by Nick Pond
“There!”
The other two joined in with squinting at the small image offered by the screen.
“I can’t see anything,”
Zipper was already at a metal cabinet, topping up on weaponry and reloading his laser gun. A white mesh of metal, which could be mistaken for an Apple I phone – but still gun shaped. But things progressed a lot quicker than he anticipated, as the door to the room began to open; with everyone accounted for standing next to him. Zipper dived to the wall next to the door, ready for the intruder to present themselves.
“A nice welcome as always then,” A woman’s voiced said, which belonged to a tall skinny girl with her blonde hair invading a lot of the top of her head and down her shoulders.
Zipper opened his mouth in awe, that’s my ex-wife!
Keagan, who was still housed inside his space suit, found himself lost in a rather barren desolate land; which actually belonged to a small asteroid. He fears for his life, as this piece of rock produced many menacing traits; such as jagged pointed shards of rock coming from up the ground, the ground itself was so broken up Keagan found he having to jump over the gaps. I don’t even know where I’m trying to get too! Damn you! Keagan came up to another gap, and looking down he realized the fall looked never ending. A tunnel of darkness, Keagan concluded you could be falling for miles – that’s if the sharp rocks didn’t slice you up first. The length of the gap to jump also looked bigger, which worried Keagan too with the weight of his space suit. Suddenly the ground shook, nearly knocking him off balance and onto the ground. It happened again. And again. It’s getting closer, Keagan thought. He looked round in hope he could find somewhere to hide. But it wasn’t promising. Suddenly on his left, a monstrous clawed scaly foot slammed down next to him. Keagan struggled for breath as he tried to digest the shock. Clutching his chest he then decided to run. Not being able to look round because of his helmet restrictions, he just kept running and running. It wasn’t long before his body contributed some sharp pains in exhaustion to make him stop. But from outside his control he felt something heavy slam into the back of him, and he went flying. Looking down from mid-air, Keagan fell back to the ground, rolling and his helmet visor getting smashed to pieces. He soon became a messy heap lying on the surface. But he was still moving, and he could breathe? I’m somewhere with an atmosphere! I’m not alone here! He got up and took off his heavy space suit, deciding on deserting it. If there’s help, I’m sure they’ll have a space suit on the go for when he goes home. He looks over the distance to see if he can spot the creature. But the landscape went back to being a silent and motionless ghost zone – a stance of un-homeliness and evilness. He turned round to walk away, but then there it was again, the big foot slamming down and forming a wall barrier. Keagan then looked up, as the creature was looking more dinosaur-like, standing on two muscular huge tall legs, propping up an even bigger and longer body; a tail coming out one end, and a long snout with sharp teeth on the other. Keagan made a lot of comparisons to a Tyrannosaurus Rex with this creature. But the Dinosaur opened her mouth and screamed tyrannically at her prey; with the force of just the pressure of her scream made Keagan struggle to hold balance. But he ran away again – but this time faster without the heavy suit this time. He could hear the Dinosaurs’ thundering feet as she gave chase behind him. He was coming up to an edge, like a gap in the surface was coming up. Instantly when he recognized the upcoming hazard, he came to a halt, and peered over. The gap was huge and was no way he would be able to go anywhere – there before him was the biggest Grand Canyon scene, making it look like a playground compared to this landscape. The drop seemed to go on forever, that Keagan couldn’t even see the bottom. He turned round and saw the rampaging Dinosaur coming closer. When the dinosaur was only a mere few feet away she lunged forward with her head to let out a roar, and Keagan cowered back, ever closer to the edge – as with shreds of fear, he turns his head a little. His heart is drumming, like he’s pulled an all nighter listening to drum ‘n’ bass, and adrenalin shot across his body. Suddenly Keagan could hear a whistle. It was screechy, and stole the limelight of sound in this scenario. An old man wearing a long trench coat, and beard hair just stole every inch of his face. He looked like he had been running for ages, and was screaming manically.
“Mittens! Oh Mittens! Oh Jesus Christ! MITTEENS!!”
The dinosaur turned from menace to a gentle puppy in almost an instant, as she howled pathetically, and went down onto the floor submissively.
“GET BACK IN YOUR BOX!” The old man ordered, who then changed his tone dramatically to an empathetic welcome to the visitor, “I’m so sorry about him! He just gets a bit... playful... He’s harmless really!”
Keagan just looked stunned at everything, and remembered he was still standing on a cliff edge. Stumbling, he then stumbled forward, shaking. After a few seconds of composing himself he then offered the old man a hand shake. Well he did save my life.
“You look a state, comeback to mine and I’ll sort us a coffee, young man!” He stated, and laughed to himself and shook his head. But then like a schizophrenic he turned back into the barking old man, “MITTENS!!! PUT THAT DOWN! DOWN! NOOOO! DOWN! BAAD MITTENS! THAT’S IT! GET IN YOUR BOX!”
“This isn’t the time or place...” Zipper sighed.
