In A Universe Without Stars 1: Skyeater

by J Alex McCarthy

  Thora looks at the man only a couple of feet next to her. He looks back. They nod in unison. He looks over their heads and deeper into the enclosure. Thora looks back as well, she never noticed how diverse it actually was. The encasing takes up half of the room, the back half is filled with extra thick and lush foliage. Multiple types of trees, bushes and other vegetation, maple trees, pine trees and multiple other alien trees. She thinks they have plants here from the occupant’s planet. To make it fell like home. The vegetation is for the most part green but its other parts are filled with vibrant colors, orange, reds, pinks, blues, violets, it’s all a swirl of color to Thora’s eyes.

  “Wow,” she mutters, she’s never felt like she’s been this close to nature. Two water ponds are on each side of the encasement. One for bathing, and one for drinking, with a food composer machine next to it. There is an object near the trees, it looks just like a urinal except it’s way larger, Thora probably can fit her entire body in it. She’ll try that out when the guy with her goes to sleep. She’s sure if she has to go she can wait that long.

  The Serephin boy stands up. “Oh, yeah my name is Caer.”

  His mother taps her foot in agitation. His smile leaves. “While I’m gone you should get to know the rest,” he says leaving the room.

  Eyes stare at her from the forest.

  “I guess I should introduce myself since it seems like we’re stuck together,” the man says with a laugh, Thora is not sure if he’s laughing to break the tension or just because he’s a sick fuck. Thora caught herself, she shouldn’t think that way.

  “I’m Thora.” She puts out her hand.

  “Punit.” He shakes it.

  Thora never really got a good look at him. He towers a full foot over her five-foot, four-inch frame. He’s face is chiseled, lines aggressively outlines his jaw, his skin tanned perfectly. She doesn’t dare look down, but she never noticed how handsome he was. She notices that she still holds his hand. Her whole body blushes as she pulls her hand back. He smiles that charming grin.

  She looks down at anywhere but him. She sits on the ground, grass prickling her butt. She’ll have to get used to that. Is that the guy she’s supposed to live with until she dies or is given away?

  It could’ve been a lot worse she guesses, to be with him. But it’s too soon for her to let anybody in, with Cole gone, and the world ended, it’s going to be a very long time before she lets anyone into her heart.

  Punit sits next to her on the ground, Indian style and they start to talk. Her with where she was when they hit, about getting taken to Washington by the Astrons and it all being useless in the end she guesses.

  He talks about what he was before it happened. He was a writer in Zurich, he was self-employed and ran a sports blog. The night before he went out on a night on the town with a few buddy of his. He got drunk and brought back a girl to his place. The next morning, she was still there, naked in his bed when it started.

  He woke to some commotion he heard outside. He walked to his balcony and saw a blood red sky. His apartment exploded, killing the girl instantly and flinging him to the street two stories below. When he came to, he was too much in a daze to move, a Cell ship picked him up and he didn’t wake up until he was on the Skyeater.

  They keep talking, talking about everything, their fears, their likes, how much they like the show Seinfeld, until—

  “I have to use to bathroom, if you would excuse me, madam,” he says. He stands up gracefully for a naked man. He walks to the edge of the tree line and looks at the urinal-like thing. He shakes his head and walks deeper into the trees. Probably for some privacy.

  She wonders how long it’s been since she just sat down and talked for that long. Well, maybe they talked for a long time, it’s a completely different world to live without clocks, without the constant buzzing of her phone.

  She looks out the window and at the star in the sky, the sky does seem darker, does this ship have a night and day cycle or do the Serephins just live in permanent sunshine?

  She would hate that.

  She remembers, these guys are the Eliite, they are still a whole race of Serephins around the universe, or at least that’s what that brown alien told her.

  A blue scaled humanoid alien walks toward her, It’s has jade eyes and no lips, just a slit of an opening. She isn’t completely alone with Pupit then. It walks next to her.

