“Who said I’m not coming back?” Those were his last words as he shut the door on us, taking off into void. I was ready to hop on the pilot’s seat and follow him out there, but I felt a warm arm over my left shoulder – pulling me close.
“This is as far as we can go, huh?” I asked Seven.
“It’s as far as we need to go.” He confidently stated, turning me to look him in those dreamy eyes – “That boy going out there is a Sphere. We’ve done our part babe, now the time of The Son of Mars is at hand.”
The agreement was to intervene only on the condition that we allowed them to complete their task and so, we did. Now I just have to trust in my boy. But wait a minute, where’s the other girl? The black one, the one with the shining skin – where did she go? Oh, no! You have got to be kidding me…
The Son of Mars Takes Over
Colin Sphere steers his lonely solo shuttle to the nearest region of possible life, blindly yet heartedly searching for whoever or whatever he could find out in the endless spiral. It’s so big, so full of life and vast, diverse and always changing and still, Colin cannot find any possible signals that would signify intelligence or otherwise. The woes of the troubles begin to start pestering the man’s mind. Thoughts of Josh come unexpectedly to him, flowing into his mind like a waterfall, pounding him with more regret and more losses.
But in the end, Colin can’t deny that sting in that back of his head. Astraea needs him. He came this far and ‘this’ far, is too far to turn back now. Colin knows it. He won’t stop now. That crunch in his eyebrow? Those eyes that scream a monstrous war cry of a man, no a family, no – a people, who refuse to be held back any longer.
The flashbacks between Astraea and Adria bounce back and forth in Colin’s determined mind. The lines blur together, and he realizes the truth he knew all along. That undeniable love? That feeling that he was connected to her before? A love that surpasses Adria’s death and the fact that he would travel any sea, any shore and truly, any time for her, and for a reason he cannot deny why – Astraea is a reincarnation of Adria, and Leo was a reincarnation of Colin himself. These newfound truths only fuels Colin’s devotion to return to Astraea.
Suddenly he senses something. Something, organic – something of life. No, it’s not out in the cosmos. It’s on his ship and it’s behind him, waiting. He quickly grabs the ship’s only hand blaster and twists around, holding up a seemingly imaginary friend.
“I know you’re there.” Colin warns the thin air.
But his gut feeling would pay off right. Out of the nothingness, the black-skinned, golden-eyed, Adria emerges to deactivate a cloaking device she picked up from one of the ships. Colin lowers his weapon and asks, “What are you doing here?!”
“I can save her.” Arilia was using one of the language translators.
Colin shifted his eyebrows and corked his eyes at the exotic human curiously, “What are you talking about? You shouldn’t be here!”
Seeing as she didn’t have many options, Arilia extended her wrist and removed part of her cloak to show Colin a birthmark.
“Do you see this?” She asks as Colin suspiciously looks from a distance – “This is the birthmark of my true family.”
Colin looks at her with an expression that asks, ‘so?’
“I am not a native of that world you found me in. I was born in Sirius. My heritage descended from there. We were a part of a great, civil war between our peoples. My family was taken, among others in the war – traded as slaves, forced to work for our enemies. Sent to worlds we do not know.”
A tingling, bubbling sensation of hope rang through Colin’s mind as Arilia continued speaking
“I know the way back to my home. My family has passed down the tradition, for that one day we shall return. I will point you to it, it is our only hope.”
“Our.” Colin silently repeated the word
“You wish to save your family. My family wishes to save me. Let us help one another.”
Colin had no choice but to trust her, nevertheless, the way Arilia stared into his eyes made him feel an instant connection. He knew she was sincere because frankly the two of them were either going to make it or die out there together
“Alright.” Colin purposely used that word, still thinking of Astraea and the way she’d always keep a stern face. Anytime he saw her smile or just give a simple indication of an incoming smile, he’d feel butterflies. Random ‘little things’ of Astraea’s nature kept getting into Colin’s thoughts. He kept wondering if he, personally, had done enough for her.
