Through the glass window of the cockpit Liam could see the hangar doors open wide, the busy street bustling on the other side. Nix put his hand through a circular metal rung and grabbed a handle on the other side. It was like no controls he’d ever seen, but it somehow felt familiar.
The handle came up off the console and the circular piece of metal clamped down lightly on his arm. When he tilted his hand up the engine groaned and the vessel was lifted up into the air a few meters. Nix pushed his arm forward and the ship moved through the hangar doors and out into the bright yellow sun.
Nix used his free hand to make a gesture over the holographic image of the ship. Liam heard a loud sound from behind them and the wings of the ship spread out. Their wingspan was now almost as long as the ship itself.
Liam looked up through the cockpit window at the sun. The window was wide at the front and tapered off into a half meter sliver which ran most of the length of the cockpit above them. Liam looked at Saturn and Ju-Long who were bathed in yellow-orange light. They stood behind Nix watching him maneuver the vessel up above the spires.
“You might want to take your seats,” Nix suggested.
Liam sat down in the seat beside him while Saturn and Ju-Long strapped themselves into the seats behind them. Liam turned to Nix and asked, “Are the Ansarans going to try to block our path?”
“It’s taken care of, though I may owe a favor to a friend at the shipping authority after this.”
As if on cue, two Ansaran vessels came up on either side of them. A channel opened and a voice came through. “Dinari vessel. Transmit your port codes now or be shot from the sky.”
23
Nix flipped a thin metal switch on the console and pressed a finger down on one of the screens. The screen filled up with an encoded message. Several seconds passed with Liam and the crew holding their breath. Finally, the Ansaran voice came back.
“Your flight plan has been cleared. Godspeed.”
The voice cut out and Nix closed the channel. Liam breathed out a sigh of relief. He asked, “What did you send them?”
“I arranged for us to deliver goods to the Disciples on Garuda’s moon. Even the least pious Ansaran wouldn’t want to risk angering the gods.”
Nix was hiding a hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth. Without warning, Nix pulled back on the control handle and the ship shot up toward the sky. On their way up, Nix retracted the wings until they were once again facing the rear of the ship, conforming to the lines of the vessel. Through the window of the cockpit Liam could see the craft heating up, though the metal didn’t turn orange like the mining craft. Whatever hardy material it was made from was meant to go in and out of an atmosphere at will. The vessel hardly shook at all as they breached the upper atmosphere into outer space.
Liam felt the familiar feeling of weightlessness creep over his insides. Nix seemed to feel the same sensation, because he quickly said, “Sorry, I almost forgot.”
He flipped a copper switch and Liam’s feet hit the floor, his insides feeling like they just hit the bottom of a roller coaster. The Dinari’s artificial gravity technology was far beyond their own, though Liam couldn’t discern how it worked. It was indistinguishable from being on the surface of Garuda, still just ninety percent of Earth’s gravity, but at least enough to know which way was up.
Nix accelerated the craft as they left the atmosphere, gaining speed until they were traveling far faster than their old mining craft was capable. Liam read the numbers on Nix’s screen, which through his translation chip he knew meant they were traveling seven hundred and fifty thousand kilometers an hour and gaining. Nix released his grip on the handle and pulled his arm out of the loop. He pressed a few commands on the screen and sat back in his chair. “It will be about an hour until she reaches the moon.”
Liam examined the star charts on his screen and nodded. “Enough time for breakfast. Where do we eat on this thing?”
“Follow me,” Nix replied. “I’ll make you the dish of my people.”
•
The galley was a compact room with sturdy metal cabinets along the wall across from the entrance and a single table with a cook-top in the center, positioned in the middle of the chamber. Nix was feverishly adding ingredients to a pan with no regard for measurements while Liam, Ju-Long, and Saturn looked on in awe. The ingredients he was using bore similarities to vegetation on Earth, but with striking differences. The colors were mostly a deep purple that Liam remembered seeing on the surface of the planet.
