18 THE HYANGUSHA
Emilie was waiting beside Cruiser number thirty four in the Cruiser Bay, by the time, the other three had made it there.
“I like this Cruiser!” said Emilie, in a surge of excitement on seeing them.
“All are the same!” said Kru disapprovingly, with a confused look.
“Seriously, how did you fall for this guy?” asked Troy at Holloway.
“Looking back now,” said Holloway. “I seriously have no idea!”
“Well, he’s a machine, I guarantee you that,” said Troy, shaking his head as they neared the Cruiser 34.
“Yes, he is,” whispered Holloway seductively, “My love machine!”
Troy felt a wave of weirdness travel down his spine, upon hearing Holloway say that and instinctively shut up.
Kru meanwhile, opened the Cruiser door and made into it, followed by the rest. He and Holloway took their seats in the Command Centre, while Troy, Emilie and Sniffles stood behind their seats.
“I have the location of the fallen Volskian ship, about nine hundred miles northwest from here, we should be there in less than five minutes,” said Kru, setting his Holotab on a dock beside him and activating the ship.
“I think we should have a look around, before we leave,” suggested Troy.
“Are you out of your mind?” snapped Kru. “This is not the time to play!”
“Dude! It’s the earth, the planet where we all originated from! Don’t you have any curiosity? Even about the life forms here? What about the dominant species, Rutgers was talkin’ about, huh?” said Troy, squeezing Kru’s shoulders.
“I can’t believe Rutgers made you a part of this team!” mumbled Kru, as he squirmed in pain and eventually slapped Troy’s hands, when he couldn’t bear the pain anymore.
“Take us out, then cap’n,” said Troy sarcastically, “To the Wild, Wild West!”
“Northwest!” corrected Kru, as he punched in the launching protocol.
“Machine!” muttered Troy with disgust.
The Cruiser number thirty-four took off gently from its parking area and hovered towards the take-off lane.
Kru tapped his transmitter and said, “This is Cruiser number thirty-four requesting take-off, by the order of the captain.”
“Granted,” replied stiffly the person from the other end and the large Cruiser Bay door opened onto bright sunshine. Sunlight flooded the Bay with all its warmth and for the five, who hadn’t seen sunlight in days, it was a welcome sight. The Cruiser blasted onto the outside, onto the black earth.
“That’s disappointing!” said Holloway, upon seeing the black-brown earth.
“We’re in the crater,” reminded Troy.
“Oh! Yeah!” exclaimed Holloway. “I forgot!”
Kru pulled the Cruiser up as they exited the large blackish brown crater, which the Orion Swift had created upon its crashing. Plush green grass and isolated trees met their sight for a hundred miles in every direction.
“It’s amazing!” cried Emilie, lifting Sniffles to show the scenery through the Voidshield.
“It’s such a beautiful meadow!” said Holloway, temporarily forgetting everything else in the light of the beauty that faced her. Troy was dumbstruck at what he saw, it was almost like Kepler. Almost.
“Tsokay!” interrupted Kru, and punched in hypersonic speed. “Holiday’s over!”
Holloway let out a low growl as the Cruiser took cannonballed into the pristine blue sky.
“We should be arriving at our location in forty seconds,” announced Kru and relaxed back on his chair.
“We don’t have any sort of plan!” said Holloway, realizing it suddenly.
“Well, Troy’s the strategist!” said Kru.
Troy grimaced wryly at Kru, standing behind him and grudgingly said, “There’s no plan.”
That was enough to jolt Kru, out of his seat.
“What do you mean, there’s no plan?” asked Kru, looking at him with wide open eyes.
“What kind of plan do you want for this?” said Troy, shrugging his shoulders. “It’s a simple op, let’s keep it simple! By the way, we’re almost there, cap’n.”
Kru turned his head back hurriedly and started jabbing the controls, preparing the Cruiser for a landing.
“There it is!” said Holloway, pointing at the fallen, almost flattened black Volskian ship, right in front of them, resting in a small depression, surrounded by only dust and hard rock.
“Emilie, can you read the area for any live Volskians?” asked Troy, looking at her.
