Hey you all!
Thanks to all of you readers out there and a very special thanks to Wolftattoo, Vlaatjee and Flowangelic for the reviews and comments! I'm so happy to always read about your thoughts and I wish that more of you could write a few lines after you've read the chapter, it always brightens my day to hear about your thoughts and what you're thinking...
To Wolftattoo: yes, I hear you, the "red-head" is loud and maybe a little too hasty with the orders to kill a living being but I try to have many different characters in this story and try to think the many ways we could react and feel when confronting an alien the first time, some of us no doubt would be so scared that the very first thing would be to just kill it. Sadly a very "human" way to deal with things that we don't understand... I also love to write some characters that can cause irritation XD
Flowangelic: yeah, I was thinking about Vinnie's height and ended up having him now at 5''9 as I was thinking that he is still young so he might even grow still... we'll read about that more maybe later...XD (I'm so short that 5''9 to me is gigantic anyways XD)
Vlaatjee: your review made me smile, and it was great praise that you actually would've wanted to be there to witness this...great rise and fall of our egomaniac hero XD
Thanks to all of you and let's hope you'll enjoy the next chapter as well...This was a very fast update for me but I was in the flow and had already written something so...
And please feel free to comment and review and all... you can even just say "hello" XD
Ride free,
SpaceFlora
The Story of Rebellion and Hope
12.
Charley wasn't too sure what she was doing. Actually, she wasn't sure at all. She might've said that she had acted on a whim... And now here she was. Trying to save the day and save all of her crewmembers from a living breathing big furry alien that for all she knew could've performed a massacre inside their basecamp. Or at least the creature had looked very capable of doing so, judging by the ragged and tattered camo pants and the vest it wore, or the number of guns they already had confiscated from it, and one certainly couldn't miss all the bruises this creature had all around its' body, on the parts where only the dirt stuck to its' fur was covering its' bare arms. He looked like some crazy version of Rambo. The crazy, alien version of Rambo.
The auburn-haired engineer was currently standing just behind the alien's back, so close in fact that she could see the dust particles on the white dirty fur. While standing there the odd scent had attacked her nose again, the one she had smelled earlier when jumping over the then very-much-unconscious alien. And what struck her odd, well one of the million things that struck her odd at this situation... was that she didn't really know whether she liked the smell or not. Maybe it wasn't too good to even inhale that musky scent? What if it was poisonous to get that into her lungs? Who knew at this point anymore? This was already far beyond any science fiction she had ever read. But what she really would have liked now was that somebody else took this situation under their control...
Because even if at the moment it might appear that she had everything under control it was all far from the truth and she felt how quickly this false facade could crumble and reveal her bluff. The whole tent had fallen into silence the second she had bravely or stupidly, she didn't know which one was true yet, acted on an impulse and stopped the alien who had withdrawn the guns, ready to shoot... She had indeed stopped this big alien, but it all felt like it was merely put on pause...The reason for her not feeling too sure about it was that she in fact didn't have a weapon pressing against the alien's back... Although apparently the alien standing just a foot away from her did believe that she did, judging by the way it had reacted, dropping the guns and lifting the hands up, like this was a very goofy western happening in space. But somehow Charley didn't feel at ease about this gesture... maybe it was because the posture of this alien was far too laidback to be one of a frightened and surrendered one... Charley gave a look at her "weapon" which was a hairbrush, the round handle end was pressed hard against the alien's back, slightly wrinkling the camo vest's dirty fabric. She could feel her heart starting to pound faster and the alien in front of her stirred slightly, like sensing her vibes. She faltered but then cleared her voice, trying to sound confident, trying to convince the creature, or even to convince herself that she was meaning her every word.
"I mean it! I'm going to shoot you if you're not gonna cooperate...!" Cooperate? She silently wondered about her choice of words. And what if the creature didn't want to cooperate? Then what? She hardly would do much harm with her hairbrush...So, pretty please could someone else take over from here...?
