The Lost Planet (excerpt)
By Emma
Chapter 1
Hello, my name is John Garvetto. You probably haven’t heard of me before. I live on the planet Sartak. Haven’t heard of that either? I don’t blame you. I am part of a top secret division of the United Nations. No one on earth knows of my existence. Except you, and a few others.
Sartak is approximately six trillion miles from earth. The United Nations discovered this planet back in 1990. They kept it hidden until they developed the technology to reach this planet. The UN first thought this planet was uninhabited, but they were very wrong. On Sartak, there are many new creatures not found on earth. That’s not all, weak civilizations have been found. That’s where I come in.
The UN has been sending genetically engineered people to Sartak to protect these civilizations. I am one of them. I have no family, because I was grown in a bubble. One of thousands, I am sent to Sartak marked as “disposable”. The wild creatures prowl the land looking for food, and tend to find it in the home of one of the villagers. Why do we protect these villages, you ask? Well, the answer is simple, Jaranium. Jaranium is the most powerful element in the universe. But there are others who want this ore too, we call them Dargons. Dargons are about eight feet tall, and extremely strong. The only thing that can hurt them are Jaranium weapons. We store the ores in the villages until pickup. But, anyway, here’s my story.
I hear the alarm clock beeping. I sit up and walk to the bathroom, which isn’t much in these villages. A hole dug in the ground for relieving yourself, and a basin of water for washing your hands and body. I get my uniform on and look in my small mirror. I see myself and sigh, I look awful. My mahogany hair is knotted and my eyes have black circles under them. Figures. I don’t get much sleep here. We are allowed four hours of sleep. Because we need to always be vigilant to protect these civilizations. I grab my steel bladed, rubber handled, Jaranium coated dagger, and my Z89 Pocus, which fires pure Jaranium bullets. The most lethal weapons against the Dargons.
I walk outside and see my team ready to report at the station. Behind them I see a stray Kergie sniffing a Lyntis tree. The Kergie is brown and has small ears, one ear is white and he has a small pink nose. He is less then three feet tall and reminds me of dogs back on earth.
“You coming, John?” Max shouts from the Jeep. I run towards my team in the camouflage jeep. Max looks like a lumberjack, with a Z89 instead of an axe, not a huge difference.
“When are you going to get a haircut, or at least shave?” I ask as I climb aboard the Jeep.
“Not in this lifetime, John.” Max says with a serious look in his face.
“Let’s get a move on boys!” Trinity says, ending our conversation. “We are needed at headquarters.”
We begin the half hour drive to HQ after checking with the town guard to make sure someone’s in guard. When we arrive, I notice something off today. There are at least fifty Jeeps exactly like ours parked in the clearing in front of the HQ. Normally there might be two of three, but fifty? I look at Max and we exchange looks. Trinity parks and we head inside. Once the doors close behind us, we see at least two hundred officers like us.
“What’s going on?” Max whispers to me and Trinity. There is no noise in the large room other than the small hush of voices.
“Don’t you think we are all wondering that?” Trinity says as she punches Max in the arm.
“Ouch!” Max yells as he rubs his bruising arm.
“Well, I don’t think they are wondering that.” I say as I motion towards four men standing up on the ledge, looking down at us. The man in front comes up to the mic.
“I have no doubt in my mind that most of you are wondering why you’re here. Well, I’m here to relieve you of that worry. Some of you have been chosen to be given an upgrade.” He starts reading a list of names, he reads seventy or so names and then he says my name. I perk up, better living conditions? New weapons? What could this upgrade be?
“If you heard your name, please come through the green door on the right.” He motions toward a door in the far right corner of the room. “There you will become acquaintedwith your new upgrades.” I look at Max and Trinity. They nod and I walk towards the door. I follow the stream of people into the door, and we line up against a wall in the new room. The officials start bringing out tablets and handing one to each person.
“You will all be receiving a Kergie to be your partners. Pick the Kergie you want front the available ones on the screen.” One of the larger officials say.
