The Albino Cobra

The Albino Cobra
by Cmdr. Sharn-Lugonn Shad'ey
(Daniel Zavodsky)

"Imp courier - he kept defeating me, but I managed to hurt him a bit, too!" - Those are the words from a beginning FFE pilot...

    Once upon a time*, there was a young man. He had been living on a planet named Earth. Yes, the Earth, the birthplace of mankind. But he was not satisfied with his life in the gravitational well. He did not like the people around him; it was hard for him just to keep himself sane and alive. He did not like that but he knew he was too valuable to be gone for good - just because of these worthless people. The time came one night... * 23-August-3257
 He was looking through the window - the wind was calm, so he could see the sky. The Earth was not a nice place - the desert had already been there for some years. It is the consequence of a large unexpected solar flare, as you all know. When the wind blows there is too much dust and sand in the air - you cannot see much. But it was a nice evening - he looked at all the ancient signs that had changed only slightly. And then he noticed bright flashing lights coming down from the sky. But as soon as he turned his head in that direction, the lights disappeared behind one of the tall buildings. "Quite unusual." - he thought at first. Yes, the ship had flown in the right direction for the spaceport - but ita had been flying too low and too fast for its low altitude. He was more and more curious about that strange ship. It wasn't too big, neither too small... And that finally decided it. He went to sleep, but for some hours, he was thinking about the mysterious craft and the strange flight manners of its pilot. He decided to change his own time to GMT (Galactic mean time) and wake up at 0800 GMT instead of his local time.
 It was dark and quite early for him, but he was fully awake in an instant. He jumped in his clothes, used the elevator to get to underground MagLev. In just a few minutes he was standing in the main building of the spaceport. He wondered why he had never been there - it was a fascinating sight. Passengers, cargo - waiting for transportation, commanders walking to hangars, shops, trading companies and landing pads. So he went to the information terminal and brought up the arrival times. "So, here it is... 0132 GMT, Cobra Mk1, pilot.. none (?!) What does this mean? -> parked in hangar 3." This was strange enough for him to go into the hangar and inquire a bit about the case. The hangar was just a few hundred meters away, so he decided to walk and look around. He began to like the spaceport - everything around was so nice, duralium, lead glass, various plastic materials. And then - the entrance to hangar 3. He walked in but had no card to open the door leading to the ships. So he turned to the right and walked to the information desk. "A quiet room you say..." yells a voice from behind the glass; and continues: "Welcome. Your supplies are ready." He responded: "Sorry, but that's what you've got? I would like to enter the hangar and have a look at the Cobra Mk1 which landed here at 0132, if it is possible." - trying to make a joke with the first sentence - but it turned out that it was no joke at all...
    "Well, that was it. Your pilot's licence, please." He quickly realised that he must stay calm and cold-minded; he took his licence out from a pocket and showed it to the camera, then put it away. He did not want to let someone see that he's got a licence up to Osprey X - considering, that he was talking about a Cobra and did not want anyone see that he has not flown one before. "Aren't you lucky? Here is your access card - farewell!" He looked suspiciously at the card; then picked it up and went very quickly to the door. He put the card on the reading surface and the door opened with a slight hiss. It revealed the inside of hangar 3. He walked inside -> and directly before him stood a small and light Federal Falcon attack fighter. He remembered the times, when he had been learning to fly on one of these - it had been fast and handled like a dream... no wonder why this ship was nearly at the beginning of the course. The Osprey X he had been flying lately was not that easy to handle, but easy enough. When he thought about the Cobra Mk1... that was something different. A grade above his current skills... So he continued on his way past the Falcon. A nice Eagle Mk2 was resting on his left, but what interested him the most was the impressive sight of a Cobra Mk1 directly in front of him. "Oh my! This ship must have been in more battles I could even imagine." - yes, that was probably true. The paint was covered in micrometeorite craters, laser scars and plates of new hull which had replaced a quite big hole - surely made by a missile. And what surprised him the most was, that the Cobra was oviously well-equipped. The surface was rather rusty, but he could see two NN-500 naval missiles attached to the ship as well as lasers in both gun mountings. So he decided to walk around it to see everything there was to see. He looked under the ship and between the NN-500's there was a new fuel scoop - and near it was the door of a tractor beam cargo scoop. He used a nearby ladder to climb on the top of the ship. Everything possible - hmm... an ECM system, a Naval ECM system (there were both probably in the case that one of them got damaged), a scanner with a radar mapper and a housing with an escape capsule. -> Or rather, without one. Nice eh... and that probably was WHY the pilot reading had said "none". He was wise enough to make a scenario for this event. There were some parts missing, but basically it could have been like this: The pilot of this ship had been flying towards the spaceport, autopilot engaged. Then he had used the escape capsule - for unknown reasons. The Cobra, however, continued on its trip - using the autopilot. That was also the couse of the low pass above the surface of the Earth. And the autopilot had been lucky - if the spaceport were not at this side of the planet, it would have crashed into the surface. That was possible - but why they had put this ship in the hangar and then given the access card to him? That was a mystery. He looked at the card and at the ship - yes, the serial number was the same. It was the time for him to investigate the inside of this Cobra. He had never been in one before, so the first problem was to find the entrance. After some minutes he found the airlock. The card really worked! And after a moment, he found himself inside the Cobra. Really bigger than anything he had been in before. He closed the airlock and continued towards the cargo bay. He found some containers with strange signs on them and even stranger objects inside. It was doubtless a metallic material / but a metal he had never seen before. He left them and went to the living quarters. Really nice - and quite big for such a ship. Three rooms with luxurious equipment - even some pieces of antique furniture. Really old-fashioned; because when you have a ship, then you want to spare cargo space - and not to put one-purpose rooms in it. So these were surely meant as... a bedroom, a living room and a dining room with some kitchen appliances (both new and old). Really not very wise -> instead of this there could have been three standard passenger cabins instead. The ex-pilot must have definitely had strange manners. The only possible explanation how he could have made reasonable profit was, that he had been a bounty hunter. But bounty hunting is not very profitable, however.... And he could not have earned the money for all this superior equipment. And the lack of cargo space.... can't have been the source of wealth. So he continued walking and headed for the pilot cabin. At the first sight it looked completely ordinary, but after closer investigation he found out that it had been refitted with the new design of controls. And at least two times -> it was apparent that there had been the sharp 3200-era controls, and also some even older which he was not able to 100% identify. Ah, the first one-man trading ship... This was good, because he wanted to be alone and not to be bothered by crew members. "Bring it on home, bring it on home to you... wathc out, watch out.."
