Eternal Horizon: The Chronicle of Vincent Saturn (Eternal Horizon: A Star Saga Book 1)

by David Roman

  “He kind of looks like a Corsarian,” the quiet Damocles said, standing in the back, looking downward. “Only without the pallid skin and those creepy eyes.”

  “Kind of does, doesn’t he?” Spaide reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of shades. “Here, this should cover your oddity.”

  Vincent was astounded. “Oddity?”

  “Just wear the damn glasses!”

  Vincent put on the shades and saw his reflection in the surface of the elevator glass. Now I look like the Unabomber, he thought, looking at the ridiculous specs and the hood over his head. Presently, the elevator came to a stop.

  “Be very quiet,” Exander said.

  The vivacious hallway the elevator opened to was not like Vincent expected. Instead of the filthy corridors like the ones on the bottom floors, these were laid with a crimson carpet. The walls were richly detailed with velvet wallpaper and thoroughly engraved with stucco decorations. Every ten feet there was a flower urn, and paper-thin monitors lined the top portion of the walls, streaming commercials of the hotel and its number of accommodations.

  People—creatures—of various species made their way through the passage without paying the companions much heed. Most of the creatures were humanoid; and from afar, some—like the prevalent Xenians and the Dirsalians—even resembled everyday humans. They were all dressed stylishly: donning robes, pompous suits, and long dresses with no signs of weapons of any kind. Even the security guards, whom Vincent figured out to be some sort of complex robots, carried batons.

  At the end of the hallway was a staircase that led them to a rotunda full of the hotel’s current guests. Gigantic chandeliers were suspended in midair, slowly floating beneath the forty-foot ceiling that was covered in hundreds of beautiful images which periodically changed. A projecting cornice supported by semi-columns ran across the entire area. The patterned floor was made of black marble with a striking mosaic design around the edges. A hologram screening a green alien woman explaining the hotel’s hospitality was atop a pedestal in the middle. Around the pedestal was the information desk with six females of different species. One of the women, Vincent noticed, had two pairs of arms. Bellboys, who were blue reptilian creatures, instantly ran up to them, hoping for a tip in exchange for their help, but one look from Exander made them change their minds.

  Exander led the team to one of the room’s six exits, which turned into a busy enclosed skywalk, its walls and ceiling made of thick glass providing a spectacular view of the outside.

  The hotel was a massive skyscraper surrounded by six smaller ones. Three skywalks connected each smaller skyscraper to the main building at different levels. The sun had finally set, its last rays dazzling over the horizon composed of grey peaks. The nocturnal life of the planet was becoming evident, especially from this height: jets, aerial buses, and the thousands of billboards lit up the city along with the sky that held millions of stars, probably thrice the amount visible from Earth.

  The skywalk exited into the smaller building. There were hallways going in every direction, lined with rooms. Following several turns and stairways, Exander stopped by one of the doors and uttered a word that slid it open.

  “Everybody, get inside,” he said, looking down the hallway, assuring they weren’t followed.

  The room was spotless. Burgundy-brown furniture and a large divan covered with green silk sheets decorated the living area. The parquet floor was made of the same wood as the rest of the furniture. There were two doors on either side—one leading to an open bedroom, the other to the lavatory. A big window across the room opened a view of the Sebalonian night sky.

  Upon entrance, the companions took off their cloaks and threw them on the floor, where in a mere second, a small machine resembling a crustacean animal appeared, rolling on wheels. It grabbed the clothes with the intention of taking them to the nearby closet.

  “That’s some good housekeeping,” Vincent said.

  “Droid maids,” Gaia said. “They react to anything non-cellular that falls to the floor.”

  “Genius…” Vincent mumbled under his breath as he turned and was struck at Gaia’s beauty once again. She wore an emerald colored sheath dress that embodied her athletic figure. On her upper arms, she had gold armlets in shapes of dragons, and from elbow down she wore black evening gloves. Her long hair smoothly fell around her shoulders, neatly cut in bangs over her intelligent eyes.

