Starship X-15

by Alan VanMeter

  “Why did the necklace scare them Momma?”

  “I don’t know exactly, maybe it is something from their past.”

  “I’m glad it did, we need to get back.” She tells me.

  As we enter the pyramid city we both freeze as we see something coming towards us through some brush.

  “Daddy!” Haley screams as she takes off for him.

  I’m in shock, first, as I recognize him, second at his deathly appearance. Then I am running for him too. He sees us and collapses.

  Right away Haley rolls him over and gives him some more of his soul back, and in a few minutes of us hugging him, Rick is feeling much better, and can sit up again.

  “I can’t believe you followed us in your condition Rick.” I kiss him.

  “You didn’t come back.” He says with a sigh. “I waited until morning and went to the glow-plant valley. I chewed every glow-berry we had left just to get there, and I picked up your tracks. There were other weird tracks all over too, didn’t something take you?”

  “Yes, these very strange creatures Haley named ‘Hum Drums’ from the sound they make speaking.”

  “They weren’t bad people daddy.”

  “What happened? Did you escape?”

  So we tell him of the whole encounter, and how they just let us go, thanks to Haley’s necklace.

  She looks at me curiously, “Momma, you just said it was my necklace?”

  “That’s because it is yours.” I smile. That earns me a sweet hug.

  “Well, if they aren’t after you, we can rest a bit, before we go home.” He sighs in relief.

  “Hey, let’s stay the night here in the pyramid city, and we can explore some!” I raise my brows at Haley, and she laughs, nodding.

  “Sure, it doesn’t look like it will storm, and it’s warm enough.” He agrees.

  Haley and I go looking for a place to camp, and the very first thing we both think of is the golden pyramid. It is in the center of the nine pyramids, and is one of the smallest of them. Along the way we discover some thick rusted beams, like support beams in some of the ruined buildings remains.

  “This place has been here a long time.” I muse aloud.

  “How old do you think it is?”

  “Hundreds, if not thousands of years baby.”

  “I wonder who built it.”

  “Let’s go see if we can find out. Come on, we’re almost there!”

  We get to the base of the gleaming structure, and see that it is made of big golden metal blocks, but has only one step near the top, while the other pyramids have multiple steps. Some more than others. We can climb the structure with some effort from the meter high blocks that are so tightly pressed together to be almost seamless. Rick plops down heavily to rest, telling us he will wait down at the base. It doesn’t take Haley and I too long to reach the single step plateau near the top. Haley bounds off around the central blocks on the summit, and then she suddenly yells for me excitedly, I jog around, and see her pointing to a stair well leading down into the pyramid.

  “Holy crap!” I blurt.

  “Let’s go see!” She jumps up and down.

  “Dang it! Daddy has the flashlight with him. We need it, and we’ll get him up here too. Maybe we can camp down in there, safe from the animals, and any ‘Hum Drums’ who might change their minds.”

  Rick is very interested in seeing what is in the golden pyramid. He’s feeling good enough to still carry all the equipment he brought with him; his bow, and all the arrows he could carry, along with the laser torch, flashlight, knife, and a spear. He also has food and water. Once on the step of the pyramid by the stairwell again, I can see the excitement on his face.

  “I’ll go down first, and make sure it’s safe.” He raises his chin in bravado.

  “Not a chance pal.” I take the flashlight from his hand, and go down the stairs a bit. Then I holler back, “This is my find lover!” I turn the flashlight on and gently walk down the steps.

  “Watch for booby traps babe.” He yells back.

  “Thanks.” I mutter.

  The stairs come to a landing and a golden hallway goes to the left. In about five meters this opens up into a beautifully ornate chamber that has a very high, inverse pyramidal ceiling. Most everything is made of gold, but I do see some jewels sparkling from all around. The floor in the center is set with nine jewels in the same exact pattern as Haley’s necklace. There are large golden figures carved on the four inward sloping walls above, near the base edges. Two on opposite sides are of the female ‘Hum Drums’, and the other two opposing each other are of very familiar figures. The Chondeauxk sequence of the Donox Legacy. They are everywhere indeed, just as they had said. Everywhere our race will ever go, we will find the Legacy. So they helped these people once also. I wonder what happened to the Hum Drums. It is like they lost, or forgot their civilization to a large extent. Maybe there is something else going on here? I am convinced the skeleton I found on Destiny was of the same race, and probably a female. She got lost in space just like me, and she died on the planet she crashed on. I realize that I need to find a cave to tell of our story here, or maybe I’ll just write it on some of the paper that I’ve made, and keep it in the ship.

  I see Rick breathe a sigh of relief as I emerge, and tell them that the tour begins now.

  “Please follow me, stay together. Don’t get separated from the group people!” I start back down the stairs.

  “Yes,” Rick chuckles. “Come on sweetie, this is going to be so good. I can tell. Devon, are we going to see dead people?” His eyes are wide, in jest.

  “No, but you will hear them.” I smile brightly and lead on.

