Star Force: Nexus (SF57) Read Online Free

of words that
were unintelligible by Human standards, and ones that Kerrie had yet been able
to even minorly master with her own vocal chords,
which replicated the Nexus’s basic language.
    The Gfatt exchanged glances, then one looked at her
with its three eyes and clasped its hands together. “ We did not expect you to be able to speak our language .”
    “ Computer
translation .”
    “ Well, it seems
I’m not going to be needed here after all ,” the H’kar said, who had spent a
considerable amount of time learning the Human language in order to act as
translator.
    “ No, stay. There
may be other issues that arise ,” the Gfatt said in a tone that indicated
that they were definitely higher up in the pecking order.
    “ As you wish .”
    “ Please come
inside, there is much we have to discuss ,” the Gfatt said, pointing Kerrie
towards the far interior of the landing bay as more ships continued to come and
go around them, though none in the immediate area. “ Do you have any environmental considerations we need to take into
account? ”
    “ The armor is
precautionary and designed for combat. I can breathe the air ,” she said,
trying to keep any and all sarcasm out of her voice. The translation program
was new and the simpler she spoke, the less likelihood of it messing up.
    The Gfatt exchanged looks. “ Are you carrying weapons? ”
    “ No ,” she
said, suppressing the urge to declare herself a weapon.
    “ Weapons are not
permitted on the planet aside from those in the possession of the security
forces, which is why I ask. Your bodily protection is permissible, but
unnecessary . Follow me .”
    Kerrie fell into step behind the Gfatt, looking up at
its shoulders as the others formed up into flanking positions with the H’kar
following behind as a tagalong. They walked across the deck and into a large,
cave-like entrance that split into hallways traveling in all directions. They
took one angling down and to the right, with it twisting and turning at various
angles with the segments always being straight and angled at the joints.
Instead of stairs they had grippy , yet shallow ramps
covered in traction nubs that kept wanting to trip Kerrie up.
    The Gfatt simply floated over them, with the H’kar
working his way down by ‘foot’ noisily behind her. The clicks of his footfalls
were the only sound other than her light footsteps, with the rest of the
pedestrians they passed by being eerily silent as they floated about. There was
no talking, only a calm tranquility that gave Kerrie the urge to yell just to
break up the monotony, making the clunky H’kar stand out amongst the silent crowd.
    Eventually they came to their destination and a large
table that was more of a raised symbol coming out of the floor. It was twisted
and curved, with what would have been chair positions in a mess of different
angles but there were none. All the Gfatt in the room simply floated beside the
work station, with what looked like a giant sandbox on part of the tabletop.
    That ‘sand’ was mutable, with it forming into various
shapes and sizes of objects while other positions worked with recognizable
holograms, not unlike what Star Force used. The ‘sand’ was what drew her
attention, for it was shaped into a landscape with tiny moving structures that
looked like army men…but whom she recognized as lizard mauler variants.
    “ Stand here
please ,” the Gfatt said, pointing to a spot alongside one of the edges of
the sandbox.
    “ You’re
obviously studying the lizards ,” she said, with the translation program
using their proper name, which she didn’t care to pronounce.
    “ They are a
growing nuisance that will not go away, though you know better than us given
your history with them. ”
    “ Given your
level of technology how are they a threat to you? ” Kerrie had to ask.
    “ The Nexus is
spread across a wide region of the galaxy. We do not control systems, we
oversee them. Because the Li'vorkrachnika consume