by F. E. Arliss
After stripping off her dusty clothes and cleaning them and her goggles in the sanitizer, Daer had a good long sonic shower. It always amazed her how the dust just seemed to float off her body when she activated the system. Sometimes though, it would be nice to have an old-fashioned bath. Not that she’d ever see one of those again, she thought with a sigh of longing. Ah, to have a soak in a tub. She’d only been in space a few months and already pined for the few old-fashioned luxuries of a now dying planet.
Shaking out her now quite long, brunette tresses. She looked at herself in the mirror. Even more muscled than when she’d boarded the transport from Earth, her blue eyes sparkled with good health and happiness, and her angled haircut was grown out into an untamed mass of uneven lengths. She was going to have to do something about that. She’d just been pulling it back in a ponytail everyday and it would be nice to have it down occasionally.
Rummaging through her kit for a pair of laser shears, Daer began sectioning her hair. Running her fingers down the length of each section she used the laser shear to snip off the uneven ends. With the longer section, it was more of hacking to get the heavier sections evened up. Finally, pleased with the overall result, Daer stepped back, shook her head wildly, and then surveyed herself in the imaging device.
“Whooohey!” she yelped. “I look totally hot!” Then giggling, she donned her synth-armor and went to find Dolores Kelty.
Entering the huge interior of the cavern at the side of the plateau had Daer gawping at the enormous space in awe. She’d been so shocked and then exhausted by the events of the night before that she hadn’t really taken in the vastness of the space. It housed several ships, some of them models that Daer had never seen before. Clearly, they were alien. Some of the hair on the back of her neck began to prickle. First ghosts. Now aliens.
Almost stumbling over a boulder that hadn’t been there the second before, Daer yelped and leapt back. “What the hell?!” she barked, eyeing the craggy rock.
Small eyes popped open, and a small crevasse on the rock’s front growled out, “Yeah, watch where you’re going, Earth girl. There are other people here you know!”
“Holy crap!” Daer said.
“Holy crap, what?” asked the rock. “I take it you’ve never seen a rock god? Why are Earthers so ignorant?” With that the rock rolled out of her way and nestled into the side of the cavern, almost seamlessly disappearing into the wall.
“Um, sorry?” Daer called softly after the boulder. Grimacing she stopped and took a good look around. No more blundering about without looking. There were clearly strange beings here and she needed her senses keen to handle the shock of it all.
Several more steps brought her completely out of the sun and into the dark shade of the cavern. Allowing her eyes to adjust before she bungled into someone else, Daer was impressed with the innovations she could see in the cavern’s interior. Large cables ran from the enormous solar panels that she’d seen when they landed. A cloaking device had reactivated once the Clyde was down and though they weren’t visible now, she knew they were there, not that Clyde needed that any more.
It had felt odd walking up the ramp to the cargo bay this morning knowing that no one but the crew of the Clyde could actually see the ship. Only people ‘spiritually connected’ to the Clyde. Daer had wanted to snort, but held it back due to the overwhelming evidence that what Dolores Kelty had said seemed to be true. Though, of course, she didn’t really know these people and it all could be a huge hoax. Weirdly grandiose, if it was.
Gazing in awe at the enormous generator that took up a huge chunk of space at the back of the cavern, Daer was also mesmerized by a tinkling fountain on the side wall. On this ball of dust where was that water coming from?
Just as her eyes started to swing upwards from the water feature, they were shocked to a standstill by a green gelatinous looking hand with only three digits. It emerged from the pool, groping along the ledge at the pool’s front, it grasped the edge and pulled a bulbous head and smoothly-plump body out of the water. Daer gasped. It was a huge toad. Well maybe not huge, but about two feet tall. The little frog stood up, patted down his plump body with a small towel that he’d found on the ledge, then swiveled his large round eyes her way. Daer forced her mouth shut.
“Hi! I’m Jeffrey,” the toad said in a cheerfully chortling voice. “I take it you’ve never seen a Tadswam before?” he asked, his wide mouth curving into what appeared to be a smile. A long pink tongue slid upwards over his tiny nostrils and then over one eyeball, before retreating back behind thin pale-green lips.
