by Jeff Walsh
“First off, compared to what I'm after, the stuff that can be sold is worthless.” Taam answered. “Secondly, without you three, Bartl and I can't actually get onto the planet once we find it.”
Marcus, Genny, and Anthony each chose to ignore his comment about their necessity for the moment and instead focused on the bigger picture.
“What are you after?” Genny asked.
“The planet,” Taam answered. “As Bartl said, it's believed that Volja is one of the originals. In the text there's talk of something called a stabilizing matrix. The reason no one has found Volja is that it was built with trans-warp capabilities that are beyond anything in the known universe. Small, short range trans-warps are possible but anything over a helic mass destabilizes the wormhole. According to the laws of the universe, a planet shouldn't be able to trans-warp. But not only does Volja have the ability, according to the text, this stabilizing matrix would allow anything of any size to be trans-warped. We're talking about revolutionizing space travel.”
“Alright,” Anthony said. “So you find this planet and reverse engineer this stabilizing matrix which gives you the ability to replicate and sell it. You become famous and probably make more money than we can fathom.”
“Something like that,” Bartl said.
“But the trans-warp is part of the problem of finding the planet,” Taam said. “It shifts from one place in the universe to another every two seconds. In order to pull this off we'll need to know where Volja is going to be at an exact moment. We'll position the Platnium so that we can shut down the planet's matrix before it shifts again. Bartl and I believe a Quellar pulse will do the trick. Once we stop the planet from shifting, it's only a matter of trans-warping to the surface, excavating what we want, and escaping before anyone catches up with us.”
“And, of course, you need the three of us to do any of this,” Anthony said, finally addressing the obvious. “For some reason, you, with all this technology, and your talk of Quellar pulses and trans-warp, need three people who, less than a few hours ago, had no clue spaceships and robots and aliens were real?”
“Why I need you is a long story,” Taam answered. “But the short version is: Volja's CPU will only respond to humans. If any other species so much as enters the planets atmosphere they're trans-warped onto a random planet somewhere. You can imagine what a pain that would be. The Quellar pulse will only destabilize it's ability to shift for roughly ten minutes. After that the planet's on-board AI will have completed a reboot and off it goes once again.”
“This thing's no joke,” Anthony said.
“Being as smart as you three are,” Bartl said. “You can see how your security comes built in. If any attempts are made to steal from you or hustle you in any way, you'll have the ability to snatch Volja from our hands. So the deal is: you three get on the planet and keep it from jumping while also keeping everyone else off of it. After that, we'll gather everything we can, sell it, get your planet back, after which you'll transfer control of the planet over to Taam and I. We take possession of our half of the deal and everyone is a winner.”
“Wait a second,” Marcus barked out. “We don't even know what exactly is on this planet, how much it's worth, or even what it costs to get our planet back.”
“Yeah,” Genny agreed. “It's not that I think you would cheat us. I mean you only crash landed your ship in front of us, and proceeded to play some mental game with us. After which you shot, kidnapped, and hauled us into space. I don't think we're out-of-line by wanting to know how much everything is worth.”
Taam nodded in agreement and walked over to a console. He started pressing buttons and sliding switches. A moment later the holographic image of Volja vanished and in its place appeared a symbol.
“Do you know what that symbol is?” Taam asked.
“Well,” Marcus said quizzically. “It kind of looks like the number sign, but with a circle at the bottom and five little stars in the circle.”
“That's the amount you owe for your planet,” Taam said.
“That isn't a number,” Anthony said. “That's a squiggle.”
“That squiggle is a number,” Taam said. “Sorry, but the entire universe doesn't use Earth's numeric system. We use a simple currency known as a jewl. And this, squiggle as you called it, represents a tragnithion jewl. Computer, would you please convert the tragnithion into a human number?”
“Sure thing captain,” a computerized woman's voice answered. A moment later the room lit up with numbers everywhere.
“There's your number,” Taam said as he made a sweeping gesture. “This is how much money is needed to get your planet out of repo. However, as I said, this tech doesn't just pay off the debt, it pays for the whole planet. Free and clear, you three would technically own Earth.”
“So what's your plan?” Marcus asked.
“Yeah,” Anthony blurted out. “You've only discussed the end game, which sounds nearly impossible as it is. How do you track a planet that has apparently shifted its position over ten thousand times since we left Earth?”
“You're quick on your feet,” Taam said.
Marcus turned to Anthony, who in response shrugged.
“Getting onto Volja before it shifts is a problem we haven't completely answered yet,” Bartl chimed in. “We're fairly certain a Quellar Pulse will disrupt the jump but getting the Platnium into position so that the pulse hits the planet quick enough is still a puzzle we haven't solved. Not to mention that we'll actually need to confirm a Quellar Pulse will work. But that isn't the problem we're facing as of right now.”
“You don't know where it's going to appear next,” Marcus spoke out.
“You see,” Taam smirked. “You've been in space for just over ten hours, and you're already figuring things out. I knew we chose wisely.”
Just then red lights fell from the ceiling and alarms began buzzing.
“Alvin?” Taam called out.
“A spacial tear has opened thrity-four dranecs from engine bay two,” Alvin answered.
