Forbidden The Stars

by Valmore Daniels

  The moon seemed almost like home, to Alex. It was barren, desolate, and uninhabitable by anyone unless safely wrapped in the cocoon of technology. And yet, Alex was at peace with it. The vastness of space, horrible to most, was a black blanket of comfort to him. And the moon was the signatory of that unimaginable expanse.

  The Earth represented suppression, claustrophobia, everything inherently opposite that of outer space. Alex never wished to return there. Even though they had spent most of their life on Canada Station Three, Alex’s parents still called it home sweet home. Alex’s only memories were visiting Earth irregularly on yearly vacations, holidays and such. It was as much an alien planet to him as was Jupiter.

  …And it would be nothing more than a prison if Alex ever returned there.

  Suddenly, Alex realized why the moon inspired such tranquility in him, beyond the murderous intents of his companion.

  The voices in his head no longer made demands of him, no longer stalked his thoughts. Instead, the melody of their words was that of a comforting lullaby.

  Soon, they promised, you will be made aware of all that is. We have no need of haunting you into action; you are already firmly set on your course of destiny.

  Be calm. Soon, you will return to where you belong.

  Alex turned his head slowly towards Klaus, and smiled benignly.

  *

  Klaus nearly veered into a small crater when he glanced to the side and saw his captive grinning back at him like some kind of retarded baboon.

  “What the hell are you smiling at, kid?” Klaus hissed after he regained control of the ATV and put the vehicle back on course.

  They were going way too slowly. Klaus didn’t want to take any chances. If the damned yahoo Americans hadn’t used his message as a political loophole to invade the Chinese Sector and take down Yin’s empire, then Chow Yin was going to be on the warpath for Klaus. When Yin wanted revenge, he didn’t waste time about it. There would be a dozen ATVs after him and Alex, each carrying men with real guns that fired bullets, not poison-dipped flechettes.

  And even if the Americans had gone through with their task the way Klaus hoped, they would soon learn about him, and that he had kidnapped Alex. Their prize would be too great to ignore for long. Any way he looked at it, Klaus was going to be a very wanted person.

  Because of Alex.

  He looked the kid square in the face for a moment. Alex hadn’t replied to his question, nor had he ceased his smiling, although he had turned his attention to the Lunarscape ahead.

  “Quit that grinning, you fool. What do you have to be so happy about. You know that I’m going to kill you, don’t you?”

  Alex slowly rotated his head. “No, you’re not.”

  Klaus’s nerves caused him to jerk the steering bar of the ATV a bit, not enough to put them in jeopardy, though. Damn the kid. How had he known that Klaus had changed his mind about offing the little kid?

  Over the past fifteen minutes, Klaus had also been taken with the tranquility of the lunar surface, and had done some thinking.

  Revenge was good and all, but if he continued his spree of violence and mayhem, there was only one possible end to the whole affair: his own death. People would not put up with that sort of behavior for long, and would quickly organize to stop Klaus’ rampage.

  Alex was a valuable commodity, despite his ethnic origins. Perhaps even the most valuable commodity in the solar system.

  And at the moment, Klaus had complete control of him. Yin had schemed to use Alex to gain personal wealth, and that would have been due solely by Klaus’s efforts. What would Klaus have gotten for his troubles? Nothing.

  But now, Klaus could use Alex to his own gain. No partners, no bosses, no fathers, nobody but him.

  He had no aspirations of mining the depth of Alex’s reported abilities. He didn’t have the time or the inclination. Instead, he would settle for a modest ransom. The Americans or the Canadians would surely pay up. Klaus was not greedy; a few million dollars would keep him happy for the rest of his life.

  Klaus knew exactly who he could turn to, to help him: The very same smuggler who had pirated Alex from the Orca 1, his uncle, Trent Gruber. Captain Gruber would have to help Klaus. He was willing to offer his uncle a healthy percentage. If that didn’t work, and the smuggler was unwilling to participate, Klaus had enough blackmail material on him to send him to United Earth Corporate prison for the rest of his natural life, relative or not.

