by William Wood
“Hello,” he said.
“Hi,” Calvin said. “Are you OK?”
“I just don’t want to be alone right now,” Dev said sadly. “I was thinking about my family, wondering if they made it to Ohniah.”
“We can try and contact them,” Calvin offered. “The communication system on this ship is very powerful.”
“I already tried,” Dev said. “Ion helped me last night. We couldn’t get through to anyone.”
“I’m sorry. I know how frustrating that can be. It took me a long time to contact my people.”
Dev got some food and sat across from Calvin. The smell filled the room and made Calvin realize how hungry he was. He got up and got his own food. They ate in silence for a while.
“I was wondering,” Dev said. “I’ve been trying to figure this out, and it’s bothering me. Why are you helping the Alerians? You don’t have to. Ion told me your planet is safe, hidden behind some kind of invisibility cloak. Why risk everything on a hopeless cause?”
“You’ve been out here,” Calvin said. “You know what it’s like. Yes, my planet is safe for now, but how long will that last? I think it’s just a matter of time until the Goremog, or some passing ship, sees New Arlandia, and then it will be all over for us. When that happens, we won’t be able to fight back. We don’t have a defense force. Even guns are forbidden. I wish they could see what’s out here. That might change their minds.”
“See, that’s why you’re better off staying at home and hiding,” Dev said. “You’re drawing attention to yourself, to your home. What if they catch you and find out where you came from?”
“But we have a chance,” Calvin said. “If we can find all the segments, and put the weapon together, we can destroy the Goremog and every other hostile force out there. I can save New Arlandia.”
“That’s a big risk to take,” Dev said. “You’ve found three pieces out of ten? What if one of the pieces is damaged, and you can’t fix it? Or worse, what if one was destroyed or is missing? What will you do then? Will the weapon work with a missing piece?”
“I don’t know,” Calvin admitted. “But I think it’s worth the risk, and so does my father. If I do nothing, then what? We have to live in constant fear that we’ll be found and destroyed? I think that would be worse.”
“You’re lucky you have a home,” Dev said sadly. “You should do everything you can to protect it. My people will try to build, but we don’t have the ability to cloak a planet. As soon as the Goremog find us, they will simply destroy us again. Just as they have been doing to the Alerians. We will have to run from planet to planet, while they slowly reduce our numbers. That’s no way to live either.”
“I agree,” Calvin said. “That’s why we have to finish this now.”
“I hope you can find the weapon,” Dev said. “I really do. I would help you, but my people need me. Do you think your people would share their planetary cloaking technology with mine?”
“I’d like to think so,” Calvin said. “But if I ever took an alien home with me, I think the planet would explode.”
Dev laughed. “That’s funny.”
“No, really,” Calvin insisted. “When my ship went missing, the government declared martial law, shut the power grid off, and went into lockdown mode for days. Trust me, it wouldn’t end well.”
Calvin took the last bite of his pancake and reached for his coffee. Dev was already finished and took his tray to the recycle unit.
“I’ll see you later,” he said. “One of the robots is going to do some maintenance on the backup computer core. He said I could watch.”
“OK,” Calvin said. “Have fun.”
“Oh, I will,” Dev said and walked out of the room.
When he finished his coffee, Calvin went to the library to write in his journal. He kept the curtains closed and a holographic fireplace turned on. He wanted to pretend he was home, on New Arlandia, not confined inside a spaceship. He tried to recount what happened on the freighter, but he couldn’t sort through his thoughts.
The day passed slowly, and twice he fell asleep in the big reclining chair. It felt good to relax, to rest and let his body and mind recover. He skipped lunch, but later in the evening Astra found him and took him to the dining room for dinner.
The next two days followed the same pattern. Everyone kept to themselves during the day, but met for dinner in the evening.
On the third day when he sat to write, whatever was blocking his thoughts was gone. He poured himself on to the paper, recording in detail the events that led to finding the third segment.
