The End Of The World

by Lamees Alhassar

  “Your explanation is rude and unsatisfactory,” the voice responded. “It is only because we already know the fate that is befalling your planet which is why we will allow you to land on our planet. But whenever you do return to your planet, let your superiors know, and apply etiquette and protocol next time. You may proceed to land on Milda, people of Nivrus.”

  Immediately, some of the ships moved and a pathway was created. “People of Nivrus, our fighter ships will escort you to the arrival ports where you will be taken to meet with our rulers. You are welcome to Milda.”

  As if on cue, the ships now turned and dispersed. Four of the medium-sized ships came to the side of their shuttle and remained there.

  “Well?” Mahmud asked. “Well what?” Kristen asked. “Were you not listening to what they were saying? Can you not see the ships by our side? What do you mean ‘well’?”

  “I apologize, Captain,” Mahmud offered. “I was only awaiting your directive. You are the commander of this ship, not those Milda people. So I cannot work with what they say. None of us can unless you give us the order.”

  Mahmud was right. She knew it, too. “Yes, yes, yes,” Kristen nodded. “Please, let us proceed to Tiangrit as stipulated in our initial flight instructions.”

  “Which has now been confirmed and accepted by the people of Milda,” Lynda added. “Captain, it is Milda. Not Tiangrit.”

  “Milda,” Kristen agreed. “Let us go.” “Please try and get me NASA Mission Command on Earth,” Kristen instructed. “Get me Director Edwards. I need to know what is really going on.”

  Lynda tried, but all of her attempts at trying to make a connection with Earth failed. “I do not know if they are the ones jamming our signals or if it is just the radio having problems,” Lynda stated.

  “We will just follow them and see what happens,” Kristen replied. They followed the lead ship as it led the way through some huge mountains and deep valleys. Soon, they emerged at a portion which had a lot of spherical buildings. Crisscrossing these buildings were tubes which were hollow and transparent. Inside of the tubes were small capsules which were moving to and fro at high speeds. It appeared to be some sort of transportation system.

  But what could be inside those capsules? Kristen was wondering.

  Perhaps it could be the Mildan people, moving from one place to the other.

  “Pretty cool way to travel,” Mahmud suddenly stated as if reading Kristen’s thoughts.

  “How can you be sure that it is a means of transportation?” Kristen asked.

  “Just a hunch,” Mahmud replied. “None of us can really be sure, until we meet with the people of Milda.” They continued to fly through the various buildings, many of which had different sizes. They had lights all around the buildings which were flashing and shining. There was some order in the formation of these buildings; they were not located randomly. They were placed in a perfect order.

  Eventually, the lead ship ahead of them rose up out of the mass of buildings and tubes. It headed towards a mountain with a blue, glowing peak. Atlantis followed, escorted by three other ships. As they arrived at the peak, the peak opened to reveal that it was actually some sort of dome or cover. The lead ship entered and they followed.

  Inside, they saw that it was like another city, except this one had fewer buildings. The buildings all had domed peaks and were painted in golden yellow colours which reflected light.

  “Maybe this is their seat of power,” Lynda stated as they passed some of the domed peaks that were glittering and reflecting light.

  “Maybe,” Kristen agreed. “Have we been able to establish contact yet with NASA?” she asked again. Mahmud shook his head. “None yet, Captain. The connection is still blank.”

  That means that we are surely on our own, Kristen thought to herself. They saw a flat and wide landing pad up ahead. The lead ship came up to it and landed by the far corner of the landing pad.

  “Visitors from Planet Nivrus, please land your craft on the landing pad in front of you,” came a voice over the speakers.

  They obeyed, and the Atlantis shuttle came down gradually on the surface.

  “People of Planet Nivrus, you may now disembark from your ship.” The other three ships still remained airborne but they had spread out and circled their location. Anyone would know they were simply standing guard, just in case anything was going to happen.

  But Kristen and her crew were not ready to play any games nor offer any resistance. To start with, they were not even sure why NASA Mission Command had sent them to Tiangrit. And then again, Tiangrit was not calling itself Tiangrit, but rather Milda. As if that was not enough, they, the people of Tiangrit, or Milda, knew of their dying planet. Perhaps they could be of some help.

  Kristen shook her head. Help from the people of Tiangrit?

  “Captain,” Lynda’s voice brought her out of her thoughts. “They are waiting for us to disembark.” “Right, let us proceed,” Kristen remarked. “Put on your helmets and de-pressurize the bridge and the other chambers. Let us go and see them.”

  “All of us?” Mahmud asked. “Of course, yes. The entire crew members must alight from the shuttle. Don’t you think that they will be monitoring the ship? They will know if any of us stay behind, and I do not want them to imagine that we are up to any games. Everyone is going to disembark.”

  They all suited up, putting on their space suits and helmets. While they did so, Mahmud and Lynda began to de-pressurize the other compartments of the space shuttle. Eventually they were ready to disembark.

  “People of Planet Milda, we, the entire crew members of Atlantis from Planet Nivrus, are disembarking from our ship,” Kristen announced.

