The Game of the Millennium: A Novel

by James Martin

  “Okay. . . See you.”

  “See you.”

  Lauren’s stupid grin returned to her face as she stared at his back.

  ∞∞∞∞∞∞

  They opened Mariah’s bay door and were greeted by a squadron of soldiers with blasters pointed at them. The soldiers led them down to the bay of his ship. It opened like the belly of a beast, blood and guts smeared across the walls, skeletons seemed to cackle and other beings crying for an end to their misery.

  It was hard for Lauren to digest. A skeleton laid in a corner with a name written above in blood while a screeching laugh entered her mind. As her vision panned, she saw other skeletons had names written in the same manner. It seemed to be a series of five names: Mako, Comatoal, Kodmay, Macoal, Melicoma.

  “It’s all a ruse. Remember that.”

  The ship shone in a way that made the skeletons ever more ominous—as if a spotlight were on each victim. She saw in a corner a solider who wailed, “Help me! Help me! Please help me! My name is Shantok, I just want the pain to stop,” the man said weeping between each word. Lauren steadied her breathing, Remember, it is meant to control you. Don’t let it!

  She clicked on the button as she was able to discern a raptor beak face:

  Calons - They ruled the skies of their home planet Zakidar for thousands of years. A very intelligent species able to become space-faring in a rather short period of time. They left their home and made small colonies on millions of planets because of their ability to terraform any atmosphere within their lungs. Because of this adaptability, there are several distinct sub-species with abilities dependent on the environment they now occupy.

  This particular calon appears to be from Gagoon Prime. Their eyes have become crystallized diamonds and are able to fly in space. They are uniquely prized and can do exterior repairs on any ship in minutes.

  “Wow.” Lauren uttered, taking a moment to let the information seep in. I am afraid that I will miss this gadget if I have to return to Earth.

  An image swept through her mind of a being cackling again, she closed her eyes, swallowed and moved forward with the rest of the crew.

  Nate bellowed, “Is this how you do business?”

  A slyther came up, sneering, only distinguishable by the lizard-type snout that extended past his hood and reptilian hands with jade green scales and obsidian four inch claws. “Is this how you do business?”

  Nate sounded wounded by the remark. “What do you mean? I brought the product you wanted.” He knew he was not dealing with him directly, but that did not matter, every vessel, every person was him. And speaking to any of them would get back to the source.

  The slyther hissed before saying, “And how did you get passage?”

  “I traveled through space, mostly.”

  The slyther gestured to the surrounding guards. They took Pilox and Astraos prisoner. “Throw them into the holding cells.” Astraos looked back, smirking at Nate. . . according to plan so far.

  “What are you doing with my crew?”

  Pilox looked to Astraos and he nodded. It was a silent communication, meaning: ‘don’t kill everyone yet, allow them to take your weapon but not nicely.’

  When the soldiers went for Astraos and Pilox’s weapons, they activated and burned their hands to stumps.

  “S-s-silence!” yelled the slyther as he drew his dual blades and cut their throats. He stood over their limp bodies and glanced back at Astraos and Pilox. “I can have you end up like them, or you can deactivate your weapons.”

  Pilox looked to Astraos again, who nodded. They did so and presented their wrists to be cuffed.

  “Now take them!” Other guards walked over the corpses of their fallen comrades and dutifully took the prisoners.

  Nate jerked his head at Lauren who seemed shaken by the incident. She noticed him and his hands pushing down as if to say, ‘bury it, Lauren, bury it.’ A screech ran across Lauren’s brain, you will be mine! She shivered and felt disturbed to the core. Her heart was beating incredibly fast; she tried to refocus. She looked to Astraos who was staring at her, mouthing the words, be brave.

  You’ve merely extended your time, not saved it, the voice teased and cackled.

  Nate looked around to make sure the rest of his crew was fine. Both Macellus and Kat remained firm and steadfast; he could see it in their eyes. He would not need to worry about them.

