A rough plan was forming in his head to lure the creatures away and let everyone else escape, when a soaring screech exploded behind him. Suddenly the entire clearing was filled with fat sparks of light that drifted lazily through the air. Squinting and batting them away, Chase realized that the sparks were only light, not fire, and that they were making the creatures back off. He ran to the tree to help Lilli down, but she was staring past him, eyes wide and frantic. He turned around to see what she was looking at.
At the edge of the clearing, a yellow single-rider hovercart hung above the ground. Its driver stood over the seat, holding a long rifle-like object that must have been the source of the spark explosion. A gauzy mask covered most of the person’s face, but by the long torso and stumpy legs it was obvious that this was not an Earthan.
The Storrian pushed back the gauze mask, revealing a coral-colored head sporting only a few fine wisps of hair, with tiny black eyes, a soft, flat nose, and drooping turtle-like mouth. He said something in a rounded, soupy language. A millisecond later, Chase’s translink kicked in, and in his right ear he heard, “What are you doing on my property? How did you get here?”
“We … crash-landed,” said Parker, still standing atop the rock.
Two rows of short stalks oozed out of the Storrian’s forehead, right above his eyes, and arched in a way that made him look confused. He shook his head and gestured for them to come forward. “Earthans?” He mumbled something that the translink interpreted as “Gerp, gerp gerp.”
“What?”
“Get in. I’ll take you back to the hive with me,” came his translated voice.
Parker looked back at Chase, eyebrows raised. Going with an alien stranger to his hive—his hive—didn’t seem like the smartest plan, but letting him leave them in the forest full of little sharp-teethed monsters sounded worse. And this Storrian seemed, well, if not friendly, then at least not unfriendly. Chase nodded, first at Parker, and then at the stranger.
The alien hooked the light-rifle back onto the side of his hovercart and drove the vehicle farther into the clearing, where Chase saw that he was pulling a sort of hovertrailer behind. He hopped down and walked to the back, moving things around in the trailer, then waved the children over.
Chase took a step forward, but Lilli grabbed his arm and pulled him back. Her face was frightened and confused. “What are you doing?” she hissed.
Chase shook his head. “It’s fine. He’s just taking us back to his, um…” Suddenly he realized why she looked so confused—Lilli hadn’t received a translink. “Don’t worry. He’s going to help us.” He looked back at Analora. “He’s a Storrian, right?”
Analora nodded. “Yup. Oh hey, I forgot—I brought extras.” As they were heading toward the hovercart trailer, she handed something to Lilli. “Put this in your ear.”
The Storrian stood beside the trailer as they all climbed in, a good foot taller than any of them, with broad shoulders and that impossibly long torso. Chase and Parker squeezed in among the cylindrical containers sticky with a black substance. “Sorry about the mess,” said the Storrian. “I was collecting havarnox sap.”
“Oh, great,” muttered Analora.
He climbed back on his hovercraft, and soon they were soaring through the trees. Parker tipped his head back and looked up at the leaf-dappled sky. “Well, this isn’t turning out so bad.”
“Other than almost getting eaten by those monsters,” said Chase.
Parker shrugged. “’Almost’ doesn’t count.” He rubbed his finger along some of the black sap on the container before him and sniffed it. “Smells good. I wonder if—”
He lowered his sap-covered finger to his mouth, when Analora snatched his hand away from his face. “Don’t put that in your mouth.” Her eyes were huge. “Don’t ever put a raw foreign substance in your mouth until you know it’s not poisonous.”
Parker blanched a little. “Why? Is this—?”
She pulled her scarf from around her neck and used it to vigorously wipe the sap from Parker’s finger. “Storrians process havarnox sap into a syrup. If you had some of the syrup, you’d get an upset stomach. When you distill the syrup more, you get a drink called Noxosot that’s really popular with certain types of humanoids. But the sap itself is really toxic for Earthans. You’d be dead in five minutes.”
Looking disturbed, Parker rubbed his finger. “Good lords. I’m glad you were here.”
“I still can’t believe you almost ate that. Never eat before you know. It’s one of the first lessons my mom taught me.”
