“Oh! Hey everyone! Hows it going?” Yuki says, opening the door to her lab. “Long time, no see. Hope you all have been doing well over the past few months. The assistant and I have been hard at work on our studies here. A lot of excitement going around today.”
“I haven’t had a full night of sleep for weeks,” the assistant complains in the background.
“Oh, hush, you love it and you know it,” Yuki counters. “You’ll get some sleep once this next excursion is over and done with.”
“Yay,” the assistant says, hardly enthused. “Then more weeks of no sleep.”
“You knew what you were signing up for when you started.”
“That is a damn lie and you know it!”
“Let’s not focus on the little details and let’s get ready for our trip. We can celebrate right after.”
“No celebration only sleep.”
Yuki sighs. “What’s a couple more hours of being awake when you’ve been up for eighteen already?”
“Two more hours being awake after being fueled on nothing but caffeine sounds about as stupid as putting a screen door on a submarine.”
Yuki waves this off. “Hey, there a lot worse things you can build a submarine with. But that’s not important, so let’s go! Tonight’s tale is a continuation of Hawkwind and Starbrook. If you’re going in confused with this one, why not check out the full rundown by buying the e-book from our store?”
***
The alarm rings precisely at ten o’clock Sunday morning, a good four hours earlier than Chris Starbrook prefers after the chaos of the previous two days. He doesn’t want to go to work and seriously considers calling in. The idea of hordes of screaming kids and hysterical parents, even for a mid-shift, makes his ears ring and his head hurt. He exhales deeply and opens his eyes, deciding to prep for work and get that part of the day over and done with.
In the kitchen, Mitchell and Barbara Starbrook are currently having a mild crisis.
“Mornin’ Mom, Dad,” he manages to get through a yawn. “What’s wrong?”
“Morning. You haven’t seen Luna, have you?” his mom asks.
“She’s not in my room,” Chris answers. She absolutely is. Stacia is currently having a quick nap under a pile of his blankets in his bed. She kept herself glued to her ship’s radio all night after no immediate retaliatory efforts were made against them for shooting down a police cruiser.
Chris does his part and plays the role of a concerned owner. But he remains optimistic for them and ensures that he’s seen her hanging around the woods since coming home from school on Friday.
“Must’ve got the hunting bug,” his dad suggests. “Better late than never, right?”
“Maybe then she could actually catch some mice this winter,” his mother adds, voice full of doubt.
“I’ll leave some treats out before I go to school. Check it before you go to work?”
His mom and dad agree and Chris goes back to his room to finish prepping for the day. Stacia is still buried under his blankets trying her best to stay out of sight. He closes the door behind him.
“They’re still buying it,” he whispers, putting on his jacket.
“Good,” Stacia says, ear back up to the radio. She closes her eyes and concentrates and shrinks down back to the family house cat. Chris gives her a loving pat on the head and picks up his backpack.
“I’ll see you this afternoon then. Take care.”
Luna nods her head and blinks slowly.
“Bye Mom; bye Dad!” Chris calls out, closing the front door behind him.
It is surreal, he thinks, walking to the bus stop, going from the madness and excitement over the weekend to the mundane and suddenly pointless prospect of high school.
Keyboarding and dodgeball…only one more year of this, he tells himself. Then what? He doesn’t have a clue. The sky’s the limit—so to speak.
The bus hisses to a stop and the driver opens the door. Chris steps aboard. Even taking a ride in a car or bus feels lame in comparison.
Billy Merrill sits in the back in his normal spot; Chris notices he isn’t taunting any of the other kids and pointedly avoids his gaze as he takes his seat.
2.
Luna sits in Chris’ window and watches her human step onto the bus. He waves at her and turns his attention to his classmates. Billy carefully turns to her after she stares daggers to the side of his face.
3.
Billy feels a cold chill run down his spine. He very subtly looks at Chris’ house and sees her sitting there. A very real panic settles into his brain and he thinks he’s about to have a heart attack.
The cat’s eyes widen and flash red. Eight shadowy tentacles form around her and whip about—clearly agitated. A tiny squeal and whimper escape his throat. He closes his eyes and clutches his bandaged arm. For the first time in his life he prays. When he opens his eyes a normal calico cat stares back and tilts its head.
Billy slumps back in his seat and groans, knowing this is going to be a very different school day indeed.
4.
Stephanie Yamamoto hops on the bus a few stops later and takes a seat next to Chris, not before noticing the scrapes and bruises on Billy’s face and the dressings on his arm.
