“That’s not the worst of it.” He’d continued. “The Queen has moved her end of the jump gate into low orbit of a volcanic planet. If you get past the outer guard and race through the portal, you’ll be within the gravity well. You must have a nimble craft and be ready to maneuver so you aren’t sucked down to the molten surface or struck by erupting volcanoes.”
At other ports they learned more but it was all conjecture, rumor and second-hand stories.
“She moved the gate so she didn’t have to be concerned with a strong Federation force coming after her.” a slender man at a bar claimed. “Battleships were too big to get into her system without being destroyed.”
A smuggler they met on a decrepit space port said it didn’t matter if you made it through the gauntlet, you might appear in the middle of a molten eruption; the gate was never in the same place because it orbited the planet at a different speed.
People disagreed on how difficult it was to get in, what she would do to uninvited’s that broke through or what she looked like but they all agreed it was a bad idea to try. The Queen of the Outer Reaches and her band of cut throats, pirates, misfits, runaway slaves and people who didn’t want to be found were safe in her system and only a fool would attempt to go uninvited. That is, if you could even find it. Nobody really knew which one of the tens of billions of solar systems in the galaxy she called home.
As they neared the final gate orbiting a distant moon, they could see debris floating around it. Maddy strapped herself into the gunner’s seat and Jessie pulled his belts tight. They hadn’t known what they would run into or how many of the stories were true. They had no way of knowing if the coordinates she bought from the Shaded man were accurate of if he’d sent them on a wild goose chase. They were at the last jump gate in an abandoned system, the one the maps had listed as inoperable because its exit point had been destroyed. The scanners weren’t working, they were being jammed, so he increased the magnification on the screens. As they got closer, they could make out what they were looking at. Hundreds of old ships floated lazily near the gate. Some were dead, drifting aimlessly and were another obstacle to maneuver around. Some fired thrusters and moved to cut them off.
“Wow.” Jessie said as they watched the colossal junkyard grow closer.
“It’s the graveyard of lost ships.” Maddy said. “So that part is true. This must be the right place. We can run, we can make a dash for the gate or we can fight. The prudent choice would be to leave and try at another time when they may not be here.”
“I suggest you flip off the safeties and get ready to rumble.” Jessie said and pulled his own harness half a notch tighter. “And I’ll divert as much energy as I can into the forward shields.”
He shoved the thrusters all the way to their full stops and they rocketed forward to meet the oncoming ships. He knew a thing or two about space battles from hundreds of hours of video games and he knew a thing or two about actual space ships from the hundreds of hours he’d sat in the cockpit learning the new controls they’d designed. They approached the attackers fast and when they were close enough to engage, they were also nearing the debris field of wrecked hulks. When the first shots were fired, when the screen showed Maddy the incoming pulse beams, she loosed her own barrage from all of their mounted guns. She tracked them, made impossible calculations in her head and fired a hundred miles in front of where they would be. She was uncannily accurate and splashes of deflected rounds bounced off the front of their ships. Jessie cut into the debris field and hit the gravity thrusters as he shot past slowly rotating ships who had tried and failed to get through the gate. They spun wildly away from him and he skimmed more, sending them tumbling towards the pursuers.
The pirates followed through the maze as he rolled and twisted their ceremonial cruiser around the stripped ships and Maddy blasted away every time she locked in on one of the pursuers. By timing the hyper drive thrusts from the ion engines and the antigravity projectors, he could turn on a dime, send abandoned craft careening towards their followers and generally cause mayhem and wanton destruction. He slung them into a rolling dive, slipped between a freighter and a transport and bounced thrusts off each as he spun through. He could hear things in the rear of the ship flying around and in the back of his mind, he dreaded the look on her face when she realized he hadn’t put away the dirty dishes from lunch like he was supposed to. He hoped he latched the fridge, he couldn’t remember.