Unfortunately, later that night, the nightmares returned as well. Calvin fell into a restless sleep and found himself walking down a corridor on the Azure Frost. The lights were out, and it was very dark. When Calvin found a light switch, he tried to turn on the lights, but nothing happened. He didn’t know what was going on. He wanted to find Astra, but he was afraid to move. At the far end of the corridor was a pair of red eyes. Calvin knew what it was. It was a monster. How did it get on the ship? He turned and walked a few steps. When he looked back, the red eyes were closer. Fear gripped him tightly when he realized it was coming after him.
Calvin turned to run. When he did, a dark shape dropped out of the ceiling. A huge set of sharp teeth was in his face. He wanted to scream, but he was unable to make a sound. The monster screamed at the top of its lungs and prepared to lunge at him.
Calvin woke up suddenly. Red lights were flashing in the room, and the ship’s alarm was ringing. Ion was standing over him, shaking him.
“Master Calvin, wake up!” he shouted.
“What is it?” Calvin asked, confused.
“Come with me,” Ion said. “I have to get you off the ship.” Ion grabbed Calvin and pulled him out of his bed.
“Do I need to get dressed?” Calvin asked.
“There’s no time!” Ion shouted over a chorus of explosions coming from somewhere inside the ship. Calvin grabbed the clothes he’d left on the back of a chair the night before and put them on as he stumbled across the room. He barely had time to stop and put his shoes on, before Ion pulled him out of his room and into the hallway.
“What’s happening?” Calvin asked confused. Then he noticed that Ion was carrying Astra. She was not moving. She was fully dressed, but her clothes and face were burned.
“Astra,” Calvin shouted. “Are you all right? Ion, what’s wrong with Astra?”
Dev stumbled out of his room. He looked very scared.
“What’s going on?” he asked. “Am I still dreaming?”
“We have to evacuate the ship!” Ion said loudly.
“I need to get my shoes,” Dev said. He turned and went back into his room.
“There’s no time!” Ion shouted. “We have to get off of the ship, now!”
Ion turned and started walking toward the stairs.
“No, wait,” Calvin said, pulling on Ion’s arm. “Dev, come on, hurry up!” Calvin called. Dev ran out of his room, holding his clothes. The corridor was full of black smoke. They ran down the stairs to the shuttle bay. Ion entered the shuttle first, laying Astra down on a row of seats and quickly tying her down with seatbelts. Calvin and Dev stood outside the shuttle, looking confused. Ion took Calvin’s hand and guided him to the pilot’s seat. Then he made Calvin look him in the face.
“Master Calvin,” Ion said. “There’s an advanced emergency medical kit on board, as well as several days’ worth of food and water. Put your harnesses on, it’s going to be a very rough launch. Calvin, you have to take care of them.” Ion quickly left the shuttle and the door closed.
As soon as he was gone, the shuttle bay door began to open. Calvin realized what Ion was about to do.
“Seatbelts!” Calvin shouted. When the door was fully open, the force field disappeared. Calvin and Dev were slammed into the backs of their seats. The ship was violently hurled into space, along with anything in the shuttle bay that wasn’t secured.
For a brief moment, Calvin w
as able to see Azure Frost as the shuttle tumbled away. It was severely damaged; floating dead in space. He could see fires raging out of control through the windows. Several explosions erupted from somewhere inside, sending burning pieces of debris flying everywhere and ripping holes in the hull. It was a mess. Why did Ion stay aboard? Explosions continued to rock the ship as it floated away, including another massive blast near the engines.
As he was staring at the crippled ship, he realized something: the shuttle was floating dead in space, too. The engines and life support were off. They only had a few minutes of oxygen! He turned his attention back to the front. Calvin turned on the main computer and began the start up for the engines, completely ignoring the checklist.
“It’s going to take a minute for the engines to be warm enough to start,” Calvin said.
“Calvin,” Dev pointed ahead. “Look out the window.”
Calvin looked up. A giant blue-green planet filled the window. The only thing he managed to say was, “Uh-oh.”
