Worlds Away

by J. L. Hendricks

  “I really don’t know. But do as Cazon says. I gotta get going. Please stay safe everyone.” I yelled that last bit out over my shoulder as I ran to catch up to Cazon.

  As soon as we stepped into the hallway, the ship rocked again and we all fell into the wall. We stayed upright, but just barely.

  We ran to Lisa’s quarters and Cazon handed me his laser pistol, “Do you know how to handle one of these?”

  “Is it just point and shoot?” The weapon was lighter than I expected, and my hand fit around the handle well enough. Even though my hands were so much smaller than the aliens.

  He snorted, “Yeah, pretty much.” He handed me the pistol and had me point it at the wall but kept my finger off the trigger.

  “Do you see the sight guide?” He asked.

  “Yes.” Then I lined up the guide from the back of the gun to the dot on the end of the barrel.

  “Yes, just like that. Keep those two marks lined up and aim for the chest. Pull the trigger like you would an Earth gun, but don’t hold it down. This type of weapon only shoots out short bursts of energy,” Cazon instructed.

  “Ok, thanks. Now go, do whatever it is you do when you have to defend this ship. And kill all of those idiots!” I was getting a taste of bloodlust, and I liked it. Maybe I would get a chance to use this weapon? No, wait. That would mean we were losing, and they found a way to get on this ship. That wouldn’t work.

  Not two minutes after Cazon left, Venay called me on my communicator that was implanted with the translator. “Venay! Are you ok?”

  “I am fine, how are you? Where are you? I called our room, and you didn’t answer.” He sounded really worried, and I could hear the warriors in the background yelling orders, and then we were hit again. Thankfully Lisa and I were sitting on the ground. We were both sitting back against the couch in the living room with a good view of the door.

  “I’m fine. Lisa and I are in her quarters. Cazon just left us here. Don’t worry about us, you get back to work and save us.” I decided the other aliens had to be bad if they attacked us in V’Zenian space without any provocation. That is if everything Venay had told me was true, and I was starting to believe it was.

  “Stay where you are. Don’t go anywhere. They are trying to blow a hole in the ship. I’m sure they want to try and board us. Tell no one who you are if they do get on board. Stay with Lisa. Now I wish I would have given you a weapon.” I could hear the anger and frustration in his voice.

  “Venay, I have a weapon. Cazon left his laser pistol with me. We are going to be fine. You just focus on squishing every single one of those insectoids, so I don’t have to!” Even though Cazon told me they were insectoid, I had no clue how large they were. I really hoped I wasn’t going to find out, either.

  “I knew you were perfect for me. I love you, and I will see you soon.” His warm voice strengthened me, and I was looking forward to seeing him once they defeated the Zateelians.

  My heart was expanding, and I knew I had very strong feelings for him, but love? Not yet. “Venay, you better make it back to me so we can have that romantic wedding on the planet you promised me. And more importantly, our honeymoon in the mountains. Now hang up this call or whatever it is and get to work!”

  “Yes ma’am!” I heard him start to give an order, and then our communication was cut off. The fact that he called me right in the middle of a battle warmed me through, but he shouldn’t have done that. If we made it out of this, I was going to tell him to never call me again during battle, unless he had orders for me. I needed him focused on killing the enemy and protecting the ship, not me.

  Chapter 13

  My heart was still pumping an hour later, and my adrenaline seemed to be burning out. I was exhausted just sitting there holding tight to the laser gun as well as to the couch every time our ship was hit. I wanted to say that I could hear the laser cannons fire, or whatever they called them on this ship. But I knew it must be my imagination creating the sounds in order to keep track of the fighting somehow.

  However, I really did hear some of the torpedoes going back and forth. It was a weird sound, almost like Superman flying super-fast through a tunnel and taking all sound with him through that tunnel. Then it was super quiet for less than half a second, which was always followed by a loud bang, and then the ship would jerk one way or another. At least there was a warning sound before the torpedoes hit. They packed the most punch.

