Jason King: Agent to the Stars 1: The Enclaves of Sylox (34 page)

Just then, the door to the restroom slid open and the tall alien with the gun entered. “That’s long enough. Let’s get back—”

Adam suddenly spun around facing the alien, his eyes wide, his bottom lip trembling. “My family—they think I’m dead!”

Kaylor gripped the weapon tighter, preparing for something that never came. Instead, Adam dropped to his knees and held his head in his hands. Then looking up at Kaylor through tear-filled eyes, he said, “You have to get me home. They can’t go on believing I was killed – or even worse – captured by those savages.”

Kaylor began to say something, but then stopped. Slowly he lowered his weapon; Jym moved up next to him. “What are you doing?”

“Let us all go down to the common room,” Kaylor said. “I believe we have much to discuss.”

Chapter 6

A
few minutes later, Adam had regained his composure – to a point – and was seated at a table in the center of the
common room
, an area that resembled a combination dining hall and lounge. He felt as if he was losing his mind, as the events of the past few hours all came crashing down on him. A strange numbness filled his body and he appeared to be just going through the motions as he was led down a series of ladders and then into the room where he now found himself. Even looking at the strangeness of the other two occupants of the room didn’t seem to faze him.

“Would you like something to drink?” the tall alien asked.

Adam simply nodded, but was surprised when the creature—Kaylor was his name—placed a small box on the table in front of him. Adam just looked up at him.

After a moment Kaylor reacted. “You truly are primitive,” he said with disgust. “It’s a sampling box. It is used to test your blood to see what food and drink you can tolerate. Do you not have anything like this where you come from?”

“Nah, we just eat whatever don’t make us sick,” was Adam’s feeble reply. Kaylor told him to stick his finger in the box; there was a slight prick of pain and then the alien took the box away. He placed it in a slot above a table that jutted from the wall and almost instantly a panel slid open revealing a glass of brownish liquid. Kaylor brought the drink over to the table and sat down opposite Adam. The smaller one—Jym was his name—was seated on a couch, and about as far away from Adam as he could get.

Still in a daze, Adam took the glass and sampled its contents.
Not bad, kind of like Coke, even with some carbonation
. It was then that he noticed how dry his throat was, as the liquid burned a painful path down to his stomach. And then it hit there, setting off an explosion of gurgles and rumbling like he’d never experienced before.

“How long was I out for?” he asked once his stomach settled down.

“Not more than a couple of hours.”

“How about in that canister, where the other people were?”

“That I do not know. Like I said, we came upon that ship later on, after the pirates had already attacked it.”

Pirates? Ships? What was this … a Disney ride? But wait—

“You’re not talking about ships at sea are you? We’re in space?”

Adam was beginning to recognize the look of confusion on the faces of the aliens, and here it was again. “Of course we’re in space,” Kaylor answered.

“And this is
another
spaceship, a different one than I was on before?”

“Correct. This is my ship. Mine and Jym’s.”

So he was in outer space, aboard a starship and with a couple of real aliens. Damn!

This was all fascinating, and in a different circumstance he might have felt more excited. But now was not the time. Instead, he cut to the chase. “I have to get back home. Can you take me there?”

“Where are you from?”

“Cali—I mean I’m from Earth.”

Jym appeared to burst into laughter, or what Adam took as alien laughter. “You’re from the planet
Dirt
? That is not a very creative name for a planet.”

Adam had already decided he didn’t like this particular alien very much. “No,
Earth
… not dirt.”

Kaylor stepped into the conversation: “The translation we’re hearing has it as dirt, soil, ground—things like that, but we can amend the translator to give your planet the designation of Earth.”

“Thank you. And speaking of that, how can I understand what you’re saying now?”

“It’s the translator bug—device—Jym placed behind your ear. Everyone has one, everyone except you. Your planet appears to be very primitive.”

Even through his stupor, Adaqm felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise from the backhanded insult. But he said nothing. Instead, he watched as Jym crossed the room and sat down at a small desk. He punched a few keys on an in-laid keyboard and began to read. Adam could see the writing on the screen, but he couldn’t read any of it. It was all Greek to him.

“Earth, the home planet of the Human race,” Jym began, “including the Afghanis, Americans, Armenians … whoa! There’s a whole list of races that come from your planet.”

“Those aren’t races, they’re countries, or people from those countries.”

“You mean your planet is divided into all these different groups? But you’re all of the same species, correct?” Jym’s voice was again laced with a condescending tone.

“Yeah, that’s right.” Adam took the last gulp of his drink. “Can you take me there or not?”