    He sat down in the pilot's chair and felt comfortable. "Yes, I've got the access card... but the ship is not mine." As if he had called, a holo appeared in the centre of pilot's cabin. "Ah, at last... So you are the best, huh? You don't look like you have flown anything bigger than an Osprey-X fighter. But as long as you've passed my 'exams' - he, he!" - "I am sorry if I don't meet your expectations. I have a pilot's licence up to Eagle Mk3." - "That will work, I was just enjoying a company after quite a while, of course. Who gets it down with an Eagle Mk2 and the puny crafts is good enough for anything up to Wyvern Explorer. I have instructed the personnel of this port to let you in... and scribe your name together with this, heh, Albino Cobra." - "That? You.. did? How can I thank you for your generosity?" - "Well, take this ship... and leave this hell-hole. The faster, the better. You will get further instructions then." The holo suddenly disappeared. "Well then, I'll take some things from my flat and take-off..." So he left the Cobra, hangar and spaceport and continued on his way back home.
 Finally there, he took his computer, some DSU (Data Storage Units), some ancient relics he had found and some things of personal usage - like his favourite old-fashioned 30-year-old clothes. All packed in one small suitcase. He decided to call an automatic taxi to the roof; it was the fastest way of getting to the spaceport. When he got in, he paid by his credit card, not the ship Commander's card. He set the autopilot for the spaceport. The taxi was suddenly in the air, gaining altitude and revealing the view of the building he had just left. He looked down from the window and suddenly, he was paralysed. There was a strange vehicle standing in front of the building with some men surrounding it. He recognised them: INRA! The trouble - most likely connected to the Cobra and its mysterious pilot. And now, also connected to him! He felt great relief when he saw that the men paid no attention to the taxi. So he was really lucky that he used his credit card. He had only some 120C left on the credit card - the taxi would surely cost at least 10C. He did not know how much money was on the ship Commander's card but he hoped there would be some left... considering his bad financial situation. The computer voice finally announced that the taxi was arriving at its destination. After a short while he was standing at the hangar entrance - outside. That was surely safer than using the inside door which needed to be opened by this card. Instead, this door was controlled manually. He showed the card and pilot's licence to a camera and the side door opened. He literally ran in and got into the Cobra. He felt quite safe, but he knew he should not be opressed by that feeling. He sat in the pilot's chair and brought up the power controls - internal fuel tanks full, 12t hydrogen fuel on board, power generator on-line. "Well, the ship seems to be ready for a flight. And maybe for a long one." He brought up the commlink and requested launch permission. "Clearance granted. Seal airlocks and prepare for launching." The main hangar door opened. But his good feeling changed to a bad one because he saw some ground vehicles blocking the way and half-dozen men in INRA uniforms ran to the Cobra. A familiar voice yelled out from nowhere: "Get us out of here! Quickly!". He put his hand on manual thruster controls. "And now I should take this through the hangar door? Well then, prepare for an experience!" - he responded to the voice nad pushed the MAIN thruster button. The Cobra accelerated with its 16.1 g - and after a second it was at the hangar entrance. Then a quick touch at the BOTTOM thruster button - and Cobra was flying out, over the ground vehicles. He quickly turned on the automatic thruster controls, turned the ship to a 90 degrees angle to the ground and set 12000 km/h. No ship was taking-off, so they were safe. They? "Who or what was the mysterious voice and the holo-figure?" he thought. As if he had called, the voice gave him another command: "Bring up the galactic map and select Ross 154. Then just push the hyperspace button." - he did exactly what he was told to - and the ship emerged from witch-space in the Ross 154 system. He set the speed to zero and relaxed a bit. He had not been relaxing for too long when the holo appeared, accompanied by the voice. "Welcome then - in this beautiful ship. Our first meeting was under not-very-good circumstances - so I welcome you now. Feel free to ask anything." - "Anything? So the best will be to start from the beginning. Who are you? And where are you?" - "Ah, the most obvious question; and the most difficult one. You may call me Thace. Like everyone did. But now, I am in this ship. That was a problem - I began to have great trouble with INRA - when they discovered what I had been doing. So I decided it was time to confuse them. So I did. My body flew away in the Escape capsule and my mind was transferred into this ship. So I am here - and everyone thinks I am dead - but I am not and I like being alive - that's why I want and need someone like you. Clear?" - "Well, it gives some sense - and I just have to believe you. My name is..." - he was interrupted - "Do Not continue. That was the past. You have a new identity - for your own good. Cmdr. Eaver -> get used to it. You have just your C from your card... but don't worry. You will be making a lot of money in a short time." - "And how, in this ship that has cargo space filled with one-purpose rooms and such nonsense? You were smuggling illegal goods - that's why you have so little cargo space and expensive equipment?" - "Boy, are you nagging me! But to answer your question - since I can't give you the proper treatment for your behavior - no. I wouldn't do that. You can get fined... and that decreases your profit. What I am doing does not include trouble with police - but trouble with INRA - ... As you may have noticed. -Already-" - "I do have noticed that, but why? What's the problem?" - "The problem? The problem is the existence of INRA itself. And the problem resulting from this problem is that the goods are legal. ... Well, that's not the problem. Eh, the problem is the people - erm... well,... rather 'beings' who I trade with. I know too much and that troubles INRA - the Thargoids." He was just shocked... he knew that Alliance had made contact with Thargoids, but the Federation had been quite cold to that, somewhat uninterested. Finally, he responded: "So the Feds are not happy seeing you as a threat to their... their version of the story?" - "That said, right. But not only the Federation, but also the Imps are quite upset with that. What we have to do.. or better what you have to do - with my advice." - "So, what is the Thing?" - "In unity lies power.. we need to form an alliance."

