by T. M. Catron
“Us too.” Rance leaned forward, watching the screens for signs of anyone locking onto the Streaker.
Solaris stood, extending his staff until it was almost as tall as he. Then he raised it over his head, knocking the ceiling as he did so.
He brought it down on the floor with a crack.
Bright white light filled the cockpit. At first, Rance thought one of the Renegades had finally hit the Star Streaker. Then she realized Solaris was doing something to the ship. It quivered and shuddered, and James sprang back from his controls.
“What are you doing? He’s taken over the ship!”
Rance didn’t even know he could do that.
Warning, Deliverance said. I’ve lost control of all systems, Captain.
How was Deliverance still working?
Rance didn’t have time to contemplate the seriousness of that before the gravity control went crazy, pulling her away from her chair one minute, tossing her to the side the next. She gripped her armrests as hard as she could and prayed this was all part of Solaris’ plan. Amazingly, Solaris remained standing as if his feet were glued to the floor.
Rance couldn’t believe it, but she didn’t have time to watch him as the ship pitched forward. She pitched with it, thanking the Founders she was strapped in. Then the gravity shifted to the ceiling, and all the blood rushed to her head.
Warning. Warning. The red words flashed across her vision. She didn’t need that added reminder of their danger, so she closed her eyes. But the ZOD played anyway, and the red Warning signal against the back of her eyelid only made her more fearful. She opened her eyes again.
Outside, the surrounding ships exploded in more fiery bursts of light. One of them was so close that stars ghosted across Rance’s vision.
Bile rose in her throat. The extreme motion felt like she’d been thrown into a box and was being shaken around. Her harness jangled at every turn but held.
Rance kept her mouth shut to prevent herself from biting her tongue, and to keep from vomiting all over James.
Don’t puke, don’t puke, don’t puke.
Whatever Solaris did was working. Although ships around them exploded, the Star Streaker remained safe. Rance wanted to ask him what he was doing, but she didn’t dare interrupt his concentration now. Or open her mouth—in case something unexpected flew out.
After a few more heart-stopping moments, the Streaker charged for Prometheus. Now, Rance finally saw the beautiful green parks and bright seas that covered the planet.
As soon as the ship entered Prometheus’ atmosphere, Solaris collapsed onto the floor. The Star Streaker righted itself. Deliverance took over the ship’s equilibrium, and the red warning stopped. Rance breathed a sigh of relief.
Suddenly, the comm chatter that had been suppressed exploded into the cockpit at once. The yelling crew, the last words of the people on the exploding ships, and distress calls from the planet itself. Somehow, whatever Solaris had done had allowed the Star Streaker to filter in all these communications.
The sound was overwhelming. Rance put her hands to her ears, trying to keep the pain at bay.
Now that James had the controls, the ship was flying on a direct course for the capital city. No one chased them. The pirates were too busy killing off the other ships behind.
Since the Streaker was no longer trying to kill her, Rance unbuckled her harness and jumped out of her seat. She kneeled over Solaris. His face was white and slick with sweat.
“Solaris!” she yelled over all the noise. “Solaris!”
She slapped his face, but he was out cold. Rance returned to her chair and tried to find a way to shut off the radio chatter. She flipped switches, but when none of that worked, she shouted the request to Deliverance to shut off their communication. That finally did the trick. Every bit of noise was suddenly cut off, plunging the ship into sudden silence.
CHAPTER FIVE
PROMETHEUS WAS a city of tall buildings and wide thoroughfares. The lush green vegetation of parks broke up glass and metal buildings that jutted up into the sky. James set the Star Streaker down at the edge of a park, near a tall, dark building. When Rance looked up, she expected to see the fireworks display. But all she saw was bright sunlight filtering through the atmosphere.
People were running everywhere—through the park, in the streets. Ships of all sizes flew overhead, ferrying people away from the mass panic, unaware of the massacre going on above. They narrowly avoided colliding with each other in their haste to get out of the city.
There was a riot going on in the park. Rance noted its location so they could avoid it when they left the Star Streaker.
“Captain,” James said, turning to look directly at her. “I don’t want you to go out there. I know you want to find your friend, but what if she already got out on one of those other cruisers?”
“She was afraid, remember?”
“Yes, but a lot could have changed in the six days it took us to get here. It’s too dangerous out there, Rance.” James rarely used her name—all joking had been put aside. He was serious.
“We’re here, James. We can’t turn back now.” Rance stood from her chair, went back to Solaris, and shook him again. His face was still ashen, his breathing shallow. Whatever he’d done up there to save their lives must have cost him dearly.
“Solaris! Solaris!”
Then Harper’s dark, spiky hair appeared out of the hatch in the floor. She climbed into the cockpit and knelt over Solaris.
“He used up all his power, didn’t he?” she asked.
“Yes!”
Harper pulled a syringe out of her pocket and jabbed the needle into his upper arm. She injected the entire contents—a clear, sparkling liquid Rance recognized as an adrenaline cocktail.
