Shackleton's Folly (The Lost Wonder Book 1)

by Yunker, Todd

  “You were not going to use any means necessary to recover the technology? You are a very attractive human.”

  “When I accepted the command, I knew it might come to that.”

  “Should I be concerned?”

  She hesitated. “I have never met a man quite like Alec before, and he treats me as an equal.” She then said exasperatedly, “He walks into the most dangerous situations possible with little more than courage and his intelligence.”

  “Alec has been the object of much bigotry and racism as the only human many of the other races have ever seen. He will take on the most dangerous individuals to protect the needy. You were a slave — and a human one at that.”

  “When I saw him at the coffee house, I thought he was one of the Rovers I was looking for and a source of information. I never imagined that we would be on this mission.”

  Dancer folded his arms across his chest. “He might not want to admit it, but he has a brave heart when those he cares about are involved.”

  The two were silent again. Electra sipped her espresso again. “What about you, Electra? How did you get here?” asked Dancer.

  “I am part of my government’s security forces. A call for volunteers was made for a mission off-world. I immediately sent my name in for consideration. Orders were sent, and I reported with another ten specialists for training. I was the highest-ranking officer and put in charge. We had a month’s worth of training before starting the mission. My people are not much in the way of what you would call ‘explorers.’” Electra studied Dancer’s expression. “We had no reason previously to explore outside our little region of space and had no idea of how we might be received by anyone. The team worked well together, and we accomplished a lot in a short amount of time. Our contacts were few and far between at first. We had to find a source for learning the common interspecies communication and languages.”

  “We learned of the horrid fate of humanity and how they had lost their home world, the human hunts, and the human resistance groups who were becoming troublesome in the region. Our ship had been scrubbed clean of anything that would lead someone to our home world. We took on the persona of one of the resistance groups. Our ship was outfitted without any real weaponry. We then went to work and scouted our corner of the galaxy. Then it was a lot of undercover infiltrations on worlds that were very different from ours, but that was to be expected.”

  “A human resistance group must have brought unwanted attention,” commented Dancer.

  “Very much so, but it gave us the breathing room in the areas of society we were traveling in. You know, anti-establishment. We did a lot of work to blend into the native populations as we progressed in our search. Our downfall came at a very dangerous place called Sha’kam. It was a very ancient world, and there was a sense of things not being right with the place. A sense of something that even now is hard to put into words. Evil, danger, wrongness — they could all hit you at once or individually. We had a lead on one of the groups we were tailing. We passed through that system and landed.

  “I sent out three sets of specialists to get information, when one of my teams got caught hacking into the local historical database. They were able to get word and data back to us just before their communication stopped abruptly. I sent out a recall for the others, and the other four made it back. We stayed as long as we could and fired up the engines for liftoff. We followed the trail we found in the data and ended up at the Snowflake. Safe — or so we thought. We sent team after team trying to beat the puzzle of the Snowflake. We lost more of the crew.

  “A salvage ship arrived at the Snowflake, crewed by criminals who cared only about what they could sell as ‘salvage.’ They attacked our ship without provocation. We were taken prisoner and sold into bondage. I do not know what happened to the ship — it was either was sold whole, scrapped, or parted out.”

  The espresso cup, now empty, hung forgotten on her index finger. “We were held, three in one cramped cage and two in the other. There were two other cages with prisoners like us. Their ship had been attacked while exploring the city of ruins on a moon — or so they said. They were taken as salvage, too. I only remember images of the next few days… weeks? Time was meaningless for us — pain, fear, hunger, and sleeplessness were our existence. I do not know what happened to those captured in the city, but they were taken away. The five of us on the ship tried to support each other as much as possible. Death would have been a welcome release, but it did not come. The salvage crew believed our cover — no reason not to — and we were able to maintain it. I cannot say why it all stopped, but, one day, they came in and fitted me with slave anklets. I was taken to the slave markets and sold.”

  “And the rest of the crew?” asked Dancer.

  “I never saw them again,” replied Electra. She stared off into the distance in deep thought. The tips of her fingers dug into the couch pillow, her body language reflecting the emotions that welled up after telling her story.

  Electra teared up. “I waited until I was alone before it really touched me. We had all volunteered for the mission, but… I was responsible for them then and now Alec.” She fell silent.

  “Alec did what needed to be done, what had to be done. He survived and is on the mend. He would have done what he did back there whether you were here or not. Remember, he was on his own mission,” reminded Dancer. “His information about the inscriptions proved to be wrong, but he did not know it at the time. He would have flown through that mini-star with or without you. In a very substantial way, you are the reason he is still alive and in the Medical Bay. You were there for him and brought him into the ship. I couldn’t have done that and fly the ship at the same time.”

  “He is a good man, Dancer,” she stated.

  “Yes, I believe so,” he responded.

  Electra turned her attention back to Dancer. “Do you think we have a chance?” Electra leaned forward.

  “With?” Dancer observed her body language.

  “The mission, of course,” she replied. Her expression said there was something else, more than what she had said.

