by William Wood
“We don’t have a choice,” Calvin said. “We can’t stay in here.”
Calvin walked to the back and pressed the button to open the rear door. He expected to find half a dozen guards with weapons pointed at them just outside. He was fully prepared to be captured and taken into custody. In his mind, there was no way to avoid it. Crashing a spaceship on the castle grounds was certainly not going to be welcomed warmly. When the door opened from top to bottom, it created a ramp.
The shuttle was flooded with bright pleasant sunlight, and they had to cover their eyes briefly. The smell of the salty sea water washed over them, and off in the distance they could hear the sound of waves washing up onto the beach.
Calvin shielded his eyes with his hands but still squinted through his fingers as he looked outside. There were no guards in sight. Calvin walked outside into the sunshine. The warmth of the sun and the fresh air felt very good. The sky was blue with a few white clouds. The sound of the waves was relaxing and peaceful.
“No monsters,” Calvin said. “Or people.”
Dev handed him a laser pistol. Calvin took it without a word and held it down at his side. They were in a giant garden full of rows and rows of colorful plants and flowers. Calvin walked over to a rock wall on the edge of the garden and looked down. There was a drop-off straight down to the shore, where the waves were breaking on rows of razorsharp rocks. It was a long way down.
Calvin looked back. They were very lucky. They’d landed very close to the edge. If they had landed forty feet shorter, they would have crashed into the cliff and exploded. He shuddered at the thought. When he turned around, Calvin got a good view of the castle. It was white and massive.
What bothered him was that there was nobody there. Surely the crash was loud enough that every person in the area heard it.
“Since I left home, I’ve landed on four planets,” Calvin said. “And every one of them has been completely lifeless.”
“Well, I was here a few days ago, and there were lots of people. I wasn’t here at the castle, but I could see it on the horizon,” Dev said.
“It couldn’t have been abandoned for too long,” Calvin said. “Look at this garden. It’s clean, the flower beds are well kept, and the grass looks like it was just cut.”
“There could be a robot gardener,” Dev pointed out.
“I suppose,” Calvin said. They both looked around—not a soul to be seen, not even a robot. “But if there were robots taking care of this place, where are they?” Then a dark thought occurred to him. “Maybe the monsters killed everyone.”
They walked around. The flowers were in bloom, and there were rows of neatly sculpted bushes. Dozens of fountains sprayed water into the air, and a system of interconnecting streams ran all over the garden. Small wooden bridges crossed over the streams. It made him think of home, of the flower garden his mother used to grow every year.
“There’s nothing out here,” Dev said. “I guess we can relax.”
“I don’t think we should relax yet,” Calvin said. “We haven’t even checked out the castle yet.”
“Right, let’s go.”
“I want to check on Astra first.”
“All right,” Dev said. “I’m going to walk around some more and make sure we didn’t miss anything.”
Calvin walked back to the shuttle, and found Astra lying on her back with her eyes half-open.
“Hey,” Calvin said softly. “You’re awake. How are you feeling?”
“My head hurts,” she said quietly. She tried to sit up. Calvin helped her into a sitting position.
She moaned. “My whole body hurts.”
“I’ll get you some water.” Calvin said. He opened a storage locker in the back of the shuttle and found bottles of water mixed in with shelves of other survival gear.
He took one to Astra. She gratefully took it from him and had a few sips.
“Do you know what happened to Azure Frost?” Calvin asked her.
She looked at him, and her eyes began to tear. “Oh, Calvin,” she cried. “I’m so sorry. It was my fault. I was working in the lab, and I tried to connect the first segment into the ship. I made a power module that was supposed to convert power into usable energy and a switch that was supposed to break the connection if there was an overload. Instead, it forced the connection to stay open, and all that raw power fed directly into the power grid. I couldn’t stop it. I tried to unplug it, but it was fused. It started to smoke; the smell was horrible. It overloaded. I tried to get out of the room, but there was an explosion. Then I woke up here. What happened?”
Calvin looked at her, trying to decide how much he should tell her. He didn’t notice Dev walk in, take a hand scanner, and leave.
“Ion woke me up in the middle of the night,” he said. “He put us in a shuttle, decompressed the bay, and we were shot out into space. The ship was on fire. The damage was…”
“Was it bad?” she asked, crying softly.
Calvin hesitated. She was hurt and vulnerable. He wondered how honest he should be with her. “It was terrible,” he said, knowing there was no point hiding it.
She shook her head and cried.
“It’s OK,” he said gently. “It’s not your fault.”
“Yes, it is,” she said. “I can’t believe I was so stupid. I should have known better.”
Calvin tried to console her. “It sounds like you did everything you could. You thought of every safety precaution.”
“No, I should have waited. I was so anxious to make it work, I rushed ahead. I’m sorry,” she said again.
“It’s all right. Everything’s going to be OK.” Astra had her head resting on Calvin’s chest.
“You can’t say that,” Astra said. “We lost the ship, Ion, and three pieces of the weapon. Oh, and also any hope of contacting my parents. Our mission is over.”
Calvin didn’t know what to say, so he just held her for a while. What else could he do? He knew from experience that there was very little he would be able to say to make her feel better. That would take time.
