Embers: The Galaxy On Fire Series, Book 1

by Craig Robertson

  We hit hyperspace, and all there was to do was wait and see what happened when we reached Locinar. It was a three-day trip. If things looked immediately hostile there, I could try and hide in hyperspace, but it wasn’t that hard to follow a ship doing that. They might even have tech that would allow them to fire on us in hyperspace by now, or tractor us to a stop. I knew I had to try this mission, but it was fraught with danger.

  A day into the voyage Mirraya asked me some follow up while she ate. “Uncle Jon, tell me about your family.”

  “Which one?”

  “How many did you have?” she asked a bit taken back.

  “I had two great loves. Sapale and Kayla. They were both a special kind of magical. Sapale was a Kaljaxian I met while looking for a place for my people to move to. We couldn’t reproduce, but she had many children while we were together. You know how it goes. They had kids, and so on, until I had a great big family.”

  “What became of them?”

  “After I married Kayla, I had less and less contact with them, but they were doing well establishing a civilization on a new planet. Azsuram. By the time I … er, went to sleep, they were doing gangbusters.”

  “Sapale let you marry a human? Very open minded of her.” Mirraya lifted her eyebrows.

  “She was killed in a war. She died defending Azsuram.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Me too.” I smiled. “But we had a good life and a strong family. One of these days, I’ll go to Azsuram and see if they’re still there.”

  “Then I’m coming too.”

  “One step at a time. We need to see if there are any Deft left on Locinar.”

  “If you wish, but I’m staying with you. You’re my family now. I adopted you just like you did Sapale’s children.” She sniffed at her forkful of food. “You’re stuck with me, like it or not.”

  I patted her forearm. “I like it very much. But we need to see if there’s a viable Deft society left. You may not feel you need them now, but it matters to know you have a home. Trust me on this point.”

  “I do.” She scanned the room. “Currently, it’s this depressing ship.”

  “It’s only temporary. I promise. Someday I’ll buy us a nice garbage compactor to call our own.”

  “And I’ll decorate it and we’ll name all the pieces of garbage. Some can be boy garbage and some will be girl refuse. It’ll be a dream come true.”

  “We can only hope,” I replied. What had I done to deserve such a wonderful friend?

  My plan was to come out of hyperspace as close to the planet surface as was safe … and maybe a bit closer. That way we could speed to the ground and hope to hide before we were detected. Given the troop strength Mirraya reported during the invasion, I knew it was too much to hope we wouldn’t be seen. I just didn’t want to get caught. In a city, we could maybe blend in and avoid the Adamant. Maybe.

  We came out of light speed just above the atmosphere. I fired the engine to break us, but we still hit the air like a fireball. The ship pitched and shook to the point I began to worry. But the old girl held together. She probably couldn’t make a hot entry like that twice, but she made this one. Almost immediately we were hailed. Some angry sounding Adamant AI was screaming at us, and then an angry actual Adamant began screaming at us. Who were we? How dare we? Etcetera, etcetera. I didn’t bother to answer back.

  We skidded to a landing on an abandoned city street, sort of like a freeway. The second we came to rest, Mirraya and I were out the hatch and running for cover. I picked a place she knew well to give us some advantage. I’d take all the help I could get.

  Air cars were zooming overhead within minutes. They all had loudspeakers booming commands for us to surrender. They said our deaths would be better if we turned ourselves in. Now there was a goal to aim for. Better deaths. The factor that stopped me from complying was that they weren’t clear on who the deaths would be better for, us or them. Yeah, that kind of mattered. Buyer beware.

  By the time we were a few blocks away I heard the unmistakable sound of the ship exploding. Apparently, they decided to eliminate any possibility of our escape. Oh boy, were Gartel and Gertruda going to be pissed when they found out. Ouch.

  The city was dense enough to disappear in easily enough. Mirraya knew several twisting paths through alleys, basements, and underpasses. She said there was a subway, but we did not know if it was running. Plus, it was an easy area to get trapped. After a few minutes, we slowed to a walk and tried to blend in. The streets were not exactly crowded, but there were enough bodies so we didn’t draw undue attention.

