Cuyler silenced the members of the council, letting out a loud growl. “There’s no more time for plans. We need to evacuate the planet immediately or we’ll perish with it. Call out your people and make them board the vessels right now.” He vociferated when his audience finally became silent. “The vessels have enough food and water for some time, enough to allow us to reach a new planet to live on or at least to refuel.”
The councils started talking all at the same time again and this time they were silenced with a deafening explosion, followed by several others. The meteorites were starting to hit the planet’s surface.
“Now you understand the urgency of leaving?” Cuyler shouted once more. “Get all of your people on the vessels and leave the planet right away.”
This time, everyone listened and immediately abandoned the room. Sirens started echoing throughout the city, alerting the people to board the vessels.
Cuyler looked at his siblings, the only ones that remained in the room. "I want one of you in each vessel. There must be a leader people will immediately follow, in case we have trouble,” he ordered. "Keep in touch as much as you can and we shall meet again as soon as possible."
Einar, the oldest of his brothers, took a step and hugged him. “It shall be done as you order, my king,” he said. “I’ll board vessel number two, right away,” he announced as he turned around and left the room, running.
Geir followed his brother’s example. “You know you can always count on me, my king. I’ll be on vessel number three.”
“May the forces of the universe be with you,” Cuyler said, watching him leave as well.
Hella closed the distance between her and her older brother. “I’ll do my best representing our family,” she said, hugging him tightly.
"I know you will. You're a natural leader and people will follow you. Always remember I'll be there for you and be careful,” he advised her. "Take the vessel number four and leave the planet as soon as you get your people on board. My vessel shall be the last one to take off; I'll do my best to take everybody out."
“They should have listened to you sooner,” she said, cradling her brother’s face.
“There’s no time for regrets. Now, leave and be careful.” He kissed her forehead and rushed her out of the room, turning around to sound the second and the third alarm.
Fortunately, he had gathered all of the planet's people in the capital. He had known the danger was impending and he had wanted to be prepared, even when the council members considered they had enough time to look for a new planet before leaving this one.
The meteorite rain had soon ended their arguments. He just prayed they had sufficient time to take everyone off the planet before the sun exploded, destroying the whole solar system with it.
He finally left the room, heading to the boarding docks.
Hundreds of thousands of people were being teleported, chaotically, to the four large vessels, which hovered over the city, and he sighed, feeling frustrated. He should have taken them off world before, but evacuating millions of people wasn't an easy task and though he had tried, he had only been able to build four vessels, able to carry around two hundred and fifty thousand people each. He had planned to make several trips, evacuating the people, but they didn’t have enough time.
In the end, their dying sun had brought hunger and diseases their self-healing bodies hadn't been able to cure and their population had decreased incredibly. Now there were barely a million of them, and they should be able to evacuate all the population at the same time.
Several explosions shook the planet, causing more panic among the people and the final boarding was terrible, but soon, they had everybody aboard the ships. He was sure there were several families separated, but right now, the important thing was to leave the planet. He was the last one to board, and the minute the gates closed behind him, he ordered his sister's vessel to take off, followed by number three and number two. They were the last ones to leave and soon they were abandoning the planet's atmosphere and getting as far as possible.
They were about to leave the dangerous area when the sun finally exploded. The expansive waves of the explosion threw them in four different directions and the vessels lost contact with each other.
Cuyler’s ship was pushed through what seemed like a black hole, and only the extraordinary abilities of the ship's captain, kept them in one piece until they were finally able to stabilize the vessel.
At the control center, Cuyler ordered his men to check on the passengers while others tried to make contact with the remaining vessels, without success.
“How far did the explosion throw us?” he asked the captain.
“We have no way of knowing, my king,” the man confessed. “We were sent through a black hole and ended up in a galaxy our guidance systems don’t recognize.”
That worried Cuyler. An unknown galaxy meant they were exposed to all kinds of danger. “Put up the camouflage shields.” He ordered, immediately. “Until we know what we’re facing, we’ll keep them on.”
“Very well, my king.” The man nodded.
“Though we have enough food for some time, we better start scanning the nearest solar systems.”
“I have my men on it, my king. They are checking all of the possibilities.”
“Send an exploration team to the best three options. We’re more vulnerable up here than on a planet. This vessel isn’t fast enough to escape the enemy.” He ordered, getting up.
“We’re aware of it, my king. I’ll let you know the minute we have news.”
"Perfect. I'll check on the people. Many must be disturbed by the absence of the other vessels.”
“Yes, my king.” The man nodded, and Cuyler left the room.
As he walked through the halls of the vessel, people came his way to express their worries. He told them all, they were doing all they could to find the other vessels, but that the priority was to find a planet where they could establish themselves as soon as possible. Their food reserves weren’t enough for a prolonged journey.
By the end of his tour, the frown he had on his forehead was intense. He quickly returned to the control center and called for the person in charge of the passengers.
“Haskell, have you censored the population on board of this vessel?” he asked his man, in a stern tone.
“Yes, my king, I started it the minute the gates were closed,” he replied.
“Is there a problem, my king?” the captain asked, approaching them.
“I’m not sure yet,” the king replied. “How many people are on board this vessel?”
“Including the crew, there are two hundred and thirty-four thousand people," Haskell replied.
“How many of those are men?” Cuyler asked.
“Two hundred twenty thousand, my king, most of them single warriors. All of the women on board are mated to one of the men, and there are only five hundred children, mostly male as well.” He explained.
"Thank you, Haskell." He dismissed the man, as he looked at Igor, his captain.
“You’re worried about the numbers,” the captain said, in a low tone.
“What are the possibilities of finding the other vessels, Igor?” he asked, with a stern tone, running his fingers through the ridges on his forehead.
“Close to none, my king,” the man admitted, starting to see the problem.
“How are we supposed to survive with so few females amongst us, all of them already mated?” he put in words his captain’s suspicions.
“It’s not like we can mate with any other species,” he added, sounding even more worried. He let out a deep breath. “We’ll worry about that later. Right now, we need to find a place to settle, then, we’ll see what we can do.”
The nearest solar system was hostile to their species, so they had to travel further into the galaxy they were in, trying to find another one that at least had the kind of atmosphere they needed. They could handle the rest, but finding oxygen was vital.
It took them three weeks to find a deserted planet with enough oxygen for them to live in. It was colder than they would have wanted, since they were people of fire, but they couldn’t go on looking. They needed to land as soon as possible.
Igor sent three teams to scan the planet looking for potential inhabitants, but other than plants and animals, they didn’t find anything. The planet was too cold and too far from the sun to be attractive for most species, but its atmosphere was composed of mostly oxygen, and it had huge water reserves, orange water, but potable, what was the most important part. They had brought seeds and some livestock with them, so they were going to be alright.
Relieved, the king ordered the vessel to land on the planet, and soon they had settled camps around the vessel for all the people.
He ordered his people to shift to their drogon form and remain like that all the time until they were sure they were safe on this planet. With their brownish scales, long black claws, sharp fangs, leathery wings and powerful tail, they were invincible in one on one combat, not to mention that their self-healing abilities made them almost immortals.
The last thing he needed at this stage was a bad surprise. They still had to scan the planet thoroughly for possible threats, and that was the reason he decided to keep the children less than ten years old, on board of the vessel, because they couldn’t shift yet.
During all that time, they had sent thousands of messages to the other vessels, but it was impossible to establish contact, and they didn’t even know if they had been able to survive the expansive wave or not.
If they wanted to survive, they would have to face the hard, cold facts: they were on their own.