This Strange Alien World - A short sci-fi story by the Chuck

This Strange Alien World   

A short sci-fi story by Chuck Keyes

           "Captain, the hyper dimensional drive is still producing some strange fluctuations from within."

          "Lou, you’re the chief engineer aboard the Space Empress, so go fix it!"

          "Sir, with a limited amount of sleep over the past six nights, my workers and I have been diligently working on the problem. Remember, almost overnight the company rapidly installed this hyper-dimensional force drive technology into our cargo ship, and all they can see is their increased wealth by reducing our voyage to the Stellar Outpost from eight months to less than three weeks, allowing us to transport ten times the amount of plackton energy ore. Sir, I'm learning about the hyper dimensional drive as I go along."

          "Lou, since these unexplained fluctuations have been occurring for the past six days, then they're most likely not going to create a navigational problem." 

          "Sir, I cannot guarantee a problem will not occur while we're traveling through the dimensional folds of time and space."

          "Then to solve this fluctuation problem, you better keep learning about this new drive system!"

          "Yes, sir," Lou voiced as he exited the ship's command center.

          Shanel turned away from the forward portal to speak to the captain. "Luke Franklin, you're being a bit of a snit."

          The cargo captain waved his hand in disgust. "Sorry, but this new hyper drive shouldn't be giving us any problems. The company guaranteed that its safe."

          "I wouldn't trust anything the company says. This new hyper-dimensional drive is giving me the willies. I don't like not being able to see any stars, and depending totally on the dimensional hyper-drive's computer to navigate the Space Empress to the Stellar Outpost is ridiculous. It'll only take one little hiccup and we might end up inside the middle of a planet or a star."

           Captain Luke Franklin chuckled. "Shanel, we've been traveling nearly two weeks through the dimensional layers of the universe and now you're voicing a concern."

          Shanel shot the captain a warm smile. "I promised you I'd give the company's new hyper-drive propulsion technology a reasonable amount of time before making a judgment call. Personally, I'd rather be sleeping in suspended animation for eight months than blindly making this trip within three weeks.

          The captain shook his head along with a deep sigh. "To be honest with you, I'm not too happy about this new hyper-dimensional drive system."

          "Before these unexplained fluctuations bite us in the ass, maybe we should figure out a way to turn this ship around and go home."

          "I'd love to go home and tell the company to stick their new drive system where the sun doesn't shine, but they preprogrammed our navigational station and helm, and I'm not sure if we can override them."

          "So what you're saying is the company has literally kidnapped us as test subjects for their new hyper-drive?"

          The captain nodded. "I guess."

          Unexpectedly, Lou's voice excitedly boomed over the ship's com system. "Captain, the fluctuations within the hyper-drive have rapidly increased. I think we're beginning to weave in and out the folds of space."

          Captain Franklin's eyes jumped over to the main forward portal. The view is rapidly flipping back and forth from blackness to a sharp bluish brightness, as if their cargo ship is within a planet's atmosphere. He pressed the com button. "Lou, is there any way we can manually take control of the helm?"

          "No, sir. The hyper-dimensional engine is failing. Our only choice is ride the ship to wherever it takes it."

          Captain Franklin pounded on the emergency landing alert button. Strong metal-like protective shields slid across the numerous portals to protect them. Every deck exploded with flashing red lights and loud sirens to warn his crew of twenty-three personnel.

          Two hours have past by and the Space Empress is still rapidly gliding through the atmosphere, heading toward an unknown planet. Every crewmember was at wits end upon realizing how huge the atmosphere must be around this unknown planet. As the ship approached the planet's surface, its braking thrusters automatically engaged. The slide in crash landing was not as bad as everyone had anticipated.

          Captain Franklin extended the ship's telescopic legs to level her off, and then he asked his crew for a damage assessment. Besides the failed hyper-drive, the Space Empress did not receive any damage.

          "Captain, may I draw back the portal's protective covers?" asked Shanel.

          "Yes…yes, let's take a look at this world we've unexpectedly landed on."

          Shanel pushed a touchpad button and the protective covers slid away. She gazed out at a strange new world. They're surrounded by white and light brown trees that have no limbs or leaves. Accept for the varying colors, every tree is identical in size, and they tower over the Space Empress like eighty story skyscrapers. Each tree bows upward in different directions. There's just enough sunlight passing down through the trees to give Shanel a dusk-like view of the strange thick forest. "Luke, do you see this? We've landed in a bizarre forest."