“Yeah, well, my childhood didn’t include a lot of interplanetary travel.” Parker’s eyes flickered to Chase—was that embarrassment on his face? After getting over his shock of Parker’s low-key near-death experience, Chase found himself surprised and even a little pleased that there was something Parker didn’t know. Not that he could say he wouldn’t have tried the same thing himself.
“When we get to this guy’s hive we can figure out where we are,” said Chase. “And the fastest way to get to Lumos.”
“If we can get him to understand us,” said Parker, looking out at the trees as they whipped past. “What are the odds a Storrian tree farmer has a Fleet-quality translink at home?”
“Did you say you have some extras?” Chase asked Analora.
She shook her head. “It won’t work. Storrians don’t have ear canals like we do.”
When they emerged from the forest, the land spilled into a wide plain covered in yellowy-green grass that smelled sharp and spicy. The sky that stretched over them was the soft coral pink of a cabbage rose, and far away in the distance, a towering cluster of conical buildings rose from the ground.
“That must be Lumos,” said Analora.
Parker whistled. “We landed pretty close.”
“This is close?” asked Chase. The city had to be at least half a day’s walk away.
Parker gave him a condescending look. “You realize this planet has seventy million square miles of land, right?”
Lilli’s scratchy voice rose from the back of the cart. “Is that a train line?”
Everyone turned around to catch a glimpse of what appeared to be an elevated train platform that emerged from the forest and vanished quickly behind a hill. “Good job, Lil,” said Parker. “I bet that goes to the city. Look, you can see it down below too.”
They soared over a hillock, and on the other side lay a few conical buildings made of a woven material that gleamed gold in the rose-hued sunshine. As they pulled up alongside the lowest one, another Storrian came waddling out of the building.
“What have you got here?” This one’s voice was higher, feminine, although she had the same wispy, almost nonexistent hair on her own head.
“Crash-landed in our orchard,” said the farmer gruffly.
The female Storrian tilted her forehead stalks in the same confused gesture and went back inside, while the farmer came back around to help the children down from the trailer.
He started unloading some of the havarnox sap containers, but seeing all the children take a step back, he stopped suddenly. “Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot. You’re the first Earthans we’ve ever had here.” He rubbed his fleshy hands on his roughspun pants and left the containers where they stood. “Come inside.”
They followed him into the building, down a warm honey-colored hallway, and into an open central area ringed with several stories of large cubbies. One of these held a table and chairs, where he gestured for them to take a seat.
“We’re trying to get to Lumos,” said Parker in an excessively slow, loud voice, as if speaking more clearly would help the Storrian understand their foreign language. The Storrian shook his head. “Lumos,” Parker repeated loudly. “Lumos. Lumos.”
Still the Storrian looked at him with a blank expression.
Parker frowned at Chase. “I’m saying it right. Why doesn’t he understand? Lumos!”
The female Storrian came back into the room, and Parker tried shouting the name of th
e city at her, but she ignored him, gesturing for the farmer to leave the room with her. Something about the way they were acting struck Chase oddly. He stood from the table, holding a finger to his lips and putting out a hand to tell the others that they should stay put. Silently he crept down the hall, sidestepping into another room to listen.
The farmer muttered to her in a low tone. “Earthan children crashing into my orchard and destroying half my trees. War breaking out on the moon, Federation ships invading our orbit. All these foreigners—it’ll come to nothing good!”
“Don’t worry,” she said. “The border security hover’s already on its way. They’ll be off our hands in a few minutes.”
Chase cursed under his breath and slipped into the hall to hurry back out to the others. “We’ve got to go. Now. They’ve called the border security to come get us.”
Hissing angrily, Parker jumped up and made a break for the door, Analora hot on his heels. Chase pushed Lilli in front of himself, just in case the farmer came after them and tried to grab someone.
Chase could hear the roar outside before they even made it out the door. An enormous black hovercraft hung overhead, darkening the yard as it descended toward the property. A handful of Storrian border guards in thick-plated gear hung halfway out of the vehicle with annirad blasters slung from their shoulders.
