by J. Naomi Ay
"What does this have to do with us?" Mother asked now tossing her sewing aside and getting up to help herself to a cup of tea. She picked at a crumb from a brownie, putting it on her tongue and holding it there for a moment. "If this fermium is so valuable, why is everyone escaping Corganus?"
"Nobody knew how they could use the fermium there and an oppressive controlling government is in charge. My friends can develop the market and build a business to employ a whole bunch of people. Then maybe they can vote out the old government and turn things around themselves. We can get the generators so all we need to do is buy the fermium from Corganus."
"That sounds a little ambitious." Father leaned back in his chair. "I'll take that brownie, dear, the one that is missing a crumb." Mother handed Father the brownie and then turned her back so we couldn't see her eat the crumb that had fallen into her hand.
"How exactly will we pay for all these generators and the fermium?" Father bit into the rich dark chocolate and then held it up to me. I valiantly shook my head. "Our treasury has no money and we simply can't raise any more from taxes."
"SdK will lease us the generators and the Empire will loan us the money to purchase the fermium."
Father frowned and finished his brownie then clearing his throat, he began to speak. "If we get a lease and loan from the Empire and start generating this power, we'll be able to sell it for much less than our current electrical rates. Our businesses will benefit and production costs will go down. It will ripple and trickle throughout our whole economy. Once our economy recovers and more taxes are collected, our treasury will be replenished and we'll be able to pay back all the loans. It's a brilliant plan, Elana. You must have listened to my lectures."
"Uh…sure."
"You surprise me, Elana." Mother strolled to the window and parted the curtains to look outside. "You were the one who wanted nothing to do with Rehnor."
"I've changed my mind," I murmured thinking dreamily of Marik. "I've come to love him…it…the Empire instead. They're not about ruling us but rather helping us to help ourselves. And, it certainly doesn't hurt to be protected by the Imperial SpaceNavy."
"SpaceNavy officers are totally hot," Marie agreed while staring at her game. "At least they are in Imperial Quest. Prince Shika is a cutie even if you think he's lame."
"I still don't understand," Mother said. "How are we to arrange all this, low cost loans, contracts for fermium, this generating equipment?"
"It's all been done," I declared proudly. "I've arranged the loans and leases. The fermium contract will be established by my friends. The systems are already on their way here. All you need to do is say that you agree."
"Why would we want to get fermium from Corganus?" Marie wondered. "Aren't those guys the same Red Aliens that we don’t like?"
"Yes, Marie," Father smiled, "but your sister is thinking if we help them to improve their own planet by purchasing their goods, they won't have a need to escape and come here anymore. It's a good theory, Elana. I must say, I am very impressed."
"Thank you, Father," I continued. "It wasn't just me. I met all these people, Corganians, Rehnorians from the Imperial SpaceNavy and the Viscount Korelesk and even…uh…Steven Golden. We figured this all out together and then met with the Empress who approved of our plan."
"You met with the Empress?" Mother turned abruptly from the window. "Without me?"
"I'm sorry, Mother. It was very hastily arranged. The Viscount got us in to see her while she was transferring planes at the spacebase."
"Is that where you got that dress?" Marie paused her game and scrambled to her feet. "Do you think I could have one too? I really need a new one for the Emperor's birthday party. Are you going to wear this one to the party? If you don't, can I?" She walked back over to me and started stroking the fabric again. "We would only need to take it in a little bit."
"It's a football game," I replied. "The dress code is jeans and football jerseys. Remember we discussed this, beer and popcorn?"
"I really want to wear this dress," she simpered and made that face that got her everything she ever wanted.
"Fine, I don't care."
"Cool! You're the best, Elana." She kissed my cheek.
"But," I said and raised my finger. "You have to help me restyle my hair. Maybe we can even put in some highlights."
"That would look awesome," Marie cried. "A little gold or red around your face would really brighten it up."
"What has brought this on?" Mother walked over to Father and put her hand upon his shoulder. "Elana is all of a sudden concerned with her appearance?"
