The Archer's Paradox - The Travis Fletcher Chronicles

by Chris Devine

  “I do not know.”

  “It’s not as if you can get lost,” he added with grim humour, “we’re only going over there.” he finished, acutely aware that ‘over there’ was probably a few hundred thousand miles and there was at least one armed and hostile spaceship in the way, but he kept his reservations hidden. To Turix Dayak' and Niji No Tori he sent an image. Do you know this place? Of course, Turix Dayak' did, it was the ruined city she had flown Travis to, to meet Star. It was big enough to be seen from the air with enough space to land one of the large shuttles in the hangar, he hoped. Without waiting for an answer, he added Get more people and meet us there! This was an imperative command that could not be refused. His grand plan was to get enough people back to the ship to fly more shuttles back to pick up more people. He knew there was at least half a dozen in the hangar they had arrived in. If the hangar on the other side of the ship had the same then that was at least six hundred people they could move at a time, assuming they could get enough pilots.

  “Let’s go!” he shouted and took off round the mezzanine at a run. He had got at least twenty paces before he realised that Star was not behind him. He skidded to a halt and spun on his heel with his arm raised to wave emphatically to urge her into action, this was no time to be dawdling or over thinking, but her back was turned to him and the set of her shoulders warned him that something was wrong.

  “Look.” It was not much more than a whisper; it was almost as if she was stood next to him and not nearly fifty yards away. She raised her arm and pointed at the planet hanging in the window with a desolate finger.

  With his heart in his mouth but not knowing why, he trotted back and stood next to Star and followed her gaze. It took a couple of seconds to acclimatise his eyes before he noticed a dull red scar creeping in a zigzag path in a vague north to south direction. Without knowing what was going on, it occurred to Travis that the scar must be huge to be visible from where they were and was actually extending at hundreds of miles an hour. It was fascinating and dreadful at the same time.

  Travis Fletcher! Niji No Tori’s horrified thought screamed in his mind.

  Rainbow! What’s wrong?

  I am in a bounce tube but it has stopped and the walls…they are cracking!…everything is... shaking. She was clearly terrified and desperately trying not to show it. Please help me! She was on the point of cracking up completely but Travis had no idea what to do or say. He was about to turn to Star and ask her to get Dragonfly to try and get to her when…snap. The connection between them broke. It was not like a telephone call ending, there was more to it. With a phone call you know the person you were talking to was still there, even if there was a fault with the line, but Travis knew he had just felt his friend die. The connection had remained open long enough for him to feel a flash of pain, terror, her heart stopping then…nothing. He had no idea what had happened, but he knew he would never see his friend ever again. He closed his eyes and he saw her face floating behind his eyelids. He heard her tinkling laugh and felt her innocence, enthusiasm and her unconditional friendship. All gone, snuffed out in a moment. He fell to his knees and buried his face in his hands, wailing as tears poured out between his fingers.

  He felt Star’s hand on his shoulder, but she was not comforting him, she was steadying herself. He looked up into her eyes, only recently full of so much passion and life, now unfocused and devoid of any emotion. Her lips moved silently, repeating the same pattern over and over again. It took a few moments for Travis to manage to decipher the meaning.

  “She is dead, she is dead, she is dead.”

  “I know.” he whispered, taking her hand.

  Star’s eyes focused for a moment. “Turix Dayak' is dead.” her voice was low and conveyed no emotion.

  “Dragonfly?!” Travis was aghast. “I thought you meant…”

  “The dome is failing. I felt her burn. I felt her…” her eyes unfocused again and she turned to stare blankly out of the front view. “I can feel them all dying.”

  Travis stood and took her hand in his and squeezed in support and mutual loss, but she did not reciprocate. “I’m sorry.” he said, but her muscles remained slack and unresponsive as she stared blankly at the planet outside. Travis followed her gaze and saw that the dull red line had now made it down to the equator and was cutting across the planet’s axis.

