Aboard the Lost Starship Japheth

Copyright Lee Daniel 2021

Lee Daniel asserts the right to be identified as the author of this publication in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

All right reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior permission of the author and publisher.

ABOARD THE LOST STARSHIP JAPHETH

Lee Daniel

CHAPTER I

Japheth

Dax Shepard’s Honeybee starship emerged from foldspace.

He took hold of the controls and suddenly realised he hadn’t emerged where he expected. Where he expected to be nearing the orbit of a giant, ringed planet in shimmering blue, He found they were still in deep space.

  “Geena, where in the blazes are we?” he asked aloud.

A female face flickered onto the screen, delicate with a tight blonde ponytail.

  “Sorry, I picked something up and I couldn’t not investigate.”

  “What did you find?” Shepard asked.

  “Head toward the marker on your radar.” she replied.

He pulled the Honeybee’s controls toward the flashing green dot on his radar, which as they approached, he began to make out the shape of an enormous cylinder. Getting closer, it began to inform him of its sheer scale. Miles and miles of thick, rotating cylinder and Shepard’s history knowledge suddenly caught up with him.

  “It looks exactly like one of the pre-lightspeed generation ships!” he announced.

Approaching closer, they saw the ship’s name, its aged dark-yellow stencilling still recognisable enough.

JAPHETH .

Shepard gasped.

  “It can’t be…” he muttered. “Geena, tell me about the three generation ships that set off during the old era.”

A render of a cylindrical starship appeared on the screen as Geena recited;

  “The generation ships, Shem, Hem and Japheth left earth over two thousand years ago on their three-century sub-light speed trips to three potentially habitable planets. Contact with the Japheth was lost after one-hundred and thirteen years. Fifty years later, humanity discovered foldspace, and the first faster-than-light travel. Two starships caught up with the Shem and Hem, taking their passengers instantly to their new home. The Japheth was sadly never found.”

  “Until now.” Shepard muttered, awestruck at this enormous, ancient vessel, like an anthropologist finding an early stone megalith.

  “It’s still rotating, generating gravity, and the engines are still working, though it is far, far from its original course.” Geena observed.

As he neared, he saw that the ship’s shuttle bay was open.

  “That should be where all the repair shuttles and landing craft would be docked. It’s empty...” observed Geena.

Flying inside, Shepard landed the Honeybee. He frowned when the bay door didn’t shut. Donning his helmet, Geena asked “Will you be proceeding on the Aphid, or on foot?”

  “On foot. I have no idea what to expect in there, I imagine the Aphid would be difficult to manoeuvre.” the Starfarer replied.

Shepard climbed down from the cockpit and entered the Honeybee’s airlock. The outer hatch opened and Shepard nervously stepped down onto the metal floor. The silence and lack of reaction was unnerving, especially as the ship was quite possibly still crewed.

He approached the shuttle bay console and entered the “close” command.

The shuttle bay door whirred and closed shut. Red beacons flashed along the ceiling as the bay pressurised, then the lights finally turned green before switching off.

Shepard’s helmet display gave him the “safe atmosphere” alert.

Removing his helmet, Shepard walked over to the airlock that would lead into the hab-area.

Exhaling, Shepard drew his pistol and pressed the door release.

He entered and waited for the airlock to cycle, taking cover behind the door frame.

With a whoosh, the air stabilized and the hatch slid open.

Peering out, Shepard gasped.

Dense forest utterly obscured any view of anything. He stepped out and the door slid shut behind him. Ominously, clay-like brown-red paint was smeared across the hatch, an unsettling skull-like daubing.

Shepard headed into the forest. Suddenly, faint screaming became audible through the trees, and the explorer began dashing toward the desperate cries.

Approaching a path, he saw a group of four men, naked except for ornaments made of bone worn about their waists and necks. The bones were unmistakably human. Each was armed with a spear, and they carried a naked girl tied to a wooden pole.

By now, her screams had turned to sobs and wails of despair as she struggled weakly against her restraints.

Shepard stepped onto the path in front of the men, pistol trained on them.

  “What’s going on here?” he demanded.

The four men snarled, their features seemingly more primitive than men’s, as if whatever they had been through in this place had seen them devolve into lesser men. Without hesitation, they bounded into attack, dropping the girl who landed heavily, the wind being knocked out of her.