          "Yes we have," said the captain with his nose pressed against one of starboard portals. "I've visited many alien planets during my career, and I've never seen anything like this."

          Shanel glanced down at her science station readout to see if the air on this planet is breathable. Upon seeing it is, she said, "Captain Franklin, since I'm your acting science officer, then I'd like to have a team to go explore this new world. Besides, we don't know how long we're going to be here."

          "It could be dangerous," voiced the captain.

          "We'll bring along laser guns, communicators, and flashlights."

          "Maybe I should go with you."

          Shanel giggled. "Are you coming along to go protect me as being your science officer…or as your dear sweet wife?"

          The captain gave her a comical grin. "I don't know." For a moment, he shook his head in thought. "Both your jobs aboard the Space Empress are very important."

          "Yeah, and I know somebody who's going to be a lonely captain while he's sleeping every night on the top bunk for the next eighty million light-years."

          "That's an empty threat," said Luke along with a chuckle. "You couldn't go that long without your handsome captain nestled next to you at night, keeping your female body warm and safe. I don't want to be stuck on this weird planet forever. I need to talk to Lou before we embark on our exploration. Go ahead and gather a team. I'll meet you at the rear hatch. Oh, as a safety precaution, you better invite the doctor."

          "Okay, captain confidence!"

          Heading to the engine section, Luke briskly walked along the dim lighted passageways of the Space Empress. He arrived to see Lou and his engineering team busily working on the enormous hyper-drive system. "Lou, how's it going? I'd like to be off this unknown planet as soon as possible."

          "Me too," sputtered Lou. "I've never seen such odd vegetation. Giant tall trees without limbs or leaves are something you don't see every day!"

          "What about this screwed up hyper-drive?" snapped the captain.

          "Now that the hyper-dimensional drive system is off line, I safely enter its internal complexity, and I'm noticing some major problems. Like my Trans-Coop Hover Mobile I purchased last year, the hyper-engine manufacturer must have rushed through their assembly process to meet the company's demands. All the hyper-link phase terminals are loose, and I can see signs of degradable arcing between the power crystals and the cold fusion electrical connections."

          "So when can we attempt to take off?" asked the captain.

          A few moments passed by while Lou scratched his head in thought. "Maybe within three or four hours. I don't want to jump the gun and end up in the same predicament, or possibly dead."

          "I agree. I guess we can sit here for four long hours."

          Suddenly, the ground moved and everyone had to take hold to prevent from being thrown about.

          "What the blazes was that?" cried Lou.

          "It felt like an earthquake," voiced the captain.

          "Ever since we landed here, I've been noticing a slight trembling under my feet. Maybe we can repair the hyper-drive system within three hours."

          "That would be wonderful, Lou. I'll talk to you later. I'm going to join Shanel for an investigative walk about the planet's surface."

          "You guys better be careful out there," said Lou, "Only the great Gods know what's on this weird world, and it may be hostile."

          "Thanks, we will be careful." Captain Franklin set off toward the rear hatch.

          After joining up with Shanel and her five team members, she gave him a utility belt with a laser gun, a flashlight, and a communicator mounted on it.

          "Thanks."

          Shanel smiled. "Let's go see what's out there."

          "Okay," the captain voiced as he pressed the button to open the inward hatch. Everyone stepped into the decompression containment room, and then Luke opened the outer hatch. An awful musty stench rapidly attacked their nostrils.

          "This world smells terrible!" grumbled Shanel.

          "Yeah, this odor is so disgusting I'm not going to be able to eat supper," sputtered Dr. Cranston.    

          "Being a doctor, I'm sure you've smelled worse," voiced the captain while he stepped outside onto the planet's surface.

          "Only when I'm working on someone's intestinal track!"

          Everyone followed Luke down the ramp onto the surface.

          Luke noticed how the limbless trees had folded over the Space Empress without breaking, thus creating a tunnel over the cargo ship. He figured these strange limbless trees must be flexible. 

          Shanel kneeled down to observe the surface more closely. "I've never seen anything like this. There's only a slight amount of sunlight, but the ground is warm to the touch, and I can feel it slowly pulsating, as if the center of this planet is filled with a warm fluid." She pounded her fist on the surface. "its firm, but it also has a strange softness to it."

          Exercising his ability to be a good husband instead of a rigid captain, Luke helped Shanel to stand up. "Is there any particular direction you'd like to go?"

          "Any direction is fine with me."

