Chariot 3: Conception

“Wake up! It’s time to show us what you all are here for!”

“I wish I could. I really did.” Awake for hours as he waited for his day to start, the others listened to Cai Yiu Hun’s sarcastic thoughts, and although they tried, they could not help to think much differently than him.

The Lieutenant Colonel himself escorted by another six outranked military officers waited the doors of the four rooms to be completely swung opened one after the other.

The two sweaty MP`s that guarded the area opened the cell where Shoffer was, V-Nus, Flumen, and then Cai Yiu Hun who close to lose his temper, stared right into the eyes of the guard who wished he could clearer how he was just following his orders.

As intimidated by the unknown as the other well-armed guards standing behind were, the MP rapidly opened the door and stepped to the side as quickly as he could.

The three Nibirians along with the Martian took a short step outside their confined room and lined perfectly next to each other. At the end of the side-by-side formation, Captain Shoffer turned his neck to the left and looked towards the rest of his crew who looked back at him.

Without saying a word they nodded their heads. It was time to fulfill their destiny whatever it meant to be.

“Captain, I am sorry to keep you locked but I am afraid that we still have a lot to be cleared. I hope you understand my position here.” The Lieutenant Colonel sounded sincere.

“No apologies required, Sir. We understand.”

“Do we?” Cai Yiu Hun swallowed down his heavy ego while he cracked the bones of his closed fists, holding up his absolute disagreement against the words of his Captain.

“Gentlemen, it`s time to move. She is waiting for you.” The authoritarian officer politely gave his orders.

“Follow me.” He continued.

The Nibirians walked in silence behind their escort followed by the remaining bunch of military personnel tapping their boots behind them.

The excitement to see their ship once again, no matter how aggravated her condition was, rose inside the Nibirians at the pace they walked back through the same series of corridors they had come from.

“You…”the Lieutenant Colonel paused, trying to find the best way to express himself “…people from elsewhere have fascinating resources to create such incredibly light crafts.”

“Crafts?” V-Nus wondered the same as the others.

The Lieutenant Colonel continued. “Which by the way, I am assuming you must know by now that I am aware of much more of your story than you actually shared with me.”

As they approached the guarded double doors at the end of the long corridor that they had just crossed, the two guards saluted their superior and immediately opened the doors that led to the hangar where they anxiously expected to find what was left of Chariot 3.

The doors were opened giving a dark contrast to the white and illuminated corridor they were at.

For the astonishment of the Nibirian crew, their eyes were not fulfilled with the image of the awaited Chariot 3 but with something else.

The surprised Nibirian crew found the recovered Grey craft lying right in front of them, illuminated by several spotlights pointed directly at it.

A group of scientists and engineers on their white vests initially looked busy taking measurements of the craft and running other tests, carefully noting everything on their clipboards. At the pace the group continued to walk towards the bright spot in the center of the hangar, the physicists, chemistry and mathematic engineers slowly stopped their work as they noticed their visitors.

Completely ignoring the various eyes that followed each one of his steps, V-Nus attentively looked around as he walked, browsing the dimension of the paraphernalia they had brought to study their findings. There were several cables, transformers, engineering tools and other utensils that were way behind the advancements of his era.

“This is similar to comparing a rock to a rocket.” V-Nus imagined.

His analytical eyes then returned to what mattered the most. He quietly observed the combination of rough marks that the craft had earned in the battle field. Among the dents and scratches, the Martian clearly distinguished the damage on the right side of the fuselage, undoubtedly created by one of the spherical probes that had helped saving their lives.

V-Nus slowly approached the enemy craft giving a closer look to the frontal part of its crashed cockpit while his mind recomposed the last minutes of the final flight and its deadly landing with an impressive accuracy.

“No one could have survived that...” V-Nus concluded as he kept on walking towards the left side of the spacecraft.

V-Nus stared at the stingray shaped craft from its bottom to top, measuring every single possible detail of it. As he walked sideways without even bothering to blink, his brain pictured its engineering features and aerodynamics functionalities with extraordinary precision.

“Unless…” he paused, unable to ignore the big rip on its left wing.

“Unless I jumped off it through the hole that your spherical probe carved on the wing of my craft.”

