Worlds Away

by J. L. Hendricks

  He chuckled, and it was nice to hear him laugh, even if it was just a simple chuckle. I started to feel warm and knew that we were going to be just fine.

  “Paris, I love you, and you come before the slaves. My men will get you first, then they will look for the slaves. I want you here with me. Besides, it sounds like the doctor could use your help more than any of my warriors.” He chuckled again. I wish I could have been there to see his smile. “The few who have the required first aid training are nothing but trouble, according to the doctor. He told me what you did for Lisa. He is very impressed; she would have died if you hadn’t done such a good job.”

  “Okay, enough praise for one day. Get back to work so that your next set of warriors can come and get us. And if I hear anything, I will be calling you right away.” I felt very uncomfortable being praised for doing what any human would have done in my shoes. I didn’t deserve it.

  “You better, but if you hear something, be as quiet as you can. And shoot anything that comes through your door,” He ordered.

  “Yes, sir!” We said goodbye, and I continued looking for food in Lisa’s kitchen. I brought everything back I could find.

  Both girls were awake and hungry, which was a good sign.

  I checked the device on Sheila’s stomach, and it was ready to come off.

  “Thank you, Paris! I’m so glad you know how to work that thing. Now give me a protein bar.” I wasn’t sure if she was joking or hangry, I went with the former.

  I laughed and handed her a bar.

  Once she took a few bites she smiled and appeared content. I hated to tell her any of the news. I was actually surprised that Venay told me so much. But I guess since we were here alone with no one to protect us, he needed me to know what was going on so we took the situation more seriously, and so that I would obey his orders. If those insectoid things were out there, I wasn’t going anywhere just yet. He must know enough about me to know that I would have gone after all of those people in the cells and brought them back here, if it wasn’t so dangerous.

  “Okay, I spoke to Venay.” I took a seat on the floor near both girls. “He suggested I scavenge the surrounding rooms and get all of the food. We’re going to be here for a few more hours, but once his warriors get here, we will need to bring back supplies with us. They don’t have a lot and everyone is making their way towards the bridge and med-bay. We could really help them out if we have a nice big haul of rations and med-kits.”

  Sheila started to get up, “Sheila,” I put my hand on her shoulder, “Stop. You can’t go with me yet. I need you to stay here and keep an eye on Lisa and to also protect her in case anything gets in here that shouldn’t.” I raised my eyebrows at her hoping she would get the idea.

  “Oh, of course. I can do that. Is there anything else I can do while I wait for you?” She sat back down and eyed me.

  “No, you should rest. It looks like your internal bleeding is all fixed, but I don’t want you to re-open any wounds. We should all get some rest while we wait for the troops to rescue us.” I laughed at that thought. “Like we are damsels in distress or something.” Sheila joined me in the laugh, however short lived it was. But it did help to relieve a bit of stress.

  I spent the next hour going through the rooms and bringing stuff back. I also set up the dresser in front of the bedroom doorway. It would make a good wall to hide behind if the aliens made it this far.

  One of the last rooms I searched was more of a supply closet, and in it were some weapons, ration packs, more med kits with bandages and cleaning supplies-things we could probably really use in bulk. But I also found a couple of night vision goggles, or at least that’s what I thought they were. I put the lenses over my eyes, and I could see everything in green, but in better detail.

  When I went back into the hall, it was darker. It seemed that the emergency lighting had dimmed. I looked down toward the hole in the ship and it was a lot darker, as though the sun was setting. It was possible that there were a lot of holes in the ship and some of what I thought was emergency lights were pinhole lights from outside.

  I put the night vision goggles on as I made my way back to the room. This was going to be my last haul for now. I needed a break, and I wanted to go check something out before all of the light was gone.

  Once I had dropped the stash in the room near the girls I asked, “Sheila, you good here? I want to go check one last thing before we hunker down for the night.”

  “Sure, what did you see?”

