“FORTY SEVEN DAYS !!”

“FORTY SEVEN DAYS??!!”

“Take it easy now… You should be grateful you’re still alive after the spill you took. All three of you should be grateful…”

“Okay… Sorry Doc… What happened…? The last thing I remember was seeing a bright flash of light and feeling pain all over my body…”

“Well, after you torpedoed the laser mechanism the laser beam disbursed. Part of it hit your ship and part of it refracted inwards and

destroyed the laser’s lenses. The moment the laser was damaged the big ship shut it off and left.”

“What happened to my ship?”

“Well, your ship crashed… It crashed on the planet’s surface… but it didn’t…”

“What do you mean by that?”

“It slowed down very fast and landed before hitting the surface. I can’t explain that,” he said looking puzzled. “All three of you had passed out by then. I’m sure the laser hit rendered you unconscious… So I can’t explain how your ship landed or who landed it…”

“The landing robot must have activated and landed the ship. It saved the ship and us...”

“Oh, no, no… Your ship wasn’t saved. The laser cut a huge hole in the side before hitting your legs and your friends’ backs. You were hit the worst but lucky for you, you were wearing that thick uniform… Your legs would have been completely burned.”

“So, what happened to my ship?”

“Well, after you landed we came to rescue you. We entered your ship through the hole and after we opened the back hatch we brought you here.”

“What happened to my ship?!”

“They took it away.”

“Who took it away?!”

“The King’s men.”

“What are they going to do with it?”

“I don’t know I’m a doctor. My job was to save you and your friends… And I did that…”

“Sorry Doc, that ship is important to me… and not just me… to the people of Ostikon and Nelez.”

“I know that, your ship is also important to this planet… It saved us too…” he said but there was a worried look in his eyes.

“What’s the matter Doc?”

“Almost everyone here believes the big ship will return and take revenge on all of us… the moment it is repaired.”

“How do you know that?”

“Well, it happened on other planets. If the ship perceives us as a threat it will destroy us all before it starts digging again. And… you damaging its laser will be perceived as a threat…”

“So, what are you doing to prepare for its return?”

“My job is to make you well…”

“And?”

“I’m not supposed to tell you this but a friend of mine in the military, whose life I saved, told me the King has big plans for you…”

“What plans? Is he going to torture me for killing his son and then kill me?”

“No, no, no, you misunderstood me. He is planning to repair your ship and bolster your ship’s weapons so that the next time the big ship returns, you will be able to repel it or even destroy it…”

“Nothing can destroy that ship. Nothing that my ship has…”

“I’m no engineer but I think it can be done. Unfortunately we don’t have experienced pilots like you. The King truly believes in your abilities. Your ship is simply a tool, an instrument… If you save our planet, not only will he forgive you for killing his son but he, and all of us, will be indebted to you for as long as you live.

“So, should I assume that my ship will be repaired and returned to me…?”

“As far as I know, yes…”

“What about my condition… what’s wrong with my legs?”

“Your legs are fine. As soon as they heal from the last graft, I’ll take the bandages off… but you’ll have some scarring…”

“What about my friends?”

“Same…”

“Can I see them?”

“Yes, as soon as they wake up.”

The doctor then went and got my uniform and showed me the burn marks. The thick impenetrable material was burned crisp.

“It is truly a miracle that your legs didn’t vaporize…”

“You know I’m a super soldier and my body can take a lot of punishment.”

“Yes, how can I not know…? You’re massive…” he said and laughed out loud.

“Not you too? Almost all my friends on Nelez make fun of me. It’s not a laughing matter… I was made this way by force, against my will…”

“I know my friend; I didn’t mean to make fun of you… But you look comical…”

“Is there a cure for this? I mean a way to reverse it?”

“I’m sure a cure can be found but it may take years to find it, plus on whom can we experiment? Every single life is precious and I wouldn’t want to harm anyone…”

“You’re right Doc. The worst thing about this tragedy is that the memory of all those young people has been irreversibly erased… On top of that their brains are damaged.”

“I have no idea if those people can be retrained… I mean in a conventional way… I know you can talk to them telepathically… Maybe they can be retrained telepathically. I don’t know what to tell you,” concluded the doctor and started walking away.

“I guess we have to accept our fate and go on with life…” I said before he disappeared.

The ship is repaired

After sitting in the upright position in the hospital bed for what seemed like hours, I heard voices in the distance coming from the room to my left. They were women’s voices.

Then I heard men’s voices and as they came closer I recognized them. It was Delche and Ori speaking in Ostikon. I wondered who they were speaking to in Ostikon.

