Starbounders #2

by Adam Jay Epstein

  “Follow us to the next fold,” Zachary said. “Quee and Ryic can join us then.”

  “Roger that,” Wayfare replied.

  Kaylee was already projecting the Kepler cartograph on the flight deck window, studying the colored tubes connecting distant points. “Let’s head through here,” she said, pointing to the nearest fold.

  Kaylee and Zachary steered the sledge toward it, with Wayfare following behind. As they glided forward, Zachary spied an open underbin with various tools scattered inside, including a pair of magnetic tweezers that, with some clever maneuvering, could free them from the shockles. Zachary was about to call Kaylee’s attention to it when she shifted her weight, grazing her arm along his. He felt his heartbeat quicken and decided not to say anything. Now that they were out of harm’s way, what was a few more minutes?

  The stolen sledge and Wayfare’s skipjack were floating beside each other in a dark spot of the outerverse. An O2 bridge connected the entrance portals of the two ships, and Ryic and Quee were heading across.

  “Good luck finding that terra whale,” Ryic called back to Wayfare.

  “You ever spot one, my lang-link’s always on,” he replied.

  Ryic and Quee completed the zero-G transfer safely to the other side and the bridge retracted back into the sledge. Zachary and Kaylee, hands now free from the shockles, welcomed their friends with hugs.

  “So, what did you find out?” Quee asked.

  “Someone within the Black Atom Society was building a kinetic force sink,” Zachary said. “Kind of like a vacuum cleaner, but instead of sucking up dirt, it sucks in power. Now, say it was attached to something like the perpetual energy generator that used to power the Callisto Space Station, which is like a big, big, big battery. Well, it would be capable of draining all the heat from a sun.”

  “Is that what destroyed Protos?” Ryic asked.

  “We don’t know for sure, but it’s certainly what we’re banking on,” Zachary said.

  “And we think Skold might be able to lead us to whoever’s responsible,” Kaylee added.

  “Skold?” Ryic asked.

  “There’s a good chance the perpetual energy generator he stole from Callisto is in the hands of somebody very dangerous,” Zachary said. “We need to locate that device before any more damage is done.”

  “There’s been an IPDL manhunt for him since he escaped Callisto,” Ryic said. “If they can’t find him, how will we?”

  “I thought we’d start back at the Fringg Galaxy Void Market,” Zachary replied. “See if that black market trader—the one who hooked him up with the fuel—can help. Maybe she’s heard from him.”

  The four Starbounders had returned to the flight deck, where Zachary retook the pilot seat and Kaylee began mapping the fastest route to the Fringg Galaxy. They buckled in for the several-hour flight, and between bounds took shifts eating and sleeping. Well rested and fed, they arrived at their destination. Although it was unmarked on the Kepler cartograph, Zachary remembered just where to steer the sledge, toward the extra black patch of space with no stars. It was the camouflaged exterior of the void market. Zachary navigated the ship closer, right up until he could discern the black outline of the enormous space structure.

  Zachary waved his hand in front of the lang-link and requested permission to enter. All he and his friends heard in response was a series of beeps and whirring sounds.

  “I know that language,” Quee said. “It’s hacker codex.” She leaned toward the flight deck control panel and replied with her own series of whistles.

  Whatever she had communicated, it seemed to do the trick. Immediately the black surface cracked open, revealing the hangar within. Zachary piloted the sledge inside and found an empty docking space on which to land.

  “Welcome to the Fringg Galaxy Void Market,” a robotic voice intoned over the lang-link. “We are not liable for any of the products or services supplied here.”

  It was the same way they’d been greeted on their last visit. The four departed through the sledge’s door and walked toward the hangar exit, where a multiarmed outerverse being manned a security checkpoint.

  “Please proceed,” the alien said.

  Zachary and Kaylee led the group onto the automated walkway that moved through a short, darkened tunnel before arriving at a tinted sliding door. When no beeps or alarms sounded, the alien cleared them, granting the group passage into the void market.

