by J. Naomi Ay
“That captain is such a bitch,” I heard her say.
“You had better believe it,” I growled, under my breath while taking the seat next to Zem. “Let's go, Commander.”
The ride was only about twenty minutes long, but after the first few, I could see that Senya was already getting annoyed by Flake's attentions. He got up and came to sit behind me, leaving Jerry to jump into his vacated seat. Flake turned away from Jerry and stared out the window instead.
“You know anything about dinosaurs?” I turned around and looked at my husband who was busy typing away on his cell.
“No.”
“Technically, we are not allowed to kill them even if they are trying to eat us,” I announced.
He smiled knowingly. “I will kill them before they eat you.”
“Just stay away from them,” I sighed. “Get to the casualties and get out of here, okay? Please?”
He ignored me.
“Wait,” I said in Rozarian, which I hoped nobody aboard spoke. “Why are you really coming down to the planet? Senya?”
He turned his face up to me and shook his head meaning I should shut up now. I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. Altaris was also known as Erindad 36, neighboring star to Rehnor.
“Have you been there before?”
He stared at me through his dark glasses. “I told you, there would be more.”
“More what?”
“Turn around, Captain. We're landing,” Zem ordered.
Senya went back to his cell.
As soon as the shuttle stopped rolling, I jumped up and slid open the door. Immediately, we were hit by a very wet chlorophyll smell mingled with something that resembled elephant dung. I stepped out onto the long wet grass and called for Jerry and his team. A security man from the Excelsior ran over and took the medical staff away toward the forest while the Ambassadors and I headed the other direction en route to the pavilions where the Altarians could already be heard arguing.
“So who was that yummy black haired man?” Ambassador Flake came up beside me as I walked across the sodden grounds. She stumbled awkwardly in her pencil thin heels and the hem of her gown sadly soaked through.
“Yummy?” I replied thoughtfully and for her effort, recounted all of the men aboard the shuttle as if I weren’t certain who might be considered yummy and who might not. “Are you referring to Ron?”
“Ron?” she mused. “He wasn't in uniform. Is he in your crew?”
“No. He just thinks he is.”
“Hmm,” she purred and then narrowed her eyes at me. “He was wearing two Firestone rings. Isn't that interesting? Firestone is the ring of kings we used to say in the Ambassadorial College.”
“You actually went to college?” I gasped. I had noticed yesterday he was wearing two rings now which in itself made my stomach churn. “They could be fakes,” I suggested. “Maybe they are Cubic Zirconia Firestone which he got off of Ebay.”
She looked at me strangely as Admiral Yun took her arm.
“I see you met the Captain's husband,” he said, leading her into the pavilion. “Dr. de Kudisha owns SdK Corporation, and I'm sure he can afford as many Firestone as he wishes to purchase, real or fake.”
Captain Les from the Excelsior joined me then, and together we walked the perimeter of our encampment. There were guards posted every few feet, but strange growls kept coming from the forest. Occasionally a large lizard bird would swoop down over head and then veer away. Enormous green heads popped up from the brush and then disappeared just as quickly. A sulphurous smell surrounded us, and the ground was squishy and mustard-colored underfoot, quickly ruining our boots. Toward the far end of the perimeter, past the pavilions belonging to Altaris IV team, a medical tent was set up. At least a dozen spacemen were in line outside. One guy from the Excelsior was sitting on the ground sobbing.
“It just came out of the forest and bit me,” he wept. “It was huge, and it had teeth like this!” He showed us with his hands. “I want to go back to the ship! Captain, please let me go back to the ship.” The spaceman had a makeshift bandage soaked in blood, wrapped around his lower leg.
Les squatted down next to him and spoke calmly while I went into the medical tent. There were at least eight people being treated inside with Jerry, Senya and the guy from the Excelsior all working on patients while Lynne and a nurse from the Excelsior ran between them.
“Put on a mask if you're coming in here,” Jerry barked at me.
