The Ship Finder: Young Adult Edition

by John Bluck

  Lena turned to Wilson and said, "Jake's interested in gold because it's a key metal that we use in fusion engines, dimension ships, and nano medicine."

  As she spoke, a man in the distance ran across the museum display area. Wilson felt a chill and sensed something was wrong, but he turned his attention back to Lena and McDonald.

  Lena was looking at some large signs, which included comic book-like sketches that showed how simple fusion works. The display was at chair level near a leather-covered bench.

  "This diagram explains why gold is valuable to us Sunevians," McDonald said.

  As the trio sat on the bench, blue lines of ray fire shattered the glass that covered the display near their heads. They dove to the floor, and Wilson rolled behind a large granite pillar.

  A death ray hit McDonald in the arm. "Ohh!" he screamed, as he pressed his hand on his smoking wound.

  Lena scooted behind the pillar near Wilson as more rays flew by. She pulled her pistol from her purse and fired at an attacker who looked much like the first cyborg who had assaulted Wilson in the park on Earth. The foe discharged his weapon, dove, and rolled aside, to Wilson's left. Lena gave Wilson a pen-sized ray gun, and he fired at the enemy but missed.

  A second enemy, a big blond man, charged the trio from behind. He grabbed Lena's arms and knocked her pistol to the floor.

  Wilson turned back to fire at the cyborg. All turned dark and cold, and Wilson felt as if he was falling through black, chilly water. After he regained consciousness, a museum visitor looked down at him and said something in Sunevian.

  Massive pain pounded the back of Wilson's skull, and he tentatively touched his head. It throbbed, and his fingertips were wet with blood. An assailant had clubbed him from behind. Wilson focused his eyes on rapid motion in the distance, and he saw the blond man and the cyborg hustle Lena out of a doorway at the far end of the museum hall.

  McDonald was prone nearby. He had grasped his wounded arm, but then he pulled his hand away from his injury, took a vial from a pouch on his belt, and drank an inky liquid. Wilson knew that the reporter would be okay.

  The tiny ray gun Lena had given Wilson was on the floor, so he grabbed the weapon and pushed himself up. He almost blacked out when a sharp pain hit him like another blow to the head. He staggered and nearly fell.

  Pain hammered his head, and his legs felt like rubber. In spite of his extreme discomfort, he ran after Lena and her captors and then stumbled through the doorway into the fresh outside air. A black car sped away, carrying Lena and her abductors. Three blocks from him it squealed around a corner to the right.

  Wilson hailed a taxi. When the driver opened the door, Wilson fell into the back seat, pointed, and grunted. Somehow the driver knew that Wilson wanted to chase the black car.

  Maybe Lena screamed, Wilson thought. The cab driver must've heard her.

  Wilson's head was bleeding profusely. The driver jammed the yellow cab's accelerator pedal to the floor, and the vehicle took off like a cheetah after its prey, careening around the corner, following the black car.

  "Are you okay, Wilson?" the driver asked through a translation box tucked beneath his upper left shirtsleeve.

  "My head hurts like the devil, but I'll make it."

  "I'm a policeman. The chief ordered me to keep you out of trouble. If I don't catch those thugs, I'll have to walk a beat."

  The undercover cop pushed the fusion-powered taxi faster. Swerves around corners and intense pain in Wilson's head made him feel sick to his stomach, but by will power alone, he managed not to throw up.

  The cab sped at ninety-five miles per hour. Wilson was scared someone would pull in front of the taxi, he and the policeman would die, and all the advanced medicine of this place would not help them.

  Wilson tried to be calm. "Does this stuff happen often?" he asked.

  "We have terrorist action every so often. It's our worst problem," the cop said. "There are a dozen groups on the terrorist list. Are you armed?"

  "Yes."

  "Good. I called for backup, but they might not catch up in time. By the way, I'm Roberto Yarnell."

  Yarnell calmly guided the car as it skidded around another corner. The taxi's wheels squealed, and the smell of burned rubber filled the cab's interior. Yarnell chased the kidnappers into a worn down part of the city where many of the buildings were not much more than rubble, dark and black, charred by fire. Piles of bricks, debris, and twisted steel beams were all around.

