by John Coon
“Find anything yet?” she asked.
“An alien attack vessel is at the lake.” His voice remained at a whisper. “Earthian soldiers are on the ground. We're cut off from our aerorover.”
Fear flashed through Calandra's eyes.
“Who found you? Are you okay?”
“Nothing has happened to us yet. Return to the scout ship at once. I'm terminating our search and rescue mission.”
Calandra's lips trembled. Her eyes darted to Lance off-screen and back to Xttra.
“Please stay safe. I can't imagine what I'd ever do without you.”
“I'll meet you back at the ship. I promise.”
Xttra terminated the link and stuck the arca vox back inside his pouch. He drew his eliminator. Doni's eyes stayed glued to his tracker. Trees cast long shadows over the trail. Many were stout enough to block sunlight not already partially obscured by billowing gray clouds.
Doni lifted his head and showed widened eyes. He also drew his eliminator and pointed it at the trail. Xttra realized at least one alien must be moving toward them. He switched on his own tracker. The screen lit up with a pair of heat patterns approaching the tree where he hid.
Crunching leaves grew louder. Xttra closed his eyes and uttered a silent prayer. He took slow, deliberate breaths before opening them again. No matter what, he could not afford to draw their attention until he discerned their intentions.
Two Earthians appeared atop the slope leading down to the aerorover. No doubt concerning their identities lingered.
Soldiers.
Did they fight for a local warlord? Were they defense forces for a larger Earth government? Xttra did not crave learning answers to those questions firsthand. Neither soldier could discover him at any cost. One simple goal remained: reach the aerorover and then the scout ship alive and unharmed.
Xttra sank back behind the tree.
“We have secured the lake,” A gruff voice said. “No eyes on any aliens yet.”
“Keep searching.” Instructions came from a second fainter static-tinged voice. “We are inbound for pick up.”
Xttra realized the first voice belonged to a soldier near his position. If Calandra were here, she would urge a diplomatic approach and try to communicate with the soldiers. His instincts told him to not utter a sound or move a muscle. Both soldiers Xttra saw up close were heavily armed.
He holstered his weapon again and dropped to his belly. Xttra held his thermal tracker out in front of him and crawled through the brush. Both soldiers began moving away from him. Neither one detected his movement. Xttra counted it as a small blessing.
Navigating dense underbrush without drawing attention to himself took several minutes before Xttra finally emerged near the aerorover. The tracker detected heat patterns from two other soldiers. Both patrolled near the small lake. No Earthian had seen his aerorover yet. Concealing it in another spot away from the shoreline paid off. Xttra had created a workable escape route.
He brought up Doni on his arca vox holoscreen.
“I've reached the aerorover. I'm coming to get you.”
Before Doni could respond, an alien weapon discharged behind him. He jerked his head toward the ear-splitting sound.
“Put your hands where I can see them or I will shoot,” a voice behind Doni shouted.
His image disappeared from the holoscreen. Xttra's throat tightened and his heart raced. That voice in the background belonged to an Earthian soldier. Their presence meant only one thing.
Doni had been captured.
26
Nervousness gripped Calandra from head to toe while she stared at a swath of treetops below the aerorover. Nothing turned up in their aerial scans. Xttra told her people do not simply disappear. Calandra wanted to believe him. She could not chase away the doubt long enough to do it.
Beeps from her arca vox drew Calandra's eyes away from surveying the forest. Xttra's image appeared when she raised the holoscreen.
“Find anything yet?”
Calandra tried to sound hopeful with her question. Xttra's reaction chased away lingering hope. His eyes darted away from the screen for a moment. When he looked at her a second time, a crease formed in his brow and a worried frown crossed his lips.
"An alien attack vessel is at the lake,” Xttra said. “Earthian soldiers are on the ground. We're cut off from our aerorover.”