“You’ve not responded to any of my messages... You can’t ask for a divorce and then ignore me...” the ex-wife said.
“You want half of all my arrears? You can screw yourself! Most of my money is tied up in my work, tools, business etc...” He snapped back, “And why are you here? How did you find me?”
“I’ve come to sort out our divorce arrangement, I didn’t know I would come home to a full-scale revolution, and I did used to take notice of your work... This was your first work station,” She reminisced.
“Look...” Zipper relented, “You’ve caught me at the worst moment... This is a rescue operation; a ship was in trouble earlier and was evacuated – so we are just going to get the survivors...”
Zipper chose not to disclose about his partner also being trapped out there.
“Trying to get rid of me, huh? Always the same!”
“No! You can stay here where it’s safe if you want... But this conversation is for later,” Said Zipper sternly.
“I’m not staying in this dingy shit-hole, I’m coming! I’m too beautiful to be hidden away, who are the two hunks in the space ship?”
“Jake and Chris, no! It’s not happening! It’s too dangerous and you know nothing about space – you’ll just be a liability!”
Sharon was a demanding soul, and never liked being told what to do. Being one of the lead models for a fashion company, her whole life she has lived like a princess with everyone running around after her. Her relationship with Zipper when they were together was very versatile, as she expected to be the lead role in the relationship with her multi-billionaire career – but Zipper being so succumbed to his science and work just simply couldn’t keep up with her demands, or her parties and social functions, and all of her countless of friends which even she struggled to remember the names of at times. They drifted apart just as quickly as they rushed into their marriage, but when she got close to one of her photographers and moved to Amazbos; Zipper was more relieved for the peace and quiet as opposed to going through any heart ache. She was annoying, and he couldn’t understand how he blindly walked into a marriage with her. But at the time – it was real love. Or he thought it was.
“Boys!” She shouted to Chris and Jake ignoring Zipper’s instruction, “Make room for one more! That weird bitch Zara isn’t in there is she?”
“No but if she was! You wouldn’t be breathing now!” Zipper snapped, who suddenly felt empty and missing a piece of his heart, from just hearing and talking about her, as he desperately wanted her safe and back with him.
“Fat chance! I’ll break the skinny bitch!”
Zipper didn’t retaliate, as she has no idea about Zara, what she does, and her overwhelmingly
remarkable battle skills. On second thoughts, maybe she should come meet her. Not like can do anything else with her. Plus if Zara does break her legs.. Bonus!
“You just make sure you stay away from me, and keep that mouth shut!” Zipper shouted.
Chris appeared from the space ship in the middle of the room. With heaps of space engineering experience under his belt, he proudly announced, “She looks good to me! We can be ready to set off very soon!”
Chapter 4: If can turn back the Shark of time
The Ruler and all the governmental ministers were all safe and are seeking refuge in a military base in Amazbos. Amazbos is the most prosperous and powerful nation in the entire solar system, where everything is bigger and better, with the amount of cities to lead reaching 356 all hosted on a gas giant planet just a touch further on from Pluto. Being extreme distance from the sun posed a lot of problems for them with Terra-forming the planet, but realizing by drilling into the center of the planet and allowing the magma rise to the surface; this drastically increased temperatures tenfold that the climate became more temperate conditions. But in daylight hours which lasted 74 hours due to the planets size, the sky was a mere constant dim color turning purple when at its brightest. Naturally, the dust rings surrounding the planet also absorbed the energy of the sunlight, and would illuminate in the dark nights showing many different colors of glowing light (acting like a moon). The planet’s ocean was also underneath the surface which meant water had to be drilled and mined for, in order to sustain the huge population of humans which dominate this part of space. Water was also a big trade for Amazbos, as many space settlements were in huge demand for it; where they are not able to self sufficiently provide it for themselves. This was Playa De Sontos’ most significant ally, mostly because they both support the extreme capitalist values to run a society; but their power meant not many nations would be problematic – as they wouldn’t want to get on Amazbos’s war list (which got bigger by the day).
The Ruler was very agitated, alongside the other ministers who were in a dark room talking to the projected enemy general, shown on screen chatting to the exiled president.
“Playa De Sontos is ours! And we will defend it!” The general shouted defiantly.
“You’re going to get everyone killed! How can we make amends?”
“Actually; it’s you, the ruler, who is doing that! Blinding everyone with money and your heavy handed capitalism! We have had enough!”
A man in a dark suit enters the room; he had a very different accent to the Playa De Sontans. It had a more slower and drawn out dialect, making their voices drone. Where as the citizens of Playa De Sontos were more quick and snappy speakers, to some all their words just sounds like one long slur, and were lucky to catch a few words.
“Our president is coming gentlemen.. Please get ready!”
“Switch that twat off!” The Ruler ordered.
“Oit! Don’t you touch that button, don’t... Don’t you dare switch me off! I’ll kill you all!” The general screamed.
