by Sarah Noffke
He grimaced as the common jabs streamed through his head:
‘Who walks the best amongst us?’ one of the guys would tease. ‘Vitos, because he can’t fly.’
‘Hey, Vitos is coming with us—that means we’ll see at least three crashes.’
‘Let’s fly in formation—or, as Vitos makes it, a chaotic mess.’
He’d been hearing such barbs since he was young.
Tuetians were born with wings and an instinct for flying. Although Vitos’s wings had been examined several times and a flaw was never found, for some reason, he’d always struggled to fly for too long. He could make it over the border fence, or up to the higher decks, but flying long distances had always been a challenge. But in the Dragonfly, he could fly without concern for making such dumb errors.
Still, piloting wasn’t where his passion lay. His parents had wanted him to be a farmer, like them, but that also wasn’t of interest to him. For Vitos, it was painting that spoke to his heart. He wanted to be an artist.
But art wasn’t appreciated on Tueti; it was considered frivolous. He’d heard of other, alien cultures that appreciated such things, though. That was why he’d enlisted, and how he found himself under Commander Fisk’s leadership. Now, he wasn’t any closer to his dream, but at least he wasn’t plowing fields and being told to get his head out of the clouds.
When his mama would say that, it always made his siblings laugh.
‘He wishes he could have his head in the clouds, but he’d just wreck,’ one of them would say.
Vitos let out a loud breath, slamming his hand into the side of the cockpit. He looked up, the bright sunlight almost obscuring his vision, but it looked like the border fence had parted. He sat up straighter. It wasn’t a trick of the light; it was open at least two feet.
He bolted forward in his seat as the fence began to close again. He stared around, looking for Commander Fisk, but the grounds were mostly empty, save for two guards who were headed in the opposite direction.
Someone had come through the gate, but there was no apparent reason to open the border. Actually, the capture of these humans had been the first time Vitos could remember seeing the fence open.
“Wait!” he said to himself, his heart beating fast.
His eyes scanned over the grassy area in front of him. It seemed an impossible consideration, but it was also the only real explanation.
Vitos fired up his Dragonfly, doing a quick system check. He’d recently had a heat sensing technology installed; the engineers had warned him that the software wasn’t up to specs yet, and that it shouldn’t be used until they’d worked out the issues, but Vitos couldn’t resist. This was the perfect opportunity.
He turned on the penetrator heat sensor unit, staring at the screen as the it scanned back and forth across the grounds. It was a new technology that the Tuetian had developed for a recent threat. The sensor picked up on a nearby Dragonfly that had recently landed. It also found the guards who were about to cross behind the border. And then, quite remarkably, the heat sensor revealed two figures. Without wings.
He looked up, staring in the direction that the radar indicated. He saw only a flat, grassy lawn that stretched out to the mountains in the distance.
Can the radar be wrong, he wondered. There is nothing there. How could the figures be invisible?
Looking down at the reading, he tried to make sense of what he was seeing. The fence had opened, and the radar clearly showed two figures advancing farther away from the Lagoon.
And then there was something else. A large vehicle…something that resembled a ship.
Vitos shook his head, looking up. He still couldn’t see anything.
Then out of nowhere, it was like a door had been opened up in the middle of the sky. He couldn’t make out what it was, but there had definitely been something there and then it was gone. He checked the radar. The figures were gone. The vehicle was rising off the ground.
It’s leaving!
Without a thought, Vitos prepared his Dragonfly for flight. When it was ready, he paused, considering sending a message to the general, but the radar showed that the ship was getting farther away.
He shook his head and sped after the trespassers.
Chapter Twelve
Loading Bay, Ricky Bobby, Cacama System
“I’m telling you, I’ve searched. There isn’t one,” Pip said overhead in the Q-Ship, as it glided down onto the deck of Ricky Bobby, an almost perfect landing.
“There has to be at least one funny brunette joke,” Bailey teased.
