2016 Young Explorer's Adventure Guide

by Maggie Allen

  “Right then,” said the one with the gruff voice. “No funny moves or I’ve orders to shoot you down on the spot, understand?”

  One behind each of them, the guards led them along a corridor, up some steps and out onto the deck. Harriet’s heart skipped a beat when she saw the ropes and the nooses hanging from the bar. Four of ‘em. One for me, she thought, one for Sibelius and... Her heart nearly stopped altogether.

  The steamrocket rested on the aft deck. Sam and Davy were tied up to masts next to the improvised gallows.

  Oh blimey. ‘Ow did that ‘appen? She thought. Now we’re doomed for sure. But she caught their eyes and gave them an encouraging wink, although in her heart she felt that she had betrayed them all.

  “This,” said the pirate captain, from his carved wooden seat that had been set out on the deck together with a table bearing a cup and jug of wine and a cushion on which was nestled the Seal of the City, “will be our last meeting, I think.”

  Harriet said nothing, but held her head up high. Inside she felt like screaming. She was breaking out into a sweat. But she wouldn’t show fear to the pirates. She wouldn’t give them that victory, too. And besides, it was her duty to encourage her crew and show them a good example, even to the last.

  The pirate Captain smiled. “I shall enjoy watching you … dance.”

  Something tickled Harriet’s wrist. She glanced down to see a couple of hairy spider legs tapping out from her sleeve. She quickly pushed them back in.

  “Take them up!” said the pirate Captain, pouring himself a glass of wine.

  “Now!” said Harriet. She ducked down beneath the gun barrel and tripped her guard by the legs, sending him crashing to the deck. Sibelius had did the same. In the moment of surprised confusion which followed, she and Sibelius tore off their jackets, releasing dozens of spiders, which jumped and scuttled all over the deck.

  The Captain screamed, spilling his wine like blood down his front. Harriet rolled and jumped, taking down another pirate and wresting his cutlass from his hand. She swung up into the rigging as a gunshot splintered the wood next to her head. But she was fast and not an easy target.

  “Never mind the flies!” screamed the Pirate Captain. “”Get rid of these sp-sp-spiders! Get them off me! Get them off me!”

  As Harriet reached the higher rigging, she looked down and saw Sibelius opening his pouch. In that moment, the nest burst and a cloud of thousands of tiny spiders exploded into the air below.

  Spiders were everywhere. They were crawling on the deck, over the masts, rigging and sails, and on the clothes and faces of the pirates.

  In the chaos that ensued, Harriet untied a halyard and swung through the air to the other side of the ship, landing expertly next to Davy and Sam. She cut their bonds with a single stroke of the cutlass.

  “To the rocket” she said. “Fire her up!”

  As the boys headed back to the steamrocket, Harriet fought her way to the captain’s table. It had been knocked over as his crew had rushed forward to try and get the spiders off him. The Seal of the City of Lundoon lay at her feet. She was just about to pick it up, when she felt the sharp stab of an elbow in her side, and another hand snatched it up. The hand belonged to a grim and dangerous looking fellow if ever there was one. ”Not so easy, little witch,” he snarled. He pulled out his flintlock and raised the barrel only inches from Harriet’s face.

  It’s over, thought Harriet and closed her eyes ready her for the shot. But the shot never came. Her eyes snapped open again. The thug stumbled backwards, dropping his gun as he struggled to wrestle free from the hairy, muscular arm that had tightened about his neck. “Sibelius!”

  The thug passed out on the boards and the sky-monkey tipped his leather cap at his Cap’n, the Seal safe in his simian grip.

  “Quick! To the rocket!”

  As they reached the rocket’s hatchway, they heard the pirate captain, who was now free of spiders, shouting the order, “Stop them! Don’t let them get away!”

  Harriet kicked back, knocking a pirate from her as she scrambled into the rocket after Sibelius. The steel door swung shut and she bolted it down. Bullets pinged and ricocheted from the metallic surface as Harriet threw herself into the pilot’s seat.

  “She’s not up to steam yet, Cap’n!” said Davy, an edge of panic in his voice. “I don’t think we’ll have enough power!”

