Chapter 4: References and Discoveries

-Paul-

Something else that really sucks: waiting to die. I can't even really describe the feeling beyond saying that I was ready to shit bricks. We were prisoners in enemy territory without any weapons or any sort of knowledge of our exact location. No communication, not even a fucking window. We were stuck just waiting for them to decide what they wanted to do with us.

Who the fuck knew what they were planning to do with us? We destroyed their home planet and several of their colonies and almost wiped out their entire species. I could only imagine how fucking pissed off they were... I've had plenty of near-death experiences in my life and been in many situations where I was sure I was going to die, but this was different for me. All those other times, I at least had some sort of exit strategy, even on Earth.

It was just a matter of making it through to the part where I didn't have to worry about dying again. Here, there was no exit strategy. There were no means of escape, no rendezvous point where we'd be rescued. It was just these cells and whatever they had planned for us. It was like waiting on death row and like I mentioned before, it really fucking sucked.

We had absolutely no concept of time. A few weeks could've passed for all we knew and after a while it all just felt like hours anyway. It didn't seem long until they came to grab the kid again and take him somewhere else. I noticed that he didn't seem afraid of them despite knowing what they were capable of. In fact, he actually looked kind of annoyed that he had to be stuck here.

I couldn't blame him... This was bullshit.

I started to feel hungry and a little thirsty after a while, so I figured at least several hours had to have gone by since they abducted us. We also hadn't said anything to each other since learning that we were abducted by the Ulara. There really wasn't much to say other than to talk about what they might do with us, which was just depressing. The last thing we needed to be right now was depressed. So, I guess we were just silently thinking of anything that could possibly help us keep our fucking sanity at that point.

Over the next few minutes though, sanity would become a pretty loose term. I kept thinking about home, trying to use that to motivate myself to keep calm, when I heard the hiss of hydraulics as my cell door opened like an iris. Standing in the doorway was something I thought I'd only ever see in the pages of my people's history books. My eyes widened and I felt my heart skip several beats before it started pounding in my chest. For the first time since waking up in my cell, I tried my luck at standing while inching back away from the shadow that stretched across the floor, only to stumble and land on my side against the wall.

"Oh, fuck me..." Was the only comment I could make before my throat became too dry to say anything else. A tall, dark figure stepped into the cell, a long black segmented tail following him. From what I could see in the silhouette, he had long limbs and thick, shiny claws at the ends of his four fingers. His feet were less like actual feet and more like combat boots in their shape.

He had a large, oval shaped head that extended towards the back and he looked like he was wearing some kind of shiny body armor. He grinned at me as I kept trying to back away from him, his teeth a stark white contrast against the black of his exo-suit, long, sharp and looking like he had a mouth full of ceramic nails. Remember the movie Alien? Yeah, I helped out with that one too. They needed an alien species that looked terrifying and asked me if I could think of anything.

The Ularan exo-suits were the first things that popped into my head. Between the Xenomorphs in the movie and the exo-suits of the Ulara, there was hardly any difference. A few subtle differences were there, sure, the filmmakers had to tweak a few details to make the Xenomorphs something of their own design, but for the most part they pretty much looked identical. The only major difference was that the Ularan exo-suits pulled off a sort of fleshy, muscular look whereas the Xenomorphs had more of an insect-like appearance. The suits were built to be intimidating and function as both weapons and armor, and fuck did it have the desired effect.

I heard Del's cell door open and then heard him swearing in shock and fear just as I did moments before. As I heard another Ularan step into Del's cell, the one in front of me crouched down until his hand touched the floor in front of him. His tail arced above him and the end of it opened like a grappling hook. It struck out at me and I barely had the time to react before it hooked around almost my entire torso and flung me out of the cell. I landed hard on my left side and the wall that I bumped into was the only thing that broke my momentum.

Outside the cell was bright and I had to keep my eyes closed at first before they could adjust. I heard Del cry out until he was flung out here with me. I opened my eyes to see, but it was only shapes and shadows for the first few seconds as I tried to sit up. I heard what I guessed were the guards stepping out of the cells and the doors hiss shut. I looked around as my vision cleared, seeing that we were in an entire corridor of cells, each end of the corridor guarded by two Ulara in suits.

