The Ruins of Arlandia Complete Series

by William Wood

  “Let’s put it in the back of the shuttle bay,” Calvin said. “For now.”

  “That’ll work,” Astra said. Then she looked at Scribbles.

  “Scribbles,” she said. “I want you to stay here in the pod, OK?” While she was talking, Astra pointed at the robot, and then at the chair. “I want you to stay here.” Astra picked the robot up and set it down in the chair.

  Scribbles nodded, seeming to understand.

  “You guys ready?” They both nodded. “Here we go.” There was a loud hissing sound as Astra let the air out. After a few moments, a purple light surrounded them when their portable generators sensed there wasn’t enough air for them. When the air was completely gone, Astra opened the backdoor.

  Calvin went first. He pushed the fourth segment out the door and left it next to a wall. He quickly removed the antigravity handles and dropped them on the floor. That would keep it from drifting away. Then he looked around. The shuttle bay was a mess. There was equipment strewn across the floor. The walls were burned, but there were no holes in the sides of the ship. He walked out of the shuttle bay into the main corridor. Astra and Dev silently followed. In the middle of the long corridor, they separated. Astra took the stairs down, Calvin took the stairs up. Dev stayed on that level and began a room-by-room search.

  Calvin climbed to the top of the stairs and walked out onto the first deck. It looked like a massive fire had burned everything. The carpet was gone, the walls were black. He went straight to the bridge. The computers had all exploded, and the glass windows were all blown out. The room was exposed to space. Calvin turned and left. He couldn’t look at it any longer. He walked down the corridor, looking in each room as he passed.

  “I found Ion,” Astra said over the communication system. “In the engine room. Calvin, Dev, can you guys come down here and help me, please?”

  “Be there in a second,” he heard Dev say.

  “On my way,” Calvin said. He took the stairs all the way back down to the engine room. He was shocked and deeply upset about the level of destruction he saw, convinced there was no way they could repair the ship. The Frost was a lost cause. How in the world would they survive this?

  Halfway down the stairs, there was a flicker of purple, and the light went out. He felt a stab of intense pain before the purple light turned back on. He had just lost his first portable shield generator. Better hurry, he thought. He jogged the rest of the way to the engine room. When he got there, he saw Dev helping Astra stand up.

  “One of my shield generators just died,” she said.

  “I lost one on the stairs a minute ago,” Calvin said. “What did you find?”

  “Ion’s power supply is completely dead,” Astra said, pointing across the room. There was Ion, standing in front of the power transfer system. He had his hands inside it. “He shut down while he was trying to restore power.”

  “How did his power run out?” Calvin asked. “He can function for months without recharging, can’t he?”

  “Yes,” Astra said sadly. “The ship was bleeding power everywhere. He transferred his own power into the main system to stabilize it. It didn’t work, because there was too much damage to the ship.”

  Suddenly Dev’s shield went out and was quickly replaced by another one.

  “That was my last one,” Dev said. “Can we go back to the escape pod now?”

  “Yes,” Astra said. “I can’t do anything here.” They walked out of the engine room and headed for the stairs. Calvin’s force field flickered and went out. He fell to the floor in pure agony. It felt like he was being squeezed to death. Blood red filled his vision. Mercifully, it stopped after a second when his last force field turned on. Astra and Dev ran to him and helped him to stand. Calvin stuttered and tried to speak, but he couldn’t get the words out.

  “Dev, we have to hurry,” Astra said. “We’re almost out of time!” Together, Astra and Dev, one on each side of him, helped Calvin down the corridor to the stairs. Try as he might, Calvin could not get his legs to move. But he found that by focusing all of his energy in a single force of will, he could help them carry him forward. He didn’t know that he wasn’t actually doing anything. It was all in his mind.