Jym turned back to the screen. After a moment of scanning the readout, he turned back toward Adam. “Not feasible. Earth is rumored to be located in the Far Arm, actual location: unknown.”

The words hit Adam like a punch in the face. “What does that mean … the Far Arm? Don’t you guys have charts or maps you can follow? And how can it be unknown if you know my language?” He could feel the panic growing in his chest. “Hey, I didn’t sign up for this. I’ve got to get back home!”

Kaylor took a deep breath. “Languages are assimilated into the Library without reference or source. This simply means that your planet has been visited before—as your presence here also testifies. But being in the Far Arm – which is a wilderness to us – means that the location of your world has never been accurately ascertained. And if this is the case, then there is nothing we can do to get you back—”

“And even if we knew where it was, it would cost a fortune to take you there.” Jym interrupted.

“This is bullshit!” Adam yelled.

That look of confusion crossed Kaylor’s face once again. “I do not understand the connotation between some sort of animal excrement and your situation,” he said.

“Bullshit.
BULLSHIT!
It means this is unbelievable. Like I said, I didn’t ask to be here, and I
demand
that you take me back.”

Kaylor stood up and began to draw his weapon, yet before his hand reached the grip, Adam grabbed the alien’s wrist. Kaylor winched in pain.

“Don’t even think about it.” Adam spat out between gritted teeth. “I don’t want to hurt you guys; I actually believe this isn’t your fault. But I’m pretty pissed off right about now and I’m in a terrible mood.”

Kaylor fell back in the chair and placed his hands on the table in front of him, while Jym sat at the little desk, stunned, his mouth agape.

“You don’t seem to understand me, pal,” said Adam, leaning in closer and staring straight into Kaylor’s eyes. “I have a wife and a kid back home, and they’re probably going through hell right now thinking that I’m dead, and that’s something I can’t live with. Someone, somewhere is going to take me back to …” he found it so hard to say, “… back to Earth.”

Kaylor began to bob his head back and forth again, a movement Adam now recognized as a nod of agreement. “We will do everything we can to help you, Adam Cain, but you must realize, we do not know where your planet is located and our ship is not capable of finding it. The Far Arm is a mostly unexplored region of space for us.”

“What about that other ship, the one you said I was on? They should know where Earth is. After all, that’s where they kidnapped me from!”

“All the occupants of the other ship are dead.”

“What about any records, logs, computer disks, or anything like that?”

Kaylor tensed. “The computer core was stolen by the pirates. I’m afraid there are no other records.”

“Who are these god-damn pirates?”
Adam slammed his fist down hard on the table, denting it and sending a loud report throughout the room.

“We don’t know who they are. They are a menace here in The Void and throughout the Fringe. No one knows who they are or where they come from.”

“Bullshit! Somebody knows.”

Kaylor hesitated, and then said, “No…no
bullshit.
All I can promise you is that when we get to Nimor, we will turn you over to the Ministry and maybe they can help you.”

Adam leaned back in the chair, exhausted, pissed off and confused. He rubbed his eyes and shook his head. What should have been the greatest adventure for all of mankind was rapidly turning into a freaking nightmare. If no one knew where he came from—and he could never return home—then he might as well be dead. After all, in the eyes of the military, as well as those of his wife and young daughter, he already was.

As he sat there with his eyes closed, in a room with two very smelly aliens, Adam had to once again fight to maintain control. He was supposed to know how to handle difficult situations like these, but the rollercoaster of emotions he was experiencing wouldn’t stop. Never in the training manuals did they cover how to cope with being abducted by aliens!

Suddenly he felt a wave of hopelessness sweep over him. Maybe he should let Kaylor pull out his weapon and blow his brains out. It really didn’t matter anymore and at least then all the pain and confusion would go away. It would end his nightmare, as well as all the memories.

But Kaylor didn’t draw his weapon. Instead he motioned for Jym to follow and the two aliens left Adam alone in the common room, lost in his thoughts and despair.

********

Once back in the pilothouse, Jym spoke first. “That was close; we can never let him know about the computer core.”

“Agreed, but I believe we could use his testimony regarding the pirates and the salvage. But we have to be careful with him.”

Jym’s ears were flicking wildly. “Agreed – that
thing
is dangerous,” he said, as he paced the room. “We need to get rid of him as soon as possible. And can you believe that he wants us to shuttle him back to some unknown planet in the Far Arm! That is crazy. Does he think we’re made of credits? I don’t know how it is on his world, but everything has a price in the
real
galaxy.”

Kaylor let him vent; it was just his way.

“Put him in number three and make him comfortable. We’ll be at Nimor in about twenty hours. After that, he will be someone else’s problem.”