  “Nothin’ genius ’bout it,” Spaide fussed, tussling with the robot over his jacket. “I’ll blast one of these things someday.”

  “So, let’s begin,” Exander started.

  Vincent looked at Exander and saw a strange uniqueness in the young Xenian. He had pretty much the same complexion as his brother, yet at a smaller scale: a strong jaw, thick eyebrows, dark eyes—everything except for the hair. Unlike any other Xenian Vincent had seen during his last few hours of exploration, Exander had long, wavy, blonde hair. It didn’t really matter to Vincent—he didn’t want to bother the brash Xenian with questions anyhow.

  Spaide and Damocles saw Vincent’s indifference at that and exchanged looks.

  “Once again, you’re from a planet we’ve never heard of, and somehow you end up on my grandfather’s ship without him or Duell present?” Exander asked, looking down, arms crossed, slowly pacing back and forth. He wore a loose khaki shirt over black jeans that were tucked into his combat boots. His scabbard, engraved with Xenian letters, hung at his side. A thick gold necklace was around his neck with a bizarre pendant similar to his brother’s.

  “I’m a federal agent in my country, one of the many nations on my planet… planet Earth,” Vincent tried explaining as logically as possible. “Earlier today… or maybe it was yesterday?” He paused, looking at his watch that had stopped at seven forty-five, a.m. or p.m., he couldn’t tell. He had no way of knowing how long he’d been out when the watch malfunctioned.

  “Continue!” Exander snapped.

  “We received a call from one of my bosses that an object had crashed on our grounds. So my partner and I went to investigate. Our find was extraordinary. It was actually an alien ship—”

  “Alien?” Exander exclaimed.

  “I told you,” Spaide said, shaking his head. “The man’s crazy, called me an ‘alien’ too.”

  “I’m sorry,” Vincent said in defense. “On Earth, we believe we’re the only ones in the universe, and we’d never think something like this exists.” He waved his hand at the traffic outside.

  “Okay, whatever.” Exander whirled his finger, gesturing Vincent to continue.

  “As I was searching outside of the craft, an entrance opened up, and of course—being the curious person that I am—I went in.” Vincent scoffed and looked down. “Stupid of me, really—always have to be the first one to—”

  “What did you see inside the ship?” Damocles asked.

  Exander picked up his pace.

  “As I’ve said before,” Vincent said. “There was a man who looked like you, lying on the floor in a pool of blood.”

  “That’s true. I also saw blood on the floor,” Spaide added, aghast. “But I… I didn’t think…”

  “Was there anyone else?” Exander quit pacing and stopped in front of Vincent, his fists clenched. “What about the swords?” He slightly jerked his head at the second question, seemingly asking Spaide without taking his gaze off Vincent.

  “No swords,” Spaide muttered.

  “I didn’t see anything or anyone else,” Vincent continued as his hand went up to his temple. Trying to remember the part before the blackout caused him another bad migraine. “I came down to the man and called for help, and then as I turned back, I saw him staring at me, and then… then I remember lights… bright lights… and then I blacked out.”

  “It’s just the same story with you,” Exander said. “Isn’t it?”

  The big man gasped. “Bright lights?”

  “Don’t go there!” Exander yelled at his brother.

  “He was hurt,” Vincent
said. “It seemed as if he was wounded terribly.”

  “Damn you!” Exander swung at Vincent.

  As though it had a mind of its own, Vincent’s left hand stopped the fist inches away from his face. The incident occurred in less than a fraction of a second. The whole room was silent—everyone staring at Vincent in disbelief, perplexed at how he reacted with such instinct, even though he didn’t know it himself.

  “Well…” Spaide broke the awkwardness. “We’ve no time. I must call my contacts inside the Republic. We’ll get to the bottom of this, I promise. In the meantime, stay here and watch the human.” He then turned to the big guy. “Damocles, make sure the psycho doesn’t do anythin’ crazy,” he said, pointing his thumb at Exander. The Dirsalian’s carefree face changed instantly. “They know we’re here. Every constable and bounty hunter on this planet is out there lookin’ for us. We must move quickly if we are to rescue them.” He threw on his jacket and exited the room.

