In front of them was the groove. Kat had see big holes in the ground before. Back on Earth, during her military days, she was stationed near the Grand Canyon. Looking out across and down the canyon always made her put herself into perspective. It was during those years she stopped the particular plot to assassinate a certain general which put her right where she was. Now looking at this groove changed her perception of the word big. The groove was deep enough she couldn’t see the bottom. It then spanned almost further that the upward horizon. At every street that was still there was a bridge made of light connecting to two sides. Big was an ever changing term to her at this moment. Which changed again as she looked over at the pedestal headed their direction.
When she had looked at it in the distance, she hadn’t really put two and two together. Now just starring at the thing reminded her of a space station. An epicly massive space station. But instead this was just how the Eydulans got their power and their night cycles. They built that - and now seeing the gaping hole that pedestal goes in - was pretty sure they built the planet. Kat slumps back in her chair turning the monitors off and just looks out the windows wide eyed. She thought the tunnel was just covered in metal for structure, because that was reasonable. The idea that it was the planet’s crust so to speak changed things in her mind. How did the Eydulans ever lose to humans having the capabilities of building something on this scale.
Kat looks over to Jinx and asks, “Did the Eydulans build this planet?”
Jinx doesn’t look back but answers, “Yes we did, but it was before I was born. They used all of the surrounding planets to build this one around our star, and even a couple of planets from the nearby stars. Making sure it was only the uninhabitable ones. We thought we could protect ourselves this way, isolating ourselves.”
“Who would you have to protect yourselves from?”
Whisper interrupts, “Kat, I have an incoming communication.”
Kat answers annoyed, “From who?”
“A human.”
“Put it on the screen.”
Kat couldn’t believe that there was another human already on this planet, and one that knew how to communicate with the Felicity. The center display screen flickers on with a man appearing inside from the chest up. He is wearing large dark sunglasses on a clean shaven face, his dark hair was unkempt but not unruly, and he was normal looking. Not handsome, not ugly, just normal. His shirt was plain brown. From what Kat was looking at, there wasn’t anything remarkable about him.
He says, “Hello fellow humans, thank God you’re here. I’ve been stuck on this metal planet for far too long and really want to get out of here.”
Kat looks at everyone else on the bridge and they just shrug their shoulders.
She replies, “Hello. Who are you?”
“Where are my manners, my name is Mark Holt. I’ve been captured here for longer than I know, and I saw your ship out the window so I snuck into the backup power room to send you a message.”
Whisper says, “See I told you.”
Kat glares at the closest camera.
Whisper hmpf’s.
Kat can feel her rolling her nonexistent eyes, then replies, “Well Mark you’re in luck then. We came here to rescue a friend of ours. She’s a young girl, might have gotten here a day or so ago inside a sleep chamber. Do you know who I’m talking about?”
Mark says, “I do, Terra right?”
“Yes do you know her?”
“No, she’s a beautiful girl, but she’s been under lock and key inside that sleep chamber the whole time. I only got the name from the other Foremid.”
“Can you help us get her out of there?”
“Sure. I have a whole plan together about what we can do, the only thing I was missing was a ship. The Foremid ones are a bit conspicuous for flying casually around. Now you’re here though, I can get everything going. Another reason I’m in the secondary power room.”
“Alright. So what are you planing on doing?”
“Just meet me at the copper building. There is a small forest at the base of it in the back. I have been building an escape tunnel near there. Get there and find it. The Foremid built the tower off of an old Eydulan shrine, and have both Terra and I inside. The entrance to my tunnel is in the old Deviso chamber. Also you might want to be ready for the blast. It might be hell on your systems.”
“What blast?”
The screen flickers out as an explosion happens near the base of the copper building behind the Felicity.
Kat hits the ships coms saying, “Everyone prepare for an explosion.”
The Felicity rocks heavily to the right with the concussive wave hitting first. Kat is able to see an electrical dome expanding out from where the explosion just happened. With no time to hit the coms, she tries to move the ship away, hitting full thrust.
She wasn’t fast enough. The electrical wave crashes over them. Sparks and explosions erupt across every panel and display screen before going dark. The only light coming in was from the windows. Kat tries to move the controls, but it’s no good, they don’t respond. She can hear Jack and Jinx saying something but doesn’t make out what it is.
The ship falls out of the sky.
5
Kat comes to with a gasp. Her vision is blurred as she looks around the ship to see if everyone on the bridge is ok. Graven’s body is still strapped down in his chair. Glancing over at Jack reveals the same. Both are slightly disoriented. She tries to pull up the controls but nothing is working. The console only has two physical buttons. One to turn it on, and the other is an emergency release for the belts in the chair. Then the flight controls between her and the console were the next physical thing she could grab. All three weren’t working. She then puts her hand into the control hole to retrieve Whisper from the console, twisting her wrist to release her. The bar twists but nothing happens. She grips the bar tighter and gives it more effort, but its still no use, Whisper isn’t coming free. She then tries Fury, who is also stuck within the console. One last desperate tug later the emergency light kicks on and an orange light fills the bridge with an faint glow.
Kat says, “Whisper are you there?”
