“That’s a cool story,” said Amy. “But I don’t understand what I’m supposed to do with a spaceship.”
“Search for answers, or even the questions you do not know you will have. You’re a very smart girl, and because I never found them doesn’t mean you won’t. My crew and I have stocked the White Star with every essential, including things that were missing when I flew on her: the components for a basic transmat, a particular video game console from 1995, and toothpaste. There are video diaries to help you in your journey; some from past crews and some from a younger version of me. You may spend your time researching a trip to Old Earth or exploring the galaxy. The choice is yours, as are the friends you take with you.”
“Part of me thinks it’s a great idea,” said Amy. “The rest says it stinks.”
“There is a time and a place for everything, Amy Armstrong, but the wheels are already in motion and have been for some time. Whether through your departure or the actions of the quickly approaching battle fleet, all of us standing here will soon be thrown apart.”
“She’s giving you the White Star in working condition,” Sunflower whispered to Amy. “That’s huge!”
“All right, I’ll take it. Who’s with me? I know––he’s from Yorkshire and his name starts with ‘P.’ ”
Philip blushed and looked away.
“I’d follow you anywhere, Amy. I think you know that.”
“Ha! Don’t get squishy on me now, Philip. I’ll start telling ghost stories.”
Betsy barked and jumped in the air. “I want to go! I want to go!”
“Don’t leave me here this time,” said Nick, her arms crossed.
Amy stared at the orange tabby at her feet. “Sunflower?”
The cat sighed. “Fine. You’ll probably need a good pilot, and Betsy couldn’t fly a frisbee into the ground. I guess after all the problems I’ve caused the Lady would be happier with me out of the picture.”
“Not at all,” said the Lady. “You were an irreplaceable catalyst for Amy’s journey, and may choose to stay with the Dream Tiger or continue with her on the White Star.”
Sunflower blinked his green eyes at the Lady. “I’ll go with Amy.”
“Of course. Now, Amy Armstrong, I failed to mention two caveats in my offer of the White Star. First, you must take Officer Nistra.”
The sauro stamped his foot on the transparent deck of the viewing chamber. “What? Impossible!”
“I’m not living on a ship with some lizard,” growled Sunflower.
“The feeling is mutual, you hairy ball of poona droppings!”
The Lady raised a pale hand. “Stop. Officer Nistra is an intelligent and brave officer who is ready to face any situation. He knows much about the galaxy and the sauropod race, and will be a valuable resource on your journey.”
“I’m not interested in being a tour guide,” hissed the armored sauro.
“Perhaps not, but the secret to finding Kepler Prime and your family lies within that ship. You will need the help of Amy and her friends to discover it.”
Nistra swayed back and forth for a few seconds, as if bouncing between decisions. At last he dipped his scaly head and bowed from the waist.
“I accept the challenge.”
“Understand, of course, that you will be under Amy’s command.”
“Ordered about by a disgusting human?” Nistra sighed. “As you wish. I will endure this shame in order to save my people.”
“You said ‘two conditions,’ ” said Amy. “What’s the other one?”
The Lady smiled. “I don’t mean to be mysterious––”
“Bravo,” said Philip, and clapped his hands slowly. “You’re doing a magnificent job.”
“Sorry,” said the Lady. “You will discover the last condition, but it will take many, many years. Or five minutes, who can tell?”
Amy shrugged. “Okay, fine. When do we leave?”
“I need to get some things from my apartment,” said Nick. “About two dozen suitcases, hat boxes, make up cases, back-up dresses, back-up make up––”
“Your things have already been placed aboard the White Star and we haven’t a second to spare,” said the Lady. “You must leave immediately, as the sauro battle fleet is entering weapons range. One of the inspectors will escort you to the docking platform.”
“My clothes are sprite-clean only!” yelled Nick. “You better not have wrinkled them!”
Philip grabbed the tiny flying woman and sprinted out of the room with Sunflower, Betsy, and Nistra.
Amy gave a mock salute. “Bye, now!”
“Farewell,” said the Lady, her eyes tearing up. “Good luck, Amy Armstrong.”
“Right back at ya!”
Amy jogged after her friends.
The door closed and the Lady was left alone with Flistra and a single hovering inspector.
“What a view,” sighed the lizard man.
“Quiet,” ordered the Lady. She held out both arms and a panorama of holographic displays appeared around her. “All stations yellow alert! This is the Lady. All stations yellow alert!”
