body of the craft.

  ‘All ship’s systems have been secured, with all non-essential systems now in standby mode,’ reported Zeeree. ‘We have landed successfully. Shall I contact our client over the com link and tell him we have arrived and are ready to conduct the transaction?’

  ‘Go for it,’ confirmed Saleek.

  A few moments passed in silence before Zeeree said, ‘Communication sent. Receipt of message confirmed.’

  ‘I guess now all we can do is wait. Although we can always prepare while we’re waiting. Patrick, follow me, there’s something I wanna show you,’ said Saleek as he got up from the pilot’s chair and walked towards the doorway leading away from the cockpit.

  Slightly puzzled, Patrick wordlessly got up from his own chair and followed his companion. Saleek lead Patrick down several small corridors before stopping in front of a plain door. The lyan pressed a nearby wall contact and the door slid away, revealing a rather small room inside. The walls were bare and so was the floor except for a few tiny sealed containers and what looked like a collection of cleaning supplies. At first glance it looked like a small storage closet. Saleek stepped inside and motioned for Patrick to join him, which the human did. As the door slid shut, Patrick felt somewhat awkward, standing so close to Saleek that he could barely turn around without knocking into him.

  Nervously, he asked, ‘Um, why are we in here?’

  ‘Computer – This is Saleek. Recognise my voice print and confirm my identity,’ whispered Saleek quietly.

  A faint, digitised voice that definitely did not belong to Zeeree said, ‘Voice print confirmed. Identification accepted.’

  While Patrick was glancing around the closet looking for the source of the voice, Saleek added, ‘Open Compartment Turrilik Five.’

  Suddenly, the rear wall of the closet retracted into the ground and revealed a hidden room beyond. Patrick gasped in shock and then followed Saleek into the newly-revealed chamber.

  The room was about six metres by four metres in size and contained many shelves and racks with various pieces of equipment, spacesuits and weapons stored on them. Patrick suddenly furrowed his brow in confusion and stood still, his gaze burning a hole in Saleek’s back.

  ‘Saleek, what in the galaxy is this?’ he demanded.

  ‘This,’ the lyan said as he turned around to face Patrick, ‘is a secret compartment aboard the ship. It’s normally sealed shut and only I have the authority to access it. The subroutine which controls the door is linked to a small computer that is totally separate to the rest of the ship, which means it cannot be tampered with.’

  ‘And this is all necessary....because?’

  ‘Because of what I keep here,’ said Saleek as he gestured to all the equipment and weapons around him. ‘I’d have thought that was obvious.’

  Patrick sheepishly nodded and felt a little embarrassed for asking.

  ‘Why do you keep all this stuff down here anyway?’

  ‘I do what I gotta do to survive. Unfortunately, that sometimes means using these weapons to protect myself against unscrupulous traders, opportunist thugs or anyone else who wants to try and take my belongings or my ship.’

  Patrick nodded in understanding. ‘So why are we down here? Are you just giving me a tour of the ship or something?’

  ‘I’m afraid that’s not it,’ replied Saleek, looking serious all of a sudden. ‘I hope this handoff is easy and simple. But in case it ain’t, I wanna be prepared for anything.’

  He picked up what looked like an oversized vest and threw it at a surprised Patrick, who caught it reflexively.

  ‘Put that on,’ said Saleek as he picked up a smaller, more streamlined vest and slipped it on over his head with ease (making sure he didn’t mess up his cranial spikes as he did so).

  He then moved to examine some of the weapons on a nearby wall rack.

  ‘What is this? I thought you said we weren’t going to get shot at. It looks like you’re preparing for war or something!’ said Patrick incredulously, frowning as he studied the vest which he currently held.

  ‘Look, what is it you humans say? It’s better to be safe than sorry, right? As I’m sure you know from our encounter with Mr Vallan, I always like to have a little insurance, just in case things go south on us.’

