The Ruins of Arlandia Complete Series

by William Wood

  evacuating. They died trying to cover our escape. We lost a lot of people

  that day. After that, we never tried to live on a planet again. Now we just

  float in space from one planet to the next. We live on our ships now, so

  we can get away quicker if we need to.”

  “I’m sorry if I brought back painful memories,” Calvin said. “No, it’s OK,” Astra said, rubbing her eyes. “I don’t want to ever

  forget them, or what they did. There is so little left of my people, I feel that, in a way, the more I share what happened, the more I can keep their

  memory alive. I don’t know.”

  “I understand.” Calvin said gently.

  It was a warm night and they slept under a big tree in a thick

  patch of grass. The smoke from the base seemed to have stopped. Calvin

  laid flat on his back and stared up at the stars. It helped him relax and

  focus again on where they needed to get to.

  Sometime during the night, Calvin saw Astra sitting up. “Are you OK?” He asked.

  “I just had a very strange dream.”

  “What was it about?”

  “I was standing on an island that was slowly sinking into a sea of

  fire and lava. There were two bridges that led to escape. One led to a

  beautiful planet that was full of waterfalls and green mountains. The

  other led to a scary dark wasteland that was covered with dead animals.

  You were standing on the bridge that led to the scary wasteland. You

  looked at me, and held out your hand. You begged me to come with you. Then a shadow appeared in the sky, and the sounds of screaming

  Terrors filled the air. I couldn’t see them but I knew they were coming.

  That’s when I woke up; weird, right?”

  “That is weird,” Calvin agreed. “I’ve had some strange dreams

  lately too. They've gotten worse since I saw the Terrors for the first time

  on Dev’s ship. When I left New Arlandia, I had no idea what nightmares

  were waiting for me. I didn’t know the universe was so empty, so dead.” “The universe is a horrible place,” Astra said. “Very dangerous.

  I've been trying to figure out why the Goremog bring people to this

  planet. If we’re lucky, we’ll find answers in the base.”

  “Yeah,” Calvin said. “But I’ve been trying to think in the worst

  case, like what happens if we don’t find anything useful when we get

  there?”

  “Then what do you think we should do?”

  “We can come back here, at least there’s food and water. We

  need to stay alive as long as possible. Hopefully Ion will repair Azure

  Frost and come get us, or maybe Aleria’s Hope will come looking for us

  when they realize they haven’t been able to get a hold of us for so long.” “I suppose that’s possible,” Astra said. “At least I hope it is.” Astra lay back down again, and closed her eyes. “Try and get

  some sleep,” She said. “It’ll be another long day tomorrow.” Calvin found it hard to go back to sleep, unable to stop thinking

  about Astra’s nightmare, and how similar it was to his own.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN:

  THE PRISON

  Calvin woke up to the sounds of flowing water and birds chirping. He sat up and stretched his aching arms and legs. He felt a stab of pain in his chest when he drew in a deep breath. He missed his sleep inducer. He used it on the Azure Frost when he had trouble sleeping, but soon found it was easy to use it, even when he didn’t need it. He became too reliant on it. Now he didn’t have one, and he had to go to sleep on his own. Sleeping on the ground was even more difficult. But he found when he was very tired, he could sleep almost anywhere.

  Wexton was already up and had fish cooking on long sticks over a fire. The wind blew gently through the trees. It was cold, and Calvin sat close to the fire to warm up. The sun was just peeking above the trees. He was still trying to get used to the red star. The sun in the New Arlandia system was yellow. That was normal to him. But the red sunlight made everything look strange to him.

  The smell of the smoke made him think of home, when he and his family sat out on the back deck around the fire pit, drinking their favorite drinks, playing games or just talking. The first time he told his father that he wanted to join the Space Command was outside by the fire.

  How many days had it been since he left home? Calvin tried to add up the days, but he ran into a problem; there was no way to determine how long he had been unconscious on the Goremog ship. It could have been a month for all he knew. His heart ached for home. He longed to reach out to his parents again and let them know he was still all right.

