16 Chapter 16 :

Low Orbit, Maradisaè I, Moon, 3rd of March 2119.

UNS Adjudicator, Brig, Interrogation cell.

Time, 18:27

Commander Bentham Magnler

Magnler felt immensly relieved. As if a giant weight that had been present since the guard had got him had been lifted. He thought he understood what had happened, which scared him a little.

He remembered what Ara had told him, that all their psyches were in something like another dimension. The drugs must temporarily sever the connection to your psyche, so you no longer have a conciousness. It still "follows you around", and when you wake up, it takes hold again over a half hour. It was a far stretch, but it made some sense. For Ara, having a greater reliance on her psyche would cause her immense pain to be seperated from it. It would also explain why she hadn't immediatly freed herself with psyology. The Admiral had inadvertantly, at least temporarily, disabled her most useful ability in this circumstance.

At that moment, he felt something brush past him. He turned, and saw nothing. No one had moved.

Shhhhh... he heard Ara's voice resonate in his head.

Of course, they could speak because what they were thinking had a meaning, which the other would understant, even if they didn't share a language.

Are you alright? he asked, accompanying the question with immense concern.

I am better now. she said.

Bentham relaxed, the pressure inside him flooding out.

Thank you for coming Bentham. she continued.

Of course.

Who are these people?

Uh... that's the Admiral of the fleet, the Commander of a part of the army, he's a civilian investigator and I've never met him before. he answered, sending a mental image of each one in turn.

And where am I?

On the Adjudicator. It's his ship. he mentally referenced Thraile.

Do we escape? she asked.

He was taken aback by the question. The though quickly.

Yes. But not yet.

Do you have a plan?

I have the shadow of a plan, but I need your help.

Silence.

I can do that. he felt a deep sense of trust eminating from her conciousness. He felt honored that she would believe in him that much.

What do we do?

First, we need to clear the room. Once everyone here can't raise the alarm, we need to make our way to the main computer station. If we succede, then we should be fine.

Ok, how do we stop them from raising the alarm.

Can you knock them out or something?

I can try and take over their minds and make them fall asleep.

You can do that?

It will be difficult, but yes.

How difficult?

It depends on their strength, if they can focus on repelling me, it will get much harder.

So they would need to focus to stop you...

Yes, why?

If I start a fight, it will be easier for you to take control of their minds.

Well... yes. But they'll kill you!

Not if you attack their minds first, then I can distract them.

He felt her ponder his suggestion.

That might work...

Ok, distract them a bit, just to let me disable the security systems...

He felt her conciousness pull away, leaving a strand of her mind left, so he could distantly sense her general feelings. He realised that it had only been 2 seconds as they conversed at the speed of thought.

Ara began to shudder. Convulsing and foaming at the mouth. The occasionnal gurgle escaping her lips. Her mind portraied no change.

She was doing a rather good job at acting, thought Magnler.

"You idiots, dimethylheptylpyran is poisonnous to her race. Help her! Barnaby, Interrogator, if you won't let me near her, hold her down!"

Thraile turned around to Elysium.

"Get the emergency medipack at the end of the hallway."

Elysium ran over to the door and relayed this to one of the guards.

Davidson and Hayle both moved over to the convulsing girl and held her already restrained arms and legs.

During all this confusion, Magnler pulled his concealed scanner. A piece of technology used for analysing problems in any kind of electrical system. He flipped up the overload switch and watched the little green lights on all the security systems wink out.

He sent the mental go ahead through his link with Ara.

Instantaneously, everything in the room went still. The human's brow furrowed as he furiously fought the onslaught that eminated from the alien's mind. Ara did not move, though sweat began to bead off her brow as she struggled to gain control.

Davidson dropped immediately, slipping into an instant slumber.

With a roar, Magnler threw himself against Thraile. They both went sprawling. He struggled with him for half a second before the Admiral went completely limp. The engineer quickly rose and repeated this process with Hayle.

Only Elysium was left, the Commander's eyes followed Magnler as he struggled to keep control of his own thoughts.

This one is stronger... came Ara's strained voice through his mind, But I can...

With a mighty effort from Ara, and a final death stare from Elysium, the SAS Commander fell face first onto the cold steel beneath his feet.

Ara's eyes opened sharply. Breathing heavily, she looked down at her bonds.

Don't! thought Magnler, The interrogator probably has a key.

Ara's eyes met his. The engineer rushed over to the unconcious man and took a set of keys off his belt. He quickly succeded in removing her bonds.

She slumped in his arms as she came down. He held her for a while before thinking, Can you stand?

Yes, I think so.

He released her slowly as she tested her footing. She seemed able to stand, barely.

I have used much of my energy. she explained.

Can I help somehow?

No. she answered hastily, Well... yes, but no.

Why? What is it?

I could take some of your energy, but that would leave you exhausted as well.

Do it! I'll be fine.

No. You don't understand, I'm taking your life force.

I understand. But we'll need your strength.

But...

But nothing. You'll need your strength. It's for the best.

She paused, thinking.

Okay... she thought hesitantly.