“Uh, no. No I haven’t,” Daer said, finding her voice at last. “I’m Daer. Pleased to meet you, Jeffrey.”
The small amphibian jumped off the fountain in one bow-legged leap and then waddled over to her. Reaching out for her leg with one three-fingered hand, he rapidly shinned up her thigh, clung to one shoulder and then plopped himself against her chest. “Ummm, whoa!” Daer said, almost toppling back at this sudden intimacy.
The little toad seemed to shrink inwards. “Ooooh,” he wailed. “I’m sorry! I forget that Earthers aren’t used to Tadswams. Please forgive me for being so forward. Sasha keeps telling me to tone it down, but I forget when I meet someone new. It’s always so exciting!” the little creature said, sadly. Large round eyes looked as though they were about to leak watery tears.
Daer, ever the softy, said, “Don’t worry Jeffrey. It just surprised me that’s all. I’m fine now,” she said, clasping her arms around his plump little body and hugging his hairless form to her. “I’m pleased to meet you, really. And I don’t mind you climbing my tree,” she added laughing. Really, Jeffrey was adorable. “What do you do here?” Daer asked.
“I am a soil and water expert. I advise on the crops,” Jeffrey said, chortling with pride. “We grow wonderful things here. Wonderful eaty things,” he added in a singsong voice. “Let’s go get some,” he said, urging her with one gummy finger towards a narrow hallway that exited the plateau at the rear.
Carrying Jeffrey easily, Daer headed down the hallway. It had spectacular views over the desert planet. The vista spread out along the side of the cliff was simply stunning.
Emerging at last into a large, cool room, furnished with a variety of comfortable chairs, tables, and sofas, Daer ground to a halt once more. A tall, very pale alien with long wild grey hair and amber eyes stood in one corner. More aliens. Holy crapaloozy! This planet was knocking her eyeballs out, Daer thought to herself. Then realized that she sounded like she was losing her marbles, even if it was just inside her own head. Get a grip! she urged herself.
Jeffrey swung down with ease and with a rolling run, engaged the group of people gathered around one of the long, low tables. “This is Daer,” he chuckled out. “She keeps saying, ‘holy crap’!” He shrilled out, with what Daer supposed was laughter.
Moira Quirke disengaged herself from the group and came towards her. “Don’t worry,” she said reassuringly. “These are all friends. You’ve met Jeffrey, a Tadswam from Gateca, the water world. You must have also met ‘rock god’?” she asked searchingly. “He’s in charge of cavern security.”
“If that’s the boulder in the cavern, yeah, I met him,” Daer answered slowly. “He seems a bit grumpy.”
Moira Quirke just smiled. “It’s the nature of ‘rock gods’ I believe, to be taciturn. It’s just their way. Usually, they don’t even show themselves. He must have liked you! Come meet the rest of the group,” she added, pulling her along.
Daer’s eyes swung once more towards the alien in the corner, but were redirected as someone else stepped into her view.
The beautiful redhead came forward and extended a slender hand. “Hi! I’m Sasha Kelty, Captain of the sloop in the cavern, also known as Renegade,” she said beaming and pumping Daer’s hand. Her friendly smile and easy manner eased Daer’s concern.
“She is also the Queen of this planet,” Moira Quirke said, seriously. “She downplays that role, but it is still important.”
“I’m pleased to meet you, Captain Kelty,” Daer said, erring on the side of Sasha’s portrayal of herself.
“Come forward and meet the rest of my crew,” she said. Gesturing to the tall, heavily muscled Vanguardian that had shown Daer her quarters last night, she added, “This is my First Officer, Caja of Renegar. You may mistake him for a Vanguardian, but trust me, he’s really a Renegade like me,” she added with a laugh. “We didn’t like our own species, so we made our own.”
Daer could get behind that. Nodding her head in understanding, she shook hands with Caja, noting his prosthetic hand was very gentle on hers even though it could have crushed her digits easily.