Nix turned off the flame at the center of the table and removed the copper pan from the heat. Inside, several plants swirled in a creamy broth. The odor was pungent in Liam’s nostrils, prompting him to cover his nose with the back of his hand, his eyes watering. Liam watched Nix continue to add all manner of ingredients while stirring the concoction steadily to mix in the spices. It looked appetizing enough, but smelled like feet mixed with curry and mold.
“This is Leguma,” Nix said while dishing up four bowls and passing one to each of them.
The mixture didn’t cook for long, but it was bubbling from the heat even after it was poured in a bowl. Nix didn’t provide any utensils so Liam waited to see how Nix planned to eat it. The dish was more of a stew, with bits of meat and vegetables and a long plant that looked like purple seaweed churning around the creamy orange broth. Nix picked up his bowl and said “Dinevra.” For a moment Liam thought his translator had broken before realizing there must not have been a translation for the phrase. Nix raised the bowl up to his tilted head and poured from several centimeters above his mouth, the stew boiling as it touched his tongue but not phasing him in the slightest.
Liam looked around at Saturn and Ju-Long, who each were fussing with the heat coming off the soup, blowing continuously to cool it down. Liam raised the bowl to his lips and took a sip of the broth, slurping loudly to cool it as it went down his throat. The taste was sharp, several spices dancing on his tongue as he tried to decide whether it was a pleasant or repulsive flavor. To his surprise, the spices overpowered any of the less enticing smells and the effect was a delicious, albeit scalding, dish.
Liam took a sip of water to cool down his mouth and watched Nix smile with his set of pointed teeth. His bowl was already empty and he was patting his stomach, slightly rounded from the meal. Liam had never seen him so elated or relaxed.
“What do you think?” Nix asked Liam.
“I think I need to let it cool down, but it’s delicious. It’s not what I would have expected. How’d this dish come about?”
“A long time ago, the Dinari ate mostly meat. Animals were plentiful on Ansara. Thousands of species to eat. On Garuda, very few plants grow and they are usually found along the water. This dish represents everything we could find on Garuda. Our resources might be scarce, but our imaginations are anything but.”
Saturn and Ju-Long each tried a sip and their expressions turned from skeptical to that of surprise. Ju-Long seemed to like it the best, because he slurped down most of the broth in a single sip and started picking out the vegetables and forcing them in his mouth. Ju-Long was about to put the long purple seaweed into his mouth when Nix stopped him.
“The Nerva plant has many benefits when eaten, but that’s not its only use. Give me your hand.”
Ju-Long put the hand Saturn had stabbed with a fork on the table, Nerva plant still in his grasp. Nix removed the makeshift bandage he wore and wrapped the purple length of vegetation around Ju-Long’s scabbed hand. Liam watched as the purple plant took on a darker and darker shade until it was withered and black. It took only a minute to shrivel to half its size, the plant’s moisture absorbing into Ju-Long’s hand.
“It feels hot,” Ju-Long said.
“It will fade,” Nix replied. “The Nerva Plant’s oils are a stimulant to cell repair.”
Saturn looked confused and asked Nix, “What happens when it’s eaten?”
“I assure you it will do no harm. It’s mild on the stomach and it helps with digesti
on.”
Ju-Long removed the shriveled black plant from his hand and observed his palm. The punctures where the fork had struck looked like they’d progressed several days in the healing process in a matter of minutes. Most of the scabbing had flaked off and the punctures were red around the edges. Ju-Long flexed his hand and made a fist. “Most of the pain is gone,” he said, smiling wide.
Liam picked up his bowl of Leguma and slurped down the rest of the broth, chewing the chunks of vegetables last. To his surprise, the taste continued to grow on him as he ate it. When he was down to the purple seaweed Ju-Long reached into his bowl and snatched the long piece of vegetation, wrapping his broken hand.
“Really, Ju-Long?”
“Hey, I need it. If you want some maybe you should lift a finger in this operation.”
Liam scowled. Despite the progress he seemed to have made, Ju-Long was still as ill-mannered as ever.