Magnler suddenly felt incresingly tired as he felt his energy flee his body. On the other hand, Ara seemed to rejuvinate slightly and regained some of her previous composure.

He didn't feel quite as exhausted as she had seemed a few seconds ago, but he did feel as if he'd just ran a mile.

For a moment afterwards, Ara seemed to be about to say something, but then thought better of it.

Okay, so there are two guards outside, wait until the one with the medipack comes back, he will open the door, that's when you subdue them.

he saw her grimace slightly, Can you manage?

She nodded, inclining her head to the bottom right.

They stood there for a minute, Ara's eyes were closed, but her eyeballs moved still beneath.

He is coming. she said.

Ready? he asked.

As ready as I can be. she answered.

They waited some more, this time poised to strike. The door slid open smoothly to reveal two guards. One had his back turned, the other was in the middle of rushing inside. Caught off guard, Ara assailed their minds as Magnler threw himself at the nearest one.

He quickly passed out from the distraction caused by the engineer's strike and his own panick from the alien conciousness that envelopped his own. The other was a little trickier, but a few seconds later, both guards were sleeping peacefully on the hard metal floor.

Exhausted as he was, Magnler dragged both men inside the room. He noticed Ara was hardly in any better condition.

Right, now we should change into these uniforms so we don't attract unwanted attention. he said.

She nodded and slipped inside the room. Self concious as he was, he didn't follow her, but put on his uniform outside, dispite the risk. Thankfully, no one came.

Merely thirty seconds after he'd finished, Ara came out as well. She looked very normal. As long as people didn't look too closely, they would not know she was not human. Unfortunatly, she did keep a good part of her unearthly beauty, which was bound to attract exactly the attention of those they'd rather avoid.

In the brig's corridor, on their way to the main computer, he quickly taught Ara how to march in step. And proceded to guide her through the ship's lower hallways until they approached the exit to the rest of the ship. Behind the booth was a single guard in his late 40s, drinking from a mug.

Do we put him to sleep as well? she asked through their link.

No, he answered, save your strength. We'll first see if we can walk out of here without conflict. If it doesn't work, then yes.

She aquiesced.

They walked up to the guard meaningfully. He looked up at the last second.

"Mhhh." he spluttered, a brownish liquid comming out of his overfull mouth.

He swallowed and brought out a hankerchief with which he wiped away the spilled drink.

"Ahhh, damn." he muttered, his accent was, from Magnler's previous experience, west London, "Alright, wha' is it ya want." he was looking pointedly and fixatedly at Ara.

"To come through..." said Magnler hesitantly.

"Yeah, yeah. Alright." he said reaching under his desk. He groped around for a second before having to actually physically look beneath. During that short period, Magnler exchanged a quick glance with Ara.

"Yep, tha'll do it." he said, then looked at the disguised alien "If ya need anything, love, ya know where ta find me."

She smiled uncertainly at him before hastily following her friend.

Is it just me or is he... creepy.

No, he's definitly creepy.

Okay. Thank Ashea.

Who is Ashea?

I'll tell you later.

He understood her reasonning, now was not the time to have an idle discussion on culture. He concentrated on leading her to the mainframe where the computing devices, including the ship's AI, were kept. The AI, he realised, would be their biggest challenge.

He didn't know what this AI was called, nor when he or she would realise there was something amiss.

They marched for a good ten minutes, occasionnaly passing other crewmembers of the Adjudicator. Men would look at Ara a little too closely for comfort, so she had to keep her head down. Women were a much safer, they looked decidedly the other way.

But given that, they still succeded in reaching the secured door marked Computer Mainframe. A red light beside it marked it as restricted access.

Ok, this is it. said Magnler mentally, I'll have to rewire the access panel. Make sure nobody notices.

She smiled broadly, I can do that.

He heard her mutter aloud in her own language, then felt funny as she fell silent. He realised his hands had become outlines of themselves. He could see them fine, but they were transluscent. He looked up at Ara questioningly.

She smiled again and said, It's a useful psychae, but hurry, I can only hold it for a while. Photons are difficult to manipulate at best.

As he looked over himself, he could see a ghost of himself standing dead straight, as Ara was, on his side of the door.

He smiled to himself as he returned to the door's control panel. He worked for thirty seconds, reconnecting the wires to bypass the security systems. It worked. The door's restricted light flipped to green. Magnler closed the panel and opened it. At the same time, they reappeared.

Inside the room was a very surprised technician, his hand an inch away from the door controls, a half eaten sandwitch in his mouth. He stood there frozen.

"Uhhh... hi?" he said cautiously, removing the food from his mouth. He had a very slight american accent.

"Hi, we're doing a patrol in this area. Are you alright sir?" asked Magnler with fake concern.

"Ah, um... yes! I'm fine. Thanks. And you?"

"I'm afraid I can't talk about that sir. May we come through?"

"Oh, yes. Of course. Be my guest." he said hastily.

Ara stayed impassively silent during this exchange. But she looked on edge as he passed.

"Hi." he muttered nervously as he passed her.

