Star Kitten Page 4

  Architeuthis, though, was a giant by Slart standards, and towered over six feet tall. Nevertheless he struggled just like everyone else to live in the hellish mines of New Australia Planetary Prison those first few galactic years; and there was little else that could distinguish him from any other prisoner except for his size compared to other Slarts. Well, that and the fact that he spoke out. He spoke out often, too, and in early times when other beings were becoming demoralized or even being abused by guards, Architeuthis was often the only calming rational voice of reason. Guards would not hurt him, and prisoners respected him. He just seemed to have this aura about him. So incredibly wise and honest, he could simply explain things in a way that would cause everyone—regardless of their mentality of the moment or their underlying intelligence—to accept his advice or counsel. He didn’t convince or persuade he patiently simplified things in a way so that all beings could understand what the correct course of action should be.

  To Architeuthis, all intelligent beings, deep in their souls, knew the true path they should follow which would benefit both themselves and the society around them. All beings desired balance, in his opinion. They only feared taking the right steps toward achieving it (for fear of failure, fear of “losing face”, or fear of humiliation and loss of confidence). “That,” said Architeuthis, “is the source of ALL conflict between intelligent beings.”

  Beings merely needed to be inspired to believe in themselves, at the very core of their identity: to become the wonderful enlightened being they truly desired to be… to believe that they could overcome the only true enemy that we all face in life: the enemy within our own selves which hates, doubts, denies, and fears the unknown or the unfamiliar. That’s what Architeuthis taught.

  Prized from the start, Architeuthis was also instrumental in persuading other Slarts to aid in the development of a prison society below ground. This effort was vital to the future welfare of those realizing they’d been sentenced to die on Rijel 12, and for that matter, Architeuthis inspired prisoners of all species to persevere despite immense hardship. Most Slartigifijian inmates were humiliated at having been sent to New Australia Planetary Prison, and so had resigned themselves to dying of starvation and disease… or by potentially getting killed in an accident. They gave up, emotionally, and since suicide was not acceptable in their culture; most Slarts would simply remain in a depressed and silent state, slogging through their daily work detail hoping for their own deaths (inviting it and longing for it even).

  Architeuthis “explained” to them how their devotion to the betterment of the beings around them; and their aid in supporting other prisoners’ survival, would heal their “radula” (literally meaning their tongue; but it was a Slartigifijian metaphor for one’s ego) and eventually return to them their own sense of dignity. They must contribute to the greater good and survival of the community around them (he said). Best of all, this would free their hearts (Slartigifijians had two branchial hearts and one systemic organ for distributing oxygen) to love one another and themselves once again. Slarts incarcerated in NAPP slowly began to accept his wisdom and when they applied their vast intelligence to matters of survival, repair, maintenance, sanitation, farming, and medical care; the woeful state of affairs on Rijel 12 finally began to stabilize.

  His legend soon grew.

  Architeuthis became a sort of Spiritual Leader for the struggling beings of all species on Rijel 12. And though he was not a member of any particular gang, the gang concept and organization following the “reforms” of Warden Ggggaaah, was essentially inspired by him. The Schpleeftkorkii gang was his main protector, but he professed no allegiance to them. This gang, which was a hodge-podge of several species including black African humans, Schpleeftiis, Pumalars, Zorgolongs, and some Porkonjii, had been one of the first gangs formed at New Australia Planetary Prison, and had absorbed or wiped out other gangs over the years in its sector of the mine.

  But when the policies of Warden Ggggaaah; and the corruption of the guards proved over time to be a threat to gang society and survival, Architeuthis finally spoke out. Up until then, his philosophy had been for his fellow prisoners to just accept the fact that their home planets had indeed discarded them, and now they must embrace their new life and identity as a member of their associated gang. Their gang would care for them, benefit from their labor, protect them, and see to their needs for survival, wherever they worked in their own section of the mine. All prisoners must work together in their gangs to achieve work production goals and earn their food rations so that they may survive and flourish in their rich new gang cultures developing below ground.

  “Your gang is your family now. And they will protect you while you serve them, for the rest of your lives,” said Architeuthis once. And his philosophy was communicated throughout the growing planet for years and years so to give beings some kind of hope and inspiration to try and survive the hell they now lived in below the surface of Rijel 12.

  The policies of Warden Ggggaaah had led to the guards having the power of life and death over their own sections of the mine. But other things had been happening as well. The discovery of quartz and perovskite deposits meant wide-scale tunneling throughout the planet’s core; and the creation of giant shafts and tunnels for moving these humungous crystals. In so doing, the entire planet was gradually being connected by tunnels; and gangs throughout the planet depths could now both communicate and collude with each other. They could plan now and conspire with each other now. They could trade technologies and barter for supplies. When one gang was being starved by a corrupt guard station in one part of the planet, other gangs could help them by stockpiling food and donating it until that gang met its artificially raised quota. But it also meant more information was being spread and received more quickly throughout the planet; and communication meant ideas could be shared everywhere.

