Space Oddity: Episode IV Return

by Observer123

Finally he's coming home! But his return was not even a bit like he would have ever expected it. Not only that he had crashed onto the planet with his crew members and was stranded there, also everything had changed on his planet. The world he knew was destroyed after a invasion, Kitty was kidnapped by the enemy and there is also his teenage son who does not accept him...

1. The fall

-Hey guys and welcome to the last episode of Space Oddity. I don´t want to say much so just have fun reading and leave a comment :)-

Expect the unexpectable and predict the unpredictable. That was a sentence Dudley had heard a few times in his life. But he never really asked himself what it really meant. After all, doing these two things were impossible.

So what did it mean? Was it perhaps an incentive to use supernatural clairvoyant skills he hadn´t explored yet? Was it really necessary to open a third eye and risk a look into the future to know what´s unexpectable and unpredictable?

Or is it just another way to say: be prepared? Dudley once tried to be prepared for everything and life had nevertheless surprised him so evilly that he now followed another philosophy. A philosophy that even gave him a feeling of inner calmness after hearing the sentence:

"Ladies and gentlemen, our engine just got hit by… something purple." From the pilot of the little shuttle that just entered the atmosphere. At least if you can raging and wild panic inner calmness. But at least he was prepared for this panic and so used to it that he could still react despite of it.
"Wonderful… just wonderful." Sighed the man with the angular face who sounded more annoyed then tensed. "Full energy on the inertia dampers. Maybe we make it down in one piece."

"Aye aye, captain." The pilot with the black short hair replied quickly.
"Dudley!" The captain addressed Dudley by snapping his fingers towards the dog in a rhythm that was just making everyone aggressive who heard it. "Scan the surface and give us a good landing spot, to the others, fasten your seatbelts."

Dudley nodded and pulled an old school hardware micrometer thick touch display and started typing on it. Swiftly a topographic map of the planet opened and made everything around him stop for a second. To his big surprise he recognized this map. The seas, the land, the poles, the arrangement of everything, he knew it well.

"Dudley, I need a landing spot!" yelled the captain and the rhythm of his snapping fingers got faster.
"There!" Dudley pushed on the screen on the east coast of the continent he knew best.
"Thank you." The pilot said irritated because of the latency and pulled the shuttle´s nose up. A sudden jolt traveled through the shuttle and the crew was pressed with in immense force into their seats.

"Oh… things are getting better any second." Sighed the pilot and grabbed joystick in front of him tightly.
"Altitude 70 kilometer, speed 26,732 kilometer per second, hull temperature 1873 Kelvin." A man with dark blonde hair and circles under his eyes said.

"Let´s hope they didn´t hit our life support system…" The captain said. "Meternagel, stay attentive for more purple… things. Uhm, Isaac, could you…"
"That was plasma." The man with the eye circles said.

"So, some shot at us…" Meant the captain.
"Basically yes. And unfortunately they had a good timing…"
"Right in the moment of the atmospheric black out." Meternagel growled while he held with greatest difficulty the helm of the ship.

"Altitude 40 kilometers…" Isaac said and in reply a man in the back of the shuttle yelled.
"Black out is over, shields are up again."
"Yay… timing." Dudley meant scathingly and clang onto the armrests of his seat.

"Calm… calm…" Powers started mumbling and continued it like a mantra.
"Down to the ground we go, never wanted to die so. We will hit the ground so hard, scratch our rests from the yard…" Meternagel started singing loudly as Isaac yelled.
"10 Kilometers, 400 Kilometers per second, 500 Kelvin."

"Try to hit the water!" The man from the back of the shuttle meant. "If we hit it in an obtuse angle we can flip over the water´s surface."
Meternagel gritted his teeth and pulled the joystick with all his might towards him.

"100 meters…" Isaac couldn´t end his sentence because in this moment the ship hit the water surface. The force that pushed the crew this time into their seats was tremendous and if the inertia dampers of the ship weren´t active they all had died because of that.

