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The battle was very fierce and the ship badly damaged. Since we were no longer able to assist in the fight, but were becoming a liability, our colleagues on the other ship finally told us to go away. It was not easy, leaving them to face the wrath of the Bellann, but we had no choice. We limped off while our sister ship succeeded, somehow, in occupying most of the fire of the Bellann although we did suffer a couple more salvos before we finally escaped.
It was then that I was forced to make the pronouncement which had such an effect on my future. Checks via the ship's instruments showed me that the final two salvos had been, as it were, the last straw, and the ship was in a critical condition. I had no choice but to advise the other members of the crew that they should abandon ship while I attempted to effect repairs via the usual systems.
"I cannot guarantee success," I told them, "but the instruments give me reason to believe that the ship is not fatally damaged. Two days should be sufficient to complete the work."
They did not want to leave, of course, but I insisted, warning them that there was not much time to spare, and so they finally went to the life capsules.
"Be careful," I said as I bid them au revoir. "We are surrounded by enemies here."
Of course they knew it, too; it was no wonder they did not want to leave, but they really had no choice. I was the only one who could do what was necessary and their presence would have both hampered and worried me. They entered their individual life capsules and departed, one by one, and through the scanners I watched them for a very long time. Be fortunate, I thought, and find no captors, for without you what will become of me?
I had already put the repair systems into motion. With my crewmates gone, I could now close down many of the unnecessary peripherals, preserving only those that would be needed for my own survival. The work proceeded very satisfactorily and I was confident of ultimate success; accordingly, I set about contacting my colleagues, so as to advise them.
There was nothing, no response, no sign of them. They had either gone beyond the range of the ship's scanners, which seemed unlikely, or their communication system had failed, and that seemed equally unlikely when you remember that not one capsule was involved, but several. I tried to contact our sister ship, but again without success. So what was I to think?
Such data as I had available could suggest only one solution: that they had all been destroyed, one way or another. The sister ship had not broadcast any distress signals whatsoever, and I had not tried to contact it before for fear of giving away our own position to the enemy. For the same reason, continual contact could not be maintained with the life capsules. I began to wish that for once I had disregarded security procedures, so that I would at least have known the worst, yet at the same time I knew that there was no other course I could have taken without jeopardising my own safety. If nothing else, I was there with the ship--if only they could find me or I them.
Time passed and the ship was restored to its normal situation. I breathed a sigh of relief. Then I saw another ship, an alien vehicle, appear on my scanners and I waited to see what it was. As it drew closer, I checked it carefully and came to the conclusion that it was not hostile.
After a while, it tried to contact me, but I decided to ignore the approach, considering that it might then leave me alone. Unfortunately, I was mistaken, for the ship came close and I was appalled to realise that its captain intended to board my vessel. I was now in a serious quandary, for without my colleagues I could not control the vessel sufficiently to manoeuvre away. The ship was locked in forward drift, merely taking the usual precautions to avoid obstacles...illogical, you may think, that I could not cope by myself, but this was how things were arranged by the ship's builders and there was nothing I could do about it. But there was one thing I could do, and that was defend myself once the aliens had come on board. I waited for them....
They entered, all unwary, and I smiled to myself. They had not seen me yet, but soon they would, and they would regret it. They looked about the place, making incomprehensible remarks, and finally I decided to reveal myself. As I had predicted, they were startled; not hostile at first, merely curious, for I showed no sign of hostility to them. It was a neat way of defence, I had always thought, surprising invaders with an amicable welcome and then insidiously destroying them. When they were off-guard, completely taken in, I attacked.
They fell to the ground, screaming, all but one who staggered back towards his ship...not that he'll be any use to them now, I thought, since he will be stark, staring mad. It was not a pretty end, I'm afraid, but without my colleagues to help there was nothing else I could do except use this one means of defence.
