by R.E. Rowe
Chapter 10
A brawny, older man over six foot, six inches tall, clean-shaven with a crew cut, had taken over as the motivational speaker. “Listen up or die, Earth wussies!”
Jayden noticed “Hill” printed on the man's nametag, and he was fascinated by the raised tribal tattoos that covered his thick brown neck.
Hill barked out commands and moved recruits like chess pieces while his biceps threatened to burst through his black uniform.
The man’s sidekick, with no nametag, was an older teenage boy with a scar across one eyebrow. He shuffled behind the burly dude writing down the number from each of the recruit’s breast pocket and arranging boys in groups of five. Jayden snuck a peek at a clipboard to see if Nora’s name was on it, but it wasn’t.
Before long, Jayden and Parker were next to be grouped. From the way Hill organized kids, Jayden realized Parker was going to be number five of one squad, and he would be number one of a different squad.
Just as Hill yelled, “Five,” Jayden yanked Parker out of the way and shoved the boy on the opposite side of him into Parker’s spot.
Hill didn’t notice, but his scar-browed sidekick glared at Jayden and shook his head. For a second Jayden thought the kid might give them away, but scar-brow simply looked back down at his clipboard and remained silent.
The quick move positioned Jayden and Parker as number four and five of the same squad. “That was close,” he whispered to Parker.
“No kidding,” replied Parker, gazing at the aliens around the room.
Scar-brow looked up from his list. “You losers are squad Delta Three,” he said to Jayden, Parker, and three other teens near them. “Huddle up and get to know each other. You’re family now.”
The group gathered, and Parker jumped right into the how-do-ya-dos. “I’m Parker, call me G-striker,” he said in one burst of breath.
Jayden was impressed by Parker’s quick thinking. Giving avatar names instead of real names was a brilliant idea.
Two of the recruits nodded at Parker, but Jayden noticed the third kid just stood in place with a glassy eyed, blank expression. He ignored the boy and followed Parker’s lead. “I’m Jayden. Call me Killgeek.”
“Any other gamers?” Parker asked as if he were chatting it up at summer camp.
Two of the boys nodded, but the one in shock remained clueless.
One of the nodders stuck out his hand. “I’m Jake. I go by Zebraguts.” Jake stood tall with a big-boned frame and a rectangular face, prominent nose, and a square chin as solid as an iron anvil. Jayden did a double take when the teenage boy spoke in a high-pitched voice that cracked with every other word.
The second nodder stepped forward. “Hey. I’m Tommy. Call me Knifetango.”
Tommy looked skinny in the black uniform he wore. By the way the uniform hung loosely over his shoulders, Jayden guessed the uniform dude probably gave Tommy the wrong size.
Jayden tried not to stare when he noticed the wide space between Tommy’s eyes, and the kid’s crooked nose overpowered his thin face. Tommy stood tall with an air of confidence for a short kid, but the beads of sweat on his forehead told Jayden all he needed to know.
The fifth boy gazed down at his shoes and remained quiet. He was shorter than Knifetango with an oval-shaped face, thin lips, and hooded eyes that made his eyelashes disappear. But it was his Frisbee-sized ears that Jayden noticed first.
“What’s your name, kid?” Parker finally asked him.
“I’m Hank,” he replied.
“How old are you?” Knifetango asked, squinting his eyes at Hank.
“I just turned thirteen last month,” Hank replied softly.
Jayden didn’t believe it, and from the look on Knifetango’s face, he didn’t believe him either. Hank barely looked twelve, let alone thirteen.
“You ever play video games?” Jayden asked him.
Hank shook his head. “Nope. I move around a lot since my mom lost her job.”
“How about we call you Greenhorn?” Parker asked.
Hank glared at Parker with eyes full of fire. “I’m no greenhorn, jerk wad!”
Jayden and Parker took a step back.
“Sorry, cuz. No bad intentions,” Parker said with both palms outward.
Hank stepped in close to Parker’s face and scowled. “I’m not your stupid cousin either, buttface.”
Jayden smirked and gave a nod. He’d never heard anyone call Parker a butt face. The goofy-looking kid wasn’t going to be pushed around.
“Ahhh, sorry. Got it,” Parker said. “Then what should we call you?”
Hank shrugged and looked down again at his shoes.
Zebraguts peered at Hank’s ears. “How about Satellite Dishes, chief?”
Hank’s eyes narrowed at Zebraguts.
“Sorry. Sorry. No harm, no foul,” Zebraguts whispered, and then glanced away.
“You ever shoot a gun, Hank?” Knifetango asked.
