Starbounders

by Adam Jay Epstein

  Zachary eyed the Kepler cartograph and saw that while previously the space field had been extensively labeled, it was now filled with countless unidentified dots signifying yet-to-be-explored planets and unvisited moons. Only the most populated destinations were marked on the map. Fortunately, one of them was Tenretni.

  The ship headed for the nearest fold. Like space veterans, Zachary, Ryic, and Kaylee braced themselves for the jump, but instead of finding empty space on the other side, they were engulfed by hundreds of strange white disc-like ships.

  Zachary saw manned cockpits at the center of each of them, and a ring of blades around their perimeter. The crosshairs of his lensicon honed in on one of the ships, and he blinked twice.

  * * *

  CELESTIAL OBJECT:

  CLIPSIAN SLICER

  THESE INDIVIDUALLY PILOTED COMBAT SHIPS ARE THE MAIN UNITS OF ARTILLERY COMPRISING NIBIRU’S CLIPSIAN ARMADA. IN ADDITION TO PARTICLE BLASTERS, THEY USE THEIR RAZOR-SHARP EDGES TO SIDESWIPE ENEMY SPACECRAFT.

  THEY SHOULD BE TREATED AS HOSTILE.

  * * *

  “This can’t be good,” Zachary said.

  “Thank you, Captain Obvious,” Kaylee replied.

  “Initiate camouflage shield,” Ryic said.

  On Ryic’s voice command, a cool blue tint filled the ship, indicating that the buckler’s cloaking mechanism had been activated. If their sudden arrival had been spotted by any of the slicers, at least they couldn’t be seen now.

  “We should turn around and go back through the fold,” Ryic said.

  Zachary glanced at the cartograph.

  “There’s only one more bound to Tenretni,” he said. “And I don’t see any other way to get there.”

  “Yes, but navigating through Nibiru’s armada is too risky,” Ryic replied. “What if they have distortion sensors? It would expose our optical camouflage and we’d be space dust.”

  “The slower we move, the fewer gravity ripples we’ll make,” Kaylee said. “We should be able to glide by undetected.”

  Zachary gestured in front of the holographic display, turning off the autopilot and resuming manual control of the ship. He reduced the buckler’s speed to a cosmic crawl and they passed unnoticed through a cluster of idling slicers. As they got particularly close to one, Zachary was able to get a view of the metallic blades jutting out from the ghostly discs. Each disc had sharpened teeth like a saw, with scraps of other ships still stuck between the blades. He could also see the Clipsian pilot sitting inside, motionless, as if waiting for a command from one of the scouting beacons blinking brightly against the darkness of space. Suddenly, one of the beacons above them began to move down, and a fleet of a dozen slicers followed it. They were heading right for the buckler.

  “I knew it,” Ryic said. “We’ve been caught. You two never listen to me! Now we’re all goners. We’re done for.”

  But the beacon and the trail of ships behind it flew past their invisible buckler, continuing along on what must have been a routine training exercise, making sharp ninety-degree turns and quick one-eighties.

  Zachary and Kaylee turned to Ryic. He shrugged.

  “So maybe I overreacted a little,” he said.

  The buckler continued past the armada’s smaller ships, toward larger and more ominous ones that Zachary’s lensicon identified as urchins. They had large spikes protruding from their circular bodies. Making them even more deadly were their magnetic hulls, which would draw any nearby craft into the reach of the spikes.

  “My guess is they’re planning another attack,” Kaylee said. “Probably on some defenseless planet. They only ever strike the weak and unarmed.”

  Zachary hated the thought of another innocent planet joining the Ulam’s Outerverse Memorial.

  “What a bunch of cowards,” Zachary said. “I’d like to see them stand up against the IPDL. A fleet that could punch them back.”

  “They never will,” Kaylee replied. “Professor Olari says that Nibiru only goes into battles he knows he can win.”

  Just then the ship thudded against something. Zachary looked out the cockpit window to see what they had collided with. But when he peered into space, he saw nothing.

  “I felt it, too,” said Ryic. “I’ll go check the other portholes.”