“Holy shit,” she says in a low voice. “Did you see that!?”
“Yeah. How could you not?” Chris replies.
“What happened to him?”
Chris shrugs. “Dunno. Probably messed with the wrong people this time. It was bound to happen sooner or later.”
“Didn’t think it’d be this soon. I always pictured Billy getting his ass handed to him in a bar after we graduate. You know, bottle over the head or a pool cue stuck in his side.”
Chris cocks an eyebrow. “That’s oddly specific.” But he ultimately relents, “To be fair, I thought it’d be at a house party. Drunkenly trying to fight a group of sober people.”
“Good thing we never put money on it; we’d both be in the shitter.”
5.
Stacia, still in her cat form, slips out the door as Chris’ dad takes out the trash. She’s feeling too guilty to leave them hanging regarding Luna’s whereabouts to have them wait any longer. While he’s putting the garbage from the weekend in the can, she sits down in the middle of the driveway. Chris’ dad turns around; his eyes immediately fix on Luna.
“Oh hey! There you are!” Mitchell says in a soothing, high tone. Dad-mode fully engaged. “Where have you been?”
Mrowr?
He slowly approaches the calico and picks her up and cradles her like a newborn. “Have you been out this whole time?”
Luna chirps back at him.
He rubs her belly and smiles. “C’mon, let’s go inside. I’m making some hot dogs before work. I’ll cut up a couple for you.”
Meow!
Mitchell carries the cat into the house, happily proclaiming that he found her.
6.
Belly full and alone for the moment, Stacia switches back to her human form and runs back to Chris’ room. She picks up the radio and checks in with the ship.
“How’s the radar looking?”
“Everything is clear. Still no changes,” the tinny voice answers.
“You’re positive?”
“I have even checked the newswire for any reports of strange sightings. The closest to anything concerning was a report of the crash landing as a shooting star.”
“Good. I’ll be on radio silence while I wait for things to get quiet here. You’ll hear from me again in an hour.”
“Copy that.”
Stacia sits on the bed, daring to stay in her human form a few minutes longer. The alarm clock atop the nightstand reads 12:26 p.m. Ugh. Two hours ‘til he gets home. No fair. Maybe I should have tried being an Earthling.
When she hears the back door creak open, Stacia changes back into Luna and curls up on the blankets and heaves a sigh.
7.
By the time fourth period rolls around, Chris is also wishing time could skip. A bad sign considering it’s only Monday. He groans to himself as Mr. Crouch walks in to begin Tech Ed. The seating assignment is different from all other classes: each student is seated in front of a specific computer; the oblong tables on which they sit line the walls of the rectangular room; Mr. Crouch sits on a stool in the center (an easy way for him to observe the AutoCAD program…and to make sure no one’s screwing around.
Stephanie shares this class with Chris and thankfully they are seated next to each other. Even on the worst days, sitting next to her always manages to brighten his mood or makes him forget time is dragging ass.
Mr. Crouch steps into his office in the adjoining room (the shop class) and she leans toward him. “I’m gonna play Pinball today so I can finally beat your score.”
“I was gonna play V-Ball,” Chris whispers back, “but they deleted the games—again.”
“Whaaat?”
Chris clicks open the school’s shared folder and shows that it is empty.
Stephanie slumps back in her chair. “Dammit.”
“Gimme a few,” Brandi Knochelmann says from behind. She holds up a floppy disk between her index and middle finger. “Got both NESticle and ZSNES.”
“Nice,” Chris says. “Man, for a bunch of teachers that can barely use Yahoo!, they have no problem finding the ROMs on the PCs.”
“Can’t be a teacher,” Brandi offers, “probably a brown-noser lookin’ to score some extra credit.”
Stephanie dismisses that idea.
“It can totally happen,” Chris interjects. “That’s how I got some freebie credit freshman year for Mr. Pfetzer—recording episodes of South Park for him.”
“No way!” Brandi replies.
“For real. I did that for him.”
“Yeah, but you did that without affecting someone else,” Stephanie reasons. “It’s hard to believe one of us would go out of the way to make the day less fun for the rest of us.”
“These suck-asses probably aren’t big or strong enough to mess around physically,” Brandi mulls over, “so they gotta do shit like this to make us miserable.” She inserts the disk and copy/pastes to the public folder. “Games are back in service.”
Hushed thanks break out in the classroom and the students go into a mouseclick frenzy. All the games, and more, are at the class’ disposal.
A collective groan rumbles as Mr. Crouch is seen exiting his office and walking toward the class. He takes his spot on his metal stool and does the roll call and has everyone boot up AutoCAD.
