by Kyle Perkins
“E-7, just because these beings may share similarities with us, does not mean they are human. It would be impossible.”
“I thought so too, sir, however, there are too many similarities to ignore. Not only do they look like you, but they talk, dress, and behave like humans would have far back in Earth’s history.”
“They aren’t humans. Humans can only come from Earth; we have evolved through an unfathomable number of random mutations throughout our history. These mutations could only survive to better suit and outcompete lesser mutations in our very specific biosphere. Basically, there is zero chance of them being human. They only share traits with us because of how similar our planets are,” I say.
Am I trying to reassure myself?
E-7 is a hovering library, a codex of all that ever was on Earth – our entire history and scientific achievements wrapped in an indestructible, constantly-talking orb. I’m not saying anything he doesn’t already know, so why am I saying it?
“Well, I can agree that they aren’t humans, but they are humanoid in nature. Given that knowledge, we do have the upper hand.”
“You’re right. They will have the same weak points in their structure.”
“Precisely, sir,” E-7 says, before whizzing off again.
I spot my small team of soldiers off in the distance getting restless, all readying their weapons and double checking their armor. I don’t blame them; these guys have been waiting their entire lives for this moment and we are finally here. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t anxious, myself.
“Time to go,” I say as I raise my rifle suggestively.
They all nod in uniform, except for Caius, who looks a bit annoyed by this whole venture. I have taken a special interest in this kid’s lack of respect and discipline, nearly sentencing him to death on more than one occasion. In the end, though, my empathy gets the better of me, and I always let him walk.
We move through the tall grass as a group - five of us; Akal, Jazreth, Ekor, Caius, and myself. The entire roster has been in my team since my conception, except for Caius. We all know how one-another thinks, and we all trust each other.
Part of me wonders if that is what put the chip on Caius’ shoulder. Caius, though a botanist, has a particular affinity for weapons and confrontation. So, we began training him for battle, even though it wasn’t sanctioned by Earth. The guy isn’t all that bad; he just has a temper. I’m hoping that by spending enough time with the rest of us, he grows up and takes this responsibility seriously.
As we close in on the small settlement, I see bodies moving in the distance, though I can’t make out what they are doing. My onboard targeting system begins scanning everything within my field of vision and locks onto nearly twenty hostile targets holding makeshift weapons.
“Okay everyone, this is it. I am going to try and communicate with them. Abstain from any aggression unless we come under attack, and as always, follow my orders to the letter. Got it?” I say as I walk out in front.
The men just grunt as I pass them. Moving closer to the settlement, I can’t believe my eyes. The beings in front of me are as E-7 said they were. Aside from being a little darker in complexion, and a bit shorter, these people look just like us.
I sync the files that E-7 sent over with my memory and proceed forward. The humanoids spot us approaching and the smaller ones of the bunch flee inside the abodes. The stronger looking ones with the weaponry begin walking towards us, though they seem reserved.
We stop walking once we are within one hundred feet of them as they raise their weapons.
“Now, there is no need for that. We only seek shelter and food. We mean you no harm,” I call out.
The humanoids look at each other with a bewildered expression on their faces, before one of them steps out to the front of the pack.
“How do you know our tongue, outsider?” the man asks.
“Not important. Do you plan to cause us harm? Should we choose to stay here?”
“You are not welcome here. You must return to the sky, and leave our world be, in peace.”
I begin linking the language files to my companions. As the man talks, my men will begin understanding.
“I’m afraid that is no longer an option. We are stuck on this planet, with no way home. We are one of many teams that will come, and we need your cooperation so that this transitional period goes as smoothly as possible,” I lie.
“No, you will return to the sky, or we will return you to Redisia,” the man says.
“I say we smoke him,” Caius mutters.
“No, we are on their land, and we must do this at their pace,” I say to Caius with a scowl.
“You must leave, do not make us kill you,” the man says, raising his spear.
“That’s it, I’m going to shoot this fucker!” Caius raises his rifle.
I put my hand firmly on his gun and point it back towards the ground, a flair of anger rising inside me.
“Caius – you disobey my order, I’ll have you locked up,” I say with a straight face, not wanting to take chances in case the humanoids can read expressions.
“Lock me up where, exactly? We don’t even have a home until we get rid of these assholes. You are aware of that, right?” Caius says defiantly.
“I am growing impatient, outsiders. Leave at once, or perish,” the man says in the distance.
“Listen, we did not come here for a war. We are prepared for one, and we will win, but it’s not what we seek. We only need shelter and food,” I plead with the man.
The fact that the man is so unafraid, and so certain he will win, is admirable. Completely stupid, but admirable. They didn’t even flinch when we approached in the armor with these weapons. Do they have some bizarre belief or religion that they think protects them?
“I’m sorry, you have made me do this,” the man says as he launches a spear towards my head.
My onboard targeting system, coupled with my enhanced reflexes, lets me catch the spear in my hand with ease. Then, as quickly as I turn my head back, Caius already has his weapon aimed at the man with his finger on the trigger. I can’t shout quickly enough to stop it. I see his finger twitch.
