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TWENTY-SEVEN




Surjan’s breath hung in the frigid air, forming clouds that dissipated into the icy expanse as he followed Yotto, the engineer, through a narrow passage carved deep within the Antarctic glacier. The walls of ice glistened with an ethereal glow, reflecting the faint light from the glowing markers placed strategically along the various passages within the glacier. The tension in the air was palpable, and Surjan couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling that had settled in his gut since they’d left the safety of Yotto’s laboratory.

Accompanied by Gollip the medical clerk, Yotto led them with purpose, his movements quick and efficient, but Surjan noticed the subtle signs of anxiety in the engineer’s posture: the slight twitch of his fingers, the way his eyes darted around as if expecting danger at every turn. Behind him, Marty and the rest of the team followed, their faces set in grim determination.

This situation set Surjan’s own anxiety to a new level considering none of them knew where they were. This place was nothing but a maze of tunnels that would probably take weeks to fully map out, and they were following a Gray who they’d only met moments earlier.

Nothing about this felt like a smart plan, but there seemed little choice in the matter. Something was going on within the alien population that none of them yet grasped.

As they emerged from the tunnel into a vast, open square, Surjan’s breath caught in his throat. The square was unlike anything he had ever seen, a massive, frozen expanse surrounded by towering walls of ice, with strange structures jutting out from the ground like the skeletal remains of some ancient civilization. And in the center, above it all, perched the spacecraft.

“I don’t understand, did we go around in a circle?” Surjan asked.

“Don’t attract attention to yourself.” Yotto made a glub-glub sound and shook his head. “No, but I took you around a more secluded way to the other side of the ship. It would have been very awkward to have Shnipara suddenly walking within our ship’s security boundaries, especially past some of my brethren who do not share my feelings of benevolence.”

Surjan nodded as he stared at the ship from a new angle. Previously they’d only gotten a glimpse of a small section, but in this larger expanse, it was obvious that the ship had made a heavy landing. Much of it was hidden deep within the glacier, but the metallic surfaces of the ship that he could see were coated in frost and gave off a presence that almost felt like the subsonic hum of an engine somewhere in the distance. More a vibration than a sound.

“Even here!” Yotto hissed and shook his head, pointing. Nearby, stairs ascended, rising in the direction of the spaceship. Four Edu with helmets and spears stood across the lowest step, obviously on guard.

Even with the new perspective on the alien spacecraft, the vessel wasn’t the thing that drew Surjan’s attention—it was the crowd below. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of Edu filled the square, their gaunt, gray faces turned toward two speakers who stood on a raised platform, locked in a heated debate. Surjan was within arm’s reach of a dozen Grays, and only the fact that they had their backs turned to him kept the anxiety from rising in his throat.

“The Herder leader is on the left, the Farmer leader is on the right,” Yotto muttered, barely audible over the murmur of the crowd.

Surjan strained to hear the words being spoken, the tone of the debate fierce and desperate.

“We are growing weaker,” the Farmer leader said, his voice filled with frustration. “Our metabolism is slowing, our ability to absorb the necessary ingredients is degrading. We are in a state of disrepair, and if we do not act soon, we will not survive beyond the next century or two.”

The Herder leader, a tall, imposing figure with eyes that seemed to pierce through the cold, responded with a calm, measured tone. “And your solution is what? More technology? Look around you, Farmer. Our devices are failing, breaking down. We can no longer rely on technology to keep us alive until the rescue comes. Indeed, we cannot rely on any imagined rescue. We know what the answer is, but only some of us are willing to face it.”

“Rescue?” Surjan’s heart skipped a beat. What answer was he talking about? He glanced at Yotto, but the engineer’s face was unreadable, his eyes fixed on the speakers with a look of barely concealed anxiety.

But other Grays had heard Surjan’s single word. Several turned to face him.

“Devils, by God,” Kareem muttered.

“Easy,” Marty said. “Everyone, easy.”

The mood in the square shifted. More Edu began to turn, their attention drawn away from the debate and toward the newcomers. Toward Surjan and the team. Toward the humans.

“Shnipara!” someone in the crowd hissed, and the word spread like wildfire. “Humans!” Shock, disbelief, and something darker—a simmering anger—rippled through the masses.

Surjan’s instincts kicked in as the crowd’s murmurs grew louder, more frantic. He could feel the tension rising, the atmosphere thickening with hostility. He caught a glimpse of Marty’s face, his eyes wide with alarm as the Edu pressed closer, their expressions ranging from awe to outright aggression.

“Yotto, should we get out of here?” Surjan asked, his voice low and urgent.

But it was too late. The crowd surged forward, and the square erupted into chaos. The factions, once focused on their debate, now turned on each other, their anger fueled by the presence of the outsiders. A near-riot broke out, and Surjan found himself caught in the middle of a violent storm.

