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Lynch, Deni, Kaz and G.R. had nowhere to hide in the earthship as the thunderous assault of the incoming engines wound down to a pulsating purr just beyond the AstroLab’s open door. Deni yelled to Kaz. “Close the ramp!”
“Hurry,” G.R. added.
Kaz rushed to aft ship and grabbed the crank. She couldn’t miss seeing the crimson-colored, boomerang-shaped spacecraft parked just thirty yards away with its engines idling and crisscrossing red laser beams slashing across the barren terrain from thin rectangular windows in its midsection. Trembling, she whispered, “Lynch saw Satan,” and then she couldn’t move.
“Kaz!” Deni yelled. “Take a breath and crank!”
Kaz jerked in response and murmured, “Breath! Okay!” She tightened her grip on the crank and lopped it end-over-end with such force her body bounced up and down. The weighty door rose an excruciating half-inch with each turn. She cranked harder, until her hands burned and arms ached as if they were pulling from their sockets. Grunting and groaning with teeth gnashed, she shrieked in frustration at having the ramp only two feet off the ground.
A door slid open on the metallic red spaceship’s near side and five dark figures stepped out, single file. As the aliens approached the AstroLab, Kaz’s legs started to buckle, but it wasn’t from exhaustion. The astral life forms looked like men on Earth; two blond-haired, two dark-haired—one considerably taller than the others—and one with curly black hair and brown skin. Brilliant blue jumpsuits clung to every muscle of their well-defined bodies, and yellow utility belts at their waists held eight unidentifiable devices. Burnished silver greaves, like those worn by Grecian warriors, sheathed their legs from knee to ankle.
Kaz held the crank but forgot to turn it. She could only stare. The five burly men looked like Superman minus the big S and red cape. As they neared the ship, the shorter, dark-haired man jogged a few yards forward and hopped onto the ramp. Kaz snapped back and frantically turned the crank. The stranger neared with a smile and saluted with what looked like a Boy Scout salute. He stepped inside. “Welcome to Jenesis.” He moved Kaz’s hands from the crank and reversed it to lower the ramp. His colleagues came aboard talking to each other in English.
The aliens assessed the other earthlings who were injured and too shocked to do anything but stare. Wasting no time, the two blond-haired men headed to the airlock leading to the space station.
G.R. yelled at their backs, “Don’t go in there. The space station’s laboratory may have sustained damage. You’ll risk contamination.” When the men continued, he yelled louder, “Don’t go in there! There are biohazards from research and experiments.”
One replied without looking back. “We have safeguards. We must know what’s aboard before leaving the ships unattended.”
Lynch turned on his authority. “There’s no one else aboard. The space station and Wizard are unoccupied.”
The men opened the airlock hatch and crawled through, shining a light ahead.
Deni didn’t blink, not wanting to miss a second of being in the company of astral beings that looked and spoke like earthlings. But although they appeared friendly, nothing could be taken for granted. To spark a kinship with the black man she asked, “‘Leaving the ships unattended’? Where are you taking us?”
“We are agents from Ulwor,” he replied. “You will be welcome there.”
She tried to piece tidbits together. “But when you came aboard, you said this was Jenesis.”
The black agent walked to the flight deck and snooped around as he spoke. “Our planet is Jenesis. You’ve crashed in the neutral sector. We are from the continent of Ulwor.”
The two dark-haired agents rifled around and picked through the wreckage, then the tall one lifted the blanket covering Faith’s body. “I’m sorry to see that you lost one of your crew.”
Kaz moved to his side and searched his face with tense eyes. “We don’t know how she died. Nothing seems wrong and there’s no blood or anything. What could’ve happened to her?”
He parted Faith’s left eyelid with his gloved fingers and looked at her eye. “No time to examine her now,” he said. “Someone will come back later.”
“She’s our crewmate. We can’t leave her here.”
“Her death will be handled properly,” the tall man said, “at a later time.”
