by William Wood
“You did something!” Calvin shouted happily. He looked around wildly for something that looked like an engine status display. He saw a series of large circles with lines coming out of it, and assumed it was the engines. The lights under them were yellow, and the needles were slowly moving up. “The engines are warming up!” Calvin shouted. “I think!”
Calvin looked out the front window and noticed the cracks in the floor were getting wider.
A flashing red light on the far left of the console caught Calvin’s attention. It also had a picture under it that looked like a door. What did that mean? Did that mean one of the doors didn’t close all the way?
“Freks! Calvin called. Freks came running up to the bridge.
“Yes sir?” Freks answered.
“Freks, can you please check the main door; make sure it’s closed?”
“Yes sir!” Freks said. He ran back down. “Petori, give me a hand!”
The engine dials were nearly halfway to the top. The ship shook, and a burning smell filled the bridge. “Is something on fire?” Calvin shouted.
“I can’t believe how old this ship is!” He heard Astra’s muffled voice. “I’m not sure when it went into space last.
Petori and Freks were down below, pulling on one of the side doors.
They grunted loudly until the flashing red light stopped.
“OK guys!” Calvin shouted. “I think you got it!”
“It was open a crack,” Freks said.
“Is it closed all the way?” Calvin asked.
“I think so,” Freks said, shrugging. “I hope so.”
Calvin scanned the console again. More lights were green.
“How long until the engines are ready for takeoff?” Calvin called.
Suddenly Astra appeared on the bridge. “They’ve been cold for a very long time,” Astra explained. “It’s going to take a few minutes.”
Astra sat down in the seat next to Calvin and buckled herself in. “I think we got it. It was a mess down there.”
“OK, that’s great, but I’m not sure we have a few minutes. Look out the window!”
Astra looked up; her eyes got big. “I can speed this up, no problem,” she said, pressing buttons very quickly now. The ship vibrated even more, but Calvin wasn’t sure if it was from the quakes or the engines.
“Dev!” Astra shouted. “Inject the fuel rod now. Go full power on both generators!”
“They could explode!” Dev screamed from inside the engine compartment. “I really don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Do it now Dev!” Astra screamed.
There was a loud roar and a bright flash from the engine compartment. A loud bang followed by an ear piercing screech. They could hear Dev screaming something, and then laughing hysterically.
“Go Calvin!” Astra said, just as a large piece of the floor disintegrated in front of them. The ship dropped several feet, jarring them. Calvin’s stomach felt like it was floating for a second.
“Calvin!” Astra screamed. Calvin froze for a moment. He was tired, and couldn’t concentrate. It took a second to find the right controls, as he pulled back, the ship struggled at first, and slowly lurched into the air. As soon as the ship left the ground, the shaking stopped. They emerged through the top of the mountain, through a column of black smoke. The view was astounding. The sea of lava was careening into a massive fissure in the surface hundreds of miles long, one of the last remaining mountains crumbled and fell in. Calvin pulled back sharply, pushed the throttle forward and the ship accelerated into space.
Once in orbit, Calvin took a deep breath, closed his eyes and sat back in the seat. For the first time in a while he allowed himself to relax. It was quiet, it felt good. The temperature was dropping rapidly; he shivered. Astra looked cold. He hadn’t realized how hot the planet had been, or that he was starting to get used to it. He opened his eyes and looked outside.
Space was very beautiful, and it felt very good to be back out again, behind the controls of a space ship. He felt free. But now what? He had no idea where they were, or what direction to head in.
“Now the big question,” Calvin said. “Where are we?”
“That’s a really good question,” Astra said. “And one that might be hard to answer. We have no idea of knowing how long we were in hyperspace to get to this planet.”
“Can we find a star map in the computer?” Calvin asked.
“Give me a second,” Astra said. A few minutes passed quietly as Astra worked. The only sounds were the soft clicks of the keys, the gentle hum of the engines, and the muted conversation from Wexton and Nils in the back.