Shepard’s pistol flashed twice as he felled the first two tribesmen, then he drew his cutlass, preparing for the remaining two.

The first dashed forth and thrust his spear, Shepard deftly dodging, gripping the outstretched spear and delivering a felling slash to the tribesman. Seemingly undaunted, the final tribesman slashed, an undisciplined, wide attack which Shepard easily outstepped, then leapt back into the tribesman’s wide open form and ran him through with his cutlass.

The man yelped weakly and fell, lifeless.

Shepard dashed to the captured girl. He slashed her bindings, and now free, she leapt into his arms, weeping with relief.

  “Thank you, thank you.” she wept.

  “Where were they taking you?” Shepard asked.

  “To their village, to be food, or...” she gulped. Shepard nodded, understanding.

  “Will you take me to your village? I need to know what’s going on here.” Shepard insisted.

The girl nodded, and got to her feet.

She cautiously approached the fallen tribesmen and took from one of them a set of coverings made of large, thick leaves, tieing them about her chest and waist.

What was this world Shepard found himself in? Were the inhabitants of this craft even aware they were in a spaceship? They were little  more advanced than cavemen.

She began leading him back where the tribesmen had carried her, heading deeper into the hab.

After a few minutes, she seemed to relax somewhat and turned to Shepard beside her.

  “Thank you for saving me, outsider. The flesh-eaters are a vicious pack of animals.”

  “Flesh-eaters?” Shepard asked ominously.

The girl nodded. “My people eat what grows in the farms our ancestors left us. But the flesh-eaters broke away from us many, many years ago and began eating other people. It turned them into the monsters they are today.”

Shepard shuddered at the centuries of cannibalism that must have taken place aboard this ship.

  “So who are you? How did you get here?” the girl asked Shepard.

  “I flew here in my spaceship. I’m a Starfarer. I explore the unmapped corners of the universe, and if I find something of interest to earth, I make a report and mark it with a beacon so that people from earth can find it and investigate.”

  “A spaceship? Earth? I’ve heard of those things in stories. The elders say we live onboard a great big ship that was sailing to a new home, after our ancestors left earth, but the ancestors of the flesh-eaters broke all the instruments that we were using to find the way and we’ve been lost ever since.” the girl explained sadly.

  “What if I told you I could take you to your new home? Where you would  be safe from the flesh-eaters forever?” Shepard offered.

The girl turned to him with sheer glee on her face.

  “You mean that? You are here to save us?” she beamed.

Shepard nodded. “Once we get back to your village I can talk to your elders and discuss the best way to get you off this ship.”

The girl turned to Shepard and hugged him, squeezing him tightly.

CHAPTER II

The Village

The lighting in the ceiling had begun to dim, beginning the ship’s night-time sequence when the pair finally came to a clearing in the forest, with a tall, timber wall rising twice as tall as a man.

They approached the timber gate and the girl called up “Dorn! It’s me, let me in!”

A young man armed with a spear peered over the edge. Seeing her he immediately jumped and leapt down, opening the gate.

  “Neela! Sister, you’re alive!” he beamed. “I was sure the flesh-eaters had you!”

  “They did, but I was saved.” the girl smiled, turning to Shepard. The young man with the spear turned and started at the sight of Shepard in his bodyformed explorer suit, with its harness carrying his pistol, cutlass and utility belt.

  “He’s from earth. He’s here to save us!”

The young warrior ushered them into the village, and Shepard found himself among the shapes he recognised as the single-storey homesteads common aboard ships that were meant to be lived aboard, but the foliage aboard the Japheth had grown so that the steel structures were seemingly entirely entwined with reeds.

The village bustled with villagers, all wearing their hair in long braids, all clad in leafy coverings about their waists, and about the women’s chests. Were it not for the constant threat of the flesh-eaters, this place seemed like an idyllic commune.

They approached the home at the centre, and the young soldier Dorn called for the elder.

An elderly man, leaning on a cane swung open the door and regarded Shepard.

His mouth dropped and he raised his arm. Turning his forearm, Shepard saw the clear shape of a figure in a primitive space suit.

  “Every leader of this village must bear the mark of our ancestors.” the man explained, disbelief in his voice. “Do my ageing eyes not deceive me? Are you really an earth-ancestor come to save us after all these centuries? To take us off this ship and take us to the promised land?”

