by Dana Kelly
“Not all of them.”
“You’re right, not all of them, but nothing like that’s happened for close to a century; not since the advent of the S-Ring. If you want to talk risk and reward—”
She caught herself.
“Look, this is a big score no one else seems to know about, and I’m going after it. If any of you are nervous about spending a month in the nightmare, that’s fine. You’re more than welcome to take a siesta here on Earth—unpaid, of course. Anyone who prefers science to superstition, meet me in the briefing room after chow.”
Cajun nodded enthusiastically. “About time!” He gestured toward the feast. “Hurry up, ya here? Don’t let it cold up on ya.” The mess deck faded into chatter, clinking, and eating.
Chapter 2
Into the Labyrinth
Black lights bathed the starship Old Siberian’s command deck. A warning lamp brightened from behind a glass panel, and Ellylle drank in its orange glow as it washed over the supple bark of her skin. We’re getting close, she thought. A smile gathered, and her limbs glided into motion.
Overhead lights flickered on in response.
Across from her, on the other side of a wide rail, a crescent of seven figures stood motionless against a curved bulkhead. Like her, their bark, branches, and leaves covered them from top to bottom. Oak faces sprouted from the tops of their trunks, wreathed in cascades of ivy and countless flowers. When the middle tree moved to speak, he moved gently, a whispered breeze as blooms opened and closed.
[Eternal Vanam Ellylle Fenmore, it appears you were correct,] said Sacas.
Ellylle bowed deeply. [Sacas, you doubted me?] Her vibrant, multicolored blooms betrayed her thrill.
[Do try to contain yourself,] said Sheyesh, though her own blooms practically glowed. [And I’ll attempt to do the same!] She paused to regard Ellylle. [You left the bridge, yesterday. Where did you go?]
[Sheyesh, it is not your place to question the Eternal Vanam,] said Sacas.
[It is friendly curiosity. Cool your roots,] said Sheyesh.
Ellylle raised her thickest branches. [I’m happy to answer.] She offered cheerful rustling to Sheyesh. [I made some adjustments to the large shuttle’s shield frequencies. It was the only practical way of assuring our passage.]
[Oh?] Sheyesh tilted slightly. [You were away for almost four hours.]
Ellylle swayed patiently. [Their technology is relatively primitive, compared to our own. It was an involved process.]
[Good point. How sad it would be that in the hour of our triumph, we crashed upon the very walls we meant to bypass,] said Sheyesh. [Gusty are the winds of change at the vanguard of our hurricane. Surely, awakening the Caretakers will usher in a second age of the Forest of Worlds!]
[Sheyesh,] cautioned Sacas, [the rest of the crew will soon be waking from their long slumber. They will find their way here directly, and we must all be certain not to give away our intent.]
But for Ellylle, they all curved in response.
It wasn’t long before the lift’s hum announced the arrival of the crew, and the door at Ellylle’s back hissed open. Noise filled the cabin. Its chaotic vibrations shook every part of her. It took her a moment to find their voices.
“…I put in new gravity beds—zero risk, you get me?” said Reggie. Hastily, he pulled a comb through his white-streaked hair and slipped it into his back pocket. “You can’t claim hazard pay if there’s no hazard!”
“I’m just sayin’,” grumbled Lomomu. He was sudasau, an interstellar race with prominent boar-like features. Well-trimmed tusks glimmered with intricate silver patterns as they jutted up from his lower jaw, over a thick, bushy beard. A ring of gold traced the pupils of his green-brown eyes.
“Just sayin’ how happy you’ll be with your cut.” Reggie crossed his arms. “Get me?”
“I get you,” muttered Lomomu. His long, dark-gray fur coat nudged forward as he shoved his hands into its pockets.
“Glad we could come to an accord,” said Reggie. He relaxed his posture and absently straightened his attire—a faded uniform from his time in the United Planets Merchant Marine.
Zella whistled, waving him over. “Cap’n, ye need tae see this.” A black ponytail hung between her shoulders, swooping against the back of her denim jacket as she jabbed the glass console.
Reggie cast his sea-green gaze her way. “What am I looking at?”
“The Caretakers are real!”