Chris exhales deep through his nose and does as instructed. Forty boring-ass minutes of tedium until he can get another dose of fun and then the excitement of getting home to Stacia.
For two and a half hours at least, Chris thinks to himself. I can’t believe I almost forgot about work. And the same for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Only a handful of hours with the coolest person he’s ever met until the end of the week. It’s the first time he actively thinks about quitting his job. He only half-listens to the class instructions as he weighs his options. I still need to pay car insurance, gas, and for stuff to do (maybe with Stacia). I could probably cut my hours in half and pick up more during the summer. They’d buy that I’d want to focus more on my studies going toward senior year, right? Probably not. It was worth a shot at least.
The lesson plan goes on (and on, and on, and on) until Mr. Crouch takes his predictable leave to meet the Pepsi vendor at the school’s loading bay and take stock of the delivery. Chris, Stephanie, and most of the other students do a rush job on the floor plan assignment and boot up the freshly uploaded emulators.
The latter half of the period goes by in a flash and the final bell rings. Chris wastes no time, not even to stop at his locker or engage in chit chat with his friends. He goes straight for the bus. Not that it matters; the driver waits for the normal departure time. Stephanie steps on a few minutes after him.
“What’s the rush?” she asks, taking the seat in front of him.
“Hmm? Nothin’ really?”
“Bullshit. You were phoning it in today hardcore.”
“Was it that obvious?”
Stephanie rolls her eyes. “Duh.”
Chris shifts uneasily in his seat. He tries to muster up a clever façade, but he doesn’t want to lie to her—she’d see through that in all probability. So he decides on telling her a half-truth, “I was thinking about quitting Toys R Us.”
“That bad?”
“Nah, not that. Feels like I’m being bogged down, you know?”
“Shit, man, I figured it was the screaming brats. That’s why I picked a pharmacy.”
“Photo lab at a pharmacy.”
“Psh. Same store. Less kids either way. I’ll have enough of that senior year.”
“Wait, you got the teacher’s assistant elective?”
She flashes a paper with a list of her twelfth grade classes. Chris’ eyes go down the list of subjects.
“First graders? Goddamn. And AP English?” Chris scoffs. “Have fun reading all summer.”
“CliffNotes will be my lord and saviour next year.”
“Hallelujah.”
8.
“Hi Mom! Hi Dad!,” Chris calls out, setting his backpack on the floor. Luna is lounging on the couch, roused from a nap. He changes his tone to that of a parent walking in to their infant lying awake in a crib, “And hellooo Lu-na! Where have you been?” He leans in and give her loving chin scratches. As his mom enters from the hall, Chris lands a smooch on top of her head. Luna’s eyes widen.
“Hi bud! Dad found her earlier this afternoon. Just sitting in the driveway of all places.” Barbara comes over and glides her hand down the calico’s back, neck to tail. “Try not to let her sneak by you. She’s been out too long already.”
“Alright.”
“We’re gonna make chili tonight.”
“Save me a bowl, I’ve got work tonight.”
“I think we can manage that. You got homework?”
“Mhmm. I’m gonna have a snack and get started.”
Chris loads a small pile of Chips Ahoy! on a paper plate and fills a glass of milk nearly to the rim. He comes back to the living room and slings his bookbag over his shoulder and gathers Luna in his arms.
“You’re coming with me. No way you’re getting out from there,” he says for show.
The second the bedroom door is shut and locked Luna is back in human form. Chris turns his head and looks away, blushing, until she’s wrapped in his bedsheets.
“Sorry about that,” Stacia whispers. “Where’s my clothes?”
“Bottom of the closet. Behind the boxes.”
“Thanks.”
Chris hears the closet door squeak open and her rummaging. “Any word from the radio?”
“Checked in multiple times through the morning. Nothing on the radar.”
“You think they’re coming for us still?”
“Those cops specifically? I dunno,” Stacia says after a beat. “You can turn around now.”
He does.
Stacia continues, “If they don’t, other cops will. It’s only a matter of time. One thing I am sure of: the police cruiser was spotted coming down. The cloaking system was fried. Even if it could be repaired down here, Earthling tech wouldn’t be able to pick it up, but my ship can.”
“That’s good news, right?”
“Yeah. The bad news is if reinforcement arrives we won’t know about it.”
“What’ll we do then?”
“What I’m gonna do is keep an ear out on the radio for the rest of the week. After that I’m gonna check for the wreckage and see what’s up.”
