by Nick Braker
Greg stiffened, visibly nervous. The effect her presence had, being so close behind him, was plain for all to see. Greg’s legs trembled slightly. He stepped nonchalantly out of Seph’s hold and toward Mira’s station, grabbing a chair to sit down. Seph smiled playfully at him and winked but Greg didn’t seem to notice.
“Well,” Greg continued. “I don’t know about you but isn’t all of this a bit unnerving.”
“I bet it is for you, my dear.” Zara said, laughing. “Seph, stop teasing him.”
“Am I?” Seph asked as she twirled and returned to her station.
Greg’s eyes darted back and forth between Seph and the group as she walked away. Zara’s stomach rumbled.
“Excuse me,” she said. “That was very loud. Is anyone else hungry?”
“I am,” Greg said.
Brandon’s head popped up from below the ramp.
“Did someone mention food?”
“Figures,” they all said in unison.
Chapter 9
TAKING OUT THE TRASH
Asher motioned Brandon to come up.
“Yeah, let’s get some food. Afterward, we’re heading some place special. We have an incredible opportunity here.”
“Would you be thinking of something local?” Mira asked.
She cocked her head to the side and smiled at him knowingly.
“You already know what I’m thinking, Mira?” Asher asked.
“Yes, sir.”
“Cut that out.”
“If you say so, sir,” she said.
Asher sighed.
“Where are we right now?” he asked.
Mira didn’t look at her monitors.
“We are in a geosynchronous orbit over England, specifically, London.”
“Specifically over London? Was that intentional?” Asher asked.
Brandon joined them, standing next to Asher.
“Sort of intentionally. I have always wanted to visit England and now I get the opportunity. I considered the possibility that you would want to eventually land the craft for various reasons, so I asked Jules to put the ship on an automatic slow course to this point and hold it here.”
“You girls are scaring the crap out of me,” Brandon said.
“Aww, are you scared of wittle ol’ me?” Zara asked sweetly.
“Tacos anyone?” Brandon asked, trying to change the subject back to food.
They each nodded. The thought of finally getting something to eat eased the tension that was building in Asher’s neck.
England? I’m sure they have fast food joints, too.
“Hey, Brandon. Want to hear a joke?” Zara asked.
“Hell no, Zara. Please, no more. My sides still hurt.”
“You are right. Jokes on feminine hygiene are not funny, period.”
Brandon busted out laughing and Zara joined him. Her joke was amusing at best to the rest of them, but apparently Brandon found it hilarious. Zara knew what buttons to push on Brandon and his laugh continued after the others either ignored her or groaned inwardly at the pun.
“Let me see if Jules is through with her cat nap,” Asher said, finding an excuse to get away from Brandon’s infantile laughing.
As he headed down the ramp toward his quarters, he did a double take when he found Seph and Greg sitting in the common area talking at one of the tables.
Damn, they didn’t waste any time getting down here to talk alone.
“Go get her, tiger,” he whispered.
His musings of the two were interrupted as he passed the small surgical room that stored the alien bodies and, sadly, the bodies of the sorority girls. His feet couldn’t move. It wasn’t the low gravity that bothered him now, it was the presence of the aliens. Every time they came to mind his anger returned. Fatigue and hunger had its grip on him and his anger finally broke the dam. He hit the comm-system button which connected him to the bridge.
“Mira, set a course for outer space. Anywhere away from Earth or the moon’s gravity. I’m not sure where yet exactly. We’re going to put these pieces of shit in the airlock and jettison them.”
Mira’s response was delayed.
“Yes, sir.”
She was hungry too but it would have to wait.
“Stop calling me sir,” he said. “I’ll get Jules to pilot us. One or more of you also need to learn to fly this ship. Out.”
He walked away from the room of death and walked to the door of his quarters. It slid open at his approach and closed again after he entered. Jules still slept but since she was the only one who could fly the ship right now, she could rest later.
“Jules,” he said, touching her lightly, sitting on the bed next to her.
Her eyes opened and she stared into his for several moments as if she didn’t recognize him.
“Jules? Are you okay?” he asked.
She would need time to get cleaned up as the stench of the alien blood was overwhelming.
“Yes, feeling better, thanks. Do you need something?” she said.
“Is that an open-ended question?” he grinned.
“Giving you the boot in space would be deadly. How did I get here?” she asked.
“You passed out standing in front of me. I caught you and laid you down here to rest. I didn’t see much,” he winked.
“I believe you and that makes both of us liars,” she said, squeezing out a quick laugh. “I have not slept long but it was enough. I do not require much sleep anyway, at least not since I was roughly five. Do not ask. I do not want to talk about it,” she said.
It was clear by her tone she wouldn’t but he added that to his growing list of questions to follow up on later.
“Okay then,” he said. “We need to land and get food but I want to jettison the alien bodies first. Would you do us the honor?”
“Yes, of course,” she said. “Let me get cleaned up.”
“No problem,” he said. “In fact, we have standard issue, alien fatigues, dark gray, at your disposal.”
He handed her the pants and shirt.
“What a fashion nightmare,” she said, examining them. “They will do,” she added, quickly.
