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I hadn’t seen or heard anyone else in the water. Even now, I frantically searched the open sea looking for any other sign of survivors, but there were only us three. Anyone that had survived the initial event that sent us crashing here, was nowhere to be found.
I sent up a little prayer, thanking whatever force was out there looking out for us. The odds that Esther and I would have ended up walking—er,swimming—out of that crash were nearly impossible.
We did not walk away unscathed though. Now that I could calm my body physically, I was beginning to notice all the aches and pains from the multiple injuries I had sustained.
There was a knot on the back of my head that was throbbing and seemed to keep getting worse. Then there were the scrapes and cuts all along my forearms. My ankle felt twisted, with an almost burning sensation on the side of it, and the fingers of my left hand ached in a way that reminded me of when I stubbed my toe. It could have been so much worse though. None of these injuries were life-threatening.
I glanced over for Esther, finding her curled up on her enormous metal raft structure, tending to Albert. He had an open wound on the underside of his chin but otherwise, they both seemed in decent shape as well for the hell we had just been through.
Beyond them was the ship, the black smoke drifting from it drew my attention once more, and I got lost staring at it, lost in very dark thoughts. It had been enormous when we boarded. Easily able to carry a crew of dozens. Small for some of the other crafts that typically left Earth for various reasons. The company had great reviews though, and so I hadn’t thought about its smaller size. In person, it was still massive to me. Thinking back to the event that had trapped us here, I was thankful that this ship had been built so solidly to withstand an incident no one had been prepared for.
I still wasn’t sure what exactly had occurred, but I knew an abrupt detour to an alien planet hadnotbeen on the brochure.
Off in the distance, something silver in color caught the sunlight. I tilted my head, studying it. At first, it seemed small but in just a matter of a few seconds, it nearly doubled in size. And kept doubling.
So quickly it grew larger, that I realized it was moving.
“Hey!” I shouted to Esther, stopping her ill-timed flirting. “Look at that!”
Esther and Albert both turned, looking off into the distance and then Esther jumped up to her feet, wobbling, but still able to stand. “HOT DOG!” She shouted in glee. “It’s a ship!”
Chapter4
LAYLA
It was a ship, one that actually floated and not flew…
But it was unlike any other ship I’d ever seen. It was massive, bigger than the spaceship we crashed into this ocean on, bigger than anything in the ocean back home.
It reminded me of a cruise ship by its shape, but with a nose that was dangerously pointed in a way that it could cut through anything in its path, and it sat several stories above the surface of the water. As it glided closer to where we were stranded, a note of unease moved through me. Whatever was steering that monstrosity was not human. We were not on Earth, and we needed to be careful here. I wasn’t even sure I had the mental capacity to accept that we were about to be confronted by a truly alien species, let alone that we would rely on them to save us…
The ship seemed to slow before us until it stopped completely a few yards away.It was comical how insignificant and small I felt in the face of such a gargantuan ship. I couldn’t see any signs of life, the deck of the ship was curved in a way that it shielded whoever was up there from where I was sprawled out on a tiny scrap of metal, but I was starting to make out the sound of voices.
“We’re saved!” Esther cried excitedly, jumping up and down. Albert watched her warily, his palms flat on the metal as if he could single-handedly keep them both from tipping over. After saving my sorry ass, I was beginning to believe he actually could keep that makeshift metal boat stable if necessary. As opposed to me, where I nearly tipped myself over with every breath I took. I couldn’t think about how small my raft was or I’d start to freak out about what was waiting for me below. The fact that this scrap of metal was actually floating rather than sinking was miracle enough. I stayed very still, apprehension now causing a minor stress headache.
On the one hand, I was grateful to see an actual ship that could possibly bring us on board and save us(me) from drowning or becoming the meal of some alien sea creature but on the other hand…
I didn’t know who orwhatwas up there, and if they were to become a friend or a danger.
When a pod of some sort began to lower down from the upper deck, my breaths became more erratic and every muscle along my spine tensed with trepidation.
I frantically looked around, trying to findsomething.But, of course, there wasnothing. The would be no miraculous human-manned rescue underway. We were all alone. I didn’t even have a weapon to defend myself. I tried to catch Esther’s attention, but she was too wrapped up in her excitement to notice my concern or even Albert’s.
At least the old man had found a weapon-ish. He was holding onto a metal handle that looked like he’d pried from a door. Drifting off the side of the curved metal they were huddled on was the metal door it had come from. I glanced down again, trying to find something similar, but my scrap of metal wasn’t a wall or door or anything, in fact, my hand was covering a plastic light dome that I remembered seeing on the ceiling of the craft. I was floating on a panel from that ceiling.
I dug my fingers into the light, but it was pretty locked in there and quickly gave up when I heard the pod splash into the water.
Feeling helplesssucks. I couldn’t do anything but watch that strange pod close in on us. It was featureless, just a rounded oval shape made of shiny metal. It has a propeller of some sort on the back of it and two wings that stuck out at the sides just under the surface of the water. The front of it was pointed similarly to the big ship, cutting through the water like a hot knife to butter. I curled up on my knees, tipping the metal dangerously, but it was instinctive to try and protect myself. To my relief though, the pod passed right on by Esther and Albert and then even me, continuing on to the wrecked spacecraft. I blew out a gust of air and fell flat on my belly, hugging the metal with immense relief. I was confused. Something inside of me was telling me to be wary of whoever was inside of that pod and up on that ship. But at the same time, logically I knew that if they didn’t help, that would be it for us. We would die stranded here.
Esther clearly was not experiencing anything close to the same conflicting thoughts as me as she began hopping up and down and waving her hands in the air all the while screeching, “HELP!”
Albert’s face paled as he single-handedly braced both of their weight and counterbalanced her hysteria so they did not tip over. He also didn’t stop her though. Maybe I was the only one feeling any kind of anxiety over the sudden arrival of the aliens.
Throughout my short time here on this planet, I’d already noticed the lack of land within sight. I’d also noticed that there was life, clearly represented by the creature lurking below us. And also the giant ship looming above me. I’d also noticed how violent the sea could be without a storm brewing. The bobbing up and down made for a very upset stomach, and I was soaked to the bone because it was impossible to stay dry. Salt invaded every single uncomfortable place on my person and my skin felt abused from the texture of the rainbow glittery salt combined with the beating sunshine. So, when the pod door opened and out climbed an alien, I could not tell you why that shocked me.
I should have been expecting it. I thought Ihad beenexpecting it.
But nothing could have prepared me for what climbed out of that pod.
