Duty

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. That is a Groundling saying. Thumpers have a totally different saying, “When a Thumper is near, no can can hear you scream, because you are dead” The saying ends with a roar and thumping on the chest or ground. 1st Mate Tank Thumper the 21st jumped out of his body ship with a deafening roar and a heavy welcoming thump on the dusty dirt of the plateau, picked as a perfect landing site. Tank thump on his chest for pure joy.

!st Mate Tank was overjoyed to be on this planet. Most of the planets in this system, 3 to be exact, displayed unique properties thus why the Paghahanap IV Searcher Imperial class was now in the system. This one, especially, was a heavy gravity planet; a type of planet Thumpers had been created for. If Thumpers had a home, it would be a planet like this one. Maybe just maybe, this could become their home and he would be the one who found it. That would give him a chance to be the first Captain Tank in the Thumpers. Which was a step toward becoming an Honored Elder. For a brief moment, he let his dream of raising Quups for racing and living the good life floated pass his inner eyes.

He looked around so the ESI (Enhanced Software Intelligence) could record what was around him. Across his inner helmet screen, words like black, dark brown and green were displayed. The ESI recorded and filed faster than he could react. It didn't really matter, as Thumpers were color blind. No color, just infinite shades of white, gray and black. Other races found this fascinating as they could only see a few shades of those three colors. No matter how many times over a serious game of blanks, Tank tried to explain the various tones and shades of black, most of the players, even those of the other races on the crew, just couldn't conceive it. Most felt this was a hindrance. Thumpers knew the difference. Kind of hard to hide in the dark, when one could see all the shades of black. There was no thing as pitch black for a Thumper unless they were blind.

“ Report in TT '' whispered from his communications button. Everyone on the Paghahanap called him that, everyone except the rest of the Thumpers. There were only about 25 Thumpers on the crew, as they were living dead people. Most were born with a genetic disorder called for a better name: Gravity Sickness. Only Thumpers were cursed with it. This was a direct result of the gene manipulation used to create Thumpers. The plan which succeeded was to create a unique work force for Groundlings. Over 500 years ago and the only known cure was living in environmental suits or colonizing a planet like the one he was standing on.

The contract written in Thumpers blood and the blood of the other created beings, was they could not colonize any world till their quota for planets was filled every 100 years. At the end of the 100 years, a few selected members of the various tribes(if the quota was filled) would get to pick one of the explored new worlds and claim it as their own. Many of the tribes of created beings were hoping this system would be the last and when the star jumping Freighter left this system it would be shy of some 2500 beings leaving it with a skeleton crew of 600, just enough to go back to the Universal Government Main Shipyard in the Orion system. Though by that time most who left wouldn't care if the ship made it back or not.

Tank saw how the ESI(Enhanced Software Intelligence) recorded every little thing on the planet and began to predict the flow of the weather. It shared the results showing a weather pattern a lot like Juipter, a planet far in the history of Thumpers as in Space Jumps. Thumpers had been created to roam the surface and seas of Juipter. And now they were cursed to roam the Universe to seek out new worlds for the UG, Univeral Government and destroy any alien who might impede in that goal or who couldn't assimilate into Groundlings way of living. Most who bowed down were enslaved like Thumpers were. And then there was the Artifacts. The pot of gold all wanted..

If one Artifact was found, that nullified the contract. The last Artifact found had been about 150 Earth Orbits ago by a Fledgling; beings created to soar the skies of Saturn. They were the physical opposite of Thumpers. Bones so light, just the thump on the ship floors could break a few bones. Few dare to spend time with Thumpers. Most were short lived, it was hard for any to be friends for long. This planet would have crushed them into fat, bloody balls of oozy organic material, even with environmental suits on. And they were pretty funny looking out of the suit, with big flaps of skin for floating on the currents of Saturn. Big soft, squishy beings, who still had more in common with Thumpers than Groundlings.

Looking up into the sky, even though he couldn't see the colors, he knew it was a nice blend of green. Colors indicating an atmosphere of the right mixture of gasses for a Thumper. This caused him to do the one thing the officials of Paghahanap were afraid he would do, as he had done on all the worlds he was sent to since he was born and trained for searching, He took off his helmet. There was a warning from the ESI of his ultimate death, and yelling from his communications button and hiss of the helmet releasing.

TT, no Tank, here on this world, as he breathed deep and blocked out the shouting in his com. Here on this world, he would be his true self Tank Te' Thumper 21, named after the first Thumper ever created and the first to realize screams were good. Taking in the heavy Ammonia rich air deep into his lungs, Tank Te Thumper let go a battle scream that roared rather than shreetched, like Groundlings did.

Chest pushed out but still trapped within the confinning suit of wires, padding, and ESI chips. It was a suit, Tank had to wear his whole life as no ship ever had heavy gravity. Even though 90 % of the crew were descendants of the eight altered beings design by the ancestors of the Groundlings. The Eviron Suits had been created to allow space slaves to live amoung the priviledge: The Groundlings. The Eights were needed as they worked better than robots to find Artifacts.

And the Artifacts were puzzle pieces to the greatest space civilization in the universe who may have created all life with a huge bang of energy. Groundlings started out as the descendants of Earth and Humanity, the rich and learned who realized the answer to their issues was in space when the first Artifact was found in an astroid. The ancient Groundlings realized they were unfit to roam space. All the greatest minds came together to create space slaves which would help the Groundlings go forth to find all the Artifacts. Well not them or at least not all of them. Most just did little jumps to new worlds as the new governors pushing their slaves ahead to find, destroy and create new worlds for them. The Universal Government's history dockets painted the works of the Groundlings as a divine step for all living things.

