The Slug Rebellion Read online

  Chapter 5 - Ready for action

  The Slug

  We were making progress. The LOC was in orbit facing us, we had both Slug and Cyborg at our disposal, and we still had some element of surprise. It appeared that we just may be able to win this battle. Assuming, of course, that the Cyborgs don't come back afterwards. That would be bad.

  Ethan and Phill had gone off to do their own things, and Boy and the others also. I was sitting in the war room, going over the plan in my head, when Carmen entered.

  'Ahh, hello Carmen', I greeted her. She didn't appear happy, which was not good; we needed a cohesive team to be effective.

  'Hello Matthew', she returned my greeting. 'I would like to speak with you.'

  'You already have, but please continue.'

  She eyeballed me a bit before going on. 'I am worried about our chances of success with this endeavour. This is a Cyborg assassin ship coming to this planet. They only wish to destroy Earth to prevent a possible alliance, not to attack us. I think that we should leave now and return to Slugenis.'

  Ah. This is worrisome. I would have to convince her that staying here is not only the right thing to do, but also the smart thing to do. Not always an easy task. To have dissent in the ranks now may spell disaster. Not in letters, of course, but in actuality, which was generally much worse. 'I understand your concern, Carmen. But believe me, leaving Earth is not the right or the smart thing to do. The planet will be defenceless against them; they are equipped to deal with anything the Humans can throw at them. We are also building strong Human-Slug relations, to actually have a possible future alliance. Plus, they have many weapons that we could use against the Cyborgs at a later time.' I hoped that would be enough. Apparently, it wasn't.

  'I understand, Matthew, why you feel such a debt of gratitude towards this planet and its people. But I believe that you are not thinking logically here. There is no reason why the Cyborgs should think you plan to ally with a planet you have just abandoned. They will not attack this planet in spite for its harbouring of you. Most likely, they will try to trace us and catch us before we reach Slugenis. We will be safe there, and there need be no loss of Human or Slug life.'

  'But’, I argued, ‘what if they attack Earth to prevent me from returning there in the future? They class it as a level-four world, so they know it has some offensive and defensive capabilities. It is entirely possible that they will destroy it to prevent us from utilising such power in the future, something I am trying to do now, to benefit all of us. And, of course, they may decide that while they are here, they may as well prepare it for mining. It is a minable planet.'

  I could sense myself getting desperate, but I couldn't allow any of the Slugs to think this way. What I really wanted to do was scream at Carmen, "What are you thinking? How can you suggest such a thing? To leave the Humans to die? I will not, I cannot do that!" However, I wanted to appear rational rather than emotional, so such outbursts were not an option. This was a very delicate conversation.

  'I am not too sure, Matthew...' Carmen replied, uneasily.

  'Here, let me show you all the Humans have to offer.' I offered her my hand, having rolled up my sleeve. She considered, then did likewise. I grasped her forearm, and connected my slime to hers. My head exploded with information. She sent me her doubts and concerns. But I had other plans.

  I conveyed to her the wonders of Humanity, the greatness of their race, their world. Leaving out their many, many flaws, as that wouldn't have helped my argument, I showed Carmen their culture, their way of life, their way of thinking. I showed her farms and cities, skyscrapers and huts, summers and winters. I showed her diversity, the multiplicity of the Human race. All the contrasts of the Human life, contrasts that did not exist in our monotonous, smooth-running linear culture. Indeed, I showed Carmen the wonders of Humanity, in the hope that it would persuade her to see why we, as a race, cannot allow such a planet, such a people, to fall into ruin.

  Then, I showed her the strategic reasons for preserving the Earth. I showed her weapons - swords, guns, planes, bombs. I sent nuclear weapons, poisons, genetically-enhanced diseases, electromagnetic pulses. I hoped for her to understand the great benefit to the Slug Empire if we could ally with these Humans.

  But, while important, that was not my purpose in this endeavour. Whilst showing her this, I read everything that was the essence of Carmen's mind; her fears, her goals, her ideas. Many of these were suppressed, as she didn't intend to send them to me, but they were still there. I read her opinion of Ethan - she liked him, not as a person, but as a comrade - and of Phill - she didn't dislike him, but didn't feel he was needed in our group, or trustworthy. I read what she thought of my arguments - she wasn't yet convinced, but conceded to my reasoning - and I saw that her opinion of Earth was that it was just another planet, with just another unique race living on it. We'd seen plenty of those before, although perhaps not quite so advanced. If it died, it would be just another casualty of war; it would mean nothing.

