When she realized it was a person, she uttered her “Oh my gosh”.
“I dislike that phrase.”
“You wouldn’t be the first person.” Then she added, “You are a person, right?”
“I am. I believe you refer to me as the big cheese.” In reality of course, it was a projection from Serenity’s ship.
“No way.”
“Never contradict an empress . . . assuming that you wish to keep your tongue.”
“Sorry.”
“You are about to enter an air race . . . competing for a worthless trophy. That is beneath the dignity of someone of your stature and I forbid it.”
“I can’t race?”
“On the contrary. You may race . . . in fact I insist that you do . . . but for a different prize.” The ghoulish image of the Empress went on to explain the stakes for Egg and for her other two sisters.
“Are you crazy?”
“I will caution you just this once. Do not show me disrespect. You would not like the consequences.”
“But you’re setting it up so I can’t win. If I come in first, I get my suit but lose my two sisters. If one of them comes in first, they get their prize but the other two of us lose big time. That’s not fair.”
“Since in either case, one of your sisters will be lost; your choice is that much easier.”
“No idea what you just said.”
“If you win, Spirit and BreeZee lose. If BreeZee wins, you and Spirit lose. And if Spirit wins, you and BreeZee lose. Therefore, regardless of the scenario, at least one of your sisters will lose. So when you decide whether you will try to win to regain your flying suit, the cost is only one sister. Your choice, then, is to sacrifice one to regain the suit and once more be Flying Girl. If you choose not to win, you will still lose one sister.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“Because I can. Because it amuses me.”
Egg got that look in her eye when someone was being mean for no reason. “You’re not crazy . . . you’re completely insane.”
“I look forward to seeing the choice you will make. I wonder, will it be Flying Girl, the doer of good throughout the galaxy or Eloise, the Egg who once flew? Before you choose to give up Flying Girl, I encourage you to think of the thousands, dare I say millions, of people that you might one day save. You would be sacrificing their happiness, perhaps their lives, for one sister . . . that does not seem like a fair exchange.”
“DON’T DO THIS.”
“Good flying” was the response and the darkness dissolved into light and Egg was standing by her aircraft.”
*****
“Where did you go?” asked BreeZee.
“Umm . . .,” she glanced at Tee’ka and saw that the wand was red. “I forgot something and had to go back. Anyway, good luck,” and she gave each girl a hug. To Jynx she said “Jynxie, take a walk with me. Tee, give us a minute, please.”
“Of course, Egg.”
Girl and Shamie walked a little distance away from the others. Egg went to her knees so she was eye level with the animal.
“I don’t know what to do . . .,” and she proceeded to tell Jynx about her conversation with the Empress. When she finished, she asked, “You wouldn’t have any suggestions, would you?” and immediately felt foolish for having done it.
Jynx stood up, growled and started to walk towards an unused aircraft. After a few feet, she stopped and looked back at Egg who was just staring at her. “Grrrrrrr.” She repeated and began to walk again.
“Oh, you want me to follow you. Why didn’t you just say so?’
“Grrrrrrr. Burp.”
“Shut up.”
They walked to the far side of the craft, which hid them from any prying eyes. “Okay, now what?”
Jynx morphed into a three-headed version of Egg . . . except one head was Spirit’s and the other BreeZee.
“Geez, that’s freaky.”
“Grrrrrrr.” Then the Shamie went up to the vacant aircraft and tapped it with a paw.
Egg stared at the animal trying to figure out what message it was trying to convey . . . but without any luck.
“Grrrrrrr. Burp,” said the frustrated Shamie and morphed again. This time it changed into a replica of Sylvia.
“Still freaky.”
The Sylvia/Shamie held up her right hand and extended three fingers. Then she held up her other hand, extended one finger, and pointed it at the aircraft. A moment later, she morphed back to herself.
“Wow, you are intelligent. That’s just brilliant. But how do I do it?”
