Kyle came to a few hours later with a groan. We set him down and gave him some water and rechecked his wounds.
“How are you, Kyle?” I asked.
“Awful. Did you kill that whatever it was?” he asked.
“Yes, Dave shot him with a projectile weapon,” said Shirley.
“A what?” he asked.
“Show him, Dave,” said Shirley.
I pulled the antique weapon from the hidden holster and held it out for a moment before placing it back.
“I thought those were found only in museums or the movies,” he said.
I replied, “Nope. There’s a place two blocks from the Academy that sells them. Never knew just when I’d need it. I bought it on the recommendation of a friend. The old man who runs the store won’t sell you one unless you test fire it, take it apart, clean it, and reassemble it in his presence. He believes in a person being responsible for and knowledgeable about such weapons.”
“You mean you have to learn all that before you can go to his store?” Kyle asked.
I said, “Oh, no! He taught me himself while I bought it. It just took an hour extra. I’m glad now though that I spent that hour.”
“You aren’t the only one,” Kyle admitted while letting out another groan.
Shirley asked, “You going to be able to walk or do you expect Yellow service back to the ship?”
He said, “Me? You’ve got to be kidding. Just give me a hand up and, if you don’t mind, pack away my hammock since I’m a little clumsy in that department right now. I’ll walk you both into the ground to get back.”
“That’s the spirit!” I said as encouragement.
We helped him up and repacked his hammock in his shoulder pack since his hands were both bandaged. His stinger rifle had to be slung over his other shoulder. Then we resumed our movement, only Kyle was now in the center since he couldn’t handle a weapon.
That night we helped Kyle into a suitable tree to spend the night. I switched shifts with him for night guard duty.
The next morning, it was a little harder getting Kyle out of the tree than it was to get him into it. He was feeling better, so we were moving along at almost our best pace again after we ate breakfast. Along the way, we talked about the electrical creature, comparing it to electrical eels on Earth and how we might fight another one if we had to. We kept the stretcher poles as a precaution, in case Kyle became sick or developed any after effects later. We decided that the wooden poles were probably the best thing we could use to fend off an electrical creature without getting shocked. I hoped that none of those creatures had shown up at our ship. They would have been helpless against it, in all likelihood.
I had no such hopes for the Ape-oids. I wished them all the bad luck and misfortune they could get. It wasn’t because I hated them. On the contrary, I felt no hate for them. They were simply the enemy who attacked my people when we tried to approach them diplomatically as we had with the Blues. If anything, we weren’t looking for a war. We were more interested in exploration, trade, and bettering ourselves.
The fact that our Navy was armed wasn’t because we wanted to fight but to defend ourselves against the terrors of space and unexplored planets. Had our Navy been solely for the purpose of fighting, I’m sure we would have had a lot more ships and bigger guns than were on the ships. What was on the ships was mostly to fend off asteroids and for shore defense against wild animals. At least, that’s what the weapons had been used for before. Of course, the weapons were used against pirates, but that wasn’t exactly the same as preparing for a war. I will admit that our Navy spent a lot of time talking about tactics and strategy, but that was again mostly for use against pirates and because some long range thinkers said that we might someday come across a downright hostile race. None of us imagined the someday would come so soon.
So, I didn’t hate or fear the Ape-oids. I respected them for having achieved as much as they had and for their obvious abilities. I wished they would become our friends and not remain enemies. The moment when they were willing to lay aside the weapons and embrace us as fellow intelligent beings, I would gladly do the same. But until that moment came, I would fight them with all the ferocity and skill I could muster.
It took us only a half-day longer to return to our ship than it had taken to get to the alien ship. I was glad to see that everyone was alive and well. Immediately, I called a meeting, described the electrical creature, and warned everyone that firing a stinger was useless. After the meeting, several crew members went to secure more wooden staffs for use in fending off the electrical creatures should any appear.
The surgeon took a look at Kyle’s wounds and took him to the sick bay where the surgeon treated him with more medicines and re-bandaged him. Shirley took the recorder, plugged it into the computer, and started analyzing the images. I joined her a few minutes later, along with the rest of my officers.
“Well, so far, I’ve figured out that their communications are in shambles. It’s right here in this image,” said Shirley.
“That’s a plus for us. That means they can’t call in reinforcements to help them or to finish us off,” I remarked. “What else have you spotted so far?”
“From the looks of it, they’re in worse shape, but they’ve got more… manpower? I’ll use that term for now. Anyway, they’re working faster than we are. This could be a real drag race to see who gets off the planet first,” Shirley replied.
“Looks like their weapons are half-gone,” said Lieutenant Grade. “If we get off first, they’re not going to be able to oppose us.”
“Yes, but they only need one heavy weapon if they get off the planet first,” I reminded him.
“I know,” he said.
“Their sensors are shot to hell and back,” replied Lieutenant Mike Andor. “Look at what they’re using to cover the ship with.”
“Do you think that their space sensors are just as bad off?” I asked.
He said, “Absolutely. See that opening into the ship. Zoom in on that opening, Shirley. Thanks. See! The whole panel is off as I thought. The circuit boards are in pieces. They’ve jury-rigged what they’ve got out so far. In fact, those sensors might not even work.”
“You mean we did all that skulking for nothing?” asked Shirley.
“Probably,” replied Mike.
“Okay, what else can we see about their condition?” I asked although I was seeing much of what they were. I wanted to be sure that they were contributing and gaining more confidence. Besides, I might have missed something.
Mike added, “I don’t think they can bombard us from the atmosphere or space. They’re not going to be able to target us. Maybe if they come over real low so that their gunners can aim manually, but then they’re going to be in easy range for us to return fire. I’d suggest that we man one or both of the Mark III quads in the front of the ship.”
I said, “Okay, Mason, go ahead and put gunners on the two Mark III quads as well. The scaffolding is up now and repairs are proceeding decently from what I could see when we got here. You all did a pretty fair amount of work while we were gone. Remember to pass on these remarks to your people. They’ll appreciate hearing them and they’ll work better. I trust that we’ve got everyone working?”
“Yes,” replied Lieutenant Mason Grade. “The two injured people are working as gunners on the Mark II singles part of the time and fetching tools the other part.”