Chapter 66

Day 293

We were awakened fairly early and rather abruptly by a guard that would never be elected as Mr. Congeniality. He demanded we get up and dress quickly before he escorted us to the sparse, ugly cafeteria. The guard announced that we only had twenty minutes before returning to our cell block. Morwenna and I set the twins down, handed them their bottles before grabbing our bread and jam after the triplets had theirs in hand.

I'm not sure if it was teen hormones, fear or shame but Morwenna was prone to fits of weeping now.

She sat at a different table from the rest of us and barely took a few bites from her breakfast. I wanted to urge her to eat while she had food available, but I could understand her lack of appetite myself.

Once we were escorted back to our cell block the triplets sat down to watch the TV and it's one endlessly looping show. It was better than staring at the walls, I suppose. I sat down to teach Genesis how to talk. Morwenna quietly did the same with Darius without me having to ask her to.

We had scarcely settled in when the guard walked back in.

The guard spoke in a detached voice, "The scientist is here to test the blood of the children."

My heart contracted. I rose to face him, standing between him and my children. I wanted to attack him, just do anything to stop him. He would most likely react by killing me and then my children would be alone in here. I didn't want to die and leave them orphaned but everything in me cried out to defend and protect my children with my life. Yet I stood there, frozen in place and mute with conflicting emotions. Then the scientist walked in behind him.

It was Kenzo! Would he pass word to Sean that we needed help? Thankfully none of the children had seen him when he was at our house recently, so none of them would betray our connection. But Kenzo wouldn't even look at me and I didn't know what that meant.

Suddenly without a word, Kenzo began to bend at the knees and tensing with a feral look on his face. The guard turned to face Kenzo just before he launched.

Very quickly the fight was over. Morwenna was weeping in the background as I stared stupefied at Kenzo and the now incapacitated guard.

Kenzo spoke in a low but clear voice, "No one is to say a single word. You will all follow my directions without question or hesitation. Charlotte, Morwenna, grab the twins now." We quickly followed his directions. And then we were standing before him as the now familiar alarms went off.

In my head I was screaming, "Noooooo! Not now!" Rescue was potentially at hand and now the Duthalorians were coming! My breath came in fast pants and I fought the urge to run as far and fast as I could, dragging my family in tow, desperately searching for the safety of underground. My heart raced and my legs wobbled as Kenzo stood stock still... counting. It seemed he was counting or timing something. Then with a wave of his hand towards the door, he led the way out.

We followed Kenzo without a murmur as he led us to the front of the prison grounds.

Quickly he entered the garage and into the vehicle that had delivered us to the prison. I opened my mouth to speak but Kenzo just looked at me and shook his head, beckoning us all to join him. Morwenna and I sat down with the twins in our laps as he sped off down the road.

We needed to be underground! I wanted to be underground! I desperately searched the skies for an invading force as Kenzo drove swiftly through a ghost town without a person in sight.

When the Wastelands were in sight, I was relieved. The Historian's house was just ahead.

My relief was short lived. Immediately after we abandoned the vehicle and started walking into the Wasteland, I realized Kenzo was leading us away from Sean's home. "But," I started to call out.

"Quiet!" Kenzo hissed in response.

I was now frustrated as well as frightened at this point, but felt I had no choice but to follow him.

We came upon a mostly buried entrance to somewhere that I hoped led to the underground.

While Kenzo waited for us all to catch up with him, he was assembling four pieces of carved stone into a circle.  And then he placed that assembled circle into the door.

The door opened and I spied a set of stairs leading down.

"Follow me," Kenzo quietly stated before he led us downstairs and then to my relief the door shut behind us.

