Dawn

By Victor Arteaga

Sunset didn’t know what to do with her hands. Her skin itched, and the dry air left her gills on the verge of rasping with each breath. She hadn't been out of water for this long before. Román led her and the small retinue of her kin through long, curving hallways adorned with menacing lines of lights to a large room. He spoke something in his language without using the device on his arm that would turn it into Takarran. The color of the lights changed from white to warm gold. Moisture cooled her gills, and the others made their own sounds of relief. The children, feeling re-energized, chirped and sprinted around, chasing each other. One bumped into the wall and inadvertently changed something; the wall shimmered and turned into a window. They cooed with awe as they stared out at the black of space.

"This should feel more comfortable," Román said, this time with the aid of his technology. Her mother made a click of disapproval. Sunset rumbled her response. Mother should be more trusting of them. He'd saved their lives numerous times. Despite losing her father, the Ki'Tak may survive the uprising of Lu'Tak monstrosities taking over the planet. "I know there are other Takarrans, the purple—" He made a slight mispronunciation, but he lacked the gills to make the hiss to pronounce the Lu'Tak properly. "—will need to be helped as well." The others growled and flared their disapproval.

"They will not accept our help," Temerity said.

"Even if they don't, our charter requires we try our best. Those machines will take over the planet. Once they hit a certain developmental point, it's inevitable." He rubbed his head, which, to a Takarran, would mean one thing, but for this creature, it seemed to mean frustration. Perhaps irritation? "For now, I'll see about bringing you food. I need to raise the language decisions—" He made another mispronunciation. "—into the ship’s logs so we can all communicate with you. Hang tight."

Román left.

"We can't stay here," her mother said. "Your father—"

"Is dead."

Temerity bared her fangs and ruffled her gills. "For once, let me finish a sentence. He needs to be floated. He has always asked to be remembered in the Lu'Tak way and we have to honor him."

"There is nothing left of him to honor. Besides, the Lu'Tak only believe in the honor," she sneered, "of combat death which he received. That will have to be enough." Sunset pulled away from her mother, stuffing down the battling waves of pain, anger, grief, and relief roiling in her chest. She rolled her thumb over the engraving of her father's name on her spear and clicked a nail over a scratch.

Arta approached her. "You should not be so harsh with your mother. She is grieving too, as we all are for our home. This is a good spear; your father made it well."

"You can have it."

Sunset pushed the haft against his chest and he stumbled. The spear clattered as it fell, and Sunset stormed out of the room. The door hissed closed. Where would she go now? No sense going back the way she came, so she went the opposite direction and followed the flow of habitants. Some of them greeted her; she recognized a handful of sounds but didn't respond. She needed to find where their elders congregated. A man with a thick ring of silver fur around his face and deep wrinkles around his eyes strode toward her with a sturdy, confident step. He was definitely someone in charge. She followed him through another door. He glanced at her and raised an eyebrow. She had seen Román do the same but didn't know exactly what it meant. The man said nothing. He spoke a command, the doors closed, and she barked as the floor pushed itself up. He tapped the same devices Román had on his wrists, then spoke to her.

"You must be Sunset, yes?" His speaking sounded different than Román's.

"Yes."

"Just in time. I was going to send for you anyway."

She liked Román's tones better. Sunset waited until the door opened. Several people with varying colors of uniforms stood in a circle around a table. Her ears twitched with anxiety when Román entered from a corner of the room she had not seen.

"Don't worry," he said. "We're here to discuss next steps."

"Next steps to what?"

"To evacuating the rest of the Takarrans."

Sunset trilled her gills and flattened her ears. That would be difficult. "Arta should also be present. I am not an elder. I am only seen as the abomination between the two warring tribes. My voice will not be effective."

"We already sent someone for him. He should be— ah, there he is."

Arta strode in following a tall, broad-shouldered man with yellow hair. He held her father’s spear out to her, but she backed away, lifting her lip to show a single fang. Arta sighed through his gills.

