“Kilner-Saf, come in Kilner-Saf.”
Bij held the comms to his smirking mouth, squeezing through an opening in the cave. “You don’t have to talk like that, Heni.”
“Kilner-Saf, please use the designated callsigns.”
Bij’s smirk turned into a chuckle. “All right, Kilner-Nik. Reading you clearly.” He scratched his beard, securing a rope around a nearby rock formation. “I’m making a further descent, found another drop here.”
“Affirmative, Kilner-Saf. Please use caution.”
“I will, I will.” Before moving down, he dropped a disposable light from his pack. Still a long way down, but he was getting closer. Bij latched the rope to his harness. “Making descent now, nearing the target.”
The opening above faded the more he descended, eventually leaving the torch on his helmet as his only source of light.
All he could hear was the sound of rock beneath—technically, aside from his boots. It wasn’t the first time he had abseiled somewhere like this, but there was always an uneasy feeling that came with it. Nothing major dwelled in these caves according to his scans, but that often left his imagination to wander.
“Kilner-saf, do you have your gun ready?” Heni asked.
“Yeah, yeah. All loaded. You don’t have to keep checking on me every few moments.”
“Just keeping you frosty, Kilner-saf.”
He snorted. “All right, Kilner-nik.”
Bij suddenly came to the end of his rope, or maybe the formation had gotten it stuck somehow. It was only a short drop; he could still get back up somehow.
He unlatched, cursing as he fell onto the hard ground. Heni spoke again over the comms, “Kilner-Saf, status?”
Bij groaned. “All fine. The rope came up short.”
“Do you require assistance, Kilner-Saf?”
“They’re only a few scratches. I’m fine.” He pulled himself up. The torch suddenly started flickering. “Dammit.” Bij hit it a couple of times before it stabilised.
He gazed at his new surroundings. Rock, more rock, and a few shiny rocks. He sighed to himself; the only way was deeper in.
Bij dropped a few more disposables along the way, they should have lasted half the day, made sure he was able to see his way back.
“Kilner-nik,” he spoke into his comms again. He just about made out his garbled daughter’s voice. “Kilner-nik, I think I’m losing connection with you.” Eventually, it was nothing but static. Not the first time it happened, he just hoped Heni wouldn’t break down this time over it.
After a few more turns, Bij stopped in his tracks. His scans showed some sort of alloy bunching up in a large area. This had to have been it.
His light finally exposed to him a colossal structure, entrenched into the wall, shaped sort of like a triangle. The known symbols of the ancients had been engraved onto the sides, yet they were too weathered for him to read. Still, he smiled. After all these years searching, he finally found an Imperial Vault.
Bij tossed a couple more disposable lights forward, checking if there was a trap or such around here. Nothing. Part of him felt disappointed.
He stepped forward. A device, an old console maybe, had been built aside the structure. Something must have sensed him as lined lights shone in yellow across the cavern. A camouflage design from the Ancients, seeming as if their technology blended into the natural plane.
The console suddenly moved, each bit remoulding like glittered clay, extending itself for Bij. He felt something in him try to drag him back. As if it knew the consequences of venturing further in.
Of course, he wasn’t going to let this search have been for nothing. He pushed onward, hesitating at first before his hand dug into the console. A cold feeling came over him as it enveloped around his arm. Not the first time he handled technology like this, but he still remained wary of it.
It soon receded. The ground rumbled as the structure split, opening up for him. The lights inside spread outwards as if they were the gateway to the Five Heavens. He scrambled through his things for the camera, the excitement causing him to take a rushed photo.
Bij felt a bliss he hadn’t felt since his daughter was born. So many new possibilities laid ahead of him, all he needed to do was head forward.
----------------------------------------
Allen refreshed the page again. “Yeah, it’s still not coming through.”
Stan Becker, one of the BSC directors, clicked his mouse a few more times on his end. “Try now.”
Once more, Allen refreshed his emails. “I’m getting nothing. No wait, hang on…”
“You have it?”
“Hot singles in y—” He paused. “No, just spam.”
“How are you getting spam but not normal emails?”
“Ran into some Yntal pirates yesterday, screwed with our communications. We’re getting some things through, but our engineers are having a hard time sorting the rest out.”
“How does that work?” Becker asked before sipping his tea.
“I don’t know, I’m not an engineer am I?”
