by Justin Sloan
“How about a little rest and relaxation then?” Flynn asked, watching two semi-attractive Skulla walk by.
“Don’t tell me you’re into this?” Garcia asked him with a laugh.
“Hey, I don’t know.” Flynn shrugged. “A man’s got needs, and something about those tattoos…”
Garcia laughed, but the others weren’t sure what they thought about that.
“Come on,” Valerie said, motioning them toward the bar. “We’ll get a round and try to figure this out. Arlay, maybe you’d have better luck ordering here?”
Arlay nodded, still very clearly not comfortable here. They had the money from Tol, so they didn’t have to worry about cost. She got a bottle of a strange blue liquid that went down smoothly and they gathered around a table in the corner, trying to ignore the dancers. Well, everyone except Flynn did. He was apparently into them, too.
“Flynn’s in heat,” Robin said with a laugh, “so the rest of us need to figure this out. What, we’re going to come out here and find him on Day One, when the entire Lost Fleet couldn’t?”
Valerie took a sip and felt her throat go semi-numb as it went down, then let the shivers run their course. She told the others what Mej had told her, going back through the details, but nobody could make anything of it.
“Keep asking around,” she said finally. “Maybe we can put pieces together where others couldn’t.”
“Or someone will talk to us where they wouldn’t talk to the Lost Fleet,” Arlay said. “They do have a reputation here, after all.”
“On it,” Flynn said, standing and smiling at the two Skulla from earlier. They giggled and didn’t turn away when he headed over.
“I’d like to say that’s the attitude,” Valerie said, “but I’m not sure it is.”
The others laughed and agreed to split up and start conversations. Valerie made her way around the room. After a couple hours they were on the point of exhaustion. Valerie started to head for the door, pausing in utter confusion as one of the blue men started dancing nearby while eyeing her. As nice as his abs were she wasn’t interested, and didn’t see how she could get past the blue skin and tentacles even if she had been.
“Excuse me,” she said, starting to inch away.
“Lolack, right?” he asked.
“You know something?”
He smiled, moving her way while still waving his hips from side to side in a way others here must’ve found alluring but she found comical. He saw the look in her eyes and sighed, then nodded toward Arlay.
“You know who she is, don’t you?”
“She came with me, so…” Valerie glanced at Arlay, who stood not far from Garcia, chatting up one of her kind.
“Well, if she doesn’t know, none of us will.” The male gave her one last wishful glance, then moved on to dance for someone else.
Valerie continued around the room, debating her next move and wondering about Arlay. Of course she had been involved with all this, but could she be holding back?
The last thing Valerie wanted to do was sew doubt and mistrust among her team, so she walked straight up to her newest teammate and asked, “You have an idea where he is?”
Arlay glanced around nervously, then nodded. “I’ve been trying to figure it out, actually.”
“Explain.”
“He used to talk about his people. About how some of them lived in more primitive ways, and how he fought for them so that they might have a better life.” Arlay held her hand up, considering, and then drew an imaginary map on her palm. “If this wasn’t his home planet—which I don’t think it was, although the description sounded similar—maybe it’s not far off?”
“So we’re looking for a planet with similar weather patterns and whatnot?”
“Exactly.” Arlay glanced around. “Problem is, most of these patrons aren’t from around here. They come in, party, and go back to their daily troubles.”
“And if we went back to ask Mej?” Valerie asked.
“Not likely. If she had an inkling about this place, she would’ve said so.”
“Right.” Valerie ran a hand through her hair, pausing as the blue male passing by clearly checked her out. “Well, keep it up. Maybe we can find something.”
As the hours droned on, it became clear the crowd wasn’t changing. More ships would arrive eventually, but there was no reason to believe their passengers would know anything more than these. At one point Valerie caught a glimpse of Flynn exiting with a tall Lavkin and a short Skulla, but decided they could allow themselves some fun rather than wallowing in despair at their first big roadblock. She even started to dance when the blue male came up to her for the twentieth time, Robin laughing at her side as she too rocked her hips from side to side.
Surprisingly no fights started, although at one point one of the marble-skinned guards bumped into Garcia. He had words for the tall beast, but backed off at a look from Valerie. That earned her group more looks of curiosity, but nothing new in terms of the mission.
“You’re so advanced in your sexuality, right?” Robin asked, leaning in to Valerie, then motioning to the blue male. “Well, there you go.”
“I-I…”
“Wow, actually caught you off balance,” Robin said with a laugh. “Scared you’ll wake up looking like a blueberry? Come on, we need to set an example for the universe.”
She stepped between Valerie and the blue male, taking his hands and moving with him to the rhythmic music. Turning so that he was between the two women, Robin moved him back to where he was brushing against Valerie with each move.
“Robin,” she growled in frustration.
“Come on, show us how free with all this you are,” Robin replied, then pulled the male close and kissed him.
Valerie hadn’t thought it would bother her so much, but seeing that sent a shudder of irritation through her. She pushed her way past the two and out into the hallway, figuring she’d make her way back to the Grandeur.
However, halfway there a Lavkin female stepped out of the shadows.
“You...you came with the one who calls himself Big Papa?” she asked.
