Region of Space

Region of Space

     A Laser Bolt shot past a spaceship. Another one from the opposite direction hit the top of the ship hard. From above the ship looked like a huge oblong box with four large round tubes sticking out the back and two smaller boxes on both sides of the huge one. Each one of the smaller boxes had three large squared pipes leading up to the huge one.

     Within Command Central Commander Tavaha stared up at the five large monitors in front of her. The one in the center showed the ship they were on. The four smaller ones, two on either side of it stacked on top of one another, showed four other smaller ships firing the Laser Bolts at them. “Return fire with everything we got.”

     “We can’t do that Commander.” Ladim, the Weapons Coordinator, continued pushing buttons, flipping switches and pulling levels as he said it.

     “Why can’t we do that?” Tavaha asked.

     “There are no more weapons to use,” answered Ladim. “We used them all up during the first wave of attacks.”

     “That’s exactly what they planned on doing,” said Tavaha. “The Voirlons sent in their fireflies because they are too small for use to stop them. A million of them swarmed all over the ship.”

     “We killed most of them,” said Ladim. “There was so many of them it was hard to miss them, but some got through our shields with the help of the others – and our counterattack.”

     “They were hard to kill because they were so small, and they did a lot of damage before they were, but they were all killed too. The Voirlons did a lot of damage,” said Tavaha. “We have been dead in space ever since.”

     Ladim suddenly looked up at the Monitors. “The Voirlons have stopped their attack.”

     Before Tavaha could respond to that a huge head filled almost half of Command Central. It belonged to an Alien Voirlon. Which looked like a bald head with thin wires sticking out of its head instead of hair. The eyes shutter open and closed. Other than that they appeared to be human.

     “Why have you entered our Region of Space?” Masonejare, pronounced Mason jar, asked.

     “Is that why you attacked my ship?” Tavaha asked.

     “We only sent out a few Laser Bolts as a warning to stay away,” said Masonejare. “When we got too close to killing you we stopped.”

     Tavaha glanced back at Ladim with surprise on her face. Ladim looked the same. To Masonejare she said, “I don’t understand. If you feel like that now, then why did you attack us three weeks ago?”

     The Voirlon continued to churn his head around that room as he spoke. “We didn’t attack you before now.”

     “If you didn’t do it then you did?” Ladim asked.

     “We do not know, but we didn’t do it.” Masonejare stopped scanning Command Central. “If we had attacked you I wouldn’t be talking to you today.”

     “Do you have any idea who could have attacked us?” Tavaha asked.

     “Why should I help you?” Masonejare asked.

     Looking up at the Monitor as best she could with the floating head blocking her vision Tavaha said, “It could be because they thought we were you. Our ships do look an awful lot alike.”

     “That could be true. We do have a lot of enemies in this Region of Space,” said Masonejare. “What did these attackers look like?”

     “They were tiny insect looking creatures that shot Laser Balls out of their nose tips,” said Tavaha. “According to our Data on Voirlons you sent those things after us.”

     “Your Data needs updated,” said Masonejare. “They are called Keilans, and we banished them from Voirlon centuries ago.”

     “Are they still a problem for the Voirlons?” Ladim asked.

     “Yes, they are. They are our greatest enemy,” said Masonejare.

     “Then the Keilans could have attacked us because they believed we were you,” said Tavaha. “Not only did they do a lot of damage to my ship but several of my crew got killed too. One of them got shot through her glasses to kill her.”

     “They probably were, but that isn’t our problem.” said Masonejare. “Our problem is why you are here?”

     “We were on our way to the planet of Rothic when we had a problem with our engines,” said Tavaha. “It only took us a few days to repair it, but by the time we got it fixed it was too late for us to get to Rothic in time. The only way to do it was to go through your Region of Space.”

     “You didn’t get very far did you? This is just the edge of our Space,” said Masonejare.

     “No, we didn’t. We got attacked by the Keilans before we could enter your Space,” said Tavaha.

     “Why did you have to get to Rothic so quickly?” Masonejare asked.

     “A Death Disease broke out there,” said Tavaha. “We were taking a cure for it back there.”

     “Curious, where did you get the cure?” Masonejare asked.

     “The planet of Boovon had a similar disease,” said Tavaha. “They found a cure for their disease.”

     “Is there still time for you to get to Rothic in time?” Masonejare asked.

     “I don’t think it is,” said Tavaha. “It’s too late to save a lot of them, but I think we can save the rest. If we can get there as fast as possible. The only way to do that is through this Region of Space.”

     Masonejare disappeared for a few minutes. When it returned it said, “Normally we don’t allow anyone in our Region of Space no matter what, but we also have a planet with a Death Disease killing off the population. I have contacted my Superiors, and we will let you pass through our Space - if you give us the formula for the cure.”

     “I think that can be done,” said Tavaha. “Thank you for your help.”

The Word Count, including this line, is 996.