by Huw Powell
Alien Encounter
Jake stared at the tattered green spacesuit hovering in the shadows, transfixed with fear. He half expected to see a skull or two glowing eyes glaring at him from behind the dusty visor. To his horror, the figure drew nearer, arms outstretched and feet suspended above the ground, casting a terrifying shadow against the curved wall.
A shadow? Since when did ghosts have shadows?
‘Hey, you’re no space ghoul,’ shouted Jake. ‘I’m warning you, don’t come any closer.’
The spacesuit stopped moving and lingered in the air. Its arms lowered and its head tilted curiously to the side. Jake noticed the unusual suit design. Apart from the lime green colour, it was made out of a skin-like material, which looked tighter and more flexible than their spacesuits.
‘Who you?’ asked the figure in a muffled voice. ‘Why you on my ship?’
‘Your ship?’ said Jake. ‘I thought this was an abandoned wreck.’
The figure went to speak again, but was interrupted when Callidus burst into the room, wielding a metal bar.
‘There you are,’ he said. ‘I’ve got you now.’
‘Wait,’ cried Jake, stepping in front of the tattered spacesuit.
‘Get out of the way,’ warned Callidus.
‘No, listen to me,’ said Jake, not moving. ‘This isn’t a ghost, or a monster, or a robot. It’s the owner of the spaceship.’
‘The owner?’ Callidus lowered the metal bar.
Jake turned back to the floating figure. ‘I’m sorry, we didn’t mean to scare you. My name’s Jake Cutler and this is Callidus Stone. Who are you?’
The figure reached up and wiped the dust off its visor, revealing the face of a young alien boy. His pale lilac skin had not been washed for some time and his wide turquoise eyes blinked nervously.
‘My name Nanoo,’ he said. ‘I not mean to run away. It long time since anyone here. I thinking you might hurt me.’
‘Where are you from?’ asked Callidus, releasing the metal bar. ‘I’ve never seen a vessel like this before.’
‘I from planet Taan-Centaur, many galaxies away. This was exploration ship. My parents seek new worlds. We on scientific mission when we lose control and crash. My parents and crew die, but I living here since accident, almost one year.’
‘You’ve been living in this wreck for a year!’ exclaimed Callidus. ‘How is that possible?’
‘Life support still work after crash, but it broken two weeks ago and air run out. I wear spacesuit to breathe now, but oxygen tanks almost gone, so I nearly a ghost.’
Callidus remained suspicious. ‘If you’re an alien from another galaxy, how can you speak our language?’
‘My people called Novu. I learn your language from listening to data files. My parents collect samples of your speaking from far away. Novu talk is different.’
Nanoo spoke to them in his native language, using a mixture of clicks and whistles. It sounded like a tap-dancing kettle to Jake.
‘I’m sorry about the crash,’ said Jake. ‘It must have been rankful living here on your own. I’m glad we found you before it was too late.’
Nanoo’s eyes grew wider. ‘You help me?’
‘Now hold on a minute,’ said Callidus, holding up his hands. ‘No offence, Nanoo, but we can’t just take anyone with us.’
‘Why not?’ asked Jake. ‘We can’t leave him here to die.’
‘I’m sorry, but for all we know, he could be dangerous,’ said Callidus. ‘After all, we only have his word for what happened.’
‘Dangerous?’ Jake couldn’t believe his ears. ‘He’s just a boy, like me, a shipwrecked boy who’s lost his parents.’
Nanoo looked worried. ‘Please take me. I not want to be by self.’
Callidus studied the young Novu carefully. ‘Where are the remains of your parents and the crew?’
‘I unable to keep them on ship and no way to burn them, so I place bodies inside specimen crates and send into space. I now child without parents.’
‘The word you’re looking for is orphan,’ said Jake, having worn that label himself for eleven years.
‘What about the rest of your people?’ asked Callidus. ‘Will others come looking for you?’
‘No likely,’ said Nanoo. ‘We not due home for one more year. No one know we crash. Distress beacon damage on impact. Most equipment damage. No engine, no communicator, no escape pod. It all broken.’
Footsteps approached the door.
‘Hello?’ called out Capio nervously. ‘Is anyone there?’
Nanoo retreated behind Jake.
‘Don’t be afraid,’ said Callidus. ‘That’s Capio and he’s not even slightly dangerous.’
