Jump Starting the Universe Book Bundle

by John David Buchanan

  “It looks like paradise,” commented Amelia.

  Joules sensed that Wayne was second guessing their decision to leave Mark behind. “We should check on Anonoi,” she offered, hoping to redirect his thoughts.

  They got out of the car and found Anonoi hovering over the top of the Nomad. If you didn’t know what to look for you would have thought it was just heat waves rising from the Nomad’s roof. Barely visible in the bright sunshine was just a smidgeon of wispy shadow that indicated there was more there than just hot air.

  “It’s a good thing Mark didn’t see this,” said Blackie. “He would want to ride on the roof of the car during our next jump. Anonoi, how was the ride up there?”

  “Uneventful, more or less.”

  “Well honestly, that’s the way we prefer it,” said Blackie.

  “There is something wrong here,” said Amelia.

  “What’s that?” asked Joules who was still taking in the spectacular scenes surrounding them.

  “There is something wrong here,” she said again. “There’s no one on the beach. All that beautiful beach to walk on and there’s not one person out there. Why isn’t there anyone out there on such a beautiful day?”

  Blackie was looking at the row of houses along the far side of the road when Amelia shared her concern. There was no movement. There were no children playing in the yards or people sitting on their porches. No one was mowing their lawn or raking leaves. There were no transports parked in the hoverways or on the street shoulder in front of the homes. Some of the houses looked like they had been badly scorched and wild vines were growing up their walls and over their rooflines. He noticed none of the homes looked fresh; none of them had been painted in a long time. “I think all those homes are abandoned.”

  “Mark and Nita would like this place,” said Wayne as he looked at the beach and the low waves breaking and running to shore. He had an uncharacteristic strain in his voice as he bent down to pick up a large flat stone and threw it into the ocean. The stone hit the water with a loud splash sending ripples across the waves and spooking cephalopods hunting in the shallow pools prompting them to race into deeper water. “Don’t you think so?” he said as he turned toward Blackie for a response.

  “Maybe not,” replied Blackie, whose eyes were now fixed on an area beyond the sandbar.

  The water had suddenly begun to boil violently, as if a volcano was spewing hot lava just below the surface. It spread parallel to the beach in both directions, just beyond the sandbar, and reached such a fierce boil that it lurched toward the shoreline. Several hundred meters down the beach a section of bubbling water rose in the air and crashed onto the beach like boiling water that had suddenly overheated and belched over the rim of its container onto a stovetop. When the water receded three tall pillars of fire stood on the beach. Just beyond them another boiling mass of water crashed onto the beach leaving three more pillars of fire as the water flowed back to the ocean.

  “We shouldn’t be here,” said Amelia watching the strange scene on the beach. “We should go,” she said, as water directly in front of them began to rise up in a boiling mound. Amelia opened the front passenger door of the Nomad and got in quickly as the first trio of pillars changed. They were no longer just shafts of fire but had morphed into large quadrupeds whose grizzled fur and skin danced with scorching red and yellow flames.

  “Get in the car,” yelled Wayne who jerked the door open and slid into the seat as the door slammed shut behind him. The sound of Wayne’s voice carried on the swirling wind, and as Blackie and Joules scrambled to get in the car the flaming animals tore across the sandy beach directly at them.

  “Roll up your windows,” yelled Blackie. “Anonoi, we don’t have time to jump, help us.”

  Anonoi was near the front of the Nomad when Blackie called out to him. At once he began to thicken and the area immediately around them began to oscillate slightly. Amelia closed her eyes as the oscillating area twitched and the Nomad was suddenly on the street near the closest house as one of the fiery creatures slid to a halt on the sandy knoll they had just left.

  It sniffed the air and moved its head side to side looking and listening. Two more creatures joined the first on the knoll just as he caught sight of the Nomad and bolted up the slope toward the road. Again, the area around the Nomad began to oscillate and with a twitch they moved again, and again, and again. It wasn’t flowing movement, it was choppy and jerky. Amelia groaned and closed her eyes tightly. Wayne watched the movements until they came to rest on a mountain ridge high above the beach road.

