by Mark Oliver
Charlie sat down.
The beagle looked back at him over the desk. "Welcome back. Are you ready to hear the rest of the message?"
"Yes," Charlie said, "though you can change to your true form now. I know who you are, Brother Yojim."
The dog said, smiling, "Very well."
The change happened in an instant. One moment Charlie was looking down at the drooping ears, and deep black eyes of a dog and the next he was staring into the tattooed chest of a heavily muscled, red alien.
Charlie raised his eyes to take in the demonic face studying him. "How did I get here?"
"I understand you have many questions, Charlie. However, I'm afraid you will have to be patient."
"For crying out loud, just tell me. I want to know." If this really is just a memory, Charlie thought, then he can't hurt me. I can be as rude as I damn well like.
"I'm afraid that's not possible right now."
"What? Look. I've been tortured, molested, shot, and cut open. I deserve to know what brought me here."
Brother Yojim's eyes deepened. "That question is for another day. When I implanted this message into your mind we were under attack. I only had time to insert enough information to help you survive if the Corporation caught you. If you're hearing it now, then that's what happened."
"No shit," Charlie said.
"If I avoided capture, then right now I'm on my way to Jajag city. With help from the resistance I will try and rescue you once you land on Seenthee. But I can make no guarantees of success. Very few have been freed from the Corporation. If you're presented with a chance to escape, take it."
Brother Yojim leant his elbows on the desk and bridged his large hands together. Over the top of them, he said, "Originally I had planned to take you to Poklawi, and from there, send you home. But as I was summoning a roller to take us through the Wrake Pass, a patrol of shadow fighters intercepted us.
"We had no choice but to escape. So I inserted this message inside you, loaded you into an evac pod and then climbed into one myself, setting a course for Seenthee. The plan was to land simultaneously on the same landing strip hidden in the Thorak mountain range. From there we would seek voyage to Poklawi with a resistance shuttle.
"To throw the shadow fighters off our scent, I jettisoned the ships remaining two pods, setting their course for Jajag city. But if you're hearing this my plan failed, and for that I am deeply sorry."
Something puzzled Charlie. Why does he want to send me home after bringing me here? he thought
"I didn't bring you here," Brother Yojim said.
Charlie opened his mouth, about to ask how he had read his thoughts, but the robundee spoke first. "This is all in your mind, remember. I'm just a message implant."
"So if you didn't bring me over, who did?"
"That's not included in the message."
Charlie sighed. "What is in the message, then?"
"All that remains is for me to tell you that you are in possession of certain abilities you may or may not have realised by now."
"You mean being able to understand and speak alien languages?"
The red man nodded.
"I thought it was weird that everyone spoke to me in English," Charlie said.
"While you were on board I implanted a language learner into your brain. It is versed in all turen and robundee languages. It works in harmony with the linguistic centre of your brain to interpret these languages. Initially, to avoid confusion when you speak, you will believe you're speaking your own tongue. However, you are in fact speaking whatever language you are responding to. It works the same way with reading and writing. In time, though, you will know which language you are producing and be able to switch between them at your own free will."
Impressive, thought Charlie. I wish I had that when I was doing GCSE French.
"In addition," the robundee, "you may have noticed that you can breathe as easily as on your own planet and have not experienced any problems with gravity. This is despite the high probability of these conditions being different here than on your planet."
"Is that because of another implant?"
"No," Bei said. "The ability to adapt to various worlds was already within you."
"What?" Charlie said. "That's impossible."
"I'm afraid that's the end of the message." And with that the robundee began to fade.
"Don't go," Charlie said, rising from his seat.
The ghost like form of the robundee, smiled down at him. "Come and find me. I'll be waiting."
"Please. I need to know," Charlie said. "Why are you helping me?"
But the robundee had already vanished.
