Zoren noticed that Kalrea was now staring at him. He was about to ask why, when Kalrea said,
‘Unfortunately that’s not all they’re going to recognise. Your race is very distinctive. No hair and that dolha running over your head. If you’re coming with me, then we’ll need to disguise you in some way.’
‘Do you have any of that hair stuff?’
‘Only on the other drones, but it would take too long to make something that’s going to look even slightly natural on you. No, I think you need a habit.’
‘What’s a habit?’
‘It a garment usually worn by religious persons.’
‘Then, it looks like I’m about to become religious.’
‘Come with me,’ Kalrea said. ‘I have a few of these religious robes in the accommodation area. I’ll get a drone to bring one to the cargo bay for you to wear.’
Chapter Eight
As they entered the cargo bay, a micnorit nuronic construction drone was waiting outside the Pojin lift. In three of its arms, it was holding a white hooded robe. Kalrea went over and took it.
‘There, this should cover your head.’
‘Not sure about the colour or those large yellow symbols all over it,’ Zoren remarked.
‘Well it’s this or nothing.’
Zoren put it on. He could see Kalrea was amused again. ‘Don’t say anything, Kalrea. You’ll make me feel uncomfortable.’
Kalrea turned away and strode towards the far side of the cargo bay. Zoren followed, but he was focusing all his attention on adjusting the habit that he was not aware of his surroundings. Upon finishing, he glanced around and suddenly realised the size of the cargo bay, and that there were a number of ships within it. He stopped momentarily.
This room’s huge! The ceiling must be at least thirty metres high.
‘Kalrea, are all these ships from Qintaino?’
‘No, only those two over there,’ she said, pointing to two mat-black shuttles in the distance. Then, pointing towards the two closest ships she added, ‘This shuttle’s from Drulf and that one’s from L’Swacn. Over there’s a Di-go-Jun fighter we captured during the Tufinine war.’
As they walked, Kalrea continued, ‘This one here was given to Lex by the governor of Antrolo, after we helped him to return his kidnapped daughter.’
‘Sounds like you’ve had an eventful life. That one looks similar to the shuttle we were constructing onboard the space station. What am I saying! I mean the simulator. Where’s it from?’
‘That’s Gullin, and yes, it is of the same design, except this one would fly. The one you were building on the Polnozoo was never going to, I’m afraid.’
‘Oh…’ Zoren replied.
He felt a jolt, signalling that the Aurora had touched down on the surface of the moon, then the noise from the event horizon drives abated as they powered down.
Zoren and Kalrea approached the two identical Qinant shuttles. They were both a rounded shape with a long slender tail. The side of one of them opened out and Kalrea stepped onboard. Zoren followed.
There are no windows, he thought, glancing around the small interior.
‘Why didn’t we take one of the other ships? If the Aurora would raise interest, surely this Qinant shuttle will.’
‘It will raise some interest for sure, but a Qinant shuttle is far less vulnerable to attack. I want to make sure you’re not going to be in any danger.’
Zoren felt very important, even if it was only because Kalrea seemed to care about his wellbeing.
‘Please, take a seat,’ Kalrea said.
Zoren glanced around the interior of the shuttle. He was in the passenger compartment and towards the front, through an open door, was the cockpit with two seats in front of a control panel. The passenger compartment had two rows of three seats facing each other and with their backs to the two side walls. He sat in the nearest to the external door, while Kalrea went and sat opposite him. The external door closed and he was taken by surprise when he felt the shuttle lift into the air.
Hold on a minute, there’s no pilot!
‘Kalrea, who’s flying this?’ he said urgently.
‘I am,’ she replied.
‘Oh! Ok,’ Zoren said. ‘Why does the shuttle have no windows? I would have liked to have seen where I was going.’
‘That can easily be sorted,’ Kalrea replied.
The lights inside the shuttle dimmed and then rectangular sections in the front and side walls of the shuttle appeared to become liquid. A ripple of white light flashed across their surfaces, making them transparent. The sections were now like windows, allowing him to see outside.
