by Calista Skye
Stowaway
Stars Apart Part One
By Calista Skye
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When an extra-terrestrial attack on London during her lunch break sees Helen accidentally beamed on board the ship of a seemingly emotionless alien prince, all she wants to do is go home.
However, bound by duty to return to his planet for his arranged marriage, Prince Lanek, heir to the throne of Asiroth, would rather let her out into open space than go all the way back to Earth.
Persuaded instead to drop her off en route at the nearest space station a couple of weeks away, he agrees to let her live, an act which will go on to have far-reaching consequences, because the feelings they develop for each other along the way could change the course of history for both their worlds, and bring others to destruction.
Part one of the Stars Apartspace opera romance.
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Chapter 1
“Look out!” said Eyanis but it was too late. He braced himself for impact. The space ship hurtled through a blanket of debris. Fragments of rock burned and smouldered in vibrant shades of violet, blue and magenta, hitting their shields and disintegrating. Moments before, they had been part of an asteroid but the creature had obliterated it.
Lanek scowled and manoeuvred the ship back and forth, weaving between the larger pieces whilst trying not to lose sight of the d’gorran. He could just make out its long, slender shape in the haze, writhing and coiling through space at dizzying speeds, trying to escape. But he was hot on its trail and there was no way he would allow it to get away; his whole honour as prince of Asiroth hung on capturing – and killing – the serpent. The killing would come later but first, he had to catch it. The problem was, d’gorrans were famous for being difficult to catch, and very dangerous. If the ship had to take a battering to achieve his goal, then so be it.
“You’re going to kill us at this rate” Eyanis cried. He clutched the arms of his chair.
“If you were worried about that, you should have stayed at home”.
The ship burst through the asteroid remnants and into open space. It stopped shuddering, instead becoming still with seamless motion. A nebula cloud to their right shone blue and green in the orange glow of a distant sun. Eyanis was dazzled. He swiped a hand through the air, bringing up the virtual control panel and pressed a short sequence of buttons. The screen of the ship undulated like water and shifted to a translucent brown, cutting out the rays of the sun.
“You’d have been dead back at Fruneg if it hadn’t been for me”.
“I wouldn’t have been at Fruneg at all if it hadn’t been for you”.
“Yeah”, said Eyanis, “You would have gone through Myorn instead, which I think we can agree is infinitely more dangerous. I don’t know about you, but I’d like to get back alive for mating season”.
“If we’d gone through Myorn, we’d be on our way back by now. You would have had time to find yourself a mate and defend her properly”.
Eyanis frowned. It was true he’d lost his mate a couple of times to other challengers.
“It’s all right for you. You just do that pouty glary thing and most men back down but for us mere mortals…”
“I don’t pout” said Lanek.
“Yeah, you do” said Eyanis.
Lanek shrugged.
“Those who can’t, get married”.
“I don’t know. I suppose I haven’t found a girl I’m willing to lose my teeth for, you know?”
Eyanis had every reason to be sceptical. Marriage offered the stability of a mate who could not be solicited in a challenge, but it was often preceded by brutal fights for her with other males, which sometimes – though less frequently in modern, ‘civilised’ society – resulted in death.
As prince of Asiroth, Lanek was spared the pre-nuptial fighting. His bride had been chosen by his mother, the Queen. Seeking to strengthen the alliance between Asiroth and the neighbouring world, Reyath, she had selected a Reyathid girl – Princess Iyana, a petite thing on the cusp of womanhood, with large dark eyes and soft curls of golden hair. Lanek had met her a couple of times. She looked too weak and innocent to stand among the Asithians who were a race proud of their warrior lineage. However, this trait, shared by all Reyathids was a form of deception. It hid the fact that Iyana was a ruthless killer with a deadly venom. Yes, she seemed shy and docile, but in her few short cycles of life, she had killed three men. It was better to have the Reyathids on side.
Lanek had his own killing to do. While he was not required to be subject to the brutality of choosing a mate, he made up for it by performing the traditional rite of passage of fighting and killing a d’gorran, a feat so dangerous that many men had died in the act of proving themselves worthy of marriage. The practice had long since fallen into disfavour but it was still a definitive display of bravery and skill.
In front of him, the creature twisted off to the left with a sharp jolt and dived. Lanek turned the ship and went spiralling down after it. A flash of silver rippled over its black scales. It started to slow down but Lanek sped up.
In the darkness, a blaze of bright white light crashed over them. The d’gorran had ripped a hole through space. It disappeared into its own creation.
“We’ve lost it” said Eyanis.
“But not for long” said Lanek, accelerating.
“No” said Eyanis, “You’re not going through”.
But Lanek was.
Eyanis gripped the arms of the seat once more.
“And this is the part where we die”.
As soon as they entered the tunnel, Lanek lost control of the ship. The lights went off and the engine cut out. The ship flung through somersaulting, shaking, heating up, propelled at hyper speed on an invisible tide.
