AKLESH (Under Strange Skies) (2 page)

In recent years he could be seen darting around the main living quarters of the royal family busily searching after one member or another. He was a rather nervous seeming creature, but this was typical of most of his kind. His outward appearance aside, he was very clever and good at the job he performed.

Lately, that job was keeping tabs on the royal family -- namely the two heirs. The prince was making this task far more difficult. His escapades had become more numerous and their results much harder to cover up. His royal highness had developed into a rather effective magnet for scandal and an extravagant lifestyle.

Although the prince’s recent reckless cavorting came as an annoyance to Janphor, he loved both the children as if they had been his own hatchlings, though he would never admit to this since such claim was far above his station.

Janphor came upon Gar just as he was entering the shuttle bay; his helmet hooked under one arm. The royal fleet was housed there, containing all the shuttles used to transport the royal family as well as any luxury vehicles in their collection. Gar was walking towards his personal shuttle, a sleek red ship with gold detailing and two massively powerful twin thrusters three times the size of the cockpit. It was the prize of his collection and commissioned specifically for the prince, who had developed a taste for such toys.

Indeed there was none like it in the universe.

Janphor knew this since he had been the one to arrange for it.

“Your majesty,” Janphor called in his trembling tenor voice, as loud as he could project.

Gar sped up his pace, which was already difficult for the Knalite to keep up with, being without shoes. Footwear was considered taboo by his kind. “Prince Gar, please stop for moment. I have a message for you. Please.”

The prince did not slow down but reached his ship and climbed the small access ladder as the five shuttle bay workers finished last minute preparations for takeoff. Janphor moved as quickly as his three-toed feet would allow and got to the shuttle just as the prince was starting the preliminary flight sequences. He was out of breath but still did his best.

“My l-l-lord,” he panted. “I come with a m-m-message.”

“Out with it, Janny.” Gar said impatiently, using the children’s nickname for their old friend.

“What could be so important that it can’t wait?”

“It’s

from

your

sister,

princess

Gwendolyn…” Janphor started.

Gar interrupted, “I have already spoken with her. She can have nothing more to say.” And with this, he put on his helmet and started the thrusters.

They began to lift off the smooth metal surface of the shuttle bay and warm up. The noise from their vibrating made shouting even harder for the small creature, who was already struggling to be heard.

“She asks…” Janphor shouted, “…pleads with you to stay a little while longer. She has something important she wants to discuss with you.”

In response Gar started to close the inner and outer shuttle capsule doors. The noise was now becoming deafening, and soon Janphor would have to step back to get out of harm’s way. His clothes were whipping in the air that was blasting from the huge thrusters.

“At least tell me where you are going?!” Janphor shouted as loudly as possible.

“Out!” Gar yelled back.

Janphor saw the prince punch an interstellar assignment code into his control pad. He could only make out the first number on the shuttle’s screen, which was zero, before the capsule doors shut completely. Out beyond the shuttle bay, the lights on the royal family’s private planetary access portal lit up, receiving the information from the prince’s shuttle. Since all royal codes were restricted, there was no way to find out where he was going.

The prince was now merely a shadow behind the protective layers of the cockpit shielding. The silhouette waved to his tutor, who had cleared back a good 50 feet. Air was rushing all around and Janphor had to keep his hand on his hood. He watched as a burst of beautiful golden energy came from the thrusters. There was a loud

‘BOOM’ and the shuttle shot out of the bay into space, only to instantly disappear through the access portal on its way to some unknown destination.

***

Plasma was pouring out of Gar’s right thruster in massive quantities, leaving a jagged trial in the atmosphere of the foreign planet. He was shooting like a meteor out of the sky and there was no way he could stop it.

The giant lake was rushing towards him and it would be seconds before the shuttle collided with it. Gar knew the shielding of the spacecraft would offer some protection from impact, but after that, there was no telling what would happen.

Gritting his teeth, he gripped both hands on the controls in a vain effort to somehow have power over his descent.

The whole shuttle vibrated wildly. The malfunctioning thruster sputtered and buzzed on his right. Instinctively, Gar covered his face as the ship skidded along the surface of the alien lake, sending a stream of water spraying into the air in its wake. Then the right thruster buckled and broke off from the main pod with a thunderous

‘CRACK!’ The whole ship crashed into the water with an explosive splash.

There were three shields that protected pilots in these ships. Two of those were the physical shielding of the cockpit and the other was a projected shield of energy surrounding the ship itself. Although this third shield could absorb a great deal of shock, it wasn’t foolproof.

The result being that he was alive but badly thrown about. His eyes had been squeezed shut for the impact and Gar knew he’d have to open them.

The glugging sound he heard told him everything.

The shuttle, or whatever was left of it, was already fully under water and sinking rapidly.

His heart was pounding as he opened his eyes to a screen that was firing on and off randomly as it broke down. In the quick pictures it did show, Gar could only see bubbles and blackness.

Any chance of survival meant ejecting from the shuttle. He took a deep breath, grabbed the safety harness that strapped him into his chair and pressed the control. The shuttle pod’s door opened suddenly. Water pounded in quicker than Gar had expected and the pilot seat, with him in it, shot out of the pod.

The extreme rush of cold water and the thrust of the seat’s ejection felt like a punch in the stomach. The shock forced out all his air. All the precious oxygen he needed was gone. Now he only had moments.