I look down and see many Kergies. None of which excite me, but then I see the one. Mahogany brown with black ears and black paws. I tap on his picture and see his name is Lucky. We’ll be changing that one. I put my name and officer number down for this Kergie. I set the tablet down on the table at the front of the room and walk back to my seat. I sit down for what feels like ages, watching the other officers pick their Kergies. Then I hear my name called. I look to the front of the room and see an officer looking straight at me. I get up and walk towards him. We walk through the rows upon rows of Kergie kennels until I see him. Lucky yips at me as if knowing I was his new owner. The official hands me a leash and tells me to take Lucky home with me. He gives me the tablet and tells me this is how I will order my new supplies for Lucky. I leash up Lucky easily and I walk out to Trinity and Max. They both look surprised and clap.
“Didn’t see this one coming.” Max says as he scratches Lucky’s head.
“What’s his name?” Trinity asks.
“I don’t know yet, it’s Lucky right now, but I think that will change.” I say.
“Yeah, Lucky is the most unlucky name.” Max laughs.
We loaded lucky into his crate and strapped it down to the back of the jeep. We were only a short way into the drive home when our HQ emergency alert started flashing and beeping. Max reaches down and presses the flashing button. We here a voice coming through.
“This is NOT a drill. Please return to your villages now, village number forty-three is under attack.”
I tense, knowing forty-three is my village. I saw Max and Trinity exchange looks.
“Trinity, step on it! We need to get back to help!” I yell. I hear Trinity’s foot slam on the accelerator and we fly down the dirt road. We get back to the village in less than five minutes. I see our village captain hiding behind a house, shooting at the Dargons. I grab Lucky’s leash and sprint towards the chief. He greets me with a shout.
“Officer! Where have you been? We need cover fire over in the south part of the village! They are going for the Jaranium!”
“Yes Sir!” I respond. I begin to run towards the south, and Lucky runs by my side. As I get to the southern part of the village, I see at least twenty Dargons shooting at our men. I run over to Officer Jack.
“John! There you are! I see you got one of the Kergies!” I look next to him, and I see a Kergie. One that is all black and is a bigger than Lucky.
“I see you got one too, Jack!” I respond as I aim at one of the Dargons. I focus on one a little farther from the rest of the Dargons. I see he has a knife resembling a machete. He turns and sees me. My finger tightens on the trigger of my Z89. We lock eyes. I can see deep in his eyes that he is scared, he doesn’t want to be there. He begins to run towards me, Jack, and our Kergies. I fire. The Dargon’s eyes go wide, and he falls to the ground, limp. I look over at Jack and I see he is holding his shoulder. “Jack!” I shout. I see blood seeping through his shirt. I grab my radio from my belt. “We need medical personnel over in sector eight of village. Officer Jack Whipple is shot. In the shoulder, yes. What? Wait he needs help!” I put my radio back on my belt and tell Jack. “They aren’t sending anyone because the fighting is still active. We will have to get you over to them ourselves.” I rip a piece of cloth from my shirt and wrap his shoulder with it. I wrap his good arm around my neck and call the Kergies. We walk slowly towards the medical hut, away from the shooting, keeping behind huts and in the shadows where we can. Though shadows were hard to find at three in the afternoon.
I get Jack to the medical hut and lay him on one of the cots. There are at lest ten men there already. I tell Jack to get better, and put his Kergie on his lap, because he desperately wanted to find out what was wrong with his master. The Kergie started to lick his shoulder with his raindrop shaped tongue. As I turn to leave. Jack slaps me in the back with his good arm and says thanks. I wave and run back out the the fighting. I hear silence, which I think is good. And I see a bunch of dead Dargons. I hear a broadcast from my radio.
“Attention, village forty-three is safe, so is the Jaranium. You may return to your regular schedules.”
I exhale and look at Lucky. He looks at me and wags his tails. “Come on boy,” I say. “Let’s go home.”
Chapter 2
I sit at my small table and eat my dinner. I look down and see Lucky, basically inhaling his food. I laugh, which doesn’t happen very often. Lucky looks up at me and barks. I jump a little and look around. I bring my face down to Lucky’s and say, “Come on boy, you have to be quiet. Most of the villagers are sleeping. Speaking of,” I yawn, “I think it’s time for bed.”
