Starbounders #2
Page 17
Zachary was already floating for the flight deck control panel. He retracted the O2 bridge and initiated the ship’s engines.
“Buckle up, everybody,” he said.
Just then, out from the nearby galactic fold emerged a scorpiosite larger than any of the previous ones. It rivaled the gizalith itself in size and seemed completely disinterested in following the bactobait of the talons.
“What the heck is that thing?” Ryic asked.
“The mother virus that all the others spawned from,” Skold replied.
Zachary was trying to turn the bison away, accelerating the ship in the opposite direction from the massive virus. But before they were able to break free, one of the scorpiosite’s clawed appendages pinched down on the hull, gripping it tightly. Everyone inside the flight deck was thrown forward.
“A little help here,” Zachary called into the mass lang-link.
The sledge, pitchforks, and battle-axes made a unified attack on the beast, but their collective firepower wasn’t enough to destroy it.
“These starcraft are built to fight other ships,” Jengi replied over the lang-link. “Not scorpiosites.”
The virus was hooking another pincher into the outside of the bison, and it was starting to drag the ship toward its opening stomach cavity. It didn’t seem like there was anything anybody could do to stop it. Until an enormous static harpoon pierced the underbelly of the mama scorpiosite, sending shockwaves through the creature that not only caused it to release its grip, but sent it fleeing for the hole to the Olvang Nebula.
Zachary and his companions weren’t sure where the attack had come from. But then they watched as a ship turned off its camouflage shield and revealed a familiar skipjack. Wayfare appeared on the video lang-link.
“Even better than a terra whale,” he said, grinning from ear to ear. Wayfare’s ship followed the space virus toward the hole. “But there’s no victory unless I can hang it on my wall.”
The skipjack flew off, and it didn’t look like there would be any more surprises for the Starbounders between here and the next fold.
In the distance, Zachary could see hundreds of IPDL relief ships flying toward Klenarog. The people on Ryic’s home planet would be safe. Now he just hoped the same could be said for Kaylee.
Zachary stood next to Ryic on the long, sand-covered field of Indigo 3, host of this year’s annual Indigo Starbounder Games. All the SQs from each camp were lined up for the opening ceremony, with their selected captains and co-captains standing at the front. A procession of unusually tall, crimson humanoids native to the host planet rode atop the backs of large rock creatures, carrying colorful streamers that danced in the wind.
Apollo whispered back to his fellow Lightwings, “We’re going to destroy these other camps.”
Zachary might not have shared his cabinmate’s aggressive rallying tactics, but it didn’t matter. He was just happy the only destruction that was going to take place would be out on the field.
He looked at all his fellow Starbounders lined up beside him, and for the first time realized they were just as capable of saving the outerverse as he was. They just hadn’t had the chance yet.
Zachary glanced across to where the Lightwing girls were standing. He looked past their captains and found Quee in back, right beside Kaylee. After escaping from the mama scorpiosite, Zachary had guided the bison directly to a medical freighter floating through the Tranquil Galaxies. By the time they’d reached it, Kaylee’s arm had been infected all the way to her elbow, and the IPDL surgeons on board were forced to amputate it before the scorpiositic fever spread to any vital organs. She’d been given a robotic prosthetic in return, one that was indistinguishable from her real arm, sort of like Skold’s carapace.
Zachary gave her a nod, and Kaylee waved back with her new fingers. A group of trainees from Indigo 3 marched out playing twisty wooden instruments that resembled rainsticks and theremins, emitting eerie sounds that seemed more suited to an old black-and-white science fiction movie than real life. But this was their idea of entertainment. As the performance continued, Henry Madsen walked up behind Zachary and Ryic.
“Gentlemen, I hope you’re enjoying the ceremony.”
“It’s not going to last much longer, is it?” Zachary asked.
“Oh, I’d get comfortable if I were you,” Madsen replied. “Hey, either of you seen Skold since the show started?”
Before Kaylee was even out of surgery, Skold had had Zachary negotiate the outerverse pardon they had promised him, exonerating him from all his previous crimes. And Madsen was the IPDL official who had signed off on it. With his name cleared, Skold had been invited back to Indigo 8 as a visiting instructor to teach diplomatic protocol and hot-wiring abandoned starcraft (although that would be offered as an elective only). He had joined the rest of the base at the Indigo Games, but now seemed to have gone missing.
“No, we thought he was with you and the other resident advisors,” Zachary said.
“Last I saw, he was getting ready to turn in our official rosters, but that was half an hour ago,” Madsen said.
Zachary and Ryic shrugged, and Madsen started walking. Then he stopped and turned back.
