The Sky So Blue Ch. 02

"John Wellington?" she said quietly. Her hands were on his shoulders and she gently shook him.

"That was very interesting, Sky. Not at all what I was expecting." He opened his eyes and smiled.

"You should not do this. They will kill you John Wellington. I do not wish you to be killed." She wrapped her arms around him and sobbed into his chest. He stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head.

"I have to do this." He pulled her chin up to meet his gaze and he kissed her hard on the mouth. "Trust me, little bird. Everything will be all right. Now stay here. I'll be back soon." John turned and slipped out the door.

He could suddenly understand the whole layout of the corridors. She had not only given him the codes but also everything she knew about the ship. He began running down the corridor until he skidded to a stop at the pool room. He keyed the pad and the door slid open. The room was the size of a small hangar and dark. He was not expecting that. He could see the mist rising up from the Olympic sized pool in the middle of the room and a row of benches along the one side. He could make out the heads of four Vogons bobbing just above the surface of the pool. They were spread out, and as the door slipped shut, he was enveloped in complete darkness.

"Shit." He hissed.

An electric blue flash illuminated the area to his left and he could see the outline of the Vogon coming towards him. The shock stick was powered up and John knew what was coming next so he decided not to wait around. He rolled and dove across the floor, trying to close the distance between the Vogon with the shock stick as quickly as possible without being in a direct line of fire. The blue beam of electricity arced past his shoulder and as he slammed into the knees of the Vogon, he caught a glimpse of the four in the pool moving slowly in the water towards him. His foot flew straight up as hard as he could move it into the chin of the Vogon. It barked and was startled enough to allow John to pry the shock stick from its hand.

John rolled back away from the Vogon and landed on his knees with the shock stick pointed at its chest. He pressed the button and a blue beam blasted into the Vogon. He turned to the pool and fired another shot at the closest Vogon rising out of the pool but the stick just fizzled and died, leaving him in complete darkness yet again.

"Shit." He hissed. Before he could think of what to do next, the door slid open and Sky shot a blast from the shock stick in her hand into the feet of the Vogon about to step out of the pool. The entire surface of water lit up with blue energy and the four Vogons wailed as they froze and then slipped under the water.

"Nice shot, Sky." John smiled. "You kinda spoiled my outnumbered, heroic underdog thing though."

"I am sorry." Sky looked completely confused.

"That's ok. They would have kicked my ass anyway." He laughed.

"The water amplified the beam from the shock stick." She said simply.

"Yes I spotted that." John turned to the immobilized Vogon beside him and began dragging the paralyzed creature to the water.

"What are you doing?" Sky asked

"I'm bringing this one to be with his brothers." He grunted as he pulled the large body across the floor towards the pool.

"But they will die if we leave them in the pool." She argued.

"Sky. You have to understand something. I have been trained to kill. I'm going to kill all of these Vogons. They are going to pay for what they have done to you and your people." He kicked the bulky Vogon into the pool with a loud splash.

"Please do not do this, John Wellington. Please do not kill them. I cannot let you kill them." She pushed a key on the pad and the water began draining out of the pool. A dim light flickered and then illuminated the room.

"Dammit Sky!" he cursed. She began crying, holding her hands over her face and John walked over to her slowly. He wrapped his arms around her and comforted her. "All right. You win. I won't kill them. I'll be right back. If any of them move, zap'em with the shock stick, all right?" he asked.

"Yes. John Wellington. I will do as you ask." she sniffed. John ran down the hall and then down a couple levels. He searched through maintenance rooms and storage lockers but he couldn't find any straps or wire or cord anywhere. He did find his clothes and an old thermo-detonator that they had obviously taken from his ship. He also found his old assault rifle with several clips of ammo. They were stacked in a room with some crates beneath a large piece if cargo netting. He put on the clothes, slung the rifle over his shoulder, and tucked the thermo-detonator into his pack. He then folded the netting up as small as he could and dragged it back to the pool room.

By the time John had his prisoners trapped securely in the net at the bottom of the empty pool, he was getting nervous about the other Vogons. It was surprising that no one else had come to investigate. He didn't think he could be that lucky. He dropped the thermo-detonator between the trapped Vogons, thumbed the remote carefully making sure it was active and climbed out of the pool.

"Sky? Can you tell if the other Vogons are aware of what's going on down here?"

"They are unaware. What will you do to them?" she asked worriedly.

"I promise I'll try not to kill them. All right?" he smiled.

"Thank you John Wellington." She smiled but he could tell she was still worried. "That is not a beam weapon." She pointed to the assault rifle.

