Domeria scowled. This pathetic little creature did not resemble the terrible criminal in the file. She seemed to have no desire left. Libre Lhom addressed the prisoner:
“I am Libre Lhom, captain of this ship, the ‘Lost Truth’, Homtest and administrative agent of alpha+ rank. I am in charge here. She is Sava Domeria, my second. She is an administrative agent of alpha rank. Are you following?”
The creature’s gaze animated for a moment with a glimmer of annoyance, then became dull again.
“Of course. You could speak a hundred times faster and, in another language, I would understand as well. What are your instructions… cap’n?”
The last word had been pronounced with a touch of contempt that revealed a deep arrogance, for the moment buried under a good layer of renunciation. A brief glance exchanged between the two Homs confirmed to them that they had made the same analysis: although submissive for the moment, this Xini was indeed someone dangerous.
“It’s simple: three ships are chasing us and we must lose them.”
“I see: you want me to push your device to its performance limits to cover your tracks, or find an alternative solution. Very well, take me to my command post.”
Sava sent a discreet wary look to Lhom and he responded with a raise of his eyes: no, he was not going to let this creature access the ship's controls, or the Network, or anything else... She moved closer to the Hom's ear and whispered:
“No access to the food synthesizer: I've already seen what that can do.”
The captain raised an eyebrow in surprise, then turned his attention back to the prisoner:
“Well, I've had one of the pilot center's posts prepared: it’s completely cut off from the rest of the systems and you will be under the constant surveillance of my Z.I.A.. If there is the slightest problem, I'll send you back into stasis for good!”
“It's not like I have anywhere left to go...”
With an unmotivated but quick gait, the long-eared creature followed the AI's holographic indications to head into the ship towards her control station. Except for the passage through the elevator beam, where they were all together, Sava and Libre remained a little behind, exchanging their impressions:
“This woman is dangerous,” Sava was saying, “put her back in stasis as soon as possible...”
“Well, I’ve often dealt with dangerous people. On the contrary, she’s currently harmless: she seems to have lost all purpose. As long as she doesn’t find a reason to act, we’re safe.”
“You’re probably right… I suppose…”
Something annoyed her a little about the fact that he was always right, but she couldn’t put her finger on it, so she decided not to worry about.
Xini was already working when they entered the cockpit. She was seated at one of the secondary stations, prepared for her activity. Several holographic screens opened and closed, without her appearing to consult them more than a Tik each. She frowned, apparently annoyed by something.
“So?” the captain asked.
“I visualize the problem; I have read the technical parameters of the ship's components and the possible sidereal routes for your destination. Of course, taking into account the time it will take you to manually validate each of my choices makes the execution of the maneuvers more hazardous… There, I have finished designing the preliminary plan. You can consult it while I prepare the boost programs... With a three-grain core, these maneuvers will be executed without too much delay...”
Libre bit his lip. The data he had left at the creature's disposal shouldn’t have allowed her to know the current capacity of the core. Had she simply deduced it from the performance parameters of the machines?
He looked at the plan data on his screen. The way to enhance the performance of the machines was original and most certainly functional, the chosen route was the best for stealthy movement taking into account the enemy's predictions, however there were some security measures who...
“Dropping a minefield? No way: you're crazy! It's strictly illegal, and for good reason. Besides, we don't even know if these three ships are really hostile.”
The creature shrugged.
“You are free to apply my theory as you see fit. I have simply indicated the most efficient method to achieve the requested objective.”
“No wonder you were imprisoned.”
She looked up, regaining some vitality for a brief moment, then turned away to continue analyzing the data, her resigned look returning to her face. She seemed to think that he was probably right.
When the ship appeared at the rendezvous point, it seemed that it was no longer being followed.
With apprehension, the three occupants of the cockpit observed their arrival point. A huge transport ship was orbiting a planet, small shuttles coming and going, probably carrying cargo in one direction, the other or both. But what brought fear, even for the disillusioned Xini, was the very nature of the ship: seeming to be covered in a shell rather than steel, it inflated and deflated slightly, as if to the rhythm of an immense breath. Tentacles emerged from it, grabbing cargo to carry them into its entrails, or pulling out others to distribute them. A swarm of strange creatures seemed to fly around the transport, flapping their wings despite the absence of air in space, monitoring the surroundings… It was a living ship of the Hogloos!
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Numerous alert icons and detailed screens lit up automatically in the command room. Numerous cannons were pointed on them, loaded with various projectiles, ready to retaliate against their own weapons which were acting the same.
However, more positive information quickly appeared, indicating that their access authorization had been recognized. A gaping mouth opened in the side of the transport and their ship entered it.
The scenery was not pleasant, the Hogloos having gone so far as to garnish this hangar door with teeth, truly giving the impression of being swallowed by their monstrous space leviathan. The walls inside also seemed to be made of flesh, shell, or indefinable things.
“We will take the ramp,” explained the captain, “the Hogloos' jammers prevent us from disembarking by teleportation.”
“Because we are going to disembark?” Sava asked in perplexity. “We are going to disembark in a ship full of Hogloos! This is not the same as in an administrative space station…”
“Don’t worry: my contact guarantees our safety…”
“Oh yeah? So, what are we doing in this room?”
Libre checked the settings of the enormous hand cannon he was carrying and hooked it to the back of the combat armor whose pieces had settled into place around his body, floating then merging. He gave Domeria a reassuring smile and gave a positive thumbs-up:
“Don't worry: it's just a few precautions in case my contact gets killed in a duel... Here, put on this armor and take this disintegrator... Oh, those neutron grenades too... And then, those micro-nuclear missiles...”
