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

by Matthew Novak

  Chapter 14

  From the moment Sonya arrived on ALVERON; she felt ill at ease. The pursuit efforts by the ALVERON’S to find William and the abductors responsible for taking him, only exposed Sonya’s suspicion of Erick. Now there wasn’t a charade that Sonya or Erick had to continue---Erick pretending to have concern for William’s whereabouts and Sonya playing along. The cards were on the table and Sonya lost; at least for the time being.

  Erick, Stacy and two armed guards escorted Sonya to the facility in a shiny black colored transporter with dimly tinted windows. Except for the driver’s chair and front passenger seat, the transporter had long bench seating situated along the edges of the vehicle. The back of the transporter had a long flat area; like the six foot bed of a truck. And this space was occupied by a GLYSTIN metal coffin.

  Sonya noticed a glass area near the end of the casket that radiated an artificial light from inside its chamber. Eerie; was Sonya’s thought about the light. She also wanted to know what or who was inside this tomb and why it was being transported with her. Standing up to look inside the small glass area was impossible though---Sonya’s arms and legs were shackled to the arm rests and legs of the bench she was sitting in. The tinted glass and night sky made it difficult to see anything outside so only the light from inside the coffin gave any source of illumination inside the vehicle. That pulled at Sonya’s attention---as she felt within herself; someone or maybe something was living inside. It all felt too familiar to Sonya---something Stacy and Erick couldn’t have been aware of---or could they?

  Her eyes moved toward Erick and then to Stacy near the front of the transporter---who were looking at something on the control panel. One of the guards drove but the other; a stone-faced guard, sat perfectly still in front of Sonya; keeping his gaze locked on her throughout the entire trip. This was unnerving to Sonya because there wasn’t even movement in his eyes that betrayed a living being whom occupied the seat across from her. Had it not been for the moments before Sonya had entered the transporter; she would have believed this motionless guard dead.

  The presence from inside the casket kept her from feeling completely alone in the back of the transporter. Sonya then felt a descent in their travel as they were nearing the testing facility. Butterflies in Sonya’s stomach began to alert her of the mess that was going on inside her head. The biggest thing on her mind in that moment was what Erick and Stacy had planned for her. She tried to keep anxiety down by simply refusing to guess but this proved to be an impossible task as she heard Stacy call the place a testing facility before they left the hotel. She conjured up images of needles and invasions of her privacy or what little she had left. Sonya wondered how much longer they’d keep her alive or if by some miracle, she’d be allowed to return to Earth and resume her life. Skepticism crept in Sonya’s thoughts as she realized the impossibility of any normalcy in her life on Earth now. She began to question what she wanted more; death on this alien planet or the awakened status of hopelessness on Earth. Strangely; something felt comfortable to Sonya---she didn’t have to choose her fate---this was now in the hands of her captors. Control of her life and what happened around her was a special skill set she mastered early in life. However, the succession of her divorce; Devon’s passing and now alien captivity added to the list; she felt more out of control than any moment in her life.

  The transporter was given clearance to land at the control center. It flew over the GLYSTIN metal walls and landed in one of the hangers. The guard that had sat motionless for the entirety of the ride from the hotel; stood up, walked over to Sonya and attached a thick metal wire that wish-boned into connections on each cuff and then the opposite end attached to his belt. When the connections were secure; he released the locks from the arm rests and ankles.

  Erick walked over to Sonya; “I think I’ll give you a little tour of the facility before we take you to the room where you’ll be spending most of your time.”

  He then gave Sonya a sneered gaze that caused her to look away.

  Then Erick looked at the driver and said; “Take the GARGIAN to lab room M.”

  Erick, Stacy, the stone-faced guard and Sonya then exited the transporter and headed toward two doors. Without so much as a push of a button; the doors opened for Erick and the others. Then they walked down a long hallway where an exposed glass-plated wall revealed an empty testing room. On the opposite wall; there were five individual metal doors with no glass. As they walked down the hallway; Sonya was led into a larger area that was jam-packed with ALVERON scientists in grey lab vest. Sonya became keenly aware that besides Stacy; she was the only female in that room. Erick made a gesture to the crowd and all was still and quiet for his announcement.

