10

10

Spencer woke to a loud screeching and instantly covered his ears and saw the others doing the same.

“Wake up you lazy mammals!” A guard Spencer hadn’t heard before shouted.  “Rations outside your tents!  Eat and come to the gate!  10 minutes!”

Spencer and his friends quickly jumped out of bed and walked outside to find a tupperware container filled with some kind of orange fruit.

They ate the fruit quickly, it had a distinct bitter flavor almost like a grapefruit.  They walked over to the gate where the guards were standing near a barbed wire fence that led to some sort of launch pad that contained a ship much smaller than the one they came to the planet from.  Spencer could tell it was part of the military though because the launch pad and the ship were both glossy black like the guards uniforms.

Spencer and his friends were at the front of the line right near the guards.

“Hey!” Colby shouted to one of the guards.  “How’re you gonna keep us alive in that thing for days on end.”  He pointed towards the small ship.

“If it’ll shut you up,” the guard said.  “You’ll be travelling by something called a ‘compression link.’  A compression link is a system of two large cylinders that orbit separate planets can create a link between them allowing for extremely fast planetary travel for smaller ships.  It allows ships to travel faster than hyper-jumping, and not be a huge military ship.  The system costs trillions of fers (Adican dollars) to install but can get you from here to that planet in a matter of seconds.  We’re pretty sure it’s safe but because many are worried about it it’s the only one of its kind.”

“You’re pretty sure?” Colby asked not so convinced.

“I’m done talking,” the guard said “It’s time for you to go.”

The guard opened the gate and led everyone to the launch pad where he flipped a few levers and a hatch opened up at the bottom of the ship and a ladder slid down.

“In” the guard said “this is where we leave you.”

“You’re not gonna guard us?” Spencer asked

“No need” said the guard “It's so fast you couldn’t do anything in the few seconds you’re gone.”

They went up the ladder one by one until everyone was inside.  Inside was just a small room with no windows that barely held everyone.

The guards changed some levers again and the door swung closed and the ship started to lean back, raised by the launch pad.

Everything was still for a second, then a large fwoosh! as the launch pad launched the ship at incredible speeds as they journeyed into the sky.

About a few seconds later everything seemed to begin to squeeze together, making everything seem smaller.  After a bright line flashed and everything returned to normal.

Spencer heard the landing gear touch down and covered his eyes from the bright light as the door swung open.  No one moved or said anything.

“Out,” a guard shouted up through the door.  “Now, please.”  the guard almost sounded bored to be there.

Everyone climbed through the hatch and went outside.  Outside Spencer looked around the landscape.  It reminded him of the moon.  Around them was a flat grayish-white landscape covered in craters.  Outside was fairly dark although you could still see as if there were a full moon.  Spencer looked up to see a black sky filled with stars although one large bright one stood out to him.  Spencer assumed the large bright star was what the light source was.

Spencer spied a large clock a short distance away and saw that it was 11:00 a.m.  Around them a few large buildings and many small areas where the soldiers lived surrounded them as well as a shipyard containing a few large ships like the Alpha One and several smaller ships including the one they had just arrived in.

Before Spencer could ponder the landscape much longer the same Adican who had spoken to them earlier, a very tall Adican, turned towards them “Follow me.”

He led them towards one of the larger buildings that upon entering they found held most of the supplies for the base.

The guard went over to a box near the back and handed each of them an Adican uniform fitted for a human.  He then showed them to a dressing room and told them to be out in five minutes.  Luckily for them there was a girls and boys separate dressing rooms.

Although Spencer hated to follow the Adican rule without a choice it felt good to change into new clothes even if they were heavy and a shiny black.

Spencer, Colby, and Jensen got changed quickly and walked out of the room.  They looked around at the sea of black uniforms.

“Look at this!” said Jensen.  “They’re trying to make us goth!  They sent us too a planet with no sun, with a guard who speaks in a monotone just so he could bring us here to be like, you get a goth suit, and you get a goth suit, and everyone gets a goth suit!”  Spencer and Colby laughed at Jensen’s joke and Jensen laughed with them.

A few minutes later the guard came back.  “Good, you’ve changed.  Follow me,”  The guard turned around and once again everyone followed him.

The guard led them to another building smaller than the one they had just been in.  The room was a shooting range similar to the ones they had on Earth.

All the guns were locked in gun cases that could only be opened with a combination.  The guard handed each of them a small pistol that glowed blue and had a large triangular barrel like the larger rifles on the walls.

Colby leaned over towards Spencer and whispered,  “I don’t know why their arming us, I’m gonna shoot ‘im.”

“Are you crazy!” Spencer whisper-shouted “They’ll kill you!”

“Not if they’re killed first.  I’m going for it. 3,2,-”  He was cut out by the Adican guard

“It won’t matter,” the guard said to Colby.

“What won’t matter?” Colby asked as he turned off the safety

“These pistols were built to not fire if you try to shoot an Adican.”

“I think you’re lying,” Colby said

“I’ll give you a choice,” the guard said  “If you pull the trigger either you can kill me and try to escape, or I’ll be right and I’ll kill you.  Second option, you can lower your weapon sparing your life, or wasting your chance of escaping, the choice is yours.”

Colby lowered his weapon but two boys near the door still weren’t buying it.  They raised their weapons, and pulled the trigger.

Nothing came out.  The guns simply made a clicking sound and the boys dropped their guns horrified as the Adican removed his own sidearm and fired two bolts of blue energy into the boys dropping them dead before he even sheathed his weapon.

Everyone stood still too terrified of the murderous Adican to move.

“Do I make myself clear?” the guard asked cruelly scanning the room.  “Good.”

The guard then taught them how to load and fire their weapons which the humans followed very obediently fearing for their lives.

After a few hours on the firing range they returned to several large tents where they were given food, an off duty uniform, and water.  The guard, Adlis they learned was his name, told them to sleep here for the night and he would collect them tomorrow morning at 7:30.

Everyone quickly ate their food and crawled into bed tired and shaken up from the events that day.