Each new weapon added to the armor, which had suddenly surrounded her body, increased the young woman's worries instead of reassuring her. In addition, without advanced AI, like the one on her bracelet, the precision and speed at which these weapons would react in the event of a fight was much lower... Of course, the prisoner received neither weapon nor armor, but the Homs preferred to still take her with them rather than leave her alone with the ship... Even under the surveillance of the AI, you never knew what could happen. The ramp lowered and the trio got off, greeted by a Hogloo smiling with all his carnivorous teeth.
“Ah, Lhom, welcome aboard the ‘The Administration Will Be Destroyed III’.”
“Oh... Cool name: you managed to get it registered for the administrative space, without putting all the anti-hate surveillance software on alert?”
“Oh, it really messes up your damn bureaucrats, but they can't do anything against us. As a foreign nation, we can use some of your laws on respect for customs, without having to suffer the others that restrict your freedom of expression...”
“It's still a blatant provocation.”
“Exactly: do you like it?”
“Absolutely, but the play on words loses all its charm, when you take it out of the Tadlomas language.”
The Hogloo nodded with satisfaction and returned his smirk to the Hom. Their species were definitely the best possible enemies. If they managed to eliminate the other one day, the universe would probably seem less fun to the survivor... or just less familiar. He then walked away, motioning for them to follow him.
As they advanced into the entrails of the ship, which in this case could be taken literally, strange landscapes followed one another. Living machines of unknown use, rows of impressive Hogloo soldiers inserted into the walls by what must have been the equivalent of a stasis cell at home… Despite millennia of spying, illegal dissections and attempts at reverse engineering, Hogloo technology remained a near-total mystery.
They passed many people, busy with their own concerns. The majority of them were Hogloos, recognizable by their lizaroid bodies. Although many of their warriors changed their bodies to have more monstrous ones, adapted for war, all retained a reptilian appearance, sometimes slightly disturbed by the presence of additional wings or tentacles. Many were heavily armed. There were also other people who clearly belonged to other species.
Sava moved closer to Libre and whispered:
“Did you see? Those aren't Hogloos... Do you think they're slaves?”
“I don't think so: they wouldn't use them on a ship crossing the Administration. I think they must be members of ‘allied species’, the Harhogloos as they say in their language. They are people who have joined the Hogloos and followed their social model by dividing their population into two completely separate castes: warriors and civilians. When the Administration took control of the Harhogloos territories, many of their warriors directly joined the Hogloos armies, sometimes bringing civilian refugees with them.”
“So... they would be some kind of opposition in exile? Terrorists?”
“Yes… And the Hogloos’ sense of hearing is infinitely more developed than that of other species…”
A shiver ran down Sava’s spine when she perceived the multiple amused smiles that appeared on the faces of the Hogloos, and even some Harhogloos, when this answer was whispered to her by Libre.
“Why do they let us see all this? If we are enemies, shouldn’t they hide the inside of their ships from us as much as possible?”
Despite the previous information, she preferred to continue whispering, giving herself the reassuring illusion of being discreet.
“It is because we are enemies that they want to show us all this. The fact of displaying their strength and showing their technology is intended to remind us that they are a threat and that we need better to fear and respect them. Of course, they don’t show us their most secret machines, nor the exact number of their soldiers, nor the sensitive parts of the ship…”
He pointed to a wall filled with rows of motionless warriors, surrounded by strange transparent membranes.
“For example, here, these warriors are in stasis. Not a timeless stasis, like the one we use, but a biological process that slows down the aging of their body while accelerating its thinking capacity. Far from being vulnerable, they can be awakened instantly and face any situation. Their dreams are probably ultra-realistic simulations of many battles.”
“You… you seem to know a lot about the Hogloos… More than I’ve read anyway…”
“Well, of course. At the Homtest Academy, there were courses called ‘the hereditary enemy’, which taught us all the knowledge that our ancestors had painstakingly gleaned about the Hogloos.”
“Courses called...? That’s strange. And then, there are also other species besides ours that can become Homtest, species that are not their hereditary enemies.”
“So what? If, in a stupid frenzy of accuracy, we adapt each name so that everyone can find themselves represented in it, we’ll never get out of it. And then, even if they are not ‘hereditary’ in the case of other species, the Hogloos are also their enemies.”
“I suppose… And it’s not a problem to… say all that here?”
“No: they already know that. Not even counting all their spies, it’s not like the Homtests hide the details of their curriculum… At least, not from their enemies… It’s true that we prefer to hide some details to the Administration: we’re rather in favor of unfettered freedom of expression, regardless of our faction.”
As she continued to discover the strange arrangements of the Hogloo ship, Sava glanced discreetly at Libre. Even though she knew that the confidence he exuded was only a mask intended to hide his natural fear of these monsters, she found him rather… impressive. She had never understood her people’s fascination with the Homtests, but now that she was walking alongside one of them, she understood the strange seduction they exerted by their manner. He seemed to know everything, to control everything, and even if it wasn’t true, he managed to convince you otherwise with his confidence…
They arrived in front of a large armored door decorated with Tadlomas glyphs, the meaning of which she didn’t know. However, she guessed that they were getting close to their goal: they were going to meet the leader of this ship. Although it had nothing to do with their story, it probably wanted to meet the travelers who were going to illegally cross the administrative borders aboard its ship.