 * * * * * * * *

    The Cobra Mk1 was slowly drifting in space some 9AU from the M-type red star named Ross 154. Light rays painted the whole ship red, even though the ship herself was painted white. (Anyone seen an albino Cobra yet?) The blue shimmering light from the hyperspace entry cloud had just disappeared.  Inside the craft, a young man held conversation with the ship.
 "An alliance? With whom? And how?" - "Keep cold, friend. Everything is planned, already. Just trust me and all will go on smoothly." - "So, what now? Rough-landing on Aster?" - "Put away that sarcasm, commander! You don't seem like you are willing to do what I say. Maybe it was a big mistake - the biggest one I have ever made." - "Sorry, I didn't mean to embarass you. I thought it might be better without that long-faced seriousness. I was just joking - and it would be interesting, anyhow. Is the Cobra capable of doing that?" - "'Course, lad. But you will have other opportunity to show me what this darling can do in your hands. Enough prattling! Hit the NavComp button and take us to Sirocco Station." - "Roger. I'm on that." He located the red-green NavComp button, touched it and a "list" of spaceports appeared on the display labelled "outer view". The only item was the Sirocco Station; he selected it and the autopilot immediatelly turned the ship to the planet Merlin and fired the main thrusters at 16.1 g. Cmdr. Eaver addressed the ship (or Thace, hard to tell): "I see Cobra Mk1s are fairly good and capable, but some new-fangled gadgets would be useful. At least a 180° view would be nice." - Thace answered in a somewhat disapproving manner: "Hey, you Earthling! This baby can take out a brand-new Harrier even with a 360° view system. Don't try to insult the Cobra - because I'm a part of the ship now and it offends also me!". The young Commander looked a bit startled: "Uh, I mean.. I'll have to get used to it. No prob', I think." - "I hope so. It would be sad watching such a potential like yourself be destroyed by the need of such abundant equipment. A 17" screen is good enough for the good. The best don't waste space even with that and they use 15" instead! But I was never That good. Hope you Will be, but we won't change the equipment of this ship. Never - remember that." - "I think we won't need to. Some repairs, servicing and it runs like new. OK. I'll trust you; seems like you know what you are doing and it will be undoubtedly fun." - "But I have a surprise for you - you wouldn't guess what this Cobra is fitted with... a jump drive!" - "Huh? That ol' good thing which is banned? That's good news - instead of using the stardreamer to shorten the trip length for us we will shorten the distance instead!" Thace sounded pleased "Good to hear you like that. So - want to try what the old thing has to offer?". Eaver was excited: "Right on, Commander!". He turned to the controls and engaged the jump-drive systems. They were a bit lucky, no encounters and "Mass Locked" signs until they got in orbit of Merlin.
    Then he used the Stardreamer setting 3 - for a few seconds of personal time. Then it went back to setting 1. Eaver did not know why it had happened - suddenly, the familiar voice came out: "It is programmed to get back to setting 1 when the ship gets to 12000 km of a planetbound spaceport. I land her on - eh, used to land her on manual. So turn the autopilot off and get us down on manual." - "No problem, Sir." He touched the flashing red arrow, turned on the automatic thruster control and decreased speed to 28000 km/h. The whole slowing-down went as usual. Once in the atmosphere, he turned on the aerodynamic control and used the air outside to help manoeuvring the ship. He had done that before, but only in "winged" fighters, while the Cobra looked like a thick wing herself. Thankfully, he did not have to fly it using only the main thrusters and aerodynamical drag and lift; all the thrusters were at his disposal. He brought up the comm link with the station and began: "Cobra Mk1, VL-573, request landing permission." A voice came out of the comms: "Clearance denied. All bays full. Try again later, please.".
 Eaver turned in his chair: "Now what does this mean? You expected that?" Thace answered: "Pipe down, boy. No worry - it's pretty common here. Consider this: two landing pads in the whole system lying on a frequent trade route. Land near one of those transparent domes and we will wait until one of them leaves. So he brought the ship to a dome and rough-landed it there. Merlin has quite low g, so it was really not a problem. "And what now? Shall I turn on the stardreamer?" - "No, no! Don't use the bloody thing when you don't need to. Always use the time in a better way. I had something on my mind... since we are not on the landing pad, we cannot make the planned refit just now - but you should get to know the man wo will help us - Cmdr. Rollo. Establish a connection and let me have a word with him. The connection code card should be somewhere under the controls before you." - "May I ask something?" - "Certainly." - "Can I keep my first name?" - "Uh why, yes, of course. What was it, anyway?" Eaver hesitated slightly, then answered: "Aeron. May sound strange, but I am used to it. I will have enough trouble with my surname." - "Don't be silly, I have heard way stranger names." Suddenly, he changed the tone of his voice: "Details, I won't be bothered with it anymore."
