Page 15 of Found By the Alien Warrior

"Here," Gornoc continued, jabbing my arm with a needle without so much as a warning.

"Hey!" I grabbed my arm. "What the heck did you just do?”

"The serum will help your fragile lungs adjust to the atmospheric pressure during travel."

I rubbed the spot where I got jabbed. “A little warning would've been nice."

"Apologies," he said, insincere, while rummaging through his utility belt.

"No more shots," I pleaded, annoyance creeping into my voice.

"These are for motion sickness.” He produced a blister packet of green tablets. “You might need them for takeoff.”

I pocketed those. I didn’t expect Gornoc would board the ship, given how much he liked to hang out in his lab. “Your boss needs a doc on board?"

"Among other things," His metallic voice made clicking sounds. "I'm to battle your Yronian companion in the first round. It will be a short match." He raised his cybernetic arm, revealing panels upon panels of tiny buttons.

All those buttons. Were they on his arm the last time I saw him? My mind went to those old cartoons where the villain laughed maniacally while chasing down the good guy with a single-button remote control and a stick of dynamite. I didn’t trust Gornoc to make it a fair fight. "That won’t get past the pat-down, will it?” I kept up the fake humor so my words wouldn’t match the sinking feeling I had at the thought of Aurik going up against someone with bionic enhancements.

Vessa prodded me on the shoulder. “Get on the ship. I need to show you where the sleeping quarters are so I can then go spar.”

As we settled in for the journey to Zephyra, I worried about what lay ahead - not just for me, but for Aurik. I spent the next several hours in the room where I had to bunk with Vessa. Since the ship was close quarters, we weren’t allowed to roam the halls. I knew if I could, I would’ve searched for Aurik. He and the rest of the male fighters must have been down the other hall.

I sat up from where I lounged on my bed pallet and put my feet on the floor. The ship's engines made the floor hum and vibrate beneath my heels, adding to my unease. Gornoc's earlier words echoed in my mind. I couldn't shake the image of Aurik facing off against the Gearmaster and his weapons.

"Damn it," I swore under my breath. Korga's twisted games were all about brutality and pushing the limits. But there was something personal about pitting Aurik against someone who might cheat with a wild invention.

"Something wrong?" Vessa asked, her eyes fixed on the far wall of the ship as she tightened the straps on her armor. I considered if all that tinkering with her costume was a way to settle her nerves. Beneath all the competitiveness, maybe she was just as anxious about holding herself together in this violent circus as I was.

"I’m thinking about all the matches," I replied, indirectly referencing my concern about Aurik. "I'm trying to get used to the idea of floating islands and gas clouds."

Vessa only nodded, her focus still on prepping for her upcoming match. I turned to stare out the window of our small quarters and battled my own nerves at our pending arrival on a new planet.

Sometime later, as the ship pierced the atmosphere of Zephyra, I became awed by the swirling clouds below and the crystalline islands that defied gravity. My eyes got big as I pressed my face against the viewport, trying to comprehend the planet’s beauty and strangeness. Copper, gold, and yellow ribbons of color swirled together to make one set of gas clouds while blue and grey formed to make another. I hoped those clouds weren’t toxic. I adjusted the little nosepiece Gornoc gave me, praying it would be enough for whatever this planet had in store.

Feather-winged locals sailed through the sky, following the ship as it made its way to the largest island. I remembered to be polite and not gaze too long at their wings and long, wiry frames. As they passed the ship, a couple of them saw my image in the viewport and gave me the same curious glances.

I stopped to think if it would do any good to signal to them for help. Would they be friendly to humans? Were they part of Korga’s crime ring? I figured we would’ve been contacted by now if they didn’t want Korga here.

Contact. The word got me thinking down another trail.

The ships on Earth’s space hub all had location trackers and had to get clearance when they entered different airspace. Wouldn’t it make sense for alien ships and their ground vehicles in this galaxy to have some kind of tracker on them, too? How was Korga getting past all the security checks?

My nose almost touched the viewport as I peered out. Korga chose someplace in the interstellar boonies to hide his fighting ring. Could Zephyra be a tiny little planet tucked in the back of the galaxy? Now I wished I asked for a map of the Arcturus Galaxy along with that coffee when I was on my charter flight.

We landed on the largest floating island. As the ship disembarked, Korga's crew rushed to set up the ring. Several machine-powered jet platforms were brought out to house gear and other things that this side of the island did not have enough room to hold.

I felt iffy about the whole setup. Earlier, Vessa said the islands each had their own gravity field. Would an island on Zephyra tilt or fall if too much weight was placed on it? I was sure an alien advanced physics teacher was somewhere laughing at me.

"Sonya," Korga's hoarse voice reached my ears. He strolled the platform, coming to stand among us noncombatants. He flashed me a tusked grin, clearly enjoying my discomfort. "I was thinking how I could make this more engaging for intergalactic travelers such as yourself.”

You mean captives? I wanted so bad to say the quiet part out loud. “I’m pretty engaged already.”

“Since you and Aurik like playing together, I've decided to make you a referee in all of his fights.”

My lips parted. “Is this a joke?”

“Aurik will likely lose against the high caliber of opponents here. I thought you’d like to witness his defeat up close."

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