The lights flickered against her face, and Twig gasped.
Oh rotten acorns . . .
She covered her mouth. Her legs trembled and she could barely breathe.
She left the toolshed. She raced through the town, heading back toward the Dragon Huntress, her heart thumping and fear pounding through her.
* * * * *
"All right . . . nice and . . . easy . . . whoa!" Riff gulped as the ship jolted. He tightened his grip on the joystick.
"Riff, damn it!" Nova clutched her seat's armrests. "You're going to kill us all. Slow down!"
"Gods, you sound like my grandmother." Riff gently tugged back on the throttle. "Just got to ease us up a bit . . . slowly . . . oh shenanigans."
The engines roared. The Dragon Huntress shot into the sky with flame and fury, soaring up through the atmosphere. Smoke blasted down onto the ruins of Acorngrove and coated the fields. The town grew smaller beneath them as the starship blazed upward, rattling madly.
"Riff!" Nova shouted. "Hold us steady!"
"I'm trying!" He fiddled with the joystick. "It's not easy without Giga here. I'm not used to flying on manual."
"That much is obvious. Let me help." Nova placed her hands around his, helping him move the joystick. "There. Steady like that."
Their hands touched, and her hair brushed his face. He turned to look at her. Her cheeks were bruised, her lips cut.
Giga gave her those wounds, he thought. Sudden fear filled Riff that he would lose Nova. He had never thought much of death before, but now halflings lay dead, now Giga was perhaps dead herself, her body possessed. The thought that Nova had come so close to death still rattled him.
"There, easy, right?" Nova said, turning her head toward him. Their faces were so close they almost touched. She smiled, the pretty smile that he liked.
"Easy."
Only it wasn't easy, none of it. Not this job. Not this cosmos full of enemies. Not the fear, not whatever creature lurked in his quarters.
But Nova is still here. And we're still flying.
The Dragon Huntress kept rising and soon entered the silence and blackness of space.
Once they were floating through space, the planet of Haven far below, Riff set the ship into cruise control and hit his communicator. His voice rolled across the starship.
"Staff meeting. Everyone to the main deck."
He felt uncomfortable leaving the bridge alone, even on cruise control. The ship's software, he told himself, was the same software Giga had always used. The android was just an interface, after all, with the Dragon Huntress being the core. But without Giga's watchful eye, he wouldn't stray far from the bridge, and he'd be ready to run back at any bump on the road. Nice thing about space, at least, was that you had to veer millions of kilometers off course before you hit any bumps.
They all gathered in the main deck. Everyone was wounded. Steel's armor was still cracked, his arm bandaged. Nova's face was bruised and swollen. Romy still wore her cone of shame, her tail hung between her legs, and dinosaur band-aids covered her left wing. Twig sat on the couch, her black hair cut to chin-length; the rest of her hair had burned in the fire.
Two of us are missing, Riff thought, looking at them. I wish you were here, Giga, not chained in my quarters. I wish you were here, Piston, not wounded and retired too soon.
"All right, everyone," Riff said. "You all know what happened on Haven. You all know what happened to Giga. You all know what Giga told me about this Singularity. But there's something you don't know, something Twig found." He turned toward the halfling. "Tell everyone, Twig. Tell them what you told me."
The little mechanic hopped onto the couch and stood on the cushions. She shuddered. "I went searching through cyberspace. It's not on any official news channels yet, but I checked my tabloids. I checked with my pen pals across the galaxy. Over the past few days, robots have been swarming from star to star. Each planet saw different machines. We all know that a robot with chainsaws visited Haven, a planet with many trees. On the planet Reean, a world with many glass buildings, robots wielding hammers have been smashing the glass, then smashing the people within. On the frozen planet of Teelana, robots arrived with flamethrowers to melt the halls of ice, to burn those who lived inside. The Singularity is not one model of machine. They seem to be . . . adapting themselves. Changing. Evolving rapidly. Every day, the machines are stronger, smarter, crueler." Twig shivered. "And on every planet, the pattern is the same. One ship of the Singularity arrives. One robot visits, learns, tests, exposes the planet's weaknesses. Days later, a great army arrives to destroy. I fear the same will happen to Haven, that thousands of these chainsaw robots will invade."