“Just a BB gun,” he muttered.
Knifetango snickered but cut it short when Hank gave them his fire-eyed-sneer again.
“Perfect. How about we call you BBgun?” Parker suggested.
“Yeah, whatever,” Hank mumbled.
Jayden and Parker looked at each other as if they could read each other’s mind. They’d need to ditch the other three as soon as possible if they were ever going to find Nora.
Knifetango broke the ice. “So. I can’t get my head around this,” he said, wiping his forehead. “It’s wicked unbelievable.”
“Freaking nuts,” Zebraguts said in his high-pitched, squeaky voice. “Hologram aliens and a space war? No way.”
“The hair cutters smelled like old shoes,” Knifetango added.
“More like shoe polish and lizards,” Jayden added.
“True. This whole thing is insane,” Parker said. “Especially our ‘great leader,’ the shape-shifting motivational speaker.”
“We need to get our game on,” Jayden said, and he meant it.
BBgun tightened his face, causing his ears to wiggle up and back slightly. “Get our game on? What is that supposed to mean?”
Zebraguts stared at the boy’s ears for a moment, then peered at Jayden. “You think they’ll make us flyers or shooters?”
“How do they decide?” Jayden asked him.
“I heard a rumor they put you through a skills test with your squad,” Knifetango said. “If you’re a badass, they make you a shooter. If you suck, they make you a flyer.”
“Same for the girls?” Parker asked, obviously thinking about finding Nora.
“Nah, I think they’re all flyers,” replied Knifetango. “Something about the United Planetary and Moon Nations not wanting them to go hand-to-hand or something.”
“That sounds messed up,” Zebraguts said. “Personally, I’d rather fly.”
“Doesn’t much matter,” Parker said. “Sounds like we have a couple minutes, best case, then we’re dead.”
BBgun jerked his head to the left and then to the right. His ears continued to move after he’d stopped. “I’m getting out of here!” He took a step and readied himself to bolt.
Oh no, he’s having a meltdown, Jayden thought. He quickly grabbed BBgun’s arm and stopped him. “Easy, kid. Breathe,” Jayden said. “I know this is crazy. But if you bolt, the aliens will barbecue you.”
“Yeah,” Zebraguts said. “The shifters will practice lead-packing on your rear.”
“Lead-packing?” BBgun asked with a frown. His legs trembled. “I—”
“Zap you into a trillion atoms with the bad ass beam weapon of theirs,” Knifetango said.
“But what’s the point?” BBgun asked. His eyes flooded with tears. “Two minutes then we’re dead?”
“Easy there, BBgun,” Knifetango said. “I’m thinking we’re going to change the odds.” He looked at Parker, Jayden, and then Zebraguts. “What about you guys?”
They nodded as if they were a gung-ho shooter clan playing an online video game from th
e comfort of Jayden’s bedroom. But when Parker glared at Jayden, Jayden knew his friend was thinking the same thing he was: focus on finding Nora.
“Delta Three, you’re up next,” Hill shouted from across the room, as he pointed to an open door. “In the training room, pronto. Find a chair when you get inside and park it.”
Jayden led the way into the room with Parker and the other guys on his heels. The empty training room was all white walls and glossy tile floor. It reminded him of a school classroom, but without any windows or a chalkboard, and just big enough to fit twenty desks.
They sat down at a cluster of desks. Jayden and Parker sat two rows from the front. Knifetango and Zebraguts sat in front of them. BBgun took a seat, four chairs back, at the rear of the room. Jayden figured the kid was trying to disappear.
A wrinkled, boney, white-haired man with bright blue eyes limped into the room wearing a Space Command black uniform, and using a cane. He could’ve been anyone’s grandfather. Jayden saw “Sanders” printed on his nametag.
“Get up front, boy, now!” Sanders screamed at BBgun. “You ain’t got time to let the grass grow under your feet, or you’ll be deader than a doornail in less than two seconds. Now, move it, son!” Sanders seemed like a man who’d retired as a basic training drill instructor and wasn’t happy about retirement.
Tears streamed down BBgun’s cheeks as he scurried to sit next to Jayden.
“Listen up, gentleman.” Sanders narrowed his eyes. He tilted his head to one side, sucked in a deep breath, and then let it out slowly. “I’m your trainin’ officer, Captain Sanders. Your six-week trainin’ schedule starts now. After this briefing, ya’ll will be travelin’ to the tin-can trainin’ base on Ganymede, the largest moon in our solar system. All y’all will start by sittin’ inside a real tin can. Then I’ll move ya to the classroom to learn strategy.”