V-Nus was the first to hear the disgusting accent invading his mind.

He lifted his head feeling the unwelcome presence behind his back, and then turned his shoulder to find the unexpected company on the top of the platform behind him.

Upon hearing the voice in their heads, Shoffer, Flumen, and Cai Yiu rapidly made their way to meet V-Nus on the other side of the craft. At the instant they reached him, their eyes immediately pointed towards the same direction as their friend.

After raising their necks browsing over the same metallic platform on which V-Nus – unusually speechless – had his eyes on, Shoffer broke the awkward silence. “You! Alive?”

The tension brought over the silence to the no longer noisy hangar. Shoffer and the others did not bother to hide their unpleasant surprise.

The majority of the scientists stepped back while the guards stepped forward.

After V-Nus, Shoffer and the others looked at the creature that had, somehow, cheated death.

The Grey looked directly into the eyes of the Nibirian leader and without hesitation, turned his unpronounceable thoughts into words that flooded their minds.

“You may not believe, but I come in piece.” Ebe`s naturally disturbing appearance seemed rather peaceful at that instance.

“I certainly do not!” Enraged, Cai Yiu made his move.

As he quickly stepped ahead, one of the escorting officers tried to stop him. Cai Yiu proficiently dodged the MP who fell on the floor as he leaned forward.

Cai Yiu Hun skipped to the left and then stepped on the back of the falling guard pushing himself towards the top of the alien craft.

“Cai Yiu, nooooo!” Shoffer lifted his arm in an attempt to stop him, but the weapons and armory specialist was far beyond his reach.

After two steps over the craft he never though he would step on again, Cai Yiu jumped over V-Nus` head and bounced on the shoulders of one of the officers, projecting his body just a few feet from the top of the platform.

Ebe stepped back and fought against his natural instinct of reaching the paralyzing device still undetected in his pocket.

Cai Yiu`s hands firmly grabbed the fence over the platform before performing his final move towards his target. His legs pushed his body up on a flawless pirouette that positioned him in the air just above his enemy.

Cai Yiu release his punch which hit Ebe on the chin at the same time, two of the so far undetected guards, released a stroke with the butt of their rifles against the nape of the Nibirian, throwing his unconscious body on the floor.

In aid of the fallen friend, Shoffer and the others run up the stairs, pushing the other guards who attempted to pull them to the side.

“Take him to the infirmary.” The Lieutenant Colonel ordered the same guards who had just put him down.

Shoffer nodded his head in disapproval, conscious that their trust was at stake. “Flumen, go with him. Please make sure he causes no more problems once he is awake.”

“Yes, Captain.” Flumen replied, unsure of what he could possibly do should the Nibirian warrior decide to put his skills in practice again.

“I see you already know each other, Captain Shoffer. Our grey friend actually told us a lot about you.” Lieutenant Colonel Exon had some obscurity in his words.

“You cannot trust him, Colonel! His agenda on Earth is much different than what you can imagine.” Shoffer tried to warn him, but the military officer seemed to have already fallen under the influence that the creature would drag him into.

“This way please.” The Lieutenant Colonel gave them no choice other than come closer to the platform where Ebe attentively observed them from. The dark eyes of the Grey visitor attentively followed Shoffer and V-Nus as they moved as if his brain recorded every second of it.

Along with the disturbing sensation of being watched, more than ever, Shoffer started to feel rather unwelcome in the facility.

Side by side, Shoffer and V-Nus slowly walked up the stairs listening to the echoing sound of their own steps. Shoffer looked down and gave a serious look to the scientists that still watched him from downstairs. Uncomfortable, they finally realized that there was nothing else for them to watch and immediately returned to their tasks, trying to pretend nothing had happened.

The Captain begun to regain his shuttered hopes at the pace he approached the top of the platform. His eyes were fixed ahead, anxiously looking for her. As if after all, something would go the way he wished, there she was.

Shoffer saw Chariot 3 once again.

“Sissy…” His words trembled as he looked towards the fallen ship, perhaps it felt more than just a ship for him, at least more than he could comprehend.

V-Nus raised his chin after the last step and looked straight ahead, turning Shoffer`s voice into hopeful thoughts. He looked across over the black handrail and saw her unmistakable curves on the other side of the protective fence.

