Team Zenith rushed through the Kingdom of the desert, killing any who stood against them. It was during this battle that the Prince was taken hostage. It was this action that forced the King to surrender. Many advised he could not let harm come to his brother nor let his people sustain any further loses. And so the Kingdom of the desert fell.
Team Ejecta took a more direct approach and kidnapped the Queen of the jungle in the dark of night. With the Queen and her wife both missing, there was no one left to lead. The Venusians of the jungle surrendered of their own will, handing control of the jungle over to the invaders.
◆◆◆
V: The Spreading Flame
There was no mistaking it. Sitting inside the box was another orb. It was larger in size but had the same mystical glow like the one Patrick kept hidden and safe on his ship. The biggest difference with this orb was the color. While the one he had acquired on Earth glowed a deep violet color, this one was a burning red. The very color of it made Patrick fear that handling it would burn his flesh clean off.
The two of them stood with drooping shoulders and mouths slightly agape. Flupotia was the first to notice the Plutonian ships landing nearby. She grabbed Patrick’s arm, squeezing so tight that he could feel her nails against his skin through the spacesuit. With no time to come up with a plan, Patrick slammed the lid down and took off running.
The Plutonians didn’t bother giving chase, having been on the meteoroid for a different reason. Patrick and Flupotia remained unaware of this as neither dared to look back. The only thought running through their minds was, they’re here for us. The two only slowed when their camp came back into sight and they could finally get the attention of others.
“Everyone back on board, now!” Patrick hollered as loud as he could, waving his arms wildly over his head.
Sensing the urgency and panic in his voice, everyone stopped fooling around and made for the ships. “Close the doors, now!” Patrick and Flupotia were still twenty yards away from the ships.
The doors began to close, the gears silent as all Patrick could hear was his own blood pounding in his ears. Knowing the distance was too great to cover in the time he had Patrick reached down and released his tether. The sudden lack of gravity made it easy to leap forward and close the final fifteen feet between himself and the ship. He floated effortlessly onto the ship, the doors brushing against his leg as he crashed into the open arms of the others waiting for him. The doors clanged shut and the engines roared to life.
Flupotia hadn’t fared as well. She made a similar dive with very different results. With no need for a tethering device, she didn’t get the same boost of weightlessness that Patrick had. The doors brushed against her waist as she fell to the floor. The doors shut before she had cleared them, trapping the tip of her boot. She gritted her teeth and held back the tears. Kube was hanging on Tect’s shoulder while Zinta had placed a hand over his open mouth.
“Just go!” she hollered to those in the room around her, tears welling up in her eyes but knowing they could not reopen the doors just then.
The pressure in the rooms quickly normalized and everyone ripped their helmets off. Patrick made a quick count of who was on board, relieved to find that everyone had made it. As the inner doors hissed open, he pushed through the crowd and ran for the main deck.
“Flupotia, come in!” The panic in his voice rang clear, he had lost sight of her when he dove onto his ship and had no idea if she had made it.
“Patrick?” Reizod’s voice came over the radio.
“Yes, where is Flupotia?”
“Hang on a second. I have to figure out how to patch the radio into the med bay.”
“What’s going on over there?” The med bay? Silence followed. “Hello?!”
“Flupotia here. We have everyone accounted for.” The radio crackled away, but not before Patrick heard a slight grimace of pain. “Is everyone over there good?”
“We’re fine. I’m more concerned about you right now.” He paused before releasing the button. “And no secrets this time.”
“Just a minor injury, nothing to worry about.” She looked down at her foot, her toes were crushed and bloody. “I’ll be back up within a few hours.”
Patrick felt time slow as he surrendered to a feeling of helplessness. He wanted to press her for more information but knew it wasn’t the time.
“How did they find us?” he asked instead, changing the conversation.
“I honestly don’t know.”
You don’t know, really? Patrick could feel his face grow hot. He had been traveling with Flupotia since the beginning of this whole thing and trusted her one hundred percent. But he still couldn’t shake the feeling that she was hiding more than she was telling.
“Flupotia,” he sighed, no longer able to hide his feelings, “why do I get the feeling you know a lot more than you let on? What are you hiding?”
“Patrick now isn’t the time.”
“When is the time?!” Patrick was yelling into the radio, earning him stares from all in the room with him.
“Not now!” she yelled back, earning her own stares. “Look, I’m sorry. I just,” she sighed, “I just need some time. When we get to Venus, I’ll tell you everything I know. Okay?”
“I’m holding you to that, no matter what we come across, we’ll make the time.” Patrick tossed the radio away, not waiting for a response.
“I’ll be in the bunks if anyone needs me.” Patrick looked down at the crimson box sitting in his lap. “Need to find a safe place for this,” he whispered to himself.
◆◆◆
Frize was in the engine room of Flupotia’s ship. He had been left in charge of making sure things went smoothly, even though the Firemen and Icemen had all been reassigned to other ships. The fuel in the ships didn’t pose the same threats or issues that having it run on the power of his people did. With the sudden departure from the meteoroid they had been cruising on, he needed to find out what was going on.
