028.01
Zack sat silently listening to the med tech as he jabbered on and on about the numerous incidents surrounding the breach in the NB operational system.
“I can’t believe someone would mess with those beacons,” the tech said, as he threaded the new tube through the holder on Zack’s servo-chair. “I mean, what kind of asshole would hack something that important to every living being in the verse?”
Zack had experienced a true epiphany the day Daniel triggered the cascade in the beacons. On that day one of the ships that locked onto an infected NB was a tour ship with a load of teenagers coming home from an interstellar field trip. The ship had no weapons to activate. Instead it just took over the controls from the adult crew and flew the ship into the nearest star. It was a long enough trip to the star for all the kids to call home and say goodbye to their family, not long enough for anyone to launch and save them. All twenty-one died on impact.
Zack woke up to reality as he listened to their final words broadcast to anyone who would listen by the INC Network. Tear filled messages, brave messages, heartfelt messages. Zackary tried to intercede at that point. He tried to stop the virus. He hadn’t anticipated this. He hadn’t really thought of anything about getting back at Daniel. Now he was no better than the men of the corporation that had put him in this chair. He was the asshole the tech was talking about. He was the idiot who did this - if he only knew how to stop it.
“I don’t think I have ever been here when your console was off,” the tech commented as he finished up and started to pack his stuff back up. “Course, the news is pretty miserable right now with all the shipping lanes backed up and supplies running low. You know, I know you don’t get out, but you should place a grocery order soon. They are starting to run low on a lot of stuff. When I was in there this morning there wasn’t any fresh produce at all. They say it’s only going to get worse.”
The tech closed up his duffle and turned back toward Zack.
“You okay, Zack?” he asked. “You been really quiet.” The tech knelt down beside Zack’s chair. “If your system is down I could call someone to drop by and get it back up for you.” He knew Zack depended on his console for more than entertainment. It was his lifeline to the outside world.
“No, thanks Emery,” Zack said. His eyes finally meeting the techs. “It’s just too depressing to watch.”
“Maybe you could find someone to game with, just ignore the news,” Emery suggested. He had played his share of games with Zack over the years. His Matt Milestone was a great avatar. “I’d stay and play, but I got a couple more folks to see today. Marcus’ oxygen is low and I got to get him over a shipment. Hope another tanker comes in before we run out.”
Marcus was another survivor of the chemical fire Zackary managed to live through. In fact, all of the patients Emery took care of were survivors of that incident.
“Thanks, Bud, you go ahead. I’ll be fine. Just a bit down today,” he told Emery. “Tell Marcus hi for me.”
Zack just wanted Emery to go. He didn’t want to chat. He didn’t want to game. He wanted to take it all back. He wanted to die so he wouldn’t have to think of what he had done and who he had hurt.
028.02
Zack was back working at his console. He was diligently trying to figure a way into the NBs. He seemed to be locked out. No doubt the Valarians had taken monumental steps to take down the system in order to prevent the virus infected NBs from doing any further damage, but the news was not good. Everyone was finding that a verse without the beacons was almost impossible to navigate. Regular shipping lanes were backed up. Ships had run out of fuel while trying to make their way independently through the verse, creating a hazard to the ships still trying to navigate their way. It was like having a planet bound airstrip without a control tower.
But, try as he might, the way Zack got into the NB to begin with was blocked and with every new possible breach he ran into another wall as though something was tracking him from the other side just waiting for him to virtually walk in.
He heard the rollers of his front door start to move behind him. He had time to think that it was not Henry’s day to clean and Emery came yesterday, before he turned to find himself looking down the barrel of a Class III Blaster.
*****
Coal, Daniel and I stood outside the door of Zackary Taylor’s apartment. It was on a planet called Luminx in a huge industrial city, in a neighborhood I would not have chosen to visit, much less live in. It was almost a ghetto. Coal had pulled his sidearm far before we reached the door to the apartment. We had obtained the key from the local apartment manager. Coal motioned for Daniel to move back from the door after all he was the precious one among us. We were still in hopes he could stop the NB madness once he got the facts from Zack. Coal handed me the card key and taking a stance low, in front of the door, he nodded for me to slip the key though the latch entry. I slipped the key, the door slid open and Coal rolled into the room coming up with his blaster pointed at a young man in a Servo-chair.
