The clunky gunmetal design was foreign, with the nose of the vessel curved at sharp angles like a flat arrowhead atop a cylindrical fuselage. Short wings protruded from the fuselage, but their function didn’t appear related to creating lift, but rather weapon racks with various missiles and what looked like a phase or laser canon at the far end.
Dez circled the vehicle and found even the rocket thrusters to look alien to her eyes. And to be honest, the entire vessel kind of looked like a piece of discarded junk in her eyes.
Once again, she was reminded of her home world and everything she had left behind. There was no guarantee she was ever getting back, or if there was anything even to go back to. The only solace came from what little she had to miss. Her mother and sole parent was long lost to her. Whilst her father, like most males of the Del’azza Ka’darn had been little more than a mate for her mother. Dez had met him once, but he took little interest in a daughter. Had she been born a son, she would have instead gone to live with him, taught in the way of combat, and hardened into a warrior.
She had hidden it well, but jealousy had been stirred when hearing of that human's way of life. He had both a mother and a father he spoke regularly to, at least by Del’azza Ka’darn standards. Even his friends acted as supporting anchors, rather than the passive-aggressive rivals that her kind tended towards, with genuine friendship an elusive concept.
Carried away by her thoughts, Dez jumped as an orange rune lit up at the rear of the vessel whilst she passed it. “Commander detected, releasing locking gauge.”
Dez’s brow raised as a mechanical clinking ground out, followed by an entry ramp gradually lowering. It seemed rather primitive to Dez’s eyes, but perhaps that was why it still worked after so many years of neglect.
Eyeing the empty airlock ahead, Dez thought for a second, but only a second before ascending the ramp. A dozen buttons were marked by the same runes she was starting to grow familiar with accompanied by a powerless console beside sliding doors. Unlike external ones, these seemed entirely devout of any life, and Dez soon found herself tapping the buttons to see if she could get a response.
It was hopeless.
The likelihood of commandeering some ancient forgotten space vessel had never seemed likely, but Dez had held some hope, the kind of hope you instil yourself with then buying a lottery ticket.
“Figures,” She sighed and exited the vehicle. This place still needed a once over before she would head back to Vern, and hopefully, he didn’t mind waiting.
What now? Should he just wait around? Vern wondered. The flickering silver shadow still stood as a reminder of his alien companion, and Vern hoped that was evidence nothing had happened to her.
Humming to himself, Vern decided to take a seat on one of the concrete-looking chairs, choosing the central one. It wasn’t particularly comfortable, but its high, decorative back made him feel kind of regal.
The last couple of days had been a whirlwind, and Vern hadn’t really gotten a chance to come to terms with all the sudden changes he had experienced. Even now, he felt exhausted. And despite recovering his blood reserves, felt as if he were on a constant teeter, an inch from falling asleep.
He had felt beyond creepy sneaking back into the village to absorb some blood before they entered the temple. Healing his wounds and taking a little extra for his reserves had been necessary, but it hardly felt moral.
Before the seemingly insane system had transported Vern here, he had barely been in a fight. There had been a couple of playground encounters where a punch or two was thrown when he was a child or teen, but nothing since.
Lucky I’m not a vegetarian, Vern mused with a smirk.
As for his family, his parents, brother and maybe more importantly, his barely mobile grandparents – Vern really hoped that whatever happened to him, hadn’t happened to everyone. Pop hadn’t even walked for close to ten years now. What chance would he have ending up on a monster-riddled planet like this?
These worries had played at the back of his mind when Dez had explained how her colleagues seemed to have experienced the same phenomenon. But he so desperately hoped she was wrong. Of course, that might also mean that meeting up with other human beings would be even harder. Even if he got off this planet, Earth could be an insurmountable distance away.
Ultimately, thinking about Earth and his loved ones felt pointless. Vern had always been fairly pragmatic and even misjudged as cold and callous by some – or at least he felt as if it was a misjudgement. He did care about people after all, and never intentionally insulted or upset people. But he also wasn’t likely to get caught up in emotional reflection. And with the rather lacking personal reflection, often came a bewildering effect on his ability to sympathise with others. No doubt, if Bec were here she’d be pointing out his seemingly obtuse reaction. But it didn’t make any sense to spend too much time worrying about what he couldn’t fix. He was here now, and he either went with the flow and tried to figure out a way to survive it, or he didn’t. And the second option seemed even more unlikely to reunite him with his own home.
However, there was something else. Despite the chaos that had descended on Vern, he was certainly living in interesting times now. What was so envious about his life anyway? He had a simple job that barely paid the bills and no obvious way out. A college dropout with a debt and no degree. No girlfriend. Fewer close friends with every passing year. A beat-up old rust bucket that failed to start almost as often as it did. Even his family, for as great as they were lived on the other side of the country.
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Vern had moved to the big city; it was meant to be fun. And it had been, he’d be lying if he said it wasn’t. But that hadn’t lasted anywhere near as long as he had hoped. Soon the reality of it all had hit, and it hit hard. Endless bills, overtime and an overcrowded city that somehow still felt lonely.
He wanted a toilet, he prayed for a shower, and he could kill for a hamburger. But at least he was free. No debt, no bills, no crowded streets and late trains. Not only that, but he was basically a superhero. Maybe not quite as impressive as the ones in the movies, at least not yet, but still.
All of that was before reminding himself he had flown in a freaking spaceship. He’d have had to save the rest of his life just to ride in some spruced-up plane to file to fly through low earth orbit – which could barely be considered space, especially not compared to what he had already experienced. Reminding himself of this, Vern reasoned he shouldn’t feel guilty about not hating every second of his new reality, and perhaps he should take a moment to appreciate it.