Maddy swung the guns with the roll, the gyroscope ball moving independent of the ship and aimed at the tail of a stripped transporter to send it careening wildly towards one of the pirates. She kept blasting it until Jessie jerked them away in an impossible turn using full reverse thrusters and the gravity projectors to rocket them off at an oblique angle. The pirate avoided the tumbling ship but smashed through a hail of flying debris. A broken cargo door caught one of his thrusters and sheared it off. The ship jerked sideways and plowed into the freighter sending a silent scream of metal and critical parts into the vacuum of space.
Jesse dodged around a serenely floating family cruiser and pulled up hard in front of the jump gate, the rear of his ship only feet from the shimmering waves of the wormhole. They watched as the debris field of a hundred broken ships collided and sent tons of metal and alloy chunks spinning through space. What had been hard to navigate was now impossible at any speed. They saw the flames of at least two wrecked ships, their oxygen burning fast and turning the blackness into light. A dull colored ship darted over a tumbling hulk, dropped into the clearing near the gate and stopped only a few hundred miles away. Almost touching in space distance. Jessie diverted more of the power to their shields. If the ship fired, he would shove them through the gate. Another joined the first and as they watched the rest of the ships that had survived formed up on his wings. Six ships in an attack formation. All around them derelict ships were still smashing into each other, bouncing off and spinning in different directions. An ancient freighter slowly tumbled end over end spewing debris between them as they watched it and the waiting pirates.
The monitor beeped, an incoming call was being requested. Jessie answered and saw one of the reptilian men staring at him with hard, black eyes.
“I only wanted to see the face of the fool that will adorn my wall.” He said in universal, his voice hissing and drawing out the S’s.
“Come get some.” Jessie said and waggled his wings at them.
The space junk was still tumbling between them, too dangerous to fly through and too risky to fire cannons. Ricochets could send debris in any direction and a thousand-pound chunk of metal smashing into a ship at a thousand miles an hour could do real damage.
“This is the only way out.” The creature said. “We’ll be waiting for you if the Queen doesn’t have your head on a pike.”
Jessie tapped the reverse thrusters and they shimmered out of sight.
29
The Queen of the Outer Reaches
The craft shook from the volcanic eruptions as soon as they cleared the jump gate and the gravity pulled them to the planets’ surface. Jessie rolled hard out of the path of a steaming geyser and hit the thrusters, rocketed away from the molten rock, slid past the gate and gained altitude. He hovered thirty thousand feet above the lava and vapor covered planet while Maddy joined him, ran the scanners and searched for the most likely place the Queen would be. Everything below them was glowing red and orange through the mists and even at their altitude the cabin was sweltering. The life support system had gone from generating heat in the subzero temperatures of space to trying to cool them down in the thousand-degree blast furnace of the spewing volcanoes.
“This one.” She said and tapped the screen, indicating one of the moons orbiting the molten planet.
Jessie hit the thrusters, broke through the stratosphere and into the coolness of space. The air conditioners hummed to a halt and the heaters kicked in again as he flipped on the ion engines and angled towards a blue-green moon. He circled once, found the only city
near an ocean then entered the atmosphere.
“We’ve been targeted.” She said “They have locked on, probably with military grade proton cannons stripped from the Naval Destroyer we passed in the debris field.”
“Man, this might not have been the best idea.” Jessie said as he guided the ship towards the landing beacons. “I thought she was just some crime boss or something, I didn’t know she could jack military ships and get away with it.”
“The data I could assimilate on her is vague, mostly third and fourth person accounts which seemed fantastic and unbelievable. Perhaps there was more truth to them than I assumed.”
“Are you sure there is nobody else that could do this?” he asked then felt the ship shudder.
“Not that I could discern.” Maddy said and started shutting down the engines. “But it’s too late anyway, we’re in their tractor beam.”
