Thirteen - A Boots Assist
Pheledra!, Pheledra! Boots cried as he made his way along the upper maintainace crawl spaces of the huge starship. He was thoroughly lost and only wanted one thing - out. Every place he went looked the same so he marked randomly as he went. His nose told him he was back where he�d been before. Pheledra!, Pheledra!, Pheledra!
Boots, my love, I�m here, he finally heard Pheledra�s voice in his head. Peace, my kitten, we�ll get out of this together now, okay?
Boots meowed in distress but felt somewhat comforted by her voice. He paused and listened intently.
Boots, I can see through your eyes now and hear with your ears. I�ll nudge you which way to go. Go on and pay attention to my nudge, okay sweetheart?
Pheledra had boosted up the psychotronic adjuvant to include her physical senses and locked firmly into Boots.
Go that way Boots. Pheledra gently nudged his fluffed up tail and he took off trotting. After they�d gone along for awhile, she nudged him again to turn left. It was just a feather tap on his shoulder. Immediately, he turned left.
As they carefully moved down the corridors and passageways inside the huge starship, Pheledra was surprised they didn�t encounter the Kultaki. She had already decided that if it did happen, Boots would run as fast as he could and locate a place where they couldn�t follow him. As insurance, she was constantly looking for places for Boots to hide. The best bet were the maintainance crawl spaces accessible through hatches where the outside panels had been left open. She had already spotted a couple of possibilities and made a mental note but didn�t know how much good her nudging would do if Boots was running away in a panic. Then they heard music and the sound of a loud party going on somewhere below.
No wonder we haven�t seen any Kultaki. They�re distracted downstairs having some kind of celebration, probably enjoying their astral feast from the recent horrors on Miraba.
Pheledra was going after the crystal. Boots was going whereever Pheledra nudged him and they soon found themselves directly in front of a display pedestal bearing the blue velvet pillow with the Galvernian crystal nestled on top. It was displayed with some prominence in the very center of His Excellency�s trophy and awards room. The room was filled with floating platforms at various heights upholding all the trophies and awards and certificates and licenses and deeds and stocks and bonds and bars of gold, coins of silver, pyramids of platinum and numerous bricks of happy powder - all the gifts, praises and affirmations that His Excellency had ever aquired from the time he was a baby lizard. The whole place was uncomfortably surreal to Pheledra who simply blocked out the environment and focused upon getting the crystal aligned as Wave was indicating to her telepathically.
Aim the point of the crystal toward the center of the back wall, Wave was saying in her head, the Kultaki craft is coming in close now. They�re hailing us, but I�m going to wait awhile to answer.
Pheledra didn�t know how she would get Boots to manipulate the crystal but she nudged him under the chin.
Boots hopped up on his old blue velvet pillow. He was thrilled to see and smell something familiar. He happily curled up but couldn�t get comfortable because the crystal was crowding him out. So, he tried to move it over. It didn�t budge so he pushed hard on it with his full body weight. The crystal toppled over on its side. Pheledra tried to nudge Boots into turning the point of the crystal toward the back wall but Boots simply would not pay any more attention to the crystal. All he wanted to do now was curl up and claim his old blue velvet pillow.
"This is not going to work," Pheledra said out loud, "I need a droid to do the job."
Okay Boots. We must locate a transfer station. Come on.
Boots reluctantly hopped down, responding to her psychic nudge. Although Pheledra could see, hear, feel, taste and smell through Boots, he didn�t always look around. She had to get him to turn his head to the right or left so she could view the surroundings and get her bearings.
Boots trotted out of the trophy room and down a corridor. Every now and then, they�d pick up sounds of the Kultaki party somewhere on the decks below. Pheledra was thankful the Kultaki were so distracted. It would be devastating if Boots was discovered and recaptured.
Pheledra guided him into several open rooms but there were no transfer stations. On one occasion, Boots blundered into a room full of Kultaki hard at work. Before they could spot him, he crouched behind a cart full of odd looking tools. Some of the Kultaki were adjusting controls on various devices which were so advanced even Pheledra had no idea what they were. Others had face panels off their equipment and were making adjustments or repairs. She urged Boots to look around and was amazed to see adult and children Kultaki of all ages working side by side. Although the Kultaki culture always functioned by means of a strict pecking order, in this case, adults were showing the children by hands-on experience how to do things and they were being quite patient. The children were eagerly following every nuance of their elders. Pheledra mused. Those of negative polarity love their children too ... the future of life itself demands it.
Fabby, who was finishing up installation of the crystals into the last droid, began monitoring Pheledra�s telepathic merge with Boots.
"Pheledra, Kultaki technology always places transfer stations in the middle of their larger ships for the sake of clear transmission through the axis."
"Thanks, Fabby."
She got Boots out of the room with the Kultaki and began coaxing him toward the hub of the starship. Soon, she spied an open area with transfer platforms. No Kultaki were anywhere to be seen. She nudged Boots to jump up onto a control panel and, after some gentle psychic stroking under his chin and tapping of his right forepaw, he turned on the power.
Well done Boots!
The transfer station lit up and began a soft low frequency hum.
"Wave, I need a droid to transfer over, what can we do?"
"I�m almost finished with this fabrication. Red, Blue and Green are holding the roach securely. Orange has not yet returned from his mission. Violet can give you a hand. Where should I send her?"
"Just a moment."
Pheledra nudged Boots over to a control panel where she could see the screen.
"Quad 3, sector 14. The coordinates are 145985.�
�I�ll get her right over," said Wave, "Is the power on and locked?"
"Sure is."
"Comin� right up."
Continue on to Chapter 14
PART 1
Introduction by the Author
Prologue
Ch.1-The Mission Ch.2-An Astral Roach Ch.3-The Conspiracy of Light Ch.4-The Kultaki
Ch.5-His Pestilency Ch.6-Brain Storm Ch.7-Feline Processing Ch.8-Red Alert
Ch.9-The Day of Days Ch.10-Empathic Agony Ch.11-Oldtime Melodrama Ch.12-Orange Flies
Ch.13-A Boots Assist Ch.14-Vision Delivery Ch.15-Sudden Capture Ch.16-Cat Torment
Ch.17-The Horror Ch.18-Cobi and Ana Ch.19-Playing Doctor Ch.20-Open to My Soul
Ch.21-Self Sufficient Monkey Ch.22-Total Destruction Ch.23-Alone in Space Ch.24-New Plans
Ch.25-Prepare for Contact Ch.26-Dhati Knows Best Ch.27-Healing and Peace
