Pulsat Rad was born on Prinsloo in the
Rexenor system, a dry desert world, rich in minerals and ore, which he hadn’t
seen for 15 years.
He was one of the lucky ones as his parents
were able to arrange for him to get away from his home world before the Mehreen
Empire conquered the planet and enslaved the Prinsloovian’s putting them under the
yoke in order to rape their own planet of all that was precious.
He had never returned and had no idea of
what fate may have befallen his parents, he had met several of his own kind
over the years, but none of them could enlighten him, as they were in the same
boat as he was.
He was heavy set and had a rough bony skull
which raised up like a crown which receded to give way to a Mahogany scaled
brow, cheekbones and jawline which framed an ivory coloured face, and he had
yellow eyes and his entire countenance betrayed his reptilian ancestry.
He was incredibly strong and found no
difficulty in finding work among the many mining operations he came across as
he worked his way steadily, from world to world and moon to moon, moving
inexorably away from the Mehreen, it was on one of those worlds, Kordesh, that
he met his friend Vanzyl.
Vanzyl was from Kessleria, the third planet
in the Omeghard system, he was slender and like Pulsat he owed his origins to
reptilian DNA, but his kind evolved from fish and possessed a scaly countenance
and silver scaled skin, a sleek form, large opaque eyes, pursed lips, and
gills.
He was also working for a mining company
when they met but he did his work underwater.
He also left his home world because of the
Mehreen but in Kessleria’s case they wanted the water, and in taking it they
essentially brought genocide to the peaceful Kesslerian’s.
Vanzyl was more fortunate than Pulsat as he
escaped from his home world with a large group of friends who supported and
comforted each other, but over the years following their exodus, as they
endured harsher and harsher conditions his friends perished one by one until he
was finally left alone.
Subsequently his loneliness was keenly felt
because his solitude was so extreme, and that was because he could only
communicate in clicks, whirls and whistles which none but his own kind could
understand, until that is Pulsat Rad arrived on Kordesh.
Pulsat worked his passage on a Pan Universal
Minerals Gargantuan cargo transporter and was part of the crew that unloaded
new processing plant to Kordesh and helped to manoeuvre it in situ, but when
the time came for the manager of the mine to press the start button the motors
ground to a halt after about 15 seconds causing a good deal of head scratching,
but very little else.
Until the moment the slender animated fish
like figure of Vanzyl approached the manager and began loudly whirling,
whistling and clicking at him.
“For God sake get this freak away from me”
the manager shouted and two burly security men began man handling him away
which caused Pulsat to rush forward.
“Stop, stop, he can fix, he can fix”
“Wait” the manager said to security and
then addressed Pulsat
“Do you understand what fish lips is
saying?”
This prompted a fresh utterance of whirls
whistles and clicks this time directed at Pulsat, because he could understand
every tone and toot as if it were in his own tongue, but that was common place
for his species, there were very few races he had met on his travels that he
couldn’t understand, although he couldn’t speak to them in their language, but
he nonetheless understood every word that they spoke.
“I said do you understand this freak?” the
manager shouted
“He ask me same question” Pulsat retorted
then added
“He know how to fix”
“How?” the manager barked and Vanzyl
renewed his emanations
“He say, intake hose connected outlet
valve”
“That’s not possible” one of the techs
responded dismissively
“He say” Pulsat repeated and shrugged
“Check it” the manager snapped
“It’s a waste of time” the tech said
“Check it”
“But…”
“Check it! Now!” he demanded and the tech
walked dejectedly away and ten minutes later he returned shamefaced.
“Well?” the manager demanded
“The hose was connected to the wrong valve”
he simpered
“So if I hit the start button will it
start?” the manager asked
“I think so” the tech replied
“I wasn’t asking you” he snapped
“I’m asking him” he said pointing at Vanzyl
who whistled a response which Pulsat translated
“Start, yes”
So the manager nodded and turned
confidently to the machine and hit the button and the great beast of a machine
roared into life.
After Vanzyl had saved the day, and the
blushes of the techs, he was promoted to engineer on the new plant, and because
he was only able to speak in clicks and whirls, which only Pulsat could
understand, he was also promoted, but it turned out that he too was an
excellent engineer.
They spent the next ten years working for
Pan Universal Minerals firstly on mining planets and latterly on a Gargantuan
cargo transporter and they were happy enough, they were well treated on the
whole, though were still made to feel like outcasts, and excluded from the main
group, but without malice, which was perhaps worse as that made them almost
anonymous.
But they would have happily stayed aboard
indefinitely, however when the Gargantuan was ordered to cross into Mehreen
space to deliver a new mining rig the pair parted company with Pan Universal
and disembarked on Alwi.