  They are blown away by the chamber, and each of them wants the flashlight to explore the intricate hieroglyphs carved into the gold with precision. A whole story of this curious race of ‘Hum Drums’ is spelled out on all the walls, just in a language we don’t understand. I tell them that I am convinced that the skeleton I found on Destiny was a female ‘Hum Drum,’ and show them that the gems in the floor center match Haley’s necklace pendant.

  “I thought you said these creatures are primitive?”

  “They are. They live in mud brick huts, like adobe, and they have sticks and stones for technology. Except the leader warrior that is, he had a steel spear it looked like.”

  “How did they go from possibly star faring, to mud huts?” He is perplexed, I see by his facial expression I know so well.

  “They lost it somehow.” I conclude.

  “Maybe it was just the Legacy helping them out?” Haley asks almost.

  “They told us that every race has to earn the right to travel the stars, the hard way; by learning the secret themselves.”

  “That’s how we did it?” She wants.

  “Yes, we sure did. Look at us now baby.” I chuckle.

  Haley doesn’t get it, and doesn’t pretend she does.

  “The computer doesn’t say the name of the person Momma, just that he is known as Professor W. What’s his real name?”

  “That’s all I know too baby, but I did meet him several times. He’s a brilliant man, and we all owe him the stars.” I smile big.

  Now she laughs. “I wish I could meet him.”

  “So do I.”

  For dinner we have grain balls, glow berries, and water. Afterwards Rick and Haley both share the flashlight to explore the chamber’s carvings and reliefs, while I lay contentedly on the single furry hide that he brought with him. My family is together, alive, and safe. That is all I could ever hope for. Soon after dinner, Haley’s aural glow is so strong that she doesn’t need the flashlight any longer. I wonder at this, and have the thought again that there might be a price for this special plant’s use. This is not the first time I have wondered about this. We all fall asleep in each other’s arms, with peace of mind like never before.

  The morning brings a humming sound from outside of the pyramid. Rick springs into action as he used to do. I can tell he is feeling much better. He
runs out of the chamber with his bow and arrows, and soon comes back.

  “Are those ‘Hum Drums’ real ugly with wiry hair? Looking like a bipedal mule/ hog mix?” He asks expectantly.

  “Yup.” Haley acknowledges.

  “Well there’s a couple hundred of them humming for us at the base of the pyramid. When they saw me, they all fell down on their faces bowing.”

  “Let’s go see what they want then.” I get up and lead the way.

  There sure are a bunch of the ‘Hum Drums’ standing, waiting. When they see me they fall on their faces and hum. I see they have all kinds of baskets of things presented before them, for us it appears.

  “Let’s go say good morning shall we, and then goodbye.” I tell my family.

  Rick already has our camp packed, as it wasn’t much; just enough. So we clamber down the golden blocks, and then walk up to the baskets of offerings. Some have produce, some grain balls, some have dried meat, and then one has small doll effigies of the three of us, it is easy to tell by the accurate details.

  “We have to take the dolls.” I hand Rick his effigy, and then Haley hers. I keep mine, and then we also take some of the food they offer. We wave goodbye as they begin to rise again, once we are twenty paces or so distant. They all do the same paws over their stomachs, and then opening them gesture that the female had done. It comes to me right then that this means welcome. Haley suddenly runs back to them, and up to the female that had tried to communicate with us. She takes the necklace off, and puts it around the female’s neck, having to unfasten it as her head is too large to slip it on. She runs back to us, and I tell her, “You know, you probably just made her the queen.”

  Haley laughs, and replies, “It belongs to them.”

  I am in utter admiration of my girl.

  It takes us five days to get home, and that’s with us taking it real easy. Rick feels much better, and more so every time Haley gives him some of his soul back. The night in the pyramid also gave him much more strength, as I could surely see. Upon returning, our camp has been torn into by some large animal, or plural. The cooking hoist is torn down, and claw prints are all over the settlement. We even find a fang like tooth broken off and embedded in one of the metal storage crates which we keep the smoked ‘eesh’ in. There is some blood around the crate, and on it, but it remains intact. Something to give Star Command kudos on actually, for once.

  By the next summer, we still hadn’t any further encounters, or contact with the ‘Hum Drums.’ Life has returned to its normal brilliant simple love, and sharing of my family. We haven’t seen any further signs of the obviously large predator which ransacked our camp while we were away. Also the red-glowing soul suckers have not been seen. For this I am eternally glad, even though Haley insists that the flashlight will scare them away. I talk with Rick often about trying to find another world, where Haley can at least have some social interaction, though we are both fully aware that she will never have a mate. This hurts us both, and we cry about it in each other’s arms often.

  Chapter 10

  Just the day after our twelfth anniversary of crash landing here on my planet, which I renamed officially as Haley’s planet as a birthday present to my daughter; it happened. I’d explained to her that since there is a Halley’s Comet, that there needs to be a Haley’s Planet as well. She liked her gift with many giggles. Well, the very next day following our anniversary, we crawled from the entrance tunnel to our ship to find that another starship had landed, on proper landing braces, just near our ship.

  All of us are breathless as a ramp lowers from their ship silently. A very tall, and strange looking creature walks down the ramp towards us. It looks like a human/ bird facial mix with twin curling horns growing from its skull, swept back making it look like it is going fast. The fierce look upon it is enough to make me want to fall on my face. It has wings too, but it walks over to us.

