Seven Planets

Second Chapter

A stone sword was hanging over their heads

"Shall we get ready? We might not be welcomed upon our arrival!" exclaimed Oalif, the wittiest of the group.

The crew was formed of four members of the planets that were fighting against Carimea's rule. They had been chosen because of their personal history as well as their physical and mental abilities. Together they would form a team that was able to go on any mission, both physically and strategically. Their duty was guaranteeing peace and it did not just imply military actions, but also intelligence-linked activities and coordination among the different populations.

The Council of the Four Planets Coalition had appointed them "Tetramirs", which meant that they could benefit by the Government from special authorities and jobs until the completion of their mission.

The small commercial spaceship was crossing Bonobo's big, grey rings and was proceeding towards the Sea of Silence.

That sort of spaceship was designed for the transport of goods. They were shaped like a parallelepiped with blunted edges on the front in order to provide aerodynamic movement. On top of that, they had placed small, releasable wings that were used when crossing the atmosphere. At the rear, there was a big hold door that would open in three sections like the crown of a flower and was used during loading and unloading. These spaceships were slow and bulky. They would take off and land in parallel with the ground without any room for manoeuvre, just like all the other spaceships.

"Declare yourself." a metallic voice came from the radio.

"We're merchants, sir." replied Oalif.

"We can see it. But who and what is on board? Do you have a license?"

"Settimo from Oria, sir."

"License number, now!" insisted on the guard.

"34876."

"You are not in our list. Change route immediately. You do not have any permission to land in this area."

"The signal is weak, sir. I cannot hear you. License number 34876." said Oalif for a second time, pretending not to hear what the guard was saying.

"Permission to land denied!"

"We can't copy you, sir." insisted the Bonobian and then he addressed his crew members saying:" We're in, folks! We're crossing the fog in the Sea of Silence!"

Oalif was an experienced pilot, and being a Bonobian, he was a world-class connoisseur of his native planet. However, he did not fit in with the simple and mild traits that were usually to ascribed that ethnicity. His tribe had never given into the Anics, and for that reason it had paid an enormous price. During the last war, after that they had lost control of their own planet, they had been exiled and hosted by the Coalition of planets, who were plotting a domestic uprising. Their aim was regaining control of the planet.

Oalif's body was covered in dark body hair that would barely show his fair skin. Only the area surrounding his green eyes and his cheekbones was hairless. He had a thick, pointed bear, long up to his chest, and would wear his long hair in a ponytail at the back of his neck.

Oalif was the perfect man for that mission, but unfortunately, he would have had to stay on board in order to avoid prying eyes. As a matter of fact, he was wanted: his face was well known, and they did not know whom or what they were going to meet.

The spaceship landed in a green, sunny clearing crossed by a wide river with shallow and crystal-clear waters that would show the river floor. The latter was covered in a great variety of colourful stones, just like in an impressionist picture.

"The best way to hide something, is doing that out in the open. Oalif, switch on the camouflage panels as soon as we disembark. And thank you, you've been great." Ulica , the Eumenide complimented him,.

"This place is incredible. Once you venture inside, the surrounding fog disappears and the KIC 8462852 rays begin warming up the atmosphere as if it was summer." noticed Zàira from Oria as soon as she landed.

"Hurry up. We have little time to find a shelter before twilight. Mastigo will not leave us with a lot of time to find the monastery" ordered Xam from the Sixth Planet, who was the fourth member of the group.

"Let's venture along the river." suggested Zàira." The forest that surrounds it will cover us while we pick the most convenient route."

They ventured into the forest. Xam and Zàira were leading the way whilst Ulica was finding the right route in order to reach a Bonobian village. There they were planning to rest and find more information on the Nativ monastery, their main target.

Xam, the warrior from the Sixth Planet, was a human who had stood out during the war for his bravery and humanity.

He was a tall, chiselled young man. He had fair skin and short, curly, black hair. His full lips were hidden by a thick, curly beard. On top of his skinny trousers, he was wearing a highly technological multifunction belt that was designed by his people in order to get the best in life or death situations. The rest of his body was covered in a gel used by Sixthians to maintain a stable body temperature in any weather condition.

