The LOMMETRUS Chronicles: Book One: The Abduction of William Baxter

by Matthew Novak

  Chapter 12

  Operation; ‘Rescue Sonya from the evil aliens,’ was nearly in motion. Miles and I now looked like cat burglars from many movies I’d seen over the years. Every inch of us was cloaked with black; right down to the black boots and gloves that Miles had KATRAVIN get us earlier that day. He even had a black sticky substance for our faces. This part of the disguise would be added once we reached the utility room.

  Miles went over the floor plans, the rescue phase and the escape twice with me; making sure that every detail within our control was covered. KATRAVIN stepped out of the bathroom; she was dressed in hotel cleaner attire. It was a light blue pant suit with grey sneakers. Her head was covered in a blue cap that had the hotel logo on the front. KATRAVIN even had a name tag with the hotel name displayed on it that she pulled out of her pocket and pinned to her shirt---this giving the ensemble of clothing a finishing touch.

  KATRAVIN walked back into the bathroom. She added some gloves that had an appearance of blue latex from her cabinet and then stuffed them in her back pocket. There was an energy about her that could be sensed---as if she took delight in this moment. Miles seemed to share KATRAVIN’S enthusiasm for the situation too. I, on the other hand, was nervous as usual.

  We had to look natural traveling to the hotel in the open transporter. KATRAVIN jumped into the driver’s seat, I crawled into the storage space in the back and Miles sat up front; albeit, he would eventually crouch down in his seat. The storage space was roomy for me but might be tight with Sonya back here. It occurred to me that maybe KATRAVIN would probably catch a ride back to her place; leaving the transporter for Miles, Sonya and I.

  The transporter lifted off the ground and so the rescue attempt began. The sun was setting as we navigated through what I guessed to be the alien rush hour as there were more transporters than expected. Transporters were weaving in and out as well as up and over us. I imagined myself trying to get the hang of this transporter travel and decided that it be best to learn outside the city. I imagined experimenting with the transporter in the city and causing a thirty transporter pileup with the news headline starting out the next day; ‘Human Travels Billions of Miles to Ruin Rush Hour Yesterday;’ or something to the equivalent in their alien language.

  The hotel came into view. My adrenaline began working in hyper-speed as the shakes began in my hands and knees. My thoughts became clear; perhaps focused, as I was now prepared for a battle. We pulled into a parking garage that was nearly full with transporters but as luck would have it; we landed snugly in a spot close to the elevator. This was important because as Miles explained back at the apartment, we needed as little exposure as possible and a quick get away as well.

  KATRAVIN got out of the transporter first. Her most important job would be to obtain a laundry cart from inside the hotel and get it into a position that we could climb into. It was normal for cleaning people in the hotel to still be working on laundry at this time but she would still try and avoid any attention from hotel management and other employees. Miles and I waited in the transporter for what I guessed to be a half hour while KATRAVIN did this.

  Miles spoke into his communication device; “KATRAVIN, where are you?”

  There was no response from her. Miles turned to me with concern written all over his face.

  “She should have been down here by now. I shouldn’t have involved her in this.”

  I tried to reassure him with the only thing I could think of, “She is probably being extra cautious.”

  I still wasn’t completely sure that this was a good plan but it was all we had. Without KATRAVIN to conceal us in the cart and take us to Sonya’s floor, I wasn’t sure how we’d go undetected by the cameras.

  Miles was getting antsy and began to get up from his crouch in the car seat; “I’ve got to….;” then the elevator door opened.

  KATRAVIN walked out, pushing a nearly full laundry cart. She parked it next to the transporter on the passenger side. Then KATRAVIN opened the passenger side door and grabbed a bag that would give cameras the appearance of a dinner meal from home but she left the door open. She put the bag on the cart and proceeded to the back of the transporter and popped the trunk to reveal a small laundry basket with some of her own clothes which she set down on top of the linens and towels already on the top shelf of the cart. She did this using the slowest quality of movements possible to give Miles and me time for entering a side compartment that had been emptied but was for cleaning supplies, fresh towels and linens.

  I heard her drop something that rolled underneath the transporter and this bought us even more time to get situated inside the cart. It wasn’t uncommon or discouraged for hotel employees to do their laundry at the hotel as long as the work was done first. KATRAVIN adding her own laundry to the cart was a nice touch as this idea of communal sharing was used to our advantage.

