Out There: Book Two: Adonae

By David Gordon

Sami has helped her alien friend, Brian, and her human nemesis, Alejandro, to escape Earth. But she is not someone who likes to be left behind.
Soon she, too, is on Adonae, a world of oceans and volcanic islands, and of staggering technological marvels. Sami soon discovers that on Adonae she and Alejandro are the aliens. Oh, and the planet also has a real problem with pirates.
But the greatest danger to Sami and Alejandro is KetaNim, the ruthless ambassador of another alien race, the TakTi. He claims that the kids from Earth are dangerous and must be executed.
While the ambassador conspires to take their heads, Sami and Alejandro get busy learning from the Adonae. Sami becomes a “scombro,” a reader of people; Alejandro a “quick eye,” a martial artist of the rope.
They will need their new skills and growing friendship to keep KetaNim, and his vicious assistant, KetaGar, and the Adonae pirates from having their heads after all.

• Language: English
• Publisher: David Gordon
• Release date: Feb 16, 2014
• ISBN: 9780976561637

David Gordon

David Gordon was born in New York City. He attended Sarah Lawrence College and holds an MA in English and Comparative Literature and an MFA in Writing, both from Columbia University, and has worked in film, fashion, publishing, and pornography. His first novel, The Serialist, won the VCU/Cabell First Novel Award and was a finalist for an Edgar Award. His work has also appeared in The Paris Review, Purple, and Fence among other publications.

Book preview

Out There

Book Two: Adonae

By David Gordon

Copyright 2014 David Gordon

Smashwords Edition

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Cover design by Alex Gordon

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Peek at OUT THERE 3: TiWat

Our Timbuktu

About the Author

Chapter 1

"What are you doing here?"

Sami watched the sparks of white light flickering across the surface of the green egg that surrounded her. Then she heard the sound of rushing air. An air leak! she screamed inside her head, and started to panic. She jerked her head from left to right, looking for the hole. Then she caught her own reflection moving on the sparkling surface of the green egg and saw her chest heaving up and down. The hissing sounds were coming from her. She was gasping for air.

As soon as she realized that there was no air leak, she relaxed a little. Her breathing eased up, and then she took a really deep breath to settle herself down even more. That’s better, she said out loud, and immediately felt foolish. After all, there was no one in there but her.

She looked again at her reflection in the shiny surface of the green egg. She started to reach out to touch it. A wild web of light cast itself across her hand as her fingertips drew near the swarming sparks. She stopped just before touching them. What would happen if she touched the egg? Would the sparks hurt her? Would her hand just go through the green surface? Would her finger pop the green egg, like popping a soap bubble? She imagined the egg popping, leaving her to float out in…in where?

Sami drew back her hand.

She leaned her face forward, hoping to see through the glowing shell of the egg. She thought she saw patches of red and blue swirling outside it, and occasionally there also appeared to be streaks of yellowish light zooming past. It was not at all clear what was making these colors. She had seen many pictures of planets and stars and comets in one of Mr. Sanchez’s hundreds of books, so she imagined that the colors passing by were those same planets, stars, and comets.

Whoa. I am actually in outer space, she whispered. She remembered movies of astronauts floating in space, weightlessly twisting and gliding as though they were under water. But, oddly, Sami was not floating. She looked down at her glittery, red sneakers. She was still standing on Huckleberry Finn. It was the book she had grabbed to be tall enough to push the button on the computer screen to turn on the transporter. The face of the screen had been just inside the egg of green light when she had pressed the button. She looked up. The flat panel was still suspended above and behind her. Now, however, it was blank and dark. Just moments before it had been aglow with alien number symbols, a secret code that allowed her and her friends, Alejandro and Brian, to escape. Just moments before, Sami had been on Earth, in her hometown of Paradise, Arizona. Just moments before she had been telling her mother, Melanie Lightfoot, I have to go away and don’t worry and I love you and…goodbye.

A rush of memories streamed through Sami’s mind. She thought of the strange alien boy, Brian, who had become her only friend. She remembered Alejandro tormenting her and Brian, and then surprising her by helping to save Brian from the police. She thought of Brian’s parents, Alexi and Shareen, who were now in jail, along with the forty-eight other aliens who had crash-landed on Earth. Then there was her friend and neighbor, Mr. Sanchez, who had said it had been no ordinary crash. And, of course, he had been right. The last time she had seen Mr. Sanchez he was fighting off the massively strong Mr. Sombra, the government man who was trying to capture Brian. Then Sami, Brian, and Alejandro had discovered Alexi’s transporter, and Shareen had given them the secret code to turn it on, so that Brian could escape. And he did. He had vanished in the glowing, green egg. But then Alejandro had also stepped onto the transporter and he disappeared. Sami did not understand why she had to follow her friends. But she knew that she had to go, too. All of these amazing events slid into Sami’s past when, just moments ago, she had slipped the book under her feet and stretched up on her tiptoes to press the button on the computer screen.

