by Joe Crouch
“No, no,” the alien shook its head, “Although…” it said as a large smile spread across its face, “You could take me with you, if that meathead Fre is coming along I’d also like passage off this planet.”
“Cestos…” he sighed, “We can’t just pick up stragglers at every stop who are unhappy with their living conditions, our ship would be full after the first world, anyway, what can you offer us? Theoretically, anyway.”
“Theoretically, of course,” the alien winked, “I’m a great chef, I imagine the ship is serviced by servitude bots? Imagine freshly cooked meals with recipes from across the known galaxy.” The thought alone made Sean’s mouth water, if he could teach him some recipes from Earth then everything would be better.
“Well…” Sean pondered, hesitating, “It’s not actually my decision, I’d have to ask Fez, but the least I could do is ask after you helped us.” With a respectful bow, the alien allowed him to stroll off. “Fezzy wezzy,” he said, batting his eyelids, “Remember Cestos? Well, he’s the one who actually gave us weapons to fight Zarid’s gang, he wants passage on the Mar’Ell to get off the planet…” he paused for a moment, “… He’s scared for his life after helping us.” With a huff, Fez waved to allow the alien inside.
“I hear you’re scared for your life after helping us,” Fez asked. With a cold look, Cestos locked eyes with Sean and replied.
“Y…Yes, very scared, I’m not sure I’ll survive the night with the spice gangs chasing me,” it replied.
“See Fez, he’s really scared,” Sean said.
“I’m not a he,” Cestos interrupted, “Therans are A-sexual and reproduce by parthenogenesis, different from your species I imagine.” Thinking he had learnt too much about the Therans, he turned back to Fez, waiting for an answer. A brief silence filled the compartment as everyone looked on, waiting for the Captain.
“We don’t have any seats your size,” Fez huffed. In a flash Cestos scurried over towards an empty chair, contorting himself in unnatural ways to fit, with a clink the harnesses strapped around his large body and held him in place. “That answers that I guess,” Fez shrugged, “I’ll assign you quarters when we’re back aboard, welcome to the family.” With that, Sean secured himself in the cockpit, fired up the drives and prepared for flight.
Passing through the atmosphere they cruised through space towards the Mar’Ell, she was still docked with Radiance Station and now that the resupply mission had completed they could leave. The station was enormous, many magnitudes larger than any Ioution or Xuron vessel he had witnessed, at least excluding the colony ship he was a prisoner on. It’s bright white surface reflected the binary stars perfectly giving it a luminous sheen that washed over its smooth, curved surface. Fourteen long arms extruded out from the bulky base that provided a hitching up point for larger ships to dock. Antennae spiked out all along its surface giving it a menacing undertone, if he hadn’t known better he would have assumed it was an evil lair.
Docking with the Mar’Ell went without a hitch, the shuttle ambled down onto the hangar’s surface as if it were landing on a bed of pillows. Sean’s experience piloting the Arrakis-Two had provided him invaluable experience, if the need came he was confident he could pilot a regular fighter into a scrap.
The crew dispersed along their own paths, Zarid and Cestos walked with Fez who was to show them to their new guest quarters, he was still suspicious of them both, especially Zarid, but the Fre had already proved his combat prowess. While Taris fiddled about with the bags jammed into the tight overhead spaces, Sean left her to it. Stood beside the hangar’s protective shielding he looked out at the long arm keeping the cruiser in place. Being this close to it gave the entire operation scale, the stations around Earth paled in comparison to the juggernaut that orbited the desert world below. He watched as one of the arms unfolded, its end expanded outwards into a clamp that eventually wrapped itself around a freighter and brought it in to dock. He could almost imagine the loud hydraulic, mechanical sounds that came off from the machine, although without propagation they were wasted.
“Give me a hand then you oaf,” Taris demanded, almost falling over herself as she tried to juggle carrying everything she had bought. Sean took some of the bags from her, he held out his hand to let her step out from the shuttle without injury, but it was to no avail. She tripped on the lip of the bulkhead and tumbled forwards, crashing into the unsuspecting Human as they were twisted into a pile of flesh on the floor. Through the groans and laughter Taris spoke up, “That shirt really does absorb the sweat, you still smell fresh,” she ached, pushing the bags away as she got up.
