by David Roman
“Whoa!” Vincent cried out, grabbing the door handle.
The alien chuckled. “Relax, you’ll get used to it!” He then pushed a button on the armrest and a soft belt made of rubber material extended across Vincent’s lap, holding him tightly to the seat.
“Where are we going?” Vincent blurted out.
“To find out what’s goin’ on.” The alien reached into his pockets and produced a pack of cigars. He pulled one out, unwrapped it, and then placed the pack into a compartment on the dash. “This’ll calm me down,” he muttered as he lit it with what seemed to be a regular lighter.
The ship was behind them, firmly parked on the outskirts of the city. Vincent wanted to ask how it managed to land so perfectly on this distant planet, but then decided it’s better to keep his mouth shut before he got himself into more trouble. However, there remained in his head countless questions: What of the men that were supposed to be on that ship? What happened to them? Where’s Alex? And just where am I? How did I end up here? Where am I being taken to?
“By the way, my name’s Spaide Caroon.” The alien stretched out his hand. “Captain Spaide Caroon,” he added as he took a deep drag.
Vincent hesitated. “What, you don’t think I’m dangerous anymore?” he asked, returning the grip.
“Not when you passed out like that back there,” the alien said mockingly. “I really believe you’ve no idea where you are.”
All of a sudden, sirens blared from behind.
“How come I didn’t see them?” Spaide grumbled. “It’s your fault. Damn it!”
Vincent glanced back and saw several red and black jets with blinking lights beginning to surround the abandoned ship. “What’s going on?”
“Why me?” Spaide fussed. “It always has to be me! I always bring trouble!”
“STOP! THIS IS THE IMPERIAL POLICE!” announced the speaker and one of the vehicles began closing the distance between them.
“Well?” Vincent asked in uncertainty.
“If I bring a tail with me again…” Spaide said softly, reaching into his pocket. “I won’t hear the end of it. I knew I should’ve moved the ship. But… there was no time… given the severity of the situation…” It seemed like he was making excuses for himself, trying to justify his impending actions.
“Are you going to stop? What’s going on?”
“I don’t think so,” Spaide said, pulling out some type of remote. “Oryon’ll be furious when he finds out, but it must be done.”
“What must be done? What are you doing?”
“LOWER THE VEHICLE IMMEDIATELY!” The police jet was right behind them.
“What are you doing?” Vincent repeated.
“Watch this,” Spaide said and pressed the button on the remote.
An earsplitting explosion thundered behind them, blowing up the ship that brought Vincent to this extraordinary world. The force of the blast scattered the police vessels in every direction. The one that was behind them managed to faintly graze their trunk the very moment Spaide floored the pedal, flying up and ahead at an unspeakable speed.
“You fool!” Vincent screamed, holding onto the dashboard for his dear life. “How am I going to get back home? That ship had the last destination!”
“Shut up!” Spaide replied, advancing towards the metropolis.
“Stop!” Vincent shouted, clasping his stomach. The dinner he ate a few hours ago (or at least what he thought had been a few hours) was finding itself back to the surface.
“Shut—the hell—up!”
“No, I won’t! I need to get back, and they can probably help me!”
“Look, Saturn, I’m doing you a favor!”
“Doing me a favor? Just pull over and let me out!”
“I have the ship’s course right here!” Spaide showed him a small disk. “Now, shut up and stay still!”
Spaide’s moderate answers failed to inform Vincent as to why they were escaping from the apparent authority, but he decided not to bother the crazy alien any longer. At this moment, his biggest concentration was not to end up splattered against some building or get blown up.
Within minutes, a dozen police vehicles were hot on their pursuit. Nevertheless, the Dirsalian accelerated the jet to full velocity, finally reaching the city.
The magnitude of these buildings could easily dwarf those of Earth. Some were circular skyscrapers, some square, and others in different geometric forms, the rays of the setting sun skipping on their glassy surfaces. Numerous catwalks, tube tunnels, and bridges stretched from one building to another, guiding myriads of creatures and robots. Jets and ships traveled in controlled lanes and through the tunnels that were built within the structures, while long trains escalated the sides of the buildings and ran across the skyline on metallic viaducts.