  Harriet yanked back the brake release and engaged the engines. Steam shot from the jets at the back of the rocket, but it was not enough to get them airborne. She pushed hard on the throttle and the steamrocket jolted forward, careering in a crazy zig-zig across the deck, sending pirates leaping to the left and the right of them.

  “Hold on tight!” she called and shunted the thrusters into full power as they smashed through the balustrade at the ship’s edge and dropped into empty space.

  The rocket spiralled through the Dark Sea at a dizzying rate. “We’ll ‘ave to freefall while she gets up steam!”

  “She’s there Cap’n, she’s there!”

  Harriet saw the pressure needle climb, re-engaged the engines and the rocket shot forward. Harriet lifted it and stabilised their flight path, getting her bearings and heading back to The Redoubtable. She could see the Mayorial Vessel, accompanied by a fleet of fast-flying, armed guard ships, had already docked.

  “I think we done it,” she said, grinning. “I think we bloomin’ done it!”

  Harriet stood on the foredeck of The Redoubtable watching the captured pirate ship being escorted by an armed City Guard down towards the Earth and the gaols of Lundoon. The treasure, the great Seal of the City, she had returned to the Mayor, whose gratitude extended further than expected as he promised her and her crew a plentiful reward for their part in the capture of one of the most notorious pirate gangs of recent times.

  “It would seem, mademoiselle that our adventuring days are not over after all.”

  Harriet turned about to look at Sibelius.

  He was grinning, his golden tooth twinkling. “The crew are awaiting their orders, Cap’n.”

  Harriet looked down and saw the crew assembled on the deck amidst the bunting and the burgeoning tables. Blimey, she thought. I’d clean forgot.

  “Now then, lads and lasses,” she called. “As I was sayin’ before we was so rudely int’rupted, ‘ow about a feast to celebrate me blinkin’ birthday?”

  As the crew cheered and the band struck up a tune, Harriet felt Sibelius, her best friend and First Mate, come and stand next to her.

  “Happy birthday,” he said.

  “Yeah,” said Harriet. “Ain’t it just!”

  Where You Want To Be

  Jeannie Warner

  Jeannie Warner spent her formative years in Southern California and Colorado, and is not afraid to abandon the most luxurious environs for a chance to travel anywhere. She has a useless degree in musicology, a checkered career in computer security, and aspirations of world domination. Her writing credits include blogs of random musings, thriller novel manuscripts, stories in Tightbeam online magazine, KnightBridge’s Rom Zom Com anthology, the Mad Scientist’s Journal, several police statements, and a collection of snarky notes to a former upstairs neighbor. She lives in the San Francisco Bay area near several of her best friends whom she refers to as “minions.”

  Ollie sat back in the pilot’s chair with a happy sigh. The chair was too large for her slender fourteen year-old frame; the seat was originally built to the specifications of an adult raised planetside, so it gave her room to sit cross-legged as she worked. The instrument panel in front of her blinked green thanks to the past few hours she’d spent with the manual and a surreptitious kick to the underside of the console. Reaching to one side, she flipped a switch. “All sorted, Dodger! Our course is laid in and logged.”

  “That’s Cap’n Dodger,” came the crackling reply after a moment, and Ollie grinned. Ever since the previous Captain Sykes got himself nicked by dirt-side authorities doing one of his “trades” with stolen goods a few cyc
les back, Dodger had taken over command their cargo ship. Since joining up a couple years before, Ollie knew being captain was all Dodger ever wanted to do, and he’d wasted no time after the arrest donning Sykes’ uniform jacket to wear it constantly even though it was too large. Dodge wore it with the sleeves rolled up and held his chin very high.

  “Captain Dodger,” Ollie repeated dutifully, though her smile was in her voice.

  “I best come up and check it,” he said. “Since it’s yer first an’ all.”

  Ollie rolled her eyes. “Okay. Excited much?”

