by Ross Buzzell
“You forged your armor from yourself; it has been purified and has returned to you Xero Lorian of Boron. You and your armor are now completely one and almost nothing will be able to pierce your skin.”
The queen moves herself to the tips of her toes, placing her plump lips so close to Xero’s hear he can feel the warm breath leaving her as she whispers to him.
“I could only cleanse your armor but your soul is corrupted young prince. Be weary of this lest it be your downfall.”
With that she dissipates into a white light and floats away leaving Xero standing awkwardly before Ja and E.
“Well… that was definitely not normal.”
E exclaims as she walks away from the skull which is already covered in moss as she begins to trudge towards their ships.
“Our mission here is done. Let us go to the last planet.”
Ja calls out as she walks over to Xero giving him a playful smack on his back side before handing him his sword back and following E. Xero places the sword on his shoulder, holding the hilt as he follows his two companions. The three do not speak a word as they trudge to their ships. Xero contemplating what he was told, Ja more than likely doing the same while E’mellor goes over the data given to them.
After the long walk the team arrives at their ships. E enters hers first and takes off; Xero and Ja follow suit. Ja’Sanfur makes her way to the piloting station and begins the lift off procedures as Xero makes his way to the sonic shower tucked away in the back. Peeling off his pants Xero steps into the shower and turns it on allowing the sonic waves to cleanse him of the grime and soot from the battle. After a few moments he hears the auto pilot notification beep. Closing his eyes he leans against the wall with one hand while running the other through his thick hair. Soft fingers take him by surprise as Ja slowly wraps her hands around his back. He feels her body press against his as she plants soft kisses up his spine sending shivers cascading over his body. Slowly the prince turns around to face her. She looks at him with such affection and love the prince cannot help but smile. In one swift motion Xero picks Ja off of the ground and gently pins her to the shower wall as their lips lock in a passionate kiss.
Chapter: 8
Xero sits in his ship as it silently moves through space. E’mellor’s ship is visible ahead of him and Ja’Sanfur stands at the back of the ship operating the scanners. Xero pulls up a camera facing inside of E’mellor’s ship. For a few moments he notices she is looking at something with great intensity. Xero waves a few times to get her attention but to no avail. He decides to speak up.
“Hey!”
E jumps and looks directly ahead. With a soft laugh she moves some hair from her face as she finally notices Xero before her.
“I am sorry. I had some odd readings come up. What can I do for you sir?”
“That is ok; you are doing your job… which is what I am contacting you about. What is the situation on this last planet?”
E looks at the scans again; she scratches her head in minor confusion.
“Well it does have life on it. Sensors indicate extremely intelligent life but that is the weird thing. The number of life forms is rapidly fluctuating.”
Xero leans forwards in his seat. A holographic scan pops up next to him yet facing away as Ja slowly walks from the back of the ship to Xero’s side and continues to work. The prince glances up at Ja who fires him a playful wink. Xero reciprocates before turning his attention back forward.
“What do you mean? Is there indication of a genocide occurring?”
E shakes her head as she puts the display on the screen with numbers moving up and down very rapidly from the low hundred millions to almost a billion in living intelligent populous.
“It is not genocide, but I do not know what it is. Have you ever seen a population’s numbers be this erratic?”
“Could there be something wrong with the sensors?”
Xero asks as he pulls up a diagnostic. Out of the corner of his eye he notices Ja shaking her head.
“It is not the sensors, mine are working perfectly and they run through the same system… I’ve run three diagnostics and everything checks out.”
Xero leans forward in his seat. Closing his eyes he rubs his forehead with his thumb and forefinger. Their mission dictates that they had to land one every planet. But every single planet in this system had been a nightmare and nearly killed each and every one of them multiple times over. Slowly Xero stands up as he glances over at the scans that Ja had been taking. His mission says to move forwards but his gut tells him to turn back, that he had been lucky to make it this far without losing either his family or his love. And if he pushed it further he could lose one, the other or both. Scratching his head as he mulls over the potentially life changing decision that sits before him, he nods to himself before speaking up.
“Is there any evidence of hostility of any kind on the planet; battles, war, even signals asking for assistance?”
E looks at her scanners once again, typing away at the holographic keyboard before her before looking back at Xero through the communications link that had been established long before they even left Boron.
“There is not, there is evidence of a battle that took place over the entire planet… but that was eons ago, potentially dating back to before even the beginning of Boronian history. So I say we are good.”
she nods. Xero glances over at Ja as if to ask her the same thing. She picks up on it and pulls up a few scans. Looking closely at them she pulls up a scan of a small object that orbits the planet, along with dozens of others.
“The habitat is hospitable. There are no disasters occurring, natural or otherwise.”
“I sense a ‘but’ coming.”
he says softly while nodding his head. Ja flashes him a soft grin.
