Chapter 10-D'amara

Two weeks later-

Cale stood near his bedroom window. He was busy watching the outside of space through it and he had noticed something. He didn't quite know what it was, but he was sure it wasn't good. Just then, a clanging noise startled Cale and he looked around the room to see what it was. The door was opening, but he was relieved to see Akima coming in. "Wow, Cale, are you okay? You look like you found out you were dying or something." Akima said, taking full notice of his startled facial expression. She walked across the room toward him and stopped about arm's length away.

"No, I'm all right. I just jumped when you came in while I was thinking." he explained. He looked down at the floor and put both hands in his pockets.

"What's the matter?" she asked, getting closer and touching his cheek.

"I'm not sure, but I think we're being followed." he said looking back up from the floor to her. He led her over to the window and told her to look out. "You see that blue star?" he said as he pointed, "that star hasn't moved ever since we have been in hyperspace." Akima then realized what he was talking about because all of the stars around that one were whizzing by, yet that one stayed put.

"Oh, yeah, you're right." she said as she pulled away from the window and turned toward him again. "It shouldn't matter, though. Korso said that we were nearing D'amara anyway; just a few more minutes." she added.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." he said as he went and laid down on the bed. "How was your walk?"

"Just fine. I stopped by and talked to Stith for a while and then had a word with Korso." she replied.

The Valkyrie slowly came to rest on the planet D'amara. The soil was a deep green color and the water was a dark purple. They had arrived at night and landed on a spaceport within the city. The Valkyrie's purple, damaged steel seemed to fit in with the style of the planet. As it was landing, the ship swam in black skies that had faded blue ribbons on the horizon. Numerous stars dotted the sky, enough to give a glow to the alien planet.

The city was dark and mostly devoid of lights. The only lights were from lines of different floors of the large, black buildings. The skyscrapers were sharp and very plain, but were wonderful to look at. The walls on them seemed to reflect the light from the stars and other light sources. This was a metropolis of tall, black buildings with streets that crossed over top of each other. There was a six lane here, a ten lane there, the streets hovered in the air for miles. On these streets were various kinds of large hovercrafts and even though the streets were plenty, there was still traffic.

"Whoa! This place is awesome!" Cale said as they stepped out onto the landing pad. Korso, Stith, and Akima were with him. He had his shotgun strapped diagonally over his shoulder and on his back.

"Yep, this is it! D'amara." Korso said as he cocked his pistol, spun it on his finger, and set it in his holster. Korso's pistol was cylindrical and had several rings about it.

"We're gonna need the hovercraft, aren't we?" Akima asked with her swords ready and on her back in diagonal, opposite directions.

"Of course," Stith answered, "I wouldn't want to walk on one of those streets!"

"No," Korso objected, "we don't want to stay here too long. We can trade somethin' for jet-packs; that should do the job." Korso turned and began walking away.

"No, wait, we're using jet-packs? How-" Cale asked only to be interrupted by Korso.

"It will be quicker, trust me." Korso explained. He turned away from Cale and continued on his way. Cale looked back at Akima who stood there with Stith.

"Akima, I know you want to come, but this time, things may be different. We were pretty lucky to get out last time." he said with pleading eyes. She got closer and held his neck.

"And I know you care about me, but Cale, I'll be extra cautious. All right?" she replied. Cale leaned into her and gave her a good kiss. It was plenty long enough for them to start rubbing each other's backs.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I don't think being here in the Valkyrie will be any safer." Cale said as he pulled away, "Just be careful."

"I will." Akima replied. Cale walked with her behind Stith and held hands until they reached the inside of the port. They broke their bond only to put on a jet-pack.

Korso stood there with his newly acquired pack. It was a metallic, circular box with two square, blue lights on the bottom. They were very small, a person could sit in a seat and comfortably recline without being disturbed by it. He stood on the side of the street with his three companions. They watched him as if he was some sort of a guinea pig or something. He grabbed two, small joysticks on the sides of his pack and pushed the tiny, red buttons on each to turn the contraption on. Immediately it began humming and the blue lights turned on as Korso began to float upward in the air. It was a flameless jet-pack. It worked off of some sort of repulsorlift engine that gave off an awesome amount of the same magnetic polarity of the gravitational pull of the planet thus making the wearer rise.