  “So. . . Am I not getting paid or what?”

  The slyther ran deftly up to him with a blade to his neck, rage saturated every word, “Of course, you are not.”

  He frowned. “That doesn’t sit well with me.”

  The slyther took the other blade and danced it around Nate’s body, stopping at his genitals. “Shall I gut you instead? Does that not sit well with you?”

  “Not particularly.”

  Macellus could not help but snort. The slyther rushed over to him. “Are you enjoying yourself? We do not need you. I can dispose of you now.”

  Nate interrupted, “You do that, and I can guarantee every single one of you dies here.”

  The slyther relented and had a hearty chuckle with intermittent hissing. “You are funny. Your ship is no longer yours. Your cargo confiscated. Your lives gone. What can you barter with?”

  He looked to the side where Kat stood and grinned. “Oh, I don’t know. Hit it, Kat.” He kicked the slyther in the stomach and a shield surrounded Nate and his crew. Energy blasts ricocheted around the room, and yet, they kept shooting. He was not quick enough to order them to stop and everyone except for Nate and his crew died—the slyther included.

  “I know you got ears so listen up. Bring a new stooge so we can negotiate. Oh and one more thing.” He took out a detonator. “My ship is rigged to explode our dark energy housing. And you know that means. . . Everyone goes bye-bye.”

  Nate waited, tapping his foot on the slick silver floor that was painted red with the blood of his soldiers.

  Macellus asked, “So you got that to work, huh?”

  Kat said, “Finished it up right before we disembarked.”

  Macellus added, “I thought Lauren was around you. He could’ve gotten that information from her mind.”

  Kat rolled her eyes at him. “Who do you take me for? I’m not Nate.”

  “Hey!”

  “She thought I was working on the shield for the ship.” She shrugged. “I didn’t see a need to correct her.”

  “Hmph,” Macellus said, “Once again, you prove to be the most capable of us all.”

  “Hey!”

  ∞∞∞∞∞∞

  “Where are you taking us?”

  “Shut up.”

  “I know he can’t be everywhere at once. His attention, I’m sure, is with the rest of the crew.”

  “I do as I’m told.”

  Astraos scoffed. “What a terrible outlook.”

  A door opened and the guard shoved them into the cell.

  The small chamber was windowless. It was structured like a dome and had ultra bright lights encompassing the room to keep prisoners awake and properly neurotic.

  A dramatically beautiful female with dark purple skin, and what appeared to be hair but flowed more like tendrils of navy blue, paced the cell. Her outfit was provocative—to say the least—she wore gold circlets that swirled around her nipples and trousers that had long, thick stripes covering her privates, but came tantalizing close to an exposé with every step. Astraos could not help but stare as he caught a glimpse of the area.

  She turned her attention toward them and glowered without saying a word.

  His head jerked back, caught in the act, quick erotic thoughts he abolished from his brain. He felt like he had made a slight betrayal to Lauren, so he shook his head to rid himself of this female’s obscene sexuality that attempted to roam his mind. “You are. . .?”

  “A plythien. You can stop drooling. My name is Jaziel. I am the ambassador of Geitaro.”

  He shook his head again, getting her hard, purple nipples out of there. He fe
lt a burning on his cheeks and shame in his heart. He saw Lauren looking at him and resolved that he would be better. That is the woman I want.

  “Forgive us if we don’t say your name. Given where we are.”

  “Ah” She bobbed her head and sashayed over. “I can understand that.”

  Pilox was about to say something, but Astraos put a hand on him. He gestured to the side, and Pilox took a seat.

  “How do we know you’re not him? Another scheme—”

  “He is confirmed to be a male.”

  “True.”

  “How do I know you’re not him?”

  “There are two of us and we look strikingly alike, unless you believe he is two people.”

  “Right.”

