New Horizon (The Survivors Book Nine)

by Nathan Hystad

  I had forgotten. “Sure thing.”

  “Dean…”

  “Go ahead,” I prompted her.

  “I want you to be on the team heading to the station,” she said.

  I was shocked. “I thought I was taking a back seat here?”

  “You have a level head and are always able to help in strange situations. It might be best if you joined them for this one,” she told me.

  “You don’t trust the crew?” I asked, not judging.

  She sat beside me. “I do, but I trust you more.”

  “If that’s what you think, I’ll go with them,” I agreed. “It should only be for a couple of days, but you know how that goes.”

  “A couple of days turns into weeks while you’re imprisoned on a planet of googly-eyed harpoon-bearing aliens?” Mary joked.

  I wasn’t sure I was ready to joke about it yet. The thought of being in that cell, with no clue if I’d ever escape, was almost too much to bear. “I’ll try not to bring home any more cyborgs.”

  “If you find more like Loweck, you have my permission. Plus, she and Slate appear to be quite close,” she said.

  “How do you think…? Never mind.”

  Mary swatted me on the arm and laughed. “Let’s go to bed. We’ve had enough for one evening.”

  A short while later, I was lying in bed picturing the symbol Jules had chosen, remembering I hadn’t looked it up yet. I made a mental note to do it first thing in the morning.

  Seven

  The rest of the week flew by, and we were only a day’s journey from stopping half a light year away from the Tri-System Station. It was in the corner of three separate systems, each with their own star and clusters of worlds, mostly rocks or ice, or in gaseous states, depending on their positions.

  Jules had behaved all week, refraining from using any of her abilities, at least that I’d witnessed. I was finally having hope she could live on the ship, blending in with the rest of the children.

  “Dean, you here?” Slate asked, tapping the table.

  “Yeah, sorry,” I said, focusing on the discussion.

  “This is him. His name is Zoober Quab. He’s a Brenonid,” Suma said. A video feed of an alien appeared on the screen of the meeting room. It was a frog-like being with a squat body, legs folding up to its chest, small arms, and no neck to be seen. It was green and had white eyes on either side of its head. A tongue flicked out of the mouth in the sequence.

  “And he’s our contact?” I asked.

  Magnus stood up, clearing his throat. “I may have spoken out of turn the other day. Zoober knows we’re coming, but since you’re part of the team now, Dean, I’ll tell you the plan.”

  “You weren’t going to before?” I asked.

  He didn’t answer. “Zoober is a man of varying interests, it appears. He claims to know where the world of Rutelium is located.”

  Slate stuck his hand up. “If this guy’s so resourceful, why wouldn’t he go there and mine it himself?”

  “Good question. It’s one you’ll have to answer for me,” Magnus said.

  “We go to the station, dock, and make contact? What does the plan entail?” I asked.

  “He’s going to think you’re …” Magnus averted his gaze from me.

  “What?” I asked.

  “He thinks you’re a mercenary crew. It’s the way he operates,” Magnus said.

  “We’re tricking him?” I asked.

  “In a matter of speaking. We’ll cut him ten percent of all profits, when we do find the world and mine it,” Magnus said.

  “And the shrunken world. Do you really think this empty world’s previous inhabitants did that, or was that another lie?” I was becoming annoyed at the deceit. I didn’t like the plan.

  “That’s one hundred percent true, Dean. I’m not pulling a fast one on you. I told you it was a ‘two birds with one stone’ kind of a mission,” Magnus said, his face softening. I believed him.

  “Okay, so we go in, pretend to be a rag-tag crew of misfits, lull him into our trap, and obtain the planet’s location? That’s the only way?” I asked.

  “He wouldn’t trust us otherwise,” Hectal said. “This ship has our Keppe fingerprints all over it. There’s no love lost between the Brenonid and us.”

  “What did you do?” I asked Hectal.

  He appeared insulted at my comment. “We didn’t do anything. The Brenonid have a way of trying to screw everyone over,” Hectal said. “Lord Crul doesn’t take kindly to that.”

