Short Story - 2
To keep you off the streets, I'll post the second naturist fiction short story here now.
Are you ready?
Blast off!
Space Kitten, their ship, was made for long and leisurely cruises, not for outrunning a group of pirates who thought their cargo was valuable.
"We could dump the load and hope they will stop for that," Gloria suggested.
"Fat chance." Brad made a few dangerous maneuvers to evade some stray space rocks. "They won't even notice us ejecting anything. And our customer won't be happy."
"That's crap crap crap," Gloria said, attempting to reprogram the rear defensive force-field for the third time, and failing again. Something was extremely wrong with the connection. "So what do we do? Do we do it?"
"I wish there was another way," Brad said, "but the wormhole seems to be our last chance."
"You go first," Gloria said. "I have everything under control."
"Liar," Brad said, but left the flying to her anyway.
They had to strip off their clothes before hitting the wormhole, or they wouldn't survive. All the stubborn folks who'd attempted the jump dressed, hadn't lived to tell.
Brad released the safety harness and got out of his clothes as quickly as he could, without bumping into the controls in front of him. That was difficult, as their cockpit was relatively tiny. He knew he had to strip first. For some reason, Gloria always wanted to be the last to do so.
Space in front of them seemed to explode, as the pirates released photon grenades. Good thing those weapons were very unreliable; they usually hit anything except their target, but accidents could happen. The bright light was very unnerving however; these grenades exploded too close for comfort.
Once naked, Brad slid back into his seat and secured the harness.
"You forgot something beneath your butt," Gloria commented. "As usual."
"I'll handle that when there's more time. Now you. I'm changing course, we'll get there in mere minutes." Brad took control of the ship again, and soon the Space Kitten headed towards the wormhole.
Gloria was still undressing as they noticed the pirate attacks lessening. Pirates didn't like the wormhole. No one knew why, but the general idea was they hated it because they had to go through in the nude. The other part, more likely than the general idea, was that the hole would disrupt their weapons systems, and calibrating those again would take a while. Long enough to be overpowered by any force waiting on the other side.
"Ready," Gloria said, clicking the harness in place. "Yuck. Cold." The metal strips never seemed to warm up when they wore clothes. Usually that didn't matter, of course.
"We're already gliding," said Brad, cutting power to the engines and letting go of the console after that. "Prepare for the Shakes."
It was an inevitable part of the journey into the wormhole. Life forms would be tossed around like mad, that was the reason for getting back in their seats and the safety harnesses. The Shakes only took about ten seconds, but they were brutal.
"I hate this," said Gloria, after the dreaded seconds had passed. "Now I need an hour for all my internal organs to get back where they belong." She checked their course and the ship's systems. Everything was in perfect order.
"Don't give me that again," said Brad, releasing the harness. "It's time to hit the foam. We're speeding up nicely."
The foam was a strange composition of materials. Before anyone had ever made it through a wormhole alive, it had been a puzzle why no one had ever come back alive. After some attempts by brave souls, a few ships from the other end had come out, in search of the civilization daring to send people through the hole. The beings from the other side looked amazingly human, as if nature had a preference for two arms, two legs and a head. Oftentimes, that was where similarities ended, but these visitors were very helpful in assisting humans to get through the wormhole safely. Being naked was one requirement. Buckling up the second. The foam, which was easy to make, was the third and last requirement.
The speed at which a ship would be catapulted through the wormhole was so great, a body would not survive it with the right support. The reason someone didn't go 'into the foam' before the shakes was, that the ship might need a slight correction after those bad seconds of shaking.
Brad and Gloria pushed themselves towards the waiting foam, which was mounted against the back wall of the cabin. From there they were theoretically able to keep an eye on the screens. Theoretically, because at a certain speed, the foam would envelope them completely. That was one power of the stuff. The other one was that they could keep breathing.
There was no way they would be able to do anything now, until they were on the other side. The wormhole's gravity did all the work.
***
The foam released the two travellers. The lack of gravity made them float away from the wall and bump into each other a few times.
"I'm awake," Gloria said. It was their agreed-on statement to let the other one know they were alright.
"I'm awake," Brad said.
They pushed themselves to their seats, not bothering to get dressed. Most civilizations on this side of the wormhole had never adopted the concept of having to be clothed. Temperature was one of their reasons for that, and with many of the known species living on warm planets, there was little to no clothing to be found.
This had been a big surprise for the earlier wormhole travelers, but those who went through it, had quickly adjusted. Some had even adopted a mostly clothes-free lifestyle on their own planet, as far as circumstances allowed. Often, it were other people who made a big fuss about that, but their numbers were dwindling.
