Terranus: Renaissance: Book two of the 'Terranus: Origins' series.

by Joe Crouch

  “Lots actually,” she replied as she leant over and kissed him on the forehead, “Good morning to you, too. But did you know Emeio is the largest exporter of silicates across the galaxy? And that their entire water supply is shipped in on tankers as the planet has none of its own, pretty amazing stuff.”

  “Yeah… enthralling,” his mouth opened wide as he stretched outwards with a muscle-tingling yawn, his exposed midriff was the perfect target for a jab from the peeved Ioution. He held his stomach as his eyes began to water, “Why?” he questioned, feeling the pain begin to subside. Fez worked hard on a long sheet of calculations that his megear Human mind couldn’t understand so left well alone. “So, this planet, you been here before in your old life?”

  “Emeio, yeah, sadly I have,” she said, “I didn’t think I’d be coming back here on a fleet cruiser but rather in handcuffs kicking and screaming for my life,” she trailed off as thoughts of her past life flooded back. “First time I came here I was with my dad, this is when I was the daughter of someone important, at the time I had no idea what was going on, all the shady people he would do business with, looking back on it now it all made perfect sense, really,” her eyes turned hollow and distant as she receded into her own mind.

  “You were the daughter of that Councillor, right?” he asked rhetorically, “You’ll have to tell me about him sometime.” With a smile, she turned back to her work and continued on, he knew it couldn’t be long before they arrived so he sat tight waiting for the call.

  “Two minutes until we exit slip space,” Yumie bellowed, his voice echoed around the concaved bridge, “Ensure all small items are secure,” he called out over the comms system. With a light strap across himself Sean sat tight, he watched the radar-type display to see the different ships that popped into view once they entered the system. “Fifteen seconds.” In a bright flash that blinded everyone on the bridge, they found themselves close to the planet, closer than they expected to be, he knew, as Fez barked out reprimands for poor piloting.

  The planet was a dustbowl, its surface was constructed from an alien orange sand, tiny pockets of clouds were scattered about the atmosphere which broke up the monotony. From here he could see why their government had all but forgotten about the planet, it seemed worthless. He watched as ships began to populate the display, massive water tankers were the first to pop into view as their mass was magnitudes larger than that of the Mar’Ell, they were the super-freighters of Ioution space, trucking about large quantities of water, which it appeared was still difficult to compress. An alert flashed across his screen, it displayed two smaller ships which appeared to be heavy fighters or gunships judging by their mass, dancing around each other. They were engaged in combat firing arcs of high energy towards the other. It appeared they saw the Ioution fleet cruiser slip in as within seconds they broke away and darted in separate directions, whether Sean and the crew liked it or not, they were seen as figures of the law in these parts.

  “Did you see that?” asked Sean, “We’ve only been here ten seconds and there were already people fighting, couldn’t we have gone somewhere else with less danger and killing?”

  “Don’t be a wimp,” Taris laughed, “I’ll tell you something now, the best alcohol in the galaxy is made here, we have to slip away and get some, I can taste it now, the sweet, sweet nectar,” she closed her eyes and succulently licked her lips as she imagined the taste.

  “Well then,” Sean beamed, “What are we waiting for?”

  Chapter 5

  Sean waited beside the shuttle for the others to join him, they were to travel down to the surface of Emeio while the Mar’Ell refuelled in orbit. Taris mentioned a beverage he should get his hands on, so he intended to do just that. He watched as the deck crew made the final preparations for departure, they scurried about the small craft as it was fuelled and its systems were checked. He fiddled with the buttons on his gear’s lapel as he waited, luckily for him Fez strolled through into the hangar and made his way along the gangway, eventually descending the stairs. Remaining nonchalant, he pushed himself off the shuttle and met the Ioution, “You all ready then, Captain?” he asked.

  “Absolutely,” replied Fez, “Once Taris and Yumie get here we will get going and join the traffic, what is it you even want down there?” he questioned.

