The Interstellar

by David Lund

  The ship had quarters, of such. They were mere rooms with bunks in them but it was enough for James to rest. The mission was not supposed to pan out over more than a few days. He kept thinking of how foolish John had been to think he could outwit such advanced creatures. Now, they were heading away from their destination, to unknown coordinates sent to them by unknown aliens.

  Friends or foes? It was anybody’s guess.

  A couple of hours after their encounter with the aliens, John called for a meeting in the staff room with the remaining crew. The ten people sat in chairs around the table, all looking rather the worse for wear. James sat down next to John, near the end of the oval table. He noticed Rachel, the young scientist he had met back on Earth, hugging her arms and staring at one of the empty chairs, a look of deep sorrow on her face. Her long hair was messed up, and there was a dark bruise over her left brow.

  “My friends,” John said. “We have suffered today. I want to start this meeting by taking a minute to remember those who lost their lives for our cause.” He rattled off the list of names of the dead then bowed his head in silence. The rest of them did the same. James looked around at them, many of them had tears on their faces, and Rachel was sobbing openly. When the minute was up, John cleared his throat.

  “Our mission did not go according to plan and we were ambushed upon entering the enemy’s space.

  We also did not realise the threat was double.”

  “What?” James said sharply.

  “There are two planets, and two different species to deal with,” John explained, apparently confused that James had misunderstood.

  “But what makes you think they are also our enemy?”

  “They attacked us.”

  “Unless I’m mistaken, they saved us.”

  “We don’t know that.”

  “They sacrificed their lives for us!” James was on his feet now. His fist were bunched up in anger.

  John, still sitting, stared calmly back into James’ eyes. The rest of the crew were watching the exchange with curiosity. “You don’t even know who they are!” John stood swiftly this time and place his face within inches of James’. His nostrils were flaring. He had finally succumbed to his anger.

  “Nine,” he spat in a harsh whisper. “Nine of my people are dead! I know you do not care about

  them.”

  “That’s not true, I -”

  “Do not lie James, you didn’t know them. These aliens killed them.” He sat back down. James was shocked. This man must be deranged. He didn’t say anything but just stared at John for a while. The latter ignored him and turned back to his crew.

  “We must avenge their deaths. Isobel, I want you to locate their central station and -”

  “Wait a minute John, if you’re saying you intend to nuke their stations -” But he was interrupted by a loud klaxon sound. They all looked at each other but it was Isobel who explained.

  “I set the proximity sensor to warn if anything was approaching the ship.” She got up and went over to the nearest monitor, pressed a few buttons and turned back to John. “There is a ship less than five kilometres away.” John stood quickly.

  “Battle stations,” he yelled and there was a flurry of activity as everybody left the room in a hurry.

  James grabbed John’s shoulder.

  “John, I implore you, listen to me. They might not be enemies, they might be here to help.” John stared at him.

  “All aliens are my enemy,” he said coldly and headed out, leaving James standing there, dumbfounded.

  33

  There was nothing but silence around him; a void of nothingness seemed to have engulfed him.

  He could not think and there was nothing to think about. He stared stupidly at his first officer as she lay there, motionless. He could not comprehend what had just happened. She had been alive barely a minute ago and now, the warm blood that had travelled through her veins was already turning cold. Her once beautiful green eyes were now tinted with grey, staring unblinkingly into nothingness.

  As he held on to her, he became aware of someone saying something near him, and as he turned his head around to find the source of the far away voice, all sound and colour seem to rush back to him. He saw Jal grab him and throw him to the floor as something blasted overhead. He whirled around and saw two Friiist heading towards them, guns held high and pointing in their direction.

  There was nowhere to hide, nowhere to go. Both Jal and himself dropped their guns and raised their hands and got slowly to their feet. Now that he had looked away, Michael could not steel himself to look back down at Caitlin’s body.

