Chapter 32 : Life on Todor
The first three months of pilot training were incredibly boring. Elliot had anticipated edge of the seat excitement, a day filled with thrilling simulators and maybe even jet fighter combat. Instead all he got were six hours of lectures a day and about a further three hours of homework. He also learned that the first four years of pilot training didn’t involve simulators. It would be 100% academic. Every now and then Elliot would find himself drifting off until Abargaby, one of his classmates would poke him in the ribs. There was also no pranking, no fart cushions, no throwing paper aeroplanes or no pulling faces. Elliot never thought he’d miss someone putting tick tacks on his seat so much. There was absolutely nothing to talk about that was interesting. Most conversations he had with classmates revolved around the subjects they were taking. Elliot didn’t want to know so much about what made space craft tick, he just wanted to pilot one.
Even when he met Sylvia there was little to say about his day that was exciting. In any case, she didn’t want to know. The more he talked about Flight School to Sylvia, the more he found himself inclined to drift off.
On Earth, there were as many charismatic and interesting lecturers as there were dull and boring ones. On the Kylot occupied planet none of the lecturers cracked jokes but they did know what they were talking about. He noticed that some Kylots found employment by driving buggies that hovered six inches above the ground. He considered it as an alternative but was afraid that he’d have to go to school for ten years for that too. Besides, it was probably boring. It involved ferrying around old Kylots who weren’t inclined to walk short distances.
There were several times when Elliot considered quitting. There were probably far more interesting things to do after all, but every time he considered it, he told himself that if he got to be a pilot one day, it would be worth it.
Abargaby was one of the few students Elliot knew who also hoped for something exciting to happen. He scoffed at some of the lectures he had to sit through as well, such as how to read a fuel gauge, a lecture that took three hours and was quite repetitive. The safety classes were also quite repetitive. Granted, they were important, but they occupied the bulk of classes for the first three months and beyond.
“I’m thinking of dropping out,” Abargaby said to Elliot at lunch time after more than three months of classes. “My parents won’t really care anyway.”
The first thing that raced through Elliot’s mind was what was he going to do if, Abargaby left. He was by far the most interesting of Elliot’s fellow students. Abargaby was the son of a Kylot Father and an Aspurgen Mother. No matter how many times the half Kylot, explained his background Elliot always failed to remember exactly where Aspurgia was. Once it was somewhere outside the Milky Way, Elliot was lost.
They were seated in a canteen at lunch break. It was the flight school canteen and was half the size of the other one that Elliot frequented. Unlike the canteen in high school, there was no graffiti or engravings on tables, desks or chairs. When it came to flight school almost all of these student’s were disciplined and motivated. Worse still, the Dukateca on the menu was just as unappealing as in the other canteen.
“You can’t go,” the earthling retorted. “What will I do? Besides, what will you do?
“I don’t know,” the young Kylot replied in a bewildered manner. “I haven’t given it a lot of thought.”
Abaragaby looked like a Kylot for the most part, apart from two tentacles protruding from his head. He was for the most part green, with reptilian like skin. The tentacles could reach up to two feet in length. The end of these tentacles was flower shaped. Like many Kylots Abaragaby could change shape but not for as long as most Kylots.
“Well, maybe you should. Think about it I mean,” Elliot replied as if Abaragaby was his last and only hope for sanity on this planet. “At least with the pilot gig, there is a carrot at the end of the stick. If you do nothing for the rest of your life, you’ll probably end up bored to death and without any skills when you need them.”
“I am already bored to death. Besides, I met a girl in the underworld last night. I believe she could be the one.”
The underworld was dangerous to humans and even Kylot’s to a lesser degree. Almost all the individuals Elliot had spoken to warned him not to go there. It did however seem a lot more interesting than the rest of the enormous Kylot space station.
“Is she a Kylot?” Elliot asked
“No. She’s Ulvarean. She was seventy-two in human years but Ulvareans can live to one hundred and sixty.”
There weren’t many Ulvarean’s in the universe as far as Elliot was aware. He was told that they numbered less than one million, including on their own planet. Ulvareans were generally five foot six inches tall. They were famous for being able to handle themselves. Because they were small in number they were trained if various ways of combat from an early age. The vast majority of them were supposed to be extremely lean and fit.
“Is she attractive?” Elliot asked. Like any shallow male, physical attraction was the most important thing in a relationship
“Of course she is,” Abaragaby replied in and irritated manner.” She’s the most attractive Ulvarean I’ve ever seen.”
“That’ not saying much,” Elliot quipped. “How many Ulvarean’s have you seen?”
“Five maybe.”
“If you only met her once you probably know very little about her. She could be dangerous. Or she might only see you as a one night stand.”
In truth, Elliot felt as if the Ulvarean was using gravitational force to pull Abaragaby away from flight school.
