" Mr. Walker, you realize what you've just explained to me, don't
you?" Goddard asked.
" Barely, Commander. I, uh, was failing most of my classes on the colony ship," Terrien said with a wince.
" No better than any of the other hired help around here," Goddard muttered under his breath.
" Excuse me, sir?" Terrien asked, confused.
" Never mind. Thelma!" Goddard cried. The android appeared behind him.
" Yes, Commander?" Thelma asked, innocent as ever. Goddard jumped.
" T.H.E.L.M.A., Mr. Walker says he discovered a file that told the launch dates of every Lumanian ship, including the Christa. Do your databanks include that information?" the Commander asked. Thelma checked her databanks.
" Hmm, odd. This morning there was no file on anything involving the background of the Christa. Now, there are multiple files, all dating back to... before my activation," Thelma said. Goddard jumped onto her statement by grabbing a comm device.
" All hands, report to the Command Post!" Goddard barked, rushing off to the Command Post, with Terrien right on his heels.
" Was it something I said?" Thelma asked.
" Commander, what is the cause for alarm this time?" Davenport asked, exasperated.
" Mr. Walker and T.H.E.L.M.A. have discovered a HIGH amount of data on the ship, and I think we need to download into a separate database where we can access them at any time," Goddard said. The rest of the crew stared at Goddard and Terrien in shock.
" He's only been here a week, and he's discovered info we never knew existed?" Suzee muttered.
" Suzee!" Cat cried.
" Sorry, Cat. I can't help it. It's just that-"
" That he's come on board and done something you can't. Suzee, could you please start trying to get along with more of the crew? They think you're a little arrogant. And, a jerk," Cat sighed.
" What?" Suzee asked.
" Suzee, you fight with everybody and you're really too sarcastic for a Yensidian. I should know, I spent half a year with them. Which reminds me... Do you think I should give Elmira my purse?" Cat asked.
" Why?" Suzee growled.
" Well, I made a purse out of her dad's arm, the one he had wrapped around me," Cat smiled. Suzee suddenly, and uncharacteristically, giggled. Cat gaped.
" Hey, Harlan, remember that message we got from our future selves?" Radu asked.
" Yeah. That was one weird experience," Harlan chuckled, tugging at his Starcademy uniform. His other outfit had been severely maimed during a routine scan of the Christa's storage bays.
" Well, I was wondering, why weren't you in it?" Radu asked. Harlan pondered that.
" Maybe I was simply unable to be there at the time," Harlan said.
" Or... maybe you were killed," Radu said. Harlan scoffed, and walked out, muttering,
" Crazy Andromedan."
" I heard that!" Radu called.
" How could you not," Harlan muttered, softer and further down the hall.
" I heard that too!"
" This information is incredible. It has all the information we've been looking for for the past year!" Goddard exclaimed.
" Look at this. Commander, I think I found the ship's blueprints," Suzee said. The group consisting of Goddard, Suzee, Davenport, Cat, Terrien, and Rosie gathered around as Suzee gave the 'Screen on' command. A map of the ship appeared on the wall. Cat pointed to a point near the bottom of the ship's 'nose.'
" I think I remember a weapons port that was supposed to be around there," Cat said.
" Cat, Terrien, go check it out," Goddard barked. Terrien and Cat nodded.
" Thelma," Cat called. The android appeared in front of her.
" Yes?" she asked.
" Thelma, Terrien and I need the punch-in codes for this room," Cat said, pointing to the room she'd mentioned. The android nodded and punched in the proper code on the jumptube control. Cat and Suzee went down through.
" Thelma, what do the records say about this area of the ship?" Goddard asked, pointed to a rather empty part of the blueprint.
" There are no jumptubes that are currently connected there, and the internal sensors are offline there," Thelma said.
" Rosie, get Mr. Radu and head down there," Goddard ordered. Rosie nodded and walked out.
" Commander, I must ask. Why didn't we investigate the ship this thoroughly before?" Davenport asked. Goddard thought for a minute.
" Because we had several other pressing matters on our minds, such as getting home faster," Goddard said, but it was obvious he was truly unsure as to why they never examined the ship that well as they were then. Davenport, however, accepted the answer. She walked out, muttering about how her lesson plan was severely lacking due to this 'distraction.'
