The Interstellar

by David Lund

  “I don’t intend to kill anyone, your boss might not believe our story but I assure you, it is true,”

  Michael replied.

  “Everything you have done so far contradicts that, Captain.”

  “We have done nothing but defend ourselves against you people, who have captured and tortured us. Now is not the time for this discussion.”

  “Agreed,” replied the alien.

  They walked on, the entrance to the brig was in the middle of a corridor, there was no cover, nowhere to hide. The nearest corner, round which the small group now crouched was at least thirty meters from the guards. Michael wasn’t sure he would be able to get off two clean shots from that distance. They had to think of something else.

  “Maybe we can create a diversion,” Adrian offered.

  “Yes, but how?”

  “If I may?” the alien said, the humans looked at him. “If you are my prisoner, we can walk towards them and shoot them from close range. I will hold an unarmed gun to your head, you will have the real gun and will ambush them when we are close enough.” The alien explained how to disarm one of the guns. The electronic weapon had a compartment that slid open, and inside was a power cell, Michael took it out and pocketed it. He tried the gun, it didn’t work, so he handed it over to the alien. Lindsey grabbed Michael’s arm.

  “Why is he helping us?” she breathed in his ear.

  “I don’t know, but he’s our only chance.”

  “It could be a trap, maybe that translator is also a communicator.” Michael hadn’t thought of this.

  “We’re going to have to take that chance.” He turned to the alien. “Leave the translator open, I want to understood what you say to them.”

  “Of course,” the alien replied in his calm voice.

  They got up from their crouched position, Michael keeping his arms near his sides, where he could quickly grab his concealed weapon. Lindsey no longer had a gun, as the alien needed it for their plan to work, but Adrian was also concealing his. Although, whether the doctor had ever fired a weapon before, Michael didn’t know. The alien walked behind them, pointing the useless gun at Michael. As they approached, he called to the guards. The translation matrix, which was in the alien’s other hand did it’s job.

  “I have captured these two, I have been ordered to put them in the brig.” The guards nodded. As soon as they were close enough, Michael whipped up the gun and shot the first guard, but the second one reacted quickly and slugged Michael in the mouth, causing him to fall to the floor and drop his gun. Adrian was pointing his own gun at the pair who were struggling before him, but seemed reluctant to fire in case he hit his Captain. The guard managed to raise his own gun and

  point it at Michael, but Lindsey kicked him in the shin and he doubled up in pain. The alien who had come with them had picked up Michael’s fallen weapon and was pointing it at him.

  “I’m sorry,” he said quietly. Then he turned on the spot and shot the guard squarely in the chest, he opened the door to the brig and quickly shot a bolt of electricity at the third guard who had been just about to come out.

  “What -?”

  “I will explain later, we must hurry.” They entered the room. Michael was relieved to see that both Caitlin and Jean were alive and awake. They were in a corner of the room, they didn’t seem to be hurt. Nevertheless, Adrian walked over to them and examined them briefly.

  “All clear,” he said, ashen faced.

  “Captain,” Caitlin said as she ran towards Michael, she wrapped her arms around him and was hugging him before he could do or say anything. She moved away quickly, embarrassed.

  “Sorry, it’s just that I’m so glad to see you. What’s going on?”

  “That’s what I’d like to know.” Michael turned to the alien. “Who are you?”

  “I am not sure this is the time to answer that question. We must leave here and fast. More guards will be coming.”

  “No, not until you answer me.” The alien was still holding Michael’s weapon, he looked at it, but did not raise it, instead, he handed it over to Michael.

  “My name is Videem, and I am not what I appear. I am a Henfor.”

  10

  “What do you mean you’re a Henfor?” Michael asked suspiciously. He looked, as far as the Captain could tell, like any of the other Friiist: with blue skin, gills beside the ears, red eyes and the slit like nose. “You don’t look like a Henfor,” Not that Michael knew what a Henfor looked like.

  “I am not from the same planet as the people on this ship, but I have been genetically modified to look the same as them. I come from the fourth planet. I am a spy for my people. I have been living among the Friiist for several months, gaining their trust and learning their secrets. You must trust me, I will help you. We need to get off this ship, please, I will explain everything, I promise you, but now is not the time.” Michael said nothing. He looked at Caitlin, who shrugged. Michael remembered that she had been unconscious since before they were captured. She would need filling in, but now was not the time.

  “What do you propose?” he asked Videem.

  “I can contact my people. I have a communicator. They will be able to rescue us.” Many questions arose to Michael but he bit them back. There would be time later, hopefully, for asking questions.

  Videem pulled out a small black box from his pocket and pressed a button.

  “Videem to Captain Gareen, I am with the humans. We need to get off the ship, I am awaiting instructions.”

  “Gareen to Videem, sit tight, Lieutenant, we are coming to get you. Try to get as close as you can to the docking port. How many are there?” Came a voice from the box, which was promptly translated by the device in the alien’s hand. Videem looked at Michael.

  “Thirteen,” he answered with a pang as he thought about the seven dead crewmen.

  “Fourteen all together, Captain.”

  “Copy. We will be in touch. Gareen out.” Videem put the box back in his pocket.

