She did not die, her ribs crushed by that massive limb, organs ruptured and blood exploding from her mouth. Instead, the Drex lifted her up and placed her atop the platform. It was warm beneath her boots and if anything, stank even worse than the rest of the suspension chamber.
As that gargoylish head dipped toward her she shrank backward until she tripped over her own feet and sat down hard.
“What are you doing here?” The volume was overpowering and she clapped her hands to her ears and shut her eyes. It was repeated a moment later, more softly. “What are you doing here?”
Opening her eyes, she saw that the words were emerging not from the alien’s flexible mouth, but from the instrumentation attached to its ventral side. She was puzzled until she remembered the Autothor’s visit within. In a few quick moments it had imparted all it had learned of human language. She could see it now, hovering like a turquoise earring next to the bony skull.
“Speak!” The Drex leaned closer and she skittered backward on her hands and backside, trying to put as much space as possible between her feet and that twitching mouth. Far below, serving robot six was wearing tread as, with the way now clear, it made a hasty rush for the unblocked portal. The alien ignored it. For a machine that claimed to possess no self-preservation programming it was faking its intentions admirably. Not that she blamed it.
She tried to think of something to say. “Uh, just having a look around. It all started when …”
“You need not relate your entire history. The Autothor has imparted much to me.” A tentacle rose and the blue ellipse danced atop the tip. “Just looking around? It said you were both curious and moderately intelligent. Well for you that it was here to so inform me, else I would have taken you for an on-board parasite and squashed you.”
“Your restraint is appreciated,” she stammered.
Multiple eyes danced over her and she started to shiver. “Difficult to believe that intelligence can be contained in so small a biological envelope.”
She climbed shakily to her feet. “I sympathize. I’m having trouble believing that it can be found in anything so huge.”
“Intriguing. We share a common disbelief.” The skull heaved back and tentacles worked the instrumentation on its chest. “I must take up my station.” It took a giant, four-legged stride toward the portal.
She rushed to the edge of the platform and found herself confronting a sheer ten-meter drop. “Wait!” The alien paused, the head twisting ‘round on the multiple neck to gaze back at her.
Did I say that? she wondered. “Don’t leave me up here. I can’t get down.”
The single flap of leathery skin that curved above the four eyes drooped slightly. It was an unsettlingly human gesture.
“Why shouldn’t I leave you there?”
“Because … well, because if not for our presence on board your ship you’d still be asleep, or in forced estivation, or whatever your suspension process involves.”
“No. Only the approach of the enemy would result in my rejuvenation. I am awake and conscious again because the ship needs me.”
“Well … maybe I can help you.”
The Drex boomed. “How could anything so insignificant be of assistance to me in any forthcoming action?”
“That’s something you’ll have to find out. Does it make sense to turn your, uh, dorsal side on possibilities involving unevaluated potential? Besides, after a million years asleep I’d think you’d be glad of another being to talk to, size notwithstanding.”
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.”