  “Let’s see the disk from the ship,” Damocles said.

  Exander—after throwing Vincent another distrusting look—followed his brother to the desk in the corner of the room. “You stay there!” he shouted at Vincent, who was trying to join them.

  “But—”

  “Stay there!”

  Vincent pursed his lips in anger and nodded.

  There was an electronic device atop the desk. Exander hit a knob, and an image appeared in thin air. He waved his index finger next to the projection, and it switched screens.

  Vincent remained in the other corner with Gaia. He could see what the twins were doing but couldn’t make out their whispers. “Is that a computer?” he asked her.

  “Yes,” she replied.

  “Will it be possible to look at a star map or something of that sort on that thing?” he continued, not daring to come up to the brothers.

  “Yes, but if your planet’s unknown, it’ll be next to impossible to find.”

  Vincent sighed. “I know. Spaide already informed me of that. There are billions of stars, and they all look alike.”

  “Well, have your people ever reached any other star systems?” she asked with a tone of curiosity.

  “No, we’re not that advanced yet.” Vincent was beginning to remember the educational shows he loved to watch. It seemed to be so long ago, in another world, watching television, waiting for yet another day of his ever-boring life, which now he so dearly missed. “As far as I’ve heard, the closest star to us is four light years away.”

  “Four light years! That’s good news. Now we know your system is in one of the outer rims.”

  “The outer rims?”

  “Sit.” She beckoned, sitting down on the divan.

  After all the walking, Vincent gladly sat next to her.

  “Right now, we’re closer to the center of the galaxy,” she explained. “Most of the stars around here are no more than a few light years apart. The outer rims are the names of the systems that are further away, like Zazaban, for example, the planet Oryon visited prior to landing on yours.”

  “Well, at least I’m sure I’m in the same galaxy,” Vincent mumbled.

  “There’s no doubt about that—we can’t travel to other galaxies just yet,” she assured.

  He rubbed his knees. “Now all I have to do is browse through a hundred billion stars.”

  She allowed herself a smile but remained silent.

  He noticed that she was still looking at him like he was an alien. And who could blame her?

  “Just how fast are the starships around here?” he asked, switching topics.

  “Well, while some still travel at light-speed, which is excellent for traveling within the system, others fly much faster,” she said. “Spaide’s ship, for example, does roughly a light year per hour.”

  “Whoa…” Vincent couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “But how?”

  “Hyperspace travel.”

  Vincent hushed, thinking about the possibilities of Earth’s civilization skyrocketing after—or rather, if—he got home.

  “The amazing thing is that a solitary planet has advanced to a status of such high intelligence,” Gaia said again. “And you look like us more than any other primate race in the galaxy.”

  Vincent smiled, lost deep in his mind, knowing that she was just trying to cheer him up. High intelligence seemed to be a compliment in comparison to caveman. At that moment, his headache came back, forcing him to clasp the sides of his head.

  “Are you all right?” she asked.

  “It’s my head. I’ve had this terrible headache ever since I woke up. I need something, some medicine, if you have any.”

  Gaia got up, went to the lavatory, and brought back a small square packet.

  “What is it?” He studied the packet curiously. He then tore open its side and pulled out a damp napkin.

  “Just rub it on your temples,” she said, trying to suppress a smile.

  “Uh…okay.” He did as she told. It sizzled at first but took away the pain almost immediately. “Thank you,” he said in relief.

  “You’re welcome,” she replied, sitting down. “Relax, Vincent. I understand your situation, but we honestly don’t know how you ended up here, and believe me—we’ll do everything to get to the bottom of this.”

  Vincent nodded and remained quiet.

  “Damn it!” Exander fussed after going through the files for the third time.