" Commander, I can't seem to figure out anything in this area of the ship. The scanners are on, but internal monitors are offline," Suzee said.
" I'll check it out. In the meantime, Suzee, I think we need to make sure we've got all our systems in working order. We're finally out of the main Spung space lanes, and I'd like to get everything in working order. Head down to the main engine room and check things out," Goddard ordered.
" Yes, Commander," Suzee said. She didn't talk back. As she walked out of the team room, Goddard stared after her.
This being friendly stuff is actually pretty fun, she thought.
Suzee had never been in this engine room herself. She'd been here occasionally with Cat when she'd been stuck on Yensid, but she'd never come here in person. It did seem like the heart of the ship, even in appearance.
" Hmm, this is interesting. It feels a lot like my sister's room," Suzee whispered to herself. She began working on the systems checks.
Cat and Terrien arrived through the jump tubes in the dark room. Automatically, the Christa adjusted the lighting to comfortable levels.
" Wow. This is nothing like anything else on the ship," Cat gasped.
" I wouldn't know," Terrien chuckled. This wasn't the weapons room they'd thought it was. Instead, it was a giant room that was randomly altering its appearance.
" What is it?" Cat asked.
" Off hand, I'd say it some kind of holographic environment. Like a training room," Terrien suggested.
" Then where would the weapons systems be?" Cat asked.
" No idea. But maybe we should-" The ship suddenly rocked. Cat and Terrien glanced at each other for an instant, then ran for the jump tubes, hitting the command post code on the way down.
" Band! What's going on?" Goddard ordered, storming into the Command Post.
" I don't know Commander. The ship just started rocking. I'm not doing anything!" Harlan cried.
" He's right. I'm looking at a readout here in the engine room, and it seems to be that this is natural to the ship," Suzee called from the engine room.
" Natural?" Goddard asked.
" Yeah, like how the ship's biological clock was reset by the crash," Terrien piped.
" So, what is it you're saying, that the ship is... growing up?" Goddard asked.
" Believe it or not, Commander, but that might be the most apt name for it. I can't seem to figure out any other way for it to be explained," Suzee said.
" Great," Goddard activated a comm device. " All hands to the Command Post," he ordered. Within moments everyone but Rosie and Radu were on the Command Post.
" Where's Rosie and Radu?" Suzee asked.
" They probably fell through some kind of hole in the ship and got themselves killed," Bova muttered.
" Bova..." Cat warned.
" I'm just giving the most likely conclusion. Otherwise they would have come to the Command Post," Bova said.
" Bova..." Harlan growled.
" It's only logical," Bova said.
" Bova..." Goddard, Terrien, Davenport, Cat, Harlan, and Suzee growled.
" It's the most likely possibility," Bova said.
" Bova, shut up," Goddard, Terrien, Davenport, Cat, Harlan, and Suzee growled.
" Is he always that... pestering?" Terrien muttered.
" Usually," Suzee said.
" Thelma? Escort Mr. Walker, Bova, and Suzee down to the empty section," Goddard ordered. Thelma nodded.
" Commander Goddard, I'd like to accompany them," Elmira said, " Radu is very important to me."
" Go," Goddard nodded. The search team walked off.
" Commander, are we in any danger from this... shake-up or... growing up, or whatever it is?" Davenport asked.
" Cat? You and Suzee are supposed to be engineering geniuses," Goddard said, turning to the Saturnian.
" By Suzee's estimates, I think we're safe from any harm. There might be a small radiation spike, but it shouldn't be any problem," Cat said from the engineering console.
Thelma used her finger light to light the way through the dark room.
" I got one word for this place: Spooky," Terrien muttered.
" I heard that," Suzee said, knocking down a cobweb. They waited for a sarcastic comment from Bova. It never came.
" Bova? Bova?" Terrien cried, turning his flashlight to where Bova had last been. There was no sign of the Uranusian or Elmira anywhere.
" I think the spookiness in here just reached a ten," Terrien said. Thelma's light vanished from sight.
" Why don't I like the way this is going?" Suzee said.
