Mantis Homeward: Mantis Saga 7 Read online

  Mantis Homeward

  Mantis Saga Book 7

  Jim Henderson

  Copyright 2021 by Jim Henderson All rights reserved

  In writing this book, I must acknowledge the 40+ years of science fiction books, movies, TV shows, tabletop role-playing, and video games that fired my imagination. Thanks to all those who encouraged me in this effort and those who provided feedback on the first five books. Thanks to Troon Harrison for helping to bring this project further to life. Big thanks to https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/ for help coming up with a large number of names with reasonable logical consistency. Most especially, thanks to my dear wife Rhonda for her valuable feedback and invaluable encouragement and patience.

  You can find all the other books in the series at:

  https://www.amazon.com/Jim-Henderson/e/B07PPXYPNQ

  For images, videos, updates, and more, see the Mantis Saga site at:

  http://www.mantissaga.space

  Also see the YouTube channel at:

  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCheDOML36vY0qLtOA0rdtlQ

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 0: Big Entrance

  Chapter 1: The Dark Wanderer

  Chapter 2: A Proposition

  Chapter 3: A Dark Plan

  Chapter 4: Aftermath

  Chapter 5: Grieving

  Chapter 6: Reckoning

  Chapter 7: Barsyrei Bound

  Chapter 8: Trouble in Hyperspace

  Chapter 9: Recalcitrant

  Chapter 10: Bletgaritus to Etarrir

  Chapter 11: Onward to Rayria

  Chapter 12: Barsyrei

  Chapter 13: Across the States

  Chapter 14: Esjafaqu

  Chapter 15: Karajon

  Chapter 16: Karajon II

  Chapter 17: Clean Up

  Chapter 18: System 0109

  Chapter 19: Mustering at Eapalia

  Chapter 20: Xalanan

  Chapter 21: Xalanan Too

  Chapter 22: Wrapping on Xalanan

  Chapter 23: Going Home

  Chapter 24: Big Event

  Chapter 25: Parting Thoughts

  Appendix: Fallout from War

  MAPS

  Chapter 0: Big Entrance

  Kaboom!!!!!!!

  Ximon’s ears rang with the sound of an explosion, and he stumbled against the bulkhead as the ship shook. He blinked his eyes, collected his wits, and concluded the sound came from behind the ship where much of the rest of the crew was handling cargo. He pushed off the wall he had fallen against and ran aft, through the galley and toward the cargo bay.

  He vaguely heard Mantis’ artificial, yet feminine, voice as he ran. “Captain, there has been an explosion aft of the ship. I’m detecting minor hull damage and interrupted communications with …”

  He ran through the cargo bay and emerged onto the cargo ramp descending aft. A scene of mayhem greeted him. Several dozen cargo containers were scattered in a rough semi-circle where Peter had been sorting and organizing cargo. Acrid smoke stung his eyes and small fires burned on some containers. Perhaps fifteen meters aft, there was a burned area where an explosion had torn shipping containers apart. Peter’s blackened body lay motionless a few meters beyond.

  As Ximon took this in, he was thrown bodily forward. Elsbeth had run from behind him, slammed into him, and continued on past. Ximon had made the mistake of partially blocking the ramp. Elsbeth was what might be called a stout woman—mid-forties, with a solid, matronly body and generous curves. Her long, sandy blond hair flew out behind her as she ran toward her injured lover.

  She screamed “Peter!” in an almost manic voice.

  That fed panic in Ximon as he realized he didn’t see his dear Raiza. He looked frantically about for any sign.

  “Raiza!”

  He breathed easier as she came from his right, headed toward Peter. Her beautiful body was streaked with ash and there were some cuts that indicated she, too, might be injured. She still had the “perfect 10” type body that men craved, a dazzlingly beautiful face, and strawberry blond hair that flowed behind her as she rushed toward Peter. He always felt lucky to have her in his life, but now she was literally a lifesaver. She was his wife, his dearest friend, and a valued member of his crew, both medic and steward. She also just happened to be a TrueForm Service Robot (TSR) model D8 companion bot, but that didn’t bother Ximon one bit.