‘Cal, is that you?’ Capio shone his light through the doorway.
‘Yes, we’re in here,’ said the fortune seeker. ‘I wondered when you would show up.’
Capio entered the room and jumped.
‘Look out behind you, Jake!’ he shrieked. ‘It’s the ghost, run for your life!’
‘It’s OK,’ said Jake. ‘This is Nanoo and he’s not dead.’
‘What did you say?’ Capio was already halfway out of the door. ‘Not dead? So how come he’s floating there with lilac skin?’
Nanoo slid out from behind Jake. ‘I always this colour, I alien. I remove magnets from boots when gravity drive damage, because being weightless save energy.’
He lifted up his feet to show where the magnets had been, while Callidus reported back to the Dark Horse.
‘Ahoy, Farid, are you there?’
‘Ahoy, shipwreckers,’ said the first mate. ‘Have you lot found anything yet?’
‘Yes, we’ve got a surprise for Granny Leatherhead.’ Callidus smiled. ‘We’ll finish up and head back over.’
‘OK, but don’t be long, the captain is getting impatient.’
Nanoo gave Jake, Callidus and Capio a quick tour of his vessel. Its sleek design and innovative engineering made the Dark Horse seem like a clumsy clockwork relic. There was no obvious treasure on board, only scientific notes and samples stored on data files. Nanoo placed these into a bag, along with his clothes and several gadgets that looked like they belonged to a dentist.
‘Right, time to go,’ said Callidus, checking his wrist computer.
Nanoo stiffened in the air.
‘Are you OK?’ asked Jake.
‘I not sure,’ said Nanoo. ‘It long time since I go outside.’
Jake tried to imagine what it must be like for Nanoo. How would any of them feel?
‘It’ll be OK,’ he said. ‘I’ll look out for you.’
Nanoo drifted to the nearest wall and touched it with his hand. ‘Goodbye, friend. Rest well.’
The four of them headed to the airlock. There were no spare lifelines, so Jake tied himself to Nanoo using his spacesuit belt. It wasn’t ideal, but it would stop the Novu boy floating away.
If Jake thought the outbound journey was tough, having someone strapped to him made the return trip even harder. By the time they reached the Dark Horse, he felt as though his arms would fall off. With a final burst of energy, Jake reached out and grasped the edge of the airlock, but he was too weak to pull himself aboard. He hung there for a moment, shattered, unable to move, Nanoo still floating beside him. Callidus reached down and dragged them both inside, while Capio pushed from behind.
‘Well done,’ said Callidus, tapping on Jake’s visor. ‘You made it.’
Jake held up a shaking thumb. ‘Thanks.’
Nanoo’s turquoise eyes scanned the inside of the cargo hauler, like a historian examining an ancient artefact. The huge outer door closed and the oxygen levels restored. As they removed their helmets and spacesuits, the inner door slid open and Granny Leatherhead stomped into the airlock, accompanied by Maaka and Kodan.
‘What took you ugly upstarts so long and where’s my treasure?’ she croaked, before noticing Nanoo. ‘Who are you?’
Nanoo stood holding his helmet. His long face and bald head made him look like a jelly bean. ‘My
name Nanoo. Thank you for save me.’
‘He’s from the shipwreck,’ said Jake. ‘He’s been living there for almost a year, but his oxygen was about to run out.’
‘Not another stray,’ she groaned. ‘How many more people can we squeeze on to this ship? Is he sick? He looks a little off colour.’
‘He’s from a distant planet called Taan-Centaur,’ said Callidus. ‘His people are called the Novu, but I’ve never come across them.’
‘He’s an alien?’ Granny Leatherhead covered her mouth. ‘How do you know he’s not carrying any germs? I want him quarantined for twenty-four hours before we let him anywhere near the guest quarters.’
‘You mean he can stay?’ Jake was half expecting Nanoo to be thrown back into space.
‘What? If he must –’
‘Thanks, captain. You won’t regret it.’
Kodan escorted Nanoo to the medical bay, where he could be observed. There had only been three alien encounters in history and one of them had resulted in a new super virus, so Granny Leatherhead wasn’t taking any chances.
‘I hope he wasn’t all you brought back with you,’ she croaked. ‘What else did you find?’