As the door to my room sprang open I saw Delche sitting in a wheelchair being pushed by a woman. A moment later Ori also appeared, sitting in a wheelchair pushed by another woman. Delche was smiling.

“You couldn’t have been injured that badly if you’re smiling,” I said looking at Delche.

“We were badly injured alright… Thanks to your clever stunt… but that’s not why I’m smiling,” said Delche, who had been rolled to the right side of my bed.

“And you Ori? I see that you’re not smiling… still looking as miserable as usual… How are you doing?”

“I’ll live…”

The other woman parked Ori’s wheelchair on the left side of my bed.

“So, why are you smiling Delche?”

“I’ll tell you but first let me introduce you to our doctors.”

He grabbed the woman’s hand and said, “This one is mine and over there is Ori’s doctor. They are both from Ostikon… In fact, she tells me that most of the professional staff here are from either Ostikon or from the Galaxy Trader planets. She says the pay here is good and she faces no restrictions… As to why I’m smiling? Well, this one

here said you’re so ugly they must have thrown you out with the bath water when you were born…”

“Oh yeah? Is that so…?” I grumbled.

“It’s true, that’s what she said. I told her that you said she was beautiful and in response she said that you were sure damn ugly…”

“That’s baloney; I’ve never seen this woman before in my life…” I said and smiled at her. She smiled back.

“When Ori told the women what Delche had said she slapped him on the head and leaned over and gave me a kiss.

I flicked my universal translator to Macedonian-Ostikon and said, “You are beautiful… Both of you are beautiful… These bastards here don’t deserve you.”

Both women said thank you and smiled.

“We know you from Ostikon. You were a hero and a celebrity then and so were these two guys. We were young and still in school when you first arrived and have been following your career since then. We know what happened to you. We both fled Ostikon when they introduced the massive draft. We escaped before they could nab us…” said Ori’s doctor.

“Well it’s a good thing too, you saved my friends and the three of us are very grateful to you…”

“Sorry we have to go… we have other patients to see…” said Delche’s doctor.

“Another doctor will come to see you soon. He’ll give you each a physical examination, remove your bandages and release you,” added Ori’s doctor.

After that the women smiled at us, walked away and exited the room through the same door they’d entered earlier.

I looked at Delche then at Ori and said, “Well, did your doctors tell you anything about what happened to us?”

“We didn’t meet our doctors until a few minutes ago…” said Ori.

“They told us that we were in a hospital and rushed us over here. Other than the bandages I have on my back, I couldn’t tell you what’s wrong with me. I feel no pain. We were hoping you could tell us… That’s the impression we got from those two women who rushed us here…” said Delche.

“All I was told is that we have been here for 47 days. My legs and your backs were injured when we blew up the laser on the big ship. Our ship was badly damaged and is now being repaired…” I said and was interrupted by two men entering the room. One was my doctor. I didn’t know who the other man was.

All three of us focused our eyes on the approaching men. I flicked the switch on my universal translator to Macedonian-Galaxy trader and bumped up the volume so that Delche and Ori could hear what the doctor was going to say.

“I see all three of you are here… Good… Let me have a look at your legs…” said the doctor then flipped the sheet that was covering my body, making sure my full nakedness wasn’t exposed, and took my bandages off.

“Your legs look much better than I thought… That’s good… You’re good to go…” he said and asked the man beside him to get my uniform and bring it to me. He told me to put it on while he tended to Delche and Ori who were already wearing the lower part of their uniforms and holding the upper part in their laps.

While the doctor was working on Ori I turned towards Delche and slipped my uniform on. There was a visible circular scar on both of my legs where the uniform had been scorched.

“Oh, Mother Nature…” I heard Delche whisper. “How is it possible that we are still alive?”

After I put my uniform on I got to my feet but felt unsteady. The doctor saw me.

“You’ll need to walk around for a bit and in a day or two you’ll be back to normal…”

“Thank you Doc. What about my friends?”

“They’re fine too. You can put your uniforms on as soon as I’m done removing your bandages and go with this man. He’ll take you to your ship…” said the doctor as he removed Ori’s bandages first, then Delche’s and left.

After Ori and Delche put on their uniforms, the man spoke to them in the Ostikon language. I didn’t understand what he said so I asked Delche, but because I had my universal translator on Macedonian-Galaxy trader the man understood what I had asked and answered me in Galaxy Trader.

“I work for the King’s security services and I was instructed to take you to your ship.”

“Thank you.” I was about to ask what our mission was but after I looked at Delche’s face, I decided not to ask. I knew there was something wrong. Delche looked very serious and his face had turned pale.

