by Devon Shubin
Fretch didn’t like the choice of being left behind and alone with the dragon faced Bodas. But the other option was nerve racking also, as he had no idea where they were going. Finally, after a couple of extra seconds he shrugged his shoulders and followed him up the silver ring staircase and was standing next to him. They both waited for thirty seconds of so and began thinking, how do they export? “Ummmm,” the Space Traveler said, “export.” Instantly the voice activated computer responded, “exporting commencing. In three, two, one.”
The orange beam turned bright white and a blue electrical laser shot down around the inner circle of the ring they were standing on. It began spinning around them faster and faster until they could only see a dome of blue energy surrounding them. Fretch’s eyes lit up. The Space Traveler had use a transporter before, he did so legally he thought to himself. But, none-the-less, he was familiar with the madness of lights and buzzing that would soon happen. Like an engine of a star ship, the transporter rumbled until they were whisked away through space and time. The noise woke the two guards and they came hobbling into the transport room and could see the two disappear from the top of the platform.
In his mind Fletch thought he was stretching outward through the universe. He could see stars, planets, moons and the cosmos that crashed into his eyes like comets hitting his planet. What he didn’t realize is that they were already on the transport platform of Cudat Col, a planet ruled by two species, the hunters and the prey. Now, if you like stories and movies about dinosaurs, you are going to love this next chapter. The Space Traveler was unaware of the location now and so he was enjoying the view of the universe from his standing location. Fretch, meanwhile passed out and fell through the blue energy wall and down the staircase of silver rings on the other side. The Space Traveler was still mesmerized by the lighting and space storms that were occurring in his eyes. Nebulas and stars forming right before his eyes!
The humming and blue electricity finally slowed down its spin. The Space Traveler stood on the new transport platform, dizzy, but unharmed. He rubbed his eyes and the stars disappeared to reveal a jungle. He looked down at Fretch who had rolled down the rings to the jungle floor. “Fretch,” he sung, “what in the universe!” Staggering, he tried to keep his composure as he stumbled down the ring staircase to help his assistant. When he reached Fretch, he rolled him over. Fretch was out cold. “Fretch!” he said as he slapped his face around. “Fretch!” sadly, the Space Traveler failed to realize what planet he was now on. And that was a huge mistake.
The roar of the giant creature caused him to jump as the ground rumbled and the trees waved in the sky. A thirty-foot-tall predator stood over them. Drips of blood came from its four mouths, hitting the ground in splashes. The Space Traveler looked up at the creature and lamented, “a gordganite.” He knew they were now on Cudat Col and his problems had just doubled.
Travel 5 - Mystery at Cudat Col
So, you are probably wondering, what in the world is a gordganite? Let me try and explain it to you as best as I can. And yes, there is an illustration of one of these creatures eating poor Fretch. Did I get you yet? Hopefully. Like I have said all along in this story, keep reading and you will find out. If we get a movie deal out of this story one day, it will look amazing on the big screen.
Now, a gordganite is a thirty-foot-tall creature with a giant spider like body, a face on its chest of a horse, four arms thick like an anaconda and instead of hands, it has mouths and large sharp shark teeth. It stands up with four legs like a brontosaurus. Think you got all that? Like I suggested earlier, check out the illustration in the special edition of this novel. Back to the gordganites. These are carnivorous predators and at the top of the food chain. They are one of many strange animals on this planet. They cannot speak, but they eat everything it its path. So, you can understand why our Space Traveler is soiling his shorts, right now.
Fretch, on the other hand is finally waking up from transportation sickness. When he eventually sees the towering monster, who knows what he will soil. The Space Traveler slaps him on his face a couple of times. “Fretch! Fretch! Wake up!” Batting his eyes, he looks at his boss and lets out a snort.
“We are about to be eaten, so get up!” He yelled at his fat pig-like companion.
Fretch rolls his eyes up and can see the towering beast snapping its arms with mouths at the end of them. It releases multiple roars simulations out of each of its four mouths. The Space Traveler grabs Fretch by his arms and pulls him up and as they begin to run Fretch is snatched up by the gordganite’s mouth. It has him by his arm. “AHHHH!!!” he cries out as the Space Traveler watches his poor assistant dangling ten feet in the air which is completely in the mouth of the beast’s hand mouth. Blood dripping down around its lips, teeth penetrating deep into Fretch’s shoulder. The right hand mouth flies at the Space Traveler snapping at him but he rolls to his side and reaches for his blade, but it’s gone. He remembers now that the Bodas stripped them of everything.
“Hold on Fretch! I’m gonna’ get you down!”
From fear, Fretch’s eyes are tearing and widen now. No doubt his little piggy heart is racing as he can feel death approaching. The Space Traveler looks around the ground for anything he can use as a weapon. Just then a blast of light hits the gordganite. Lightning flashes all around and Fretch is released to the ground, but his entire arm from the shoulder down lays in the mouth of the gordganite. The Space Traveler backs away from the light as he can hear the roars from the beast. Another light flash and the gordganite backs away from them. Again, another light flash and the beast turns and withdraws from them, roaring into the depths of the jungles. The ground rumbles, bouncing Fretch on the dirt floors and he holds his shoulder, bleeding him out.
