"Do you know this feeling just before your spinal disk jumps out?" asked the engineer with the broad shoulders as he lay on one of the counters in the little dirty lab.
"I am 3821 years old René." smirked Isaac amusedly and looked at the holograms that the medical glove has projected over René´s back. "Do you have any idea how many herniated disks I suffered through?"
"Taking into account what a mean old man you are… at least two." Meternagel mumbled from the counter in another corner of the room.
"Three, actually." The scientist giggled happily and walked, almost danced, over to Meternagel.
"Why don´t you have any pains? Why the hell are you so happy?!" René´s question was a mix of painful moan and aggressive accusing yell which was answered by Isaac with just a happy smile.
"He´s consuming our pains! He must be possessed by some kind of demon." Moaned Meternagel.
"Quick, we have to kill him then he has to set himself on fire while drowning in a pond."
"That´s not even possible." René turned onto his back and moaned louder.
"That´s not our problem." Meternagel hissed as Isaac started tending his back.
"Oh shut up." Meant the scientist. "The reasons why I am so happy is not only your pains, it is also because of the high amount of painkillers in my bloodstream."
"Then why don´t we get some?!" Meternagel got so excited that he was about to stand up.
"Because I have to ration them now." Isaac pushed the pilot back onto the counter again and heard a pained hiss that amused him so much that he laughed lightly.
"Isaac, this comes from the bottom of my heart. Go to hell…" meant Meternagel as the pains had lessened enough to let him speak again.
"And go fuck yourself on the way down." Added René angrily.
"Duly noted." Chortled Isaac and looked at the holograms over the pilots back now. "Okay, quick info, I reprogrammed a few Fentobots in your body to repair your little spine issues." He stepped away from the counter and walked to the little table on which he sat earlier today.
The ridiculously small and short birch table was now not the only table standing there. Isaac was able to find a few more desks which he put together to a bigger short table. Also, he found a few more chairs of which he grabbed one and flopped down on it.
"You two should also sit, it helps the bots. Just move slowly… Actually, your pains will dictate the speed of your movements anyway."
While the two crew members got up slowly from the counters the lab doors opened and the tall tanned cat walked inside while having the flea on her head. "What is going on here?" The chief asked looking down at the sitting Isaac.
"Oh, just a few necessary medical procedures to keep the crew in a good condition." He snarled with his 'I am an alien' accent.
"I see. And where is Keswick?"
Isaac began to smile what seemed to disturb the chief immensely. "I send him… learning."
"What do you mean by that?" Kitty asked in a hostile way and was about to move out her claws.
Isaac, seeing that, just grinned and pointed at a little door that led to the supply cabinet. As their gazes were pinned to the door he called. "Keswick! Enough for today."
"Aww… a..a..already?" A voice from the inside moaned and a few seconds later Keswick´s head peeked out of the room. The sighs of relief from Kitty and the chief made Isaac almost burst into laughter.
"Yes, you need a break." He giggled and waved him to the table. Keswick, a bit reluctant, walked to the table and sat down to them.
Kitty and the chief looked a lot more relaxed now and the flea sighed. "Well that was…"
"Unexpected?" Isaac laughed. "What have you expected? That I grill him?"
"To be honest…"
"Oh of course." Isaac rolled his eyes amusedly. "We are the savages…"
"What´s that supposed to mean?!" Kitty asked crossing her arms.
"Nothing." The scientist grinned and offered her an empty chair. "Sit down please."
"Actually we wanted to discuss something with Keswick in…" Kitty was cut short by the chief who said with a tired voice.
"It´s okay, Kitty, I think they are authorized to be part of this conversation." The little flea jumped of her head onto the table and looked into the people that had gathered around the little table. "Keswick, have you made any progress cracking the encryption of the lizards communication."
Kitty and the chief both looked at him with a mixture of hope and the disillusion that came from already knowing that there were no news.
"I…I…I…I…" Keswick´s stammering got worse the longer he looked at their faces.
"Did he say encryption?" René asked looking at Isaac who just answered by nodding. "Then I´m your man."
"What did he say?" asked Keswick hoping that this could make the two stop stare at him.
"Oh no, I will not play the interpreter." Isaac said and pulled a little orb shaped device out of his pocket. He put it on the table and then looked at René.
"Test test…" As René heard his voice again just in another language he nodded and looked back at Keswick. "Did somebody say encryption."
"Actually m..m..modulation." Keswick meant disappointedly.
"Modulation? I thought you talked about encryption." The chief meant confusedly.
