After about an hour or so of flying, we finally went down to the surface of the planet. We descended through the sand colored thin upper atmosphere, and as I looked out the window panel, I saw that the planet was flat, and covered with sand as far as the eye could see. But in some areas there were deep valleys and canyons. And deep within some of the canyons were rivers. Also, there was a few scattered craters. In some of those craters were small lakes. The vegetation was sparse and scruffy in areas where there was no water, and grew more lush near the rivers and lakes. There were no trees on the planet mostly grass brushes and low laying plants.

We landed in a small clearing in one of the craters. There was mostly tall grass here and no bushes.

The large orange-yellow colored sun was going down when the four of us stepped off the ship.

"I thought there was a sentient species on the planet," Tah said as he walked on the grass.

"There is," Yobah said. "Unless the computer made an error."

"They might be shy," I added.

"Until we find someone, the best thing to do is to look around," Sharah said. "Besides, we are a scout ship and this is an undiscovered planet."

I looked around at the tall golden colored grass. I could hear the strange noises of the creatures of the night coming out. It sounded like a cross between a cricket and a bullfrog.

I backed away from the grass that was the same height as I was. "I hope there is no dangerous creatures on this world," I said.

"I don't think so young one," Tah said. "The sensors didn't detect many lifeforms."

"Where are these sentient species?" Sharah asked a little impatient.

"Don't worry," Tah said. "They must of saw us land. All we have to do is wait, and soon we will get a chance to meet one."

Suddenly, I saw something moving, fast, through the tall grass.

"Very soon, I think."

As we stood there four members of the sentient species of this planet came out of the tall grass.

They were about three feet tall, and had pebbled skin that were same color as the grass. They were thin and skinny. They look like snakes with thin arms and legs. They also had long snake-like necks that ended in a pointy snake-like head. They had long powerful bent back legs that ended in sharp hawk-like feet. They had long tails. The claws that were at the end of their small four fingered hands were large, hooked, and dangerous. They had nothing on but a brown loin cloth and a dark belt. Attached to their belts was a small gun-like weapon.

"Whoa," Yobah said. "They look a little bit dangerous don't you think?"

One of the snakes-on-legs begin to speak. All I heard was gibberish high pitched hissing sounds.

"What?" I said baffled. "How are we going to-"

Before I could Finish, Tah handed me a small white oral thing.

"A universal translator," Tah said answering my question. "We all got a translator chip implanted in our heads. But here is a ear piece version. Where it behind your ear."

And I did. After the creature said a few more words, I started to understand what he was saying.

And what he was saying was not very welcoming.

"Get out," The creature said. "Weeeh don't want outssssidersss here."

"Not very friendly, are they?" Yobah said.

Tah stepped forward, trying to be diplomatic.

"We are Sarfnars," Tah said. "My name is Tah-Chron-Tak, and this is my brother Yobah-Chron-Tak and my sister Sharah-Chron-Tak. And this Chante, a human. We ran into a little trouble, and our ship's anti-space hyperdrive engines were damaged. We landed here looking for help. Can you help us repair our ship?"

"We are the Razar," The snake-like creature said. "I am Ras, and we know all about you Sarnfnars. And we don't want to get involved with your war. So leave."

"How do you know about us?" Tah asked. "And we don't know about you?"

"Of courssse you don't," Ras said. "And weeh don't want you to know. That's why we blocked your ssssensorssss. We moved our world underground. We want our enemiessss to think we are extinct."

"What enemies?" Tah asked.

Ras turned around and started to leave.

That did it. Ras attitude was getting to me. Without thinking, I grabbed him. Yeah, an eight year old earth girl grabbing a dangerously clawed, snaky alien.

I had my hand firmly around his long neck.

"AAHHHsSSSSS!" Ras cried. The remaining Razars turned to stare.

"Chante, what are you doing??!!" Tah demanded. "We don't want to get in a fight with these creatures!"

"Great a fight," Yobah said getting in a fighting stance with his eyed glowing. "I haven't have one in a while"

"Yobah!" Sharah said sharply, "there will be no fighting!"

But little did we knew, the Razar was cowards towards anyone larger than them. And it happened to be the fact that we were all bigger than they were.

"What are you doing???!" Ras whimpered. "We just asssked you to leave!"

"You just don't walk away from somebody who is talking to you!" I said. "You want us out your hair, fine. But just answer our questions. The sooner you talk, the sooner we'll be out of here."

The other Razar looked like they was going to try something but they didn't they kept their distance, looking afraid.

