If this Vialea, did exist then it certainly wouldn’t be her, Vytar had got the wrong woman.

  “Here take this. You look cold.” Elle looked up and saw the other male, the one that Vytar had called Zylon was offering a small black stone to her.

  “What is this?” Elle eyed the stone suspiciously.

  “Just take it.” Zylon said. “It will help you keep warm until Vytar gets back with the clothes.” Elle took the stone from Zylon’s hands, instantly her body felt as if it was filling with warmth, and she felt cold no longer.

  Zylon could see from the look on her face that it must have been worked. “Good aye? Just a little something that I’ve been working on. I forgot I had it in my pocket. Why don’t you come over and join me until Vytar gets back, it’s a bit warmer up front.” Zylon walked back to the seats at the front of the cockpit and Elle followed him cautiously.

  There were three seats at the front of the ship, and Zylon was in the one on the right. Elle chose the one on the left, leaving a seat between them. Elle looked forward out of the main window, below them she could see earth. Elle’s mouth dropped open and she felt a tear come to her eye.

  “Quite something isn’t?” Zylon looked over at her. “Quite often I take for granted the things that we get to see.”

  “I never thought I’d go into outer space.” Elle admitted.

  “You have the ability to go into space now.” Zylon reminded her. “You never fancy it before?” Elle looked from the view port over to Zylon. He had both his hands on strange looking levers that were moving the ship somehow.

  “It’s not that simple. Domestic space travel is expensive…way too expensive for someone like me. The only other option I would have is joining the Draft.” Zylon’s eyes flicked up at her and then back to the window. He cleared his throat.

  “Can I ask you a question?”

  Elle nodded.

  “What happened between you and Vytar in here? I left you guys alone for barely 10 earth minutes.”

  “I’m not sure.” She said honestly. “I just…Vytar explained your prophecy, and that you’re searching for someone important. He explained how you think that person could be me. But I just don’t see how that’s possible.”

  “Why?”

  “I’m just — I’m not someone who’s meant to love. It’s just not who I am. It’s never worked out for me before and it’s never going to. So I can’t be your alien princess. There’s just no way. You’ve got the wrong person.”

  They both sat in silence for a moment, watching the Earth grow larger below them.

  “Why am I opening up to you like this?” Elle wondered out loud. She owed no explanation to this guy at all. So why was she giving him one?

  “In the Zeistian Military, I’m what you would call a ‘councilor’ on earth. It’s my job to talk to people and make them feel better, extract their deepest darkest fears and help them work through them.”

  “Well damn. You certainly got me to open up.”

  Zylon flashed her a smile.

  “There’s a reason I’m one of the best on our planet. But honestly, Vytar isn’t a bad guy. In fact he’s one of the best people I known. If you don’t mind me asking…why don’t you think you’re worthy of love?” Elle felt herself tense up at the question.

  “Okay you got me the first time Mr. Councilor, but you’re not getting me again. Nice try.”

  Zylon let out a laugh.

  “Fair enough, I just thought it was worth asking.”

  Elle heard the door open behind them. Vytar walked through the door holding a bundle of clothes.

  “Sorry it took me so long. It’s been a while since we’ve had to unpack clothes for humans, it took me a while to find them.”

  Elle stood up and took the clothes from Vytar, looking up at him briefly. Yikes he is tall. Elle thought to herself as she looked up at the muscular monolith of a man.

  “Thanks Vytar. Is there…somewhere I can change?”

  “Yes of course, one moment.” Vytar turned around and grabbed something off a shelf, he handed it to Elle and she held it in her hand, it was a small black ring.

  “Place that over your ear.”

  Elle looked at the ring unsure. “Go on it’s safe, see?” Vytar pointed to his own ear that sported a similar device. Elle placed the ring over her ear hesitantly and then felt it shrink and attach itself firmly to her skin, she jumped at the sensation.

  “Don’t worry it’s just calibrating to your size. Even though were on my own personal ship, it’s still rather easy to get lost. This will help you get around. Now think ‘Guest Changing Quarters’ to yourself and the ring will show you the way.”