Cool! he thought, as he gazed, over his shoulder, outside the shuttle.
The shuttle was still in mid-air within the Aurora’s cargo bay. Two massive doors in the ceiling of the cargo bay were now sliding apart, revealing the space outside. He glanced up at the black space and then down at the many ships neatly arranged. As he stared intently at the nearest ship, the cargo bay lights were switched off. There was now just darkness.
In under a minute the shuttle had left the safety of the Aurora and was heading towards Xim’gu.
He looked back and straining his eyes, he could just about make out the silhouette of the Aurora, which was standing like a cold smooth stone in the shadow of the moon.
For the very first time, Zoren felt very insecure. He was on his own, sitting opposite a stranger; in fact, a drone. He knew Kalrea was back on the Aurora and wondered what would happen if the shuttle was threatened.
What if Kalrea abandons me? After all, she’s safe onboard the Aurora, I’m the one here on this shuttle heading towards a planet I know nothing about. He gulped. What am... I... doing here?
He noticed Kalrea reach into her pocket and pull out a small device.
‘Here, I want you to wear this,’ she said, reaching over and passing it to him.
Zoren took it.
‘What... what is it?’
‘It’s called a telementor. You’ll need to fasten it on your wrist.’
Zoren examined the jet-black device, which felt very light and warm in his hand. The device was similar to a watch, it had a metallic strap and on its face was an embossed ellipse with a symbol inside it, which looked like a letter “A” without the right leg.
She mentioned this was a device to allow the pilot to communicate telepathically with her. So why is she giving it to me?
‘What’s it for, Kalrea?’ Zoren asked.
As he placed it on his wrist, he felt a tingling sensation run up his arm. ‘What a strange feeling,’ he commented.
‘That will soon pass,’ Kalrea replied. ‘If you were a Qinant, the telementor would now allow me to read your thoughts and communicate with you, but it’s designed for a Qinant, not an Agonian, so I’m not feeling any connection will you at all.’
‘So what’s the point of wearing it then?’
‘Because I can use it to protect you, by channelling some of the Aurora’s power through it.’
Zoren had to shield his eyes with his hand as a bright light flooded into the passage compartment, from the front window, through the open cockpit doorway. He got up from his seat to look out the front window. As soon as his eyes adjusted to the light, he saw the planet Xim’gu looming large in the distance with brilliant light reflecting off its surface. Many ships of all shapes and sizes were between the shuttle and Xim’gu. As they neared the planet more came into view.
‘Look at all those ships out there. That one’s huge!’ Zoren said, pointing to a massive dark-blue ship, with long white stripes along the length of its fuselage. ‘You’ve got to see the size of this ship, Kalrea. It must be at least twice the size of our space station.’
‘It’s a Gorian star-liner, third generation. I’ve seen one before,’ she remarked, still sitting in her seat.
Zoren was overwhelmed by the diversity and scale of everything. His eyes were focusing everywhere, trying to take it all in as the shuttle continued its approach.
It doesn’t look like a planet. It’s more like a large city, Zoren thought, now gazing intently at Xim’gu.
Xim’gu was now getting very close and the planet, which was over two thousand kilometres in diameter, filled the view ahead of the shuttle. Tall pointed buildings protruded from its silver coloured surface making it appear like a spiky ball that no one would want to have thrown to them.
‘To me, it looks like Xim’gu is made of metal,’ Zoren remarked.
‘That’s because you’re right. It is.’
‘Wow! I can’t believe someone would build an entire planet.’
‘It was constructed by a race called the Simtons over one thousand, two hundred years ago. It was built originally as a hotel, a place where the rich could go to enjoy themselves. However, it’s now a very… how can I put it… rough place.’
‘How rough?’ Zoren questioned.
‘Well, since I’ve been talking to you, there have been six deaths and ten assaults. It’s not a very inviting place. Everyone has some kind of gun.’
‘So I take it we need to protect ourselves. Do we have weapons onboard?’