Chariot 3 remained listed to the side with her imposing character, despite the bad shape she had been left with. As always, her upper body looked light and delicate but at the same time robust and powerful. Looking from the top, no one would even notice the critical damage she had suffered underneath.

Together, V-Nus and Shoffer approached the fence, grabbing its handrail with both their hands and then looked straight down towards her.

In vain, Shoffer looked closely towards the lifeless portholes, hoping to see an unexpected light shining within the hollow interior.

“Can you fix her?” Shoffer silently asked his pilot with a strong feeling of knowing what his answer would be.

V-Nus released the handrail, his right hand reached Shoffer`s left shoulder. “I`m sorry, but she is no longer in our paths.”

“Captain Shoffer...” The moment of grieve was broken by the voice of the Lieutenant Colonel.

“Despite the differences among you and the Greys, and following the humanitarian intent of your mission, I am certain that you and your crew could help us achieve great things along with Ebe.” Exon continued.

“Did he give him a name?!” V-Nus did not bother to hide the transparency of his annoyance.

“I have a much greater mission than yours: Ensure the survival of my race. I promise to cause the humans no harm…should they cooperate. Do not interfere or both your races will suffer.” On a separate mental note, the Grey silently spoke to V-Nus and Shoffer.

Shoffer slowly walked towards the Colonel as he reached the same level on the platform. “Colonel…” Shoffer took a deep and long breath while pondering what he was about to say. “…I would ask to speak with you in private if I was not certain that this creature would still be able to hear us, but I know he can. Therefore I will say it all at once and I hope you listen carefully to the seriousness of my words…”

“Captain!” V-Nus interrupted his speech, afraid of the possible consequences of his words.

Shoffer calmly raised his left hand, ordering V-Nus to wait. He gave Ebe a serious look and then returned his eyes towards the unintentionally corrupted officer “…Make no mistake, this creature`s race and their intentions are as horrific as their appearance. Revenging and surviving is all they fight for. This is their nature and that is what they have been genetically engineered for. We will certainly complete our mission which is to provide you with our technology but we will undoubtedly refuse being associated with them.”

“Captain Shoffer, I thank you for your help and I wanted you to be here today to assist us on dismantling Chariot 3. As I am sure you understand, we are mostly interested on her engine structure and power source composition.

“What? Dismantling? Is it how you plan to learn about our technology, by setting the entire craft a part?” Captain Shoffer could not contain his enraged disapproval whilst V-Nus, for a change, had nothing else to say.

“While I do appreciate your opinion, I want you to know that this is how we do things around here and those are my orders Captain. Do you understand me?” He slowly pronounced his last words emphasizing them all as he spoke.

“Colonel, you are making a huge mistake!” Shoffer stepped forward almost reaching the Colonel.

Ebe`s fingers quickly reached the device in his pocket.

“Ahhhh!” Shoffer felt the electrifying current crossing his body.

Paralyzed by the pain, the Nibirian Captain fell on his knees.

“Captain, I do see your frustration, and therefore I will have my men to assist you on returning to your room so you can cool down before we can fully utilize your knowledge tomorrow.”

V-Nus run on the aid of his fallen leader grabbing his body before he would fall to the side. Another three guards moved to grab them both. V-Nus pushed one back with his arm, hit the head of the other man with his elbow, and punched the third with his right fist.

“Do not set her apart. We can try fixing her!” Shoffer mumbled his last words before passing out in arms V-Nus` arms with his eyes staring at his ship, positioned behind the Grey creature. On the floor next to him, lied an extensive variety of electric saws, welding equipment, and many other tools that would soon be used to carve their way into the defenseless ship.

“I don`t want to fix her, Captain. I want to make many more like hers.”

Another four armed men approached V-Nus, pointing their rifles directly at him. Without choice, he carefully lowered the body of his Captain on the floor and raised his hands.

“Please return our visitors to their staterooms. V-Nus, do not take it personally. I am doing it for my country.”

“And I`m doing it for our worlds.” V-Nus preferred to keep his thoughts to himself.

Once he walked away, the Lieutenant Colonel turned his back to V-Nus, facing his newest ally. “Let`s continue from where we stopped Ebe.”