THE RELIANT

SPACE DEMON

"Captain," said ship's android Roger, "there is a ship approaching us."

"Can you identify it?"

Roger shook his head. "No, sir."

"How many are onboard the ship?"

"I'm reading only one life sign, Captain."

"Only one?"

Roger nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Is everyone else on the ship dead?"

"Unknown, sir."

"Well, that's damn peculiar." John rubbed his chin. "Mr. Renjay, hail the ship."

"Aye, sir." Zack paused as he tried to hail the ship.  "They're not responding to our hails, Captain."

"Keep hailing them, Mr. Renjay."

"Aye, sir."

"Let's see who it is we're dealing with. Viewscreen on."

Within seconds, the ship's viewscreen came on and they were able to see the ship. Only it didn't look like a ship. Or at least not any ship John had ever seen. It was long and slender and grey-looking. There were two lights in front that looked more like eyes and a slim opening under the lights that looked more like a mouth. It looked more like an animal like a snake or an eel than an actual ship.

"What the hell-" John exclaimed as he arose from his seat.

"Is that a real ship?" Lisa asked.

"Not sure, Commander," John replied, shaking his head.

Bortis uttered a couple of words in Morlon.

"What was that, Bortis?" John asked his chief of security.

Without looking at John, Bortis said, "There is an old Morlon legend that speaks of our ancestors encountering strange ships with no crew to speak of. They called them-" He spoke in Morlon.

"Space demons?" said John.

"Yes  Captain."

"I wonder if such a thing is even possible?"

"Captain," Roger chimed in, "there have been attempts to create such ships. The Karnins, for instance, attempted to create what would be considered crewless ships during the Karnin war."

"Yeah," John said, "I remember hearing about that from Alliance intelligence. Alliance command even discussed the possibility of creating such a ship, but the idea was immediately scrapped because they felt the idea was too far-fetched."

"Do you think this could be one of those crewless ships, Captain?" Lisa asked.

"I'm not sure, Commander. It's certainly not an Alliance ship, that's for sure."

"Unless the Alliance has been experimenting with a new ship design," Lisa pointed out.

"That wouldn't surprise me," John said. "The question is, why is there only one life sign onboard that ship."

"Captain," said Roger, "Alliance regulations say we are to render aid and assistance to any ship regardless of whether it's an Alliance ship or not."

"I'm well aware of the regulations, thank you, Roger."

"Oh, yes, sir."

John paused as he mulled over his next action. But Roger was right. According to Alliance regulations, he really had no choice but to try to render aid and assistance to those aboard that ship, even if it was just one person.