  “Some sort of drink, Taris told me about it the other day, I didn’t get the name but it’s meant to be the best in the galaxy.”

  “I bet she’s speaking of Lambda,” Fez replied, his nose scrunched up at the thought of it, “I don’t know how she can drink it, that rough and ready façade she puts on yet she drinks the sweetest, most feminine drink there is? Something doesn’t add up, tell me you haven’t ruined her, Earthling.”

  “Ruined her?” he scoffed as he stretched his limbs out with a large intake of breath, “I’ve improved her, no longer will she want to rip the head off from everyone we meet, now she’s got a cool, calm head ready for any…”

  “Are you fucking serious?” Taris screamed at a low-ranking engineer as she stepped out onto the gangway, “You spill this all over me and you just want to walk away like nothing happened, well, have some of this,” she yelled as she punched the engineer in the stomach, leaving him bent over the railing.

  “You were saying?” Fez sighed, he rolled his eyes and stepped into the shuttle where he readied himself for flight. Sean shook his head and waited for the irate Ioution to draw closer, he gave her a questioning look as she stopped in front of him.

  “All that over a mug of water?” he asked, “I’ll remember to never get in your way.”

  “Shut it, Human,” she sneered as she barged past him. Inside, Fez messed with the overhead wires with little to no thought of safety, Sean ignored the obvious danger and instead took a seat and relaxed. The thought of the heat on the surface ran through his mind although it was nothing he hadn’t experienced back on Earth, most likely.

  “What are you doing?” Fez inquired, “You’re not sitting there, now you’re back you’re up front piloting, so move that frail body and get prepped,” Sean looked to Taris with a raised eyebrow, unsure what to do.

  “I thought Yumie was coming?” he shuffled uncomfortably in his seat, “He’s our resident pilot, no way do I want to jump straight back into it with you three onboard, what if I crash?” The Ioution captain ignored his protests, picked him up from the chair and pushed him towards the cockpit. His hands trembled at the mere thought of sitting in the pilot’s seat let alone actually flying them down onto what looked like a busy spaceport. He knew there was no way to win the argument, though, so instead took the order for what it was – An order and sat down.

  Around him were familiar knobs and switches, displays that showed the status of the ship and its occupants. With a deep, calming breath he slid the helmet on which dangled down above him. Within moments a HUD flashed into his vision as the neural link was established, streams of information rolled down showing him the readiness of his weapons and defensive capabilities. Chatter erupted from the compartment behind as Yumie stepped aboard, he couldn’t make out what they were saying but it appeared heated, he could only assume Yumie took offence at his replacement.

  Once everything had settled he began the ignition sequence, the power generator spooled into life and filled his flight console with a multitude of different colours which all vied for his attention. It didn’t take long for him to get back into the groove of things, first, he secured the crew and luggage in place. They brought several large cases to fit supplies into as this would be their last stop for almost two weeks if they tried to get to the signal without another detour. With a final look over the ship’s systems he flicked a switch and activated the grav-drives, within seconds the craft lifted off the decking. The vessel became unstable and they rocked side-to-side as he wrestled with the controls.

  “Whoa there,” he shouted while throwing the flight controls around, he tried his best to regain control of a vessel that felt as if it were slipping about on a shee
t of ice. The deck crew scattered about in every direction, they dove for any safe cover they could find as the craft rocked like a ship on the high seas. With a calm, stabilising touch the shuttle came to a halt and hovered gently in place, the gravity waves that came out from the generators created ripples in the air that surrounded the ship.

  With a push of the controls, the shuttle eked its way out past the hangar’s shields, the static energy which wrapped around the ship made their hair stand on end for a moment before they were clear.

