Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

by Christie Golden

  “That’s a good fellow,” she cooed. It brightened at the tone of her voice and moved out trustingly. It was small enough to fit in her hand. She saw now that the underbelly fur was bright blue, but patchy and scabby. There were scabs on its back, too, but the eyes it raised to her were blue and gentle.

  “You have eyes to die for, you know that?” At her words, the creature’s scaly form flushed to a bright red and it puffed up slightly. Laureline couldn’t suppress a smile.

  “Hey, are you flirting with me, little guy?”

  The smile faded as she stroked it with a finger, examining it gently. “Your back and tummy are all scabby. How about some intensive skincare to get your mojo back?”

  The little creature purred with pleasure. It was a soft, pleasant sound, and Laureline abruptly felt very protective of the small creature. The purring increased as she opened the door to a square compartment in the wall, placed the little animal inside, and closed the door behind it. It looked at her through the circular viewing window, suddenly concerned, as she lightly tapped in a code.

  “No need to fuss,” she reassured him. “A little high-grade uranium and you’ll be as good as new. Hang on!”

  She hit the button. Four nuclear beams filled the regenerator with a powerful blue light. As Laureline watched, the animal doubled in volume, and beamed contently. When she opened the door to take him out, he looked much healthier and clearly felt better. As he snuggled up under her chin, Laureline melted.

  “You know, I remember studying you guys at school,” she told him, placing him down on the table. “I’m dying to find out if everything in the textbooks is true.”

  She patted him once more, reassuringly, then reached to remove a diamond stud from the outer rim of her ear and held it out to the animal. His long muzzle twitched as it sniffed at the gem, then he opened a mouth lined with tiny, sharp-looking teeth, and gulped it down.

  Laureline watched, fascinated, as the converter puffed up and changed color. Two seconds later, it delicately raised its lizard-like tail and deposited hundreds of diamonds on the table.

  Laureline stared at the tiny pile of glittering gems. “Wow!” she said at last. “I need to take you shopping with me.” She picked up the converter and kissed him on the top of the head.

  It blushed.

  * * *

  Like his partner, Valerian, too, had cleaned up and dressed in his regular uniform. He sat alone on the bridge, gazing at the precious pearl he’d recovered, turning the smooth, perfect sphere over and over in his hands. He was wondering about the strange dream. Wondering about the beautiful beings who had held this object, who had seemingly manifested in the flesh today, fully formed from his sleeping thoughts.

  At length, he placed the pearl down gently in a small well on the console.

  “Alex?” he said to the ship’s computer. “Analyze this, please.”

  “Certainly, Major,” Alex said obligingly, activating a bright, slender beam of light and directing it on the pearl. Impossibly, it was even more beautiful as it caught the light. Slightly mesmerized, Valerian had to force himself to breathe as the light scanned the pearl. Data flashed up on the screen.

  Valerian read the information. Size, weight…

  He blinked. “Power—twenty megatons?”

  “Indeed,” Alex replied, almost blandly. “There’s ten times more power in that pearl than in the entire ship.”

  Baffled, Valerian eyed the object with new respect. “Where does it come from?”

  “From Mül, a planet that was located in the constellation QN34.”

  Valerian caught the usage of the past tense. “Was?”

  “Yes. The planet has not existed for thirty years.”

  Valerian leaned back in his chair, intrigued. “Let’s see what it looked like.”

  “Of course.”

  A magnificent blue-green planet came up on the screen. It was comprised of mostly water, but here and there lush landmasses jutted up out of the embracing ocean. Gentle wisps of clouds seemed to caress the tranquil world.

  “Abundant vegetation, a few primal species, but of no particular interest,” Alex said.

  “I don’t know about that. The one I saw in my dream was pretty interesting,” Valerian countered. He leaned forward. “Zoom in.”

  The image started to enlarge, but was abruptly frozen. A message flashed up on the screen: access denied.