But the ride wasn´t over it. The ship bounced hissing from the surface back up into the sky and landed again on the surface. The collision this time wasn´t that violent but nevertheless Dudley knew that he would feel this one and the following three bounces in his back during everything he does.

A last time the ship hit the ground but this time no bounce followed. The ship simply stood still. And against Dudley´s expectation, the shuttle seemed intact. No cracks in the hull, no warning lights, expected the one that warned that the main engine was broken. Everything was against his expectation.

Just the crew looked like Dudley imagined how the ship should look like. But he couldn´t blame them. Every bone in his body hurt and he guessed that they didn´t feel any better.
"René… it was your idea to play skimming stones?" Dudley asked moaning loudly.
"Y..Yes…"

"Remember me to fire you when we are back on my ship." Dudley earned a moaning laughter mix from René for this remark.
"I don´t know why you are all so grumpy" Meternagel turned grinning on his seat like he just made the perfect landing. "It worked much better than expected."

"I think I need to puke." Isaac meant obviously fighting against his stomach.
"Don´t you dare." Meant the tanned black-haired woman in front of him that was wearing black leather jumpsuit.

"Do it do it!" The captain cheered the scientist on.
"Powers, stop it, do you know how hard it is to clean this thing?!" Hissed the woman and sounded like that this jumpsuit was her child.

"None of my business… what actually makes it so amusing" Powers laughed and then stood up while his bones cracked loudly. "Ouch… Well, now that we are standing still, let´s see where we are. On the screen, John."

Meternagel pushed a few buttons and the ceiling of the ship started showing the surrounding area. The planet´s surface offered actually a rather depressing image. The soil was dry and black. No plant grew there except trees even though these trees didn´t live, they were burnt and even blacker than the soil. Dudley couldn´t remember that any region on his homeworld like that, especially not the one he aimed for.

"Oh I forgot, it´s up there" Powers said and tilted his back to the ceiling. Also the joints there made a loud cracking sound. "Okay... I think I can´t move my head anymore…"
"Haha!" Laughed the woman and also looked to the ceiling while moaning in pains.

"Wow… that is not how this planet should look like" Isaac said and took many deep breaths to suppress his urge to throw up. "This planet is in the habitable zone… this seems kind of… wrong."
"Indeed." Said Powers. "Meternagel turn the camera slowly.

"Aye aye." The pilot said and slowly the picture on the screen turned. But it didn´t changed much. Always the same impressions of burnt trees and black soil greeted the crew until, after a 180 degree turn, something odd appeared.

The crew and especially Dudley were utterly surprised seeing a group of people hiding behind the twigs of a dead brown bush. But the biggest surprise wasn´t that there were people, it was…
"A dog!" exclaimed Isaac and it seems his nausea was gone all of the sudden. "A dog, a rat and… something else… I have no clue but it is something."

It was true, a dog with yellow fur, a tall rat with crooked teeth and an undefinable short little thing in a lab coat stood outside behind the bush and eyed the shuttle fearfully but curiously.
"I think this… but…" Dudley stammered and stood up.
"I think time for our first contact." Smiled Powers and rubbed his hands. With a jerk and under a loud sound he moved his head back into the idle position.

"Don´t forget that they shot at us!" Meant René angrily looking at the group.
"Actually that´s their right to shoot ships that don´t ask for permission to land." Powers shrugged and then said. "Meternagel open the doors. Let´s greet them."

Slowly and squeaky the ramp was lowered to the ground and the door opened. Dazzling bright white light streamed out of the ship, so bright that it even the black ground seemed white in it.
"Dammit, does it have to be so bright?" hissed Powers as he walked down the ramp slowly and cautiously. He moved to the end of it and looked directly at the bush.

"Greetings strangers." He said with a friendly gesture of his hand. "We come in peace and apologize for entering your atmosphere without permission. Please apologize our behavior but certain circumstances made these action necessary."