Dev looked at Calvin, hoping to find some comfort or reassurance that they would be OK, but he found none. “Is there any way you can make the engines warm up faster?” The fear was obvious in his voice.
“No,” Calvin answered. “If I try to start them when they’re too cold, they won’t start, and I could damage them.”
“Do you think that would be worse than crashing into the planet?”
Suddenly an alarm sounded.
“What’s that?” Dev asked.
“We’re falling into the planet’s atmosphere. This is bad.” Calvin got up and went to the back of the shuttle. He found the emergency medical kit that Ion had left for them. He took a small scanner out of it, and waved it over Astra, who was still unconscious. He read the screen.
“She is suffering from oxygen deprivation and smoke inhalation, and she has a concussion. She has minor burns all over her body, and, oh, some internal bleeding. What happened?”
He plugged the scanner into the med kit.
“Calvin!” Dev said, sounding very scared. “Can you do that later? We don’t have time, look!” He pointed at the planet, which was much closer now. The shuttle began to shake as it entered the upper atmosphere.
The med kit beeped, and a small glass object shaped like an ink pen slid out of a slot on the bottom. Calvin read a message on the screen which read, “Inject into upper arm.” Calvin took the device and held it against Astra’s upper arm. He felt the device vibrate. A light on the top changed from green to red and back to green.
“Calvin!” Dev shouted. “Get back up here!”
Dev had taken off his seatbelt and sat down in the copilot’s chair. Calvin dropped the injection device into the med kit. He covered her with a warm blanket and stuffed the edges under her, hoping it would stay on. He ran back up to the front and strapped himself back into the pilot’s chair.
“The engines aren’t warm enough,” Calvin said.
“You have to try and start them anyway,” Dev said. “Or we’ll die.”
Calvin was glad that Astra was unconscious for this. She would be spared the horror of what was coming. The shuttle began to shake even more. Calvin pulled back on the flight controls, in an attempt to level out and not hit the atmosphere head on. But without engines, there wasn’t much he could do.
The shuttle shook violently, and the sound of a thousand tiny explosions filled the air. A small white spot appeared on the windshield.
“What was that?”
“We just passed through some debris,” Calvin answered. The computer went crazy. Reams of data began scrolling down. “We’ve been damaged! Life support, engines, weapons, hydraulics, fuel systems. This is really bad. Wait, fuel leak? That’s it, I’m starting the engines.” He turned the ignition switch, and the engines began to hum. There was a loud pop, followed by a bump. Everyone was pushed forward as the shuttle hit an invisible wall; the atmosphere. Fire erupted all around them. The flames completely blocked the view out of the windows.
“Something’s wrong!” Calvin had to shout over the roar of noise.
“No kidding!”
“Only one engine is working!” Dev grabbed onto the sides of his chair.
“One thing’s for sure; this ship will never fly again,” Calvin said. He pushed the throttle on the good engine as far forward as it would go, way past the red line.
It was a very bumpy ride. The fire stopped, and Calvin managed to level them out.
Looking up, Calvin noticed a crack in the windshield.
“We need to find a place to land,” Calvin said. He turned on the sensors and began scanning the surface. There was a shake, followed by a loud pop. “The engine is dying.”
They began to lose altitude. As they got closer to the ground, they could see that they were over a large blue ocean.
“I don’t believe this,” Calvin said. “It can’t end like this.” There was another loud bang, followed by a grinding noise. “We’re losing altitude. We need to find a good place to set down. Landing in water would not be a very good idea!” They were now flying a scant ten thousand feet over the water and dropping fast.
Off in the distance, they could see land. Then they saw it; a large castle, right on the coast. It was white and had a wall around it. There were a lot of towers in it, but there was one tall tower in the middle that gleamed in the sunlight. There were miles of ruins behind the castle. When Dev saw it he gasped.
“No,” he said. “It’s not possible.”