  The next hit, well, it was almost what killed us. The ship started to tilt, like it had lost its stabilizers or something, but we must have gotten a good hit on them as well because another hit didn’t come for a while. I could feel us limping along. Since we were slanted, Lisa and I had to hold on tight to the couch. I had never been so happy to see furniture tied to the ground before. Some of the knickknacks and loose items like chairs and pillows were flying around as we tried to get away from the enemy ship.

  We turned and headed to something, at the time I didn’t know what. But at least we weren’t getting shot at any more. It seemed like days before we made it to the planet. The only reason I knew we were at the planet is because Venay called me, again.

  “Venay, I’m fine. No need to worry about me,” I stated before he could even greet me.

  “Thank the moons! But I am calling to warn you, this next bit is going to get very difficult. There should be a place in the quarters you are in where you can strap yourself to a fold down chair on the wall. Find that and get your butt in it now. We are going to try landing this ship on the planet before the enemy can catch up to us. But with the damage, re-entry is going to make for a very bumpy flight. Can you do that?”

  “Yes, I can. Thank you, Venay.” Okay, so his calling me was a good idea. I would never have known I needed to strap in if he hadn’t, or where the chair was to strap in.

  He grunted and then hung up. “Lisa is there a set of fold down emergency chairs that we can lock ourselves into? You know, like the jump seats on a commercial flight?”

  “Yes, in the back bedroom. There are two seats there. What’s going on?” She took one hand off the couch and flexed it before switching hands and doing the same thing.

  “What did Rotna say when he called you?” I wanted to ask her but Venay called me only a few moments later.

  “He tried to tell me what was going on, but was told to focus on his task, not his mate.” Her cheeks actually turned a shade of pink. I wondered when they were planning their ceremony.

  “Glad to know he’s fine.” I looked around for the entrance to the back room.

  We both stood up and tried to level ourselves before moving.

  “Why do we need to do this? Is the ship getting worse?” Lisa asked, with wide eyes.

  “Yes, we’re approaching the planet and going to attempt to land before the enemy ship can catch us. The re-entry is going to be tough.” I wobbled around as we headed to the emergency seats.

  We made it to the back room and found the seats. There were a few things that had blocked our way, but we moved them without much issue.

  It was a good thing Venay called to warn me, because we weren’t even buckled in when I felt the ship jerking and shaking like an amusement park ride about to go off the rails.

  My teeth hurt so bad within just the first two minutes, I thought they might all be cracked, first from the chattering they were doing with the way we jumbled around and then from the pressure I put on my mouth to stay closed. Somewhere along the way I had bit my tongue and it hurt.

  I couldn’t say how long it took for us to get through the atmosphere, but it felt like forever. I could tell when we made it because we started to smooth out and the ship wasn’t jerking so badly. The loud noise that almost made me deaf had also quieted down, now it was more like a ball whistling through the air. Although, my head was pounding and my body ached from all of the jostling and clenching. I don’t think I have ever held on to anything as tightly as those restraints, ever.

  “Lisa, you ok?” I rubbed my neck and hoped the wor
st was over.

  “Did we make it?” She looked around the room wide eyed and I could see she had been crying. Her face was streaked with the paths her tears left.

  But I couldn’t blame her. I was pretty scared myself and if I hadn’t survived five years on the streets I would have probably been crying as well.

  “So far. I don’t think we have landed yet. So stay seated until we are told we can move. I have a feeling we are going to feel the landing as well.” I stretched out my arms while the ride was somewhat smooth and worked the tight muscles.

  The ship was still tilted, and the seats were very uncomfortable. We were slanted to the left so the belts that made up the restraints were digging into my left side. It felt like one of those carnival rides where you went around in circles, but you were hanging on one side, and the ride seat was digging into your entire side. It was similar to that, but worse. I figured I would have bruises later on and hoped that would be the worst of it.

