“Of course you are on Gaius. What are you, are you drunk or something?” “I am sorry. I must have lost my way,” Estramos replied. “Where can I get the nearest transport station then?”
The person pointed. “Go up by the intersection up ahead. It is about twenty metres. You’ll find vehicles to take you to wherever you want.”
Estramos nodded. “Thanks a lot, mate.” He turned and started walking.
There is still hope for me, Estramos was thinking. He had to go and look for something to keep him busy. Something to keep him occupied. The colonel appeared right inside her ship in a blaze of light. Her sudden appearance startled her crew members. Many of them quickly pointed their guns at the light glow. But when it cleared and they saw that it was their colonel, they all relaxed.
“Sorry, Colonel,” one of them remarked. “We were thinking we were under some form of attack.” “It is okay,” the colonel replied. She walked up to her seat and sat down heavily.
“How did it go?” another asked.
The colonel shook her head in dismay. “Nothing,” she replied simply.
“Nothing?” another one repeated.
“Yes,” Colonel Havlun replied. “I did not get anything. No Seeds. No nothing.”
“But why? What happened?” The colonel pointed at the Atlantis which was parked outside. “That was what happened,” she spat. “For some strange reason, our contact refused to give me the Seeds. Rather, he found favour in them, and even went to the extent of giving them clues on how to get to the makers in order to rescue their planet. All on my account. Just imagine that? I was the one that brought them here as my hostages and yet he could find favour in them and abandon us to our fate.”
“We cannot allow that, Colonel,” another one said. “Let us go and accost them,” another added. “Or we simply blow them out of the sky right now,” another remarked. The colonel held up her hand. “No. Not yet. Estramos is gone. They are the only ones who hold the key to our safe departure from this cursed place. I know when we can accost them. It will be when we are out of this nebula. Then they will feel my wrath.”
“So what do we do, Colonel?” another of the soldiers asked. “We wait,” the colonel replied. “We are going to follow their lead out of this place. In the meantime, I want you all to go to your stations and man all our missiles and arms. Get them steaming and ready for my order.”
The female warriors obeyed and they all went to their stations while Colonel Havlun watched the Atlantis closely.
*** Mahmud and Lynda were sitting close to each other, checking some of the monitors when Kristen appeared in a blaze of light. They were startled but were not as frightened as they had initially been when the man had first appeared.
“You are back!” Mahmud stated.
“But you are all alone,” Lynda remarked. “What of the other guy?”
“He has left, I think,” Kristen replied.
“So, how did it go?” Mahmud asked. “It was a stormy session, honestly,” Kristen said. “That alien colonel was put to shame by the man. He told us about her ulterior motives. She is crazy. She meant to give us away as a payment to that other crazy monster called Estramos. And she never wanted to keep her side of the bargain to the guy, either.”
“I told you they were never to be trusted,” Lynda remarked. “Even though some of us kept insisting they were ‘hot’,” she added, glaring at Mahmud.
“What? I was only making a statement of fact. They are hot and I mean it,” Mahmud replied. “Well, whatever it is, we are leaving this place right away,” Kristen said. She handed the device to Mahmud. “Quickly, connect this to our main drives. That is some sort of beacon which the man gave to me. He said it is going to guide us out of this nebula and in the direction towards the location of the makers.”
“Really? No way!” Mahmud exclaimed. “I’m on it, Captain,” he added, and rushed off. Kristen picked up the microphone. “I want every one of you crew members of the Atlantis to settle into your seats and get ready. I think we might have made a major breakthrough in our mission. We are going to soon be leaving this nebula and heading for the location of the makers. The aliens are going to follow us because we are going to lead them out of here. But I suspect they will want to play funny when we are out of the nebula. They are not happy with us. So we must be on guard and be ready for evasive manoeuvring tactics.”