  “We need to get your people and get to the docking port, fast. My people don’t waste time.”

  “But you said they might have been captured or killed.”

  “We don’t know that for certain. My cover isn’t blown, yet. We should get to the bridge. I am afraid you will have to be my prisoners again.”

  They left the brig, Videem again pointing his weapon at them – still unloaded, as Michael wasn’t sure whether or not he could trust this new and unexpected helper – and walked along the corridor to the lift. They saw no one and the lift was empty. Michael thought this was odd but didn’t say anything. He had never felt so tense in his life. The last few hours had been the most stressful thing he had ever experienced. He thought about his wife and daughter right then, feeling guilty that he hadn’t spared them a thought since this whole ordeal had began. With everything that had been happening, he had been overwhelmed, and had not had time. He thought of what they must be

  experiencing. How long had it been since he had disappeared? Surely a funeral service had happened by now.

  He thought about Jade, his daughter, who had been so proud of him for being the first person to ever set foot on Mars. She used to tell all her friends that her daddy was an astronaut. He remembered the night before his departure, she had come running into his room, bawling her heart out, saying that she had changed her mind, and that she didn’t want him to go. She was afraid he would be attacked by space monsters. Well, she got that right. He had hugged her and told her not to worry. He had told her he loved her and that everything was going to be fine. He was glad he had managed to say a proper goodbye to her. The chances of him ever seeing her again were less than zero, but he couldn’t give up hope. He had after all, promised her that he would come back.

  Presently, the lift arrived on the top floor. Videem had told them to prepare to take cover, just in case their ploy didn’t work. Michael had to hand it to the alien, he had balls. The lift doors opened to reveal a group of Friiist sitting in the middle of the floor in
a group, Jal standing over them, one of their own guns pointing at them.

  “Drop it!” Marshall yelled, pointing a gun at Videem.

  “It’s okay Marshall, he’s with us.”

  “Sir?”

  “Lower the gun Marshall,” Michael said gently. “You’ve taken command?” he asked, rather impressed.

  “Yes, sir,” he replied putting the weapon away. “We managed to stun most of them and the few who remained, surrendered. We got the alarm to shut up, and we were just trying to figure out how to contact you when you walked in.”

  “This will make things easier,” Videem said to Michael. “We can control the ship from here, but I will have to input a lockout so no one can override the bridge. You are very lucky no one has already done so.”

  “Who’s this, Captain?” Marshall asked.

  “It’s a long story, Lieutenant, one we’d all like to hear, but let’s get safe first, okay?”

  “Is that possible?”

  “Let’s hope so. Videem, do your thing.” The Henfor walked over to a panel and started pressing buttons very quickly.

  “Lockout complete,” he said. He pressed another button. “Captain Gareen, this is Videem. The humans and I have taken control of the Friiist vessel.” As he said this, he shot the briefest of glances at Kaywal, whose red eyes were wide.

  “Good work, come home, we are sending a vessel to cover you.”

  “Acknowledged. Videem out.” He turned to Michael. “Time to go.”

  “Where are we going? I thought we were abandoning this ship?”

  “To the Henfor home world, you will be safe there. If we can take the ship with us, so much the better.”

  Michael strode towards the middle of the room, where the group of Friiist’s sat huddled.

  “What about them?”

  “They are prisoners, they will be taken to our government for trial.”

  “What will happen to them?”

  “Captain, you don’t understand what’s going on here. These people have committed crimes of a horrific nature. We can not let them go.”

  “TRAITOR,” Kaywal shouted from his spot. “We knew someone was passing information, but I never thought it would be you, you’ve been to my house, red stories to my children, I can’t believe it.” Videem did not look at him, but bowed his head.

  “I am afraid I had to, Kaywal. If you cannot understand that, I am sorry. You know how the war works. I needed you to believe I was your friend. You will not be harmed, you have my word.”

  “Your word means nothing, Henfor!” Kaywal retorted angrily. Videem seemed to sigh and sat down in what Michael assumed was the pilot’s chair.

  “Locking in coordinates to Henfor planet,” he said calmly. “Course set, engaging engines.”

  Michael walked over to him as the floor began to vibrate.

  “What will happen to us?” he asked quietly.

  “We have no problem with your people, Captain. You will be our guests.”

  “The Friiist’s said that too,” Michael said.

  “Yes, but you destroyed their world, however accidental it might have been, these are the facts. Our world, however, is fine.”

  “Why did your people attack us when we arrived?”

  “We are a suspicious race, it appeared as if your species destroyed the Friiist home world. Whatever our problems with them are, we did not wish that upon them. We offered to help, but they refused of course. We have wanted the war to end for decades, but the Friiist are a vicious and spiteful race, they will not listen to compromise. You were attacked because we did not know what you wanted. It soon became clear to us that you are a technologically inferior species and your bomb was a result of a blunder.”

  “Shoot first and ask questions later, eh? That’s not very enlightened.”

  “I never said we were enlightened.”

  “I’m sorry to interrupt,” Caitlin said from behind them. “But can someone tell me what the hell is going on?”