“Let’s get out of here!” Yotto shouted, his voice barely audible over the cacophony. “We can’t let you be captured!”

Surjan didn’t need to be told twice. Yotto grabbed him by the arm as the crowd closed in around them. Marty and the others kept the Edu at bay, their weapons drawn but held back, forming a defensive wall but not stabbing. Violence would only make things worse.

Several of the alien creatures hissed at the sight of the ankhs, their eyes narrowing in fear. The word “star-metal” was muttered by some in the crowd as the team pushed forward, struggling to stay together.

Marty launched a front kick at one of the larger Grays who had tried to tackle him, sending the alien flying back into the crowd. The impact created a brief gap, giving their group a momentary reprieve.

Several allied aliens formed a wedge, and Yotto pulled Surjan forward as the team followed closely behind. Hands grabbed at them, voices shouted, and for a moment, Surjan feared they wouldn’t make it, that the crowd would overwhelm them with sheer numbers. But with a final, desperate shove from the allied Grays, they broke free from the mob, stumbling into a narrow passage that led away from the square.

Yotto and the other aliens led the way, and they didn’t stop running until they were far from the crowd, the sounds of the riot fading into the distance. Surjan leaned against the wall, his breath coming in ragged gasps as he tried to steady himself. Yotto stood beside him, visibly shaken, his eyes darting around as if expecting another attack at any moment.

“Their reaction was worse than I expected,” Yotto muttered, his voice tense. “The main body of the Edu is meeting soon. They’re going to vote on a resolution, and if it passes . . .”

“What resolution?” Surjan demanded, his voice sharp. “What are they planning?”

Yotto hesitated, his eyes flicking toward the others before settling back on Surjan. “I don’t know all the details, but it’s certain to be an unwise move. If they vote to take drastic measures to save themselves . . . it could mean war between my brethren. It could mean the end of all that we have.”

Surjan’s blood ran cold. The weight of Yotto’s words settled over him like a heavy shroud, and he knew, without a doubt, that they were standing on the edge of something catastrophic—and yet they were no closer to finding a direction for themselves.

“It seems like we need to see how this plays out,” Marty said, his voice tinged with uncertainty.

As they prepared to move, the faint sound of an announcement echoed through the icy corridors, the voice cold and emotionless, yet filled with a sense of finality.

“The main body of the Edu will convene shortly to vote on Resolution Forty-Two.”

Yotto made a burping sound and grimaced. “Resolution Forty-Two . . . it’s worse than I thought.”

“What does that mean?” Surjan looked at the engineer.

Yotto shook his head and led them deeper into the glacier.

As Surjan and the team followed the lithe alien, he couldn’t help but feel a growing sense of dread.

He had no idea what the resolution would be about, but somehow Surjan felt it wouldn’t be good for their mission.


The metallic walls of the alien ship hummed softly, a low, almost imperceptible vibration that seemed to permeate everything. The team huddled in Yotto’s lab, the faint blue glow of the control panels casting eerie shadows across their faces.

“I’ve requested some of the old records from the early days.” Yotto said as he sat at a workstation. “They should come soon from the archives.”

The team’s tension was palpable, the air thick with unspoken fears.

Surjan stood by the door, keeping watch while the others caught their breath. François paced the small room, his footsteps echoing off the cold metal floor.

Marty leaned against a console, his eyes distant. Lowanna sat cross-legged on the floor, rolling a pebble back and forth across her knuckles. Kareem ran his fingers along the sharpened edge of his ankh, his thoughts buried deeply inside the teen’s somber expression.

Yotto, the engineer, was seated at the central console, his fingers tapping at the controls.

François stopped his pacing and turned to Yotto, his eyes narrowing with suspicion. “Yotto, the way the Herder faction reacted to us . . . it was like they hated us on sight. Why?”

Yotto shrugged, a very humanlike expression. “Some just hate, they don’t need a reason to.”

“What happened to the humans who were originally placed here with the Edu?” Surjan asked.

Yotto’s hands stilled, the soft tapping ceasing as he looked up, his expression shifting from distraction to something much darker. He hesitated, his eyes flicking to each member of the team before settling back on Surjan. “There has always been . . . tension among the Edu,” Yotto began slowly, choosing his words with care. “From the beginning, there were those who did not take kindly to the mixing of one species with another. The idea of integrating with humans was met with resistance.”

François crossed his arms, his gaze hardening. “And those who resisted . . . they became the Herder faction, didn’t they?”

