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Star Trek Chapter 10
Elim Talic walked down the corridor and inspected the forty-two canisters. They'd cost him almost nothing but he still faced the prospect of taking a loss, or worse. Handling cargo from pirates and traffickers was risky, depending on the nature of the cargo he may have already violated the law. Still, maybe one or two of the captives would be worth something, if not for skills then for ransom. And, of course, there were always the tissue traders.
He looked at his tablet. Thirty-three humans, two Deltoids, four Bajorans (these would be confiscated, no use fighting it, he'd inform the local Legate he had them) two Minbari, a Faringi and one...undefined.
The canisters weren't in any order, so it took him a couple of minutes to find it. The readouts showed it was operating normally-who, or what, was inside was being maintained in stasis and there had been no tissue degradation.
There was condensation on the outside. The front of the canisters were an elongated bubble of transparent plasti- aluminum. He assumed the loaders had been good enough to place the canister heads up. He wiped the case with his hand-nothing there.
"Humph," Talic said, then tapped the screen on his tablet to turn on the interior lights. The shading on the fog showed that the person inside was only a bit over a meter tall-he could see the top of a head, covered with red hair.
"Hmm, probably human," he muttered. He wiped lower.
The resident was obviously a human child. He couldn't tell its sex (humans had two which seemed strange to Cardassians who have three). Still, even though it was human, he could recognize the look of terror on the child's face. It must have been screaming when they forced it into the canister. One of its hands was up against the door, the small five finger hand rolled into a tight fist. There was a smear of red on the inside, he'd never seen human blood but knew they have iron based hemoglobin. It had hit the cover so hard it split the skin on its hand open...or maybe the injury happened before it was put in.
Still, it was strange that the system reported it as "Undefined." It was so obviously human-it had the distressingly plain and smooth features of humans-no ridges, no boney outgrowths. Human children were especially ugly, their features were less defined, even softer and with no defining creases or growth. He was surprised humans could tell their children apart.
'Such a soft, weak race,' he thought. 'I guess they've built such good machines because they're so...incapable...themselves...'
He made a mental note that he'd have to get a tissue sample for identification. The law only allowed a few species to be slaves and he had to be sure what it was before it'd be certified. But, that would be a problem. If he submitted a sample to a lab and it came back as a prohibited species he'd find himself in the dock. In fact, just buying an "undefined" species might be seen as against the law. He'd have to be very careful or any potential profit would be sucked up by bribes.
The Ferengi turned out to be a lucky break. Talic happened to have a decoder for the identification markers implanted in every Ferengi's left ear. He'd be able to determine his value in ransom without even waking him up. Then he'd either be returned or shipped to the tissue traders.
He turned and called to the robot waiting at the door. "Take them to the perishable goods warehouse and put in the high value storage. Any inquires as the cargo's nature are to be directed to me."
"Understood," the robot replied. "I will require three transporters."
"Call them from the warehouse," Talic replied.
"Understood."
An hour later, Talic stood outside his warehouse. The manager, Amil Lorak was standing next to him. They both ignored the swirls of vapor that came off the corners of the building as the wind buffeted everything but hard stone.
"There is one that will require special handling," Telic said as he lifted his mask to make his words more understandable. He was careful not to inhale before it was back in place. He recognized the fifth canister by the smear in the moisture on its face. The two Cardassians fell in next to it as it rolled into the warehouse. Once they were through the blast of the air wall they could take off their masks.
"Take this one directly to the director's office," Telic directed.
Amil looked up with surprise.
"As I say, special handling," Telic said to the nonverbal query. "Have your systems integrations tech meet us."
"From its dress, I'd guess an immature human female," Amil said after he'd wiped down the rest of the canister, making the contains visible. "She's dressed in a single frock in the human style right now. She's descendent from the area called "Asia" on Earth."
"I did not know you were such an expert on humans," Telic said.
"When I was in the service I dealt with prisoners. The humans have a number of subspecies, they call them races, that have subtle differences in their features and skin color."
"This one," he pointed at the girl's face, "her rather flat face, small eyes that pull into narrow creases at the outside and a narrow, small nose, identify her as what they call 'oriental.' Her light colored skin further indicates that she's from eastern or northern Asia, their largest continent, or a series of islands off the north-east coast known as Japan."
He looked more closely. "Hmm, strange...her eyebrows-those lines of hair above the eyes-seem a bit high." He bent down and peered at the side of her head. "Her ear-that's those strange growths on the side of the head, they direct sound waves into the hearing sensors, gives humans quite good auditory location sense-they are, unusual."
He stood up. "Telic, this may be a hybrid..."
"I'm not interested," Telic cut him off with a wave. "The canister does not identify what it is. I want your technician to hack the system to make her human. Then he is to break into the flesh dealers system and change all their records to reflect the same."
"That may take some doing," Amil replied. "My tech may not have the expertise."
"Then you are to contact me, I'll get you whatever help you need."
Telic spun around and walked out. In the passageway he passed the tech who was hurrying to the manager's office. If she was a hybrid she'd be of special interest and that would cause some close examinations of his records. Best that she be human and, therefore, just another slave to be sold for use in the circuses.
Still, an immature human was almost useless, there'd be no fight, maybe just a crowd satisfying squeal as she was eaten by some beast. The idea made him smile, it was so much fun to watch weaker races die. But, he'd not be able to sell her except as part of a larger consignment.
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