White Sands Saga

A team from The Kaleen land on Earth and quickly find themselves in a great deal of trouble!

Chapter 3

 

        In no time, we were in the shuttle ready to launch as soon as the force field was lifted.  The Captain sent the message to the Guardians and set in a course away from Terra, or Earth as they called it.  The force field was removed and The Kaleen turned and left Earth’s orbit.  The shuttle doors opened and we glided out.  Once we’d made it a safe distance, The Kaleen shot off into space and left us alone. 

        The descent would take us about a half an hour.  During our standard glide down through the layers of atmosphere, I wondered what we would find on our adventures.   Would the Guardians even let us land on Earth?  We appeared to go unnoticed so far, but that didn’t mean that they weren’t aware of our secret mission.  As oceans and continents rushed up at us, I was left literally breathless.  It was the busiest and most beautiful planet I’d ever seen.  How easy it was to forget the Guardians and look forward to finding out more about people below. 

        We glided past mountains and came to land in a glaring patch of white sand in an otherwise brown desert.  Zechariah set the shuttle down softly and we took the initial environmental readings to make sure it was safe to exit.  Indeed, Earth’s atmosphere was nearly identical to Reirnth’s atmosphere.  We were all set to leave the shuttle when there was a quake followed by a high pitched whir and whine of machinery moving somewhere nearby.  Lights in the shuttle blinked and all our systems went offline. 

         “What the…?” Zechariah exclaimed.  “Kellie, try and get the systems back online!”

         “Yes, sir!” There were a few moments of dead silence as we held our breaths and waited.  When Kellie managed to get the systems on line, there was a look of panic on his face.  “It appears as if there are several air ships of some sort heading our way!”

         “I say lets get out of here and quick�"before they blow up our shuttle,” Ymok declared.

         “But what if we get separated or captured or killed?” Paula panicked.

         “It is a chance we will have to take,” Zechariah said.  “Kellie, open that shuttle door!”

         Kellie hit the switch and the shuttle door hissed open.  The metal fell into the sand, creating a cloud of dust.  The ship shook from a near by shot.  Together, we peered outside to see if there was a place to run for cover.  Not seeing an immediate threat all of us stepped out onto the glaring white sand.  The sun above was hot and merciless compared to our climate controlled shuttle.  As we headed toward a building not too far away, we spotted ships overhead.  Instead of streamlined shuttles, these air ships had long wing-spans like birds. 

        Why were we being attacked and by whom I wondered.  Was it the Guardians or the people of Terra thinking we were attacking them first?  Sweat was pouring down my face and getting in my eyes.  My heart was beating wildly in my chest as we all sprinted across the desert.  Images of Reirnth passed through my mind.  We had only one large desert in middle of the Klernary Continent. I’d only been there once on a field trip fro school.  I remember thinking that the desert felt like a harsh place to live. 

        The air ships did not pass back by, so we slowed our pace to a walk.  We walked for a maybe a half an hour before the white sand dunes ended and there was brown sand beneath our feet.  What had been pure sand was now filled with shrubbery and rocks.  How odd! 

        Zechariah put his hand up to block the glaring sun out and peered into the distance.  “There appears to be a few buildings over there�"perhaps one is a house.”

        “And say what?” Kellie asked, “Hello, our spaceship is broken, can you help us fix it?”

        I couldn’t help but laugh.  I didn’t realize how silly it sounded.  If someone had come to my door where I lived on Reirnth I would have laughed at them and though it was some joke.  When I collected myself, I said.  “No, I suppose we can’t say that.  Although we could try to pass ourselves off as from this planet and say that we were lost in the area.”

        The others agreed to try my plan for lack of a better one.  We began to slowly make our way toward the building in the distance, when were met with opposition.  “Stop!” a man yelled as he held a gun at us.  He was poorly dressed and scraggily looking.  His dark eyes narrowed with pure hatred.

         Zechariah stepped forward, hands out.   “We mean no harm.  We are just lost travelers trying to find our way back to civilization.”

        “Lost?” he spat in disbelief.  “Yous are all aliens.  I know it.”

        “Aliens?” Ymok repeated cautiously.

        “Yeah, yous all from Mexico aren’t ya?”

         “Mexico?” Zechariah repeated in confusion.

         “Where are we again exactly?” I asked.

         “Why yous in New Mexico.  This here is the USA now and you are here illegally. I am going to turn all of you in!”

         “But we aren’t from Mexico,” I protested.  “We are from Reirnth.”

         “Is that in Texas?” he asked.

         “No,” Zechariah replied.  “Where is Texas exactly?”

         “Yep, yous aliens.  Them don’t know much ‘bout geography.  Hell, half of you can’t even read or anything.”

         “We all know how to read and write,” Zechariah protested.

         “Well, ain’t you special?” the man said mockingly.  “Move it!”

          He poked at us with his gun and we went in the direction he pointed us.  We marched up a hill and down into a small valley.  There, we found a crudely built shack that was apparently the man’s living quarters.   As we filed into the shade of the shack, I saw Ymok whisper to Zechariah.  I nervously watched as they made their plan and the man went over to some sort of communication box.  The man punched in some numbers and started talking; all the while eyeing us to make sure we didn’t escape.

