Jessie

“So now what?” I asked Yahn, feeling frustrated that the Sarceastians were messing things up for us again.

“Well, it will only be a day or two before an expedition crew is sent out to investigate if I know the Sarceastians well. We have two choices- set off into space again or we stay here and defend our new home,” Yahn said.

“I don’t know, it sounds really risky to just hang around and wait for the Sarceastians to show up. My vote is for leaving,” I said, thinking the risk was too great.

Yahn walked over to me and took my hand. “Jessie my love, we have been through so many trials to get here and now we truly have a place where we can live together without anyone judging us.”

“Yes, but we are still in danger. It’s as if there is no place that the Sarceastians haven’t taken over besides Earth, and we know that’s not an option for us.”

“That is precisely why I think we should stay. We have motion detectors that we can set up around the landing perimeter to alert us of the presence of the expedition team once they arrive. I also noticed some disarmed land mines in one of the compartments of our ship. We could plant those all around the landing strip. I know how to re-activate them. Then, all we have to do is find a place to conceal ourselves and wait. Once the Sarceastians arrive, the motion detectors will let us know. If they survive the land mines, we can ambush them.”

“I don’t know, Yahn, it seems risky,” I said.

“So does leaving this planet to try and find another safe haven,” Yahn said.

In the end, I gave in to Yahn and agreed to go along with his plan. We took out the land mines and planted them all around the landing strip. It would be difficult for the Sarceastians to set foot anywhere without activating them.

“From this point on, we must avoid this area. I know the location of each mine, so that we won’t accidentally set one off,” Yahn said. Then we proceeded to set up the motion detectors around the landing site so that they would be activated once the Sarceastians landed. Now all that was left to do was find a hiding place where we could wait for the arrival of our enemies. We went into the lush forest to the west of our camp and found a small cave that was only a couple of hundred yards from the camp and landing site. It was a small opening in the side of a forested hill. We would be able to see anyone approaching us from far away. It was spacious and comfortable enough for us to sleep in. We took our food supplies and bedding materials and set them up in the cave.

“And now we wait,” Yahn said as he sat down next to me on my bedding material. We began to kiss and look in each other’s eyes when the motion detector began to light up.

“Wow, that didn’t take long,” I said in amazement.

“I can’t say that I’m surprised. The Sarceastians are nothing if not thorough in the protection of what they believe to be their resource. You stay here and I’ll go check it out to make sure that an animal didn’t set off the detectors. Be ready with your laser cannon in case I don’t return,” he said.

“Don’t talk like that, of course you will return,” I said. Yahn kissed me and smiled. Then, he left the cave. I sat in the darkness listening to the sound of water dripping from the ceiling. The moments I sat there waiting for Yahn felt like an eternity. Finally, I saw him running back to me with a look of alarm on his face.

“Well, is it them?” I asked.

“Yes, there’s an expedition ship. I saw eight of them exit the ship. They didn’t see me. What surprised me was how easily they avoided the landmines. One of them pulled out a device that started to light up when he pointed it at the area around the landing site. It was some kind of detector that they used to show them where the mines were located. Looks like we are going to have to resort to our ambush plan after all,” he said. A second later, we heard a series of explosions as the Sarceastians detonated each of the mines so that they wouldn’t have to worry about setting them off.

“Ok, here’s the plan. Once we get out of the cave, I will approach the landing area from the south and you will approach it from the north. Do not show yourself until you hear me say, “Freeze!” then you and I will have them surrounded. If they try anything, we will have to shoot to kill at that point,” he said.

“Sounds risky, but I suppose we have no choice other than to try and remain hidden,” I said.

“They will not give up until they find us if we try to remain in hiding,” he said.

I took a deep breath and exited the cave behind Yahn. I headed off through the forest to the north of the landing site, The vegetation was thick in this area and thorns tore at my flesh as I made my way through the tangled undergrowth. As I got closer to the landing site, I suddenly came face to face with a forest creature that I could not name. It was as big as a car and had horns all along its back like a dinosaur. However, it was covered in fur and had a face much like a seal. Its four limbs had long sharp claws like a bear. It looked at me and I looked at it, clutching my laser cannon nervously. Finally, it snorted a couple of times and ran off into the woods. I suppose it could tell that I was a threat with my laser cannon. Once I got to the edge of the forest, I hid behind a giant fern and looked out at the landing site. I saw six Sarceastians in their phantom-like cloaks looking around at the items we had left behind. Two more of them came walking off of our ship, carrying some things. I switched on my language decoder so that I could understand what they were saying.