  “I guess we weren’t as alone as I thought,” she says to it. It doesn’t answer, maybe the bug in her head only lets her understand and not speak other languages.

  “This grandiose of a ship, does have a night cycle,” he says. His body is smooth with scales but his voice is deep and masculine, maybe he’s a male but she has no real way of knowing.

  “What?!” she says out of surprise. Did he read her mind?

  “No, I did not read your mind,” he says as he sits down next to her. “My people mostly communicate through body movements and facial expressions. Just by watching you since your arrival I can take a gander to why you were staring into the sky and rubbing your wrist,” he says. “Am I wrong?”

  “No.”

  “Then my race is not so much different than yours when it comes to communication. Despite there being billions of species in the universe it seems there are more similarities than not,” he addresses. “My name is Fakhri. And you are Thora, correct?”

  She nods, she never would’ve thought she would ever have a chance to speak to another alien from another planet, or at least have a full conversation with one not trying to kill her.

  She looks back into the thicket of trees. The foliage shifts and moves as if there is more than one of these thing in them.

  “You must forgive the others, they are weary of newcomers,” he says. “The last few newcomers were less than welcoming. The last one to come was a Nedelican, an insufferable fellow. He was brought here and started commanding the place, taking over like the pest that the Nedelicans are. He portioned off the food, the water, and kept most of it for himself and threatened anyone of us who got in his way.”

  If Thora couldn’t think any better she’d say there was a hint of anger in his tone.

  “The Nedelicans are known for their amazing feats in battle, he could’ve easily killed any of us. After all we’ve been through. Losing our homes, our planets, we did not, could not fight back. We are already defeated which is why we are in this hell. Nevertheless the crudent had the gall to talk back to Caer’s caregiver.” He stops. He looks down or at least looks sad according to Thora, it’s hard to read such a foreign face.

  “What happened?”

  “Caer’s caregiver is far less tolerable than Caer, she shocked him, but being as prideful as he was, he didn’t give in until three of his hearts did. All at once. Boom,” Fakhri says with an odd hint of arrogance.

  “Before he, there was another poor seed. A monstrous orange ball of fur. Killed two of us. Ate them both in one bite. He was halfway through his next meal before Caer kill switched him. His death is one I do not wish to relive. Afterwards, his caregiver gave him a mouthful.”

  “That sounds horrible.”

  “Your kind do not seem like that kind of race. To cause havoc. You have my trust and the others will too. In a matter of time.”

  “Oh, there are some who are like that, they are a lot of different kinds of humans out there Fakhri. But I’m not one of them,” Thora says with a sincere smile. “How many others are there in here?”

  “Eight, I’m the only one of my species here. But I have accepted that. We all have. It looks like you have, too.”

  “Your dialect, I understand how their technology allows me to understand you but your dialect sounds way too human.”

  “It’s amazing isn’t it? Their technology and how much more advanced they are than us. My race conquered entire star systems, thirty planets we ruled over in five different systems. We discovered how to move through space without disrupting time itself. And yet, just with this little bug in our communication modul
es, it shows just how much farther we had to go. We stood no chance, we couldn’t even be able to begin to comprehend most other races languages, much less communicate with them in a sensible manner. They even translate a races idioms to the listener’s race’s closest idiom.” He laughs and looks at Thora with his jade eyes. “It’s truly is amazing.” His eyes seems to show some admiration for what they did. Thora doesn’t admire them at all.

  “How long?” Thora asks.

  “It shouldn’t take long, Caer treats us fine if we do as he says.”

  “No how long have you been here?” she asks again. He looks out the window, thinking.

  “If I had a gander I would say, five Skyeater days. They run on thirty-two hour cycles. It usually runs on the cycle of the planet they are on. The last one was mine. Which spun 1.5 times slower than your planet. The Serephins are highly adaptable.”

  Only that long? The Eliite must travel fast, planet to planet, for him only to been here seven Earth days. She doesn’t even know his story. How far more advanced was they compared to us humans. His jade eyes seem to gloss over.

