The Cosmolis

by REM

  Jill looked as if she’d just had a gun to her head. “This is too much for me, Josh. I’m a pilot—not some nature girl.”

  Josh could see she was fighting back tears. “You did great, Jill. Just like you did with those Mercen in Taun.”

  “I’d rather fight Mercens than wild animals. That was terrifying! You saw how it was going for me; like a lion trying to get at a baby antelope at the back of a herd.”

  “We scared it off. That thing will think twice before coming at us again.”

  “There could be more. This whole range could be littered with verals.”

  Josh knew she was right, but also knew they had to complete their mission.

  “We’ll run them all off. As long as they don’t get the jump on us we’ll be fine. We just have to be alert. Can’t get caught off guard like that Firble back at the camp.” Josh looked Jill in her eyes. “Trust me, I won’t let them get to you. At least without having to get through me first.”

  Jill stared for a second, then reached down for her staff.

  The pilots took one last look in the direction the veral had disappeared. After that, they continued east.

  When Josh and Jill reached the far eastern side of the mountain range, they stopped for a drink. “This is it,” said Josh, gazing down the eastern slope. He took a swig from his water bottle, and then another. “Not a trace of Mercens, or any more of those verals.”

  Jill smiled with relief. “Now we just have to make it back through the valleys to get to our camp.” She peered at the sky. “And we don’t have much time to do it. It’s going to be dark in a couple of hours.”

  “Yeah. What do you say we sit for five minutes then head back in?”

  Jill nodded. “I could use a short rest.”

  The pilots took their short break and were back on their feet hiking into the mountains, this time on the southern side of the valleys.

  They’d been hiking a high trail alongside a ravine when Jill spotted something moving on the opposite side of the gorge. “Josh! Over there!” she said.

  He followed her eyes to where a veral was hopping on a dry trail parallel to the one they were on. It twisted its neck slowly in their direction, its eyes unblinking.

  “That’s the same one, Josh. I know it. I can feel it; the way it’s looking at us.”

  Greyish-brown, just like the one we saw earlier. And about the same size, thought Josh. He felt the same intense trepidation he’d experienced earlier. At least a Coy would give you some idea of what it’s thinking. This sucker looks entirely unpredictable. Creepy as hell.

  “It’s stalking us, Josh. Probably has been doing so since fleeing us earlier.”

  Josh took another look at the veral, and said, “I think you’re right.”

  They kept on their course. At some point the veral wandered out of sight. Josh felt somewhat relieved, but not much. He knew the creature was more than likely familiar with the terrain, and could be lurking at any turn.

  Hours passed. The pilots had trekked and trekked. Until now they were within a handful of miles from their camp. Josh stopped. He peered around, then at Jill. “We’d better light this torch,” he said, pulling the stick from his waist. “Night will fall before we can make it out of this valley.”

  Jill glanced at the darkening sky, and said, “We should have made two of those.” She watched Josh light up the tip of the torch with a small lighter, and scanned the rocky, scattered tree-filled stretch of terrain ahead of them.

  Josh held up the torch. The pilots resumed their hike.

  They hadn’t made it too far along when both began hearing faint crackling, seemingly from the ground. Twenty, thirty yards away? thought Josh, shifting the torch to different angles and trying to get a look. He didn’t see anything. Neither did Jill.

  The noises went away within a half-minute or so, but the pilots remained silent. They were nervous as could be.

  Ka-clunk, cloonk, clunk! Rocks tumbled to the left of the pilots from only about fifteen yards away.

  Josh halted and swung the torch toward the sound of rocks. Jill snapped her head in that direction. The light shined perfectly against the side of the mountain—where the greyish-brown veral stood completely still—staring at them with its unblinking eyes.

  Jill screamed at the top of her lungs, which caused Josh to jolt in place, almost dropping the torch. The veral dashed off in the opposite direction the pilots were traveling, kicking up a bunch of dirt in the process. Josh’s heart was pounding at what felt like ten beats per second. Hot damn creeping kangaroos! Shit!

