“I’m not doing anything you ask. Not again. Not ever!” Michael crossed his arms, displaying the grass stains on the elbows of his jacket. Brekt grunted something as he pushed past, taking the seat next to Aileena.
“Brekt is right, you’re going to want to sit down for the next part. Trust me on this,” Mellok had wandered into the room and was trying to sit on the couch behind the chair Aileena had pointed out to Michael. He was struggling, the seat was designed for people of a more bipedal nature. He eventually chose to curl his legs inward like a dying spider, clutching at the Y-shaped straps. “Get yourself strapped in.”
Michael did as he was told, taking his seat into the chair. It felt strange. He had expected soft padded cushion but instead, it felt like sitting on a thick jelly. He sank in slightly, feeling the resistance. It had an almost custard-like consistency. Michael felt himself slipping into the oval-shaped chair. He reached up, grasping the two upper sections of belt and repeating the action he had seen the others do. He was relieved to find that the belts worked just like any other seatbelt, metals prongs locking into a central plastic point. It was worryingly low tech, something that felt more at home in Michael’s old Ford Escort than in a spaceship.
“Everyone strapped in?” Aileena was shouting, the low whine of the engines had steadily been growing louder. “Because if not, I won’t be cleaning you up off the back wall.”
“What does she mean by, oh god. Oh, Jesus. Fuck.”
With a roar the ship had leapt into the and accelerated, quickly tilting skywards, nose pointed directly up. The main engines had fired, a column of blue light pressing the craft screaming upwards. Michael could feel the gel in the chair shifting, doing its best to absorb the massive forces pressing down on him. He could still feel it, his skin stretching outwards, his lips flapping like a cartoon character. Through the glass in front, he could see the clouds rocketing past him, the blue of the sky giving away to the blackness of space. It was oddly perfunctory. When the Council had arrived many a childhood dream of being an astronaut had been rekindled. Michael couldn’t help feeling a little let down.
“Let’s get as far away from here as we can before Council cruisers get a lock on us.” Aileena was tapping at the panel in front of her, pulling levers and flicking switches. Brekt barked in response.
“Ah, our friend Brekt says that the Council ships are already heading towards us,” Mellok said. He had unstrapped himself from the couch and has scuttled over to Michael.
“And that’s bad?” Michael began to unclip his belt.
“Oh yes. I imagine we would be very much dead already were they not afraid to hit Earth. It is unwise to remain in orbit longer than we need.”
Michael stepped out from the chair and was surprised to find gravity weighing down on him, a little heavier than usual perhaps. “Hey, we aren’t you know… weightless.”
“Gravity plates Knower. I am surprised they vex you so, you are the Knower after all.”
“You keep saying that. I’m telling you I’m not whatever this Knower thing is. You have the wrong person.”
“Ah,” Mellok said holding up a feathered finger. “The scriptures say that the Knower is humble, that he would deny his role in things. I suppose perhaps this is a test of some sort? Very well, the gravity plates generate their own field that allows us to move around the ship as we might normally do so. They don’t, however, work if the ambient gravity is too strong, such as close to a planet’s surface. Hence the need for the launch gel in the chairs.”
“Uh-huh. Now, are you going to tell me what this Knower thing is?”
“Less talk more action,” Aileena said, still strapped into her seat. “The longer we hang about the quicker we get boarded. We need a destination to jump too. Mellok, where were you and your crew taking the human?”
“Back to Cortica, of course.”
“Cortica? Really? That’s right across the galaxy. That’s one hell of a trip Mellok.”
“We are adequately supplied.” The bird-like alien crossed his arms, tufts of multicoloured feathers sticking out from each elbow in a tuft.
“Were. You were adequately supplied. I’m guessing the crew were supposed to hall it all in? You know, from the piles outside? The ones we were taking cover behind? Back on Earth?”
“Ah, well,” Mellok said, before deciding he was in the wrong and clasping his beak shut. Brekt began a long sentence, low rumbling words with the cadence of rocks sliding down a hillside. “Oh, no. No-no-no. Not there. Are you mad?”
“Not where? Sorry, I am totally lost here,” Michael said. “Where are we not going?”
“We’re going, it’s a good idea. You don’t have much choice anyway, you haven’t paid us yet. Cash on delivery that was the deal.” The translator seemed to be improving as Aileena used it, the words spitting from its speaker nearly in total sync with her own. “Now I’m going to assume that the cash was also—”
“In the crates, yes, yes, you’re right. Fine! But once we’re resupplied, we head for Cortica. I can pay you there. Double your original rate.” Mellok was moving side to side, dancing nervously on his feet.
“Triple.”
“Fine,” Mellok said. “Triple. You drive a hard bargain, Aileena.”
“Hey, you wanted the best.”
“Pity they were unavailable.”
“Hang on, let’s just calm down. Where are we going that we weren’t going but now are? Does that make sense? And what makes you think I want to come with you to wherever this Cortica place is? What makes you think I want anything to do with you people and whatever craziness this is? I just wanted to go to work, come home, crack a beer and watch Netflix.” Michael slumped back into his chair, the gel wobbling slightly as he hit it. “I just want to go home.”
“I guarantee that right now Council troopers are turning over your home. Going back is suicide.”
“I thought humans were, holy? Sacred? Why would they be trying to kill me?”
“Earth is sacred, humans are only by proxy because you live there. The only reason the council let you live is to do so would risk outrage by the other races,” Mellok said. “That would threaten their precious order. I imagine that’s why the troopers attacking us were human. You’ve been killing each other for millennia, from what I gather.”
“To be fair, most races do that. Even dirtians,” Aileena said. She was tapping at the panel before her. A hologram danced in the air, projected from a bump on the dashboard, symbols rolling off into ordered lines.
“Dirtians?” Michael laughed, “That’s what you are?”
“No,” Mellok said. He glared at Michael, who noticed for the first time just how sharp the alien’s beak looked. “That’s the translator. Cortica, in your language, means dirt, or soil. My people are the Corticans, so, the translator thinks dirtian.”
“Not very original is it? Naming your planet dirt?”
“Humans did the exact same thing. It’s actually very common, most planets in their native tongue mean something similar.”
“That’s a fair point,” Michael said. “You still haven’t told me where we’re going.”
“Ossiark,” Mellok said, a thick disgust in his voice. “It’s actually outside of Council space. Earth is right on the border. For now. It’s full of bandits and brigands. You would only go there to gamble or buy illegal goods.”