"Come on, guys, try it!" Korso said as he levitated before them. Cale pushed his buttons and began rising up along with him.

"Whoa! This is fun!" he exclaimed as he defied gravity along with Korso. The two women pushed theirs as well and floated with them. Getting used to the feeling of near weightlessness, they all started to follow Korso. He led them down a street above one of the busy highways of D'amara. The tall, black buildings loomed over them on either side. Several other jet-packers flew by and along with them as they hovered around the city.

Cale began to notice that most of the people he was seeing were human. In fact, they looked too human to the point where one wouldn't be able to differentiate between the two. There were too many different people from different ethnic groups, black skin, white skin, red skin, they were all there. He became quite puzzled over this and caught up speed to Korso. "Are the D'amarans a humanoid race?" Cale asked Korso as they flew side-by-side over the street.

"Yeah, most of our scientists believe they might actually be ancestors of us somehow." He answered while floating up and down and speeding over the street. "I don't believe that, though. There's no way we could have descended from them." he added.

"How?" Cale said to his remark.

"Well, take the distance, for example, the original earth is way too far away from where we're at now and they were too simple of a race way back then. I call it coincidence." Korso explained. Cale nodded and slowed down. Korso shot past him because of his decelerated speed. He hung back and flew beside Akima. She flew just before Stith whose long legs hung under herself as she flew.

"You feeling all right, dear?" Cale asked while flying closer to her.

"Yeah, why shouldn't I?" Akima replied with her two purple strands of hair blowing up along the sides of her face.

"I figured they didn't design these things for expectant mothers." he explained.

"No, I'm quite all right." she assured, "Actually, I think she's fallen asleep. I haven't felt her moving." Her swords were sticking to the jet-pack due to the opposite polarity on top.

Korso began to fly downward to one building. It was still high on the building as the entrance was on a balcony. Large, purple lights were spelling alien sentences over the doorway to the place. They couldn't read the letters, but it was clearly some sort of a nightclub. There were several men and women, couples, outside in shiny, revealing dresses and black suits, each holding a drink in one hand. There was also some heavy dance music playing.

"Let's try this place." Korso announced as he landed on the balcony and turned off his pack. Cale came in just behind him with Akima at his side. Cale turned off his pack while he was still a few inches off of the ground. Stith flew over all of them and landed in front.

"What makes you think somebody here will know where Gianni is?" Cale asked as he walked up on Korso's right. Cale looked around at the tropical trees that hung over the edge of the balcony.

"I dunno, but we gotta start somewhere." he replied. Cale shrugged and followed him inside.

"I think I fit right in." Akima whispered to Stith for she saw a woman with green hair that covered one eye. Another had orange, spiky hair and was wearing a dress made out of mesh.

"I think I'll hang right here. I don't like places like these." Stith replied.

"All right, we shouldn't be here long." Akima stated and she went in. Cale stopped and waited at the door for her. They had to pay quite an amount of money to get in, like any other place on the old earth.

Inside was dark except for some stroboscope lights on the ceiling that rotated. There were a total of six: blue, green, orange, red, purple, and yellow. On the far side of the room was a bar that stretched across the entire wall. They were overwhelmed with the same kind of music they had heard outside, only this time, much louder. In the middle of the room was a dance floor. It was about thirty-five feet wide and deep. It was crowded with people freak dancing and the floor was covered by glass. Under the glass was an image of a multicolored circle which grew and shrank with the beat as streams of electricity ran out to the sides in all directions. There were also four dance platforms around the main floor where couples danced in spotlight. Around the floor there were several booth seats where people were eating various meals.

"Happenin' place, huh?" Cale said as the room filled his eyes with streaming retinal candy. Akima nodded as she took in the sight of the place. They kept looking around at all of the psychedelic decorations and lights around the club.

"Where's Korso at?" Akima asked while looking around with a confused expression. Cale shrugged and helped her try to spot Korso. "There he is!" she stated while pointing at the bar. Cale looked over everybody to see Korso sitting on a metallic stool at the bar. He was leaning back, waving at them to come sit beside him. Cale and Akima walked around the right side of the dance floor to try and reach the bar. When they got there, Cale helped Akima into her own seat two away from Korso. Cale then, sat between them and rested his elbows on the counter.

