The Cardboard Spaceship (To Brave The Crumbling Sky Book 1)
Page 13
“Okay,” Jennifer said. “Lewis?”
He helped her up and through the hole in the wall. Then Captain helped her aim at the next wall. She shot it, opening up another hole. Standing there in the smoke was Plerrxx, six feet of black fur, dressed in blue robes, which from beneath two fuzzy cattails curved upward. Both Captain and Jennifer had not quite believed that Plerrxx was truly real, but to see him now assuaged their fears.
Plerrxx climbed through the hole and knelt by Jennifer's side. Her fever was stronger now than ever. Plerrxx put his paw at the center of her chest, and a light shot out from his claws. He spoke in his true voice, which mimicked that of a cat: “Rwow vreeeor rrrorrareow!” Light surrounded Jennifer's body. She was lifted off the ground a few inches, her back arched. An electric hum sounded like an orchestral horn, and then she was lowered to the ground and the light faded away.
“What was that?” Captain asked.
“That was my spirit power. I hope that it helped her, but I do not know.”
Jennifer felt even stranger now, like matches had been lit in every one of her cells. She flared while her fever cooled. “Ah …”
Captain took her hand in his. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I think. I feel better …”
She sat up and looked at Plerrxx. “Thank you,” Jennifer said.
“It was my duty to help. Now—we must escape.”
“How?” Captain asked.
“There is a level below us. We can cut through the floor. This used to be an old Martian installation. It's very old. If we can get to my space-hopper, we can escape.”
“Where is that?” Jennifer felt better, but she still felt terrible.
“Close. We can get to it. I can sense the Braconids. I will know if they detect us.”
“Okay,” said Captain. “Let's do it.”
“Yeah,” Jennifer agreed.
She had never been happier.
* * *
Mars made Captain think of Beethoven. He wasn't sure why; perhaps it was the stark lines and faded neon sky, but the sound of brash horns and quizzical flutes, courageous violins and certain percussion filled the expanses of his head. Captain's father had listened to Beethoven a lot; this was one of Captain's few good memories of him. Captain remembered being a child and riding in the backseat of the family car at night, Beethoven's striking melodies streaming out of the stereo. Captain's dad had always listened to music quietly, as though he was ashamed of it. Despite the volume, Beethoven had rung true.
Captain mostly listened to swing music, happier music.
He wished he could listen to music now. It would almost make him feel normal again to just hear a song, any song. Such a thing was so far away from him here.
The three crept silently through the Martian caves. Jennifer held her laser gun close. She refused to be captured again. Captain held his knife. Plerrxx was unarmed, or so it seemed for the moment.
The caves were dark. Jennifer led the way, with Plerrxx behind, guiding her telepathically. It annoyed her that he could enter her mind so easily, and she wished she could shut him out, but she had to admit it was helping their escape. She had no idea where they were going. Plerrxx promised a space-hopper at the end of this path. She did not believe it, but what other choice did she have?
* * *
Captain wasn't afraid anymore. He had developed an insane calm. There was almost a spring in his step. He was very tired though. He felt on the verge of death, and cold wisdom stabbed him.
“This way,” Plerrxx said to them, bringing them both out of reverie.
They continued through the tunnels. Plerrxx seemed to know where he was going. The Braconids seemed farther and farther away. The incessant buzzing grew quiet as they journeyed deeper into the tunnels, which finally gave way to streets of underground ruins. Vines hung on Impossible and decrepit architecture. It was an ancient Martian city, sunken into the ground.
What happened to them? Captain wondered. Where did they go?
“They went nowhere,” Plerrxx answered. He motioned for them to stop. “We are far from the Braconids now. They cannot hear us. You can speak.”
“But what happened to the Martians?” Captain asked.
“They became the Braconids of course,” Plerrxx told them. “They became parasites and fed on their own planet until they killed it. And still they eat.”
“We can rest over there,” Jennifer pointed. They found a place and sat.