Thumpers had their own history, shared by them all. At one time there were over 1,500 hundred Thumpers, when they left for Jupitar. And now there was less than 300 scatter across the cosmos. Many had just disappeared into the world they were sent to explore. Most Thumpers believe the lost ones were still on those planets, hiding away from the UG. Standing here, feeling the breeze of air that would freeze most living things on the Paghahanap, Tank was beginning to believe the elders of his tribe were correct.

As his mind roamed, his body and voice revealed freedom from the helmet. He reached up with his huge, wide hands and pushed the button to release himself from the suit. The voice of ESI, cold and tinny sounded out a warning but allowed for the release. And for the 3rd time in his life Tank was free to be a Thumper. He didn't need a breather to feed him Nitrogen and he didn't have to worry about the Hydrogen he released from his body. The Evirno Suit when he was on the Paghahanap recycled all his wastes to make it safe for the Groundlings. The suits were the chains keeping beings captured to be used.

Once free, he threw back his head and roared a challenged scream across the plateau he had landed on.Deep and low, vibrating through the air particles and then to his surprise, a roar answered. Tank smiled. First shots of the world, had shown plateaus of rock across the landscape with deep canyons tunneling towards a deep sea. . Stepping away from the suit and body ship, creating the sound that gave them their name, thump, thump, thump could be felt in the air. Wrapped in thick, hard skin, Thumpers' bones were as dense and hard as tungsten metal. Thumpers in their element were very hard to kill. Their skin was very shades of black. Making them hard to see in darkness. And even though they looked hard and heavy, they were agile on worlds like this. They were only slow on worlds where Groundlings lived.

Dust sprang up around his feet. He pushed his flat round feet deep into the planet's top. The formations of the rock and soil which was mostly Nitrogen and Hydrogen rich gave off a deep green, blue glow in the faint dust which covered him. It was like the planet was caressing him. Breathing deep again, he let out a sigh. As much as he would love to run free here, he had others who relied on him. The Paghahanap's Thumper crew were all very young excluding Tank and his mate and back shield, Batteram. The last elder had died not more than a Jupiter Orbit past.

Thumpers lived long lives and could live even longer if they ignore Gravity Sickness. That elder had been the last of the 1st generation of Thumpers. She had seen the Red Eye on Jupiter and spoke of the colonization of it fondly. Elders had carried the true history of the Thumpers and the Eights Most Thumpers died from Gravity Sickness rather than old age even in their Evirno Suits. Gravity Sickness created a longing in Thumpers. A longing to be free of the suits. Most Thumpers could fight it for a while, though eventually they would remove the suit. If they were not in heavy gravity, surrounded by Nitrogen air, they died. Elders were the healthiest of the Thumpers and could live many generations of Groundlings. Thumpers hid this knowledge from the Groundlings who had lost most of their history due to poor communication with UG.

Tank had been picked to lead his race to a better world, than Jupiter. One that was far from UG's clutches. He had been picked before he was born. He was picked to find a world of their own with no ties to their enslavers. Thumpers though were not created to be colonizers but rather front line military. To land and kill and conquer.

His hair was standing up off his head. His mane of deep purple hair. There were three colors common with Thumpers, Deep Green, Deep purple and Bright yellow. It was stated that the odd colors which deviated from the norm for Groundling was so no Thumper could ever be confused with a Groundlings. Tank wasn't sure how that could be a thing though the Elder spoke of Groundlings that were built kind of like Thumpers due to genetic disorders. Tank had never seen one alive and there were very few history dockets showing such beings.

Tank thumped his way to the edge of the dusty plaque and looked down. A deep canyon was below him. He looked at the flat, wide leaves of gray vine plaster against the rock wall. Huge spikes stuck out of the stems. The vines or shoots were thicker as they moved down the canyon. He could see movement down into the darkness. He smiles a rather toothy grin, with anticipation of battle. He could live down there. He stood for a moment looking across the horizon debating. He thought of Batterram and as their face floated in his mind, he turned back towards the suit. Thumping back in that little jump run, pushing hard into the soil creating shallow imprints, he headed towards the suit. Reaching down he grabbed out the suit, the com button..

“TT, TT, respond if you can.” It was Pip, the Communications Officer, 4th in command of the Searcher Unit.

“Tank here.” He breathed deep again. His voice sounded deep and rough. Hard as his body was. “Landing was good. Air is good. I am ready to search.” Ready to see what this fine world had to offer.

He thought he had heard a sigh of relief from Pip. No one like to loose a slave, as they were becoming a bit rare. No Groundling wanted or could do the work of the slaves. Tank ignored the “TT you need to put the suit back on.” Instead, he pulled out the skin chip about the size of his thumbnail and push into his forhead, just above his right eyebrow. This would allow the ESI to take readings and send them back to Pip. They would see what he saw and hear what he heard.

He thumped to the body ship and pulled out the standardize planet kit. Thumpers didn't wear clothes, they were just another thing which could get int the way of survival. Instead their culture created belts, warbands and of course weapons. Smearing the communicator's button back with skin glue, he stuck it on his throat. He grabbed his scythe with its laser and electrical components. He attached to his war band with the  stylized engravings, telling his rank, name and beliefs along with protections. He pushed the compacted scythe to it. He reached down to grab the ear plug for the ESI and inserted it. The ESI was rambling along about weather, organic matter and minerals; all things UG was interested in. . He was ready to roam. Time to do what Thumpers were created to do. Explore and play on the planet. And find the artifact.