The two blond-haired agents returned from the space station. Both carried transparent sacks filled with vials and research materials.
G.R. watched in alarm as the men walked by with the old experiments. “Please don’t expose those!” he begged. “Please handle them carefully!”
“You have nothing to worry about,” one replied as they headed out the door. The heart-shaped frame holding Kaz’s photo showed from the side of his bag.
The black agent announced, “Time to depart your ship. No time to search for personal effects.”
Lynch asked, “Will we get medical help?”
“Your injuries will be taken care of.”
The three remaining agents gathered around the four AstroLab crewmates and escorted them from their ship. Lynch and a dark-haired agent were first down the ramp, followed by G.R. steadied by Kaz on one side and the black agent on the other. Noting Deni’s splinted ankle and the makeshift cane, the tall, dark-haired alien held her arm to assist. She stared without letting it show—the man stood a foot taller than she. Beyond the doorway, the luminous red, boomerang-shaped craft idled near the lake. Like something from a scary sci-fi movie, the water’s surface churned with hissing bubbles in reaction to the ship’s engines. Hobbling down the ramp in the agent’s grip, Deni secretly looked for Bach. He wasn’t in the AstroLab when the aliens arrived, and was nowhere in sight.
The agent pulled her to a stop at the end of the ramp. “Wait here.” He rushed back inside, headed straight to Faith’s body, and lifted the blanket. Her head was turned to one side with eyes closed. Wisps of blond hair framed her angelic face and the gold cross pendant lay on her chest. He grasped the chain and examined the cross. Muttering something under his breath he pulled off his glove, unclasped the necklace, and stuck it under a flap on his utility belt as he darted down the ramp.
Once in his ship, the tall agent seated Deni with Lynch, Kaz, and G.R. on a semicircular padded bench just inside the door. He passed through a darkened alcove leading from the holding area to the cockpit where the aliens from Ulwor all spoke in hushed voices.
Elaborate surveillance systems clicked and flashed around the crewmates. Deni whispered to the others, “Watch what you say … recorded.”
G.R. tried to sit upright, but grabbed his lower back with both hands and groaned through clenched teeth. “I don’t care who they are, as long as they give us medical attention.”
Kaz groused at Lynch, “You and your big idea of making contact.”
“We didn’t contact them,” he replied in an iron-edged whisper.
She sighed forcefully. Her crewmates stared. Staring back, she suddenly realized Bach wasn’t there and leapt up with a shout. “Bach? Where’s Bach?”
Deni grabbed her. “Kaz, no!”
The tall agent appeared in the inner doorway. He pounded his open hand with his fist and scrutinized the crewmates’ faces one-by-one. “What’s bok?”
The earthlings made no eye contact. When silence grew uncomfortable, Lynch spoke out. “She’s askin’ for her books, the ship’s logs.” He exaggerated his twangy drawl. “She maintains the books.” He nodded toward Kaz. “She hit her head when we crashed. She’s not right.”
The agent walked away. “She won’t need books.”
The man was barely out of sight when Kaz inched from her seat and, before her crewmates could stop her, backed toward the open door and slipped outside like human liquid. She rushed toward the AstroLab, looking for Bach on the way. “I’m not leaving without him.”
Footsteps closed in strong from behind and the tall agent grabbed her with a powerful overhand grip. “You’ve jeopardized your future.”
/> She stiffened in his grasp. “I need … I need my books.”
The man stared from steely dark eyes. “You’re lying about books. What are you after?”
Trembling, Kaz turned on a girlish charm. “No, honest. There’s nothing else of value except our journals. They have specs and communications frequencies.” Then came a brainstorm. “And there’s data on the lab experiments.”
“Lab experiments?” He hesitated for a moment. “All right, find the books.”
With the agent at her side, Kaz plodded toward the earthships, covertly searching for Bach on the way. On the chance he’d made it back to the ship, she stopped walking as they neared and talked loudly to the agent. “You’re so nice to let me get my books from the ship.” She touched his bicep. “Will you get one of my crewmates to help me, or will you help? I’ll have trouble finding them by myself.”