  This was unacceptable. I did this without Carmen knowing, as she had no idea what I did to her brain signals once they entered my body. She couldn't know how I separated and resisted the strongest pulses, the ones she wanted me to see, and amplified the weakest ones to a readable state - the ones she didn't want me to see, but which were involuntarily sent along with the message. It was a skill I don't believe any other Slug could do, one which can only be learned with patience and willingness. And I had plenty of those.

  I also learned something else from Carmen's inner mind, one which I read that she didn't want me to know. She had considered, quite seriously, the possibility of mutiny against me. This is unacceptable! We already had all the odds against us, but with some of our fighters... it is truly unacceptable! According to what I could glean from Carmen, she believes that William would follow her, and that she may be able to convince Frank to leave also. She understood that she had no chance with Boy, and that Jason and Rosetta were unlikely to leave.

  I must stop this mutiny from occurring, but I couldn't let Carmen know that I'd just read her. Not yet, anyway. I found myself questioning the integrity of this entity, and wanted nothing more than to disconnect my slime from hers.

  'Now do you see?' I asked, hiding my disgust at her lack of Honour. I had gotten good at hiding my true thoughts to prevent my exposure to the Humans.

  'Yes, I think I do', she replied, seemingly convinced. I doubted it. She cared only for her own life, and was blind to that fact that to save Earth was to serve the Empire, with or without the King's approval. I would remember where her loyalties lied from now on.

  'Good then. Let you think on it.' I left the room, leaving her with her thoughts. I would have to reassure William of the necessity of protecting the Earth, and perhaps Frank also. I would also let Rosetta and Jason know that they'd made the right choice. As much as I now wanted her gone, Carmen was needed. A loss of a single Slug in our plan could be detrimental to our chances. I needed to consult with someone, but decided to keep this to myself, for now. I didn't want anyone to know of my reading abilities, lest she should find out.

  The Human

  I was done just sitting there awkwardly with Phill, and decided to break the silence. Although it was a question I seemed to pose a lot, it always seemed to generate conversation. "So, what do you think our chances are of winning this?" I asked.

  "Of winning what?" Phill asked me.

  "Of winning this battle."

  "I wouldn't term it a battle; rather a defence."

  'OK, so what do you think our chances are of winning this defence?" I was getting frustrated now.

  "It depends."

  "On?"

  "Lots of things."

  "Can you just answer the question?"

  "I did." I decided then to let it drop. Either Phill was a really alien alien, or he didn't think we had any chance at all. We would have to see.

  At that moment, Matthew emerged from our designated war room, although Carmen didn't emerge. "How's
it hanging?" he asked us, conversationally.

  Phill was baffled. "You humans and your oral systems do not cease to confuse."

  "Get used to it!" I yelled at Phill, and went to slap Matt a high five. We clapped our hands, but this gesture seemed to only confuse Phill further. He stared at us in bewilderment, and decided it was best just not to ask.

  Just then, Jason came rapidly walking up to us, with the small message device in his hand. It was the same one they'd used all that time ago, the purple box with a large spike at one end. When he reached us, he paused for a second, eying Matthew carefully, before he said, "We have received another message, from the Slug King."

  Matthew pondered for a bit. "Alright, hand it over", he asked. Jason handed him the message, and stepped back next to me.

  I saw Matt place the device carefully in his hand, just as he did last time, and close his eyes. Experience taught me that he would remain in this pose for several minutes.

  As I waited, I asked Jason standing next to me, "Why did they send another message? Because Matthew refused the first one?"

  "No", he replied patiently. "The first message was sent by the King also, but sent with us. So we had the device on board our ship as we travelled here. This second one was remotely sent here, from Slugenis, and was picked up by our ship. It would have taken years to travel this distance. It was likely sent only shortly after we left, so the Slug King is still unaware of Matthew's decision."

  "Ah", I answered. "So, have you replied back with his choice?" I said choice as if I meant whether or not to add wasabi to his sushi, not whether or not to prevent the destruction of my planet. Although I will admit that the wasabi decision can be pretty tough sometimes.

  "No", he responded again. "Our ship does not have the capacity to send a message such a large distance with such accuracy. Slugenis will not learn of the events here until we return."