The man took the lead, I followed and Delche and Ori followed me. I noticed that the man was carrying a pistol under his coat. I figured if he made a move he’d have to shoot me first but before he shot me I would break his neck.

After we left the hospital we boarded a small ship, a shuttle, which took us to a desert beyond the plain, behind a tall mountain. There, on top of a low hill, sat a bright golden object that glistened like a star on a bright night.

“That there is your ship. I’ll drop you off beside it and you can test it and its weapons in that there tall mountain beyond the sandy desert,” the man said, circled around, landed and opened the hatch. Then as

soon as we had exited the shuttle he slammed the hatch shut and flew off.

“So this is what you get for helping these people. We have no provisions and no water… And if I can’t get inside the ship we’ll die of thirst and heat stroke…”

“That’s the least of our problems… We’re lucky he didn’t just kill us… I know that man. He was a rat in Ostikon; one of the worst rats that ever existed. He assassinated people and took pleasure in doing it…” said Delche.

“So, that’s why he took off in a hurry… If you recognized him, he must have recognized you and figured he’d best skedaddle before we killed him…” I said.

“I don’t know who he is… but please open the hatch before we get burned by the sun…” said Ori.

The security system in the ship hadn’t been altered and I was able to open the hatch in the usual way but the ship looked different. Its entire surface was coated with a very strong alloy, perhaps ten times stronger than before. I looked under it and noticed the Macedonian sun had been repainted and shone better than ever. Not much had been done to the inside that was visible, except for the hole that was patched with the golden alloy.

I looked at it and said, “Not only us… but the ship too… bears the scars of our misadventure…”

“Well, what next Captain?” asked Ori.

“Let’s test the ship and see what was done to it and how it performs…”

At that point Delche opened the hatch and went outside. We followed him.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” I asked.

After walking away from the ship a dozen metres or so Delche said, “Before we do anything let’s check for listening devices and booby traps. I don’t trust these people. I’m sure they’ll want to know exactly what we say and do. When we finish our mission do you think they’ll let us go? Especially now that they have us in their hands…?”

“Good point. But how do we do that…?” I asked.

“Leave it to me,” said Ori. “If anyone tries to talk or listen to the ship, I’ll find out.”

“I can have the repair robot point out all the repairs that were made recently and inspect every one of them,” said Delche.

“What do you want me to do?” I asked.

“You can take inventory of our provisions and ammunition,” replied Delche.

After about an hour of searching we again went outside the ship to discuss the situation.

“It appears that nothing was changed in terms of the provisions,” I said, “but we’ve gained a number of torpedoes. They gave us a dozen or so new torpedoes. They appear to be coated with the yellow alloy. One is already loaded in the tube ready to be fired.”

“So far I’ve found six devices that emit frequencies. They could be listening devices…” said Ori.

“And I found an explosive device. This was the only device the robot found that wasn’t part of the ship’s repairs. I’ve seen one of these before. It’s designed to kill people but not harm the ship. What should I do with it?”

“Can these devices be moved without triggering them?” I asked.

“I guess…” replied Delche.

“So let’s take them out of the ship and leave them in the desert.

Delche worked quietly and carefully so as not to trigger the explosive device and took it outside. By pinpointing the frequencies being emitted, Ori found the listening devices and took them outside. They both ran tests again and declared the ship was clean.

“So the bastards not only want to listen to us but want to kill us too. I expect they would have killed us after we did the job and then kept the ship for themselves…” I said as I powered up the ship’s engines.

“If you mean the King’s security servant, I agree but I don’t think it was the King’s idea to kill us. As for the ship…? They wanted the ship out of commission a long time ago,” said Delche.

“I believe you,” I replied. “We and this ship destroyed their world so it’s understandable that they would want revenge…”

“Let’s get on with the tests before they start suspecting us of sabotaging their plan,” said Ori.

“I’ll bet you they already suspect that we’ve sabotaged their plan. Their listening devices have been quiet for too long and when they hear the ship’s engines roar and we fly away they’ll know for sure that we sabotaged their plan,” said Delche.

As I pushed the stick forward the ship took off very fast.

“I see they gave us a lot of power… that’s for sure,” I said. “I hardly touched the stick and look how fast we are moving.”

“Punch it all the way and see what this old lady can do…” said Delche.

“When we reached outer space Delche said, “In my estimation, according what the instruments say, it runs at least ten times faster…”

“It also runs smoother. I felt no vibrations at all,” added Ori.

“Shall we test the plasma guns?” I asked.