Gracefully. he hopped over the rail and loped to the console. “Well, I’ll be…”
“Rich!” Light glinted in Zella’s pearl-gray eyes. She clutched his sleeve with both hands as she hopped up and down. “We’ll be rich!”
Reggie’s eyes lit up as he grinned, and he hooted with arms raised.
“You’re wrong,” said Sacas, his voice translated by a vocoder hanging from his neck. “This is a scientific expedition. Any technology recovered from the salvage site—virtually or physically—already belongs to the Forest of Worlds.”
The captain whirled around on him. “Clearly, but Old Siberian, well she’ll be attached to your discovery, along with all her crew—and that’s us! We’ll be swimming in work orders soon as word of this gets out!”
Wood creaked as Sacas mustered a smile, though his blooms darkened as they moved. His vocoder warned, “There will be no word of this getting out to anyone, per the terms of our contract. Be content with your fee, Captain Yao.”
Reggie glared at Ellylle. “You promised—”
“I promised nothing,” she interrupted, her voice musically distinct through her vocoder. “I said a possibility existed, and nothing more.”
Reggie turned his attention to Zella. “The contract. Please.”
“Aye,” said Zella, and her fingers danced over the console. A moment later, it sprang to life onscreen.
“Tell me there’s no NDA,” said Reggie.
A few swipes later, she found a certain clause deep within the sea of legalese. “Non-Disclosure Agreement,” it read, now in bold red letters. “Legally Binding” appeared in flashing gold letters. She winced. “Sairy. Ah guess we missed it.”
Reggie struck the rail, startling his crew. “Unbelievable,” he hissed. “How!?”
“I wonder,” the sudasau jeered.
“Shut your gob, Lomomu. I’m not in the mood.”
Ellylle approached the console, returning the display to the scanner report. With a few taps of her twig-like fingers, it projected a three-dimensional model of the visual data. Nearly motionless, a vast jumble of titanic crystals huddled against one another, endless grinding collisions as gravity and momentum warred against hungering entropy. Deep within, infrequent serpents of lightning illuminated monstrous shadows.
Sacas bowed forward, his blooms dark yellow as he switched off his vocoder. [Eternal Vanam, I mean no offense, but the fleshlings have already seen too much!]
“They’ve seen shadows. You’re worried about shadows?” she asked. “Even if this vessel’s scanners could penetrate hundreds of meters of eldritch steel, the computers could never interpret what they were reading.” Her ivy gathered into a scowl. “Turn your vocoder back on.”
“As you command, Eternal Vanam,” he sneered. “You have my deepest apologies.”
Ellylle looked at Reggie. “Is the shuttle ready?”
He glared, working his jaw a moment before responding. “You want Big Huey or Davey Jones?”
“Not the ROV,” said Ellylle. “Whichever one is not that.”
“Big Huey, then,” said Reggie. “Just you?”
“I intend to remain here aboard Old Siberian.” Gracefully, she gestured toward the other trees. “They will be conducting the survey with our equipment.” She returned to her perch.
“Fine.” He strode to the lift and gestured Lomomu over. Looking to the trees, he tapped the down button and said, “This way.”
They gathered at the door.
“Are you nervous?” asked Sheyesh.
“He’s angry,” answered L
omomu.
“I wasn’t asking him.”
Lomomu regarded her inquisitively. “Am I nervous?” He didn’t wait for her response. “I’m not nervous. Excited, maybe.”
“You’re lying,” whispered Sheyesh.
“You’ll have to go down two at a time,” interrupted Reggie. “Too heavy, otherwise.”
One of the trees answered, “We know. We remember coming up two at a time when we boarded.”
“Well, that was three months ago, and I thought…” He scoffed. “You never heard of a friendly reminder?”
“We forget nothing.”
Reggie considered his response. “You know what? Forget it. See you when you get back.”
The lift doors opened, and they descended two at a time to the shuttle hangar.
◆◆◆
A string of shop lights hung from the overhead, casting stark light over stacks of cargo, a heavy-duty rolling cart, scattered tools, and two spaceworthy vessels. The small one rested alongside a lengthy, coiled tether. The huge one offered ample room for all seven trees. Designed for bulk transport, she stood two stories tall, accented by faded blue and yellow paint, covered in streaks and stains. With a cabover cockpit and folding wings, her forward-sloped intakes housed a pair of thrusters that ran the length of the vessel and framed the aft loading ramp. On either side of the ground-level deck, weathered airlocks offered passage. Across the shuttle’s exterior airlock, in bright big letters, Big Huey crowded out a cartoon duck wearing boxing gloves as he bit down on a pipe.
