Lance Alone

Part 6 (Lance)

After his minor annoyance of a detour, Lance at last arrived on the surface of Alatoch, close to one of the transportation stations. When he first came to this planet, he marveled at its size, the different races and people all rushing around him. "Wow, Coran!" He gasped, "This is like a space train station!"

"Everyone, stay close. We don't want this to be another space mall fiasco!" he advised them, although Pidge was already starting to drift off from the group (having noticed a very sophisticated robot converting currencies to GAC at a booth).

The hustle and bustle reminded Lance of Times Square--but now it just seemed crowded and loud. He pushed his way through a queue until he reached the front. A very apathetic oonaloo sat at the ticket counter, sorting through the cash register.

"I'd like to go to Earth, please," Lance asked.

"Never heard of it," the Oonaloo said, "Listen, kid, we only service planets that exist."

"It does! It's like, the best planet ever!" Lance insisted.

"Oh really? What system is it in?"

"Uh... the Milky Way?"

"Never heard of it. Move along, kid," the line surged and pushed him away from the front, as two aliens tried to reach the front of the line. Lance stepped away from the line, feeling dejected. How was he supposed to go home if he didn't even know where it was? Surely someone here had heard of it before. He started to weave through the crowd, looking for a friendly face to ask. One of the shuttles pulled up to the station and people started filing out--all dressed in ratty, torn-up clothes. One of them caught Lance's eye and he froze. How could Pidge have found him so fast? He only left a few hours ago. At least, it looked like Pidge. She was missing her glasses, and dressed funny. Her lookalike was talking insistently to his companion, dressed in a similar ramshackle outfit. Then Lance realized it wasn't Pidge. It was her brother, Matt.

Matt was hardly recognizable as his former self. In the photo Pidge carried around, he was skinny and dorky. But this stranger was strong, with long, uncut hair falling into his eyes. His glasses were gone. How did he see without those big dorky glasses? Lance watched from behind a pillar as Matt conversed with the stranger. Should he jump out and say something? Or would that blow Matt's cover? Surely this new look WAS a cover--you don't go from dorky to handsome that quickly unless it's puberty (he knew this from experience). But he couldn't just let Matt go. Pidge was tearing apart the galaxy looking for him.

When the two of them walked past him, Lance held his breath, biting the inside of his cheek to stop himself from bursting out. He couldn't just stand there. He had to say something.

"Matt!" he at last said, and Matt grabbed a staff out of a bag slung around his shoulder. He swung it around lightning-quick, socking Lance in the stomach before even noticing him. Lance doubled over the blow. "Hey, what was that for?"

Matt grabbed the back of his collar and tossed him against the wall, pinning him behind his arm. "Who are you? What do you want?" he demanded. Lance couldn't reach his bayard, which was safely tucked in his backpack along with his paladin armor.

"The name's Lance, I'm a friend of--can you move your arm? It's... I can't breathe," Matt's arm was crushing his windpipe.

"Maybe if you chose a less wordy way to introduce yourself, you would have had enough breath to explain," Matt only tightened his grip.

"Pidge!" Lance gasped.

"Now you're just saying nonsense words," Matt rolled his eyes, "Do you want me to take you out right here?"

How could Lance forget? Maybe it was the lack of oxygen going towards his brain. "I... I mean... Katie. Your sister!"

That was the secret. Matt's arm dropped, and Lance fell to the ground. A wide range of emotions was flying around his mind, some of which surfaced to his face. Surprise, sadness, fear, until he settled on anger and pointed his staff at Lance. "How do you know Katie? Where is she?"

"She's okay, I promise. We became friends at the Garrison."

"Katie never went to the Garrison."

"She did... after you left," Left, or captured? Maybe it was a tricky subject, and Lance didn't want to give Matt another reason to pulverize him. "She wanted to look for you."

Matt semed to struggle with a thought. Kill Lance, or trust him? At last. he put down his staff. "Follow me. I know somewhere we can talk in private."