" Maybe because Radu, Rosie, Bova, Elmira, and Thelma are gone," Terrien said.
" Okay. We've got to stick together. Whatever this is that's taking the others away, it's only doing it when we're separated," Terrien said.
" Right. Which way do we go?" Suzee asked. Terrien didn't answer. " Oh no," Suzee gasped.
An hour passed, then another. Soon, the ship stopped rocking.
" Cat, what's our status?" Goddard asked.
" I think the ship is done with its aging. I'm going to try to get an image of what the ship looks like now. Screen on," Cat said. The image promptly appeared. The ship had gone from the techno gray to a pumpkin color, and small fins, large enough for the whole crew to assemble comfortably, but not enough for a ship to land in, other than the Starlings, had formed.
" It almost looks as if the ship has almost completely 'healed' itself from the crash," Harlan said.
" That sounds as apt as anything we can get. Now, what about our search team? Shouldn't they have reported in by now?" Cat asked.
" Thelma!" Goddard called. She didn't appear. Harlan, Goddard, and Cat ran off in the direction that the others had gone off in.
" Please be careful, people," Davenport called after them.
" Okay, Suzee. Think. You are stuck in an unexplored section of the Christa, one of your best friends, and some very good friends are missing. What do you do," Suzee said to herself. " Probably, stop talking to yourself," she muttered. She suddenly heard whispering voices. " Radu? Rosie? Terrien? Elmira? Bova? Thelma?" she called. The whispering increased. Suzee could make out a couple of words, but not enough to go on. " Is anyone here?" she called. Suddenly, the lights increased to comfortable levels. Suzee saw a form hovering over the unconscious- or in Thelma's, who now had an appearance nearing that of what it was for about five minutes after her arrival in Cat's dimension, only a little more yellow than orange, case, offline- forms of her friends. The creature was vaguely humanoid, but with tentacles instead of hands or arms. It had a Lumanian-ish face, but it seemed twisted in a sinister grin. " Hey!" she cried. The creature turned to face her, and Suzee grabbed her chance. She made eye contact with the creature and pitched her consciousness into its mind. She was in it for several seconds, and pitched back right when Goddard, Harlan, and Cat burst in the room.
" Suzee!" Harlan cried.
" Wait! Stand back," Cat ordered. She inhaled and let loose a sonic scream, which blew the creature back into a wall, knocking it unconscious and woke Radu.
" Huh... wha..." he groaned.
" Mr. Radu," Goddard said, and he and Harlan lifted Radu up. " Suzee, what's going on?" Goddard barked.
" That... creature... it's the original crew of the Christa," Suzee said. Goddard turned to look at her.
" What?" he asked, while Harlan and Cat attempted to wake the others.
" Commander, that... thing... was the crew sent to escort the Christa to Earth, in an attempt to receive assistance for the Spung occupation of Lumania. But when some creature began absorbing them, they had to alter their plans by deactivating Thelma, who was designed to help interact with the UPP, hoping that the creature wouldn't absorb her knowledge of where Lumania is, and they set it for the Starcademy, hoping that some students would reactivate Thelma with the knowledge she carried, then they cut off this section of the ship with themselves and the creature," Suzee explained.
" That... is a Lumanian?" Goddard asked, pointing at the crumpled mass.
" It was. It has been bonded with the creature for almost two years. It would be impossible for us to separate them, even if we were at the medical facility at Taust Ti," Suzee said, as Terrien, Rosie, and Bova stirred.
" Ugh... did anyone catch the broadcast ID number of the transport that ran me down?" Terrien grumbled.
" C'mon, get up," Harlan muttered.
" So, what do we do with it... them... it... whatever it is," Goddard asked.
" We've got three choices. We can kill it-"
" Kill it?"
" Commander, those beings have been in an endless pain since they were absorbed. It would be a mercy killing," Suzee said.
" Stardogs don't do any killing- mercy or otherwise- unless there is no choice," Goddard warned.
" Okay, we can't kill it. However, we can leave it here where it can become a hazard or we find a planet and leave it there," Suzee said.
