Q3

I looked around the mess hall and smiled. This was my crew now.

My crew.

I turned my head and took in the people; Vestock, Kurl, Richard, Marko and Malcolm.

My crew.

Vestock was the first I found.

---*---

The 'sects transmitted a grainy picture back, my short friend was laying in the sun on a sandy beach. "Vestock! You appear to be enjoying yourself!" I said.

As the time approached for the completion of the ship's repairs I had yanked more and more processor nodes off to control scout 'sects. 'Sects that I sent out in a web-shaped search pattern looking for the lost members of the TB's crew. I couldn't even be sure that they were on the same planet, but if Spiron's escape capsule landed here there was a chance that the others landed here too. The polyfiller radiation on this planet really cut down the effective transmission range of our equipment, so I couldn't expect a 'sect to be able to talk to me from around the world, I had to have a whole bucket-chain of 'sects, relaying information from one to the other.

The web was cast - my 'sects scouring the land - looking for the elusive spark of the comms implant each of the crew members had. Thanks to the radiation inherent in this planet it appeared unlikely that the locals would ever develop such technology on their own - so any spark would be a friendly face.

It was over ten months now, my friends would have spent all this time without working verbal translation because that needed a hook into the higher storage and processing that a ship had. My friends would have either learned to speak with natives the old fashioned way or would have had to do without.

It was a warm night and I was dozing off when a chime from the comms system woke me. A flashing name in my eyes, 'projected' directly into the optic nerve by implants - I smiled. I sub-vocalised a "channel open" command then spoke "Vestock!"

Vestock tapped his ears then smiled a huge smile, "You mean I'm not alone on this miserable rock?!"

"Miserable rock?" I said, "You seem to be enjoying yourself..."

"I've just stopped working." Vestock replied, "I'm on my own on this island, not a bird for company!

"So," he said, "I hope you're coming to get me. There's only so much fish a body can eat!"

"I'm sorry," I had to reply, "The ship's being repaired, it will be a few more weeks before we can take it up."

"We?" Vestock asked, "Is there anyone else with you?"

"Just Malcolm," I said, then, "Oh, and Spiron was here. But.. Er.." I didn't know how to explain that the captain had been eaten by the nano and used as raw repair material for the ship.

"He's dead?" Vestock asked. I acknowledged with a grunt. Vestock shrugged, "Well, he was going to come to a bad end some day.

"So," he went on, "When are you coming to get me?"

---*---

We found Kurl next. He wasn't as happy to be contacted.

"Go 'way." He whispered, "you'll get me into trouble."

"Kurl, you've.." I started but he interrupted me;

"I'm not alone, I'm working." he said, rather tetchily I thought, "Now go away and come back late tonight."

I sent a quick message to Vestock to explain that I'd found him, then pulled some more 'sects into the area around Kurl to get me some idea of what was going on.

It was a city - at least a city as far as this planet knew - and the natives were huge! They averaged four feet tall and would tower above any member of our crew. Kurl appeared to be working in the basement of one of the larger dwellings we could find. He appeared to be in virtual slavery. I had a couple of 'sects follow him around for the whole day - it didn't look a pleasant place to work - he spent most of the day shovelling coal into furnaces and making sure that a huge and rather Heath-Robinson affair of a heating system was functioning correctly.

Suddenly I got a blip from one of the other 'sects flying around the city - Richard's comms unit responded!

They were both in the same city, that was a stroke of luck.

I had a great difficulty actually locating Richard - I span a couple of 'sects directly above the place his comms implant was transmitting from and I couldn't see anything. Finally I noticed a grate in the roadway and realised that (a) There were sewers (b) Richard was a rat.

I sent a couple of 'sects down into the grate and they quickly zeroed in on my rodent crew member.

"And I was having so much fun." Were his first words, then, straight to the point as usual, "When can you pick me up?"

I explained the repair-situation and he took it all in his stride.

"Okay," he said, "When you're ready." He shrugged. In the darkness of the sewer tunnels I couldn't get a good picture, but I got the impression that he was as happy as a swine in swill.

Darkness was falling and I tuned back into the 'sects following Kurl.

I needn't have bothered just then because he was worked well into the night.

Finally he was sent to his room with a small bowl of some gruel-like meal. I realised that he wasn't actually speaking to anybody - he hadn't had a chance to learn more than a couple of phrases of the local tongue.

"Hey." I transmitted to him, "Would you like the good news or the bad news?" He grunted a reply. I continued anyway, "Well, the good news is that we'll come and rescue you as soon as possible." Another grunted reply. My voice turned sheepish, "The bad news is that the ship's not going to be finished for another three or four weeks..."