          Luke took the lead. With their flashlights in hand, they weaved around the giant limbless trees. Shanel intermittently stopped to gather samples of flat scale particles scattered on the ground and attached to the trees.

          "We've been traveling nearly an hour and the scenery hasn't changed," said the captain. "Although we're starting to gradually head down hill, which might offer a welcomed change of landscape. I wish we had more visibility through this strange jungle."

          "It looks like these huge trees fold over to produce an endless overhead canopy," Shanel voiced while she shined the beam of her flashlight upward. "This explains why the sunlight is so limited."

          Without warning, a large creature landed next to one of the team members. Everyone watched in horror as the ugly six-legged monster bit into Paul's right shoulder, near his neck.

          Luke and Shanel raised their laser weapons and fired, but their cutting beams weren't powerful enough to penetrate the creature's hard shelled body. Paul screamed in agony. Within a few minutes, he became silent, and the giant bug-like alien jumped upward out of sight.

          Dr. Cranston ran over to Paul's lifeless body. He dropped to his knees to examine him. After a long moment, the doctor said, "Captain, the creature has drained all of Paul's blood out of his body."

          "Doctor, the alien sucked out his blood like a Tarragon vampire worm?"

          "Yes, captain."

          "Our weapons are useless against the alien's hard exoskeleton body," cried Shanel.

          "Which means we need to scurry back to the Space Empress," shouted Luke.

          They ran as fast as they can, circling closely around the trees, hoping they'll provide cover from the monster.

          Three of the monsters landed directly in front them. Luke grabbed his wife's hand and dashed off to the left with the doctor directly behind them. The three other team members veered to the right; however, the alien creatures jumped on them, brutally biting into their bodies, sucking out their precious blood of life.

          Luke, his wife, and the doctor heard the painful screams of their team members. They knew there was nothing they could to save them. Pain exploded in their guts as fear forced them to keep running. Out of breath, Captain Franklin ran through the ship's hatchway with Shanel and Dr. Cranston by his side. As the hatch slowly closed, one of the monstrous aliens landed in front of the hatchway, but luckily, it was too big to enter the ship. Although it repeatedly smashed its hard body against the hatch door and the ship's bulkhead.

          After their bodies were automatically scanned for any bio hazards, Luke and Shanel silently walked hand in hand to command center to find Lou waiting for them. "Captain, Shanel, did you find anything interesting out there?"

          "We were almost killed by these large alien creatures that resemble insects," chimed Shanel. "They have round black compound eyes, huge rear ends, and powerful rear legs used jumping above the trees."   

          "We lost four crewmates!" snapped Luke. "Including your best friend, Paul"

          "Oh damn, this is terrible."

          "We need to leave this evil planet."

          "I do have some good news. After we secured the loose connections, the hyper-drive powered up without any problems."

          "We can leave this world?"

          "Yes." Lou nodded. "We can now engage the hyper-engine, and when we reach the speed of light, the hyper system will automatically transfer the ship into the dimensional layers of space and time."

          "Than let's take off!"

          "But what about their bodies? We need them for a proper funeral."

          "I'm sorry, Lou. But any attempt to retrieve their bodies would be suicide. We need to take off before these alien creatures band together and figure out a way to enter the Space Empress."

          "Since you put it that way, I'm on it!" Lou hurriedly walked over to the navigation console and danced his fingers across the glass touch paid, activating the hyper-drive.

          The Space Empress instantly shot upward, leaving behind a smoldering scorched area on the surface of the planet, and within thirty seconds, the cargo ship reached the speed of light and disappeared, traveling toward the Stellar Outpost.

          When Jack Tyler heard his old Shepherd Collie mix dog, loudly yelp in agonizing pain, he ran out onto his rear wooden deck to see what's wrong. Jack noticed a small burnt section on the middle of his dog's back. "Triumph, how the hell did you burn yourself?" Jack knelt down next to Triumph to view the burn, and that's when he caught a whiff of burnt dog hair. "Triumph, this is damn mysterious. I don't understand what could've burned you. Oh my, boy, you're also covered with annoying fleas. Those little vampires are going to suck you dry of blood" He chuckled in thought. "Maybe the fleas started a campfire on your back to have a flea circus barbecue." He gently patted Triumph's head. "Come on, you old-timer, let's go in the house. I'll give a nice flea bath in the tub, and after drying you off, I'll put some antiseptic cream on your burn."

The End!

© September 2011