The Boneyards of Nebula
Page 25
Camila hugged Sam and then Bohai.
Sam started to shake hands with his brother, then hugged him. It startled Shane, not used to such an emotional scene.
“Hey,” he said. “You feeling alright?”
The hug had seemed out of place, but Shane took it to be the emotions of the past month all coming to the surface to get some air.
“You two are coming back, right?”
“Sure,” said Sam. But there was an odd hesitation in his voice. “We might go to the Starbase for awhile, first. But we'll be back to see you. Eventually.”
“Good. Keep an eye on each other. And don't buy any swampland on Mars!” That last joke made Camila frown. She didn't get their odd sense of humor and inside jokes.
The two boys and their spider disappeared into the ship. The hatch closed. The Praihawk hummed to life and took off into the sky. No parades or banners, and only this small party to send them off. Despite the importance of this last mission, the world was too busy to attend.
The ship sped into the clouds. Simple as that. They were a dot in the sky, fast on their way. Shane and Camila watched it until it had gone. An empty blue horizon lingered behind.
“That seem a little weird to you?” Shane asked.
Camila inhaled deeply – there was a sweet smell of lavender blooms nearby – and managed a weary smile. She hadn't slept in days. None of them had.
“Yes. Why would they buy land on Mars?”
“No, you don't.... never mind. Let's get something to eat. I want something fried. Crunchy and deep fried.”
“Fried centipede.”
“No! Chicken. Or even zucchini. Just fry it. And besides, those centipedes and weird creatures have all gone away,” Shane said. “So that's good news. Bohai said that as soon as the green stone is returned to its place, those things will hibernate again.”
“For how long?”
“Decades, he thinks. They won't wake up again until they are needed to protect us.”
“That isn't comforting. Creepy, knowing they are hiding somewhere around here.”
Shane laughed. “I know! And the spiders are still cleaning up the lizards. That doesn't help me sleep at night, either. All said, we might never see the centipedes or Saratu again.”
“I'm okay with that.”
“Me too, and me three!”
“I never understand your jokes,” Camila said, but chuckled anyway. She took his hand, and they moseyed back toward the camp. “It's all getting back together, though. No one's complaining about the work. We might have electricity and running water again pretty soon.”
“Our new guests are a bit funny. They can't seem to get over the sunlight and the wild flowers. Funny people. But they're harmless. I like them.”
“You like everyone.”
“You like no one. Get over it. I wonder what they would think about fried chicken...”
Chapter 47
For Sam and Bohai, the return to the Nebula was no less macabre than their first trip inside. The Praihawk cruised gently into its colorful space wisps and plasma clouds, particles of purple and blue. Beautiful, but eerie, and as quiet any graveyard.
The silence of quicksand, Sam mused, watching it pass by. No one worries until it pulls you in.
On the ship the Saratu kept to themselves and rested. Six slept quietly in the back chambers, but one remained in the control room. It made no sound, no clicking, but watched the screens through its dull white eyes. The creature made Sam nervous. He strove to ignore it.
The ship turned right, then left, and negotiated its way through the maze of debris, now in different places from before. The boneyard's dead ships and their parts shifted continually; they shuffled positions with every tiny ripple in space.
The Praihawk's crew found the Rue Orca where they had left it. The giant was dark and unchanged. Sharp teeth still poked from its mouth, and the iris of its eye still protected the entrance. This singular ship was the only thing that did not seem to move in the Nebula. It was the nexus of the Boneyards, and nothing could budge it.
Bohai went without Sam, as the Saratu did not want the “half-Sayan” to touch the green stone again. The seven creatures followed Bohai into the Rue Orca and watched him place it back in its proper receptacle inside the mysterious room from which they had first stolen it. The podium accepted the Seed back into its core, and lines of green lit up around it, a crisscross grid, glowing. The box was pulled inside and hidden away. It vanished. The room dimmed again.
It was gone.
Bohai turned back and walked through the Saratu, who parted for him. They clicked deep in the backs of their throats, but it was a different tone this time. It was a much calmer language than before. They roamed the hallways of the Rue Orca ship, guardians back at their post, and let the human leave by himself.
Bohai knew the Saratu would watch the stone for another century or more. He wanted to leave a message warning others about the artifact and its significance, but he didn't see how to accomplish that. Or what good it would do. After all, the Nebula itself had screamed “beware” to them, and they had come in anyway.
Humans are not prone to heed warnings.
The boy returned to his own ship. Nothing tried to stop him. Two other Saratu stood on the bow of a ship that floated nearby. They watched him, but did nothing more.
Inside his own ship, Bohai peeled off his space suit and joined Sam in the control room. Neither said a single word for a very long time.
The two young pilots guided the Praihawk back through the maze, out of the graveyard of starships that haunted the Nebula. They skirted the old, dead hunks of metal, and wove the path one last time in cold silence.
Sam finally found his voice. “I hope we never come back here again.”
“You and me both.” He wanted to say more, but there seemed nothing else to say.
As usual, Teak said nothing.
The ship left the Boneyards of Nebula, then found the narrow outlet from the Nebula itself. They sailed through an orange cloud, a space corridor, and emerged outside the space anomaly. They had exited the colorful but deadly Nebula. Finally, it was behind them.
In front lay open space. Stars scattered across the display screen, too many to count. After some distance had been put between their ship and the Nebula, Sam spoke up again.
“So, which way? Back to Earth, or to Starbase 21? I'm okay with either, but I don't want to separate.”
