HAB 12 (Scrapyard Ship) by McGinnis Mark Wayne

Author:McGinnis, Mark Wayne [McGinnis, Mark Wayne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
Publisher: Avenstar Productions
Published: 2013-12-08T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

When he awoke, he was naked. Naked and tied to a pole several feet off the ground. His head throbbed and something was wrong with his side. Looking down, Jason saw the flesh on his right hip had been ripped open. Is that my hip bone? The pain caught up with what he was seeing, and he moaned.

“That looks like it hurts,” came a voice close by. Jason turned his face as far as the leather straps holding his head back against the pole would allow. Billy, too, was strapped naked to a pole. Then, as his vision cleared, Jason noticed two more bodies propped up on poles: first Rizzo, and then Traveler, at the far end, who was secured to three poles. Arms and legs spread wide to smaller cross beams. Jason saw that each could move somewhat.

“Everyone all right?” he asked.

Billy answered first: “Couldn’t be better, Cap.” Then Rizzo, “I’m good, Cap.” Then Traveler, “This is not an honorable way to die.”

“Well, you’re not dead yet,” Jason said, turning his head in the opposite direction but not seeing another pole there. “Any idea where Ricket is?”

“I’m here, Captain.”

Jason heard the mechanical voice coming from below. Ricket, helmetless, seemingly unhurt and still in his battle suit, stood below him looking up. Behind Ricket, in a semi-circle, were at least one hundred Craing warriors, and behind them, just as many Serapins. A murmur of quiet talking filled the air.

“I could use an update about now, Ricket. What the hell’s going on?”

“They are deciding your fate as we speak,” he replied.

“Is there a reason I’m pinned up here on a pole with blood streaming down my leg, while you’re standing down there, perfectly fine?”

“First, they believe I am no threat. Second, they are intrigued by my … mechanical qualities. They’re quite intelligent, Captain.”

“Fine. What are they going to do with us? I don’t suppose you could reason with them?”

“Yes, sir, I’ve been actively doing that. Seems the killing of their sentry guard has complicated matters. Theirs is a clan steeped thousands of years in tradition. We have dishonored them. They fully believe in an eye-for-an-eye form of justice.”

“Perhaps we can give them something they want or need,” Jason said, seeing the same Craing who had spoken earlier making his way through the crowd. Jason then noticed in the distance other Craing beings—a handful of females with their small breasts exposed and small Craing children holding their hands.

“In speaking with their leaders, I found they need for little,” Ricket said. “I had noticed very few females lived among the tribe. When I mentioned this and that we had the medical capability to assist them with that imbalance, I detected elevated heart rates, although they showed no outward signs of interest. That same condition is borne by both Craing and Serapin.”

The Craing leader had joined Ricket at his side and was looking up at Jason.

“Can you translate for us, Ricket?” Jason asked.

“I will do my best. I’m learning this dialect as I go, sir.

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