The Intruder

This Story was written by Matthew Grafstrom

These are the recordings of a man who by accident was taken aboard the Borfalkian Civilization ship with out their knowing. This tells about his life aboard the ship and how he soon became one of his sectors greatest commanders.

Greetings one and all, my name is Vestri Gelsoma and when this all started I was 25 years old in Notarian years, who knows what that is in Borfalkian years. Anyways, I was living on a planet in the Nava Region called Notara. I was in the city of Copan when this started, that is where my whole life was changed forever.

The day was Conara (Borfalkian equivalent of the human race's Tuesday), the time twelve-at mid morning (human equivalent of 11:00am) and I was the only sector patrolman outside of the station at the time. I was currently re-powering my weapon, the battery had run dry for the display, and listening to our sector commander ream out a newbie. Fortunately for us, not the newbie though, the commander forgot to turn the intercom off so now we all heard it.

I was suddenly surprised to see a strange flying object whiz past and land in the empty field beside me. I was intrigued, this was something that I had never seen around before. This object was shaped almost spherical but at what was probably the sides, it was pinched in like wings. The craft was a gold/bluish color, and a large slit in front? was black indicating that it was probably the cockpit. My examination didn't last very long until I saw a blue line form in mid air in front of me and then it formed into the shape of a person, or thing, and then suddenly the person was there. I was startled this was something that one doesn't see everyday, a man forming from thin air. This "person" seemed to be looking around and taping on a thin grey object in his hand, then finally he nodded, as if triumphantly, to himself. I saw him tap his watch, I figured his watch was broken at first, and then he began to speak into it.

"I have taken my readings on this world and I believe that it is worthy for us to mine" he said as if he was the only one on the planet.

"Really, what are your reasons" I heard another voice say.

"This world appears to be a post-space age just colonized a new system, and this world itself is in a state of mass pollution, gasoline powered vehicles and massive pollutant factories" my mouth dropped open when I heard him, he just said something that I never expected an ET to say.

"Very well then, beam back and we will start the mining process"

I was now very worked up, this person must die, so I grabbed my rifle and started pounding those shells out. Now normally the person on the other end of the gun has been splattered from that many shots but not this guy, instead I saw a blue wallish thing appear wherever I thought the bullets where hitting (pretty good shots too!!). As you can figure most people don't like being shot at and this guy was no exception, almost as soon as the shots started hitting him he conjured up some hidden weapon and began firing at me. These were no ordinary bullets, no these were blue lines flying at me at, at probably the speed of light. I had not stopped firing though, I had instead jumped behind the power-up pod and started trying to hack his legs off. My shots did not go un-noticed by my fellow patrol men, they too had come outside and they too where letting him have it, unsuccessfully. It was us who lost the first guy, actually we where the only ones to lose a guy, and soon I was the only one left. Later I figured that the guy must have gotten tired of killing because soon he turned into that blue line again and disappeared, I never found out where he went though.

I was just about to check my fallen comrades when I heard the sound of something powering up, and when I looked around I found out that the mysterious craft was taking off. So me being really mad about my dead buddies let that thing have it too! Alot that did, the "ship" appeared to also have that blue wall around it, crap! And so the craft flew off and disappeared into the sky. 'Well', I thought, 'that must be the end of that little experience', how wrong I was. I had begun walking around checking my buddies when I heard a faint humming sound from above me, the sound appeared to be getting louder and multiplying. Then from the cloud it came, another craft, no thousands of crafts all falling to the ground. The first one that landed was very close to me that I could tell, I saw it dig some claws into the ground and another claw start tearing buckets full of dirt up into itself.

That was not the only one of those crafts though, I saw hundreds upon hundreds of those little buggers landing everywhere. They were crashing through buildings like a rock on a card house without the dent that I could see. Then one landed right in the building I was standing beside...I heard someone scream from inside, probably the desk clerk, and some other people ran out. I was petrified, those things were digging huge holes in the ground without a hint of stopping. But eventually the one nearest me did stop digging, and I saw it begin to lift off the ground (a little slow, probably to heavy) and that was my chance to find out where it came from. I did probably the stupidest things anyone could have done at the time, I jumped on top of the thing while it was taking off. There wasn't much to hold onto though, just a couple of little devices that looked like antennas. I held on tight, with my gun strapped around my shoulder I was very intent on finding out about this thing, I would find out very soon.

The initial take-off was a little slow (I guess cause I weighed more than the thing could handle at first) but once we got going the ride sped-up very fast, almost too fast. We swooped up into the sky so fast in fact that I felt like my insides were going to be pushed out my feet, I almost lost my gun too and this whole gallivant would have been for nothing. I slipped as we entered the clouds and I was dangling very precariously on the antenna in front of it, that was probably the most frightening thing in my entire life! My fright did not last long though because as soon as we left the cloud layer I was overcome with awe, above me was a not blue sky but a metallic grey wall from one horizon to the other. Closer to me (right in the atmosphere and not in space like the wall) was hundreds of large craft, and coming out of those was the little buggy crafts like the one that I was riding. Looking closer at these large ships (that's what I figured they were) I saw that there were these little things going back in too!

