A feast was prepared in my honor. It consisted of meager plants and a few pieces of some mysterious meat cooked on skewers. These creatures seemed to be having a hard time, which I ascribed to the harsh conditions on the rocky surface of the moon they inhabited. The creatures danced and sang and some of them played primitive harps that were fashioned out of stone.

“I don’t get it. Why do they think you are a God?” Jessie asked me.

“Well, a long time ago, some Karkastians landed on this very moon. They came across the Domyabee during their travels. They were practically starving and were much thinner than they are now. I believe they had a couple of harsh seasons and had very little food to live on. Anyway, my people helped them and gave them much needed food supplies. After that, I suppose that they thought we were Gods that had come to their moon to free them from starvation.”

“I see, well, thanks for saving me- that was a bit touch and go for a minute there,” David said.

“Yes, but once the party is done, we need to warn them that the Sarceastians may be coming around soon enough to look for us,” I said.

Soon it grew late, the dancers and musicians stopped performing and their leader made an announcement that two special rooms had been prepared for us. The rooms consisted of small rooms hollowed out of the rocks within a crater. There were stone steps leading down into the crater where it was very dark. I could see fairly well in the dark, but David and Jessie could not, so they stayed close behind me. The room had a small table and a bed, stuffed with some plant, resembling cotton, which made it very soft. Other than that, the room was very sparse. We were all very tired, so we fell right to sleep.

I woke up earlier than Jessie and walked out of the crater and into the light. I found the Domyabee leader whose name was Rufando, walking just outside of the crater, looking up into the sky.

“The Sarceastians will likely come looking for us,” I said as he turned to me and smiled.

“Oh Lord, we are well aware of the threat you face. We despise the Sarceastians and have set a trap for them if they decide to show up. Our people have suffered greatly at the hands of those monsters and we would be most pleased to help protect you from them. Come, I will show you.” He led me down to the flat, rocky plain where our ship was parked. Then, he made a hand motion indicating that I should stop walking.

“All around the landing area we have dug a pit. It has been disguised with rocks and twigs. If they land here and try to approach the craters where we live, they will fall into the trap and then they will be at our mercy,” he said confidently.

“Sounds great. However, they will be armed with laser guns. Do you have any such weaponry yourselves?”

“Yes, your ancestors left us with a few of them, which we have kept for just such an occasion. Once they are trapped in the pit, we will incinerate them,” Rufando said.

“I understand. Our kind usually shows mercy on other creatures, but one cannot reason with a Sarceastian,” I said.

Soon the others began to wake up. We were treated to a meager breakfast that was far less bountiful than the celebratory dinner that was served to us the night before.

“I apologize that we do not have more food for you. The harvest was not a failure this year, but it wasn’t as productive as it has been during most of the years,” Rufando said.

“We are happy to receive whatever food you have to offer,” I said.

“Yes, thank you. This salad that you have prepared is delicious and these sweet orange berries are wonderful,” Jessie said.

“Those are Golpon berries that grow on the far side of the moon during our rainy season,” Rufando informed us.

Suddenly, the conversation was interrupted by the sound of a large ship moving into the atmosphere of the moon. I looked up to see that my worst fears were confirmed. The Sarceastians were landing a large space cruiser right next to our ship. They were landing exactly where we wanted them to land.

“Everyone, prepare the weapons and get to your hiding places. Lord, you and your friends must take cover,” Rufando said.

“We will, but we will help you fight as well,” David said as he took out his laser cannon. We hid behind some large boulders not too far from the landing site.

Ten Sarceastians came out of the ship clutching their guns with a look of menace in their glowing red eyes.

“You three search the ship. The rest of you come with me. They may be hiding in those craters to the west,” their leader said.

We stayed in our hiding places and waited for the seven Sarceastians to fall into the trap. Although Sarceastians hovered above the ground, they could only hover about two feet above it. They couldn’t fly. With a shriek, the seven Sarceastians fell right through the rocks and twigs and into the trap. We moved in and surrounded the edges of the pit clutching our weapons. They attempted to shoot up at us, but we had the advantage and soon all seven of them were disintegrated into thin air. Now, we needed to take care of the three remaining Sarceastians that had boarded our own ship. We surrounded the cruiser and waited for them to get out of it. As soon as the three creatures came out of the door, we began to fire at them. One of them managed to get away from us and run towards the east, hiding behind a pile of large rocks. The other two were disintegrated by our laser blasts.

I noticed that the one surviving Sarceastian had taken out some sort of device and placed it on the rock that he was hiding behind. As we approached the rocks, we began to hear a beeping sound, and I knew right away what the creature had done.

