Cosmic Tales 9: Kingdom Read online

  The commanding officer called through his radio while the guard stood watching the tree line and a patch of freshly cut grass swaying in the wind. The guard noticed something abnormal, as if he was looking at a reflection, or a curved mirror, and not quite a natural landscape. He reached forward with a quivering finger, not knowing what to expect, hoping to be able to permeate the field and discover what was beyond and whether or not it was just an invisible barrier. But then, as he felt, he noticed a strange sensation, as if he was touching hot metal, and with a singe, he retracted his fingertip. Heat emanated from his hand and he gasped at the high temperature. The waterside wildlife were disturbed again and flew away in a dense flock. Then, as he drew his pistol, a great greenish yellow flame blasted out in a horizontal rectangular shape, covering a vast area directly in front of him in a sweeping glow, casting flames out and directed, focused energy. The flame lifted and set fire to a tree as it took off, and the guard saw the faint outline of a ship blending into the air like a drip of water running over a reflective surface. The guard stood awestruck while his commanding officer desperately tried to contact him through his radio.

  "Another intruder in the palace," the radio said. "Come at once."

  * * * * *

  "You wanted the key so desperately," said the queen, "which means you know the truth about what is hidden in the chest. Let me tell you something. We keep the chest under strict surveillance, guarded by twelve of my finest foot soldiers, behind a reinforced titanium door with a complex encoding system, heat and infra-red sensors. Even before that, there is an intense security screening process. Did you really think you could break in to one of the most heavily guarded rooms on the planet with your simpleton expertise and your slightly inbred looking companion?"

  "Which of us are you talking to, your majesty?" said Wingclipper.

  "It is such a shame that the laws were changed so recently. It is such poor timing that you would attempt to steal my prized possessions now, when we have upgraded the penalty for breaking, entering and theft from torture and imprisonment to death by firing squad."

  The queen grabbed a gold pen from her desk and hovered it over Wingclipper's nose.

  "Do you see this?" said the queen.

  "Pull it back slightly and it will come into focus," said Wingclipper.

  "I inherited this pen from my late grandmother."

  "Timekeeping issues, had she?" said Elwood.

  "She was more treasured than any single member of your race. Now, imagine this pen as a very tiny scale model of your ship. At this miniscule size it is worth one thousand times the value of your metallic junk ride. With this pen I could purchase a small moon or an overseas colony. Oh, don't you love the monarchy? Everyone respects us. Pity the public who do not know of our real monetary value. We own everything. We could enslave them tomorrow. I could seize their assets, their money, their land and their commodities with a single signature of mine on a contract. They are, after all, my subjects, and they will obey the most high commander of the land."

  As the queen waffled on about her importance, Elwood caught a glimpse of an object in the corner of his eye. He glanced at the window and saw a grey ball descend and focus a beam of energy at the window. When the queen was not looking, Elwood gestured to Wingclipper who saw the object tracing a wide circle with a concentrated energy beam into the glass. The ball droid retreated slightly to make itself scarcer while the beam penetrated the material and burned an outline. The energy beam reached its original point at twelve o'clock and the circular portion of glass fell out. Immediately afterwards, the energy beam grew smaller, focusing a tiny red and white point against Elwood and Wingclipper's bound hands, scorching through the material and causing it to fall off.

  "Guard, take the trespassers to their holding cell to await their execution."

  The guard pounced at the queen's order and walked to Elwood. He stood Elwood upright, and in doing so, Elwood elbowed him in the stomach and stole the pistol from his holster. The queen cowered and the guard covered her while another guard entered the room at the queen's screaming. Elwood aimed and fired, sizzling the guard in the chest as he entered. Wingclipper rushed to the window and climbed out, then watched the Chromium Bullet remove its cloaking device and come into plain view. He stepped out and jumped, landing on the lowered entrance ramp, hanging to the edge with his feet dangling.

  "Elwood!" screamed Wingclipper. "Get out of there now!"