  Upon entering, Zachary found it to be even rowdier and more boisterous than the last time he was there. The eight-story-tall space station was teeming with illicit activity, none more pronounced than the bareback greebock-riding taking place inside the fenced-in ring on the ground floor. It was like watching a bucking bronco at the rodeo, except the greebock was the size of a bison, and with every kick of its hooves, it let out a trumpeting growl that shook the whole room.

  A thin, limber creature with long wooden arms and legs that made it resemble a stick bug was desperately clinging to the beast’s back. Many of the spectators gathered around the balconies above the ring cheered and hollered, but they reserved their biggest roar of approval for when the rider was thrown from the back of the greebock, somersaulting through the air and crashing down on the straw- and dirt-covered floor of the ring, directly in front of the enraged beast.

  “I forgot what passed as entertainment here,” Zachary said.

  “And I forgot how sensitive you can be,” Kaylee replied. “He’ll be fine.”

  The greebock let out a snort and charged forward, trampling the delicate-limbed rider underfoot and sending splinters and wood chips everywhere.

  “Okay, that might be a slightly longer road to recovery,” Kaylee said, wincing.

  A pair of custodial aux-bots rolled across the ring, sweeping up the scattered debris. A giant electronic board on the far wall illuminated a time of twenty-two seconds. It was added to the leader board, placing sixteenth, well behind the current first-place time of one minute and fifty seconds.

  Zachary and his companions walked deeper into the void market, past the gambling tables, the neon tattoo parlor, and the wall of sleeping pods. No one gave them a second glance. In the void market, it was customary to mind your own business. They continued beyond the long counter, where an assortment of ruffians slurped sluglike creatures out of gigantic seashells, and arrived at an area where mechanical parts were being traded.

  “Skold’s contact—I think her name was Tatania—should be holed up at one of these,” Zachary said, surveying the surrounding booths. Then he spotted her: a willowy female figure with sandpaper skin and two human-sized amoeba guards flanking her.

  Zachary led the way, right up to the table where she sat counting serendibite. The guards reached out their appendages to stop him from coming any closer. One of them made a strange bubbling sound from within, and Tatania looked up.

  “I’m busy,” she said, quickly turning her attention back to the clear cubes laid out before her. But then she glanced up again. “Wait. I remember you. You’re the ones Skold tried to pawn off on me for a single bound of fuel.”

  “Yes,” Zachary said. “That’s why we’re here. To see if he’s been in contact with you. Or if you have any idea where we can find him.”

  “You’re not the first to come asking,” Tatania said. “The question is, why should I tell you?”

  “We can pay,” Ryic answered.

  “Everyone can pay,” Tatania replied. “I just haven’t received an offer that seemed worth it yet.” She was about to dismiss them again when a smile crossed her face. “There is something else I want, though. A favor. You might have seen that bucking greebock on your way in. The individual currently in first place rides for one of my business competitors. The bragging rights that go to the ultimate winner . . . well, you can’t really put a price on that.”

  “I’ll ride,” Kaylee volunteered.

  “No,” Tatania said. “I’m not interested in you.” Her eyes turned to Ryic. “I want the Klenarogian.”

/>   “Me?” Ryic asked.

  “You should know,” Tatania replied. “Your people are born riders. All the intergalactic record holders hail from your planet. Those elastic limbs give you a real advantage.”

  Ryic was already shaking his head.

  “You’ll be fine,” Kaylee said. “She’s right, you were born for this.”

  “I don’t like being in the spotlight,” Ryic said. “And I don’t like getting trampled even more.”

  “We wouldn’t ask if we had another option,” Quee said.

  Ryic let out a nervous sigh. “Fine. I’ll do it.”

  “Are you sure?” Zachary asked. “Didn’t you see what happened to that stick bug thing?”

  “Let’s get it over with before I change my mind,” Ryic said.

  Tatania stepped out from the booth and took Ryic’s hand. “And I thought it would be just another dull day.”

  “Now, hold on,” Zachary said before they went any further. “How can we be sure you actually know where Skold is?”

  “Because he was here not too long ago, asking if I could get him an atmospheric adapter,” Tatania said. “Seems our mutual friend has retired and bought himself his own moon.”

