The Great Space (Scrapyard Ship Book 6)

by Mark Wayne McGinnis

  “You’re not being helpful,” Jason said, looking back and forth down the corridor. “Jack!”

  Almost immediately Jack appeared from a hatch, wearing the same green groundskeeper’s shirt he always wore. “Yes, Captain. What is it you want?”

  “What I want is for you to open this portal window.”

  “No can do, sir.”

  “What do you mean no?”

  “If you remember, security level on certain high-risk habitats makes accessing them nearly impossible. I believe Ricket got you in there last time.”

  “That’s right, I remember. Oh and Jack, my apologies in advance. Over the next few hours the Zoo will become a little disrupted.”

  Jack didn’t look pleased by that revelation. He grunted something and returned to the hatch he’d appeared from.

  With two fingers up to his ear, Jason hailed Ricket.

  “Go for Ricket. How can I help you, Captain?”

  “We need to access HAB 12’s portal. Gaddy’s old utility ship is still blocking the window.”

  “That is a problem, Captain. Surely the vehicle’s batteries are now depleted.”

  “Can you get down here … find a way to jump-start the thing?”

  “Jump start, Captain?”

  Jason was quickly getting annoyed with the delay. Hell, they hadn’t even stepped outside yet and already there were problems. “Just Google it, Ricket.”

  Ricket soon arrived with what looked like jumper cables and a twelve-volt car battery. But at closer inspection, it was something far more sophisticated.

  “Captain, once I open the portal, you’ll need to move quickly. There’s enough of a gap between the vehicle and the window for any number of things to squeeze by and enter the Zoo.”

  “That’s why I have this highly-trained Navy SEAL standing by with a multi-gun,” Jason responded, nodding toward Billy.

  Ricket stepped to the portal access panel, then glanced over to Jason.

  Jason triggered the SuitPac attached to his belt and waited for it to expand around his body. Ricket did the same with his own SuitPac device.

  “I’m ready, Ricket. Open it up.”

  Ricket began tapping in the long string of Caldurian alphanumeric digits from memory. Two minutes later came: beep beep beep. The three consecutive tones meant the code was correct and accepted. Ricket nodded toward Jason. “The portal is open, Captain. You have sixty seconds before it closes again.”

  Jason didn’t waste a second. He stepped through the now open portal window and climbed into the old utility vehicle. “Billy, don’t let anything get by you.”

  Billy triggered his SuitPac. “Nothing’s getting by me.”

  Jason extended a hand down to Ricket and pulled him up into the vehicle. Ricket looked around and then pointed toward an access panel in the back cargo area.

  “Without any auxiliary power, this panel isn’t retractable,” Ricket said.

  Jason placed several fingertips within a small rectangular flange where the panel and the bulkhead converged, and he yanked. Two more tries and the cover tore from its mounting hardware. “That better?”

  Ricket went right to work attaching his cables to the small ship’s propulsion system. A tiny holo-display came alive and indicators showed that something was happening. Ricket adjusted two of the settings and was about to adjust a third when the utility ship violently shook. Ricket looked up at Jason.

  “That wasn’t me. Apparently we have a visitor outside.”

  “Try to finish up while I take a look.” Within five steps Jason was crouching down and looking out the cockpit window. The midday sun was bright and intense and there was nothing visible moving around outside. But the red life icons showing on his HUD told a different story. “This doesn’t make sense,” he said, trying to correlate the red icons to what he was visually not seeing outside. “There’s obviously a lot going on underground because I don’t see anything.” One icon, if you could even call it an icon, seemed to be bigger than the ship they were standing in. Perhaps it was a swarm of bees, or something not visible to the naked eye. The ship shook again and Jason lost his balance. He repositioned himself to sit in the cockpit’s pilot seat and looked out the forward window again. Now he was able to crane his neck and see almost directly over the top of the utility ship. “Holy shit … tell me you’ve finished back there, Ricket.”

  “It would be best to wait several min—”

  Jason didn’t wait. He already knew how to fly the thing from watching Gaddy, so he slapped at the ignition ON tab below the dashboard. The cargo ship’s drive churned and stuttered and then caught. “Hold on, Ricket!”

