Slaves Of The Krull

a short story by

Robert A. Woodley

The sharp snapping sound registered for only a split second, and was gone

No vibration accompanied the brief sound; no tearing, twisting sounds of tortured metal; no thumps or other evidence of collision. Just that one instantaneous snap; then nothing.

The occupants of "Cosmos", Earth's first manned vessel to attempt exploration of the vast space beyond the solar system, looked quickly up, toward the source of the sound, adrenalinpumping through their bodies at this unexpected assault upon their only haven in the vast blackness of space, then they looked at each other.

Sweat formed instantly on bodies, but nerves assailed by the unexpected began to calm again.

Captain John Carmen looked down briefly at his terminal. Everything seemed to be normal. "Check your screens", he ordered, his voice calm.

For a moment, no one spoke, then Lt. Tara Williams spoke, her voice harsh and unbelieving.

It's gone!"

"What's gone, Lieutenant?" Carmen queried.

"Earth, sir. I'm sorry. I mean the communication link with Earth. It's not here."

She gestured to her monitor, which throughout their months-long journey had displayed a continuous message from Mission Control, broken only during such times as when the ship had ventured behind a planetary body which had blocked the transmission.

No such body now stood between "Cosmos" and Earth. Nothing should have prevented the ship from continually receiving, or continually transmitting, that thin line of communication across the millions of miles which separated them from their home planet. "I wonder which end is the problem", Carmen queried aloud, though he knew the answer already. The snapping sound had occurred from above, where the vast communications equipment was anchored.

Nothing could have stopped the vast resources of Mission Control from continually transmitting.

"Time of failure at point of transmission?", he asked her.

Williams touched the keyboard, and the last legible display appeared in her monitor. "Time 13:50 GMT."

He looked at the ship's chronometer, which read 14.44 GMT. That fifty-four minute difference represented alot of space. A hell of a lot. Ship's time and Earth time had been identical when they had begun this mission.

It meant a light-speed transmission took fifty-four minutes to reach them from Earth, which represented around a billion and a half kilometers, or nearly a billion miles; and put them well outside the orbit of Saturn's maximum distance from the Sun.

He thought momentarily of how long it had taken the ship to get this far; and with some

depression how long they still had to travel; they were barely one-fifth of the way to Pluto's maximum distance from the sun.

Beyond Pluto. Beyond any orbiting body. That was the goal of the mission. Somewhere out there hopefully awaited the answers to interstellar travel.

The crew were all scientists; the ship a vast, spinning laboratory and manufacturing facility. Prepared to engage in observations and experiments beyond the furthest reaches of the system itself.

Out there, all the current theories postulated, we might find the answer. It was a somewhat desperate attempt, in Carmen's view.

The people has long since lost interest in space. Economic problems, social problems, terrorist problems, and numerous other pressing problems increasingly occupied the politicians and the people of Earth.

The dream of interstellar colonization was becoming nothing but a fantasy once more, buried beneath the realities of physics and economics."

Yet several governments did recognize the potential importance of this dream; and vast sums had been raised for this one manned mission.

The crew had been carefully selected, and none of them had stepped into the launch vehicle with any illusions that this was anything but a probable suicide mission.

Three probes had been sent since Voyager II, but each had ceased transmitting somewhere beyond "hour" distance, that distance at which it took an hour to transmit a message one way; or two hours for a message and response.

Now a handful of humans were approaching hour distance, frail creatures protected from immediate death only by the titanium skin of the "Cosmos", and the fate of the probes was uppermost in the mind of each crew member as they looked silently at each other, then upward at the ceiling.

"Cameras one and three. Position and record." Carmen ordered.

Fingers flew across keyboards, and within seconds two separate views of the communications array appeared on screens within the room, as the cameras on the outside of the hull positioned, focused, and began transmitting and recording.

Carmen blinked; then blinked again, and rubbed his eyes. He could hear a sharp intake of breath from someone nearby.

The vast communications array of "Cosmos" was gone. The titanium support for this complex structure, strong enough to support buildings, was now a stump.

Carmen ordered a closer focus, and the camera moved in, examining the end of the stump.

It was sheared off cleanly, seven feet from the outer hull itself, with no evidence whatsoever of collision.

Carmen felt the hairs rise on his neck, and sweat gathered on his forehead and palms. He looked around at the others, all of whom were silent, watching him with frightened eyes.

They knew it as well as he did. Something had destroyed the array support with some type of weapon. Nothing natural could account for what they saw, and whatever had done it could as easily slice through the hull of the ship.

Might easily do it any second.

"Oh God!" muttered Dawkins, one of the astrophysicists, and his sentiments were echoed as abject fear seemed to infect those watching the computer terminals.

"That's enough!" Carmen said sharply. Some of his crew were scientists, without the military

training he and a few others possessed aboard. He was terrified himself, but managed to keep his voice level.

