Tales From Out of This World

2.Vorlok

  The three astronauts looked out into the dark void of space whilst standing on the bridge of their small ship. "A purple on black landscape, crew. Space has always been an explorer's venture. And here we are, at the edge of earth's galaxy."
 "Into a new one, Nessie. Whatch'a think it's called?"
 "Syl, you're a scotsman, as angry as they come. Think of one," Isaac Crane, the navigator of 'the United Prawn', said with a cuban cigar in his mouth.
 "The planet?"
 "Yes, the planet, Nessie," Sylvester Mcgean guffed as they stared out the rectangle port at a small ball of blue and lots of sandy-brown. "You reckon, Crane, that there's sand on that ball?" Syl was the technician to the ship, leaving Nessie as the captain. He also asked a very dumb question that he evidently knew the answer to and wanted to annoy the navigator by. The United Prawn was a small task-force ship delivered by the government's space program, Nasa. In this case they had been sent on a mission of mystery. 
 "Remember Mcgean and Crane, we're here for the unknown spacecraft that has been circling earth's orbit for a month."
 "Captain, it upped away."
 "I know, Crane, and it led us here." She tapped a few buttons on an analog stick.   "Left a trail of engine smoke and warp particles. It was in a hurry, and judging from the size of it...", they eyed the visual on the port, "...it's containing something as small as one human."
 "Could be space pirate loot," Syl suggested as he licked his lips. 
 "You wish. Wipe that look off your face, Syl and Crane. It's time we stop meandering at the unnamed planet and go down there."
 "Indeed, captain. The readings say it crash-landed to the NorthEast." 
 "That's where we'll go then. First, we have to make sure the atmosphere is breathable." Captain Nessie pressed a control that led up into a circular meter. The meter showed a red line on one end to a green line on the other. In concession to this, poisonous, to a 'safe to breath' label. 
 There was also a rectangular screen that read out the air's concentrates. "Humidity is higher than earth's, alien species, if any, are warm-blooded, and the planet below is appropriate for homo sapien."
 The readout quit its monotony and the Prawners were led out the bridge, a small four seater with a long, round control panel, by the superior of the ship. This was where most of the weaponry control was, but there was more in the gunner seat. But that was in the only corridor and down a ladder into a bubble at the bottom of the Prawn. The three astronauts went down the corridor to a slider that Nessie opened with a hand-scanner to the right. The technician and navigator did likewise. The sliding door had the words: transporter, over it. And when it slid open, no one was left to read that word. The transporter room was again small and had little room for movement. There were racks on the right-hand wall that held tools and safety measures for anything the crew would face on the transported surface.
  But in this case the most important was the astronautical suit.   "Don't know if it's breathable for humans down there. Wouldn't want to risk it."
 "Nah I wouldn't either."
 "You would though, wouldn't you Syl?"
 "If yeh gave me a thousand credits, maybe, Crane."
 "Remind me to give you a thousand credits then." Nessie was the first to finish dressing herself in a suit. Once they were all done they each entered a capsule from a selection of five. Each capsule had a panel to the top side of a wall that had a switch for navigation sync with the destination locator. The computer had the locater of course. The other switch was the transport switch. "Syl, you first. Crane, you're next." The captain watched from her transport capsule as they each fizzled to their destination below. And when she herself was to press the switch, she was alerted of danger. 
 "Warning! Warning! Ship has been hit! Ship has been hit!" A klaxon rang that was accompanied by a basking red light. 
 She reached the communicator at the transport's exit. "Track the trajectory and link bridge visuals!" A built-in projector was activated from a pop out next to the communicator. And what she saw had not been there before. There was a star ship directly behind the Prawn. "Where did you come from? Doesn't look Terran. System, give me communication with the star ship!"
 "As you wish." 
 Another visual replaced the picture of the United Prawn. There on the screen was a humanoid with a line of spikes down his throat, a hood that covered his head, and a mouth of teeth that the human could see were deadly sharp. "Why are you attacking me?" The hooded inhuman spoke gibberish and when the comm translator had worked its wonder, conversation could be commenced. 
 "You hover around our world, Vorlok. We have also sensed that you have teleported two of your kind down below. Please retrieve them and leave." The hooded inhuman's ship had halted fire. 
 "I can't do that. We are on a mission. A ship has crossed the barrier of our orbit and now it has crashed on your home. We look for it. We'll go down, retrieve it, then we'll get out of your hair."
 "Hair? Is-s that an offense, Terran woman?" The Vorlokian lifted his hood from his scalp. It had no hair but instead had more spikes running down the back of his head. The captain could see now that this alien was scaled and that the scales had barely shown on screen. It was even less human than she'd thought. It had the resemblance to what she knew was an Iguana.
 "I am not here to offend. I come in peace from the United government of earth. Can we make a deal of some kind?"
 "A deal to come to our world? How can I trust that a non-Vorlokian spacecraft entered the atmosphere?"
 "Check your satellite scanner." The crew of the Prawn had taken the detail in mind that their destination of inspection had the technology to build satellites. 
 The iguana did so. "It shows that indeed there was-s a crashing ship. It is unfamiliar to the Vorlokian government."
 "So let me teleport then." 
 "We will not allow that. Your ship will be incapacitated for crossing Vorlok's border."
 "The United government won't allow that Vorlokian… What is your standing in your government?"
 "I am border patrol Captain Teyoq."
 "Then let's make a truce, Tai-Ock. Let me not bother you with getting my crewmates from the surface. Let it be that you'll incapacitate this beast, with what exactly?"
 "An electric field. How do I know you'll keep your word and just retrieve your crew?"
 "If I don't keep my word...Then, you get your way. Send me to your equivalent of court."
 "Court, and then punishment if your words are proven to be lies. It is-s final, Terran. As soon as you enter your transportation device, I'll incapacitate your vessel. Starting now!" The visual blipped away and Nessie huffed.
 "Reptile didn't think that perhaps I was close enough to the transport for that not to be a concern."
 "The audio isn't off, human!" Tryoq spoke from out of nowhere. "Time has other meanings to us-s on our planet. You have been warned!" As the audio faded there was a surge of energy that darkened the corridor outside of the transport room. She could see the darkness as the door slid open and then finally closed.
 With quick movement to a capsule she furiously pressed at the transmission switch. "Work! Why isn't it working?"
 "Your ship is becoming inert, that's why. The system it relies on is-s freezing. The transportation-transportation may malfunction." 
 The audio ceased again to exist as Nessie's button-mashing caused the transportation to flux and groan. "That ain't a good sound." That was the last thing she could utter as the capsule vibrated and glowed brightly.