Waddling from side-to-side as the weight of the bags drew him down he made his way through the ship’s innards towards their shared quarters. There was an upbeat feeling across the ship, the crew were adamant that they were going to find something special, whether they were right or not he had no idea, but the mood was infectious.
Using his face, he tapped the console to his door for it to open. He stumbled across the room and dropped the bags to the floor while slumping into a cushioned chair beside the window. “Right,” he huffed, catching his breath, “I should probably go and check on what’s happening with Zarid and Cestos, make sure they’ve got everything they need.” With an uninterested smile from Taris, he left, making his way across the ship to the guest area.
He was amazed to see the area was lavishly decorated, in comparison to other parts of the ship, including the crew quarters, it was a palace. A dim, white light bathed the smooth, dark blue polymer walls that were engraved with various Ioution pieces of art, and in true Ioution fashion they were all very literal and lacked the spontaneity of Human creation. The floor looked as if it was made from an expensive stone, but making his way around the corner he heard the loud chatter of his new crewmates.
He was mortified to see the quality of the rooms compared to his own. Lavish chandelier type lights hung from the ceiling, their crystalline structure looked as if it had formed naturally as it let off a warm light that coated every surface. Large fixed stone furniture adorned every inch of wall space as expensive dark wood was layered into the walls breaking up the two shades of colour which made the room feel alive.
“Wow,” he said with hands on hips, “I guess ambassador to Earth isn’t as important as the new ship’s chef, huh.”
“Don’t be silly,” Fez replied while folding a smooth, silky linen bedspread, “All you’ve got to do is file a request for one of these rooms and it will be reviewed, we’re an equal opportunities vessel.”
“Alright then,” Sean said smugly, “I file a verbal request for one of these rooms.”
“Request denied,” Fez replied deadpan, “You’re just not offering anything to me, Cestos on the other hand,” he said, turning to face the quiet Theran, “Cestos offered to cook me a Qurai from my home world, I’m almost certain he deserves this room to rest his magical hands.” With a defeated sigh, Sean left the room plotting his revenge on the Captain, but an announcement over the shipwide comms interrupted his thoughts.
“Captain Feghouli to the bridge, we’re ready to depart on your command.”
Chapter 7
The gentle hum of the ship echoed through Sean’s quarters, the dim, sepia lights faintly illuminated the room as he tossed and turned in bed. Thoughts raced through his mind, repeating as if caught in their own echo chamber. They had only been in slip space for a few days, but the constant travelling with no time to stop and smell the flowers already played on his fragile psyche. He had hoped for the occasional visit to an alien world, to see exciting flora and fauna that populated them. But no stop was forthcoming. They were on a direct course for the signal with no solid information on what they were to find, the image of a Xuron dreadnaught waiting for them drew a cold sweat as he turned to face the sleeping Taris. She had seemed completely unfazed by what was happening, if anything she seemed overly excited to explore the outer rim with better backup than when she was last there.
Unable to
fully commit to sleep he sat on the edge of the bed wanting to return the lights to their natural hue, but he knew it would disturb Taris’ rest. With aching knees, he stood, stretching out the knots which had formed in his muscles as he slept. Slipping into a casual night sky coloured uniform that hung away from his body, he made his way out from his quarters and headed towards where their new guests stayed. He didn’t expect them to be awake at this time, but it was worth a try.
Slipping around the corner he noticed a bright light coming out from between the thin seams around one of the doors. He buzzed the door side communicator and waited for a response. Within a few seconds the door receded back into the wall allowing the bright light to spew out into the faintly lit hallway.
“Hello,” Cestos beamed with a confused look scrawled across his brow, “I thought you would be asleep with everyone else, I must say this ship’s time is so out of sync with my own it almost makes me feel ill.” Content with small talk, Sean slumped down into Cestos’ luxury armchair, let his muscles relax for a moment and replied.