The light quickly dissipates and standing behind it where the gordganite stood, was a being unlike anything the Space Traveler has seen. It is shaped like a star, five points, two arms, two legs and a head with one point vertical. Its white in appearance but transparent. He can see some of the jungle leaves through the being, but it also looks as if he is solid at times, going in and out of a hologram presence. It frowns at him and then flies out into the sky as if it were lightening. Just like that, and their savior was gone.
The Space Traveler did not have time to think about why or what the being was, he had to tend to his injured assistant who lay rolling on the ground wincing in pain. “Fretch!” he said as he knelt down next to him, “I’m gonna’ get you medical attention.”
Fretch was rolling around on the ground back and forth, holding his bloody shoulder. The Space Traveler looked left then right. There was nothing around, no civilization, no space crafts, nothing. Thinking quickly, he remembered his training at the USHA academy. He pulled down his vest and grabbed hold of his undershirt, ripping it at his abdomen area. He then used the cloth to begin wrapping Fretch’s shoulder, but it was beyond bloody.
“I know what you are thinking,” Fretch said to him, “I can…read minds…remember?”
“If I leave you, I will come back as soon as I find help. But I can’t carry you Fretch, it will slow us down and you’ll-”
“Bleed to death…I know I know,” snort, he cried.
The Space Traveler stood up and promised, “I will be back soon. I promise.”
As he ran off in the opposite direction from where the gordganite went, he looked closely at the transporter which had multiple three toed footprints in the dirt. He had not noticed it before because of the gordganite, but now it was clear as day. Many footprints were heading now North, toward what appeared to be a mountain covered in trees. If the Cudats were near, they would be in that direction he thought. Now, the Cudats were a very dangerous people. Ever since the United peace treaty, they have kept to themselves rejecting the trade system through transportation. That is why the Space Traveler finds it odd that their device was functioning.
“Obviously, someone is using the transporter,” he said to himself as he raced through the jungles.
Because the Cudats we
re warriors and aggressive ones at that, the Space Traveler would plan his inspections on this planet very carefully. He will only visit when the Queen and King are nearby as they are accountable for his safety. Sadly, the King and Queen do not know he is here, and that spells trouble for him. The last time he came for inspection in the pools of Kebron, he was threatened by Mossilio the hated. So, who is this Mossilio the hated, well, keep reading and later you will find out for yourself. But until then just remember his title is the hated.
Running as fast as his out of breath lungs could carry him, he followed the three toed tracks up the hillside to where he could now see smoke rising. He scanned over the top of the loopta trees, which are dark green tropical looking with large coconut shaped blue fruit. He did not know what the fruit was called because he cannot eat the fruit on that planet without falling into a day-long coma. It happened once, but that is for another story. A few more steps and he could smell the burning fire. He wanted to yell for help from a distance, thinking this would give the Cudats a warning instead of surprising them and end up with a fire ball in his chest. The Cudats were known for fireball spears. They had contests every week.
As he crept through the jungle he heard an alarm sound emit from above a tree to his right. He looked up and the alarm was coming from a fat red bird creature. “Shut up!” he whispered up to the bird. But it was no good, the bird alarm continued releasing the siren sound from its mouth. He looked down and found a baseball size seed and threw it at the bird knocking it off the tree limb. It silenced the bird as it flew off. He smiled and wiped his hands thinking he solved his problems, but it hadn’t.
From out of camouflage, they appeared through the trees as if they had transported themselves. Five Cudats slowly approaching him with two spears fire flaming at its tip. He looked at them and said to himself, “Oh S.T., the fire flames.” He froze in the place he stood and held his hands up, smiling.
“I am the Inspector from USHA.” Explaining himself to them. He realized he did not have his translator and so all they heard was, “ah-ga-bag-a-waggi.” Kind of like what you hear when someone speaks French or Japanese. This obviously did not impress the Cudats nor did it stop them from surrounding him and looking at him menacingly.
So, you and probably wondering, what do these guys looks like? Well, I will tell you now, because if you like awesome aliens from other planets and not just from other countries, then you are going to love the Cudats from Col, their planet. The Cudats stand typically around six feet four inches, depending on the family genes. Occasionally, you will see a seven-foot-tall Cudat, but don’t think he is a basketball player, they don’t play sports on this planet with hoops and balls. They do have a challenge though, were they fight a gordganite or a halvlun. Uh oh, I did it again and mentioned another animal, but hold on one second because I need to explain how amazing the Cudats look and what they can do.