  The staccato-like effect didn’t bother him and he didn’t want to lose track of whatever it was they had just seen on the beach. Wayne noticed the other areas of bubbling water along the beach had now become calm, devoid of the fiery creatures that now tore through the dunes on their way to the road. As they passed, short sprigs of grass near them succumbed to the intense heat and burst into flames.

  “Here they come,” said Blackie who had also been watching the succession of movements that brought the Nomad to its current resting place on the ridge. “Anonoi, we need to move again.”

  “I count twelve,” said Wayne.

  “Fifteen,” replied Blackie who pointed to three more creatures advancing quickly up the right side of the mountain in pursuit of the Nomad and its inhabitants, leaving behind them trails of burning grass and bush that exploded into flames as they passed.

  The area around the Nomad began to oscillate and twitch and they soon found themselves on a second ridge farther up the mountain. Blackie slid his machete out of its wrapper.

  “Blackie, please, don’t get out of the car,” pleaded Joules, who gathered her composure. Then, looking at Amelia whose eyes were still shut tightly, made a gentle but direct request, “Amelia, we need to jump!”

  Amelia drew in a deep breath, and as she opened her eyes reached into her backpack, retrieved the Jump Starter, and pushed the red button.

  The lines of fire running up the mountain were converging on the lower ridge as the first golden ring formed and wooshed past the cars windows toward the back bumper. Fifteen flaming beasts of fire burst into view on a small plateau about two hundred meters below their position as the white haze surrounding the Nomad was punctuated with silver flashes and a torrent of golden rings encompassed it from front to back. Moving with incredible speed on the uneven ground, the wild pack of brutish creatures rushed across the craggy terrain and the rise that led to the first ridge, leaving behind them a mountain engulfed in fire.

  Several of them sniffed the air nervously and peered back and forth through the flaming brush and trees trying to catch a scent or glimpse of their prey while others ran haphazardly around the ridge looking for something, anything to eat. Their movements became more frenetic and desperate as they searched behind boulders and sniffed the air but found nothing. One of the creatures began to howl as if it were in pain and its skin began to crack, forming small red patches, each tinged with brilliant yellow flames.

  It gave another mournful howl when some of the red patches became partially dislodged, curling up on its skin like dried paint chips on an old wooden barn. A second creature began a mournful howl just as the yellow streams of flame emanating from the first creature consumed the red patches on its skin and exploded into a ball of fire with such intensity the creature dissolved into a heap of smoking ash.

  Robbed of their opportunity to eat – not only to sustain themselves for their return to the ocean but to satiate the fire raging inside themselves – the creatures were doomed. Wayne, Amelia, Joules and Blackie watched as one by one each of the Ara-figniscanis, the Fire Hounds of Borreama, were incinerated by their own flames. The white haze surrounding the Nomad pulsed again, and just as the last creature perished as it struggled to reach the upper ridge, the Nomad vanished.

  Everyone was lost in thought and for several minutes none of them made a sound. Finally, Blackie broke the uncomfortable silence. “We need a plan.” There was a hollow timbre
to his voice that suggested he was spent. “I don’t know what those things were back there, but I know they were after us,” he continued, “and it may not be the last time we have to scramble to save our necks.”

  “What do you suggest?” asked Wayne.

  “I don’t know exactly, but I’d just feel better if we had some sort of plan or protocol to work from in an emergency.”

  “How about this?” interjected Amelia. “Clearly Anonoi can move us over short distances quickly. If we need to move fast, we ask him to intervene. If we’re following a path to Gafcon-49, assuming that’s where we are headed, we let him take us on the path he selects. If there is no good way to get there from where we’re located, then we use the Jump Starter and take a chance that we’ll end up closer to Gafcon and not farther away. What do you think, Joules?”

