The Face of Earth

by Kirsty Winkler

  “Possibly.” He shrugged, dismissing the small changes as irrelevant. “Are you ready to go down now?”

  “Absolutely,” Karina replied.

  Agnar steered the ship toward the planet. “Uh, oh,” he said. “We have company.” He stopped the ship and initiated the masking device to hide them from the two ships he was reading on the scanner.

  “What company?” Karina asked.

  Agnar scanned the ships on the ground near the ruined city where he had intended to land. “Ha! It’s a Stelairian Cruiser and a Yalsan science vessel.” He checked the ships for life readings. “Nothing from the Stelairian ship. It must be shielded. One Earthling and a bunch of Yalsans on the Yalsan ship,” he said.

  “An Earthling!” Karina exclaimed.

  “Yes. Male. Friend of yours?”

  “No. It must be one of the Lazarus League men,” Karina said. “And the Yalsans are probably the same ones who confronted Flavoi and Tresar after they rescued me.”

  “Huh. Well, this makes my plan more difficult. Not much more difficult, though, since they’re all on their ships and nowhere near the League building.”

  Karina eyed Agnar suspiciously. “What plan?”

  Agnar grinned. “Why, my plan to rob the Lazarus League, of course. All those jewels they had must still be in that building.”

  “And how do you suggest we get to it with the other ships parked outside the city? The minute we leave this ship, our life readings will be detectable to them.”

  “Not necessarily,” Agnar replied, crooking a finger at Karina. “Come with me.”

  He led her off the bridge and down a corridor, past the living quarters, to a part of the ship she had never been before. He rounded a corner that ended in a single door. He grinned and palmed the entrance plate. The door whooshed open to reveal a small room. Junk was piled everywhere. Karina walked in and examined the junk more carefully.

  “These are Tresar’s inventions!” she gasped.

  “Not all of them,” Agnar replied. “I only kept what I thought might be useful to me one day.” He pulled a box out of the pile and showed it to Karina.

  Karina recognized the box as the one that held the necklaces to hide life readings. “Nice,” she complimented, breaking out into a huge grin.

  Agnar opened the box and took out two necklaces, putting on one and handing the other to Karina. She slipped it over her head. Agnar put the box back and left the room, Karina at his heels.

  “Are you ready to commit some justifiable larceny?” he asked her.

  “Hell, yeah!” she replied in English. “Those bastards owe me.”

  They returned to the bridge and Agnar steered the ship into the atmosphere, decelerating and dropping to the surface. They flew over the ruins of cities toward the coast, returning to the coordinates of the Lazarus League’s building. Agnar lowered the ship to the ground as near to the League building as he could get. The masking device hid the ship’s appearance as well as its reading, so he wasn’t worried that they would be seen.

  Karina checked the concentration of oxygen in the atmosphere. It showed a level of about eighteen percent. “Agnar, we can go outside without suits. The oxygen level is survivable, if a little low. And the temperature is about thirty-five degrees Celsius.” Karina decided not to mention how anxious she was to feel the wind and sun on her skin. She looked questioningly at Agnar, awaiting his decision.

  “A nice warm day, hmmm? Sure, we can forgo the suits. Come on.” He led the way to the door, palming the plate and opening it. A wave of heat hit them and Karina closed her eyes in ecstasy.

  Agnar walked down the boarding plank, swinging his arms. “Well. It is a lovely day for a walk.” He headed through the city toward the metal building gleaming in the sunlight.

  Karina followed. They reached the building and entered. Agnar frowned at one of the walls, walking over and placing his hand on it. Karina looked at the wall and then at the door that led down into the cryonic room. She looked back to the wall where Agnar was standing.

  “Isn’t there supposed to be a door there?” she asked, remembering the layout of the foyer from her time as a captive.

  “Yes, there is. The question is, where did it go?” Agnar began walking along the wall, knocking on it. It was hollow the entire way. Agnar stepped back. “There’s definitely still a room behind this wall.” He examined it again, noticing the single light fixture hanging on it. “Odd place for a lamp,” he said, grabbing hold of it.

  The fixture pulled down under his hand and the wall opened, revealing the door Agnar knew was there. He grinned and put his shoulder to it, breaking it down. It fell into the room with a crash.