"Fragging aardvarks," Nova muttered. "We barely killed one of them. How will we face thousands? How can anyone face thousands?"
"They can't." Twig lowered her head. "Out of the twenty other planets that the Singularity has visited, only one repelled them. A planet called Tulahn, orbiting the star Altair in the Aquila system." She raised her chin and looked at the others, one by one. "That's where we must go. To Tulahn. We must learn what the planet's denizens know, how they fought back the Singularity . . . so that we too can survive."
For a long moment, they were all silent, each digesting the words.
Finally it was Nova who spoke. "With all due respect, Twig . . . this isn't our war. We're Alien Hunters. We're a single starship with a small crew. Pest controllers, that's all. We can't fight a galactic war." She shook her head, hair swaying. "This is for the Humanoid Alliance to deal with. The fleets of Earth, of Ashmar, of Gruffstone."
"We don't have the time!" Twig countered. "It can take months, years, even decades for the Humanoid Alliance to make a decision. Hell, it can take years for them to even grant us an audience. They love bureaucracy like halflings love mushrooms. The Singularity is evolving every day. You heard what Giga said. Every moment, they're growing stronger. And even if we warned the Alliance, what would we tell them? That we read on cyberspace that an army of chainsaw robots is heading to Haven? They'd demand proof, if they don't lock us away in the looney bin. We need to learn more." She pointed toward the stars that shone outside the porthole. "Altair is one of the closest stars to us. We can be in Tulahn in two days, traveling in hyperspace. We'll find answers there, I know it."
"The halfling is right," Steel said. The knight raised his chin and stroked his drooping mustache. "Haven is in need. The cosmos is in need. We must face this threat head-on."
Romy wailed and hid behind the couch. "But I'm scared! They'll have huge robots there. I know it. Can't we fly somewhere really far and hide?"
Steel drew his sword. "The maiden is frightened. I'll fly to edge of the cosmos and slay every robot to defend her—and to defend Haven. None shall hurt the innocent, not on my watch, not while honor pumps through my heart." The knight squared his shoulders. "For I am a knight, and I do not hide from battle."
Everyone started talking at once, shouting, wailing, arguing. Their raised voices echoed through the ship, deafeningly loud, blending into an unintelligible chorus.
"Enough!" Riff roared. "Be quiet!"
They all turned toward him, biting down on their words—all but Romy.
"—and I told him," the demon was prattling on, "I only bit his prosthetic leg because I thought it was real, and—" She looked around, realized everyone had fallen silent, and slapped a hand on her mouth. "Never mind."
Riff sighed. "You're forgetting that this isn't a democracy. This is my ship. And I'm going to make a decision." He looked through the porthole at the distant stars and the green planet of Haven below. "We're going to travel to planet Tulahn, like Twig suggested. We'll be there in two days. We need to learn how they defeated the Singularity, so that we can bring this information to Haven. So that maybe . . . maybe we can save Giga."
At the mention of Giga, they all lowered their heads.
"Poor Giga," Romy whispered. "Possessed."
"This whole damn ship is possessed—by a demon," N
ova muttered.
Romy gasped. "Really? Who? Where?"
Nova only rolled her eyes.
That possessed ship now lurched, nearly knocking everyone off their feet.
"Damn thing," Riff muttered. "I'm off to the bridge to try to get the Dragon into hyperdrive. Everyone, get some rest. Stay away from Giga. Stay away from the drones in the crate. We'll be in Tulahn in two days. And maybe find answers."
And maybe get back our android.
He left the deck, returned to the bridge, and grabbed the controls.
Suddenly pain stabbed through Riff, and more than ever before, he wished his father were here. Aminor would know what all this meant. The old magician always did. Yet once more Aminor was traveling, crossing the cosmos in his flying saucer, and once more Riff was here alone, seeking answers in the darkness.
He shoved forward the hyperdrive thruster. The HMS Dragon Huntress blasted into the darkness, the stars streaming outside.