  One by one everyone woke up and gathered around the fire. Wexton gave each of them some fish; there was enough for everyone, and a little extra. After breakfast, they began hiking again. Scribbles seemed less jittery; she walked along side Astra, and was not holding her hand.

  “Is it just me, or does the sun look bigger today?” Wexton asked. Calvin looked up. “I think it’s just you,” he said. “It looks the same as it did yesterday.” The sun was a bit higher in the sky now, and its warmth felt good.

  “You might be right Wex,” Dev said with a sly smile. “I wonder if it’s going to supernova.”

  Wexton’s eyes grew large. “Hey,” he said. “Maybe that’s how the planet is going to explode.”

  “No,” Astra said. “The sun is not going to supernova. If that were the case it would be hotter. Trees would be dying everywhere, water would be drying up. Dev, you need to stop scaring Wex. It’s not helping anyone.”

  “Yeah,” Dev said looking at his friend with a half-smile. “Sorry.”

  “Hey,” Wexton said, punching Dev in the arm.

  Calvin looked down and was surprised to see Scribbles walking next to him. Usually the little robot was never more than a foot away from Astra. But now it was walking with him, several feet away from Astra. Maybe Scribbles was starting to get comfortable around him. They continued to follow the stream down the mountain. The stream got larger as other streams joined it. By midday it was a fast moving river.

  At sunset they emerged from the trees and found themselves on a round hilltop overlooking a wide green valley. The deep, fast moving river separated into two, creating an island before rejoining a mile away. A tall iron wall surrounded the island, which looked like a ship making its way through a rough sea. Tall watch towers stood on the corners, with a small round landing platform on top of a dark gray building in the center of the prison. Within the walls, there were dozens of old looking buildings, all with dirty red roofs. Many on the northern side of the prison were burned down to the foundations, and smoke was rising from the ruins.

  “Wow, look at that,” Calvin said. “That’s a Goremog base, right?”

  “Yeah, it’s Goremog,” Astra said. “But I think it’s a prison. See the guard towers on the walls. And that building over there, behind the security gate, I can see holding cells through the windows.”

  “I see it now,” Calvin said and shivered. He could see the cells clearly now, doors with small windows covered with horizontal bars.

  “Oh, nice,” Dev said. “Good job everyone. Why don’t we just check ourselves in? I mean, they didn’t even have to chase us this time.”

  “Calm down Ace, I don’t see anyone,” Wexton said. “No guards, no prisoners.”

  Calvin slowly scanned the prison. It was an eerie sight, but not a complete surprise; yet another abandoned city.

  “Look,” Dev pointed to the burned buildings. “There was a fire. I wonder what started it.”

  No one answered. Calvin led the way down the side of the hill to a stone bridge that crossed the river. Just then the sun disappeared behind the mountains on the horizon. Halfway across the bridge, Calvin stopped and stared uneasily at the guard towers. The windows were
dark, and he couldn’t see inside. He thought he saw movement, but it could have been his imagination.

  They followed the road to the gates of the prison which were open just wide enough for them to walk through one at a time. They found themselves in a wide open space, the ground was dark gray concrete, and the walls were black like tinted glass.

  One street cut through the center of the prison, with several small buildings that lined both sides of the street.

  The streets were dark and empty, not a single person was out. It was also very quiet. Scribbles’ almost imperceptible hum from her servos could be heard much clearer. She walked next to Astra, holding her hand. Occasionally the little robot looked up at Astra, and whispered something very quietly. When she did, Astra quietly hushed the robot.

  Calvin led the way down the main street through the prison. At every corner they looked both ways. Each street ended at the perimeter wall. They passed short wooden buildings. Most of the windows were plain, with shades drawn to keep people from seeing inside. Some were colorful stained glass with intricate designs, but all the windows were dark. Something about the design of the base bothered him. He knew it was a Goremog prison, but it was more than that. Then he realized what it was. The buildings looked eerily similar to the ones under the castle where they found the fourth segment, where they had been attacked and chased by a hoard of Dark Terrors.

