THE RELIANT: DARK HORIZONS

THE ZOMBIE PLANET

The crew of The Reliant were to go on a first contact mission to the planet of Parlax. Not much was known about Parlax except that the planet was nearly annihilated by a brutal civil war decades earlier. However, there were indications the planet had become a virtual paradise since then. But no outsiders had been allowed to visit the planet in years to confirm what in fact had happened since their civil war. Admiral Renjay had ordered Captain Yager and his crew to go to the planet and meet with planet president Branvid Dostev who had contacted the Alliance government about the possibility of joining the Alliance. John wasn't looking forward to this mission as he usually detested first contact missions since you didn't know what you were going to run into on these missions. But orders were orders.

After they reached the planet, John and his first officer Lisa transported down to the planet. The first thing John noticed was that nobody was there to greet them, which irritated him to no end.

"So they sent no one here to meet us," John remarked, shaking his head in frustration. "Great."

"Maybe someone will be along to meet with us shortly," said Lisa, sensing John's frustration.

"Well, I know I'm not going to stand around here and wait like some buffoon." He began to look around until he saw somebody. "Let's go ask that woman over there where the president's office is."

Lisa looked over to see this woman walking across the street from where they were standing. She was looking down at what appeared to be some sort of pad or console. There also seemed to be some type of wire that was sticking out of her head and connected to the console. John and Lisa walked over to where she was. She didn't seem to notice them as she kept staring down intently at the device she was holding.

"Excuse me," John said to her as politely as he could. She didn't answer him as she kept walking and staring at her device. "Excuse me!"

The woman finally looked up at them but said nothing. There was this blank expression on her face as her eyes appeared to be glazed over. If John didn't know any better, he would've thought she had been drugged.

"Could you tell me where the president's office is?" John asked her, still trying to be polite.

The woman remained silent as she stared at John for a brief moment, and then returned to staring at her device as she kept walking away from them. John glared at a bewildered Lisa and said, "Now what was that all about?" Lisa just shook her head as John looked around for someone else to ask. He found this man who was walking towards them. He, too, was staring down at the same type of handheld device the other woman was staring into with a wire that was connected from the device to his head.

"Excuse me," John said to the man as he walked up to him, "but could you tell me how to get to the president's office?"

But the man, like the woman, merely ignored John as he kept walking past them while staring at his device with the same intensity as the woman had done with hers. John threw up his hands and glared back at Lisa.

"Seriously," he said frustratingly, "what's wrong with these people?"

But, before Lisa had a chance to answer him, this robotic-sounding voice said behind them, "Captain Yager and Commander Steiner."

Both John and Lisa turned around to see this robot standing next to a hover car. Unlike Roger and the other androids serving in the Alliance, this looked like an actual robot and not human except that he was wearing clothes.

"Yes," John began to say, "I'm Captain Yager and this is Commander Steiner. And who might you be?"

"My designation is number eighty-seven. I am to take you to the president where he is waiting for you."