  Ryic unbuckled himself from the flight deck-chair and floated to the main cabin. Zachary and Kaylee remained seated, doing a quick systems analysis. They didn’t find anything unusual.

  “Guys,” Ryic called. “I think I found our problem. It looks like we hooked one of those scouting beacons in our tailfin.”

  Zachary peered into the corner of the front window, where a holographic projection displayed a view of the back of the ship. He could see the flashing from the light that had become tangled around one of the ship’s steering flaps.

  “If we don’t get that thing off quick, we’re going to become slicer feed,” Kaylee said.

  Zachary steered the ship so that it made quick jolts, accelerating and decelerating. He thought he could make the beacon break free.

  “It’s still stuck,” Ryic shouted. “Try something else.”

  “Better yet, let me,” Kaylee said, tightening her seat belt.

  She waved her arms and took control of the ship’s steering mechanism, twisting her hands so the buckler would do a barrel roll, first clockwise, then counterclockwise.

  “How about now?” Kaylee asked.

  “Nope,” Ryic said, holding on tight. “And we’ve got bigger problems. About twenty slicers are following us.”

  “Do they look like they’re getting ready to attack?” Zachary asked.

  “No,” Ryic said.

  “Then chances are they don’t even realize we’re here. They probably think this is just another routine training exercise. If we stay the course, we can make it to the next fold and they’ll be none the wiser.”

  “They’re going to grow suspicious if we continue flying in a straight line,” Kaylee said, her face glowing in the blue light. “Didn’t you see them earlier? The beacon was making sharp turns and about-faces. We better do the same.”

  Zachary remembered the maneuvers he’d just seen, and tried to replicate them as best he could, first commanding the buckler to tip ninety degrees upward, then to make a wide turn to the right.

  “So far, so good,” Ryic called.

  Looking at the rearview projector, Zachary could see that the fleet of slicers was copying the buckler’s every move as he continued to simulate the precision drills. The plan seemed to be working perfectly. Despite the zigging and zagging, they were still making steady progress in the direction of the next space fold.

  “The beacon!” Ryic exclaimed. “It’s finally come loose.”

  “That’s great,” Kaylee said. “If we can shake it off, the Clipsians will follow it instead of us.”

  Zachary made another tight turn, only this time there was a loud clang at the back of the ship, followed by an explosion.

  “Ryic, what happened?” Zachary wished he could be in two places at once.

  “The beacon just got sucked up into our influx tube.”

  Almost instantly, a message appeared on the holographic display. CAMOUFLAGE SHIELD COMPROMISED. ENEMY DISTORTION SENSORS HAVE IDENTIFIED SHIP.

  The cool blue glow inside the buckler was now gone. Surely they were visible to their adversaries, naked and exposed. Ryic had floated back to the flight deck and buckled himself in beside Zachary and Kaylee.

  “We need to bound out of here, and quick,” he said.

  Zachary was trying to move the ship as fast as it would go, charting a straight shot toward the next fold. According to the cartograph, it was still a fair distance away. A particle blast fired across the top of the buckler, narrowly missing them.

  “If you don’t get a little more creative with your flying, we’re easy targets out here,” Kaylee said.

  “I’m trying to get us to that space fold as fast I can,” Zachary replied, thrusting his hand forward.

  Just
then they heard an earsplitting screech. The awful sound had come from one of the slicers’ outer blades thrashing the buckler’s exterior. Impact from the collision sent them spinning. Zachary tried to wrestle control of the ship, but it tumbled off course. Zachary glanced back to see that the side of the buckler had been dented inward like a squeezed tin can.

  Before he could get on a straight trajectory, the ship was struck again, this time in the back end of the spacecraft.

  Then the hum inside the buckler became very quiet.

  “We just lost power to the engines,” Zachary said.

  Kaylee went to the cabin to assess the damage from the last blow.

  “We won’t be able to repair this from the inside,” she called to the flight deck.

  The slicers were circling back for another attack.

  “How are we supposed to make it to the next fold without our engines?” Ryic asked.