CHAPTER TEN:
BUBBLES
The Dragon Huntress popped out of hyperspace spinning like a top, her engines sputtering.
"By the stars!" Steel said, falling to the floor with the clatter of armor.
"Riff, damn it!" Nova shouted, clinging to her chair, her legs in the air.
Riff gritted his teeth and yanked on the joystick, trying to steady the ship. The stars spun madly outside as the Dragon Huntress swirled. From the main deck rose the clatter of furniture, shattering dishes, and the wails of his crew.
"Sorry, sorry!" Riff said, slowly steadying the ship. "Damn thing's not that easy to fly without Giga."
"Giga this, Giga that," Nova muttered. "The demon would do a better job flying than you."
Riff glared at her. "I've seen Romy fly into trees while using her own wings. Do you want to try flying, or will you be quiet?" He pointed out the windshield. "I got us to Tulahn, didn't I? There it is."
Steel pushed himself up from the floor, armor clanking, and approached the windshield. Nova joined him, her golden catsuit whispering with every step, the thin kaijia fabric as hard as the knight's armor. Riff joined them, and they stared down together at the planet.
Tulahn was massive, as large as Jupiter back home, maybe larger. The planet had no solid surface; it was entirely covered in water, the oceans plunging kilometers deep. Altair, the planet's star, shone in the distance, its white light gleaming against the blue planet. This planet wasn't far from home, just outside the border of humanoid civilization, yet it was a world little explored, its life hiding deep underwater.
"A world made of nothing but water," Steel said softly.
Nova nodded. "Careful your armor doesn't rust, tin man." She turned toward Riff. "There's nowhere to land. How do we contact the tuloys?"
"I have a feeling they're about to contact us." He pointed outside. "Look."
Nova narrowed her eyes, frowning down toward the planet. "I see . . . bubbles?"
"Starships," Riff whispered, awed. "Tuloy starships." His eyes dampened. "Starships such as we've never seen."
"They look like bubbles." Nova nodded. "Probably gassy whales down in those oceans."
Riff groaned. "And we probably look like a chunk of whale dung to them. Be nice. We're the first humanoids to visit Tulahn in a century. We've come here for aid, not to cause an interplanetary incident."
He returned his eyes to the view. The bubbles kept rising, leaving the planet of Tulahn and floating through space toward the Dragon Huntress. They were huge bubbles, each one large enough to enclose the starship. Riff counted seven of them. They gleamed in the light of Altair, full of swirling blue and purple liquid. Lights flashed within them, not merely reflected sunlight but a light coming from somewhere in the liquid. As the bubbles flew closer, Riff frowned, searching for aliens inside, but he saw nothing but liquid.
"Are you sure those are starships, Riff?" Steel asked, drawing Solflare. "They could be weapons. Liquid weapons."
The bubbles began to float around the Dragon Huntress, surrounding the starship. Their lights gleamed, yellow and silver and white and blue. They looked almost like small planets themselves, made of swirling oceans.
As Riff watched, the great bubbles bulged. Several smaller bubbles—each perhaps a meter across—detached from the larger bubbles and came floating closer to the Dragon Huntress. They were moving toward the airlock. A knocking sounded from the airlock.
"Riff, are bubbles knocking on our door?" Nova asked.
"So it would seem," Riff said. "Better answer the door. They might be selling cookies."
He left the bridge, climbed downstairs, walked along the corridor, and entered the main deck. Romy sat there on the couch, staring at the door.
"Somebody's knocking!" the demon whispered. "In space!"
Riff pointed at the ceiling hatch. "Go to your attic."
"Why?" The demon stamped her feet and tossed her flaming hair. "I want to see the visitors."
"Fire and water don't mix. Attic! Go!"
She groaned, flapped her wings, and opened the hatch in the ceiling. As the demon crawled into the attic, Riff thought he saw a shadow stir above, thought he heard the patter of small feet. But then the demon tugged the hatch shut, the knock sounded on the airlock again, and Riff pushed the thought aside.
He hit controls on the airlock panel, opening the outer door, allowing the visitors in. Once the airlock was pressurized, Riff opened the inner door where he stood.
