Spacebound

[Dad]

[spoiler=Chapter 1:  Spacebound]

 

It felt empty.  Even the millions of stars, the light of their sun, and the many other planetary bodies in this galaxy couldn't bring him to understand just how much was actually occurring around him.  It was strange being outside of the Milkyway.  The big blue planet that he had grown accustomed to was nowhere to be seen.  Instead, a series of strangely colored planets with distinctive features caught his eye.  And at this galaxy's center, a metallic structure rotated counter-clockwise, ominously in place.  It was something of an open aired pyramid.  It was made up of eight lengthy beams of alien metal.  Four of them were crossed at a forty-five degree angle by metal beams of equivalent length, providing a sort of hollow point for the pyramid.  

 

The innards of the alien structure bore metal platforms, tightly gripped by the same beams they protruded from.  They formed around a massive swirling ball of compressed energy, crackling with lightning, all the while forming a powerful vacuum within one thousand feet of it.  And occasionally, the swirl of energy projected upwards in an impressive display of power, echoing out a wave of force as it exploded violently into the depths of space.

 

He could feel the energy wave as he and his partner arched their trajectory a great way to avoid the blast radius of the alien device.  They had extended their travel time by at least one year, simply by having reached this point in the galaxy at the wrong time.

 

"How long's it been?" he asked in a groggy, gruff voice.  The aura that protected him from the lack of oxygen was a light blue, and glowed dimly every time it spoke back to him.

 

"Since we've left Earth?" she asked.

 

He nodded silently, awaiting her reply.  He had slept through a great portion of their journey, trying not to cry at his departure.  He only ended up crying himself to sleep.

 

"Two years.  Your birthday is in three Earth days," she said with hint of excitement in her voice.

 

"I'm gonna be legal, huh?  What's the drinking age on your planet?" he asked, muffling his black, spiky hair.  

 

"Sixteen hundred.  But only because my people mature very quickly."

 

He chuckled to himself.  Sixteen hundred years for their species was only sixteen years for humans.  What a time to be alive.  But his mind couldn't stay off of his friends.  If he had traveled so far, but time had only changed for himself and his partner, how old would he be when he returned to Earth?  If he returned to Earth.  

 

"Don't concern yourself too much.  You'll need to be mentally prepared when we finally arrive.  This is a war we're fighting," she said sternly.

 

He waved off the thought of her super serious attitude.  "We've got about another year to get there, right?" he said turning over onto his back, stretching his arms behind his head and folding them.  "Wake me up when we're about to enter the atmosphere."

 

She shook her head.

 

"Alfonso.  How are you so sure we even have an atmosphere?"

 

He shrugged, rubbing his chin.  "Guess I've still got Earthly thoughts.  I'll get over it."

 

 

 

[Dad]

[spoiler=Chapter 2:  Vacuum]

 

It was like floating.  Alfonso didn't actually feel as though he and Altiana were traveling.  Granted they were moving at a few million miles per hour, it was as though they were standing still.  Altiana's galaxy--the Pelden Galaxy--was just as vast and spread about as his own.  Maybe even more so.  They were still on the outskirts of the center of Pelden, nearing the end of their detour around the alien device in its center.  It had been three months of endless, boring space travel.  They still needed to pass two other planets before they would be in range of Gilfax, the planet closest to Pelden's sun.  

 

"Would you like to take a break?" Altiana asked, as they were now but a few weeks from the next planet in the Pelden galaxy:  Lorün*.  

 

"Take a break?  You mean from all the astronaut stuff?"

 

"As-tro-naut. . .stuff?" Altiana questioned slowly.

 

"Right.  Er, all the flying and what not.  You wanna take a detour or something?" Alfonso replied.

 

Altiana nodded.  "The planet Lorün is only five months from Gilfax.  It's a sort of hub of a planet.  Primarily used for trading and gathering.  It has a plethora of resources, and it's out of the jurisdiction of Galactic Overseers Police forces.  It can be a bit slimy, but I used to love getting away there as a child."  

