Island Girls

by Rodzil LaBraun

  "Who is going to fly the ship?" I asked. "We are not trained in your alien technology."

  "Oh, but you are!" Delilah raised her voice for the first time as she sat forward. I could sense her urgency. "The virtual reality game was a simulator. I had hoped that Zachary would be among you, but Drexel has enough experience to figure it out. Most of it is automated anyway. You would not have any control over navigation until you were a safe distance from our ship. That is mandatory protocol."

  "This all seems too unreal," Nancy said.

  "Security officers have been alerted to your absence in the detainment zone. That is another expression that we use for your habitat. Your escape routes are now limited. The longer that you wait, the harder it will be for you to succeed. You can either trust me or die."

  "How do we get to the ship?" I asked. This alien woman's explanations were filling in the holes in the puzzle too well for me to dismiss. As far-fetched as some elements of the story seemed, we had to trust her. We had already witnessed real executions in the arena. This person was offering us an opportunity to get away from that life, and death.

  "Orange arrows will appear on the floor briefly when you press the orange button on your arm. I will adjust your route as needed to minimize your opposition, so that route might change as you go. Keep checking for updates. Any of you can activate the arrows, so they will work even if you are separated. I strongly encourage you to go now."

  "What about you?" Shira asked. "Won't you be punished for helping us?"

  "Yes. Thank you for your concern, Shira. You have always been a favorite of mine, due mostly to your modesty. No offense to the rest of you. But, yes. They will come for me, too. I have my own escape to coordinate. Once you are safely in your vessel I will depart as well. If things go as planned, I will attempt to rendezvous with you in the near future."

  "Sounds good!" I yelled from the doorway as I waved for my friends to exit. "Let's go!"

  "One more thing, Joah," Delilah said as she stood and took a few steps forward. Her body was as slim and sexy as I remembered it. Her walk just as divine. She looked like a true queen with her natural elegance. "I will guide you to a weapons locker along the way. You may need firepower to reach your destination."

  The little orange arrows led us through a maze of corridors and ladders. Sometimes, it seemed like we were going around in circles. But nearly every time that the arrow told us to turn or retreat, we heard security teams approaching. They were producing the same sounds that I had heard earlier in our flight from the island zone. Perhaps some of it was their native tongue.

  Delilah was proving herself true to her word. If only we left sooner, we might have made it to the small space craft by now. Those answers to our questions were essential, though, before we could decide what to do. No sense in rehashing that now. We had to keep going.

  At one point when we climbed through a small door and down a ladder, there were no arrows at the bottom to guide us. We could hear the sound of guards moving through the corridor that we had just left. When Drexel returned up the ladder, he confirmed that the arrows were active again on that level. The ladder shaft move was just for temporary concealment.

  It wasn't until we dropped two more levels before the arrows led us directly into a wall. There was button flashing orange beside some very clean seams in the wall construction. When I pressed the button, two doors opened to reveal a weapons cache, just like we had experienced inside the game. I selected the pulse rifle again as Drexel chose something that he called a needle gun. That left two laser pistols. Trixie and Lin were the best candidates for those. I clearly remembered how pathetic Nancy was at shooting during our starship game episode.

  "Remember, we are not in the game," I told them. "The danger here is real. Use your weapons wisely.”

  It wasn't long after that we encountered our first gunfire. Two security droids, each on square bases with balls for feet rounded the corner and opened fire. The units were less than two feet tall, making them difficult targets. The ammo appeared to be hot plasma bolts and scarred the walls around us as we dove behind the corner. The last one to take cover was Trixie and it cost her. I watched as the hot bolt from the droid's weapon burned straight through her shoulder.

  Trixie screamed in agonizing pain as she dropped to the floor beside us. The only good thing about the type injury is that the intense heat cauterized the wound. She wouldn't bleed out. But her left arm would be worthless now, though, and the pain would reduce her mobility, despite jabbing the pain relief button on her arm repeatedly in frustration.

  "Fuck, that hurts," she screamed. Many of our group were staring at her in shock. I get that. The first battle wound was always an eye opener. How could they forget that the security droids were still in pursuit? Then I quickly remembered. These people in my squad are not trained soldiers. Even Drexel was just a video gamer. But that was better than nothing. I should be treating the rest of them like civilians in rescue, not expecting any tactical contribution.

  "Drex," I shouted to get his attention. "Once I cross the hallway and behind cover, pop out this side a fire a few shots, then dart back. I'll have them distracted for one second. No more. Don't stay exposed for longer than that. Do you understand?"

  "Yes," and he nodded. I could see him put on his game face. His eyes were still wide as Trixie continued to complain.

  "Get ready." Once Drexel was in position, I planted one foot in the hallway then dove forward, firing my pulse rifle down the corridor with one hand. I made it behind cover before any plasma headed my way. It was both weak and short lived, as Drexel popped out as instructed and fired needles at the only droid still functioning. One of my shots must have gotten lucky. After he returned to the safety of the corner, I peeked to confirm that we had taken out both units.

