Chapter Twenty-One – Sfolan Yan’dris
“Everyone keep with your partner and call for help if you need it,” Holas instructed the group as they stood in a loose semi-circle beside the hatch.
Alexander looked down again at the strange rust-coloured communicator watch strapped to his left arm. It was cross-shaped and filled with tiny screens, buttons and slides. Holas and Zheen had shown him how it could be used to communicate with others, both on the surface and in orbit, by voice or text. It also had a built in transponder to track and locate others, as well as an emergency call button. He wondered if Pete had had time to take one apart yet.
The door in front of them hissed aside. Alexander peered past Tran’s shoulder and watched as the gangway lowered to the tarmac. He walked carefully down the ramp, coming out at the front of the main section of the Star Runner. Above and slightly ahead, was the nose of the ship, glinting a dusty bronze in the soft light.
Alexander watched as Zheen touched some buttons on her communicator. Behind them, the ramp creaked back up into position as the door above them hissed shut. Any one of them would be able to reopen the ship when they returned using the buttons on their own communicators.
With a nod from Holas, they split up. Earlier, they’d decided that the most efficient way to get what they needed was to tackle all of their needs at once. Pete and Holas were to search out parts for the ship. Alexander had seen Pete’s list of supplies. At the time, he’d just shaken his head – it was long.
Nick and Tran had the task of outfitting the ship’s mess. Both food and water were badly needed. That had left the job of updating the ship’s star charts to Alexander and Zheen, which had suited him just fine.
Payment for everything that they needed was going to be a problem, though. They knew that they were going to have to trade for it. Holas had found a few things in the cargo pods which he thought might be useful, especially the pile of timber in pod three and the big machinery in pod four.
Alexander gave his brothers a sharp look before they separated, hoping to remind them to be careful. Pete just rolled his eyes back at him; Nick completely ignored it. With a sigh, Alexander quickened his pace to catch up with Zheen, bouncing slightly in the lighter gravity.
He found that he needed to stretch his legs to keep up with her. Zheen’s determined pace had them eating the distance to the main Admin Tower at the centre of the port faster than he would normally have travelled.
His resolve to keep up with his partner evaporated as he caught sight of his first Dramazan. He froze, his jaw dropping as he stared. It wasn’t their skin colour which caught his attention, indeed, after getting used to two purple-toned and one bronze-skin, black furred alien, the gold skin colour on this new human-shaped alien seemed almost natural. And their hooked beak for a mouth was only enough to get him to take a second look.
No, what really stopped him was the sort of hop-glide that the two Dramazans were doing.
They tended to hop a few paces, each time slightly higher than the last, and then lean forward. At that point, they would extend the flaps of skin that stretched from their ankles to their wrists and sort of glide forward ten or fifteen metres before landing on their feet and starting again.
“Alex?” Zheen’s sharp voice brought him back to his senses.
“Sorry, Zheen,” he replied sheepishly, not even getting annoyed at the habit of using his short name that she’d picked up from his brothers. “Guess I’m still getting used to seeing new aliens.”
Her grey eyes twinkled at him. “Just as we’re still getting used to you.”
“And what a funny looking race we are,” he grinned back. “All pale, with no tail, or skin flaps and too many fingers.”
Zheen’s laughter filled the air between them. “Mind you, Dramazans are a bit stranger than usual,” she said in a conspiratorial whisper.
Alexander laughed again, deciding that it was easy to see why Pete had developed an instant rapport with her. Underneath her no-nonsense demeanour seemed to be someone who liked to have a bit of fun. He found that he was looking forward to the next couple of hours and the chance to get to know her a bit better.
He started and his laughter died in his throat, as he noticed someone just beyond Zheen’s right shoulder. Seeing his look, Zheen spun to stand at his side and face the stranger together.
“You should see them glide from the top of the Admin Tower,” the stranger said with a lop-sided grin.
Alexander looked up at the gangly alien in front of him. He was tall, much taller than Alexander himself and his skin was pale blue. His brown hair hung loosely around his shoulders and Alexander had the impression that it hadn’t been cut or looked after for some time. His dark blue pants and yellow shirt looked like they’d seen better days as well – there was a large rip below the knee of his left leg and the sleeves to his shirt had been completely torn off.
He stood casually before them, not appearing in the least concerned with his appearance. Alexander frowned in disapproval, deciding that he must be some kind of vagrant or port rat. For all that, though, he seemed only a couple of years older than Alexander himself, and his face was warm and friendly.
“Welcome to Dramazan,” he said softly. “I am Sfolan Yan’dris. If you have need of a guide, then I am for you. I can show you the wonders of the world or the fastest way around the port. Anything you wish.”
As he spoke, he waved his hands around. Alexander was fascinated by the length of his fingers. Each was easily one and a half times the length of a human’s.
“We need to go to the Admin Tower,” Zheen said decisively. “You can take us there?” A small bronze square had appeared in her fingertips.
“Certainly,” Sfolan replied with a small incline of his head, reaching out to take the coin. “Do you wish to go there directly or would you like to see the wonders of the port first?”
“We’ll go straight there, I think,” Alexander replied, thinking of the charts that they needed to find.
“This way then,” Sfolan gestured as he set off beside them.
They walked a short way across the landing field in silence after introducing themselves to their new guide. Alexander made sure to keep half an eye on the strange and marvellous way that the Dramazan moved among the ships.