“I bet you’ll look great in them. I bet you look great in, or out, of anything.”
“I bet you would like to know,” she smiled. “But that is not going to happen, captain.” She tapped him on the nose with her index finger, mocking him sweetly. “Okay, get out. I need to freshen up. Oh, and change these sheets. I will be needing a clean set for later,” she demanded, playfully.
“I’ll get on that right away,” Asher said sarcastically as he walked out.
Asher returned to the bridge and found the crew still working. Zara sat at her station with Brandon sitting next to her. She whispered something to him and he started laughing again.
Seriously? Is she that good?
Zara laughed with Brandon but she just seemed to be enjoying the company and not the humor. Did she really know what made him tick? He certainly hadn’t heard anything that funny from her.
“Please, Zara, you gotta stop,” Brandon said, barely able to speak.
He had a captain’s order he wanted to deliver and now was his chance. Brandon needed the break anyway. Asher interrupted them.
“Prepare to break orbit. Set course for the sun, just on the inside orbit of Mercury. We have some aliens to toast,” Asher said and then he sighed.
That didn’t sound as good as it did in his head.
“Jules,” he added, “will be here shortly. Let’s get ready.”
“Seph,” Mira said, hitting the comm-switch. “We are preparing to break orbit. We are going to dump some trash near the sun, one of the universe’s best garbage collectors.”
Seph’s voice cut in.
“On our way.”
Greg had to be the other person she referred to. Obviously the two of them were hitting it off. Frankly, the first time they all had met, her eyes never left Greg. Her interest in him was obvious from the beginning. Love at first sight? No su
ch thing and, even if it were, it only led to misery and loss.
Switch gears, dude. These thoughts are trouble.
Several people headed up the ramp as he moved to the command seat near Jules’ station. The seat felt right but the responsibility that came along with it didn’t.
“I don’t miss my Camaro at all,” he said with a slight chuckle.
“What was that? What is so funny, Asher?” Mira asked.
“Nothing really. I used to drive a Camaro.”
“Ah, I see. You have an upgrade now,” she giggled.
Jules had donned her alien fatigues. The dark gray outfit looked incredible on her with her shiny black hair pulled back in a ponytail. It glistened, still wet from her shower. She didn’t smell of anything from the ship or the aliens. Her chocolate colored eyes met his as she passed and they lingered on him longer than they should have. Was she interested in him? Jules paused for a moment at her console, examining the course laid in for her.
“Let me see. We have a course that will take us near the sun. Are we ready to go, Captain?” Jules asked, looking back over her left shoulder at him.
“Fire ‘em up, Jules,” Asher ordered.
She beamed a smile at him and his thoughts began to drift again. Jules was a breathtaking beauty - intelligent and apparently rich enough to afford a high performance sports car. She was a pleasant distraction. He had never met any woman like her except for Beth. The brief thought about Beth instantly soured his mood. Between the aliens he wanted off his ship, the three dead girls in the surgical room, and that single memory of her, his thoughts coalesced into a whirlwind of feelings centered on revenge. Jules must have been looking at him.
“What is wrong, Asher?”
“Nothing. It’s nothing,” he replied.
She didn’t believe him but at least she didn’t press the issue and instead turned back to her station. The gravity generators shifted in pitch and volume as the ship moved forward. It was subtle but he both heard and felt the change. Jules had told him the gravity well on the ship compensated for extreme inertial forces that acceleration often produced. If they accelerated, the generator would apply an opposite force to even it out. It was always fractionally late and could be intentionally designed that way. By the initial feel of it, they were moving forward now. The main view screen showed the Earth’s sun in the distance.
“How long until our arrival?” Asher asked.
“Four minutes and 32 seconds,” Mira replied.
She has to be joking. Four minutes?
“Explain,” Asher ordered.
“Light travels the distance between the Earth and the Sun in approximately eight minutes and twenty seconds. Given that our speed must remain well below the speed of light near gravity wells like the Earth and the Moon, we have to travel at sub-light speeds until we safely clear both masses. Once we do, the ship will accelerate to two times the speed of light and get us to your requested destination in just under four minutes. The total time from the point we left--”
“Okay, I got it,” he said. “So this ship is capable of faster than light travel?”
“I mentioned that to you previously, Asher,” Jules said.
He laughed at himself. That must have been the point he started thinking about Jules in a biological sense and tuned out her scientific explanation of why Einstein was both right and wrong.
“Right, I remember that now. Okay, well then, Weston, Brandon, let’s get the alien pieces of shit into the airlock.”
“Hell yeah,” Weston yelled.
“It’s barbecue time,” Brandon added, nodding with obvious enthusiasm. “I like my alien extra crispy.” He looked at Seph. “There will be no more aliens exploring Uranus now.”
Seph didn’t turn around from her station but it was obvious she was trying to hide her laughter. Mira glared at Brandon and he held up his hands in defeat.
“Okay, okay, I’ll be good. No more shoes, please,” he said.
“See to it,” Mira said sternly but then winked at him.
“Where the hell did you get those shoes anyway?” Brandon asked.