The man has a hole blown clean through his chest from the rifle, but stays standing. I can see pain in his eyes briefly before the life escapes them and he falls to the ground. Not pain from the shot, but the kind of pain you see when witnessing an atrocity.
I feel anger seeping from my pores as I stalk towards Caius, and the fear in his eyes lets me know that he is aware.
“Hey now, that thing attacked you!” he yells.
His screaming is cut short with a right hook to the side of his helmet, causing him to slide about twenty feet away through the soil, leaving a trail behind him in the dirt. I look up to see men pouring out of the homes, and out of grass-covered hatches in the soil, surrounding the huts.
I count about fifty of them, and Caius has left us with no choice. I raise my gun and begin firing on the men in rapid succession, watching them splatter against the soil as the plasma bolts make contact with their skin. The smell of burning flesh and cooked meat fills the air, which only makes me nauseous.
Even though I am firing with precision, the men keep pouring out. There are nearly a hundred of them now. I watch as several of them swarm Ekor and tear at him like wild animals, and though he beats several of them off of him, one is able to remove his helmet and jab something into his neck. His face begins to turn purple and he grasps at his throat, enthusiastically trying to signal to us that he can’t breathe.
“Jazreth! Get to Ekor now!” I yell as I shoot down three more.
I wonder how it’s possible that our serum hasn’t already kicked in and healed him, and it takes my mind off of the task for a second longer than was safe. A man jumps onto my chest and begins pounding on my mask with some type of small hammer, and it knocks me off of my feet. I land on the soil with a loud thud as I watch Akal fire on the men who are swarming Jazreth and Ekor.
I grab my
assaulter’s head with both hands and squeeze his skull like a vise before watching his innards come violently out of his eyes, nose and mouth. Tossing him off of me, I rise to my feet to see Jazreth and Ekor lying lifeless with their helmets removed. The last few natives are working to rip off Akal’s. I fire a few shots, dropping two of the men, but I wasn’t fast enough with the third; he manages to jab Akal in the neck just before I scatter him all over the ground.
I run over to my comrade as he gasps for air, still trying to cling to life. He has a look of puzzlement on his face that is probably only matched by my own. I place my hand on his chest and give him a nod as I watch his last moments. He knew what he signed up for, and we are all ready to die, but not due to the ego of some arrogant, trigger-happy fool.
I storm over to Caius’ unconscious body and kick him in the ribs as hard as I can, causing him to slide another fifty feet. I hear him groan and watch him stir as I close in to kick him again, but I think better of it and stop short. We have lost enough life here today. His future will be in a cell. That much, I can guarantee.
I watch as women come out of the houses to the spots where their men have died. I see sorrow in their eyes as the women cry over the charred bits of flesh dotting the soil. It baffles me how truly human they appear and act, almost as if they share our empathy. We need to know more about them.
Caius begins to get up, moaning from the pain as I slap a set of cuffs on him and tether him to me. I drag him along as I tether the other men’s bodies to my waist and drag all four of them behind me. The place is defenseless, now and we will return with people, and more supplies. Hopefully with the men gone from this village, the women will understand their predicament and give us no more trouble.
“So, this is the thanks I get for saving your life?” Caius says as he is pulled through the mud.
“We could have talked to them. We could have made that work.”
“He tried to kill you! It was an ambush!”
“We could have talked to him!” I shout and turn around, kicking Caius in the head to shut him up.
As he slumps back into a slumber, I look off into the horizon and watch as signal fires begin to light up, stretching over the mountains.
“Well, if they didn’t already know we were here, they do now. And now we are the fucking hostiles,” I mutter under my breath, shaking my head as I head back to camp.
Chapter 4
Aya
There is constant humming in my ears as I watch what can only be described as a floating rock glide effortlessly through the wind. I am still battling the need to flee back to my people and warn them of what I have seen, but there would be no proof to them.
Who would believe me? Saray? My father certainly wouldn’t.
The others are so worried about the returning of their men, they would cast me aside. If I were lucky, they wouldn’t send me to the cave for losing my mind.
Ricon would know what to do and how to say it. I only have Garret, and I have no intention of talking to him.
The rock continues its path further away from me and my home. Maybe it’s not a threat, after all. Before I lose sight of it and turn back to the woodlands, it begins separating, sending more pieces to the ground in waves. The way they move reminds me of a dance of the bees.
The initial remnants of the ship fall to the ground over the mountains, but the farther away it moves, more dispense from the rock – the machine. I have never seen anything so graceful take flight without wings.
As beautiful as it is to watch, I have to tell the others, whether they believe me or not.
My senses have returned with the absence of the roar from the sky. Hearing the lack of animals and seeing the empty dirt ground should be enough to help me convince the Vaklarn that there may be danger. Someone else must have heard the painful roar echoing through the woods.
Slowly turning to the entrance of the trees, I begin moving quietly along the dirt path. I have to think this through, as there was a large object that entered our meadow, glided far enough away for me to lose sight, and left as quickly as it came. Maybe there is nothing to report back to the Elite.