  After two blocks they became aware of a wonderful smell in the air, it smelled like food; hot, sweet smelling food cooking over a fire.

  “Where’s that coming from?” Dev asked, crossing the street back and forth, peering into the darkened windows. “Meat, roasting over a fire. That’s what it is.” Calvin wanted to tell Dev to stop, slow down and not rush into something, but his stomach was telling him something else. It was rumbling and wanted to know where the heavenly aroma was coming from.

  The smell led them to a two story wooden structure in the center of the prison, next to a small courtyard. The windows were covered by wooden shutters.

  Several voices could be heard inside, laughing and talking. One was clearly a woman. When they reached the door, they all stopped. Calvin was about to ask if it was wise to rush in, but Dev was already on his way. The door opened with a loud creak and light flooded into the street.

  The room inside was dimly lit. Booths lined the walls. There was a fire pit in the center of the room, with skewers of meat hanging over the flames.

  After they all entered, the door loudly closed behind them. Instantly the voices stopped; Calvin could feel several pairs of eyes on him.

  “Hello,” Calvin said, trying to sound relaxed, but he was far from it.

  On the other side of the room, a man stood up. He was hidden behind the shadows until he stepped into the fire light. He was dressed in a black pair of overalls, had a short black mustache, a sharp nose and big hairy eye brows.

  “There you are,” the man said warmly. “Where have you been? I thought we’d gone through the whole prison. The Goremog must have had you in a deep hole for us to miss you. Come in, sit down. Barouke, get them some food.” Calvin looked down for Scribbles, but the little robot was gone.

  Dev stumbled toward the fire and stood staring at the skewers of meat. Wex followed closely. Calvin wanted to shout at them to wait, afraid of losing control of the situation, or that some harm would come to his friends. He didn’t get a chance.

  “Here my friends,” the man said with concern written on his weather-worn face. He brushed his red hair from his eyes and directed them to a corner. Astra took Calvin by the hand. When he looked down, he saw her other hand out too, as if she were holding onto something invisible. He realized that Scribbles had gone invisible. It was clear that the little robot was scared of strangers. They followed the man to a table in the corner. Calvin sat down across from Astra and took a deep breath. He felt dizzy and confused.

  Before long, a tall slender woman with long white hair approached the table and placed a plate in front of each of them. She was also wearing black overalls. The smell of the food hit him almost immediately. Calvin was starved, and looked down at his plate to see two slices of dark roasted meat, a pile of potato slices, green vegetables and bread with butter. It could have been the best tasting food he’d ever eaten. When he looked back up the woman was gone. Astra was looking at him with a tired smile on her face.

  Calvin tried to wrap his mind around everything that had happened since he saw Azure Frost burning in space. So much had happened. He wanted to relax. The fire was very pleasant, and the food smelled like heaven. But he was afraid of dropping his guard.

  Astra looked at him.

  “Relax,” she said, as if she could read his thoughts. “I don’t understand what’s going on either, but for the moment, I think we’re safe.” She took a bit of her food, and her expression changed to ecstasy. “Oh, that’s good.”

  Calvin picked up a knife and fork, cut a piece of meat and cautiously smelled it. It smelled heavenly. He slowly and carefully took a bite. It was juicy, and dissolved in his mouth. It was delicious.

  “Wow, that is good,” Calvin said, and quickly took another bite. While they ate, the woman came and gave them each a glass with dark colored liquid in it.

  “My name is Barouke,” the woman said. “If you need anything, just call for me.”

  “Thank you,” Astra said.

  They ate in silence for several minutes. Calvin took a sip of his glass, which tasted like a spicy grape juice. It was delicious.

  “I wonder who they think we are,” Astra said. “It’s like they recognize us. Do we look like someone else? Were they prisoners here too?”