I had very little time to react when we entered the ship, all I knew was that I didn't want the thing landing on me. So when I figured that we were close enough to the ground I jumped off, and that is when I found out that we were not close enough to the ground. I landed pretty hard, might have even sprained my ankle cause it sure hurt bad, but I can take it! I stood up and looked around, I saw that I was in a large bay with craft coming and leaving every second, and standing beside on was a guy...a guy eh!! Well that next shot was for my buddies. That guy didn't even see it coming, I felt bad about it later cause I hated shooting a guy in the back, especially if he doesn't suspect it coming. He wasn't like that other jerk, he didn't have one of those blue wall thingies and he defiantly didn't look the same. Of course the guy had to be standing next to one of the landing doors and had to fall out so that I couldn't "borrow" his uniform or his life.

I wasn't sure if anyone had saw me kill that man, but I didn't feel right about shooting anyone in the back anymore. So I did what I thought best, I tossed my gun out into the open sky and watched it fall until I couldn't anymore. Now I didn't know what else to do but I figured that if I stayed in this room any longer than those "bugs" would soon be landing on me. That guy had to have gotten in somehow, and I soon found out where when someone else came inside of the room looking for him.

"Hey what are you doing in here and on this ship, you know civilians aren't allowed in here" he blared when he saw me.

I was worried now, he had me for sure, so I said the first thing that came to my mind. "Umm...I was here to find my friend, in this room...and tell him something, but umm, he doesn't seem to be here."

He looked hard at me for a second and I thought that he for sure had me but then he said "well, you do seem a little nervous, but who wouldn't be around a military person..."

"Oh brother!" I thought and rolled my eyes.

"...So I guess I'll take you to the observation deck until this is over, ok mister?"

"Ok, thanks", 'phew that was close'.

So we left the landing room (that door was strange no door handles it just opened when we walked up to it) and made our way down a hallway to another door, it too opened weirdly. We entered a small room, I figured that it was probably a elevator. But I didn't really enjoy the ride much because my companion started to small talk.

"So where you from buddy?"

"Ah, I'm not sure" the best answer I could think of and it turned out to be a valid one.

"Oh, a ship boy eh! Born right on board I'm guessing."

"Ah, yup, how about you?" I had to get him off of things about me.

"Me, I was born on Kelsoma 7, but I'm a purebred Drendassian. What's your parent race?" I figured this guy was a major talker when given the chance.

"I'm a mix breed, not to sure what though, my parents never told me" seem a logical thing to say.

"That wasn't very nice of them, let me take a look at your face I pretty good at telling alien breeds" he look straight at me, he had black eyes. He studied my face for a minute and then my hands, it made me uncomfortable he could easily find me out if he knew what my race looked like. "Well", he finally said, "it's pretty hard to say, you almost look like the buggers that we're mining right now..."

'Uh oh, he might have me' my palms became a little sweaty.

"...But not quite, they got no hair..."

A lot he knew, I felt like dropping him then and there, but I knew I shouldn't unless I hated life.

"...So I say your a mix of Zentapian and Ri'Iantaxzian."

"Wow, that's pretty good, I'll have to take your word for it though."

"Ya I guess so, but they do have a name for that breed, it's Belestokian or Belestoka." Good now I didn't have to find a name out myself.

"Thanks man, now I can enlist in some stuff, they won't let you without knowing what you are first" another close guess.

"Ya well you can get test for that you know" obviously.

"I know but I'm a little afraid of stuff being taken from my body" and I was too, comes from being shot at.

"I've heard of people like you, but that is why they invented scanners so that way you don't have to have anything extracted."

"I know, but I figure that when they scan you then they're interfering in your private life."

"Well I guess your not that eager to get a good job then, anyways we've reached our level." The door opened and sure enough the level had changed, now there was a lot more people on it and more doorways.

"Thanks", I said, "well now I can enlist in something."

"Your welcome, and the door you want to go through is the forth one on your right."

"Ok, I guess I'll see you around then" I said, even though I didn't mean that 'see you around' bit.

"Sure, maybe I'll look you up and come visit" he held out his hand, did he want me to give him something. I thought for a second and remembered the extra gun magazine I had in my pocket, so I took it out and put it in his hand. He look at it with a puzzled expression for a moment, obviously that's not what he wanted, and then said, "what's this?"

"That, I keep it in my pocket as a lucky charm but now it's yours" I didn't need it anymore anyways.