Charley's eyes searched for Noah's and she met those two brown eyes which were right now staring back at her. There was something about their Captain's look that told Charley that he knew that Charley wasn't actually carrying a gun. Maybe he had done the math already that they had only two weapons on board and if he and Zack already had those loaded and pointed towards both of the aliens, then there was no way Charley could have a third one that miraculously could have escaped the Space Institute's massive security checks and gotten smuggled into space. Charley was grateful that someone's brains were working in the times like these since Charley felt her brains were about to tumble down any moment now. She inhaled the alien's weird, musky scent again. Well, she had to, it stood right there in front of her, she couldn't escape from it. And she still couldn't decide whether the fragrance was bad or not...It was just very different. There wasn't anything she had ever smelled on Earth that smelled the way the alien smelled. Well, obviously and for a good reason.
But a voice that was both raw and singsongy made her nearly drop her hairbrush as the alien opened his mouth.
"Hey, don't sweat it, sweetheart... I'm cooperating always with pretty women."
Charley blinked at this. What did it say? It almost sounded as if the alien was...flirting? That can't be true, why was her mind even suggesting things like that? She licked her lips, then pressed her mouth closed and the brush harder against the alien's back, the same time thinking over and over again: what was she doing? And how long would she be able to trick the alien to believe it was being held at gunpoint?
Her green eyes darted towards their kitchen table, observing the other alien who was still lying there on the table but her two big blue eyes were watching her back, no, staring back at her and observing her every little movement, staying silent, but luckily from this perspective, the other alien couldn't see whether or not Charley was actually holding a gun. If not counting the scream the ginger-furred alien had let out earlier, it had not said a word...But the quiet stare was making Charley even more nervous. As though the alien was planning something, and figuring out a weak spot.
"Charley...You're okay?" Noah asked her but his eyes were back on the white alien, standing in-between him and their young engineer.
"I'm alright..." Charley nodded.
"I'm alright, too, thanks for asking..." The white alien blurted and added a chuckle, which again, made Charley fidgety... The alien still believed she had a gun, right? Charley hadn't ever been in a situation where someone had threatened to take her life but she was sure that she wouldn't have laughed when that happened...She knew a shock could make people laugh when facing death but again, the alien looked far from being shocked, it didn't even look that bothered. Like none of this really moved the creature. The confidence that oozed from the alien really started to gnaw little pieces off Charley's own self-assurance, which wasn't a hundred percent at this moment anyway.
Noah only nodded, looking slightly confused, well, didn't they all look and certainly feel a little confused at the moment but the Captain decided to take a careful step closer to the alien which was a little bit shorter than him but the alien had more muscle mass, the muscles visible underneath the fur that was covered with dirt and sand particles that glistened in the artificial light.
"Now... I'm gonna repeat that we mean no harm..." Noah stated, still pointing his gun at the alien.
"Well, you ain't trying real hard to make one feel welcomed either..." the alien huffed back but still, not sounding too concerned.
"Apparently...You can understand us...?" Noah talked, choosing every word carefully. Another one in the tent who clearly was thinking of a new plan here.
"Sure, nothing wrong with my hearing..." The alien mumbled back. Charley nearly shouted as she felt something and once glancing down she saw the white tail snaking near her feet. She swallowed as she stared at this long appendage but lifted her look from the tail to travel across the alien's back, all the way to the back of the alien's head and from there, her eyes darted to the two red antennae sticking out of its' skull. Were they really attached to their skulls? For what reasons did these creatures have them? What did they do?
"You know...English...?" Noah continued to question the alien but they were all startled as they heard a very odd sound, or more like a string of odd husky sounds coming from the table's direction. The ginger-furred alien had stated something to the fellow Martian in their own language apparently as the white Martians' big flappy ears twitched at these sounds and it gave its' fellow extraterrestrial a look. The male creature turned his ruby-red eyes back to Noah and his reply was short.
"Sure." He shrugged like the answer was obvious and did not need any further explanations.
"Noah! Please! If you ain't gonna shoot it then tie it up again!" Sophia cried still standing behind everyone else, her shakes never getting away, like she was suffering from the cold that's gotten into her bones.
The white-furred alien rolled his eyes and slightly shifted in its' place, but still holding his two hands up.
"Can you maybe stop referring to us as "it"? It's a bit offensive, to be honest..." The male Martian snorted back and Sophia's eyes grew bigger but she didn't say anything more, she tried to get herself even more invisible behind the two tall longhairs.
Noah nodded at Zack who had the rope ready and the alien gave them both a curious look, already offering his wrists.