  Everyone was thinking it. Rebellion was now possible to stage and coordinate planet-wide. All that was needed was for the planet’s spiritual leader Architeuthis to just say the word.

  Architeuthis finally spoke out directly against the regime of Warden Ggggaaah, saying essentially, that it must be brought down. What he actually said, was something quite unusual for the normally wise and non-violent Slartigifijians. A Slart just didn’t say things like this, in normal circumstances. But these were no longer normal circumstances after all. And when Architeuthis spoke these words to a small gathering of about fifty gang leaders at a meeting deep inside the planet core of Rijel 12, it set in motion a global well-organized rebellion that Warden Ggggaaah could not possibly have imagined….

  Architeuthis said, in his buzzing, baritone-deep voice, “Beings of New Australia. It is time to rise up and face evil, for evil is now facing us. It is an evil which is facing down upon us, oppressing us, and threatening the societies that we have struggled and strived to create in this, our new home, far from our original planets. The enemy is stronger than us, has more technology than us, and essentially controls our very livelihood. But there is one thing our enemy was never able to take from us, the whole time we’ve been here. The enemy can and never will take away our spirit.”

  Eyes moistened. Heartrates rose. Murmurs and even shouts emitted from the audience. Hardened beings who’d survived years of a subterranean nightmare were standing with mouths agape, hanging on the very next words Architeuthis spoke… wanting him to just say the words they’d longed to hear. This was the day and this was the moment they’d all been waiting for. But would he really say it? Would he, a Slart, specifically call for them to make war on the guards?

  After a calming sigh which fluttered his facial squid legs, Architeuthis continued, “And so we will challenge this evil which threatens us; and we will overcome. We will use the resources of our minds and the cooperation and skills of the over one hundred thousand of our brethren throughout New Australia… to make war on our oppressors. We will succeed and we will survive, like we always have. And when we have achieved our freedom, we will once again see
the Rijel sun shining upon the surface of this very planet. This planet which now belongs to us.”

  At the very moment he concluded his speech, Architeuthis bowed his conical head and closed his enormous squid-like eyes as if in prayer. The crowd erupted! The men cheered wildly, all these gang leaders from throughout the planet who’d risked detection traveling across the globe for this meeting. And a chant arose among them which became the nickname for the revolt, and even became the moniker for the beings of the planet. Hearing their leader refer to their home as “New Australia”, instead of Rijel 12 or NAPP, they became wildly inspired. They boldly screamed NEW AUSTRALIA repeatedly and with several different accents until it gradually began sounding like something else.

  The chanting and screaming continued for several minutes until apparently someone kept hearing something run together sounding like “Nah-sty” or “Nah-stees”. One or a few beings eventually started shouting NAUSTIES! NAUSTIES! NAUSTIES! And within a few moments, the whole cavernous chamber was screaming the new word.

  From that point on the name stuck. From then on, the revolt and even the beings on Rijel 12 became known to each other by that name. From that day forward, they were prisoners no longer. They were now “Nausties”. And the Naustie Rebellion had begun.

  Mobilization for the rebellion was virtually overnight, but preparation and execution took nearly a full earth year to put together. This was not a prison escape, after all. This was an armed rebellion against vastly superior technology. The guards, which numbered only about 35,000, carried electrical impulse cannons, or EIC’s. These weapons were hand held much like an old Earth machine pistol or Thompson submachine gun (Tommy gun). They used an electrical charge from a crystal powered voltage generator on their back; and it fired a .30 caliber projectile through the air into any target at rates of 5,000 feet per second, without using gunpowder. The target of an EIC projectile would often become mortally wounded by the impact, destroyed internally by shrapnel inside their body, because the projectile was designed to disintegrate upon striking any bone or muscle.

  These were automatic weapons which fired up to 120,000 rounds per minute. They could be sprayed at an attacking crowd of protesters, or a wave of attacking troops, rendering appalling casualties in a matter of seconds. Larger .50 caliber versions of these weapons were installed in “kill slots” on the outside walls of every guard outpost, and they could mow down beings of any species that came inside their field of view.

  The guard outposts were quite formidable indeed, constructed of steel, and safely secured inside caverns along major access tunnels throughout the planet; and one was attached to every food depot throughout New Australia. Each guard outpost was garrisoned with at least ten guards armed with these deadly weapons and safely secured next to elevator shafts or output collection sites where prisoner gangs would bring in their ore and crystal to earn their daily food ration. Crystal extraction operations were mobile, so guard outposts and food distribution centers would be located in tunnels, then moved occasionally as the extraction work moved around the crystal to free it.

  The Slart mechanics, repairmen, farmers, scientists, engineers and physicians embedded in all the gangs throughout New Australia, now began nominating the best and brightest of their kind to come together and become a planning team for the revolt. A headquarters cave was established and protected by the Schpleeftkorkii gang so that the planning team could go to live and work directly with Architeuthis in planning the initial planet wide attack. This planning team assembled almost immediately and began assessing what the Nausties had to work with in terms of developing battle solutions for enemy defenses. Within a few weeks, they had many working theories….

