Pulling myself off of the bed, I swept my eyes around my room and quickly reasoned that nothing I owned would be of any particular use to me that morning. Wasting no time, I crossed to the door and entered the hallway, turned and then headed towards the front door. Opening the door, I hesitated for a moment, wondering whether I should inform my parents that I was leaving or not. I decided against it, not wanting to trouble them again after the emotional response I gleaned last night.
With that I slipped silently through the doorway, carefully shutting the door behind me before setting off at a run towards town
It was not quite dawn yet, but it was not far off, as evidenced by the rapidly lightening sky.
I hoped that the humans wouldn't detonate the bomb early, as that would be disastrous and end everything before we even got a chance to fight. Well, that's true of any bomb but in this case it would be worse because of the waiting Weraynians. I shuddered involuntarily, and quickly pushed the thoughts away. There would be time to worry about that evil race later on.
I arrived at the centre of town in record time, and discovered the Council building empty, along with the surrounding buildings. I quickly turned around and took the road that led to the field, going fast and catching up with them not far from the force field boundary.
Quite a lot of the town was travelling in quick procession towards it. The leaders were at the head of the crowd, and each Paladanian seemed to be holding a shield. There weren't many Halapatovians there, and looking around at each of them told me that none of their people were carrying any kind of visible defensive object. Knowing of their powers though, I assumed they could summon up their own sort of shield at will.
I weaved expertly through the crowd, and quickly found Ray.
"Oh, hello Abigail." He greeted tiredly, and handed me a shield of my own. "We thought you'd turn up."
"I wouldn't miss it for the world." I responded grimly, getting a hold on my new shield and staring forward as I moved with the crowd.
shield and staring forward as I moved with the crowd. Suddenly the entire body of people stopped as one. Craning my neck as the throng panned out, I realised we had reached the force field. Behind the shimmering barrier could be seen large machines, all wired together to create the dreaded bomb, as well as the humans who had been preparing to detonate it. Each human there had a look of utter surprise on their face, coupled with fear. Clearly they had not been expecting this.
I saw the Halapatovian leaders at the front raise their hands to face the force field, and with a sudden, loud, electrical snap, the force field dissolved before them.
It was too much for the watching humans. Half of them turned and fled, yelling for a retreat, as the other half stood defiant yet uncertain still in our way.
The front row of the crowd took a jolting step forward, and I could see panic closing in on the faces of the remaining humans. They were outnumbered, they knew that much, and so they were drawing on the one advantage they had left; their technology. Though our general standards of technology were good, theirs were outstanding. Their weapons and machinery surpassed anything that we Paladanians used, and was almost as advanced as what the Weraynians had.
So we watched as one of the humans pulled out a communicator and barked into it before running away, and the rest of them pulled out their guns.
Bolts of energy flew straight at us, but we had those shields for a reason. The shields were all turned on, giving off their own hums of energy. Each shot was deflected easily. The humans stared in disbelief, and that was when we began to advance again.
The humans stared hesitantly at each other as we continued to move forward, still deflecting everything they fired at us. With each step we grew closer, and so they drew back. Once the entire crowd had passed where the force field boundary used to be, one of the Halapatovians at the back aimed their hand at the huge bomb that still sat there. A vital wire exploded in sparks, and we all knew the device was disabled. Thank goodness for that.
I could feel the heightened emotions of all the people around me. The leaders had been working all night long, rounding volunteers up and spreading the news about the Weraynians. So everyone knew what was at stake, we all understood the importance of this encounter. Although outwardly the Paladanians in the crowd seemed brave and determined, I could sense the nervous energy each person was emanating.
Like I said, we all knew what this meant. If the negotiations went wrong, the entire Staarus System would be at risk; and we would have next to no hope of defeating our enemies.
The humans kept firing their guns, and we kept blocking each shot. By now the spaceship could be seen looming in the distance. We would be halfway there in five minutes. I figured we must have looked really menacing, the way we stormed towards the human's base.
Staring at the ship from my viewpoint made it hard not to miss the mass that suddenly seemed to pour out of the spaceship. Adjusting my eyes to make it out in the dim light, I saw that it was a crowd of people; the human force coming out to meet us. But among the human beings were huge, lumbering shapes that didn't register. It was only when I heard the gasps and shouts of the Paladanians at the head of the crowd that I understood.