  Valerian frowned. “Use our access codes,” he instructed Alex.

  “I fear that won’t be enough, Major. Access is restricted.” This just keeps getting stranger. “To what rank?”

  “General. Five stars.”

  Five stars? Valerian reached for the pearl again, enjoying the smoothness of it as he held it in his fingertips. “The princess, in my dream… she wore a pearl just like this around her neck.”

  “Noted, sir,” Alex replied properly.

  Laureline entered, and she was smiling.

  “How’s the converter?”

  “He was in fairly bad shape, but the regenerator helped. He’s so cute! And a real charmer. I have to tell you, you have onboard competition.”

  She smirked at him, hands on her hips, as she stood by his chair. Valerian reached up and took her by the hand.

  “I’m fine with competition,” he replied, running his thumb over her fingers. “But I’m still waiting for your answer.”

  “The mission is not over yet, Major,” she replied professionally, although she made no attempt to remove her hand. “There’s still the whole ‘top secret’ part to come. Or is your perfect memory failing you again?”

  Valerian tugged gently on her arm, pulling her down into his lap. She settled in, draping her arms around his neck.

  “Come on! Don’t keep me hanging like this,” he protested. “What’s going on?”

  She regarded him searchingly. For a moment, she said nothing. “Valerian, you’re a great guy, and we make a good team.”

  A knot developed in Valerian’s stomach. There was a but in there somewhere.

  “But…”

  Dammit, there it was.

  “—Love isn’t just about being good partners. It takes a lot more than that.”

  “Okay,” he said, then asked, very reasonably, he thought, “Why don’t you tell me exactly what it takes?”

  The pause lasted precisely long enough to be awkward. Valerian was acutely aware of the warmth of her body against him, the curve of her throat, the fall of her hair as she glanced away, gathering her thoughts.

  Then she spoke, in a calm, soft voice. “We spend our whole lives learning who we are, so we can be stronger, and able to defend ourselves. Then, out of nowhere, love comes along. And then all at once we’re supposed to just… open up, to lower our defenses. To let someone into our hearts, into our DNA even. Just like that.”

  A shiver ran along Valerian’s skin, and his heart started to race. He’d never seen Laureline like this, not in the two years they’d been at each other’s side almost constantly. He’d seen her be cool, and then hot with a burst of anger; he’d seen her smart, professional, kind.

  But not like this. Not… shy. Not fragile. He realized, with a humbleness that caught him off guard, that she was more exposed to him now than she had ever been while wearing a bikini or an alluring dress.

  Laureline continued to look away from him as she spoke. “All of a sudden we feel vulnerable,” she said, her voice barely a whisper. “Defenseless. And we tell ourselves that’s why we never really fall in love. Because we’re afraid to be weak. But in fact, it’s the opposite.”

  And then she turned her head, and he was startled anew by the intensity of her blue-gray eyes as he tumbled headlong into their depths.

  “Love makes you stronger, because you have to learn to trust someone else, even more than you trust yourself.” Laureline paused, leaned in and whispered, her breath soft against his lips, her voice so quiet he had to strain to hear, “Valerian… do you think you can do that?”

  He swallowed, ha
rd, and then opened his mouth to answer her.

  “Leaving exospace in one minute,” Alex announced. Valerian groaned in disappointment as Laureline eased out of his embrace.

  The moment was lost.

  “Saved by the bell!” the perfect woman quipped, and moved to sit at the console.

  “Alex,” Valerian said through gritted teeth, “I hate you right now.”

  “Do you want me to regulate your hormones, Major?” Alex asked politely.

  “No, thank you!” Valerian snapped.

  “As you wish. Leaving exospace in thirty seconds,” Alex counted. Valerian slumped into the copilot’s seat. Then, determined not to let the moment be completely lost, he turned to face Laureline sitting beside him.

  “You know what?” he stated. “I’m gonna put in for ten days’ leave right now, and I’ll take you to the most beautiful beach in the universe. A real one this time!”

