Consciousness returned slowly to the members of Blue Squadron—possibly
afraid that sudden movements might startle Thomas Dent into a fit of violent
activity. Their leader, Roger Vasta, was the first to regain speech. “All
right, people,” he began, “how is everyone?”
The others mumbled that they were fine. It was a credit to Vasta that
he understood.
“All right,” he began, “we seem to have been taken captive on some alien
craft. Dent, are you still armed?”
“I haven’t had a chance to check, sir,” Dent said, still tired.
Dixon snorted. “Why bother checking? They’re obviously much more
powerful than we are. We’re probably just being kept alive for some
horrible purpose anyway.”
“Hey,” McCurry chided, “just being prisoners on an unknown, alien
spacecraft’s no reason to be depressed.”
“Are you kidding?” Kadar demanded. “It’s a perfect reason to be
depressed.”
“Hey, just look on the bright side. We’re going where no human has gone
before. We’re leaving the solar system, casting away the bonds of Sol.”
“One, we’re not the first. The star shuttle Challenger II was
launched almost a decade ago. Two, I’d be a lot more happy about leaving
Sol if I was going by my own choice.”
McCurry considered that. “Do you think the Anonymous knows what
happened yet?” he asked Vasta.
“I don’t know,” he replied.
“If we’d been sending a continuous video feed back they’d’ve seen what
happened,” Kadar commented. The others considered that. (Actually, McCurry
was trying to figure out if “they’d’ve” was a legal construction, but we
won’t get into that.)
“Well,” Vasta said, breaking the silence, “no use crying over spilled
milk. Dent?”
“Huh?” Dent asked, shaken out of his daydreaming.
“Are you armed?”
“No, sir. They must have taken my weapons.”
“How clever of them,” Kadar commented.
“Hey, if I were taking them prisoner, I’d take their weapons,”
McCurry protested.
“Um… so?”
“Well, it’s not like, you know, … well, never mind.”
Another pause.
“Where do you suppose we’re going?” Dent asked.
“Planet Gloom,” replied a new, electronically filtered voice.
“Gaaah!” added Dent, startled into a fit of violent activity, which
proves consciousness isn’t as stupid as you might think. However, the
speaker was some distance off, and Dent managed to calm down before he could
injure himself on the speaker’s combat armor.
“Who are you?” asked Vasta, voicing the question on everyone’s mind
(well, except for the armored figure, who already knew the answer).
“I am Guard-Lieutenant Vtami of the Zakav Eighth Fleet.”
“Why have we been captured?”
“The Guards are not privileged with such information.”
“Figures,” muttered Kadar.
“So who are you?” asked McCurry.
“As I said, I am—”
“No, no. Not you, the Zakavs”
“Zakavians. Actually, there are no Zakavians, we’re an… alliance of
two peoples, the Caphanites and the Blargoloids. I am Blargoloid. By that
token, what are you called?”
“Humans,” replied Vasta.
“Terrans,” suggested Dent at about the same time.
“We can also go with ‘Earthling’,” added McCurry.
“Earthling? That always sounded so stupid,” said Dixon.
“I think Terran has a nice ring to it,” said Dent.
“I don’t see what’s wrong with Human,” protested Vasta.
“As long as we don’t go with Earthling, I’m fine,” declared Dixon.
McCurry shrugged, “I liked Earthling.”
Again they lapsed into silence.
“So,” Dent said, “is Terran all right with everyone?”
“Whatever,” said Vasta.
“Fine with me,” added Kadar.
McCurry and Dixon nodded and shrugged, respectively.
“Great,” smiled Dent. “We are called Terrans.”
“Fine,” replied Vtami. None of the Terrans were certain if they
detected an amused tone through all that filtering. “I’ll let you know
when we arrive,” and with that, Vtami left.
After a few moments, McCurry spoke up. “Seems to be a rather nice
person, considering.”
“Sure,” Dent agreed, “for a representative of an unknown race that’s
abducted us against our will.”
“Is it possible to abduct someone in accordance with their will?” Vasta
asked.
“Shut up, McCurry.”
“Hey!” McCurry protested. “The Boss said it, not me.”
“Sorry, it just seemed like something you’d say.