‘Not much,’ said Callidus, passing his spacesuit to Maaka. ‘There was no treasure or useful supplies, only a few data files and some alien gadgets. Everything else was damaged.’
‘No treasure? No supplies? Curse you good-for-nothing numbskulls, can’t you do anything right? I don’t know why you bothered coming back.’
‘We nearly didn’t, you old bag,’ muttered Capio.
‘What was that?’ she demanded.
‘Erm, I said, if we didn’t, it would have been too bad.’
Granny Leatherhead’s expression turned so bitter it looked as though she had swallowed a lemon. ‘I’m warning you, you miserable morons,’ she said. ‘We still haven’t found any more clues to the location of Altus and I’m running out of patience. If this service port is another dead end, there’s going to be trouble.’
Granny Leatherhead swept out of the airlock and up the corridor. Jake stood there for a moment, waiting for her footsteps to fade. What did she mean by trouble? What if Altus was just a children’s story after all?
At least the captain was letting Nanoo stay on the ship. Jake looked forward to the next day when the Novu boy would be let out of quarantine. With aching muscles, he followed Callidus and Capio back to their quarters to rest. Jake was exhausted, but he would never forget his first spacewalk, the shipwreck and the alien boy.
Chapter 13
The Service Port
The Dark Horse travelled for two more days to the service port where the salvage crews hung out. During that time Nanoo was given the all-clear and released from quarantine. Jake waited for him in the corridor.
‘I not like being alone in there,’ said Nanoo, ‘but at least I remove spacesuit.’
Jake noticed Nanoo was wearing fresh clothes made of a similar skin-like material. He showed Nanoo back to the guest quarters and introduced him to Kella, who was intrigued to meet her first Novu. Nanoo was equally curious about his rescuers and asked lots of questions. Jake did his best to provide a history of their galaxy, explaining how there were seven solar systems containing populated planets, most of which were united by a corrupt Interstellar Government and protected by a powerful Interstellar Navy.
‘I suppose Altus is an independent colony, like the planet I grew up on, Remota.’
‘We Novu live only on Taan-Centaur,’ said Nanoo. ‘But I wanting to visit other worlds. Altus sound amazing.’
‘Well, let’s hope the salvage crews can point us in the right direction.’ Kella looked at Jake. ‘We’d all like to see Altus and its crystal moons.’
The three of them talked for hours about random subjects, covering everything from their hobbies to their favourite food. Jake was enjoying hanging out with people his own age for the first time in his life. He was beginning to realise what he’d been missing.
‘You sleeping every night?’ said Nanoo. ‘That strange.’
‘Why, how often do you sleep?’ asked Kella.
‘Novu sleeping one every three days. We work, not rest.’
‘Hey, what are those cuts on your neck?’ asked Jake. ‘Are they gills to help you breathe underwater?’
‘Not gills.’ Nanoo peeled open one of the slits. ‘These for eat and drink. You not have them?’
‘No way, that’s rankful, I can’t believe you pour stuff straight into your neck.’ Jake pulled a face as he imagined how it must feel. ‘We use our mouths for that.’
‘Your mouths?’ Nanoo made a similar expression. ‘My mouth is for talk and breathe only.’
‘What about kissing?’ asked Kella.
Nanoo’s face turned dark lilac and Jake burst out laughing. It was the first time he’d laughed in weeks and it felt good. Kella joined in, but Nanoo failed to see the funny side.
‘I know something that will cheer you up, Nanoo,’ said Jake, grabbing their wrists.
He towed his new friends along the corridor to the engine room, so he could introduce them to Scargus and Manik.
‘We’d better not get caught, Jake,’ said Kella. ‘I’m still supposed to be confined to my room.’
‘Come on, where’s your sense of adventure?’
Scargus and Manik seemed pleased to have visitors. Nanoo had his first ever flask of tea and Kella got to feed Squawk the parrot. Manik found more magnets and transformed their footwear into gravity shoes, as she had done for Jake. In return, Nanoo showed her how to double the engine’s efficiency, giving the ship more power while using less fuel.
‘Hey, that’s really smart,’ said Manik, holding up his scribbled notes and diagrams.
Nanoo beamed. ‘Thanks, it just shame I not as good with language as technology. Engines are magnafty.’