"If whatever is out there wanted to do 'that' to this ship", he said quietly, looking around the room, "He or she or it could have done it instead of simply knocking out our communications."

He hesitated, then looked across at Commander Drummond.

"I'm taking the hint, if that's what it is. Prepare to slow and calculate a trajectory for a return trip, Commander."

The statement itself seemed to bring immediate relief to the tension.

"Yes Captain," Laura Drummond replied. "Beginning initial command query." Her fingers sped across her keyboard.

Carmen nodded. It would take hours to accomplish the necessary task; slowing the ship, turning it without a planetary body to orbit, and accelerating again without the slingshot effect such a body can impart. Nevertheless, it was something. Now they could just wait and hope.

He wished space was somehow the environment pictured in the movies, where ships with wings could swoop and turn, as if any atmosphere existed out here for wings to utilize, or friction to slow the ship. Instead, his tiny ship rocketed through a dark vacuum at the speeds which were considered tremendous by engineering standards, but which still fell far short of anything which might even be considered a measurable fraction of light speed.

They had left Saturn behind weeks ago, utilizing the gravitational pull of the beautiful planet to increase their speed as they shot outward, but Uranus, the next planet, was still farther from them than was Earth, with nothing in between. All he could do was to slow his ship, turn it with his attitude jets, and then hightail it back towards Saturn again.

Such a maneuver would consume tremendous energy, but Carmen dismissed what would normally be an irritating problem. They had plenty of energy to get back. If they were permitted to go back.

He slightly felt the shift in momentum as the ship began to decelerate in response to the computer solution which the Commander's query had generated, and looking around, he could see the others felt it too. Certain himself that it was a useless gesture, he nevertheless smiled.

"Well, ladies and gentlemen, we are presently experiencing some minor technical difficulties, and are therefore returning to our point of origin. I hope you won't be inconvenienced by this hopefully short delay."

Tara Williams laughed softly, and tensions seemed to lessen somewhat. Still, everyone looked around, and up, and at the camera images nervously.

The Lieutenant suddenly sat upright before her terminal.

"Captain!" she called urgently. "I initiated a random search with our remaining sensors. They haven't much power, but they don't need it. Something very big is out there, and it's very close."

"How big? How close?" Carmen asked quickly.

"Hard to say sir. It goes off the screen. It's either a monster, or right outside, or both."

"All cameras recording, redirected, and focused on your computer's coordinates, lieutenant. Now." Carmen ordered. "Put it on the wall."

Her fingers moved with brief, deft strokes, and all twelve of the hull cameras turned toward the projected target, while protective lens covers slid back from those cameras just activated.

Everyone just stood before the wall which contained thirteen large monitors, like television screens, twelve of which flickered to life.

One, then another came on, showing blackness, then, as the cameras turned and focused, a

dark blur. Camera four suddenly stopped, the blur moving as the lens adjusted, and as quickly came into focus, while they stood, openmouthed, staring at the clear picture.

The other cameras were still tring to focus, and now Carmen saw the problem. Camera four happened to point at a spot on the massive wall in space which contained a protrusion, and they could see what appeared to be a long, small cylinder, clearly in focus; and behind it a smooth wall. The rest of the cameras could find nothing to focus on, and the images were moving blurs.

The alien ship was so big, or so close, that it filled the screens of the cameras.

A woman, one of the microphysicists, screamed, and Carmen felt his own insides twist. He looked again at the protruding cylinder, and knew instinctively that he was looking at the barrel of a weapon such as the one which had so effortless sliced through a solid titanium support thirty inches in diameter.

The weapon now pointed directly at his ship.

Carmen joined the others in his stare, silently mesmerized by the weapon, expecting at any instant to see something; some fire or spark or whatever, which would be the last thing he would ever see. He couldn't take his eyes off the screen.

The image suddenly moved, and he felt faint. He blinked, but he was still alive, and the picture was blurring again. The camera suddenly refocused, and he could again see the gun, but farther away now, and the other cameras were focusing on the receding ship.

Carmen caught scattered images if a huge cylinder shape, but it was moving too fast for the cameras to focus. Smaller and smaller it grew, and within seconds it vanished, and "Cosmos" was again hurtling through space alone.

"Well", Carmen said, when he felt he could control his voice, "Whatever or whoever that was, maybe they're gone". He didn't believe it as he said it, but he felt he had to say something.

"Yeah. Right." It was Hunter Wood who had spoken. A physician and astrophysicist by profession and training, and a former fighter pilot, Wood was one scientist Carmen was glad was aboard.

Wood's appointment had been controversial, since he had a long history of contempt for military life and decisions, but he was so brilliant, and his qualifications so appropriate, that he had been selected, in large part due to Carmen's urging.

Carmen looked over at the speaker, who was smiling through his month growth of beard.

"Hell," Wood continued. "I imagine they just happened to pass by; thought they'd slice off our communications tower for the fun of it, and then continue on their way. Clearly, this was just a coincidental, happenstance type of thing."

