“Asuak, Now I am going to count to ten. You know, let’s make it five. If I don’t hear back from you, I will kill her. Five.”

  “Four.”

  “Get the detonator ready!” Asuak said to Lusie.

  “Three.”

  “Lock, Lock, this is Lily. Listen to me, don’t kill Asuak’s crew.” Lily’s voice flew out of intercom.

  “Lily, are you alright?”

  From the intercom panel, Asuak knew Lily was calling from the reactor compartment.

  “I am fine. They didn’t get me. Now listen to me, Lock. Don’t kill his crew.”

  “What are you talking about?” Lock’s voice was angry.

  Asuak and Lusie rushed out of kitchen, speeding to the life support compartment.

  “We have no idea what they are capable of. We have made one mistake. Don’t make another one.” Lily’s voice echoed in the corridor.

  Asuak and Lusie stopped in front of the life support compartment. The door was open and they saw Lock grabbing Keiwh’s neck and lifting her off the ground.

  “Now I think I got your attention.” Lock flashed a sly smile.

  Keiwh was struggling to breathe, her legs kicking around, her face swelling, her body shaking.

  “Put her down. We can talk about this.” Asuak said slowly.

  “Lock, you are risking all our lives.” Lily was begging through the intercom.

  “Lily, you love those aliens, don’t you?” Lock shouted at the top of his lungs.

  Uyeet, Fawous and Aeitu came around from the other side of the corridor. Asuak motioned them to stay back.

  “Lock, I just try to help them. Now I am asking you not to hurt Asuak’s crew.”

  “Lily, this is Asuak, all of your crew are fine. They are alive and we like to keep it that way!” Asuak said and walked into the life support compartment, followed by Lusie.

  “You stop right there or I will snag her neck.” Lock said while grasping tighter on Keiwh’s neck.

  Asuak stopped and said, “OK, OK. Just let her down first.”

  “You are giving me orders?” Lock chuckled.

  “No, I am begging you!” Asuak said sincerely.

  “Lock, let her go.” Lily was shouting through the intercom.

  “Shut up! You traitor! If I die, at least I take one with me!” Lock yelled.

  Keiwh was dying, her face changing to black.

  Asuak suddenly turned to Lusie and nodded.

  “Bam.” Lock’s head exploded into pieces, blood everywhere.

  “Lock, Lock!” Lily’s voice went desperate.

  Asuak ran to Keiwh and held her in his arms. “Keiwh, Keiwh.”

  Keiwh opened her eyes and coughed for several seconds. “Good to see you again, Commander?”

  Asuak let out a long sigh.

  “Lock, Lock, what happened?” Lily’s voice was now sad and frightened.

  Lusie walked to the intercom, turned it off and said, “I will go check the reactor compartment.”

  Asuak nodded.

  Lusie didn’t find Lily in the reactor compartment. They searched the entire ship again and again, but there was no sight of Lily.

  When Asuak signaled Lusie to detonate the explosive cells, he was only thinking about Keiwh. It didn’t even occur to him that the detonator controlled all the explosive cells injected in eight humans. Later when he saw the bloody scenes in those compartments, he wished he didn’t give that order.

  The next two days, Asuak and his crew were busy cleaning the mess from the explosion. Kitchen was the worst. It was either due to over injection of explosive cells or the way Betha and Roy were tied. Their whole bodies, not just the heads, exploded. As a result, even the bottom surface of the oval table was soaked in blood. Besides blood, it took them a long time to pick up pieces of skulls, teeth and tissues. When they finally finished, they dumped everything into the space.

  On the sixth day since Asuak and his crew came aboard the human spaceship, Asuak decided to take a look at Jason, because he still couldn’t figure out where Lily might hide. He was hoping to find out what he missed from Jason.

  When he walked into the crew quarter, he saw Keiwh standing outside Jason’s cabin.

  Keiwh nodded at Asuak and said, “Commander.”

  Asuak smiled at her and asked, “How is your neck?”

  “Much better.”

  “Good. Good.”

  “Commander, I know that was a hard decision you made to kill humans. I mean I am happy that I am alive, but I just feel bad for those humans.” Keiwh said sadly.

