“Char!” he screamed back.
She looked up and for an instant was relieved to see him, but it quickly went back to her concerned expression. “Oh, thank the Founders! You’re all right!” she shouted.
Just then, one of the sharks bumped the boat hard enough to almost capsize it. Char screamed as he held onto the steering wheel. The boat righted itself.
“Char!” he cried out, watching helplessly as his wife’s life hung the balance. He had to come up with a plan. He needed a distraction.
“Char!” he shouted again. “Is your hand still bleeding?”
She looked down and the bandages were starting to drip onto the floor of the boat. She quickly unraveled the bandages and blood flowed from the wound. “Yes!”
“Good! Soak our two towels in your blood. When you’re sure their soaked, throw one in each direction! One that way and one that way!” He ducked down and saw the two sharks were still circling the boat. This particular type of shark—the Maal Shark—had very poor eyesight, so they couldn’t see Stryyk from where they were. And Stryyk was doing everything in his power to keep himself as calm as possible as to not draw attention from the two predators. A few minutes later, Char shouted back that she was ready. Both towels had an unhealthy amount of blood on them.
“Throw them!” he shouted.
Char threw one with all her might. One went to the port side of the boat a good thirty yards away and the one to the starboard, close to the same distance. For a few seconds, neither shark responded, but as the aroma of blood reached their nostrils, they instantly broke off their attack of boat and moved very, very quickly to the blood-soaked towels. That was when Stryyk made his move. With all the strength he had, he swam for it, keeping an eye on each shark as he moved through the water. He knew that the splashing of his hands and feet hitting the water would eventually draw them back, but what choice did he have?
The boat was less than ten yards away when Stryyk heard Char screaming something shrill and terrified when his head broke the surface for air. Stryyk looked and saw not one, but two sharks closing on him fast. He doubled his efforts, but he knew he wasn’t going to make it. As the two sharks, seemingly completely unaware of each other’s presence, converged on one target. Stryyk did the only thing he could think of: wait for the attack and try to dodge it.
At the last minute, Stryyk dived down into the water as deep and as fast as he could. Half a second later, one of the sharks was on him. He made his move and the shark adjusted accordingly. However, so did the other shark. As they both opened wide to bite down on him, Stryyk curled up into a ball. For a second, Stryyk was in the mouths of two sharks at the same time! The two sharks collided—mouth to mouth—with such force that Stryyk felt the impact in his chest. Stunned from their full throttle collisions, both sharks drifted apart in a daze. When Stryyk realized that he was not in the stomach of one of the two sharks, he kicked furiously for the boat, knowing he only had seconds before the two predators would regain their wits and attack again.
He broke the surface a foot from the boat and grabbed the edge. Char reached down and grabbed him the waistband of his shorts and pulled with all her might. With their efforts combined, Stryyk tumbled into the boat safe and sound…that was until the sharks realized the source of the blood was a boat. Another hard buck sent them rolling to their backs. As they got up, they got knocked down again.
Stryyk got to his feet and hit the ignition. The boat sputtered to life, just as another jolt sent them crashing to the stern. The boat was spinning in a counterclockwise direction when Char leapt forward and hit the throttle forward to full. The boat lurched forward, leaving the sharks behind momentarily as they sped straight for the cliff.
With the sharks behind them, Stryyk got to his feet and took the wheel. He whipped the boat around and headed for the beach on the other side of the island, skirting along the cliff face. The sharks were right behind them and closing. The cliff gradually leveled out to flat lands, and eventually beach. Stryyk turned the boat out to sea in a wide arcing turn and spun it around to head straight for shore with enough speed to beach the boat completely. About ten feet from the shore, the sharks broke off of their pursuit as the water became too shallow for them to maneuver.
Once on the beach, the two breathed a sigh of relief and lay on the boat floor for a few moments before Stryyk sat up and looked at his wife. Another realization stuck him as he sat there and clearly, Char saw it on his face.