  "So you will probably be in trouble when you return, then? Because you disobeyed the Slug King."

  "We did not exactly disobey him, but yes. There will likely be some repercussions." I stayed silent.

  Soon, Matthew emerged from his trance. He handed the object back to Jason, who awaited his explanation of what the message said.

  "It was a message", be began to explain, "from the Slug King."

  "Jason already told us that", Phill complained, but was ignored. As for me, I'd forgotten he was even there.

  "The King sent a warning", Matt continued, "that a Cyborg ship had been scouted following the Slug ship that was coming here. He didn't know what type of ship it was, but it may have been a mining one. Of course, we know now that it wasn't. So that's how they knew where to go, and how they will arrive here so fast; they just followed you guys", he motioned at the other Slugs.

  We were silent for a second, before Jason asked, "So the Slug King figured it out just after we left?"

  "Apparently", Matthew replied.

  "Wouldn't you have scanned them behind you or something?" I asked.

  "We were not actively searching for any Cyborgs that may be following us", Jason explained. "This was meant to be a simple pickup." No one commented on what a fail of pick up mission it turned out to be.

  "The King tried to warn you of the incoming force", Phill said.

  "Yes", Matt said. "But he meant it as just a warning. That the Slugs should pick me up and get out of here fast. Before the Cyborgs arrived. The message was addressed to me, as he guessed, correctly, that I'd be showing them around the place first. Of course, now we know that we aren't going to leave here anytime soon."

  I considered Phill. "I wonder what the King would think if he knew you were fraternising with the enemy?"

  Jason looked at me. "It would be better if he did not find out until we returned." I nodded.

  "Well then", Matthew said after a pause. "We'd better continue the plans."

  "If we're lucky", I pondered, "the Slug King won't even know that you helped here. Or about Phill."

  "Pfft", Matthew answered. "I highly doubt that we will ever be that lucky."

  The next day Pauline returned. She wore the same clothes as last time, so she either really liked that outfit, or was trying to make herself familiar to the Slugs. Possibly both. At least the Slugs and I had an excuse; they probably had no other clothes, and I sure didn't.

  "Hello", I told her cheerfully. I was determined to make a good impression on the only other human that was in our group. I didn't really get any other human contact. Not that I minded; the aliens were much better company anyway.

  "Good morning", Pauline told me nicely. Perhaps she had the same intentions as me? "And how are you today?"

  "As good as I could be, knowing that there's a ship full of enemies on its way here." I shouldn't have said it so light-heartedly, as it put a dampener on Pauline's spirits. Was she even supposed to know about the Cyborg attack?

  She paused for a second, in thought, then abruptly asked me, "So, how did you get involved in all this?"

  "Uhh", I thought about how to tell her. "Well, I'm actually a student at this school, which you probably know is for the homeless and is free to attend. Cause I'm homeless, you see..." I hoped I wasn't talking around in circles, or sounding pathetic. "So anyway, Matthew also attended here, while he was pretending to be human, which is strange, because he could've gone to any school he wanted. So, we became friends, and, well, because I'm homeless, his the only real close person I know. So, when I found out he was a Slug, I decided to stick around." She was probably more confused now than before.

  "I see", she muttered thoughtfully. But it was my turn.

  "So, how did you get caught up in all this?"

  "Well, as I said, I am a biologist. I've worked in pretty much every state in the country, so that caught the government's eye. They searched for and found me, and offered me this position. So here I am. They told me it was the job of a lifetime, and they're probably right." She paused, then abruptly changed the subject. "So, assuming we survive this, what will you do afterwards?"

  I had to think about this. "Well", I began. "I assume that Matthew and all the Slugs will return to their empire - that's what they call their society - and Phill will... I don't know what he'll do, but I doubt he'll stay here. So, I suppose I'll just return to my old life, just the way that you will. What else can I do?"

  "What if you could go back to their planet with them? Would you want to do that?" Pauline asked thoughtfully.

  I'd never considered that before. "Going to their homeworld..." I mused. "Could I even live there?"

  "Well, I'm sure Matthew will be more than happy to answer that", she answered, just as he approached us.

  "Greetings, homo-sapiens", he told us as he reached the two of us. "Welcome back, Pauline. Ready for some vigorous learning?"

  "Yes", she answered simply. "I have some questions about your homeworld..."

  "Slugenis", he supplied.