  Patrick was about to protest further but stopped himself at the last moment. After carefully examining the vest in his hands, he gingerly slipped it on. He was surprised by how heavy it was – it felt like it weighed a ton. The vest consisted of several panels on the front and back which were made of some very hard material and the lining made a s
light crinkling sound as Patrick moved, indicating some other kind of protective material woven inside the vest. Some of the panels had scars and small puncture marks in them, revealing that they had been worn before.

  ‘Sorry it doesn’t fit right but it wasn’t designed for your species and this is the only standard armour-vest I have onboard,’ explained Saleek without looking at Patrick.

  He was busy checking various parts of a pistol constructed of some incredibly shiny material. It was so glossy that the light reflected off it and it appeared to glow in the brightly lit interior of the compartment.

  ‘It weighs a ton,’ complained Patrick as he tugged at the seams of the vest, struggling to get comfortable.

  ‘I’d rather you were wearing it than wearing nothin’,’ said Saleek as he put the pistol down and started to examine a slender-looking rifle next to it. ‘That armour-vest might not look like much, but it can stop any calibre of ballistic projectile and it deflects most laser blasts too.’

  ‘Yeah, I believe you. It looks like it’s seen some action already,’ replied Patrick as he ran his fingers over the scarred panels to check their integrity. Thinking back to their earlier encounter with Mr Vallan’s mercenaries, the human queried, ‘What about plasma bolts? Does it deflect them too?’

  Saleek tried to be casual as he answered, ‘Nope. But I’m sure we won’t be facing any plasma-based weapons this time.’

  Patrick stared hard at the spiky alien. ‘So you’re saying the vest is useless against plasma rifles?’

  ‘Well, you can’t expect one single piece of armour to protect against every known weapon in the galaxy, can you?’ argued Saleek as he put the slender rifle down and decided on the shiny pistol. He grabbed it and stuffed it in a concealed pouch at the back of his own armour-vest.

  ‘That’s very reassuring,’ said Patrick sarcastically as he tightened the too-large vest in an attempt to make it a closer fit.

  ‘It’ll be fine,’ insisted Saleek as he continued to search through the weapons racks like he was looking for something specific that he couldn’t find. ‘Trust me,’ he added with a broad grin and a wink.

  ‘Do I have to remind you what happened the last time I trusted you?’ retorted Patrick as he finished adjusting the armour-vest.

  It wasn’t perfect, but it would have to do, he decided.

  ‘No need, I remember what happened. You made a friend and then I took you on a wild adventure!’ said Saleek as he pulled out a drawer from a silver cabinet built into the wall. ‘Aha!’ he exclaimed as he located what he was looking for.

  ‘Yeah and don’t forget the part about being shot at by those mercenaries,’ said Patrick.

  ‘You’re never gonna let that go, are ya?’ came the reply.

  Saleek handed Patrick a small metal sphere with some kind of rigid appendage attached to the top of it. There were several buttons running down the side of the sphere and the whole thing was covered in tiny, tiny spikes. Patrick tossed the sphere from one hand to the other and back again, briefly wondering why it didn’t hurt when he grasped it since it was covered in spikes.

  ‘Hey, hey. Be careful with that thing, it ain’t a toy!’ chided Saleek as he pocketed a couple more small devices and finished suiting up for the coming encounter.

  ‘Well, what is it then?’ asked a confused Patrick.

  It didn’t resemble any technology he had ever seen before, he was at a loss as to its true purpose.

  ‘It’s an old Vercurian weapon.’

  ‘A weapon?’ Patrick’s eyes narrowed. ‘I don’t want to kill anyone!’

  Saleek smiled.

  ‘I had a feeling you were gonna say that, that’s why I gave you this. Like I said, I’m sure this’ll be a real simple handoff. But just in case it ain’t, I want you to have this orb. Besides, you can’t kill anyone with that thing anyway. It’s an immobiliser weapon.’

  ‘An immobiliser? How does it work?’

  Saleek pulled a face which suggested he was feeling a little exasperated.

