Bartoc Secret

by Clara Woods

  Lenah looked at Martello. “This is not my war, girl. I’ll come along whatever you decide.”

  “Do you want me to make the decision for our crew?” Zyrakath hovered close to Lenah, his voice sounding excited.

  Martello made a shooing motion with both his hands. “Of course, she doesn’t.”

  Lenah looked around her. “No, I don’t want you to decide for us, Zyr.” To have something to do, she switched course again. As expected, two dots on the radar instantly adjusted, the third one followed suit a few moments later. What was the right path forward? Wasn’t this the opportunity? The only human ship that had penetrated into Saltoc. The most crucial puzzle piece.

  Lenah stared ahead for several moments, remembering Wise Ralika who might try to kill her and Corinna again if she knew they were still alive. “We’ll go and find the Strikers.” She rubbed her hands together, smiling at Persia. “Now, let’s get rid of some missiles. Persia, change places with Martello. I want our best shooter at the weapons control. Everyone else, go find out more about that planet where we are going to land. Do we at least know its name?”

  “Yes,” Lund said. “It’s called Balhudh. That means Hot Rainbow.”

  “Huh, that sounds kind of cute.”

  Lund stopped in the hatch. “We believe it’s because of the rainbow-colored acid lakes and the hot climate.”

  Persia rolled her eyes after him, then offered Martello her seat. “Lost all his humor, our doctor, has he?”

  11 Maneuvering

  “How do you plan to get rid of our pursuers?” Martello asked after several minutes of silence.

  Lenah stirred, realizing she’d been staring at the three dots on the radar for several minutes. Had she made the right decision of going after the Strikers? She cleared her throat. “By being smarter and faster than them.”

  She felt Martello’s gaze on her. Turning her face, their eyes met, but instead of fear or anger about her vague plan, Lenah saw appreciation in his green eyes.

  “There’s still some fire in you,” Martello finally said. “That’s good.”

  Not entirely sure how to respond to what felt like a sudden change of topic, Lenah frowned but stayed silent.

  “You’ve been doubting yourself,” the old man said, still eyeing Lenah. “Girl, do you know how I’ve been able to hold on to my crew and my ship for as long as I have? It’s been over one century now.”

  Feeling weary, Lenah shook her head.

  “By being the strongest leader, of course,” Martello exclaimed. “I’m no longer the fittest, though my Iris and Ida say I’m very virile. But that’s beside the point.”

  Lenah grasped her flight stick.

  “Leading a ship is more than piloting it. It means making hard decisions and taking responsibility for your people. You’ll never get everyone to like what you’re doing. You’ll never know if you made the best decision. Might as well not care.”

  Lenah looked at him. His remarks hit home. Could she truly not care?

  Martello clapped her on the shoulder. “Besides, life without some chaos would be boring. And aren’t you excited to have some fun with those missiles?”

  “Fun?” she croaked, though some primal part in her was looking forward to the challenge. Here, it would be a simple question of life and death. White or black. Easy.

  Martello smiled knowingly. “You’d be the first pilot I met who didn’t live for a little bit of thrill.”

  He wasn’t wrong. Lenah grinned. “Maybe a little.”

  An alarm sounded before he could respond. The engine. Lenah opened a comm to the engine room. “Uz, what are you doing?”

  “Working on it, Captain.” The Cassidian’s voice sounded muffled.

  Lenah tapped her foot, waiting. They still had several hours until their pursuers would catch up to them, or until Lenah would see who they were in detail. The planet was even further away.

  Time ticked by like syrup. Every now and then, Lenah would get up to stretch her legs, then check up on Uz. Corinna stopped by to offer to take over the pilot’s seat, but Lenah knew that she wouldn’t be able to sleep. She would not leave her station until she had somehow tipped the balance of the situation in their favor.

  Martello fell asleep several times in his seat until, finally, the proximity alarm started to beep. He jerked awake, then immediately caught himself, his hands going to the weapons station in a sure movement.

  Lenah fixated on the radar and double-checked the weapons screen. “Nothing has locked on us yet.”

