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Jessie

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As Jessie looked down at the healing being, he tried to suppress a wince. This was beyond anything that he had ever expected, a sentient being. He had been sure that the creatures here were too strong for that, but here it was. A sentient being that healed and didn’t have its brain in its head, amazing. How had that evolution been possible? It went against all recorded evolutionary laws that the Federation knew. Whatever this was, it was something new. But then there was the Power of Aether. He knew it was possible off-planet, but was it widespread on this orb? It would change everything, and in ways that were amazing and terrible.

“I don’t get it, I mean why’d they attack us? It doesn’t make sense!” Vivis said with a bitter tone. “I mean, why did they attack us if they wanted the dead bodies? The wall was in the way!”

Jessie nodded and tried to figure out that exact thing. But the more he thought about it, the more that he slowly started to wonder about something. There was something that was nagging at him, something that he knew.

“Still, those things acted fast, you know?” Bryke said suddenly.

Jessie blinked and looked at him, feeling that what Bryke meant was important. “What do you mean?”

“I mean how they moved so fast to attack us after they killed the bear things. I mean, does that make sense how fast they moved?” Bryke asked.

Jessie was about to open his mouth when he closed it. He spent a few moments thinking and then he felt his blood leave his face. That was the thing that he was missing. That one comment made everything fall into place, and he hated that it did. Suddenly, everything was there for him. He was shocked that he missed that, but there it was.

“I’ve got it!” Zevortro’s voice came from behind.

It was all Jessie could do to keep from grinning. Finally, something good was happening! But when he turned he saw Duncan walking over, and he winced.

“Hey chief,” Terra called out and Duncan nodded at her.

Duncan stayed silent as he walked over and Zevortro dropped the bags on the ground. For half a minute, they all stayed silent. Then Duncan sighed and looked spooked before he rasped out a question. “They’re healing?”

“Yes sir,” Bryke said with a soft voice.

Duncan around, taking in how this side of the shield had expanded past its original location. Jessie saw Duncan’s eyes pass over the dead bear things, and the pieces torn from some of the dead bodies. “Their doing then?”

“Yes sir. Why they attacked us. They wanted to harvest the kills,” Bryke explained.

“Oh, that’s bad,” Duncan muttered.

Jessie looked at Duncan and sighed. So Duncan had figured out what he had missed instantly? He had thought that Duncan was worthy of respect, but this was something else.

“So you figured that out Chief?” Jessie asked with a dead voice.

“Yeah. It was easy. I mean there’s a reason for everything. So why did they attack us if they just wanted the kills?” Duncan asked with an equally dead voice.

“That won’t hold them for long. Jessie! Terra! Move one of those null fields you set up to as far to the right near our other prisoner! Keep him as he is for now, but move it!” Duncan ordered as he looked down at the being. He looked up, his gaze finding everyone there. “And after, every one of you that thinks they need to talk to me will do so together!”

“Got it!” Vivian called out as she ran past them.

“Vivian!” Jessie called out in shock.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

“We need another cable! Trust me!” Vivian called over her shoulder.

“Ignore her, just get to work!” Duncan barked as he looked down at the captives. With a hard look, he gazed at the others. “We don’t know how long they’ll stay down! We need some place to hold them!”

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Terra

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Terra looked at Jessie as he prepared one of the modified shield generators for moving. It had taken them ten minutes of work, silent work. Jessie had a habit of talking when he did this kind of work, but he was quiet. That bothered her more than she wanted it to, and it worried her. She had only seen him like this a few times, and the more she looked at him the worse she felt. There was something here, something that she just couldn’t see. Suddenly she felt gravity again and she knew he was ready. She gazed at him and she saw Jessie falling as he unhooked the generator. As he and it fell to the ground, he looked at the other leg and swiftly removed it.

“That should do it! Once we get this setup, we can handle the other problems,” Jessie said with a sigh.

“What is it?” Terra asked, Jessie, stopping to look at her.

“What?” Jessie asked as she looked at him.

“I’ve known you for a long time Jessie. We lived in the same ship for a year. I know you. So what’s wrong?” Terra asked a hard edge to her voice.

Jessie looked at her for a few moments before he sighed. “Yeah, I’ve realized something. Something that we will talk about later. We need to focus on this.”

Terra looked at him and then took a deep breath. Before she could say anything, a scream was heard from behind them.

They both turned and saw Zevortro, Duncan, Dalila, and Bryke holding down the two captives.

“This won’t work! We need to bring it to them!” Jessie said with a hard edge to his voice.

“So move! I’ll hook up the cable to the console!” Vivian called out from behind.

Terra turned and saw her pulling herself down to them. Over her back was a large bag, another of the cables.

