Star Relic

by Clara Woods

  The mage had turned around and was pointing his hand at her, and moments later she found herself enclosed in thick invisible goo. She couldn’t see it, but movement was only possible under great effort, and only for a few millimeters. The mage discarded her as she kept struggling, and turned back to Persia. Persia stopped firing, and her hands started shaking, as if in great pain. Suddenly she dropped her gun. The mage was almost on her, and if Lenah could have moved, she would have averted her gaze to not see whatever the man had planned for her friend. Then something blurry connected with the mage and hurled him out of his path and several meters sideways. The blur solidified after a moment into the fighting form of two cyborgs.

  Somehow, Cassius had managed to move them both and intercept the mage, but he was paying for it now. The other cyborg had gotten his enhanced arm free and was aiming for Cassius’ head. Cassius, in turn, was trying everything to get away from that arm. Those enhancements could easily shatter bones, and only an enhanced skull would be able to withstand such a hit. Judging by the way Cassius was ducking around, he didn’t have any skull enhancements.

  The cyborg seemed to lose patience trying to get a good hit into his adversary, and instead threw him across the cargo hold. Cassius crashed into the wall on the opposite side, and Lenah would have flinched if she’d been able to. Even though the mage had gone down to the floor and was temporarily out of action, she still couldn’t move.

  I’m in a warp bubble, she thought desperately. Like a mini-version of a warp bubble, she was right there, yet totally removed from her surroundings.

  Lenah struggled again, but she might as well have tried to mold a stone with her hands. Nothing happened. She stopped her efforts. All she was achieving was making herself tired.

  Instead, she followed the fight around her. Persia had picked up her gun again, and was engaging the guards in the hallway. So was Uz. A stray laser beam came Lenah’s way, but bounced back without ever hitting her. She was safe despite her exposed position in the middle of the room, but also completely useless in the fighting. If she shot – if she managed to shoot, which was unlikely – she’d probably only hit herself within the encasement.

  Why was she still stuck here if the mage was unconscious? Was he actually really unconscious? Tentatively, Lenah reached out with her senses, expecting only to find her own mind, but instead, there was something else there. It wasn’t a mind; instead of the thick cloud she usually encountered, she saw a thin haze, glowing in all rainbow colors. And it was encasing her. She studied it for a moment more, and then she pushed.

  The haze moved. It was easy, really. Lenah pushed some more, and a moment later she felt her body come free.

  Instantly, she dove back down behind the crates, realizing she’d now be fully exposed to the laser fire in the room again, and used her element of surprise to shoot at the guards in the hallway. Two of them were leaning against a wall to keep out of Uz’s and Persia’s line of fire, but were fully visible to Lenah. She shot twice in rapid succession. Two guards went down.

  The firing in the cargo hold ceased with that, and the sounds were dominated by the two cyborgs. Cassius had gotten his adversary onto the floor, and was smashing his normal fist into the guy’s face. Their metal arms were still locked, but the other cyborg’s human arm was hanging uselessly off his side at a weird angle. When the man stopped moving, Cassius got up and quickly scanned the cargo hold.

  He turned toward Lenah. But instead of speaking, he looked at her until she looked away. Only then did she realize that the others – everyone but Persia, whose gaze was moving between Lenah and the others – were also looking at her. Right. With all the adrenaline, she had all but forgotten that they now knew her real name. With that, they probably thought she was involved in illegal laboratories and black-market offerings.

  Briefly, Lenah thought of trying to influence them to forgive her, but then she discarded the idea. That wouldn’t be fair to her friends, and she felt this group of people was quickly becoming her friends.

  Hopefully.

  “Yes, my name is Lenah Callo. But I’m on your side. My father, Timothy Callo, who’s the one leading Starwide Research, I don’t know…he’s involved in things. Maybe illegal labs, and definitely meeting with the wrong people” – she gave Cassius a look at that, but he didn’t acknowledge her – “and now, something with the stone.”

  No one spoke. The silence became heavy, so Lenah quickly continued.

  “I’m not involved. That’s why I’m here. To find out more about the stone and what in the stars is going on. Never would I have expected to go so far away and be chased by these people.” She waved her hand around the bodies in the cargo hold to indicate whom she meant. “Now I just need to know,” she finished, but the group around her remained silent. Only Persia, who had known her name before and a little bit about her motivation, was nodding at her with a small smile.

  Lenah couldn’t decide if the hurtful look in Uz’s eyes, or Cassius’ silent and unreadable stare, was worse.

  Finally, Uz spoke. “Your father wanted to experiment on me like some mindless animal. Why didn’t you tell us? Didn’t you think we’d find out eventually?”

  “In the beginning, it wasn’t necessary,” Lenah answered through a tight throat. “I was only going to bring you to Port Dumas.” Now it was Lenah shooting an angry glare at Cassius. He’d been the one to cross all of their paths there. “And you would have never come if you’d realized who I really was. And then… I didn’t want to be in this situation. You’re my friends.”

  “We’re not your friends.” It was Doctor Lund. “Friends are honest.”