  “What good does that do us?” Kaylee asked.

  “I made sure there was a tracking device built into the adapter,” Tatania said. She turned back to Ryic. “And after you do your part, I’ll tell you where to find him.”

  She led Ryic and the others into a tunnel below the ground floor spectator stands. They continued past a large stable, where a half dozen greebock were being fed and groomed. Tatania stopped before a table where a squat, fur-covered alien sat minding a sign-up sheet.

  “I’ve got a late entry,” Tatania said, handing over a cube of serendibite.

  “This guy?” the alien asked, looking at Ryic.

  Tatania nodded.

  The alien shrugged and called out to one of the stable hands. “Sharpen up Grizz’s horns. He’s getting another ride.”

  Ryic’s face was already reading regret, but he sucked it up and tried to put on a brave front.

  “Come with me,” the alien said to Ryic. Then he turned to Zachary and the others. “You can meet him back here after he’s finished. Or sign for what’s left of him.”

  Zachary could only watch as Ryic was led into a holding pen. He gave him an encouraging thumbs-up before exiting the tunnel with the rest of the group. When they emerged, they were ringside, standing with a crowd of onlookers. Zachary noticed that Tatania was staring up at a wrinkled humanoid with walruslike tusks, sitting in a private, roped-off mezzanine with a clear view of the ring.

  “Your competitor?” Zachary asked.

  “I know how much this means to him,” Tatania replied. “That’s why it’s so important to me that he loses.”

  A bell sounded and a gate shot open. Grizz, the giant greebock, emerged with Ryic on his back. He only took four steps before beginning to kick his legs in a vicious attempt to throw the rider clutching at his mane. The impact of the beast’s bucking hindquarters sent Ryic tumbling forward so that he was hanging upside down between the greebock’s horns, staring directly into his face. Ryic’s flexible arms held taut as he was jostled from side to side, rubbing his cheeks against the snarling beast’s wet mouth. The crowd was on its feet, smelling blood. But Ryic made a miraculous recovery, tugging himself up over the greebock’s head and securely onto his back.

  Zachary glanced up at the giant electronic billboard and saw the clock cross the one-minute mark. He turned to Tatania and saw that she was keeping one eye on the ring and the other on her competitor, who was starting to inch forward in his seat.

  Back in the ring, the greebock was taking a different tack in order to dislodge Ryic. He was running along the outer fence, leaning his side up against the rusted metal. Ryic was forced to swing both of his legs over the opposite side of the greebock to keep from getting dismembered. The clock was ticking past one minute and thirty seconds now, and Zachary was starting to think Ryic just might pull this off. It looked as if the walrus-tusked creature sitting in the mezzanine was fearing the same thing, as he was slipping a small device out from his pocket and inserting it into his mouth.

  “What’s he doing?” Zachary asked Tatania.

  She glanced up and bristled. “That lousy cheat. He’s got a greebock whistle. It’ll send that beast into a fit.”

  Zachary thought fast, removing his retracted warp glove from his pocket and activating it. He took aim on Tatania’s competitor, and with one fluid motion his arm reached into the warp hole, emerging inches from the walrus-tusked creature’s mouth. He swiped at the greebok whistle, but the creature turned and blocked Zachary’s glove with one of his ivory tusks. The creature glanced across the ring at Tatania and sneered as he prepared once more to blow the whistle. What he didn’t account for was a second gloved hand thrusting out from a hole behind his head, taking ahold of the back of his skull, and slamming his face into the metal rail before him. The vicious blow knocked the whistle clean out of his mouth and over the edge of the balcony. Zachary turned to see Kaylee looking rather pleased with herself.

  Ryic’s arms were stretched like putty as his heels dragged along the ground, but he held fast. Then the crowd began to chant in unison, and although they were shouting in hundreds of different languages, it was clear that it was a countdown. Zachary could even make out a few of the English speakers: “Five . . . four . . . three . . . two . . . one!”

  Zachary looked to the billboard and saw that the clock had passed one minute and fifty seconds. And it was still going. Kaylee and Quee celebrated, cheering for their friend. Tatania couldn’t help but gloat, giving a none-too-subtle wave to her competitor, who still seemed a little disoriented from the face-plant Kaylee had given him. Tatania leaned over to Zachary and whispered.

