The Convoy
Page 16
Chapter 14
Octorl piloted the shuttle far from CLERGY 5 into a nearby dust field; they were hidden from the radars of the vessel and wouldn’t be found.
“Good job. We should be far enough out.” Garth commended Octorl as he wiped sweat from his brow. Lalia had stopped panting and sat straighter in her chair, Miles rotated his captain’s chair to face her.
“Hi. My name is Miles.” He reached out with hand in greetings.
Lalia didn’t take her eyes off of his hand and the timidly shook his.
“He is alright. I have spent the past day talking with him.” Garth assured her.
“My name is Lalia Tarrus.” Lalia introduced herself, her voice now more firm.
“I know. I have heard a lot about you.” Miles admitted, he looked at a concerned-looking Garth.
“Doctor Tarrus.” Garth addressed her, “I did do what you asked me to, right?”
Lalia swiveled in her chair and faced Garth; “Yes. You did, thank Phlasia you did.”
Garth’s countenance broke, and he laughed nervously. He caught himself and turn away to stifle a sob. Lalia redirected her attention to Miles:
“I am pleased to see that you are still alive and not nearly as hostile as I had previously assumed. I apologize for kidnapping you.” She spoke slowly with much emphasis as she moved her lips and tongue.
“I understand you just fine.” Miles assured her, “I am capable of understanding and speaking your language apparently.”
“I apologize.” Lalia said with a slight bow.
Lalia cocked her head and pursed her lips in thought. She addressed Garth:
“What are we doing with my automated assistant?” she asked.
“Oh, Octorl?” Garth sputtered out, “We found him deactivated in a crate. He is yours?”
“Hmm, yes. It doesn’t matter; thankfully this means I have access to his memory cache.” She said optimistically as she switched Octorl off and began to pry open his face. Her fingers nimbly dancing around the wires and sprockets inside.
“Doctor, I don’t think his system will be accessible. He was fully wiped.” Garth tried to explain, but Octorl beeped loudly.
“System memory is inaccessible.” Octorl chirped.
“Oh. I guess you are right. How unfortunate.” Lalia sighed and released Octorl to continue piloting the shuttle’s hover through the dust field.
“Doctor Tarrus.” Miles asked.
“Please call me Lalia. I’m not a certified doctor anymore. I am a fugitive.” She said dismayed.
“Lalia, I saw your sketches. That was me.” He approached her.
“Yes. I am one-hundred-percent certain that that was you.”
“So what did you make out of it? Are we, like, dream sharing?” He asked.
“As far as I am concerned, scientifically what occurred makes zero sense. As a Callos and pilgrim aboard the Convoy, I can only say that I believe Phlasia brought us together.” She admitted, sounding only half-certain.
“You think Phlasia brought us together? You don’t have any other guesses?” Miles confronted her, his voice failing to hide his disappointment.
“Science has failed me thus far; you obviously aren’t a Callos, yet understand what you couldn’t possibly. You weren’t a supernova but destroyed an entire planet. Phlasia is a planet! Yet a million Callos are certain that some damn planet, simply because it provides us food, is a deity worthy of worship. Does that make sense to you?” She snarled and banged a fist against the console.
“I thought maybe you would be of some use to us. You kidnapped me after all!” Miles shouted in anger, he turned to face an exhausted-looking Garth:
“Right? Really! She brought me here. I was at least safe on Earth.” Miles shouted looking for some sort of agreement.
“Doctor Tarrus, please. Can’t you provide some other hypothesis?” Garth pleaded.
“Sorry kid. I haven’t got a clue. Thanks for bailing me though.” Lalia said crossing her arms and reclining in her chair.
“Doctor, please. I was certain you would be able to answer my questions. I just lost everything, I haven’t eaten or slept, and I am in a world I don’t understand.” Miles begged.
“To be honest; I thought that meeting you would provide me with the answers. I guess we are both out of an explanation and thrust into a world we can’t understand.” Lalia said with disappointment.
“Garth. Let’s space her. See how she likes being thrust into something she can’t control.” Miles suggested with bloodshot eyes.
“Miles, stop. We are all frustrated, and none of us know what to do.” Garth tried to calm them both.
Miles exhaled loudly, “I am sorry.” He apologized.
“Attention: CLERGY 6 is approaching our vector. They are unaware of their current collision course. The dust field is concealing our signal.” Octorl warned.
“Unaware of us?” Lalia sat up, intrigued.
“Yes. The Convoy vessel is nearing our location; we will collide in approximately twenty minutes. I recommend an immediate change in coordinates or a signal to the command bridge of CLERGY 6.” Octorl whirred.
“We aren’t on a collision course…” Lalia thought out loud, she turned to look at Miles and Garth, who moved nervously in their seats:
“We are on a course to intercept.” She finished.
“What? They found us?” Miles shouted.
“That isn’t possible!” Garth exclaimed.
“No. They don’t know we are out here. But we can use that to our advantage; we can rescue my lab assistant Galio.” Lalia explained.
“The Callos that kidnapped you?” Miles asked.
“No.” Lalia paused, “I basically kidnapped him.”
The two faced each other and then nodded patiently for Lalia to continue.
“Galio was my partner in much of my experiments. He was my support; I owe it to him to free him. Especially because I am certain that once word of my escape reaches CLERGY 6 Galio will be tortured. I can’t let that happen.” She explained.
“So, we are going to stage a prison break? Considering you just escaped and I am an alien species? Where then will we go?” Miles asked.
“Octorl. Would you please access the travel log?” She requested.
“Voyage date: R596667, current coordinates of CLERGY 1…” Octorl recited as his indicator shined yellow, Lalia cut him off:
“Right. The Admiral increased the speed of the Convoy to reach Phlasia quicker. That means we are ahead of schedule by several days.”
“So that puts us around Aurrus?” Garth reasoned.
“Exactly. We can free Galio and escape to Aurrus.” Lalia finished.
“What is Aurrus?” Miles asked.
“Aurrus is an oasis of sorts; the Aurrus people are peace loving and have a long-standing pact with the Callos. Every trip we exchange valuable minerals with them in exchange for some of their water and food, we have a major festival with them for three days and then we depart.” Garth explained.
“Aurrus.” Miles whispered to himself.
“We will need to free Galio tonight. He is currently in a secure detention block; but the Admiral has ordered that he be moved to a less secure facility.” Lalia explained.
“If he is going to be moved to a less secure facility why then do we need to free him now?” Miles questioned.
Lalia paused; she stood at the cockpit window and peered out;
“Because, without being secured, the other prisoners will kill him for his crimes. The Admiral realizes that he has given Galio a death sentence without getting his hands dirty, Galio will surely die.” She explained.
“So then we need to do it tonight.” Garth clarified.
“Do you have any weaponry?” Lalia asked.
“We have something better.” Garth answered gesturing towards Miles.