Whisper says, “Stupid monkey made electrical… Yes, I’m fine. If not for my quick A.I. reflexes Fury and I would be nothing but fried circuitry.”
“What are you talking about Whisper?”
“We just got hit by some kind of EMP blast that knocked out the engines. The only reason the backup power came on is because of me. I cut the power to it milliseconds before the blast hit keeping them from becoming scrap metal. But now it looks like I’m stuck inside this console.”
Jinx says, “Well that’s not any different than being stuck inside that bracelet. So not much different really.”
Kat shoots a menacing look over to Jinx then unbuckles her harness. Jinx waves her off. If that would have come from Graven, it might have been funny or reassuring. From her, it was almost condescending. Kat climbs out of the cockpit and heads over to Jack to check to see if he’s ok. Jinx obviously was fine with a comment like she just rattled off. There was a bump on Jack’s head, but nothing major. From there she wants to check on Knox, Gale and Hanna. She would hate to see something happen to any one of them.
Walking over to the door she feels around on the floor to find an emergency panel to release the pressure on the pneumatic locks within the door. She finds the panel, just out of range for someone to step on, and presses down on it. With a click the panel pops open revealing a lever, which she then pulls on. It takes more effort that she thought she needed. The pressure releases and the door cracks open. Sliding her fingers into the crack she puts her whole body into pulling open the door.
As Kat leaves the bridge Jinx says, “I’m fine by the way.”
Kat whips her head around to glare at Jinx before saying, “Yea, I guessed that. I’m going to go check on everyone else. See what you two can do with the bridge. If you can do anything.”
Kat goes down the main hal
lway leading to the common area of the ship. Walking past her and Graven’s room shows that everything that wasn’t bolted down has made its way to the floor. One more thing she would have to deal with later. When she reaches the common area, she can see that Knox and Gale are both still attached to their chairs, disoriented but not injured. Pots, pans, and dishes are everywhere. It was from the meal right before they entered, luckily Gale had enough time to wash all the plates so there wasn’t food everywhere, but there was water.
A new fear creeps up in her mind. With the ship crashing to the ground she wonders if anyone heard or felt them hit ground. She has to make sure that everyone is ok, but they could be getting surrounded right now as she searches. It was something for her to put into the new worry about later folder she’s created in her mind. Which was starting to look like a bulging file cabinet. Ryker, Gwen, Terra, this Mark person, the ship, getting Graven back, and now the possibility they could be hostilely boarded. It made her head hurt just to think about. She takes a deep breath letting it out slowly and focuses on her next step. Finding Hanna, and making sure she’s ok. Then she can think about everything else.
Footsteps fill the bridge hallway with Jinx coming into view shortly after. Kat turn to looks at Graven and watches the way he sways his hips, and his arms. It was something she hopped she wasn’t going to get used to. Then there is Jinx’s voice. It was nothing like his, it was like someone put on her husbands skin as a costume.
Jinx says with a quizzical look, “Do I have something on my face?”
Kat shakes her head, “No. It’s just that I still can’t believe your voice is coming out of his face, and the way you walk. Is he really still in there?”
“I know all of this is confusing Katrice, but he really is still in there. Right after we get Terra back we can find the resurrection site and take me out of his body. For now just know he’s in there, and he doesn’t like it as much as you don’t. I wish it didn’t have to be this way, but it was just the way we were created.”
“I guess you’re right. So what is all of this resurrection business you keep talking about anyway.”
“How about I just show you once we get there. Showing is really the only way to understand. I can tell you the short short version, which is I come out and make a new body from his energy I’ve been storing. Anything more won’t have meaning right now.”
Kat still doesn’t like anything she’s talking about. There is just something in her gut that is making her feel uneasy about the situation. It might be the fact that Graven is being held hostage, even if the entity is being very friendly about it. She just wants her Graven back. It brings up everything she was trying to forget and put aside. She feels like she should put Graven first and Terra second, but knows what Graven would want her to do. Terra first.
Kat says, “I still need to check on Hanna. Can you look over these two for me while I go look for her?”
Jinx nods.
Hanna was in one of the emergency chairs in the cargo hold. The chair however was not attached to the wall and was in the middle of the room. Luckily for her, there wasn’t any cargo and she wasn’t injured any further that what she already was. It takes about ten minutes for Kat to flip the panel over holding the chair, and get Hanna unstuck. Another ten minutes after that, everyone was back in the common room around the dinner table.
Everyone is looking at each other and then to Katrice. She feels like everyone is looking to her for their next move. The emergency lights are the only thing they have that’s working, Making it hard to see what is really on their faces or in their eyes. She might be the captain of this ship, but there isn’t a clue in her head for making the situation better. A few calming breaths later, she’s got a plan piecemealed together.
Kat stands, saying, “Everyone. The plan is still on. We’ve just got to change it up a little. Knox do you know what’s wrong with the ship?”
Knox nods, “Aye. The engine got knocked out by an EMP, which is an electromagnetic pulse. It’s usually very effective against technology. Magi-tech on the other hand it has no effect on. So It was a magical EMP or an overloaded magi-tech engine made to simulate an EMP. But no matter which way you slice it, we’re fried.”