The only thing Powers heard in reply was mumbling and the sentence "What did it say?"
"Oh great." Sighed the captain. "They can´t understand me." He called to the ship.
"But obviously you can understand them without the translation implant needed to learn the language…" Isaac meant pensively. "Let me try something." The scientist stepped out of the shuttle and built himself up next to Powers.

"Hello, strangers." He said in the language Dudley brought to them. Even though he had once learned this language, mostly while he taught Dudley their language, his accent was terrible and just shouted out 'I am an alien.'

"It spoke!" shrieked the rat.
"I h..h..heard that." The little thing said to the rat and then stepped courageously out of the bush.
"What my friend here wanted to say." Meant Isaac clearing his throat. "Is that we are sorry for trespassing and that we come in peace."

"You are not lizards…" said the little thing in the lab coat and came closer to Powers and Isaac. "…or are you." It pointed a gun at Isaac and then at Powers.
"Lizards?" Powers asked Isaac and the scientist shrugged in reply.

"They are definitely spies! Shot them!" The dog said and jumped with a gun out of the bush.
"Could you maybe explain what you mean?" Isaac said to the three.
"You know exactly what I mean!"

"We could need some help here." Powers said. "Dudley, would you come out?"
"I… I´m not sure…" Dudley stammered.
"That´s an order." The authority in Powers noise left no room for discussion.

Inside the shuttle the dog sighed and stood up. Carefully he stepped onto the ramp and strode down. The reaction of his arrival outside changed the behavior of the little group outside completely.
"That´s im…i…impossible." Mumbled the little thing and let his gun fall to the ground.

"Hello… Hello Keswick." Meant Dudley insecurely and stood with frozen feet on his spot.
"This can´t be you… this is i..i..impossible." Keswick walked to Dudley and stared at him.
"It´s been a while, huh?" Dudley meant scratching the back of his head and was wondering that Keswick was still alive.

Shouldn´t he be dead already? But somehow it wasn´t completely impossible to think that Keswick survived so long. After all he was always a weird guy, maybe he found a way to expend his lifespan.
"Are you r..r..really Dudley Donald Puppy?" asked the little guy flabbergasted.
"Donald?" asked Isaac and Powers.

"Guys, please." Sighed the dog. "And yes, I am Dudley … Donald… Puppy. Born in Petroplis. Son of Peg Puppy."
"But how can you be a..a..alive?" Keswick asked. "You were sucked into this s..s..singularity."
"Reverted tachyon impulse." Meant Dudley quick like it was an answer to a question in a quiz.

"Okay… that didn´t sound like Dudley P..P..Puppy." Kewick said smiling.
"Well, I´ve learned a few things." Smiled Dudley back and before they both know they shared a hug. A hug that two friends would share after a long time.

"Heartwarming." Said Isaac drily. "But we should focus."
"Indeed." Smiled Dudley widely and both he and Keswick let each other go. The dog´s smile faded as he looked at the depressing area around them. "Keswick… what happened here?"

"That´s a long story and we s..s..shouldn´t discuss this out here. Can we go into your shuttle?"
"Sure, just follow me." Dudley nodded and guided the group back into the ship where the René, Meternagel and the tick greeted them with words they didn´t understand.

"What did they say?" asked the rat insecurely.
"They said hello." Meant Dudley pointed at a row of seats that were behind René.
"Tick" Said Powers as he sat down "Be so kind and swap seats with this… what was his name?"
"Keswick."

"Yes, Keswick." Said the captain and the tick complied.
"Okay, Keswick, take this seat." Dudley pointed at the empty seat next to him as he sat down.
Keswick nodded and took the seat. His eyes grew wide as he sat down. "That´s unbelievably c..c..comfortable."

"Our chair technology is lightyears ahead of any other." Said Meternagel grinning.
"What did he s..s..say?" Keswick asked.
"He said that our chair technology is lightyears ahead of any other." Isaac repeated.