  Mirraya told me the people we saw were not Deft. She had, in fact, seen none so far. They were a humanoid species she couldn’t identify. They looked kind of like the stereotypic pictures of aliens from old Earth science fiction. Hairless green skin, bulbous heads, long skinny arms, and teardrop angled eyes. Who knew, maybe these were the same guys who did all the abductions back in Area 51 back in the day? They qualified as ugly enough to be the same species.

  Mirraya melted into one. As a teen, she was just the right size. An adult would have been too massive to be convincing. I tried as best I could to not stand out in my brown sackcloth robe and hood. Fortunately, there were scattered aliens of different species and sizes out and about. I knew the Adamant would have state-of-the-art surveillance everywhere. The longer we were in the open, the more likely it was we’d be picked up if for nothing else than me looking so odd.

  Within a half an hour we had arrived at a house that belonged to a cousin she was close to. We slipped over a fence and made it to the back door without alarms flaring. She tested the door. It was locked. She retrieved a key from under a flower pot next to the door. Again, some customs seemed to be universal. She opened the door quietly, and we slipped in.

  “Wait a sec,” I said restraining her with a hand. I turned my audio all the way up and placed my other hand on the wall to check for vibrations. After a few seconds, I gave the all-clear. “I don’t hear anyone moving, breathing, or calling the cops. Stay behind me, and we’ll look around.”

  The floor plan was very open, so it was quick enough to clear the first floor. We crept up the stairs. Everything was fine until I stepped on the damn loose board. The squeak was maddening, but there was no taking it back. At the top of the stairs I turned left and we checked out the master bedroom. As my nose rounded the door, the barrel of a gun met it. I froze.

  “I’m not here to hurt you,” I said automatically.

  “No,” she responded, “you were just sneaking into my bedroom to give me a hygiene lesson.”

  “Avval?” said Mirraya from behind me. “Avval, is it really you?”

  “Mirry?” she replied and craned her neck around the door to look for herself.

  There stood Mirraya, naked as a jaybird and smiling like the cat who’d eaten the canary. She flew into Avval’s arm, knocking the gun to the floor. They hopped and hugged and giggled. It would have been nice to see if my girl had any clothes on.

  “Here,” said Avval pulling her into the room, “let’s get you some clothing. I can’t believe you’re alive. They told me you were marched through the one-way portal.”

  She lowered her head. “I was.”

  “But you’re here, you’re free. They haven’t released anyone else.”

  “I escaped,” she placed a hand on my arm, “thanks to Uncle Jon. He saved me.”

  Avval lowered her eyebrows. “I don’t recall us having any uncle named Jon.” She looked me up and down dubiously.

  “I call him that, silly.”

  “And who else escaped?” Avval’s face was expectant.

  “No one. They’re all dead.”

  “Are you certain?”

  Mirraya only nodded that she was.

  “Such a horrible thing,” said Avval, bitting the back of her hand.

  “And here, are there many left?” asked Mirraya.

  Avval shrugged one shoulder. “A few, the smart and the lucky. But only a han
dful.”

  They both looked to the floor.

  Mirraya perked up. “How did you stay safe?”

  “I was lucky and smart. When I heard their ships coming, I ran. I tell you, I turned into a defelmire and I ran and I ran and I didn’t stop until I was out of the city and deep in the woods.”

  “I’m so glad. How about your sisters, your parents?”

  “I haven’t seen them since that terrible morning. They waited to see what the Adamant were up to, and it cost them their lives.” Avval looked despondent. “They wouldn’t listen to me. They wouldn’t save themselves. Papa kept saying it would all be fine once the Adamant saw we were not resisting.” She bit at her hand again, tears welling up.

  “And you stayed safe long enough to return here,” I asked. Something wasn’t quite right about the picture I was receiving. “No trouble since?”

  “I’ve only just come myself. Before it was too dangerous. But finally, it is safe enough to return and get a few personal items and some money.”