‘I do, but we’re not taking any.’
‘What do you mean? You said everyone has guns. What will we do if we need to defend ourselves?’
‘Zoren, have you ever held a gun, let alone fired one?’
‘No.’
‘So what makes you think having a gun is going to make you safer. I think with that habit on, people will be wary of you anyway.’
‘Why?’
‘Because you could hide a number of weapons under that.’
‘Oh… and that’s supposed to make me feel safer. Now I feel like an unarmed bandit!’
‘Don’t worry, I will protect you,’ Kalrea replied.
Zoren felt the telementor on his wrist.
I’d be happier if I knew how she was going to protect me.
‘So what sorts of things go on there? For everyone to need a gun, I’m sure they can’t be legal.’
‘You’re right. Xim’gu is basically a black market. You can buy anything you could possibly think of.’
‘Like my people,’ Zoren said quickly.
‘Yes, Zoren, including people. Anyone who comes here is anonymous.’
‘What do you mean, anonymous?’
‘I’ve accessed their computer systems. They don’t record any details of who’s here. Only the ships IDs are known. We’ll need to go into the planet and try and locate the captain of the ship we’re looking for.’
A female voice spoke over the shuttle’s communication system. ‘This is Space Council Four, requesting identification from unknown ship.’
I can understand her! Zoren thought, in amazement.
‘Our shuttle doesn’t have an ID code that they’ll recognise, so it’s best if I send the ID code of the Antrolo transport which is onboard the Aurora. That should be what she needs,’ Kalrea said to Zoren and then addressing the woman said, ‘Sending.’
‘Kalrea, I’m surprised she’s talking the same language as me.’
‘The language you speak is known as Galcolian. It’s the most widely used in this galaxy. Over seventy-three percent of the races use it.’
‘ID confirmed,’ the woman responded. ‘Welcome to Xim’gu. Please deposit 4300 yek into the Tio-bank.’
‘What’s that for?’ Zoren asked.
‘Docking fees,’ Kalrea replied.
‘How many people intend to visit?’ the woman asked.
‘Two,’ Kalrea replied.
‘Please deposit 1400 yek into the Tio-bank.’
‘And that! What’s that for?’ Zoren asked.
‘Person tax!’
‘How long will you be staying?’ the woman asked.
‘One day,’ Kalrea replied.
Let me guess, please deposit… yek into the Tio-bank, Zoren thought, and then the woman said,
‘Please deposit 1000 yek into the Tio-bank. Any overstay will incur a 310 yek per hour penalty payment.’ A few seconds passed and then the woman added. ‘Thank you for your prompt payments. You have been allocated bay AD-163-643-067. Have a nice stay.’
A nice stay, Zoren thought. So, let’s try not to get shot, assaulted and hopefully get out alive, and in the meantime also have a nice time.
‘Kalrea, how long is a day here? To me a day is one rotation of Linud. Surely it can’t be the same.’
‘Well, as you can expect a day will vary depending upon the planet. Here at Xim’gu, a day is the equivalent to one-point-three Linud days and there are ten hours in a day here.’
‘Oh! That’s going to take some getting used to.’
‘Don’t worry! The Aurora will follow Linud time, so as not to confuse you.’
Xim’gu was an artificial planet with no atmosphere. Actually, it was more like a huge metal building in the shape of a sphere, with thousands of floors layered one below the other from its surface towards its core.
The shuttle was now approaching a large entrance to one of the many space ports within the planet, where it joined a queue of other ships waiting their turn to enter. Directly in front of them was a ship at least three times the size of the Aurora, with engines glowing brightly, and small nozzles which occasionally let out bursts of light to stabilise its position, preventing its huge bulk from moving too far. After a few minutes of waiting, the massive ship ahead of them moved forward into Xim’gu, passing through the entrance and then banked sharply upwards, disappearing from sight behind a mass of docked ships.
Kalrea now manoeuvred the shuttle into the mouth of the entrance. A large sign indicated that they were entering space port “AD”.