  “Lisa, tell me about the plans you and Rotna have made for your wedding. When do you want it to take place?” She looked like she might get hysterical any moment. Her eyes were all over the place, and she was having trouble breathing. She didn’t look injured, unless the belts did something internally.

  “Huh? What? Oh, yea, wedding. Ummm, we spoke about it last night. We agreed that we wanted it to happen as soon as we could get some time on the Commander’s schedule. Do you think he will have time tomorrow?” She was dazed. I wasn’t sure she understood what was happening. How could she if she was thinking Venay could marry them tomorrow, after crash landing on a planet while in a firefight with a heavily armed enemy ship?

  “Lisa, do you know what just happened?” I wished at that moment I could get out of my seat, but I knew there was no way it would be safe until after we made landing.

  “Yes, we are landing on a planet.” Lisa’s voice was monotone and her gaze was distant, like she was focused on the stars, but we couldn’t see outside since it was an inside room.

  “Because we just got our butts kicked in a firefight with an enemy ship. There won’t be time to get married, not at least for a while. I couldn’t even tell you how long it will take to fix our ship. Or if the Zateelians will come for us. Lisa, I need you to focus. Can you do that?” Her eyes were still glazed over, and her mouth was hanging open. She kept moving her head like she was listening to some music somewhere.

  Just then I got a communication from Venay, “Paris, are you ok?”

  “Yes, both Lisa and I are ok. She might have some internal injuries, but I think she’s alright. However, she appears to be in shock. How much longer before we land?” All I wanted in that moment was to be on the ground, safe and sound.

  “We came in too fast, so I have to keep her flying as long as possible to slow down, which means we won’t be close to the settlement here. They will come for us and help us soon. Stay in your seats. Don’t move until I tell you, okay?”

  “Of course, I’m betting we will feel it when we land, won’t we?” I winced thinking about the jarring pain we were about to experience.

  “Yes, I am afraid you will. And Paris, don’t say anything, but Rotna is hurt, badly. Lisa might know. If he called her before he went unconscious then she knows. Don’t say anything until we land, and you can check her out.” Venay’s voice lost a little bit of his Commander tone and I sensed the worry for his warrior.

  It made me worry for Rotna as well. “Ok, thank you. Um, any news about the enemy ship? Are they following us?”

  He sighed, and I knew it was bad, “Yes, they are heavily damaged, but they did make it through. However, they are not very close to us. They will have to crash land as well so we should have some time before they come looking for us or the settlement. I just hope that they aren’t able to crash very close to the outpost.”

  “Thank you for being honest with me. You have no idea how much that means to me. I still have the gun Cazon gave me. Once we land, where should I take Lisa?” I needed to put my emotions to the side and focus on the task at hand. We were in an emergency situation. While it was different from what I had experienced living on the streets, I was still used to ignoring my emotions and focusing on how to get out of a bad situation. That was pretty much daily life for me … before.

  It looked like my life really didn’t improve much. Sure, the food was better, as was the bed, but life might be more dangerous living with aliens. I missed my dog.

  “Stay where you are. I will let you know where to go once we land. Please don’t try to leave your room until you hear from me. The ship will be unstable, and I still have no idea where the Zateelians will land.”

  “Right, oh, then I guess you better get back to work. And Venay, thank you for checking in on me so much. I know you have a huge responsibility with the entire ship.”

  “You’re welcome, Paris. See you soon.”

  That man, or alien, was stealing my heart without even trying. All he had to do was show me love and attention, and my stupid heart was falling for him. I still couldn’t get over the slave issue. I didn’t want to fall completely for him and then end up accepting slavery. It wasn’t right. However, my heart wouldn’t stop its erratic beating for him. I was truly afraid that I would end up head over heels in love with this great big warrior before this was all over with.

  The cage I thought I had around my heart seemed to be breaking up.