Then the screen switched to a dark shade of black. Everyone looked around at the door as it begins to open. After a few seconds pass, a tall pale man with curly gray dark hair; who was also wearing a shiny gold suit, smugly enters the room.
“Now you shit heads listen up! And you listen good!” The Amazbos president still holding a smug commercialized smile scrawled across his face, “You’ve fucked up and lost your country! This is bad business! Very bad business! What happened? You! Answer me? How did you fuck up??”
He was finger pointing at Gregg, the opposition to the ruler – and he looked like he now needed a nappy change. He let out a sweat, and fidgeted in his seat before standing up and composing himself.
“He’s the ruler! I’m the opposition to his ruling... It’s my job to tell him he’s doing it wrong! And he completely did it wrong! He made a big tit’s up of it!”
The ruler then jumped in.
“Excuse me! Who spunked our entire budget before our term in office? There wasn’t a single thing left when we got in!”
“Spunking the finance! How dare you! Double standards! How much are you paying for a security guard to protect your bottle of milk in the fridge?”
“SILENCE! You are like a couple of old women,” The president laughed, “I can see why everyone hates you, right couple of wankers! But…. You are my couple of wankers… I need you, not because I like you, not because I respect you, or would even piss on you if I saw you on fire... No... Cos you breed my ideology on completely the other side of space... Where I can’t see you... Or even know about you...”
Gregg seated himself again, as the room intensified with fear from the presidents bullying.
“We are in trouble! We need your help!”
The president laughed again.
“Our armed forces are already on their way... We should get your beloved asteroid back... Give it under a week, including the journey there and back. That will do gentlemen! My men will give you hotel passes in only the best in this city! Just take it easy and relax... And let a real leader handle it!”
The president then dramatically exits the room, with warrior-quality postures.
Zipper, Chris and Jake were in their pilot chairs facing the big transparent window which acted as a visor. Sharon is in the back of the room, next to some computer main frames as she applied color to her eyelashes whilst looking into a hand-held mirror. Zipper glanced round at her, and shook is head in disapproval.
“Is that really necessary?”
She stopped what she was doing and turned to Zipper.
“We are going to be heroes right? I need to look my best... Especially when they want our photo’s; my career will reach no limit after this,” Sharon giggled excitedly.
“This is what you see in all this, isn’t it? For your image! You knew didn’t you! You knew we were on a mission, and decided to come steal the glory for yourself... Well I got something to tell you, Missy, not on my watch! You just keep out the way! You are nothing to do with this mission, and none of us will confirm you were with us,”
“Finished?” Sharon said calmly, and then she turned to apply some more make-up on.
Chris awkwardly interrupted the silence, “The hatch is open, we are clear for take off!”
The ship jolted, as it lifted from the ground. The procedure was very calm, as the four surrounding propellers reached top speed to create the vacuum enabling them to lift and hover into the air. Once it is outside the atmosphere, the ship transforms to instead glide through the space vacuum. Just like a plane in the sky. Sharon looked out one of the port-holes to view the ground getting further and further away, and the cities just turning to a pattern of dark brown blocks contained inside grids of surrounding gray roads. Some blocks could still be seen as a fireball from where the riots are still taking place.
“I hope I don’t get space sick...” whined Sharon.
Meanwhile, at a space port on the other side of Nerelly, the capital city of Amazbos; the security guards were nervous about a group of men coming through. All looking very rugged and tired, wearing long hanging trench coats, and pork pie hats – they looked nervous.
“Passports, please,”
The men then whispered to each other and laughed, agitating the space port officer further.
“I said passports please! I haven’t got all day!”
Suddenly two more space port officers came up behind the group of shady men.
“Have we got a problem, gentlemen?”
The ring leader from the rugged men then pulled out a badge, “We are Amazbos government officials, and we don’t have passports,”
The other men soon followed in producing their documents, whilst the officers gave them a ferocious still stare.
“You’re still coming with us... We are always notified when ‘officials’ travel with us,”
They were boarding the IGS Spacetonia two. It was heading for Playa De Sontos, and was a rival space liner, but is owned by IGS,
the Interstellar Galactic Services. The company was public liable, as their shares were sold to millions across the space region. This ship was one of many of their vessels, but the Spacetonia mostly catered for tourists and travelers with featured swimming pools and simulated beaches – it really was a paradise. It has an iconic piece of furniture which is a 50ft rock waterfall that’s joined to one of the main swimming pools.
Now inside a small cramped office with all the people inside it, the officers and shady men are squeezed round a square table. The space of the room was shared with two filing cabinets, and a big cardboard box which acted as a computer desk.
“Why were we not informed?” hissed one of the officers.
“It’s a state emergency; Playa De Sontos is in a revolution... It’s important all our crates are boarded,” Explained one of the men.
“What’s in them?”
The man then gulped, “Emergency supplies for people... On our side...”
“This ship will not be used as a war carrier; we would have been alerted by someone high up!” The officer shouted.