  “It’s getting dark, and I found these goggles that I think will help me see in the distance, at night. I want to try to see what is around us. There’s a hole in the ship not far from here and we are pretty high up, so I might get an idea of what’s around us.” I had taken the goggles off before entering Lisa’s quarters, so I brought them up and showed Lisa and Sheila.

  “Is it safe? I mean if those insectoid aliens are anywhere near here, won’t they see you?” Lisa asked.

  “I doubt they will see me up high like we are, in the dark. But I might be able to see them. I brought a pair for you too. If it gets too dark, put them on if you hear any noise so you can see what it is. When I come back, I’ll knock three times quick and two times slow, like this.” I demonstrated my knock for her. I wanted to make sure she knew it was me and didn’t shoot me when I came back.

  “But Sheila, if I’m not back within an hour, you have to assume something happened and stay here. Don’t go anywhere. Call Venay and let him know what happened. alright?” I put my hand on my friends’ shoulder and smiled.

  “Paris, if it’s dangerous why are you going?” Sheila was a bit of an adventure seeker, but I hoped she would stay with Lisa and take care of our friend. There was no one else in this part of the ship to do so.

  “Danger is my middle name. Didn’t I ever tell you that?” I smirked at her and walked off without another word. I did close the front door, in hopes that the aliens wouldn’t be able to open it. All I took with me was one power bar, a water bottle, two laser guns, a Taser, and the night vision goggles. I didn’t plan on being gone long, but after all of my experiences, I have learned to pack for the worst.

  Chapter 16

  I quickly made my way to the edge of the ship, where I had climbed down earlier to get across to the other side. Just before I turned the corner to the drop off I heard screaming. I stopped at the corner and slowly angled my head around to see what was going on. I saw what I guessed where the insectoids. They had found some humans and were grabbing them and taking them away from the ship.

  These things were called insectoid for a reason. They looked to be a cross between a giant, mutant cockroach and a grasshopper. They were taller than I expected, about my height. They were either camouflaged, or they just had the same coloring as the trees all over the outer parts of the ship. They were various shades of green with bits of brown on the edges. It wasn’t quite dark yet, but with the night vision goggles, I could see pretty well at a distance. They were bi-pedal, but that was the only thing that we appeared to have in common.

  This was going to be a problem. I was covered in goosebumps. It was really difficult getting their image out of my head. On the one hand, I wanted to step on them and squash them like the bugs they were, but on the other- giant, mutant, cockroaches! Gross!

  While I was trying to pull myself together, I heard a chorus of gut-wrenching screams and looked back around the corner and almost puked. One of the insectoids had bitten off the head of one of the men. As I watched, his dead body fell in a heap at the feet of our real enemy.

  They were definitely not here to help us. Venay had been right.

  I heard a cacophony of chittering. They sounded like a swarm of grasshoppers making noise and I wondered what they were saying. My universal translator wasn’t helping. Was there a way to translate bug into English?

  Before I pulled out my laser gun, I shook my body trying to get rid of the heebie jeebies, and then I looked to see if I could get a good aim. I counted thirteen
of them, and they were corralling more than a dozen people down the side of the ship and towards a giant hole that led outside.

  I needed to make sure my people wouldn’t get shot in the process. It was a mix of men and women who were their prisoners. I didn’t recognize any of them but that didn’t matter, they were my people, and I was going to do whatever I had to in order to protect them.

  So far, I had a good aim on several of those giant bugs. However, to get the rest I would need all their prisoners to drop to the ground … or run away.

  I decided to risk it, and I took aim and fired on the one closest to me. It was a direct hit! The humans did what I assumed they would naturally do, and they dropped to the ground. A few in the back of the group did try to get further back inside the ship, out of my range, which was a good thing.

  Another bug went down with my next shot, and after my third one, they knew where I was at and pulled their weapons and started shooting at me. One of them got close, his laser shot hit the wall next to me and sparks flew toward me but with those goggles on, my eyes were protected from the sparks, just not from the glare. I had to back up and take off the goggles and rub my eyes a few times before my vision cleared up.

