The Communicator, Chapter 2

[elstrom99]

First Chapter

screeeeeeEEEEEUUUUU! screeeeeeEEEEEUUUUU! screeeeeeEEEEEUUUUU!

 

Brevix groaned and rolled over, throwing the blankets off. Not for the first time, he wondered what he'd done wrong to be sent to this frigid planet. Listening for Powrlen's claws scrabbling on the decking as he ran to the communications center just down the hall from Brevix's and Hourna's quarters he tried to extricate himself from his First Officer's clutches.

 

screeeeeeEEEEEUUUUU! screeeeeeEEEEEUUUUU! screeeeeeEEE…

 

Powrlen had punched the silencing pad on the transmitter, and a muted conversation ensued. Muted from his end that is. Brevix wondered if Overlord Chklarna knew what a whisper was. On second thought, Brevix thought, he wondered if the Overlord knew what a normal voice was. It seemed he was always shouting.

 

"Choorllargh! Markhta Brevix!"

 

Muffled words from Powrlen followed by one distinguishable word "Moment." Then the sound of Powrlen's claws on the decking again. By the time the Communications Officer had tapped lightly on the door and swung it open, Brevix had stood and pulled his tunic on. Purple light filled the room. Brevix thought to check to see who had set the lighting for the evening. Purple?

 

"Commander..."

 

"I know, I know. I'm coming. Why does he always call during sleep cycles?"

 

"It's a wake cycle on Drraghor, Commander. Um, video sir?"

 

"I'm sure you can focus the caster at an appropriate level, Powren. Please tell me you've fixed the bloody translator?"

 

"Yes sir. I spent several hours on my last shift speaking with Under-Overlord Phkrena. I had it all working fine by the end of the session."

 

"Mmmmph."

 

Brevix padded quickly down the corridor a step ahead of Powrlen, and took his place before the caster. Chklarna's beak appeared followed by an eye.

 

"Markh...." The screen went black and the speakers fizzled and crackled then went silent.

 

"Powrlen..."

 

"Sir, I'm puzzled. But I'll..." Powrlen flatpawed the side of the panel he stood before. "...fix it."

 

"Markhta Brevix has your worthless officer not yet fixed your equipment? What the putrid rays of Phatornia is going on with your ship? I was assured you commanded a top notch vessel!"

 

"Overlord. I was assured it was fixed." He cast a glance over his shoulder at his Communications Officer. The look would have made lesser creatures cringe. Powrlen merely shrugged. "If this happens again, sir, you can be sure he'll be the first meal I throw to your crew when I find them."

 

"He's too scrawny. You better have something more filling for them. They've been down there... what, a very long time."

 

"If we have figured this world's time frame out correctly, they've been here four thousand of the local years. That's about a year on Drraghor."

 

"Hhrrmph. Report."

 

"Well, sir, since your last call, we've been surveying local media. It would appear this place, Earth, is..."

 

"You call it Earth?" Chklarna seemed amused at the name.

 

"No, Overlord. The local sapients. They call their planet Earth. They've only become technologically developed in the last week or two. Your... OUR time, that is. And it's very antiquated technology by our standards."

 

"And this is pertinent how?"

 

"Well, there's no information available to us via their media... no mention of... well, anything resembling YOUR kind."

 

"My kind? What kind of dig is that? And, you do know I'm your Overlord, don't you?"

 

"Of course sir. That wasn't a dig. I merely mean the local sapients... sir, there's nothing here that LOOKS like you. Well, not currently anyhow. And there's nothing large... er, I mean of your stature... that flies around here. We would expect there to be something in their informational network. There's NOTHING."

 

Brevix turned to Powrlen and whispered "Get Nautewlus up here! I may need her expertise." Powrlen immediately grew serious and ran from the room.

 

"Overlord, I'm sending for our chief investigator. She might be able to explain better to you."

 

"Hmmrmmph"

 

A moment later, Nautewlus rushed into the room. Brevix glanced at her, and waved for her to come stand beside him. So much for wondering who set the lighting for the night, he thought. Of course it would be her.

 

"Overlord Chklarna, this is C.I. Nautewlus, my..."

 

"Yes, yes, your chief investigator. Get on with it."

 

"C.I. tell the Overlord what you were telling me earlier."

 

"About...OH! Yes. Overlord, I've listened to news reports and scanned their information systems for anything resembling your people. There's nothing. Well, nothing recent, that is. There's reports of something they call dinosaurs. These lived a number of years ago... I mean like nothing for well over sixteen thousand years. Drraghorran years. And most of those didn't fly. So obviously those can't be your missing crew."

 

"Obviously," Overlord Chklarna grumbled drily.

 

"There's one thing I have to run down. Sir, it doesn't look good, though. There are stories from when these people still could barely write... what they call their dark ages, sir. Of something called a Fire Breathing Dragon."

 

"A fire... breathing... dragon? We do NOT breathe fire." The Overlord rolled his eyes.

 

"Yes sir. I know that. But the crude images I've seen... sir, they DO somewhat resemble you and other Drragh I've met."

 

"They're that beautiful, huh?"

 

"Yes. Yes sir!"

 

"Good answer. Markhta Brevix, I want my people. Find me. My. PEOPLE!" Chklarna roared.

 

"Sir!"

 

"And Markhta Brevix. For the sake of the putrid rays of whatever star you originated in, cover your nether region!" The vispad burst bright red, then went black.

 

"I still think those nether regions are adorable," came the voice of his First Officer Hourna.

 

"Me too, sir!" C.I. Nautewlus turned slightly lavender and shuffled out.

 

"Oh, me too sir!" replied Powrlen enthusiastically.

 

Brevix slapped his face and started down the hall. He stopped at the door and turned back briefly.

 

"Powrlen, get that damn thing fixed or I WILL feed you to the missing crew when we find them. Or whatever might pass for a predator in these parts.

Next Chapter

Comments

[aldersprig]

four thousand of the local years. That’s about a year on Drraghor.

Well then! How does that work?

[elstrom99]

Hmmm. That's a good question.

It's a VERY big planet and orbits it's sun VERY slowly? And you know dragons live a very, VERY long time.

[aldersprig]

ahhhh, that makes sense. A very slow, very large orbit. I like it. *nods*

I was thinking at first… (pardon the link to my own writing) http://www.lynthornealder.com/tag/planet-7-14-2/ Something like this, which is Little Prince sized.

[elstrom99]

Just finished reading the entries for 7-14-2. I'm going to have to find some time to read the whole thing... I like it! Am curious about the two similar entries (192 and 292, I think.)

By the way, how do you divide your stories into different directories? I'd prefer to have different names, as well, for each chapter/story, but haven't figured that out... it's probably bitten me without my notice!

[aldersprig]

That’s a wordpress feature - actually a very large part of why I moved to wordpress.

There’s a lot of tootplanet out there, but since it was all written for Mastodon, they’re almost all in 500-character-or-less posts. I’m slowly moving them all over to wordpress.

[elstrom99]

Ah, yes. I had thought I was on your Dreamwidth site. I see now. Yes, I know how to do that in Wordpress. Do it in my blog.