“Can’t I come with?”
The older woman sighs. “It’d be for the best if you didn’t—this time.”
“This time?”
A soft smile grows on Stacia’s face. “I did promise you a trip to space. Don’t think for a second our first outing counted.” She winks and lays back on Chris’ bed.
“If you don’t take me back, I’d have to stow myself away at some point.”
Stacia leers at him playfully. “Hmm…Don’t you have homework to do?”
“Pfft. That was just an excuse.” Chris palms a handful of cookies and gives them to Stacia. “No homework tonight.”
Stacia takes the treats and inhales them. “Oh. Well, what do you wanna do?” she asks with a mouthful.
“Wanna play Nintendo?”
“Kid, I’m about to school your ass.”
9.
Several miles away, Officer Ayuna Mira trudges her way toward her target. She curses under her breath and keeps her hands as deep into the coat pockets as they can possibly go. It doesn’t matter to her how tired she is, every step she takes is one more to being in a more hospitable climate. According to her wrist computer, she’s only a few miles to the Canada/U.S. border—once across she’ll be able to flag down more Earthlings for a lift.
Ayuna presses her fingers to her ear. “You still with me?”
“Ready and waiting,” the mechanical voice of her computer replies. “You’re making excellent progress from what I can see.”
“No kidding. I can’t believe how slow the transport is on this world…or how complicated it is to get access to faster methods.”
“Truly a backwards planet.”
“Very much so.”
“It will be another hour and forty minutes before comms is fully restored. Are you sure you want to hold off on a distress signal?”
“Yes. If they’re somehow able to intercept our signals, they’ll be out of here well before backup arrives.”
“…There’s another reason.”
Ayuna laughs. “I guess we’ve been partners too long. You know me well. As soon as I get across I’ll make camp for the night and check in with you in the morning.”
“Understood. Good luck and good night.”
10.
Once across the American border, Ayuna decides there is still enough light in the sky to trek further. The air still has a biting chill to it but that does not dissuade the officer. As much as she hates to admit it, she must be getting used to the temperature.
Give me the beaches of S’lvador any day. Which is a distinct possibility when she brings in the pirates and the loot. Ayuna admits to herself that the loot is merely a theory with no scrap of evidence on her person…and so is the whole pirate aspect. But they are on a restricted planet, trying to stay hidden not only from Earthling authorities, but Intergalactic as well. Let’s not forget a distress beacon was never sent. The ship didn’t attempt to hail me—they fled. Big red flags everywhere you look. And you were right in assuming they’d come back if you started off for their point of origin…but you didn’t think they’d actually shoot you down.
Five miles further on her journey, Ayuna’s visibility reduces to nil and she decides to call it for the night. First to come out of her pack is the tent to shield her from the elements; second is a portion of her rations.
Not bad progress at all, she reckons. If she finds the same hospitality down here as she did in Canada she’ll have more than enough food and energy when she reaches her destination. While she’s had her fair share of bad luck, all the events since being shot down point that it’s steering in the right direction.
Not a moment too soon either.
11.
The large truck carring a full load of lumber roars by, belching thick black smoke as it kicks in to higher gear. It hits a dip in the road, sending forth a tsunami of murky water to the officer’s feet. Forty-two vehicles on her current stretch of road and none of them so much as slow down for Ayuna. She sighs. What a crock of shit for hospitality. Still, seventeen miles since dawn is nothing to sneeze at. Her check-in while tearing down camp yielded good news at least: the rogue ship was still in its place and undoubtedly will be when she radios in at midday.
Ayuna stops to give her legs a rest and takes a swig from her canteen. She surveys her surroundings, keeping an eye out for traffic going her way. Fog is settled across the grasslands on both sides of the road and obscure the rolling hills in the distance. It is lifting and pretty soon will be gone without a trace.
A cold drop of rain lands on her head. Another hits the back of her hand.
Ayuna sighs. “Of course.”
12.
The days slowly move on. As each hour passes, part of Stacia is hopeful that both she and Chris are safe and in the clear. An overwhelming majority, however, knows it is only a matter of time before they are made out—by the cops or someone else. Every day that passes feels like they are one closer to confrontation. Come Thursday afternoon, a restless Stacia decides to take flight once again.
Enough with the waiting around horseshit, she tells herself as she assumes her human form to get out of the house. She follows the path taken with Chris to avoid any outside contact.
“Computer, have the ship ready to go; I’m on my way now,” she says into the radio.
“Are we to head back to the last point of contact?”