    So Aeron Eaver found the code card and put it in the appropriate slot. The comm display showed "Transmission sent. Awaiting pickup." for a while, then a voice came through the comms: "Cmdr. Rollo, Merlin Shipping Co.. Who is at the comm?". The holo figure gave a quick command: "Turn on the picture transmission." Aeron obeyed. After a moment, Cmdr. Rollo turned the picture on himself and he appeared as another holo figure in the cabin. "Thace, of course. Good to see you are still alive." Thace continued the conversation: "Alive if you say so, actually it did not work that well as I had planned." - "I don't see any problem; I can see you and you got here - so it's allright, isn't it?" - "Well, not quite. Look to your right." Rollo turned his head and looked surprised: "Now what does this mean? Better tell me about it all." So Thace explained the difference between his plan and the actual outcome: "I wanted to fool the INRA - just get rid of my body and transfer my mind in the Cobra. I had already had a decent computer for that purpose, but I wanted to be able to control the ship as well. So I travelled to the Sol system to get the needed equipment. Unfortunately, INRA found me. I had no time to lose; I jumped into the capsule as planned and started the transfer of myself into the computer. As soon as it was finished, the capsule detached itself from the ship and flew away. I barely had time to get used to being without my body as I saw INRA board the ship. They searched the whole ship for any signs of life, then just left. Meanwhile I saw an Imperial Explorer scoop up the escape capsule. I assumed they had found the body and told the agents on board my ship to get back. Then the Cobra flew to the destination - and after landing, I told the staff at the spaceport what to do - it must have looked like a recorded message. Thankfully, it worked and I managed to get this Commander into the ship and he was - still is, I hope - willing to help. Without the additional electronics I myself am not able to control this ship - so that's why I need you." he turned to Aeron. Rollo thought about it for a short while, then decided to go on with the business: "That means you want to continue doing your job?" - "Yes, it's not that inconvenient. As soon as one of those flying boxes departs, I - erm, we - are going to land there and you can fit the drive back." he paused for a second, then continued: "Do you still have it?". Rollo seemed slightly annoyed: "Of course I have it. I always keep the promise. You think I would sell it to INRA or what?" - "Sorry, I just wanted to be sure. This place is pretty near the Core Systems and it is Federal, so anything could have happened."
    At that point Eaver was too curios, he couldn't help himself, so he asked: "Can you tell me what for a 'drive' are you talking about?" Thace nodded and explained: "A class 4 military drive, of course. Custom-made. I see the Feds did not bother to tell anything. The nearest base is some 600 Ly away, you think I could travel that far with a 16 Ly jump range? When I consider it once more, I think I could. But it would take me maybe a year to get there, scooping fuel in every system. I'm sure that in such case I would get the space psychosis and rammed my ship into the Thargoid transporter immediatelly after my arrival. Class 4M is safer, even when considering the bad effects of military fuel. Anyway, good job keeping the drive safe; I think Cmdr. Eaver - that person sitting in the chair -" he nodded toward him "- has had a rough day, he needs a rest. And surely you have some work to do, so that will be all for now. Thanks again and see you at the 'port!" - "Yes, see you there, good night then!"
    His figure disappeared and the card slid out of the slot. Aeron placed it back where he had found it. "I really need some sleep, it was a very demanding day; as I see, about a week in real time." - "Go to the bedroom, I don't need it anymore. Follow me." Thace's holo figure walked across the cabin to the corridor, then turned left into the bedroom. Aeron followed him and just stared at the unimaginable (to him) luxury of organic ancient furniture, bed, a reading lamp, a bound book on the night table... It looked really great. Thace wished him good night and reminded him to use the bathroom. Aeron remembered that he dropped his suitcase in the cargo bay, so he went there and recovered it. When back in the bedroom, he closed the door just by habit, undressed himself and went to the bathroom. Everything was equally ancient there, he even had to brush his teeth manually with toothbrush and toothpaste and water - or at least thought so at the first sight. He really did not know how to use those things, so it seemed lost to him. But after opening a cabinet on the wall, he found a flask of Liquident inside and washed his mouth with it. Then he put it back into the cabinet, closed it, drank some water and went to bed. It was not as comfortable as a jellybed, but not too bad either. He slept at once.

