Episode 13: BroAD DAYlight

Malcolm Brand woke up from his nap, which turned into a good eight hours of much needed sleep. Stirring he got up, fully dressed when he had laid down initially. Rolling his tongue around his mouth he still tasted the delicious tasting fruit he had devoured on his breath. So juicy, so perfectly timed when he required sustenance. Staring off into space trying to revive completely he realized he had a light sweat but choked that up to the humidity. When your recently inhabited starship was stuffy and without air conditioning it was a natural aspect of the situation.

“Damn it’s hot in here.” He murmured hearing his stomach rumble. “We really need to turn on the AC.” As if it were that simple.

Deciding to go get some fresh air he accidently fumbled in the darkness over his adopted waste bucket. Stumbling but catching his fall he kept on his feet. However, that facsimile trash can toppled over spilling its contents. Growling he knelt down to pick things up.

“What the hell?” His hand came across an apple. “Where did you come from Johnny Appleseed? I only had that one apple stashed away and I ate that bad boy before snoozing.” Bewildered he stood up then shrugged over his unexpected delicacy. “Lucky day, I guess. Wait a doggone minute! There’s no apple core in that mess.”

His eyes narrowed at the crazy thoughts running through his head. It made zero sense. “Did this thing grow back while I was asleep? Huh! The never-ending meal.” Pondering it over he licked his lips and smirked at the possibilities. “I can live with that. Saves me battling that vine beast to grab more of these Golden Delicious.”

Without further ado he decided to eat it and test his theory. His stomach was growling and the taste for it pursued his thoughts. Next best thing to Granny’s apple pie.

Eight rooms over his new best buddy, pilot Cameron Scott was still awake. His drunken state was easing up but as weary as he was, he now suffered from not being able to close his eyelids. Sitting up in the cockpit for hours playing solitaire after a long turn on guard duty his bladder needed relieved. Grumbling, he stood up and stretched before looking out the window at nothing but a dimly lit moonscape. Fidgeting he decided to step outside the ship and take a piss. As the ramp lowered, he trudged down the steps into the sand. Eerie after dark on what seemed like an alien world he tried to hurry.

Their herd of Kansas cattle were quiet. As was Greta Winston’s horse. Feeling secure in their silence he moved eastly of the pen to a spot he decided was good enough and out of the path of foot traffic. Whipping out his penis he stood with his back arched looking up at the stars respecting their grandeur. As a steady stream of warm urine flooded the dirt below, he felt a chill go down his spine. The chill made his stargazing lower to pierce out into the darkness. Something caught his eye.

In the shadows maybe 60 yards away stood what appeared to be a woman. Her flesh ghostly white and in a dress that drifted in the gentle breeze off of the desert plain. He wished he had brought a flashlight to inspect things better.

“Is that you Madigan?” Squinting as he shook off his pecker and zipped up, he realized something. “That can’t be Maddy. Her ghost is stark ass naked. I see a dress. Awww, fuck!” Stammering in step trying to decide if he should run or see if this woman needed help, he felt frozen in step. Maybe she was stranded here like Greta Winston, heck all of his compatriots. Breath held Cam opted to risk the unknown.

“Are you lost here like we are?”

The woman merely stared and appears distraught. Her reaction made Cameron assume she was terrified. In the shadow of a big ass starship, he could understand that it was intimidating. “It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you. If you got lost in this crazy place like we did, you must need friends. Come on over, I’ll introduce you to everyone.”

She shied away from him at least but gravitated toward the cow pen. In the static charge of the fence there was a gentle illumination that cascaded outwardly. After swallowing hoarsely Cameron followed her stride, matching her every step. Attempting to get closer to the woman her attention seemed to be more on the cattle than him. This gave him the nerve to approach her. “Surprised to see those? My friend Jack rescued them from the desert. You must be hungry.”

Like an angel she folded her arms over her shoulders and shivered. “You must be cold. I think it’s balmy myself, but that dress might not be all that warm. You look as if you just came from a wedding or something.” No words on her part were spoken, nor did she look at him.

“Umm! My name’s Cameron. What’s yours?”

