The Lost Colony by DM Arnold (thriller books to read .txt) 📕

this bucket wherever it was headed - - probably to drop us off at the Floran transit platform and then deliver the novonids to Gamma- 5. We could've informed the authorities there -- they'd be lying in wait for them. Instead -- I let my emotional involvement with Laida get the better of my judgment. And now, we have a dead captain ... an astral navigator in stasis and clinging to life and other crew members seriously ... inconvenienced.” He looked at Andra. “We are probably going to prison for this.”

“No, Nyk,” she replied. “By the time authorities could be notified, this ship's cargo would be off to who-knows-where. They'd expose the novonids to sunlight only to discover they're uncooperative, unmanageable and dangerous. We know our stunners have no effect on them. Our authorities' only recourse would be to use lethal force to subdue them. Laida's right -- as long as they're torpid, they're safe. I shudder to think of turning them loose on Gamma-5 -- or any other planet. You have a duty first to what's right and what's moral, Nyk. Letting these ... beings loose on one of our colonies would be wrong, immoral, and dangerous.”

“What of the captain?”

“Unfortunate, but not your fault. Nyk -- If I thought you were doing something wrong -- do you think I'd stand by and watch? No, Nyk -- I was with you all the way.”

“I'll need you with me the rest of the way, then.” The intra-ship comm buzzed. “Yes,” Nyk said.

“We have an acknowledgement,” Zane said. “A deep-space shuttle is on her way.”

Nyk sat in the captain's cabin, looking across the conference table at Captain Egan, who had assumed command of the 501. Egan shook his head. “I have never heard of such a situation. I have one question. Why would you take it upon yourself to seize command of this vessel?”

“Our plan was to merely detain the crew once we reached Floran space -- to delay until a message could be sent to ExoService headquarters. Hayt learned we had discovered the novonids on board. He was preparing to jettison them into space.”

“The first officer denies that.”

“Of course he denies it. Threaten him with truth drug...”

“My Kyhana -- please don't assume you know how to do MY job.”

“I'm sorry, Captain... I believed the captain had given orders to eject the novonids into space.”

“That statement I will accept,” Egan replied. “Then what happened?”

“The captain confiscated my handheld with the photoimages I took in the barracks. We had arranged a signal with the few below decks we had revived. Andra used her handheld to send the signal. Three of the novonids charged the bridge. In the ensuing melee, Captain Hayt was killed and the navigator injured.”

“Mr Kyhana -- what were you doing getting involved with the novonids in the first place?”

“I had communications from the Secretary of Colonial Affairs himself that the Floran Hegemony would not tolerate enslaving them. This is precisely what it appeared to me was about to happen. I assumed Captain Hayt and the others were part of the plot.”

“Why would you assume that?”

“The novonids had to have been brought onboard with his full knowledge and cooperation.”

“Suppose he was simply following orders? According to the remaining crew, that is exactly what they were doing.”

“Orders from whom?” Nyk asked. “Who would have the authority to order an ExoScout to become a slave-carrier? The ExoService is under the auspices of the High Legislature -- not any individual colonial government.”

Egan pursed his lips. “Slaves... But, they're not human. They are artificial beings created for a purpose.”

“Maybe they're not human in a strict biological sense. You look at them ... talk to them -- and tell me they aren't people. They think, they love, they hate ... they are fully aware of their own mortality.” His eyes brimmed. “They feel, they bleed, they laugh, they cry... Captain -- there are those on Varada who believe the novonids are simply machines made of muscle and bone; and, they've convinced others on Gamma-5 to believe the same. Those who do are less human than any of the green-skinned beings in this ship's hold. If we permit them on Floran territory as anything but our peers, we will have lost some of our own humanity.”

Egan shook his head again. “I'll put all this in my report.”

“What will you recommend?”

“I will recommend the one named Mos be tried for homicide. If he is ... human ... in any sense, then he must be held accountable for the death of Captain Hayt. I will recommend you be held on charges of mutiny. I don't know if any of this will stick. That's not my decision. It's for others to decide -- thank goodness. You're dismissed, Mr Kyhana. And, you are confined to your cabin.”

14 -- Legal Quagmire

“You have really done it this time, Nykkyo.” Illya Kronta paced in an interview room in the detention block of ExoService headquarters in Floran City.

“Illya -- what would you have done?” Kronta continued to pace. “Illya -- what?”

“Probably the same. Not that it excuses it.”

“It makes me feel better to hear that.”

“I'll tell you one thing, Nyk. You had better not bolt to Earth this time. You do that and our friendship is over. I will not rest until I have you back here -- in irons.”

“I have no intention of bolting. I want my name cleared. I want the real culprits identified, caught and punished -- both here AND on Varada. I want to see whoever did this to Laida and the others pay for their crimes. I want the novonids cared for. I will do whatever it takes to those ends.”

Kronta stopped pacing. “Do you mean that?”

“With all my heart.”

“Good.” He pulled an object from his sash. “Give me your left arm.” Kronta snapped a wristwatch-like device around Nyk's left wrist and squeezed a rivet with a crimping tool. “I convinced a magistrate to order you released under electronic surveillance. You may come and go as you like, but you must remain planetbound. This device is a transponder that will permit us to locate you anywhere onworld.”

“Thank you Illya.”

“And, you must remain in Floran City.”

“Is that a constraint imposed by the magistrate?”

