Invasion

by L. E. Thomas

  Skylar smiled. “I don’t know.”

  “Quit gawking. Let’s go!” Nubern yelled.

  Skylar and Bear moved on, but Austin lingered. Pockmarks and burns scarred the two visible freighters at the end of a long line of the spacecraft. No wonder they were being repaired, but that still didn’t answer the main question of why they were here.

  “Stone! Move it!”

  Austin shook and ripped his attention away from the surreal scene. He hurried to catch up with the group.

  “Sorry, sir!”

  “Don’t let it happen again.”

  “I won’t, sir. It’s just, ah; you have Legion freighters.”

  Nubern glared at him. “The Legion owns and operates many freighters, son. What of it?”

  “But that’s part of the game!”

  “What game?”

  “Star Runners.”

  Nubern started walking away. “That was never a game.”

  They hurried to keep up with Nubern’s quickened pace. He led them through an area much cleaner than before. Again, freighters spotted the room but with more space between them. Crews inspected the craft, making notes on their tablets.

  “Sir, what do you mean it was never a game?” Austin asked, trying to keep up with Nubern without tripping over equipment.

  “I mean it was a sim, a simulation, practice runs. Get it? Now, here we go.” He paused in front of a freighter with the side landing ramp lowered. Two crew members clad in dark blue uniforms identical to the Tizona colors stood on opposite sides of the ramp. “They held this ship for us. Get aboard.”

  Austin shook his head. “Wait.”

  “Move it, Recruit!”

  They marched forward together. The two crew members nodded and greeted them. The ramp rattled as they walked. The top of the freighter towered several hundred feet above the deck. He glanced up before focusing on the ramp. He took a slow, deep breath. He had never even been on a plane before. Now, for some unknown reason, he was boarding a Legion star freighter.

  “This is insane,” he muttered under his breath as he brought up the rear of their group.

  “We’re on drugs,” Bear whispered back. “That’s it. That’s the only explanation.”

  “Quiet!” Skylar snapped. “You’ll get us all in trouble.”

  Nubern stepped inside the ship and held his arm over the door. When they moved into a small room with shiny walls, he removed his arm and the door slid shut. The room vibrated and seemed to be traveling much faster than an elevator.

  “When we reach the top deck, find the four open seats on your right as quickly as possible,” Nubern said. “They’re waiting on us for liftoff.”

  Austin’s heart raced. Liftoff? This can’t be real.

  The elevator slowed and came to a stop. They reached for the walls for balance. The door opened. Seats full of passengers filled the cabin. The front passengers stared at them with contempt, some shaking their heads. One man in the second row checked his watch while another sighed. One aisle split the middle of the cabin with four seats on either side. Austin couldn’t see where the seating ended in the dim lighting. Nubern moved to the four seats and allowed the students to sit first.

  “Come on, sit, sit.” Nubern hurried them along.

  Skylar took the window seat, and Austin collapsed into the seat next to her. Bear sat next to Austin and Nubern took the aisle seat, releasing a loud breath as he did so.

  “This is like a gigantic plane,” Bear said. “You believe this is happening?”

  Shaking his head, Austin yanked the shoulder harness down over his torso and crossed it over his lap.

  “We apologize for the delay, citizens and personnel,” a voice crackled through the speakers at the top of the cabin. “This flight will depart shortly for Tarton’s Junction. Our total flight time will be eight hours. Sit back and enjoy the flight.”

  “Tarton’s Junction?” Skylar asked. “From the game?”

  Austin leaned back in his seat, his stomach rolling like a washing machine. He glanced over Skylar’s shoulder and saw nothing outside the window but the gray wall. He gripped the arm rests tight enough to turn his knuckles white.

  The lights dimmed as the sound of engines increased. The wall outside the window started to move.

  “Is Atlantis at the bottom of the ocean?” Bear asked.

  “It is, actually,” Nubern said, flipping through digital pages on his tablet. “Approximately twelve hundred miles off the coast of California.”

  Skylar leaned over Austin, a strand of her blond hair breaking loose from the bun and touching his arm. “If that’s true, how is this thing going to fly us out of here?”

  “Simple energy shielding.”

  “What about radar?”

  “Shrouded. The freighter will be invisible to the planet’s sensors.”

  “If we’re on a Legion freighter,” she said, “these things get shot out of the sky all the time by Tyral Pirates. I’ve read the expansion’s graphic novel. Dax Rodon and the pirates are always destroying these freighters.”

  Nubern smiled. “This star system is one of the safest in all of Legion space. Relax.”

  Skylar frowned at Austin. “You going to be sick? You’re green.”

  “Sure.” He swallowed hard and tasted acid in the back of his throat. “Think you can tell us what’s going on now, sir?” he asked, looking at Nubern without turning his head.