“What?” she asked.
“We were attacked by two sharks at the same time!” Stryyk said excitedly. “You know what this means?”
“We’re insanely unlucky?” Char asked, not quite sharing his excitement.
“No!” Stryyk said. “Quite the opposite! Remember at The Dive? I was telling the bartender that probability of finding a star system out there was about the same as getting attacked by two sharks at the same time! It’s providence, Char, a sign from the Founders that we will find a star system while we’re out there!”
“Well, I didn’t see that coming,” Char said dryly.
“Nobody could!” Stryyk replied. “That’s why this is a sign!”
They spent another few hours relaxing on the beach until they were confident that the sharks had gone their separate ways. They pushed the boat into the water and hopped in. Not taking any chances, Stryyk pointed the boat straight at the mainland and poured on the speed. It was almost nighttime when they pulled up to the docks outside the resort. They got off and headed straight for their room, to change and clean up before going out to dinner.
The rest of the weekend was completely and refreshingly uneventful, and when they returned home they used the rest of the credits on their fund cards to buy a vehicle. With their new ride, they met Lyyn at the training site. It was a giant facility with multiple areas for different subjects of training. Each area had an expert to train them. It started with basic and then advanced combat training, in both firearms and hand-to-hand combat. After a week of combat training, a new subject would be added. The first was basic propulsion. A week later another subject would be added: basic mechanics. By week four, they were studying the most deadly forms of martial arts, working toward the quantum propulsion theories and Event Horizon operations, advanced mechanics and beginning zero-g training. By week twelve, their combat training was done—though it would continue indefinitely once they left, they could calculate a Eve’Zon jump by hand, rebuild a Eve’Zon Drive with minimal tools using recycled parts, operate in zero-g as if they were born in it, navigate the dangers of space without the use of the navigational computer, and had a basic understanding of piloting a ship without sensors.
It was, to put it mildly, rigorous. Every night when they’d lay down for the night, they were asleep before their heads hit their pillows, but it was also incredibly rewarding! The part they liked the most was the camaraderie. They made friends who became family. They did everything together, trained, sweated, bled, cried, and ate together. They were going to be an amazing crew, able to handle any situation that came their way.
That year simultaneously went by in the blink of an eye and entirely too slowly. The work was grueling and everyday presented a new challenge, but they could not wait to get into space and start making history. Though Stryyk’s and Char’s encounter with the sharks was nearly a dim memory of the another life ago, Stryyk never forgot what was to him, a sign from the Founders that his number was up and the Good Fortune Wagon was coming full circle. He spoke with such conviction that everyone around him had also began to see his point, and to believe that it was a sign from the Founders. The story was almost too incredible to believe, but so incredible that it would be hard not to believe.
It finally came! The day before they would get their orders from the captain, and fthey would inally all convene at the ship for first time as an actual crew! They spent most of the night travelling all over Seryys saying goodbye to close friends and family members, as they would be in space for a considerable amount of tim
e. With some rather emotional goodbyes behind them, they returned home and packed up everything they wanted to bring with them—which wasn’t much since most of their belongings had been sold off to make ends meet. Neither Char nor Stryyk could sleep that night, despite being exhausted from the insane training, the exhausting goodbyes, and the lack of sleep. When the sun came up, they got the call on their com unit. It was Lyyn giving them an address.
They quickly packed up their hover car and excitedly drove off to the destination. They pulled up to a small building, barely large enough to fit ten people standing shoulder-to-shoulder. The smallest amount of trepidation filled the car at the thought that maybe they had been duped. But about four minutes later, three more cars pulled behind them and Lyyn emerged from the small building. She was wearing a flight jumpsuit that was navy blue, boots, and loose-fitting pants. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail and she wore not a stitch of makeup. She looked considerably more comfortable than she did the day they met her, yet oddly enough, she was still very beautiful. Lyyn escorted them all into the small room.
