Flash Fiction #483 -- Cyber Rats/2

 

Captain Diamond found a pile of small and large boxes inside the bay.  They did not look like any kind of standard shipment.

He spotted Alyn all but bouncing as he came down the lift.

"Captain!"

"I assume these are yours?" he said with a wave at the boxes.  "Have you checked weight allowance --"

"They're not mine.  Well, not technically.  Sort of."

Diamond had a feeling he knew where this was going.  "Not Alyna's either, right?"

"Oh no," he said with a shake of his head, curls bouncing.  "She never buys much for herself.  The woman has no taste in clothing and accessories --"

"Alyn, tell me they're not --"

"Stuff for Mik and Min," he said with an energetic nod and began to wave at the boxes.  "A proper place for them to stay, special food and treats, uniforms --"

"Uniforms."  Diamond thought his head might explode.

"They're darling.  And don't worry, I made sure all of it can fit in the cabin with Alyna and me."

"Oh, I'm sure that's going to go over well.  Alyna is going to have a few things to say."

Alyn grinned.  "She wasn't happy about it until I pointed out she'd have more of a chance to keep an eye on them."

Diamond supposed he should be happy for paranoid alter-egos.  Besides, at least he didn't have to look after them.

Two days later, they launched and headed back out into IWC territory.  As much as he enjoyed visiting Earth, there was always a feeling of relief to get away from some of the rabid Earth Only people.

He didn't see the rats for the first few days.  They did fix the glitchy door on level 2.  Smarl and Retra took them down to the engine room, but Diamond only learned that afterward.  His heart probably missed a beat, but Smarl and Retra were ecstatic in their praise of the creatures.  He just nodded numbly and wondered why he'd failed to ask Fisher how long they'd have the rodents.

The following week, Diamond did see Mik and Min in the lounge working on a wonky screen.  The little uniforms were adorable.

He did not tell Alyn that, though.  In fact, he'd only seen Alyna for the last few days.  She didn't look as annoyed as he had expected.

Best not to mention any of it.

By the time they were out to the Pegasus Fringe, Mik and Min were familiar sights in the corridors.  They liked to sit on the bench in the control deck and watch as they came off of slide.  Retra made them special harnesses to keep them safe from any sudden shifts in direction or of gravity.

The crew didn't take as good of care of him.

The Pegasus Fringe was light on colonies, especially since the one major world, Summer, had started into its centuries-long winter.  That was less than a decade ago, and it already looked like a giant ball of ice.

Mik and Min chattered with an unhappy set of squeaks.

"Yeah," Diamond agreed.  "But the lone outpost pays well for deliveries, and we won't be sticking around for long."

And when the hell did he start talking to the rats?

Dyna smirked.  Alyna did not look at him, but he could imagine her face.  Lucky for all of them that the landing beacon kicked on and took their attention.

Diamond was sure he didn't hear anyone snicker.  He went to work on the coordinates, watching the white world coming closer.  He'd never liked the snow, and an entire world of it didn't appeal to him.  The others were intent on their own jobs now, and he did the work he loved.  Landing on a new world always pleased him.

Though maybe not this one so much.  Diamond read the wind speeds and then the temperature.  If he hadn't already committed, he would have pulled out and waited for better weather, like in a few centuries.

"This looks ... unfriendly," Kyle said from his post at communications.  "And I'm not picking up anything but the beacon so far."

"I can't imagine they sit around waiting for guests to arrive," Alyna suggested, but she sounded uncertain.

"We're almost below the cloud cover," Kyle reported.  He made constant corrections to interior gravity and atmosphere.  "Not that it's going to help much.  It is snowing."

Snowing was not what Diamond imagined it to be.  This was a wall of white, a wind from hell, and temperatures that made him shiver without feeling them.

"Something wrong," Kyle said.

And that sent another chill through him.  "What do you see?"

"There is a ship about two kilometers outside the port.  Down on its side and only showing a small residual power source.  I don't know what brought it down -- but there ought to be at least a distress signal from it."

