Stellar Objects

Chapter 13: Mystery Box

Shelly knew the attacking ship could easily fulfill its threat.

She muted the communication to brief her Captain. "Sir, one or two more hits like that and the Ghandi will crumble."

"I thought you rerouted power to the shields," he said.

"I did," she replied, "but the generator's older than you, in ill-repair, and held together with duct tape."

"So what's he after?" asked Nitin.

Shelly knew the ship's manifest inside and out. She knew the Quadrant Commander certainly hadn't dropped off any supplies. They'd acquired the two new slaves, but they were hardly cargo. "The traitor," she said. "He must've been smuggling something."

"See to it," said Nitin. "And lieutenant?"

"Yes?"

"I'm not that old."

"Yes, sir," she replied, racing from the bridge. She had two minutes. The long corridor echoed with the sound of her feet pounding on the metal mesh floor. Shelly reached the access ladder and slid down, not bothering with the rungs.

She bolted across the lower decks, finally reaching the secondary docking bay. She placed her palm onto the reader and opened the access doors to the shuttle.

Once aboard, Shelly opened the overhead compartments, finding standard issue life-saving equipment. She searched the cockpit and found a half-eaten Rundiusian tree fruit – like a furry banana – but no hidden cargo. She punched the pilot's chair in frustration.

It moved, ever so slightly.

Shelly reached down, found the adjustment levers and pulled. The pilot's seat reclined, and reclined some more until the seat was perpendicular to the floor. Underneath, Shelly spotted a hatch. She remembered that these old shuttles stored spare parts under the seats, and lifted the hatch hoping to find more than a landing gear.

She reached down and felt a steel crate.

"Captain," she said into her comms. "I found it."

*

Rys wondered in which previous life he had annoyed the gods to deserve this fate. He'd finally managed to cleanse the kitchen to the Martian's satisfaction – a demeaning exercise not worthy of an heir to the realm - when the entire room upended itself. Rys hit the ceiling, bounced off a wall, and finally fell onto a table. Cutlery and foodstuffs had flown wildly around the galley, and Rys had narrowly avoided getting chopped by a projectile butcher's knife.

Now, the galley was a mess again, covered in food and utensils. But worse, Tez the mean Martian just grinned.

As Rys scooped up the debris, he heard a faint crying from the corridor.

"Let us out," he thought he heard. Rys wondered if there were more Egyptians on board, forced into humiliatingly hard labour. He wanted to know if he was alone. He marched to the door to investigate.

"Where you going?" asked Tez.

Rys didn't think the Martian task-master deserved an answer, and stepped into the long hallway and strided towards the source of the voice. It was a female voice, and Rys hoped it would be a fellow Egyptian, someone to explain to the lazy Captain – who seemed content to sit down on the job – that Rys was royalty and should be treated as such.

"You'll get air-locked for this," spat Tez from the galley doorway. The Martian huffed and returned to his cooking.

"Let us out of here!" the voice screamed again.

Rys rounded the corner and stepped into a room that looked like a small zoo... for people.

Three of the six cages were occupied, with a young woman sharing a cage with a smaller boy. Perhaps to encourage mating, thought Rys.

The young woman looked at Rys, and demanded, "who are you?"

Rys didn't know if these people were prisoners or ingredients, but they certainly weren't Egyptians. He didn't care to speak with such cage-dwellers.

"I know you," shouted the teenaged human in the corner cell. "Rys, right?"

"Yes," he replied. At least these imprisoned ingredients were up on their royalty.

"Yeah, yeah," he confirmed, inarticulately. "You're that Gypti kid that ran away, it was all over the news."

Rys recoiled at the derogatory term. 'Gypti' was an insult to every Egyptian, especially the ruling caste.

"I am Egyptian, and I did not run away," he said, setting the record straight. "If you must know, I elected to take a royal holiday and—"

"You got nabbed like us?" asked the girl.

"And then your planet fell to the Enemy, right?" asked the teen.

Rys didn't need to reply.

"Don't worry, kid," said the man in the cage. "It's the same story all over the system. You're not alone in your plight."

He introduced himself as Judson, the teen as Shakes, and the caged duo as Andra and Grunge.

Andra stepped towards Rys. He wasn't good with human ages, but guessed she was neither a child, nor of child-bearing age. "Can you get us out of here?" she asked.

Rys stepped back, affronted at being spoken to so directly. On Egyptia, females were purely decorative. The idea of a female addressing a member of the royal family was offensive to him, and he chose to inform her of this fact.

It was a bad choice.

She gripped his neck and pulled his face into the bars.

"Ow," he cried.

At home, her assault would see her sacrificed to the gods. But on this godsforsaken ship, Rys guessed that no such rituals applied. Pity, he thought. Rys always loved a good sacrifice, especially the delicacies and desserts that followed. Egyptia was so refined, he reminded himself.

"You shouldn't speak to my sister like that," barked Grunge.

Rys adjusted his assumption about the cage encouraging mating. They were clearly arranged in family groupings.

"He doesn't know any better," Shakes said with a mocking laugh.

"Then I'll teach him, Shakes," said Andra, not letting go.

"Play nicely children," said Judson.

"I have passed the trials of maturity," Rys said through Andra's clenched hand. "I am not a child."

"You're right, and I need you to do a big boy job," Judson said.

"Huh?" grunted Andra, finally releasing her grip.

Rys rubbed his neck and stepped away from her cage. He looked at Judson and said, "I'm not taking jobs from anyone. I quit."

"Ha!" laughed Judson. "You can't quit. You're a slave."

"I am the sole heir to the realm of Egyptia," Rys replied.

"You're a slave like these kids," Judson said. "I can see it in your eyes; you just haven't accepted it yet."

"I will never," stated Rys.
"Nor will I," said Andra. Rys was astounded that they had something to agree on.

"That's your business," said Judson. "But if you're interested in self preservation, then I suggest you find the Captain and inform him not to give back my cargo. It's the only thing keeping us alive. If that alien who shot up the ship gets it back, then he'll have no reason to leave us alive."

Rys considered his options. He didn't like accepting a task from a man in a cage. On the other hand, he was very much predisposed to self-preservation.

"I shall inform the Captain," Rys proclaimed, feeling in control of his life for the first time in weeks. "And report the female's aggression."

As Rys left to find the captain, he heard Andra mutter, "he'd last two minutes on the Heap."