The Interstellar

by David Lund

  “Beautiful is it not?” A deep voice said from behind them. Michael turned and saw Kaywal

  standing behind them, flanked by a dozen guards, all of whom had those electronic guns pointed at them.

  “Kaywal?” Michael said, confused. “What’s going on?”

  “Look at our planet, beautiful as it is, such a lovely place to live.” Kaywal’s voice had lost it’s melodious tang, and now sounded rather bitter. “I used to love strolling along on a summers day, up the mountains of Graretn, or go swimming in the ocean, much too cold for you of course, but great for us. We had plenty of lovely cities in which we lived, our civilization had evolved beautifully, and we were proud of ourselves. Of course, it all went to hell after you came along and dropped your little bomb on our world.” His voice turned sour with his last sentence. Michael was having trouble understanding.

  “Bomb?” he said stupidly.

  “Your probe!” Kaywal spat, “Your little probe crashed down on our world, exploded in a nuclear bomb and killed millions of people, as if that wasn’t enough, because of the radiation, our world is now inhabitable, and we have had to flee to the dark barren space which is now where we reside.

  Because of you, you puny humans! And now, you come here, to see what damage you’ve done? To see whether you can destroy us all? But you are weak, Captain, you have only a handful of people and a laughable ship, perhaps you thought us all dead? Or perhaps that we were weaker than you, less technologically advanced? You were wrong, Captain, and you knew it straight away, so you pretended not to know anything about the probe, but you had put all the information about your planet in it, you wanted us to know who had destroyed you! That was your downfall! You are an arrogant species, Captain. We have been studying you, preparing for the inevitable war that is to come, you will not succeed in defeating us. You will be made an example of. Look down at my planet, my beautiful planet, the planet on which you will now die! We will win the war, and you will all perish.” Kaywal had said all of this in a rush, as though he had wanted to say it for a long time. A purple tinge had appeared in his blue cheeks.

  Michael was shocked. He had no idea; he had never thought the probe would do such damage. It is true that back in the 2020s, they used nuclear power for space travel, and the probe had used such an engine, but it was designed to stay in space, sending out radio waves that could be picked up by an intelligent species. It wasn’t even supposed to enter a planet’s orbit, let alone crash down onto it’s surface. Of course, it also shouldn’t have travelled twenty seven light years; with that technology, in that amount of time, it should have gone no further than six or seven light years. The consequences of a nuclear explosion were devastating, but the NASA, who had sent the probe, never expected this to happen.

  “Kaywal, you must listen to me, this was not an act of war, but an accident,” Michael said, hating the pleading tone of his voice. “A horrible accident, I can never apologize enough for what

  happened to your world, but the probe was sent to seek out new life and civilizations, not to destroy them. I did not lie to you, we didn’t know anything about your existence until today. We are a peaceful civilization, we don’t want a war any more than you do.”

  “You are lying again, Human. We have studied your world, we know of all the wars, millions of deaths and carnage your world has experienced. You say that you are peaceful species, you must think me a fool. You have used nuclear weapons on your own planet, to kill your own people, do not expect me to believe that you would not do so to others. The moment we scanned your ship and saw you coming, we prepared ourselves, but the Henfor got to you first, they wanted to protect you, the idiots. But we are more powerful and took you from them. Believe me, Captain, it is only my orders that is stopping every one of you from being killed a horribly slow and painful death. I am myself reluctant to take you back to our government, I would rather kill you myself, but I have orders.”

  Michael did not know what to say, Kaywal did not seem to want to listen to reason. He had said that the Henfor wanted to protect the humans, but evidence of what they had lived on the other species’ ship seemed to contradict that; the beatings, the fact that they called the humans violent; they did however, fix Lindsey’s leg. Michael was confused, and ashamed. All these aliens thought that humanity was a violent species who deserved to be destroyed. Why hadn’t they been more careful with the probe? But how were they supposed to know that the probe would crash on a planet, light years away from where it should be? It seemed as if they were doomed. They needed to find some way to escape, if the Henfor really wanted to protect them, then their must be a way to contact them. Although, Michael was beginning to think that they couldn’t trust anyone.

  Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Marshall thinking hard, he hoped he had a plan for getting them out of this because he was stumped. On his other side, Lindsey was weeping quietly, tears falling silently down her cheeks. One of the guards noticed this, pointed to her and said something to Kaywal.

  “What is this one doing?” he asked Michael aggressively. “Why is she leaking? Is this some kind of weapon?”

  “She is crying, it is what humans do when we are upset. We have tears, we leak when we show emotion, it is not harmful. I suspect she is sad because of what happened to your people.” Kaywal walked towards Lindsey and ran a blue finger along her cheek, touching the wet tears. Lindsey reacted straight away, grabbing the electronic gun from the holster on Kaywal’s side and simultaneously grabbed him by the neck, then expertly pointed the weapon at the alien’s head.

  “Drop your weapons or he dies!” she yelled at the others. The aliens obviously didn’t understand English, but her message was quite clear. She was holding on to Kaywal so tightly that he couldn’t speak. The aliens put their weapons on the floor.

  “Kick them to my friends,” she said, miming a kick with her foot. The aliens passed their weapons over to the humans. Michael picked his up and studied it. It was a small, phone shaped weapon, with three different buttons on it. He pointed the top end, which had an opening in it, towards the guards.

  “Come over here,” he said gesturing to the guards. “Marshall, find something to tie them up with.”

  “Yes, sir,” came the enthusiastic reply. Michael walked over to where Lindsey held Kaywal, who was very still.

  “I’m sorry you think we meant to harm you, Kaywal, I assure you, we do not have any problems with you or your species. I promise you, you will not be harmed, all we want is it to go home. I hope you can believe that.” Kaywal, said nothing. “Loosen your grip a bit Lindsey.” She did so.

  Kaywal gasped. Michael remembered that they didn’t like the heat too much and that the room was set at about twenty degrees. He suspected, judging by the effort it took for Kaywal to speak, that he was struggling. Michael wasn’t sure if they could sweat.

  “You – will – all – be – killed,” he panted.

  “I’m sorry to hear you say that. Jal, look for the climate controls, turn up the heat a bit.” He turned back to the alien as Jal went over to a box beside the door. “How do I fly the ship?”

  “I will never tell you,” Kaywal spat.

  “I’ve turned the heat to thirty degrees, Captain. It’ll be nice and toasty in a few minutes.” Michael could already feel sweat on his forehead.

  “Come on Kaywal, I need your help here, surely you don’t want to die of dehydration?”

  “You – said you – would not – harm – us, more – lies,” the alien panted. He was really struggling now, and was sliding down Lindsey towards the ground, his legs apparently unable to support him.

  “And I won’t, but you will have to help me out. How do I fly the ship?” He grabbed Kaywal’s face in his hands as he spoke, looking into his eyes.

  “You are barbaric,” Kaywal gasped.

  “A moment ago, you were ready to abandon us on a radioactive planet, so sorry if I seem a bit agitated.” Marshall had reappeared with a length of some rope he had found undernea
th one of the sofas. He began to tie each alien up, first their hands, then their feet. He then lead each of them to different parts of the room, keeping them separated. Only Kaywal was left untied.

  “Right people, it’s time to leave,” Michael said to his crew. Lindsey, keep a hold of our host; Jal, put the temperature at a more comfortable level for them, but not too cold, say about ten degrees. You,”

  he said turning back to Kaywal, “Are coming with us.” He led the way out the door, which hadn’t been locked after the guards had entered, and they wandered down into the cold hall, in what he hoped was the same direction they had taken earlier, when Kaywal had taken him to his office.

  When they reached the lift, two aliens were standing beside it. Michael pressed the lower button

  on the gun as he pointed it at one of them. He hoped it was the lowest setting. A bolt of electricity shot from the end and hit him square in the chest. The alien fell to the floor and started shaking violently. Michael shot the other one in quick succession.