  Jason knew the little ship was on its last legs and he wondered if it had enough juice left to move the twenty feet necessary to unblock the portal window. But as the ship swung violently upward, that was no longer his primary concern. When he’d taken that last look up, he’d seen a creature he wasn’t totally familiar with. It was definitely a derivative of the Serapin Terplin. No doubt about that. Only this one was four or five times its size and had wings—ginormous wings, which were flapping to the point visibility was nearly impossible from all the dust being kicked up. The ship was quickly moving up and away from the ground.

  “Ricket!” Jason yelled toward the cargo area: “Are you okay?” He managed to get to his feet and moved astern. Ricket, the helmet section of his battle suit retracted, was lying facedown on the deck. Jason leapt right on top of him and immediately phase-shifted them off the ship.

  From a rocky outcropping fifty yards out, Jason watched as Gaddy’s cargo ship fell free from the flying Serapin’s claws and dropped several hundred feet to the desert floor.

  “Cap, I’d give you a hand but the portal just closed,” Billy said.

  “You saw it, right? That wasn’t my imagination?”

  “Oh, I saw it all right. That’s one mother—”

  “Hold that thought. I need to check on Ricket.” Jason rolled to his right, off Ricket, who slowly opened his eyes. They locked on to something he couldn’t seem to comprehend.

  With a quick glance up, Jason saw it, too. The Serapin was diving down directly at them. “Ricket … hurry and put up your damn helmet!” Jason barked. He brought his arms up and fired from his battle suit’s two integrated plasma guns.

  Jason felt the recoil in his arms and shoulders as he continued his concentrated barrage of plasma fire into the beast’s head and torso. And then Ricket was firing too. But the Serapin was still coming fast, its jaws wide—foot-long teeth snapping—long strings of saliva trailing off behind its head.

  Jason had spotted the rocky cliff outcropping far off in the distance. He knew these suits could phase-shift them substantially further than their old belt configurations could, but in the split second he needed to make the decision he wasn’t completely sure it would take them far enough away. Both Ricket and Jason phase-shifted as the Serapin’s claws grasped at the empty air where they had been.

  Still on his back, Jason got to his feet. His HUD showed Ricket’s life icon position to be several miles away. Jason answered the incoming hail.

  “Go for Captain.”

  “The flying Serapin has left the area, Captain. I will phase-shift back to the portal access panel.”

  “I’ll be right there.”

  At five hundred feet above the desert floor, the view from the outcropping was beautiful. Jason turned and took in the little oasis where, a year earlier, he and his team had camped. His eyes lingered on the waterfall and the small pond where he’d first held Dira close—kissed her, and knew he’d already fallen hopelessly in love with her. The smile left his face as he remembered that she no longer wanted to be stationed on The Lilly. It was just a matter of time before Dira went home to Jhardon.

  By the time Jason phase-shifted back to the portal, Ricket was already entering the access code. Two large red icons appeared on his HUD. Jason turned and watched them approach from several miles out. He pumped up the optical zoom level and saw tw
o flying Serapins approaching. The wingspan on those things is incredible, he thought to himself.

  Beep beep beep. Both Ricket and Jason hurried to the portal window and left HAB 12 behind them.

  Chapter 31

  As Jason and Ricket stepped back into the Zoo corridor, Billy was already staging the equipment and men for their mission. Some of his team had initiated their SuitPacs and were wearing their new battle suits. Others, such as Dira, were still dressed in their spacer’s jumpsuits. She was busy with her medical pack and didn’t look up as he moved by her.

  “Captain, I need to finalize the manufacturing of the Streamline back on the Minian,” Ricket said.

  “That’s what you’re calling the little ship, huh?”

  “Not me … Boomer offered up the suggestion.”

  Jason smiled at that. “I like it. The Streamline. You still good for our timetable?”

  “Yes, Captain. Fifteen minutes is all I’ll need.”

  Jason turned and looked to the opposite end of the corridor. It doesn’t hurt to ask.