  Astraos pondered for a moment, hoping that Lauren was doing all right. One of his abilities that Nate omitted was that he could also grow influence on someone when they felt fear towards him. Astraos chose not to bring it up given that Nate always had a rough idea of what he was doing. He must’ve decided that particular bit of information could hurt Lauren and end up having him take hold. He was thankful to Nate for that. He may have not had such cunning, given the situation.

  Macellus speaking out was an interesting touch by Nate, which if one knew Macellus or his kind—the kaledios—also knew that they would never do such a thing. It was another tactic used on Lauren. It had been a scheme. All of it. I’ll buy Nate a drink when this is over.

  “I guess we’re at a stalemate.”

  Jaziel sneered. “Seems so.”

  “How’d you end up here?”

  “As I stated, I am the ambassador of Geitaro.” As if that answered all inquiries, Zathran knew he was dealing with a stalwart bureaucrat. Ah, this is going to be a headache. She sat down. “I arrived here mistakenly.”

  “Ambassador? I feel like—”

  “I am their leader.”

  “Ah.” He scratched the side of his face and thought, that may be the truest information she utters.

  She looked up. “And yourself?”

  “I am a cheshir.”

  Her eyes widen, but she accepted it with a calm demeanor. “Why are we not all dead?”

  Astraos laughed. Pilox rose. “Pilox, you will sit down.” He sat back down and Astraos resumed, “I am more sensible than some of my kind.”

  “Is he your lackey?”

  “I am no one’s lackey, but I allow Captain Nathan the title of master.”

  “I think he answered your question.”

  “Hmph.” Astraos recognized the sound for what it was. A politician afraid, but incapable of bending an inch in the face of death. There was a sliver of an admirable trait there. She followed the sound with exactly the sort of thing he expected her to say. “We have no quorum with your kind.” Translation: Please don’t kill me.

  He laughed through her suspicious look and Pilox’s befuddled one. “Good. We don’t have one with you. So how did you mistakenly end up here?”

  “I was looking for The Station owner.”

  Astraos looked into her fiery red eyes. “That’s the greatest legend of all.”

  “I know, but I searched far and wide to come in contact.”

  “What for?”

  “To save my people.”

  He gave a curious look in response but said nothing.

  “My people will resort to conflict which breeds death and destruction, then the reorganization of power, politics, and society. All things I’d like to avoid. . . I don’t expect a cheshir to understand.”

  Pilox attempted to rise again, but Astraos darted a look back at him which made him stay put. “You don’t seem to have a quorum. But you take every opportunity to insult us, we know nothing about you so cannot do the same. But I will say this, you seem inept given the state of affairs you’re in.”

  A look of disconcert crossed her face. Good, he thought, not used to being spoken to in such a manner. She attacked back. “You are in a equivocal situation. The same could be said to you.”

  He chuckled, which enraged her further, seen by her cheeks deepening their shade of purple. “All politicians are alike, tackling a behemoth with nothing but the tongue.”

  She smirked. “You are more than what meets the eye, I see.” She did a deep, heavy sigh. “I’ve failed them all.”

  Astraos tilted his head slightly, he had not expected doom and gloom coming from her lips. There may be more dimensions to her than I perceived. “Explain entirely how you got here, not top-line bureaucrat nonsense. I’d like to know before we escape.”

  “I found a device with the suspected owner of The Station’s DNA. I traced the signature to here but found only him.”

  “I see.”

  “And yourselves?”

  “Oh, I suspect there is more than what our captain has told me. But the idea was to sell some goods, make some money and maybe meet some new friends.” He stood up and gestured with his hand open. She gave an inquisitive look, but took his hand and rose.

  “It’s worse than just him. The exact people who look to profit immensely and drive my planet to rubble are here as well.”

  “Who would that be?”

  “The katros.”

  “The katros are here?”

  “That’s what I said.”

  “This just got very interesting. What did they say they were going to do with you?”

