by Devon Shubin
“Somethings happening upstairs,” he said to her. “Something big.”
Alegna walked back over to him and asked, “Did you bring any weapons at all? Any laser beams or hatchets?”
“Hatchets,” he exclaimed, “Like what you use to cut tree branches in the jungle with?”
“No, I don’t think so. That is our weapon of choice on Underlay Lask. But I guess you wouldn’t have one hiding under your cloak, I would have seen it by now,” she explained.
“No Alegna, I have no weapons. I am a dlom Inspector not a Jioskian warrior.”
“Don’t get mad Inspector. I’m only trying to help,” she reprimanded him.
“You’re right, you’re right,” he said as he held her hand, “I am just a bit jumpy with all the-”
Another loud series of explosions above ground followed by shockwaves that caused both to stumbled forward. They tried to stand as the shaking of the ground continued. They finally fell on the ground as platinum dust filled the air space. Holding his respirator with his right hand he reminded her, “Breath through your nose only, remember.” She nodded her head yes to him as they lay on the ground waiting for the shockwave to conclude.
As the dust settled they could hear the grunts and growls of Wurthians who came running down the hall toward them. They could see again above their heads what looked like fireflies swarming around in the darkness. Before all the dust had settled they ran down the passageway, through the entrance to the secured room and around the corner out of view. They could only hope the Wurthians were heading for the secured room because they were exposed if not.
They watched in the darkness through night vision, as twenty or more Wurthians were carrying what looked like Cols from Cudat. The bodies were not moving which to our Space Traveler meant they were either unconscious or dead. With a sigh of relief, they could now see that the Wurthians were entering through the security scanner.
This gave the Space Traveler an idea, “Come on,” he said as they crept through the darkness watching as the alarm sounded and the blue light pulsated as each Col body passed through the scanner entryway. When the last two Wurthians went through the security scanner they followed right behind them watching the blue light pulsate and the alarm sound.
Inside the next room, the alarm sound ceased and they ducked behind a partition wall. The large room was more of a chamber. It was shaped like the interior of an obelisk. It was forty feet or so tall, narrow and dim. The only lights that illuminated the chamber were from the fireflies surrounding the Wurthians and ray beams that flashed around the room from large containers. Inside those containers there was something unnatural.
“What is going on Inspector?” She asked him in a whisper.
He could immediately understand what the Wurthians were doing. “Just watch,” he explained to her as she huddled up next to him in the darkness.
As the Cols were being placed up against a wall that froze them like a tongue to an ice pole, taller Wurthians had slender joysticks connected to the ground, with running wires leading to the containers that were filled with green slime. The containers were large forcefields, housing the hybrid dlom that rose and fell, bubbled and extended tentacles slapping the field walls. Now these taller Wurthians were the scientists who ran the operation. They were bald and shaped more like males. They wore long black coats, black gloves and digital goggles over their eyes.
Around the top of the chamber room was a narrow bridge that hung above the containers. Five or six white Wurthians were frozen to the walls above them. They were either unconscious or dead. Two of the Green Wurthians grabbed one of the pure white Wurthians and drug her across the floor and placed her over the container. It was not long before the dlom reached out its tentacle and sucked her in.
Another container of dlom spewed out a green Wurthian who fell to her knees. She slowly rose from the ground and growled. The other Wurthians in the room growled back at her. It looked as if it were some sort of welcome to the evil party ritual.
“Ok,” he sung, “Just when you think you’ve seen it all.”
“Shhh,” she whispered, “I’m confused.”
“It happens to the best of us dear,” he joked and then transformed his sarcastic face to his try-and-be serious one when he saw she was not amused. “The Wurthian scientists are using organic matter to create the hybrid dlom.” He explained to her. “That hybrid creates a …metamorphosis of sorts of you will, turning the Wurthians into the little green monsters we’ve been avoiding.”
“I didn’t know any of this is possible,” she lamented. “It sounds like science fiction to me Inspector.”
He just stared at her in the darkness and did not respond to that remark.
“We’ve got to warn USHA,” she whispered. “But we also need to get out of here before we are captured and turned into green things.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” he said as they darted out of the chamber room and through the security scanner, thankfully for them did not send out an alarm. The silver dust was spread out across the floor but was still hard to make out with their night vision goggles. It looked like shining diamonds as they ran over the dirt floors of the passageways.
After they trudged along through the watery sewage pipes, they eventually made it back to the original location. Alegna was very unhappy about that part of the travel, but she was even more thankful when they reached the upper level of the former purity system. Standing at the bottom of the pit, he flashed his goggle light beams up at the ceiling and could see the belly of his ship. The metal reflected down at them and he looked away. He spoke into his arm console, “Computer, come in.”
The transmitter in his earpiece spoke her voice, “Yes Captain.”
“Open the corepress hatch.”
“Opening the corepress hatch Captain,” she replied and light from above shined down on them growing larger until the opening was visible inside his ship.
“Computer, lower the grap-hook,” he commanded as she quickly replied, “Lowering grap-hook Captain.” The grap-hook lowered down to them.