  “Me too.” Asuak said avoiding Keiwh’s eyes.

  “Sorry.”

  “But I can tell you this. If I had to do it again to save you, I would do it again.” Asuak said decisively.

  Keiwh wanted to say something, but instead she just nodded.

  Asuak opened the door and saw Aeitu injecting something into Jason’s arm.

  “What is it?” Asuak asked curiously.

  “That is for the Asating.” Aeitu said without looking back at Asuak.

  “What?”

  “This is the forage for Asating.” Aeitu pushed the last drop of the yellow liquid into Jason’s arm and turned back to Asuak.

  “I thought it was a parasite.”

  “It is. However, human brain doesn’t have the necessary nutrients for Asating.”

  “Oh. How is he doing?” Asuak asked.

  “The sedative works very well and we will be able to keep him under until we harvest Asating. Without sedative, he will wake up soon because of the pain. Speaking of sedative, I need to bring more here. I will be at medical bay if you need me.” Asuak nodded at Asuak and left the cabin.

  When the door was closed, Asuak stared at Jason and said, “You are the reason why she carried out the order from flight control. She doesn’t want you to end up in a prison. She really loves you. I guess I am a little jealous. I mean I am not jealous because she loves you. I mean she could have saved me and my crew a gaggle of troubles.”

  Asuak leaned back and grumbled, “Where can she hide? Apparently, she didn’t come to see you for the past several days. We checked everywhere, air condition duct, water pipe and incinerator. We even took the reactor apart. I am wasting my time here.” Asuak sighed and stood up.

  “Commander, are you there?” Aeitu’s voice came out of the intercom.

  “Yes.”

  “All the sedatives are gone.”

  “Maybe you put them somewhere else.”

  “I know where I put them.”

  “I will be there.”

  When Asuak rushed into medical bay, Aeitu, Lusie, Fawous and Uyeet was turning the medical bay upside down.

  “Aeitu.” Asuak shouted.

  “Yes, Commander.” Aeitu stopped and so did others.

  “So those sedatives just disappeared?” Asuak shouted.

  “I have no idea. We have to find them soon. If not, Jason will, will, will wake up.” Aeitu stuttered.

  “It must be Lily.” Asuak said angrily.

  “But Fawous and I didn’t see any human in the corridor.” Uyeet said innocently.

  “She somehow finds a way to walk around without being seen.” Lusie said and kicked over a janitor droid.

  Suddenly, Asuak turned to Uyeet, his eyes bulging.

  “Commander, are you alright?” Uyeet asked.

  “When you and Fawous patrolled this area, was there a janitor droid?” Asuak asked.

  “Yea, there was one.” Fawous nodded.

  Asuak punched on the wall and said, “She is hiding in a droid.”

  Lusie ran to an intercom on the wall, pressed broadcast button and shouted, “Get all janitor droids right away!”

  Asuak shook his head in disappointment.

  “No?” Lusie was confused.

  “Now she is on the run.”

  “I will find her.” Lusie said firmly.

  “She is here.” Keiwh’s voice came out of the intercom.

  “Jason’s cabin. Go” Asuak shouted at Lusie.

  They headed straight to the crew quarter and saw Lily stabbing Keiwh with a laser knife.

  When Lily saw Asuak, she ran to the other entrance.

  Keiwh collapsed on the deck, lying in her own blood.

  “Help Keiwh. I will catch Lily.” Asuak shouted while running after Lily who disappeared into another corridor.

  When Asuak rushed to that corridor, he saw Teirs struggling to stand up.

  “Are you alright?” Asuak stopped and asked.

  “Sorry. Commander, she took a left turn.”

  The left turn led to a dead end. There were only two compartments: the life support compartment was on the right and the other for water recycling and garbage disposal was on the left.

  Asuak first stopped at the life support compartment. If she messed up the life support system, everyone would die.

  Clenching the tranquilizer gun, Asuak pressed the open button.

  “Whoosh.” The door slid open.

  In the first glance, he didn’t see Lily, but still he trod slowly into the compartment, checking every corner.

  “Commander, are you there?” Lusie shouted near the door.

  “Yes.”

  “I am coming in.”

