Safe in the village, the boys and I carefully partook of our first ever real meal. Escort Sue assisted us, making sure we did not overdo this necessary activity.

Sue: “Sorry, but what’s your full name again?”

Me: “Phil Summers.”

Sue: “That’s a positive name!”

Suddenly the door swung open and leader Jim leaned in.

Jim: “We made it! Got someone for you to meet.”

Without further ado Jim ushered in… my family, some of them supposedly dead! Needless to say, what followed was a mayhem of hugs, kisses and tears.

“Out, all of you, NOW!” came the shout from the doorway.

Everyone turned in silence to see a group of soldiers, or rather renegades, armed with rifles.

Jim: “Who the hell are you? Don’t tell me the Sligs use humans now!”

Leader: “Don’t be stupid! I’m Bob Storer. We are The Resistance. You’ve got a whole fleet of Slig ‘copters heading this way. If you value your freedom you’d better get your arses out of here!”

Jim nodded, and they were all ushered outside. Sure enough there were Slig helicopters closing in on them. But directly up above was something that looked like a giant spaceship. The whole population were being transported up escalators into their only means of escape. Within minutes they were all on board and ordered to lie flat on the floor.

Bob: “Okay everyone. We are going straight into hyperspace. Don’t worry. It’ll feel weird but no harm will come to you.”

It felt weird all right. Very strange. But, as they told us, that “jump” took us twenty light years from danger, to a planet-sized moon called “Odin”. Wonder where that name came from! However, more serious matters had to be addressed before we could talk at length. Alarms were blaring and warning lights flashing everywhere!

One by one we were whisked into the medical facility and anaesthetised. Me included. Apparently we were each under for about fifteen minutes.

Me (to a medical assistant): “What have you done to me?”

Assistant: “Nothing to worry about. The Sligs put tracking devices into every one of you.”

Me: “Ah. No wonder it was easy for us to escape. Do you think it was a trap?”

Assistant: “Sure was. Good thing we had your backs!”

Me: “Hey?”

Assistant: “We have been monitoring your village for years. Those Slig bastards were bound to find you some time.”

Before I could say it wasn’t MY village, I was whisked away. Only when everyone was processed did the alarms come to a merciful stop.

Soon we were all on shuttlecraft to “Sanctuary”, a major base on Odin. To be honest it reminded me of “Forthaven”, the base on planet “Carpathia”, on the “Outcasts” science fiction television series. Odin was an Earthlike planet. Or rather, Odin was similar to our homeworld, Muddra.

Sanctuary looked very functional yet also futuristic. It was a bustling little town, nestled amongst some magnificent snow-capped mountains. There was a shock in store for us however.

As we disembarked we were met by a crowd of welcomers. But they were not all human! Dotted amongst that crowd were many “Greys”! They were real! The Greys were our allies! Furthermore there were “representatives” from a handful of other extra-terrestrial (if that was the right term) species. For we were partners in an interstellar alliance against the evil Sligs.

In due course I was making myself comfortable in my own flat or apartment, in this new town (to me) called Sanctuary, on a new world called Odin. Thus my family and I began our new lives. With a new purpose: to defeat The Sligs and free Mankind.

Paul Butters