Free Human Chronicles Part 2 Book 2: The Apex Predator by T. R. Harris Page A
Authors: T. R. Harris
not for procreation, but for pleasure.”
“They sell their own kind!”
“Why are you so shocked? The planet is very overcrowded. Selling slaves helps reduce the population and keeps the economy active. And those sold as slaves are very pleased with the arrangement. They are usually treated as prized-possessions and provided with better living conditions than on their homeworld. There are long waiting lists to be considered for the slave trade.”
Riyad shook his head, trying to imagine how any people would voluntarily offer themselves up as slaves. Yet he knew next to nothing regarding the planet Lucon-Por. Maybe it was a decision based on the lesser of two evils. He tried to shake off the feeling of disgust that had settled over him, as if he was somehow guilty just for discussing the issue. He turned back to the stack of medical monitors.
“Should I take only a few with me or all at the same time?”
Canos smiled. “Take them all. You will sell the lot at the first stop.”
“Maybe not,” Ruszel countered. “Unless he can provide thousands more, the buyers may not want to commit to so few, not without the promise of more.”
“So I’ll promise them more. How will they know if I’ll keep my promise or not?”
Ruszel cast him a hard, steady glare. “Deception comes easy for you Klingons , does it not?”
Klingons? Oh, yeah, that’s right. I am still using them as my cover race.
“We are creatures of commerce, and as such, we usually say what is necessary to make a sale.”
“You lie then.”
“Just as you are doing about our return to Tel’or.” He watched the embarrassed looks on the faces of the two aliens. “Relax,” he said with a grin, “intelligent races will usually improvise the truth to fit the situation. It’s a survival trait. Now, let’s get this show on the road. I want to get going for the Void as soon as possible.”
Again, Riyad saw the confusion, as the aliens wondered about the show that was to be taken on the road and how that applied to their current situation. Finally they gave up and let it pass. They were already having a hard enough time understanding Riyad and his ways. Language was just one of the hurdles they struggled with. There would be others.
Chapter 12
Aboard the Pegasus…
S herri felt Adam’s hand tense as he stroked her hair. “What’s wrong?”
“We’re losing well-integrity,” Adam’s voice was as tense as his hand.
“The generators?”
“No … it’s being overloaded. This is not good.”
The two of them ran out of the lounge and toward the pilothouse. Adam knew that an overloaded gravity-well was extremely dangerous, especially the wells produced by the concentrated-array employed by the Pegasus .
He slipped into the pilot’s seat while Sherri took up a position at the navigator’s station. Already his telepathy device was feeding him data from the ship’s monitors, and actually faster than he could take it in. The device imbedded under his right armpit was in constant communication with all the ship’s electronics; it could weed out the everyday and commonplace from the critical and only report to him those that were the most-urgent. However, at this particular moment, it seemed as though all the ship’s systems were screaming in his brain, Danger, Will Robinson! Danger!
The input into his brain soon became such a jumble of overlapping alerts and warnings that he couldn’t take it anymore. He reached behind his back and turned off the telepathy device using the pressure switch located just under the skin at the pit of his back.
The sensation of breaking the connection was always a jolt, feeling as if his senses had suddenly switched from high-definition 3-D to 1950’s black and white. It was like he just lost a vital part of his awareness and vision, which in reality is just what happened. Even as he began to manually monitor the well-integrity from his station, he was amazed at how quickly he’d adapted to the
“They sell their own kind!”
“Why are you so shocked? The planet is very overcrowded. Selling slaves helps reduce the population and keeps the economy active. And those sold as slaves are very pleased with the arrangement. They are usually treated as prized-possessions and provided with better living conditions than on their homeworld. There are long waiting lists to be considered for the slave trade.”
Riyad shook his head, trying to imagine how any people would voluntarily offer themselves up as slaves. Yet he knew next to nothing regarding the planet Lucon-Por. Maybe it was a decision based on the lesser of two evils. He tried to shake off the feeling of disgust that had settled over him, as if he was somehow guilty just for discussing the issue. He turned back to the stack of medical monitors.
“Should I take only a few with me or all at the same time?”
Canos smiled. “Take them all. You will sell the lot at the first stop.”
“Maybe not,” Ruszel countered. “Unless he can provide thousands more, the buyers may not want to commit to so few, not without the promise of more.”
“So I’ll promise them more. How will they know if I’ll keep my promise or not?”
Ruszel cast him a hard, steady glare. “Deception comes easy for you Klingons , does it not?”
Klingons? Oh, yeah, that’s right. I am still using them as my cover race.
“We are creatures of commerce, and as such, we usually say what is necessary to make a sale.”
“You lie then.”
“Just as you are doing about our return to Tel’or.” He watched the embarrassed looks on the faces of the two aliens. “Relax,” he said with a grin, “intelligent races will usually improvise the truth to fit the situation. It’s a survival trait. Now, let’s get this show on the road. I want to get going for the Void as soon as possible.”
Again, Riyad saw the confusion, as the aliens wondered about the show that was to be taken on the road and how that applied to their current situation. Finally they gave up and let it pass. They were already having a hard enough time understanding Riyad and his ways. Language was just one of the hurdles they struggled with. There would be others.
Chapter 12
Aboard the Pegasus…
S herri felt Adam’s hand tense as he stroked her hair. “What’s wrong?”
“We’re losing well-integrity,” Adam’s voice was as tense as his hand.
“The generators?”
“No … it’s being overloaded. This is not good.”
The two of them ran out of the lounge and toward the pilothouse. Adam knew that an overloaded gravity-well was extremely dangerous, especially the wells produced by the concentrated-array employed by the Pegasus .
He slipped into the pilot’s seat while Sherri took up a position at the navigator’s station. Already his telepathy device was feeding him data from the ship’s monitors, and actually faster than he could take it in. The device imbedded under his right armpit was in constant communication with all the ship’s electronics; it could weed out the everyday and commonplace from the critical and only report to him those that were the most-urgent. However, at this particular moment, it seemed as though all the ship’s systems were screaming in his brain, Danger, Will Robinson! Danger!
The input into his brain soon became such a jumble of overlapping alerts and warnings that he couldn’t take it anymore. He reached behind his back and turned off the telepathy device using the pressure switch located just under the skin at the pit of his back.
The sensation of breaking the connection was always a jolt, feeling as if his senses had suddenly switched from high-definition 3-D to 1950’s black and white. It was like he just lost a vital part of his awareness and vision, which in reality is just what happened. Even as he began to manually monitor the well-integrity from his station, he was amazed at how quickly he’d adapted to the