“How much farther?” Captain asked Plerrxx.
“Not far. On the other side of the city.”
“The Braconids never come here, do they?” Jennifer mused. “My father wrote about these Martian ruins.”
“The Mmrowwr knew the Martians. They were old when we were young. They were a decadent race. But once they had been a shining thing.”
Whatever this place had once been, it was certainly dead now. Slowly, it had fallen to dust, destined to destruction like all things, but so close to the end now, like the sun just going down and the last light giving way to solemn purple. It could have been a city or just a hive; now, abandoned, it echoed but did not speak.
“Let's go,” Captain said, impatient. He was worried about Jennifer's safety.
Jennifer nodded and stood. Plerrxx was slow to get up. He was obviously exhausted.
“Yes,” he told them. “We should go. This way.”
Plerrxx led them across the streets between the towering spiral structures that could reasonably be called buildings of some sort. Above, pale sunlight cast in from the cracks of the overhang above, and a cold air came with it. All was silent except for their footfalls, as they did not speak anymore.
Captain, who had been thinking of his father, now thought of his mother, Athra. What happened to that life? he wondered. Will I see her again? What is death exactly? I just wish I had one answer. Her face came into his mind and smiled, and he caught himself smiling too.
“WAIT!” Plerrxx grabbed both of them as his voice exploded in their minds. “There are two of them up ahead. Waiting for us.”
“We'll go around,” Captain whispered.
“We cannot. We can only go through. They know that. They are guarding the space-hopper. I didn't think they had found it. This is the only way for us.”
There was no buzzing. The Braconids waited silently for their prey. They were not stupid, just cowardly and hiding themselves.
“We will have to kill them before they contact any others,” Plerrxx told Captain and Jennifer.
“How?” Captain asked.
“With her laser gun. She can kill them in seconds.”
“It's too risky.”
“We must!”
“Okay,” Jennifer whispered. “I'll do it. Let's go.”
Captain tightened his grip on his knife.
They moved silently toward the Braconids' hiding place, inside a large entranceway at the end of the street leading to the space-hopper. Jennifer raised her laser gun and tiptoed forward. When she got there, she looked at Captain, swallowed, and jumped into the entranceway, pointing the laser gun at the huge Braconids. She pulled the trigger.
Nothing happened.
“Jennifer!” Captain yelled, finally frightened again.
“The gun's dead!” she cried.
One Braconid quickly seized Jennifer, while the other went for Captain and Plerrxx. Captain was ready and easily stabbed the Braconid in its left eye. It spat loudly and jumped into the air.
Liquid from the Braconid's eye poured down the knife onto Captain's hand. He ran toward Jennifer, who was on the ground trying to fend off the remaining Braconid. Captain crashed into the insect, digging the knife into the Braconid's belly. It coughed and also lifted into the air, flying in a deranged fashion, leaking fluids and screaming.
“Are you okay?” Captain asked Jennifer as he knelt by her side.
She was obviously dazed and there was a small cut on her cheek. “Yeah,” she said, getting up.
“Let's go!” said Plerrxx.
Captain and Jennifer followed Plerrxx to the airlock at the base of the space-hopper. The Mmrowwr tapped a code into the door and it slid open with a whistle of air.
“Come!”
They followed him into the ship.
* * *
The ship was plush and obviously designed for zero-G space travel, with padded walls and handles everywhere. The hull was formed out of an opaque crystalline—not built, but grown—and smooth and cool to the touch. Inside, the ship blinked with read-outs and screens, but mostly was lit in a soft yellow light.
“I'm going to launch the hopper before more Braconids come,” Plerrxx told them. “We should head to the cockpit and put on our harnesses.”
“Of course,” Jennifer said. She and Captain followed Plerrxx up through the ship.
Finally they reached the cockpit, where Plerrxx got into the pilot's seat and buckled up. Captain and Jennifer followed suit.