"I didn´t want to use to many technical terms…"
"That´s kind of arrogant…" René meant almost a little amused.
"No arrogant would be Isaac remarking that only primitive civilizations would tag modulation as a technical term." Chuckled Meternagel.
"Thank you…" Kitty meant and stared angrily at Meternagel before her wrathful glare hit Keswick.
"What?!" The little scientist meant catching a bit of her anger. "If I start with technical terms most of you stop listening."
"Could we come back to the topic?" Isaac asked obviously annoyed by the conversation.
"Yes, this signal!" René said. "Tell me more."
"S..S..Sure. It took me a few months but I managed it to isolate a s..s..signal which is probably the communication signal of the l..l..lizards. The thing is, I have no clue how to demodulate it."
"Well, mind if I take a look at that?" He asked. "I know a few things about demodulation."
"Y..Y..Yes!" Keswick meant overjoyed and took René´s hand. Eagerly, and under muffled pain screams of the engineer, the little scientist dragged him to a computer which stood on one of the counters. The computer wasn´t really up to date regarding any technological standard. The floppy drive proved that pretty well. But it was still working reliably and after a while in which they waited that it would boot, Keswick could present René what he had.
"Okay, as you see, that´s how far as I c..c..came." Meant Keswick and pointed at a graph with three peaks two greater in the middle of the graph and one on the left. "They transmit their signal in this band here. Around 40 Gigahertz but I just can´t figure out the modulation…"
"What about this long-wave signal down here there?" René asked and pointed at the peak at the left side close to the graph´s origin.
"This is just noise" Keswick meant. "What I found out is that the lizard´s ship´s engine emit it." The scientist typed a few things into the keyboard and a graph showing the transient signal appeared. "Okay, this is a snapshot from the signal."
"I see…" René meant and smacked his hand gently against his forehead. "Shit… I think I saw something similar once. Could you borrow me your holo tablet?"
"S..s..sure." Keswick meant and ran to the supply cabinet´s door.
"So…" Meternagel meant as he turned his head from the running Keswick towards Kitty. "How is everything?"
"Are you serious?" Kitty said and as far as Meternagel could see it she had the same wrathful glare.
"Yes…" he replied and nodded slowly. "Yes, I´m quite sure. I am serious."
Kitty just stared him angrily.
"Is that an answer, is that kind a non verbal answer of your people?" The pilot looked in her face. "Do… do I need to take care how your tail curls or…"
"She is angry you moron…" Sighed Isaac annoyed.
"You can never know… maybe it´s some kind weird invitation." Shrugged Meternagel.
"For what do you think this face could be an invitation?" Kitty hissed and unsheathed her claws.
"No idea… maybe ma…"
"If you say mating now I´ll rip the flesh of your face." She hissed loudly and Meternagel wiped little drops of saliva out of his face.
"Uhm… Isaac… little help."
"No chance…" The scientist meant and bend forward in his seat. "I kind of want to see how sharp these claws are."
"Come on… say it…" She meant flexing every muscle she needed in her body to jump over the table.
"Uhm… maple sirup pancakes...?" Meternagel said gave Kitty the disarming smile he had.
"Boo…" Meant Isaac and leaned back. "Not a good comeback but at least something."
Kitty still glared at him but at least she relaxed her muscles.
"Hell yes!" Exclaimed René suddenly. "I knew I saw this! I think I can build a device that can demodulate it!"
"Really?!" Keswick stared at the engineer in awe and excitement.
"Yes! It´s an old modulation from the old days. I think this modulation technique came up in the year 2300… I don´t know, actually who cares?" René laughed eccentrically and ran out of the lab.
"W…W…Where is he going?" Asked Keswick confused. "Shouldn´t we build s..s..something now?"
"I guess he´s getting something… He´s one of these guys who´s always going somewhere getting something." Meternagel tilted his head to the side until his neck uttered an unhealthy cracking sound. "Ouch… ouch…"
"Wow… Almost like my leg" said the chief and made the same sound with his knee joint. "Normal thing but necks shouldn´t make this sound. Seriously, you should see a physician."
"Isaac…" Meternagel meant with almost begging sound in his voice.
"Nope." Isaac said with a grin full of glee. "I cannot do anything more than give you painkillers. Just keep it this way."
"Aww… not cool." Meternagel grumbled and crossed his arms.
"That´s life." Said the scientist stoically as René came back into the lab with a little device that didn´t look as smooth and edgeless as all other devices the humans had brought to them. It actually looked like he had glued a circuit board and a wire hanger to one of the usual round human devices.