“That’s the plan…unless you can think of a reason not to.”</p
“As a matter of fact, I was just about to hail you.”
Stacia stops in her tracks. Great…This can’t be good. “What is it?”
“I am reluctant to start up the engines as my radar has picked up movement within the cave system.”
“Goddammit,” she says to herself and then into the radio: “Is it hikers or…wait, is it possible to blast them with some sort of animal sound and spook them out?”
“It is one individual,” the computer confirms. “But I can detect non-Earthling electronic equipment being utilized.”
Stacia breaks into a sprint. “How the hell did they get so close!?”
“No ships have been detected in the area other than human aircraft.”
“Are you saying they walked here?”
“That and using Earthling transportation would be the highest probability given the number of days that have passed.”
“Find sounds of the most vicious animals on the planet and blast it through the mines! I’ll be there as soon as I can!”
What a hell of way to start the day, Stacia laments and goes into a full run.
13.
True to her word, Stacia arrives at the rear entrance to the mines a few minutes later. She is soaked in sweat and breathing heavy. Her joints feel like they want to burst and her throat and lungs feel like she’s been gargling lava.
Between pants she gets back on the radio. “I’m here…Did it work?”
“Initially…yes.”
“Initially?”
“Shortly after playing back the sounds I loaded, the intruder retreated to the main entrance and stopped. They do not seemed to be deterred; they are returning.”
“Shit! Stay cloaked. I’m coming in!”
Stacia steadies herself as she transforms back into the were-cat that mauled Billy Merrill. There is the very real possibility that she’ll have to kill this cop and make certain every scrap of that damned police cruiser is obliterated. It doesn’t give her any pleasure knowing that’s what it may come to. Her stomach is turning and cramping as she stalks through the crowded and twisted corridor. She feels like she want to puke or shit or both.
Her night vision aids Stacia in making it through the jagged walls unscathed at full speed—painful joints and lungs be damned. Stacia enters the area with her ship and looks around. No one in sight.
“Computer,” Stacia speaks low, barely audible, “where?”
She winds down the volume on the radio. “To your left. Not rushing in. Coming back at a steady pace.”
Stacia turns her body in the indicated direction and advances slowly. Her bare feet make no sound crossing the dirt and rocks. Her adrenaline kicks in. Already improved vision gets another boost along with hearing and smell. She knows exactly where her prey is.
“Don’t move!” an imposing voice calls from behind a large boulder. It’s a woman. Undertones of irritation in the intruder’s words…and she smells like she’s been camping for a month, not a few days. “With authority of the Galactic Order of Unified Planets, I am placing you under arrest!” The cop eases out from her cover.
A pixie. I’m getting orders from a pixie, Stacia thinks when she sees the cop. The girl is no bigger than Chris and practically the same build. Her fair skin is covered in dirt and scratches; her otherworldly green hair is matted with leaves and twigs mashed in.
A growl erupts from deep within Stacia’s throat and she calls back, “I’m not going anywhere sweetie, so pack your shit and back the hell off!”
The words have no pronounced effect on the cop as she continues with her speech. Plenty of time to rehearse it, Stacia thinks with a smirk.
“—Not only for fleeing and attacking a GOPD vessel—”
“Oh, that’s right, you couldn’t get that far if you tried!”
“—and for entering an inhabited planet not part of the Galactic Order. Come out peacefully or I will kill you!”
“Darling, I shot your ass down, peace is off the table.”
That seems to have irked the woman, she is simmering and bordering on boiling underneath her next words, “You have no idea what kind of trouble you’re in—”
Stacia can hear the cop’s finger squeezing on the trigger of her gun.
“—so let’s make this as painless as possible for you.”
“Mmm…no.”
“What!?” the exasperated cry echoes off the cave walls.
Stacia lunges forward. The officer fires a shot that goes wide and another that is on point which Stacia easily evades. Her were-cat form leaps and crouches and leaps again before the cop even has the chance to turn around fully. She stretches her arms wide and tackles the so-called authority and takes her by the wrists, pinning her down, hands above her head.
“You’ve no say in where I go. I’ve been on this planet longer than you’ve been alive, little girl.”
The cop glares at Stacia with murderous intent, says nothing, and rocks her upper body forward. The cop’s forehead crashes into the bridge of Stacia’s nose. This surprises the were-cat, but not so much as to release all the pressure of the smaller girl’s abdomen and arms. Blood pours out her nostrils and spatters down to the other officer’s jacket.
“Okay, you bitch, have it your way!”
Stacia’s eyes glow gold with fury and she bares her fangs, ready to end this with one bite to the throat.
