Lost among the stars chapter 2
Chapter 2: "you're not Anne"
"I'm anne."
"…What?"
Those were the only words that could come out of Sasha's mouth.
The alien was confused. "What do you mean, 'what'? I answered your question. My name is Anne."
"No you're not," said Marcy.
"Is this some sort of JOKE?" spat Sasha.
"What? No!" the blue-skinned Anne said. "My name is Anne. Why, is the name Anne a bad thing here?"
Sasha growled. "Are you MOCKING US?"
And she ran towards the doppelgänger, who quickly dodged out of the way, causing Sasha to fall face-first on the earth. She quickly got back up, but marcy managed to restrain her.
"Is your name actually Anne?" She asked, strained.
"Erm, yeah, dude," it said. "My name roughly translates to that because you guys wouldn't be able to pronounce my full name. So just call me Anne, unless… that's a problem?" They looked at the feral Sasha.
"It might be a bit… hard to adjust," marcy smiled, but not in a happy way.
"Adjust?"
"I don't want to talk about it," said Marcy, suddenly more serious. "You just… look like someone we know- knew."
"Ah…" Anne said, understanding the situation.
"But what about you? Why are you… on earth?" Asked marcy, letting go of a panting Sasha, sitting on the floor after tiring herself out.
"Erm… well…"
"What?"
"STOP RIGHT THERE, NATIVES!"
Suddenly lots of the blobs from before surrounded them, holding very… painful looking weapons.
"What the heck!" Sasha said. "I knew you were setting us up!"
Anne looked panicked. "What? No!" And she turned to the others, speaking in some guttural language. Translation:
"Guys! Don't shoot! This species seems to be intelligent! Shooting them would violate all sorts of unmapped territory exploration laws!"
"Intelligent my ass, commander," said another. "We were watching the whole time. The pink one tried to pounce on you!"
Anne got angry. "As your superior, I'm telling you to back down!"
"Look, kid, you're only superior because your Daddy went missing and left you in charge."
Anne argued. "Hey-"
"I was his second in command for years, and you know what? I don't think he even mentioned you once. It was almost like you just didn't exist. So listen to me. We're collecting these two specimens and we're leaving."
Anne sighed. "Okay."
"Good-"
"I didn't want to do this," she continued, and her arms turned back into the tendril-like collections, grabbing the two humans and running inside the ship.
"AHHH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Shouted Sasha.
"I made an executive decision," said Anne, while running inside. She placed them down so they could run with her. "Follow me."
"And why should we?" Said Sasha harshly.
"Sorry for her," marcy chuckled fearfully. "But seriously. Why?"
"Look, it's either leave the planet with me," Anne said, "or leave the planet with them." And she pointed to the entrance where others were chasing them in.
"Ummm, Anne?" Marcy said. "Looks like your pals are in the ship."
Anne paused. "Ah, crap. Change of plans! We're taking an escape pod!" And she picked them up and ran to a door leading to a circular small ship, with space for about 4.
"It's not much for now, but it'll do!" She said, taking the pilot's seat. "Hold on to something!" And she pressed a button which caused them to release and (literally) skyrocket into the air.
Behind them, they noticed the larger ship powering up.
"Ummm, they're gaining on us!" Sasha said.
Anne bit her lip and hesitated, before saying, "there's a way we can outrun them."
"Do it!" Marcy said.
"…This ship has no navigation system, and I don't know the coordinates of this planet- it was unmapped, we were an exploration ship. If we hyperjump, we won't be able to get back for… an indefinite amount of time."
The two humans paused. They were hesitant… until they thought of anne.
"Is there any other choice?" Asked sasha calmly.
"Not unless you want to be taken as specimens and possibly killed," their alien companion said.
They thought back, to Anne a few days previous.
"I don't want to die, guys."
That was the hard truth. As much as they tried to deny it, as much as they acted tough,
Everyone was afraid of death.
"Do it."
And Anne pulled the lever.
———————————————
12.5 thousand light years away, a flash was seen in the sky. This was an ordinary sight like Kenraos trade port.
Kenraos was an old facility, once a bustling center of trade and business, now used only by the locals. So they were surprised to see a small ship hop to their small quiet corner of the galaxy.
It landed down on an empty pad, and they were met by a gruff-looking sort of… goopy fella, was how Sasha would describe him.
"Well," it said in a sort of blubbery pirate voice, "I haven't seen your sort before. What are you?"
"We're… humans, from a planet called earth."
"We don't got that here. That a third arm thing?"
"…yes."
"Anyway," said Anne, "we're looking for a cheap ship."
"And what have you to offer?" It said.
"…we have this escape pod, and… you guys got anything?"
The blobby boi spotted the box in Sasha's hand. "That looks mighty valuable. That'd cover it!" He said happily.
Marcy and Sasha held it away. "No, this is… special." Anne looked at them. She'd ask them later.
"Well, anything else?" Asked Anne. I've only got 2000 stored up."
"Lemme fix that," said marcy, taking her tablet displaying her account. "Looks simple enough, she said, pressing a bunch of stuff. "There!" She said, handing it back to Anne, the screen now displaying 70,000.
"Did you… just… hack the most advanced bank system in the galaxy?"
"Didn't look too advanced to me," mumbled Marcy.
"…ok then, looks like you can afford some of our ships!" Said the gooey lad. "Take your pick."
They looked at the different pads before settling on a simple ship, quite small but with adequate living space.
"What's it called?"
"The Calamity," said the seller. "It requires a special type of fuel."
Sasha got annoyed. "Please don't tell me it's more expensive than it needs to be."
"No, you've got the fuel already," he said. "Why do you think nobody brought this ship?" He asked, before pointing to the box.
"Calamity gems are hard enough to find these days, and you've managed to wrangle three pure ones! That ain't been seen in centuries! Your always welcome at this port."
Anne smiled. "Well, looks like we got a ride."
Marcy and Sasha looked at their new companion curiously. She looked like Anne (albeit with blue skin) sounded like Anne, acted exactly like Anne, hell, Her NAME was Anne… but she wasn't Anne. And nor did she know her. And it was difficult to be so close to something you had lost forever.
But they were ok for now.