Corvus, part 1
Author's note: I'm sure Corvus's dialogue in this story is not accurate to how he spoke in those days. However, it's the only way he knows how to talk now, and he has been dictating the story to me.
As the sun rose over the wasted landscape, Corvus awakened. He preened his feathers for half an hour, then began getting dressed. He smiled as he looked at his leather necklace, adorned with the skull of the rat king. That had been an epic battle, but ultimately, the ravens had been victorious.
Next, the pince-nez, taken from a grave of one of the ancients. Corvus' subjects might have worshipped them as gods, but not he. They hadn't been godlike enough to save themselves from extinction, or had enough foresight to unite as a species. Stupid apes. But he supposed he should be grateful to them for the mutagenic properties of the weapons they had used.
Next, he put on his top hat. Another relic from the strange, hairless apes who had once dominated the planet, the hat was small enough for one of their children, but perfect for Corvus. He was feeling rakish, so he plucked one of his own feathers and put it in the hat as a finishing touch.
It was funny, Corvus mused. The other birds all worshipped the ancients and their technology, but they didn't understand a bit of it. He, on the other hand, could make the ancient machines sing. As he walked out of his hut, his subjects cheered. One of them brought him a plate of rotting deer meat. Another gave him a mug full of fermented berry juice.
It was good to be the king.
Today was the day. Once Corvus was through with the normal morning formalities, he went to the temple. He had determined through trial and error that it was actually a communication device, designed to contact passing spaceships. Corvus had been monitoring conversations between alien life forms for months, ever since he figured out how to activate the solar panels. The chair as it was designed was useless for birds, so he turned it around and perched on it, placing the keyboard on the back of the chair.
There were fifteen ships within comm range today. Corvus felt like a hatchling seeing a berry patch for the first time. He pressed a button on the microphone, and began speaking in the strange language known as Galactic Standard: "Calling any passing ships. This is Corvus Blackthorne, ruler of Karrakaoaa. Might I request the aid of any passing ship captains? Over."
A pause in the chatter. It seemed no one wanted to answer. Then a high-pitched voice. "Copy, Corvus. What kind of aid do you require? Over."
"I require an experienced mechanic to aid in the construction of an interplanetary craft. Over."
"You're in luck, friend. I'm the best mechanic in this quadrant. Teleporting down to the planet surface now. Over and out."
Ecstatic, Corvus left the temple and flew a little way out of the village to a large object covered in tree branches. The two ravens he had assigned to guard his project waved as he landed. "Hail, O King!" they shouted in unison.
Corvus returned the greeting as he activated the tracking beacon next to his half-finished spacecraft. "Now," he said, "where is my flight crew?"
"Wow! You say you built this out of spare parts?" asked the alien. He resembled an upright elephant to Corvus' eyes, but much smaller. "Pretty good for a first spaceship. So what's the problem you need help with?"
"To be perfectly honest, it is not precisely a mechanical problem," replied Corvus. "The parts I need are in a ruin perhaps half a day's walk from here. Unfortunately, they are guarded by a large, rather vicious family of carnivorous beasts, and we are unable to best them without weapons far superior to those we have available."
The alien laughed. "Guns? That's all you need? Do you realize I have enough tech on board that ship in orbit to completely terraform this planet? I could raise this world to a level four!"
"My people have decided that they wish to explore and colonize other worlds," replied Corvus. "We do not care what happens to this one."
"Well, heck, I can help gather the stuff for ya. But I'd get in trouble if I let you use my guns. That work?"
"I suppose," said Corvus, a plan already forming in his mind.
As the elephant and his ship's crew traveled in the direction Corvus had indicated, he chuckled to himself, then gathered the crew he had handpicked and trained. "There has been a change of plans," he said, keeping his voice low so it wouldn't carry. "The aliens have refused us their weapons, but I know they left plenty of them on their ship. You know what we must do."
The tall, thin one who called himself Turbo spoke first. "Won't they shoot at us, though?"
"They wouldn't dare," replied the raven king. "We would have superior firepower at that point. That is where you come in, Bullseye." As he spoke, a muscular raven with a slingshot smiled as much as his beak would allow. Corvus continued, "The rest of you are to distract the aliens should they return with the parts for which I have sent them."
As his subjects acknowledged his instructions, Corvus, Bullseye, and Turbo approached the alien ship. As they expected, it was completely empty. Silently, they crept aboard, and found themselves in a cargo bay full of guns of the same type the elephants had. "Should we blast 'em?" asked Bullseye enthusiastically.
"Not yet," said Corvus.
The door to the cockpit was locked, but it was a digital lock, no match for Corvus's self-taught computer skills. A few short keystrokes, and he had full access. Turbo was the tallest of the three of them, but even he had trouble seeing over the top of the dashboard, a problem Corvus solved by the simple expedient of ripping the seat cushion from the co-pilot's seat. Turbo's excited laughter was quickly drowned out by the sound of the spaceship's ion drive powering up.
On the ground, Corvus's subjects were startled when the spaceship powered up, but even more so when the aliens came running to retrieve it. They did as they were told, distracting the elephant-like creatures. They ran to and fro as if panicked, ignoring the aliens' orders to get out of their way. It was only when the creatures started firing their weapons that the ravens flew away. By that time, the ship was in the air, and the cannons were pointed right at its crew. Over the loudspeaker came Corvus's voice: "Apologies, my friends, but there has been a change of plans. I will not leave you stranded here, but I'm afraid you must lay down your weapons and surrender. Will you accept me as your new captain?"