  “We’re still far away. I doubt even the Bartoc can shoot a small ship from this distance.”

  Lenah grunted. “It’s two small objects and one ship. Looks like Persia was dead right with her guess.” She comm’ed the engine room. “What’s the status, Uz?”

  “We’re at seventy-four percent.” Uz sounded tired. “If it will become necessary, I can force in some extra power for a short period of time.”

  “That’s great.” Lenah nudged the Star Rambler forward at its seventy-four percent power. The closer to the planet they were, the higher she estimated their chances of succeeding. Slowly, the three objects grew closer.

  “What are you planning, girl?” Martello’s tone indicated he’d been dying to ask the question for hours.

  “You might want to strap in,” Lenah answered.

  Martello followed her instructions and closed his harness while Lenah watched the other ship and its two missiles on her screen. They were shooting straight at the Rambler with no strategy involved other than to collide with them. If it were three against one, that was a reasonable choice. The only question was would the ship start shooting before the missiles reached their target or was it backup?

  Before Lenah could come to a conclusion, the comm screen started blinking with an incoming message. Knowing that they were cut off from contacting their home sector, Lenah and Martello exchanged a quick glance, his expression mirroring her surprise. Lenah snatched her hand off the flight stick and accepted the message, broadcasting it over the ship’s speakers.

  “Resistance is fruitless,” a cold voice said in an accent of G-Standard so heavy Lenah could barely identify it as such. “You may stop trying.”

  Lenah didn’t hesitate to answer. “This is the Star Rambler, a peaceful freighter that is here by accident.” That wasn’t really a lie. “I repeat we’re peaceful. Is it common practice to point missiles at lost freighters?”

  The response was immediate. “You are an intruder. My instructions are to eliminate this vessel and all its organic inhabitants.”

  The hatch burst open behind Lenah. She turned to see Zyr, his eyes glowing with excitement.

  “This is extraordinary,” the small drone exclaimed in his high-pitched voice.

  “What is?” Lenah took her hand off the answer button. “The fact they want to kill us? I’d say that’s within expectation.”

  Zyr gave her an exasperated glance. “Of course not. Young Lenah, this is not a moment for your sarcasm. This is a moment of discovery.”

  “Umm, what discovery?”

  “Don’t you hear this android’s accent?”

  “Oh, an android, of course.” Martello slapped his palm against his forehead.

  Lenah took in a surprised breath. That would explain the regular pattern of voice. “That means it won’t change its mind without getting a command from someone else.” She looked back at the scanners. Could she outfly a programmed mind? “Don’t you think an android would be programmed with all common languages?” she asked Zyr. “What’s so special about this one?”

  “Didn’t you listen to a word I said?” Zyr said and his voice hitched. “That accent!”

  “What about it?” Lenah asked.

  “The rhythm and tonalities it imitates are from the southern continent of Thorlo.”

  “Okay…” Lenah still didn’t understand Zyr’s excitement. Was this even leading anywhere but to the discovery that the last time the Bartoc had updated their G-Standard language progr
ams was many centuries ago? How could that help them survive? Or help with anything? “How is this helpful?” she finally asked when Zyr didn’t elaborate his point further.

  The drone sighed like someone who had just realized that he would be stuck with half-witted primitives for the rest of his life. “It’s where the human Striker family is from.”

  Lenah, who had returned to contemplating how she would outwit the android and its missiles, turned back in her chair. “Yet another clue.”

  “Quite so, young Lenah.” Zyr hovered close to her head. “According to the holobooks I have consumed, the accent coincides with the time period they left the sector.” His gray lips split into a wide grin.

  “Are you going to answer it?” Martello brought her focus back to the message, pointing at the comm unit.

  Lenah pondered the question for a few seconds. “Not worth it. It won’t change its mind.”

  She watched the proximity screen. They were close to each other now, less than ten thousand clicks and well within shooting distance. Yet, the android hadn’t shot, apparently wanting to give the missiles a chance first. Good. Lenah’s job would have been a lot more difficult otherwise.