And Spaide flew everywhere with complete disregard. He soared in and out of the lanes, through the tunnels, up into the sky, and all around the buildings. Vincent thought they’d crash at any given second; he held on dearly for his life, and at times even closed his eyes. Yet another part of him—some inner part that he couldn’t quite yet understand—was thrilled beyond words.
People dodged in horror as their jet swept over a catwalk connecting two skyscrapers.
Vincent raised his arm to cover his face. “You’re going to kill us!”
“Never me,” Spaide said smugly, maneuvering the jet beside one of the speeding trains, trying to match its speed. The people in the train flocked to the windows trying to see the daredevil.
The police vehicles doubled, appearing from every direction in desperate attempts to stop the crazy Dirsalian. His unremitting tricks held them at bay, for most of them dared not pull similar stunts.
But there were a few that dared. As Spaide passed under the train and took a sharp turn into a small alley, one of the police jets crashed into the building, sending glass and debris into the city below. And this act was enough of a reason for the pursuers to open fire.
Huge spheres of blue energy started to explode around their speeder. Spaide began wobbling side to side, evading the fire. One of the energy balls smashed into a nearby jet, completely shutting off its power and forcing it to crash into a glass tube-tunnel. Luckily, the tunnel was empty at the time, and the innocent driver managed to eject before the impact.
“Immobilizers,” Spaide said, smiling. The whole chase scene seemed to amaze him. He had somewhat of a childlike glow about him: eyes wide in excitement and face frozen in a self-assured grin.
“You’re crazy, aren’t you?” Vincent said.
Spaide curled his lip. “That’s what they say. But as Duell would assert, ‘What is crazy anyway? Why would you label someone cra—’”
“Whoa!” Vincent cried out as they almost flattened against a wall.
Two more of the police vehicles smashed into the building at the awkward turn, creating explosions that covered their trail in smoke.
“Now you’ve done it!” Vincent shouted as orange blasts began to zap beside their jet. “Let me guess… those things are not immobilizers?”
“Relax! I’m on top of things,” the Dirsalian replied.
“Relax? During this mayhem?”
“Mayhem? You think that was mayhem? Watch!”
Spaide gathered speed, pulled the vehicle into a climb, and they headed back, flying upside-down over the pursuers.
“Will you please stop?” Vincent begged as they straightened.
“Relax, damn it! I’m the best pilot in the galaxy!” Spaide changed the direction straight up into the clouds.
The gravity sucked Vincent into his seat. “Just let me out, and then you can be on your way!” he forced out against the wind. “I’m pretty sure they’ll help me get home!”
“You’re not goin’ anywhere till we get to the bottom of this!”
“The only thing that’s at the bottom is my stomach!”
“Hold on!”
The sirens resonated from the distance as the frantic officers took their trail
once more.
Spaide navigated the jet past the clouds and over the tallest buildings.
They suddenly stopped.
It was a magnificent sight: the evening sky was filling with stars that replaced the setting sun—a heavenly battle between the darkness and the light, where the darkness ultimately prevailed. The vast ocean of structures stretched in every direction with no end in sight. The surface itself was not visible due to the thick clouds that clustered around the bases of the skyscrapers, but lights still shone through—millions of them—signifying that people lived down there as well.
This city alone could’ve easily accommodated over a hundred million citizens.
Spaide began to turn back down.
“Oh, boy,” Vincent whispered. “You’re not going—” He couldn’t finish his sentence as they swooped back into the city.
“If they get their hands on you, you won’t have a home anymore!” Spaide shouted against the wind.
“Why?” Vincent asked, clenching the dashboard.
“I’ll explain later! For now, you’re safe with me!”