  The ship started to lurch and leaned to the left and then to the right. We had begun the crash. There was no way this ship was going to survive intact after this crash. We bumped up, and then down and we even spun a bit. My stomach was not happy. It was a gurgling mess, and I had never been so happy to have a mostly empty stomach before. It had to have been at least four or five hours since I ate breakfast, so there wasn’t much in my stomach to worry about.

  The noise was so loud and harsh that my ears started to ring. It sounded like the ship might be breaking apart. We were being jerked so harshly that I wouldn’t be surprised if it broke up in a couple of pieces. Just then the ship jumped up. The reason I knew we jumped up was because my stomach was all over the place. Just like in a roller coaster ride where when you get to the top of the highest point in the track, then go over the cliff and start to go down, and you lose your stomach. Well, that was what it was like, except the straps caused pain. We bounced up high, and then all of a sudden, we dropped like a roller coaster ride.

  When we hit the ground, my whole body jarred and my teeth clicked together so harshly, I knew I had cracked a tooth this time. Thankfully I kept my tongue glued to the roof of my mouth so I didn’t bite it again.

  My head was throbbing, not just an ache, but an actual throb. I could feel my pulse through my head and it was going a mile a minute. I couldn’t feel my body at first, and I didn’t know exactly what happened. Like in a car accident, it all occurred so fast. My eyes seemed to be covered with something black, but as I opened and closed them, my vision started to return. However, my seat had come loose from the wall, and I was on top of the bed in a very uncomfortable position with the seat on my back and my face smooshed in the mattress. I tried to roll to my side, but it took me a few attempts before I turned over.

  Once I was on my side I looked around the room. Even though most of the furniture was locked down, it looked like a tornado ripped through here. The dresser had come undone and was right next to the bed I was on. Anything that had been loose was spread all over the room. From my angle I couldn’t see Lisa, and I didn’t hear her either.

  My hands hurt from holding on so tightly to the straps that it was an effort to get my fingers to open. I had to stretch them out a bit before I tried to undo the straps. Once they were undone, I fell to my stomach on the edge of the bed.

  “Lisa? Lisa you okay?” I called out in a raspy voice, but got no response.

  I hoped she was alright. The first thing I needed to do was get up and stretch my tightly constricted muscles. They had tightened up and some locked in place while I was being
thrown about like a rag doll during the crash. I wanted nothing more than to have Venay come and get me and hold me. But that couldn’t happen anytime soon. He had the entire ship to think about. And besides, chances were pretty good that our ship had broken apart. I had no idea how long it would take him to get here, or even if he could.

  After about a minute or two of stretching on the bed, everything seemed to work fine, no broken bones at least. So I stood up and looked over toward the wall were my seat had been, and Lisa’s seat was barely hanging on. She appeared to be passed out, at least that was what I was going with. Her eyes were closed, not open with a vacant stare, so I assumed she was still alive. Living on the streets you come across quite a few dead bodies. The one thing they all had in common, was the vacant stare in their eyes. That stare is what you remembered for the rest of your life. Not how nice or how mean that person was, just how they looked when you found them dead.

  “Lisa, answer me if you can.” I climbed over a few things to make my way to her.

  I felt her neck for a pulse. It was weak but there. Then I started to feel her body for broken bones. Her arms and legs seemed alright. There was a place on her stomach that worried me. It was where the seatbelt was digging in, and I lifted her shirt to see a huge bruise already forming. I didn’t know what that meant but pretty sure she had some internal damage.

  I looked around for something soft to put below her. She was going to fall off that seat once I unlocked her restraints. I didn’t want her falling on the ground.

  There really wasn’t anything to help cushion her fall, so I grabbed the bedding and pulled hard. The seat I had been in was pretty heavy and still atop the bed, so I had to work hard to get the sheets and blankets off. Then I found the pillows on the other side of the room and put them all below her. I slowly undid her buckles. My hands were still quite sore from holding onto my belts.