The loud speakers transmitted some rustling and swishing. The crew members could hardly discern the words among the stray signals. Derek shook his head.
“It’s obviously a speech, but I understand nothing,” he whispered into Lora’s ear, “Do you know Tarian?”
“You could say that,” answered Lora still trying to listen carefully. “A UCD,” she barely touched the small gadget at her temple, “is multifunctional, and can work as a translator. The part of the communicator that you see is the receiving part of the gadget, while the part that analyses and archives data is implanted directly into the brain. All the Titanium citizens undergo this operation at sixteen. I’m sure that when you get better, Doctor Borshchevsky will suggest you to have this simple procedure done. The implanted element creates grammar and vocabulary memory zones that allow us to understand foreign speech. Thus we could say that our brain actually studies languages by itself.”
The earthling nodded.
“It could come in very handy.”
“By the way, the Tarian refugees are asking for help from all closely located alien ships now,” Lora added quietly.
After a few seconds all they could hear were some rustling and swishing sounds. Everybody simultaneously looked at Paul, awaiting further instruction.
“We’re going to…” confidently started the captain.
“Sorry captain, there’s some movement!” reported Chris.
The crew members tightly surrounded the holographic projector.
“One of the refugees’ ships manoeuvred and is trying to leave the fire zone,” Paul pointed at the green dot moving to the edge of the projection.
“It’s not being followed,” noticed Oleg. “The cruiser is holding the others at gunpoint, while the fighter planes are yet to arrive in order to cut off the fugitive’s path.”
“The cruiser is ready to fire!” added Chris. He was now at the holographic projectors in front of the captain’s seat and on one of them he showed a detailed picture of the border ship with the embattled artillery
From that moment on, the events started evolving as quick as a flash. The ship with the refugees turned out to be cumbersome and was unable to avoid the line of fire. The first series of volleys hit it directly, depriving the spacecraft of its, though weak, protective field. As a result of the second series, the back engine was damaged.
“They won’t go far with this kind of damage!” sighed Stan.
Then again someone’s speech was heard despite the interference.
“The passenger ship detected our shuttle and is moving in our direction,” translated Lora. “Now it’s us they’re asking for help.”
“They would surely be able to reach Gron and make an emergency landing there,” nodded the mechanic.
“Within the framework of the active agreement between ‘Solar Flotilla’ and Taria’s government,” quickly commented Paul, “we can help their citizens in case of an emergency. Even in times of battle, this can’t be considered an intervention into their domestic policies.”
The crew members nodded in accordance.
“So we are going to just stay there and watch how they fire at the helpless ship until it crashes right next to us?!” said Derek shocked.
“Yes, because we are bound by this agreement,” Paul sat in the captain’s chair continuing to closely monitor the scanners. “Judging by its trajectory, it’ll land next to us. Chris, activate the protective field and get ready to manoeuvre. There could be the threat of a collision. Oleg, you are responsible for the defence arms. Stan, calculate the possibility of using the teleport ray for transporting the injured onboard. Mary, get the spacesuits ready, they could be useful.”