“There isn’t,” Pip insisted.
“Why can’t you take a blonde joke and switch it to say ‘brunette’?” Lewis asked.
Pip scoffed. “Detective, that’s not how this works. The material is inspired by the blonde; it cannot be simply reassigned.”
“Riiight,” Lewis said, rolling his eyes. “What was I thinking?”
“Well, this is fun and all, but can you take a break to send Ricky Bobby the information you got on Tueti?” Bailey asked, enjoying being back onboard the ship.
It was strange that in such a short period of time, it had started to feel like home. Bailey didn’t think she could say that about any other place…ever.
“Yeah, fine,” Pip agreed with a sigh. “I’ll do boring work.”
Lewis looked at Bailey, amused. “We need to find him a very special job. Something that works to his strengths.”
“Do you mean writing comedy sketches for one of the traveling troops in our home galaxy?” she asked, strolling for the open hatch.
He shrugged. “Well, maybe something that keeps him closer to us.”
“You guys like me,” Pip said in a sing-song voice.
Bailey shook her head, smiling at Hatch, Jack and Liesel, who stood in the distance, regarding the returning partners anxiously. They just don’t know we were successful yet.
She and Lewis had completed the mission; that felt good. Hopefully, they would now be able to determine where the databases were located.
“Pip has a lot of information, and is uploading it as we speak,” Bailey said in greeting.
Jack crossed his arms in front of his chest, mirroring the stance of the other two team members with him. “Then why has a Dragonfly followed you back?”
Bailey spun around, suddenly confused. The loading deck was empty.
“What are you talking about?” she demanded.
Hatch’s tentacles uncrossed, flying into the air like streamers in the wind. “It’s there, but we can’t make contact; it keeps jumping around on the radar. We caught sight of it once you got close, but then it disappeared.”
“I wasn’t aware that we were followed,” Bailey stated. “We had the cloaks up the entire time.”
Hatch dismissed her explanation, his face brightening. “Well, good news on the success of the mission. And we have the cloaks up now, so it shouldn’t be a concern.”
“It’s probably one of the Tuetian on patrol,” Jack agreed amiably.
Liesel’s eyes were heavy when she looked up at them, and Lewis walked past Bailey, digging into his pocket.
“You look upset,” he said to the chief engineer.
She chewed on her thumbnail, her gaze darting across the ground. “Sebastian is missing and he’s not in any of his normal hiding places. I know it’s silly, but…I miss him.” After a moment, she forced a slight smile. “I’m sure he’ll turn up…”
Lewis pulled the ferret from his pocket. “He absolutely will. Sorry we couldn’t relieve your stress earlier; we didn’t realize we had a stowaway until we were underway.”
“ ‘Bastian!” Liesel exclaimed, grabbing the ferret.
He immediately snuggled around her neck, and nuzzled his face behind her ear.
Lewis laughed. “He was my secret weapon. The lieutenant thought I was crazy.”
Bailey agreed with a nod. “You are, but yes, the ferret sort of saved our asses.” She looked down at her holster with a frown. “My weapons appea
r to still be in the custody of the Tuetians.”
“That’s why you need weapons that come back to you,” Lewis stated.
“You do,” Bailey corrected him. “I’ll stick with guns.”
“You two can borrow Sebastian for a mission anytime,” Liesel stated, a wide grin on her face. “I’m glad you brought him back safely.”
“I’m glad we got away from the Tuetians,” Bailey said. “They were not at all cooperative.”
“Speaking of the Tuetians,” Ricky Bobby said overhead. “One of their ships has appeared at the stern, and is preparing to land.”
If he had only been using the heat sensor, the Dragonfly would have been fine. However, Vitos had also activated the enemy radar scrambler. He’d been warned that both upgrades were new, and shouldn’t be used yet. He’d thought the engineers were overreacting.
Staring at the blinking warning light, he realized they hadn’t been exaggerating.
[System failure], the screen read.
