Bitter-Sweet (Installment 6)
A little faster than the last one...and longer..yay! Hope you enjoy!
"What was that thing?" Anton was the first to break the silence.
"It looked like an Ahware`," Nalia shook her head, "I thought they only existed in stories."
"I’ve never even heard of an . . .A--…Awar—"
"Ahware`"
"That!"
"Like I said . . . stories, I always thought they were meant to keep me from running off when I was little."
"How?"
"Oh, you know, better stay with mummy and daddy or the Ahware` will get ya . . . that kind of thing."
"Oh."
"What is an -- it?"
"Basically, a sinister terrestrial species that refused to conform to the regulations of the intergalactic council."
"And . . . until now, have remained within the obscurity of deep space."
"You got it," Nalia suddenly jumped up and signaled for silence.
She silently crept toward the door, Anton watched in horror as she stepped as the uneven trod of an Ahware` neared the corridor. He tried to pull her back, mouthing "What are you doing?" but the young woman easily evaded his clumsy grasp, seizing a nearby pot all the while.
She crouched in the gloomy corridor. As soon as the bioluminescent creature rounded the corner, Nalia went into action. Anton watched, helpless, from the door as his companion took an action he did not understand.
"Yoo-hoo!" the woman called out, effectively calling the Ahware`’s attention to herself. It fired its wicked-looking stun-phaser at her, but the beam just missed Nalia’s feet as she nimbly swung herself up into the rafters.
Anton had to hold back a shout as the beam struck the doorframe inches from his shoulder and ricocheted into the neighboring wall. He looked into the rafters, amazed at the young woman’s cat-like reflexes as she easily clambered through the rafters too small for most adults.
The Ahware`, baffled as to where his target had gone, shuffled down the corridor, pausing at the spot Nalia had been moments before. Anton was as surprised as the creature when the woman swung down and struck the Ahware` at the back of it’s head with her pot. Stunned, the being stumbled back a couple steps before collapsing into unconsciousness.
The pot clanged to the ground, announcing Nalia’s imminent arrival. She landed just as gracefully as she ascended.
"That was--!" Anton was speechless.
"Basic self-defense," she shrugged.
"Amazing."
"Not so much," she shunned the compliment, "guards get lonely and sometimes they just won’t take ‘no’ for answer. Best to catch them unawares."
"Bu—" he was shocked into silence.
"C’mon," the woman was crouched over the Ahware`, "hideous, ain’t it?" She giggled as she prodded it.
"Uh, shouldn’t we be…you know…getting out of here…you know…before that wakes up." He pointed an accusatory finger at the creature.
"Relax, we’ve got a few minutes . . . how often do you get to study a fictional creature?" she poked the being again, it grunted, "look!" she showed her hand to Anton, her fingers were glowing blue. "They must excrete this stuff through their skin."
"That’s…"
"Cool?"
"Disgusting," he gasped as the Ahware` twitched.
"Fine," Nalia rolled her eyes, "here."
Anton barely had time to react before he found a stun-phaser power cartridge in his hands, the gun itself rested in the young woman’s hands.
"Oh shit!’ Nalia exclaimed.
"What is it?"
"This thing is set to kill!" She was staring wide-eyed at the phaser.
"Kill?" Anton interjected, though Nalia acted as if she hadn’t heard.
"I mean, the symbols are strange, not the intergalactic alphabet we are used to, but I can feel the power pulsing through it."
"Umm…?"
"Nalia," she blurted without thinking, Anton didn’t seem to notice, "what?"
"It’s waking up."
"What?!" Sure enough, the Ahware` was beginning to stir. Nalia darted down the corridor, stun-phaser in hand. Anton followed, though his steps echoed through the hall.
He had lost sight of her. Nalia weaved through the maze that was the Plutonian Intergalactic Prison of the Solar System. Suddenly he found himself being yanked into a dark recess.