  “What, you couldn’t even try the knob?” Karina asked sarcastically.

  “More fun this way. And it was probably locked.” He stepped over the door and into the room, looking around. A large desk and chair were its only occupants. There was another of the exact same light fixtures on the wall behind the desk. Agnar shook his head and laughed. “Oh, they couldn’t have made it this easy.”

  He pulled on the lamp and a section of the wall opened, exposing a safe. It was rusty from centuries of decay. When Agnar pulled on the door, it came off its hinges with a clang. He set the door on the desk and reached into the safe, pulling out a fistful of jewels. Scattered among the jewels were bits of cloth. Agnar surmised that they had been the bags that once contained the jewels.

  “Wow,” Karina said, looking over Agnar’s shoulder.

  “I know,” he said, grinning. He pulled a sack off his belt and filled it with the jewels. There were all kinds, but the majority were diamonds. Once he had emptied the safe, he reattached the bag to his belt and led the way back into the foyer. He cocked his head at the other door. “Want to see what’s become of your captors?” he asked. “There are no life readings down there,” he continued, checking the building with his scanner, “and there was only one Earthling on the Yalsan ship.”

  “A quick look wouldn’t hurt,” Karina said, curious in spite of herself.

  They went down into the cryonic room. The smell of death hit them before they had made it halfway down the hallway.

  “Gah!” Karina exclaimed, holding her nose.

  Agnar wrinkled his nose in agreement and continued into the room. Karina followed, still holding her nose. It didn’t help much, since she could almost taste the decaying flesh with every inhaled breath. She pulled the collar of her shirt up over her nose and mouth. It was a little better, but still not completely effective.

  The air in the underground room was cooler, but still warm. All of the pods stood open, and all but the first three and the last held bloated corpses. “Right, I’ve seen enough,” Karina told Agnar, her voice muffled by her shirt.

  Agnar grimaced. “I agree. Let’s go.” As they were about to start up the hallway, they heard footsteps coming toward them. Agnar looked around the room. There was nowhere to hide.

  “Over here,” Karina whispered, pulling him by the arm. She led him to the end of the room where metal rungs were welded to the wall, creating a ladder that went up to an exit hatch. They began to climb, and were halfway up the ladder when a man walked into the room. He drew a weapon on them.

  “Don’t move!” he shouted.

  They continued climbing, and the man fired a warning shot into the ceiling. “I said don’t move!” he repeated, and they froze, looking down at two men. Karina recognized one as the captain she had flipped off soon after Tresar and Flavoi had rescued her, and the other was Kevin. Her lip curled into a snarl at the sight of him.

  “Well, well,” Kevin said. “Agnar. And Karina. This is a surprise.” A plan took shape in his head, one where he could use this stand-off to his advantage.

  “Come down. Slowly!” Nanot ordered.

  Agnar and Karina inched back down the ladder. Agnar jumped to the ground and then helped Karina down off the last rung. Agnar wished he had thought to bring a weapon.

  Nanot was grinning at Agnar. “There�
�s a lovely price on your head, pirate,” he said.

  Agnar grimaced at him. “What makes you think you’ll live to collect it?”

  Nanot waved the weapon at him. “This does.”

  Agnar snorted. “My friend, you have a lot to learn about Earthlings.”

  “Your little girlfriend has her own price.”

  “Not her,” Agnar said, gesturing with his head toward Kevin. “Him.”

  Nanot turned his head slightly to look behind him, keeping his weapon leveled at Agnar. Kevin stood there, gun pointed to Nanot’s head. Kevin shrugged apologetically and shot Nanot in the face. Nanot fell to the ground, gushing blood.

  Karina gasped in shock and put her hand up to her mouth. Agnar used the distraction to pull her around behind him. “Your necklace,” he whispered. “Remove it.” Karina grabbed the pendant and pulled hard, breaking the chain. She quietly lowered it to the floor. Kevin reached down to retrieve Nanot’s weapon. While he was preoccupied, Agnar surreptitiously pulled his own necklace off, dropping it.

  Kevin stood and pointed Nanot’s weapon at Agnar. “I’d like my jewels back,” he said.