  Drexel's needles were made of extremely thin metal and carried an electrical charge. A perfect weapon against droids if you could manage to send a current into their circuitry. They would also slide efficiently right through flesh, though not blasting an impressive hole like my weapon.

  "They're down, let's go!" I yelled at my group. Drexel lifted Trixie by her other arm to get her on her feet. I saw the panic fade from Lin's face. She might be useful now as a third gun. The rest of them were just along for the ride. Baggage, we used to call them. Don't lose them, they are valuable. But they'll slow you way the fuck down.

  The next opposition that we faced were organic. Thesphilians, I assumed. They were super thin, though not as much as Delilah, and very dark skinned. But not black. One was green and waxy looking like a poisonous frog. Another with navy blue skin. The third a chocolate brown. Each had bright eyes and wore the shiny red uniforms of their positions.

  Fearless soldiers they were not. One turned tail and ran as soon as he saw us, the blue guy. Greenie and Brownie attempted to fire but only managed to get the ceiling a few times before my spray of plasma took them down. Drexel had retreated for cover, not reading the risk factor properly. I couldn't blame him. It's a split-second decision that could mean your life. But I'd feel better with someone to back me up in that situation. I decided the mental adjustment that needed made was mine. I couldn't count on any of these people learning combat tactics during this escape. But it wouldn't stop me from giving them a few pointers.

  "Drex, make sure you get a couple shots off before you dive for cover if we walk in on them. If they are laying in ambush, don't bother. If they are totally incompetent, I'm going to try to take them all down terminator style. Feel free to pinch in when you see me doing that. Also, if its droids, put a few needles in one of them as quick as you can. Reducing their firepower by picking them off one at a time will be essential, since they refuse to retreat or be intimidated."

  I could see my instructions registering as I spoke. It wasn't a waste of breath then. That was good. Lin was also paying attention, but I had mixed feelings about putting her in the line of fire. She might be the only one of our women that could contribute to the fight, but I des
perately wanted to avoid getting her shot.

  Before we could round the next corner, we heard opposition from our rear. Trixie took another blast since she was the slowest of our team to take cover. This one struck her in the back of the head and did not leave a pretty sight for the ladies. Her skull had partially melted as her hair caught fire and burned away in a second. Nancy screamed, Shira shuddered in paralyzing fear, and Lin gripped her pistol way too tight as she took deep breaths.

  Just when I was about to tell her to relax a little on the weapon, she stepped out into the corridor and fired three shots into the chest of a droid, demobilizing it.

  "Nice job," I told her as she returned to safety. "Next time I'll be ready to support when you do that."

  "My bad," she said. "I kind of zoned out on everything but my nerve to shoot."

  "Now that you've had a good experience, build on it. But don't get sloppy. The zone can be a good thing. However, overconfidence can get you killed."

  I finished off the last droid and we moved again. Right into an ambush. I made the mistake of not checking the orange arrows first before we entered the new corridor. Drexel took multiple shots to the chest and dropped in a bloody heap. His gasping for life sustaining breath was very brief.

  I wasn’t sure what the weapon was that killed him. The shots sounded like a grenade launcher, but the wounds resembled a large caliber bullet. Logic suggested that no one would use a high-speed projectile inside a spaceship, but technology was clearly far advanced.

  "Fuck!" I yelled. It was not good to lose control of yourself in front of your team, but Drexel's death could have been avoided. True, he did not clear the corner before stepping into the open, but I had to share the blame. The arrows pointed into an empty room. Once I got the rest of us in there the door closed. I assumed that would only benefit us long enough until the bad guys reached the door. Or maybe Delilah could lock it.

  The arrows then directed us to another tiny door. We speedily went through it and down the ladder. We landed in an identical room below it, only this one was mostly dark. Light from a star was shining through the window in the hallway to illuminate the opening. I crept into the light and looked around. No guards visible. I tapped my orange button to get more arrows. They went around the corner, down the hallway, then into another room.

  In that room was the small space craft. It could have passed for a space shuttle from my time, except instead of wings it had long tubes where running boards would be on a truck. The entry door was on the left side and gaped open invitingly. Still no guards. Apparently, these dumb asses couldn't figure out our targeted destination. I expected a security team to be guarding the ship. No doubt Delilah's navigation had something to do with that.

  I felt a sense of relief getting the four of us into the shuttle. We were all lucky to still be unharmed. We lost Trixie. That was sad. Though rough around the edges she was a nice addition to our group and growing on me fast. But losing Drexel meant that we had no one capable of flying the vessel. If I had known there would be a test, I thought to myself. I would have spent more time learning the alien controls in what we had considered to be a virtual reality game.