  She shook her head slowly. "Yes, Slugenis. Tell me, if a human went there, could they survive?"

  Matthew seemed taken aback by the question. "Well, if we can survive here, then you can survive on our world. Although it is a lot hotter there. Why do you ask?"

  "Just curious. How hot, exactly?"

  "Through my experiences of the Celsius system in place here, I would estimate around thirty-five degrees on average."

  "That is approximately ninety-five degrees Fahrenheit", Phill contributed. He had come up behind us, unnoticed. "And may I add that having different temperature scales around the world is highly inefficient, carries the risk of misinterpretation, and is greatly annoying."

  "Get used to it", I told him. "The same applies to currency, language and measurements." He didn't respond.

  "Anyway", Matthew continued, "Slugenis is actually quite hot compared to Earth, but nothing that would kill you. As a consequence, however, we Slugs are perpetually cold here. Very annoying."

  "That's why you always wears pants and long sleeves, even in Summer!" I exclaimed. Although it was smal
l, this revelation astounded me. Finally, something about him that could be explained with simple reasoning.

  "Indeed", he answered. "Along with other reasons."

  There was a silence for a second, before Pauline broke it, asking, "You mentioned last time that your atmosphere had more oxygen than ours. What other differences are there?"

  "I thought you were a biologist, not an environmentalist", Phill complained, but we all ignored him except Pauline, who cringed away slightly.

  "Well", Matt began, "it's pretty much the same, although we have less nitrogen, and more carbon dioxide, hence the higher temperature. But this is a natural occurrence, not due to any manipulation on our part."

  "Yeah, yeah", she rolled her eyes. "Who's the environmentalist now?" Phill smiled.

  "OK, we're done here", Matt said, rather abruptly, and walked away.

  "That was abrupt", I commented. Everyone seemed to be abrupt today.

  "I suppose I'd better get back to work too", Pauline sighed.

  "Haha, all I do is sit around all day and talk to aliens", I laughed at her. "Good luck filing your reports."

  "Thank you", she replied sarcastically, and left.

  I turned to Phill. "Ready to give a straight answer to my question now?"

  "I already did." He too walked away. I sighed to myself, and decided that that was going nowhere. I considered what Pauline had suggested; did I want to go to Slugenis with Matt? Probably I did, but leaving Earth... I don't know. She probably only told me to try and hitch a ride with me to see an alien world. Everyone seemed to be using everyone else around here. Oh well. It would only last until the Cyborgs arrive. Then our fates would be decided.

  "Greetings!" Boy announced as he approached us. It was later that day, and we'd all been milling about all day. Pauline had asked what Slug combat was like, and Matthew promised us he'd show us soon. He'd also promised me it was 'a lot more epic' than the fight I'd seen. So I was looking forward to it.

  "Hi", I replied to Boy.

  Matthew sauntered up to us, completing the group - Pauline, Boy, Matt, Phill, Jason, Carmen, Rosetta and myself. William and Frank were off doing alien things or something.

  "Ready to make some more plans?" Matt asked.

  "Yes", Pauline answered for us, but then continued with, "I've learned now that some of them" - she looked at Phill condescendingly - "are on their way here to attack you. May I ask why you won't enlist the help of my government? We could greatly assist you." I wondered if she said 'attack you' because she didn't know we initially thought it was a mining ship, or because she knew that we knew it was an assassin ship.

  "Perhaps you could", Matthew responded. "Unfortunately, I don't think that this is a good idea. At the moment, the humans have no reason to trust us over the Cyborgs; as far as they know, we're just another alien race. Wow, that is so wrong. We're just another alien race, like they meet them all the time. I mean, us and the Cyborgs are just two aliens. We are not 'good', and they are not 'bad', like we think." He looked over at Phill. "No offence."

  The Cyborg didn't respond. "So", I began. "You're saying that you're waiting for a proper alliance to be made before you trust the humans with helping us?"

  "Exactly."

  "That's... understandable", Pauline said. I couldn't really blame her; Matt had pretty much just said he didn't trust our species not to stab him in the back. And from what I'd seen of movies, we were pretty good at back-stabbing.

  "Anyway, back to planning", Jason interjected. I noted how he used the word 'anyway', Matthew's apparent favourite word.