  “Our forward momentum will get us there,” Zachary assured him.

  “But not if those slicers do first,” Kaylee said. “We need more speed.”

  “If those slicer blades keep poking at us, this ship is going to pop like that rubber glove,” Ryic said. He was pointing at the deflated glove still sticking to the cockpit window.

  “Ryic, that’s it,” Zachary said.

  “Why do you sound so excited?” Ryic asked. “I see very few positives to such an unforgiving end.”

  “No, the rubber glove. It gave me an idea.”

  Particle blasts were coming in, bouncing off the buckler’s sides.

  “How do the engines on this ship operate?” Zachary asked.

  “By expelling superheated matter and gas at extraordinary speeds,” Kaylee answered.

  “Okay, what if we applied the same principle, only instead we used oxygen to propel us forward,” Zachary said. “The oxygen that’s inside this ship.”

  “That’s crazy,” Kaylee said. “You want to pop our ship like a balloon and use the air we’re breathing to push us forward?”

  “You clearly misunderstood me,” Ryic added. “I was saying that it’s a bad thing.”

  “It’s a fine idea in theory,” Kaylee said. “But even if we did make it through the fold, we might suffocate first.”

  “Very, very bad,” Ryic said.

  “The ship’s bio regulators will keep us alive until we get to Tenretni,” Zachary said. Even if Ryic and Kaylee didn’t seem entirely sold, Zachary was already putting his plan into action. “Ryic, take over for me. Kaylee, grab each of us one of those regulators.”

  “What are you going to do?” Ryic asked.

  “Pop this balloon.”

  Zachary pulled a photon cannon from the overhead bin.

  Two slicers seemed to cut into the buckler at the same time, slamming it from both sides. Without the engines to power them, they were sitting ducks.

  Kaylee returned to Zachary, empty-handed.

  “All the bio regulators have been sabotaged,” she said.

  “How is that possible?” Zachary asked.

  “That’s what he was doing!” Ryic called out.

  “What who was doing?” Kaylee snapped back.

  “Hartwell. When Zachary and I came back to retrieve him, he was awake,” Ryic said. “The stun ball had partially worn off, and I found him rummaging through some of the underbins. It looked to me like he was searching for a way to free himself. But it turns out he was within arm’s reach of the regulators, tampering with them.”

  “Now what?” Kaylee asked.

  “Get back in the flight deck, buckle in tight, and hold your breath,” Zachary said, moving to the rear of the cabin. He grabbed the equipment rack with one hand and aimed his photon cannon squarely at the back end of the buckler. Then Zachary fired. And fired. And fired again.

  On the third blast the photon cannon blew a grapefruit-sized hole in the cabin wall. With explosive force, oxygen was sucked out of the hole, launching the buckler forward with a burst of acceleration. Zachary felt like his skin was going to be ripped from his body. Only this was a thousand times stronger. Hand over hand, he pulled himself along the equipment racks back to the flight deck. Ryic and Kaylee were staring straight ahead.

  Through the cockpit window he could see that Kaylee was gunning toward the space fold. The slicers were now struggling to catch up, trying to intercept them before they bounded away. Zachary pushed off the equipment rack to vault himself down to a seat of his own, but in the process he knocked a stun ball from one of the belts hanging on the wall. As soon as it went airborne, it was sucked backward, rocketing through the main cabin and lodging itself in the hole that Zachary had just blown in the wall.

  The stun ball completely blocked the airflow, cutting off the buckler’s propulsion. And while it gave them a moment to catch their breath, the decrease in acceleration allowed the slicers to close the gap.

  “I can’t reach,” Ryic said after stretching his arm back to the very limits of his unearthly ability.

  Kaylee had a different idea. She used her warp glove to try to tug the ball away. But it would take more weight and strength than she had in one hand alone.

  Zachary had already launched himself from the seat and was on his way to remove the obstruction blocking the hole. He tried to pull it free, but the stun ball held fast. It occurred to him that he might have a better chance of pushing it through. Zachary anchored himself against the wall and began pounding his boot against the sphere. He was getting winded fast, the air having thinned significantly.