  * * *

  Inside HAB 17, Jason phase-shifted to the outskirts of the rhino encampment. The last time he’d been there, Traveler and the remaining rhino-warriors had been in the process of torching their dome dwellings—never expecting to return. With their home planet destroyed by the Craing, Traveler would spend the rest of his life battling those who’d eradicated his entire species. But as fate would have it, over a hundred rhino-warriors had been rescued from a Craing dreadnaught.

  New dome structures, far more than were previously there, encircled the circular open space. A roaring bonfire snapped and crackled while several rhinos Jason didn’t know tended the fire. Those are females! Jason did a double take. He wasn’t aware any of those rescued were female—but it made sense some would be.

  Others, including Few Words, appeared from one of the larger domes. Jason met him halfway.

  “It is good to see you, Few Words.”

  “And for me … you too, Captain Reynolds.”

  “I did not realize there were females among those rescued,” Jason said, gesturing toward the three rhinos tending the fire.

  “Forty-three,” he answered, with pride in his voice.

  All of a sudden Jason regretted coming here—invading what was clearly the start of a new life—a new beginning.

  “This is Breeds Often, my mate.”

  Smaller than Few Words by several inches, she was wider in the hips. She’d been standing behind Few Words but now moved to his side.

  “It is nice to meet you.” Jason smiled at her. “I hope you are happy here … can make this place your home.”

  “I am … we all are … grateful to you. You have been added to our morning and evening songs and prayers,” said Breeds Often.

  Jason, suddenly touched by her words, didn’t know what to say. Few Words noticed him looking about.

  “He is not here, Captain. Traveler does not live among us as he did before.”

  “Is he all right? What—”

  “He is out there.” Few Words pointed to the open plains.

  Jason squinted toward the distant horizon but didn’t see anything.

  “No, not there. Over there,” Few Words said, moving Jason’s shoulders slightly and pointing again. He heard Breeds Often make a loud, awful sound, which could have been a laugh—Jason wasn’t really sure.

  Then Jason saw the distant dome and smoke rising from a small fire.

  “He will enjoy seeing you again, my friend.”

  With that, Few Words and Breeds Often moved off. Jason phase-shifted closer to the distant dome.

  Traveler was waiting for him. Dressed in battle gear—leather breastplate and heavy hammer hanging from a leather thong at his belt, he said, “Welcome, Captain Reynolds.”

  “Thank you, Traveler.” Jason took a look around the small encampment of one large dome and several smaller domes off to the side. From a scraggly tree, several skinned animals hung from ropes secured around their hind legs. “Were you on your way to go hunting?”

  Traveler turned his head, looking confused. “I just went hunting. Can you not see the carcasses mere feet in front of you?”

  “You’re dressed for battle. I didn’t know …”

  “I’m coming with you. Isn’t that why you are here?”

  Jason’s feelings of guilt returned. “I want to apologize. What I should have done is left you and your people alone. You all have lost so much. Everything. But perhaps this is a new beginning … a chance to rebuild.”

  “Our two rhino worlds are no more. Gone forever. We deeply mourn the loss. But the only reason the few who remain are here is because of you. Indeed, we are happy. This is our home now.”

  “Well, again, I apologize for disrupting … all this. Be happy, my friend.” Jason turned to leave.

  “Am I no longer needed? Perhaps Traveler’s grown too old and fat to fight alongside his friends in battle?”

  Jason looked back at the indignant-looking rhino-warrior. “You’ve already given us far more than anyone could ask for. I’ve come to tell you to build your life here. Be happy.”

  “Do you know the reason I live away from the others?”

  “I suppose you like your solitude. You’re an independent soul.”

  Traveler tilted his head back and forth: “Few Words’s new mate … the one called Breeds Often … she continually laughs—it’s a cackling sound, really … sometimes lasts long into the night. How Few Words tolerates it, I have no idea. I simply needed to move to a quieter place.”

  Jason laughed out loud. “I think I heard the sound you’re referring to.”