  "OK, check this out", Matthew began. He normally saved his strategy speeches for when we were in the war room, but today he made an exception. "As soon as the ship gets within range, we'll blast it with the LOC." Boy nodded, which I thought was rather human of him. I swear it won't be long before he ends up just like Matthew. "OK, that's our first move", Matt continued. "So, we blast the ship. If we're really lucky, we'll kill them all right then and there. If we're just lucky, we'll destroy their main exterior guns. For those not in the know, they have exterior and interior guns. Don't worry too much about it, it's complicated." I was now, apparently, 'in the know'. "Without those main exterior guns, they can't bombard us from orbit. Next, a boarding party enters the ship, and kills everything inside. Sounds good?"

  "What about their interior guns?" I asked.

  "Those won't be able to fire fast enough if we're fast enough", Boy explained. "Plus, their ordnance isn't enough to cause any real damage. Besides, by then they'll have bigger problems than their guns not working."

  Phill added, "If what you say is true, and if this is an assassin ship coming specifically to defuse a possible enemy alliance, then it is likely the best in this area." OK, so now Pauline definitely knew the whole story. Phill continued, "Plus, it likely contains our leader for this area, CB-2681:B."

  "Oh, great", Boy muttered. I sensed something big coming on.

  "Your leader fights in battle?" I asked bewildered. I tried to imagine our Prime Minister with an assault rifle in Afghanistan, but couldn't. "And what do you mean, leader for this area? And I thought you had no leaders?"

  Phill looked at me, and I swear he almost sighed at my multitude of questions. But he just grinned - figuratively - and bore it. "In response to your first query, our leaders are not cowards." That was obviously an insult to the Slug King.

  "You're right, they're foolish", Boy shot back.

  Phill ignored him. "In response to your second query, each area of space has a Cyborg leader. Each of these areas can contain many solar systems or a single world. When Cyborgs in a specific area need to make a crucial decision, each one of us gets a vote, including the leader of that area. Normally, the majority vote wins. However, they must win by at least ten percent. If the majority vote does not reach at least one hundred and ten percent of the next highest option, all votes are irrelevant. In this case, the leader of the area decides on what to do, unrestricted by previous votes.

  "In matters concerning multiple areas, each specific area votes again. If an overall majority is not reached of at least ten percent, each area does an independent vote. If an independent area reaches a sufficient majority of one hundred and ten percent, that decision becomes the vote for that area. If a majority for a specific area is not reached, that respective leader casts the vote for their region.

  In this way, each area gets one vote, either by the sufficient majority or by their respective leaders. The highest amount of votes wins. This is how decisions are reached."

  We were all silent for a time, pondering this mega-democracy that the Cyborgs had set up. Or, I assume the others were. I don't know about you, but all of that just went way over my head.

  The Cyborg continued. "In response to your third query, I said we have no rulers, not no leaders. Our leaders do not rule over us, but lead for us. It confuses me that you could not make that distinction."

  "Anyway", Matthew broke up our thoughts after another short moment. "If the Cyborg leader is coming, we're in more danger than I thought."

  After I got over an insult from a machine, I realised that I had no idea who this Cyborg was. "Who is it?" I asked curiously.

  "My arch-nemesis!" Matthew announced. "Really? No. But I hate him nonetheless. I call him... Promise not to laugh?" I nodded. "Rabadootime."

  I managed not to laugh, but Boy burst out laughing, and even Phill and the other Slugs cracked a smile. Pauline rewarded Matt with a shake of her head. "What kind of name is that?!" Boy almost yelled, but in a friendly way. "You are insane!"

  I expected this to offend him, but he didn't seem to care. "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, but follow my logic here. He's very fast, like a rabbit. He is also very tough, and can punch your lights out with one blow, rather like a certain iconic boxing animal, eh? That is, a kangaroo. And, using this as an example, he always shows up at the worst possible time. Therefore: Rabbit-Kangaroo-Time. Rabadootime."

  We all looked at each other before Boy laughed
again. "That is an extremely twisted sense of logic."

  "That is a bit farfetched", I conceded. "But still it sounds cool, and mysterious and weird, which is what Cyborgs are."

  "I'm glad someone appreciates the fine art of naming", Matthew sniffed. "If you had to put a name to everything in the Slug empire, you'd have some weird ones too. Do you like it, Phill? He's your leader. It. It's your leader, I meant."

  "It's not my leader anymore", he replied glumly. "And whether or not I like it is irrelevant. That appears to be its name now."

  "But do you like the name?" Matthew persisted.

