Will Tequi investigate Meago's claims?
A few days later, Tequi was about to embark on another adventure. This time, it was to the coordinates that Meago had supplied. Preparations were being made to take off shortly. In the days that followed the admission from Evol, Tabe’s contact that had originally supplied the information about the calamity on Earth had been contacted. It was a friend of Tabe’s, a fellow Talem, who admitted that he had made that communication under duress. He had been ambushed by over 10 Piscoran ships and had been specifically instructed to contact Agora One with the news.
Evol had also been dealt with. Part of Tequi’s quarters had been partitioned, soundproofed, and made into a holding cell. Since Tequi had brought him aboard, he had to take the responsibility of confining the criminal until Evol was off the ship. Meago, meanwhile, hadn’t been confined, but had agreed to be put under 24 hour surveillance from a shadow drone. These were the punishments until Tequi brought both of them to the coordinates that Meago had supplied, where, supposedly, they would find the last Earth humans and some of their Piscoran captors.
As they began the journey, Turbo spoke harshly, “Morquellia, of all places. How did I ever allow myself to get hoodwinked into doing this?”
“Hoodwinked?” Tequi asked. He chuckled heartily as he lay back in a deep-tissue detox lounge chair. His eyes were slits and he grinned happily as the euphoria of rejuvenation was pulsing through his pores. “You knew exactly what you were getting into, just like the rest of us. Besides, what’s not to like about Morquellia?”
Raw grinned, “Let me take this one, Turbo. What’s not to like about Morquellia? Where to begin?”
“I was being sarcastic. Please don’t tell me.”
Tequi and Raw both knew more than enough about their destination to make them queasy. Morquellia was about as swampy and murky a place as one could imagine. The native inhabitants took after their environment. They were quite oozy creatures, roughly the body type of an Earth bullfrog, stood about human height, and held a sub-zero on the cuteness scale. They were a terribly violent species, and had been for thousands of years. Their society was extremely stratified, with a tiny minority ruling over a huge underclass of slaves. The rulers were grotesquely bloated figures, due to their overindulgence and sedentary lifestyle. The slave class were overworked and malnourished, so they naturally took on a gaunt appearance. In recent years, the slave class had been dying off at an alarming rate, and the environment was also suffering degradation from centuries of abuse and misuse. They had extremely primitive technology compared to those in the Space Agora,
“What do you think the Piscorans want with the Morquellians?”
“Who are you asking?”
Tequi grinned. “Masher seems to be the brightest one here, so Masher, I guess.”
Turbo shrieked, “Hey, I’m newer and much more advanced than Masher!”
“Yeah, but Masher’s been around for 500 years and has a wealth of first-hand experience.”
Masher assembled its floating particles into human form, complete with a tasteful clothing ensemble from the mid-21st century, and took a seat near Raw. “I suppose we might find out when we get there.”
Raw groaned. “Aw, come on! What kind of an answer is that?”
“How am I supposed to know?”
“Hypothesize.”
“From what I know of the two species, it appears possible that they could have mutual interests in alignment.”
“Such as?”
“The Morquellian population has been declining for over a century, They could be in search of fresh blood and fresh slaves. This would be supplied by the Piscorans with the Earth survivors they’ve kidnapped. It also seems logical to think that, due to the extreme environmental problems they face, the tiny ruling segment of the population could be looking to the Piscorans for technology to go off planet.”
“I could have told you that.”
“Stop it, Turbo!”
“What would the Piscorans get out of the deal?”
“A base of operations on a planet with excellent natural defenses. Nebulae, asteroid fields, not to mention the hazy and murky conditions on Morquellia itself.”
Tequi spoke through the permagrin he was wearing, courtesy of the detox lounger. “Whatever happened to the Piscoran home world anyway?”
“They destroyed it shortly after stealing technology necessary to go intergalactic.”
Tequi stopped grinning. “Why’d they do that?”
“It wasn’t on purpose.”
“Right. Turbo, how long til we reach the asteroid field?”
“About 22 minutes.”
Raw quipped, “Not very exact for a machine.”