  “I think we should go to Centoria,” said Joules, “unless Anonoi tells us we are really, really close to Gafcon-49. We should try to find Mark and Nita first. Once we’re reunited we can go to Gafcon.”

  “Maybe we should just leave it up to Anonoi – he is doing the driving so to speak,” remarked Blackie. “What do you think, Joules?”

  She was staring out the front windshield mesmerized by what she saw, but Blackie’s question seemed to jolt her out of the trance. “I think that is the biggest animal I have ever seen,” she whispered slowly.

  It was precisely at that moment they all realized the Jump Starter had deposited them on a dirt road in the middle of a broad grassland. Wayne stared out the driver’s side window at the enormous animal grazing in the tall grass about one hundred meters away. It was twice the size of a large African bull elephant on Terra Bulga, but its conformation was different – its head, shoulders and hips were more squared, like a cubist rendition of an elephant sans the trunk.

  “It’s the size of a small house; I’ve never seen anything like that,” said Wayne softly.

  “I have,” replied Blackie.

  Wayne was shocked, “You have?”

  “Where?” asked Joules who was still staring out the window.

  “When we were at the Sub Bar with Sly. There was a small exhibit case near one of the ivory clad columns that contained pictures and some fairly gruesome narrative of hunting expeditions. Most of them didn’t go well for the hunters.”

  Joules was still watching the animal graze. It raised its head momentarily to look across the plain. “Oh my,” she exclaimed as the animal raised its head and its tusks became visible, “those are really large horns. Blackie what is that thing?”

  “It’s a Belkie,” he replied quietly, “we must be at the Belkie Preserve on Questian.”

  “Those tusks have to be nine or ten meters long; I’ve been on sail boats shorter than that,” said Wayne.

  “Be really quiet, they don’t like unfamiliar noises,” whispered Blackie. “Anonoi, we need to move. Anonoi?” Blackie poked his head and shoulders through the open window to get a look at the top of the Nomad. “He’s not there.”

  “What do you mean he’s not there?” whispered Amelia. “Where did he go?”

  “Something must have gone wrong; he didn’t make the jump.”

  “We could go back,” said Joules, “remember, we repaired the retainer ring.”

  Blackie glanced out the window next to Joules, “We can’t initiate the Jump Starter. Belkies are wicked fast. By the time we get halfway through a jump sequence that Belkie would have skewered the Nomad. As long as it doesn’t consider us a threat we may be okay. Unless something changes, we should be quiet and stay right here.”

  “Something just changed,” whispered Wayne as a baby Belkie ran through grass and across the dirt road no more than five meters from the front of the car. Another baby came through the grass chasing the first one, but stopped on the side of the road next to the grass line and stared at the Nomad. Realizing it was no longer being chased, the first baby Belkie joined its twin that was now standing in the road directly in front of the car. Although they were just learning to run, and couldn’t be more than two weeks old, each of the baby Belkies were about the same size as the Nomad.

  “Be quiet,” said Blackie, “don’t make a sound.”

  One of the Belkies stepped closer to the car. Then closer out of curiosity. Finally, it was standing right at the car and put its head down and butted the front bumper. The impact was like someone in a large truck had backed into the Nomad. It butted the bumper again.

  “If it’s trying to play, I don’t like it,” whispered Wayne, “I don’t think my collision insurance includes Belkies.”

  The baby Belkie butted the bumper again, and when it didn’t butt back the Belkie lifted its head high in the air and let out a tremendous bellow. Immediately, their mother raised her head and saw the babies in the road. Then she saw the Nomad and charged.

  “Wayne, get us out of here,” yelled Joules, “it’s charging!”

  Wayne started the Nomad instantly and hit the horn. The baby Belkies stood their ground and butted the car again while their monstrous mother ran directly at them, swinging her from head side to side. Wayne shifted into reverse and gunned the engine. As the back tires kicked up dirt and rocks, he twisted the steering wheel to initiate a two-point turn and gunned the engine again as he straightened the wheel. Dust and rocks spewed into the air so thick you couldn’t see the baby Belkies.