  Miles and I were now cozily stashed in the confines of a laundry/utility cart. I could hear doors close and then saw linens draped over the opening. We started moving and a peculiar thought occurred to me as I listened to the wheels turn on the floor---if they can make transporters hover, why not laundry carts. I thought of the weight of this cart and KATRAVIN laboring to push it. Between the smaller versions of Miles and me, we must still weigh a combined two hundred pounds. I could tell the movement toward the elevator was slow but KATRAVIN managed to push us on it. Up we went, traveling in an employee service elevator so it wasn’t likely we’d have to deal with any stops along the way. This; however, was not accurate as the elevator did stop. The doors opened and someone walked into the elevator. I heard a female’s voice speak in her alien language and KATRAVIN voice responding. I couldn’t understand what was being said and looked at Miles face; searching for a hint of understanding. Were we caught? Was everything still going as planned?

  The inside of the utility cart was dark and I could see no expression on Miles’ face. The two chatted but nothing came of the conversation that revealed Miles and me. The other voice left when the elevator stopped and the doors opened. We continued up the hotel and finally the doors opened to our floor. KATRAVIN rolled us into starting position---the utility room where we’d begin our rescue mission. After KATRAVIN closed the door, Miles immediately flung the linen sheet up and crawled out. I followed and then took a deep breath in and exhaled all of my nervousness out. I couldn’t believe we were actually inside. KATRAVIN was checking her tracker.

  “According to our SCATCH on your friend, she is ten rooms down the hall on the right hand side.”

  Miles looked at a vent; pointed and said, “This one. We’ll need to start from here.”

  The vent opening was just the right size for Miles and me to crawl into. I thought of Sonya. She could probably squeeze through in spite of her height but might run into some issues inside the vent where her length could prove as a difficult maneuvering obstacle around any corners.

  Miles gave KATRAVIN final instructions on the tracking; “Make sure to jam up their signal like I showed you once we’ve reached the inside of the ventilation ducts.”

  KATRAVIN stepped outside the room and headed back to the transporter where she’d wait for us to arrive with Sonya. Miles slid a GLYSTIN metal supplies shelf over two feet closer toward the elevated vent for scaling and within a minute; he had the vent cover off and was inside the ducts. His eagerness to reach Sonya’s room set the pace for me to follow. One thing we hadn’t thought of was bringing some sort of light for the dark and narrow passageway to Sonya’s room. This wasn’t an issue for rooms still lit as tiny slivers of the artificial light occasionally lit our path but there were a few rooms with the lights out. I had already forgotten how many rooms KATRAVIN had said to pass before we’d reach Sonya’s room. This was an important detail that I knew Miles remembered---at least hoped he did or it would be a long night.

  Beads of sweat began to drip from my brow and my elbows and shoulders were beginning to feel the added weight of crawling on them while thrusting f
orward. We had already crawled fifty yards when I realized the corner just ahead of us. It didn’t seem as if we were making any real noise that might have been noticed by guest but still I was nervous and careful of all sounds made by me. As it would happen, alien dust mites inside the duct began tickling my nose. My eyes began to tear up. I stopped and smothered my face; having what I’d describe as the quietest sneezing attack a person could have. Miles was unaffected by my current difficulty and trudged along without looking back at me. When I got it under control; Miles was nearly down the hallway and next to the Sonya’s room.

  I double-timed it as good as anyone in my situation could but reached Miles dripping in sweat with dust bits attached to me. A light was on in Sonya’s room. My position was just below Miles feet. I couldn’t see or hear anything---it would be a waiting game now. We had to sit tight and remain until Sonya turned her lights out for bed.

  I imagined twenty cameras hidden in her room and it was entirely possible a tiny one was attached to the vent we were supposed to crawl out of. I wiped my forehead and dried my hand with my hair--- sending a smoothing motion toward the back of my head. I could now hear the low resonance of voices coming from Sonya’s room. These voices couldn’t be made out for clarity and context of conversation but one of the voices sounded like Sonya’s. The other voice was female too. Strangely the unknown voice seemed familiar to me too. I pointed my ear toward the direction hoping that would help in my attempt to improve my hearing but nothing improved.

  A male voice entered the conversation. This was easier to hear as the tone seemed agitated and elevated to a bellow. Was Sonya in danger? I looked to Miles up ahead for any sign of action but he just lay there; unmoving and watching through the screen. The light in the room went off and I suddenly felt Miles feet push into my face.

  A voice in the dark said in a hushed tone, “Com on. There moving her, Hurry!”

  I began to wiggle my way backward toward the utility room; something I was unprepared for as my brain and body had to sync and outpace Miles advancing feet. This was definitely the wrong way to go about traveling through a ventilation duct as it took twice as long to maneuver backwards.

  My face kept getting popped by Miles boots and I’d say, “Slow down,” to which he’d reply, “Hurry up.”

