The Plasma Master

by Brian Rushton

  Chapter 5

  The image of what Ned correctly assumed was StarBlazer’s flagship had been impressive on the screen, but now, as he looked out of the shuttlecraft at the massive ship, the impression was simply staggering. The ship’s main section was basically a long octagonal prism. A faceted ball protruded from the front end, connected by a short, tube-like section. A massive weapons tower rose from the top of the ship just behind where the forward section connected to the main hull. Behind it a shorter structure protruded from the top of the ship: one of Galactron’s shuttle bays. A similar one was attached to the bottom of the ship. There were two more shuttle bays on each side of the main section, and another, larger one was located in the lower forward section. Protruding from either side of the ship and attached like the forward ball section were two huge, plate-like structures. Their flat sides were parallel to each other and angled inward toward the ship along the top and bottom. Ned later learned that they served, among other things, to block the vital parts of the ship that lay between them from enemy fire and to provide cover for launching starfighters. Ned identified the many glowing circular sections on the back of the ship to be its warp drive system and thruster output ducts. The aspect of Galactron that impressed Ned most, though, besides its size, was the seemingly endless array of laser cannons and torpedo launchers that studded the ship’s outer hull, especially on the weapons tower. They were so numerous and widely-spaced that Ned guessed that a ship positioned anywhere around Galactron could be fired at by at least fifteen gun ports at once. It was no wonder the Yendarians had been in such a hurry to flee.

  The shuttlecraft that now carried Ned, Smardwurst, and a few members of Green Scorpion’s crew circled the ship once at Smardwurst’s request in order to give Ned a good view of it, and then headed toward a shuttle bay on Galactron’s port side. It was difficult for Ned to determine the size of the huge ship with nothing in space to compare it to, but it seemed a very long time from when he could see the entire ship out of the shuttlecraft’s viewport to when they finally docked inside the great shuttle bay, which was itself large enough to admit several starfighters at once. At the moment, though, the shuttle bay was empty. As the shuttlecraft set down, the huge bay doors closed and the room was quickly filled with air. The shuttlecraft door opened, and Smardwurst and his companions stepped out onto the ground. A door across the shuttle bay slid open, and a man Ned immediately recognized as General Marnax approached them, smiling broadly. Several people followed him, all dressed in StarBlazer uniforms. The general exchanged greetings with his guests and then beckoned for them to follow him to his conference room.

  Rather than walking, the group rode one of the ship’s intraship transport pods. The walls of the ship were connected by a vast maze of tunnels designed for these small transportation devices; it would be unreasonable for anyone to attempt to walk from one end of this ship to the other for any reason other than exercise. As they rode, General Marnax spoke to Smardwurst about matters that Ned did not understand at all. When the lift finally stopped and everyone stepped out, Marnax dismissed the few people who had remained with him and instructed them to take Smardwurst’s companions to their rooms, except for Ned. The remaining three men were then left alone in a large, circular chamber. Several passageways led outward from it, and sets of closed doors marked the walls in-between. Marnax led his companions over to one of the doors, and it slid open with a soft hum. Ned stepped thorough, followed by Smardwurst and General Marnax, and the door closed behind them.

  When Marnax had mentioned his conference “room,” Ned had assumed that he meant one of his many conference rooms. The appearance of the room in which they now stood confirmed this assumption. It was not large at all, and the only furniture consisted of a small, circular table surrounded by a few chairs. The room was well-lit and some exotic-looking plants hung from pots attached to the walls, but Ned was certain that in a ship this size there would be many rooms for any one purpose, and certainly conference rooms larger than this one. He wondered suddenly why that thought had come to him, and decided that he was still in awe of the size of this ship. Ned guessed that his entire town back home could easily move into it and have plenty of room to spare.

  They all took seats around the table, with Smardwurst sitting next to Ned and General Marnax across from him. “I’ve confined this meeting to just the three of us at Mr. Varlon’s request,” the General informed Ned. He then turned to Smardwurst. “Well, it looks like you have quite a story to tell me.” Smardwurst sighed slightly and then began. Gerran Marnax listened with growing interest as Smardwurst described his battle with the Yendarians, the trip through the vortex, and finally his victory over the Yendarians on the distant planet called Earth. The General’s eyes opened wide with wonder, though, as Smardwurst described how Ned had survived being fired at repeatedly by the enemy starfighter, and how the Earthling had described his own experiences in finding the stone and developing its strange power. He looked at Ned in awe as Smardwurst explained his companion’s decision to leave his home and attempt to help StarBlazer in its war against the Anacron Empire.

  “That is, indeed, quite a story,” Marnax declared when Smardwurst had finished speaking, ending with his conclusions as to the reason for the lack of language difference across so great a distance. “It does seem that you have discovered the ancient Anacronian homeworld. And this stone – if what you say is true, then it may prove to be a greater aid to us than we can imagine right now. Still, I am having trouble grasping this. Nedward, I hope you don’t take offense, but, would you mind showing me the power of your stone?”