  “Ten seconds,” Alex continued.

  Valerian ignored him. “It would be the perfect place for a honeymoon!” he insisted.

  Laureline eyed him. “The honeymoon comes after the wedding. You know that, right?”

  Valerian regarded her, skeptical. “Really?”

  She smiled. “Yep.”

  Oblivious to their banter, or perhaps inured to it by this point, Alex continued, “Decelerating…”

  The stars seemed to explode.

  Time stretched out, simultaneously eternal and within a millionth of a heartbeat, as the Intruder XB982 winked out of exospace, the non-time, non-space where faster-than-light travel was possible, and dropped right into the midst of a traffic jam composed of tens of thousands of other transport spaceships. His heart rate rising not at all, Valerian casually steered past them with the expertise of nearly a decade of experience, just dodging a collision here, zipping over a line of ships there. Most of the vessels were large, bulky cargo ships, jostling to get ahead of everything else as they waited to dock at Alpha Space Station.

  “Well, traffic didn’t get better,” Valerian complained. He swerved in and out of the cluster of cargo ships until the City of a Thousand Planets, as it had come to be nicknamed, seemed to burst onto their screen.

  From the station’s humble beginnings in the 1900s Earth reckoning, it had swelled far beyond what anyone could have imagined at its inception. To an eye beholding it for the first time, it resembled an actual planet, albeit one hidden by shadows. But in reality, it was nothing as natural as a planet. It had grown, ship by ship, year by year, as millions had come to sightsee, negotiate, seek refuge, or ply their trades, docked, and never left. From small single-person crafts to vessels that could host thousands of individuals, nearly every sentient species had come to visit or dwell, linked together to form the greatest space station in the known universe.

  It had been some time since the two agents had been asked to report to their home base, and Valerian was curious to know exactly how much the gigantic space station had changed during that time.

  “Alex? Can you update us?” Valerian queried.

  “I’d be delighted to.” Alex sounded like she truly meant it. This sort of thing was what she was programmed for. “Alpha Space Station has grown seven percent this year, and now has a diameter of twelve point four miles.” As she spoke, images on the monitors showed the station’s architectural evolution as more and more vessels became a part of it.

  “What’s the population these days?” asked Laureline.

  “Approximately thirty million,” Alex replied promptly. “Three thousand, two hundred and thirty-six species from the four corners of the universe—metaphorically speaking, of course, as to the best of our knowledge the universe has no corners—inhabit the station, pooling their knowledge and cultures. Over five thousand languages are currently in use, not counting the various computer languages.”

  A list of languages scrolled up on the monitors.

  “Current demographics?” asked Valerian.

  “In the southern part of the station, the submerged portions are located. There are presently eight hundred species situated there, which live in a variety of liquids.”

  Various aquatic creatures appeared on his screen. Valerian recognized most of them, such as the Toinul, who were both gaseous and aquatic and resembled a human brain, the fishlike Martapuraï, who had been among the first few aliens to make contact with humans, the benevolent Poulong farmers who harvested cobalt, and the enormous, generally pacifistic creatures known as Bromosaurs, seventy yards from nose to long tail who inhabited the depths of the Galana Plains. But there were even more that he didn’t recognize. That didn’t surprise him. Alpha Station was always growing.

  “In the north, we have gaseous lands, which continue to be dominated by a large colony of Omelites,” Alex continued. These guys, Valerian knew. Everyone did. The Omelites, rather scrawny beings with oversized heads and long, dangling arms, were greatly valued by the station. They were both organic and metallic, and had developed a society based on information technology.

  “To the east of them, of course, the Azin Mö still have their nuclei fields, which have grown eighteen percent since our last visit.” The Azin Mö, too, were honored and respected at Alpha. They had the unique ability to produce any kind of cell, and were invaluable physicians and masters of neuroscience.

  “Finally, to the west, in a pressurized atmosphere, we have nine million humans and compatible species.”

