Come What May - A Space Opera Anthology

A Lonely Universe

Once, long ago, humans dreamed of other lifeforms in the universe. They dreamed, and explored, and finally found others. But what the other eleven nations didn't realize about humans was their quest for domination would stop at nothing.

When I was still a child, I was taken from my home and sent to the new capital, a shining city that had been crafted to look like an Eden amongst the planets of the empire. There, I was sent to learn the ways of the Luor - a select group of priests and priestesses who could sense thoughts, sometimes even see the future.

My true journey began just after my nineteenth birthday. As was custom in the Empire, each Luor was to be gifted to one of the noble families. Some were already spoken for, some were powerful enough to stay in the service of the Emperor himself. I was not any of those things. I was but a strange girl, who had been forced to grow up in a strange place, with no one left to speak for me.

Based on my talent with tongues, and the ability to sense what people were saying even if I did not understand them, I was sent to the Baron Wreate. The House of Wreate had long been explorers of the galaxy. It was rumored that they descended from the first humans to leave their own solar system.

My services started off simply enough. As a translator, I was used extensively by the expedition fleets. It was easy enough work, but boring. We would go for weeks, even months on end without seeing anyone but the rest of the crew. Then one day, everything changed.

On the outer ring of the Andrean Astroid Field, we came upon a small planet with an even smaller moon. I was as curious as the next crew member, and fought for space on the deck to see. Baron Hector Wreate, the Captain of the Armistice, called me over to his side.

"Well, Priestess? What do you sense?"

"There is life down there," I replied, my voice unsteady with giddiness.

"And? Are they like us?"

"That is not my particular skillset," I replied - not for the first time.

"Useless zealot," he muttered as he told his pilot to take the ship down to land. However, I was not free from his attentions just yet. "You - Priestess - you're coming with us to the surface."

"Of course, sir. I will need to change."

"For what?" He laughed. "Preparing for your costume show?" Others joined in on his joke. I had long ago learned to live with the fact that few outside of our Order understood the history behind our clothing. Fewer still respected the traditions behind them.

After five years spent traveling the extended reaches of the Empire, I had been to more planets and moons than I could count. Each time was a disappointment, with never any life other than fellow explorers. Those of the crew who were deemed important enough to meet with a possible new civilization flanked each side of the Captain on the landing ramp. Despite their constant complaining about my outfits, my religious upbringing, and my skillset that was so rarely utilized, there was enough prestige in my title as a Luor Priestess to warrant me a space to the left of the Captain. I held my head high as the doors opened.

Cold air greeted us like an arctic blast, the type that always heralded the arrival of winter on my home planet. Blinking to adjust to the changes, I followed in step with the rest of the landing party as we stepped out onto the new surface. The atmosphere was surprisingly similar to the demands of the human body, and what I had trained my body to adapt to. There was too much cloud cover to let the weak light of the nearest star to filter in, and we were thrust into a wet, dark world of unknown.

Closing off all of my other senses, I ignored the biting air, the dampness, the stench of decaying foliage. There were others on this planet, others who I could not recognize simply by the way their nostrils flared. One by one, the inhabitants of the moon came into my thoughts. They were coming towards us, and they were very, very angry. If not for a decade of training, I would have done my best to run right back onto the ship. But I had my purpose, and that was to help the Nobles, and to further the cause of the Order.

The first being that approached was so frighteningly human that everyone else in our party relaxed their guard. Before I could even think to speak, let alone act, it had fired a primitive weapon at the Captain. Within seconds, pandemonium reigned. In the chaos, most of the landing party retreated to the ship, but I was left unprotected. Rather than show fear, and oh how I wanted to, I did what I had been trained to do, listened to their thoughts. Even in the midst of a battle, people will think in linear trains, with words interspersed. By the time the attackers had realized I was still there, I had enough of a grasp of their language to speak.

"Stop. We do not want to hurt you." The language was strange as it rolled off my tongue, with guttural tones not unlike Old English.

The first being held up his hand and barked orders at the others to stop their attack. "You understand us?"

"Yes."

"How?"

There was a whole year spent at school about how to approach new species. We were to speak of the Gods, and our powers, and give a demonstration. But standing alone on a distant moon with no means of survival other than my own words, I focused on what I could control.

"My purpose." I needed them to think in broader terms in order to give a better idea of what words were theirs. They all gathered around the leader, and in an instant, each thought was crystal clear.

"You've come from the central planets?"

"Yes - from Vermiro."

"You're of the Order."

"Yes."

"And them?"

"They explore."

The leader laughed at my expense as I stumbled over the words. "Have you not noticed, Priestess, that we are speaking the Common Tongue now?"

"But how..." my words trailed off as images flashed before me. "You were marooned here. Three generations ago?"

"Very good," replied the leader with a nod of recognition at my understanding. "I confess, I've never been around a Priestess. We Illumi were never seen as worthy of such attentions." They gestured towards the ship, and in short order, those who had ventured out before did so again, but this time with guns.

"We wish to arrange passage with you," the leader said to the injured Captain. "We have goods to trade."

The Captain shook off the support of one of his officers to come stand before the Illumi. Glaring at me, he transferred his anger to the strangers. With disgust in his eyes, he spat at their feet.

The leader shook their head. "I really wish you'd reconsider."

"I'd rather bargain with the Devil."

"And we would really like to leave this Gods-forsaken moon."

"Find another ship."

"Have it your way then."

I was forced to find cover behind a pile of rocks as the crew and the castaways began to battle for supremacy. The Illumi were well known as fine warriors and it was not long before they had overpowered the crew, including those who had remained on board. I watched from my hiding place as they began to load their own belongings onto the ship. Only when they were done did the leader bring out a trunk full of my clothes.

"Priestess, we wish you no harm. May the Gods bless you to a shorter exile than we had." With one last nod, he loaded back onto the ship, and in short order, the engines were powered on.

I watched my ship disappear into the night. I was left with nothing more than a handful of necessities: shelter, food, and a hope. A hope that I am not alone in this universe. But each possibility was terrifying all on its own. Either I was alone now, in this unexplored area, or I was not.

If I am alone, then I will finish my life and die on this moon, and if I'm not, then I'd best prepare my defenses.