“I apologize for any apprehension I may have caused you,” Lyyn said. “I arranged for you all show up at different times as to not draw attention to us until we were ready.”
With that, she pulled a lever and the whole room moved downward into the ground. In short order, the whole crew was there, all three hundred of them, staring a gigantic ship shrouded in deep umbra. They boarded ship, took their stations, and awaited orders. A few minutes after they took their stations, a man appeared on the main screen at the front of the bridge and on every screen in the ship.
“This is your captain speaking; I am waiting at the debarkation and ceremony location. Your maiden voyage will take you from the holding the facility to me. Follow Lyyn’s orders as if they were my own, she is my first officer. Lyyn and I have hand-picked every single one of you, you are the best of the best and have put in a lot of hard work, blood, sweat, and tears to make this voyage possible. For that, I cannot thank you enough, and look forward to meeting each of you in person before we take to the stars and discover the unknown. I am already proud of you, my crew. Good luck and I’ll meet you all soon! ”
The screens went blank and Lyyn started barking orders. “Char, plot a course to the rendezvous coordinates. Stryyk, do a preflight checklist. Bav, start her up!”
“Aye!” Bav’s voice came over the bridge speaker.
“Clear all moorings. Computer, uplink to the mooring station’s computer and retract the doors.
“Right away.”
The ceiling of the holding facility parted, flooding the dark chamber with a sheet of light that quickly widened to a maw big enough for the ship escape.
“Engineering reports engines hot,” Stryyk announced. “Preflight checklist complete, all systems green. Hoverpad banks hot and ready. She’s ready for flight!”
“Course plotted,” Char added. “Transferring course to the helm.”
“Course received,” Stryyk announced. “We’re ready.”
“Let’s not keep the captain waiting,” Lyyn said.
Stryyk pulled back on the yoke and the heavy ship lifted up off its landing struts. Stryyk expertly piloted the ship out of the storage facility and into the sky. From there, a flight path lit up on the main screen and Stryyk followed it for an hour until the destination showed up on the map.
“Communications, open a channel, please,” Lyyn orderd.
“Channel open,” the man from the console announced.
“Port Control, this is Lyyn’Dah Lyydraal of registration Ess Cee Ess eight, one, nine, zero, one, five, requesting permission to land.”
“Permission granted,” Ess Cee Ess eight, one, nine, zero, one, five. Landing bay twelve is reserved for you. We have no ship name registered for you, ma’am. Do you care to add one?”
Lyyn smiled and chuckled. “Not yet, Port Control. The name will be unveiled at her christening.”
The port worker chuckled and said, “We got a lot of that going around these days. Welcome to the Exodus!”
“Thank you, Port Control.”
The HUD on the main screen lit up and showed their berth, as the Port Control computer uploaded the location to them. As they flew over the structure, they all saw very clearly how well-protected the debarkation site was. Crete walls topped with razor wire enclosed the whole area, with guarded gates on the east and west sides of the compound. The structure was topped with cannon turrets as well as on four towers—one at each corner of the square-shaped perimeter wall. No one was getting in or out of that place without permission.
“This is it,” Stryyk said to Char quietly.
“This is what?” Char asked.
“Our own, personal PNR,” Stryyk answered. “Once we cross that threshold, we’re one hundred percent committed to this voyage, no turning back.”
“So what’re waiting for?” Char asked, an adventurous sparkle in her eye.
“Nothing,” Stryyk said with a big smile. He was ready for anything, so long as Char was by his side. Stryyk expertly landed the vessel within the designated spot and the crew convened on the ground.
The captain—a tall, dashing man with wavy, brown hair, blue eyes and chiseled face—smiled at them all producing crow’s feet at the corners of his eyes.