  “I was the leader of my planet. Only one of the four we have conquered in our home system. Twenty-five billion of my species in the system and I ruled over ten billion of them. I doubt the other systems have had any luck,” he says to her, basically reading her mind.

  “You can even predict I wanted to ask that?”

  He nods.

  “Then you probably already know my second question.”

  He looks down again, into the grass. It already feels like it’s been years and he’s told this story enough times to not feel the sting from it. But he still does, and he probably always will, because that was his home, his world, now gone.

  “They came out of nowhere. They destroyed everything in hours and left my home planet barren. They didn’t even attempt to take our resources, not heeding our pleas when we wanted to surrender and come up with a treaty. We tried to send caution to your planet but—“

  He stops and gets up and runs into the trees.

  “I want at least one of every dominate species of every planet we conquered,” Caer says as he walks into the room. “But I have to wait for my mom’s promotion so we can get a bigger place. She’s an ascended so her promotion is basically in the bag. I want a place on the other side but my mom says the schools are better in our neighborhood, so instead I’ll be able to have a room just for my pets!”

  He bends down over them, his boyish grin hovering over the cage. Maybe she should’ve run into the trees. Eyes peer from the shadows of the trees behind here.

  “So don’t you do any funny business with that man over there, you’re already pregnant, and I want to talk human politics and Reaganomics.”

  “What?!” she says. She stammers back. Even she forgot she was pregnant.

  He walks to the bookshelf.

  “Surprised?”

  “Yes,” she replies. She hears murmurs behind her. Don’t respond to him, she thinks they said.

  “We know everything about the races we conquer.” He pulls a book from the shelf and opens it. Its pages are like metal sheets. He opens to a page that says Earth or the equivalent in his language.

  It projects an image of Earth, in its former shining glory. The bookshelf is filled with hundreds of the same kind of book.

  “This thing has info on everything from the dinosaurs, to the rise of Christ, to the rule of the Roman Empire and to the fall of mankind.” He taps the page and does a movement with his fingers. A projection of the human anatomy pops up next, a male and female standing together splayed out like the Vitruvian Man. Every single part of their bodies are labeled like frogs on a dissection table.

  He walks back to the cage and bends down really close to Thora. She can smell his sickly breath.

  “I know how you work.” He jabs her in the chest with his pointing finger. She stumbles back but doesn’t fall down. She yelps when he jabs her privates. Her hands move to push his finger but—

  “And I know how fragile you are.” He flicks her in the head. She sees black as she’s hit. She tumbles down, she tries to crawl away but she just moves into the fetal position and covers her head with her hands.

  “As long as you know that you should be fine. Ahh.” He pets her, his childish hands oddly smooth.

  “Don’t worry, as long you listen I won’t hurt you again.”

  “Caer! Come here!” his mother yells from another room.

  “I’ll be back!” he says as he runs out. Thora doesn’t get up. She’s tired, scared and alone. She just cries into her arms.

  In the middle of the Skyeater metropolis, a magnificent building stands. A place of marvelous wonder and magic, The Lubitec Menagerie. It stands at ten Serephin stories high and five miles long. Its glass dome of a top reflects the Skyeater’s sun. Yet in the alley behind its courtly back, a transport ship lands in a less than dignified way.

  The Serephins in light blue jump suits jump out of the front seats and slam the doors close. “Dammit Intei, we’re hours late!” one of them says.

  “It’s alright, Rect,” Intei replies.

  “No it’s not! If you didn’t have to make a pit stop,” Rect says motioning quotation marks. “On the way, we would’ve been done by now.”

  They walk toward the end of the vehicle, the ship is only as tall as they are.

  “It’s an hour until open, we are good. I don’t care about your hot date,” he replies.

  “If we get in trouble, I’m not standing up for you anymore asshole.”

  They walk to the back of the vehicle.

  “Just drop it, I’ll do the talking.” Intei touches the handle of the back door.

  It unlocks.

  It lets off a psst sound as it opens up. Rect sees eyes, twenty four pairs of them.