Nix was the first to stand up from the table. He collected the bowls into the empty pot and put them in one of the metal cabinets, sealing it tight behind them. Nix pressed a button on a panel next to the cabinet and then it began to shake, slowly at first and then growing in intensity until it was vibrating at such a high frequency the movement was hardly noticeable. Reading Liam’s confused face, Nix said, “Sonic washer. No use wasting water in space.”
A red light flashed on the ceiling, pulsing along with a soft tone. Nix regarded the light and his expression changed. He turned serious and moved quickly toward the doorway. At the edge he turned and said, “We’re approaching Garuda’s moon.”
24
The cockpit was awash in crimson light when Liam entered and took his seat to the left of Nix. Ahead of them a dark planetary body steadily grew in size as they approached. The system’s sun was behind Garuda, leaving the moon in darkness. Few lights danced on the surface where the ruins must have been. Liam squinted, trying to make out the outline of the ruins, but was unable to see anything but the blackness of the surface and a serrated rocky landscape.
Nix fired the reverse thrusters, slowing down their craft so they could make their descent. For a moment, the window of the cockpit was flooded with the pressure of the thin atmosphere, but the effect quickly dissipated. Liam swiped his hand along the control panel in front of him and read the readouts. The moon had a far thinner atmosphere than Garuda but had enough air pressure so their heads wouldn’t explode. Always good news. The temperature was negative fifty degrees Celsius and there was hardly any oxygen in the air.
Nix noticed Liam fussing over the display and put a hand on his arm. “Don’t worry, friend. Sunrise is coming and you’ll find the temperature much more suitable.”
“With the thin atmosphere, how are we supposed to breathe?” Saturn asked.
Liam felt the air resistance build as they descended. Nix leveled out the ship and let the drag slow them down further.
“There are breathing apparatuses in the cargo hold. The temperature should rise above freezing within minutes of sunrise.”
Ju-Long put a hand on the back of Nix’s seat and asked, “How hot will it get?”
“Due to the rotation of the moon and constant heating and cooling cycles it won’t get nearly as hot as Garuda.”
Nix slipped his arm through the ring on the console and grabbed the control handle. With his left hand he pressed the release for the wings and there was a rumble as they extended. They were only ten kilometers from the surface now and the ground was fast approaching. Nix fired a controlled burst of the thrusters and they slowed even further.
The sun began to creep around the surface of the moon and lit up the surface. The moon was rocky, with jagged monoliths jutting violently out of the surface in all directions. Nix maneuvered the ship to a flat area ahead of them just wide enough for the craft to land. Nix seemed to know exactly where he was going as he twisted his arm and moved the ship into landing position. When they reached the flat area Nix fired all thrusters and they hovered directly over the rocky plain. Nix slowly twisted his arm down and Liam felt a crunch as the landing gear flattened some small rocks.
The sun was peeking up over the monolithic rocks and piercing the cockpit window, blinding Liam and the crew. Nix removed his arm from the control handle and flipped a switch to his right. The cockpit window polarized and the light abated. He flipped another switch and the red warning lights ceased. Nix turned around and said, “Welcome to Garuda’s moon, home of the Disciples of Re and very little besides.”
Nix unbuckled his straps and Liam and the crew followed suit. When Liam stood up he saw a light out in the distance among a particularly jagged collection of rocks. Liam pointed it out and asked Nix, “What is that?”
“Our welcoming committee.”
Nix powered down the engines and led the way out of the cockpit, past the dining area, and into the cargo hold. When they reached the hold, Nix flipped a switch on the wall and two copper hull plates opened, revealing a deep cabinet with gear for seemingly any occasion. He began pulling out breathing masks and handing them around.
Liam lifted the metal and rubber mask to his face but the edges wouldn’t form a seal around his mouth and nose. Nix reached over and twisted a rusted metal knob under Liam’s chin. The mask adjusted and Liam could feel the rubber clamp down snugly over his skin. The ancient mask made Liam uneasy. Some of the technology on the ship looked too old to function, though admittedly their landing on Garuda’s moon had been a lot smoother than their previous attempt on Garuda. There was something to be said about tech that just plain worked.