They hoped that with the glowing references
from their employer they would have no problem signing on with someone else but
on Alwi there were 10 would be workers competing for every vacancy so they were
out of luck, so they spent all of their time sitting on the terrace of the Alwi
Ambassadors Lodge, watching all the comings and goings and hoping to find a
suitable ship to crew on.
And it was there, after three long weeks
that they met Visitor Parham, and Pulsat liked him very much from the first
moment and he liked him even more when he said he preferred to be called “Bagg”
because the was the name for female genitalia on his world and it made him
smile very much when he heard people call him that name.
As it so happened Bagg was also looking for
transport off Alwi to continue his mission.
Visitors were a Christian sect who took to
the stars with the first migrants to visit new worlds, spreading the word while
seeking enlightenment, and they had established Visitor enclaves in every
corner of the known universe, they even thrived in Mehreen space and they were
the least spiritual beings to ever draw breath.
The difference between Visitors and the
established Christian Church on earth was its spontaneity, they didn’t wait
until Sunday to worship, they did it wherever and whenever it was desired and
it didn’t need to happen in a church, Visitors worshipped everywhere.
He had hitched a ride on a space dredger as
far as Alwi but it wasn’t going any further so he got off in the hope of
getting on another.
He found himself drawn to Pulsat and Vanzyl
as he had not encountered either a Prinsloovian or a Kesslerian before and he
found then to be very amiable and he found their relationship fascinating, so
he remained in their company as much as possible but every morning he left the
Lodge and went in search of transport for the three of them and on the fourth
day he re-joined his companions at midday with good news.
“Quickly you two” he gestured “I have found
a Tempest class freighter in need of an engineer”
“What like people?” Pulsat asked, but Bagg
knew that what he wanted to know was what species they were
“The Captain is human, and the navigator
appears to be also and the third is a Vann” Bagg explained
“We look?” Asked Pulsat
“We look” Bagg agreed
They stopped about fifty yards away and
looked at the ship, it wasn’t a huge ship as freighters go but pound for pound
the Tempests had the highest freight to fuel ratio yield of their class.
The front section comprised of a sizable
pressurized hold for large freight accessed via a front loading ramp, above
which was the flight deck, living and sleeping quarters, mess facilities and
bath rooms, at the rear was the main propulsion and amidships were the
universal pod bays, which allowed for a mixed cargo option.
“You wait here while I speak with the
Captain” Bagg said and Vanzyl clicked
“She is in engine?” Pulsat translated
“She is” Bagg responded
“Very bad place for Captain” Pulsat said
They watched their new friend walk towards
the ship and heard a scream emanate from within
“Argh!!!!”
“Very bad place for Captain” Pulsat said
and then they watched as a conversation ensued and after a short time the
Captain scrambled out of her oily tomb and wiped her oily hand on a rag before
offering it to him to shake.
After a further short converse Bagg turned
to look in their direction and gestured to them so they walked towards him.
“This is Merionwen Strong, Captain of the
Tornado” Bagg said
“Good meeting, I Pulsat Rad, this Vanzyl”
he said and clicks and whirls began to emanate from Vanzyl which were clearly
directed at Pulsat
“Ok I speak” he said and more clicks and
whirls followed
“I telling, I telling” Pulsat retorted and
to Merri he explained
“Vanzyl say we very much like fix engines,
very much like join crew Tornado”
“You fix the engines and you have a deal”
she said “on one condition”
“What is?” he asked
“The condition is that you don’t have any
strange eating habits” Merri explained and then she observed as the two
engineers in waiting looked at each other in what she supposed was puzzlement
until Vanzyl made a long whistling noise followed by a succession of clicks and
Pulsat snorted.
“No, no, we eat everything” he said and
then he and Vanzyl proceeded to investigate the engines leaving the Captain and
Bagg to talk.
Vanzyl whistled, whirled and clicked
audibly as he inspected the four Plasma Turbine Pyroclast Engines and the
associated panels and displays and Pulsat said
“Captain not engineer”
“Engines fixed” Pulsat said when they
entered the mess hall
“What already?” Merri asked “You’ve fixed
them both?”
“No” Pulsat replied
“We fix four”
“I already had two working” Merionwen said
indignantly which prompted Vanzyl to make a long whistling noise followed by a
succession of clicks and Pulsat snorted, which clearly denoted laughter in the
former and derision in the latter.
“We fix four” Pulsat repeated and everyone
laughed
“So you’ve done in four hours that I
haven’t been able to do in almost as many months”
“We are engineers” Pulsat said and everyone
laughed again
“Then it looks like we’re getting off this
rock at last” Merri said “and we have three new shipmates”
Then after the introductions were made
Merri said
“Now sit and eat”
“We eat here?” Pulsat asked
“Where else?” Merri said and Vanzyl uttered
a soft whistle like a plaintive flute, then he looked at his friend and
whistled again
“Like family, yes” Pulsat agreed
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