Finally I got a coherent reply, "Four weeks." he said quietly, in the gloom I could see him nod, "I can last four weeks."

"Good. You know that Richard is in the city with you?"

"I thought I'd picked up the odd blip now-and-then, but nothing solid."

"He's living in the sewers."

Kurl laughed, "Does he want to come back with us?" He laughed like a man who hasn't felt a reason to laugh for a very long time. I laughed with him.

"I'll set up a link from the ship to Vestock to you so that we can communicate whenever we want." I made some hasty calculations, "Vestock's in the same time-zone as me, but a few thousand miles south. You're a good four or five hours behind us; this is rather early in the morning for me..."

Kurl responded seriously, "I can't be seen to be mumbling to myself all day long." He humphed, "And I'm going to have to get used to having someone to talk to again."

---*---

Twenty days later I received a signal from the ship that the repairs were about to finish. It was lunch time and Malcolm and I were enjoying a torrac stew. Marko didn't seem to have the same affinity with this near-carrot and often cooked his own meals.

I put my bowl down and beckoned my two friends to follow. We turned towards the ship - it seemed to be covered in a cloud of dust. The dust settled all at once - I stood back in amazement! The ship looked brand new - in fact it looked like an entirely new ship! The old lumpy-yellow look of the old TB was replaced with a clean white ship made from cylinders and flat surfaces.

"Wow!" Was all I could say.

"Feel like making lunch!" Malcolm sang behind me.

"You've already eaten." Marko said, he didn't really understand Malcolm as yet. Well I suppose I didn't either but I'd heard a lot of the original songs.

We strolled to the ship, as we did I spoke to it, confirming that the repairs really had finished.

We stepped into the ship for the first time in nearly a year.

"So this is your ship!" Marko was wide-eyed and amazed. I must admit that I was quite surprised at the make-over. "Not too sure I like the carpet, 'though."

I looked down at the blue pile between my toes and shivered a little. I think the ship was just playing with a new-found sense of humour. Not sure I approved of that in my spaceships.

We checked around the ship and found that the layout was virtually identical to before, except for the blue carpet in the rooms.

When we reached Engineering I was surprised to see, smack-bang in the centre of the floor, a large jug of inert nano. I dragged it into it's place in the cupboard.

We padded off to the flight deck.

"Ship!" I said as I slumped down into the captain's chair and pointed my friends at the other seats, "Lets go find the rest of our crew!"

---*---

As we landed on the beach, Vestock was just pulling in a fish from the sea. He held the squirming animal up for a couple of seconds, looked at the ship, then threw the fish back from whence it came.

He bounded towards the ship and the entrance-slope.

"Nice paint job!" He called as he jumped on board, "Please tell me it's not fish for dinner!"

---*---

We landed a long way out of the city, Richard was there to meet us. He smiled as he came aboard. "Never thought I'd be this pleased to see this old tub!"

I held my nose: "De showers are where dey used do be" I said, pointing to the crew quarters.

A few minutes later we met in the mess.

Two rabbits, one (much cleaner) rat, one alien and one native sat around a table drinking a fine glass of, well whatever it was that the kitchen unit had concocted for us.

"Marko and Vestock are with me." I said after a swig, then looked a Richard, "I'd like you to stay behind and look after Malcolm. He might be a bit too unpredictable in a city like this. You also know your way around should we need, um, rescuing." The rat nodded.

"We could just fly into the city itself," The ship offered, "I can be quite imposing if I want."

"Um, no," I said, "But thanks for the offer."

---*---

The three of us walked into the city. We drew a few stares - there were many species here, but the majority of citizens seemed to be these large lumbering four-foot tall monstrosities - I mean they weren't far short of being human-height. I think that's what scared me about them. The signs of slavery were everywhere - the smaller animals seemed nervous around the larger ones and were rarely seen alone.

We walked up to the house that Kurl was being kept in and I knocked on the door.

A short moment later a bulbous native opened the door and looked first over our heads then at Marko - him being a recognisable species - I assumed.

I spoke loud and clear, "We are here to see the master of the house." The native looked down at us with what could only be called a sneer.

"I will see." He shut the door in our faces.

"Going well so far." Vestock said, "Good to see we're wanted."

I was about to say something really funny when the door re-opened.

"The master will see you now."

We followed the butler-alike into the house and through a labyrinthine set of corridors into the hugest room I'd ever been in - it looked twice as long as TB! At the far end was a tall figure on a throne.

"I think this guy's the mayor." Marko whispered.

We were taken to the foot of the throne.