  At the top of the stairs, they tried to be careful and take it easy, but the sheer terror of losing their only protection to the vacuum of space made them move faster, and they all fell down the first set of stairs. It was panic that moved them now. Astra and Dev let gravity help them down the stairs and did their best to hold on to Calvin the whole way down. At the bottom of the stairs, they were using energy they didn’t really have. Calvin was aware of what was going on around him, but he still couldn’t move. He felt very bad that they had to carry him and wished he could move his arms and legs. They made it to the shuttle and closed the door. The three collapsed on the floor. Just at that second, Astra’s force field turned off. She gasped for breath, but there was no air in the pod to breathe. She forced her way to the front. In the midst of losing her sight, her arms were getting extremely heavy and hard to move, but she managed to turn the oxygen back on. She fell to the floor, completely out of energy and on the verge of blacking out. She lay on the floor until she felt her lungs fill with oxygen.

  Calvin had his eyes closed—his only defense against the pain that was filling his body. When the pod filled with oxygen, he took a deep breath and sat up. His entire body still was flooded with pain, but at least now he could move.

  Calvin looked up to see Scribbles standing over Astra.

  “I’m OK,” Astra said. Scribbles took out the pink bunny and gave it to Astra. Astra smiled at the little robot, who smiled back.

  “Is everyone all right?” Calvin asked.

  “That was scary,” Dev said. “My last shield generator died just as the door closed.”

  “Mine, too,” Astra said. “That was very close.”

  “The fourth segment!” Calvin exclaimed. “It’s still out there.”

  “It’s…fine,” Astra said, struggling with her words. She sounded very tired. “It’s out there with the other three. Just having the one doesn’t do us any good.”

  “Now what do we do?” Calvin asked. “Is there any way for us to repair the ship?”

  Astra closed her eyes. “No,” she said. “No way. Ion and the robots couldn’t do it. The ship is too badly damaged.” She started crying again and wiped her eyes with her hands. “We need Aleria’s Hope to find us. There is a repair facility in it that could repair the ship. That’s the only way.”

  “There’s nothing for us here,” Dev said. “We should go find that ship then. At least if we’re out there looking for it, there’s a small chance we could find it, right?”

  “Well, sitting here isn’t going to do us any good, I agree,” Calvin said.

  “If we stay here, we’ll eventually run out of food,” Astra said. “There is a large radiation cloud surrounding this planet. It will block any communication signals we send out. If we can get away from it, we might be able to contact the Hope.”

  “I’ll take the controls,” Calvin volunteered. “I feel fine now.”

  “Go ahead. I don’t feel too good now.”

  “I just need to take us out into deep space?”

  “Just get us away from the planet.”

  “All right.” Calvin sat down in the pilot’s chair and turned on the computer. There was a delay. The system did not turn on right away. When it did, the little screens flickered, and there was a soft pop, followed by a burning smell. Calvin didn’t know if the others noticed, but he decided to keep it to himself. No reason to alarm them. When the engines were ready, he slowly and carefully lifted the pod up into the air a few feet and backed out into space. When they were far enough away, he kicked the engines forward and turned away. He felt a deep sense of sadness as they left Ion and the Frost behind. Calvin wondered if they would be able to contact the Hope, or if they would die in space.

  They would either die from dehydration, starvation, or asphyxiation
. He could always lower the pressure in the escape pod until they all passed out. Then they would die without pain. These thoughts rushed around in his mind. Something was telling him they should stay alive as long as they could. There might be a small chance, even a minuscule chance, that they would be rescued. He didn’t want to see Astra suffer. He sat, staring out at the stars ahead. When they were far enough away from the planet, he turned to tell Astra but saw that both she and Dev were asleep.

  Calvin turned on the distress beacon. He made sure it was working and hoped that the Alerian’s would hear the signal and come for them. There was nothing left to do. He went back, lay down on the floor next to Astra and Scribbles, and fell asleep.

  He couldn’t see through the dark, foul-smelling smoke. He didn’t have to look around to see where the smoke was coming from; he already knew. The smoke came from everywhere. It came from the burning cities that were on the horizon. It came from the army of burning battle tanks. He looked up at the beautiful beam of blue-and-white light that shot up into space, right through the fleet of angry-looking spaceships that were overhead. It all felt so familiar. He’d been told since he was little, that if you really wanted to, you could take control of your dreams. He could never control this dream, no matter how many times he tried.