“I imagine your body clock is out of whack having lived in a binary system,” Sean said, rubbing his bloodshot eyes, “It can’t be easy adjusting to the regimented clock of a military ship.”
“Oh I’ll be fine,” Cestos replied, waving away his concerns, “I’m more worried about you, just look at the colour of your skin, you look as white as the Dead Sea on Caspin-IV. I’ll tell you what, seeing as your energy levels seem low, why don’t I cook you something, that’ll be nice.”
“Really?” he questioned, surprised that the Theran wanted to cook this late, “I won’t argue if you fancy doing it, that might be just what I need to stave off this homesickness, or whatever it is.” With a smile, Cestos jumped up onto his four legs and skated towards the exit, he was full of jubilance as always, it was refreshing for Sean to be around someone like him.
“Well, what are you waiting for, silly? Follow me,” Cestos said. Without hesitation, Sean slipped out from the chair and followed the energetic alien down the corridors towards the mess hall. “Tell me about yourself, Sean, I don’t know you very well, and I imagine you’ve read the report I gave Fez on my past by now.”
“I have,” he nodded, “But me? Well, I grew up in a city in the northern hemisphere of Earth, I joined the Terran Fleet when I was young enough because it seemed an easy job for me to slack off in.” Pausing, he glanced over at the fully engrossed alien, “I haven’t spoken to my parents in a while, when I became ambassador aboard this ship I had to leave them behind for a while for their safety, people on my planet can be…”
“Vindictive, jealous, arrogant, bitter, spiteful,” Cestos interrupted, “I’ve experienced it all.”
“All of them are true,” he sighed, “But after becoming an ambassador, well… Things became a bit more complicated for me. Travelling aboard the Mar’Ell is a massive honour for anyone, especially someone like me, poorly educated and from a backwater planet like Earth. Honestly, the only resource we currently trade away to the Ioutions is Ytterbium, and I have no idea what it even is.” Talking for a while longer they arrived in the mess hall, a single Ioution sat in the corner, its head drooping over a bowl of steaming goop as she tried to stay awake. Cestos disappeared behind an opaque screen, within moments the sounds of searing and mixing reverberated around the tight chamber. A sweet but savoury smell wafted out from the kitchen that made Sean’s senses twitch with excitement at what was to come, he had only been able to sample Cestos’ cooking once since he joined the crew, so this was the alien’s real first test.
“Here you are,” Cestos smiled, placing down a plate in front of the Human. A cut of meat oozed juices out from every pore as he dug his fork into its surface, slicing through the unknown animal the tissues fell apart without any effort. Digging his fork into the assortment of purple, green, and red vegetables that adorned the plate he finally took the bite he had been waiting for. The gamey taste of the meat coated his mouth as he chewed down easily on it, the slightly acidic taste of one of the vegetables cut through the smooth, buttery texture of the animal cleansing his mouth for the next bite.
“Wow,” he admired with wide eyes, “You really are good,” he said, stuffing his face with fork full after fork full of food. Watching on in silence, the Theran allowed Sean to enjoy the moment, freshly prepared meals aboard a ship were a rare treat.
“I’m glad you like it,” Cestos eventually spoke up, “The meat is from an Ariuno, a species of herbivore from Emeio.” Sean smiled through a mouth full of food, eventually finishing his meal.
“So, I read on your report you used to be a street actor on another world, what got you into that?”
“Many things,” Cestos huffed, his usual upbeat demeanour dropping for a moment, “My guardian was an actor in musicals throughout the local region of space, they never gained a huge amount of fame, but just enough to be recognised on occasion. Acting in theatre was always a pseudo dream after seeing what they achieved. But they got into some debt with the wrong people, and when they didn’t have the money to pay up they were killed.” A sombre mood descended upon them both as Sean wished he hadn’t pried. “I took up performance to get closer to them after death, I never really got to know them or what they did, I just happened to find an innate passion they must have passed onto me after birth.”
“After birth?” Sean questioned, “You say they and them, were there two?”
