20: Faux Orbital
Basil walked through the door of the crashed craft in an attempt to take advantage of the situation. He stepped into what appeared to be some sort of cockpit or command center with what looked to be some sort of control panel which seemed to have no interface of any kind. The being was on the ground, covering its face with its arm while simultaneously keeping its palms extended in what Basil expected was a fairly universal sign of surrender. Even after all that had happened the sight of such a seemingly formidable being being terrified of him felt unnerving in its own right, even after everything he had experienced.
Basil re-drew his handgun, pointed it at the ground, and approached the being. “Who are you?” Basil asked, trying to project the most authority in his voice despite his injuries, confusion, and fear. The being began to shake and Basil began to feel guilty at the terror he seemed to be causing, but not guilty enough to stop as he repeated the question when the being did not answer. "
“In the language we both speak, answer me!” The being uncovered its face slightly and spoke again. “I am
“Why are you here?” The being seemed to pause before answering Basil’s second question. “Our
“What happened after that?” Basil asked, changing the topic. The being’s fear seemed to be momentarily overtaken by another expression Basil could not read, but fear seemed to quickly return and it covered its face again. “The savages killed everyone and forced me to explain our devices to them.”
“And why did they not kill you?” Basil asked. “Because I refused to fight and let myself be captured.” Basil pivoted the conversation. “And where are the rest of your people?” The being seemed even more upset with Basil. “I already told you, they were killed by-” but Basil interrupted the being. “No, the society they came from. Where are they and what is your standing with them?” The being paused for a moment as if to think, but before Basil began to speak again the being answered his question. “There are no others in this place, are you
“What happened to them?” The being only shook its head. “They all died. That is what I was told, but you are here now. There may be others, but not in outpost systems.” Basil, not expecting that answer, tried to hide his surprise and asked another question. “You called me an Orbital earlier, what is that?” The moment those words left Basil’s mouth he already regretted asking that question.
Spiro poked his head in, finally curious and brave enough to see what the two aliens were doing. The being, having just heard Basil’s last question, stood and seemed to realize that Basil had not been an ‘Orbital,’ whatever that was. As the being took several steps towards Basil all confidence in his control of the situation evaporated. He took several steps back which only seemed to embolden the being, who took on more of a menacing expression, to which Basil raised his handgun. The being seemed unfazed by the weapon Basil brandished, which caused Basil to take another step back, tripping over something on the apparent floor of the craft and landing on one of the seemingly empty consoles. A flash hit the three as the consols turned on. Spiro jumped back at the surprise of the light, and the being jumped back at the implications of what had just happened.
To Basil’s surprise, his phone started to ring. “Hello?” Basil asked, hands shaking. ACE answered. “You made it back, I was worried you were dead or captured.” Basil was in disbelief. “What do you mean?”
“Your PDA is within range of the Arkepello wormhole device, where are you? I was told of an attack by some unknown aircraft and that you perished or were taken during an ensuing fight. Be careful, however, Jarvis is going around saying you betrayed the Arkepello so use caution when you return. I do not know how they will react when they see you.”
Basil sat in stunned silence. Spiro and the being watched him intently, having heard the conversation, and Cicero poked his head in. “Are you there?” ACE asked, snapping Basil out of his shock. “I was taken, I um” Basil paused for a second. “The Lizard King evidently got his hands on alien ships after fighting off an invasion. I’m calling you from a broken ship on a third planet, which was destroyed by something.” ACE seemed to be processing something, but another thought occurred to Basil. “Wait, how did Jarvis get back?” Basil looked at his watch, not even an hour had passed since he had stepped into the ship in the Redcap capital. “Basil, it’s been three days since the reports of the attack came in.” Basil’s hands resumed shaking, but ACE seemed to have found whatever he was processing. “I do see something weird going on with the connection, hold on.” The line went dead, and the holographic interfaces on the crashed ship went blank.
Everyone looked on blankly in bewilderment, everyone except Basil looking at him, and Basil staring blankly at his seemingly magic phone. Moments later the lights came back on and his phone rang again. “Well, that is very interesting, your implant appears to be interfacing with the supposed ship you are on. It is reporting the correct time, but your phone appears to be very off. I predict that the dead aliens are where the research facility found the technology. It also appears that there is a pretty big back door that your implant just exploited, it just placed us both in full control over the system. Give me a moment to run some things.”
Basil shook his head, forgetting that ACE could not see him. “They’re not all dead, there’s a survivor in here now.” The room fell quiet again, but after what felt like several minutes of silence the being spoke. “The access is to all
“So if I were to touch you?” Basil asked hesitantly. “What?” The being asked. Basil’s words almost trembled. “You said flesh minds?” The being looked very angry at Basil asking if its mind could be hijacked. “No. Machines with flesh minds, not people. You appear to have somehow found an Orbital’s implant. Or a false one made by a protector. That is all. You truly do not know what you possess?” Basil shook his head and ACE seemed to have more important questions on his own synthetic mind. “Are there any other (Elthrice) around, either that may be a threat or that may be able to provide transportation?” The being seemed hesitant. “Maybe,” it said, before pausing and seeming to recolect something.
“My people detected some (Elthrice) in the area. Old (Elthrice). But they were likely passing through, and would not likely be friendly to any of you.” The being gestured to Spiro, Cicero, and Casio. “They would also definitely not be friendly to me, or be friendly to you” the being gestured to Basil “With an Orbital’s device.”
ACE spoke again. “In those circumstances, wait for the Lizard King to return and say or do whatever you can to get him to permit you to leave. I will stay in contact with you in the meantime.” After some time passed Basil broke the silence, aiming his words towards the being. “I’m sorry about how I treated you earlier. I’m Basil, what’s your name?” Basil could see the being did not appear to be happy with Basil after recalling their previous conversation, but confusion and fatigue still seemed to be the dominant expression on its face. “I already gave you my name, but you were unable to understand it.”