  Agnar lunged at Kevin. Kevin tried to fire the weapon, discovered it wouldn’t work for him, and quickly pulled his own gun on Agnar, shooting blindly at him. Agnar fell as a bullet entered his shoulder.

  “No!” Karina cried, rushing to Agnar’s side.

  Kevin looked at the Yalsan weapon in disappointment. “Clever. Only works for its owner, hmmm?” He looked down at Agnar. “And you knew that, didn’t you? You made me waste several bullets. I don’t like that.” He pointed his gun at Karina. “Toss me the jewels, please.”

  Agnar fumbled at his belt, removing the bag and pushing it into Karina’s hands. She took it and threw it to Kevin.

  Kevin looked at Karina and then at his gun and sighed. “I wish I didn’t have a limited supply of bullets.” He backed up to the cryonic console. “Get into the pods,” he ordered. “I want you out of the way while I take your ship and leave this planet.”

  “That’s not necessary,” Agnar said. “Just take the ship and leave us here.”

  Kevin grinned evilly. “I could, but I don’t want you alerting the Yalsans or the Stelairians before I’m gone. This way, I know you won’t be a problem.” He stared at Agnar, daring him to retaliate. “Or I could just shoot you again. Better yet, I could shoot her. But I really would rather save my bullets.”

  “Alright, we’ll do as you say. There’s no need for any killing,” Agnar conceded. He couldn’t stand the thought of losing Karina, and he mentally kicked himself again for not bringing a weapon from the ship. He pulled himself upright and moved toward the empty pods at the front of the room.

  Karina followed. “Agnar! I can’t! Not again!” she whispered at him.

  “You don’t have a choice,” Kevin said, overhearing her. “Ah, Ms. McKay, it’ll be good to see you back where you belong.” He kept the gun aimed at them while they climbed into the first two pods and lay back.

  Kevin closed the lids and started the sequence. Tears froze on Karina’s cheeks as she fell into cryonic stasis. Agnar kept his eyes on Kevin, promising future mayhem. Then Agnar and Karina were consigned to oblivion as the sequence completed.

  Kevin walked over to where Agnar and Karina had been during the stand-off. He had noticed that they had dropped something on the floor. Two necklaces lay on the ground. He picked them up and rubbed his thumb over the pendant of one. He looked back at Agnar’s and Karina’s pods as if they could tell him why they had worn them and why they had taken them off.

  Nanot’s blood slowly pooled around his dead body. Looking at him, Kevin suddenly remembered that he had scanned the building before coming down here and had found no life readings. Kevin went to him and searched his pockets, looking for the scanner. He found it and aimed it at the two pods that held Karina and Agnar. The scanner clearly showed a Yalsan male and an Earthling female.

  Kevin took the necklaces and hung them on the pods. He scanned again. No life readings. He grinned, pocketing the scanner. So that’s why they took the necklaces off. They wanted to be found and rescued. He left the necklaces where they were, walking up the hallway and out into the fresh air of the newly reborn Earth.

  He looked around for Agnar’s ship. It was nowhere in sight. He walked toward an area that was clear of debris in order to see around the city better. No sooner had he stepped into the clear area than he hit his head on something solid and bounced back, falling to the ground. He reached up and felt his forehead, where a bump was beginning to form.

  “What the hell?” he said aloud. Kevin stood up and carefully walked forward with his arms stretched out. His hands found an invisible but solid surface. As he ran his hands along the smooth object, he realized that this must be Agnar’s ship. Frustrated, he dropped his hands and stepped back. This ship was beyond his understanding, and even if he were able to find a way aboard, chances were he wouldn’t be able to fly it. He looked back at the Yalsan ship. He would have to leave with them.

  He walked back to the ship and snuck aboard, returning to his quarters. Before the door closed behind him, he triggered the lock, imprisoning himself in the room. He didn’t want to have to explain Nanot’s disappearance. He sat and waited, then stood and paced. His door finally whooshed open and Mayla stood there with Lantor.

  “Where’s the captain?” she demanded, looking around his room.

  Kevin stopped pacing and feigned anger. “How should I know?” I’ve been locked in this room for over an hour! When you find him, I want to speak to him.”

