Space Knights: The Arrival by Gregory Samuelson (buy e reader .TXT) 📕

rocket pack that was now cool and drained of fuel. He also took notice of some of the blinking lights of the monitoring devices shining through a transparent window on top. He stepped closer and looked inside and to his amazement saw a boy.

The boy appeared to be about seventeen years old with brown hair, parted on the left, of average build. His eyes were closed in sleep and he was wearing a form-fitting white suit. For a moment the farmer stood and wondered where he had come from. Then he remembered the news reports from almost four months ago, exactly one hundred and ninety days. There had been nothing on the news but stories about the humans from another world that had suddenly appeared. He listened to the news about the humans from Earth, but they had all arrived in much bigger ships. Then he remembered that two Earth ships had been destroyed and that at least one of them had expelled the passengers to save them. At the moment he could not remember the names of the ships, one had sounded like, “Spare Arrow xiv.” Or was that a number after the name? Maybe this boy was from one of those tragic ships and his escape craft had landed him here. Why hadn’t he seen the craft before?

While he stood there the farmer somehow pushed a hidden control and the outer lid of the small craft opened up to completely reveal the sleep chamber inside. He gaped at the many control systems that were monitoring the boy. As he studied the readouts trying to figure out what they were saying, his eye caught sight of a slight movement. The boy turned his head and seemed to be breathing more deeply in sleep. The boy moved again as more of the systems began activating the wake mode. Monitors showed that the boy’s breathing and heart rate was moving to normal. One monitor showed that some outside air was now being let in the chamber. The monitor also showed the contents of the air. Althora’s atmosphere was exactly like the Earth’s.

Suddenly there was a clicking noise as the chamber’s timing system counted down to zero. Somehow when the farmer had hit the switch the timer went straight to zero and activated the resuscitation system. With that system engaged other systems kicked in to ensure that the surrounding area was safe. After detecting no dangers the chamber fully opened. The inner lid raised and the boy moved again. Slowly, but surely the boy’s senses came more and more around. For the last couple of days the chamber’s systems had been in a cascade due to the power drain and by a lucky fluke it started to slowly bring the boy around. Now he was almost back to normal and out of his suspended state. Unknown to him, he was about to wake up to a new world.

The boy rolled over and groaned very slowly, becoming aware that it must be morning. He rolled the other way and stretched his mind trying to remember his dream. Memories blazed through his mind and seemed to finally fall into place. His family, his name and age, his home world, and the destruction of Earth and where he was all flooded in his mind. With a surge of straining muscles he stretched, yawned greatly and finally opened his eyes. Immediately his bright hazel eyes took in the trees and then the farmer, the first human he had seen since he had been placed and enclosed in the deep sleep chamber.

Both sets of eyes looked at each other in surprise. The boy was shocked. He remembered the reason he was in the chamber, but where was the rocket ship? Worst of all, where was his family? Maybe this person, whoever he is, might be able to speak and know the answers to his questions. So slowly he sat up and tentatively stretched further because his muscles hadn’t been used for the longest time. He wasn’t sure how they would work. They were slightly sore to start with, but the more he moved the more relaxed they became and the easier he moved. He felt his chest expand and he took a very deep breath. Ah, he was alive. Thank God I’m alive.

“Here, let me help you out of there,” said the farmer in perfect English.

“H…h…how did you learn English?” the boy asked, it was the first question to reach his lips. It seemed incredible that the people on such a distant planet should develop the same language. “Are you from Earth too?”

The farmer was surprised himself. The boy had understood him and spoke in the same language. He had the same thought as the boy about this. He thought very carefully before answering the boy’s questions. “No, I’m not from Earth. This is the planet Althora. It seems that our languages are very similar to yours.”

“That explains it. Where am I exactly? I don’t understand, what happened to the ship? Where is my family?” the boy looked around curiously at the trees, still trying to figure out how he’d gotten there.

“You’re on the second planet in a system of twelve planets. As I said, this planet is called Althora. In particular this is the continent Falora and the kingdom of Cator. The kingdom is ruled by King Maximus and Queen Kayna,” responded the farmer rather proudly and knowledgably. Then he thought and asked, “What’s your name, and where are you from?”

“My name is Trance Sonderson, well actually Terrance, but everybody calls me Trance. I’m from the planet Earth.” Trance then explained about his planet’s demise and how he and his family took part in the exodus. To his surprise the farmer already knew a lot about it. Then Trance thought and asked, “Uh, by the way, what’s your name?”

“My name is Chorus Markem, and this is my farm,” answered Chorus smiling now that they were getting to know each other.

Trance struggled to get up and out