by Ethan Bibile
Krezar wasn’t the most beautiful planet Quinn had ever seen, yet then again, it wasn’t the ugliest either.
There was certain greenery on the planet, yet not as much as there had been on Nespritia. Seemingly half the planet was a dark mixture of colours, with a huge dusty red patch, which Quinn’s mind quickly imagined to be a sprawling desert. The rest of the planet was covered in blue, Quinn’s mind pinning that to be water.
Just before he reached the atmosphere of the planet, he looked out towards the suns. He could no longer see them, as they had blurred into the black backdrop that was adorned with twinkling stars.
Quinn began the descent onto the surface of the planet. As they came to the start of the atmosphere, the nose of the Audion developed a cone of fiery sparks, which shot out in every direction, blocking Quinn’s view of the planet. Quinn kept a steady path for the ship, trying to look above the sparks just in case there were any incredibly tall buildings.
Eventually, the nose cone of fire died down and Quinn got his first real view of the city.
The sky was bright blue, one sun blazing directly in front of Quinn, the other two not in sight yet he assumed that they were behind him somewhere. Quinn looked at the humongous city before him. It seemed to never end. He looked around out the window, only able to see a humungous sprawling city.
The buildings of the city around where the Audion was weren’t tall. These types of buildings sprawled on for most of the landscape that Quinn could see, only in one direction could he see large, towering buildings.
Quinn could make out tiny streets with minuscule people going about their business. The city’s buildings were a sort of dark shade of brown with dark green sometimes being used and the crystal-clear visuals of glass. Archways seemed to be a common feature in the city, as well as bridges, crossing from one building to another.
“What’s this city called?” Quinn asked, still looking around, in awe of its size.
“Nigellia,” Morgan replied. “It’s also known as ‘The Endless City’.”
“Appropriate name,” Quinn said, a smile etched across his face as he stared in wonder at The Endless City
Suddenly, a loud voice cut through Quinn’s thoughts.
“Oi!” The voice bellowed, startling Quinn and Morgan. Quinn jumped, swivelling the chair around, looking for the source of the voice until he realised it had come from the intercom which Morgan’s voice usually came from. Quinn looked up at the speaker, confused.
“Hello?” Quinn said cautiously, having no idea who was talking to him.
“What the ‘ell do you think your doin’?” The voice growled, heavy with some sort of accent. “You some sorta visitor?” Whoever the voiced belonged to was definitely male.
“Yeah, I’m not from here. Just visiting. A friend told me about the great marketplace, so here I am,” Quinn replied, now guessing that the voice belonged to a man who worked for air trafficking or something.
“Well, next time you come ‘ere, you need to transmit a signal to us, k?” The voice said, which caused Quinn to reply with a simple, “Sure, sorry.”
The man sighed through the intercom. “Right, you see the ‘uge circle landin’ pads?” Quinn looked out the cockpit window at the ground. Sure enough, he was able to spot a dozen circle landing pads arranged in a circle formation. At least ten of them were occupied with spaceships of different shapes and sizes. As Quinn looked over the city of Nigellia, he noticed similar formations dotted around the place.
“Yep. Do I just land in one of them?” Quinn asked, already knowing the answer.
“Sure do. Jus’ once you get down ‘ere, you’ll need to register yer ship and show me your license.”
Quinn swore.
“What did you say?” The man asked, clearly hearing Quinn’s choice of words.
“Nothing, nothing,” Quinn replied hurriedly. “I’ll be down there in a minute,” At this, the intercom crackled, before going silent. It was only a few moments, however, before it came back to life with Morgan’s voice.
“Quinn, you know perfectly well you don’t have a license,” Morgan said as Quinn turned the thrusters to point at the sky, beginning the Audion’s descent to the ground. As the ship slowly descended, Quinn began to dig through a drawer underneath the dashboard.