“Tequi just tells me to round up or down when it comes to time, despite my protests.”
“That might bite you in the keister one of these days, Tequi.”
“And after we get past the asteroid field, how long til we reach the nebula?”
“Just shy of an hour at top speed.”
“Ok, give a friendly reminder to Shock One about their responsibilities.”
Raw said, “Give me a friendly reminder as well.”
Tequi sighed, “Turbo, please throw up a holo map.”
A holographic map of the local star systems they were entering, from the point of their current location, to Morquellia, illuminated the high, angled ceiling above them. Tequi rose and started pointing. When he pointed at a place on the map, it glowed in correspondence as if being touched.
Tequi explained, “There’s the asteroid field. There’s the nebula. There’s Morquellia, in all its anti-glory. We’re going to go around the asteroid field and the nebula, which will take a little longer, but is much safer and easier to navigate. While we’re speeding around those obstacles, Shock One and Boomerang will do some investigating. Shock One will search for Piscoran ships in the asteroid field. Boomerang will search the nebula.”
Raw got a more-confused-than-normal look on his face. Tequi took note. “Question, Raw?”
“Yeah, who or what is ‘Boomerang’?”
“I suppose we’ll go ahead and let you in on that little secret. Turbo, put Boomerang’s pilot on the holo.”
A satisfied, red-and-white face popped up above the group, grinning ear-to-ear.
Raw wrinkled his nose and groaned.
“Happy to see me?”
“What are you doing?”
“Flying a spaceship, which is more than I can say for you,” Zay quipped.
“You’re dad’s gonna kill you!”
“Nah, I’ll just blame you.”
“Ha ha, right. Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?”
“Cuz I didn’t want to hear you whine.”
“You told your dad, though, right?”
“Nah, I just left Agora One to fend for themselves.”
Raw blinked.
“Of course I told him! He forbid it, I laughed, end of story.” She turned her attention to Tequi. “Can we go on with the plan, please?”
“Gladly. As I was saying, Zay, you’ll pilot Boomerang through the nebula and look for any Piscorans that might be hanging around.”
“I thought sensors were useless in the nebula.”
“Ship’s sensors are, but that’s where Fost comes in.”
Raw asked nervously, “Fost is with you, Zay?”
“Stay forcused, Raw. It’ll be ok, I promise.”
“Fost can, like all Ducleds, sense other life forms at great distances, even in a nebula. After they report their findings, we’ll continue to approach Morquellia, and they’ll fall back to their preplanned distances. Shock One will stay 500LY back, and Boomerang will be 1,000LY back of Shock One.”
“Wait, what if they find some Piscorans lurking?”
“They’ll report it to us and ignore them.”
“And if they’re engaged by them?”
“If by engaged, you mean violently attacked, then they’ll defend themselves, naturally. Now, once Morquellia gets within range of Turbo’s sensors, then we can start to see what’s going on there. If they have ships in orbit, what the situation on the ground is, and soforth. If their presence is too great in number, we’ll have no choice but to flee.”
“What number do you call too great?”
“Turbo, I leave this is your capable non-hands.”
“Based on what I know about Piscoran technological capabilities, I could handle at least five of them at once. More than that would be risky.”
Masher added, “Keep in mind the info they stole from Agora One. They might have upgraded capabilities.”
“They probably haven’t had time to implement it yet.”
“Anyway, we’ll judge the situation as it presents itself and figure out what action to take at that point. Ok, everyone get ready. Oh, and Turbo, where’s Tabe at?”
“Still snoozing.”
“Get that clumsy metal brute up and update him on our status, will ya?”
“One more important thing,” Raw said. “Why is your other ship called Boomerang?”
Tequi sighed, “Put it on the holo, Turbo.”
A boomerang shaped vessel popped up a few inches from Raw’s face.
Slice 11 Coming Soon!
Thanks for your time and attention!
Just say "NO" to slavery!
Top image is from flickr
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Please note: While Agora One can be read as a standalone, I recommend finishing the James Bong series first, and reading SeAgora second, as Agora One is the final installment of a loosely interlocking trilogy.
