The Return to Strange Skies (JNC Edition)

by Hiroyuki Morioka

  The eight-legged walker bore the weight of all six, and scaled the slope using what little footholds there were. Those footholds did seem to link into a sort of passage up, though: a trail where the otherwise rampant vines and assorted trees didn’t grow.

  It was a rough ride, reminiscent of a non-gravity-controlled spaceship. While the attitude control mechanism tried its best to keep their seats level, it occasionally failed to cope with the degree of the slope, causing them to shake up and down. Even now, Undertaker was blue in the face struggling to keep the contents of his stomach from going home to Sfagnoff’s sun.

  Meanwhile, Lafier, having been raised in space, was cool as a cucumber. Jinto, for his part, did feel sick in the stomach at times, but it wasn’t too bad.

  Marca pointed to Lafier with her chin: “You’re thinking there’s no way the Empire would ever recognize our independence, even if we’ve taken this young lady as a hostage.”

  “So you know?” Lafier seemed relieved. “I was concerned we would be forced to deceive all of you.”

  “Then, like, why are you bothering to take us hostage?” asked Jinto.

  “For a ship,” said Marca.

  “What we want are spaceships.”

  “But, Min said...” ...that what you want is independence , Jinto was about to say.

  “It’s a different tack,” said Min matter-of-factly. “We have two tacks open to us.”

  “Right. Min’s of the belief we should grab independence in one fell swoop, while I think we should get there step-by-step. No matter the circumstances, the Empire will never hand us independence for a single life. He’s the delusional one; I’m the realist.”

  “I heartily disagree, and I’ll tell you why...”

  “If you wish to ride a spaceship, then you can just become an imperial citizen ,” said Lafier, putting a damper on their impromptu duel of strategies.

  “See, this is why the little Abh lady gets my goat. Urp !” Undertaker clamped his mouth and resisted the urge to hurl before continuing. “We don’t want to ride in spaceships — we want to own them. That, urp ...that’d be real freedom. And not some shoddy jalopy that can only fly within the star system, either. We want ships that can go interstellar.”

  “That is what we call impossible,” said Lafier, airily laying down the truth before Jinto could stop her. “Every interstellar ship in the Empire is property of Her Majesty the Empress . They are in the hands of the Empire itself. Even people of high noble rank don’t personally own their interstellar ships.”

  Marca narrowed her eyes. “But there were so many different kinds of gareurec (company) and grandee ships at the spaceport . You can’t pull the wool over my eyes.”

  “They’re on loan,” Lafier explained. “Borrowers can choose whatever size ship for however long they’d like, but it’s the Rüé-casobérlach (Imperial Merchant Ship Group) that holds authority over personnel affairs.”

  “I don’t believe it... Listen here, I’ve looked into imperial law . There’s nothing about possession of interstellar ships being forbidden!”

  “When it comes to relations between the Empire and the noble classes, much is unwritten custom. You would never know it from reading the law.”

  “Urp ! Damn Empire ; how secretive can you get!?”

  “No one is keeping it a secret,” said Lafier, taken aback. “It’s simply that even if you knew that, nothing would come of it. Is that not true?”

  “Then what, urp , what about our hopes and dreams!?”

  An uncomfortable silence followed Undertaker’s remark. Nobody had any words. The air reverberated only with the mechanical GREESH, GREESH of the ever-ascending walker.

  Jinto couldn’t stand it any longer. “Uhh, so... what now? If you don’t want us as ‘hostages’ anymore, just tell us and we’ll be...”

  “Shut up.” Marca put two fingers on her forehead.

  “Uhh...” Jinto’s conscience panged. “I didn’t think that was your actual goal... I mean, you never exactly went into detail about what exactly you were planning...”

  “I told you to shut up.”

  Min stared at Jinto. “This would mean that you believe that straight independence for the star system would be easier to obtain than ownership of spaceships, correct?”

  “Well... I never thought you were being for real , you know...?”