*****
“I did it,” Zack confessed as he raised his hands in the air. The guy behind the gun was wearing a Galactic official’s uniform. When he stood up from his kneeling position on the floor (he had obviously expected opposition) he was well over seven feet tall with lavender hair and a tattoo of a hoofed, winged demon of some sort prancing across his cheek. He was of an alien type Zack had never seen before. “I didn’t mean it to go this far. I have been trying to fix it.”
*****
Zack’s voice was almost unrecognizable. I had heard the voice of the avatar, Matt Milestone, many times and almost swooned over the velvety baritone, but that was all synthesized. This man’s voice had been damaged by fire or a chemical burn. It was raspy like sandpaper on a chalkboard. When I peeked around the door frame I could see the rest of him had been in that chair a long time even though the voice still sounded like it would be painful to speak.
“Zackary Taylor?” Coal asked for conformation.
“Yes, I am Zackary Taylor,” the man confirmed.
Coal, seeing no immediate threat holstered his weapon and motioned for Daniel and me to enter the room.
“I am Coal, CE of The Galactic Forces vessel MT 2424. You are under arrest.”
“Zack?” Daniel said. I could hear the shock in his voice. Why is it that we expect everyone to resemble their online personas? The NET is so easy to trick. “It’s me Daniel.”
These guys had played together for years. They were NET buddies before I met Daniel, and Daniel and I went way back. Yet what did they really know about each other? Here sat a ‘shut-in’ guy in a Servo-chair with only the bare necessities in a room, trapped in an apartment, in an environment that was as hostile as one of their make-believe worlds of their games.
Tears started to roll down Zack’s cheeks. “Daniel?” he choked. “You don’t know how long I have wanted to meet you.” He inhaled a shuttering breath. “For years you were the only one who kept me going. I admired you. You were so good at the games.” He thumbed a tear from his cheek. “Why did you turn on me?” he demanded in anger. “I thought we were friends. You turned into such a prick!” His eyes dropped to his lap as he mopped his face of his tears.
Daniel started to move toward Zack. Coal threw out a restraining arm. I was standing to the other side of Coal and I reached out and touched him. I nodded. I knew these two. Even if I only knew Zack through the games as Matt, I knew he had a good heart. He was always the good guy in the games. Like Daniel, he was a man who had lost his way. Only trouble was, he hadn’t had anyone to rescue him.
Coal let his arm drop and nodded to Daniel. Daniel moved closer and knelt at Zack’s knees. The man in the chair was a mere husk, a shell with tubes bringing things in and taking things out. Daniel reached out and put his hand over the young man’s own on the arm of his chair.
“I’m sorry, Zack,” he said. “Money combined with drugs is not a good combination. I needed help and luckily 3su was there for me, like I should have been there for you.” He squeezed Zack’s hand. “But I’m here now and I’m clean and thinking straight for a change.”
Zack looked up into Daniel’s face and I saw two lost souls connect – two kindred spirits who hopefully could correct their flaws and bring this insanity to an end.
028.03
It had been a rough two days. We spent some of it hearing the story of what put Zack in his Servo-chair, some of it listening to Daniel and Zack blaming each other for what had happened with the NBs and a lot of it trying to fix the problem.
The three guys, Daniel, Coal and Zack were currently clustered around his duel monitors mapping a signal to the Valarians which we hoped they would not be able to trace back to us. We didn’t want them running here to arrest Daniel and/or Zack.
All of the guy’s non-stop efforts over the past fifty-six hours had led to dead ends. Each time they thought they had the problem solved something would thwart them. They came to the conclusion the Valarians were somehow blocking their attempts. We took a vote and decided we needed to get them to trust us, to work with us instead of against us.
I was busy at the little kitchenette on the far wall preparing pasta for the crew. From the beginning, not being techie in the least, I was relegated to mess duty. Zack seemed to live on Vita Tabs and some sort of frozen processed junk I was sure a Dar-dolf wouldn’t even eat, and Dar-dolfs will eat most anything. However, finding and procuring enough for all of us to eat was a challenge from the first.