  Ximon steadied himself and looked about as he descended the ramp. Euclidia, too, lay motionless off to the left, his metallic body glistening in the sun.

  Ximon hurried down the ramp to see what was going on. As he approached Peter, Elsbeth was trying to cradle Peter’s burned body and was making a strange sound that might be called keening. Peter typically had the chiseled physique of a body builder, with a ruggedly handsome face. That was all burned now, blackened in most areas, with skin sloughing away. These skinless areas showed his true physique—heavy titanium struts, robust piezoelectric musculature, and a variety of pumps. Amongst this structure were several obvious areas of damage, including a few sizable pieces of shrapnel cutting through the musculature or nerve distribution. Ximon could see no sign of life or electronic activity.

  Raiza knelt across from Elsbeth and started checking Peter’s vital functions, doing the appropriate diagnostics.

  Ximon clumsily put his hand on Elsbeth’s shoulder in an attempt to comfort her and waited for Raiza’s pronouncement. Elsbeth was now repeating, “Save him. Fix him.” over and over.

  Raiza looked up at Elsbeth. “He is in complete shutdown. All secondary processes have ceased. There is an active data retention process in his brain, but no other activity. His body is badly damaged—.”

  Now Elsbeth hissed angrily, “NO! He will be fine. Get him into the ship and fix him!”

  “Elsbeth, I don’t think that’s …”

  Seeing Elsbeth’s state, Ximon put a restraining hand on Raiza’s shoulder and gave her a gentle squeeze. “Sure, let’s get him to sick bay.”

  Elsbeth looked somewhat mollified but also dazed. “Damn right. Let’s get him up.”

  Ximon looked about to see how they were going to lift him. Thankfully, at that moment, Euclidia approached from off to the left. His simple metal and ceramic outer coating was banged up and burned in places, but he seemed to be moving without difficulty. He was physically crude in comparison to Peter and Raiza, with no pretense at humanity, but a very welcome sight.

  Raiza asked, “Euclidia, are you as well as the diagnostics indicate?”

  “Yes. The pressure of the blast caused my body to go a protective shutdown, but I was able to quickly reboot and seem to be operating without difficulty—”

  Elsbeth hissed again, “Shut up! We’ve got to get Peter to sick bay … NOW!”

  Ximon hurried to comply and tried to pick a spot to lift Peter from. Euclidia, however, paused and pointed toward the edge of the field of crates. “Raiza, I’m afraid there is another injured person. Peter appears stable, but this human does not look to be so.”

  Raiza looked apologetically toward Elsbeth. “I must check the other. As Euclidia said, Peter is stable.”

  Raiza headed to where Euclidia indicated. Ximon followed, leaving Elsbeth holding Peter’s charred body close and alternately mumbling and weeping.

  Elsbeth looked dazed and stared without comprehension at this abandonment, muttering, “Fix him. Fix him.”

  When Ximon got past the crates to see the wounded man, Raiza was already hard at work checking this person over.

  She was in her element and said, “Euclidia, go get my medical bag.”

  Euclidia rushed to comply.

  Ximon could see that this was a human male in bad shape. His face was caked with blood,
there were thick splotches on his chest and arm, and burns on his face and arms. He seemed to be coming in and out of consciousness, moaning and calling for someone named Asha.

  Ximon got closer, to help Raiza if he could. When he knelt beside her, he got a better look at the man’s face. Recognition struck him like a hammer blow; it was Aidan, AKA Agent Stefan Adair. Aidan, or whatever his name, had joined the crew of the Mantis as they headed for the capitol of Krax. He had earned their trust and friendship, gathered information they had wanted to keep to themselves, and then betrayed them. He had led a team of Republic Intelligence Service (RIS) agents in brutally dissecting Mantis’ computer core, leaving her for dead. When the crew of the Mantis exposed all the follies of the government in the Shebatha Incident, it had rocked the RIS and Aidan had been fired to save some face. Aidan had then spent most of the last year hunting the Mantis and her crew, had kidnapped Raiza, and tried to kill them all.

  Ximon stepped back in confusion and dismay. How could Aidan be here? What could drive anyone to hunt them for over a year across hundreds of light years? How was he able to plant a bomb here? How had he wound up injured in the blast?

