by J. Naomi Ay
"The question is, Steven, do you know?"
"Yes, I know," Steven sounded pissed. "And, it's none of your business."
"Now that's an interesting concept, whose business is what."
"You're driving me crazy," Steven muttered.
"I'm not driving at all," the man said. "I'm merely sitting in the back letting the bus take me where ever it deigns to go. Tell me, Steven Golden, what do you want from this life?"
"What do I want?" Steven waved his arms. "I want to make a difference. I want to help these people out. I want to save a few lives. I want my own life to mean something instead of just living in my parents' shadow. How am I going to do all that when I keep messing up?"
"Maybe you need to think about why you keep messing up?"
"I have bad karma? I'm mistake prone? Look, old guy, I just trashed a restaurant and killed a man! I didn't mean to do it but it happened. Granted I'd need to kill about four thousand more to catch up with my dad, but now I'm scared to death that I'm turning into him."
"The man was a criminal, Steven. You were trying to save the girl."
"Yeah, but he was still a dude. I didn't mean to do it and I feel horrible that I did."
"Something would be wrong with you if you didn't feel bad. Time has to happen in the way it has to happen." The old guy stood up.
"My dad always says that."
"I know. Think on this, Steven and perhaps you will realize that which you seek has been in your pocket all along."
The bus jerked to a stop and the old homeless guy shuffled out.
"Wait!" Steven called. "How did you know my name? How do you know who my father is?"
The bus jerked forward as the door slammed shut. I looked out the window to watch the old man depart but he had already disappeared.
"Did you know him?" I turned and asked Steven.
"No. At least I don't think so."
"What's in your pocket?" Marik pointed.
"Nothing." Steven stuck his hand in his prison jumpsuit and withdrew a shiny silver rock. "Except for this."
"That's fermium." Marik said taking it between his fingers and holding it up in the air. It lit up this dark bus as if it had some kind of a light inside.
"Hey, we've got a lot of those rocks on Corganus," Geor cried. "They're lying on the ground practically everywhere you look."
"Do you do anything with them?" Sam asked.
"No, not at all. Just try not to step on them because sometimes they get hot."
"That's it!" Steven cried and slapped his forehead. "That's how we'll save Corganus. Come here everybody. Listen up."
We all leaned into the center aisle of the bus and while we trundled along, we all devised the plan. First, we would steal the Royal spaceplane and fly to the spacebase to meet up with the starship, Queen of Rozari.
"How are we going to steal the spaceplane?" Geor asked.
"Yula and I will hack into the controls," Randy replied. "It'll be just like breaking into the jail. Stevie's tomato hack is all purpose, all platforms."
"But who's going to fly it?" Sam said nervously. "Does anybody here have a pilot license?"
We all shook our heads.
"You and me are going to do it, bro," Steven nodded and gave Sam his fist to bump. "We're almost licensed."
"Except that both of you failed your last pilot training exam," Marik disagreed.
"But that's not because we don't know the stuff," Steven insisted.
"Well, why then?"
"We carry lots of head baggage," Sam shrugged. "His mother, my uncle. Fear of fricking failure and not measuring up so we shoot ourselves in the fricking foot rather than try to compete."
"Wow, that's deep," Geor marveled.
"What are you going to do?" I asked.
"I know exactly what I'll do," Geor replied. "But, you'll have to drop me off at Corganus first. Any chance you can convince the Empress to back me with seed money?"
"Korelesk will have to get us an audience with her first," Steven said now turning to Marik. "You can do that, right Commander?"
Marik grunted and narrowed his eyes at Steven.
"You'll only need a few minutes of her time," Yula added. "If she agrees, this could save both of our planets."
"What will I do?" I asked. "How can I help you out?"
"You just smile and look pretty." Marik kissed the back of my hand.
"You'll have the most important job," Steven instructed. "You'll have to convince your mother and father to accept the solution we plan."
"And to convince them not to arrest us for stealing their spaceplane," Sam added.
"Ok," I agreed.
"Ok," the others said.