Carmen smiled. Wood was of course right, and they might as well accept it. The alien ship would be back.

"Captain!" Williams reported again. "Something else is out there, approaching fast from beneath!"

Adrenalin again pumped through Carmen. Then something flashed in the camera screens, and he looked to see a bright, green, blindingly intense beam of light flash from behind the picture, and arrow out towards the vastness of space where the gigantic ship had been.

"Still something approaching, Captain," Williams continued. "Now it's beneath us, and maintaining course and speed."

Carmen suddenly felt a slight lurch.

"Something's got ahold of us, Captain", Williams said. "Some type of tractor or gravity field."

"Engines off." Carmen ordered. "Rotate the cameras".

Williams typed for a moment. "Can't do it, sir. Something's wrong with the mechanism".

Carmen nodded, and looking around, shrugged. Maybe it was better that they didn't see this thing. He looked around at frightened faces, though Woods was smiling ruefully, and his officers, Tara Williams and Laura Drummond, sat calmly, looking at him expectantly; waiting to follow his orders until they could no longer do so.

"At ease, people," he said, shaking his head. "There's nothing we can do now but wait."

The tension in the room was palpable, and within moments it became almost tangible, as they felt and heard a metallic clang, indicating that another object had attached itself to the hull.

"Point of contact is main hatch," Williams noted, looking at her screen.

"Well, at least they're coming in through the door." Carmen noted, in what he thought was a hopeful tone.

"Tell you what, John," Wood said. "I'll get on the left of the hatch, and you get on the right, and we'll just overpower them when they bust through."

Carmen looked over incredulously, but saw the grin on Wood's face, and suddenly started laughing.

Wood himself began to chuckle, and soon others began to breathe again. They all realized that they had no preparation, control, knowledge, or anything else which would have prepared them for this moment. They sat, electric in their tension, while they tried to calm themselves.

Nothing happened for a moment. Then Carmen heard Williams' sharp intake of breath."

"Incoming message on my terminal, Captain."

"Put it on main monitor".

Her fingers flashed, and the message was displayed on the main wall computer terminal; centered among and even larger than the camera screens.

"Scroll it down, lieutenant," he ordered, and along with the others he read the message, astounded as he read in English:

***Your ship has been secured at your main point of entry. Unfasten and open this airlock within two minutes. Gather all personnel, and be prepared to exit this ship, with whatever items you require. You will not be returning to your ship, so take anything you can carry which you desire to take with you. If the hatch is not opened within two minutes, your ship will be destroyed. If all personnel are not standing near the lock when it opens, your ship will be destroyed. If any resistance is encountered, your ship and all personnel will be destroyed. When you have exited your ship you will follow the docking tube and lighted path until given further instructions. You have one minute and forty seconds to open the lock. End of message***

"Let's go, Hunter", Carmen said instantly, moving quickly toward the main airlock. "Get your things, ladies and gentlemen. I'm not taking any chances with this. Move it, or you're risking my own life. Let's go."

He turned to Williams. "Type message acknowledged. Then go get your stuff."

She nooded, typed for a few seconds, and went towards her own quarters.

Carmen and Wood were at the main lock within twenty seconds, and within fifteen more hat unlocked the seal. Only a slight hiss escaped, which was thankfully indicative that the pressure on the other side of the lock was nearly identical with the ship.

He looked over at Wood, nodded, and threw back the airlock door.

A tunnel stretched out before him, fifteen feet in diameter, and stretching out perhaps a hundred feed, to where it ended in a circular, lighted door. The light from that opening lighted the tunnel itself.

He looked around. "Let's go, people!" he shouted, and within seconds he was surrounded by everyone aboard, except Wood, who had disappeared.

He knew it was his duty to go last, as the Captain, but felt he should be the first to lead his crew into this unknown, and hesitated.

Wood suddenly appeared and moved quickly into the tunnel, a heavy backpack slung over his shoulders.

"Captain's always the last to leave," he grinned back as he entered the tube. "See you in Trantor."

Carmen couldn't help smiling at the reference to Asimov's famous trilogy, and again thanked his stars that the rebellious physician was with him.

One by one he patted his crew as they followed Wood into the tunnel. Laura Drummond had quickly followed Wood. Tara Williams was the last to leave, except for Carmen.

She looked back. "Let's go, lover. Take one last look, and let's get the hell out of here." She was smiling, though her eyes reflected the fear they all felt.

He smiled back. Then he took one last look around, and entered the tunnel. He left the door open, since he could not secure it himself from the outside.

As he neared the lighted circle, he looked back once at "Cosmos" open airlock. Then he shrugged, and stepped through the circle into the alien ship.

He found himself in a rectangular room, approximately thirty by twenty feet, with lighted ceilings which hung about ten feet above the smooth polished floor. Another circular door was open on the far side of the room.

