Aliens from Arapholanx: The Burn of Magic

by Adam Sipperly

  There was a certain art to it, forcing certain parts of the transformation to speed up while slowing others. They used this as they landed, their bodies growing large while their legs sprouted back out. Landing on the ground they were still covered in feathers and had their wings tucked behind their backs. The flashes of the cameras were immediate and intense. Let’s give them one more show, Patrick thought as he spread his wings wide. He gave them one last flap before the membrane shrunk away leaving him in human form again.

  He stood there, letting the cameras snap away for a few more moments before making his way to the ship designated for him. The only part Patrick didn’t enjoy about the transformations was the specific clothing he had to wear. He learned quickly after his first transformation that his clothes didn’t survive the process. Luckily, the aliens had developed a technology to overcome this obstacle. The Stretto Skin was a skin-tight suit that he was now always required to wear. The Stretto Skin was made from a synthetic fiber grown from its owner's DNA. While Patrick was grateful to not appear naked after each transformation, the fibers of the clothing were not the most comfortable. They were slightly stiff and restricted his movements just a hair. But it was still a small price to pay in his mind.

  Patrick followed Flupotia onto the ship in front of them as the cameras continued to snapshot. This was one part that the reporters had not been privy to. While there were hundreds, if not thousands, of photos featuring the alien ships, none showed what they were like on the inside. The published pictures all showed unassuming and nonthreatening round ships, and Patrick liked it that way.

  Inside was a different story. The bottom floor was a large hangar housing dozens of small ships and a handful of larger ones. The ceilings were over forty feet high with a catwalk around the perimeter every ten feet. Each of the smaller ship bays had an elevator mechanism that stored five ships on top of each other. Patrick always walked through the hangers with bright eyes, never growing tired of the engineering marvels all around him.

  The second floor of the ship was where the guts of the engine were housed, the Icemen and Firemen called this level home. Above that were cannons and the armory, then the med-bay and showers, kitchens, more cannons, the bunks and finally the command enter.

  It was in the command center that Flupotia and Patrick found the rest of the army leaders huddled around a large table. Gin-us commanded the room around him in a way Patrick expected only a King could. He was currently pointing out various locations on a map of the galaxy, with his right-hand man Xavo standing next to him.

  On the other side of Gin-us was Yuzar, an alien that had been pointed out by Flupotia as a defector of their King. Next to him was Frize, a small man made of ice who had played an instrumental role in the quest for the orb. Flee Jr. was the last one sitting at the table. The small ball of burning fire had stepped up to replace his father, who had regretfully lost his life while fighting to free Earth from the aliens.

  “Everyone.” Patrick nodded as he approached the table. “Are we all set to head out?”

  “The ships are all loaded and ready to go. Dr. Jont is incredibly anxious to get out of here. He was never a fan of those underground caves.” Gin-us spoke loudly, his voice filling the room.

  “Gin-us, give him some time. We just got here, and I’m sure leaving isn’t as easy for him.” Flupotia’s voice was softer, but she had a way of quieting even the strongest of men.

  “No, I’m good. More than ready to leave. The sooner we get out of here, the better. What’s the hold up right now?”

  “Ten minutes and we’ll be cleared for takeoff. Zolay is currently working with some of the aliens to go over our calculations. We’re fairly confident we know where the transport station is located. But given they’re near impossible to track, I wanted them to double-check everything.” He raised an eyebrow. “And then triple check it.”

  Patrick nodded. “And the cracks on the hull of my ship? We’re confident the welds will hold, right?”

  “There’s a team out there giving it another look. We have every confidence they will hold, but again we’re just double-checking it all.”

  “That will have to be good enough.” Patrick sighed and spotted Flee, sitting at the end of the table with his hand raised above his head. “Flee, you know you don’t have to do that here, right?”

  Everyone turned to face him and chuckled. If it wasn’t for the fact he was made of fire, they all would have seen him blushing from embarrassment.