The cell doors were smooth and arched, the cracks that indicated where they opened swirled towards the center and extended outward. The interior of the corridor was reflective, a lot like a mirror, probably made from the same alloy that my people used to build ships. It wasn't surprising. We did trade with the Ulara before the war and that included building resources. Above each cell door were symbols that looked a lot like claw marks, most likely indicating the cell's number.

The corridor was lit up by a band of white light on the ceiling that ran the length of the entire area. Before I could make any other observations, I was roughly dragged to my feet by the arm. As the same was done to Del, the Ularan in front of me barked some kind of order at me in a language I wasn't very familiar with. It sounded like it was mostly made up of vowel sounds with a few consonants separating them. The suits made their voices sound deep and hollow, probably to mask what they really sounded like.

From what I could tell from his gestures, he wanted us to follow him. Since we were obviously in no position to argue, we simply did what was suggested. He lead us down the corridor to the first door, the other one behind Del. The doors to the corridors opened horizontally from the middle and were rectangular. As we passed through the first door, I could see another corridor of cells, but I noticed the curve in the structure along the walls.

This meant that the shape of at least this section of the building or station or wherever the fuck we were was circular or maybe even elliptical. Whatever, I'd learn more as I went along. I also noticed that in the middle of the corridor was a section that split off to the left, which was where we were headed apparently. Like the doors to the corridors, this door opened horizontally and was rectangular, but it looked heavier and had what looked like some sort of caution sign above it. When we passed through this door, there was another door just like it barely three feet in front of it.

It looked like we walked through some kind of airlock or antechamber or something before moving into a narrow hallway that lead to a transparent door at the other end. As we got closer to it, I figured it had to be an elevator since it opened to a small, circular room that could only hold maybe six people at a time. The Ularan in front of me pressed a blue button in the wall at my eye-line and the elevator door opened with a hiss of hydraulics. As we stepped in, the two escorting us stood at opposite sides of the elevator, leaving us to stand at the back. I watched as the one to the right tapped at a touchscreen on the wall on his side and the door closed again.

As the elevator moved, I glanced around at its details. (You just never know what might be useful to remember later.) It was a pale silver in color, the surface not reflective like the corridors of cells we just came from, and cylindrical in shape. Like everything else, it was smooth and lit up by a band of white light that formed a circle on the ceiling. The touchscreen that controlled the elevator was a small, blue rectangle just a foot above the top of my head.

Through the transparent door, I could see flashes of white light zooming past vertically as well as blurs of shapes and various colors. It was probably other floors we were passing and who knew just how big this place was. There was no elevator music, which I was thankful for, and after a few seconds it finally stopped, the door opening automatically. The Ularan to my right exited first, the other one shoving me ahead of him. I heard Del grumbling swear words behind me, telling me he was shoved ahead too.

Now, I'm guessing we had just come from the prison block, obviously because of the cells, but this place looked like the medical wing. It had the same alloy in the structure as the prison block with the same markings over each room, but the doors to these rooms were rectangular and one solid shape, a single square window towards the top. They opened by sliding apart at the middle and as we passed the open rooms I noticed examination tables and what appeared to be medical tools on trays inside. We were lead to a room that was about four doors down from the elevator. When I saw what was inside, I felt my stomach twist into a knot.

Ash was right... Seeing the exo-suits was one thing, but seeing what stood behind an examination table really hit home for me. These guys weren't imposters, they were the real deal. The Ulara weren't extinct, just an endangered species. I doubted I could've picked a worse time to be wrong and I fucking hated being wrong...

Ulara without their exo-suits look like taller versions of my people at first glance. Thin build, four long fingers, big heads and eyes, but there were subtle differences. This one at the examination table, for example, had pale, greyish skin and medium length, wispy blonde hair. His eyes were a sandy color and the rest was black instead of white like a human's and had a narrow face. His nose was more defined than mine or Del's, but not very noticeable and he had thin lips.