"Strange creatures at my door." The figure intoned. "What could they want." He laughed.

"I've got a bad feeling about this." Vestock whispered.

I straightened up to my full eighteen inches. "We are here to negotiate with you for the release of a fellow crew mate."

"Fellow crew mate?" He intoned back, "Crew of what?"

"We work on a ship." I said, "So: crew mates." I looked into his eyes, luckily he only had two, then as forcefully as I could manage: "Where is my friend?"

He laughed.

"I've got a bad feeling about this too." Marko whispered.

I cleared my throat, "Lets be clear here, I'm looking for my colleague Kurl, he's much of my height and shape, but with a scaled face and green eyes."

"I know who you mean." I decided that I didn't like the tone of his voice. He had one of those nasty little bells his side - I first noticed it as he rang it.

I think the two people who entered are referred to as "goons". Between them was a bloodied mess. It made a noise - I then realised that the bloodies mess was Kurl.

"I don't like you." I said to our tormentor.

A voice rang in my ear. "When I say so, drop to the floor."

"Ship?" I sub-vocalised, "what are you up to?"

I looked at Vestock - he touched his right ear and nodded at me. I looked at Marko. He was staring straight at the guy. I realised that Marko didn't have any implants as yet. I reached out an arm and put my left paw up on Marko's shoulder.

"Five," The ship said in my ears, "Four, Three, Two, One; DROP!" Vestock dropped down, I yanked at Marko's shoulder and dropped, pulling him with me. There was a rush, and a weird noise a bit like a balloon going up, but backwards. I was aware of a presence tickling the hairs on the back of my head. I raised my head to look about. Our tormentor was on his back, his throne toppled over. Behind me, was TB. Just floating there in the air. In the room. With us.

"I learned a few things when we passed through that translation rift." The ship said, I think it was trying to explain something, "Are we leaving now?"

"Vestock, help me with Kurl." He nodded.

We ran, as fast as we could round the side of our spaceship, which, in case I hadn't mentioned this, was hanging there in this room with us.

The two creatures that had been dragging Kurl appeared to have been decapitated by a sharp piece of spaceship. We bent down and tenderly picked Kurl up. "Ship, get the autodoc up and running."

---*---

I looked around the mess hall and smiled. This was my crew now.

My crew.

Kurl was out of the autodoc, looking better than ever. Well, give or take a few more muscles from ten months hard labour.

The ship had actually persuaded Malcolm to leave and piloted itself out of the atmosphere and made a micro-translation into the hall. So, Malcolm was not suffering from his usual translation-sickness. He was singing a little ditty about lunch.

Vestock was eating some red meat. I was hoping that it wasn't anyone I knew.

Marko was scratching his ears - he had just had his first set of implants and they were bedding in.

Richard was scratching his nose. I could never read him.

"Ship," I called, "Give us a map of where we are?"

A set of glowing stars lit up in the air above the mess hall table. A green arrow pulsed, pointing at a dot near the edge. There were no other identifying markings.

"Ship," I called, "Can you show us Gort spaceport?"

The map shrunk, dots appeared and the milky-way formed before us in all its glory. Visible at one end was the green arrow, at the opposite end was a bright yellow arrow. And I really mean opposite. Direct opposite ends of the galaxy.

We all sat back.

Well, except Marko, he's not actually traveled anywhere in space before. A point that could be gathered by his next comment, "Is that a long way away?"

Vestock coughed, "It will take us years to get home."

"How the hell did we end up this far away?" Kurl spurted.

"The translation rift really, really, really took us a long way." I said.

"Hey!" The ship injected, "I've plotted a course!" A red line appeared on the map. "Should take, oh six months."

"Impossible!" Vestock snorted, "A ship can't go that fast."

The ship coughed, that made me raise an eyebrow, "I learned a lot when we passed through the translation rift." it said, "A real lot." We looked sceptical, the ship could tell, "No, really. Whilst I was being repaired I took the advantage to upgrade the translation engines to the third-quantum."

"You're pulling my leg!" Kurl injected.

"I must say that I am incapable of pulling legs, sir." The ship replied.

"We have third-quantum engines?" Vestock seemed excited.

The ship replied with a quick "Yes."

"And we can get home from here in six months?"

"Give or take a translation or so."

"And you are able to translate into a room not much bigger than you are?"

"You were there," the ship said, with some pride I felt, "I do remember appearing and saving everyone's combined asses."

Malcolm started singing "The greatest lunch of all."

"I think," I said before anyone could start to further question the ship, just in case things went terribly wrong, "We should launch and get this ship pointed towards home. Now."

"Yes boss." The ship said.