A large monitor was embedded in one wall, upon which was displayed another message:

***Remove all clothing and other items, and proceed through the open door. Walk slowly. Your bodies will be scanned thoroughly. You will find clothing in the room beyond. Dress and remain in that room***

Carmen began to undress, his breathing somehow heavy, his pulse racing. He had countless questions, but the monitor was silent, inviting no comment.

The others were following his example without being told. Any thoughts of resistance anyone might have harbored were clearly falling away as quickly as their clothing.

This time Carmen headed his now naked band, and found himself in a dim, rectangular corridor. He proceeded slowly, sensing without feeling anything that he was under intense scrutiny. The corridor turned suddenly, then again, and Carmen stepped into another room, similar to the first in many respects.

This room however, had furniture. Human-sized furniture, with what appeared to be loose robes of some fabric hung over the backs of several chairs which sat around a large rectangular table.

In the outer wall was a large window, and ignoring his nakedness Carmen moved quickly to the window.

The docking tube had already been withdrawn, and the open portal of the "Cosmos" loomed dark as his ship hung suspended within the field or whatever which had captured it. Undoubtedly all the loose items had already exploded out the door when the tube had been withdrawn, and the inner seals would have automatically shut off the rest of the ship. Lights could be seen within.

The ship suddenly shimmered. Was it smaller? It was gone.

Carmen blinked. Had the ship been vaporized? He didn't think so, since he had an instant's recollection of moving away from it. It was unimaginable that a craft could have accelerated so quickly, but he had no other explanation.

Tara joined him at the window, her eyes wide.

"Where is the Cosmos?" she asked.

"I don't know." Carmen shook his head slightly.

He looked down at her. "We better get dressed."

She grinned, and both picked up robes, which the clothing appeared to be, and began putting them on. Two sizes were evident, and all the crew were able to fit reasonably well into one or the other.

Dressed, they all went to the large window, and looked out into the blackness of space. Silent, each man and woman watched the silent universe pass by as they left the home they had known for many months far, far behind.

A sound caused Carmen and the others to start, and they all turned toward the other door to their room, one which had been closed when they entered, but which was now opening.

As they held their breath, the door opened, and they watched in amazement as a man walked through. A man. A human like themselves. Indistinguishable.

He was of average height, with short, light-brown hair. His features were regular, with no particular distinguishing characteristics. His eyes were deep green, and the hint of a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as he watched the looks of astonishment which greeted his entrance.

Carmen guessed his age at somewhere in the early or mid-forties.

He stood for a moment, looking at them, then he spoke.

"Welcome to outer space. You are now slaves of the Krull."

Carmen stared back. "The who?"

Wood frowned "We're what?"

Tara's violet eyes were wide. "Who are you?"

The man, who was dressed similarly to themselves, smiled.

"My name is Jack DeLong. I am, as you now are, a slave of the Krull."

Carmen spoke up. "We are free members of the ship Cosmos. I am her commander, Cap---"

"Yes. John Carmen," the man responded. "Captain John Carmen, formerly of the Cosmos. Along with Commander Laura Drummond, lieutenant Tara Willams, Dr. Hunter Wood, Dr. David Dawkins, Dr. Jeremy Trost, and Dr. Kellie Zimmer."

He looked at each of them as he spoke their names. "You were members of the good ship Cosmos. Now you are in a Krull ship, and those days are gone."

"What do you mean?" Wood asked, frowning.

"I mean what I say," DeLong responded. "You have no ship, no mission, no nothing."

"I'm a doctor," Dawkins piped up."Not a slave".

Delong smiled, his eyes amused. "Well, I'm afraid your doctoring days are over" He shrugged. " used to be an attorney, but there isn't much need for doctors or lawyers out here, I think you'll find. Besides," he added, "Your lives have ended, as did mine many years ago."

A flurry of questions followed, and DeLong laughed softly as he held up his hands for silence.

"One at a time, please."

"What do you mean you used to be a lawyer, and how can you be dead?" Wood queried.

"I practiced law for nearly fifteen years," he replied. "I also liked scuba diving, hunting,hiking, camping, rock climbing, and just about anything else which was exciting, and, fool that I am, I liked to do things alone. One day I was a few hundred feet up a vertical cliff face, and a

piece of equipment which never fails did. I found myself falling to oblivion, only to discover that some type of field grabbed me shortly before I landed. I was lowered gently to the ground, and soon thereafter I met my benefactors, who happen to be the ones who pilot this vessel." He spread his hands wide.

"They had saved me from certain death, and so took me with them as a slave. They did give me the option of dropping me again from the cliff face, but all in all I decided I would opt for slavery." He looked up. "Actually, I can't say I regret the decision."

"When was that", Tara asked.

"July 21, 1998."

"That was twenty-six years ago!" Carmen said.

DeLong nodded. "Yes. A bit more. I'll tell you, though, you don't forget things like that, nosmatter how long ago it was."