"Thanks man, well I don't have much I could give you, I guess I'll just shake your hand and think of something later." He grabbed my hand quite hard and started to shake it, it startled me but then I realized that this is probably what he wanted in the first place, oh well!

"Well, ok, bye for now I suppose" I said with a dumb-founded expression on my face.

"Ya, and by the way what's your name anyways?"

"It's Vestri Gelsoma" I said and then thought about what an idiot I was for saying my real name, but anything I would have said would have been idiotic, no one with my face or a name I would say existed aboard the "ship".

"Alright, I'll see you around then, bye" the elevator door closed and the man whose name I didn't even know left. I now had a serious mission, make sure that before he looked for me, I existed on the "ship".

Right now I decided that I had better get into the observation deck before any other annoying people decided to flap their jaw at me. Forth door on the right eh, well it was pretty easy to find since there were big letters on it saying "OBSERVATION TOWER", I probably would have found it even if that guy didn't tell me. When I walked into the room I found that several other people were in there too, all observing the mining process. The room was lined with several benches all facing downward slanted windows, when one looked out of these windows one could see the "mining craft" coming and going from the landing bays. I felt bad watching those things go down to my home and me not there defending my friends and family but it was to late now. I looked around at the other people in the room, all of them looked normal (I mean nice, none if them looked physically normal) and it made me wonder why they could sit and watch a disgusting scene like what was happening, but after all they were the ones doing it.

I sat down on one of the empty benches and looked out onto the clouds below, I was glad that the clouds were there to cover the land below because then I didn't have to see the scarred countryside below. Someone sat down beside me, I glanced at them and decided that it must be a female thingy, she was looking out the window with a glazed look. She look over at me and said something really disgraceful.

"Isn't this a beautiful site, our glorious mining crew at work."

I felt like throwing her through the glass in front of us but I figured that it wouldn't break even if I did, so I just said, "Not really."

She looked at me with a almost hateful look on her face, "why not, are you one of those 'anti-mining' people."

Great at least there was some hope for these people, I had to locate some of those 'anti-mining' people. "No I just think that we should at least save the people on the planet first."

"Save them, what for?!? We gave them a chance to leave the world before we mined it and they refused."

They did did they, well that's the government for you, "ya but what about all the civilians who probably wanted to be saved?" Lets see how the bag answered to that!

"Ah, who cares, their government said they didn't want to so that means that they didn't want to."

Well I never heard anything about that vote, and I was a government official, "stupid government, deciding the whole planets fate."

"Yes it was, but that was their own fault for electing them."

"Yup, it sure was" that's for sure.

"This is a depressing subject, why don't you just forget about it and watch us leave the atmosphere now" she sound as though she regretted the whole thing now.

"Ok I guess" I'd watch us leave but not forget it.

"Good boy."

As if in perfect timing the intercom came on and a voice blared over it, "Now leaving planets atmosphere, please prepare to dock with the ship." There was a sudden loud rumbling sound and a slight vibration, I looked out the window one last time and I saw the clouds being parted, I guess form the extreme heat of the mining ships engines. I could now see the landscape below, and it was nothing like the beauty that it once was. I could see huge scars and holes that went miles into the ground all over the planet, the oceans looked shallower and no greenery was anywhere in sight.

"Ah, the glorious mining fleet in action" said the woman beside me.

"Whatever" I said almost under my breath back to her. I tore my eyes away from the scene and closed them, I couldn't bear to see it anymore. I turned around and instead looked at the floor, it was at least not flawed, but as I looked closer I saw that the floor was scratched and now I knew that these people could be flawed.

The intercom blared once more, "Docking will commence in five minutes, ship is now entering into hyper-jump."

I looked out the window once more, my planet was no longer the main scene, now I saw space in it's full glory. The stars were burning bright and as I looked over at my world I saw our star of Gensaed setting below the planets horizon. Suddenly the stars and every thing outside froze for a brief second and then it all disappeared in a blur of light. We must have just gone into hyper-jump, the blur continued for a few brief seconds longer , just a multicolored blur of light moving slowly backwards and then it smeared behind us into complete blackness.

The woman again spoke her remarks of her empire's glory, "and now we enter a hyper-jump, a form of travel that not many races have, but we do."

I couldn't listen to this self-lover anymore so I stood up and walked over to a new bench. The woman starred at me after I got up and a little longer afterwards until I stopped looking at her, but I felt her gaze still falling upon me. I still looked out one of the other windows and thought about what I was going to do when we docked with the "ship."

The intercom blared again, "Now exiting hyper-jump." And it was true I saw the light blur appear once again from behind the ship and then move slowly forward. Then the blur froze, just like space did, and then formed into space again but without my planet in the view. Instead of the planet their was that massive metallic grey wall in the view, just like the one that was in my planet, but it was very very close this time. It was massive, I still couldn't see from one end to the other, but now it was much clearer, it was defiantly metal and it was defiantly huge.