The ship vibrated under Vitos, making him think it would split in two at any moment. He dared to activate the heat sensors again, and sparks shot from the dashboard. He shielded his face, making a silent plea.
He wasn’t sure why he’d chased after the humans; he wanted to say it was to protect his own, but he knew that wasn’t true. It was his damn curiosity. It always got him into trouble.
He slapped at the sparks, trying to quell the fire. By the time it was mostly contained, he realized that the small ship had disappeared. To his astonishment, it had been replaced on the sensor by a giant one.
Vitos looked out over the bow of his ship, not seeing anything in the distance; though the sensors clearly displayed something huge and ship-shaped giving off a heat reading.
More sparks shot up from the dash, and the ship lurched downward sharply.
This is it, Vitos thought.
He was too far away from any planet to land. There was only one option: he had to try and land on this alien ship.
“I didn’t spot the spacecraft until it was already too close,” Ricky Bobby explained. “It jammed the radars somehow.”
“What do we do?” Lewis asked, looking around. A screeching sound filled the air; a noise that made his teeth ache. “How do we prevent this?”
Bailey strode off, shaking her head. “We don’t. It’s only one measly ship.”
Lewis looked at the others, shaking his head. “What is she doing?”
Hatch shrugged, not looking at all concerned. “I don’t know, but she’s right. If this terrorist has dared to enter our ship, then they’d better get ready.”
“What if it’s like the robot ship from Starboards Corp, and is armed with a bomb?” he pressed.
“Then you’d better back up,” Bailey stated as she rejoined the group, a giant gun in her hand.
“Where did you get that?” Lewis asked.
“I had it stashed for just such an occasion,” Bailey said, cocking the weapon.
“How could you have anticipated such an occasion?” he asked incredulously, covering his ears from the increasingly deafening screeching noise.
Something shot in from the back of the loading dock, a blur of movement, smoke and fire. Sparks shot up from the deck as a single-person flyer streaked across the ground, and rammed into the back of the Q-Ship that Bailey had parked with ease.
The crashing of metal echoed throughout the loading dock, making everyone but Bailey step back and cover their ears.
The lieutenant took a dangerous step forward, her large gun trained on the side of the enemy ship, which was rocking back and forth as it settled. There appeared to be a fire brewing in the cockpit.
A hatch opened, and smoke billowed forth, masking the vehicle as its pilot stepped out.
“Hands—or whatever you’ve got—UP!” yelled Bailey as she dared to take another step forward.
A figure stepped out of the smoke: a Tuetian with his hands held high above his head.
“Don’t shoot. I come in…well, curiosity.”
Chapter Thirteen
Loading Bay, Ricky Bobby, Cacama System
Bailey ran her gaze over the alien as he waved the smoke out of his face, choking from the flames building inside his craft.
“You trespassed onto our ship and crashed into my craft…out of curiosity?” she asked, holding the gun up higher, ensuring he saw it.
“I saw you two leaving Tueti,” the alien said, pointing to her and then Lewis. “I used the heat sensors that the engineers said weren’t ready, and then, to keep you from seeing me, I used the radar scrambler they also said not to use.”
Hatch waddled forward, shaking his head as he stood next to Bailey. “Just goes to prove that you should never doubt your engineer.”
“That ship looks close to exploding,” Liesel exclaimed, running forward with an extinguisher.
“Yeah, I almost didn’t make it,” the alien admitted.
“Who else is headed here?” Bailey asked.
The Tuetian shook his head. “No one. Just me. I never told the general.”
“You’ll forgive us if we have trouble believing you,” Bailey stated.
“He’s telling the truth,” Lewis said, stepping up to stand on her other side.
Liesel was busy extinguishing a fire that had sprouted on the outside of the ship, but the one in the cockpit was still going strong.
Jack appeared with another extinguisher, and pushed it into the alien’s hands. “Take care of the fire,” the chief strategist said with authority.