 * * * * * * * *

    He woke up at about 2350 GMT. Outside, the whole city of Sirocco Station was being washed in red sunrays coming from Ross 154; air freezing as usual, white snow reflected red sunrays perfectly, adding more light to the surroundings. Something was disturbing the usual cityline - a shape of a Cobra Mk1 resting near the transparent domes. Inside the ship, a figure rolled out from bed and went into the bathroom. After a while, Aeron went out of the cabin and into the dining room - and found Thace sitting at the table. "Good morning!" greeted Aeron. "Morning. Damn, I haven't thought about such details as this." Thace was evidently annoyed, but Aeron just could not see what was wrong. "What's up? Are we in some trouble again?" - "We're always in some trouble, but that is not the point. I want breakfast!" - "Sure, just give me time to explore what you've got here." - "Boy, you didn't get it? This is a holo figure! Now, what are you thinking about, feeding food into computer slots?" - "Eh, no. But you can't be hungry now, can you?" - "No, I'm not hungry - have you ever seen a hungry computer? But I am used to eating breakfast! This is really bad. I mean food is good, mostly. But I'll have to get used to that. And to a lot of other things, too. Now this will be a relly interesting life. A living computer... or a living wreck? Depends. Oh, I'm talking too much - don't bother, just make the breakfast for you. Take what you like, there are sufficient supplies and you will buy some more at the shipyard. Have you been in the pilot's cabin yet?" Aeron started searching the storage boxes. "No, not yet. I suppose you've been there, anything new?" - "Well, not exactly. Both of the ships are still there, waiting for enough passengers and cargo - as they always say. But I think one of them will be leaving soon." - "That's good. At least we can get the business moving, if that's what you're after." - "Yes, and Rollo would certainly like to see the business going, too. As soon as the ship is refitted with the drive, we are going to pick up a new cargo load at Polaris. Then bring it back and sell it to Cmdr. Rollo; as usually. We make a lot of money, he makes a lot of money - so everyone's satisfied." Thace's figure moved through the table to the storage boxes. Cmdr. Eaver stopped searching, finally found what he had been looking for and seemed more interested about the business. "The most important business for me is to get us there and back. Looks like pretty simple, but there may be some weak points. Pirates?" Thace explained: "Well, not exactly. Thargoid bases are isolated by the vast distances and the safety is very good, too. But on the trip back we might get some attention from pirates or more likely, INRA. But I am using quite a good system of jumps to get us here unnoticed. I will tell about you when we are going back, there's no point in talking about it right now; we've got more important and urgent things to do."
    Aeron finished breakfast and went to the pilot's cabin. He sat in the chair and checked the ship's status. Everything seemed OK and after a while he saw one of the ships taking off. "There, one pad is free!" commented Aeron, "I'll bring us to the starport.". He took off, requested clearance and landed immediatelly. "So, we are here, finally. Are we going to see Cmdr. Rollo now?" = "Yes, but you will have to do it alone since I cannot be outside this ship, at least not now. It's very inconvenient, though. I have to rely on you, so do not do stupid things when you are outside. Don't think about money, nobody will give you more than you will make, I'm pretty sure." - "You can trust me, do not be worried. So where do I need to go?" Thace explained him how to get to the Merlin Shipping Co. warehouse/hangar reminded him to take the Commander's card as well as his credit card. So he took them and left the ship, quickly walking across the pad to the nearest buiding. It was really cold and he did not want to spend more time outdoors than necessary. He inserted the Commander's card into a slot by the door, and it slid open. He jumped inside and felt definitely better when breathing in the warm air. According to the directions, he turned left in a corridor and after several hundred meters passed through a door on his left side. There was just a small sign reading "Merlin Shipping Co. Warehouse". The warehouse was not very interesting: lots of cargo containers, poorly lit and a mess as in all warehouses he had ever been in. He began walking around the warehouse to take a look at the containers and other things in the warehouse, because that seemed like the only activity to pass the time. After passing a large pile of containers, he turned around the corner and saw a figure inspecting a strange device some 50 m away. He decided to walk there and ask about Rollo, but when he got closer, he saw that it was Cmdr. Rollo himself. So he greeted him and continued walking. Cmdr. Rollo did not seem to have noticed him, but suddenly he turned and replied: "Ah, that's you. And where's Thace?" - "He can't get out of the ship, or at least that's what he has told me." - "Yes, I forgot. So you are here to help me with this, I suppose." - "If you think I can," Aeron seemed puzzled when looking at the strange device which he knew nothing about: "But I don't think I know anything about this thing. And what is it?" Cmdr. Rollo seemed not surprised: "You can help me, you will do exactly what I tell you. And to the question - that's the Class 4 Military drive. We're going to install it and take out the Class 2 Hyperdrive; simple and easy. The drive seems OK, so we'll climb in that transporter and move the drive to the ship." He headed toward a transporter resting in the corner. "Climb here into the cabin, and we'll get it moving." yelled Rollo from the cabin. Aeron joined him there and after a quick check of the system, the transporter began moving slowly toward the drive. Then the tractor beam picked up the drive and put it on the transporter. The warehouse door opened and after some ten five minutes they came to the Cobra. The transporter was capable of doing most of the work, so it dismantled the hyperdrive and installed the Class 4 Military drive into its place. They really did not have much work, almost everything was automatic. After they finished, Rollo said: "Here you go, I'll be expecting cargo in a month or less. Preferably less. At least try to survive and get something valuable. Good luck and I hope I'll meet you again." - "Well, I'll do my best. Good bye."
    Aeron walked to the ship, inserted the access card and walked on board. Thace (or at least the holo-figure) was standing in the corridor, quite nervous. "So, any problems? And don't tell me if there are any. Just go and solve them." - "Eh, no, acutally.. I think the drive is in good shape and installed properly. We could try it now. And yes, Cmdr. Rollo said that he's expecting a cargo delivery within a month." - "I see he doesn't think you are very capable.. It really should not take us that long. So, prepared to lift off?" - "As prepared as ever. But I haven't bought the supplies yet." - "And what are you waiting for, Christmas? Chop-chop! To cabin!" Aeron marched to the cabin, brought up the Stockmarket link and bought some food and fresh water, to replenish the recyclation tanks and clean up the life support, preparing it for a long journey into deep space. Then he asked Thace about the amount of needed military fuel. "Let me think for a moment... This time we'll take the longer route home, so.. buy 10 tonnes of fuel. We'll dump the radioactives or excessive fuel when we get there. They've got military fuel there, but it's a bit more expensive, so it's better to bring the fuel with us." Thace replied. So he bought some 10t of military fuel and wanted to turn off the link, when Thace stopped him: "One more thing. Buy a tonne of Chaff, in case we encounter a Naval missile. INRA's got plenty of them. So.. buy one more. Ah, good. That should be all." Aeron finally closed the link and brought the drive core on-line. It hummed in a strange manner, higher pitched than standard hyperdrives and even military drives. But Thace did not seem to show any sign of worry, so he decided everything goes well. He switched on the link with departure control centre and requested launch permission. "Permission granted. Seal airlocks and prepare for launching." Launching, heh. How can they launch a ship sitting on the pad? Aeron commented to himself. He smiled slightly and activated launch sequence. Automatic thruster control, nose pointed directly upward and the Cobra began accelerating up into the purple morning atmosphere of Merlin. When they sped up to 12000 km/h and got out of the atmosphere, Aeron asked where to set the hyperspace target. "Now, we'll take a special action to make sure no one will find us. Ever tried a mis-jump?" Thace asked, and Cmdr. Eaver's skin turned slightly pale. He opened his mouth so as to say something, but not a word passed his lips. Then he turned back to the console and silently selected a nearby system, shook his head and pushed the green/blue button with the letter MIS inscribed on it. With the other hand, he pressed the hyperspace button and collapsed in the chair. After few seconds of mental absence, he looked around, then on the "front view" screen and shook his head once more. Suddenly, words came back to him and he asked Thace: "I see we are somewhere in interstellar space, but have we been in hyperspace at all?"