  A bulb inside their space shuttle door beeped three times and then with a silent puff, the door slid open. Kristen led the way down from the stairs, followed by the rest of the crew members. As she stepped outside, she felt odd. It was not as a result of her space suit that made it possible for her to not feel any breeze. The fact was that there simply was no breeze. Indeed, there was no air here because they were on Tiangrit.

  She carefully walked down the shuttle’s stairs and looked up. Her eyes could see the blinking stars very clearly high above the planet. It was as if she could reach up and pluck them out of the sky. This was because there was no atmosphere to block the view of the stars from Tiangrit.

  The other crew members also alighted from the space shuttle and then the door slid shut.

  Kristen looked around. All of her crew members were there.

  But what about their hosts?

  Apart from the ship which was parked close to theirs, there was no sign of any body or being. Where are they? After all, they had been the ones to invite them in after they had understood their mission. So why was it taking them so long to come out?

  After a little while of standing and feeling uncomfortable on the landing pad, Kristen called out, “Hello! Is anybody there?”

  At that point, the doors of the ship that was parked next to theirs opened. All the crew members of Atlantis watched as its steps slid out of the ship’s body and dropped on the landing pad.

  They came out one after the other. They were big and bulky in size, and were almost ten feet tall in height. Their heads were long and almost cylindrical. They were not putting on any form of space or protective suits. And neither did they have on any helmets or headgear. They were dressed like ancient roman soldiers. They had two long arms which extended into hands on which were three fingers each. These were all covered by gloves which extended from their shoulders, covering their arms and ending at the tip of each finger. The only feature which seemed to be foreign to their bodies was the earpieces, which seemed to be made of a metallic material, judging by the way they were reflecting.

  The features on their faces were strange. There were three small vertical slits in the middle of their heads just at about the same position where a nose would be for a human being. And on the sides of their head there were two vertical slits at the same positi
on where ears would be located on the head of a human being. It was not possible to see what kind of eyes they had because they all wore what seemed to be like dark sunglasses which completely concealed the features that were in the position where eyes are located on the face of a human being.

  And just before each of their lower jaws, at about the same position that a mouth would be located on a human face, was a horizontal slit. The head of the earpiece aligned close to this horizontal slit while the other end of the earpiece went over each of the slits on the side of their heads.

  Their legs were long as well, they were wearing thick, leather-like boots. They came down from the stairs one after the other and started to line up on the landing pad until they were six in number. They were wielding what appeared to be rifles, but they appeared to be more advanced, as their tips were constantly glowing, and some sort of charge could be seen moving from the tip and back and forth along the length of the rifle.

  Kristen and her fellow crew members stepped back as they stood there, towering well above them, watching them. The aliens did not say anything until one of them came forward, walking majestically.

  “Citizens of Planet Nivrus,” he finally stated when he was close to them. “Thank you for complying with our request. We are pleased to note that you did not try to play any funny games. And neither did you try to be hostile. We had to take time to sweep the entire contents of your ship to ensure that you were not hiding on board your ship any other crew member, fugitive, or weapons and explosives of any sort. You may now follow us to meet our rulers.”

  Kristen turned to look at her crew members. They were all there, even though they still looked transfixed and in a daze at all that was happening. For Kristen, she was immensely glad that she had insisted that they all come down from the ship.

  Three of the aliens walked ahead of them while the other three followed them from behind. They were walked on a sort of bridge which connected the landing pad to the nearest dome of what appeared to be the huge tower of a big castle.

  As they walked on the bridge, they could see that they were walking over a river which separated the castle from the landing strip.

  Mahmud was pointing below. “Look,” he was saying. “Water.” “Do you think it is water?” Lynda was asking in a whisper. “This is Tiangrit. Everyone knows there is no water on Tiangrit.”

  “So what is that below?” Mahmud asked quietly. “Is it engine oil, or coal tar that has been dyed to a colourless and transparent colour?”

  “I still think that it is not water,” Lynda continued. “I insist it is,” Mahmud continued. “Look. There are fishes in it.” Almost all members of the crew looked over the bridge at the river below. They could see some objects moving friskily inside the river below. They had different shapes and figures. Some were long and slender, like eels, while others were short and round, like salmon and catfish. The major difference was that their bodies were all glowing in various and multiple colours. They appeared to have mouths and fins and were swimming around the river without any form of agitation or threat. Inside the river were various plants, and by the side of the banks were shrubs and bushes. These too had bright and multiple colours. For some reason, they were also glowing like the fish, which made them very colourful and attractive.

  Kristen observed that their escorts did not seem distracted by what the crew members were looking at in the river below. They just continued to walk them towards the tower. Apparently, they were already used to first-time visitors being attracted by the river and its contents.

  For Kristen, she was glad that the bridge had protective railings and handles which were high and strong enough to prevent anyone from falling. It was funny that her crew members were now being fascinated by the sight of a river and perhaps the fish in it. A while ago everyone was completely petrified when their shuttle was accosted and surrounded by the Mildans. Now they were chatting amongst themselves like excited schoolchildren on an excursion to somewhere of interest.