  “Gentlemen; I speak to you in the language known to humans; for today marks our first time; in the history of our great planet, that we own a humanoid subject.”

  A roar of applause greeted Erick’s announcement. Erick then raised his arms for the crowd to quiet. He continued; “Today is the first of many steps toward our great planet becoming singular rulers over all life in the universe. It was believed only a short time ago that Earth could be our greatest challenge for absolute control but with this human; we will exceed all of that planet’s advantages and rule it just as we have”---there was a pause by Erick for effect in his speech---“Just as we have ruled the entire LOMMETRUS.”

  A roar from the crowd nearly knocked Sonya back. The guard then led her across the room; almost in a parading manner to a door where they exited. This opened up to another hallway; but this one led to a shuttle area that the guard and Sonya waited in. Then; in a matter of minutes, a silver compact car shot through a tunnel and stopped directly in front of where Sonya and the guard were seated. The door opened automatically and the guard led Sonya into the silver carrier. After Sonya was buckled in, the guard released himself from Sonya; leaving the wire attached to the cuffs intact but placing his attachment end into a port located inside the transporter. The stone-faced guard took a few steps backward and the car door shut. The silver vehicle then shot back through the tunnel---transporting Sonya to the holding cell quarters.

  The ride was a quick and gradual descent. The transporter door then opened; revealing two young looking guards with more verve in their faces than the guard she had just left. They were speaking to each other in their alien language. One of them immediately reached for the wire that was attached to the panel of the transporter and connected it to his belt. This guard also grabbed Sonya’s arm and lifted her out of the transporter and onto the platform. The other guard led the way down another hall and to an artificially lit room with one desk and one chair. The guard Sonya was attached to, released himself and handed the wire to the other guard who then attached the wire to his belt. Sonya was then led into the room; seated in the chair while the guard she was attached to, stood completely still behind her. The other guard closed the door and took his position outside the room.

  Sonya sat there---examining the room and speculating if this would be the arrangement for the remainder of her life. If it was---she was ready for her death.

  The metal chair and desk were the only items in the room worth noting; save for a square panel next to the door that had frantic lines flashing in every direction on it. She watched the lines; trying to pick up a pattern or sequence. After staring at the lines for what seemed like eternity---she did see something in those lines that made sense to her. The north to south lines flashed three times before the lines pointing southwest and northeast flashed four. Then a series of horizontal line flashes would be followed by two thicker lines pointing in vertical directions that flashed twice. Sonya would not have paid any attention to these lines but this kept her mind off of Erick and the boredom of the room she was in. She began to attach her own words to these lines; trying to make some sense of them in her mind. It was a four word or character message she reasoned.

  Initially, she didn’t take it too serious as the first messages she came up with were; ‘a
m I really here,’ or ‘these guards are idiots.’ Then she shifted her thinking toward the real possibility that this message said something about this room she was in. The first message she came up with was, ‘holding room thirteen B. The horizontal lines flashed thirteen times and the two thick lines represented a letter; the second letter in the alphabet for her language. She liked this idea and began to think of the lines flashing horizontally as words representing numbers and vertical lines as letters or words. The lines pointing southwest to northeast had to be words connected with time or direction. In other words---to say o’clock without a number means nothing or a direction without some number attached to it would seem too general. If someone said, “The store is east of here,” that would be a start but hardly complete for someone actually interested in finding the store. Now, it is likely a person could still find the store but a more complete answer would be, “the store is five miles east of here;” and “if you leave now; you might make it before ten o’clock when it closes.”

  Obviously Sonya couldn’t know if this was actually the meaning of these symbols but it established rules for developing her four word messages. These rules allowed her to think of two messages that were intriguing. The first, ‘Prisoner below; one, H.’ The H would stand for human or it could be an M for Meyers but personal name recognition didn’t seem likely on ALVERON. Sonya played with that message wanting more information provided so she came up with, “humanoid lower; 2 G. In this message; a human prisoner is on the lower level with only two guards. Sonya began to consider the possibility that she had in fact; decoded the message on the screen. This information was sent and available on a main computer somewhere in the facility and there had to be something relevant to her situation on that box.

  Her thoughts on this gave way to the exhaustion she’d felt. The room was warm and her eyes were heavy. Sonya put her head down on the desk in front of her and went to sleep.