  ‘Wow, you’re really full of questions, aren’t ya Patrick? All you need to know is, it generates an energy pulse which fires from the targeting spine on top of the orb. Press the orange button to charge the pulse and release it to fire. The target will be down instantly. Couldn’t be any easier!’

  Saleek checked everything was secure in the room before walking out and motioning for Patrick to accompany him. Patrick cradled the immobiliser orb in his right hand for a while, before pocketing it and following Saleek out of the secret compartment.

  ‘Seal compartment,’ commanded Saleek.

  The door to the chamber shot upwards out of the ground and slammed shut against the ceiling with a faint hiss.

  ‘C’mon, let’s get back to the cockpit,’ suggested the spiky lyan.

  Patrick was about to say something but was interrupted by Zeeree’s voice floating down from the corridor ceiling.

  ‘Saleek, I think you had better get outside right away.’

  ‘What is it, Zeeree?’

  ‘We have some guests who are waiting outside about a quarter Drekkma from the ship. I assume they are here to collect the artefact and give you your reward for obtaining it.’

  ‘That was fast. And what do you mean, you “assume”? How come you don’t know?’

  ‘Because I have tried to ask and they keep ignoring my communications,’ she explained, sounding rather irritated.

  ‘Is that bad?’ asked Patrick, looking concerned.

  ‘It’s hard to tell,’ replied Saleek. ‘Some people just don’t like dealing with AIs and feel more comfortable dealing with organics. That’s actually a pretty common attitude in these parts of the galaxy; we’re not in the core systems anymore. We’d better get out there and meet them at any rate.’

  ‘OK,’ the human agreed.

  ‘I just gotta get the artefact from my quarters. I won’t be long, you go out there an’ meet ‘em.’

  ‘What? Me? By myself?’ spluttered Patrick, suddenly feeling panicky at the prospect of having to meet and greet several total strangers of unknown species and unknown intent.

  ‘I’ll just be a moment. We can’t keep ‘em waiting too long or they might start to get impatient or suspicious or something. Just go! I’ll be right behind you,’ said Saleek as he sprinted off down the corridor towards his personal quarters.

  ‘You’d better be,’ whispered Patrick under his breath as he turned on his heels and marched towards the ship’s main exit hatch.

  As he neared the hatch, Patrick stopped to compose himself and slow down his heart which was currently thudding an up-tempo rhythm in his chest like a heavy metal drummer on amphetamines.

  After taking a deep breath, he quietly said, ‘Zeeree, open the main exit hatch please.’

  ‘Opening hatch and extending ramp,’ replied Zeeree in her digitised tone. Then, she quickly added, ‘Good luck,’ as the hatch slid away and the bright light of Antorii Two’s sun flooded into the ship, illuminating every inch of the internal metal corridors.

  Patrick tried to remain composed as he walked down the ramp, his heavy-duty boots making clanging sounds with every step. He was greeted with the sight of no fewer than five ground-craft parked in a loose inverted U shape about two hundred metres away from the ship. In the middle of this formation was a group of seven individuals, most of which appeared to be carrying dark boxes which Patrick assumed were probably weapons of some sort, although he did not recognise them at this distance. As the human stepped off the ramp and stood still on the faintly warm tarmac of the landing bay, the seven individuals began to walk purposefully towards his position. When they were approximately three metres away from him, they stopped and stood stock-still, saying nothing. Patrick eyed them carefully while trying to maintain some air of authority to create the illusion that he was not to be messed with. All of the aliens were clad in dark, more or less black clothes with blocky shapes around their arms and legs (he couldn’t tell if these shapes were part of their clothing,
added ornamentation or something else entirely). They all wore what appeared to be capes, draped from their left shoulder and they all wore black sunglasses too. Their species was unknown to the human; he assumed they were natives of the Antorii system. They had bright blue skin and a single strip of shocking red hair which ran from their foreheads to the backs of their necks, otherwise they looked almost human in appearance. Patrick was unsure exactly how to proceed and he hoped Saleek would come down the ramp and join him as soon as possible – he didn’t want these guys to get any funny ideas about roughing him up or anything.

