Cherry Vanilla Topic 2 (Whipped cream on top)
Cherry Vanilla topic 2: there’s something in the air- Whipped Cream on top
Story: Space Beyond Us
Rating: PG- some violence and intense scenes
Summary- My space story. Our main captain, Zenith Heartrail way back before he became a captain.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Zenith’s ship landed smoothly on the planet. Zenith stood on the navigation deck and looked out over the beautiful, blue, sand. Zenith smiled sarcastically as a memory of this particular planet hit him. It was about 13 years ago but it came to him so vividly now.
~~
There was something in the air. It smelled foul and wretched. Zenith was nearly overwhelmed by it as soon as he was shoved roughly out of the ship. Wherever this place was that his legal guardian had brought them to, it couldn’t lead to anything good. What kind of species actually grew in this suffocation environment? It smell sulfurous and hot and disgusting.
Zenith didn’t have much time to think about it once they set foot on the soul, they were greeted by the customer that had contacted them. The same ugly face of a Jitutwa. Long muzzle, short face, lots of teeth, rough scales covering their body, and hairs growing in random locations. Tall, and gangly, with claws for hands and a humanoid body, they did not appeal to the eye on first glance. They also had a reputation to be a pretty dirty race. They were mostly mercenaries and thieves. Killing to be rich. This particular Jitutwa was one Zenith’s guardian had dealt with pretty commonly. He was called Dredicu.
Dredicu’s foggy purple eyes looked down at the 15 year old Zenith with the same look of contempt he always greeted him with. Zenith returned the look.
"Where is it?" Zenith’s guardian, Arka, asked, lacing his words with a fake politeness he saved for customers that could easily turn violent.
"The item I wish to have you retrieve is this way," Dredicu responded in a raspy, calm voice that sent shivers down everyone’s spine.
Zenith had no doubt he’d be the one getting the item, whatever it was and whatever it was. Arka loved making him do the most challenging jobs and he had no doubt the thick headed, old, Hunkista had changed within milliseconds.
Zenith was shoved to follow Dredicu. He was led between the two tough guys at a brisk pace. The planet was actually a pretty one. It was barren of any full vegetation to cover them. Yet it was pretty cool temperature wise. There was a half moon hanging in te sky and twinkling stars. The sand was an odd blue color. Almost like turquoise, though it was too dark to tell it’s true color, yet soft and firm to walk on. Zenith might’ve liked the place under different circumstances and with a lot less of the rancid smell. Zenith finally noticed something else that was off about the place. It was dead quiet. Not even a breeze. It was eery that no life seemed to be near.
Then again, why did he expect this job to be located somewhere pleasant and tropical if he was being chosen for it. He rolled his teal eyes to himself. He focused his attention back to where they were leading him. They had actually covered quit a lot of distance across the big hilled planet.
As they crossed the ridge of one particularly big mound of sand, Dredicu came to an abrupt stop. Zenith’s light frame nearly collided with him. Arka asked quickly, "is that where we send the boy?"
Zenith wondered what he was talking about but figured it out pretty quickly when he looked around Dredicu’s sturdy frame.
An elegantly built structure was at the bottom of the dune. It was square and not very big. It looked like a mausoleum. It was super detailed on the outside. Intricate leaves and jewels were etched into the rock everywhere Zenith’s eyes landed. It was beautiful and creepy at the same time.
Zenith was more than a little curious what was in there and terrified as to why Dredicu was willing to part with his money to get someone else to go on there.
Dredicu responded raptly, "Boy, there’s a box in that building. Get it for more swiftly. Delay even slightly and I’ll make sure you remember the mistake." The thug made his point by shoving Zenith down the sand hill roughly with a claw.
It gave Zenith enough momentum to fall inelegantly down the hill. The sand scratched his skin lightly where his green short sleeved shirt didn’t cover him. His fall landed him in front of the huge building flat on his back. Zenith coughed out the sand that had managed to find his mouth and thanked the wonderful business partner sarcastically under his breath.
Oh boy, now came the interesting part of finding out what was in here that kept a determined Jitutwa out.
Zenith admired the highly decorated, heavy, stone door. The dark grey stone definitely guarded something or someone important. He focused back on his task. He hefted the door open with a shove of his shoulders.
It grinded noisily and slid open enough for Zenith to slip through.
It was pitch black inside the chamber. Zenith’s only light was the partial silver moonlight that snuck through the crack in the doorway. Zenith’s nostrils immediately took note of the difference in smell inside the building. It smelled musky instead of the toxic air outside. Smelled almost like a barn back on his planet would. Zenith chastised himself for getting distracted again.
A few feet away, on the opposite wall, was a stone shelf. Better yet was seeing the box on top of that shelf. Now all Zenith had to do was cross the room and get it.
As soon as his brown boots took a step forward, Zenith realized he was not the only thing in the room. A small growl came from the dark corners of the room.
Crap. Zenith decide to not be stealthy anymore. He ran forward. A roar echoed deafeningly in the small room. Zenith lunged and grabbed the box. He turned sharply and huddled it against his chest.
As he moved his feet quickly toward the exit, he saw what was waiting for him in the shadows. A huge cat like creature now lunged toward him. Sharp, long, saber like teeth were aimed at Zenith’s throat. Zenith quickly ducked underneath the massive cat. He managed to avoid all but one claw that grabbed his cheek. He yelped but kept his focus on the door. He heard the cat hit the opposite wall. It roared with anger at missing it’s prey. Zenith knew it wouldn’t take long for the cat to recover. He made it out of the door, stumbling, and was immediately greeted by Dredicu.