Sasha continued, motioning the pale warrior with the glaring orange eyes forward, “This is Lieutenant Kor, an Idolum warrior who is part of the Alliance we alluded to last night. Don’t worry, you are perfectly safe. Idolum of the Alliance revere life and would never harm you or draw energy from you without your permission. He’s here to await the cargo you brought.”
Daer nodded politely to him, trying to drag her eyes away. It wasn’t easy! An Idolum. They were just as scary looking as everyone had said.
Motioning for Daer to take a seat, Sasha Kelty sank onto the sofa once more and urged a drink on her. Sipping the tart drink, Daer savored the refreshing lime-like juice. “Wow! That’s good. Do you grow this here on Renegar?” she asked. “Jeffrey said he was an agricultural specialist. If this is a sample, he’s very good,” she added with a grin.
“Actually, the limes we do import from another planet. Though the water is all ours,” Caja informed her with a flash of strong, white teeth.
Damn, Daer thought, good looking men were dropping like manna from heaven all around her. Space was awesome.
Moira and Tally were all already enjoying small plates of food that sat displayed on a low banquette. Daer rose and drifted towards the food. She was starving. Returning with a small plate laden with different foods, she sat nibbling happily while the group talked amicably.
Several other people drifted in. Sasha’s grandmother, Dolores, came in, swirling her bright caftan around her calves. A small Vanguardian girl also entered and hunkered down behind Caja on the floor. When the pale blue android entered, Daer almost dropped her plate. Why hadn’t she noticed last night? Weren’t blue robots the ‘self-learning’ ones that had been outlawed. Holy crap! Again! What was going on here?
Seeing Daer’s startled expression, Sasha held up a hand and said, “Don’t worry! This is Blue, whom you saw last night. He’s our marvel of technology and our greatest source of information. His databases are connected to every information source in the known galaxies. He continues to surprise and amaze me every day. Please be kind to him and give him every courtesy,” Sasha added firmly.
“I will,” Daer affirmed, controlling her amazed expression into a passive mask and extending her hand to the blue android.
“Oh, hey girl! I’m so pleased to meet you, too!” said Blue in a swishy sounding prep-girl tone. “It’s always good to have girlfriends around. Too many he-man types can get old,” he said, rolling his pale blue orbs in Caja’s direction.
Daer couldn’t help herself. She snickered. As did Moira, Tally, Dolores and Sasha. That broke the ice. No matter where you were, the girls club could always be found to give you support when you needed it.
“Also,” Blue enthused, “I can’t wait for you to meet Arc and Dag! They’re so much fun too! We can have a mani-pedi party when they get here! I’m going to do lime green this time,” Blue informed her, waving one set of red-tipped blue fingers under her nose. “Won’t that look so cool?”
“You’ve definitely got the coloring for it!” Daer agreed. Then she said, “Maybe one of you can cut my hair a little better. I hacked it off with a laser shear in the shower.”
“OMG, yes!” exclaimed Blue. “I’ve been dying to try this layered cut I saw on Galaxy World vid-stream. Your hair would be perfect for it. Slightly wavy, nicely thick. It will be soooo sexy!” he intoned with an almost perfect rolling sex-kitten growl.
Daer broke out laughing, as did the rest of the group. Blue grinned happily and departed, waving a trailing red mani in his wake.
“I know you think you’ve met an avalanche of aliens today, but you will have more to meet tomorrow. But for now, rest, eat, and enjoy the wonders of Renegar. Tomorrow will come soon enough and you’ve had plenty of experiences for one day,” Sasha Kelty said with a kind smile.
“We’ll have a bonfire tonight in the cavern. Supper will be served al fresco as always. Please join us for dinner. In the meantime, Moira, would you meet with Caja and I to discuss tomorrows visitors, please?” she asked, her blue eyes flashing.
Daer took that as her cue, and rose along with Tally and the smaller Vanguardian, who she would later come to find out was called Birdie.
Retreating to the Clyde, Daer took time for a nap and meditation. She needed to calm her mind. Three species in one day. That was a record for her. Her brain was tired. Drifting off for a cat nap, she wondered what species tomorrow’s visitors would be.
