The Voyage Home

by D. J. Holmes

  “I will, I promise,” the other woman replied.

  As the strange woman took Sarah into her arms Sarah felt a pang of fear. Something was going on but she didn’t understand. Screwing up her face, she started to cry.

  Seeing the look on her daughter’s face, Sarah’s mother reached out and stroked her cheek one last time. “Don’t be scared Sarah,” she said. “You need to be brave for me.”

  Barely understanding her mother’s words, Sarah tried her hardest not to cry. Instead she focused on watching the world around her move as the strange woman holding her rushed out of her bedroom. As they crossed the threshold Sarah looked back towards her mother. The look of loss on her face burned itself into Sarah’s memory.

  The next few minutes were a blur of rooms and doors as her new guardian rushed her out of her house and onto the street. After pausing for a couple of seconds to look both ways down the street, her guardian took a sharp left and almost jogged away from the house. Bewildered by everything that was going on, Sarah still tried her best not to cry. Just as her mummy wanted.

  Suddenly, from overhead loud vibrations assaulted Sarah’s ears. Instinctively, she reached her little hands up to cover them but they had no effect. Staring into the sky Sarah saw what she thought was causing her pain. Two large ships were descending towards her house. Both of them had flashing lights that lit up the area.

  Both ships disappeared as her guardian turned a corner. Almost immediately she ground to a halt and Sarah struggled in her arms to turn around to see what was happening.

  “Halt,” a soldier in some strange looking black armor called as he raised his rifle towards Sarah and her guardian. “Who are you?” the soldier asked. “Where are you going?”

  “My name is Melissa Walters,” Sarah’s guardian replied. “I’m taking my daughter home. I don’t know what those landing shuttles are doing but I didn’t want her to get caught up in whatever is happening.”

  “Let me see your ID,” the soldier replied.

  As he approached, Melissa moved Sarah so she could hold her with one hand and extend her other towards the soldier. With a small device that the soldier pulled out of one of his pockets he scanned the identity chip in Melissa’s wrist.

  “You check out,” he replied a few moments later. “We are not interested in you or your child.”

  “Then I can go home?” Melissa asked.

  “I’m afraid not,” the soldier answered. “We have strict orders, no one is to leave the block. Everyone is to gather at the Founders Square. You’re going to come with us.”

  “But my daughter,” Melissa complained. “She needs to get home. Founders Square is no place for a baby.”

  “You should have thought of that before taking her out at this time in the evening. You knew the risks,” the soldier replied.

  Sarah didn’t know what was going on but as her guardian turned around and walked slowly back towards her house, she began to cry. She was cold and she could sense her guardian’s fear. Something was wrong. As they approached the house she saw one of the shuttles had landed in the rear garden. The other one still hovered directly overhead.

  Momentarily, her tears stopped as she thought her guardian was taking her back to her mother. Yet as they walked past the house she squirmed in her guardian’s arms and reached out back towards her house as she began to cry again. “Mama, Mama,” she said through her tears.

  Quickly, her guardian reached up with her hand and put it over Sarah’s mouth. “Shush, shush, little one,” her guardian whispered. “Now is not the time for crying, remember what your Mama said. You have to be brave for her.” Not really understanding, Sarah tried her best not to cry. It was hard, every step took her further away from her mother.

  For five minutes the soldier marched Melissa and Sarah down the street they were on. Every time he came across another person the soldier stopped them and, after checking their identity, forced them to join an ever-growing crowd of people being herded towards Founders Square.

  When they got to the square, Sarah was amazed at how many people she saw all around her. Not being able to count past ten she couldn’t comprehend the numbers. Melissa guessed there were already over three hundred people. Every minute more groups appeared, being shepherded along by soldiers with rifles.