The faces of cats, dogs, and pale sprites popped onto the screens and acknowledged the command.
“Engineering, prepare for core eject,” said the Lady.
The brown eyes of an English bulldog widened on a flickering display.
“We can’t do that, My Lady! The entire ship will––”
“Shut up and get ready!”
The Lady swiped her hand across another screen. “Transmat Ops, are you powered on and warmed up?”
An image of a Siamese cat nodded. “Yes, My Lady.”
“Good. Be ready for activation in less than sixty seconds.”
The Lady followed the progress of Amy and her friends as they rode the express elevator up and sprinted through a docking tube to the White Star. The airlock doors closed and a few seconds later, the main engines of the sleek spacecraft flared with blinding white light and pushed the craft rapidly away from the asteroid.
“Transmat Ops, activate now. Engineering, eject the core in 3, 2, 1. Now!”
The White Star disappeared in a brilliant flash of sparkling blue. Each of the hundreds of holographic displays around the Lady clicked off and dropped the room into a darkness lit only by starlight.
“I have no idea what’s going on right now,” said Flistra.
“You’ll see, you’ll see,” said the Lady. “Oh my––what could that be down below us?”
“Um … it’s the floor. Duh!”
“No, you boob! In space.”
The sauro gasped. “Kepler Prime!”
The azure seas and pale clouds of the planet rotated slowly below their feet.
“But how? You said that Nistra would find it on the White Star!”
“It IS on the White Star. What do you think is powering their engine core?” The Lady clicked a button on a small red box mounted next to the door. “This is the Lady. All hands abandon ship. Repeat, all hands abandon ship. This is not a drill.”
“What’s going on?”
The Lady pointed a spidery leg at the corridor behind her. “This asteroid no longer has power and will implode in less than thirty seconds. If you want to breathe the air of Kepler Prime again, run down that hall, turn right, and jump into an escape pod. Go! Also, it’s not exactly your planet, but one from a parallel dimension. Close enough for sauro work, as your people say!”
She clicked back into the observation room and watched the thousands of tiny white globes of escape craft shoot away from the Dream Tiger, along with shuttles and transport craft. Many of the warehouses had been designed to seal up and eject in the event of power failure, and hundreds of these large metal boxes spun away from the Dream Tiger.
Tears filled the Lady’s eyes, but not because of the valuable goods spinning away. With the artificial gravity off-line and safety doors unpowered, the giant ship began to rip apart and collapse upon itself. As streams of gas burst into space and explosions rocked the tran
sparent deck, the Lady took a faded photograph from her blouse. Her wrinkled hands shook as she touched the image of a grinning Amy in her twenties, a tiny infant in her arms and Philip kissing her cheek.
“Excuse me!”
Flistra stuck his head into the room. “Sorry to bother, but I’m still confused about everything. Are you Amy’s daughter? Are you her mother? Are you made of liquid metal?”
The Lady spun around.
“No, no, and no, you swamp-dwelling cretin. I’m a version of Amy two hundred years in the future! I’m trying to get her back to Earth and change her life so she doesn’t end up as a half machine spider woman with no friends!”
“Right! Sorry, back to the escape pod!”
The Lady turned back to the peaceful blue globe of Kepler Prime as escape pods left sparkling trails of exhaust and rocky chunks of the Dream Tiger began to break away. Without the captive gravity of an alternate-dimension Kepler Prime, the massive ship was collapsing upon itself like a rotting orange under the tropical sun. In less than ten seconds it would be a dead hulk floating useless in the vacuum of space, and so would the Lady.
“Run for it, Amy Armstrong,” she whispered. “Run as far and fast as you can.”
END
Further Books in the Amy Armstrong Series
Book II: Empire of the Space Cats
To fix her damaged spacecraft Amy travels to Tau Ceti Epsilon, the center of cat civilization in the year 3317.
Available September 2016 @ amishspaceman.com
Book III: SpaceBook Awakens
Enemies from the past follow Amy across the galaxy to California.
Available October 2016 @ amishspaceman.com
Contact the Author
stevecolegrove.com
amishspaceman.com
facebook.com/pages/SteveColegrove-Author
twitter @stevecolegrove
Other Works by the Author
The Amish Spaceman (2014)
The Roman Spaceman (2014)
A Girl Called Badger (2012)
The Dream Widow (2013)
The Girl Who Stole A Planet (Amy Armstrong Book 1) Page 25