  I took a seat in what I assumed was the pilot's chair as Lin sat in the remaining front row seat. That left Nancy and Shira taking seats behind us. I noticed right away a button flashing orange on the console. Well, orange had been Delilah's navigation color all along. So, I punched it eagerly.

  The door closed surprisingly quick, this one with a whoosh sound. I'm glad everyone's limbs were inside. I sensed the cabin pressurizing as the engines powered up. Then the glittery blue force field protecting us from empty, airless space disappeared.

  I waited a few seconds, but we did not go anywhere. Our ship still sat in the same place. That's when Lin pointed out a series of smaller buttons that were flashing orange in a sequence. There was a variety of things happening on the console, so I didn’t notice it at first. I watched a few repetitions to make sure I got the order right. I apparently did well, because our craft began to lift, then move forward.

  After clearing the starship's docking bay, the thrusters kicked in and we moved a little faster. As long we don't get shot at by a large weapon on the outside of the ship, or some sort of space torpedo, we should be okay. The vessel was sound and airtight. No indications that there could be a mechanical failure so far. Auto-pilot was supposed to get us clear of the starship safely.

  I still didn't know how to fly this ship once we cleared the automatic control zone. At some point, Delilah's instructions would be out of range and we'd be on our own. I decided to spend some time studying the button and screen layouts. Everything that these slave owning aliens had provided for us in our habitat was custom made for us. This ship clearly was not.

  After a couple minutes of putting some space between us and the mother ship, our directional thrusters turned us seventy degrees to the left and forty degrees down. That's when we saw it for the first time. The starship was in orbit around a planet. Even at this distance we could see the blue and white swirl of atmosphere that was so reminiscent of Earth. An emotional surge welled up inside me, like we were finally going home. It certainly wasn’t our home planet in front of us. I had seen enough photos from space to know what Earth should look like.

  Could it really be? Were we free? Was that planet below us going to be our salvation?

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO:

  As soon as we began our descent two shots were fired across our bow. They missed by a safe margin silently. There was no rocking to our ship or turbulence like they showed in the movies. We merely saw the two bright green blasts pulse by then fade into the distance. Two more were fired a few seconds later and missed by the same margin.

  We were not engaged in evasive maneuvers, so their targeting system must be far inferior to the rest of their technology. Either that, or they had no intention on hitting us. I found that scenario peculiar. They had no issues with killing Drexel and Trixie back on the starship. The craft that we were currently in did not belong to them, so you wouldn't think that they were avoiding damage to the ship. There must be something onboard that they did not want to destroy.

  "Nancy, Shira," I said to our teammates seated behind us. Cabin gravity was stable. It did not look like we would be entering the atmosphere anytime soon. "Can you search the cabin to see if there is anything of value."

  There were no seat belts. However, the chairs were almost too narrow for our bodies. I could barely get my ass into the seat. I was mildly worried about getting back out. The arms did move out of the way when I sat down, so hopefully that would happen again when we are ready to disembark. While seated, they flipped down across our lap, presumably to function like a seat belt.

  "How do I get out of this thing?" Nancy asked. Just then Shira's seat arms retracted, and she showed Nancy where to press to release hers.

  It only took a minute to search the interior of the ship. There was only one room and not many compartments. The two foremost stations had access to most of the controls. The seats pivoted and allowed a small person to move all around them. The next two stations had wall consoles, but neither were currently active. Since I seriously doubted that they had anything to do with navigation, we didn’t bother poking around.

  Behind those four chairs was an open space beside the door. After that, a soft bench seat that could easily hold three humans, or at least five Thesphilians. It circled one side of a narrow table that had recessed compartments to presumably hold food and drink secure during maneuvers.

  The hull of the tiny vessel appeared to be maybe five feet thick, but I assumed that much of that space held systems vital for flight and life support. There would be plenty of room for storage unless the drive mechanism for this thing required more room than the design suggested. The back end of the shuttle was maybe twenty feet long after the cabin ended.

  "We found two survival kits, but they are lodged inside the framework of the walls somehow," Shira told me. "I don't know how t
o release or open them."

  “How do you know that they are survival kits?” Lin asked as she pivoted her chair to see.

  Nancy pointed at a label, “It says survival kit right here.”

  “In English?”

  “Yeah,” Nancy replied. “That’s weird, huh?”

  It was more than weird. An alien vessel with controls that we could not read, but survival kits labelled in a human language. They could only be meant for us. Did Delilah prepare them? "Anything else?'

  "No, nothing. There isn't even a bathroom in this ship." Shira announced.

  "Okay," I replied as I continued to study the control panels. "I'll figure out how to dislodge them after we land."

  A screen in the center of the console was displaying our position in between the ship and the planet. Though our engine thrusters pulsed a few times to increase our speed, we were still closer to the starship than entering the planet's atmosphere. Until that point there was nothing else displayed on the screen. Then a new item appeared to catch my attention.