“Wake up Lothory.” The Captain shouts at the doorway and doesn’t bother going in. He turns the next corner down the corridor as her head lifts up to see the open door. A quick look around convinces her to wake up. This must be the third round Captain Bilrick has done this day. The dorm was completely empty; all 50 beds neatly folded and vacant. Her heart jumped into gear and in under a minute she was showered, dressed, and running down to her appointed workspace.
The corridors of the Malayand were grey-green and depressing. When the green turned red, the internal gravity in specific quarters of the ship was disabled. Usually it was only accidentally done when the ship had to maneuver to avoid space debris or needed the extra fuel for sudden bursts, but sometimes they must be doing it for the fun of it. At the moment, she was kind of hoping it would happen.
Maline called out to her just as she turned the corridor to her assigned area. “How did you know it was me?” Loth asked when she came to a stop before him. They were from the same planet and were rather shorter than the average man, right above the elbow. Two white lines, which helped identify the race, ran from the ridge of their noses, under their eyes, and behind the slope of their ears. These lines continued their trail down the neck to the small of the back. There were other such lines of similar length, about half an inch, which ran from the belly button down to the Achilles heel. Such markings were natural and grew whiter with excitement and dimmer with sorrow. Right now you could barely make them out for all the gloom.
“You’re getting heavy. I could hear you coming a far off. How is that? We’re prisoners, exiled, and you’re growing fat.”
“Cut it Mal.” Loth sneered.
“Late morning on your first day!” Maline teased again.
“Like I should be excited to work on a travel ship. Cleaning kitchens and dinning rooms and toilets.”
“It’s good clean simple work.”
“It’s picking up after old-offs.”
“Goof-offs.” His lines lit up just slightly. What with correcting her, and her dull blue eyes sparked with amusement, it was great fun.
“GET IN.” A door opened and closed before the pair could react.
“I think we’re assigned to him.” Mal answered and reached absently to scratch his absent beard. His other hand went for the door and pushed it open. The two walked in to find a small dining area with one man sitting at the end of a long long table. He was clearly human. Sharp evil eyes, proper manners, and a stubborn gaze that lingered on the pair no matter how hard they tried to avoid it. But bending and looking aside won’t get you very far around humans.
“Is my file correct?” The man blurted out suddenly after two solid minutes of silence and staring. His voice was very large and deafening. The two jumped a little then approached quickly to stand behind the empty chairs.
“Eh…I beg your pardon?” Maline spoke the proper English, but a bit gruffly due to his native tongue.
“Is my file on the both of you correct?” he asked again, less patiently somehow. They looked at each other at first then nodded. The file he was referring to was on the table. The pages open but they couldn’t read it if they tried. At the training camps they were only taught to speak the language, not read it. Their own language wasn’t even written in the same style. They could only hope that file was accurate. “I have here a Lotherory and Mileline.”
“It’s Maline actually. Sir!”
The man lifted his eyes to study the interrupter for a few more seconds. It was unnerving. Maline even took a step back. “Picked up yesterday from Raxel, a…?”
“Mining colony.” They both answered.
“Used to hard labour. Captured three years ago from their home planet by the Federation. Trained for two months. Seen unfit for combat and demoted to labour task. Is this right?”
“Yes Sir.” They both responded.
“Then why have I been waiting?”
“We…I.” Loth kept quiet after his keen stare.
“Your kind, labour task, think a transport ship full of passengers is a time to lift your little legs in the air and sleep.”
“We will get all our work done in time.” Maline intervened and the tensions died down a little; but too quickly though, like he was baiting them. The man closed the files and stood up. He walked towards them and came to tower over the two.
“We’re transporting 40,000 residents to a new planet. None of which you will see.”
They looked at each other again.
“Your lot will single-handedly deal with engine maintenance as punishment for your tardiness.” The white lines grew dimmer, if that was even possible. “You will not miss a single day. You will not discuss your cleaning with any of the other staff. You will report directly to me at all times. Are we clear?”
“Yes Sir.” They shouted, though their brows were still knotted in open confusion.
“You will come through these door and follow him.” A man appeared suddenly in the corner of the room startling them. He must have been watching closely, based off of where he was sitting. Strange. They couldn’t see him at all. Maybe he’s not human. “Now go!” The man finished and Loth kicked her heels to run to the other guy but Maline stayed longer.
“I’m sorry to ask you sir.” He used his sweet musical voice, a trait of their kind. “If we don’t find you here again…in case we…get lost.”
“My name is Lucas Anderlain.”
“You’re to work until you finish your daily quota.” Lucas said and they sped off after the other man.
The other man greeted them and pointed to go. He offered no name and even had no identifiable mannerisms. They ended up referring to him like most people do, ‘The man with the slopped ears.’ The three walked briskly to a second door, which led into another corridor. After a long walk, with no interconnecting rooms or doors, they opened a single door to the engine room.
They filled the entryway, staring broadly at the large place that was nearly five acres. “Is this the engine room?” Loth asked and the man turned abruptly to look at them.
“Do you know what the engine room looks like?” It was the first time he spoke and his voice had a near electric quality.
