Earth (Vetrix)

by Bill Bush

  The news reporter continued. “Wow! Well, there you have it folks—shocking news from President Charles. She didn’t go so far to say that the assassin was an alien, but she said he definitely wasn’t part of the human race. Let’s go now to our correspondent…”

  Dee sat in stunned silence. Her husband and son were heading underground with several Gudes. The same Gudes whom her son trusted had just assassinated leaders from all over the world.

  Chapter 14

  Flipper sat on the ground and cried with his back against the secret door—the one that separated him from his Dad. The others had tried everything they could to open the door so they could rescue Dennis. Fox tried his laser pen and Josh tried his sonic screwdriver, but neither worked. There was no way to get back to Dennis and Finn and Damien.

  “Can’t we teleport back in?” Flipper asked.

  “You heard Finn,” Fox said. “They have the area protected. It would be suicide.”

  “Good, I want to try,” Flipper pouted.

  “What your dad did was very brave,” Nicole said consolingly. “He wouldn’t want you to do that.”

  Flipper knew she was right, but he still felt guilty. “I should have stayed with him. I could have helped.”

  “Your dad risked his life to save you,” Fox said. “He wanted you to get away.”

  Flipper let Fox's words sink in. He felt comforted as he thought about how much his dad loved him. He had always known it, but he hadn't felt his dad’s love as much as he did at this moment.

  For the first time since the door shut Flipper looked up and made eye contact. He looked at Fox. He didn’t know what to say, which was just as well because his eyes were tearing up and he didn’t think he could speak without causing himself to sob.

  Fox got down on one knee and put his hand on Flipper’s shoulder. “You have my word that we will do everything we can to get your dad back.”

  ”But what if … what if they…” Flipper couldn't get the words out.

  ”Finn and Damien aren't going to hurt your dad. They want you and will use your dad as leverage.”

  Flipper wiped his snotty nose on his shirt sleeve. It was hard to walk away. Sitting against the sealed door made Flipper feel close to his dad, but he knew his only hope of helping his dad was to start walking. He stood, and a wave of anger coursed through him. “Let’s take the Snaders down!”

  “Allison, Josh, let’s lead the way,” Nicole invited.

  Flipper stayed in the back of the group. Jake joined him. “I’m sorry about your dad.”

  “Thanks. I feel like I should have done something.”

  “I saw the whole thing,” Jake said. “There wasn’t anything you could have done.”

  “Jake, how can I help save the universe if I couldn’t even save my dad?”

  “Who said you couldn’t save your dad? The rescue just started.”

  Flipper nodded in agreement. “Thanks.”

  Nicole took the lead with Josh and Allison into the dark tunnel. This time, however, they brought plenty of flashlights for everyone to use, including back up batteries. Of course, Fox's laser pen also worked as a lighting device, and was powered by a technology that didn’t run out of power. They wouldn’t be caught in the dark this time.

  ***

  They could only walk in pairs through the narrow tunnel. Nicole walked in front with Josh and Allison behind her. Fox brought up the rear.

  The first hour was painfully slow. Allison's mind raced between her Uncle Dennis and the events of the last few hours. Finally she asked Nicole, “I’ve been having a lot of dreams lately and I don’t know what they mean.”

  “Tell me about them,” Nicole said.

  Allison told her about the night Flipper was kidnapped and how she had dreamed (to her it seemed like reliving) about the previous day with Fox watching them. A couple of days later when she fell asleep in the spaceship she dreamed of Flipper playing soccer, and Flipper had the same dream and remembered the same things Allison had. Then she dreamed of a Snader smoking cigars, but that was a very short dream.

  “The last dream was the most disturbing,” Allison continued. “I met a Snader in his home. He called me a dreamer and said he had been a dreamer chaser. He tricked me into a room and tried to lock me up in a special cage he had designed to trap Dreamers. I thought I was stuck there forever, but I woke up here, back in the spaceship with Josh.”

  “What was the dreamer chaser’s name?” Nicole asked.

  “Red,” Allison said.

  The kids all chuckled, just as Allison had when she first heard his name — that a Snader with red skin was named Red. Nicole turned and looked at Allison, then Allison saw her make eye contact with Fox.

  The look on Nicole’s face, not the kids laughing, had Allison’s attention. “What? What is it? Who is Red?”

  “Red is the fiercest Dreamer chaser the Gudes have ever known,” Fox replied.

  “So there are Dreamers?” Allison’s voice raised with concern. “Am I a Dreamer?”

  “Yes, there are Dreamers,” Fox replied. “It isn’t something you choose, but if you have the gift you can learn to control and use it.”

  Allison stopped, which forced everyone to also stop because of the narrow path.

  Fox continued. “We have used Dreamers for thousands of years to battle the Snaders. As you can imagine, it is a very effective tool. Of course, the Snaders put together a group to chase down Dreamers. It is extremely hard to control and contain a Dreamer, so they usually eliminate them. You were very fortunate to get away from Red.”

  The moment Red trapped her in his cage flashed in Allison's mind and chills coursed through her body.