“Water shoes. I had them on in the pool. Great traction,” she smirked.
Brandon shook his head as he and Weston walked down the ramp to the lower level. The last thing they heard as the duo went through the door below was Weston complementing Brandon.
“Nice reference to Seph’s anus again, man.”
Seph covered her mouth to hold back her laughter.
“I am never going to live that down, it seems,” she said to no one in particular.
Weston followed Brandon to the surgical room. Weston thought the name sucked but it wasn’t going to go away nor would the memories. He had come close to dying.
“Hey, man. I’ll be glad to get these shits off the ship,” he told Brandon.
“Yeah, me too, dude. Me too.”
“So what do you think about all this?” Weston asked.
Brandon shrugged at him but didn’t say anything.
He slid the door open. The smell was tolerable but the sight was horrific. He avoided looking directly at the girls. It was all he could do to control his emotions from the gruesome memories of recent events. He pointed at one of the aliens. It was lying on its back, eyes still open. Its midsection was completely sunken in, revealing the bone structure of the creature’s internal spine. Brandon nodded at him as he moved to grab the creature’s feet. Brandon grabbed its wrists and they lifted the creature up. The low gravity made it easy. Keeping the creature between them, they headed out the doorway to the airlock with relative ease.
“You know, we could carry one each,” Weston said.
“Yeah but this way, we don’t have to get too messy. The feet and wrists aren’t bloody compared to the rest of them. We sure did a number on these things.”
“They almost did a number on me. Damn man, I thought I was dead.”
Weston cleared his throat, trying to cover his shaky voice.
“Your luck came through again, dude. I don’t know how you do it but it always does.”
Weston shrugged. He couldn’t argue with it. For nearly six months, everything seemed to go his way more often than not.
“I guess if I think about it the right way, we’re lucky to be on an alien ship. How many humans can say that?” he laughed.
He let go of one wrist and hit the airlock door panel. It slid open and they tossed the creature in. It hit the far exterior door with a pleasant sounding thud and fell slowly to the floor.
“Ah, the sound of alien body parts hitting cold, hard metal. Doesn’t it just give you a warm feeling in here?” Weston said pointing to his heart.
Brandon started laughing and then Weston joined him. The two headed back to grab the other alien bodies and finish the job. It didn’t take long and they finished before the ship reached the drop off point. Weston hit the comm-switch.
“Asher, Weston here. The dirty deed, is done... dirt cheap, bro.”
“Nice. We’re almost there. I’m on my way. I want to see this,” Asher said.
The connection went dead.
“Let’s enjoy the show, man,” Weston said as he grabbed Brandon’s shoulder and nudged him back to the airlock.
The door itself had a nearly two foot square window near the top half looking into the small room. On the far side about twenty feet away was another door, exactly the same as the interior version. The sun shone into the smaller, exterior window with blinding light but the ship was turned away just enough to keep it from also directly entering through the interior window. Even so, they still had to shield their eyes. Asher and Greg walked up behind them.
“The girls think of everything, don’t they, Ash?” Weston said.
“Yeah, they do, and here’s some alien sunglasses they found in the ship’s stock. You’ll need ‘em,” Asher said as he handed them each a pair.
They placed the glasses on and while they didn’t quite fit their human faces well, the lenses worked and the light fro
m the sun instantly became tolerable. Unfortunately, the glasses made them look like they were watching a low-budget 3D movie.
“Anyone bring popcorn?” Brandon asked. “Extra butter?”
Asher moved in between the two and accessed a second panel below the first one Weston had used earlier. The panel slid open. Asher entered the code that overrode the safety controls on the exterior door.
“Dude, ya got some training from the girls?” Brandon asked.
Asher nodded at him.
“Hell, man, do you think I know any of this shit?”
All of them pressed close to the window. Asher grinned at them. He slapped the button hard, leaving his hand there. The exterior door slid open instantly and, like three large bullets, the alien bodies shot out of the tiny room. The bodies were out of sight in seconds. They gave each other a high five and gave the aliens the one finger salute.
“Satisfied, Ash?” Weston asked.
“Somewhat. I want to give Bree, Rosalyn and Fira a proper burial. I don’t think we should contact their kin. It would be too dangerous. So we’ll bury them someplace that will honor them. Let’s head back to the bridge. I have an announcement to make. I think I know what we can do.”
His crew surrounded him, each of them at their stations. He never really got a chance to meet Fira and Bree but if they were like Rose, then they were very special indeed. She had been, in the brief time they spoke, an absolutely amazing woman who was smart, courteous and helpful. She had stopped to introduce them to everyone at the sorority and did so with superb grace. He had felt the warmth of her welcome when they arrived even through the facade he put up. He pushed aside his thoughts as the group stared at him. They were waiting for him.
“Bree, Fira and Rose died at the hands of those aliens. I don’t know why they killed them, nor why they did so in such a horrific fashion. I won’t rehash what happened but I won’t let their deaths go unanswered. They deserve a memorable sendoff and I think I’ve come up with something to do just that.”
He paused and took a deep breath. The emotions welling up inside him needed to be controlled. He wasn’t going to let them see him emotional, let alone cry.