"I can imagine," Wood noted. "So you're 'dead' in that sense. I can understand that. I don't see how it applies to us, though. We weren't about to die."

"Oh, you don't think so?" DeLong queried. "Did you happen to notice a large cylindrical ship shortly before we arrived?"

"Sure," Wood said. "They didn't attempt to destroy us, though."

"Why do you think that was?" DeLong was smiling again.

"Suppose you tell us?" Wood demanded.

"I will. They wanted to recover you alive."

"To be slaves?" Carmen asked.

"No."

"Then why?" Tara queried.

"To be food."

They all stared open-mouthed.

"Food!?" Carmen blurted.

"Yes," Delong nodded. "That was a Hrythd ship. They regard human flesh as a real delicacy."

"That's horrible!" Laura shouted.

"Well,", DeLong responded, "From your perspective I don't think it would be too much fun, but the Hrythd don't regard it as any more horrible than you regard eating beef."

"We're not animals." Kellie Zimmer said. "We're intelligent beings. My God, we're here in outer space, traveling among the planets. That's an absurd comparison!"

"Well, it may be absurd to you," DeLong said, "But it's sure not absurd to the Hrythd, and they've got a hell of a lot more power over you out here than you have over cattle back on Earth."

He paused, then continued. "You were just as dead when we found you as I was when I fell off that cliff. Believe me. Forget about the life you had. Forget about what you were, or what you think you are. What you are from now on are slaves. Krull slaves. Remember that, and remember what the alternative would have been."

Wood spoke up. "Why should we believe you?"

DeLong chuckled. "I don't give a shit whether you believe me or not. This is not a democracy, and we're not voting on these things. There are no democracies out here. Empires rule the galaxy, and they rule by brutal force. You would have found that out soon enough if the Hrythd had gotten you."

Tara's eyes were wide. "What are they like?" she asked, voicing a question which was on everyone's mind.

"My masters, or the Hrythd?" queried DeLong?

"Your masters, first." Wood said.

"Well," DeLong said. "You're about to meet them, in about ten seconds. Don't say anything. They won't be in here long."

He turned to look at the door, and all eyes followed his as the former crew of "Cosmos" waited to see their captors.

A short moment later two humans walked through the door silently. One a female, was slightly shorter than her companion. Her hair was short and blonde. She wore some type of coverall which fit snugly about her perfect body. Although shorter than the male who accompanied her, she was a few inches taller than any of the others in the room. She wore no makeup, nor any jewelry. Carmen thought she was beautiful almost beyond belief.

Her pale blue eyes sparkled in the light at she examined the Earthlings.

Her companion was human, but his features were dark, and slightly larger than those customarily associated with modern man. He towered several inches over the female, and his body, slender but clearly masculine, was covered in clothing identical to hers.

His large, intense eyes were deep blue, like sapphires, as he too watched the humans.

"Remove your robes," DeLong said.

Beneath the stares of the masters of this ship the humans obeyed immediately. None though to question this order, or to hesitate.

Their apparent captors then walked slowly around the naked humans, without speaking. A moment later, they passed again through the doorway, and were gone.

Carmen started breathing again, and looked expectantly at DeLong.

"They're human!" He said. "Or at least she is."

DeLong smiled. "Yes, in a manner of speaking, they are. Or were. Zamm, the female, is of the same stock as you. Raja, the male, is of Neanderthal stock."

"Why didn't you say the Krull were human?" Wood asked.

"The Krull aren't human," DeLong replied. "Zamm and Raja aren't Krull. They as we, are slaves."

"Then who or what are the Krull?" Carmen asked.

Jack DeLong shrugged his shoulders slightly, and shook his head. "To be honest, I don't really know, and I've been their slave for more than twenty-five years. I've never seen a Krull. For all I know this ship itself is the Krull; or part of the Krull."

"What do you mean?" Laura asked, her eyes wide.

"I'm not sure I know." DeLong responded. "Zamm and Raja saved me, back on Earth. Since then, I've been with them, but they are not the Krull. Their ancestors were taken from Earth back when Neanderthal was a viable racial group. Raja's distant ancestors came from that stock. Zamm's were taken long ago, but as you can see, she is more alike us in appearance."

"The Krull", he continued, "are a race, or entity, or intelligence, or sentience, or who knows what, which inhabit an area of space forbidden to all others. No one knows, or at least I don't, if they have a system; or planet; or star; or what. They don't permit anyone into what they regard as "Krull space"; and Krull space is a huge area of space."

"Unlike the vast empires which dominate the rest of the Galaxy, the Krull dominate nothing except their own area of space. They do as they please, and their ships travel the galaxy, but they don't seem interested in conquest, or expansion, or nearly anything else akin to the type of activities and desires which seem to dominate the actions of the other sentient species."

"You've never even seen them?" Carman queried.

"Nope. I suppose Zamm and Raja have, but I don't know. They've never imparted that information to me."