"To Corganus," Geor and Yula raised their hands, "and our future of freedom."
"To Cyganus," I added and raised mine as well, "to our wealth and prosperity."
"To the Empire of Rehnor," all the rest of the guys cried. "And to us, the challengers on this Imperial Quest."
"Keep it down!" the bus driver snapped. "It's the middle of the night. Spaceport coming up in two blocks. It'll be two dollars for each of you."
"Did anyone bring any money to pay for the bus?" Steven asked. "They took my wallet at the jail."
"Fricking, fricking," Sam mumbled. "I spent everything on lunch and these souvenirs for my family."
"I don't have anything either. I spent it all on the buttons I bought."
"They took my purse too," I admitted, "at the police station."
"I didn't know I'd needed any," Yula cried. "I gave it all back to Mom and Dad."
The bus shook as the driver brought it quickly to a halt. "Get out," he yelled. "All of you! Get out of this bus right now!"
"Here, keep the change," Marik said and tossed the driver an Imperial coin worth about forty Cyganian dollars. We all got out anyway and ran the rest of the way to the spaceport.
"There it is." I pointed out our Royal plane which only a few weeks earlier we had taken to Rehnor.
"That's it?" Sam shrieked and raised his eyebrows. "That's like two hundred years old."
"That'll make it easier to hack into," Randy declared.
"It flies," I insisted.
"Of course it does, Princess." Marik kissed my hand. "Like my heart when in your presence."
"We'll have to make do," Steven said and started to climb over the chain link fence. Immediately, four mean and ugly dogs came rushing up baring their teeth and drooling on the pavement. Steven hustled back over to our side.
"Now what?" Yula asked.
"Anybody have a dog biscuit?" Randy muttered.
"How about a nice juicy steak with some tranquilizer in it?" Sam suggested.
"I have this," Marik said and pulled out a light sword. "Excuse me for a moment, my Queen." He pecked me on the cheek and climbed over the fence waving his sword at the dogs who turned tail and ran. "Come on before the guards come."
"Oh, they won't," I replied climbing over the chain links and jumping down beside him. "We had to cut back on security because there wasn't any money to pay them so all we have are dogs guarding everything nowadays."
"This thing's so old," Sam muttered. "It would make my great-grandfather's speeder look new. Hey, maybe this is my great-grandfather's speeder."
"We got it on sale," I insisted. "It flies just fine. Mother always says 'why spend two coins when you can buy something with one.'"
"Do you eat day old bread too?" Yula asked as she climbed aboard.
"Actually, yes. We eat a lot of toast."
"Are you sure your mother is the Queen?" Geor pointed at the scratched linoleum floors. "This doesn't really look like a Royal spaceplane at all."
"It doesn't matter, my little strawberry," Marik said. "As long as it flies."
"There's nothing wrong with being thrifty," I declared. "How do you think she can afford all of her tiaras?"
"Hamburger helper?" Yula asked.
"Over ripe bananas?" Geor suggested.
"Only buying tomatoes on sale?" Randy added.
Chapter 19
Yula
So there we were on the Royal Cyganian spaceplane strapped into our vinyl seats jolting awkwardly into orbit. We all clutched the hard armrests and held our breath and prayed until the ship left the planet's thermosphere and we were free among the stars.
"Student pilots," Korelesk grumbled to Elana who I still had trouble believing was a Princess. Granted she seemed to know her way around this spaceplane but in her prison jumpsuit and dirty streaked hair, she looked more like the homeless guy than someone who lived in a palace. "Are you alright, bunny?"
"I'm fine, Marik." Elana smiled showing off her new rabbit-like teeth.
"Are you alright, Yula?" Randy asked me.
I nodded though my stomach was turning summersaults and as soon as the ship leveled, I raced to the bathroom. When I returned to my seat, Randy and Geor had their heads together planning what we would do once we returned to Corganus. I couldn't believe after all of the effort to escape, here we were going right back to where we had come from.
"Is there any food on this ship?" Randy asked. Elana promptly got up and fetched us some crackers and cheese.