  It was remarkably that this was the most irritating and uncomfortable experience I’d had thus far on this planet. The ROTIANS staring up at me while trapped on the top of a tree was now a close second. We finally wiggled to the utility room though and I crawled out of the open; falling to the floor with a loud thud. Miles did the same and then burst to his feet.

  “Quickly, we’ve got to reach her before she gets too far out of range.”

  I tried to ask Miles about what was happening but he was into the laundry chute before I even uttered a word. I jumped in after him and slid down a chute that reminded me of a water park slide but instead of landing in a pool of water, I plunged into a huge container that was halfway full of dirty linens. My eyes quickly recognized that Miles was halfway out the door.

  Man is he quick. I leaped out of the container and ran after him. We ended up in a separate section of the parking garage after running through an already opened second door where KATRAVIN had the transporter running and ready for escape.

  “Where is she going,” KATRAVIN asked Miles as I dove into an opening to the back space of the transporter.

  “My best guess is they’re taking her to the control base. She’s in danger. Erick is going to use more stringent methods at the base to gain what he’s after.”

  Miles turned and looked at me, “Stacy Schmitt is one of them---she brought Sonya here. I never suspected her of being from my world back on Earth. I’m sorry William.”

  My astonishment was recognized by Miles as he turned around. He grabbed the tracking device from KATRAVIN. I couldn’t believe it was Stacy. I felt empty and betrayed at hearing this news. So many amazing things had happened to me over the course of a few weeks but this had surprised me the most. It had seemed like every relationship built at the company was in some way tied to this plan of the ALVERONS. I knew that wasn’t true as Sonya had no willing part in any of this but the discovery of Miles and now Stacy shook me to my very core.

  “Deception…Lies---is that all you people know?”

  I hadn’t meant to say this out loud but I did. Miles and KATRAVIN were silent.

  Miles put the tracker down on his lap and turned to me, “Look, I know I initially wasn’t up front with you but I’m not Stacy. I didn’t bring you here with some evil plot in mind. I’m your friend and I want to help you and Sonya reach Earth safely. Right now though; I’ve got to concentrate on tracking Sonya. We may lose her forever if I don’t.”

  It was with this final statement from the alien that he turned and focused on the tracker. He was right though. He hadn’t brought me here with wicked intentions. My anger was toward Stacy. I needed to direct my energy toward stopping her and Erick.

  KATRAVIN was a skillful driver of the transporter as she weaved and crossed to edge closer to the larger transport vehicles holding Sonya.

  “Over there,” Miles pointed at something that resembled a large chunk of yellow metal with rocket boosters attached to it.

  The yellow image was easy to spot among all the other smaller and plain looking transporters hopping about---in and around the darkness of the GLYSTIN metal city. The yellow transporter didn’t seem terribly fast either or it just wasn’t in any hurry to reach the destination. Whatever the case, KATRAVIN followed closely. Too closely in fact---Miles told KATRAVIN to back off the target as traffic was beginning to lighten up. We were leaving the city and now our vehicle was one of a few left traveling in the direction of the yellow transporter. I looked around and noticed that there were fewer buildings until finally; no buildings and sparse green landscape.

  “Where are they taking her, I asked?”

  Miles glanced again at the tracker and then the target and said, “It’s got to be the old testing base if we are going this way. I’m not sure why they’d keep her there as it has been abandoned;” Miles paused for a moment, “nearly as long as I’ve been a pilot for the ALVERONS. The new base is near the lakes and is swarming with security. Infiltration in that base is next to impossible.”

  With instruction from Miles, KATRAVIN turned our transporter to the planet’s surface where we landed and then waited. “The base is just five kilometers in that direction, just beyond those trees;” Miles stated.

  KATRAVIN then spoke up, “If the base is non-operable and security is minimal, this should be easier than getting her out of the hotel.”

  Miles didn’t share KATRAVIN’S enthusiasm though.

  “That’s just it---something doesn’t feel right about this situation. As a pilot for the planet’s space exploration unit, I had exposure to all the ALVERON military training and protocol for these situations. The initial action is to take the alien; or rather, visitor to a non-threatening environment, something that wouldn’t make a visitor feel like they were captive. The site still had to be moderately secure. However, if the mission is compromised in any way, they would immediately take the visitor to the securest place on the planet--- the testing facility near the lakes.”

  I realized that Miles just referred to me as an alien initially. I guess my non-threatening environment was the BALLASTAH. Not so non-threatening though---remembering the ROTIANS and GARGIAN.

  “Maybe they don’t feel the mission is completely compromised,” offering a suggestion but Miles shook his head.