"No. It is an assault rifle. It fires those bullets I told you about."

"I do not like it John Wellington." She said quietly.

"I know. But I promise I will only use it as a last resort. Come with me to the command deck. We'll try some gunpoint negotiating." He put his arm around her and they walked towards the command deck.

They entered the command room and saw three Vogons strapped into chairs and wired up to the computers. There were nozzles occasionally spurting gusts of mist over their bodies as they sat. They made no move towards John and Sky and in fact gave no appearance they had even noticed them enter.

"What are they doing, Sky?" he said quietly.

"They are flying the ship." She answered simply.

"Tell them I am taking command of the ship. I have the others immobilized and I will destroy them all if they do not surrender."

Sky repeated the message in Vogon and as she finished, one of the large ugly creatures rose from the chair. The straps and wires all fell away and the Vogon spoke in its harsh language.

"He wants to know your terms for surrender." Sky translated.

"My terms? He's going to surrender?" John asked in disbelief.

"Yes. I think he is concerned that you might damage his crew. They represent a significant investment. Almost as valuable as the cargo."

"Holy shit." John rubbed his stubbled chin for a moment. "What is his cargo exactly?"

"There are the Squibs, the Matradoks, six kilos of dust, a crate of Matradok horns, another Sjin, 100 kilos of Syballin Spice, and the dark thing."

"What is Syballin spice?"

"It is a medicine."

"And a Sjin?"

"My people. That is the name of my people. I am Sjin."

"I didn't know there were more of you here. Tell him these are my terms. They will give me back my ship, return the Squibs and the Matradoks to their home world, release the other Sjin to me, and in return I won't kill them. And they can keep their ship."

"He agrees to your terms. But he has a further condition." Sky looked up at John expectantly.

"What's the condition?"

"He asks that you would also take the dark thing when you take your ship."

"What? Why?"

"Your ship is inside the dark thing. They do not know how to remove it."

"How did it get inside?"

"They are not sure. They were both in the hangar bay and then your ship was just inside the dark thing."

"What the hell is this dark thing? Listen, just tell him to wait. I need to see what the hell I'm dealing with. Tell him if he tries anything, I blow his buddies to little bits."

"I don't need to tell him. He is very uncomfortable with your tactics. He agrees to wait."

John and Sky headed through the ship and opened the hangar bay door to find a very large black ship sitting in the hangar. It reminded John of a huge bat with much thicker wings. It even had a spiky surface across the top which resembled hair. It was much larger than John's small vessel which was apparently sitting inside its bay.

"Holy fuck. Is it a ship or is it alive?" John asked quietly.

"Both. What is fuck? Is this also surprise?" she asked innocently.

"Shit. No. Well, actually in this case it is because I am surprised. But that's not what fuck means. And that's not a good word for you to learn. Forget I said that." He was staring in awe at the massive ship. "I've never seen anything like this. I mean of course I haven't but holy...this thing is amazing. A living ship."

"I will learn its words." Sky moved towards the hulking mass but John held her back.

"Wait. I don't trust it. I don't want you to be hurt, Sky."

"It will be all right. I can sense her feelings." She walked up to the landing strut of the ship and wrapped her tail around it. Her fingers grasped the sides and she started chanting. A quiet humming filled the room. John slowly walked closer until he was beside Sky. He looked up at the huge creature ship suspiciously, rifle aimed high. Before he could even think of firing, two large tentacles shot out and latched onto them. They were both wrenched up in the air and through the outer membrane of the hull. John felt like he had broken through the surface tension of a pool of water yet he was dry when he landed on the hard floor. The tentacles immediately retracted from whence they had come, and John and Sky were left sitting on the floor of the cockpit of the enormous ship.

"Holy shit."

"John Wellington?" Sky said quietly.

"Yes, Sky?" John answered getting to his feet.

"Can we help her?"

"What does she want?" John looked around the cockpit. It was definitely organic in design. The walls reminded John of the microscopic images of human skin he had studied back at the academy. There was an ambient light source that didn't seem to be coming from anywhere in particular, yet everything was well lit.

"She wants a pilot."

"Is that all?"

"Yes. She has been very lonely for a very long time." Sky moved over to the console and wrapped her tail around it. Her fingers grasped the board and she smiled wistfully. "She would like you to be her pilot."

"And if I refuse?"

"She would be very sad."

"And that's all?"

"Yes. She has no plans to poison you." Sky giggled quietly.

"Funny. All right. Tell her I will be her pilot." John figured it couldn't hurt any. An extra ship might come in handy. "What's the worst that can happen with a sentient ship?" he asked sardonically.

