Eternal Horizon: The Chronicle of Vincent Saturn (Eternal Horizon: A Star Saga Book 1) (4 page)

Vincent swallowed. “I… I don’t know…”

“You actually think I’m gonna believe that?”

“Why would I lie to you?”

“
Why?
Just look at ya!
What
are you? Why should I trust you?”

“So, what are you going to do?” Vincent finally gave up reasoning.

The alien sighed and chewed on his lower lip. “I’ll take you to the twins. They shall decide your fate.”

“What twins?”

The alien shoved the gun into Vincent’s abdomen. “Let’s go.”

“Look, you need to lower your weapon,” Vincent said calmly. “We mean you no harm.”

The alien seemed confused again. “You still believe we’re on this magical planet called ‘Earth?’ Just move.”

Vincent groaned, turned, and headed toward the opening. He thought about what the alien had told him, but it made no sense. Alex would’ve surely helped him out.
But where is he? How come he didn’t come to my aid when I passed out in this ship? And come to think of it, how did I end up here in the first place? And how did the vessel straighten?
He felt sharp pain in his head under that avalanche of questions.

“There,” the alien said, pushing Vincent to the door.

As he stepped outside, a view of supernatural beauty appeared in front of his eyes—one he’ll never forget. The sky was orange, filled with lavender and cobalt clouds that wrapped around a planet full of blue oceans and green continents. A crimson moon rode the evening sky alongside the planet, casting its reddish light down on the huge city below. Thousands of buildings covered the visible horizon, their peaks penetrating the clouds with millions of flying cars and ships soaring above, between and through their enormous structures.

Vincent froze in awe, staring at the futuristic metropolis and at the planet in the sky. His heart began to beat frantically as a wave of dizziness surged through him. He turned to the creature. “Where… am… I?” he slurred out.

“Planet Sebalon 2,” the alien replied. “So,
now
who’s the alien, my friend?”

Vincent couldn’t reply.
All this is a dream
, he thought.
It’s not real
. His eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he passed out again.

The Sons of Liberty

“Wake up! Saturn, wake up!”

Vincent opened his eyes and recoiled again.

The alien squinted in puzzlement. “What’s wrong with you? You’ve actually never seen a Dirsalian before?”

“A what?”

“A Dir…” The alien paused, realizing the man beside him was truly an outsider. “Never mind.”

“Where am I?” Vincent asked, looking around in panic as he began recalling that he somehow ended up on an alien world. He was sitting in the passenger seat of what seemed to be a convertible car that hovered a few feet above the ground.

“You passed out,” the alien replied, clicking buttons on the complex panel. “I had to drag you here.”

The interior of the jet was similar to that of a regular automobile with a tad of extraterrestrial technology: the seats and the door panels were made of black leather and delicately engraved with silver markings, and a monitor on the dashboard projected a hologram in midair.

“This is a speeder, Clausian model,” the alien explained, hitting a switch that produced a windshield. Another hologram lit up in the top middle of the windshield, displaying the rearview image. “Old junk, but really fast. Now, hold on.” He stomped his foot and slightly tugged the wheel.

Within a second, the vehicle elevated to a height of fifty feet.

“
Whoa!
” Vincent cried out, grabbing the door handle.

The alien chuckled. “Relax, you’ll get used to it!” He then pushed a button on the armrest and a soft belt made of rubber material extended across Vincent’s lap, holding him tightly to the seat.

“Where are we going?” Vincent blurted out.

“To find out what’s goin’ on.” The alien reached into his pockets and produced a pack of cigars. He pulled one out, unwrapped it, and then placed the pack into a compartment on the dash. “This’ll calm me down,” he muttered as he lit it with what seemed to be a regular lighter.

The ship was behind them, firmly parked on the outskirts of the city. Vincent wanted to ask how it managed to land so perfectly on this distant planet, but then decided it’s better to keep his mouth shut before he got himself into more trouble. However, there remained in his head countless questions:
What of the men that were supposed to be on that ship? What happened to them? Where’s Alex? And just where am I? How did I end up here? Where am I being taken to?