I took a mask off the wall but didn’t plan on staying long because the smells were noxious and there was a heck of a lot of blood.
“How did these people get hurt?” I asked anyone.
“Monster bites,” the Excelsior nurse replied running past me to Jerry's table. “The guy Dr. Ron is working on nearly had his head pulled off.”
I saw the guy had one of our badges on, so I forced myself over there to see who he was.
“Ensign Jameson,” I read his name tag. New guy, good reviews, could be a promising candidate for Command. Crap. Senya was making tiny stitches in the back of his neck. Lynne was putting bandages on the other stitches. “Is he going to be okay?”
“Some nerve damage in the spinal column,” Senya mumbled. “Don't know yet.”
I watched him for another minute.
“When was the last time you did that?”
He cut the thread and stood up straight. The two rings on his fingers flashed.
“A while ago.”
“I told the Ambassador lady that your rings were Cubic Zirconia,” I remarked, staring at them.
He smiled behind his mask. Lynne glanced over at the rings.
“Wow,” she said. “What interesting designs and huge stones. Do they signify something like Knights of Columbus or Masons?”
“They mean I am a king of two kingdoms,” Senya replied.
“Oh, Dr. Ron,” Lynne laughed. “You are always so funny!”
He raised his eyebrows at me, and I was about to open my mouth and say something apropos when someone outside started screaming. Instead, I turned and raced out of the tent only to discover that one of those huge flying things had picked up one of our guys, my guys, with his horrible beak and was flying away with him. Instinctively, I grabbed the Glock and put a few holes in that nasty raptor's wings. The creature screeched and dropped our guy from about forty feet up but the ground was grass covered, and squishy so maybe he had a chance. The monster went spiraling into the forest. Oops, I killed it. Allied Council Violation for me.
A few of us raced to our guy, who was bent crooked, but still breathing. Senya was at my side an instant later.
“Broken,” he said, his hands on the spaceman's neck.
“Can you fix him?”
He didn’t answer because the flying creature was back now with his friend. I guess I didn't kill him after all. There were two of these things heading straight for us, and they looked angry.
“Shoot 'em,” I screamed and we all started firing away, but our lasers only seemed to annoy them.
I unloaded my Glock and punched a few more holes in their wings, but I guess their wings were big enough that they could take some additional ventilation. They swooped around the sky above us like giant vultures trying to decide which one of us looked the tastiest.
“Tell everyone to stand still,” Senya hissed under his breath.
“What?”
“Stand still! They can't see you if you stand still. They only see movement.”
“Stand still,” I screamed, barely moving my mouth. “Everybody freeze!”
We were like ice. The creatures continued to do circles above us. Lynne and the other nurse came out of the tent with a gurney. The creatures headed toward them.
“Don't move!” I called and now the nurses froze. We held our breaths. You could hear arguing in the meeting pavilion and the breakers crashing against the beach and some other sounds like birds in the forest, but you couldn’t hear a word from us. We stayed frozen for what seemed an eternity as
the monsters flapped around and around overhead.
“Can you by chance tell them to go away?” I whispered to Senya who was very slowly adjusting the fallen spaceman's body. “Aren't they like your cousins?”
“From Berkan's side of the family. Actually, I don't speak pterodactyl, but I tell you what. I'll lead them away and as soon as I do, get Lynne and Kevin to load this poor fellow on the gurney exactly in this position. Tell them to tell Jerry he needs to go back to the ship immediately. I'll return as quickly as I can.”
“Ok,” I replied through my teeth. “But don't get eaten.”
“I don’t plan to. I think I'm faster than they are.”
“I hope you're faster than they are. I love you, Senya.”
“I love you too, Sweetheart.” He stood up and in a flash was gone.
“Where'd he go?” the spaceman behind me said. I looked up as the black eagle screeched overhead and the pterodactyls immediately turned and headed off after him. They had huge wings, but were clumsier and obviously slower. As soon as they were gone, I yelled, “Move! Move!” and the nurses raced over to us. I gave them Senya's instructions, squeezed the poor spaceman's hand and headed over to the meeting pavilion.