    * * * * * * * *

    Thace answered his question: "I see you were so frightened that you haven't looked at the ship stats screen. Because if you looked at it, you would see the hyperspace range of this neat ship. Don't bother, it's huge, I tell you. We were in hyperspace less than a half second, you couldn't have noticed that. This is a good precaution - because even if they were interested in our hyperspace cloud, they would be unable to determine where we went and even if they could, they'd get here at least several hours later, the hyperspace cloud remnant would have disappeared by then."
- "So we are pretty safe, huh? But it was better than I expected - I mean the mis-jump. Well, it seems to be safe when you have enough fuel, so to say. And now, where are we going?"
- "I think it's safe enough to target Polaris. You know where that is?"
- "Polaris? But that is.. well.."

    Aeron scrolled the map around, but there was no sign of Polaris. Then he looked at the map of the Galaxy - and there was it! "Ah, theree's! Distant.. but explored. At least something." The system looked quite interesting, a bright giant star, several gas giants, a brown dwarf substellar object, then some uninteresting rocky planets, one Venus-like planet near the star and finally, two mysterious worlds with ammonia weather system and corrosive atmosphere. Thace pointed at the screen: "See this small dot? It's a Thargoid Orbital trading post. We'll be going there. So, prepared for the trip?"
- "Yes, sir!"
- "Don't call me "sir" or I'll think you're an Imperial agent trying to poke me for INRA. But.. nevermind. You may give me any title you want as long as it does not offend me. Go on."
    Thace's figure began to circle the room and after a few circles he sat in a holo chair. "Yes, we can go now. Hyperspace." said Thace in a bit impatient voice. The Polaris system targetted, Aeron just pressed the Hyperspace button and the Cobra disappeared in a flash of bluish-white light.
    Seconds (of subjective time) later, they emerged somewhere in space near Polaris. The bright giant star was extremely powerful, and the ship's sensors had to adjust to the intensity of light. Suddenly, Cobra's thrusters came to life changing the velocity vector and propelling it toward Polaris 4a.