  Lusie and Asuak scrutinized every inch of the compartment but didn’t find Lily.

  “This doesn’t make any sense. I thought she would come here and destroy all equipment.”

  “That was my first thought as well, but then it occurred to me that if she did that, Jason would die as well. She knows it better than us.”

  “Well then, let’s check the other compartment.”

  When they got there, the first thing they noticed was the incinerator was burning.

  Asuak walked to the incinerator. “Someone started it several minutes ago.”

  “I don’t know who did it. We are all busy finding Lily. Where is she?” Lusie said while searching around.

  Asuak looked around and noticed a small container on the deck. He picked it up and recognized it immediately. It was one of the sedatives Aeitu looked for earlier.

  “Lusie.” Asuak said pointing at the incinerator, his breath gone.

  “What? You found her?” Lusie turned to Asuak and then looked at the incinerator.

  They stood there silently for several seconds.

  “She burned herself?!” Lusie couldn’t believe it, his jaw hanging to the deck. “But, but why?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe she was concerned that we would use her to get access code from Jason.” Asuak said sadly.

  “You know, I still can’t believe this happened. I would rather think this is some kind of trick Lily played on us.”

  “I hope you are right.”

  “We can find it out easily.” Lusie said and turned off the incinerator.

  Later Aeitu tested what was left in the incinerator and confirmed that it was from human. He also told Asuak that Keiwh would survive. However, she lost a lot of blood and would have to stay in bed for several days.

  At dinner, Asuak and his crew gathered together in the kitchen. They quietly got meals ready and then sat there in silence, waiting for Asuak’s order to get started. Looking at his crew, Asuak wasn’t sure whether they were reeling from Lily’s death or what happened to Keiwh.

  Teirs and Teors were looking straight at something, their faces sad and still.

  Fawous was playing her spoon listlessly.

  Meiwiq fixed his eyes on the plates, but he didn’t look hungry.

  Aeitu sat there with a tired face.

  Uyeet buried his face in hands.

  Lusie glanced at Asuak from time to time and kept an eye on others.

  “Well, let’s eat.” Asuak wanted to sound cheerful, but it turned out more like an order.

  Aeitu picked up the spoon in front of him and said, “Commander, I know this is not my business, but after we go home, how are you going to report what happened here?”

  Asuak looked at Aeitu in the eyes and said, “I will tell the truth.”

  “Commander, I don’t mean to question your decision, but I think in this case we should keep things as simple as possible.” Lusie said sincerely.

  “What do you mean exactly?” Asuak asked.

  “I think we should keep the human death out of the story,” said Lusie.

  “You mean lying to the Commander of the fleet? What if they found out?” Meiwiq asked.

  “What would happen if they found out the truth?” Uyeet asked nervously and lowered his hands, revealing his tear-swollen eyes.

  “Not good. Taking over the ship is one thing. Slaughtering human is another.” Meiwiq said in a heavy tone.

  “We can justify taking over the ship.” Teirs said firmly.

  “Yes, I agree and I believe the Commander of the fleet will understand,” said Meiwiq.

  “Commander, we can’t report what happened to human.” Lusie said respectfully.

  “Let’s not worry about something that far. OK? We are nowhere near home yet. Let’s look at our current problems. Understand?” Asuak said decisively.

  Everyone nodded.

  “Aeitu, when will Jason wake up?” Asuak asked.

  “The sedative you gave me is the last one we have. I will try to inject it as late as possible. I estimate he will wake up the day after tomorrow.”

  “At what time?” Lusie asked.

  “Afternoon. Around 2 PM.”

  “Can we just knock him down after he wakes up?” Teors asked.

  “Use what? A hammer? If we killed him, we will lose our last chance to get the access code.” Aeitu said in a defiant tone.

  “After he wakes up, he will notice we are aliens and all of his crew are gone. You think he will give us the access code?” Teors mimicked the defiant tone Aeitu just used.

  “He won’t notice, because we will play his crew.” Asuak said calmly.

  “Really?” Teirs and Teors voiced their concern simultaneously.

  Asuak nodded.

  “But right now there are only eight of us. Keiwh has to stay in bed. She can’t walk around.” Aeitu said seriously.