  However, I had the high ground, and they were in a bottle neck, for the most part. I shot a couple more, and then the cavalry showed up. My guess is they were the ones who were coming for me.

  They were on the other side of the chasm from me, and they started firing at the mutant bugs from their side, I counted five warriors. Hope blossomed in my chest as I realized we had a real chance to beat these things.

  One of the humans went down, but it looked like a mutant cockroach hit her with its arm, hand? Not sure what their appendages were called. But she went down hard, so I aimed for that thing above her and hit it dead on its chest. It wasn’t moving again.

  While I was shooting at the remaining bugs, I received a call from Venay, “Paris, what in the universe are you doing? I thought we agreed you would stay inside with Lisa and Sheila and wait for my warriors to get you?”

  “Kinda busy now. I’ll call you back when the bad guys are all dead.” I hung up not waiting to hear his reply.

  I went back to focusing on killing those suckers, and it looked like the warriors had finished them off for me. A strange feeling came over me, and I was mad. How dare they take my kills?

  I probably had bloodlust. As I considered what I felt, I realized I wanted to be the one who killed them all, or at least the last of them. Anger was bubbling to the surface of my emotions, and I didn’t like it one bit. I should have been happy, or even grateful for the assist. Instead, I was livid that I wasn’t the one who finished them off. What a weird feeling. That came out of nowhere.

  Could it be some sort of PTSD from everything that’s happened? I wasn’t sure what had caused me to go crazy like I did, but I didn’t like it. I had to get control of my feelings before anyone found me.

  I stood up and shook my hands out and paced the hallway, taking deep breaths.

  Once I felt more in control, I called Venay back, “Sorry about that. I found these night vision goggles when scavenging, and I only wanted to try them out. I had no idea I would find those mutant cockroaches hurting my people. Once I saw what they were doing, I couldn’t help it. I started killing them, and then your warriors showed up and finished them off.” I knew I was rambling, but I couldn’t help it. I felt tears start to fall down my face and I did everything I could to keep from balling while communicating with Venay.

  “I can’t believe you! What am I going to do with you?” For the first time since the crash, he sounded angry with me.

  I sniffed and chastised myself when his tone changed. “Paris, are you hurt? What’s wrong?”

  “I’m fine. It’s been a very long day and my emotions are getting the better of me. I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be a cry-baby.” I ran a hand across my face and wiped the tears away.

  “Oh, sweetheart. Crying is totally normal. You are so brave. I can’t imagine how it felt to go through everything you have today. I should have sent someone to get you sooner. Can you forgive me?” The strain in his voice was evident when his voice broke on the last sentence. “What can I do to help you get through this?”

  “Train me?” I shrugged my shoulders and smiled, even though I knew he couldn’t see what I was doing.

  “I guess I will have to if you keep this up.” He sighed, “Paris, are you really okay? They didn’t hit you, did they?”

  “No, they didn’t. I’m just fine. Now that your warriors are here, I’ll go and get Lisa and Sheila, and we can all go back with my people as well.” I felt as though a load had been lifted off my shoulders when it sank in that we were being rescued by the good guys.

  “Alright, I will contact Zelan and let him know to expect you three. Do you need any help?” He asked.

  “I could probably use one warrior. The rest should stay there and protect the people. There were at least a dozen of them, and one was hurt in the fighting. And another …” My voice broke when I thought about the one who didn’t make it.

  His voice softened. “Okay, wait where you are, and I will send one warrior to help you.”

  “Great…” I was cut off when out of nowhere a huge bug came at me with its pinchers. Up close it looked like it had pinchers.

  I moved back to get out of its reach, but it had a long range. It grabbed my arm, and I was forced to drop the weapon I was holding. But I had another gun in my pocket, and using my free arm, I grabbed it quickly and tried to shoot it, but his other arm knocked it away from me.