Food prep posed many challenges, not the least of which was that I don’t know how to cook. I don’t cook aboard my own ship, Moby does the cooking. When I am planet bound or in port, I eat at restaurants. Luckily I had my com-link and Moby to give me virtual backup. He downloaded a grocery list and some recipes.
The second challenge was the neighborhood we were in. I just didn’t feel comfortable on the street unarmed. I left my blaster on the ship because it is always a wise practice to obey the local laws of any planet you visit. Luminx was a weaponless society except for the peacekeepers. The trouble was nobody had told the folks in Zack’s neighborhood. They were walking around looking like arms dealers at a trade fair. Coal could carry his sidearm he was a Galactic Forces officer. Seeing the conditions as we came in, he loaned me his concealed piece which was still a Class II Blaster and would do the job if I ran into any real trouble. I just hoped that if I had to use it I could either stash the body or Coal would be able to get me out of a run in with the local law.
I had Ma-rye-a locate the closest grocer and I was off. However upon arrival, I met my third challenge, as the old saying goes, the cupboard was bare. Luminx was mostly industrial and relied on the supply ships using the now defunk beacons to navigate. Their supply chain had dried up fast.
Ma-rye-a, Sam & Cassie did some snooping around on the NET and found a black market was available in the neighborhood. Three hours later, after a scary walk down several back alleys, a meeting with a guy who I hoped had not touched anything I would put in my mouth later, and a major adjustment to Mody’s initial thoughts about what we would prepare, I was back at the apartment with a pasta dish containing five ingredients. I thought it just might be edible once the guys came up for air.
I would have gone up to the ship for supplies, but we parked the pod is a safety lot that charged an arm and a leg each time you went in and out. This really was not a very welcoming planet.
*****
I heard Targus’ deep voice followed by the distinctive sounds of a Valarian’s smacks, pops and whistles. I turned to see Targus, Damion and Warsy, the A Factor, on the two huge gaming monitors above Zack’s desk. They all looked to be seated in a conference type room with flats before them as if they were interrupted in the middle of a board meeting. I moved up a little closer to read the translator’s captions on the bottom of the screen. It was not good news.
The NBs are very special devices. Far more unique than any planet bound person could have ever imagine.
The outer shell of the NB is electronic and has beams a ship can lock onto that point out the location of the planetary bodies in its general vicinity.
The maintenance and repair of the NB is performed by an alien race affectionately referred to, both collectively and individually, as ‘Hummers.’ Each NB has a permanent resident of one of this race.
The Hummer is a team consisting of a host and a parasite.
The host resembles the long extinct octopus of earth origin with three major exceptions. The host is much more intelligent than the ancient octopus. The host possesses three additional ‘finger-like’ appendages at the end of each tentacle, two across from one opposing. These ‘fingers’ are equipped with fine, extremely sensitive fibers which make the host a very tactile creature. The third and final difference is the host is blind. The host's ability to maintain the NB is accomplished through its advanced sense of touch and the guidance and direction of its sighted, attached parasite.
The parasite resembles the Subterranean Sea Flat of Walh. Its eyes are placed high and wide apart on extended cartilage which enable 365 degree rotation. When not ‘grazing,’ its favorite position is atop the host's head. From this location it speaks to and directs the hosts maintenance and repair of the NB
The two communicate through a series of harmonic vibrations, hence, the name Hummer.
The parasite performs its duty as eyes for the host in exchange for a meal of the host's sloughed off scales. Both profit from the partnership as well as having someone to talk to. They are a very quiet, contented species.
The Hummer is totally encapsulated in a globe which can be as tough as quillanium and contains the liquid needed to sustain the two. However, when the host and parasite ‘hum’ together at a certain pitch they can make the wall of the globe change its molecular composition to allow the Hummer to reach through the wall for the maintenance and repair needed on the NB. The Valarians, who are the only other race to have seen the Hummers, describe the above mentioned procedure as miraculous to watch. The Hummer host presses against the wall of the globe, as it ‘gives’ in to the pressure and the tentacle emerges outside. The globe's wall creates an air and watertight seal around the appendage, keeping the life sustaining liquid in, but still allowing the host to maneuver well enough through the parasites direction to complete its mechanical task. When the appendage is withdrawn back through the wall the hole effectively seals again.