Sheyesh scanned the stacks of cargo and located a certain crate. Easily bearing its weight, she carried it with her as she embarked. Lomomu followed, after the last of the trees had boarded.
“What are you doing?” asked Sacas.
Lomomu looked confused. “You need someone to pilot this thing.”
His branches shifted rapidly, as if caught in a driving wind.
[Don’t laugh at the poor thing,] said Sheyesh. [He’s young and meant only to help.]
[Any one of our saplings could expertly pilot a vessel this crude,] said Sacas.
Returning his attention to the sudasau, he ordered, “Lomomu, you will immediately disembark. I am more than qualified to pilot this sad excuse for a shuttle.”
“I’m sure you are,” said Lomomu. “Safe travels.” He hopped out and onto the hangar deck, where he made his way to a far door. “What an asshole.” The door opened to reveal an interior airlock, and he stepped through.
Sacas prepared the vessel for departure. Alarms blared, and red warning lights turned. Claxons fell quiet as the chamber depressurized, and the hangar doors yawned open. A silky spiral of gleaming stars greeting them, concentric rivers of liquid platinum stirred into the inky vastness of deep space.
[Now that is something to share with the saplings,] said Sheyesh.
Sacas stood, awestruck. [Indeed…] After a moment, he shook it off and pushed a button on the dash. Docking clamps released the shuttle with a reverberant boom. [Sheyesh, please double-check the crate to ensure our equipment is in order. I would hate to arrive and realize we don’t have what we need.]
[Right away,] she said and stooped over to open the crate. Clasps clicked open, and she set aside the lid. Inside, she found a thick metal case. For a moment, she pondered how to open it. [Ah,] she said to herself and pushed a release on the side. It hissed and lingered silently before finally popping open, but she looked puzzled. [That’s not our gear.]
The trees gathered round.
A rack of glowing green rods stood inside the case. After a moment, the case closed itself, and gallons of hydroxy gas vented into the shuttle. Leaves and blooms drifted downward, back and forth on a fading breeze—only a few at first—before falling like rain.
The trees cracked and splintered.
One by one, they toppled to the deck.
◆◆◆
Ellylle strode to the console. “Move,” s said, and she nudged Zella aside.
“Get tae!” Zella puffed up.
“Careful,” said Reggie. “Zella’s not just the first mate; she’s a Scot.”
Ignoring them both, Ellylle tapped her way through several menus. With a slight smile, she found the hangar controls.
“Whit are ye doin?” asked Zella.
“I’m re-engaging the docking clamps,” said Ellylle.
“They hannae even left the hangar, ye daft weed,” said Zella.
Ellylle growled, and her flowers bloomed red. “Mind your tone.”
“Ye’re naw ma cap’n, an fir as long as ye’re on this ship—”
Reggie stood between them. “Okay you two, that’s enough. Ellylle, I’m sure you have an excellent reason for leashing your own people.”
“I do.” Gently, she swayed and creaked. “But now you’ll have to wait to find out.”
“Whit the devil’s goin on?” asked Zella, and she crossed her arms.
“Wait for it,” said Ellylle.
The lift arrived, drawing their attention. Lomomu stepped into view, pale and shaking. He stumbled toward his captain. “It was horrible,” he whispered. “Somethin’ went wrong. Somethin’ went terribly wrong! I ran over as soon as it was safe, but I was…” He gulped and whispered, “…too late.”
“Too late for what?” asked Reggie.
Still trembling, Lomomu reached into his pockets and produced clumps of brittle bark. “To… to save them. The labels must’ve gotten switched, because all I found in the shuttle was a box of reactor rods!”
“E… Excuse me?” stammered Reggie.
“It’s not your fault, Lomomu,” said Ellylle. “It’s mine. I switched the labels.”
Zella regarded her, agape. “Ye murdered yer own?”
“I had to,” said Ellylle.
Reggie swallowed visibly. “Why?”