  I didn’t imagine he would. “That’s why we’re pulling this on Zoober? A little revenge?”

  “Not quite, but if it eases your conscience, you can think of it that way,” Magnus said.

  “Fine. Who’s the crew, and what’s our story?” I asked.

  Magnus grinned wide, and Suma tapped the controls on her console, changing the image on the screen. “You’re the Ghosts. We’ve had the name spread around a bit over the last year, in preparation. Alliance of Worlds members have talked about how they’ve been taken by the Ghosts, or had valuable information and goods swiped by the skilled organization.”

  “You’ve been planning for a while,” I said, not sure I liked the way they were doing this.

  “We have. Dean, this may seem underhanded, but this is how things are done out there,” Magnus assured me.

  “Fine. We’re the Ghosts,” I said. “Who’s coming?”

  “I’m the tech wizard of the group. Hectal and Slate are the muscle, and Loweck’s going to be the brains, and since you’re coming along, we thought you could take the role of investor,” Suma said.

  “Investor?” I prodded.

  Magnus crossed his arms. “You’re backing this venture. You can act like a snob for a few days. It’ll be great.”

  I kind of liked the idea. Let them play their parts in the Ghosts, and I could be a human investor with a few Inlorian bars to barter away. “Good. What’s next?”

  We sat and discussed the details, and I grew more confident it would work by the hour. If this all panned out, we’d not only have a way to mine a planet and fund our Alliance of Worlds and the Gatekeepers’ Academy, we might be able to find a way to return the globe-sized world hiding among Fontem’s collection. It was a win-win.

  Or so I hoped.

  ____________

  The Padlog vessel hummed to life, and I scanned the bridge. Slate was chatting with Hectal. Suma sat beside Dubs, who was on loan from the Horizon for the next few days to shuttle us to the station. Loweck stood beside me, and our small cast of characters was finished off with a Padlog female resembling a wasp. Her head was pointed, her black and yellow skin stretched tight. She watched the viewscreen with interest, and small wings flicked on her back.

  “Are you ready for the role, Walo?” I asked her.

  “I’m ready. It won’t be the first time I’ve been in a sticky situation.” She smiled, her voice a melodic buzzing.

  “Glad to hear it,” I said.

  Magnus appeared on the viewer, and he wished us luck. “Make contact with us when you arrive, then go dark. We don’t want anyone connecting you to us, understand?” he asked.

  “Got it, Captain,” Slate said, and the image flipped to the inside of the hangar.

  I’d said my goodbyes to Jules and Mary earlier in the day and hoped they were safe while I was off on this adventure. Part of me wanted to tell the crew I was out, and to leave the Padlog vessel, but another portion of me was drawn to the intrigue and challenge of the mission ahead of us. My feet stayed planted on the bridge as the ship lifted off the ground, and Dubs led us through the energy field.

  Everyone had on dark clothing, though we didn’t wear uniforms that matched. It would make us stick out too much. Hectal had been to the Tri-System Station before, and he assured us it was a veneer of wealth covering a seedy underbelly, like most worlds.

  Once we were clear of the immense starship, I relaxed, easing into the role. My clothing was tailored nicely, a thin blazer with matching pants an
d a collarless shirt underneath. We had ten Inlorian bars, a near fortune to show Zoober if necessary. We had to convince him we meant business and had the means to start a mine.

  Once we had the planet’s location, we’d be able to trace it to the Crystal Map, and since Jules had activated and powered the entire system, it contained thousands of destinations where we’d previously only had hundreds.

  If we could travel there via portal, we could scout it out before bringing the Horizon there, saving us a lot of time. I was more concerned about finding a way to reverse the small frozen planet from its tiny scale.

  We’d been so close to helping the various creatures on the Collector’s ship, but he’d slipped away. Standing there, watching space rush past us in the viewer, I wondered if we’d ever encounter the Collector again, but since he was on the other side of a dimension through Cloud, I doubted the chances were very high.

  “Thank you for allowing me to be part of the mission,” Walo told me.

