Starmen (Starmen (Space Opera Series) Book 1)

by J. M. Hagan

  In agony, he fell on his back. She’d done some damage. His arm flared, his hand was weak and numb at once. In the light of the gunshot, Siena stood over him. Then, when the room darkened, she activated something and the baton surged with electrical current.

  Siena used its light to find her gun. She took it up, stood over him with the gun aimed.

  This is it…

  Cane bit down as he held his aching arm, finding her eyes in the shallow dark. Siena’s silver eyes gleamed. Her hand shook as she hesitated. Then she lowered her gun.

  Just when he was about to speak, try and reason with her, Siena stabbed into his belly with the rod. A powerful current travelled through his body. Cane shook helplessly as it surged. Then passed out.

  *

  Venec waited for the auto-targeting to align, as he maintained course behind him. Amataius sped toward the stabilised Gateway that would send him to another galaxy.

  The Gateway was a bright, swirling maelstrom. Dark energy was bending around it like a tunnel between the stars. Each time it made a full resolution, Venec caught a glimpse of the other side as if he were staring through a looking glass.

  “Target range – optimal,” said Europa.

  Without hesitation, Venec opened fire with his dual pulse beams and they tore through space at incredible speed. Bright lines of swirling purple energy blasted the Gateway’s power source. The portal shuddered and surged.

  Despite the danger, Amataius accelerated at full speed, in a bid to pass through it before it failed completely. Venec, with perspiration on his brow, felt his heart thump. He seized up.

  “That bastard! He’ll resort to anything to escape justice!”

  He heard Europa’s calming voice: “Venec, entering that wormhole will be extremely dangerous. It’s unstable...”

  “I know!” A sweat bead dripped off his nose. Venec ground his teeth. "Can he survive this? Will he get away?"

  "I'm afraid we didn't do enough damage. The wormhole is active, although, it is failing fast."

  Snarling, he grabbed the stick and clenched it between his fists as he engaged full combat speed. “I can’t let him escape! He can't get away like this, not after all he's done."

  "Pilot assistance activated."

  Europa sailed into the wormhole, spiralling as the bright walls of energy spun and dipped and curved. The ship saved itself from crashing into a rising wall, and then Venec plunged when they almost went into the enigmatically coloured roof. Multiple warnings flashed on his HUD.

  “Hold together, girl!” he cried, steering with admirable composure.

  The ship swayed and ducked and dived, contending with the untapped power of the universe itself. Amid the lush colours, Venec spotted Black Dawn ahead.

  A wave of thunder cascaded along the body of the wormhole encapsulating them.

  “Commander, I’m reading intense fluctuations. Gateway stability – critical.”

  Crackling sounded from the outer shields; Europa’s interior screeched; they were ensnared in the grip of some tremendous pressure.

  Venec screamed.

  The ship spiralled and he saw a fluorescent green storm. Lightning cracked the nose of the ship, reducing the shields to zero power in a flash. He shut his eyes, blinded by the intense colours.

  Gripping the safety harness and biting down, he was rocked and whipped about in his chair. He could still see the brightness through his eyelids one moment – the next, it began to fade; replaced by a darkness he was soothed by.

  It took him a moment to realise he was still alive.

  Prying open his weary eyes, Venec looked outside his spinning ship and was confronted with endless space. He took a breath of relief. Then his mind was back on task in a heartbeat.

  “Europa, we’re alive. Scan the area for Amataius’ ship.”

  His console wasn’t active. No response came.

  “Europa?”

  Everything was offline, even the gravity. He felt a sensation in his belly as he realised the only thing keeping him in this chair was his straps. Otherwise, he’d have been floating.

  4

  Location: Sol System

  Cane opened his eyes, as his cheek touched something cold. It was still dark, but he assumed it was the floor. Then, as he placed his hand against it, he felt the weightlessness in his belly as he floated away from the ceiling.