  "What happened here?"

  "Terrorist attack three years ago," Yarnell yelled over the whine of the straining engine. "Get ready to fire."

  He caught up with the kidnappers who had slowed their getaway car to steer around debris. The plainclothes cop smashed the yellow cab into the front right fender of the black car, which slid to a halt next to a pile of rubble. The two enemy men fired at the taxi, and a dozen ray rounds hit it.

  Yarnell and Wilson dove from the cab, taking cover behind a big concrete slab that once was part of a tall structure.

  Ray fire peppered the big chunk of concrete that protected Yarnell and Wilson. The shots scorched the concrete and sent white puffs of rock aerosol into the air. Powdered limestone irritated Wilson's nostrils, and one shot knocked concrete splinters into his left hand. Instantly, blood trickled down his wrist from where the shards had hit the back of his hand.

  Wilson lay flat on his stomach. Through a crack in the concrete slab he had a clear shot, so he braced his weapon inside the fracture and fired Lena's tiny pen-like weapon.

  The big, blond man, really a cyborg who looked like a normal human, fell. Luckily, Wilson had hit the enemy in one of the few weak places where the plates of his interior armor met. Wilson had been fortunate to hit the cyborg, let alone send a ray into a vulnerable spot because Lena's inaccurate weapon had a very short barrel.

  On the other hand, Yarnell was armed with a machine gun pistol that fired bursts of ten ray shots each time he squeezed the trigger. At once, he hit the second abductor with an ineffective burst that ricocheted from the brute's interior body armor.

  Lena lay flat on the ground behind the black sedan, pinned down, unable to flee because of the heavy fire.

  Though stunned, the second enemy assailant fired a long stream of brutal, blue beams at the slab behind which Wilson hid.

  Wilson fired one useless round through the crack in the rock. Rapidly, the enemy rays began to erode the concrete shield, and in a short time they could destroy the massive barrier. Some of the assailant's ray fire penetrated the crack that Wilson had fired through. He lay as flat as he could in a dip in the ground.

  Yarnell shot another burst at the cyborg who continued to fire at Wilson. This time Yarnell hit the small sensor hole on the second cyborg's throat, and he died at once.

  Yarnell and Wilson then moved toward Lena, who was still prone on the gravel behind the cyborgs' car. Wilson felt jumpy, like he'd had too much coffee, but at the same time he was relieved.

  "You okay, Wilson?" Yarnell asked.

  "Yes. How about you?"

  "Fine," said Yarnell.

  Lena peeked around the front of the getaway car. When she saw Wilson, she smiled.

  "Thank you," she said, and she stood. Her clothes were ripped. Her left sleeve hung loose, but other than dirt on her clothes and face, she seemed to be in good shape.

  "I'm Officer Yarnell, Miss," the policeman said, speaking through his translator box. "It's a good thing that my commander sent me to watch you two."

  Lena walked to the men. "I'm glad to be alive." Tears ran down her cheeks.

  "If I'd messed this up, I'd be on eternal foot patrol," Yarnell said. He sighed and replaced his weapon in a holster under his right arm.

  Wilson looked down and saw his sleeve was damp with blood. His hand had bled more than he realized, and when Lena saw that he was injured, she rushed to him. She grabbed his arm and looked at the cuts on his hand and then at the gash on back of his head.

  "You're hurt," she said. She l
ooked up into Wilson's brown eyes. They hugged, and she kissed his lips with her soft mouth.

  "I'm okay," he said. "I'll just have a headache for a while."

  "Take a sip of my nano meds," she said as she handed him a small bottle. "I like you a lot," she whispered in English.

  "I like you too," he said. He opened the bottle and sipped black, chalky-tasting liquid.

  After the backup squad cars arrived, Yarnell took Wilson and Lena to the police station where they met Commander Neal O'Farrell, a chubby, gray-haired cop with flushed cheeks and a red nose. He seemed like a good man to Wilson.

  "Commander O'Farrell," Wilson asked, "why did the cyborgs go after Lena?"

  "Because she's famous," he replied. "She's quoted in newspapers and on TV all the time about her other-world travels."