He checked all the dials one last time then headed up the stairs to find Flupotia. After running into Yuzar he was directed towards the med-bay. There he found Flupotia lying on a bed with her foot wrapped heavily and padded with large bags of ice.
“What happened to you?!”
“Nothing permanently damaging.” She propped herself up on the bed and looked to Frize. “Patrick is furious with me though. I’m more concerned about that right now.”
“What happened out there?”
Flupotia sighed then swung both her legs off the side of the bed and patted the empty space next to her welcoming Frize to sit down. He sat next to her and she dove right into the story. At the end of it all, Frize wasn’t sure what to think.
“And Patrick doesn’t know any of this yet?”
“No. I honestly didn’t even know if all of it was true. I didn’t want to lead him down the wrong path.”
“I think it’s time to come clean. He trusts you, and this shouldn’t change any of that.”
“Excuse me,” Zinta poked his head around the corner, “I’ve got Gin-us calling in to check on you.”
“I’ll leave you to it.” Frize jumped from the bed and began to leave. “But think about what I’ve said.”
“Thanks, Frize.” She nodded at him. “Chrove, could you hand me the radio please.”
Chrove left his notes and handed her the radio.
“Gin-us, Flupotia here.”
“Sorry I missed all the excitement back there. My head is still pounding from that fight. What did I miss?”
“Quite a bit honestly. Believe it or not, we found another orb out there.”
There was silence on the radio.
“Gin-us?”
“Where is it now?” His voice sounded panicked.
“Patrick took it onto his ship. Why?”
“What color was the orb?”
“It was red, but how did you…” the radio crackled dead as Gin-us switched off the private channel. “Well, okay then.” Flupotia p
laced the radio on her bedside table and lay back down.
On his ship, Gin-us could feel his limbs shaking and his heartbeat racing as he frantically tried to reach Patrick.
“Come on!” He began to rub the back of his neck as sweat started beading upon his forehead. “Patrick,” he fell to his chair and placed his head into his hands. “I pray you don’t do anything foolish with that orb.”
◆◆◆
Patrick was sitting in his bunk, silently brooding and wondering what to make of this new discovery. He had pulled a shirt from his drawers and placed the box on top of it. He had every intention of wrapping it up and hiding it, but he couldn’t bring himself to. Instead, he had opened the box to watch the reds swirling in the orb as he struggled out of his spacesuit. What powers does this orb hold? What answers can I gain from it? As he pulled the top piece of the spacesuit off over his head, he heard someone enter the room behind him.
“Sir.” Roger nodded as he sat down on the empty bunk across from Patrick.
“Aren’t you supposed to be manning the radio up in command?”
“Yeah. I just wanted to stop in and check on you real quick. Quite the exciting day, huh?”
“Exciting is one word for it. I’m just sick of all the secrecy, I want some answers.”
“I can understand that.” Roger looked down at the orb, clearly looking for answers of his own. “That’s it then?” He tilted his head downwards.
“It?” Patrick’s face flushed with offense as if Roger had attacked him on a personal level.
“Yeah,” Roger sat up straighter in the bunk, “it. The orb.”
“It’s not the orb I found on Earth, but something very similar.”
“Think I could get a closer look? Maybe even hold it?”
Roger’s eyes were wide as he stared off into space, eyes focused on the orb. There was a deep sense of admiration there that Patrick understood all too well. While he would have loved to pass off some of his responsibility onto somebody else, he knew he couldn’t trust Roger enough to let him be that somebody.
“That’s probably not wise.” Patrick flicked the box shut.
“Come on, what harm can it possibly do?” Roger stood from the bunk and stepped forward, arms reaching for the box.
Patrick swiped his arm from the air and pointed a finger in his face. “Don’t.”
Roger held his hands up and took a step backward as if to surrender. The ship hit an unexpected spot of turbulence then that sent both Patrick and Roger reaching for stability. As Patrick reached for the bunk across from his to stable himself, Roger made his move. He swung both of his arms down in one swift motion, slamming Patrick’s head into the metal wall. The world started to spin around Patrick but he kept his wits about him and jumped onto Roger. He grabbed Roger from the shoulders and tossed him to the floor, spinning him in the air so that he was able to plant himself on Roger’s back.
“Get off of me!” Roger bellowed and pushed off the ground, sending Patrick sprawling backward.
Regardless of all his training, Patrick knew that Roger outmatched him. Patrick was just starting his athletic journey and had very little hand to hand combat experience. Roger, on the other hand, was a trained soldier with several years of combat training behind him. The world around Patrick was littered with stars now but that wasn’t going to stop him. He pulled himself off the floor and dove for Roger who had now picked up the box. Roger hadn’t expected Patrick to still be conscious and dropped the box in surprise. As Roger stumbled into the hallway the orb rolled from the now opened box.