Ras gave me a poisonous look with his glittering snake-like eyes. I almost considered putting him down. But I didn't. "You will ruin everything. I will not help you."

In a flash, Sharah took Ras from my hands, and glared at him with glowing eyes. "Look, we are in a hurry. We could do this the hard way or the easy way."

I looked at Sharah shocked. I never seen her like this before. But Ras was starting to get all of us ticked off. But I think that Ras was starting to get the message.

"Everything will fail now." He muttered. "Our world will be destroyed again!"

Then suddenly we heard a loud booming hissing noise.

And we saw a hundred pair of snake-like eyes glittering through the tall grass.

"Why do I suddenly have this feeling that we been tricked?" I said.

Over a hundred Razars jumped out of the tall grass and attacked us. They bounded out of the tall grass like mad grasshoppers and struck.

"Arrr!" Tah roared as a Razer struck him with his clawed feet. "This was just a trick!! Ras was just stalling us until he had enough of his people to attack us!"

As Tah was saying all this we were getting hammered. Two of the Razars leaped at Yobah. Yobah roared and swung his clawed hand with all his might. He lucky caught one of them across the neck. He collapsed.

Sharah wasn't doing much better. She grabbed one of the Razer as he was in mid-air. And she ranked his neck with all her might. But at the same time, another Razer managed to slice her wing.

"OWWWWWWROawwww!" Sharah bellowed in pain.

"Sharah!" I cried out.

While I was distracted, a Razar leaped at me.

"AHHHHHH!" I screamed.

Before the Razar could get me, Tah grabbed, and threw him into a group of other Razar that was about to attack. They fell to the ground like bowling pins.

The Razar was leaping at us one after another. And there was no sign of them stopping no time soon. That's when we realized our mistake.

The Razar wasn't really strong by themselves. But if they attack together they can be very deadly. A hundred pairs of sharp claws attacking you can become deadly after a while.

"Brother we are being overwhelmed!" Yobah said. "We must flee!"

"We can't leave our ship!" Tah roared out as he shielded me with his wing from an attacking Razer who crashed into his wing and slid off.

I admired Tah. but sometimes he could be so stubborn.

"FORGET the stupid ship!!!" I cried out. "Let's get out of here!!!"

And after that, Tah scooped me up in his arms and ran, as Yobah and Sharah followed, with the Razar right behind us.

And by the way, they were pretty fast too.

"Take to the air!" Tah called out. "They can't follow us there!"

Tah then took three bounding steps and jumped in the air and flapped his massive wings. After a few powerful flaps his was airborne. Sharah and Yobah followed.

I looked down and saw the Razer down on the ground feeling relieved that we survived.

After flying for several hours, through the darkness, We finally landed on the ground. We touched down in a small clearing outside a endless field of tall grass. Grass that was taller than I was. I looked up and noticed that the sky was getting lighter. we must of been flying through out the night.

"What do we do now?" I asked after a long time.

"I don't know," Tah said. "But we have to get back to our ship."

"And how are we suppose to do that?" Yobah asked. "Those Razars are still back there! Besides, we might not make it before-"

"I have an idea!" I yelled out suddenly cutting Yobah off. "You guys are faster in the air then those Razars. And they might be still looking for us. We go back to the ship and then handle things from there."

"It's a good plan young one," Tah said as he was looking up at the sky. "And we don't have no other-"

SSSEEEEEEEEEWWWWWW!

There was a flash of blue light.

That flash of light hit part of the grass, burning a round hole through it.

"The Razar!" Tah called out. "They pursue us still! Into the grass quickly!"

Tah scooped me up again, and everyone ran into the tall grass, that was just as tall as Tah.

SSSSEEEEEEWWWW!

The Razar fired their weapons as we ran through the grass. It was getting harder for Tah to move through the tall grass because they was starting to become more clustered together. It was like walking through a field of corn.

"I can barely see!" Sharah said from somewhere in the grass.

"Keep going!" Tah said. "If we can't see, the Razar can't see either!"

"And how do we know that?" Yobah said. "Those Razar are just filled with nasty surpises."

Then suddenly, the grass started to get shorter. They were still tall, but short enough for me to now see Sharah and Yobah.

"There's a clearing up a head!" Yobah said. "We can-"

SSSSSEEEEEEW!

The Razar fired again now, able to see us. Everyone ran forward, towards the clearing.

"AAAAhhhh!" Tah yelped.

Tah fell, dropping me. No one saw the sloping ground ahead. We all fell, hitting the ground. I got a mouth full of sand.