  “Ah,” I said, trying to sound disinterested. “Lucky you.”

  “Where will you go, Ava?” asked Mirraya. “Is anywhere secure?”

  “I know of a place, in the woods near Lake Dulcer. It is very remote and rocky so the Adamant won’t look for us there. There are a few Deft there. We will join them. They will keep us safe.”

  “Ah, your cousin decided to hang with me a while. She won’t be joining you.”

  Mirraya got a confused look on her face. “I though you said I should—”

  “Not change from looking like a little green woman. Now change back so we can go. I want to find a hiding spot before it gets too dark.”

  “I … er … if you think …”

  “That is absurd and unacceptable. Mirraya, you will stay with me. We are family. You will come to the safe house I know of, and this … this alien can do whatever he pleases.”

  “Hey, this is a democracy. She’s old enough to decide for herself. Now let go of her arm and we’ll say our short goodbyes.”

  Mirraya was clearly torn.

  “Remember that movie I told you about, the one where the dog dies? Well I was kidding. The movie really ends with the dog killing everyone. The dogs always win, isn’t that what Blessing said?” I squeezed her arm hard as I said everyone.

  “Who’s Blessing?” asked Avval.

  “My girlfriend. Mirraya and Blessing share a bedroom, in fact. At first Mirraya wasn’t happy to be around Blessing because she didn’t trust her. Remember you said you thought she would betray your personal secrets to me?” I pinched even harder with the word betray. “Now come on, I left the baby in the car. I need to check if she’s safe and doesn’t feel trapped. You know how Little Al feels about traps, right?”

  “Yo … you have a baby and a car? Whose baby is it. Not yours, Mirraya?”

  “No, silly,” Mirraya began slowly. She was catching on. “It’s Jon’s baby, Jon’s and Blessing’s. It’s a little treasure named Al. In Jon’s native language, Al means the suspicious one.”

  “That’s hard to believe,” responded Avval. “Who names their baby the suspicious one?”

  “From where I’m from, suspicion keeps you alive, and alive is good.”

  “Well, Ava, let’s get together soon. Perhaps dinner,” Mirraya pointed to the floor, “here, soon.”

  “But I won’t be here. I’ll be in the woods. Here,” she said, lunging for the dresser. She rifled a drawer and handed her a little box. “It’s Mama’s phone. Take it so I can … you can call me, let me know you’re safe.”

  “Thanks, but—”

  “But she wants me to carry everything. Was she always so lazy?” I looked disapprovingly at Mirraya while pushing her to the stairs.

  “See you soon, Ava. Be safe,” said Mirraya.

  “And smart,” I added from halfway down the stairs. “Stay smart.”

  Outside we dashed into the bushes where Mirraya changed back into a green goblin again.

  “What was that all about?” she demanded. “You made it seem like my cousin was a traitor, that she was not to be trusted. How dare—”

  “Keep your pants on.”

  She pointed to the cloths on the ground. “You just told me to take them off.”

  “It’s an expression. Look, she was lying. I think she’s a spy for the Adamant.”

  “That’s a terrible thing to say, to even think.”

  “First, she said she’d only just arrived.”

  “So?”

  “So, someone had recently slept in that bed. It had infrared coming off it suggesting she’d gotten out of bed a couple hours ago. She’s living there.”

  “No, that would be unsafe.”

  “Not if you’re working for the bad guys, it isn’t. Then she said she turned into a something or other …”

  “A defelmire. It looks like the horse you are riding in that picture when you were a child.”

  “But the Adamant had a stasis field deployed. No one could change into anything.”

  “She said she acted quickly. Maybe they hadn’t…” she trailed off as she heard her words.

  “They hadn’t turned the field on until after they began rounding you guys up? That doesn’t sound like the Adamant I know and love. Finally, she knows of a safe house, but it’s in the remote rocky woods. A safe cabin, maybe. A safe cave, sure. But a house in the middle of nowhere? Not hardly.”

