by Maia Starr
I knocked on the door. The door slid open quickly, and I realized there must be a soldier guarding my door. That was going to make it harder to escape.
“I wish to see the flight deck,” I said. I didn't know if I was allowed to roam the ship, but General Razook had mentioned that I was not a prisoner. I assumed that meant I did not have to stay in my room.
“Yes, human, allow me to escort you,” he said in a very military way.
He turned, and I followed him down the maze of halls, and I was shocked at how big this ship was. It was very shiny and white. I could see my reflection in the walls.
All around me there were many gadgets on the walls. They were blinking with all kinds of fascinating colors. There were purple lights. Green and red lights and orange. I didn’t know what any of these things did. There was writing on all the panels that I could not read. We passed rooms with open doors. I peeked inside as I passed. I could see holographic projections on the walls. Some of them were of maps. The others looked like a map of different solar systems.
That was when I remembered. I was in a vessel that had traveled many galaxies to get to Earth. It was absolutely fascinating, and for a moment I felt like smiling, even though I was a captive of these strange alien dragon men. I was still in a very beautiful spaceship and looking around made my jaw drop. As we walked through, soldiers saluted General Razook. It was obvious that he was the supreme leader on the ship and I found it sort of impressive. I liked that he was the one in control; there was something attractive about it. But then I stopped myself. Stop being attracted to an alien! I screamed inside my head.
Finally, he led me to an open room with a large glass wall, and I realized it was the windshield of the spaceship. It was the flight deck. It was beautiful. I could see the large clouds outside. It was like being in an airplane and looking out the window; we were that high. The soldier nodded to me and then stepped away and stood against the back wall watching me. I realized he was to be my escort around the ship.
“You are the human female,” I heard a deep voice say. I turned to see a very tall Veruka standing behind me. He was standing close: too close for comfort. He had jet-black hair and his eyes were yellow and seemed to glow. He had a menacing smile, and he did not make me feel good about his presence. There was something that I didn't like about him. It wasn't the same way that I disliked General Razook; this was different. I could tell this creature did not have good intentions.
“Yes, I am,” I said stating the obvious. His eyes removed from my face and went over my breasts all the way down to my feet and then back up. He was taking his time. I shifted my weight feeling very uncomfortable. When General Razook did this to me, it was sexual. This creature was looking at me like he was going to eat me for dinner.
“My name is Lieutenant Qon; it is an honor to meet you, human.”
“Thank you,” I said trying to turn back towards the windshield and in the conversation. But I felt his hand on my arm stopping me.
“It is rude to not give your name in return after you have been given a name. Or do the humans not have manners?” he said with his eyebrows frowning at me.
“My name is Hannah,” I said, and then I yanked my arm away from him. I turned toward the windshield and stepped away from him. I heard him laughing behind me. He was awful.
“Report,” I heard a familiar voice say as stomping sounds entered the room. I turned to see General Razook walking in.
“Yes, General; we are approaching the human colony Hartford in thirty minutes,” the pilot said.
“Good,” he said. Then he saw me. “Hannah, it is good to see you emerge from your room,” he said.
“I thought I would see your ship,” I said.
“And what do you think?” he asked.
“It is very impressive. But this is my first alien spaceship, so I have nothing to compare it to,” I said.
“Trust me; it is the best and fastest in the twelve galaxies outside of Earth. The other races we are acquainted with cannot compare,” he said.
“Other races?” I said with my eyes wide. “You mean that there are other types of aliens out there?”
“Of course. You do not think that humans and Veruka are the only ones that exist in all the universe? That would be ridiculous,” he said.
Well, he was right. I never expected for cyborgs to take over the Earth, so why not lots of different aliens all over the place?
“Now that you are up and about, we need to have a meeting. Follow me to the conference room,” he said. He turned and walked away. I followed him. But then I felt something on my hand: a very large hot hand. I turned to see Qon glaring at me.
“I will be seeing you again soon, human,” he said. I pulled my hand out of his and quickly walked down the hall trying to catch up with General Razook. I somehow felt safer with him now that I had Qon to compare him to. I would much rather be by Razook’s side.
“In here,” he said.
I followed him into a large room with a big oval table. There were many chairs, and an entire wall had a giant screen on it with lots of different flashing images. I could not read the writing on anything. It was sort of a command center. It was very advanced.
“How are you feeling? Your injuries?” he asked as he poured two cups of water and handed one to me.
“I am actually feeling a lot better. Thank you for the medicine,” I said.
“Good. Now I want to review what is going to happen when we get to this colony called Hartford. Have you heard of it?” he asked.