"Okay, this should work." He meant and typed a few things on a key pad that was attached to the circuit board. René began to grin widely as the device started beeping wildly and uncontrollably. "Hell yes." He meant satisfied with his work.
"What?! What´s that?!" Kitty asked confused and apparently still angry.
"This is the s..s..signal." Keswick laid a hand soothingly on her lower arm. "That´s how it sounds. Just imagine that a beep is a one and the absence of a beep is a zero. It´s binary."
"Yep, next step is the encryption." René meant. "I´ll try a few standard things… but this could take a while."
"Take your time." Isaac meant yawning. "I think the best thing would be you go into the shuttle and do it there. I think the board computer could prove as quite helpful. Also it will be much more quiet here when you are gone"
"I agree…" René said and picked up the self-build device. He jogged out of the lab and Keswick would have followed if Isaac hadn´t called him back.
"Were do you think you are going?" Isaac asked.
"I want to see how…"
Isaac made a quick gesture that reminded of some of the gestures Powers sometimes used. "No, you need your sleep. You go to sleep. At least 6 hours."
"But…"
Again Isaac answered with a gesture. This time he simply pointed at the supply closet.
"My b..b..bed isn´t even there." Keswick said but Isaac kept pointing at the cabin´s door mercilessly.
"F..F..Fine." Grumbled the scientist and walked into the closet.
"Oh someone is playing big boss." Meternagel chortled under the sound of a door that was slammed shut. "You know that you´re again the little obedient scientist when Powers is back."
"Oh shut it." Grumbled Isaac.
"Just wanted to get this straight." Meternagel grinned. "You little desk tyrant."
"Why don´t you get your neck straight."
"Touché." Meant Meternagel and he would have probably nodded approvingly but his neck problems didn´t let him.
The lab door opened once more and a more than worried Peg entered the room.
"Peg!" Cheered Meternagel happily and opened his arms greeting her.
"Hello John." She meant nervously.
"Peg? John? Since when are you two so close?" The chief crossed his arms and eyed both of them.
"Well, she likes to tell these embarrassing baby Dudley stories…" Explained Meternagel in an overjoyed tone of voice. "That´s pure gold and she´s a piece of gold."
"And he likes to listen to them" Peg meant finishing his sentence. "John… why is your head so…"
"Neck problems…" He said quickly. "I have to wait…"
"For what?"
"Either for it to go away alone or for our ship doctor to come here."
"Oh…" Meant Peg. "But hey, you´ll survive it, sweety."
"Now that lit up my day." Meternagel giggled friendly.
"Aww…"
"Okay, you two, stop this." Kitty meant a little grossed out.
"No, let them continue, maybe Dudley has to call Meternagel dad once." Isaac meant rubbing his hands. "I want to see this."
"Now that won´t happen." Giggled Peg and dismissed Isaac idea with a wave of her hand. "I´m a little too old for such things."
"Oh my dear, you are in your best years." Meternagel smiled mischievously. "I wish I was 65 again… But without the school."
"That´s quite an age for being in school…" The chief meant in a low voice.
Meternagel and threw his hands up obviously hurt by that. "That´s a normal school time! Okay I needed two years more than the usual 80 but nobody can be a genius like this drugged brainiac there!"
Isaac, who was eyeing the ceiling, looked at Meternagel, then shrugged and looked back at the ceiling. "These painkillers getting better and better…"
"Oh, shut your drughole." Snapped Meternagel.
"Wait, 80 years of school?!" Kitty asked in disbelieve.
"Sure, there´s a lot of stuff we need to practice… Well, it´s probably not how you would imagine school." Meternagel´s eyes twitched from one of their face to the other. "Mostly because you are barely awake for about 50 years of the time. And barely dressed."
"What?"
"Meh, you wouldn´t get it and I don´t want to explain it." He grinned enjoying the created confusion.
"Because you are talking rubbish, that is why they would not understand." Meant the Tic who came through the lab´s entrance. "Mrs. Puppy, why did you walk away?"
"I was nervous, I go on walks when I´m nervous." Peg said nervously and guiltily.
Isaac started snickering as he heard her statement.
"Oh shut up you idiot." The Tic meant and slapped Isaac´s forehead. The scientist didn´t even react, mostly because of the painkillers that must have put him into a sweet paralyze.
"Anyway, Mrs. Puppy, we need to stay at the radio. We…"
"Don´t say it again!" Peg cut her short beggingly.
"Mrs. Puppy …" The Tic sighed. "No offense but can someone else please help me out with keeping radio contact with our expedition? I have no clue how this stone age electronics work and Mrs. Puppy is always getting nervous when Dudley isn´t replying."
