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  “What will it take for you not to trust them?”

  The room started shaking; lightly at first and then a bit more turbulent – prompting them both to hurry outside and as Stephen drew back the doorway curtain, they saw what all the commotion was. A colossal spacecraft was rising out of the water to the north of the floating town and created gigantic waterfalls as it slowly rose to the heavens.

  Realizing that they were the only ones still on the floating town, Jess knew they were in trouble.

  “Where’s Wesley?” The situation worried Jess.

  “The last time I saw him, he was explaining to Mareez how the TBL worked.”

  As the words left his mouth, Stephen realized what happened to Wesley and that they were very naïve. Being the mission’s medic, he didn’t question much when Mareez said they could worrk better on the pod if the TBL was out of their way.

  “Oh God…” He murmured, “They’ve got them.”

  The massive spacecraftt above them roared as the engine thrusters came to life and within a split second hyperjump the craft was gone. A faint tremor shook the deserted floating town and then all was quiet again. They were stranded.

  CHAPTER 9: LEFT BEHIND

  Stephen led Jess down into the cargo hull with the solar lantern in his hand and the creature in the cage turned to face them; keeping most of its body balled up in the corner of its cage. Its eyes reflected the light much like a cat’s eyes while it inched closer to the front of the cage as Stephen and Jess crouched down in font of it.

  “So this is a Lufta?” Jess said rhetorically.

  “You’re the enemy.” It whimpered.

  “Maleez said iit mimicked our language.” Stephen said.

  “She left us stranded heree and took Wesley captive.” She corrected him, “Do you really believe her?”

  “Please.” The creature said, “I have a family.”

  “Why did you call us the enemy?” Jess asked.

  “You look like the enemy.” It said, “Therefore you must be the enemy.”

  “Who is your enemy?”

  “The Luftas.” It said, “The Barbarian woman is their leader.”

  “Maleez?” Stephen asked.

  The creature nodded and then Jess asked, “How did you end up in this cage?”

  “We followed a radio signal.” It said, “Our planet as dying and I was part of an exploration expedition on a mission to find a new home for our people when we picked up what sounded like a distress call. When we investigated it, we were overpowered by the Luftas. Maleez’s craft is a scout from their mothership and they were stranded here for years – hoping to lure unsuspecting explorers down here so they can take over their ship. Our ship was damaged beyond repair during their attack. I’m the last of my crew.”

  “What happened to your crew?” Jess asked.

  “They don’t call themselves killers of life for nothing.” Its said hesitant, “They ate my crew.”

  There was a moment of silence as he reality of the situation sunk in.

  “They came here on their scout of this galaxy, but got stranded.” It said, “The Luftas travel from galaxy to galaxy devouring and destroying worlds. If they know where you’re from I’m afraid your world is next on their destruction list.”

  As her heart sank to her feet, Jess stood up and zoned out for a moment. They had the TBL technology and Wesley. The could get to Eljavic within a couple of days and Wesley would be their map. If the Luftas were as bad as she feared, they had to get a message back home, but with Eljavic on the other side of the known universe it was near impossible. This watery planet would become their grave while Eljavic faced a fate worse than death… and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

  Coming 2020

  “The Invasion of Eljavic”

  The final chapter in the Age of Men saga.