The memory of pushing that button reminded Sami of the police back on Earth. At this very moment they were probably bursting through the door of Alexi’s office, expecting to catch her and her friends. She grinned as she imagined the cops’ confusion—and Mr. Sombra’s fury—when they realized that they were too late. Sami, Alejandro, and Brian were gone.

Way gone.

Gone where?

Adonae. Sami suddenly realized that the name of the planet was the only thing she knew about where she was going. She had no idea where it was, nor how far away. And what would the planet be like? Would it have cities and cars and televisions and hamburgers? Would she be able to breathe the air? Would there be trees? Would they have dogs and cats? How about spiders and butterflies? And what about chocolate? (Sami loved chocolate.) She started to wonder if she had made a big mistake.

Then she remembered that she did know at least one thing about Adonae, which was that the people from there knew nothing about music. Brian’s house had been filled with musical instruments, and Shareen was trying to learn to play all of them. Sami jammed her hands into the pockets of her jeans. In the right pocket she felt her iPod, and in her left she felt her cell phone. She pulled that out, thinking she would call her mother. She flipped it open and the screen lit up. But she had zero bars; there was no signal. Of course. She made a sour face and stuffed the phone back into her pocket.

Sami’s heart started beating harder and her breaths were again coming in gasps. She tried once more to look through the green egg. The colors outside were still zipping past, but as before, she could not make out any details.

She felt trapped. In fact it had been only a few minutes since she had left Earth. But it was starting to seem like hours. Were Alejandro and Brian already on Adonae, she wondered? How long does it take? What if we got the code wrong? Maybe the three of us will be scattered all over outer space! Maybe I will be dumped onto some other world filled with monsters! Or maybe I will just stay stuck in this egg forever!

"Sami?! Where are you?" she remembered her mother pleading with her over the cell phone. Her mother had been crying. Again Sami wondered if she had made a terrible mistake by pushing that button.

Then the colors outside of the green egg stopped flashing by.

She tried to peer through the surface. It was dissolving, like smoke high above a campfire. The web of sparks faded. Then winked out. As the shimmering green surface of the egg thinned, white light from outside flooded in, forcing Sami to shade her eyes. Squinting in the sudden bright light, she moved her hand away. Directly in front of her was a huge sheet of thick glass. Dozens of lines in neon-bright reds, blues, and greens were glowing on—and deeply in—the glass, and orange rows of strange symbols and shapes were flowing along many of these lines, like speeding trains.

Oh wow, she whispered.

The last of the green egg evaporated, like a drop of water on a hot sidewalk. The instant it completely disappeared, the front of the computer monitor crashed down behind Sami. She jumped and yelped and spun around to see what had happened. What was left of the monitor screen was now crumpled at her feet. She was standing on a round platform that looked like it was made of blue glass.

Then she heard, right beside her, "What are you doing here?"

Chapter 2

Ahh…Stink eye

Sami's head swiveled to her left. Standing beside the blue glass platform and staring up at her with open mouths and wide eyes were Brian and Alejandro.

Relieved and thrilled at the same time, Sami grinned, spread her arms like a bird about to fly, and jumped down to her friends. She nearly knocked them over in the process, and all three of them laughed as they staggered across the floor in each other’s arms. Alejandro was the first to get back his breath, and when he did he asked again, What are you doing here, Sami? He and Brian stepped back a bit to give her room.

She smiled and shook her head. I don’t know. She glanced at Brian. When you guys left…I felt alone again. She shrugged. Sometimes you just do things to see what will happen. She waved her hands around her head and said, "And look! We’re on another planet! We’re on Adonae! But Brian and Alejandro pressed their lips tightly and stared down at the floor. Sami’s excitement faded a bit when she saw this. We are on Adonae, right?" she asked them.

Now it was their turn to shrug. Brian said, I think so. He nodded toward the huge pane of glass with the colored lines and symbols. I recognize the writing. But I do not know where we are.

I got here a few minutes after Brian, Alejandro explained. But since then, nothing. Not a peep out of anyone or anything. And there aren’t any doors or windows. So we’ve been stuck here. Wherever this is.

For the first time, Sami took a good look around the room. It was square and about half the size of her classroom at Salt River Junior High School, way back on Earth. The walls, floor and high ceiling were white, but not painted. In fact, they looked like they were white from the inside; they reminded her of milk. The light in the room was coming directly from the walls. The blue glass platform on which she had arrived was in the middle of the room, and beside it, sticking right up out of the floor was the tall sheet of glass with the flickering lines and symbols. The rest of the room was empty. Three of the walls were completely blank. But the wall opposite from her was covered with what looked like sheets of glass imbedded into its surface. They were of different sizes, shapes, and colors: white, pale blue, green, or red. All of them were blank.