Footsteps sounded from above, dragging Vern from his contemplation. Were the pygmies coming for them?
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“This all seems a bit much for a stone-age era civilisation, doesn’t it?” Odis questioned as the two rangers carefully made their way down the stairs, torches mounted to their suits guiding the way.
“You’d think so, but I can’t say I’m an expert on the matter.”
“By the way, are we setting to stun, or lethal?”
Ranger Kuul stopped momentarily and flicked a dial on his pistol. “Better go lethal. Can’t take any chances with whatever maniac could’ve done all that.”
“Those bodies were sucked dry. Drained of all their blood. What in a Ganzargials fest-pit would do such a thing?”
“We’re about to find out. But have a terrible, sinking feeling that it has something to do with these anomalies.”
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Frozen in suspense, Vern eyed the entrances they had come down as light began to illuminate it from beyond. It wasn’t the dancing light of a flickering flame, that light was artificial. Vern’s heart skipped. Were they about to be rescued? Saved from this brutal and primitive planet?
Dressed in khaki jumpsuits lined by various mechanical and digital gadgets and with tubes running from face masks that covered half their faces, descended two aliens. The Cyberpunk display was impressive, but it did little to hide the fact that they appeared to be humanoid slugs, their snorkelled eyes hosting flickering, moist orbs.
Vern’s expression shifted from elation to confusion as he studied their unusual appearances, then terror as they aimed what looked like ray guns at him, before shouting a string of alien words.
Taken aback, Vern raised his hands, unsure what was supposed to be going down, but he understood angry-I'm ready to shoot you cop vibes well enough.
After fiddling with something for a moment, a distorting static twisted the alien words before spitting them back out in gargled English. “You’re under arrest for the interruption and murder of at least thirty-seven Rosette Pygmies. Your actions and words are being recorded and broadcast via interstellar transmission back to our command ship the Hegemony. Anything you do or say may be used against when seen by the magistrate.”
Vern groaned, of course, the first sign of civilization he came across would be trying to arrest him for defending himself against crazed tribal pygmies. Why wouldn’t they?
“This doesn’t need to be messy, come quietly and we promise, you’ll get a fair hearing.”
“Not that it’ll do you any good,” Kuul interjected.
“It’s not what it looks like, they attacked me. I didn’t even want to be here. Instead of arresting me, you should be more worried about insane pygmies kidnapping people!”
“Save it for the magistrate,” Odis sighed, as he jerked his pistol at Vern.
In an instant, interrupting the tense situation, the silver shadow behind Vern materialized into Dez, still holding the cocoon.
“What on Del’dezza is goin-”
“Another!” Kuul shouted, taking a step forward and sending a crackling stream of red energy blasting barely an inch from Vern’s face.
“Run!” Vern shouted, turning toward Dez to see her already diving for the water behind them. Vern didn’t have any time for judgement though, and bounded for the water after her.
Two more energized blasts flew through the air, narrowly missing Vern. However, the third smacked him in the centre of his back, sending him toppling into the abyssal water. In an instant, Vern felt his meagre blood reserves drained, as his body struggled to keep him alive. His veins screamed in agony, a vicious burning sensation rushing down them and pounding into his heart as his body searched for more blood.
Everything hurt, and the cold water of the basin did nothing to cool his scorching body.
He was sinking, but even the threat of drowning wasn’t enough to draw his attention away from the agonising pain that had taken over his body.
Thankfully, Dez’s arm wrapped around Vern’s chest a moment later, and in an instant, she had propelled them deeper into the water, her powerful strokes cutting through the water with ease.
Emerging a minute or so later, the duo sprung into the rockpool on the other end. Vern was still agonizing over his wound, and now gasping for air and expelling worrying amounts of water.
“Come on, humaloid. We cannot wait here.” Dez urged, trying to pull Vern up and onto the rocky ledge surrounding the pool. The tomb was closed now, of course. They needed a new exit. Eyeing the pools around them, there seemed to be only one option.
“Walk, damn you!” Dez hissed, as Vern still struggled with his footing, but it was enough, just barely enough. They didn’t have enough time to cross another pool, their attackers could catch up at any moment. However, there were six rockpools within reach, surrounding the one they had come from. They would have to take a risk.
Dez pushed Vern into the pool to her right and proceeded to dive back into the one they had come from, splashing in and out of it as she did her best effort to quickly wet the rocks around it in all directions. Now wasn’t the time to risk leaving a trail.
Once she was done, Dez hastily climbed back up and dove in after Vern, grabbing his midsection again and dragging him down with her - providing no warning.
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“You want to go down there, don’t you?” Odis asked as they crept toward the basin.
“Do we have a choice?”
“I don’t suppose we do, do we?”
Kuul engaged his mask, enclosing his face in a round glass cover like a fishbowl. “Let’s get these bastards.” He said, turning to wave his companion on before diving into the water a second later.
With mini jets powering their dive, the two rangers effortlessly made their way down, and through the passage.
There was no sign of the two anomalies by the time the two rangers reached the cavern, but the site was one they hardly expected.
“Would you look at this.” Kuul said, climbing up and onto the rock ledge. “This is a Skard hive, or at least it was.”
“Anomalies, now Skard? What has my life come to?” Odis replied, climbing from the water.
“Doesn’t seem to be a swarm present though.”
“Died out?”
“Maybe, but we don’t have the luxury to assume that. That way.” Kuul said, pointing down the cavern.
Odis having already scanned the surroundings realised the anomalies had to have taken one of the nearby pools. “What about the anomalies?”
“We’ll have to come back for them. We need to confirm whether or not the hive is active.”
“Looks pretty dead to me.”
“Every hive has a commander. Even if the swarm is long gone, we can’t risk leaving the commander alive. That's our priority.”