Behind them, the ramp retracted and the door hissed as it closed.
Jade spun. “See? Empty space. Another drab and gray moon among trillions in this galaxy.”
Ryze ignored her, turned to the left, and walked away. Jade didn’t immediately follow.
“Where are you going, Ryze? We don’t know what direction to head in!”
“I think those mountains would be a good start,” he replied, slightly turning his head over his shoulder. “I’ll scan on the way. My HUD will have a better chance at picking up a life sign than the ‘blazer. Closer to the source and all that.” He had not the slightest clue of what he was talking about. It made sense in his head, but lost all credibility when it left his mouth.
Jade stopped, her face stern behind her visor. “The mountains, okay.” She caught up to Ryze and walked on his right side.
“If the mountains are empty, we’ll get outta here, deal? Try our luck elsewhere,” Ryze said.
She hesitated, and a pang of pity pricked the pit of Ryze’s stomach. When he was a young man, he remembered the announcement of the former queen’s, Jade’s future mother’s pregnancy. All of Xovia rejoiced. The king finally had an heir. The rumors were that the royal couple had tried and tried to no avail. Then Jade was born, and now here he was, walking along the surface of an eerie, desolate moon with the girl whom the last memory he had of, before all this, was of a toddler barely able to string along coherent sentences.
Time certainly flies, he thought and laughed.
“What’s funny?” Jade questioned.
“Look at us,” he said, “just two weirdos trekking across an unknown moon. Life’s just funny, isn’t it? I never thought I’d be here, just like you probably never thought you'd be a refugee of your own planet, traveling through the stars with a bounty hunter.”
“A low-down bounty hunter,” Jade added with a wink.
“What’s wrong with bounty hunting?” Ryze stopped and faced her, scowling.
“Nothing…on the surface, I guess. But you know as well as I do it’s not exactly an honorable career choice. No offense.”
“Hey, it pays the bills and puts food on the table.”
Jade wrinkled her nose. “Yeah, elanty-flavored meatbriks. Delicious.”
“You scarfed it down, queenie. Don’t lie, you loved it.”
“Hardly. Couldn’t you have at least stocked up on a more…normal flavor?”
“I’m cheap, okay? And elanty’s the cheapest. Besides, it’s not like I knew I was gonna have company anytime soon. Not many people have the honor of stepping aboard the Starblazer.”
“The honor?” Jade snorted, her visor fogging over. “It’s not that nice.”
“Best ship in the galaxy,” Ryze said. “We both know it.”
“Well, maybe if you let me fly it…”
“In your dreams, sweetheart. Nobody but me—”
The ground suddenly shook. Ryze stumbled back and almost lost his balance. He would’ve fallen had Jade not grabbed his arm.
“What the hell was that?” she said.
Ryze waited for a moment, expecting another shake. None came.
“Quake?” he replied.
“On a moon? Never heard that one before.” She bent down and pressed a hand to the ground, feeling for another tremor. “Think it’s safe to go, or should we leave?”
Ryze looked over his shoulder at the Starblazer. It seemed far away. He mentally did the math of how fast he could get there in case the ground decided to fall beneath their feet. Then he looked toward the mountain. The mountain was closer—had to be.
“Yeah, I think it’s safe. Let’s keep going,” he said.
“All right, you’re the boss.”
“I’m glad you’ve finally accepted that.”
“Maybe I’m just saying it to make you shut—”
Just as Ryze feared, the ground cracked before them. He acted fast, the way he always did in times of stress, and he lunged at Jade, taking her away from the fracture before she could fall in. They landed hard on the rock surface. The impact reverberated through his armor and rattled his bones. He couldn’t—didn’t—want to imagine how Jade currently felt in her thin spacesuit.
Well, it’s a lot better than falling into an unknown, uninhabited moon’s dark chasm, that’s for sure, he reasoned.
“Ouch!” Jade shouted. “Major ouch.”
Ryze thought he had heard a crack, possibly one of Jade’s bones—or his.
“You okay?” he asked, pushing himself up despite the moon’s shaking.
Stupid question.
He looked at Jade. “I-I think so. But you need to lose some weight, Starlo.” Her mouth was twisted in pain and her eyes scrunched closed, but as he watched her, they quickly widened. She raised a trembling hand. “What—what’s that?”