“What’s that sound?” Jessie asked.

“It’s a planetary detonation device. He has activated it, which means that we have about ten minutes to vacate this moon before it is blown to bits!” I said. Rufando who was standing just behind me, turned to address his people.

“We have a Code Red emergency! Everyone to the ship!” Rufando said.

“Farewell, lord. If we meet again, we will have quite a story to discuss,” he said, turning back to me.

“Yes, we will,” I said as I grabbed Jessie’s hand and headed back to our Sarceastian space cruiser. I turned around to see a large, round stone-like disc that had lifted out of one of the craters. I assumed that this had to be the escape vehicle that the Domyabee were going to use to escape. I hoped that they had a destination in mind. I had no idea where we were going to go, but at the moment, we had to get out of there. We strapped ourselves in and began to lift off.

“Everyone hold on tight. I’m going to put the boosters on full throttle so that we can get as far away from this rock as possible when it blows!” I said.

“Roger that,” David said.

I started the ignition sequence and we lifted off. Soon we were out of the moon’s atmosphere. Suddenly shockwaves emanated out from the moon as it blew into a million tiny fragments. The ship was already going full throttle, but the shockwaves made us go even faster than before.

“Hold on!” I said. Jessie practically had her nails dug into the side of the chair as we hurdled through space.

Finally, we were far enough away that we could relax and slow down our speed.

“Whew, I really am growing tired of close calls,” Jessie said.

“You and me both,” David said, shaking his head.

“So where to, now?” Jessie asked.

I was fresh out of ideas at the moment. It seemed that everywhere we landed in this part of the universe we ran into some sort of trouble.

“I say we take our chances out here for a while until we’ve left this solar system, entirely. Once we reach a new solar system, we can check the navigator for a suitable docking place. We have enough fuel left to stay out here for quite a long time,” I said.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been on a space voyage. Reminds me of my younger days,” David said as he watched a comet go streaking by.

That night, we put the ship on autopilot and went to our quarters. Sarceastian ships were actually quite comfortable, although not as spacious as the Neutomian ships. Jessie and I lay down on the large rectangular bed and looked into each other’s eyes.

“You know I could wander the universe with you and be happy as long as we are together,” she said, clutching my hand.

“Yes, I could too, but I would be even happier if we could finally find a place to settle down, at least for a time,” I said.

“We have to believe that such a place exists. We can’t lose faith,” she said.

As I stared into her gorgeous, sparkling eyes, I couldn’t help but be hopeful about the future. Our lips touched and I pulled her closer to me. Our hands began to explore one another’s shoulders and chests. I kissed Jessie, starting at her neck and then working my way down to the glorious intersection of her long, perfect legs. I buried my face there until she began to moan with delight. Then, I interlocked my fingers with hers and began to make love to her. She arched her back as her breasts began a mad dance. Soon, I was thrusting at a feverish pace and I could last no longer. Both of us reached what Earthlings refer to as ‘orgasm’ right at the same time. Afterwards, we lay together, our bodies intertwined as if we were one.

David interrupted our reverie when his voice came over the speaker.

“Eh, sorry if I’m interrupting anything, but we have a little problem out here,” he said, with urgency in his voice.

“What is it?” Jessie asked.

“It looks to be one of the Earth expedition ships. They are approaching fast!”

We jumped up and threw our clothes on. Once we got to the front of the ship, I turned off the autopilot and tried to increase the power to the boosters.

“Too late,” David said. “They’ve jammed the frequency. I tried it already.”

We watched helplessly as the Earth ship came closer and closer. Finally, the pilot of their ship began to speak to us.

“Surrender your vehicle, Sarceastians. If you do not surrender, we will attack. There is no escape!” I looked over at Jessie who shuddered at the familiar sound of her captain’s voice.

“We are not Sarceastians,” David said.

“If you are traveling in a Sarceastian vehicle then we consider you to be an enemy,” the captain said. “Who are you?”

“My name is David and I am alone,” he said.

“You are lying. We are picking up on two more life readings. Prepare to be boarded!” the captain said.

“They’ve finally caught up to us,” Jessie said as a tear streaked down her face. I turned to comfort her, throwing my arms around her. Then, I looked her in the eyes.

“Jessie, it isn’t over yet. Just because they have the upper hand now that doesn’t mean that it will remain that way forever. We will figure out a way out of this just as we have done with all of the other trials we have lived through.”

“Yes, I believe it. In fact, I know that this isn’t the end for us. As long as our love for one another endures, I know we can face any obstacle, even this one!” she said, hopefully.

* * *