  “Right. Sorry.” He dropped his hand. “I was just wondering, can we not use the term alien? It gets confusing. You’re all aliens to me.”

  Patrick did his best to stifle a laugh before continuing.

  “To be honest, the thought never crossed my mind. Flupotia, any suggestions?”

  “You can just call us Plutonian.” She smiled at Flee.

  “Thank you.” He smiled back.

  “Okay, with that settled everyone be ready for takeoff within the next ten minutes?”

  “That works for us. It’s an honor to be fighting alongside each and every one of you.” Gin-us nodded, rolled up his map, and began down the stairs with Xavo following close behind.

  “We’ll be ready to go as well,” Frize spoke up for the first time before leaving the room with Flee Jr.

  “Yuzar, go check everything is clear on our ship. I’ll be over shortly.” He nodded to Flupotia and took off, leaving her alone with Patrick.

  After a moment of silence, she placed her hand on Patrick’s shoulder. “You sure that you’re alright? Don’t want to spend a little more time with your family? You never know when you’ll see them again.”

  “No, I know that. But if I don’t leave now, I’m sure my mother will never let me.” Or worse, she might try to join us.

  “And you’re absolutely positive?” She looked at Patrick with both sadness and hesitation. “We’re all following you now, Patrick. I just want to make sure you’re really ready for this.”

  The sudden weight of everything crashed down on him, causing a momentary lapse in commitment. “I know.” He sat down, no longer able to hide his hesitation. “Look, I really don’t know how ready I am for all of this. But I do know that I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. And that has to be good enough.” He shook his arms out and let out a deep breath. “Radio over when your ship is all set. Soon as everyone checks in, we’ll take off.”

  “Ten minutes, no longer.” She smiled and quickly left the room, Oh Patrick, I really hope we’re not making a mistake here following you.

  As Flupotia exited the ship, Patrick motioned for Roger to close the hatch. There were three humans aboard his ship; Roger, Jane, and John. Roger was a large man, roughly six feet tall and almost awkwardly muscular. He had dark skin and kept his face and head freshly shaved. He carried a certain demeanor, always appearing calm and in full control of whatever situation lay before him. He was also a retired vet with thirty years of service and a handful of awards to prove his worth. He was a man that played by the rules and hardly deviated from a plan.

  John was a smaller man, no taller or stronger than Patrick. He was a few years older though and had just graduated college the past spring. He was planning on signing up for the military but jumped at the chance to join Patrick’s mission instead.

  Jane was in her early thirties and had long, red hair always tied back in a tight ponytail. She came to Patrick’s army in the previous month, having been dismissed from the army due to an injury sustained during a routine operation. She was looking to prove herself again, and show that she was still a force to be reckoned with. The hope that there would be more support from Earth waned over the months of training. It was clear that ‘combat-trained veterans ready to follow a high schooler into outer space’ was a very small niche.

  Patrick made his way to the large window that wrapped around the entirety of the command center. He had a clear view of the entire camp from this position. Patrick stood and watched the Plutonians hustling around Flupotia’s ship as t
hey completed their final checks. Regardless of the lack of support on Earth, the small rebellion had come very far in a short time. In the time that they had revealed the aliens to the world, they had amassed a small but well-armed and fearsome army.

  There were three spaceships that had been commandeered from the Plutonians. Patrick was Captain of the first and had a crew of three humans, Flupotia was captain of the second with five Plutonians she had vouched for, and Gin-us flew the third and final ship with six of his most trusted aboard.

  Along with their own supporters, each ship had four Icemen and four Firemen. During practice flying drills the army had run dangerously low on fuel. Frize had come up with the genius idea to use the power of the Firemen and the Icemen to run the engines. Nobody really understood how it worked, but the ships flew so smoothly and efficiently that nobody questioned it.

  “We’re ready to go.” Flupotia’s voice crackled over the radio, jolting Patrick from his thoughts.

