Anomalous Readings and Other Worlds: Blacklisted Planet Moon

Blacklisted Planet Moon

Arroyo knew Nikola and Malachi as well as their riders were tense. She could practically feel how tightly bunched their muscles - and mechanics? - were. She couldn’t understand why. Malachi continued squawking about being on the wrong planet and having to get off it as quickly as possible, which she had a hard time agreeing with, not with how mesmerizing the landscape stretching before her was. Reggae didn’t join in on the conversation, but he didn’t seem to share her amazement.

She shook her head and took a step closer to the wild yonder, away from the bickering.

The sky was a deep purple with smudged clouds of pink hues drifting far beyond the reach of the atmosphere, coloring the void of space itself. Stars blinked in the darkest sections, some lonesome and bright, others appearing in dense swaths. A moon - or possibly another planet given its shades of blues and greens and browns and white swirls - hovered above, giving her the unsettling sense it was about to crash into them, but it remained at a set distance. Letting her eyes drift from directly above to the horizon where it lightened to a lavender, she could just barely make out the edge of a blue disc on the horizon, hinting at a far larger object lurking just out of sight.

And that was just the sky.

 

She looked back at Reggae. He was still resolutely hiding behind Nikola’s leg.

"Reggae, have you seen anything like this?” she asked.

He shook his head. “Not outside of space movies.”

“It’s absolutely breathtaking,” she said. She weaved through the russet knee-high grass, scattering a few tiny, shiny shelled beetles from their perches. Black rocks jutted out in a ridge several lengths away and seemed to form a corral around the grass and copse of gnarled, emerald leafed trees. “Looks like we’re on a mesa.”

“Hey, hey! Don’t go too far,” Reggae said as she trotted closer to the rocky outcrop. “Haven’t you heard these guys arguing? Apparently this place is blacklisted. Whatever that means.”

“I come from a post-apocalyptic world. Not much can scare me,” she said. A cool breeze threaded through her marbled feathers. “Fujita would love this.”

Reggae cautiously peeled away from Nikola and sidled halfway between her and the others. “So would Typhoon. She lives on our island. Loves big storms and weird things.”

Arroyo tilted her head and flicked her claws at him. He cast a wary look over his shoulder.

“Come on,” she coaxed. “How many times are you going to get to visit another planet?”

 

“Apparently twice more than I thought,” he said. He sighed and then shook himself, his multicolored feathers fluffing out along his neck. “Okay, but not too far. I don’t want to get separated from the guys who actually know what’s going on. I’d like to go back to my island life and see my brother again.”

Arroyo grinned. It slipped off her face as Nikola’s head turned and his eyes narrowed at them.

 

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“I want to see over the edge of the mesa,” she said.

 

The big bird pivoted to face them fully. “This is a dangerous moon.”

“Wait. I thought it was a planet?” Reggae asked.

Nikola paused, doing that odd calculating thing Arroyo had started to notice. “I suppose it could be called either or, but it is technically a habitable moon, one the Hub and the rest of the Empires have blacklisted for a reason.”

 
Arroyo glanced around. Other than the wind gusting through the grass, it was silent. There was a fresh, slightly sweet smell in the air, but it was breathable and didn’t feel toxic in her lungs. They also had a good line of sight in three directions. Even Reggae seemed to be looking around with a similar thought pattern.

“It’s not like we can go very far,” she said. She swept an arm out. “We’re pretty much stuck on top of a plateau, and unlike you, we can’t fly away.”

Nikola’s eyes darted between the outcrop and her. “I’d prefer it if you stayed close by.”

“And I’d prefer it if you didn’t treat me like a hatching,” she said.

“I am sorry you feel as if I am. I’m only concerned with your safety,” he said.

 

Reggae looked up at Nikola and then over at her, then back at Nikola. “What if you came with us?”

 

"We don’t need a babysitter. Some of the storms I’ve chased would turn your crops sour,” she grumbled.

She eyed the large oddity as he considered Reggae’s offer. He glanced back at Malachi and the riders, specifically the blonde haired human. The connection between humans and creatures such as them had always baffled her. Perhaps it was just because of the world she and her brother had grown up in, seeing as Reggae hadn’t been as put off by the riders as she had been.

Nikola returned his attention to them. “To the edge, and back. Zeb should hopefully have his anomaly tracker working by then and we’ll need to seize the opportunity to leave before it passes us by.”

 
“Fine.”

She waited for Reggae to catch up with her while Nikola trailed behind despite his long steps. They set off through the russet grass with its small clusters of yellow flowers. Even though the other raptor had been reluctant, she could see the spark of adventure in his eyes. If she had to guess, this place was nothing like either of them had ever seen before. The sky itself was enough to rock her sense of direction and sense of belonging, nevermind the unique colors of the terrain.

More beetles took flight as they brushed by through the grass. The tall blades were thick and sturdy, standing up to their footsteps admirably. The dark, nearly blood red ground was dry to the touch with cracks lacing out from the tufts of grass.

She and Reggae halted at a clump of yellow flowers. Out of everything so far, they appeared to be the most normal looking. Just the average meadow flower. The skinny stems bowed over and the petals drooped towards the ground, forming delicate bell shapes. Pebble sized iridescent beetles sat on the jagged, pale green leaves.