“BUT these little floating devices are mines; they appear to be ancient, possibly used in the conflict E spoke of. All scans and indications point to them being powered down… Personally sir, I think they are duds. There is no evidence to suggest they are active.”
Xero looks at the scan of the mine; Ja was right. There is no evidence of energy readings of any kind in the device indicating they were duds. He was not going to take any chances; leaning forwards he taps his hands on the computer monitor bringing up the weapons systems and activating them to be online.
“I agree with your assessment Ja but I believe our best course of action is to destroy one of the mines to see if it causes a detonation… the last thing we need is yet another calamity.”
“I agree.”
Ja calls out with a nod.
“Same here.”
E adds. Xero looks at both women.
“So we are all in agreement on weapons free to test the mine”
“Yes sir.”
Both women say in sync. With that Xero presses a small red light. Out of the front of the ship fly two glowing rockets which have locked onto the mine. Xero keeps his eye on the trajectory map of the rockets as he activates the shielding on the ship, E follows suit.
Watching tentatively as the rockets get closer to the mines, Xero’s heart begins to pound in anticipation. 300 meters… 200 meters… 100 meters… 50, 20, 10, 5. A small flash of light fills the screens before them with sparks flying throughout space as the mine is destroyed. Ja looks at the readings and offers a shrug.
“We have contact and torpedo detonation with full mine destruction. It was not activated. It looks like we are clear.”
Xero nods as he activates the thrusters of the ship once again.
“Roger that, proceed towards planet surface, but give those mines a wide birth. I do not want to risk it.”
A pensive silence falls over both cabins as the remaining two pilots gradually enter the gravity well of the planet and allow it to slowly pull them towards it. Using thrusters they control their descent as the planet grows larger and larger in their scope of view. As they are about to enter the planet’s exospheres a red light begins to flash and the sound of the alarm ri
nging fills Xero’s ears. He looks over at Ja who is as white as a sheet. One of the mines is now highlighted in red and is being drawn to them and the power levels within it are rising rapidly.
“We have a mine headed toward us!”
Ja yells.
“Shields at maximum and brace for impact!”
Xero yells. Mag restraints form around Xero holding him in his seat. Ja sits in the co-pilot chair as mag restraints hold her in. E follows suit rapidly as both ships activate their full shielding in anticipation of the impact. After a few moments it never comes. A beeping catches Xero’s attention as he glances back to the scanners and the mine. It had stopped a few hundred meters away from them and was just sitting there. The power levels were beginning to charge up and it did not look good.
“Is that…”
Xero starts. E interrupts.
“A lot of power…”
“Yeah, two point two times ten to the thirty-eighth power of joule energy is being stored in there!”
Xero feels the knot in his stomach tighten as if to say ‘I told you so’. Quickly he maximizes his shield and positions his ship directly between the mine and the planet below.
“That is the equivalent of a star exploding… We don’t even have that kind of technology to do this artificially.”
Ja continues to examine the scanner as the power continues to rise exponentially, E positions her ship next to Xero’s. The prince notices it and yells over the communications link.
“E position yourself on the far side of the mine! This explosion is going to need to be absorbed from both sides if we don’t want it to destroy this entire sector.”
Without hesitation E positions her ship on the far side of the mine, as the mine begins to fidget and crack under its own mounting pressure.
“Turn energy absorbers to maximum, reinforce your shields and be prepared to take in a lot of energy yourself. This is going to hurt!”
As he speaks both he and E adjust their shielding, maximize the energy absorbers and stand up in their ships. Xero feels Ja’s hand nervously grip his own as she keeps an eye on the mine scan while beginning a count down.
“Brace for impact in five, four, three, two…”
Everything goes white as Xero feels X-rays pierce his body followed instantaneously by gamma rays. The force of the initial shockwave sends his craft backwards which uses the energy from the explosion to strengthen the shields and keep the ship in place. This is not enough though as radiation and the resulting explosive force is still getting into the ship. Xero concentrates as hard as he can, pulling as much of the energy as his body would allow into himself. He hears E’s voice crackle over communications interrupted by static.
“Can not…. losing… HELP!”
her communications die, another horrifying sound strikes Xero as the wave of energy continues to assault them and their ship, which has begun to buckle under the strain. Xero glances over to see Ja’Sanfur on the floor, blood dripping from her nose and her once brilliant red hair being wiped to a ghostly white. Her body could not handle that much energy. Xero throws a shield over her and places himself between her and the explosion, taking in every ounce of energy he can. After what feels like hours but is actually just a fraction of a second, the light fades. Xero glances down at his hands. Every cell in his body burns with the heat of a dying star. Clenching his teeth in pain he hears the computer calling out its diagnostic.
