Alcantaran 1: Alien Abduction by Terry Compton Page B

the repair hangar and Ron carried Tik to the counter again.   Wurden was right behind them and commented, "Is that beast's ankle still causing trouble?"
    Tik snapped peevishly, "Its better, just not completely healed.   By tomorrow morning I'll be walking on my own."
    "That's good because I would hate to waste time taking you to the medical facilities," Wurden stated aloofly.
    He led Ron to a piece of equipment midway on the hangar deck.   Ron was working away when he heard Tik scream.   She went into a tirade that brought Wurden rushing over to see what the trouble was.   She was screaming that her scanner showed there was dangerous bacteria on the last part the messenger had brought.   She said that there appeared to be high levels of dust also.   The perfect breeding grounds for the bacteria!   The next thing would be all the workers, as well as the Challekans, getting sick and then they all would die.   Wurden screeched to a stop several yards from the counter.   He asked what was wrong and Tik proceeded to unload on him again.   Wurden edged a little further away and asked her what her scanner recommended.   Tik told him that the counter needed two UV lights to kill the bacteria and the filters in the air ducts needed to be cleaned on a regular basis.   Gus walked up with a fuel canister just then and Tik pointed at him and said, "Make him clean those things.   He already looks like he's covered with dust and it wouldn't hurt him at all."
    Wurden got on his personal computer and put a rush, immediate action order in for the UV lights as he directed Gus to hurry up with his fuel and then follow him.   Wurden was pushing Gus to take the fuel canister back to his work station and get out of the protective gear.   As soon as he was out of it, Wurden took him to a grav-sled and showed him how to operate it.   He flew him to the ceiling and they started checking the air ducts.   They were very dusty and Wurden directed Gus to start cleaning them.   He looked up the filters and showed Gus where they were at.   He told him to make sure they were thoroughly cleaned and then he made a note to make sure Gus cleaned them on a regular basis.
    Later when they were back in their cell, Ron commented with a grin, "I was wondering, what took you so long to get the light up and Gus in the middle of the dust?"
    Gus chuckled as he joined in, "Yeah, I was sure it would take days to get the light and in less than an hour, there I was elbow deep in dust.   What did it take to get the light?   Two hours?   Three?"
    "Listen, you two big apes…." Tik snapped heatedly until she realized they were teasing.   "I thought you said it was important and needed to be done right away.   If I'd have known that you could wait, I'd have put in a work order and we'd see results in a couple of months."
    The trio laughed.   They were starting to become more than friends and it felt good.   Tik was definitely feeling a lot better and her fur didn't look so tangled and matted.   Gus had been in enough dust to really feel good and life suddenly showed some hope.
    Ron asked, "Are we being spied on?"
    "Hey big boy, I'm good but I'm not a miracle worker.   I was planning on checking that right now," Tik said as she pulled her mini-computer out of the bag.
    She gave a few commands and shortly she was searching the mother ship computer.   She found what Ron had feared.   The Bugs were spying on all the captured creatures.   Tik checked the different cells quickly and she could see what each one was doing.   She checked a little further and saw that the Bugs weren't currently monitoring any of the cells.   The record showed that a Bug would skim through the recordings once a quarter.   The skim had happened just before Ron arrived so it would be a couple of months until it happened again.
    "What do we do?   Will we be out of here before they skim again?" Tik asked.
    "I don't know if we'll get out of here by then.   I hope so but we