Journey To The Great Wastes - Part 4/4 (Short Story)

This is the fourth and final installment of this "Short" Story, I didn't expect it to get this long, but I did start to like the characters and locations, so I figured it was better to stick with it, rather than rush through the story.

If You Want To Read Part 1/4, Here Is A Link To It.

Also, there is a vote taking place on Leo Threads at the moment, which part 1 of this was added to, so if you'd like to give it a vote, Here's A Link. You don't have to vote for my story if you don't want to, as each of the writers chosen in the poll are brilliant!

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The sun was at its peak before he knew it, and the fabric shielding him from it wasn't doing a great job of protecting him, instead, it clung to him, becoming heavy from sweat. The endless sands were an amazing sight to see, but Ahren would have much rather look at it from the comfort of a ship; one that was cool, humid, and with plenty of water to drink. Envisioning this paradise, at first, made him relieved, even if only by the figment of his imagination. The slick fabric wrapping around his leg and scratching at him with every step brought him back to reality.

Sooma was at the head of their small band, followed by the Arok woman, and then just ahead of Ahren was Koni, who seemed lost in thought, staring out at their surroundings and occasionally huffing with each step. He would occasionally turn back, and give a look of suspicion; his beady eyes would make eye contact and then quickly dart away, only to return a few minutes later. Upon the fifth time he turned around, Ahren coughed. "What?" Koni shook his head lightly. "What?" He asked while squinting his eyes slightly. "What is it? Why do you keep looking back at me?"

The Trisken just shrugged to that, while scratching at the top of his head. "Just making sure you're still with us, human. I'm feeling the pain of the day, so I wonder what you're feeling."

What do you think, it's a torturous journey. I wish I never accepted this job before considering the outcome. Ahren thought, before shaking his head. "I'm fine." He replied after a long pause.

"If you say so. Maybe we can take a break soon." Koni replied, turning to look ahead. "If Sooma will allow it." He continued. The leader of their group turned back to Koni, shaking his head. "Nearly there, we keep going."

Ahren would be lying if he were to say he was happy to hear that, a breather would be well deserved and would help to get through the last leg of this trip. He fumbled for his water bottle, it was warm, not piping hot, but un-soothing. He drank it regardless, taking the slightest ounce of solace from the lukewarm contents, he clumsily drank it, and some of it poured down his chin, which brought the slightest ounce of relief with each drop that ran down his neck, tickling as it did.

Ahead, a dune grew in the distance and as they reached the foot of the hill, he stared up at the top of it, which was taller than a three-story building; it ascended gradually, but that gradual incline turned almost completely vertical, the higher it went. Tracking the end of the large dune he saw that there seemed to be no way around it unless they wanted to walk for who knows how long.

"We go over, the settlement is close," Sooma said, while he rooted through his bag. "Climb it?" Ahren said, through breathless lungs as he stared up at the top of the steep climb. He looked back to Sooma, who stood back up with a bottle of water, and after a long drink, he secured the bag around his waist and started to awkwardly climb. Soon, Koni joined him, and Ahren could only watch them in slight disbelief, and an ounce of annoyance came over him at the prospect of climbing himself, but the idea of the money the job was worth, washed away those feelings.

"Better spread out, unless you want to get a mouth full of sand." The Arok woman said as she stepped a few metres away from the others.

At first, it was easy, but once he reached the halfway point, he buried his hands in the sand, to help. It didn't help, it burned. The sands had been baking all day, and with no protection, he felt like he had just put his hands in boiling water. He watched to his right and saw the others as they continued to climb.

The only thing he could do was tear some of the excess fabric and make some hand wraps with it. The wraps were slick with sweat, and he soon realised how much easier the liquid seemed to make the process. With that, he stabilised himself and took out his water bottle, dousing his hands in it. Soon, he was over halfway up the dune, and after looking down, he could feel his stomach drop; ignoring where he had been, he climbed higher, focusing on the sky above.

Nearing the top now, he could almost see the ledge the sand made. Almost close enough to reach out and grab it, but just out of reach. The others were already over the top by now; he was alone on this climb and he didn't want to look back down.

Hearing a fizzy sound, he saw out of the corner of his eye as some of the sand started to fall, rolling back down. He held on as tight as he could and was only able to watch as the sand shifted around him. There was no way he was doing this climb again, no way he was going to fall now. "Help!" He shouted.

Koni appeared over the edge of the dune and reached down. Ahren grabbed his hand, and could feel himself being lifted, with that, he kicked against the face of the dune, to get over it as soon as he could. Before going over the top the sand fell more rapidly, and beneath the sheet of it that fell, he could see concrete and steel. It was the face of a building.

"That was close," Koni said, as he panted. Ahren just lay on his back, trying to make sense of what he had just seen. "There was something under the dune. A building, it looked old." He said while catching his breath.

"Oh, yeah, there's plenty of secrets buried in the sands of Scoosha. It wasn't always a desert." Ahren just shook his head. "I read the work of Imis Dentis, the Doshan explorer/ historian. He spoke about the multiple falls of Scoosha." The Arok woman cut in.