"They have tanks!" cried one hysterical person.
The shapes immediately began to have meaning in my mind; the whirring, rounded shapes becoming wheels, the large body becoming the armoured middle structure, and the cylinders mounted on top of the vehicles suddenly looked like the powerful energy cannons they really were. This was completely unexpected! I hadn't seen these devastating machines among the other weapons in that room on the ship, and Sophie had shown me the schematics of the ship; there was no place they could have been stored. I supposed they were hidden, in case of spies. It made sense and it was smart, for human standards. We'd had no idea of what we were up against even then.
It seemed to occur to everyone at the same time; our handheld shields would be no match for that terrifying weaponry. Ray sprinted from my side to the leaders near the front of the crowd, and I watched as he talked animatedly to Reeina. She nodded quickly and called over to the Halapatovians, who adopted looks of determination, straightening their shoulders and flexing their fingers. Though it might have seemed weird to anyone else, I knew that the Halapatovians were preparing to use their powers against the oncoming tanks, hopefully without harming any humans.
Tension continued to build as we drew closer to the human army, and I could feel adrenaline rushing through my veins. Suddenly the sun cleared the horizon and the field was bathed in light. Leaves on the crowns of trees glinted in the sudden rays, which, it seemed to me, added an almost reassuring feeling to our advance; we had light now, and light was hope.
We kept going, further and further, picking up the pace as the humans did the same. Searching the opposing crowd, I discovered through quick calculations that almost every single human from the ship was there. Also, Sophie was nowhere in sight. I assumed she was obscured by the mass of people approaching; she wouldn't miss an event as integral as this one.
The tanks were at the front of the crowd, six of them all up.
And with barely ten metres between our crowd and the human one, everybody stopped. It was as if there was an invisible line between us that neither side dared to cross.
Then Criken stepped forward, palms outstretched to the humans.
"We come in peace," he began, addressing the silently hostile human beings stood before us. "in order to propose negotiations over the distressing matters that have caused these recent events to unfold and perhaps convince you of our innocence. We mean you no harm. We wish for nothing but friendship between our peoples. I am a Paladanian; my name is Criken and I stand here now as a representative of my people." I watched in admiration as he seemed to make eye contact with every single human before him. "What say you?"
There was some murmured arguments, pushing and shoving until one of the men, who I'd seen enter the dining hall the night before, took a few defiant steps, his cold gaze clearly locked with Criken's. He was making sure that no one had any doubt that he was completely unforgiving of our people's so-called 'crimes'.
"My name is Brock." He spat, expression set in determination. "I represent the human race, and we say that we do not accept your offer of false friendship. After all the cruel, vile things your race has done, you have no right to ask us even that small courtesy."
Criken's back was to me, but I clearly saw him tense up at Brock's words; and his open hostility.
Hesitantly yet also sternly, Criken spoke again. "I know quite well what you have been informed of us by a race that has no credibility in this system. Despite what they have told you, it was by their own doing that they ended up imprisoned; they enacted terrible crimes upon our people and others, and now they seek revenge for the justice we imposed on them." His voice rose in anger as he spoke about the Weraynians. "They are using you to ignite the flames of war again, for their own evil purposes. Our sources tell us that you are good people, adamantly against acts of immorality, so I beg of you, please let us end this mistrust between our peoples so that we can work together to stop them!"
It was a rousing speech, and in other circumstances would have made everyone turn to our side, but sadly it only roused fury in the humans.
"Sources!" one obscured young man called in outrage from far back in the crowd. "Which sources would these be then? The people, our people, who you have enslaved in your dungeons?"
This caused a huge shouting match, similar to the debate on the spaceship the night before. Criken, along with the other leaders, tried to calm the humans down but they would not be silenced. I quickly discovered as I looked through them that only half of the crowd was rioting; the other humans were quiet, thoughtful. They were pondering Criken's words, and I immediately knew that they were the ones Sophie and Jon had managed to convince of my people's innocence in this affair.
I turned my head from side to side as I watched the verbal sparring between my people and Sophie's. The humans were brandishing their guns threateningly, and I knew it wouldn't take much for them to start firing again.