She gave him an awkward smile.

"Does she speak?" he asked Magnler.

"Uh..." he looked at Ara, unsure of what to say.

Ara shook her head, then pointed at her throat.

"What's she saying?" asked the technician.

"Um... she has a throat problem. It pains her to speak. Thankfully both she and I know sign language after so long."

"You're together?" he asked, trying at small talk.

"Yeah," answered Magnler, "We've been in the patrol for a good while."

"No, I mean are you a couple, you suit each other."

"Oh! Er... No. We're friends. That's all. Also, I think we could be court marshalled for that..." he tailed off awkwardly.

Ara, not knowing what was going on, didn't move.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to presume anything..."

"We should continue our patrol, sir."

"Yes, I'm sorry for any inconvenience I may have caused." he stood there, keeping the sliding door open with his foot while the two entered.

He was about to turn around, when one of the fans keeping the room ventilated blew off Ara's loosened cap... and he saw her pointed ears.

"Whaaa...?" he muttered staring.

Ara went bright red and ducked away behind Magnler.

"Hey what's going on?" he demanded, "What in the devil's name was that?"

"It's a genetic condition, she's had it since she was born." tried to explain the chief engineer.

"That's not something that happens! What is she? I heard there's an alien on board! Is that one of them? Are you infiltrating our ships?"

"No, of course not. If I was an alien I would probably be speaking a different language."

"Yeah, but she don't speak does she? You're a traitor! You're helping the aliens."

"Have you met an alien?" asked Magnler quietly.

"No! And I don't want to."

The engineer, remembering one of the old-timer TV series he liked, opened his hand and hit him on the nose. The technician stumbled backwards, slightly dazed.

"Hey!" he shouted angrily, swaying, "That's a kill shot! You took a frickin' kill shot on me!"

"What, no! It should knock you out."

"Oh yeah! Well I..." he fell flat on his face, clearly unconcious.

I had to. he heard Ara say in his head.

Yeah, this was going nowhere good. Thanks.

She smiled at him, and put her cap back on, this time securing it more firmly on her head. He quickly turned away from her and dragged the sleeping tech into the computer room.

He propped him up against a holopole and closed the door. He also took the tech's keycard. He inserted it into a slot by one of the terminals. He accessed the ship's core computer systems from the man's login. He worked his way in and began imbibing the man's keycard with access to most of the ships door controls and keycode access panels. He had just gotten access to the hangar bays when suddenly everything got locked behind incredibly sophisticated firewalls.

"What the..." he muttered.

"Well, well, well... what do we have here?" the voice came from behind him.

He turned around, and found that Ara had done the same. Suddenly, alarms blared.

Standing on the holopole, was a thirty centimeter high bluish figure. Oviously masculine in shape and sound, he wore a navy uniform. He was also completely transparent.

AI, thought Magnler.

The little figure bowed, "I am..." there was a loud clicking, "... but you can call me John. From your cells that is."

Magnler smiled, "Well that's not gonna happen."

"Oh? And why not. You think your pathetic keycard will help you. With me alert to your presence, the only thing that'll open is a broom cubboard."

"Not the keycard..." his smile widened, thinking of the plan he'd set in motion, "... this."

He pulled out a datastick and plugged it into the terminal.

Suddenly, beside John, appeared a sassy holographic girl. She looked him up and down with distain.

"John... how nice to see your face again!" she exclaimed sarcastically.

"Coline. The feeling is not mutual."

"Yeah, well... too bad. 'Cos I'm here to stay."

"I can feel you going through the ship's systems, Coline, this is your last warning..."

"Oh, I'm getting a warning? Lucky me. I'm afraid you won't get the same courtesy."

"Coline...!" he said, looking around himself.

"Bye bye now!" she taunted, waving.

John dissapeared in a flash of light and a anguished yell.

"Good job Coline." praised Magnler.

"Yeah well, Anam iaidianaï selehin. E oinowe ê sohei n'kelaya."

Ara laughed, a clear, vibrant sound.

"Tanya oisol sai eina." she laughed, wiping away a tear.

"Huh." said Coline, "A fairly simple sense of humour in these people. I guess they don't have any comedians."

"Good job Coline. Incidentally, what did you do?"

"Oh, just locked him in a metaphorical cell. He did trigger the alarm though. But I turned it into a drill. I should blow over soon, if they think nothing more of it. The Captain and Admiral will know, but I disabled comms so they'll have to spread the word that this is not a drill manually which will take them forever. But we should still hurry. Oh, and..." a pair of translators rose up from the holopole.

"Good thing I brought you along. Thanks. Come on." he unplugged the datastick, took the translators and gave one to Ara. He then inserted his own into his ear.

"This is better," she said, "Staying in contact with you was starting to tire my mind."

Magnler popped Coline back into his pocket and brandished the keycard, "Let's go. Before somebody realises we've escaped."

She nodded and followed him to the door. It was locked. He swiped his keycard. It slid open. He peered down the hallway. It was empty. He quickly strode out, Ara not far behind, and they set out together towards the medical ward.