" All of the choices are leaving a bad taste in my mouth here. Killing it is against Stardog policy, we can't leave a potentially dangerous creature on board, and we don't know if any of the planets we're close to are viable for any kind of life," Goddard sighed as Harlan popped the crystal that powered Thelma back into place and Radu helped Elmira up.
" Thelma, can you think of anything that we can do with this creature?" Suzee asked.
" According to the Christa's scanning equipment, the only viable option is to... eliminate the creature," Thelma said.
" That's... inhumane," Goddard said.
" Commander, what is inhumane is allowing this creature to continue its painful existence. It obviously-" Suzee was interrupted by a roar from the creature. Goddard, Suzee, and Thelma stood, stunned. The creature wrapped a tentacle around Goddard.
" Radu, that... 'do not harm the creature' order? Consider it rescinded," Goddard got out, as strangled as it was. Radu leapt up and pried Goddard out of its grip. Cat, Bova, and Rosie jumped into action. Cat let loose a sonic scream while Bova and Rosie let loose their electrical and heat powers. The creature roared in pain, then exploded, sending out slimy goo that covered the whole crew.
" Well. That solves that problem," Suzee sighed.
Later on, the crew stood at the Command Post.
" I wish there had been another way to take that creature out. I've never killed another living being in my life," Rosie said.
" Rosie, I was able to feel its feeling in the last second of its life. It was happy. Happy that it was being released from the prison it had been in for years," Elmira said.
" So we were doing it a favor by killing it?" Cat asked.
" That's what I'd been saying. I understand what the Commander had been saying, but when I'd pitched into the creature's mind, I 'met' the leader of the Lumanians. He and his crew were in a permanent pain. It was a relief for them to finally pass on," Suzee said.
" Well, either way, I'm glad you guys got us outta there before it absorbed us," Terrien chuckled. Then he picked out a last bit of goo from his hair. " Though I swear this gunk is still in my uniform."
" At least you don't have to worry about cleaning antennae," Bova muttered. Goddard and Davenport entered.
" All right, crew. We've set up a mini-database in the Dark Room. Mr. Band, since the ship has settled down, set a course for home," Goddard ordered. Harlan smiled and keyed in the appropriate coordinates. The ship flew in the direction of Sol.
" Barely, Commander. I, uh, was failing most of my classes on the colony ship," Terrien said with a wince.
" No better than any of the other hired help around here," Goddard muttered under his breath.
" Excuse me, sir?" Terrien asked, confused.
" Never mind. Thelma!" Goddard cried. The android appeared behind him.
" Yes, Commander?" Thelma asked, innocent as ever. Goddard jumped.
" T.H.E.L.M.A., Mr. Walker says he discovered a file that told the launch dates of every Lumanian ship, including the Christa. Do your databanks include that information?" the Commander asked. Thelma checked her databanks.
" Hmm, odd. This morning there was no file on anything involving the background of the Christa. Now, there are multiple files, all dating back to... before my activation," Thelma said. Goddard jumped onto her statement by grabbing a comm device.
" All hands, report to the Command Post!" Goddard barked, rushing off to the Command Post, with Terrien right on his heels.
" Was it something I said?" Thelma asked.
" Commander, what is the cause for alarm this time?" Davenport asked, exasperated.
" Mr. Walker and T.H.E.L.M.A. have discovered a HIGH amount of data on the ship, and I think we need to download into a separate database where we can access them at any time," Goddard said. The rest of the crew stared at Goddard and Terrien in shock.
" He's only been here a week, and he's discovered info we never knew existed?" Suzee muttered.
" Suzee!" Cat cried.
" Sorry, Cat. I can't help it. It's just that-"
" That he's come on board and done something you can't. Suzee, could you please start trying to get along with more of the crew? They think you're a little arrogant. And, a jerk," Cat sighed.
" What?" Suzee asked.
" Suzee, you fight with everybody and you're really too sarcastic for a Yensidian. I should know, I spent half a year with them. Which reminds me... Do you think I should give Elmira my purse?" Cat asked.
" Why?" Suzee growled.
" Well, I made a purse out of her dad's arm, the one he had wrapped around me," Cat smiled. Suzee suddenly, and uncharacteristically, giggled. Cat gaped.
" Hey, Harlan, remember that message we got from our future selves?" Radu asked.