  For over half an hour Sarah looked around the square at the people as Melissa held her. More than once she began to cry again as fear and the cold made her miserable. As the piercing vibrations from earlier reappeared her tears dried up and she tried to put her hands over her ears. Moments later a shuttle came into view overhead. It circled the square a couple of times before coming to land beside a large platform. When the rear ramp of the shuttle descended a group of people and one strange looking creature came out. They immediately made their way onto the platform. As Sarah struggled in Melissa’s arms to turn around to better see what was happening, she saw that one of the people had a hood over their face.

  When they got to the center of the platform one man stepped forward and turned to face the crowd. Despite the murmurings and whispers coming from the hundreds of gathered people, Sarah heard his voice with crystal clarity. As soon as he opened his mouth she stopped squirming. There was something familiar about him. His voice sounded harsh, yet it soothed Sarah’s fears.

  “This woman has committed treason against the Overlord. She has spurned the peace, the great technologies and the protection the Elders have given us all. For her crimes, she must face death,” the voice said.

  Sarah didn’t understand half of his words yet she felt comforted. Not sure why, she struggled to see the man’s face to see who he was. It was no good though, as hard as she tried, she couldn’t seem to get a clear view. For some reason, his face seemed like a blur no matter how directly she looked at him.

  Having finished whatever he was saying, the man strode towards the person whose head was covered in a hood. With a quick movement, he yanked the hood off her head.

  “Mama,” Sarah said as soon as she recognized the woman. She squirmed in Melissa’s arms as she tried to go to her mother.

  Stepping back, the man reached down to his side and lifted a strange looking device that Sarah had never seen before. Pointing it at her Mama he nodded towards her. Ever so slightly, Sarah’s mama nodded back.

  “You don’t need to see this,” Melissa said as she raised her hand to cover Sarah’s eyes. She was too slow. As the man pulled the trigger, a projectile shot out of his pistol and struck Sarah’s mama in the head. The force of the impact threw Sarah’s mama to the ground, but not before blood splattered out into the air.

  “Mama, Mama,” Sarah cried as she struggled to get away from her guardian. Her Mama had fallen over and she wanted to get to her side. “Mama’s hurt, Mama is hurt,” she said.

  “Shush Sarah,” her guardian whispered. “You need to be quiet Sarah.”

  Not listening, Sarah cried and called out for her Mama. As she looked towards the platform, the weird creature slithered up beside the man who had just hurt her mama. The way the creature moved reminded her of a snail. Just below its round bulbous head, six tentacle-like appendages protruded out, each with a pincer at its end. The rest of its body snaked down to the ground just like a snail. When it came into full view, Sarah was terrified. She had never seen anything as scary. The creature stopped and turn its head towards her. Opening its mouth, Sarah saw hundreds of razor sharp teeth. Suddenly the world around her went dark. Everyone else in the square froze. It was just Sarah and the terrifying creature on the platform. As it opened its mouth wider Sarah felt herself lift out of her guardian’s arms. Weightless, she floated towards the creature. As she got closer and closer the creature seemed to grow larger and larger until its mouth looked like it could swallow her whole. Just before she got close enough for the creature to chomp down on her, she screamed in utter terror…

  *

  In a cold sweat, Sarah jumped up in bed. It’s just a dream, it’s just a dream, she said to herself as she took a se
ries of deep breaths. Reaching over to her nightstand she picked up a damp cloth and wiped her forehead. Still shaking slightly, she swung her legs out of bed and sat up. Something must have woken me up, she thought. The dream normally ended with the crunching sound of her bones snapping as the monster bit into her. The thought sent a shiver through her spine.

  Glancing at her COM unit she saw she had a message from the bridge. Draxler was demanding she report for duty. She jumped as a voice blared out from the COM unit. “Sarah, where are you? Get your ass onto the bridge right now. Things are about to begin,” Draxler’s grating voice demanded.

  “I’m coming,” she said as she stood.

