Yves Giraud - Kahnu

“ Welcome, Dedrick! ” said Jorh. “ We want to show you something .”

Jorh raised his arm and pointed at the sphere. The round object started spinning and glowing. Drastically changing colors from white to yellow to green to blue, the object eventually morphed into a familiar shape.

“Earth!” said Dedrick out loud.

“ Yes! This is your world. We call it Kahjuna. ” Jorh approached the sphere with his hand, almost touching it, and pointed at the African continent.

“ Many millions of your Earth’s years ago, one of our sister vessels also escaped the destruction of our world and traveled to your planet, Earth. We believe Silargh’s ship and his passengers landed somewhere on this side of your home world. We never heard from them again and presumed they had either crashed or become stranded. The events that took place, here on Kesra, prevented us from going to their rescue, as you know. But if there is a chance the ship made it there, and they were able to retrieve the white light, we may be able to get to it. We could definitely use some of the ship’s systems as well. If anything, we may be able to retrieve the Zarfha engine.”

“Earth! You can go to Earth? With this ship? Wait, does that mean you can take us with you?” Dedrick’s excitement was obvious.

“Y es, Dedrick. We plan to take you back with us to your world. We cannot leave you here, anyway. The three of us have no reason to stay on Kesra any longer. Some questions need answers. We wish to go to Earth and wish you all to come with us, ” replied Jorh. In truthfulness, Jorh knew as well as Dedrick, that the humans were now totally dependent on the alien’s ship and bound to go wherever the vessel went.

“That’s fantastic! I had no idea this vessel was still able to fly. This is the best news I’ve heard since the…” an uneasy feeling suddenly came over Dedrick. The excitement of the moment had almost made him forget the sad reality of Earth’s state. He started thinking about the chemical war that had ravaged Earth years ago. They had absolutely no idea of the extent of the devastation.

“We know. We have followed you for many years. Unfortunately, we cannot tell from here how bad your planet has suffered, we do not have that capability. But some of your people may have survived. More importantly, it may be your best chance for a new home. We know this ship is not ideal for your kind.”

Mahhzee looked at the Russian. “Don’t you want to find out what happened to your world?”

“Of course, I do! But I must tell you, humans are not always the friendliest. They usually fear the unknown, and I don’t know how well they will receive you. They’ve never met aliens before, you know?”

“You can talk for us ,” offered Mahhzee.

Looking up at her big blinking eyes, he realized how ridiculous his concern was. He could hardly contain his excitement.

“How soon are you leaving? I need to tell the others.”

“We are ready to leave when you are, Dedrick. Go tell your people, ” replied Jorh.

Blinking a few times, unconsciously, Dedrick smiled and thanked the aliens before heading back for the purple corridor. Floating away, he soon disappeared down the hall, overwhelmed by the news, and a few minutes later, Vera was awakened by his voice.

“Vera. Vera… Wake up. I just talked to the Kahnus. They are taking us back to Earth.”

“Hun… What? Did you say Earth?” she jumped up in her bed, and stared at him for a few seconds, rubbing her sleepy eyes.

“What are you saying?”

He could see the emotion building up in her.

“We’re going back to Earth.”

“What?! Really? Are you sure? But how?” she was almost tearing up from the joy and excitement.

“Their ship. They said they can take us back. All of us.”

She turned her head in the direction of Chasma’s bed. The young girl was still sleeping peacefully. Smiling, crying, and laughing all at the same time, Vera brought a hand to her mouth.

“Our baby girl is going to see Earth.”

“I know,” he replied almost as emotional.

François and Tendai were sitting in one of the rooms they had requisitioned. It had been turned into the colonists’ main supply storage area. Lifting a long green box containing plants, Tendai looked troubled. He put his load down and sat next to it.

“So, you really think this is a good idea? I mean, I’m excited to go back to Earth and all, but I’m not thrilled about losing the greenhouse. Everything we’ve worked for these last fifteen years, gone, just like that.”

“I understand, but there’s not much we can do. We’ll take everything we can with us. This ship is substantially faster than ours. We should be there in a couple of weeks,” replied François.

“Don’t you forget something? What about that chemical war in 2034? Remember? Better hope we can still find food on Earth,” said Tendai, looking unconvinced.

“Come on, don’t be so pessimistic.”

Sabrina entered and gracefully landed on her feet, as if she had done so all her life. “I know this amazing restaurant in Sanarate; the food is out of this world! And I can’t wait to have a cold Margarita!”

Tendai just walked passed her unimpressed and left the room.

“What’s up with him?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I think it’s that time of the month.”

“That’s not funny, François.”

“I know. I’m sorry. Come here,” he said smiling at her.

She approached and stood right in front of him. He was sitting on a tall stool. He extended his legs on each side of her and grabbed her waist in his hand to pull her closer. Slowly bringing her chest to him, he kissed her cleavage.

“We’re going to Earth, baby.”

“I know. I can’t believe it.” She kissed his forehead.

Then, grabbing his head with both hands, she kissed his mouth passionately. He grabbed her thighs and pulled her on him. Sitting on his lap, facing him, she felt his hands open her suit and rush down her bare back. The sensation sent a wave of goose bumps all over her body.

“François. What are you doing? Not in here.”

“Why not? It’s our last night on Mars. Let’s make it a special one.”

The group, gliding effortlessly through the corridors, was following Jorh and Mahhzee. As they approached the door at the end of the passage, the entrance slowly dematerialized, and they all entered the main cockpit of the vessel. The glossy black wall facing them was even larger than François remembered. In the center of the room, the Zarfha sphere was hovering just above its platform. Landing on his feet, Dedrick could see everyone’s image on the glossy wall acting like a mirror. One by one, they came down silently and stood next to him. Mahhzee approached one of the large seats and sat. Raising her arm, she executed a few hand waves, and the Zarfha’s rotation began to change direction and speed.

“ Please, you can sit down if you wish ,” Jorh told them, pointing at the chairs. They all did. Within seconds, the black wall in front of them morphed, until it became completely transparent. The dark cave outside the ship appeared, brightened and enhanced by the clear window. The large window, almost as tall as the aliens, took most of the wall in front of them. Several strange markings were flickering on its outer edges. François assumed they were readings of the outside surroundings, or navigational information of some kind.

“ You must have an amazing view of space when you travel. ” commented François.

“ We do. All of our ships do. But they are times when it’s preferable not to. If traveling to Alhis, the sun. In that case, we can lower the light sensibility of the opening, or close it . We can also view in any direction around the ship ,” replied Jorh.