The crew of the Atlantis hurried to their stations and prepared for takeoff. As they lifted off, Kristen looked behind and saw that the wasp ship had also taken off. She knew the Gualdions would have no choice but to follow the Atlantis. At least up to the outer regions of the Gaius Nebula. And then after that, anything could happen.
Kristen was wondering why the man had to place the exit of the Gualdions from that nebula into the hands of Kristen. After everything he had revealed, she had hoped he would keep the Gualdions as far away as possible from Kristen and her crew. But for some reason, he had rather asked that they follow the lead of Kristen.
She took her mind off the entire episode at the dimly lit hall and tried to focus on the trip ahead. “Mahmud, how is the device working?” Kristen called through her headset. “It is working just fine,” Mahmud replied. “It connected seamlessly with our main drives and switched everything to autopilot. As of now, it is the one piloting the Atlantis out of this nebula.”
“Okay. Just keep on observing it and the way it works,” Kristen replied. She then brought out the tablet and powered up the mapping app. She checked the rate of completion. It was now 92 percent. By the time they were out of the nebula it should be well over 95 percent. She was going to enhance it and see if she could make an amendment so they could map their route to the makers’ domain. That is, if they would be able to successfully shake off the wasp ship that was following them closely behind.
“Captain,” a voice came over the radio. It was Colonel Havlun. “What is the delay all about? You are not moving quickly.”
“We are not the ones piloting ourselves, Colonel,” Kristen replied. “You were there. You saw when he gave me the device and you heard what he said.”
“Oh. So that means you cannot move any faster than this?”
“We are not the ones moving anything,” Kristen replied, irritated. “What is the rush, anyway?” “I am surprised at you, Captain. You have found the path to achieving your goal and you are not too excited or in a hurry to explore that path.”
“There is no need for us to hurry when our speed and destination is not in our hands, Colonel,” Kristen replied. “You should just get used to our speed of departure.”
The line went dead after Kristen’s last statement. She could imagine the colonel fuming in anger in her ship. But she was not bothered. What was of more importance to her was how they would be able to outmanoeuvre the wasp ship if the Gualdions decide to attack them.
Soon the Atlantis got to the outer clouds which surrounded the nebula. The device was controlling their movement through the mass of various objects and planetary bodies which were revolving and speeding past them. While Kristen was watching and admiring the way the device was moving the Atlantis seamlessly through the clustered cloud, Lynda put a call through to Kristen. Kristen pressed a key on the console to receive the message.
“What is it?” Kristen asked.
“It is the wasp ship, Captain,” Lynda stated. “What is going on with the wasp ship?”
“The device which we installed to our main drive has just alerted us about the wasp ship. I don’t know how it was able to do it, but it just gave us an x-ray sweep of the Gualdions’ ship,” Lynda continued.
“What is the analysis of the sweep it performed? Is there a reading? Can you send it to me?” Kristen asked.
“A moment please,” Lynda said. A couple of seconds later, Kristen received a message on her monitor. She tapped it and it opened. She saw a picture of the wasp ship. It was taken by their cameras. But as she studied the picture, it began to change until she was seeing inside the wasp ship
.
“Was it the device that took this x-ray or did you do it manually?” Kristen asked.
“It was the device, Captain,” Lynda replied. “What are the aliens up to?” Kristen asked as she watched them all seated. “The device has already said it all. Initially, it had identified them as a non-hostile threat. Now it has labelled them as a hostile threat. On close analysis, it revealed that their ammunitions and missiles are all pointed towards us.”
“Those crazy women,” Kristen said. “So after all they were told, the colonel still wants to carry out her intentions.”
“What do we do, Captain? It is obvious they mean to attack us as soon as they can get a clear shot.” “We cannot do anything on our own, Lynda,” Kristen replied. “I was explicitly warned that the device is valid for only one return trip. If we try to disengage it and make use of our on-board autopilot to outmanoeuvre the Gualdions, we risk not being able to locate the makers. And even such a move could be risky and prove futile considering the closeness of the wasp ship to us.”