The shuttle swung to the right, where there were ships of all colours, shapes and sizes suspended in space and anchored to a huge three-dimensional metal frame, which stretched into the distance in all directions. There were thousands of ships docked in parallel rows identified by large signs.
Zoren read ‘163-623-067, 163-624-067, 163-625-067,’ as they flew further into the space port.
Kalrea interrupted Zoren’s intense fascination of his surroundings.
‘Look! There’s the ship we’ve been tracking, over there, the mercenary ship. We are now passing it.’ Kalrea pointed at a large ship through the side window.
Zoren could not see it from where he was standing, so he moved to sit alongside Kalrea. He gazed out at the sandy-coloured ship, which was blackened with weapons damage.
‘It’s a lot bigger than the Aurora,’ he commented. ‘In fact, it could probably fit the Aurora in its cargo bay, going by the size of it. I wonder if Sabri and the others are there.’
‘I’ve scanned the interior. Your people are no longer onboard. The ship is a Frindul destroyer called the Ringal. I’ll connect into the planet’s computer systems to try and locate them.’
The shuttle came to a stop next to an empty bay, which had the reference of “AD-163-643-067” written alongside it, and then moved sideways towards a tubular umbilical gantry, which was moving in a random, jerky action, like it was frantically searching for something. The gantry seemed to sense the approaching shuttle because it immediately stopped moving and then positioned itself directly in-line with the shuttle’s door. The end of the gantry contracted and distorted its shape to match the outline of the door, just before the shuttle came into contact with it. Then it sealed itself onto the hull of the shuttle producing an intense sound of air suction.
Kalrea got to her feet. ‘Are you ready?’
‘Yes, I think so.’
‘Remember, keep your head covered with your hood, whatever anyone does or says. And make sure you don’t attract any attention. Understood?’
Zoren took a deep breath. ‘Keep my head covered. Don’t attract attention. Yes.’
His hearts started to quicken as the shuttle door opened.
Chapter Nine
A small transit took Kalrea and, an anxious, Zoren to the space port’s main arrivals hall. As he exited the transit, he was g
reeted by the overwhelming sound of many people coughing and spluttering. He peered out from beneath the hood of his habit to see a haze of smoke, which totally obscured his view of the room, making it impossible to understand if he was in a small waiting room or a large hanger. Those people he could see were standing smoking and talking in small groups. White lights high above were just about able to penetrate the smoke. In the floor were red lines, which all appeared to converge somewhere in the distance.
His mouth fell open when a creature with a long neck unexpectedly appeared out of the smoke. The creature towered above the other races, standing at least three metres tall. Its neck was held within a colourful banded tube and its large bulbous head looked completely out of proportion from the rest of its body.
You’re not going to lose your friends if you’re one of those, Zoren thought, as it sauntered past him.
Its slender body made it appear top heavy, and with every step it appeared as if it was going to fall forward onto the floor. Zoren noticed it was carrying a large gun held in a strap across its waist.
As it disappeared into the curtain of smoke, he asked Kalrea, ‘What was that creature?’
‘That was a Drulfian,’ she replied.
‘Male or… fe... female?’ Zoren coughed.
‘Neither.’
‘Oh!’
The dense smoke was now making Zoren’s eyes smart and he could not help but cough again. He glanced at Kalrea, who seemed to be suppressing the need to do the same.
‘This way,’ Kalrea said, indicating to the red lines on the floor.
They followed one of the many lines until it converged with all the others, finally leading them to a tall semi-transparent doorway with ornate geometrical carvings around its border. Standing in front of the door was a security guard.
My eyes, I can hardly see, Zoren thought, and then used the sleeve of his habit to remove the tears forming in his eyes. I hope the rest of this place isn’t like this. He could hardly keep his eyes open.
‘Are you all right, Zoren?’ Kalrea asked him.
‘Yes… Ye…’ He coughed. ‘I’m… I’m fine! I just can’t stand this... smoke.’
Aurora Saga 2 Immortality for Life Page 7