It was a hard choice to venture out into the barren of this space, foolishly searching without truly knowing for something or someone that may not even be there. The Sirians, for all he knew, could’ve all been evil. When they got there, what’s to stop them from attacking Colin? Still, Colin knew that Astraea would keep on pushing. She’d keep going and going till she crumbled into dust. No matter what, he couldn’t deny she’d get the job done and now, that job’s in his hands. He had to carry on her legacy because it was not only hers – it was theirs.
Using the holographic interface, Arilia drew a star pattern her ancestors taught her when she was small. The pattern turned out to be a readable star map. Colin was able to connect the dots and find the location of the Sirius planet. He didn’t second thought his guest, they both trusted each other to do their parts.
“Here we go.” Colin muttered as they neared the vicinity of an ancient solar system, containing two medium-sized suns just about suitable for possible life. He had to slow the speed of the ship. Warping around or using light speed in tightly packed solar systems can be very dangerous. The instruments on board were still failing to detect any possible signs of intelligent life. For a moment, Colin wondered if he’d wrongly trusted the misjudgment of Arilia but as his hope began dimming, Arilia pointed out the cockpit. The way the two stars aligned, along with the other planets, comets and whatever else gave off enough light – showed her diagram to be strangely accurate. It was at that point Colin felt slightly more hopeful, then the afterthought of Astraea’s death came troubling him back into a cold, neutral-mission-mode zone.
“Do you know the planet?” Colin asked as he readied the ship’s engine drives to hit light speed for a quick maneuver if need be. Arilia did not respond to Colin. She closed her eyes and settled herself into a deep meditation, leaving Colin to wonder in frustration. He tried his best to keep his cool, seeing as Arilia did get him this far – he couldn’t lose it now, just patience.
With her eyes closed, Arilia raised her finger to the front of the cockpit, pointing to one of the stars. Colin thought to himself ‘she may as well be pointing to some random star outside the solar system’, but in the end it was the best option anyway so he followed her lead and took the ship directly to the light. As they approached the light, hope started to steam up in Colin again as the ship did identify the light as a planet and not a star and the even better news? It’s in the solar system.
‘This has to be it.’ Colin thought to himself.
Colin slowed the engines on the ship as they approached what appeared to be an orange-flavored planet, seemingly unsuitable for intelligent human life. That hope that was starting to build up found itself vanishing from Colin. He knew as they got closer, despite Arilia’s rising excitement, they’d hit another wall.
“There’s no one here.” Colin admitted in defeat but Arilia kept silent.
‘Time is running out, time is running out!’ – the thoughts kept berating his mind. Agitation began growing in him, pushing him to look around or find another way. He caught a glimpse of Arilia again. She was so calm yet smiling. Her eyes were closed but her hope didn’t fade. Had she accepted their end peacefully? Colin wasn’t about to go into the night gently.
“Hey.” Colin tried snapping her out of meditation, “There’s nothing here!”
And she still kept her composure, ignoring him from the looks of it. Colin thought to himself that Arilia’s use had truly ran out, s
o he decided to plot coordinates to all the nearby planets in the solar systems. Maybe he’d be able to find something around there, rather than staying here waiting for The Timeless Drifter to drift away.
Soon as Colin dialed the engines to go, Arilia held his hand. He looked over at her suspiciously but her hand was telling him to look outside
“They’re here.” She said softly.
Colin still saw nothing but blank space. He rolled his eyes in frustration but then he started seeing something strange out there. Energy signatures began sparking about in the distance, over the orbit of the planet and soon, Colin’s jaw would drop in awe when the sight of an entire armada of grey ships spawned around them. His first instinct was to run, because initially he mistakenly identified the ships as more possible remnants but Arilia’s calm was intoxicating and it spread across the whole atmosphere to the point that the Sphere on board that ship had to just wait it out. Then, another unexpected turn sent Colin’s paranoia into red alert – that strange energy began forming inside of the ship; around the cockpit, the controls and soon, both Colin and Arilia were engulfed in it.