"Oh… seems so." Smiled Keswick lightly what was actually smile because he wanted to be polite.
Powers cleared his throat. "Isaac, can you program the computer to simultaneously translate the words we say? Want to have them briefed too."

"On it, Sly." Isaac said and typed some commands into the console in front of him. He signalized Powers that he was done by pointing at him.
"Okay, test test one two three." Powers said and immediately his words were translated into a language the three passengers also understood. Powers nodded satisfied and then said "Okay, much better. I am glad that it´s possible for me to greet you personally now. I want to welcome you aboard."

"Uhm… t..t..thank you." Keswick said and nodded.
"No need, anyway, back to what´s important." Powers turned to the pilot. "Meternagel, what´s the shuttle´s status?"

"Well, better than expected." Meternagel stretched a little and continued sighing. "Our inertia dampers are down on 20 percent but they should work things going rough. But our main engine crossed the Jordan, the auxiliary engines should still work though."

"Weaponry, shields?"
"Still online."
"That is f..f..fantastic!" Keswick exclaimed in relief. "That means we can d..d..defend ourselfs, right?
Powers turned to him and looked surprised. "Yes… sure."

"Keswick, could you explain what happened here? And why is it necessary to defend ourselves?"
"I´m going to tell it to you but first we have to move, if the l..l..lizards find us here, we´re dead."
"Well… okay. Meternagel, set a course to…"
"Wait a second." Dudley said and pulled the foil display out of the wall and showed it to Keswick. "Just tap at the spot you want us to go."

Keswick eyed the map critically and then pushed at a spot around ten kilometers away from their location.
"Okay, Meternagel, fly to this coordinates." Powers ordered. "Oh and try to do it as inconspicuously as possible. Apparently, aggressors are out there."

"Aye aye." Said the pilot activated the ships auxiliary engines. Rumbling the shuttle started moving, always hovering close to the ground because that was all what these engines could do.
"Okay, Keswick, now." Dudley meant with a stern voice.

"Okay, I´ll give you a short o..o..overview over the last year." Keswick meant. "We were attacked by a species we call the l..l..lizards. They simply came here and took over and destroyed our world. We d..d..didn´t stood a chance. So we hid."

"I´m sorry to hear so." Dudley meant concernedly.
"It was a hard year but we made it to establish a w..w..working, partially armed, resistance."
"I guess we´re heading there." Meternagel meant as he typed on a display next to the helm.

"I..I..Indeed." Keswick nodded. "The guys there will love to see you, Dudley… well and maybe also you others after they got used to your s..s..strange looks."
"I guess that these guys looks are a pretty hard culture shock for you, huh?" Dudley giggled and looked to Powers who sat in front of him. "I remember when I saw them for the first times… I screamed."

"I can imagine t..t..that." Laughed Keswick while the others around them cleared their throats.
"It´s not like you were such a treat for our eyes." Mumbled Isaac insulted.
"Pardon?" Dudley asked raising an eyebrow.
"Especially when you eat you look utterly ugly."

"Indeed, I also saw that." Powers meant.
"He always tries to stuff everything into his mouth and forgets to chew." Meternagel outlined with his hands, without turning around, the expansion of Dudley´s cheeks after he crammed all his food into it.

"Oh yes, exactly." Isaac nodded laughing. "I always hope that he maybe chokes on that so this tragedy would end."
"Oh thank you." Dudley spitted poisonous sarcasm at the three ringleaders before he turned back to Keswick and changed the topic. "Can we somehow help you?"

"We can need everyone who can hold a gun."
"Excuse me but we are worth more than simple foot soldiers." Huffed Isaac and shook his head.
"That was in no way meant o..o..offensive." Keswick meant quickly in fear he could. "Let´s say we can n..n..need any help we can find."

