Chapter 2
Lieutenant Vnor Gin
I didn't want to be here. It was my mission. But I had to leave my home planet of Xeion; I couldn't stay there. There were too many memories of what had happened. So I found myself on a mission with Captain Alicron Qinov. I respected Captain Alicron Qinov; he was like a brother to me. He had always led the missions that I had been on since I was just a soldier, but now I was a lieutenant. I had gone on the mission expecting it to go smoothly; now I found myself stranded on a planet that I did not know the name of. I wasn't even sure what galaxy we were in. Things had gone wrong, and quickly, and now I had to find the others.
To be honest, I could not have cared less about the humans. I went because I wanted to go on a dangerous mission to Earth. It was exactly what I had needed after everything that I had been through on Xeion. I wanted danger, and now it had found me.
I walked along through the desert-like landscape of this planet. There was orange sand beneath my boots. The sun was beating down on my blue skin, and to make matters worse, the most frustrating human female had found me. Now I had to take care of her; it was my responsibility. But she wasn't grateful for my protection. I had offered her the chance to leave, even though I knew that I wouldn't let her go. Rounding up the human females that survived on this planet would be part of the mission, after I found the others. We couldn't go back to Xeion without them. They held the key to our very lives.
“So, what is your name?” she asked trailing behind me.
“That is not important. What is important is that you keep up. Hurry up,” I said. Not only was she loud, something that could alert anything stalking us to our presence, but she demanded a lot of answers. I didn't mind her looks: brown hair, brown eyes, and pale skin. She was petite, but then again, all humans were to us. But she was nothing like the female Kynon, that was where my heart truly lied. It would never budge.
“I can't even know your name?” she said a little louder. I gave her a stern look. She closed her mouth knowing that I wouldn't hesitate to cover that mouth again if she was too loud. Then she whispered, “What if I need to know your name? What if I need to call out to you? Don't you think it's important that I know your name? I will tell you my name,” she said.
“You can call me Lieutenant. That is good enough; as for your name, I don't care what it is. I will call you human female, that is what you are,” I said walking and scanning the environment. She was a distraction from my work. I had to look for clues, and I could not miss any small thing that could lead me to Ambassador Jion Lek, Elonu Fiul, and Captain Alicron Qinov. I had to concentrate.
“Bridget. My name is Bridget Thomas,” she said.
“That is good for you, human female,” I said as something caught my attention off in the distance to the left.
“Ugh! Are you serious? Has anyone ever told you that you are a big blue jerk?” she said.
I was already walking off to what caught my attention, only half paying attention to the human female. There was something in the distance, and I knew what it was before I got there, but what did it belong to?
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“Quiet,” I said. I got closer to the line in the sand that I was seeing from a distance. It was a familiar sight.
“Oh, what is that?” she asked.
“Do you ever just be quiet,” I whispered to her giving her a stern look.
She did not respond, finally. I made it to the line in the sand and looked around. These were obviously tracks of some kind going off in the distance.
“Those are boot prints. We are not alone,” she said.
“Exactly why I want you to keep your voice low,” I said to her. I squatted down next to them. They were strange; they were definitely not the boots of a Kynon. Plus, there were a lot of them; it was like a marching army.
“What is it?” she asked in a whisper. At least she was learning some caution.
“I don't know. But it seems to be a band or an army, at least a hundred of them if not more depending on how they are marching. This could be dangerous for us,” I said.
“Well, at least we know that this planet is not deserted. That is a good sign. A band or army that size would need resources,” she said.
“That is true. But now I have to make a decision. Either we follow in the direction of the tracks to see if there is a village or city, or we go in the opposite direction away from possible danger,” I said to myself thinking out loud.
“Well, I think…”
“I did not ask what you think. This is my decision, not yours,” I said to her. “I am in charge here not you.”
“Ugh. I will have you know that I am a scientist. That was my job on Earth. I am smarter than you are giving me credit for. I think we should follow the tracks at a distance. Keep them to our right as we walk in the direction they are heading. It is better than continuing to walk into nothing. We can either follow the direction that they are going, or where they came from. But I don't think we should run away from them completely,” she said.
She had a point. It was better than walking into nothing; there was nothing for miles around as far as I could see. It was better to follow the tracks, but which direction? Following in the direction they were going meant that we would meet up with this group whoever they were, following where they came from meant they would not be there.
“We will follow the tracks in the direction from whence they came,” I said standing up and following the tracks from their point of origin.
“Yeah, good call, Lieutenant. Great idea you have,” she said.
“We need to find water,” I said ignoring her sassy tone.
“Any ideas for that?” she asked.
I was quiet. I really didn't have any ideas.
“Well, since you are not going to say anything, if this planet is anything like Earth, then we might find water near these giant rock walls that we are seeing in the distance. Water could be coming out of cracks. If water freezes overnight on top of the walls, the sun will have it pouring out filtered and pure,” she said.
I looked at her. I was impressed. “Scientist? What does this mean?” I asked her.
She had a smug smile on her face. “It means someone that is incredibly smart and studies and researches answers to problems among many other things. I guess I could sum it all up by saying that I know what I'm talking about. I am intelligent.”
“Well, Scientist. Let's follow these tracks; if a rock wall is nearby we will stop to investigate to see if your water story is true,” I said.
“Sounds good to me, Lieutenant,” she said following me. We followed the tracks walking right on top of them in the direction of their origin. I hoped that it would lead us to a village or some sort of civilization. Only continuing to walk would tell.