  “But how could my cousin betray her family, her people?”

  “Her cousin?” I let that sink in a moment. “When you’re staring a painful death square in the eyes, it can bring demons out of you that no one would have thought lived in there. She cracked, probably begged and groveled. To prove her worth, she led them to Deft in hiding. Maybe to you and your family. And she was going to hand you over to show she was still a team player.”

  “She—”

  Mirraya couldn’t finish her sentence. She started to sob and collapsed into my arms. She’d just learned another unbearable truth about war. Nothing was fair, and all things were on the table. Each and every one of them, including one’s immortal soul.

  SIXTEEN

  I died a little inside when Mirraya found out how wretched her cousin was. Every life event that destroyed that much more of childhood's innocence sucked, and it sucked hard. I wished often that life could have been simple and that we could all remain children. Failing loving one another, it would have been nice if we could just not kill each other. But, in times of war, if they were lucky enough to survive, kids were forced to grow up fast.

  Since I could not rely on one word that bitch told us, we were still stuck at square one. Aside from traitorous collaborators, we didn’t know if there were any Deft remaining.

  “Was there any place your family used to go, like on vacation?” I asked Mirraya as we sat by a campfire in an abandoned basement.

  “Not really.”

  “How about places sacred to the Deft, a tree or something?”

  “Nothing comes to mind, Uncle Jon. We are a very spiritual race, but not in an organized way. Sometimes a bunch of us would get together to sing, thank nature, and eat a lot of food. But we don’t have churches like many cultures seem to.”

  “Hm. Where would you gather? Any place in particular?”

  “There was this place. My parents called it the Mother Stones. We went there a few times and celebrated with a few others.”

  “Can you take me there? Do you remember where it is?”

  She shrugged. “Sure, I think. We drove there, but it wasn’t too far.”

  “Then we shall borrow a car.”

  She got an uncomfortable look on her face.

  “What?”

  “That didn’t end well for Gartel’s spaceship.”

  “I’ll be more careful with the car, I promise.” I held up a three-fingered scout salute, then realized she’d have no clue what that meant, so I pulled it down quickly.

  “Uncle Jon,” she exclaimed, “I can’t believe you just d
id that.”

  “What?”

  “I’m not going to show you. It was that thing with your fingers,” she pointed at my right hand with a disgusted expression.

  “The Boy Scouts of America official salute?” I repeated it. “What’s the big deal?”

  She rotated her torso away and collapsed onto her bedding face first. “That’s so gross,” she said in a muffled groan.

  “What? Come on, or I’ll keep doing it.”

  She sat back up. “Okay, I keep forgetting you’re an alien.” She fidgeted uncomfortably. “When one person signals that to another, it means they want to … it says they want to …”

  “To what, hurt them?”

  “That might be part of it, I guess. It means they want to reproduce with them. But it means they want to reproduce like now and like with a lot of energy, if you know what I mean.” She giggled.

  “Ah, remind me to never do that again.” I wrinkled my brow. “How do you know about that kind of thing?”

  She gasped like any teenage girl talking about sex with an adult would gasp anywhere in space, anywhere in time. “Uncle Jon, I may be young, but everyone knows that sign.”

  “I didn’t.” I waved weakly.

  “Well now you do. Don’t … don’t signal me with it again, please.”

  I shivered. Then my curiosity requested one clarification. “Is that a Deft thing or a general one on Locinar?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Can we move on to non-gross things?”

  “I’ll drop it, I promise. I’m just naturally curious.”

  She bobbed her head side to side. “It’s a general Locinar thing, I guess.”

  “Fine. Subject closed, dismissed, and forgotten.”

  “Thank you. May I go to sleep now, if I can go to sleep now after that?”

  “Be my guest. I think I’ll sweep the building again to make sure we’re safe.” I stood, grabbed my belt, and snugged my pants up. “I think I may do the scout salute a couple times too. I’ve been so lonely lately, don’t you know?”

  “Now I know I won’t be sleeping. Thanks. You’re so gross.”