Barney
Damir warned me to hide when he saw the ships. There were too many of them, Ammar said, it wasn’t safe once they started transporting onto our trading vessel. I told them I was strong enough. When the fighting started, I held the weapon they gave me and I got one of the green aliens. He was huge. He came toward me fast.
Another one came up behind him. I missed, hitting the door frame above his head which sizzled and disintegrated from the poison in my weapon. Damir jumped. The creature’s laser fire hit him. Damir slumped over and I crouched under him. I couldn’t move even if I tried. Damir was too heavy. I knew they would take me back and eat me. I was sure of it.
The alien pulled Damir off of me.
“Is he dead?”
“Yes. I think so.”
“Uraz isn’t going to like this.”
“Get him off the ship. It’s our best shot.”
“What about the offspring.”
“Leave it. We have no use for it without the female.”
The one who killed Damir pulled him off and I kept crouching. I didn’t try to stop them. Ammar screamed at me — a long string of numbers. And then he screamed some more instructions but I forgot them already. I didn’t move. I could have helped them. But I was scared. Damir said I would never be a warrior and he was right.
Once they were gone, I got up and walked toward the view screen. It was black and empty. I walked up to the console but I didn’t want to do something wrong and make the whole ship blow up. I played video games sometimes of flying through space. This was different.
I sat crouched against the view screen, staring out into the nebula.
“Mom…” I whispered.
The ship continued its quiet hum.
“Mama…”
“Mama…”
There was no response and I know it wasn’t like a warrior but I cried and curled my knees up to my head. I wrapped my arms around them and sobbed.
“Mommy… come back…”
After a few hours, I couldn’t stand to look at the nebula anymore. I was hungry. Damir had gotten me used to eating mealworms. They weren’t so bad when you were really hungry. Plus, I closed my eyes and pretended it was crunchy spaghetti.
I heard Damir and Ammar talk to the computer. Maybe that would work.
“Computer. Can you take me back to Earth?”
“State your code authorization for travel out of this star system.”
The string of numbers Ammar had shouted…
“6…5…”
“Incorrect. Two more attempts before auto destruct.”
So much for that option. Adrift in space with no way out. This didn’t look good. Damir and Ammar weren’t coming back. My mom wasn’t coming back. I was alone. I could try fighting my way out of this like Damir would tell me to, but I knew my mother would want different for me.
She’d want me to think things through. She always said I was smart and I should use my head before my fists. Damir might be powerful and scary but my mom was still the strongest person I knew.
I had to find food. I walked over to the panels that Damir and Ammar taught me to use. I got a bowl of mealworms and took them back to the room I’d briefly shared with mom. I sat on her bed. What would she do if she were trapped?
The ship beeped loud. It beeped that way when Uraz and his men boarded us and took Damir and Ammar away. Damir was dead. He would have come back if they hadn’t killed him. Now I’d have to figure this whole ship out. Maybe I could captain it back to Earth.
I knew I never could. But I had to have hope, right? Mom said hope was blissful. I set down my unfinished bowl and raced all the way to the bridge. I gasped when I stared out the view screen. A large white chrome spaceship hovered overhead, nearly blocking half the view of the nebula.
“Communication from Devoran Royal Transport. Please answer.”
The voice sounded female and echoed throughout the ship. The warm hum now seemed so lonely.
I walked to the console and tried to remember what I’d seen Damir and Ammar use to communicate. They’d used it right before Uraz boarded the ship. It worked. The view screen flickered and the alien’s face appeared in front of me instead of the view of space.
“Who are you?”
I was stunned into silence. The alien before me was a woman. She had long silver white hair and blue skin. Blue… Her eyes were a dull amber color and her nose ridged.
“I said, who are you!”
“I…I…”
“For God’s sake transport me over there,” she grumbled.
Or did she? I could have sworn I heard her voice as if it were coming from inside my own head. I grabbed my weapon and aimed it around, whipping from side to side, unsure of where the alien would appear. She strode from behind the captain’s chair and she was even taller than my mother.
I clutched my weapon, willing myself to fire.
<<Put the weapon down, child.>>
I screamed and dropped the weapon. I hadn’t been imagining it. The alien had spoken to me in my…
<<Where are you from?>>
She crouched down to my eye level and squinted. Her eyes weren’t so much amber as a glowing yellow. At least they glowed slightly now. I clenched my fist and tried to stop the trembling fear in my legs.
Be a warrior. Be a warrior for mom.
<<Are you a human, little boy?>>
“Yes…”
“And how did a human get all the way over here?”
“I…”
“Are you affiliated with Duchess Ariana?”
“Who?”
“Never mind.”
All of a sudden, my head felt woozy and rush of confusing memories and bits of my life flickered past in my head like a stop motion movie. I was nauseous by the end of it and fell to my knees. The alien rose and looked down at me a smug smile on her face.
“Hello, Barnabas. Or do you prefer to go by Barney?”
She reached her hand down to lift me off the ground.
“Come, Barney. My name is Dhara. I think I can help you, but there’s someone you should meet first.”
“I need to find my mom.”
“I’ll help you find your mother. But first, you need to get off this ship. If a Taurean left you here, you can be sure he’ll come back eventually if for no other reason than to strip this vessel for parts.”
Dhara smiled at me and for the first time, I wasn’t exactly afraid of her.