  She hit the brakes, letting the other ship and missiles catch up.

  The comm beeped again, and without looking away from her screens, Lenah accepted.

  “You are strange, Cassidian vessel. You are resigning yourself to a swifter death,” the metallic voice said.

  “Not quite,” Lenah muttered but didn’t record it. She circled the Star Rambler around to put herself above the three objects. As expected, the missiles instantly adjusted. Lenah turned harder until they were almost going toward the missiles, then accelerated.

  The two ships were now racing toward each other, while the missiles had imitated the Star Rambler’s flight path and were behind her. Lenah wondered what the android thought about her erratic behavior. Was it getting nervous or was it just focusing on carrying out its mission until the end? Until one of them was gone.

  But she meant to turn the tides in favor of her crew. Lenah flew into a sharp turn, adjusting her angle of approach and bringing the ship to the same height as the missiles. She hit the brakes hard, then held her breath as their enemies shot toward them from both sides. Ten clicks, then five.

  Lenah clutched the flight stick, not daring to breathe or blink. Two clicks. Lenah accelerated and let the ship drop in a sharp downward angle. The ship sagged and Zyrakath, who was hovering behind Lenah, crashed into her neck. Something screeched, then the ship rocked, and another alarm beeped to life.

  “Shit,” Lenah hissed, realizing she had calculated her angle too narrow and they had scraped the other ship. A bright light illuminated the space around them as the Star Rambler rocked even worse, then shot away from the light. “Uz, I’ll need that extra power. Right now.” Lenah dared a glance at the screens. Only one missile was left. The other missile had collided with its own ship. Unfortunately, the second one was right on their tails, less than two clicks and reducing the distance.

  Lenah considered if she should try to shoot it. But would they have time to flip the Star Rambler over? Lenah decided she couldn’t run the risk of finding out.

  “It’s done,” Uz said over the speaker just as the Star Rambler gave a feeble lurch forward.

  “Thanks.” Lenah acknowledged, checking for her power screen. They were up to eighty-one percent engine power. Enough to make it all the way to Balhudh before the missile caught up?

  “How far away are we from Balhudh?” Lenah asked Zyr.

  “Just over two hours,” he said after a brief glance at the coordinates.

  “And do you know if there will be mountains? Oceans?”

  “Desert, rocks, and acid lakes, not mountains.” Zyr watched Lenah with curiosity. “What are you planning?”

  Lenah nodded to herself instead of answering his question. “Rocks. Well, that’s better than nothing.” She watched the multiple displays on her dashboard. The power display was slowly going down and the temperature going steadily up. The missile was gradually falling behind.

  “How much longer can we sustain this speed, Uz?”

  Uz didn’t answer right away but sounds of knocking and screeching were audible over her line. “About two hours and twenty-two minutes,” she finally said.

  Lenah leaned back in her seat. “That should be enough to bring us to some rocks.”

  12 Blue Canyon

  Some of her enthusiasm left Lenah once they approached Balhudh. The planet looked even worse than Doctor Lund had indicated. Multicolored spots of acid lakes dotted the mainly flat surface on all the visible continents. They looked beautiful and deadly.

  There were oceans as well, thin stripes separating the large landmasses. The same dusty terrain covered most of the world. A range of blue mountains with flat tops caught her attention. Were those the rocks Zyr mentioned? The Rambler’s primitive scanners showed the planet’s atmosphere breathable to humans, barely, but seeing the acid fumes, Lenah doubted that was really true. There might be oxygen, and what else? Uz might have to work in her spacesuit out there.

  That would only become relevant should Lenah be able to shake off their pursuer. The Star Rambler’s engine power was steadily sinking again, and the missile had gradually gotten closer. It would be tight. The missile was barely a few hundred meters behind them as they approached the continent. Lenah scanned the area from above, hoping she had chosen the right spot. The blue rocks looked more like tall canyons from up close. Lenah held her course. She could work with what she saw.

  The only question was if a human could react better than an automated system. But if the missile was built for space, it might not be the most elegant when moving around a canyon.