  "I've answered that question."

  "Get used to that", I advised Matt. "He is very neutral about these things."

  "Yes... I'll have to reprogram that out of him later." Phill looked at him. "Just kidding", Matthew teased him. The Cyborg continued to look at him, but said nothing.

  "Anyway", Pauline started. "I suppose all our plans are to change if we assume this is a well-equipped warship with the Cyborg leader onboard out to get us."

  "It's not the Cyborg leader, just a Cyborg leader", Phill interrupted. "We do not base our entire civilisation off the rule of a single entity." For the most part, he was ignored.

  "Yes, I suppose so", Matt mused. "But not quite yet. I have to do some other stuff first. We'll continue this tomorrow everyone. Soon, we'll be ready for action!"

  "Very well", Phill said plainly, and walked off. Quite rude of him, I thought.

  As it was starting to become evening, I decided to go off home too. "I'm off. Cya everyone."

  "What do you mean, Cya?" Boy asked quizzically.

  "As in see-you-later. Cya."

  "Of course you will see me later, Matthew just told us we would meet tomorrow. There's no need to restate it and confuse me."

  "OK." I decided also that I would pretend I'd never heard that. All these alien misunderstandings were starting to annoy me. I walked towards the exit of the school, listening to the departing pleasantries of those behind me, wondering what I was going to do for the rest of the day.

  The Cyborg

  It appeared that my hated enemy had succeeded; matthew seems to have successfully swayed all of the slugs to his cause, even the ones that doubted his mental faculties. He'd persuaded a Cyborg too. Everything appeared to be going smoothly.

  In the so-called 'war-room', I was attempting to calculate our chances of success. Ethan had suggested this to me recently, and I was baffled by the concept - what good are chances? Either we win or we lose; determining our odds of successfully defending this planet beforehand bears no effect on the final result. Nevertheless, I tried to determine the probability. There were so many unknown variables, which made it immensely difficult; how weaponised the assassin ship is, if it actually contains Rabadootime, how much they know about Matthew's aid. So many factors, each of which would drastically alter the most likely outcome... I decided to try again when we obtained more information.

  At that moment, the slug named carmen entered the room. She wore a strange expression on her face as she approached me. "So, phil", she began. I nodded to communicate that I'd heard her begin. "I wanted to tell you something..." Now she appeared to get anxious. I considered informing her that she'd already told me something, but decided against it.

  "Look, I'll be straight with you." Now her expression hardened up. That, and her use of the obviously human phrase 'I'll be straight with you', demonstrated the influence that this world was having on her, perhaps subconsciously on her part. I wondered if it was having any such effects on me. "I don't care about this 'earth' ", she told me with distaste. "Nor do I care for matthew's... eccentricities regarding its protection. As far as I'm concerned, we are wasting valuable time, resources and effort defending such a pointless world, which would be better spent fighting... you. No offense." She breathed out.

  "The point is", carmen continued, "I am going to take the scout ship and leave, and return to slugenis. I will ask william if he wishes to join me, and I am asking you now if you wish to come along. I will drop you off anywhere that is not too dangerous for me. I have had enough of wasting time on such an insignificant place. What do you think?"

  Her speech patterns once again pointed at the considerably measurable influence that exposure to matthew and humans was causing her. However, this was an irrelevant process at this time.

  "You plan to mutiny against your leader?" I asked quizzically. I needed more information.

  She looked at me directly in my viewing implements when she answered, "He is not our leader, he has only assumed that role without prior consent. Nor in his present state of mind is he capable of leadership. You should understand this. And yes, I plan to mutiny against him. We cannot waste any more time here." Did she even begin to comprehend how closely her speech resembled a human's?

  She spoke of a rebellion, a rebellion against her superiors. Such a thing never occurred to Cyborgs, as every Cyborg knows why we do what we do, and every order is not based on the whim of an individual, but on the agreement of a majority. The possibility of a mutiny is yet another weakness that organics and their hierarchical system are prone to. Regardless of the imperfections of the situation, I had a decision to make.

  I considered;

  I did not understand why carmen would offer such a thing to me. The very fact that she offered to assist a Cyborg in any way is a testament to how much her psychology has already changed in such a short space of time; time which changes all things, but seldom so quickly. For my own purposes, I cannot leave with carmen, for several possible reasons.