  As Saleek entered his personal quarters and retrieved the precious artefact from a dark brown container located underneath his bed, Zeeree called out to him.

  ‘Saleek, there is something you need to know about what is going on outside.’

  ‘Can’t you see I’m busy? I’ll be there in a moment,’ replied Saleek irritably as he removed the artefact from its container and turned around to begin his sprint to the ship’s main exit hatch to rejoin Patrick.

  ‘This is important,’ insisted Zeeree, sounding increasingly concerned.

  Saleek stopped and said, ‘All right, you’ve got ten seconds. Spit it out, quickly.’

  ‘As you may or may not know, this ship’s passive sensors are not designed to conduct in-depth scans of biological material while in standby mode, so-’

  ‘What are you babbling on about? I gotta get out there right away,’ interrupted Saleek, taking a stride out of his quarters and into the adjacent corridor.

  ‘Saleek, stop! I think Patrick might be in danger!’

  That did it.

  Saleek froze on the spot and said slowly, ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘I decided to run a quick external scan since no one would respond to my communications. There are currently seven people around Patrick and a further thirteen still inside the parked ground-craft near the ship. I can’t be certain but they seem to be registering as oomlocks,’ explained Zeeree hurriedly.

  Saleek’s blood started running colder than usual as he heard this.

  ‘But...the person I made the arrangement with was the leader of a gang of semloids...’

  ‘I am aware of that fact. Which leads to the only obvious conclusion at this time: something is very wrong out there. Patrick won’t know any of this, you have to help him get back inside the ship and quickly!’

  Without saying another word, Saleek darted back inside his quarters, shoved the artefact back in its dark brown container and half-threw it underneath his bed. He then leapt out of his quarters in one bound (showing a surprising amount of athleticism) and shot off down the metal floor of the corridor at full speed, his legs virtually becoming a blur as he ran.

  ‘Can’t you just activate the ship’s energy shield and extend it around Patrick to protect him? At least till I get there?’ asked Saleek as he skidded to a halt at a junction and sped off again once he had regained his balance.

  ‘Negative. The seven people are standing too close to him for that to be effective,’ answered Zeeree, sounding rather agitated.

  ‘Figures,’ muttered the spiky lyan as he continued running.

  ‘Hurry, Saleek, you have to help him.’

  ‘I’m almost there,’ said Saleek, panting ever so slightly as he pushed his speed to the limit.

  He rounded the last corner and could see the bright light of the Antorii sun pouring into the craft through the open exit hatch.

  Patrick was getting somewhat nervous in Saleek’s absence. He had tried a friendly greeting in Standard but that got him nothing, not even a turn of one of the blue aliens’ heads. The silent treatment was seriously starting to unnerve him. He swallowed hard and tried to get rid of the lump in his throat which steadfastly refused to go away.

  Come on, Saleek. Where the hell are you?

  As if playing the hero character in a cheesy action film, Saleek chose that exact moment to appear in the hatchway. He quickly descended half-way down the ramp and stopped. Patrick relaxed for a moment upon seeing his companion, before suddenly getting nervous again as he spotted the expression of panic on his green features, the spiky alien’s usual wide grin nowhere to be seen.

  ‘Saleek, wha-’ began the confused human.

  ‘Patrick, move away from them. Come back up the ramp. Now!’ commanded Saleek, raising his voice a little as he said the last word. For a few seconds, Patrick didn’t move.

  ‘What is going on?’ he asked, worried and confused in equal measure.

  ‘I’ll explain later. Come back aboard the ship. Hurry!’

  Patrick took half a step backwards before one of the blue-skinned figures dressed in black lurched forwards with startling speed and grabbed the human’s wrist. Patrick tried to free his arm but couldn’t move at all – the blue-skinned alien had a grip stronger than a vice. All the human could do was manage a weak ‘What the hell?’ as he continued struggling but to no avail.

