Chapter 29

Edited by Steve

“Sarha, from the figures you gave me. All the people who come on board should be placed on deck four. Could you have your bots and the others start setting this up?”

“I will have everything ready to go as they come aboard; we will screen them and log them in. Are you looking for anyone special?”

“I don’t know for certain. See if anyone can tell us what happened to David and Wendy’s mother. If she is there, take her to deck two and have the kids waiting for her.”

“I understand and will be more than happy to do that, and thank you for that. I know it will mean so must to all concerned.”

Tim realized the shuttles move back and forth every half hour, and he wanted it to be correct. One of the shuttles exited the passenger vessel toward the alien craft, and Tim instructed Pauline to make her way to the cruise ship.

The people at the TOC piloted the shuttle. With cameras and probes everywhere around the shuttle. The pilot had a better view than if she were inside the shuttle itself. There were five specialized soldiers on that shuttle, and they were supposed to clear out the airlock for boarding.

The shuttle pulled up against the passenger’s vessel. One of the soldiers then pressed the button to open the door to the airlock of their shuttle. He then used a single tool to open the passenger’s ship’s airlock. The door opened quietly; he removed the device and returned it to a pocket in his suit. He waited to see if anyone would show up to find out why the door was open, no one showed up.

Two of the soldiers rushed into the bay, checked it out. Each moved to the opposite sides of the door that led to the first deck and stairwell. Using a different device to check around the corner to see if anyone was there. This part of the vessel was evident, but there was noise on the second deck.

Two additional personnel entered the bay and waited. A member re-entered the MTS and informed the Commander that the airlock bay was secure. Then returned to the others.

The Commander and the first five members of her unit traveled to the bay. The Commander signals to the five specialized soldiers, three ascend the stairs to the second deck, and the other verifies the first deck. The first units now covered the airlock bay with five more soldiers moving through the MTS.

The five new soldiers followed the two specialized soldiers and remained behind the rows of seats until they were clear to move. The soldiers were aware that three other exits were on the first deck. When the specialized soldiers got to the first exit area, they had fifteen armed soldiers behind them.

They used their equipment to check around the corner of the bay. There were two red ants, and they were looking toward the staircase. The soldiers heard passengers making their way down the stairs. The first five armed soldiers moved forward and covered the door. The specialist’s Commander designated a soldier, then a red ant, then his head. He went on to do the same thing to another soldier in the second Red Ants. The two soldiers nodded to acknowledge. The rest of the soldiers were to shoot every Red Ant that came through the door.

The two specialists would change the direction in which the passengers were to go and point them towards the soldiers’ line. They would then have them in the MTS and back on the ship.

The first passenger was en route to the exit. The Commander raised his arm, and all the soldiers understood that the time had come to begin. He dropped his arm, and three shots fired from each soldier in the red ants’ heads. The two Red Ants dropped to the floor. The Commander got up, grabbed the first passenger, and pushed her toward the soldiers who awaited her. The leader then stood in the center of the bay and pointed the passengers to the new exit while a second soldier entered the Red Ants’ shuttle.

There were two red ants left in the shuttle. They were startled to see something that moved so fast. The closest red ant didn’t have time to move, a rapid movement of its blade, and the head of the red ant was gone. The second officer emerged from the pilot’s seat and lost his head. He came back to report to the leader ... everyone was dead.

The soldiers along the aisle kept the passengers moving to the rear, and they could see the shocked look on everyone’s face. Be careful, only talking softly and gently, keep them moving. It seems that the Red Ants were only sending twenty passengers down at a time. The last of this group came down without any Red Ants following, which gave the soldiers more time to get to the next exit.

They similarly cleaned the last two airlocks. Now the regular soldiers would start climbing the stairs. The Red Ants’ only weapons were their arms, but they could lift more than 1,000 pounds at a time. The first soldiers headed for the stairs next to the shuttle. The special soldiers were already on the second deck and most of the way to the second exit staircase when a red ant saw the soldiers through the door. He sounded the warning, and two other red ants rushed to his side.