"But who tells Zamm and Raja what to do?" Laura asked.

"I don't know." Jack responded.

"Who told them to save us?" Delong queried.

"No one told them to save you."

Wood frowned. "Then why did they save us?"

DeLong looked at Wood. "They didn't save you. I did."

Carmen looked puzzled. "I thought you were a slave?"

"That's true," DeLong said. "But slavery is a relative thing. I do what I'm told, as any slave does. However, nobody told me to leave you at the mercy of the Hrythd."

Wood was skeptical. "How did you get their permission?"

"I didn't."

"You mean they allow a slave to run this ship", Kellie Zimmer asked, wonder in her eyes.

"Zamm and Raja are slaves themselves," DeLong said. "I don't know how they decide what to do and what not to do. In fact, I almost never see them. They spend nearly all of their time in what you would call VR or Virtual Reality. I tend to certain of their needs, which are few. Otherwise, I pretty much do what I want."

Carmen shook his head. "This is absurd. How can one man operate this ship? Where are the crew? What are the crew?"

Jack DeLong chuckled. "I know it seems bizarre, but that's the way it is. This ship has no crew. The ship itself is sentient, or at least that's my belief. It has no controls, levers, dials, command centers, or anything else you might think to find in an interstellar starship."

"Then how do you operate it?" Tara queried.

"By thought." DeLong answered. "About twenty-five years ago, Zamm and Raja implanted a chip into my brain." He smiled. "It was like waking from a fog. Suddenly I could communicate telepathically with them, and with the ship itself. Nothing like they can do, of course. There are limits to what I can achieve. There may be limits to what they can do. I don't know. I do know that my mind was suddenly washed with so much information that it took weeks to adjust. I also realized that this chip enabled Zamm, Raja, and the ship itself to read my thoughts and memories."

He shrugged. "Since that time, the chip has been replaced four times with more powerful ones. Each time, my abilities increased immeasurably. Now, as far as I know, I see what the ship sees. I have access to much of the ship's knowledge, although I know that much of it is hidden from me."

He smiled. "For the past ten years I've been able to command this ship, or at least I think I do. I don't know if I command it, or if it commands me. I don't see much difference. From my perspective, I seem to be making the decisions, and I suppose that's all that matters, in the final analysis."

"Sometimes Zamm or Raja will tell me what to do, and I do it. Otherwise, I communicate with the ship, and I do as I please."

Dawkins was sneering slightly. "You mean you've become like a robot."

DeLong laughed. "Yeah, I suppose you could say that. Sort of like the "Borg" from Star Trek."

Dawkins snorted. "You're less than human, as far as I'm concerned."

DeLong looked at the scientist, and smiled. "Let me tell you something, `Doctor'", he said, accenting the last word slightly. "The reason I told you not to say anything to Zamm and Raja is

that they wouldn't take the time to be bothered with speech. For you to attempt to communicate ideas to them with your thoughts and speech would be like a two year old trying to read a thousand page novel to you. We could sit here and talk for two weeks. You could ask a thousand questions. Everything you say to me, and everything I hear and see, is permanently recorded by the ship."

DeLong paused for a moment. "All of that information could be communicated to either Zamm or Raja, or both, within a microsecond, and within another microsecond either one of them could digest that information, process it, respond to the questions, and transmit that response to one of the monitors within this ship, where you could take another week to read it, assuming, of course, that they bothered to respond at all."

"Your knowledge, abilities, talents, degrees, and qualifications are so far beneath theirs that the only thing any of you are suited for on this ship is manual labor. You will do what you are told, aboard this ship, and you will do it without hesitation. Otherwise, you know where the door is."

DeLong's eyes bored into those of Dawkins, who reddened, and lowered his own.

"That seems like somewhat of a harsh attitude to take with another human," Wood said, not frightened himself. He had been taking his own measure of Jack DeLong, and he didn't think they were in any immediate danger.

DeLong laughed. "Well, at least I don't want to eat you." He looked at Wood. "Do as you're told, and I think you'll find that Krull slavery is a pretty good life. Do it for long enough, and you might get to experience VR. Tell me. Dr. Wood; how old do you think I am?"

Wood shrugged. "Forty. Forty-five."

DeLong laughed. "I was forty-three when I became a Krull slave more than a quarter century ago. Think about that."

Carmen spoke up. "Mr. DeLong, you sit here in what appears to be the midst of technology which could solve the problems of Earth's desire for interstellar travel. From what you say, in fact, you are familiar with some of the difficulties we are experiencing on Earth. You are an Earthman yourself. Don't you realize how you could help your own world? If you can truly command this ship, take us back. Help us to find our own path to the stars.