  “You didn’t think we were being ‘for real’!? Hmph! I’m not interested in being your clown.”

  “Would you shut up!?” Marca clapped her hands to bring attention back to her. “Look, it’s fine. There’s always an exception!”

  A spherical building came into view beyond the road. It glistened on the side of the mountain, reflecting the light of Sfagnoff’s sun.

  “Hey, uhh, is that where we’re going?” Jinto pointed to the building, hoping it would mend this unpleasant atmosphere.

  “It was,” said Min. “It’s my holiday house, and we WERE going to keep you two locked up in there, but is there still any point?”

  “You should give that matter serious thought. I don’t particularly care either way,” said Lafier.

  “You Abhs really are arrogant, you know that?” said Undertaker, suddenly forgetting his nausea.

  “She’s really unbearable sometimes, but please, don’t let it get to you,” Jinto said in her defense.

  “I was trying to be NICE!” It appeared Lafier didn’t much care for Jinto’s efforts to smooth things over.

  “Let me tell you,” said Jinto into Undertaker’s ear, “she has no self-awareness, either.”

  “I feel your pain,” said Undertaker, looking at Jinto with the most sympathetic eyes.

  “What are you telling him?” frowned Lafier warily.

  “Look!” Marca shouted suddenly. From the direction she was pointing, two objects had emerged from the shadows, and came floating toward them.

  “Min, did you buy those, or...?”

  “They’ve nothing to do with me,” he said, on the verge of panic.

  While they were busy staring, the two floating objects alighted on the walker’s front and back.

  Lafier read the text: “United Humankind Armored Air Mobile Personnel Transport Vessel.”

  The hatches to each of them opened, and about ten soldiers shuffled running from each.

  A commissioned officer who looked to be their commander raised the volume of his machine translation device before saying “Who are you, citizens?”

  “No, who are YOU!?” barked Min, who stood up out of his seat.

  “Apologies. I am Military Police Major Aranga of the United Humankind Peacekeepers Sfagnoff Land Dispatch Corps RC Division Military Police Regiment. Now that I’ve introduced myself, may I ask you to follow suit?”

  Min pointed to his holiday house. “I’m the owner. Thought I’d host a get-together over some fine food with my friends.”

  “You are a member of the Secessionist Party, one Min Cursap, correct?”

  Min winced momentarily. “I’m a former member. I left the Party three years ago.”

  “You are named ‘Min,’ though, correct, citizen?”

  “Yes, that’s right.”

  “Citizen,” Aranga announced, “you are under arrest. We also have some questions for your friends.”

  Min’s face went pale. “But why!? On what grounds are you...”

  “A large stockpile of weapons was discovered in your holiday house. We would very much like to ask you all about it.”

  Min turned to the rest to explain himself. “They’re hardly a ‘large stockpile.’ A needle gun , a paralyzer gun , nothing much, really...”

  “Why in blazes...” Marca shook her head, as though completely lost.

  “There are extremely reasonable suspicions that you Secessionists are in fact a cover-up organization working as reactionaries on behalf of the Empire to resist freedom. I would simply like to hear what you have to say on the matter, and in great detail. As you can see, resistance is futile,” he said, gesturing toward all of
the soldiers with guns trained on them.

  “Man, have they got that backwards,” muttered a teed-off Undertaker.

  That said, given that they were being detained in the company of an Abh, there was nothing they could say to get them to believe their actual aims. They had been chased into a corner, and things looked exceptionally bad.

  Of course, in terms of jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire, Jinto and Lafier could not be outdone.

  Jinto looked her way. She was gripping something in her right hand. Two magazines for her phaser .

  Lafier transferred one of them to her left hand.

  There was a slight but audible bzzz .

  Suddenly, Jinto understood. Good god — Lafier wants to start a war right here!

  Jinto was just about to reach out a hand, but Lafier never gave him the chance; she crossed her arms in front of her chest, and quickly extended them like the flapping of a bird’s wings.