  There was no reply to that beyond a dismissive snort, and Ollie laughed as she thumbed off the intercom. He might act casual, but she knew Dodger was excited about the prospect of seeing his sister again. They had both been in the FAGN program since early childhood, but weren’t assigned together. The Federal Association for Generational Navy was a well-intentioned program to find something useful to do with all the children born in space whose parents either couldn’t (by virtue of being dead) or wouldn’t (by virtue of lacking the ability) take responsibility. As far as work programs and vocational training go, it was moderately effective - if you got on a good ship, with good contracts. The Federation provided subsistence, so luxuries were a bonus you won for yourself.

  Dodger hadn’t talked much about his sister when Ollie joined the crew two years ago as a stowaway. Their ship did mostly salvage ops – there was a lot of wreckage in and around asteroid and ring mining. Captain Sykes had started gravitating toward less than legal jobs, but once he was gone between Dodger and Ollie, they had figured out how to make more money running supplies and doing a little ring mining. That is, ice and water. There is never enough water in space. Ollie had a head for figures that helped them make a profit on their jobs, keeping them on the only-slightly-illegal side of operations. There was supposed to be a duly appointed FAGN officer in charge of the ship. Dodger was still three months shy of the age for full citizenship status, so they couldn’t get his self-promotion legitimized.

  A thumping on the stairs and a creak of the cockpit door opening heralded Dodger’s arrival, and Ollie swiveled in the chair to wave hello. Dodger was a hand span taller than she, with a shock of dark brown hair and matching brown skin with the indeterminate bones of a space mutt. He wore the captain’s coat, and below that the same grey overalls as Ollie herself. He was scowling, but Ollie’s grin never wavered. She could see the excitement dancing in his eyes.

  “Callie oughta be signaling us soon here,” he muttered, checking over Ollie’s programming in the console. “She said she would when they cleared the gas giant. I reckon today. Maybe even this shift.”

  “Do you want to take the shift from me?” Ollie asked with a fake innocent look that didn’t fool Dodger for a moment.

  “Nah. I’ll just hang out a bit. You know. See how you do with comms.” She knew that her work on communications was calm and professional. Ollie had taken it over as one of her ship’s duties months ago, for all official waves. But she also knew nerves when she saw them.

  “Okay, Dodge. Captain Dodger,” she said, as he shot her a look all over again.

  They sat there in companionable silence while Ollie pulled up charts on the current mining operations in the new system. Outside the stars barely seemed to move even with the engines at three-quarter burn. “When did you last see her in person?” Ollie looked back toward Dodger, who was starting to fidget with a lucky credit chip he’d won in an unsavory poker game back near the Pleidies.

  “We was nine an’ eleven,” he said. “We’d asked to be on a ship together, but there was only two berths open. I went with Bill ‘cause I didn’t like how he looked at Callie.”

  “You think he woulda…” Ollie didn’t want to finish the question, and Dodger shrugged.

  “Maybe not. I was supposed to look after her, though. Mum said. Even though she was older. She’s an officer now, I hear.” There was justifiable pride in his tone. “Gonna have her own ship soon. Not as good as mine, ‘course.”

  “Of course.”

  A green light flashed on the console, and Dodger lunged forward to slap his palm down and open the channel. “FAGN ship New London here.”

  The connection wasn’t good, and the sound crackled. “Dodge? Is that you? We’re being boarded!” A well-groomed young woman appeared on the screen, dark hair pulled back neatly into a bun at the back of her neck. Her face was a match for Dodger’s, but more feminine with subtly rounder eyes that were darker in the moment. She wore a jacket like Dodger’s that was tailored to her frame and size. “I don’t know why. This isn’t according to protocol at all.”

  Behind her, the door to the bridge opened and white man with dark, curling hair with a neat moustache appeared. This one was perhaps thirty, dressed in formal Federation uniform, scarlet jacket and trousers tucked into shiny black boots. Everything about his appearance gleamed. The one mar on his otherwise handsome face was a scar that stretched from his eyebrow down to his cheek, leaving the eye behind it milky white with a crease in the lid. His voice was loud and slightly braying as he reached forward and laid a hand on Callie’s shoulder. “I am Captain Jazz Hook. On behalf of the Federal Association of Interstellar Systems, this ship is being decommissioned as an FAGN vessel, re-appropriated by my staff, and will be sent to Stargazer Station effective immediately. All crews will report to the same station for a new assignment either on the station or within the administrative ranks. Those under thirteen will immediately be enrolled in the education system to receive proper training for a future productive role in society.”