  “Geitaro’s broadcasting signal does not reach as far as most of the space-faring species. They are trying desperately to control me. But if it fails, they will execute me and televise it near Geitaro so that every plythien on the planet knows that their only chance of survival is gone, throwing my world into chaos prematurely.”

  “Hmmm. I’m believing more and more of what you have to say.” He knew there to be exaggerations or slight misrepresentations of situations, but to analyze what she was saying would take time. And given where they were and the amount of danger everyone was in, he summarized what was said into: Danger. Danger.

  “Wait a minute. . .” Her brow furrowed, made more dramatic by it’s color being a deep blue. “Did you say escape?”

  He grinned. “Of course. Did you think some indestructible metallic alloy restrains and a door will stop us? Why do you think I have to keep calming Pilox down? His threats have more weight than you could imagine.”

  She bit her lip uneasily.

  “Don’t worry. You just got a free ride out of here.”

  ∞∞∞∞∞∞

  “Here you are.”

  Nate snorted. It was not meant to be so audible, and he coughed to mask it. After hearing Astraos’s conversation, he would be more prepared for what they were about to find than their adversaries had intended.

  Nate opened the door and saw one person to his left and another in a chair with their back to him. He could tell by the arms on the armrest who it had to be. That ambassador lady wasn’t lying.

  The one to the left said, “Hello, I am him.”

  “No tricks?”

  He shook his head. “No tricks. They have not worked, therefore not necessary to keep doing.”

  The big leather chair in the office. The tribute to every trite and cliché villain on Earth TV. It was clear to Nate that this villain was a connoisseur of such drivel. Nate knew it from the shows Astraos made him watch. James Bond came to mind.

  The chair swiveled, Nate was greeted by a leathery gray face with sharp teeth. It had horns that came out of every space not used by an orifice, varying in size. Ebony eyes assessed him. This could’ve been more dramatic without the ear bud. He frowned. I do like surprises.

  Lauren made a face, not because of the alien’s inherent hideousness, more so because her ebony eyes housed an abyss, a vileness that was hard to look upon.

  The Informer stated:

  Katros - A species from one of the outer arms of the galaxy. Their home planet, Deckotacs, has an irregular orbit with the medium-size star in its solar system, constantly crossing into the habitable zone and out. The katros first evolved by comin
g out during the habitable phase of orbit and burrowing underground when outside of it.

  As the species matured, they came out more and more when the planet was outside of the habitable zone, and subsequently, made it a ritual in order for a male to procreate with a female. This severe environment forced unique evolutions spanning millions of years, allowing them to occupy the surface year around. Their horns and sizable bony frill evolved to have photoreceptors that store light and distribute heat throughout their body. This also serves to protect their body from all cosmic radiations. Their skin and organs have adapted in a way so they need what is deemed toxic substances, for most species, to survive. Arsenic is a delicacy for them.

  To this day, all katros must live on Deckotacs until they are mature adults in order to keep these evolutionary advantages.

  It has gone on record from a limited candid interview with a katros that this environment bred their mentality to see life as tradable, worthless, cold and severe, only the furthering of one’s name and family is upheld and respected.

  Lauren’s mouth held agape, trying to process. She panned to him to see what it had to say:

  Not much is known about the psychons. There has been one sample of brain tissue from an individual under a psychon’s control recovered and processed.

  The brain tissue had new paths and cells not akin to that species. It was then hypothesized that when a psychon takes hold, they are able to infect the species and transform their brain.

  Although how it works is still a mystery. An unknown species from the galaxy’s early years used that sample to develop a vaccine that they inoculated the galaxy with.

  This was done hundreds of thousands of years ago, and so, the vaccine is now injected into new species individually or done by planetary inoculation when deemed necessary.

  The presumed last of the psychons, known as him, lives a life of criminal activity. His abilities, virus, cell transformation, and nanotechnoligical enhancement, however defined, has raised major concerns due to his ability to take control of individuals that speak his name.

  He works mainly as a go-between for smugglers and collectors, and thus, is protected by various nefarious species.