If the Shamie hadn’t been freaky before, she was now. She raised a paw and one of her fingers began to grow. It became longer and longer, and eventually encircled Egg around her waist. Then it withdrew to its normal size.
Egg fell to her knees again and wrapped her arms around her weird animal friend. “You are truly amazing. If this works, I’m going to give you a green scarf and make you an honorary Hameggattic Sister. Would you like that?”
The Shamie wasn’t just intelligent; she had a pretty good sense of humor. She morphed into an exact replica of Prince Ben’Edikk, grabbed Egg close and kissed her on the lips.
Egg pulled away and cried “NOOOO. That’s gross.”
“Grrrrrrr.”
Egg wiped her mouth, looked at Jynx and giggled. “Okay, it wasn’t gross, it was epic. But promise me you won’t do it again.”
“Grrrrrrr.”
“Come on, we have a race to fly.”
*****
“Hi.”
“Hi, Egg. You ready?”
“Yup. So, how many people are racing?”
“Because much of the planet is shut down for repairs, there are only a dozen contestants. Me, you, your two sisters and eight others” replied Sera’Fina. “Normally, there’s fifty to hundred.”
“I guess we’re lucky then. Um, can I ask you a favor?”
“Sure.”
“Let’s knock out Spirit and Bree last.”
“Why?”
“Let them think they have a chance to win. It’ll give them something to brag about for weeks . . . or longer.”
“Not a problem. Just remember the hand signals and we should be fine.”
“There are no radios in the planes?”
“What are radios?”
“Communications devices.”
“No. That’s why we have the hand signals.”
“Got it. Okay, I’ll see you at the starting line.”
“Good luck . . . not that we’re going to need it.”
“Right back at you.”
*****
The starting line was actually about a thousand feet above the ground. The twelve air racers took their position between two very bright red beacons that marked the end points of that line.
From speakers mounted in the beacons, the race official made his pronouncements. “Contestants, the race has been considerably shortened because there are so few participants . . . speed, not endurance, will be critical. The course – as well as the finish line – is marked by the same type of beacons you see here. If they are blinking red, it means you are entering a particularly hazardous stretch so take appropriate caution. Green marks the finish line. Other than staying between the beacons, there are no rules. Please be assured that the central computer will track each pilot. No one has ever been injured . . . and no one will. If you wish to abort your participation for any reason, please remember there is a red button on your steering control. Press it and you will be teleported back to the aerodrome. The race begins in three . . . two . . . one.”
And they were off.
Sera’Fina and Egg jumped out to an early lead . . . but they had no intention of staying there until they approached the finish line. The girls glanced behind them and smiled. All the other racers were bunched up trying to catch the two girls.
The first part of the race had them heading straight towards the face of a cliff. At the last possible second, the beacons instructed the racers to ve
er hard right to avoid a nasty collision with the mountain. The beacons were beginning to blink red. The closer to the cliff, the faster they blinked.
The two girls ignored the warnings and kept ‘pedal to the metal’. Egg glanced at Sera’Fina who was smiling. She looked back at her friend and raised her right hand. A few seconds later she dropped it . . . it was their signal to apply the air brakes.
They performed the brake and hard bank to the right flawlessly . . . taking the turn with absolutely no margin to spare.
Those behind, who were concentrating on the two craft that were leading, were unprepared for the maneuver. They jammed on their air brakes but couldn’t make the turn. One craft went straight into the cliff face . . . the pilot teleported out before he (or she) became a smear of red jam. The craft smashed into the mountain in an impressive display of chaos and destruction.
Two other craft lost control and smacked into each other. The tangle of aircraft began a slow spiral toward the ground below. At about a hundred feet, when it became obvious to the computer that neither pilot could recover, the two occupants were teleported to safety.
Three down, seven to go . . . five strangers and two sisters.
