Beyond our Earth

17: Apocalyptic

~~~~~~~~~~~~~Sara's POV~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I let out a gasp as the floor shook beneath me. I struggled to stand up and clumsily fell towards where Althazar was standing. I grabbed hold of his arm for stability as we moved out into the hallway. 

There was a high pitched hum that resonated deep inside my ears. As the residual aftershock from the landing rippled through the hall, vibrating the floor and making the lights flicker.

"That was weird," I muttered.

He gave me a shy smile and continued walking slowly.

The light that emitted from the walls gradually dimmed until the inside of the hall was a dark shadowy grey.

 My eyes locked with his in a moment of wonder. I knew something was up, if even he hadn't seen this happen before.

"Their system's shutting down," he whispered, "It knows something is wrong but it doesn't know how to fix it."

"Wrong? What's wrong Althazar, what did you do?" I begged for an answer.

"It's okay, lovely." He hushed, smiling with delight.

He started walking quickly down the hall.

We went through a series of corridors then entered into a small room full of electronics. Wires and panels lined the walls, lighting up with moving dots as current went through them.

"Run full diagnostics on the autochlondry. Power up the fullgien and have it up and running on high. I want to know what happened to these driods. If they can't be fixed we'll have to make a trip to the nearest mechanization center." The alien's voice hissed as she walked towards us.

It was the tall blue woman who had been talking to Althazar earlier. She was the one who was in charge of this whole thing.

Her eyes caught sight of him and she narrowed her gaze, stopping in front of us.

"Something wrong?" Althazar questioned smugly.

She stared into his eyes for more than a moment, then quickly glanced at me.

She let out a breath in a moment of defeat.

"Bring back one. Just one of them." She ordered.

He smiled. "Gladly," he murmured.

She walked past us and exited the room.

"What just...?" I started.

"Time for our adventure love. They need us. This ships flaws go beyond the physical. Ready to find our next specimen?" He asked, joy filling his eyes.

We scrambled through the hallways to a large garage-like area, with grey cement floors and about ten different vehicles. Each one, smooth and sleek, metallic, futuristic looking.

Robotic arms on wheels raced around touching things up and doing work. sparks flew up here and there. Althazar pressed a button, opening the glass roof of one of the small pods. He lifted me into it with one arm and jumped in next to me from the other side.

The roof started to come down over us. The dash board lit up and the dials began to move. It's engine roared as Althzar started it.

The wall we were facing lifted up, opening to a misty brown smog. It was the atmosphere of the planet. Or was it the apocalypse.

"We're not early for this one are we?" I mused out loud.

The vessel began to move smoothly, propelling us out of the ship and into the air outside. The alien planet was full of ashy clouds.

"It appears not," He answered.

We dipped in the air. My stomach lifted and I felt like I was in free fall for a moment.

Althazar worked the plane with a joystick. We zoomed through the sky, trying to avoid cloudy areas on our way to the surface. We came to a hover just above the ground and he slowly lowered us to the surface.

"How come our ship never lands that smoothly?" I joked.

He pressed a button and opened the lid. As it came up the seal broke and the air from outside came rushing in.

 It smelled like- I don't even know how to describe it. It smelled like a musty basement mixed with chemicals. Just a hint of chemicals.

Althazar coughed, standing up and hopping out of the craft. I got out too. He came around to my side and grabbed my hand.

There were no creatures in sight. I expected there to be chaos, aliens running around and panicking. It was just desolate. Maybe they were already starting to die off.

The top of our pod closed again. Althazar led me cautiously away from the ship, into the mist and the dark swirling unknown.