  “I don’t understand,” Damocles said. “If the last place is Zazaban and the next is Sebalon 2, then what are those glitches in the data?”

  “I don’t know. Something happened to the ship during the flight.”

  “So the ship was attacked.”

  “They must’ve veered the craft off its course.”

  “That’s what probably caused it to land on the human planet,” Damocles said. “But from there, it flew to Sebalon 2 on autopilot. How? Who programmed it?”

  “Maybe they’re holding Duell and Oryon and sent this guy to spy on us,” Exander whispered, looking over at Vincent.

  Damocles shook his head. “It doesn’t make sense. Why us? Plus, how would he be able to calculate Sebalon’s position?”

  Exander raised an eyebrow. “Maybe he didn’t—maybe someone else did it for him.”

  “You still insist he’s a spy?”

  “What… you believe him?”

  Damocles shrugged. “I don’t know, Ex, but he really seems like he crawled from under a rock. I don’t see any danger in him.”

  Exander squinted, glancing back at the divan. “I sense confusion in him… it’s like he’s hiding something from us.”

  “Yes, so do I, but I doubt he’s evil. Disorder is all I sense. Why he’s hesitant to tell us about what happened is not because he doesn’t want to talk; it’s simply because he doesn’t remember.”

  “Well, why’s he here then, Damocles?”

  Damocles took a deep breath and said, “Dellah… fate brought him to us.”

  “You think?”

  “It works in mysterious ways.”

  “But that still doesn’t explain who calculated Sebalon’s position!”

  “Maybe Oryon did?”

  “Then where is he?”

  “I… don’t know.” Damocles sighed. “One person might though…”

  “Oh, he’ll talk.” Exander started to make his way toward Vincent, but his brother held him back.

  “Lighten up,” the big guy said. “I meant Duell might know.”

  Exander shoved his brother away. “And where’s Duell?”

  “Patience, Ex.”

  “Damn it! What can we do without Oryon and Duell, huh? Fight the Republic? We haven’t even finished our training yet! And who’s going to lead us? The cigar-smoking, senile, gun-blasting Captain?”

  “It’s our way, Ex,” Damocles continued solemnly. “We will find out the truth in a while. For now, you must have patience and remember grandfather’s tradition—”

  “Grandfather’s not here!” Exander’s voice thun
dered.

  Gaia and Vincent both turned their attention towards the volatile Xenian.

  “And your truth is sitting right there mocking us!” Exander violently waved in Vincent’s direction.

  Vincent got up. “Can you tell the ship’s route through that information?”

  “No!” Exander responded but then eased and added, “There’s nothing but numerous glitches, and if your planet does exist, it’s somewhere in the vicinity of Zazaban.”

  “So there’s hope?”

  “Hope? You bastard! Quit that guiltless act and tell us the truth!”

  Vincent raised his hands to the sides. “I told you already—”

  “Well, I don’t believe that nonsense! I still think you’re an Imperial spy!” Exander took several steps.

  “Exander!” Gaia got up.

  “And as far as I know,” Exander continued, “the Imperials are marching here right now!”

  Suddenly, there was a loud beat on the door. Everyone exchanged looks and then turned to Vincent. He shrugged. There was another rap—this one in a more desperate manner.

  Exander opened the door, and Spaide stormed in, barely catching his breath, beads of sweat dotting his forehead.

  “What happened?” Exander shook the Dirsalian.

  “I—”

  “What?”

  “Let him breathe!” Gaia shouted.

  Everyone gathered around.

  “I… conversed… with my source…” Spaide barely forced out, leaning against the wall, hands pressed against his thighs.

  “Well, what happened?” Exander asked.

  “They were… ambushed… by Zeth and Na’ar,” Spaide started. “Somehow, the Imperials knew...”

  “How? Who told on them?”

  “More than likely someone inside the Revolution,” Gaia said.

  “Thousands of Imperials attacked them,” Spaide continued. “Oryon managed to make it to the ship but dropped behind his sword, and Duell—”