The Loctorian Chronicles Intercept

by Andi Feron

  “Callia loves Morgan. Maziellia won’t allow any of us to mate with an off-worlder.”

  “Shouldn’t Callia decide that for herself?” I asked.

  “I wish she could. She loves him a great deal and has been sad since they parted. But they are from two very different worlds. I don’t see it lasting anyway.”

  “They should be able to love who they want, and no one else’s opinion or agenda should matter. Unfortunately, I know for humans, we spend too much time judging and thinking we have a right to tell people how they should live their lives. We should be more concerned with how people treat each other than who they love.”

  “I agree with you. But Maziellia, as our older sister and queen, feels our lives are hers to decide. My people are stuck in old ways. They do not like differences much.”

  “Sounds like your people and my people need to learn that diversity brings strength,” I said.

  “I wish my people believed as you do.”

  “Well, in any case, I hope they enjoy this week together.”

  “Me too. Callia is so much happier now than she has been since she parted ways with him.”

  “Morgan is, too. He’s been moping around.”

  “Moping? Like cleaning floors?” Nia asked me. I knew my translator made it difficult to distinguish similar words sometimes.

  I shook my head. “No, that’s mopping. Moping means being depressed or very sad.”

  The second night we visited Nia invited me to a ball. Some workers came and did my makeup. The dress Nia picked out for me was pink, and a long V dipped from the neckline. The sleeves were short, but there were bracelets that clasped above my elbow area and extended fabric on both sides. A dainty crown of golden leaves was placed on my head. I snapped selfies of Nia and me together. I loved her red and gold dress that left one of her shoulders bare. One of the workers—named Rorin—came in and fixed our hair.

  When we got to the ball, I remembered the Anierisian dance moves that Nia showed me when she was on Saturn base. Nia and I danced together, and then an Anierisian asked if he could dance with Nia. She hesitated, then accepted his invitation. They danced for three songs and then Nia joined me by the wall.

  “I think he likes you,” I told her with a smile.

  “Who?”

  “The one you just danced with.”

  “Acacius. Yes, I believe he would like to be betrothed to me.”

  “You don’t like him back?”

  “I am unsure. Betrothal is very serious here. Once you say the vows, you are bound for life.”

  “So it’s like marriage?”

  “Marriage is only making the betrothal public.”

  “I can see why you would want to be sure,” I said.

  Nia glanced at Rorin, and I could tell there was more to the look.

  “You like Rorin, don’t you?”

  “Yes, but our relationship would never be allowed. I understand Callia much more than my other sisters.”

  Morgan and Callia caught my eye as they walked in and danced together. Morgan didn’t glance away from Callia the entire time they were dancing. I wanted the universe to be a simpler place. A place where if two people loved each other, no one else had a say but them, and no circumstances would keep them apart.

  Nia spent the next week showing me the grand city they had built. It was beautiful, with silver willow trees that had leaves that drooped down to the grey stone streets. Green lights wove up the outside of the buildings, reminding me of Christmas on Earth. The Anierisians could finally return to their glory days since they no longer feared the Khalbytians. They were in the middle of Loctorian space, and Khalbytians would never be able to get to them.

  The week flew by, and Morgan and Callia once again parted ways with a kiss. I wondered if he and Callia would end up together in the end. I felt hopeful maybe one day they would be able to use their love to bridge the light years and differences between them.

  *

  The day after Morgan and I returned to Saturn base, Lila asked me to help her with some plants. I was going to meet her in her hydroponics room. Lila sold plant-based remedies around the base, and her concoctions helped many. She had a migraine cocktail that several people told me was exceptional.

  One of the people it had helped was a passing ambassador. A friend of the ambassador recommended Lila. The treatment worked so well that he ordered a lofty amount, and now Lila was swamped to get it to him in a timely manner. I found myself unable to locate the hydroponics room.

  I was there once before when Lila showed me what Gabriel had set up for her. The floor it was on was an abandoned level on base, and a lot of the lights flickered from neglect and gave the level a spooky feel. The numbers on the doors didn’t appear to have any rational order. I walked down a dimly lit corridor as goosebumps pricked my arms.

  “Are you lost?” a voice behind me asked.

  I jumped and whirled around to see a Loctorian wearing a green robe with his hood down. I had seen only a handful of Loctorians on base before, and they were usually passing through the main halls. I thought this level was empty of all but Lila’s plant room.

  “Yes, getting lost isn’t a difficult thing for me to do. I’m trying to find my friend’s hydroponics room. Room 2348,” I said.

  “Yes, that is down a different hallway, Althea.”

  I took in a shaky breath. “How do you know who I am?”

  “In other times you are quite famous.”

  I narrowed my eyes at his strange sentence. “Other times?”

  “Yes, I can move through time. The future is tricky as there are many versions. Even though I see many possibilities, it still sometimes turns out differently.”

  “I’m sure the famous version of me will not be the one that turns out. There isn’t much to me.”

  “There is a great deal to you. There are important tasks ahead that no one else can accomplish. This is because of what you have inside of you.”

  “What tasks will I accomplish?”