They moved rapidly, using their four lower legs to move, stepping over the seats. They made a high-pitched sound as they moved like they were warning the others. The soldiers raised their weapons and fired at the Red Ants’ heads. The Red Ants moved so fast that a few shots hit their heads. The soldiers could see parts of the Red Ants’ heads disappearing, but they kept right on coming. The closest Red Ants managed to get a soldier into its arms and threw her across the room, hitting the far wall. This soldier did not move. Has soon as possible, a bot moved over to check on her. She was still alive but hurt badly. Now every soldier was firing at the three Red Ants’, finally, they began to fall.

The soldiers now looked at the Red Ants’ a little differently. They knew that this was not going to be easy. The Commander was watching the firefight. A special team of three soldiers, the flamethrower units, was called upon. Their job was to work their way through it. They walked down the aisle and into the doors of the bay.

Two more red ants descended the steps. They ran into nano-bot bullets and a flamethrower, and it didn’t take long to kill them this time.

The Commander asked, “Tim, would you arrange for the King to send us another ten flamethrowers?”

Tim reached out to Tabitha. Can you pass on the request?

“Father, Commander Anden-Aipas wishes you would send her ten more flamethrowers. They are needed badly.” Said Tabitha.

The king called the remaining Commander, “I want ten flamethrower units in the MTS room now, and I want twenty on a five-minute stand by.”

It took only ten minutes to deliver the new flame thrower to the passenger cruiser. Each team received two additional soldiers, and they moved to track down the red ants, and the other soldiers kept the passengers moving. Bots handled casualties, passengers, and soldiers.

The Commander checked the number of the Red Ants, noting only about 40 Red Ants on this vessel. She also observed that some escape pods were missing.

Tim gave orders; as soon as the action began, TOC had to destroy all the alien shuttles heading for the passenger ship. But not the shuttles that transport passengers to the alien ship. They were to send shuttles to retrieve the rescue pods. If the man Tim’s looking for is in one of them, put him in a room and hold him there.

Once the soldiers had the first deck secured on the cruise ship. Tim and his crew began their attack on the alien’s spacecraft. They used Tabitha’s ship as their docking ship. Once docked, Tim opened the doors to the airlock and embarked on the alien vessel.

Tim emerged into a large bay and immediately noticed two guards. Tabitha and Tammy appeared after Tim and shot them, killing both guards. “Two down and perhaps a few thousands more to go.” Said Tammy.

Tawni, Pauline, and Madlyn emerged from the MTS when The bay had been cleared. A steady flow of soldiers followed them. Tim looked at the apparatus that Sarha had given him, which showed the arrangement of the ship’s decks. Tim and his crew attempted to find the prisoners and release them while the soldiers eliminated as many red ants as possible. They were aware of their orders, and it wasn’t long before Tim heard the gunshots.

Tim looked at the device and went towards a rising ramp to his right. There were no stairs in the Red Ants ship, which made it difficult to walk. The aisles were wide, and three people were allowed to walk side by side. “Tim, where are the prisoners?” Asked Tawni.

“Sarha indicated that they were held in the middle of the vessel and at the three lower levels. I’ve dispatched soldiers to the first two levels, and we’re going to take the third.” Said Tim.

Everyone kept their eyes looking up the ramp. The ramps were mounted midway up the wall and turned to make the other half toward the next deck. As they began to turn upwards in the second half, four red ants were heading downwards. The red ants sensing the vibration of the ramp, knowing that there was somebody in front of them, began to charge.

Tim and his team shot the Red Ants as they appeared. The first two died right on the ramp, and while the other two walked on the corpses, and continued. A Red Ant grabbed Tim’s head, picked him up with his upper arms, and threw him against the wall. The second Red Ant started towards the girls, Pauline saw what the other was doing to Tim, jumped ahead between the Red Ants and the other girls.

She instantly transformed herself into a 12-foot gorilla. The red ant stretched out its arms to grab Pauline. But instead, Pauline grabbed the two arms and, with as much power as she could gather, crushed it against the wall. She hit him against the wall several times before the two arms snapped. Now he attempted to grab her with the other two arms. Pauline dropped the arms she had ripped off the deck and proceeded to get the head. She clung to the antennas and tried to turn the head but removed the antennas, and she threw them onto the deck. She jumped into the air, coming down to wrap her arms around his head. He tries to swing his head to the left while shaking Pauline.