"I think Kitty is the best one to do so." The chief said and looked expectantly at Kitty.
"Chief, I actually think that…" Kitty tried to make up an excuse for not going there but the chief´s relentless stare wore her down quickly so that the next thing she found herself was nodding and trotting behind the tick to the little radio room the base had. The last things she heard as she left the lab was Meternagel who ask for a little snack.
"I know you don´t want to do that." The tick said walking in front of her. "Especially because the situation between you and Dudley is kind of tensed."
"How do you know about the situation between me and Dudley?!" Kitty asked and stopped in her tracks.
"Oh, sugar, don´t be mad, it´s my job to know these things." She said without stopping to walk. "Also this was kind of obvious. I mean I don´t know what happened on board of the shuttle as he briefed you." She giggled a little. "Brief describes it pretty well I have to say."
Kitty ran back up to the Tick. "We didn´t…"
"Oh I know, sweetheart." She opened a narrow door at the end of the hallway and squeezed through it. "But, if I can give you a piece of advice, sort this out when the permanent threat of extinction for your race isn´t so omnipresent anymore, would you?"
"Hey, listen up, human creature." Kitty meant and also squeezed through the door. "I sort things out when I think it´s right to do so, got it?"
The tick took a little device out of her pocket. She touched it and then said "Typical cat reaction." Before she touched the device again and put it away.
"What did you just say?!" Asked Kitty confused and irritated.
"Nothing nice, obviously." She grinned and turned to the rusty metal desk on which a radio station and a little standing microphone with a green button on its base.
The Tick grabbed the one of the two chairs that looked more comfortable and placed herself on it.
"Shuttle one, coming." She said after pressing down the button.
"It´s a truck…" Powers replied with a low and tired voice. "At least that´s what Dudley told me… can you imagine our people used these primitive things too?"
"Barely." The tick said. "How is your status?"
"Directly to the point?" Powers meant wonderingly. "Usually you never deny a little smalltalk. Everything alright?"
"Yes." Her monosyllabical answer made Powers chuckle.
"Someone sits next to you again." He laughed. "Good that you found someone again. Well, whoever there´s next to her now, thanks for taking Mrs. Puppy´s place. She was a little too… tensed to do this job."
"Tensed understates the case." Huffed Kitty. "What have you done to her?"
"Ah! Miss Katswell." Powers sounded a little more vivid than before now. "We did nothing to be honest… After she didn´t hear anything from Dudley she went crazy. She almost woke up the others."
"So the crew is sleeping?"
"Yes." Powers sighed relaxed. "That was a though piece of work. To be honest I feel more like a babysitter here." The captain stopped for a second. "This isn´t an official channel is it?"
"First Sly, were not in our universe anymore. I don´t know the alliance´s rules for this case when it comes to communication channels and…" The tick was about to formulate her second point as Powers interrupted her.
"Got it got it…" He meant. "It´s just the force of habit to ask that."
"What else." Meant the tick. "Sometimes this is the only force that propels you."
"What can I say, I love my routines."
"What´s your status?" Kitty meant and remembered both of them that she was still there. Especially for the tick this memory was unpleasant in this very moment and she frowned as Powers cleared his throat to answer.
"Our estimated time of arrival is 8am in the morning."
Kitty looked at her watch. It was 5am, there was still a long road ahead of them.
"Until now our journey was eventless. And we hope it stays like that. We are an easy target…" Powers said. "Also, we still need to adjust the cloaking deflector. I don´t think we have done that yet."
"You think?" Kitty asked sternly.
"I´m awake for about 40 hours now, don´t expect me to remember everything I did the last hours…" He answered while yawning angrily.
"Sly, make a break… let someone else drive." The tick meant soothingly.
"Do you have any idea how nervous they all were? Well… expect Dudley…"
"Then wake him up." The tick´s idea made Kitty almost jump up. Talking with Dudley was the last thing she wanted now.
After a short period of silence Powers reported back with an insecure sound. "Uhm… I just shook him but he wouldn´t wake up."
"Then shake him more." Suggested the tick.
"You know exactly how a little shaking looks when I do it… so… Miss Katswell…"
"Yes…?" Kitty asked slowly not knowing what he was up to.
"You lived with him for a while… you must have some kind of remedy to wake him up…"
"You know him longer than I do!" She protested. That question made her more than just feel awkward.
"Yeah but I never had to wake him up in the morning… so… any ideas?"
Kitty sighed and blushed. "…Nothing what you would do."