A shadow extended over them, blocking out light from the distant sun. This darkness grew until they were completely shrouded.
Ryze gulped. He didn’t know what the hell it was, but it was certainly huge.
“Uh, Starlo?” Jade said, voice trembling as much as her pointing hand was. “We really ought to go back to the ship now.”
Ryze gripped his flayzer, finger on the trigger.
And then he turned around and faced their newest companion.
Ten
Ryze fell to a crouch and rolled off to the side, out of the creature’s shadow. Upon first glance, the thing looked like a giant worm with its hide the color of salt, armored and rippled. Its mouth widened in a roar. Despite the gravitational capabilities of their suits, the gust and vibrations from the terrible sound blew Ryze and Jade back.
Teeth as long as the Starblazer’s wings protruded from the monster’s maw, running along in a complete circle. One bulbous, yellow eye searched for them, spinning. It targeted Jade, who was still trying to right herself from everything.
Ryze shifted into protective mode—not for himself, but for the queen.
His flayzer railed off a barrage of beamblasts. He didn’t have to aim, the thing was so huge. Each shot hit home somewhere on the creature, but most of the beams bounced off its armor.
I need to get me some of that, Ryze thought absently.
No damage, but the beast was currently distracted.
That big, yellow eye settled on Ryze. The surge of adrenaline and courage he was riding drained away. He had seen many different types of monsters in this galaxy, but none as bone-chilling as the worm before him.
He nearly froze and allowed the creature to devour him on the spot, until old instinct took over. He turned gravity off and his heel thrusters on, and flew into the air, rising above the worm. It easily stood fifty feet, maybe taller.
Aiming his flayzer downward, he let loose. Jade shouted from the surface, shooting her own gun. The muffled sounds of the blasts rang in Ryze’s ears.
“Sir, the ship is picking up a heat signal on the sensors. A rather large sentient being—”
“I know that, Spex! Look out of the damn viewscreen!”
“Oh, dear, I should’ve been paying attention,” Spex continued. “I can shoot the beast with the Starblazer’s turrets!”
“No!” Ryze yelled. “Don’t. You’ll kill us all. Let me handle it!”
“Are you sure, sir? I believe I can hit the lifeform with enough accuracy to render you and Queen Jade mostly unharmed.”
“Mostly? No, Spex. Now let me get back to kicking this thing’s ass!”
He pirouetted and aimed for the creature’s eye, but the thing was slippery. It knew its weak spot the way an experienced fighter knew his own, and the beast meant to protect itself.
It went on the offensive, lunging at Ryze. He dropped altitude as the worm’s armor clipped his and sent him spinning.
Instantly nauseous, he fought the feeling down and took aim again. For a split second, as the worm coiled around, Ryze had the shot, and he knew he had to take it.
You can do this, he told himself, finger finding the trigger. You’ve hit smaller targ
ets—
But Ryze hadn’t planned for what happened next.
A bolt of electricity hit him harder than that worm ever could have. It rippled through his body from head to toe, paralyzing him. The pulse malfunctioned his suit. His HUD went dark, his jets died, and he fell.
Thanks to the lack of gravity, he didn’t fall hard, but he heard himself screaming regardless. Not being able to see, surrounded by the blackness of the inside of his helmet, that was the scariest thing. Like death.
“Ryze!” Jade shouted.
He tried to form words. His tongue wouldn’t move. It felt swollen and dryer than moon dirt.
Another voice cut through his helmet the way the current had. It was sharp and high. Commanding. Female.
“Down, Button! Down!” the voice said.
Button? Is that the worm? What in the holy hell?
DROP THAT BLASGUN! HANDS WHERE WE CAN SEE THEM! said another voice, or so Ryze had thought.
The ground shook again, and the beast vanished.
For a long moment, Ryze lay there unable to move. No one spoke, but footsteps advanced toward him. He tried moving his lips, making his tongue waggle and sound out the syllables, but he couldn’t.
Probably a T-3 bolt gun, he thought. Might as well get comfortable, ‘cause you’re not moving for at least an hour, buddy.
CORRECT.