I made a decision when one human, a short blond woman, yelled, "Just tell us who your sources are!"
Propelling myself through the crowd, I flung my arm up into the air, immediately drawing attention to myself.
"IT WAS ME!" I shouted wildly. "I'm the source; I told them!"
There was a sudden lull, and with all eyes on me, I sprinted across the invisible line between races and jumped on top of the hull of a tank at the fore front of the human force.
I heard gasps as countless humans took me in, multiple of them recognised me and felt betrayed, invaded. I found that ironic, since technically it was the other way round, but still I understood where they were coming from.
The woman who'd talked before placed her hand over her mouth in shock.
I nodded at her, trying to show encouragement. "Yeah, I know, I'm sorry. But we were scared, okay, and we wanted to know why you were here. So I infiltrated your ship, and that's how we know about the Weraynians."
My words hung in the air for a couple of seconds, and then Brock stepped forward, eyes wide. He'd been one of the workmen who'd entered the dining hall of the spaceship and caused the ruckus over the bomb, and by the look on his face I could tell that he remembered me, albeit vaguely.
"Bu-but you're just a little girl!" he exclaimed in shock. "How could you - why would - how did you get through?"
"Oh, that was because of me!" A voice sounded from behind him. Humans, Paladanians and Halapatovians alike all turned their eyes to the source of the voice. I felt a thrill rush through me at the sound, and I brightened as I caught sight of a flash of curly brown hair on a head that bobbed and weaved its way through the crowd. Then Sophie burst through at the front, beaming insanely with her hands held out wide as she locked eyes with me.
Letting out a laugh I let down my hand and she grabbed onto it, swinging up onto the tank next to me. Many humans (and some Paladanian citizens who hadn't seen her before) gasped as she lifted me up in a hug. The gasping was getting old by this point.
"Hi Abi!" she put me down. "Are you alright? How did you sleep?" "Uh," I scratched the back of my neck awkwardly, aware that we had all eyes on us. "I didn't, actually. You remember that message coder we were looking at?"
"Yeah." She nodded, eyebrows furrowed.
"Well, apparently the smoke from the spaceship was specially enhanced to inhibit Paladanian minds and something I saw on that device didn't register to me until after I left the force field. Did you know that the humans sent a distress signal, asking for backup in fighting us and freeing Werayne? Because they did, and we can't let that happen. We can't let the war start again." My voice was low but I was shaking violently.
Sophie put a hand on my shoulder to steady me. "Yeah I know. Jon told me. Just don't freak out about it okay? We'll work it out." She reassured me in a gentle tone.
I nodded, looking down. Sophie smiled.
"Good." She said, and turned to face the stunned crowds. She pulled her communicator out of her pocket, and fiddled with the buttons on the side. I stared with new eyes at the device, suddenly noticing how multi-purposeful it was; it had all sorts of little technological gizmos worked into it. Finding the right switch, Sophie flicked it and held the communicator up to her mouth, and when she talked the device acted like a speaker, emanating her voice across the crowded plain. "And hello, people of the Eridanus II, and also the people of Flauraan, as well as those Halapatovians I notice are here too. My name is Sophie and this is Abigail!" I glanced sideways at her with a confused expression; was being dramatic really necessary? Apparently so. "Yes, we bypassed the force field and entered the human spaceship and befriended you people, but don't be upset! I was telling the truth when I was talking to you humans about how the Paladanians are okay people, and the Weraynians aren't. So yeah, it's not them you should be fighting, it should be those warrior people from that force field planet over yonder. I guess what I'm trying to say here is, call off the distress signal, say sorry for the bother and then we can all celebrate the salvation of the Staarus System from the war that is likely to happen if you lot don't do anything. You guys have talked to me, you know I'm a pretty nice person so please listen to me and do as I am asking you, please!" she bit her lip nervously as she surveyed the transfixed people before her. "Please!"
There was a moment of static silence as her words were processed by hundreds of people. I sucked in a breath. This was the moment I'd known would come; the moment that would decide the fate of the entire Staarus System; depending on the response. If they believed us, it would all be fine. If they didn't, then it would lead to our doom.