“What the hell happened out there?” Les cried as I collapsed inside on a chair.
“This is one nasty planet,” I replied. “What's happening in here?”
“Absolutely nothing good.” Les sat down next me. “They keep blaming each other for pirate attacks and both of them seem to think they can just relocate their excess populations to this planet. The indigenous people here have the intelligence of Neanderthals and agree to go with whoever is feeding them at the moment.”
I got up and peered into the conference room. Ambassador Flake was trying to explain to the Neanderthals that they could not keep changing their minds about which planet they would align with. The Neanderthals were nodding and smiling and making obscene gestures at her while the ambassadors from the other two planets accused each other of everything from unemployment to excess space dust. Ambassador Yun looked like he was asleep.
I got a cup of coffee from the machine on the counter near us and sat back down. “We're losing a lot of guys out there,” I told Les. “We need to pack it up and head home. This is useless.”
“We can't go until the Ambassadors call it quits. Yun looks like he might, but that gal doesn't want to budge until she gets an agreement.”
I was about to say something nasty about the method Flake used to get agreements in the past, but Jerry came in and interrupted me.
“I'm taking a shuttle with a bunch of wounded. Dr. Malinski is taking some as well,” he told Les. “We need to get out of here before everybody is eaten.”
“Yeah, no kidding,” I grumbled. “There is no glory in ending our careers as dinosaur chow.”
“Katie, where did Ron go?” Jerry asked.
“Um…”
“The spaceman outside said he just disappeared in front of everybody.”
“He decided to play tag with the pterodactyls. He'll be back in a bit though.”
Les and Jerry looked at me like I was crazy.
“Don't ask,” I sighed.
By the time Senya returned, about an hour later, the medical tent was folded up and everyone with injuries had been evacuated. Our spacemen were clustering near the meeting pavilion instead of the jungle as the pterodactyls were gone and the green lizards didn’t seem to want to step further than the outskirts of the grass. We were holding them back with our lasers. It didn’t hurt them. It just stunned them a little no matter how strong a blast we used. There was still arguing going on in the conference center.
“Is everything okay?” I raced over to Senya as he came out of the jungle.
“Yes,” he replied. He had a fresh rip in the bottom of his t-shirt, his jeans had mud on them, and his runners were long gone but otherwise didn’t seem any worse for wear. “This is an interesting planet, full of minerals. There is much fermium here.”
“Les and I want to pack it up and get out of here, but they're still arguing in there,” I told him, taking his hand. Despite my earlier reservations, I was really glad he was here with me. “Do you want something to eat? We've got coffee and sandwiches inside.”
“Coffee is good.”
“But you already ate.”
“Ay yah,” he laughed and we walked back into the pavilion.
I went to get him a cup of black coffee. When I came back, he was standing at the door leading into the conference room listening to the Altarians argue. One of the Altarian Ambassadors looked up and spied us standing there. He held his hand up and silenced everyone at the table except Ambassador Flake who was still talking to the Neanderthals. The Altarian Ambassador rose and walked toward us.
“Uh oh,” I mumbled. “I’m guessing, he's not coming to talk to me.” Of course he wasn’t. He approached Senya and took a knee in an elaborate bow. The Altarian Ambassador from the other side stood up and watched before moving forward to join him, as well. I stood as inconspicuously as possible and tried to avoid everyone's eyes, even though I felt Les and our two ambassadors glaring at me.
The first Altarian said something but for some strange reason the Universal Translator set up on the conference table didn’t catch it. Senya did though and responded in the Noble Mishnese.
"We will continue these discussions in Mishnah," he said.
The Altarians looked at each other and nodded. “Thank you, Sir,” they said and one of them rose to his feet and turned back toward the conference table. “We are finished here. Our disputes will be resolved through other means.”
