The front laser of the
Aurora
fired three times, just above the
Potopila
. Gulino and Londuo threw themselves to the ground.
‘Damn… We’ve had it now,’ Gulino said. ‘Who opened fire?’
‘Antaio or Intropa just shot him,’ Londuo said.
‘Hold your fire!’ Gulino shouted out over to the others.
‘The laser fired from that ship. It sounded like a Reedinog military laser,’ Londuo said, with surprise in her voice.
Gulino looked at Londuo.
‘You’re right Londuo, it did.’
‘Then I was right. It can’t be a Treitan ship,’ Londuo said.
‘Unless they’ve started to use our lasers,’ Gulino replied.
‘But why now? They could have used those sykals ago,’ Londuo said. ‘If it’s not ours or Treitan, then perhaps one of the other races has sent it here.’
‘From the blackness of the hull they could be Guol people,’ Gulino said. ‘But they don’t use lasers like ours?’
‘Maybe they’ve researched and adapted some of our technology. After all, there’s enough debris from our ships out there for anyone to copy.’
‘They do look very similar to us and it could explain his clothes, but if you’re right, Londuo, then… we’ve just killed one of their people. They may not take very kindly to that.’
Another pulse of light leaped from the wreck of the
Potopila,
striking the
Aurora
.
The
Aurora
fired once more over the top of the
Potopila
.
‘Which idiot’s still firing?’ Gulino said angrily. ‘Antaio, Intropa, hold your fire. That’s an order!’ he shouted.
‘So far they haven’t tried to kill any of us; perhaps they want to talk to us,’ Londuo said. ‘If they wanted us dead they could have done it by now.’
‘No one else has tried to exit the ship, yet,’ Gulino said.
‘Would you?’
‘No, you’re right of course.’ Gulino paused. ‘Then we’ll have to make a gesture.’ He removed his belt, which held a small laser pistol. ‘I’m going over to their ship. I don’t think you can really do much, but cover me anyway, Londuo.’
Londuo grabbed hold of Gulino’s arm just when he was about to get up.
‘Be careful, it could still be a trap.’
‘I know. They will not take us alive,’ he said, hiding the laser pistol inside his tunic.
*****
The telementor had turned white, releasing a flash of anti-matter at the laser burst, just before it could strike James.
James laid motionless, his heart racing.
What the hell was that,
he questioned Kalrea anxiously in Earth English.
That was a Terman Laser rifle set to kill!
Kalrea replied.
Someone tried to kill me. I don’t believe someone tried to kill me!
James was frightened, but also angry.
I’m unarmed. What idiot would shoot someone unarmed?
*****
Gulino walked nervously out from behind the cover of the ruins, his hands raised above his head.
‘Keep low, Londuo,’ he said, looking back to her, before walking past James towards the
Aurora.
James looked up.
‘Is that how you always greet people?’ he said, in an annoyed voice. ‘By shooting them!’
Gulino stopped and turned. He looked like he had just seen a ghost.
‘I saw you get hit… You should be dead… I mean… Are you hurt?’
James got to his feet.
‘Am I hurt! One of you just shot me. Are you all idiots? Couldn’t you see I have no bloody weapon!’ he said angrily, in almost perfect Qinant.
James held back from saying anything more. He felt that aiming his disgust at someone who looked no older than himself wasn’t going to facilitate any dialogue or further the quest for his people. He started to walk towards the teenager, whom he noticed had a large scar on his right cheek. His hair looked very scruffy and nothing like the elaborate hair he had seen in the recording of Qintaino Kalrea had shown him.
Gulino suddenly pulled what looked like a laser pistol from beneath his tunic and pointed it at James.
‘Don’t move!’ he ordered. ‘Let me see your hands.’
‘Not again! You cannot be serious!’ James raised his hands and then thought:
does he really want to kill me.
The telementor turned white once more, ready to protect him.
James, there’s another laser rifle trained on you. Do you want me to disable them?
Kalrea asked.
What, kill them?
No, James. I can neutralise the weapons.
Oh. No. It’s all right, Kalrea,
James thought.
I need to be calm; I need to make friends, not enemies. I think I can handle this.
James felt more confident knowing Kalrea would protect him.
Are you sure you can handle this?
Kalrea asked.
No.
‘Londuo, make sure he’s unarmed,’ Gulino shouted over to her.
He must be their leader,
James thought.
Londuo ran over. She appeared to be slightly younger than James and very tall. Her long brunette hair was tangled and dirty. He noticed she had very distinctive light-green eyes, and on the left side of her face was a tattoo of an eagle’s claw. In her left hand she was carrying what looked like a large weapon.
Both Londuo and Gulino were dressed in tight-fitting dirty sand-coloured combat uniforms with various pieces of equipment about their person.
Who’s she?
James thought.
She’s gorgeous.
Londuo frisked James quickly.
‘He’s unarmed, Gulino,’ she reported.
‘Who are you?’ Gulino said to James.
James was looking at Londuo.
‘Oh, James Brasdoi.’
James offered his hand to Gulino, but he was unsure of what to do. Londuo aimed the weapon at him, while Gulino held out his hand. James gripped it lightly.
If she shoots me, then I take back that compliment I just gave her!
‘James… I’ve never heard of that name before and you’re not Guol. Where are you from?’
James smiled nervously.
‘I was born here, on Qintaino, but I was brought up on a planet called Earth. My Qinant name is actually Jameilo.’
‘Oh, I see,’ Gulino replied, but James could tell he was not wholly convinced.
