• • Sunset: Heroes of the Milky Way
• July 20, 2024

Sunset: Heroes of the Milky Way (Chapter 5)

Aleti Ra’non

Ignorance is Bliss

This is awesome, sort of. The whole space-faring, get-the-band-back-together thing is awesome. Getting to finally meet the heroes I grew up idolizing as kids is awesome. Realizing that they’re quirky, normal people, for the most part, is… really eye-opening…

Kind of thought the Human would be cooler and not… looking at my mom like a lost puppy. I get the feeling she left out more than our history books. 

Despite that, the one-minute conversations between the chronically superfast Hideo and Clay over nonsense is highly entertaining. Terrar’rork recalling the old times is cute, though I wish he would finish his thoughts. 

The weirdest thing I see as we plot a course for Riverteria, is seeing Mom actually just hang out and lighten up like a normal person. I thought I had seen this before, but I can quickly tell that I was wrong. I’ve never seen my mom genuinely laugh before, or smirk. Everything else feels so forced, unnatural. 

Maybe our parents are just different people when they’re our parents versus when they’re with their friends. 

But now that we have to get down to business, I can see how everyone on the Rango has a role. I don’t really have a job or position outside of cheerleader/fangirl, but no one points it out.

While on the bridge, Mom has finished relaying the plan to us as we hover in the atmosphere of Riverteria. She’s going to speak to the leaders, inform them of our presence in a guestly manner, but also of what is happening in the world around them. 

She wants to give them a chance to go with the peaceful option of helping the Waverites get off world, then possibly convince them of the importance of stopping the apartheid, because we’re going to need all hands on deck against the Regnorian Regime. 

Honestly, I don’t think it sounds like that well thought out a plan. How do you convince people to just stop with the apartheid, but I also believe Mom is holding back. It seemed like she didn’t want to admit what she had planned, considering she not-so subtly paused, looked me dead in the eye, and then said the word, ‘convince.’

Yeah, she’s gonna threaten them, but why keep it a secret from me? I don’t give off that kind of narc energy, do I?

Yeah, well while she’s going that bullshit, Hideo and Terra’rork need to go to Womby’s old home with the Watree. There they can get him back, inspect the well-beings of the Waverites and Watree living in the underground, and care for any who really need help. 

Now it was my turn for instruction.

Mom says, “Aleti, you’re to stay with Clay on the ship.”

“What?!” 

I’m not at all hiding my disappointment.

I can at least go help put bandaids on kids or something.

I realize that this might be considered a very unprofessional and immature response to have in front of my mother’s colleagues, but this is the moment where my role is defined. I want to help and I have to take a stand here. 

“What were you expecting to do?” she asks me. Mom isn’t angry with me… yet, just confused.

“I don’t know,” I admit, “I can help Terra’rork or Hideo with medical care, I can put bandaids on people, or-or I can be your assistant!” 

I realize now that I’m grasping at straws.

“Why would I need an assistant? I’m going to talk, not trade business info,” Mom quips.

“Ugh, I don’t know,” I groan.

“Captain, I think she just wants to contribute,” Terra’rork says.

I jump on that. “Exactly! I don’t want to be a useless hitchhiker.”

Mom seems to take Terra’rork’s words into account. “I can see why it might seem like that Aleti, but I really do need you here. Also, it’s probably not safe for you in the caverns-” 

Mom stops when she sees my sour face. “Terra’s made of rock, and Hideo doesn’t need air to breathe. How ae you getting into an underwater caverne? 

Aaahhhh… well, I did not know it was underwater. Way to bury the lead, Mom.

“Okay, but how do I contribute in here?” I ask.

Mom avoids my question, “Listen we don’t have time to waste, I’m sure, you’ll figure it out.”

“But-!”

“Not now, there’s shit that needs to get, figuring something for you do on this mission isn’t one of them.” Then Mom turns to Terra’rork and tells him to dock on the planet.