The maintenance of the NB is conducive to the well being of the Hummer. They seem delighted with the vibrations that are set up by the NB when a ship activates it. Each encoded beam creates a slightly different vibration. The Hummers who inhabit NB's on average, live twice as long as their planet bound counterparts.
As it turned out the Valarians had not shut down the navigational beacons, the Hummers had and they were the ones stopping any further interference with their equipment. Each time, our crew or the Valarian techs tried to repair the problem, the Hummer stopped them from the inside. The Valarians were at a total loss. They set up the beacons to operate independently. They had no idea how, or if, the Hummers came to the realization of the virus as individuals or somehow communicated with each other to shut down the system.
“The Valarians put the Hummers in the NBs to begin with. Why can’t they just tell them to let us fix it?” Daniel asked.
It is fun to watch a Walhmite roll their eyes. They are usually much more overt with their body language. Targus rolled his eyes. “The Hummers have been in the NBs so long they have developed their own separate dialect and the Valarians can’t seem to get their point across.”
“If we could just get the Hummers to work with us, they could put the beacons back in service,” Damion added in a tone that let us know they had been as frustrated as we were in trying to repair the beacons from their end. “It’s beyond comprehension that we have something this important being controlled by a species we can’t communicate with.”
I was jumping up and down at this point from behind the three in front of the monitors, waving my raised hand like an anxious kid in a classroom.
“Yes,” Targus said, patiently looking straight at me. “What is it, 3su?”
The three heads in front of me swiveled around to stare my direction. I gave them all a confident look.
“I know someone who can talk to the Hummers.” I crossed my arms and smirked at them. This was going to be the last time they put me on mess duty. Now I was a valuable player in this game.
Zack sat silently listening to the med tech as he jabbered on and on about the numerous incidents surrounding the breach in the NB operational system.
“I can’t believe someone would mess with those beacons,” the tech said, as he threaded the new tube through the holder on Zack’s servo-chair. “I mean, what kind of asshole would hack something that important to every living being in the verse?”
Zack had experienced a true epiphany the day Daniel triggered the cascade in the beacons. On that day one of the ships that locked onto an infected NB was a tour ship with a load of teenagers coming home from an interstellar field trip. The ship had no weapons to activate. Instead it just took over the controls from the adult crew and flew the ship into the nearest star. It was a long enough trip to the star for all the kids to call home and say goodbye to their family, not long enough for anyone to launch and save them. All twenty-one died on impact.
Zack woke up to reality as he listened to their final words broadcast to anyone who would listen by the INC Network. Tear filled messages, brave messages, heartfelt messages. Zackary tried to intercede at that point. He tried to stop the virus. He hadn’t anticipated this. He hadn’t really thought of anything about getting back at Daniel. Now he was no better than the men of the corporation that had put him in this chair. He was the asshole the tech was talking about. He was the idiot who did this - if he only knew how to stop it.
“I don’t think I have ever been here when your console was off,” the tech commented as he finished up and started to pack his stuff back up. “Course, the news is pretty miserable right now with all the shipping lanes backed up and supplies running low. You know, I know you don’t get out, but you should place a grocery order soon. They are starting to run low on a lot of stuff. When I was in there this morning there wasn’t any fresh produce at all. They say it’s only going to get worse.”
The tech closed up his duffle and turned back toward Zack.
“You okay, Zack?” he asked. “You been really quiet.” The tech knelt down beside Zack’s chair. “If your system is down I could call someone to drop by and get it back up for you.” He knew Zack depended on his console for more than entertainment. It was his lifeline to the outside world.
“No, thanks Emery,” Zack said. His eyes finally meeting the techs. “It’s just too depressing to watch.”