Shepard nodded.

The old man threw his arms around Shepard and dragged him out of the house.

  “Come! Let us eat and celebrate your arrival tonight! Tomorrow we shall plan our escape!”

In the centre of the village, a fire embered, seemingly kept permanently alive, but brought fully to life on an evening about which the village would socialise and cook.

Finding it wise to fit in, Shepard had his explorer suit retract into the harness, and he took a spare set of leaf coverings from the village elder. While he still wore his harness, weaponry and utility belt, he was barefoot and bare chested in the manner of the villagers’ dress.

Wooden platters of brown matter and thick, leafy plants were brought out, and the brown matter was placed on a stick to be roasted over the fire. Once cooked, the food would be wrapped in the thick leaf and eaten, and Neela came to him, sitting beside him and passing him a wrap.

Realising his hunger, he took a large bite, and found the meal surprisingly pleasant.

The girl beamed at him from beneath the ring of flowers she had placed on her head. Wooden pitchers of drink were passed around, which Shepard realised were some kind of alcohol that the villagers were able to distill from something.

Platters of a fruit, unknown to Shepard began to be passed around, and upon tasting the sweet flesh, determined this to be the source of the alcohol.

  “So where does your food come from?” Shepard asked the elder, seated beside him.

  “Our ancestors left us their farms. They are completely self-sustaining, and every morning, fresh batches of fungi, leaves and fruit have rotated to be harvested.” the elder explained.

  “Rotated?” Shepard asked.

  “Yes, inside several of the buildings are ancient machines that automatically rotate our food. I can only assume there are vast, automated paddies of crops growing in the belly of this ship that rotate, allowing us access to just enough to sustain our village every day.”

Shepard nodded, impressed at the ingenuity with which this ancient craft had been built. It had, after all, left earth near two thousand years ago.

Neela never left his side all night, and whenever other women of the village approached to meet him, she regarded them as a housecat regards anything that approaches its food.

They ate and drank, and once the meal was over, drums were brought out, and the villagers began to dance. Neela dragged Shepard to his feet, and by the heat of the fire, he learned the steps from her, drawing much laughter to his inexperience.

The elder chuckled and bumped into Shepard, quickly telling him “Her family has been hassling her to marry, it appears she has found a suitor at long last.” at which he laughed aloud, and Shepard turned to Neela who gazed at him with doe-like eyes.

As the night dwindled and the villagers retreated to bed, Neela had nodded to sleep on Shepard’s shoulder. He nudged her and she started awake.

  “The elder has offered me a bed in his house. I’ll walk you home first though.” he offered.

She took his hand and led him through the village, away from the fire to a small homestead.

She pushed open the door and they stepped inside.

Shepard leaned in and kissed her cheek.

  “Good night. I’ll see you tomorrow?” he asked.

  “Or…” Neela offered bashfully, gently placing her hand on the coverings over her chest; “You could stay with me.” she suggested, gazing at him with a tentative bite of her lip. She unfastened her chest covering and let it fall. Bare-chested, she stepped forward and pressed herself against him, tilting her head up, her lips meeting his.

He coiled his arms around her and she began leading him backward without releasing the kiss until they fell onto her bed.

CHAPTER III

The Plan

The next day, as Shepard and Neela entered the elder’s home, the old man chuckled.

  “I hope you let our visitor get enough sleep, girl.”

  “Some.” she giggled, and Shepard squeezed her.

  “I’ll leave you to your planning,” Neela said. “I have to do my chores. I’ll see you around the fire tonight.”

She kissed Shepard and turned, holding his wistful gaze as her feminine form swayed away.

The men sat at a table with a handful of the elder’s guards, including Dorn. He seemed pleased that his sister had claimed the village’s apparent saviour as a mate, especially after hearing the story of how he had slain four flesh-eaters with ease to save her.

The men sat at the table for much of the day, the villagers discussing what they knew about the flesh-eaters and the threat they posed to an exodus from the village, and how Shepard could get them safely off the ship.

The villagers, while they understood they were on a ship, they had no frame of reference to understand deep space. They took the word “ship” in its nautical sense, as they had man-made lakes on the ship and had experience with raft making, but the concept of space and its dangers took a little explaining.

