38. Snake Planet
2026 Words
Alden takes me to the village next. I have to wear a disguise, but I still have a lot of fun with him. We play carnival games and dance. Then we eat a pizza and have ice cream in the park. We watch the last race, and then thank them for inviting us. I guess it wasn't a total waste of time, but I never did get to ride a horse. Or get a souvenir. I need to remember that.
Dipak and Marcus walk us to our shuttle to go back up to the ship and Tobias nearly tackles me. "I want to go with you."
Collin catches me from falling over. "Me too."
"Thank you sir."
Marcus stares at the boys. "She doesn't live on this planet."
"I'm not staying here."
Victor nods. "They're with us now."
I put up an eyebrow, but Tobias gets in the shuttle with Victor. I scratch my head, "I guess Victor is ok with it."
Starlet runs by. "I GOT MY STUFF." She jumps in and Collin gets in with her.
Alden kisses my cheek. "As long as Victor says it's ok I guess."
Dipak and Marcus laugh. "We'll check on them. I imagine they'll get homesick."
"I'll be back anyway. I need to bring my nephew his presents. I've never had a nephew. He's my favorite."
Marcus shakes his head, "You don't get a favorite."
"I don't?"
"No."
"You have to love all your nieces and nephews the same."
"He's the only one."
They laugh.
Alden kisses my head. "Someday you'll have more, baby."
Luke runs over. "ARE YOU COMING BACK SOON?"
"YOU'RE MY FAVORITE."
They start laughing again.
"Just come back ok?"
"I'll come back and bring presents."
He gives me a hug. "You're my favorite too."
I smile and jump up and down. Luke runs back over to his mom and they go in.
"Baby, you can not say that. We have to love them the same. Same types of presents. Same time spent with each of them. You can not pick a favorite. How would you have felt if everyone wanted to see your brother and nobody wanted to see you or spend time with you?"
I can't help but stare at him. "Maybe that's what's wrong with my brother. Nobody ever picked him as the favorite."
Marcus nods. "Maybe. So don't do that ok?"
"Ok."
"GET ON THE SHUTTLE."
I glare at Victor. Alden shakes Dipak's and Marcus's hands. "We'll be back with presents. I'm sure of it." They laugh and Alden helps me into the shuttle.
We get up to the command room and sit at the conference table. I stare at the ceiling. Victor lays his head down, "That was the most boring trip I've ever had. Why are they so into racing?"
Alden nods. "Think about what they have, Victor. An event of any kind is a big deal. And the festival was fun. There were lots of games and stuff out there."
I stretch. "The food was good."
Victor smirks. "You don't even try to fake it. You kept falling asleep everywhere."
"I tried to stay awake sometimes."
Alden smiles. "Ship, take us to orbit on the snake planet and run a full analysis. Let's get some sleep, and we can look at that when we wake up. And let Tobias and Collin pick empty rooms as theirs."
"Are there any differences in the rooms?"
"No. 1 end is near an officer's bar. The middle is by the entrance to the command area. The other side is the elevators. The rooms are identical."
"But you can walk through the bar to get to the elevators. It's a big circle."
"It's actually a neat set up. The command area is a circle on the top level. A level lower the apartments sit in a circle around the lower part of the command area with the lounge over to the side. Below the apartments is the office level. They sit in a big circle and there are 2 entrances by steps to the command area. They also have elevators and a big conference room. Below that, a big dining room sits in a circle right below the command area."
"Give them an actual tour tomorrow, Victor. Room for tonight. We're tired."
"There's a park in here too. With actual trees and grass. It's in a middle circle too." They walk out together.
"You ready for bed, baby?"
"Not yet. I want to wind down and watch out the window."
"You want some company?"
"No, I want to be alone."
He kisses my head. "Good night baby."
"Good night."
I wait for him to go away, and I go over a long walkway to the other side of the ship. I go to the top and watch out the big windows.
30 minutes later, I figure out I can get alcohol out of the boxes on the wall. I start with wine and sit by a window.
I stare at the trails of lights flying by. I'm tired of being alone. I'm tired of having no friends. Now my mate doesn't even want to mark me. What is wrong with me?
A couple of drinks later...
When I found my mate, it was supposed to be amazing and perfect. Someone to love forever. Someone that will love me forever. My best friend. Someone to spend my whole life with. Instead, he has a bunch of friends and I have a spaceship. I would rather have friends.
A couple of drinks later...
I scream over the music, "WHY IS THE FLOOR HAVE LIGHTS IN IT?" More boxes of different colors light up on the floor. I jump around on them and dance all over. Then lasers shoot all over the room and lights flash. "THIS IS THE BEST ROOM EVER." I grab myself another drink.
A couple of drinks later...
I get picked up off the middle of the dance floor. I hear the boys laughing. Alden says, "Shut all this off." I snuggle into him.