Charlie woke up. He was still lying on top of the metal operating table. A thin sheet covered him. He swung his legs round and got off the table. The floor felt cold beneath his feet. He raised his arms above his head and stretched. As he did, the sheet slipped off him and fell to the floor. To his horror, he saw that someone had removed his wetsuit bottoms and he was standing stark bollock naked in the centre of the room.
He rushed for the sheet, grabbed it and pulled it up over his crotch. Once he had it securely wrapped, sarong like, around him, he scanned the room for watching eyes. Nobody had seen him. He sighed with relief. But then it dawned on him that one of them must have seen him naked anyway, as they had stripped him in the first place. He wondered whether it had been Bei or Awani and silently cursed the ship's chilled interior.
Awani was asleep in a bunk built into one of the rec pit walls but Bei was nowhere to be seen. He must be keeping an eye on things in the cockpit, Charlie thought.
He looked at the sleeping woman. She had pulled her sheet up to her chin, and lay on her side facing the wall. All he could see was her hair. It had somehow changed colour and grown while he had been asleep. It flowed over her sleeping form like a metallic blue blanket.
A cushioned bench protruded from the wall beneath Awani's bunk. Charlie sat down on it, yawned, stretched his legs out before him and leaned back. He inspected his wounded arm. The hole had gone. In its place a fleshy red circle the size of a cricket ball glistened like an uncooked chicken breast. Charlie ran a finger across it. It was smooth and springy.
He lifted his arm up and down a few times. Then he tensed his arm as tight as he could. His bicep bulged pleasantly. There was no pain. It felt as good as new. These aliens sure know how to put someone back together, he thought.
Then he remembered his nose. He still had not had a decent look at it. Warily, he approached the reflective surface of the operating table. Miraculously twelve year's of competitive rugby had not left him a nose resembling a gardening tool. He would be gutted if he had ruined it, especially since he was now single. He glanced at Awani. Single and travelling with a hotty, he thought.
He leaned over the table. The curved metal surface distorted his reflection, twisting his face into a hideous mask. He snapped his head backwards, suppressing a scream with a closed hand.
Wait, he thought. It's just the table, you idiot.
He leaned over it once more, this time searching the surface for a section that made him look human. After some scanning, he found a spot. Green eyes stared back at him, beaming out from above a perfectly angular beak. "Yes," he said, punching the air.
"I see you're up then." It was Awani.
Charlie shot back from the table, banging his head against the side of her bunk.
"Ouch," he said, rubbing his head, and turning away slightly so that she could not see the blood rushing to his face. She had caught him admiring his own reflection. How embarrassing, he thought. She must take me for a right vain bastard.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."
He smiled and raised a hand in greeting. "Hey." He had tried to sound as casual as he could, but the greeting came out about as smooth and laid back as a mouse's squeak.
Awani smiled, pulled her blanket aside and dropped to the floor beside him. She wore a loose fitting shirt, bunched up in the middle to reveal a generous
helping of cleavage and a washboard stomach, and shorts that started three inches below her navel and ended barely a hand's length later. Sleek blue hair flowed down to the tops of her shorts, contrasting sharply with her bright pink skin.
Charlie gulped. With significant effort he pulled his eyes back into his head, and fixed them on the empty space beside her left ear. It was the safest place for them.
"What happened to your hair?" He asked. It was a simple five-word question, but it had taken every ounce of his concentration to string it together.
Awani laughed. It was the first time he had heard her laugh and it was a beautiful thing.
"Nothing," she said. "I just took off that ridiculous wig."
"I see."
A long, awkward silence passed, before Awani said, "You're looking good."
"Oh, yes?" Charlie said, inflating with pleasure.
"Yes," she said pointing to Charlie's arm. "It looks healed."
"Oh, my arm," Charlie said, deflating.
"How does it feel?"
"Great. You were great too. I mean, when you operated on me."
"Well, it was more the medbot than me."
"No," he said. "Seriously. I owe you my life."
She smiled, her sky blue eyes dancing mischievously. "Then, I look forward to calling in that debt."