  Upon seeing this, Saleek reached around to his back pocket and produced the shiny pistol he had been examining earlier.

  ‘Let him go!’ he exclaimed as he started to slowly walk down the ramp, his weapon pointing directly at the alien which currently held Patrick.

  This, as it turned out, was not the smartest move in the world. As Saleek did this, the remaining six oomlocks brandished their boxes and pointed them right at him. The boxy casings fell away to reveal submachine pistols, their targeting beads resting on various vulnerable parts of Saleek’s head and body. Realising that one false move would result in being filled with more holes than a Swiss cheese factory, Saleek did the only thing he could and dropped his weapon, which fell to the ground with a clatter.

  ‘Good, you’re not completely stupid then,’ said a gruff voice.

  It belonged to the oomlock which still held a writhing Patrick in a vice-like grip with one hand.

  Saleek put his hands up as if to show that he was not aggressive and said, ‘Let him go. This has nothing to do with him.’

  The gruff-voiced oomlock, whose mouth slowly twisted into a snarling sneer, replied, ‘He was aboard your ship. Of course he has something to do with this. Now, step off the ramp and join us.’

  Saleek hesitated briefly, until the remaining oomlocks made a deliberate show of priming their weapons and tightening their aim, which quickly forced him to comply with the request. His feet hit the ground of Antorii Two and he simultaneously sighed in frustration.

  ‘I believe you have a package for me. Where is it?’ asked the snarling oomlock as Patrick continued to struggle and writhe in vain.

  ‘I dunno what you’re talking ‘bout,’ answered Saleek with a surprising amount of flippancy considering the current circumstances.

  The spiky alien shrugged his shoulders and tried to look nonchalant. Suddenly Patrick began howling in pain as the lead oomlock tightened his grip on the human’s wrist and started to twist.

  ‘You know exactly what I’m talking about. Now, don’t lie to me or I will break your friend’s arm. The artefact from Nexus One. Where is it?’

  ‘How do you know ‘bout that? And where are the semloids I contacted earlier on?’ demanded Saleek, although he had a pretty good idea of what the answer would be.

  ‘We had a slight altercation with those semloid friends of yours. They began encroaching into our territory, so we were forced to remind them of the boundaries that exist between our gangs and the results were unfortunate. For them, anyway...’

  The oomlock’s snarl transformed into a hideous-looking evil smile as he said this, which made Saleek’s stomach turn.

  ‘Needless to say, we found their communications records when we attacked their hideout and saw this golden opportunity to make a tidy profit for almost no work whatsoever. Now, I have said more than enough. It is safe to assume that the artefact is not on you, correct?’

  Saleek said nothing.

  ‘So the artefact must be aboard your ship somewhere. Now, are you going to tell me where it is? Or do I have to get my boys
here to go through the ship chamber by chamber? It’s your call, spiky.’

  ‘You’ll never find it,’ bluffed Saleek, trying his hardest to appear unworried.

  ‘Oh really? Well, we’ll just have to see about that, won’t we? Boys?’

  As soon as the lead oomlock finished speaking, he swung his free hand up and downward in a large arc, ending in a powerful blow to Patrick’s face. The human instantly fell to the ground having been knocked unconscious in one strike from the powerful alien. Somewhat unexpectedly, Saleek suddenly lost control and launched himself at the oomlock that had just decked Patrick. The momentum knocked the blue alien to the ground and Saleek pounced on him, punching his face repeatedly with strikes as fast as gunshots. The remaining oomlocks held their fire for fear of shooting their leader but three of them discarded their weapons and ran to help the helpless creature. The three of them together managed to prise an irate Saleek off the lead oomlock, whose face had now become stained with light green coloured blood and who was coughing and spluttering. As the three blue-skinned aliens held Saleek tightly, two more discarded their weapons, stepped forwards and punched the lyan in the face until he blacked out from the pain.