And, just like that, they were out, flying across a dark, starry backdrop. A large white, spherical rock seemed to fly up towards them. The ship’s power was still down. It was going to be a direct impact.
Distant discolorations and pimples on the rock’s surface quickly grew to the size of craters, miles across in diameter. The white rock was now nearly planet-sized. It didn’t bode well. In his last moments, Eyanis pressed frantically at the control pad, trying a million different combinations of anything to get the power back.
Suddenly, the ship roared to life again and Lanek pulled them up and away just in time, skimming the surface and throwing up plumes of dust.
“You’re an idiot” cried Eyanis.
“At least we’re alive”.
“Barely” said Eyanis. He pulled up the screen again and did a search for the serpent.
“Your d’gorran’s heading down to that planet”.
Lanek saw his chance, finally. He knew the d’gorran would have used up a lot of its energy ripping a hole through space and now, instead of running, would go down to hide while it recovered.
“Take the controls”.
“Lanek…”
But Lanek had already let go. He unstrapped himself from his seat and jumped up. The ship cruised aimlessly. Eyanis pressed a few buttons and took over control of the ship.
Lanek threw on the black armour lying by the side of the seat he had so recently occupied. He strapped the belt of weapons around his waist and put on his helmet.
“Take me closer to the planet” he said. Eyanis brought him in closer until they were nearly within the atmosphere, glowing gently blue in the sunlight.
“Okay, I’m going down”.
He went to the back of the room.
The door slid open, revealing another larger, one, unlit.
“Lanek” said Eyanis.
“Yeah?”
“Rip its heart out”.
Lanek grunted a reply. He slipped inside, pressed a button on his armour and disappeared.
Chapter 2
Helen stopped walking and turned to face her English class. It was an unusually hot day in London – much too hot for a school trip. She was sweltering under the summer sun but her group of teenagers who hailed from the warmer climates of France, Italy, Spain and Portugal looked back at her undaunted.
“Okay, it’s lunchtime”.
“Finally!” shouted a boy at the back.
“Yes, thanks Francesco. You’re free to go but meet back here at quarter past two. After lunch, we’ll continue our tour, stop for dinner and then we’re going to have a disco on the Thames. Who’s excited about that?” The excited chatter which broke out said ‘everyone’. Helen was feeling excited about it too – perhaps more so than her students.
“Yeah, high five!” said Ricardo, her youngest student at thirteen years old. She returned his high-five and those of a couple of other students who wanted to jump on the bandwagon.
“Okay, guys, you’re free to go but meet back where?”
“Outside the London Eye”.
“At what time?”
“Quarter past two”.
“Good. Have fun guys and don’t go off alone!”
Her class dispersed in little groups and cliques. She watched them go.
“It’s far too hot for this” said Nick, the activity leader.
“Tell me about it” said Helen, “But I’m well psyched about the disco later. I’ve never been on a boat on the Thames before”.
“Yeah, it’s weird”, said Nick, “there’s all this stuff here and people from other countries are always like ‘have you been here or done that?’ and they’re surprised when you haven’t”.
“Yeah, totes”.
“Oh look, there’s Lindsey and Mark”.
Nick gestured to the two additional activity leaders, easily distinguishable from the general crowd by their brightly coloured summer school uniforms.
“You’ve just lost the game” said Mark as he joined them.
“You’re not seriously still playing that” said Helen.
“Everyone’s playing the game” he replied.
“Only those who didn’t get the brief it’s not cool anymore” said Nick.
“He’s got all the students playing it too”, said Lindsey, “it’s a nightmare. But yeah, Harry, James and Emily are having lunch in that café we saw earlier. You coming?”
“Yeah” said Nick.
“Yeah, in a bit” said Helen, “I’m just going to wait here a bit longer to make sure all the students left okay”.
“All right”, said Lindsey, “See you in a bit, then”.
“Yeah, bye”.
The three of them left.
Helen checked the outdated brick which was masquerading as the company mobile. No missed calls or messages, so the students must all be fine.
She was desperate to get out of the heat now. She put away the phone and turned towards where her colleagues had gone.
A shadow flickered over the sun. Someone nearby screamed, making Helen turn around. Several people had their phones out, pointing upwards. She looked up. Something small and black was falling through the sky. It wriggled, as though it was alive.
The shape grew larger and larger. Suddenly, she could see the frills of skin on either side of its head, see the glisten of scales, see thin limbs pressed against its body. It was massive, absolutely huge.
All too soon, it was apparent it was falling right here, where she was. She ran. Everyone was running. Filming and running, screaming, watching, desperate to get away.
Before she could get very far, a loud and heavy thud resounded through the air. Whatever that thing was, it hit the London Eye. Both creature and landmark toppled into the River Thames, the latter mangled out of shape like a giant, broken bicycle wheel.
Helen was soaked in the spray thrown up from the Thames. Water trickled over her sunglasses, hindering her vision. She wrenched them from her face and proceeded towards the river, like many curious onlookers.