“I don’t think so,” Vincent mumbled as they headed straight at the pursuers. The police vehicles spread out of the way as they continued plunging downward at that ridiculous speed. They flew past several traffic lanes and down into the murky clouds, all while barely escaping impact. After a few seconds, they exited the fog to enter the lower city, and Vincent finally saw the ground.
The foundations of the gargantuan buildings were lit up with millions of lights, both from the windows and from the multi-colored banners scribed in alien characters. The presence of jets was much scarcer here: most of the inhabitants traveled on foot, overflowing the streets by the thousands. Here and there in the crowd were grounded vehicles, reminding Vincent of Earth’s cars and providing an example of how much more advanced this world was than our own.
Spaide slowed down, straightened the jet, and they began to float over the active street, merging with the traffic.
Vincent leaned over and looked down at the creatures that were beyond human comprehension.
“Get back, damn it!” Spaide grabbed him by the collar and yanked him in. “What’s wrong with you? No one has seen anyone that looks like you. We don’t need any more problems!” Before the police jets could emerge from the clouds, Spaide took a turn into an alley and then into an open shaft of a secluded building.
They entered a dark parking garage filled with mountains of junk.
Spaide landed the jet and released their belts. “We must move!” he said, putting on a hooded jacket. He then threw another one to Vincent. “Here, wear this!”
Vincent caught the jacket with Spaide’s words ringing in his ears, No one looks like you. These words terrified him as he stood there, not realizing that the Dirsalian was already in the faraway corner of the area. He donned the hoodie in haste, trying to catch up with his alien companion.
“Make sure to screen your face!” Spaide cautioned.
Deeply sighing, Vincent pulled the hood over his brow.
Spaide led him to a contracted staircase, its walls and ceiling covered in mildew and cobwebs, vaguely lit by a few bulbs remaining inside this deserted edifice. They rapidly made their way down the stairs, jumping on the decaying steps that cracked beneath their feet and barely holding on the railings that fell apart at contact.
“Where are we going?” Vincent asked, trying to keep pace. He felt like he was stuck in a perpetual moment of panic, following this stranger to God-only-knows where with millions of questions eating away at him. It was happening fast—too fast.
“Just follow me!” Spaide simply replied.
The stairwell spiraled down into a dark void, and only after a few minutes, they neared a source of light escaping through a door. Spaide kicked it open and peeked outside, his hand moving toward his revolvers. After making sure it was safe, he stormed out.
They ended up in a narrow alley.
“Hurry,” Spaide said, taking the lead.
Vincent looked up at the clouds that formed a roof to the urban streets. It seemed that the density of the skyscrapers trapped the smoke and other gases of this huge city, splitting it into two hemispheres.
The alley came to an end at the street through which the river made up of thousands of the planet’s residents flowed.
“Okay.” Spaide stopped, slightly panting. “Let’s blend in with the crowd.”
Vincent glanced around in awe as they made their way down the street, perplexed by the diversity of faces that passed by him: there were gigantic creatures over eight feet tall with purplish skin and flat noses; reptilian-like humanoids of different colors with scaly skin and vestibules instead of ears, tongues flickering on their jaws; green-and blue-skinned anthropoids, some with four arms, and others with many legs and some even had wings; multi-eyed and little creatures, most not bigger than a human baby; while others resembled animals—were, in fact, highly evolved animals. Robots, droids and cybernetic organisms mingled with the mass as well. Most of them didn’t pay the startled human any attention, but there were some that would make a coarse remark or shove him out of the way.
Jets and bikes hovered above the crowd and over each other with no regulated traffic. Overpasses covered in billboards stretched from building to building, packed with more creatures traveling by their businesses and shouting into the swarm bellow.
“Well, it’s not so bad down here either,” Vincent said, admiring the alien slums and comparing them to our most populous cities.
“Stop starin’ around!” Spaide cautioned while pulling Vincent by the wrist. “We have to go!”
As they began to move further through the boulevard, sirens blared from above. Five of the police vessels began floating over the street, flashing down their beams.