Sami walked up to the large standing sheet of glass to take a closer look at it. Red and blue lines and strings of orange symbols ran across her face. Do you know what this is, Brian?

He joined her. No.

Rats. Then she excitedly pointed at a string of orange symbols sliding down a golden, curving line. Look! These are numbers! Like the ones for the transporter code. There’s the shark teeth.

That’s a five, said Alejandro.

Yes, said Brian, and now he pointed at other strings of symbols. And these are letters. I know some of the words. He read out loud several of the Adonaean words. Sami loved hearing Brian’s beautiful language. It sounded to her more like singing than talking. Of course, she had no idea what Brian had just said.

But what do those words mean? she asked him. She watched Brian squint at the words. Sami realized he was thinking hard and that translating from his language into hers was not so easy to do.

Finally Brian started pointing to one word after another and said, "‘flow,’ ‘heat,’ ‘and,’ ‘deep,’ ‘power,’ ‘rain’—

"Rain? said Alejandro, who had come up behind them. Weird. What does that say?" He pointed up at a string of three large, orange colored words glowing along the top edge of the sheet of glass.

Brian stared at them for a moment, then explained, The first word says something like ‘journey dock.’ Then ‘control,’ then, um, ‘health.’

Sami scratched her head. Health? So ‘dock’ is like doctor.

No, not doctor. A dock is where you tie up ships and boats.

Sami screwed up her face and looked frustrated. Journey dock control health. What does THAT mean?

Alejandro looked confused, as well. But then a smile spread across his face. I get it! he said. Journey dock, it’s where you start a trip—

Or return from one, added Brian.

Yeah, exactly, said Alejandro. That’s their word for ‘transporter,’ I bet. And ‘health’ is like, you know, what shape it’s in. So it’s—and here Alejandro started pointing up at each of the words—Transporter Control Health.

Brian nodded. Yes, that is it.

Alejandro stared up at the glowing words, smiling and very proud of himself. Cool, he said.

Yes, said Brian. Cool. But then he noticed something behind Sami and Alejandro. His smile disappeared and his eyes got wider. Sami and Alejandro turned their heads to see what he was looking at. In the middle of the opposite wall there was a large, blue sheet of glass. The blue of the glass was fading. Sami could see tall shapes behind it. A moment later the glass had cleared completely. Standing behind the glass, staring at her and her two friends were three Adonaeans.

Sami, Alejandro, and Brian turned to face the Adonaeans. There were two adults—a man and a woman—and a boy (who Sami was sure was a teenager). Like Brian and his parents, these Adonaeans were tall, slender and pale. They had small ears, thin lips, and were bald. The only hair Sami could see were the dark, lovely eyelashes above and below their crescent-shaped, golden eyes. And, of course, they had four fingers on each hand, and two of those were thumbs.

Alejandro grinned. Hi! he said, and waved at them.

They did not wave back. Instead, the woman said something to them in her language. Her voice came through the glass perfectly, as though it were not there.

Sami expected Brian to answer her. But he said nothing. She looked at him. He was just staring at the Adonaeans, paralyzed. She nudged him with her elbow. What did she say?

He shook himself, as though waking up. Oh, yes. She is asking who we are.

Tell them we’re from Earth, said Sami. Except for you, of course.

Brian told them. Even from across the room, Sami could see that the three Adonaeans looked shocked at this news. They turned to each other and had a quick discussion. Sami was surprised to see that the boy was also included in the discussion. A moment later, they turned back to the children. The woman brushed her right hand down her left shoulder, causing a pattern of orange light to flash upon her arm. The glass wall dissolved, and the Adonaeans walked into the room.

Sami, Alejandro, and Brian glanced at each other, then walked over to meet the Adonaeans beside the blue glass platform.

They said something to Brian, and he explained to his friends, They want to know why we are here.

Go ahead, said Sami. Tell them.

Brian nodded, and began speaking, but slowly at first as he struggled with finding the right words. Meanwhile, Sami was looking more closely at the Adonaeans. The man looked old to her. He had dozens of little lines and wrinkles around his eyes and mouth and along his neck. His eyelids were a bit droopy, and his skin looked thinner. His face was longer than Alexi’s, and he was not as tall. The woman looked to be Shareen’s age and, like her, had graceful hands and a slender, smooth face. Her eyes seemed particularly large to Sami. Both adults wore tight-fitting pants and a shirt made from a smooth material. Even though this material was sleek, it was not shiny. It did shine, however, from the inside. Sami caught glimpses of tiny lights flashing inside the material, especially when the Adonaeans moved an arm or a leg. The man wore a kind of jacket with short sleeves over his shirt. The woman wore a sleeveless tunic over her shirt. It stretched almost to the floor and shimmered with colors. On their feet they wore flexible sandals.