Emilie nodded and concentrated hard. After about a couple of seconds, she said, “There’s one alive!”
“Alright! Let’s suit up!” said Troy. “Holloway, come with me! You three stay here!”
“Why Holloway?” asked Emilie, with a pinch of jealousy.
“She’s the one who’s trained in combat and it’s not safe for you and Sniffles to come along,” said Troy then turning to Kru. “Stay safe.”
Troy and Holloway went down to the Armory and fitted themselves with a couple of Bummers and a new gun that Holloway introduced to Troy as the Blaster. Troy felt it was the coolest looking gun ever, with its cool black design and heaviness. She described it to him as a fast unloading gun with a load of two thousand rounds of exploding arsenic bullets.
Soon after getting their weapons, Holloway got a pair of black nanobot cubes from somewhere deep inside the armory.
“What’s this?” asked Troy, taking one of the cubes in his hands.
“It’s the official Albein armor suit for soldiers,” replied Holloway, with a smile.
“Cool!” said Troy, as he toyed with the cube for a while. Then he turned away from Holloway, took out the tiny transmitter from his pocket and put it on his right ear.
“Hello Max,” he whispered.
“It’s been some time, eh?” said Max, her voice as vibrant as ever.
“I’m sorry,” said Troy guiltily.
“Why do you apologize? I’m just an AI system,” said Max.
“But there are times when I do wish you were real,” said Troy.
“Enough with the butter, charmer,” said Max. “What do you want?”
Troy quickly explained the situation to Max.
“You’ll need your lenses for this,” said Max.
“Tsokay,” said Troy and reached inside his pocket again and got out the small lens box and wore the lens.
“Can you see?” asked Troy, as he rolled his blue eyes in all directions.
“Stop doing that,” chided Max. “I can see.”
“Great!” said Troy and turned around to see Holloway standing with her back turned towards him and in her inner wear.
Troy turned around as soon as he saw her, his heart palpitating and his mouth dry.
“Wow!” teased Max.
“Shut up!” said Troy, his face flushing with blood.
“She’s so……” teased Max.
“SHUT UP!” shouted Troy, getting Holloway’s attention, who turned around to face him.
“Ow! Wow!” cried Troy, fluttering his eyes at Holloway who was still wearing her translucent bionic bra and panties.
“What is it?” asked Holloway, with an innocent face.
“I..I..am..gonna go..gonna out ….of..out of here,” stammered Troy, his eyes fluttering faster than before.
“Look at that body, dude!” teased Max.
Troy snatched the transmitter out from his ear and dragged himself out of the armory. In the mild white light, just outside the armory, he put the transmitter back on.
“Tsokay, stop doing that, Max!” said Troy.
“Tsokay! Tsokay! Lover boy!” said Max. “What is it? You can’t cheat on Emilie?”
Troy let out a sigh, “This isn’t cheating!”
“Well! How am I supposed to know, I’m not the one in love!” teased Max.
“I don’t know, she kissed me after all and I don’t know, she’s kind of into me,” said Troy, not making much sense at all.
“So?” asked Max curiously.
“So,” explained Troy. “I don’t know, doesn’t that kind of bind me to her?”
“No, it doesn’t,” replied Max in a flash.
“I don’t want to do that to her, she’s a nice girl, very nice actually,” said Troy, smiling as he thought of her.
Max didn’t reply to that.
“Max?” called Troy. “Max?”
Slowly in the background, Troy could hear music playing and its volume rising every second.
You swept me off my feet and made me fall in looooovvvveeee with you….and now you shall always be mine……
“Shut up, Max,” said Troy blushing.
“Barbara Swing totally got your love story in a one liner,” said Max, as in adoration.
“Troy?” called Holloway, as she emerged out of armory in a stunning black suit.
“Yes!” replied Troy.
“You still haven’t changed?” asked Holloway.
“Oh yeah!” said Troy, flushing again. “I forgot, give me a sec.”
“Sure!” said Holloway cutely.
Troy went inside the armory and came back in the stunning black suit same as Holloway’s, with all the weapons strapped on their waist belts.