"Damn."  Diamond made a quick check.  "I can't pull out.  Besides, they might need us."

"We need to be ready for trouble," Alyna warned.

"Yes."

She knew what that meant and left the control deck, despite the danger from sudden moves.  Diamond glanced back as she reached the opening --

"Hold on.  Get Mik and Min out of here.  Into the ventilation shafts would be best.  Box up their stuff and make it look like a shipment for somewhere else.  Dyna, help her."

"Yes, sir," they both said, grabbed the rats, and hurried away.

At least those two were going to be out of sight and safe.  If there was a problem at the outpost, he didn't want the little guys drawing attention.  He imagined shooting them would be the first answer.

Diamond feared it might be the same for the crew, though.  There would be no easy way to hide any of them.

"If it's trouble -- scatter.  Get clear of the ship If you can.  That's the only reason they'd be silent.  They want the ship."

"I do not want to be stuck here," Kyle said.

"Not my favorite spot, either."

But they were almost down.

Flash Ficttion #482 -- Cyber Rats/1

 Captain Diamond did not want to take the set of Cyber-Rats on his ship.  He considered trying to stare Admiral Fisher down, but as soon as her eyebrow began to rise, he gave it up.

"Cyber-Rats.  Yes, ma'am," he said with a sigh he couldn't entirely hide.

"They are well-trained and personable," she insisted.

"They're rats."

"Mik and Min."

"Rat's not mice."

"Not many people get that reference," she said with a nod of approval.

He sighed.  There was no way to win this one.  "When do I pick the rodents up?"

"They're already on your ship."

He sighed.  Fisher waved him away.

The walk back to his ship should have been a pleasure.  The Inner Worlds Council's new non-military post on Earth was quite a feat of engineering and diplomacy.  This was only his second trip to Earth and the first time at the famed Paris Port.  The site lived up to its hype, too.  The museum-quality art along the walkways amazed him, even today.  The colors were bright, beautiful -- and earthy in the way the colonists could not quite capture without special lighting effects and imported paints.

The Sunfire looked lovely on the pad, too.  She was less than two years old and a Wander-class Scout ship.  So far, she was the only one of her type, though six of the larger vessels -- like Admiral Fisher's Farhome, were in orbit.

As he neared the ship, Diamond braced himself for what was bound to be an exciting conversation with the other members of his crew.  At least they all knew Admiral Fisher's eccentricities.  She had, at least, given up on the idea of raising bees in ships.

Though the honey had been lovely.

The airlock door into the bay was open.  Diamond was not surprised to find Alyna standing inside waiting for him.  When he'd gone to answer the Admiral's call, it had been Alyn in a flashy blue jacket, black pants, red boots, and hair in curls.  Now they were Alyna in a severe black single suit and boots to match.  Her hair was pulled into a tight bun.

"We have a gift from Fisher," she said with a wave toward a crate.

"I know.  Call the crew together for a meeting in ten minutes up in the lounge.  Then you can all go on leave for twenty-four hours."

"I'll stay --"

"Alyn wants to see the city.  Do you really want to live with that for the next few years?"

Alyna scowled.  "Here's the info that came with them."

She handed over a chit and marched away.  Diamond sighed and pulled out his pocket comp and looked the crate over.  It wasn't an enormous container, and there were vents on two sides and a wire door on the front with a lock on the outside.  He could see things moving inside, but at least they were quiet.  Diamond also thought there was an odd twinkling of tiny lights.

The instructions were simple enough.  Food, water, nesting sites.  Free run of the ship.

That wasn't going to happen.

Rats.  Diamond was carrying rats up to the lounge. He hefted the crate, heard a couple squeals of surprise, and refused to look inside.

The others had already gathered.  Alyna was Alyn again with his flashy clothes and bright smile.  That did not make him any easier to deal with than Alyna.

"I assume you all have the news."

Quince, Breta, Smarl, Alyn, Retra, Kyle, and Dyna all nodded in unison.  Diamond put the case on the table.  Retra tried to look in through a side vent, but the others kept back.  Even Alyn, though Diamond suspected more than a bit of interest there.