“You’re just a little ray of sunshine,” Quinn said, finally finding what he was so desperately looking for. He pulled out from the contents of the drawer his father’s license. For a moment Quinn stopped, the world seemingly stopping alongside him. He stared at his father’s photo on his flying license, despite having stared at numerous photos of his family since their deaths.
After a moment, he sprung back to life.
Quinn jumped out of the Captain’s chair and ran over to the computer in the corner of the room. He quickly booted it up. The screen turned from black to a pleasant white colour.
“Quinn!” Morgan gasped. “You’re not… you can’t…” Morgan stuttered off as Quinn shoved the license into a slot on the side of the computer.
“This is the only way I’m getting into this city,” Quinn replied as his hands flew to the mouse once the computer had scanned his retina, granting a quick entrance to the machine. Quinn opened a program on the computer. “They’ll take away the Audion and then I’ll be on the streets if I don’t do this. Besides, I’ve been flying for ages and I’m only two and a half months off eighteen.”
Quinn’s father's license appeared on the screen of the computer and Quinn began to hurriedly make essential changes. He changed the name ‘Lucas Fenton’ to ‘Quinn Fenton’. Then he changed the date of birth and the date the license was issued, making the dates more recent, instead of being two hundred years in the future. He added a picture of his face instead of his father’s and clicked ‘apply changes’. The computer began to make a small humming sound at this.
Quinn ran over to the Captain’s seat and looked out the window of the Audion. The front window was now level with the buildings. Luckily for Quinn, he had been nearly exactly over one of the landing pads when he began the descent. He lined up the ship with the landing pad so that it was perfect, as well as applying the landing gear. In a moment, the ship lightly jolted as it touched down.
“Quinn, you know this is highly illegal,” Morgan protested. Quinn ignored him as he hopped out of the Captain’s seat. He went over to the computer and pulled out his new license from the side of the machine. Looking at it, Quinn could see no fault in it. It was exactly how his license would look like if he took his test. Quinn highly doubted that anyone would be able to discover his fraud.
“Can you open the cargo door, Morgan?” Quinn asked as he shoved his license in his pocket, as well as his language translator, credit card and the gun his father had given him, just in case.
In his home time, the galactic currency was known as ‘ioas’. He’d learned throughout his schooling that this form of currency had been used for dozens of centuries. Luckily ioas were attached to an individual credit card, rather than an actual bank account, so he had enough money to survive for some time.
“Don’t blame me if you end up in prison for fraud,” Morgan complained as Quinn descended the stairs to the living room.
“This place was your idea!” Quinn exclaimed, shaking his head at his companion.
“I know that. It’s just now I’m not sure that this is such a good idea. Maybe we should visit a planet with a lower defence system.”
Quinn entered the cargo room, the cargo door just touching down on the ground, beautiful light spilling in from the outside world.
“Well, have fun in here Morgan,” Quinn said as he descended the ramp. As Quinn stepped out onto the landing pad, the door began to shut behind him.
Quinn looked around at the ships, admiring their architecture, despite being two hundred years out of date for the teenager.
“Oi, you there!” Yelled a gruff voice and Quinn turned around to see an extremely overweight alien walking towards him.
He had l
ight brown skin, with huge arms and legs. He wore a dirty old tunic around his waist, with a belt and pouch attached. He only had two fingers on each hand. He had a large nose with three stalks coming off his head, each one with an eye on top. His mouth was wide and slopping, hanging half open.
“Hello!” Quinn said, strolling up to the ugly alien, a small smile on his face, setting him in stark contrast to the alien.
The alien strode right up to Quinn. Being much taller than him the alien looked down at Quinn, seemingly scrutinizing him. Quinn bit his lip, uncomfortable with the situation he was in. Quinn noticed a sticker that had been stuck on the alien’s torso, which said ‘Sagra’.
“Follow me,” Sagra grunted, turning around and walking back the way he came. Quinn was quite relieved to not have Sagra towering over him in a menacing way. He followed the alien yet made sure to keep his distance.