  Jill sniffled a few times, but held back her full emotions. “It’s relentless, Josh. It’s never going to stop.”

  Josh was speechless. His eyes were wide. “We’ve got to watch our backs closely! And get the hell out of here.”

  They pushed on, warier than ever.

  A little more than seven hours after first entering the mountain range from the west, Josh and Jill descended from the hillside and followed the base of the mountain to their camp. Josh wasted no time igniting a fire in the circle of stones. Both stood around it with their weapons in hand.

  “There’s no way we can sleep tonight, Josh,” said Jill.

  “Yep… No way,” Josh responded, with the veral weighing heavily on his mind.

  They ate what little food they’d brought along and remained on guard by the fire the entire night.

  Come morning they were exhausted. At first crack of light, Josh and Jill climbed into the farming pod and took off. They made sure to circle the entire range for any signs of Mercen activity around the mountains. Finding none, they returned to the western town.

  Nalee bumped into the pilots when they were checking out of the inn. She seemed just as gloomy as every other townsperson Josh and Jill had come across this morning. With her eyes drooped and shoulders sagging, Nalee said, “No one from the western front wanted it to come to this. There were sharp losses on both sides. Tigrum is dead. He and Dulf were extremely close at one point in time. Many of our citizens loved him.”

  Josh placed a hand on her shoulder. “The easterners were the aggressors; the westerners did what they had to do.”

  Nalee nodded with her head down.

  The pilots spent time consoling her before saying their goodbyes and setting off for the Taun border. They caught a transport to Space Station A in the northern Void Zone, and from there a shuttle to the M.N. Rampage.

  When approaching the magnificent battle carrier, Josh gazed at a section of the ship, where scattered lights reminded him of tall business buildings at night in the city he’d grown up in on Creston.

  Feels good to be back.

  Chapter 6

  Josh walked out from the transporter onto the north flight deck with Jill at his side. The hangar was quieter than normal with less than a handful of crewmen in sight. A mechanic working on a void striker pulled his head out from the ship. “Rolly asked to have you wait for him in the standby room,” he said, motioning a wrench toward the glass quarter at the front left corner of the hangar.

  “Will do, Curt,” said Josh.

  Curt stuck his neck back into the ship.

  Josh and Jill continued on to the standby room. They took a seat side by side near the war monitor.

  They’d only been sitting for a short time when Officer Rolly appeared outside of the quarter and signaled for them to follow him. The officer turned immediately and headed for the exit.

  Josh hustled with Jill to catch up. They did so in a long hall. Rolly didn’t say a word until everyone was inside of his office. “Have a seat,” said Rolly.

  Josh and Jill sat at the two chairs in front the officer’s desk.

  “Welcome back aboard the Rampage.” Rolly managed a brief smile before assuming a neutral expression.

  “Thank you, sir,” said Josh and Jill, almost in sync.

  “How did your mission go?”

  “Good, sir,” said Josh.

  “Fine, sir,” said Jill.

  “
Did you come across any signs of Mercen activity on Nystavia?”

  Josh was the first to respond. “No, sir. We explored the space lots of Taun, as well as the mountains of Mascarpa. There was no evidence of illegal Mercen activity in either location.”

  “That’s right, sir. No visuals, or readings from our boots,” said Jill.

  Rolly moved his head up and down with a hand at his chin. “That’s good news. One less Cosmolis world we have to worry about.” He placed his hand back on his desk. “Did you notice anything that felt completely out of the ordinary on Nystavia?”

  Josh thought for a moment. Then he glanced at Jill, who was already looking his way, as if she were trying to recall anything that seemed off about Nystavia.

  “Well, we did come across multiple human remains in the space lots of Taun, sir,” said Jill.

  Josh’s eyes came to life while turning his attention back toward Rolly, and nodding. “Yes. All skeletons, no flesh.”

  Now it was Rolly who looked to be thinking. “Only human remains in the space lots?” he asked.

