Stellar Objects

Chapter 21: Back to Base

Nitin sat on the bridge - his broken body in his broken chair - with his lieutenant and watched the shuttle return to the Ghandi. He couldn't believe they actually came back.

He had asked Shelly to ensure the auto-pilot override was ready, just in case the young trio had decided to make a break for it; but for once his cynicism was unfounded.

The comms crackled with Andra's voice. "We got the gold and are now on final approach. Initiating docking sequence."

Shelly cleared her throat. "Do you want to bring them in on auto-pilot?"

Part of Nitin did, just to be sure. But he shook his head, acting against instinct and said, "no, let's see how she flies."

The shuttle expertly banked to dock with his ship. The kid could fly. And for the second time in a moment, Nitin was impressed.

But he noticed the shuttle looked weighed down, tilting to the astern.

"Your aft is dragging a bit," observed Nitin. "Boost rear accelerators to compensate."

"Thanks for the tip, Captain," replied Andra.

Nitin almost laughed. Three kids, slaves to the Raj, actually returning with a shuttle filled with Egyptian riches.

"They could've slipped," said Nitin. "But they didn't."

Shelly leaned over Nitin and spoke into the glass pad. "Thank you Andra, all of you; for not fleeing and making me have to hunt you down."

"Never crossed our minds, ma'am," Andra said.

Nitin could tell she was lying and it made him smile. They'd clearly considered making a break for it. Why wouldn't they? But they came back, and that may not mean much to the Galactic Navy, but it meant the universe to Nitin Nayar.

He tapped his glass pad to call the galley. "Tez, you're required in shuttle dock."

*

Tez stood over his simmering soup and marveled at his own genius.

The cauldron was bubbling softly, whispering to him, and with one hand he grabbed a handful of Uzianian beetles and tossed them in.

Pop-pop-pop.

They crackled and fizzed. With his other hand, Tez stirred their crackling remains in a figure-eight motion to evenly spread the flavour. There was just one more ingredient to his masterpiece, the Anterrean Hopper.

Tez opened the small cage and pulled out what Earth-folk might quaintly call a 'pink frog.' He held the hopper over the soup and dropped it in.

Its ordinarily poisonous skin releases a sweet, almost intoxicating gel when boiled. It was the final flourish of Tez's culinary masterpiece.

But as he reached for the lid, the galley's comms barked with the Captain's voice: "Tez, you're required in shuttle dock."

He reached for the call button and informed the Captain, "Tez is busy cooking up a—"

Suddenly, the hopper leaped out of the cauldron and scurried down the counter.

"Get back here!" he boomed.

Tez reached for butcher's knife and considered throwing it to stop his ingredient from escaping, but he knew the hopper's flavour was enhanced when it was boiled alive. If he plopped in a dead hopper, everyone would taste the difference. It would be an embarrassing debut. One he'd never live down.

"Um, Tez," said the Captain over the comms. "I know you're new here, but I'm giving you an order. It's not optional."

"And Tez is ordering the flavour back in the pot, Captain!" said Tez. "Priorities. Please!"

Tez reached for the amphibian, but its skin was slippery. He couldn't get a grip. The hopper bounded from the counter and hopped across the floor. It found a hole in the wall, a secret passageway, and disappeared into the darkness.

Enraged and embarrassed, Tez reached for the table beside him and flipped it upside down. He picked up the wooden bench with both hands and slammed it down on his head; splitting it in two.

"Are you breaking my ship?" asked Captain Nayar.

Tez grunted. It was neither a yes, nor a no.

He switched off the heat to the soup and sulked out into the corridor. Furious and frustrated, he walked the long length of the ship and found the shuttle dock.

Through the portal window, Tez watched the shuttle maneuver into position. A green light switched on over the docking door. A slight hiss of air sounded and the airlock swung open.

The airlock looked into the cabin of the shuttle from the rear. Andra and that twerp Rys were in the cockpit. That full-of-himself human, Shakes, hefted a black canvas bag off the shuttle. It landed on the steel floor of loading dock with a clank.

"Hey, green giant, get the other one for me," he said, not exactly asking.

"How's the food coming?" asked Andra. "I'm starving."

"The Captain does not value flavour," Tez snarled. He grabbed the other bag and hoisted it up. It was heavy, but Tez had the strength of five humans.

He placed it down on the loading dock and peeked in side.

"Don't get any ideas, Tez," said Shakes, as he exited the docking area. "That gold's spoken for."

The stick-skinny Egyptian disembarked next, stating that, "this gold has been in my family for generations and it—"

But Tez noticed something familiar about the coins. He spotted the ocular symbols of his ancestral home.

He grabbed Rys by the throat. "These are Martian coins!"

Tez may have lost his Anterrean hopper, but he could still flavour the soup with the skin of this foul Egyptian.

"Stop!" called Andra. "Rys didn't take your people's money. In fact, he just stole it from his own family. To help a bunch of kids we don't even know."

Tez took a big breath and took his hands off the tiny Egyptian. He reached down and ran his hands through the cool, gold coins. It felt like he was touching his past.

"You Egyptians take what you want and leave worlds in ruin," he said.

"My ancestors conquered your planet," confessed Rys, "but I didn't. All I can do is ask for your forgiveness, and your permission to use some of this gold to help the children."

Rys reached out his hand, seemingly to shake. Tez stretched out his hand, and though he'd rather snap an Egyptian's hand off than shake it, he quashed his angry urges. Perhaps the human girl was right. This Egyptian, as annoying and entitled as he was, did not steal anything from Tez personally. As softly as he could, Tez gripped Rys' tiny hand and gently moved it up and down.

"Very nice, boys," said Andra.

"Thank you," said Rys.

"Tez will not put you in the soup," Tez said.

The Egyptian smiled. "That's a good start."

Suddenly, with his third eye, Tez spotted the Anterrean hopper scampering across the doorway. "The flavour is escaping!"

"I'll get it," said Rys. He sprang past Tez and rushed into the corridor.

Tez heard Rys' frantic footsteps clang off the mesh metal flooring. "Got it!" Rys called back. "Slippery sucker! Stay still."

Rys returned with the pink amphibian in his hands. With his two front eyes, he caught Andra break a smile.

"Ah," Grunge said from the door. "He's so cute. Can we keep him?"

"No," scoffed Tez. "We eat him."