I sigh and go back to my seat along with everyone else. It’s hard to try and maintain my composure. This is the big leagues, I can’t slump and pout like a child, not matter how much I want to. I have to remember one thing.

I asked for this. 

I didn’t come in with any plans or ideas of what I could do, but I cannot look like brat child that Mom can’t get rid of. I will not be a burden on this ship.

Terra’rork sounds off, “Everyone in their seats, we’re about to enter the stratosphere.” 

The Rango begins to shake when we hit the stratosphere as Terra’rork had warned. I instinctively grab hold of my seat.

It isn’t that long of a descent but it seems like forever before we push past the clouds, but once we do, it’s a pretty sight.

“Wow,” I can’t help from saying.

I stand correct, pretty is an understatement. Riverteria is beautiful with vast, clean oceans and a humongous barrier reef that bigger than anything I’ve seen on the nature channel about the colony planets.

Hideo calls to the Rango, “Hey ship, re-educate us on the important stuff about Riverteria. Some of us are a… maybe a… little rusty on the details.” 

At first I think he is talking about me, but I remember he literally can’t see it. 

‘Riverteria is home to the Rivertans, an amphibious and sentient species. Being that the surface of the planet is 90% water there are mostly undersea cities with a few on it’s one continent. This planet has the most recorded amount of freshwater in the galaxy, and is one of the larger home planets between the species of the galaxy.’

“Awesome,” is all I muster as I look out the window. Somehow I feel Mom watching me so I turn in time to share a smile. This planet is so beautiful, one can easily forget the things that happen under its surface.

We all watch the pretty view, except for Hideo, obviously, until we reach the shipping dock on the water.

“Can the Rango dock in water?” I ask Terra’rork.

Terra’rork scoffs and assures me, “Of course, she can. The Rango is the pride of multi-environmental design. She can float in space, she can float in water.”

“Pretty sure you don’t float in space, Terra,” Hideo corrects.

“It was an expression,” Terra’rork mutters, “smartass.” 

Hideo giggles like a goofy little gremlin. 

We hit the water with a slight thud and immediately start floating as a boat does in water.

“You don’t get seasick do you?” I hear Clay ask behind me. I turn around and shake my head. “Thank god, it would suck to be stuck here if one of us was sick.” 

Then it dawned on me. Clay has superpowers, surely, he can hold his breath underwater too. Why doesn’t have anything to do here?

“Everyone knows their jobs, so let’s hurry and get to it,” Mom reminds us. In minutes the three who are leaving get downstairs and on their way off the bridge, but Mom stops by the stairwell and adds one thing. “Remember you two, no one leaves, and don’t let anyone who’s not us get on the ship.”

Wait, was that a serious concern?

Clay leans back in his chair and flashes the sun behind his eyes. They light up and even smoke a bit. “Sure thing, ma’am, not like I know a shit ton of people here anyway.” 

Mom sends him back this… smirk, and it stays on her face as she leaves the room. 

Mom shakes her head and walks down the stairs. Then Clay spins on his chair to ask me, “So what do you want to do?”

Hideo TriVi Die-Ve Eron

“So how do you want to do this?” Terra’rork asks me as we walk off the ramp and onto the dock.

“There’s no one here so it’s probably morning. And last time I checked-”

“You checked something?” Terra’rork interrupts me, humorously. 

“Yes I did, I can be a responsible adult when I want to be. As I was saying, last time I checked, the Watree live in the caves under the sea, away from the eyes of the Riverti.” 

Terra’rork hums with approval, like he’s impressed with my knowledge of the Rivertans.

Why? I can remember shit, I just can’t see shit.

Terra’rork continues, “So our best chance to find them without notifying the Riverti to our presence, would be to look for a entrance from the water. Can you find the layout of the seabed, even underwater?”

It’s been a while since I’ve had to look around underwater, but it’s not impossible. People think that it’s harder for Waverites to use echolocation underwater because sound moves slower, but that’s actually not the case. Sound moves faster through water, so information gets back to us faster than we’re use to. 

