by Ethan Bibile
“Quinn, I don’t believe I have told you why the Reslavi have antenna,” Flendres continued, which piqued Quinn’s interest. He raised his eyebrows and looked at Flendres.
“No, no. I don’t think you have,” Quinn said, feeling slightly weird at being genuinely interested in something after nearly two months of basically just feeling sorrow and pain.
“The Reslavi are born with a chance to be… ‘different’ to the rest,” Flendres began and the two began to slowly walk down the path. Their walking pace matched Flendres’ talking speed. “When a Reslavi is born different, we know then they are special. And that is what determines the next leader of the Reslavi. So, I am one of those Reslavi,” Flendres said.
“So… how are you special?” Quinn said, raising an eyebrow in question.
“We can use our antenna’s, us special ones. The other Reslavi simply have them for… decoration purposes. Yet we who have the ability to use the antenna can feel the feelings of others by touching them.”
Quinn took a deep breath in, knowing he should have guessed that the Reslavi had an antenna for something like this. Seriously, what else could they use them for?
“Your hand,” Lord Flendres requested, looking up at Quinn, his thin mouth forming a smile. Quinn sighed, smiled at Flendres and put out his hands.
Flendres took Quinn’s hand in his own, grabbing it softly with his old, wrinkling hands. He lowered his head and lightly pressed his antenna to the back of Quinn’s hand, giving Quinn a slight tickling sensation upon his skin.
“I sense much in you, Quinn,” Flendres said, putting his head up straight yet not removing his gaze from Quinn’s hand. “I feel sadness, sorrow, pain,” These things were not news to Quinn. He could feel these emotions inside of himself.
Flendres bent his head back down and pressed his antenna against Quinn’s hand yet again.
“I feel not only this. There is also anger, fury, questioning,” Flendres looked up at Quinn.
“Quinn Fenton. You’ve have suffered, and for this, the Reslavi are truly sorry,” Flendres said and Quinn nodded his head in understanding. “Quinn, these events, these losses, they will change you. But it is your decision if you let them change you for the better, or for the worse.”
Quinn took these words in, absorbing them. Flendres was right. These events, they had changed him. And Morgan had been right too. These events could change him for the better. If he allowed them to.
“Thank you,” Quinn said, smiling lightly at Flendres, nodding his head. Flendres smiled back at Quinn, letting go of his hand. Flendres slowly turned around on the path back to the Reslavi Village. The lights of the flames flickered in the darkness as the two walked back to the village.
It only took Quinn another couple of weeks to fix the Audion completely. In the early stages of the repair process, Quinn had asked for the help of the Reslavi. They turned out to be no help at all. This, however, didn’t really surprise Quinn in the slightest.
The Audion wasn’t quite as good as new, but it looked decent. His father could have done a better and quicker job, but Quinn was using what he had.
Quinn knew that the strangest thing about going off into the universe was going to be the absence of his family. Quinn’s time in the Audion had always been time spent with his family. Now it was going to be time spent in alone.
The night before his planned departure, the Reslavi held a giant feast for Quinn. The race had become rather attached to Quinn, and he had become rather fond of them in the process.
The day that his departure came, the Reslavi followed him to the waterfall that led up to the plateau. They had all planned on coming up to bid Quinn farewell, including Lord Flendres. Quinn couldn’t really imagine the ruler of the Reslavi jumping off the plateau afterwards. Perhaps his leaf and flower decoration behind him would act as a parachute or something.
“It has most certainly been a pleasure getting to know you, Quinn,” Lord Flendres said as Quinn and the entire Reslavi race walked around the water’s edge to the waterfall.
“It’s been a pleasure getting to know you too,” Quinn replied, a small smile on his face. His spirits had lifted slightly over the past two months yet sorrow still pulled at his heart.
Quinn watched as the entire Reslavi race ascended the waterfall, the Reslavi children crying out in joy as their parents held them. Eventually, Quinn was the only life form left upon the ground. He turned and looked around at the Reslavi Village one final time, before stepping into the waterfall.