His claws grabbed the box and he scuttled away towards the ship. Arka laughed and followed Dredicu over the hill as the cat lunged over Zenith and growled furiously at the sight of more prey escaping.
Zenith cursed. He managed to get to his feet as the cat realized it had prey still. It turned it’s big and graceful form to face him. Zenith stood ready to find a way to run to the ship. He knew the two mercenaries would have no qualms leaving him on this wasteland if he didn’t hurry and get on the ship before they took off.
The cat began to circle Zenith. Zenith had no problem with this tactic, despite not having a weapon on him. He stood still, not willing to give the cat more ground. He stared the predator in the eye, looking for any sign the cat would strike. The cat faked a lunge but Zenith didn’t budge.
The cat lost it’s patience to make Zenith panic and just leapt blindly out of hunger once again.
Zenith couldn’t dip beneath the cat so instead he leapt up and used his body weight to push the cat beneath him, shoving it into the ground. It was enough to stun the animal.
Zenith bolted up the hill, knowing his time was more than short. He kept focused on where he was going. He cleared several hills before he noticed angry roars and pounding feet behind him. He knew the cat would catch him. He just hoped to reach the ship before it did.
He saw the ship preparing for flight just in front of him. He sped over the flat land, adrenalin pumping his muscles harder and harder.
He managed to jump up and grab a leg of the ship as it pulled up. His felt the cat’s sharp claws follow his lunge. They landed on his back, leaving three gashes. Zenith yelled out with the sudden pain of broken skin. He nearly fell but he refused to let go of the ship’s leg.
The ship’s leg was dragged inside as it prepared to break the planet’s atmosphere. Zenith was brought into the ship with it. He knew he had managed to be relatively safe now. He just had to attend to the painful new gashes in his flesh somehow.
The doors to the legs closed tightly. Zenith was now inside the small chamber where they resided. He knew he could crawl to another door nearby and enter the engine room of the ship. He also knew he could avoid the crew pretty well once he got into the air hatch. He just hoped he could make it there without too much of a scene.
He crawled out of the very small door into the bright, hot, engine room. Commotion was happening as everyone focused on making sure they left the planet alive. He scanned quickly for any sign of the main two people he didn’t want to see.
He didn’t catch sight of his guardian or his business partner.
Zenith was about to dart to the nearby air vent across the room when he looked down at the floor. He was already leaving a nice blood trail from the deep wounds in his back. Fantastic. He removed what was left of his shirt. He guessed where the cuts were and tried his best to make a bandage to catch the blood. He would have to hope that would work until he got to his room and got it bandaged. Arka would definitely follow any more trail he left. Hopefully this much would be overlooked for now.
Zenith refocused n his task to get to his room. He darted in between crew mates running about their business. He removed the cover to the vent and entered it. He sealed it behind himself. He headed down a more circuitous root to his room due the fact most of the fans would now be on. Happily, this ship was old and had huge air vents or this would be an uncomfortable journey.
Zenith managed to get to his room pretty quickly. He crawled out of the shaft in the ceiling. He let himself down gently, trying not to jar his wounds any more than he had to. He got a chair to lift himself high enough to seal back the vent. He was not about to stretch his arms with these new cuts on him.
He was surprised no one was waiting for him in his room. Guess everyone was still busy trying to leave the planet.
Zenith quickly went to his stash of supplies, hidden in the wall. He took out enough bandage and tape to cover his back. He also took out a few antiseptic towels to clean the wounds. He then recovered the hole to hid what else was in there.
Zenith used a pencil to awkwardly reach most of the cuts. It hurt like crazy to extend and twist his arms to reach the cuts. It was a necessary pain though. The last thing he needed was an infection.
He was pleased to find that the cuts weren’t too deep. They were just long. He wouldn’t have to find a way to stitch them this way.
He nearly fell over from his sitting position on the floor as the ship shook abruptly. They had broken thorough the atmosphere. Zenith hurriedly wrapped the wounds, knowing that if anyone wanted to lecture him they would come soon.
He was just putting on another shirt painfully slow when just what he expected happened.
Arka burst through the door. He seemed comparatively pleased but that didn’t always mean good for Zenith.
Zenith eyed him warily as Arka spoke, "Good job not getting eaten by the cat. I was wondering who I could get to clean the engines, ship, and run errands if you weren’t around. Speaking there of, get off your tail and get to cleaning up deck 3. Seems my crew decided to kill someone while we were out. Take care of it. Now." Arka left in as thunderous of a way as he came.
Zenith sighed. So went his days with his so called guardian.
~~~
Zenith shook his head as he heard Ran call, "Captain, everything’s ready to go."
Zenith picked up his coat from the back of his chair nearby. "Correction, Ran," Zenith spoke as he slung his coat on his shoulders and adjusted it on himself, "Now, everything’s ready to go."
Ran rolled his eyes and walked to the door. Micah and Sha’nol were waiting for them.
"Let’s go get our job, shall we," Zenith said with bravado as he punched the button to lift the door.
God. The air was still as foul as ever. He really wanted to know why was in the air of this stupid planet to cause that.