Sagra led him to the walls surrounding the circular landing pad formation, where a small office building lay. Sagra hopped into it, sitting down on an old chair which creaked in protest under his weight.
“License,” He said, putting out a large hand. Quinn reached into his pocket, pulling out his fake license, trying to remain as calm as possible whilst he broke the law. He placed it in Sagra’s large hand, his fingers grabbing it like two pinchers.
Sagra studied the license, his three eyes squinting at it. One stalk turned to look at Quinn, another turning to look at the Audion. Sighing, he placed Quinn’s license on a very messy desk, turning to a clipboard with a piece of paper on it.
Sagra began to scribble down something on his crumpled piece of paper, before turning to a wooden board attached to the wall, a dozen metal spikes poking out of it. Ten of them were occupied with little notes of paper. Sagra jabbed the note he had scribbled down Quinn’s information on one spike.
“Come back ‘ere before you leave,” Sagra said, yet it was more like a commandment. He handed Quinn back his license. Quinn nodded in response before turning and wandering towards the archway exit. From here Quinn could see multiple alien life forms bustling about, an array of noise coming through to meet his ears.
Quinn strolled out of the landing bay, both hands in his pockets.
The marketplace was a bustle of activity. Stalls were everywhere, different species selling all different things, from food to windscreen cleaners for spaceships. Other sandy streets branched off the one Quinn travelled down. The street he was going down was incredibly long, he couldn’t even see the end of it.
Quinn continued walking down the street, ignoring the constant calls from the stall holders, each one of them begging for him to buy something from them. However, once they saw he didn’t come close to their stall, they each gave up and began badgering the next person.
It wasn’t that Quinn was not interested in what was being sold, he was very curious about what was being sold at a marketplace set two hundred years in the past. He was simply doing this to save money. He could not simply spend money on things he did not need. Back on Nespritia, he had never had to conserve the ioas he got from working a part-time job as if he ran out he could make some more. In this time, that was not the case.
Quinn could not understand the calls that the aliens yelled out, each of them speaking a different language from English. Quinn was extremely glad he had his language translator in his pocket.
Over the course of the day, Quinn continued exploring the vast city of Nigellia. He went through different exotic buildings, put into wonder as he entered the museum, which was luckily free to enter. The only money that left his wallet was when he brought himself lunch when he felt it was around midday, and dinner when the sun started to set.
The city was bathed in a beautiful glow of the setting sun, twilight upon this planet being beautiful. The sky never seemed to get any darker than this. Quinn doubted that night would last for very long, as he reminded himself Krezar was in the middle of a triangle of suns. Another sun would probably rise soon.
Nightlife in Nigellia was incredibly different to day life on the planet.
New stalls had come out, each of them selling a whole new array of things. Like the day market, Quinn was not sure what most of them sold. The black market opened up at this time too, authority obviously not being something that was strict as night fell. Guns, grenades, rocket launchers, all sorts of deadly things littered the street. A new crowd had emerged too, this crowd looking somewhat ‘nastier’ than the people from the day. Just in case anything happened, Quinn’s hand was ready to grab his father’s gun at a moment’s notice.
Quinn continued making his way down the street, deciding if he should return back to the Audion or explore a bit more. There was nothing around here that seemed to be of any particular interest to him anymore.
Just as Quinn decided to return to the Audion, he noticed a neon display of lights that he had certainly not noticed upon making his way down this street hours earlier. It was attached to an overhead archway, the sign flashing all sorts of different colours. The words on the display said ‘WIN IOAS!’
Now, this was something that Quinn really needed. The archway was in between two buildings, a dark alley stretching out before him. Quinn looked down the dark path, all of his instincts telling him that there was no way he should ever go down there. He looked up at the sign, which was flashing. If this place was bad, then surely someone would do something about it. Then again, the current crowd he was in the presence of didn’t look particularly inviting.
So, making up his mind, Quinn stepped into the alley.