  The twin phaser magazines swung in opposite directions, tracing parabolas in the air.

  Lafier’s ability to adapt to differing gravity levels was something to behold. Her aim with the phaser magazines erred not. One hit the armor of the transport vessel in front, while the other got sucked into the still-open door of the other behind them.

  A giant THWOOM rattled them all to their cores. The twin flashes of light were followed by the intermingling commotion of the explosions, the shrieks, and the roars of indignation.

  “What have you done...” Min murmured, in blank amazement.

  “RUN!” cried Lafier, leaping out of the walker without delay, already wielding a phaser in her grip.

  But Jinto knew the program by now. He flopped to the ground with the duffel bag in his arms, and the other four stumbled over themselves after them.

  “Over there!” Lafier used the phaser like a command staff , pointing toward a clump of bushes.

  The band of six rushed straight into them.

  Aranga barked some kind of command. At once, hails of gunfire wrecked the walker and knocked down several trees.

  With a single shot, Lafier expertly picked Aranga off. “Hurry!” she urged.

  Jinto ran for his life, fending off the tangle of vines and branches all the while. Right behind him, trees got blown away or set aflame by enemy fire. The damage to the environment pained his heart, the selfsame heart that felt like he was probably the next on the destruction menu.

  “You goddamned Abh!” Jinto heard Min swearing. “Now I’m a wanted man!”

  “Silence. You may complain to me later!”

  Indeed, this was not the time or place for a heart-to-heart. The soldiers were gradually regaining their footing, and they burned for vengeance.

  “Blast it all! Over here!” Min pointed.

  Min was likely the one among them with the best idea of the local geography, after all. The strange bedfellows therefore looked to him as their guide, and dashed into that thicket.

  “Look!” Excited and wound up, the typically mute Daswani pointed up.

  There, the Air Mobile Personnel Transport Vessel that had survived Lafier’s assault hovered shakily. The turret on its landing glared contemptuously down at them, and nary a second after its muzzle was trained on the six, the surrounding trees burst into fire.

  “Here!” Min beckoned from a gap in the flames, before vanishing from view. Jinto headed over, and was met with an opening gaping just wide enough for a person to pass through.

  “Right...” Jinto stuffed Lafier into it, then dove in after her.

  Down the surprisingly smooth tunnel they slid. At the end they each felt a floating sensation, their fall broken by something elastic.

  “Make way!” came Min’s voice. Jinto tumbled frantically toward its sound. He could also hear a series of thunks , one per falling object.

  “Oww,” groaned Undertaker.

  Jinto finally remembered his phaser , and retrieved it from the bag to set it on ILLUMINATE.

  They were in a cave, about a person’s length in diameter. A large buffer cushion was situated nearby — it seemed that was where he landed. Undertaker and Daswani were still holding each other in an embrace atop it. Then the two of them hopped off, their breathing still ragged.

  “Is everyone here?” asked Min.

  “Seems that way,” said Marca.

  “Then come with me.” Min pointed toward the cave’s recesses.

  “Ah, before that...” Jinto shot the cushion with the phaser .

  A gooey liquid began pouring out of its ripped form, and it swiftly shed its elasticity.

  The six pushed their way through to the inner depths. Jinto had to walk alongside Min at the head of the pack in order to light the way. “What is this place?”

  “It’s a lava tunnel. The planet’s a young one. Not even a billion years back, rivers of lava ran all over the surface. This is what remains.”

  “But what about that chute we fell down...?”

  “An escape route I dug in case of an emergency, naturally. But never mind that.” Min raised his voice. “I hope you know you’ve done a number on me! Now they know my name! And as an Empire collaborator, of all things! What a hideous disgrace.”

  “I apologize,” said Lafier’s quite composed voice from behind. “It’s truly unfortunate you’ve all been embroiled in this. Regardless, we cannot allow ourselves to be captured so easily.”