Zàira, who was his peer, came from Oria, the planet with the minimised atmosphere. A dark, natural armour covered her body, starting from the top of her forehead and stretching out along her back up to her tail: it was the trait of the ethnicity. A short and thick fuzz covered the rest of her body, except her human-like face in which two wonderful grey-green eyes stood out. On her forehead, to the sides of the armour she had two long locks of white hair that she would usually tie up in a braid up to the shoulders.

Ulica, the youngest among the four, was a high-level science and a mathematician from Eumenide. She was as classy and elegant like a butterfly. Her body was covered in a transparent aquamarine natural veil that looked like wings of a butterfly.

By opening up her arms, her wings would spread wide open and let her glide. They were curled up and eased down on the back of her hands. They almost looked like a henna tattoo: fine, silky strips that would stretch out and be used either as a lasso or a whip.

The quest lasted longer than usual because of the malfunction of the tracking device caused by some odd effects that were happening in the instrumentation in the Sea of Silence. That unexpected event made them get away from the right route along the lake and caused a few days delay in their plan.

After they had realised the problem, they found themselves retracing their steps and ran along the stream until they saw a clearing. Their eyes perceived a series of small huts arranged in circles. At the centre there was a perch used to cook wild game. The walls were built out of giant, bamboo trunks that had been tied together and sealed with mud and shredded grass. The roofs were made out of palm leaves weaved together. At the tip there was a hole that was used like a fireplace, which was covered by a further cone-shaped structure.

With their great surprise they realised that the village was closer to the landing spot than expected.

Upon seeing the strangers, all the inhabitants fled, hiding themselves in their huts. They almost looked like pool balls being hit by a cue ball at the beginning of the game.

They found themselves in front of one of the last Bonobian tribes that had not given into the Anics by finding shelter in such a hostile place.

The four did not manage, however, to go unnoticed. After a few seconds warriors armed with spears showed up in front of them.

"We come in peace." Xam said quickly.

"We also want peace." stated the most pot-bellied warrior, who looked like the boss.

"For this reason, we want you to leave!"

"We're not looking for trouble. But we need your help. Oalif talked about your courage."

"Oalif left us many years ago. Why have you come here?"

"We 're looking for the Nativ monastery."

"Why?"

"We're on a peace mission that involves all people."

"Many have come here with the pretext of peace, but then they only ended up causing wars."

"But as you can see, we are not Anics. I am Xam of Tetramir. You must have heard of us...

"Xam from the Sixth Planet?"

Xam nodded.

"Go and call the wiseman." ordered the pot-bellied warrior.

Xam did not expect to see an old companion of his come out of the hut. He called him by his name:

"Xeri! There you are! I thought they had eliminated you."

"Xam? What are you doing here, my friend? The fighter inside me has died: I have seen too many friends die.

"I am happy to see you." exclaimed Xam, hugging his old friend.

"Me too. What brought you here? Where is Oalif?"

"If he had known that you were here we wouldn't have been able to keep him inside the ship. We're looking for the Nativ Monastery."

"Then you won't have to go too far. Just look up. It's on the floating island."

The Tetramirs looked up and noticed that right above their heads a gigantic rock sword was hanging over them. The tip of the sword was covered in trees that would dissimulate the interior of the island.

"How do we get there?"

"It's not as close as it seems. Do not be misled. No one has ever reached it. Many have tried." Xeri kept on talking. "The distance between you and the island won't change despite all the miles you're going to walk. It's as if it were located in another dimension. Look around. It does not project any shadows to the ground.

They did not even have the time to look back down: that hiss caught their attention. They saw Xeri fall to the ground. Xam ran towards him to help him out but understood that it was too late.

"Everybody take cover." he yelled.

"To the weapons." yelled the commander warrior.

The people were again scattered all around like pool balls, but this time they were seeking shelter in holes they had dug in the jungle undergrowth.

The battle was raging. Mastigo soldiers had reached them sooner than expected. Some kids stayed in the middle of the village, frozen by the fear.

"We gotta do something." said Xam but did not even have the time to finish his sentence that Oria warrior had already plummeted to protect them with her shield.