  The vast nothingness of space soon engulfed his view as they began to make their way to their designated position in the queue of traffic which snaked away from the planet. Casual chatter came from the compartment behind as he kept his focus on the waypoint which guided him to where they needed to be. Willing the HUD to display the ships in the region it flickered over to a different channel, it marked the various vessels in bright green boxes and as he looked over them their size, mass, and history were shown in an expanded scrolling box of text. He was amazed at the vast swath of ships which calmly queued to get a space on the spaceport, he imagined these outlaw worlds to be a mess of tangled metals all vying for their spot down below.

  It didn’t take long for him to guide them into their spot. They were in position behind a hulking water freighter which put the Mar’Ell to shame, according to his readings the mass of the ship was almost twenty times that of their support cruiser. The wake of the ships large grav engines sent an audible thump through their tiny shuttle, he struggled to keep the vessel on a straight path as he fought with the controls every step of the way.

  As they drew closer to the planet an incoming comms request flashed up on his screen, with a simple thought a connection was established. “Ioution Fleet shuttle, we have you locked, your landing point is gamma-thirty-three, please enter the fast lane and dock when possible, safe flying.” With an acknowledgement of the message he pulled the shuttle out and increased their speed.

  The thick atmosphere of the world soon came into view, it tried to expel the foreign entity forcing its way through as they entered its outer layer. Flames licked the outside of the ship as they descended, with a tight grip on the controls he struggled through the violent shaking as he managed to guide them safely through and into the relative calmness of the upper atmosphere.

  “I never doubted myself, not once,” he sighed whilst he flicked the shuttle into autopilot mode. They skated across the thin cloud cover as the ship banked to port and descended towards their landing spot. From afar it looked as if it sat centrally in a bustling metropolis of dilapidated high-rise buildings that seemed days away from collapsing. Light traffic buzzed around the constructs in an orderly, structured fashion, if the entire crew hadn’t told him the world was full of scum and villainy he wouldn’t know any different.

  As they drew closer the autopilot soared over the building’s rooftops, below, a light breeze kicked up sediment from the impenetrable build-up of sand dunes which surrounded the city. With a sharp stop in mid-air, the ship adjusted it’s bearing to align itself with their landing spot, within a few moments the food in his stomach was pushed through his body as the ship spiralled down at high speed. With a thunderous jolt, they slammed into the pad, the crew were thrown about in their seats as their spines were realigned. Respite came as the vessel slowly let the weight settle down onto its landing struts, autopilot disengaged came the condescending voice through his headset.

  “I’m not sure whose piloting I’m more afraid of, the ship’s or yours…” Fez remarked while he caught his breath. Sean ignored the comment and unstrapped himself, he leapt out from his chair to inspect the team, what he found was an exhausted mess of Ioutions who had all turned a lighter shade of their natural skin colours. With a smile, he strolled past them all to open the door to the outside, a pop hiss rushed through the compartment as the ship’s side split in two and began to fold back. The moment they were exposed to the outside atmosphere it felt as if he had opened an oven door and shoved his head into the wave of heat which emanated out. The air was a sticky, humid mess that felt like he was wading through treacle with every movement he made.

  “Be ready for this everyone,” he said, “It’s absolutely roasting out there, how do you guys fair in the heat?” the sweaty, pained looks he got back from the Ioution crew said everything he needed to know.

  “It feels like that place we went to on Earth,” Taris groaned as she pushed herself up with a heavy breath, “The one with the tall buildings where it felt like my skin was turning into roasted pieces of meat.”

  “I remember that,” he laughed, “You broke into that guy’s garden and jumped in his pool to cool off, I think he was more used to seeing frogs and other animals around it, not a breathless alien.” With a shove, she pushed him across the compartment back towards the door.

  He stepped outside and felt the blaring binary stars pulsing down on him, he became more confused with every detail he learnt about the planet, why would anyone live here he thought. The wind had subsided, instead, large vehicles that flew past kicked up huge swathes of sand onto the pads that lined the outer edge of the facility, he stood and watched as ships came and went, the sheer variety within the galaxy was always a constant source of bewilderment for him. The major positive was that Emeio’s atmosphere was one that resembled Earth’s so he had little trouble breathing, while Taris had adapted quickly to the high nitrogen levels back home the others were not so fortunate, they could breathe and survive for a long time, but it wouldn’t be comfortable.