“We had no such names then for ourselves, we were one people. But yes, over time such dichotomies developed.” Yotto confirmed, his expression somber. “Over time, the differences in ideology grew into a deep-seated animosity. The Herders believed in purity, in keeping the Edu separate from all other species. They saw humans as a threat, as invaders who would corrupt their way of life.”

“Wait a minute,” Lowanna chimed in, her brows furrowed. “Are you speaking about this from memory, or from something you’ve read? How long have you been here? Personally, I mean.”

Yotto’s thin lips moved silently for a bit, looking a bit confused by the question. “How long? I’ve been here since our arrival. These are things that I witnessed.”

“How old are you?” Lowanna asked.

“I don’t know what you mean,” Yotto said, his eyelids rapidly sweeping across his eyes from the sides, like a pair of sliding doors. “I was first conceived in another place. I traveled here and have been here since. Age really only means something when you’re expected to expire—and that’s not the natural way of the Edu.”

“Immortal . . .” Gunther whispered, his eyes wide with a surprised expression.

François took a step closer, his voice lowering but growing more intense. “But what happened to the humans, Yotto? What did the Herders do to them?”

Yotto’s face fell and his mouth became a barely visible slit against his gray skin. He looked away, unable to meet François’s eyes as he spoke. “There were once many humans here, living alongside the Edu. They were part of the initial experiment, to see if our species could coexist, could help each other survive in this harsh environment.”

François’s patience was wearing thin, his voice now a harsh whisper. “And?”

Yotto swallowed hard, his hands gripping the edge of the console as if for support. “One day . . . the Herders took matters into their own hands. They saw the humans as a contaminant, something that needed to be purged. They . . . they wiped them all out, before the others could stop them. It was a massacre.”

A heavy silence fell over the room, the gravity of Yotto’s words sinking in like a lead weight. The team exchanged shocked, horrified glances, the realization of the danger they were in becoming all too clear.

“As you know, the Edu now associate with humans in trade to gather the key ingredients we need to consume, and in some cases to attempt to help maintain our equipment.”

François’s jaw clenched, anger flashing in his eyes. “And the others? The ones who didn’t agree with the Herders? What did they do?”

Yotto looked back at him, guilt and regret etched into his features. “By the time they realized what had happened, it was too late. The Herder faction was too powerful, too entrenched. Once killed, humans are not resilient enough to recover. You are fragile. We could only mourn the loss and try to prevent further bloodshed. But the damage was done. It was a stupid thing to do, because they knew the issues we were going to run into. Some of the equipment had even begun to fail upon arrival. Nonetheless, the rift between the factions deepened, and the Herders maintained their xenophobic beliefs.”

François felt a cold fury building inside him. “So, now they see us, and they see some kind of threat, the same ‘contaminant’ they eradicated before.”

Yotto nodded slowly, his voice barely above a whisper. “Yes. It’s why we keep humans separate from the main population of Edu. That’s why they reacted the way they did. You don’t have the smell of humans on you, or at least maybe the star-metal is masking it, but you certainly look like them—and that’s enough. To them, you are a reminder of the past, of what they believe must be kept out at all costs. It’s a ridiculous notion, but not one I have the ability to cure.”

Surjan finally spoke up, his voice steady but laced with concern. “If they’ve done it before, there’s nothing stopping them from trying to do it again.”

Marty, who had been silent until now, pushed away from the console, his face grim. “We need to get out of here, find a portal to get our asses home before it escalates.”

Yotto nodded. “I told you, I have associates seeking the old records. Maybe there is something there. I might be the engineer, but this is an interstellar carrier capable of carrying more than ten thousand of us. It’s larger than any one person can maintain, and I’m the last of the original trained engineers from my home planet.”

A gonglike sound echoed through the room from some hidden speaker.

Yotto looked up, light reflecting off his obsidian eyes. “The meeting is soon. If the resolution passes—”

“What is the resolution about, exactly?”

“It’s about the trading output,” Yotto said as he got up from the workstation. “My faction believes in the free trade of goods for services and believe the mutual benefit is best. The Herders want to change those ways.”

“In what way?”

Again a shrug. “Herders refuse to explain how they would propose changing things, they just want the go-ahead to make changes to prove their way would be better.”

“What?” Marty guffawed and shook his head. “How can you decide on something when you don’t even know the details of your options?”

“We see it that same way you do.” Yotto nodded. “It’s frustrating to us as well and most any sensible Edu, but that’s where we’re at at the moment.” Yotto motioned for them to follow as he led them from the ship.

Surjan frowned. He was never one to pay attention to politics of any kind, whether Indian, British, or military, yet it seemed like even alien politics made utterly no sense. The only thing that seemed clear was one side was trying for a power grab, and it would be his natural inclination to not want that to happen.

What would the aliens decide and how would it affect their ability to get the hell out of this place and time?



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