“I almost forgot why I came to see you in the first place,” he said. “When I arrived, this was handed to me by Indigo 3’s director. She said I should give it to you.” Madsen pulled out an envelope with Zachary’s name written on it from his pocket. “The strange thing is that she said they’ve been holding on to it for sixty-five years, with specific instructions to wait until you were here personally to receive it.”
Zachary took the envelope curiously, but before he could open it, the music ended with a crescendo and one of the crimson humanoids jumped down from his rock creature and approached a tall glass podium. Behind him stood a pedestal draped with silk, hiding something beneath it. He spoke in his native tongue, but speakers around the sandy field translated it into different languages for each Indigo camp, depending on where they were standing.
“Welcome, fellow Starbounders!” Everyone cheered. “For the next five days, you will test your strength and agility, your brains and problem-solving skills, in both team and individual events against your rival Indigo bases. Points will be tallied, and only one camp will emerge as the victor. And until next year’s Games, it will hold on to the prestigious prize that commemorates what it has accomplished: the one and only Indigo Diamond!”
The humanoid pulled the cloth from the pedestal to reveal absolutely nothing. There were gasps of confusion from the crowd. But Zachary and Ryic exchanged knowing looks. In unison they said, “Skold.”
“If this is a prank, it’s not funny,” the crimson figure said. “The Games will not commence until the trophy is returned.”
The opening ceremony came to an abrupt halt, and the SQs were quickly intermingling, chatting among themselves. The Indigo 8 Lightwing boys and girls gathered, allowing Zachary and Ryic to meet up with Kaylee and Quee.
Kaylee took one look at them. “What is it?” she asked.
“You mean, who?” Zachary said.
“I’ll give you one guess,” Ryic added.
Just then, a pitchfork zipped by overhead and disappeared into the clouds. All four of them watched, and none seemed too surprised.
Zachary looked down at the envelope that was still waiting in his hand. He used his fingernail to open it. Inside was a pair of dog tags on a chain with the name IO MECH inscribed on them, along with a typed letter. He read it to himself.
I know what you’ve just been through, and I know it probably seems impossible to believe that the outerverse could be in jeopardy again. But it very much is. You need to go to the Galactic Bank. A safety deposit box will be waiting there in your name, and only your retinal scan will open it. The rest of your instructions will be there. Zachary, this matter is of utmost importance. The future and the past depend on it.
Yours truly,
Io Mech
Zachary stood there, rereading the letter.
Why was he receiving mail from the greatest Starbounder who ever lived? Someone who disappeared decades before he was even born? There had to be some mistake.
“Zachary?” Kaylee asked. “You okay?”
Zachary folded the letter back into the envelope with the dog tags and shoved it into his pocket. Then he looked up at his friends.
“Any of you know where we can steal a ship around here?”
BACK AD
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
ADAM JAY EPSTEIN spent his childhood in Great Neck, New York, while ANDREW JACOBSON grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but the two met in Los Angeles. They have been writing together for film and television ever since.
Their interest in space dates back to their early years, when Adam attended Space Academy in Huntsville, Alabama (and won the Right Stuff Award!), and Andrew went to a movie theater (for the first time) to see a rerelease of Star Wars.
Adam Jay Epstein lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Jane, and their daughters, Penny and Olive. Andrew Jacobson, his wife, Ashley, their son, Ryder, their daughter, Willa, and their two dogs live close by.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors and artists.
CREDITS
Cover art © 2014 by Owen Richardson
Cover design by Megan Stitt
COPYRIGHT
STARBOUNDERS #2: REBELLION
Text copyright © 2014 by Adam Jay Epstein and Andrew Jacobson
Illustrations copyright © 2014 by David McClellan
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Epstein, Adam Jay.
Rebellion / Adam Jay Epstein & Andrew Jacobson.
pages cm. — (Starbounders; 2)
Summary: “Four young Starbounder students must once again risk their lives, travel throughout space, and dismantle an evil conspiracy to save their world”— Provided by publisher.
ISBN 978-0-06-212027-4 (hardback)
[1. Adventure and adventurers—Fiction. 2. Schools—Fiction. 3. Extraterrestrial beings—Fiction. 4. Life on other planets—Fiction. 5. Space flight—Fiction. 6. Science fiction.] I. Jacobson, Andrew. II. Title.
PZ7.E72514Reb 2014
2013047724
[Fic]—dc23
CIP
AC
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EPub Edition © APRIL 2014 ISBN: 9780062120281
14 15 16 17 18 CG/RRDH 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
FIRST EDITION
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