"Admiral Fisher, bless her eccentric little heart, has gifted us with another of her experiments," Diamond continued.  "We are to let them do whatever work they seem to think needs done.  This strikes me as rather ... haphazard.  We'll let them out when someone is there to watch over them.  I do not want the rats running loose on the ship and getting into who knows what."

No disagreements there.

"Can you let them out so we can have a look at them?" Breta asked.

"Yes, I suppose so."  Diamond reached toward the door and the lock.

A tiny paw reached out, manipulated the lock, and the door popped open.

"Well, okay then," Diamond said.  "I guess they won't stay in the crate."

The two came out with glitter of diodes and LEDs.  A row of them ran from between the eyes to the back of the neck.  More circled the tails, and it looked as though they had chips in their ears.  They pretty much glowed and glittered.

At least they weren't as large as Diamond had feared, but he still had no idea what to do with them.

"Trained for light maintenance and repair," Quince said, reading over the chit.  In-ship systems were his area of work.  "Hey, maybe they can figure out that glitch on the level two storage door."

Diamond didn't want the rats touching anything, but he suspected that it was not going to be his choice, much like keeping them locked in their cage.

The two little creatures made a high-pitched chittering noise.  Diamond swore it was a laugh of glee.  It didn't help.

"Go off on shore leave while you can," Diamond said with a wave of his hand.  "There is no telling what Fisher might decide for us next."

"You go, too, Captain," Quince said as he stood.  "No, really.  You know I'm allergic to most earth plants.  I'll stay with the Cybers and give them a few tests.  Go, go."

So Diamond gave out the passes Admiral Fisher had sent to them earlier.  He should have known they were part of a bribe.

He went out and spent a few hours out in the city enjoying himself.  All the while, though, he had the feeling of impending rat-based doom.

Flash Fiction #481 -- Return to the Far Stars Saloon

 These characters appeared in Far Stars (#156)

They'd had an unusual run of quiet for the last four days.  Cara mistrusted it, and that made her mistrust every stranger she saw.  She was even starting to give Shane odd glances, as though they had not worked together for months now.

"You are making me nervous, Cara."

She sighed and looked away, hiding her smile.  While being a Port Guard had not been her first choice in a career, it had gotten her off Pleasant (the world did not live up to its name)  and gave her something exciting to do.  Except for some days --

Shouts rose down the street.

"Finally," she said and started that way ahead of Shane.  "I thought with the five ships in today, we ought to have some --"

Shane tackled her and dragged her off to the side of the street, up against the closest building.  She had already seen why and didn't fight.

A howdone stalked its way down the road.  The thing was huge and grey, covered in uneven thick scales that even lasers had trouble penetrating unless the howdone stood still.  The legs were more vulnerable, but there were ten.  She'd only seen the creatures in videos and found herself shocked at how large it was.  This one moved at a sedate walk for a howdone.  It could run faster than any human.

You did not draw their attention.

But a crowd of fools was gathering behind it and yelling.  And someone shot at it --

Shane lost his temper before Cara did.  She'd never seen him lose his temper before, but he gave a shout of anger and rushed out into the street just as the howdone began to turn back on the others.

The creature turned on him instead.

Cara yelled, and it wasn't polite, and it wasn't about the howdone, either.  Then she charged out to join her idiot partner.

It occurred to her that they might be able to confuse it.  Howdones moved by some sense other than sight.  Some scientists said the beasts had sensors in their feet.

With that bit of 'maybe' information, she turned her attention to shooting the thing's legs -- and then the smaller feet if it lifted a wounded leg.

Shane looked at her for two shots and then got the idea.  Good.  Cara wasn't sure anyone else in the world had read that report.

And the fools were still coming on.  One belligerent woman with a laser pistol in hand came close enough to wave the weapon at Cara.

"This was our kill.  You Port Guards don't get --"

"Watch out!" Shane shouted.  "She's going to shoot you!"