She held her breath, waiting to see if it had any effect on the CO. The next moment, Solaris sat bolt upright with a gasp, almost knocking Harper back down the ladder. She scrambled away, backing against a control panel. Solaris looked around with wild eyes, his hair sticking up more than usual. When he saw Rance peering at him, he relaxed.
“What happened?” he asked.
“I don’t know. You did something up there, saved our lives. And then you passed out.”
Solaris touched the back of his head where it had hit the floor. Then he winced. His hand came away with blood. “Have we landed?”
“Yes.” Rance was glad he didn’t look permanently damaged. She put an arm under his shoulders and pulled. Solaris helped, and when he got his legs under him, he could stand. His face looked pale and blotchy.
“We landed,” Rance said, “but we don’t have much time. It looks like they’re planning an invasion.”
Solaris looked out the window at the ships zooming overhead. “I remember now—they were killing everybody,” he whispered.
“Do you have any idea why Unity isn’t here?”
“No,” he said, shaking his head. He winced. “It doesn’t make sense that they would abandon an entire planet and leave it for invasion.”
James shrugged out of his harness and joined them. “They must have overwhelmed the forces here before they could call for help. And then they jammed all outside communications.”
“But this is a busy star center,” Harper said. “When other ships arrived, they would have reported it.”
“Not if the pirates surprised them with overwhelming force.” Solaris shook his head and then winced again.
“Are you going to be okay?” Rance asked.
“I think so,” he said.
Harper grabbed his sleeve and pulled him toward the ladder. “Let’s look at your head and make sure you don’t need me to close that wound,” she said. “Captain, I’ll have him ready in a few minutes.”
Solaris allowed himself to be led downstairs to the med bay.
Rance turned to James.
He scowled at her. “Captain, we joke around a lot. And because of that, maybe you’re not taking me seriously. I’m going to be the practical one here, but is this w
orth it?”
“I don’t know, James. But I hope that if I were in the same situation, someone would try to get me out.”
“You know we would. But Moira isn’t one of us, and you don’t know where she is. At least let me try to get us into the right neighborhood. I don’t think we’re even in the vicinity.”
“Not a good idea. With all the ships flying around, the pirates will target those soon. From here all the way to the river, the only good landing places are on the tops of buildings. The Streaker will be an easy target. And it’ll be hard to set it down in the middle of a street without drawing unnecessary attention to ourselves.”
“It’s a risk I’m willing to take if it means our total time here is reduced.”
“No, James, we’re not far. I promise to radio you and tell you when to come get us.”
With that, she left the cockpit, sliding down the ladder and hurrying to her quarters. There, she grabbed a small backpack, one that would hold water and a little food if they found some. On the way out, she grabbed the guns she had prepared—a blaster and a rifle—and her helmet.
Rance couldn’t explain why she felt so strongly about going to find Moira. Maybe it was because if Rance had chosen a different path in life, she could be the one stuck without help. Or it could be her mother, stranded in a panicked city. Her mother no longer returned to Prometheus, so Rance wasn’t worried about her just now. But now that she had seen what was happening on the planet, she couldn't abandon their mission.
In the back of her mind, Rance knew she was being reckless. But they were already here, and Solaris had almost killed himself to land them. If they didn't try to find Moira, Rance would always regret it.
Down in the cargo bay, Solaris was already waiting on her, looking tired but better. He leaned on his staff and had his satchel slung over his shoulder. The staff looked out of place with his flight suit.
“Did you ever wear robes as a Galaxy Wizard?” Rance asked.
“Why would I wear robes?”
“To make you look the part?”
“Robes would only get in the way. I wanted to catch criminals, not give them something to laugh about when I got tangled up in robes and fell on my face.”
“I always thought people with robes looked graceful.”
“That’s because you grew up with people around you who didn’t have to fight for a living.”
“True.”
Abel stood in his dark gray armor at the galley door, armed with two guns—a rifle and smaller blaster, two knives, and enough ammunition to take out a tank. Next to him, Rance felt very under-armed. But it was Solaris she was concerned about.
“Please take another weapon,” she said.
He laughed. “Captain, I just used my staff to deflect an entire pirate army’s worth of fire. And you don’t think I could use it to protect myself—and you?”
“I don’t need you to protect me,” she said. “But Moira may need a lot of help.”
Solaris moved past her, saying as he went by, “I’ll protect you if you need it, Captain, whether you want me to or not.”
He was so infuriating sometimes.
Tally stood by the door, his green eyes watching her every move. Rance hated that look. It meant he was worried about her. As he pushed the button to lower the ramp, he said, “Come back to us in one piece.”
Then the relative quiet of the hold shattered as the chaos from outside pierced the hull.
The wall of noise hit them like a physical punch. Sirens blared throughout the city, shaking windows and trees in a wavering Doppler effect that made Rance dizzy. Her ears began to throb before she even left the Streaker.
On another wavelength, the sounds of chaos underpinned everything. People ran past the ship shouting and yelling at each other. More fights had broken out down the street.
Rance looked back at the Star Streaker, knowing that the ship would be vulnerable while they were gone. It was ripe for stealing.