 

  She awoke the next day with a headache and soreness in her neck. A different guard was attached to her but he gave no notice of her awakened status and when Sonya tried to find out how long she’d been asleep; the guard was as inanimate as the desk in front of her. Sonya just sat there for what seemed like an eternity until finally the sound of Erick’s voice could be heard on the other side of the door. Sonya tried to stand up but the guard attached to her forcefully placed his hand on her shoulder and she was back in the chair. Sonya looked at the guard who’s gazed stayed fixed on the door.

  Within a few minutes; the door opened and Erick walked in.

  “How do you like your new accommodations;” Erick asked?

  “What do you plan on doing with me;” Sonya asked but still not completely sure she wanted to hear the answer.

  Erick began talking; mostly about the rise of ALVERON in the LOMMETRUS. As Sonya understood it, Erick’s father played a central part in disrupting thousands of years of peaceful community living among the planets.

  Erick continued; “We were fools to play along in that system when clearly we were superior life forms. Then a machine was built that changed the minds of---not just the council but all ALVERONS in the LOMMETRUS system. We could control the weather on each planet; something that the other planets had to respect. Our technology advances didn’t stop there though. We produced great weapons to destroy entire populations on other planets too. This is only used to control the surviving population in that they would see our power and have to submit to our work demands. We are simply taking our rightful place at the front of the line. This takes us to your planet; Earth, in that they have resources we desire. They are rightfully ours as we are the more powerful and advanced beings.”

  Erick paced as he continued. “You will initially be studied in various environments and situations. We wish to test the human spirit; which would allow us to strategically plan our attack on your planet. However; if you survive our tests; we will deem your planet a more difficult challenge than we had initially anticipated and allow you to live on one condition.”

  Sonya was trying to imagine what the situations or tests would be but quickly turned her attention back to Erick’s proposed condition.

  “We will allow you to live if you agree to assist our leaders in a trade pact with your planet.”

  This condition caught Sonya off guard as she repeated; “A trade pact?”

  Erick continued; “We desire some of your resources and if we can’t conquer Earth; perhaps we can be partners. Our GLYSTIN metal technology is clearly superior to anything Earth produces and perhaps this would be of some interest to businesses all over Earth. This would drive your labor costs down; as the process is easier to produce GLYSTIN than any metal Earth has produced. It would also control some of your pollution issues that will affect the lives of your people in the coming years. Surely you can understand some of the advantages to your planet by using the benefit of an outside source of metal production. Your valuable trees would be saved---not to mention other important resources. We practically produce more GLYSTIN metal than we’d ever use in a hundred lifetimes. Our GLYSTIN technology would revolutionize your construction, transportation and technology industries. GLYSTIN is a superior metal that costs little to make and requires only the trade cooperation with ALVERON for your planet to use.”

  “What about the distance between the two planets? And how would you move this GLYSTIN metal in large quantities,” Sonya asked?

  “You let me worry about that,” Erick said smugly.

  Sonya understood the bottom line culture of the business community and knew Erick’s proposal would excite at least a few business people she knew. Suddenly Erick had taken on the role of pitchman. Was this why she had been kidnapped? The pitch sounded almost too good to be true and why go to all the trouble of abducting, imprisoning and testing Sonya when all could be avoided by simply approaching a greedy business CEO with the offer? Sonya knew firsthand this bizarre and self-proclaimed god complex Erick personified would fit well with some of the business elite. She wondered if Erick really needed her to negotiate this deal.

  In only a few short days; Erick had displayed a violent temper, disgust for anyone that wasn’t ALVERON and now seemed to have just asked; in his own distorted way---for help. A heightened level of curiosity crept into Sonya as she now wished to see what Erick had planned for Earth and defeat it at every turn.

  Sonya desired to avoid any of the tests that Erick had in mind so she came up with her own proposal that she presented to Erick.

  Sonya said; “I will do all that you ask---in fact, I have contacts on Earth that are already coming to mind and they would greatly desire a first chance at this GLYSTIN metal. Listen Erick---none of this is necessary,” holding up the wire attached to her.

  She could tell Erick was listening intently to her plea and perhaps buying what she said.