They were similar to us in a lot of ways, but they looked more human-like in appearance when I thought about it. Now that I really thought about it, it actually creeped me out. On the examination table was another Ularan, but I could tell it was dead. Its eyes were glazed over and empty, plus the fact that it was currently being autopsied was a big clue. The two that lead us here said something to get his attention and he responded without looking away from the body as he touched a needle-like tool to some navy blue headband device on its head while pointing to a corner of the room.

His voice wasn't hollow or deep like the ones in the suits, but tenor-based and had a trained professionalism in his tone. We were ushered to where he had pointed and I saw the fingers of the body twitching when he poked that headband with that needle.

"Creepy as fuck." I commented to Del who simply grunted in agreement. I noticed he wasn't really looking at the body, but I understood why. As much as he liked to study ranged weapons like guns and shit, he was a little squeamish around dead bodies. I don't like looking at them either, but I don't get nauseous or dizzy or whatever.

The Ularan glanced at me when he heard that, as if he knew what language I was speaking and was surprised that I knew it. He said something firmly to the two that escorted us here and pointed to the door of the room, telling them to leave I guess. They both hesitated before looking at us and then moved. One left the room while the other simply moved in front of the door, saying what sounded like some sort of rebuttal towards the Ularan across the room, folding his arms across his chest.

The other sighed and consented to his presence there before turning to us. He looked over the body that lay on the table before glancing at us, then shining the small light in its eyes.

"Where did you learn to speak English?" He asked, his attention on the body. It was my turn to be surprised. I just exchanged a glance with Del, who looked equally taken-aback. I wanted to ask the Ularan the same thing, but didn't say anything. When I didn't answer his question, he looked up from writing something down on the tablet.

"Where did you learn to speak that language?" He asked again more firmly. These assholes blew up our ships, abducted my people and even killed some of them, I didn't have to explain shit to him. So I kept silent, scowling at the floor. I could tell by his silence that Del was thinking along the same lines as me.

Fuck these dickwads... I only looked up to see him return his attention to the body, removing the shiny, navy blue headband thing from its head.

"Fine. You don't have to tell me. It's not exactly a common language found in the cosmos. In fact, there's only one place where you can learn that language." I knew where he was going with this as he looked up at us. "You've been to Earth. You were there long enough to learn English. How you learned it or who taught you is irrelevant."

I came to the same conclusion about him and how he knew English. The Ulara had been to Earth and like he said, they were there long enough to learn English. I still chose not to say anything, letting the pieces come together in my head. The kid said they were the last of the Ulara and that they had planned on expanding. If they planned to do that, they needed to establish a base of operations on a planet similar enough to their home planet so that they could survive on it.

From what I could remember of their home planet, it was similar to Earth, very similar. They could definitely survive on that planet if they needed to, especially with those exo-suits. What I remember of their style of technology is that most of it was genetically based. Genetics was something they excelled in among other things. They planned on expanding...

Oh, shit...

If I was right, Earth was just as fucked as we were...

-Graeme-

We were hiding in an alley among the rubbish, waiting for an opportunity to move ahead safely. It had been about a week or so since the invaders' initial attack in every major city across the globe. People panicked, looting or otherwise aimlessly running away, while others tried taking matters into their own hands only to die horribly. The military had been taking action ever since, but without much success. We were at a technological disadvantage considering our best ammunition couldn't even penetrate their defenses.

To make matters worse, the invaders who weren't subduing the military were abducting people off the streets or from their hiding places, doing who knows what to them. They were beginning to spread to neighboring cities and towns, even to less populated areas, so hiding was becoming increasingly difficult. We couldn't stay in one place for very long and had to constantly be on the move to keep from being captured or killed. It's what lead us to be crouching between bags of rubbish in an alley, watching people flee in terror and listening to gunfire and explosions a couple miles off.