" Yeah. That was one weird experience," Harlan chuckled, tugging at his Starcademy uniform. His other outfit had been severely maimed during a routine scan of the Christa's storage bays.
" Well, I was wondering, why weren't you in it?" Radu asked. Harlan pondered that.
" Maybe I was simply unable to be there at the time," Harlan said.
" Or... maybe you were killed," Radu said. Harlan scoffed, and walked out, muttering,
" Crazy Andromedan."
" I heard that!" Radu called.
" How could you not," Harlan muttered, softer and further down the hall.
" I heard that too!"
" This information is incredible. It has all the information we've been looking for for the past year!" Goddard exclaimed.
" Look at this. Commander, I think I found the ship's blueprints," Suzee said. The group consisting of Goddard, Suzee, Davenport, Cat, Terrien, and Rosie gathered around as Suzee gave the 'Screen on' command. A map of the ship appeared on the wall. Cat pointed to a point near the bottom of the ship's 'nose.'
" I think I remember a weapons port that was supposed to be around there," Cat said.
" Cat, Terrien, go check it out," Goddard barked. Terrien and Cat nodded.
" Thelma," Cat called. The android appeared in front of her.
" Yes?" she asked.
" Thelma, Terrien and I need the punch-in codes for this room," Cat said, pointing to the room she'd mentioned. The android nodded and punched in the proper code on the jumptube control. Cat and Suzee went down through.
" Thelma, what do the records say about this area of the ship?" Goddard asked, pointed to a rather empty part of the blueprint.
" There are no jumptubes that are currently connected there, and the internal sensors are offline there," Thelma said.
" Rosie, get Mr. Radu and head down there," Goddard ordered. Rosie nodded and walked out.
" Commander, I must ask. Why didn't we investigate the ship this thoroughly before?" Davenport asked. Goddard thought for a minute.
" Because we had several other pressing matters on our minds, such as getting home faster," Goddard said, but it was obvious he was truly unsure as to why they never examined the ship that well as they were then. Davenport, however, accepted the answer. She walked out, muttering about how her lesson plan was severely lacking due to this 'distraction.'
" Commander, I can't seem to figure out anything in this area of the ship. The scanners are on, but internal monitors are offline," Suzee said.
" I'll check it out. In the meantime, Suzee, I think we need to make sure we've got all our systems in working order. We're finally out of the main Spung space lanes, and I'd like to get everything in working order. Head down to the main engine room and check things out," Goddard ordered.
" Yes, Commander," Suzee said. She didn't talk back. As she walked out of the team room, Goddard stared after her.
This being friendly stuff is actually pretty fun, she thought.
Suzee had never been in this engine room herself. She'd been here occasionally with Cat when she'd been stuck on Yensid, but she'd never come here in person. It did seem like the heart of the ship, even in appearance.
" Hmm, this is interesting. It feels a lot like my sister's room," Suzee whispered to herself. She began working on the systems checks.
Cat and Terrien arrived through the jump tubes in the dark room. Automatically, the Christa adjusted the lighting to comfortable levels.
" Wow. This is nothing like anything else on the ship," Cat gasped.
" I wouldn't know," Terrien chuckled. This wasn't the weapons room they'd thought it was. Instead, it was a giant room that was randomly altering its appearance.
" What is it?" Cat asked.
" Off hand, I'd say it some kind of holographic environment. Like a training room," Terrien suggested.
" Then where would the weapons systems be?" Cat asked.
" No idea. But maybe we should-" The ship suddenly rocked. Cat and Terrien glanced at each other for an instant, then ran for the jump tubes, hitting the command post code on the way down.
" Band! What's going on?" Goddard ordered, storming into the Command Post.
" I don't know Commander. The ship just started rocking. I'm not doing anything!" Harlan cried.
" He's right. I'm looking at a readout here in the engine room, and it seems to be that this is natural to the ship," Suzee called from the engine room.
" Natural?" Goddard asked.
" Yeah, like how the ship's biological clock was reset by the crash," Terrien piped.
" So, what is it you're saying, that the ship is... growing up?" Goddard asked.
