Where Nothing Ill Can Dwell

Chapter 3 - Miranda

I woke to the sound of maniacal laughter echoing through the compound. After a moment, I realized it was my mother, and I immediately wondered if Caliban had slipped her some hallucinogenic herbs.

Pooka, my pet oolas, burrowed under my pillow, whimpering. He was a small, furry creature native to this planet and resembled a small dog from Earth in more ways than one. Next to ARIEL, he was my most constant companion.

I jumped out of bed and raced toward the sound of my mother's laughter, only to find her rocking back in her chair in command central and watching the huge screen.

What I saw was no laughing matter. A spaceship like I'd never seen before teetered in the heavens. The momentary awe I experienced at seeing such a large ship vanished once I realized it had rolled to the side and was tumbling through space.

My pulse fluttered, and sweat prickled the back of my neck. I ignored Pooka, who'd followed me from my room and wedged himself between my ankles. "What is this?"

"What I've always wanted." She leaned forward, her eyes intent on the screen, and began typing at a frantic speed. All the keystrokes blended into one continuous sound.

Horror laced my veins. I had no idea what species was on board or what planet they came from, but the ship was large enough to house hundreds of lives, and my heart ached for them. "They'll all be killed."

ARIEL buzzed around my mother in a sharp, zigzagging pattern that mirrored my worry.

"Not once I'm in control." My mother punched a few more keys. "I just need to make sure they are unconscious before I step in."

"Unconscious?" I stared at the screen and tried to make sense of it all. There were images of the ship, along with charts and graphs and calculations I didn't have time to interpret. But my mother knew what they meant.

"That should do it." She added a few more commands, and new windows popped up on the screen. The lights returned to the ship, and the course changed. The largest ship continued to descend into the atmosphere, but on a seemingly controlled course.

Then my mother paused and stroked her chin. "That's interesting."

A loud boom shook the walls of the compound, and ARIEL flew to the nearest window. I followed with Pooka yapping at my heels. My jaw dropped as a huge ship streaked across the sky, its sleek hull burning red like it was on fire. "Mom!"

"I'm on it," she replied, and entered more lines of code into her computer.

Tears stung my eyes. It was the same ship from the screen. As the main ship neared the horizon, I caught a glimpse of what appeared to be two pods ejecting from its hull. I then noticed a third object—a smaller craft trailing in its wake. At first, the cruiser seemed to follow the main ship, but then its course veered toward our compound.

ARIEL shooed me away from the window. "Stay back, Miranda," she warned. "It's not safe." She'd taken the holographic form of a young woman that I jokingly referred to as my older sister.

Panic choked me as I watched the cruiser's trajectory. Pooka jumped into my arms, his whimpers growing even louder. "Mom, there's a ship heading straight for us."

"I know," she shouted back.

But instead of wrapping me up in her arms so we could spend our last moments together, she remained at her computer, entering line after line of code.

The small craft stopped rolling, and the yellow glow of rear thrusters signaled that someone had regained control. The roar of its engine drowned out the throbbing of my pulse as the cruiser flew overhead and crashed into the forest a few miles away.