This
Strange Alien World
A short sci-fi story by Chuck Keyes
"Captain, the hyper dimensional drive is
still producing some strange fluctuations from within."
"Lou, you’re the chief engineer
aboard the Space Empress, so go fix it!"
"Sir, with a limited amount of
sleep over the past six nights, my workers and I have been diligently working
on the problem. Remember, almost overnight the company rapidly installed this
hyper-dimensional force drive technology into our cargo ship, and all they can
see is their increased wealth by reducing our voyage to the Stellar Outpost
from eight months to less than three weeks, allowing us to transport ten times
the amount of plackton energy ore. Sir, I'm learning about the hyper
dimensional drive as I go along."
"Lou, since these unexplained
fluctuations have been occurring for the past six days, then they're most
likely not going to create a navigational problem."
"Sir, I cannot guarantee a
problem will not occur while we're traveling through the dimensional folds of
time and space."
"Then to solve this fluctuation
problem, you better keep learning about this new drive system!"
"Yes, sir," Lou voiced as he
exited the ship's command center.
Shanel turned away from the forward
portal to speak to the captain. "Luke Franklin, you're being a bit of a
snit."
The cargo captain waved his hand in
disgust. "Sorry, but this new hyper drive shouldn't be giving us any
problems. The company guaranteed that its safe."
"I wouldn't trust anything the
company says. This new hyper-dimensional drive is giving me the willies. I
don't like not being able to see any stars, and depending totally on the
dimensional hyper-drive's computer to navigate the Space Empress to the Stellar
Outpost is ridiculous. It'll only take one little hiccup and we might end up
inside the middle of a planet or a star."
Captain Luke Franklin chuckled. "Shanel,
we've been traveling nearly two weeks through the dimensional layers of the
universe and now you're voicing a concern."
Shanel shot the captain a warm smile.
"I promised you I'd give the company's new hyper-drive propulsion
technology a reasonable amount of time before making a judgment call.
Personally, I'd rather be sleeping in suspended animation for eight months than
blindly making this trip within three weeks.
The captain shook his head along with
a deep sigh. "To be honest with you, I'm not too happy about this new hyper-dimensional
drive system."
"Before these unexplained
fluctuations bite us in the ass, maybe we should figure out a way to turn this
ship around and go home."
"I'd love to go home and tell the
company to stick their new drive system where the sun doesn't shine, but they
preprogrammed our navigational station and helm, and I'm not sure if we can
override them."
"So what you're saying is the
company has literally kidnapped us as test subjects for their new
hyper-drive?"
The captain nodded. "I
guess."
Unexpectedly, Lou's voice excitedly
boomed over the ship's com system. "Captain, the fluctuations within the
hyper-drive have rapidly increased. I think we're beginning to weave in and out
the folds of space."
Captain Franklin's eyes jumped over to
the main forward portal. The view is rapidly flipping back and forth from
blackness to a sharp bluish brightness, as if their cargo ship is within a
planet's atmosphere. He pressed the com button. "Lou, is there any way we
can manually take control of the helm?"
"No, sir. The hyper-dimensional
engine is failing. Our only choice is ride the ship to wherever it takes
it."
Captain Franklin pounded on the
emergency landing alert button. Strong metal-like protective shields slid
across the numerous portals to protect them. Every deck exploded with flashing
red lights and loud sirens to warn his crew of twenty-three personnel.
Two hours have past by and the Space
Empress is still rapidly gliding through the atmosphere, heading toward an
unknown planet. Every crewmember was at wits end upon realizing how huge the
atmosphere must be around this unknown planet. As the ship approached the
planet's surface, its braking thrusters automatically engaged. The slide in
crash landing was not as bad as everyone had anticipated.
Captain Franklin extended the ship's
telescopic legs to level her off, and then he asked his crew for a damage
assessment. Besides the failed hyper-drive, the Space Empress did not receive
any damage.
"Captain, may I draw back the portal's
protective covers?" asked Shanel.
"Yes…yes, let's take a look at
this world we've unexpectedly landed on."
Shanel pushed a touchpad button and
the protective covers slid away. She gazed out at a strange new world. They're
surrounded by white and light brown trees that have no limbs or leaves. Accept
for the varying colors, every tree is identical in size, and they tower over
the Space Empress like eighty story skyscrapers. Each tree bows upward in
different directions. There's just enough sunlight passing down through the
trees to give Shanel a dusk-like view of the strange thick forest. "Luke,
do you see this? We've landed in a bizarre forest."