As the sun rose over the wasted landscape, Corvus awakened. He preened his feathers for half an hour, then began getting dressed. He smiled as he looked at his leather necklace, adorned with the skull of the rat king. That had been an epic battle, but ultimately, the ravens had been victorious.
Next, the pince-nez, taken from a grave of one of the ancients. Corvus' subjects might have worshipped them as gods, but not he. They hadn't been godlike enough to save themselves from extinction, or had enough foresight to unite as a species. Stupid apes. But he supposed he should be grateful to them for the mutagenic properties of the weapons they had used.
Next, he put on his top hat. Another relic from the strange, hairless apes who had once dominated the planet, the hat was small enough for one of their children, but perfect for Corvus. He was feeling rakish, so he plucked one of his own feathers and put it in the hat as a finishing touch.
It was funny, Corvus mused. The other birds all worshipped the ancients and their technology, but they didn't understand a bit of it. He, on the other hand, could make the ancient machines sing. As he walked out of his hut, his subjects cheered. One of them brought him a plate of rotting deer meat. Another gave him a mug full of fermented berry juice.
It was good to be the king.
Today was the day. Once Corvus was through with the normal morning formalities, he went to the temple. He had determined through trial and error that it was actually a communication device, designed to contact passing spaceships. Corvus had been monitoring conversations between alien life forms for months, ever since he figured out how to activate the solar panels. The chair as it was designed was useless for birds, so he turned it around and perched on it, placing the keyboard on the back of the chair.
There were fifteen ships within comm range today. Corvus felt like a hatchling seeing a berry patch for the first time. He pressed a button on the microphone, and began speaking in the strange language known as Galactic Standard: "Calling any passing ships. This is Corvus Blackthorne, ruler of Karrakaoaa. Might I request the aid of any passing ship captains? Over."
A pause in the chatter. It seemed no one wanted to answer. Then a high-pitched voice. "Copy, Corvus. What kind of aid do you require? Over."
"I require an experienced mechanic to aid in the construction of an interplanetary craft. Over."
"You're in luck, friend. I'm the best mechanic in this quadrant. Teleporting down to the planet surface now. Over and out."
Ecstatic, Corvus left the temple and flew a little way out of the village to a large object covered in tree branches. The two ravens he had assigned to guard his project waved as he landed. "Hail, O King!" they shouted in unison.
Corvus returned the greeting as he activated the tracking beacon next to his half-finished spacecraft. "Now," he said, "where is my flight crew?"
•0•
"Wow! You say you built this out of spare parts?" asked the alien. He resembled an upright elephant to Corvus' eyes, but much smaller. "Pretty good for a first spaceship. So what's the problem you need help with?"
"To be perfectly honest, it is not precisely a mechanical problem," replied Corvus. "The parts I need are in a ruin perhaps half a day's walk from here. Unfortunately, they are guarded by a large, rather vicious family of carnivorous beasts, and we are unable to best them without weapons far superior to those we have available."
The alien laughed. "Guns? That's all you need? Do you realize I have enough tech on board that ship in orbit to completely terraform this planet? I could raise this world to a level four!"
"My people have decided that they wish to explore and colonize other worlds," replied Corvus. "We do not care what happens to this one."
"Well, heck, I can help gather the stuff for ya. But I'd get in trouble if I let you use my guns. That work?"
"I suppose," said Corvus, a plan already forming in his mind.
As the elephant and his ship's crew traveled in the direction Corvus had indicated, he chuckled to himself, then gathered the crew he had handpicked and trained. "There has been a change of plans," he said, keeping his voice low so it wouldn't carry. "The aliens have refused us their weapons, but I know they left plenty of them on their ship. You know what we must do."
The tall, thin one who called himself Turbo spoke first. "Won't they shoot at us, though?"
"They wouldn't dare," replied the raven king. "We would have superior firepower at that point. That is where you come in, Bullseye." As he spoke, a muscular raven with a slingshot smiled as much as his beak would allow. Corvus continued, "The rest of you are to distract the aliens should they return with the parts for which I have sent them."
As his subjects acknowledged his instructions, Corvus, Bullseye, and Turbo approached the alien ship. As they expected, it was completely empty. Silently, they crept aboard, and found themselves in a cargo bay full of guns of the same type the elephants had. "Should we blast 'em?" asked Bullseye enthusiastically.
"Not yet," said Corvus.
The door to the cockpit was locked, but it was a digital lock, no match for Corvus's self-taught computer skills. A few short keystrokes, and he had full access. Turbo was the tallest of the three of them, but even he had trouble seeing over the top of the dashboard, a problem Corvus solved by the simple expedient of ripping the seat cushion from the co-pilot's seat. Turbo's excited laughter was quickly drowned out by the sound of the spaceship's ion drive powering up.
On the ground, Corvus's subjects were startled when the spaceship powered up, but even more so when the aliens came running to retrieve it. They did as they were told, distracting the elephant-like creatures. They ran to and fro as if panicked, ignoring the aliens' orders to get out of their way. It was only when the creatures started firing their weapons that the ravens flew away. By that time, the ship was in the air, and the cannons were pointed right at its crew. Over the loudspeaker came Corvus's voice: "Apologies, my friends, but there has been a change of plans. I will not leave you stranded here, but I'm afraid you must lay down your weapons and surrender. Will you accept me as your new captain?"