Sure, different atmospheres have different travel speeds for sound, but the different is minimal compared to water. It’s more so that we have to process slower than it feeds back to us. It’s something you have to practice and get used to. 

I’ve met divers who enhanced their sensory skills overall by practicing underwater.

But I don’t need to get into all that with Terra’rork. “I got this, it’s been a while, but I’m no rookie here.”

“Good, then let’s go,” Terra’rork says as he begins walking towards the end of the dock. He doesn’t have a rebreather, what is he doing?

“You’re just going to jump right in?”. 

He looks at me like I’m stupid. “Of course. What else am I going to do? I don’t need any kind of gas to breath, and I’ll sink straight to the bottom to walk.”

I jump on his back and wrap my fingers around parts of his shoulders. “Terra, did I ever tell you that I like your style?”

“It’s been a few years.”

“Well, I do. I also hope, you don’t mind a passenger, because I, uh… did not bring the flaps I need to swim. I’m actually a very, very, very bad swimmer without them, you know, with the wings and all.”

“No problem. Heh, I remember Clay saving you from drowning once, how you nearly drowned each other before you remembered you can both fly.”

“I’m never gonna live that down.” 

“Nope.” Then he plops into the water. 

The water is not anything close to warm. To this day, I’m still not sure where I hate being really hot or cold. 

I let out these short bursts of sound as we sink to get the lay of the land. The water is much deeper than it looks from above. We’re descending multiple stories deep, and shooting past coral reefs, even needing to dodge some.

Not much fish, but that happens when you release sound waves into the water. The fish sense it and before it even reaches them and freak out. It makes it hard to get a good grip on what they look like.

When we hit the bottom, we land on some tough coral. I’m pretty sure coral isn’t that tough on most planets, but Riverteria is different. I supposed stuff that live in the ocean on a ocean-planet would be tougher than stuff on a planet that has… I don’t know, less ocean? You still need more ocean than not to develop life, or at least life that doesn’t go totally fascist.

Maybe that was the Regamorph’s problem, they dried up all of their homeworld’s water.

I take a break from mentally entertaining myself and inhale to release a powerful whistle. It admittedly takes longer for me to process the layout. A few minutes of practice only helped me prepare so much. While sound does travel faster in water, my ability to process the information is not better.

I find an opening I think will lead to the underground caves and point to the left in front of Terra’rork so he knows where to start walking. 

As he starts moving, it dawns on me how slow he is, and how loud his footsteps are. I’m about to be so bored.

I try to take in the scenery, but I supposed it’s not the same for Waverites as it is for others. When you know the exact shape of everything, there isn’t much to think about. Theres not much exciting about knowing, ‘Oh, that’s shaped like that,’ there’s not really much interpretation. 

I manage to analyze some fish but… it’s just not anything to write home about. Fish just don’t do it for me, especially when they’re so close to the surface. The freaky ones are in the deep sea.

It takes us about ten or twenty minutes to get to the opening where I whistle again. My hopes were correct and I can sense that this tunnel leads to the Watree town under the city. I point inwards to signal to Terra’rork that this is the correct way to go. 

We continue through and realize that the tunnel is getting wider and wider, but also less jagged and more smooth, only confirming further that it is indeed the way to the underground town.

When we get to the end, a pool of water is above us that leads to the surface, or really to the inside of the cave. I am trying to figure out how to get Terra’rork up when I start to hear the ground under us rumbling. 

It’s easy to forget that Terra’rork can move rocks. When he can’t use it to fight, he doesn’t get much chance to use it around me. We used to always be in different places. 

When we surface, I hope off his back and shake my body to get the water out of my fur. I end up spraying some water onto Terra’rork. “Hey! Watch it!”

“It’s not gonna kill you, you’re already wet. Come on, let’s go.” 

As we walk, I whistle to see how far we are from any people. It’s probably morning as we catch people getting out of their homes. 

I stop when it hits me. The stench of this place is strong and it isn’t pleasant. For a species that evolved under the ocean, one can easily tell that the Watree don’t have clean bath water down here. 