“Where are we?” she asked, after several minutes.
“I don’t know,” he said. “But it’s very nice outside.”
“I would really like to see it,” Astra said. “Please help me.” Calvin helped her stand up.
She held onto his arm as they walked outside. First he took her to the wall overlooking the ocean a few feet away. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
“It feels so good out here,” she said, looking out over the ocean. “It’s amazing.”
“Yes, it is,” Calvin agreed. “But there’s something else you should see, turn around.” He gently helped her turn around until she faced the castle.
“Wow.” Astra gasped. “Incredible.” Then her expression changed. “Please tell me we didn’t crash on a monster-infested planet. This can’t be the same planet with a castle Dev stopped on. That looks a lot like what he described.” Calvin had been hoping that she wouldn’t notice.
“Yes, he did,” Calvin said. “He thinks this is the same planet.”
“Oh, that’s just perfect,” Astra said. “So those monsters could be here?”
“I don’t know,” Calvin answered. “It’s possible.”
“It’s possible?” Astra asked, getting upset. “Do you understand what’s going on? How much trouble we’re in? If there are monsters on this planet, there isn’t one or two of them. There’s a lot. We have to get out of here, now! What condition is the shuttle in?”
Calvin hadn’t seen Astra scared until now, and that worried him.
“We crashed,” Calvin said. “I doubt we can take off.”
“I want to look at it.” Astra walked around the shuttle, looking at the hull and engines. Then she sat down in the pilot’s seat and tried to turn on the computers. When that didn’t work, she opened a panel in the floor and looked inside. When she was finished, they went back outside.
Astra confirmed his fear. “You were right, Calvin,” she said, sitting down on th
e grass. “The ship will never fly again. At this point the only way to fix it would be in the repair dock on Aleria’s Hope. But even then, it wouldn’t be worth it. It’s too far gone.”
“So,” Dev said, walking up. “What are we going to do? Are things as bad as I think they are?”
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” Calvin said. “Can we contact the Frost? Maybe Ion was able to get things under control.”
“We can try, but there’s no power in the shuttle,” Astra answered. “Wait, there should be handhelds in the back. They’re low power, but they should be able to reach a ship in orbit.”
“I’ll go get one,” Calvin said. He ran inside the shuttle and came back out with one. He gave it to Astra. She turned it on.
“Ion, this is Astra, can you hear me? Azure Frost, please answer.” She tried for several minutes but got no answer.
“We’re stuck here,” Dev said sadly.
“Ion will come and get us,” Astra said.
“I hope you’re right,” Calvin said. “But in case he can’t, we’ll have to find another way. Dev, you said you stopped here for fuel and supplies. That must mean there’s a star port.”
“Of course. What’re you thinking?” Dev asked.
“We might find some spaceships there, something flyable. Do you remember where it is?”
“I’m not exactly sure. As I said before I could see the castle on the horizon.”
“We need to get on top of one of these buildings,” Calvin said.
“How about up there?” Astra said, pointing at the tallest tower. “But there’s no way I’ll make it. I’ll wait for you here.”
Calvin started to protest, but Astra interrupted him. “It’s OK. I have a weapon, and I’ll stay in the ship. You two go and look around inside the castle. We’ll each have a communicator, and I’ll call you if something happens.”
“OK,” Calvin said reluctantly. “We won’t be long.” He looked up at the sky. The sun had moved across the sky toward the horizon. “We’ll try to be back before the sun goes down.”
“You better be,” she said seriously. “I don’t want to be out here alone in the dark.”
“Sorry. Don’t worry, Astra. We’ll be back soon.”
“I scanned five miles in all directions,” Dev said. “I can’t see any life signs. Some insects, but no people. Not even animals. But what’s even stranger is the miles of ruins around the castle, but the castle isn’t damaged.”
“That’s strange,” Astra said.
“I wonder what happened to them,” Calvin added.
“I don’t see any signs of a battle here,” Dev said. “They must have evacuated.”
“Recently, too, by the look of it,” Calvin said. “I wonder what scared them away.”
“You don’t think it could have been the monsters, do you?” Dev asked.
“A few monsters?” Calvin asked. “No, I don’t think so. This place looks easily defendable.”
“What about the ruins?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think so. It doesn’t look recent.”
“What ruins?” Astra asked.
“There are ruins all around the castle,” Calvin said. “But from the air they looked old.”
“I’m telling you, if there are monsters here, there are more than just a few.”
“Then we need to hurry and get out of here,” Calvin said. “I’m really not comfortable leaving you here alone, but I feel better knowing we can keep an eye on you with the scanner.”
“If anything gets within five miles, we’ll know.”
“Speaking of darkness, where are we sleeping tonight?” Calvin asked.
“Right here, in the shuttle,” Astra said. “As soon as the sun starts to come up, we can head for the star port.”
“There’s something else you should know,” Dev said. “According to the scanner, there is a big storm coming. I think it’ll hit sometime tomorrow. I don’t know what the storms are like on this planet, but we can count on high winds and heavy rainfall.”
“That figures,” Calvin said. “We might want to consider finding shelter here.”