All was still for a moment. The water’s surface rippled under the influence of little waves, reflecting the dazzling light of the sun, hiding what had just happened. More people joined the throng, wondering what was going on. Then, jets of water sprayed out from the river as the creature reared up out of the water, clambering for land. Several people were crushed under the weight of its feet and its huge body. Helen saw their blood ooze out from under the creature, seeping across the ground.
Fully out the water now, it opened its terrible mouth and let out a deafening cry. Helen covered her ears, trying to drown out the awful noise.
Along with the crowd, she tried to run, but the creature started to walk. Each step kept it among the runners, crushing and dragging individuals along. It crashed into County Hall, sending a huge chunk of it crumbling to the floor. It continued onwards, going inland.
It overtook Helen easily. She stopped running, watching it go. She was shaking and out of breath but dust thrown up from the collapsed part of the building got into her lungs and made her cough.
Suddenly, a flash of light exploded through the air, far brighter and whiter than the sun. Helen turned. A figure stood in its wake, human shaped, but taller, and all in black. It was holding a large, cylindrical object. It aimed it towards the tail of the creature and fired. The weapon whirred, the sound becoming more and more intense until a glare of blue light erupted from it and hit the target.
The creature gave that deafening cry again. Enraged, it turned round and started back towards the figure.
Helen ran, but realised she was trapped between the water and the advancing creature.
The figure shot the weapon again. The laser burrowed into its body, sending the creature backwards a few steps. The monster sprayed a jet of silvery liquid from its mouth, towards the figure. It hit the weapon, and caused it to corrode.
The liquid spattered onto the concrete below. Where it fell, it ate away into the ground.
Helen was horrified. This was definitely not a safe place to be. She looked across at the fighter. It was unharmed.
It took something from the belt on his waist and threw it towards the head of the creature. The device exploded. Helen covered her ears again and ducked. Pieces of flesh fell around her. Fell on her. It was accompanied by a foul-smelling, dark, red-black liquid, sprayed over her face and arms, staining her clothes. A sickening lurch in her stomach told her it must be blood.
She looked up. A chunk of flesh was missing from the creature’s neck. Inside was red and raw. It whimpered in pain and swung its gigantic tail round to hit its attacker.
The figure tried to avoid the impact but instead, was knocked over. It rolled to break its fall. The creature brought its tail back to launch a second attack. The warrior reached for his belt and unsheathed a sword. It glinted in the light, dazzling Helen slightly. The sword fired into life, electricity running up and down its length, frying the air around it.
As the tail came back, the figure sliced through it, severing it from the body. The creature groaned and toppled over, without the benefit of its tail for balance.
The one attacking took its chance. Just as the creature was trying to stand again, he ran over to it and brought the sword down hard on its neck. The headless body writhed, blood spraying out onto the ground below. The head rolled close to Helen. She gasped. The tongue was still twitching and a single eye turned round and trained itself on her. She tried to run but slipped on flesh and blood, stumbling to the ground.
Then, she was surrounded by rays of white light. They passed through the creature’s head, passed through her, so bright, eventually, she could no longer see anything. And then, from bright whiteness, her vision began to dim darker and darker until everything was black an
d she fainted.
Chapter 3
Lanek arrived back on the ship. He removed his helmet. A combination of condensation and perspiration clung to his black hair, making it curl slightly.
The d’gorran was dead. He felt a wave of satisfaction. It hadn’t been as difficult as he had anticipated, perhaps due to the fact that the d’gorran had been fenced in by water and built structures, giving him the upper hand. The d’gorran avoided water as much as possible.
He turned to the body of the dead creature and traced a line along its headless body with his sword. Blood spilled out onto the floor, viscous and sticky. He deepened the slit. A red organ bulged through, trying to escape. The heart. He cut it free. It squelched onto the ground accompanied by a trickle of more blood.
Eyanis set the ship to autopilot and sprang from his seat. The door slid open as he approached it.
“Wow”, he said, “Looks quite formidable close up”.
“Yeah” said Lanek. It was the first time either of them had been that close to an adult d’gorran. The meat was a delicacy on Asiroth and eaten on special occasions. However, since they were difficult to handle when mature, they were usually farmed and slaughtered when still young. Even so, the adult d’gorran had the fullest flavour. This was why the d’gorran Lanek had just killed was going to be the highlight of his wedding banquet.
Lanek went to the far side of the room and brought over a large silver container. He unlocked it and lifted the heart inside. It was extremely heavy and blood dribbled over his fingers a he lowered it in slowly. He closed and locked it.
With his helmet tucked under his arm, he turned to Eyanis.
“Let’s go home” he said.
They left the room. Lanek went to his bedroom to clean himself up while Eyanis returned to the cockpit to manoeuvre them out of the galaxy. He hoped the hole the d’gorran had made in space was still open, otherwise it could take months, if not years to get home.