  It hadn't dawned on him that Lena was famous.

  After the kidnapping, Wilson began to ask himself about Sunev. Who was the Great Leader? Was this a partial democracy or dictatorship? What did I get myself into?

  Little did Wilson know that he would meet the Great Leader the next day.

  Chapter 12 – Award for Bravery

  The gun battle that had started in the museum and ended in a destroyed section of the capital, First City, did not escape the attention of the highest level of the Sunevian government.

  Wilson was astonished when the Sunevian Ruling Council (SRC) members invited him to appear before them the next day to receive the Medal of Civilian Bravery during a televised event.

  The SRC also voted to let Wilson travel to and from Earth when he wished. But they asked him not to talk to earthlings about his "jumps" from one dimension to another. He, like Raven and Lena, would soon become well-known on Sunevian Global Television.

  Wilson watched as the Great Leader entered the Parliamentary Chamber. When the Ruling Council members waved at their leader in unison, Wilson noticed that several of them blinked nervously. Still, the Leader seemed to be a gentle old man. He was bald with pure white hair around his temples and a white beard. Yet, two nearby council members even looked fearful and gulped, Wilson noticed.

  The crowd began to clap loudly after they stopped their salute. Even through the thunder of the applause, Wilson's conscious tossed a question at him, Have I traded my freedom for a chance to live a longer life? No. I was out cold when Raven gave me nano medicine that turned off my biological clock.

  Wilson snapped out of his daydream when a graying senior official, the master of ceremonies, spoke into his microphone, "Dr. Wilson, please approach the stage to receive our highest civilian medal of honor." The man's face reddened, and he smiled widely, showing his white teeth.

  Wilson walked forward along the middle aisle of the auditorium. As he strode to the stage, the audience clapped, which embarrassed him. On top of that he was ashamed of his thoughts that questioned the basics of Sunevian society.

  Wilson climbed the stairs to the stage and began to feel better, even a little elated. After the MC gave Wilson a hand signal to stop, he halted several paces from the Great Leader.

  "I hereby commend you, Dr. Wilson of the Earth, for your heroic deeds – first, for the rescue of Dr. Richard Raven on that planet in two battles with our enemies," said the Leader. "Second, we honor you for saving Lena Lavelle here on Sunev. For these actions I award you the highest medal that Sunev can confer on a citizen, the Medal of Civilian Bravery. It is a symbol that shows our gratitude for your extreme courage. We also have voted to make you a citizen of Sunev with the full rights of the Upper Echelon."

  With that, the Great Leader stepped towards Wilson, and the old man hung a handsome platinum medal around Wilson's neck. Everyone clapped and cheered.

  The Leader turned to the crowd. "It's historic for the first Earth man to travel here. And a good man he is to help us in our time of need," the Leader said. "As you all know, we face a strong rebellion on Triod, and some ungrateful rebels on this planet oppose us as well. Dr. Wilson's bravery has set a great example for our citizens as to how they can defend our way of life. Thank you."

  The crowd stood up and cheered.

  Wilson was ill at ease. Though he was proud, at the same time he felt something bad could come out of what had happened to him. In the next few days he would find out.

  Chapter 13 – The Cyborg War

  The kidnapping of Lena Lavelle was one of many violent events that occurred across planet Sunev in the week that Wilson received his medal.

  The gun battle that Wilson and Officer Yarnell had waged with the two cyborg terrorists who had grabbed Lena was nothing compared to the full-scale war the cyborg rebels had started against the Sunevian Ruling Council's government in clashes all across the home planet.

  State TV's all-news channel showed the brutality the militia used to put down dissent. Rather than scare protesters, this coverage inflamed them. In the week after Lena's abduction and rescue, ordinary Sunevian citizens grew bolder and more rebellious. They criticized the government in public, and television news crews went live to show huge marches in the capital.

  One of the first times Wilson saw proof of the seriousness of the revolt was on April 20 when he relaxed in his hotel suite. He drank white wine with Lena while the two watched the news. The picture switched to a live view of a large structure with flames licking up from its roof.

  Lena stood up. "That's the Parliament Building where you received the award. I hope they're not in session."