  Human.

  Locked in a large metal cage, chain-linked metal bars them from the outside. Bermea works his way to the front of the cage, pushing past the naked, scared and hopeless.

  “Go get the lifter,” Rect says to Intei.

  They push the cage on a lifter, toward large loading doors. A Serephin man, half their size, an alpha, stands in front of them. An older fellow, with a few more wrinkles than the younger Serephins and blue colored spots freckled on his sickly green skin. Despite his age and height, he has a certain elegance to him, with his red and gold silk robes that flutter in the airless alleyway and his poised I’m better than you demeanor.

  “You are late,” he says with a commanding tone, his imposing voice vibrates through the alleyway like a master opera singer.

  “Sorry Sherif we—“

  “Excuses, I have a business to run, Intei, this isn’t the first time,” Sherif says.

  In the cage, one of the humans looks out into the alleyway. Axe Simpson, a big burly bear of a black man. He swears he heard something. He sees movement behind a trash bin on the wall across from him. A glitter flashed in his vision. The three Serephins are arguing, the rest are just staring at them.

  This is his chance.

  He leans against the cage, he tries to get a better look. Something peeks out at him. It’s a small human girl and a giant rat like beast that towers over her. The girl looks in surprise, she notices him noticing her. She and the beast disappear behind the bin.

  “Wait!” he yells. The arguing stops behind him. He glances back at Intei and Rect. They throw a gander at him but then continue their business.

  “So where do you want them?” Intei says with a smug grin. Sherif pushes Intei off the lifter.

  “I’ll be taking it myself.”

  “We have to go. We have another job to go to!” Intei says.

  “Well you’re just going to have to wait, like I have been for the last few hours. I like to show the new arrivals the place so it is going to be a minute. I’ll sign your papers then.”

  “But—“

  “That’s the end of it boys,” Sherif replies. Rect punches Intei in the shoulder. Intei just slumps down. Sh
erif smiles as he pushes the lifter into the building.

  They go into the back area, a long hallway with doors labeled with everything from dressing rooms and bathrooms. It looks like the back of a theater stage. Employees pass by them as they go through the hallways. They’re dressed in extravagant blue and golds to match Sherif. They all greet him with good morning sir’s and the such.

  “Sorry about our earlier delay, I’m sure you are excited to see where you will be staying,” Sherif says to the humans in the cage. Bermea made his way to the front again.

  “Even in an advance society such as ours, we still have insufferable fools to bring us down.” He pauses, waiting for a reply. He was hoping that would’ve broken the ice a little bit. “Hmm, no reply.”

  He pushes the lifter again, heading for the double doors at the end of the hallway.

  Bermea looks up at him. His instinct tells that he can trust him, maybe.

  “Don’t worry, you’re in the safest place on the Skyeater. We will be conversing freely soon enough.”

  They burst through the double doors.

  “Welcome to my world, the most magical place in the universe. The Sherif Lubitec Menagerie.” Bermea visual sensory overloads instantly. The main foyer is filled with five giant cages and a light display to make the local deep space auditorium light show jealous. A machine in the middle of the foyer shoots off orbs of lights in every direction, filling them with hundreds of blue and gold colored orbs that swim majestically in the air like an unbroken wave. The colors swirl through the rainbow in an instant as Bermea stares at them in wonder.

  “The colors change based on your emotions and brain sensory, figuring out and matching the best color combinations to keep your interest.”

  “You own all this?” Bermea asks.

  Sherif looks down and smiles. “Why yes, it’s my pride and joy.”

  He pushes the lifter again, away from the lights and wonder and toward the bestial area.

  “When I was a kid I used to want to be a multitude of things when I grew up. At first I wanted to be a scientist, to research the workings of the universe and to understand where our powers came from. Then when I became a little older I wanted to be a soldier, to fight in the Councils army. But when I started to learn that all of that would, in the long run, be useless. I decided I wanted to do something, something that could inspire people and make them forget about their problems and troubles.”