  “Certainly.” He leaned forward. “You have been recruited into the Navy of the Galactic Legion of Planets via a recruitment school. Tizona is one of fifty-four schools located on your planet for the purposes of recruitment.”

  “Wait a minute,” Austin said, holding up his head. “You said, ‘your planet.’ Are you not from Earth?”

  Nubern flashed a grin. “No. I’m from Tania. I was trained in speaking your language and in all of the customs of your continent. Before that, I was a Star Runner, just like you are training to become.”

  “Good Lord.” Austin closed his eyes. “This is crazy.”

  The ship rocked. He tightened his grip on the arm rests. The speakers above crackled to life. “We are now cleared for departure. Please be sure to secure all safety restraints. Enjoy the flight.”

  Red lights flashed outside the window. Skylar pressed against the glass and blocked most of the view. Plumes of water shot down from above like a waterfall.

  “What’s that?” Austin asked.

  “Ocean water,” Nubern answered as he popped a fresh piece of chewing gum into his mouth. “This ship’s in the airlock. We’ll soon be heading to the surface once it’s clear, and then we’ll leave atmo and head into orbit on our way to your moon.”

  Skylar turned away from the window. “What’s on the moon?”

  “Rocks.”

  “Then why are we going there?”

  “Not stopping there. On the far side of the moon, we open a curve and leave this system.”

  “A curve?” Austin blurted out. “You mean like in the game?”

  “Exactly. The massive energy field created by a curve in space could possibly be detected by Earth. This is much safer.”

  Water filled up outside the window. The walls beyond came to life and started moving out of view. The freighter rocked and tilted back at an incline. Engines rumbled to life, and the lights dimmed until only the soft red glow of emergency lights filled the cabin.

  “Won’t this, like, kill us?” Bear asked.

  “What? The ascent?” Nubern frowned. “No, you’re in an artificial atmo now. Have been since you tubed in here. No worries about that.”

  “This might sound stupid,” Skylar said, “but why Earth? If the game is real, why bother with Earth?”

  “Because Earth lies in Legion space in Quadrant Eight. Always has. While it’s still a dark world, or ‘anchored’ as some say, its people are still protected by the Legion and therefore owe it to the rest of the citizens to help keep our space safe from beyond. It’s the same for every other planet.”

&
nbsp; “Dark world?” Austin asked.

  “No intergalactic space travel. Earth will get there someday, I’m sure. But the problems of the galaxy cannot wait.”

  “So you’ve been recruiting from Earth for a while then?”

  “Personally? Eight of your years since they took me away from action, but Legion recruiters have been coming here for thousands of years.”

  “Really?”

  “Sure. Your people were primitive at first, so much so that we parked our Atlantis directly on the water. As your people progressed, we realized the need to take Atlantis out of sight.”

  “If you recruited us through the video game,” Skylar said, “how did you recruit back in those days? You certainly weren’t recruiting pilots. I don’t get it.”

  “Wars are helpful means for recruiting. So are myths. The greatest warriors would travel to trade with Atlantis and prove their worth. Earth warriors have always been known throughout the Legion and beyond for their toughness since our earliest recruitment days. Contests, gladiatorial events, and tournaments all aided us in recruiting Earth’s finest warriors. As your planet progressed, we were able to move beyond solely recruiting warriors. We have recruited scientists, engineers, pilots like you, and many more.”

  Bear sat forward. “So Atlantis was real?”

  “It is real,” Nubern said. “You just left it.”

  “Why the secrets?” Skylar asked.

  “It is our law that planets must advance naturally. We do not interfere. Not all nations or people share in that philosophy. Earth is fortunate to have the protection of the Legion.”

  Austin frowned. “So everyone at Tizona is from another planet?”

  “No. We recruit teachers and staff from Earth, just like any other college.”

  “Unbelievable.”

  It had taken an hour before the water cleared from the window, and the ocean surface stretched to infinity. Bubbles formed up and bounced off the windows. The passengers in the cabin chatted quietly. Some craned their necks for a better view of the Pacific Ocean as the moonlight sprinkled across the calm surface. The freighter bobbed in the water, waiting for clearance to take off.

  Skylar turned around and stared at the rows of passengers. “Who are all these people?”

  “Don’t know,” Austin said with a shrug.

  Nubern leaned forward, “Many people have business on Earth. I’d say most are going home.”

  “How many planets are in the Legion?” Austin asked.

  “Several hundred. It often changes, especially closer to the wilder areas of space with Tyral pirates, warlords, and even the Zahl Empire.” He grinned. “All hot spots you will undoubtedly be seeing if you complete your training.”

  “Is that where we are really going?”