"Puh,Pah!" I said spitting out the sand, and dusting myself off.

"Is everyone alright?" Sharah said getting up.

"Barely," Yobah said getting up.

Tah held his hands up to his ears and listened.

"I don't hear anymore lazer fire," Tah said. "I think we lost them."

"Let's make sure," I said as I stepped on a boulder for height to look over the edge of the slope.

I saw the Razar coming out of the tall grass, scanning the area with their gun-like weapons.

"Tah we have to leave," I said turning around "The Razar are-"

When I turned around, and stopped, with my mouth wide open.

Standing there was Tah, Sharah, and Yobah.

As statues.

"Oh no," I said jumping down from the boulder. "Tah,Tah!"

Tah did not move. He was frozen petrified in stone.

I looked up at the sun in the sky. We were so busy fleeing that nobody noticed that it was dawn.

Tah never told me that Sarfnars turned to stone in sunlight.

I didn't have time figure out what happened to Tah, Sharah, and Yobah. All I knew that if the Razar found them in this state...

I jumped on the boulder and climbed up over the slope. I ran out in the open where the Razar could see me.

All the Razars twisted their long snake-like necks. In the middle of the pack, of Razars was Ras.

"Get her!" Ras cried out.

What did I just do? I thought as I saw the pack of Razars looking at me.

For a brief second, we all just stood there looking at each other.

Then I ran.

I ran with the Razars bounding after me, feeling very stupid for being so brave. I knew it wasn't long before the Razars caught me. Already I was running out of breath. I felt weak, pessimism was setting in. I could just see my future, being ripped a part by a hundred Razars.

But then my instinct for survival kicked in.

I couldn't die, I thought, Tah life depends on it.

Then suddenly I had an answer.

I ran into the tall grass. I ran as deep into the grass as I could. And then I stopped moving. I crouched down and sat there, still.

"SSssshe issss in here ssssome where," I heard Ras said. "Sssspread out."

As I sat there, through the thick grass, I saw a pair of reptile feet, coming towards me.

Closer...

Closer...

Closer still...

Got you!! I thought as I grabbed the Razar's feet, tripping him.

"AAAHHH!" The Razar yelped as he fell.

Before the Razar could do anything, I grabbed him by the neck, with one hand, and took his weapon with the other.

With another quick motion, I pistol whipped the Razar with the gun-like weapon. He was knocked out cold.

"I heard a noisssse!" I heard a Razar say. "Thisss way!"

From the loudness of his voice he wasn't very far away. I could hear several Razar walking through the grass.

Still crouching low, I took the gun-like weapon and aimed.

SSSSSSEWWWW!

A flash of blue light came out. The recoil nearly knocked me off my feet.

"RRrrrraaaarrrgghhh!" A Razar screamed.

Trash! Trash! Trash! Trash!

I heard the sound of approaching Razar running through the tall grass, coming towards me from all directions.

I took the gun-like weapon and fired in all directions in a wild circle.

SSSEEEWWW! SSSEEEWWW! SSSEEEWWW! SSSEEEWWW!

In between the shots I heard Razars bellowing in pain.

For a while I stood there shooting in all directions, keeping the Razars away. But I knew that I couldn't stay there forever. And after awhile I didn't hear anymore screaming. The Razars must of fell back.

I stopped firing and ran.

WHUMPF!

I slammed into something that cried out, "ARRR!"

A Razar and I was on the ground. The Razar was beside me. I took my weapon, and bashed it into the Razar's head. I got up and ran through the grass again.

After a few moments I was back outside the grass, in the clearing.

There was a dozen Razar there waiting for me.

And then I realized my mistake.

"Get her!" A Razar said. I realized that Ras wasn't with them.

There was no time to celebrate. I ran.

I looked back with the Razar in hot pursue. Not looking where I was going, I felt my foot drop.

Suddenly I was falling, rolling, and sliding in the dirt.

I forgot about that slope, I though as spinning and rolling down like a wheel. The slope was deeper here.

I rolled fell for what seemed like forever. Then I bumped my head hard against something.

The last thing I saw was a bright flash.

I woke up.

I was lying on my side in the dirt.

I looked up. It was late in the afternoon.

I sat up. Every muscle in my body ached. Spat out the dirt in my mouth, and wiped my face. I looked around. Somehow I escaped the Razar.

I scratched my head trying to remember.

Tah!

I have to go back and find him. I hope my plan to distract the Razar worked.

I hope.