  Dodger’s breath caught with Ollie’s as they watched Callie struggling in the man’s grip, which tightened on her as she tried to move away. He didn’t seem aware that the camera was on, or that a channel was open and broadcasting. “What? Why? Captain Hook, we are operating precisely according to orders and within budget.” Budget was usually the magic word in the Federation. If you didn’t cost money or make waves, you did as you pleased.

  “That is not my concern. The FAGN program is ended, effective two standard days ago Federation surface time.” His tone went from officious to patronizing, which was almost worse. “Special interest groups, they passed new legislation. It’s not right for children to be forced to run about in space without supervision. It’s for your own good. And don’t worry, your rank will be translated into the new bands of a proper Federation corporate position. I’m sure you’ll make a very fine administrative assistant.”

  Callie tried to push off the older man’s hand. “Don’t you ‘central supervision’ me, mister! You can’t just end the FAGN program. Captain Richards and I are duly approved and appointed ship’s managers. I’m sure if you’ll review our record–“

  “All the FAGN records have been reviewed by appropriate personnel.” Hook beckoned. In the doorway, two more officers appeared and took hold of Callie on either side. They lifted her out of her chair to face him. “Your lack of immediate compliance with my authority only demonstrates the general laxity and disobedience that has characterized the FAGN program recently.” His tone turned vaguely conciliatory. “Look, we all realize that the program was a mistake. Children need close adult supervision at all times to protect them, and help them be productive adults one day. It’s a very dangerous universe, little lady, and while I’m sure it wasn’t your ship involved in heists this last year, it doesn’t mean we can allow this kind of activity to occur with a program under our insignia. Men, arrest her for insubordination. And you - go along now, there’s a good girl.”

  Callie continued to protest as the two red-clad goons hustled her out. Dodger stood beside Ollie in stillness, a hand clapped over his mouth to stifle words that threatened to pour out of him. Thoughtfully, Ollie reached out to turn off the two-way communication, leaving incoming signal only. Standing alone on the screen, Hook’s unguarded expression turned to one of vague disgust. “Revolting,” he muttered, and pulled a small jump drive from his pocket to insert into the ship’s co
nsole. “The sooner all these space rats are rounded up and dumped for re-programming the better.” He drew back his fingers after plugging in. “It’s sticky? Stars preserve us, the whole place is sticky. The…” His voice trailed off as his eyes focused on the screen, seeming to look directly through the screen. “Hello, what’s this? Is there someone there? Can you hear-“

  Callie and Dodger’s hands collided as they flipped off the communications switch, and in the silence that followed they stared at one another with wide eyes. Then Dodger’s face scrunched up, torn between tears and anger. “I’ll spend a year in a sanitation tank afore I’ll let them take my ship away. We worked too hard. We all done good jobs.” He leaned back against the entryway and slid down to sit on the deck panels, scrubbing at his face and hair with his hands. “But they got guns, Ollie.”

  “Guns ain’t everything in space. I mean, I reckon we can get a paint job to cover our insignia, an’ maybe a new transponder back at Midway Station. It’ll cost, but with the last ice transport we have extra.” Ollie’s mind started racing, coming up with the plans needed to strike out as independents, away from the whole FAGN system. Hadn’t they been on their own for the last twelvemonth? “Our ship mighta been lost. We ain’t checked in officially for a long time anyway, right?”

  “They got Callie though,” Dodger said, lifting his chin again to stare at the now-blank screen. “You hear what he said? They’re gonna “re-program” her, turn her into some kinda office drone that ain’t never gonna ship out again.” He took a breath, then flashed an echo of his earlier proud smile. “Didja see her uniform? She looked good, eh?”

  “Real good, Dodge.” Ollie stood to attention beside her chair. “So you reckon she’d make a good first mate here, on the New London?”

  Dodger stared at her for a moment, then a smile crept across his face. “That’s Captain Dodger. She better ‘member it, too.”