“Maybe you could find someone to game with, just ignore the news,” Emery suggested. He had played his share of games with Zack over the years. His Matt Milestone was a great avatar. “I’d stay and play, but I got a couple more folks to see today. Marcus’ oxygen is low and I got to get him over a shipment. Hope another tanker comes in before we run out.”
Marcus was another survivor of the chemical fire Zackary managed to live through. In fact, all of the patients Emery took care of were survivors of that incident.
“Thanks, Bud, you go ahead. I’ll be fine. Just a bit down today,” he told Emery. “Tell Marcus hi for me.”
Zack just wanted Emery to go. He didn’t want to chat. He didn’t want to game. He wanted to take it all back. He wanted to die so he wouldn’t have to think of what he had done and who he had hurt.
028.02
Zack was back working at his console. He was diligently trying to figure a way into the NBs. He seemed to be locked out. No doubt the Valarians had taken monumental steps to take down the system in order to prevent the virus infected NBs from doing any further damage, but the news was not good. Everyone was finding that a verse without the beacons was almost impossible to navigate. Regular shipping lanes were backed up. Ships had run out of fuel while trying to make their way independently through the verse, creating a hazard to the ships still trying to navigate their way. It was like having a planet bound airstrip without a control tower.
But, try as he might, the way Zack got into the NB to begin with was blocked and with every new possible breach he ran into another wall as though something was tracking him from the other side just waiting for him to virtually walk in.
He heard the rollers of his front door start to move behind him. He had time to think that it was not Henry’s day to clean and Emery came yesterday, before he turned to find himself looking down the barrel of a Class III Blaster.
*****
Coal, Daniel and I stood outside the door of Zackary Taylor’s apartment. It was on a planet called Luminx in a huge industrial city, in a neighborhood I would not have chosen to visit, much less live in. It was almost a ghetto. Coal had pulled his sidearm far before we reached the door to the apartment. We had obtained the key from the local apartment manager. Coal motioned for Daniel to move back from the door after all he was the precious one among us. We were still in hopes he could stop the NB madness once he got the facts from Zack. Coal handed me the card key and taking a stance low, in front of the door, he nodded for me to slip the key though the latch entry. I slipped the key, the door slid open and Coal rolled into the room coming up with his blaster pointed at a young man in a Servo-chair.
*****
“I did it,” Zack confessed as he raised his hands in the air. The guy behind the gun was wearing a Galactic official’s uniform. When he stood up from his kneeling position on the floor (he had obviously expected opposition) he was well over seven feet tall with lavender hair and a tattoo of a hoofed, winged demon of some sort prancing across his cheek. He was of an alien type Zack had never seen before. “I didn’t mean it to go this far. I have been trying to fix it.”
*****
Zack’s voice was almost unrecognizable. I had heard the voice of the avatar, Matt Milestone, many times and almost swooned over the velvety baritone, but that was all synthesized. This man’s voice had been damaged by fire or a chemical burn. It was raspy like sandpaper on a chalkboard. When I peeked around the door frame I could see the rest of him had been in that chair a long time even though the voice still sounded like it would be painful to speak.
“Zackary Taylor?” Coal asked for conformation.
“Yes, I am Zackary Taylor,” the man confirmed.
Coal, seeing no immediate threat holstered his weapon and motioned for Daniel and me to enter the room.
“I am Coal, CE of The Galactic Forces vessel MT 2424. You are under arrest.”
“Zack?” Daniel said. I could hear the shock in his voice. Why is it that we expect everyone to resemble their online personas? The NET is so easy to trick. “It’s me Daniel.”
These guys had played together for years. They were NET buddies before I met Daniel, and Daniel and I went way back. Yet what did they really know about each other? Here sat a ‘shut-in’ guy in a Servo-chair with only the bare necessities in a room, trapped in an apartment, in an environment that was as hostile as one of their make-believe worlds of their games.
Tears started to roll down Zack’s cheeks. “Daniel?” he choked. “You don’t know how long I have wanted to meet you.” He inhaled a shuttering breath. “For years you were the only one who kept me going. I admired you. You were so good at the games.” He thumbed a tear from his cheek. “Why did you turn on me?” he demanded in anger. “I thought we were friends. You turned into such a prick!” His eyes dropped to his lap as he mopped his face of his tears.