  She used the remote control to turn up the sound. Earlier, she had turned on the TV's translator so that Wilson could read the news in English subtitles. It was another way for him to learn more of her language.

  English words appeared on the screen – "revolt," "rebel army," and "full-scale battle" – as he watched live and recorded protests and skirmishes. "This could boil over pretty soon," he said, as he glanced at Lena who looked intently at the TV screen, which showed the Parliament Building, now totally engulfed in flames.

  "As many as 200 Sunevian representatives are dead after an attack by terrorists from Triod and Sunev," said a newscaster.

  "I didn't think we'd have to fight the first inter-dimensional war," Lena said. She slouched in her easy chair.

  "What's next?" Wilson pondered.

  "I'm sure the Ruling Council will send our ship into the fight."

  "Do you think they'll really need to send the Planet Explorer into combat when they have lots of soldiers?" Wilson asked.

  "Yes," she replied, "because we're with the National Dimensional Travel Agency, which is part of our military."

  "Things have gone from bad to worse," he said.

  Lena's mobile phone rang. "Yes. He's with me. Uh huh, we'll be there right away, sir." She pushed the phone's end button.

  "Who was that?" Wilson asked.

  "Raven. He wants us to leave for the ship now," she said. "We're to go into battle."

  "Why us?"

  "I've trained with many types of weapons, and you're welcome to join us because we can always use a physician, according to Raven," she replied.

  "Is the stuff we need aboard?"

  "There are battle kits, medical kits, and our military uniforms," she said. "Now that the NDTA has been activated, we'll be operating like other branches of the military."

  They got up, left the apartment, and went outside. Lena hailed a taxi, and they arrived at the spaceport hangar in six minutes.

  Wilson had seen movies of naval vessels from the 1950's, and the Sunevian dimension ship looked to be from that era. It was big, strong, and was covered by riveted sheets of thick metal plating. Within the craft the light was dim, like an omen of a storm on the way.

  Raven walked through Wilson's open cabin doorway.

  "We'll cloak between dimensions," Raven said. "The high command has ordered us to attack." He smiled.

  He enjoys a fight, Wilson thought. Does the human affinity for war seep through all dimensions, however many there might be? "Now I'll learn about war firsthand," Wilson said.

  "
Trust your Inner One, and all will be well," Raven said. "It's good you're with us, Bill."

  "I'm glad to help," Wilson said. He owed these people almost eternal life, though he had doubts about their politics. "Is there anything special you want me to do?"

  "You're a great shot, but most of all we can really use a doctor." Raven shifted his weight from his left to his right foot. He leaned toward Wilson.

  "Okay, I'll be your ship's physician." Wilson said. It's like I'm on automatic, Wilson thought.

  "I appoint you a colonel in the Sunevian army," Raven said. "Be ready to tend to the wounded and to fight if necessary. Check out a ray rifle and pistol from the armory, Colonel Wilson," Raven said.

  "Yes, sir," Wilson answered, surprising himself with his formal response.

  "We're going on a mission at once," said Raven.

  Chapter 14 – On to Battle

  Wilson went to the ship's armory. There he saw Jake Trundell, an overweight armorer, at the window where he issued weapons to crewmembers.

  "Hello, Doc," Trundell said. "I heard you're now a bird colonel."

  "I didn't expect it," Wilson said, as he came up to the window.

  "Congrats, Doc," said the 250-pound man who was built like a Chicago Bears tackle. "Come in and look at our toys. I'll give you your choice."

  "Thanks, Jake."

  Wilson followed Trundell into the armory.

  "Take a look at this baby," Trundell said, and he handed Wilson a new ray rifle.

  "It's fine-looking," Wilson said as he hefted it. "It's lightweight, too."

  "It's yours, if you want it."

  "I appreciate it," Wilson said. He kept the weapon.

  Next, the armorer showed Wilson a silver vest that reflected light like a mirror. "I wouldn't wear it," said Jake. "The enemy would spot you a mile away, maybe more. The brass says that this vest can reflect some ray shots." He laughed, shook his head, and tossed the vest into a cardboard box.

  "I'll pass on the vest," Wilson said. He slapped Jake on the back.