THE NIGHT THE STARS FELL FIRST CONTACT

Kevin and Zyrian waited at the entrance; Kevin had his arm around the ‘sick’ human and called out loudly. “We are here.” His legs were shaking badly he felt as if he wouldn’t be able to control them, he was dizzy, and a nauseous feeling churned inside him.

Zyrian said quietly, “Don’t be afraid, they will come.”

They heard the heavy thudding of its feet as it came down the tunnel suddenly appearing through a misty haze of light from the cavernous mouth, a Huge shadowy creature from his worst nightmare. Kevin would have run if Zyrian had not been gripping him tightly around the neck as if he knew that’s exactly what Kevin’s reaction would be.

“YOU HAVE THE HUMAN?” Its voice boomed bouncing off the walls of the cave.

Zyrian seemed to wilt, his dark hair hung forward covering his face, it was as much as Kevin could do to hold him up. ‘Authentic he’s either as scared as I am or he’s a jolly good actor.’ He thought. Kevin was soon to find out it was the latter not the former later. “Where are the others!”

Kevin stumbled forward. “I could only require one, there were too many people around I’ll go back for the rest tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow is not good enough!! We need three more.” It looked at him with slitted eyes and bared those vicious teeth.

“Please! Give me a chance I am only a mere human; I cannot carry them on my back!”

For moments that seemed like minutes it stared at him with those Illuminous green eyes; Kevin thought he was going to die right then, he could not look away, until Zyrian pinched the back of his neck, and he forced his eyes to move, instead he gazed down at the floor of the cave.

The lizard growled and swayed his head, then swept one huge scaly arm for them to enter. “Bring the human in!”

It was a long walk down the cave tunnel, Kevin staggered trying to hold Zyrian up and wished he could help a bit, but he had to look ill, or their cover would be blown.

The lizard strode ahead, Kevin hated the silence except for the Lizard’s feet slapping on the concrete. He could see a little clearer now and studied the creature from the back, its head was scaly much like the friendly lizards on earth; its head was elongated to a point, and he could see the wings now folded against his body, they were not like the wings of an insect, these were more like shiny plastic, but of course, he knew they could not be plastic. They were long and tapered off towards their massive thighs, at full expansion they would reach about twelve to fourteen feet.

Breathing heavily Kevin walked as slowly as he could, Zyrian seemed to get heavier with every step. Kevin looked around the walls of the tunnel and realised this was once a cave, going somewhere down under the sea, he had never heard of caves in this part of Cornwall; he doubted anyone else had either. These caves were high above ground so the quarry was much lower, it was also far across the other side, so digging would not affect the foundations of the structure of the caves. It also made him realise that these creatures had been coming here for years and set up a base here, and hikers or rock climbers could have become victims of these cruel creatures.

***

The lizard stopped in front of him in front of a metal shutter that rolled up as they arrived. Kevin was shocked as they entered the room, there was a large gurney and above it were strong powerful lights. Beside the gurney stood five lizards, one arranging an array of surgical instruments on a small oblong glass table with long metal legs in line with the gurney reminding him of operating theatres…And that is exactly what it was, the other preparing surgical gauzes from a box beside the table, one putting liquid into glass jars that reminded Kevin of Marmalade and Jam jars and the other two sharpening knives. They had green plastic aprons on and visors that looked like metal covering their faces. One of the lizards put down the knife and stamped loudly towards Kevin…He froze! Zyrian was snatched from his arms and dragged to the gurney. They placed him spread-eagled on his back and secured him with metal restraints on his hands and feet.

“What are you going to do to him?”

“That is no concern of yours!” The lizard thundered, in a voice Kevin thought could shatter stones. The wicked icy glare in its eyes was enough to freeze the blood in his veins, he couldn’t answer. His eyes swept to Zyrian’s pale, deathly face, his eyes were closed and for a moment Kevin wondered if he was dead!

Kevin thought ‘If he doesn’t up his game soon, the game will be over before it’s even started!’ He felt panic rising, was this a terrible mistake, he was fearful for Zyrian. He gained courage and stepped forward next to the lizard who turned his head towards him. Kevin placed a cool hand on Zyrian’s brow and to his horror it was freezing, he also looked as if he had shrunk to half the size he was before; at that moment he was sure he had died. He coughed and blinked trying to gain Zyrian’s attention hoping he would open his eyes.

“Out of the way!” One of the knife sharpeners said aggressively, shoving Kevin back, he was holding a long-pointed scalpel that looked clumsy in those three-fingered talons.