“Welcome,” he shouted, holding out his hands as if he wanted to embrace them all at once, “to the christening of our ship before what will be the biggest push for galactic exploration in Seryys history!” He pointed to a man that was on a lift at the nose of the ship. The man nodded and peeled back a gray piece of adhesive stripping. Beneath the strip was written in a flashy script of some kind, the name of the ship. “Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Vyysar!” Thunderous applause could be heard all the way to the guard towers at the four corners of the compound. “Named after my family line, the Vyysars have been in the exploration business for five generations. My name is Vyys’Arri Vyysar, but you all can just call me Arri! Now please, come join me for a banquet in your honor!”
They all entered the facility to find tables upon tables of food waiting for them. They all sat, with Arri at the head of the biggest table. He stood, raised his glass and said, “To the Vyysar!”
“To the Vyysar!” they all shouted back with glee.
“May she fly true!” Stryyk shouted out.
“Indeed!” Arri said with a laugh! “Eat up! But get a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow will be a big day!”
They ate, laughed, sang, danced, drank, and didn’t get nearly enough sleep, but it didn’t matter because when the sun came up, everyone was energized. They all met outside the ship that morning for breakfast in the main building along with the crews of thousands of ships. The Prime Minister was there; he gave a long, drawn-out speech that bored everyone to tears but was met with thunderous applause when it was done. There were atmospheric jets zipping about in fantastic formations, bands playing rousing marches, every reporter on Seryys was there, millions of people stood outside the walls to watch the ships leave cheering and whistling, and children ran about with toy ships in their hands pretending to be the brave pilots of these ships.
After breakfast, they had two hours to prep the ship for launch. As the crew of the Vyysar gathered at their docking bay, Stryyk called out to everyone.
“Hey!” he shouted. “I want a picture of this! Everyone, squeeze together in front of the ship!” He spotted a bay tech and asked him to take the picture. He was happy to oblige. Stryyk ran up to crew and squeezed in next to his wife. Everyone smiled and the camera flashed. Instantly the picture popped out the bottom of the camera and the tech handed both the camera and the picture back to Stryyk.
They boarded the ship. Stryyk started his console and while he waited, stuck the picture to the flight control console. He looked over and saw his wedding photo stuck to Char’s control console. She looked at him with loving eyes and he smiled back at her. The next two hours went by in the blink of an eye as the crew checked, double check
ed, and tripled checked the ship’s systems. When they were cleared to take off, Arri hit the ship’s intercom and spoke.
“All right, people. We’re next for take off! Let’s make history! Stryyk!” Arri called out.
“Sir?” Styyk said, spinning to look at his captain.
“Don’t scratch the paint on the way out.”
Styyk smiled big and said, “Aye, cap’n!”
Stryyk linked with the Control Tower’s computer to get their exit vector that would not interfere with any other ship’s path, and lifted the ship off the ground. The floor vibrated beneath the feet as the powerful engine kicked in. The ship made it to orbit. They were cleared to jump. Stryyk got butterflies in stomach and reached out to grab Char’s hand. Her hand met his with a firm and loving squeeze.
“Course plotted, Arri,” Char said.
“Eve’Zon Drive primed,” Stryyk added.
“Let’s see what’s out there!”
Accelerated particles shoot out from the sides of the ship, curved inward in synchronized fashion, and collided out in space before the ship in a brilliant flash of light. When their eyes adjusted to the flash, there it was: a yawning maw of darkness that offered both fear and anticipation—fear of the unknown, and anticipation of making a historical discovery. No one really knew what was on the other side of that micro-black hole, but everyone was tingling to find out!
“Take her in,” Arri ordered.
“With pleasure, sir!” Stryyk said.
The ship entered the maw and Stryyk’s stomach, as always, lurched.
This has been a short story in the setting of The Seryys Chronicles
Death Wish:
The Seryysans and the Vyysarri have been at war for centuries and there is no end to the war in sight. The Vyysarri, nomadic savage warriors, are relentless in their efforts to wipe out the Seryysans once for all, while the Seryysans, civilized denizens, scramble to defend themselves by whatever means necessary.
Maiden Voyage (The Seryys Chronicles) Page 4