  “Years back, there was a guy who jumped from a second story into a bed of thorns,” recounted Undertaker in melancholic tones. “No fire or anything, either. ‘Course, poor guy got pricked everywhere, so they carried him to the hospital. Well, the wounds weren’t too serious, but the guy had ‘em all over. Think he was grunting and groaning over being covered in tissue regeneration stimulants. When I went to see him, I asked him what he was thinking...”

  “What’s this about all of a sudden?” asked Marca, audibly irritated.

  Undertaker ignored her. “You wanna know what came out of his mouth? He said he couldn’t remember the specifics, but he thought it was a ‘good idea’!”

  “And!?”

  “That’s it. It just came to mind, that’s all.”

  “Feh... I know what you’re getting at,” Marca sighed deeply. “Why did we think taking an Abh hostage was a good idea? I’m going to be dismissed as cell leader now.”

  “If we even make it out of this alive,” said Min.

  Soon they came upon a fork in the path. “To the right,” Min indicated. “It’s this way to the main ‘river.’”

  After they walked down the right path for a time, they could make out very orderly footsteps sounding from all the way toward the entrance.

  “They’re here,” whispered Marca.

  “Jinto, cut the light!”

  “Right.” Jinto complied.

  From then on, they had to feel their way onward. Eventually, they reached yet another branch point. Min chose the way without hesitation.

  “Will we able to escape if we continue down this passage?” asked Lafier.

  “Yeah. So long as we make it to the main stream, we can enter other tributaries from there, and there are several openings back out to the surface.”

  “In that case, you four had best go on without us. We shall keep them at bay.”

  “What!?” The halting of feet.

  “We cannot allow any more trouble to befall you on our behalves. Now go.”

  “You really know how to rip a person’s self-respect to shreds, don’t you? You two are our HOSTAGES. On what planet do the hostages save their captors, huh?”

  “No, Undertaker,” Min chided him. “She’s right. At this rate, we’re done for. Those bastards mean to chase them to the ends of the world.”

  “I don’t doubt it,” said Lafier. “Now go, and make haste.”

  “I’d like to give the Abh a piece of my mind on lots of things, but you do seem to know how to take responsibility,” Marca sighed.

  A brief silence fell upon the dark.

  “Okay, all rig
ht. Let’s go. We can talk her head off all we like, but we all know the little lady won’t waver.”

  “That is correct,” said Lafier.

  “I stay, too,” said Daswani, a man of few words.

  “I thank you, but I see you aren’t armed. You would be of no use to us here. Moreover, this is a battleground of the Empire . It would not behoove us to keep you at our sides.”

  “Come along, Daswani. The little lady’s right.”

  “God, this is humiliating,” grumbled Undertaker.

  “Hurry! The enemy approaches.”

  The acoustics made it impossible to gauge how far they were, but it was clear from the sound of their footsteps that they were closing in.

  “Okay. If you live to see another day, let’s meet again,” she intoned nervously.

  “I must express my thanks one last time.”

  “Oh, stuff it already,” snapped Undertaker. “We kidnapped you! Kidnapped you!”

  And on that note, the four made their exit.

  “Jinto, are you there?”

  “‘Course.” Jinto drew nearer to the royal princess . “You’re not gonna send me off, are you?”

  “No.” He could practically hear the smile in her voice. “Your marksmanship is horrid, but you’ll still be of some use. At the very least, you’ll make for a fine bullet shield.”

  “For crying out loud...” he grinned wryly. “You’ve got a real talent for cheering people up, you know that?”

  “Your compuwatch and circlet .”

  “Ah, right, of course.”

  Jinto set his phaser to the lowest output and lit up his immediate vicinity. Then he fetched his compuwatch and circlet , and with them every other phaser magazine they had, from inside the duffel bag. They split the eight magazines two ways.

  “How wise it was not to bury them,” gloated Lafier as she equipped her circlet with a triumphant look.

  Once again, Jinto could only smile with bitter amusement. Lafier had every right to be a sore winner.