‘Earth! Isn’t it one of the planets the Telecans observed?’ Londuo remarked.
‘Yes!’ Gulino replied. ‘It’s also mentioned in the old book of Qulain, isn’t it?’
‘I believe it is,’ Londuo said.
Gulino looked over at the
Aurora
.
‘Your ship; we’ve never seen anything like it before. Is it from Earth?’
‘No, it was built here on Qintaino.’
Gulino looked surprised.
‘What class is it then?’
What class of ship are you Kalrea?
James thought.
Ora
, Kalrea replied.
‘Erm… Ora,’ James said.
‘I’ve never heard of that class of ship before,’ Gulino said.
‘Er… It’s one of only two. It’s called the
Aurora
,’ James added.
‘The
Aurora!
’ Londuo’s expression changed.
She looked at Gulino.
‘Didn’t Milonri mention that name once?’
‘I can’t remember,’ Gulino said, distracted.
He shouted up to Antaio and Intropa.
‘It’s all right, you can come down now.’ He lowered his voice. ‘Idiots.’
‘Who’s Milonri?’ James questioned.
‘What’s the ship complement?’ Gulino asked, changing the subject.
‘Oh, there’s just me and Kalrea.’
‘Only two! I was expecting you to say at least thirty for a ship that size,’ Gulino looked astonished. ‘How come we’ve never seen it before?’
‘Believe me, it’s a long story. I’ll tell you later,’ he said.
James watched the others walk over. Antaio was the youngest of the group. He looked only thirteen years old. He had blond hair, which was covered with a sand-coloured cap. Intropa was just about the oldest. He had grey highlights in his short black hair and a beard.
‘Who fired those shots?’ Gulino shouted angrily.
‘I thought he was a Dreh agent,’ Antaio said, apologetically raising the Terman rifle. ‘He was—’
So that’s the moron who shot me.
‘You nearly killed one of your own people, you bloody fool. Remember, I give the orders; I tell you when to fire and when to die,’ Gulino said sternly.
Antaio moved slightly backwards.
Well, that told him. Kalrea, why does everyone look so young?
James thought, observing that they seemed very mature for their ages.
One of them doesn’t look old enough to be out of school, and he just tried to kill me!
Kalrea chuckled.
James, they are older than they look. Remember while a Qinant sleeps in their seatra, their body remains in suspended animation, so they do not age.
That’s fantastic,
James replied.
Almost the answer to eternal youth!
Not quite. You do need to be awake to enjoy it!
Kalrea replied.
I would say Gulino is about twenty-four and Londuo eighteen Earth years old— James! The scanners have picked up a Treitan light cruiser dropping from light speed. It’s heading towards Qintaino,
Kalrea added suddenly.
How long do we
— James thought quickly.
It will be in range in three minutes, nine seconds,
Kalrea said, before he had time to finish.
‘I don’t want to be rude and interrupt, but it’s time we moved somewhere else. A Treitan cruiser is just entering the system,’ James said anxiously.
‘How do you know that?’ Gulino replied, sounding puzzled.
‘I don’t have time to explain. We must get back to my ship,’ James said with urgency.
He started to move towards the
Aurora
.
‘Hold it!’ Gulino said, raising his pistol.
‘Please, we don’t have much time. You must trust me,’ James said.
‘Why should we trust you? You could be trying to trick us onboard your ship, where you—’
A bleeper suddenly sounded on Londuo’s belt.
‘The shuttle’s early warning scanner has just been activated,’ Londuo said, looking down at her komkey. ‘There’s a… a Treitan cruiser approaching.’
She looked at Gulino.
James smiled.
‘Please. We must go now.’
He started running back to the
Aurora
.
Londuo grabbed Gulino’s arm, stopping him.
‘This could still be a trap, but—’
Gulino interrupted her, ‘I don’t trust him either. We have nothing to lose. We have our weapons, and we’ll fight to the death if we have to.’
‘But that’s the strange thing Gulino,’ Londuo said. ‘I believe he’s telling the truth.’
Gulino looked at her strangely.
‘You never trust anybody.’
‘I know, but I…’ She paused. ‘I have this feeling about him. I don’t know why, but it’s like I know him from somewhere.’
‘Come on!’ James shouted back at Gulino and Londuo.
They all rushed over to the
Aurora
.
I’ll take you to the cargo bay,
Kalrea said.
The bridge is too dangerous. They appear unsure about you.
‘Why haven’t you taken us to the bridge?’ Gulino asked, seeing they were entering the cargo bay.
‘Would you have done that?’ James replied. ‘After all, you are the ones who just tried to blow my brains out.’
He heard the
Aurora’s
event horizon drives starting in the background.
‘Welcome onboard,’ Kalrea said, over the address system of the ship. ‘James, they’re tracking us.’
‘Who’s that?’ Antaio asked.
‘Oh, that’s Kalrea; she’s the ship’s computer. I’ll have to leave you for a while,’ James said, waiting for the pojin lift. ‘Please trust me, there’s a monitor over there. You can watch everything that happens.’
He entered the lift and the door closed.
*****
Gulino looked around.
‘This is a Qinant ship all right. Look at the monitor, the shape of the bay, the shuttles. But it’s so advanced. I didn’t know we had computers that sound Qinant. Who is this Kalrea?’
Antaio viewed the monitor.
‘It may be advanced, but that’s a Treitan cruiser out there. We are in a ship that isn’t even half the size of an
opila
class destroyer. We’d have been safer on Qintaino.’
‘I know,’ Gulino replied. ‘It must have followed them here.’