Aeon War Read online

“Why didn’t you explain it to me earlier? Why wait until now?”

  Gar sighed and ran a hand through his long hair. “I don’t know. I messed up. I didn’t want to... scare you I guess. I didn’t want you to hate me. Everything we were going through, all the danger, I didn’t want to add to it.”

  “I just want to go home,” Sarah snapped. “You should have told me that I wouldn’t be.”

  Gar shook his head softly. “I’ll get you home,” he said. He stepped forward and hesitated, and then reached out and took the Earthling’s hand. “If you want to go home. I promise you, I’ll get you there.”

  Sarah sighed as she looked up to the alien. “Of course I want to go home. Did you think I would stay here, out here, forever?”

  Gar let his shoulders rise and fall, and once more Sarah was reminded that some things didn’t change, even in outer space. Beings who had evolved on a planet lightyears from Earth still shrugged. It was almost too much for her mind to grasp.

  “I don’t know,” Gar said truthfully. “I’ve been so focused on surviving, I didn’t even have time to consider what you… what was next for us.”

  Sarah nodded, and then she pulled her hand away. “Well, now you know. I want to go home.”

  Gar nodded, and then left her alone.

  Chapter Three

  A couple of days passed with no contact from Gar. Sarah knew she had offended him, and hurt his feelings, and if she was being true to herself, her heart ached for him. But what had he expected? She was from Earth; a planet not even in the same solar system as his. Did he think she would just leave her life behind? Her friends and her father? Did he think she would never want to see them again?

  With all of the wild and almost unbelievable things Sarah had seen since being abducted by the Aeon’s. She didn’t even think of Henry anymore; the Aeon alien that she had briefly fallen for, and had used her, and had influenced her mind, she kind of hoped was dead. Sarah hadn’t really had a chance to be amazed by space travel. There were no windows in her room, and while the Zaytarian’s weren’t keeping her captive, it did not seem as though they would like her to wander the ship freely, so she hadn’t.

  But even without windows, she could tell they were speeding along at an almost unbelievable pace. In fact, Sarah wasn’t even sure she would be able to see anything through any windows. To travel through galaxies in mere days, they had to be going at light speed, right? Or even faster? Would she be able to see anything? Maybe it was better there weren’t windows. She didn’t want to be driven insane by something as silly as speed of light travel.

  In the sci-fi movies when they moved that quickly the stars just turned into lines, and then there were off. Was that what it looked like? Surely there was a window in the cockpit, wasn’t there? Were the pilots staring out of the windows now? They were probably used to whatever they saw. She wondered if the aliens were amazed when they saw her. How common were humans out here? She had only met one, and he had died, eaten by an alien worm. It really was amazing; the things that had happened to her and somehow now managed to seem so normal in her mind when she thought of them. Eaten by a space worm. A giant space worm. How about that?

  It was growing late, as far as Sarah’s biological clock could tell, when she swayed a bit as she stood, having just taken a shower in the small tubular shower stall in one corner of her room. They were slowing down. Sarah dressed quickly in simple white clothing the aliens had provided, and was making her way to the sliding door to her room when it whooshed open, disappearing into the ceiling. Gar was there.

  “We’re here,” he said.

  “Here?”

  “My home,” he clarified, and then he held his hand out to her. Sarah didn’t take it, instead walking past him and out into the cramped hall of the small ship. Gar let her lead for a moment, until Sarah had to admit she had no way of knowing which way to go, and leaned toward the wall so he could pass and show her. She saw him grin, and it pissed her off.

  Neither Gar nor Sarah quite knew why the other was so mad, or why they themselves were mad, but something had gone sour between them and neither wanted to be the one to fix it.

  The other Zaytarian’s had lined up near the door, waiting for them, and as Gar and the Earthling approached Salta reached out and pressed his palm against a button, and the door slid up into the ceiling. Sarah looked out and could see Gar’s home world.