Father shrugged and adjusted his blanket. He took out his tablet and started to read a book, nonfiction and about economics.
"Maybe Elana has a new boyfriend," Marie said coyly raising her eyebrows and winking. "Steven?"
"Not Steven," I said. "Marik."
"Marik?" Mother demanded. "What kind of name is that?"
"A Mishnese name," I replied proudly.
"But is he a fitting consort for a future Queen?" Mother insisted.
"I think, Mother, the more important question is, am I a fitting consort for a future Imperial Duke?"
Chapter 23
Steven
"Hey, little bro, did someone say you need four pigs?"
"Jimmy," I sighed. "How'd you get my private number?"
I hustled to the aft section of the SpaceNavy spaceplane and turned my back so nobody could hear me talking. Randy, Lenny and Kiman were playing cards in the main salon while Korelesk was texting to Elana with his feet up on the table. Sam was standing by the cockpit door watching the pilot and I had been about to join him when my cell rang.
"Chill out, baby Shik, we're transacting business here. I got an order from high up, the Lord Kalika-hahr himself, who got an order from the higher up, Lord Turko who we affectionately call Taner, who got an order from even higher up, the lady known as HER. She said send four Fermium Powered Electrical Generating Systems, also known as fpegs to Cygnanus and another four fpegs to Corganus, attention you."
"Oh. I thought you said pigs like the kind that live on a farm."
"Hey little bro, I know you don't eat pork. Furthermore, what would you do with four pigs in space?" I glanced back in the salon at Lenny, Kinar, Randy and Sam.
"You'd be surprised," I replied. "We've done quite a bit. So are the fpegs on their way?"
"They're travelling at post light speeds, my brother, which is faster than a speeding bullet and more powerful than a locomotive, whatever in the hell that is. We'll be lighting up those dark planets in no time, my little friend."
"Cool, Jimmy," I whispered. "How's life treating you otherwise?"
"Can't complain, oh princely one, except for the four girls that all want me to marry them. Nancy or Celine? Barbara or Maryanne? There's just too many choices for this one Viscount Jim."
"I thought you were engaged to someone named Laura?"
"History, my man, that was so last week. Funny how no one ever paid me any attention until the Thad got upped and now the Viscount Jim's in hot demand."
"I'm glad for you, Jimmy. Listen, I need to go. You'll be at The Birthday Party, I assume?"
"Count on it, little bro. I just can't decide which girl to bring with me. Maybe by then I'll have a new one altogether. Would you like me to bring a few extras chicks for you?"
"Girls? No thanks. I have enough problems as it is."
"Stay cool like a cucumber, dude and don’t make any promises. TTYL, my young friend."
When I came back to the salon, I told everybody what I had learned about all the fpegs heading to the planets.
"Yula called," Randy said when I was done. "They've got their dad's old factory and a bunch of their employees too. They've started collecting the fermium and boxing it up for shipment. They'll be keeping enough on hand to supply their own machines. They're ready to go as soon as the equipment arrives."
"Unless their corrupt government discovers what they're doing and puts them all in
jail," I said.
"That's where we come in," Korelesk smiled wickedly. "We'll make those bastards sorry they ever messed with their people. There's nothing my father's cousin, the Great Emperor hates more than corrupt politicians."
"Especially judges," I added, "who are supposed to be adhering to the laws."
"He's not going to kill them, do you think?" Kiman asked nervously. "You know, by giving them all heart attacks or something?"
"I don't think so." I shook my head while Randy started humming our tomato hack song. "If we can take care of it ourselves, he'll just let us do it."
"Hey!" Lenny said looking up from his cards. "How does a trailer trash Rozari boy know so much about what the Great Emperor will or will not do?"
"Actually," I started to say but Sam interrupted.
"Stevie," he called coming out of the cockpit. "It's your turn to drive."
"Later," I said and bolted away from those guys. I entered the cockpit and sat down in a chair then followed the instructions that pilot dictated to me.