  Reluctantly, Sarah moved around her bed to open the only wardrobe in her room. She was still trembling from the dream but she was accustomed to that. It was a daily experience. Quickly, she selected some fresh clothes and set them out on her bed. Pausing, she looked at herself in her room’s small mirror. As always, the face looking back at her appeared strange. She had long dark hair and deep blue eyes. Along her right cheek a scar ran from her right eye almost down to her lip. With red lips and pale skin, she wondered for the thousandth time, just who am I?

  Apart from her dream, she had never seen another member of her species. There were twelve different alien species among the crew of Lady Luck, yet none of them were like her and none of them knew where she was from. Only in her dream had she ever seen others like herself and, try as hard as she might, she couldn’t figure out where the dream was from. Instinctively she knew it was real, she had really watched her mother get shot when she was a young child. Yet where it happened or when, or how she had come to be in this part of the galaxy, she had no idea. She didn’t even know the name of her species.

  Her earliest memories were of the slave markets of Kashal. There she had been sold to a rich alien matriarch who had taken Sarah back to her own world as a servant-slave. For a number of years Sarah had been taught how to help look after her mistress and meet her every need. Then, when travelling to another planet, her mistress’ ship had been attacked by pirates.

  Draxler had killed most of her mistress’ crew. Then he had taken her mistress hostage and demanded a ransom. After the ransom had been paid her mistress had been released but Draxler had kept Sarah. With one hand Sarah reached up and fondled the collar that fit snugly around her neck. She had worn the collar even on Kashal. She didn’t remember how she got it, but as she had grown, the collar had adapted to fit her perfectly. With the touch of a button her mistress had been able to send an intense wave of pain throughout her entire body from the collar. It had been made crystal clear to her that with another touch, the collar could kill her instantly.

  Draxler had taken advantage of Sarah’s predicament. He now held the control to her collar. Along with several other slaves on Lady Luck, Sarah now served Draxler as he cruised throughout the surrounding sectors of space, pirating and pillaging as much as he could.

  Initially, she had simply been a servant looking after Draxler’s needs. Then, after he had made her fly a flight simulation for fun, he had put her to work on Lady Luck’s bridge. Sarah didn’t understand it but Draxler seemed to think she was some sort of prodigy. Flying a spaceship just seemed natural to her, she couldn’t understand why so many of Draxler’s crew didn’t seem to be able to do what she did. Initially she had been fearful of flying Draxler’s ship, she had known that if she made just one wrong move he would have killed her. Quickly she had come to prefer flying to bringing Draxler food or looking after his clothes. At least flying, she was able to see more of the galaxy around her. She hoped that one day she might even be able to find her home planet. Then maybe I can find out what happened to my mother, she thought

  As a small wave of pain shot out from her collar Sarah jumped into action. Thoughts about herself disappeared. Draxler wasn’t happy. She donned her clothes and ran towards the bridge.

  Stepping onto the bridge, Sarah saw the rest of Draxler’s crew were already there. When Divar turned around to look at her, she gave him a small smile. He was the closest thing to herself she had ever met. His face and body were very similar to hers, though where she only had two arms, he had four, each one ending in hands that only had three fingers. He also had six eyes to her two and was completely covered in thick golden fur. Though their similarities had drawn Sarah to Divar, what really caused the bond between them was that he too had a collar around his neck. As a result, he was she only friend she had ever known.

  “Get to your station,” Draxler roared when he saw Sarah standing at the entryway to the bridge.

  As Sarah moved into the bridge, he stood and moved towards her. Like Sarah, he had only two arms that came out of his bulbous body, though he moved on six legs, each long and thin, ending in a point. As he scuttled towards her Sarah felt a shiver run through her, though she had known him for years, there was something unnatural about the way Draxler moved.

  “This is our biggest target yet,” Draxler whispered into Sarah’s ear as she made her way towards the pilot station. “Mess this up and you’ll regret it for the rest of your life. On the other hand, if it goes well, I’ll have earned enough to give you your freedom.”