“You’re a captain of a starship.”
“And all I do is paperwork, Stan.” Allen refreshed again. “Most of it is just sorting spreadsheets on my computer. I’m not exactly dashing like Captain Kirk or anything.”
“I wouldn’t call Keith dashing.”
“What? No, not Keith Kirk, Captain Kirk. From that old show, you know?”
“I haven’t a clue what you’re on about, Alan.”
“Leave it,” he sighed. “Try tomorrow or something, we should have our comms sorted by then.”
“I’ll try to remember,” Becker said. “Things been fine the last few weeks?”
“Most of it was spent leaving UN space. We’re probably…” He checked the corner of his computer. “Ninety-eight, nearly a hundred light-years into uncharted territory. How’s things back home?”
“We haven’t had to lay off anyone this week. Thank God for that.” Becker leaned back on his chair, eyeing some people rush by his office windows. “You see what happened with the PM?”
“I’ve just been focussing on what’s going on here. Why, what’s happening?”
“Survived the vote of no confidence yesterday. Just by two votes in parliament, can you believe that?”
Allen gave a nod, he wasn’t surprised. “I’ve stopped looking at the news now, to be honest.”
“Apparently, they’re talking about getting Queen Vic to dissolve Parliament.”
The Captain chuckled. “Can’t do that. People will remember that our country has a monarchy and get pissed off about it.”
“It’s either her doing the royal crap or we stage an armed revolt. Not many options to get rid of Pendown.”
“Shove her in a fridge like she does her kids. Teach her a lesson.”
Becker laughed. “Speaking of which, how’s His Highness doing on board?”
“Erm… fine, I guess. I don’t really speak to Louis.”
“Right. The Captain can only hang around the officers.”
He shook his head. “No, I just haven’t had the chance to chat with him yet. I’m not getting any complaints, so he isn’t really worth my time right now.”
“Would recommend it. Get the journalists some attention on us. Christ knows we need it.”
The door opened. Xian barged in saluting. “Captain—”
“Bloody hell, Dan, I have a doorbell!” Allen said.
“Apologies, but we’ve found something of interest. Devon’s coming up.”
Allen felt like having a rant about basic politeness, but his mood quickly changed. “Already?”
“Okay, I’ll leave you lads to it. Call back tomorrow, same time.” Becker hung up quickly after.
----------------------------------------
A time like this was never not exciting for Devon. Any day that hadn’t been spent staring at subspace readings all day or dealing with the logistics of Reha’s killer plants was borderline paradise. He felt a bit giddy in the lift, feeling an optimism that nearly spiralled out of control.
Of course, this was work. As much as he was good friends with Allen, those hierarchical instincts had began to shut his hype down like an Arvan in a football pub. Devon properly mannered himself as the lift went up to the bridge. JADE should have sorted the presentation of his discovery by now.
The doors opened, and he quickly marched onto the bridge. Captain Allen and Xian took their places in the centre.
“What’s the fuss then?” Allen sat down in his chair as a series of graphics detailing the system appeared on the bridge’s viewscreen.
JADE switched the graphics to detail Grendol IV, in particular a rough map of the whole planet, one of the north-western continents a point of interest marked upon it.
Devon spoke, “Captain, the survey probes have brought back peculiar data. We have managed to discover anomalous readings emanating off this planet.”
“How anomalous?” Allen asked, slightly concerned. “We’re not dealing with a reality-bending event this early are we?”
“It’s unlikely, all we have for the moment are subspace frequencies. It’s an ancient frequency, but very similar to those used by the old Solar Empire. I’m assuming dating back to their final era.”
Allen glared at Devon, suddenly sharing his restrained glee. “Two weeks in and we’ve already found our Great Grandad’s shed. Anything special in these signals?”
“Just codes. Of course, the signal is so old, my team have been unable to decipher them.”
“Right, okay. Have the probes detected anything else? Anything producing those frequencies?”
“Scans indicated no surface structures,” JADE said, “The source of the signal goes much further underground.”
“Okay, Grandad’s cellar? Never mind.” Allen thought for a moment. “Any theories on what we would be dealing with?”
“Well, it could be many things: a military base, a refuge, we really don’t know until we check it out.”
Everything just had to be vague, Allen thought. “Talk to me about the planet itself, anything we should know to make our lives less difficult?”