  “What do you mean?” Calvin asked.

  “Didn’t you hear what that man said? He thinks we came out of the prison.”

  “Yeah, I heard that,” Calvin said. “I don’t know what he meant. I’m more concerned right now with how the planet is going to explode, and when.”

  “I am too,” Astra said. “And in order to do that, we’re going to have to look around. This was a Goremog prison. We should be able to find something that we can use. Maybe, if we’re lucky, we can find out what’s going on. But I stress the ‘if we’re lucky part,’ because so far, that hasn’t been the case.”

  “So all we have to do is figure out what the Goremog experiment was, and how to turn it off. You’re pretty smart. Slice of Gooble pie, right?”

  “No,” Astra said. “And eww. Don’t you realize that if they could have stopped it, they would have? Trust me, if it were that easy they wouldn’t have abandoned this place.”

  “Good point,” Calvin said, and took another bite. “I can’t believe this, we’re stuck on a planet that’s about to explode, and we’re eating in a nice restaurant and nobody seems to know or care what’s going on.”

  “Yes, like a last meal before execution.” They shared a look. That last comment sunk into Calvin’s brain. He was trying not to think about their fate, trusting and hoping that they would find a way out, but it was clear Astra was not so confident.

  When they were finished with their meal, they sat back in their seats and relaxed. The man pulled up a chair and sat down at the table next to them and smiled.

  “I don’t know who you think we are,” Calvin said. “But we didn’t come from inside the prison. We weren’t prisoners here. Well, we were prisoners of the Goremog, but we just arrived on this planet.”

  “I don’t understand,” the man said.

  “We were captured and brought here; actually to a mountain top. The Goremog were attacked and in the confusion we escaped. They left us there on that mountain top. We saw the lights here and walked down.”

  “That must be the sorting facility,” the man said, his countenance dropped. “That’s where they determined which prisoners were worth keeping alive and which ones weren’t worth the effort. The fit ones were brought here, to the prison. I’m Nils, by the way.”

  “I’m Calvin, and this is Astra,” Calvin said.

  “You
're victims of the Goremog,” Nils said. “Just like us. There don’t seem to be many of us humans left in the galaxy. You’re welcome to stay here with us. I don’t know why the Goremog abandoned this place, and I don't care. We have food, more than we can eat in fact, water, and comfortable rooms for all of you.”

  “Thank you,” Astra said. “We appreciate it.”

  "Yes, we really do," Calvin said. He wanted to say more, but didn't know Nils, and couldn't trust him with details of their mission. Instead, he tried to get more information. "Do you know what the Goremog were doing here? Was it just a prison?"

  “Look, I was a prisoner,” Nils said. “I’ve been here for a long time, and I have no idea what the Goremog were doing. As a rule they didn’t keep us informed. All I know is they were constantly bringing people here, and occasionally they would take them out; we never saw them again. Sorry, I wish I could tell you more.”

  “Did you look around the prison, after the Goremog left?”

  “No, not completely,” Nils said. “When we got out of our cells, we wandered around. We were scared at first, but after we realized the Goremog were gone we looked around the main buildings. Once we found this place, we moved in and that was it. We’re all very content now.”

  “If you don’t mind,” Astra said. “We’d like to look around.”

  “Help yourself,” Nils said and stood up. “Just remember, it’s over; you’re free now. When you’re ready, the rooms are upstairs; help yourself. I believe the rooms on the third floor are all empty. For some reason, nobody wanted to go up there.”

  “Thanks,” Calvin said, and stopped himself from saying more. “How many of you are there?”

  “Just four of us,” Nils said. “Myself, Barouke, who you already met; Petori and Freks.” Nils pointed to two men who were standing by the front door. Calvin looked, but the men were hidden in shadows and he couldn’t see them very well. One of them waved. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go check on something. Enjoy your meal.”

  Nils met two men near the front door and they exited the building together.