"Now follow the track line," the pilot said. "Let's take you through some deep space maneuvers just for fun." After an hour of flight work, I learned one very important thing; our SpaceNavy spaceplanes were second to none.
"Now let's change vectors and add thrust as we're entering the C-ganian Star System. Set heading to 240, Ensign, and power to LT plus 4."
"Yes, sir," I snapped and brought the plane around, hitting the after burners and bolting off into space. Unfortunately, I bolted into something big and black and empty, something that was waiting for us with its mouth opened wide.
"Kari-fa!" I shrieked as the ship rocked and the engines groaned. I hit every button I could think of to reverse until the pilot pulled me away.
"Sorry!" I cried. "I'm so sorry. What'd I do?"
"Get out of here," the pilot snapped and locked the cockpit door. I ran back to the salon where everyone was staring out the windows.
"Fricking! Fricking!" Sam screamed.
"What it is?" Randy cried pointing out the window at a giant space slug.
"It's a friend of that!" Lenny yelled pointing out the windows on the opposite side of the plane at a second space slug that already had us inside. The engines stopped, the ship went dark until a generator kicked on, giving us some oxygen but not a whole lot else.
"Fricking!" Sam yelled again bumping into a wall. "We've been swallowed by a slug and now it's digesting us."
"This is disgusting," Korelesk growled as green slime oozed down the windows. He jumped to his feet and using the light from his cellphone fumbled his way to the cockpit. We could hear a few laser bursts and a few torpedoes being launched but other than the green slime outside turning bright for a moment, they didn't seem to have any affect. Korelesk returned and sat down in his seat.
"What are we going to do, Commander?" Kiman hesitantly asked.
"Can we call for some assistance?" Lenny practically begged.
Korelesk shook his head. "We can't do a thing until the slug expels us out. Let's try not to worry. These things have happened before."
"Really?" I gasped though I didn't feel any better. "So we just need to sit here and let it digest?"
"Do you have a better suggestion, Gold-en?" Korelesk smirked. "Our weapons are useless, our cellphones don’t work. The thing is organic so we can't launch a hacker attack. We can't use our EMP. All we can do is hope that we upset his digestion enough so that he'll quickly poop us out before the plane breaks apart."
"The plane may break apart?" Kiman whispered. "I thought you just said these things have happened before?"
"I was lying," Korelesk grumbled, "just so you wouldn't panic."
"There is only so much acid the exterior fabric can handle," Sam whispered, "even though it's woven at a nano-technic level. Last week when I was working in maintenance on a shuttle in the bay, I left the solvent on too long and it ate a hole in the side of the plane."
"For which you received four demerits," Korelesk added with a cough.
"Yeah," Sam frowned. "Stevie and I are both cleaning latrines until the end of the cruise."
"I thought we had the best ships in the galaxy?" Lenny asked. "That's what the SpaceNavy recruiter said."
"There are strange things out here that don't care how great our ships are," I echoed my mom who would never have been so stupid as to fly right into a space slug's mouth.
"Shut up, all of you," Korelesk growled, "I'm going to take a nap." He folded his arms over his chest and proceeded to fall asleep.
"Anybody want to play Imperial Quest on my tablet?" Randy asked quietly. "It's not as good as the Sim Center but it's still fun. Come on Stevie, you can play Prince Shika."
"No thanks," I replied. "That guy is totally lame." I walked to the aft of the plane where I sat on the floor and held my chin in my hands. It seemed no matter what I did, I managed to screw it up.
"Stop feeling sorry for yourself," a voice said. I opened my eyes and looked across the hall at the same old homeless Cyganian guy that I'd seen twice before.
"What are you doing here?" I demanded. "How did you get on this plane?"
He cackled and lit up a pipe with some strange smelling leaves. "It seems I was swallowed by the same space slug."
"Yeah, but," I protested. "If you were, you'd be out there instead of in here."
"I would, would I?" He puffed deeply and furrowed his brow. "I suppose that is correct. So how do you plan to get us out of this mess?"
"I'm not," I declared. "There's nothing we can do, so if you'd quit bugging me, I'll try and catch some sleep."