  One of the aliens was speaking, but all they could hear was the strange language. It’s meaning was quite clear though. They were to follow it. Michael felt a blind rage inside him, and all the cold, and dark colours seemed to dissolve as he saw red. He bellowed a cry of anger and dived for his gun on the floor, but the aliens merely fired a lower powered shot at him, causing a nasty burn on his chest, but nothing more serious. When he stood once more, he saw that Jal was being held by one of them, a gun pointing to her temple.

  “Fine,” he spat, raising his hands again. He looked at the aliens and after a few seconds, they seemed to decide he wasn’t going to try anything else. As they were led from the hall, Michael tried not to focus his mind on Caitlin. He turned his attention to his present situation instead. It seemed they did not want to kill him, not yet anyway. They hadn’t minded murdering Caitlin and he had the sneaking suspicion that they wouldn’t hesitate to kill Jal either.

  Why was he important to them? He did not have the answer, yet. The only thing he could think of now, was how to protect his remaining crew member. His fear that Marshall and Adrian were dead multiplied. If it had been so easy for them to kill Caitlin, surely there was no hope for them.

  He did the only thing he could do: follow the aliens.

  They walked on through damp corridors, past blank, nondescript doors, until they reached a door at the very end of the hallway. This one was a dark purple, with some kind of revolting animal engraved upon it: a great insect, but half it’s body was covered in fur and the other half in feathers.

  It’s face was a large sucker, and it was bent at an angle, apparently looking towards it’s hind. It looked vaguely familiar to Michael, but he couldn’t place it. He had other things on his mind.

  They entered into a large room. Inside was decorated with many paintings of animals along the dark walls. Michael noticed the strange, furry, feathery insect animal hanging in the largest portrait on the far wall, behind a desk in which was sitting a very familiar Friiist.

  “Captain,” Kaywal said, opening his arms wide, in greeting. Apparently, he had been waiting for them; sitting in a large, comfy desk chair. He nodded to the two aliens and they left the room.

  Michael glared at Kaywal, full of hatred. He had last seen him heading off to a Henfor prison, after they were saved by Gareen. He did not understand how he found himself here, in this gigantic underwater station, on Friiist. “Please sit,” he added, speaking in English, without the need for a translator, as only he of his kind seem to be able to. Michael did not move.

  “How did you get here?” he asked stiffly. “I thought you were in prison.”

  Kaywal smiled – at least it looked like a smile – and sat down.

  “Ah yes, quite an interesting tale. Let us just say that I have friends everywhere. But do not let it concern you. I am pleased that you have joined us. You remember I wanted you to come to my planet, and now you have come, of your own accord.”

  “Where is my crew? Where are Adrian and Marshall?”

  “They are unhurt,” Kaywal said lazily, with a wave of his hand.

  “I want to see them!”

  “All in good time, Captain.” He stood suddenly and walked round the desk, turning his back on the humans, and looked at the paintings along the walls. “Do you know what these are?” He pointed at the paintings.

  “I want to see my -”<
br />
  “What are they?” The harshness in the alien’s voice surprised Michael, who was used to his melodious tang. He did not flinch however, but merely raised his eyebrows.

  “They look like animals.” He looked around at the paintings. The animals depicted were all rather gross looking. His eyes fell again on the large insect on the far wall. And then he remembered.

  When he had first set foot on Henfor and entered Barneen’s palace, on the marble arch, the same animal had been engraved. “I’ve seen that before,” he muttered. Kaywal looked gleeful as he turned back to face the humans.

  “Yes, yes you have.” Jal looked at Michael, he knew that she too was remembering their arrival on Henfor.

  “What is it?” he asked, momentarily forgetting about his crew.

  “It is a creature that has long disappeared, but it remains a symbol.”

  “Why was it on Henfor? Do you have this animal in common?”

  “In a way, you see, it was a creation.”