“From the look of it, there are two of them, sir,” one of them said to another who had a red cloak inside of the grey ones the others wore. I guessed that this was the leader of the expedition.

“Well they can’t have gone too far. Be careful though. They obviously have been expecting us or else they wouldn’t have laid all of those mines. Humans are so primitive in their weaponry.”

“Yes sir,” they said as they began to fan out from the landing site. I looked for Yahn. I knew that this was the time for us to ambush them, but I told Yahn I would wait for his signal.

“Freeze!” Yahn said, emerging from behind a bush with his laser cannon in his hand. I came out from behind the fern and approached the two that were heading in my direction.

“Put down your weapons!” I said in a commanding voice. The two Sarceastians looked at each other and then back at me as if they were trying to decide if they should obey my command or not.

Suddenly, their captain lifted a hand into the air and both my laser cannon and Yahn’s were lifted out of our hands and into the air. We had forgotten all about the Sarceastians’ telekinetic powers. The captain began to laugh under his cloak as his hateful red eyes glowed with delight.

“Now you will come with us or you will die. The choice is completely up to you!” the captain said as he pulled out his own laser gun. The others pulled out their weapons as well. A second later, the rest of the expedition crew came out of our ship and saw what was happening.

“No need to send out a search party. We have thwarted their feeble plan to ambush us,” the captain said. His voice was deep and eerie, like the voice of an evil wizard.

Yahn had not moved a muscle since his weapon was taken away. He closed his eyes and seemed to act as if he were in another world. I wondered what in the world he was doing.

“Come with us, right away!” the captain said. I put my hands on my head and began to walk with the two guards that were near me.

“I said move!” The captain yelled at Yahn, but Yahn stood his ground. Suddenly, his eyes opened and took on a strange, blue glow. He lifted his hand into the air and the Sarceastian’s weapons flew up out of their hands. One of them landed in Yahn’s hand and the other in my own.

“What?” the captain said as he tried to close his eyes. He was trying to use his telekinetic powers in order to gain back the weapons. Yahn’s eyes grew bigger as if he was drawing more power to himself. The captain could not overcome Yahn’s powers.

“Now you are our prisoners. You will come with us or die!” Yahn said. The Sarceastians reluctantly put their hands up in the air, realizing that Yahn was too powerful.

“Let’s take them to the cave and imprison them there,” Yahn said to me.

“Walk!” Yahn commanded. The Sarceastians began to march towards the cave with their hands on their heads.

“You didn’t tell me you had telekinetic powers,” I said to Yahn as we walked behind our prisoners with our weapons trained on them.

“You didn’t ask,” he said with a smile.

Once we got them inside the cave, we bound them to each other with some rope and secured the ends of the rope to the walls of the cave.

“Now, see those small circular devices on their cloaks?” Yahn asked.

“Yes,” I said, looking at where he was pointing.

“We must remove those. The Sarceastians can only use telekinetic powers because of these devices.” I nodded my head and began to remove them from the four Sarceastians nearest to me. As Yahn took the device from their captain he spoke.

“You will not get away with this. When we do not return, our commanders will send a crew twice as large as our own to see what has become of us,” he said.

“Well aren’t you fortunate to have someone looking out for you,” I said, sarcastically.

“We’ll see about that,” Yahn said.

“What are we going to do with them?” I asked. Yahn sat looking at them and then he spoke to me.

“I have been working on mind control powers. My father was a master at it, but I am only an amateur. I can try and convince them to return to their planet and tell their superiors that they didn’t find anything on the planet. They can say that an animal set off the life detectors.”

“You are just full of surprises,” I said. Yahn smiled at me and then turned his attention to our prisoners. He closed his eyes and opened them- they took on a strange blue color once again.

“Listen prisoners to my command! You will return to your ship and tell our masters that you did not find any life on this planet other than the creatures of the forest. Tell them that you are certain that an animal set off the life detectors.” I looked at the prisoners and one by one, each of their eyes turned from their normal red color to blue.

“Yes sir, we will do as you command!” the captain said as if he was in a trance.

“Now, we will set them free,” Yahn said. I helped him untie the ropes. As soon as they were free, the Sarceastians walked back like zombies towards their ship. We walked behind them with our weapons, just in case. Finally, they got into their ship and left the planet.