“That'd be the Attilians,” Bartl said. He sped over to a console and began working it.
“Think he's still mad that we paid off his guys so we could get a head start on Earth?” Taam asked.
“The Attillian Starfaller has dropped cloak sixty two dranecs off engine bay one,” the computer announced.
“They've set the impact point,” Bartl said. “A gravitational vortex is forming.”
“Force?” Taam asked.
“Sevnty-two X,” Alvin responded.
“Yup,” Bartl said with a chuckle. “He's still mad.”
“What's that?” Anthony asked. “What's happening?”
“We're being sucked into oblivion,” Bartl said casually.
“Computer,” Taam blurted out. “We need a spacial bend. I don't care where as long as its beyond the tear and the Attilian tracking. Skip the dampner phase, we don't have time.”
“Prepare for spacial bend,” the computer said. “Eight tryls and counting.”
“That might be cutting it close,” Bartl said.
The Platnium began to shutter violently.
“The pull has us,” he continued.
Suddenly, Marcus watched as the entirety of the ship began to warp. Everything began to twist in place. His brain felt as though it was being ripped from his skull while his eyes were being forced into the back his head. Genny and Anthony's voices came, yelling, but everything was muffled. Marcus attempted to turn but the sight before him swirled. He could focus on nothing. The sounds of his friends were distant and being pulled away. Then, everything went quiet.
Chapter 5
Marcus burst forth gasping for air. His head darted left then right. Everything was back to normal. Genny and Antony were where they should be.
“Calm down earth man,” Taam said. “Everything's fine.”
“What was that?” Anthony asked. “It felt like my insides were being sucked out through my ears.”
“What you felt was an Attil
lian trans-warp mixed with a spacial bend,” Taam answered. “They were trying to remove you from the ship before it was swallowed by the gravitational anomaly they created.”
“Heck of a way to get introduced to space travel,” Bartl said and laughed. “Don't worry, it's not always that bad.”
“We used a rather forceful escape,” Taam answered. “Spacial bends aren't meant for a getaway, but it was our only option to to get away without being tracked. Unfortunately, we didn't have time for the computer to calibrate a dampening field, which is why it felt the way it did. I'm just glad we're all okay.”
“They meant business on that one,” Bartl said. “A spacial tear into a forced trans-warp attempt while our shields were up.”
Taam ignored Bartl and continued, “We should be safe, at least for a short while. Spacial bends are extremely hard to track, even for the Attillians.”
“Captain Vex can't be too happy we made the slip,” Bartl said. “I'd hate to be a crewman on the Starfaller right now.”
“Alvin,” Taam said. “Why don't you escort our guests into the armory.”
“Wait,” Marcus said. “The armory?”
“The arc shielding in the room will prevent anyone from being able to gen-scan this ship for humans,” Taam said. “Bartl and I will setup a low field arc across the interior. That should keep us out of sight while we get back on track.”
“Wait,” Marcus said. “I thought you just said we were safe. Now we need to go into a room with special shielding?”
“It's just a precaution,” Taam said. “Unless you don't mind going through something like that again.”
Marcus remained quiet.
“Here,” Taam said. He took out three palm-sized readouts from his pockets. “Take these and follow Alvin. You can relax and read up on space stuff. Just press the button on the bottom and ask a question about space. It'll then display all the information you'd like. If that doesn't sound appealing, we downloaded quite a large quantity of digital files from your planet. Just ask it for your favorite book or whatever form of entertainment you want and it'll come up. Securing the ship will take some time so just use this time to relax.”
The three nodded and took the readouts.
“Also,” Taam said. “This goes without saying, but don't touch anything in the armory.”
The three stood motionless for a moment. Alvin spun as he headed out of the kitchen. “Follow me,” he said voice as cheerful as ever.
The trio scurried along and caught up to Alvin.
“Greatest apologies my new friends,” Alvin said as they made their way through the ship. “It's been a tough day for all of you but you've handled it like champions. And now that you've survived, it'll make this time of pleasant relaxation all the better.”
A few moments later they stepped into the armory and Alvin worked a panel on the wall. With a final click Alvin turned and the group watched as the far wall and part of the floor shifted and morphed into a very cozy looking seating arrangement.
“Please dear friends,” Alvin said. “Enjoy.”
He turned to leave the room and Marcus reached out and grabbed his arm.
“You're leaving us?” He asked.
“Only for a short while,” Alvin responded. “The captain and Bartl will need my help to calibrate the ship's energy supply in order to compensate for the arc shields. If we don't we'll need stop every ten days to recharge. While I'm sure that would provide us all with thrilling adventures, I do believe the safest route is to calibrate the ship.”
With that Alvin walked out of the armory and the door slid shut.
҉
“We've been in here for an hour,” Genny said. “I'm done trying to figure out what these weapons are. I'm just going to read like Taam suggested.”
“Look,” Anthony said. “He told us these readouts can answer our questions. And I'm sorry, but I think it's at least a good idea to know what some of this stuff does.”
“I agree,” Marcus said. “But these readouts are really condescending. When I asked about this thing,” he pointed to a crate full of red and silver orbs, “it just read, 'These things go bang.'”
