Valuable Cargo

To sensors she was invisible. To the naked eye as good as. Black as space, the light from the system's sun reflecting of it like stars. The Valor one of thee most advanced ships in the multiverse glided smoothly into the spacefold.

Eyes green as the sea stared out into the gray abyss that comes with the wormhole “Space station Starglass. I don’t know why but it feels like I’ve been waiting for this all my life.”

Six feet of light reflecting black armor “Of course it’s the last stop before your tour of the human lands are over with. It’s been seven clicks since we have last been home.”

The pilot slammed into the ground as the artificial gravity unexpectedly switch on. “Is it that time already?” the pilot asked himself which was completely muffled by the ground. Another groan and some tender movements and he was on his feet headed towards the c**k pit.

Star Date 4015, galactic cycle 2 metropolis-way station Starglass, hour 24.5 Velfayon year 12856. A blue gloved hand slapped against the display screen in agitation. Impossibly dark green eyes scanned the words in a haphazard manner. A standard thin gray suit clung to well toned muscles as the pilot swiveled his chair to gain better access to the engine’s readouts. “Procedures smacedures. Takes thirty minutes to start this old s**t up.” The pilot’s gloved fingers rapped down complicated sequences with a practiced precision.

A generic feminine voice enveloped the room “Name and access code.”

A grin spread on the pilots face “So Zela is that all you have to say to Zear today? The least you could do is ask about the cargo.”

The generic voice showing no notice to the sarcasm in the pilots’s voice emotionlessly replied “Identification and password confirmed.”

Numbers raced across the left screens. A small vibration rattled threw the ship. Zear, for that was the pilot’s name, swiveled his chair completely around and started keying in another sequence. He pounded a few keys “So what’s our cargo today Zela?”

“Cargo identification 0-0-0-0-0-1, Pick up point disclosed in auto-pilot data bank, Cargo priority 0-0-0-0-0-0. Engines red, data banks blue, and accessories are green, ready for confirmation to start.” The toneless A.I.’s voice stopped the then Numbers continued to race. The C.I. means passengers while C.P. states that is the highest rank. I wonder why they would want a low level freight like this. Who cares a cargo is a cargo. He rapped a few more codes in and slapped the enter key.

Thoughts slowly seeped from Zear’s mind as he ran his gloved fingers through his low cut naturally un-natural blue hair. The auto pilot kicked into gear, both Zear’s actions and the engine’s navigation. Fingers played on their own accord and thrusters auto corrected.

Ralis retracted his mind from the pilot and watched Zear automatons amused. His thought process while harmless was intriguing to say the least. Security was usually droll except for rarities such as this guy. It was something like a hobby to read minds and find out what experiences led to these specific thought patterns but alas usually all he was allowed clearance for was surface thoughts and feelings.

Amusement slowly turned into boredom as hours of the continuous micro corrections drolled on. An occasional brush of mind confirmed the right headings but also tempted Ralis more and more to dive deeper. Due all standard freights the engines heat filled up the whole ship.

As he always did Ralis wondered if he could justify delving deeper on excuse of security, but was spared the attempt when the freighter’s hall shook indicating a boarding pipe. Quickly he slid his mind against the Zear's.

Annoyance struck Zear as he checked the pickup location. He checked the ships status and threw down an engine program to parallel the pickup point. “This high ranked cargo has got to get new navigation officers.” He tripled checked the engine program then added an alarm to sound every hour and closed his eyes.

Zear clenched his fists activating the glove’s force layer. Something was off. It was just a feeling but most of them had a bad habit of coming true. Ralis’s mind quickly retracted and sent it wheeling into his boss.

Nalima was surprised that everything had been going easy for the second Zelithorin daughter’s intergalactic tour. Until her genius, but eccentric left hand man had brushed minds with her “Sorry to ruin it.”

            The last few hours of his and the Zear's thoughts filtered through in a brief moment. “Let it float” and just like that Ralis was slammed right back in his own head.

            A tiny odd twirl in Zear’s mind solidified his gut feeling that something was wrong and he turned his chair around. He didn’t know how, he didn’t know when, but suddenly he was surrounded by armored figures. The Armor was as black as space and the light seemed to play off the armor like small stars. The alarm just so happened to start its nerve jarring buzz. A smile touched Zear’s lips “Zela bond.”

            “Self destruct activated.” The emotionless voice could just be heard above the now fitting alarm.