He pushed her forward, air huffing from his nose. “You wanted the books, you get them.”
The alien looked on as Kaz searched the disarrayed cabin and complained.
Bach was nowhere to be found.
Within minutes, the agent grew impatient. “That’s it, long enough.” He grabbed Kaz’s arm just as she found the first book in a pile of trash.
“Gosh, you seemed nice at first, but now….” She shoved the book to his chest, expecting him to hold it. He pushed it back. Her temper flared. “Don’t you know how to treat guests in your solar system?”
“It’s not a solar system, it’s a zone.”
“Zone? Who cares? You’re supposed to be nice.”
“Nice, like the people on your planet?” he said.
“Yes, we would treat aliens to the best of everything.”
He smirked. “That’s not what happens to the blue planet’s alien visitors and you know it.”
“The blue planet? It’s Earth. And what would you know about Earth? You’re just a grunt who works your planet’s security.”
“That shows how much you know.” He puffed up with pride. “We’re Rooks—Rulers of other kingdoms. Now if you want your books, hurry up, and shut up!”
Rooks. Rulers of other kingdoms. His words hung in the air. Heart pounding, Kaz searched in silence for the other journals as the irritated Rook looked on. When she found the third book, he prodded her out the door, never offering to help with the heavy load.
Trudging across the barren planet with the Rook on her heels, Kaz’s cynical side surfaced at seeing red laser lights zinging from the alien spacecraft’s windows. The lights looked like those in a trendy nightclub, but this nightclub was more likely a taxi to hell. She looked at the Rook and mindlessly grumbled, “I hate nightclubs and taxis.”
He ignored her. When they reached his ship he lifted a journal from her arms, thumbed through the pages then slammed it shut. “You wasted my time on this primitive drivel?” He grabbed the other books from her grasp and strode to the gurgling lake.
Kaz caught up just as he hurled one of the books into the water. She swatted at his arms and yelled, “Stop it! Don’t destroy our records.”
“We have no use for such nonsense.” He flung the second and third books into the lake then turned around with a humorless laugh. She lunged like a wildcat and knocked him off balance. His arms windmilled like an overwound toy as he pitched backward into the bubbling black water. When he tried to stand, a froth of gray foam stuck to his blue bodysuit and took him back down.
Kaz hid her amusement. “Thrash in your bubblebath, Bigfoot,” she whispered with a smirk.
The Rook crawled to shore on hands and knees, coughing, sputtering, and uttering a rash of strange words. The gold cross and chain fell from his utility belt onto the sand, unnoticed. He grabbed Kaz by the arm. “That death lake could have killed me.”
“Death lake?”
“Shut up.” He shoved her toward his ship.
She complained all the way. “Stop it, you’re hurting me. You’re not very nice. Where are you taking us?”
He pushed her onto the bench beside her crewmates. The door sucked closed on his words. “To Ulwor—the Ultimate World.”
As the ship ascended, its red laser lights cast a hellish aura over the golden sand and churning lake. From narrow rectangular windows, the earthlings saw a fading glimpse of the space station with the two smaller ships tucked under its wings. The words United States of America near the AstroLab’s tail bid them farewell. Kaz’s cry for Bach blended in with the engines’ whine.
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When the enemy ship went airborne, the vacuum-like pressure under the boulder eased off and Bach struggled to swim out. Billions of hissing bubbles clung to him as if trying to restrain him, but he fought with every stroke to surface, and exploded from the water gasping for breath. The hot air reeked of noxious rocket fuel, yet he hungrily sucked it deep into his lungs as he staggered from the lake and fell to his knees.
