Souvenirs From Dead Worlds | ✓

Chapter 18

Sam switched off the game about fifteen minutes before they arrived and they watched as the shuttle approached the coast and then swept silently over the land. It was too dark to see much more than the dark shapes of trees without turning on the night vision, but they were close enough to their destination that Sam didn't bother.

The shuttle found a clearing in the trees to land in and Sam let out a steadying breath and stood. He'd deactivated the alert response in his ring during the flight because he didn't feel like being pointlessly shocked in the finger every couple of seconds, but now he adjusted it to a kind of warmer/colder setting. The closer he got, the faster his ring would pulse.

It was pretty hard to see much of anything in the dark, but the one thing they could see when they exited the shuttle were the lights over the city gate. They started off up the hill towards them.

As they made their way up the road towards the city, the guards standing watch over the gates watch their approach with suspicion. In the city they'd just come from the guards had been relaxed and in poorly fitted armour. The guards on this gate stood straight and alert in finely smithed armour that looked to have been specially made for each of the four guards wearing it. The metal chest plates gleamed brightly in the light from the torches that burnt on each side of the gate.

"Hello," Sam said once they got within speaking range. He waited anxiously to see if they would understand.

One of them said something to Sam, gruff and demanding, in a language Sam didn't recognise. He looked like he expected a response.

"Um," Sam said unintelligently. "I don't speak your language. Only this one. Does anyone understand me?"

They looked between each other questioning and then returned blank gazes to Sam. One of them repeated the same words the other had spoken earlier.

"All right." Sam rubbed at the back of his neck as he considered his options. "What if I just..." Sam started walking towards them and tried to walk past, but one of the shoved him back before the same line was repeated once more.

Sam echoed the words they'd been repeating in his head, making sure he had the phrase memorised, then inclined his head to the guards politely, turned, and started walking away. He had his laser gun with him, as always, but he would only resort to violence as a last resort. There were other options he could try first.

"What now?" Kias asked as they headed back towards the shuttle.

"Now," Sam said as he opened the door to the shuttle and they slipped in, "we go and ask Seba if he knows the language those guys were speaking."

Sam had a hunch, and he hoped it was right. Seba had said he'd been born on another landmass that was many days away be sea. That was about the right distance. Sam had also happened to notice that the guards shared Seba's dark hair, dark eyes, and slightly bronze skin tone, and even had similar facial features to Seba. If they were lucky, Seba would be able to translate for them.

They could have snuck into the city easily enough by exiting the shuttle onto the roof of a building, but that would still have left them unable to communicate with the inhabitants. Though transporting Seba there in the shuttle would be a massive risk, it was still the safest option in Sam's estimation. If he knew the language, anyway.

Before they left, Sam recorded a set of safe coordinates near the city Tristan and his team were in so they could transport there directly if needed. If Seba did prove to be useful, however, they wouldn't be of any use. There were only two seats in the shuttle, and Sam would only let any one of them go without a seat and get battered around during transport if he absolutely had to. Leaving Kias behind was another option, but fuck that.