BBgun raised his hand. “Excuse me, sir.”
Jayden nearly fainted at BBgun's sudden confidence. Shut up! he thought.
“What is it, son?” Captain Sanders asked BBgun. Jayden heard compassion in Sander’s voice.
“What if I don’t go?” BBgun whispered.
Jayden held his breath, expecting the poor kid to get blasted, barbecued, or something way messier.
“Son, let me explain this to you one last time. If you don’t learn to fight, you’ll have a zero-percent chance against the Atilla. You can run, but who’s gonna save your family? All our families? Who’s gonna save our homes back on Earth?”
Oh, man, Jayden thought. His mom and dad! He hadn’t even considered what might be happening back home. Jayden wasn’t even sure how long he’d been missing, but was sure that Rosa would be in total panic mode by now. He felt his throat thicken.
“Have any brothers and sisters back on Earth?” Sanders asked BBgun.
BBgun nodded with tears trickling down his face. “Yes, sir. Two younger brothers and a sister.”
“Don’t you want ’em to live?” he asked.
BBgun nodded again.
“What are you gonna to do about it, son?” Sanders asked. “You still wanna give up? If the Atilla get to Earth, everyone’s dead. You’ve been given an opportunity to try and stop them. Now we don’t need anyone who’s useless as a screen door on a submarine. So . . . you still wanna run away like a baby chicken?”
“No, sir,” BBgun said, and picked at his fingernail.
Sanders’s voice deepened. “You ready to learn or should I just kill you right where you sit?”
Captain Sanders sounded sincere to Jayden, not like some gung-ho, shape-shifter alien shooting laser beams on a whim. He actually had motivation skills.
BBgun fixed his gaze back on the captain. “Sorry, sir. I’m ready.”
“Okay, listen up. There are three divisions of fighters in Space Command. Ya’ll are in the Space Rocks Fleet. After six weeks of trainin’, we’ll deploy you for a real mission on a world invaded by them Atilla gorilla devils. Our transports will ship you directly to the front line.”
“How long does it take to get there, sir?” Jayden asked.
Sanders talked faster. “Most space vehicles use a space drive known as a dark energy propulsion system. Technology provided to us compliments of them Ga aliens.”
“Who are the Ga, sir?” asked Zebraguts.
“Lord, son, does your elevator go all the way to the top?” he asked. “Weren’t you listenin’ to the leader’s speech?”
Zebraguts turned red.
“They’re one of the oldest known civilizations in the Milky Way,” he said. “The ones who figured out the shortcut through space that allows us to travel faster than light speed. We can trek across the entire galaxy in hours.”
“How does it work?” Parker asked.
Jayden kicked him in the shin. The sooner they got out of the briefing, the sooner they could get back to looking for Nora.
“Son, if I tell you a duck can pull a truck, then shut up and hook the sucker up!”
“Duck and a truck?” Parker looked confused. “I just thought that—”
“Stop thinking, boy,” Sanders said, his voice bellowing. “It’ll just get you into trouble, or worse, killed.”
Parker shut his mouth.
Captain Sanders sighed. “Okay, fine. Can’t really fault a young man for wantin’ to know about space travel.”
Jayden was starting to like Sanders.
“The Ga spacecraft punches a hole in the bubble membrane of our universe usin’ a hyper-gravity pulse,” Captain Sanders said. “The pulse is powered by refined neutron star matter with some white dwarf filler. It creates a temporary hole to punch into multiverse space known as the ‘space between the space.’ We punch in through the inside of a star or a black hole.”
Punch a hole in space? Jayden couldn’t imagine how a hole could be punched into nothing.
Captain Sanders chuckled. “Y’all follow that?”
“What’s a neutron star?” BBgun asked softly.
“Speak up, boy! There’s no place for fear on the front lines,” Captain Sanders said. “A neutron star is a stellar remnant from the gravitational collapse of a massive star after a supernova.”
Knifetango raised his hand.
“Yes, son?” Captain Sanders asked.
“Wouldn’t the spacecraft be burned up inside a star?”
Captain Sanders smiled. “Good question, son. Not with Ga tech. The spacecraft they give us can handle it. Don’t ask me how.”
“What happens once we punch a hole in space, sir?” Zebraguts asked.
“Once the spacecraft gets in the multiverse, it uses dark energy propulsion to travel to a desired point, and then, wham, it punches back into our universe through another star. The Ga tech does all the navigational space jumpin’. We call the ‘space between the space’ the ‘Golden Ways.’ Most Earth grunts figure it’s like the ancient Silk Road, if y’all remember your Earth history. All a pilot has to do is dial up coordinates on the Ga command panel. The Ga craft calculates everything else to travel from point to point. The trick is knowin’ the coordinates. So unless you’re as dumb as a bag of rocks—”
“Are there different spaceships?” Zebraguts asked.
