by Eric Vall
“They’re also really, really pretty,” Neka chimed in as she leaned over and tapped at the data pad. It scrolled through several images before it settled on a gem of silver glass, set in the center of an iron gray crown.
“It is a gorgeous jewel,” Sef’sla agreed.
“Yes, and now that Proxima V is an open-port planet, Corporations like Terra-Nebula, traders, and other entities will be using the wormholes in a matter of weeks to get to it,” I explained. “We have a head start right now, which is why I want to land on Zalia first. I want to make it an optimal, operational, class A planet before anyone gets here.”
“Who lives on Zalia?” Akela cut in. “Are they used to interstellar travelers?”
“Slightly,” I replied as I turned back to the data pad and pulled up some old field reports on the screen. “Terra-Nebula actually traveled to the planet about thirty years ago. Their deep space probes had scanned Zalia and discovered the mior. They sent a few scouts through hyperspace to check the planet personally, and they encountered the native species, which is called the Gelm. The reports say the Gelm are a primitive species, equivalent to an iron age, pre-industrial society on old Earth. However, they were receptive to T-N’s presence and the potential to be brokered.”
“What happened then?” Akela followed up. “Why didn’t they sign with T-N?”
“Actually, it was T-N who didn’t want to sign,” I corrected, and I held out the data pad to the mechanic. “The scouts determined that Zalia’s distance from other habitable systems, without the use of the wormholes, outweighed the benefit of the wealth of mior.”
“The Gelm really dodged a bullet there, didn’t they?” the silver-haired woman snorted as she handed me back the data pad.
“No kidding,” I chuckled before I turned back to Sef’sla. “This is why I chose to come to this star system, this planet. Right now, the Gelm are weak and vulnerable. If we don’t help them now, before the other Corporations come through the wormhole, they’ll just become another subjugated species.”
“And, in return for our assistance,” the princess said with a concentrated furrow to her brow, “you hope the Gelm will give us the mior crystals. Is that right?”
“Only some of the crystals,” I corrected. “Just enough to pay the bills and net a nice profit to fund our future excursions, plus a little extra for Akela to play with.”
I winked at the mechanic, and she grinned back.
“The rest is for the Gelm to keep and use to better their society,” I continued. “We’ll give them the mining tech to properly and efficiently extract the mineral, and they can use it as they please. They will end up with more crystals than they have now, even after our cut.”
“And how much longer will it take us to land?” the Almort princess asked as her navy-blue eyes went from me to where the planet Zalia was hovering outside the viewport.
Neka also began to bounce on the balls of her feet, and Akela’s keen, amethyst eyes locked onto the gray world before us.
“O?” I asked as I tried to stifle a smile. Their eagerness was contagious.
“T-minus one hour and thirteen minutes,” the AI announced.
I turned to my crew of insanely gorgeous women, and I felt a surge of adrenaline shoot through my veins. Finally, after a week of drifting through dark space, the time had come for action.
And I never felt as alive as I did while in motion.
“Well,” I said with a grin, “you heard him. Time to start packing. Zalia awaits.”
Even though the four of us had fallen asleep in my bed every night for the past week, each of the women had their own personal quarters where they kept clothes and their other belongings. It took Akela, Sef’sla, and me a maximum of thirty minutes to sift through our own few things, pack the necessities, and rendezvous in the cargo bay.
Over an hour later, however, we were still waiting on Neka.
“We are entering Zalia’s orbit now, Colby,” Omni announced just as the ship shuddered beneath my feet.
Akela looked almost bored as she leaned against the bulkhead, with her duffle bag slung over her shoulder. Sef’sla, on the other hand, appeared a little apprehensive as the Lacuna Noctis descended through the planet’s atmosphere.
I reached out and squeezed her hand gently, and the Almort princess flashed me a grateful smile. Then, with my free hand, I reached up and tapped at my earwig.
“Nekaaaaa,” I sang into the comm system. “If you don’t hurry, we’re going to land and leave without you.”
It was an empty threat, I would never leave my assistant behind, but after ten years, I’d found the cat-girl sometimes needed to be motivated to make a decision when it came to packing.
“No!” Neka yowled back, and over the comms, I heard the muffled sound of something crashing. “I’m coming, don’t leave yet!”
“Are you okay?” I asked with an edge of concern in my voice.
“Fine!” my assistant said a little too quickly. “I’ll be there in just a moment. Don’t you dare leave, CT.”
The transmission cut out with a hiss, and I shook my head and laughed.
“We’ll be landing in five minutes, Colby,” Omni informed me as the turbulence around the ship evened out and faded. “We are well into the atmosphere now.”
“Perfect,” I replied, and I mentally went over my plan one last time.
Zalia was a planet of several continents and numerous smaller islands. However, T-N’s reports stated almost the entirety of the Gelm lived on the largest continent in the western hemisphere, with a few scattered settlements on the islands off the coast. From the notes of the T-N scout, I knew the Gelm operated under what was essentially a feudal system. The center of the continent was divided into several territories led by various lords who in turn pledged loyalty to the most powerful lord, who was declared their king. The Gelm had their political squabbles, it seemed, but they weren’t outright hostile or aggressive.
