Chapter 1:
USS. Guardian
It all happened in the blink of an eye. One moment, I'm on a balcony at your local library— there was a flash of light— and the next thing I know, I'm in a clear cylinder; able to do nothing but look around. Beyond my glass prison there was…
What is this? I thought. Looks like some type of control room from a space movie.
I almost jump when I heard loud voices. Two… things came into the room, yelling at each other in a language I couldn't understand. One pointed at me; my heart skipped a beat. But, to my surprise, they yelled at each other more and the other one punched the one who pointed at me. More yelling.
What the heck is going on? I thought.
The one who gave the punch started toward me. It slowly made its way to the glass and I leaned back as far as I could. It put its hands (At least, I think they were hands…) against the glass and crouched so he could see me at eye level. He was very tall, and I'm short for my age.
"Consider…yourself lucky," it spoke to me in broken English; his voice was thick with an accent I couldn't recognize. "You…will…be the first."
"First?" I echoed. "First of what?"
"We many only have you now… but we will have…many later," it rasped with a mass amount of effort. It turned its head to cough and shout an order, than turned back. "You…will be the first…of many." My eyes grew large with fear.
Screeeeeeeech!
An ear piercing sound echoed through the room and everything shook like a great earthquake. Its eyes became larger than mine and the thing raced out of the room, shouting again. Soon I heard sounds above me that resembled that of an arcade game. Tons of strange yelling. Then, Emglish words rang above all sounds.
"You and you, search the hull! The rest of you, come with me!" There was more arcade sounds from above.
Swissssshhh.
My eyes shifted from the ceiling to door as it opened. I relaxed a little when I saw two men rush in wearing red and black uniforms. They quickly spotted me and opened up a flip phone.
"Pack to Guardian. Come in," he said to it.
"This is the U.S.S. Guardian; we read you, Pack," it responded.
"We've reached them."
"Well done. Bring them aboard," it ordered.
"Aye, sir."
One came to a computer near me and the other ran off. In a few seconds the glass tube lifted; I jumped down and hugged the man.
"Thank you, sir! Thank you so much!" The other one ran back in.
"No others were found, sir," he reported.
The man I was hugging looked down at me and put his hands on my shoulders. "Are there any others captured?" He asked with complete seriousness.
I shook my head. "Not that I know of. He told me I was the first of many!"
Immediately, "Pack" pulled out his flip phone. "Pack to Guardian," Pack reported. "There's only one, sir."
"Only one? What happened to the others?" it demanded.
"There aren't any others. Something must have gone wrong and they weren't able to pick up more," Pack answered.
"Must be out lucky day! Stay where you are with the captive," it ordered. "We'll beam you here." A shiver was sent up my spine. Why did he use that word? Captive; was I still not free? In the next moment lights began spinning around each of us, flashed, and we were in a brightly lit room on a raised platform. The two men walked off the platform and I followed. Then a man walked up to them but his gaze was directed toward me.
"Well done, boys," he said in greeting.
"Captain," they both acknowledged.
"You are relieved to your quarters." The men left and I stood frozen.
"Hello," he said to me. "May I know your name?"
"Aceline…Lollit," I answered, half unsure if I should have.
"Welcome to the U.S.S. Guardian, Ms. Lollit," he spoke kindly. "I'm Lieutenant Sharder , captain of this fine vessal."
"Pleasure to meet you, captain," I responded out of good manner.
"Jay," he summoned a man keeping guard at the door. "Escort Ms. Lollit to sick bay and have Dr. R'mish look her over."
"Yes, captain," he answered. I followed the officer ou the door and threw the hall.
"He said we're on a vessal…" I mentioned to the man. "So…this is a ship?"
"Yes, Miss," Jay answered.
"But it's not in water?"
The officer turned his head and gave me a funny look. "No, Miss. In space."
"Oh, crickets."