“I think I have something,” Dev said. “Yes, I found the long- range sensors. Here, I’ll put them on your center monitor.” The center screen lit up and displayed their current location and surrounding stars. Astra studied them intently. Calvin looked, but they just looked like colorful dots to him.
“None of these stars look familiar to me,” she said sadly.
“Well I can’t help much,” Calvin admitted. “Dev, what do you think? Do any of these stars look familiar to you?”
After a second Dev answered, “No, I’m sorry. I have no idea where we are.” Dev zoomed the map out as far as it would go. “Sorry.” Dev leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. Astra continued to work.
“This isn’t going to work,” Astra said, clearly frustrated.
“What’s wrong?” Calvin asked.
“The long-range sensors aren’t very long range,” Astra complained. “More like short range. I can’t see anything to give me a fix on where we are. What are we going to do?”
“I’d like to get away from here,” Calvin said. “What if we jump to the edge of the sensor field? You might see something familiar out there.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” Astra said. “We can do that. There’s no reason to stay here. Just give me a second to set a course. I’m not used to this program.”
“Something else,” Dev said. “We may not be able to use the hyper drive engines. They were already in bad shape, but when we spiked them to take off before they were ready, they were damaged beyond repair.”
“OK,” Calvin said. He shivered again, and wanted to get up and get his jacket out of his backpack but was too tired to get up. The soft padded chair was very comfortable, and Calvin relaxed long enough to feel how tired he was. Astra had her arms folded across her chest as she studied the computer screen. The mood in the ship was subdued, and everyone was quiet. The ship sounds and view of space were mesmerizing. Calvin wasn’t sure if he was asleep, or awake. He felt like he was somewhere in between, in a haze.
Suddenly the silence in the shuttle was shattered by ear piercing multi-toned alarms. Calvin was jolted out of his quiet reflection. A bright red light filled the shuttle.
“What’s going on?” Calvin asked, looking at the red flashing lights on the console.
“It’s a proximity alert,” Astra said, reading the screen. “Something very big is coming out of hyperspace.”
“Where?”
“Thirty thousand kilometers, directly ahead,” Astra said.
“We have to jump into hyperspace!”
“No,” Dev answered. “You weren’t listening, we don’t have hyperdrive engines!”
“Are you sure you can’t fix them?” Calvin asked, but he already knew the answer.
“I’m sorry, there’s no way.”
“We’re out of time,” Astra said sadly, and sat back in her chair, defeated.
“What are the chances it’s Aleria’s Hope?”
Astra didn’t have a chance to answer. The space ahead erupted into a massive cloud of blue colors. A second later a large dark object appeared. Calvin’s heart raced. The short range scanner lit up with a dark red color. The ship was a massive, dark colored space ship, covered with laser cannons.
“It’s a Goremog destroyer!” Astra exclaimed.
Calvin jammed the throttle full forward and turned the ship around, mor
e red flashing lights dotted the control panel as engine temperatures began to rise.
“No,” Calvin said angrily. “I can’t believe it.” Astra focused the sensors behind them. The Goremog ship was turning to follow.
“It’s just not right,” Dev said sadly. “All that work to get off the planet, and they’re just going to catch us again. Does this ship have any weapons?”
“No,” Astra replied. She sat back and put her hands on her lap. The big ship got closer, filling the view. “The Goremog ship is closing, twentyfive thousand kilometers.”
Calvin pushed the engines harder, past the safe zone on the throttle control. All hope was gone. It seemed no matter what they did, they were destined to fail. There wasn’t anything else he could do. There was nowhere to hide. Calvin put his hand on Astra’s shoulder.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I let you down.”
“Oh Calvin,” Astra said. “It’s not your fault.”
The smell of smoke filled the air, more red lights went off. A computer panel against the wall shot sparks across the room.
“Eighteen thousand kilometers,” Astra said. “They’ll be in weapons range in two minutes.”