After the turn, the two girls slowed slightly so those behind could catch up and pass them. Egg was pleased to see Spirit and BreeZee take the lead. That was going to make things a lot simpler. As her Bree and Spirit flew by, their faces alight with smiles, Egg waved.
The next part of the race took them through a maze of tunnels. There were passages veering off in every direction. If it weren’t for the marker buoys, people would get lost in about a minute.
The tunnels were very large – wide enough for three or four aircraft to fly abreast. The only real challenges were the sudden turns to stay on course and the fact that other than those blinking red markers, there was virtually no light. Flying blind would be the appropriate term.
It really was a place to take it a little slower. But there’s always one or two fools willing to be heroes. One such ninny gunned his aircraft and passed the two Hameggattic sisters. Unfortunately, the next turn came at just the wrong time and he couldn’t navigate it. Well, he almost did. After hitting one side of the tunnel, he bounced off and hit the opposite side. Apparently he thought the instructions said ‘repeat as necessary’ . . . cause he did. Not once, not twice but about seven times. The damaged craft finally came to rest, pretty well crumpled and obviously not flyable. As the other contestants flew by, they could see the pilot dematerialize, as he was teleported away.
Four down, six to go.
They all approached the last segment of the tunnel maze and one of the last forks. Sera’Fina gave Egg some hand signals, increased her speed and pulled up to the craft ahead of her. The pilot turned to look at who it was . . . and Egg used that momentary distraction to speed up and slam the front of her craft into the tail of the other girl.
The impact caused the unsuspecting girl’s craft to veer left and with the tunnel about to fork, she had no choice but to take the wrong one. As soon as she did, the computer teleported her because she had left the course.
Five down, five to go.
Egg pulled even with Sera’Fina and gave her a thumbs up. The other girl smiled and returned the gesture.
*****
Back on the spaceship, Serenity turned to her ‘guests’. “It certainly appears that Egg plans on winning, doesn’t it? Apparently being Flying Girl is more important than her two sisters and their worlds. For shame.”
The girls, who could follow the race on the screens in the cabin, were having very mixed emotions. On one hand, Serenity’s assessment seemed to be accurate. On the hand, none of them believed for a moment that Egg would do such a thing. However, how their sister planned to resolve the dilemma was a mystery.
“Syl, what would you tell Egg to do?” asked Aeri’elle.
“I don’t know. I can’t see a way out of this.”
*****
Time was running out. It appeared that they were about three quarters through the race. She and Sera’Fina had to dispatch the last three non-sister contestants right now. This time Egg took the lead and signaled to her companion to follow.
As the racers exited the tunnel complex, they all gained altitude to get over a ridge of mountains . . . giving themselves room to spare.
Not Egg. She stayed dangerously low, hugging the ground and flirting with disaster. She couldn’t help but smile . . . despite the situation, she was having a blast. If she ever had to give up her flying suit, she would definitely earn her pilot’s license and fly the conventional way.
She was a bit lost in her daydream when she heard “Grrrrrrr. Burp.” Looking up she let out an “oops” and she pulled the craft up and over a pinnacle of rocks that she had lost sight of. “Thanks, Jynx.”
“Grrrrrrr.”
They accelerated and finally caught up to the last three craft that were trailing Bree and Spirit. They were flying in formation, three across. Again, Egg signaled Sera’Fina to follow her.
The two girls slipped their crafts under the right side of the left most competitor. Egg gave the signal and they both pulled back on their controls and shot up and into the unsuspecting flyer.
The impact sent the craft spinning sideways and into the second craft. Then the two tangled machines hit the third. The first two were hopelessly ruined and spun slowly toward the ground. The last one tried valiantly to stay aloft but it was a losing effort. It finally sputtered, flipped over and dove toward the ground.
All three pilots were teleported to safety.
Now there were four contestants left . . . BreeZee, Spirit, Sera’Fina and Egg.
And now it was up to Jynx. “You ready back there?” Egg yelled to her companion.
“Grrrrrrr.”