The next day I wake up bright and early, as all the guards do. I look down at a Lucky and he is still asleep, I decide to let him sleep and go into the kitchen. I grab myself a packet of food. It’s a small pouch with a meal of dehydrated food. I fill the pouch with water and let it sit on my rickety table. I grab some of Lucky’s food and pour it in his bowl. He comes running out of the bedroom and dives into his food. I smile and walk back over to my food. It has no flavor, but is packed with the nutrients us guards need. I hear the Jeep pulling up to my hut. I grab Lucky’s leash and my pack, then I head outside.
Lucky’s not far behind as I get to the Jeep. I throw my stuff into the back and clip my radio to my belt. Then I hop in and Lucky follows suit.
“Yesterday was something, right?” Max says from the passenger seat.
“No kidding,” I reply as I hop into the back seats.
“So today we have to patrol the outer part of the village.” Trinity tells us.
Max groans. None of us like patrolling. Lucky howls from right next to me. Max laughs but I scold Lucky. We start driving through the forest of Lyntis trees. The trees have white bark and long branches. Hanging from the branches are little pink leaves. Lyntis trees are downright beautiful. I’m admiring the trees when Trinity brings me back to reality.
“John? Do you see that?” Trinity asks.
I grab my binoculars out of my pack, and look through them in the direction Trinity motioned.
“Pull over!” I shout to Trinity. She swerves to the right and parks on the side of the road. I swing over the edge of the Jeep and run to a small figure lying in the grass. As I get over, I realize what it was. It was a half-dead Dargon.
“Is that what I think it is?” Max says from behind me. I turn to see Trinity and Max walking over to me.
“I think it is.” I reply.
“I’ll take care of it.” Trinity says as she swings her Z89 Pocus over her shoulder to her front side.
I step in front of her, “Wait a second, we can’t just kill it, we are supposed to be the good guys. Not the ones who kill for sport.” I see a look in Trinity’s eyes that says she wants to kill it and get it over with, but also agrees with me. She sighs and swings it back behind her. I turn to face the baby Dargon.
“Max, grab the medical kit from the Jeep.” I say.
“You got it boss.” Max replies as he jogs over to the jeep. He returns moments later with a first-aid kit. As I examine the Dargon closer, I realize this is no baby, this is a Dargon that is what we humans would call a fourteen or fifteen year old. I grab the gauze and start to stop the Dargon’s bleeding. Max winces as I give it a shot of antibiotics and reach for the towel. I wrap the Dargon in the towel and carry it to the jeep. I lay it down in the back seat.
“Come on guys, let’s go.” I say to my team. Trinity jogs over towards the driver’s seat, and Max grabs the med kit. They hop into the front two seats and I sit down next to the Dargon. As I look at the Dargon, I realize it’s face looks very similar to that of a human’s. I feel bad for it, I rest my hand on its back and watch the road.
“John, what do you plan to do with that thing?” Trinity asks from the driver’s seat.
“He is going to name it and keep it as a pet.” Max says jokingly, I shoot him a look and tell Trinity.
“I don’t know, but I knew I couldn’t just leave it there.”
“Well, you know you won’t be able to keep it hidden for long in a military camp that is trying to keep these things out.” Trinity says, and I realize she’s right. The chief comes over every week to my hut. That would not work out well.
“Trinity, I want you to take care of it.” I say.
“What?” Max says. Trinity slams on the brakes.
“John, no way I am taking that into my home!” She says. Then, I see her eyes drift toward the sleeping Dargon. I see a faint change in her facial expression. “Fine.”
“I will come over tonight and help get it settled,” I tell her.
“Wait, how will we get it in? They will see it sleeping there!” Max notices. I hear Trinity mumble an unpleasant word under her breath. I think for a moment, then I grab the tarp from the back and lay it over the Dargon. Giving Max a thumbs up, he sighs and hides his head in his hands.
“We are so dead.” He says.
Chapter 3
I look up and see that we are pulling up to the village. Trinity stops in front of the check station, and we all show the guard our badges. He looks at the badges, then at us.
“What’s in the back?” He asks.
“Our extra supplies.” Trinity lies. He looks at Trinity, clearly suspicious. Then lets us in. I hear Max exhale, relieved. Trinity drives Max to his hut, Max hops out and waves.