Zoil and his wife, Karen were discussing our group's next move. Apparently, he knew of several government outposts in what was referred to as the Dust Bowl region designed to withstand possible invasions, from sources on Earth or elsewhere. I suppose I shouldn't have found it all that surprising really, all things considering, but I was grateful Zoil still knew of these potential resources. The difficult part was surviving long enough to get there; we were still trying to get out of California and we had lost many modes of transportation in all the chaos. Luckily, we were all still together though we did unfortunately lose a few of our security team to the invaders...

Zoil and his team kicked down the door of the building to our right while Karen's team took watch on either side of the alley. Zoil lead the way inside, brandishing a pistol he picked up a few days back, and cleared the immediate area with his team. Once they determined it was safe, one of the security team waved us inside and we wasted no time getting off the streets, Karen's team following last and making sure the door was secured behind us. I glanced around what appeared to be a musty cellar that looked as if no one had been down here for several years. There was a layer of dust on the wooden shelves and the cement floor and there wasn't much else here except an old freezer, some cardboard boxes and an old, rusty bicycle I assumed once had a color.

Zoil pulled a dusty, wooden table closer to the center of the room and pulled out the atlas of the US that we'd been using since the main highways and air traffic became inaccessible. He flipped through the pages until he found the map of California and examined it.

"Okay, we're still in Bakersfield, about a hundred miles or so from the border of Arizona." Zoil pointed at various locations on the map as he spoke, "We can cross the border at Needles, but with avoiding the major highways it'll take us several more days to get there, especially on foot."

"We can still follow Interstate 40 along the railroad." Karen suggested, "Right now, the invaders are focusing primarily on major cities and evacuation routes. If we lay low, the railroad running parallel to Interstate 40 should takes us directly to Needles."

"It's risky traveling that close to the interstate, but it's doable." Zoil considered and continued to go over strategies with us as I sat next to Ruth and Preston against the wall, the latter seemed to have been combating a cold for the past several days and he didn't seem to be improving much. When he coughed, he sounded terrible and we were hard pressed for medicine. One of the security team found a small bottle of painkillers on one of the shelves and tossed it to me.

"It's not much, but it could help." He said as I caught the bottle and thanked him. I took out a bottle of water I had stored in a shoulder bag and handed it to Preston.

"Here, Pres, take this." I dropped a small tablet into his hand and watched him carefully as he took it. I tried to comfort him as I rubbed his back, but worry consumed me, among other emotions. As Zoil finished up, he had his team blocking the windows with whatever they could find to keep anyone or anything spotting us.

"We should probably get some rest before we move on." I suggested, letting Preston lean against my side while Ruth pressed against the other.

"Right like anyone's gonna sleep in this." Clive remarked bitterly from my left, gesturing towards the windows. The whole invasion was taking a toll on him. It was taking a toll on all of us really, but Clive only had so much resolve in him whenever he was dealing with unfamiliar situations like this. To be honest, my resolve was beginning to unravel at the seams as well, but I knew I had to stay strong.

We just had to get through this. We couldn't let it get the better of us. We'd make it through and it wouldn't be the end. It couldn't be the end, not like this...

"Graeme's right." Zoil agreed, lighting an old lantern he found in one of the boxes and dimming the lights, "We'll take watches until dusk, then we'll keep moving under the cover of night. I'll take the first watch."

I nodded in understanding and put a hand on Clive's shoulder, speaking softly, "It'll be alright, sausage. We'll get through this."

Clive didn't look away from the ground at first, both his hands wringing his sword, "I know... It's not like we haven't had some practice."

He half-joked a bit dryly and I smiled comfortingly, hoping to keep our spirits up. I wrapped an arm around Preston and Ruth, giving the latter a warm kiss on her head. We quietly talked amongst ourselves until, little by little, we each fell into a light sleep. It seemed like barely any time at all had passed before I was awoken by the sound of something moving around the floor above us. I distinctly heard the sound of claws scraping against the ceiling and my heart started to race. Had they found us?

Zoil and his team were already on the move, quietly gathering what they could and motioning for me to get up and get the others moving.

"We need to move on," He whispered, "now and quietly."

(Disclaimer: I don't own Paul or any other characters created by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. I do, however, own Del, the Ulara, Preston and Ash. Read and review please!)