I should have just done it. I’m sure she was waiting for me to kiss her. Look, she’s trying not to laugh.
Chapter Eighteen
That evening in Londuo’s quarters onboard the Lonori, Londuo was sitting with James at a desk in her room, which was similar to a large cabin onboard an ocean liner. On the desk, equipped with a console and a monitor, there were three holographic notepads and two empty cups.
It feels like I’ve known him years. Why is that? Londuo thought, as she watched James writing on a holographic notepad. He’s also different to anyone else I know. I think that must be why I like him so much. People here have been brought up during the war, and that has made everyone so cold and hard inside. He’s different; shy and more sensitive. She thought back to yesterday. I think he wanted to kiss me in the viewing area.
‘What do you think?’ James asked Londuo, showing her a notepad he had written on.
Londuo with a delayed reaction said,
‘Oh, sorry, I was miles away,’ and then looking at the notepad added. ‘The alphabet you used on Earth is remarkably similar to ours. All letters look the same except these two characters. What are they?’
James leant over.
‘That’s Z and C.’
Sed and See! Very odd, Londuo thought. I wonder if he’ll try and kiss me again.
Londuo turned on the console and pressed some symbols on the lit keyboard.
‘It’s now configured as a full character set,’ she said.
‘I could use that all right,’ James replied. ‘It’s not a QWERTY keyboard, but I’m not a touch typist, anyway.’
‘Qwerty?’ Londuo said.
‘It’s the name of the most standard English keyboard, on Earth,’ James said. ‘The start of the top row of letters would spell out the word ‘QWERTY’.
‘In that case ours would be called a LERHDA.’
‘Sounds more like a disease.’
‘And yours sounds like a cough!’ Londuo replied and laughed.
She noticed James smiling at her, watching her as she laughed. I haven’t been this happy for a very long time, she thought, before saying.
‘Right, let’s move on to the difficult part.’
She pressed a symbol to the side of the main keys. The console changed to show a set of symbols.
‘Onboard military and science ships we use a number of different configurations of keyboards. Each symbol in each configuration can represent a word or complete instruction. You’re going to ask why, aren’t you?’
‘It had crossed my mind,’ James replied.
‘How long would it take you to type into the computer, “CLOSE BLAST DOOR SIX”?’
‘I’d ask Kalrea,’ James said.
‘James, I’m trying to be serious,’ Londuo replied, before thinking, he’s trying to tease me.
‘With this unfamiliar keyboard, at least thirty seconds,’ James said.
‘And if each word was a symbol on the keyboard?’
‘Probably under half that time,’ James replied. ‘I could stick little labels on top of the symbols so I know what they are.’
Londuo shook her head. I’m going to ignore that, she thought and then said,
‘That’s the principle of it. Each symbol or combination of symbols can represent a word. The configuration of the keyboard you see now is called “scientific console” and contains symbols used for computations, various system checks and management of basic functions on the ship. There are several other keyboard configurations. For example, we have a command console, which has single symbols on it, to perform navigation functions and a combat console to control the weapons systems. These consoles allow us to save precious time, which can make all the difference in combat.’
‘If we had twenty or thirty arms, like I hear a Treitan has, then it wouldn’t be a problem,’ James remarked.
‘I give up,’ Londuo said, sitting back in her chair. ‘You’re impossible.’
She crossed her arms and turned her head away from him. Right, now I am going to see his reaction if I pretend to be angry at him, she thought.
James looked uneasy.
‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.’
Londuo sat in silence, waiting for more of a reaction from James. I’m no good at this. There’s no way I can keep this up. Her smile widened.
‘Got you! I wasn’t angry, I was just teasing you,’ she chuckled and quickly got up. ‘Would you like another drink?’
‘Yes, thanks,’ he replied.
Londuo walked into the kitchen area.
‘What was Earth like?’ she asked, looking back to James.
‘It’s funny that. While I was there I took it for granted.’
James paused.
‘A bit like everyone else there, I suppose. It’s a wonderful planet. The countryside is very similar to Brinoli.’
James went on to describe the cottage and where he lived on Earth.
She interrupted him to ask what he wanted to drink:
‘Loip or Moip?’
‘I already tried the Loip, so I think I’ll have the Moip this time, please.’
Londuo continued to listen to James talking about his life on Earth.
Sounds an interesting place, she thought.
Londuo entered the room carrying two glasses.
‘Now that I think back, I miss it,’ James said. ‘I feel homesick, even though it’s not my real home.’
‘You were brought up there,’ Londuo said. ‘It’s your home.’
James smiled and nodded.
‘I suppose it is.’
‘James, will you do something for me?’ Londuo said, passing him his glass. I hope he won’t mind me asking. I want to know more about him.
‘Of course, Londuo. What is it?’
‘Will…’ She was feeling nervous. ‘Will you teach me that Earth language of yours, and tell me more about how you lived there?’
‘Why would you want to learn the Earth language?’
‘I don’t know. I mean... I feel I’d know you better if I understand more about your life on Earth.’