He grabbed the wire and handed it to Alegna. “You first,” he said. “Don’t mind if I do, Captain,” she said as she grabbed the wire and wrapped her legs around it. The grap-hook ascended into the belly of the ship. When the Space Traveler used the grap-hook and entered his ship he noticed on the ground a pool of black blood, smeared all along the hallway floor.
“What is that?” Alegna asked as he wasted no time and said to her, “Follow me!” They ran down the hallway around the corner to the bridge. But when they reached the entrance of the bridge, he froze when he saw that his captain’s chair was laying on the ground up against a wall. He looked at her, “The Wurthians,” he said with disdain.
They could see out of the windshields now because all the Wurthians had abandoned it. The film left behind was disgusting, smudges on the outside, some blackish film along the edges. The Space Traveler walked closer to the main windshield and Alegna followed him.
“What do you think is going on out there?” She inquired.
When they came closer to the windshield that exposed the landscape of metal, the capital building was visible along with the millions of green Wurthians preparing for battle. They looked up could see hundreds of Hibot’s ships in the sky, firing upon the obelisks and they knew they were saved.
Pointing out the Space Traveler exclaimed, “It’s the Chancellors ship! Computer, patch me in to the Chancellor.”
“Transmission commencing Captain,” the ships computer acknowledged.
A fuzzy sound came over the loud speakers and the Chancellors voice came over, “Inspector!”
“You did receive my message! What’s happening out there?” The Space Traveler enthusiastically asked him.
The Chancellor explained, “We have engaged the Wurthians in battle. They have willfully violated the space and peace treaty, not to mention they ticked me off! The capital building and other facilities have been destroyed by our Hibot’s flee
t. Our sources are telling us they believe the Queen Leader was killed in the attack.”
The Space Traveler and Alegna smiled at each other in excitement. “Chancellor, the Wurthians were behind the hybrid dlom, we have found where their scientists are creating it, underground in their purity systems.”
“Yes, I know Inspector, we have had a good dose of aggressive dlom attack out ships,” the Chancellor replied. “But we eradicated them.”
Excited, the Space Traveler asked, “The Eradicators are here?”
The Chancellor replied, “I brought them with me…just in case.”
“You are wise boss, very wise.”
“Thank you, Inspector. If you play your cards right you can have my position when I retire. But there’s more Inspector. I need to brief you in person. I am landing my ship now and I will meet you the exposed section of the capital building. My attendants will escort you to the underground location. It’s being excavated as we speak.”
The Space Traveler laughed, “I know where it is, we were just there.”
“Then you know about the illegal transportation devices?”
“Yes sir,” he acknowledged.
“Yes sir? Is this my Inspector?”
“It is Chancellor,” he chuckled. “I’m just ecstatic that we have come to this point in the mission. I didn’t think we were gonna’ make it.”
“Well you did Inspector, you and your new assistant. And because of your outstanding example discovering the epidemic of dlom, I am going to reward you with a new mission, one of profound significance to the Universe. Anyways Inspector, I will meet with you shortly. Over and out.” The Chancellor concluded and the monitor screen faded to black.
He looked at Alegna and smiled, “It sounds like more work. But, that is my life I must say. It’s a life I signed up for. However, I didn’t think it would all work out this way. Did you?”
“No, me neither! When we were trapped on your ship, with all those females hanging over it,” she shook her head, “I thought we were doomed!”
He laughed at her, “Yeah, that was quite a scene. I’m just happy it’s all over with. I really need a vacation. Although, I have a strange feeling form what the Chancellor just said, I’m not going on any holiday anytime soon.”
Alegna snuggled up to him, holding his right arm as she buried her head in his shoulder. “It’s too bad Mizpah isn’t here, I could hear a song about now.”
The Space Traveler revealed, “You think we need Mizpah? I have my own sound system and music from Earth.” He looked up at the speakers on the wall as he normally did before talking to the ships computer, “Computer, play us something worthy of a celebration.”
Blasting from the ships sound system was the song ‘Hitch a ride’ by Boston. As the guitar rift played through the ships interior it echoed off the walls providing a unique acoustical quality to the song. It gave it a stadium-like feel and soon had Alegna bobbing her head up and down as the Space Traveler played his air guitar.
The song came to an end. Smiling, Alegna looked at the Space Traveler, he looked so happy she thought. And he was happy. “You are one wild man,” she said with a smile.
“You have no idea,” he playfully replied as he reached out to fill his cup with the pink drink we still don’t know what it is. He took a drink from it and she could sense that he was withholding something from her. So, she did what any female would do when she wanted an answer, she sat in his lap and you know he liked that.
“You’re not telling me something, what is it, Inspector? What is the big secrete about you?” She played with the buttons on his vest coat, “Oh, maybe it’s your name your keeping secret from me. What’s wrong, you don’t want to let me in on it? I’ve given much thought about that during this Wurthian mission. Your name, not your title, but your birth name. Won’t you tell me what it is?”