That isn’t even the worst part.

Remember when I said I know exactly how everything is shaped? That includes the details on people. I know that their hands have cuts, and their skin is peeling off of layers that are also peeling. Some of the older Watree Rivertans fight to keep from bending over, with hernias they ignore because they need to work. 

Then they say goodbye to small children and I realize that they are in their prime. 

I whistle again, harder, louder, I need to know how many Rivertans are down here. I’ve ignored this problem before, turned my back on it. I may not help them today, or tomorrow, but each day should be a step towards helping these people.

‘Grrr,’ Yarg sounds off.

I don’t know if that was a supportive growl or a doubtful one, so I’ll just assume supportive, I tell my demon.

We eventually come to an opening that leads to a lit street. Street lights and support pillars are hard to tell apart by senses alone when lights and electronics are built into the rock, but there’s no mistaking the feel of heat on the skin.

I whistle again and find Rivertan people glancing at me then looking away like a Waverite is commonplace. Then they look again and become dumbfounded by the Techanot who follows behind me. I wave to one with a smile, trying to convey friendliness, but they are… rather taken aback.. 

I lean over to Terra’rork to ask him quietly, “What’s the difference between the Watree and Riverti again?” 

“The Watree are a much lighter shade of blue,” my friend replies.

“Ah, ok, so no difference.” 

He groans thinking I am being sarcastic, but seriously, a difference of color means nothing to me for obvious reasons. Color wasn’t a much of a concept to us until we started space travel.

A couple of Watree kids walk past us, slowly watching to see what Terra will do. They almost miss me when I walk up to them. “Would any of you scamps be able to tell us where the MineralCo camp is?”

A couple of them nod, and try talking over each other, but that’s fine, I make out what at least one young Rivertan boy says. “Um, if you’re looking for other winged folk, follow Davi Street, that way. I think it’s two lefts and then a right?“

“No, it’s faster it you go straight and turn left at the end,” another boy says.

“No it’s not!”

“I’m pretty sure that’s closed down.”

Bah, I’ll figure that out later.

Terra’rork interrupts them before they start fighting over who can give better directions. “Thank you both very much, we’re also looking for the Guardian, Wombinal Reeky-tite. His parents live in this town if I’m not mistaken.”

The boy then scratches his head. “You mean Womby? I’m sorry but him and his folks moved out of here.”

“Yeah, like a week ago, a lot of surfacedwellers came to help them move.”

I turn my head to the right to speak to Terra’rork, “So at least we know he’s alive, and that he was here recently.”

“Thank you for telling us that.” Despite his huge size Terra’rork is really good with people, soft spoken and polite, not like me at all. “You’ve saved us some time, but can you tell me where he moved to and why he moved? If you know that is.”

The kid begins to scratch his head. “Well, no one knows where, since he came back a months ago, but then the surfacedwellers came, and then everyone was really tense and everything. Me mum almost got the day off since no one wanted to talk through the streets.”

Well, crap. I turn to face Terra’rork and only say one word, “Months?”

“I heard him, Hideo,” he replies. Then he asks the kid for sure, “Where was Womby returning from, if you remember?”

The kid looks at him all confused. “I don’t know, he comes and goes. Do you guys know him?”

“Yeah, we’re friends, but it’s been a while, we would love to stay and chat, but we gotta go find him.”

Months since he came back? Is that because he was doing a mission or has it been months since the Dion expanded? The kid didn’t even mention that, but would anyone tell the little people down here that a third of the galaxy is gone? 

Shit, they may not even know why MineralCo and Waverites are down here.

Terra’rork and I huddle together. “I don’t think we have time to treat anyone.” Terra’rork, always worrying for everyone first.

I think a little bigger. “We don’t have time to do anything we wanted to here! We need to leave and find a way to fix this whole time, dissonance, whatever it is,” I say in a panic. “Who knows how much time has passed on Acoustica while we’ve been here if it’s only been months!”

“It could have been months since he’s been down here, but years since we las saw him.”