‘I think you mean magnifty,’ corrected Jake.
‘Keep practising, matey,’ said Scargus. ‘I doubt we could speak Novu that well.’
‘How about you, Kella?’ asked Manik. ‘Do you have any special talents?’
‘I’m not great with languages or technology, but I like to sing and I’m pretty good with crystals.’
‘What, mining them?’ asked Jake.
‘No, you astronut. I use crystals to heal people. It’s a skill my grandmother taught me.’ Kella shrugged modestly. ‘I’m not as good as her, but I can still heal cuts and bruises in hours, instead of days.’
‘Impressive,’ said Manik. ‘I’ve heard of crystal healers, but you’re the first I’ve met.’
‘It’s not something I normally tell people.’ Kella frowned. ‘Most United Worlds think crystal healing is a form of witchcraft. I was bullied at school when the other kids found out about my grandmother. But those people don’t like independent colonists or space pirates either.’
‘Well, I think crystal healing sounds pretty magnifty,’ said Jake.
‘Me too,’ agreed Manik. ‘We could use a healer like you. Doctor Yu, the ship’s medic, got himself arrested a couple of months ago.’
‘Sorry, but I can’t help you,’ said Kella with a shrug. ‘I’m just cargo. I shouldn’t even be out of my room.’
The engine-room door opened and Woorak entered. ‘We’re approaching the service p-p-port. The captain wants you b-b-back in your quarters and strapped in t-t-tight.’
‘Why?’ asked Jake. ‘Is it going to be a rough landing?’
‘No, she just w-w-wants you out of the w-w-way, so you can’t get into t-t-trouble.’
Jake, Kella and Nanoo made their way back to the guest quarters. In the corridor, Nanoo admitted feeling overwhelmed to be aboard the Dark Horse.
‘I not used to busy ship after being by self for so long. At times I feared nobody find me. I not want to be alone again.’
‘It’s OK, we’re all afraid of something,’ said Kella, trying to master her gravity shoes. ‘I used to play in my family’s crystal mine, until I got trapped there overnight. I’ve been sc
ared of the dark ever since. My sister has always been the brave one, the risk taker, the one who makes our parents proud. I’m pretty sure her only dread is the fear of failing.’
‘What you think Granny Leatherhead fear?’ asked Nanoo.
‘Probably her own reflection,’ said Jake.
When they reached the guest quarters, Nanoo stayed with Kella, so they could keep each other company. Jake returned to his room and climbed into his bunk. He lay there listening to the sound of the cargo hauler docking at the service port. His thoughts drifted back to Altus, the Space Dogs and the naval warship. He hoped the salvage teams would know where to find his father’s shipwreck, otherwise there would be trouble aboard the Dark Horse.
Once they had docked, all the crew and passengers gathered in the dining area of the Dark Horse, with the exception of Kella. Farid and Kodan volunteered to lead a landing party, keen to prove themselves after the mix-up at Papa Don’s.
‘OK,’ said Granny Leatherhead. ‘Just make sure you take Callidus, Capio, Jake and Nanoo with you. I want to rid my ship of guests for a while. It’s getting a little crowded.’
‘What about Kella?’ asked Jake.
‘The girl stays here,’ grumped Granny Leatherhead. ‘Kella’s not a guest, she’s cargo, and I can’t risk her running away.’
‘I’m sure she’ll behave herself,’ said Jake. ‘Besides, when we find Altus, you’ll be so rich that you won’t need to sell her.’
‘Is that so?’ croaked Granny Leatherhead. ‘And what about Papa Don? I promised him that I would make the girl disappear and he’s not the type to forgive easily.’
‘Since when do pirates keep their promises?’ muttered Capio.
‘Yeah, I thought you were the infamous Space Dogs and you put the fear into stratosphere,’ said Jake, angry at the way Kella was being treated. ‘It sounds to me like you’re the ones who are afraid.’
Granny Leatherhead reached for her laser pistol. ‘Nobody insults a space pirate on their own ship.’
Callidus quickly stepped forward to intervene before the captain could shoot Jake.
‘Think about it,’ he said. ‘Papa Don is probably busy with the Interstellar Navy. If we’re lucky, they will have closed down his spaceport by now. I’m sure Kella is the last thing on his mind. I give you my word that we’ll keep an eye on her.’