“But, Captain. Are we just going to sit and watch them take shots at us?”
“We cannot risk losing the connection the device has already made with our main drives, Lynda.” “Then we are going to just watch ourselves get blown out of deep space.” “I don’t think so, Lynda. I believe the device is monitoring things and should be analysing a plan of escape for us. Everyone should still remain strapped in and prepared for anything,” Kristen replied.
Ahead of them there were still a lot of clouds, and every now and again another planetary body would hurtle past them, in most cases missing them by mere inches. The turbulence in the nebula’s clouds was higher than it had been when they had initially gained entry. But the fear of a fatal collision was the least of Kristen’s worries. It was the threat posed by the wasp ship that was making Kristen uncomfortable.
“Are there any readings coming from the device?” Kristen asked over the microphone. “Nothing yet, Captain,” Mahmud replied. “Most of what it is doing is deep within its own systems. It is only once in a while that it displays certain details. Like when it showed us the wasp ship and their state of readiness to attack us. Apart from that, it does not do anything else that is significant.”
“I am sure it is already drawing up a strategy for the escape of the Atlantis in case of any eventuality,” Kristen replied.
“Why did you say that, Captain?” Mahmud asked. “I don’t think that man would have left us to our fate just like that. Not after all he saw and revealed about the colonel,” Kristen replied. “I believe he anticipated this was going to happen.”
The main screen on the deck came on. As it did, a message began to scroll across it in red, bold letters: WARNING! IMMINENT ATTACK FROM THE GUALDIONS’ SHIP! WARNING! IMMINENT ATTACK FROM THE GUALDIONS’ SHIP!
“Do not panic, everybody,” Kristen commanded. Another message came on the screen:
TACTICAL MANOEUVER SEQUENCE INITIATED.
“Was that you or our autopilot?” Kristen asked. “No, Captain,” Mahmud replied. “It is the device. It is the one initiating the sequences.” Without warning, the Atlantis suddenly rolled completely in a circle, covering 360 degrees. By the time it had completed the spin, the crew of the Atlantis saw themselves flying off directly into the cloud. In front of them were a series of asteroids. The Atlantis effortlessly weaved through all of them and as it did so, they observed that explosions were occurring behind them. It was obvious they were being fired at and the Atlantis was dodging the shots.
The manoeuvres the Atlantis was making were risky and breathtaking. They were not coordinated or in a pattern. They were nerve-wracking and sudden. One moment the ship could be heading towards an asteroid. It would look apparent that a head-on collision was bound to happen. But in the nick of time, the Atlantis would veer away from the obstacle, missing it by inches. Explosions were occurring all around them in quick succession. And they were still moving so fast.
While all this was happening, Kristen cross checked with her app. It was still mapping their manoeuvres and was getting the coordinates accurately. Suddenly, the Atlantis began to spin again. But this time the roll was continuous. By the time the spacecraft came out of the roll, they found themselves flying towards the wasp ship.
“What happened? What is going on?” Kristen shouted as the wasp ship came closer. Its guns were firing at them but the Atlantis continued to dodge its shots while still heading directly for it.
“Maybe the Gualdions overrode the device,” Lynda suggested. “And then try to ram us at the same time?” Mahmud asked. “Impossible. They would not want to destroy themselves as well.”
“Maybe they would,” Kristen said, suddenly realizing that perhaps the device had malfunctioned or had been compromised.
All the crew members were now screaming out of fear as the image of the wasp ship came closer and closer. Kristen closed her eyes, expecting the worst.
At the last moment, the Atlantis veered off from the path of the wasp ship, taking a very hard and sharp bend to the left. In the process, the wasp ship had veered right. But while the Atlantis’ final manoeuvre had been a strategically and electronically calculated attempt, the one of the Gualdions’ had been as a result of fear and manual reasoning. In the process, the Gualdions had not taken cognizance of a huge asteroid that had been coming from behind them. There was no way it could have avoided ramming into the wasp ship even if it had wanted to.