“Mine activity has ceased, shields at 0%, energy absorption devices have been fried, engines severely compromised. Landing sequence must be initiated in the next hour to prevent catastrophic failure.”
The warrior prince turns to see Ja slowly pulling herself to her feet. Wiping the blood from her nose, she rights herself before taking a look at Xero which causes her face to go white.
“Xero, are you ok?”
To be honest, he was not. Every cell in his body was burning, his bones felt like fire, his joints like nails, his vision was blurry and his brain felt as if it were boiling. He felt what ‘cracking’ was described as feeling like. With a quick glance down at his hands once more he sees small beams of light beginning to force their way through his skin. Without a moment’s hesitation he turns and sprints toward one of the air-lock doors designed for docking with non-Boronian vessels. He places a shield around himself as Ja charges at him and begins to bang on the bubble of energy screaming for him not to. The prince knew what he had to do. He had taken in nearly the entire energy of an explosion that would rival any supernova, enough to keep his ship intact, enough to save Ja’Sanfur and enough to save the planet below him. But if he did not act fast the entire solar system would be destroyed should he ‘crack’ uncontrollably. He gently places a hand on the shield which is so thick it allows no sound to go through, concentrating with all his willpower to prevent the shield from failing or from him cracking. He mouths to Ja ‘I love you’ as tears stream down her face and Xero pulls the door release lever with his free hand.
Everything goes silent; it is peaceful as he drifts away from the ship. Space was supposed to be cold, the coldest thing in the universe but Xero was not. His body burned as the power within him begs to be released. Slowly he turns and faces away from the planet only to notice his cousin’s ship is nowhere to be found. He sees the light beginning to pulsate from him meaning he would crack soon. Focusing on the space before him, Xero sees a section giving off no radiation energy of any kind. Putting his hand out he aims it directly for that small spot in space, focusing all of the energy he had just absorbed into his hand, Xero unleashes a massive beam of light and energy out of his body. He could feel his body begin to drain. His bones no longer burned. The nails in his joints dissipated and most of all he could feel the cold vacuum of space against his skin. A feeling of peace washes over him as he closes his eyes in anticipation of and welcoming impending death but her black embrace never comes. Confusion begins to grip him as he thinks to himself ‘computer run a diagnostic.’ After a few moments he hears the computer from his once exterior armor echo within his mind.
“The vacuum of space is having no noticeable effect on your system. The energy absorbed was enough to permanently alter your genetic makeup. I am reading a minor coronal effect field being generated by your body; it is this that has kept you alive.”
Xero slowly turns to face the ship. It did not have the power to fight against the gravitational pull of the planet or to get to him and he did not have the technology to get back to the ship. Despite this interesting side-effect of supernova he found himself trapped in the vacuum of space. Slowly the ship begins to turn as the gravity well of the planet begins to pull it in and that is when he sees it, the ship’s thrusters.
A smile forms on Xero’s face as an idea slowly creeps into his mind. It was crazy but in space there is no reason it could not work. Xero positions himself into a streamline position, facing his ship before focusing the remaining energy within his body into his hands and feet. Slowly they begin to glow as he holds them tightly and straight by his sides and directly behind him. Slowly he notices something happening; the ship had begun to get larger. With a smirk on his face he focuses more energy into his hands and feet. They glow brighter as he begins to pick up speed. After a few moments Xero allows his hands and feet to go back to normal when he realizes just how fast he has begun to close in on the ship. ‘An object in motion stays in motion unless enacted upon by an opposing force!’ Xero yells at himself as he realizes the ship was going to soon be that opposing motion. It was something taught the first day of military school when compensating for shooting projectiles in space. If they missed their target then somewhere, at some time they would be giving someone a really bad day… today was his.
Xero puts his arms up to brace himself; it does not do much good as he slams into the rear of the ship. Had he had air in his lungs the impact would have forced it out. A dull pain echoes through him as if he were an empty bell. He grabs the thruster ports and pulls himself to the side of them. Gradually he gener
ates a shield around him as he accesses the hatch. Opening it up he feels a burst of air pelt him in the face as pressure equalizes. Xero pulls himself into the ship before closing the hatch and lying on the ground to catch his breath. He glances up to see Ja’Sanfur sitting at the controls fighting to keep the descent level as the ship enters the planet’s atmosphere. Not wanting to distract her Xero pulls himself to his feet and holds onto one of the walls as she pilots the ship flawlessly onto a landing pad on the outskirts of a small tribal-like town. As she gets up and turns Xero notices that she freezes in place as she sees him. With a grin the prince shrugs at his great love.
“You are quite the pilot.”
Without a word she charges Xero, throwing her arms around him, running into him so hard that Xero bounces off of the wall. Catching himself he wraps his arms around the woman he thought he would not see again. A wave of relief washes over him as he feels her relax into his arms as she whispers behind a cracking voice.