"You’ve got to do a better job of keeping up." Anton merely stared as the woman yanked the cartridge from his hands and fiddled with the controls of the weapon, reducing its power, "give me your arm." She held out her hand.
"Why?"
"To neutralize your chip."
"My?"
""O come on, the little silicon chip that serves as identification embedded in your arm . . . implanted at birth."
"I know! But how to you plan to ‘neutralize’ it, and wherefore?"
"Wherefore?" Nalia stifled a giggle, "Who has talked like that since the 1600s?"
"Sorry, amateur Shakespearean Actor."
"You?"
"I—I," he began to redden.
"My, my, our very own Romeo. Slew your love’s cousin, have we?
"Wha'?"
"Arm." Nalia ordered, Anton offered it without thought.
"Why would I—GAHH!" Nalia quickly clapped a hand over his mouth.
"Shush! Unless you want the Ahware` to grant you the same fate as the others."
Releasing the hapless young man, she placed the phaser near her own arm, midway between shoulder and elbow. The stun-phaser buzzed, she barely winced. A bright red mark appeared as she took the weapon away
"Why are we, I mean, how does the, why the chip?"
"You know as well as I, that all your records: medical, legal, incarceration, identification, are all stores on the microchip implanted in your arm. Official use scanners to find out who you are and where you are from. We would be re-imprisoned faster than you can blink if it were discovered we were supposed to be on Pluto."
"You plan . . . to leave?"
"Did you think I was planning on waiting for the Ahware` to kill me?"
"No."
"Come."
"Where"
"To the entrance bay, the only way in or our of this God-forsaken place, it would be the only place they could have their transport."
"You plan to . . ."
"Borrow, steal, hot-wire, take on a joyride, and otherwise hijack the Ahware` vehicle? Yes."
"WOAH!" Anton froze, "And you plan to do this, now?"
"When else?"
"I don’t know, how about whenever reinforcements come?"
"Anton, it will take at least a month for someone to discover what has occurred here, and the Ahware` will be long gone by then. Unless they are stupid enough to go on a direct invasion of Earth."
"A month?"
"Yeah, we don’t get many ships out here unless emergency is declared. As we heard no sirens, it’s pretty safe to say the communications system was disabled before the alarm could be sent out. We won’t get another ship until the re-supply shuttle. And that won’t be for another month"
"OK, then riddle me this, miss know-it all," Nalia’s eyes shot daggers at him, "what happens if we meet one of them, I don’t know, maybe guarding the ship?"
"We shoot them, or are you too weak-willed?"
"And after, how do you plan to escape?"
"You leave the driving to me, Romeo-boy," she patted him firmly on the shoulder and strode confidently down the corridor.
Anton followed at a distance. He barely noticed when she disappeared into the shadows, hardly registered the raspy breath and shuffling steps. It was an odd clicking noise that made him turn around and come face to face with the rancid breath and gruesome teeth of an Ahware`.
The youth found himself staring as the creature raised an arm, if it even qualified as an arm, to strike. He could make no noise, no cry for help; not that anyone would be able to help. He gasped as he heard a zap, felt the tingle of electricity shoot past his arm, all too reminiscent of moments before.
The Ahware` fell, lay still. No sound emitted from its frame. Dead. Nalia stood still as stone, arms poised, still aiming the alien stun-phaser, aimed at the prone creature. She was in nearly as much shock as Anton; she released her breath.
"Dead?" she questioned.
"Yes," Anton now crouched beside the corpse.
"You are unharmed?"
"Shaken a little, but unscathed."
"Good, I set the thing as high as it would go, no time for minute details. Wasn’t sure what proximity would do, providing I actually managed to hit that thing. You were so near." Finally, she allowed the weapon to drop to her side.
"Damn good shot."
"Heh, damn lucky," Her eyes met his, "for you."
"You mean?"
"Never shot a stun-phaser. I mean, not over distance, and not of this caliber, just the low voltage you use at close range."
