The two companions stood quietly at the three-way intersection. Four hours ago they had not been companions, had not even been acquaintances. Four hours ago they might have passed each other without a second glance. Of course, four hours ago these corridors had been bustling with travelers and tourists on their way to Titania, Earth Federation's newest colony world. Four hours ago this starship, the E.F.S.S. Murphy's Maiden, a top-of-the-line Starmaiden class passenger cruiser, had been a piece of art, all gleaming metal flying amidst the endless night of the universe.
            Now, the starship was little more than a pile of scrap metal and the corridor was filled only by wreckage and the lingering smells of death and burning circuits.
            One of the pair tilted his angular head to what seemed to his companion to be an unnatural position. His name was Vrax and the angle to which his head was tilted was not at all unnatural for him. He was a Click-nooka-whirl, a four-legged insectile race that had joined the Earth Federation just over a hundred years ago. Although his height of five foot seven immediately gave him away as a Worker, Vrax was definitely a male. This revealed Ariel as his homeworld. After the uprising in 2214 the Supreme Court of Ariel ruled that the Queens and Drones could no longer force Workers to take the drugs that suppressed the development of the sexual organs. It had taken nearly twenty years but it was expected that within months the Supreme Courts of Earth, Babylon and Centauri would follow suit.
            Even if he still possessed the Whirl-click-nooka-tock cloth that he normally wore when around aliens, he could still have been identified as a male of Ariel by the blue emblem tattooed onto his chestplate. Vrax shifted uneasily on his four legs as he waited for the sound that had stopped him and his companion to recur.
            His companion was Bar-Daniel, a member of the ursine race, Arctos. Bar-Daniel was nine feet, two inches, slightly taller than average for his race. His fur was mostly brown, darkest on his head and back, it lightened to nearly tan on his arms and legs. He was strong even for an Arctos but, he had to admit, his hearing wasn't as strong as Vrax's, he still couldn't hear the noise or sound that had captured Vrax's attention.
            Bar-Daniel was getting nervous. They were wasting too much time here. They were still at least ten minutes away from the nearest accessible shuttle-pod and this ship was being torn apart by the stress caused by the sudden drop to sub-light speed and decompression in so many areas.
            Bar-Daniel cleared his throat. Vrax immediately silenced him with a curse in his language, a mixture of clicks and whistles. The Click-nooka-whirl were not capable of producing many of the sounds of Earth-Common but Bar-Daniel understood the insectiles' Nooka-nooka-click language. It was a required school subject on many worlds including his native Ellisworld.
            "There it is again," Vrax click-whistled. "There is someone trapped this wreckage," he continued and rushed forward to a pile in a collapsed section of the side corridor. Vrax started to dig through the debris but found that much of it was held in place by a collapsed I-beam support. He struggled against it ineffectively for a moment before Bar-Daniel gently pushed him away, grasped the I-beam, lifted it with no visible effort and tossed it to the side.
            Within minutes they found the source of the sound. Two young girls had been trapped when the corridor collapsed. The first was a Trokmar, the feline race just recently discovered by the Earth Federation. A jagged piece of metal had been forced through her forearm pinning it to the floor. From the amount of blood it must have been a slow death.
            The second girl was a human, her shoulder-length brown hair matted with sweat and maroon blood. She was scratched and bruised but appeared to have no major injuries. She was just regaining consciousness as Bar-Daniel covered the Trokmar's body with his shirt.
            Vrax helped her to her feet. She started to straighten her short torn and stained white dress. Bar-Daniel walked over and she stopped, starring in between him and Vrax.
            "Are you alright," they asked her in unison in their respective languages. Her reply was a short breathless cry as she pointed between them. They turned around to see a thick substance oozing out of a ventilation grill, down the wall and onto the floor. Bar-Daniel grabbed a metal pipe and started forward. Vrax reached out and stopped him.
            "No. It's all right. That's a Beilos. I've seen pictures but I never knew any had left their homeworld." Bar-Daniel relaxed but didn't release his grip on the pipe.
            They watched raptly as the last of the creature oozed through the grill. It formed a rippling irregular hemisphere on the floor. The creature's orange surface had a watery translucence that allowed the others to see its various internal organs, which distorted and shifted even as the Beilos just sat there.