  All along fault lines, lava was forcing its way through the crust, creating a volcanic curtain a hundred miles wide and thousands of miles long, with lava bursting hundreds of feet into the air. Earthquakes rocked every region of the planet every few minutes. In the City itself, the beautiful spires creaked and cracked under stresses and vibrations the City’s designers could never have envisaged. The dome generators were also beginning to fail and everywhere openings appeared where the full force of the solar rays could stream through. Boulevards boiled, vegetation spontaneously burst into flames and turned to ash and the glass structures cracked and exploded, sending deadly showers of multi-coloured rocks into the fleeing inhabitants below.

  In one garden in The City, amongst the charcoal remains of a small copse, lay the blackened, charred and unrecognisable body of Turix Dayak', who had been caught in the open as she ran to find a transport to meet her friends. Across the City, in the wreckage of an emerald green tower were the mangled remains of Niji No Tori who had been trapped in a bounce tube as she descended to the ground.

  Smoke and millions of tons of ash from the volcanos began to ooze over the scene, giving temporary relief to the surviving citizens from the deadly rays of the sun, but also hiding the final death throes of the once proud planet.

  Deep underground, the black cylinders still carried out their malevolent work with mechanical efficiency, now working against the planet’s core until it finally stopped spinning. In its weakened state, Otoch’s crust slowly started to tear itself apart.

  Commander Lemphealt Wudubucca was about to order a withdrawal back to Níwlíc Éðel with promises of accolades for the whole crew for a job well done when the proximity alarms on the bridge rent the air.

  “Collision alert! Collision alert!”

  What now? Lemphealt Wudubucca thought as he turned his attention to the external monitors. Three blips, one large and two smaller had rounded the planet while they had been congratulating themselves and enjoying the spectacle of their ancient enemy finally being defeated. With no active weapon systems and discernible motive power and moving so slowly, it had been assumed they were derelicts from the battle until it was too late and they had put on a final spurt of speed. The Eardgeard Cwellend did not respond easily to the helm and was unable to avoid the suicidal collisions. All three ships hit their targets. Not the bridge, but engine rooms and manoeuvring with the final strike designed to destabilise their orbit. It was not possible to guarantee destroying the Eardgeard Cwellend by ramming it, so Njano Mamba settled on disabling it and letting the dying Otoch have a small morsel of revenge. Commander Lemphealt Wudubucca and his crew would have a front row seat as the Eardgeard Cwellend wheeled majestically out of control and into the giant maelstrom below.

  Xnuk Ek’ felt the lights go out in her head one by one until there was no-one left. Otoch was covered in a black shroud with occasional flashes of red showing through. She had no idea how long she had been standing there. It could have been hours or days. She felt Travis Fletcher’s hand gripping hers so hard it hurt, but he was staring, slack jawed, at the sight in front of them, completely oblivious. Her mind was devoid of any thought or emotion. She had to get away, she had to think. She untangled herself from his grip and strode purposefully round the mezzanine deck. Belatedly, Travis came to his senses and chased after her. He caught her just outside the cabin they had occupied.

  “Star.” he began but faltered, not knowing how to continue.

  She bent and put her forehead against his. “You are not to enter, do you understand?” It was more than a request, it was an order and there was a mental tweak that went with it. Before he could stop her,
she turned on her heel, entered the cabin and the door slid shut.

  Travis reached out his hand to operate the door to follow her, she needed him and he needed her, but something stopped him. There was a vague uneasiness that something unpleasant would happen if he touched the control. It was undefinable but definite, a bit like waking up and thinking that someone is downstairs, knowing it cannot be true but not being able to pluck up the courage to go and prove it to yourself. He withdrew his hand and tried again and again. No matter what he did, he could not bring himself to open the door that now separated him from his beloved Star.

  He was alone, on a five and half mile long spaceship, over ninety light years from home and with no chance of rescue.

  To be continued with

  The Flight of the Arrow

  Read on for extra artwork

  The Chronicles of Travis Fletcher Continue

  Book 1 – The Archer’s Paradox (November 2014)

  Book 2 – The Flight of the Arrow (January 2015 – TBC)

  Book 3 – When the Bow Breaks (working title) (TBC)

  Book 4 – TBD (TBC)

  Xnuk Ek’