 

Altiana had a hint of excitement in her voice, as she briefly bragged about Planet Lorün.  Alfonso sighed, shrugging his shoulders.  "I supposed it couldn't hurt," he said.  Altiana smiled above him, as the grey-whisp in the distance became the focus of her eye.  Altiana happily adjusted their course, veering just east towards planet Lorün.   What Alfonso didn't understand--over the course of their two week pass to Lorün--was why he he could only see a grey mist, no matter how close they got to what Altiana called a planet.  "I mean, I just don't see anything, is all," Alfonso noted.

 

Altiana giggled each time Alfonso mentioned the grey mist, keeping a secret from him.

 

"Whaaat?  I'm just saying, you're flying us right into a blind patch.  I don't like it."

 

Altiana finally chimed in, as the tenth day approached, and the grey mist began to disperse.  "The mist is one of Planet Lorün's natural processes.  Once every few years, the planet exhausts all of the gasses, toxins, and pollution that make it past its surface, into the space around it.  It burns at high temperature as it leaves the planet's core, and exits through a great mountainous region over the course of sixty days.  During that time, all of the garbage leaving the planet exits its atmosphere as a grey mist, which lingers for upwards of three months, before naturally dissipating into space.  It's sort of--"

 

"So this one has an atmosphere huh?" Alfonso interrupted.

 

"Did you hear anything else I was saying?" Altiana asked, rolling her eyes.

 

"Huh?  Uh, oh yeah, self planetary defense mechanism for bad stuff, right.  Cool.  There any beaches on this planet?"

 

"I think I'm just going to make you wait until we actually land, since you have been paying any attention at all," Altiana said with a huff.  Alfonso shrugged it off, as the grey mist's smell wafted past his nose, even being days away.  "Holy jeez that's bad!" he said aloud, holding his nose.  Altiana of course could naturally filter the smell out of her body, completely ignoring it.  The same couldn't be said for her human host.  "Ugh!  It's gonna get in my clothes!  In my hair!  Are there showers on this planet!?  I think I'm gonna end up soaking in a river!  Christ!" he groaned.

 

"We won't have time for baths," Altiana said in reply.  "In fact, it we were back on Earth, you wouldn't have showered for days," she joked.

 

"Days?" Alfonso asked.  "I thought you said it had been two years?"

 

Altiana nodded again.  "It has.  But only for us."

 

Alfonso raised an eyebrow.  "You uh, wanna explain that for me?"

 

Altiana sighed, preparing a three day long lecture in her head, but only touching on the basics.  "Alfonso, you have to understand the amount of power it took for me to remove you from Earth.  In a matter of minutes, you were ripped from the planet, and dragged to the edge of the Milkyway galaxy.  That took fifty percent of my maximum strength," she said rather solemnly.  "If I had not done that, it would've taken more than twenty years just to pass your galaxy's smallest planet:  Pluto.  Not accounting for the black hole we had to pass through, you would be much older right now."

 

Alfonso scratched his head a bit, sort of confused, but admittedly saddened.  "So, then, the time was lost when we went through the black hole to get here?  Those two years?" he asked.

 

"Yes," Altiana replied quickly.  "You see, black holes are a great, great source of intense gravity.  So much so, that not even light--"

 

"Nor matter can escape it.  Yeah, yeah I remember learning about some of this stuff.  But how's that work with time?  Where'd those two years go?" Alfonso asked.

 

"Well, Alfonso.  This gravitational pull of a black hole is so great, that it effectively stretches time.  It may feel instantaneous, but your time spent inside of a black hole is actually immeasurable by Earth's science.  Having lived for so long, I've been through my share of black holes.  My people have studied them closely for hundreds of thousands of years.  We know a lot about them.  They're a source of fast travel for us.  But even so, we're still learning more," she said trying to explain the time loss to Alfonso.

 

He sighed, stretching.  "You said you used up fifty percent of your strength.  What's that mean?  And what would happen if you used up all of your strength?" he asked softly.