And then I let out a breath of relief as humans all across the crowd began to nod their heads in agreement and place their weapons on the ground. The other humans, the ones who were confused or still adamant in their anger, hesitated as they saw their fellows giving in, and eventually they lowered their firearms too. I turned to smile at Sophie, whose eyes gleamed with excitement as she pulled me into another hug.
My people and the Halapatovian leaders in the crowd were smiling too. Criken stepped forward with his hand outstretched in friendship. A man, who I assumed to be the captain of the ship, clasped Criken's hand with a grateful smile, and mumbled a sincere apology. I knew that it hadn't just been Sophie's speech that had changed the human's minds; it had been a combination of all the things they'd seen and heard over the past few days, either from us or from the Weraynians.
It was a beautiful moment. As the sun stretched its welcoming rays over my little town, humans, Paladanians and Halapatovians all moved in together in the crowd, greeting each other and exchanging comments. Sophie and I both jumped down from on top of the tank, waving at its driver as we did so. Immediately multiple people ran over to us and started congratulating us, patting us both on the back and giving introductions.
"Hey Abigail!" said a girl my age who came from my town. I'd known her all my life as the children in my town were all educated together. She'd brought a group of her friends, a mix of grinning boys and girls, with her to say hello. "I just wanted to say that I think that was really brave what you did there. They could have shot you on the spot!"
"Well, thankfully they didn't Paige." I replied with a small smile, and then remembered Sophie, who was standing expectantly beside me. "Oh, by the way this is my friend Sophie. I met her two nights ago, when the spaceship arrived. She's an explorer."
"Hi Sophie!" Paige and her friends greeted her enthusiastically.
"Hello acquaintances of Abigail!" Sophie dramatically answered, shaking hands with each of my peers in turn. I rolled my eyes at her tone. "Nice to meet you all."
As Sophie continued to chat to them, I turned my eyes to survey the scene around us. It seemed absolutely perfect. There was a light-hearted feeling surrounding us, a huge contrast to the tension that had been rife barely a few minutes before. There were people everywhere just chatting and laughing with each other, previously opposed, different species interacting happily. Everyone just seemed glad to have avoided a fight. I noticed my people's leaders talking to the human leaders. From reading their faces I could tell that they were discussing details about the Weraynians, and the humans' voyage through the force field. I continued moving my eyes around the mingled crowd until I was all of a sudden distracted by a fast moving being. Training my eyes on it, I saw that it was a male human; a mechanic, going by his uniform. He was heading for the still conversing leaders, and he seemed frantic. I followed him with my eyes, completely oblivious to anything else happening around me.
He stopped beside Criken, and I focused on his moving mouth, trying to understand what this human was saying that he was so anxious about.
"I just got a message from the ship." I knew the guy was saying by reading his lips. "And I think that if you want to revoke the distress signal we should go back now; apparently there's a problem."
The spacecraft's captain looked concerned, naturally. "What kind of problem?" I saw him say.
"I dunno, some malfunction, or interference. But they're worried that it could put some of the main systems out of order." The mechanic answered hurriedly.
All the different leaders exchanged looks, seriously worried. I could tell, even from the distance away I was, that the Paladanian leaders were all trying to work out what could possibly be going wrong, as was I.
Suddenly I felt a chill run through me as I remembered the strange presence I'd noticed whilst inside the human spaceship. My mind whirred, and even with the smoke still affecting it I could work out with a thrill of horror what it meant.
I jerked out of my reverie, and quickly turned to Sophie, opening my mouth to tell her my realisation.
But before the words could exit my mouth, there was a sudden, thunderous rumble that emanated from the spaceship that still sat towering over the field.
I turned to look in shock, and so did everybody else. The ship was throwing sparks, and shaking as if it was possessed. Sophie grabbed my shoulders and turned me to her with her mouth wide open in stunned surprise.
"What's happening Abi?" she asked me, eyes blazing.
"I... I'm not sure." I replied, breath coming fast and eyes roving wildly around. "But I think it's the Weraynians."
Her face contorted in shock, and then she sprang into action; checking each gadget on her belt, and straightening her shirt.
"Do you still have your communicator on you?" she questioned, suddenly whipping round to face me again.
"Yeah." I patted my pocket, where I'd placed the communicator before.
"Good." She said.
Then Sophie ran off, towards the spaceship, and possibly her doom.