  “I cannot speak of it as it may change the entire thing, but I can tell you when it arrives, you will know it. I was thinking, however, you should delay planting plants.”

  “Why is that?”

  “You are needed elsewhere.”

  I glanced down at my com device and noticed I had no reception. “How do you know?”

  “I see many things, and this particular thing was why I was sent here today. I will help you find your way out. You will find your friend Lila on level ten. I would tell her to stay off this level for today.”

  I followed the Loctorian down the long hallway until I saw the elevator. I went to level ten and was surprised to see Lila down the hall. I would have expected her at the docking bay, picking up her supplies. When I caught up to her, I told her about my strange Loctorian encounter.

  “I think maybe we should listen to him. He knew where you were,” I said.

  “I have to get this order out. I promised I would by the end of the week.”

  “We can talk to the others. If we have more help, then a one-day delay shouldn’t hurt. I think it’s better than risking something terrible happening. We all know Loctorians can see future glimpses.”

  “Yes, that’s true. Okay, let’s wait, but tomorrow I would like to start early if you are able.”

  “Yes, that will work fine. Why don’t we go catch the new movie playing instead?

  “Yeah, might as well.”

  At the theater, we saw Admiral Parks and her ten-year-old son Nathan. It was strange seeing Parks out of uniform.

  “Lila, Allie. How are the two of you today?” she greeted us.

  “Doing great. Decided to…”

  My words were interrupted when the theater began to be jarred apart. The theater fell into shambles, and I couldn’t make sense of what had occurred. A large piece of debris hit me in the head, another smashed my leg and it took a minute for me to regain my bearings as it healed. I scanned the room for Lila and saw her lying unconscious undern
eath a beam. The bone in my left leg was sticking out. I pushed it back in and hobbled to Lila as it healed.

  Lila’s eyes bulged, and I didn’t even have to scan her to know she was dead. A large beam had collapsed across her abdomen, crushing her against the floor. It was too heavy to move off of her. I tried to push it anyway and felt it budge. I turned to see Terrance from the weapons division helping me. He had a large cut across his forehead, which I promptly healed.

  With the beam off of Lila, I could see the large indentation in her body where the beam had struck. I put my hand on her stomach and it began to inflate like a balloon receiving air. I restored each damaged organ individually, reconstructed her spine, and sent a spark into her.

  She gasped and looked around. “What happened?”

  “Not sure.”

  I heard Nathan screaming, “Help!”

  I crawled over more beams and dislodged theater chairs. Glass pushed into my hands and knees as I crawled. I stood up and brushed it off, allowing it to heal instantaneously. Nathan stood over his mother, crying. Admiral Park’s head and neck were at an unnatural angle, hanging loosely to her side. Her right arm was bent in the opposite direction it should have been.

  I placed myself in front of Nathan, trying to shield him from the fact that his mother was nearly decapitated. I pushed her head back into place and straightened her arm. I fixed her arms first so that she wouldn’t wake up in pain. I sealed the final gap in her neck, then brought her back. She let out a groan and tried to sit up.

  “Nathan!” she screamed.

  “Right here, mama!”

  He ran to her, and when he went to hug her, I noticed his left arm dangled at his side. He wasn’t screaming, though he should have been. His mom caught the arm, too, and her gaze caused Nathan to look down. He began to wail as it only then occurred to him that he was injured. I put my hand gently on his elbow and repaired the shattered bones. He sniffled and thanked me as he hugged his mother. To my knowledge, there was no one else in the theater. All the exits were blocked, and our com devices had no signals.

  Allie! John spoke to my mind.

  Are you okay? I asked.

  Yeah, I’m fine. I was more worried about you and Lila. Gabriel said you were working in Lila’s plant room. That deck was taken out by the asteroid. Wasn’t sure if even you would have survived the direct impact.

  Asteroid? How did that even happen? I thought our shielding stopped those daily.

  It does. Shielding malfunctioned.

  Lila and I are in the movie theater with Admiral Parks, her son, and Terrence. Everyone is okay. Can you find out if the rest of our team is okay?

  Yeah, I’ll check on them now. The only one I have with me is Gabriel. We were playing pool. The rec center is fine.

  I filled in those with me. We tried to move the rubble with no success. We were trapped. John got back to me and let me know that the rest of the team was safe. I needed to get out so I could heal any injuries or casualties. Admiral Parks gave me some orders to give John to put the base into crisis mode.

  We were given priority since my healing ability was needed, but even with that, we were still locked in for two hours, which bothered me because after the two-hour mark it was a toss-up if I could heal the dead.

  “Thank you for healing my mom,” Nathan said.

  “Sure. It’s what I do.”

  “Someday I want to go through capsulization, and I hope I get a healing ability. I want to be a doctor, and I think it would come in handy.”

  “You’re right, it definitely would. But even if you don’t, you could be a great doctor like Dr. Monroe.”

  “Yeah, he’s pretty cool. He lets me follow him around sometimes.”

  “I agree with my son, Allie. Your repair skills are appreciated. In all my time in the program, I have never met a healer at your level,” Admiral Parks said.

  It occurred to me I didn’t know much about Parks. “I don’t think I ever heard how you entered the program.”