 

Altiana remained silent for a moment, as she thought about explaining this to Alfonso.  "I'll at least tell you the first part," she said nervously.  "What this means, is that we'll have to be stationed on Gilfax for some time in order for my powers to recharge.  And most of my strength was used to keep us from being crushed by that black hole we passed through.  I can't just up and rip us through the galaxy again.  Not right away.  I'll need some time to aid my people, as well as get myself back in tip-top shape," she added.

 

"But what about the other part?"

 

Altiana was silent again, for a brief time.  "That's not something I'm prepared to talk to you about, Alfonso.  It frightens me.  And I'm not sure if you should know."

 

Alfonso was quiet too, now.  What was Altiana so afraid of?  What could possibly worse than the two of them exploding and turning into an enormous imploding star?  Of course she could hear his thoughts, but he didn't dare pressure his only friend in this galaxy.  "Okay," he said finally.  "When you think it's time for me to know . . .whatever it is you want me to know, then you can tell me.  Let's just get through this fog for now."  

 

And on the fourteenth day, Alfonso and Altiana did breach the grey mist that clouded their view of planet Lorün.  What came into view was a planet with a great orange shade.  The deep orange planet reminded him of Mars.  It wasn't overly large, nor was it minuscule.  Lorün was a medium sized planet with two moons:  Kiln and Mourn.  The Kiln moon was primarily a shipping hub, used to transport goods to and from Lorün.  Mourn was the moon that was next most important to Lorün.  On it, inhibiting satellites and powerful radio frequency scramblers were being run by a team of hotshot pirate radio bosses.  Together, they kept planet Lorün off of Galactic Overseers Police forces radars.  This was the only real 'freespace' in all of Pelden.  But it was as dangerous as it was appealing.

 

Reaching the atmosphere, Alfonso was shielded from the harmful wave of heat that washed over his body as they crossed into the reach of planet Lorün.  His supernatural partner was able to easily protect Alfonso during the atmospheric entry, as the skies of Lorün came into view.  "Hang on tight," Altiana said to Alfonso as the clouds began to clear.

 

"For wha--yipe!"

 

Alfonso suddenly felt his body lurch harshly and rapidly towards the planet's surface.  It was as though a kiloton of weight had been placed on him, and a magnet was dragging him down.  He fought it as hard as he could, while Altiana tried to adjust.  The rush of wind forced them to speak mentally, as the noise drowned out their voices outside.

 

"I usually come alone!  Having another body to support with Lorün's gravity field is a lot harder!" Altiana said urgently.

 

"What do we do!?" Alfonso asked, panicking.  

 

Altiana hesitated, as she pushed a great amount of her aura over Alfonso's body, in an attempt to ease the pressure on his frame.  "Try not to die!"

 

*Pronounced Low-rune

 

 

[Saiba Aisu]

Can I just say: Really loving this writing project and seeing Alfonso and Altiana's adventures unfold. Keep it coming, Daddy!

[Dad]

[spoiler=Chapter 3:  Deep Cover]

 

As they plummeted towards Planet Lorün, Alfonso flipped rapidly, over and over.  In a spiral towards his death, Alfonso fought valiantly to break the intense gravitational force of Planet Lorün.  Using Altiana's aura, Alfonso slowed his rotation, until eventually he was practically standing upright as he fell.  Alfonso's breathing became shallow, but Altiana remained calm.  "Okay.  I'm going to try and communicate with someone on the ground.  But we don't have long.  Can you perhaps try to use your repulsion to project away from the Planet?"

 

Alfonso shook his head, mentally communicating with Altiana.  "No.  I'd have to be touching the surface.  And there's nothing for me to grab onto right now.  So--"

 

"That's it, Alfonso.  You do have something to hold on to!" Altiana said in a moment of clarity.

 

"I do?" he said as the ground grew closer.

 

"Yourself!" she said excitedly.