Nix helped Saturn and Ju-Long adjust their masks and then affixed his own, which went on much more smoothly. When Nix spoke, his voice was metallic like he was speaking through a fan. “Ready to go?”
“Ready,” Liam said, marveling at the sound of his own voice through the apparatus.
Saturn moved over to the ramp and slammed a fist against the large release switch. When the ramp lowered a burst of cold air came rushing up at the crew, blowing their cloaks up behind them. Liam blocked the rush as best he could with his arm but he still had to catch himself on his back foot to keep from being blown away. After a moment the gusts subsided and Nix motioned for them to follow as he descended the ramp.
“How are you able to handle this cold?” Saturn called down to Nix, her voice tinny through the mask.
“Generally the Dinari do not like the cold, but this is not my first journey here. Zega used to send me on these runs every month. Once the sun rises it will be fine.”
Nix was right. Liam hadn’t checked the monitors before he left the ship, but the temperature was a far cry from negative fifty degrees Celsius. In ten minutes it had raised perhaps to negative twenty. The sun was rising over the jagged spires of rock and the thin rays which pierced the monoliths beat down on his face, a welcome refrain from the cold breeze.
The ground was covered in a thin layer of frost, though there was no snow or bodies of water to be seen. The air itself seemed to be chilled with the strong humidity surrounding them. The moon’s black soil crunched under Liam’s feet as he followed after Nix, who walked with deep strides away from the ship and toward the distant light. Liam turned to look back at the ship and the ramp had raised up behind them, its lights fading until only the sporadic rays of sunlight could distinguish it from the darkness.
The crew walked for fifteen minutes until they reached the edge of the flat landing area and came upon the dramatic rock faces. Nix pointed out a small path between them. Liam slowed, gazing up at the angled pillars, black even in the light of the sun. Despite the rising sun he could make out countless stars in the sky behind him. Liam had never seen stars from Earth’s surface. The feeling was humbling.
“Pretty, isn’t it?” Saturn asked him.
“Yeah,” Liam replied.
Ju-Long stopped behind them, heavy metallic breaths emanating from his breathing apparatus. He looked up at the stars and commented, “I guess it beats the mine.”
Saturn rolled
her eyes and then continued walking at a brisk pace in an attempt to catch up to Nix.
“You’re real smooth, you know that?” Liam chided.
Ju-Long’s cheeks moved with what Liam assumed was a smile. “Because you’re a real charmer.”
Ju-Long didn’t wait for a reply before starting off after Saturn and Nix. Liam shook his head and continued on. He tried not to let Ju-Long get to him. So he wasn’t the best with his words; of the two human males in that part of the galaxy, Liam was a veritable Casanova.
The light up ahead split into two distinct orbs much like the orbs of light Liam had seen on Garuda. They were only a hundred meters away now and Liam began to make out the two figures carrying the orbs. They wore masks that obscured their faces and dark cloaks that matched the color of the rocky soil. From their height and stature Liam could tell they were Ansaran and he instinctively moved a hand down to his energy weapon.
When they were twenty meters apart Nix raised a hand in greeting. The two Ansarans bowed their heads in response, stopping five meters shy of the crew. From up close, Liam got a better look at the masks. They were mirrored, he assumed to reflect the sun, and came to a point over the nose. One of them removed the top portion of their mask, revealing stark white scales that were smoother than any fish he’d ever seen. He was far paler than the Ansarans on Garuda and had piercing ice blue eyes to match. A deep steely voice spoke through the lower portion of the shiny metal mask, his eyes squinting as he spoke, “You have some nerve coming back here, Nix.”
Liam’s gaze quickly turned to their Dinari guide, who stood frozen with his arms at his side. Liam kept his hand by his weapon, his fingers slowly finding their way to the grip. Nix took a step forward and pulled down the hood of his cloak, eyes trained on the Disciple. “I would not be here if it were not important.”
The Corsair Uprising Collection, Books 1-3 Page 11