  But she did not allow herself to be fooled or distracted, although Kristen had to admit that she was still very confused.

  Did Director Edwards deliberately send us to Tiangrit because he knew that there was life here? Kristen was thinking.

  Why were they not informed beforehand of this fact?

  What else was NASA hiding from them? These thoughts were still whirling around Kristen’s head when they reached the other side of the bridge. There were two Mildans guarding a gate. They were dressed in the same attire as the ones who had escorted the crew members.

  “These are visitors from the Planet Nivrus,” one of their escorts said. “They are here to see Their Majesties.”

  One of the guards nodded and pressed a button on the side of the wall. The gate opened by sliding sideways into the wall. They were all led in through the gate, which slid back into position. They walked through a corridor that was illuminated. The light here was bright and white. They continued to walk through this corridor until they got to another door.

  One of the escorts pressed a button on the side of the door and it opened. It appeared to be some sort of a room. Kristen and her crew members were ushered into the room by their escorts. Once they got in, the escorts all entered and the doors slid shut.

  After one of the escorts pressed some buttons on the panel, the room started to move. It was then that it occurred to Kristen that they were in a type of elevator. They could feel themselves going down slowly.

  The downward descent continued for a while until it stopped. When they came out, they stepped into a corridor that was also illuminated. But this time around the lights were golden yellow in colour. The walls were smooth and polished in a pure white colour. So were the floors. As they walked on it, they could hear their footsteps sounding off the floor.

  The corridor led them into an open hall. Inside the hall were rows of red-coloured chairs, on which were some beautiful embroidery and designs. The design patterns on the chairs were in the form of flowers, and the prominent colours used to make the design were yellow and blue.

  “Please sit down,” one of the escorts stated, pointing at the chairs. The crew members sat down on the chairs and relaxed. Two of the escorts left their presence and walked into another door at the end of the hall.

  While they were seated, Kristen looked around. The hall was not too large. On its walls were large portraits of various figures. A lot of them had the same looks like their escorts, with the cylindrical heads and facial features. The marked distinction was the presence of crowns on their heads and robes on their bodies which had lavish embroidery on their designs. The crowns were made of gold, or a material that had the likeness of gold. Some had additional gemstones placed on the golden crowns. The portraits were strategically placed all over the walls of this hall.

  Kristen was thinking that these might be their rulers. “Visitors from Planet Nivrus!” one of the escorts announced. “Behold, King Zeropta and Queen Niphrius, the paramount rulers of Milda. Please rise.”

  Kristen and her colleagues stood up and watched as more aliens walked into the room. They were all armed just like the ones who had escorted them from their shuttle. But these had weapons which were like long spears with tips that were glowing. They were as tall as the escorts and had on the same type of dressing except that on each of their right wrists there was a blue band.

  Twelve of these guards escorted the king and the queen into the hall. The person who appeared to be the king had a big crown similar to the ones that Kristen had seen in the portraits. His crown was made of pure gold with additional gemstones strategically placed on the crown. These gemstones were glittering as light reflected off them. The queen had a similar crown but hers was smaller in size and the gemstones on it were more and larger. Kristen noted the similarities and differences of the rulers’ crowns. While the king’s crown was bigger, it had smaller gemstones. On the other hand, the queen’s crown was smaller but it had larger gemstones.

  The queen was wearing a gown that
was white in colour and flowing. It was designed with very elegant embroidery that reminded any admirer of flowers and flowery patterns. The gown the queen wore accentuated her feminine figure, which was similar to that of a woman’s from earth. Kristen could identify her breasts, and the curves of her hips. This was the first and perhaps only female alien that Kristen had encountered ever since they’d arrived on Tiangrit.

  The king was also wearing a gown but it was not as long as the queen’s and neither was it flowing endlessly. Its length stopped at about his knees and one could see his tall boots. And unlike the queen, whose hands were clasped together, the king held a staff that was made of gold. The staff was long and towered well over his ten-foot frame. It had a huge gemstone at the end of its tip which was glowing.

  The entire crew members of the Atlantis remained standing and watching as the king and queen were escorted into the hall. Their Majesties then sat down on the two seats which were at the front. The chairs were designed in a way to make sure that the chairs were elevated from the ground on a large circular platform. In order to get to the chairs, one had to climb up a series of short steps which were all around the circular platform, making it easy to climb the platform from any direction.

  On the outside, the chairs were huge in size, and bigger than the body sizes of the king and queen. However, within, it fitted the size of the royals as they sat down into the apparently soft and woolly materials in them.

  Once the king and queen sat down, the royal escorts placed themselves strategically around the elevated platform, forming a semi-circular formation around the base of the platform. They were all holding their spear-like staffs and were watching the crew members. All the crew members could see was that this was royalty and power, the seats of authority on Planet Tiangrit.

  The other escorts stood around the hall, close to the Atlantis crew members. One of the escorts from the ship approached them. “You may now speak to Our Royal Highnesses,” he said.