The Game of the Millennium: A Novel

by James Martin

  Malevole was closing the distance between them. She came in, bellowing, “I will seek revenge upon those you’ve loved. Mark these words.”

  She jumped in the air towards him: twenty yards became ten, then five, until she hovered perilously close to Astraos.

  While. . .

  ∞∞∞∞∞∞

  Lauren saw the woman get up and charge at Astraos. She lifted her blaster to shoot her. Nate grabbed her right arm. “Wait.”

  “What are you doing?”

  “Now!”

  He let go, and Lauren saw the opportunity. She calmed her nerves, steadied her arms, and right before the woman came down to put Astraos in a shallow grave, she fired.

  Astraos heard the remnants of a blaster. He concentrated and, in slow motion, saw the staff tumble to the side. With everything he had, he jabbed with Shirley. His vision returned just long enough for him to see Malevole impaled on his blade, wearing a permanent sadistic grin on her face.

  Lauren’s vision narrowed. She ran towards her man faster than she had ever ran before, quicker than when they first met and he was barreling towards her. She ran and ran and ran and hoped and prayed. I’m coming. I’m coming. The thought of losing him presented itself in her mind and was ejected immediately. She would not lose him. She could not.

  Lauren held his upper body in her arms. “Astraos. Astraos!” She cuddled him closer, crying on his shoulder. “Don’t leave me.”

  “I—I don’t plan on it.”

  She pushed him away from her and shook him slightly. “You’re alive. You’re alive! Don’t go anywhere.”

  “I ca—n’t.”

  The others arrived and she took charge. “Pilox, grab him and his blades and take him to the ship.”

  He grunted and did so.

  Nate looked down at the villain with this incredulous grin on her face. “Who dies smiling? Fucking nuts.”

  Kat rushed down and put a hand on Lauren. “He’s going to be fine. We’ll make sure of it.”

  Lauren nodded absently, staring at the space Astraos had once occupied. He better make it. Or I’ll kill him.

  Kat looked down to see the staff glowing white. “Um. . . Nate?”

  Nate stared at this woman, who looked exactly like Princess Wooshuda. Fascinating, he thought, There’s definitely a story here. No one in the galaxy could go toe-to-toe with Pilox, and Astraos was in a league above him. This was one bad bitch, whoever, whatever she was.

  “Yeah?” He said not looking over, still staring at the wicked face.

  “Nate! Look.”

  He peered over and saw the staff glowing white. He looked back between her and the staff. “You don’t think?”

  “Do you want to find out?”

  “Good point. Let’s get out of here, quickly.” He tapped Lauren on the shoulder, and they all ran towards their ship.

  Once they got to their dock station, they could see battlecruisers coming in from two gates.

  “Oh hell, they’re going blow this place up.”

  The bartender caught up with them. “They won’t need to.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “That staff is going to create a black hole.”

  Nate turned around. “Say that again?”

  “Death. Destruction. Black abyss.”

  “Why didn’t you say something before?”

  “You guys started running, didn’t seem to matter.”

  “Didn’t seem to matter? Everyone get your asses onboard. . . damn it.” He muttered to himself. Add another clown to the army.

  The side door opened and they stepped inside.

  Nate ran to the bridge and put his right hand on Macellus’s chair. “Macellus!”

  “Yes, captain?”

  “We got a black hole forming on The Station, punch it towards the battlecruisers. . . Ambassador, coordinates.”

  “I am not one to be commanded even in—”

  “Just fucking do it.”

  She put in the coordinates while exclaiming, “You know, no one has told me who the owner is. I’ve been dragged around. It is positively unseemly and unruly and—”

  “Save it, sister. Hey, Emerald City, what’s your name?”

  “Yeah. . . Uh, Johnny.”

  “Johnny meet Ambassador Jaziel. She’s a hell of a bat. Get us out of here, Macellus.”

  Macellus pounded away at the buttons controlling the landing gears. “We’re disengaged.”