“What?” Calvin asked, looking at Dev, whose face had turned pale. “What’s wrong?”
“I recognize that castle,” Dev said. “This is the planet where we stopped for fuel and supplies.
“What?”
Calvin looked from Dev to the castle looming on the horizon in front of them. The realization of what his friend was saying hit him immediately.
“The shuttle is dying,” Calvin said. “Assuming we survive the crash, we’re going be trapped down there.” A new level of panic that Calvin didn’t know existed was starting to grow in him. At the same time, the ground was getting closer.
“We’re only going to get one chance at this,” Calvin said, transferring all power into the engine. “I’m going to try and land in that big open spot in front of the castle.”
“Let’s hope whoever lives there is friendly,” Dev said.
Calvin looked at Dev. “This isn’t going to be a soft landing,” he said. “Astra’s lucky. She’s unconscious. I suggest you hold on.”
Several moments passed. As they got closer to the castle, they could see the big open space in front was a large garden, full of green trees and colorful flower beds. The vibration became so intense that Calvin’s hands, as he tightly gripped the controls, were starting to ache.
“Hold on!” Calvin shouted. Just before they hit the ground, Calvin jammed the thrusters into reverse. The shuttle slowed down, but it wasn’t enough. They hit the ground hard.
There was a very loud crashing sound. Calvin tensed his entire body and was crushed against the bottom of his chair. He would have screamed, but the pain was too intense. It seemed to last forever, but after a few seconds, he felt the pressure relax. Both Calvin and Dev took deep breaths. They sat still for several minutes without speaking, grateful but surprised to be alive.
Calvin took off his seatbelt and stood up. Pain shot through his back and spread through his body like lightning. He forced himself to move. He stretched as he moved to the back to check on Astra. He used the seats on both sides as support. He fell on his knees next to her and looked at her. She was still unconscious. Calvin winced at the burns on her face. He gently touched her forehead, which was hot to the touch. Her breaths were slow and raspy. The medical bag was lying on the floor. Calvin ran the medical scanner over her again. He read the screen. He couldn’t understand most of it, but from what he could tell, the machine was telling him to leave her alone for now.
He unhooked the seat belts that were holding her down and straightened th
e blanket.
Calvin closed his eyes. What just happened? In his mind he could still see the Azure Frost, burning in space. Did it explode? Ion stayed behind. Was he destroyed? The shuttle was a mess; he was certain it would never fly again. They were stranded, and worst of all, there were monsters out there. What was he supposed to do? Ion said it was his job to take care of everyone. He had no idea how to do that. He felt desperate, helpless, and without hope. With the loss of the Frost, how could they complete the mission? The first three segments were lost, and that’s how he felt.
CHAPTER NINETEEN:
THE CASTLE
Calvin felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up and saw Dev standing over him.
“Is she all right?” Dev asked.
“I’m not sure,” Calvin admitted. “The medcomp is hard to read, but I think it’s telling me she needs rest.” He stood up and stretched. He could tell his whole body was going to be sore later.
“Did you see the ship?” Dev asked. “What happened up there?”
“I don’t know any more than you do,” Calvin said.
“It looked like it was about to explode. What are we going to do?”
“I don’t know,” Calvin said. His mind raced. What were they going to do? “I’m almost afraid to go out there, but it looks like we’re going to be stuck here for a while. We need to go out and introduce ourselves. Ready?”
“Introduce ourselves?” Dev asked. “To who?”
“Dev,” Calvin said sternly. “We just crashed in someone’s backyard, and they’re probably not happy about it. We need to go meet them.”
“Wait, should we take weapons?”
Calvin thought for a second. “I bet we’re surrounded right now. If we go out there with guns, they’ll think we’re hostile, and shoot us. We don’t want to provoke them.”
“What if there’re Terrors out there?”
Calvin stopped. “I didn’t see any on the way down.”
“Then I feel better,” Dev said sarcastically. “They couldn’t possibly have heard us crash and come to find out what the noise was.”