  Ned nodded. He could certainly understand the General’s desire to see proof of what he had just heard. He rose to his feet and extended his hand. Blue light gathered around it and danced among his fingers, then shot toward the center of the table and collected there. After a moment the light began to take shape, forming a rotating, foot-wide circle, floating in the air. As Ned concentrated, the circle’s edge sunk inward in places, and after a moment a blue star hung above the table, formed of soft, translucent energy: the symbol of the StarBlazer Alliance. It hung there for a few seconds, and then Ned let the image fade. He sat back down. “You can shoot at me, too, if you like.”

  Marnax smiled. “Later, perhaps.” He was silent for a moment, thinking. “We are currently on our way to Varlax Kanlor, a StarBlazer outpost. I have some matters to discuss with Uz Janis, the commander of the outpost. You are both welcome to come along. Meanwhile, Ned, I’ll have someone show you around the ship. Since you’re committed to using your power to aid us, I believe you should learn as much about life here as you can.”

  Ned nodded, and then Smardwurst offered, “I would be glad to show him around, if you’d like. Green Scorpion can follow us to Varlax Kanlor; it shouldn’t take much longer than Galactron to get there.”

  Marnax smiled. “Good, then. You can send a message to your ship as soon as we’re done here. Be sure to show Ned the ASI training systems. I imagine it might be useful for him to learn to pilot spacecraft.” The General rose, followed by Ned and Smardwurst. “I look forward to working with you, Ned. It should be interesting to see what we can make of this strange ability of yours.”

  “I hope I can be of help,” Ned replied. The three shook hands and then stepped out of the room. General Marnax waved and disappeared down one of the hallways.

  “The Alliance couldn’t hope for a better leader,” Smardwurst said. Ned nodded, but his mind was elsewhere. He had begun this journey with the intention of learning to control the power of the stone, and to do what he could to help the StarBlazer Alliance in its war against the Empire. Now, however, after talking to General Marnax, Ned was beginning to doubt whether either of those goals would prove realistic. Setting aside the fact that Ned had absolutely no training in Earth combat, let alone warfare involving technology that was unparalleled on Earth, it was beginning to seem highly unlikely that he would ever find any practical use for his power beyond shooting aluminu
m cans. He had hoped that Marnax would have been able to think of a use for someone who apparently could not be harmed by weapons that might make a difference, but the more Ned thought about it the less likely the prospect seemed. Was it possible that his coming here would prove to be useless after all? What would he do if that turned out to be true? Return home, and risk losing control of himself again? Stay, and abandon all hope of seeing his family again? Smardwurst’s tour of Galactron relieved Ned’s mind somewhat of that particular train of thought, but his questions remained unanswered.

  The Earthling visitor was all but forgotten as Gerran Marnax strode down the corridor to Galactron’s pricom. To say that the General’s mind was occupied with the war would have been a vast understatement. He had been holding off Anacron’s army for well over a year now with a pathetically small force of his own. Even now it sometimes seemed incredible to him that StarBlazer had lasted this long.

  The doors to the pricom slid open at Marnax’s approach. The crew came to attention as he entered, but he motioned them back to whatever they had been doing.

  “Captain,” greeted Marvis Harvey, StarBlazer’s tactical chief.

  Marnax smiled in reply. “How did Galactron stand up to the Yendarians, Major?”

  Harvey laughed. He did not need to tell the General that Galactron had suffered no damage. The Empire had plenty more to throw at it, but Yendarian warships were no match for the StarBlazer superfortress.

  “Commander Janis sent word a few minutes ago,” he said instead. “He would like you to contact him.”

  “Open a channel,” Marnax replied. The image on the forward viewscreen switched from the starfield to the face of Varlax Kanlor’s commander.

  “Good evening,” greeted Janis. “I hear you’ve gotten word from the mission to Anacron.”

  “We have,” stated Marnax. “I’ll discuss it with you when I arrive, but I suspect we’ll have to do something to resolve the matter soon. Have you heard anything from Mirana?”

  “No, sir. As usual.”

  “She’ll be there. How have you fared in my absence?”

  Janis smiled. “Viper’s army attacked Tenria Prime, just as you predicted. They got a nasty surprise when they arrived. We lost a few ships, but they lost more. I’m sending the full report over now.”

  “Good work, Commander. I’ll see you shortly.”

  Uz Janis nodded, and Marnax deactivated the com link. He turned to Major Harvey with an inquiring look. “The fleet did well, sir,” Harvey said, glancing over Janis’s report, “but next time I’d like to be there to make sure.” Galactron had planned on leading the assault, but Marnax had changed plans when he realized that Smardwurst had not returned.

  General Marnax looked back toward the viewscreen and stared at the stars shifting past him. In reply to the other’s comment, he said simply, “You will.”

  Sweat beaded on Nedward Simmons’s forehead as he watched his radar. He had just barely avoided getting blasted by the Imperial fighter on his tail, and two more were closing. He had tried everything he could think of to lose them, but his shields were nearly gone and he was running out of ideas.