  “When I was in the ventilation duct, I overheard Erick tell Sonya that her attempt for escape was going to cost her. If not for the tracker, I would have told KATRAVIN to head for the lakes.”

  KATRAVIN spoke, “So we proceed with caution?”

  Miles nodded his head and said, “It just feels off. It could be a trap set for us but I won’t know for sure unless we go to the vacant facility and find out.”


  Miles looked at KATRAVIN; “I’ll need you to stay back in case William and I get into some trouble.

  KATRAVIN looked disappointed; “Can’t William…” but she trailed off what she was going to say when Miles narrowed his eyes in her direction.

  “Not this one,” Miles said.

  It was decided by Miles that KATRAVIN would move us closer to position and under the tree cover. We would still have a few kilometers to hike before we reached the base. This scene seemed the most familiar to me as we headed off into the woods. The eerie silence of the AVERWOODS became unnerving to me but this place reminded me of Earth. Unlike the AVERWOODS; ROTIANS and GARGIANS were not part of the adventure. The other part of this hike that I noticed was the presence of scurrying critters and the chirping of smaller birds. I looked in the trees for a PUNDGER bird and thought; sure could use one of those right now. There was no denying the AVERWOODS had its enchantment but maybe this place did too.

  We moved closer and as Miles described; an abandoned base came into view. Miles looked at his tracker to see if Sonya was there but I immediately spotted the yellow beast near the corner of the facility.

  “She is definitely here,” which came out sounding more like a question than a statement?

  “It appears so,” Miles said.

  Miles studied the image for a moment before saying, “we’ll flank around to the back---stay close.”

  I didn’t get time to respond as Miles was already running in the direction he pointed and told me to go. I moved quickly after him, trying to match the pace of the quicker alien. This would have been tough at my normal size but with the shorter legs, I was having a difficult time keeping up with the equally small Miles. He was over the fence already as I reached to pull myself up for the first step.

  Now looking up at me he said; “Hurry,” in a hushed tone.

  I climbed over and dropped to the ground. My breathing quickened---exhausted from the sprint and climb I’d just done. Miles pulled me up and we headed toward the nearest wall. There wasn’t much left to the base as it appeared to be overrun by critters and the various growths poking through the ground and into the building. It was a large building not made of GLYSTIN metal but rather something similar to concrete. There were broken windows with an air of sinister darkness inside. The doors were in a sad state as well but some of them had chains attached to them. I grabbed one of the heavy chains attached to the nearest door; lifting it up slightly. Someone doesn’t want us in here.

  Miles passed me and then I followed. We found one door that was slightly barricaded from the outside and rapidly tore through the mess to enter into the building. The darkness swallowed us. The only way I could tell where Miles was standing was by his artificial light on the tracking device. I followed that; careful not to alert anyone else of our presence by tripping or bumping into objects on the ground. I heard movement on the floor and then felt something tiny run over my boot. Smallish red eyes looked up at me. I pressed forward; noticing Miles already down a hall. He was idle.

  I neared him and whispered; “What is it?”

  In his own hushed tone he responded, “According to the tracker; she’s above us.”

  “What are we going to do?”

  There was a long silence. I could sense Miles was just as uneasy about this as I was. I think we both felt it was a trap but knew that certainty was the only ticket out of this place. I wished we’d waited till daybreak; so I could at least see who was going to kill me before it actually happened. This darkness was maddening. Both of us felt for a wall to brace ourselves on as we traveled further down the hall. Neither of us knew a way to reach the next level. I shuffled my feet toward Miles as he advanced. Then the tracking device stopped. I felt something move closer to me.

  A whisper from Miles said, “There is a dim light just around the corner. We’re getting closer so watch your movement.”

  I waited for Miles to begin moving but he stood idle. What is he doing; I thought. I started to hear low voices near our position. An artificial light was heading in our direction. Suddenly; my legs numbed and my heart began to speed up. A danger was approaching us. I knelt down. The beam got thicker and closer until finally it was next to us. Two large masses were standing directly beside where Miles and I stood. We were just twenty feet away but they hadn’t spotted us yet. One of the aliens spoke.

  My mind was focused on holding my breath and sitting as still as possible. I looked over to see that Miles had the tracking device off. Then a tiny creature scurried toward the larger aliens. Its red eyes pierced the darkness. One of the aliens pulled out a device from its belt and sent a blue wave of light toward the creature. Immediately, the tiny critter disappeared. I sat there in awe of the weapon that vaporized something into nothing. The artificial light from the aliens turned back toward the direction they had come and I could hear their footsteps shuffling away from us.

