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Almost two hundred years after space travel was perfected and humans spread throughout the galaxies, two humanoids sat, tied back-to-back on the floor of a spaceship.
“Well, I have two ideas, but-” The taller of the two began to speak.
"Mia, you are not seducing the aliens. We are engaged! ” The smaller cut the other off, shaking their head and making their short brown hair whip through the air.
“Okay, I have one idea-” Mia began, cut off before she could speak a full sentence.
“We are also not killing them! They may not be doing this of their own free will.”
“Well, what’s your plan then, Robin?” Mia asked, rolling her moss-green eyes.
“Uh… fair point.” Robin sighed, leaning back onto Mia’s wide shoulders. “I told you we shouldn’t stop. See what happens when you don’t listen to me?”
“Oh, so this is my fault? You’re the one who ran onto the spaceship shouting! They hadn’t spotted me until you yelled!” Mia rolled her eyes again and groaned. “So, are we getting out of here or not?”
“After you, m’lady.” Robin stood, shaking out their wrists and pulling their fiance to her feet. The rope was left untied in a small pile on the floor as the two slipped away.
A little while earlier…
“Robin, dearest, where would you like to go today?” A tall, humanoid girl swung around the console of her timeship, smirking playfully at her fiance as she swept her sandy blonde hair over her shoulder. “Anywhere you choose! Just please, if you ever loved me, don’t make it another museum. I almost died of pure boredom at the Universal Museum of Intergalactic Culture.”
“Don’t worry, Mia. Learning about futuristic cultures wasn’t nearly as entertaining as I thought it would be. Only museums could make aliens boring.” A tiny humanoid slipped onto the ship, their short brown hair falling into their face and hiding their glittering blue eyes, standing out against their chocolate brown shin.
“Well, if you want exciting, how does a supernova sound? Giant, exploding ball of gas. I hear there’s a beautiful one happening, oh, two hundred years from now.” Mia grinned, spinning towards the controls.
“Sounds perfect.” Robin smiled back, jumping onto a seat and holding on tight.
“Then let’s go!” Mia danced around her timeship like a maniac, flicking levers, pressing buttons, and controlling holograms with her pale hands. She flew around the ship with the ease of experience, brown eyes practically glowing with specks of gold. The ship jumped and jolted with turbulence, and she moved with them like a surfer on a wave. Robin watched, in awe as always, as Mia worked.
The ship shook harshly, almost throwing Robin off of their seat. At the same second, a red light began to blink on one of the many holo-maps. Mia slid over to the screen, fingers dancing across the light as she tried to pinpoint the alarm. Her eyes opened in shock and she froze, a grin spreading across her face. “Well, my dear, we’re going to have to put a hold on that supernova”.
“What is it this time?” Robin stood up, looking at the screen. “Emergency flare? Can’t we leave this one to the IEP?”
“As if the Interstellar Enforcers have ever done anything. By the time they got there, everyone would be dead. And look here. That alarm started five minutes ago and stops in another five. Too short for the IEP to do anything about it, and too long to be a mistake. Something turned it off, probably the same thing that caused it.”Mia pointed at several strings of text in an alien language. Robin squinted at the text for a second, tilting their head, but couldn’t read it.
Sighing, they said“I hate it when you’re right. If it’s another Miren I’m leaving. Those things are creepy and their stunners hurt .” Robin and Mia shuddered in sync, wincing at the memory.
“Deal.” Mia flipped several switches and Robin fell back into the chair as the whole ship trembled and spun. “Hold on!” She pressed a few more buttons and the ship slowed, coming to a stop. “We’re here!” Mia’s grin somehow got wider, and Robin shook their head.
“Be careful, darl-” Robin cut themself off, sighing and glaring at the already open doors. They stood, dusted off their baggy hoodie, and followed their fiance out. After Robin was out, the doors closed on their own and slowly shimmered out of existence, revealing a long, brightly lit hallway that led into the depths of the ship. Robin turned, looking around, and barely spotted Mia’s long, black coat before it swept around a corner. “Mia! Wait up!” They called out, running down the hallway after her.