“You came in on the new ship,” Sfolan stated matter-of-factly.
“Yes, the Star Runner,” Alexander confirmed.
“She’s Gheyzhimum, isn’t she?” he asked conversationally.
“You’ve got a good eye for ships,” Zheen commented.
Sfolan shrugged. “I’ve been around ships all my life, the last six years here at this port.” He paused. “If you don’t mind my saying so, neither of you are Gheyzhimum.”
Alexander exchanged a glance with Zheen before eyeing the lanky alien.
“I mean, Gheyzhimum aren’t known for crewing out-worlders,” he continued in a hurry. “I was just wondering how you came to be aboard her.”
“We were . . . we were all caught in the Bubble,” Alexander replied slowly, trying to find the easiest way to explain their way out of any possible danger. “The Star Runner was abandoned and the only way that we could find to escape.”
“You escaped the Bubble!” Sfolan exclaimed incredulously. “But no-one’s ever escaped the Bubble before!”
“Alexander and his brothers have some remarkable skills and technology,” Zheen remarked with a sly smile.
Sfolan looked him up and down, before shaking his head. “I’m sorry, I don’t know your species. What planet are you from?”
“Earth,” Alexander answered. “It’s somewhere on the other side of the galaxy.”
“Then how did you get here?” Sfolan asked.
“It’s a long story,” Alexander replied with a shake of his head. “The short version is that we fell through a wormhole.”
Sfolan looked at him incredulously, his brows furrowed. “Then you
. . . you don’t know your way home?” he ventured.
“You got that right,” Alexander replied. “That’s what we’re hoping to get at the Admin Tower – star charts that’ll help us find our way.”
Sfolan’s face brightened. “Then I know just who you need to talk to.”
His pace quickened and with his long legs, it was all that Alexander could do to keep up with him. He led them through the large gates at the entrance to the field with a wave to a couple of Dramazans who were lounging against a wire fence. The road they emerged onto led off at an angle.
Admin Tower turned out to be the spire at the centre of the port that Alexander had noticed on their approach. As they walked, Sfolan pointed out the main trade hall with its minor buildings adjoining it; the shipyard and repair facilities; the warehouse district and storage sheds; and all of the various shops, pubs, clubs, restaurants and boarding houses that made up where the crews of the ships and the port went to relax.
Before long, Sfolan had led them to the front of the tower itself.
Alexander caught himself as their guide veered to the left instead of going in through the large glass doors.
“Ah, Sfolan, don’t we need to go in here?” he asked.
“Pah, that way only leads to too many people who will want to stop you and make you repeat yourself too many times,” Sfolan replied with a wave of his hand. “Come this way. I can get you in much quicker.”
Alexander stood still, his head swivelling between the doors in front of him and the retreating backs of Sfolan and Zheen. Just as his companions were about to turn the corner around the building, he made up his mind and took after them at a run. They were waiting for him at a small side door that was half-covered by trees.
“Glad to see you make it,” Zheen said flatly, a slight frown on her face.
Alexander didn’t respond. Following the rules and procedures had always gotten him by until now. He didn’t like the feeling that he got in the pit of his stomach that came from ignoring the way things were supposed to be done. He hoped that following their tall, blue guide wouldn’t have some harsh repercussions later.
“This way,” Sfolan said with a smile.
He punched a code into the pad beside the door and pulled it open. With a grin, he ducked inside, Zheen and Alexander following him. They found themselves in a semi-dark corridor that Sfolan seemed to know intimately. He led them unerringly through a series of turns, down corridors and through doors. Alexander knew that they were now completely at Sfolan’s mercy.
There was no way that he’d ever be able to find his way out by himself again.
Sfolan opened one last door onto a wall of sound. Beeps, chirps and voices assaulted his ears after the near-silence of the corridors. A large circular platform was set high up in the middle of the room. Around the perimeter of it were numerous consoles with Dramazan operators perched on bars in front of them. Each console seemed to have the controls up above head height with its corresponding screen located at about waist height.
As they entered the room, two Dramazans swooped down to meet them. Both wore the crimson poncho-style outfits that all of the workers in the room sported.
“Krackach. Kremck,” Sfolan called in greeting, his hand raised.
“Sfolan, what are you doing here?” the one on the right asked with a frown in her brown eyes.
“I’ve brought some people to see you. They’re looking for charts and I knew that you always have the best,” he answered smoothly. “They have just escaped from the Bubble.”
“Escape the Bubble?” the other repeated. “Impossible.”
“I assure you that we did,” Zheen replied
“In a Gheyzhimum ship, no less,” Sfolan put in. “This one and his brothers fell through a wormhole from the other side of the galaxy before that.”
Alexander nodded slowly in agreement, while beginning to wonder what they’d gotten themselves into. The last thing that he wanted was to be seen as some sort of oddity.
“This is not one of your games is it, Sfolan?”
“I swear on my life that it is true,” he replied solemnly, hand on chest.
“Please, we’re just looking for star charts. Anything that can help us find our way,” Alexander said quietly.
“Come, young ones, let us see what we have that may be of use to you,” the older Dramazan responded after a moment’s thought.
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It was several hours later, just when Alexander was beginning to think that they might be onto something, when his communicator chirped.
Star Runner Page 21