Age of Men Read online

ignore such intense looks that she could feel penetrate to her soul.

  “I have a husband.” She finally said.

  “A what?” Petrav was confused.

  “A husband. Life partner. Spouse… On my planet when you love somebody you get married to them and spend the rest of your life with them.”

  “What is married?” Petrav asked, “What is love?”

  How could it be possible that a species so similar to humans in appearance didn’t know what marriage was or even what love was? Love was always thought to be a universal emotion – something that can connect people through space and time.

  “You really don’t know?” She was intrigued by his ignorance.

  He shook his head. Alicia wondered how she could even begin to explain the intricate and complicated thing called love to someone who had no clue what it was. Even at her age she sometimes wondered what love was and whether other people knew what it felt like when she looked into the eyes of Jack and Timmy.

  “What is love?” Petrav asked.

  “Well,” She paused, “It’s difficult to explain, but when you feel it, you’ll know. It is a state of mind that connects two people and nothing can come between them.”

  “And you love your husband?”

  “Very much.” She confirmed, “With all of my heart.”

  “Is he the male you were enquiring about earlier?”

  “Yes.” She said saddened.

  “I’m sorry. I truly am.”

  “Is there someone special waiting for you at home?” She asked, but could see he didn’t quite understand the question, “Do you have a family? Do you know what a family is?”

  He shook his head and said, “It’s just me and Igbod over there… and Eljav.”

  She pondered for a moment and then gasped, “Just the three of you?”

  He nodded.

  “You’re telling me that it’s just the three of you on this entire planet?” She was flabbergasted.

  “That is why it was so important to find you.” Petrav said, “You’re the one who will save our race.”

  “You keep saying that.” She said, “What makes you so sure that I can save your race?”

  “It’s like you said,” Petrav smiled, “When you feel it, you’ll know.”

  Petrav toyed with a leaf and then finally said, “You’ll probably never see him again… your husband. Our planet is big. Your planet, earth, can fit three hundred times into our planet. It’ll take you two lifetimes to get to the other side of the planet where the men are being held.”

  Those words cut Alicia like a knife and knocked the wind out of her. She already had a hard time wrapping her mind around the fact that she was on an alien planet – now she had to accept the fact that she might never see her family again. Petrav could see his statement shook her down to her core as her face drained of colour.

  “I’m not hungry.” She said and handed the meat back to him.

  There was a long moment of silence as Alicia hugged her legs and Petrav wondered what he could say to cheer her up. He felt a strong connection to her – a connection that he couldn’t explain – and hated seeing her sad.

  “Do you know how old I am?” Petrav asked, “I am 632 of your years. And over the years I’ve met many interesting people from your planet.”

  “Why are you telling me this?”

  “I’m trying to take your mind off your troubles.” Petrav said, “And perhaps install some hope. The second most interesting person I met was a female called Dorothy Arnold. She came to this planet when we intensified our search for the one who would save our people, but she wasn’t the one we were looking for. When she arrived, she said that it was the year 1910 on your planet and that there was nothing for her back home. Despite not being who we were looking for, she was happy to stay and teach me your language. I knew a bit when I met her, but she became more than just a teacher – she became my friend. When she was eighty of your years, she told me that we should never give up on finding the one who will one day save our people. She said that hope is one of the most powerful things and that nothing can overpower hope.”

  “Hope?” Alicia snickered, “How will that help me see my family again?”

  “Dorothy was wrong.” Petrav said, “The most powerful thing is light. It’s faster than anything and can penetrate anything. It’s also what we used to power the device that brought you here, but unfortunately bringing all your people here drained the device forever, but there is one thing almost as powerful…”

  “I’m not sure where you’re going with this.”

  “Light-worms.” Petrav said, “They cannot transport you back to your planet, but they can take you anywhere on this planet in a blink of an eye. All you need to do is envision where you want to go and they’ll take you there.”

  Alicia sat upright with new found hope and leaned in as close as the light-beam bars allowed her to.