Plerrxx quickly brought the hopper to life, powering up the legs and letting loose the thick rumble of the engines.
“Ready?” he asked them.
They nodded.
Plerrxx pulled back on the joystick and the space-hopper jumped into the air above the cave, throwing them back into their seats. Mars quickly disappeared from beneath them as the hopper rose into the sky and up into the atmosphere.
There was an almost unbearable turbulence. Space travel.
Captain tried not to think, tried not to feel. He closed his eyes and did his best not to throw up. Jennifer sighed. It was bad, but not as bad as her trip from the Devasthanam to Earth.
Then suddenly all the weight lifted off from them and the hopper spun backward up into space. Even the engine was silent. The three passengers were speechless as they rolled through the cosmos.
After a moment, Jennifer turned to Captain and spoke. “We're safe now.”
Captain smiled at her. “I know.”
“We made it,” she continued. “We've passed beyond the terrestrial planets.”
“But where to now?” Captain asked.
“I don't want to think about it,” Jennifer replied. “I don't want to think about the No-Shape or the Devasthanam or Mars or any of it. I think all I want to do is sleep.”
“So you've heard of the No-Shape?” Plerrxx interrupted.
“Yes,” Captain said. “We aim to destroy it.”
“To destroy it? Do you know anything of it?”
“We know,” Jennifer said.
“Do you know that both Mercury and Venus have been destroyed?”
“We were on Venus when the No-Shape struck,” Jennifer informed Plerrxx.
“Do you know what the No-Shape is?” Captain asked Plerrxx.
“I know only of the damage it has caused. I do not know where it came from or what it is. I know it is strong.”
“Someone has to do something,” Captain said.
“But what?”
“Something!” Jennifer cried out, surprising herself and the others. “It has to be stopped.”
Plerrxx thought for a moment before replying. “I know you are right—but we don't know anything about it.”
“The Tiamatites know,” she said.
Plerrxx turned and peered at Jennifer. “The Tiamatites are a myth,” he told her. “And anyway, how does an Earthling know about them?”
“I'm not an Earthling,” Jennifer explained. “I was raised by the Tiamatites. In what is left of the fifth planet.”
“No.” Plerrxx shook his head. “The Tiamatites would be dead, even if they had ever existed. You can't be telling the truth.”
“It's true,” Jennifer promised.
Plerrxx became irritated. “I don't believe it. It's impossible.”
* * *
“I can take you there,” Jennifer offered. It had all been a plan. She had known Plerxx would never believe her unless he saw for himself. And the only way he would see if he would take them there. They had to go to the Devasthanam. Despite what she had said earlier, Jennifer was intensely thinking about the future and where they needed to go. And right now, she needed Plerrxx to take them to the Devasthanam.
“And where is it?”
“I can show you.” It was a gamble. Jennifer believed that all of this was meant to be, that Plerrxx was meant to take them to where they were meant to go. Jennifer didn't believe in coincidences or an aimless mechanical universe. She believed in something greater. She had to. Otherwise the weight of her responsibility would be impossible to bear.
Plerrxx did not reply. “You can unbuckle now. I suggest you get some rest. There's a bathroom down the hall on the left and harnesses for sleeping down in the back. In an hour I will make food.” He unbuckled himself and floated out of the cockpit.
Jennifer bit her lip. She would not give up.
Captain unstrapped himself and then floated up into the air. “Whoa,” he said, bumping into the ceiling.
Jennifer unstrapped herself and lifted into the air as well. “I'm going to wash up,” she said. “I'm filthy.”
“Okay,” Captain said. “I'm going to try to sleep.”
He pulled himself down through the ship to the back where the sleep harnesses were as she went into the bathroom and stared at herself in the mirror.
Almost there, she thought, smiling at herself. Then, doubt took her. Almost where?
14. Quiet Journey
Time is (mostly) silent.