Help mankind populate the Galaxy!" DeLong laughed. "Call me Jack. I'll call you John." He looked around at the faces gathered around him, each one expressing the same thoughts Carmen had voiced. "Help mankind populate the Galaxy? Are you kidding? Mankind already populates the Galaxy. The Krull aren't the only ones who took samples of homo sapiens back to their own cultures thousands of years ago. Nearly all species capable of interstellar travel came and picked up samples of life here, including human life, on numerous occasions over a long period of time, until the Krull stopped it. . Since that time, through biogenetics, cloning, and other techniques, these cultures have raised numerous types of humanoids for use as slaves, pets, and food. Literally billions of humanoid creatures serve on hundreds of thousands of worlds."

"Slaves, pets, and food?" Tara gasped. "Aren't any of them free?"

"Of course not,", DeLong replied. "How many apes, kittens, or cattle gather together in free associations on Earth? Among the stars, humans are awfully low in the scale of evolution. They are good tool-users, though, and very adaptable, particularly with bio engineering and genetic methods, and so are very popular as slaves and pets." "Several of the races, the Hrythd among them, regard human flesh as a delicacy. Unfortunately, as you know, humans require so much nurture and food themselves as they grow that it is not really economically feasible to utilize them as a general food animal."

"Thousands of breeding farms exist for the rich, of course, but human meat brings vast prices, so most are used as slaves. When human slaves and pets get older of course, or become injured or sick, they are sometimes sold to races such as the Hrythd; but just as you rarely eat old cattle, older humans are apparently not nearly as desirable, or bring the prices, as do young, healthy, fat specimens.

Also, many owners are reluctant to sell their humans for meat, just as you would be hesitant to sell an old cat who has been a faithful companion for such use as someone's dinner."

Carmen was shocked, and he could see his own shock reflected in the faces of his companions.

"Humans do inhabit worlds within Krull space independently from the Empires," Delong added, "but none exist outside the protection of their masters."

"How can you permit this?" Carmen exclaimed. "Isn't this all the more reason to help us reach beyond the stars?"

DeLong shook his head.

"Help you reach the stars and beyond? Are you kidding? Look at your planet, and what you've done to it. Do you think any rational culture would seriously consider permitting a species which can't even control itself on its home planet, to venture forth to ruin new, unspoiled worlds?" He laughed. "Hell, Earth was going down the toilet back in the eighties and nineties, and since then I think the population has grown again by about a third. You have no population control; no resource control; no realistic pollution control; in fact, you have no controls whatsoever. You've ruined your own planet, by popular acclaim, and now you want somebody to help you ruin the rest of the Galaxy. Come on now. Be serious."

"I am serious," Carmen replied. "Sure we have problems, but we try to solve them as free people in a democratic manner, and we will. All we need is some help."

DeLong snorted. "Free and democratic. That's good. I already told you that there are no democracies out here. Do you want to know why? Democracies cannot control their own growth.

They never have. Yours isn't the first, you know. Thousands of other worlds have evolved intelligent life, and civilizations not unlike your own in some respects. Then they die out, buried by their own insatiable urge to procreate."

He paused for a moment. "You can certainly see it in your own world. It's just evolution. We evolved over millions of years with an incredible, unyielding urge to procreate and continue our species. It's the hallmark of natural selection. It's ingrained within us, and in fact necessary to our survival as we evolve, as it's necessary to all successful species. Up to a point." DeLong looked around at the questioning faces.

"At some point, however, a species, such as ours, evolves to the point where survival is no longer a matter of question. We become masters of our world, and no longer have any predators, other than perhaps other members of our species. We become unique among other creatures in this respect. This happened thousands of years ago on Earth. Since then, it has only been a matter of time until we began to destroy our planet."

"Thousands of years seems like a long time", Tara commented.

"To you, perhaps," DeLong responded, but how long is it when measured against the age of Earth itself? How long when measured against the rule of the dinosaurs?" "In fact", he continued, "The destruction of Earth's resources has occurred largely within the past two hundred and fifty years, a veritable instant in geologic time. And all as a result of your revered democracy."

"Democracy is what brought us freedom," prompted Wood.

"Sure it did," answered DeLong. "Freedom for about three or four hundred years, until your

planet's resources have been exhausted; it's flora and fauna rendered largely extinct; and the world rendered largely uninhabitable. Freedom for mobs who rule to push out other mobs who rule; and to decimate the rest of the planet's species to feed and entertain your own growing mob."

"You want someone to bring you into their own world? How do you think your democratic Americans would vote as to whether your country should invite several million starving Africans and Indians over to permanently share in those assets which are still remaining? They can't even feed themselves, and you certainly don't want them, so you send them food and economic help which to the extent that it doesn't get siphoned away by corrupt leaders, merely adds to the problem. You reached your pinnacle of evolution by survival of the fittest, and in the name of humanity you discard that law of nature and squander the resources of your planet on keeping billions of weak alive to further propagate a species which long ago reached epidemic proporations."