So this is how it ends, Calvin thought. Their prison planet is gone, what will they do with us this time?
Suddenly another disturbance appeared behind the Goremog destroyer, and another ship emerged from hyperspace. This one was much larger, but looked familiar.
Astra gasped loudly. Before Calvin could react, a familiar voice floated over the communication system.
“Master Calvin, can you hear me?”
Everyone in the shuttle froze; all talking stopped and all eyes fell on Calvin. Was it possible?
“Ion, is that you?” Calvin gasped. The mood in the shuttle instantly shifted from fear to joy. “You found us!”
“Yes sir,” Ion answered. “Please stand by.”
“It’s the Defender!” Astra squealed with delight.
Beams of bright red light lanced out through space, and impacted the back of the Goremog destroyer. The enemy ship turned and attempted to meet the Defender face to face. Its shields glowed angrily, and flickered. Before it could finish the turn, it was enveloped in an enormous ball of fire, and was gone.
Everyone in the shuttle yelled and cheered. Calvin turned to see Astra in tears, with a big smile on her face. She lunged forward and embraced him.
“Reduce power and we’ll tractor you into a hanger,” Ion said.
“Ok, Ion,” Astra answered. “Thank you!”
Calvin pulled back on the throttle, the loud scream from the engines wound down to a gentle rumble. Calvin sat back and let out a sigh of relief. He felt a surge of euphoria, mixed with complete exhaustion. The Defender cruised slowly over them. The ship looked like it had been in a battle recently. Several of the large laser cannons on the bottom were heavily damaged. The hull was black and charred in multiple locations.
Astra reached out and took Calvin’s hand. “They found us,” she said with tears in her eyes. “Oh, they found us. I was really hoping but didn’t think they actually would.”
Nils and Wexton and the rest were out of their seats, standing behind Calvin and Astra and staring out the front windows at the looming shape of the Defender.
“Wow,” Wexton gasped. “That’s a big ship.”
A soft white light enveloped the shuttle and there was a soft thump. The shuttle was slowly pulled up to the side of the Defender, and into an empty hangar bay lit with bright white lights. It floated through the purple force field and came to rest on the floor with a barely imperceptible bump.
“I knew they would find us,” Calvin said.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR:
RECOVERY
Calvin shut the engines down. The sounds slowly died away and ended with a harsh metal on metal grind. He was truly amazed that the little ship had been able to get them off the doomed planet. Calvin turned to look at Astra, but she had already taken her seat restraint off and was heading towards the hatch. The hatch slid open and Astra rushed down the ladder to meet a welcoming committee that was forming outside. Calvin looked out the window and saw a large crowd surrounding the ship. For some strange reason he could not explain, he felt nervous going out there and facing the Alerians. He knew one thing; he didn’t like being the center of attention. But since Astra went out there first, hopefully she would get all of it.
Calvin stood up and walked to the open hatch. Dev and Wexton were there waiting. Calvin thought he saw anxiety in their faces.
“The Alerians are good people,” Calvin said. “You can trust them. Don’t worry.”
“I know,” Wexton said. “It’s just that I’ve never met them before.”
“But you know Astra,” Calvin said. “These are her people.”
“Would you rather go back to the Goremog?” Petori asked.
“No, of course not,” Wexton said.
“What are you worried about?” Calvin asked, becoming suspicious. Was Wexton hiding something? Did he have a reason to be afraid of the Alerians?
“It’s not that,” Wexton said. “I just have a hard time trusting someone like this; to put myself fully at their mercy when I don’t know them.”
“Well, buddy,” Dev said. “I have news for you; you are fully at their mercy. Let’s go out and meet them.”
Wexton’s shoulders dropped and finally there was resignation. “OK,” he said. “Let’s go.”
"I'll go first." Calvin said, and went down the ladder. His muscles were sore, and he went down carefully one step at a time. He felt dozens of eyes on him and the last thing he wanted to do was fall onto the floor and embarrass himself. A loud applause erupted when he stepped out from under the shuttle and into the bright lights of the hangar bay. Dozens of Alerians stood around in a semi-circle, clapping and cheering.