"Fine, let's tie me up again...Since it worked so well last time, hu?" The alien snickered smugly back, again, way too carefree. Zack cleared his throat while tying the offered wrists, this time using a little bit more force, to make sure the knots were perfect and tight. As they had been last time, too...Very aware that the alien's two attentive eyes were on him, he could feel his breath against his bare skin.
Noah grabbed a chair from nearby and with a kick the chair slid near the standing alien.
"Sit down." The Captain told the alien who gave the chair a look but did as he was told with another devil-may-care sigh.
"You know... Sitting is bad for you...Sitting kills, that's what they say..." The alien babbled and looked at the humans with a studying eye.
"...that'll be the only thing here that could kill me..." The Martian chuckled again.
"And tie the tail, too..." Noah lowered his voice to Zack who nodded and while Noah still pointed his gun at the white-furred alien Zack hunched down and with a little hesitation, he grabbed the tail, making the alien let out a small muffled sound, likely not wanting to let the humans know that it had actually hurt. Zack was a little in doubt about what to do with the tail that felt like he was holding a live snake, a powerful snake full of muscles. In the end, he somehow got the tail tied up with the legs.
But even after the small audible sound of displeasure, the alien had a smile on his face all this time. He looked just cheerful, which only rang some alarm bells inside the humans' heads.
"Why does it smile?" Eve whispered to Lucas who only shrugged his shoulders.
"Maybe he's happy?"
Eve gave the geologist a look and only sighed.
"Nevermind, forget that I asked..."
As the white alien was sitting and tied up again, he looked around the facilities before his two ruby-red eyes darted back to Noah.
"So...Now what?"
"Yeah. Now what?" Noah let out a little relieved sigh, sure he was also quite cautious about why didn't this alien look too distressed about its' current situation but at least it was now tied up so the Captain could maybe breathe and think for a second or two. Noah took another chair and after giving it a little thought, he placed it in front of the alien, still keeping a little distance, and sat down himself, too, the gun still firmly in his hand.
"I've got millions of questions right now..." The Captain admitted with his calm voice that sounded a bit gruff as he talked so silently. His eyes observed the alien, like just now really studying this creature that lived on Mars.
The alien only looked bored when hearing this comment.
"Questions? Oh man, it's like I'm back in school all over again..." The white alien muttered and Charley raised her eyebrow as she watched all the ropes around the aliens' legs and wrists. Surely they don't rope their pupils in here...? Or what did she know...
The other humans carefully came a little closer to really hear what Noah was talking to this alien lifeform.
The creature was looking at the humans intentively and curiously but then his look stopped on Charley and his eyes quickly darted to her hands that didn't carry a weapon but a hairbrush. The alien shook his head, looking amused.
"Well, you surely tricked me there, doll... Gotta give you that..."
"Sorry..." Charley only whispered. Wait, sorry? Why was she sorry? She gave the others a hasty look and they all were clearly thinking the same thing before concentrating on the alien again.
"Don't worry... You only made things more interesting." The male alien smirked back, winking an eye, his raw murmur somehow sending chills down Charley's spine.
"I love a challenge...!" The alien then raised his voice into a high-pitched cry, so sudden shift in sound that they all flinched, making the alien only chuckle at this bunch of easily frightened humans.
"This is not the end...it's more like... half-time!" It cheered chirpy as ever. It was like all this was barely a game for him...Or a test for the humans, Charley couldn't decide what to think of it yet. The alien then remembered his fellow Martian and glanced in the kitchen table's direction.
"Hey, Harley! You've rested enough?!"
Everyone gave the female alien a look, who was not looking as amused as the male. She narrowed her eyes but stayed silent while still being tied up onto the table.
"That means "yes"..."The white alien felt like sharing the female's meaning behind the harsh stare.
"That means, that if one of you gets too close I'll rip your head off!" The female's husky voice replied, almost spatted, as her tail lashed in the air, now first time speaking in a language everyone in the tent understood.
"Hey, where are your manners, Harley?" The male snickered back and gave the others a look.