“It's one imposed by me. We are providing rooms for you and the others at the hostel near Government Center. I was fully prepared to detain you, Nyk. If I thought you were even considering heading to Earth...”

“What about the novonids?”

“They are being held here at Service headquarters. The ones who participated in your little insurrection are in detention cells -- in particular, the one referred to as Mos.”

“His name IS Mos, Illya.” Nyk shook his head. “Why is it so hard to treat them as equals.”

“They're not equals. They have different biology...”

“Their biology differs only in details. I had this same argument with Captain Egan. I didn't expect to have it with you.”

“It's a legal quagmire you've put us in. We have a cadre of solicitors scouring Floran Law for some guidance on this, Nyk.”

“Floran Law never considered such a situation. What of the others?”

“The ... unconscious ones are in the clinic, being given fluids.”

“Don't give the ones without tattooed numbers too much glucose. We won't even be able to communicate with most of them.”

“The medics have been forewarned.”

“What of Laida? May I see her?”

Kronta nodded. “Come this way.”

Nyk followed Illya to a detention cell. He saw Laida sitting on a bunk. Her eyes caught his and she stood. Nyk threw his arms around her, held her and caressed the back of her head. “How are you doing?”

“They're treating me kindly,” she replied. “I have never been this long without sun.”

“Are they giving you syrup?”

She nodded. “Yes -- it's sustaining me. The others are all right, too. I wish they'd let me see Mos. He doesn't understand.”

“We're doing what we can.” Nyk took Laida's hand and squeezed it.

“Nyk -- don't let them return me to Varada. I'm dead there.”

“You'll die here. This place can't sustain you.”

“I'd rather starve here than be put down there. Don't let them return me to Varada. Please.”

“Come along, Nyk,” Kronta said.

Laida brushed a tear from her cheek and gave him a little wave. Nyk regarded her through the window-slit on the cell door. He watched her sit on the bunk and bury her face in her hands. He turned to Kronta. “All right Illya -- human or not?”

Nyk paced in Kronta's office. “I can't recall a bigger mess,” Illya said from behind his desk. “The Varadans have severed communications with us. They are accusing US of stealing THEIR novonids. US! Stealing from THEM!”

“THEY brought the novonids to the 501 in Varadan shuttles,” Nyk replied. “Their primitive, alcohol-fueled, so-called spaceships dripped corrosives all over our shuttlebay.”

“We believe these statements are more directed toward domestic Varadan consumers,” Kronta replied.

“What can we do?”

“The 501 has been impounded and our forensics teams are going over it looking for evidence. We've taken statements from the crew.”

“Why don't we interrogate them?”

“This bunch knows how to deal with truth drug. It doesn't necessarily uncover the truth -- rather, what the subject BELIEVES to be truthful.”

“What about interviewing the novonids?” Nyk asked.

“We have no interpreters. Except for yourself, none of our staff can speak their language. They can read and write it, but not speak it. With the exception of the one called Laida...”

“You mean Laida, Illya -- not 'the one called Laida.' It IS her name.”

“With the exception of Laida, none of the novonids can read or write.”

“Let me be interpreter, then.”

“Rejected. You're not an impartial party.”

“Then, let Andra.”

“Rejected for the same reason.”

“Illya -- one reason I was asked to participate was to build a neural map for subliminal language training.”

“I had almost forgotten. Shit, I had forgotten.”

“Let them map my head, Illya. Let then create a Varadan language program and train ... whoever's impartial enough.”

“I'll want to watch,” Kronta said. “I've never seen neural mapping done.”

Illya accompanied Nyk into a treatment room. “You can change into treatment garb,” the attendant told him.

He looked around the room. “This looks like an interrogation setup. Is that truth drug?”

“We use truth drug as part of the procedure. Please get changed.”

Nyk returned wearing a broad loincloth. He climbed onto a therapeutic pallet. The attendant inserted an I.V. catheter into a vein in his arm.

A medic and a technician stepped into the room. “Mr Kyhana -- let me explain the procedure.”

“I understand you use truth drug,” Nyk replied.

“A light dose -- to get your mind focused on the subject at hand.” He pulled a vidisplay before him. “We will be presenting writings in Varadan. Actually, it's the letter of intent you helped draft... Ideally, someone should be conversing in Varadan to you, but we have no native Varadan speakers in the building.”

“Yes we do. We have Laida. She's being held in detention.”

“One of the green ... beings?”

“Yes -- one of them. She's smarter than I am. Bring her here.” The medic glanced toward Kronta.

“He has a point,” Kronta said and pulled his handheld from his sash.

Shortly Laida was escorted into the treatment room. Her eyes darted between Nyk, the medics and technicians and the equipment. She stared at the tube leading to Nyk's arm. She bit her hip and her eyes began to fill.

“Don't be afraid, Laida,” Nyk said to her. “No one's going to harm you.”

“But...” A tear ran down her face. “Oh, Nykkyo -- they're going to ... all because of me...”

“They won't hurt me, either. These men are going to use my knowledge of your language to create a pattern they can use to train others. They need to give me some drug to put me into a trance.”

“That's all?”

“Yes -- that's all. We need your help.”

“My help?”

“Yes. We need you to talk to me. That's all you have to do -- talk to me while they map my mind. Will you do that?”

She nodded. “Yes...”

“Good... have a seat.”

“Tell her,” the technician said, “once you're under the drug, she must ask you questions, and then more questions based on your answers.