  Gruber, brother to Klaus’s long-deceased mother, had a small base on Luna, a few hundred kilometers away from Luna Station. That was where Klaus was heading.

  But how had Alex known that Klaus’s intentions had changed?

  “What do you mean, I’m not going to kill you?”

  “I won’t let you,” Alex replied simply. “I have far too great a purpose to allow that to happen. I need you to help me, though.”

  “Help you? What for?”

  “That is my business. I can tell you no longer want to murder me. You have something else in mind. Extortion, ransom, something like that. I’ve read enough space opera to guess that you’ve got a plan for squirreling me away. All I want is for you to bring me to your hiding place, and keep me there for a while. Help me, and I guarantee you will be rich.”

  “And what if I don’t happen to want to go along with your stupid little plan, pipsqueak?”

  The answer came in a form that was a thousand times more effective than any verbal threat. The ATV’s electric motor ceased to fire, and the vehicle slowly came to a standstill. “What the—?”

  Klaus’s breathing apparatus slowly stopped pumping air into his helmet. Klaus was soon inhaling the same air he was exhaling, and the oxygen content was dropping as fast at the carbon monoxide level was rising. He would quickly poison himself if he didn’t get any air.

  Panicking, Klaus began flailing about, desperate for a lung full of clean, life-giving air.

  He had the presence of mind enough to realize he could get air from only one source. “All right! All right! You win! I’ll do whatever you say, only give me some—”

  The influx of oxygen was like cool water washing over a feverish forehead, a warm fire in the arctic cold.

  Klaus took several deep breaths, remembered that he shouldn’t inhale so deeply, or the oxygen itself would adversely affect him, and slowly, slowly, evened his breathing.

  The ATV’s motor flared to life, and Alex said, “Come on, Klaus. Let’s get going.”

  “You know,” Klaus said once he had his breath back and had his nausea firmly under control, “you are really a little shit.”

  __________

  SELECTED ARTICLES :

  FROM WORLD ASSOCIATED PRESS :

  JULY 2091

  In an historic move, United Earth Corporate has abolished the long-standing Luna Charter in favor of a direct administration. Spurred by recent events involving a Chinese expatriate who managed to usurp most of Luna Station’s resources and property, an act which nearly brought the UEC to the brink of an international incident with China, the UEC has penned a new charter nullifying all land claims on Luna Station by country corporation and individual corporations. An official explained that the Station will be independent of any country corporation’s political influence, and in the future, will lease space on Luna Station on a yearly renewal basis.

  *

  JULY 2091

  The Chinese Ambassador is in New York today, in the first of six scheduled meetings attempting to bridge the gap between Western Corporate philosophy, and the long-standing Republic philosophy that has been a cornerstone of Chinese politics for centuries. In a statement issued prior to the first meeting, the ambassador reasserted that his government would not hold NASA or any other agency responsible for the kidnapping of Sakami Chin on Luna Station seven months ago. He also expressed an interest in continuing to build a dialogue between the two great nations in order to further the newest science of Kinemetics. China, who owns more than a hundred asteroid mines, has reve
aled their suspicions that one or more of their asteroids may have the faster-than-light supraconductor element called Kinemet.

  *

  AUGUST 2091

  The second Pluto mission has successfully launched this morning at 06:23 local time at Kennedy Space Port. The Orca 2 is a joint mission between NASA and CSE with a mandate to further explore the artifact known as Dis Pater, and study its relationship to the Kinemetic influence known as the Manez Effect. With pressure from the European Space Agency as well as the Japanese and South American Organizations, NASA has begun organized a third Pluto mission, Orca 3, and has invited representatives from every nation to accompany the flight to our farthest planet. Captain Justine Churchill Turner, Captain of both the Orca 1 and Orca 2, is scheduled to helm the third mission as well.