  As Raiza probed his wounds, Aidan opened his one good eye, and chuckled softly, blood creating a froth on his lips. “Ximon, I found you.” This started a coughing spasm that racked him with pain.

  Elsbeth came over, saying, “Raiza, come, you’ve got to help Peter. He’s …”

  Ximon could see recognition hit her too and she exploded in rage. She bellowed like an angry bull, “YOU! You did this!”

  Then she ran over and knocked into Raiza. Raiza was generally pretty stable, but leaning over her patient as she was, she was not well balanced, and toppled off to the side.

  Elsbeth was ranting, “Leave him! Let him die! Help Peter. This scum deserves nothing.”

  She then ran up and kicked Aidan in the ribs several times with every ounce of weight she had. Luckily for him, Elsbeth had left the ship in a hurry and without shoes, so the barefoot kicks did far less damage than they would have had she been wearing her customary boots. Still, blood flew from Aidan’s mouth and he screamed loudly.

  Raiza cried, “No, Elsbeth, you must not.”

  Ximon was vehemently angry that Aidan would do this to them, but it wasn’t his lover lying nearly dead. Perhaps that’s what allowed him to maintain a measure of control. He wanted revenge but they couldn’t descend to Aidan’s level.

  Ximon got up to try to stop Elsbeth from doing more. However, Euclidia, having returned, put a heavy arm on Elsbeth’s shoulder from behind. This stopped her forward motion, but not all of her momentum, and she fell down near Aidan’s head.

  Now Elsbeth glared up at Ximon and yelled in impotent rage, “Why!?!? Why do you defend him? He did this. He hurt Peter. He deserves to die.”

  Ximon sat down next to Elsbeth while Raiza returned to examining the body with instruments that Euclidia gave her. Ximon tried to put an arm around Elsbeth, but she just batted at him, not quite hitting or slapping but keeping him at arm’s length. Tears ran down her face and she mumbled angrily about betrayal, killers, and so on. Finally, she let Ximon pull her close and cried while weakly hitting his shoulder. She just kept crying, “Why?”

  After minutes that seemed like hours to Ximon, Raiza said, “I’ve given him a sedative so that he will remain unconscious. I could start surgery, but I’m not sure when rescue personnel might arrive.”

  Euclidia noted, “Mantis reports no signs of emergency response personnel thus far. We are rather at the end of the city and few people are about.”

  That energized Elsbeth again. She angrily pushed Ximon away and stood up in one swift, angry motion. “No! No, we’re not going to turn him over to the locals. He’s been hunting us for a year and will never stop. If we can’t kill him, I want him where we can kill him at any time.”

  Ximon stood next to her and tried to reason. “Elsbeth, the police are going to want to take him. He set off a bomb. Certainly, they’ll prosecute … and he’s in bad shape.”

  Raiza said, “If I don’t stop the bleeding and remove some of this shrapnel, he could die, lose an eye, or sustain other permanent injury.”

  Elsbeth nearly spat her words out, “Good! But fine. If we can’t kill him, then we’re taking him with us. You can put him in one of those cryo chambers and let him chill for a few months or years—”

  Ximon cut in, “Elsbeth, that doesn’t—”

  She pointed an accusing finger at him. “No! I have followed you all over this damn galaxy, going from calamity to disaster. I’ve never demanded anything, but I demand we put this asshole on ice. Then we can just get on our way.”

  Raiza tried to say something, “Elsbeth, but—”

  “No! It’s my turn to call the shots for once. Haul him in and freeze him, then get back to work on Peter. He’s the important one. He’s your friend. He’s my …” Here she broke off in incoherent sobs.

  Ximon saw that Elsbeth wouldn’t be moved and could see a sort of logic to her proposal, though it came from a place of madness. Aidan had haunted them and kept them running scared. Ximon really liked the idea of being absolutely sure where Aidan was, leaving him an impotent piece of meat. The Eamedoran people seemed reasonable, but who knew how their legal system really worked?

  He made up his mind. “Fine. Euclidia and I will help Raiza get Aidan to a cryo chamber. Elsbeth, go be with Peter. We’ll join you as soon as we can.”

  Euclidia had brought a back board and they got Aidan swiftly on it, heading for the cryo chambers.