Calandra sensed a growing fear clinging to each word. Xttra hunkered down behind a tree trunk. His voice dropped low enough to make his words barely audible. Her heart started racing when she grasped the full extent of the danger he faced.
“Who found you? Are you okay?”
“Nothing has happened to us yet. Get back to the scout ship at once. I'm terminating the search and rescue mission.”
Calandra at once glanced over at Lance. Once he heard Xttra's instructions, he pivoted their aerorover in the opposite direction. Her eyes returned to Xttra.
“Please stay safe. I don't know what I'd ever do without you.”
“I'll meet you back at the ship. I promise.”
The transmission ended and his image vanished. Calandra set the arca vox in her lap.
“We can't leave them out there to fend for themselves,” she said. “What are we going to do?”
Lance stared straight ahead, his eyes unblinking. The aerorover gained speed as he threw the thruster knob forward.
“Don't worry. We'll do everything in our power to pull them out of harm's way.”
Anxious thoughts consumed Calandra while she stared out the window. The aerorover hugged mountain peaks en route to the scout ship. When Calandra saw the same canyon that she and Xttra followed into the alien city, a small wave of relief washed over her. Seeing a familiar landmark meant so much. Soon enough, they would be airborne inside their scout ship and could go rescue Xttra and Doni before hostile Earthians found them first.
An alarm beeped through the aerorover interior. Calandra snapped her head toward a small screen embedded in the console below the dashboard. A small flashing light above the screen drew her attention. From there, her eyes drifted down to a blip on the screen resembling a cylindrical object.
“We've got company,” Lance said.
What the sensors detected appeared oddly familiar. Calandra gazed into the rearview mirror. The object grew more distinct while closing the gap between itself and their aerorover.
Her mouth dropped open.
It resembled one of the Earthian attack vessels that fired on their scout ship earlier. Same v-shaped tail. Same long wings jutting out from either side of a main cylindrical body. Calandra's heart started running another lap inside her chest.
“It's an Earthian attack vessel.” Fear gripped her voice. “We need to lose it fast.”
“That's the plan.”
Lance cranked the steering controls to his right. The aerorover dipped a wing and made a sharp turn toward the alien city. The attack vessel mimicked the turn and kept up pursuit. A few seconds later, it fired a projectile. At such a close range, Lance did not have enough time to veer away from the projectile's flight path.
It struck their left wing.
Tremors raced through the length of the vehicle. Smoke and flames billowed out in equal measure. The aerorover itself spiraled downward over the eastern boundary of the city.
Calandra screamed. Lance clenched his teeth as he worked to level out their aerorover. He jerked on the steering controls and brought the vehicle out of its tailspin. Smoke poured out from the spot the left wing once occupied. His knuckles grew white from gripping the steering controls.
“I'm going to try to land us in that ravine,” he said. “Hang on. This will be rough.”
Her eyes became glued to the ravine. It stood out as a band of wilderness nestled between endless rows of Earthian dwellings and roads bordering both slopes. Calandra gripped both her door handle and seat until her fingers ached. Her heart poured out a prayer, pleading with the divine creator to not let them die in a crash.
&nb
sp; Lance grunted as he angled their aerorover away from a cluster of trees. Thick branches clipped the underside of the vehicle as it zoomed past one tree after another. He pulled back hard on the thruster knob, trying to slow their descent.
“We can do this,” Lance said. “We'll make it.”
Calandra did not look at him or say a word. Their continued free fall paralyzed her in her seat. Her heart pounded against her ribs and her whole body trembled with fear. Lance tugged on a different knob controlling the wheels. They extended outward. With each second, the ravine floor raced toward their vehicle. Calandra pinched both eyes shut. Tears streamed from beneath her tightly bound eyelids.
Tree limbs snapped all around the vehicle.
Another tremor ripped through the entire aerorover when magnetic wheels smacked against rocky ground. Calandra bounced forward. Her ribs slammed against the harness before those same kinetic forces flung her back against the seat. One front wheel emitted a terrible ear-piercing screech as their aerorover barreled across the ravine floor.