  It carries the risk of her and william overpowering and disabling me aboard their ship, assuming that this is why she wants me to join them, and then researching my components back at their world. Not that they haven't done this with other Cyborg bodies, but the less they have, the better. I may be detached from my empire also, but I am still loyal to them; at least, somewhat loyal.

  2nd, even if they prove trustworthy and stay true to carmen's word, where shall they drop me off? I could think of dozens of places, but none that they would consent to, as they are too dangerous to themselves. Therefore, how shall I contact a pick-up? Unlikely the slugs will supply me with their communication devices, as they want to keep their technology to themselves, as I would. Additionally, they may think they will need such equipment.

  Furthermore, assuming that all this happens as good as it can possibly occur, if they leave me somewhere where I can be retrieved, I am no longer of use to the Cyborgs. They will see me as a liability, as broken, probably out of date. The only future for me is to be recycled. No doubt they will soon discover I have assisted the slugs too.

  No, I have no future with the Cyborgs anymore. I am more a traitor to them than matthew is to his king.

  Hence, I reached the conclusion that I must remain on earth, helping matthew. The more I prove my worth, the less chance he has of recapturing me once all this is over and handing me back to the clutches of time. I must gain everyone's trust. Including carmen's.

  "Carmen", I began, instructing my mouth implements - courtesy of matthew - to make my speech sound persuasive. "I don't think you should mutiny against matthew."

  "Why not?" she demanded. Carmen was beginning to remind me of whining women in the radio 'sitcoms' I used to listen to so often. I had thought not even slugs could get that low.

  "Matthew still holds considerable respect and influence in the slug empire, does he not?"

  "Yes, however that is likely to change after these circumstances."

  "Irrelevant. Once you return to slugenis, word will no doubt spread that you are the traitor of one of their oldest heroes. The slug that survived against all the odds, and brought forward an alliance to greatly assist in the war. Your king will have no choice; he must remove your honour to keep his subjects happy. As far as they know, you have mutinied against one of their great warriors. You are a rebel to him, and a rebel to the empire. You, and william, will return with no honour.


  "In addition, when and if matthew ever returns, he will no doubt renounce you as cowards and defectors, thus dealing another blow to your honour. Aren't you supposed to enjoy challenging situations? Do you see why this will be very dreadful for you? How could you have any honour when you flee from a difficult task?"

  "You mean to say, I will lose my honour?!" Ahh, slugs. Mention anything about honour and they wilt under suggestion.

  "Of course. You would lose honour among my people too. 'Ahhh, carmen', we will think. 'The slug coward. Further proof of the need for their eradication.' I say this to warn you of the long-term repercussions of your plan; you should thoroughly consider all possible outcomes before undertaking such a course of action. Regardless of your choice, I will stay here."

  She was silent for a long time, thinking, before she replied, "Maybe you are right phil. Perhaps I cannot leave earth now that I'm caught up in it. My best chance is to do my best to help matthew defend this planet, thus ensuring my honour." She waited a few more seconds - this world's basic measurement of time - and turned and walked to the exit of the room, but first twisted around and informed me: "Thank you, phil. For warning me. For a Cyborg, you are... alright." She turned and left the room.

  As I watched her leave, all I thought was, 'Carmen's trust: check.'

  The Human

  It was the following day, a Friday, and as I walked to school, I looked at the clouds in the distance. There was lots of them, some long and narrow, others short but fat. I'd always thought clouds were fascinating, and I knew that Matthew did too, but I'd never known why. Only now, walking to school as I had every day for almost as long as I could remember (almost), did it hit me; Matt wasn't looking at clouds when he looked up. He was looking up into space. Looking for his home.

  I stopped by the breakfast area to pick up some toast to eat - eight slices, as it's likely to be my only meal for the day - and proceeded to our room. It was at the other end of the school, and was only used on school days - weekends. So today, and every other weekday, it was empty. Well, except for us.

  Matthew met me outside of the war room. "Yello", he greeted me cheerfully.

  "Yello to you too", I answered. There seemed to be nothing to talk about just yet, as we were waiting for others to arrive, so I just mundanely asked, "Where's Pauline?"

  "She's on her way", he replied.

  We stood there awkwardly for a while, until Boy and Pauline showed up. "Greetings, comrades", Boy announced, also cheerfully. The way he said it made it sound like he had some startling revelation to share with us, but he didn't continue.