  ‘Korrol, are you OK?’ asked one of the oomlocks as he put his arm around his leader and attempted to help him stand.

  ‘I’m fine!’ roared the bloodied alien as he swatted away the helping hand and got to his feet on his own. ‘That little spiky rat caught me by surprise, that’s all!’ he added angrily as he stepped forwards and planted his boot in Saleek’s mid-section.

  The other oomlocks that had been holding the lyan released their grip and the already-unconscious Saleek dropped to the ground from the kick, landing in a crumpled heap on the tarmac.

  ‘Well, what are you waiting for? Get aboard that ship! The artefact has to be there somewhere. Go and find it. Now!’ commanded Korrol as he wiped away some blood from his nostrils.

  He flicked his wrist, sending the droplets of blood flying through the air and when they landed, they created a spatter pattern on the ground that was reminiscent of a firework explosion in pale green.

  ‘Yes, Korrol. Right away!’ chimed the other oomlocks in unison.

  They were about to start heading up the ramp and into the ship when suddenly the ramp began retracting.

  ‘What the hell?’ bellowed Korrol in rage and confusion.

  The ramp retracted out of sight into the hull of the ship and the main hatch slammed shut with a loud CLAMP sound.

  ‘Did someone press something? Who triggered that?’ demanded the lead oomlock, his blood boiling with frustration and anger.

  ‘That would be me,’ crackled a digitised voice through Korrol’s personal com unit, which was attached to a gauntlet that he wore around his left forearm. ‘You?!’ he spluttered incredulously at the com unit. ‘It’s that damn AI that kept pinging us when we first got here!’ Korrol announced to the rest of the oomlocks, who were standing around in shock, unsure what to do next.

  ‘That is correct,’ came Zeeree’s voice once more over the com unit. ‘As you can probably tell, I have locked down the ship; no one can get in or out without my permission. Now, unless you want me to alert the local authorities about what has just happened here, I strongly suggest you leave those two where they are and leave at once.’

  The lead oomlock’s mouth twisted into a hideous evil smile again as he replied, ‘It seems you don’t know much about how things work on this planet, AI. A glorified computer program such as yourself has no legal rights and will typically be ignored by any organic that you try and contact. I doubt you’ll get any response whatsoever, no matter who you try and contact. As for getting into the ship...well I guess we’ll just have to do it the hard way.’

  He turned and looked at his fellow gang members.

  ‘Boys, get the explosive charges from the vehicles. We’ll just have to blast our way into the ship.’

  The remaining oomlocks dutifully obeyed their leader and began trotting over to the ground craft parked near the ship. As they did so, a hum started to emanate from the ship. It got louder and louder for several seconds.

  ‘What is that noise?’ demanded an already annoyed Korrol as he stared hard at the ship, his brow furrowed in confusion.

  Suddenly the hum reached a plateau and ship became engulfed in a faint yellow ball of shimmering light.

  The lead oomlock’s jaw dropped open as he exclaimed, ‘An energy shield?! How the hell did it activate that while the ship was parked? This AI is really starting to piss me off now!’

  ‘What do we do?’ asked one of the other oomlocks, waiting for his leader’s instructions.

  ‘We can’t get to the ship while that energy shield is active,’ explained Korrol. ‘And we can’t just wait around waiting for the ship to run out of power, someone at this spaceport is bound to get suspicious eventually. It’s too strange for our ground vehicles to be parked right next to a spacecraft without moving for hours on end.’

  ‘So what’s our next move?’

  ‘We’ll have to take these two’ – he gestured to the unconscious human and lyan that lay sprawled on the tarmac a few metres away – ‘back to our place for now. We’ll make them tell us how to deactivate that damn AI and then we can get into the ship and take what we came for.’

  ‘You really think they’ll just tell us?’

  Korrol’s evil smile broadened as he said, ‘Trust me, after I’m through with them, not only will they tell us everything but they’ll also be begging us to kill them just to end the pain!’

  Chapter 11