Kevin felt his breathing becoming restricted; he tried to take in air but found it difficult to draw breath.

“PLEASE! Please don’t do this, I cannot stand here and watch him die, oh please!”

It turned its massive head and snarled. “Then go! get the other three, if you do not you will be the next substitute on the gurney!”

Kevin looked toward the door they had entered, it was firmly closed, it had no handle and no locks, and he was trapped!

Kevin staggered backwards and pressed his back into the cold damp wall behind him. A voice spoke softly in his head. “Hold your nerve.” And he knew it had to be Zyrian transmitting the words through his mind. He looked at the lizard with the knife then at Zyrian. The knife began to cut through his jumper and then up towards his chest.

Brian staggered to the side of the quarry, but there was no sign of Todd. “By god, when I get hold of him, he’s grounded for life.”

He had never been so angry with his son; he had always been a good boy. “What was the boy thinking? Did he think he was a superhero?” Brian clenched his jaw, but the anger was born out of fear. “Imagine going through all this to die for being so stupid!”

Brian had to slow his pace a little the cold was biting into his bones, and he had a pain in his chest. He rested against a rock, as the sleet dappled his face and sprang off his eyelashes like tiny crystals. Squinting, he used the sleeve of his coat to clear his vision from the icy sleet.

Todd crept as quietly as he could but couldn’t stop his boots crunching on the crispy snow. It sounded so loud, and he grimaced with every step. The clarifying whiteness of the snow seemed to point to his figure as he crept along the side of the cave, he felt so exposed. He knew he should have listened to Valadon, now he felt as if he was visually obvious and saying, ‘Here I am, come and get me!’

***

Todd never saw it coming, and from that day forward he will never forget the sight of the lizard as it swept out of the sky and grabbed him with its razor-sharp claws. Todd screamed, the cry cut off by a strangled sound as the creature shook him, then it turned him around to face him. Todd felt blood seep through his clothes from the claws that had embedded into his shoulders. He screamed so loud the ground seemed to shake beneath him

Brian heard Todd’s scream, it was coming from the other side of the cave; he was in the wrong place. The ground was uneven large, jagged rocks hindered his movements as he started running, his heart thundering in his chest until he could hear the thumping in his ears. Stones flew from beneath his feet as he scrambled over them.

Zyrian’s eyes opened slowly. The lizard didn’t notice as he was still cutting away at his clothes, but Kevin did and saw small red powerful lights glowing from Zyrian’s eyes. The lasers hit the lizard through the visor and pierced the mask, as smoke poured from its face; it made an awful sound as it fell to the floor with a loud ‘thud’ clutching its damaged face. The door opened and Valadon, Lasko and Shirak appeared firing lasers at the other four. Kevin looked on in amazement hardly able to comprehend what he was looking at, it was so fast, and in seconds the five lizards were disabled and fell to the floor clutching at their eyes. Zyrian cut through his restraints and jumped off the gurney.

“All is well Zyrian?”

“Yes, Master.”

Valadon bent down to the creature with the scalpel still in his hand and took it from him with no resistance then laid it on the table beside all the other sharp objects. He melted them in seconds, and they now resembled a long single piece of metal.

“Manacle them to be transported to the ship to face trial.”

Brian entered the cave cautiously, he guessed that this was where Todd had been heading, he took his torch from inside his jacket and shone it on the ground ahead of him. He kept close to the side feeling his way along the rough surface of the wall. His anxiety was about to explode in his head. Although the freezing air got into his bones, he still felt a trickle of perspiration running down his brow, his hair was stuck to his forehead, and he brushed it out of his eyes. He was more afraid for his son than he was angry, but he still cursed at the irresponsible behaviour Todd had exhibited, how could he be so STUPID?

He came near the end of this never-ending tunnel and saw bright lights, and unusual colours omitting from the end of the tunnel. Cautiously he turned off his torch and forged ahead, icy shivers running down his spine. What if they were all dead? What was he going to find…Are Todd and Lasko lying dead in that place? Brian was no coward, but he had never been so terrified in his life before! He kept walking with dread at every step.

***

The first thing he saw was Valadon securing the lizards, “Oh my God…Is that them?”

Valadon turned his attention to Brian. “What are you doing here? I told you to wait in the car.” He sounded angry.

“Todd ran after you; I can’t find him anywhere!”

Lasko gave a soft despairing whine.

“How did he get here?” Valadon got up and crossed the room.