It finally stopped with a loud crunch.
Calandra panted and opened her eyes again. A cloud of dust and splinters flew upward where their aerorover plowed through a rotten log lying across the ground. The log slowed their momentum enough for Lance to execute a full stop. Her eyes darted over to him. His eyes were wide as plates and his breaths escaped in short heavy bursts. Lance clamped down on his lower lip and worked to slow his breathing.
“What are we going to do now?”
Calandra's voice shook as much as she feared her hands would shake if she relaxed her simultaneous grip on her seat and the door handle. Lance glanced over at her and shook his head.
“I have no idea. We're at least a full day's walk from reaching the scout ship.”
He opened his door and stepped outside. Smoke still billowed out from where the projectile obliterated the left wing. It drifted inside. Calandra started coughing when pungent fumes brushed against her face and scrambled out of the other door.
She drew her arca vox from her chest pouch. Calandra activated it and pressed buttons to connect with Xttra again. His image popped up on the holoscreen a few seconds later.
“Did you make it back to the ship yet?”
Calandra closed her eyes and shook her head. She slumped against their wrecked aerorover and slid to the ground.
“What happened to you?” She sensed concern rising in Xttra's voice. “Are you okay?”
“We crashed in a ravine near the alien city.” Calandra grew teary-eyed when her eyelids opened again. “An Earthian vessel hit us with a projectile and destroyed a wing on our aerorover.”
Xttra's face fell at hearing her news. He knew as well as she did that it meant they were all cut off from their scout ship.
“What do we do now?” she asked. “Our aerorover is in no condition to fly or drive.”
“Are you hurt? Is Lance hurt?”
She glanced over her shoulder. Lance had cleared out much of the smoke. Now he kicked at a broken front wheel, while mumbling a curse under his breath.
“We're a little shaken up. That's all.” Calandra said, facing the holoscreen again. “Can you get out of there?”
Xttra shook his head. She realized his situation had not improved since their last communication. His words were all spoken in hushed tones. His image also showed him laying almost flat amid underbrush, hiding from an off-screen menace.
“I made it to my aerorover, but I need to wait until these Earthian soldiers clear out,” he said. “I need to be careful not to reveal my position. They already tracked down Doni.”
Calandra gasped. Her eyes widened.
“They captured Doni?”
“I've eluded them thus far,” Xttra reassured her. “I moved my aerorover to a safer location before they showed up. They haven't found it yet.”
Calandra found no comfort in his bravado. These soldiers knew the terrain on their home planet much better than either she or Xttra did. How long could he evade capture while they were searching for him and his aerorover?
“Will they find it?” she asked.
“They've left the area and have returned to the lake. I'm watching the Earthians from a distance. Once they leave, I'll head straight for the ravine.”
“I hope you know what you're doing.”
"Trust me. I'll track your aerorover once I'm airborne and then fly you to safety."
“How are you going to avoid running into the vessel that shot us down?”
Xttra forced a reassuring smile onto his lips.
“I'm sure they're watching for me, but they don't know I'm also keeping an eye out for them. Have faith. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
His image vanished a second later. Calandra tucked the arca vox inside her pouch again. She closed her eyes, exhaled slowly, and rose to her feet. Lance rounded the front of their aerorover and met her at the open door.
“It looks really bad,” he said. “Even if we had two intact wings, this piece of junk would still take a few hours to repair.”
“We don't have a few hours.”
“Tell me about it.”
“Xttra says he'll find a way to reach the ravine and rescue us soon.”
Lance cracked a bitter smile.
“Until he gets shot down too.”
Calandra answered him with a hard stare. She did not appreciate his attitude.
"We can't lose hope. Xttra saved you from that asteroid. He will find a way to rescue both of us. We need to be patient."
Lance gnawed on his lower lip and stared at the ground. He shook his head.
