Starsnatcher - Trapped In An Alien World [COMPLETE]

Chapter 6.x (Bonus Chapter)

Day 153 (Shadowmoon days)

Day 38 (Earth days)

Due to lightspeed day, it took Ay's message about thirty hours to reach Shadowmoon and thirty more hours for us to see what it had done. The message was a sequence of light signals that confused computers on the Seizers' satellites. I don't know how he found out about the programming language they used, but I guess he had lots of time over there. Anyway, the confused satellites communicated with ground computers and ordered them to print biological versions of the Plague virus.

Digital versions of the Plague also spread and took down one Seizer computer after the other.

Shadowmoon is under total lockdown now and, with most of its technological infrastructure destroyed, the Seizers there don't even have the benefit of chatting with their friends online.

With their magnetic shields damaged, too, it took only one solar flare to give their moon the rest.

As one might imagine, the Order of the Burning Pyramid only grew stronger through that. They thought they'd never have been interesting for the Primogenitors without their advanced technology. Plus, without their dependence on technology, the Plague couldn't even have spread. Rumors have it that even Sye broke out of their prison.

Since Ay sent the signal from the space station and not from his ship, it cannot be conclusively traced back to him. Only Kira and I saw him do it and we had no cameras, given how all our combots and equipment had been destroyed by Cherub.

With that in mind, Ay sent a radio signal to Shadowmoon in which he portrayed himself not as the perpetrator, but as Shadowmoon's savior. I think he used Precog to figure out what kind of speech he needed to get the reaction he wanted.

Here is a rough transcript of his speech in a way understandable to us earthlings:

"You are a funny species. You have access to engines my kind can only dream of. Factories that can build anything you want from dirt. Vehicles that can fly without wings or thrust. You can even extend your lifespans as far as you wish and modify yourselves to improve your bodies.

"Yet despite these technological miracles, you do not embrace them. You are split between those who support scientific progress and those who sacrifice blood and tears to oppose it.

"There are two future paths that your species can take. Either you will revert into the Stone Age or you will attain godhood. It is your choice and if you wish to take the latter option, be aware that you can only attain under my leadership."

I had a conversation about this with Crick.

"Many, many of my conspecifics sympathize with Mustafa Ay," Crick transmitted. "They see the contradictions inherent to our system. And they are intimidated by him."

Crick had already shown me the footage before. A hundred automated ships surrounded Starsnatcher. It outmaneuvered their projectiles and destroyed all of them; in large part thanks to Precog. Even worse, Starsnatcher sent self-replicating fighters that took the scrap of our destroyed ships to produce copies of themselves. In other words, Ay shrunk our fleet and increased his own one, much like Mothership did. Shadowmoon became even more defenseless against the Primogenitors than before.

With these developments, it was no surprise that the government eventually crumbled under the pressure. They agreed to give over their fleet to Ay so that he could protect them from the Primogenitors. In exchange, they had to provide him with sufficient resources so that he could find the Cipher. By extension, the Dragonfly was under his command now, too.

It was so unbelievably depressing. It was my fault that he had the information to understand Seizer language and to compose his speech, to begin with.

I distracted myself from this truth by writing in my diary all day. Kira occasionally borrowed me her singularity stone so that I could recount the exact words in conversations.

I haven't forgotten about any of you guys back on Earth. Not about my family, nor Iris. Kira hasn't forgotten about any of you either. We are still dead-set to fly back home, but that's nothing Ay will allow us to.

There was one question I kept asking Crick all the time.

"Any plans, Captain?"

"Any plans, Captain?"

"Any plans, Captain?"

Crick never responded. They spent too much time arguing with Tesla and especially Helix.

Day 165 (Shadowmoon days)

Day 42 (Earth days)

Eventually, we gathered around the bridge's table. I, Helix, and Crick stood there while Tesla had come as far as they could without dissociating themselves from their control panel. Kira sat in the corner, as she usually did without a telepathy microcomputer.

When I asked my question again, Crick transmitted a surprising answer. "I am not your Captain anymore."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

Incoherent mindwaves streamed out of Crick's body. I couldn't connect them into an intelligible message, but I felt the underlying emotions of uncertainty.

"They're not our Captain anymore, simple," Helix answered. "This is a mutiny. Pilot and I both agree they're a failure for letting our moon fall into the clutches of a human."

They transmitted the last word with a contemptuous undertone I'd have never expected from Helix. Their prejudice against outsiders ran deeper than I thought. No wonder Tesla automatically assumed I was prejudiced against cyborgs for no good reason.

"Is this true?" I asked.

"To an extent," Crick replied. "It is primarily my failure that we did not stop Mustafa Ay. There is no consensus as of this meeting yet on who should be the new Captain. Doctor believes they should lead this ship now. I and Pilot, however, agree that you would be the most qualified person. You are the only one who can communicate with everybody on this crew, including it." They pointed a tentacle in Kira's direction. "Furthermore, you now possess the same type of microcomputer Mustafa Ay utilizes."

I stared at our table in disbelief. "I-I can't do that. I have no leadership skills and no idea what to do."

"Exactly my point!" Helix cut in.

Crick ignored them. "Then be my consultant. I will listen to what you have to offer because, at the moment, I lack strategies on how to win this war as well."

Helix flashed. "You mean I will listen to what the human has to offer! And you will listen now to me, Prof. You could have taken care of Human all by yourself. The only reason I'm on this mission is that you're my friend. But now, I honestly believe it would have been better had I remained home and never learned of Mustafa's plans at all!"

"You follow a coward's train of reasoning," Crick transmitted. "Do you hate your own species this much? Or do you not know that surrendering without a battle is worse than dying in a battle?"

Suddenly, the Dragonfly's acceleration increased. Or deceleration, as these two were indistinguishable in space.

"The Firefly is approaching us!" Tesla transmitted.

So, Layla was still working for Ay as if nothing had changed?

"Is the intent hostile?" Crick asked.

"It did not shoot any lasers nor long-range missiles at us so far."

"Then come closer," Crick transmitted. "There is no reason to save munition if one is an aggressor."

"Now you don't even understand simple deception tactics anymore!" Helix replied.

"There is no reason to come closer," Tesla cut in. "The ship sent us a message."

Tesla played its radio waves for all of us to perceive.

"Come closer to Mustafa's ship. He has an important message for all of you and lightspeed delay sucks."