Trash littered the alley, all sorts of faded posters stuck to the walls which were also etched with graffiti. Quinn nervously pulled out his gun, his fingers wavering over the trigger in case of a sudden attack.
Quinn continued walking, trying not to dirty his shoes on the rubbish. Not far off he eventually noticed a small light, which was placed above a doorway to a room Quinn could not see into. He continued walking, his hand tensing around the gun as he got closer to the door.
Quinn slowly walked through the door, arms outstretched and both hands around the trigger. The gun was in front of him as he walked into the room, half expecting to be attacked.
However, Quinn found himself in a rather old, uninviting musty room. He lowered his gun, looking around at the light brown walls and the fading red carpet that covered the ground. On one side of the room was a door and opposite that door was counter. Sitting behind the counter was a pink woman, who had way more limbs than should be natural sprouting from her sides.
Quinn walked up to the counter, the pink woman looking down at some paperwork, a computer screen next to her.
“Excuse me,” Quinn said politely, trying to grab her attention. She looked at him with a bemused look. Realising that she probably couldn’t understand him, he turned on his language translator. “I saw the sign outside and I was here to win ioas,” Quinn said, smiling somewhat.
The woman’s eyes began to go up and down Quinn’s body as if she was scanning him to see if he was worthy enough or something. Quinn simply stood there awkwardly whilst she looked at him. She then sighed and turned slightly in her seat to face the computer. Two of her many arms went to the keyboard of the computer, other arms still working on things around the counter.
“Name,” The woman said blandly.
“Quinn Fenton,” Quinn replied. He was glad that he seemed to have been deemed worthy or whatever from her previous analysis of his body.
“Age,” She asked next.
“Eighteen,” Quinn said, yet with very slight hesitation. He nearly said seventeen as it was an automatic response. The pink alien looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “Yeah, yeah, I’m eighteen,” He handed her his license, which she quickly looked at before handing it back.
“You understand that we claim no responsibly for any injury you receive from partaking in Nultagna, and there for you have no right to sue us?”
“What?” Quinn asked, slightly startled at the mention of injuries. He realised s
uddenly that he had no idea what he was competing in.
“You do know what you’re about to compete in, right?” The woman asked, looking at Quinn like he was stupid. Quinn made a face and shrugged his shoulders.
“No,” Quinn admitted. “Really, I could just do with the money,” Quinn replied. The pink woman sighed, before turning to directly face Quinn.
“Nultagna is a competition in which two contestants enter an arena for a non-lethal fight. It’s simple. The winner earns the money, loser does not,” The woman said.
“So, kind of like gladiators,” Quinn said, recalling tales he had heard from someplace on the planet Earth called ‘Rome’. The woman raised an eyebrow at Quinn and he realised she would have no idea what he was talking about. He gestured for her to continue.
“Anyway,” She said, lowering an eyebrow. “You compete against the previous winner of the previous match. If you win, then as well as receiving the prize money, you proceed to the next fight.”
Quinn shrugged to himself. It didn’t sound like a terribly bad way to make money.
“Well, when will I be competing?” Quinn asked.
“You should be competing in a few matches. Be warned though, Nultagna is an illegal organization which is why we run it at night only,” The pink alien warned. This fact was a slight ramification. However, he didn’t believe he would find himself being caught by the police.
“Fine with me,” Quinn smiled, nodding at the registration woman. She then proceeded to print off a square piece of paper from a small printer next to the computer. She handed it to him with one of her many limbs.
“You’ll need to hand this to Meliiun before you enter,” Quinn took the paper and looked at it, the slip simply containing his details. “Right through that door,” She nodded to the door on the other side of the room.
“Thanks,” Quinn said politely. He turned away from the counter and the pink woman and strode across the faded red carpet. He reached out his hand and opened the door.
As soon as he saw who was inside the room, Quinn instantly began having serious second thoughts about entering Nultagna.