Star Missions - Book One - Part II

Chapter 13 - Killer Swarm

Blue-Ray left the room to make himself a cup of coffee, leaving the two Space Dogs there to keep Ka-Rhin company. That would allow Ka-Rhin to collect his thoughts and calm himself down. Blue-Ray did not feel threatened by him at all. It was evident that Ka-Rhin had been through a horrifying experience. He was reliving it as he related the story.

What Ray deduced, so far, was that the Nisthura are a simple and peaceful people. The Jamill sent a shuttle to the planet. That seemed to create anxiety.

Ray took his cup of coffee with him back into the medical bay and turned the chair around to face the table. He sat down across from Ka-Rhin this time, seated on the chair properly. Ray sat his coffee on the table between them. He saw that Ka-Rhin was now ready to continue.

"Tell me more about the Jamill shuttle," Ray requested.

"The arrival of the shuttle was odd. The Jamill trade ships never came this late in the season. The distance between Pladus and Nisthura is increasing this time of the cycle, making travel between the two worlds more difficult and consumed much fuel. But still, a Jamill shuttle meant trade, and we weren't going to miss an opportunity," was Ka-Rhin's thorough response.

"So you traded with the Jamill? What did you get from them?" Ray pressed.

"Technology and machines mostly," Ka-Rhin answered. "My family got our food ship from the Jamil that way. Our people work hard. The Jamill have technology. They teach us."

Blue-Ray nodded. "So you would gather these stones that the Jamill valued and trade them for things you needed."

Ka-Rhin nodded, but the motion was stiff and forced. It was clear that he was emulating what he'd seen from Blue-Ray and other Terrans. "When I was younger, I would go out in the valleys near our village and search for stones, red ones, and even green or blue ones sometimes. It has been several cycles since I've done so now. My father gets the stones we need in exchange for the food my family collects from the food planet."

"You mentioned the food planet before," Blue-Ray said. "What is that?"

"It is the planet where we get our food." Ka-Rhin's tone implied that this should be the most obvious fact in the world.

"Is it in your system?" Ray wanted clarification.

"My system?"

Blue-Ray pursed his lips and searched for a better way to ask the question. "How do you get to it?"

"We fly in our food ship."

Ray saw that it was time to drop that line of questioning. The process was so simple to Ka-Rhin that he would have a hard time explaining it. "Does everyone have a food ship? Is that where you all get your food?"

Ka-Rhin sat up a little straighter.

"No, my family are important members of the village. Because we use our Food Ship and provide food to the entire village after the cold season and before the new crop appears." Ka-Rhin explained.

"Everyone had a role in the village. Most worked in the fields between the hot and cold seasons."

"There's more than one cold season?"

"Every cycle, there are two hot and two cold seasons, four seasons for planting and reaping. The cold season arrives when the stars become equal in size, and one no longer dominates the other. That is when the ground will freeze. My father and uncle were already helping store the food from the harvest for distribution during the cold season. But when one of the two stars fills the sky, the heat comes. We store the food in the caves beneath the village and the hills. The Nisthura have lived this way for many centuries. There was a time when the food would run out. One bad harvest would lead to many deaths. Even though our bodies store food, some did not or could not store enough. Now that we have food ships, we go to the food planet, and there is always plenty to compensate for a bad harvest."