Vincent and Spaide jumped into the bustling part of the crowd, hiding behind a smelly pig-snouted creature.
“Don’t look up,” Spaide warned.
After a few seconds, the harassed inhabitants began shouting. “Get out of here, Imperial scum!” a voice yelled out, and a canister was cast at the vehicles. The mass started to move, disregarding the law. Giving up amidst such mutiny, the police jets made a small pass and disappeared into the clouds.
“The Republic doesn’t have a tight grip down here,” Spaide explained. “Here, we can move freely and hide. But that doesn’t mean they won’t come back.”
“What Republic? And who do you mean by we?” Vincent demanded, stopping. “Why are we hiding from the authority? When can you send me back home?”
Vincent’s voice was so loud that some of the passing creatures stopped and turned in his direction.
Spaide’s face twisted with anger. “Look, you’re gonna have to trust me,” he said through his teeth. “I’ll provide answers to all your questions in a little while, but for now, you must come with me… quietly. And keep your face covered. ”
“What if I don’t?” Vincent insisted.
Acting on a boiling instinct, Spaide jerked his hand to his belt, but at the last second stopped before retrieving his weapon. Maybe if he hadn’t accompanied Oryon for the better part of his life, he wouldn’t have known if this human were a spy or not, but through constant historical lectures and thousands of books, he knew Vincent wasn’t lying: species such as humans did not subsist in the known universe. That’s when he knew that he needed to use his Dirsalian finesse. “Well, you’ve no other choice, do ya?” he said, looking around. “It’s either me or them.” He pointed up. “Now, come on, you’re gettin’ the wrong attention.” He then turned around and continued on his way.
Vincent stood there, sweeping a look at the strange aliens that paid him no mind. “I guess I don’t have any choice at all,” he whispered under his breath and jostled his way through.
The underworld was a marketable center. There were casinos, bars, stores, and all kinds of amusement venues lining the street with no end in sight.
“What is this place?” Vincent a
sked as he caught up with Spaide.
“Sebalon 2,” the Dirsalian answered, continuing his rapid pace, “a commercial planet. Every galactic race has its presence here. This is the entertainment center of the galaxy, as it has been for the past three centuries. Food, clothes, drugs and weapons exchange hands here pretty quickly. Up there is where the rich folks party.” He gestured up into the sky. “Down here… well, you see for yourself.”
“The galaxy?” Vincent asked, trying to grasp the information. “Races? Just how many races are in this galaxy?”
“Races?” Spaide turned, puzzled. “I don’t know about races, but there are over six thousand civilized planets. But after seein’ you, I believe there are more.”
“My God,” Vincent whispered. “Six thousand! And back home we still believe we’re the only ones.”
“What I don’t understand…” Spaide paused, frantically patting his pockets before realizing he left his cigars in the car. “How come I’ve never seen a creature like you? What star system is your planet—this Earth—in?”
“The solar system,” Vincent answered.
“Be more specific.”
“Look, we don’t name our star; we just call it ‘sun.’”
Spaide heaved a sigh. “Okay, caveman, there’s no sense talkin’ to you; we’ll just explain everythin’ later.”
Later? This later was making Vincent irate beyond his control.
As Spaide progressed down the street, worrisome contemplations stirred in his head in spite of the self-assured, devil-may-care attitude that concealed them. There has to be a connection between all of this, he thought. Both Oryon and Duell were gone astray, and in their place this oddity appeared. Oryon was worried about sending the twins to rescue Gaia on their own but ended up missing himself. He let out a hushed groan. I have to consult with the twins.
Vincent reluctantly followed the Dirsalian. His whole life he believed there was life existing and thriving in other corners of the universe, and now he had witnessed it before his very eyes. He did want adventure, but it was too much at once. Be careful what you wish for, as they say.
At times, Spaide had to drag Vincent because he stopped every time he saw a strange creature or piece of machinery. They walked for over a mile, going deeper and deeper into the frenzied underworld.