  “We have to split up. Marshall, you go with Jal and the others to the bridge. Try and stun as many of them as you can, and take control of the ship. We need to get out of here. Lindsey, Adrian and I will look for Caitlin and Jean. You take Kaywal, he will be able to tell you what to do, if he doesn’t cooperate, make him. I authorize you to use any necessary force.” Marshall seemed slightly surprised by the anger in the Captain’s voice, but nodded in acknowledgement. The first group entered the lift and pressed the top button. The doors closed. Lindsey, Adrian and Michael were now alone.

  “Right, we need to find their medical bay. That’s where they probably are,” he said to them, shivering and seeing his breath fog up before him.

  “Should we hide these two?” Lindsey asked, pointing at the two fallen guards. “If they’re found, they might raise the alarm.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, a blaring alarm sounded out, and the lights switched off. They were in the cold, and now, dark corridor, with no idea where to go.

  9

  The alarm was a shrill, never ending sound. It pierced Michael’s mind, making it hard for him to think. He was feeling very cold now, and suspected the temperature was below zero. Steam was rising from their mouths with every breath they took. Not that they could see it. The darkness was absolute, Michael could not see even a metre in front of him. He groped in the dark and found Lindsey’s hand. He pulled her along and ran down the corridor, one hand stretched out in front of him, feeling his way forwards. The doctor was right behind them.

  The corridor split into two directions and Michael instinctively went right. They ran down this corridor and found another lift. Michael tried the button, but nothing happened. He suspected that the aliens had blocked them. They continued down the hall, looking for some sort of staircase.

  There didn’t seem to be any doors leading off this corridor, and Michael was worried they would end up going in circles.

  His heart was pounding in his chest, blood rushing through his ears. The alarm was still blaring, they wouldn’t hear any enemies approaching.

  Suddenly, there was a flash and something exploded above their heads. Michael grabbed Lindsey’s hand more firmly, and grabbed a fistful of the doctor’s clothes with his other hand.

  “DUCK!’ he yelled, and threw them to the floor. He took a wild shot with the alien gun in the direction the flash had come from. He then got up quickly, pulling his pilot to her feet, grabbing Adrian’s arm and thrusting them forwards, shooting randomly behind them as they ran.

  A door to their left swished open and light bathed the corridor, Michael veered left and through the gap. To his dismay however, the room was full of aliens. A quick look told him that at least ten people were in there. There was a foray of shouts and they started towards them, raising guns. The three humans ran back out of the room and into the dark corridor, running as fast as they could.

  Another door appeared out of the gloom on their right this time. It didn’t open when they approached it. Michael told the others to stand back and pointed the electronic gun at the door, pressing the maximum setting. It blasted a hole in the door, large enough for Lindsey to get through, but too small for the men. She pushed herself through the gap as Michael and Adrian checked the corridor for unwelcome guests. Just as Lindsey managed to open the door, two aliens appeared in the hallway, Michael fired stunner shots at them, hitting one. The other alien ducked for cover and fired back, his shot missing Michael by inches and making a hole in the bulkhead behind him.

  Michael fired again and ran through the now open door, followed closely by Adrian. Lindsey quickly locked it behind them.

  Thankfully, this room was empty. It appeared to be a storage area. There were boxes and crates piled high against the walls. It was small, but had plenty of places to hide. Unfortunately, there was

  a big hole in the door now and the light had automatically come on when they had entered, giving away there position.

  “We can’t stay here,” Michael said, panting.

  “There’s a panel by the door,” Lindsey said, clutching at a stitch in her side. “Maybe I can access a map of the ship and find the sick bay.”

  “Good idea, but be quick.” Michael and Adrian crouched behind some crates and trained their weapons on the door as Lindsey moved over to the panel. Thankfully, the panel wasn’t visible from the door and she would be out of sight from anyone coming in.

  “I can’t understand anything,” Lindsey said, panic rising in her voice.