“What is going on?!” Colin demanded as he looked at his hand disappearing in front of him. They were being beamed away and that wasn’t exactly the best thing. Neither Colin nor Arilia had spacesuits on. One moment, Colin remembered staring outside at the army of ships, the next – he is inside of a large, white hangar with a few docked beamships. As his vision slowly comes back to him, Colin noticed about a dozen figures not too far away. He rubbed his eyes to make it is no illusion. Men and women, some black, some white, some red and some blue – all dressed in the same white-suited space attire. They were not aggressive but the look on their faces spelt a complete neutrality. Not the most warming welcome. Colin watched in his own suspicion, mirroring the event to the previous encounter he had with the remnants, centuries ago. This time had no LARS to back him up and nowhere to run.
Arilia broke the silence. She ran into the mysterious people. Once she got close enough, they still kept their neutral composure but she was so overjoyed. She immediately showed them her birthmark. Some of them looked at one another, perhaps exchanging telepathic information.
Arilia waited in faded breath for her acceptance. Now, she was the one starting to lose hope as they continued their silent communication. At last though, one of the humans stepped forward, a tan-skinned female and placed her hand at the back of Arilia’s neck, pulling her into an embrace as the tip of their foreheads touched. Arilia immediately began crying but not a sob, it was tears of joy. Tears for at long last, she was finally home.
Colin watched on at the splendor. Part of him felt good that she was accepted but the other was aching for the mission, and for his fair maiden. He stepped forward, both wanting to interrupt and at the same time trying to be respectful.
“Hello?” He announced himself to the audience, “I… need your help.”
Arilia turned momentarily to notice Colin, only to immediately turn back to her newfound allies. She began speaking a strange tongue that Colin could not identify. He was tempted to turn the language translator on but he was so paranoid they may find it offensive. However, he could not deny that Arilia had to have been on his side. She was telling them of Astraea and whatever bits and pieces she knew of their mission.
The collective of humans looked at each other again, telepathically communicating over Arilia’s pleas. Finally, they looked at Arilia herself, perhaps also communicating with her telepathically too. Then Arilia looked back at Colin and smiled.
“Come!” She called out to him.
Colin bolted over there like lightning itself. Time on his mind. Once he got close enough to Arilia, he could identify a few structural difference in the mysterious humans – caused by evolution on other worlds. He stopped dead in his tracks, waiting for whatever else had to happen. Arilia moved to his side, looking in the direction of the human collective and then, they too, parted ways for Colin to see exactly who was behind them.
Colin looked like he saw a ghost. He couldn’t believe who it was. It couldn’t be. She’s dying, how could she be here?
“Hello Colin.” Astraea spoke to him past all the others around them.
He wondered for a moment if he’d truly lost it, then he realized her spectral-like appearance. It was Astraea, but it also was not. It was the projection of her consciousness, taking her form. Colin was flat out flabbergasted. He couldn’t believe that in her last breaths, she was still trying to complete the mission somehow.
“I’ve been speaking to the Sirian Council…” Astraea started as Colin marched straight to her, through the Sirian collective
“What are you doing! You’re using your only remaining life force to complete this damn mission?!”
“I could not let my responsibility wither, even in the state I am in.”
“Astraea, stop it. You will die if you continue using the last bit of life force you have left!”
“I know. Remember what I told you. It’s alright.”
“Shut up!” Colin shouted across the room, “I said it’s not alright! Stop using your consciousness power! Stop it! You can’t die now!”
