The Santoran Chronicles

by C. O. Amal

  All the people inside the room nodded at Samson. Then Samson and Sandy followed Captain Miller to the control room. As soon as they reached there, Miller pressed a button near his chair and suddenly the control panel came alive. The pilots are still eating their meal in the cafeteria.

  The control panel then began to show live images from the planet surface. The drones are in a place surrounded by trees and there are no signs of human life anywhere.

  Miller hurriedly flipped through the images and Samson and Sandy watched everything with curiousness. Suddenly an alarm ringed.

  “Warning, incoming ship at 12’ O clock. Warning, incoming ship ...”

  Miller quickly pressed a switch and suddenly the image of a silver coloured ship came into view.

  Samson and Sandy stared at the incoming ship with a worry.

  * * * * *

  Chapter 17

  “That ship have locked on to us.” Miller said.

  “They won’t allow us to land or escape. Destroy it.” Samson commanded.

  Miller nodded and he quickly seated in his usual position. Miller frantically worked on the controls. Suddenly the pilots got inside the control room and they quickly seated in their positions. Pilots nodded at Miller and they quickly began their job.

  “Artillery one and two ready to fire.” Miller said.

  “Fire.” Samson said.

  Miller nodded and he pressed the button on the touch screen.

  Boom! Boom!

  The artillery rounds cut through the inter-dimensional space and they collided with the enemy ship. Smoke engulfed the enemy ship. A moment later, the silver coloured enemy ship came out of the smoke with no damage, firing laser bolts at Victoria.

  Boom! Boom! Boom!

  “Captain, get us out of here.” Samson said.

  Captain quickly worked on the controls, and suddenly, ship Victoria lunged towards the planet. The enemy ship is coming directly at Victoria. Some of the laser bolts hit Victoria but Victoria remained intact. A moment later Victoria flew below the enemy ship and the enemy ship flew over Victoria. In a corner of the control panel, the enemy ship’s movement is clearly depicted. The enemy ship is now trying to turn towards ship Victoria. Captain and the pilots frantically worked on the controls and the ship punched through the planet Zera’s atmosphere. Ship came at blazing speed and as soon as the ship reached the surface, it automatically slowed down.

  A moment later captain landed the ship in a place surrounded by trees.

  “Successfully landed ...” The automated voice inside Victoria said.

  Samson patted on Miller’s shoulders and he ran for the boarding ramp. On the way other soldiers joined him.

  “Everyone, prepare for battle.” Samson shouted on the way. Sandy closely followed Samson. Before long they reached the hangar. Samson took a plasma gun from nearby shelf. Other soldiers done the same.

  “Samson, enemy ship have landed near us. Prepare yourself.” Miller’s voice reverberated through the ship. Samson quickly pressed a switch nearby the boarding ramp and suddenly, the boarding ramp began to open. As soon as the boarding ramp completely opened, Samson and team rushed outside. Then they saw the enemy ship. It was landed nearby and, hundreds of Xhilarians are marching towards Victoria.

  “Fire at will ...” Samson shouted.

  * * * * *

  Chapter 18

  Boom! Boom! Boom!

  Samson and team opened fire. The first line of Xhilarians went down for good.

  Boom! Boom! Boom!

  Xhilarians opened fire. Samson and team moved forward, firing on the way.

  Boom!

  “Ahh ...” A soldier near Samson went down.

  Samson quickly drew out a flash grenade. He armed the grenade and threw it towards the approaching Xhilarians.

  Boom!

  Flash grenade exploded, creating a white light everywhere. Samson and team quickly moved forward.

  Boom! Boom! Boom!

  The white light of the grenade explosion is still lingering in the air. In the bare visibility Samson and team opened fire. Some of them armed flash grenades and threw it towards the approaching Xhilarian horde.

  Boom! Boom! Boom!

  Flash grenades exploded creating white light everywhere. It is certain that, in this planet, Xhilarians aren’t expecting this much resistance from the humans. A few minutes later the laser bolts stopped coming out of Xhilarians’ guns. The white light and dust clouds slowly faded away. Then Samson and team saw why Xhilarians aren’t shooting back. All the Xhilarians are dead and they lay here and there.

  “Destroy that ship.” Samson said to a nearby soldier. The soldier nodded and he ran towards the Xhilarian ship. A few minutes later a loud bang came and the Xhilarian ship exploded into pieces. Samson and team raised their guns above their heads and they jumped with excitement.

  * * *

  Inside ship Victoria

  “Captain, we need to analyse this planet thoroughly. We need to know if there are any destroyer machines in this planet. And we need to know everything they are planning.” Samson said.