"Yes we have," said the
captain with his nose pressed against one of starboard portals. "I've
visited many alien planets during my career, and I've never seen anything like
this."
Shanel glanced down at her science
station readout to see if the air on this planet is breathable. Upon seeing it
is, she said, "Captain Franklin, since I'm your acting science officer,
then I'd like to have a team to go explore this new world. Besides, we don't
know how long we're going to be here."
"It could be dangerous," voiced
the captain.
"We'll bring along laser guns, communicators,
and flashlights."
"Maybe I should go with
you."
Shanel giggled. "Are you coming
along to go protect me as being your science officer…or as your dear sweet wife?"
The captain gave her a comical grin.
"I don't know." For a moment, he shook his head in thought.
"Both your jobs aboard the Space Empress are very important."
"Yeah, and I know somebody who's
going to be a lonely captain while he's sleeping every night on the top bunk for
the next eighty million light-years."
"That's an empty threat,"
said Luke along with a chuckle. "You couldn't go that long without your
handsome captain nestled next to you at night, keeping your female body warm
and safe. I don't want to be stuck on this weird planet forever. I need to talk
to Lou before we embark on our exploration. Go ahead and gather a team. I'll
meet you at the rear hatch. Oh, as a safety precaution, you better invite the
doctor."
"Okay, captain confidence!"
Heading to the engine section, Luke
briskly walked along the dim lighted passageways of the Space Empress. He
arrived to see Lou and his engineering team busily working on the enormous
hyper-drive system. "Lou, how's it going? I'd like to be off this unknown
planet as soon as possible."
"Me too," sputtered Lou.
"I've never seen such odd vegetation. Giant tall trees without limbs or
leaves are something you don't see every day!"
"What about this screwed up hyper-drive?"
snapped the captain.
"Now that the hyper-dimensional drive
system is off line, I safely enter its internal complexity, and I'm noticing
some major problems. Like my Trans-Coop Hover Mobile I purchased last year, the
hyper-engine manufacturer must have rushed through their assembly process to
meet the company's demands. All the hyper-link phase terminals are loose, and I
can see signs of degradable arcing between the power crystals and the cold
fusion electrical connections."
"So when can we attempt to take
off?" asked the captain.
A few moments passed by while Lou
scratched his head in thought. "Maybe within three or four hours. I don't
want to jump the gun and end up in the same predicament, or possibly
dead."
"I agree. I guess we can sit here
for four long hours."
Suddenly, the ground moved and
everyone had to take hold to prevent from being thrown about.
"What the blazes was that?"
cried Lou.
"It felt like an
earthquake," voiced the captain.
"Ever since we landed here, I've
been noticing a slight trembling under my feet. Maybe we can repair the hyper-drive
system within three hours."
"That would be wonderful, Lou.
I'll talk to you later. I'm going to join Shanel for an investigative walk
about the planet's surface."
"You guys better be careful out
there," said Lou, "Only the great Gods know what's on this weird world,
and it may be hostile."
"Thanks, we will be careful."
Captain Franklin set off toward the rear hatch.
After joining up with Shanel and her
five team members, she gave him a utility belt with a laser gun, a flashlight,
and a communicator mounted on it.
"Thanks."
Shanel smiled. "Let's go see
what's out there."
"Okay," the captain voiced
as he pressed the button to open the inward hatch. Everyone stepped into the decompression
containment room, and then Luke opened the outer hatch. An awful musty stench
rapidly attacked their nostrils.
"This world smells terrible!"
grumbled Shanel.
"Yeah, this odor is so disgusting
I'm not going to be able to eat supper," sputtered Dr. Cranston.
"Being a doctor, I'm sure you've
smelled worse," voiced the captain while he stepped outside onto the planet's
surface.
"Only when I'm working on
someone's intestinal track!"
Everyone followed Luke down the ramp onto
the surface.
Luke noticed how the limbless trees had
folded over the Space Empress without breaking, thus creating a tunnel over the
cargo ship. He figured these strange limbless trees must be flexible.
Shanel kneeled down to observe the
surface more closely. "I've never seen anything like this. There's only a
slight amount of sunlight, but the ground is warm to the touch, and I can feel
it slowly pulsating, as if the center of this planet is filled with a warm fluid."
She pounded her fist on the surface. "its firm, but it also has a strange
softness to it."
Exercising his ability to be a good
husband instead of a rigid captain, Luke helped Shanel to stand up. "Is
there any particular direction you'd like to go?"
"Any direction is fine with
me."
