The Last Starry Night

Azzie woke up suddenly. She was on her back, looking up at a ceiling that looked like it was made of yellow, grainy rock. Straps held her to the floor, which was cold and looked to be made of the same sandy rock. She felt like she was falling. Was the whole room falling? The room was well lit, but she couldn’t see from where. A few feet away she saw two other girls, also strapped to the floor. One was small and dark, with long black hair, dressed in a light flowery dress; she was asleep. The other was awake and looking at Azzie: strong and powerfully built, with bright red hair, wearing a blue and white striped sweater and jeans.

“Hello,” said the red haired girl. Her voice was warm and friendly. “My name’s Gwen. I’m so glad you’re awake, I nearly went crazy just lying here. Who are you?”

“My name’s Azzie,” said Azzie.

“Azzie? That’s a strange name. Are you from China, or what?”

“No, I’m from Alabama.” Gwen’s eyes got wide. Azzie knew why: most people in Alabama didn’t look like her. “My mother’s from Vietnam,” said Azzie.

“Oh,” said Gwen. “Well, I’m from Calgary. In Canada.”

“Okay,” said Azzie. “Um, do you know where we are now?”

“Well, I think we must be on the alien ship,” said Gwen.

“On the what?” asked Azzie.

“The alien ship,” said Gwen. “You know, the ship the aliens were on.”

Azzie remembered the three eyes and the black teeth. “Aliens?” she whispered.

“Yeah. Didn’t you see them? My Dad woke me up and told me get out of bed, and I looked out the window and there were aliens everywhere down in the street. I couldn’t see them real good then, but when they busted in the house and came after us upstairs, I got a real good look.” She stuck out her tongue and made a disgusted face. “Big and brown and yellow and their skin hanging off them everywhere, like it’s too big for them. And did you see their eyes?”

Azzie shuddered. “Yes.”

“Anyway, they got us. I guess they must have knocked me out, because after they grabbed me I don’t remember anything. Till I woke up here.”

“I didn’t really see them,” said Azzie. She wasn’t sure she wanted to tell this complete stranger all about running alone in the woods, and coming back and seeing her apartment on fire. When she thought about that, she suddenly began to wish very much that she had been there with Johnny and her mother, whatever had happened.

“Yeah, well, you’re lucky,” said Gwen. “They’re not fun to look at.”

“Um,” said Azzie. “Are we falling?”

“I don’t know,” said Gwen, sounding a little nervous for the first time. “It sure feels like it, doesn’t it?”

“We’re probably weightless,” said a soft voice. Azzie saw that the girl in the dress now had her eyes open. They were large and brown.

“I thought you floated around if you were weightless,” said Gwen.

“Not if you’re strapped down,” said the girl. Her voice sounded strange: a little clipped.

“What’s your name?” asked Azzie.

“Srini. I’m from India.”

“I’m Gwen, from Canada. Glad to meet you.”

“I’m Azzie,” said Azzie. “I’m from Alabama.”

“Her Mum’s from Vietnam,” added Gwen.

“Oh,” said Srini.

“Did you see the aliens?” asked Gwen.

“Yes,” said Srini. Her voice shook a little. “Did you?”

“Oh yeah,” said Gwen. She told her story again briefly. “How about you? How did you get caught?”

“I was taking the train with my family,” said Srini. “My sister and my father and I. We were going up into the mountains to visit the telescope where my father works. He and my mother are astronomers. Then we saw a strange light, and a -- a kind of bridge came down. Like a railroad from the sky. It landed near the train tracks, it buried its end in the ground. Then a black railway car came down it, out of the sky, very fast. It was shaped like a ball. Then the aliens came out of it. They moved quickly, and they had guns that shot long black bullets. And they had bombs -- bombs that exploded like balls of darkness that swallowed up everything they touched. They attacked the train, and we managed to get off the train okay, but while we were running across the fields, they caught us... That’s all I remember.”

“I wonder why we were all brought together on the same ship,” said Gwen. “How many other people were taken prisoner?”

“No way to know,” said Srini.

“Did either of you see the Earth in the sky?” asked Azzie.

“The what?” asked Gwen.

“The Earth. First the stars went out, and then the Earth was in the sky. Like a map painted in the air.”

“What do you mean, the stars went out?” asked Srini. “Stars don’t just go out; they explode, or fade away over millions of years -- ”

“Well, I saw it,” said Azzie.

“I didn’t see anything like that,” said Gwen. “But I was inside.”

“And the Earth in the sky? It couldn’t have happened,” said Srini.

“It happened,” said another voice.

The voice came from a boy. He was floating below them, hanging in the air with his feet towards the floor they were strapped to. Tall and thin, he had a gaunt face and long, knobby fingers, reminding Azzie of a spider. His hair was jet black and his skin was olive-colored. He was wearing ragged black clothing that was somewhat too large for him, and his feet were bare.

For a moment they simply looked at him, and he looked back, smiling just a little.

“It happened,” he said again. His voice was thick and mumbling, as if he was out of practice. “All the stars turned red, then were gone. And then the Earth appeared in the sky, upside-down.”

“Okay,” said Gwen. “Who are you?”

“Trocmo,” he said.

“Trocmo? What kind of name is that?” asked Srini. “Where are you from? Did you see the stars go out?”

“No,” he said. “I was on a ship. But I know what happened to the Earth. They took the Earth out of the universe and put it in a little toy universe.”

“I don’t understand,” said Gwen.

