Miami Pete 3:

The next few days were surreal. The monks acted like I didn't exist. Rather literally. They pretended not to hear me when I spoke, and not to see me even when I was right in front of their face. What’s worse, Pete started to do the same thing whenever either monk was around. Eventually I cornered him in the galley on the evening of the third day.

"What gives Pete?" I asked, "You are usually grumpy and quiet, but I can at least get orders out of you. Since the monks came aboard, whenever they are around, which is like almost always, you seem to forget I exist!" I admit, that last part came out a little louder than I intended. The whole thing was freaking me out and I hate being freaked out.

Pete looked around, I'm sure to make sure there were no monks present, and replied "These aren't Monks, they are Priests of the 'rus, and we are taking them out past the rim. They need to make contact with the 'rus home world." Then, seeing my terrified and confused face "They are paying a LOT of money." The way Pete said the word "LOT" spoke volumes, and also told me the subject was closed. There is no point to trying to talk to Pete when he's made up his mind, he had decided we were going to do this haul, so that was the end of it. All I could do was hang in there and do my best to make sure Hauley was up to the job of bringing us back home.

The 'rus were a bit of a boogey-man. Mankind first encountered their ships not long after hyper-jump technology was discovered. They were among the first alien species that humankind encountered and even now very little is known about them. It is believed that they are mainly a theocracy, but so little is understood about them that that might amount to so much conjecture. There have been rumors of some humans converting over to the 'rus religion but I had always assumed that they were just rumors, or scams. People will believe anything after all.

The name we called them "The 'rus" is a throwback to the first days of contact. The 'rus use audible communication similar to the way Humans do. However, their physiology is very different from ours. The 'rus have exoskeletons and have been described as looking like bugs. The name "'rus" came from the words the 'rus used during first contact to refer to themselves. The first part was unintelligible clicks, beeps and pops, but the very last bit ended with a very human sounding "rus". Think double o's like in the word Loose. That became the working name that the first contact team used for these new creatures, and lacking anything better the rest of humanity followed suit.

There are all sorts of rumors that the 'rus are monsters. When ships disappear, it is often blamed on the 'rus. It doesn't help that 'rus ships often seem to follow human ships when they encounter them in space, often for days or weeks at a time. We once had a 'rus ship follow the Haul-o-caster for close to ten days, then it just flew away. Let me tell you, a dark alien ship following you around, not answering your hails and I was about to believe any terrible thing about the 'rus. Gave me the willies. Unsurprisingly, there have been some incidents where 'rus ships are "known" to have fired upon and destroy human ships. In every instance the 'rus have claimed that it was the human ship that fired first, and they have never been proven wrong as far as I know. If a ship Captain couldn't take the creepy stalking anymore and started shooting, I certainly wouldn't blame him.

The incident with the 'rus following the Haul-o-caster happened not long after Pete rescued me from Deltos. I had vaguely heard of the 'rus before then, but they never seemed real to me. When Pete pointed the ship out on the scanner, and then brought it up on one of the view screens, I was terrified. Aliens, real life aliens, were right there. Then the 'rus ship turned and matched our course. The 'rus ship stayed with us, practically as if we were in formation, for almost ten full days. 'Rus ships are about the strangest looking ships I had ever seen.  Human ships are generally constructed of modular pieces, geometric shapes stuck together. The 'rus ship, in comparison was one flowing shape. Where Human ships had long cylindrical engines tacked on the outside for easier maintenance and to keep dangerous radiation away from the crew, the 'rus ship's engine, or engines, were tucked inside somehow with a single nozzle out the back for propulsion.