Xam covered her by setting the surroundings on fire, whilst Ulica, who had quickly climbed on a tree thanks to her silky wings, plummeted silently on Mastigo's soldiers, who had been hiding in the bushes. And she hit them to death, like a falcon hits its prey.

Soon after that, the women ran to catch their children that had been sheltered by Zàira's hug, who was lying on the ground wounded. Xam and Ulica rushed towards her.

The square was empty, and a strong wind began blowing like a whirl proceeding to the centre of the village, yet without destroying its path. Zàira, Xam and Ulica felt their bodies become stiff. As per magic, something was holding them back preventing them to run away. They spun around for several seconds before being dropped off on the edge of the floating island.

For a second Ulica felt as if she was floating in the air. Her head was still spinning like when she was a kid and she would play ring around the rosie with her friends. She quickly came to her senses and went looking for her companions.

Xam had already found Zàira, who had fainted and was kneeled down next to her: his dark eyes were full of sadness and were showing his weakness for that Orian girl that had always accompanied him in his adventures.

Ulica walked toward them and being rational as always, she began checking on Zàira. She checked her pulse and said:

"Her pulse is low, but nothing too serious. Her body is trying to reduce the effort, so that she can recover.

She carefully turned over to identify where she had been wounded. She gently took off the backless dress down to her waist that she had tied behind her neck and allowed her to move freely.

"She's got a wound on her left hip on her back. Luckily it is just a graze. The armour protected her."

She had not lost a lot of blood as the laser had cauterized the superficial wound.

"It doesn't look like vital organs were damaged, otherwise she would already be dead." Ulica continued.

Xam was astonishingly staring at her. That untamed man that during a battle would not feel any fear or compassion for his enemies, that man that was used to the horrors and the blood of the battlefield, could not utter a word.

He nodded as sign of approval.

"We have to find a place where to cure the wound." suggested Ulica.

Xam had already picked Zàira up and was proceeding towards what looked like a temple on the top of a green, luxuriant hill.

Its proximity and its smell reminded him of that time during childhood when Zàira took him out of the Crystal Canyon on Oria. It had happened in one of the few moments where he had left the academy, which was his only known family.

During school holidays, most of his friends would go back home to their families. However, not all kids were lucky enough: some of them were orphans like Xam, some others would stay to the academy because their parents were too busy climbing up the career ladder; some others would really come to families that were actually loaded with work. Usually a summer camp was organized and very often the destination was Oria.

On that planet, the air was rarefied because of its small dimensions that caused a low gravitational force. All those who did not come from Oria had to carry along a small air compensator in order to guarantee an optimal oxygenation. Without it, they would have felt out of breath as if on top of a mountain.

The summer camp stay in Oria was articulated in a series of tasks, but at the end of the daily activities, Xam would find himself causing trouble around the campus. Nearby there was a farm: it belonged to Zàira's father and that is how he met her.

That summer their friendship got even stronger. Like all teens, they loved getting into more and less serious trouble. That night Zàira, in fact, told Xam about an enchanted place to her. However, she kept a part of the story secret so that she did not ruin the surprise, but most of all, she omitted that grown-ups would forbid going there because of its dangers.

That is how she dragged her friend in their desert adventure. She asked Xam to wear his thickest boots and forbade him to bring along any friends: it was going to be their thing.

They walked for a long time and Xam could not understand Zàira had made him wear those damn boots in that scorching hot day.

Zàira had never been extremely talkative, so they walked a long way in silence until Xam, who was worn out, asked:

"How many miles before we get there?"

"Don't be a wuss. We're almost there." replied Zàira.

"I really hope it's worth it!"

"Yes, do not lose faith. All we need to do is climb up that hill."

"Let's see who gets there first." yelled Xam as he was beginning to run.

Zàira chased him, trying to stop him in any way, but Xam, who was caught up in the speed, did not hear her coming.

She managed to tackle him at the top of the hill.

Xam, who was lying face down and was amazed, turned toward her:

"Why did he jump on me?"

"Did you notice anything?" said Zàira, pointing at something over the hill with her finger. "Do you want to dive in?"

"Wow, you were right. It is amazing!"

An enchanted landscape was stretching in front of Xam's eyes: a big canyon before them.