Ion was waiting, surrounded by a large group of people. Behind the purple force field, the giant shuttle doors were closing.
Astra was in the arms of her father and mother; King and Queen of Aleria. Scribbles, suddenly nervous by all of the strange new people, stayed close to Astra.
“Sir, are you all right?” Ion asked. “I’m sorry it took so long to find you.” He sounded very sad, and if for a moment he didn’t sound like a robot, he sounded like a human.
“Yes, I’m fine now,” Calvin said. “I’m relieved they were able to repair you. Ion, how long has it been? How long were we lost? What happened?”
“Master Calvin, you were missing for twentyfour days,” Ion said, with confusion in his voice.
“Twenty-four,” Calvin repeated. “It felt like a lot longer.”
“How do you not know how long it was?” Ion asked.
“It’s a long story. What happened to you?”
“I floated in space for days, trying to repair the Azure Frost. I fixed what I could, but there was simply too much damage. I thought all was lost. The batteries were dead; there was no power. I thought if the robots and I transferred power from ourselves directly into the ship, we could restart the engines and get to one of our hidden repair depots. But the engines wouldn’t start, and the energy we transferred bled off into space. Everything went black. It was so quiet floating dead in space. The next thing I knew I was waking up in a robotics lab on the Defender.” “Where’s Azure Frost now?”
“It’s in a repair facility, undergoing a complete restoration. You’ll be happy to know that all of the segments were found in the Frost’s hangar bay. I haven’t had time to check them for damage yet, and the Alerian scientists didn’t want to touch them without Princess Astra being there.”
“So you saved it for her?” Calvin asked.
“Yes sir.”
“How did you find us?” Calvin asked.
“There’s a tracking device in the translator I gave you,” Ion said.
“Well, I have to thank you again,” Calvin said. “I thought we were going to die down there. I’ll tell you all about it later,”
“I loo
k forward to it sir.”
“Calvin!” a voice said. Calvin turned to see King Fulton, hand reaching out towards him.
“Your majesty,” Calvin said. He was caught by surprise, he wanted to bow down or something, but didn’t want to be rude so he took the king’s hand. The king pulled him in and embraced him.
“Thank you, son,” Lord Fulton said through tears. “Thank you for keeping our little girl alive. I knew I could trust you.”
“Sir,” Calvin said, choked by emotion. “She kept me alive too, on more than one occasion.”
After the moment passed, the king gestured to Calvin’s friends. “So who is this?”
“Sir, this is Dev Sorna, Wexton Zite, and Nils Auberan. That’s Petori Lang and Freks Trinton. Astra and I wouldn’t have survived without their help.”
“Then I owe you our thanks,” Fulton said, and shook each one’s hand in turn. “Thank you.”
“Excuse me sir,” a tall Alerian officer said. “The council would like you to go to the bridge.”
“Very well,” Fulton said. “Please excuse me.”
As the king and the officer were walking away, Calvin overheard Commander Rale say,
“Sir, we’re picking up hyperspace shadows, incoming from multiple vectors.”
“The Goremog?”
“Yes sir, we think so. I recommend we jump to hyperspace as soon as possible.”
“Yes I agree,” Fulton said, and his voice faded away.
As Astra walked away with her mother, she said, “I’ll see you later Calvin.”
“All right,” he said. He wanted to suggest getting together for dinner, but couldn’t translate his thoughts into words.
“Everyone, if you will all come with me,” Ion said. “I’ll take you to your quarters.”
They walked a short distance from the hangar bay to a waiting train car. The train took them to the other end of the ship, where they took an elevator to one of the many crew quarter levels. Each of them was given a room, all near each other and just down the hall from a large dining room. Calvin went to his room and took a long hot shower and put on a fresh set of clothes.