Hanna says, “I think he’s right. Ever since that blast hit, I can’t feel my magic. Guild mages have small cybernetic implants throughout our bodies giving us our magical abilities. If it shorted out the engines, it shorted me out too.” Jack gives Hanna a concerned look, but she places her hand over his on the table shaking her head. “I’m ok Jack. I’ve heard of the cybernetic shorting out before, and it not being a big deal. So I’m hoping it temporary.”
Whisper says, “Luckily with me being an A.I., I can analyze everything… If all of the sensors were on. I also can’t even get out of the damn console. So would someone please get this heaping pile of nuts and bolts working again.”
Fury says, “That might be true, but we are always stuck in something. Just let it go.”
“Fury, I sometimes question if we were even truly made from the same code with comments like that.”
Kat says, “Alright you two, this isn’t the time for you two to be arguing. But Whisper might need some ointment for that burn you just gave her.”
Whisper sighs, “Fine, you filthy degenerate sacs of meat. Argh. Wake me when you have something working.”
Kat smiles. Normally Whisper was the one doling out the insults and one-ups. It felt good, but she was going to have to apologize later for that one. Whisper was probably feeling vulnerable about everything that is going on, and with her stuck in that console she doesn’t even have the chance to escape if something goes wrong.
She says, “Knox do you think you can get the engine going again?”
Knox rubs at his black and grey beard thoughtfully. A familiar gesture for him which Kat always enjoys watching. It gives her comfort because he’s really putting thought into something, and when he does, she’s never seen him fail.
He says, “Aye, I betcha I could. Just need to jump start the engine. I’m gonna be needing Whisper and Fury’s help with the repairs though to figure out how.”
Kat shrugs, “That’s fine. They can’t come with me even if I wanted them too, which I do. I guess I’ll just have to take one of the space blasters instead. Hopefully we won’t need any tech assists.”
Jack leans back in his chair and says with a sigh, “I know I shouldn’t have let Graven set up my gear. Every single time he has, shit hits the fan.”
Jinx shoot a look toward Jack. “It was one time. Ok, ok two times that this has happened.”
“No… You’re not him, and I don’t understand what’s going on. Don’t talk to me like you know me.”
“But I do know you Jack, it’s you that doesn’t know me.”
Jack gets up quickly from his chair, pushing it into the wall. Hanna grabs his arm, but he twists it free. He says, “Don’t Hanna. Just don’t. We don’t know and can’t trust whatever that is.”
Jinx slides out from table and stands, making a hmph noise. She then says, “I’m going to the Armory.”
Everyone just watches as she leaves the room and walks down the hall.
Hanna scowls, “Jack, that was rude. You should go apologize.”
Jack says, “What!? Why would I? That isn’t Graven, we don’t know who or what is controlling him right now. All we know is that it isn’t Graven. Why aren’t you two behind me on this?”
Gale says, “That is because you were rude dearie. I know this might be hard to pick up as a young’n like you are but can’t you see it in Graven’s eyes. That Jinx person has been there the whole time, in the background unable to talk, move, or have any form of control. You saw it happen, and know where he’s been for the last two weeks. Unless it’s a long play at us, this isn’t anything we should be arguing about.”
Jack’s mouth opens and closes a few times while pointing his finger in the air. He turns his gaze to the ground, and dismissively waves his hand toward Gale, sitting
back down in his chair.
Knox rises out of his chair saying, “Look, it’s been a rough couple of weeks for us all. We’re all frazzled. The only thing we really need to worry about is that little girl out there in the hands of the boogieman, and we’re going to get her back. I need to get started on the engines or we won’t be leaving.”
Knox takes a few steps toward Kat and whispers her name. “Kat?”
“Yes.”
Continuing to keep his voice low, he says, “I know this might seem hard, or something that you might want to push off on someone else to do, but you’re the captain of this crew. That means you are the leader, and need to keep us together. You have to make the hard decisions. I’ve done this all before, and I’m proud of you. Just keep it together ok.”
Kat’s eyes sting, making it hard for her to see. She wipes her face and rubs at her eyes while Knox and Gale leave the room. Hanna is in a chair next to Jack, whispering to him. Kat walks over to the two of them.
Hanna is saying, “Jack. Please, what about Terra?”
Kat says, “Hey, Jack, do you trust me?”
Jack looks up but can’t keep eye contact. He finally looks down and nods.
Kat says, “Good. Then that is all you need to do. You know what we have to do, and we can’t have any in fighting while we’re out there. That will get us killed.”
He lets out a sigh, “Alright. Between you, my wife, and Gale I don’t stand a chance.”
“Great, then off to the Armory we go. We need supplies and apologies.”
Jinx was in the same place Graven always was in the Armory, at his desk. He had filled it with nuts, bolts, extra grips for both knives and guns, even oil. Any time he need to clear his head he would come here to tinker with a blade or a gun. It was a meditative repetition for him. It took Kat a while to get that out of him. He never really was the one to talk much about himself unless the situation called for it.
Starship Magic 3: Abducted Page 3