" Believe it or not, Commander, but that might be the most apt name for it. I can't seem to figure out any other way for it to be explained," Suzee said.
" Great," Goddard activated a comm device. " All hands to the Command Post," he ordered. Within moments everyone but Rosie and Radu were on the Command Post.
" Where's Rosie and Radu?" Suzee asked.
" They probably fell through some kind of hole in the ship and got themselves killed," Bova muttered.
" Bova..." Cat warned.
" I'm just giving the most likely conclusion. Otherwise they would have come to the Command Post," Bova said.
" Bova..." Harlan growled.
" It's only logical," Bova said.
" Bova..." Goddard, Terrien, Davenport, Cat, Harlan, and Suzee growled.
" It's the most likely possibility," Bova said.
" Bova, shut up," Goddard, Terrien, Davenport, Cat, Harlan, and Suzee growled.
" Is he always that... pestering?" Terrien muttered.
" Usually," Suzee said.
" Thelma? Escort Mr. Walker, Bova, and Suzee down to the empty section," Goddard ordered. Thelma nodded.
" Commander Goddard, I'd like to accompany them," Elmira said, " Radu is very important to me."
" Go," Goddard nodded. The search team walked off.
" Commander, are we in any danger from this... shake-up or... growing up, or whatever it is?" Davenport asked.
" Cat? You and Suzee are supposed to be engineering geniuses," Goddard said, turning to the Saturnian.
" By Suzee's estimates, I think we're safe from any harm. There might be a small radiation spike, but it shouldn't be any problem," Cat said from the engineering console.
Thelma used her finger light to light the way through the dark room.
" I got one word for this place: Spooky," Terrien muttered.
" I heard that," Suzee said, knocking down a cobweb. They waited for a sarcastic comment from Bova. It never came.
" Bova? Bova?" Terrien cried, turning his flashlight to where Bova had last been. There was no sign of the Uranusian or Elmira anywhere.
" I think the spookiness in here just reached a ten," Terrien said. Thelma's light vanished from sight.
" Why don't I like the way this is going?" Suzee said.
" Maybe because Radu, Rosie, Bova, Elmira, and Thelma are gone," Terrien said.
" Okay. We've got to stick together. Whatever this is that's taking the others away, it's only doing it when we're separated," Terrien said.
" Right. Which way do we go?" Suzee asked. Terrien didn't answer. " Oh no," Suzee gasped.
An hour passed, then another. Soon, the ship stopped rocking.
" Cat, what's our status?" Goddard asked.
" I think the ship is done with its aging. I'm going to try to get an image of what the ship looks like now. Screen on," Cat said. The image promptly appeared. The ship had gone from the techno gray to a pumpkin color, and small fins, large enough for the whole crew to assemble comfortably, but not enough for a ship to land in, other than the Starlings, had formed.
" It almost looks as if the ship has almost completely 'healed' itself from the crash," Harlan said.
" That sounds as apt as anything we can get. Now, what about our search team? Shouldn't they have reported in by now?" Cat asked.
" Thelma!" Goddard called. She didn't appear. Harlan, Goddard, and Cat ran off in the direction that the others had gone off in.
" Please be careful, people," Davenport called after them.
" Okay, Suzee. Think. You are stuck in an unexplored section of the Christa, one of your best friends, and some very good friends are missing. What do you do," Suzee said to herself. " Probably, stop talking to yourself," she muttered. She suddenly heard whispering voices. " Radu? Rosie? Terrien? Elmira? Bova? Thelma?" she called. The whispering increased. Suzee could make out a couple of words, but not enough to go on. " Is anyone here?" she called. Suddenly, the lights increased to comfortable levels. Suzee saw a form hovering over the unconscious- or in Thelma's, who now had an appearance nearing that of what it was for about five minutes after her arrival in Cat's dimension, only a little more yellow than orange, case, offline- forms of her friends. The creature was vaguely humanoid, but with tentacles instead of hands or arms. It had a Lumanian-ish face, but it seemed twisted in a sinister grin. " Hey!" she cried. The creature turned to face her, and Suzee grabbed her chance. She made eye contact with the creature and pitched her consciousness into its mind. She was in it for several seconds, and pitched back right when Goddard, Harlan, and Cat burst in the room.