  It was stunningly beautiful. The sky was purple instead of blue, not a deep shade of the royal color, but soft lavender, like a flower. There were fluffy white clouds the color of pure snow, and the sun was large in the sky, almost gold.

  “Wow,” Sarah said, and Gar couldn’t help but smile and look back at her as they disembarked. They had landed in a military base near the equator of the planet; which was a little smaller than Earth. It was their winter months, but warm at the center of the planet, and as soon as Sarah left the shade of the ship she could feel the golden rays of the sun on her face and arms.

  The base was large; the largest on the planet. It consisted of just one landmass, taking up forty percent of the planet's surface, while emerald green sea water took up the rest. There were no countries, no warring factions, not on Zaytaria.

  A low beige building sat right next to the ship landing area, and it was here that Sarah was led. Gar walked with her, but the rest of the aliens from the ship which had brought her to the new planet had other things to attend to, and none followed. Inside there were large bulbs hung from the ceiling, all humming with electricity.

  Gar wasn’t the only alien with her, a few others of his species she had never met were there, too, walking along with them. They wore clothing, which was obviously military, marked as important, with large badges pinned to the sleeves of their right arm. She was led into a large room with a circular table and chairs around it.

  She sat down at one end, Gar beside her, and then the rest took a seat at the table as well. She still had the translator in her ear, so when one alien with chalky white skin spoke to her, she understood him.

  “Sarah, your name is?”

  “Yes,” she said with a slight nod.

  “My name is Commander Balko. It is a pleasure to meet you, let me say first of all.”

  Sarah didn’t know how to respond to that, so she just nodded again, this time with a hesitant smile.

  “I trust you have been filled in about the crystal you wear around your neck?”

  “Yes,” Sarah said. She didn’t quite understand it all, but she had been filled in as well as she was going to be.

  “You are in a position to help us destroy a great threat to every being in all the galaxies. The Aeon’s will not rest until they have conquered every place they may. We did not realize that truth at first, but we realize it now, and with your help, we can fix the problem we have unleashed upon ourselves.”

  Sarah sighed. “I wish I had never been involved,” she said. “This is not my home. These are not my people. I’m just a girl.”

  “The crystal is linked to you. Without you, it is useless,” Balko said.

  “I help you, or you all die?”

  “We will fight to the last, but with their weapon, we surely do not stand a chance.”

  “You bring me here after everything I’ve been through, and you lay all of this on me? You’re all crazy. This whole thing is crazy. I don’t know any of you.”

  “It was our impression that you have gotten to know Gar,” Balko said, and Sarah wasn’t sure she liked his tone, though the translator in her ear did little in terms of portraying tone in her native language.

  “What is that supposed to mean?” she asked, and then she turned to glare at Gar, the alien she had fallen in love with. “Is that what all this was? You knew from the start that it would have to be me to save you and your planet? You made me fall in love so I would want to do this?”

  “No,” Gar replied passionately, shaking his head vigorously.

  “You used me like Henry did. At least he didn’t lie to me,” Sarah sai
d through clenched teeth. She pushed away from the table and stood up.

  “I’ll help you,” she snarled at those around the table. “But then I’m going home. And I never want to see him again,” she added, thrusting her finger at Gar. “Tell me what you need me to do, and when you need me to do it, otherwise, I would appreciate being left alone.”

  And with that she turned and headed for the door, which slid open as she neared it. A Zaytarian, who had been waiting in the hall, was quick to intercept her.

  “We have some quarters for you a short distance away,” he said, tucking a screened device under his arm and leading her outside. There was a vehicle waiting, and Sarah was surprised to see that it was wheeled, and greatly resembled the cars she was familiar with back home, at least in function.

  The alien had introduced himself as Cog as they had climbed into the vehicle, and he told her that he would be in charge of making sure her stay was as comfortable as possible.

  “And how long will I be staying?” Sarah asked.