  Zero-G? This can’t be good.

  He looked around as he spun slowly in the air, seeing no trace of his attacker.

  “Venec?” Cane whispered, after he activated his earpiece.

  A moment later. “Cane? You’re alive? Thank God,” he sighed.

  “Siena, is still on the loose,” said Cane, groaning as he was reminded of the pain in his arm. Now it was throbbing constant. “She incapacitated me.”

  “Well, I can’t find her right now. Everything is down, even Europa. We’re just lucky we have these coms. We’ve gotta make some immediate repairs. Where are you right now?”

  “I’m floating on Deck-E. She’s cut the lights,” he whispered cautiously.

  “Okay. First things first, the gravity. You’re close to the generator. The main power component is fried. But, we’ve got a back-up in my lab.”

  “That’s in the deck below…right?”

  Venec chuckled. “Yeah. It sure is. Forget about changing the part; that’s for later. Right now, I need you to go there and activate the emergency power manually, just like you did for the engines.”

  Cane had a dozen concerns immediately. “What about the atmosphere?”

  “It’s okay. We auto-switched to emergency power for that the instant Europa went offline. Otherwise, we’d have choked out five minutes ago.”

  “Where are you, Venec?” he whispered, starting to propel himself toward the exit. In Zero-G, his head felt even lighter from the pain.

  “I’m on my way to my quarters to fetch the gun in my wall safe,” he said. “Siena doesn’t know it, but there are guns on Deck-D.”

  “Guns?”

  “Yeah. Let’s just say – if she stumbles on the armoury before we find her, we’re gonna be in trouble.”

  He was coming out to the corridor now where the lights were flicking on and off ominously. “What happened to us?”

  “I…followed him through the gateway. I had to. There was no choice. I couldn’t let him escape. The Gateway was unstable…”

  Cane swallowed. “Where are we?”

  “I don’t know yet. Like I said, everything is offline.”

  He used the wall to push himself along quicker. When he made it to the end of the corridor and looked down the next one, he found the coast was clear.

  “Venec, she has the gun,” he warned.

  The inventor sighed worry. “You found the generator yet?”

  “Almost. I’m coming to the door.”

  “Good. With the gravity restored, we can meet up faster.”

  Cane opened the panel next to the generator and saw a red handle. He pushed it up with some effort. The generator spooled. Then it lit up with a gentle blue glow. He felt the feeling of weightlessness fall away as he dropped on his feet, fighting to keep his balance.

  “Damn,” he heard a cry, then a cough. “Could’ve gave me some warning. I was five feet up!”

  “Sorry, Commander.”

  “It’s okay, I was too handsome anyway,” he grumbled sourly. “Meet me on Deck-D. I’m heading there now with the gun.”

  “I feel safer already.”

  *

  Cane traversed the corridors with careful steps until he made it to the ramp leading off-deck. There he waited, with his eyes peeled, until Venec arrived.

  “Any sign of her?” he whispered, on approach.

  Cane shook his head with veiled eyes.

  “We don’t have time to search for her. She could be anywhere.”

  “Then, what’s the plan?”

  “Amataius, is bound to have suffered the same kind of damage as us. I think we both exited the wormhole in the same
spot, before it literally collapsed in on itself.”

  Cane was horrified. “We didn’t leave through the other Gateway?”

  “No, we didn’t make it that far,” said Venec, with a disappointed shake of the head. “Somehow, we created a new exit. Nobody knows what happens to you when you enter an unstable wormhole. I’ve always theorised that you get swallowed up, and simply cease to exist. It seems, I was mistaken. I think they just get lost…”

  “We’re between galaxies?” Cane questioned, with solid worry.

  They could be anywhere in the uncharted regions. Before, the idea would’ve thrilled him. But, for all they knew, they could run out of fuel and become stranded in empty space.

  “It’s the only logical explanation now. Enough talk. We’ve gotta make it to the armoury. We can reactivate, Europa, from my panic room.”