“No, I have not,” I said.
“You and I are going to take a smaller scout ship down to the ground just outside of the colony. Together we will go on foot to the human colony so as not to scare them by allowing them to see the spaceships. You will enter the colony first, getting the attention of any human you see. Asked to be led to anyone in charge. Then tell them that you have come as a messenger from me. You will tell them exactly what I tell you to say. You will say that you have come as a messenger from a human colony called Haven Brook. The humans at Haven Brook are working with a new species called the Veruka. This new species comes from a planet called Tivoso. They have become friends with the humans and are helping to fight the machines. You will tell them that I am a general and have been sent by my king to speak with other colonies on behalf of Haven Brook. You will then ask if the leader will meet with me,” he said.
“That is a lot to ask of them,” I said.
“I understand. But it is the only way for now. Do you understand what you are to say?” he asked.
“Yes, I understand. How long do they have to decide if they wish to take the meeting with you?” I asked.
“Tell them they can take as long as they want inside of two days. But if they do not wish to meet with me then we will leave and find another human colony. We do not mean any threat to Hartford. I want you to make that clear to them. Tell them that we have been good to you. Tell them that we rescued you from the machines. This is what you must do,” he said.
“This is what I must do as my part of the agreement,” I said.
“Yes, exactly. Now I am going to go prepare the scout ship. We will be leaving in approximately thirty minutes. Would you like me to escort you back to the flight deck or to your room?” he asked.
I didn't want to go to the flight deck because I didn't want to see Qon again.
“I will go to my room so that I may prepare myself for departure,” I said.
“Then I shall take you there,” he said. He walked out of the room, and I followed him down the hall to my room.
“I will return to escort you to the scout ship in ten minutes,” he said.
“Yes, I understand,” I said as I walked into my room. The door closed behind me. This was it. It was just going to be him and I on the ground. It would be my chance to escape. I didn't know how I was going to be able to do it. He was bigger and stronger than I was, but I hoped that I could figure something out.
Thirty minutes later
, I sat inside a smaller ship. It only fit about three passengers, with two seats in the front and one in the back and a long narrow hallway that was the middle of the small ship, not more than fifteen feet long. General Razook called it a scout ship, and I could see why. It was small, and as soon as he flew it out of the bigger ship, I knew just how fast it was. It was so fast it was hard to see anything underneath us.
“I am going to park the ship a mile away from the colony in the woods. I do not want them seeing it first and having the same reaction as the last human colony. We scared them. I will park it a mile away, and we will walk the rest,” he said.
“Yes, I understand,” I said. What I understood was that I would have a mile of walking in the woods with him to try to escape. But where would I go? I couldn't go to the human colony; that would be the first place he looked for me. I didn't want to put that colony in danger either because I really had no idea what the true intentions of this alien race were. He could be lying to me about helping. I didn't know if anything he said was true. I only knew that my sister and Willow Springs were to the south. So that was where I needed to head. I wasn't happy about heading out on my own with machines and hostile humans around, but I didn't have a choice.
The small ship landed in a clearing in the woods. I could see out the glass and there were tall trees all around. This was good. It would give me lots of places to run.
“Let’s go. Be as quiet as you can. Remember: we are trying to not scare any humans. It is better that they do not see me at all until after you have spoken with them,” he said.
“Yes, I understand,” I said.
We got out of the ship, and I followed closely behind him as he walked into the woods. We walked slowly, and he had his hand on his blaster gun the whole time as he looked around. It was possible that there were machines in this area. Maybe this colony wasn't even inhabited anymore and had been taken over by the Clenok.
Then, I saw my opportunity. But if it didn't go right, I didn't know what he would do to me. He could kill me. I saw a big branch that was the size of a club in front of us as we walked. That was my opportunity. But I was only going to get one shot at it. As soon as the thick branch was in front of me, I quickly squatted down.
“Cyborg!” I said in a loud whisper to him.
He squatted down in front of me getting his gun ready. “Where?” he said.
I wrapped my hand around the branch as I said, “To the left there in the trees.”
I quickly picked up the branch instead. I swung it with all my might and hit him on the head. He fell unconscious. It worked. I wanted to grab his gun, but it was on a strap diagonally on his body, and he was on his back. There would be no way for me to get it and I was wasting time. I ran back in the direction of the ship but then veered off to the left. I needed to go south, but I couldn't head directly back toward the ship. I needed to make it hard for him to track me. Hopefully he would be out for a very long time, giving me a good head start. I had to get home. I had to get back to my sister.