  It was pinching my arm so tightly that it broke skin, and my arm was bleeding. I screamed out loud and tried to kick the thing in what would normally be a man’s softest spot, but it didn’t do anything to the mutant in front of me.

  Venay was yelling into my communication device, but I couldn’t focus on him. A warrior from across the chasm yelled at me to duck. I did the best I could and he shot at the bug as it was going to punch me in the face. Thankfully I ducked just in time. Its pincher hit the wall behind my head and the laser shot hit it in the neck.

  Its head hit the wall, and I grabbed the Taser I had in my pocket and shot it. That released its hold on me. And I backed up and grabbed one of my guns on the floor and shot it in its chest. If that didn’t kill it, I was in trouble. But it fell back to the ground and stopped moving.

  The warrior yelled across the divide, “Back up. I see another one climbing towards you.”

  I did as commanded, and I saw three warriors shoot at the floor right below me. I heard a high pitched squeak or squeal, not sure what it was. But it hurt my ears. And then a thump as it fell to the ground.

  Venay was still yelling at me. “Venay, I’m fine. My right arm might need some help, but other than that I’m fine.”

  “What happened?” He was breathing heavily, almost like he was running.

  “A couple of the bugs crawled up to my location. One got a hold of me, they are really strong. I had no idea what it would be like to fight them. And kicking them in the crotch does nothing! Where are their reproductive organs located?” My mind was focused on finding my new enemies weak spots, so I knew exactly where to hit them next time.

  He laughed, and what a welcome sound that was. “So you are really alright, besides your arm?”

  “Yes, I’m waiting here until a warrior climbs up. I’m sooo not walking back to Lisa’s without an armed escort.” I looked at my arm and realized I was going to have to clean my wound and probably would need some antibiotics.

  “Good, make sure you keep your eyes and ears open. They make a clicking noise when they get close to you, so pay attention. I am almost to the holding cells so I will see you soon.”

  “Venay, stay on the bridge, I’m fine.” I couldn’t believe he had gotten here so fast. He must have already been close by when the bugs attacked me.

  “No, Paris, I am not taking any more chances with you. Besides, sounds like you have a lot o
f humans you might need some help with.” He had already planned on helping us. Something inside of my chest loosened a bit thinking about how he had taken the time to come and help humans, who he called slaves.

  “Okay, thank you, Venay! I can’t wait to see you.”

  We ended our talk while I waited for the warrior to get to me. As he made his way up each level, he took the time to check the surrounding area, which turned out to be a good thing as one of those monsters was lying in wait for him. But the warrior, who I learned later was none other than Zelan himself, was a very tough pureblood. He heard the thing or sensed it or something because he pulled his weapon out and was aiming for it before the cockroach knew what hit him.

  I had been leaning over the side watching his ascent when I noticed him take his weapon out and shoot. How all of those bugs got so close to me, I will never know. The only thing I can think is that they were a scouting party and were already on their way to my side of the ship.

  He got to the top and asked, “Paris, are you alright?”

  “Yes, I am. Thank you.” I reached out and grabbed a piece of cloth from the ground and used it to wrap my injured arm.

  “Let me take a look. Do you have a med-kit with you?” Zelan reached out for my arm.

  “No, I didn’t think to bring one.” I raised my hand to his.

  “No problem, we can find one on our way back to your quarters.” He helped me up from the ground and kept a hand on my arm.

  We found a med kit in the first room we checked, and he used it to clean my wound, and then put some gook on it that seemed to seal the cuts in my arm. It also had some sort of numbing agent as the pain went away, and I couldn’t really feel my right bicep any longer.

  “Don’t try using your right arm for at least an hour. If you do, you could break open the wounds. It is just a sealant used in the field to help get you to the doctor so he can sew your arm up properly.” Zelan inspected his work and started to put the supplies back into the kit.