  The alien consulted his screen. “It appears as though the top brass hopes to commence the mission in one week's time.

  “A week here, and then I do this, and I can finally go home?” Sarah asked.

  The alien smiled at her. “It appears so,” he said. They rode the rest of the way in silence.

  The base turned out to be on the outskirts of a larger city, none of the buildings stretching very far upwards, but many very wide, some as big as whole city blocks. The roads were paved with a dark brown material, and every vehicle had wheels; some three, some two, most four, and some with even more.

  Sarah didn’t bother to pay attention as they rode, and she had no way of knowing just how far they had gone when they finally pulled to a stop in front of a low, one-story building that stretched halfway down the block on either side of the front door.

  Two other aliens stood by that front door, with long chrome rifles in their hands, and they nodded their heads to Sarah and her escort as they exited the vehicle and made their to the door.

  The front door opened up into a rectangular front hall, empty save for a few chairs and tables. To the left, a closed door. To the right of the door, an open arch, leading to a comfortably furnished living room of sorts. They went there, the Zaytarian leading the way. He motioned toward a large circular screen on the wall.

  “A viewer,” he said. “Are you familiar?” he asked, picking up a circular pad near the couch and tapping his finger on it. The screen came to life.

  “It’s like TV,” Sarah said. She suddenly felt weary, and wanted nothing more than for the Zaytarian to leave her alone. “Is this where I’ll be staying?” she asked.

  “Yes,” the alien said, picking up on her tone, and how she was holding her body.

  “I can leave you alone,” he added, and Sarah offered him a small smile.

  “I’m tired,” she said.

  “I understand. There will always be two guards posted at each door. There’s the one we came through, one on the left side of the home, and one door at the rear. No one will come inside though, fear not for your privacy.”

  “Thank you,’ Sarah said, and the alien inclined his head toward her and then turned and left. She let him go and then turned toward the screen he had turned on and sat on the couch.

  Once again she was struck with just how similar things could be, even on another world. The screen was almost impossibly thin, and the picture impossibly clear, and it was circular, but it was a TV. The controller was round and had no buttons to speak of, just square colors on the screen, but it worked the same.

  On the viewer was a Zaytarian female, the first Sarah had seen so far. It occurred to her that she had not come across one in the military, and she wondered if females were banned from armed service. That seemed backwards, but she had to suppose it must be true.

  The alien on the screen was beautiful, her skin a soft pink color, her hair so blonde it was nearly white. Her eyes were large, a bit larger than any human’s eyes could be, and her lips were plump and artificially made red. Lipstick? Even in space. Sarah laughed softly and shook her head. A million light years away and women were expected to look their best.

  The translator in Sarah’s ear worked for the screen as well, and Sarah learned she was watching a news report.

  “A vehicle filled with stolen goods was recovered in the province of Hon-lo today,” the beautiful alien said. “The goods were meant for the war effort, and the perpetrator was still at large, according to authorities.”

  The screen switched to a shot of the truck, abandoned in the woods. Sarah yawned and lay down on the couch, holding the controller in her hand as she had so often done at home. This was the most normal she had felt in some time. She had thought to go explore the house before she took a nap, but she knew she would not be able to drag herself off the couch, and so she gave in to channel surfing for a bit, pressing the colored buttons at random, and watching as new images appeared on the screen.

  Click. Two male Zaytarian’s fighting at what looked like a sport; their hands and feet encased in glowing green energy. Click. A Zaytarian speaking to the camera as he drove a boat in a beautiful body of water that was emerald green instead of blue. Click. A movie. Wow, another world made movies. A woman Zaytarian screaming as some fantastical beast ran after her. She slid into a nearby room, slamming the door behind her. It was a closet, and the beast slammed against the door.

  Sarah set the controller on the couch beside her and started to watch the movie, but soon her eyelids grew heavy, and she was asleep.