  Lenah flinched. “I never lied. Come on, you have to understand. But if you don’t, judge me by my behavior, not by my stupid last name.” In frustration she brought her hand against the metal plating of the cargo hold, almost howling in pain when something sharp cut through the skin of her fist.

  “Shit.” The hand she pulled away was bleeding. She’d hit a nail. “Who would put up a stupid nail in the hull of a spaceship?”

  Tears threatened to overwhelm her at the silence of her companions, but Lenah breathed them down, feeling only one single drop fall down her cheek. At last, Cassius moved and closed the distance between them. What was he going to do? Hit her? Tie her up like the figures on the floor? She couldn’t be sure, but she thought his expression didn’t look aggressive. Tentatively, she stretched out her senses, but he reached her before she’d achieved anything. She wasn’t even sure what she’d been trying to achieve. Make him stop? Or make him more amenable to her point of view? But that would mean betraying him.

  “Let me see your hand,” he said in his hoarse voice. It sounded rough, but not too angry.

  Lenah stretched it out tentatively, and he took it, examining the side where it was bleeding.

  “You’ll live, rich girl.” Despite him calling her that, relief flooded through her. It wasn’t an endearment, exactly, but him using the derogatory term he’d been calling her since they’d met sounded like an offering to return to where they’d been before.

  She’d happily take it.

  “Sometimes the universe has its own way of punishment,” Uz said, giving Lenah a nod before turning and examining the chaos around them. “We’d better see what we do about this.”

  Cassius let go of Lenah’s hand and went toward their open hatch. “There are still people in there. At least two.”

  “Can’t we just leave?” Persia asked.

  “We could, but I’d rather not leave them with a ship to keep coming after us.” Cassius collected weapons from the floor and checked each of their opponent’s pulses. When he got to the mage, he gave him one more blow to the temple. The weak outline of the friction bubble, which was still faintly visible where Lenah had pushed it, went out.

  “Just making sure there won’t be any more magic tricks.” Cassius said it while throwing a frown in Lenah’s direction. Did he realize what she’d done before?

  “Can’t we get r
id of him?” she asked, starting to haul the man’s body toward the landing tube.

  “Maybe later. First we need to make sure none of these guys can do anything to our ship; then we need to go explore their ship.”

  Lenah nodded and imitated him, ripping strips of cloth from the unconscious men’s clothes and tying their hands and feet. The repetitive work helped ease her tension. She joined Cassius at the airlock.

  “Doctor Lund, grab one of those laser pistols and stay here. If anything happens, comm us.” Lenah pointed to the screen of her wristpiece. “We’re going in.”

  29 Broken Ties

  Cassius took the lead as they entered the other ship through the dimly-illuminated tunnel. The air felt thin, as if the tunnel provided barely enough oxygen to keep them from suffocating and floating around. A few meters ahead, the airlock on the other side was closed.

  “I can hear someone breathing behind the door,” Cassius whispered. “I’ll go first and press the button. Stay back, and don’t expose yourselves.”

  Lenah found a place behind a beam in the middle of the tunnel. Persia and Uz squeezed themselves into similar places. Once he was satisfied with their positions, Cassius moved forward and darted toward the button. With a hiss, the hatch opened to reveal the mouths of two large laser guns. Laser beams momentarily lit up the tight tunnel, disorienting her from their brightness. Lenah wasn’t even able to tell from which direction the shots had come. At least Cassius was still moving.

  Lenah leaned slowly around the corner, taking aim at one guard, but the man had stepped back. All she could see was the barrel of his gun aimed at Cassius. Before he could shoot, his companion was launched through the air toward him. The man stumbled and almost dropped his weapon. Before he even could find his footing, Cassius was on him. With two neat fists to the temples, both guards slumped to the floor.

  Cassius gestured for the group to follow him, and to remain quiet. Lenah left a little distance between herself and him, figuring she didn’t want to be in the way in case he started lashing out with that metal arm of his again.

  They made it through the empty cargo hold and up the stairs into a corridor. While the cargo hold had been a large space, the hall beyond was cramped, and Cassius’ shoulders almost touched the walls on both sides. He halted at the first intersection, moving his head as if trying to listen. Lenah didn’t hear anything, but he seemed to pick up something, and went left with determination. He turned after a few steps and held up his hand, signaling two fingers.

  Two more people behind the door.

  He pressed the button for the hatch, but nothing happened. A red light was blinking. Without losing further time, Cassius set down his laser gun, motioning for Lenah and Persia to be ready. He inserted his fingers into the thick metal door at its center and started pushing the two halves open. Slowly, but surely, the hatch began to give in. Cassius, using what remained of the door as cover, stepped into the room. Judging by the gurney in the center, it appeared to be the infirmary. Beams started firing the moment Cassius moved up. Lenah detected a target hiding against the wall behind a metal cupboard. Their group would have to storm into the room to get a good aim at anyone.

  With a loud squeak, Cassius lifted the door off of its hinges. Then he simply threw it at the people, and it crashed into the cupboard in the process. Boxes of medicine and other infirmary-related items tumbled across the floor. Laser shots from the guards went wide. Cassius jumped into the room, aiming his laser fire at the area where the shelf had fallen. Lenah ran in after him, shooting from her own gun. The return fire stopped.