            The Beilos flowed across the floor halving the distance between it and the others then stopped. Its surface rippled and formed a narrow cylinder with a hollow sphere attached to one end. The sphere expanded and contracted and a variety of sounds issued forth from the cylinder. Gradually they started to refine.
            "Shlusha is the name of this one," the Beilos said, startling the others.
            "After a pause, Bar-daniel stepped forward and said, "I am Bar-Daniel. This is Vrax of Ariel," he said indicating his insectile companion. "I don't know the Human's name-"
            "Renee," the girl said cutting him off, "Renee Kyle." She was fourteen years old, five foot even, and very pretty by Human standards. Her parents had been moving to Titania to enjoy a well-deserved early retirement. They had met when the Trokmar first contact team had been formed. It was due to their efforts that the initial contact, that had started so poorly, turned out so well. Renee had been looking forward to the move. She had really wanted to show Kaittie what snow looked like for real, not just in holograms. There had been no snow on Kaittie's homeworld or on Farview. Renee looked down at Kaittie's legs that stuck out from beneath Bar-Daniel's shirt. She knew the answer but still had to ask the question.
            "Kaittie's dead, isn't she?"
            "Yes," Vrax click-whistled. Renee understood him, she had been taught Nooka-nooka-click as well.
            Bar-Daniel looked back and forth between Renee and Shlusha. "Vrax and I are working our way forward, there's a shuttle-pod bay up there," he said to them. "You had better come with us. The ship won't last long enough for a rescue ship to arrive."
            The four started toward the main corridor then Renee stopped and went back to Kaittie's body. As the others watched she pulled one of Kaittie's arms from beneath the shirt, picked up a chunk of metal and slammed it down on Kaittie's claws, shattering them. She picked up some of the pieces and put them into her skirt pocket. When she stood up she saw a shocked look on Bar-Daniel's face.
            She looked down embarrassed and said, "Her people believe that if some part of your body isn't buried in your homeland when you die that your soul is doomed to wander the Void forever. I'm not sure if I believe that, but she did. And she was my friend. She was my sister." Renee looked back up.
            "I solemnly apologize for my reaction," Bar-Daniel said then asked, "Your sister?"
            "Yes. My parents were on the team that contacted the Trokmar. When Kaittie's parents died my parents adopted her at her tribe's request. My parents gladly accepted. Kaittie and I have always thought of each other as sisters." Renee smiled to herself as she recalled some special memory.
            "We have to get going," Bar-Daniel said.

            They had only gone a hundred feet when they came to a door that was blocked by debris from the other side. Bar-Daniel placed his hands flat on the door and pushed. It gave a few inches then stopped. He continued to push for a minute with no additional results.
            "What now," Renee asked as Bar-Daniel stood back from the door, the fur on his head, arms and chest matted with sweat.
            "We will get through. Everyone get out of the way." Bar-Daniel started hyperventilating as he slowly backed up, stopping ten yards away. He let out a sound that was somewhere between a cry and a roar and rushed forward. He covered the thirty feet in what seemed an instant and slammed into the door. He and the door disappeared in a cloud of dust and shattering glass.
            The others rushed through the doorway. Bar-Daniel lay in a pile on the floor. He was bleeding from cuts on his arms and his right ear. They watched in amazement as he slowly rose to his feet, moaning.
            "I told you we'd get through," he said smiling.

            As they continued down the corridor, Renee bandaged Bar-Daniel's cuts with strips of her skirt. He was carrying her so she could clean the cut on his ear off when they reached another blocked door.
            They all tried to force it in a concerted effort before agreeing to let Bar-Daniel repeat his stunt.
            "Be careful. Please," Renee said as he began to hyperventilate.
            Bar-Daniel again cried out as he sprinted forward and threw his body against the door. This time the door held. He fell back from the door landing back nearly ten feet. He was lying face down and not moving. Vrax and Renee ran to where he lay and carefully rolled him over straining from the effort. His left shoulder jutted forward unnaturally.
            Suddenly his eyes shot open and he roared with pain so loudly that Vrax and Renee jumped back.
            "Oh, tarq," he cursed, clutching his left arm. He rolled up onto his knees and climbed unsteadily to his feet. "Oh, tarq," he repeated and started to walk in a tight circle clenching his eyes shut. He continued this way for a moment ignoring the worried inquiries from his companions. Finally he stopped. When he opened his eyes there were tears in them.
            "Bar-Daniel," Renee started.