Pauline lowered her feet towards the deck, set her feet firmly, and rolled back. She tossed the red ant over her shoulder and simultaneously twisted his neck as the red ant hit the ramp. The red ants’ body parts are everywhere. Pauline now takes the time to find out more about Tim.

Tim, having had enough, stood up and walked to the Red Ant, caught him by his arms, and began to beat him against the same wall. “How do you feel about that? It doesn’t feel so great, does it?” Tim pulled the ALW handgun out of his holster, placed it between the antennas, and pulled the trigger. A laser beam sprang up and cut directly through the red ant’s head.

Tim looked at Pauline, who had now regained her feline shape and was there naked. He looked at her and said, “I suppose we’re going to have to find you something that will adapt when you change size.”

“No, Sarha’s already dealt with that.” She took whatever remained of her uniform. Place an arm in what used to be a sleeve and keep it in that position. The nano-bots started re-manufacturing her uniform; in less than one minute, Pauline was back in full uniform.

Tim sounded surprised, but he said, “OK, let’s move forward.” They just walked onto deck two. They came across six more Red Ants here, but they weren’t paying attention. They were on their way to deck three, and Tim and the girls went along.

When they arrived at deck three, they were in one room more prominent than the others. In the background, two large doors. The first thing they noticed was the loud sound coming from the opposite side of the doors. This room had a lot of little hexagons shaped like things along the outer left wall. Tiny red ants were running around, placing small objects in each of these shaped things. There must have been something like nine hundred of these things.

They started to move towards the large doors. Two Red Ants started their way but moved right on by without even stopping to say ‘HI.’ There was something strange about this deck. It seems like it would be the business area. “Tim, those shaped things on the wall, what could be in them?” Asked Tammy.

“Since nobody cares about us, let’s look into it.” Said Tabitha. They thought they ought to know everything about this ship. They walked to the far-left wall while keeping their eyes constantly in motion to ensure they had no surprises. The closer they got, the more they heard a slight noise coming from the interior of these little hexagonal things.

Tim walked up to one; each was approximately a foot in diameter. It had a silken coating covering the front, and he could see where the small red ants had placed something through a tiny crack. Being curious, Tim put his hand against the cover and pushed a little. That push broke the cover. Tim looked inside to see. What he saw came as a shock. He stretched his hand across the damaged surface and extracted a small piece of food.

Tim turned around and showed everyone what was in his hand, “Tim, what’s in it?” Asked Tammy.

“In these cubicles, there are little red ants, and these are the things they eat.” He opened his hand, “It’s a piece of somebody’s finger.”

Tabitha and Tammy jumped back away from Tim and his open hand. They both looked at it with a disgusting look. “How could anything be so cruel to other beings?” Asked Tabitha.

“That means all the passengers from both ships may be heading to the same end. We must stop it right now! Said Madlyn.

Tim turned around and went to the door of the adjoining room. That’s where all the noise originates. Tim stood next to the door, ready to open it: If this is the room, I think it is, it will be a shock. Remember, regardless of what you see, keep your eyes peeled for the guards.”

Tim opened the door slightly, stuck his head in to look around. Even he was shocked by the things he saw. To his right must be the Queen Red Ant, about ten feet high and twenty feet long. She sat there and ate. The shocking thing was enclosed along the left wall; there were about 20 cages, all in a single line. Each one is bound to the other. Each cage was full of individuals, two to three individuals per cage. This row of cages moved gradually along the wall.

The door opened quickly from the other side, and there was a red ant. It was a smaller one, so it must have been a worker. But the vibration must have led him to believe that something came from Tim moving the door. He sounded the alarm and proceeded toward the Queen Ant.

Everybody started looking around to see where the guards would come from. With the door open, everybody saw what Tim was looking at. Firstly, the enormous red ant on the right and the cages along the wall on the left.

Tim said, “Pauline, Madlyn, and me at the front. The rest keep the rear. Check your weapons.” Everybody checked and yelled OK.” So, they remained there waiting; they didn’t wait long. Seven guards emerged from three different entrances, headed for the entrance where Tim’s group was standing.