"So that was . . . "
"Pure luck. And I don’t much believe in luck."
"It looked like an Ahware`," Nalia shook her head, "I thought they only existed in stories."
"I’ve never even heard of an . . .A--…Awar—"
"Ahware`"
"That!"
"Like I said . . . stories, I always thought they were meant to keep me from running off when I was little."
"How?"
"Oh, you know, better stay with mummy and daddy or the Ahware` will get ya . . . that kind of thing."
"Oh."
"What is an -- it?"
"Basically, a sinister terrestrial species that refused to conform to the regulations of the intergalactic council."
"And . . . until now, have remained within the obscurity of deep space."
"You got it," Nalia suddenly jumped up and signaled for silence.
She silently crept toward the door, Anton watched in horror as she stepped as the uneven trod of an Ahware` neared the corridor. He tried to pull her back, mouthing "What are you doing?" but the young woman easily evaded his clumsy grasp, seizing a nearby pot all the while.
She crouched in the gloomy corridor. As soon as the bioluminescent creature rounded the corner, Nalia went into action. Anton watched, helpless, from the door as his companion took an action he did not understand.
"Yoo-hoo!" the woman called out, effectively calling the Ahware`’s attention to herself. It fired its wicked-looking stun-phaser at her, but the beam just missed Nalia’s feet as she nimbly swung herself up into the rafters.
Anton had to hold back a shout as the beam struck the doorframe inches from his shoulder and ricocheted into the neighboring wall. He looked into the rafters, amazed at the young woman’s cat-like reflexes as she easily clambered through the rafters too small for most adults.
The Ahware`, baffled as to where his target had gone, shuffled down the corridor, pausing at the spot Nalia had been moments before. Anton was as surprised as the creature when the woman swung down and struck the Ahware` at the back of it’s head with her pot. Stunned, the being stumbled back a couple steps before collapsing into unconsciousness.
The pot clanged to the ground, announcing Nalia’s imminent arrival. She landed just as gracefully as she ascended.
"That was--!" Anton was speechless.
"Basic self-defense," she shrugged.
"Amazing."
"Not so much," she shunned the compliment, "guards get lonely and sometimes they just won’t take ‘no’ for answer. Best to catch them unawares."
"Bu—" he was shocked into silence.
"C’mon," the woman was crouched over the Ahware`, "hideous, ain’t it?" She giggled as she prodded it.
"Uh, shouldn’t we be…you know…getting out of here…you know…before that wakes up." He pointed an accusatory finger at the creature.
"Relax, we’ve got a few minutes . . . how often do you get to study a fictional creature?" she poked the being again, it grunted, "look!" she showed her hand to Anton, her fingers were glowing blue. "They must excrete this stuff through their skin."
"That’s…"
"Cool?"
"Disgusting," he gasped as the Ahware` twitched.
"Fine," Nalia rolled her eyes, "here."
Anton barely had time to react before he found a stun-phaser power cartridge in his hands, the gun itself rested in the young woman’s hands.
"Oh shit!’ Nalia exclaimed.
"What is it?"
"This thing is set to kill!" She was staring wide-eyed at the phaser.
"Kill?" Anton interjected, though Nalia acted as if she hadn’t heard.
"I mean, the symbols are strange, not the intergalactic alphabet we are used to, but I can feel the power pulsing through it."
"Umm…?"
"Nalia," she blurted without thinking, Anton didn’t seem to notice, "what?"
"It’s waking up."
"What?!" Sure enough, the Ahware` was beginning to stir. Nalia darted down the corridor, stun-phaser in hand. Anton followed, though his steps echoed through the hall.
He had lost sight of her. Nalia weaved through the maze that was the Plutonian Intergalactic Prison of the Solar System. Suddenly he found himself being yanked into a dark recess.
"You’ve got to do a better job of keeping up." Anton merely stared as the woman yanked the cartridge from his hands and fiddled with the controls of the weapon, reducing its power, "give me your arm." She held out her hand.