  Mayla looked him in the eye. He stared back without flinching. She snorted and closed the door, locking it. Kevin sat down on the bed, smiling to himself.

  Mayla turned to Lantor. “What do we do? We’ve scanned the ship and the area around it, and there’s no sign of the captain. Where could he have gone?”

  Lantor was enjoying how the crew turned to him in their captain’s absence. He wasn’t interested in finding Nanot, but he feigned worry. “You don’t think he’s gone over to the Stelairian ship, do you? We wouldn’t get a reading on him in there if it were shielded.”

  “Why would he do that?” Mayla asked.

  “You have to admit that he’s been acting strangely on this trip. I’ve had the suspicion that he has been working against the Yalsan government for some time now, and it does seem odd that the Stelairians are here and have killed the remaining Earthlings.” Lantor watched Mayla carefully to see if she was buying the story he was telling. “Captain Niella has made no secret of his dislike for Kevin, and he was also against awakening the rest of the Earthlings.”

  Mayla looked up at Lantor. “I’ve noticed his strange behavior as well, but how do we know that he has joined with the Stelairians?”

  “We’ll scan the Stelairian ship. If there are no life readings at all coming from it, we’ll assume it’s because they are trying to hide the fact that they have Captain Niella on board.”

  “And if there are no readings?”

  Lantor smiled reassuringly at Mayla. “Then we return to Yalsa and report Captain Niella’s defection.” He patted her on the shoulder. “I know you respect your captain, but in the face of his betrayal, we should do what we can to salvage this mission. We must take the only remaining Earthling safely back to Yalsa.” Mayla thought about it for a moment, and then nodded in agreement and followed Lantor to the bridge.

  Lantor hid his grin as he took position in the captain’s chair. “Scan the Stelairian ship for life readings,” he ordered.

  “Yes, sir,” Mayla replied, with a respectful tone. She turned and looked at him knowingly as she reported her findings. “No readings at all, sir.”

  “Very good. Contact the Stelairian.” Mayla tapped the comm pad and waited for a reply. Moments later Megg’s face appeared on the viewscreen.

  “Yes?” she inquired.

  “We are ready to be escorted out of the solar system, ma’am,” Lantor said.

 
CHAPTER 21

  Karina’s head hurt. She moaned and opened her eyes, blinking in the bright light. The sun shone straight into the underground room through a large hole in the ceiling. It lit up the scratches on the polycarbonate lid of the cryogenic pod, reflecting into Karina’s eyes. Turning her head slowly to the right, she saw that the latch on the lid had been released. Hot air blew in through the resulting crack, warming Karina.

  Her arms felt leaden as she raised them to push against the lid. The lid opened about a foot before suddenly stopping. Karina looked down and saw a pile of concrete rubble surrounding the pod. It prevented the lid from opening any farther. She looked back up at the damaged ceiling. There must have been a cave-in.

  Karina squeezed herself into the narrow opening between the lid and the pod, scraping her arm against the edges. The scratches began to bleed, but Karina ignored them. She desperately wanted to get out of the pod. Karina stretched her arm around to the back of the pod, gripping the outside edge for leverage. She sucked in her breath and wiggled out.

  She stood on the rubble and looked around the room. The empty eye sockets of skulls stared back at her from the other pods; the skeletal remains of the rotting corpses she remembered. A necklace hung on the lid of the pod she had just exited. She picked it up and rubbed the dust off the pendant. So that’s why they hadn’t been rescued.

  Karina stepped carefully across the chunks of concrete to Agnar’s pod. His open eyes glared at her, his face frozen in anger. She examined his pod. It was intact and functioning. She took the other necklace off his pod’s lid and went over to the control console. She wiped off a thick layer of dust and grime. The instructions etched in the top left corner were still legible. She followed them, beginning the defrost sequence on Agnar’s pod.

  Karina leaned tiredly on the console, watching as the lid on Agnar’s pod popped up and slowly opened. She waited for the color to return to his face. Agnar sucked in a lungful of air and his empty eyes filled with awareness. He blinked several times, staring at Karina in confusion, as if she had suddenly materialized out of nowhere.