"Given the situation on the surface, we haven’t time for niceties. I am Vice Admiral Fehr." The man with silver fur gestured to the table with flat circular chairs that rose from the floor. Everyone sat down; Sunset took her spot next to Román and Arta took a position at her left. The four others bowed slightly before sitting. What an odd gesture. Arta and Sunset mimicked their movements.

"Arta, Sunset, you know Scout Cisneros, and the other three here are Commodore Yun—" He gestured an open palm to an aging short man with black combed hair and square jaw. "—Captain Williams—" A dark-skinned woman with long, twisted hair tied in loose loops tipped her head. "—and this is Doctor Harris." A pale woman with vibrant blue eyes and hair the color of sunrise waved. "As we are aboard Captain William's vessel, I will open the floor to her."

Captain Williams stood. "First order of business is to contain the hostile threats. To that end I've had Tactical prep and execute an orbital suppression strategy with the assistance of the Navy—” she gestured to Commodore Yun. “—that will keep the Takarrans safe while we initiate evacuation protocols."

"If I may," Doctor Harris said. "I believe we should also send a team of researchers down to gather intelligence on potential solutions that don't involve gunfire."

Commodore Yun said something in a new language that didn’t get translated.

Sunset lifted a hand as she'd seen Doctor Harris do. "I'm sorry, I can't understand what he said."

Román translated for her. "He said he finds the risk unacceptable."

Sunset hummed and rippled her gills to show her agreement. "It is best to destroy them."

"With respect to you, Sunset, their ability to reverse engineer so quickly would be a huge benefit to our own arsenal, never mind the counter strategies we could employ. Let’s also not forget that we must prepare ourselves for the inevitability of their accelerated progression."

Commodore Yun spoke again, and Román translated. "They are a threat to the galaxy, and to study them would waste precious time to defeat them before they become a bigger problem. Better to save who we can within a limited time window and glass the planet."

"Glass the planet?" Arta asked. His ears pointed forward and edged his question with anxiety.

"He means a massive, coordinated attack to destroy everything on the surface. An option that is completely out of order," the vice admiral said. "There are sentient life forms that for better or worse require our assistance."

Commodore Yun crossed his arms and grumbled. "We should still take a more offensive approach."

Arta raised his hand and stood as he had seen others do. "Evacuating the Ki’Tak will not be difficult. There aren’t many left. With Sunset’s and your assistance, I believe your presence will aide in convincing our people.” Sunset flipped an ear. They weren't her people any more than she was theirs. "She has spent much time avoiding the t’ozah—"

"T’ozah? The robots?" Román asked.

"Yes. But like this." Arta demonstrated the click made to properly pronounce the word. Román repeated it and Arta applauded his effort, like a parent applauding their child for uttering their first syllables. "The t’ozah must be stopped, but I believe the Ki'Tak will follow us once they see the reality. We can no longer live life free of technology."

"Well, I cannot click the way Román can, so I will call them by the code name we gave them, Cryptobots," Doctor Harris said.

Vice Admiral Fehr said, "I agree with Arta, but to keep Commodore Yun appeased, I will allow the Navy to send an escort to provide extra security to their team. Dr. Harris, I'm afraid it’s still too dangerous to send a manned team to do any kind of research."

"But—"

"At best, you may have a small scanning team in low orbit gather as much data as you can until the threat has been contained, understood?"

Dr. Harris folded her arms and gave a curt nod. Sunset grimaced at the radiating heat of her displeasure. The door opened and another woman came in, her uniform’s black center was decorated with swirling whirlpools of dazzling colors and pinpricks of twinkling white lights.

"Apologies for the late entrance, Oded."

"You had a long way to travel, admiral. I'm glad you made it," the vice admiral said. He and all the other aliens stood and saluted. Sunset and Arta stood and tried to imitate the salute.

The age lines in the admiral's golden skin deepened when she smiled, save for a long scar that ran the length of her cheek bone to her ear. "You are esteemed guests here, Arta and Sunset, but I appreciate the gesture. Have we reached an agreement on a course of action?"