“See you tomorrow guys!” Max shouts. He walks inside and shuts the door.
“I will help you get our friend into your hut.” I say.
“No, I think I got it. You go get some rest.” She reaches over and scratches Lucky’s head. Then she scratches mine, and I slap her hand off. She laughs as she pulls up to my hut. I get Lucky’s leash on him and walk him inside, I stop at the door and turn around.
“You sure I can’t help?” I ask Trinity.
“I’m sure. See you later!” She responds. I turn around and walk inside. After I grab something to eat, I set my laptop on the table. Lucky lays by my feet. I start researching Dargons. Things they eat and whatnot. Then I get a video call from Trinity. I join the call, and see Max and Trinity’s faces pop up on the screen.
“What’s up?” I ask.
“Well, our little friend here was starting to wake up, and I decided to wait for us all to be here to let it wake up.” Trinity says.
Confused, I ask her, “What do you mean?”
Max sighs, “She gave the thing more of the anesthetics.”
I look at Trinity, “Sorry. I was a little bit afraid.” Her eyes tell me she isn’t lying, she was afraid. I look at the clock.
“Max and I will be there in five minutes,” I tell her.
“What!” Max says. “I’m tired I don’t want to go anywhere right now!”
I interrupt him and repeat, “Max and I will be there in five minutes.” Max groans and leaves the call.
“Thanks John,” Trinity says.
“No problem,” I say as I leave the call. As I stand up, Lucky jumps up and puts his large round paws on my leg. “Down boy!” I say, “Sit. stay.” I tell him. I grab my pack and walk out the door. As I shut the door on Lucky, he starts howling. I walk back inside and grab his food, I pour him a bowl of kibble and walk out again, this time, he is silent. Relieved, I start walking to Trinity’s hut, which is only a couple huts down. I knock on the door and Max opens it. He taps his watch.
“Tsk tsk, your a minute late John,” He shakes his head and taps his watch.
“Lucky put up a fight about me leaving.” I say.
“Guys!” Trinity whisper-shouts, “It’s waking up!” We crowd around the Dargon, it opens it’s eyes. It looks at us, then runs for a corner. It scratches at the corner of the hut, looking for escape.
“It looks more afraid of us than we are of it,” Max observes. I walk towards it and hand it a Kergie treat. Trinity looks at me and lifts an eyebrow. I put a finger to my mouth, telling her to be quiet. The Dargon takes the treat, sniffs it, and eats it.
Trinity looks at me, “What are we going to do with it?”
Looking at the Dargon, I sigh. “I don’t know, I didn’t really plan past this point.”
Max exhales, “Well, guys. This has been fun, but we better get back.”
I look at Trinity, “He’s right. They will notice we’re gone any time now.” Max gets up and starts to walk out to the Jeep. “Will you be okay tonight?” I ask Trinity, motioning to the Dargon.
She looks at the Dargon, then at me, “I think I’ll be fine. He seems pretty scared.” She says.
“That’s what I’m afraid of.” I say, then I get up to meet Max at the Jeep.
The next day, I wake up early and walk with Lucky to Trinity’s hut.
On the way over, I wonder if Max is already there, or if he slept in and left us to deal with the Dargon. The door opens as I get to the hut. Trinity stands in the doorway.
“John! Come look!” She says.
I walk over and see Max sitting at Trinity’s table. He nods his head toward the Dargon, who was sitting on a chair in the corner of Trinity’s hut.
“John, were you aware these things can talk?” Trinity asks.
“No.” I say plainly.
“What’s your name little guy?” Trinity asks the Dargon.
“What’s a ‘name’?” He asks, his eyes move to me, I smile at him.
“See, John?” Trinity turns to the Dargon, “Well if your going to be staying with me, your going to need need a name.”
“I got it, his name should be Daniel.” Max says.
Trinity rolls her eyes, “He obviously should be a Jacob.”
“How about we ask him?” I say.
They both sigh, and my gaze moves to the Dargon. “What do you want your name to be?”
He looks at everyone, “What are your names?” He asks softly.
I tell him our names, and he starts to think. We sat in silence as the little guy thought for a while. “I don’t know.” He smiles.
“How about James.” I say.
“James?” He says.