A similar rage bursts forth from the officer, who manages to roll her body to the side and gain the upper hand on Stacia. She arm wrestles for control of her dominant hand, the one with the gun, and tries to aim it at the creature holding her down.
“Stop! Don’t hurt her!” a younger voice cries from the shadows.
The cop’s head snaps right. Stacia takes the opportunity to wrench the gun free. She spins the gun around and cracks the cop upside the head with the butt. The smaller woman’s body crumples to the ground.
14.
Officer Ayuna Mira comes to with a hell of a headache. She can feel her brain throbbing against her skull in rhythm with heartbeat. Her eyes open a crack and the world around her is turning. She groans and closes her eyes—the sensation is still there. Memories of long weekends of her university and academy days come flooding back. Rough mornings, hungover, after nights out with fellow classmates spent drinking and smoking when she damn-well knew she should be studying. Those parties were few and far between, but even little bookworms needed to cut loose and relieve all the stresses the world placed upon them. Ayuna remembers that most of the time she woke up alone in her own dorm or on the couch of a friend’s apartment, very few times did she wake up with someone else.
This was one of the few times…just not in a fun way.
“Hey! I think she’s waking up!” a voice calls out—a young one at that.
“Stay back,” an older, more familiar voice answers. “It could be a trick.”
“It’s no trick,” Ayuna informs the others, face still in the dirt with her eyes still closed. “I’m awake and I feel like shit.” She groans.
“Well, you look like it too, so there’s that,” the familiar voice replies.
“Sta—Luna, settle down. She can’t hurt anyone right now.”
“Pfft. Keyword is now.”
Light footsteps approach her and Ayuna tries to shrink back.
“It’s okay, it’s okay. I’m not gonna hurt you,” the younger voice tries to assure her. “For real.”
The footsteps circle around slow to her front and keep a distance. She can sense light hitting her through her eyelids; it isn’t directly on her, but off to the side a few degrees.
“Are you able to move?”
She is, but everything is pain—her arms, legs, and back are all making their complaints known and she relays this information to her captors.
The younger voice speaks lower, obviously directed at her suspect, “You got a med kit?”
“I might, but—”
“Come on. No buts, please.”
Silence.
Ayuna opens her eyes and looks toward the light. A kid is holding the flashlight. A kid. He’s looking down at her full of concern in his eyes. “What the—”
“It’s alright. I’m not a bad guy—or a pirate—if that’s what you’re thinking.”
“Are you a…hostage?” It’s the only question that she can think of at the moment.
“Umm…nope. Not that either. I’m an Earthling.”
Ayuna tries to process this information and sits up on her elbow.
The boy looks to his left. Can you please put the gun down and get the first-aid stuff? You need some patching up, too.”
The woman…creature walks into her peripheral, toward the boy, never taking her eye off Ayuna’s fallen form, still brandishing the firearm. The cat woman leans down to be face-to-face with the kid and whispers something in his ear and walks away without another word.
“You’re a police officer, right?” the boy asks. “And you’re not here to hurt us?”
Ayuna shakes her head. She opens her mouth to talk, considers her words and says, “No, I’m not here to hurt you. I’m actually here to protect you…all Earthlings.” She sits up slowly, head still spinning. “To make sure outside sources do not interfere in this planet’s business or to loot resources. Even I’m not authorized to delve into Earthling affairs, let alone engage with them—unless it can’t be helped.”
“See?” the boy says, looking off to his side. “I told you so!”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” the other woman replies walking back and holding a white metal box with a red cross stamped in the center.
Ayuna glares at her. “She’s the one I’m after. She’s the one violating Galactic law!”
The cat woman scoffs. “I don’t know what you’re on or what you’re trying to pull, girlie, but there’s no such thing as the GOPD. Nice try.”
“How can you say that?”
“Simple—never heard of ‘em. Unless you all formed in the last seventeen years or so.”
The woman hands off the box to the boy and he walks over, opening it. He pulls out some bottles and some bandages. He crouches down in front of Ayuna, looking across her features. “You got some bumps and scrapes. I’m gonna try to clean them up a little, okay?”
Ayuna gives a slight nod. She turns her attention back to the were-cat. “How can you say you’ve never heard of us? You have a ship—one capable of cloaking and using wormholes for long-haul travel. Your planet would have to be part of the Galactic Order, so don’t you dare feign ignorance—” she hisses as the kid applies antiseptic to her wounds.
“Sorry,” he whispers and goes about swabbing and wrapping her cuts.