- "Now, how do you like the thought of meeting the feared Thargoids?" asked Thace, with a hint of smile on his face.
- "I just hope it is true that they are not aggressive. But I am too curious to be worried. I would really like to see how an intelligent species completely different to ours lives. But they live in ammonia atmosphere, don't they?" Aeron was really curious, now that he finally overcame the not-so-pleasing possibilities of hyperspace travel.
- "I have been there many times, it is really strange. Cavernous interior of the Transporter - which is actually the trading post we are now flying to - are something you have never seen before. The whole thing is quite... organic. Well, all their equipment seems to be organic, though we don't know how they make it yet. What's more important for us is, that they are willing to trade their items with ours. And now, isn't it profitable to change household cleaning robots for I don't know what they are offering us? It does not matter what they actually use the items for - they are alien items, and that's basically all that matters. I was curious once, and asked what they are actually giving to me." Thace seemed like he got into a mood for a long talk about Thargoid culture. Aeron naturally asked, what was the thing the Thargoids gave to him. Thace continued: "The inter-species translator wasn't able to select the right word. So I asked the Thargoid to explain. He... well.. I don't know whether a Thargoid is he or she or it or something different. We'll stay with "he". So he explained, that they use it for implementing instructions into the organic material in small cavern rooms - some specific kind, but again, language difficulties. That the instructions something do with the material and it changes somehow.. Now, I'm not a specialist, I absolutely don't know what they were talking about. At least, he wasn't that curious and did not ask what we use the household cleaning bots for.. I would feel like an idiot, unable to explain a simple thing."
    There was a brief pause, Aeron tried to make something of the confusing information Thace had just given to him, but it was useless.
- "Okay, I must admit that their culture is something really different; it will take ages to understand how they live and their technology and everything. Damn, Thace, you've made me even more curious!"
    Thace laughed shortly and relaxed in his "chair" as much as a holo figure can.
- "I'm glad you are so eager to find out. If I had chosen some xenophobic fool, I would most likely be in Federal custody at this time... So, are you ready for the encounter? Engage the jump drive and we'll be on our way."
    Jumpdrive engaged, the white Cobra Mk1 raced in its own small distortion of space, travelling many times faster than light. After approximately four minutes, the "Mass Locked" sign appeared on the console, bringing the ship into sync with normal space and time. They could see the Ammonia world of Polaris 4a on the Front view screen. The autopilot was targeted to a much smaller object, the ???? (unspellable / unpronounciable; but Thargoid spelling will be available in the near future). Upon arrival, some 50 minutes later, the Cobra spun around and requested permission from the orbiter. "Permission granted. Proceed to bay 1." came through the comm channel, but before that, the transmission had to come through the inter-species translator. The autopilot somehow managed to land without any problems; surprisingly, for when it flies the ship to the ceiling of a docking bay of a normal orbital station... and now it lands precisely in the smaller bay of the Thargoid Transporter. But they did not pay much attention to that, and did not know that the Transporter was equipped with powerful tractor beams that towed their ship inside. The bay doors closed behind them. The inside of the bay area was lit by some kind of light very similar to the light of Polaris, there appeared no shadows, and there was no source of light visible. Aeron silently turned the engine power off and stood up from the pilot's chair, stretching his arms and legs.

- "So, what are we doing now? Are we going to meet them right away?"
- "Yes, but this station is full of ammonia, so I'm afraid you have to put your EVA suit on. And use the airlock as if you were in vacuum, we don't want to breathe ammonia here, do we?"
- "Huh, surely not."

    Aeron pulled out an EVA suit from the cabinet in the rear of Pilot's cabin and put it on. "Don't forget your Inter-species translator! We will be in contact through radio in your suit." he heard Thace's voice from the EVA suit comm systems. He felt clumsy in the suit, surely it was not the newest model. He slowly made his way to the airlock. Once there, he pressed the button to open the inner doors, then stepped in and they closed behind him. At least the ship's systems recognised the atmosphere outside not to be suitable for breathing. Aeron repeated the procedure for outer doors and stepped out into the docking bay of Thargoid Transporter.
    The bay was nearly as large as docking bays on orbital trading posts, even a Panther Clipper could be squeezed in. There was no other craft, only their white Cobra Mk1 was sitting on the ground. Aeron examined the ground, because it was very strange. It looked like grey plastic, but there were no signs of use. No kind of plastic that he knew of was solid enough to hold a big ship.

- "Hey, don't crawl on the floor, head for the exit door on your right side. I can see where you are going through the camera in your suit, so I can navigate you around; I know this station pretty well, but still I would not go to where I haven't been before, you can get lost here fairly easily." came Thace's voice through the radio.

    Aeron looked to his right and after a moment of staring at the featureless wall, finally saw an octagonal shape. "Well, there must be something more to the number 8, it's everywhere." thought Aeron to himself. He came to the exit, but was unable to find anything to open the door. "Just try to walk through the door, it works." - that was the apparently stupid advice from Thace; but as he knew of nothing better, he decided to try that. He walked toward the door - and as soon as the tip of his foot touched the door, it disappeared! Immediately after walking through the door, it closed as abruptly as it had opened. Well, the Thargoids looked like being more and more mysterious. Walls in this tunnel were dark green and octagonal in shape, as usual. The walls were featureless apart from some strange objects appearing to grow from the wall. The tunnel split into two. "Take the right one." Aeron began walking through the right tunnel. After a two minutes, the heard Thace's voice once again: "Stop, we are here. There's a door on your left. Walk in there." Aeron turned left and there was a similar "door" as he had seen in the docking area. He walked through and as it opened, he saw an octagonal room (well, majority of rooms there are octagonal). There was some kind of a console near the opposite wall. On his left and right were some strange platforms of unregular shape and to his extreme surprise, there was one simple chair in one "corner", apparently made of the same dark green material as the walls. But... wait! He he turned his sight to one of the left platforms and gasped - there was a real Thargoid! Well, he knew how they looked like, but seeing one through his own eyes was something different. It turned its head in his direction and was looking at him. Aeron stopped in mid-movement through the door when Thace's voice urgently yelled at him: "Don't say any kind of greeting, it's not their way. They greet each other only when they are some kind of friends or relatives and have not seen each other for a long time. Just walk over to the chair, sit down and make yourself comfortable.". Aeron took this advice and walked to the chair, where he sat down. He was sitting directly opposite the Thargoid.