 

"I don't think now's a good time to--"

 

"Oh for goodness' sake.  Place your palms against each other, Alfonso!  You can repel yourself!  Just don't repel your entire body.  You'll rip yourself apart.  Do it!  Quickly!"

 

Alfonso wasn't following Altiana, but he obeyed, pressing his palms together.  Attraction and repulsion pushed away from each other in either of his hands, but it was no good.  "Try cupping your hands instead," Altiana said urging Alfonso forward.  Again, Alfonso played along, hoping that Altiana's idea would play out.  He began cupping his hands and forcing them together.  "Keep at it.  Don't stop pushing your hands together.  Create a force, Alfonso.  A bubble of sorts from both energies.  Push!"  And Alfonso did.  He cupped his hands tightly and continued to force them inwards until both attraction and repulsion were practically touching each other.  And as they were inches apart, the sheer force from the opposites forced Alfonso's hands apart, with a small but contained explosion.  The force of the explosion, however, was great.  It was so great that Alfonso felt his stomach lurch downwards, as he was briefly propelled upwards in the air.

 

"I think I get it!" he said preparing to cup his hands again.  "Good!  But don't do it too often.  You could hurt yourself.  We need to time the next one.  Time it with our fall."  Altiana was riddled with worry, but her confidence in Alfonso did not wane.  As they neared the ground, Alfonso put all of his thought and focus into repeating the previous events; hopefully without fail.  

 

"We're approaching one thousand feet.  At exactly two hundred and fifty feet, I need you to repel.  I will count you down.  Do you understand?"

 

Alfonso gave Altiana a nod, as she calculated the distance from their current position in the air, to the ground.

 

"One thousand!"

 

Alfonso's mind was racing.  He had already lost concentration.  What if he messed up?

 

"Eight hundred!"

 

If he died now, he would fail his friends.  He would fail Altiana.  He would fail--

 

"Five hundred!"

 

No.  He had to focus.  Concentrate.  There was way too much to be done for him to die to some stupid fall!

 

"Three hundred!  Get ready!"

 

Alfonso shook his head, breathing deeply.

 

"Five!"

 

Alfonso cupped his hands.

 

"Four!"

 

He began to gather pressure between the two.

 

"Three!"

 

The pressure build up began to swell.

 

"One!"

 

Alfonso held his breath.

 

"Now, Alfonso!  Do it now!"  

 

Grunting, Alfonso projected the blast outwards beneath him, much stronger than before.  While his fall was greatly slowed, Alfonso veered off course by several meters, the force of the repulsion blast sending him turning over and over westward.  He fell much more gradually, with Altiana being able to better balance the two of them.  Unfortunately, Alfonso sent himself careening into a large tree, closer to twenty feet off the ground, before rustling through the branches and leaves and landing with a crunch.

 

It was only after rolling over and gripping his stomach in pain that Alfonso really felt alive.  After going through space for so long, he hadn't felt much of anything other than emptiness.  He wanted to return to the past, but, that seemed impossible.  It was impossible.  For now.  

 

"Eesh!  Ya lookin' a bit like ya lost!  Not from round here, are ya?" he heard a squeaky voice say.

 

Groggily, he blinked, turning over on his back as he stared into a very hairy face.  The man--no.  Wait.  That wasn't a man.  It resembled more of a five foot tall squirrel, with equally heavy cheeks, and tall ears.  It had a white mustache, and it wore enormous round glasses, with a pin striped suit.  His bushy tail complimented the garments well, curling downwards and neatly bouncing behind him.  And with a whistle, he carried himself happily.  This hilariously dressed fur ball, was Murmit.  At over one hundred and forty-two years of age, Murmit was a mainstay at the hilltop in which Alfonso had just crashed.  "Ya okay there kiddo?" he said prodding Alfonso with a rickety cane.

 

"Sorry about the mess, Mr. Murmit.  I know it's been a while," Altiana said through Alfonso.

 

Murmit's eyes widened, as he peered carefully at the stretched out Alfonso.  "Ya got a weird voice for a fella.  Have we met a'fore?" he asked Alfonso.  Breathing heavily, Alfonso struggled to his feet, leaning on the tree that he crashed into for support.