This new friendliness towards him, both puzzled and thrilled him. He took a chance. "You're a lot friendlier than before."
"I'm sorry about that. When I'm on mission, I can be a bit of a bitch." She paused. "And to be honest when I first met you, I thought you would be a weak link. But after the grenade I changed my mind. And then when I undressed you on the table, I realised you might have your . . . " She stopped again, this time giving him a smile and a look that sent shivers through him, and said, "uses. "
Charlie swallowed, his knees weakening beneath him. Is she coming on to me? he thought. Quick, think of a something slick to say.
Half a minute later, Charlie was still struggling to come up with a Han Solo-esque remark, when the rec pit alarms sounded.
"Trouble," Awani said, and strode towards the ladder. Charlie, still wrapped in his bed sheet, followed her up out of the rec pit, vowing to be a smoother bastard next time.
"We've got company," Bei said, as they stepped into the cockpit.
The bank of screens showed a giant wall of energy circling the ship. It rippled and rolled, turning in on itself like a giant wave. Its colours were in constant flux, one moment shimmering gold and the next blazing bright purple.
"What is it?" Charlie asked. "Some kind of weapon?"
Bei turned. "That my friend is a roller. And unless you've got a miracle up your sleeve, it's about to send us to the arsehole of the Universe."
"What's a roller?" Charlie asked, his eyes on the light show taking place outside.
Bei moaned. "Didn't they leave anything behind when they blanked your memory?"
Charlie shrugged. "Just the Brother Yojim and Jajag City. Like I told you."
Bei shook his head. "Clue him in, will you Awani?"
She sighed and speaking at rapid pace, said, "Rollers are energy-based creatures. They've been around for a very long time, longer some say than the Universe itself. They come from another platform of existence, another dimension, if you like. To our knowledge, the only parts of our dimension they inhabit are the Wrake Pass and the Fire Forests of Poklawi. That's where the boundary separating our dimension from theirs is weakest. So they can cross back and forth freely.
"Nobody knows why they come to the Wrake Pass, but they have an unpleasant tendency to disappear with any ships they come into contact with. And there's nothing we can do to stop them. They're totally immune to our weapons.
"The only ones who can control them are the robundee pathfinders. Ever since Poklawi's creation, the beasts have crossed over to breed in its many fire forests. To survive the robundee have had to learn to get along with them.
"Nobody knows how long ago, but at some point in their history those red giants developed a means of communicating with the rollers. It's not easy though, and barely more than a dozen robundee a generation can do to it. They call themselves the Kumari order, but we call them the pathfinders.
"Ever since the first batch of turen fled the Corporation, and made it to Poklawi, the pathfinders have been helping resistance ships cross the Pass. They summon the rollers and use them to guide their ships across it. If it wasn't for the pathfinders, the resistance would be dead and buried."
"Well put," Bei said. "But you're wrong about one thing. As long as the Corporation exists, there will always be a resistance. Pathfinders or not."
"You're such a romantic," Awani said.
Charlie scanned the screens. "Where's its head?"
"Over there, see?" Awani pointed to the screen showing the ship's rear.
"I can't see it."
"Look. I'm pointing at it right now."
Charlie squinted hard. All he could see was a thick block of colour. "I can't see it."
"For Seenthee's sake," Bei said. "We're about to zapped out of existence and you're acting like a pair of kids."
Awani shot Charlie a look, and he had to turn his face, so Bei couldn't see the smile on it.
"Sorry, Bei," Awani said, smiling into the back of her hand.
Charlie sensed some movement out of the corner of his eye. The giant chain encircling them had come apart. Charlie saw the ghastly face of the creature and stopped smiling. The glowing gargoyle head was coming straight at them. Its five eyes, bristling with life and power, burned even brighter than the rest of it.
"What's it going to do to us?" Charlie said.
"Shush," Bei said. "Keep quiet and don't move. It's sniffing us out."