  Lenah spotted an area where the canyon formations clustered, forming deep ridges and curves, some narrow, some not. She flew toward the cluster that looked the tightest. From above, she could see it curve left and right as if long ago a river had shaped it. As they approached, she lowered the Rambler until they were submerged inside the riverbed.

  Martello’s hands were clutching his seat’s armrests, but Lenah couldn’t afford herself the luxury to be nervous. If she slowed, the missile would catch up within seconds. She had to take them at full speed into the tunnel. Once, in the third turn, she scratched the Star Rambler’s side, and the ship gave a small lurch. Lenah steadied their course, her attention split between their flight path and their surroundings. Even in her intense concentration, she could see the beauty of the place. She’d never seen stone so intensely blue, like the ocean around a coral reef. If she could just find a ledge big enough to fit the whole ship.

  She lowered the Rambler even more, so they were barely a few dozen meters over the ground. A sharp turn appeared in front of her and she quickly pulled them into a narrow curve. The canyon narrowed. Another rock went through the ship as the aft side scraped off the canyon walls.

  Lenah pressed her lips. The engine was down to seventy percent, and she wasn’t used to her ship reacting this sluggishly. Martello gave a cheer. “Not half bad, Captain!”

  Lenah grinned, then spotted the next narrow curve just ahead. “Don’t cheer me on too early.”

  “Girl, if you kill us in the next turn, you’d never receive my praise. I prefer to do it now.” Martello clasped his armrests again as Lenah brought them into a sharp turn. This time, she made it through with only the slightest scrape.

  “Uh, Lenah, what’s happening?” Uz asked over the comm.

  “We’re getting rid of the last missile,” Lenah answered, realizing they couldn’t see what was going on. The engine room didn’t have a window or screen.

  An overhang appeared right in front of them, leading into a ledge inside the canyon. Ahead, the riverbed got even narrower, possibly too narrow to fit the ship. Taking it as a sign that she was supposed to execute her plan here, Lenah hit the brakes hard, then pulled the Star Rambler sideways. The ship rocked, once more touching the canyon walls and
causing pebbles to fly all over. Trying to steady the ship as much as possible, Lenah guided them into the ridge.

  Once they were inside, she pulled them up, until the Rambler was hovering by the cave’s ceiling. Lenah turned off the engine and turned on the shields. Even with the engine off, they blinked to life at a meager thirty percent.

  A loud bang accompanied with an explosion of rocks all around them told of the missile’s destiny. Heavy rocks pelted the roof and sides of the Star Rambler and they dropped several meters down, then hit the cave bottom with a screech. Their surroundings darkened as the entrance to the cave partially collapsed. Then silence fell.

  Lenah allowed herself a deep breath. They had done it. The missile had crashed into the stone overhang, rendering minimal damage to her ship and her crew.

  “Lenah, what did you do?” Uz groaned over the speaker.

  “Saved our lives, that’s what she did,” Martello said in Lenah’s stead. “Girl, you have nerves of steel. That was as risky as flying into a black hole. By the stars!” He clapped her on the shoulder, then got out of his seat. “If I could, I’d hire you. But I figure you wouldn’t want to fly a smuggler ship.”

  Lenah grinned. “Where are you going?”

  “To get weapons and make sure no one is coming to receive us on the beautiful world of Balhudh,” came the quick answer before he vanished down the corridor.

  Lenah opened the comm. “Persia, Corinna, get your weapons and meet Martello at the hatch.”

  She followed Martello into the corridor, accepting a laser weapon he handed her, then knocked on Doctor Lund’s hatch.

  The doctor opened the door a moment later, looking disheveled and sweaty. “Did we survive?” he asked as if he couldn’t believe it.

  “Yes.” Lenah couldn’t hide a grin. “How sure are you that the air is breathable?”

  “Mmh, pretty sure, in general.” He scratched his head, a little of his usual scientific energy coming through now. “Though we could always be close to some acid fumes. Are we close to any lake?”

  She shook her head. “I didn’t see any lake close by. We’re in a canyon. There’s nothing here but blue rocks.”