by Drew Bell
Chapter 3
Galio pulled back slightly on the throttle. The planet had indeed gone supernova, the tell-tell plasma interference was detectable on the sensors, but the planet existed in the core of the radiation. Lalia urged Galio to bring the shuttle into the atmosphere anyways. Somehow, she was convinced that this grey sphere had something to do with her dream, female instinct or something like that he figured.
Lalia stood and leaned with her hands holding her against the cockpit’s window, she peered down as the shuttle violently shook and shuddered through the atmosphere. The shuttle’s frame had exposed wires running the length of the ship, only the front-facing pilot’s console, smooth black swiveling chairs, and several chests and tubes gave the interior any semblance to a viable means of transportation. Lalia twisted the storage compartment’s handle and retrieved her survey suit; sealed tight to protect her from the planet’s intense pressure.
“The retro-thrusters haven’t kicked on yet and we are descending too quickly” Galio shrieked.
Lalia smiled beneath her orange-tinted visor; Galio always managed to panic over the minutest things.
“Where do we land?” Galio asked with a craned neck, his eyes fixed out the window.
“The coordinates I gave you are roughly the epicenter of the explosion. Curiously the explosion seemed to have come from the planet’s surface, rather than its core.” Lalia explained.
Worried, Galio faced her and made eye contact, fear filled in his.
“What does that mean? That this might not have occurred naturally? As in what?”
Lalia urged him to continue with her eyes, his lip quivered slightly.
“Is he looking at me differently?” She asked herself.
At a time Lalia had been the most important female Convoy member, but even after the scandalous fallout Galio remained.
“Why?” She wondered, “He is my friend, but is he looking for more?”
Lalia finally replied, aware that she had been quiet in thought too long; “Yes, there is the possibility that something caused the explosion. I think I may have caused this, I was walking on the planet’s surface in my dream.”
Satisfied, Galio turned back to his console and pulled a last lever; the ship shuddered and fell the last few feet unto the planet’s surface. Already in his large oversized survey suit, he scrambled over the passenger’s seat for a mask as Lalia pulled the hatch’s release knob. After a slight hiss the hatch slowly pivoted upward, revealing an endless grey vista. She cautiously took the first step, her boot firm on the hard smooth and surprisingly warm surface. Her helmet was picking up some sort of garbled static; the noise was not gibberish, but language she quickly discerned. She turned quickly to face the intelligent life form; a pitiful looking pale figure. The creature looked enough like a Callos for Lalia to recognize the special functioning organs; it stood on two legs, had red rimmed eyes, a gaping mouth, and humorously was covering its genitals. She held back a laugh; she reached with one hand for an electro-grafter usually reserved for fusing together faulty wire connections, but would work as a weapon should she need it. She would need it in this situation. The creature raised one hand from its cupped position into an open palmed greeting of some sort, and then split two fingers into a “V” shape. The creature was about to attack her, she readied her electro-grafter, the creature had the nerve to raise both hands, completely revealing it’s self, above it’s head in a defensive pose. She brought down the weapon unto the creature’s head; with a jolt it collapsed into a spasming ball. She called for Galio to retrieve the creature, he unwillingly obliged, closing his eyes and holding his nose away from the creature.
“This thing is utterly repulsive.” Galio gagged as he lifted the creature.
“Stop complaining, this is what I was looking for.” Lalia assured him excitedly.
The two Callos loaded the creature on to their shuttle, Lalia closed the hatch and tethered the creature with cables some technician had replaced but not yet thrown away, Galio flicked his console back on and fumbled with the throttle.
“Lets hurry back home!” Galio exclaimed with glee.
The ship raised its nose slightly but then abruptly fell; Lalia looked back at Galio with concern.
He turned to face her;
“Lalia, there is another Callos vessel with bearings in our direction. Someone is coming to get us.” He explained.
“Damn it! We can’t let them find the creature.” She cursed.
“What do think they are doing?” Galio asked in high-pitched voice, higher than his usual garble allowed.
“I don’t know. I think perhaps they have come to retrieve us. They may have noticed a shuttle left and might think some young Callos wanted an adventure.” Lalia proposed, trying to sound confident, but her voice gave away some of her anxiety.
The creature began to stir, it moaned loudly. Lalia hit it again over the head with her electro-grafter.
“Hide it!” She hissed urgently.
“We should wait for the shuttle to land here. I’ll explain why we we’re here, but do not mention we found a creature. Do not let them aboard the shuttle.” She added sternly, her eyes directed towards the radar. She handed Galio a gun; the weapon had a short handle and a long muzzle, two wings protruded from the sides with a slight upturn at the end of the barrel.
“Use it if you have to.” She told him, her eyes lingered on his a while longer. She undid the latch and exited the shuttle, sealing it behind her. She stood next to shuttle waiting.
The second Callos shuttle broke the atmosphere moments later, landing beside Lalia’s shuttle, Lalia could clearly recognize the pilot Alvar Tarr, the Admiral’s brother and trusted servant. Lalia left her visor on and walked unto the planet’s surface, she waited patiently for the hyper-cooled jets to warm before she approached the other shuttle. The fact that Alvar and whoever else was aboard the shuttle took their time to cool the repulsors and to open the rear hatch scared Lalia; they weren’t in a hurry to rescue anyone.
The shuttle’s hatch lowered half-way and Alvar jumped down in his survey suit. The hatch then quickly sealed back up, preventing Lalia from seeing who else was aboard the craft.
“Lalia Tarrus. My surprise, what are you doing away from the Convoy? Especially without having notified…well, anyone?” He asked in his smug deep voice.