  “You can find Skold on the fourth moon of Ionary. Send him my best.”

  “Four minutes and twenty-six seconds,” Kaylee said. “You set a new record.”

  Ryic still looked traumatized from the experience. “Someone could have told me I had already won.”

  The sledge was three million miles away from the Fringg Galaxy, somewhere along its journey to the moons of Ionary. The Starbounders-in-training were sitting in the galley as the autopilot manned the flight deck.

  “Well, if starbounding doesn’t work out, you can always become a professional greebock rider,” Quee said.

  “You did awesome back there,” Zachary said. “You should feel good about yourself.”

  “Pride is a decidedly human feeling,” Ryic said. “For me, there is reward enough in knowing that I’ve done what is right—”

  “Enough with the serious stuff,” Kaylee interrupted. “Who’s up for a little game to pass the time? Truth or dare, anyone?” The others just shrugged. “Great, I’ll go first. Ask me anything.”

  “Do you like Zachary?” Quee asked, without missing a beat.

  “Yeah, of course,” Kaylee replied.

  “No, not just as a friend,” Quee said. “Do you really like him?”

  Kaylee considered. “Dare.”

  Zachary did a double take. What did that mean? Why would she take the dare? Did she like him, like him, but was just too afraid or embarrassed to say so? Or did she think the truth would hurt his feelings?

  “I dare you to eat this entire tube of anchovy spaste,” Quee said, tossing it to Kaylee.

  Kaylee grimaced, but she was never one to back down from a challenge. She unscrewed the top and brought it to her lips. After taking in its fishy odor, she paused. Maybe Zachary was going to get an answer after all. But then Kayle squeezed the tube and sucked down the spaste. Once she was finished, she eyed Quee.

  “Okay, now it’s your turn,” Kaylee said. “What’s the most illegal thing you’ve ever done?”

  “Wow. There are so many to pick from,” Quee said. “If I had to choose one, though, I’d probably say helping facilitate a plot to assassinate the minister of time
travel.” The rest of the group just sat there silently. “What? It wasn’t successful.”

  “I’ve got one for Zachary,” Ryic said excitedly. Everyone turned. “It’s a toughie, though. So consider yourself warned.” He took one last dramatic breath. “What’s your middle name?”

  Zachary smiled. “Frederick.”

  “No,” Kaylee said, shaking her head. “That doesn’t count. Ryic clearly doesn’t know how to play this game.”

  “Seemed like a fair question to me,” Zachary said.

  “You need to take a dare to make things right,” Kaylee said.

  “Fine,” Zachary said, playing along. “Hit me with your worst.”

  “I dare you to go in the ship’s cryo freezer for sixty seconds.”

  “No problem.”

  “In your underwear.”

  Zachary wasn’t going to let her get the satisfaction of seeing him flinch. So instead he started to undress. He quickly stripped down to his boxer shorts, and while his friends snickered, he opened the door to the four-by-four-foot freezer and marched himself through. Kaylee sealed it shut behind him. Stepping inside, he was immediately hit with a shock of stinging cold. His lungs tightened as the chilled air entered his chest. The skin under his fingernails turned an icy blue and he already felt like his toes might fall off. And he’d been in there for only about fifteen seconds.

  Zachary had been taking an elective course at Indigo 8 called Extreme Survival, and one of the first classes was about learning how to deal with intense heat or cold. Now seemed like as good a time as any to put some of the lessons to use. First tactic: train your mind to focus on a set point, thereby shifting attention away from the primary source of pain. Zachary pinched the skin on his thigh, squeezing it between his thumb and forefinger until it turned bright red. Second tactic: let yourself shiver to create extra body heat from the energy expended. Zachary had no problem doing that, teeth chattering and limbs trembling. Third tactic (this was the strangest of all, but of utmost importance): sing to yourself. So Zachary started humming “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” out loud. There was no way he was going to admit to the others that he kind of wanted out right now. He’d stay in there no matter how numb he got.