Jessie let go of the controls, leaned back in the seat, closed his eyes and ran worried fingers through his hair. He’d never encountered anything like this, had never felt so helpless and overpowered. Like Maddy, he hadn’t believed the wild stories about the Queen. He figured she was just another crime boss. There was no way he could battle his way out, they were at her mercy. How did you fight someone who owned planets, stole military warships and could move jump gates to where ever she wanted? Did it matter? What other option did he have? Forget Scarlet and carry on? This new universe he was in could be exciting and interesting but it was dull without her. Every new thing he saw he wanted to see with her. Every new taste he wanted to taste with her. If she were here, he could stay and explore and enjoy.
Without her, he was nothing.
There was a hollowness in him and the joys he felt at learning to fly, or going where no man had ever gone before, paled when compared to having a simple lunch with her at a roadside park. His very cells ached for her.
Maddy concentrated on making herself more human, brought her body temperature up to ninety-eight degrees and made sure her hands were soft and pliable. She was starting to understand some of the human phrases like my heart ached or I felt their pain. She didn’t have to emulate the emotions; she was beginning to actually feel them. She placed her hand on his cheek, a strong memory he had and he covered it with his.
“It’ll be alright.” She said. “The Queen didn’t build an empire by killing everyone who came calling. She will help us or she won’t but I think the pirates outside the jump gate are a bigger threat than her. She’s a businesswoman, even if the business is illegal.”
Jessie smiled his crooked smile. If he kept his eyes closed, he could almost believe it was her. She was right, of course. Scarlet always was, too. He kissed her palm, breathed in her scent and wondered for the thousandth time how she did it. How she was a near perfect replica. When he opened his eyes she was smiling. Not a big one, not grinning and showing her teeth, it was a small, shy smile that turned up a corner of her mouth.
Close, yes, but she’s not Scarlet.
“Right.” He said and sat up. “Let’s do this.”
Jessie set the blasters to 10 then let them find their place low on his hips as they walked down the gangway to the landing port. He was expecting heavily armed men pointing guns but here was no one to meet them. The walkway led to a squat building so they followed it and found a tall human kicked back behind a desk, his feet on top of a stack of papers.
“Come to see the Queen?” he asked.
“Uh, not sure. Maybe.” Jessie answered. “We need a data hacker for some rejuvenation bracelets. I don’t particularly need to see her if I don’t have to.”
“You’ll definitely have to, then.” the man said and waved a bored hand towards the hall. “That’s a Queen’s service. You’ll need one of her men and they won’t be cheap. But you’re in luck. I heard she’s in a good mood. You might not have to wait for weeks.”
A little puzzled at the low-key security, they wandered through the terminal and out onto the streets. It was like any other small city with roads and buildings and all manner of people going about their business. The architecture was a little strange with the odd shapes and when they asked, a short, blue woman pointed out her palace towering above everything else. It was a giant pyramid some twenty or thirty stories tall that dominated the town. It was stained black with age and looked ancient compared to everything else. It was out of place, an original artifact of this world that was thousands of years old. It sat at the edge of the ocean, the blue green waves crashing against the base. The path leading up to it was wide and well maintained with hanging gardens and blooming flowers on both sides. Strange birds flitted between the trees, the volcano planet glowed red in the distance and the sun burned bright yellow in the cloudless sky.
“Not at all what I expected.” Jessie said as they entered the cool interior of the pyramid. “This is kind of like Mad Ruby’s place. Everybody is afraid of it because of the rumors but it really isn’t that bad.”
They stood in the massive open interior, unsure what to do next, and admired the fountains, sweeping arches and exotic birds that flitted around. No one had challenged them and there was no one to direct them.
“Come to see the Queen?” a man in flowing robes asked as he hurried past them. “Take one of those and follow me.”