The flesh-eaters had several camps, and seemingly had a more nomadic existence to the villagers, as they roamed restlessly about the ship. It was explained that a certain herb grew randomly in the forest which was crucial to keeping a good yield from the food paddies. The flesh-eaters seemingly followed this herb’s patternless growth and guarded it so that whenever parties of villagers came to harvest it, they could capture themselves a fresh source of meat. They had their own slave-race of people that was even more degenerated than they were, which they treated with absolute malice until they were too weak or old to be useful at which time they ate them, but no meat tasted better than a healthy villager, raised on the fungi, sweet fruit and vegetation.

The plan they determined was thus;

Shepard would return to the Honeybee with a small group of warriors, who would then guard the shuttle bay airlock.

Aboard the Honeybee, Shepard would quickly complete a report for earth detailing the urgency with which they need  help, activate the beacon, then begin the painstaking task of escorting the thousand villagers to the shuttle hangar and hope the flesh-eaters make no large scale attack.

Dorn, a bold, passionate young man, expressed his wish to launch their own full-scale attack on the flesh-eaters and wipe them out once and for all, but the elder scolded him. Were the flesh-eaters all contained in a single village as they were, they would have attacked them long ago, but the flesh-eaters were scattered across the whole hab in smaller groups. They would wipe out a group, then find themselves assailed on all sides by nearby groups. Once they had lost enough warriors, then the village would be utterly enslaved by the flesh-eaters.

Plan formulated, the elder stood.

  “Tomorrow then. Feast and be merry tonight. We must explain this great trial we have ahead to the rest of the village.”

That night, before the villagers began eating, the elder stood on a platform, so all the villagers could see. He explained what was to happen the next day, and while they were excited to escape the ship and finally reach the promised land their ancestors had set off for two millennia ago, there was much fear.

Shepard was reunited with Neela, and they ate and drank together, before sneaking away early to be alone.

As they lay together in her bed, laid beneath a cool bed sheet woven from a cotton-like plant found out in the fields, glistening with exertion, Shepard turned onto his side and propped up his head.

  “I have to travel back to my ship in the morning. I promise you I’ll come back for you.” he said.

She lifted her head and tenderly kissed him.

  “You promise?” she asked with her huge, innocent eyes.

Shepard took her hand. “I promise.”

CHAPTER IV

Flesh-Eaters

The next morning, Shepard donned his harness but kept the explorer suit retracted. The hab was warm and he had better mobility without it. He wished he had more weaponry to share with the four warriors that were to accompany him, as his pistol and cutlass were far more effective than the warrior’s spears.

They left the village and began their journey toward the shuttle bay, moving cautiously through the dense forest.

Some distance from the village, Dorn raised his fist, halting the others.

They crouched and listened as the sound of rustling came from directly behind them but ceased when the warriors stopped moving.

Shepard crept closer to the source of the rustling, pistol drawn and leapt around a tree, ready to fire.

Instead, he swore.

  “You damned idiot! What are you doing out here?” he snapped at Neela, lowering his pistol.

  “I’m sorry! I couldn’t let you or my brother face this danger alone!” she pleaded.

Dorn shook his head. “You’re a bloody fool, sister.”

Shepard frowned. “It’s too dangerous to let you go back alone and we can’t split up or turn back. Just stay close by.”

They managed to make their way through the forest uneventfully, and sighs of relief were breathed as they reached the shuttle bay airlock.

The ominous daubed skull gazed back at them as they approached.

  “What is the meaning of that daubing?” Shepard asked.

  “The flesh-eaters painted it. They believe it is a doorway to hell. They are a superstitious lot.” Dorn explained.

As they entered the small clearing and approached the door, Shepard got an uneasy feeling, and just as he opened his mouth to voice a warning, the trees surrounding them rustled and from them leapt a dozen flesh-eater warriors, who immediately set upon the escape team.

Shepard’s pistol flashed as he shot down two, then he drew his cutlass and fended off two others, keeping Neela behind him, and he watched as each warrior took down a further flesh-eater each but were overpowered by their numbers and he watched them fall to slashes from the monster’s spears.

Fending off three of them with his sword, he felt one of them catch him with his spear, opening a wound on his thigh. Another one slashed his arm.