         Zechariah sat down on a ripped up couch and the rest of us followed his lead.  We stared at each other and the house in silence.  There were three rooms total it looked like.  There was the front room that we were in, a kitchen and bedroom. The man appeared to be rather low in economic status.  There was very little technology in the house, save the box for communicating and a box with a video screen in it.  I saw no evidence of computers or any other sophisticated pieces of equipment.  I felt completely uncomfortable and out of place in this man’s house. 

         A vehicle of some sort pulled up in front of the house with a loud siren blaring.  Two men in blue suits emerged from the vehicle and approached the door.  They disappeared from my view through the tiny dirty window. A second later there came a loud pounding knock at the door.  The man who was holding us captive answered the door and spoke to the men about us.  I hated the situation more each minute.

         My heart was breaking each minute.  These were not the people that the legends were about.  These were ignorant and cruel people, not the heroes I read about.  Where were the grand castles and knights in shinning armor? How could I be so wrong?  Had I been foolish to think Terra would be a paradise of sorts?  I sighed, feeling completely disillusioned.     

         The two men in blue suits came over to us and asked us a bunch of questions.  Unable to answer them satisfactorily, they decided to take us prisoner.  We were bound with metal chains they called handcuffs and shoved into the two vehicles they’d arrived in.  They drove us to a city several miles away and there we were thrown into their prison�"a tiny cell with three solid walls and fourth wall of slatted bars.  Would we ever see The Kaleen again I wondered?  

         Touching the cold, smooth surface of the bars, I wondered why Zechariah had not ordered us to use our lasers to cut the metal.  We had simply surrendered ourselves instead of fighting, which didn’t feel right.  I looked back at Zechariah and realized that he probably felt it best to go along with these so-called Earthlings and see where it took us.  Had we fought back, we might have eventually been subdued due to being hopelessly outnumbered.  I turned from the bars and went to sit down beside Zechariah on the bench.  I laid my head on his shoulder and he put his arm around me. 

        Two women wearing rather skimpy clothing were in the holding cell next to us.  I’d seen them as we were being shoved into our cell.  They’d been talking amongst themselves as we were locked up. Once the cops had left, they finally called over to us.  “Hey there, what are guys in for?”

       “They think that we are aliens from Mexico,” Ymok growled.

       “You don’t look Mexican,” the other one said. 

       “We don’t belong here,” I cried standing up.  I walked over to the bars and peered out at the two women.  “We came here in search of Robin Hood, King Arthur, Jesus and Moses.  This world is not the one we expected!  We were looking for adventure and mystery.  We were not looking to be attacked and taken prisoner!”  I turned back toward Zechariah and the others.  “Maybe the Guardians were right.  Maybe we shouldn’t have come.”

        There was a brief silence after my speech and then one of the women commented, “You are living in a dream world honey. Sometimes you have to sell your soul to survive here.  Well, at least sell your body,” she laughed. 

        “Don’t listen to Gladys,” the other woman replied.  “There are still some special things left in this world.  They are difficult to come by, but they do exist.  You just have to keep that hope alive.”

         “Speaking of which,” Zachariah interrupted, “We need to have a private meeting here.  Guys, gather around!”

         When we had all huddled around Zachariah, he started to speak to us in hushed tones.  “We really do need to find a way to escape if we are going to have any hope of making it back to the Kaleen at all. We just have to figure out a way to do this quietly and quickly.”

         “What are you planning an escape or something?” Gladys called out to us.

          “None of your business!” Zechariah called back.

          The women laughed, “Unless you have some fancy lasers or something, you aren’t going to be able to get out of here very easily.”

         All of us stared at each other.  Could they possibly suspect the truth?

         Before any of us could reply, a man in a blue suit unlocked the door and entered the prison.  He approached the door of bars and said to us, “Today is your lucky day.  You just made bail.”

         “Does that mean we are free to go?” Paula asked.

         The man in uniform unlocked the door to our cell and opened it for us.  “Yep,” he said.

          It was then that we noticed the man behind him.  It was none other than a disguised Guardian.  “No!” I exclaimed when I saw him.

          He smiled, “Yes, if would please come with me.”

          Zechariah made a motion to follow him, so that is what we did.  We walked out of the building and climbed into a long black vehicle that the man called a Limousine.  It too had climate control just like our cells had back in the building.

         When we were inside, facing each other, the Guardian said, “Well, aren’t you going to thank me for saving you?”

          “Out of the frying pan and into the fire,” Ymok mumbled.  He looked rather cross.

          “I suppose you did save us, but we still maintain it was our right to come here.  It wasn’t right of you to forbid us to do anything!” Zechariah exclaimed.

          “That is not how we see it.  We are all going back to our station that orbits earth.  There you will be given your own quarters until we figure out what to do with you,” the Guardian informed us.  He tapped the window behind him and the man who piloted the land vehicle started moving.