“But the shield should block the hacker, right?” Terra asked, not understanding why Vivian had gone for that cable in the first place. Everything that was under the shield was protected from hacking. So why did they need the cable?!

Jessie meanwhile gasped, and she turned to look at his shocked face.

“You can’t mean! That’s the source of the hacking?!” Jessie demanded.

Terra just felt lost as Vivian nodded.

“What in the stars are you two talking about!?” Terra demanded.

Before they could speak, there was another roar from the creatures. And then they could hear the cries of other deckhands as they came over to help.

“Later, move!” Vivian said before she ran past Terra.

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Duncan

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As he helped keep their captives down, Duncan felt his headache start up again. This was beyond anything that he had expected, and he always saw the worst. “Why can’t this thing just be as strong as humans!? Why does it have to have biologic armor too!?”

As the captive bucked Duncan again, he felt another surge of anger. He had a good idea why this being was fighting so hard, and that was making him sick. There was a chance Duncan was wrong, but he probably wasn’t. To be fair, the fact that they couldn’t speak to each other was the worst part of this whole thing.

“I don’t know, this is kinda nice!” Bryke said, false cheer in his voice. As Duncan looked at him, Bryke grinned shakily as he was bucked as well. “Reminds me of an attraction at the park! I rode it on my off day once!”

Duncan only laughed a bit before he looked up and grinned. “Just hold on, they're almost here!”

“Wait, what!? What are they doing here!? I thought they were going to set that up away from here!?” Dalila demanded as she tried to keep her and Zevortro’s captive down.

“Guess they saw the party and came to join in!” Zevortro said before the one below him got its arm free.

Before the being could do anything, another of the deckhands grabbed the hand and pushed it down. “Hope they hurry!”

Duncan nodded, and he agreed. These two were becoming something that was like a few drunks going wild back on the ship. Duncan had to admit, they were strong but he was experienced. All they needed to do was keep them down for a few more moments.

He kept his eyes on them and almost screamed as he saw Jessie and Terra connect a cable to the generator. As he felt the null gravity field come online, he felt his captive start to thrash harder.

With a grin, he called out to the others. “Let them up! No, throw them up!”

As one every deckhand all grabbed ahold of the two beings and threw them upward. As the beings both realized what was happening to them, they stared down in horror. They started to chant a single word and held themselves, and Duncan’s heart went out to them.

“What is the problem with them!? Why are they acting that way!? Some kind of warrior code or something?” Dalila asked.

Duncan only sighed and looked at the captives, feeling a bit low at this. “No, they think we’re going to eat them.”

At his words, it was like a bomb had gone off. Everyone was looking at him in horror, and he felt some of that horror.

“Why?! Why would they even think that!?” Zevortro demanded.

“Because the other civilized beings on this island would do that to them. That’s why they attacked us so fast,” Jessie said with a hard edge to his voice as he came over with Terra and Vivian.

Duncan nodded as he looked around and sighed. “So let’s see if we can make them understand that we don’t want to eat them. Bryke, get Qiana and go skin some of those cow things. I want something that those things can eat thrown at them. For now, we treat them like captives under the Prisoner’s rights law. I don’t want any arguments!”

Bryke almost said something before he nodded. “Got it, boss. I’ll find Qiana and get a bioanalyzer. We’ll see if we can eat any of them as well.”

Duncan nodded and almost walked off before Dalila grabbed his arm. He was about to say something about his orders when he saw the look in her eyes. “Madame? Is there something that I can help you with? No, how can you help me?”

Dalila looked at him and then she took a deep breath. “Sir, I have a few drones that can take a blood sample from the captives. They're small, and I can control them to make sure that they won’t see them. Fast, and we’ll know what t they can eat.”

Duncan blinked, looking at her with a hard glare. He could think of a few reasons that someone would have that kind of tech here. “Can you? Well, we’ll talk about that later. And you’ll tell me what you’re after on my ship!”

“Yes sir, I will,” Dalila promised. Vivian appeared and put a hand on her shoulder. Dalila looked at Vivian and then nodded. “We both will sir.”

Duncan breathed a little deeply before he found Jessie. For a moment he stared at Jessie, a question in his eyes.

Jessie only shrugged and looked at Duncan. “I only found out a few hours ago sir, after we talked. There are tells that contact will show amongst us.”

“Wait, there are tells amongst Weapon Researchers?” Zevortro asked in shock.

“A Weapon Researcher? You think he’s a Weapon Researcher?” Duncan asked amusement in his voice. He wondered if Jessie had done that on purpose, but then that was too much.

“I never said I worked as a Researcher. I never said just where I got my experience with weapon tech. You just went with that answer,” Jessie said with a small edge of humor in his voice.

Duncan only looked at Zevortro and Jessie and then he started to chuckle. That chuckle became a whole-body laugh and soon he was on the ground., laughing.