Space Radio, flash fiction by Isabel Alzate Spillwords.com

Space Radio

Space Radio

written by: Isabel Alzate

 

Captain George Scott and Lieutenant Jason Montgomery checked the monitors for movements near their spaceship’s current location. With the vastness of space came the feeling of freedom, but with it came the daunting fear of the unknown and invisible.

“The frequencies that the monitors have picked up beep erratically and unknown patterns, Captain,” Montgomery said. “It appears an unknown object is near us.”

“Does it have a cloaking device?” Scott asked.

“Yes, but a strange one,” Montgomery said.

Captain Scott walked towards Ensign Stacy Lexington, who kept trying to tune the ship’s communication channels to the unknown object’s frequencies.

“Any luck, Ensign?” Scott asked.

“Affirmative, Captain,” Lexington answered. “But it sounds like the old radio broadcasts that they used to do on Earth 200 years ago where people would voice act a story.”

“The radio adaptations in the 20th century?” Montgomery asked.

“That’s the one.”

“Why would you say that?” Scott asked.

“Listen,” Lexington said as she pushed some buttons on the monitor to connect the sound to the ship’s speakers.

“Smoke entered the building with the force of a raging giant,” said a static, creepy voice.

“However, the castle seemed to be the skillful shepherd that seemed to stand upright regardless of the attacks.”

“What on Polaris, is that?” Montgomery asked.

Lexington rolled her eyes as she continued to adjust the frequency to clear the static up.

“By the sounds of this, it’s either a suspenseful thriller or a gothic fiction broadcast,” she said.

“The smoke felt like the veil of a bride slowly being draped on the two girls when the fire knocked on their door, making it its follower,” the Radio Voice said.

“Gothic, definitely gothic,” Scott said.

“But what would an archaic radio recording be floating around in this quadrant of space, Sir?” Montgomery asked.

“Maybe it was launched by our ancestors centuries ago. But it’s strangely still playing,” Scott said.

“How would a rudimentary object like that continue to work in the deep confines of space?” Lexington asked.

“How would it still have a frequency to work from?” Montgomery asked. “After all, Earth is 2.22 light-years away.”

“And now a word from our sponsors, the Pregorian Tourist Board,” the Radio Voice said, “If you are in the Triguna region of space, give planet Prego a visit for your vacation.”

“What?” Montgomery and Lexington said.

The emergency sensors onboard the ship beeped while the rest of the personnel went to their positions.

“Sir, we found the object,” Montgomery said. “It’s about the size of a soccer ball.”

“Can we teleport it onboard?” Scott asked.

“Would that be a good idea, Captain?” Lexington asked. “It could be a space mine that could blast us into oblivion!”

“Lt. Montgomery, use the teleporter,” Scott insisted. “Ensign, while I appreciate your concern, I’m the one who calls the shots here.”

Montgomery prepared the sequence to transport the object into the spaceship, causing a giant beam to appear on the teleportation section of the bridge, which revealed a small black ball-like object that had white dots on it. It even had a small, red antenna coming out of the top that blinked on and off.

“That’s it?” Ensign Morris asked as he arrived on the bridge.

“Yes, that’s all there is of it,” Montgomery replied.

“Never in all my years have I seen anything like it,” Scott said.

“To the person or persons that just beamed us onboard your ship,” the Voice said, “We want you to let our planet go!”

“Morris, reply to them,” Scott said.

“This is Ensign Morris from the U.S.S. Hiawatha. What do you mean to release your planet?

“We mean that you teleported our planet, planet Prego, onto your ship,” the Radio Voice said.

“Wait, that’s a planet?” Montgomery asked.

“Yes,” the Radio Voice asserted.

“Your planet is the smallest planet we’ve ever seen,” Scott said.

“We’re small? Have you taken a look at yourselves?”

The officers looked at each other and gave a subtle nod in agreement.

“Will you please let us go?” the Radio Voice pleaded.

“Yes, of course,” Scott said. “Montgomery, prepare the teleporter.”

“Aye-aye, Sir.”

“Our apologies,” Lexington said. “We really didn’t know you were a planet.”

Everyone looked on as the planet was beamed onto its previous coordinates in a giant blur of blue light. For a brief moment, there was the unmistakable quiet of deep space, which felt like a century of silence. That is until triumphal music played to the confusion of the spaceship’s crew.

“My dear fellow Pregorians, we have been where no Pregorian has gone before,” the Radio Voice said. “We have defeated the giants’ spaceship. Victory is ours!”

Montgomery rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“If they defeated us, why were they begging us to let them go?” Scott asked.

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