‘I think that my life on Earth was pretty boring compared with yours. However, if you are so interested, I will tell you about my past,’ he said, with a large grin. ‘But if you’re going to ask questions about me, then I would like to know more about you too.’
‘All right!’ Londuo replied.
She felt relieved, and a smile grew on her face.
‘What do you want to know?’
‘Okay, where were you brought up, Londuo?’
Where do I start, she thought before saying.
‘I was only nine sykals old when the Treitans attacked us, so I was too young to remember our life on Qintaino. After we escaped, I spent over twelve sykals growing up here,’ she said, glancing around.
‘What? On the Lonori?’ James replied.
‘Oh, there were hundreds of children onboard. The corridors were our playground. Daivl, Kliaro and Frasin were my closest friends. We’d sometimes sneak Siom, my kiol, out for a while; however, we weren’t supposed to, because pets were confined to our quarters. We were always hiding him from the adults; well, that was until we got caught.’
Londuo sat down in the sofa and sipped her drink.
‘We used to hide him behind the access panels. There was always one close by, but that day when we opened it up, he’d disappeared. He had wandered off down one of the ducts. We searched everywhere, all the access panels for five sections and levels in every direction. We couldn’t find him.’
‘What happened to him?’
‘The next day we got in serious trouble. He turned up in the commander’s quarters at the other end of the ship. I still can’t work out how he travelled there.’
Speaking about her childhood made Londuo feel happy, and her face beamed.
‘Being onboard the Lonori was a great adventure, but we were too young to understand why we were on a ship or what was happening to us.’
Londuo paused f
or a moment while she drank.
‘Of course, when I got older, the reality of our situation slowly dawned. The first battle with the Treitans I can remember was as a child aged sixteen sykals. We engaged six of their heavy cruisers. I was in school at that time when the alarms sounded.’
‘School!’ James said. ‘How did they manage to teach all of you?’
‘With great difficulty, at first. They converted six rooms in the communal area for the younger children. My classroom was next to the DINER BESORI, up on the balcony. The older children had to travel to one of the destroyers.
‘I’ll always remember my first journey, on a shuttle, over to my classroom onboard the destroyer Thardopila. I hadn’t realised how big the Lonori was. It was like a city in space. Every day, I couldn’t wait to get on that shuttle. I loved it out there.’
‘What about the battle?’
‘The battle… Oh, yes. Where was I? I was together with the other kids watching the battle from the forward viewing area. The Treitans didn’t stand a chance, not against the whole of our task force. I felt so proud, watching our ships. I was captivated by the fighting, the sight of the volley of plasma torpedoes, when our ships fired. The fighters gliding into the distance… They didn’t get close enough to hit any of our ships. In my eyes, at that time, we were invincible.’
Londuo paused and thought.
‘Even back then, I remember wanting to be a fighter pilot.’
‘So they spent all that time trying to find a planet to make a base on?’ James asked.
‘We did stop at various planets during that period but only some of the children were allowed down to the surface. I was nineteen sykals old, when I was finally allowed down onto a planet called Sonap, located in the Omil system.’
Londuo sipped her drink, before continuing,
‘It was the first time I could remember seeing plants, wild animals; oh, and those incredible twilight star bursts. It was more than I could ever have dreamt of. The green countryside was so beautiful.’
That’s when everything changed, she thought. Londuo suddenly felt sad. She could see James looking concerned. He can see it in my eyes, she thought and then said,
‘Two days later, we lost our last cruiser, the Vornosio.’
She took a deep breath.
‘I’ve never talked about this with anyone before, James. It was the saddest day of my life.’
Londuo’s eyes became glazed. She looked up at James. He got up from the chair and sat alongside her.
This is going to be hard, but I want him to understand. Londuo compose herself before continuing.
‘That day all the children finished school as normal. The shuttle brought us back from our classroom onboard the Thardopila and we were all waiting in the docking entrance hall for our parents to collect us. I will never forget it.’
Londuo placed her hand on top of his and lightly gripped it.
‘Frasin and I were looking at the drawings we had done that day on our holographic notepads. They were pictures of flowers we had seen from our recent visit to Sonap. I can remember being annoyed by some boys running around playing with a ball next to us. It was just like the end of another day at school. The parents started to arrive, and children slowly dispersed from the room. I remember Frasin’s mother, Kara, coming in and Frasin running over to meet her. They said goodbye to me and then they left. I waited a long time, probably more than half an hour passed, until there were just five of us left in the room. I didn’t even feel any concern at that time. I knew that mum and dad would walk through the door at any moment. They were always early, so I’d never been there with so few children left. It felt strange, but I didn’t see any reason to be unhappy. Then, one of the older boys in the room suddenly started to cry, and that was when I realised something wasn’t right.
‘An old woman appeared in the doorway. I looked at her face. She was very serious and sad. Then, Frasin’s mum, Kara, and three other women followed her in. Kara came over to me. I could see tears in her eyes. She knelt down in front of me and took hold of my hand.’
Londuo stopped and wiped a tear from her eye.