  “That’s all we saw, sir. And we inspected the location thoroughly. We believe their deaths could’ve been from liquid poisoning, since there was an ocean not far from the remains. Also they could’ve been killed at the hands of two Mercen tourists—the only Mercens we encountered our entire time on Nystavia,” said Jill.

  “And you agree with this assessment?” asked Rolly, looking at Josh.

  “Yes,” said Josh.

  Rolly looked the pilots over. “And you feel certain there’s no broader Mercen activity taking place in the area?”

  “Yes, sir,” both responded.

  Rolly brought a hand over his mouth and tapped at his upper lip with his index. “That’ll be all I need to know for now. Jill, you may go. I have a separate matter to discuss with Josh. Make sure to turn in your boots before returning to the unit.”

  “Yes, sir,” said Jill. She stood, and placed a hand on Josh’s shoulder on the way out.

  Once Jill had closed the door behind her, Rolly clasped his hands together on the desk and said, “Excellent job on your private op. Commander Clint was extremely pleased.”

  Josh smirked. “Thank you, sir.”

  The reaction netted a small grin from Rolly. “I had my doubts. That was no easy assignment.”

  “No, it wasn’t.”

  “How’d you manage to get it done? And two Mercens captured at that.”

  “Luck, sir. Mostly luck.” Josh explained what had transpired in capsuling Nemchek and his brethren.

  Officer Rolly shook his head in disbelief of how fortunate Josh had been. After that he concluded the debriefing by ordering Josh to turn in his boots and return to his squadron.

  When Josh walked into the third unit, he saw Hoss standing by the main table with a wide grin on his face. The big man was waving his arms as if telling a wild story, to another fellow who Josh had never seen before. The strange guy was about 5’10, slender, and had a brown, green-tipped mohawk. He seemed to be enjoying whatever it was Hoss was telling him. Maya was mixing something up in the kitchen. And Kyle was sitting on the couch watching TV.

  “Hey! There he is!” said Hoss.

  Maya looked in Josh’s direction after hearing Hoss’ shout. “Josh!” she said, curving her cheeks up merrily.

  “This is Tanner, our newest recruit. Just arrived yesterday,” said Hoss.

  Josh smiled while looking Tanner over and making it to his and Hoss’ side. “Hi, I’m Josh,” he said, extending an arm.

  “Nice to meet you,” Tanner replied, shaking Josh’s hand.

  Maya hurried to where the guys were standing and gave Josh a one-armed hug, with a salad bowl in her other. “You made it back in one piece! Jill said there weren’t any Mercen bases on that planet.”

  “Nope. Just an all-expense paid vacation, minus a couple of skirmishes, and being attacked by a veral.”

  “A veral? What the heck is that?” asked Maya.

  “I’ll tell you all about it later.”

  “Sup, Josh?!” said Kyle, joining the crowd.

  Josh exchanged goofy grins with the young pilot, and then a special handshake they’d been working on.

  “Tor’s in his room. Stays in bed most of the time. You want to go say hi to him?” said Maya.

  “Sure,” Josh responded.

  “Here, come help me grab some stuff from the kitchen,” said Maya, turning toward it.

  “All right.” Josh followed her to a counter.

  “Take these,” she said, handing him a bag of chips and two drinks. “You hungry?”

  “A little.”

  “I’ve got a mini-pizza in the microwave. You want it?”

  “Sure.” Josh popped open the microwave and picked up a small box.

  “I’ll take the chips. You just get the drinks,” said Maya.

  “’K.”

  Josh followed Maya across the lounge, down the hall to Tor’s room. She gave a light knock on the door and then entered without waiting for a response.

  Josh smiled at seeing his old friend opening his eyes. His body was arched up on a pile of pillows.

  “Hey there, amigos,” said Tor in a groggy tone.

  “How you feeling?” asked Josh.

  “Still in pain. I’m all stitched up, but the wound hurts inside and out.”

  Yep, that’s to be expected, thought Josh.

  “Lover boy actually had one of the nurses come visit him here in the unit. I’m pretty sure she had the hots for him,” said Maya.