“Continental world.” JADE detailed. “Standard nitrous-oxygen atmosphere, with the gravity measured at only 0.95-0.97G. The region of interest is an alpine climate - mountains and forests cover the entire area but temperatures remain less than twenty degrees celsius.”
“Gives the crew less of a headache,” Xian commented. “Best our people deal with a place more like home.”
“Right, set up a camp down there,” Allen said. “Two shuttles, Devon’ll be leading. I trust him to pick out the away teams. The rest of you, standard protocol.”
The bridge collectively gave their ‘Ayes’ and ‘Yes sirs’ before getting back to work.
----------------------------------------
From the large door to the hangar bay, Kumar strolled in. Well, more dragged herself. The armoured suit they forced her to put on was like wearing an active washing machine. Sometimes it bit, sometimes it rubbed to hard, other times it wouldn’t move at all. ‘Adaptable’ was how it was described to her back in the armoury. Maybe she could’ve sued for misleading advertising.
There were a dozen or so in her away team outside the Scilly shuttle. Security members in heavy gear, one was in some sort of bulky armour. A couple science crew members she knew were present; Reha Onshe, Julian O’Leary. Devon she was told was coming soon.
She suddenly fell to the floor. One of the security, masked behind a helmet, rushed over.
“You okay?” He said in a posh voice, crouching down.
“I’m on the floor,” Kumar said, managing to roll onto her back. “I’ve definitely got a dodgy suit.”
“Yeah, I’m not a fan of these models either. It’ll take time for it to get used to you.” He offered a hand.
Kumar suddenly realised. “Robert?”
“Was it not obvious?” Louis’ hand was taken, he pulled her up, helping her balance.
“I haven’t seen you in ages,” she said, just about able to stand on her feet again.
“Yeah, Rune has had us all breathing drills. I’ve been fighting on the Yntal homeworld for the past week in the simulator. Week before was the ruins of Seoul for some reason.”
“Are you feeling okay?”
“I really need to lie down, but hey ho.”
Kumar was sat down on a crate as the rest of her team finished up loading the equipment onto the Scilly.
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Louis sat beside her, plugging a tablet into the side of her suit. “I’m just going to sort through your specs, make sure nothing’s malfunctioned or anything.”
She nodded. “Okay.”
A bit of silence ensued before Louis asked, “So, first away mission. How are you feeling?”
“Erm…” Again, silence. She had a naff kit and made Stevie Wonder seem like a professional marksman. So, Kumar just said, “Fine. I’m excited as hell for it.”
Unless you were utterly tone-deaf, nobody believed her. Of course, Louis wouldn’t have been different.
“It’s okay to be nervous on your first ground assignment. Everyone here—” He pointed to the team, who had now been religiously stockpiling on automatic weapons, “—Everyone’s had it. Space is scary, there’s no denying that.”
“You’ll be fine, Kumar,” Onshe said, leaning against the shuttle. “I’m serious, most of the time you’re walking around doing research. Anything dangerous is left to his highness over here to deal with. Nothing will go wrong.”
“But what if it does all goes wrong?”
“It won’t. Trust me. Five years in this company I’ve worked, the amount of people that actually die on these things are really slim.”
Louis placed the tablet down. “How does the suit feel now?”
“I didn’t f—” Something clicked in Kumar’s back. Then another. Then another. Popping like bubble-wrap. “Oh God.”
“You okay?”
“I think it’s giving me a massage.”
He looked back to the tablet. “Right, let me—”
“No, don’t do anything.” Kumar strained as her back continued to click. As if her spine had been going through a slow power wash.
Louis sighed, tapped a few things on the tablet, and Kumar’s mini spa day came to an end. She passed him a disappointed glare.
“Science Officer on deck!” A security crewman, MacLean, loudly stated, standing up and saluting Devon, who had just entered the hangar bay.
Other than one other security member, everyone else just stood and sat like bored mannequins. Onshe decided to diverge from this, having the audacity to give a little wave.
“All prepped and ready folks?” He asked them.
“All set, Devon,” Onshe said.
“Helmets on and saddle up then. Tell the Iona to prepare their leave. This could be on the verge a massive discovery.” He threw his things inside the shuttle. “Come on people!”