He looked away from her bashfully. He had not uttered his name in years and he sure was not going to tell her it was something so simple as Bill, Steve or Dave. She grabbed his cheek and turned it back to face her, “That’s it, your name, your birth name. What is it? You can tell me,” she seductively asked him.
He did not take long to answer her because his heart was beating through his chest. “Perhaps in time Alegna, but now is not the right time,” he answered her as they held each other. She felt she could live with that answer for now and would respect his wishes. But one day, she thought, she would know who he really was and where he had come from.
The ship’s computer came over the speaker system, “Captain, the Chancellor has captured the remaining Wurthian army. He is requesting your presence in the capital building.”
The Space Traveler glanced into Alegna’s eyes, he did not want this moment to end. “Well, I guess duty calls,” he said as she stood up from his lap and he placed his pink drink down on the console.
“Computer, reply back to the Chancellor that we are on our way,” he commanded as he then stood up from his chair.
They walked down the hallway hand in hand and down the exit ramp of the ship. She had to ask him, “Are you going to make it?” She had a genuine concern in her voice.
He smiled at her and then looked back at his ship as if he knew he would not see her again for some time. “Yeah…I’m going to be fine.”
Hand in hand they walked toward the chrome obelisk buildings where the Chancellor and his admirals were waiting for them. Smiling at each other as they entered the building. Inside they could see the Hibot’s excavation team was wheeling out rock and metals that had fallen during the attack. The grand transporter was already activated, glowing pure white lights twisting and turning at a diagonal angle toward the octagon shaped interior room. The Space Traveler could not help but notice the Chancellor was touching the bottom rings of it. The chrome floors illuminated the energy from the transporter and it cascaded mirror images of the Hibot soldiers, the ceiling of the room and the Wurthian subjects.
The Chancellor turned around and greeted them both with open arms as a smile that was plastered over his face. The Space Traveler had never seen his boss so happy in all the decades he worked under his direction.
“This is a proud day Inspector,” The Chancellor said as he held both of their shoulders, as they stood side by side. “But you are no longer just an Inspector. You are so much more. Over the years, I have put up with your antics and idiosyncrasies. If I had hair, I would have pulled them out one by one by now. But you have proven me wrong Inspector.”
He looked at the Chancellor with a humbled smile and shrugged his shoulder, “It’s been a privilege Chancellor, but…I feel like something is about to happen.”
The Chancellor chuckled briefly and responded, “You are so right Inspector. We have interrogated the Wurthians who were not affected by the dlom, they were not dead as our soldiers first thought. They are alive and well. And they have explained everything to us. Now, the grand transporter awaits you both.” He held his hand out toward the silver and chrome transporter which was emitting the spinning rays of white.
“What do you mean?” The Space Traveler inquired as he was confused by the phrase ‘the grand transporter.’
“Inspector! The grand transporter is a pathway to another galaxy! It is where the Wurthians have come from. It is filled with worlds of wonder and glory. Filled with life and knowledge. We deem to integrate with these worlds. Learn about them, and they will learn about us. The question is, are you willing to take the leap of faith and visit these worlds as an ambassador of our galaxy?”
The Space Travel looked at Alegna, and she stared into his eyes. He never refused an assignment from the United Planetary Systems, it was not in his nature to do so. That is why he has lasted this long as an Inspector, a dlom investigator. He looked up at the grand transporter that would lead him to another galaxy of the unknown, to a spot in the universe where he would need to learn their languages, customs and regulations. It would be a long journey, one that may take decades if not centuries to fulfill. He had no clue
as to when he would return or what he would become, but he knew he did not want to accept this assignment alone.
“I will accept this assignment Chancellor, but not alone,” he stated as he grabbed Alegna by the hand. The Chancellor looked at the couple and realized his little Inspector was growing up.
“So be it Inspector,” the Chancellor said with a large grin and his arms extended.
The Space Traveler took Alegna by the hand and said. “Well, I guess there’s no good time like the present.” She smiled at him as he walked her up the spiral staircase of the transporter. With each step, he looked in to her eyes as she stared back into his. This was going to be an adventure of the unknown for them both, but they would be together and that is all that mattered. The part of the galaxy they were traveling to they did not know its name or location. It would be filled with creatures, beings, civilizations, cities and organizations all new to them. They were excited and nervous all at the same time.
When they reached the top of the staircase at the plateau of the transporter, the Chancellor stood at the ground level looking up at them. He was proud and elated, as he watched the progression of the Space Traveler mature before his eyes. With his partner Alegna by his side standing at the top of the transporter, the Chancellor was finally excited for the future of the Universe.
Standing there, side by side, the Space Traveler held her hand as a blue light surrounded them while orange flares shot rings spinning around the platform. As they began disappearing for transportation to the unknown, the Chancellor proudly called out, “Go and spread justice across the galaxy! Do not fear those of the new realms! Instead, bring them into the United Systems with peace and order! If you make that your goal, you will have fulfilled your destiny….my Space Travelers!”
……. To be continued!
The Space Traveler
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