Deep Space

Chapter 4

Kelli and Shana were crouched beside the remains of the skimmer, looking disconsolately across the planet's bleak, blue-grey, rock strewn landscape. Kelli had the locator-sender in her hand. It couldn't handle sub-space speech transmissions but at least it gave them some hope of rescue. Kelli was conserving power by only scanning for a response every half hour so, when she did pick up the incoming craft, it was almost in visual range.

"Come on Shana," she cheered. "Looks like there was someone awake up there after all. Better make ourselves presentable, they should be over that ridge any second."

Shana got to her feet just as the craft crested the ridge that their skimmer had hit. Compared with the sleek silver skimmer, the incoming craft had nothing of elegance about it. It was a shabby, grey coloured, box surrounded by pipes, cable runs and antennae. Three padded feet extended on hydraulic legs as the craft hissed to a standstill overhead. It began to settle down to the surface. It was perhaps five times the size of the skimmer and twenty times uglier. However, as Shana and Kelli both realized it had one thing going for it. It had working engines and showed every sign of being their passport off the planet.

A door slid open and a ramp extended out of the craft's belly. Two tracked robots equipped with articulated arms emerged and trundled down on to the planet's surface. A stalk carrying what appeared to be a camera extended out from the top of one of the robots and appeared to survey the scene. The two girls waited while, with flashing lights the two robots appeared to communicate with their mother ship. Then, ignoring the girls, the machines headed across to the skimmer and began cutting it up and carting the pieces back into the belly of the craft. The girls watched, puzzled, as the last piece of the engine pod was hauled from the gulley into which it had fallen. One of the tracked robots withdrew up the ramp. The other circled in front of Kelli and Shana. It gestured towards the crafts hold with a wave of one of its arms.

"Not much of a conversationalist," Shana joked.

"I think we can live with it, I thought they were going to take the wreckage and leave us behind," Kelli replied as the two stepped up the ramp into the belly of the craft. Pieces of the skimmer were strapped to the walls of the hold but at the far end were two seats. Kelli and Shana claimed them as the second robot followed them into the hold. Each slipped into their seat harness. They fastened and tightened their lap and shoulder straps in preparation for take off. Arm and ankle restraints clicked out from the couches to protect them from sudden changes in g-force. The ramp slid up and with clunking from the craft's landing pads and a slow hiss from the engines as they overcame the planet's relatively weak gravitational field, the craft took off.

After the skimmer, progress in the shuttle was slow but soon the girls were aware of hissing and deceleration as the craft slowed. Kelli's locator sender showed that the craft they were on was approaching a much larger one. "Here comes our ride home," she chirped, showing Shana the display on the device. "Must be that freighter we passed on the way in." The two blips on the display merged as the craft docked and the hold doors on the shuttle once again hissed open.

It was then that Kelli tried to release her harness. "Dammed harness release is jammed," she called across to Shana. "Give me a hand out, can you?"

"Sorry, girl. Mine's stuck too," Shana replied. "Stupid thing should quick release."

The two girls continued to struggle with the seat restraints, not hearing the entry doors to the shuttle's bay hiss open. Moments later they looked up to see two lobster-like creatures standing beside them.

Kelli's comment summed it up. "Oh shit, Gnarriots."

"Welcome aboard, ladies," the taller of the two intoned. "Perhaps you'd like to join us in the main ship. These shuttles are so cramped, don't you think?"

"Do we get a choice?" Shana was still struggling with her seat restraints.

"No, not really," the Gnarriot came back. "You could of course stay here and see how soon you loose enough weight to slip out of those cuffs but I wouldn't recommend it. I think it will be better if you come with us, now." The creature gestured with the weapon it held in one of its claws.

"OK, we'll come quietly," said Kelli.

"Excellent. Now, if you will just raise your hands in the approved manner," the taller Gnarriot flicked one of its feelers down to each of the seats in turn and pressed a button to the rear. The arm and leg restraints clipped open and the harness buckle opened. Each girl got to her feet and raised her hands above her head. The two Gnarriots marched them towards the exit doors.

Kelli and Shana had a drill agreed for a situation like this. Go along with things until you get the first chance. Then yell "Go!" and make a break for it. They got half way along the corridor from the shuttle bay when Shana spotted a half open door. Maybe another corridor that could lead back to the bay and then off in the shuttle. She got as far as forming "Go!" in her mind when a Gnarriot feeler snaked out and gripped her around the throat. Her hands went up to grasp at the leathery tendril as she fell choking to her knees. Kelli went to help her and earned the same treatment from the other Gnarriot.

"Stupid move ladies," the taller one snarled. "Don't try to think you can do anything like that again. You Sol planet girls are all really good telepathic emitters, even if you can't hear it yourselves. Now hands up again, please, and let's go."

The girls were pulled back to their feet by the feelers around their throats and the two lobster creatures pushed them forward along the corridor and down to the cells that were to become their new home.

Inside the cell the Gnarriots confronted their captives. "Take off the evac suits please. We'll need to put them through decontamination."

Faced with a wave of encouragement from the Gnarriot's weapons the two girls complied. "And the rest of your clothes too, please. We don't wish to take chances."

"Sure and you don't mind getting to clock our bodies, either," thought Kelli as she stripped of the tee shirt, shorts, bra and pants she'd been wearing.

The taller Gnarriott turned towards her. "Please remember, we can hear what you're thinking," he said. "I can't say I object to seeing your body but I prefer my own kind, if you don't mind. Not that I am species-ist or anything. So just get naked. If you're worrying about anyone 'clocking' your body, you'd better talk to your friend."

"Hey, you shit," spat Shana who had already stripped off her shirt and cut offs.

"You'll get over it," the other Gnariott retorted, gathering up their clothes. "Like I say, if you don't want us to know, don't even think it. Don't go away." He slammed the door as the two of them left. The girls heard the bolts on the outside clang into place.

The two girls sat down on the cold steel bench that ran along the back wall of the cell. The lights went out, plunging the cell into total blackness. "Oh, Kelli, I'm so sorry," said Shana to her friend.

"Hey, what's to worry about? I think I've got a great bod. Why shouldn't you like it? You never said, though."

"I didn't mean about that. I meant about the crash. It was all my fault."

"Yeah, sure. And you pushed me into the skimmer at gun point too. Look, don't worry about it, it isn't going to help. We've got to look out for each other. Hey, come here." She reached for her friend in the darkness and the two grasped at each other for comfort. As they held each other, comfort turned to something else. Soon the two were kissing with an urgency and passion. "Hey," said Shana, pulling back for a moment, "what do you mean - I never said. Am I wrong or are you as keen about this as I am."

"Let's just say we're both scared right now and we need each other."

Garan Duufrig leant forward at the console peering intently. For once he was pleased with his assignment though he hadn't thought much of it when they had called him down from the navigation deck. He turned up the gain on the infra-red surveillance camera. Maybe guard duty wasn't too bad after all he thought. It's not often you get the chance to watch a couple of human females going at it together. Sure beats the hell out of Astounding Stories, he grinned.