“Here take these!” said Troy, handing a couple of oxygen cans.
“Do we need this?” asked Holloway.
“Just in case,” said Troy and moved towards the elevator.
The duo emerged out of the Cruiser, on to the dry earth, in black smooth skin armored nanobot suits.
The place they were in was radically different from the place where the Orion Swift had landed. It was an arid area with large boulders here and there.
“I am feeling dizzy, Troy,” said Holloway, her legs going awry.
Troy immediately caught her from falling.
“Careful,” whispered Troy. “Put on the mask.”
Holloway transmitted the command onto her transmitter and the bots rearranged from her neck to form a sleek black helmet with a thin visor.
“It’ll take her some time to adjust to the earth’s conditions,” said Max. “Make her sit, for a while.”
“Right!” said Troy and made Holloway sit on the hard, cruel ground.
Troy then looked at the Volskian vessel about a hundred meters from them. He took the Bummer in one hand and the Blaster in the other.
“Wait!” said Holloway.
“Cover me from this position!” said Troy, moving towards the vessel.
Be careful! said Emilie, in his head. Troy turned and looked at the Command centre of the Cruiser and nodded his head on seeing Emilie, gazing at him.
He proceeded towards the vessel with bated breath.
“Max! I want you record everything and give me maximum data!” said Troy, as he closed onto the Volskian ship.
“Yes,” said Max. Troy reached the Volskian vessel and looked for an opening.
“Max, where’s the opening?” asked Troy.
“I’m still scanning, wait!” replied Max.
Troy looked at the ship. He was facing the belly side of the vessel. He saw the circular disk that was used to fire the fiery white comet-like projectiles. The whole vessel was curved and shaped exactly like a drone. Troy noticed that the right side of the vessel was completely smashed in. The vessel seemed to be totaled.
“Max, are you done?” asked Troy.
“Yes, it’s on top of the ship, like a rabbit hole,” said Max.
“Such a small entrance for such a big vessel?” asked Troy.
“The main entrance is destroyed,” replied Max, “Now, quickly on the other side!”
“Right!” said Troy and went over to the other side of the ship.
“How do I open it?” asked Troy, looking at the small circular depression on the top-side of the ship.
“You don’t,” said Max.
“Then what?” asked Troy, agitated by Max’s tone.
“You wait!” said Max.
“I got no time for that!” said Troy and strapped both his weapons to his belt and went closer to the circular depression. As soon as he came within the distance of a foot, the circular door opened, revealing darkness inside the ship.
“Be careful!” warned Max.
“What! Did you get anything?” asked Troy.
Then suddenly out of the blue, Emilie screamed in Troy’s mind, MOVE OUT!
As soon as she was done screaming, something whizzed out of the dark hole, knocking Troy over.
“Oww!” yelped Troy, as he grazed the ground. He immediately got up on his feet to face the alien.
The alien stood against the sun, with outspread wings and Troy couldn’t see a thing.
“SHOULD I SHOOT IT?” cried Holloway.
“NO, DON’T SHOOT!” shouted Troy, tapping his transmitter.
The alien gradually came down and landed a few feet away from Troy. Troy saw that the alien was a female and just a little older than him. She was about his height and had the physique of a soldier. She was covered in heavy black armor. She had short curly brown hair, golden brown eyes and looked exotic in every sense of the word.
“Who are you?” asked Troy.
“H’ashith mei hura Hyangusha eth y’vei heith Humons,” said the alien.
“What?” exclaimed Troy, as he hadn’t understood a word that the alien had just spoken.
“I am Eva,” said the alien upon realizing her mistake, in a crude Standard Order English accent.
“May I ask what you are doing?” asked Troy, his hands on the Blaster and the Bummer.
The alien saw Troy’s nervousness and said, “Don’t be afraid, I’m here to help you.”
“How can I trust you?” asked Troy, his hand clasping tightly around the Blaster and Bummer.
“Well, I saved you from the other ship, didn’t I? Isn’t that proof enough?” asked the alien.