“Okay, let’s do it.”
These last four participants were making a beeline toward the green buoys. Spirit and Bree were neck and neck while the other two were just behind them. Sera’Fina gave Egg the signal.
Again, their timing was flawless. Egg smashed the tail of Bree’s craft driving it right. Sera’Fina hit Spirit driving her left. And a moment later, the two unsuspecting Hameggattic Sisters collided.
*****
Back on the spaceship, the six girls let out a gasp of shock. Serenity just laughed. Actually, she laughed a lot. She had been right all along.
Egg was selfish and self-centered.
It was all about her.
It was all about Flying Girl.
Epilogue
As the two tangled craft headed straight down, Sera’Fina looked at Egg and raised her arms in triumph.
But that lasted only a second.
Jynx’s paw shot out, extending the thirty or so feet to the other craft. Sera’Fina looked at it in surprise. This wasn’t part of the plan. When she realized what was about to happened, she tried to veer the craft away. But she was too slow.
Jynx’s paw hit the red button on Sera’Fina’s steering wheel and an instant later, she dematerialized as the central computer teleported her back to the aerodrome.
All that had taken about three seconds.
In the next instance, Egg dove straight down using full power. The force was so great she and Jynx were jammed back in their seats.
Four seconds later, they caught up to the other two tangled craft that were gently spiraling toward the ground.
Jynx once again sent her paws out like long, blue serpents.
She grabbed each girl and retracted her arms.
Two seconds later, they were in the backseat with the Shamie.
Egg pulled back on the controls as the ground came racing up to meet her. Even though it all happened in less than ten seconds, she barely had time to pull up and avoid disaster.
But she did and a half minute later, they crossed the finish line. She, Spirit, and BreeZee had won.
*****
Up in the spaceship, six girls screamed, hooted, and hollered with delight. Egg had done the impossible. We
ll, Jynx did help.
Serenity was fit to be tied. Spitefully she said, “You can stop celebrating. This isn’t over yet.”
*****
Back on the ground, Egg turned and hugged her four-legged friend. “Jynxie, you were epic. I owe you a green scarf.”
“Tee, I need a mirror and a green scarf like the one K’ssss always wore.” They materialized and Egg tied the scarf around the Shamie’s neck and held up the mirror for her to admire herself. “Looks fantastic. Congratulations, you are now an honorary Hameggattic sister.”
“Grrrrrrr,” and she gave Egg a big, saliva coated kiss that the other girl accepted gracefully.
“Egg,” asked a dazed Spirit. “What just happened?”
“We won, that’s what happened.”
“Not so fast,” came a very angry voice.
Egg turned to look at Sera’Fina. “Sorry about that. But my sisters come first.”
“I trusted you.” Egg was about to respond, to explain her predicament, but the girl cut her off. “I filed a formal protest with the race committee. You and I were teammates. By bringing the other two on-board, you violated the rules. I’ve asked for you to be disqualified and for me to be declared the winner.”
“If I may?” interrupted Tee’ka.
“No, you may not,” replied Sera’Fina rudely.
“Go head Tee.”
“Thank you Egg. I am sorry; I must have misunderstood your instructions. I did not register you and Sera’Fina as teammates. I registered you, Spirit and BreeZee. My bad.” Her eyes actually twinkled.
“YOU DID WHAT?” screamed Sera’Fina.
“You heard her. Me and my sisters won.”
Sera’Fina turned bright red. “I’ll get even for this.”
“Yeah, no. I won’t be racing anymore.”
“Not what I had in mind. I was just too nice . . . too trusting. I need someone who is meaner . . . rotten to the core. Someone who won’t hesitate to do whatever it takes to win.”
“Whatever. Have someone in mind?”
“I do. She’s my alter ego.”
“What?”
Box Set #3: The Serenity Deception: [The 4 book 3rd Adventure of Egg and the Hameggattic Sisterhood] Page 31