DeLong shook his head. "The facts are there. Books have been written about overpopulation. Studies fifty years ago brought these problems to the attention of anyone who cared to read them. What have you done? How many politicians have espoused laws limiting the birth of children; or termination of life which is exessive and useless? I'll tell you how many. None. No politician in a democracy will ever suggest such laws. You look with horror upon such actions. Many of you still reject the idea that life itself, now matter how unwanted, should be terminated prior to birth. You are so caught up in religion, majority rule, and the ever-present desire to procreate that as a species you stick your collective heads in the sand and just keep on going, expending vast resources on keeping the weak alive, no matter the cost; extending your consumption; and at the same time patting yourselves on the back because of your `freedoms and human values'." "I suppose you have the answer to these problems," commented Carmen, somewhat sarcastically.

DeLong looked at the Captain. "No, I don't. There is no answer. Not when the mob rules; and mobs rule over the Earth. All species who evolved to reach the stars did so under the iron rule of dictators who understood the necessity to curb basic evolutionary desires, and did so ruthlessly. They still do."

He looked around at the watching faces.

"Your own form of government may or may not provide you with a happier life than a government ruled by a few; or only one. Galactic life is not necessarily lived in abject fear or terror. What self-rule does insure, as you should recognize, is the ultimate collapse of life as you know it, for those generations which will rabidly follow your own, after your precious few hundred years of democracy and freedom."

DeLong shrugged. "Your civilization is only one of many who have evolved so. Mob rule is the standard in the evolution of sentient species. It's in fact why they reach the point where they master their environment, in most cases. Unfortunately, it's also why they destroy themselves within a relatively brief period of time, usually less than a thousand years after achieving industrial techology."

"Of course," he continued, "With the spread of Galactic empires, most such civilizations are located and enslaved long before they reach such a state as Earth finds itself in." "Why are we so special, if we were discovered so long ago?", asked Laura.

"Obviously," DeLong replied, "The Krull. Several thousand years ago the Krull decreed that this system was part of Krull space, and therefore inviolate. I don't know why they did this. Pehaps because so many Krull slaves are of Earth stock. In any event, Earth as you know it exists because of the Krull."

Wood's eyebrows shot up. "Then why don't they help us?"

DeLong chuckled. "The Krull don't give a shit about you, nor do their human slaves, any more than you care about some orphan dying of disease in the gutters of Calcutta. If they think about you at all, they probably regard you as a fungus which is spreading and destroying what was a beautiful planet, somewhat like mold gradually covers an overripe orange."

He shook his head. "For some reason, they declared this system as Krull space, and they've never changed their mind, or minds, regardless of passionate pleas by races like the Hrythd, who rationally argue that humans should be harvested from Earth for Earth's own protection." DeLong chuckled. "The Hrythd, and others, would like nothing better than to harvest a billion or so humans, just for food; and believe me, no matter how you fare in battles against aliens in your movies, they could do it easily."

"In fact," he continued, "The ship which almost got you was no ordinary ship. It was a Hrythd harvester ship, and I believe Earth itself, not your "Cosmos", was to be its prize."

Wood was stunned. "That ship was going to attack Earth itself?"

"Well, not attack," DeLong said. "Subdue would be more accurate. Within a few days though, that ship would have brought all major Earth governments into submission, and within another month it would have returned to Hrythd's systems with a few hundred million food animals packed away in suspended animation."

The crew was stunned and horrified.

"I thought this was protected space?" Tara asked, her eyes wide with the pictures DeLong had drawn in her mind.

"It is." replied DeLong.

"Then why did they do it?" asked Carmen.

"I don't know."

"Will the Krull do anything?" queried Commander Drummond.

"I don't know."

"Then they're going to get away with it?" It was Wood who spoke.

DeLong looked over at the physician, and smiled.

"I wouldn't say that," he replied. "We've been chasing the Hrythd ship since I picked you up. It dropped into hyperspace not long ago, headed back to its system, and we're about to do the same."

He looked around at the shocked faces.

"Well, you wanted to see outer space. Here it is. Next stop, the Empire of Hrythd.

Carmen looked blankly back at his captor, then around at the startled faces of his companions. He was stunned by the events, and the knowledge, which had assailed him within the preceding hour. His world, his values, his very existence had been questioned. The insignificance of his world, and by implication, of himself, loomed starkly before him. He thought of Earth. It was truly gone. His friends and family. He would truly never see Earth, or them, again. He looked around at his crew, who were all silent, probably thinking thoughts similar to his own.

Then he looked up at Jack Delong, and a small smile tugged at his mouth. He never expected to return to Earth, after all. Theirs had been a desperate attempt; a suicide mission, and they had known it. And so tedious.

He chuckled silently. He had won, after all. He had brought his crew well beyond the solar system, alive and intact.. He had discovered interstellar flight, even if he would never understand it. Slave or not, he was going to travel to the stars, and beyond.

A new sound registered in his mind, and he felt a slight rumbling within the vessel. Shutters closed down over the window in the wall, and he sat and thought, as space flattened out before the Krull ship.

The End.