  Elle looked to the door and thought the words Guest Changing Quarters. Instantly a bright white line appeared on the floor, from her feet to the door at the back of the cockpit. Elle’s face lit up in amazement.

  “Clever right? Another one of Zylon’s inventions. Just follow the line and it will get you there. We’ll be waiting in here.”

  Elle took a few unsure steps forward, the line disappearing behind her as she did so. She looked forward once more and walked through the door into the back of the ship.

  ***

  “Are you sure about these coordinates Vytar? They put us rather close to the stray Ranagath signals Nuvir warned us about.”

  “Trust me on this one Zylon, I know the Ranagath.”

  Zylon eyed him suspiciously for the briefest moment, and punched the orders into the ship. Vytar breathed a heavy sigh, walked over to the middle chair at the console and sat next to Zylon. For now he had to keep up the appearance that he wanted to take Elle back, that meant lying even to Zylon. If Zylon knew what Vytar was planning, he would never allow it. Deliberately flying into a Ranagath fleet was crazy, but if it worked, it would buy him enough time to show Elle that they were made for each other.

  “Heavy heart Brother General?” Zylon asked.

  “Please Zylon. I don’t want to talk about it right now.”

  Vytar thought of Elle. He had been honest with Elle when he said he’d disintegrated her clothes by mistake…but he was glad he’d done it. He imagined her laying there on the table again, floating in perfect stillness, her creamy white skin bare from head to toe. He hadn’t realized that human bodies were so soft, so delicate. Compared to the Zeistian females Elle practically looked angelic. The way her small but full breasts pointed upright, and that heavenly space between her legs…

  The warnings of his parents echoed through his mind once more and he put his urges to one side.

  “Are you sure about these coordinates Vytar? They just seem…risky to me. Are you flying us into the Ranagath on purpose?”

  Vytar eyed Zylon curiously. As crafty as he wanted to be his brother would catch on at some point, their telepathic link was too strong. He would have to distract him somehow.

  “Don’t be ridiculous Zylon, and don’t question me on it again.” He looked away from his brother, studying Earth below them. “After we return the female and get back to the mother ship we’ll be looking over the soul seeker.”

  Zylon turned his glance from the star field and regarded his brother.

  “Oh really? And why would we do that?”

  “Because clearly it was wrong. There’s no way that earth female is my destined mate, there’s no way she’s the Vialea and you know it.” The words felt hollow coming out of Vytar’s mouth, they felt wrong. But if his plan was to work, then Zylon had to be convinced Vytar was taking her home of his own admission.

  “All I know is that you want to give up before you’ve even tried.”

  “We did try. It doesn’t work, we’re not compatible, it’s over. That’s the end of it.”

  “No.” Zylon said.

  Vytar looked over at him in disbelief.

  “What did you just say?” Zylon took his hands off the controls and turned to face Vytar full on.

  “I said No. And I mean no disrespect Brother General. But there is nothing wrong with the Soul Seeker. So don’t blame it on me. You’ve barely known each other ten minutes and you’ve already decided that she’s not the one? How could you even know?”

  Vytar had no answer for him but silence. In his mind Vytar knew perfectly well, there was no lie he could come up with to try and trick his brother. “Your silence says it all. You couldn’t possibly know. You’re just too afraid to even try, in case it all goes wrong.”

  “That’s enough.” Vytar said firmly.

  “We need the Vialea for our people Vytar. Can’t you see that? Without the Vialea we are dying. The tree of souls is dying. You need to take this chance. Even if it scares you. It hurts to watch my people die.”

  “I know it hurts Zylon.” Vytar soothed. “But I just know it in my heart that she isn’t the one. Maybe my soul mate is Zeistian after all.” He lied.

  Until a few hours ago the Zeist people had been the most important thing in the world for Vytar. Now he’d found Elle, he wasn’t so sure.