"Booliko!" The sound blasted through a cabin speaker. It was a cry of welcome from one of the satellites near the wormhole entrance. The word meant 'Welcome', in the Gradna language. The Gradna had been the first visitors to the other side of the hole, where Brad and Gloria came from.
"Booliko!" Gloria called back, which was customary.
"Gloria and Brad! It is good to discover you again!" The speaker had to be Relemi Joh. The couple knew him from several previous visits.
Relemi Joh was a big, friendly person, identifying as mostly male. "You were not announced," he said.
"We know," Brad said, and explained about the pirates. "They seem to spread fast, we're chased far too often lately."
Relemi Joh suggested the two shouldn't go back. "There are no such creatures on this side of the hole. What is in your hold?" He had to ask that, to make sure the ship wasn't sent to a station where their cargo could be considered harmful.
"Medical supplies. We were on our way to one of the faraway stations, who need that," Gloria said.
"Skoomosh."
That Gradna word meant something very nasty, they knew, although they'd never managed to find out what exactly.
Relemi Joh sent them coordinates to a nearby station, where they could dock, relax from the chase, and confer with the resident crew on the next steps to take. "Slal and Grist already know you are coming."
"Thank you, Relemi Joh," Brad said, allowing the navigation computer to follow the received coordinates. "Sorry, I still can't say that in Gradna."
Relemi Joh laughed loudly and forgave him.
***
Slal and Grist were Briharhi people. Surprisingly much looking like Earth humans, with a dark skin which hovered between dark brown and brownish red. That color depended on where someone came from on the planet. The Briharhi were one of the staunchest nude-going species Brad and Gloria had ever met. Even in snowy conditions, they'd go out with no clothes on. Something inside them kept them warm everywhere.
Slal had once explained to them how their people trained their minds through something akin to meditation, and also their food helped in creating a strong buffer again the cold. Granted, that showed on their bodies, the Briharhi weren't slender, but their bigger bodies didn't stop them from being fast and agile.
Gloria and Brad appreciated the offer to learn those techniques, but that would take too much time.
After a short flight they connected their ship to the Briharhi station. Docking was quick and easy, and mostly automatic.
"Welcome, welcome," Grist said, as the two left their craft. The woman hugged both of them at the same time with her long arms. "It's been too long since you were here. Relemi Joh told us about the bandits. We need to do something about them. But not now. Come. Slal is making food, you must be tired." She almost carried the two-person crew to a nice lounge, where Slal was doing magic in the small kitchen, in one of the corners.
"You are here!" Slal waved at them. "Come, hug me, then find a place to lie down. This will be done quickly."
Brad had needed to get used to hugging the big man, who was as naked as he was, but by now he didn't hesitate. "Good to see you again, Slal. Only that makes it worth being chased by pirates."
"I had hoped you would come soon," said Slal, his reddish-brown face shining for delight. He hugged Gloria, then again urged them to find a spot on one of the lounge couches. Briharhi people never sat. They stood or they were lying down.
As they waited for Slal to finish his cooking, Grist asked what they were going to do about the pirates.
"We'll wait a while," Gloria said. "Usually they get bored quickly and go looking for others to steal from."
"We can help, perhaps," Grist said, her face one big smile. "Our people, and a few others, have been working on a 'space repellent'."
"A what?" Brad wanted to know all about that.
Grist explained the machine which had been developed. "It consists of six to nine spheres, circling your own vessel. The number depends on the size of the ship. The spheres create a power-grid which can withstand photon grenades. There are two more spheres to this invention. They are..." She looked at Slal, who encouraged her to speak on. "Those two spheres can be directed towards any ship following you. When such a sphere is close enough, it will deactivate all systems in that ship, by draining its power reserves."
"Wow, that's..." Gloria frowned. "Wait. All power reserves? Including life-support?"
"That is what all means, indeed." Grist shrugged. "It's an unpleasant solution, but the things your pirates do are quite unpleasant as well. You told us."
"Yeah, true, but... killing them..." Gloria had some reservations about that, but she did see reason in this weapon. Pirates wouldn't have much mercy on them either, if they got their hands on them. Death would be the most welcome part of a pirate's treatment.
Slal appeared, pushing a floater tray along. He handed out bowls and spork-like eating utensils. "Let's first eat, then talk about killing pirates," he said.
"I'd rather eat and not talk about killing," Gloria said, but she knew she'd be out of luck.
And so it was that the group, almost immobilized by the food, lay on the lounging couches, and went over the options of attacking pirates and only doing damage to their ship, instead of complete annihilating them. Those options were pretty close to zero, because the sphere weapon wasn't made for that.
