* * *
CELESTIAL OBJECT:
SKIPJACK
THIS ALL-PURPOSE COMMERCIAL SPACECRAFT IS USED BY BOTH THE IPDL AND CIVILIANS ALIKE. STURDY AND DEPENDABLE, IT IS NEITHER THE FASTEST NOR THE STRONGEST SHIP IN THE OUTERVERSE, BUT EASY TO MANEUVER AND CAPABLE OF TRAVELING VAST DISTANCES WITHOUT REFUELING.
* * *
There would be no slowing them down. At least, that’s what Zachary thought until a pulse vibrated through his motorcycle and shut down the engine. While it didn’t affect his bike’s speed, it did leave him unable to control its direction.
Zachary glanced over his shoulder and saw where the blast had come from. Three bucklers, small IPDL patrol ships with particle cannons and stun disruptors, were in pursuit. Quee, Ryic, and Kaylee, now aware of the danger behind them, began zigzagging to avoid the steady bursts shooting from the bucklers’ disruptors. Zachary had no choice but to continue on a straight path, one taking him far afield of the skipjack, directly toward the side of an idling battle-axe. He tried to wave down his friends for assistance, but it appeared they were too preoccupied to help.
Zachary’s flying motorcycle was fast approaching the battle-axe’s sharpened blade. The impact would kill him for sure. The only solace was that it would be quick. But Zachary was going to make one last gamble. He balanced his friction boots on the bike’s seat and steadied himself in a standing position. As Kaylee weaved her vehicle out of the way of another blast and into Zachary’s proximity, he pushed himself off and just floated, desperate and dangling, for a terrifying few seconds. But his timing was perfect; he was scooped up on the back of her passing cycle.
Quee and Ryic were the first to reach the outside of the skipjack. They quickly dismounted their bikes and clung to the ship. By the time Kaylee had pulled up alongside them, Ryic and Quee had already unlocked the secured entrance portal and were slowly sliding open the door. The bucklers were still trying to immobilize the young Starbounders, but it was too late. The four had boarded the getaway vessel and resealed the portal behind them.
Once inside, they removed their bio regulators. Zachary and the others soared for the flight deck. They could hear the sound of the ship getting hit from the outside.
“Kaylee, activate the defense shields,” Zachary said as he buckled himself in. “Ryic, prepare the cloaking mechanism.”
Zachary began sweeping his hands in front of the gesture recognition display. The skipjack stirred awake, lights blinking on, and suddenly the ship was moving. Once Kaylee had initiated the skipjack’s defenses, she flipped on the Kepler cartograph, which showed all the nearby suns and galactic folds.
More fire was coming their way, but most of the damage was being deflected by the repulsive shields.
“What’s taking you so long? We need that cloaking mechanism!” Zachary barked at Ryic.
“I’m looking. The control panel is set up differently from the flight simulation model.”
Another trio of blasts ricocheted off the exterior of the ship, causing some of the displays to momentarily malfunction. When they stabilized, Kaylee was pointing to a pair of tubes on the Kepler cartograph.
“There are two adjacent holes up ahead,” she said.
“I’ve got an idea,” Zachary replied as he steered a course for the closer one.
“But those bucklers are still right behind us,” Kaylee said. “They’re going to know exactly where we’re going.”
“That’s what I’m counting on,” Zachary said.
They were about halfway to the galactic fold when Ryic clapped his hands.
“Found it!” he exclaimed, jamming his fist against a button on the far wall.
A cool blue tint filled the ship. As soon as he was sure the skipjack had turned functionally invisible, Zachary shifted directions, taking them toward the second galactic fold. The three bucklers fell right into his trap, continuing straight for the first. Zachary had no idea where the pursuing ships were bounding for.
But one thing was certain. The Starbounders were no longer being followed.
The skipjack had made three additional bounds since losing the IPDL hub’s security, and now it was floating listlessly through the cosmos, undetected and unbothered.