I looked up and noticed for the first time how high I fell. I knew I wasn't going to climb up the slope no time soon. But I realized that I didn't have to. All I had to do was to go back in the same direction I came from and I would find Tah and the others.

I got up, and walked wearily in the direction I thought Tah was. As I walked I noticed that the slope became lower and lower. Now I knew that I was going in the right direction.

Then I saw that familiar boulder I climbed up on earlier. And then I knew that this was the spot.

I looked around. I saw no sign of Tah, Sharah, and Yobah anywhere.

My heart sink.

Then I looked down. I saw tracks in the sandy dirt.

I saw the impressions in the dirt where Tah, Sharah, and Yobah was standing. Then I saw drag marks near the impressions. Next to the drag marks were a dozen pairs of three toed tracks.

"The Razar!" I said. "They must of taken them away!"

"What am I supposed to do now?" I asked the sky.

Just follow the tracks, my brain told me.

I sighed. There was no other choice. Besides, Who ever took Tah and the others didn't destroy them. If they did...

I didn't want to think about that. I started to follow the drag marks in the dirt.

As I walked I tried to come up with a plan. I knew that the Razars had Tah. I also knew that I couldn't fight a dozen Razars at once. I needed a way to fight them without getting myself killed in the process.

That's when a hole simply appeared in the ground.

"Aaaaaahhhh!"

I fell down in the hole. I slid down the hole. It was like some wild water ride only without the water. Down, down, down, I fell into the ground. And then I slid to a halt.

I got up.

It was dark, but it wasn't the darkness I expected. There was enough light to see once my eyes adjusted.

I was in a huge underground cavern.

I looked around. It was like some underground village. Carved horizontally into the very walls of the cavern was scoops. The scoops were covered with a brick-like wall made from the rocky caverns that had windows and doors in them. Also there was walkways, arches, and open spaces cut into the wall of the cavern all connected vertically by stone stairways.

Several hundred feet below was the cavern floor. In the center of the cavern was a house sized, sliver metal dome. On top of the dome was this glowing white, round thing.

And then I saw them then. My eyes fully adjusted and I saw Razars! Hundreds...no, Thousands! They was walking this place and that. They seemed to be busy.

They had to see me by now. A thousand pairs of snake eyes were on me.

But they didn't attack. Most of them began to walk past me like I wasn't there. But several of the Razars walked up to me.

I stepped back.

"Don't be afraid," One of the Razars said. "You were expected. Come with us."

"Huh?" I said confused. "'Expected?'"

But as I followed the Razars, up one of the stone stairways, and into one of scoops.

And then I gasped. Standing there, still in one piece was Tah, Sharah, and Yobah, still in stone.

"You saved them," I said. "But why?"

Before The Razar could answer my question, the stone forms of Tah, Sharah, and Yobah begin to crack.

Tah, Sharah, and Yobah broke from their stone form with a series of yawns and roars.

"Tah, your okay!" I said as I ran up to him. "I thought something happened to you!"

"I'm sorry that I didn't tell you that we turn to stone in sunlight," Tah said. "We didn't know how this planet would-" Then Tah paused and looked around. Then he saw the Razar.

Tah started to growl as his eyes glowed white.

"Tah no!" I said grabbing his arm before he could attack. "He saved you from the Razars that might of smashed you if I didn't distract them."

Then I told Tah the whole story. Everything.

"You risked you life to protect us?" Tah said awed. "You could of be killed!"

"I know," I said. "I had to pay you back from saving me so many times."

Then Yobah raised up one taloned finger. "I would like to know what is going on here?" He asked, "First you people tried to kill us and now you saved us. Why?"

The Razar sighed. "Thosse were our land bound cuisins," The Razar said. "My name is Arkon. I will show you what you need to know."

Arkon took us to another room. At first it seemed like another hole in the wall. But Arkon touched a gray pad set in the wall.

The wall opened, leading to another room.

In the room was a large eight foot tall screen. Under the screen was a large wide computer console, covered with dust. It looked like it was a long time since anyone been in there.

Arkon went to the console and stepped up to computer console and pressed several of the dusty buttons. The large screen lit up.

It showed a lush green and blue planet in orbit around a yellow sun.

That was seven thoussand yearss ago," Arkon said.

The screen then showed a huge black ship coming towards the planet.

"For the firsst time, we had vistors," Arkon explained. "At first they were peaceful. They trained us, gave us technology we didn't know that existed. But then something happened. Some of our people begin to change. They became violent and deadly. They grew these sharp claws. They started to kill their own people."