“Nobody sees Abaragaby as a one night stand.”
Elliot wasn’t convinced. As far as he was aware this was the first time Abaragaby had mentioned the opposite sex. More importantly he didn’t want to lose one of his closer friends to a manipulative Ulvarean. He was however intrigued by the Underworld. He had had heard little about it except for people warning him not to go there.
“What is the Underworld like?” the earthling asked.
“It’s filled with creatures from around the universe. The clientele there seem to party all day long. They come in all shapes and sizes. It’s dangerous because there are no police there. Sometimes there are fights, some of which can be fatal. The Kylots are torn as to whether they should dismantle it. They are afraid that it might only take one customer to inform the Kylots about the space station. It hasn’t happened yet though.”
“Did anyone threaten you or fight you?” Elliot asked out of curiosity.
“No. They’d be afraid of me,” the half Kylot replied proudly as he caressed his tiny muscles. “Nobody messes with the Abaragaby.”
Again Elliot wasn’t impressed.
“I’d like to go there some day,” the human responded. “Sometimes Todor just seems a trifle dull.”
“You wouldn’t survive in the underworld for more than five seconds,” Abaragaby replied dismissively.
“I can handle myself,” Elliot replied in a manner that suggested, if Abaragaby can survive so can I.
“You might be able to handle yourself, but can you handle an eight foot Asalton. They’re as wide as they are tall and they like a drink or two. If they get enough drink into them they’ll pick fights with everyone and anyone.”
Suddenly, Elliot’s confidence in his ability to look after himself diminished. Even Derren Blanchflower wasn’t eight foot tall. Maybe the likes of Averneen and Calum were right. He shouldn’t let curiosity get the better of him.
“So are you meeting her again?” Elliot asked
“Of course I am,” the flight school dropout said with great assurance. “She just doesn’t know it yet. I’m sure she’ll be there in the same place for some more Abaragaby time. Once she’s hooked she won’t be able to resist. She’ll come back for more.”
Elliot had heard tall stories being told before, particularly among teenage boys and Abaragaby unlike most Kylots appeared to have a similar inclination.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Elliot replied. “You wouldn’t want to drop out of flight school for an Ulvarean who doesn’t want you and when you re-enlist you find that you will have to retake the entire year.”
“Do I sense an amount of scepticism my earthling friend,” his half Aspurgen companion replied with confidence. “You’ll see.”
Elliot didn’t say anything. He thought that a little ego bashing wouldn’t do Abaragaby much harm. If tonight Abaragaby was left disappointed, it might make him reconsider his intention to quit flight school.
One evening at dinnertime Elliot entered the main canteen. It didn’t take him long to notice that sitting beside Sylvia was a tall dark-haired young man. Elliot was curious. Up to now, Sylvia had shown little interest in the other males on the space station, although this was understandable considering she didn’t know many Earthlings there.
Elliot sat down two spaces to the left of Sylvia even though the chair in between them did not appear to be taken. The adolescent tried to make it appear that he hadn’t noticed the stranger there.
“Elliot,” Elisa addressed him, “this is Umthal. He’s a Kylot.”
“Oh, sorry I didn’t see you there,” the earthling responded as they made eye contact. “pleased to meet you.”
Sylvia failed to turn her head but looked to be content. Indeed, Elliot thought that up to this point she had not appeared to be happy at all.
“Don’t you think, that Umthal looks exactly like a young Cary Grant?” Elisa asked Elliot.
“Who is Cary Grant?” Elliot responded in an attempt to appear as though he had never heard of the once famous actor.
“You know that actor who was in a lot of famous movies in the thirties, forties and fifties,” Sergei informed him.
“Oh sorry Umthal,” Elliot replied as if he was still puzzled. “I hadn’t noticed. I never watched that many black and white films.”
“That’s ok, Elliot,” Umthal responded. “Sylvia was telling me that you look like Pee Wee Herman, but I didn’t know who Pee Wee Herman was either.”
“Neither do I, Umthal,” Elliot answered in attempt to compose himself, “neither do I.”
“Is that all that Sylvia said about me?” Elliot replied after a brief pause.
“To be honest, yes,” the Kylot responded.
Elliot paused once again to rebuild his battered ego.
“Umthal has showed me around the space station,” Sylvia spoke finally. “As well as being tall, strong and handsome he’s also quite the gentleman. He’s perfect. I’d say at this stage there isn’t a part of the space station that I don’t know about.”
Elliot was perplexed. He didn’t know how he could compete with the Kylot. Suddenly he felt as thought every part of his body was inadequate. His nose was too pointy, his ears were too big and he was small with barely an ounce of muscle in his entire body. Maybe, he should just throw in the towel now and accept defeat.