After a few more seconds of fighting, his vision began to swim, and he realised that the flesh-eater’s spears must have been edged with some kind of potent poison. He fought his best to resist, but his body failed to obey, and he eventually fell, paralysed, though still conscious. Catching the eyes of one of his comrades, he realised they too were similarly poisoned, and hadn’t been killed as he had feared, though being captured alive by savage cannibals may well prove worse.

They captured Neela with little struggle, and tied their captives’ wrists and ankles to poles.

Only eight flesh-eaters had survived the fight, so the larger and stronger flesh eaters among them carried two captives on their shoulders.

Shepard watched one of the flesh eaters retrieve his pistol and cutlass, observing the pistol with evident confusion.

Shepard was grateful the creature seemingly had no understanding of safety switches.

The group carried their prey deep into the forest, and the hab’s night was deep before they reached their camp; a clearing with leaf-covered huts and wooden cages surrounding a central fire. Decorative bones hung everywhere, and the crust of dried blood coloured much of the camp a reddish-brown. It became clear that the bulk of the tribe slept on the floor, as there were many patches of foliage piled into bedding scattered about the camp. The huts were likely reserved for the higher members of the tribe.

As the hunters brought in their prizes, the rest of the tribe circled them excitedly, examining them, squeezing their arms and legs, and cooing over the captured girl.

They were stripped and thrown naked into individual wooden cages, and Shepard watched his harness and weapons be claimed by the camp’s physically-largest flesh-eater.

Their cages were surrounded as the flesh-eaters sat and watched their captives, most attention on Shepard for his unusuality, and Neela, who sat naked in her cage while the male flesh-eaters leered and snickered at her.

Gradually, the poison wore off the prisoners, and one of the warriors asked aloud,

  “What will they do with us?”

Neela’s brother sat resolutely in his cage, lip curled with sheer hatred as he stared down the flesh-eaters. Coldly, he replied “They will spend the next few days eating us one at a time. They will pick one of us, drag him out of his cage, kill him and butcher him right in front of us. He’ll be cooked over that fire and will probably last them two days.

Then, they will do the same again until we have all been eaten. I’m more worried, however, about Neela. They only eat women when they have exhausted their usefulness.”

  “Damn Dorn, don’t sugar-coat it, tell the man the truth.” Shepard replied dryly.

A fatalistic chuckle sounded among them all.

Suddenly, excitement erupted among the flesh-eaters, and Shepard’s cage was untied.

He shook his head and swore.

Standing, he walked out of his cage, surrounded by a dozen poisoned spears that guided him, mysteriously, not toward the fire as he anticipated, but deeper into the camp, toward the largest hut. He was led inside and forced to his knees, where seemingly, a throne of wood and bone sat.

Within, was reclined an ancient, sickly old man, his skin sunken and pale, what little hair remained was long and wispy.

It was clear the flesh-eaters revered this man as little less than a god.

He leant forward, his milky eyes slowly focusing on Shepard.

CHAPTER V

The Commander

  “So you are the one who arrived from outside.” he observed with a far greater grasp of language than Shepard anticipated. Observing him better, Shepard realised this man’s features were closer to the villagers’, rather than the degenerated, almost simian-like features and gait of the other flesh eaters.

  “Who are you?” Shepard asked.

The old man chuckled and reclined back into his chair.

  “So the human race sadly still exists. It was only a matter of time until we were found. Does anyone else know you’re here? Is any help coming?” he asked.

Shepard frowned. “Your pets stopped me calling for help just before I reached my ship.”

  “You didn’t even waste your time trying to bluff, you clearly understand I am not the same as my children.” the old man answered. “Entertain an old man, tell me what has become of humanity since I destroyed all contact with them all those years ago.”

Shepard became suddenly confused. “You did that? It was over a thousand years ago!”

The old man cackled and nodded. “My word, has it really been that long? Golly. Yes, you see the three ships that left earth all those years ago had a secret. The Commander of each ship underwent a secret procedure which would greatly reduce their ageing, allowing each ship to have only one mission Commander from launch to colonisation that would provide them a connection to their past. A keeper of ship morale for those tricky middle generations that never saw earth and would never see their new home.