"Normally, we have a flight attendant and a full menu," she apologized.
"No worries, my little blueberry muffin," Marik said. "This is the most awesome cheese."
"Marik, you're making me ill," Steven said coming from the cockpit to have some cheese too.
"How come you're calling him Marik," Randy asked. "Isn't he your squad leader?"
"Well, yeah," Steven replied and scratched his head. "Yeah, but I think it's time I told you all something." Just then the ship lurched and came to a horrible stop. Sam's voice could be heard screaming from the cockpit.
"Fricking! Fricking!"
Steven turned on heel and raced back inside while the rest of us scrambled to our feet and tried to squeeze in as well. There right in front of us was some kind of starship.
"Oh shit," Marik gasped. "It's the Alliance."
"They've got us in a tractor beam," Sam said pounding on the controls. "They're pulling us into their bay and I can't do a thing about it. Does anybody know where the license and registration is?"
"Maybe in that drawer over there?" Elana suggested. "I think the insurance card is in there too."
"Is that the Discovery?" Steven asked pointing at the words written on the side of the ship.
"Oh shit," Marik said again. "That's even worse. I've got to get out of this uniform. Are there any clothes on board that I can wear?"
"Let's check in the back bedroom and see if my dad left anything." Elana pulled Marik's arm and they disappeared down the hall.
"Quick," Steven ordered. "Randy and Yula, try to hack into their tractor beam system and see if we can disable it. Sam, you stay ready to reverse thrust as soon as Randy gets in."
"We're too late, Stevie!" Sam yelled as the great big doors at the back of the ship opened and sucked us in like a giant vacuum cleaner.
"We'll keep working on it," Randy whispered in my ear. "We'll have to plant a hack in their control systems just so we can escape again."
"Got it," I whispered back and gave him a little kiss as we walked back to our seats and quickly sat down. "We'll have to find an access point through a controller somewhere. These ships are on average fifty years old. The technology used is stone age compared to what we know now."
"You're so brilliant," Randy beamed. "Maybe you are even as brilliant as me."
"I studied under Xerox," I said. "He guest lectured at my university."
"You're kidding! He's my all-time hero. I've read every word he's ever published."
"Me too. I use all of his hacks, even the old ones."
"You wouldn't be Xeras, would you?" Randy asked narrowing his eyes.
"How'd you guess?" I blushed.
"I'm Xorex."
"No!" I gasped. "You're the Xorex?"
"Uh huh," Randy nodded and reached for my hand. "Will you marry me, Xeras? We could combine all our code into a single module."
"We could even write our own operating system," I suggested.
"Guys!" Steven snapped coming out of the cockpit as the plane landed in the bay of the Allied ship. "Save it until after you figure a way out of here."
A voice announced something into our cabin.
"Does anyone speak their language?" Geor asked quietly. We all shook our heads except for Steven.
"They're speaking English," he said. "They're telling us to open the door and have our papers ready for inspection. Maybe we'll get lucky and they'll just let us go."
"Fat chance of that," Marik growled returning with Elana. He was dressed in a bathrobe that was about a foot too short and barely stayed closed.
"Your father is smaller and skinnier?" I assumed.
"Unfortunately," Elana nodded. "At least there was something on board so they won't see his Imperial SpaceNavy uniform."
Sam hit the airlock and the cabin door slid open. A moment later two Allied officers boarded the plane. They looked at us and then glanced around wrinkling their noses in disgust.
"Did you get this from a used spaceplane dealer?" one of them asked through a Universal Translator. "I hope you got it cheap."
"Here's our papers, sir," Steven said and handed him the envelope. The guy looked at him strangely and narrowed his eyes. The other guy looked at Marik.
"Did you just wake up?"
"Uh, yes?" Marik replied and pulled Elana against him. "We were in bed."
"And you?" he asked Randy.
"We were playing Imperial Quest on my tablet," Randy showed him the game while Geor and I smiled politely.
"And you two were driving?" the officer pointed at Steven and Sam.