"I do not know." Sky answered smiling. "John Wellington?"

"Yes Sky?"

"She is ready."

"All right." John said distractedly. He was examining the view screens at the front of the cockpit which appeared to be a transparent part of the ship. He was not expecting the tentacle to shoot out from the console and wrap painfully around his right arm. He felt a burning sensation and as the tentacle uncoiled from his flesh, two bands of a rust coloured membrane were fused to his skin around his elbow and wrist. A fibrous vein linked the two bands, running down the inside of his forearm. The pain dissipated almost immediately and he was left staring at the arm band in shock. "What the hell?" he flexed his arm. The bands were firmly attached.

"She has completed the bonding process. You are now able to communicate directly with her no matter where you are. You will be able to fly the ship giving commands with your thoughts." Sky smiled happily.

What are you so happy?" he asked her.

"She is happy now. You have removed the sadness from her. You have done a great thing John Wellington."

"Remind of that later, will ya? I have a feeling I'm going to need to be reassured at some point."

"Of course."

John fell into the chair rubbing his arm and he felt the voice in his head. "Welcome Captain John Wellington. I have waited a very long time for someone to occupy that seat." She had a rich voice and it took John a second to realize he was understanding her native language.

"Do you have a name?" he asked aloud.

"I am Medea One-oh One." The voice was feminine and breathy and now filled the room. Sky scrambled into the other chair and the voice continued. "Would you like me to indoctrinate your co-pilot now?"

"Does that mean you will burn one of these armbands onto Sky?" John asked cautiously

"That is correct." Medea answered.

"I am ready, John Wellington." Sky smiled happily.

"Sky, I can't ask you to go through that. I'm not even sure what the effects are. It could be dangerous." He argued.

"I would be honoured to be indoctrinated as co-pilot if you are willing to have me, Medea." Sky said clearly. Again the tentacle shot out from the console and wrapped around Sky's limb." She winced slightly and then the tentacle was gone, leaving smaller yet similar armbands attached to her left arm.

"Indoctrination complete." Medea's voice filled the room.

"Medea, we still have something to finish. We need to go back and see the Vogons." John asked half expecting to be refused.

"By your command." Medea said simply. The two chairs in the cockpit seemed to float down through ships outer membrane and suddenly John and Sky were back in the hangar. John stood up and watched the chairs ascend back up into the ship in amazement. He grabbed Sky by the hand and walked briskly to the door. Once through, they made their way back to the command deck where the Vogon was still standing there waiting for them.

"All right. Tell him I will take the dark thing. But I have one more condition." John said sternly. "You will never return to the home world of the Sjin. If any more of her people are abducted, I will consider it an act of war and respond appropriately. Understood?" He glared at the Vogon.

"He agrees to your terms. But he cannot speak for the rest of his people. Others may be ordered to come."

"Just tell him to make sure he relays the message to his people. Trespassers will be prosecuted."

"He agrees to your terms. Will you remove the explosive device from his crew now?"

"Can I trust them Sky?"

"Yes. There is no deception planned. The Vogons are traders, not warriors. You have surprised them. They were not expecting you to be so...dangerous. They will do as you have asked.

"Then I will get the bomb. Should I release the other Vogons?

"They will not try to harm you." She shrugged.

"All right. I'll set them free. Demonstrate my magnanimous nature." John winked at a puzzled Sky and turned to leave the command deck.

"What will you do if more Vogons come?" Sky asked as they walked through the ship towards the pool room.

"Medea? Can you hear me?"

"Yes Captain." He heard the soothing voice in his head.

"Tactical simulation. If you were to engage a ship like this one in battle, what would the probable outcome be?"

"The Vogon's ship has limited defence capabilities and its beam weapons are unlikely to penetrate my hull. I estimate 3 minutes to incapacitate a ship of this type."

"Thank you Medea." John smiled and wrapped his arm around Sky's shoulders. "To answer your question Sky, I will incapacitate them if they come."

"So you are planning on staying on my home world?" she asked excitedly.

"I guess I am. Is that all right with you?"

"Yes, John Wellington. That makes me very happy." Sky put her arm around his waist and they entered the pool room to collect the thermo-detonator and free the Vogon prisoners.

When they had finished retrieving the explosive and untangling the net, John and Sky walked out into the corridor.

"Where are we going?" Sky asked skipping slightly to keep up with John's mile-eating stride.

"We're going to see your kin." He smiled.

"What is kin?" she asked.

"Family. Relative. We're going to see the other Sjin." John slung the rifle over his other shoulder and put his arm around Sky as they walked through the Vogon ship.