Finally, she tilted her gaze toward him at an angle. There was a softness yet needy glint in her vision. Her eyes were amazingly beautiful. As was she. Yet, her flesh was pale white. That alone gave Cam the chills. Albino in the desert? That couldn’t be healthy. Still, Cam offered her a handshake. Eying his hand she bit her lower lip. Her reaction appeared as if resisting. The emotion made Cam extend his hand further. “It’s alright, I swear I won’t hurt you. Only friends here, you have my word as a gentleman and a scholar.”

Suddenly, he realized something. He knew this face. “Wait! I know you. Is your name Sabbath?”

Hearing the name her eyes lit up, her lips trembling as if to find the necessary response. “How is it that you know my name?”

Retracting his hand, he reached beneath his shirt collar and tugged at the locket he had found at the horse drawn carriage site. He had kept it close because he needed their memory to last as long as possible. Nice guy that he was. Opening the locket, he showed her the two black and white photos inside.

The woman was mesmerized and crept closer to face Cam while her hands reached up to examine the pictures. Touching his hand faintly she jumped, her eyes flaring dramatically at his warmth. “Here! This belongs to you. I found it out there at the buggy in the desert. I held onto it. This might sound silly, but I was trying to keep your memory alive. Even if it was only in spirit. I had no idea you really were still alive.” He unhooked the clasp and offered it to her. The noble gesture he had bestowed made her reel in step. It was beautiful.’

SABBATH BLACK

“I must go.”

In a blur of speed, the woman was gone. Cam’s eyes didn’t even have time to adjust, shaking his head to wonder if he was dreaming. He was intoxicated so there was that option. “What in Sam Hill?” Suddenly, fear struck him, and he raced back up the ramp, shutting the door behind him to the outside world. Rushing back to the cockpit he met up with Malcolm Brand and stood there before him breathless.

“You look like you shit your pants.”

“I might have. I’ll check in a minute. Ummm! I just met a lady out there.”

“Lady? What?” Mal leaned over the colossal piloting center window and looked outside but the angles were all wrong. Cam’s location was in a blind spot beneath the ship itself. The overhang was just too much to even notice the cattle pen.

“Do you recall that locket we found with the pictures of the two ladies? I just met Sabbath Black. I gave her the locket and she almost cried, then just that fast ran off into the desert.”

“Seriously?”

“No joke! The only thing is she ran away fast. By fast, I mean blinding speed fast. I bet she was clocking in at a hundred miles an hour. Gone, Baby, gone! Sixty seconds poof!”

“You’re still drunk.”

“I wish I still was. That shit sobered me up. I’m not lying to you Brother.” As he caught his breath he sat down beside Malcolm then narrowed his eyes, noticing something about Mal seemed off. “Are you coming down with something? You’re sweating bullets.”

“I’m good. Alien food might not be setting well is all. Overall, I feel fine. Had seconds even.” With a shrug of his diagnosis Malcolm offered an option. “We can track this Sabbath in the morning if you want. She couldn’t have gone far, there’s nothing out there. She must be held up in one of the stranded ships or planes. Fear of the unknown gets to all of us.”

“Sounds good! Have you noticed that in two weeks’ time we’ve seen a lot of crazy shit? Met a lot of new folks like Miss Greta, this Animahni mermaid and her fishy friends. Now this Sabbath girl. It feels like we’re becoming magnets to some pretty weird shit.”

“True that!” Mal tilts his profile. “Makes you wonder what could be further out there.”

Cameron felt a bit of concerned tension suddenly. “I hope she’s alright.”

“Here’s my worry. If you remember, the passengers of that Victorian era buggy left their clothing behind. Shredded clothes! So, if that was this Sabbath how did she survive that?”

“Maybe she got away from whatever attacked them. She wore a dress just now so she’s not nude. I wonder if the torn-up dress belonged to the other girl in the locket?”

“Could be! We’ll have to ask her when we find her.”

Fidgeting Cam lifted his ball cap to wipe her brow on his wrist. “Man, that woman was HOT!”

“And like 200 years old.” Malcolm chuckles, mimicking Cam’s brow swipe.

“I got no shame. She doesn’t look a day over 190.” The two men laughed it off, until Cam grew silent as he explored the moonlit terrain.

