Galaxon Escape

• Thomas Homer, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2021

Galaxon Interstellar Research Centre, 2157.
0720 hours
“Sir!” called officer George Lewis. “We have 1000’s of UFO’s penetrating our atmospheric surface barrier!”
“But that is impossible!” Screamed Colonel Frank Williams. “Get me more info ASAP.”
George rapidly tapped on his keyboard as alarms started to screech. Galaxon Interstellar Research Centre was going dark. It was the last radio transmission between Galaxon and Earth ever recorded…
Galaxon College Campus, 0730 hours
It was just a typical day for Ace. He Woke up, polished his horns, took his schizotypal medication, grabbed his books for school and said a quick prayer to his dead family who were killed by the vicious Bloody Maullers. That was until the sky exploded into an eruption of reds, greens, yellows, and blues that could compete in beauty with a rainbow mist.
Ace sprinted for the nearest sheltered area as his peers were speared by falling dashes of colour. He saw his best friend Atlas fall from a sickly green dash. This perfectly complemented the blue spurt of blood that spewed from the gaping hole where the rock had entered his body. It was at that moment Ace fainted and hit his head on the concrete.
Ace woke up in an extremely unfamiliar place. As his head cleared, he could start to see what used to be the courtyard of the college campus. He tried to stand up, but the ground was peppered with holes ranging from centimetres to metres wide. Instead, Ace resorted to calling out for help, but the only sound was his echo. At that moment, he heard the garbled transmission of radio chatter between two passing freight shippers somewhere out above him in space.
As Ace ran towards the reassuring sound, he realised that he was being followed. A spine-tingling snarl was coming from right behind him. That was the moment Ace realised that the Bloody Maullers had probably escaped from their enclosure in the Science Lab. He looked to his left and saw what looked like an asteroid that had not penetrated the surface of the ground.
The Maullers wanted the rock to burn him, but Ace got there before the despicable creature did. Ace grabbed the rock, then smashed into the dirt. He rolled over and plunged the rock into the beast’s shoulder. The Bloody Mauller backed away and started scratching at its shoulder; the rock seemed to burn the creature. The Mauller started tearing its shoulder apart to get the stone. But it was too late. The rock had burnt its way straight through the creature’s heart, killing it instantly.
Ace got to the radio just as the chatter was ending.
“Someone please help,” Ace called into the radio with tears in his eyes, “I am stuck on Galaxon, and everyone is dead.”
Ace had almost given up hope, when a voice said: “Hang in there kid, I’ll be down soon.”
The last thing Ace saw was a kindly man walking helping him off the planet and into refuge.