            An invisible hand ripped him out of his seat bringing him before one of the figures. A cold voice sounded from behind the helmet “What have you done?” Zear’s gray eyes seemed to turn white with frost and the walls closed in “So that’s your answer…Then you leave us no choice but to rip those deactivation codes strait from your thick skull.” The pressure on Zear's throat increased slowly choking him.

            “Stand down.” the voice echoed eerily of the bulkheads. The figure before him looked left once, then right as if looking for the voice “Let him go Evan.” Even rolled his head, and dropped Zear to the floor gasping for breath. He turned around on a dime, then flicked his right fingers in annoyance, and walked away. “The rest of you get back on the ship with Zenlyra.”
            A young woman walked in the second the man finished the order. She was medium sized at five feet five with slender limbs. She was as pale as ice, and had slanted eyes green as the sea. Her hair was a light red, perfectly straight hanging down to her waist. She wore a black silk dress that danced in the light gravity of the ship “What is going on here Ralis?”

            A figure, the same armor as the others with a dark green strip running down the left side of his chest materialized kneeling in front of the woman. He wasn't wearing a helmet. His face was young and he had hair that was a neon green buzzed short that glowed a little in the dim lighting of the control room. “It is dangerous here. You need to return to the ship.”

            “I can shield myself Ralis.” She didn't even look at him her eyes locked on the Zear just barely recovering from the attack. “Who is he?”

            “The pilot.” Ralis stood up and walked over and grabbed Zear hauling him up by the shoulders. “Get a hold of yourself human.” He seemed to spit the last word.

            Zear looked at the woman her eyes meeting his. Suddenly his head felt like a wall slammed into it and all he could see was black. Blood started running down his ears, eyes, and nose and his legs once again failed him. The woman herself gasped and leaned slightly before three of her guards were next to her supporting her.

            “He's had someone erase the self-destruct deactivation code from his mind. In case anyone who could read his mind hijacked him.”

            Ralis grimaced, his tone grim “Then he planned to die from the start?”

            She smiled a slight smile “No. He meant to guess at it after forcing the hijackers to leave.”

            “A fool then.” Ralis said in distaste.

            The woman gave Ralis a look like one would give to a child “Fool maybe, but trade one pilot for the price of at least one rogue psychic..........”

            Ralis chuckled “A noble fool then.”

            The woman looked around the room and her eye's rested on the timer counting down on the view port. “It is a shame for him to loose his ship and for us to loose our cover, but we must leave this ship then. Grab the Zear and let us return to the Black night.”

            “You may do that. I shall have my luck at saving this fine vessel. I have grown quite attached to the junker.” Ralis walked up to the command panel and started typing. “I spent the last three days in that man's head. If I can't find this out then neither could he.”

            The woman gestured to the other solders “Ralis and I shall stay here.” the black armored figures stood up hesitantly, one even going so far as to step forward in concern. “Don't Evan. I'll shield Ralis if he fails. Report back to the commander on the Black Night.” Immediately they fast marched out of the room.

            After a minute Ralis swore “This looks like it's going to be more tricky then I thought.”

            The woman walked up and put a hand on Ralis's shoulder “What's wrong?

            “I've tried all the main and variations of passwords of his.”

            The woman frowned. She opened her mouth to say something but the generic voice interrupted “Self destruct in twenty seconds. Psi storm charged. Detonation in 20.....19.....”

            Ralis jumped you his face full of horror “Why in the name of the first couple does this thing have a PSI STORM! We leave now!” Ralis grabbed the woman's arm and went to pull her but was stopped dead when she didn't budge. “What are you doing? You'll die if you don't move.” He screamed

            The woman looked down at the Zear then at Ralis and said “The password is Zyra......”

            Ralis didn't hesitate. He ran over and slammed in the four letters as the generic voice said one. Both the woman and Ralis stood shoulders clenched and eyes closed.

            A groan from the Zear on the floor breaking the silence. Ralis busted out laughing and the woman smiled.

            “That was amazing Zenlyra. How did you know it?”

            Zenlyra looked at Ralis and said “I don't know.”

            Ralis let out a large sigh and flopped down into the pilot chair “I would say that's a mission well done. Now what?”

              Zenlyra's smile now was more reserved “We take this ship and escort our diplomat to the Starglass space station.”

Author's Note

I know my grammar, dialogue, and view points are incorrect. I would love to know what you think about the story. Does it catch your attention?