“No,” Cestos replied glumly, “As I said the other day, we reproduce through parthenogenesis, while you would refer to them as our birth mother, they are treated as our guardian until we grow enough to fend for ourselves, but many times the guardian will treat their offspring with the same love and care any other species would.” Enlightened towards the whole situation, and not wanting to delve deeper into the obviously sad story of Cestos’ prior life, he let it slide, instead, he enjoyed the oscillating hum of the slip engines.
After a brief rest the pair went their separate ways, Sean returned to his quarters to a stirring Taris, “Up already?” she asked, squinting at the lights and yawning, “You said you were tired last night or did that zombie film get to you?”
“Funny,” he snarled sarcastically, slipping under the covers, “I spent some time with Cestos, there’s a lot to him under that fluffy, energetic shell of his.” Taris fell silent for a moment, collapsing backwards onto the pillow.
“There’s a lot about both we don’t know,” she said, hinting towards something more, “We should be careful, there’s no telling what they’re capable of.” For a moment, the words rang in his mind, what does she mean by that he thought, does she know more than she’s letting on? Questions would need to be asked but now was not the time, the lack of sleep on top of the depressing backstory of Cestos made him heavy eyed and within mere seconds he was back asleep, the troubles of the galaxy as far away as they could possibly be.
***
It had been fourteen days since they left the relative safety of Emeio, now, they were firmly in the lands the Ioutions described as ‘the Outer Rim’. Wandering the ship, Sean found himself passing the time in the most menial ways possible. He scrubbed down the shuttles that sat in berthing, cleaned his quarters again and again until every morsel was polished away as well as arranging the weapons neatly in the armoury. The long, eventless journey wreaked havoc on almost everyone’s mind aboard the ship, he was certain that if Zarid and Cestos knew just how dull the day-to-day life was on a military ship they would have backed out.
With his booted feet resting atop a terminal on the bridge he leant back, casually watching the long-range scanners as weak signatures came and went in the blink of an eye. He took this time to research the history of his two new friend’s races, they revealed a long, storied past of struggle and strife, seems to be universal he decided. Faint readings of star systems flashed onto his display as they passed them by at high velocity, for how vast the galactic community seemed they only controlled a small portion of the actual galaxy.
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br /> “How you feeling?” a female voice asked, tapping him lightly on the shoulder. Taris had been his crux on the journey so far, he was amazed that the tight space and lack of stimulation hadn’t driven them to gladiatorial style fights in the mess hall. He spun his chair around to see the always radiant Ioution silhouetted against the blaring lights that circled the ceiling. She wore a pilot’s uniform that clung tightly to her slim body as the honeycomb structure of the material almost stuck to her like a second layer of skin.
“Better now,” he said, eyeing his partner up and down, “Where the hell did you find that?”
“Don’t worry about that,” she winked, spinning on her heels to give him a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view, “You like it?”
“Like it?” he gulped, trying to focus, “Yeah I like it, come, sit,” he said, spinning the chair around to a chorus of squeaks. As she sat down and crossed her legs the seat gave way, the height lowered itself down automatically until her knees almost touched her face.
“Good one,” she squirmed, raising the height of the chair back to normal, “You seen Fez? He’s been a bit reclusive since the trip begun, I’m worried about him.”
“Not really,” he shook his head, “He can’t be far, his body clock is probably off and is just having a hard time adjusting.” Sitting in silence the two of them watched the slip bubble wash over the large front window, it wouldn’t be long until they were at the signal, but there was still over a week of what felt like torture ahead. Walking over to Yumie’s station, the upbeat Ioution was engrossed in his work, with a thick pair of what appeared to be headphones covering his now ginger hair. “Yumie,” he said, shaking him on the shoulder.
“Hm?” the alien articulated, “Oh, Sean, it’s good to see you, here take a listen to this.” Handing him the headphones, he tried balancing them on his comparatively small head, as they slipped and slid about he instead opted to just put a single cup over his ear. The sounds which emanated out paralysed him where he stood, it was low, but there was an undercurrent through the galactic static that sounded awfully close to the fast, incoherent clicks and chittering of Xuron speech. With a sharp intake of breath, his eyes widened as he looked down towards Yumie who sat with a worried look on his face.