"But I wouldn't try to double-check if she means true by that if I were you, though...She's a wild one!" He howled and raised his eyebrow at the ginger-furred alien he had referred to as Harley, and like given advice everyone took a step away from Harley even if they weren't standing too close to her anyway. Harley tried to get herself free again, trying to kick and pull but the ropes were too tight and as her tail began to search its' way to maybe try untying the knots, Zack pointed the gun towards the tail.
"Better stop that if you wanna keep the tail."
Harley gave the man a piercing look back but didn't answer, she only closed her mouth into a tight line, clenching her jaw but if the look could kill...
The male alien observed the situation from his post and his very well animated face suddenly changed from cheerful to serious as he turned his look back on Noah.
"But seriously, you should free her... For your own sake..."
"I think "she" stays tied up." Noah replied observing the alien, who stared back into his brown eyes with a challenging look that quickly changed into nearly an amused one again.
"Well, don't tell me I didn't warn ya..." The alien said in a know-it-all tone.
"Warn me about what?" Noah asked, he wasn't looking that alarmed, but merely curious as he wanted to get more information out of this alien that seemed quite easily distracted, his look constantly traveling around the room, his foot tapping against the floor... Like he was waiting for something? Or maybe someone?
"Just saying that the boss man won't take it too kindly when he'll hear you've kept his lil' girl tied up..."
"Hey, I'm not Stoker's little girl!"
"Oh, c'mon, Harley! You can state that all day but you only know that simply ain't true...The ol' man got hots for you..."
"Can we stop talking about my love life right now?! Seriously, Vinnie?!" Harley raised her voice and added another string of words in a foreign language the humans couldn't understand but somehow felt the words weren't too friendly.
"Fine... Sorry, a touchy subject I see..." The male chuckled but gave the female alien a look that seemed caring, no matter if he seemed to tease her... If he didn't care about his own well-being then apparently he did care about the wellbeing of his fellow alien.
"I told you I've got millions of questions but I'm not sure how much we have time..." Noah started again.
"Hey, who's in hurry here...?" The male alien the other one had called Vinnie shrugged his shoulders, his posture now on the chair was a slouched one, not even trying to look like he cared. If Charley would have needed to guess, the alien was young, well he looked young, by all Earth standards which might not mean shit here... For all she knew, he could be a thousand years old. But there was something about his bold mannerism, his attitude, and about his body that told her he was still relatively young. The little roundness he still had left on his face, the soft edges still not quite chiseled. But she could be wrong. She could only judge and look through her own eyes, through the knowledge she had gained a far far away from here.
"So, you are Vinnie? That's your name?" Noah asked.
"Yeah." The alien was nodding and swaying his head from side to side, to the left shoulder to the right, multiple times, like needing to move some part of his body. This too reminded Charley of bored kids.
"Vinnie?" Noah asked again and the very same stopped what he was doing and sighed.
"Yes. Vinnie! I told you already, old man, get it to your head: I'm Vinnie! V-I-N-N-I-E. Should I write it down, too? Or do we start wearing names tags!" The alien wasn't in any hurry but he certainly didn't have any patience.
"But...who are you?" Noah put more weight on his words which only puzzled the alien more.
"What d'ya mean who am I? Who are you, man?! To ask all these stupid questions...! Ugh, this game's boring..." Vinnie the alien's humor started to run amock for no apparent reason, or any reason Noah could think of. Any other reason except that Vinnie didn't like to repeat things.
"He wants to know WHAT are you..." Harley snorted behind their backs.
"What am I? I'm god damn legend, that's who I am!" Vinnie sounded puzzled but his confidence was in contrast to that.
"You really are a Martian..." Noah said, mainly to himself as he observed this white-furred alien in front of him, who was looking at the Captain from head to toes, not looking impressed himself.
"...damn right I am! I'm a full-bred Martian! This is Mars, and we are Martians so maybe the question here should be who the fuck are you and why you're here?"
There was a silence while Noah and the alien were staring at each other. Charley gave Noah quick glances and she couldn't believe how stable this guy was, he hadn't even flinched at the alien's unpredictable and erratic behavior.
"I'm Noah. The Captain of this space crew. We came here to find out if it was possible to live here."
Vinnie blinked at this but started to laugh as he gave Harley a look who again didn't find this as amusing as her comrade did.
"Why? You wanna move in?" Vinnie turned his amused look back to Noah but suddenly he grew serious.
"Because I'm awfully sorry to tell you that this planet's already taken."