  Michael was lost at these words. He wasn’t really interested in this creature, all he wanted was

  revenge on the people who had killed Caitlin. He stared hard at Kaywal, but did not say anything.

  He felt truly trapped and had no idea of what would happen next. Strangely enough, he did not feel any fear, the anger was keeping it at bay. This was one of the reasons he was holding onto it. As long as he was angry, he was in control. It was Jal who spoke next.

  “What do you want?” Michael had thought she was going to ask about the creature. He noticed that her voice was steady, she wasn’t afraid either.

  Of course Jal was a military girl and had faced many dire situations. She was a lot like Caitlin in many ways, although there was a softness about her that his first officer had lacked. If she was affected by the death of her superior though, she did not show it.

  Kaywal was just staring at them, his gleeful expression had gone.

  “I want justice. Our people have suffered because of you. Now, you must suffer too.”

  “But that’s ridiculous,” Jal burst out suddenly. “This probe was launched before any of us were even born. You can’t blame us for what happened to your planet. And it was an accident. The probe was designed to find alien races. Not destroy them.”

  “A well rehearsed tale, already told by your Captain,” Kaywal snarled. “And I do not believe a word of it. You, like your Henfor friends, want to seize our world and its secrets.”

  Michael let out a laugh at these words.

  “And what would we want with a radioactive world, too cold for us to live on? The Henfor wanted to be your friends, as we did. We have no interest in your planet, other than learning about your culture.”

  “That’s what the Henfor told you is it? That they wanted to be friends? They landed on our planet and started killing every Friiist in sight.”

  “It seems your history books vary quite dramatically,” said Michael, wearily.

  “And what do you say of your friends who have destroyed one of our ships, along with all seventy-three crewman? With the same weapons that were used in your ‘probe’?”

  “What?” Michael asked sharply. “What are you talking about?”

  Kaywal looked from Michael to Jal, apparently trying to tell if their surprise was genuine.

  “You are now trying to make me believe that you know nothing of the Earth ship that has appeared in our space?”

  “An Earth ship, here? Other than ours you mean?”

  “You are an exceptional liar, Captain, a trait your race has in common with the Henfor.”

  Michael’s head was spinning. Another vessel from Earth was here. How was that possible? Had the same anomaly appeared again? What were the chances of that? Or had they actually figured out how to create one? He didn’t really care what Kaywal thought about him, too much had happened between their two species now. It was too late for niceties. He needed to learn about the new

  arrivals.

  “When did they get here?”

  Kaywal ignored him.

  “What is your plan, Captain? Why have they came here? Reinforcements? Just one ship? It seems ridiculous. Yes, they have destroyed one of ours, but they will not last long. What I don’t understand Michael, is why they also destroyed a Henfor ship? I thought they were your allies?”

  Michael once again said nothing. This was getting weirder and weirder. A Henfor ship had been attacked by humans? Perhaps the Humans had appeared at these coordinates, and had not expected to see anyone. Of course, they probably didn’t know about the aliens. But why were they armed with nuclear warheads? That didn’t make sense. No ship carries them. And what government was this? As far as Michael knew, there were no other spaceships like the Interstellar. One thing for sure was that Kaywal was right. If this ship is going round blowing up both Friiist and Henfor, it will soon be destroyed.

  They needed to find Adrian and Marshall and get out of here. Michael desperately wanted to talk to these new humans, but couldn’t see how they could escape. Luckily though, he had Jal on his side. He shot a glance at her and winked. Then he walked forwards and over to a painting hung on the wall, turning his back on Caitlin and Kaywal.

  “Yes,” he said softly. “You are right. They have come as reinforcements.” He smiled as he told the lie, knowing that Kaywal was staring greedily at him, taking no notice of Jal, who had hung back.

  “Go on,” Kaywal said.

  “I will, but I need to know my two missing crewman are safe.”

  “They are, you have my word.”

  “Where are they?”