Kumar hadn’t seen him this excited before. Something irked her, though. Devon seemed like he was rushing into things. Sure, he had all the experience. But here, he was as impatient as a child opening up a present two weeks before Christmas.
She just hoped Onshe was right.
----------------------------------------
“Kilner-saf,” Heni said on the comms.
Silence.
She tried again. “Kilner-saf, do you read.”
More silence, other than a bit of static.
“Kilner—” She paused with a sigh. “Dad. Talk to me."
The same. It felt like ages since he got cut off, yet Heni never left the comms. Not for food, toilet break, anything.
Everything was telling her to give it a rest, that she had to prepare for the off-chance her father didn’t make it. But this was her father. Some caving incident couldn’t have stopped him, he fared worse. This was likely a minor setback, nothing harrowing.
Heni grabbed her water canteen from the side. Her throat had gone barren after all that talking.
She finished it off, and went back to attempting contact again. Then something beeped.
It was on one of the radar monitors. Two blips appeared, the readings saying they were quickly descending to the surface.
Heni’s heart rate upped. She cursed to herself, pondering how they could’ve been found. As far as she knew, nobody else had been aware of this world. Their tracks were clean.
She grabbed a loaded crossbow from the side, slung a sack of bolts over her back, and headed off. If her father was still alive, someone had to buy him time.
----------------------------------------
“MacLean, you can put your bloody hand down,” Louis told the Leftenant.
“All due respect, Louis, I need permission from a commanding officer,” he said.
“Devon!” Onshe shouted to the cockpit.
The American climbed through the door. “Is this urgent?”
“Braveheart here won’t stop acting like he's at the Queen’s Jubilee,” the Arvan said.
Devon looked at Maclean, who was still saluting. “How long has he been like this?”
“Since we left,” Louis said.
Devon pinched his nose. “Jesus Christ. MacLean, put your damn arm down.”
“Aye, sir.” MacLean finally placed himself at ease.
Turbulence struck the shuttle as it further delved through the atmosphere. Kumar clutched tighter on her seat’s harness. It didn’t help how parts of the suit kept digging into her skin.
Everyone else around her was calm. Some as still as a statue.
The pilot suddenly spoke over the intercom, “Good morning, ladies, gentlemen and anyone in between, this is your Captain speaking. We are currently now seven kilometres from the surface and descending. As you can now see out your windows there are a lot of… trees. Please keep all harnesses tightly fastened, the cabin crew will not be providing any further services. Landing should take place in the next few minutes, please mind yourselves when opening the overhead baggage compartments as belongings may have moved around during the flight. Thank you for flying with Warp2Holidays.”
The alpine forests below revealed themselves as the shuttles broke through the clouds. Miles upon miles of untouched greenery spanned surrounding the spiked hills and mountains just a bit further ahead. It did look a bit like Earth, or maybe the colder areas of Arva. Not exotic by any means, but things like that were a blessing for the away teams. Better here than the nightmares of a gas giant.
The Scilly rumbled more as it began to slow its descent. All the security personnel cocked their rifles. Within the minute, the shuttle landed. Security had been the first to the door, Louis, of course, among them.
“Nothing on the motion detectors for the next hundred metres,” the pilot said over the intercom.
The doors slowly opened. Louis ordered, “MacLean, Ramsey, take point.”
They both said ‘aye’ and made their way out the shuttle, fingers on triggers and ready to probably start a war with native cavemen.
“It’s clear, sir!” MacLean shouted.
“Acknowledged,” Louis said. “Everyone else, secure the perimeter.”
It took a few other security procedures and the landing of the Iona before Devon gave the go to set up camp. They had been free to take of their helmets, the shields in the suits would have dealt with any pathogens.
Rain was all anyone could smell. By all means, it was a nice break from the ship. Not even the simulators could have brought this authentic feel to their senses.
Kumar helped the others bring the crates out of the Scilly. Her suit at this point upgraded from feeling like a washing machine to the comfort of a clothes rack.
A few temporary structures had been set up. With a lab, living spaces, armoury, a garage; basically a small town had been set up within the hour. Just get some indoor plumbing and a bit of wi-fi in, and this could have been a fully-fledged colony.
The security set up motion detectors and automated turrets on the outskirts. Kumar did ask Devon about it, and he told her, “New world, new threats. We’ve dealt with more than enough alien bullshit to validate these things.”
