2199 Extinction

Darkness, again. Where are we this time? I take a couple of deep breaths to prepare myself and then open my eyes. I’m lying on my back, looking up at a ceiling that is made of metal. I hurriedly sit up and look around. Where’s Amlican? I find him a few feet away, lying on his back, not moving.

“Please don’t be dead,” I whisper as I crawl over to him. I reach my hand out and put two fingers on his neck, looking for a pulse. I feel a strong and steady throbbing. He is alive! “Amlican. Wake up.” I say, attempting to shake him awake.

“No. Stop,” he mumbles, rolling to his right side and swatting at me with his left hand.

“Amlican! Wake up!” I shout, shaking him, again. My voice bounces off the walls. The word, up, echoes and seems to be mocking me. I shift my eyes up and look around. We seem to be in a large, empty room of some kind. The walls are far away, and the ceiling is so far above me, that I can barely see it. Hm. I wonder. I can hear Amlican starting to stir so I look back down.

“Huh? Wha?” he says, opening his eyes and sitting up. He looks around and then looks at me. “Astra? It worked?”

“Yes! It worked! It really worked! We’ve time traveled, again.” I say, standing up. And then I do something that I rarely do, I laugh. Full out, belly shaking, bust-a-gut, laugh. I laugh so much that my stomach hurts, causing me to bend over and grab my stomach. After a few minutes, I calm down and the laughter subsides.

“Wow, I haven’t seen you laugh like that in a long time,” Amlican says.

“Must be from all the stress you have been under.”

“Don’t get used to it,” I say putting a scowl on my face. I straighten up, stretch, and then bend over and offer Amlican a hand up.

“I’m just saying, the laughing and the smiling brings out your beauty. I get tired of seeing you scowl all the time,” he says, taking my hand.

“I could just leave you here, on the floor. Or better yet, maybe I should just take you back to Talfar.” I say as I pull him to his feet.

“Hey, Hey. No, need for all of that,” he says, throwing his hands into a defensive position.

“Alright then, how about we go see where we are?” I walk around, looking, and spot a door a few hundred feet away from where we are. On the opposite wall, I can tell that the entire wall retracts into the ceiling.

“I wonder what that’s for?”

Amlican says, from behind me, pointing in the direction I was just looking.

“Well, if we are where we are supposed to be, that is probably one of a hundred or so doors. It should lead into space.” I say, walking towards the door.

“Space?” he asks in disbelief.

“Yeah, space. Big, dark, cold, airless vacuum, home to several species of Star Killers.” I say, sarcastically.

“I know what space is. I’m not stupid. I just don’t understand how we are that close to it. Where did you bring us, Astra?”

“Natatilis. At least I hope that’s where we are. The next place I remember my mother saying she saw Malum. And the whole point to all of this was to save my mother, remember?”

“For you, yes, for me, this is just another one of our crazy adventures. But, crazy or not, I am here to support you, same as always.” He says.

I examine the door in front of me. It’s tall and wide, and I don’t see any doorknobs, control panels, or scanners. How in Talfar do we get out of here? I run my hand across the surface of the door. I hear a whoosh sound, and the door slides into the left wall. Well, that’s new. Guess I need to leave Talfar more often. I step through the doorway, and into a hallway. I look both ways and see that the hallway stretches out and around a corner on both ends.

“So, which way do we go?” Amlican asks, from my right side.

“Well...” I say, looking to the right and then the left. “I think we should go this way.”

I turn to the left and start walking. The hallway is empty, but I can see several more of the doors, like we just come through, lining the wall on both sides, every so often. We come to an open door, on the right side of the hall, I look up and see the number fifty-five painted above the door. I cautiously, look inside.

Inside we can see a large ship, blue in color, long, narrow, and tall. An assortment of wooden crates is stacked up next to it. All around I see Salmazin scurrying around, loading crates, inspecting the ship. A series of random clicking and hissing sounds fill the large space.

“I never realized their ships are built just like them,” Amlican whispers, beside me.