  “Alec has the resourcefulness needed for this kind of expedition. It is in his blood. You see, his ancestor became known for his leadership and ability to pull through the most harrowing and dangerous expeditions. The hero’s journey has led us here, and I am sure that his path does not end here. He might not want to admit it, but he has a brave heart and a good soul.”

  Electra ran through all the events that had brought her to this place. She had stepped into command of the mission without questioning her motives or abilities. Now she wondered about how things had turned out. If there were survivors, they would be continuing the mission, just as she did. She had found allies. “Thanks for the espresso and the chat.”

  “My pleasure. Is it time to check on Alec?”

  “Oh, yes it is. I will let you know if his status changes.” She got up and handed Dancer her cup as she went by to disappear down the corridor.

  Dancer had been in constant contact with the systems in the Medical Bay. Alec had kept himself in good physical condition, giving his body a healthy framework to work from if injured. It was one of the few things in his favor.

  *

  Alec could feel the soft current of air across his body. He knew without opening his eyes where he was. The med-bed was in the final phase of the healing process. A warm breeze enveloped his body, drying the liquid from his skin.

  Alec tried to move a bit, only to be rebuffed by his own nervous system. It hurt just to think. Every fiber of his being rebelled against his moving even a centimeter. He had been terribly beaten up, and he would have welcomed unconsciousness again. He was like the bait used to hook a large fish — thrown out into the ocean, dragged until the strike of the fish, and reeled back in, coming back in much worse shape than when he was cast out.

  Alec tested his body to see what worked. He could flex the forefinger on his right hand. It hurt — not enough for him to let out a yelp of pain
or anything, but it meant that what he remembered about coming back in was not far off the mark. He knew he was lucky to be alive.

  Alec steeled himself and opened his eyes. The med-bed registered his consciousness and slid back the canopy. He gazed up into Electra’s concerned face. Her eyes were brimming with tears. She gently reached down and brushed back the hair from his face. He turned his face into her hand. She went still and allowed him to caress her hand.

  “You said that you would be safe,” said Electra. She wiped away excess moisture from her eyes.

  “I did come back — it just did not go as to plan,” he said as he raised his hand up to take hers. He held it tightly and brought it up and kissed it. “Thank you.” Alec reached down and pressed one of the med-bed’s buttons. An internal mechanism lowered the bed for easy egress. Alec slowly raised himself up and grimaced as he breathed deeply. Electra helped him get himself situated as he put his feet down on the floor for the first time in more than four days. “Did we do it?” he asked.

  “Yes, you did. The box did contain a piece of the ‘inscription’ — as you call it,” replied Electra.

  “Good to know.” Alec looked into her face, which was close to his as he readied himself. He kissed her gently on the lips and caught her off guard. He smiled and said, “I needed that.” He stood up quickly from the edge of the med-bed — a little unsteadily at first. It caused Electra to grab him about his naked waist. He quickly dropped his arms to envelop her. “I could get used to this.”

  “We have a mission — remember?”

  “I do remember, and I will give you this. Something I hold very close to my heart.” He pulled her close. “I make you a promise,” he spoke softly. “I will fix the problem with the maintenance system. I do not take my promises lightly.”

  “How about getting on your feet first?”

  Alec looked down and nodded. “I am on my feet and ready to go. How… How many hours was I in there?”

  “102.”

  “I feel a bit peckish. How about a meal, and you can catch me up on what you and Dancer have been up to.”

  *

  Alec sat back into the cushions supporting him as he tossed back the last bite of an eggroll. He set down the bowl, now empty, and the chopsticks he had been using. “I feel the need for a food coma, but that will have to wait.” The emptiness in the pit of his stomach was now satisfied. The med-bed experience was different for everyone. Alec would usually wake up famished afterwards, and this time was no different.

  Electra gave him a look. She saw his nonchalance toward what had happened to him for what it was. He did not want her to worry about the deadly situation he’d had to face to complete the mission. He brushed it off as if it were nothing.

  “Yes, I am now full and ready for a status update.”

  “We have been on a zigzag course to the nebula. Dancer and I decided that it would be the best way of throwing off anyone who might have followed us.”

  “A smart play,” he smiled.

  “We have kept watch on the long-range sensors and have not detected anything, so far.”

  “So far?” asked Alec.

  “I have a feeling we are not alone. I refuse to believe, for a moment, that your Wolfgang Gray has given up on finding us.” Electra took his empty dinnerware from him and returned it to the wall system. She placed it in the receptacle for cleaning and recycling.

  “I am sure we are not alone, but this ship can outrun most, so, even if we are being followed, somehow we will get to our destination first,” said Alec knowingly.

  “Alec, you do not understand. We need to make sure we are not followed to my home world. Its continued existence hinges on its anonymity.”

  “No welcome signs. We will do everything we can to shake them off our tail. Dancer and I have had a lot of practice losing ships who think they can play ‘Follow the Leader’ with the Quest.”

  Dancer came from the command deck. “Done?”

