THE SHIP AND THE PORT

1529 4D

The alien ship lay in the City‘s specially-constructed port. Some said it rose again to the surface, and out into space; others said it never moved; a few said it had always been there, and that the port they had built for it had always existed. City records were in conflict on this point; some showed the port in ancient maps, others showed the building contracts and plans for the year 1529 4D between the City and RhoCorp for the port’s great shaft to the surface, and its fittings for the ovoid ship.

On this subject the Great Archives were silent.

Requests came from the ship for more andros, voiced in vernacular Comlang; in response, andros were sent aboard, but never returned. After the first few had boarded, several tall humanoids with hard, shiny skulls peered out through the freight hatchdoor with huge black eyes. They resembled Anhmharh in its negotiations with Arlen. Their bodies were plated in bioarmor.

Over the years, agreements formed, hardened. The aliens were allowed only in Poly Town, down between Sobi and Rumchi Zones. In return, ArCorp would continue to find certain ores for them to be used to power the ship, and to supply them with andros, no questions asked.

No humans were allowed aboard. A few attempted it; they did not return, not to coll leaders, nor to intelligence agencies, nor to underworld bosses. The aliens finally issued a genocidal warning; attempts to steal their secrets ended when a town of five thousand humans and andros died overnight with no apparent cause.

The City posted round-the-clock guards in the access routes to the ship, and no one entered or left without proper control.

Occasionally, while docked, the ship seemed to waver and fade briefly in its supports; the guards seeing these odd shifts attributed them to long hours of standing watch.

The ores flowed from Arlen‘s mines. Years passed.