----------------------------------------
“You guys ever read Lord of the Rings?” Kendrick asked, himself working underneath the large frame of the survey car.
Monso finished equipping the armour on his ground kit. “You can read?”
“Not funny,” he said. “You didn’t answer the question.”
The Farahali rolled his eyes, before looking over at the other engineers dealing with the personnel carrier. “I’ve read the first book, then the films. Why?”
“So, apparently, when the author, Tolkien, was writing it, he got a lot of his inspiration from the First World War.”
“Okay? That’s not new knowledge, William.”
“What I’m getting at is how the hell did that play as inspiration?” He rolled back out into the light, his face and hands covered in grime with a bit on his prosthetic eye. “Like you look at all your friends dying around you from mustard gas or whatever, and all of a sudden, you’re thinking ‘Yes, Frodo Baggins’.”
“There was a lot more to it, you know. Old Norse, mythology—”
“Right, I get that, but how did World War One influence him in particular? Like, was… who’s someone from World War One? Christopher Nolan. Did he look at him and think, ‘Sauron’.”
“Nolan was a film director. And Mordor and No Man’s Land were pretty similar.”
“No, I’m pretty sure Mordor was mainly based off of Birmingham. Could’ve stayed home during the war and there wouldn’t’ve been a difference,” Kendrick laughed.
“Look, if you want to do standup, fine, but please come up with better material,” Monso groaned. “I’ve seen Androids come up with better comedy. No offence, Ben.”
“Some taken,” Ben said, clanking another crate of equipment from the Iona onto the vehicle.
Kendrick opened a box of wet wipes from the side. “Well, you’ve never been one for humour, mate.”
“Oh, I’m one for humour. Just not the rubbish you churn out.”
“Name five comedians.”
Monso stuttered for a bit. “Freddy Gantwe, Beatrice Pendown—”
Kendrick tossed a dirtied wipe to the side and interrupted. “No, the PM doesn’t count.”
“She appeared on Roundup.”
“That was a one off event in the nineties. Doesn’t count."
“She was pretty funny.”
“She was like a deranged hyena wearing Human skin.”
“Fine.” Monso paused for a bit. “Mr Bean—"
“Fictional character,” Kendrick sang.
“I mean his actor.” He stuttered trying to remember the name, constantly tapping the side of the shuttle. “Rowan Allison?”
“Atkinson. He doesn’t count, he’s a comedy actor.”
“He was one,” Ben clarified. “Been nearly three hundred years since he died.”
“Exactly,” Kendrick said. “Stick to the land of the living, Jamie.”
“Ensign Monso!” Leftenant Reha Onshe shouted from the distance. “Prepare the car!”
Monso stuck his thumb up to her, then asked his colleagues, “Right, you sorted all here then?”
“Mhm. Finally abandoning us, are ya?” Kendrick finally pulled himself up.
“Absolutely.” He climbed into the driver’s seat, switching the engine on.
----------------------------------------
Kumar was placed on the first expedition into the wild, because of course she was. She expected to do the mundane stuff back in base-camp, but no.
At least she was with a few other people in the back of the personnel carrier: some security ensigns, engineers, even Reha herself.
Aside from the slits in the windows, she couldn't properly see outside. The helmet that popped out of her suit didn’t help things either, the heads-up-display continued to find ways to adapt to her preferences and that just about blocked everything.
She stared down at the stun gun in her hands. After last week’s incident with Finch, there was a chance she would be responsible for a mass shooting on the Berners-Lee. In combat, it might as well have been useless, especially if they were to encounter some giant insect or something like that.
“Anyone got any plans for after this?” Reha asked.
“Pub, ma’am,” one security ensign said.
“Pub,” an engineer repeated.
“Kumar?” The Arvan Leftenant turned to her.
The contractor was able to give off a shrug in her suit. “Might video call my parents, haven’t spoken to them in a while.”
“Listen to me, talk to your friends, family a bit more frequently. Just make sure they don’t think you’re dead.”
“I would, but they just drive me crazy.”
“Everyone’s parents drives them crazy, Amy. My parents? They can’t get over the fact I’ve stayed in Britain after all these years.”
“I thought you were from Chester, Reha,” Kumar said, leaning on her lap.
“No, I’ve got the accent, but I grew up in Jes’eva on Arva, moved to Newchester, then old Chester on Earth.”
