Tag: Pegasus

Pegasus Part 70

Finally, after what seemed like an age, a ladder appeared in the distance. The pace of their crawling suddenly picked up in anticipation of reaching their destination. Sure enough, there was a hatch above them. Tabitha tried to open it but it was locked.

Tabitha banged it with her hand. No response.

She looked back with a frown.

Then she banged again more vigorously.

There was a clinking noise and the sound of noises. Then the hatch door opened and a foul smell entered the tunnel.

A voice came from above. There was a sense of fear and dread.

“Come quickly. Come on.”

It was a pale white freckled woman with red hair. When I clamored out of the hatch I was met with a scene of devastation. The charred remains of purple people were strewn across the floor of a spaceship hanger. The lighting was flickering on and off. Tabitha was staring blankly at me.

The red-haired woman was in a frenzy now.

“Come, come. We need to get off this station!” she implored.

We followed her out of instinct. She was now the only one with a plan.

She talked as she ran.

“Uncle Robbie, he told me there was a ship here that I could take. They’ll be back. We need to get outta here.”

Pegasus (Part 67)

Tabitha knocked on the door. There was no response. She looked back at me with a frown.

“Try again,” I tell her.

She knocked more loudly this time.

She could hear something coming from behind the door.

Then the door opened slightly.

Tabitha spoke.

“I wonder what kind of day it is on Earth? Must be thirty degrees.”

Instinctively, I knew she was telling them a password, but with plausible deniability.

The door opened revealing a red skinned man in tattered clothes. He looked old with wrinkes covering his forehead.

“Come on in brothers. There is nothin’ to be scared of. Dis is a safe zone. My name is Zen”

So in we went through a narrow hallway to a small room, with a circular table at its centre.

Two other red skinned people in suits were there but quickly left through a rear door on our entry.

“What can I do for you guys? I wasn’t expecting yous,” Zen said politely.

Tabitha took the lead.

“We need your help. We are on a classified mission for the resistance. Things have gone slightly awry. We need to make it to Xena5.”

“Xena5, are you sure?” His eyes aghast.

“We are,” I replied steadfastly.

Then we heard a sound going off. It was a siren coming from outside.

“What is that?” Tabitha asked.

Pegasus (Part 66)

There were people of all various shapes, sizes, and colours. It was my first time to ever see purple people and angloids. Angloids were taller and had larger brains than normal people. I had read that humanity was diversifying and may in the future even evolve into different species. Many of the space habitats were now operating at below standard earth gravity. Their inhabitants were evolving to become longer as a result. It was suspected that the greater complexity of life in space habitats was also causing humans to evolve bigger brains in places.

I thought it was utterly ridiculous when I read it. The thought that humans could still be going under biological evolution at our high technological level seemed ridiculous but now I wasn’t too sure.

Tabitha was far less fascinated by our surroundings. She held my hand as we drove through the bustling crowds.

“Nearly there,” she said looking back at me.

We turned left, then right through what seemed like a maze of small streets. Each becomes narrower and quieter.

“This is it!” she exclaimed as she pointed at a terraced house in front of us.

It was the first time that I’d seen her smile in some time.

The street had three-story red brick terraced housing on both sides. The one she pointed at looked like all the rest.

Pegasus (Part 65)

Yves was unlike anything I had ever seen before. A large rotating city made up of many different cylindrical levels. It was home to an estimated twenty million people and was a central trading hub in low Earth orbit. We had docked into the central and main thoroughfare.

A mass of people were walking up and down the narrow, paved street that was enclosed by uniform five-story red brick buildings with ornate windows. The clanging of so many feet and people chattering led to a great cacophony of sound that was almost painful to my senses. There was a smell of fish emanating from some of the restaurants that were at street level. Overhead, to their right, was the polluted, exploited planet Earth with hues of blue, white, amber, and black. Still, I couldn’t but stare at it in wonder. After all, that is where everything started, a relic of the past.

We were safe there. Yves treasured its independence which it saw as vital to its economy and the Emperor had decided that it was more valuable functioning, rather than obliterated.

Tabitha tugged at his shirt.

“You have surely seen Earth before?” she said incredulously;

“Of course, but not so close up. I guess you want my head back on mission.”

“Right,” she replied, “come on.”

With that, we joined the great morass of people

Pegasus (Part 64)

I decided to speak first. The language remained in English so that all could understand.

“Congratulations. I believe you have made a fine choice of leader. But I recommend that you hold him to account with elections every certain number of years. Democratic systems have proven superior over the years.

You should also think about having a constitution and a set of laws that you all agree with. That way, you can be clear with one another about what is and what is not allowed.

We have checked Barabus’ accounts. The ship is generating enough economic to sustain everybody and much more on board. If you all work together and care for one another, great good can still come out of this.

We, however, must leave you. We are on an important mission that we must complete at all costs. But we do have some time to show your new leader how things are to be managed. We have examined your flight path. Your next stop is the metropolis of Yves and that is where we will leave you.”