Nevertheless, I’d instructed Omni to land away from the heavily populated cities and settlements, but not so far north or south that we ended up flying into the vast mountain ranges there.
The AI managed to find a meadow beside a lake. The lake was fed by a river that stretched south to the sea, and Omni set the Lacuna Noctis down a good distance away from the water’s edge. Omni’s scans showed the closest population of over fifty people was at least fifteen kilometers away, and there were no great beasts like the Opalks nearby.
Proxima V had taught me many lessons, one of which was to never land on a beach again.
I’d also decided to land in an isolated location for Sef’sla’s sake. This was the Almort princess’ first new world, so I wanted her to have the chance to just take it in and experience it for herself before we had to interact with any Gelm. This was a pivotal moment in someone’s life, after all. I thought back to the wild joy on Akela’s face when she first stepped out onto the sands of Proxima V, and I wanted nothing more than to see that expression echoed by Sef’sla.
Just as the ship settled onto the ground of Zalia, Neka came bursting through the door, out of breath, with two duffle bags twice the size of her body being dragged at her feet.
“Wait for me,” the cat-girl wheezed out, and a fine sheen of sweat gleamed on her brow.
The rest of us blinked in astonishment at my assistant.
“You know we’re only going for a short walk before we fly to meet the Gelm, right?” I asked in disbelief. “I said to bring a small go-bag, just in case.”
“This is small,” Neka pouted as she lugged her luggage toward us. “You never know what might happen!”
“And what do you have in there that’s useful, practical, and not multiple changes of outfits?” I countered as I cocked my brow at her.
My assistant frowned sharply, but before she could evade the question, a hiss of hydraulics filled the cargo bay.
I spun around to see Akela leaning beside the panel that activated the loading ramp. The mechanic was casually looking at he
r nails, while Sef’sla practically vibrated with anticipation at her side.
“Oops,” Akela muttered unconvincingly, and she looked up with a smirk. “Well, the door’s open. Are we going to go have a look around, or not?”
It took a little convincing, but I managed to get Neka to leave one of her bags in the cargo bay. Once the four of us, hand in hand, stepped off the loading ramp, the cat-girl’s pout instantly evaporated and transformed into a grin.
Sef’sla all but had her jaw on the floor, and that joyful light gleamed once again in Akela’s amethyst eyes.
Zalia stretched out before us, much more vibrant and livelier than it looked from space. To the north and the east, vague outlines of vast gray mountains stretched out across the horizons, but their shapes were made blurry and indistinct by distance. Around us, however, was a lush country of dark, emerald green grasses and trees that stretched up into the magenta-tinged sky, and the glowing outlines of Zalia’s dual suns faded away to the south.
I watched out of the corner of my eye as Sef’sla’s mouth worked silently, and it seemed the Almort princess struggled to find the words to describe what she was feeling. So, I reached out and took her hand, and her navy eyes were glassy with tears when she turned to me.
“It is magnificent,” she hissed as she squeezed my fingers between her own. “I do not know how to thank you for showing me something so glorious.”
I grinned as I took a step forward and gently pulled Sef’sla down the loading ramp.
“You haven’t seen anything yet,” I promised as she took her first steps onto the alien grass.
Over her shoulders, Neka and Akela smiled in unison at me, and I felt nothing but love for these intelligent and beautiful women who had traveled across the galaxies by my side.
Sef’sla spent the next half hour just walking around the meadow we’d landed in. Her large, dark blue eyes took in every detail, and she stooped to investigate every flower, blade of grass, and fallen leaf like she’d been blind all her life and this was her first time seeing. There was a river about a hundred meters from where we landed, and the Almort princess eventually found her way to its banks. Then she stood on the water’s edge, dug her bare toes into the muddy silt, and tipped her head back to face the foreign sky.
When Sef’sla had first rejected the shoes I offered while we waited in the cargo bay, I’d been worried, but I shouldn’t have been. As Akela told me, the Almort princess’ feet bore extensive calluses, which was an evolutionary trait of her people. Walking barefoot didn’t bother her, and as I watched her stand in the river on this new planet, I realized it actually brought her joy.
“Can we see a little more?” Sef’sla asked as she turned to me with a wild grin. Her eyes kept darting to the south, and her gaze followed the river into the shade of a large forest. “Please, CT?”
I couldn’t say no to those big, pleading eyes, so I swept my hand out and gave a grand bow.
“After you, my dear princess,” I said with a courtly smile.
With that, my crew and I headed off toward the tree line to stretch our legs and enjoy a little light-hearted exploration after a long week in space.
With Omni’s help, I made sure we didn’t stray too far away from the ship. We traveled less than a kilometer into the woods, and we kept close to the banks of the river. The forest was cool, pleasant, and quiet, though, and I found myself relaxing as we wound our way through the grasses.
Neka began to pick various wildflowers in bright, vibrant colors, and I watched as her nimble fingers wove the stems into a loose crown.
“Ta-da,” the cat-girl cried as she bounded over and dropped the crown of bright orange and pink flowers onto Sef’sla’s head. “That’s for you! Welcome to your first planet, Sef’sla.”