" Suzee!" Harlan cried.
" Wait! Stand back," Cat ordered. She inhaled and let loose a sonic scream, which blew the creature back into a wall, knocking it unconscious and woke Radu.
" Huh... wha..." he groaned.
" Mr. Radu," Goddard said, and he and Harlan lifted Radu up. " Suzee, what's going on?" Goddard barked.
" That... creature... it's the original crew of the Christa," Suzee said. Goddard turned to look at her.
" What?" he asked, while Harlan and Cat attempted to wake the others.
" Commander, that... thing... was the crew sent to escort the Christa to Earth, in an attempt to receive assistance for the Spung occupation of Lumania. But when some creature began absorbing them, they had to alter their plans by deactivating Thelma, who was designed to help interact with the UPP, hoping that the creature wouldn't absorb her knowledge of where Lumania is, and they set it for the Starcademy, hoping that some students would reactivate Thelma with the knowledge she carried, then they cut off this section of the ship with themselves and the creature," Suzee explained.
" That... is a Lumanian?" Goddard asked, pointing at the crumpled mass.
" It was. It has been bonded with the creature for almost two years. It would be impossible for us to separate them, even if we were at the medical facility at Taust Ti," Suzee said, as Terrien, Rosie, and Bova stirred.
" Ugh... did anyone catch the broadcast ID number of the transport that ran me down?" Terrien grumbled.
" C'mon, get up," Harlan muttered.
" So, what do we do with it... them... it... whatever it is," Goddard asked.
" We've got three choices. We can kill it-"
" Kill it?"
" Commander, those beings have been in an endless pain since they were absorbed. It would be a mercy killing," Suzee said.
" Stardogs don't do any killing- mercy or otherwise- unless there is no choice," Goddard warned.
" Okay, we can't kill it. However, we can leave it here where it can become a hazard or we find a planet and leave it there," Suzee said.
" All of the choices are leaving a bad taste in my mouth here. Killing it is against Stardog policy, we can't leave a potentially dangerous creature on board, and we don't know if any of the planets we're close to are viable for any kind of life," Goddard sighed as Harlan popped the crystal that powered Thelma back into place and Radu helped Elmira up.
" Thelma, can you think of anything that we can do with this creature?" Suzee asked.
" According to the Christa's scanning equipment, the only viable option is to... eliminate the creature," Thelma said.
" That's... inhumane," Goddard said.
" Commander, what is inhumane is allowing this creature to continue its painful existence. It obviously-" Suzee was interrupted by a roar from the creature. Goddard, Suzee, and Thelma stood, stunned. The creature wrapped a tentacle around Goddard.
" Radu, that... 'do not harm the creature' order? Consider it rescinded," Goddard got out, as strangled as it was. Radu leapt up and pried Goddard out of its grip. Cat, Bova, and Rosie jumped into action. Cat let loose a sonic scream while Bova and Rosie let loose their electrical and heat powers. The creature roared in pain, then exploded, sending out slimy goo that covered the whole crew.
" Well. That solves that problem," Suzee sighed.
Later on, the crew stood at the Command Post.
" I wish there had been another way to take that creature out. I've never killed another living being in my life," Rosie said.
" Rosie, I was able to feel its feeling in the last second of its life. It was happy. Happy that it was being released from the prison it had been in for years," Elmira said.
" So we were doing it a favor by killing it?" Cat asked.
" That's what I'd been saying. I understand what the Commander had been saying, but when I'd pitched into the creature's mind, I 'met' the leader of the Lumanians. He and his crew were in a permanent pain. It was a relief for them to finally pass on," Suzee said.
" Well, either way, I'm glad you guys got us outta there before it absorbed us," Terrien chuckled. Then he picked out a last bit of goo from his hair. " Though I swear this gunk is still in my uniform."
" At least you don't have to worry about cleaning antennae," Bova muttered. Goddard and Davenport entered.
" All right, crew. We've set up a mini-database in the Dark Room. Mr. Band, since the ship has settled down, set a course for home," Goddard ordered. Harlan smiled and keyed in the appropriate coordinates. The ship flew in the direction of Sol.