“I know, which is why I took the liberty of explaining to the Sirians our mission, in addition to where I am and my state of health, along with what we’ve been going through and why I need you to come save me now…”
Before Colin could even mutter another word consumed in passion, the ghostly image of Astraea faded. Suddenly the Sirian collective were no longer neutral, but bothered and worried. An eerie silence crept into the air. One of the council members opened a camera-hologram, showing outside the ship. Several Remnants were outside, waiting and prepared for war using their own armadas. The council members began contacting other parts of the fleet, heading to ships and following general procedures for large scale space combat but the tan-skinned woman gave something to Arilia to pass on to Colin.
“What is it?” Colin asked, still distraught over Astraea
“This will save her. Go, now!” She replied
Colin backed up, thanking Arilia and the woman behind her. The Sirian Councilwoman held a hand-sized apparatus out at Colin and the same energy signature from earlier formed around him, encasing him entirely and warping him back to his ship.
When he arrived on board, he noticed they had cloaked his ship using their own technology. Again, he was thankful to The Sirians but he revved the engines to full throttle, seeing how the remnants had already begun their attack – lighting up space with their carnage. An overhead missile nearly hit Colin’s shuttle, had he not started the ship a second earlier, he would’ve been dead. That was more than enough for Colin to push it and steer his way out of there as fast as possible but it would not be so easy. The remnants had their own battalion of smaller fighters on his tail. They were not going to let him go.
Colin took a deep breath as he raced his small shuttle against the Armageddon. He could feel the hatred of a millennia, screaming for his disembowelment. At every sharp turn he made, another Remnant Fighter was there. The smaller ships constantly kept phasing in and out of the dimension, recklessly twisting the fabric of spacetime to their advantage. Colin’s ship may have been small, but it was not very fast nor agile. His best defense was to lead his foes against each other by penetrating their backlines. It’s a risk he’d have to take anyway, the ship was not equipped with a hyperdrive. The fastest he could go was at the speed of light and going at that speed meant risking where he’d end up. The universe was much faster initially in the big bang, as it expands, it slows down – so going over the speed of light without the proper warp drive can end up hurling one back in time.
But what could he do? He had a fleet chasing him relentlessly. Their constant pummeling against the simple escape vessel’s energy field would eventually grow too great for the poor ship to handle.
SHIELDS DOWN TO 50%
“Shit!” Colin blurted out in frustration as he held onto to the ship’s controls
, the device Arilia handed him on the seat where she formerly arrived in.
There were no weapons of great impact on board to necessarily stand up against a space militant armada armed with bloodlust on their side. Colin had to keep evasive. He had to be illusive and above all, he had to be the best pilot anyone could dream of – because the kind of light show that was going on outside that ship, was the kind that drives men out of their minds. Outside his cockpit, he would get an occasional glance of the terror lurking in the dark. Laser shots hurling next to the ship, laser shots hitting the ship and not to mention, the civil war itself that was happening out there.
It was Sirian vs Sirian. The Remnant ships had a very distinct difference, housing a black scheme, sporting sharp edges to their ships and from the creatures he encountered, their evolution had also biologically made them different too. The Sirian Allies had silver ships that were more round with a few rectangular-shaped objects that appeared to be ships, although Colin personally did not have the time to figure out what they really were. His eyes were set on the only destination that mattered to him – his family.
SHIELDS DOWN TO 21%
“Damnit!” Colin knew he wouldn’t much longer.
‘What were the Sirians thinking?’ He wondered, ‘This is suicide.’
He was doing his best to avoid as much damage as possible, but he’s only human. It was enraging to think that he’d die out there. Colin couldn’t waste any thought energy on such a thing. In his mind, if he died, he died – all that mattered is that he tried and he tried his damned hardest to the bitter end.
SHIELDS DOWN TO 6%
That ticking clock that tells you the end is near would spare you no favors out here. The ship’s instruments began malfunctioning, relaying false data and unintended coordinates. Colin slipped his hand next to the apparatus he was given for Astraea. He held on tight to it, his eyes still locked on the distant twinkling starlight he came from.
Zero Sphere: A Space Opera Thriller Page 30