  “Do you think she was able to get away from Red because she was a Snader?” Alya asked.

  “Yes, I would guess that is the reason,” Fox agreed.

  “Fox, you said Dreamers can learn to control it,” Jake said. “Can you teach Allison to control her dreams?”

  “Neither Nicole nor I are experts in this area, but it is essential we teach her some of the basics. We don’t want her to accidentally visit Red again.”

  They started walking, but Allison couldn’t get the picture of being trapped by Red out of her mind.

  ***

  Allison wished there was a better way to get to the Snader colony than through the muddy, narrow slide. If there was they didn't know about it. They each had to go one at a time down the slide.

  Fox went first in case there was a Snader or several Snaders at the bottom. One by one they went down, each arriving in the room with the spaceship. Fortunately there were no Snaders around.

  Once everyone arrived safely, Fox and Nicole lead the way into the spaceship, with Josh and Allison behind them. They made a quick run through. Once they confirmed the spaceship was unoccupied everyone else came aboard.

  Allison explained how she found the information regarding the Snaders in Dyson's room. She found a locator and adjusted it so they could view the camera feeds and watch for someone approaching the spaceship. She gave it to Chezlor to keep watch then she and Josh led them to the end of the ship to show them around the cockpit and Dyson’s room.

  Allison put her hand up to the door pad and it slid open. She looked at Nicole. “When we were here before, Josh tried to open the doors but he couldn’t. How come it opened for me and not for him?”

  Nicole stepped forward. “I think I can probably answer that.”

  She placed her hand on the pad and nothing happened. “Flipper, why don’t you try?”

  Flipper placed his hand on the pad and the door slid shut.

  Allison looked at Nicole. Suddenly it dawned on her, “The door opens for us because we have Snader blood?”

  Nicole smiled. “Yes. Most of the Snader technology is linked to their blood. Only a Snader can open these doors, and only Snaders are protected from their weapons. That’s why Flipper was able to go through their force fields and was immune to their freezing machine and their firearms.”

&nbs
p; After a quick tour of the cockpit they went into Dyson’s room and looked around.

  “There’s a lot of information here to look through,” Nicole said.

  “We also need to go check out the colony,” Fox said. “You and Allison stay here. Chezlor, you like to do research. Why don’t you stay here with Nicole and Allison and see what you can learn. I’ll take Jake, Josh, Alya, and Flipper and go scout the main area. We’ll see if there’s anything down there we can learn.”

  Chapter 15

  The path to the large, city-sized Snader colony required scaling twenty feet up a jagged wall to an almost undetectable hole just big enough for Fox, the biggest of the group, to fit through. A self-propelled elevator awaited them once they made it through the crawl space. Since the elevator could accommodate no more than three persons it took over an hour before all five of them were peering at an almost empty, eerily dark, large domed room.

  They ventured into the open area without worry. When Josh and Allison were here less than two weeks ago this enormous place that could have fit several football stadiums housed two hundred and ninety-eight spaceships and thousands of Snaders. It was like a city abuzz with life and activity. Now it felt deserted and dead. Five spaceships remained. No signs of life.

  Josh stood with his mouth open, stunned at the difference. “They’re all gone!”

  “Who’s all gone?” Flipper asked.

  Josh turned in a circle, looking up and down as if the spaceships were hiding somewhere close by. “The Snaders! They're all gone. This place was filled with spaceships. And there were Snaders everywhere! Thousands of them running around doing, doing—I don’t know, whatever Snaders do in an underground colony.”

  Josh and Alya started toward the five spaceships that remained, but Fox caught them. “Get back here guys! We still need to be careful until we know that no one is here. Let’s take a look around. Why don’t we start with the areas that you and Allison explored.”

  Josh led them to the training center. There were robot parts lying all around the arena and in the shop, but there were no whole robots.

  “They must have destroyed all the robots before leaving,” Josh observed.

  They walked across the shop to the back.

  “Right through here is where we found the tank that Allison and I used to escape,” Josh directed.

  Walking through the hallway they found the tank sitting where it had been when Josh and Allison had taken it.

  Fox climbed on top and looked down inside. “No one in there. Were there any other areas down here you and Allison explored?”

  Josh shook his head, “No, just the arena and the shop areas. There were too many Snaders to get around safely and we were only down here twice.”

  “Let’s head back and explore their main facility,” Fox said.

  Fox led them around the perimeter of the room, staying together at his insistence.

  After they made their way completely around the room Fox stopped and looked above. Josh watched his eyes travel along the rocky ceiling toward the middle of the room. The dim light made it look like the ceiling disappeared in the middle.

  Fox followed his eyes, walking out into the open, waving for the rest of them to stay close. As they neared the center of the room Josh could see why the ceiling looked as though it disappeared.

  They stood gaping upward into a dark, empty hole that had no apparent ending.

  “I think we know how they got their spaceships out of here,” Jake said with an awe in his voice.

  “So, would that be considered an abyss?” Flipper asked.