The young male earthling stared into his bowl of Dukateca. Suddenly his outlook on life had changed. He disliked Dukateca but now he disliked it even more. His main motivation for becoming a spacecraft pilot was so that he could bring Sylvia anywhere in the Universe, but that goal seemed quite distant and unattainable at this moment.
The adolescent didn’t want to eat his food, particularly when a few spaces away, Umthal and Sylvia had started kissing and moving their hands around each other. In the end, the teenager ate a portion of his meal and walked out of the canteen.
The following morning Elliot was on his way back from breakfast, when he noticed a female Kylot sitting by herself in the canteen. Elliot did not know how attractive she was to other Kylots. Her reptilian like skin was predominantly blue in colour with purple streaks and she had large mainly yellow eyes. The thought occurred to him that maybe he could strike up a relationship with her and get her to transform into Rita Hayworth. A part of Elliot told himself that this was wrong but it was in the minority.
“Hello there,” he said standing over the six foot tall Kylot who was seated and still had a quarter portion of Dukateca left in her bowl.
“Hello,” she responded timidly.
“Do you mind if I join you?” Elliot said as he grabbed a chair and didn’t wait for a response.
Once again, the female Kylot, muttered something in a weak manner.
“My name is Elliot. I’m an Earthling. What is your name?”
“Sheba,” The Kylot responded
“Are you busy Sheba?” the human responded with as much charm as he could muster.
“No. I don’t do anything most of the time except watch the monitor in my room most days. Sometimes I help my friend who takes care of the older and less mobile Kylots. In the earth world I believe you call it a nursing home.”
“Do you enjoy doing that?” Elliot asked. He really didn’t care. He just wanted to keep the conversation flowing and do as much as he could to impress her.
“Why yes,” Sheba replied with a hint of a smile, “its very rewarding.”
“Back on Earth I used to spend my weekends looking after old folks,” Elliot lied. “There were loads of the old critters that I helped across streets and saved from getting mugged.”
“Why, you don’t look very brave and strong,” the young Kylot observed as she looked him up and down.
Even Elliot had to admit that Sheba was much taller, broader and heavier that he was. He didn’t even know for sure if the relationship would be workable even if she did look like Rita Hayworth.
“Well muggers on Earth are usually weak-willed if you stand up to them. Besides, appearances can be deceptive,” the earthling replied. “Are you planning on doing anything at the moment?”
“I have three hours to spare.”
“What is it you enjoy most watching on the monitor?”
“I love the movies from Andapata.”
Elliot had seen some of these before but wasn’t impressed.
“Perhaps, we could watch one in my room,” he suggested as he reached out a hand and placed his fingers on her tough skin. “We could get comfortable and you could transform into Rita Hayworth. There’s nothing I’d like to do more”
“Rita Hayworth?” Sheba reacted in an appalled manner. “Is that what you take me for? You think I’m easy, you swine.”
Elliot became conscious that as Sheba spoke, her voice became louder and angrier. He had to calm her down.
“It isn’t like that,” he responded.
“Oh no of course you are correct. You just want me to reconstruct my entire face and body to make myself more appealing to you. I’m not remotely good enough for you and you want me to be someone else entirely. Am I right?”
Sheba tried to turn her body as much away from Elliot as she could, without adjusting her chair.
“Well, eh,” Elliot said, hesitantly.
“You’re a filthy filthy being,” the female Kylot declared in an emotional and bitterly disappointed manner.
The more Elliot thought about it the more he started to see things from Sheba’s point of view. How was Sylvia able to do it while he came out looking like a sexist philistine? His best course of action was to extrapolate himself from his current predicament without causing further embarrassment.
It was at this point that an eight foot tall male Kylot approached. Elliot had never seen so much muscle on a Kylot before.
“Is this man bothering you, Sheba?” the monstrosity asked.
“He wanted me to turn into Rita Hayworth,” the female Kylot responded as she made no effort to hide her dejection.
“Rita Hayworth eh?” the male Kylot replied in an irritated mood. “He’s the fifth one this year. What’s wrong with all those earthling pigs.”
“I really am sorry. I do apologise,” Elliot responded as he stood up from his chair and attempted to back away. All the time he was wary of the powerfully built Kylot, scowling at him.
“What do you want me to do with him, Sheba?” the large and powerful Kylot asked. “Should I teach him a lesson?”
Elliot went pale at the suggestion. This whole situation was giving him indigestion as it was.
“No, Cassius,” Sheba replied with a hint of bitterness. “He’s too nasty and shallow to waste your precious time on. He probably goes to bed at night dreaming about himself. He’s such a low life.”
Elliot wasn’t sure whether he was more relieved at these comments or more insulted by them but was grateful to escape with his teeth intact. He slowly and cautiously walked by Cassius who sneered at him as he did so. The young earthling could not understand how it could have worked out so well for Sylvia but so badly for him.