  “Our drones are still searching the planet. This planet is full of forests and, so far we haven’t encountered any humans. The full report may take couple of hours.” Miller said.

  “Make it fast. Meanwhile, we will be going for a short walk through the forest.” Samson said.

  Miller nodded. Samson and Sandy stood up and they left the control room. Before long they reached the cargo bay. There stood Samson’s soldiers.

  “Sandy, you and your team come with me. We are going for a short walk. Rest of the team stay with this ship. If anything do arise, don’t hesitate to act.” Samson said.

  Soldiers nodded. Samson and team quickly filled their back packs with food for the journey and extra magazines. They quickly exited the ship and started their short walk. Forest is all around ship Victoria, and Samson and team walked towards the north part. Birds energetically chirped from the trees and a small herd of deer grazed through the grass land nearby.

  Based on the looks, it’s well past noon. Though sun is still in its highest position in the sky.

  Before long they entered inside the forest and they increased their pace. A few minutes later the small strip of forest land ended and, in front of Samson and team lay a few houses made up of wood.

  * * * * *

  Chapter 19

  Samson and team entered inside the first house they saw. It is a small house and everything inside the house is made up of wood. Lucy and the two researchers with Samson quickly began their research. Samson entered inside the kitchen and analysed everything. In some places, jungle shrubs began to grow inside the house, and vines are thickly growing on the roof. There is nothing amiss about it, though, the inhabitants must have abandoned this house years ago.

  Samson quickly exited the house and walked towards another house. House yards are filled with green grass. Then Samson saw a small dirt road passing through the forest nearby the houses. People in this place must have used that path for a long time. There aren’t much jungle growth on the road. Before long everyone exited the houses and they walked towards Samson.

  “Lucy, did you found anything useful?” Samson asked.

  “No. Nothing useful. There are no signs of human life here.” Lucy said.

  “Okay, everyone, we will be now returning back to our ship. It’s almost evening. We will continue this tomorrow. We need to find survivors in this planet, if any left.” Samson said.

  Everyone nodded.

  They all quickly began their return journey. At the time they reached near the ship, it was evening, and in the horizon, sun started to set.

  Everyone quickly entered inside the ship and Samson closed the boarding ramp. Samson and Sandy slowly walked towards the control room. At the time they reached the control room, Captain Miller and the pilots were very busy doing something on the computer.

  “Captain, did the drones get anything useful?” Samson asked.

  “Dron
es detected a large number of human monkeys in the south. And sadly one of the drones went missing. I think, they must have destroyed that drone.” Miller said.

  “Where was this drone when you last got any information from it?” Samson asked.

  “It was in the west, nearby a hill.” Miller said.

  “Okay, we will check west tomorrow. And tomorrow our helicopters need to be in the air. We need to know everything about this planet.” Samson said.

  “And one more thing.” Miller said. “We detected those wolfdogs nearby our ship.”

  “When was this?” Samson asked.

  “As soon as you returned from your short walk.” Miller said.

  “Okay. We will analyse everything tomorrow. Right now, we all need some rest.” Samson said.

  Miller and Sandy nodded.

  Outside sun fully set in the horizon and everywhere plunged into darkness.

  * * * * *

  Chapter 20

  Samson woke up hearing a man’s scream. He slowly stood up and he tuned his ear. Then he heard an animal growl.

  “What the?”

  How did an animal got inside the ship? The ramp was closed tight. Samson quickly dressed. He then looked at the sleeping form of Jenny. She is still in the middle of the sleep. Samson took his plasma gun and he strapped it across his chest.

  Samson went near the door and he slowly opened it. He then peeked outside. The light in the corridor began to flicker. Samson slowly entered into the corridor and he closed the door behind him. The scream ended and the ship again fell in silence.

  After about a minute’s walk, he saw no one. Everyone must be in deep sleep. So, whose scream was that?

  Then he saw it in the flickering light. A trail of blood is on the floor nearby a doorway. Samson looked at the doorway carefully. It is then he noticed that, the doors in the doorway had bent in an odd manner. Something thrash opened these doors. Samson quickly unstrapped the gun from his shoulders and he trained it into a distance. Then Samson moved forward. Something inside him is telling him to turn back from whatever the hell beyond this corridor.

  Samson kept moving. Then he saw a dead body. It’s not much of a body. It misses both the legs and a hand. A panic slowly crept through his legs. Before long he exited the corridor and entered into the level two of the ship. This is the part of the ship where captain usually addresses his people.

  Here most chairs, which were bolted to the floor are broken apart from the floor and there is a trail of blood on the chairs. The light in here too flickered.

  What kind of animal break inside a tightly sealed ship?