“That doesn’t matter,” said Trocmo. “There is nothing you can do anyway.”

“In a toy universe?” asked Srini. “What do you mean? Why did they do that?”

“To keep the Earth safe,” said Trocmo. “It is all for your safety.”

“Our safety?” said Srini. “They shot at us! They used bombs! And now we’re prisoners!”

“What happened to our families?” asked Gwen.

“Yes,” said Azzie.

Trocmo lifted his hands. “I do not know. But if they don’t fight, they should not be hurt. I am sure you will see them again.”

“Who are you?” asked Gwen again. “How do you know so much about them? What’s your story?”

“I am originally from Earth. But I have not been back there for a long time. Now I live with the Warriors.”

“The Warriors?” said Azzie. “The aliens?”

“Yes, they are aliens,” he said. “The Warriors.” He smiled broadly, showing dirty crooked teeth.

“Right,” said Gwen. “Well, you seem to know a lot, and you’ve got some serious explaining to do. Tell us from the beginning, slowly, why the aliens are attacking Earth and why they put it in a toy universe, or whatever. And then tell us why we’re tied up, and what happened to our families, and when we can see them again.”

Trocmo stopped smiling. “I’ll try,” he said. “But I am sure you can hear that my English is not very good.”

“It’ll do,” said Gwen.

“The Warriors have lived outside the universe for many long years, thousands of years. Now they have come back, and they have decided at once to create their new sky sheet to live on.”

“Sky sheet? What’s that?” asked Srini.

“A new home for the Warriors,” said Trocmo. “A sheet made of stone, eight thousand miles thick, and as wide as the Universe. Covered with trees and grass and oceans and clouds...”

“You’re just making stuff up,” said Gwen.

“It’s true, I swear it,” said Trocmo. “Perhaps you will see it. But as I said, the sheet is huge. It starts out small, and then quickly grows, spreading out in all directions. The Warriors have seen that their new sky sheet will grow until it crashes into the Earth. They have decided to move the Earth away to a toy universe.”

“What is a toy universe?” asked Srini.

“They took a small slice of the sky,” said Trocmo, “a slice that has the Earth and the Sun and the Moon and the planets. They warped it and turned it and twisted it, snapped the spacetime, and tore it away. In this way they saved the whole Earth from the sky sheet.”

“Well, that’s nice enough,” said Gwen. “If you’re telling the truth. But then why are they invading, kidnapping us and shooting at us?”

“The Warriors need all the land they can get,” said Trocmo. “They need space for their children.”

“They’re colonizing?” cried Srini.

“That is the word that I want,” said Trocmo. “They want to live alongside of humanity. The fighting will end if the humans give up.”

“They can’t just take over the Earth!” said Gwen.

“Yes they can,” said Trocmo.

“Oh yeah?” said Gwen. “Well, we can fight back! We’ve got nuclear weapons -- and -- and rockets -- and -- ”

“Humans are children,” said Trocmo, sneering a little. “You are a child species. We are adults. We will conquer the Earth, and take care of you all.”

“Whaddaya mean, we?” said Gwen. “You’re human too, you know.”

He smiled crookedly. “The Warriors taught me to think. And now I am an adult, just like them. But now I must go.” He twisted in midair, reaching out for the wall behind him, and tapped it. Part of the wall dissolved away, showing a doorway and a hallway behind it. He pulled himself into the hall.

Gwen roared, snapped the straps holding her down, and launched herself at Trocmo. Azzie was very happy to see a look of abject terror on his face for an instant before Gwen slammed into him and hurled him back into the hall. For a moment or two, Azzie couldn’t see what was going on, because they were around the corner of the doorway. Then she heard Gwen say, “Oh, cripes,” and she drifted back into the room, holding Trocmo by his collar. He was knocked out.

“Wow, Gwen,” said Srini. “You sure are strong.”

“Well,” said Gwen, blushing bright red, “I do pretty well on my ice hockey team. But this fellow, he’s like a bag of toothpicks. He was practically knocked out before I touched him.”

“Maybe he’s weak from growing up in no gravity,” said Srini.

“I bet you’re right. Anyway, he’s knocked out, and he can’t answer any more questions. We’ve got to find out about our families. Maybe they’re somewhere else on this ship.”

“Maybe,” said Srini. “Where is this ship taking us?”

“Another good question,” said Gwen. “And can we stop it from taking us there? Half a moment.” She went through Trocmo’s pockets -- somewhat awkwardly, since he kept twisting in the air in odd directions. “Ugh. I thought so. Look at this thing.”

She held up a small black object. It was unmistakably gun-shaped.

“We’re probably going to have to use this,” said Gwen. She looked at it carefully for a moment, then pointed it at a wall and fired. A thin bolt of blackness zipped out of the nozzle and disappeared into the wall.

Gwen looked disappointed. She pushed off with her feet and drifted over to the wall.

“What was that?” asked Srini. “Was it a solid bullet? Or some kind of laser?”

“I don’t know,” said Gwen. “But there’s a perfect little hole in the wall here where it hit. It looks deep. I think this will do.” She pushed herself over to them. “Let’s get you two free and then see what we can find out -- who’s in charge here, where our families are, and where we’re going.”

Gwen got them out easily, and she led them down the hall to the left, picking the direction at random. She pulled limp Trocmo along by his arm.

“I also want to find out about the stars going out, and seeing the Earth in the sky,” muttered Srini to Azzie, as they drifted down the hall. “It makes no sense.”