He looked into the black Jenesis sky as the last speck of red light from the agents’ ship vanished into the darkness. He closed his eyes, but the image wouldn’t leave, and the finality of it all stirred emotions he’d never felt before. Alone and shivering, Bach wept. “I failed them. They were lost. It was my job to get them home, now they’re lost again, and Faith is dead.” He pounded the sand and gnashed his teeth so hard his jaw hurt. “I’m closer to heaven, so why am I tasting hell?”
When an ounce of courage finally opened his eyes, Bach pushed himself up from the sand. But there was something more than sand beneath his right hand. He lifted Faith’s necklace from the shore and stroked the small cross, wondering how it got there. Staring into space, he put the necklace in his pocket with a cry of anguish that echoed across the desolate landscape. Then he turned back to the lake and waded in, waist deep, to his shoulders, then disappearing beneath the frothy surface.
The water churned and bubbled like a witch’s cauldron.
*****
CHAPTER NINE
Soaked to the bone and covered in seething bubbles, Bach slogged to shore with a logbook in his hands.
He refreshed himself with a few deep breaths then, hoping to find the other two journals, waded back into the water. But a strange sensation stopped him short. His body felt heavy, as if the air pressure had changed. Stress reaction, he told himself. Filling his lungs with air, he prepared to dive under again when a peculiar chilling breeze rolled through the darkness and the air quivered with vibrations that prickled his skin like the charge from a nine-volt battery on the tongue. A faint sound, like muffled clapping, closed in from all sides, and a cross-shaped imprint appeared on the glowing sand.
“Oh, God, more invaders!” he cried. “I’m not going without a fight.” He splashed out of the water, raced to the AstroLab and plowed through the debris for something to use as a weapon. A two-foot length of metal pipe would have to do.
The fluttering sound intensified with an ear-popping vacuum. Then everything fell so quiet Bach heard the blood from his pounding heart coursing through his ears.
A faint swish outside broke the stillness, followed by footsteps of more than one moving across the sand. Bach raised his weapon over his head and flattened his back to the wall alongside the open doorway.
Someone reached the ramp. Their approaching steps drew closer, then stopped at the doorframe. A light shone through the cabin and a female called out, “Hello?”
Bach’s voice cracked. “Who’s there? Don’t move. Put your weapons down.”
“Our weapons are secured.”
“Just stay right where you are. What do you want?”
The woman spoke, “We’re here to take you to safety.”
“I’m not leaving.”
“We’ve come in peace. Unfortunately, the Rooks arrived first. You’ve crashed in what’s supposed to be the neutral sector, but you can’t stay here.”
“Rooks? Neutral sector?” his words tumbled out.
A fragile but firm elderly male voice spoke out with a sense of urgency. “Please, may we enter? You are in great danger.”
Bach readied for battle. The pipe quivered in his hands over his head. “How many?”
“Two. My daughter and I,” the man replied.
“Only she can come in … and slowly.” He tightened his grip and prepared to swing.
The female flashed the light through the wreckage as she stepped inside. Bach tried to stifle his heavy breathing, but couldn’t. She turned to see him flattened to the wall with the pipe raised menacingly over his head and an astonished look on his face.
She moved forward and extended her hand.
He shook the pipe as a warning, scrutinizing her shimmery silver jumpsuit and odd knee-high platinum boots. When his eyes stopped on her face, he saw before him a woman so rivetingly beautiful he felt like he’d grabbed a hot wire that surged so hard he couldn’t let go. Silky dark hair fell softly over her shoulders, and eyes the color of blue satin sheets highlighted a face beyond the standard for perfection. A circular, gold-colored crystal icon on the jumpsuit over her heart seemed alive with energy, as if illuminated. His eyes moved from her face to the transparent icon, to her outstretched hand. He loosened his grip on the pipe and dropped his hand to his side.
She seemed to smile.
He stared without moving. The woman’s sky-blue eyes almost overpowered him. She has to be a friend, he rationalized, she’s young and courageous, and doesn’t have a weapon. But, beautiful people can be evil too.
“My name is Star.” Her words startled him. “Welcome to Jenesis.”
Alpha Rising Page 5