  Nausties who were skilled with tunneling could dig right up under a guard post and right through their floor… or dig down through the outpost’s much softer ceiling. Porkonjii (tough and brutish with amazing strength and endurance) were naturally talented at that!

  Next, global tunneling also meant they could set up a communication network with runners passing messages in a relay system throughout the planet to organize coordinated attacks.

  And it took months for Porkonji diggers to improve that communication tunnel. Porkonjii, or Porkos as they became nicknamed, were the best diggers and miners of all Nausties—their bodies almost perfectly designed for the task. When the network of tunnels was eventually fully connected, Zorg runners were soon sprinting in relays throughout the planet keeping all the gangs updated on progress and deadlines.

  Next, the planning team knew they needed fantastic scouts to work with the Porkos and Zorgs protecting them from detection or danger. For that task, the Schpleeftii (or Spleefs as they were nicknamed) made perfect candidates. Spleefs had amazingly sensitive snouts which could sniff out gases, minerals, salt, sulfur, body odors, and anything dangerous much faster than any other being.

  The Slart planning team also ordered the crafting of carbide lamps. Calcium Carbide would need to be acquired from the guards to fuel these lamps. Longer term, it could be manufactured by heating coke and lime into making acetylene, but there were already large stocks of acetylene for cutting torches used in the mines. In the short run they’d have to stockpile their own carbide lamps to create lighting for the communications tunnels. Stockpiling lamps was quite an easy solution for supplying the tunnels with lighting however the Slart planners knew, they’d need a lot more. Once Warden Ggggaaah shut down all the electricity in the mines, they’d be in complete darkness and suddenly those lamps would be their only method of artificial light.

  The next issue was food. The Slart planning team meticulously calculated just how many calories a warrior would burn during a prolonged attack on a Food Depot Guard station. Next the Slarts calculated just how long the whole planet could survive once the revolt began—once the whole network of Food Depots would be shut down by Warden Ggggaaah. The incredibly scientific and mathematically gifted Slarts devised a time table for the first attack, once it was ready to execute.

  They’d have precisely five days to capture at least three Food Depots before the entire planet would begin to starve….

  To calculate this, the Slarts took into consideration the amounts of food stored in a typical Food Depot. It received a one week shipment, every six or seven earth days, via a massive elevator system, the gang leaders knew. And each day it would send up the output from its prisoners in the same elevator shaft. Guards travelled in a passenger bay located in the same elevator shaft, but they only refreshed their staff every Earth week when food shipments arrived. Each food depot had a one month supply of food for the prisoners, just as a precaution in case of a cave-in or elevator breakdown. But to control the prisoners, the guards had always given out daily rations only; and those distributions were based on production from the previous 24 hour period (in Earth time). The whole system was originally designed by Earthmen, so they tended to observe earth-like customs and practices for time tables and production management.

  Subsequently the food rations were calculated precisely to feed a specific number of beings of all species with enough calories to sustain them for 24 hours. The best option, said the Slarts, was to step up production for at least six months to earn ration bonuses and stockpile food. This would be incredibly difficult, but it would buy time for the Slart farmers to increase their own clandestine food production deep inside the mines.

  In front of each food depot was an enormous area for bringing in production output on electric dump trucks which were the size of a large house. This cleared-off area was the only approach to the typical food depot within the mine; so attacking in masse across this killing ground would be disastrous for the Nausties. Because of this, the Slarts calculated that a careful tactical approach would be necessary to reduce casualties until warriors could approach closely enough to employ spears or javelins, which the Earth prisoners were already designing and crafting.

  That became their specialty. Earthmen (with their more dexterous fingers and hand/eye coordinati
on) had superior ability for craftsmanship in designing tools or weapons for close order combat, so many of the stronger but less agile humans, or “Earthers” as they were called, became the “blacksmiths” for the Nausties.

  The Slarts suggested the gang leaders increase production for at least six months so that they could earn food surpluses, but they also ordered a tripling or even quadrupling of the size and scale of hydroponic farms. Seeds were acquired (by simply sending teams of Spleefs to go through the guard’s trash searching for discarded fruits and vegetables, and soil was developed on a massive scale using dung and infusing it with nitrates and minerals the Slart scientists had been developing. Great reservoirs of filtered water were collected, and whole sections of the lighting panels used deep inside the mines were cannibalized to make enormous hydroponic farms. Harvesting could occur every 8 earth weeks, and these harvests could sustain the planet for a while; just in case a captured food depot was destroyed in battle. But the safest path was to capture as many food depots as quickly as possible to keep the revolt going. Once frontline troops began to starve, the rebellion could easily fizzle out.

  Daily food rations were given out based on fractions of ten. In Ggggaaah’s system, a completed quota yielded the prisoner a full daily ration of calories, but the food rations were broken down into tenths. If you missed your full quota, your ration was reduced by 1/10th or even 20 percent; and this could lead to malnutrition and death. So workers in gangs would strive as hard as possible to produce the entire quota for their gang, so to have enough food for all their members including those sick or infirm or injured. That was the unwritten code of the Nausties: do your part and your comrades survive.