He shot up like a bullet from a gun, steadily flying up towards the plateau. Like always, when he reached the top he was spat out and landed on the ground of the plateau.
Quinn stood up to see the fifty or so Reslavi watching him in complete silence, Lord Flendres standing in front of them all. Their thin mouths had all formed wiry smiles, each staring up at Quinn.
“Well, thank you for everything,” Quinn said, smiling lightly, gesturing with his arms.
“It was no problem, Quinn,” Lord Flendres said in his deep, slow voice. Quinn looked at the leader of the Reslavi and smiled. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay?” Quinn shook his head.
“This planet, I love it so much,” Quinn said, gesturing around to the wildlife and beauty of Nespritia. “But it reminds me too much of what happened. If I stay here, I might never get better. That’s why I’ve got to go.”
Lord Flendres shut his eyes thoughtfully, still smiling. When he opened them again, he spoke to Quinn.
“A wise choice, Quinn,” Flendres said.
Quinn hopped down onto his knees, thus becoming the same height as Lord Flendres and most of the other Reslavi. He hugged the leader, who hugged him in return. The hug was slightly awkward as Quinn couldn’t put his arms completely around Flendres due to the giant decoration he had on his back.
Quinn stood up and smiled at the entire Reslavi population, who broke their silence and began shouting out their goodbyes to Quinn.
“Oh!” Quinn said, putting his hand into his pocket. “Sorry, I almost forgot to give you this,” Quinn pulled out the language translator, which shone in the sunlight. The red light on top of it was still on, indicating that it was still working. Quinn held it out in front of him, giving it to Flendres.
“No, no,” Flendres said, pushing it back towards Quinn. “We have no need for it. We rarely get visitors. You will need it more, going out into the universe.”
Quinn looked at it, holding it in his hands, before putting it back into his pocket.
“Thank you,” Quinn said to Flendres, before turning and walking towards the Audion.
Quinn had managed to park the Audion in a better position than it had first been in. The ship was no longer being smothered by the natural elements of the plateau. It stood as if it were still in the hangar back in Filia, the cargo door firmly planted on the ground.
Quinn stopped and turned once he made it to the ramp. He smiled at the Reslavi, giving them all a wave. They eagerly waved back to him, bidding him a fond farewell.
Quinn turned around and ascended the cargo ramp, entering the cargo room. He pressed the button upon the wall and the cargo door began to ascend.
Quinn turned and walked through the door that led into the lounge. He had managed to salvage some of the furniture like the couches and tables and chairs. However, most the electronics that were in the room had been destroyed, smashed to pieces upon impact with the plateau.
“All ready Morgan?” Quinn asked as he opened the door to the stairs that went up to the cockpit.
“All ready, Quinn. Are you?” Morgan asked his friend.
“Yeah, I think so,” Quinn said as he ascended the staircase. He emerged out into the cockpit, looking around at the repairs he had done on it. He had to admit, they were decent considering he was only a teenager who had done spaceship engineering as a hobby back home.
Quinn looked out the cockpit window, which showed him the spectacular view of Nespritia. The gorgeous mountains in the distance adorned by
trees, beautiful blue sky, the bright sun that hung above them all. The plateaus in the distance, most with their own waterfalls pouring from the ground up to the side of the hovering landform.
He sighed to himself, knowing this could be the last time he ever saw Nespritia.
Quinn sat down in the Captain’s chair, taking up the vacant spot of Captain aboard the ship. Quinn flicked the switches above his head which turned the engines on.
“All set for take-off?” Quinn asked as the engines began to hum softly below him.
“All systems ready for take-off when you are Quinn,” Morgan replied, his metallic voice echoing around the cockpit and the rest of the ship. Quinn changed the direction the side thrusters were pointing and pushed forward on the levers that controlled the side thrusters. Quinn wasn’t going to put thrust into the larger back thruster since he knew the Reslavi were all still standing behind the Audion. If he turned that thruster on, they would all be burned to a crisp.