“What?” Valerie frowned, about to sidestep her.
“The one you came with—tall, muscular?”
Valerie took a second to process this. “You mean Flynn, not Big Papa.”
“Right, well, beside the point.” The Lavkin female tried to hide a smile at that, but returned to business. “He told me what you are asking about, and I left a planet that meets your description. Left it long ago, but it’s still there.”
“What planet?”
She smiled and said, “I gave the coordinates to Big Papa so you can check it out. I wanted to be sure to tell you too, though, because he’s a tad distracted.”
“Oh.” Valerie frowned, then said, “Oh! He’s with the Skulla?”
“As far as I know.”
“I’m sorry.” Valerie tried to come up with a way to explain Earth men, but the Lavkin held up a hand to stop her.
“Don’t be. I got mine, and believe me…Big Papa deserves the name.”
“Oh, God,” Valerie said, wishing she could wipe that information from her mind. “Can we just... Tell me how to find this place.”
The Lavkin laughed and told her before returning to the music.
They had a destination, and Valerie was eager to get on with the mission.
However, Robin and the blue male were still dancing, Garcia and a couple of tough-looking blue pirates were going shot for shot with the drinks, and Flynn was still having his fun.
She could give them a few more minutes, at least. Instead of lingering in the bar, though, she made her way to the walkways on the other side and strolled down some of them, looking out at the stars and depths of space.
These passageways were floor and window and not much else. They existed for strolls such as this, perfect for gazing at all the excitement of the universe. What was the Colonel up to at this moment, or BA and Michael? And how could any evil stand against the
m?
In a universe this expansive, it seemed impossible that they would be able to manage it all. There were probably beings out there even stronger than them. Given the vampires and Weres on Earth, what horrors hid in the darkest corners of the universe?
At that moment, anything was possible.
Thinking about Earth sent a wave of nostalgia through her, and she closed her eyes as her hands clutched the cold metal railing between her and the windows into space. She ignored the noise around her to remember an interlude with her friend Sandra—before she had completely settled in with Diego, before the child. The memory of the two of them sitting in Sandra’s place sharing a glass of wine was a distant dream; a moment that might have never happened.
And yet, that life seemed so much more real than this. Here she was, in a planetary system she hadn’t known existed back then. Her friends were messing around with aliens, and they were all about to fly off to some random planet in search of a tall orange alien legend.
She wished there was a way to write to Sandra and tell her all about this. That was the first thing she would ask Nathan or Michael about when this whole situation had been dealt with. She needed a way to hear from them, to know they were okay.
“Val?” Flynn asked. The Skulla female was at his side.
Apparently she had wanted to show him the views from out here.
“Are you... I mean, is everything okay?” He glanced at her, clearly ready to end his little romance to talk with her if needed.
“Enjoy yourselves,” she said, smiling at them. “I’m just taking a moment to myself before we head out.”
“So soon?” the Skulla asked.
Flynn shrugged and turned to Valerie, hopeful.
While Aranaught was out there, this whole thing with receiving the planet’s coordinates from some random female in a bar was a bit of a stretch.
“Take your time,” Valerie said. “I’ll walk the perimeter, then we’ll get on our way.”
“Roger that,” he said, and she heard the two whispering about not wasting the time staring out into space when they could be having some real fun. They walked off, giggling.
This was a new life, Valerie reminded herself. She hoped that she too could relax and enjoy it someday, and swore to make an effort after this mission.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Kalan and his friends spent the next few days getting acclimated to the life in the Lavkin colony. They were assigned to Flamebird, Lien’s family’s ship. It was the least populated, and for Lien it was a point of personal pride that these honored guests were staying there.
Their quarters were a bit smaller than on the Grandeur, and it was clear they’d been designed for the long willowy bodies of the Lavkins. Kalan had to sleep on his side and lie as still as he could, and even then he still toppled out of the bunk two or three times a night.
It was even worse for Jilla and Wearl. Since the Lavkins didn’t know Wearl existed, they hadn’t provided her a bunk. The Shimmer had kindly offered to share quarters with Kalan, but he’d quickly declined. She was rooming with Jilla and bedding down on the floor, and she was none too happy about the situation.
Still, it wasn’t all bad. There was a whole new digital library for Kalan to peruse, and he was learning a lot about the history of both the Lavkins and the Bandians. There was a breathtaking sunrise and sunset every day, and they had wonderful views of both from the observation deck at the top of the ship. And then there were the Lavkins themselves, who were kind and welcoming to all of them, even Jilla. She’d been a bit worried that they’d hold her Pallicon heritage against her, but no one so much as mentioned it.
Their days were spent fishing, chatting with various Lavkins, and preparing meals from the delicious and slightly sweet flesh of the fish of Rewot.
Kalan was surprised at how important family was to these people. It went far beyond simply living and working on the same ship. Even when they were out fishing, the family groups tended to stick together. When they did mingle with others they did so as a family, one group approaching and merging with the other so various people could spend time together.
“It’s a miracle they ever mate, considering that their parents and aunts and uncles are always around,” Jilla observed one day while they were sitting near the shore on the island. “Doesn’t exactly set the mood from romance.”