Only I  enjoy it here. I had no desire to ever reach our planet. The world’s greatest minds came together all those years ago to create three paradises in space that could support humans indefinitely, and all they wanted to do was get to the next filthy planet and dismantle this floating heaven for scrap.

Here, I am the Commander, but once we had landed, the crew would scatter across the new planet and create their own little colonies and democracies.

A little improvised explosive charge on the hull to simulate an impact, and the sky was mine forever. No navigation, no outside communication. The crew were very divided, and the more fanatic my loyalists grew, the further from civilization they drifted.”

  “So you just watched your crew turn into cannibals.” Shepard muttered, shaking his head.

  “I merely let nature take its course. Only the strong survive, and my crew are certainly strong.” the Commander said.  “Your turn. Tell me of humanity.”

Shepard shrugged. “Faster-than-light travel came about quite soon after contact with the Japheth was lost. We caught up with Shem and Hem and took them to their new homes.

Humanity has spread across much of the known universe now, and explorers like me venture out into the unknown finding new worlds to mine, colonise and explore.” Shepard said.

  “And what of intelligent life?” the Commander asked.

Shepard shook his head. “We’re alone.”

The Commander chuckled.

  “I suspected as much. Tell me of faster-than-light travel? How does that work?”

  “My understanding of the principles is very basic, but I’ll do my best. The engine folds space together so that all particles in the universe occupy the same point of space and time. You essentially live simultaneously in every part of the universe. When the engine unfolds space once again, you choose a different part of the universe to occupy when it unfolds. The ship itself is held within a zero-probability field that allows it to remain tangible when the entire universe becomes temporarily intangible.” Shepard explained.

  “Truly fascinating! Alas, an old man like me gets tired very quickly these days. Guards! take him back to his cage. Litter-bearers! Bring the girl and take me back to my quarters.”

He turned to Shepard and chuckled. “I may be old but some appetites never fade! Their women are the only reason I haven’t let my children utterly wipe out those villagers.”

Shepard snarled and shifted, but a dozen speartips hovered by him.

  “Oh the girl was yours? My my, you’re here a couple of days and already claimed a woman. I guess everyone loves a new face.”

Shepard was dragged away, and thrown back in his cage.

He watched, kicking his cage as Neela was dragged away, carried by the mob as they whooped and cheered. The Commander’s tent was lifted on two poles by a group of flesh-eaters and carried away, Neela inside , leaving Shepard, Dorn and the other three warriors alone in the flesh-eater’s camp.

CHAPTER VI

You’ve Seen Nothing Yet

Temporarily unguarded, he saw the large flesh-eater handling his pistol over by the fire. He reached and grabbed a twig from the floor, throwing it toward the brute.

He looked up at Shepard and snarled.

  “Show you!” Shepard shouted at the flesh-eater. The dumb creature sneered and cocked his head.

Shepard gestured, miming the shooting action of the pistol while repeating “Show you!”

The brute suddenly seemed to understand, and a giant dumb grin spread across his primitive face.

He stood and lumbered over closer to Shepard, giving him his full attention.

Shepard mimicked the action of releasing the pistol’s safety catch, all the while his friends watching him with sheer confusion, not knowing if he was crazy, or worse, was actually trying to teach this brute how to use the deadliest weapon on board.

The brute flipped off the safety catch, and the weapon clicked and began to hum with power. The brute grinned and giggled with excitement. Shepard exhaled and prayed the brute was stupid enough for the next part of his plan to work.

He mimicked looking down the barrel of the pistol and pulling the trigger.

To his utter amazement, the brute nodded enthusiastically and looked straight down the pistol’s barrel and pulled the trigger. The pistol flashed and the brute’s head was blasted in two, the creature’s limp frame crumpling lifelessly to the floor.  The warriors all turned to look at Shepard with utter disbelief.

Shepard reached out of the cage toward the brute’s smoking carcass, and gripped his pistol.

He shot open the cage and retrieved his cutlass and harness.

He freed Dorn and the other warriors and they sprinted out of the camp, the night still dark and they soon lost the flesh-eaters, though their screams and bellows of fury carried deep into the forest.

They dashed toward the shuttle bay.

With flesh-eaters hot on their heels, they activated the shuttle hatch and they all dashed inside, sealing it behind them. Faint thuds and screams carried through the thick doors as the flesh-eaters lamented their escaped food.