What? Who said that?
“Please—” Jade began.
“Quiet!” the woman hissed. “Or you’ll end up like your bounty hunting friend here.” She snapped her fingers.
A shadow approached Ryze, but he heard no footsteps. It sounded like a giant slug gliding across sandpaper. Then strong, yet somehow…gummy hands lifted him up. An near-impossible feat, even with the moon’s low gravity. The armor and Ryze’s large frame together easily weighed four hundred and fifty pounds, maybe more, but this person lifted him like he was nothing more than a bag of groceries.
The woman said, “You will come with us, or you will die. Is that understood?”
Ryze’s slitted eyes fell closed, he was somewhat aware of that. This was no different than what he saw on the inside of his helmet anyway—the bolt gun had shorted his suit's power—and because he didn’t have a choice, Ryze went along for the ride.
His helmet fell off when his body involuntarily leaned to the left. A bright light shined through his eyelids. He judged that an hour had passed, an hour in silent darkness without feeling, without an idea of what he’d gotten himself into.
With this passage of time, some of the paralysis had worn off and he was able to squint. Whoever had brought him here was long gone, and Jade was with them. Even though he couldn’t turn his head, he sensed he was all alone. It was a feeling he knew well. They had split them up, a classic interrogation technique; it was the only logical conclusion.
But I’m here, wherever the hell that is, so where is Jade? If our kind hosts wanted us dead, they would’ve killed us outside. That way, the space worm could’ve cleaned up the mess. Easy-peasy. Not the case, so let’s hope they kept us alive because they were curious…not because of Jade’s crystal.
Ryze tried shouting but could only move his lips and waggle his tongue slightly. No words formed.
He made an attempt at moving and turning his head. His muscles didn’t listen at first. Another five minutes passed before he achieved a slight wiggle. Good enough to see he was in a large, transparent sphere. The boy in the bubble. Binds clamped his wrists and ankles. He glanced at his suit. No lights burned on the buttons on the underside of his forearm plates. Still offline.
Oh, they got you good, Ryze.
He was sitting on some sort of cube. Not exactly comfortable, even with reduced nerve activity.
Straining, veins throbbing, he forced himself to turn his entire upper half slightly and got about two inches from his slouching position. Not great, but it was still progress.
He sighed with relief. Victories always felt good, small ones included.
Through the sphere’s glass, he saw more lined up on his left. Maybe five, burning with the same light as the one he was in. Now he turned the other way. It was easier this time. That was good—great. He was warming up. Maybe he’d be walking within the hour—not particularly well, but walking nonetheless—and fighting within the next week.
To his right, there were two more spheres, also lit up. He couldn’t make out much beyond that. The intensity of the bulbs made it hard for him to see his surroundings. He felt like a performer on a stage. A hundred people might’ve been staring at him like some kind of animal in an exhibit, and he wouldn’t have known.
Intentional, no doubt. It was smart of his captors, whoever they were.
Okay, Ryze, focus. I’m in a jail cell. Still on the moon, on a base I didn’t see. Didn’t take any space rides after the shock, I know that much, I think. The moon, the moon—
Dread gripped his spine. The moon brought up another thought…
The worm. His body tried to shudder, but the paralysis muted it. Wait, did I hear the lady call that thing…Button?
Focus. Who cares about the giant worm with the completely ridiculous name? Where’s Jade? Where’s the crystal? Where’s my ship? I don’t know and that’s not good, not good at all. Really gotta get outta here, you know, like yesterday.
Maybe it was a misunderstanding. Maybe he could call out for someone and get answers. It seemed like the best option. So he tried parting his lips. Unfortunately, they were dry and the skin at each corner of his mouth split. It stung a bit. That was another small victory despite the pain.
Then he tried cursing, but his jaw locked halfway through the dirty word he had on his mind. The sound that came out was completely unintelligible. More like a babble or a grunt than a term that would’ve gotten him detention and a note home to his parents in grade school.
Still—
Better than no sound at all.
Wiggling, shimmying, until he fell off the box and hit the floor hard. Bones clattered, head bounced off the surface. His vision went black for a moment, and he thought he was going to pass out. Luckily, that didn’t happen. He ignored the pain and willed his body to squirm. To an outsider, he would’ve looked a lot like the worm he'd battled earlier, only less graceful and intimidating, and a lot more sad.