  They checked the rest of the ship, but like Cassius had already told them, there was no one left.

  Cassius went back for the bodies still deposited inside the Star Rambler’s cargo hold, while the rest of them took stock of the ship. It was better equipped than the Rambler probably had been in decades. After several trips back and forth loaded with food, medicine, and even fresh blankets and pillows – it all looked vastly more hygienic than anything they’d inherited from the smugglers – Lenah decided to do one last round and see if she could find anything useful in the cockpit. While all the systems were state of the art, they were also firmly installed in place, and she’d need Uz to unscrew anything she wanted, but doubted it would be worth it. With a pang of disappointment, Lenah turned around when the comm screen started beeping with an incoming call. The number she saw made her freeze. She hesitated only a moment before sliding into the pilot’s seat and accepting the incoming video feed.

  “Father.”

  If he looked surprised to see her, he didn’t acknowledge it. Instead, he gave her what she called his salesman smile. Observing him, she noticed how tired he appeared. Had his hair gotten grayer in the past few days? He definitely looked older in his normal dark-blue business suit.

  “Lenah. Great to see you’re well. And I see you’ve also come to your senses.”

  “Come to my senses?” she asked. “I’m not the one who needs to come to my senses. What in the galaxy are you doing being involved with all these criminals?”

  He winced, then shook his head. “Let’s discuss that when Hawk has brought you back, shall we?” He paused. “Where is he?”

  “Oh, he’s unconscious in his cargo hold.” Lenah couldn’t hide her smug grin, even though it made her feel childish. “Father, what’s going on here? Why are you after this stone so badly? What’s this about?”

  But her father had muted his connection and was talking to someone she couldn’t see. He turned his sound back on only after several long moments. “I assure you, this is important. Very important business. We—” but he interrupted himself.

  “What? Who are we?” Lenah asked.

  “Once you’re back home, I’ll explain it all to you. For now, I just need you to come back. It’s not safe out there for you, Lenah, please.”

  “Are you really not answering any of my questions? Do you think I’d turn my back on this and come running home? Father, you sent criminals after me. Criminals who have shot at me.”

  He looked down, and his cheeks turned red. “I didn’t… I can’t tell you. Not here. You need to come home.”

  “Father, first I need to find some answers on my own. After that, I’ll decide if I come back, or if a life as far away from Starwide Research and whatever you got us involved in will be better for me.”

  “Lenah, come to your senses! What if other families find out what you’ve been doing? You’ll singlehandedly ruin our ascent into true corporate status.”

  “Really? Will it be really my fault, or will that be you, dealing with criminals and having people kidnapped?” she demanded. “Me? All I did was fly some unimportant smuggler’s spaceship.”

  “Your mother would have never—” her father began.

  “My mother has been dead for twenty years. Don’t you dare pull her memory into this.” Lenah slammed her hand on the screen to terminate the connection. She stood up on shaky legs and went back toward the Star Rambler as fast as she could. She needed to leave the place of the confrontation, or she’d explode. Hopefully her words had shaken him. She was, after all, his most convincing asset. The company had only really done well since Lenah had joined, using her talents to secure the hefty amount of funding needed to keep the mage farm research advancing.

  Uz and Cassius were detaching the boarding tube when Lenah passed them. She didn’t acknowledge them, but instead went straight up into the cockpit to prepare for their departure. She needed time to process the information. This wasn’t the father she thought she knew. Was he being threatened somehow? That was what she’d thought at first, and he’d sounded scared on this call. Who had he been talking to?

  “I’m sorry they had to find out like this,” Persia said, entering the cockpit and pointing at Uz, who was visible fetching a tool on the video feed.

  “Me too.” Over the confrontation of her father, Lenah had almost forgotten the crew now knew who she was.

  “They’ll come around.”
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  “I hope so,” Lenah said.

  “They will.” Persia was silent for a few seconds, and Lenah was starting to wonder if she was going to say anything else.

  Lenah finally broke the uncomfortable silence. “Hey, at least now we have food for months, and even some medicine. That reminds me, I need to return your stone.”

  “Yeah, I was wondering what you’d done with it.”

  Showing a grin she didn’t feel, Lenah got up and motioned Persia to follow her. “Come. I’ll show you.”

  30 Masis III

  The beautiful planet loomed ahead of them. From up here, it resembled paradise, even though Doctor Lund’s research about Masis III had suggested the area was declared uninhabitable by the UPL. But the large bodies of green and turquoise liquid suggested plenty of water was down there. In fact, the landmasses were small, only accounting for one-fifth of the surface. Most of the land was a combination of lush green forests and ragged blue peaks jutting out of what looked like large gray pimples.

  “Let’s hope we don’t have to get close to any of those volcanoes,” Doctor Lund said from the seat next to Lenah.

  It clicked for her. Of course. Those were volcanoes, and now that she looked closer, the clouds around some of them might even be smoke.

  “So how are we supposed to find the temple?” Lenah asked, gaze darting over the vast landscape below them.