Suddenly inside a cold, metal airlock, the warriors looked about themselves anxiously. Dorn turned to Shepard.

  “All this time, we were faintly aware of where we were, but it’s difficult to truly comprehend.” he said reverently.

  “You’ve seen nothing yet.” Shepard said as the airlock pressurised and the door to the shuttle bay opened. The vast bay stretched out before them, and the warriors cautiously followed Shepard out and toward the Honeybee.

  “What do we do now?” Dorn asked. “The old plan cannot work, there will be ambush upon ambush waiting for us. We can’t even get to the other side of that door without being torn apart. Neela...” he mourned.

  “Oh I can get through it.” Shepard declared resolutely. Reaching the Honeybee, he opened her airlock and dashed inside to the cockpit.

  “Geena, issue an urgent rescue request. Approximately one thousand people.”

  “One thousand? That will not be a fast response. And what will you do?” Geena asked.

  “ I, will  take the Aphid.” the Starfarer replied.

CHAPTER VII

The Observatory

On the other side of the airlock, the flesh-eaters waited, spears at the ready. They had heard the cycles of whooshing as air repressurised  inside.

Then, the door opened and they raised their spears, only for the Aphid jetbike’s cannon to roar to life tearing through them, ripping them to shreds.

The bike zoomed out of the airlock and gained the little altitude it could in the hab, zooming toward the flesh-eater’s camp, whizzing over as Shepard searched for the Commander’s litter. In minutes, he had flown the whole length of the hab, and saw the Commander’s litter at the far end, surrounded by another, more permanent-looking flesh-eater settlement. He flew by, letting his bike’s cannon take care of the dozen flesh eaters that ineffectually threw spears at his bike.

Satisfied he could safely land, he set his bike down and drew his pistol, approaching the Commander’s tent against the back wall.

Pushing a flap aside with his pistol, he saw that the tent was backed against a metal door.

He approached and pressed open. The door slid open and led into what Shepard realised was this great ship’s command deck.

The sound of Neela screaming caught Shepard’s ear and he dashed down the corridor toward the sound, kicking open the door to the ship’s observatory.

Inside was a large bed, preserved from the ship’s earlier time, against a vast window that gazed out into space.

In the corner, Neela cowered, one ankle bound to a railing with chains, and the Commander lashed her with a rope, leaving red welts on her fair skin, seemingly his method of getting his new slaves to submit.

  “Romantic type I see.” Shepard growled.

The Commander whirled round and stared in terror at Shepard.

  “How in the blazes did you escape?” he snapped.

  “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” Shepard replied.

The Commander lunged behind his bed as Shepard fired, missing his shot.

To Shepard’s surprise, the Commander stood, wielding an automatic rifle and began to return fire. Shepard swore and dove behind a console.

He cursed that he hadn’t anticipated that the Commander may have retained a stash of the ship’s weapons.

He peeked out to assess his situation and more shots impacted inches from him.

  “You’re outgunned, Starfarer!” the Commander jeered. “Give it up!”

  “The girl tied up nice and tight?” Shepard asked.

  “Inescapable. Your situation is hopeless!” the Commander laughed.

  “On the contrary…” Shepard muttered, and leaned from behind his cover, aiming at the vast observatory window behind the Commander’s bed.

He fired a single shot, which sizzled straight through the window.

The vast void outside began furiously vacuuming everything in the observatory toward it through the tiny hole Shepard’s pistol had made, the whooshing air deafening.

The Commander had a mere second to panic before his slight, aged frame was sucked straight at it, his rifle flinging from his grip as he flew and smacked hard against the window, his back landing directly over the hole.

The hole sealed with the Commander’s screaming, writhing frame, Shepard sprinted over to Neela, gripping her tightly, turning her away while he shot the chain at her ankle, freeing her. The Commander screamed in agony and rage as the vacuum of space tore at his flesh, watching his prize be stolen by Shepard, his whole millennia-long legacy unravelling before his eyes.

Shepard threw Neela over his shoulder and sprinted out of the observatory, leaving the Commander to his fate. No sooner had the door shut that he heard his screams instantly cease with a sickeningly wet crunch and the ferocious whooshing of air resumed.