I look closer and realize he is right. The Salmazin are tall, thin, and blue. They bend in the middle, the bottom half on the ground, and the top half upright. The entire underside of their bodies is covered in thousands of little legs. The ship itself looks exactly like an outstretched Salmazin, complete with two round black eyes. Ugh. Those things creep me out. It’s the scurrying that does it and all of those legs. I seriously hate bugs.

“Come on. Let’s keep moving.” I whisper, turning and leaving. We continue down the hallway, passing door after door, all closed. After a few minutes, we come across another open door, this time on our left. I can hear someone giving orders and the sound of someone being hit.

I stop and peer inside the large room. I can see a strange species. I wonder what they are, I have never seen them before. They seem to be about my height, with deep brown skin, and long narrow faces. Sharp claws protrude from each of their three fingers. They have a long, thin tail, that appears to help them balance on two legs. The legs are thick and muscular, with three toes on each foot, each toe ending in a wickedly sharp claw, that could probably slice me in half without much effort.

One of them opens their mouth to give an order, and I spot row after row of sharp teeth, glinting in the bright light. They seem to be unloading their ship, bringing large metal crates off and stacking them near the creature giving the orders. I notice something shimmering on the leader’s nose. What is that? I squint my eyes trying to figure it out, and then it hits me, he has a golden ring in one nostril.

“Oh, wow.” Amlican whispers. “I’ve heard rumors about those things. Never thought I would see one for myself.”

“You’ve heard of this species, before? What are they called?” I whisper, unable to take my eyes off, who I assume is the leader.

“Yes. I was reading this book called...” Amlican starts.

“Really? Now is not exactly a good time to go on and on about books. Just give me the condensed version.” I whisper, rolling my eyes. He is always going on about some book or another. It gets on my nerves.

“Okay, fine. They are called Ravog. They live further out than we have ever explored. Their ships are supposed to be so fast that they can travel through several galaxies in a manner of minutes. They are supposedly so deadly that they make,

even the Copaie, seem like harmless whimpering babies. They are rumored to be pirates. Stealing ships and killing off the crew.” Amlican explains, quickly and quietly.

“What do they do with the ships, they steal?” I ask while watching the leader, kick a fallen comrade. A large gash appears on the fallen one’s side, where it was kicked, and blood begins to pour out of it, onto the shiny metal floor. The nearest three, stop what they are doing and sniff the air.

“They have some sort of program, a computer virus, that infects the ship and changes it into one of their own. Rumor has it that they have explored more of the universe than any other creature.” Amlican says as we watch the Ravog.

The three that sniff the air, drop the crates they were carrying and run towards the fallen one. In a matter of minutes, they devour it until there is nothing left but a pool of blood.

“Get back to work!” the leader shouts. He was unaffected by the sight of the blood and the show of cannibalism. Curiosity causes me to take a small step forward. Did they just eat their comrade? My foot accidentally kicks a loose metal pipe laying at my feet. Suddenly, the four Ravog turn their heads in our direction. A loud noise, a cross between a snarl, a growl, and a howl, comes from their mouths and they run towards us.

“We are caught! Go! Go! Go!” I shout, turning back around. Amlican takes off, but those things are surprisingly fast. Despite my head start, they quickly catch up to me. One of them, grabs me, its long claws digging into my arm, causing searing pain.

“Let go!” I shout. I turn and punch the creature in the face, hoping it will loosen its grip. Instead, it digs its claws in, deeper. I reach for my blade, but another Ravog grabs my other arm before I can reach it. The two of them drag me, kicking and screaming over to their leader. At least Amlican got away.

“What do you want with me?” I shout, still struggling to get away. But with every movement, I am rewarded with more pain.

“You were spying on us!” the leader shouts, turning his head to the side to look at me and pointing a clawed finger. Their vision must be limited when facing forward.

“No, I wasn’t. I was walking by. I was lost. I was going to ask for directions.” I lie, shaking my head.