A bartender was going around serving drinks to everybody at the bar. It was a small woman with bubble-gum pink hair and two, short pigtails that were situated on the top of her head. She came over to Cale first. "So, what'll it be?" her high voice asked as she came to rest on the counter in front of Cale. Cale looked around and saw what Korso had gotten.

"Uh, the Horsehead Red please." he replied.

"Sure thing, cutie." she said as she pulled up a glass and put it under a nozzle that sprayed the drink out as she pushed a button. She brought it back and set it in front of Cale. "There ya' are, sweetie." she said as she winked and stepped aside to Akima. "Anything for you, miss?"

"No thanks, I really shouldn't." Akima replied quite glibly to the bartender. The bartender winced and walked down to the other end.

"What are we lookin' for here?" Cale asked as he leaned nearer to Korso who was drinking his red beverage.

"I'm gonna start asking around. I guess there might be somebody who'd be in the Mizrate Armada." Korso explained. Just then, a deep voice spoke into their conversation.

"The Mizrate Armada is nearly gone." the voice said. Korso looked from Cale, who was on his right to a black man sitting on his left. The man was thin with a cleanly shaven, bald head. He had two white eyes that could clearly be seen in the dark room which he seemed to blend into so well. His chin curved upward and protruded slightly with large lips and a wide nose.

"Were you in the Mizrate Armada?" Korso asked the character.

"Yes, I was. It's albeit gone now. The Drej came and captured most of it. They eventually destroyed and killed most of our pilots and space crafts." said he.

"What did the Drej want?" Korso again asked.

"They said something about some Orb that they were looking for. We didn't have it, so they decided to harry our Armada." he said as he paused and took a drink, "We lost four squadrons to some new weapon that the Drej have. We didn't have a chance. I managed to crash land on the planet."

"What's this new weapon that they have?" Korso inquired.

"It's some sort of controlling device. Our technicians believe it is the concentrated energy of a drone that they fire at us which sort of gives it a mind. The energy goes into technical systems and disables them and begins to steer or operate the device on its own." said the black man.

"Really," Korso expounded as he put his hand on the man's shoulder, "Well, it looks like you're my new best friend. You see, were trying to find the Orb that's on Gianni except we don't know where it is. You, my friend, are now my closest bet to finding it." He extended his hand to the black man for a hand shake. "Name's Joe Korso."

"Samir Lorell, pleased to meet you." the man said as he shook Korso's hand.

"We were originally here to find Commander Bencal," Korso explained.

"Gianni, eh? I can help you," Samir said, "I've been there. I cannot come with you, but I can give you a homing beacon from my ship. I was designed after earth and D'amara were allied. What it does is it tells you where your desired ship, outpost, space colony, or whatever is by leading you in the direction. It was just in case our navigation system would shut off. This way, we would be able to find our way home without the system. Quite handy, isn't it?"

"When can we pick it up?" Korso asked.

"I was just about ready to leave." he replied.

"Good," Korso said as he turned toward Cale and Akima, "Cale, Akima, I found somebody that's gonna help us out." Korso stood up and led Samir over to them. Both Akima and Cale pivoted on their stools in order to face him. "This is Samir Lorell, formerly of the Mizrate Armada." Korso added.

"Hi, I'm Cale and this my wife, Akima." Cale said as he stood up and shook the D'amaran's hand. Cale touched Akima on the back when he introduced her.

"Greetings." Samir replied.

"He can give us somethin' that should tell us where Gianni is." Korso explained.

"Yes, I-" Samir started, only to be interrupted by Stith who lumbered up to them and broke up the conversation.

"We've got trouble," Stith explained as she stepped between Korso and Samir.

"Can't it wait?" Korso snapped.

"Not unless the six Drej stingers outside can." Stith replied. Everybody became alert and a bit worried. "I don't think they know we're here, but they're blocking our path to the ship. This really isn't the time for pleasantries!" she added.

Just then, a group of three Drej walked into the nightclub.