We all then looked at Arkon he looked very different from the regular Razars that we had seen. He had smaller duller claws. His skin was smooth, and not pebbled, like the other Razar. But he still had those powerful bent legs.

"Then suddenly, the vistorsss who was once peaceful wanted to destroy us. Sssome of our people that changed allied themselvesss with the vistorsss. And then..."

On the screen we saw Razars fighting and killing each other.

"We knew that the only way to destroy the visstors was to attack their ship directly. But we wasn't advanced in spaceflight. But we was good at nuclear science. Many of our people were against the idea but it had to be done. The vistors were destroying our world."

On the screen we saw several large explosions. It was like a billion pounds of TNT going off at once. Even through it wasn't real, the light was blinding. The explosion threw red hot debris outward. The heat from the blast superheated the air causing it to burst in flames. A red-hot ball of flame went around the planet. The water from the oceans boiled, and evaporated. Trees exploded into flame. Razors burned and blackened before they even knew what happened. Rocks exploded and melted. The whole planet seemed to shudder.

But after a while the flame burnt out. Smoke, and dust soon covered the planet. After the smoke settled, and cleared, the planet was changed. Craters covered the planet from the explosions. Huge cracks formed a belt of canyons around the planet. The water from the former oceans were reduced to large lakes.

"So your people created a nuclear explosion???!!!" Sharah demanded. "Why?"

Arkon explained. "We wanted the vistors to think that we were destroyed in a explosion caused by their allies. But we wasn't destroyed. We hid underground for many years. When we were sure that the visitors were gone, we came out. We paid a price of our freedom. The explosion knocked our planet out of it's orbit, bringing it closer to our sun, causing it to become the desert you see today. It was hard for us to survive. Over time we had fights and disagreements. But we agreed on one thing, to never trust outsiders again. We wanted anyone that comes near our planet to think that it was inhabitable. So we stayed underground and build our cities. Hoping to hide. We built scanners to monitor space for any approaching spacecraft. We also built scramblers to scramble any sensors."

"So that was the cause of the atmospheric interference," Yobah said. "You didn't want us to find you."

"So if you wanted nothing to do with outsiders, why did you help us?" I asked.

"Unlike our cousins, we knew that all outsiders weren't bad. But we didn't want to take that chance," Arkon said. "When we scanned your ship, we knew that you had problems, and you were here by accident."

"While your cousins, wanted to kill us," Yobah added.

"You can't hide forever," Tah said. "If we could detect your presence, what would make you think that a more powerful and advance race would not be able to break through all your scramblers?"

"We are developing better scramblers and sensors," Arkon said. "Soon we will be able to detect approaching spacecraft billions of light-years away."

"And what if they don't work?" I asked, feeling sorry of Arkon and his people.

Arkon didn't answer for a while. Finally he said, "All we can do is hope."

"But-" I started to say, but Tah stopped me.

"I hope your people are doing the right thing," Tah said to Arkon.

"I hope so too," Arkon said.

Arkon took us through one of the many underground tunnels that lead to the surface.

"Thiss tunnel leads to where your ship was," Arkon said. "We did the necessary repairs while our cousins were chasing you."

Soon we were near the surface. I got on Tah's back as he climbed out the tunnel.

"Thank you again for repairing our ship," Tah said to Arkon who was still in the tunnel.

"No thankss needed," Arkon said.

After the four of us got back on the ship, we left the Razor home world. We rose up through the atmosphere of the Razor home world. Up through the flat thin clouds.

"I'm glad we lived through that," I said.

"We all lived through that thanks to you," Tah said looking at me. "Proceed to go into anti-space." He added.

Sharah and Yobah worked at the control panel. Soon the stars started to streak as it suddenly accelerated. Then we were in anti-space. It looked like a eerie, purple, shimmering, soupy mist.

"So we are finally going home," Yobah said. "And it is about time too."

"Is your home closer to Earth?" I asked.

"No." Tah said.

"Tah....am I ever going to get back home?"

"Chante, I will do my best." Tah said, a little sad.

"We would take you to your home," Sharah said. "But it is too dangerous right now. There are too few of our fighters in your sector, and-"

"I understand." I said cutting Sharah off. "I remember what happened the last time. I don't want to run into those Lar Kap fighters again. And besides, I would like to see your home. It is not like I would stay there forever."

Tah, Yobah, and Sharah looked at each other, quiet.

Finally Yobah broke the silence. "Just think of this as a vacation."

Soon I was going to find out it was going to be a very long vacation.

To be continued....