  I pointed at Slate. “Thank Commander Campbell, not me.”

  “I will.”

  “Why did you decide to join the crew of Horizon?” I asked her.

  She buzzed before answering. “The Supreme asked me to. I’m his… granddaughter,” she said, and my eyes went wide.

  “You don’t happen to know Sergo, do you?” I asked quietly, recalling what he’d told me about borrowing someone’s maidenhood.

  Her melodic voice lowered. “I do. Why do you ask?”

  “No reason. I’m glad you’re here. The Supreme has helped me on a few occasions,” I told her. “He’s a good…” Grasshopper? Man? “A great leader.”

  “He is that.”

  The trip was due to take a day, and we settled in for the journey, Dubs happy to fly nonstop since he didn’t need to sleep or eat. Before we knew it, we were arriving at the Tri-System Station.

  All of us crammed onto the compact bridge, and Slate barked out orders. “Suma, can you zoom on the station?” She did, and we could see at least forty various space vessels parked at the two-tiered docking bay arms.

  “What’s that?” I asked, seeing the V shape in the far corner. It was leaving.

  “Tracking.” The V-shaped ship glowed green as she traced it, and the image zoomed.

  My voice caught in my throat, and I coughed. “It’s them.”

  “It appears so, Boss,” Slate said. “How many are here?”

  Suma answered. “Only the one, and it’s leaving.”

  “Damn it,” I muttered.

  “Would you rather face them?” Slate asked.

  I wasn’t sure. “I want some answers. Like how there’s a race of aliens that resemble us out here, and why are they attacking the Academy on Haven?”

  “We’re not equipped to fight them. We’re a day from our starship and literally have zero allies here,” Slate said.

  I was proud of him for being the sensible one right now. “You’re right. Still… we need to find out more about them,” I told everyone.

  “We will,” Suma said firmly.

  “Suma, send a transmission to Magnus. Let him know we’re here and what we found,” Slate said.

  Loweck stood beside him, their shoulders touching. “I advise we wait for a response,” she suggested.

  “Very well. We wait.”

  We didn’t have to pause long. “It says to proceed with caution, and to do as much recon without being obvious about it,” Suma read from her console. She glanced over at me.

  “Good. Take us… sorry, Slate, go ahead.” I stepped to the side, letting him take charge. It wasn’t my place.

  “Take us in, Dubs,” Slate ordered, and we moved toward the station.

  I hoped this was going to be as simple as Magnus had made it sound.

  ____________

  We were granted clearance after ten minutes of bartering with the station’s diligent security, and I wiped my hands on my pants, trying to release some of my anxiety about the mission at hand. It didn’t work.

  Slate and Hectal played their roles from the start, heading out first, standing tall and intimidating. It wasn’t hard for them.

  Loweck hung back with me at her side. She wore a scowl, a new side of her, since she was usually quite affable. I had seen her do some serious butt-kicking martial arts before, so I knew she harbored a mean streak.

  Suma and Walo finished off our crew, with Dubs staying on board in case of an emergency. The Padlog ship’s exit ramp lowered into an arm of the station, and we were greeted by an android.

  It said something I couldn’t understand, and Loweck nodded to Suma, who spoke for her. “English.”

  “Very well. Welcome to Tri-System Station. We have an assortment of levels for you to enjoy. There are the relaxation spas on level minus seventy-three, or perhaps you’re more interested in Alloria spirits, which can be found on level twenty-seven, right above the swimming pools.” The android was wearing a green uniform and spoke with a gender-neutral voice.

  I realized how little we knew about the station. Hectal claimed they’d only stayed one night, and Admiral Yope had visited some dignitary or another, leaving Hectal to guard the door the whole time. He hadn’t seen much else.

  “We’re hoping for lodging,” Suma told the android.

  “Very well. Follow me.” The android turned and rolled down the hall, briefly reminding me of Lom of Pleva’s robot pirates. That was where the similarities ended. Still, Lom had a lot of resources and finances. He might be a shareholder in this station. I was glad he wasn’t around any longer to make a surprise visit.