“It’s bizarre, is what it is,” Wearl said. “Children should be able to wander and forge their own lives. Their parents are stifling them.”
Kalan understood where she was coming from. In the Shimmers’ culture each child had only one parent, who was randomly assigned by the government. Still, there was something about the whole arrangement here on Rewot that he found charming. “I don’t know, Wearl… It’s not like the parents are forcing them to stay nearby. The kids all seem to be having a great time.”
Jilla punched him lightly on the arm. “Oh come on, admit it. If you were one of those kids, this would drive you crazy. Back when we were teenagers, you couldn’t wait to get away from our moms and spend time with me alone.”
“I’m not going to argue with that,” Kalan said with a chuckle. “But I will say this: judging this culture against what we’d prefer is probably a mistake. They have their own way of life, and we have to respect that.”
“I still say it’s weird,” Wearl told him.
The next day, Mej took them out on a long flat boat with a motor hanging off the back of it. When they were all on board, she reached down and touched the engine. The faint glow the Lavkins’ skin always had intensified, and the motor sprang to life.
Kalan had seen a few such displays during his time on Rewot. Apparently the Lavkins’ skin had a conductive quality that allowed them to spark machines to life. Many were built without any type of starting mechanism, including their ships—which had the added benefit of allowing only Lavkins to operate their ships and other machines.
Once the motor started, Mej piloted them through the maze of floating ships to an area Kalan had never seen before. She guided them around one of the larger ships and pulled them to a stop near another hunk of metal—the burned-out hull of a Lavkin ship.
It was difficult to imagine what could have destroyed such a powerful ship so completely.
“I wanted to show you a little of the Wandarby cult’s handiwork,” Mej announced.
Kalan’s eyes widened. The Pallicon cult had done this? They were more powerful than he’d imagined if they were capable of this type of devastation.
“They strike hard and fast,” the Lavkin explained, “and they’re focused. They don’t attack with the intention of killing us all or defeating us completely. They concentrate all their efforts and firepower on a single ship. We never know which one, though, so we are forced to spread out. When we discover which ship they’re targeting we shift our defenses, and sometimes it’s enough to fight them off. Other times…” Her voice trailed off and she gestured toward the hulk.
Kalan let out a low whistle. He could only imagine that type of attack. The enemy swooped in, fired everything they had at a single vessel, then flew away.
“They’re highly motivated, too,” Mej continued. “The Wandarby take a vow not to change shapes until they’ve killed their first Lavkin or Bandian.”
Jilla shook her head in disbelief. “Wow, that’s quite the sacrifice for a Pallicon. Shapeshifting is considered an essential part of life.”
Mej sighed sadly. “Yes, so you understand how much they’d have to hate us to give that up.”
That night back on Flamebird, Jilla, Wearl, Bob, and Kalan gathered in Kalan’s quarters to discuss what they’d learned.
“Strategically it’s a tough situation,” Jilla said. “Our enemies strike from the sky. They move fast, and know exactly where we will be. We can’t move or fly the ships because they’ve been rigged to float. Lien told me it would take weeks of work to make the ships flight-ready again. And we don’t know which ship they’ll target, or when.”
“Hmm,”
Bob said. “What if we did know which ship they were going to target?”
“That would be great,” Kalan said. “Any idea how we can make that happen?”
Bob scratched his chin pensively. “Well, we do have an invisible Shimmer and an actual Pallicon on our team.”
“You’re suggesting Wearl and I infiltrate the Wandarby?” Jilla asked. “That’s actually a pretty good idea, Bob.”
Even Bob looked surprised. “Wow, thanks.”
Kalan wasn’t so sure. “It’s too dangerous. We don’t know much about the Wandarby cult aside from what we’ve heard from the Lavkins.”
“Still,” Wearl said, “it seems like it could be too good of an idea to pass up.”
Kalan wasn’t convinced. “Maybe, if we see an opportunity to make it happen, but it seems like a long shot. How would we even get you aboard their ships? Wouldn’t they immediately know you didn’t belong there?”
Jilla patted Bob on the shoulder. “Seems like Kalan has shot you down for now, but keep those ideas coming.”
“Sorry, Bob,” Kalan said. “For now, our best option is to do what we can to help the Lavkins fight if the Pallicons do attack. Until then, let’s get to know our hosts and enjoy our time here.”
As he finished speaking, there was a knock on the door. He opened it to find Lien standing on the other side. “Remember when I told you there was another part to the test? Well, the time has come. Would you be so kind as to follow me?”
Kalan cocked a thumb toward his friends. “Can they come along?”
Lien looked surprised. “Of course. I’d be offended if they didn’t. The whole squadron will be there.”
“Great,” Kalan said. “I’m not going to have to make a speech, am I?”
“Nothing like that,” Lien said. “This is going to be a whole different type of show.”
As they walked through the ship, Lien explained further.
“The nature of this test necessitates that I not tell you very much about it before we begin. I can tell you that you will be in no physical danger, but some participants find it upsetting. The test is designed to reveal your true reactions in extreme circumstances, and seeing the truth about ourselves can sometimes be unpleasant.”