Chapter 7
General Rai Razook
I woke up with a splitting headache. What the hell has happened? I rolled and looked up at the trees. It was night. Everything came back to me. Had we been attacked by the cyborgs?
“Hannah…” I whispered. There was no answer.
I got up to my feet, grabbing my head. There was a large thick branch on the ground where I lay.
“Unbelievable. The feisty little human,” I said realizing that she was the one that knocked me out. I got out a red light and shined it on the ground. I could see the small imprint of her boots. They turned back in the direction of the ship.
I followed them until suddenly they were gone. I was surrounded by lots of foliage on the ground. She must've walked on top of these leaves. I would need to track her but it was very important that I contacted the fleet first. I was gone and out of radio contact for longer than expected. I didn't want them thinking that I had been taken prisoner by the human colony and then have them launch an assault. That would be very bad.
I marked the area to come back to it. I shifted into weredragon form and flew back to the ship as fast as I could. I opened the door and hopped in. I opened the radio communications.
“This is General Razook. Come in, command ship,” I said.
“General Razook, good to hear from you. What is the status?”
“Change of plans. We did not make it to the human colony yet. The human female ran away. I am going to go track her down and find her. I wanted to alert you that I will be gone for some time, possibly twenty-four hours or more. I want you to hold the position where you are,” I said.
“Understood. General Razook, a question.”
“Yes?”
“Lieutenant Qon left on your orders. When are we to expect his return?”
“What? I did not give Lieutenant Qon orders to leave the fleet,” I said.
“He left half an hour ago. He said he was following your orders to scout the human colony for hostiles,” the soldier said.
Shit. The bastard. I did not give him any such orders. Why would he leave the ship like that? He was after something. Then it hit me. He was after the human: Hannah.
“No, I did not give orders for him to leave. Call him back on communications right now. I will wait,” I said.
“Lieutenant Qon. Come in,” I heard the soldier say as he radioed on another frequency trying to get Qon to answer. He said the words over and over again.
“General, there is no response,” he said.
“What all know that Lieutenant Qon has abandoned the suite. Put all on high alert. I will find him. Do not send scouts out. I still do not want to frighten the human colony,” I said.
“That is understood, General. We will wait to hear from you.”
“Copy that. Out,” I said.
I went to the back of the ship and got another smaller gun. I pushed one more dagger into my boot. This was not good. I needed to find Hannah, and I needed to find her before Qon did.
I closed up the ship and flew back to the area where I had lost her tracks. My heart was pounding. I couldn't let Qon get a hold of Hannah. I saw the way he looked at her. He wanted her. She was mine. I would kill him if he touched her. It was enough that he had disobeyed my orders not to leave the fleet, and now he had gone out on his own. It was clear to me that he was no longer my lieutenant but was a rogue soldier on his own. He had been showing signs of being disobedient for a long time now. I never should have allowed him to be with my band of soldiers. He was bad news, and now I was regretting it. I did not want her to get hurt. He was different. He wouldn't be kind to her.
I landed on the spot that I had marked. I found her tracks again. They disappeared into the woods over leaves. But which direction?
I squatted down on the floor and closed my eyes. Then a scent crossed my face. It was brief. But it was her. It was the delicious scent that she had mixed with a bit of the medicine I had put on her back. I followed the smell. This was the right direction. I could see impressions on the ground, crushed leaves where she had walked. I went slowly, but I had to find her before Qon did.
I followed the trail for an hour. She had gone far. But it was nighttime, and there were cyborgs and hostile humans for her to think about. So when I came to a group of houses, I knew that she probably would stay for the night. I walked out of the woods toward the houses very slowly. Then I saw a very low light in the window of a house set back away from the others. It had to be her. She was burning a candle.
I quietly made my way to the house. I looked in the window. She was sitting on the ground attempting to open a can. I smiled. I did not see my lieutenant. This was good. I had found her before he did.
I slowly walked into the house, quietly. I opened the door to the room. She let out a squeal of surprise.
“It is just me,” I said. She stood up quickly.
“I should be the one screaming. You are the one that hit me on the head, remember?” I said to her.
“How did you find me?” she said with anger.
“I followed your tracks of course. Then I followed your delicious scent. Why did you do it, Hannah? Why did you knock me out? Why did you run away from me? Don't you know how dangerous it is out here?” I said.
“I would rather face the machines than be your prisoner. I want to go home. I will go home,” she said.
“You were a prisoner of the machines. Or did you forget that I rescued you from them?” I said stepping into the room getting closer to her. I was angry now. She was ungrateful.
“I only was treated. I went from being a prisoner of the machines to a prisoner of aliens. What's the difference?” she said.