“As Eternal Vanam of my people, I have absolute executive authority, but they saw fit to subject every decision I made to a council of review. I don’t have time for that, so there’s been a change of plans.” Ellylle tapped through a few more menus before initiating a full transfer of data to the starship’s archives. “Reggie, it’s all yours, everything you can get your hands on. I made some changes to Big Huey’s plasma shield generator. It now uses a frequency that penetrates eldritch steel. You’ll be able glide right through it.”
It took a moment for Reggie to process the information, but only a moment. His eyes widened. “Oh…! Good riddance, I suppose.”
Ellylle curved low, getting in his face. “Sheyesh was my friend centuries before you were born. When I let you speak of her, you will do it respectfully. Or you’ll be joining her, get me?”
He swallowed. “I get you.”
Zella marched up to the tree. “Ye forget yer place, lass. Ye’re our guest. Yer water flows because of a timer Ah rigged for ye. The UV lamps glow because Ah maintain the things.” Her expression darkened. “Ye threaten my cap’n again, an ye’ll have the pleasure of findin out how well ye thrive in the vacuum of space.”
“No, Zella, it’s all right,” said Reggie. “She’s got a point.” He rested a firm hand on Zella’s shoulder. “Bad form on my part to speak ill of the dead.” He bowed politely toward Ellylle. “Apologies.”
“Accepted.” Ellylle glared at Zella. “Let’s go.”
They journeyed down to the shuttle hangar and soon lifted off.
With Lomomu at the helm, Big Huey drifted out from her dock toward the distant huddle of crystals. As they drew closer, lightning revealed more detail: silhouettes of a thousand city skylines, each roughly pyramidal in form, each frozen within an eldritch steel prison. As they drew closer still, the shuttle appeared as little more than a mote of sunlit dust against the expanse of even the smallest dark metropolis.
Ellylle stooped into the cockpit and swiped through the scanner data. With a nod, she tapped the readout. “That one,” she announced. “That’s the one. Activate the shields.”
Lomomu nodded. “On it.”
She translated the s
canner data into a crudely modeled blueprint and studied it a moment. Looking to Lomomu, she jammed a finger against one of the lower levels. “Let’s approach from here.”
Reggie leaned close to Zella and whispered, “You feel like she’s up to something, or is it just me?”
“Ah dinnae trust the clatty minger.”
As they crossed the eldritch steel barrier, their shuttle’s viewports darkened. Sparks surged from the shields as they tunneled. “We’re flyin’ blind,” said Lomomu. He added, “At this speed, any impact with that thing will destroy us,” and he decelerated
Ellylle swatted his shoulder. “Pick it up! We’ll run out of fuel going this slow.” She crossed her branches. “I’ll tell you when to fire reverse thrusters.”
Gulping visibly, Lomomu nodded and returned to their previous velocity. They waited within an ever-shifting corridor of crystalline brilliance. Nervously, Reggie got to his feet and approached the cockpit.
“Now,” said Ellylle. “Engage reverse thrusters. Be ready to turn off the shields on my mark.”
Using controlled bursts, Lomomu guided the vessel forward, slowing their advance.
“Now,” said the tree, and the plasma shields vanished.
Drifting slowly, Big Huey tapped the exterior door of a vast airlock. Lomomu jumped and piloted the vessel away from it, where he briefly fired main thrusters to stay put. He deployed shock absorbing anchor struts to hold the vessel safely in place within the tunnel.
In unison, Reggie, Lomomu, and Zella exhaled a sigh of relief.
It took some time for the boarding passage to fully extend. Big Huey shook when she joined the alien vessel, rocked by a deep metallic thump. “We’re docked,” Lomomu reported. “One moment for seal confirmation and scans to come back.”
“Check and double-check,” said Reggie.
“Oh yeah,” Lomomu confirmed, “green lights all around. We’re on.”
“Good work,” said Ellylle, and she glanced at Reggie. “Now I need you to follow this map and get a spherical container for me. It’s not heavy or very big—about the size of a basketball.” She reached into a satchel nestled within her leaves and unrolled a sheet of holopaper. “It’s on the same level we are. Look.” She stuck it to the bulkhead, prompting the map to level and plumb itself magnetically. Passageways surrounded a blinking red dot.