She never underestimated the power of panic. If someone decided to get into the ship, they would find a way to do it. James, Tally, and Harper would only be able to protect themselves by taking off, and it wasn’t as if they could go into orbit and wait for Rance to get back.
Solaris must have had the same thought because as the ship closed, he faced it with his staff in front of him. More sweat broke out on his brow, and Rance could tell he still hadn’t recovered from his ordeal. Despite his weariness, he managed to camouflage the ship. She gasped as the Star Streaker dissolved from their view, blending into the background of the buildings behind it. It wasn’t invisible, exactly. But it had changed patterns, like a chameleon.
The only way anyone would find it would be to run straight into it. With all the people running about, that might happen. But Rance was relying on the chaos to keep anyone from becoming too curious even if they did.
The blaring sirens were too much. She pulled on her helmet and tapped the visor down, which helped with some of the noise. Solaris and Abel did the same. Abel had a heads-up display inside his helmet, and Rance’s NNR picked up the city networks and immediately projected a map into her vision. Looking around to be sure no one was paying attention, they ran toward an alley.
“Which way, Captain?” Abel asked once they stood inside the alley.
“She’ll be in the residential Senate section,” Rance said. “That’s where we’re headed.”
“Do you know the way from here?” Solaris asked.
Rance nodded. “It’s been a while, but I know where we’re going. My father has a house there.”
A moment later they were winding their way through back alleys, heading in the direction indicated by Rance’s map. Since Rance had never used the back alleys before, they would rely on the maps as much as possible.
On previous visits to the city, she’d always accompanied her father whenever possible. The lush, green vegetation and the clean air were always welcome changes from her home planet of Xanthes. Now though, with the current of fear running into the very foundation of the city, Rance thought Prometheus could have been a different place altogether.
Without the maps, they would have been lost within ten minutes. The back alleys and darkened passageways between buildings proved to be a labyrinth of metal, concrete, and closed doorways. They could have wandered around the alleys for days while the city burned down around them. Even with the maps, the alleys were so convoluted that they soon lost their sense of direction.
They met no one. Rance felt sure others would try to use the alleys. Where was everybody?
After an hour of wandering through the labyrinth, she began to feel suffocated. The buildings stretched up around them on all sides with a sliver of daylight shining down into the crevasse between. But the sun was sinking, and she didn’t want to be trapped in the alley at night. They would have an even harder time getting out after dark.
Rance stopped. They had a choice, to either turn around and go back the way they’d come—if they could find their way back out again—or to continue using the maps, which hadn’t been very helpful in leading them out.
“This is pointless,” she said.
“I don’t know about you, Captain,” Abel said, “but I think we should either go back the way we came, or let Solaris unlock one of these doors and walk through the buildings out the other side.”
“Then we run the risk of getting lost inside the buildings,” Rance said. “I vote we keep going.”
Abel shrugged. “You’re the boss, boss. We follow you.”
“Okay then. But if we get stuck in here and wonder around until the pirates come down and get us, I’m holding you both responsible.”
“I don’t think it’s going to matter. The pirates will never find us in here. They’d have to blow the buildings apart.”
Solaris looked at Rance and smiled nervously. She hated when he did that like he didn’t really know what he was doing. But she knew better. Solaris was smart and quick on his feet. Whatever he was thinking, he was ke
eping it to himself. That worried her even more. Solaris usually spoke his mind. She wondered what else was bothering him, but she didn’t want to see the buildings fall on top of them.
Time to move on.
They walked a few more minutes, taking two more turns and letting the map guide them toward the center of the city.
“Why haven’t we met anybody?” Solaris asked.
“Don’t know,” Rance muttered, unwilling to face the fact that she had made the wrong decision.
They turned two more corners, and then Abel, who had been walking beside Rance, pulled up short. “You hear that, boss?”
“Hear what?”
They all strained to listen. Their breathing echoed loudly in the empty alley.
“I don’t hear—” Solaris began.
“Wait!” Rance whispered. “I did hear something.”
She unlatched her helmet and took it off. The internal speakers would magnify anything, but she wanted to know if what she was hearing was real or just feedback from something else. An unusual wind blew through the alley, prickling the hairs on the back of her neck.
Then she heard it again, something scraping along the pavement, clacking, rather, in quick succession. It grew louder, and Rance spun on her heel to look behind. Nothing. Then, along with the clacking sound, they heard a snarl come from an alley ahead. The three turned as one toward the sound.
Rance crept toward the alley, screwed up her courage, and peeked around the corner.
A giant, wolf-like animal, with scales and feathers on its legs and mottled gray hair on its back, was running down the alley.
When it saw her, its nostrils flared. It bared its teeth, revealing unusually large, yellow fangs.
At least, Rance thought they were unusually large.
She hid around the corner, desperately trying to get a hold of her common sense. But all she could see were those fangs. The clacking sound continued—the creature’s claws on the ground.
It was getting closer.
Abel and Solaris, curious about what was causing Rance’s panic, leaned around the corner to look.