  “We are of the Donox Legacy. We had picked up your emergency broadcast, and originally came to assist you.” The leader speaks perfect American English.

  “Good to see you.” Rick bows slightly.

  “What do you mean originally?” I ask.

  “Last night as you slept, we arrived, and we scanned your memories, only to find evidence that you have broken the prime directive. Now our purpose is far different.”

  “What is it now?” My voice quivers.

  “Now we will hold tribunal, and make judgment to determine your fates.” The being tells us.

  “What?” Rick is too loud, and challenging. “When?”

  “I suggest that you place your anger away in a safe place, or we will slay you all here and now. We are hunters of the Yuiltont sequence, and are under orders to preserve the prime directive at all costs.” The being grabs a glowing sword, of two in its belt, just by the hilt though, it does not draw it, yet. It seems like blue flames are issuing from the swords suddenly.

  “Relax baby.” I hug him. “The Legacy has control, no matter what. Remember?”

  His shoulders lose their tension and he exhales deeply.

  “Is your craft capable of trans-dimensional flight?”

  “I think so, but I sure could use some help to make sure.” Rick lowers his head.

  “You are over twenty thousand light years from your home planet, we suspect that your ship was caught in a powerful galactic time-space current in order to be so displaced. Do you have enough fuel to return to your home?”

  “Twenty thousand light years? Oh my God… No, we don’t have anywhere near the fuel for that.” Rick rubs his hand over his head in disbelief. “How the hell could we get so freaking far from home?”

  “Then it seems you will face your judgment without your peers.” The hunter says with no emotion, just fierce eyes. I can tell these beings were designed for killing, or somehow they evolved that way over billions of years, maybe, but then the Legacy itself says that most of their sequences are self-generated, meaning they are self-designed. God I hope we didn’t do anything wrong.

  They invite us into their ship, while assuring us that we are in their full custody legally by the agreement that humanity signed previously. We just go with them, as all of us know we have no chance to oppose them, it’s pretty obvious.

  “You will stay in this chamber until we decide what to do with you. All your needs will be met, and you will be treated with dignity and fairness, always.” The hunter shows us our quarters.

  “Thank you for your consideration, and kindness.” I say hopefully.

  “There are extenuating circumstances to your case, so I wouldn’t worry if I were you.” It tells us right before it leaves us alone in the chamber.

  “I sure hope we are exonerated baby, I don’t remember doing anything really wrong.” Rick is worried. “Except maybe you were right about not killing the shaggy beasts, and the rotten rats.”

  “I don’t think that’s the problem baby.” I try to ease his mind. “Maybe it has to do with the ‘Hum Drums,’ I bet.”

  “Oh, I hope we didn’t screw them up.” he sighs.

  “Wait! That doesn’t make sense at all. They were already screwed up, remember? It’s something else.” I muse out loud.

  After a fit full sleep the hunters come for us, and lead us to a conference room. They seat us all, and then themselves.

  “We have decided that your tribunal may only be conducted in fairness by your own peers.” The being stops talking and seems to wait for us to respond.

  “What are we charged with exactly?” I demand.

  “Violation of the Prime Directive as agreed, and signed by Star Command, whom you are sworn members of.”

  “When? Where?” Rick demands.

  “The most highly advanced, indigenous species on this world is what you call ‘Soul-Suckers.’ The night that Haley killed one of these beings is what is being charged here.” It lowers the boom.

  “Haley? She’s not sworn to Star Command!” I inform them with vigor.

  “That is indeed the extenuating
circumstance associated with this case. Is Haley bound by the law? A law she never swore to, or even agreed to?”

  “That’s right!” I am the choir singing now, Amen.

  “Still you and Rick did have a responsibility to teach her these things, and this too must be considered.” The hunter is calm seeming.

  “Take me then, and let my family go!” Rick stands, as if waiting to be restrained, with his hands out in submission.

  “Relax Rick.” The hunter motions for him to sit down.

  “As I have said, you will return to your home world to be judged for this offense. We are not capable of making such judgment under these conditions.”

  “And just how the hell are we supposed to get back?” Rick demands.

  “We will give you what you need for the journey, including directions.”

  “We don’t even have a pressure suit or couch for Haley!”

  “We will provide these, and everything else needed for the long journey. If we had a ship going in that direction within the next twenty or so of your years, we would offer transport, but we do not. If you wish to return to your home world, we will facilitate this, otherwise you may stay here as well, but do not kill any more of the ‘soul-suckers’ as you call them.”

  I grab Rick and Haley and we confer quietly away from the hunters.

  “It sounds as though they are trying to help us here baby.” Is my input.

  Haley nods, “Let’s go to Earth. I need a man.”

  “Then it’s settled, we go home.” He grins widely. “We’ll appreciate your help getting home, so we can face our judgment there.” Rick tells them.

  The hunter nods and then takes us back to the living chamber, telling us to wait in there for a bit, while they make arrangements.

  It comes back for us in several hours.

  “A ship will be arriving here in several weeks with all the things you will need to travel to your home world. You are free to carry on as you wish until then.”