  “We’ve searched the entire mother ship, we searched the Tree of Souls. You know that is not true.”

  Zylon was right. They had searched the entirety of the Zeistian people to see if the counterpart to his soul had been hidden amongst the Zeist all along. It hadn’t. None of the souls matched to Vytar’s perfectly enough. They used Zylon’s new machine to search all possible time lines, to determine maybe if she hadn’t been born yet. She had.

  The soul that Vytar was destined to gave off a particular signal. That was the one that they traced halfway across the universe to find Elle on earth. The machine that Zylon created worked fantastically, but using it came at a heavy toll to the user, the last time they used it, it had nearly killed Vytar. To use it again so soon…that would mean sure death.

  “Well then I will continue to rule our people as I have done. Alone. I have done fine this far, I will continue to do so.” It was a head strong approach, but Vytar didn’t mind. Zylon’s eyes widened, he seemed to be buying Vytar’s lie.

  “You know that’s not enough Vytar. Without the Vialea we will die.” Zylon looked down at a panel of the coordinates of the ship. “Something isn’t right here Vytar, these coordinates are way off. Either you are getting sloppy with old age or you have sent us on a suicide mission for some reason.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with the coordinates, just—” But Vytar never got a chance to finish that sentence.

  A feeling flared inside his mind, a instinctual warning he’d gained from years of fighting the Ranagath. They were here, his plan had worked.

  “Zylon brace!”

  A giant blow rocked their ship and sent the two pilots nearly flying out of their seats. Warning klaxon’s filled the ship and red lights pulsed everywhere. A loud and mechanical voice spoke throughout the ship, it was the on board computer.

  “Warning, Danger. Direct hit to coupling jet and engine bay. Systems in danger.”

  “Damn it!” Zylon cried. “It’s the Ranagath fleet that Nuvir picked up earlier, they’ve traced our ship and they’re attacking us!” Another mammoth blast rocked the ship and sent them spinning. Zylon strapped himself into the chair and started pulling levers out of the console. Vytar pulled himself up straight and instinctively went into command mode.

  “Pull the ship up, turn around and fly back, let’s get behind them.” He turned his attention to the ship’s control panel and started pushing buttons, a large holographic screen projected up in front of them, showing a 3-Dimensional recreation of the current space. “Looks like a Class-3 hunter ship and a couple dozen fighter ships. Damn it we’re outnumbered, there’s no way we can fight back.”

  Zylon pulled the ship up and back, spiraling around as he did so.

  “There!” Vytar shouted, pointing at the 3D radar. Keep the ship as we are!” He grabbed a handle on the console and squeezed a trigger, sending a rail of ballistic laser energy out and into the side of a fighter that came up from underneath them. The laser hit the ship and it exploded into a fantastic ball of green colored flame.

  “Score one!” Zylon cheered. “Ah yeah, it’s been too long since we had us a good old fashioned dog fight, let’s take these sons of bitches down!”

  They weaved throughout the battlefield, spinning, looping and evading enemy fire, running circles around their ships. The Ranagath were vicious, but they were not known for their ability to fly. Vytar locked his sights again and fired three more times. The first shot skimmed the edge of a fighter ship, destroying the wing but leaving the ship in tact. The next two obliterated their targets completely, lighting up the sky with neon green fire.

  “Okay Zylon we had our fun but there’s no way we’re going to be able to take out that hunter ship. Can you get us back to the mother ship?” Zylon tapped something into the console and waited for the response.

  “No it’s too risky, the hunter is pointed right at our evacuation path for the mother ship, it would shred us instantly.”

  “And what about Earth can-”

  “Earth is a no can do either brother. There’s a wall of fighters in a star formation on our left flank.”

  “So our only choice is…”

  “Deep Space.”

  Perfect.

  That was exactly what Vytar had wanted. He paused for a moment, to act as if he were giving the choice serious consideration.

  “Vytar we have to act fast. Our primary shield is down and one of them could phase on board at any moment.”