  The battlecruisers were firing at each other. Nate felt a rumble and brought up the gun controls to view the backside. “Sooner would be better, Macellus.”

  A swirling vortex was forming in the docking area. The gleaming silver metal of The Station bent and swirled and started to get sucked into the vacuum—metal crunched, screeched and tore from the pressure.

  “I’m trying. I can’t get out of the pull.” Mariah hung in mid-air, it looked as if the ship stood still in time.

  “Reroute the shields. Power to the thrusters.”

  Kate said, “On it.”

  Kat says now is a good time.

  “Do it.”

  With the added power to the thrusters, they were able to escape the gravitational pull of the emerging black hole—escaping the absolute black.

  They traveled towards the battlecruisers, some stray fire almost hit the ship. Nate said, “Status on that warp drive?”

  Kat said, “We need two more minutes.”

  “Lauren, get on a gun. I’ll grab the other.”

  Cheshir and katros fighters started to engage them. Neither could tell if it was friend or foe and decided the best course was to obliterate—aggressive species seem to think alike.

  Lauren felt guilt layer into her as she fired, knowing that some of them had to be Astraos’s people. And she thought, what would I have done to him if he killed my own? A subtle tear streamed down her cheek. Pull through. Pull through, you brute.

  “Time?”

  “Ten seconds.”

  Ten fighters came speeding towards them—five too many for them to handle. Shots were exchanged and they took two hits, the bridge shook and the red lights began their incessant wail.

  “Now?”

  “Now!”

  “Now!” Nate screamed back. They warped, space wrapped around them and the blasts ceased.

  They were out of the firefight and back into the war games of the thoughtful.

  Galactic Calendar - 1258790 - Zolox - Day 022

  Seeing two cheshir battlecruisers, the Mistress simply stated, “To your stations, fools. Fire away.” She sighed, shaking her head. “Malevole was reckless. I expected more. Scan for her on Station XI.”

  Scanning. . .

  No sign of life. Immense amount of concentrated mass detected, impossible for Station XI to contain.

  “Good.”

  “Shields at seventy-five percent. Mistress, they’ve already taken out one of our battlecruisers.”

  “Keep firing.”

  The ship rang with alarms from oncoming hits, trembling from the blasts.

  “Prepare the intercom.”

  “It is prepared, Mistress.”

  You will engage the cheshirs until this ship explodes. None of you will escape. Junkalopasick, come to the bridge.

  Junkalopasick presented herself and bowed. “What is it, Mistress?”

  “You call this a battlecruiser? Why can’t you defeat a few cheshir ships?”

  “They have shields that we have not been able to blast through yet. Our scientists are close, and our adversaries make no advances in their technology. Soon they will crumble.”

  “Soon? Soon? How does soon help us now, Junkalopasick?”

  “It does not help us now, Mistress.”

  “No matter, It will be good for me that this Family’s battlecruisers are obliterated, especially if the cheshirs do so.”

  “Mistress?”

  She laughed, maniac seeped into each ha. “Take your ceremonial knife out and thrust it into your throat.”

  Junkalopasi
ck unsheathed her knife, as it got closer to her neck, it fluttered. She strained every muscle, every part of her brain, not to carry out this order. It shook violently, inches away, but Junkalopasick’s will prevented her curtain call.

  The Mistress cackled. There appears to be limitations with the serum. I will have them work on it. It is wise to note that I cannot make someone kill themselves or probably do anything outside of their realm of being. “I do not have enough serum to waste on you.” She grabbed a blaster from her hip and shot Junkalopasick.

  The Mistress stepped over the corpse. She exited the bridge. The door was flanked by two guards. “Come with me.”

  They said in unison, “Yes, Mistress.”

  “I need a ship with warp capabilities.”

  “Yes, Mistress, right this way.” They went through a maze of hallways inside the ship’s gut, until they got to a fighter jet bay. “Here is a reconnaissance ship that has warp.”

  “Good.”