“Maybe you can find something for us inside the castle,” Astra suggested.
“We’ll keep our eyes open,” Calvin said. “It might be difficult since we don’t have a reservation.”
“Very funny,” Astra said.
Before they headed off, Calvin and Dev stocked up on supplies and equipment in the shuttle. The equipment locker was in the back near the door. Calvin opened it and found all kinds of equipment.
Astra walked over, amused at the look on his face. She could tell he was unsure of what to take. “Need help? I used to help outfit teams for missions like this.”
“Yes, please,” Calvin said.
Astra took out a vest and handed it to him. “Try this on,” she said and handed one to Dev also.
They each tried one on. Astra showed them how to adjust them so they fit perfectly. The vests had pockets on the front and sides, and had a holster on the side for a pistol. Astra took a pistol out of the weapons rack and handed it to Calvin. “This is a mark seven pistol,” she said. “It’s the most powerful handgun we have. Good for close-up combat. It has a very quick recharge rate, and computer control guidance helps increase accuracy. And look here. There is a light on the front. Just press this button.” She showed him where the button for the light was and how to load and reload power packs. Calvin holstered the pistol and put four power packs in his vest. Then Astra handed him a rifle.
“This is an assault rifle,” she said. “It’s very powerful and very accurate. It has a light on the front, too, so you can change the intensity of the beam. There is a scope here on top that has an excellent zoom-in capability. And here is where you can select the power of the laser. In single mode, you can fire one single shot. It automatically selects the power level. You can also change it to fire up to four shots at once. But if you do that, the power pack drains faster.” Calvin put the rifle on his back. The last things they took were a communicator each and a scanner.
“Please be careful,” Astra said. “You’re going out there with the best weapons and technology we have. But don’t trust that it will keep you safe. Don’t trust the scanners exclusively; trust your eyes and use your heads.”
“We’ll be careful,” Calvin said, trying to reassure her. Calvin and Dev walked out of the shuttle. Astra closed the door behind them and lay down on a row of seats in the back to rest. She was beginning to feel sick.
Once outside, Calvin wanted to make sure the communicators were all working before leaving Astra alone.
“Astra, can you hear me?”
“I hear you, Calvin, clear signal. Be careful.”
He heard her on both his and Dev’s communicators. “We’ll be back soon,”
They headed off through the garden toward the castle. It wasn’t a straight path to the doors. They had to follow a winding pathway.
The warm sun felt very good. There were a few fluffy white clouds hovering overhead, and a gentle breeze made the tree branches sway. It was very peaceful, yet Calvin was scared. There was a strange feeling in the air. He knew a Dark Terror lurked somewhere, maybe close.
They passed a very large fountain. It looked very clean and was spraying sparkling white water into the air. The drops of water gleamed in the sun. On the other side of the fountain was a large open space, which was covered with a dark-green weedless lawn. They crossed the open space quickly. Calvin felt uneasy out in the open. A wide row of concrete stairs led them up to a set of large doors, which were cracked open. They pulled the doors open.
Calvin wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. The previous planets he’d visited had long been abandoned and were in ruins. But everything here was nice and clean. When he walked through the big doors, he was pleasantly surprised. They entered a very large hall filled with richly carved beams that arched across the ceiling. Massive stained-glass windows along both sides stretched from the floor to
the ceiling. Dev followed Calvin down the center of the hall. Sunlight beamed through the windows, giving life to the images. The images were impressive, depicting battle scenes and portraits of regal-looking kings and queens. Just like outside, the inside was clean. Calvin noticed that the carpet looked like it had recently been cleaned, and there was no dust on anything. There were large green plants in the hall that all looked very healthy.
“I’m having that feeling again,” Calvin admitted.
“What feeling?” Dev asked, staring in awe at the windows as they walked.
“The one where it feels like everyone in the universe is gone.”
“You get that feeling a lot?”
“Yeah, but something is different about this planet. This one looks like there were people here yesterday.”
Wide open doors at the other end led them into the rest of the castle. For the next two hours, they explored, room by luxurious room. Crystal chandeliers hung from ornately decorated ceilings. The walls were covered with paintings, gold, and jewels, or a combination. There were no plain surfaces. The furniture all looked handcrafted. Where there weren’t colorful rugs, the floors were marble and granite. It was also a modern castle. All of the floors were accessible by elevators; spacious elevators with plush carpet and sleek glass elevator controls. Light wasn’t a problem either. The castle was full of windows, allowing natural light to flood all rooms. They wandered around for hours, continually checking the scanner for life signs. To Calvin’s relief, there were no signs of life.
After several hours of exploring, Calvin and Dev found an unusual door that didn’t look like any other part of the castle. It was an oversized metal door, painted red with yellow-and-black stripes across it. They found it deep in a basement, in a far corner on the other side of a concrete maze of storage rooms. They almost missed it, but Dev saw scratches on the floor and wanted to see where they went. They approached it cautiously. Calvin felt strange, as though a voice inside him was telling him they were in danger. He’d learned recently it was good to listen to that voice.
Dev tried to open the door, but it wouldn’t open.
“It’s locked,” he said, sounding disappointed.