The Adonaean boy had thicker arms and legs than Brian, and was Alejandro’s height, or maybe a bit taller. He wore only the spark-filled pants and a shirt. Unlike the two grownups, the boy seemed pleased that Sami and her friends had suddenly appeared. He was also obviously curious about the book Sami had stood upon during her journey. The book still lay upon the blue glass platform, and the boy’s eyes kept darting to the side to look at it.

At first Brian hesitated as he started explaining to the Adonaeans what had happened back on Earth. But soon the words were tumbling out of his mouth and he was sweeping the air with hand gestures. By watching his face and waving hands, Sami could tell that now he must be describing escaping the police during the huge food fight Alejandro had started in the school cafeteria. Now he was telling them about hiding in Mr. Sanchez’s apartment next door to Sami. Now he was describing the message he had sent to Sami on her cell phone. At this point the three Adonaeans tilted their heads to one side and stopped Brian to ask a question. He turned to Sami and asked, Sami, do you still have your cell phone?

Yeah, she answered, and pulled it out to hand to him. He, in turn, handed it to the Adonaeans. The two adults looked it over and started nodding.

Alejandro whispered to Sami, They have space transporters but no cell phones. Weird.

The adults handed the cell phone to the Adonaean boy. He flipped it open and the tiny screen lit up. He grinned and said, Oh wow.

Sami jumped when she heard this. What?!

The boy looked surprised, and said, Rats?

Sami leaned forward toward the Adonaean boy. What did you say?

Now the boy looked confused and said, Cool?

Hey, said Alejandro, they know English!

Brian shook his head. No. They— Brian glanced at the Adonaeans, then corrected himself. "—We like to learn languages. We are very good at it."

But how did he know those words? asked Sami.

Brian asked the Adonaean boy. The boy pointed to a red oval of glass on a sidewall and explained that they had been watching—and listening—to the three friends from the moment they arrived on the blue disk.

The boy handed the cell phone back to Sami, smiled, and tried one more time. Cool?

Sami smiled back at him. Cool, she agreed.

Brian went back to describing his escape from Earth. Sami saw him tell about the fight between Mr. Sanchez and Mr. Sombra, and about the chase and narrow escape in Water World. Finally, he was pointing at the transporter platform, and she could see that he was explaining how they figured out how to use the scanner in Alexi’s office.

The Adonaeans looked at each other for a moment, then the man asked Brian something. Brian looked sad. As he answered he formed the shapes of boxes with his hands. A wave of shock and anger rippled through the Adonaeans. Sami realized that Brian must be telling them about his parents and the rest of their people being put into jails. Brian’s eyes filled with tears. The man and woman stepped over to him and wrapped him in their arms to comfort him. The boy stared at the floor, sad and still. Then he looked at Sami and said, Rats?

Sami nodded. Rats.

The blue glass doorway hummed. Everyone turned to look as it became partially transparent. Sami could see two human beings now standing on the other side, and made an exaggerated face of surprise at Alejandro. But Brian seemed suddenly nervous. He left the Adonae elders and scooted back to stand beside Sami and Alejandro.

The woman nodded to the boy, who brushed his right hand down his left shoulder. The pattern of orange light flashed upon his arm and the glass door disappeared. As soon as the two people entered the room, Sami realized that she had been mistaken. They were not human beings; they were different aliens.

Both were men, big and broad-shouldered. Each of them wore a colorful Adonaean vest. But beneath that they were dressed in long shirts with sleeves that came only to their elbows. The shirts were made of a very soft, reddish leather and decorated with symbols. Instead of pants they wore skirts made of the same leather. (The skirts reminded Sami of a postcard on Mr. Sanchez’s wall that showed men in Scotland wearing kilts.) On their feet they wore the Adonae sandals.

The taller alien stepped through the doorway, and then the other bent his head slightly and followed closely behind. Sami guessed that the bigger man must be the boss. At first glance they looked a lot like human beings. But their arms and legs had large muscles and looked very powerful. The thick, black hair on their heads was tied into a knot at the back of their necks. Sami’s gaze was drawn to their swaying hands. As the two aliens drew closer she saw that their hands were shaped like hers, but that each finger and thumb had an extra joint, making them very long. Their skin was the brown of milk chocolate, much like Alejandro's. But in places it was blotched with darker patches (Sami was reminded of burnt toast), and running through their skin were fine threads of green. At first she had thought that their dark brown eyes were like hers. But when the two aliens finally came to halt beside the Adonae and looked down at her, Sami jumped. Their eyes were like those of a cat, with pupils that came to points at the top and bottom.

Sami could see those pupils become narrow slits as the alien boss glared down at her