- Thace continued: "Hm, I see we have arrived a bit earlier than the usual time he is here - no, we are not doing business with this one, you have to wait a while. There is a clock - it's the display about a meter above the cosole. Their numbers and time are not too difficult to learn. You are quite lucky, you have to wait only for some... 20 minutes. In the meantime, you can have a chat with this one, if you like. Start with something simple, then ask something he can answer. Just tell him we had a good journey on our way here and that it was uneventful, then ask anything you want." Aeron was a little worried, but he started talking to the Thargoid:

- "Our journey here was good and uneventful." He wanted to continue, but to his surprise, the Thargoid reacted also to this statement, which was obviously not a question. Its "voice" was not very pleasing to the ear, but the Inter-species translator had no trouble with it and a slightly muffled voice sounded in Aeron's EVA suit:
- " 'Our' you say, but despite all effort, I can recognise only one being before me. If you are two, then excuse my ignorance. I have met only one person of your species and it was one, as it looked like."
- Aeron was a bit startled, but answered as clearly as he could: "I am indeed only one. I was mentioning also another one, who travelled here with me, but is unable to show his presence in your ship."
- "Then it is a relief for me. If you were two, I would be too curious and therefore bothering you with tiring questions." The Thargoid moved only its head and small tentacles as it was speaking.
- "We have come to exchange certain items. Where is the one who does this kind of business?"
- "I do not know exactly, but with the best of my knowledge, he is in the ?unknown?. He will be here in less than 10 minutes. I have one item made by your species in my ?room?. It is on the ?unknown?, in the ?unknown?. It is very pleasing to the eye. Every visitor stands before it at least 20 seconds, looking at the beautiful ?design?. Items manufactured by your species may not be as effective as ours, but you make every piece of equipment a piece of art." Aeron was smiling to himself as he heard this, initial worries far away and forgotten. Household cleaning robots are kept as simple as possible, to be able to reach into every corner. He thought that seeing a piece of Thargoid art must be really interesting. He decided to ask.

- "Where could I see a piece of art made by your species?"
- "One that I know of, is in the ?unknown?. It is on the other side of this station. Considering the speed you can walk you would not be able to go there and return before K`tars^t arrives. But he has got one, too. Ask him and he will gladly show it to you." The name sounded like "Kitarsat" through the translator. Not surprisingly, he could not remember anything just distantly similar to this word from the squeaks, hisses, popping sounds etc. the Thargoid was making. He decided to test the translator a bit and pronounced the name exactly as it sounded "translated". Some sounds came from the outer speaker of the translator.
- "Yes, that is him. He will be here shortly, just wait." replied the Thargoid. So it was working! At least he knew the name of the Thargoid he was trading with. Useful to know one's name when you are looking for him!
    Aeron was thinking about the Thargoids, about the things he heard from this particular one during their conversation. Rooms of unknown purpose.. not surprising, also some equipment.. It is strange that also the Thargoids have some form of art. Well, everything was strange about them and the similar things were even more strange. As he was thinking, he did not notice a new "figure" enter the room. It stopped, turned to Aeron and moved over the short distance that was separating them. It stood there motionless, waiting for Commander Eaver to wake up from his deep thoughts. After few moments, Aeron nearly spring up from the chair as he noticed the dark shape before him. K`tars^t, noticing that Aeron is ready to speak, began:

- "Commander Thace, follow me. I have the shipment ready."
- Aeron had forced himself to calm down, but his voice still sounded a bit tight. However, the translator could not register that: "I am not Commander Thace, I am Commander Eaver, his new partner. Thace is not able to come out of the ship, he remained there. I am here to exchange the cargo." Damn! Aeron could almost see the surprise on K`tars^t's face... although that could not be possible, he thought.
- "Then please tell me why he is not able to be here."

    Aeron told him as much as he could about the meeting with INRA and that Thace was "living" now as a computer.

- "That is not good, but interesting. By the next time you come here, we shall have an extension of our system ready to connect to your ship and the computer Thace is living in, so that he will be able to be present anywhere on this ship. It is sad that the people who started the War are still a threat to the others, who wish to live in peace. Our species was the last time in war before we left our home planet. No aggresiveness since then, not until the war with your species came."
- Aeron was now very curious about the reasons why did the war break out: "I myself do not know why did the war break out. I have been told it was your species who started it."
- "If you are critical, it really was our species who started it. It was our lack of knowledge and abundance of curiosity. We pulled ships into Witch-space, then pulled them with tractor beams and attached them to one of our ships, connected them with an airlock tube and opened the hatch. Every time we went inside the ship, the crew were all dead. We did not know why they were dead; we did not realise that another species could breathe something different that ammonia and that it could be dangerous. We assumed it was some kind of failure on the human ship, so we continued pulling ships into Witch-space, hoping that we could meet a working ship. There were some ships with very powerful drives which were able to escape the tractor beam. It was not long before a ship we encountered opened fire. Seeing open aggressiveness, we defended ourselves. And because from there on human ships came in increased numbers and power, and destroyed several our ships, we agreed to take offensive measures, planning to attack military targets. We did not want to destroy everything. This plan did not work out very well, since we were not able to reliably identify military targets. We moved back and kept away from human space. And now, follow me to the containers with the items. We will have a look at them."

    He was amazed, and could not find anything he could say. As K`tars^t began to move away, Aeron stood up and followed him. The other Thargoid had already gone away.