  The group of people stood before the beam of light. They slowly walked into it and disappeared.

  Astra stood at his side, holding his hand. An old man and woman stood near the beam of light.

  “Astra, come with us.” She shook her head yes and walked in their direction, pulling Calvin along with her.

  “You can’t come with us,” the old man said, looking directly at Calvin. “You have to stay here.”

  “I can’t stay here,” Calvin protested. “I’ll die here.”

  “This is where you belong,”

  The old man took hold of Astra’s hand and pulled her along with him. But Astra broke free of his grip just as the old man and woman walked into the beam. She stood and walked back to Calvin and held his hand. The darkness closed in around them. A sea of monsters ran toward them. There was a loud explosion that shook the asteroid they were on.

  “I love you, Calvin,” she said.

  Calvin woke suddenly. The escape pod shook violently. Calvin, Astra, and Dev jumped to their feet. The memory of the dream was still lingering in his mind. It felt so real. When did Astra become the girl in that reoccurring dream, he wondered. Suddenly a bright yellow light filled the escape pod.

  “What’s happening?” Astra asked, looking out of the window in front of her. She couldn’t see anything but space. All of a sudden the stars disappeared, and everything went dark.

  “It’s a tractor beam,” Dev said. “Someone is pulling us into their ship with a tractor beam!”

  “Weapons!” Calvin exclaimed. Calvin and Dev scrambled, quickly riffling through their stuff. “We’re going to be boarded soon.” They found their weapons and loaded them. Calvin’s hands shook, and his heart raced.

  “Stay back there, Astra,” Calvin said. “Stay behind us.” Astra moved back to the chair and sat down, holding a pistol firmly in front of her.

  “What are we going to do?” Dev asked. “Do we have a plan?”

  “What do you mean?” Calvin asked.

  “Are we going to start shooting as soon as the door opens, before we know who they are? What if it’s Astra’s people, here to rescue us?”

  “Then we have to wait and make sure we know who it is,” Calvin said.

  “What if it’s the Goremog?” Astra said. “They won’t hesitate. They’ll shoot as soon as the door is open.”

  The shuttle was jarred sharply. There was a loud boom, and the sound of something very large connecting to the pod and locking into place. Calvin and Dev looked at each other, not sure what to do. The door opened, and a small object was tossed into the pod. Before Calvin had a chance to do anything, there was a bright flash. In the blink of an eye they were all unconscious.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE:

  THE GOREMOG

  Calvin was vaguely aware of being awake, but he was in a dense fog. He had no idea where he was, couldn’t open his eyes, and couldn’t speak. Slowly he was able to crack his eyes open. At least, he thought his eyes were open, but he still couldn’t see anything. His head felt strange; groggy. In the darkness before him, a blue object appeared. It was a planet. After a second it cleared up and got bigger. Calvin thought it looked familiar. It was New Arlandia, his home planet! What was he looking at? Was it a dream? The vision zoomed into the planet’s atmosphere, over massive glass cities, deep lush valleys, and tall, snowcovered mountains. Then he rocketed into space, just above the planet. He became aware of intense pain growing in his head, and he was dizzy.

  He started moving around the planet very fast then out high above the New Arlandian planetary system. He could see all seven planets. The view zoomed out farther, and he could see the surrounding star systems. He remembered looking at them through his telescope and studying them on forbidden star charts. He moved out a little bit farther away, until everything went black. Calvin sensed puzzlement. He flew back into the star system then out again, just over the threshold where everything went dark. It went back and forth four more times, and then his eyes were opened, as if a curtain had been pulled back.

  Calvin found himself sitting in a metal chair with two small round robots floating around his head. Two figures stood in the shadows, next to a row of computers. He couldn’t see them clearly enough to know what they were. Several computers flashed images of star systems and compared them to the image of New Arlandia.