  “Okay Zylon, engage the ship for warp. We have to run now.” Zylon hit the switch for warp speed and the engines started to whistle loudly, getting ready for what was coming. The computer spoke out.

  “Prepare for Warp in 10…seconds…”

  This was perfect, they’d have to run for a day or two, maybe a couple more, it would buy him all the time he needed…

  “…8”

  As long as they got out of this okay Vytar’s plan will have gone off without a hitch…

  “…7”

  All he needed was a little time to make Elle see that he was her destined mate…

  “…6”

  More than anything he was glad that he didn’t have to say goodbye yet.

  “…5”

  “WARNING: Foreign bodies detected on board, Foreign bodies dete…” The ship broke the countdown to announce it’s latest warning. Vytar and Zylon looked at each other instantly.

  One of the Ranagath had phased on board.

  No.

  That hadn’t been part of the plan at all. It was easy enough for them to fight the Ranagath ship to ship, but with one of those bastards on board it could hurt someone. It could hurt…

  A scream echoed from the back of the ship.

  “Elle!”

  Vytar ran towards the scream. If any harm befell her he could never forgive himself. The computer reached the end of it’s countdown.

  “Warping.”

  Vytar ran. The universe shrank into a dot on the star field in front of them and then, the ship was gone.

  5. ELLE

  Elle wasn’t really sure what had happened in the last thirty seconds or so. She’d finally managed to pull on the clothes that Vytar had left for her. Much to her annoyance the clothes left little to the imagination, consisting of a skirt that finished high above the knee and a low cut top that exposed the majority of her midriff and cleavage. She hated to admit it, but she didn’t feel cold anymore, despite the clothes scant appearances it felt as if she was wearing thick fur clothing from head to toe. She assumed it must have been more strange alien technology.

  She’d finally finished pulling on the top when a gigantic blast knocked her half way across the room. When she finally stood up her eyes and ears were being assaulted by sirens. The next few minutes weren’t exactly fun either, and it felt as if the ship was twisting and flipping in all directions. Elle was terrified, whatever the blasts were, they did not sound good at all, she got the impression that they might be under attack.

  Now things had calmed down and the computer was bellowing this stupid count down! She’d really had enough, the sooner she was back on earth the better.

  She brought her hand to ear and felt at the small navigating ring.

  Take me back to the main deck. She thought and another white line sprouted forth from her feet and out the door.

  She was about to make her way outside when she noticed it. In the space in front of the doorway the air was shimmering which these curious green crystalline cuboids that were beginning to appear all over.

  “What on earth?” Elle wondered to herself out loud. The shapes continued to amass and then they started fading away, popping in the air with a weird crackling sound. When they’d finally faded away she could see that in their place a creature was standing, staring right at her.

  Elle didn’t have to wonder what it was at all, she recognized the thing right away from the photos she had seen in school. The long, broken looking legs, the weird contorted arms that seemed to stretch on forever, the twisted spindly body, the face…oh god the face.

  Whatever rested upon the shoulders she couldn’t quite decide if it could be called a face, a long narrow skull that tapered forward over the body, teeth jutting out at all angles from the black slimy lips, those eyes, those black hollow points on the side and front of the head that had nothing in them whatsoever.

  It was a Ranagath. It started dragging it’s feet towards her and then a strange and hollow voice filled her head.

  …Hello Sativa, Vialea scummmm. You’ll make a good feassttt…

  It took another step towards her and Elle backed away, until she was pressed tight against the corner. The creature raised a hand out and stumbled forward again, pressing it’s slimy black hand against her chest. The moment it touched her Elle felt a blinding white pain shoot throughout her whole body and then she screamed, she screamed louder than she’d ever screamed in her life before.

  ***

  Vytar sprinted as fast as he could, following the sounds of Elle’s screams. His heart thundered in his chest, his breath racing. Stay calm. He thought to himself as his feet slammed down the metal corridor. A Ranagath had phased onto the ship, it had found Elle. If that thing so much as laid a finger on her…

 

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