Daniel started to move toward Zack. Coal threw out a restraining arm. I was standing to the other side of Coal and I reached out and touched him. I nodded. I knew these two. Even if I only knew Zack through the games as Matt, I knew he had a good heart. He was always the good guy in the games. Like Daniel, he was a man who had lost his way. Only trouble was, he hadn’t had anyone to rescue him.
Coal let his arm drop and nodded to Daniel. Daniel moved closer and knelt at Zack’s knees. The man in the chair was a mere husk, a shell with tubes bringing things in and taking things out. Daniel reached out and put his hand over the young man’s own on the arm of his chair.
“I’m sorry, Zack,” he said. “Money combined with drugs is not a good combination. I needed help and luckily 3su was there for me, like I should have been there for you.” He squeezed Zack’s hand. “But I’m here now and I’m clean and thinking straight for a change.”
Zack looked up into Daniel’s face and I saw two lost souls connect – two kindred spirits who hopefully could correct their flaws and bring this insanity to an end.
028.03
It had been a rough two days. We spent some of it hearing the story of what put Zack in his Servo-chair, some of it listening to Daniel and Zack blaming each other for what had happened with the NBs and a lot of it trying to fix the problem.
The three guys, Daniel, Coal and Zack were currently clustered around his duel monitors mapping a signal to the Valarians which we hoped they would not be able to trace back to us. We didn’t want them running here to arrest Daniel and/or Zack.
All of the guy’s non-stop efforts over the past fifty-six hours had led to dead ends. Each time they thought they had the problem solved something would thwart them. They came to the conclusion the Valarians were somehow blocking their attempts. We took a vote and decided we needed to get them to trust us, to work with us instead of against us.
I was busy at the little kitchenette on the far wall preparing pasta for the crew. From the beginning, not being techie in the least, I was relegated to mess duty. Zack seemed to live on Vita Tabs and some sort of frozen processed junk I was sure a Dar-dolf wouldn’t even eat, and Dar-dolfs will eat most anything. However, finding and procuring enough for all of us to eat was a challenge from the first.
Food prep posed many challenges, not the least of which was that I don’t know how to cook. I don’t cook aboard my own ship, Moby does the cooking. When I am planet bound or in port, I eat at restaurants. Luckily I had my com-link and Moby to give me virtual backup. He downloaded a grocery list and some recipes.
The second challenge was the neighborhood we were in. I just didn’t feel comfortable on the street unarmed. I left my blaster on the ship because it is always a wise practice to obey the local laws of any planet you visit. Luminx was a weaponless society except for the peacekeepers. The trouble was nobody had told the folks in Zack’s neighborhood. They were walking around looking like arms dealers at a trade fair. Coal could carry his sidearm he was a Galactic Forces officer. Seeing the conditions as we came in, he loaned me his concealed piece which was still a Class II Blaster and would do the job if I ran into any real trouble. I just hoped that if I had to use it I could either stash the body or Coal would be able to get me out of a run in with the local law.
I had Ma-rye-a locate the closest grocer and I was off. However upon arrival, I met my third challenge, as the old saying goes, the cupboard was bare. Luminx was mostly industrial and relied on the supply ships using the now defunk beacons to navigate. Their supply chain had dried up fast.
Ma-rye-a, Sam & Cassie did some snooping around on the NET and found a black market was available in the neighborhood. Three hours later, after a scary walk down several back alleys, a meeting with a guy who I hoped had not touched anything I would put in my mouth later, and a major adjustment to Mody’s initial thoughts about what we would prepare, I was back at the apartment with a pasta dish containing five ingredients. I thought it just might be edible once the guys came up for air.
I would have gone up to the ship for supplies, but we parked the pod is a safety lot that charged an arm and a leg each time you went in and out. This really was not a very welcoming planet.