“By the way, my name’s Spaide Caroon.” The alien stretched out his hand. “Captain Spaide Caroon,” he added as he took a deep drag.

Vincent hesitated. “What, you don’t think I’m dangerous anymore?” he asked, returning the grip.

“Not when you passed out like that back there,” the alien said mockingly. “I really believe you’ve no idea where you are.”

All of a sudden, sirens blared from behind.

“How come I didn’t see them?” Spaide grumbled. “It’s your fault. Damn it!”

Vincent glanced back and saw several red and black jets with blinking lights beginning to surround the abandoned ship. “What’s going on?”

“Why me?” Spaide fussed. “It always has to be me! I always bring trouble!”

“STOP! THIS IS THE IMPERIAL POLICE!” announced the speaker and one of the vehicles began closing the distance between them.

“Well?” Vincent asked in uncertainty.

“If I bring a tail with me again…” Spaide said softly, reaching into his pocket. “I won’t hear the end of it. I knew I should’ve moved the ship. But… there was no time… given the severity of the situation…” It seemed like he was making excuses for himself, trying to justify his impending actions.

“Are you going to stop? What’s going on?”

“I don’t think so,” Spaide said, pulling out some type of remote. “
Oryon’ll
be furious when he finds out, but it
must
be done.”

“What must be done? What are you doing?”

“LOWER THE VEHICLE IMMEDIATELY!” The police jet was right behind them.

“What are you doing?” Vincent repeated.

“Watch this,” Spaide said and pressed the button on the remote.

An earsplitting explosion thundered behind them, blowing up the ship that brought Vincent to this extraordinary world. The force of the blast scattered the police vessels in every direction. The one that was behind them managed to faintly graze their trunk the very moment Spaide floored the pedal, flying up and ahead at an unspeakable speed.

“
You fool!
” Vincent screamed, holding onto the dashboard for his dear life. “How am I going to get back home? That ship had the last destination!”

“Shut up!” Spaide replied, advancing towards the metropolis.

“
Stop!
” Vincent shouted, clasping his stomach. The dinner he ate a few hours ago (or at least what he thought had been a few hours) was finding itself back to the surface.

“
Shut—the hell—up
!”

“No, I won’t! I need to get back, and they can probably help me!”

“Look, Saturn, I’m doing you a favor!”

“Doing
me
a favor? Just pull over and let me out!”

“I have the ship’s course right here!” Spaide showed him a small disk. “Now, shut up and stay still!”

Spaide’s moderate answers failed to inform Vincent as to why they were escaping from the apparent authority, but he decided not to bother the crazy alien any longer. At this moment, his biggest concentration was not to end up splattered against some building or get blown up.

Within minutes, a dozen police vehicles were hot on their pursuit. Nevertheless, the Dirsalian accelerated the jet to full velocity, finally reaching the city.

The magnitude of these buildings could easily dwarf those of Earth. Some were circular skyscrapers, some square, and others in different geometric forms, the rays of the setting sun skipping on their glassy surfaces. Numerous catwalks, tube tunnels, and bridges stretched from one building to another, guiding myriads of creatures and robots. Jets and ships traveled in controlled lanes and through the tunnels that were built within the structures, while long trains escalated the sides of the buildings and ran across the skyline on metallic viaducts.

And Spaide flew everywhere with complete disregard. He soared in and out of the lanes, through the tunnels, up into the sky, and all around the buildings. Vincent thought they’d crash at any given second; he held on dearly for his life, and at times even closed his eyes. Yet another part of him—some inner part that he couldn’t quite yet understand—was thrilled beyond words.

People dodged in horror as their jet swept over a catwalk connecting two skyscrapers.

Vincent raised his arm to cover his face. “You’re going to kill us!”