  With each successive kick, the stun ball wedged itself tighter into the hole. He had exhausted every ounce of might in his legs, yet the ball refused to give. Zachary was beginning to see stars, and not the ones outside the ship’s rear porthole window. His blurry vision fell on a mag mop snapped onto the wall. If he couldn’t boot the ball through, maybe he could bat it out.

  Zachary reached out and grabbed the mop. He choked up on the handle and took a mighty swing, keeping his eye on the ball just like his dad had taught him to do during one of their many baseball practices in the backyard.

  The mesh and metal end struck the stun ball with tremendous force and knocked it clear out of the ship. Instantly the oxygen went whooshing out of the buckler once more, and Zachary felt the results of it immediately, both the ship surging forward and losing his breath. Once again he used the equipment rack and tried to pull himself back to safety.

  “You did it before,” Kaylee called. “Come on, you can make it!”

  Zachary wanted to respond, but his mouth couldn’t form the words. He struggled to keep his eyes open as the ship zoomed toward the space fold. Suddenly Ryic’s outstretched arm grabbed him firmly and pulled him back to the flight deck, where the air was richer and more breathable. But it was in vain.

  Just as the ship starbounded, Zachary passed out.

  «TWELVE»

  Zachary’s eyes opened. A blinding light reflected through the flight-deck window. It took a moment to gather his senses. Ryic and Kaylee were passed out in their seats, but he could see they were breathing. The buckler had touched down on a massive landing strip, just one spacecraft among hundreds. From their spot at the edge of the lot, they were just a short walk from a row of small, pointy buildings that were sticking out of a rolling fog.

  Zachary reached out and gave each of his companions a firm shake.

  “Guys,” he said. “Wake up.”

  Ryic and Kaylee slowly came to, adjusting their eyes to the brightness.

  “We’re safe,” Zachary said. “We’ve landed.”

  Releasing his safety belt, Ryic touched a purple ooze that stained the midsection of his shirt.

  “I . . . I think I’ve been hit,” he said, alarmed. “It must have been a stray particle blast.”

  Zachary immediately got up and went to his side. Kaylee looked less worried. She scooped some of the ooze up with her finger and examined it more closely. Then she licked it.

  “Ah, you’re a cannibal!” Ryic exclaimed. “I knew i
t.”

  “Unless you bleed peanut-butter-and-jelly spaste, I think you’ll survive,” Kaylee said.

  Ryic stood up and pulled a punctured pouch out from his clothing.

  “I didn’t realize I had that in there,” he said.

  Zachary was equal parts relieved and frustrated.

  “Come on,” he said. “Tenretni awaits.”

  The three climbed down the buckler’s departure ramp onto a slick black sidewalk much like the ones at Indigo 8. Arrows directed them toward one of the small buildings at the edge of the lot. Passengers from other arriving ships joined them on the sidewalk. Others passed in the opposite direction, ready to head back into space.

  As they got closer to the edge of the lot, Zachary realized that these weren’t small buildings at all, but the very tops of skyscrapers. Looking down, he could see that the entire landing lot had been built thousands of feet above the surface of the planet. The rolling fog was actually clouds.

  Zachary, Ryic, and Kaylee entered the top floor of one of the skyscrapers and found themselves inside a circular glass elevator along with a dozen other arriving visitors. Once the doors closed, the elevator rapidly descended, going below the clouds and revealing the dense city of Tenretni.

  It was a sprawling metropolis, with multiple tiers of development. Sidewalks, roads, and buildings were stacked layer upon layer, all supported the same way as the landing lot: on giant girders. The elevator came to its first stop on the 170th floor, which was the entry point for the highest tier of the city. The best dressed of the newly arriving travelers disembarked.

  Zachary tapped one of the elevator passengers about to exit on the shoulder and showed her the scrap of paper with the symbols he’d drawn.

  “Excuse me,” he said. “Do we need to get off here to get to this building? Discrape Towers?”