“Luwidix is here,” said Kaylee, indicating a glowing spot on the cartograph. “I’ve mapped the fastest route, which uses these four galactic folds. We should be there in an hour.”
Zachary was eager to finally get to the Black Atom Society headquarters. Somewhere within that secret organization’s walls were Olari’s belongings, and with them, hopefully, the lexispecs needed to decipher the message on Zachary’s arm. If the professor’s warning was as dire as it sounded, then every minute that went by without answers was a minute closer to some unspeakable evil. But knowing that he and his companions were the only ones standing in the way of that threat didn’t intimidate him. It exhilarated him.
“You’re welcome, by the way,” Kaylee said to Zachary.
“Oh, thanks,” Zachary replied. Then he got a confused look on his face. “What am I thanking you for exactly?”
“I don’t know. Just rescuing you from oblivion?”
“Right. That.”
“If I hadn’t flown by when I did, they would have been scraping you off the windshield of a star freighter,” Kaylee said.
“Well, then consider us both lucky,” Zachary said.
“I’m not sure I follow,” she replied.
“I avoided becoming a space pancake. And you still have me around to school you in everything.”
Kaylee scoffed. “Maybe I shouldn’t have saved your butt.”
“They are so mean to each other,” Ryic whispered to Quee, loud enough for Zachary to hear.
“That’s how human males and females let someone of the opposite sex know that they like them,” Quee replied.
“What a strange way of showing it,” Ryic said. “I don’t think I’ll ever understand their species.”
“Who ever said anything about us liking each other?” Zachary asked, blushing.
Just then, a scruffy, bearded man entered the flight deck, pointing a static harpoon at them. “You got three seconds to explain yourselves.”
Zachary and his companions were all caught off guard.
“We thought the ship was unoccupied,” Quee finally managed.
“Why would that give you the right to take it?” the man asked.
“We’re Starbounders,” Zachary said. “We had to commandeer your ship for official IPDL business.”
“If you think being associated with those autocratic rubes helps your cause, I’ve got a static harpoon that’ll make you wish you’d given me a different answer.”
The man took aim with his harpoon, which crackled with electricity, and started to pull back his arm.
“We’ll pay,” Ryic said.
It was enough to give the man pause. “What currency are you offering? Indigo chips or serendibite?”
“Whichever you prefer,” Ryic replied. “Sir.”
The man lowered the harpoon. “In that case, the name’s Wayfare. I rent my ship by the hour.”
The man hung his weapon on one of the ship’s wall harnesses, and the four young Starbounders were able to relax.
“Seeing as how we’re going to be sharing oxygen, mind telling us what you’re doing with that shock rocket?” Kaylee said, eyeing the harpoon. “Weren’t those banned after the Vert-Gemini Implosion?”
“Sounds like somebody studied up on the Helio Wars,” Wayfare said. “I use it only for hunting. Terra whales, mostly. Heard rumors that there’s still a great white one out there. I’m close. I’m going to find it soon.”
“How long have you been looking?” Zachary asked.
“Don’t know. I stopped counting after the seventh year.”
The man threw his head back and laughed. Zachary and Kaylee exchanged a glance. Zachary was pretty sure they were thinking the same thing: Of all the free-floating ships outside the IPDL hub, why did they have to pick
this one?
Zachary stared out the flight deck window, watching as the skipjack passed by a cluster of icy white planets that looked like snowballs hanging in space. These were the tundra planets, and although it was impossible to see anything on their surfaces from this great distance, Zachary had no trouble imagining the swarms of vreeks that must be teeming down there, scurrying across the frosty dunes.
“Once we make our final bound, we’ll arrive in Luwidix’s solar system,” Kaylee said. “According to the galactic database, direct atmospheric landings are prohibited due to the intense electrical storms that ravage the planet daily. But there’s a fold that connects directly to a hangar beneath the Black Atom Society. We may be able to slip through and land undetected, depending on how tight the security is.”