  “Why, yes I am. I was nearly cooked — no, wait. That’s not it. I was seared or braised and then left in a water bath at a relatively low temperature or stewed. So nice to have your supposed friends cook you once in a while. Are you saying I am a cut of tough meat?” Alec grimaced as he turned his ribs, still on the mend. “Did you even look in on me?”

  “Believe me when I say I tried, but your medical staff would have nothing of it.”

  “That so?” He caught Electra looking at him with a smirk.

  “I’ll let it go this time, but don’t let it happen again.”

  The Quest’s journey into the Frontier through hyperspace bordered on the surreal as they jumped in and out of star systems that only the foolhardy would attempt.

  Electra was in the pilot’s seat, and Dancer was in his. Alec sat strapped into the engineer’s position.

  “Everyone ready? This one will be a big surprise for our shadows,” said Electra.

  “Show me,” said Alec. He was a little hesitant in letting her pilot the Quest, his baby, but she had managed not to kill them so far.

  “Jump and new heading laid in,” said Electra.

  The stars blurred, and they hurtled through hyperspace, arriving very quickly at their destination. In the near distance, a magnetar lurked in space directly in front of them. The gravimetric waves of the 20-kilometer neutron star reached out, rippling throughout the ship. The Quest turned the instant they reached normal space and tried to jump a second time. The ship sputtered as the titanic gravity waves distorted near space, making the second jump impossible. Engine alarms and lights filled the station in front of Alec as he rerouted the system around a failed power coupling. That was the one he’d bought from Honest Nedal. He was told it was to spec, but as Alec fought to contain the failure from cascading to more systems and save them from one of nature’s most deadly perils, he promised himself a little payback if they survived.

  “Ride the curvature of the space-time well, and get us out of here,” yelled Alec over the alarms, alerting them to additional systems hitting critical.

  Electra and Dancer rapidly turned the bow of the Quest back toward the magnetar.

  “Hit it,” replied Dancer.

  Electra hammered the controls as the Quest slowly gained speed as it followed the curvature of the bottomless pit the magnetar’s presence caused. The Quest’s course skirted the point of no return using the deformed structure of space to fling it back out into space.

  “That was close,” said Electra.

  “Some booby trap that will make,” replied Alec. He quieted the alarms one at a time as he brought the ship’s systems back into their rated specifications.

  The Quest’s course curved back into the direction it had intended to take after returning to normal space. It blurred into hyperspace and left the deadly trap for anyone who might have been following them.

  “I was relying on the navigation data provided by the good Captain W’shiquan,” Electra responded as she turned to look at Alec.

  “Then we should be more respectful of possible inaccuracies in the data.” Alec put on a smile for her, but she rolled her eyes and returned to the flashing display in front of her demanding her attention.

  The Quest remained on course, its FTL engines throbbing as it traveled through the void. This was Frontier space in every sense of the word. How much of the data was accurate and how much was suspect they did not know, but they were going to be more cautious in the future. The Quest came out of its jump into normal space a few light years outside of where they had intended to, giving any other hazards they might find along the way a wide berth.

  Space before them filled with a spectacular nebula too dense to see through. The interstellar materials gathered here were in the pre-stellar core category, a nursery of new stars in the early-development phase.

  The colors were earthen browns, and yellows, mixed with greens. It looked like a mesa rising from the plain — like an elevated area of land with a flat top, surrounded by steep vertical cliffs. It was as if a lands
cape artist had had a vision on such a grand scale that he needed a canvas of such size and scope that only the universe itself could accommodate his vision. The Quest took a path that would take them over the top, giving the nebula plenty of room. The mesa’s structure was rich with texture and appeared to be weathered; it showed what looked like erosion. They could see a formation further ahead that, to all appearances, was a cavity in the center of the mesa that sank to unknown depths. As they got closer, they saw a ribbon of yellow at the top, encircling the chasm; it seemed to be gripped by an invisible force, its substance pulled downward from the cliff tops. A waterfall of epic proportions ended in the billowy mist rolling out over the chasm’s floor below. The “water” here descended from a wide stream or river, a 360-degree block waterfall of such natural beauty that they all remained silent a moment to take it all in.

  Electra checked the sensors for any possible signs of being followed. Dancer engaged in a comparative analysis of the star-chart data and the conditions they had found.

  “Initial analysis of the star-chart data and what we have found brings me to the conclusion that the good Captain was not diligent when charting nebulae — understandable but inconvenient,” Dancer commented. “Only infrared sensors will see through the nebula.”

  Alec got up to look over Electra’s shoulder at the vast nebula outside. “This is it. There. See — at the base of the waterfall in the chasm? Head for that feature,” said Electra with a tone of excitement in her voice.

  “Absolutely amazing — it’s like Niagara Falls on Earth, but, here, it completely surrounds you,” Alec stammered in recognition.

  Dancer checked his panel as the Quest moved closer to the falls. “Looks good. Another confirmation for your father’s work.”

  Alec’s pride welled up in him. He observed, “Better slow it down. We don’t want the dust to burn a hole in the ship.”

  “Yes, this is it. I am reducing ship’s speed and heading into the chasm and base of the waterfalls. This is the falls for which you have been searching.”