“Never me,” Spaide said smugly, maneuvering the jet beside one of the speeding trains, trying to match its speed. The people in the train flocked to the windows trying to see the daredevil.

The police vehicles doubled, appearing from every direction in desperate attempts to stop the crazy Dirsalian. His unremitting tricks held them at bay, for most of them dared not pull similar stunts.

But there were a few that dared. As Spaide passed under the train and took a sharp turn into a small alley, one of the police jets crashed into the building, sending glass and debris into the city below. And this act was enough of a reason for the pursuers to open fire.

Huge spheres of blue energy started to explode around their speeder. Spaide began wobbling side to side, evading the fire. One of the energy balls smashed into a nearby jet, completely shutting off its power and forcing it to crash into a glass tube-tunnel. Luckily, the tunnel was empty at the time, and the innocent driver managed to eject before the impact.

“Immobilizers,” Spaide said, smiling. The whole chase scene seemed to amaze him. He had somewhat of a childlike glow about him: eyes wide in excitement and face frozen in a self-assured grin.

“You’re crazy, aren’t you?” Vincent said.

Spaide curled his lip. “That’s what they say. But as Duell would assert, ‘What is crazy anyway? Why would you label someone
cra
—’”

“
Whoa!
” Vincent cried out as they almost flattened against a wall.

Two more of the police vehicles smashed into the building at the awkward turn, creating explosions that covered their trail in smoke.

“Now you’ve done it!” Vincent shouted as orange blasts began to zap beside their jet. “Let me guess… those things are
not
immobilizers?”

“Relax! I’m on top of things,” the Dirsalian replied.

“
Relax
? During this mayhem?”

“Mayhem? You think
that
was mayhem? Watch!”

Spaide gathered speed, pulled the vehicle into a climb, and they headed back, flying upside-down over the pursuers.

“Will you please stop?” Vincent begged as they straightened.

“Relax, damn it! I’m the best pilot in the galaxy!” Spaide changed the direction straight up into the clouds.

The gravity sucked Vincent into his seat. “Just let me out, and then you can be on your way!” he forced out against the wind. “I’m pretty sure they’ll help me get home!”

“You’re not goin’ anywhere till we get to the bottom of this!”

“The only thing that’s at the bottom is my stomach!”

“Hold on!”

The sirens resonated from the distance as the frantic officers took their trail once more.

Spaide navigated the jet past the clouds and over the tallest buildings.

They suddenly stopped.

It was a magnificent sight: the evening sky was filling with stars that replaced the setting sun—a heavenly battle between the darkness and the light, where the darkness ultimately prevailed. The vast ocean of structures stretched in every direction with no end in sight. The surface itself was not visible due to the thick clouds that clustered around the bases of the skyscrapers, but lights still shone through—millions of them—signifying that people lived down there as well.

This city alone could’ve easily accommodated over a hundred million citizens.

Spaide began to turn back down.

“Oh, boy,” Vincent whispered. “You’re not going—” He couldn’t finish his sentence as they swooped back into the city.

“If they get their hands on you, you won’t have a home anymore!” Spaide shouted against the wind.

“
Why?
” Vincent asked, clenching the dashboard.

“I’ll explain later! For now, you’re safe with me!”

“I don’t think so,” Vincent mumbled as they headed straight at the pursuers. The police vehicles spread out of the way as they continued plunging downward at that ridiculous speed. They flew past several traffic lanes and down into the murky clouds, all while barely escaping impact. After a few seconds, they exited the fog to enter the lower city, and Vincent finally saw the ground.

The foundations of the gargantuan buildings were lit up with millions of lights, both from the windows and from the multi-colored banners scribed in alien characters. The presence of jets was much scarcer here: most of the inhabitants traveled on foot, overflowing the streets by the thousands. Here and there in the crowd were grounded vehicles, reminding Vincent of Earth’s cars and providing an example of how much more advanced this world was than our own.