  *

  NOVEMBER 2091

  NASA has announced in a press release today that they have discovered a small cache of the FTL element Kinemet on their small asteroid, Nimow. According to preliminary tests, Dr. Caven Oahe estimates that the hundred and two kilogram find contains enough potential energy to send a ship to Alpha Centauri and back. Although the Jet Propulsion Lab, in conjunction with Quantum Resources of Canada Corp., has not yet released a timetable, sources indicate that designs for such an interstellar craft are in the works. Physicists and Engineers at the University of South Carolina estimate the first FTL ship could be ready within four years.

  *

  MARCH 2092

  In today’s technological society, organized religion has long been relegated to history books and small gatherings in basements. But in Central America, there is a growing religious movement that some say are a doomsday cult. The Mayan Spiritists, who have been gaining in number over the past year and a half, foresee the end of the world’s civilizations as they stand. When asked, a high-standing member of the organization indicated that, as the Mayan Culture was once the most advanced society in the world, it will once again inherit mastery of the Earth.

  *

  MARCH 2092

  Scientists from the Orca 2 have not been able to discover the origin or intent of the Plutonian artifact, Dis Pater. After weeks of investigation, members of the Orca 2 mission are no closer to solving the puzzle of the huge monolith on the Dark Planet. A NASA spokeswoman says this is not unexpected. The last time the artifact showed any kind of activity was during the first Orca mission, when it responded to the triggering of the FTL element, Kinemet. The Orca 2 mission is not mandated to conduct any Kinematic experiments; instead, that will be reserved for the Orca 3 mission, an undertaking which will be shared by all active space agencies of the Earth. The Orca 2 will takeoff from Pluto tomorrow morning, and is scheduled to arrive on Luna in an estimated six months.

  *

  AUGUST 2092

  Quantum Resources Inc. of Toronto, Canada Corp. has released the latest results of their joint research project with the JPL of NASA. The mystery of Kinemet, once referred to as Element X, has been solved. With recent discoveries of Kinemet deposits on more than twenty asteroids in the past year, research has been shifted into high gear, and has yielded fantastic results, says a Quantum Resources spokesman. “It is only a matter of time before we can outfit an interstellar ship with a Kinemet-powered engine.” The complete report on Kinemet can be found on the Quantum Resources Meshsite, mirrored at NASA.

  *

  NOVEMBER 2092

  The Orca 2 has returned to Earth, and its seven-member crew is in debriefing in Houston. NASA and CSE declare the mission a success, even though very little new information has been accumulated on the artifact, Dis Pater. A complete sensor array was left behind on Pluto to document any future reaction from the artifact.

  *

  JANUARY 2093

  NASA and CSE have announced the upcoming schedule for the test launch of the first interstellar spacecraft. The Quanta, as the ship has been dubbed, is a one-man ship designed without a payload. Its primary mission will be to achieve the first recorded FTL flight. The ship will travel from Luna Station to Pluto, where it will rendezvous with the Orca 3 mission for the jet-propelled return trip. A date for the launch has not been announced, but analysts from the Canadian Astronomy Association say the next window for a flight to Pluto will be October 2094, landing on the farthest planet seven months later, approximately May 2095. The most probable date for the FTL test flight will be then.

  *

  OCTOBER 2094

  Major Justine Churchill Turner is on her way to Pluto for the third time. The Orca 3 successfully blasted off Luna Station early this afternoon. Three and a half years ago, Major Turner played a key part in the capture of international criminal Chow Yin on Luna Station; she is something of a celebrity there, with a planetarium named after her. Of historical note, Major Turner is a descendant of Percival Lowell, the astronomer who first theorized the existence and possible location of Pluto.

  *

  MARCH 2095

  NASA has announced the name of the pilot who will take the helm of the first FTL flight. Captain Mitchel Kincardine of Canadian Space Exploration has been selected from nearly three hundred qualified applicants to undertake this historic mission. Capt. Kincardine, father of two, has long been a pilot for CSE.