Roger recovered swiftly and charged back into the room. Yet again Patrick was slammed into a wall and he felt the world slip further away. Patrick grabbed on to Roger tightly, winding his legs around his torso and his arms around his head. With a punch to Patrick’s kidney, he involuntarily released his hold and fell to the ground. Roger stood in front of Patrick, who could no longer keep the world straight. Roger smoothed out the front of his shirt, let out a short sigh and stepped over Patrick without another thought.
“Now, to see what this orb is all about.”
Patrick saw the orb lying on the ground in front of Roger, rolling back and forth slightly as the ship rocked around them. Patrick didn’t have the strength to stand up but knew he had to stop Roger. With the last bit of strength he had left, he pushed off the wall behind him. He slid right between Roger’s legs just as he bent over to pick up the orb. Patrick’s hands closed around the orb before Roger could react. A searing pain shot through Patrick’s hand as the world went bright red for a moment, and then quickly faded to black.
Roger jumped back in surprise as Patrick burst into flames.
“Crap, crap crap!” Roger hollered as he swatted at his own pants, now spotted with flames.
He reached for an extinguisher that hung in the hallway just outside the bunks and returned to Patrick. His body was now fully engulfed in red flames with purple smoke filling the room. Roger let loose with the extinguisher and watched as the flames around Patrick only seemed to grow.
“What in the…”
With no idea what else to do, Roger took off running to find someone else to help.
◆◆◆
Frize was back in the engine rooms, debriefing Reizod and Zinta on how to monitor the dials of the engine when he felt a new sensation creep from his very core.
“I feel,” he struggled to find the words as those around him watched with concern and confusion, “hot?”
A small pool of water was starting to form around him, and panic set in. Murmurs that rose from those around him provided a momentary distraction as he tried to piece together what was happening. He looked down at his hands, where he saw a purple mist flowing off of his body. Having seen this happen once before, he knew what magic was at play here.
“Get back!” he hollered to everyone around him.
Frize burst into flames within seconds of them stepping away. Pain was coursing through every cell in his body as he felt it melt and refreeze time and time again. The puddle around him grew and evaporated quickly, filling the air in the engine room with a dense fog. Zinta looked around in a panic for a way to extinguish the flames that now consumed Frize. But with nothing on hand, he could only wait for the flames to die out. Only when the air in the room had cleared did they find Frize lying unconscious in a puddle of his former self.
◆◆◆
In the same moment that Patrick picked up the orb, Gin-us was pacing back and forth in the command center. His head was still raging with a migraine, but he could not sit still. Xavo was trying to initiate a conversation, but Gin-us just wanted silence and did his best to drown him out. He had to find a way to get in touch with Patrick before he did something reckless.
And then he felt it. An all too familiar sensation began to creep through his body. The heat started to burn from within as it clawed its way to the surface.
“No. Not here!” Gin-us stumbled from his chair and pushed Xavo out of the way as he ran for the stairs.
He made it down two flights before his body burst into flames, much to the surprise of Xavo who was watching from above. Gin-us screamed loudly as the flames engulfed him, a plume of purple smoke rising up the staircase. The heat was so intense that Xavo jumped back from the stairs to hold the others back.
As suddenly as it had started, the flames died out. Gin-us stood for a moment and stared up the stairs, watching the smoke dissipate into the rooms around him. Xavo and Zolay crept forward and were now standing at the top of the stairs staring down at him. His face was burnt black and his clothes hung loosely, revealing his Stretto Skin beneath.
“Why?” he asked before collapsing into a heap on the floor.
◆◆◆
Flupotia was in the med-bay of her ship, with Chrove and Iflama tending to her busted foot. She now had multiple pieces of equipment attached to her body, monitoring every vital statistic.
“That’s odd,” Iflama said, looking to the meter that was charting her temper
ature. “Do you feel warm?”
“I feel fine.” Flupotia frowned at Iflama.
She then turned her attention to the chart and saw her temperature was rising rapidly. It flew from the double digits into triple. It continued past two hundred degrees with ease.
“What in the name of Dalterch?”
She looked to the chart and only when it read four hundred and twelve did she finally feel the heat burst forth from within.
She screamed out in pain as Chrove jumped back from the flames. Iflama stayed in the room and did her best to keep Flupotia held down to the bed while containing the flames.
“Get the fire blanket!” Iflama yelled to Chrove who was still frozen in place.
Iflama’s words broke through the trance Chrove was in as he snapped back to reality. Within seconds the two had the flames extinguished although Flupotia continued to glow like an ember on its last leg.
◆◆◆
VI: The Cracking Rebellion
“Where is Xylana?” Urga looked to Ithan as if she was Xylana’s keeper.
“She is not feeling well at the current moment. I believe it was another migraine.”
“You will speak for her?” Berra stared Ithan down hard.
“Yes, I will speak in her absence if there are no objections to this.”
Murmurs of acceptance flowed across the room.
“We’re here today at the request of the King to talk about our next steps. The first order of business is the potential new weapon. Our troops have scoured the area and it appears to have vanished. That being the case, the King has gone to the hills of Yunat, leaving us to deal with Earth.”
Aliens from Arapholanx: The Burn of Magic Page 6