‘What’s stopped you from going back to Arva?”
“Jes’eva is like… one of the Birminghams of my planet, no offence.”
“Why is everyone comparing their home to mine? First Devon, now you!”
“Oh God, did he really compare LA to Birmingham?” Reha scoffed. “No, LA is more like… I want to say London but that’s too generic, nobody likes London, could compare it with anything.”
“I’m from London!” Said the driver, audibly ticked off.
“Sorry to hear that, Julie. Where was I? Right… Skegness. That’s the UK’s Los Angeles.”
The vehicle stopped, and so did the conversation. Reha stood up, she asked the driver what was going on.
There was a tap on the windows. Then another. Then another. Then another. Then it just got concerningly annoying.
“Are we under attack?” The security ensign asked, rightly confused.
“The front car’s moving the turret,” the driver said.
“THIS IS AVERY DEVON OF THE HMSS BERNERS-LEE,” the front car’s speaker boomed. “WE DO NOT POSSESS ANY HOSTILE INT—”
Someone interrupted, Kumar thought it was Louis’ voice. “Erm, sir, do they even speak English?”
Devon was speaking on the comms now, he cleared his throat. “All security personnel, take point.”
Reha groaned. “Over a decade stuck with us, still does things like this.”
The security ensigns carefully made their way outside. Kumar looked through the window as half a dozen personnel, armed with rifles, took cover behind the vehicles.
“The dickhead’s using arrows!” Louis observed, stepping out of the car. He switched his rifle to fire stun rounds, suppressing any urge to go overboard.
“One hostile!” An Android, Cyril, stated loudly. “Twenty metres, up on that rising! Pinging it to your HUDs!”
Louis moved forward. “Lay down stun rounds, Cyril and MacLean with me. Try to take them alive.”
“Aye, sir!” MacLean shouted.
----------------------------------------
This was a mistake, this whole ambush was a complete mistake. The arrows did next to nothing, and she had three of the bastards moving towards her.
Energy crackled around Heni. She tried her best to remain behind the cover. Another few arrows were loaded into her crossbow, she fired them without aiming.
The shouting got closer, one of the funny-sounding ones requested to flash her. She didn’t know what that meant but it didn’t sound good. She peeked over, they bickered behind cover of the trees.
The Android of the trio was passed something round. Heni cursed to herself, it was a grenade. If the stories were true, then in the hands of something synthetic, she had to run.
Just as she was about to get up, the grenade landed not even a few paces from her. She cursed.
Heni saw white, her ears rang like the scrapes of machinery. She didn’t think, she couldn’t think. The only thing she was able to comprehend were the hard grass and soil pressing against her cheek.
Something faded into view, the metal of her crossbow, shining like a cheap salvation. Heni extended her arm, her hands tried to reach for it.
“Hey! Don’t you dare!” Something else metal popped into her sight, the Android. Standing tall with an amber eye holding her in place.
The synthetic marched closer to her, Heni’s heart pounded once she managed to understand what was happening. Her bit of salvation was kicked away, picked up by one of the other soldiers.
“MacLean, restrain her,” the one holding her crossbow ordered.
The cold touch of handcuffs tightened around her wrists. Heni was forced to her feet. She was done. She failed her Dad.
They took her near the vehicles. Heni tried her best to squirm out, but even if she could, there would have been six guns focussed on her.
A million scenarios played through her head, just looking at all the equipment here was enough to imagine a good amount of torture methods they would’ve put her through.
“We’ve been shooting at a Human teenager?” One said.
More than ten exited or peered out their vehicles, eyes trained on her like hungry predators. Most of them looked like her, some had beaks and feathers, some were machines.
The one holding her crossbow said, “She had this on her. Design doesn’t seem primitive, more like a bit of sporting equipment.
A bald, bearded one moved closer to her. “Pale, can you get your scanner out?”
A scanner. Great, find all the weak points. A woman, pink skin, moved towards her. She was puzzled by her, staring like a curious animal.
Pale looked down to her device. “Physiology makes her Human, she isn’t Terran, though. Related to us like the Farahali. Only six-percent DNA difference from Homo Sapiens. Her muscles are straining, doesn’t seem to be native to this planet’s gravity. I could find out more with a blood test—”
The next moment, the woman found Heni’s spit in her eye.