The tick burst into laughter seeing her face.
"Oh shush!" Powers meant hearing the tick´s laughter. "Please excuse her. She consumes schadenfreude like… actually I know nothing or no one that does that like she does."
Kitty didn´t reply, she just blushed more and averted her gaze from the tick´s direction.
"Well then, time for the last straw." Powers meant and in the next moment Dudley´s voice became audible.
"Why did you slap me!" he growled angrily.
"Shh, the others could wake up." Whispered Powers with a grin on his face that was so intense that the tick and Kitty could hear it. Dudley just grumbled some insults in reply and then asked irritatedly.
"Why did you wake me?!"
"I need a nap, can you take the wheel?"
It took Dudley a little time but finally he grumbled. "Sure… Just stop over there."
"Fantastic, by the way, with us is our charming radio team." Powers meant giggling.
"Oh you." Laughed the tick and looked at Kitty waiting that she would say something too. Kitty opened her mouth and wanted to say something. Hello, Hi or at least make a sound but she couldn´t. Her body was against it. So she just kept silent and shook her head.
The tick looked at her now without the schadenfreude but with serious concern. She pushed the button on the microphone that muted her and asked. "You don´t want to speak with him?"
"No… No I´m… I need distance." She stammered unsure what she should do now.
"Well… I won´t tell him that you here if you don´t want to talk to him… but I need you here." The tick meant and then unmuted the microphone again. She heard the engine howling while she did so. Dudley seemed to drive now.
"So, had a good rest?"
"Except that my cheek hurts… I´m pretty okay." Yawned the dog. "So, what´s on the agenda?"
"Well, you should arrive in about 3 hours and Powers said that the cloaking deflector needs to be adjusted."
"The what? Oh, you mean the cloaking thingy!" Dudley said understandingly. "Yes, we have to tweak it a little."
"Cloaking thingy?" Asked the tick with a tone of voice full of disappointment.
"Hey, I know how to use it and how to wire it. Works for me." Dudley replied. "So, you have the task to entertain me for the next hours?"
"Well, why not the other way around." She smiled. "You could tell me a story."
"I? I don´t think I have that much stories."
"Of course…" She laughed. "You are over 600 years old and I think the oldest of your species. And you tell me you don´t have stories to tell."
"Your point…" Sighed Dudley. "What do you want to hear?"
"Something from your past…" meant the tick with a slight grin. Kitty should have known it. Just because the tick didn´t tell Dudley that she was there it didn´t mean that they were friends or that she wouldn´t make her suffer.
"At the beginning" Dudley disguised his voice that he sounded like an old man that told his grandchildren a bedtime story. "My people were wild and free and roamed the country of this once blue planet."
"This isn´t your past." Chuckled the tick
"It´s part of my genetic past." He said and sighed. "Okay, what do you want to hear exactly?"
"Oh well…you know…" She meant giggling coyly.
"The thing with Liz?" Dudley moaned annoyed.
"Who is Liz?!" Kitty asked loudly and immediately covered her mouth after that. If she could she would slap herself for that. And the long silence that followed her exclamation made the whole thing a lot worse.
"Kitty?" Asked the dog breaking the silence.
"Wow, great." The Tick said with a loud and angry tone of voice. "I asked for help and no one comes and in the second it got interesting, right in that second you come in!"
Kitty looked at the woman for a second before she understood. "I´m actually just here to ask if you need something… and that your help is almost on the way." The cat looked into the eyes of the woman who nodded her head approvingly now. It was up to Dudley now and Kitty hoped he would buy that lie.
"I really don´t have any luck, do I?" Dudley whispered and Kitty sighed in relief.
"Dudley, I go and see if I can find my help and drag him or her on his or her ear to me." The Tick meant and placed her finger above the mute button. "I´ll be back in 5 minutes." She pushed her finger down and then started laughing loudly. "Oh sugar, you´re such a moron!"
Kitty couldn´t say anything against that. She couldn´t even be angry because of that. She was just happy that she got off so easy.
"I better go now…" Kitty said a little ashamed.
"Indeed, you should…" The Tick replied. "And send someone else in… I said I would be gone but I don´t want to let them alone."
Kitty simply nodded and left the room while carrying the name Liz in her head. Who was she?
And did her and Dudley… She couldn´t imagine that he and one of these weird human things were together or even… Kitty shook her head. She didn´t want to think about it. She wanted distance from all that to make her decision.
-Hey there, hope you enjoyed that chapter, the next one should be up soon so stay tuned... and don´t forget to review :)-
