“I really am sorry for going into the room. My parents always used to tell me I was too curious for my own good.” I smiled, feeling a momentary pang at the thought of my parents. For a second, I was tempted to ask if he knew anything about their disappearance, but I pushed the thought away. I hadn’t seen any sign that they were in the business of kidnapping older humans...only ones they seemed to be sexually attracted to.
Anyway, I did feel like I had the right to ask what was going on in that room. Everything about the gadgets was strange...including the fact that they might be tracking human and Vepar females.
“So, the hologram that I was looking at down there... It looked like it was recording births and deaths of human females,” I asked hesitantly, watching Corran carefully to gauge his reaction.
He sighed and sat down on the bed, turning his face away from me as he gazed out the window. “We came to this planet because our planet is dying and killing off our females in the process. Doesn’t help that Khonsu have killed so many of our females as well. We’ve spent hundreds of years searching space to find a planet that would be similar enough to Vepar for us to relocate. We’d heard about Earth, but we also learned that females were in danger here. Part of my job on the planet was to monitor Earth to ensure the same thing happening to our females is not replicated here.”
“How does the planet dying affect your females?” I asked, my eyes widened with everything he was saying.
He sighed. It was a heavy sigh filled with frustration. “We’re not quite sure. But since the only connection we have to the Vepar woman dying is our planet also dying, we decided that we needed to find other options.”
“Other options like finding new planets to inhabit?” I asked, dread growing inside of me.
He nodded.
I looked at him amazed that he’d so casually told me their plan. Up to now they’d been firm with the message that they were here in peace. But obviously that was all a lie.
He must have seen the growing panic in my face because his eyes widened, and he threw up his hands as if to calm me down. “We’re not planning to takeover. We want to share the planet. All of the rules that have been put in place have been to help sustain the planet and make life better in preparation for the Vepar arrival.”
I studied his face. He seemed to be telling the truth but Corran had always seemed to have that air of trustworthiness about him from the beginning. For all I knew, he could have been the best liar out of all of them.
“You had no problem taking me without my permission, and you’ve pretty much taken over Earth,” I said bitterly. “Why should I believe that you wouldn’t do something else?”
He pursed his lips in frustration before checking his watch. “I have to leave right now on a short expedition I’ve had planned for months, and I’d like you to come with me. We can talk more on the trip. I’m sure you’d like to get out of the house too.”
Corran and I hadn’t had the time together that I had experienced with the others. It still felt awkward between us, and the thought of going somewhere with him made me feel more awkward than anything. But I did want to find out more about the Vepar’s plans and he seemed to be much more willing to provide me with information than Derrial or Thane were. So, I might be able to uncover more secrets, maybe even if my parents’ disappearance had anything to do with them. I decided to go.
Corran was already pulling me behind him before I had even said yes. Evidently the scientist was just as pushy as the others. Before I knew it, I’d found myself standing next to the helicopter pad that had housed the helicopter I’d flown in with Derrial. The helicopter evidently was being used however as the pad stood empty. I looked at Corran quizzically, wondering what we were waiting for, but he was oblivious to my look. He took out a silver contraption that looked like a car fob and pressed a button.
Suddenly, the pad seemed to dissolve and a sleek silver machine that resembled a cross between a car and a small airplane came up on a pedestal like a scene out of Batman. I gasped in amazement, but Corran, unperturbed as always, gave me no explanation as he began pulling me towards the machine. As we approached the contraption, an entryway appeared in the side of the machine and a set of stairs appeared out of nowhere. I stopped abruptly.
“What is this thing?” I asked, needing answers before I got into the machine.
Corran looked at me confused. “Isn’t it obvious? This is how we travel. I guess you could say it’s our version of an airplane if you had to label it, but the term really doesn’t do it justice since it can travel through any terrain including water.”
I stared at him incredulously, then the machine. “Wow.”
He began to ascend the steps, and then looked at me with a raised eyebrow when I didn’t follow him. I was still in shock about the fact that I was about to travel in an alien spacecraft.
“We’re on a schedule,” he said impatiently, jarring me from my thoughts. I tentatively followed him up the steps, stopping on each one to make sure that they didn’t disappear. Once inside I couldn’t help but freeze again.
Everything was black as if I’d crawled inside a licorice jelly bean. The walls, ceiling, seats, and even the controls. Light drenched the inside of the shuttle, and the sleek walls glimmered under the right illumination. No other windows lined the rectangular ship.
Corran took the single seat in the front with the controls, and I slid into one of two available in the back. Buckling up, I couldn’t believe where I was, and what I’d give right now to have my phone to snap photos. I was pretty sure if I shared them, my social followers would leap from a measly thirty to millions.
Anyone who shared images revealing anything about the Vepar went viral because they were so secretive. If only people knew something more dangerous lingered amid them. The Khonsu. Then again, maybe that would just cause unnecessary panic because everyone would be safe unless they were compatible like me. Lucky me.
My thoughts turned to the bomb Corran had dropped on me about their race looking for a new home. That information was massive and could easily end up with us going to war with them because the rest of the planet coming here would be construed as a complete take over. I didn’t know what to do with such knowledge as it was still processing in my head on what it meant. I mean I knew what it meant, but the situation seemed delicate and I could sympathize with them wanting to save their race. Plus, I didn’t want to cause a universal war when I didn’t understand all the facts myself, especially when I was pretty sure that humans didn’t have a chance against the Vepar technology.
I sucked in a deep breath to calm myself.
“You ready?” Corran glanced over his shoulder at me, his eyes alive, clear he was in his element right here.
“Let’s do this before I change my mind.” I laughed, but it wasn’t a lie either.
A light vibration buzzed under my feet, followed by a brittle silence, but we lifted into the air with such ease and swiftness that I barely felt it. When we finally took off, the vessel moved as if there was no sound, no wind, and it didn’t even disturb the air. We glided seamlessly through the air, and my earlier worries faded, replaced by a tingling excitement. My knees bounced and I gawked outside, wanting to stand near Corran to see everything, but I didn’t dare move.
Unlike Derrial, who’d talked my ear off during the whole flight on the helicopter, Corran didn’t say a word. Instead, he spent the entire time on a tablet that would have looked like an iPad if it weren’t for the fact that it projected holographic, 3D images much like the tables in that secret room. Numbers and charts all detecting what looked like other aircrafts.