A voice boomed through the air, so loud it made Chase’s ears hum and nearly drowned out the interpretation from his translink. “You have illegally entered Storrian borders. Do not resist capture—your rights are forfeit and any attempt to flee will authorize use of force.”
CHAPTER TEN
Panic roared through Chase’s head as he watched the black border security hovercraft landing outside the Storrian farmer’s house. For the first time, it dawned on him that by taking that jump pod to Storros, they hadn’t just broken a rule on the Kuyddestor—they’d broken the immigration laws of this planet. And now they were in very deep trouble with an authority that wouldn’t be nearly as kind to them as Captain Lennard.
The first Storrian border guard jumped down from the vehicle, his boots kicking up a puff of dust. Something clicked, and Chase pivoted on his heel. “Run!”
Parker was closest to the farmer’s hovercart and took a running jump onto the seat, powering up the vehicle so quickly that Chase had no time to wonder how he’d figured out the controls. “Come on!” he shouted as Chase and the girls rushed after him.
The stumpy-legged border guard ran toward them in inexplicably long galloping strides, as two more of his comrades dropped to the ground behind him. Chase stood at the rear of the hovercart’s trailer while Analora and Lilli scrambled onboard, prepared to distract the soldier by letting him try to grab him. But the guard stopped a few meters away and pointed his blaster at Chase’s chest.
Behind him came a garbled scream from Analora. He steeled himself against the blast, but before it came, he was lifted up from behind as the girls grabbed his arms and pulled him onto the back of the trailer. Parker took off just as the guard fired, and the blast hit Chase in the foot instead. The vehicle lurched forward so hard he nearly tumbled back out of the trailer before he caught himself. His whole leg tingled with numbness, but he somehow managed to scuttle inside.
Two more guards came loping after them, one of them fast enough to catch up and leap, grabbing onto the edge of the trailer. The hovercart strained against his extra weight dragging on the ground. Chase tried kicking at the guard’s hands, but it was the same as with the creatures in the forest—in his panic, he couldn’t stop himself from phasing through the man’s long fingers.
Suddenly the Storrian was struggling, fighting against something clinging to his back. Something small and pale and ferocious … and Lilli-shaped. With a gasp Chase looked over his shoulder, but there in the back of the trailer Lilli hunched, staring at the floor with a focused, intent expression. The traveling copy she’d projected was a wild animal, tearing at the border guard’s clothes and hair. At the moment he lost his grip on the trailer and went skidding to the ground, her copy vanished and she sat up.
Analora clutched Chase’s arm with an iron grip of panic. “What’s going on?” she screamed.
Chase twisted out of her hold before he could start to phase out of it. “Help me!” he shouted, rolling the remaining barrels of havarnox syrup out of the moving cart with Lilli’s help. The barrels split and splattered their black contents across the spicy-smelling grass. Behind the fallen border guards, the looming shape of the hovercraft rose and started after them. A second later it vanished behind dense yellow foliage as the hovercart passed into the havarnox forest.
Parker steered as well as he could through the thick tree growth, but the hovercart was unwieldy with its awkward trailer, and more than once he had to make a sharp turn, crashing the side of the trailer into a tree and throwing all his passengers into one another.
Chase was phasing out of control—every time his shoulder slammed Analora’s, he couldn’t stop from sliding through her a little bit. If she noticed this, she wasn’t giving any sign. “Could you be a little more careful?” he shouted up at Parker.
“Are you kidding me?” yelled Parker. “Do you want to try this?”
Lilli sat silently, gripping the edge of the trailer as she tried not to fly around. Analora looked worse, her face a cold mask of shock. She kept glancing over at Lilli, but didn’t say anything.
A high-pitched, wheedling sound echoed through the trees behind them. Lilli bowed her head for a second and looked up. “Someone’s coming after us. On a hoverbike.”
“We’ll do better on foot,” said Parker over his shoulder. Quickly he pulled to a stop and rolled off the side of the hovercart, and everyone scrambled down from the trailer. The high-pitched purr of the hoverbike echoed between the trees.