  What just happened? he asked himself, completely panicked. Did they just find New Arlandia? Do they know where it is? What have I done?

  “He doesn’t have the information,” a voice said. “His knowledge is incomplete.”

  “How is that possible?” another voice asked. “He must be deceiving us.”

  “Impossible, he’s an Arlandian. That species doesn’t possess the intelligence capable of blocking our probes.”

  “Arlandian? I thought they were all wiped out.”

  “Obviously not. Lord Killith will not be happy. What do we do now? Can we dispose of them?”

  “No,” the first one said. “I have my orders. Use the probes on his friends and see if we can get any data, but we have to take them to the lab on Doonterria.”

  “Merciful deaths for them? I don’t understand.”

  “Merciful deaths? No. Humans can’t survive the mind processor. But if they are hiding anything, we’ll find out.”

  “Isn’t the planet going to explode soon?”

  “Yes, but there is plenty of time to completely analyze their brains before the evacuation.”

  “I don’t like this.”

  “Lord Killith has ordered it this way. Look, the creature is awake. Put him out, so we can finish. We have enough information on his star system, we’ll find it.”

  “Wait!” Calvin tried to shout, but nothing came out. His vision went dark.

  When he woke up later, his senses quickly returned. His head still hurt. He tried to sit up, but he was too weak, so he leaned on one elbow. Astra was already awake, and she helped him sit up. They were in a small cell. Dev was still asleep on the floor. In the corner, on a bench, was a young man with black hair and big muscles. Calvin looked at him. He looked unhappy and bored.

  “Are you all right?” Astra asked.

  “No,” Calvin whispered. He looked at Astra as the memories of what just happened crashed down on him. “No, no, no, what did I do? Oh, Astra, they scanned my mind. They saw my planet. I tried to stop them, but I wasn’t strong enough. I couldn’t stop them.” Calvin tried not to cry, but he did. Astra wrapped her arm around his shoulder and wiped tears from her own eyes.

  “They saw everything.”

  “I know,” Astra said. “They did it to me, too. Unfortunately they learned from me how many of us have survived, and what ships are left. They know they’ve almo
st won.”

  “They?” Calvin asked. “Who are they?”

  “They’re Goremog,” Astra said. “We’ve been captured by the Goremog.”

  Calvin’s heart sank. “How long have we been here?”

  “I don’t know. A few hours.”

  “We keep going from bad to worse,” he said dejectedly. “And honestly I didn’t think it could get worse, but it did.”

  “Much worse,” Astra agreed.

  “Who’s that?” Calvin said, nodding in the new guy’s direction.

  “We haven’t spoken yet,” Astra whispered.

  “I’m Wexton Zite,” the young man said.

  “I’m Calvin. This is Astra, and that’s Dev.”

  “Hi,” Wexton said, with a sad smile. “How did you get so lucky to get caught by the Goremog?”

  “Just in the wrong place at the wrong time, I guess,” Calvin said. “We were trying to get home, and they caught us.” Calvin didn’t feel comfortable with the stranger, not sure if he could be trusted or not. So he decided to not say anything about their mission.

  Wexton nodded. “The Goremog are everywhere now. It’s next to impossible to travel in the universe and not get caught by them.”

  “So what’s your story?” Calvin asked. “How did they get you?”

  “They invaded my home world, Celdostra,” Wexton said. “I was training to be a special combat space soldier at the military academy. I would have graduated in two months.” He laughed sadly. “We fought hard and held our ground for a long time, but in the end the Goremog’s robot army overwhelmed us. Celdostra was destroyed. A few of us were captured and taken away. I don’t know how long I’ve been in here. It feels like forever.”

  “I’m sorry,” Calvin said. “They destroyed my home world, too.” Calvin suddenly realized something. “Where’s Scribbles?” He looked around the cell.

  Astra quietly said, “She’s standing behind me.” Calvin looked behind her. The robot wasn’t there.