Imagine if you will, bird like feet, three toes with nails, long thick nails. They have large muscular calves with thin knees. Their thighs are large and round also. They have human-like torso with a great looking six pack, they work out every day. They have a breastplate that resembles a mans also. At their shoulders are black small wings, the size of hands, that are not for flying, you will find out later what they use them for and I don’t want to spoil the surprise. It may happen in the sequel. Now their biceps and triceps are round and muscular too and their elbows were skinny, this gave them a bird like appearance especially their hands. Two claws like talons were their hands. You would think ‘if I had two finger claws, that would be very difficult to use while driving, or just putting a pizza in the oven.’ But not for the Cudats. They are very skillful at the use of their hands, trust you me. Their face was unique also. They have a human neck, muscular and veiny with triangle shaped chin and jaw line. No mouth, no nose and two upside-down black, triangle shaped eyes. Their heads transcend upwards to flowing wild flame-like hair that reminds one of a moose with thousands of tiny long antlers. And to top it off, they have a radish color skin. Yeah, I know…this is an outer space novel, halfway through it you should be adapted to the weirdness.
Surrounding our Space Traveler, the Cudats lowered their flaming spears at him and the one in the middle spoke, “Vzizzle zuz zaz sus zas dz dis duz.” He sounded like a freshly popped soda can when you place it to your ear.
“I don’t have my translator,” he called out to them, “But I need help.”
The five Cudats wasted no time and two of them walked behind the Space Traveler forcing him to walk forward as they ushered him in the same direction he was going anyways. He wanted to smile and say, ‘thanks for the hospitality guys,’ but he knew his sarcastic remark would fly over their head, figuratively. He wanted to make another inside joke about things flying over their hair, because it stood out and straight up like an afro that was electrocuted. But his mind was still on Fretch who was bleeding to death a few miles behind him.
Through the jungle foliage they were soon at an Aztec like pyramid temple, except this temple was made of gold. He looked over the massive building and said to himself, “There it is again, gold.” He knew Wurtha was involved with this but he did not know why yet. Our Space Traveler/Inspector will discover all of this and so will you, just keep on reading Earthling.
Through the clearing of the loopta trees, he could now see the pyramid in its entirety. Shining clean gold towering eighty feet into the sky. He slowed down as he studied the details of the building but a sensation of heat flame at his back sped his steps up a bit. “Take it easy,” he said as he shuffled ahead of his ushers. Faintly, he heard music playing a song from Earth. He listened carefully to the music and when the chorus came on he knew it was ‘Take it easy,’ by the Eagles. Now he was beyond confused.
Hundreds of Cudats were surrounding someone, but he could not see who it was. He could hear the drums and the guitar riff as he approached. The Cudats did not move at all, no expression on their mouthless face, no tapping of their spears nor did they seem to enjoy the entertainment. It was their way as a civilization, emotionless on the outside but controlled on the inside. If you ever have lunch with a friendly Cudat, he or she will explain to you their culture of discipline, sacrifice and love for their kind. Inside their emotions are jumping around like popcorn in a hot pot, but their physical make-up contains their reactions. Therefore, it is nearly impossible to get a read on a Cudat, so don’t play poker with them.
As the guards ushered our Space Traveler around the commotion, he could see a white spear continuously pointing into the air. He thought it was some ritual they were doing, passed on from generations. Perhaps, he thought, it was a recital to their very own performing arts. Then he remembered the Cudats are not an artistic people. They only eat the same food and sleep standing with their triangle shaped eyes open. ‘Bunch of weirdos,’ the Space Traveler thought. When he was here a year ago, on an inspection of their rainforest, his sampling came back with organic growth but not dlom, which is the toxic root. If you kill the root, the dlom is dead.
Finally, he could see what the triangle tip spear was. It was the star man who saved them from the gordganite. He was dancing to the music. As the Space Traveler walked around the group he said out loud, “Crazy, there must be dlom here!” The word ‘crazy’ triggered a scratched record sound that came from the star man and the song changed to ‘Crazy in love’ by Beyoncé. Now, in case you, the reader does not know what these songs are, I encourage you to search them on the internet. Listen to them, it may help you understand why this is of some significance, but probably not.
The Space Traveler shook his head because he knew the song and the artist. He loved Earth music, because there is no other sound like it in the universe. Although the Earthlings have many problems including, war, poverty, pestilence, disease, global poisoning and short life spans, they have amazing cultures. If there were any place in the Universe he could warp to, it would be Earth. He has made that clear on news feeds all over the seven habitable planets
and to USHA many times. Currently, there is no plan to send him. :(
The Music and dancing from the star man ceased and the Cudats began chanting “MIZPAH!” as they were sticking their flame spears in the ground. Mizpah disappeared from the center of the crowd and reappeared in front of the Space Traveler. He was hovering in front of him, moving backwards.
“What are you?” he asked the star man Mizpah.
Mizpah laughed at him and then with a great big smile stated, “You are going to die Duradusk!”
“Well that’s reassuring. How do you know my language?”
The star man laughed and answered him, “I know all the languages. I am the translator for the Cudats who have named me Mizpah. I am the only technology on this planet after the great war. Do you have a name?”
“Yeah…I’m …the Space Traveler.” He smiled when he said this, because it’s what he wants others to call him by.
They continued walking toward the pyramid as Mizpah was floating in front of him. Mizpah replied, “That is what you do. What is your name Duraduskian?”
He thought about it for a moment. It has been years since anyone knew him name. He felt his name was too specific and it could affect his work as a universal Inspector. In his mind, it would stay confidential and that was final. The Space Traveler finally answered him, “I am the Inspector.”