‘I’ll always remember looking into her eyes. She could hardly look into mine. Kara wanted to say something but was unable. I asked her if she was all right, then she told me that the Vornosio had been destroyed. James! I never even thought any harm could come to them. My mother was a lieutenant onboard the Vornosio; Jameilo, my father, was a maintenance engineer.’
Londuo took a deep breath.
‘She informed me that my mum and dad had been killed and she would be looking after me. I didn’t want to believe what she had just told me, so I dropped my notepad and bag and ran from the room. I ran all the way back to our quarters.
‘I opened the door expecting, no, wanting to find them there, but there was no one there, only Siom, my kiol, waiting to be fed. I just held Siom for a while and cried. It felt like my world had collapsed. I remember Kara appearing at the door a few minutes later. She came in and put her arms around me and Siom.
‘I miss my parents so much. I wish I could bring them back.’
Londuo started to cry. She felt James put his arm around her, to comfort her. As he gently caressed the top of her arm, she felt more relaxed and closed her eyes. She imagined a life with James, away from conflict.
‘How are you feeling now?’ James asked affectionately.
Londuo retrieved a hiaki cloth from her pocket and used it to wipe away her tears.
‘Much better now, thank you! Talking about it brings back all those unpleasant memories.’
Londuo leant her head on his shoulder and then thought, I don’t want to be left alone again. What if I lose James?
He stroked her hair and said,
‘I know how devastating it can be to lose a parent. Lex, my father, died when I was only ten sykals old.’
‘But at least you still had Carol. They took away everything I cared about; everything I loved. On that day, I swore I’d never love anybody again. I never wanted to feel that cold, helpless, sadness anymore.’
‘It’s all right, Londuo, I understand,’ James said.
‘No,’ Londuo said. ‘You don’t.’
Strong feelings were playing on her mind, and she was trying to keep detached from them, but there was one she could not suppress. That feeling was crying out, and she thought, I never wanted to love again, but I know I’m in love with him.
Chapter Nineteen
The fleet was now just ten hours from Dagnamk.
James entered the communal area where he was going to meet Londuo. He noticed her over the balcony just above him, so he called out to her, but she appeared to be staring into space.
Strange, she seems distracted. I hope there’s nothing wrong.
James walked up the stairs and around the balcony.
‘Londuo, are you all right?’ he asked affectionately.
She looked around.
‘James, I didn’t see you come in!’
‘You look like you’re on another planet,’ James said.
‘We’ve just had the briefing,’ she said, turning towards him. ‘I know I guessed about the attack on Dagnamk, so it was not a surprise to me, but the silence of people during the briefing was overwhelming. The room was filled with fear.’
She paused.
‘I just can’t stop thinking about it.’
Londuo stared into space once more.
‘It could be the end of everything.’
‘Or a new beginning,’ James said.
‘I hope you’re right, but I keep having this dream.’
‘What’s worrying you, Londuo?’
Londuo shook her head slowly.
‘I need to go for a walk, James.’
‘Do you want to be alone?’
‘No,’ she replied quietly. ‘No; please, I need to be with you.’
They started to walk along the central corridor of the ship towards the rear.
She’s very quiet. I wonder w
hat’s concerning her. She seems very depressed about this dream. Maybe I should try to cheer her up a bit, or should I see if she wants to talk about it?
They walked in silence right to the stern of the ship.
‘This is as far as we can go,’ James said, pointing ahead. ‘Section sixty-three. There’s a bulkhead.’
Londuo looked at the sign.
‘I didn’t realise we’d walked so far.’
‘Is there anything this end of the ship?’ James asked, looking back along the corridor. ‘Or do you have to carry me all the way back?’
Londuo smiled.
‘That’s better,’ James said. ‘I thought that sad expression was glued on forever.’
‘I’m sorry, James. I just needed to do some thinking,’ she said, looking up at the location sign. ‘There is something in this area.’
Londuo looked back at James.
‘I think it’s time you saw what we’re fighting and now’s as good a time as any.’
Londuo took James’ hand. She led him back along the corridor, up a flight of stairs and into a guarded section of the ship. They entered a small rectangular room, which had no furniture, just a large black window with a small control panel alongside it.
‘Unfortunately it’s dead,’ Londuo said. She pressed two symbols on the panel. ‘We’ve never been able to take one alive. They somehow kill themselves before we have a chance to capture them.’
The lights in the adjoining room slowly brightened and the window cleared.
Stretched out on a stone slab in front of them was the body of a Treitan.
James felt his stomach turn.
‘It’s not what I expected,’ he said.
‘No, the first time I saw one, I almost threw up,’ Londuo said.
James looked at the Treitan, which was at least three metres tall, with wet looking yellow and grey skin. Its bloated body was covered in many thick tentacles, which in turn were covered in smaller ones. Some of them were hanging over the edge of the slab, from which mustard liquid occasionally dripped. Ripples moved across the surface of a large pool of serum beneath the slab.
The Aurora (Aurora Saga, Book 1) Page 20