  “You’re willing to help me find my family?” She gasped delighted.

  “I can’t.” He said, “But if you save our people, I’m convinced that Eljav will let you use the light-worms.”

  “If I’m that important, why do you keep me locked up? It’s not like I’m going anywhere.”

  “I’m just following orders.” Petrav said, “Eljav has been looking for you for over a thousand years and I doubt that he’d want you to walk around in this dangerous, new world.”

  31

  Timmy was less frightened than before and asked for his dad to put him down, which Jack did as he glanced over at Josh who was sharpening the bone against the rock he sat on. Never did he thought the day would come that he’d see a modern-day man sit on a rock like a caveman and sharpen a bone into a weapon – desperate times calls for desperate measures.

  “Just stay close to me.” Jack insisted.

  Timmy nodded and glanced at the millions of people around him and wondered whether his mother was safe. He wanted her there with him so badly, but had to be a big boy. His dad already had enough to worry about without him crying over his mother.

  Richard stared at Josh with his arms folded across his chest – he was against the whole macabre excursion from the start, but kept his opinions to himself. These men were desperate for an absolution and might not take too kindly to his constant criticism.

  The clouds rumbled right above them and then in the distance to the west; making Richard look up with concern. He didn’t like it when the clouds became restless. It usually meant only one thing – the fire-beasts were hidden in the clouds.

  “What is it?” Meat asked as he stepped closer.

  “It’s trouble.” Richard said.

  “You think those creatures will come back?”

  “I don’t think so… I know so. It’s just a matter of time before they return.”

  Meat hesitated and then asked, “Do you think it’ll work? The javelin?”

  Richard looked at him with a raised eyebrow, “You’re asking me whether I think you’ll be able to throw the javelin?”

  “I know I can throw the javelin. I’m asking whether you think it’ll be effective enough to kill such a large animal.”

  Richard turned his sights to the dark and rumbling sky, “I hope so…”

  Timmy spotted an old man sitting in a puddle of mud not too far away and walked over to the man who seemed lost and defeated – he didn’t even bother wiping the mud or strands of hair out of his cracked face, but simply stared down at his hands.

  Timmy stood in front of the old man for a moment and noticed blood smears on the palms of his upturned palms, but the old man didn’t acknowledge him.

  “Are you alright, mister?” Timmy asked.

  The old man kept staring down at his hands and then finally looked up at Timmy with tear-filled eyes and a shivering lower lip.

  “I couldn’t save him.” The old man whimpered, “I couldn’t save him. Those things grabbed my boy right out of my hands. I tried to fight back, but I couldn’t save him.”

  The old man lowered
his head again and got lost in his thoughts of sorrow and what might have been.

  Timmy stood there for a moment and then turned around, but couldn’t see his dad – all he could see were hundreds of legs blocking his way. He swirled around; hoping to see his dad somewhere, but all he could see were desperate people walking around endlessly.

  “Dad!” He called out.

  He got lost at the mall once, so Timmy knew that the best thing to do would be standing still, but with more than half of the human population around him, his dad might never find him.

  An immense roar echoed through the dark clouds; making Timmy glance up with a jerk. The clouds to the south were illuminated in a big, yellow circle and then caught ablaze before one of the fire-monsters burst out through the clouds with a sonic boom of its wings. People all around him started screaming and running in all directions, but he kept standing in one spot and watched as the monster swooped down towards them.

  The old man couldn’t care less about the fear and panic around him. He had lost his only son and was drowning in his own sorrow as he kept staring down at his bloody palms.

  “Timmy!” he heard his father call out behind him.

  He glanced back over his shoulder at Jack who was desperately trying to push his way through the sea of fleeing humans.

  “Timmy!” Jack called out, “Don’t move!”

  No matter how much he struggled, Jack couldn’t push his way through the crowd and watched in horror as the monster dove down towards Timmy as if targeting him amidst the fleeing humans.

  “Timmy!” Jack cried out petrified.

  He kept pushing through the crowd, but every time he pushed past three