  At the ship’s bay, she found a few katros about to jump into their respective J-Wing Fighters. “Everyone, stop what you are doing.”

  Everyone stood motionless. She giggled. The katros claimed to be so damn strong, impenetrable to all. Their bodies will pave the way for my rise. She walked down and pointed at a pilot—the rank indicated by his red helmet. “You, bring me the plythien. You—” She pointed to the navigator next to him—his rank indicated by a green helmet. “Ready my ship. We have minutes before all of you will perish.”

  The plythien in custody was another gorgeous specimen with long aqua tendrils and light purple skin. She wore a long white dress because her purpose was to serve Ambassador Jaziel as one of her handmaids—a long standing tradition on Geitaro. She struggled against her restraints. “I’ll never bend to you.”

  “You have resisted quite well. I am not a psychon. But I can do other things.”

  She cut the plythien’s throat and took her form, one of the remaining katros stepped back. “You can. . .?”

  “You. . . Pilot my ship. The rest of you get in your fighters and engage any that come near me. Destroy yourselves, if you must.”

  The Mistress presumed that the katros may not throw their lives away to guarantee her escape; however, they did have a streak of illogical pride and honor.

  The Mistress walked on to her ship. “That crew has won this match. I know them to be alive. But the war, well, that has just begun.” She cackled. “Many surprises to be had.”

  September 3, 2015

  Once in warp, Lauren ran up to Kat. “Where’s Astraos?”

  “I strapped him onto the mess hall table.”

  She left without saying another word.

  Jaziel said to Johnny, “So, you are the owner of Station XI?”

  “No. But I know them. Don’t worry, your species will get the contract and the resources to hire more hands.”

  “Splendid, I am glad this was not all for naught. We should speak on another lucrative—”

  He dashed her a look. “You are lucky your husbands are who they are, or we would be going our separate ways. Be happy that you get to help build Station XII.”

  Jaziel clenched her jaw.

  Nate dashed her a cold look and joined in, “If you speak like that again with my crew in bandages, I’ll shoot you out the bay.”

  Jaziel looked as if she was about to be knocked out during a boxing match. Nate’s remark being a solid hook.

  Johnny said, “Excuse me. I must tend to a friend.” He looked back at Nate. “We’ll get everyone together later and talk.”

  Nate nodded, already putting him on the ‘my kind of guy’ list.

  He walked past the bridge and found Kat in the hallway. “Where is Astraos being held?”

  “Mess hall. I’ll show you.”

  “Thanks.”

  “I’m surprised you want to see him. Don’t you just sling drinks?”

  He lifted an eyebrow and tilted his head. “On the side. . . We had a good drink together, Astraos and I. I was also given what he will need to recover.”

  Kat put a hand on his shoulder. “You might just become Lauren’s second-favorite-new person.”

  “Eh?”

  “Never mind, this way.”

  She guided him through the ship and brought him to the mess hall where Astraos laid on top of the table, a little pool of blood ran from his mouth and off the table—a disturbing drip, drip as each drop hit the floor.

  Lauren had her head draped over his chest, balling her eyes out. “No! It can’t be like this.”

  Johnny said, “Excuse me.”

  Lauren pushed herself off and looked Johnny up-and-down. “What?” She said with a sterner voice than she had meant to, her look was apologetic after.

  “I have something for him.” He took out a clear, white vial—a brilliant white that momentarily blinded them all. He smiled as they gawked at it. “It’s from a quasar. It’ll counter the dark energy.”

  He poured the liquid down Astraos’s throat, then he took out another vial, deep magenta in color and showed it to the class. “This will revitalize him. We have to wait a few minutes before giving him this one. . . it’s what they told me to do.”

  A handful minutes passed, then Astraos coughed and groan, but he had stopped bleeding.

  Johnny looked at Lauren and shook the vial. “Now.” He poured it into Astraos’s mouth.

  After a moment, Astraos shot up. He arched his body, rotated his neck and stretched his arms. “Wow. I feel—I feel great.”

  “Oh, Astraos!”