  I waited as my heart was still racing but beginning to slow down. My breathing began to enter into its normal rhythm. A hand grabbed my arm and this put my breathing back into its abnormal state. It was Miles.

  He said in a low tone; “This is a dead end. I overheard the ALVERONS speak of Sonya at the testing facility. This was a trap for us. We’re done here.”

  Miles released my arm and brushed past me toward the way that we entered. I followed. We made it out of the abandoned facility and into the woods without any complications. As we headed back to the transporter, I questioned Miles about his tracking device.

  “I don’t know---I mean---It’s certainly not out of the realm of possibility that they developed something to switch tracking SCATCHES onto another person. I’ve been on Earth for three years so I’m not aware of all the latest technologies the ALVERONS developed during that time.”

  He said this to me in a disgusted voice and I could tell he felt defeated.

  “Look, I’m sorry I couldn’t get Sonya back but I just don’t know what else to do.”

  “We have to keep trying,” urging him to not give up but think of something else.

  “Isn’t there some secret way of getting into the testing base; some underground tunnel?”

  Miles looked at me with a dejected look. We reached KATRAVIN at the transporter who was playing with a hand held gaming device of some kind.

  She looked up---happy to see us but then asked; “She wasn’t there? What happened?”

  “What happened is we just ran out of luck,” Miles said.

  “So, what does that mean?”

  Miles responded to KATRAVIN in a slightly annoyed tone, “It means we’re done here. Let’s go.”

  KATRAVIN started the transporter and we headed toward the city. The ride back to KATRAVIN’S place was quiet. I hadn’t seen this defeated side of Miles; at least not to this extreme. After the crash, he seemed different but his resolve now was shakier than it had ever been. A thought popped in my head that had been bugging me since we left CHANAH’S. Miles was STONIAN yet he clearly witnessed the effects of the weather machine on his own planet from the visual CHANAH produced. Yet, both planets were supposed to be allies. In fact, Miles piloted and executed a three year mission for the ALVERONS; knowing at the very least, the strong possibility of involvement by the ALVERONS for destroying a village on his planet and contributing to the deaths of STONIANS with their weather machine. CHANAH knew the right image to produce that would invoke action in Miles. Then later, Miles spoke of attempts to incorporate technology from Earth to ALVERON’S advances in an effort to be ahead of them. It appears the failure of securing Sonya and testing the tracking blocker on her proved to be too much for Miles who figured they’d just one upped him with their own blocking and deception device. Why the charade to be one of them though. Was it as simple as keeping your friends close and your enemies even closer? This expression couldn’t be taken literally as he travelled light years away from them but it was certainly a power play to gain their trust.

  KATRAVIN’S place came
into view. Before we landed, Miles spoke the first words by anyone since we left the abandoned base.

  “Tomorrow we will go to NOBI and find this DRUCKER. Perhaps he will know a way to get you back to Earth.”

  “What about Sonya? I’m not going to just leave her here.”

  Miles turned and looked at me, “Sonya is controlled by the ALVERON’S now. There’s nothing you or anyone can do to change that.”

  I was beginning to feel frustrated again and it came out, “So you just quit? Ok; today we got beat but we find another way.”

  Miles raised his voice to match mine, “We didn’t just get beat William, we got embarrassed. Our planning and effort is meaningless because they will always be three or four steps ahead. Don’t you understand that? I’ll admit that I had a renewed hope after leaving CHANAH’S but now it seems impossible. I’m sorry; there’s nothing we can do.”

  I eased back into my seat just as we landed on KATRAVIN’S apartment building. I remembered CHANAH’S words describing me as either someone important to the events and changes to my world and this one or just another spectator. I had my shot at making a difference to fight the actions of the ALVERONS but failed just as Miles did. We were both insignificant to the future of both worlds and could merely watch as it happened. KATRAVIN said something in her language that sounded agitated toward Miles and left us both in the transporter as she walked into her place.

  In a calmer voice I asked Miles, “What will you do now, that is, now that you’re back in a place where your rulers are at the very least suspicious of you and would probably rather see you dead?”

  Miles didn’t turn his head but paused at the question before answering, “STONIA isn’t such a bad place to hide. I have people there that I trust who would keep KATRAVIN and I hidden from the reach of the ALVERON council. You could be just as comfortable should you choose to stay in the LOMMETRUS. In fact---I prefer it over a visit to NOBI and the dangerous possibility of getting caught but if you want to go home, I understand and I will do everything in my power to get you there.”

  Eventually, we both made it inside where KATRAVIN was already asleep. I sunk into the couch and closed my eyes with the thought of home on my mind.