  “Keep calm, and keep trying.” Michael kept on eye on the door and moved slightly to the right, beside a metal crate which was open. He peered inside, checking the door every few seconds. There were several objects inside, Michael recognized none of them, he picked one up at random with his free hand and studied it briefly. It was made of some sort of alloy and had several buttons on it. He noticed hinges on the side, and opened it. Before he could look more closely though, an alien peered through the gap and saw him. Michael fired quickly, the alien ducked behind the door and out of sight.

  “Lindsey,” he cried.

  “Keep me covered, I think I’ve got it,” she answered in a shrill voice. An electric bolt shot through the opening, hitting the crate behind which Michael was crouched. It didn’t explode, the alien hadn’t used the maximum setting as his comrades had before him. Michael pressed the middle button this time firing at the door at the same time as Adrian did, it shuddered but did not puncture. The alien however, screamed.

  Michael was surprised, their shots had hit the door, not the alien. It appeared in the doorway again, and threw it’s gun through the hole and spoke.

  “Kraal grennn hera,” it said.

  “I don’t understand you,” Michael said, shouting over the noise of the alarm.

  “No gun,” the alien said in English. “Boom.” Michael thought he understood, something in this room must be highly explosive and the alien was worried the ship might blow up. He stuffed the object from the crate into his pocket and got up. He gestured for the alien to come through the gap, still pointing the weapon at him. The alien, thin enough to squeeze through, came into the room.

  Michael raised one of his hands, indicating that he should do the same. The alien raised both his hands and walked forwards.

  “Where are our friends? The ones you took away?” he asked the alien. The latter merely looked at him. “Where are they?” he said menacingly, waving the gun.

  “Juureb draar fryui.” The alarm suddenly shut off, and the lights came back on in the corridor. The

  alien in front of Michael calmly reached for something in his pocket and pulled out a small object similar to the one Michael had pocketed. He opened it and pressed a button. It beeped and he spoke into it. His voice came out again, his words were translated into English.

  “This is a translator,” he said unnecessarily. “Do not fire your weapon in this room, there are explosives.”

  “Where are our people?” His words went through the translat
or the alien was holding and came out in the alien language.

  “I will take you to them,” it said.

  “How do I know this isn’t a trap?” The alien walked over to the panel Lindsey was standing by.

  “May I?” She moved aside after a nod from Michael. He tapped a few keys and bought up a map of the ship. Michael walked closer. Their vessel was huge. It appeared to have at least fifteen decks.

  The alien pointed at something on the screen.

  “Your people are here, in our brig.”

  “Are they hurt?”

  “No, they are fine.” Michael wasn’t sure what to make of this. He looked at Lindsey, then at Adrian, who shrugged.

  “Why would you help us?”

  “I do not want to die, you are holding the gun,” it said calmly. Michael nodded to him, forgetting that the alien might not understand the gesture.

  “Lead the way. I will be keeping the gun pointed at you at all times.” The alien opened the door and they left the room.

  The alien had pointed at a place on one of the lower decks. From his trip to the bridge, Michael knew that they were on deck three. He shivered as they walked down towards the lift they had been unable to open earlier. They saw no other aliens.

  “Why has the alarm stopped?” Michael asked him. The translator was lying open in the alien’s hand.

  “I do not know. I suspect that the rest of your crew has been captured, or killed.” Michael said nothing, he hoped this wasn’t true, but they had to sort out one thing at a time. He needed Caitlin, she was a woman of action and knew what to do in tough situations. The burden of handling this crazy situation was getting to him. He needed his first officer’s clear, cool head.

  The lift took them down rapidly, and they found themselves in a dimly lit corridor. The alien stopped and indicated that they should do the same.

  “There are two guards in front of the entrance to the brig,” he whispered. “You will need to dispose of them before entering. I would also assume there is another guard inside. Please remember that our weapons have a stun setting. The guards’ names are Knollall and Jayhall, both of them have families with children.”