My pace quickens as I hear screams and cries in the distance. I wonder if they have found more men; Ricon. For a split second, I have forgotten about the intentions of the machine. It has moved past us, leaving pieces on the ground that could be harmful to our civilization. With my blood quickening through my veins, I hurry back to tell my father.
As I make my way to edge of the center, a hard form steps directly in front of me. I hit him like a wall. Not needing to look up to meet his eyes, I can feel his condescending remarks begging to pass through his lips as I fight to figure out how to get away from him.
“Garret?”
“Good day, beautiful.” His reaction to me in the woods isn’t what I expected. The look on his face is of expectation, not surprise. “I see you chose not to listen to your father.”
“Do I ever listen?”
“You used to, before the claiming. I used to appreciate your disobedience, but now you have responsibilities.” His predatory glare causes my heart to pound against my chest. I have been training, but I know I don’t stand a chance against Garret. “Am I going to tell your father that I found you in the woods, or, am I going to tell him I was with you for protection?”
Considering the likelihood that my father will believe him over me, I need to think of something quick. Unfortunately, I can’t even lie to save myself.
“Tell my father whatever you want.” I would be better off with my disappointed father, than alone with Garret much longer. “I know where I was and what I have seen.”
His hand tightly grasps on to my arm as I try to pass him. “You’re right, Aya. I think it’s time you learned your place. Had you accepted me as your mate, this would have been much easier on both of us.”
Only after I try freeing myself from his clutches, I allow him to drag me back to the pedestal my father occupied to deliver his message to the people. The rocks kick up as I attempt to fight his grip, but he holds strong with determined strength. I go with him through the last of the trees, only to uncover the reason for the commotion that led me back to grief and devastation. The women and children are placing their stones, symbolizing the moment, the life that has been claimed.
All of our trees surround the gathering stones. The stones represent life, death, and silence. Life stones are the smallest, added to the pedestal with the birth of a child. The death stones are the largest of the stones, placed at the base, representing a life, long lived. Silence stones are of the darkest stones, found in the ruins outside of our civilization. They represent the lost souls of our people. Those that were silenced for the wrongs they have done and the lies they have told. These stones are placed in the eternal fire, glowing red as the heat never fails. Many still believe in the ancient telling of Lorqa.
Lorqa is believed to be our creator. What little bit of information that has been discovered, has been written in a language that is foreign to our tribe.
As we round the tree line, I recognize the women, as I watch them place death stones at the base. My heart breaks for them as, one by one, they mourn for the men they have lost, then hurry back to their homes guided by their escorts. The remaining people wandering the grounds are obviously mourning their own losses while on their way back to safety.
Garret doesn’t even stop to pay his respects to the devastation. The mission he is on will likely end badly for me. “Where are you taking me? We just passed my steps.”
He doesn’t even acknowledge me as he continues on the path to the…
“Why are you taking me to the cave?” The fear in my voice causes him to tighten his grip.
“I told you, Aya. If you were going to challenge the rules of the people, you would be punished. You disobeyed before and your father fell for your charm.” A deep chuckle booms through the wooded area we have now entered. “I am telling you right now, no one will come for you this time.”
> My thoughts carry me away from reality. What am I going to do? My father has no idea where I am being sent. He is so blinded by the warrior that Garret has proven to be that he will believe him, no matter what.
Knowing my fight will only satisfy Garret’s masculine decision, I will my breathing to even out as the greenery thickens. The further we move away from civilization, the more difficult it is for me to maintain a sense of normalcy. Inside, I am crying for help; begging for the ability to be like everyone else. I grab hold of the crescent shaped earrings my mother passed down to me and beg for her strength.
“I can feel your heartbeat through the weak skin you hide behind. One day you will figure out, I am both smarter and stronger than you are.” His words cut deep as I am trying to control emotions that are too overwhelming for my delicate state of mind. I am left with no choice but to resign to my imminent fate. He wins.
The beauty surrounding the caves is both deceiving and comforting. The colors of the flowers burst with the most vibrant yellows, purples and pinks, while the reddened sky reflects off of the dew drops decorating the petals of hope. The beauty of the land hypnotizes me, allowing me to rationally think through the fate I am about to succumb to. I feel my body calm as acceptance washes over me.
We make our way through the last of the trees, giving coverage to the caves and the surrounding meadows and bluffs, overlooking the most beautiful land I have grown to love. I can see further from here than I can from my meadow. I can see for miles, and I am internally thankful that there is no sign of the machine or the destruction that may have been caused on the ground.
Garret slowly runs his hand up my arm, tearing me from my thoughts. His fingers graze the skin below my shoulder, causing me to shudder with disgust. He notices the passive action, reacting the only way I would’ve expected. His tight grip wraps my hair into a knot, allowing him full control of me; giving him exactly what he has demanded from the moment I was promised to him.
“Listen very closely, Aya,” my neck is wrenched back, forcing me to look at him, “you have no idea what I am capable of. I will own you, everything about you will be mine. There is nothing you can do about it now, tomorrow – not ever.” His words are laced with dominance and control.