 

"Sorry about the confusion, Mr. uh, what'd you say his name was?"

 

Altiana's spirit now manifested beside Alfonso now, folding her arms and smiling as she stared her old friend in the face.  "Mr. Murmit.  I've known him since he was a child."

 

With an audible gasp, Mr. Murmit took his time to bow.  "Oh, stop it," Altiana said waving her hand at him.  "Stand up straight.  There's no need for all of that."

 

"We may be best of friends, ya highness.  But I still gotsa keep the utmost respect for ya," he said with a grin.  "I almost din' recognize ya!  What with you havin' a host and all.  Who's the lucky lad?"

 

Altiana grinned, turning to Alfonso.  "This is uh. . well.  Since I don't know how to put it, I'll come right out with it.  Alfonso is--er, according to our laws--"

 

"I'm her husband," Alfonso said scratching his head.

 

Mr. Murmit looked on with the same smile on his face, his expression unchanged.  He hobbled over to Altiana, and gave her a big hug.  "Congratulations ol' girl!  I'd no idea it'd been so long!"

 

Petting Mr. Murmit, Altiana thanked him, before turning back to Alfonso as Mr. Murmit let go.  "Alfonso, this is Mr. Murmit  My long time friend, a member of the Galactic Counsel, and a fantastic pastry chef."

 

Mr. Murmit bowed out of politeness, as Altiana addressed him, before sticking out a frail hand to greet Alfonso.  "That's quite a name ya got there.  What's the 'er, origin'?  Velmian?  Algorian?  Maybe Kolpian?"

 

Alfonso shook his head, regrettably so as it made his headache much worse.  "No sir.  It's uh . . .it's from Earth."

 

Mr. Murmit pushed his spectacles closer to his brow, then scratched his chin as he leaned in to examine Alfonso.  The boy backed his head away just a bit, so that he couldn't feel Mr. Murmit's breath on his nostrils.  "Earth ya say?  Hmm, not from around these parts then, are ya?"  Alfonso shook his head at Mr. Murmit.  For a second, he didn't want to say anything at all.  Bringing up Earth after all these years was difficult, to say the least.  

 

"It's uh, part of the Milkyway Galaxy.  I dunno if you know it or not, but that's my home world.  Earth," he said with a hand on his neck.  The awkward silence that proceeded this conversation made Alfonso raise his eyebrows, as he awaited a cue or some sort of sign as to what was next.

 

"Right!  Mr. Murmit," Altiana started.  The furry old beast turned to face her, shuffling his feet.  "We're going to need your help.  Alfonso and I need to get to Gilfax, but we need to do it discreetly.  There's a bit of a mess going on, and my people need me.  I'm sure you've heard," she said placing her hands together, trying not to fret as she thought about the chaos that was currently happening on her home world.  "I'd like to secure a ship from the shipping depot.  I tried to connect with our mutual friend through telepathy, but there was something blocking my communication.  That's why I contacted you."

 

Mr. Murmit whistled a bit, as he realized the trouble Altiana was in.  "This is about the war, isn't it?" he said turning to the hillside that lay just beyond him.  Altiana remained silent, which said more than she needed to.  "We've been trying to get supplies and aid to your kingdom, but it hasn't been easy.  And rescues have been few and far in between.  It's gonna take a big effort even to get a ship through without you know who having his men rummage through it and spot ya."  Mr. Murmit began walking towards the hillside, leading Altiana and Alfonso to his home, hidden on the opposite side.  "Come.  I'll try to get in touch with some friends."

 

 

 

 

TBC'd.

 

*Notes

 

The controlled explosion is only as powerful as it is because Altiana is pushing so much of her own aura into Alfonso.  Otherwise, it would be much smaller in terms of projecting Alfonso backwards.  For reference, the gravity of Lorün is approximately twice as much as Earth's, or 19.6 meters per square second.