Their friendship had been what kept them alive and sane through the hard times – through invasion, war, and change. It would be hard to go separate ways. Sam already felt too lonely.
“I'm okay with anyplace,” said Bohai. He swiveled his chair to face Sam. “As long as it's not Neptune. I don't wanna go there. Otherwise, I'm cool.”
“Agreed.”
“So where to? I'll follow you. SB21? Earth?”
They both had a sense that they belonged nowhere. Third wheel, fifth chair. They hadn't been given a place on Earth yet for the reconstruction, which Shane and Camila had under control. They also didn't belong with the scientists on Starbase 21, despite the thrilling prospect of living there; they had nothing significant to contribute to the research.
Sam thought about one, then the other. “I can't decide. Flip a coin?”
“I don't have a coin. Why would I carry money?”
“I do. My lucky wheat penny.”
“Really? You carried coins in your pocket all this time? Wait! Do you still have your wallet in your back pocket?”
Sam chuckled. “No. I lost it somewhere on Earth. Or maybe on the Starbase. I don't know where. But I kept my lucky penny.”
“Okay, man. Flip it. Heads we go to SB21 and tails we go to Earth.”
Sam tossed the coin in the air. It sparkled as it spun, then hit the ship's ceiling and came twirling back down. Bohai reached out and caught it deftly in his hand. There he held it – his fist closed around the coin.
“Or...” he said. He raised an eyebrow. His hand was still
extended with the coin hidden in his palm.
“Really? There's an Or?” Sam asked.
But they were both thinking the same thing.
Bohai smiled mischievously. His eyes gleamed. “We have a ship. And the galaxy lies ahead. Surely there's something more to see out there.”
Sam imagined the horrors they might find.
Monsters, aliens, and a space octopus or two? Even the devil girl from Mars?
And he imagined the wonders.
Stardust, a cure for cancer, the man in the moon?
Dangerous, but it could be amazing.
“Just the two of us and Teak,” he whispered. “I wonder what else is out there.”
“Just for two days,” Bohai said. “Maybe three.”
“A week at most,” Sam agreed. “No more. Have a look, then come back to Earth. Or the Starbase.”
“Okay then.”
Bohai brought his hand to his lap. They had not looked at the coin, heads or tails. He rubbed it between his fingers, thinking.
“So, where to?” Bohai asked.
“That star there... and make a pit stop at the first all-night cafe... or alien pancake house. I'm starving.”
The Praihawk sped out into the galaxy toward a bright star cluster near a blue cloud. They set systems and sensors on automatic, and let the ship do the steering. The Praihawk and its crew of three sailed toward the edge of the galaxy. And there, thought Sam, was a fitting place to be.
“Hey. Can I have my penny back?”
I hope you enjoyed the ride.
The journey is half the fun, as long as you have a ray-gun.
Sam, Bohai and Teak will return in:
Hidden Planet
Book 1 in a new series
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For more information about the “Sons of Neptune” book series, and other books by Rod Little, visit the author's website:
www.rodlittleauthor.com
or visit his
Amazon Author Page
Excerpt from the Earthian Star Charts:
Wreck of the Sae Kilong
Far from the reaches, star ocean a-frothing,
forced in the tow of a glimmering light rows
“Watch! from the forward” our shipmates are calling
Look hard on your port lean, the graveyard there goes
Fire up your engines, your crew and your weapon wheel
five links away she pulls us in hard
Heave on the starboard quick, short is our fire wick
nothing can save us, we're cast in the 'yard
Glowing in the cradle of her dark marrow
locked deep inside the leviathan's hold,
Find the treasure, our escape is narrow,
knowing not now, is our death already told
Push arms firm to the till wind,
Try we hard to pull out fast,
Strong and grim is the beast finned,
No hope for us, our fate is cast
Taken and downed by the darkest of fallow,
Eats the nebula the last of our hull.
Captain and crew, the 'yards open and swallow,
Down they go, to the last bone and skull.
– Scratched on the wall of a cabin on the dead ship Pathfinder, and later inscribed in the third tome of the Star Charts
Unknown Song
Found we the whale beast deep in the midst,
Sound the alarm and cast into the mist
And through the eye we entered the craft,
its iris we pressed and opened its shaft,
and into its chamber we found its star chart,
to take control of its powerful heart.
Seed rewards us with glory ten fold
Takes us to victory, crowns us with gold
About the Author
Rod Little has written for two dozen science fiction, fantasy, and horror magazines over the past two decades. He has also written novellas for the Wayward Pines series and The 100 series, and five novels, including his own series: Sons of Neptune.
Born in East Peoria, Illinois, Rod later moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and worked as a translator. In 1994 he opened a sci-fi gaming store called Starbase One on Pittsburgh's famed Forbes Avenue, which he kept open for eleven years of fantastic fun. In 2006 he moved to Thailand to begin writing again.
Rod travels often around Asia, but prefers intergalactic travel. He is partial to the Carina Nebula, where he still has friends of an alien nature.
“Reading sci-fi should open your eyes and make you think, but it should also be fun.”
Amazon Author Page
Sci-Fi Books by Rod Little
Sons of Neptune:
Earthweeds
Revenge of the Spiders
The Last Starbase
The Boneyards of Nebula
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Wayward Pines: Dark Pines
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Official Fan Website:
www.rodlittleauthor.com
Comments and questions are always welcome via the site