From the corner of her eye, Colonel Havlun saw the Atlantis suddenly veer away. And then she saw the mass of rock appear to descend onto them. But it was no descent. They were the ones who had flown right into it. There was a loud screeching sound as hardened rocks effortlessly tore through the body of their ship like a hot knife cutting through butter. Her soldiers were shouting in incoherent sentences as fires spontaneously broke out from various corners.
The last image she caught before they were engulfed in a fiery ball of flame was the Atlantis flying away to safety. And then the wasp ship turned into a ball of glowing light and smoke that ballooned and increased in size and mass.
As they flew away, Kristen saw the huge ball of fire that had engulfed the wasp ship. From that distance, they could still see more and more explosions occurring as if fuelling the explosion further. There was no doubt the missiles and ammunition on board the Gualdions’ ship were fuelling the conflagration.
By now, the Atlantis had come out of its spinning and swirling. They were cruising out of the clouds into outer space with stars shining in distances all around.
Kristen sighed a sigh of relief. Around the bridge and the deck there were shouts of jubilation and rejoicing from her crew members. Everyone was happy, excited, and grateful.
There is still hope for us, Kristen thought as they flew into space.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“Captain. Captain. Captain.”
The call was persistent and it seemed to be coming from afar. She struggled and tried to open her eyes. But it was as if a heavy weight had been attached to her eyelids. Eventually, she saw that the bright light was coming in from outside. She shielded her eyes as she tried to recognize her environment. Gradually, she made out the figures of people standing all around her. She struggled with herself and sat up. She had been laid on a bed that was covered with white sheets. She was also dressed in a white beautiful long dress.
She looked at those around her. She could recognize Lynda, and then there was Mahmud as well. Gradually, more of her crew members gathered around her. She smiled as she recognized them all one after the other. It appeared that as she recognized all her crew members, she became more familiar with her environment and things began to miraculously fall into place. A table appeared with a wall behind it, and then the floors, and the windows and ceilings. The room began to take shape. And as it did, something strange started to happen. The faces of all those around her began to change.
Lynda. Mahmud. What is happening ? she tried to ask. But no voice came out from her
mouth. Her call simply ended within her throat.
If they understood her attempt at enquiry, they refused to answer. Or maybe they just did not want to respond. Perhaps it was just that they could not respond.
Rather, they stood there watching her. And then their faces started to warp, followed by their bodies. The images were scary and weird. Their heads had suddenly started to twist, contorting their facial features such that a person’s nose would appear on top of the head while the ears would appear where the chin used to be. And then from the warping of the faces, the heads collapsed into their necks, and their bodies started to spin into oblong, circular shapes. One by one they turned into spinning shapes.
Kristen covered her eyes with her hands and screamed.
Silence.
The silence she experienced felt so tangible and audible. It was as if she could feel it with her skin. She opened her eyes once again and looked around. “Where am I?” Kristen asked, not sure of what to make of the environment. “Kristen, darling,” a voice called. She turned around to see William, her fiancé, standing by her side. He was dressed in a blue t-shirt and a pair of jeans had a bunch of flowers in his hand. She reached out and hugged him. She held him so tightly and did not let go.
“It’s okay, dear,” William replied. “Just try to get some rest.”
“What happened? Where am I?” Kristen asked. “You need to get some rest, my dear,” William said. She watched him place the flowers into a vase on the table. There was a window by the side of the wall, and from it sunlight was streaming into the room. The curtains had been parted to allow anyone inside the room to get a good view of the environment outside.
She took her gaze away from the bright sunlight and looked at the environment. She recognized the tall structures of buildings, saw a few airplanes in the skies, and then there were birds. And then everything started to transform. The airplanes were on fire and crashing into the buildings. The other buildings had also caught fire and were blazing furiously. And then the room she and William were in also caught fire. The windows, walls, doors, and floors were all on fire and everywhere was burning furiously.
The End Of The World Page 17