Once the door was closed and we all had reached the bottom of the stairs, Kenzo sighed and spoke more gently, "We don't have any time at all for detailed explanations. In short, Janet Planeson is the biggest gossip in Oasis Landing. The entire city knew you had been arrested before you stepped foot into your cell block. Sean contacted me and we set a rescue in motion. I drugged and locked up the scientist that should have showed up at prison so I could take his place. The alarms warning for a Duthalorian invasion were a false alarm. It was the only way to get you through to the other side of the town without being seen and stopped. They will soon figure out what happened and be searching for us. We have to leave town now."

"Kenzo, where are we going?"

"We are seeking Sanctuary. Now everybody into this side room to change into our travel clothes. Quickly now! We have very little time!"

We rapidly changed into outfits that more than startled me. Just where the hell was Sanctuary located?

Kenzo has us buckled in and ready to go within minutes after we entered the space shuttle, then he was pressing buttons on a panel while glancing at instructions on the console.

An engine rumbled to life, we trembled and vibrated with it's increasing power. Next we were pressed back into our seats hard as we lifted up quickly. I had experienced this before on a smaller scale in an airplane and on a similar scale when I had left Xicanopia. I had no doubt that we were leaving planet Earth and heading into outer space.

~  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

We spent hours traversing through space. Kenzo couldn't or wouldn't answer my questions. He still seemed tense rather than relaxed, so I worried that we were still in danger. We landed a bit hard, but not painfully so. The twins were in full scale meltdown mode at this point. I was very surprised upon unbuckling ourselves that we seemed to be experiencing earth-like gravity. Before exiting the shuttle  we changed and fed the twins. Kenzo also directed us to take turns using the single toilet and handed out space ice cream. The kids were thrilled about the little treat.Within twenty minutes or so we were ready to exit the shuttle and we entered a long corridor with the occasional set of stairs.

Once we reached what I though must be close to ground level, we were met by two people also in a space-like suits. I was nervous as to how welcomed we'd really be even though I didn't notice any weapons. Kenzo left us behind in the hallway, walking forward to meet them.

As much as I wanted to hang back, I tried to sidle closer to follow the conversation. As far as I could tell Kenzo was simply relating the story of my capture and of our escape.

After Kenzo finished speaking, the one in white indicated we should all follow them as they led Kenzo into a nearby room.

The one in white, a woman named Fatima, turned on a video and the triplets immediately sat down to watch. Morwenna and I continued to hold the twins and joined Kenzo in speaking with Fatima and the man named Bill.

I had to ask, "Where are we? Is this Sanctuary?"

Bill responded, "We are on the Earth's moon and no, this is not Sanctuary. The Duthalorians wrote off the moon as useless, they don't even glance at it when they return to Earth as far as we can tell. Humans have managed to start a small scale colony here, but it's not a long term solution. The extreme temperatures, lack of water and soil, not to mention it's varied gravity makes the moon unfit for long term habitation when there is a better alternative."

Kenzo spoke up and asked, "Where is Sanctuary?"

I could see Bill's eyebrows raise behind the glass of his helmet before he chuckled, "Well, that's a mystery to all of us. You see, Sanctuary is an invisible planet."

I quickly found my voice, "Excuse me?!? Sanctuary is an invisible planet?!? Are you even aware how that sounds?!? You expect my family to head off to some imaginary planet that you can't even see?"

Bill responded, "It's not invisible when you get there, for some reason it can't be seen by any passing or searching space ships. The first inhabitants of this planet were a small group of Kesslians that were fleeing the Duthalorian invasion of their planet. They crash landed on this planet now referred to as Sanctuary. Sanctuary is not exactly Earth-like. It is mostly barren and rocky, but it has a compatible atmosphere, life sustaining water and more."

Bill continued, "The Kesslians are an advanced society and had the components for establishing a colony: seeds, animals, medicine and so forth. They are also a very advanced race when it comes to technology. They quickly established a safe haven on this planet that the Duthalorians pass by without ever noticing. They also created smaller space ships with homing devices that can return to the planet of Sanctuary after their spacecraft has left. The Kesslians have used these spacecrafts to rescue a number of alien races from all across our galaxy from the Duthalorians. Sanctuary is now a very diverse group of alien and humans, although we are all aliens to everyone else."