They froze.
The roller flowed closer until it was almost touching the ship's nose with the base of its pulsing head. Its great glowing eyes filled the central screens. They seemed to stare through the ship's exterior and into the hearts and minds of the three silent passengers.
Charlie could hear Awani breathing steadily beside him. In the last minute, nobody had moved an inch. They stood like statues before the roller's glimmering eyes.
The feeling started as a faint tickle in Charlie's left nostril. Without moving, he flared his nostrils and thankfully the itch went away. He put it down to his recently repaired nose and went back to concentrating on remaining as immobile as possible.
But then it came back, this time in both nostrils. He flared them again. However, instead of ebbing away, the itch grew stronger. The desire to sneeze became unbearable.
Very slowly, he slid his hand up his stomach, along his chest and onto his chin. Then, as carefully as he could, he stretched his fingers towards his nose. With the thumb and index finger on either side, he pinched hard.
The sneezes shot out of him like bullets from an Uzi. By the time he had finished, his hands were covered in nose juice and his eyes were streaming.
Awani and Bei gaped at him, horrified.
Charlie wiped the tears away and looked at the screen. The roller was snaking its body excitedly. Then the beast opened its mouth, as if it were about to swallow them whole.
At the same time a second sneezing fit seized Charlie. As he stood, arched over, sneezing great globules into his cupped hand, a booming voice engulfed him, repeating the same word over and over.
"Friend," it said. "Friend. Friend. Friend."
The voice and the sneezing stopped at the same time. Charlie looked at Bei and Awani. Their looks of horror had turned to ones of anger.
"Are you trying to get us killed?" Bei said.
"Did you hear that?" Charlie said.
"The whole galaxy heard it," Awani said. "What's wrong with you?"
"No, the roller. It said something. It said friend."
Awani and Bei exchanged looks.
The pounding voice returned, repeating the same word as before. Charlie sneezed. It must be connected, he thought. This time however the sneezing fa
ded, while the voice continued to call out to him.
Charlie decided to take a chance. "Friend," he said, staring into the beast's five eyes.
Bei looked at him, incredulous.
Charlie ignored him, and said, "We are friends. We mean you no harm." Even as he said it, he knew it sounded lamer than a Hollywood B-movie.
"Friend come home," the roller said. "I help." Now they had started a dialogue the roller had stopped repeating itself so much and its voice stopped tickling Charlie's nostrils.
"Yes, please help us," Charlie said. "We need to get out of the Pass."
"You're talking to it?" Bei said.
Charlie nodded. "Can't you hear it?"
Bei shook his head.
"How are you doing it?" Awani said.
Charlie did not know how, so he shrugged.
"Friend come home," the roller said. "Friend come Divide."
"No," Charlie corrected. "We need to go to Seenthee."
"Friend come home. Friend come Divide."
Charlie frowned. He had no idea what the creature was talking about. He turned to Awani and asked her what the Divide was.
"It's where they come from," she said. "Their dimension."
He scratched his head and turned back to the five eyes boring into him. "My home isn't the Divide," he said. "It's . . ." He managed to stop himself, before he said Earth. "It's Seenthee. And I need to your help to get there."
"Seenthee not home," the roller said. "Divide home."
This is going nowhere, Charlie thought.
"No go nowhere," the roller said. "Go home. Go Divide."
Great, Charlie thought, another mind reader. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and visualised what he wanted to say. "My home is a far away planet called Earth. I want to return, but first I must travel with these friends to Seenthee. I need your help. Will you help me?"
"Rayn help friend."
"Rayn? Is that your name?"
"Rayn help friend."
"Thank you. I'm Charlie."
"Rayn take friend Seenthee. Friend come Divide."
"I don't know," Charlie replied, honestly. "Maybe."
Charlie felt the roller swell with happiness. It rushed out of him, and into Charlie, rocking him in a wave of pleasure. It was overwhelming.