“I wish I were as optimistic as you,” he said, looking up at Calandra. My experience tells me bad things turn worse more often than they get better.”
Calandra walked a few feet from the crashed aerorover and cast her eyes toward the eastern mountains. No sign of an attack vessel overhead. She hoped the Earthians pursuing their aerorover witnessed the crash in the ravine and assumed no survivors. If that were the case, Xttra could fly down here without encountering major resistance.
“Help me create a defense perimeter.”
Lance carried an armload of shield markers. Each marker resembled a metal stake with a cylindrical shell. A glass ball housing an electromagnetic coil topped one end. Calandra had seen images of shield markers on her holocaster. This marked her first time seeing these devices used in the real world.
He handed Calandra multiple shield markers. Lance walked several steps from the vehicle and started pounding markers into the ground. She took the other markers and mimicked his actions on the opposite side. They placed sixteen total markers, forming a perfect square around the aerorover. Four markers on each side.
Once the markers were set up, Lance brought out a square controller with three vertical buttons from the aerorover. He punched the middle button and then the bottom one. An electrical bolt discharged from the ball atop each marker. The bolts wrapped together and formed a webbing that enclosed their vehicle like a giant transparent canopy.
“Hopefully, this should protect us until Xttra gets here.” Lance cast his eyes skyward. “We can't take any chances with the aliens on this planet.”
“How long will this shield last?” Calandra studied the nearest shield marker. “Every power coil can't possibly be at full strength.”
“They should have a few hours' worth of juice,” Lance said. “I'm hoping it will be enough.”
Calandra gazed at the ravine outside the shield. Under normal circumstances, this would be a beautiful place to explore. An abundance of trees dotted both slopes and the ravine floor. Alien birds chirped from branches in multiple trees. Walking trails crossed the ravine in multiple directions.
Walking trails.
If her time spent hiking in the Aurora Mountains taught Calandra one thing, a network of trails meant people would turn up here eventually. Would they encounter friendly people at last or hostile soldiers? Maybe a sympathetic Earthian would help them
find a way back to their scout ship. Despite everything they had endured, Calandra kept telling herself a peaceful alien race lived somewhere on this planet. Perhaps even a few called this alien city home. Why else would Earth send out a probe seeking peaceful contact?
A pair of Earthians approached the aerorover. They rode atop brown four-footed animals with long snouts, deep eyes set against the sides of their heads, and erect pointed ears. Each animal wore buckled straps around its head. Long reins extended from the straps to the rider's hands. The alien animals trotted at a leisurely pace.
Lance instinctively drew his eliminator. Calandra shot a concerned glance at him and pushed the weapon down to his side with her hand. The nearest Earthian to Calandra, a man wearing a wide-brimmed hat, flashed a warm smile.
“Beautiful day out here isn't it?” he said. “A perfect day for horseback riding.”
His smile morphed into a concerned frown when his eyes fell on the wrecked aerorover. The animal he rode snorted as the Earthian gave the reins a gentle tug to make it halt. His fellow rider, a woman wearing glasses and a matching hat, stopped beside him.
“Did you have an accident? Are you injured?”
Calandra glanced over her shoulder and back at the man in the wide-brimmed hat.
“We're not hurt, but we could use your help.”
“Happy to oblige.”
“We need transportation back to our ship.” She pointed to herself and Lance. “Our aerorover here crashed and we're stuck in this ravine.”
A bewildered look crossed his face. The man in the wide-brimmed hat gazed over at their wrecked vehicle for a moment before refocusing his attention on Calandra.
“Is that some sort of flying car?”
Calandra flashed back to the first Earthian she met during her fruitless trek with Xttra into alien city. That alien woman greeted them with a similar question and ended up proving useless in helping them find the probe builders. Hearing it again stirred a feeling they were embarking down a similar path with these two Earthians.
“Can you help us or not?” Lance ignored their irrelevant question and cut right to the point.