“No.” She answered quickly then looked up with a smile. “I just thought it ought to be noisy.”
“No.” He turned to look for something then pointed. “There are your supplies. You are to reconnect chains and clean all pipes and connectors. Do you know how to do this?”
“Start.” The man left through the door and then they heard a click locking them in from the other side.
“I guess we’re not here to clean kitchens and dinning rooms and toilets.” Loth laughed lightly. “But…what are these things?” Loth asked and they looked again at the whole room. Not room either, more like a battlement. It was filled with large cylinder like coffins or shells, held in place by numerous chains and supports. Almost every single section of the entire five acres was filled with them, not a space gone empty. The two spread out and touched the smooth exterior. It had no visible openings, markings, or even buttons. Like the medicine pills they were forced to take in the training grounds. Maline’s light knock didn’t even offer guidance to what lay inside, only hard and with little reverberation.
“Have you seen anything like this in your training?” Maline asked.
“Then…maybe that’s why they chose us to do maintenance here. These might be weapons they don’t want the guests finding out about.” Maline said, deep in thought.
“But why would a passenger ship have weapons of any kind? Isn’t that against the law, the Federation law?” She said the last part sarcastically but the weight of her words wasn’t lost on them. Breaking any Federation law was such a grievous offence that, to date, no one knew what really happened to those accused.
“Maybe they are not weapons, just some secret illegal something.” Maline shrugged. “Either way I don’t really care. It’s three days work. They get were they’re going in four. Whatever these are is none of our business. Start from that end and we’ll meet in the middle.” Maline ordered and was off to get supplies, rags and other things. Loth followed out and they fell silently to the routine of cleaning, reconnecting valves, checking connectors, and cleaning. The whole room was done earlier than their allotted time. You could thank that to their type of metabolism, which was unique to specific races.
“Meal time.” Maline shouted and dropped his rag recklessly in some kind of protest. He ended up picking it anyway and they brought back all supplies exactly where they found them and exactly how they found them.
They approached the door. “We have to go through here.” Loth’s boredom led to this announcement, Maline only nodded. She reached for the handle. “It’s still locked!” As soon as she said this though, they heard a click and the door flew open. The man with the slopped ears was waiting there. “Your meal is ready.” He said and turned to lead the way. Only their fear moved them after him. Were they elsewhere, they probably would have ran away.
The dinning area wasn’t as empty as they expected it to be. Lucas wasn’t even there. Instead, it was filled with their unit, eating and staring around. “This is where your platoon will be dining until your scheduled time aboard this space ship comes to an end.” The slopped ears man said and they nodded. “Also,” he leaned in, or rather, leaned down slightly, “Tell no one of what you’ve seen.” They nodded again and he left and walked through another door, shutting it soundly. They looked at each other, both of them thinking, ‘he’s probably going to watch us from the other side.’
“Remember when we cleaned toilets for one whole year?” Loth asked sarcastically.
“I can still smell it!” Maline snorted.
“When did our lives become so exciting?” Loth asked with a big smile on her face.
“Pipe down unless you want to get killed.” Maline warned.
They walked to their seat on the table, the only seats left empty. Once they sat down all eyes turned to face them in anger. Slaves or servants like themselves were restricted in emotional range except for key instances. This was one of them. The high chairs hid their eyes somewhat, and the sitting positions allowed for only those directly before them to see their faces. Maline and Loth returned the same glances.
“So you’re the guys who’ve grounded us in one location on one of the biggest space ships in existence?” Someone said.
“Malayand isn’t the biggest.” Loth protested then went silent. Maline’s nudge was very clear, even to everyone else on the table. They turned back to the food and took on a lighter tone.
“So what are you guys cleaning anyway?” Jacob asked cautiously and with a friendlier gaze but everyone still felt the same fear linger in his words.
“Engine room.” Loth answered and Maline quickly elbowed her again. “I mean…the…it’s…something…” Defeated, “Yeah, engine room.” She repeated and Maline rolled his eyes in anger.
“Desk station.” Someone else volunteered their assignment.
“Surveillance room…floor…section.” Spoke another confused voice.
“Bathrooms.” A lady said then felt the need to reiterate. “Although it’s only for about 100 people or so so very little actually.”
They all turned to face the only silent groups on the table. They started shaking their heads and shrugged. “Don’t know what we are cleaning really.”
“That’s interesting!” Loth commented.
“No it’s not.” Maline quickly jumped in. “There are over 5,000 people like us on this ship. We’re not any special nor is what we’re cleaning.”
“That’s true. The Malayand can actually have over 6,000 workers.” Jacob started but Loth quickly interjected, “5,000” “But,” he ignored her, “why aren’t we allowed out there to meet them, or see them” Jacob said. He was concerned. For his race and species, there was more comfort in certainty and routine. He was a Nuthlaring, also a member of the humanoid form, as they all were, but his narrow eyes, slow heart rate, and steady tone meant he didn’t do well under such suspicious conditions.