I thought now that they might leave me alone, and I waited for them to move off. To my dismay, there was more activity at the end of the boarding tube and then three more persons advanced through it. Again I waited, wondering how many of these aliens I would be forced to destroy before they would go away. I had no desire for a struggle with them but I had no doubt now that they saw my vessel as ripe for salvage and if they could just be rid of me there would be huge financial rewards awaiting them.
The three persons moved on to the flight deck and wandered around as their predecessors had done. They were differently dressed, though, seeming to be underlings by their clothing but certainly not by their manner which spoke of authority and determination. When I finally decided to approach them, I felt almost disappointed that they too would have to die. Softly, I moved into their sight and began to speak to them. The words were mental, telepathic, welcoming, and they all looked at me, instinctively understanding even though my physical speech would have been incomprehensible to them. They were wary of me, which was hardly surprising in view of what had passed shortly before, and I felt a resistance of a type I had not encountered previously but since I had no other means of defence I could but persevere and hope that I might overcome them.
It was a battle of minds and wills, and I was determined to win, for if I lost, my colleagues would surely be lost for ever. Soon I had control of two of the aliens. The third, though, was another matter; he was fighting me all the way and try as I might I could not see a way to trick him. I summoned every resource I had, every trick, every known possibility, but he rejected it all, and I soon realised that my only hope was simply to persist and persist, praying that he would weaken before I did, but this being was unique in my experience and in the end he defeated me.
I surrendered; what else could I do? I admitted that I had no other defence and I gave him the ship, merely hoping that my colleagues might return at some time in the future to regain it; and perhaps I have to say that, in truth, I believed them all dead, the sister ship's crew as well, and the sister ship destroyed, so now being quite alone, I needed allies and I had liked, instinctively, this tough, determined man who now took control of my ship.
As yet we could not communicate by speech and with my surrender I could no longer reach his mind for the moment, so I merely watched him and the other two as they inspected the instruments and at the same time carried on some conversation with their own ship. Then, to my surprise, there was an altercation, some fighting, and next thing I knew one of them was activating the ship's controls. Ah well, I thought, with the three of you here we can manage; I alone never could. Perhaps things will not be so bad after all.
We hurtled away and it soon became clear to me that these three were rebels of some sort and escaping from oppression. I could not help but sympathise with then, once I discovered their origins, and this I did by analysing via the computers their speech and locating its source. Refugee, from the infamous Terran Federation, they were, and greatly in need of my help...so it was not just I who needed them, but they who needed me. How could I refuse to cooperate with any enemies of that abominable Terran Federation which was a byword for evil throughout the galaxy? Accordingly, I studied their language, and then, a little uneasily at first, rather haltingly but with quickly increasing confidence, I spoke to them in words that they could understand.
They were startled, you may be sure, for they must have assumed that I was too totally alien to be able to communicate with them once my telepathic defence had been destroyed, but they were intelligent and quickly responded. I noted their names and registered their voice prints with the computers, thus making their possession of my ship absolute in all respects. I did not tell then everything--oh no, there were limits to my cooperation, for I felt that they should find some details out for themselves, if only to exercise their minds to the full and keep them alert--but on the whole I was as accommodating as they could possibly wish, and I determined that they and I would henceforth struggle together against the Federation of Earth since my own battle was long lost and my companions surely dead. Indeed, as time went by, odd scraps of information, bitter and unwelcome but better than no knowledge at all, came to me of my erstwhile companions and I knew that my crew was indeed destroyed. Still, my new leader--for such I now acknowledged him to be--was worthy of my respect, and his companions no less so.
"Zen!" I had said when first I spoke to them, for it means "Welcome!" in my language, and ever afterwards they used the word when they addressed me. I did not mind--how could I, when every command was prefixed by a pleasantry which reminded me of my origins and my people? But I never told them of my home, for that memory was all I had left of my people and even when they discovered something of it later, I still stayed quiet. There are some things which belong to my people alone, and I will not tell them to any alien, not even Blake!
The end
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