The Tuetian didn’t argue, only covered his mouth and ducked back into the cockpit. A loud streaming noise ensued.
Bailey gave Lewis a tentative expression. “What do you make of this?” she asked.
“He wasn’t lying when he said he was alone,” he repeated.
“So, what, you can communicate with ferrets, and you’re a lie detector for aliens?”
“The cues that someone gives when they are lying are universal,” Lewis told her simply, as more ash and smoke enveloped the ship.
The alien coughed as he rushed out of the craft. “It’s out…I think.”
“Great,” Hatch stated, passing Bailey and Lewis to stand squarely in front of the intruder. “Now get back on that ship and get out of here.”
The Tuetian’s large eyes widened even more. “B-b-but the ship’s engines are nearly fried. I don’t think they’ll make it that far.”
“Not our problem.” Hatch shrugged.
“But what if the ship can’t make it back and I crash?” the alien asked fearfully.
“How do we know there isn’t a tracker on that ship, or a bomb?” the mechanic asked.
“I’ve sent Sebastian to check,” Liesel interrupted.
Hatch shook his head. “That’s not the point. This alien has trespassed on our ship.”
The Tuetian pointed at Lewis and Bailey. “They trespassed first, on my planet.”
“We came in peace to find information,” the lieutenant clarified, still holding her gun at the ready. “It was your people who locked us up, giving us no choice but to escape.”
“Look!” the alien yelled, his wings fluttering. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t responsible for them locking you up, and when I saw you escaping, all I did was follow you. I’ve never met humans, or whatever you are.” His eyes darted to Hatch.
Bailey turned to face the others. “I say we drop him off on his planet. Maybe with a faulty parachute.”
Hatch agreed with a nod.
Jack, on the other hand, didn’t look so sure. “What if he can offer some insight?”
“Pip already got access to their system,” Bailey reminded them.
“That’s true, but—”
“Pip and I are sorting through that information now,” Ricky Bobby interrupted. “So far, it seems to pertain solely to Tuetian local affairs. There is nothing that we can link to interactions with Monstre Corp.”
Jack turned to Bailey and Lewis. “It appears he could be an asset, after
all.”
“Fine,” Bailey snapped, keeping her eyes on the alien. “But I vote we put him in the brig.”
Jack nodded his head curtly. “I think that’s a good idea. Will you do the honors, since you’re holding the big gun?”
Bailey agreed, motioning with her weapon. “March, Mr. Curiosity. If you’re staying with us, then we’re keeping you locked up.”
“Do you want to do Good-Cop-Bad-Cop?” Bailey asked, standing outside the brig.
“Sure, but I call Good Cop,” Lewis said, popping up the collar of his jacket to cover his neck.
Bailey scoffed. “Why do you get to be Good Cop?”
“You wanted to drop this alien back on his planet using a bad parachute.”
Bailey nodded, remembering the comment she’d made in haste. “Yeah, but I have a feeling this Tuetian isn’t going to talk to the Bad Cop.”
“And what? You have to be liked?” Lewis asked with a laugh.
“Maybe Good-Cop-Bad-Cop isn’t the right approach with this one,” Bailey mused, changing her mind.
“Well, let’s think about what we know,” Lewis began, his tone switching to ‘detective’ mode. “This alien is the curious type, which doesn’t seem normal for the Tuetians.”
“Yeah, they weren’t at all curious about us. Only territorial.”
He nodded. “I suspect that’s for a reason.”
“We know that he takes dumb risks,” she supplied.
“Yes. I also don’t think he’s aligned with his people,” Lewis noted.
“Why do you say that?” Bailey asked.
“He said he wasn’t responsible for locking us up, and he wasn’t lying when he said he only followed us. But I’m certain his orders would have been to report our escape.”
Bailey considered this. “Yeah, that’s definitely rebellious behavior.”
Lewis placed his hand on the button that opened the door for the brig. “Alright, let’s play to these characteristics.”