Tevun-Krus #99 - BDO

The Artifact - A Short Story by @Wuckster

The Artifact

By Wuckster

Klyzon was ejected violently from the cockpit when his ship crash landed on the grassy lawn. He found himself airborne for a solid thirteen seconds before his momentum was finally halted by an impressive specimen of shrubbery.

After getting himself untangled and back on his feet he had the computer in his suit run an assessment for any bodily damage. The report came back that he had sustained a few minor scrapes and bruises, but was otherwise functioning normally.

The whole process of making landfall had gone somewhat less than ideally, but Klyzon had been able to confirm he had found the right place. Whatever the mysterious force was that had destroyed his home world of Cirellion was now here on this remote uncharted backwater of a planet. The energy signatures were an exact match. He had no idea what it could possibly be, but he knew it was somewhere close to his current location as the ship's sensors had been able to ascertain that much before the crash. He would have been able to pinpoint the exact spot if that small, flying, feathered creature hadn't suddenly gotten sucked into his engine's intake and caused everything to go awry. There were less powerful backup sensors in his suit, which could eventually lead him where he wanted to go, but the process would take a bit longer.

He had been off-world on the asteroid mines when the disaster had struck Cirellion. Whatever had happened must have been quick and with little to no warning. He hadn't received any distress signals or gotten any breaking updates on his newsfeed. He'd simply returned home to find a huge pile of floating rocks where his planet used to be.

There had been little time to grieve before his ship's sensors alerted him of the energy trail that led from the center of the destroyed planet off into the vast depths of the universe beyond. Not knowing what else to do, he had begun tracking it.

That was many thousands of light years ago and he'd encountered the ruins of fourteen more planets during the course of his pursuit. Now he'd finally arrived at an intact world, but the "thing" was here, whatever it was. He knew there couldn't be much time before this planet shared the fate of the others.

It didn't take long to determine that this world was inhabited by sentient lifeforms. He spotted a slack-jawed yokel walking by. It was some sort of hominid creature dressed in a white tank-top and dirty blue pants. It sported a peach fuzz mustache on its face and a haircut that his suit's computer identified as a "mullet."

"You there!" Klyzon called out as he activated the suit's universal translator. "I need you to take me to someone who's in a position of authority immediately! This is an emergency!"

The local lifeform stopped in its tracks and stared at him with its mouth hanging agape. "Gosh, you sure are dressed funny. You goin' to a costume party or something? Wait, did I go and forget about Halloween again? What day is it anyhow?"

"I have no familiarity with your local methods of keeping track of time and it's of no consequence whatsoever. Look, I'm not trying to be a walking cliche, but I need you to take me to your leader."

"Well, shoot. You a funny ha ha man, ain't you? Is this a tee-vee program or something? Are there some of them cameras hiding behind that tree over there? Hi Ma!" The local lifeform began waving its hand at a nearby spruce.

Klyzon let out a sigh as he pulled out his phaser and put it on a light stun setting. He gave the local lifeform a short sharp shock just to get its attention.

"Ow! What'd you go and do that for, Mister?"

"I need you to listen to me," Klyzon said. "The fate of the world depends upon you putting me in touch with whoever's in charge here. Do you have a master?"