  “Isn’t an abyss a bottomless hole?” Josh asked.

  “That isn’t bottomless,” Alya said.

  “An abyss is a seemingly bottomless hole,” Flipper corrected.

  ”Smarty-pants,” Josh commented.

  “This hole seems endless,” Jake added, “but it can’t be bottomless since it goes up.”

  “So what’s the opposite of an abyss?” Josh asked.

  “Wouldn’t it be the top of something?” Alya asked.

  “Like a peak, or summit?” Flipper chimed in.

  “That doesn’t fit this situation,” Jake noted.

  “What if you were on the surface?” Flipper asked. “Then the hole would go down and be seemingly bottomless. So wouldn’t it be considered an abyss?

  No one seemed to have an answer.

  Josh thought he could literally feel his brain going in circles—his thoughts like a dog chasing its own tail. He couldn’t catch up with them, but he also couldn’t stop the chase. It was Flipper. He had a way of doing this to Josh like no one else.

  “Speaking of holes,” Jake said, “My stomach has a big one!”

  “I’m sure we’re all hungry,” Fox said as he checked a small, hand-held device he pulled from his pocket. “And tired. It’s almost dawn up above.”

  Jake looked at Josh. “Didn’t you say you found some food on their spaceship?”

  Josh almost cringed at the thought of the yellow, leaf-like things that he and Allison had eaten. It wasn’t the taste that bothered him—they didn’t have much more taste than lettuce—but the texture. He could almost feel the string-like food getting caught in his throat. He had to stop thinking about it or he was going to gag. He nodded in the affirmative.

  “Maybe the Snaders left some food behind on one of those spaceships,” Alya suggested.

  They alertly approached the nearest spaceship. Though it had a very dim glow on the outside, the inside of the spaceship was lit only by what light seeped through the door from the outside.

  Inside, the layout was exactly the same as Dyson’s spaceship. The spaceship had the same deserted, empty feeling the cave did.

  After quickly checking the cockpit, where they found no one as expected, Fox made a plan. “If there’s any food in the kitchen we’ll grab a bite to eat then search each of the cockpits for a clue as to what the Snaders are doing.”

  In the kitchen, they were delighted to find a full barrel of water and plenty of the yellowish plants to eat. Fox, Jake, and Alya didn’t seem to mind eating the mud, but Flipper and Josh passed. There were plenty of chairs for them to sit, eat, and relax for a few minutes.

  After a long, quiet pause, Alya said, “I could fall asleep sitting here.”

  Josh understood. He propped his head on his arm and his eyes drifted closed.

  “We’ll try to get some rest before heading back to the surface,” Fox said. “Maybe when we get back to Dyson’s spaceship.”

  After another long, quiet pause, Fox said, “There must be a large spring nearby to have kept the Snaders supplied with water the last several decades.”

  “Why would the Snaders leave all this food behind and the barrel full of water?” Flipper asked.

  “It’s almost like they are still here,” Jake commented.

  Josh's eyes flew open. Fox had his gun drawn. Josh gagged as he tried to swallow.

  “Shh,” Fox ordered. “Let’s quickly but quietly sneak out of here.”

  As they rose in unison the lights inside the spaceship lit up. The sudden change from near darkness to the bright hurt Josh’s eyes as his pupils fought to adjust.

  Several of the doors in the hallway opened. Snader children started pouring out of the rooms until one of the children saw the three Gudes and two humans standing there befuddled.

  The Snader child screamed. Soon all of the children were screaming and frantically trying to get out of the spaceship. With the Snader children flooding the hallway, the five guys were cut off from the exit.

  When the hallway cleared, Fox led the four to the door. He had his weapon in position to fire, but after peeking out the door he raised both hands.

  “What’s going on?” Jake asked.

  Fox's stare remained forward. “We are surrounded. They have at least a dozen adults with weapons.”

  Fox carefully walked down the stairs and the others followed. One of the Snaders grabbed Fox's weapon from him.

&nbs
p; “Who are you? What are you doing here?” The Snader asked.

  “We thought you were all gone. I am Fox, from the planet Vetrix. Take it easy. We are just exploring.”

  “Nonsense!” The Snader spat. “No one explores here by accident. Are you the ones responsible for Stark and Endu?”

  “I've only been here a couple of hours. I don’t know anything about Stark and Endu,” Fox lied.

  The Snader, who was about three inches shorter than Fox but didn’t seem to care, got right up into Fox's face. “You lie! What are you doing here?” The Snader asked again.

  “I told you, we are exploring,” Fox said.

  The Snader started to turn, then suddenly spun and hit Fox over the head with his weapon.

  Fox collapsed on the ground, unconscious.

  Chapter 16

  “Before we start reading I think you should lie down and practice controlling your dreams.”

  Nicole, Allison, and Chezlor stood outside of Dyson’s room.

  “I-I don’t know,” Allison said.

  “I know it’s scary, but if you don’t try, then as you have seen, you could end up anywhere in your dreams. We will be close by in case anything happens. You can do this—I know you can.”