4 hours later, I stretch. I'm in Alden's bed, and he's not here. I take a bath and get extra blood in me. I feel alright. That is a pretty fun dance room. I get dressed with the box and try to eat. I decide on having more blood instead, then I go to the command room.
"Morning boys."
"Was that a fun party last night?" I glare at Victor. "Every single light was on, and the music was loud as hell. You were passed out in the middle of the dance floor and there were empty cups everywhere."
"I have never seen a dance room like that. It was quite fun, actually."
Him and Tobias chuckle and go back to the papers. Alden wraps his arms around me and kisses my head. "You feel ok, baby?"
"Yea, I'm good. I'll probably need a nap later, but overall I'm fine. Find out anything new about the snake planet?"
We sit at the conference table. Collin comes in and sits with us. "Good morning. Star's still sleeping."
Tobias smiles. "Yes, we got new information. Has everyone eaten?"
They nod and I shake my head. "No. I'm not doing that today."
Victor chuckles. "Figured that much... Ok... Snakes are not immortal, but it's not as bad as it could have been. The caves do let out in a breeding area closer to the core. Think of it like a giant snake orgy."
I shake my head so fast.
"I don't want to think that either." Tobias rubs his eyes.
"Then they have babies. 1 baby each. As soon as they lay the egg, the massive snake dies. When the egg hatches, the 60-foot-long sweet baby snake eats the parent to grow another 20 to 40 feet. Then it takes over the parents' set of tunnels, feeding on an average of 10 adult-sized humans per week."
I stare at him. I think I might throw up. Then I jump up. "WHY THE HELL WERE THEY TRYING TO FEED IT MY LITTLE ASS?"
Victor tries not to laugh. "I have no idea. Hoping for the best, I guess."
Tobias nods. "Over the last 5 years, an average of 15,000 people have been eaten yearly. Some were children. Others are feedings of opportunity. It seems at 1 time there was an extremely vicious snake. It ran humans nearly out of its section."
Alden checks a paper. "The brains also went to the surface to check for a library or records of some kind. It appears the population of the planet is dropping quickly. The highest population ever was 750,000 and that was 84 years ago. Between the snake attacks, sacrifices, lower birth rates. Nobody wants to have children that will be eaten. Normal deaths because of illnesses and accidents. Everything is adding up and humans are becoming extinct. The brains predict they will be gone in another 10 years. Faster if the growing snakes need more than 10 a week, the next breeding time is in 2 years."
"Do we know anything about the makeup of the snake?"
Tobias flips through papers, "It's not venomous. But it does eat people in 1 bite."
Collin sits back. "Not much need for venom then."
I scratch my head. "Maybe we can find something it's allergic to. Or poison it somehow."
"Rub poison all over a person and feed it to them. I'd rather not sacrifice people though. That can be a last resort."
I nod fast. "Any other ideas?"
Tobias keeps reading. "Thick skin but generally the same makeup we would find in a snake on earth. They found a dead snake once and documented the entire examination. It was assumed it was stuck outside of it's cave in the sun for to long. The location they found it in was desert in the direct sun."
Alden nods. "If it's the same makeup, then we should be able to kill them with a boulder to the head. Or find a way to chop off a head. Drowning if we could get it into the sea."
"Or even a lot of damage to the body. I remember the 1 I ran over with the lawn mower that time. He died from a lot of deep cuts." Victor glances at the brain. "Are snakes allergic to anything or do they like the taste of a certain poison or anything?"
"Cyanide would be effective. It could be fed to the snake in meat."
Alden puts an eyebrow down. "We can't be around that either, can we?"
"You will be very sick and hallucinating for up to 10 days. A vampire will not die from cyanide being absorbed into their system. However, humans will."
Collin nods. "That would work. We wrap enough cyanide in meat. Then play loud music or drums on the ground beside it. The snake shows up and eats dinner. We block the cave. It can't go back. It dies of either poison ingestion or sunlight."
I smile. "I'm ok with you trying that. But I think you need to tell them you want submission first. If you kill the snakes first, they may not believe they are actually dead."
Tobias motions for the brain. "Figure out how much cyanide we would need and do we even have any?"
"We do have the required materials to make it. We would not suggest making it on the ship. The AI could make it on this planet or another nearby planet with gravity that has land. The scan for living snakes is ongoing. Currently, 9 are found. Once we get their weights, we can calculate the amount needed for each snake."
Collin stares at his paper. "What about blowing it up? Like with fireworks. Shoot it with those."
"We have no fireworks on board, however, there are rocket launchers. I believe that is similar, sir."
Victor falls backwards out of his chair. Alden yells, "READY THOSE."
Tobias nods. "Yea, that sounds perfect."
"We need to make a plan to go down boys. They aren't going to submit if you say you killed the snakes. They won't believe you."
- Writer