And the shuttle chair kept him prisoner, dragging him further into the inky blackness.

In a panic the prince wrestled with the harness, desperately trying to release the mechanism.

His

gloved

fingers

fumbled

awkwardly, but finally he got free. He shimmied his body from the straps as the chair continued to sink below him, but at least he was free. Gar forced his helmet off. Frantically he flailed his arms and kicked his legs but got nowhere. The ice-cold chill of the water was seeping into his skin, and his head began to pound. Without meaning to, he opened his mouth and water forced itself into his lungs.

Gar struggled in vain but soon lost the ability to fight. A strange feeling of serenity came over him. It was all over. He could do nothing more to save himself.

At that moment the whole situation struck Gar as hysterical. The circumstance was ridiculous! He was a galactic prince who had spent all of his time roaming space. Now he was dying alone on some unimportant planet, deep under water and no one knew.

Drowning.

He looked below into the blackness where he’d soon descend and saw the blinking lights of his ship, very small now, like a broken toy. The lights flickered as their power drained and finally went out. The metal shapes faded into the silent nothingness of the abyss.

Gar lifted his face up to where the water was more grayish and where he was sure the surface was, the one he would never get to. In his last moments he reached his hand towards the ghostly light. As his eyes began to cloud, he saw a vision.

It was of a being surrounded by a halo of light that shown from the surface. Gracefully it stretched out a hand to his, arriving to take him into the next realm. The prince thought of ancient stories of winged people from beyond that carried the dead to their final resting place.

He smiled peacefully. It was so beautiful.

And then everything faded to white.

Drifting.

This was the first sensation that Gar was aware of.

A calm drifting, like a feather on a soft breeze. He found himself naked and slowly descending through a pale fog. There was nothing around him beyond his own hands and feet and a comfortable warmth to the air. His chest felt a lightness, as if all burden was lifted.

It was such an easy dream.

Inside his mind there was nothing of what had happened or the chaos he had come from. Was he dead? Was this the afterlife? The answers to these questions no longer mattered. The gentle gliding was all that existed, and in it there was absolute peace.

The next sensation that came upon him was of soft grass beneath his feet. It came as no surprise to Gar that he might feel this. After what could have been a moment or a lifetime, he looked down at where he now found himself standing. The grass itself was pale and long with some of the blades weaving between his toes.

Gar looked up and realized he was standing on a large plain. The field stretched as far as he could see, and above was a cloudless blue sky. There was no sound beyond the soft rustling of the grass all around him. The sight was both familiar and foreign at the same time.

Footsteps in the grass.

The sound started softly behind him. He couldn’t tell if it was an animal or humanoid. Soon more steps in the grass joined it, as if in the distance.

Gar looked around but saw no one. He turned in a circle several times, searching the horizon for whatever was rushing towards him. On the last turn a large outcropping of rocks about 150 feet high appeared before him in the distance. He stood staring in wonder at the stone hill that hadn’t been there before.

The sound of steps became running, and it was getting closer and closer. The amount of footfalls had increased and meant there were a huge number of people coming like a stampede. Still he could see no one but the noise grew ever louder. Soon whoever they were would be right on top of him.

Just before the sound reached a deafening percussive height, it ended abruptly.

It was then he felt a stinging pain in the center of his forehead. He began to touch the spot when a single body suddenly rushed past him. It stopped a few feet ahead of where he stood and turned, regarding him slowly.

It was a member of the Orestian royal guard in full ceremonial uniform, but the individual was not a person he had encountered before. His skin was grey and his eyes were strange.

They stared at each other for an immeasurable amount of time. The only thought that came into Gar’s mind was that this person, dressed as he was, was out of place on the grassy plain. He did not belong.

Soon the sound of people running began again. Gar turned.

Stretched as far as he could see was the whole royal court. He could make out his sister and parents, the high ministers and parliamentary leaders. Among them as well were lords and ladies of the court and several of the royal guard.

Each person was dressed in finery only reserved for coronations or funerals. They were all running as fast as they could. At first he thought that they were being pursued, chased by some unseen assailant. Then it became clear.

They were hunting.

Gar turned back to the guard who he had seen first.

With a simple gesture the strange soldier beckoned for him to follow. At that moment the young prince realized he was also dressed in a ceremonial uniform. This scenario was again strange and yet not totally unexpected.

As was his desire to join the hunt, and he too began to run.

Once they all reached the rocks the people started to climb without hesitation. Every person took hand to stone and began to ascend. The bulky clothing posed no obstacle as they worked their way to the top of the hill over rocks and dried branches. The prince was in the lead of the company, following his overwhelming urge to get to the top.

He reached it first.

There was a cave in the rock and whatever was in there gave a snort.

In the darkness the unmistakable sound of metal scraping ground could be heard. In the shadows a shape began to take form as one of it huge legs edged forward into the light. The haunch was red and shiny with gold detailing. It was well muscled and had huge claws. As the large foot pulled out of the shadows Gar realized he was staring at one of the thrusters of his shuttle. It was and yet it wasn’t.

For the first time the prince began to realize that something was terribly wrong. None of this was possible. The monster crept out of the opening, slipping from the shadows of the rocky overhang to reveal its gigantic form. Gar stared in confusion at the creature that was a wondrous paradox.