“Better now than in battle…” said Ori.

“What he said…” added Delche.

I fired the plasma cannons into outer space one by one and noticed that they weren’t only an order of magnitude more powerful but recharged instantly and I could fire them like machine guns.

“That is something… isn’t it?” I asked.

“I’m surprised they gave us that kind of power…” said Ori.

“No, they gave themselves that kind of power… In their estimation they were going to kill us and keep the ship for themselves… remember?” replied Delche.

“Let’s test the torpedo now … What shall we fire it at?” I asked.

“How about you destroy that bomb and the gadgets we left behind in the desert…” said Delche.

I turned the ship around, aimed it at the junk we’d left behind and fired.

“Direct hit…” yelled Delche.

“That wasn’t so powerful?” I said.

“It appears the new torpedoes have a time delay, they don’t explode on impact. I’m sure the explosion was just as powerful as an ordinary torpedo, if not even more powerful, but it appears it penetrated half a kilometre inside the sand before it exploded,” replied Delche.

“What now?” asked Ori.

“Now, we go into space and patrol the planet. You contact them down there and ask what they want us to do,” I replied.

The battle

“Captain, I contacted the planet and we are being asked to turn on our long range sensors…” reported Ori.

The moment I turned them on we got two blips, one ahead of us and the other to our right.

“Well Delche, what can you tell me from this?”

“I don’t know… They are too far away to tell…”

“Ori, what if we open a channel and ask them to identify themselves?”

“In what language, Captain?”

“Well, try Galaxy Trader first…”

“The one to our right responded but not the one ahead of us, Captain.”

“Try other languages.”

“Same thing… Captain.”

“What did the one to our right say?”

“It wants us to identify ourselves.”

“Tell them it’s the Dragon Fire from Ostikon,” I said.

“No response Captain.”

“Okay, okay, one at a time… Let’s deal with the one ahead of us first then we’ll come back for this one.”

“Wow, that’s some speed Captain…” said Delche as I pushed the stick forward.

“Well, we don’t fool around here, do we?”

“It’s the same ship… It’s come back… as was predicted,” said Ori looking at the big ship ahead of us.

“Brace for impact! It’s powering its cannons!” yelled Delche.

I instantly swerved and flew out of the way. It fired two plasma shots at us but missed. I immediately flew behind it and noticed its cannons rotating, trying to target us.

“Did you see that?” I asked.

“Yes I saw that, we were almost pulverized. I’ve never seen such power!” said Delche.

“Not that… I mean the rotation of its cannons… It’s so slow we can outrun it. Did you notice that both cannons are rotating in the same direction…?”

“So what!?” exclaimed Delche.

“So, we can fly around it in circles and it will never be able to hit us.”

“Until it decides to reverse one of its cannons and pulverize us.”

“Stop your philosophical arguments and fire at it…” yelled Ori.

I fired one of my plasma cannons rapid fire but the ship, like before, absorbed the energy. Then I fired a torpedo, one of the new ones, but the ship just took it like a punch in the gut without flinching. At this point I realized the seriousness of our situation, especially when the second ship came into range. It was a huge warship. I was sure it was coming to aid the ship we’d just fired on.

“It’s a warship Captain and its powering up its cannons… we’re dead!” I heard Delche yell.

I instinctively pushed the stick forward and we flew off into outer space away from both ships.

We then saw a strong flash of bright light followed by a ball of fire.

“The warship didn’t fire on us, it destroyed the other ship,” yelled Delche, sounding puzzled.

At that very moment I thought of Captain Orihci and his destroyer and then I heard his voice.

“You can stop running now… you cowards… We were told your ship was destroyed and you were all dead but I didn’t believe them. I told you I would come to rescue you.”

“Thank you Captain, we’re grateful you did,” I replied.

“Same here Captain, we couldn’t have won this one without you,” said Delche laughing out loud.

“I’ve never been happier to see you Captain, thank you, you saved our lives,” said Ori.

“C’mon back, I’ve opened a hatch for you. Let’s celebrate…” said Captain Orihci.

I flew the ship inside the destroyer, through the same hatch I’d flown it in the first time we met Captain Orihci. He was there on the platform waiting for us and holding a bottle of rakia, from the new batch I assumed. He was surrounded by super soldiers… his entire crew consisted of super soldiers. His public announcement system was on and we could hear the King congratulating us and offering to join our alliance. He specifically mentioned me and had a lot of good things to say.

After we had a drink the Captain said, “Let’s go home now,” and ordered his crew back to their stations.

I couldn’t help but smile.

THE END