“If you guys have the mining under control, I’m going to take a little walk.”

  “Enjoy your walk, sir,” SC replied. “I will notify you once the deposit has been extracted and stored.”

  I followed the path down the sloping hillside. Even though I had only gone maybe fifty meters, my muscles ached as if I had just run five kilometers. I was almost to the point of panting as my heart raced from the exertion.

  “It’ll be fine. Just have to acclimate to the environment.” I squatted then sat down hard, cracking through the purple crust. “Colonists are going to love this place,” I mumbled, attempting to convince myself. “This will be one of the most well-known vacation resorts in the galaxy. I forced myself to my feet and continued down the slope slowly. The narrow valley was all of maybe ten meters wide at the most. At the bottom on the opposite side, an oddly sharp corner of all things caught my attention. It didn’t look natural in the slightest and looked as if a portion of the carpet-like fungoid had detached and fallen away. Stepping closer to examine the area, it looked as if the fungoid had maybe died. A cross-section was easily visible, with the hardened outer crust protecting the lifeform, then the substrate beneath that resembled a carved, decorative marble wall. That’s when the realization hit me.

  “It’s a building,” I gasped. I looked up along the edge of the wall that rose maybe three stories high from the bottom of the small valley that was once street level. “We’re mining on the top of a town.”

  I picked at the exposed edge of the fungoid with my finger and it flaked away. Pulling my standard-issue survival knife, I pried at the lifeform covering the ancient structure. It crackled and crunched as the weight of the thing assisted in peeling it away from the outer wall of the structure. I stepped back as a large slab of the creature pulled free from the building and collapsed to the ground at my feet. The gaping maw of the building where windows and a door would have once stood emptily stared back at me.

  “Anyone home?” I cautiously stepped forward to peer inside the structure. A thick layer of dust covered everything within sight. I stepped through the opening, letting my eyes adjust to the shadows. I kicked at a small mound of dust on the ground that shifted and let out a squeaking grunt. The sound of cracking purple crust from the street outside caught my attention.

  “That really doesn’t sound good.” I backed out of the structure. The mound let out another grunt that was echoed and answered all along the street/valley. More of the squeaking grunts accompanied the sound of cracking crust.

  I turned and rushed back to the slope following the path I had originally descended from. “Nope, that is not a good thing.”

  My muscles screamed as I fought my way up the short slope. Forcing my way to the top in half the time it had taken me to go down, my heart threatened to leap from my chest. I leaned over, bracing myself on my knees as I tried to catch my breath. I turned, looking back down the slope and froze. At least a dozen bright yellow slug-like creatures had appeared. A hard armored carapace of fluorescent orange covered the forward section of the creatures. The evening sun glinted off of the carapace’s metallic surface. Their bodies wriggled and undulated as they raced up the slope behind me. The lead creature let out another screeching grunt and the rest of the pack responded. Long tentacle-like appendages extended from along the sides of each creature, propelling them along faster like oars on a boat.

  I turned and forced myself to run as fast as my legs would carry me in the heavy gravity. My knees screamed with each hurried step.

  “SC! NV! Help!”

  My right foot broke through the crusty surface into a deep hole. I stumbled forward, falling to my hands and knees.

  Dad is going to be so proud.

  “I can see the headlines now. Captain Blake Daniels, devoured by space slugs on his first trip into the black.” I yanked my leg free from the hole and crawled forward. Glancing back, I saw the lead slug closing the gap, only a few meters away. “Oh, this is just absolutely fracking perfect!” I was shocked at the angry sarcasm in my own voice, but it didn’t stop me. I continued crawling as fast as I could in the direction of the terrain vehicle.

  “SC!”

  “Get back to the terrain vehicle, sir,” one of the androids said as it rushed forward. “Do you wish to capture the specimens, sir?”

  “Sure, SC. Knock yourself out there, Buddy.”

  “I am CO sir,” the android said dryly.

  “I don’t care! Just stop it!” I forced myself forward. Each agonizing meter was worse than the last, but I had finally made it to the terrain vehicle’s loading ramp.

  “SC! NV! EN! Get out there and hold them off while I bring the stunners online!”

  The androids replied with a unanimous “Affirmative, sir,” then charged into action. I glanced over my shoulder to see CO grappling with the lead slug, its tentacles wrapped around the android's arms, pinning them against its side. A maw opened on the underside of the beast revealing rows of triangular teeth with the same metallic sheen as the armor plating before it engulfed CO’s robotic head.

  “Oh, Gods!” I rushed into the cockpit and activated the terrain vehicle’s stunner system. The smell of crackling ozone filled the air.

  “Get clear, CO! Targeting your position now!” I frantically tapped at the controls, aiming the stunner at the offending creature. It had already engulfed over half of CO’s body when they both fell over and the slug continued chewing its way further over the android’s body.

  I activated the comms. “CO! Do you copy? I repeat, do you copy?”

  “Captain, this is MD.”

  “Go ahead.”

  “I am afraid that CO’s spark has been extinguished, sir. I am not picking up any readings from his transponder.”