            "I dislocated my shoulder," he said through his teeth. "I have done it before, I can fix it." He was breathing heavily as he walked over to the doorway. He placed his right hand on the wall.
            "How-," Renee started to ask him as he smashed his shoulder into the doorframe. There was a loud crack and his roar of pain echoed down the corridor.
            "Bar-Daniel," Vrax click-whistled, "I know you're in pain but we are losing precious time. We'll have to backtrack and try to get around it."
            Before he could reply, Shlusha reformed its artificial throat and said, "There is another way." When the others turned to face it, it continued, "This door is not air-tight. This one can get through and use this one's body as a hydraulic system to remove the rubble piece by piece."
            "You can really get through such a small space," Bar-Daniel asked amazed.
            "Correct," it replied. Its artificial throat merged back into its body as it flowed over to the door. Little by little its size diminished as it oozed beneath the door. Once Shlusha reached the far side, the others took turns watching as it moved into position and compacted itself forcing the debris aside.
            Shlusha moved toward the door. Only a single metal beam still held it shut. The Beilos moved between it and the door. It slowly compressed its body putting ever more pressure on the beam. It wasn't budging. Shlusha increased the pressure. Its internal organs compacted as the density of the surrounding fluid increased, doubling, then doubling again.
            Just as the beam finally broke loose and was flung down the corridor Shlusha's Olfactory organ imploded under the intense pressure. Beilos rely much more on their senses of taste and smell than on hearing and sight. The intense pain and the sudden loss drove it into a frenzy. As the others came through the doorway, Shlusha was flowing rapidly from wall to wall splashing up against them. When it struck an object, it would form an appendage, pick the object up and throw it down the corridor.
            Shlusha stopped, formed its artificial throat and cried out, "This one can not taste/smell. This one experiences terror. This one knows not what to do."
            Renee went to it, kneeled beside it and placed her hand gently on its surface. It was cool to the touch but didn't feel slimy as she had expected.
            "Don't worry," she said, "we're here with you. You'll be alright." A reasonable facsimile of a Human hand formed on its surface and clutched hers.
            "This one will survive?"
            "Yes," she answered, the cool hand rippling in hers.

            The next two doors opened freely. The third was a security door, designed to maintain the atmosphere inside the ship even if decompression occurred on one side of the door. Vrax pressed a button on the control panel and the door slid open.
            The next door was also a security door but the panel had been shattered by the impact of a metal ceiling tile.
            Vrax reached inside the panel and attempted to bypass the damage. After a few minutes he turned to the others.
            "It is beyond repair. Bar-Daniel, do you think you could get through this door."
            "It was built to withstand explosive decompression, it can withstand me."
            "Shlusha," Renee asked quietly, "could you get under it?"
            "It extended an appendage and felt along the frame. "No, the seal is too tight for this one to get through. Even if this one did get through, the panels require the touch of a being with an electrical nervous system, which is a thing that this one does not have."
            "Tarq it any how," Bar-Daniel said, looking through the four inch thick window. "We're so close. The shuttle-pod bay is only a few yards past the end of this corridor." He pounded his fist against the door in frustration. "Wait a second, what's that light?" The others strained to see around him.
            "The red flashing one," Renee asked.
            "Yes," he replied. "Its an airlock indicator," he continued answering his own question. "The red flashing light means the outer door is open. There was another airlock back past that last door. One of us could go out and come in through that one and open the door from the other side."
            "But what if the door's ruptured, not open," Vrax asked.
            "No, if it was ruptured the light would not be flashing."
            They hurried back through the last door and reached the airlock. When the door opened Bar-Daniel slammed his fist into the wall. The others realized why a second later. The cabinets were empty, there were no spacesuits there.
            "What have we done that the Fates are so against us," Bar-Daniel screamed.
            "All is not lost yet," Vrax said. Renee and Bar-Daniel looked at him inquisitively and Shlusha rippled. "My exoskeleton gives me greater resistance to the lack of atmospheric pressure and the extreme cold. I could go out without a suit and craw along the hull to the other airlock."
            "You'll never make it," Bar-Daniel said.
            "I might. I have to try."
            No one could argue with him there. If he made it they still had a chance.
            Vrax stood facing the outer doors as the air cycled out of the airlock. The outer doors opened and Vrax pulled himself out into the void of space. When he had disappeared from their view they hurried back to the locked door.