  *

  APRIL 2095

  The Quanta, NASA/CSE’s interstellar spacecraft which is scheduled to make the first FTL flight next month, is en route to Luna Station where it will be outfitted with a Kinemet engine and tested in zero gravity a few thousand kilometers above the moon’s surface. Captain Kincardine is accompanying the ship, and has been quoted as saying that he is looking forward to seeing his name written alongside Christopher Columbus, Yuri Gagarin, and Neil Armstrong.

  __________

  Luna Station :

  Luna :

  The unrelenting chorus repeated itself in his mind, and had been for four long years.

  The sounds of the planets were slowly driving him insane with their message of urgency.

  Come to us, Alex. Come to us.

  He was working towards that as fast as he could, but he had to wait for others.

  Wait.

  Always wait.

  Watching every move, reading every word published, communicating with others who could provide him with any scraps that would help him complete his task.

  They had announced a date, and he had to shift his preparations into high gear.

  The music of the spheres told him so.

  Come to us, Alex. Come.

  __________

  The Quanta :

  Luna Station :

  Luna :

  May 2095

  Alex Manez took a deep, agonizing breath and ran his fingers through the thin wisps of his hair, once long and luxurious.

  The fourteen-year old then strapped himself into the leather-back pilot seat of the space craft and began systematically flipping switches, turning dials, and pressing specific buttons on the panoramic console surrounding him in the cockpit. Every so often, he took readings from the various meters and consulted the computer monitor, rechecking this figure or that.

  He had to be sure that everything was running smoothly, at this stage of the game, since he was on his own on a project that would ordinarily require the input and coordination of hundreds of personnel. Alex was undertaking this task of his without the permission of those hundreds.

  Alex was stealing the FTL ship they had dubbed, The Quanta.

  The vessel, highly experimental, was owned by the United Earth Corporate, each member country having invested heavily in the project in the hopes of reaching the outer planets of Sol System in a matter of hours, rather than the months that it took at present.

  Because of the unusual mission assigned to The Quanta, the only means of piloting and navigating the craft was via the onboard computer—the mission control’s part was only an observe-and-assist position.

  Because he could manipulate electrical machines, it was child’s play to create enough distractions in the lunar hanger for hi
m to pass unnoticed.

  Once Alex had snuck onto the ship where it had been temporarily docked in Lunar Station’s port—all the while ensuring no one else was yet on board—it had taken him only a few minutes to orient himself and take command of the vessel.

  The first thing he did was to disconnect all on-line communications with the mission control centers on the Station and on Earth. The only link he kept alive was to the docking computer, which, in turn, he had already fixed with a virus that would recognize launch requests from him, but disregard any abort command from any other source.

  Then he secured the hull, locked the ship electronically, and, finally, after obtaining the proper launch permission from the Lunar Station docking computer, he fired the ship’s main engines. He had to do this before setting the trajectory and acceleration controls; the ignited jet fuel of the mundane engines would keep the security force that just arrived at the port well away from The Quanta while Alex went through the rest of the preliminary launch procedures. Oxygen control, cabin pressure, launch stats; all checked. He reset diagnostics one more time, and aligned the launch trajectory to put him in a gosling orbit following Mother Moon once he lifted off. He could not rely on the mission control computer. Access to that resource was denied him.

  As Alex programmed the ship, and prepared for takeoff, he smiled. It was the first time he had smiled in years, ever since returning to translunar space from Pluto.

  Getting aboard The Quanta and pirating it had been easy; it would have put the Nova Pirates to shame. Nobody paid attention to a fourteen-year old wandering about.

  He was certain no one would recognize him.

  Four years ago, once the search for him had been exhausted, the world had turned their attention to developing Kinemet and their precious FTL Quanta spacecraft. He had been left at the wayside to sink or swim on his own.

  It was a simple bargain he had made with Captain Gruber and Klaus. They sheltered him in their station for the duration, and he loaned them his services. Alex did not participate in their illegal activities, but he was the perfect early warning system for when security patrols gave surprise inspections. And with his ability to scan the entire solar system from inside his mind, he often detected wrecked vessels and other salvage which Captain Gruber could lay claim. It was a profitable arrangement for both parties.