“Where’s your friend?”

“What friend? I was alone. No friends. No one but me.” Please let Amlican be hiding, far away.

“Guess you won’t mind when my boys eat this one.” the leader says, motioning towards someone, behind me.

“Astra!” Amlican shouts as one of them drags him over beside me.

“Amlican! I told you to run! Why are you still here?” I ask in a panic.

“I wasn’t going to leave you alone. I was attempting to rescue you when this thug caught me.” Amlican says.

“So, you two do know each other.” the leader sneers.

“Who do you work for? Why were you spying?” He turns his head and walks towards Amlican.

“We don’t work for anyone. We weren’t spying. We really were lost.” Amlican says.

“Shut up!” the leader shouts. He turns his head in my direction, walks over to me, and puts his face in mine. “You appear to be the leader, I’ll give you one more chance to tell me who you work for and if you lie to me, your friend is dead. Got it?”

“I’m telling you the truth!” I shout.

“Fine. Have it your way!” the leader shouts, walking over to Amlican. He pulls his hand back and then brings it forward, swiping his sharp claws, down Amlican’s chest and then across his stomach. The claws must have cut deep, because blood starts flowing from the wounds, and he falls to the floor, dead.

Both Ravog holding me let go and dive for Amlican’s dead body. The three of them start eating him. I stand and stare at the horrifying spectacle in front of me before I remember the time travel jacket I’m wearing. Before they can turn their attention back to me, I tap the control panel, punch in the coordinates for where we originally landed, put in the time for about fifteen minutes ago, and punch the enter button.

I hear shouting from the Ravog leader, but it’s too late, everything is already going black. I wake up back in the same bay as before. I jump up and run for the door. I frantically wave my hand across it and it slides open with a whoosh. I don’t even wait for the door to fully open before I squeeze through and take off running in the direction we went.

“I’ve got to make it. I’ve got to make it.” I huff as I run. I pass by an open door and turn to see the Salmazin slithering inside. Getting closer! I round a corner and up ahead I can hear the sound of whispering. I round the corner and see myself and Amlican, peering into an open door. I hear Amlican explaining about Ravog. I need to stop myself from going inside!

I look around for a way to draw my attention away from what is happening. I look around and see nothing on the floor. Nothing on the walls, either, but a loose screw. Wait a minute! This will work! I quickly work the screw loose, just in time to hear the Ravog leader shouting, “Get back to work!”

I pull my arm back and throw the screw with all of my might at the back of my own head.

“Ow.” the me in front whispers, backs up and rubs the spot the screw hit. I quickly duck back around the corner as they both turn in my direction.

“What was that?” the other me asks.

“Looks like it was this screw.” Amlican whispers, bending over and picking something up from the ground.

“I don’t know where it came from but let’s get out of here.” I hear myself whisper. “Before they spot us.”

“Now, there’s an Astra idea, I can get behind,” Amlican says.

I breathe a sigh of relief and poke my head around the corner. I watch as my other self and Amlican head away from the Ravog. Everything starts to go dark like it would as the sun sets. I guess this version of me disappears because I never had to go back in time.

I feel a sharp pain as we hurry on down the hall. I stop for a moment, overcome with a feeling of loss. Tears come to my eyes as I think about the idea of losing Amlican. A vision of him being devoured by the Ravog fills my mind and of my going back in time to save him. I got him killed. I got him killed and had to go back and save him.

I got him killed. I got him killed and had to go back and save him.

“Astra?” Amlican stops and turns around. He sees the tears running down my face and come rushing back to me. He wraps me in a hug. “What’s the matter?” he asks, rubbing my back.

“I just. I just don’t want to lose you.” I babble, through my tears.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he says, gently kissing me. I kiss him back desperate to feel his love. I pull away after a few minutes and blubber, “I don’t want you to die!”

Amlican doesn’t say anything but instead holds me for a while.

After a few minutes, I pull myself away again. “Okay. I’m good. But I do have a major headache, from whatever hit me.” I say as I wipe away the remaining tears. We turn and head down the hallway.