“Sure.” I smile at him.
He gives a little smile, “I like that.”
~~~~
The next day I wake up to a loud beeping noise. I turn over and see a red light flashing on my mobile. Knowing that means an emergency, I reach for the mobile.
“3679 please report.”
“John Garvetto reporting in.” I said.
“Are you 3679?” The dispatcher asked. I sighed. Dispatch never uses our real names.
“Yes, 3679 reporting in.”
“Please report to your village central. Dargons are surrounding the village.”
“Okay, I’m leaving now,” Lucky lifts his head to look at me. “Come on boy, duty calls.”
As we are driving to the village center, I get a moment to think. What is a normal life on earth like? To have a family, a normal job, a life other than war. I don’t get long to think though, because soon enough we are there. I see all the village guards surrounding our commander. As I approach, I look for Max and Trinity. I see Max standing at the far end of the crowd and walk over.
“Have you seen Trinity?” I asked him.
“I was about to ask you the same thing.” Max said. Worried, I open my mobile and check for any messages from Trinity.
Nothing.
I try to not be worried about her, and pay attention to the commander. He gives us our orders and I head over to defensive barracks number six. I rest my Z89 Pocus on the sandbags and look through the scope. I scan the bushes, waiting for anything that suggests the Dargons are beginning their attack. Thirty minutes go by with no activity, in fact, the forest seems to get quieter with all the guns pointed at it. I pry my eyes away from the scope and look at Max, who’s stationed right next to me.
“Nothing. What’s going on? Why did they come surround the village just to leave? It makes no sense.” I say to him.
“I have no clue, but I’m getting even more worried about Trinity. She still hasn’t shown.”
“Maybe she isn’t stationed with us?”
“Unlikely. We are a unit, we always work together.”
“True.” I say. I hear a notification arrive on my mobile. It’s from the commander.
“All troops, please return to your normal schedules.”
“Let’s go find Trinity.” I say to Max.
Chapter 4
Max parks the jeep in front of Trinity’s hut. The lights are on, which I think is a good sign. Max knocks on the door, and thank goodness, Trinity answered.
“Trinity, where we’re you during the meeting?” Max asks.
“Well, our friend James here was getting restless and I was afraid he would get out. I decided it would be better to stay and take care of him.” Trinity says.
“That’s reasonable, and how’s James doing?” I ask.
Trinity smiles, “He seems to be doing fine.” She gestures us in and we see James, sitting at Trinity’s table. He’s eating a portion of Trinity’s food. Max motions is over into the next room. He looks concerned. We follow, not knowing what he was going to say.
“Do you guys have any idea how much trouble we will be in if the authorities find out what we have here? We are harboring a freaking Dargon here. They are the ones we are here to kill! How do we know he isn’t a spy, trying to find out ways to destroy the village and everyone in it, not to mention steal all the Jaranium!” Max sighs. “Look guys, I know how much James means to you. But I can’t trust him until we know what he was up to.” I look at Trinity and she’s nodding, thinking.
Trinity sighs. “I hate to say it, but I think Max is on to something. We don’t know what James was doing out there.”
Max looks at me. He has a grin that says “I told you so.” I turn around and start to think that, maybe they’re right. What if James really is a monster like the rest of his kind? I look back in the other room at James. He looks up and gives an attempt at a smile. I turn back to my team.
“Listen guys, I don’t care what you think James is up to, whether he is a spy or just lost. I’m going to trust him until he gives me a reason not to.” Max and Trinity exchange looks.
“Okay, but if he does anything sketchy, I will put a Jaranium bullet right through his head.” Max says, and to make his point he pokes my forehead.
Trinity puts her hands together. “Well! Let’s go talk to James, I’m sure he needs to be talked to.” At that, we go back into the room with James. He’s sitting at the table with his same attempt at a grin. “Hey James, how are you?”
“Oh, I’m good.” He says.
“Can we ask you a few questions?” Trinity asks. Her voice is kind.
“Sure, I guess.”
“What were you doing in that field where we found you?” She asks. His smile fades.
“What field?”
~~~~
Later we are sitting at my table, discussing what to do about James. We are all drinking our coffee substitute, and Lucky is licking my boot.