Commodore Yun stiffened. "Yes. Though not one I fully approve of. I will provide an escort for the Takarrans. The nerds can stay behind and take pictures from space." He smirked while Dr. Harris scowled. "And we will maintain a remote defensive ready position."

"Admiral Reyes, I would like to accompany them as well," Román said.

"Denied. I need you back out on a scouting mission. An Alien Assistance liaison is waiting for them as well as Commodore Yun's escort. Once we’re finished here, which it appears we are, you may show them to the shuttle bay, say your goodbyes and then deploy immediately. Understood?"

"Yes, Ma'am," the congregation answered in unison.

They rose, performed another salute, and left. Sunset and Arta exchanged confused looks, then sought Román's direction. His jaw worked from side to side and he sighed before turning to the Ki'Tak. He jerked his head toward the door, which Sunset took to mean to follow him. Arta surmised the same and drifted behind Román as he led them down an elevator, through several winding hallways, and out a large, double-sliding door. Sunset gasped. She and Arta stopped in the middle of the doorway. It took Román a few seconds to notice they'd stopped following him. He followed their gaze.

"You didn't notice the shuttle bay doors stayed open?"

Sunset felt a deep well of sadness, fear, and wonder press against her chest. Beyond the sleek shuttles waited rows of aggressive craft with giant barrels strapped to their wings, and a maw opened to a deep abyss pinpricked by a myriad of winking lights. Lazy swirls of clouds floated across the deep blues of her oceans. Specks of vibrant green dotted them, and awe filled her as she recognized shorelines.

"That's..." She cooed and her gills flattened tight. "How are we not falling out?"

Román smiled. He lifted a hand and pointed. "See that ring of light? It's what creates the forcefield that keeps us inside and the vacuum from pulling us out."

"And to think, simple flight was once something we never considered. Now we drift in the heavens." Arta's spears clinked on the metal floor. Two officers paraded up to them. One wore a solid red uniform whose muscles strained against its fabric. He flashed them a wide smile and tipped his head.

"Hello, I'm Sergeant Greene, and I'll be your tactical support. I'll do my best to keep you all safe." He extended a hand and Román shook it. Sunset and Arta followed suit. The woman at his side, with features similar to Commodore Yun, beamed with excitement and took up a quarter of the space Sergeant Greene did. She offered her hand to Sunset first.

"I'm ecstatic to meet you, Sunset. I am Dr. Jun Ji-hyun, but you can just call me Jun," she said. Her black hair tied behind her head bounced.

"Your pronunciation is very good," Arta said.

"Oh good, I was hoping my adjustments to the clicks and tones were correct. I am the linguist and cultural lead for the Alien Assistance Agency. I'm here to keep this one—" Jun pointed her thumb and Sergeant Greene. "—in check. Make sure he doesn't say or do anything untoward. I'm looking for—"

"We need to go." Sunset said. Her gills flared. If they were to get the rest of the Ki'Tak out, they would need to go quickly.

"Agreed. It was...quite the experience getting to meet you, Sunset. I wish you the best of luck. Chuck," Román said as he glanced at Sergeant Greene. “Keep them safe.” Sunset chirped a slow set of clicks and extended her hand. Román grinned and shook it.

"Thank you," she said.

He dipped his head and turned around to head back into the ship. Sunset watched him go and something pulled at her stomach. It flipped and twisted and wanted to follow, but she instead returned her attention to the two new escorts.

"I need a weapon," she said. Arta offered her father's spear. She hissed.

"I had the shuttle outfitted with an armory. You can choose on your way down, but I don't want to dally any longer. Let's get going." Sergeant Greene led them to a shuttle, and as they boarded, Sunset glanced back at the double doors leading back to the ship. Where would Román go next? What wonders would he witness before any other being? That strange feeling in her rose again as the shuttle's door closed and cut off her view.

By Victor Arteaga

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The Sunset Chronicles

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Matt Ahlschwede