“A screw. I already told you that.”

​ ​“Yeah, well, whoever threw the screw is going to pay,” I say, as a vision of myself tossing it fills my mind.

I can hear shouting coming from around the corner, and then I hear a familiar voice that makes my blood run cold. Oh, no! What is, he, doing here? I stop in my tracks.

“Is that Malum?” Amlican whispers, stopping beside me.

“Yes, it is,” I say. Curiosity has always been a weakness of mine. Sometimes, this weakness gets me in trouble. I’m hoping that doesn’t happen this time because I have to know what is going on. I ease my face around the corner to look, six large crates block my view. I wave my hand back towards Amlican, and then creep forward, in a crouch, squeeze between two crates, and stop.

“You will take twenty thousand credits and be happy. If you do not like this deal, I can always let the IPP know what you are doing. Destroying a planet with so many unique and intelligent creatures? What is the punishment for that, again? I believe it’s the destruction of the homeworld. Just think, twelve billion Xerxes dead, in one push of a button.” I hear Malum saying.

So, his evil behavior is nothing new. At least I know it’s not something he saved for me and my mother. Now, I will not feel so bad, when I put a stop to his reign of terror by any means necessary. I find a crack between two crates, where I can see what is going on. Amlican squats down beside me and finds his own crack to watch through. There stands Malum and the creature I assume to be a Xerxes.

It is taller than I am, standing on two tentacles with two tentacles for arms. Its face has two eyes, but I see two holes where a nose should be, and several smaller tentacles, almost like facial hair, around its mouth. They are standing outside of a closed door, with the number twenty-six painted above it. I watch as Malum pokes his index finger into the Xerxes’s chest as if to emphasize his point.

“Twenty thousand credits is good. How should I find this Princess?” the Xerxes asks in a broken accent. He holds two tentacles out as if he is trying to put some space between himself and Malum.

“Use a Slaphner. I’m sure her mother used DNA manipulation on her, so she will not look the same. But I do have some of her blood.” Malum says, digging in his jacket pocket and pulling out a small vial of blood. He holds it up as if to inspect its contents, gives it a gentle swirl, then hands it over to the Xerxes.

“We, go now.” the Xerxes says, pocketing the vial and walking towards us. Thankfully, the crates are positioned in such a way that we cannot be seen unless someone were to purposefully look behind them. No accidental glances will spot us. I watch as the Xerxes disappears down the hall, in the direction we came from, and hear Malum shout after him.

“Remember, I want her alive and unharmed or I will report you to the IPP! And then, I will personally execute you, in the slowest and most painful way possible!” Malum then turns and runs his hand across the door. The door opens with a loud whoosh sound and Malum disappears inside.

I jump up, preparing to take Malum out, here, and now, but Amlican grabs my arm. “Let go of me. I’m going to take him out, now, while I have the chance.”

“No! Now is not the time for that. You have no idea how many guards he has with him. If we truly have traveled in time, then we have plenty of time to get rid of him.” he says, climbing to his feet.

Another loud whoosh fills the air, and the door Malum disappeared into closes. Ugh! I missed my chance! The element of surprise is gone.

“Your friend is right.” a female voice says, from behind me.

I whip around and see a Copaie staring back at me. She is wearing some sort of animal skin pants and a matching shirt. Her hands are on her hips. On her feet is a pair of black, lace-up boots that end at her knees, they appear to be made from animal skin as well. Her black hair is pulled back from her face. She has no visible tattoos, according to the book I read, that is the norm for females.

“I’m all for taking out Malum, I don’t like him either, but there is a time and place for it. And now is not the proper time nor the proper place. And you might not want to be shouting all over the place about your plans, especially if they involve time travel. You don’t want to be jailed before you finish what you started.”

I step out from behind the crates and that’s when I notice her eyes. She has one green eye and one brown eye, just like me. My mind flashes back to the book I read about the Copaie. She is royalty! “Are you going to turn us in?”