  Lauren launched herself at him, hugging him as tight as she could. “I want to say ‘ow’ like out of reflex, but I feel so damn good, refreshed. What the hell is that stuff?” Then he focused on the stranger, squinted, and his voice squeaked, “Johnny. . .?”

  Lauren grabbed Astraos’s face and lined it up with hers. “Shut up.” She kissed him multiple times. He hugged and kissed her back. “Lauren. . . I don’t—”

  “I said, shut up.” She held on to his face and kissed him some more. “I thought I lost you.”

  “I tried to come back for you, but I felt like I was drowning.”

  “The dark energy was suppressing all your functions. You would’ve—”

  They both said, “Shut up.”

  Lauren held Astraos’s face. “I really thought I lost you, baby.”

  “I’m not going anywhere, ever.”

  “Promise?”

  “Of course.”

  They hugged and he laughed, remembering what she had done. “I guess, I should thank you first. You shot her, didn’t you?”

  “How’d you know it was me?” She punched him in the chest playfully.

  “No one could’ve hit that shot but you. My vision was blurry, but I bet she was very close to hitting me and you got her where?”

  “Her hand.”

  Nate entered the room. “Look at that, Look at that”—he exaggerated each word—“Johnny already showing how useful he is.” He bore into Jaziel. She had overstayed her welcome as far as he was concerned.

  Astraos grabbed Lauren by the arms and kissed her forehead. “Let me make my rounds.”

  “You’ve got two minutes.”

  He went up to Johnny and shook his hand. “I guess, I owe you another one.”

  He smiled. “We’ll have a chat soon.”

  “A long one.”

  “The first one will be brief.”

  Astraos arched his head up slightly, not knowing what else to say, he chose to turn around and walk over to Nate. He hugged him, then held him at arm’s length. “Thanks.”

  “What did I do?”

  “You sharpened Lauren’s natural talent. You think she would’ve made that shot without practice?”

  “Hell, she hit that damn canister. . . Now we’ll never know.” They grinned at each other.

  Astraos’s tone became graver as he thought of Malevole and all she spoke of. “You saw her?”

  “Yeah. . .”

  “You know what
it means?”

  “I figure.”

  “We’ll have to see who they pin it on.”

  “Agreed.”

  September 4, 2015

  Somehow, through the night and into the next day, the ambassador became moodier and crankier and a general pill. The whole crew was happy to be done with her.

  When they got to the planet and docked, they were forced under guard to take part in a ceremony that celebrated the saving of the plythiens from poverty and despair and bringing the ambassador back home safely.

  Interestingly enough, her husband was quite lovely.

  As scantily clad as the females are in plythien society, the males were the exact opposite: wearing heavy garments, workman’s gloves and goggles over their heads. Her husband’s face was pudgy with the same navy blue tendrils and dark purple skin, but he was more of a stocky build. “She wanted you all dead.”

  Nate was appalled. “She wanted us dead? We should’ve left her on that bloody death ship.”

  “Don’t worry. You see, we don’t control anything. The females do. But, once in a while, we are able to put our foot down. We save it for big things, so we spared you from death’s embrace.”

  “Well, thank you, but you know, I have two cheshirs in my crew. They would have been delighted to argue against putting any of us in the grave.”

  Astraos grinned. “I don’t even think we’re the most dangerous ones. Lauren could put a hole through her head a mile away.”

  “I’m sure—”

  The ignored husband cleared his throat to return the conversation back to his point. He had much practice in this manner—being a male plythien. “She lacked a lot of support from the females as well.”

  Astraos felt the whole thing as peculiar and odd. “So why are you telling us this?”

  “I overheard, my wife’s words, that you had the audacity of wanting a reward after everything she was put through.”

  At the sound of the word ‘reward,’ Nate pushed past Astraos and stopped far too close to the husband, almost invading his personal space. “I’m tired of getting shafted on things promised.”

  “Do not worry, my men are helping fix the ship under Kat’s supervision.”