by John Coon
“His usefulness to us has vanished as far as I’m concerned.” Xander practically growled each word. “Let’s just put him out of our misery.”
Kyra thrust an index finger at him and shook her head with vigor.
“I’m not done with him yet.”
“I’m picking up a small object on the sensors,” Cavac said. He turned and glanced at the others from his seat at the navigation console. “We’re closing in on its location.”
An asteroid popped into view only a few seconds later. The space rock matched the chief sovereign’s palace in size. Another asteroid, roughly the size of an aerorover, bisected the larger asteroid’s path. It bounced off the larger asteroid. A small explosion followed.
Jagged chunks of rock spiraled in all directions. Some broken rock shot straight at the vessel.
Kyra’s eyes widened.
“This is not good.”
She pushed the steering stick to the left as far as it would go. The ship veered in the same direction and slid out of the broken asteriod’s path, avoiding a collison with only a moment to spare. It continued spiraling past the outer hull until finally fading from view.
“We need to move away from these asteroids before they tear my ship apart.” Kyra’s tone grew more annoyed. “Maybe letting that particular scenario play out doesn’t bother you, Xttra. But it should.”
Xttra bit down on his lower lip to suppress a momentary chuckle from growing into a full-fledged laugh. He did not care what happened to anyone aboard this Thetian ship at this point, including himself. The path ahead of him led to limited destinations, and none were favorable. These Confederation fools intended to kill him once he no longer served a useful purpose. Xttra knew it. And if they reached Earth, then a bunch of hostile Earthians would track them all down and torture or kill everyone. Either way, he considered himself a man marked for death.
What about Calandra? Can you give up like this, knowing she is searching and praying for you?
Guilt splashed over his mind with the suddenness of a foaming wave crashing onto a beach at high tide. Xttra could not accept defeat now. No one had killed him yet. He used his training and intelligence to escape from worse situations than this one. Whatever the cost, he had to pay that price to return home to the woman he loved.
A low continuous beep echoed throughout the bridge. Kyra glanced over at the navigation console.
“That’s not an asteroid proximity alert,” she said. “What’s our status?”
Cavac looked up from a star chart displaying coordinates for Aramus, the yellow sun anchoring the Earthian system. He flashed a confused frown at her.
“I think we’re picking up some sort of distress signal. Navigational sensors indicate a signal is originating from a small rocky planet beyond this band of asteroids.”
“Distress signal?” Kyra rubbed her chin with her hand as she pondered broader implications behind Cavac’s revelation. “If that signal is from the Earthians, helping them might offer a perfect path for us to earn their trust.”
Xttra fixed his eyes on the restraints binding him to his chair. Everything about this alleged distress signal screamed trap to him. These Confederation fools were free to risk their own lives for no good reason. But he vowed to not travel down the same path for Calandra’s sake. Someone needed to add a dash of common sense into the equation before they undertook reckless and deadly actions to forge an alliance.
“You can’t trust the Earthians,” Xttra said. “This is a clever ruse. Nothing more.”
Kyra dropped her hand and glared at him.
“You spare no effort to paint these aliens as insects sharing a single mind focused on destroying other life in the galaxy. I refuse to believe it.”
Xttra clenched a fist. A tight-lipped frown crept over his mouth. Kyra obviously regarded him as nothing more than a perpetual liar. Why would he deceive them about the Earthians’ true nature?
“I visited their planet and barely escaped with my life,” he snapped. “Not one of you can say the same. This whole expedition is nothing but a fool’s errand.”
The Confederation pilot rolled her eyes, answered him with a dismissive wave, and faced forward again.
“Chart a course to the small planet, Cavac. We’re going there whether our master pilot here likes it or not.”
Xttra closed his eyes and shook his head. A realistic scenario for gaining control of the Thetian ship and returning to Lathos must exist. He only needed to concentrate on forming a workable plan to extract himself from this mess.
He opened his eyes again and stared at the restraints binding his wrists to the chair. Xttra studied each metallic band, like he had already done multiple times during their trek to the Aramus system. He searched for an exploitable weakness in the metal or a way to trigger a release mechanism from inside the bands.
When he glanced up from his restraints again, a small red planet loomed before their ship on the horizon. Kevin once told him the planet’s name on their return trip to Lathos. It slipped Xttra’s mind now. All he remembered is his scout ship sensors detected small vehicles sending transmissions from the surface and other signs of a colony. Everything that happened on Earth afterward compelled him to skip visiting the planet before returning to Lathos and following up on that sensor data.
“I’m now picking up a communications signal with the distress signal.” Cavac’s voice pierced Xttra’s thoughts. “Definite audio transmission.”
“Patch it through the ship’s internal speakers,” Kyra replied. “Let’s see if we can discover what it says.”
Garbled static filled the bridge a few seconds later. Xttra squinted and cocked his head toward the speaker above his chair. Cavac and Xander both worked to clear static from the audio transmission and isolate any voices. Thetian communication filters proved effective in cleaning up the transmission enough to where Xttra could pick out actual words.
He recognized the language. Earthian.