  Elwood fired more shots as another guard sneaked behind the door. Elwood retreated to the window, shooting and avoiding a return shot that blasted a small hole in the frame of a portrait. He watched the picture fall off the wall and slam to the floor in a pile of dust and wood.

  "Get him! Get him!" cried the queen, shoving the guard away from her. Elwood watched Wingclipper use the best of his strength to pull himself on to the ramp. He turned and offered his hand, then Elwood ran and jumped, just as the guard launched himself at the window. At the same time, more shots were fired into the room and a monkey crawled to the circular hole, leaping and jumping onto Elwood's back, gripping tightly as he caught the edge of the ramp.

  "There you are, Ro!"he said as the ship gained altitude and pulled away from the palace.

  * * * * *

  Wingclipper got the key off Rodeena, who had morphed back into her original feminine reptilian shape, then he knelt beside the chest and felt the intricate carvings on its ridges. He slotted the key into the lock and turned, and in doing so, the crew waited as a series of jolts, clunks, rattles and creaks intertwined inside the chest. A brief moment of silence followed before the lid rose by itself. Elwood knelt beside Wingclipper and they forcefully opened the lid to its fullest extent. A cloud of powder and grime escaped and they sneezed and coughed, wafting it away from their faces. Elwood felt around and pulled out a green orb. It elevated from his hands and glowed spontaneously. Rodeena's mouth fell open.

  "So it does exist," she said.

  "What did I tell you?" said Wingclipper.

  * * * * *

  The Chromium Bullet landed on a dense meadow on the same planet, two thousand miles from its position in the capital of capital cities. The crew disembarked holding the green orb and an elderly farmer with blonde hair, a blonde beard and sporting a white cloak, ran straight over to them carrying his black cane. When he saw the orb, he dropped the cane, knelt and raised his hands in the air. Gazing skyward, he shouted, "Thank you! Thank you!", and then kissed Wingclipper.

  "There it is," said the farmer. "The growth sphere. The saviour of our land."

  The farmer took his prize and placed it on the ground. The crew stood at a distance as the intensity and power emanating from the sphere gradually increased, causing an all encompassing glow and a radiant heat source to be discharged. Green light rays exploded in a sundial effect from the artefact, and seconds later, fruits, vegetables and trees of seemingly endless varieties and colours sprouted from the land, transforming the place into a giant vineyard and allotment of abundant crops, and more importantly for the farmer, a place of sufficient resources to sustain his people indefinitely.

  "It works," said the farmer. "I can't believe it actually works. We are saved!"

  He skipped around joyously and tried to dance with 234, who could only reciprocate a few dance moves in a robotic fashion. Bink bleeped and bounced, spinning around in a rapid blur to express its delight. For the first time in a while, Elwood smiled sincerely and enthusiastically. Wingclipper snatched a juicy orange and a red berry from a nearby tree, bit into it and discovered the stone. He grimaced and then recoiled at the astounding quality of the produce.

  "This must be one of the only times where you have brought us into a mission resulting in someone's life being improved," said Rodeena. "Are you seriously fulfilling your promise of changing for good? Is this a previously unseen side to Captain Phoenix Wingclipper?"

  "Ha ha, ah. Shut up and eat," he replied, throwing a berry at her. A group of locals in white cloaks rejoiced in jubilation
with the farmer and welcomed the crew with open arms, so wide that they enveloped around all five of them. Elwood looked at Wingclipper during the embrace.

  "This is all thanks to your simpleton expertise," he said, and Wingclipper offered him a cigar.

  * * * * *

  Written by Richard C. Parr

  * * * * *

  About the Author

  Richard C. Parr was born in 1986 in England and lives in Nottingham. He has travelled to 20 countries and runs a blog at HumanEmbodiment.com.

  Contact Me

  Email: [email protected]

  Twitter: @HumanEmbodiment

  Thank you for reading books on Archive.BookFrom.Net
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