  The lift was in the center of the station, and it was a circle about ten meters in diameter. Once we were all standing on the platform, it lowered without a sound. I tried to see what was on the levels we were passing by, but we moved too quickly to tell.

  The platform stopped, and we found ourselves in the lobby of an intergalactic hotel. The station hadn’t appeared so large from our ship, but once inside, I noticed how immense it really was. This one floor alone was forty feet high, the entire hotel lobby made of dark shiny marble material.

  Beings from across the universe were here, most of them unfamiliar to me. The more we traveled, the more I came to understand how many races existed. It was hard to keep up with.

  A few of them watched us with interest, others not caring in the slightest about our arrival. Another android greeted us, taking us to the front desk where a hologram appeared. Since they took Loweck to be our leader, the image appeared like a male of her kind, orange with short green hair.

  Suma had taken on the role of intermediary, and in no time, we were told to follow the path.

  “What path?” I asked, and a tiny drone floated behind us, moving toward a corridor, leaving a trail of light for us to follow.

  “Cool,” Slate said quietly before glancing around and frowning again, taking on his role as the big dumb guard.

  I was obviously gawking because I didn’t see the being until I was squished flat against its side. It was at least twelve feet high and resembled a giraffe with a humanoid head. The face bent over to scowl at me before returning to conversing with its partner.

  “Sorry,” I said, backing away to catch up to the others.

  Our rooms weren’t far, and I saw we’d settled on three suites, each with several bedrooms. Just enough space for all of us to share.

  “Loweck has the biggest room. I think it would be fair for Slate to guard her, since he’s her private protector,” Suma whispered, and Slate nodded his agreement.

  “I guess that means you’re stuck with me, Hectal,” I told the Keppe warrior.

  “And you and I can get to know each other, Walo,” Suma told the female Padlog.

  “How are we going to find this Zoober character?” I went to the door and tapped my code into the screen. It slid open, revealing a spacious entrance.

  “You don’t find Zoober. Zoober finds you,” a voice croaked from across the hall. The amphibian man was flanked by three Brenonids, each hol
ding what I could only assume were guns.

  Eight

  Before I had a chance to register exactly what was happening, Hectal and Slate had guns in their hands, and Loweck was holding a throwing knife.

  Zoober raised a webbed hand. “Put them away. Don’t make a scene. I thought the Ghosts would be smarter than this.”

  “You surprised us, Zoober,” Loweck said, taking the lead.

  “You must be the head of the Ghosts, none other than Phantom herself.” Zoober looked pleased with his powers of deduction.

  “That’s me.” Loweck slid the knife away so fast, I didn’t see where it went. “Come inside. Let’s talk.”

  “Very well,” Zoober said, motioning for his guards to lower their weapons. “If you don’t mind, I’ll bring them in with me. Strictly precautionary, of course,” he said in English; his neck billowed after speaking, releasing a light croak. “You” – he pointed at the smallest of the three Brenonids with him – “stay out here.”

  Loweck nodded to Hectal. “Stay here with him.”

  “Yes, Phantom,” Hectal returned, playing along.

  I tapped my door shut as we entered the largest suite. Part of me was relieved we didn’t have to waste time searching for Zoober, but I also found it disturbing how quickly he’d found us. On this station, the frogman clearly had the home field advantage.

  The suite was immaculate: more of the same dark marble, veined with glimmering gold and silver. I tried my best to appear sure of myself and walked past Zoober, securing one of the large solo chairs in the living space.

  “I’ll take an Alloria and nectar,” I said out loud to no one in particular. I hoped that made sense.

  Everyone looked at each other, and Zoober made a waving motion with his hand to one of his people. The frog-guard croaked and gently hopped across the room, finding a bar at the edge, near a window exposing the suite to the image of space.

  From here, I spotted a vessel arriving at the station. They flew vertically along the space station for a moment before veering away. The room didn’t shake in the slightest at the powerful thrusters activating near it.