Luke took the lead. With their
flashlights in hand, they weaved around the giant limbless trees. Shanel
intermittently stopped to gather samples of flat scale particles scattered on
the ground and attached to the trees.
"We've been traveling nearly an
hour and the scenery hasn't changed," said the captain. "Although
we're starting to gradually head down hill, which might offer a welcomed change
of landscape. I wish we had more visibility through this strange jungle."
"It looks like these huge trees
fold over to produce an endless overhead canopy," Shanel voiced while she
shined the beam of her flashlight upward. "This explains why the sunlight
is so limited."
Without warning, a large creature
landed next to one of the team members. Everyone watched in horror as the ugly
six-legged monster bit into Paul's right shoulder, near his neck.
Luke and Shanel raised their laser weapons
and fired, but their cutting beams weren't powerful enough to penetrate the
creature's hard shelled body. Paul screamed in agony. Within a few minutes, he
became silent, and the giant bug-like alien jumped upward out of sight.
Dr. Cranston ran over to Paul's lifeless
body. He dropped to his knees to examine him. After a long moment, the doctor
said, "Captain, the creature has drained all of Paul's blood out of his
body."
"Doctor, the alien sucked out his
blood like a Tarragon vampire worm?"
"Yes, captain."
"Our weapons are useless against
the alien's hard exoskeleton body," cried Shanel.
"Which means we need to scurry
back to the Space Empress," shouted Luke.
They ran as fast as they can, circling
closely around the trees, hoping they'll provide cover from the monster.
Three of the monsters landed directly
in front them. Luke grabbed his wife's hand and dashed off to the left with the
doctor directly behind them. The three other team members veered to the right;
however, the alien creatures jumped on them, brutally biting into their bodies,
sucking out their precious blood of life.
Luke, his wife, and the doctor heard
the painful screams of their team members. They knew there was nothing they
could to save them. Pain exploded in their guts as fear forced them to keep
running. Out of breath, Captain Franklin ran through the ship's hatchway with Shanel
and Dr. Cranston by his side. As the hatch slowly closed, one of the monstrous
aliens landed in front of the hatchway, but luckily, it was too big to enter
the ship. Although it repeatedly smashed its hard body against the hatch door
and the ship's bulkhead.
After their bodies were automatically scanned
for any bio hazards, Luke and Shanel silently walked hand in hand to command
center to find Lou waiting for them. "Captain, Shanel, did you find
anything interesting out there?"
"We were almost killed by these large
alien creatures that resemble insects," chimed Shanel. "They have
round black compound eyes, huge rear ends, and powerful rear legs used jumping above
the trees."
"We lost four crewmates!"
snapped Luke. "Including your best friend, Paul"
"Oh damn, this is terrible."
"We need to leave this evil
planet."
"I do have some good news. After
we secured the loose connections, the hyper-drive powered up without any
problems."
"We can leave this world?"
"Yes." Lou nodded. "We
can now engage the hyper-engine, and when we reach the speed of light, the hyper
system will automatically transfer the ship into the dimensional layers of
space and time."
"Than let's take off!"
"But what about their bodies? We
need them for a proper funeral."
"I'm sorry, Lou. But any attempt
to retrieve their bodies would be suicide. We need to take off before these alien
creatures band together and figure out a way to enter the Space Empress."
"Since you put it that way, I'm
on it!" Lou hurriedly walked over to the navigation console and danced his
fingers across the glass touch paid, activating the hyper-drive.
The Space Empress instantly shot
upward, leaving behind a smoldering scorched area on the surface of the planet,
and within thirty seconds, the cargo ship reached the speed of light and disappeared,
traveling toward the Stellar Outpost.
When Jack Tyler heard his old Shepherd
Collie mix dog, loudly yelp in agonizing pain, he ran out onto his rear wooden
deck to see what's wrong. Jack noticed a small burnt section on the middle of his
dog's back. "Triumph, how the hell did you burn yourself?" Jack knelt
down next to Triumph to view the burn, and that's when he caught a whiff of
burnt dog hair. "Triumph, this is damn mysterious. I don't understand what
could've burned you. Oh my, boy, you're also covered with annoying fleas. Those
little vampires are going to suck you dry of blood" He chuckled in thought.
"Maybe the fleas started a campfire on your back to have a flea circus barbecue."
He gently patted Triumph's head. "Come on, you old-timer, let's go in the
house. I'll give a nice flea bath in the tub, and after drying you off, I'll put
some antiseptic cream on your burn."
The End!
© September 2011