  *

  Videem said that it was going to be tough getting out of the planet’s orbit. He was hoping to get as far as possible without being detected. If a fleet of ships were to chase them, it would be difficult to get away. One of the Henfor war ships was on it’s way to rendez-vous with them, but would not reach them for another half an hour. It was a three hour trip to the Henfor home world.

  They left orbit slowly, trying to act as if this was normal activity for the ship. Thankfully, Videem spoke the other aliens’ language fluently and was used to their operations. The scanners revealed that there were two more ships near to them. Both similar in size and speed to the one on which they found themselves. Videem wasn’t too worried about them: they were science vessels, studying the surface. He was more worried about them detecting the approaching Henfor ship, which was sure to alert them. But they couldn’t afford not to meet with the other ship, because they would not last five minutes in a battle without the Henfor.

  There was also the matter of the rest of the Friiist crew, who were roaming around the ship, most likely looking for a way to get to the bridge. Videem had locked out every other system besides the bridge, but he said there were ways to brake through the lock down, if they were skilled enough. He had worked with the Friiist long enough to know that they were resourceful and thought that it was only a matter of time before they would be able to communicate with other vessels, so the sooner they met with the other ship, the better.

  Therefore, as soon as they left orbit, Videem opened the ship on full engines. The ship lurched forwards, and Michael, who had expected to feel some sort of gravity shift, felt nothing.

  “These ships are built with gravity stabilizers,” Videem explained. “This also eliminates the need for the ship to spin like yours to keep constant gravity.”

  “Fascinating, I’d love to see how it works,” Jean said, coming up behind them. “It is a fascinating ship.”

  As they drifted away from the fifth planet, Michael explained everything that had been going on to the crew while Videem navigated. Caitlin was amazed by it all, Michael supposed it was quite difficult to take everything in. He wasn’t sure he had yet, as he’d had to act all the time, getting them out of dangerous situations, and all the action stopped him from thinking too much about it.

  Michael wasn’t sure what to make of Videem, who seemed to genuinely want to help them, but he was so calm, so mastered in his emotions, it was eerie. His instincts told him they could trust the alien, but he had thought the same thing about Kaywal. He decided he would be cautious, something he should have been anyway. They didn’t teach you at TEC what to do if you met another species from another solar system, so Michael knew he was out of his depth, but would have to do everything he could for things to happen smoothly.

  Caitlin and the others asked many questions, and Michael, with some help from Adrian and Lindsey, tried to answer as many as he could, but there were gaping holes in their knowledge of what was going on. Both sides had mentioned some kind of war, but none had entered into much detail, but honestly, Michael wasn’t worried about that. He was more worried about the Friiist preparing an assault on Earth. They were obviously a lot more technologically advanced and seemed to be ruthless. Without any warning, Michael was afraid that Earth wouldn’t stand a chance.

  The Friiist didn’t seem to have the technology to get to their home just yet, but Michael couldn’t assume it wasn’t in development, or for that fact, already in a military base somewhere. Kaywal had hinted as much. Michael had, after all, only know of their existence for less than a day.

  Had it only been that long? It felt like weeks. He realized he had still not slept and he was feeling it. Every part of body was aching, a dull thud had begun in his head, and his concentration was all over the place. He knew he couldn’t sleep just yet though, he had to see his crew to safety. Whether that was on the Henfor world or back on their ship heading out of this solar system, Michael did not yet know.

  “We have a problem,” Videem sa
id in his calm, translated voice, pulling Michael from his reverie.

  He went straight over to the alien.

  “What?”

  “The two Friiist ships in orbit have detected the Henfor vessel coming to our rescue and have changed course to intercept.”

  “Can we outrun them?”

  “We should reach the ship before they can catch up, yes; however, a Friiist war ship is approaching from the other side of the planet. It was hidden from our sensors. It is much faster and much more manoeuvrable than either this ship or the Henfor ship. We will be out gunned, and it will reach the ship around the same time as we will.”

  “Options?” Michael asked. He felt like he was back in command of his ship, it was a good feeling.

  “The Henfor ship will have detected them, we should work out a strategy with them.” Videem made the connection with the other ship.

  “Yes we have seen it,” someone replied. “It is a problem but we are not worried. Divert all the power to your engines, and fly straight to Henfor, do not worry about us, we will hold them off until you safe.”

  “But what about you?” Videem asked, a note of worry entered his voice.

  “That’s an order, Lieutenant.”

  “Yes, sir. You,” he pointed at Jean. “I need your assistance. You are an engineer?”

  “Yes.”

  “This console here will divert power from all systems, you need to press this to access it, I will

  translate for you. We need to divert all power except life support, that includes gravity.” The pair worked together and after a few minutes, everybody in the room started floating as the gravity cut out. The lights dimmed and the air went even colder than it was before.

  Michael shivered violently and wondered how Videem had managed to cope with the cold for several months. There would be time for questions later. He glanced over at the prisoners, who were also floating. Jal, who was used to zero g was keeping a gun trained on them at all times. She was an experienced tactical officer, and quite a skilled engineer, and Michael would trust her with his life. Marshall was switching his attention from the group of prisoners, to the lift doors, watching for any signs that the aliens were accessing the bridge. He turned his attention back to Jean and Videem.