It used the same phonemes as the language Kevin spoke, a language he called English. Kevin taught him how to speak and understand English during their return journey from Earth to Lathos.
“What are they saying?”
Xttra’s eyes drifted from the ceiling back to Kyra. Her violet eyes locked on him like a pair of laser bolts zeroing in on their next target.
“Do you recognize the words in the message?” she asked. “Is it an Earthian call for help? Enlighten us.”
Xttra lowered his head and released an anxious sigh. Their suspicions were correct. The voice belonged to an Earthian and indeed carried a distressed tone. Still, Xttra remembered where the last Earthian messages they intercepted led. He had no desire to take a return trip down that path.
“Translate it and find out.”
Xttra lifted his chin and cast a defiant stare at Kyra.
“What did you say?”
“Translate the message yourself. You want to understand their language? Decipher their words on your own like my crew and I did.”
Kyra turned away and let out a shout. She slammed her hand down on the console before her.
“Ryollo!”
Immediately, a burly bronze-skinned man emerged on the bridge and marched over to Xttra’s side. A single thick braid of black hair extended from his scalp down to his shoulders. They needed no introduction. Ryollo monitored the hibernation pods after their ship left Fengar bound for Earth. He already worked Xttra over once for information, presumably under Kyra’s orders, after awakening him from a pod. Drying blood on his cracked lips offered a token reminder of their encounter.
“Stick him back inside a pod until he decides to be a little more cooperative with us.”
“My pleasure.”
Ryollo narrowed his eyes, and a stern frown graced his lips. He unlatched the metal restraint covering Xttra’s right arm and seized his wrist. Xttra swallowed hard
and shook his head with vigor. No chance he would let these Confederation fools place him back in hibernation this close to Earth.
Survival required being awake and alert.
“I’ll tell you what you want to know,” he said. “Just don’t stick me back in that pod.”
Kyra studied his face for a moment as though she were genuinely torn on what to do with Xttra. Her eyes finally drifted over to Ryollo, and she nodded at him.
“Good. You’re speaking my language now.”
Xttra wrenched his hand away from Ryollo’s grasp and stretched out his fingers. He studied his forearm. Only his Stellar Guard uniform sleeve and underlying flex armor covered it now. Kyra stripped off both armored sleeves before Ryollo stuck him inside the hibernation pod earlier. Xttra gave her credit for being smart enough to confiscate his weapons. With access to his arm saber or razor discs, he liked his chances of subduing all four Confederation officers and taking control of the stolen Thetian ship with minimal resistance.
“You can take the other restraint off his wrist.” Kyra turned and addressed Ryollo again. “But keep the restraints on his legs secured for now.”
Ryollo followed her instructions at once and unlatched the other restraint encircling Xttra’s left arm. Xttra stretched out the fingers on his left hand in the same manner as the right hand earlier. He rubbed both hands over his eyes and down his cheeks.
“It sounds more like a warning than a call for help,” Xttra said. He let out a long sigh and leaned forward in his chair. “The message is directing other Earthians in the vicinity to stay away from Mars.”
“Mars?” Kyra repeated.
“That’s what the Earthians call this planet.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know why they call it Mars. An Earthian is better suited to answer your question than I am.”
“That’s not what I asked. Why are they sending out a warning? Does the message specify the reasons for it?”
Xttra planted his elbows above his knees and rested his chin in his hands while he listened to the voice on the transmission.
“An attack. Two dead. One injured. Alien creature has broken containment.”
“Alien creature? That would mean …”
Xander trailed off before finishing the thought. Xttra sensed a definite tremor in his tone. Fear etched into every line and crevice of Xander’s face. Color drained from Kyra’s cheeks.
“What?” Xttra’s eyes darted back and forth between the two Confederation officers. “What does it mean?”
“It means we need to land on this ‘Mars’ and investigate this attack.” Kyra’s tone grew more subdued. “We can only hope this isn’t what I fear it is.”
Xttra wondered why she was being so cryptic. Learning an alien creature attacked Earthians on the small red planet caught him by surprise. His scout ship sensors detected no signs of life here during the earlier expedition to Earth. Then again, Xttra was first to admit he had limited knowledge of what secrets the Aramus system held. Myths and wild tales occupied more space in his memory than verified facts about what lay beyond Earth itself. Still, a random attack from an unidentified alien creature produced more reasons to stay away rather than investigate.
Cavac charted a course for the small red planet called Mars. Xttra stared ahead unblinking and dug his fingers into the armrests of his chair. Their insistence at diving in without careful consideration to rescue some unknown Earthians seemed equal parts foolish and dangerous.
Soon, Mars appeared on the horizon. Two small moons orbited the planet. A small ribbon shaped cable extended from near a space station orbiting the near moon down to the planet’s surface. Xttra’s eyes became glued to both objects. Earthian technology had advanced enough for them to build colonies within their own solar system. Fear crawled up his spine as he pondered the implications of their colony building.
How soon before the Earthians made their way to other planets outside the Aramus system? What would they do to Lathos if they ever figured out how to reach his home planet?