*****
I heard Targus’ deep voice followed by the distinctive sounds of a Valarian’s smacks, pops and whistles. I turned to see Targus, Damion and Warsy, the A Factor, on the two huge gaming monitors above Zack’s desk. They all looked to be seated in a conference type room with flats before them as if they were interrupted in the middle of a board meeting. I moved up a little closer to read the translator’s captions on the bottom of the screen. It was not good news.
The NBs are very special devices. Far more unique than any planet bound person could have ever imagine.
The outer shell of the NB is electronic and has beams a ship can lock onto that point out the location of the planetary bodies in its general vicinity.
The maintenance and repair of the NB is performed by an alien race affectionately referred to, both collectively and individually, as ‘Hummers.’ Each NB has a permanent resident of one of this race.
The Hummer is a team consisting of a host and a parasite.
The host resembles the long extinct octopus of earth origin with three major exceptions. The host is much more intelligent than the ancient octopus. The host possesses three additional ‘finger-like’ appendages at the end of each tentacle, two across from one opposing. These ‘fingers’ are equipped with fine, extremely sensitive fibers which make the host a very tactile creature. The third and final difference is the host is blind. The host's ability to maintain the NB is accomplished through its advanced sense of touch and the guidance and direction of its sighted, attached parasite.
The parasite resembles the Subterranean Sea Flat of Walh. Its eyes are placed high and wide apart on extended cartilage which enable 365 degree rotation. When not ‘grazing,’ its favorite position is atop the host's head. From this location it speaks to and directs the hosts maintenance and repair of the NB
The two communicate through a series of harmonic vibrations, hence, the name Hummer.
The parasite performs its duty as eyes for the host in exchange for a meal of the host's sloughed off scales. Both profit from the partnership as well as having someone to talk to. They are a very quiet, contented species.
The Hummer is totally encapsulated in a globe which can be as tough as quillanium and contains the liquid needed to sustain the two. However, when the host and parasite ‘hum’ together at a certain pitch they can make the wall of the globe change its molecular composition to allow the Hummer to reach through the wall for the maintenance and repair needed on the NB. The Valarians, who are the only other race to have seen the Hummers, describe the above mentioned procedure as miraculous to watch. The Hummer host presses against the wall of the globe, as it ‘gives’ in to the pressure and the tentacle emerges outside. The globe's wall creates an air and watertight seal around the appendage, keeping the life sustaining liquid in, but still allowing the host to maneuver well enough through the parasites direction to complete its mechanical task. When the appendage is withdrawn back through the wall the hole effectively seals again.
The maintenance of the NB is conducive to the well being of the Hummer. They seem delighted with the vibrations that are set up by the NB when a ship activates it. Each encoded beam creates a slightly different vibration. The Hummers who inhabit NB's on average, live twice as long as their planet bound counterparts.
As it turned out the Valarians had not shut down the navigational beacons, the Hummers had and they were the ones stopping any further interference with their equipment. Each time, our crew or the Valarian techs tried to repair the problem, the Hummer stopped them from the inside. The Valarians were at a total loss. They set up the beacons to operate independently. They had no idea how, or if, the Hummers came to the realization of the virus as individuals or somehow communicated with each other to shut down the system.
“The Valarians put the Hummers in the NBs to begin with. Why can’t they just tell them to let us fix it?” Daniel asked.
It is fun to watch a Walhmite roll their eyes. They are usually much more overt with their body language. Targus rolled his eyes. “The Hummers have been in the NBs so long they have developed their own separate dialect and the Valarians can’t seem to get their point across.”
“If we could just get the Hummers to work with us, they could put the beacons back in service,” Damion added in a tone that let us know they had been as frustrated as we were in trying to repair the beacons from their end. “It’s beyond comprehension that we have something this important being controlled by a species we can’t communicate with.”
I was jumping up and down at this point from behind the three in front of the monitors, waving my raised hand like an anxious kid in a classroom.
“Yes,” Targus said, patiently looking straight at me. “What is it, 3su?”
The three heads in front of me swiveled around to stare my direction. I gave them all a confident look.
“I know someone who can talk to the Hummers.” I crossed my arms and smirked at them. This was going to be the last time they put me on mess duty. Now I was a valuable player in this game.
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