Cara thought that statement a little ambiguous since she had pointed her own weapon at the woman just out of frustration.  The woman did have a laser of her own, though.  Shane might have thought the fool was going to shoot her.

Take no chances.  Cara shot the woman in the foot, too.

"Fine," Shane said.  "You get her out of the way."

The woman was easier to handle since she was in shock.  But Cara knew they didn't have much time.  The minute these off-world fools began to shoot at the howdone, everyone would be in trouble.

The ground already began to tremble.  Even the rest of the drunken fools took note.

"Get to cover!" Shane shouted.  "Go!"

They listened to him this time.  In fact, they disappeared faster than Cara expected, and they hadn't taken the woman with them.

The first howdone was down.  Shane managed to get close enough to shoot through the vulnerable edge of a plate beneath the head and fired upward.  It collapsed.

Then he came to help Cara, first taking the woman's laser.  They were barely up against a shoe store window when a herd of six howdones charged into town.

Six might not sound like much, but they were like huts on the move.  Just their walking broke glass, and when they saw their downed comrade, the bellowing was enough to wake the dead.

It did get the attention of their companion.

She made a keening noise.  Cara slapped her lightly on the cheek, and she looked at her, eyes wide.  

"Quiet," Cara said, barely loud enough to be heard over the racket.

She clamped her mouth shut and said nothing.  Cara wasn't sure she was ever going to talk again.

"Help on the way," Shane said.  "Listen."

Cara was too busy trying to get a good aim at howdone feet to listen to anything -- but the sound came to them.  Airbikes?

Hunters.

They swept in over the newer, taller buildings and lined up in front of the Far Stars Saloon.  That was where most of the fools had retreated to, and they were not coming farther than the big double doors.

The hunters looked the situation over and talked to each other via hand signals.  Cara could see that they had made a decision.  Not too soon, either.  The howdones were getting louder and more belligerent.

The Hunters were quick, at least.  They flew close over the howdones, drawing their attention.  Then four, in perfect symmetry, circled around, dropped hooks into the dead howdone, and dragged it off through the rest of the creatures and off toward the end of town.

The howdones galloped after them.

And then we had silence.

"Well, that was more fun than I wanted tonight," Shane said.  He looked at his commlink.  "And we're off duty.  The Hunters will be back in about an hour.  Let's go buy them a round."

"We still have one problem," Cara said and nodded to the woman.

"Ah."  He pulled out his commlink and called in a medtech.  Once she arrived, they headed down to the saloon.  Things were tranquil, at least until the Hunters arrived.  Cara watched the group for a while.


She might have found her next job.

And she wasn't surprised to see Shane eying them in the same way.  Well, they did make a good team.

Flash Fiction #480 -- The Glory (Drabble)

 Art work by

JA Marlow

The ancestors found The Glory -- a flower that spanned light-years, glittering with spots of radiant color.  They were drawn to such beauty after their long dark journey.

The glittering colors seen from afar became stars, and each star circled by worlds.

Some grew to love certain worlds.  They adapted to their choices, and later generations forgot their past, burying the truth in myths and legends.

On one glorious day, the extraordinary flower trembled and sent all the star seeds into space, scattered on universal winds. This is why we live with cousins everywhere we travel.

Or so the myths say...

 

(JAM showed this lovely artwork in  chat.  I came up with a little story for it.  This was a fun, new way to write something!)

Flash Fiction # 479 -- Three Kittens (Drabble)

 Three kittens lived in an alley.   One day Peaches disappeared.  Her two brothers looked everywhere, but found no sign of her.

"She likes to wander," Peetie said.  Tiny nodded.  Neither mentioned the dangers or that she might not come back.

Then they heard her meows and rushed toward the sound.  They found her in a screened room at a house.  They cried in dismay.

A human came and picked Peaches up.

"Two more?  Why not?" he said.

He opened the door.

"Come in!" Peaches cried.  "They'll give us food!"

So they came in ... and they all lived happily ever after.