“I’ve traced the distress signal’s point of origin,” Cavac said. “It originated from the planet’s surface. I’m uploading the signal coordinates to the helm control screen now.”
Xttra jerked his head toward the main holoscreen before Kyra. New symbols and numbers flashed on screen. She leaned forward and studied them for a bit before nodding.
“Who’s ready to save some Earthians?” she said, cracking a grin specifically aimed at Xttra.
The Thetian ship shot toward the planet’s equator, plunging through the thin atmosphere. Minimal tug from inertial and gravitational forces affected Xttra, and not simply because of internal dampening fields. Mars’ small mass meant it exerted much weaker gravity than Lathos, Earth, or any other habitable planet where he landed his scout ship.
They began their descent on the dark side of the planet. Stars pockmarked the blackened sky. Three cylindrical towers rose from a barren plain below the ship. Interior and exterior lights lit two fully formed towers. Multiple vehicles surrounded a third partially constructed one, which remained darkened. Dozens of solar panels dotted the plain, extending out in a northward direction from the towers.
“Check out the environmental readings.” Xander tapped a finger on the holoscreen hovering above his station console. “Sensors show only trace amounts of oxygen and a below freezing air temperature.”
Kyra scrunched up her face.
“Why do Earthians want to put a colony here? This place isn’t remotely habitable.”
Xttra had a good guess for the reason behind it.
“They don’t have faster-than-light technology to power their spaceships,” he said. “They can’t leave their solar system and reach a neighboring star in their lifetimes. Praise Ahm.”
Kyra shrugged. “Maybe we’ll have to help them out.”
Xttra shot her a dumbfounded look.
“They don’t need that sort of help.”
She answered him with a dismissive laugh. Xttra felt uncertain if the Confederation pilot kept willfully pushing his buttons or if she truly intended to ignore all his warnings. Her reaction burrowed under his skin like a setaworm digging through freshly broken soil. Giving the Earthians a key to unlock the door leading to deep space travel was a terrible idea.
Kyra steered the ship toward a flat spot only a short walk from the nearest lit tower. Plumes of reddish dust kicked up around the landing gear as it pressed against rocky soil. The main engines groaned as Xander powered them down. Lights from the front of the ship flooded the ground ahead, creating a walking path to the structure from the belly of the ship.
“Let’s suit up,” Kyra said. “Xander and Ryollo you’re with me. Cavac, stay here and monitor the ship.”
She sprang out of her chair. The other Confederation officers also rose from their chairs. Xttra plastered a smug grin on his face and fired off a mock salute—an Earthian gesture he learned from watching Kevin.
“Enjoy your trip.”
Kyra marched up to his chair and glowered at him.
“You’re coming with us.”
Xttra shook his head slowly.
“Nah. I’m better off on this ship. Easier to stay out of the line of fire here.”
“You can suit up or go outside the ship in your present state and become a frozen corpse. Your choice. But you’re coming with us, one way or another.”
Xttra’s smug grin melted from his lips. Kyra jerked her head toward Xander. He turned and clicked a button on his console. Both leg restraints unlatched at once from around Xttra’s shins. His first instinct was to knock Kyra out and sprint toward the armory to grab the first weapon he laid eyes on. Kyra sensed his intentions before he thought to move from the chair.
She whipped out a Confederation speargun from a side holster and pointed the barrel at his chest.
“Don
’t even think of hatching an escape plan.”
Xttra’s heart sank a bit, and he raised his hands after a moment’s hesitation. Xander marched over to the chair. He seized his right arm and yanked him to his feet. Xttra glared at him and ripped the arm away from his grasp.
“Do I at least get a weapon for self-defense?”
Kyra burst out laughing.
“You must think I’m the biggest fool on Lathos. I’m not letting you near a weapon or any object you can turn into one. I don’t need to be an oracle to know how that scenario would play out.”
Xttra frowned. Xander gave him a hard shove and marched him from the bridge down an adjacent corridor. Once inside a cargo room, the Confederation officer snatched two Thetian spacesuits from a storage locker. He tossed one at Xttra’s feet.
“Put this on.”
Xttra cast his eyes down at the spacesuit and back up at Xander.
“You still have a chance to turn back, you know. Why risk your life for Kyra? What do you get out of it?”
Xander took his turn unholstering a speargun.
“Put the suit on.”
Xttra raised his hands a second time.
“I’m putting it on. Stay calm.”
He slipped into the suit while comparing Xander’s face to ebutoka droppings under his breath. Once Xttra snapped his helmet in place, Xander waved the speargun at him and forced him to face the wall. The Confederation officer quickly donned the other spacesuit while Xttra faced away from him.
“Move.”
A hard object poked Xttra in his shoulder. He turned and plodded out of the cargo room with Xander trailing a few steps behind him. They soon joined Kyra and Ryollo at the ship’s exit hatch. Both Confederation officers had also donned Thetian spacesuits.
Ryollo opened the hatch door. Xttra gazed down at the lowering ramp. His heart jumped into his throat. An unarmed prisoner about to face Earthians. Who knew what their true intentions were?
His fate rested in Ahm’s hands now.