After a very festive dinner around the fire, Daer slept that night as well as she ever had. The evening had been fun, and she’d danced with just about everyone, including a slightly less-grumpy ‘rock god’ who had rolled gently back and forth to the beat of the music. Even Sasha’s enormous rhino-like war dog had seemed to bop to the rhythm of the music. The crew of Renegar had a lot of music in their data-systems. Daer had been amazed. It was like being at a professional music venue as Sasha cued up one ancient oldy after another.
The morning was bright and still when Daer tramped down the lowered ramp of the Clyde to see if breakfast was also served around the fire. Indeed, a table of fruit and protein, that was later identified to Daer as fish, was spread for the guests. She downed the meal gratefully. Truly, fresh protein and fruit was such a treat!
After a furious bout of sparring with Tally, Daer showered once again and emerged from her quarters to face a grim looking Moira Quirke. “Can I help you? You look worried.” Daer said, concern lacing her voice.
“Don’t worry about me, dear. I’m worried more about you,” Moira said, causing Daer to raise her eyebrows in question.
“Today you’re going to meet more Idolum and an Osmirian Princess.”
At Daer’s gasp, Moira threw up her hand. “Don’t get upset please…” she broke off as Daer waved her to silence and pointed behind her.
“Sir?” Daer said, hesitantly, looking over Moira’s shoulder. “Sir? Is that you?”
“Yep, girl, it’s me. Don’t go poppin’ a gasket! Some sorta accident involving alien algae and new mineral ore prototypes, or some such bullshit. I’m never gonna’ live that down. Ghosted by dirt and slime! I’m only mad that I’m incorporeal, as Dolores has explained it. Means I can’t get my hands on my woman any more. Just ogle her instead,” Commander Quirke said with a sideways leer at his wife.
Moira Quirke just laughed and then said gently to the image of her husband beside her, “I’m just glad you’re still with me, in whatever form that may be.” Love shone from the small woman’s eyes and Daer could see that she meant it.
“Wow! Sir! I’m happy to see you, too!” Daer grinned at the grizzled visage before her. “Holy crap! Sir! This planet is full of all sorts of aliens and today we’re supposed to meet more Idolum and an Osmirian and…”
Quirke threw up a hand, “Keep yer shirt on! Both species have fearfully wrong reputations among humans. They’re not at all what you’ve heard,” he added adamantly. “Let me explain….”
An hour later, the Idolum nest ship landed far out on the plateau. It lay like a giant bat clinging to the far rim above a steeply slicing, narrow canyon, where Daer had been told was the place they raised the crops and fish.
When a small convoy of hover-cycles drew near the mouth of the cavern, a large group of people had gathered to welcome the new arrivals. Captain Kelty hurried forward and hugged an extremely t
all human-looking woman with long white-blonde hair and a rose-gold tattoo around her eyes and across her forehead. In turn, she shook hands with a grizzled Idolum General draped in weathered animal skins. His long grey hair hung wild to his waist and besides being almost seven feet tall, he was heavily scarred and had a set of razor-sharp looking jagged-teeth that had scared the crap out of Daer when he smiled at Captain Kelty. Finally, Sasha accepted a curtsey from a blonde Viking of a man, whose incongruent behavior had Daer immediately guessing that this was Dag, the mani-pedi party participant that Blue was so looking forward to.
Crikey! What had she gotten into with these crazy people? Daer wondered. Almost everything they were doing was either illegal or just plain nuts. Daer hurriedly shook hands with the giant woman, who was introduced to her as Princess Arc Exousia Quirke and with the Idolum General, introduced as General Monsav of the Centurion, and Dag Witson, First Mate of the Clyde.
‘Huh?’ Daer thought. ‘Another Clyde?’ Then she bolted for the safety of her maintenance closet. ‘Oh sweet Jesus! Save me!’ was all she could think before she slammed the door to her closet aboard the Clyde.3, her Clyde, and slid down the wall in a heap of nerves. Suddenly she realized that she wanted to see Digger. He’d know what to do. Maybe she could get a comm through to him. Daer lowered her head onto her folded arms and cried.