  One fighter swept in from the side, and Ned swiveled his ship quickly to face it. It had taken him a while to get used to the fact that position and speed were not defined in relation to anything specific in space; if something was on your tail and you turned completely around, you would automatically be flying toward it, regardless of your previous apparent velocity. He gripped his fighter’s controls as if by holding them tightly he might persuade them to do what he wanted them to. Laser fire streaked all around him, and he fought madly to evade it. He locked onto one of the enemy fighters with his missiles and fired. That fighter was vaporized by the explosion, but now Ned had several missiles locked onto him, and the fighters were closing from several directions. He tried to pivot his fighter and destroy the missiles with his laser cannons, but there were too many and they were approaching too rapidly. He fired his thrusters at maximum power in an attempt to escape, but in his efforts to evade the missiles he had forgotten about one of the enemy fighters, and before he could react it had flown “up” from below him and blown him out of the stars.

  “You’re improving,” Smardwurst said as Ned stepped out of the simulator for what must have been the hundred trillionth time. “This certainly is not something you can learn in a day.” Smardwurst had been training Ned for several hours now.

  Ned took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. “I just can’t keep track of all those ships! Aren’t I supposed to have wingmen or something to back me up?”

  Smardwurst smiled. “Later. It probably isn’t really necessary for you to learn to fight battles in space right now. It’s enough that you know how to pilot the craft. Which, by the way, you learned rather quickly.”

  “I know,” Ned said. “I think next time I’d better stick with the basics a while longer.” He had spent most of the time in the simulators learning the basics of flying: maneuvering, communicating, operating the warp drive, and not crashing into things. It had been his idea to try the starfighter simulator; he thought that maybe his experience with video games back on Earth might give him at least a little bit of a background in it. The idea now seemed absolutely ludicrous. “Those simulators are so real!” he said to Smardwurst as they walked down the corridor to Ned’s sleeping quarters.

  Smardwurst dropped Ned off in front of one of the many doors along one of the many light gray corridors that catacombed Galactron’s interior. After Smardwurst had left and the doors had slid closed behind him, Ned realized what a long and eventful day he had had. He changed into his sleeping attire, crawled into his bed, and was asleep almost immediately.

  That night Ned dreamed of Earth. He saw its lush forests stretching out across hilly landscapes, its crystalline rivers and lakes teeming with brightly-colored fish, and its majestic mountain ranges with peaks of pure white snow. He looked down from the starship Galactron and beheld everything he had ever admired about his homeworld and longed to be back.

  Then the aliens came. They flew out of the vortex like a swarm of starved locusts, engines glowing menacingly and weapons flaring. They attacked Earth without mercy, sending their missiles and lasers burning into its trees and grasses, tearing up the land with their unimaginable tools of destruction. The StarBlazer forces tried to stop them, but the enemies were too numerous and too powerful for Ned’s allies to repel. Ned stood by a large viewport in Galactron’s hull and watched it all.

  When he could no longer bear to watch, Ned brought up his hand and called forth the power. It flared to life at his command and gathered about him, dancing across his fingertips and pulsating as if given a life of its own. Then Ned sent the power like bolts of lightning into the alien attackers, tearing their ships apart first one by one, and then in massive groups together. The aliens kept coming, but as Ned’s wrath grew so did his strength, and within minutes he had annihilated the entire alien army.

  Ned tried to call back the power, but, like that final night at home, it would not be repressed. It had become a part of him, and it demanded to be used. With total disregard for Ned’s will, the power lanced into the Earth and began to tear it apart. Ned watched in horror as lava burst forth at the edges of tectonic plates, vaporizing oceans and outlining the continents in crimson lines of fire. Then explosions erupted all along Earth’s crust, tearing away everything noticeable and leaving the planet a blasted wasteland. Still the power coursed through Ned’s body, gathering about his hand before firing in a blinding stream of blue light into the planet. Ned tried to call it back, tried to make it reverse what it had done, but the more he tried to restrain it the more force it gathered.

  Now the Earth was no more than a glowing ball of molten rock and metal. Still the power continued. The pressure inside the planet continued to build, the very atoms from which the planet was made being ripped apart by the blue light, until finally the entire planet disappeared in a blinding conflagration of blue ene
rgy. The explosion expanded outward in a dazzling array of light, just like Ned had done with countless meaningless objects while he had still been experimenting with his power. He wanted to cry out, but he suddenly felt the energy drained from him. He looked down at his hands and the light had gone out, but all he could see in his mind’s eye was the Earth disappearing in the violent explosion that he had caused.

  Ned came awake finally, gasping and struggling to shake off the fear and revulsion his dream had generated. No! he screamed in the silence of his mind. No, I will not let that happen! In that moment Nedward Simmons banished all doubt that he would find a way to control this power he had been cursed with. He would do anything necessary to find a way. He would start looking now, today.