  Before long he found the door to the control room opened ajar. Fortunately there is no problem with the controls inside the room. Samson slowly, cautiously entered inside the control room and he closed the door behind him. He then switched on the surveillance computer. The computer booted in seconds and a moment later it began to show a series of live video images from all over the ship.

  Samson carefully analysed the monitor. Fortunately, most rooms are closed tight and his soldiers are safe. Then he saw it in the cafeteria. There is a Wolfdog inside the cafeteria and it is actually eating a human body. The sight churned Samson’s belly.

  How on earth did they broke inside?

  Samson then brought the video of the hangar into focus. The hangar door is now nothing but a piece is scrap metal and it is lying on the floor just inside the ship. There aren’t any other Wolfdogs outside.

  Suddenly sound of something being dragged through the floor came from just outside the control room. Samson quickly focused the video of the level two meeting room. Then the horror struck him. Two Wolfdogs are dragging two dead bodies from inside a nearby storage room to the meeting room.

  “Fuck!”

  Samson bit his lip and he swallowed the emerging fear. He quickly checked his gun. The magazine is full. He quickly opened the door, training his gun into a distance. A moment later he stepped outside. At that very instant, both the Wolfdogs dropped their meal from their mouth and they raised their head in Samson’s direction.

  “Come on, suckers.” Samson pulled the trigger.

  One dog immediately dropped. The other dog rushed at Samson. Samson was fast. He quickly pulled the trigger again and that dog too went down. Samson quickly ran inside the control room and he pressed the red panic button. Suddenly, the whole ship got filled with an alarm and a red light began to continuously blink all over the ship.

  “It’s time to teach these fuckers some lesson.”

  Outside, sun slowly started to break in the horizon.

  * * * * *

  Book Two

  Chapter 21

  Isaac and team started their journey in the morning. Before long, they crossed the river and they started their trek through the forest. Isaac’s camp is nearby, and since the camp is in ruin, they choose another path which is parallel to the path which would lead to the camp.

  Ruby’s men are pretty much alerted and like Isaac walks, Ruby’s men also trained their arrows into a distance. Birds energetically chirped from the trees and monkeys jumped through the tree branches. This forest is no doubt a healthy one.

  Then, Isaac and team began to see withered trees. A moment later, they saw a whole line of withered trees. On those trees, leaves are dry and below, on the ground, grasses are all dry. The enemy must be draining the nature’s energy.

  Time quickly passed. When they are deep inside a forest, they stopped for a light meal. They quickly cooked dry meat and they boiled water. Before long, everyone fully refreshed. Then they continued their trek. A few minutes later, sound of birds die out and the whole forest fell in silence.

  Now they are near a big hill and they have to climb this hill in order to continue towards north. They quickly started their climb. At the time they reached on top of the hill, they saw a smoke rising from a place far away, below the hill.

  “Who will it be?” Ruby asked.

  “Might be crazies.” Isaac said. “If we are fortunate, it will be survivors.”

  “So, where is this tower exactly?” Ruby asked.

  “Far away, near that hill, there is a river.” Isaac said pointing at a hill which is in the far north. “We have to cross that river. The tower is somewhere on the other side of the river.”

  “So are we going there now, or are we going to wait to see who is living in those woods?” Ruby asked pointing at the rising smoke.

  “We will continue our journey.” Isaac said. “But, we have to be extremely careful. The faster we reach near the tower, the better.”

  Everyone nodded. They quickly continued their journey by climbing down the hill. The smoke can be still seen rising through the tree canopy.

  * * * * *

  Chapter 22

  Before long, Isaac and team climbed down the hill and they started their trek through the thick forest. Here, tree canopy almost prevented the sunlight from entering inside the forest. At several places Isaac saw sunlight seeping inside the forest through the tiny pores in the tree canopy.

  “We have to be careful. This forest is home to most of the carnivores seen in this planet.” Robin said.

  Ruby and his team nodded.

  A few minutes later, sun began to set in the horizon and the forest already got plunged in darkness.

  Ruby and the other Thibarians quickly took their already made torches from their pouches. Then one of them began to make fire by rubbing two stones together. They quickly made the fire. Before long, they all lighted their torches and they started walking through the forest. A kind of small fly is all over the torches and the whole forest began to make sounds.

  “We have to rest, right?” Robin asked.

  “We will. First we need to find a good spot to rest.” Ruby said.

  “You know, we must be near that place from where that smoke rose, right?” Robin asked.

  “Yeah.” Isaac said.

  “What if that is done by the crazies?” Robin asked.

  “We saw no ligh
t, yet. We might be safe. If we do see a light, we can go around it.” Isaac said.

  “So, you’re not planning to rest? I am already tired.” Robin said.