I stopped talking but felt that something was missing.

Then Tabitha spoke.

“But we’ll never forget you. And we’ll be back. It might be a long time, but we will.”

Pegasus (Part 63)

Gradually they came around. Some wanted more drink, but we had bolted it away. It was time to decide what to do next so we went back out to the large meeting hall.

I decided it was my time to speak. For a few moments, I could feel myself grow hot but I persisted.

“Your time with Barabos is over. We saw how you were treated. It was wrong. But you can now become the master of your destiny.”

A voice spoke from behind the crowd, you could sense the fear in the crackling voice. It was from one of the younger ones.

“Will you stay with us?”

I continued.

“No, I’m afraid we can’t. Tabitha’s people need our help and there is something that we must do. But I’m sure that you can manage on your own. The first thing you should do is write up the rules you will live by and select a leader.”

I took Tabitha’s hand and we left them for some time. We had to decide what our next move was too.

The mood was more upbeat on our return. We asked had they selected a leader and it proved to be a familiar face – Padraig.

Pegasus (Part 62)

We could see on the monitors that some of the kids were already pouring into the room.

“We have to tell them.”

Damn, I knew she was going to say that.

I nodded in agreement and replied, “Yes, I guess so.”

We opened and walked in. Their eyes and some of their mouths were wide open in astonishment. Tabitha did the talking.

“Barabus is gone. You are now free.”

There was a stony silence and some of the children looked at each other for guidance.

“And there is lots of food,” I interjected.

Somehow, I knew that would make a difference. And it did.

Suddenly there was a smile here and there.

Tabitha looked at me, her face looked all contorted. Oh yeah, I’d forgotten about the blood and the dead body.

“Just give us a few minutes to get it sorted,” I continued.

Fortunately, they appeared to believe us. We hastily put the body in a side room and washed the blood from the floor and furniture before calling them in.

Their eyes were aghast at the opulence that they saw and the fine food to be eaten. Telling them to partake in the wine was a mistake though. Little over an hour later the room was full of sleeping bodies and vomit.

Pegasus (Part 61)

It was a majestic feast. Eventually, I felt fully satiated. I looked over knowingly at Tabitha who was slouched back on her chair with her arms wrapped around her stomach.

“That was good, wasn’t it,” I said sheepishly.

She smiled.

“Yes it was, I’m stuffed.”

For a few minutes, we rested.

“So, what next?” I asked.

“We have to do something for those kids,” she replied shaking her head from side to side.

“Come, we’ll see what other treasures we can find.”

And there were. The next room was the surveillance center where Barabus would have ensured that his little minions were constantly at work. There were screens all over each of its walls showing black and white video images.

They were struggling to lift weights and other tasks that were too difficult for them.

There was a large red circular button in the center of one of the walls. We both looked at each other. Then I pressed it. It set off a familiar siren. It was the calling siren that Barabus had used to summon his workers. It was time to update them about recent developments but I was unsure what way they would take it. Would we be heroes or murderers?

Pegasus (Part 60)

We nodded at each other and attacked. I went high grabbing him in a headlock but Tabitha got blocked by chairs. I held on as tightly as I could hoping to choke him out. However, it backfired badly when my feet left the ground and I was thrown across the table.

Then I heard a large smack as he punched Tabitha hard propelling her backwards, I felt a surge of adrenaline flow through my veins. I picked myself up off the floor and punched left, then right. For a brief moment I thought that I was getting on top till a massive blow in the stomach put me back on my knees. Then immense pain as he slammed my head on the table.

Then I heard the sound of gunfire and a large thud as Barabus hit the floor. I looked up to see a bloodied Tibitha standing over him as he gasped, then fell silent.

“I had to do it. He would have killed you,” she said silently.

My head was throbbing.

“Yes you did and thanks,” I slowly responded.

She hugged me tightly.

The room was full of full of fruit and meat, more than I had seen for a very long time. I found myself shoving as much as I could into my mouth. Tabitha did likewise.

Pegasus (Part 59)

I told the two boys to go back to their jobs. That myself and Tabitha would look after Barabus. Tears were rolling down their eyes.

Tabitha instinctively seemed to know what to do.

She got on her knees, rubbed the sides of their faces, and said, “Don’t worry. We are going to sort out this bad man. Now go to your quarters and everything will be fine.”

With that, they left. Myself and Tabitha went to the top of the room. Barabus had exited through a heavy grey hatch. It took both of them with all their strength to twist it open. Tabitha was the first to view what lay behind.

Her eyes bulged open, her mouth ajar.

“What is it?” I asked.

But then I could see for myself.

The floor was covered in an exquisite carpet with murals of God-like creatures on the side walls. Anxiously, they stepped forward into the unknown. One corridor led to another, all immaculate. Then there were the rooms. Each was filled to the brim with gold and other rare metal artifacts.

Then, there was a strong scent of meat just as we heard a slobbering sound in the distance. It was him.

Each step was done silently.

Then he was in the room adjacent.