  “You have chosen me wisely to lead ALVERON in these trade negotiations as I am sympathetic to your true desire for a trade partner and will help you achieve all your requests for Earth’s resources. Most importantly; I know who controls those resources. This will be a difficult deal to pull off as there are many moving parts but I am the only human that can do it with any level of success. My only condition is that you avoid testing me for your personal curiosities. I am too valuable toward the success of your trade pact plan and I need proper support from your staff. Besides; wouldn’t a soldier or scientist from Earth be a better test case than a marketing strategist?”

  Sonya surprised herself in that she presented plenty of valid points that countered anything that Erick presented. She even relied on her performing abilities to convince Erick that she was on board with his plan. Erick didn’t say anything for a few moments; as if contemplating all that she presented but Sonya knew that this was what Erick really wanted. She had been involved with enough negotiations and deals to see even an alien trying to present worse case next to actual reality. It was a scare tactic and Sonya just called him out on it by showing him that she
had to be respected. This realization suddenly made Sonya feel a power over Erick for the first time since she arrived on ALVERON. They weren’t going to do anything to her if she cooperated and this would buy her time to destroy Erick’s plan.

  Finally; Erick spoke, “I’ll agree to your terms human and spare you from the testing but only if I have your full cooperation.”

  He neared Sonya; standing directly over her and then bent over so that his face was inches from hers.

  “But I give you this warning now, we are going to always be watching your every move and if I or my staff feel you are trying go back on our agreement; not fully cooperating at every stage of this deal, your death will be a slow and painful one; not to mention---there will be an all out attack on your planet most certainly.”

  Sonya’s eyes locked with Erick’s. Sonya knew she had to say something to match Erick’s intensity so she said; “Obviously, a room with just a desk and a chair is not suitable for a colleague working with the ALVERONS. The guard attached to me is a bit much too. Certainly---you and your staff can do better.”

  Erick smiled; “I’m afraid this is the best we can do.”

  He walked to the door but turned just before walking out; “Alright, I’ll provide better quarters without the guards but keep this place in your memory human.”

  Erick’s stare toward Sonya was steadied after saying this until he finally left her. There was a satisfaction to this meeting with Erick; knowing she had fought for ground and made some gains today. Sure; Erick had the last words of warning but Sonya presented the version of herself that helped her succeed at Sorenson & Lankford. Finally; for the first time since arriving on the planet, she felt like herself.

  Her posture straightened with the back of her chair and within a few moments; the lines on the panel next to the door changed. The guard attached to her then lifted Sonya by the arm and out of the chair. They walked through the door were the other guard was stationed. In an almost mechanical series of movements; they reversed everything that had happened to her earlier until she was standing back on the platform with the original stone-faced guard that escorted her from the hotel. This time; the guard led her down into a hallway where an open elevator door was held for the guard and Sonya.

  The elevator shot up and within seconds; she was staring at a hall similar to the one at the hotel. Sonya and stone-face walked past what seemed like thirty doors to a room at the end of this long hall; where she was led into a room with a bed, desk and chair, bathroom and surprisingly---a large window. This room was better than her room at the hotel.

  Stone-face released his wire from her cuffs and then released her wrists from the cuffs. The guard then turned toward the door and exited; leaving Sonya by herself in the room. Sonya stretched her arms wide; grateful to be free from the confinement of those cuffs she wore nearly an entire day. She looked out the window and could see her view was one that over looked water and possibly a piece of land with trees in the distance. Her eyes followed the moonbeam on the water back toward her and then notice something in the water. At first glance; it appeared to be a thick tree limb floating in the water. Sonya squinted toward the object and then made out a shape---its appearance materialized into something resembling a small raft or boat of some kind. She’d have a better idea what the object was by morning so she turned and walked into her new bathroom.

  Sonya scanned the room. Only a tub, a sink and a counter top. Next to the tub was a small mirror. She looked around the bathroom; surprised at the setup as it didn’t seem to have the overwhelming presence of a room that was being watched. No hidden cameras or large mirrors with watchers on the other side. At least she hoped that was the case. Sonya then turned on the water that spilled into the tub and waved her hand under the faucet for temperature check. Warm water soon filled the tub and Sonya climbed in. She felt relaxed and quietly confident for the first time on ALVERON.