In the distance Sabbath Black stood in the darkness. She had returned to her original crash site to find the carriage ransacked. Sparse bloody tears flowed down her alabaster cheeks, recollecting the visions of that fateful day. A silent scream carried away her memories to be filled with horror. The horror of what she had become.

Within his secluded lab slash bed chamber James Ian Pryce sat up reading. He had utilized the alien fireflies that they had found in the labs contained in a clear urn to create enough light to stay busy on sleepless nights. At the foot of his gravity bed lying on the floor rested his faithful white German Shepard Xander.

James was trying to clean up the video images from the rooftop of the ships outer hull. The escape pod Colonel Ruby Goddard had shown him made the studious young man curious. The feeds were barely legible but as each second cleared up, he did know one valuable thing. It was NOT Lucas Dorsey that had escaped in it. By the fearful reaction of the shadowy figure, it looked as if they were running from Dorsey himself. Further examination, James sat up straight. “Whoa! There was another Ganthorian. A female!”

Stunned he reclined back with a palm planted on his forehead. Further exploration of the feeds showed Lucas Dorsey drugging the Ganthorian residents to a paralyzed state then breaking their necks while in their seats.

“Dannnng! That dude is brutal. I wonder where their spirits went?” Closing up his pad he released a simple frequency that turned out the bug light. Clap on, clap off worked like a charm. In the darkness James thought about more on Lucas Dorsey’s violent acts. The officer quickly became the Boogeyman.

Seconds later the light was back on.

Xander was still dreaming.

After a good night’s rest for some, it was back to business.

Colonel Jack Ramse and Elle Franklin were studying the large solar panel covering the interior of the Ganthorian starship. At the moment they were powerless to open. The ship still produced a tiny amount of energy but not enough to accommodate larger functions. These doors were all over but sealed tightly shut as radiation barriers in the climates of outer space. They could easily illuminate the entire craft if all of them were pried open. Not that they needed every single one jarred loose, just enough to feed daylight in and conserve their homes power supply. The residents really only needed enough light and power storage to give them better living conditions.

“They look heavy Jack.” Elle shook her head as she lifted her obsidian visor from her eyes. In the darker quarters her body’s solar collector ability was restrained. She was trying to get used to wearing them at all times to prevent any mishaps. Sensing her onboard power supply more and more it did help her in knowing when she was safe to lift the veil.

“That they do. Even with our combined strength we might not budge these. Maddy was up here with me before you woke up. I sent her to bring Sophia. I’m thinking she’s got more muscle than all of us combined.”

“Which scares the heck out of me. Loose cannon in the form of a loose young lady.”

“Now, now! She’s barely an adult. We were her age once.” Jack defended the General’s daughter. “Back in the day our hormones got the best of us too.”

“Says you. I was a good Church going girl. My Momma raised me right.” Jack frowns toward her awaiting a reaction. “Lost my virginity at 15. Damn you, Jack!” Elle hissed rolling her diamond faceted eyes.

“17 here. Three girls in one night.” He bragged with a devilish smirk.

“Whatever. Ego much?”

“Just the truth. Anyways! Here comes Genius IQ. Let’s tone down the sex talk.”

As James Ian Pryce reached their work center, Colonel Ruby Goddard trailed behind him yawning. Once the two congregated with the others James gave them some important news. “Two things.” Peace sign offered! “That Dorsey guy killed the entire Ganthorian crew. Well, almost! There was one surviving Ganthorian, a female. She was the one who escaped in the pod. No idea where she went. Narrowing down her GPS is pointless in this atmosphere. The EMP in at least our location won’t let anything electrical get very far. Too be honest I’m surprised my drone’s fly. There is something about their tech I can’t quite narrow down.”

“Could that beacon be her calling out?” Ruby questioned the possibility.

“Not sure!” He scratched his scalp, “We can go back up topside later with a lingo collar and decipher what we can. But again, I’m not sure how that communication signal is even possible. I’m still working on that.”

As Jack sized up the nature of their work ahead, he motioned them toward the ceiling. “Point out our stress points here then go on up.” James in reaction pulled up the interior designs and explained where the panels could likely be manageable by the release trajectory of right to left.