It was not very wide, but they could see the bottom nonetheless. The sides were decorated with bright, horizontal shades. The colour was fair and golden the closer to the tip of the canyon, whilst it was redder the closer to the bottom. It was split into two parts: the first one, which was farther away from them, was covered in amethyst crystals that would reflect the colour of the rock. The second was full of huge, bell-shaped flowers in which two people could have easily been sitting down. The bells were tirelessly moving like a bellow. In this way they would allow the plant to store more oxygen and would initiate a scenographic choreography.

Weirdly, Xam felt that his body was lighter than usual. He was looking around amazed, and all that walking had made him hungry.

"Well, this is a real nice spot for a snack. I really hope that you brought some food in your backpack."

"You always think about food." smiled Zàira.

She pulled out of her backpack a rope. She took off her boots and tied it to some bushes. After that she got closer to the canyon.

Xam did not realise what his friend was up to.

He did not even have the time to ask that he saw Zàira jumping in the void. Fear got the very best of and they ran towards the edge to see where she had gone.

He overlooked the edge and saw Zàira laugh and float in the air.

In that instant he would have wanted to kill her considering how deep she had scared him, but at the same time he felt relieved and happy to see her.

Zàira quickly floated towards the edge and landed close to Xam.

"Are you insane? I thought you hit the rocks! You could've warned me!" he said angrily.

"And miss out on your face? You should've seen yourself." she said laughing very amused.

"Well done!" Xam replied ironically, who felt teased.

"Sorry, I did not mean to scare you." added Zàira realising that she maybe had gone over the top.

"Never mind. Instead, what are you doing with those air supplies?"

Asked Xam with a big smile on his face as he was thinking that he could not hold grudges with her.

They were usual supplies that were commonly used on Oria to clean out tractors radiators that would fill up with sand.

"They give the final push that I need to jump back in. The compressed air helped me accelerate and exceed the small increase in the gravitational pull by the edge."

"How are you flying?"

"It's magic..."

"Come on! Don't take the piss."

"Okay. Actually, right on this stop the combination between a low gravitational pull and the updraft created by the gigantic flowers is what allows us to fly. Come on. Take off your shoes and follow me."

"Are you insane?" he exclaimed, but he knew that he would not resist.

"Just stay away from the crystals." "You're not scared, are you?" Zàira teased him.

Xam sat down on the edge, took off his boots and tied them with together with Zàira's. Straight after that he realised that they were floating in the air and without them he was feeling even lighter. He could barely keep his feet on the ground.

"Keep this in the pocket." said the Orian while she was pulling out of her backpack two supplies. "The first time we'll dive in together."

They walked to the edge hand in hand and they dived into the void without hesitations, like only teens could.

They flew together for a while until Xam became more comfortable. Then Zàira releaved another surprise.

She dragged Xam by one of the flowers, which sucked them in. They fell onto a soft carpet of scented stamina. The flowers, which were deep blue on the outside, on the inside were either yellow or light pink with huge, orange stamina. Xam did not even have the time to get amazed that the both of them were delicately thrown out of the flower. The two friends began laughing non-stop.

Zàira tried to explain, among laughters, that the insides of the flowers would release a laughing liquid.

At that point, Xam was ready to fly on his own and he let go of Zàira, who up to the moment before was holding him tightly.

The fun had peaked and Xam kept going in and out of the flowers.

Zàira tried getting closer: she had forgotten not to overdose as the laughing liquid would end up making him lose touch with reality.

It was not long before that was going to happen. Xam had lost his mind and was getting dangerously close to the prohibited area.

Zàira thought she had to intervene before it was too late: the sharp crystal would kill him. Xam, however, was moving at the same speed as her. Hence, it would have been impossible to reach him. She pulled out from her pockets her air supplies and employed them to go faster. She reached her friend, who was laughing and had not realised about the imminent danger and dragged him away a second before he could hit the wall.

She carried him away from the flowers and did not let go of him until they were on the ground. As soon as they had reached the right updraft, she made him return the air supplies. She kept him tightly in her arms as she was taking him in shelter on the canyon edge.

They knew that they had almost risked their own life, but they could not stop laughing. They lied down on the ground, shoulder next to shoulder side by side, and happily waited for the effect of the laughter fluid to wear off before going back home.