  “Yes. You will spend time in a trainer Trident before you get your wings. Then, if you are still with us, you will become a Star Runner and be assigned where the Legion needs you most.”

  “Trident?” Austin sat up. “We get to fly a Trident?”

  “Of course. Why else would we bring you up here? You could be flying in one by the end of the month.”

  He thought of Josh. If only his best friend could be here to see this.

  “So if we had decided to go home for Christmas, what would have happened to us?” Austin asked.

  Nubern sighed. “You mean the other students who didn’t show up this morning? They will be transferred to another school and never see any of this. Some people are not ready for the truth. Others don’t have a sense of adventure in them. They take the safe road, the sure path. Those are certainly not the people who will later become Star Runners. Of course, some students could be recruited in other ways, but Tizona is primarily for the recruitment of pilots.”

  The freighter tilted back and lurched as the water drifted away from them. Gravity pressed Austin back into his seat. The ocean disappeared. Wisps of cloud streaked by the window as the stars appeared. The engines roared, and a rushing sound filled the cabin. His seat rattled, and the overhead compartments shook. He gripped the arm rests again and closed his eyes. The roaring filled his ears. His head shook.

  “We really can’t be picked up by radar?” Austin asked.

  “The Shroud blocks out any sensors your planet could use to detect us,” Nubern said, leaning back in his seat. “At most, we will show up as space debris or small asteroids. On the descent, we are most often seen as meteors or shooting stars. Believe me, hundreds of ships arrive and depart from Earth every day.”

  A few minutes passed. Skylar tugged at Austin’s arm. “Look!”

  He opened his eyes. The bluish hue of the night sky transitioned to an empty, dark black. He glanced back at Nubern; his eyes were closed and his mouth open as if he’d slept through the takeoff.

  As the sky outside faded from dark blue to black, Skylar’s hair came alive, moving away from her head like a spider. She laughed. “I can’t believe this!”

  He grinned. “Me, neither. Did we join space camp?”

  Gravity slipped away as the star freighter drove hard for the moon. As the three recruits giggled, the rest of the passengers sat in silence or spoke quietly.

  “So if this is really like the game, the ship will have to go through a curve on the far side of the moon,” Austin said, leaning over Bear to make sure Nubern was awake.

  “Yes, in a couple hours,” Nubern said.

  “Okay, well, what does a curve, you know, actually do?”

  Bear cleared his throat. “A curve bends space to allow a spacecraft to be momentarily in two places at once. Once the curve is closed, space goes back to normal.”

  Austin stared at Bear. “How do you know all of that?”

  Bear looked hurt. “I’ve been reading the strategy guide since the game came out. That’s how the curve is explained there.”

  Austin never cared what the curve did since it usually only meant the beginning of a load screen, either back to the main menu or into the game. “What is that like, though?”

  Nubern offered a crooked grin. “Recruit Keller is essentially correct in theory. Straight out of the textbook. You’ll get to experience it for real in a few hours. It is similar to the transport tubes on Earth, but requires significantly more power since it is using all of space instead of a localized tube.”

  Austin thought of the ship and his body passing through a curve in space only to appear light years away. “But what does it feel like?”

  “A curve? Well, it’s strange the first time. You feel like your stomach is turning over. Some people get a headache. Some vomit. Others can sleep through it. It’s different for everyone.”

  Austin leaned back in his seat and pulled the pen from his uniform’s chest pocket. He flicked it with his finger and watched it twirl across his seat, hanging in midair like it was on strings. Zero gravity.

  “I can’t believe this’.”

  “I know,” Skylar said. “I keep thinking I’m sleeping.”

  “I wish I was sleeping,” Nubern said, his eyes still closed.

  “Sorry, sir.”

  The engines droned. Austin’s eyelids grew heavy. He looked at the back of Skylar’s head as she pressed against the glass. Next to him, Bear surveyed the cabin and steepled his fingers. The weariness of the past two days fell over him like a fog, and he allowed his eyes to close.

  An image filled Austin’s mind of when his father would sing that old song, “Fly Me to the Moon” and carry him all around the house. The song buzzed around his head.

  You wouldn’t believe it, Dad. I wish you could see this.

  We hope you enjoyed this extended preview of the first book in the Star Runners Universe. Click here to read the entire adventure!

  Also by L.E. Thomas

  Star Runners

  Star Runners: Revelation Protocol

  Star Runners: Mission Wraith

  Star Runners: Scorpions

  Star Runners: Dark Space

  With C.G. Adams

  Ghost: A Star Runne
rs Universe Novel

  For the latest information

  on the Star Runners Universe,

  visit www.StarRunners.net

  About the Author

  L.E. Thomas lives in the Appalachian Mountains of North America with his wife and rescued dog where he is currently working on his next novel.