The Audion slowly lifted off into the air. Quinn slowly surged it forward, away from the plateau. He pushed forward on one thruster and pulled back on another, turning the Audion around a full one eighty degrees. He watched as he saw the Reslavi jumping off the plateau towards the ground. Quinn was utterly puzzled as to how the Reslavi seemed to take jumping off a cliff as second nature. Even the children seemed to be fine with jumping off. All of them looking like they were about to have the time of their life by jumping. Quinn continued watching them jump until eventually only Lord Flendres was left. Quinn watched as the leader of the Reslavi jumped of the plateau, and he was right in his previous prediction. The giant decoration of leaves and flowers behind Flendres acted as a kind of parachute, puffing out behind him, caught on the updraft. Quinn smiled lightly to himself as he watched Lord Flendres float towards the down out of sight.
Quinn turned the Audion towards the sky, ready to shoot through the atmosphere.
“Well, let’s see if I can fix a spaceship,” Quinn said to himself more than Morgan. He ignited the back thruster on the ship and pushed forward on both thruster levers. The Audion shot forward towards the crystal-clear noon sky.
The Audion continued flying, making short work of the journey. A cone of fire surrounded the nose of the ship, Quinn listening and feeling in anticipation for any unusual noises or happenings that might come from the spaceship.
The cone of fire died down as the ship broke through the atmosphere and made it into outer space, the stars twinkling like billions of diamonds stuck upon a black backdrop millions of miles away.
“How're all the systems coping Morgan?” Quinn asked, pulling back on the thrusters so that they died down and the Audion stopped.
“All systems are excellent,” Morgan said, and Quinn mentally had a small celebration in his head, grinning to himself. “I must say, very good job of fixing the Audion. Your father would be proud of you Quinn.”
Quinn’s smile fell at the mention of his father and Morgan immediately noticed his mistake.
“I’m sorry Quinn, I shouldn’t have…” Morgan said, trailing off, not completely sure how to handle the awkward pause that came between him and Quinn.
“Don’t worry,” Quinn said. “It’s all good. I’m glad you think he would have been proud of me.”
“I know he would have.”
Quinn nodded, more in consolidation to himself than in response to Morgan’s comforting statement. Quinn looked up and out into the universe, before pushing forwards on the two thruster levers, letting the Audion cruise through the stars, no destination in mind.
THE ENDLESS CITY
Quinn had spent the last month mainly in isolation.
The month that he had spent alone in the Audion was mainly him trying to process the deaths of his family. He would spend hour upon hour sitting in his room, the cockpit or some other room in the ship, simply remembering the times he had sent with his mother, father and sister aboard the Audion. Times that had certainly passed.
Quinn knew that he would eventually have to find life somewhere in the universe. For one, his supply of food and drink was nearly depleted. He hadn’t been eating nearly as much as he should have. However much Morgan told him it, Quinn would deny that his loss of hunger was due to the loss of his family.
Another reason why he needed to find life was that even though Morgan was a great friend, especially for an artificial intelligence, Quinn needed the company of a real person.
“Checkmate,” Morgan’s metallic, robotic voice said. Quinn looked down at the touchscreen dashboard of the cockpit which had chess installed to it. Quinn stared at his pieces for a second, considering what he should have done differently.
“No surprise there,” Quinn said, hopping out of the Captain’s seat and looking out at the universe right outside the cockpit window. “I don’t even know why I play chess against you, you’re an A.I. You know what I’m going to do before I actually do it.”
“Fair point,” Morgan said, which caused Quinn to smile, shaking his head. “Although, you have been significantly improving whilst you’ve been here for the past month,” Quinn wasn’t sure if he was talking about his general wellbeing or the chess game.