"Why?"
"To neutralize your chip."
"My?"
""O come on, the little silicon chip that serves as identification embedded in your arm . . . implanted at birth."
"I know! But how to you plan to ‘neutralize’ it, and wherefore?"
"Wherefore?" Nalia stifled a giggle, "Who has talked like that since the 1600s?"
"Sorry, amateur Shakespearean Actor."
"You?"
"I—I," he began to redden.
"My, my, our very own Romeo. Slew your love’s cousin, have we?
"Wha'?"
"Arm." Nalia ordered, Anton offered it without thought.
"Why would I—GAHH!" Nalia quickly clapped a hand over his mouth.
"Shush! Unless you want the Ahware` to grant you the same fate as the others."
Releasing the hapless young man, she placed the phaser near her own arm, midway between shoulder and elbow. The stun-phaser buzzed, she barely winced. A bright red mark appeared as she took the weapon away
"Why are we, I mean, how does the, why the chip?"
"You know as well as I, that all your records: medical, legal, incarceration, identification, are all stores on the microchip implanted in your arm. Official use scanners to find out who you are and where you are from. We would be re-imprisoned faster than you can blink if it were discovered we were supposed to be on Pluto."
"You plan . . . to leave?"
"Did you think I was planning on waiting for the Ahware` to kill me?"
"No."
"Come."
"Where"
"To the entrance bay, the only way in or our of this God-forsaken place, it would be the only place they could have their transport."
"You plan to . . ."
"Borrow, steal, hot-wire, take on a joyride, and otherwise hijack the Ahware` vehicle? Yes."
"WOAH!" Anton froze, "And you plan to do this, now?"
"When else?"
"I don’t know, how about whenever reinforcements come?"
"Anton, it will take at least a month for someone to discover what has occurred here, and the Ahware` will be long gone by then. Unless they are stupid enough to go on a direct invasion of Earth."
"A month?"
"Yeah, we don’t get many ships out here unless emergency is declared. As we heard no sirens, it’s pretty safe to say the communications system was disabled before the alarm could be sent out. We won’t get another ship until the re-supply shuttle. And that won’t be for another month"
"OK, then riddle me this, miss know-it all," Nalia’s eyes shot daggers at him, "what happens if we meet one of them, I don’t know, maybe guarding the ship?"
"We shoot them, or are you too weak-willed?"
"And after, how do you plan to escape?"
"You leave the driving to me, Romeo-boy," she patted him firmly on the shoulder and strode confidently down the corridor.
Anton followed at a distance. He barely noticed when she disappeared into the shadows, hardly registered the raspy breath and shuffling steps. It was an odd clicking noise that made him turn around and come face to face with the rancid breath and gruesome teeth of an Ahware`.
The youth found himself staring as the creature raised an arm, if it even qualified as an arm, to strike. He could make no noise, no cry for help; not that anyone would be able to help. He gasped as he heard a zap, felt the tingle of electricity shoot past his arm, all too reminiscent of moments before.
The Ahware` fell, lay still. No sound emitted from its frame. Dead. Nalia stood still as stone, arms poised, still aiming the alien stun-phaser, aimed at the prone creature. She was in nearly as much shock as Anton; she released her breath.
"Dead?" she questioned.
"Yes," Anton now crouched beside the corpse.
"You are unharmed?"
"Shaken a little, but unscathed."
"Good, I set the thing as high as it would go, no time for minute details. Wasn’t sure what proximity would do, providing I actually managed to hit that thing. You were so near." Finally, she allowed the weapon to drop to her side.
"Damn good shot."
"Heh, damn lucky," Her eyes met his, "for you."
"You mean?"
"Never shot a stun-phaser. I mean, not over distance, and not of this caliber, just the low voltage you use at close range."
"So that was . . . "
"Pure luck. And I don’t much believe in luck."
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