  Tor grinned sheepishly. “Oh, she’s just a friend,” he said, in a thick accent. “But you’re right, she does like me.”

  “Tor, Tor, Tor…” said Josh, smirking again.

  The former training mates chatted for a bit, getting caught up on how each other’s lives had been over the last few days. When their conversation had died down, Maya went to her room, and Josh walked back out to the lounge. Hoss was over at the foosball table with the new guy. Kyle was still on the couch. Josh sat down at the main table where Nate was reading what looked to be some sort of fantasy book.

  Normally Reena would be sitting there with him, thought Josh. “Hey, Nate,” he said.

  Nate lowered his book and replied, “Hello, Josh. Welcome back.”

  “How’s Reena?”

  “She’s doing well. Still in the medical unit, but she’s healing well and should be back to normal in time.”

  “That’s really good to hear.”

  “Thanks. You should go visit her. She loves getting company. Maya’s up there all of the time. Everyone else has stopped by too.”

  “Yeah, I’ll do that today.” Josh glanced at the time. “Maybe even right now. It’ll be nice to see her.” He smirked.

  Nate smirked back.

  The unit three front door slid open. Ace walked in and straight over to where Josh and Nate were sitting. Kyle turned his head in that direction.

  “Good to have you back, Josh. Heard you guys didn’t find anything on Nystavia?” said Ace.

  “Nope, no Mercen bases there.”

  “That’s swell news. There haven’t been any others discovered in the Cosmolis yet. Hopefully things can return to the status quo soon. But… as things stand, tensions are still high and our squadron’s just been ordered out on patrol. I know you and Jill just got back from your mission, but you’ll be heading out too. Kyle, Tanner, and I will be covering the Mercens’ secret route. The rest of you will be monitoring the northern Void.”

  “That settles that,” said Nate, closing his book completely and setting it onto the table.

  “Sounds like fun,” said Josh, truly wishing he could get some sleep. At least Jill got a small nap.

  Kyle switched off the TV and hopped up from the couch.

  A short time later, Josh and the 3rd squadron blasted off from the north flight deck. Josh fell in behind Nate, with Maya, Hoss, and Jill. When their group reached the northern Void Zone, Nate transmitted: “Josh and Maya will co
ver the north half of the northern Void, the rest of us will patrol the south. Breaking right!”

  Josh watched Nate’s striker bend south with Hoss and Jill trailing. Maya flew into position at Josh’s wing. “You’ve got the lead, hotshot. Let’s hope for a standard shift.”

  Josh smirked. “Is anything ever standard with me, Maya?”

  “Today it better be.”

  Josh snickered over the channel.

  They flew to about the midway point of the northern Void Zone. From there they began circling counter-clockwise around the north half of the region.

  “Two shadow fighters, south east,” Maya transmitted.

  “I see ’em,” said Josh, watching the craft move northwest on radar. “We’re way past the point of intersection. We’ll keep an eye on them till they drop off screen.”

  “Things have been calm out here the last couple of days. I bet they don’t pay us any mind.”

  “It’d be in their best interest not to.”

  Maya sniggered. “I missed your cocky ass. Let’s just make sure you don’t go back to acting like Josh from week one out here.”

  Josh felt deeply amused, as if he was being tickled from inside. “I’ve learned too much for that to happen.”

  “Bullshit,” Maya blurted, muffling the words to sound like a cough.

  Josh smiled feverishly.

  ***

  After a couple of laps around their patrol zone, as well as cruising a few space stations and a handful of small moons, Josh and Jill idled their strikers near a tiny planet along the northern edge of their cover zone. They’d been chatting for some time when Josh asked, “So, what’s that new guy like? Seems kind of odd; you know, the mohawk and all.”

  “Despite his slightly wild appearance, he’s actually pretty plain to be honest. There’s nothing personality-wise that makes him stand out; at least that’s my impression after speaking with him a few times. Probably too early to tell for sure. He loves rock music and wears ear plugs a lot.”

  “Interesting. Looks about our age, wouldn’t you say?”