The Vampires of Antyllus by Michael E Gonzales

Author:Michael E Gonzales [Gonzales, Michael E]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fire Star Press
Published: 2018-06-04T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter 16

First Blood

For Dave and the other SUBs, the climb was no obstacle at all. Le'ha was the only one among them with muscles and sinew, yet she kept right up with the SUBs and showed no sign of fatigue.

Once on top of the ancient spacecraft, they headed to their right, knowing they had moved about a hundred meters to the left of the window. Dave had walked about fifty-five meters when, in front of him, a large, hexagonal door opened in the hull.

Looking inside, they could see a handmade wooden ladder that allowed them to descend into what was, no doubt, an airlock.

Everyone was soon inside, except La'ha. "I stay here. The Ukse breathe poison," she remarked with a matter-of-fact tone.

The hatch closed and lights came on. The floor they stood on began to descend deeper into the ship, and the atmosphere was swapped out, not that it affected the SUBs. After about six meters, it stopped and a door slid opened. Two humans were there to greet them, a woman and a man with a beard. Both these people appeared to be in their mid- to late thirties, a fact that did not escape Kathy's attention.

"Welcome," the woman greeted them. "I am Bess, and this is Jerry, Jerry Goldman. He's a physicist and I'm a biologist. Please follow us and we’ll take you to see Reggie, um…Sir Gawain."

As they started walking, Dave asked, "What can you tell us about this thing?"

Kathy jumped in. "And what can you tell us about those of you living here?"

"Please," Bess replied, "Reggie will answer all your questions. But if you don't mind, how many from Earth are here now?"

"There are over ten thousand, and of those, two hundred fifty are SUBs, ma'am, but we've had some recent losses. How many of you are there here?"

"I am pleased to hear there are so many now, and sorry to hear of the losses. We started out with 137. But…over the years, we've suffered some losses, too. There are eighty-nine of us now."

"Why do you stay here?" Zolna asked. "Why aren't you in New Roanoke?"

"There is so much to learn about this incredible spacecraft," Jerry responded enthusiastically.

"And the people who constructed, flew, and lived in it," Bess added.

As they traveled through the ship, they noted that the floors were no different in appearance than the walls and ceiling. The odd thing was that in every corridor, they saw more hexagonal shaped doors all around them; on the floor, walls, and ceiling.

To access the rooms on the floors and ceilings these people had made ladders and stairs from wood. Dave nodded down at a large set of wooden stairs they were descending and asked Kathy, "You know what this means?"

"Yes," Kathy responded. "This ship was intended to remain permanently in a zero-gravity environment."

After what seemed several hundred meters and two separate elevator descents they arrived in a large room with a number of odd pieces of furniture which seem to have been fabricated on-site by hand. In addition to the many homey human touches, several E'meset works of art adorned the room.

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