Man with the slopped ears
“I don’t mind actually.” Maline said
“Besides, if we interact with the workers we have to interact with the free people. I don’t want to see them.” A lady said and they all nodded. The conversations suddenly split. Some started talking about their home planets, others about the training grounds, but no one dared talk about their work structure again. After the meal most walked in silent files back to their sleeping quarters. Others, who hadn’t finished their work, disappeared through different doors. The man with the slopped ears saw them off in all those directions.
The actual sleeping room was only one room, with several other adjacent rooms, that could fit all fifty of them. The first door led to the beds, which were metallic double deckers in five rows of ten. The walls around these beds, and under the beds, were drawers for clothes and storage of other items. The adjacent rooms were for other stuff. There was an adjacent room that led to the showers, one to the game room, another to a television room, and yet another to a small observation deck looking out into space. All these rooms filled up instantly with the thirty or so, instantly engaged in the different functions.
Loth hang around the sleeping quarters, looking suspicious. She specifically hang around those who didn’t know what they were cleaning. Maline noticed, shrugged and went off to take a shower. There was only so much he could do once she got a plan in her head. When ‘everyone else’ left into the adjacent rooms, Loth made her approach on a group of three still seated together discussing. She squeezed herself right in the middle.
“Can we help you?” One of them complained and pushed at Loth who still kept squeezing in.
“I never got your names.” She said with an easy smile, the white of her face growing more brilliant, if only slightly. “You are all one race, right?”
“Yeah, like you and Maline.” The same lady spoke again.
“So…your names.” This part was hard, even for a bubbly character like her.
“I’m Tasfira.” The lady seating opposite Loth said.
“I’m Jalsira.” Said the lady pushing at Loth.
“I’m Puniran.” Said the man, on Loth’s other side.
“Strange names.” Loth said and they scowled at her. “Not like that. I mean…I bet my race has stranger sounding names than yours. My full name is Lothory.”
“There were long introductions on the first day. Yesterday.” Tasfira spoke, matter-of-factly, and they looked at Loth with condescension.
“Yeah…” She rubbed her neck. “You look pretty human. Any distinctions?”
“Like a white line across our faces?” Jalsira jested and they all laughed. “You look pretty human too, we all do. That’s the standard for this kind of army. If you’ve forgotten that as well.” They laughed again. “But, if you must know, we are Syndians. We have a different network of nerves and body organs.”
“Cool.” She smiled. “Sounds…internal.” It took a while, a small pause even, but now they were laughing with her, at the strange manner in which she spoke, and her strange remark. She let the mood last enough for her question not to be jarring. “You don’t know where you’re working?”
“Could you describe it to me?” At her words they looked at each other again. “Let me guess. The man with the slopped ears told you not to say anything.” Their eyes tilted to her expressively. They are probably scared silent, she thought. She decided to do the description. “It’s all large cylinder casings, large as a human coffin and spread about the whole place.”
“Maybe we should have just called it an engine room and saved ourselves the trouble of you questioning us.” Puniran said, his eyes watching the room with some fear.
“Aren’t you curious?” Loth asked.
“Our masters are transporting some strange thing they don’t want their guest finding out about. So they schedule a clean up crew that won’t be allowed to interact with the guests or the other workers on the ship.” Jalsira spoke in a breathless rant then filled her lungs for the next bout. “Why would that be interesting? It’s not our concern. We just want to finish our work and go home. In case you’ve also forgotten, you reach a certain quota and you’re free.” She was now angry and tossed her head away.
“I’m curious enough to find out what they are.” Loth said.
“You guys, all of us, want freedom from the Federation, right?” They nodded. “What better way than getting whatever is in those cases and selling them ourselves? We can use the money to buy a space ship of our own and go to a country yet to fall to the Federation.”
“Until they do.” Jalsira said.
“Even if they do, we will be free again. Whether it’s a month, a year, or a decade, we will be free.” Loth’s white was bright and she was smiling. The sight of her species so excited was electrifying to anyone else who watched. But these slaves were not too easily roused.
“The risk is death though.” Tasfira said. “We steal whatever is in there and we die.
“I’ve seen many die. They died to dull my instincts. They were killed to keep me silent. And yet here I am willing to steal from them. I consider death a victory.” Loth said passionately and they just snorted. “Come on guys. We just need to find out what it is.”
“Okay, we’ll try to find out what’s inside while we work but we’re not putting our necks on the line. Whatever it is, you do the stealing.” Tasfira said.
“I’m okay with that. “ Loth smiled. “Tasfira, Jalsira and…”
“I will never forget it Syndians.” She rose with a smile.
“What about you, what are you going to do?” Puniran asked.
“I want to see the guests.”
Sometimes it’s the foolish plans that go right.
I hope you like it. This is a story that’s part of series that’s part of it’s own universe. Yeah, yeah, it’s something something. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more. This is only part one 😉 .
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THE ATTEMPT. A story that will change your perception of victory and defeat. #shortstories #fantasy #scifi #spacetravels #spaceship #theseries “Wake up Lothory.” The Captain shouts at the doorway and doesn’t bother going in. He turns the next corner down the corridor as her head lifts up to see the open door.