“That’s right, and don’t ever interrupt me again, son. I’ll let that one slide.” Captain Sanders gave a tight smile before continuing. “Each Ga ship is configured for a designated purpose and has different-sized dark energy drives, allowin’ some to travel faster and farther than others.”
BBgun started to fidget. “How are we going to learn all this in six weeks?”
Good question, Jayden thought. Finally.
The captain frowned and began to fidget. “The space equipment ya’ll will be usin’ has been customized. For example, the controls to fly a space fighter are similar to driving a sports car on Earth.”
“A sports car?” Jayden asked. He’d never drive a real car before but he had played plenty of online road racing games.
“Yes, son, there’s a steering whee
l, pedals, even leather bucket seats.”
Jayden felt a heaviness pushing down on him. Everything was getting weirder by the second. What he wouldn’t give to be back home with Rox, snuggling on his bed. His thoughts shifted to Nora. Ugh! Jayden’s stomach sank further. Their situation had gone from worse to “Oh, my God way worse” than worse. If there was an unlike button somewhere, he'd press it!
Captain Sanders continued. “The Ga built the tin cans y’all will be using in hand-to-hand.”
“What do you mean tin cans, sir?” asked Zebraguts.
“That’s what we call ’em. They’re the most high-tech robo pods ya’ll ever see. You sit inside the belly of the thing in a recliner-sized chair and shoot off weapons . . .”
Suddenly, Jayden had an idea. What if they could use the pods to escape?
Captain Sanders handed out pictures of a robo pod. Both Jayden’s and Parker’s eyes went wide at the same time.
“The tin cans are ten feet tall by five feet wide, massive really. Don’t ask me how the Ga build ’em.” Captain Sanders handed out an instruction book. It reminded Jayden of the owner's manual for his dad’s car. “The antigravity bubble inside activates when the door closes. You won’t feel any movement at all once you’re strapped into the bucket seat.” He gave out detailed drawings showing how the tin can’s control panel worked.
Parker raised his hand.
“Yes, son?”
“Where are the girls training?” Parker asked.
Good, Jayden thought, the mission.
“Ha!” Captain Sanders shook his head. “Forget about girls, boy.” His eyes narrowed. “They’ll be providin’ cover for your big tin-can butts with the fighter craft them Ga built, the flying machines we call UFOs. Them UFOs are specially equipped with an entire arsenal of weapons.”
“They get to learn how to fly?” Jayden wondered.
“Like I told ya, flying a spacecraft is just like driving a sports car. You know, like a Beemer or Mercedes.” He laughed in a baritone roll. “Funnier than hell. Them Ga must have a real sense of humor. Either that or they’re just crazy sons of alien mothers.”
Jayden’s face tightened. How in the world were they ever going to find Nora?
“Let’s go, space warriors,” Captain Sanders said. “Trainin’ time. Don’t worry, it’ll go by quick as a supernova shock wave.”
Jayden, Parker, and the rest of the boys reluctantly followed him out of the room.
Captain Sanders stopped at the entrance to a long circular tunnel with evenly spaced rib supports and a flat, stone floor. “Follow the signs. I’ll meet up with y’all on Jupiter’s moon for hands-on training. Now, move your rear ends!” He glanced at his wristwatch, and then bolted back inside the room before anyone could ask him a follow-up question.
The first thing Jayden saw in the wide hallway was a crowd of boys. They flowed in both directions as if they were exploring an amusement park. He looked right, then left. No signs. “Forget about looking for the signs.” Jayden turned to the right. “Let’s find a way out of this place. You guys okay with that?”
Everyone bobbled their heads yes.
“Pretend like you know where we’re going. Follow me.” Jayden took off down the tunnel.
The tunnel reminded Jayden of a New York subway, but with translucent walls and three times the size. The translucent material changed in color from dark blue to light blue to white, then back to blue. It was like walking inside the belly of a giant whale. Jayden searched the smooth tunnel wall for a door they could use to escape. But he quickly realized there was no way out.
After walking for a while without seeing any doors at all, Jayden was sure a giant space whale had swallowed them whole. All he heard was heavy breathing, whispers, and a few recruits crying as they continued on down the passageway with countless other boys all around them.
Every now and again, Jayden made out the flickering shape of an alien, but that didn’t stop him from searching for a way out of the tunnel.