"So you say there are two ways to not kill them. One is not using the weapon, the other is that the weapon fails," Brad said.
"Yes." Grist let a courtesy burp escape. "If you put it that way."
"Can we put it another way?" Gloria hoped Grist could.
"Of course. Go and kill the bastards before they kill you."
Gloria, Slal and Brad also burped, following Briharhi etiquette.
Slal added, "You know they will kill you once they get you. Your people told us enough stories about the pirates. And their ships are faster than your little craft."
"They're faster than anything not military," Brad said, "and the military won't show up where pirates are. They have rules to follow. Pirates don't." This meant the military preferred life over a death in space.
"I'm truly surprised how a peace-loving people like the Briharhi are so easy-going about killing others," Gloria had to put in. "It feels so strange."
"It isn't," said Slal, as Grist got up and collected the bowls. "We love peace, yes, and so we do away with threats to our peace as quickly and quietly as possible. That way we have more peace. Dragging out such a conflict for long periods of time is not peaceful."
"And doing so quickly, without making a lot of noise about it, is also a warning to species who plan on doing anything to us. It conveys the message they aren't important to us. Which seems to be scary in its own way," Grist commented from the kitchen corner.
"So far it works," Slal said. "If you want, we can have a small crew set up the spheres around your craft."
Gloria still wasn't sure if that was the way to go, but Brad asked them to go ahead with that. It was better to have the option and not use it, than needing it and not having it.
"It won't get lost in the wormhole, right?" Brad asked.
"No. For that, the spheres will attach to the craft. The Zroo, who designed it, had that way of travel in mind..."
***
The next day, the spheres were mounted to the craft. A member of the Zroo, a species that once had looked somewhat human, but had mutated into something with more arms and brains, explained how it worked. Slal was there to interpret the words, because the Zroo had a particular language. Humans had tried to figure it out, and none of them had succeeded. That was because the Zroo language could morph depending on the speaker's feelings. It took a Zroo to fully understand a Zroo.
"The spheres just sit there, until you release them," was the message. A rather crude box had been mounted between the piloting seats. "Push this button and the power-grid spheres will deploy. It will take about twenty seconds for the entire shield to be active. Press the button again, and they will come home and sleep on the hull of your ship."
"So this other button releases the bad ones," Brad said, carefully indicating the other one.
"Those are actually the good ones," Slal said, "but you're right. That button releases the spheres which will take out the power on the enemy ship. Remember, for the spheres, the enemy is always the vessel in front of you, so make sure you release them at the right time. If you don't, the spheres will head for the next ship within three lightminutes of range."
"And will they come back?" Gloria asked.
"Not from that distance, but within a thousand miles, yes, they will come back to you and take position again, until you press their button once more."
"That's... quite something." Brad then asked if they had to pay something for this amazing weapon.
"No," the Zroo conveyed, via Slal. "Just use it well, and let us know how it went."
"We will." Brad looked at the box again. It was close at hand, but also precariously close at elbow. They'd have to watch their movements from now on.
"I guess that means we're leaving," Gloria said.
"Yes. You are." Slal was very relaxed about that. "The sooner you leave, the sooner you can come back."
The two humans said goodbye. Slal wished them well from Grist, who'd not been able to come out for this.
Brad and Gloria watched the two walk away, then strapped themselves in and started the push-back from the friendly Briharhi station.
"Watch the elbow," Brad warned Gloria. "We don't want to do the stupid thing."
"Gotcha. Setting course for the wormhole..."
The two knew better than to get dressed, at this point. They'd be at their jump point soon enough, and they'd have to get out of their garments again anyway. It just wasn't worth it.
On the way there, they discussed what they could expect once they were on 'their' side of the wormhole again.
"I doubt the pirates are there, waiting for us," Brad said. "We've been here for almost a full day."
"If they know we're carrying medical supplies, they will be there." Gloria was convinced of that. Such cargo was worth a hefty price, especially in the ink-black market of space thugs.
Soon they reached the perimeter of safety. Relemi Joh spotted their ship and wished them a safe trip, for which they thanked him.
A few minutes later, the wormhole's pull started accelerating their ship, so they cut the engines and prepared.
"Time to hit the foam," Brad announced, as the proximity indicator told them it was time. They undid their harnesses and floated into the strange material behind them.
"See you on the other side," Gloria said. "We have to be quick-" At that point, the foam covered her completely.
***
The foam gave way. For Gloria and Brad, that was the signal to hurry over to their seats, buckle up, and quickly sweep space near them.