  “Die you groum’r slug!” I fired on the creature. It continued working its way up CO’s body unabated. The stunner capacitors hummed as they recharged from the previous shot. I smacked the console out of frustration. “Come on, hurry the hell up!”

  Two more of my android crewmen fell to the attacking slugs. “To the hells with this!” I deactivated the stunner and activated the TV’s defensive laser. More and more of the slugs appeared as I waited for the system to warm up. As soon as the system went green, I fired. Sparks flew from the back of the lead slug but didn’t slow it down in the slightest. Horrified, I watched as the slug worked its rubbery maw over the tip of CO’s foot.

  The TV suddenly shifted.

  “Sir,” one of the other androids said over the comms. “May I suggest that you flee the premises, sir. CO, NV, and SC are all offline and the creatures have disabled the terrain vehicle.”

  “How is that even possible? I thought these TVs were good for most environments?” I stood and leaned over, looking down from the windscreen. Three slugs were working their way up the side of the TV.

  “The creatures seem to be excreting a combination of concentrated acidic compounds, sir.”

  “How do you know that they are excreting some sort of acid?”

  “Because one of the creatures has already removed my left leg, sir.”

  “What?”

  “Please, sir. I have activated emergency storage backup and uploaded myself and the others to the ship’s computer. You may revive us at any time by installing us into a new chassis. Please, sir. Save yourself.”

  The main control console of the terrain vehicle suddenly went dark. I tapped at the controls, but all power was offline.

  “Maybe MD was right, and it’s time to go after all.” I hurried out of the cockpit and down the loading ramp. On one side, slugs devoured what was left of two of my crew. I hurried around the opposite side of the TV and stumbled toward the east. If I could just make it far enough away that I didn’t draw the creature's attention, I could make it back to the ship, I thought. I made my way down the slope in an easterly direction. After fifty meters or so, I turned north and made my way to the beach as fast as I could force my aching muscles to go. Two steps into the parking garage of the Vixen and I stopped at the sound of a familiar grunt that sent a chill up my spine. I turned to find a small, six-centimeter-long version of the alien slug creatures crawling toward me.

  “Not on my ship!”

  I brought my booted foot down on top of the miniature creature with a satisfying and resounding thud.

  “Don’t worry yourself, Blake. I took care of everything.”

  “What are you talking about?” I asked the image of my father, who loomed larger than life over me on the bridge’s main viewscreen.

  “The penalty for filing a bad colony world claim.”

  “Yeah, I was only fined 100 Mu for the inhospitable crushing gravity of the planet since it was my first.”

  My father laughed and shook his head knowingly. “I guess ignorance is bliss, isn’t it?”

  “What do you mean, Dad?”

  “Never mind. Just take care of yourself and be safe out there, Blake. Your mother would shoot me if anything happened to you.”

  “I’ll do my best not to get killed.”

  “You do that, and make us proud, Son. I have to go. Pressing matters with Interstel.”

  “I will Dad.”

  The viewscreen shifted to a view of the Starport docking bay. Berth after berth of docked ships lined the bay.

  I turned back to the command display mounted to the right arm of my command chair and scrolled through the latest Nyssball scores.

  “Captain.”

  I looked up from the command display at the empty bridge surrounding me. After all that time alone with the walking tin cans, I kind of missed them now. “Yes, MD?”

  “The recruits have arrived sir,” MD said through the bridge speakers.

  “Good. Have them meet me in the ship’s commons. Tell them to grab a snack from the galley if they’d like and that I’ll be down shortly.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Please bring up the personnel files and display them on the main view screen, MD. I want to refresh my memory before I meet the crew.”

  “Right away, sir.”

  The data readout of the first personnel file flashed onto the main viewscreen followed by the image of a very young and very chipper-looking officer. The smile on her face was wide enough to be comical.

  “Ciarra Jade. science officer. First voyage. Pay rate, specialist first class. She holds specialized degrees in geology, metallurgy, astrophysics, microbiology, xenobiology, and genetics.”

  The image changed to a dark reddish-brown Velox.

  “Xixxaphhy, chief engineer. He is a veteran crew member with over six decades of experience. Pay rate, deck officer.”

  The image shifted and displayed another Velox with brighter reds to light purples on its shoulders and a crystal pendant hung around its neck.

  “Ponoxse, navigator. She is a recent graduate of the academy, pay rate, specialist second class, specializing in hyperspace theory.”

  “Bosun Beau "BB" Smith,” MD said as the image of a scraggly, red-bearded man with a long scar down one side of his face appeared on the screen.

  “MD?”

  “Yes, sir?”

  “Why does he look like a pirate?”

  “I do not know, sir. But he is now the ship’s bosun, pay rate of chief mate. Fifteen years of experience on nearly every class of ship that Arth companies have produced.”

  “Alright, who was our new communications officer?”

  “Ry T'Hhay'S Synnn,” MD said as the image of a dark grey Thrynn, decorated in rich colors appeared on the screen. “Communications officer, familiar with all Arthian languages and dialects as well as proficient in programming and manipulating the latest translation software.”