Carrying Neela, he ran out to his jetbike, seating her behind him and telling her to hold on tight as he took off. She gripped him tightly as the bike rose, and he rocketed off toward the villager’s camp.

CHAPTER VIII

A New Plan

Landing in the centre, the elder approached in sheer shock at this marvelous new vehicle.

Shepard dismounted and dashed to the elder.

  “I’ve dealt with the flesh-eater’s leader. They won’t be organised enough to launch an attack if you gather up the villagers now. Head straight for the airlock door, and I will fly overhead and watch out for any possible attacks. No time to explain any further, rally everyone and leave, now.”

Though taken aback by the suddenness of the situation, the village had been warned, and their belongings were already gathered for the exodus from the village.

Shepard took off and began performing sweeps of the area surrounding the villagers as they began to vacate their home, making their way toward the airlock.

Neela clung onto Shepard as they flew, and once they had reached the airlock, Shepard landed and began letting them through in batches of fifty, the maximum the airlock could hold.

Dorn and the rest of the village’s warriors surrounded the villagers and guarded them as the all-night mission to get everyone through the door went underway. Shepard saw a couple of disorganised packs of flesh eaters some distance away, but none dared approach.

After an agonising time, the final group of villagers made the cycle through the airlock into the hangar.

They were safe.

Shepard returned the Aphid to its slot in the Honeybee’s hull as Dorn and Neela were reunited.

The vast shuttle bay swelled with the milling villagers, all a little out of sorts having spent their lives surrounded by green, and now a cold reminder of steel surrounded them.

Shepard approached the elder, who gleefully shook his hand.

  “We are safe. We are all finally safe!” he beamed.

  “I need to make my full report now for when the carrier gets here to take you to your new home. Just knock if you need me.” Shepard smiled, turning toward the Honeybee.

No sooner had he sat in his cockpit and began making the report of all that had happened, he heard a knock on the Honeybee’s door.

Climbing down and cycling the airlock, he opened the door to see Neela standing, beaming up at Shepard.

  “Can I come in?” she smiled.

Shepard reached down and took her by the hand, lifting her up and into the starship.

She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him deeply.

  “Can I stay with you?” she asked. Fright and vulnerability still lingered in her eyes.

Shepard pushed her up the ladder into the cockpit and she sat with him while he finished off his report. When he finished, she smiled and mumbled “Do you have a bed in this ship?”

Shepard smiled and yawned. “It’s more of a bunk but you can stay with me. Lets get some sleep.”

The next morning, the elder banged on the Honeybee’s door.

  “They’re here!”

Shepard leapt down from the Honeybee and dashed over to the docking hatch. A carrier had attached to the hull and was ready to start transferring passengers.

He opened the door and a half dozen soldiers entered, their leader greeting Shepard and looking about at the interior of the ancient spacecraft and its passengerload of a thousand leaf-clad villagers.

  “I lost a bet.” he said in disbelief. “The Japheth. In one piece and  with surviving passengers. Gonna be an interesting resettlement process.”

  “That it will.” Shepard chuckled.

The soldiers began guiding the villagers through the hatch and into the carrier docked outside. When only Dorn and Neela were left, Dorn turned and held out his hand to Neela. She turned to Shepard, her doelike eyes searching.

  “I’ll bring her on the Honeybee. I’ll catch up with you.” Shepard said, squeezing Neela’s waist.

Dorn smiled. “See you soon sister.”

He kissed her on the cheek and left through the hatch. The soldiers followed and sealed it behind them. Shepard and Neela dashed back to the Honeybee and she took off. The hangar bay door opened and they flew out, and for the first time, Neela saw the outside of the Japheth. Her jaw dropped as her perspective changed, seeing the vast emptiness her home had been floating through all this time.

A little way away was the carrier craft carrying the rest of the villagers.

They watched as the ship launched a volley of torpedoes, and the Japheth was destroyed, the vast, ancient vessel reduced to mere space debris. Neela rested her head on Shepard’s shoulder and sighed, deep and bittersweet.

The carrier then began to distort as if viewed through shifting water and vanished.

Shepard’s smile put her at ease.

  “Foldspace.” he smiled. “Which we are about to go into. So, shall we follow straight behind your brother or do you want to see the sights first?” he asked.

Neela lowered her eyes and kissed Shepard.

  “Show me the stars.” she purred.