Earthian

Odyssey

There are five of us.

We’re standing on a paved circle while some kind of mist peels off our suits and crawls across the ground. The sky above is red, filled with lumpy pink clouds shaped like balloon animals.

This is Poloff Prime, an alien world somewhere in our galaxy. I’m told it’s the capital of the Star League, but to me, it’s the last place Michael Oxbow was seen.

Cam Trinh marches across the circle and punches me in the face, dropping me right on my ass. As I tumble backwards, she follows after me intent on continuing the beating, but Alejandra gets hold of her first.

Adia’s standing over me now, too. “Where’s Michael?” she asks calmly.

Cam surges against Alejandra’s grip but can’t break free.

I can hear the strain in Alejandra’s voice when she asks, “What did Jace do?”

“Tell them,” Cam growls at me. She’s staring right through me, and I don’t think she’d hesitate to end me right now. Luckily, the vegaray remains on her hip.

“I don’t know,” I say. I’m shaken. Dizzy. So lost. “He was there, and then…”

“Tell them!”

“Some kind of lightning struck him. I couldn’t do anything.”

We’re all silent. The air is dead, until I hear a soft breeze howling through rock canyons.

Adia says, “Jace didn’t do anything,” and I breathe a sigh of relief.  “He couldn’t sabotage a phone, let alone an alien drive.” Ouch.

Cam breaks free and storms away, howling like a caged wolf, while Victor chases after her. “Cam? Come back. What did you see?”

I’m stunned. I can’t believe this is happening. Any of it. I must be inside another instance, and I just haven’t found the goal post yet. We’ll beat this in a few minutes and find Michael waiting outside with a mischievous grin.

It has to be a game…

I look up from the ground, and notice five of the baby-like plasmeroids hovering in the air around us. They’re a slightly different design than the ones on Valiant Base, like sedans from different manufacturers. These are boxier and more mechanical, like something we might build back on Earth.

For the first time since this all began, the way they’re staring at me feels uncomfortable. It’s like I’m on an operating table while they just float there, watching me be taken apart.

Then I see a figure walking toward us, a black outline against the dark red, and I slowly climb to my feet. It looks… kind of like a human.

There are floodlamps on posts all around us, shining light the color of a faded blue tuxedo. When the figure crosses under them, I can finally see that it’s an ape-like creature walking upright the same awkward way chimpanzees do. It’s wearing a clear mask over its mouth and nose, connected by hoses to a pack on its back, and… nothing else. Its fur is blond around the chest, speckled brown and grey everywhere else, and it looks exhausted head to toe.

It squinches the big bags under its eyes, looks at each of us carefully and scratches its head. Then, in a rather male voice, he says, “There are only five of you? I watched six leave. Owijer assured me all six would be here.” Then he taps his wrist and starts mumbling to someone on the other end of the line.

I look to the others and see confusion, anger, despair. They look how I feel.

“Mister… umm… Mister,” I say. “Michael Oxbow didn’t… he didn’t arrive.”