“Do you want to take that chance?” 

“No, I thought we had the day, but time has passed on Riverteria like it has for Earth, we can’t stay here. We have to get back to the Rango and call Alloya to leave,” Terra’rork says.

“You’re damn right we do!” 

We both start out the way we came.

Terra’rork adds, “How are we going to find Womby now though?”

Alloya Ra’non

I forget what this city is called. It’s not the Rivertan capital, but it is a beautiful one that sits right on the water. You’d think I would remember its name. 

It’s one of the few cities on the planet’s surface, and still water and swimming are rampant throughout. It would be impossible to miss the canals while walking through the city. Small rivers replace what would be roads and the rivers are covered on both sides by sidewalks and then small bridges on every corner. 

It’s difficult to forget that the darker skinned Riverti are much more prosperous on the surface than their Watree brethren below their cities. I remember the grime, dirt, and wrinkles on the hands of Watree, toiling away for whatever item or mineral that fueled the city above. No one would find such signs of hard work on the bodies of the Riverti living on the surface.

How could the other Rivertan countries allow this? Other species have the excuse of not wanting to install themselves on someone else’s planet, but these are all Rivertan people, and people just ignore what I can hear going on beneath the surface. 

It should be easier to block it out, but I’m not succeeding. 

As I walk through the streets, with this pressure on my mind, I see their young frolicking around, swimming, and playing gleefully, as the adults work in simple shops. 

It bothers me to come back here. I didn’t think that I needed a reminder of how the Watree lived, that I already knew well enough. That’s why I sent someone else to recruit Womby. I was wrong though, because seeing the other half reminds me exactly of what I, and so many have tried to ignore. If only I had decided to do something before, instead of waiting for a good excuse.

I can’t think like that now. Wallowing in regrets will only waste time. Then I notice something strange about these Riverti.

They don’t notice me.

They don’t notice the 6’2” Regamorph woman walking around. 

No, they must notice that someone is watching them, and judging them. They just don’t care.

Then someone walks into me with a loud thud. I look forward to see some Riverti kid on her phone and with her friend besides her. 

“Hey! Watch were you’re go— woah!” She stops trying to be rude and intimidating once she realizes what she walked into. She looks up at me with more shock than fear. “What the hell are one of you doing here? Weren’t you barred?”

Her friend walks in front of her and pokes a finger at my chest. “Probably another soul-sucking thief, that’s what aliens do. Go on, then fuck off before someone sends you back to where you came from.”

Then I find myself garnering the attention of the other people on the street. Now that one of their own have made the first move, their talking gets even quieter, and some of the strong touch guys think it’s time to start moving out of the shops and around us.

‘I guess you’re not famous in these parts,’ Rega says.

I start laughing, and suffice to say, they become confused. 

I gather myself back together and look down at them. “You two are funny, in fact, you’re all funny.” I gesture all around to the crowd that thinks they have me surrounded. How quickly, one fool turns into a dozen. “You all actually think you’re threatening, as if any of you can tell me what to do.” 

“Who the fuck do you think you are?” someone yells at me.

“Yeah, get the fuck out of here!”

“This is our planet.”

“It’s not for you!”

I raise my hand to head and run it through my hair. Look, I get it, MineralCo was mining their planet without permission or their knowledge, once one alien screws you over, why trust any of the others? 

But that’s acting like they’re something special.

“No one tells me what to do, let alone small fry like you,” I tell the first little shits who tried to talk back to me. “I’m Alloya, Alloya Ra’non. Maybe you’ve heard of me.” The look forming on their dumb young faces is priceless. “You know me, the Captain.”

“Oh shit,” the guy says, right before I grab him by his collar, and let the glowing green color of the doom and space death fall from my eyes.. 

“Yeah, oh shit is right,” I say and raise a glowing fist that lets everyone else see their mistake. How quickly the brave turn into cowards.  “Tell me, I have to know, did bumping into your moronic girlfriend break the picture perfect world you all have going here?” 