“The Incomplete Mmrowwrian Poetics, Volume III”
Once washed up, Jennifer felt revitalized. After such a dry place on Mars, applying water to her skin and hair felt like a sort of guilty luxury.
She exited the bathroom and found Plerrxx lounging in the common area at the center of the ship.
“Your friend is sleeping,” Plerrxx communicated.
Jennifer nodded.
“I don't know what your problems are, but your problems are not my problems,” he told her.
“You're wrong,” Jennifer replied, completely sure of this truth. “You think the No-Shape won't reach your world. You're wrong.”
“Maybe I don't care about my world,” Plerrxx interjected.
“Surely you care about something,” Jennifer said.
“Perhaps,” the cat-man mused, giving her a reckless look. “I have my own problems, you know.”
“I'll bet.”
“Where is this place?”
“Close to where you think it is.”
“And where do I think it is?”
“In the asteroid belt.”
“Can we get there in the space-hopper?”
“Yes.”
“Why should I help you?”
“Don't we look like we're for real?” Jennifer asked him. “What do you think we were doing on Mars? Sightseeing? We're risking everything. Can't you just help us?”
Plerrxx folded his arms. “Dinner will be served in twenty minutes,” he spoke.
Jennifer frowned. She had failed again.
“Then where will you take us?” she asked him.
“I can take you to Jupiter. From there you are on your own.”
Jupiter. No.
“I have this,” Jennifer ventured, reaching under her shirt for the necklace that hung beneath. She pulled it out and over her head, remembering as she did so how Captain's mother had marveled at it.
She handed it to Plerrxx.
“How did you get this?” he asked, flabbergasted.
“Everything I say is true,” Jennifer spoke softly. She had correctly guessed that Plerrxx would know what it was and what it was worth. “You can have it,” she told him.
He still stared at it. “I can?” He nodded to himself and then put the necklace in the pocket of his robes. “You are lucky I have s
een one of these before.”
“I know I am,” Jennifer said truthfully.
“I will take you to your temple. But the ranaadamtrix—the jewel—is mine from this moment onward.”
“Okay. I mean, yes. Thank you.”
“No,” Plerrxx said, his cat eyes lighting up, “thank you.”
* * *
Captain woke up and the three of them ate Mmrowwrian food, of course, which mainly consisted of a meat paste. What kind of meat, Captain and Jennifer did not ask. It was good, stringy, and pungent. They all sucked it down thoughtfully.
After dinner Plerrxx lit a pipe and blew strange red smoke into the cabin. “So,” he transmitted to them. “Tell me about this Devasthanam.” He turned to Captain. “What can you tell me about it, friend?”
“Nothing, I'm afraid,” Captain responded. “I haven't been there. I'm from Earth.”
“What part do you play in this?”
“He's with me,” Jennifer said. She looked Captain in the eye. “We're a team.”
“That's right,” Captain agreed.
“Yes, I see,” said Plerrxx. He was silent. “Do you want to play a game?”
“What kind of game?” Jennifer asked.
“A Mmrowwr game,” Plerrxx told them.
“I'm tired. I'm going to sleep,” Jennifer said.
“I'll play,” said Captain.
Plerrxx looked like he was smiling. “Good.”
Jennifer floated to the back of the ship.
Plerrxx continued to smoke his pipe. He opened a compartment on the wall and pulled out a thick deck of cards.
“Cards?” Captain asked.
“Do you think humans invented cards? I think not.” Plerrxx shuffled the deck between his furry paws, apparently using an invisible magic to make up for the lack of articulations. “You can play cards in space, which is not true of most games.”
Captain found himself smiling. The camaraderie made him feel warm, despite the cold coming in through the crystal of the space-hopper. He wondered how fast they were moving. Probably very fast. “How long will it take us to get to the Devasthanam?” Captain asked Plerrxx.
The Mmrowwr finished shuffling the cards and divided the deck in half, one side of which he handed to Captain and the other side he kept for himself. “Perhaps two, three days.”