  “I grew up in Mexico City and came to America when I was sixteen. I picked up English quickly, so when I graduated high school, I got a job as a translator in the army. I was recruited to the intelligence division where they were working on the language translators. I helped with the Spanish portion. Eventually, I was recruited into the war. I helped with Spanish-speaking recruits for a while until my job was replaced by the translator I worked on.”

  “I have to say I’ve always been impressed with you becoming the first woman admiral to run a space base. I requested Saturn base because it was under your command,” Lila said.

  “I am honored, Lila.”

  We talked for another hour before we were finally rescued. I went straight to sickbay, where everything was in chaos. Patients were overflowed to waiting areas. Monitors blared, indicating that multiple patients were crashing. Screaming and crying flew at me from every direction. I would heal the living then head to the morgue. Jasper hollered for the crash cart, while giving CPR to a man whose arms were flopped to his side.

  I walked over and Jasper noticed me. “Allie, am I glad to see you!”

  I started with the worst of the patients and worked my way down. I struggled to keep my eyes open. To my disappointment there were some patients I was unable to save. I laid down on one of the medical beds to take a quick nap. I woke up to see John reading in the chair next to my bed. I was in a private room, and I felt the familiar restriction of multiple tubes and wires. I groaned.

  “Morning, gorgeous. Sleep well?” John asked.

  “A little too well, I think. How long?”

  “Three days.”

  The nurse came in and freed me from my tubes and wires. I went to the bathroom and changed. Jasper was waiting for me when I walked back into the room. I opened my mouth to talk.

  “Yep, already have the nurse getting your discharge papers.”

  I smiled. “Thank you.”

  Jasper knew how anxious I was to leave sickbay each time I drained myself, and he was extremely accommodating. John and I went home, and I told him about the strange Loctorian I met.

  “Seems he saved your life as well as Lila’s. I know you can heal, but Lila’s plant room was obliterated,” John said.

  John turned on Jurassic Park and we laid down on the couch. He wrapped his arms around me, and we watched the movie.

  Admiral Parks gave Lila a new, undamaged room. Our entire team came together to set up her new room and complete her order for the ambassador. I didn’t know anything about the Loctorian who talked to me, but I knew this was one of the first times I was grateful a Loctorian had altered my life and Lila’s.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Morgan-September 12, 2014

  I loved women. Pretty much all women. I was as skilled at schmoozing as I was with a keyboard. I never lacked charisma, and my charm made the ladies swoon. I could go out and have no trouble finding someone to bring back to my quarters for a cozier experience.

  Unlike most of my teammates who had bound themselves to one woman, I perceived life was too short not to enjoy the beauty of a multitude of female companionship. Talon told us about a group of aliens known as the Anierisians. He described them with the physical appearance of angels but with the tantalizingly dangerous demeanor of the legendary siren. I received a phone call from Allie telling me she thought we should have a game night that included the Anierisians.

  I was never one to turn down the opportunity to be around beautiful women so I readily accepted her invite. When I arrived four of the sisters were actively engaging in poker, bowling, or dancing. The fifth sister sat by herself, watching, and I decided to find out why she was more withdrawn than the others.

  “Morgan Howard.” I reached out my hand, and she stared at it in confusion. I felt a bit silly and quickly put my hand down.

  “I am Callia.” She shot her hand out as I had and then put it down.

  She had the most amazing golden hair I had ever seen, and it flowed to the middle of her thigh. She
kept her white wings tucked behind her back and I wondered what they looked like unfolded. Her greenish-blue eyes seemed to sparkle when the light hit them. I noticed each one of the sisters wore a different colored dress and Callia’s chosen color was coral.

  “Your base is wonderful, Morgan Howard. I have never been off my homeworld before. Maziellia has never let us leave because of the fear of outsiders. She did not wish us to be apart now, so she let us all come with her. I am very excited,” Callia said.

  “There’s something you might want to see. Can I show you? It’s in another part of the base. Will your sisters mind if you go with me for a little while?”

  “They will not mind.”

  I led Callia to the observatory, a glass dome with a clear view of the stars around base. The dome was also equipped with computerized glass that could be switched on to reveal locations around the galaxy with intensely real imagery. Callia’s eyes wandered around the dome as she took in the sights. I went over to the computer and put in coordinates. The glass tiles flipped, displaying a different part of the galaxy with purple asteroids and glowing silver stardust. Planets of every size and color rotated around us. After she took in her surroundings, I would change the view every few minutes.

  After an hour of her being caught up in my fancy slide show, I spoke, “Now you can say you’ve seen a lot of the galaxy.”

  “There is so much more beauty than I ever imagined. How did we travel so many places so fast?”

  “We’re still in the same place, but the observatory has screens that show detailed pictures of other parts of the galaxy.”

  “There is a screen in the room provided to us here on base. It is small, but people talk inside of it. Althea Cooper told us it is part of something called a television.”

  “Yes, that’s right. This is a similar trick but much bigger and more detailed,” I said.

  “You have amazing things here. I am glad we are here, but I am worried about the battle. We train much of our lives how to fight, but I have never really fought.” I could hear her nervousness.