It just kept running and running. It had been running for at least fifteen miles. There was a river in the way up ahead, hopefully it would stop then. I was getting tired of chasing after it; I didn’t even remember why I needed to get it. Only about five more miles till the river. Beep beep. My Captain was calling. I did not know if I should answer since I didn’t have the body yet. Beep beep. I decided to answer, “Hello sir,”
“Do you have it?”
“...No, not yet sir. I will in a few minutes.” I replied while trembling and try to keep the phone to my ear. Beep. “Sir?” I set the phone back down frightened of what might happen to me if I didn’t get him.
At the briefing of the mission they told me to get it dead or alive but they never told me why or who it was. All I got was a picture and its last know location. At first when I was handed the picture back at the station I did not recognize what it was. The picture showed what looked like a face with a lump that protruded from the center and below was two weird red lines that turned up at the ends. It also had what we looked like eyes just above the lump, one on each side of it. I got really confused when I saw the things sticking out side of the face. I am still not sure what those were. My Captain told me it was a human. I had heard of these before but had never seen one. In class they told us that these where some other form of life that had lived here before us. They were said to be extinct though. I wondered where this one came from.
The river was there. It didn’t know what to do. The human looked different. The line under the lump weren’t going up, they were now facing down. There looked to be a liquid coming from the eyes. “Come towards the ship,” I said trying to sound commanding. It slowly started walking towards me. I realized I didn’t know what to do with it once I got it. I was about to pick up the phone to call the Captain, but decided it would be better not to. I flipped the switch to open the ramp to let it in. I quickly went over to the door to invite in the human.
“I’m Baltazar, who are you?” I questioned trying to be friendly.
“Uh…I’m Carrick…” replied the human as it walked into the ship. “Why are you taking me?”
“My Captain said you needed to be brought in, that’s all I know. Do you not know either?”
“No…I don’t.” It sounded nervous when it answered.
“Hmm, well come in,” I showed him the way in to the control station.
“Do you have a blanket?” It had been running through the rain for quite a while.
“Mmm, I have this, will it do?” I handed him a large piece of material that was soft unsure of what exactly a blanket was.
“Yess, thank you,” it replied with a shaking in its voice. Slowly sitting in the baseball glove shaped seat behind him.
I sat back down in my seat looking back at the human. It look confused. It may have been confused because it was held up by two pieces of its body and I had six, but what difference does it make, it shouldn’t judge me. I am just doing what my Captain told me to do.
“Are you ready to go,” I questioned while starting up the ship.
“…where?” it asked with the shaking still in its voice.
“To my Captain, you will be able to get off of this ship then.”
“Okay…” it replied sounding unsure of the correct answer.
I finished turning the ship on and had everything done on the check list and took off. Beep beep. “Hello,” I answered. We were only about half way back to the station.
“Do you have it?”
“Yes sir, it’s right here. Would you like to speak with it?”
“No.”
The conversations with the Captain were always like this. Short and he never said more than a few words. I remember when I was little and I would ask him for something and I would always get a yes or no, never anything more.
They reached the command ship. The Captain headed down to the commons to await their arrival. When Baltzar and Carrick entered the Captains ship guards awaited them. They showed them to the commons, they sat down and waited for the Captain to show. When he arrived they stood and sat after him. The Captain inquired about how Carrick was alive and who he was staying with.
Meanwhile many of the guards retreated to the back entrance to see what the ruckus was. They opened the door and saw a flock of Pegasus leaving the forest and heading towards the ship. They immediately alerted the pilot of the ship and told him to take off. The ship was in the air but the Pegasus started flying after it. Carrick was still sitting in the commons with the Captain and Baltzar but once the ship took off they left him there. Baltzar headed towards an exit as soon as they left to try to escape.
Baltzar followed the Captain to the front of the ship to find out what was going on. As they got closer to the Command Station they could hear alarms going off. When they entered they saw all of the commotion.
“We’re gonna die!” one of the newbies yelled.
Baltzar and the Captain immediately went to the Commander.
“What is happening?” the Captain asked urgently while taping the Commanders shoulder.
“We’re under attack sir. “replied the Commander.
“By who?” Baltzar questioned.
“…The Pegasus.” Answered the Commander, wondering why Baltzar was able to ask a question in the Command Station.
CABAM
The entire ship shook.
“Commander, what was that?”
“They’re breaking through our doors.”
“Well put up the shields!”
“They already broke them down.”
“The guards too?”
“Yes sir.”
“Do we have another backup??”
“…No sir.” Responded the Commander unsure of the Captains reaction.
“Protect the Self-Destruct!!” yelled the newbie again.
“Send someone down Commander.” The Captain said urgently.
“Baltzar come with me.”
“Yes, sir” Blaltzar responded unsure of what was going to happen.
The Pegasus where now surrounding the ship, trying to break down the doors. Carrick found the Pegasus named Abby that took Carrick on his back. On the way out of the ship Abby ran into a large red button by the door. A beeping started. Then an alarm. Abby and Carrick didn’t get any farther than fifteen feet away before.
CaBAM.
Then almost immediately after, BANG.
BOOM.
“AHH!”
They kept hearing more and more explosions.
They flew for three hours, repeatedly having to doge pieces debris falling, until they reached a cave. When Carrick walked into the cave he found humans. His wife was there. The wife he thought had died.