  Cane’s eyes lit up. “You have a panic room?”

  “Yes. If we dodge, Siena, until then, we can locate her again.”

  *

  They made it to the armoury on Deck-D without incident. Venec moved with trained caution, holding his weapon in both hands, ready to point and shoot at the first sign of danger. Cane was sure to keep his senses alert.

  The armoury was in a side-door next to the entrance to the T-57 model HC he’d been so excited to try. Inside, there were view screens and consoles, a few chairs. This was a room for monitoring whatever was going on in the holo-chamber. He’d never seen anything quite like this, except in movies about station cops.

  The next door led to a small room with a white weapon’s rack on the wall and some storage spaces underneath that were full of boxes. The lights only came on as they entered, leading him to suspect that this wasn’t a room Venec visited often.

  On the rack, he saw several sub-repeaters, pulse pistols, and pump-action blasters that reminded him of his father’s storage room for his hunting gear back home. He often used these powerful weapons to hunt the enormous wildlife of Adanis.

  A tussle with a horned Baska cost him a finger, and left him with some facial scarring, when Cane had been a boy – he felt the fear that came over him that day, seeing his father’s blood, when he had his brush with death.

  “Shut the door behind you,” said Venec.

  Cane opened the protruding panel in the wall next to the door and pulled down on the handle within, locking the door manually.

  Venec pressed a hidden switch on the wall next to the gun rack. A hidden doorway opened, they stepped inside. Within, was a computer node that shone with a faint blue glow until he touched it. Then its light bathed the room as the screen opened up in the air before him.

  System Offline

  Reboot?

  Venec selected to go ahead with the system reboot and data instantly scrolled the screen. Then it went away with a flash.

  “Commander, I have been reactivated successfully.”

  “Europa – have you regained control of your systems?”

  Weapons – restored.

  Shields – restored.

  Door controls – restored.

  Propulsion – restored.

  TDS – restored.

  Sensors – restored.

  “Power has been restored to vital systems.” Venec clapped his hands and gave a cheer. “The perks of having an A.I., Europa powered down everything in a micro-second before the power surge.”

  “Yes. I did. However, Commander, your research project has been damaged. I couldn’t power it down in time.”

  Venec bit down in anger. “How badly?”

  “I can’t tell yet. I will need to run a full diagnostic. But it is currently inoperable.”

  “All right, Europa, locate Siena,” he commanded. “We’ll deal with that later.”

  “Affirmative. Location acquired. Siena is in the ventilation shaft leading to Deck-A. I suggest locking the hatch to command.”

  Cane guessed that without the access lift, the shaft must be the only way of gaining access to Deck-A.

  “Yes,” said Venec sharply. “Lock her out.”

  “Affirmative.”

  “Okay. Good.”

  “What does that mean?” asked Cane. “Where else does she have access to?”

  “Most of the ship,” said Venec. “She can hack the doors. But command is completely secure for now, and so is the armoury. It would take her hours to bypass that security system. We can hunt her down later. As for now – Europa, where is Black Dawn?”

  “Black Dawn is in sensor range. Scans report it is in a state of low power.”

  “Excellent,” cried Venec. “We’ve got him. Cane, get a gun. We’ve got a cockroach to squash.”

  “Commander…”

  “What is it, Europa?”

  “There is another ship within sensor range.”

  Venec, who had been leaving the room, returned to the node with a heavy brow. “Another ship?”

  “Commander…this ship shares my serial number.”

  Cane’s eyes squinted at that. There was no way that could be possible. Every ship was given a unique registration number in the galaxies. He’d never heard of a case of duplicates before. Besides, this ship hadn’t come from mass production; it was a unique creation of Venec’s grandfather.

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Venec snapped. Then, with a sigh of frustration, he put a hand to his vexed brow. “Europa, run a system’s scan. Your systems are…”

  “My systems are fully operational. There is no mistake. That vessel is identical to me in every way.”