“He hid in the boot of the car.”

“Then he is in grave danger! I have disabled five of them but there could be more, if there are then they could already have the boy…Why did he not do as he was told?”

Brian had never felt so helpless in his life, looking at the size and strength of these creatures, Todd would have no chance.

Lasko slowly walked towards Brian, he sat at his feet and tears rimmed his eyes. “I may be able to find him, I have a very good sense of smell.”

Suddenly a metal door slid open across the other side of the room, and Todd appeared gripped tightly by his throat half dragged by the lizard.

“LET THEM GO OR I WILL KILL THE BOY!” it snarled.

Lasko Launched himself toward the lizard, his teeth clamped over the creatures hand and bit until he dropped Todd in a heap on the floor. Todd scrambled towards his father. Lasko tore into the lizard with all his strength snapping at its face. It thrashed and its vicious talons aimed for Lasko, but Valadon hit him with one laser blast, and it fell to the ground of the cave, they carefully approached it, the creature didn’t move.

Brian held Todd tightly. “Don’t even bother to say anything, I will deal with you later!”

Lasko spread himself out on the ground paws out in front of him.

“Lasko! Are you okay?” Todd had freed himself from his father’s grip and ran to Lasko.

Lasko stood up. “I’m fine, but you nearly wasn’t! Todd, how can you be so stupid! I told you to trust my people and you broke that trust, you ignored me.”

“I was scared for you; you are only a dog after all. They could have killed you.”

“Todd, I am very angry with you, I saved your life so you could grow up and have family of your own, this took a lot from me, I used all my energy and here you are, putting yourself and us in terrible peril!” The dog shook his head, and he looked like he was going to cry. “It was foolhardy of you.” Lasko lowered his head, then lay flat again.

Todd hung his head, but tears ran down his cheeks. “I’m so ,so, sorry I was only trying to help.”

“I know you were.” Lasko said. “You are a little warrior, but you have no idea what these creatures are capable of; they can slice you in half at the blink of an eye, so next time, leave it to us, we know how to deal with them, we have done it many times before.”

An angry Valadon raised his voice .“What is done is done now, let this be a good lesson to learn!”

“I’m sorry Valadon,” Todd repeated.

Kevin had finally unstuck his body from the wall and knelt to look at the creatures. “What will happen to them now?” he asked Valadon.

“They will be transported to our ship and taken back to our planet, where they will be put in front of our ruling council, then depending on what punishment they will bestow on them they will either be placed in confinement until they are too old and feeble to do anymore damage to either you, or any other inhabitants on any other planet in the galaxy or cast out into deep space.”

“Oh, ok. But you know what we say, every dog gets his day.”

At this Lasko sat up and with one ear up in a comedic pose he said. “Is that so! Who would think it” and Kevin laughed at his humour?

Valadon smiled too, he said. “I like your humour people, and I see you have taught it to our Lasko here.”

Zyrian looked up he had finished securing the Lizards. “Now, go home and rest, this has been quite traumatic for you all, we will finish here sealing the exit and transporting the prisoners back to our planet. We will see you tomorrow.”

“Will you need me Master?”

“No Lasko, go home and rest.” Valadon stroked the dog on his back.

They were all flagging, but Lasko as they got back to the car. He sat in the back next to Todd wagging his tail furiously.

The stress was beginning to show as they all sat still with Brian making no attempt to start the car.

“I will never forget the look of hatred in that creatures eyes as long as I live, the blinding flash of the lasers, and the smell of burning. I would rather spend the rest of my life in solitary confinement than to ever go through that again.”

“You will never go through that again Kev, you were amazing, you sacrificed a lot to do what you did, I don’t think I would have had half the courage you did tonight.” Brian ensured him.

Lasko’s head appeared resting on Brian’s shoulder.

“Valadon did tell you they are easy to control; all they have are those nasty sharp talons, they can fly, and they are intimidating. But we can take planes out of the sky, kill something from four hundred feet away. We have more powers that we never use, we could use them to our full potential, but we only use them in extreme cases.”

“WOW!” Todd exclaimed.

Brian shot him a look over Lasko’s head craning his neck. “Never mind WOW.” Brian said. “Wait till I get you home, you are grounded for life! You were nearly the death of me tonight, I really thought that creature was going to kill you, thank God for Lasko here!” Brian’s hands were still shaking as he started the Land Rover, Lasko chuckled softly from the back seat.

“Come on, let’s get the hell out of here.”