  “Same here,” Gin-us chimed in as Patrick made his way to the radio.

  “Roger that. Firing up the engines now.”

  The three captains sent the all-clear signal to their respective engine rooms, letting the Firemen and Icemen know it was go time. Within seconds, the sounds of the engines roaring to life filled the air. Patrick could feel his heart race and his adrenaline spike as the ship began to rattle. The groaning of the ship terrified him every time as if the ship was just one bump away from falling apart. Gin-us clenched his seat, knuckles whitened by his tight grip as he prayed to the moons that the Plutonian technology was reliable. The last time he had flown through space on one of these ships he had been sedated in the cells and didn’t know what to expect.

  Flupotia was the calmest of them all, sitting stone-faced in her chair with little emotion showing on her face. The legs of the ship left the ground and retreated into the ship as they began to pick up speed. The groaning of the ship grew louder and louder as they rose, breaking only when they had broken free from Earth’s atmosphere. A loud crack resounded above the crowd gathered below, shattering the lenses of several cameras. A stillness settled over the ships as they floated freely in space now. The engines fell into a low purr as a calm serenity replaced the terror felt moments before.

  Seeing the Earth from space for the first time was a moment Patrick would never forget. It was akin to a runner’s high, his body pumping full of adrenaline. The euphoria pulled him in entirely and all of his anxiety washed away as the Earth grew further and further away. His breathing slowed to a crawl and he momentarily forgot where he was and where he was headed.

  “Patrick,” Flupotia’s voice again cracked over the radio. “You need to rest.”

  He released the air he had been holding in his lungs and looked down at the radio. She was contacting him on their private channel where nobody could listen in. He picked it up to reply.

  “Not yet. This is my ship and I need to be awake and alert in case anything happens.”

  “You know, we can handle flying this thing,” John spoke up, got an eye from Patrick, and quickly returned to minding his own business.

  “It’s okay to let go a little bit. Worst case, the bunks are a thirty-second jog from the command center. Fifteen if you really push it.”

  “I’m just not comfortable leaving my ship without a captain on deck.” And this is the inaugural flight, I’ll be damned if I miss it.

  “Patrick,” his heart panged as he could almost hear his Mother’s voice in hers, “go rest. Even if you don’t sleep just lie down for a bit. If something does come up, you’ll want to be well-rested.”

  “Fine.” Patrick knew she was right and walked away from the radio, slightly annoyed but mostly just missing home.

  From the main deck, Patrick made his way down a level towards the makeshift bunks that had been hastily thrown together. While the ships were functional, they clearly hadn’t been made with human comfort in mind. The bunk room had originally been designed as one large room with twenty-four metal bunks lining the outer walls. One of the things Patrick learned early on was the Plutonians didn’t need the same creature comforts as humans. When he had first been taken prisoner he had been kept in a small room with a metal bunk that made it impossible to sleep. It wasn’t until Flupotia stepped in and had him transferred to a new cell that he at least started to feel like a person again.

  Unfortunately, the ship had bunks of the same design which Patrick refused to leave untouched. So they had retrofitted the design to suit their needs. Each of the humans had bought their own mattresses and bedding from home. It didn’t look like anything you would expect in a military barrack. Except for maybe Roger’s bed which had a thin forest green mat beneath a black mummy-style sleeping bag. It was the other three beds that looked out of place. Patrick’s bed had a navy blue striped quilt, Jane had brought a coral and teal patterned set and John’s was a cluster of stars and planets.

  Patrick lay down, his mind racing with thoughts of home. He hadn’t wanted to fall asleep, but his body had other plans. The exhaustion of the past several months finally caught up with him and he soon felt his mind drift into an unconscious state.