The princess giggled as she reached up and touched the fragile petals that settled against her brow, and her face was so beautiful and happy, I found myself unable to focus on anything else.
Which, of course, was when static crackled in my ear.
“Colby, incoming,” Omni warned right before the brush and bushes rattled behind me, and I turned to find us surrounded by a ring of sharp, silver swords.
Chapter 2
“Woah!” I quickly pushed my arms out to my sides and did my best to shield my crew behind me. I knew we were surrounded, but I was not willing to let my girls be in danger, not if I could help it.
The weapons caught me off guard, though, not because I didn’t expect to be met with hostility when I arrived on new planets, but because the reports from the previous excursions to Zalia had described the Gelm as a peaceful species open to negotiations.
My heart rate accelerated exponentially as I took in the sharp blades, but then I noticed something strange. The long swords I’d seen were not what I’d thought them to be. Instead of actual weapons, they appeared to be rudimentary farming tools similar to old Earth pitchforks and scythes. As I looked closer, I saw the tools were obviously old, and some were even rusted.
My eyebrows pulled together as I took in the scene more carefully. I assumed the creatures behind the weapons were the Gelm. They were about one and a half meters tall, with wide, stocky bodies and deep gray skin. They had bright yellow eyes that reminded me of Neka’s, but on top of their heads sat small, dark horns that appeared velvety in texture.
Then the Gelm began to cough around us.
Some of them reached up to cover their mouths, and their makeshift weapons nearly fell to the ground as the weight became too much for them to bear with only one hand.
What was going on?
I turned to glance back at Akela, Neka, and Sef’sla, and each of them looked at me with confusion and sadness in their eyes.
We all knew something was wrong here.
“Hello,” I said as I hesitantly took a small step forward.
The Gelm immediately attempted to hold their weapons up higher, but their cough would not allow them to. Once my modulator translated the sentence into their native language, though, they regarded me with curiosity.
Then the Gelm spoke in a series of baas, similar to that of an old earth goat, but we’d prepared for this since Terra Nebula had been to the planet before and decoded the language. We were all equipped with translation devices, and I only hoped that was enough to calm the sick creatures before us.
Finally, one of the Gelm, a larger one who stood slightly taller than the rest, lowered his weapon and responded in his native language.
A second later, the translation came through on my device.
“Who are you?” he asked.
“My name is Colby Tower, but you can call me CT,” I said, and I put on my best smile as I gestured to my crew. “This is my team, and we come in peace.”
The furry brows above the Gelm’s eyes pulled together as he regarded me.
“What do you want?” he demanded, and his eyes narrowed in suspicion.
“We came to speak to your leader about some intergalactic news that will affect your planet,” I replied, but as I spoke, the Gelm male began to cough once more. “However, it appears you are sick.”
I added the last part softly and sincerely. We had business on this planet, that was true, but my first priority wasn’t the mior crystals, it was the wellbeing of the creatures that inhabited the planet.
The Gelm male I’d spoken to was still consumed by a coughing fit, and as I looked at the others, I saw they were all obviously weak. My heart hurt for them, and I wondered how long this illness had plagued these people.
“What can we do to help?” I asked, and I looked to the Gelm I’d spoken with before. “Please, we do not want to hurt you.”
The male finished coughing, brushed his long dark blue sleeve across his mouth, then gestured for the others to lower their weapons.
“It is The Gray Cough,” the male sighed, but I heard him say something that sounded like ‘drim’, and I realized this was their name for the illness.
“What is it?” Sef’sla hissed as she stepped up b
eside me, and her deep eyes were intent on the male before us. “What are the symptoms?”
“It is a plague,” he responded through coughs. “It has haunted us for the past three years.”
So, that was why there was nothing in the database about this illness. Terra Nebula had been on the planet nearly thirty years ago, which meant there would have been nothing to report about a plague.
“What does the plague do?” Sef’sla asked once more, and she leaned in to study the male, I assumed to look for outward signs of infection.
“We want to help,” I added once more when the male took a step back from Sef’sla. “She is a doctor.”
The Gelm male looked suspicious, but he must have been desperate, too, because he finally relented.
“It makes us incredibly hot,” he said, “and some suffer from seeing things that are not real, or they lash out in a fit of rage. Eventually, our blood turns a deep gray, and it comes out in our coughs. Then we take our last breath.”
Deep pain and sadness shone in the Gelm’s deep yellow eyes, and I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him and his people. Three years was a long time to deal with a sickness, and I was sure many of them had succumbed to the fate the male had just described. From the way he spoke, it seemed this civilization had even less technology than I’d figured.
I knew they were primitive, but I’d thought they would have made some technological improvements in a thirty-year time frame. This didn’t appear to be the case, though.
As I studied the coughing Gelm around us, my heart rate began to climb, and I realized for the first time we might be in true danger. If this plague was able to be transferred across species, then I’d just walked myself, Neka, Akela, and Sef’sla to our deathbeds.
I quickly and secretly turned off my translator, and then I spoke quietly into my ear piece.
“O,” I said, and I could practically hear the panic in my voice. “Come in, buddy.”