"We weren't going to invade the planet if that's what you think..."
"Yeah, sure, no one is ever going to but somehow all these aliens end up stripmining half of the planet and killing half of the population while at it... What is it about Mars?" Vinnie then suddenly gave Harley a look.
"Is there a sign somewhere in space that tells folks that feel free to come and destroy Mars?!"
"I can assure you we weren't going to destroy this planet..." Noah tried to tell but Vinnie only snorted back.
"Well, obviously...There's nine of you and by the looks of things, even my great Aunt can cause more havoc than you...But we already have slimy fish faces wanting to get their fins on our land so we don't need any extra folks here drooling over our goods, you feel me?"
"Not really..." Noah slightly squinted his eyes, pondering these words in his head. None of it made sense.
"It means, you should go while you still can..." The ginger-furred alien talked, her husky and almost sensual voice softening the atmosphere, for some reason her voice had lost the rebellion and it was almost sounding like a plea or friendly advice.
"Well, we really can't..." Noah answered, glancing back at the ginger-furred alien but turning his look on Vinnie again.
"See, our shuttle could only bring us here, we can't return before another shuttle brings us more petrol to do so. That'll be in a year."
There was a slight unexpectable flash of sadness crossing Harley's eyes if anyone was there to witness that.
"Well, then you're fucked." She only spoke, nearly whispering.
Noah furrowed his brows at this but suddenly there was a loud thump outside and everyone was startled.
"What was that?!" Sophia screamed. Another thudding sound and the tent quivered as the earth shook underneath their feet, things tripping and falling from the tables and shelves. Noah gave Vinnie a look who stared back at him.
"I told you, you shouldn't have come here. You won't survive here."
And then everyone heard what was maybe the most bloodcurdling shriek they've ever heard that nearly stopped their hearts, the lights were blinking on the ceiling, making the tent sink into darkness every other second while they were glancing at each other in horror.
"What is that?!" Charley's voice was full of terror, her eyes searching for Vinnie's. The alien turned his two ruby-red eyes to answer her look.
"That would be a saber squid." Vinnie replied and maybe there was now a hint of worry etched on his youthful face. He turned his eyes on the ginger-furred female who was lying there on the table, tied up, her blue eyes looking straight at him in horror before there was another loud thunderous noise, preceded by the earth trembling so hard that the humans fell on the floor as the whole tent shook, sending the carefully piled up boxes and crates tumbling on the floor, smashing things on their way down. And then, the lights went off.
There was screaming all over the tent but an even more high-pitched cry swallowed the distressed voices: "Aahhaahahah! I live for the moments like this!"
Charley couldn't really see well in the dark and anyway, she was currently lying on the floor, under some pots and pans and piles and piles of fallen down boxes and crates were making it hard for her to see what was happening inside the tent, but she could hear running, she could hear screaming and hollowing and then that horrifying shriek again, it sounded as if it came directly outside their tent and Charley had to cover her ears because the shriek was deafening, and sending pain spikes through the ear canals around her body not to mention she didn't or couldn't even think what kind of monster would even make such noises. But as she was trying to get up she felt a crate pinning her other leg and from that position, it was hard to try and push the crate away. But she tried, she had to. And then, there was a loud gunshot that stilled every fiber in her body. Her breathing stopped for a second, and two, and three... Then, another shot. And crying, screaming, crying coming from somewhere around the tent. She couldn't believe what was happening. They were all going to die. Now it felt certain. Be it whatever it was waiting for them outside or these aliens...they were going to kill their space crew, just like that, it had all ended. She swallowed as she closed her eyes, she could feel a tear falling down her cheek. A deep inhale and she opened her eyes but got so startled she screamed as someone was staring at her so close she could feel his breath.
"C'mon, sweetheart, ain't got all day to lie around...!" Vinnie's cheerful laughter echoed in this nook where Charley was currently lying in, and with a swift movement, he had turned the crate off her leg, releasing her. She opened her mouth, trying to say something, ask, shout, anything but she felt as if she was suddenly mute. Vinnie gave her a curious look and flashed her a charming grin that she couldn't really notice in the dark but he gently guided her to hunch behind a barrier of bigger crates.
"Stay there, doll! This is hero work for the macho mice!"