  Sarah rolled her eyes, though she was careful to make sure Draxler didn’t see her. She knew his threats were very real. The collar around her neck could cause intense waves of agony for hours on end. Yet, his promises would never come true. Whatever it was that Draxler thought made her such a good pilot, she knew he hadn’t found anyone else like her. He would never let her go.

  Not for the first time she contemplated doing something to get Lady Luck disabled or even destroyed. If there were any armed ships in the convoy Draxler was about to attack, then it wouldn’t be too difficult. She could fly Lady Luck right into one of their laser beams. It would be easy. With an effort, she dismissed the thought. She knew that if he was faced with being captured Draxler would kill her and the rest of his slaves. She and Divar would be key witnesses, able to tell the Elders everything that Draxler had done.

  I have no choice, Sarah said to herself. Something she told herself before every battle. The galaxy has put me into this situation. If it wasn’t me, it would be someone else flying his ship. I can only survive. My life is all that I have. I won’t throw it away.

  Chapter 2

  Stepping past Draxler, Sarah made a conscious effort not to rub up against him. Once she got to Lady Luck’s pilot station she threw herself into her chair. As she pulled down the interface helmet, relief washed over her. Being around Draxler and his cronies made her feel extremely uncomfortable. On many occasions, she had seen first-hand just what they could do when they got upset. As the helmet began to read her brainwaves, the bridge disappeared. In its place, the helmet projected a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view of space around Lady Luck directly into her brain.

  Many alien species simply couldn’t handle a direct neural interface. Often, they became extremely disorientated and within several seconds emptied whatever digestive tracts they had. In the worst-case scenarios, mental problems could develop from even just a few seconds of exposure to the interface. Some species’ brains just weren’t designed to be able to switch from seeing the world through a limited number of eyes to having a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view of everything. Draxler had forced Sarah to put on an interface helmet as a punishment one day. Having only two eyes, he had thought her species would be especially susceptible to the disorientation. To his and Sarah’s surprise, she had adapted immediately to the interface helmet.

  Lady Luck’s previous pilot had been able to handle the helmet; however, it had always been a struggle and his reflexes were slowed because of it. Once Draxler realized just how natural it was for Sarah to use the interface helmet, he made her his pilot. Ever since, Sarah had been party to countless raids and attacks on innocent spacers. If it wasn’t for the same dream she had every night, Sarah was sure she would have other nightmares about some of the things she had seen and done.

 
; Dismissing such thoughts Sarah knew now wasn’t the time for self-reflection. She had done what she needed to do to survive. Looking beyond Lady Luck, Sarah used the ship’s sensors to peer into the space around the pirate ship. For more than half a light year in every direction there was nothing, simply the vast emptiness of space. The nearest system was a light-year away. With a thought, Sarah changed her view so that she could see a representation of the system. There were eight planets orbiting its star, none of them were inhabited. She switched back to the view of space around her ship. Sarah knew not many pilots could change views so easily, yet it was second nature to her.

  With another thought she brought up the sensor data on subspace around Lady Luck. For slower than light travel, Lady Luck used her impulse engines. The pirate ship could also create a Dyson Bubble around the ship that would allow her to accelerate beyond the speed of light. However, even using a Dyson Bubble, it would take weeks to travel to the nearest system. For real FTL travel Lady Luck would have to power up her jump drive. The jump drive tore a breach in normal space opening up a portal to subspace. Sarah knew very little about the science behind the jump drive and subspace. As it had been explained to her, subspace was something akin to a parallel dimension that ran alongside normal space. Its great advantage was that the distances between any two points in subspace were far less than in normal space. Therefore, a ship could enter subspace, travel through it to their destination and then exit subspace back into normal space. The speed at which a ship could travel through subspace was theoretically infinite. The only limiting factor was the thrust a ship’s impulse engines could create. Lady Luck, being an adapted freighter, had three additional fission reactors allowing her to funnel an immense amount of energy into her impulse engines. The result was that she could travel at almost a light year per hour in subspace. Draxler had adapted her so that she could make a quick getaway after an attack.