Chapter 13 Hilda Muller Interrogates a Xeno Prisoner.
Hilda Muller and Markus White were back in the ruins of Rashidium. They observed the bluish light of the inter-dimensional portal over the gilded Cheops Pyramid. Returning to Rashidium was terrifying. What had once been one of the glowing jewel cities of the Terran Council was now a destroyed wasteland. The smell of death and decay still lay thick over the city.
Hilda walked along the abandoned streets of Rashidium when a foul stench overwhelmed her. Hilda heard a faint growl. She turned to her bodyguard, Captain Emma Schindler, and spoke:
- You said that the army has secured the city. So, why can I smell the stench of the Xenos and hear that faint growl from the building over there?
Emma Schindler:
- I am sorry Mistress Hilda; I will lead you back to safety at once!
Hilda Muller:
- No need, Captain Schindler. I am not an armchair general. I want to investigate this sound myself.
Emma Schindler:
- But that's dangerous. We cannot put your life at risk.
Hilda Muller:
- Don't worry about me. The troops that fought and died here didn't back down, and neither shall I. I won't allow myself cowardice.
Markus White stared at Hilda in disbelief and spoke:
- Hilda, come on, don't be stupid. You're not any high-ranking official. You are the leader of the Terran Council, the single most powerful woman on the planet. Let your soldiers do their jobs.
Hilda shrugged off Markus' objection. She was a soldier at heart, and she had killed several of these beasts when Rashidium was overrun. Besides, if she could capture a Xeno warrior, that would be an excellent opportunity to study and communicate with the creatures.
Hilda Muller:
- Markus, you stay here with a few guards. Emma and the rest of you, come with me. I want to interrogate the wounded Xeno warrior. Soldiers, arm your shields and plasma swords. We are entering that building!
They entered the building, and searched it until they reached the source of the stench and the sound. They found a severely injured Xeno warrior lying in a pool of his own blood, missing both legs and arms. But it had been weeks since the last battle. How could the beast be alive with the injuries it had sustained? Hilda decided that she had to find a way to communicate with the incapacitated enemy.
Hilda spoke to the Xeno:
- Who are you? Why do you come to Earth and fight us? What do you want?
The Xeno warrior:
- Sharaz rambu Ramun. Growl, rubut Rangda. Raman rantiz gudu dugu, gandin dinetion.
After saying this, the Xeno warrior started drooling and shaking. Emma Schindler raised her plasma sword to kill the beast, but Hilda told her off:
- What are you doing Emma? This is our first chance to communicate with our enemy and learn about them. You wouldn't waste that opportunity, would you?
Emma Schindler:
- There is nothing to learn from these beasts. They are blood-thirsty mindless monsters, and we already found the a to repel them. Lasers, orbital bombardment and land mines!
Hilda Muller:
- Lucky that I arrived here today! This beast understood what I said. At least it realised that I was communicating to it, and it tried to respond.
- We have quantum computers capable of decrypting any code. Deciphering the Xeno language should be a piece of cake.
Emma Schindler:
- You are right, Chairwoman Muller. I will connect us to the quantum computer at once.
A few minutes later, the quantum computer had analysed the Xeno language. The computer had deciphered what the Xeno warrior said, and created a potential vocabulary for the Xeno language. Hilda uploaded the Xeno vocabulary to the universal translator chip in her brain. When the upload had finished, Hilda spoke to the Xeno warrior in the Xeno language:
- So, Ramun the Xeno Warrior. You can stop following Rangda now because she is not around. Instead speak to me, Hilda Muller of Earth, and tell me what you know and what you want.
Hearing a human speak her language baffled Ramun. Eventually, she replied:
- How can you speak my language human? What kind of sorcery is this?!
Hilda Muller:
- It is not sorcery, it is technology. Travelling through dimensional portals, you should be aware of advanced technology.
Ramun:
- We don't use technology. We rely on the sorcery and the great powers that our God-Queen Rangda grants us.
Hilda Muller:
- You, Xenos, have advanced technology. We scavenged your fallen brethren of the technology you use. Ground-breaking stuff. But once we realised how your technology works, we found a way to counteract it. Something you never seemed to comprehend!
Ramun:
- Yes, my brethren told me that we have had problems with the guile of humans before. You helped the Zetans defeat us in the multi-millennial interstellar war.
Hilda Muller:
- What are you talking about? There is no mention of a multi-millennial interstellar war in human history.
Ramun:
- Humanity followed the vile Zetans like they were your gods. Refusing the one true goddess Rangda in her holy quest to free the galaxy of Zetans' falsehood and deceit!
- Check your religious scriptures, and you'll find plenty of references to the war. Your scriptures would describe it as the heavenly fight between "good" and "evil."
Hilda Muller:
- Interesting, but not very relevant. Tell me about your "god-queen" Rangda. Who is she, and how do I kill her?
Ramun:
- You already know who she is. You saw her during our first attack when we extracted our prisoner Keila. You fought me back then, you defeated me, and that's why I am talking to you.
Hilda Muller:
- I haven't seen enough of you to recognise individual Xenos. Did I do this to you?
Ramun:
- Yes, and now you must finish the job: Kill me and eat me, as is our custom!
Hilda Muller:
- Sure. If you tell me how you survived for six months with these severe wounds?
Ramun:
- I crawled and wriggled using my torso to get here. We, Xenos, are very resilient and recover from almost any wound. But we can't regrow dismembered limbs.
Hilda Muller:
- But that's six months ago. How can you still be alive if I dismembered you back then?
Ramun:
- Our home planet Xenora is incredibly harsh, and only the fiercest beast can survive there. Besides, "six months" as you call it is only two days on our home planet.
Hilda Muller:
- That's enough for now. You are my prisoner. We will feed you and further interrogate you.
Ramun:
- But you promised to kill me if I spoke!
Hilda Muller:
- I will kill you. But not now. That's not how humans treat valuable prisoners. And that is why we are going to come after your queen Rangda for what she did to us!
Ramun growled and roared, but it didn't matter. Hilda had her prisoner, and she wouldn't let a go of this opportunity to understand her enemy better!