“But how?” Ambassador Flake protested, rising too in her satiny dress. “And what about these people?” She pointed at the Neanderthals. The Neanderthals pointed back and made lewd gestures and grunting noises.
“We will depart now,” the second Altarian Ambassador declared and proceeded back to the table to pack up his attaché.
Ambassador Yun rose from his seat and lumbered over to the door. “Another bloody useless meeting,” he grumbled. “They don't pay me enough for this.” He stepped past us to the outside when all of a sudden the ground shook and a tremendous roar was heard across the pavilions.
“Oh my,” Ambassador Yun mumbled and immediately came back inside.
The forces outside were firing their lasers but they didn’t seem to be doing any good because the ground was shaking so much we could hardly stay on our feet. The tent began to sway, making creaking noises, threatening to collapse at any second.
“What the hell is happening now?” Les cried, running to the door. I followed him and nearly screamed when I saw three giant monster dinosaurs walking on two legs, picking up our spacemen and tossing them in their enormous mouths. “T-Rex's!”
Les and I fired our weapons for all they were worth but nothing was stopping these creatures. One of them even picked up a spaceplane and tossed it as if it were a child's toy. Another stepped on the tents, picking up and eating anyone left outside. Everyone who could, rushed into our tent.
“Follow the Neanderthal's,” I yelled because obviously those guys had some experience with this.
They shot out of their seats and were heading out of the back of the tent toward the ocean. Maybe those monsters didn’t like getting wet. Everyone rushed in mass with the tent collapsing around us. I grabbed Senya's hand and tried to pull him toward the exit, but he wasn’t moving. He was squatting down, holding his head as if he were having a massive migraine and his eyes were flashing so brightly, they were lighting up the whole room.
“Come on,” I screamed. “We're going to get eaten!” But he didn’t move, and I couldn’t pull him because his feet seemed to have taken root. His hands were trembling, and he was swaying while the ground was shaking as the monsters came closer and closer. Senya fell on the ground, and I fell on top of him, thinking at least they would eat me first, and they might be full then and spare him. He was convulsing which made this about the worst
time ever to be having a seizure.
There was another noise now, like wind, like the ocean, like water falling from a huge fountain or all three of these things combined together. It sounded like the engines of a hundred spaceplanes all over our heads. The pavilion was ripped away from us and instead of falling it flew off into the sky. I could see the three T-Rex right above us, waving their enormous heads with bared teeth as big as my body. We were the only people remaining in the pavilion while the rest were racing out across the beach, heading toward the ocean, except the ocean was no longer there. The ocean was swirling up into a giant waterspout, filling the entire sky. The waterspout took flight and soared over the beach, above us and straight into the T-Rex's where it unfurled like a massive ball of string, soaking the monsters in rope after rope of water. The T-Rex's roared. Amazingly, they turned tail and ran while the waterspout chased after them into the jungle until there was nothing more left of it. I guess the T-Rex's really didn’t like water.
It was silent again. The ocean was far away as if it were a very negative low tide. Even the wind had stopped blowing. Senya had stopped convulsing but had bitten his tongue because there was a thin stream of blood leaking from the corner of his mouth. His eyes had gone to grey. I slid off of him onto the floor because I was the one shaking now.
“Ke vokira?” he said.
“A waterspout,” I replied although my teeth were chattering. He pulled me against him and warmed me even though he could hardly move himself.
“Did they leave?” he asked.
I nodded and took a few deep breaths. I needed to see how many crew were eaten. I needed to find out what happened to the ambassadors.
“They hate water,” he said.
“I hate Class 2-b Jurassic age planets,” I replied.
A crowd of Neanderthal's gathered around us. There were only two that had been in the meeting, so more must have come out of the jungle. I sat up and looked at them. Senya pulled himself up and wiped the blood from his mouth. His eyes were already returning to silver.
“Where are my glasses?” he asked, feeling around behind him. I didn’t see them. Things had blown all over the place.