They didn’t have to wait long to find out. They only needed to get within a thousand miles of the space fold in question to see a ring of dangerous-looking particle turrets suspended around it.
“Even if this ship’s cloaking mechanism was top-of-the-line, those gunners have distortion sensors,” Wayfare said. “We’d never get past them.”
“So I guess slipping through isn’t an option,” Quee replied.
The group turned to look out at the cloudy planet of Luwidix slowly rotating as it orbited around its distant yellow sun. Flashes of electricity crisscrossed the globe as balls of lightning arced through the swirling gray.
“Is it possible to calculate the odds of us getting struck on the way down?” Ryic asked.
A flurry of bolts zipped across the planet’s atmosphere.
“I’m no mathematician, but I’d venture to guess one hundred percent,” Wayfare said.
“Do you think the ship could survive being hit?” Kaylee asked.
“All the equipment would be fried,” Wayfare replied. “It’d be like trying to fly a brick.”
“But there’s a chance we’d make it?” Kaylee asked.
“You’re renting this ship, not wrecking it,” Wayfare said.
“I have another idea,” Zachary said. “Got any ejection suits in here?”
“There are two,” Wayfare answered. “Why?”
“Because we won’t have to worry about the equipment if we leave the ship here and free-fall.”
“That’s crazy,” Ryic said, before Wayfare had a chance to. “You’re going to parachute through an electrical storm?”
“If those suits follow standard IPDL safety guidelines, they’ll have metal ribbing lining the exterior,” Zachary said. “Any current would be conducted outside of our bodies, preventing damage to vital organs. Hypothetically.”
“I’ll go with you,” Kaylee said.
“And I was just about to volunteer,” Ryic added, none too convincingly.
“Not to acid rain on your parade,” Quee started to say, “but—”
“Actually, the expression is just ‘rain on your parade,’” Kaylee interrupted.
“Not in Tenretni,” Quee said. Then she turned back to Zachary. “Let’s say you do make it to the ground safely. How do you plan on getting back up?”
“Keep the ship outside of that space fold,” Zachary said. “We’ll find a way out.”
“Am I the only one who thinks this plan is insane?” Ryic asked.
“No, it’s insane,” Quee replied.
“I stopped questioning whether Zachary’s plans were sane a long time ago,” Kaylee said. “Nothing could be crazier than blowing a hole in your own ship to get away from a fleet of slicers, and that turned out to save us all.”
The skipjack sped closer to Luwidix. Wayfare had left the flight deck, only to return moments later with the pair of ejection suits, blue-and-silver rubber body gloves with thin metal strips going down the spines, arms, and legs. Zachary and Kaylee each took one and slipped it over their clothing. Then they placed protective glass helmets over their heads. The ship went into orbit safely above the storm raging below.
“We’ll be waiting for you,” Wayfare said. “But if you don’t make it back within twenty-four hours, I’ll assume you’re dead and take these two to the nearest space station.”
Zachary gulped. But if Kaylee was scared, she wasn’t showing it. If anything, she looked like she was ready to go. The two soared down to the entrance portal of the ship. They stood before the glass divide that was the only thing between them and the thin atmosphere above Luwidix. Zachary hadn’t realized it until now, but the ship had dipped low enough for them to start feeling the effects of the planet’s gravity.
“So, you know how to open these chutes?” Kaylee asked through the helmet’s headphone speaker.
“I was going to ask you the same thing,” Zachary replied.
They shared a nervous laugh. Both did once-overs on the suits, and Zachary found a black button by the wrist with a picture of an open parachute on it.
“This must be it,” he said. “And looks like there’s an altimeter to let us know when to activate it. Once we touch down, with any luck we won’t be far from the Black Atom Society. At least according to my warp glove’s internal compass.”
Wayfare’s voice piped in over the ship’s intercom. “We’re in position. Time to fly.”