“No, it’s not,” said Troy. “You probably fought with the other vessel, so that you can bag the bounty for bringing us down.”
“You have a very vivid imagination,” replied the alien.
Troy looked apprehensively at her but felt something in his guts that she was not harmful. He relaxed his hold over the weapons.
“I am Troy,” said he, taking a step closer towards the alien and extended his hand.
“Troy?” asked the alien doubtfully.
“Yes, Troy,” replied Troy.
“What’s your full name?” asked Eva, looking inquisitively at him.
“Troy Zander,” replied Troy.
“Your full, full name!” stressed the alien.
“Troy Dylan Zander,” replied Troy, wondering why the alien would bother with something as simple as a name. It wasn’t like she was going to identify him or something, for all he knew, she probably came from a galaxy from the other end of the universe.
“Your eyes,” said Eva, looking transfixed and almost adoringly at him, “Those golden flecks!”
Troy felt his eyelids and said, “Yea, it’s been there for some time.”
“They are actually glowing,” said Eva, still looking adoringly at him.
Troy quickly changed the topic and said, “We would like to ask a few questions before we take you into custody.”
“Do what you have to do,” said the alien calmly.
Troy was taken aback by the alien’s behavior.
“It’s very important that you take me along with you.”
Troy huffed in confusion, by that time, Emilie, Sniffles, Kru and Holloway made it there.
“She’s safe!” said Troy, as he heard clicking of weapons behind him. Then he turned towards Eva and asked again, “Why are you helping us?”
“I am Eva, a member of the Hyangusha, a rebel force fighting against Olscuro,” said Eva.
As Eva was speaking, Troy signaled Emilie to read her mind as to see whether she was speaking the truth.
“How did you find us?” asked Kru.
“The Hyangusha is spread across the galaxies and have been keeping an eye on all of Olscuro’s actions. We try to save what we can when he goes on a rampage destroying worlds.”
“Hyangusha?” asked Holloway, toying with its strange pronunciation.
“The Hyangusha was formed thirty years ago of your time, when Olscuro became the Volski Lord.
There were hundreds of thousands in the Hyangusha then, but we’ve been reduced to hundreds now,”
said Eva, in a bitter tone.
“What do you know of Olscuro?” asked Troy.
“No one knows anything definite about Olscuro’s origin,” replied Eva. “But he’s the most powerful Volskian who ever lived.”
“Will you help us fight the Volski?” asked Emilie.
Eva turned to look at her and said, “Of course, that’s what I’ve been doing all my life so far.”
Troy was unsure of making a decision, especially that of taking back her on the Orion Swift. He had no idea as to what she may be up to. He exchanged glances with Emilie, Kru and Holloway, but it didn’t help him make any decision.
“Do you have any plans?” asked Troy.
“Yes,” said Eva.
“Then do tell,” said Troy.
“Let’s take shade first,” said Eva and went past all of them. She went and stood under the shade thrown by the Cruiser.
“Tsokay, come on!” Troy called the others, in a sarcastic tone. “Our savior is waiting!”
When they all had gathered under the shade, Eva spoke, “According to all that I know, Olscuro is bent on making the last of the humans kneel before him and kill them.”
“Tsokay,” said Troy. “I guess we know that already.”
Eva gave him a cold look and continued, “Some time ago, the Volskian Leadership sent out a message to all its posts throughout the galaxies. The mission was to zero on the location of the last human mothership and report the location. My crew intercepted the message and to our luck we found that you were close by-”
“Where were you then?” interjected Kru.
“We’ve got a temporary rebel camp on the red planet-” answered Eva
“Then where did the other Volskian ship come from?” interrupted Kru again.
Eva took a brief deep breath.
“Volskian patrols and outposts are common in these parts of the galaxy, searching for the last of Hyangusha. It was from them, we salvaged this ride,” said Eva, pointing at the demolished Volskian vessel.
“So what do we do?” asked Holloway.
“We have to find the other vessel and take over it, before they confirm your location to the Volskian Leadership,” replied Eva calmly.
“I think they might’ve already done so,” said Troy. “It’s of no use!”