When Robin turned the corner, they saw Mia surrounded by what appeared to be the crew of the ship. Ten people stood around her, wearing identical green vests and blue jeans. They all had strangely blank looks on their faces and were standing unnaturally still. Mia began to try to speak, but they cut her off. One covered her mouth with a large hand while another wrestled her arms behind her back. Mia’s muffled shouting didn’t seem to bother them, they just kept the hand over her mouth and began to pull her down the hallway. Robin was so focused on their fiance that they didn’t notice the man creeping up behind them until it was too late. A strong hand covered their face and their arm was pulled behind their back. Robin struggled but wasn’t able to escape as they were forced down the hallway after their fiance.
Back to the present…
The two slipped silently through the ship, but they didn’t see another member of the crew. The ship was quiet, the duo’s breathing and silent footsteps were the only sounds. Every room the two peeked into seemed undisturbed as if the occupants had simply walked out. There were no signs of a struggle, no blood. It looked like the ship had been abandoned.
“The control room should be this way. That must be where the beacon came from.” Mia whispered, pointing down the hall to her left. Robin nodded, following closely behind.
“Something isn’t right here. Why would the crew set off an alarm and then attack their rescuers?” Robin whispered, barely audible as they tiptoed down the hallway.
“Yeah. Something was wrong with the crew as well. I kicked one of them in the shins and he didn’t even flinch. They were so still I’d say they were robots, but I could feel their pulse. They were humans, all of them.”
“Brainwashing, maybe? Mind control?” Robin asked, stopping at a door. “Hey, here’s the control room.”
“Could be mind control. Let’s find out!” Mia opened the door and froze. A large figure hunched over the controls. Its fat, wrinkled fingers pressed slowly at the buttons; long, ugly nails scratching against the keyboard. It spun around, flinging slime across the room. “Oh, Mother Universe, you smell. Ever heard of a shower?” Mia grimaced, plugging her nose.
The creature growled, yellow eyes glinting with malice. It spoke in a strange language, with guttural growls and clicking noises coming from deep in its throat. When Mia and Robin didn’t seem affected, it seemed confused. “Why won’t you obey? Do what I say!” This time it spoke in a different language, one the universal translators could understand. It growled again, spit flying through the air.
“Oh, you were right, Robin! It was mind control! I’m terribly sorry, dear creature. Mind control won’t work on us.” The two flashed identical black rings. “Neural blockers embedded in our engagement rings. Clever and romantic. Let’s see… mind control, appalling hygiene, a language our translators won’t translate... I guess that would make you a Krysont. You’re a bit far from home, buddy. What is it you want with this ship?”
The newly identified Krysont got even angrier, eyes narrowing. “The Emperor must pay. Yru will burn, and he will know the pain he caused to my people! He has destroyed my planet, so I will destroy his!”
“Yru… isn’t that the trading planet in Alpha Centuri? And if you’re saying Lirin is destroyed… What year is it?” Mia glanced at a strange watch on her arm, seven hands spinning at different speeds around the face. “Oh, it’s 2970 I.T., isn’t it? That means Yru is under the New Roman Empire’s control. It should have a population of around… 10 billion?”
Robin smiled. “See, that museum was a good idea!”
“Yeah, whatever. I’m sorry, I can’t let you destroy the only planet with decent crepes since Paris in 1630, even if the Emperor does deserve it.” Mia sighed, reaching into her jacket and pulling out a small, black device. She pressed several buttons and tossed it into the air, where it began to float.
“What are you doing?! What is that?” The Krysont shouted, swatting at it but being pushed back by an invisible force before it could make contact.
“This is a pretty big ship, right? By the size, I’d call it a colonization ship., which means hundreds of staff members are on board and awake at any given time. With all those people, you would have an army. I’m guessing you’re controlling them, right? As I’ve realized, humans generally don’t like being controlled. That box is a neural blocker, expanding and stopping any mental waves from traveling through the air. I’d give you two minutes before the blocker takes effect and the crew realizes they’ve been controlled. Another two minutes before they find you, the creature who controlled them, and… well… you know what happens next. I’d suggest you run.” Mia smiled, turning and walking away with Robin close behind. “Ready to go see that supernova, dear?”
The alien let out a scream of rage and charged Mia and Robin. The two sidestepped in perfect sync and the creature smacked into the wall, knocking himself out. The doors to the timeship opened in midair.
“Please.” Robin took Mia’s hand and the two walked into the ship. The doors closed behind them and faded from sight as the ship flew away into space. The two had a supernova to see, after all, and all the time in the universe to get there.