  The image shifted once again to a woody stalked Elowan with greyish-yellow leaves. “Lastly we have Doctor Yerthhn. He has doctorates in microbiology, reconstructive virology, xenobiology, and genetic anthropology. He was at the forefront of Arthian medicine decades before the space program began.”

  I shook my head in confusion. “If he’s over one hundred years old, why is he going out into the black?”

  “I can not speculate his reasoning, sir.”

  “If nothing else, this will be an interesting cruise. Shall we go meet the new crew, MD?”

  “At your discretion, sir.”

  “Remind me to reprogram you with one of those new personality mods the next time we’re in Starport and I have the MU to cover it.”

  “As you wish, sir.”

  I made my way from the bridge to the ship’s commons in moments. I could feel lady luck changing her ways for me. The spring I felt in my step was proof enough of that.

  I could hear a strange chittering sound as I approached the compartment that stopped as suddenly as MD announced my arrival with the sounding of an ancient Bosun’s whistle.

  The large reddish-brown Velox reached up and removed the offending intercom speaker from the wall with little effort.

  “That would probably make you, Xixxaphhy, wouldn’t it?”

  The large Velox nodded with a chitter.

  I clapped my hands together and looked around the room at the other occupants.

  “Welcome aboard the Vixen. I am your captain, Blake Daniels.”

  I glanced from one silent face to the next then continued.

  “I know that things may become somewhat uncomfortable at times with everyone in such close quarters for extended periods, but I have no doubt that we are the best crew in the Interstel fleet. We will seek out new worlds, new life, and boldly go where no other Arthian has gone before!”

  Each of them continued to stare at me in silence.

  “Any questions?”

  The young science officer quietly raised her hand from behind the Thrynn.

  “Yes, um Ciarra, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “You had a question?”

  The rest of the crew turned to look in her direction.

  “Why do the ship’s sanitation bots have knives taped to them?”

  “I reprogramed them to act as the ship’s security primary to their cleaning protocols. Better to have someone on duty when we’re off ship cruising around an alien planet in the TV so nothing sneaks on board while we aren’t here.”

  I looked from one confused face to another. “Any other questions?”

  Each and every one of them slowly shook their heads.

  “Great! MD, please direct our crew to their quarters so they can stow their gear and we can get underway. Meet me on the bridge in ten.”

  “Captain to the bridge!” Ponoxse, the ship’s Velox navigator shouted over the comms followed by an ear-piercing chittering.

  Warning klaxons rang out across the ship. I ran to the forward most hatch and climbed up to the bridge instead of waiting on the lift.

  “Status!”

  “We have an unidentified vessel approaching at a high rate of speed,” Ciarra replied. “I’m picking up energy readouts equivalent to Class Four engines and Class Two missile launchers that are offline, sir.”

  “Shields up! Arm all weapons systems,” I shouted without thinking.

  Ponoxse turned in her seat at the helm and cocked her head oddly to the side. “The Vixen isn’t equipped with shields or any type of weapons system, sir.”

  “Can we outrun them?”

  “They could run circles around us without breaking a sweat,” Ponoxse replied then turned back to her console.

  “We’re rrreceiving a transssmission, sir,” Ry, the communications officer announced in her hissing tone.

  “What does it say?”

  “Rrressspond.”

  “Respond to what?”

  “Maybe it’s an automated response, Cap,” Ciarra offered. “I’m not picking up any life signs aboard.”

  I took my seat as a chill ran up my spine. “What’s our location?”

  “We are currently at coordinates 138 x 110. We’re four parsecs away from the G class star selected for exploration.

  “Show me the star chart on the main viewscreen.”

  As soon as the star chart flashed onto the screen and I saw our current location marker flashing like it was intentionally mocking me, my heart nearly leapt out of my chest.

  “That isn’t good.”

  “What isn’t good, sir?” Ciarra asked.

  I rubbed at my temples as a preemptive strike against the headache I knew was coming. “There have been reports of ships being attacked or going missing coreward of Arth. A colony transport, the Stormhaven, was found adrift with battle damage. All crew and passengers aboard were lost. The oddest thing about it was that the cargo was still intact.”

  “Sssir, they are rrrepeating their lasst hail,” Ry said.

  The aft hatch to the bridge opened with a hiss and Xixxaphhy appeared. “This had better be good. I was in the middle of recalibrating the condensation scrubbers.” The large, tattooed Velox crossed his four arms and glared down at me. “If I don’t get the ratio adjusted perfectly, then we’ll have corrosion and pitting starting throughout the ship.”

  “Ciarra, bring up a magnified view of our unexpected guest,” I ordered.

  “Aye, sir.”

  “What do you make of that, Xix?” I pointed at the ship displayed on the main viewscreen.

  “It’s ancient,” the old Velox said as he stepped closer to the viewscreen. “Looks like it’s been out here a long time. See that patch of scaring across the hull? It’s probably seen more than a few micrometeor storms before. Been in more than a few fire fights too if that carbon scoring across the dorsal ridge is any indication.”

  I stood and stepped up next to Xix. “Any idea who they might be?”

  Xix let out a low chittering. His mandibles clicked together as he drifted off in thought. “Some of the design characteristics remind me of Noah 2.”