Ayuna gingerly reaches to her back pocket for her identification and finds nothing. She then notices the wrist computer is missing from her left arm. “What did you do with my stuff!?” she yells, turning her attention back to the creature.
“Nice bit of tech you’ve got here,” the woman says, “but I couldn’t read a damn thing from any of it, so my computer is translating and assessing the data now.”
“You what!?” Ayuna exclaims and climbs to her feet.
The were-cat trains the gun on Ayuna. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
The officer grits her teeth and stares a death beam into her captor.
“Just a few more minutes now and this will all be cleared up.”
Ayuna switches gears. “That ship of yours. It’s nowhere in the Galactic registry. I’ve never seen anything like it either. Only pirates or spies could conjure up something like that.”
“I’m neither,” Stacia states flatly.
15.
“What do you mean, ‘neither’?” the officer asks.
“I am a refugee. Originally from Rhaecus. I came down here to Earth seventeen years ago to save my own life,” Stacia offers, keeping the juicier details to herself.
“Rhaecus?”
“Yeah.”
The cop pauses and answers, “I’m sorry, I’m not familiar with that planet.”
“That’s alright,” Stacia says, shaking her head, “we’ve got more pressing matters to attend to.”
“Like what?” Chris asks, packing up the medical kit.
“Addressing the elephant in the room.” Stacia turns to Chris. “Haven’t you begun to question how the officer here has been able to speak to us in perfect English?”
Chris shrugs. “Some sort of universal translator?”
Stacia makes to massage the bridge of her bandaged nose, but thinks twice about that. “You’ve been watching too much Doctor Who on PBS. This gun,” she holds up the weapon, “her ID, and wrist computer were the only pieces of tech on her.”
Chris looks down at Ayuna. “No metallic arms or legs? No cybernetic implants?
“And too much anime on Cartoon Network,” Stacia says, more to herself than anyone else. She hands the ID to Chris.
The officer’s identification has an actual card with her photo and what he presumes is her information, but there is also a digital screen with a crystal clear holographic photo with a fully animated watermark of the GOPD.
Stacia looks over to the officer with a smirk. “Which means our wee officer here as studied up on English—a direct violation of Galactic Order law. So, Little Miss Priss, you know any other languages? French?”
“Va te faire foutre.”
“Japanese?”
“Anata wa mankodesu.”
“Spanish?”
“Y tu hueles.”
“And I’m sure there are more. Am I right?”
The cop looks away from her, scowling. “You think the Court would believe you over me?”
“Probably. What with the bookmarks and browsing history and all the other data on your little PC here. So much hentai, by the way.”
Ayuna snaps her attention back to the other woman, eyes wide and face going to an unhealthy shade of red. She yells, “Give that back!”
Stacia tosses over the wrist computer. “It doesn’t matter, we’ve managed to transfer copies of all the data to my system. Translated some of it, too.”
The officer trembles and pounces at Stacia. She stumbles and falls against the taller woman and half-heartedly thumps on her chest with barely-clenched fists.
The cat woman laughs and tries to steady the cop. “Calm down. You’ll only injure yourself further.”
“Damn it all!” Ayuna cries against Stacia’s bosom. “You were my ticket out of this system!”
Chris tilts his head like a confused dog. “What do you mean?”
“Pirates starting up shop on Earth using tech unknown to the GOPD—stopping you was a one-way ticket for a promotion. And now that plan is ruined!”
“Geez, enough with the waterworks already,” Stacia chides, holding back the smaller woman at arm’s length.
“Can’t you request a transfer?” Chris suggests.
“My contract is on for another five Earth years!” And the tears begin anew.
“Luna, there’s gotta be something we can do.”
“Like what?”
“I dunno…we can’t leave her like this.”
An alarm goes off on the wrist computer and a word repeats itself over and over—Chris and Stacia can’t understand it.
Ayuna looks at the screen and her face falters, “P-pirates…” She grabs Stacia by the shoulders and snaps back into police-mode. “Get me to my ship! If you do that for me…I’ll…I’ll forget I even saw you down here! You’ll never hear from me again!”
Stacia flashes a devious grin. “I think I can manage that.”
Chris’ smile, in contrast, is one of genuine kindness. “Now that we got that out of the way, my name is Chris Starbrook,” he gestures to the were-cat, “and this is Luna. What’s your name?”
“I’m Ayuna. Ayuna Mira.” She makes a point to look only at the boy. “Nice to meet you.”
16.