  “I know. That is why she will change to Lily,” said Asuak.

  “Commander, you mean Keiwh changes to Lily and stays in the bed?” Aeitu asked.

  “Yes.”

  “But Jason will ask for Lily. That might be the first thing.” Aeitu said in a worried tone.

  “I know. That is exactly why we have to keep Lily from talking to him,” said Asuak.

  “I don’t understand. If Lily asks Jason for the access code, we can probably get it before we harvest Asating,” said Meiwiq.

  “That is possible. But remember, Jason and Lily are getting married. That means these two know each other very well. If Lily talked to Jason, he would easily find out it is not Lily.” Asuak said slowly to let this scenario sink in.

  “If Jason asks about Lily?” Uyeet asked.

  “His Lily is lying on the bed in the medical bay and we just say she had the similar accident as Jason did. Something like a chair knocked her down.” Lusie replied.

  “It also saves us from explaining who is lying in the medical bay,” said Fawous.

  “That is right. We can’t just hide Keiwh somewhere and tell Jason that one crew is missing.” Lusie added.

  “OK. I will wake up Keiwh and ask her to change to Lily. She should be fine with it,” said Aeitu.

  “All she needs to do is lying there sleeping. I am sure she can manage.” Lusie chuckled.

  “Now the rest of us will each play a human. Meiwiq, you checked their systems in the past two days. Did you find anything useful?” Asuak asked.

  “Yes. I found their profiles. But only a page for each crew, very short.” Meiwiq replied.

  “Good. Let’s start from there. I want every one of you to memorize that one page. There are also some items in the crew quarter. We need to make good use of that as well.”

  “OK, I will play Jim.” Teirs said.

  “I will take Bud,” Teors said.

  “I will do Dr. Akio. I am a doctor anyway.” Aeitu said proudly.

  “Good. Uyeet, you play Charle. Lusie, Lock. Fawous, Bertha. Meiwiq, Lisa. I will take Roy. Get familiar with your duties as well. We have to keep this ship running until we get rescued.” Asuak said quickly.

  “What if Jason ask us something personal? Something not on the profile?” Lusie asked.

  “That...I really don’t know.” Asuak thought for a second and said, “Don’t talk too much. We don’t want to risk exposure.”

  “One thing. When I checked the systems, I notice there is something they call blackbox. It is used to record stuff. I think some part of this ship is monitored,” said Meiwiq.

  “It is in the escape pod. I will take care of it,” said Asuak.

  “Commander, once we change into humans, we can try to ask for access code from Jason?” Lusie suggested.

  “We can push him for it, but don’t overdo it. He might sense something,” said Asuak.

  “We should cut off the communication with Earth,” said Fawous.

  “Yes. The main antenna is down already. Fawous, do something to the backup antenna, but make sure you can fix it later when we need to use it. When Jason wakes up, we can tell him we went through an asteroid shower and both antenna were down,” said Asuak.

  “He might try to fix it,” said Fawous.

  “We will make up something else.” Lusie said easily.

  “One more thing. Teirs and Teors, can you two fly this ship?” Asuak asked.

  The twin looked at each other and said together, “We will figure it out.”

  “Good. Plot the course to Jupiter and start as soon as possible. We have to be on the way before the day after tomorrow,” said Asuak.

  “Yes, Commander,” said the twin.

  “Now let’s eat. I am hungry.” Asuak said while putting up a happy face. But inside, he was struggling to erase Lily from his brain. The fact that they planned to get married made him feel guiltier. When he said it in front of the crew, he didn’t realize it, but now the guilty feeling was spreading like wild fire in his heart. He quickly grabbed a bite and excused himself.

  Eyes on the deck, he didn’t know where he was going until the dead end. Then he looked up and saw the stars through the huge front window. He realized he was in the bridge and he clearly remembered the conversation he had with Lily in this very place.

  “I am sorry. I am sorry.” Asuak sighed. He couldn’t imagine the pain she went through and he wished he could bring her back. As long as there was a lock of her hair, his species could revive her. But there was nothing! Nothing! What was left in the incinerator had no DNA and Aeitu had to analyze its metal composition to confirm it was from human.

 

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