  As they went, Raiza said, “Ximon. This does not seem wise. He’ll be stable in a cryo chamber, but he needs surgery. I should start on that and then we could turn him over to a hospital …”

  “No, that won’t do, I’m afraid. Though she’s obviously distraught, Elsbeth had some good points. I’ve seen critically-injured people frozen for months sometimes, until they got to a good hospital.”

  “As you say, Captain.”

  Ximon knew this idea didn’t sit well with Raiza. Her calling him Captain versus Ximon, dear, or something else, just emphasized this. She was never petty, but her word choice could be influenced by their perceived closeness.

  She worked without complaint and soon had the cryogenic freezing routine engaged.

  As she finished, Ximon said, “Dear, now please go do what you can for Peter and Elsbeth.”

  Raiza just stared at him. “Ximon, I don’t believe you understand the situation and Elsbeth clearly does not. Certainly, you saw the extensive damage to Peter. His positronic brain has suffered severe damage from explosive concussion as well as shrapnel. His neuro conduits are broken in several places. His power core is damaged and offline. Most of his skin is burned off or severely damaged. As I said, the only active process I can detect is a data retention routine, trying to save what it can of his data and personality. If he were human, I would say that he is in a coma from which he might never wake. There is little to be done at present except capture his data and work to ensure we have a clean image so that can maybe be installed into another body someday.”

  He put his hands on her shoulders. “Raiza, you are the best doctor I’ve ever met and you’re obviously right, but I think you’re forgetting something.”

  “I fail to see what that might be.”

  “Raiza, you have another patient. Elsbeth isn’t able to take this in.”

  “Ximon, most humans mourn the loss of a loved one, and do so in different ways. However, though the human psyche is fragile, it tends to be resilient. If we clearly and completely explain the situation, Elsbeth will come to grips with it in time and we can consider alternatives.”

  “I don’t think so, dear. I think she might snap. We need to do something else, at least for now.”

  Raiza pondered for a minute. “I see. I am not an expert in mental care, nor the human mental state, but some of my training touches upon such. What would you have me do?

  “For now, let’s go get Peter
and bring him to the sick bay. Then you can ‘do some surgery’ on him for now. We’ll just have Elsbeth wait outside the sick bay. I think we need to let her have some hope, at least for now.”

  “As you say, Ximon. Euclidia, will you help us?

  They went back out to get Peter. Elsbeth was cradling him as best she could and whimpering. Ximon had never seen her like this.

  When they took her to sick bay, Raiza said, “Elsbeth, I must attend to him now. Please, wait in the galley. Or, better yet, go get some rest. I’ll let you know as soon as I’m finished.”

  Elsbeth did as she was asked, sitting numbly on the couch in the galley, apparently in a stupor.

  Ximon put a hand on her shoulder. “Elsbeth, Euclidia and I have to attend to the cargo. Can you wait here? Mantis will keep you company.”

  She just nodded dumbly and, as if on cue, Mantis started up a conversation with Elsbeth, using her most compassionate tone. Ximon wasn’t sure what was said, but he thought the soothing tone might calm Elsbeth.

  He and Euclidia snuck off to see to the cargo … and the evidence of the explosion. If they wanted to avoid police entanglements, they had to make the situation less obvious before any police arrived. If the police saw it as it was now, they’d certainly be looking for bodies and this could turn into weeks of investigation. If found as things were, the crew could probably claim that putting Aidan in cryo was just ‘preserving evidence’ or ‘prioritizing treatment’ but the police would take Aidan and the crew would be dragged into weeks of investigation and delay. In the end, the locals might wind up releasing Aidan or he might escape somehow. Ximon didn’t want to risk it. This was their best way to avoid entanglements and control their destiny … and Aidan.

  There was a lot to do with the cargo strewn out behind the ship. Peter had been sorting through things when the explosion occurred. That explosion had destroyed some of the cargo, damaged some, and thrown much of the rest around. Ximon and Euclidia had to pick through what was salvageable and what was not, then get everything that wasn’t garbage stowed in the ship. As they did so, they also needed to watch for signs of any other bombs or dangerous items, as well as approaching police.