I’m feeling uncharacteristically devious at the moment so show the guy off like proof of my strength, a reminder of how much stronger I am than everyone who decied to surround me. 

As everyone finds themselves cowering, I bring the kid’s face closer to mine. “Now, if you don’t want to be punched into paste, please tell me where your capitol building is. Unlike you and the rest of your life, I have shit to do.”

“Uhh,” is all he can mumble.

I snap my fingers, lighting blue-green sparks. “Come on, I don’t have all day,” I warn him.

“I don’t know!”

“Well, I can fix that,” I inform him. Like lightning I fly a mile high straight up, with him in my hand. “Point to it, and I’ll drop you in the water” 

Then I hear the gurgling sound coming from the kid’s throat. I quickly turn him to face away from me when he pukes. I do not envy anyone who’s below us. Then I turn him back around to face me and repeat, “Point out the capitol building.” 

He looks dreadfully sick being up so high above everyone else. I figure every Riverti would be used to that feeling by now, guess I am wrong. 

He points to a spherical building that looks very fancy. I feel somewhat silly now. “The spherical building, that’s the capitol?” I ask.

He shakes his head no. “The one to the right of it,” he says meekly. The building to the right is a boring square structure in comparison to the one next to it. Now I don’t feel so stupid because I never would have guessed that. 

I bring him face to face with me again. “Thank you.”. 

Then I throw him and send him flying straight out and over the water.

‘You’re not afraid that might kill him?’ Rega asks in a humorous tone.

No, he should only break a few bones. He looks like he’ll land at an angle, and he like all Rivertans can breath underwater, I tell her in my head.

‘You don’t fully believe that.’ 

That’s not true, I really do know for sure.  

‘Are sure you’re not just letting off some steam?’ I look back at the kid as he’s flying through the air. My mind can process things pretty quickly so he isn’t moving all that fast to me. ‘I personally think you should let him fall. Maybe end him more quickly just to make sure he doesn’t survive.’

Today just had to be the day I lose my cool. I blast off after the kid. 

I’m fast, but I threw him too hard. Now with us both moving in real time I realize my mistake. I fly too fast and I break the sound barrier. That would make me too fast to touch him without smashing into him and killing him.

And with how fast he’s moving, even at an angle, his body will hit the water as if it were cement.

Crap, this kid might die because I lost my temper. 

‘Well, I might have given you a small push,’ Rega admits in a chuckle.

Fucking, fuck, fuck, I curse at her as my anger, aggression, and frustrations goes away, showing just how much she was influencing me. Damn you.

‘Who cares?’

I can feel the wind against my body as I fly towards him and I am closing the distance between us, but the distance between him and the water is closing faster. 

“Damn it!” I scream as I see that he’s about to hit the surface. 

Then the water, which he should be colliding with, moves and contorts unnaturally out and shapes itself into a hand to catch him. Even more strange, right before he collides with the water, it freezes into snow to soften the blow. Then the snow moves along with the kid above the water, encasing him into a ball of snow and flying him around. It moves like a hover disc above the water.

I stop to watch it, but then it flies towards me a high speed. I barely duck in time to dodge it and then I fly after to follow. As we fly above the city I notice we are going to the capitol building the kid pointed out before. 

As I think about it, this kind of water manipulation is the technique of one person and I’ve just made a bad first impression on someone I may not have seen in a long time.

But that’s what you wanted though wasn’t it? I ask Rega.

‘What can I say? It’s not very entertaining when everyone gets along. The Rivertans most certainly will not appreciate this at all,’ she snidely rubs in my metaphorical face.

I follow the snow to the capitol where the ball stops in front of a group of Rivertans, all Riverti except for one.

I land as the ball turns into water and drops the kid flat on his face. I land a few feet behind him. Then I look up to see an understandably judgy face looking at me.

The one Watree walks up to me and I find a finger wagging in my face again. “What the fuck is wrong with you, Alloya?!”   “Hey…Womby,” I mutter, “I may have jumped the gun.”