Ahren stood up after a moment of think, and looked around, evaluating the new surroundings. It was closer than he imagined, in the distance there was a mountain range, and the sand morphed into cracked clay, the closer to the mountains it got. The settlement was among it, small, but plain to see, Sooma just stared at it, before turning to the others. "We're nearly there."

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Walking through the main gates of the mining settlement was an almost surreal sight. It was worn, old, bleached by the sun, and devoid of all life; still, tranquil, and serene.

Inside the settlement itself were many small buildings and huts, looking through the broken shielding of one of them showed the contents inside, untouched. Left exactly as it was the day it was evacuated.

"I wonder what they felt the day they left. The word probably went out, talking about the mines closing down for a few days while more information came out about The Confederation's arrival. The workers were probably happy to have a few days off, not knowing that they'd never return to work." The Arok woman said while looking around the site. "Did The Confederation ever occupy these settlements?" Ahren asked. She shook her head in response. "Probably not this one, but closer to Tar-Dina they occupied some of those mines and got them producing again. That is after the fighting was over."

Sooma walked ahead of the crowd, quicker than he had previously walked, clearly excited by the prospect of retrieving his ship.

Further into the settlement itself, there was a dockyard, and on it were multiple shuttles, and small transport ships and speeders. Mostly intact, but some of them were blasted and had exposed circuitry and missing panels. Amongst the lot of them was a larger off-world ship; it was well preserved, but the paint was peeling and cracked, which made the previous writing on the hell of it illegible. "This is it, this is the ship!" Sooma said, as he walked up to it and placed his hand on the hull, almost petting it.

"I'll get it open, and then we can leave." He said after, sounding a lot more chirpy than he had ever sounded before. Sooma got straight to work on it, while the other three stood ideal. "Need any help?" Koni asked. "No."

Koni stood for a moment, looking around, before he kicked a stone. "I might go wandering, see what's around here." "Yeah," Sooma replied, fixated on the task at hand. "Be careful," The Arok woman said, to which Koni waved a hand as he walked away.

Ahren was staring at some of the other ships around the dockyard, one, in particular, was sinking into the ground. "We could make some serious money if we gathered these up and sold them, Scoosha is in the midst of a starship drought after all." He said, imagining how much each one could be worth.

"It could be worth it, but you'd need a ship to do the heavy lifting. That township we were in, that's what they do. Except, the don't take entire ships, they just tear them down for their smaller components." She replied.

After a few minutes, there was a click, and the door to the ship opened. Within an instant, Sooma was inside, and from outside the ship, Ahren could see him through the cockpit window, as he continued to work at it.

"Seems like a waste to tear them down for spare parts, taking the whole shell and fixing them up would be worth way more money," Ahren said, to which the Arok woman shrugged. "It must work for them."

After a few minutes, there was a loud blare, as the engines were activated. They were revving, but they didn't catch. Every few attempts of the engines, Ahren would watch sand spit out of them. Finally, with one stroke of power, they activated fully, and it was so loud that Ahren couldn't hear the Arok woman.

With that, Sooma started banging on the window. At first, he thought the Trisken was trying to tell them to come in, but then he realised that the Trisken was frantically pointing at something. The two of them turned, to see Koni in the distance running toward them and the ship as fast as he could. Behind him, creatures appeared, racing around the corner after him. Ahrens blood ran cold at the sight of them, and instantly he pulled his blaster from its holster and started to fire, careful not to hit Koni.

The ship started to ascend, getting into a slight hover a few feet in the air, and it turned on its side, facing toward Koni. Ahrens first thought was that Sooma was going to leave without them. Grabbing the Aroks woman's hand, he charged around the side of the ship and jumped onto it, clinging to the ground of the bay.

Laying belly down, he helped the woman into the ship and waited for Koni, who was gaining speed at this stage. He put his hand out, and the Trisken leaped and grabbed it. Ahren didn't want to even look at the creatures that were just behind him.

As soon as Koni was in the Arok woman called into the cockpit and Sooma took the ship up higher. Watching the creatures still gain speed, one of them jumped towards the ship and scrambled to get aboard. Its blade-like arms gripped the bottom of the ship, and one by one, it's legs started to wrap themselves into the bay, hoisting itself up. Ahren shot at the thing, but it wouldn't let go; barely phased by the gunshots.

The Arok woman ran toward the wall beside the creature, and as she got close to it, the thing swiped at her, almost connecting. She hit a button on the wall and the door started to creak and close, slowly. Churning as it moved. She hit the button again, trying to speed it up, avoiding another swipe by the creature.

One more hit of the button saw the door truly activate, and close abruptly. It moved fast enough to seal, cutting off the creature's appendages that found themselves in the holding bay.

The room was dark, bar some red emergency lighting, and Ahren watched as a few legs, and arms twitched and vibrated on the ground. They backed away, doing well to avoid them, and breathing a sigh of relief.

Inside the ship was cool, made cooler by the ventilation system blowing a breeze on them from multiple directions at once. Ahren slumped to the ground, propping himself up against the wall of the ship, wishing to be back in the city.

"We'll settle the payments when we reach Tar-Dina." Sooma said through an intercom system. "And, thanks for helping me. This ship is going to change my life. There might even be some work for you lot if you don't mind the idea of Star Jumping."