Analora looked around. “Follow me.” She led them away from the cart and trailer, into an area where the trees grew more closely together. Brush underneath tangled and caught at their feet, but Chase slid right through it. Analora charged ahead, weaving between trees and warning the others about uneven spots in the ground. Soon they found themselves in the middle of a dense cluster of saplings. “He’ll have to get off the bike if he wants to come after us,” she said.
“Genius!” whispered Parker. “I’ll run around behind him, and—”
“Guys?” said Lilli in a high-pitched voice. She was looking past them, and when Chase turned around, he saw one of those rubber-lipped, needle-toothed creatures slinking through the underbrush toward them.
“Give me a phoswhite!” he said to Analora. With a wide-eyed nod of understanding, she pulled two sticks from her jacket, keeping one for herself. They struck them as softly as possible against the trees, and a bright white glow filled the area. Chase tried to use his body to block the light and focus it only on one area. It worked almost too well—the creature had turned and was moving away from them, but the glow was strong enough to shine through half the forest.
The whirr of the hoverbike grew louder and suddenly stopped.
Chase made a face at Analora and threw his phoswhite stick as hard as he could into the forest, where it landed and continued to glow through the underbrush. Shaking her head, Analora tucked hers inside her jacket to hide the light. All four of them stood still, barely daring to breathe as they listened to the Storrian border guard moving through the forest.
The sounds came closer. The click of a blaster rifle setting being changed. The soft crunch of boots treading on underbrush. Heart pounding, Chase turned to the others and made a hand motion to fall back. Parker shook his head, holding up a finger for patience.
“I know you’re there, come out,” the border guard called. “You’ve broken the law and you can’t stay here.”
Chase looked down at Lilli. Her face was drawn and she was breathing quickly. He took her hand and gestured for her to slip away with him.
One more soft crunch sounded, this time far too close.
A hand shot from bet
ween the trees as the Storrian jumped at them, grabbing Lilli’s arm. She screamed, and Chase grabbed the guard’s arm, yanking on it to no avail. The Storrian tried to grab him with his other arm, letting his blaster fall loose on its strap, but Chase slipped free. Analora dashed away between the trees. Parker was already long gone.
Somehow Lilli was suddenly free and running after Analora, with, of all things, a smile on her face. Chase stayed behind with the Storrian, now facing him alone. The guard swiped at him, passing through Chase’s shoulder.
“Try again,” Chase said, jogging backward a few steps. The Storrian kicked at the underbrush and hiked his blaster back up on his shoulder.
Chase took another step. The Storrian aimed at his feet, but before he even fired a shot, Chase’s legs were already tingling. Looking down, he saw that he’d walked right into another one of those hideous forest creatures. It was trying to bite at his legs and getting nothing. The Storrian cocked his head in confusion and fired, hitting Chase’s legs first and then the creature, who went flying.
Chase turned and bolted through the trees on numb, tingling feet, not waiting for the Storrian to take another shot.
“Chase! Chase!” came Parker’s frantic voice. Chase followed it, trying to zigzag between the trees. Blaster fire echoed through the forest, and splintery explosions of bark showered him from both sides as he ran.
Finally he came upon the clearing where the soldier had left his hoverbike. Parker, Analora, and Lilli already sat astride it, bobbing above the ground. Thanks to the wide bottom halves of the Storrians, there was enough room on the saddle for Chase to squeeze on behind Lilli.
“Go!” he yelled.
The hoverbike was lighter, faster, and much more maneuverable than the cart had been, and Parker wove through the trees, zipping deeper into the forest before the border guard could catch up or try to stop them. Chase strained to listen if any other vehicles were coming after them, but he couldn’t hear anything over the purr of their stolen bike.
For a moment he just tried to catch his breath as the trees flew past in a blur. Any relief he felt about escaping the border security was canceled out by the fact that they’d now added stealing a hoverbike to their list of offenses. He craned his head around to look at Lilli’s face, but her eyes were closed. Some of Analora’s hair had come loose from her braid, fluttering back in the wind. Chase brushed the strands away a few times and finally gave up, letting them tickle his face.
Lost Planet 02 - The Stolen Moon Page 9