"W-who did you shoot?" Charley get to ask and Vinnie scrunched his nose at this but his face lit up again, Charley only being able to see glimpses on his white teeth.
"Sadly, no one, but my bros are making a mess outside though and I wanna join in!" And then the white alien was gone, just as quickly as he had appeared there by her side. Charley's head spun. What the hell was happening? And how had the white alien gotten himself free again? She jolted as something grab her hand and she heard a familiar voice.
"Thank God... You're okay, Charley..."
"What's happening, Noah?!"
"I'm not sure..." Noah said as he checked his gun's ammo situation.
"Did you shoot?" Charley asked. Who the hell had fired the gun?
"No... Whoever made the two shots were firing from outside..." Noah talked but then with a few buzzing sounds, the lights came back on, but only half of the lights were working and even those were blinking in various rhythms as they were hanging from the ceiling, some of them looking like they were about to drop and collapse any minute. Charley and Noah carefully stood up behind the crates to look at their basecamp that looked like it had suffered an earthquake. It was suddenly very silent. The air was full of dust that now slowly lingered around them.
They saw their crew members slowly crawling from under the piles of trash, under the tables, and behind the crates, their clothes a little dirty and some even ripped, Sophia tried to adjust her glasses back on even if one of the lenses were shattered, her hands shaking. Noah sighed in relief to see that everyone was still alive and able to walk even if the base itself looked like it didn't quite make it in one piece...
"Everyone okay?" He asked but even his always calm voice had now a raw edge to it, a trembling edge.
"Yes...I believe so..." Eve concluded, looking around but she held her wrist which felt sore as she had fallen right on top of it. Noah nodded but then remembered something.
"We gotta make sure the oxygen tank stayed unharmed..."
But as he turned around to do that, he faced their kitchen table and the table was lacking something or someone...They all heard a husky voice behind them.
"Not so fast. I believe we need to write a few new rules here first..."
Noah as well as the others turned around to face what seemed to be their previously captured and tied-up ginger-furred female alien and she was holding a gun, pointing it straight at them. Where the male alien currently was, noone knew. Noah looked at the gun the female alien was holding and it was one of theirs, the gun Zack used to have. Noah gave Zack a look who looked ashamed and shrugged his shoulders.
"So, I fell... And in all that chaos lost the gun..." He muttered back.
"Finders keepers..." Harley flashed a charming smile, her voice almost like a soft purr but nodded at Noah.
"You there, handsome... Drop that gun."
Noah gave the female alien a glance but with a swift and learned movement, he quickly darted the gun at Harley, both of them now only pointing the guns at each other.
"Sorry, but I don't think I want to make that decision..." Noah's voice replied as the other eight crew members only darted their looks back and forth between the alien and their Captain. A sudden raspy voice interrupted this tense scene though.
"Well, I think I can surely help you to make that decision..."
The humans slowly turned around and Noah also glanced to the tent's door's direction where now stood a 6''4ft tall tan-furred male alien. Vinnie, the one they had all encountered already stood a little further away from him, in the background, swinging a gun around his index finger leisurely. But the gun that stole all the humans' attention was the shiny pistol belonging to the tan-furred male who was pointing the very steady gun straight at Noah's head. Sophia swallowed and closed his eyes.
"They just keep on getting bigger..." She tried to calm down her own nerves, not even willing to look at this alien that was taller than the metal twins, and brawnier than Vinnie. He had long hair, too, that was partly hanging over his eyes that were already covered with black and green shades so the humans couldn't see the eyes but they could somehow feel, like it was in the very air they breathed that this alien had his look keenly on them, studying them. The big creature started to walk closer to the center of the tent, and with each step, his dark combat boots were shattering and crushing things now scattered all over the floor. The tall alien stopped near Noah but still left some distance between them, his gun still pointing at Noah who in turn had his gun pointing at Harley.
"My advice would be to do as the lady said." That raspy voice suggested, not even a hint of hesitation in it. Charley stared at this male, her jaw slightly dropped. When she previously had prayed someone to take charge here...this wasn't really in her mind. But it was clear, that this mouse, this alien standing there in his bloodstained and tattered camos was definately in charge here.
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Okay folks!
Hope you like it!
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take care and until next time!
Cheerios!