“Chris, I’m gonna fly Backwoods Officer to her ship. I’ll meet you at home.”
“No way. I’m coming with you.”
“It’s too dangerous.”
“This was too dangerous,” Chris retorts, pointing to Ayuna’s gun.
“Ugh, fine! No time to argue. Follow us.”
With no further exchanges, Stacia leads the way to her ship. She takes her spot in the captain’s chair with the officer sitting in the co-pilot position. Chris buckles in on the sofa in the back. A couple minutes later they are out of the darkness of the mines and hundreds of feet above the surface. The computer locks in the location of the downed craft and makes a straight shot for it.
Halfway to the destination, Stacia readies the weapons. “How many are there?” she asks.
Ayuna takes note from her wrist computer. “Seven pirates that we know of. Two ships.”
“This should be a walk in the park.”
“Don’t wave this off so easily!” the officer chastises. “You don’t even know who you’re going up against.”
“You plan on giving me the low-down then?”
“Fine. They are the Lacertylia of the Typhon system. Usually dabble in stolen electronics and sell them on the black market.”
Once they enter nearby airspace, Stacia squints her eyes and focuses on the sight below. At the press of a button, a panel pops up on screen, zoomed in to their target. Ayuna is scrolling through information on her computer.
“Say, does it mention if they work fast on their targets?”
Ayuna scrolls a little more. “Hmm…nothing specific. Why do…you…,” she trails off and gasps.
Down below, Ayuna’s ship is in pieces. Every single nut and bolt is undone, all panels set neatly aside, and every non-electronic part has been placed into piles. Stacia wouldn’t have been surprised if what remained of the vessel was put up onto cinder blocks.
A horrified Ayuna gawks down at the sight and screams again. Chris rushes into the cockpit to see what the fuss is about…and focuses on the wrong aspect completely.
“Holy crap! Those guys look like alligators!”
Stacia sends her ship into a nosedive.
They draw near and the onboard camera focuses on the aliens. Their hulking forms stop what they are doing and gaze skyward. All their bulging muscles help them lug the hundreds of pounds of equipment with ease. Every single one of them are more massive than any pro wrestler Stacia’s seen in the WWF.
Chris echoes the thought aloud. “Maybe we shouldn’t fight these guys.”
“Women, technically,” Ayuna advises. “All of the Lacertylia are fe—”
Stacia doesn’t hesitate and fires the lasers and missiles.
The Lacertylia dance in place as the beams scorch the grass around them. All those not already aboard the vessels drop the remaining valuables and hightail it for the cargo bays. Both missiles lock on target and plow into the remains of Ayuna’s ship.
“Idiot!” Ayuna shouts. “What the hell are you doing?”
The Lacertylian ships rise and make a break for the stars. Near the takeoff points, a large crater sits as the smoke clears—not a trace of the police cruiser can be seen. “Now how am I supposed to get home!?”
“Details, details,” Stacia waves off the question.
Their ship leaves the atmosphere and Stacia closes in on the bandits. When the crosshairs get near enough to the closer of the two pirate ships it makes sharp lefts and rights to avoid target lock.
“Man, they’re good,” Chris says in awe.
“They are pirates after all,” Ayuna replies, pouting.
“That why was it so easy to get you?” Stacia teases. She grins when she feels the heat emanating from the officer’s body.
“I cannot wait until we’re not in the same space as one another.”
Looking at the radar, Stacia becomes increasingly aware, and frustrated, of how far they are getting from Earth. If Chris wasn’t there, she’d have no problem following the Lacertylia into hell. She has to make sure he gets home and that his parents suspect nothing. She presses more buttons on the dash and slams her palm down. The remaining missiles fire off in a blind fury. Her ship comes to a crawl and she watches the two vessels disappear into the darkness.
“Damn. Missed ‘em.”
Ayuna slumps back in her seat and sighs. “You are a horrible pirate.”
“Not a pirate!”
***
“Okay, we’re gonna have to cut it off there for now,” Stacia says, stepping out of the Void. “Shit power supplies and whatnot. Give us a few days and we can finish off this part of the tale. It’ll be ready in the store along with part one. I’ll send you all a Tweet and a Facebook update when it’s good to go!”
“Can I have my sleeping tablets now, Yuki?” the assistant begs, holding out his hand.
“Oh, I suppose so.” She pulls out a bottle from her lab coat and spills a couple pills into the assistant’s palm.
“Next time we meet for an excursion will be in late September. We’ll see you all then!”
“I’m so gonna sleep right through.”
“No you don’t!”
Tales from the Void 