I inquired, "You've visited this planet?"

"No," Bill admitted, "I've never seen it."

I was aghast and my voice rose in pitch, "Then how do you know it exists? How do you know it's safe? Haven't you ever seen the To Serve Man episode of The Twilight Zone?!?" I was officially freaked out now. I'd rather be back on Earth underground in the Wastelands.

Kenzo stopped me, pulling my attention towards him, "Charlotte, we don't have a choice at this point. You have to stop thinking of all aliens as being like the Duthalorians." Then he pointed out, "You are an alien."

I reeled at his betrayal and protested, "Kenzo!"

"Charlotte, you don't have to hide who you are anymore. You are free to be yourself now."

Was it true? After all these years could I stop pretending to be a human from Earth?

Bill and Fatima didn't act afraid of me or even shocked that I wasn't human. They simply indicated that we should follow them into the subway system. We would be going to our temporary home to await the next opportunity to reach Sanctuary.

As we excited the subway and into the open, Hope cried out, "Mommy, what are those light in the sky?!?"

I looked up and stared.

I stood and stared in awe before finding my voice, "Stars, baby, they are called stars."

I stood and stared, near tears. Oh the beautiful, glorious stars of the night sky. How I had missed them! Then something else caught my eye and I asked, "What is that?"

Bill responded, "That is the planet Earth."

"No!" I objected. "It can't be. Earth is The Big Blue Marble. That is brown and lifeless looking."

Fatima spoke up, "It used to be blue when Earth was dominated by water, but the Duthalorians have stolen or destroyed that life source."

I was crushed and devastated. And no doubt the Duthalorians had done the same to Xicanopia.

Bill suggested we get our moon legs and then head to our temporary abode. We all had a bit of fun trying to move in this new atmosphere and gravity.

I was relieved to find inside the domes there was an Earth-like gravity, just as the previous building we had been in. Bill and Fatima showed us around the small plain home.

It would be nice to spread out a bit and relax for a few days or longer. Fatima was about to show us around the kitchen when Bill received a phone call.

The conversation was brief, then he was off the phone and speaking to us, "Xokop Uzopoc has just arrived and ready to take you all to Sanctuary."

Already? "How did he know we arrived?"

Bill corrected me, "She. She was on patrol and saw an unplanned arrival from Earth and came to check it out. The good news is you will be settled in sooner than later."

A question suddenly occurred to me, "My daughter Shannon and son Seamus. Are they here?"

Fatima spoke up, "Those were your children? Then you are the one that arrived from the past and a different realm. We learned so much from them. They stayed here for a while before they left for Sanctuary."

"Then they are living there?"

"Yes."

What could I say then? What choice did I have but to round up the children with a cheery and hopeful attitude. We went directly back to the subway and after a short trip we came out upon an empty area set in a smaller crater.

As we walked toward this green, bald alien, I tried not to show my unease.

Xokop introduced herself and chatted warmly, "It's so nice to be welcoming another family to Sanctuary. I have a teen daughter and twins, a male and a female, that are just now school age. The Bright Stars Academy is an excellent school!"

Xokop's warmth and friendliness disarmed me. I relaxed and inquired if she knew my children, Seamus and Shannon. Something wary flickered across her face before she replied, "Yes, they are both married and you are a grandmother."

I exclaimed my delight in seeing my children and their families, pushing back the unease that she was keeping something back. Xopoc gave us general directions on what to expect before leading Kenzo, my children and I to her spaceship.

It was time to make ourselves a new home on an alien planet.

A/N: It was my intent to wait and post this chapter after introducing you all to Sanctuary. However, I do not have all the lots and inhabitants ready yet. I leave on holiday tomorrow and will not be returning for almost a fortnight. I am estimating that I will have my next chapter out around mid-July or thereabouts. Until then thank you for reading and be blessed! <3