Mark McGinnis - The Simpleton

“Greetings, Lorgue Supreme Eminence Calph. I have forwarded our specific course parameters, as well as the FTL configuration settings your ship’s AI will need in order to synchronize precisely to the rest to the fleet.”

All eyes turned to Bob as he began to speak in a gruff, bear-like, voice. “That’s fine. Can we move things along now, Sub-Forgue Molth? Paltrope is an impatient malady. If you want me to survive the journey, you’ll keep your drives running hot. Blaze the fastest trail to Primara. We need to get moving.”

“Yes… Supreme Eminence Calph, we will be underway in just a few moments.”

“The channel is closed now, Captain,” the orb said.

Tony began to laugh out loud. “I can’t believe that voice… the words that came out of your mouth, or speaker, or whatever it is you have, orb. That was awesome, dude!”

The orb ignored the remark.

They all watched as Bob navigated the Evermore into position within the other larger vessels.

“We are underway, Captain. We will be reaching FTL in two minutes.”

Cuddy felt the Evermore ’s drives’ vibration beneath his feet, then the inertia dampeners kicking in. “ETA for Primara, Bob?”

“Ten days, Captain. Less, if they do as instructed and increase their FTL speeds accordingly.”

“So we have ten days to prepare for phase two,” Cuddy remarked, to no one in particular.

“Phase two? So this is what… phase one?” Jackie asked.

“That’s right.”

“What’s phase two, other than not getting ourselves killed?” Kyle asked.

“To convince the Howsh, as a species, that it is no longer in their best interest to destroy Primara, nor the remaining Pashier.”

“I didn’t know there were any Pashier left,” Jackie said.

“Yes, there are a few,” Cuddy said, not elaborating further.

By day eight, life aboard the Evermore had ripened into something cohesive—busily routine. Jackie spent more and more time in the galley. She somehow figured out what the unique appliances were used for. The result was an astonishing array of gourmet food—breakfasts, lunches, and dinners—from good ol’ home-style southern cooking to inventive meals, originating from far away, in other star systems—on other planets.

To Cuddy’s growing regret, there were no more intimate moments with Jackie like the one they had on the bridge. He shrugged it off, knowing they both were far too busy. Busy to the point lack of sleep was starting to take its toll on him. Yet, if he were honest with himself, there actually were some brief occasions when a few stolen moments might have been possible. Did she regret what they’d done together, he mused . Had her feelings changed? How could he blame her? He had no idea what he was doing—was way out of his comfort area.

Tony and Kyle, when they weren’t planted in front of the entertainment system, watching Pashier thrillers, intergalactic nature films, or even an errant love story, were tasked with delivering to Brian—confined in his sole occupancy compartment—three square meals every day. Plus, help in the assembly of eleven additional AI orb units that Cuddy had recently discovered. Hold #2, he found, had its own stash of spare orb parts.

The grand plan was for the eleven orbs to become their dutiful army. Getting them to that point required assistance from both Tony and Kyle. Cuddy and Bob taught them how to do basic assembly work—mainly installing the gel-tabs—then configure each individual orb with capabilities not previously required by the Pashier.

Cuddy entered the bridge, finding Bob at the controls, and heard an unintelligible Howsh conversation in progress. As Cuddy approached, Bob made a settings change and suddenly the alien’s words were translated into English.

Cuddy asked, “What are we listening to?”

“A deep-space channel has just been acquired. Eavesdropping into it, Sub-Forgue Molth is speaking with Lorgue Prime Eminence Norsh—currently in high orbit around Primara—who commands the other half of the Howsh fleet.”

“Crap… I didn’t anticipate that. At least, not yet.” Cuddy listened to what they were discussing—Eminence Norsh sounded irritated.

“No! Your orders were to destroy the Evermore, destroying the heritage pod in the process. It was a simple directive. Any idiot could follow those orders,” Norsh said.

Sub-Forgue Molth said, “I assure you, Your Eminence, we are escorting Lorgue Supreme Eminence Calph. He was marooned on Earth… for ten years. His knowledge of the Howsh…”

Norsh cut him off, “You truly are an idiot, Molth. Whoever is on board that vessel is no more Lorgue Prime Eminence Calph than I am. You think it’s a coincidence you haven’t been able to establish visual verification by scanning that vessel? Stupid fool… you’ve been duped. All you’ve accomplished is to provide an escort for our enemy!”

Cuddy cringed. He’d hoped for a bit more time—to be closer to Primara before the deception was discovered. He asked Bob, “How close are we?”

“Not far. We will reach Primara in several days, at our current FTL rate of speed, Captain.”

Cuddy glanced over at the Viewscape display, showing the symbolic, V-formation view of the small Howsh fleet, with the Evermore sited in its center.

“It’s game time, Bob. We need to disable all of those ships… and we need to hurry,” Cuddy said. Although the timing was not perfect, he felt they were ready. Three hours earlier, the eleven newly constructed AI orbs were discreetly released, one at a time, through an underbelly airlock. Using their clawed articulating arms, they maneuvered themselves around the Evermore ’s fuselage underbelly, where they now clung, awaiting orders.

“Deploy the orbs, Bob. And cross your fingers they go undetected.”

“The orbs have been deployed… are en route to their intended targets.”

Cuddy watched the display. The orbs, tiny blue icons, quickly went out into space, all except one, moving farther and farther away from the Evermore . The icons, then organizing into sets of two, reached their intended Marauder ship targets. Once there, they located some irregularity on the hull’s surface—some external structure—significant enough to cling to.

“Two orbs have dislodged, Captain.”

Cuddy, already noticing, thought it unfortunate that they both had come loose from the same Marauder. Damn . He watched the display as the two blue icons spun ineffectively off into space. Fortunately, they had anticipated the possibility of such a thing occurring.

“Deploy the backup orb,” Cuddy said.

Bob did as ordered, and the last orb, still clinging to the Evermore ’s underbelly, sped off into space toward its intended Marauder target. Cuddy watched as the blue icon descended upon the Howsh ship. Making contact, it seemed to have found a way to secure itself, but then, like the other two orbs, it too spun off into space.

“That is the command ship, Captain Perkins. I apologize I did not determine that earlier. Apparently, that one vessel is equipped with advanced security measures—energized hull plating. The orbs’ electronics were fried as soon as they came in contact with that particular Marauder command ship.”

Cuddy glanced around the bridge—no one had any answers.

“They are powering weapons, Captain Perkins!”

“Hurry… raise our shields! Drop us out of formation.”

Cuddy felt G-forces pulling on him as the Evermore banked away from the Howsh fleet.

“Taking evasive action,” Bob said.

Bright red energy bolts could be seen crisscrossing from out the forward and side observation windows.