  Chapter Four

  It was two days before Gar came to see her. By then Sarah had explored the spacious house, a long hallway running East to West with rooms of various sizes. There was a fully stocked kitchen, though most of the food was unrecognizable to her. She had found a bowl of pink-skinned fruits she had fallen in love, eating one with every meal. The flesh was sweeter and more delicious than any fruit she had ever tasted on Earth.

  There was a master bedroom with a massive circular bed and a bathroom attached; the tub nearly five feet deep and set into the floor, making baths a relaxing affair.

  But still, she was ready to go. She missed her father and thought about him nearly every moment she was awake, and twice, once on the first night and the next day during a nap, dreamt of him when she slept. She found she was tired often, and wondered if the atmosphere was different from Earth’s.

  It was just after lunch; she had eaten one of the pink fruits and a bowl of stew, or at least she thought it looked and tasted a bit like stew after discovering it in the refrigerator, which more or less resembled one of the appliances from her home, when a soft bell dinged throughout the house. It took her a moment to place it as the doorbell, and she went to answer, wondering if she should go dress quickly, she was wearing an undershirt and her panties.

  Screw it. Let them get excited.

  But when she pulled the door open, Gar was there. She felt her cheeks go hot, which was certainly odd since he had seen her in her underwear more than once, and just as often out of them all together.

  “I could come back,” he said, clearly embarrassed as well, which only served to make Sarah’s resolve strengthen. He was embarrassed to see her nearly nude? Good.

  Again, she wondered just why she was so mad at the alien, but she couldn’t quite figure it out. And she wasn’t sure she wanted to. She didn’t devote any brainpower to the problem as she stepped back to let him in. She glanced down, noticing for the first time that day that her nipples were clearly visible through the shirt, dark spots under the thin white material.

  “What do you want?” she asked.

  If Gar had been hoping she would be kind, or even act excited to see him, he was mistaken and disappointed. His face fell as he shut the door behind him, lest the two guards glance in and saw her breasts or panty-clad ass.

  “I came to check on you,” the alien she had fallen for said. She felt a pang of that same attraction as he spoke. S
he had him, or had for most of the crazy adventure, to lean on when things had gotten too crazy. She had been ripped from her home, and not just her home but her home world, and had been forced into something she honestly didn’t even understand. She had never been alone though, save a few horrific weeks when the Aeon’s had made her their captive. Gar had been there. And in that house she felt lonely, and she felt scared, but seeing him, she realized she didn’t have to feel that way at all.

  “I’m fine,” she said, not as frostily as before. “I'm tired, Gar.”

  “I know,” he said, nodding. He was wearing a uniform, light green with stripes of brown down the sleeves. His shoulders and chest were broad, as she had known, and they made him look impressive in the crisp lines of the outfit. He wore a hat as well, triangular and jauntily placed upon his head, but he reached up and pulled that off, setting it down upon a nearby table. “Tomorrow you begin training,” he said.

  “Training?” Sarah asked.

  Gar nodded. “If you’re going to do this, you need to learn how to stay alive.”

  Sarah felt annoyed, but she knew he hadn’t meant it the way she had taken it. Still, she couldn’t keep herself from replying.

  “Well, I’ve managed it this long, have I not?”

  Gar smiled. “Yes, you have,” he said. “Still, this isn’t going to be like it has been so far. This time, we aren’t trying to run from danger. We aren’t just trying to survive. We’re going to march into danger, and we think it would be… uh… beneficial to you if we trained you. Taught you how to use a gun. Things like that.”

  Sarah knew better than to argue. Everything Gar was saying seemed like a good idea. She should be trained. If she was going to go to the Aeon home world in an effort to end this once and for all, she would need to be able to handle herself when she got there.

  “Okay,” she said finally, nodding her head.

  “Okay?”

  “Yes,” she said.

  “And then,” Gar added, his voice softer than she had ever heard it, his tone full of uncertainty, “you’ll go back home?”