“I wanted to ask you the same thing.” Lalia commented, but added “But, apparently you were busy sneaking around too.”
Alvar bit his lip; Lalia was one of the smartest Convoy members, he didn’t rival her intelligence. But he did have more connections as the brother to the Admiral, he could easily pull rank, but the fact remained that no one was allowed to leave the Convoy. Even with permission from the Admiral, Alvar’s task was unprecedented; the only reason he accepted was to gain some reputation and credibility himself. The soldiers aboard the shuttle betrayed this, to receive full credit he needed to handle this himself.
“I apologize my dear doctor. But CLERGY 5 reported a shuttle without clearance leaving for the supernova we sought to avoid entirely.” Alvar stalled, he needed to think.
He grinned and added: “Why did you leave your lab to visit a supernova? What was so important you left the Convoy, risking your and your assistant’s lives, to go see?”
Alvar craned his neck to see past Lalia to her shuttle, but the equally tall Lalia blocked his view. The two side-stepped each other until his back faced her shuttle.
“Well…”Lalia wasn’t sure how to respond. No one had ever been so far from the Convoy intentionally, she wasn’t seeking attention, but no doubt the women of the Convoy would see it that way.
She took her chances, she wanted to investigate the creature more closely, and the research could provide answers more valuable than her reputation.
“I wanted to draw attention to myself. I knew that a rescue party, “She started, but she then saw Galio struggling to put the creature in his survey suit, the creature unconsciously lay limp.
&n
bsp; “So, here you are to rescue me. I am a stupid female, really, that was foolish of me. But, oh, the thrill of adventure.” She finished quickly.
Lalia was certain that Alvar was apart of no rescue party, he was likely sent to investigate the strange supernova too.
Her acting was pretty bad, but Alvar was the dumb brother, and likely would gladly accept being a hero. His stupid grin proved her right;
“Yes, I am here to rescue you. I’m happy to see you’re safe, it didn’t matter how far I would have to track you. Please, allow me to escort you back to the Convoy.” He said in his best imitation of a war hero, drawing on the memories of his ancestors who were much cleverer than he.
Lalia agreed to be led back to the Convoy, in fact she thought, it would make her reentry easier because she wouldn’t need to sneak her way back in. But Alvar added in his worst impression of a forlorn lover;
“Let me pilot your shuttle back for you, O, my lady.”
Lalia looked hesitantly back toward her own shuttle, seeing portions of Galio as though he was struggling with something. Alvar took a few strides toward her shuttle.
“Alvar, no. I can pilot my own shuttle back.” She asserted quickly to no avail.
“Alvar,” she said, holding onto his sleeve, “or I can ride back with you on your shuttle.”
“No.” he said sternly, as though he was hiding something, “No. You’ll ride in yours. I’ll fly it back.”
Lalia cringed as Alvar twisted the knob to open the hatch. The hatch hissed open and the two boarded the shuttle. Lalia gripped her electro-grafter just in case, though she was certain she couldn’t use it on a fellow Callos.
Galio swiveled in his pilot’s seat to face Alvar and Lalia, his face showed surprise at Alvar’s entrance. Galio wore no survey suit, rather only his bandage-like under wrappings remained, he maintained his mask and visor.
“Alvar? What are you doing here? Here to save us?” Galio chuckled.
Lalia strained to see through Galio’s visor, to make eye contact, but the creature was nowhere to be found.
Alvar addressed Galio sternly; “You piloted Doctor Tarrus away from the Convoy? Do you realize how foolish and dangerous that is? To a supernova no less!” his voice was more firm than Lalia would have thought possible. Alvar was no longer acting, he was serious; he was furious that Galio risked Lalia’s life.
Galio tried to defend himself; “Lalia insisted I take her out here. I followed her orders.”
“No. You will suffer the consequences. Pilot us both back, I will signal for my shuttle to leave first and provide escort. Then you will be put on trial before the Admiral for your foolishness.” Alvar demanded.
Lalia felt deeply sorry for putting Galio up to this, she had forced him to pilot her to the planet. Lalia was also scared; she had only been scared twice in her life; once when she learned she was infertile, and now that Galio was at risk. Her thoughts again returned to the creature, the cables were still missing; Galio had hidden the creature. Then Lalia noticed Galio was not wearing his survey suit anymore; the suit was hanging in its storage tube. Galio had clothed the creature in the suit and placed it in the tube.
Alvar signaled for his shuttle to escort Lalia’s ship back to CLERGY 1, Lalia and Galio would need to debrief with the Admiral. Lalia sat back in her passenger seat next to Galio. She strained herself to not look back at the hidden creature; Alvar braced himself by holding the cargo rope net on the ceiling, he was standing next to the tube where the creature was hidden.
“Thank you.” She whispered to Galio.
“No problem.” He answered, and then added “This thing had better be worth it.”
The last sentence was a little loud and Alvar took notice; he struck the back of Galio’s head.
“Shut up. Get us moving.” He ordered.
The shuttle made better time to the Convoy with Alvar’s sense of heroic urgency; whether or not Lalia had killed the creature she was not sure. However, the thing did not make any discernable movements the whole trip back.
Alvar leaned towards the survey suit’s tube;
“You should get this cleaned Galio. It smells like urine.” He laughed.
Galio looked at Lalia as they pulled into the hanger of CLERGY 1. The two made eye contact as the hatch door opened. Alvar proudly posing for the hanger workers to see him in his heroic glory.
“Phlasia help us both.” Lalia prayed