"There's always something to be done, Steven, especially for someone as capable as you."
"Capable?" I snorted. "Capable of what? Failing tests, getting arrested, killing a guy when I'm only trying to help, earning demerits, making Andorian Baby Jelly Fish slime and peanut butter sandwiches and now I've driven our spaceplane into the belly of a giant space slug. Name one thing I've done that hasn't been a screw-up. Name one thing I can do that I won't somehow manage to fail."
"Ach Steven," the guy sighed blowing clouds of smoke from his pipe. "No one is perfect. Everyone must stumble and fall a few times before they can stand up and run. "
"Not my dad."
"Ha!" the guy laughed. "Your dad is a bit of an exception. Maybe he'll tell you all about it in another lifetime or two."
"See," I declared.
"Steven, even your dad makes mistakes.
"No, he doesn't."
"Alright, but look what a wreck he becomes when your mother is not around. He has to keep her on a leash just to harness in himself but that's another story, a precursor to this one. Now we are discussing Steven Golden and what he must do to find that which he is searching for in order to advance to the next level."
"Are we playing Imperial Quest or am I just having some strange dream?"
"Everything takes time, Steven, and you are at only the beginning of your quest. Now use your brain and think hard. How can you get us out of this slug?"
"I don't know. I think they taught us about space slugs at the Academy but I must have slept through that class."
"The answer to this challenge is in your pocket, Ensign Golden."
"You said that last time and it was just a fermium rock." I reached in my pocket and pulled out the stone again. Studying it, I tried to think. Rock? Slug? What could be done?
"What would your father do were he trapped in this situation?" The old guy blew a cloud of smoke in my face.
"That's not a fair question." I rolled the rock around in my hand. It started to get hot as fermium did when you rubbed it. "My dad would just hit the slug with a bolt of lightning or burn it up from inside. He'd make it so hot the slug would belch and we go flying out the front end. That's it!" I jumped to my feet and raced to the salon. "We need to heat up the slug!"
"Huh?" Korelesk mumbled and wiped at the drool that was trickling down the side of his face. "Marik, listen," I practically yelled. "We need to r
un the after-burners until the slug burps us out."
"If we run the after-burners," the pilot said rubbing his eyes as he came out of the cockpit. "We'll burn ourselves up too. The lining of the slug's stomach will encase the heat."
"The ship's insulation can handle up to 2000 Kelvin," Sam interjected. "If we run the after-burners and monitor the temperature, we might be able to get the slug to puke us out before we all die."
"That would be good," Randy nodded.
"We'd have to cut the burners long before we damage the plane and it might not be enough to upset the slug's digestion," the pilot said. "What do you think, Commander, should we give it a try?" Marik narrowed his eyes and scratched his fuzzy head.
"Ok," he agreed. "Just make sure we don't all turn into toast points."
Chapter 24
Sam
As soon as we got back to the ship, the Captain summoned us to his office.
"What do you think he wants?" I asked Stevie as we changed into our dress blacks.
"Probably just a report on our mission," he shrugged.
"I hope so," I replied. "I hope we're not in fricking trouble. I can't afford any more demerits. As it is, my entire pay for a month has been docked."
"Don't worry," Stevie said. "I'll take all the blame for the space slug and the damage to the plane's outer skin. It doesn't matter how many more demerits I earn. Korelesk has already docked my entire pay for this cruise."
"I meant to ask you about Korelesk," Lenny said bumping into me while he put on his dress pants. We really should have taken turns getting dressed one at a time but the Captain was expecting us in less than ten minutes. "How come on the trip you called the guy Marik instead of his rank and title like the rest of us?"
"Well, the truth is, Lenny," Stevie started to say when the cabin door swished open and Randy stood there.
"Are you ready, guys?" he urged. "Come on it's getting late."
"I'm ready!" Steven cried and bolted out the door.
The rest of us followed and went up twelve decks to the Captain's private office where his yeoman let us in. We stood at attention while he looked us up and down and then turning to Korelesk asked for a full explanation.