“Yeah,” Genny said. “Apparently everyone in space thinks we're stupid. For instance,” she said as she held up a black object with a display of red lights encircling it. “It's apparently a grenade of some sort; however, my readout says, 'Throw. It go boom.'”
“Well, at least mine gave me better info on these assault rifle things,” Anthony said.
“Really?” Genny said sarcastically.
“Yeah,” he responded. “It said, 'Pull hook thing, it go pew pew (Caution: Point open end away from body.)'”
“Look,” Anthony continued. “I'm just trying not to die during the very real possibility when we have to use some of this stuff. At least the readouts gave us the name of those things.” He pointed at shelf full of box shaped gizmos.
“And what does that do?” Marcus asked. “How does knowing that those are called Inter-dimensional Bio Vaporizers help us at all.”
“Well,” Anthony responded. “Now we know that those...vaporize...bio's.” He slowed as he finished his sentence.
“And what about the inter-dimensional part?” Marcus asked. “What's that do?”
“The Inter-dimensional Bio Vaporizer was developed by the Vlkizzian on Valzk III,” the ships computer said. “During their fifth and final world war. The Vlkizzian had developed a traveling system that allowed them to step through dimensional shifts. Simply open a shift, plug in the coordinates of where you wanted to end up, and step out. This was well received by the populace until it became common place to open a shift in order to steal freshly baked bread from your neighbors.
“On one occasion, King Brabblebbelle II had his Soured Puff Loaf stolen right out of his hands by a neighboring noble. This was the start of the Thousand Varnex Yeast War, and eventually spilled out across Valzk III. The Inter-dimensional Bio Vaporizer was invented to put an end to the war by deterring would be thieves from stealing bread.
“Simply hide a Vaporizer in a freshly baked loaf and once it entered a shift,” the computer continued, “the thief would find the bread loaf vaporized. This came as a shock for only a second however, as an unfortunate side effect of the Vaporizer was that it also set the thief on fire and closed the shift, locking them in the parallel dimension to burn.”
“Luckily the Thousand Varnex Yeast War ended, leaving fresh bread loaves to feel safe all across Valzk III.”
“You know,” Genny said. “That factoid program really is kind of fun. Disturbing, but fun.”
“I just wish it was more helpful,” Marcus said. “It's like it's programmed to only give us useless facts.”
The trio heard a sound at the door and a moment later it slid open and Alvin walked in.
“Oh thank goodness,” Anthony exhaled.
“I'm sorry it's taking so long,” Alvin said. “But the good news is with all this time you're able to relax to the point of blissfulness.”
“Yeah,” Genny responded flatly. “This whole thing is surreal.”
“Actually,” Marcus announced. “We felt like it would be a good idea to familiarize ourselves with the ship's armory.”
He reached down and picked up a pistol of some kind. He looped his finger around it and gave it a spin. A split second later he lost his grip and flipped it into the air. Stumbling forward to catch it, he tripped on one of the rather large rockets stacked in crates and crashed into a row of particle rifles.
Alvin's reflexes were beyond the scope of humans, and seeing the very present danger they were in he sprung into action. In the blink of an eye he caught Marcus and put him back on his feet. He then spun at the waist as he caught the pistol flying through the air which he then placed back into its holster. With his left foot he caught the rack holding the rifles while simultaneously a beam of white light shot out from his eyes enveloping them. Every rifle that had fallen free froze in mid air then floated safely back to its hous
ing on the rack.
Genny just stood motionless as Alvin whirred and spun across the room preventing what would have most likely been a series of explosions followed by a moment of silence for the idiotic humans who died in the commotion.
Alvin righted himself, and as he did so, he apologized to Marcus, “Sorry good sir, I'm sure you had everything under control, but I didn't want you to strain yourself.”
“It's...it's quite alright,” Marcus said quietly. His hands trembled.
Alvin leaned in so only Marcus could hear him, “I also took the liberty of drying your pants as it seemed in the commotion you lost control of your bladder.”
Genny and Anthony looked curiously to Marcus who stood motionless and wide-eyed. He was pretty sure a few drops escaped but didn't feel the need to check. He simply resolved himself to believe Alvin.
“As for learning about different things like these weapons,” Alvin announced to the group. “The readouts can be a bit tricky. Instead,” Alvin paused and walked over to a panel on the wall. He pressed it and an oval alcove appeared. All along the perimeter of the alcove were needles, three inches in length, and pointing toward the center of the opening.
“This is the Psionic Link Network,” Alvain said. “Or, PLN for short. It's the standard method across the universe for gaining knowledge immediately. Simply, step up and the alcove will lower itself to the proper height. Place your face within and follow the directions.”
“Wait,” Anthony said. “We just place our face in that thing and we can know stuff?”
“You got it sir,” Alvin said cheerfully. “Just be careful, as the PLN is typically used for small tasks such as learning to fly a uvnian shuttle in an emergency or learning how to speak Iii in a pinch. Over use has been known to wipe the mind clean of all memories.”
Panic ran across Marcus' face.
“Is there anything else you need?” Alvin asked. “The captain asked me to check on you due to the extended time it's taking to get the ship underway.”