Morgan had been urging Quinn to go out into the universe, telling him that talking to an intelligent robot (Morgan never forgetting to mention the ‘intelligent’ part) was never going to help him get over the deaths of his family. Quinn knew he was right, but as much as he was curious about it, he was also partially afraid of what was to come.
He was now living in an unfamiliar place, with no way to get back home. All his previous life goals had been obliterated. With only a spaceship and a robot for a friend, Quinn barely felt like himself anymore.
“Well,” Quinn said, reverting the topic of conversation back to chess. “I nearly beat you last time, so I think you should give me a week and I’ll win,” Quinn said, leaving the cockpit and descending the staircase into the living room.
“Quinn,” Morgan warned. “Don’t change the topic.”
“What topic?” Quinn replied as he reached the bottom of the stairs. “We were talking about chess, and then I was talking about chess, so in no way was I changing the topic.”
“You know what I was getting to,” Morgan said sternly. Quinn certainly did know but brushed it off lightly.
“More chess?” Quinn responded.
“Quinn,” Morgan said, his voice now carrying a sort of authority that it hadn’t previously. Quinn stopped in his tracks, sighing. “Quinn, this isn’t healthy, and you know it. Their deaths are affecting you more than you would like to admit it. You can’t spend the rest of your life in the Audion.”
“Why not?” Quinn retorted back. “I could. There’s no point of me going out into the universe because there is nothing for me there. I know barely anything about the time I’m in. I know no one and everything, everything I ever aspired to be or wanted to do, is gone!” Quinn exploded. His emotions, everything he was feeling had only come out in tears, their output being in grief and sadness. His emotions hadn’t yet come out in rage and anger, which he had certainly been feeling for the past months.
“Your family would want you to keep on living,” Morgan implored. “Your father gave his life for you Quinn. Don’t waste it,” Morgan was essentially pleading with his friend now. Even though he hadn’t been as close to the family as Quinn had, he still missed them. Having their deaths wasted by a member of their own family would be horrible.
Quinn bit his lip and leant against the wall he was standing next to. He sighed, before burying his face in his hands. It was several minutes before he looked up.
“You’re right,” Quinn said softly. “Their deaths have been affecting me more than I would like to admit,” Quinn paused, gathering his thoughts. “I can’t spend the rest of my life here. Any planets you recommend?” Quinn asked, a small smile returning to his face. Quinn knew that if Morgan had a physical body, he would be grinning right now.
“Well, there is the planet of Krezar,�
�� Morgan said as Quinn returned to the cockpit. “The planet’s main attraction is the marketplace, which if my previous research is correct still exists in our home time,” Morgan continued informing Quinn as he ascended the staircase.
“Orbits three stars, the solar system is known as the Triscupid system. The marketplace is part of its capital city, which houses all sorts of species, so you should be able to make some friends there.”
“Sounds good,” Quinn said, smiling, curiosity taking over him. He sat down in the Captain’s chair and started the engines. He re-positioned the thrusters so that they pointed behind the ship before pushing forward on the thrust levers, the Audion beginning to move forward.
“How long till I get there Morgan?” Quinn said as he fiddled with some settings.
“About an hour. I’m uploading directions now,” Morgan said. As he spoke the direction appeared in the top right-hand corner of the cockpit window. Quinn pushed forward on the thrust levers and the Audion flew through space.
Morgan’s time estimation turned out to be accurate. Quinn arrived at Krezar in just over an hour.
They first saw the solar system from a distance, the three suns merely being three tiny dots up ahead. As they got closer, they could make out the suns of the solar system, eventually also being able to make out Krezar. The planet was the only planet in the entire solar system. The three stars made a humongous triangle shape around the planet, Krezar being in the very centre, remaining completely still.
“The gravitational forces balance each other out,” Morgan informed Quinn, who was staring out the cockpit window at the planet. “It never goes around any of its suns, meaning that it never changes seasons. Of course, it still has the cycle of day and night, all planets do. The inertia still makes it spin, yet the planet is stuck in an eternal summer.”
