Alcantaran 1: Alien Abduction by Terry Compton Read Free Book Online Page A

contained what she needed but the mother ship computer said another medical solution needed to be found because it wasn't cost effective to keep giving intravenous fluids.   Tik checked to see if she could drink the fluid but it was only a temporary fix.   It would stave off the malnutrition but eventually she would die if her system didn't digest the food properly.   Tik told the computer to order the fluid for her as part of her normal diet.   Tik had just put up her mini-computer when the healer Bug came back into the room.
    The Bug said, "You have been reassigned.   I will give you more fluid tonight and in the morning a supervisor will take you to your new job."
    "What's the matter with me?   Why am I so weak and sick?" Tik asked testily.
    "You don't need to know.   We will take care of you as long as you do your job," the Bug retorted gruffly.
    "Where am I going to be working?   Where will I sleep?" Tik asked as a test to see what the Bug knew or would tell.
    "Your supervisor will show you all of that tomorrow.   For now, relax and I will give you more fluid," the Bug told her like one would tell a child it was time to go to bed.
    Tik waited until she was sure the Bug had gone for the night and then checked her mini-computer again.   She found out she would be going to the repair hangar to work on computers there and also to input the amount of salvaged fuel that was dumped into the mother ship's stock pile.   Tik worked for another hour or so before she put her computer away and went to sleep.
    The next morning Tik woke up feeling much better.   She still didn’t have the strength that she had when she came on the mother ship but she felt she could work something out now.   The Bug with the healer unit brought her something to eat and Tik ate everything there.   She knew she would have to eat everything to keep her system from starving her to death.   Later she would have to research what she needed to keep her system working.   She had just finished eating when a Bug with different colored trim on its robe came and told her to follow.
    They worked their way through several different passages before they rode an elevator toward the outer skin.   Once they got off the elevator, they walked a short distance and entered a huge hangar.   There were several planetary flyers, other space ships and some large robots in various stages of repair.   Robots and an assortment of varied creatures of differing sizes were swarming over everything.   They were taking things apart or putting them back together and it took Tik several minutes to tell which was which.   The Bug kept her moving across the hangar to another room.   She noticed one space ship towards the rear of the hangar.   It looked like it had seen its better days.   It was much larger than the planetary flyers the Bugs used and Tik wondered where it came from.   Her escort took her to a Bug that appeared to be the overseer in the room.
    The new Bug announced, “My name is Wurden.   You will be working here entering salvage parts into inventory and weighing, classifying and entering salvaged fuel.   You will also send messenger robots to get parts that the technicians will need.   I will be here until you are competent to do this alone.   Do you understand?”
    Tik replied sarcastically, “Yeah, I get it.   How do you classify all the different parts?   Do you assign them part numbers or just stick them on a shelf somewhere?”
    “We classify them according to use category.   You will decide which general category the part fits in and the computer will make a final determination.   The computer will assign a shelf number and a messenger robot will store the part.   There is a camera here that helps the computer identify the parts and what they are used for.   The messenger robots that bring the parts here interface with the computer and tell it where the part came from and which ship or large robot it came off of,” the Bug