The alien was silent. She forced herself to remain motionless as it returned to the side of the platform, and not to scream when a tentacle as thick as a conduit again plucked her into the air. It might have been her imagination but it felt as if the grip was more cautious this time.

The tentacle placed her halfway down the length of the matching limb directly before it. She staggered atop the scaly surface, sat down quickly. The floor seemed very far away. If she slipped off … But the limb was amazingly steady and she was soon straddling the rubbery surface. It was like riding a giant snake.

The view as the Drex turned and headed for the exit was spectacular.

Vast stretches of corridor that had taken her minutes to cross were traversed in seconds. Despite its long sleep, the alien acted as if it knew exactly where it was going. Beneath the four massive pillars which served it as legs the deck still glowed with rose-hued light. The Autothor led the way, effortlessly maintaining its position near the tip of one tentacle.

Bouncing slightly on the half-extended tentacle, she turned to peer back up at the Drex. “Are you the only one left aboard?”

“Unless another was added after I was placed in hiatus,” the alien rumbled. “Something went wrong. I was not supposed to sleep so long.” One eye inclined toward her while the other three focused on the corridor ahead. “For such a small life-form you are overfull with questions.”

“I can’t help it. It’s our nature. How do you feel?”

“In what spirit is the inquiry made?”

“Honest curiosity.”

The Drex considered. “Lousy. How would you feel?”

“I hadn’t really thought about it. I get cramps if I sleep more than seven hours.”

“Personal reference. The Autothor informed me that you are a self-centered species. Believing that you were the only form of intelligent life in the universe. An appalling conceit reflective of a nominal intelligence.”

“Don’t blame me. It isn’t as if we didn’t look around. Where is your home located in reference to Earth anyway?”

“Astonishingly distant. I have much to do. You were correct: I find you amusing.”

“Glad to hear it,” she replied fervently. It was not pleasant to contemplate what the result would have been had the Drex found her otherwise. “Are you some kind of ship’s caretaker or something?”

“I am not a caretaker.”

“What, then?”

“I would be properly identified as the Supreme Flail of the All-powerful Annihilation.”

That didn’t sound very reassuring, she reflected.

“I fear I have overslept.”

“For a million years?”

The great curving skull bobbed to one side, like a drunken ski-jump. “The alarm didn’t go off. What do you want from me? You think I’m happy about it? My friends, my shipmates, my mating partners: all gone, swallowed by the bottomless vortex of time.” Three cablelike tentacles writhed in a complex gesture of accentuation.

“I awaken to a ship operational but lifeless save for a bunch of quarreling parasites, and with an emergency to deal with.”

“Emergency?”

“You are not aware that an advance force of approximately one thousand unidentified vessels is approaching this system?”

“Uh, no.” She glared accusingly at the Autothor, which of course ignored her.

“This enemy of yours,” she wondered, “what are they like? Besides the fact that they have an obvious ability to build lots of ships.”

“If offered the opportunity to confront them in person, you would choose instead to luxuriate in my company.”

“That bad,” she murmured worriedly.

“As to physical appearance, you don’t want to know.”

“I guess not. How are you going to fight so many ships all by yourself?”

“I am not prepared to discuss my tactical decisions with a parasite.”

“I wish you’d stop calling me that. I’ll live with ‘insignificant,’ but ‘parasite’ is pretty hard to take. We’re not taking anything from you.”

“You exhibit the admirable courage of the blissfully ignorant. I choose to comply.” There was a definite mocking undertone to the translation of the Drex’s response.

“Thanks. You know, you could help me halt an injustice.”

“As a representative of a new species I find you marginally interesting. I have no interest in your infinitesimally insignificant problems.”

“You’ll find my companions interesting too.”

“That is highly unlikely. Do not think to play upon my casual interest in your kind to achieve some nebulous aim of your own. You do not want to upset me. I am larger than you, infinitely stronger, more intelligent, and besides, I am in a bad mood.”

She started to reply, then decided it would be expedient to shut up for a while.

It was a wise decision.

XX

It seemed to Ashili that they took a roundabout way to return to the observation chamber, but eventually she began to recognize highlights of the corridor which led to the room she had left not so very long ago. Everything looked different from her mobile vantage point fifteen meters above the deck.

The Drex turned a corner and entered the chamber. As it did so she was able to make out her colleagues and their five prisoners over by the sweeping arc of the floor-to-ceiling transparency. At the same time they noticed the new arrival, and their reactions, even at a distance, were interesting to observe.

Bassan let out a strangled scream audible clear across the wide floor as he bolted to his right. As the Drex continued to approach, the commando dropped to his knees and buried his head in his arms, as though by not seeing the apparition he could make it go away.

Argolo, Fontes, and Praxedes gripped their weapons (rather tentatively, she thought) and clustered tightly together as they began backing away from the prisoners. As for the latter, they had nowhere to run. Heath supported Gelmann while Shimoda and Iranaputra formed a pathetic shield in front of them. Hawkins stood slightly off by himself, laughing hysterically.

She realized that from her elevated position it was unlikely they could see her. Not that they had any reasonable expectation of doing so. Their attention was understandably preoccupied by the advancing, looming mass of the Drex.

“These are your companions?”

“Only the five off to the right. The others were, but they’re not anymore. They have weapons.”

“I’m shaking in my cosmata. Do you think they might be foolish enough to attempt to employ them?” Before she could reply the alien bent toward the trio far below. It couldn’t be called a bow, exactly, because technically the Drex had no waist. As the tentacle on which she rode bobbed wildly, Ashili tightened her thighs around it until they throbbed.

“You there!” The translation boomed out of the Drex’s cluster of chest instrumentation. “Do you dare think to threaten me with such puny devices?”