"Besides that, we are actually the ones who need help." Powers crossed his arms and sighed. "Our ship is almost falling apart and we could really need some support."
"Sure, I think we can h..h..help you repair this." Keswick said and let his eyes wander through the shuttle.

"Oh, this is not our ship." Smiled Powers pretentiously. "Our ship is one lightyear away from here and unfortunately too damaged to rendezvous with us here."
"You have another ship?!" Keswick made his excitement about these news visible by jumping out of his seat. "You need to tell that the c..c..chief!"

Dudley was taken aback for a second. It was like Keswick played with all these references from his old life.
"I´m sure that he´ll mobilize all resources we have left to help you get it here!"
"If we promise to help you of course…" Powers smiled melted into a pensive frown.

"Captain, before we decide…" Isaac snatched Keswick´s gun from his holster and eyed it. "As I thought…" He sighed and gave the gun back to Keswick who looked surprised and angered at him. "Projectile guns… and also the most primitive form of these."

"What are you implying?" Asked René from his seat in the back.
"These people are in no way advanced enough to help us repairing the Leviathan." Isaac explained and sighed. "I think they are like 10,000 years behind us… maybe more."

"Seriously?" Asked the engineer and grunted. "Shit, they are fucking useless."
"Not a really profitable deal." Meant the tick coldly.
"Your objection is noted, Isaac." Nodded Powers now very sternly and cut the discussion that was about to rise short. Then he looked at Isaac and said witheringly. "Even though I haven´t asked you for your opinion."

"I am sorry captain." Isaac winced surprised by Powers sudden mood swing.
"If they are advanced enough or not. They need our help and we can´t leave them high and dry!" Dudley meant and glared grimly at the scientist. Until this moment he thought Isaac was his friend and now he suggested not helping his people because they couldn´t return this favor.

But also the dog received a stern stare from Powers. "I also haven´t asked you for your opinion, captain Puppy."
Dudley could stand Powers gaze without wincing but also he didn´t say anything anymore.

"Well, cards on the table. Is there any possible way that you can help us?" The Captain stood up as he asked this question. With a cold and calm glance he looked down onto Keswick who sighed and also stood up.
"No. We can probably not h..h..help you." He said resignedly. "And nevertheless we need your h..h..help."

"What you have to understand is that I have a ship with 100 men drifting through the space almost helplessly. I need to think about their fates first." Powers turned to Isaac and looked at him. "And you have to understand that it´s not about the gear or the technology but about their willing to help." Then he pointed at René and said. "And the worth of someone doesn´t result in how useful they are for us." Powers crossed his arms behind his back and said towards the tick. "And you need to learn not to search for your advantage when someone asks for help. And finally, you Dudley." Powers looked down almost angrily at him and said. "You need to learn to keep your big mouth shut, especially when you are lacking objectivity."

Satisfied with himself Powers sat in his chair and then declared. "We are asked to help by people who were attacked by an enemy bigger than them. Who are we not to answer to this cry for help?"
"Does that m..m.." Keswick couldn´t even finish his stammering because Powers nodded smiling and called out. "Yes, we will help, with all we have left."

"Thank you." Laughed Keswick and flopped down on his seat again.
"You are pretty hyped about a little shuttle and a promise about a ship." Meternagel giggled as he stood up from his seat and stretched. "Is your situation really that bad?"
"You´ll see." Said Keswick and sighed still with a big smile in his face.

"Well, your pilot stood up, we are there." Meant Meternagel and then pointed at the screen above them. As it seemed he had driven the ship into an old, rundown, mining tunnel that was makeshiftly supported by some wooden beams.

The ship barely fitted into the wide, cave like tunnel that started, at the place where Meternagel had stopped, to become narrower. The tunnel would earn the predicate abandoned usually if not a throng of people had gathered in front of the ship pointing with their weapons at the ship.

"What do you think, will they shoot?" asked the ship´s pilot. Before he heard a loud voice from outside the shuttle that was screaming just one monosyllable order.
"FIRE!"