  Traveler continued, “I am a hunter and a warrior, Captain. I live for battle. Yes, I am happy my tribe is growing again and perhaps will thrive in Habitat 17. But I am a warrior who lives to fight … to fight the Craing. To avenge what they’ve done to my people. I wish to come with you on this new mission into HAB 12. I wish to strike down the one called Ot-Mul … the one who ordered the destruction of my home world.”

  “So you’ve already heard about the mission?”

  “Yes. I contact Billy often so I can be ready.”

  * * *

  By the time Jason and Traveler were back in The Lilly’s Zoo, Ricket had phase-shifted the new ship into the corridor. Like all Caldurian ships, its design was aerodynamic—ultra-sleek looking. It was immaculately clean, like a new car on display in a showroom; the vessel’s deep blue, highly reflective hull sparkled. Jason stood back and appraised the ship. It was ten feet wide, ten feet in height, and easily forty feet long: narrower than the shuttles on either The Lilly or the Minian, but much longer. Four-foot-tall observation panels, like smoked glass, surrounded the entirety of the vessel. Even the pointed nose of the ship was made from the same dark-tinted material. She was a forty-foot-long blue bullet.

  “Do you like it? I named it the Streamline.”

  Jason looked down and saw Boomer in a stance nearly identical to his own, her arms crossed and head cocked slightly to one side. “It’s the perfect name,” he told her.

  “How long will you be gone?”

  “I don’t know for sure. With this ship we’ll zip through HAB 12 in a matter of minutes. Finding the Craing leader could take a while. I’ll stay in touch with you as much as I can.” Jason continued to look down at his nine-year-old daughter. In some aspects, she was so different from Mollie, but in other ways, so similar. Dressed in her dark gray jumpsuit, her hair pulled back tight, she also wore three small throwing knives on her belt. He wondered where she’d gotten them since she’d used her others fending off a tiger in HAB 4. “Look, I’ve talked to Brian and Betty, and you’ll be spending part of the time with them. Betty will be monitoring your home school studies.”

  “Okay, Dad. I like Betty.”

  “Can you try to stay out of trouble while I’m gone?”

  Boomer smiled up at her father, with a face frighteningly mischievous.

  “I’m serious, kiddo �
�� there’s far too much happening right now for you to be getting into trouble. Do I make myself clear?”

  “Yes, I’ll be good, I promise, but I wish I could go with you.”

  “I suspect someday you’ll be going on your own adventures, little one.”

  She hugged him and ran off. He heard her say, “I can’t wait!”

  With all the commotion, Jason was finally able to catch Ricket’s eye from the other end of the Streamline. They headed toward each other and met at the mid-point of the ship.

  “What do you think of her, Captain?” Ricket asked, sounding proud of his handiwork.

  “I think it’s an incredible-looking ship. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, but do you have any thoughts on how we’re going to get her to the port window of HAB 12? A forty-foot-long ship onto a hallway that’s not nearly that wide … even at an angle, she won’t make the turn.”

  Ricket was unfazed, which disappointed Jason. Part of him wanted to catch Ricket’s typically infallible intelligence in a goof-up. The small Craing man gestured for Jason to follow him. Instead of heading toward HAB 12, he went to the opposite bank of habitats directly across from HAB 12, toward HAB 76. Ricket entered a simple access code and the portal window disappeared. “I’ve calculated the angle and the required turning radius. HAB 76 will provide more than enough room to make the turn.” Ricket smiled. He’d obviously anticipated Jason’s desire to trip him up.

  “What’s in HAB 76? We’re not leaving the Zoo open to another kind of diabolical creature, are we?”

  “Scans show that this biosphere is comprised solely of plants, trees, and benign, non-poisonous, insects … it’s basically a botanical environment, with similar atmospheric levels of oxygen and nitrogen as found on Earth … and on The Lilly, for that matter.”

  “Can we just leave it open like this?”

  “I’ve got it timed to close an hour from now.”

  Jason hadn’t noticed the near-seamless hatch at the middle of the Streamline. Like the hatchways on The Lilly and the Minian, the opening didn’t so much open up, in a typical mechanical manner, as it changed its molecular structure. One second the hatch panel was closed—the next, it was gone, and Dira was walking through the opening toward him.