Zachary and Kaylee waited for the entrance portal to slide open. As soon as it did, Zachary felt a whoosh of air. A single thought crossed his mind: how thankful he was that he wasn’t afraid of heights, since the distance he’d be falling was impossible to gauge. But even more unsettling was the fear that he wouldn’t make it halfway down without being vaporized, turned into nothing more than ash and dust. At least he’d be going down in a blaze of glory.
It seemed to Zachary as if he’d been standing there lost in his head for minutes, but it had been only a moment. Then Kaylee was jumping. Zachary snapped out of his daze and leaped into the void behind her.
At first, the sensation of rocketing through space was the ultimate adrenaline rush. But uncertainty set in once Zachary hit the clouds. He could no longer see Kaylee. In fact, he could hardly see an arm’s length in front of him. Other than the gray, only the flashes of lightning were visible. The rush of wind whipping past his helmet was interrupted by the sound of thunderous booms. Zachary could feel his body falling faster. He glanced at his altimeter and the numbers scrolling rapidly across it. No signal yet. Then came a crash and a flash at the same time. Zachary had been hit. His entire body went rigid. The muscles in his legs trembled and his arms convulsed. His nostrils were filled with the scent of ionized oxygen and burned hair. Pain was running up and down his spine, but thanks to the metal conduction strips in his suit, he was alive.
Zachary was just beginning to recover when another bolt made contact. This one jostled his insides, making him feel like fainting and puking at the same time. The shock seemed to linger even after the numbness faded, and Zachary was starting to wonder how much more he could take. A third and fourth charge tested his resolve, sending a wave of searing heat from his toes to his shoulders, electrifying every nerve ending.
Finally Zachary came out of the clouds, and his altimeter began to beep almost immediately. His fingers were still twitching from the lightning, but he was able to will them to the black button by his wrist. He activated the chute release and suddenly a Kevlar kite shot out from the backpack attached to the jumpsuit. Zachary was tugged upward, then began to descend again at a much slower pace. As he drifted toward the ground, he spied Kaylee’s parachute in a heap, with a single friction boot sticking out one of the sides. He steered himself in the direction of his friend. Kaylee didn’t seem to be moving, just lying there, limp.
Zachary’s toes were the first thing to touch down, but he skidded for close to a hundred yards before taking a tumble and rolling to a stop. He jumped back up to his feet as fast as he could, stripped off the backpack and helmet, and went running for her.
“Kaylee!” he shouted.
Once he reached her, he pulled the parachute aside and found her helmet-first in the dirt.
A sudden flood of guilt washe
d over him. This had been his idea, and she had backed him even when the others had raised their doubts.
He flipped her over, ripped off her helmet, and to his immediate relief saw that she was breathing.
“Kaylee, it’s me,” he said.
She blinked her eyes and stared up at him.
“Now I know what a surge protector must feel like,” she said.
Zachary smiled and helped her into a sitting position.
“Just take it slow,” he said. Nearby, another lightning bolt struck the earth. “Okay, maybe we should save the slow for later.”
He hoisted Kaylee to her feet and disconnected her parachute. He checked the compass in his warp glove and verified the Black Atom Society’s location. Then he looked up the slope ahead of them and saw a building with thousands of metal poles jutting out from its roof. Every few seconds, the storm sent bolts coursing through the different rods. There weren’t any roads or pathways leading to the building, just a desolate landscape charred black from the relentless electrical assault. Zachary and Kaylee hurried for the hill, making themselves moving targets for the static blasts raining down from the sky.
“This is suicide,” Kaylee said.
“No,” Zachary replied. “The closer we get to that building, the safer we’ll be. Those rods are there to draw lightning toward them. Which means away from us.”
He was right. As the two neared the Black Atom Society, the sparks continued to hit the forest of metal towering above them. Zachary and Kaylee reached the front of the building, only to find a smooth wall with no door. They ran along the outer perimeter until they came across a hatch leading down into the ground. It might have seemed unusual that a site housing such advanced technology was unguarded, except for the fact that only the most daring or foolish trespassers would attempt what Zachary and Kaylee had just done.
Starbounders #2 Page 5
