Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 83946 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83946 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
I slow the ship down while I look them over, needing to be sure I am capable of handling whatever life form awaits me down below. Males and females of different races co-mingle. The females wear black dresses that cover all but their face and hands with hoods some keep up. Males wear all black outfits that cover them similarly. My brows furrow at how strange this species looks, and the apparent uniformity they have in an effort to look the same.
My kind, the Hallans, so connected to the lands upon which we are born, would never hide under so many layers of garments. It wouldn’t be natural when doing so means covering the markings that denote our birthrights and signify which family we belong to. Despite the modesty additive to the security suit I can wear if needed that leaves certain zones of my body androgenous to the naked eye, making loincloths and other preferred garments unneeded during travel, even the transparent nature of the suit comes from the need to recognize what we’ve always known.
Any Hallan could take one look at the black pigment shaping the contours of the gray flesh of my body and crowning my head and know the blood I come from.
A device lights up on the panel, and I know it means the computer is done unraveling their language to the best of its ability for now. I pick the device up and put it into my ear canal. Like always, I cringe some as the device activates and burrows deeper into my ear. An unpleasant sensation, to be sure, but mostly harmless. I tap behind my ear and it begins emitting the words being spoken.
“The New Order is how we have set the world aright once more,” a male’s voice booms. “We had descended into chaos, but The New Order saved us. Taught us a man and woman’s place in this world. And through our beliefs we were able to pull ourselves, the human race, back from the brink to rebuild our civilization the way it was always meant to be.”
What I decipher first in the mess of words is that these people call themselves humans. It’s not unusual that I have no idea what he’s talking about, since I’m sure I can understand their customs and ways no better than they could mine if they came to my planet, but what does come through in the translation is not anything I particularly like. His words ring … radical.
Maybe here isn’t the best place—
“Shutting down non-essential electronics to conserve power,” the computer warns.
I don’t have a choice. I must land here.
I hit buttons on the panel to chart where exactly I want to come down on this strange planet. Just like I thought, the planet, a third of the size of my own, is mostly water. Something else our planets have in common. Most of where I see land appears to be inhabited in one way or another, and a lot looks to have suffered from wars and destruction, leaving the land destitute if the scars in the land are any indication. I’ll land in the water in an effort not to harm anyone. With any luck, not that I’m particularly hopeful, I won’t be detected and can wait there until my planet sends a ship after me.
Any hope I might have had of that is dashed when the next signal comes through.
“Unidentified spaceship, you’re in Earth airspace. Identify yourself.”
Earth. That’s what this planet is called.
I can’t respond to them, though. Although the translator in my ear allows me to understand their language, I can’t speak it. It would take a few days for me to know it well enough to communicate at all. If I spoke now, it would only be in words and sounds they couldn’t understand.
“Identify yourself. We will not ask again.”
Oh, and then what happens?
Frankly, I can attempt a good guess.
I wonder what kind of technology and weapons they have on this planet. I’m sure nothing that compares to that of my own planet, or even the defenses I have on this ship. But with my fuel low, my shields will be weakened, and using some, or all, of my own weapons will drain the last bit of fuel I have. Fuel needed for my ship to send the beacon home to Hallalah for help once I land.
I’m so close to the planet now my ship shows me the body of water where I could land, and the tall grass and dunes of sand around it. I tap the screen, zeroing in on exactly where I want to come down. Then, I begin the sequence that will send the beacon to my planet, but before I press the final button, the screen flashes red while alarms blare throughout the control room.