  When she said me, Cane picked up on how strange it had been right away. An A.I. usually referred to itself without a sense of identity. What he’d heard in Europa’s usually monotone tone had been vibrant while delivering that sentence. Venec hadn’t seemed to notice it, his mind was on task.

  “What do you mean identical?”

  “Commander, I cannot discuss this further. It involves information you have deemed classified,” said Europa, and Cane was filled with intrigue. Venec glanced at him, his eyes lowering slightly.

  “Okay,” he yapped, with increasing worry. “Europa, give me a moment.”

  Cane was taken aback when the inventor turned to him with his thick arms folded. “Shit. How do I tell you this quick, without knocking your socks off?” he muttered. “Okay. I told you I’d created something that works through sub-space…”

  “A new method of transport, you said.”

  “Yeah. Takes you places that other things can’t, even Gateways. Well, I hope, at least. Who knows, right this second?”

  “Venec, please, lay it on me,” he gasped, scarcely able to contain his intrigue. Cane figured out things so quickly on his own that he had to urge him. He already suspected what Venec was about to tell him, before he’d even said it.

  “I built a time machine. Took me and my team ten years, working around the clock, using the research others had done before us in the field throughout history. This flight – this was to be my test run.”

  Cane was awed, shocked. “A time machine?”

  “Well, Time-Drive.”

  “You built this for a purpose beyond financial gain,” Cane guessed. Venec’s eyes thinned curiously as he watched Cane connect the dots. “You did this to go back and save someone…someone he took away from you…”

  It wasn’t often that Cane showed how sharp his mind really was to someone. Venec was stumped, and Cane knew he was right as he viewed his gleaming silver eyes.

  “This ship…is from another time,” said Venec, sticking to their current situation. I can’t believe what is going on! How in the world did I end up here?

  “Commander…incoming transmission,” said Europa.

  There was a bleep at the console, a blinking light. “Are they hailing us?” Cane asked, fascinated.

  Venec took a moment as he checked. “No. They’ve just sent us some audio messages…along with some data files. One of the messages is locked, it seems. We won’t be able to open it without someone named, Jack Murphy. But
we can access the other data.”

  Rather than open it immediately, Venec went to the wall and pressed a hidden switch. A secret compartment opened up, just like the one on command.

  “Thank God, I stocked the panic room,” he said, taking out a bottle of brown booze. He had a drink, then offered it to him.

  “No,” said Cane, feeling a clear head would be preferable. He already felt drunk taking in all of this.

  There was no telling what information lay within this communique. He doubted it would have anything to do with him, being only a temporary addition to the crew. But, then again, perhaps circumstance would provide a different, unexpected path.

  Before he’d even heard the audio, he realised they were the first people in history to receive a message from another time. That made his toes curl. It felt like sparks were going off above his belly – there were so many tingles surging through him.

  Venec pressed play on the audio message, and they both stood before the node with their arms folded, faces solid with concentration.

  "You don’t know me, but my name is, Jack Murphy,” the voice said, in fluent rovian, the common tongue of the galaxies. The accent was strange, however. “I’m here with my crew. That includes you, Cane.”

  Cane had to stand back at that revelation. Suddenly, his hands were shaking at his sides.

  “We've sent along everything you need in the accompanying data files. Right now, you're approaching a planet called Earth – my home. When you are there, you will find me – a younger me – along with two of my friends. Do me a favour, be nice."

  Cane and Venec matched eyes curiously. The inventor was so stumped he was pale, but the corners of his mouth were upturned, a dazed sort of excitement.

  "You've got bigger fish to fry than, Amataius. What we're here to do, you can't interfere with that. Enough changes have already been made with this meeting. You see, we’re giving you a mission. The success of this mission is of vital importance to everyone in the galaxies.”

  Neither of them could believe what they were hearing. They were only barely beginning to process this information.