Three floating bubbles greeted him.
Each was as large as a beach ball and full of swirling liquid and light. The lights pulsed as the bubbles floated onto the main deck and hovered before Riff. When he looked more closely, he saw strands of purple liquid floating inside blue water like ink spilled into a tub.
"Welcome to the Dragon Huntress," he said, wondering if they could hear, wondering if they were even sentient. "I'm Raphael Starfire, captain of this vessel. These are Nova of Ashmar and Steel Starfire."
He gestured toward the pair. The gladiator and knight stood in the corridor doorway, gaping.
The bubbles spun from side to side as if staring at their surroundings. Their surfaces rippled, and a watery sound rose from them, thrumming, eerie, coalescing into a voice.
"Welcome to Tulahn, solid ones. We are of water. We are of sunshine and warmth. We are those risen from darkness to feed upon the light. We are joyous."
"We're . . . joyous to meet you too," Riff said. "Please feel at home aboard the Dragon Huntress. Would you like anything to drink?"
Nova groaned. "Don't offer them a drink. Might be a relative."
The bubbles of liquid spoke again. "Do not be frightened of our forms, solid ones. These shells are but suits to let us breathe on your ship. The water you see is like air in your ship. We must live in water. Thus we float within our bubbles."
Riff stared more closely. "You're the purple liquid inside the water, aren't you?"
The purple strands swirled inside the bubbles. "Those are our forms. We float in these containers of water as you float in this container of air."
Riff understood. The bubbles were spacesuits. The water inside them let the tuloys breathe. Here were aliens made of swirling purple liquid, possessing no solid form.
The bubbles turned toward Steel and the purple liquid grew excited, swirling madly. Flashes of light sparked in the bubbles, and their surfaces thrummed. "Is he a machine? One of the metal ones?"
Steel shook his head. "No, liquid ones. I wear a suit of metal, but I'm a being of flesh." He unstrapped his breastplate and placed it on the floor. "Do you see?"
The tuloys seemed soothed, and their light dimmed. "This is good, solid ones. We do not like the metal ones. The machines. Those who came to destroy life."
"The Singularity," Riff whispered.
"Yes, that is their name." The bubbles flared with light. "We encountered them. We have been studying their ways. They are sweeping across the great dryness, seeking life to destroy. They are our enemies. We hate them."
Better
not show them Giga, Riff thought, or they're likely to destroy this ship . . . or at least make it very wet.
"We've encountered them too." Riff shuddered. "We've come to you for aid. Tell us about the Singularity. Tell us how you defeated them."
"We did not defeat them," said the bubbles, their voices dropping. "They came seeking life. But they knew only to seek life of flesh. Solid life like you. They saw only liquid, only water. We hid in our oceans, dispersing into many molecules. They did not recognize us as life, for we are liquid." As if to demonstrate, the purple liquid inside the bubbles dispersed, mixing with the water, then gathered again into inky strands.
Riff lowered his head. His heart sank. "So we've come here for nothing. You can't help us."
"We can help you, solid one, for we've studied the Singularity. We bended the light. We sent out our bubbles into the dark dryness. We searched. We contemplated. We learned. We understand the Singularity, and we know where they are from, and we know how to defeat them."
Riff's heart leaped again. "How? Tell me, tuloys."
The bubbles turned from side to side as if shaking their heads. "We will not. Our wisdom is secret, and we will not share it . . . not for free. We will help you, solid ones, but only if you help us." Their light dimmed. "There is an evil in our ocean. An evil of solid flesh. An alien evil from the stars, which we liquid beings cannot touch, for we are creatures of wisdom and light, not warriors. We will tell you how to slay the Singularity . . . if you slay this devil in our world."
Riff glanced at Nova and Steel. They stared back, eyes dark.
Riff looked back at the bubbles. "Alien evil? Just our specialty."
* * * * *
The Dragon Huntress hovered above the endless ocean of Tulahn, its thruster engines rippling the water. Riff stood in the airlock's open doorway, staring down.
Alien Sky Page 9