“I am hoping to heck that means ‘hello’ in your culture,” the woman said to her.
“Didn’t think there’d be more Humans out here,” another crew member said. “Thought we’d found them all.”
“The Solar Empire stretched most of the Orion Arm, we were bound to find more of our kind sooner or later,” the bald one remarked. He moved closer to her, he smiled, speaking in a low voice. “I know you likely wouldn’t know what I’m saying. But we’re not going to hurt you, these people listen to me. You’re fine.”
Heni, regretfully, decided to speak, “I’m not telling you anything.”
The bald man was still smiling. However, his eyes widened. “Right… you speak English. Why does she speak English?”
She shouldn’t have uttered a word. But Heni was confused, why were they surprised? What in the heavens did that mean for her?
“Well, erm… since you— you clearly know what I’m saying. I think we got off on the wrong foot. Can we offer you a drink? Food?”
“I wouldn’t suggest that, Devon,” Pale said. “I don’t want to test a Mars bar on her digestive system. It could harm her.”
“MacLean, set her down, remove the restraints.”
‘Is that wise, sir?”
“I trust her. She’s harmless enough.”
Heni felt the air flow through her wrists as she sat down on a crate. Devon crouched next to her. “So, let’s start again. I’m Avery Devon, I’m the Science Officer of the HMSS Berners-Lee. We’re explorers, come from a planet called Earth. How about you? I’m assuming you’re not from Grendol IV?”
Heni paused. Her first comment caused enough commotion. She was expecting such friendliness from these people. It had to have been a trick, something to let out sensitive information.
She thought about playing along nicely. She really did.
“You’re not getting a single thing out of me, you hairless bastard.”
Of all the outcomes, why did it have to come to this? Why did she have to scowl at everything?
“I’m going to ignore those last three words, and assume you’re under a lot of stress. Getting stunned does not do nice things to people. So, here’s what’s going to happen, I’ll let you decompress, but right now, you’re coming with us. If we find any of your people, if they aren’t as… poorly mannered, then you’ll be let off. Unless you want to talk now, get comfortable, makes our lives easier, makes your life easier. Is that okay?”
Heni didn’t say anything. She was led into the back of the big vehicle, sitting down next to a brown woman. One of the men that apprehended her sat down with a couple other soldiers.
“Is she safe?” The brown woman asked. She had a gun in her hand, the way it was held, little finger on the trigger, irked Heni. She felt a bit safer once the woman scooted up away from her.
“According to Devon, she’s fine. Needs to ‘settle in’ before answering any questions.” The man said.
“Settle in?” The doors closed as more people climbed on board.
There was a bird woman in the corner, she spoke, “Make her comfortable, Amy.”
“So,” the man said, “How have you been back here? One of the first…” He looked at Heni before correcting himself. “Second people on this new planet.”
“I’ve been sitting on my bum for the past half an hour. Is it bad I’m not more… impressed? Like I see it a lot in the adverts or on social media—”
“You said it yourself, you’ve been stuck in this thing for much of it. Besides, adverts, social media, they always lie.”
“Louis’ right,” the bird woman said. “Like you see something about going on holiday to Malaga or Kuala Lumpur or New Philadelphia, and when you get there, your expectations hyped it up too much and you’re completely disappointed. You got the naked eye seeing everything without photoshop. The drinks look boring, the food looks dry.”
Heni looked up at the people. Was this a torture method? She had heard of something like this, she would get herself comfortable, and that wall she set up would come crumbling down. And then her Dad was done for.
A couple of the other soldiers glared at her, Heni reeled in and made eye contact with the floor. The floor did not judge her.
“How far are we from the signal?” The brown woman asked.
“Ten minutes,” the driver stated.
“So,” the man began, “Any theories on what it could be? Crystal skull? Ark of the Covenant?”
“I don’t know,” the woman said. “If Devon couldn’t guess then I can’t guess. I’m just here as extra staff.”
They were focussed on the site. They were targeting the vault. She had to stall them, long enough for her father to get out.
She gazed toward the handgun in the brown woman’s lap. As they continued to bicker about holidays, Heni darted towards it. The grip in the woman’s hands was fragile, it was like stealing from a baby.
Heni held the handgun correctly. Once more, she had a defence.
About five barrels were trained onto her nose.
“Perfectly harmless,” the man said.