"Pirates," Gloria said. "Told you."
"Maybe we can outrun them," Brad said, setting a course away from the pirate spaceship.
"Dream on, boy," said Gloria, hitting the top button. "We can outrun them just as well as before. That means not at all." She had to bring that point home loud and clear.
Six spheres released themselves from the hull. The ship shuddered from that, which had not been mentioned.
"Everything stable," Gloria said, after a quick check of the hull's integrity. "Now go."
Brad punched the controls, and the engine burst into life, speeding them away from the pirates.
The pirate spaceship's engines also burst into life. The huge vessel went after the small cargo ship, decreasing the distance with every passing second.
"They're coming," Brad said.
Gloria had seen that too. A bright light jumped away from the pirate ship. "Incoming photon grenade. Let's hope the-"
A slight tremor went through the ship as the six-sphere shield absorbed the power of the impact.
"-shield holds," Gloria ended her sentence. "Wow."
"Wow indeed, but we can't keep this going. They're gaining on us. We'll have to turn and send of off the other spheres." Brad knew they had to.
"I hate this..." Gloria looked at their instruments. "Fast turns are never fun."
"Let's-"
Another tremor told them they had to hurry.
"-do this." Brad punched in the sequence for the fast turn, which they'd used far too often already.
Space didn't help in braking, so they had to use all the side-thrusters to turn their ship around, using a trajectory as tight as possible. This was no joke, because that cost some time. Time in which they weren't heading away from the pirates, who would get closer even faster.
As they were still in the turn, Brad readied the power-absorbing spheres. That meant he had his finger on the button.
"Hit is as soon as we have them in sight," Gloria said, and prepared for evasive maneuvers as soon as the spheres were on their way. She prepared to adjust their thruster engines to halt the turn, so Brad had somewhat of a moment to push the button at the right time.
"Now!" she yelled. His finger had already pressed down.
It was as if they heard the power-disrupting spheres leaving their ship, a kind of thunk sound echoing through the cabin.
Gloria hit the engine controls hard, to get out of the way of the approaching ship. She knew, if the power disruptors worked, the huge thing would just keep going, and they shouldn't be in its path.
Brad monitored the camera array, flipping through each of them as fast as he could.
"Anything?" Gloria asked.
"Too far away," he reported.
"Give me some better news, Brad..."
"I'm looking, but... damn!"
"Damn what? Damn good or damn bad?" Gloria had no time to look at his monitors; she was still making sure their engine wasn't going into overload because of her maneuvers.
"It looks as if the lights are going out," Brad explained his damn. "Yes. It's really happening."
Gloria slowed their ship down, going easy on the thrusters to save propulsion plasma, and laid in a slow turn. Soon after that, they could see the pirate ship's engines had stopped working. "They're dead in the water," she decided.
Brad looked at her. They both knew what this meant. The pirates would be dead soon, if no one came to their rescue. "We have to remember what Grist said, last night. 'Pirates will let you die in space without a worry. I know you want to be better than that, but pick a better time for that.'
"Yeah..." Gloria sighed. "We wouldn't be able to take any of them on board either. There's simply no space."
"Egg-zaktly. Let's wait for the spheres to return, and get on our way to deliver our cargo." Brad pressed the 'come home' button for the power-sucking spheres.
***
The spheres returned as the Zroo had predicted, and the journey to the medical station went without any other incidents.
As they approached, Gloria contacted them to ask which bay they could dock at.
The woman on screen simply stared at her, so Gloria asked if anything was wrong.
"Wrong? You're naked!" the woman replied.
"Oh?" Gloria looked down at herself. "Oh. Yes. We are."
"Why?" the woman asked.
"Because we didn't have time to get dressed," Gloria said, and explained about the wormhole and the pirates. The woman's comment, about having plenty of time on the way to this station, was valid, but the two had simply *forgotten* they were nude.
"We'll get something on before we leave the ship," Gloria promised. "But first give us a dock, so we can start unloading the medical supplies. You did ask for those."
"True... Use bay 19-A. That's the top one of that sector." After that, the woman disconnected.
"That was surprising..." Brad started looking for the docking bay, as Gloria undid the harness and went looking for their clothes.
"Brad? I can't find them..."
"What?"
"You heard me. Our clothes are gone," Gloria said, returning to her seat. "Could this be some Zroo prank? I don't think Slal would do that."
"There are spare things in the cargo hold," Brad said. "We'll have to use those." He looked at her. "And to be honest, I'm not really looking forward to putting them on."
Gloria looked back at him. "I know what you mean..."
If you missed the first short story, go here.
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