  “They are here, in a cell on the top floor, if you tell me what I want to know, I will take you to them.” But before Michael could say anything else, Jal hit the alien with a sharp karate kick to the back of his neck. Kaywal crumpled to the floor. Michael quickly went over to him and grabbed the electronic gun from his belt.

  “Well done, Jal. How long will he be out?”

  “I don’t know sir. If he were human, I would say about ten minutes, but with the aliens…”

  “Okay, we need to act fast. There are two guards outside this door, and god knows how many others are roaming about the place. We need to get to that top floor, as quick as we can. Get behind the door.”

  He pointed the gun at Kaywal as Jal slid behind the doorway, out of sight, and blasted him with the medium setting, making sure he was out before turning to the door, which had burst open at the sound of the electronic shot. Michael fired again, hitting one of the guards in the face, the other took

  aim but was tackled by Jal before he could get off a shot. They wrestled for a couple of seconds but Jal managed to get behind the guard and get him in a headlock. Michael then fired a shot at the guard’s chest and he fell next to his friend. Jal grabbed both guards’ guns, pocketed one and held the other steady.

  “I think there was a lift in the big hall we were in,” Jal said, careful not to mention Caitlin.

  “Let’s go.”

  They set off back the way they had come. They didn’t see anyone as they jogged past all the closed doors. After only a few minutes they reached the hall. Michael glanced down at the floor where he knew Caitlin had died, but her body had gone.

  “Where -?”

  “Please sir, not now.” There was fear in her voice this time and Michael tore his gaze away from the spot where he expected to see Caitlin.

  They glanced around the room and Jal pointed to the right hand wall where there was an open doorway that indeed seemed to be a lift. They sprinted through it and Michael searched for the button for the top floor. But there weren’t any. Where there would normally be the buttons for the floors, there was just blank wall. He tried waving his hand in front of it but nothing happened.

  “Maybe it’s voice commanded,” Jal whispered. If that was the case, they were in trouble. They didn’t have a translator and there was no way they could guess the word for up.

  “Stairs,” Michael mumbled, and he ran out of the lift and look
ed around the hall again.

  There were several doors leading away. They both ran in opposite directions trying each door.

  Most of them went off into long corridors. Michael felt helplessness settling in. How big was this place?

  “Sir,” Jal called from across the room, her voice echoing loudly. “This one’s locked.” She had stopped in front of a nondescript door, opposite the lift. Michael ran over to it, his gun held fast. He changed the setting to maximum, took aim and fired at the door. The force of the blast knocked them both of their feet. They both got up quickly, surprised, but when they heard a yell coming from the other side of the room, they realized they had been fired upon at the same time as they blasted the door.

  Michael shot towards the shout and heard a scream. Jal was firing shots every time her gun would allow it. Under her cover fire, Michael ran to the door they had blasted, and glanced through the hole they had made. His heart leapt, it was indeed a staircase. He yelled to Jal to go through as he fired some shots too. She squeezed through and he smashed himself through after her. A shot blasted the wall near the door, where his leg had been a second earlier.

  They ran up the stairs as quickly as they could. Michael strained his ears, listening for footsteps or shots coming from behind them, but it seemed they had managed to get away, for now. They

  went up as far as they could and met a solid metal door. They rested for a minute at the top of the stairs. Despite the effort of running, Michael could not warm his blood. Even now, he was colder than he had ever been before. He was worried that if they stayed in this environment much longer, they would get hypothermia. With a pang, he thought of Marshall and Adrian, who had had to endure the harsh cold for the last few days, and how they must be feeling.

  Once they were rested, Jal reached her right hand out and grabbed the door handle. As she touched it, she let out an awful scream and pried her hand away with great difficulty. To Michael’s horror, he saw that her skin had been frozen to the handle. She fell to the floor next to him, clutching her hand. He knelt down by her side and looked at the raw hand. Half the skin had been torn off when she had removed it from the handle. He felt for her. Tears were running down her cheeks.