  We all said our hello's and hi's, and before anyone could get to any business, Pauline blurted out, "Tell me more about Slugenis."

  "Ahh, Slugenis", Matt said, almost to himself. He looked up at the clouds - well the sky, I now realised. "Slugenis is a wonderful place. Or, at least it was the last I remember of it. How is it nowadays, Boy?"

  Boy answered, "It is still wonderful. Although I'm not sure if it's as wonderful as you remember, or just wonderful."

  "Define wonderful", Pauline asked, kind of sarcastically. Like me, she was getting impatient with the Slug's reminiscing.

  Boy didn't get her sarcasm. "Well, wonderful is 'of a sort that causes or arouses wonder'. Obviously", he said. I hoped my face didn't betray my flabbergastedness that he'd just spouted out a definition.

  "Is that a straight dictionary definition?" Matt asked him, smiling.

  "Yes."

  "Anyway", Pauline interrupted, impatient yet again. "Please explain what it is like living in Slugenis."

  As Boy appeared to be going nowhere, it was up to Matt to describe their homeworld. "Well, as you know, Slugenis will be quite warm for you, but not intolerable." Pauline shot me a grin, referring to our conversation a while ago. I was still not sure. Matthew continued; "There are oceans on our world, but they are much smaller than Earth's, meaning we have more land. However, our empire is not split into countries as such; the whole planet is under Slug rule, under the empire. The Slug King basically rules the whole planet, as well as all of our colonies and space."

  "Where does the King live?" I asked, fascinated.

  "In the capital of Slugenis, of course. I haven't yet thought of a name to it. Hmmm..." He closed his eyes, deep in thought.

  "How about Slugapital For Slug-capital?" Boy suggested. It sounded weird, but no one else could think of any other alternative.

  "Slugapital it is", Matt conceded. "Anyway, the Slug King lives in Slugapital. OK, technically, it isn't really a capital. There's really nothing special about it except that that's the place where the King lives. But it's kind of like the seat of our government."

  "It's a lot bigger than a seat, if I may correct you", Boy corrected him.

  "Of course", he answered, amused at Boy's lack of understanding. "Anyway, there you go. Anything else you wish to know, O Master Pauline?"

  Boy appeared horrified that he had referred to Pauline as 'O Master', but I chalked that up to lack of understanding once again. "Yes, actually", Pauline replied. "How big is your planet?"

  "No idea", Matt said instantly. "But I would venture to say that it's a lot bigger than Earth. Therefore, for the dramatic increase of heat, it must be either very close to our sun, or our sun is a lot hotter than yours. Doesn't really matter, either way."

  "Of course", Pauline mimicked his previous response.

  "You may have noticed, also", Matthew continued uninvited, "that we don't seem to have any problem in the Earth's gravity. That's because it is remarkably similar to ours, just a bit less. Now, I've no idea of what our planet is made of, but I would have to conclude that it's made of much lighter stuff than Earth to have a similar gravity, given that it's quite larger."

  Pauline and I nodded. "You mean lighter elements?" Boy suggested. Matt nodded. "You're not asking the most important question", Boy went on after a slight pause. "And it concerns not our planet, but our culture."

  By this point, Phill had approached us, without any warning at all. Rather Cyborgic of him, I thought. If Cyborgic was even a word. "I can guess what this is going to be about", Phill scoffed. "Simultaneously the Slug's greatest strength and their greatest weakness. It is an enigma no Cyborg can possibly comprehend. The only way we can live with its existence is through the phrase, 'Organics. What do you expect?' "

  Matt paid no attention to this remark. Instead, he took on a deep, brooding voice, as he chillingly told us, "What Boy and Phill speak of is a system, nay, a weapon, a weapon so powerful it absorbs the very mind, body and soul of every single Slug, like an all-pervasive disease. A disease that can absorb the mind, body and soul. It began as an idea, or at least I assume, but now spreads throughout our entire empire, dictating our every thought and action. It can never be escaped, never avoided, and one must always ensure they do not forsake it." He leaned back, proud of his glorification of what he was about to tell us.

  "Just tell us already!" Pauline, leaning forward in anticipation, whined.

  "Yes, I'd like to see if they can see any logicality to it", Phill added.

  "Get ready for an explanation of epic proportions!" Boy warned us enthusiastically.

  "Quite simply", Matthew started, giving in to everyone's requests with glee. "It is our honour. With a capital 'h'."