  Stood at the bottom of the steps which lead down from the tall landing spot he watched as the different races went about their business, he had seen almost every race but it didn’t stop him from being surprised when one of the locals walked towards him. With four legs that were more akin to a spider it scurried across the sand, its four arms which extruded out from a bulky chest each had a different item held in their large, three-fingered hands. He looked on unsure what to make of it, the hot sun refracted off its skin to display some basic form of luminescence which made the under layer of its skin glow a bright orange.

  “Greetings,” the alien said in what could only be interpreted as a joyful and flamboyant tone, “Welcome to Emeio, I’ve never seen your kind before, oh how exciting,” it marvelled in glee, “Come over here Cestos, I have something to show you,” it yelled out to another Theran who stood nearby.

  “Oh how interesting,” Cestos rejoiced, clasping its array of hands together in a squelchy clap, “I’m Cestos, it’s an absolute pleasure to meet you,” it said as it held out one of its hands. Its skin flowed between bright pink to a darker red, Sean had no inclination of what it could mean, so for now he held his hand out, gave a weak smile and shook the alien’s hand, “Ohhh,” Cestos cried out, “I’m the first Theran to shake this race’s hand,” it paused as it looked towards the clear sky and deliberated for a moment, “Am I famous now?” it questioned as its two eyes grew even larger than normal. With this, the first alien which greeted him skulked away and let the now world-famous Cestos take control. “First time on Emeio then… I never caught your name,” it said with a smile that stretched from one side of its face to the other.

  “Sean,” he replied, “It’s nice to meet you Cestos, I’m from the Terran Empire, a collection of worlds far…”

  “Oh we can learn all about each other later, silly,” Cestos interrupted as it looked over Sean’s shoulder to see his crew exiting the shuttle, “Oh, Ioutions,” his demeanour suddenly soured, “What are they doing here?”

  “They saved my world,” he replied with a frown on his face, “They’re my crew and my friends, where they go, I go, I hope that won’t be a problem.”

  “No of course not,” Cestos smiled, “But you, I want to learn about you, why don’t you and your friends meet me at Celestius, it’s a bar in the High Town district, I’ll make sure you have a good time.” With a nod the Theran scurried away back to its post, Sean turned to see his crew looking on gasping a
t the interaction which just occurred.

  “Did… did that Theran like you?” Yumie asked, confused at the entire situation, “You must be the best ambassador this galaxy has ever seen if it took such a warm stance with you, no-one gets that treatment.”

  “I dunno, he seemed real pleasant to me, he told us to meet him at Celestius in the High Town district later for a good time, I’m not sure about you but I wanna go.”

  “We’re here just while the Mar’Ell refuels,” Fez reminded them, “The less time we spend on this planet the better.” After a brief pause, Sean conceded to the Captain and let him lead the way.

  It didn’t take them long to leave the spaceport behind, the roar of the ships still rang through the wide, open streets but the chatter of alien languages soon took over as they strolled along the busy sidewalk. At ground level, the city was nowhere near as dilapidated as it seemed from above, the fronts of shops were bursting with bright, flamboyant colours that matched the extravagant colours of the different shades of Theran skin. Vehicles sped along the rail system that was constructed into the roads beside them, oddly shaped cars attached themselves to one of the many highways and allowed themselves to be carried along at high speed to where they needed to go.

  “I forgot how lively this planet actually is when you’re not involved in its underworld,” Taris said while she shuffled through a pile of silk clothes, “It really is something else.” Sweat beaded down Sean’s face as he picked out a smooth, tight fitting yellow shirt and slipped it on, paying the Theran behind the counter with the universal credits he had been supplied with. “You look ridiculous,” she laughed, “At least you’ll fit in around here.”