  ◆◆◆

  II: First Encounter

  Flupotia sat on the deck of her ship, knowing that things were about to get far messier than anyone else could know. As she expected, within hours of leaving Earth she heard the ping of her radar and a brief glance showed a cluster of at least half a dozen ships lying in wait. Thank Cynieil I limited the reach of the other ship's radars. As she had expected, a small fleet was waiting for them to try and make the jump to Venus.

  “Reizod, you know what to do.” Flupotia nodded to her crew and then picked up her radio, switching to a new channel neither Patrick nor Gin-us was on. “Mayday, mayday! If there is anyone out there, please respond. Mayday! Mayday! Our life support is running low, please, send support to these coordinates.” She rattled off coordinates that were the opposite direction they were currently heading and dropped the radio, not waiting for a response. “Tect, I want that message playing on a loop until they find us, understood?”

  Flupotia stood from her Captain's chair as Tect nodded in understanding. She made her way to the main control panel and adjusted the flight plan of her ship.

  “Reizod, course adjustment in progress.”

  “Heard.” Reizod followed her orders blindly as Flupotia thought to herself, this is my mess to take care of.

  Down in the engine rooms Frize was currently overseeing the Firemen and Icemen, making sure they were efficiently and effectively getting the ship where it needed to go. The screen on a small computer sitting next to him turned on suddenly with new coordinates popping up. Why are we going that way? Frize didn’t want to question Flupotia, but a quick look out a nearby window showed the other two ships heading in an opposite direction.

  “Iflama, I need you to keep watch down here.”

  Iflama shuffled forward and swallowed the sudden lump that had formed in her throat.

  “It’s easy.” He put a reassuring arm on her shoulder, small sparks jumping from their contact. “Just watch these two dials. If this one goes over the red, pull the Firemen back. If this one goes over the red, pull everyone back and call the main deck immediately. Good?”

  Iflama nodded and Frize took off. He had only one thought racing through his mind as he climbed the stairs, what is Flupotia up to?

  “Frize, everything okay down in the engine room?” Flupotia’s head drew back and her eyes went wide as his head appeared at the top of the stairs

  “Yeah, things are fine down there. Trying to figure out what’s going on up here though.” Frize clenched his jaw and straightened his shoulders. “You know you’re not the only one here responsible for making decisions.”

  In the past few months, Frize had felt left behind and forgotten. Flupotia, Gin-us, and Patrick all worked well together, but didn’t make much room for Frize nor Flee in their inner circle. While Flee was just happy to have somethi
ng to distract him from the loss of his father, Frize had given up much to be here. He sometimes wished he could go back and stop himself from picking up the orb. Then he may still be back on Earth enjoying the company of his wife and child.

  “There’s something I need to take care of.” She smiled as sweet as she could while inside she was screaming at him to leave. Go away!

  “I’m not leaving until you tell me what’s going on here.” Frize lifted himself up to a seat at the command center. “These ships have too many controls, you know? Just seems like you’re making an easy thing complicated with all this.”

  Flupotia was about to protest further, but Reizod interjected. “Ma’am, I don’t mean to interrupt but they’re approaching now.”

  “Who is?!” Frize jumped from his chair, suddenly aware he had walked in on something he wasn’t meant to.

  “Well, if you’re here at least be helpful.” What do I do with him? “Do you remember General Ozod, from back on Earth?”

  “Yeah,” Frize furrowed his eyebrows, “what about him?”

  “Focus on his image and pull on the power of the orb.” She pulled a bag off a nearby chair. “And put these on. We can still make this work.” She turned back to the console in front of her, effectively blocking Frize from directly addressing her.

  Frize took the hint and went down to the bunks where he had some privacy and transformed into General Ozod as best he could. Inside the bag, he found the same uniform he had seen many of the Plutonian soldiers wearing. Once dressed he gave himself a once over in the mirror. No matter how many times he changed his appearance, it was still a strange feeling to look into a mirror and see someone else looking back. His stomach quivered and shivers raced up his spine. He did his best to calm his nerves and headed back up the stairs to the command center. Things were in full swing by this point.