  “Home sweet home,” Laureline said sardonically.

  Alex ignored her tone, continuing her role as tour guide. “The transit halls that connect the districts to one another now total seventeen units.”

  “What a mess,” said Laureline, sighing.

  “The economy has been in shambles for a year. Would you like a quick summary?” Alex inquired.

  “No,” Valerian said quickly, adding sarcastically, “enough excitement for today.”

  A brisk voice came over the controls. “Intruder XB982. Authorization to dock in Section 1. VIP access.”

  Laureline turned to Valerian with a look of exaggerated astonishment on her face. “Hey, we’re famous!”

  “Took them long enough,” Valerian replied.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  General Noïntan Okto-Bar awaited them in the Alpha Space Station control room. The room was familiar to Valerian and Laureline. This was the nerve center of the station, and nearly every square inch of space except for the floor was covered with screens. Monitors of a variety of colors set against a black background displayed everything from the temperature of any given locale on the station to the number of inhabitants, from the chemical makeup of gases and liquids in the various districts to which doors were locked. From here, systems could be monitored and overridden if necessary. Life or death decisions were made by dozens of expertly trained technicians every second.

  It was dizzying to look upon, even for spatio-temporal agents like the two who now entered. But they were used to the technology on display inside. What bothered them was what else was on conspicuous display this time: troops.

  Valerian and Laureline exchanged glances. Something was definitely afoot.

  Valerian was really starting to regret not reading the briefing on this particular mission. But even if he had, it was becoming abundantly clear that there were quite a lot of pieces missing.

  General Okto-Bar turned to regard them, his lips pressed together in disapproval, his always-cool blue eyes now icy with displeasure. He was a tall man, fit but slim, with reddish-blonde hair and a controlled demeanor. Valerian knew that although the general had come from a long line of famous soldiers, he himself had no spouse or children; Okto-Bar had said more than once that his soldiers were his family. Everyone who had served under him knew the general always had their backs.

  Except, perhaps, when he was annoyed with them. Like now, for instance.

  “You’re late,” Okto-Bar said without preamble.

  “Sorry, sir,” Valerian apologized. “The mission was a bit more complicated
than we expected.”

  “Always expect the worst,” the general stated. “You’ll never be disappointed.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind, sir.”

  “Did you check the converter?” the general asked.

  Laureline smiled. “He’s in great shape!”

  “Sir,” said Valerian, “we didn’t get all the info on this mission. May I ask what’s going on?”

  For answer, the general turned to the main screen. “Declassify,” he instructed.

  A layout of the entire station appeared on the screen. This was also familiar to the agents. But something was different.

  Amid the cool blue lines was a hazy red spot located in its center.

  “What are we looking at?” Valerian asked. His gut was already tightening in anticipation of the answer, which he was pretty sure he knew.

  “This is an image taken a year ago. The red area is a radioactive zone,” Okto-Bar said grimly.

  Shit.

  “We discovered it growing right in the middle of the station,” Okto-Bar continued. “No signal of any kind could get through it. We sent in several probes, but none came back. So, last year, we sent in a special unit. Its mission was to get as close to the zone as possible and define the nature of the threat.”

  The general paused. “And?” Valerian prodded.

  “Nobody made it back from the mission alive,” Okto-Bar said bluntly.

  Valerian and Laureline stood in somber silence. An entire special unit…

  “Any idea who attacked them?” asked Laureline.

  “None whatsoever,” the general replied. He couldn’t quite keep the anger out of his voice, and Valerian couldn’t blame him. “As I said—that was what it looked like a year ago.” He paused, seeming to steel himself, then said, “This is the situation today.”

  He nodded at the technician, and she hit another key. A second image appeared alongside the first.

  The red radioactive zone was ten times larger.

  Beside Valerian, Laureline shivered, almost imperceptibly. Valerian himself felt slightly sick to his stomach.