He indicated a box of rings sitting on a plinth. They grabbed a pair, slipped them on and rushed after him. He didn’t wait. He didn’t care if they followed or not. They wound up a long, gradual staircase that was wide enough to drive a truck. It hugged the edge of the pyramid and they climbed for a long time. When they finally reached the top and it leveled out, the man walked out onto nothing and continued hurrying hundreds of feet above the gardens and pools below. He disappeared through an arched doorway that seemed to be supported by thin air. Across the wide gap and the long fall, the floors appeared to be normal and made of polished stone. Jessie hesitated at the edge of the last stair step and tentatively extended a foot. If he looked hard, he could see a faint shimmer around the edges of his boot but the nothingness felt solid. Their rings glowed a faint purplish color and they understood why the security was so lax. The rings kept the force field underneath them. A flick of a switch or possibly even a thought from the right person and the ring light would go off. It was a long way to the bottom. He didn’t look down as they stepped out, went through the archway and entered a great throne room that was bathed in light from the clear cap of the pyramid. Powerful looking reptilian guards in full battle armor lounged around and talked. An oversized throne, the only place to sit in the whole room, sat in a beam of rainbow-colored light. Elder council members stood in a small group with robes similar to the man that had led them up the stairs. A three eyed child laughed as she played some kind of dice game with a long haired, blue skinned woman. It was an informal setting and everyone was relaxed.
The man in the robes approached the two and handed the woman the piece of clear glass he held. He bowed to the child but she screeched at him.
“We were playing!” She yelled. “You made me mess up my turn!”
“I’m sorry.” He said. “But I was told this was of the highest urgency.”
They stood near the doorway and watched the temper tantrum play out as the blue skinned woman scanned through the images on the tablet. Maddy leaned over and whispered the translation and told him what was going on.
“So is the blue lady the queen?” Jessie asked.
“I believe so.” Maddy said.
The child stamped her foot and shrieked, swiped her hand at him and the man fell through the floor. He reached out, tried to grab on to anything but only found air. His scream was cut off when the floor became whole again and Jessie watched in horror as he fell out of sight towards the fountains below.
“That wasn’t very nice.” The woman said in an absent minded way as she concentrated on the tablet.
“Who are they?” the child said when she stopped giggling and finally noticed them.
Jessie and Maddy were trying to
back out of the door but the invisible floor was gone. His foot found only empty air. There had to be another way. The blue woman looked up and her eyes narrowed. She made a trilling sound and the guards were instantly on alert. Helmets were replaced, lounging reptilians sprung to attention and rifles were shouldered, aimed at the pair trying to sneak away. After a moments clatter of arms and armor, the throne room fell silent.
The child cocked her head and studied them.
“I’ve haven’t seen creatures like you since...” She broke off then asked. “Were you created by a skin doctor?”
Maddy translated under her breath and Jessie shook his head.
“Uh, no. Born the old-fashioned way.” he said in his barely passable universal.
The little girl tittered and the woman stepped protectively in front of her.
“What is your business?” she demanded.
“We’ve come to ask a favor of the Queen of the Outer Reaches.” Jessie said and bowed to her.
He wasn’t sure what the protocols were but acting obsequious and respectful seemed like the thing to do. With a flick of her wrist, she could send him through the floor.
“Queens business!” the girl shouted and ran for the throne. She climbed up and sat, her feet dangling, and lifted the scepter from its place. The elders took their places at either side of the oversized chair.
The guns were lowered by the guards surrounding the room but all eyes were on them. Jessie looked to the blue woman, not sure what to do.
“What are you waiting for? You may approach.” She said, went back to the tablet and wandered off to continue reading.
Jessie double checked the color of the ring, made sure it was still glowing, then strode across the long expanse of seemingly solid stone floor until he came to the base of the throne. He went to one knee, bowed his head like he’d seen in countless movies about kings and queens and hoped he didn’t do something to offend her. He didn’t know if the blue lady was toying with him or if the little girl really was the Queen but he had to play it straight. He’d seen how fast she went from cute and precocious to a stark raving killer.
Zombie Road | Book 8 | Crossroads of Chaos Page 19