Eva looked at Troy and said, “I didn’t finish telling you the whole message.”
Troy stared back at her, “What is it?”
“The confirmation of your location isn’t a signal, sent from starships,” said Eva.
“Then?” asked Troy, not taking his eyes off her.
“It’s your capture along with the blonde girl,” said Eva. “Alive. ”
“That’s nonsensical!” snapped Troy, turning away from her.
“What happens when we get captured?” asked Emilie.
“Once the Volskian patrols capture both of you, Olscuro will come to destroy the rest,” said Eva.
“What would Olscuro want with us?” asked Emilie, looking confused.
“It kind of makes sense,” said Troy, as he began to think. “The Volskians didn’t kill the both of us when they had the chance, but tried to capture us. Olscuro would only be after us, if he wants something from us.”
“So what is different about you, two?” asked Eva, though she almost already knew the answer.
“I can see the Volski and he is different, different in a very different way, that I can’t explain,” said Emilie, after some time, looking as if lost in another world of thought.
“Are you sure?” said Eva and then suddenly realized what Emilie was talking about.
“So they’re after some sort of a special ability that we possess?” asked Troy.
“Whatever Olscuro after is much greater!” said Eva. “I can’t let them get to you both! I have to come with you!”
“How can we believe you? We have no guarantee that you may not turn against us, once we take you inside,” stated Troy, his hands on his hips, looking like a serious detective.
“Troy!” said Eva, with sudden passion. “He’s after the Chi’kara!”
“Key-kara?” repeated Troy unsure of what she meant.
“Chi’kara!” said Eva.
“What is that?” asked Troy.
“No time to explain! But it explains everything that may be happening to you, Troy! Now, quick! Back on your ship!” said Eva.
“How do you know-” jumped Troy at hearing what Eva told.
“The golden flecks in your blue eyes, it’s unnatural and only seen-” said Eva when she was suddenly interrupted by large noises sounding like roars, from far away in the distance.
“What was that?” asked Holloway, looking a little shaken by those noises.
“Let’s go!” insisted Eva.
Troy cast a quick glance at Emilie, who gave her approval.
“Alright!” said Troy, “Let’s go!”
“What if this was just an elaborate deception?” whispered Kru to Troy as they entered the Cruiser.
“It’s fine,” whispered Troy.
“What was that noise?” asked Holloway again. “It sounded frightening!”
“Those are the foul creatures that roam the earth now,” answered Eva.
“The Rippers?” muttered Kru, punching in their destination level on the elevator’s display hologram.
“Must be,” said Troy dryly as if the Rippers were the last thing in the universe that would bother him, now. Right now, Olscuro and a strange word Chi’kara captivated his attention.
The six got out of the elevator and made it to the Command centre, where Kru got the engines roaring.
“Arrest me,” said Eva, facing Troy as Kru and Holloway were working at the controls.
“Why? There’s no reason to do so,” replied Troy.
“It’s much simpler this way,” explained Eva. “Your people are going to make a drama out of this anyway. You can get me out once you calm them down”
“Tsokay!” said Troy, chuckling. “That’s very smart actually.”
“Just don’t let them kill me,” said Eva and smiled.
“We got you covered,” assured Troy, though he didn’t return the smile.
“About what you were telling earlier?” asked Emilie, as Sniffles hid behind her legs looking at the stranger in their midst.
“Now isn’t the time, I think,” said Eva.
“What about your crew?” asked Troy.
“They are dead,” said Eva dryly, with no signs of any emotional reaction. “And my mourning isn’t going to fulfill their destiny.”
“Forty seconds to the Orion Swift,” announced Kru, as the Cruiser slowly lifted from the ground, in a spiraling motion before it stopped briefly and shot into hypersonic speed.
“Chi’kara, eh?” whispered Troy to himself, thinking about what Eva had told him earlier.
At that precise moment, Max suddenly came alive and said,
“I have a message for you, Troy.”
“Who is it?” asked Troy casually.
“Your dad,” answered Max crisply.
“What!” jerked Troy, as his heart skipped two beats.
“I’m not joking, Troy,” replied Max.