            No one spoke as they waited for him to appear. After what seemed an impossible amount of time, the light changed from flashing red to solid yellow.
            "He made it," Renee exclaimed. But her joy turned to terror as the light turned green, the door opened and Vrax stepped out. His blue blood was leaking from his ears and mouth and joints. He was moving with a horrible slowness and he was dragging one of his back legs. He reached the end of the hall, reached up shakily and pushed the button. His arm dropped listlessly to his side as the door slid open.
            "Oh, god, Vrax, are you alright," Renee asked.
            "Don't concern yourself with me. We must hurry. The ship is breaking up fast." As if to emphasize his point the ship shuddered and sounds of explosions came to them.

            Minutes later they had reached the corridor leading to the shuttle-pod bay. The shuddering had not stopped, it had in fact gotten worse. When turned down the corridor they found it blocked by wreckage from ceiling to floor. They cleared as much as they could but most of it was just too heavy.
            But they had managed to clear a very narrow hole. They could see a tantalizing glimpse of a shuttle-pod, it's door standing open. Bar-Daniel looked through the hole.
            "I'll never fit through there. Vrax do you think you could do it?"
            "There are some ways that even I don't bend." They both knew that Shlusha couldn't do it. He could get through but the shuttle controls would be the same as the door panels, requiring a creature with an electrical nervous system to activate them.
            "I'll fit," Renee spoke up. They turned to her. "But I don't know how to fly one of those."
            Bar-Daniel turned away and tried once more to clear the debris. It was a futile effort and he realized it.
            He turned back to Renee. "I want you to listen carefully to me, O.K.?" She nodded. Arctos can establish a telepathic bond with a member of the opposite sex. The problem is that it is part of the mating ritual. The bond is permanent and is stronger than any attraction you could ever again feel towards another person. It would allow me to guide you in piloting the shuttle-pod, but we would be bonded forever. We'll be soulmates until one of us dies."
            "If we don't do it we'll never make it to the shuttle-pod and we'll all die, here and now. I want to live. It's not really such a sacrifice."
            "Just so you understand."
            "Let's do it."
            Bar-Daniel wrapped his arms around Renee and pulled her into a tight hug. Renee felt foreign thoughts in her mind and pulled back but slowly she gave into the feelings. She could feel Bar-Daniel's whole life, his pains and his joys, his triumphs and his failures, and she knew that he could feel hers too. She knew that she had never known anyone so well and never would again. She felt pleasure so intense she thought she would die.When Bar-Daniel released her, she was flushed and sweating.
            Bar-Daniel spoke out loud to her, "O.K., Renee? Alright I'll lift you up and you craw through and get into the shuttle fast." He added across their mental bond, I love you.
            I love you too, she thought back to him as he lifted her up into the hole.
            When she was inside, Vrax click-whistled, "You'd better go too Shlusha. We may need every second once she docks with the airlock." Shlusha flowed into the hole after her. When they had closed the door of the shuttle-pod, Vrax and Bar-Daniel started back towards the airlock at a rapid pace. The shuddering of the ship had taken on an ominous new tone.
            Bar-Daniel instructed Renee across their bond. He talked her through each step as she warmed up the engines, disengaged the lock mechanism and launched the shuttle-pod. she was flying very rough and jerkily but not bad for a first-time pilot.
            Bar-Daniel and Vrax were inside the airlock now. As Renee lined the shuttle-pod up for docking, an explosion ripped through the ship. a ball of fire rolled down the hall outside the airlock. The fire was suddenly extinguished as the outer hull ruptured and the oxygen rushed out into the void.
            The shuttle-pod locked onto the airlock just as the artificial gravity failed and Bar-Daniel and Vrax floated off the floor. The doors opened with a pop as the air exploded into the void between the two sets of doors. Renee jumped into Bar-Daniel's arms when Vrax took over the controls and blasted them away from the ship.

            Renee lay in Bar-Daniel's arms as Vrax flew the shuttle-pod just outside the expanding ring that was all that remained of the ship. The distress beacon on the shuttle-pod was on so it was only a matter of time until they were picked up.
            Renee looked up at Bar-Daniel and then at her other two best friends in the universe. A girl could do a lot worse she thought and drifted off to sleep.

© copyright 1990, 1998, 2007, 2009 by Michael J. Ahlers