Reggae nudged one of the beetles. Its clear wings popped out from under its shell and it lazily buzzed away, almost glowing in the peculiar lighting.

 

She reached toward one of the yellow flowers.

 

“Don’t.”

She froze at Nikola’s low, firm warning.

 

"The nectar is sweet, but poisonous, as are the beetles,” Nikola informed them.

Reggae gulped. “Good thing I’m not in the habit of eating random bugs.”

 

Arroyo twisted her head to glare up at Nikola. “You could’ve told us that earlier.”

 

"I warned you that this place is dangerous.”

"You didn’t tell us the flowers and insects were out to get us,” she said and leaned away from said flowers.

“Dangerous flora, fauna, and native peoples. Adaptability off the charts. There’s a reason this place is blacklisted,” Nikola said.

 

Reggae frowned. “So, is this your home dimension?”

"Yes.”

“And have you ever been on this planet?” Reggae asked.

Nikola gave a miniscule shake of his head. “No. Members of the Empire are not permitted on blacklisted planets.”

 

“What happens if you find yourself on one anyway?” Arroyo asked.

“You evacuate immediately.”

 

Reggae glanced at her, then at Nikola. “And if you can’t evacuate?”

"As Agent Gray would say, you pray, because no one’s coming to save you.”

 

“Oh, that’s not ominous,” Reggae said.

“Fujita and I have been looking after each other for years,” Arroyo said and turned back toward the outcrop. “We’ve never expected someone to come save us, and I’m not expecting anyone to save me now.”

“Okay,” Reggae said slowly. “So you know how to get off the planet-moon by yourself?”

She huffed. “That’s not what I meant.”

 

With that, she turned and jogged to where the black rocks erupted from the russet grass and scaled the rough edges, digging her glossy claws into the pockmarks littering the surface of the rocks. Reggae hesitantly came up after her, not as surefooted as she was. He paused and panted next to her. Nikola didn’t bother climbing the rocks. He simply braced a foot on one and looked over the outcrop.

 

“Fascinating,” the big bird said.

 

"Wow,” she agreed in a breathless whisper.

 

Four hundred feet below the mesa, the land rolled away as far as the eye could see. It shimmered in russets and golds with bare patches of dark ground peeking through here and there. Clusters of indigo and emerald trees dotted the plains in a distinct pattern, that of one following a river that snaked away into the horizon, its water silvery and bright amongst the darkened landscape.

A few small forms that may have been animals moved about the grassy plains, but other than that, it was still. Only an oncoming storm in the distance seemed to move. It was like looking at a painting.

“Okay, I’m kinda glad you talked me into coming over here,” Reggae said. “Blue is gonna be so mad he didn’t get to see this. So is Typhoon.”

“So is Fujita,” she said.

Her eyes were instantly drawn to the thunderheads approaching over the river. Pink arcs of lightning illuminated the billowing giants. From this distance they looked no bigger than a bundle of cotton, but she knew from experience that a storm like that was a far larger monster that would devour everything in its path, completely erasing any comparison to harmless cotton balls.

“How can this place be so dangerous?” Reggae asked. He glanced down the cliff where lacy vines crawled through the crevasses. Brightly colored butterflies flitted in and out around neon pink flowers. “It’s beautiful.”

 

Arroyo opened her mouth to agree, but as soon as Reggae had spoken, a long shafted arrow shot directly between her and him. A puff of feathers floated away from her thigh. The metallic barbs dug into the rocks with a clang.

"Exactly,” Nikola said. He brushed a wing over them and ushered them away from the cliff. Arroyo didn’t protest this time. “It lures you in like an opium den and then proceeds to kill you. Even my sensors don’t work here, and I’m not interested in meeting the apex predators, nevermind the locals with malfunctioning sensors.”

Arroyo and Reggae raced through the grass back toward the other as more arrows began to come from below and curve through the sky, pulled by gravity back down on their heads. Nikola stayed behind them, his formidable body blocking any incoming projectiles.

Malachi yelped and tossed a wing over Zeb. “The locals have noticed us, I repeat, the locals have noticed us.”

 

Zeb gave the device on his wrist a firm smack.

 

A blinding light split open behind them.

 

"You sure about this one?” Agent Gray asked.

Arroyo wasn’t sure how much worse it could get than arrows raining from the sky, but Reggae seemed to have some ideas on how much worse it could get.

“Are we going to end up on a planet of lava next? Because I like playing the whole don’t touch the floor game, but not for real,” Reggae said. He shielded his head with his wings as if that would protect him from the meter long arrows and hefty barbs.

“The coordinates were a little skewed last time. This should be right. We want to be on that moon,” Zeb said and pointed to the moon hanging in the sky.

“Okie dokie, sounds good to me, let’s go, folks,” Malachi said and unceremoniously shoved Zeb and Agent Gray through the anomaly.

 

Arroyo grabbed Reggae’s wing claw and pulled him through, seeing as he wasn’t moving very fast. The bright light washed out her vision for a couple of seconds and electricity crackled in her ears. Her feathers stood on end.

Then the tough, russet grass was gone, replaced by cobblestone and spongy moss underfoot. She blinked. Greens started to come into focus. Organic, familiar greens. Lush plant life. A startled voice penetrated the lifting fog. She swung her head around. Among the green splotches, the shapes of people sharpened until she could discern faces.

 

And all the faces were staring at them.