He moved about six inches before footsteps echoed outside the sphere. Warning lights went off in his head. He forced himself to make sounds, syllables.
“Hehhhhhhhhh! UHHHHHH!”
The footsteps paused.
“Ryze?”
It was Jade’s voice. He craned his head up half a degree.
She was standing there, holding some kind of dripping pink treat on a stick in one hand.
“I see you’re moving a little. You feeling any better?” she asked. “C’mon, let’s get you out of here.”
What in the Gods’ names is happening here?
She turned and shouted a name Ryze didn’t recognize. It sounded like Blue.
Footsteps didn’t come this time, but instead he heard the slug-sliming-over-sandpaper sound.
Ryze flicked his eyes upward. A greenish blob of a creature approached the sphere. In the middle of what must’ve been its face stared a collection of eyes.
Ryze nearly pissed his pants. He couldn’t imagine what his own face looked like at that moment.
You were ugly before, man. Can’t get much uglier than that, he told himself.
Dream big, Starlo—
YOUR FACE IS FINE.
Fear seized Ryze’s thoughts. “Wuh…?” he said. The same thing, a voice other than his own speaking in his head, had happened outside. He had brushed it off as pain-induced hallucinations, but—
I SAID YOUR FACE IS FINE. YOU DON’T LOOK ANY DIFFERENT THAN YOU DID BEFORE.
This can’t be happening. Someone really was speaking inside Ryze’s head.
Unless you’re crazy…
NOT CRAZY, MY FRIEND.
The door opened in front of him, and the thing walked—no,
slithered in.
Ryze gawked at the large alien, trying to place its species.
I’M CALLED A GELERRIS, FRIEND. TRY TO BE A LITTLE MORE POLITE TO YOUR HOSTS, that other voice spoke.
Ryze wanted to scream. He hated it, hated everything that was happening to him.
“Thanks, Blue,” Jade said. She stepped through the threshold. She no longer wore the raggedy suit he’d given her on the Starblazer. Now she was dressed in a black shirt and black pants. Over the shirt, she wore a moon-silver jacket. Her hair was done up, washed and shining. Her face glowed. She certainly looked like a queen, or a businesswoman you didn’t want to ever cross. She knelt. “I’m so sorry about this. It’s all just a big misunderstanding.”
Ryze didn’t respond. He was still reeling from the moon worm, and now he had to deal with a voice in his head and Jade making friends with a sentient blob of mucus.
Jade turned to the green alien behind her. “Wow, that paralyzation setting is super effective. Ryze can’t even talk, and usually he never shuts up! I need one of those guns. I know, Sae said they’re illegal, but I don’t care.”
What is going on? Ryze wondered. Have I really lost my mind?
NO, HUMAN, YOU HAVEN’T. I AM TALKING TO YOU INSIDE YOUR MIND. IT IS CALLED TELEPATHY. I’M SURE YOU’VE HEARD OF IT. IT IS SOMETHING YOU WILL HAVE TO GET USED TO.
Who is talking? Spex?
NOT SPEX. IT IS ME, THE GUY YOU THINK OF AS A ‘SENTIENT BLOB OF MUCUS.’ There was a pause, then: YOU KNOW, I HAVE FEELINGS, TOO.
Now Ryze’s mind went numb with the rest of him.
“Can you lift him, Blue? I don’t think I can,” Jade said.
OKAY, RYZE STARLO, TRY NOT TO DO ANYTHING CRAZY HERE. I’M GOING TO PICK YOU UP. I WILL BE GENTLE, I THINK—AT LEAST I’LL TRY, OKAY?
No, just let me walk—
Slimy, green tentacles burrowed beneath Ryze’s body and lifted him. The flesh of the alien was cold and gross. It reminded him of soggy food around a drain—
NOW THAT’S A NEW ONE. Laughter boomed in Ryze’s head. OFFENSIVE, BUT HUMOROUS.
Together, the three of them, the Gelerris carrying the bounty hunter, exited the bubble and entered a dark corridor.
A Galaxy Divided Page 5