“For what? Hating Malum as much as anyone else? No, way.” she says, shaking her head.

“Not even for the time travel thing?” I ask, watching her face for any signs of betrayal. But her face is a blank slate. Either she doesn’t plan on turning us in or she is good at hiding her emotions.

“Nope. We are Copaie, we have to stick together. And if that means you take out that lying, conniving....” She trails off a moment. “Anyways, let’s not sit around down here, chatting, let’s go grab some lunch. I’m starving,” she says, walking away.

I follow behind her. I just met her, don’t know much about her, but I can feel an invisible bond connecting us.

“Wait!” Amlican shouts.

“What?” the female Copaie asks, stopping and turning around.

“If we are going to blindly follow you, I’d at least like to know your name. Who are you?” he asks. Typical Amlican, no blind faith for him. You are either upfront or he won’t have anything to do with you.

“Oh, silly me. I always do that. I start chatting and forget to introduce myself. My name is Amancia. I am what the Talfarians call a princess. My father is Soltig, the general of Saltu, also known as the king of Saltu. Is that better? Now, who are you guys?” she asks. She says it all quickly like she is in a hurry to get somewhere, either that or she is just a fast talker.

“My name is Amlican. My father is an ambassador for the Talfarian people.”

“My name is Astra. I am a Talfarian princess. My mother found me as a baby and raised me on Talfar.”

Amancia stares at me. “You were raised on Talfar? But you are a Copaie! How did that happen?”

“My mother was a good woman; she looked past the color of my skin and just saw a baby in need,” I say, feeling the need to defend my mother.

“Hm. And are you two, you know? Together?” she asks, pointing at me and Amlican.

“Yes.” we both say at the same time.

“Wow. The future must be something fascinating if there is a Talfarian princess that’s actually a Copaie. And to top it all off, a Copaie and a Talfarian are having relations? Completely crazy! In this day and time, Talfarians look down on us, think we are nothing compared to them.” Amancia says, talking fast, again.

My face burns with embarrassment, at the fact that she assumes Amlican and I have an intimate relationship. “Why do you? What makes you think we are having, ‘relations’ as you put it?”

“Honey, it’s written all over both of your faces. Do not worry though, I’m just really good at reading people. I’m sure that no one else knows.”

“Well, you are mistaken. We are in love, but we haven’t done anything other than kiss.” I explain, hurriedly. “I’m not interested in doing anything more.”

“Okay, maybe I was wrong.” she shrugs and then stretches her hand out and touches my face. “You know, I have an infant daughter, she’s with my parents, upstairs, her name is Astra. Your eyes. Do you know that only Copaie royalty carries the gene for heterochromia?” She takes her hand off of my face.

Amlican and I exchange a look. Infant daughter named Astra? She is a Copaie. I’m a Copaie. She is royalty, she said as much. She has two different eye colors. Could it be? Could she be my birth mother?

“What year is it?” I ask, curiosity getting the better of me.

“2199,” she says.

The very year I was born. She has to be it. She has to be my mother. How odd, I break the law to save one mother and I find my other mother.

“How about that food? You mentioned earlier?” Amlican says, breaking the silence.

“Yes, food. All right let’s go. Follow me.” Amancia says, leading the way.

“We don’t have any money,” I say, following behind her.

“Don’t worry about it,” she says, waving off my concern. “I have plenty of credits and I will happily share with anyone willing to take out Malum.”

“Can I ask you a question?” I say as we approach the end of the hall. In front of us is another set of doors. This time I spot a control panel to the right of the doors.

“Go ahead,” Amancia says, placing her hand on the panel. I see ablue light, on the panel, scan her hand, and then hear a beeping sound, followed by a dinging sound, and the doors opening. Amancia steps into the elevator, and Amlican and I quickly follow her.

“Why don’t you like Malum?”

“It’s a long story.” Is all she says. She pushes a button, the doors close, and I can feel the elevator car whooshing upwards, destination unknown.