  Wayne power shifted into second gear and looked into his rear-view mirror. The mother Belkie came bursting out of the grass right behind them as Wayne power shifted into third gear. It was only when he shifted to fourth gear that he began to put some distance between them and the mother Belkie who chased them for over a quarter mile. No one said a word; they were busy looking out for more Belkies.

  Finally, Wayne broke the silence, “I can’t believe that, she was still on my tail when I hit fifty miles per hour.” He was now doing seventy down the dirt road and before long they were out of the grassland and into a series of hills that looked like remnants of small volcanoes. Wayne slowed down and came to a stop at the top of one of the hills. “We might be safe here.”

  “Why do you think that?” asked Amelia.

  “We’re a long way from that grassland,” said Wayne, “there’s not much up here for them to eat.”

  “Belkies are omnivores,” replied Blackie, “they would be just as happy eating us as eating that grass. Maybe happier, if you believe the narratives at the Sub Bar.”

  While Wayne and Blackie discussed the Belkies, Joules was preoccupied with their location and how approachable it was from all sides; she didn’t like the feeling of being totally exposed even if they weren’t close to the grassland. In fact, that made it worse. With no grass anywhere in sight she felt like she was at the top of the menu.

  “If we are staying on Questian for a while, we need to find a place that offers more protection,” said Joules. “We’re exposed on every side,” she finished, pointing out the window toward a landscape that left them in plain sight and completely exposed. “Blackie, is there anything else we need to be worried about?”

  “Belkies aren’t the top of the food chain. Picosaurs dominate them and practically everything else.”

  “What are they?” asked Joules who was fairly keen on knowing what to look for after the Belkie incident.

  “They are comparatively small creatures with lizard-like bodies, maybe one to one and a half meters tall at best, with sharp claws for climbing and slashing,” said Blackie. “Their heads seem a little too large for their bodies because they have huge jaws and they look mismatched because they don’t look anything like lizard heads – they look more like monkeys. They can run on two or four legs, their tales are really short, and they are wicked fast – fast enough to run down a full grown Belkie.”

  “I don’t understand. How does a four-foot-tall creature challenge a Belkie? That sounds like a recipe for suicide,” suggested Amelia.

  “They hunt in packs of thirty. Their jaws are lined with large razor-sharp teeth in front and t
wo rows of grinding teeth in back, and they feed like piranha. Narratives at the Sub Bar said if a hunter went missing and they found his bones, he was eaten by a Belkie. If they found his skin but didn’t find bones, he was eaten by Picosaurs.”

  “Is there anything above the Picosaurs?” asked Amelia.

  “Yes,” replied Blackie, but he didn’t offer any details.

  “Maybe we should just jump before something else tries to eat us?” suggested Amelia.

  “I think we need to stay a while in case Anonoi shows up,” offered Wayne. “I don’t know how he’ll find us, but something tells me he will. Let’s try moving farther down the road and look for a place to camp.”

  “Maybe we could find a road along a cliff?” suggested Amelia. “We could reduce our exposure a little and only have to watch three directions.”

  Wayne shifted the car into first gear, “That’s a great idea,” and he drove down the road for close to fifteen minutes as they scouted out potential camping spots.

  “That’s the place right there,” said Amelia, pointing to a spot where the road had been carved into the side of a sheer cliff, “no exposure from the top and no exposure from below; we just have to watch two directions. Blackie, what are the odds someone is out here for a Belkie hunt?”

  “It’s not likely, the hunt is always held later in the year, after the babies are mature enough to fend for themselves. My guess is we’re out here alone.”

  “Good, there shouldn’t be any traffic on the road. We can park up there on that stretch,” she said, “right in the middle. Those long approaches should give us plenty of time to escape from an intruding Belkie or anything else, and if we’re being approached from both sides we’ll have time to make a jump.”