"Yes, sir," Steven replied while Sam just nodded.
"We need to do a full inspection. You look like you might be running drugs."
"Oh, no, sir." Geor cried while jumping up. "No drugs aboard this plane."
"Commander," one officer said to the other. "This registration says this plane belongs to the Government of Cyganus which incidentally has reported it stolen about eight hours ago."
"This plane?" Steven asked and pointed at the floor. "You mean this plane that we're on right now was reported as stolen?"
"It's my plane," Elana interrupted. "It wasn't stolen at all. My husband and our friends are all going on our honeymoon…without drugs."
"Your plane?" the officer looked doubtful. "You're taking your friends on your honeymoon?"
"You'd be better off taking drugs," the other officer mumbled.
"Why would anyone want to steal this old beater?" Randy wondered aloud. "Maybe there's a mistake on the registration number."
"You all need to get out and stand in the bay while we sort through all these papers and perform a vessel inspection."
"Can we go up to the ice cream parlor?" Steven asked. "Is it still on deck 17?" He held out his arm as if to lead the officers back outside.
"How do you know about that?" an officer asked.
"Do you still have purpleberry ice cream? That was always my favorite. Remember, Marik? I told you about that."
"There's no such thing as purpleberry, doofus," Marik said holding the front of his robe closed.
"Yes, there is Marik." Steven shoved his face right into Marik's face and raised a fist as if he wanted to fight. "I'll prove it to you." Randy, in the meantime, was typing madly on his tablet. I glanced over his shoulder to see that he had found a socket and was breaking into the starship's control system.
"Elana is too tired and we want to go back to bed. I'm not going to stand here and argue about whether or not purpleberries exists." Marik put his palm on Steven's forehead and shoved him into one of the officers which caused him to trip backward right into the other guy. The Allied spacemen fell out of our plane while Marik grabbed Steven's arm and yanked him back on board.
"Let's go to bed too now tha
t this game is almost done," Randy cried wrapping his arms around my shoulders and discreetly showing me his tablet with the system entry code on display. "Push the button and you win, sweetie." He smiled as I reached over and sent a virus into the ship's controls. "Who did you say you like to play, Geor? Was it Thad?"
"Yes, Thad," Geor nodded. "He's my favorite character." Just then we all heard a strange voice echoing across the bay. The ship's officers scrambled to their feet while yelling at each other and everyone looked upward at a vid suspended overhead.
"Start the engines again, Sam," Steven shouted as the image of Thad appeared on the screen.
"Hey guys," the vid image called. "What's going on?" A second vid lit up with the identical smiling image.
"Nothing's going on over here," the second Thad replied when a third vid turned on with yet another Thad.
"I'm Thad," the third image said, "but you can call me Lord Kalika-hahr."
"No, I'm Thad," the second one replied.
"I was here first," the first one pointed at the others, until a fourth vid lit up and there was Thad again.
"Awesome virus, Xorex," Steven called as he ran to the cockpit to help Sam steer the plane.
"Actually, it's a worm, Steven," Xorex replied smiling broadly. "It's tunneling its way through all the starship's systems. Thad's face is popping up on every screen. Move fast before it disables the shuttle bay doors."
"Sit down and buckle up!" Marik shouted and then gently spoke to Elana. "I don't want you to get hurt, angel face. Please put your seat belt on."
We bolted out of the bay and as fast as we could, we headed back in the direction of Corganus without further interruption. A few hours later we landed and Geor and I departed.
"We'll be back as quickly as we can," Randy said and hugged me tight. "We've got a lot of coding to do, you and me."
"Maybe we can even make a few subroutines together," I sniffed.
"You got it, babe." Randy wiped my tears.
"We've got work to do," Geor insisted while pulling me away. "We've got fermium to collect and contracts to write. We've got a business to build and people to employ. I've got ledgers to set up and accounts to establish. We've got to do it quickly if we intend to save the planet."
"We'll be back," Steven waved, "and hopefully with your funding because the best way to help you guys is to help you help yourself."